Carrot and Fennel Soup

As per Courtney's request, another vegetarian soup recipe. This one comes from a book I read a few years ago:

Cooking for Mr Latte: A Food Lover's Courtship, with Recipes
By Amanda Hesser

This is a fun read, and I recommend it to anyone who wants a quick read about New York, food, and love. It is a "culinary novel", which means the chapters are interspersed with recipes. If you end up reading it, I have to praise the smoked paprika potato recipe (my mom made this one, and now it's one of my staples), and the vanilla bean loaves (buttery-vanilla goodness!). But the recipe I make most often from this book is the quick and easy carrot fennel soup. It doesn't matter how messy you chop everything up, as it gets blended at the end. And I have to mention that one of my favorites aromas in the culinary world is present in this recipe: fennel being sauteed in butter (seriously, take a moment at this point in your cooking and relish it).

Carrot Fennel soup in a bread bowl
(good without the bread bowl too, my husband just happened to bring it home from work)

Carrot and Fennel Soup
(courtesy of Cooking for Mr. Latte, adapted from Epicurious.com)

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 medium fennel bulb, stalks trimmed flush with the bulb, and coarsely chopped; fronds reserved
1 1/2 pounds carrots, peeled and thickly sliced (about 4 cups)
1 large garlic clove, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon sea salt, more to taste
1/3 cup fresh orange juice
1/4 cup sour cream
Freshly ground black pepper

Put the butter in a soup pot and heat until the butter is foamy. Add the chopped fennel and cook over medium heat, stirring, until softened and beginning to turn golden. Add the carrots and garlic and cook for another minute. Pour in enough water to cover the vegetables (about 4 cups), season with salt and simmer, covered, until the carrots are very tender, about 20 min. (add more water if the pot gets dry).
Ladle the soup into a food processor, and puree the mixture with orange juice, sour cream, and salt and pepper to taste. Or puree with your hand blender. You can leave it chunky if you like, but I make mine pretty smooth. Heat the soup, stirring, just until heated through; do not let it boil. Taste it again. Pull the fennel fronds into pieces and drop them into the soup (or just use as a garnish). Give it one last stir. Serves 6. Enjoy!

In the OC

After the surprise party, we had 1 more day to spend in Orange County. Actually, it wasn't even a whole day. We had to drive home at a reasonable hour since I had to work at 7:30am the next day. So we squeezed in as many visits as we could in a day, which got off to a late start since we were up for 20 hours the day before!
First, we met up with Scott's mom for lunch. She has a new job at a retirement community in Laguna Woods (previously known as Leisure World). She works in this upscale condo tower for old folks, very fancy, but in an old kind of way...it looked like the lobby chairs came out of the haunted mansion at Disneyland.
After lunch, we visited with Brian, Nichole, and Micah. I can't believe how much Micah has grown since we've moved! Not only has he learned to roll over and sit up, but he is about ready to start crawling...he does that thing where he assumes the position, sways back and forth, and then doesn't quite know what to do next. So cute. He's already 8 months old.

Finally, we peeled ourselves away from the cute baby and raced to Fullerton to meet up with Kevon, Scott's old co-worker at Kimera and catering partner.This is what happens when chefs get together...they compare their knives!

Originally, our plan was to hit the road home by 4:30pm, giving us a Walnut Creek arrival time of 10pm. But we dawdled too long at Brian and Nichole's, and didn't end up meeting with Kevin until after 4pm. We haven't seen Kevin since we moved, so he and Scott had lots of restaurant buzz to catch up on, and we didn't leave there until 6pm. In the end, we arrived home around midnight. But hey, I can't complain, since I got to visit with old friends.

SURPRISE!

Happy Birthday Linda!

Linda is my mother-in-law. She has a big birthday coming up this Sunday, and she thought no one was gonna do anything about it! Little did she know...rewind 2 months....
My sister-in-law, Kelly, and I decided we should drive down to Orange County and surprise her mom on her 60th birthday. Then, Kelly had the idea to not only surprise her with us, but to throw her a whole surprise party! So thus began a 2 month party planning discussion 400 miles from the venue. We decided to throw her a Mardi Gras themed party, as Linda was born and raised in New Orleans, and Mardi Gras is around this time of the year (not sure exactly when, but the party stores sure have a lot of Mardi Gras gear right now!)
We called Linda's boyfriend, Mike, who graciously let us bombard his little home in Capistrano Beach for the shindig. Kelly and I made a guest list of 30 friends and family, thinking no way would they all come. We ordered some cute Mardi Gras invites, which I printed and sent out, and low and behold, everyone RSVP-ed yes...even our friend Lisa who gave birth to her 2nd daughter a mere 8 days prior to the party!
Last weekend, with our New Orleans menu set and bags of Mardi Gras themed goodies packed, Scott and I drove down to Orange County for the long awaited party. Wait, I forgot to mention that Kelly and her boyfriend Levi drove down during normal daylight hours on Saturday, but Scott and I had the good fortune of waking up at 4:30am Sunday to make the drive down due to Scott's Saturday night work schedule. But let me tell you, there are no trucks on the 5 at 5am, and no traffic in LA...we made it into the OC by 10am...where we promptly headed to our sorely missed Grower's Direct produce market to stock up on party perishables.
This is the drawback to being a chef and throwing a party for your mother...you have to cook, even if you live 400 miles away! We traveled with 2 Le Crueset dutch ovens, a giant wooden salad bowl, 2 lbs of fresh shrimp from Scott's work, a king cake ordered from New Orleans, and a full set of knives. Whew! So once we purchased the remaining ingredients for our New Orleans feast, we arrived at Chris's house, where we began our cooking adventure. We prepped most everything there for our menu, and then packed it all up to transfer to Mike's house to finish cooking and set the party up.

