Autumn in New York? No, it's Vacaville! (and...Happy Thanksgiving!)

You may already have an inkling of how much I love fall.  Cool weather, rain, sweaters--I love all of it.  And now, Vacaville is doing Mother Nature proud.  We are amassing quite a quantity of the most gorgeous autumn colors.  Hard to believe these pictures are taken here in Vacaville. Look how picturesque we are!  This could be some little town in New England.  I've heard that the fall color is diminishing in the eastern states due to climate change.  Maybe we'll get to have our own fall color now.We won't talk about the fact that the Christmas banners are already up downtown.  The city is probably just being efficient.  But look!  It's just so pretty!Okay, last one, this time of one of my favorite haunts, the Vacaville Public Library (the old new library, as opposed to the new new library--I love them both).  Yes, we have two.  It's fantastic.

I'm in the process of getting ready for Thanksgiving.  We are an intimate little group this year, so I tried to decide which of the usual side dishes should get the axe.  Due to extensive lobbying, all  have been spared.  There will be lots of leftovers, that's for sure.  This way I won't have to cook until about Tuesday!  What's the line-up, you ask?  Well, hors d'ouevres are minimal--don't want everyone filling up, what with all those side dishes on deck.  Bacon-wrapped water chestnuts and marcona almonds are the extent of the pre-dinner snacks.  Oh--and prosecco.  Then we move on to a little salad with pears and blue cheese, with shallot vinaigrette.  We have a jello salad, a vestige from 1967, that we cannot bear to part with (and plus it's really good--it has a little wine in it!). Cranberries,  just the recipe on the bag.  Rolls--this year I'm trying the buttermilk dinner rolls from the Williams Sonoma book, Cooking at Home.  Sweet potatoes, corn pudding, creamed spinach, brussels sprouts with shallots, peas with bacon and garlic, traditional bread stuffing, mashed potatoes, the make-ahead gravy I made a couple of weeks ago that has been relaxing in the freezer,  and, of course, turkey.  The option of pinot noir or sauvignon blanc to wash it all down.  And then pumpkin pie or pecan pie.  Whew!  My waistband is tightening just thinking about it.  An embarrassment of riches, yes, but certainly nothing expensive or extravagant.

Thankfulness, certainly, is the theme of the day on Thursday.  Hasn't been a great year, all in all.  But then I look around, and I see so many struggling so hard, and I am thankful we're still hanging on.  Some months it's by our toenails, but hanging on we are.  Jean Paul Richter (1763 - 1825) said that "For sleep, riches, and health to be truly enjoyed, they must be interrupted."  So true!  Maybe these past few years have been our interruption.  Maybe we were a bit complacent, a bit spoiled, and now we are paying a price.  So let's be thankful for any lessons we learn, however painful they may be, so that we don't get in this mess again.  And be thankful for families and friends, the most important things of all.

Happy Thanksgiving!

It's Coming... (along with some pumpkin muffins)

Fall, that is.  You know, autumn.  Even though it is still, to put it delicately, stinking hot during the day, when I go outside first thing in the morning it is quite cool.  Verging on crisp even.  Even the leaves that face east are starting to turn, as you can see.  I don't know why this is, but I am sure there is some folkloric explanation for it of which I am unaware.  Here it is, September 1, and I feel so much better!  It is my reverse seasonal affective disorder--I get crabby and depressed when it's hot for too long, while most people get crabby and depressed when it's cold and gray for too long.  Not me!

Vacaville in autumn is lovely.  Look for more pictures in the weeks to come.   In recent years, cities (and even CalTrans--have you seen the trees at the Midway Rd. on-ramp to Highway 80 east in October, November--amazing!) have been more aware of their choices with regard to tree planting and fall color, thus making for gorgeous leafy shows.  Downtown Vacaville in November could rival an Eastern city, with regard to the trees' display.

