Sunday, June 26, 2011

Timing is Everything

(Written Saturday, June 25, 2011)

Beginning this blog has been my first long-over-due step toward starting a website and blog to share my love of food and life with others, that I wanted to develop well over two years ago.  At that time I started working on ideas and decided upon a name of the website and I also started working with a developer. Unfortunately, we never moved beyond the planning phase and then the website got moved to the back burner of the goals I had at the time. Well, I do believe that timing is everything because I was recently introduced to a wonderful and talented woman who does graphic and website design who is going to help me finally make the website a reality - meeting with her enlightened me that the person I was working with before was not the right fit - which is probably why the website never materialized - I wasn't working with the right person and it was not the right time.  Because the idea has been swirling around in my head for so long, that I am finally going to see it's creation - it is difficult for me to truly capture in print how excited I am for this to finally happen! Having the website will allow me to do much more with how the blog and site will visually look and not be limited by what "Blogger" templates are available for me to use (which are great) - so this truly is a very exciting step!

What is interesting about me taking the website step this time is that the blog has been the catalyst to push me forward into action.  I basically jumped in with the blog because I knew I needed to stop waiting to share my love of food and life with others and because I didn't know how or when the website would all work out. So beginning the blog was the easiest way to get myself moving...and I am so glad I did!  The whole process of thinking about what I will share, planning, baking, cooking, photographing, writing, have truly been a fantastic and fun experience! And the feedback from friends and family has been so wonderful to receive as well! I love that friends are trying recipes (with success!) and connecting with some of the thoughts I've shared so far...I am so honored and so blessed.

The only tiny bit sad part is that "Dinner on the Porch," which I came up with just for the blog, is not available as a website.  It's only a tiny bit sad because the name of the website is really just as dear to me...  www.Lifeonaplate.com.  There is nothing located there at present, but eventually that is where my blog will be located as well as other fun food and life stuff I'll be sharing. For now, "Dinner on the Porch" will remain the location of my blog and I will probably find some way to work it into the website...it will be fun to see how everything turns out. I just wanted to share that changes are on the horizon and that I hope you'll stay with me through the process and enjoy it with me! I am very excited!

Well, I have to get back to some baking tonight. I've already ruined one attempt at dough for the crust of a Quiche Lorraine so there won't be any pictures of that debacle to share. Yikes! (update: 2nd attempt was a success!) The quiche is for a brunch we are having tomorrow with a few neighbors celebrating the 70th birthday of one of them...Angelos, we call him the Mayor of Allston Street because he and his wife have lived in their home across the street from ours for almost 30 years!  I look forward to sharing more about our sweet guests and tomorrow's brunch in an upcoming post.

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Always kiss me goodnight...and buttery and tender Buttermilk Scones



We have a wooden sign hanging over the doorway as you exit our master bathroom that reads, “always kiss me goodnight” that makes me smile every time I notice it because it makes me think of the wonderful life I share with my sweet husband. It was several years ago that I purchased the sign at a holiday market and loved it - because three kisses goodnight right before bed is something Bobby and I do every night unless one of us is out of town. I also love that sign because I tend to over think life at times and "always kiss me goodnight" is a sweet and simple reminder of what is important…


Sweet and simple is what these Buttermilk Scones are as well.  I got on a scone baking kick late last year when I tried a delicious one from a small local bakery named Angela's Oven (love that the bakery name is that of my oldest sister). Up until the day I tried my first scone from this bakery, I was not a scone fan because every one I have ever tried has been hard as a rock or dry and crumbly. But not so with the Angela’s Oven scone.  It was a perfect combination of tender, flaky and buttery. The one I tried was a cranberry scone and I savored it with a cup of hot black coffee and a new determination to have scones as good as theirs come from my own oven.

The very next day I began combing through my cookbooks for a scone recipe. To my utter delight, my Williams-Sonoma Baking cookbook had a recipe for Cream Scones. The very first batch were near perfection. Many, many batches later I’ve used different mix-ins other than dried cranberries like dried mission figs and chocolate chips and I have changed the cream to buttermilk, which I think makes them even more tender. I have even branched out to a savory scone with cheddar cheese, scallions and bacon – don’t get me started on those…they were a fine accompaniment to homemade shrimp and grits that I also topped with chopped pieces of house made kielbasa from a local store called Revival Market...whoa, hold on a minute, back to the Buttermilk Scones…

So please trust me when I say these are wonderful scones. And they are very easy to make, just read the tips I’ve provided and look at the pictures as well so you have an idea about how the dough should look. Please feel free to ask questions in the comments section below. The main tip is to work quickly. But enjoy them slowly….


Recipe after the jump...

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Summertime is pesto time!

Yes, I know it is not yet officially summer until June 21st but if you were experiencing the above normal temperatures and lack of rain like we are here in Houston, Texas, you’d agree that it is completely acceptable to say that it is indeed summertime. Every year at this time poses a challenge for me when it comes to cooking. Because I am in sales and in and out of my car all day, by the time I get home from work, I am pretty well drained from the heat. And even I, who loves to cook, get to feeling too lazy to get in the kitchen. Just thinking about turning on stove burners or the oven makes me feel like I need to have a nap. So I am always looking for quick and simple dinners that are of course still very tasty. And this is where homemade pesto comes in handy. 

