Let's stick a fork in it

So we can finally call the holiday season done, here's a few off-the-slopes snaps of significant holiday going-ons for us.

We had already had a tree at home and were more or less over the whole business, but the person's whose house we were staying in went back home to retrieve his son and have a turn at custodial parent the day after Christmas. What better way to welcome him than with a stolen tree!

There were so many that it was hard to choose.

This one looked good, but we figured why stop at a single tree

when were able to fit three in the truck? We stopped by the grocery store on the way back to the house, and I hoped that people thought we were going to the recycling center instead of from. They were probably impressed by how much money they thought we spent on trees. God, we crack ourselves up.

Later, in a spasm of irrationality, I decided Christmas cookies would be a good idea. They rolled, cut, and baked one day and frosted another, thereby spreading the mess over two days instead of one. I know: brilliant.

And you know what happens to sugar cookie dough when you roll it out, cut something, change your mind, wad it up, and do it all again? And again? Right. But they looked pretty.

I did have some peace and quiet in the kitchen though when my peeps went outside to build an igloo. It ended up looking more like a snow beehive, but it was completely functional. It will be fun to see how long it lasts throughout the season.

Finally, look what was waiting for me in the mail when I arrived home! What do you think it is? Go ahead and guess! It's about twelve inches long, so it's too small to use as a witch's broom, although I can imagine why you might think that an appropriate gift. 

And so ends what my girlfriend calls the Holiday Death March, kicking off with Halloween and collapsing in a heap on New Year's. We're thankful to have survived it and grateful for peace in the months ahead. 

Off to a little gathering,cranberry tart in hand

Because I hate to show up empty handed. And I never show up to a gathering of my book group without a dessert.

Our book group is getting worse every meeting about reading and discussing books, but we never have a problem with the food, drink, and party aspect of it all. Last night we invited all the spouses so they can more or less confirm that the whole book group concept is really a ruse designed to give a group of old friends a night out.

This time of year I'm always looking for a new dessert idea. The wonderful summer fruits are gone, my Meyer lemon tree is a few months off from delivering, and I've had enough of chocolate. A co-worker pointed me to this recipe, reprinted last year in The New York Times. I'll give it to you hear since I did a few things to simplify and reorganize it. I hate when a recipe has you use part of an ingredient in one part of the recipe, and then in the next part tells you to use "the rest." Damn it—don't make me go back to the ingredient list! Give me the amount!!

CRANBERRY TART

Crust

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup finely ground cornmeal
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
freshly ground zest of 1 lemon
1 stick of unsalted butter, diced
1 egg
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Place flour, polenta, 1 cup sugar, salt, and lemon zest in a food processor and blend. Add butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse sand. In a small bowl, whisk egg, olive oil, and vanilla. Add liquid ingredients to food processor and pulse until dough forms into a ball. Form dough in a ball and wrap in plastic. Chill for at least one hour (or 20 minutes in the freezer if you're in a hurry). Dough can be made the night before.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roll out dough to a 12-inch circle and press into a 10-inch removable-bottom tart pan. Trim edges.

Filling

3 cups (12-ounce bag) fresh cranberries, rinsed and picked over
3/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
pinch salt

In a 3-quart sauce pan, combine cranberries, sugar, and corn syrup. Stir over medium heat until cranberries release juices, about 2 minutes. Remove to a bowl and allow to cool for about 20 minutes (or place pan in a bowl of ice and water for about 10 minutes).

In a small bowl, whisk together creams and flour until smooth. Whisk in egg yolks, vanilla, and salt. Pour over cranberries and fold together.

Place tart shell in pan on rimmed baking sheet. Using slotted spoon, add cranberries to tart shell. Pour as much remaining liquid as will fit on top of cranberries into shell. Bake about 40 minutes, until filling bubbles but is not yet firm and crust begins to brown. Cool to room temperature before serving.

I took a wrapped book for our book-themed Yankee swap (we've advanced so much from the days where someone would bring a really lame gift and pin a joint or a $20 bill to it to sweeten the pot). I also brought some homemade quince paste and some manchego cheese and some candied rosemary to garnish the tart.