So as I get ready for fall to officially arrive in a few weeks, I will make these pumpkin muffins, which are quick and easy.  Nothing says fall (or fall pending) like pumpkiny spices.  The muffins started out as a Katie Lee Joel recipe and morphed from there. May I say I wanted to hate her cookbook, The Comfort Table?  (Did she and Billy Joel really think they had a love connection?  And not that she was a young hottie looking to get a career boost, and that he was marrying her for reasons other than her scintillating conversation? I mean, please.  Although I must confess I did not actually hang out with them at any time, so perhaps I am mean and cynical and they were a match made in heaven.)  But ANYWAY, I really like Katie Lee's (as she is now known) cookbook, The Comfort Table!  It's good weeknight food.  Give it a whirl.  But here are the Vacaville Housewife Lee Joel (I don't want you to feel used, Billy--I'm keeping the Joel.  I'm here for you, Billy.) pumpkin muffins.

Pumpkin Muffins  makes 12


These muffins keep really well, staying fresh for a few days after you make them.  Also, the batter does seem to be mounded up very high in the muffin cups, but don't worry.  It is very dense and it keeps its shape, not overflowing everywhere.  But you could put the muffin tin on a cookie sheet if it makes you feel better.

2 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ground ginger

1/4 tsp. ground cloves

1/2 tsp. salt

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup canola oil

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1 can (15 oz.) pure pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Line twelve muffin cups with paper liners.  In a small bowl, combine the dry ingredients.  In a bigger bowl, combine the sugar, oil, eggs, and vanilla.  Add the pumpkin puree and mix well.  Add the dry ingredients and stir until just combined.  Scoop the batter into the lined muffin tins.  Bake for about 20 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.  Let muffins cool in tin for about 10 minutes, then remove to a rack.  Serve warm or at room temperature.  An easy breakfast, and so good with coffee!

What Should I Do with All These Apricots?

[caption id="attachment_539" align="alignright" width="300" caption="The crops"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_540" align="alignleft" width="210" caption="The jam"][/caption]

Whilst sitting by the pool today with my good friend Mr. Heineken, enjoying a gorgeous Vacaville day, listening to Danger Mouse's latest disc, Rome (which is wonderful, by the way), it slowly began to dawn on me that if I have something to say about apricots I had best do it posthaste.  Apricot season is short but intense, leaving one with a frantic need to quickly do something with a lot of apricots.  Apricots are my very favorite fruit, but one can only eat so many. So, yes, yesterday I made yet another batch of  jam.   And then I also made a batch of Apricot Chutney.  My mother made this every year when I was a child.  I have only one apricot tree, but the house where I grew up came with about six.  Sort of an embarrassment of riches.  This chutney smells wonderful as it cooks, instantly taking me back to my childhood summers, where the kitchen was hot, the windows were flung wide, and chopped apricots, onions, and limes, as well as little piles of chilies and raisins, covered the counters.  This is a spicy chutney,  and it goes well with Indian food, as well as with your average roasted chicken or grilled pork tenderloin.  Chutney is so much easier than jam--no skimming the foam, no water bath needed. It's a nice change from Major Grey, and makes a good Christmas gift, too.  So here you go.

[caption id="attachment_544" align="alignleft" width="210" caption="Chutney in progress"][/caption]

Apricot Chutney    

makes 4 pints (or 8 half pints)

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup cider vinegar

1 Tbl. minced fresh ginger

1 tsp. allspice

1 tsp dry mustard

Dash ground cloves

3 small dried chile peppers, crushed

1 small whole lime, finely chopped (peel and all)

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 cup raisins

1 clove garlic, minced

[caption id="attachment_545" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Chutney complete!"][/caption]

4 lbs. pitted apricots, cut into 1/2" pieces

Put all ingredients except apricots in a large pan and bring to a boil.   Add apricots and bring mixture back to the boil.  Reduce heat and simmer for about 45 minutes, stirring often to prevent sticking.  Ladle into hot sterilized jars and seal with hot sterilized lids and rings.  Yup, that's it.  We're done.  This recipe is from the '60s--feels very M.F.K. Fisher, n'est-ce pas?

