The Barefoot Kitchen Witch

Two Quick Happy Birthdays...

...before I go...

Happy Birthday to my friend, Janice, and Happy Birthday to my friend, Sheila.

I'm sitting here trying to decide just how much time I have to write about either of them (and it's not much)...they are friends who came into my life at vastly different times, and what has suddenly occurred to me is the incredible determination each one of them possesses.

And so, since time is limited, I will share one memory of Sheila...

This was back when she and my sister and our friend Dolores and I were making our "The Troubled Days and Nights of Husbands, Wives, Lovers and Children in Hope and Despair" movie. Production took place on two or three weekends - spread out over a couple of months - we had to time it so we were all back in town at the same time.

Anyway, it was winter. And we had a day of filming (videotaping, really) planned, at my parents' house. So my sister, Meredith, and I were already there, video camera and VCR rented (so yes, this is a while back), and Dolores was probably already there, since she didn't have far to come...and we were just waiting for Sheila to arrive, by bus, from a town or two away.

We waited, and waited...impatiently, I'm sure, because we probably only had the "equipment" rented for the day, and my parents had very likely been kicked out of the house for the day as well, so time was both limited and precious...and where was Sheila???

My sister called Sheila's parents' house...no one was home. Okaaaaayyy...so...she should have been here by now.

I don't remember how long the wait was. But we were sitting in my parents' kitchen, and suddenly, trudging through the snow, walkman on and (Irish) cheeks bright red with the cold, wearing her high tops, which must have been soaked by that point, came Sheila.

The bus never came. So she walked. I just looked it up...it was 4.4 miles. In the snow...(this sounds like something that would start out "in my day, we didn't drive to our friends' houses to make insane movies, we walked there! Through the snow! Wearing no hat! And no boots - just high top canvas sneakers!")

She could have called - one of us could have come to get her.... I don't remember why she didn't. I think it might not have even occurred to her, at least not right away. I think it was probably more like after waiting and waiting for a bus that didn't come, she said "fine, I don't need the bus - I can get there under my own steam" - and so she did.

...of course, as I'm writing that, other little stories come to mind...but - it's almost 6:00 and I really have to go become productive before the afternoon arrives and the turkey is still shivering, naked, in my fridge.

So Happy Birthday, Sheila, and Happy Birthday, Janice!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Good morning, and Happy Thanksgiving to you!

In a little while I'll head into the kitchen and start doing something food-related - either for today's big meal or for my mom's birthday dinner and dessert tomorrow. Feels like I left a lot til the last minute...but I also know it will all get done, so I'm not worried about it.

...what to write...it's a bittersweet holiday this year. Always is - any gathering of family reminds you of those who used to gather with you and are no longer there...but this is particularly emotionally charged because of my husband's mother's passing a year ago. Date-wise, it was on this, the 27th of November. But it's more of a day-before-Thanksgiving memory, really, and so even though the date may slide around the days of the week, I think we will remember it mostly on a Wednesday.

...and I'm not going to (as I'd expected to) make this a kind of "in memory of" piece about my late mother-in-law. I will talk more about her as the cookie-baking continues in the weeks to come. I think it's more fitting. She was not, to my knowledge, ever one to sit and wallow in anything. She did. The day before her death she was out raking up leaves in her back yard - because it was just not in her terribly independent nature to wait for help. She had sons and grandsons who could have, and would have, raked the leaves that coming Thanksgiving weekend - but it would not have occurred to her to ask for help. So she raked.

So I will just say, on this early Thanksgiving morning, before I go putter in the kitchen, or set the table with the set of china she had bought for my husband long before it ever even crossed his mind to marry anyone, that among all the many things I have to be thankful for, I am so thankful for the five years I had to get to know my mother-in-law.

I am grateful to have had a mother-in-law so unlike the stereotypical "no one's good enough for my son" kind of experience, or any of the other not-so-great in-law relationships I've heard about.

And I am grateful to have gotten to know Elsa, the person. She welcomed me immediately, and we could sit and talk easily almost from the start, in her living room, or most often there at her kitchen table, looking out on the back yard and her legendary vegetable and flower gardens, and her beloved (and mostly squirrel-proof) bird feeders....

