Inspiration in a Whisk - Back 2 Blogging Day 4

I now have that song by Chicago "Your the meaning in my life. You're the inspiration." in my head and it will not go away.  I blame 80's sticky, sweet sap music if this post doesn't cut the mustard.


These days, inspiration can be hard to find.  The media and the internet age seems to expose every flaw in those we hold up on pedestals.  While knowing the truth is a good thing and also knowing no one is perfect is as well, sometimes, it mars the image we had of the person we held to such high esteem.  In my case though, there is an exception.

Me and Julia, we love our knives - courtesy of seattletimes.nwsource.com

Julia Child

Why is she an exception?  Julia never thought she was perfect nor did she ever hide her imperfections.  
I remember seeing her on Public Television when I was little.  I watched her chop things and giggled at her funny voice.  She said words like terrine and Bon Appetite.  I thought she was from Europe. 

Now I know better thanks to "My Life in France" and "Appetite for Life: The Biography of Julia Child".  Julia was an amazing American woman.  It was not just her cooking that made her amazing, she had a wonderfully full and rich life that she achieved on her own.  She was a risk taker and had a passion for life that I so wish I had.

Before Julia even knew how to cook anything, she worked in the Office of Secret Services (predecessor to the CIA) during WWII.  She signed on as a typist but because of her education, she soon became a top secret researcher.  How cool is that?! She received a medal for her work and was greatly respected by her peers and superiors.  She was an organizational machine, cataloging all the officers working for the OSS and keeping track of where they were and what skill sets they had.  This was BEFORE EXCEL!

She married Paul Child whom she met while in the OSS in what is now Sri Lanka.  He signed up for the US Foreign Service so it was off to Paris where Julia discovered her true calling - food.

This was a Valentine's Day card she and Paul sent out one year.  They didn't do Christmas cards but made their own Valentine's cards every year.  She cooks AND she is crafty.  Totally rocks!

Now most of us know the story.  She went to Le Cordon Bleu, and became a famous chef.  End of story.  Not quite.

What you might not know is Julia was the only woman at that time that attended Le Cordon Bleu in the professional section and she spoke next to no French when she began and oh yes, all the classes were in French. 

WHA!  Seriously!?  YES!  She learned French from people and classes while she was there. I can barely read the Metro signs in France (which any child can follow, and do) and she was listening to cooking classes and reading French books not knowing French.  Crazy and awesome.

Also, she started a small cooking school with friends in France and called it L'Ecole des Trois Gourmandes.  These are the women with whom she wrote a little book called "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" or as I (and many others) refer to it, the bible.  Actually, they had a hard time selling that book.  Some silly company named Houghton Mifflin passed it over, citing that it was too much like an encyclopedia. 

Um, yeah...encyclopedia of GREATNESS.

It took time but they found another publisher.  Julia didn't give up.  When it was published, it became a best seller.  Put that in your omelette pan and flip it Houghton Mifflin!

We all know from Public Television or (Saturday Night Live, which she thought was hilarious) that she was on TV as well.  She flung fish and chopped chickens and served up French dishes in a way that made people say, "I can do that."  The more people that tried it, actually liked it and a new cooking movement was born, or reborn depending on your opinion.

Julia was a force of nature, in the best possible way. She was strong, passionate, smart and lived life to it's fullest and still was the gal you want to hang out in the kitchen with a glass (or many glasses) of wine.  I think she is one of the most amazing women to ever walk the face of the earth.  She inspires me to at least try to take risks and ENJOY LIFE!  I am working on them both but I have a good person to learn from.

Pesto Recipe

1 clove garlic
1/4 cup pine nuts
1/4 cup walnuts
2 cups loosely packed fresh basil
1/4-1/3 cup olive oil
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese (fresh grated is SOO much better)*

Add garlic, pine nuts and walnuts to blender or food processor (I use my mini-chopper) and chop until nuts are chopped (yeah, I know, useful). Add basil and pulse. If your processor/chopper/blender has a lid you can pour through or remove during the chopping, add oil gradually. Most fp's or choppers have tiny holes in the top to accomplish this.

*If you are not freezing the pesto, add parm and then chop/blend until the ingredients are well blended. If you are freezing the pesto, leave the cheese out and add it when you make your pasta. I have read conflicting reports about freezing cheese. I figure, why take a chance. I like cheese too much. I add it later (that way I can add more too).

When I first started making pesto, the recipes I found had too much olive oil for me. Add more if you want your pesto a bit smoother. It's all a matter of taste. You can't go wrong with it. You can also omit the nuts if you have allergies in your family but you might need to cut the oil a bit more. Also, if the 100% basil mixture it too much, swap in some spinach. It is excellent that way as well!

Crackberry Friday: Pesto Mania

Two pots of basil
16 batches of pesto for the fall/winter
I've been wanting to do this for awhile now and I finally got it done. I have heavenly pesto from plants from this summer now safely in the freezer. Next, tomato sauce!

Food Porn: Shrimp and Orzo with Grape Tomatoes and Romano Cheese

Bobo, the ENTIRE time I said, "tom ARE to" instead of "tom MAY to".

Shrimp and Orzo with Cherry Tomatos and Romano Cheese

This is a Cooking Light Recipe and it ROCKS!

Things I changed:
1. Used grape tomatoes, like them better
2. Added some white wine (about 1/2 the glass I was drinking) to deglaze (aren't I fancy) just before putting shrimp back in the pan.

REALLY good and you can probably use rice too that was already cooked and leftover. Just omit the cooking orzo part. Also, an SB white wine is quite good with it...

also before...and also after. :)

Happy Mothers Day!

