Xochitl10

I just made lemon bars for the first time using a recipe from the Williams Sonoma Cookies cookbook. They turned out well with a good lemon flavor, although the lemon layer looked thinner than other lemon bars I've seen. But a thicker lemon layer might be too much. I have "The Best Recipe" but not "The New Best Recipe" so I don't know if the recipe you used was similar, but I see in "The Best Recipe" that they include milk in the lemon topping. I was wondering how that would turn out. I might try that one next.

Also, would you mind posting the recipe for the oatmeal banana bread? It sounds potentially very tasty.

For a holiday party this past weekend, I made the chocolate-peppermint bars from the last page of the Gourmet holiday issue. I give them a big old meh -- the peppermint flavor was hardly noticeable. If I made them again (and I might, because I love bashing the hell out of peppermints), I would probably add some creme de menthe or peppermint extract to the chocolate batter. They weren't overly sweet, though, which was nice.

I also made the lemon bars from "The New Best Recipe." I think they may be "the best" lemon bars I've ever made: crust was nice and tender yet sturdy, and the curd wasn't gummy at all. They're pretty rich, though, so I will likely cut them smaller next time.

Not a dinner party (although people did linger and graze well into the dinner hour), but we hosted a NYD brunch for seven. Menu was:

Ramos Gin Fizzes

Leek, smoked salmon, and goat cheese frittata from "The New Basics"

Green chile, roasted garlic, and Gruyere frittata

Marcella Hazan's Mangoes and Strawberries Macerated in Sweet White Wine

Lemon bars from "The New Best Recipe"

Guest contributions: excellent Trader Joe's mushroom turnovers; lovely sour cream and orange torte-like thing.

The frittate had such a great effort:impressiveness ratio that I foresee them becoming my go-to brunch items in the future.

Maker's Mark hot toddy, to chase away the cold.

Azami made tsukimi soba -- soba noodles, fish paste, scallions, and a raw egg in broth, sprinkled with seven-spice powder. It was gorgeous, in addition to being really, really good.

Chow was pretty much all my mom sent in response to the statement: "We're preparing to move, so we're trying not to accumulate stuff for Christmas." She gave us a tiramisu and cheese sampler (Hawes Wensleydale, Double Gloucester, and Colston Bassett Stilton, with a lovely ginger/mango chutney) from Williams-Sonoma, and a giant box of meat from Omaha Steaks (filets, pork chops, NY strips, burgers).

The dogs each got a piece of toast from us.

I decided to go with the shepherd's pie (sorry, Dean, I couldn't locate a shepherd garnish in time). So, our menu will be:

Apps: Wensleydale, Stilton, and Double Gloucester w/crackers

Dinner: Shepherd's pie; Irish soda bread; and winter greens with pear, toasted walnuts, and pomegranate seeds

Dessert: Claudia Fleming's Guinness Ginger Cake (which is smelling fantastic as I type)

Rusty Nails will be in there somewhere.

Merry Christmas, guys!

Both of mine came from our trip to Japan:

Tonkatsu on cold inaniwa udon at Yosuke in Akita City.

Savory custard covering bits of matsutake mushroom and Hinai-jidori (Akita specialty chicken) at Hachimantai Lake Inn, Towada-Hachimantai National Park.

Spiced beef cobbler with cornbread topping from the holiday issue of Gourmet, and a green salad. I thought it was a bit salty; Azami disagreed. Ended dinner with vanilla ice cream topped with crushed amaretti.

I had been thinking about shepherd's pie as a main because a) I love it, and it's an enjoyable holiday project; and b ) it's what I made for Christmas dinner the first year we lived in this house. Now I'm torn because my parents sent us a giant box of meat for Christmas, including a pair of filets mignons that I may make instead. Regardless of what we end up eating, we will definitely be drinking Rusty Nails at some point.

Also fine with me. I haven't been to McGinty's before.

I'm still in, but it sounds like Azami is out. See y'all at the QH!