I am grateful for the stories she told me about my husband when he was a little boy...and for the stories she told me about herself as a young girl...

On my birthday the year after Bill and I started dating, she gave me a flat of pansies. As roses symbolize various kinds of love, pansies are for friendship.

And I am so thankful to have had her for a friend.

So I've Made Some Springerle

And I learned a few things, which I added to my notes in the recipe I posted last week.

I baked them this morning, and the house smells wonderfully of anise seed.

Next weekend I'll make more, and try a different recipe.

But this week is now devoted to Thanksgiving preparations and also preparations for my mother's birthday, which is Friday. We're having leg of lamb that night.

Gotta run now and get ready for work. You know, if I didn't have to go to work, I'd get so much more done around here....

So Here I Am...

Sitting and waiting. I'm having furniture delivered - 3 chairs and a sleeper sofa - sometime today between 10 and 1...so I rushed home from work to take the gate off the doorway to the basement (where one chair and the sofa will go) and also the bannister off the wall leading down into the basement. Cordless drills are fun! And - here's the really entertaining part - I unscrewed the last screw that held the bannister to the lower bracket - and the bannister slid (wheeeee!) down the surfaces of the brackets and slammed into the wall, leaving a nice, brand-new mark on our freshly-painted basement walls. Oh well - that's what the extra paint is for. So anyway, did all the handy-woman work, and cleared all Alex's toys out of the way in the living room...did some of the dishes that were left from last night, so the kitchen doesn't look so awful now...and...I'm sitting here, typing rather than twiddling my thumbs. Every time I hear what sounds like a heavy vehicle lumbering up the road I leap from my chair, over the baby gate that keeps Alex away from the computer and all the music-related stuff, and to the front window...and no one is there. Oh well. Some time out of work isn't such a bad thing. Hang on - I hear something...nope. I think it was rocks rolling around in my brain. Wow...this is awful - prime time to say something and of course I have nothing to say except drivel. Well...let's see...in addition to the furniture that's coming today, the new carpeting was put down in the basement on Wednesday, thus completing the repairs to all the damage done by the flood we had down there in August. The only thing left is to have the vanity/cabinet thing replaced in the bathroom on the main floor. We're going to Home Depot with the contractor tomorrow to pick something out. I have a feeling that whatever we get is going to be some kind of painted particleboard thing...the original cabinet was the original wood cabinet from when the house was built, and before we purchased the house, the contractors had just put a new countertop and sink basin/faucet/etc in. So it was a nice blend of old and new. I think whatever it's replaced with will be all new...oh well. AND, tomorrow we can also go to Pier One to pick up the corner cabinets that we'd ordered a few weeks ago. They will go in the living room and replace the less sturdy corner bookcases we have up now. These newer things will be more Alex-proof. The only thing we're waiting for is one more bookcase to go in the dining room for the cookbooks that used to be in the kitchen until we ditched that (rickety and 20 years old) bookcase with the hutch that used to be in Bill's mom's kitchen. The hutch looks better. And most of the cookbooks are locked in the lower portion - locked, so Alex can't take them out and play with them. Or toss them down the basement stairs. So by Christmas, the place should be looking quite improved. Ummmmm... Okay, that's enough for now. I have typed enough rather lame things for one morning...though if they aren't here soon I may be back... so keep your fingers crossed that they arrive soon.....

Other Strands of the Braid

I have written now about my mother-in-law, and a couple of the cookie-related traditions in my husband's side of the family.

Along with those, I am including some of the traditions of my own family...

For dinner on Christmas day, for instance, we have Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pudding. (Yes, I'll post a recipe for that - but closer to Christmas). My family is primarily English and Scottish (Mom's side) and English and a little bit of German (Dad's side). So there's a whole lot of English going on....

Anyway, as I remember, years and years ago we sometimes had turkey on Christmas, but then at some point it became just the Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pudding meal, which suited me just fine, as I really, really like Yorkshire Pudding. Yorkshire Pudding is a basic egg batter (think Popovers, only bigger and more impressive) poured into a hot baking dish that already has hot drippings from the already-cooked Roast Beef. The hot pan goes back into the oven and (if all goes well), the pudding cooks and the sides rise up and sometimes the middle rises up and it's just a gorgeous yellow and brown work of art when it's done. You rush it to the table (before, souffle-like, it collapses back on itself) and cut it up into sections and pour gravy on it. And serve it, of course, with the rest of the meal, which has already been arranged on the table and, like the assembled family, has waited patiently for the Yorkshire Pudding to make its entrance. (The Roast Beef is the leading man, the Yorkshire Pudding is the diva...)

