So, I went to an auction. It seems to be auction season in our part of the world, where people organize fabulous dinner events, with choice items to bid on, in the name of raising money. I wonder to myself if people are spending as much this year as they did last. The economy is a bit on edge: I went to the auction with a budget.

I spent my entire budget on one item. Well, 8 cases of one item.

I bought dry soda; it is a sexy soda based out of Seattle. It transcends corn syrup, sideswipes sweetness and ushers in unusual, savvy, urbanite flavors (lavender, kumquat, lemongrass and rhubarb). You might consider wearing shades while sipping from these clairvoyant bottles.

Their website is as hip as their sodas. I noticed they had a few cocktails on their site, many of which boasted a long list of ingredients. Never fear, my impatience is near. I just borrowed genius from a lemon drop and created a kumquat version:

Kumquat Drop
triple sec
vodka
fresh squeezed orange juice
Kumquat Dry Soda

Per drink: 1/5 fresh squeezed orange juice, 3/5 vodka, 1/5 triple sec, 1/5 kumquat soda. Shake with ice, strain into martini glass; pierce a few kumquats on an olive pick for garnish. Note: feel free to substitute fresh squeezed lemon juice for the orange, or a combination of the two… and skip the sugar rim. It isn’t necessary.

Orange you glad its a kumquat?

Kumquats are awesome; have you ever tried one? It is nature’s lemon drop candy; the candy that is so, so sweet yet makes you pucker straight to the back of your jaw. You can eat kumquats whole, though we usually slice them in half and remove the larger pits. I slice the halves and put them in my boys’ lunch. On my old site (didn’t have time to run two sites, though there is a chance I may resurrect it), Brown Bag Blues, I wrote a post on kumquats that you might find useful (click here).

Baked goods are best fresh, right out of the oven and the same day they are made. Why is that anyway? Because after they come out of the oven, they continue to lose moisture. And moreover, when you see the day-old pastries for sale at your corner coffee shop, they are usually individually wrapped in saran wrap. Do you know why? Because it helps keep that same moisture in just a little bit more than if it sat in a case, exposed to the air. I am already appreciating the science behind baking.

My baking CHEF simplified it like this: baking is really about knowing the science behind 10 ingredients. Know these inside and out and you will understand baking. A few of these ingredients? Butter, flour, yeast, baking soda, baking powder, sugar…

I like learning little details like this. This has so much to do with why I am going to culinary school; it is a fact-finding mission. Only I traded in the spy glasses for a chef coat and a thermometer.

Another example:

I was making a salad dressing at home the other night, and a big grin crept across my face as I tossed in a measly teaspoon of mustard. Do you know why (shall I stop with the redundant questions already?)? Because I now know that mustard is magic. It contains lecithin, and is the third party that ushers in the marriage of oil and vinegar. The little ingredient that could, whether wet or dry mustard, it creates the emulsion of oil and vinegar—the mixing of ingredients that don’t normally mix. Egg yolks offer the same magic… in case you wanted to know.

By the way, don’t be alarmed if your vinaigrette dressing separates again; the magic isn’t gone, it is just science stepping in. Emulsions can be temporary (vinaigrettes, especially temporary if you don’t have mustard or yolk), semi-permanent (hollandaise) or permanent (mayonnaise).

I won’t go on, though I am tempted. Just remember, when mixing in mustard, you too are part of the kitchen-making magic. We are not only cooks, but also scientists and magicians.

Mustard Vinaigrette
2 T wine vinegar (or fresh lemon juice)
coarse salt & pepper, to taste
2/3 cup salad oil (olive or canola)
1 1/2 tsp mustard
optional: 1-2 tsp honey

Place in jar and shake like mad; OR listen to age-old, proven instructions and add the oil in a constant drizzle while whisking (also called aerating—it helps the emulsion process as well).

Some other mustard dressings around the web:

• Honey Mustard Dressing from Food Network
• Ginger Honey Mustard from Group Recipes
• Creamy Tarragon Mustard Dressing from Letite’s Culinaria
• Cream Dijon Dressing from Epicurious

How is it going, you ask?

I think I need a tag line somewhere on my site that reads: mom goes to chef school (perhaps for my own benefit). I am approaching my third week and it remains surreal. I have a chef jacket and apron dangling from my indoor clothes’ line with four tentatively placed clothespins… are they really mine?

Recently [though not surprisingly], people have been asking me: what do you want to do with a culinary degree? Work in a restaurant?

And my answer is: I am not sure what it is going to look like on the other end. And it doesn’t bother me. I don’t know if a restaurant is in my blood, though my hunch tells me I will take this culinary degree and wear it out. But the details? I haven’t a clue.

For now, I will just focus on cramming things into my brain—and yours.

For my culinary program, I take one baking/pastry class, and it happens to be this quarter. Which is why on my first post about school you saw biscuits and on this one, banana nut bread. And I cannot tell you the inner radiance of pride and joy when a CHEF (aka what we call all of our teachers, because well, that is what they are, though it has that whiff of Top Chef that makes me want to chuckle) tells you your product—banana loaf, brown sauce, glass of water with ice for all I care—is worthy of a restaurant.