Years ago when I used to buy pesto in the grocery store, it was very expensive for a very small amount. I rarely purchased it and when I did, I'm not sure why but I only used it in pasta dishes. Looking back, I’ll chalk that up to my inexperience in the kitchen because now I’ll try pesto on just about anything. And more importantly, now, I make my own. One of the best things about making homemade pesto is that one decent sized basil plant when full grown will make a boat load of pesto. And if you are pretty good about watering the basil plant, once you’ve harvested the full grown plant, it will grow again and again for many batches of pesto. Seriously, I have two planters of basil and just one of them will make two full cups of pesto. A big garden pot, a $5.00 basil plant, regular watering and just a little shade, yield quite a bounty of pesto…

Pesto is incredibly easy to make and it always tastes better than the store bought variety. It is a bit time consuming because you have to thoroughly wash the basil and dry it well before processing everything together. But what is a little labor intensive on the front end in terms of time, is repaid ten-fold in how quickly and easily pesto can spruce up so many things!

Here are some ideas of foods I've enjoyed with homemade pesto...

   Grilled chicken
   Grilled fish
   Smeared on homemade pizza as the "sauce", top with thinly sliced tomatoes &
        crumbled goat cheese
   Grilled Portobello mushrooms, put pesto on after grilling
   Grilled new potatoes, put pesto on after grilling
   Mixed into brown rice
   With sliced tomatoes and buffalo mozzarella cheese

   And of course, it’s great on pasta!

A quick note on storage: I buy cute little jars at Sur la Table for $2.00 per jar and store the pesto. This pesto will also freeze well. Just add about 1/4 inch of olive oil to the top of the filled pesto jar before freezing.

And now the recipe…

Monday, June 13, 2011

Staying in touch – the old fashioned way



I had to include the faded picture of tubby me and my beautiful Mom circa late 1970 because she is the one who triggered my pondering the topic of staying in touch the old fashioned way. And because every time we get on the phone she still calls me her "beautiful baby girl" and I am 41 years old. So the topic of staying in touch the old fashioned way came to me after she and I talked on the phone the other day and I was telling her about starting my blog. She surprised me when she asked, “what is a blog, what does blogging even mean?” Although she does use a computer and email (email rarely), she does not use any other form of electronic communication: no texting, no Facebook and of course she doesn’t read blogs. As I was explaining to her that blogging is sort of an online public journal and a way for me to share my love of food, cooking and life, I was reminded of how technology driven our lives are now. How all the technology we "enjoy" allows us to do more and more with our time, making life seem to buzz by us at lightning speed. And before we know it, a few months, a year, then a few years have passed and live contact with an old friend or even family has slipped by.  Now, it is not lost on me, the irony of sharing my thoughts on this topic in a blog post, as I use many modes of technology to communicate…probably too many. But it's also why I took the time to share these thoughts; there are friends I want to call and notes I want to write. And I will be making a regular effort to slow down long enough to communicate the old-fashioned way: a phone call, a handwritten note, maybe even a letter...

Staying in touch with my mom is a good reminder for me; it requires that I slow down while we talk on the phone because I don't see her often (she lives in Long Island) and we very rarely email because it takes her weeks, sometimes longer, to respond. She always has a lot to share about what she’s doing, so I have to make sure I’m not on the computer, texting on a second phone, or distracted in some other way so I can really listen to what she is sharing about her life. It's certainly not a bad thing that I have to slow down and pay attention (I should!) but rather a reminder of how infrequent it seems I do that with other people in my life.  I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with Facebook for that reason. I love that I am in touch with many old friends and that I get to hear tidbits of what’s going on in their lives and see pictures of their beautiful children and families. But I do miss having more frequent live interaction of a phone call or receiving a note or card in the mail instead of an e-card or post on Facebook. Of course I enjoy the convenience of technology and electronic communication in order to keep in touch with family and friends but talking on the phone with my mom reminds me of the importance of person to person contact – hearing the voice and inflections, sharing and hearing laughter or tears, and the exchange of life, being lived and shared with those we love - the parts we don't get to experience when we are communicating electronically.
  
This also relates to why I love to cook and bake and share it with others. In the preparation stage, I am totally focused on what I’m doing: planning, measuring, chopping, mixing. Nothing else is on my mind when I am in the kitchen. It is calming and mind-clearing. And one of my favorite parts of the process is putting a box together with some home baked goodies or a container with a home cooked meal and taking it to a neighbor or friend – sharing something that took time, care and focus – and then delivering it to their door, spending a few minutes with them to chat and catch up on life. Cooking and baking is not only something I love doing for my personal enjoyment but also because it connects me with others...and there is joy in bringing others joy.

So tomorrow I will make time to call a friend and catch up on life. Then I will get to business addressing the wild pot of basil growing in my back yard and make a batch of homemade pesto. Of course I will share the recipe and a few pictures.



