Wait, I have a blog? And other recent discoveries...

Remembering chilly and rainy months of November and December - filled with holidays and excessive amounts of food, are a great reason to welcome myself back to the blogosphere. The truth is, I would love it if I could put all of my creative energy into blogging, but until I have the luxury of being a stay at home wife, that's probably not going to happen. One of the primary reasons I am not currently the picturesque 1953 wife in an apron with nothing better to do than run to the butcher and pour my husband scotch on the rocks when he comes home after a long day of work (side note - I am not, in any way, mocking this lifestyle... as previously stated... it is my heart's truest desire! bring on the whiskey!) is money. Since we were slightly lower on cash this year than previous holiday seasons, I decided to give "experiences" as my Christmas presents. My favorite such experi-gift was for my mother-in-law and her mother - Granny!

What could be a better gift for two lovely ladies than an afternoon of high tea prepared by their favorite* daughter/grand-daugher in law? *The term favorite is one I have given myself. I am choosing to ignore the fact that I a) stole away their beloved youngest boy Glenn and b) have yet to produce any type of offspring for them to play with. I don't even have a cat. And yet I am sure I am still their favorite, and will continue to live life as if I am. Because I'm usually right... right?

Kristin's Holiday High Tea Menu:

Julia Child's quiche lorraine (added a bit of my own touch to this by including red pepper flakes and not boiling the bacon but just pan-frying it)

cucumber sandwiches with salted sweet cream butter

shrimp curry sandwiches (from the Williams Sonoma Entertaining cookbook)

currant scones (also from Williams Sonoma Entertaining cookbook)

whipped cream (didn't have the time to go out and find the real 'clotted' stuff)

fresh strawberries and pineapple

Godiva white chocolate peppermint bark

pomegranate spritzer, which I made by putting a splash of pomegranate juice in each glass of Perrier sparkling water (served in chilled champagne glasses)

Japanese Cherry green tea

PG Tips English Breakfast tea

A few notes on the menu items before I wrap up here; the quiche was quite possibly the best quiche I have ever made. Julia has you cut up a tablespoon of butter and sprinkle the top of the quiche with it before baking, which added even more of that luxurious creamy flavor. I made the pie crust, then put the bacon and cheese at the bottom, and covered it with the egg mixture.

The scones turned out perfectly crumbly - something that comes only from touching and mixing the dough as little as possible before putting it in the oven. If there is one thing I can say about scones: DO NOT OVER-MIX! The less you touch the dough, the better. You want the ingredients barely combined.

We laughed and ate and then ate and laughed some more, a perfect (and inexpensive!) way to show two special women how much you appreciate them. To top it all off, now that we are only a week away from my birthday, these lovely in-laws of mine have invited me to experience high tea at a cute English tea shoppe in town. Yippee!

Feasting

A sampling of the menus I have been privileged to enjoy over the past couple of weeks:

Post-run breakfast:

Mexican hot chocolate

Crispy rosemary potatoes with scrambled eggs, jalapeno slices, and chives

Blackberry pancakes

Christmas Themed Dinner Party

crostini with smoked, aged, Norwegian goat cheese

mixed greens tossed with pomegranate seeds, dried cranberries, pistachios, and walnuts

rack of lamb with roasted garlic and red wine reduction

cedar plank grilled salmon

mashed yukon potatoes with broccoli and cauliflower

fresh sauteed asparagus

pumpkin mousse pie

*this dinner was accompanied by 2 delightful wine pairings*

"The" After-Party (exclusive event at our home- that's all I can say)

aged white cheddar (served with apple slices and crackers)

Quailhurst Vineyard 2003 Nassau Valley Estate Pinot Noir - one of the best bottles of wine I've had this year

Tree Lighting Ceremony

Bronx Pizza - Margherita and pepperoni with green bell pepper

Mixed greens with roasted chicken and balsamic vinaigrette

Sonoma Cutrer Chardonnay

Happy weekend, friends!

Reading

The past month has flittered by without me so much as realizing it was gone. Here we are, in early December, with Bing Crosby ringing holiday cheer out of my computer speakers.