Such was this humble little loaf of banana bread:

Banana Bran Bread
one large or two smaller loaves

1 cup butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup bran
4 eggs
2 1/4 cup flour
2 tsp bakin gsoda
1 tsp salt
1 cup raisins
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Oven to 350; grease and flour pans. Cream butter and sugars (on high 3-4 minutes, seriously). Then add banana, bran and eggs (we mixed half the bananas directly, and chopped half into 1/2 inch cubes and dropped in just to blend). Sift flour, baking soda and salt; add dry ingredients to the wet, just to moisten. Fold in raisins. Pour into pans, score top of loaves with spatula dipped in oil. Sprinkle with pecans. Bake 45- 1 hour, until edges begin to pull away from sides.

I have been reading the book Omega Diet; it has made quite an impression. And like many other nutrition inspired books, pushes the great and undying virtues of leafy greens. EAT greens. Eat your greens, more greens, pass the greens. I really don’t eat enough greens, which means I have to be deliberate about getting enough greens.

Perhaps you are a more accomplished green eating machine than I am. I hope for your sake, you are.

When I was a kid, I remember hearing if you ‘do something 21 times it becomes a habit.’ Is that true? I have no idea. But it does hint at the need to be purposeful, determined and persevering in the attempt to integrate healthy habits.

And it is Spring after all. Spring cleaning applies to the house and to our health: old habits out, new habits in.

I recently watched a cooking show called Good Eats. Have you seen it? It is a bit cheesy, but interesting because it is full of lots of little tidbits of information, only 30 minutes long and entertaining enough for my kids to watch. I like drilling down and learning about greens or apple pie, and/or the overlooked virtues of squash. It takes one food group or ingredient and essentially demystifies it. I enjoyed watching the one on Greens, because even though I knew much of what was shared, I learned a new way to clean greens and a new way to sauté them. I learned about a wide range of greens, and a little about their history.

And then I deliberately ordered red chard in my Farm Box. And I feel guilty if things go bad, so I knew if it was there looking me in the face I would attempt a new recipe. And I did—by morphing one of the recipes from The Farm—and the chard was great.

My husband seriously said it was the best chard he had ever tasted in his life. Now, lets not assume it was the only chard he has ever tasted in his life. To be honest, he travels a bit for business, where he often enjoys nice meals, so comments like ‘it is the best ever’ usually are compared to fabulous restaurant fare and I adequately glow at the compliment.

In unison then: “More greens, please.”

Red Chard with Shallots & Port*
Large Bunch Red Chard, stems removed and sliced (I did inch slices on the horizontal)
2 T diced shallots
2 T olive oil
1 T butter
2/3 cup chicken or vegetable broth
3 T port

Heat butter and olive oil in sautee pan over medium high heat. Add/sautee shallots for 3 minutes, stirring. Add broth and port; in 1-2 minutes, pile in the chard. Stir and let sautee for 3-4 minutes, then lower to medium and toss on the lid (frisbee style is entertaining: your kids will be impressed). Let chard wilt for another 3-4 minutes. Remove lid, pour out excess liquid (I left 1-2 T worth in pan), stir/sautee chard for another 2 minutes, then serve.

*If you leave the skillet on high instead of reducing to medium or medium/low when you place on the lid, then you will have charred chard, which by the way, is more fun to say than it is to eat. Greens will be greens until they are brown. Then they are just gross.

Easter? Halloween? Christmas? Fourth of July?

Bring it.

Whatever holiday it is, these cookies can waltz right in and be fashionable, readily available, unassumingly appropriate.

All you need to do is buy that bag of holiday colored m ‘n’ ms. Hey, they are cookies. I didn’t say they were good for you. Though I suppose you could sneak in some wheat germ, use wheat flour, add in some flax meal, substitute canola oil for some of the butter, use some applesauce… but I will leave that up to you. Sometimes my version of healthy is less about the ingredients, and more about moderation (I didn’t say always, just sometimes). Consequently, these cookies aren’t made often: they simply show up, in colorful uniform, to stand in as a holiday treat.

I pop these casually dressed cookies into school lunches to usher in some holiday cheer. They don’t require a lot of planning or foresight on my part—I just walk through Target, notice the m ‘n’ m’s and scoop up a bag. And then smile, knowing my kids will hover around the mixing bowl, begging for a taste of the dough. Yes, the dough is unavoidably good. Especially with the big chunks of pecans.

M ‘n’ M Cookies
2 sticks butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
2 cups m n ms
3/4 cup roughly chopped pecans

Oven to 350. Cream butter and sugars. Add egg, vanilla and mix. Add flour, salt and soda and stir to blend. Mix in M ‘n’ Ms and pecans. Place in spoonfuls on tray and bake 10-13 minutes. Happy Holidays!