Here and Happy

NaBloPoMo clearly must have consumed every word in me because December, thus far, has been a month of radio silence. This did not happen by intention but rather a lack thereof.

Right now, I'm cocooned in that magical space between holidays (well, almost, as Hanukkah continues), enjoying family time and filling my head with words, thoughts and plans for the New Year.

Much more to come as 2008 draws to a deliciously slow close.

NaBloPoMo: Did It!

I am delighted to complete NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month). Yes, as November draws to a close I can proudly say that I have posted every single day to this blog. Whoo-hooo! Seriously, this marks the most committed writing practice I've ever done.

I posted a few days ago that I wanted to be a maker. I did indeed deliver on that goal as well. My daughter is carrying around a stuffed felt mouse that we sewed together (photo forthcoming). It's not exactly what I had in mind when I declared my desire to create but at least I did it . . . and she loves it. Chocolate chip cookies also grace the kitchen courtesy of me; perhaps this is also the mark of the maker.

Tomorrow December begins. Here's to a wonderful month. And, looking back, here's to a pretty terrific November.

I Love This Idea: Food + Community

San Franciscan Marco Flavio is an avowed foodie and man of action. His blog, Cook Here and Now, is replete with weekly farmer's market reports, recipe suggestions, and general enthusiasm about great food.

He's also been running a very successful series of open dinners. The idea is simple and the execution brilliant. He posts a monthly theme, interested people visit his blog and sign up to prepare various courses, and everyone cooks and eats together. Travel and Leisure, Food and Wine, and Lonely Planet have all written about Marco and his magnificent meals.

I've seen the posts for dinners and thought "I'd like to do that." I would then have a crisis of confidence, either in my cooking, creativity, or bravado to join cool people in San Francisco. Today, Marco posted photos from his most recent dinner. What an amazingly diverse group of people thisese events attract. The guy cooking the andouille sausage got it from Dittmer's in Mountain View. I know that place. I can do this. Attending one of Marco's dinner's is on my list for 2009.

If you're interested, he's written a post on how to host your own communal dinners. Let me know if you try!

A Random Friday

Today has been one of those random kinds of days. My husband is painting various rooms in the house. I played many, many games with the kids. My son went off with a friends' family to see his basketball coach play in a local high school game. My daughter and I are making a stuffed mousie for her, complete with signature pink scarf. We kept the cooking light, the snuggling long. And yes, I even made it to the gym. It turned out to be a good day overall.

Thankful

I am truly thankful--today and, frankly, pretty much every day. A smile or hug from my kids, a nuzzle from the dogs, or a shoulder rub from my husband are daily reminders of my blessings. I could go on about my gratitude for many people and many things in my life but I'll keep it short and simple: I am thankful.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Preparations are Underway

Thanksgiving preparation is in full swing. We're dining with cousins and we'll be bringing the turkey, oyster stuffing, and a fennel apple salad.

We're roasting the turkey on the rotisserie this year. Our Gaggenau oven delights us with perfect birds . . . crispy outside, juicy inside. We'll see if it's up for a larger fowl tomorrow. There is no turkey "formula" for us. We've roasted, fried, tucked butter and herbs under skin, and filled cavities. Thus far, we haven't found a cooking or seasoning technique that dominates all others.

The oyster stuffing is a proven favorite. My grandmother's recipe provides a well proportioned foundation and I've contributed the foodie embellishments--double the amount of oysters, fresh herbs, and artisanal bread. I hesitate (actually I do not) try variations on this theme. Departures from my mainstay recipe become stand-alone dishes.

The fennel apple salad is an attempt to provide a light, fresh taste in what is typically a heavy meal. The recipe is Charlie Trotter's, is posted on Epicurious and extremely simple. With my trusty mandoline and a lemon from the backyard, this should be fast, easy and delicious.

Looking forward to a fun and delicious day tomorrow!