But anyway - that is one of the traditions.

Another tradition - I'm jumping back a holiday now - on Thanksgiving morning, is the official slicing of the bread for the stuffing....this has often been my "job" within my mother's kitchen. BUT - before that, my other traditional job - The climbing up onto the counter and getting down of the official Stuffing Bowl. Yes. There is a huge stoneware (I think) bowl, yellow with a couple of stripes, way up on top of the cupboards in my parents' kitchen. There are other equally old, beautiful and dusty bowls nested inside this biggest bowl of them all...My job, for years, has been to climb up onto a chair, then onto the counter, perching there precariously (with an occasional teeter just to make my mother a bit crazier). I next remove some of the bowls in the Stuffing Bowl and hand these down to my father, who has been urged, by my mother, to stand there in case I fall. (His job is probably to catch the Stuffing Bowl as I hit the floor.) Anyway, I hand the smaller bowls to Dad, until all of them are out. He puts them on the counter. Then I get the Stuffing Bowl. God help me if I drop it. (Well - it's to be my inheritance, so if I drop it, there's only the brown-bowl-I-learned-to-make-bread-in that's left for me...) I hand the Stuffing Bowl to Dad, who places it on the kitchen table, and then hands back up the rest of the bowls, until such time as the Stuffing Bowl is returned to its lofty throne.

The Stuffing Bowl is washed out (dust is not an ingredient in stuffing in our family) and dried, and then I slice the loaves of stuffing bread into cubes and fill the bowl with them. Meanwhile there is a turkey neck, a stalk of celery, and an onion simmering in a small pot of water. Mom sautees some diced onion and celery (not the same ones as are in the pot) in some butter until softened. Then the onion and celery and butter mixture are added to the bread cubes...and a good shake or two from the box of Bell's Poultry Seasoning is added...some salt and pepper...and then the turkey-neck stock is poured on (without the neck or soggy onion or soggy celery stalk), and the cubes of bread are gently tossed in the bowl to incorporate the liquid. Don't want too much liquid - it will be soggy. When it's just right (it's a judgement call - I have no ratio of bread to liquid...I think it depends on the relative humidity in the kitchen and my mother's mood, frankly) the bowl of stuffing is set aside and the naked turkey is summoned from where it's been hiding in the kitchen sink.

The turkey goes in the Big Pan, and then, while I hold the legs (don't let it get away!) my otherwise kind and caring mother jams the stuffing into the body cavity until the turkey expands to three times the size it originally was. (Yes! Just like the Grinch's heart!) The legs are tied together with twine to prevent the stuffing from escaping. Oh - almost forgot - some of the stuffing is set aside to be combined with browned sausage meat, and this mixture goes in the smaller cavity where the neck used to be attached. That gets anchored shut with little skewer things.

And then the turkey is rubbed all over with softened butter (like this massage can possibly make up for the earlier indignities it suffered at my mother's hands. Okay, and mine.) and popped into the oven.

While all this is going on my sister comes over to the house and hangs out with us, drinking coffee and contributing the requisite smart-ass daughter remarks that we both tend to offer up during these mother/daughter/daughter times...and my mother reacts with faux exasperation at the audacity of our remarks and jests...and pretends to wonder where we could have learned to talk like that.

Side note - one of my favorite things that my mother says, particularly in response to something one of us has said that she finds totally without justification, is: (with great emotion) "You have the unmitigated gall to" ......(whatever it is this time.) Hee hee hee.

Well anyway, that little stuffing-making tradition is one that will take place at my house this year. With a few differences...Mom will bring the stuffing bowl up with her that morning, so there will be no climbing of furniture and counters....and it's my kitchen, so in theory I get to be in charge....

The Cookie Tradition, Continued...

I have been given a welcome nod and a nudge, as well, from Sheila regarding my post the other day about my mother-in-law's traditional cookie baking. I inherited that role in the family after her all-too-soon passing last November. One might say the spatula has been passed.... (or one might not, depending on one's sense of humor).