Friday, June 10, 2011

No fuss Chocolate Chip Cookies




I was having some trouble figuring out why I can’t get a good chocolate chip cookie at a bakery, local restaurant or store that isn’t too dry, has some strange spice in it or just plain tastes too many days old. Happy for me, I was lucky enough to put an end to my search while at lunch on Wednesday with a friend. She and I try to meet once a month for lunch at a different location to catch up on our busy lives (and I seem to always be trying a cookie) and Wednesday’s locale was a new place in the Houston Heights called Down House. I’m not going to elaborate on the restaurant (as I don’t want this to turn into a restaurant review!) but the food and namely said chocolate chip cookie were delicious.

The cookie was the perfect size, like you would make at home, not as big as your face and not bite-sized leaving you wanting for more. It arrived at our table placed simply on a white beverage napkin, on a small white plate, still warm (or maybe it was rewarmed?) to my utter delight. Loaded with chocolate chunks and pecans, it was baked to perfection, still soft in the center and only slightly browned. Which leads me to believe they make them in small batches, which is a very good idea because it really was perfect. So kudos to Down House! Now let’s talk about some you can bake at home and be equally satisified…

What I love about drop cookie recipes, is for the most part, you can just throw all your ingredients together, scoop them on to a pan, and a mere 15-18 minutes later be rewarded with homemade goodness. My husband is particularly fond of these cookies and really, who doesn’t love a homemade chocolate chip cookie, which of course makes them great to share, which I do, often, with the neighbors, who are starting to threaten me with their future doctor bills…


I’ve tried quite a few chocolate chip cookies recipes and this is by far my favorite. (I do, however, reserve the right to change my mind should I find a better one.) When you want to whip up a batch of homemade cookies, you want it to be easy and you don’t want to wait for butter to soften. This recipe fits the bill. You can melt the butter in the microwave and while you are gathering the other ingredients, it cools enough to be ready when you are, to begin building your cookie dough. Another great thing about this recipe, you don't have to bake it all the same day. You can put it in a container in the fridge and it will keep for a week - I have done this and they turn out just as good. Just bake em' when you want em'!

Before we move on to the recipe...
** A note about scooping or weighing your ingredients. Weighing your dry ingredients is always the best method to use but with drop cookie recipes, you do have a little wiggle room. If you are doing the scoop method, place spoonfuls of flour into your measuring cup until it mounds over the top (I am holding the measuring cup over the flour at this point). Then take a knife and sweep across the top edge of the measuring cup, removing the excess, and leaving a flat surface.  You don’t ever want to just scoop the flour with your measuring cup from your container because the flour gets packed down and you’ll end up with more than you need.**

Now let’s bake some cookies!

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

The Work Horse

The work horse, my 575 watt, 6 quart mixer
This mixer, the Kitchenaid 575 watt 6 quart beauty, is absolutely one of my favorite kitchen things. I’m introducing her early because she will undoubtedly make many appearances throughout the life of this blog and the recipes shared. AND, this is an appliance I thought I’d never own. Not that I didn’t own a mixer before this one, it just wasn’t a Kitchenaid stand mixer, that is for sure. It was a hand held mixer, which I still own and it is very rarely used. I think I was intimidated by the grand stature of the Kitchenaid – I mean, real chefs use this brand of mixer! And I’m a home cook! What could I possibly need this piece of chef’s equipment for??

Well, I waited quite a long time to purchase one and it was the proverbial deal you just can’t pass up. You see, I had been contemplating the purchase when the local Williams-Sonoma had them on sale, which they regularly seem to do. Even on sale, these suckers are not cheap but I’d decided I would bite the bullet because I really wanted one, intimated of the thing or not. And it really was almost too good to be true. It was a Saturday afternoon that I dragged my husband into our local WS. I was ogling the many different colors trying to decide which one would eat my wallet, when…the sales person helping us mentioned they might have a discontinued color in the back for $199…which was HALF of what the ones were currently on sale for. Uh, Yes I’ll take the discontinued color for $199, I didn’t care what color it was! Said sales person said he’d check in the back…

I think he must have realized while he was in the stockroom checking that he had someone in the store who was already willing to pay for the one that was double the cost of the discontinued model. He returned and of course, no mixers. But it was too late, the seed had been planted and there are 4 more Williams-Sonomas in our area so I wasn’t giving up that easily! With the other stores’ phone numbers a mere google away, we sat in the car and called the other stores until, yes! I found one albeit 25 miles away! It’s the pretty one you see in the picture and the name of that color is: Williams- Sonoma Green. And I love it! Helps that my favorite color is green but they didn’t know that when they marked it down!

Okay, enough about how I came into actual ownership. I love this mixer and she no longer intimidates me. She whips, mixes, kneads, and whips some more. If you are reading this and contemplating buying a Kitchenaid mixer, I am now jumping up and down yelling “BUY IT! BUY IT!”  There are a few other models that are smaller and just as handy. And who knows, you might even find one on Craig’s List.

I have made more batches of holiday cookies than I can count, beautiful cheesecakes, homemade pasta, pizza dough, scones and much more.  It really is a wonderful appliance, even for this home cook, I think it elevates my game a bit… well, it definitely elevates my baking skills…