California still up for grabs

I was nervous going to bed last night since the last time I went to bed before an election was called I thought Al Gore was my president. I've never really gotten over that.



But I had to remind myself that nothing that bad could happen there: Clinton or Obama would be alright with me. Although could you imagine waking up to Huckabee as the Republican nomimation—a man who a guest on NPR's Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me pointed out probably does not believe in evolution, gravity, or photosynthesis? Gad.

In other election news, I was alarmed by Cindy McCain's hair. What an amazing shellaced creation that was. Was she worried the tornadoes in the south would make their way to Arizona? Cause she would have been fine if they had. Really, I know we Cindys should stick together (it's a tough name—always the fictional babysitter, little sister, or girlfriend, never the scientist, detective, or action star), but I cannot stand by her with that do.



And what's going on in this picture? I can imagine him saying "Alright, Cindy. That's enough now." I think she's just getting going.

Happy birthday to the MIL

We celebrated my mother-in-law's 84th birthday the other night at The Dead Fish in Crockett. A ridiculously long way to drive for good food, but my MIL thinks it's the bomb, and it was her birthday and it does have very good fresh fish (that's also dead).

Here's the card Sophie made for her:

An amazing likeness, don't you think? She gets MIL's hair, one of her most striking features, just right. Here's the two girls at dinner.

Here's what Sophie had for dinner.


No longer content with a children's menu ("I would like to order a real dinner"), she opted for the fresh halibut with toy box tomatoes, zucchini, calamata olives, and garlic in a lemon caper sauce.

My MIL has had a tough year, encountering many age-related health problems, but she's faced them with humor and grace. We wish her many more years to come.

I voted for Mitt Romney!!

Oh, for heaven's sake—did you believe that for even a minute? This being Berkeley and all?

But whereas I thought it would be sort of funny if ONE person in Berkeley voted for Mitt, it just couldn't be me. He's too much of a Ken doll, and he smiles while he says not nice things about people.


Then again, the mayor of San Francisco is the biggest Ken doll of all (see the similarities here?), and I think he's done a fine job of governing that city. No, it's not a matter of plastic hair. But then I hardly need to explain that, right?


Husband and I have permanent absentee ballots, which we walked into the polling place because we dithered over our choices for so long. We voted no on all propositions. The three Indian gaming ones had us scratching our heads for a while, but whereas it disturbed us to be voting with large Las Vegas gaming companies who funded the opposition, we decided expanding this business, which has been so anti-labor was not a good idea. We might of considered if it were clear that money raised would give education a big shot in the arm, but this wasn't the case.

But was it to be Hillary or Barack? This is what caused us much consternation. Really, either would be fine with us, but what we really want is BOTH. On one ticket. Together. And the only way we can see this happening is with her on the top of the ticket. Plus I think her healthcare plan would be more inclusive. And I think she will be better able to challenge McCain on the experience issue in the general election.

So there you have it. An impossible dream? Maybe, but when asked about this possibility, she DID NOT SAY NO. So doesn't that mean maybe?

My daughter rocks

Really, she does. She eats anything, would rather listen to opera in the car than a popular music station, skis better than most adults I know, and wears whatever I pick out in the morning. But now she's really outdone herself. And I say this without any hesitation due to modesty. She does all this in spite of the basket case of a mother that I am.

She has decided that I've planned and executed enough dinners; she's now ready to step in herself. Thank goodness.

She started planning tonight's dinner yesterday morning. When she got home from school, all the pieces fell into place.

First, she planned and designed the menus. She asked me to do the writing, since I do cursive so well, but the ideas were all hers.

Once she sat us at the table, Husband and I ordered the appetizer of tomatoes stuffed with cheese, which was good, since she said they were out of cavier. Good thing, since she spent about 45 minutes on this appetizer. This was entirely her own creation: She sliced tomatoes in half, scooped out the seeds, filled them with Manouri cheese, and sprinkled them with lemon juice and black flaked salt. Seriously good!









For entrees, we selected the special, noodles with baby shrimps in a slight sauce. We always like a slight sauce. I'm really not one for prepared foods, but Sophie tried a sample of this at Trader Joe's and declared it the best thing she ever tasted. She especially wanted to serve it for her first fancy dinner. She learned how to cook shrimp (until it is just orange) and how to saute vegetables, so it wasn't a total loss from a culinary standpoint.