I'm slowly moving into the holiday spirit. Sophie and I are off to the city today to see A.C.T.'s A Christmas Carol. Ghosts in chains! Dancing onions! And of course that grumpy old man.



If the show's not doing it for me, I can always sit and watch my daughter's happy shining face.

In which I am surprised bygetting exactly what I want

Because what I thought I was getting was . . . nothing. Which would have been fine. Really. Husband and I have a big blow-out ski trip to Alta planned for the end of January. Given the expense of that, along with the rest of our crack ski habit and the dismal economy, we reasoned that we would skip giving presents to each other. And isn't every day we spend together a gift in itself? Well, maybe not, but we wanted to save money and hassle. The presents would be for Sophie, and our gift would be watching her open them.

So on the way drive down to my parents' house the day of Christmas Eve, we had the following conversation:

HUSBAND: So you wrapped up that book you ordered me as my present. [Something he heard about on NPR about the building of the Giza pyramids. Yawn.]

FIGS: Yes. If you can't wait for the paperback to come out, you're going to have to wait for Christmas to open it. And there might be something else for you to open as well.

HUSBAND: So we're going to have another Christmas where I have all these things to open from you and your family and you have nothing to open from me.

FIGS: I included your name on all the gifts to my family. And no one will notice that you didn't get me any gifts.

HUSBAND: Your sister will notice.

FIGS: Yes, she will. But she's long since ceased to be amazed by this.

HUSBAND: Well, if you had wanted something, I would have bought it for you.

FIGS: Oh, there are always things I want.

HUSBAND: Really? Such as?

FIGS: I really liked that pancake pan that Pam had at the beach house last fall. The one that makes the round pancakes. You can put jam in the middle of them.

HUSBAND: Oh, I didn't know you wanted one.

FIGS: That's ok. It's not an emergency, and my birthday is in June.

HUSBAND: Where does one buy such a thing?

FIGS: Williams-Sonoma. They have it in the catalog. You don't have to go to the mall.

HUSBAND: Anything else?

FIGS: Well, you can never go wrong with cashmere sweaters.

And so several hours later, what did I open FROM HUSBAND?

Yahoo!!

One of Husband's most amazing qualities is to slyly observe my interest in certain objects and then squirrel away that piece of information until a gift opportunity arises. I think I'll keep him.

If you do not have one of these pans, you should race out immediately and purchase one. They're very easy to use, and the array of fillings you can use is endless. I used a mixed berry jam I made last summer, but in the summer fresh berries would be nice. So would lemon curd, chocolate ganache, a cooked apple filling . . . The recipe for the pancake is a fairly standard one, except that you separate the eggs and whip the whites until stiff and then fold them in. The result is a very light and airy little puff of a thing.

The leftovers were even good cold later in the afternoon.

And my gift from my mom? A cashmere sweater. Black. Turtleneck. Perfect.

Pssst, Sophie!

Hi Honey.

I know how much you love our Christmas village,

so when the collection went on sale today I couldn't help adding another building,

the Apple Farm!! What do you think? It's much cuter in real life.

I'll let you decide where to put it in the neighborhood when you get home.

Maybe on the lower level between the windmill and the chicken house? Your call.

Don't tell Daddy though because you know how crazed he gets about all the Christmas stuff, especially when we have to repack it and fit it all back in the closet. We'll just slip it in, and he probably won't even notice.

But that's not all! I also gotsome fencing (two packages),

street lamps that really light up (!),

some shrubs,

and a Santa! 

We miss you very much. Our house is sad and lonely, and even our Christmas tree doesn't sparkle as brightly.

Be a good girl: say please and thank you, practice your violin, mind your grandparents. Daddy and I will see you tomorrow.

Love,

Mama

A Liza Minnelli load of emotions

The holidays can do that to a person, no?

Yesterday afternoon I put my precious daughter on a plane for her grandparents'. Without her our house is quiet in a way that we do not enjoy. I am sad. I watched the plane taxi down the runway and finally lift into the air. I then raced across the concourse to catch site of it out the opposite windows as it banked a turn and vanished to a tiny dot. Wandering to my car I felt adrift.

 
But then I look at her most recent school picture, and how can I not be happy? She is happy and confident and loves to explain to people in line at the airport that she is flying as an unaccompanied minor, which—she hastens to add—she has done many times before.  