So now I am in the down stage after entertaining. It's when my body goes, "Ok, your done, here's a nice headache and unexplained nausea." The nausea is kind of funny because it used make me wonder if I cooked something wrong. I know now that it's because I work myself into a tizzy to get everything together and PERFECT. Have I mentioned I am a control freak? Anyway, after a nap I feel better and can tell you about our day.

I made the pics small so you may have to click on them to see better.

So, everything went very well and was very much enjoyed by all. I did not take this picture. If I had everyone would be looking at the camera.

From left to right, my Mom (she has the scorpion pic and will be sending it to me for your enjoyment. She got back from Honduras yesterday.), P's G-mom (she waitresses for fun and 'mad money' at 82) and P's Mom (incredible cook and I've learned a lot from her. . She speaks like 4 languages and is leaning more).

I only had one issue and it was that my pie crust fell in the oven while prebaking it. Luckily, I bought a frozen one at TJ's for just this emergency. It was quite good. I patted myself on the back for not freaking out when it happened. I'll still try the crust again but not in a straight sided mold.

These are pinwheels. The only thing left of the pie dough I made. :( When I was little and my Mom would bake a pie we would make pinwheels with the leftover dough. I used to ask her to make pie dough just for pinwheels. Each person had one on their coffee cup plate. Her mother taught her how to do it.

The triangle-like pastries are the tyropitas. They are a Greek pastry made with mostly feta and eggs, folded into phyllo. P's G-mom is Greek 100%, as it his Mom (yes, Peter is usually pasty white b/c he is also German). The other puffed things are something I threw together with the extra filling I had from the tyropitas. It's just puff pastry with tyropita filling.

The plate on the bottom are the cheddar-dill scones. No story here, they are just GOOD, a recipe given to my by a friend who is a fabulous cook. I also had banana bread b/c I didn't have anything for the top tier but you don't really need to see that.

This was an idea I had at the last minute. I didn't want to do anything big food-wise before the brunch but knew I would need a little time to finish up in the kitchen once everyone got there. So I made a toast and jam plate. The little toasts are just very thin white bread cut into small squares and triangles with a little brushed on melted butter, toasted in the oven. Then there is jam.

I don't have pics of the sausages or the quiche as all the pics were taken during the feast (with the exception of the toast and jam) and the quiche went fast as did the fruit salad. We also had fresh squeezed OJ, sparkling lemonade and coffee (could not have make it thru without).

That's about it. I am still tired and the Flyers are on. I am told there has already been a puck to the face and a big fight so I am missing out. Hope you enjoy my little food post.

Almost Forgot...Cooking

The tyropitas turned out very well although there must have been a misprint in the recipe somewhere b/c I ended up with a TON of extra filling. Not sure what happened there but they are very tasty and most of them made it to the freezer for Mother's Day. Next up, fruit salad which I'll make on Saturday and then the quiche on Sunday. Wish me luck. I may take pics if it ends up looking nice. :)

Sunday Quickie

Minds out of gutter now! ;)

This is a quick post b/c I tired from working my 2nd job. The baking went well. I only did the scones though, b/c I ran out of time waiting for the phyllo to deforst. I will do the Tyropitas this week. I was extremely happy with how the cheddar dill scones turned out. Hopefully they freeze as well as the original baker said they do.
I would have gotten it all done but on Saturday, I could not seem to get moving. I felt wiped out for no apparent reason. I ended up taking a 2 hour nap. Sometimes, I think my body just puts on the breaks after I haven't allowed myself any relaxation. Later that night we went out to dinner with P's parents for my MIL's b-day. It was WONDERFUL! I may post more on it tomorrow if I have time.

P's Grandmother is in the hospital at the moment. They are not exactly sure what is wrong but it is something in the range of either, mini-stroke, big cell ocuvitis (sp), or migraines. She is 82 and a spitfire. She still works as a waitress once a week for fun. So we're a little on edge. Right now my shoulders are up around my ears and I keep having to remind myself to relax them.

I am going to bed now. Ugh! I just remembered, sheets are in the dryer, I still have to make the bed.

Saturday Morning

1. Walked G-dog: it started to rain. Grrr
2. Checked about 1/2 of blogs.
3. Drinking coffee...very good

Today I will be baking. I am a very good cook, not the best baker. This is why I am doing it today. So that come Mother's Day I am not surprised by my mistakes. Today I will be making

Cheddar Dill Scones
Tyropitas
pie crust for quiche (maybe)

Wish me luck.

Oh and BTW. They played Halo until 2am. I actually played a little but in the beginning.

Shrimp Florentine with Carmelized Garlic

This is my first cooking post.

DE-VINE!

This was a recipe from Cooking Light although I probably added a little too much butter. :) it was so good though. I wish I could make it again tonight but then I'd get bored with it.

Sometimes, a recipe just comes together even better than expected and that's want happened. It was insanely easy and tasty. The sauce was not thick but reminded me of the creamy Provence broth you get at Monk's with one of their mussel entrees, perfect for that home made bread we had left over from the weekend. The only thing missing a nice crisp white wine. P was going to play hockey later and I didn't want to have to finish the bottle myself (seriously). I made do with a bottle of Stella Artios.

Things I changed:
- added the garlic to the shrimp and sauce before adding to pasta to distribute the flavor
- used a whole 9oz bag of baby spinach instead of frozen
- probably used closer to a Tbsp of butter. I don't think that it made a ton of diffference

Things I'd do differently next time:
- maybe, just maybe try with ff half and half to see if there was a huge diff
- use all larger cloves instead of using the smaller interior cloves (they got too toasty)
- maybe add diced fresh tomatoes (seeded)
- could try with scallops but would probably sear them first instead of saute

Shrimp Florentine with Carmelized Garlic