Anyway, I had promised to post a cookie recipe, and I'll probably post more than that - we'll see how it goes tonight. But before I do that, just a quick little link to the website for a company that sells many, many cookie presses and springerle molds, and other cookie-making books and supplies. My mother-in-law had purchased one, possibly two, springerle molds in recent years, and I have just recently ordered a few as well...to build the collection.

The place is called House on the Hill, and if you're at all interested in making springerle, or just interested in cookie-making in general, you should check them out.

With that little reference made, I'll be right back with a couple of recipes...

Braiding Traditions

No - I'm not talking hair.

I've been lying in bed, wide awake, for the past hour or so, with cookies dancing in my head. Springerle, baurenhutchen, mandelsterne, white lebkuchen, and pfeffernusse, to name a few. (And I may have some of them spelled wrong, I know.)

These were some of the traditional German (mainly) cookies that Bill's mom made every year before Christmas. She send packages to Bill's brother in Seattle and his family, and to her brother in Ohio. I believe the rest stayed at her house and were offered to us when we stopped by, and on Christmas Eve and Christmas night. Everyone has their favorite.

One year I hung out with her and experienced the making of some of them. We made the springerle - hard, anise-flavored pressed cookies that need to age a bit before they are eaten. We used her springerle molds - some newer, composites of wood and resin, and some old - one small piece of wood with 6 hand-carved pictures...I don't even know how she came to possess that one - was it her mother's? I don't know. But it's old, and alive, and priceless. We also made the mandelsterne (I've also seen it spelled "manstelsterne") - which translates to "almond stars," and these are Bill's favorites. They're like meringues, actually, and the egg white dough is sticky and somewhat difficult to work with. But the cookies are well worth the effort. Light, crispy and chewy, with ground nuts throughout....

Bill's mom passed away very suddenly nearly a year ago. The day before Thanksgiving. And I don't want to talk about it because okay here I am sitting here with tears running down my face because you know what? I miss her. I was so, so lucky to have a mother-in-law who I clicked with on a bunch of levels. And I wish I'd known her longer.

And I'm going to abruptly drag the conversatino back to the cookies, because my intent this morning was not to sit here weeping. I'll do that another time. Soon. Because I really want to write about her. You should have known Elsa.

Anyway. Bill's brothers and sisters-in-law decided that I should inherit the cookie-making supplies. There were frantic searches through the little recipe boxes on top of her fridge for the recipes. Ray finally found them in another room, in a small, black ring binder...the recipes translated from the German in Elsa's handwriting.

I made most of them last year and got them shipped out on time. I was nervous, I remember. I found it hard to get started. I suddenly felt like I had this HUGE task ahead of me, and I was both determined to get the cookies made correctly and terrified that I'd f*** them up.

I know. They're cookies, Jayne. Cookies.

But they're not. They are tradition. They are more than flour and sugar and eggs and nuts. They are a common history. They are family. They are memories. They are home.

And so now I am the keeper of the cookie tradition.

Which suits me fine. I am a big believer in and keeper of traditions.

And so, back to where I started...lying in bed thinking of cookies...I'll be making the springerl this week, or next weekend, at the latest. They can age for a couple of weeks, then I'll make all the others and ship them out.

We're hosting Thanksgiving this year, too. I volunteered (begged) both moms last year and they had agreed, though I practically had to provide references to my own mother to get her to allow me to cook the turkey... (Hi Mom :) ). In past years we would have the first Thanksgiving meal around 1:00 at Elsa's house, sit around groaning in full-bellied agony for a while after that, then Bill and I would stuff ourselves into our car and drive to my mother's house and do it all over again with my side of the family. And I mean "all over again." The funny thing was that, with a couple of side dish exceptions, both moms made the same meal. Well - what I really mean is that both mothers made the same stuffing. And the stuffing (INSIDE THE TURKEY, not in a casserole dish on the side) is my absolute favorite part of the meal. So the first Thanksgiving I ever spent at Elsa's house was like home for me.

(Long and rambling post this morning, huh?)

