Monday, November 24, 2008

Like mother, like daughter

I am kind of obsessed with Thanksgiving. I love choosing the menu, leafing through all of my magazines, cookbooks, and folders, choosing new dishes, and making my cornbread stuffing (it is so friggin good). It is a holiday dedicated to food, in my opinion. Food and being thankful for all that is good and abundant in my life--what more can I ask for. Plus, I love left overs.

Erik love starting Thanksgiving traditions. When we lived in Phillly we'd have a dinner party right before Thanksgiving called the un-Thanksgiving. I wish we knew more people in Houston...perhaps we'd do it again...We would make sure that turkey was NOT on the menu. One year we had duck and almost burnt the apartment buliding down with a grease fire (the duck was slightly charred, but extremely and surprisingly succulent), and the year after we made a Mario Batali lamb dish (which kicked some serious ass). When we made the lamb the pipes flooded and our tub became the sink. We were throwing our garbage out in the doggy park next door to where we lived (oye). Anyhow, I digress...

Thanksgiving at my parent's house was equally nutty, but in a very different way. The nuttiness was a la Rene (my mother). Thanksgiving is the ONLY time she cooks these days. Granted, she is a damn good cook; she just gets...shall we say crazy? I think it is because she decieded that her one day to cook is for about 12 people, perhaps cooking her annual meal for two people or even four would be much easier. Initially we'd have so much fun. The two of us would sit at the kitchen table looking through old cooking magazines and cookbooks discussing and planning the menu.

She'd delegate the crappy jobs to me like chopping onions and peeling carrots. There was always a spill, screams, and envitably a fight where I'd throw in the towel and stomp off to my room like the little brat I used to be (isn't it funny how going home brings out the best in us?). Thanksgiving became a hell of a lot more pleasant when I'd make the dessert. Mom thinks making a dessert is silly because you could just buy the darn thing, but I wholeheartledy disagree. There is nothing like a fresh baked cake or pie, and it makes the house smell completely fabulous.

When Erik and I got engaged we started to have Thanksgving at our house. Like mom, I started to collect Bon Appetit and Food and Wine Thanksgiving issues. Slowly a collection started to form. Erik and I cook the meal together. Ironically, I became well...my mother. On Weds and Thursday I start to tweak out. I delegate and boss around whomever comes in the kitchen. Envitably, there is a spill, a scream, and a fight. The two of us have learned to take on our own dishes instead. Erik usually takes the mashed potatoes and the pumpkin pie. I do the stuffing and veggies. We both take on the turkey. Doling out who does what makes for a much more pleasant kitchen, sometimes.

In my trusty T-Day folder I have several pumpkin recipes. There are at least 7 or 8 pumpkin recipes (with streusal, mixed with pecan, mascarapone, ginger, honey, or butterscotch). Additionally, there are several pumpkin recipes that are more modern and fun. We have pumpkin trifles (I say that because there are a couple), pumpkin cheesecakes (again several), pumpkim tiramisu, and two pumpkin cakes. Every year I try to convince Erik that we should make something other than pie. "How about cheesecake?" He hates cheesecake. "Look at this beautiful trifle." What the hell is a trifle?

The end result is that I can make something else, but he will still be making his pumkin pie. Who wants two pumpkin desserts, BORING. Instead I try to make something from the folder before Thanksgiving. The problem is Erik does not eat sweets (though he really does), and I am not supposed to eat sugar (though I kinda do), so how am I supposed to make all of these fabulous new recipes? Playgroup! I had a play group this year with about 10 women and their children. I had to make something for them to nosh on...pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting it was...They loved it.

This is a recipe fom Food and Wine Magazine's 2007 Thanksgiving issue. It was originally a carmel cream cheese frosting with an amber color, but I screwed up and did not cooking the carmel long enough, so mine was white. The frosting still came out great, though I think if it was carmel frosting it would have kicked even more serious ass. It is great served straight from the fridge or at room temp. It is also heavenly with a hot cup of carmel cream roobis tea. also, try to use organic products when you can, even though this cake is not thinning, good products are healthier for you and the environment).