Father's Day Gift Idea (and a menu)

Even if your dad is not a reader, he'll read this.  Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand is the amazing true story of Louis Zampirini, an Olympic runner and B-24 bombadier.  His tale of survival during World War II is nothing short of incredible and awe-inspiring.  (As a side note, may I ask why the Germans are so vocally criticized for the atrocities they committed during the war, and the Japanese are barely mentioned?  Their acts were every bit as horrific as those of the Germans.  I was just wondering....)  Boyhood delinquency, triumph in the sports arena, airplane talk, and survival against sharks, the elements, and especially the Japanese are the components of this terrific book.  Really, take a leap of faith and know that even your anti-reading father will pick this up and be immediately engrossed. And hey, it's way better than a tie.

At our house, we will be having a late lunch for our Father's Day celebration.  We are having grilled rib-eye steaks (did you know Costco now sells prime beef, the same grade sold to restaurants?), and for the first time I'm going to try making onion rings from scratch.  Spinach salad with warm bacon dressing, roasted asparagus, and garlic bread will be on deck as well (it's heavy on the veggies because someone in the group--ahem--is on a diet and wants to feel like she's not being deprived when she only gets one onion ring and no garlic bread).  For dessert, cheesecake with strawberries. And of course red wine and lots of Dos Equis amber.  Happy Father's Day!

Cookbook Review: Food Network Magazine Great Easy Meals

I have what some may call an addiction to cookbooks.  I am somewhat powerless to resist them.  Making space for books is always important in our house, but at the same time, I don't want to feel that I'm drowning in them.  Too messy.  I am getting ready to purge my books of the regrettably purchased, seldom opened tomes lurking about my shelves so that the double stacking can stop.  It makes me crabby.  I go to the library and get cookbooks now, with the intent of copying the few recipes that I am interested in, rather than buying the whole book and thus losing shelf space to something mediocre.  Sometimes, though, I can't help myself.  If I have so many Post-its sticking out of the top of the book to mark pages I want to copy, I figure it is more cost effective (within reason) to go and buy the damned book instead of using up lots of ridiculously pricey printer ink.  The latest addition to be deemed worthy of purchase is Food Network Magazine Great Easy Meals. 

The Food Network website is a great resource for recipes and how-to information.  Their magazine is good too, although I do a fair amount of weeding out of the recipes published therein.  The cookbook, however, has done the weeding for me.  Everything I've tried so far has been very good, with minimal tweaking (but I always tweak recipes, so I don't count that as a strike against it). The nice thing, also, is that the recipes really are very easy.  When I sit down with several cookbooks and plan out my menus and shopping list for the week I often have delusions of grandeur.  "Why, yes, I think making my own pasta (or tortillas or pita bread or...) on a Wednesday night will be completely doable!"  And then Wednesday night rolls around and I've been at a child's sporting event until much later than expected, and so it's quesadillas on store-bought tortillas (which, don't get me wrong, are delicious).  So having these recipes that are quick and easy but also delicious (and made without a drop of cream of mushroom soup) is awfully helpful.  I even made the grilled Rosemary-Mustard Pork Tenderloin with Peaches for a special birthday dinner for company.  So easy, no stress, delicious.

It's good to have a go-to source that is reliable, and that gives me (and my family) a change of pace.  So far I've made the pork above twice, Spicy Chinese Beef, Chicken Korma, the roasted asparagus, and Pork Tenderloin with Eggplant Relish (which was spicy and made with Japanese eggplant, which I would never normally buy, and which even the anti-veggie delegation happily ate, although, to be fair, said delegation may not have known it was eggplant...).  Everything is very flavorful, it's on the table quickly, and ingredients are easily obtained.  The only quibble I have is the "kitchen tips from the stars" that are touted on the cover.  You'd think that meant some...uh...kitchen tips, just say, but not so much.  Melissa D'Arabian telling us how great it is to cook with kids, Ellie Krieger reminiscing about her daughter recognizing the smell of basil on a bus, Guy Fieri building a second kitchen at his house--I'm sorry, I don't care.  But really, that's a small complaint, and a very small part of the book.

I see no reason why the rest of the recipes in Food Network Magazine Great Easy Meals won't be every bit as delicious as the ones I've tried so far.  On Amazon.com it is less than $15, and it is well worth the money.