But anyway - traditions. So - the stuffing will not deviate from the simple bread stuffing that both moms have made for years. I don't care what new trendy stuffing any of my cooking magazines wave at me. I will not make a change. I can't. I could probably give up the turkey before I could give up the stuffing. (Though I'd need the turkey to cook the stuffing in...)

So, again, back to lying in bed thinking...the braiding image came to me. And that's what I'm doing. I'm braiding traditions. The traditions from Bill's family, traditions from mine, and the new traditions that we create for this little family of ours.

I love this. I don't know if it's pregnancy hormones or not - probably not - but I'm welling up again. This is exactly where I am supposed to be. My life is perfect.

And now I have to run - Bill is up, Alex is awake and babbling happily in his crib, and we have a ton of grocery shopping to do.....

Have a good day.

Chef John and Chicken Provencal

(FYI - I had a whole long post in the works, and my computer froze and I lost it. Grrrrr.)

Tonight - our friend John cooked Chicken Provencal for dinner for us.

I got home at about 5:30, opened the door and was nearly bowled over by the intoxicating aromas that filled the kitchen. Bill got home a little bit later and was equally mesmerized. Onions cooking in fat...browned chicken thighs...white wine...thyme...oregano...everything braising together for over an hour and then...tomatoes...lemon zest... chopped parsley...served up with a chewy, crusty baguette.

John - it was heavenly. Many, many thanks. Tonight was like going out to eat - only better, because we didn't have to drive home after.

John and my husband have been friends since high school, and they are each armed with a relatively equal number of embarrassing stories about the other. This, and beer, are the foundation of their friendship.

I met John shortly after Bill and I started dating, and over time we became friends. Not just Bill's best friend and Bill's girlfriend friends...but genuine friends. We have had many great conversations, and many great verbal sparring matches. I think he respects me because I can eat a hop pellet and not wince. (A hop pellet, for those of you who haven't had the pleasure of trying one, looks kind of like rabbit or hamster food and is made up of dried hop leaves compressed into this bitter little nugget. Hops are the bittering agent in beer, and also contribute to the aroma. They taste awful (as pellets, especially) and are really not meant to be a snack food. But I was encouraged (dared) to try one. So I did. It was clearly some sort of tribal initiation, and as the new girl, I couldn't say no. So I ate a hop pellet. And the tribe began to accept me....

Anyway, John is more family than friend. He was best man at our wedding...he has helped us move...he helped build the deck on the back of our house...he has co-hosted numerous parties...and he loses dart game after dart game to my gloating husband - and keeps coming back for more. He is an endlessly good sport. In fact, they are downstairs playing now....

OH! And - John predicted the sex of our baby when I was pregnant with Alex.

We were down in the basement, and I was around 7 months pregnant or more. John and Bill had been playing darts and drinking a few beers (really?) and for some reason, John decided to predict the gender of our baby.

He came over to where I was lying on the couch. He knelt down beside me and stared, unblinking, at my mountain of a belly. He stared...and stared...through layer after layer of synthetic maternity-wear fabric...through stretched skin and loosened muscle (okay, and fat)...stared and stared until he could see the unborn child in my womb. Stared...and stared...and stared...until suddenly he leapt to his feet and announced, with finality: "Girl."

I could go on...there are many John stories, and many good things to say about him. But it would start to sound like I was trying to get him a date. So I won't go on about the fact that he likes to cook...he's got a great sense of humor...he's learning to play classical guitar...he is not afraid of babies...he is an organic gardener...he is well read...he has an inquisitive mind...he chews with his mouth closed and knows how to behave in polite company...

Oh, and next time he's making me a cheesecake.

The Painters are Coming! The Painters are Coming!

Yes, it's another thrill-filled day here....

On Tuesday the "ceiling guy" came and plastered up the holes (from the flood in August) and made the swirly texture of the basement ceiling look like new, except for the slight color difference.  And today (a day earlier than expected)

No Surprises Here...

You are the Girl Next Door. You're the sweet one.
The quiet one.

Cheese Fondue

When Bill and I were just starting to date, the first meal I cooked for him in my apartment was a simple cheese fondue.  He had never had it before, and apparently he was just amazed by it. 

It's very, very simple. This is the way I make it...

The Moon on the Crest of the New Fallen Snow...