I Want to Be a Maker

I have the urge to create. The only problem is I'm not sure just what to create. I love Craft and I have books like Making Stuff. Still, I don't quite know what to make.

I admit being jealous of my husband who has projects just pop into his head. The other week, he removed keys from an old, unusable typewriter, drilled holes in the bases of the letters, looped wire through and came up with great wine glass charms. He just did it. Wow.

With the long weekend stretching ahead, I'm determined to make something. I have a feeling it will be surprise to all of us.

Gearing Up for a Week

Thanksgiving week begins. The kids are home from school. All week. We've already had highs . . . the kids reading together, snuggled into a single chair. . . and lows . . . tears and near blows over a game of Sorry!. My son was rescued by a play date this afternoon.

As an antidote (or maybe prophylactic) to the week ahead, we trooped to the library this afternoon. Audio books, DVDs, and yes, good old fashioned printed books all accompanied us home. Here's hoping for a week of engagement and entertainment for the kiddos.

How did we survive before this multimedia world?

In Your Own Backyard

Shutter Sisters has a terrific post today about finding beauty right where you live. As much as I love the message in the post, the comments are amazing. Women have shared photos from their daily lives and immediate surroundings; I am staggered by how beautiful this work is. Who knew a turkey sandwich could be a kaleidoscope of color and texture.

Another Day Without Words

So this picture will have to suffice. It's amazing what you can see when you walk slowly and look closely.

Toward Fitness . . . Part II

I happily took the second step toward getting in shape today and established a weightlifting program. Getting everything set up--seat position, reps, form, actual weight--was time consuming but put me solidly in starting blocks. Thank you Rico for making sure everything is all set for me.

I do want to comment on how technology is changing the face of the gym. My local Y has a program called Fitlinxx. All of your data, including all machine settings, is entered into the system. At the beginning of a workout, you log in and it moves you from exercise to exercise with all the information you need. It even tracks you minimum and maximum movement to ensure you're working at the proper speed (slow!) and getting the greatest benefit from the exercise. All of your data is available at the gym, at partner gyms, or online; if you're doing exercise that isn't wired directly, you can enter the data manually. Pretty impressive.

The tools are all in place. Now I just need to do the work.

Toward Fitness

Today marks the day I got back to the gym.

Robert Maynard Hutchins, famed President of the University of Chicago (and my alma mater twice over), once said "when I have the urge to exercise, I lie down and hope it passes." Thus far, Hutchins' mantra could well be mine.

But today, I tied on the sneakers, strapped on the heart monitor, and went about the business of cardio. One small step . . . to be followed by many more on the road to fitness and good health.

Tomorrow, I have an appointment with iron: the weight training regimen begins. Keep your fingers crossed for me (and remember to exhale on exertion and inhale on recovery!).

Worth It?

This past weekend, we saw Chrisopher Kimball on America's Test Kitchen extoll the virtues of prepping a steak in the oven prior to hitting the grill or pan to finish. 250 - 275 degrees for 20 minutes, seasoned with salt and pepper came the advice. After that, 2 -3 minutes per side to medium rare goodness. Kimball showed steaks that came directly from pan to plate and (the admittedly thin) layer of more cooked meat that encased the steak. The oven-prepped steak had more uniform color and texture and, frankly, looked compelling.

Since we consume only a steak per family, we didn't conduct our own side-by-side comparison but we did cook a ribeye to America's Test Kitchen specs. The result, in our humble opinion, was good but not appreciably better than our traditional method: onto the coals or into the pan, straightaway. The interior of the steak was uniformily pink and juicy. We're just not sure it delivered anything superior to the way we usually cook steak. And it took significantly longer.

It's worth disclosing that we cooked a bone-in, organic ribeye steak weighing about a pound.

Don't get me wrong, the steak was good. Very good, indeed. It just wasn't better than we've been muddling through on our own. And it took longer.