Gyro Scope

[caption id="attachment_392" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Dinner's ready..."][/caption]

Let's see...phonetically, it would be "yeero, " not "jiro."  I'm talking delicious Mediterranean food here, not the toy with the string.  One difference: while lamb is usually the meat of choice for gyros, there are people in my house who are anti-lamb (well, really, pro-lamb, if you want to look at it that way), so I make them with pork (why do lambs get sympathy and not pigs?  I don't know--not my issue).  So ANYWAY, if you can't make it to the Athenian Grill in Suisun City for their gyros, these are pretty darn good.  Yes, they are a bit fiddly to grill, but they are certainly not difficult at all.

I have some notes (of course):  I used to use pork loin for these, but have found that pork shoulder makes for much better, much more flavorful meat.  Loin is too lean and thus too dry.  Slice the shoulder thinly by freezing (or thawing) it to the point where it is still stiff, but soft enough to get the knife through, and you'll be able to slice it thinly so it grills quickly.  You don't get the same effect by marinating and grilling the meat whole, which is why all the bitty work.  The red onion in the tzatziki (the Greek yogurt sauce) can be pretty powerful, so after you chop it, put it in a sieve and rinse it quickly under cold water to lessen the bite a little.

[caption id="attachment_395" align="alignright" width="225" caption="Marinating"][/caption]

Pork Gyros

serves 8

2 lbs. boneless pork shoulder, sliced thinly into pieces about 2" x 5"

Marinade:

1/2 cup olive oil

1/2 cup lemon juice

2 Tbl. Dijon mustard

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 Tbl. dried oregano

Tzatziki:

2 cups plain Greek yogurt

1 large cucumber, seeded, peeled, and chopped

1 tomato, deglopped and chopped (that's how Ann Hodgman describes seeding and cleaning a tomato--perfect!)

4 Tbl. minced red onion (see note above)

[caption id="attachment_398" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Tzatziki on deck"][/caption]

1 tsp. crushed garlic

1 tsp. dried dill

1/2 tsp. salt

8 - 12 pita breads

Place strips of  pork in a large Ziploc bag.  Combine marinade ingredients and pour over pork.  Marinate for 2 to 8 hours.  Preheat the grill.  While grill preheats, stir together all tzatziki ingredients (not the pitas, obviously) and set aside.  Using tongs, remove all those pieces of pork from the marinade, and place them carefully (to avoid incinerated casualties) on the grill over medium heat.  Close lid and let cook for about 7 minutes.  Raise lid and turn pieces of pork over (sorry--fiddly, I know).  Now you have to babysit the meat for about 5 minutes, moving cooked pieces off the flame, moving thicker pieces to the hotter areas, etc.

[caption id="attachment_403" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="A million little pieces"][/caption]

You'll know it's done when you see the juices running, bubbly and clear.

[caption id="attachment_402" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Done!"][/caption]

Let the meat rest on a serving platter, covered with foil, for 10 or 15 minutes, in a warm place.  In the meantime, warm the pita bread, either in the microwave (if it's just family and you're eating right away), or in the oven (wrapped well in foil).  Place a serving of meat on a whole pita (see photo, top) and drape with some of the tzatziki.  Gyros are delicious and remarkably flavorful.  And now here are some of my geraniums, sure to rival any in Greece (well, I assume they grow geraniums in Greece, since they grow so well here in our Mediterranean-like climate, and what with Greece having an actual Mediterranean climate...).

What Would You Do...

...that's right, for a Klondike Bar.  Here is a shameless product plug.  (Note to self: find out how to get paid for shameless product plugs.) If you like mint-chip ice cream (which I do), go and buy some of the new mint Klondike Bars (which I did).  They are in your grocer's freezer (it's like I'm a professional endorser), and they are delicious.  I mean, how could a slab of unnaturally green mint ice cream generously coated with chocolate go wrong?  Well, trust me, it doesn't.  I'm going to need a 12-step program to get the Klondike monkey off my back come autumn.  But for now, I highly recommend you get a box (or two) and stash them in the freezer.  You will thank me.  No, really, you will.