Okay, there's not really any snow. But when I first got up this morning and came downstairs (sometime around 4 or 4:30), I thought we'd left the back door light on - but we hadn't - so where was that light coming from?

Happy Birthday, Calvin! (a few days late)

Well, I wished him a happy birthday on his real birthday. I'm just now getting around to writing about it.

Calvin is my nephew. He is now eleven. He's my sister's son.

The Purpose of a French Fry

I brought Alex to his doctor's office after work today to get his flu shot. We were in and out pretty quickly, and Alex recovered from the insult of being jabbed in the leg for no apparent reason.

Some Recipes...

Thought I'd bring over the recipes I'd posted in my old blog, just to have them all in one spot here...so that's what I've done - and now I have to hurry back to work, as my lunch break will be over shortly...I really need a private office so I can blog when I want to...heh heh.

Lemon Sponge Pie

(from my old blog...)

My mother got this recipe from a friend of hers, and for years it's been my "birthday cake" of choice. Served it chilled, with some fresh whipped cream (or not) it's perfect on a hot July day.

Variation on a Theme - Shrimp and Fettucine

(from my old blog...)

I've got this idea of making a pesto with the leaves from our nasturtium plants. The flowers and leaves are edible, and both are kind of peppery. No, not kind of, they are peppery.

Grilled Shrimp

(from my old blog...)

This is for my cousin, Susan, who asked for a copy of this recipe. It's one of the dishes Bill cooked for me on my birthday...

Two Scallop Recipes

(from my old blog...)

I made both of these for a clambake/cookout we had. Did each with about a pound and a half of fresh sea scallops....

Basil and Nasturtium Pesto Crostini with Fresh Mozzarella and Candied Cherry Tomatoes

(from my old blog...) 

Maybe they're really Bruschetta. They're sort of both and neither.

Feel free to correct me.

Anyway.  About this yummy little appetizer....

Green Spaghetti

(from my old blog...)

When I was a kid my mother would make spaghetti with just butter and chopped parsley sometimes. She (and we) called it "green spaghetti."

Creme Brulee

(originally from my old blog...)

2008 note - if you want to see pictures of the process, go here.

Tuesday night when everyone was over I made Creme Brulee,

Buffalo Balls

(from my old blog...)

As I think I mentioned in a previous post, on Sunday I went to visit my sister and her family, and my parents, while my husband taught some guys how to brew an all-grain batch of beer.

Saturday night I made these meatballs for them to have for lunch on Sunday. According to Bill, they were a huge hit. Here is what I did:

Trout for Lunch

(from my old blog...Bill had caught some trout one morning)

Pretty simple - all I did was this:

Heat some oil in a pan - about a quarter of an inch or so....

Whole Wheat Linguine with Leeks and Mushrooms

(from my old blog...)

I made this the other night...

Trimmed and chopped a couple of big leeks and let them sit in a bowl of cold water for a while to clean off any dirt....

Chocolate Chip Cookies

(from my old blog) Yesterday I made a batch of chocolate chip cookies, at my husband's request. No nuts - just chocolate chips. I used the recipe from the back of a package of Ghiradelli semi-sweet chips, but I used both the remaining semi-sweet chips and a whole package of Ghiradelli's double chocolate chips too.

Chicken and Gravy and Mashed Potatoes

(from my old blog...) Monday night I wanted comfort food for dinner. So this is what I did:

Shrimp Recipe

(from my old blog...) Last night I was going to make shrimp fajitas, but I didn't have flour tortillas and I didn't feel like going to the store on my lunch break or on the way home, so this is what I did instead:

Toddler Defiance

Alex has been playing with Bill's old set of Lego-like toys (they're much bigger and not a choking hazard), and he really likes them - especially the little plastic Lego-like people that are part of the set. He likes to put them head-first in his mouth. And look right at me.

Echoes from the Basement

The basement is just about emptied now, in preparation for the repairs to the ceiling, the stain-covering and painting of the walls, and the new carpet. Still have to pick out the carpeting, but that'll be done last anyway. Very strange down there - it echoes.

Welcome

...to my new and (I think) improved "own little corner in my own little chair..." Not much else to say, actually....not yet, anyway.

Almost There...

Still playing around with everything...but I think I'm fairly close to making the final change over. Actually, there's probably no reason why I couldn't do it now...