But at the airport I was also worried about the future of our country after meeting numerous college students who were standing in line to reschedule flights after having missed their scheduled flights because they did not arrive at the airport on time. WTF? Do they show up to exams late too? Will they show up to job interviews late? As one young man exclaimed as he insisted we go ahead of him in line, "I miss my plane all the time!!" If these young people know the meaning of anxiety, it surely has no connection to punctuality. What will happen as they enter the adult world? Will they adjust to the world, or will the world adjust to them? I hope the former. Being on time makes me feel smug and accomplished.

Later that night I was also feeling peevish, cross, and exhausted as Husband and I worked at the MIL's until nearly midnight last night, Husband doing electrical work and I installing miles of shelving paper to the newly repainted kitchen cupboards. I put shelving paper in a few of my drawers that were all rough and splintery; the MIL just had all her drawers and shelves painted in semi-gloss paint. Isn't the fact that you can wipe this clean the point of semi-gloss paint?! "Oh, no!" says the MIL. "We need to protect the paint!"  Sort of like my great aunts who covered all their upholstered furniture in plastic sheeting (seriously—your ass stuck to it) and had plastic runners on all the wall-to-wall carpet thoroughfares of their house. There is something about that generation that does not think things are protected unless they are sealed in plastic. So now the MIL has plastic shelving paper lining every shelf and drawer in her kitchen. "Did we have to do this now?" the MIL wondered (wringing hands). YES, goddamn it! We did! When the hell else would we I do this? I have a JOB. I have Christmas shopping left to do, nothing wrapped, twenty loads of laundry, a trip to pack for, Sophie's skis to be taken into the shop, and the MIL's drapes to be taken to the cleaners. And did I mention I have a job? I did. I AM FUCKING BUSY. So let's add exasperated and just plain pissed.

But then I did experience a moment of blissful joy when these arrived at my door from genius baker and blogger extraordinaire, Laura at adonzeneggs. She generously offered those of us who yack it up on her comments sections a discount of $5 on each tin of holiday cookies. Whoohoo! Who says I can't delegate? This year, Laura was in charge of my cookies.




She was also kind enough to send along a few treats for Sophie, one of which I tucked into her knapsack to take on the plane, and a few nekkid cookies. Sometimes the best way to appreciate a truly good cookie or cake is without the frosting.

Thank you, sweetie!

And the cookie tin just may be the perfect house for the Fleur de Sel Caramels that she has on her blog today and that I want to make when I recover from the holidays. Note that it's when, not if. There's a whole season of skiing ahead of us. Crazy joy.

The great ameryllis exchange

Traditions are good things, right? Except perhaps when they signal that your parents may be losing their minds.

My parents get along very well with my MIL, and they exchange gifts at Christmas. Even though they see each other (we pack the MIL along with us for our drive down), they like to take care of things by mail order. Fine.

The MIL sends them an ameryllis bulb kit. Just add water, and a few weeks later you have a ginormous (usually) red flower. Fine.

And do you know what my parents send her? An ameryllis. Seriously. And what's really crazy is that both parties appear perfectly happy with this exchange.

Could they possibly skip the mailing and each buy themselves an ameryllis? Of course not! That's not the holiday spirit!!

Bring it on.

Sophie's carousel party: The menu

Spoiler alert! If you're coming to our party tomorrow evening, leave this post at once. Unless you want to know exactly what you're going to eat.

This year I'm mixing up the menu for this party:

Hot butter rum is OUT! Champagne cocktails are IN!
Vast arrays of cheese are OUT! So are crudites and dips.
Small baked one-bite appetizers are IN!
Homemade macaroni and cheese are OUT! Spanakopita is IN!
Pears poached in Riesling are OUT! Pear granita is IN!

So here's the menu. I'll add pictures as they are available.

BEVERAGES

Sparkling wine cocktail: Poinsettias
Christmas ale
Nonalcoholic
sparkling cranberry and apple juice
Wines with dinner

APPETIZERS

TJ’s crab cakes & aeoli (surprisingly good for a store-bought item)

Shrimp puffs

Marinated Manchego cheese, quince paste, and fennel flatbread

Stuffed mushrooms (I thought they looked like poo, but they tasted great)

Chocolate peppermint bark

Fruitcake (no jokes, please!)