Happy (for a limited time only?)

This morning I was standing in the kitchen, home alone.  My trusty Russell Hobbs was boiling, and I stood watching the steam rise, waiting to pour hot water over the coffee I'd just scooped into my little Melitta filter.  I felt very, very content.  It had been a productive morning so far--I'd decided on tonight's dinner (hot and sour soup and pork buns), I'd stripped the beds, the first load of laundry was in, I had bagel dough rising, and now I was ready for another cup of coffee. Then a thought crept into my mind--I just may have to get a job.  You know, the kind outside the home?  That pays money?  It's an issue that has been swirling around lately, carrying with it crabbiness and arguments and unfolded laundry and takeout food. The thought of going back to an office every day and filing and answering phones for eight hours almost makes me feel ill.

Okay, well,  that's enough whining.  My point is that it is so important to notice your happiness!  Pay attention to what you are doing and notice your contentment!  It is so easy to let the days get away from you, focusing only on what's hard, what's a nuisance.  Noticing your satisfaction is like visting an oasis if you're having a crappy day, and it's a nice bonus if you're not having a crappy day.

Knowing that my time at home may be coming to an end (hopefully not totally--a part-time job would suit me just fine), I'm trying to be even more aware of how much I love staying home.  I approach housewifery with the same work ethic I approached any paid position I've had.  I start early, stay late, and keep to a schedule.  I look around to see what else needs to be done.  I give it my all.

So when I'm in some office filing and answering phones, I won't feel like I didn't appreciate my life.  To the contrary--I know very well that being a housewife is the best job I've ever had.  And, well, okay, perhaps I've not been looking very hard for a job--I'm kind of hoping that something to do with books or food or writing, for, oh, four hours a day, that pays an enormous amount of money, will--poof!--appear before me.

Hope springs eternal.  Now I have to go put the laundry in the dryer.

A Mother's Day Punch

"Punch" the drink, not "punch" the physical violence.  That wouldn't be a very good Mother's Day.  But "punch" the drink makes for a very nice Mother's Day (or any other time you are having company for brunch or lunch).  This extremely quaffable libation  is not expensive, it is delicious, and it'll keep both your minimal-drinker friends (and mothers) happy and your wino-in-training friends (and mothers) happy. It works well for a brunch or a lunch, which is perfect since you don't hear a lot about Mother's Day dinners (probably because Mom's usually back on duty by dinnertime).  The fruit juice seems to eliminate the headache that can come with drinking early in the day,  and you can feel slightly virtuous because it is, after all, fruit juice.  And you can feel stylish, too, because punch seems to be turning up more and more as a cost-effective, but still delicious, way to get a large group of people liquored up (and of course I mean that in the most genteel way).

Confession:  this is not a picture of my actual punch (even though it looks just like it).  I didn't happen to have any photos of punch lying around, and making a batch of punch just for a photo shoot seemed rather wasteful.  And if I had made it I'd have felt compelled to drink it, and...well, no good could have come of that situation. I mean, it's Tuesday.  Morning.   So I cribbed this picture off the internet.  Mea culpa.

Here's an interesting tidbit:  the word "punch" is from the Indian (or Urdu? I can't remember) word for "five," and a traditional punch always had five ingredients (and now you can see why a "punch" in the nose is called that--Good Lord, more physical violence!).

On to the task at hand.

First of all, a day or two before you are serving the punch, make an ice block.  I like to slice up a lemon and/or an orange (it looks prettiest with both, but use whatever you have), and then place the fruit in a small container ( a square 4-cup Gladware is perfect for the size of my punch bowl).  Put lots of fruit in--you want it to look like a block of frozen fruit, not like an iceberg adrift in your punch bowl.  Then fill the container with water. Place it in the freezer.  After about two hours, push the fruit down into the slushy water (but if the water isn't "thick" enough yet, come back in a little while) so that there is fruit throughout the block of ice, not just floating at the top.  Freeze at least overnight.