Honestly, I don't think it was us/the meat/the grill. I'm not sure this technique overdelivers a superior tasting steak for the time required. America's Test Kitchen's won't agree but that's the Delman household verdict.

At least we tried.

NaBloPoMo

I'll come clean. What has spurred the daily writing this month is NaBloPoMo--National Blog Posting Month. The idea hatched as a method to get people writing. NaBloPoMo parallels NaNoWriMo--National Novel Writing Month--but doesn't have the 50,000 (!) word requirement.

The challenge here is a daily post. I'm not yet halfway through the month but I am satisfied with my progress so far. A Stanford writing professor recently remarked that a blog counts as a writing practice. Getting the words out is exercise we need.

ITunes U: A Different Mix

ITunes has been steadily expanding iTunes U, a collection of great, substantive content (often) from the world's great universities. I noticed that Oxford is now in the mix with a series of philosophy and fine art lectures. If you haven't explored iTunes U, get thee there. History, humanities, education, science and technology, literature, mathematics, social science and more are waiting for your click.

Treat your brain as well as your ears. And please share your favorites!

The Tale of Crab

Tonight, I found myself making crab cakes for the family. It's straightforward and, frankly, delicious. Key to our happiness is a crab cake that is comprised of crab . . . and nothing else. Tonight's dinner becomes lunchbox fare and a special dinner treat (again).

The best recipe, in my humble opinion, is Mark Bittman's Crabby Crab Cakes. It emphasizes the good stuff and nothing but.

My advice? Go for Bittman's reco. You won't regret it.

We Are Having Technical Difficulties

I sincerely apologize for this. However, I feel completely out of control on this particular topic. I can't seem to get a photo to upload nor can I get my feed aggregator to work. Whether this is my issue or a greater system issue, I cannot say.

What I can say is "I'm sorry." And I sincrely hope a new day brings restored functionality to this tiny corner of the universe.

The Joy of . . . Kale

I love autumn, I love Fridays and yes, I love kale. This morning, Mark Bittman's blog, Bitten, featured an article on this healthiest of vegetables and some fine recipes for it as well. My favorite variety is lacinato or dinaosaur kale; the dark green leaves hold great flavor and cook relatively quickly.

My go-to recipe for kale is Arthur Schwartz's White Bean & Kale soup found in his book, Soup Suppers. The first step is boiling the kale for five minutes or so, cooling and chopping it. You then saute a couple of anchovies, rosemary and garlic in olive oil, add the chopped kale, toss in white beans (cannellini or navy or whatever is on hand). Add four cups of chicken stock to the pot, bring it the boil and add a cup of your favorite small pasta shape; ditalini rules in our house. After the pasta is cooked, the soup is done. I drizzle a bit of olive oil on each dish and grate Parmesan to guild the lily. This easy recipe is an uncontested favorite with my family, especially the kids.

It's autumn and time for hearty flavors. Get thee to a farmer's market (or your supermarket), grab the kale and make some soup or check out the recipes on Bitten. You won't regret it.

Leave Me Alone . . . I'm Reading

The title of this post is the title of a book--a fantastic book--by Maureen Corrigan, the book critic for NPR's Fresh Air. She writes a wonderful memoir of reading, tracing her love of books back to childhood (with some ambivalence on her upbringing) and on through university and adult life. In her choices and interactions, it sometimes seems Corrigan prefers books to people; what's wrong with that, I ask?

Biographical oddities aside, Corrigan's book conveys the deep passion of a reader. I especially appreciate her commentary on mysteries and female adventurers. Corrigan's book has sent me scrambling for pen and paper to ensure I don't miss a great read.

For what it's worth, this is my second tour of duty through Leave Me Alone . . . I'm Reading. I read the book when it was first released and spied the audio book on a recent trip to the library. I'm glad I grabbed Corrigan's book for a second time and, hearing her read, a different experience.

In Lieu of Words

A day of small, random thoughts and actions. When words fail, there are always pictures. This one seems apropos to the season.