DINNER

Cream of tomato soup
Spanakopita
Green salad with clementines and pear

DESSERT

Cranberry tart
Pear Riesling granita
Candied rosemary garnish

Oh, and can't forget the favor bags.

We conclude our discussionof cards and make soup

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: The blogger community is a powerful thing. Many thanks to all who replied to my queries about Christmas cards. Your combined wisdom astounds me. And makes me realize how incredibly impressionable I am. I read one comment: Oh, yes. That's right! I'll do that. I read another: Well, that's a very good point too! Ok, I'll do that! And so on.

I like the idea of sending something after the Christmas holiday: sort of a New Years or Valentine card. I truly like the idea of making cards, but I am impressed by the digital slide shows and cards some people shared. And Katie's right: I could include more people. And at this point, everyone in my realm is pretty hip with the digital. My 70-something aunt just notified family members that her husband entered the hospital on Facebook (very practical—no time to call everyone). But to do something nice my technical skills would have to be kicked up a notch or two. We'll see.

In the meantime, returning to an area where I feel somewhat competent, I'm getting ready for a party I have hosted for the past few years: Sophie's carousel party. The Usual Suspects, five families with an unusual affinity for each other, gather at our house for cocktails at 4:00. When
it gets dark, the kids are carted off ride the carousel, sporting all its holiday fanciness, in Tilden Park, near our house. Everyone returns for a simple dinner and a book exchange for the kids. (See that tree? It's real.)

I'm still working on my appetizer menu, but for dinner I'll be serving cream of tomato soup, spanakopita, and a green salad. Dessert will be a cranberry tart with pear Riesling granita, which I will garnish with a sprig of candied rosemary.

Last night I made the candied rosemary, which is now packed away in an airtight container. I'm all about planning and prep, so I also got a jump on the tomato soup.

I started the recipe last night by roasting my tomatoes. Canned tomatoes are drained (reserving the juice) and then sliced open, seeds removed, spread on a foil-lined baking sheet, sprinkled with brown sugar, and baked until most of the liquid has evaporated.

The roast tomatoes and juice went into the refrigerator until I arrived home this evening from my very dull work holiday party (I kept thinking "I could be home finishing my soup!").

This evening I had only to saute the shallots, etc., add stock, and simmer everything for a while before zipping it through a blender. I don't mind using a stick blender for soups like cream of broccoli where you don't mind chunks, but I like this soup to be silky smooth and find a regular blender works best.

I complete the soup up to adding the half and half and sherry and store it in the refrigerator until a few hours before serving, when I'll add the remaining ingredients as I heat it up.

This recipe ran in the November/December 1999 issue of Cook's Illustrated. I've modified (and simplified) slightly. Everyone who has tasted it says this is the best tomato soup they have had. It freezes well, so make lots!

CREAM OF TOMATO SOUP

2 cans (28 oz. each) whole tomatoes, drained, juice reserved
1 1/2 tablespoon brown sugar
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 large shallots, minced
1 tablespoon tomato paste
pinch of ground allspice
2 tablespoons flour
1 3/4 cup chicken stock or low-sodium broth
1/2 cup half and half
2 tablespoons brandy or dry sherry
salt and cayenne pepper to taste

Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 450 degrees. Line rimmed baking sheet with foil. Spread tomatoes and sprinkle with sugar. Bake until all liquid has evaporated and tomatoes begin to color, about 30 minutes. Allow tomatoes to cool slightly and peel them off foil. Set aside.

In a large saucepan, heat butter over medium heat until foaming. Add shallots, tomato paste, and allspice. Reduce heat to low and cook while stirring until shallots are softened, about 10 minutes. Add flour and cook, stirring constantly, until thoroughly combined, about 30 seconds. Whisk in chicken stock and add reserved tomato juice and roasted tomatoes. Bring to boil, then reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 30 minutes.

Remove mixture from stove and allow to cool slightly. Ladle into blender in batches, placing pureed portions in another saucepan. Add cream and reheat until warm. Off heat, stir in brandy or sherry and season to taste.