Brunch/Lunch Punch

1 (6 oz.) can frozen lemonade concentrate

32 oz. pineapple-orange juice  (I buy a half-gallon of Dole, in the carton, and just use half)

1 bottle well-chilled dry California white wine

1 bottle well-chilled brut California sparkling wine

Mix lemonade concentrate and pineapple-orange juice in punch bowl.  Add bottle of white wine. I usually use an inexpensive (but certainly not rot-gut) sauvignon blanc. (I specified California because hey--we live less than an hour away from one of the world's greatest wine producing regions, and if that's not being a locavore, I don't know what is).  Add ice block. Gently pour bottle of sparkling wine down the side (the inside--do I have to say that?) of the punch bowl (helps minimize carbonation loss) and serve immediately.

Feel free to top up the punch bowl with more champagne and/or more pineapple-orange juice as  it gets drunk. I can't tell you exactly how much this will serve, due to whether you use those funny little cups that come with the punch bowl, or some heftier, more, uh, thirst-quenching-size glasses.  At my house recently,  seven  people (with large glasses, not the little cups) were kept amply hydrated for the afternoon with these amounts.

Negative Hot Cross Buns in the Bread Machine

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Negative Hot Cross Buns"][/caption]

No, not negative in a bad way.  Rather, it's like a photographic negative in that the icing on top of the buns is carved away to reveal the cross on top, rather than the cross piped on top of the plain bun. In our house, we are unrelenting sweet-tooths (sweet-teeth?).  The amount of icing on a hot-cross bun has always been a bit disappointing.  I came up with a way to up the frosting ante, if you will. After all, Lent is over in the morning.  S0 I frosted the bun, then carefully scraped away a little frosting to make the shape of a cross.  Religious homage, lots of icing--everybody's happy!

I read that hot-cross buns were originally served on  Good Friday to pilgrims who had to travel a long distance to get to their Easter place of  worship.  They were a little snack to tide the pilgrims over until the next meal on their trek, and the little cross on top (which I would guess was carved into the bread before baking, rather than made of sugar and vanilla) added to the importance of the day.

The following recipe started in the new New York Times Cookbook, but I changed it quite a bit--I didn't need 24 buns,  I didn't have currants, nor did I have a lot of time,  but I did have a bread machine and some sultanas I could soak in brandy, so here's what I came up with.  (And by the way, if you haven't made the buns yet and breakfast is already over, I certainly see no reason why you shouldn't have them for dessert after lunch. )

[caption id="attachment_232" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Ready to rise"][/caption]

Hot Cross Buns                             

[caption id="attachment_233" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Nude buns fresh out of the oven"][/caption]

makes 8


1/4 cup sultanas (golden raisins)

2 Tbl. brandy

1/2 cup whole milk

1 1/2 tsp. butter, softened

1 1/2 Tbl. water

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 tsp. salt

1 egg, beaten

1 3/4 cups flour

1/8 tsp. cinnamon

1/8 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 tsp. yeast

Place the sultanas in a small bowl with the brandy. Let sit for 30 minutes then drain.  In a small saucepan, scald the milk. Add the butter, water, sugar, and salt.  Let cool to lukewarm.  (My bread machine has me add the liquid ingredients first, then the dry, with the yeast last--you do it how yours tells you to.  Also, my bread machine pulverizes the raisins into tiny bits, which works for us because there is an anti-raisin group in my home. But if you want whole raisins, knead them in after the dough comes out of the machine.) Pour milk mixture into the bread machine pan.  Add the beaten egg.  Add the flour, sultanas, cinnamon, nutmeg, and yeast.  Switch machine to "dough" setting.  When complete, remove dough (it will be wet) to floured board and knead a few times until smooth, adding a little flour if needed to make a workable dough.  Divide dough into eight pieces, forming each piece into a tight, round ball.  Place on a lightly greased (or use a Silpat) baking sheet and let rise about 30 minutes.  Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

While buns bake, mix 3/4 cup powdered sugar, a dash of vanilla, and enough half-and-half or milk to make a smooth icing. Ice the cooled buns as desired (regular or negative).