And she made a very nice green salad, with red lettuce, spinach, baby bok choy, bosc pear, parmesan, and balsamic vineagrette. She learned to wash muddy spinach and spin it dry and core and chop pear.







For dessert she served vanilla ice cream (in our special "good listener bowls"), although in somewhat unequal portions.

But honestly, I don't think I could be more proud. I don't know what I do to deserve this kid.

Eating out of seaon, not locally

Did I ever mention that I think it's really important to eat seasonally and locally? Well, I do. But last night I didn't.

I was delighted to find at my local produce market, Monterey Market, fresh asparagus at a reasonable price with a label that said (on quick glance) something about California. I snapped up two bunches, thinking how nicely they would go with the herb-roasted chicken, pan gravy, buttermilk parmesan mashed potatoes, and green salad I had planned for Sunday dinner. I happily remarked to Bill, the owner, "How nice to have California asparagus this early!" I was crushed when he revealed "It's not. It's from Mexico." I guess the packaging company is in California,but the asparagus was grown in Mexico. Ok, but California is quite close to Mexico, right?? Anyhoo, I could not rid from my head visions of asparagus roasted in olive oil with garlic, sprinkled with Meyer lemon zest. I could not help myself. So that's what we had.





Bill says California asparagus is due in next month. So I'll postpone my annual asparagus pig-out until then.

How did those mushrooms go?

Quite well, thank you. Although I wouldn't blame the nice folks at Cook's Illustrated if they filed my responses in a folder titled "Unable or unwilling to follow directions."



Have you ever eaten or prepared a dish or recipe similar to this before?

Yes, I have! I've used a recipe at Epicurious.com for shrimp-stuffed portobello mushrooms. Very tasty, and admittedly a little easier than this: things get sauteed and then mixed up together rather than separately.

Prior to making this recipe, what were your expectations for this dish?

Well, like the recipe said "An intense mushroom flavor."

If recipe calls for a grill, what type of grill did you use?

No grill needed.

Did you use all the equipment (including the correct pan size and type - if applicable) called for in this recipe?

More or less.

Please list the equipment you did not have and the substitutions you made.

None. I had everything.

If recipe offers ingredient options (such as cuts of meat or type of milk), which did you use?

No substitutions offered.

Did you make any adjustments to the ingredient (omissions, additions, or substitutions)?

I thought you'd never ask. Of course I did.

Please list the adjustments that you made, particularly noting which ingredients you did not have and the substitutions that you made.

Instead of large mushrooms, I used small ones. I this sounded like a better appetizer than side dish.

No sherry in the house; I used brandy. Seemed to work fine.

I used half and half instead of cream.

Did you find any of the techniques used in the recipe to be difficult, unclear, or awkward?

There seemed to be a lot of different bowls going on. A little confusing.

Please explain which techniques were difficult, unclear or awkward in the recipe.

It would help to specify that the bread crumbs should be put aside. Get them out of the way.

And really, couldn't you just saute the mushrooms, onion, garlic, and pancetta al together?

How long did it take you to make this recipe? Please do not include the time taken to gather your ingredients, cooling, or resting time. We would like to know how long it took to prepare and cook the recipe. If a grill is involved we may ask you to include the time it took to set up the grill. Marinades and brines would not be included in these times, but we may ask the length of time of the brine or marinade to be given separately.

Dunno. I'm a multitasker in the kitchen and had a lot of balls in the air at this point. Maybe 20 minutes?.

Did the recipe yield the stated quantity?

I guess, even though I made them into appetizers rather than side dishes.

How many portions did the recipe yield?

Four?

How would you rate this recipe (1-10, 10 being the best)?

6.

Was this recipe worth the time, effort, and expense?
If not, why?

Dunno. They were ok, not great.

Did we achieve our goal? If not, why?

They did a mushroomy taste, but there wasn't anything about it that I would call intense. Maybe a little Worchestershire sauce would have given them a little more zip.

Would you make this recipe again?

Maybe. Husband really like them. I would perhaps change the cheese though (chevre maybe?)

Thanks for letting me play along, Cook's!

What I'm wearing

I have on a new dress today:



I know . . . alert the media.