Questions about cards—HELP!

Cards yes? Cards no? Here is what is for sure: I HAVE NOT DONE ANYTHING ABOUT CHRISTMAS CARDS THIS YEAR.

Now that that's off my chest, allow me to explain. I haven't had time and will have even less time in the next few weeks. In past years I have spent so much money on cards, even when I buy them at the end of the season the year before. This year I was thinking about making them, but I know by the time I buy all the supplies and pay for mailing, the savings will likely be insignificant. And the time—did I mention that? Very little time.

So this year I have two ideas for cards:

1. No cards. Will people hate me? Will they even notice? Will they drop me from their list? I usually give people a couple years of not sending me a card before I consider axing them, but these are tough times.

2. Digital cards. I once received a card from someone by email. It was a beautifully designed image, complete with pictures of the kids, and carried a note "No trees died to bring you this card." I liked that. A few questions: Do you think this is tacky? If this is all I could manage, should I just skip it this year? If not, do you know any website that has templates for creating something like this? Shutterfly and all those sites seem geared strictly to print products. I'm not a designer, and my computer graphics skills are nonexistent, but I could probably work with a template in the way we do with Blogger. Evite has Ecards, but they're all pre-fab ones, and I would like to include a photograph and have some design flexibility. Is there a business opportunity here (not for me but for someone with actual skills)?

Please help!!

A tree, some seafood, and pear granita

Really, they are all related.

On Saturday, we survived the Art Faire at Sophie's school. This is one of my favorite events of the year. Our P.T.A.-like group does the lunch; one of the teachers organizes and vendors and takes care of everything else. This year we serve spanakopita and soup. I made tomato bisque and cream of potato leek and fennel, and another parent made minestrone. Several of us gathered Friday evening to make the spanakopitas, and the author of the recipe we used will be guest blogging that recipe here shortly. Stay tuned for the best and easiest entertaining recipe ever!

On Sunday Husband, Sophie, and I headed down to Half Moon Bay to cut our Christmas tree. This has been a family tradition since Sophie was a toddler. We head first to a Christmas tree farm, where we marvel at the bad trees we see before selecting our perfect tree.

This one is missing its top.

This one is is too small.

But thank goodness we had our family mascot Grinch doll along to help us find the perfect tree. He is only allowed out of the closet between Thanksgiving and New Years, although he has been known to sneak out at other times.

This year Sophie was big enough to hold the tree while Husband and Grinchy sawed it down. 

We always follow tree cutting with a trip to our favorite Half Moon Bay eatery for the world's best fish and chips.


While we're waiting for our table, we head next door to pick up our traditional tree-trimming dinner, fresh Dungeness crab.

I always request crabs that are good and mean, figuring those will be the most fresh. The fish monger assured me that the ones he selected for us were downright sassy.

We finished a dinner of crab, garlic bread, and green salad with the perfect dessert: a fresh pear granita. It's a perfect finish for any rich holiday meal this time of year. 

I started with a standard granita recipe and substituted Riesling for the water. There is enough water in the pears that it does freeze all the way. I also added a few cardamon pods to the simmering pears.

PEAR RIESLING GRANITA

6 pears, about three pounds, peeled and cored, coarsely chopped

1 cup Riesling

1/2 to 1 cup sugar, depending on whether you are using a sweet or dry Riesling

2 or 3 cardamon pods, crushed gently to open up

1 tablespoon of lemon juice

Place the pear in a saucepan with the Riesling and cardamon and simmer for about five minutes. Cool slightly, remove cardamon pods, and puree mixture in a blender. Add lemon juice. 

Pour mixture into a shallow 13x9" glass an and place in the freezer until ice crystals begin to form. Remove and whisk with a fork. Put it back in. Do this for the next couple of hours until mixture is slushy. Serve immediately. 

Sophie's first personalized stationery—on sale now!

Look what I just ordered Sophie for writing her Christmas thank you notes! It will be her first set of personalized stationery!! So exciting. Ok, I know—get a life already, Cindy.


Anywhoo, the design I ordered is ON SALE today, so hop on over and order a set if you're looking for a way to help motivate yourself or a little note writer.