Throwback Thursday

Not good but it was the best we could do...

Missing my two brothers today. Mostly missing the utterly chaotic, yet goofball dynamic. Life with them has always been a bit of a free-for-all. Given their disabilities, it seemed the only way. Maybe it's a part of the reason as an adult, I've chaffed at attempts by others to add rules and structure. It seems alien. Controlling. And more often than not, pointless.

Happy Presidents Day!

Book Revue,  July 2013

Love is...

Baking something you don't even like for your spouse.

Blecch!

Throwback Thursday

In honor of this dreary, snowy day, a picture of mom on the snow-covered walk to my grandmother's house. 1970s.

And also, some beautiful J.C. Bach.

Winter Meal for Two

A comforting dish in the midst of this horrendous winter. I made this for dinner last night.

Sweet Potato, Feta, and Shiitake Casserole

Ingredients:

• 2 small sweet potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced 
• 2 cups sliced shiitake mushrooms
• 2 cups thinly sliced Swiss chard leaves (or watercress)
• 1 small red onion, sliced
• 2 Tbs. olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced 
• 2 tsp. dried oregano
• 1 tsp. dried mint, optional
• 4 Tbs. crumbled feta cheese (4 oz.)
• 4 Tbs. black currants
• 2 tsp. lemon juice

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Peel and cut sweet potatoes, etc.

2. Toss sweet potatoes with mushrooms, onion, oil, garlic, oregano, and mint (if using) in medium bowl. Season with salt and pepper.

N.B. In the pictures, I tossed the chard as well. Based on its cooking time though, I think it would be better to put it in the dish as a bottom layer. Trial and error!

3. Put the chard in a baking dish. Spread the sweet potato mixture on top.  Crown with feta, currants, and lemon juice.

4. Cover dish with foil. Bake 20 minutes (or until potatoes are tender). Cool 
2 minutes before serving.

5. Serve over grains if you like. I made Israeli cous cous (as per the package directions).

My Weekend in Pictures

Winter landscape through my aunt's windows

Array of iron objects

Goose in the East Hampton Duck Pond

Dog-running at Wiborg Beach

Crab claws and other finds

Snow dunes

Montauk lighthouse, passenger-side

Neon Lobster at Shagwong

Throwback Thursday: Middle School Self

When I was in middle and high school, I had an almost perverse artistic vanity, seeking to represent myself figuratively in the most unflattering light.

Having turned up my nose long ago at idealized, Barbie-like portraiture (Insipid! Uninteresting!), I veered wildly into the other extreme, taking an almost masochistic pleasure in making myself look grotesque as possible.

I did these charcoal sketches over a series of days in the back of a blank notebook I was planning to use as my valedictory 8th grade yearbook. I secretly hoped people might stumble upon them as they looked for an empty page on which to write.

While I now recognize this streak for what is was -- an operatic flourish, rebellion for rebellion's sake, reverse snobbism, with a heady whip of pretension thrown into the mix, looking back, I'm still glad I chose this (ultimately harmless) path over the another. My 8th grade self and I could agree on this: it made for some interesting images.

Kitchen of the day

Somewhere in Sweden...

I don't normally like such modern cabinetry, but there's something soothing about the soft green.

Love too the thistles and the organic curves of the bentwood chairs.

Flowers on the windowsill

This weekend, Molly added... (drumroll, please!)... a plant shelf to our reading nook. We had picked up some pricy iron brackets at Dry Goods in Boerum Hill the weekend before (also, a reindeer Christmas ornament with one antler because I managed to break it off in one second of handling -- go me!) to serve as a nice contrast to the white wood plank. A selection of tiny potted yellow mums added the perfect touch of cheer to this interminable winter.


Our next project for the nook is to make a tiny shelf or holder for a coffee mug, oh yeah, and to perhaps repair some of the cracks in the plaster ceiling (less glamorous but more important). Then, this area of the apartment will be pretty much "done."

Snow, snow, snow

More snow this morning.

This is getting old.

Oakland Craftsman

Something very soothing about this Craftsman dining room.

Walls: Martini Shaker by Kelly-Moore. 

Trim: Manchester Tan by Benjamin Moore.

Winter snowfall

A huge snowfall started this morning.  At 3pm, it's still going strong.

What could be a better winter breakfast than hot coffee and orange cake? Molly whipped up this wonderful breakfast cake for us to enjoy.

Blood Orange Winter Cake
adapted from Andrea Reusing's Cooking in the Moment

serves 8 - 10

Oranges and Glaze:
3 blood oranges
2 navel oranges
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 c. sugar
1/4 t. kosher salt

Cake:
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 c. sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
1/3 c. semolina flour
2/3 c. all-purpose flour
1 t. baking powder
1/4 t. table salt

Preheat the oven to 375F. Butter a 10 inch round pan.

Grate the zest of an orange, and reserve zest for cake batter. Cut the orange in half and juice it; you should have 1/3 c. juice. Slice remaining oranges into 1/4 inch thick rounds. Combine orange juice, lemon juice, sugar, salt, and slices in medium saucepan and bring to a slow simmer over low heat.
Cook for 6-7 minutes, until centers of orange slices are starting to become tender and translucent, but not fallen apart. Transfer slices to a plate and continute to simmer syrup until it has reduced to 1/2 cup, 5 to 8 minutes. Set the glaze aside.

To make the cake, combine butter and sugar until fluffy. One one egg, then another. Add zest. In another bowl, sift together dry ingredients. Add them, little by lithe, to the batter. Mix. Pour the batter into the pan and arrange the orange slices artistically on top of the batter. Bake for 15 minutes.

Reduce the oven temperature to 350 and bake for 35-40 minutes more, until the cake is an even golden brown and baked through.  Let cake cool until it is warm, and then poke holes all over the surface with a skewer. Brush the glaze over the top. Allow the cake to cool to room temperature and then unmold.

Today's Cat-cam

Mia ponders the meaning of life.

Mushu plots his next move.