Lion Gold coffee and Cream of Wheat with honey and butter.

Tanqueray Negronis

Spaghetti with Snider's sausage and tomato sauce

Leftover rosemary focaccia

legant -- I usually buy pancetta in slices around 1/4 - 1/2 inch and chop up the amount that I need at home. Most of the recipes I've used it in have called for it either sliced into strips or diced.

I haven't been able to use the "Quote" function in either Firefox 1.5.0.8 or Netscape 7 since the conversion.

FWIW, we've sent tins of Old Bay as small gifts to friends and innkeepers we stayed with in Japan. They've been consistently well received.

My favorite food gift has to be my 7.5 quart flame-colored oval Le Creuset, followed by a gift certificate to DiBruno Bros. in Philadelphia.

Saturday night:

Mixed greens with shallot viniagrette

Rosemary focaccia

Spinach lasagna

Yesterday, we hosted our annual tree decorating and homeland food party. Menu was:

Margaritas

Red chile posole

Flour tortillas

Biscochitos

Shiden no Saku, a dessert jizake (local sake) carried back from Akita Prefecture. On top of the sake flavor, it tastes a good deal like plum wine, as well as flowery and vanilla-y. Also, it's pink.

Barring any jury duty/company closing difficulties, Azami and I should be able to make it on the 19th. Do we have a time in mind? I'm usually back in SS around 7:30 on Tuesdays.

As promised, the biscochito recipe. Parentheticals are Mom Davis's. In a follow-up note, she indicated she would be using anisette as at least part of the liquid in her next batch.

6 cups flour

1 cup sugar

2 cups lard (or 1 lb) (I always use shortening)

1 T baking powder

1 t salt

2 eggs

1/2 cup liquid ( may need more or less, go slowly) (I use orange juice or o.j. concentrate, or brandy)

2 T anise seed (crushed) (I usually use more; I like strong anise flavor)

Cinnamon sugar

1 cup sugar

1 T cinnamon

Cream: lard & sugar & anise

Add: eggs - beat well

Combine flour & baking powder

Alternately add flour mix and liquid to cream mixture till stiff dough formed

Roll out dough @ 1/8 inch thick and cut into shapes (you may need to refrigerate the dough for a while). I find that simple shapes work best.

Lightly grease cookie sheets

Bake at 325 to 350 degrees for about 10 minutes or till lightly browned

Dip in cinnamon sugar one at a time while cookie is still warm

In a fit of nervous energy that also resulted in a focaccia, I made brownies based on 97.5% unsweetened Callebaut chocolate. I used Alice Medrich's recipe in "Bittersweet" for unsweetened chocolate brownies. They were really good -- smooth, not too sweet, not at all cakey, with a very nice, earthy chocolate flavor.

Would you please post the recipe? I love biscochitos.

Marcella Hazan's pork chops braised in tomatoes and sage

Polenta

Kale sauteed with garlic, finished with sea salt and ground white pepper

Sage focaccia

Anyone baking holiday cookies? What are you baking?

For Thanksgiving, I made a double-crust, sliced pumpkin pie, using a sugar pie pumpkin macerated in sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Last year, when I made this same pie using the recipe provided, it came out very watery (recipe called for 2-4 Tbs water (I used 2) added to raw sliced pumpkin, sugar, spices, dotted with butter and sprinkled with flour), so I thought that macerating would work really well, drawing out much of the liquid in the pumpkin, which could then be reduced and added back to the fruit. Instead, it came out rather dry. Flavorful, but dry. I attributed this to having macerated the pumpkin for WAY too long (~2 hours).

Yesterday, I made turnovers using the remaining pumpkin, sliced and macerated for a much shorter time, ~30 minutes. Same thing -- soft, but not moist, pumpkin filling. I think I won't macerate the next time I make this pie, but would appreciate other suggestions for reducing the liquidity in the pie.

In all cases, crust was awesome.