Frosting:
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1/2 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped
1 1/2 sticks of unsalted butter, softened
2 tablespoons of heavy cream
1 pound of cream cheese (a package of philly) cut into 2 inch cubes

Cake
2 cups of all purpose flour
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of ground ginger
3/4 teaspoon of freshly grated nutmeg (always use fresh and get yourself a microplane if you do not have one!)
1/4 teaspoon of ground cloves
1 1/4 cups of light brown sugar
4 large eggs
3/4 cup of vegetable oil
One 15 ounce can of pumpkin puree (I got the already spiced kind by mistake and just used less of the spices as to not over power the cake)
1/2 cup of milk

Frosting:
In a medium saucepan, combine the sugar, water, vanilla bean and seeds. Cook over high heat and stir until the sugar dissolves. Once the sugar has dissolved cook over moderate heat for about 7 minutes or longer. Do not stir it. Making the carmel is the hardest part. You really ned to watch the stuff. You can use a pastry brush to wash down crystals from the side of the pan, but there is really no need. Watch it closely. If it burns you will smoke the house out and have a hard candied brown blob on your hands, and if you do not let it get to that darkish amber color it will not be carmel (I did this). It is all about timing. When you see it getting darker wait a few minutes and take it off before it burns. When it turns darkish amber remove it from the heat and immediately stir in the butter and heavy cream (do not worry if the butter separates). Discard the vanilla bean.

Transfer the carmel to a large bowl with a standing mixer with a whisk. Beat at low speed until the carmel cools and comes together, about 5 nminutes. With the machine on medium speed, beat in the cream cheese, 1 cube at a time. Beat well between additions, until silky. Transfer frosting t o a bowl and put it in the fridge for about 6 hours (I had it in over night)

Cake:
Preheat oven to 350
Butter and flour 2 eight inch cake pans. In a medium bowl, whisk the flour with the baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, baking soda, cloves, and nutmeg.

In a separate bowl beat the brown sugar with the eggs until fluffy, 3 minutes. Beat in the oil and the pumpkin puree, then beat in the milk. Add the dry ingredients in small batches to the wet ingredients (about 3 batches). Beat well between additions, until lumps are gone.

Por the batter into the pans. Bake for 40-45 minutes (depending on your oven). It is done when a toothpick comes out of the middle of each cake clean. Cool on a rack for 20 minutes. Take the cakes out of the pans. Continue to cool about 40 minutes..

Place one layer of cake on a plate and frost the top (use about a cup). Place the other cake on top and frost the top and sides with the rest of the fristing. Put it in the fridge for about 2 hours before serving.

You can garnish it with candied pecans.

You can make the cake 2 days ahead of time and keep it in an airtight container in the fridge.

Saturday, November 22, 2008

The Beginning

I love the start of things. When something new begins it is unknown, scary kinda like change---it is the leaping over the cliff into the unknown. When I was a teenager I called it the abyss. The abyss is the vast nothingness before what is. What "is" has not begun yet, but it will. The beginning alsways makes me nervous. When I was a teacher (I taught English for 6 years) I would go to sleep early before the first day of school with the kids, but I would never fall asleep. I would be super excited and anxious for what was to be. What is so nerve wracking about first days I think is that unknown the starts when new things are beginning. Yet once it starts your there.

I dreamt of being a writer most of my adult life. I have kept a journal since I was 12. As I got older, the entries became more sparse. Sometimes I would not write for months, then I got guilty, wrote about the fact that I was not writing. Lately I only write during times of CRISIS and DRAMA (you will probably notice I have lots of DRAMA).

I have never journaled on a computer. Somehow writing on this thing makes it feel more real---I cannot blunder or use the written word to just complain. I have wanted to make my words mean something...I feel as if I have something to say (even though I am not sure what th hell it is just yet). So, here I am at my new beginning. The beginning of my blog.

I am not sure what will become of the blog. For instance, I am calling it The Kitchen Table because that is where the family gathers, and at the moment, my life is filled with my family. The kitchen table is also where we eat, and I LOVE to talk about food and all things food related. Anyhow, even though it is called the kitchen table I am not quite sure which way my writing will turn. I may talk about food, or I may talk about my children. Shit, I may talk about sex or my issues and family angst. That is the thing about beginnings---one never knows what the hell is yet to come, though one can always guess.

The unknown is scary. On the first day of school all is new. I'd wear a new outfit, buy notebooks and folders that will soon be filled. The first day I'd try to learn the students names, but it would usually takes a few weeks. I'd feel out the kids that I will connect with...map out what I want to teach, but in the beginning I have no clue what will be. So, this is a new beginning, exciting, scary...

I have found in my life that I learn the most and grow when I just leap off that cliff. When I jump into life is when I reap the most reward. It is when I stop thinking and start DOING. Perhaps that is why the universe chose to give me two babies at once. I knew nothing about motherhood or children. Before Maya and Amara (my daughter's names...I love saying that, "my daughter's") I knew nothing about babies. In fact before I had children the only contact I had was small stints with my niece, Isabelle, and nephew, Evan, for long weekends (and when Isabelle was very young I was afraid to even hold her).

When Maya and Amara were born I was literally thrown into motherhood. Now, having had two, it is like an old hat. Hopefully writing becomes an old hat too, that fits my head perfectly.