Well they are friends the other days of the week too, but as it turns out Friday night was the night we invited these particular friends to dinner. I love looking forward to a night of basking in the company of good friends. It is a celebration, a happy time to enjoy one another’s company.

Of course, I like it even more when the meal practically makes itself. Whenever I make my favorite lasagna, I make two, then I bake one for dinner and freeze the second one for later. This particular Friday as luck would have it, I pulled a lasagna out of my freezer. I usually make sausage lasagna, but once in awhile I make a vegetarian lasagna. To compliment the layers of vegetables & cheese, my friend brought a pile of sausages for us to grill on the barbecue. It is a nice trick if you have a mixture of friends who are both vegetarian and non.

Because the main dish only needed to visit the oven before being done, I had time to focus on making a sampling of appetizers, a more exotic salad, and to try my hand at a new grilled rosemary flat bread recipe. To be honest, this menu would be perfect with only one or two of the appetizers/tapas and a leafy green salad (like the one I tried the other day: romaine lettuce with just fresh dill and blue cheese dressing). You could even skip the flat bread and buy your favorite artisan loaf, cut it up and offer oil and balsamic vinegar for dipping. Voila!

So invite your friends over already!

Dinner Menu
Sangria
Simple Summer Tapas
Yellow Beans w/Leeks & Prosciutto
Endive Walnut Salad
Vegetarian Lasagna (guess you will have to wait for this recipe)
Grilled Sausages

It must be a sin. It felt like one: there I was, perched gingerly on the store floor, scanning the shelves and boxes of just-arrived cook-loving books at the half price book store (Half price? My husband teases me: you are spending money to save money?). I am Dutch after all: I am a SUCKER for good deals. No doubt when the deal is good, my left hand hardly knows what my right is doing. Doesn’t that ring of wrongdoing?

It really, really was a good deal, after all. And now that I am in culinary school, all my efforts to resist buying food-related, cooking inspired, chef advised, food-glorious books has gone… to hell in a hand basket (couldn’t resist).

That really is a funny phrase, mind you, as I find hand baskets to be not only convenient but environmentally friendly. In fact, a hand basket would’ve been perfect to carry home my new, such-a-steal, chef recommended books.

… My sin? Phenomenal, highly regarded cookbooks from well-renowned sources—at bargain basement prices. I should feel guilty paying only $14 for The French Laundry cookbook, one that I have ogled at in fine, boutique bookstores for many, many years. At $50, it didn’t even fit in the luxury budget… today I saved $34 when I bought it.

The French Laundry is a famous, famous, famous, famous restaurant in Napa valley. Thomas Keller is the chef/proprietor; he boasts a second restaurant, Bouchon (also with its own cookbook). I have not been to French Laundry, but I have been to Bouchon… twice. Just lovely: truffle fries, halibut cheeks, foie gras and forest mushrooms…

Oh, and that is not all.

I also bought: SAUCES by James Peterson (normally $50, I paid $9), Essentials of Cooking—also by Peterson, and The [New] Making of a Cook by Madeleine Kamman. This beast of a book has been recommended multiple times inside the few short weeks I have been at culinary school. I will let you know if I find it useful.

What is your current foodie read/book/weakness?

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).

I am a huge advocate of getting my children to try new foods. What I mean to say is, I believe our palates evolve (or so I tell my kids). When I was a kid I wasn’t a big fan of tomatoes and avocados (to name 2 of at least 300), but now I adore them. Does your child eat roasted onions or olives, goat cheese or brussel sprouts? (Okay, be proud if they do, but my point is: don’ t we all like a lot more foods as adults than we did as children)?

My 11 year old likes more foods this year than he did last year (he recently added poached eggs and goat cheese to his repertoire; he disdained both for many years). Your taste buds are growing up, too, I tell him. And if it is a certain right of passage to maturity for your taste buds to develop, well, you have piqued their interest and even more importantly: their palate.

And besides, kids love to have opinions; and they love to share those opinions with adults… Parents in particular.

So why not give them an opportunity to decipher their palate, to navigate through flavors and textures, to think banana and avocado texture are gross, shrimp is chewy and chocolate mousse is really, really chocolatey?

And then they notice when their siblings like things other than them, and proudly discover they prefer Asian pears to other pears and are partial to kalamata olives. Maybe you should start with their favorite flavor of Kettle chips (mine adore the Honey Dijon)? And there are so many foods they still have to try, and retry, since their palates are growing up too.

The other day I was at the market, and discovered these little nubs. At almost any cheese counter, they have little pieces of cheese left over. Not worthy to stand alone, these are mere samplings, wrapped, weighed and marked: $ .57 for an ounce, $2.11 for a large chunk, $1.02 for a good taste of farmhouse white cheddar. Ultimately, for about $5 I came home with 6 different varieties of white cheddar. One was aged, one was from Vermont, others were specifically farmhouse cheddar and at least two came from England.

And I opened them, cut them into bite size pieces, marked their origins on some parchment, threw on some almonds and pears to cut the flavors and we all sat around and tasted cheddar. And shared opinions. Very, very sharp was one. Sweet and mild was another. And a third… what flavor is that? Interesting… it is the only one that says: ‘Aged.’

So we ate, and learned, and payed attention and shared. Those are the moments we live for.

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.