Although I have not had the opportunity to do a ton of cooking this month, I have been doing a lot of eating AND a lot of reading. The eating part is significantly less unique than the reading part, which is something I rarely have the time to do. It started on my Hawaiian vacation with two of the world's greatest and most precious (to me) people, Julie and Ryan. Being the perfect vacation, and the perfect vacationing couples, each of us had a handful of books we were excited to read on the beach and by the pool. As previously stated, I am usually not a big reader, so I limited my books to two. Love Walked In by Marisa de los Santos, and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffner and Annie Barrows. I thoroughly enjoyed each of these books, surprising myself with the speed at which I finished them. Each book was made even more enjoyable with the addition of a strawberry mint spritzer - fresh strawberry puree, fresh mint leaves, sparkling water, and a hint of some other flavoring I could not distinguish.

Where eating is concerned, my meals have ranged from fresh caught local Hawaiian fish, seared perfectly just for me and served either in corn tortillas or on a bed of sauteed vegetables to whole Maryland crabs that poked through my skin as I tried to crack them open, spurring on tears and me questioning whether or not I really wanted to work that hard for my food. (I did.) It also included a nice, heavy, home-made Italian meal made by me and my Mom, who is not Italian at all but we still had fun going through her old cookbooks and coming up with the most fattening post-Thanksgiving menu we could. For the curious, it involved prosciutto, fontina, lots of butter and cream, and fresh sage leaves.

In a nutshell, I think that sums up my November. Now to come up with some great recipes for the annual Christmas Chill.

Harvest Party

In honor of the turning of the leaves (yes, even here in San Diego our leaves turn!) Glenn and I threw a Harvest Party a few weeks ago. I made two soups: Cheddar Corn Chowder and the Ultimate Beef Stew. I call it the "ultimate" beef stew because that is what the actual title was, thank you Tyler Florence for your cute smile and naming everything "ultimate". And it was delicious, so that helps. Mary made a stew that might have been the hit of the evening - Mulligatawny - Indian curry soup with chicken.

I had corn chowder coming out of my ears for the next week and eventually had to throw out a few bowlfuls, burned the blueberry muffins (both times), and Glenn mixed The Perfect Storm all evening - a cocktail a good friend of ours created for a recent Finer Things Club meeting. The best part of the night, however, was getting together with friends and sharing a simple, comforting bowl of soup, a glass of oaky chardonnay, and many laughs. I have missed these moments - long time friends coming together, new connections being made between friends of friends, and laughter echoing throughout our patio and home. This is the reason I cook, the reason I love to entertain, and what I was created for.

** I made this silly flyer and e-mailed it to everyone to save paper and money - made on a Mac. :)**

Kristin Loves...

1. Groupon

My best friend Julie told me about Groupon, before it was available in San Diego. She found all sorts of fun places to go to in Boston and explained how these "group coupons" work. Groupon is fairly new to San Diego, but so far I have purchased a handful of lovely options for 50% off or more! Today's deal, which has been my favorite so far, is for afternoon tea at Tea Upon Chatsworth, which is one of my favorite San Diego tea shops. I bought one, and am thinking about buying another. Who doesn't love high tea?

2. Bangs and fall pins

Although bangs tend to make me look like a 5 year old, I don't really mind. Ever since Stuff White People Like mocked girls with bangs, I have decided it was just the thing for me. Seriously, though, how fun are they? And fall pins with feathers in them make bangs even more exciting.

3. Vacation. Need I say more?

Heaven

For the last month, all I have craved is a Bread and Cie croissant and a cappucino, made fresh just for me. I imagined myself sitting, ever so cooly, in the cute Hillcrest cafe reading an awesome magazine or of-the-moment book. I would, of course, be wearing something just trendy enough and every gay man that walked by would compliment the way I chose to spend my Saturday afternoon.

The reality of Saturday's to-do lists often interfere with my imaginary afternoon snacks, as the laundry, grocery store, and dirty dishes pile up in front of me. Not this Saturday, though. I found an excuse to run an errand in Hillcrest, and spent an hour with these three good friends. My own little piece of heaven.

Out Sick

I have been out sick for what seems like eternity, but in reality has only been a week. Finally back among the land of the living, I am prepared to share with you what I have been eating in my illness:

matzo ball soup

mish mash soup

chicken noodle soup

scrambled eggs with toast

Yes, folks, it really has been an exciting week. More fun stories soon!

~Kristin