Linda's Mardi Gras Menu
Hurricanes

Veggie Crudite with Ranch Dip
Sausage and Cheese Bites
McCarthy Shrimp Cocktail *

Shrimp etouffe
Chicken & Andouille Jambalaya
Rice
Caesar Salad

King Cake
Turtle Cookies

*McCarthy Shrimp Cocktail: This is how the McCarthy clan eats their shrimp at shrimp boils. Ritz cracker, dab of butter, shrimp, squirt of ketchup. Seriously, don't knock it until you try it!

We arrived at Mike's a mere 1/2 hour before the start of the party. I set about decorating the table while simultaneously prepping the appetizers. Scott started the roux for the etouffe. We were on a tight schedule, since Mike had taken Linda to the movies, and would be back in 1 1/2 hours. In that time, we had to decorate the house, hope all the guests arrive on time, and try to calm down with a hurricane.
From there, everything flowed perfectly! Linda's friend Marion (the one who threw my heart-themed bridal shower) decorated hurricane glasses for all the guests, and another friend Lorraine brought festive bunches of balloons. Brother-in-law Jeff kept the hurricanes flowing, Kelly was on top of keeping tabs of her mom's arrival time and handing out beads, and Scott and I held up the food end of things.

Empty hurricane glasses? Bartender!!

Levi & Kelly waiting for the "arrival"
Then, at 4:00, we got the secret call from Mike saying they were on their way. Conveniently, Mike's front yard is gated off, so we could all gather in there, and Linda would open the gate and see us all. And boy, when she entered the yard she was blown away! Suprise

She had NO idea any of this was going on...she froze in shock! We piled beads and a boa on her, handed her a drink, and she set about greeting all of her guests. It was really great to see her so happy and excited. Jeff even made a montage of pictures of Linda set to music on a dvd that we all enjoyed watching.The McCarthys

The party was a huge hit, but unfortunately we had to drive home the next day. This was my first trip to Orange County since we moved away, so in the 2 days we were there, we had a lot of visiting to fit in, but more on that in another post...this one is to honor Linda...there's no better mother-in-law I could wish for!

Here are some party pictures!
The mamas (left to right): Cousin Melissa (due in a few weeks), Linda, Lisa, NicholeMardi Gras Gangsta Chris models his beads
Barrie & Mark, the king and queen of Mardi Gras...they are Mike's son and wife, and the winners of the game we played (below)
Evelyn loves to party!

Traditional King Cake, flown in from New Orleans Haydel's Bakery

Happy Birthday!

President Barack Obama!

It's about time Obama takes over! I witnessed history in the making today at work with members of the youngest generation....kindergartners. I'm not sure they understood exactly what was happening, but they knew it was special, and they absolutely all know who Obama is. It was very moving to hear Obama speak about making our country a better place for future generations...with those very children he was speaking about watching him.
I leave you with a wish from one of my 3rd graders:
Me: You open a bag of potato chips and out pops a genie. What do you wish for?
Student: I wish I lived next door to the Obamas!

Pork Tenderloin Sandwiches with Onion Relish

This is a super easy recipe for a delicious dinner. I first had it at my Nana's house, and Scott loved it so much I had to get the recipe and make it for him at home. The trick here is marinating the tenderloin, and then using the marinade to make the onion relish...ingenious! The recipe below originally called for 2 pork tenderloins, but I changed it to 1 tenderloin, but it still has the original amount of marinade and relish (the relish is so good I like having double of it!) I think the recipe originally comes from a Tapas cookbook, and is suggested for a buffet, but Scott and I prefer to pile it on a big platter and serve it family style:

Pork Tenderloin Sandwiches with Onion Relish
1 pork tenderloin (about 1 pound)
zest* and juice of 1 lemon
2 large sweet onions, thinly sliced (Maui, Walla Walla, or Vidalia)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon dried Italian seasoning (or a mixture of dried oregano and thyme)
1 tablespoon coarse ground mustard
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon coarse ground pepper
1 dozen small buns (about 2 in. diameter), sliced horizontally

Place the pork tenderloin in a shallow pan. In a small bowl, combine the lemon zest and juice, onions, garlic, balsamic vinegar, Italian seasoning, mustard, oil, salt, and pepper.
Pour over the pork and marinate in refrigerator at least 1 hour and up to 4 hours. Remove pork from marinade for later use. Place tenderloin in a roasting pan and roast at 350 degrees for 20-30 min., or until internal temp. reaches 155 degrees**.
While the pork is roasting, make the onion relish by pouring the reserved marinade in a saucepan and cooking over low heat for 15-20 min. until the onions are soft.
When the pork is done, cool to room temp. and thinly slice on diagonal. Arrange pork in a concentric circle on a platter, top with onion relish, and serve with buns. Enjoy =)


*If you don't own a microplane, it's about time you get one! This little guy is ideal for zesting lemons, grating nutmeg, and grating hard cheeses like Parmesan...you will never buy pre-grated again!

**If your unsure how long to cook meats without over or undercooking, you should invest in a thermometer. It is the sure-fire way to check for doneness, it's how all the restaurants do it!

Embracing my inner nerdiness...

Scott says I'm a nerd. Maybe its because I love going to school and would go for the rest of my life if I got paid to do it. Or maybe its my straight A's in my master's program. And I am one of those people who corrects grammar...and I can explain grammar rules (ex: if a verb ends in an "n" and you want to add past tense "ed", it is pronounced as only the "d"{loaned}, whereas if a verb ends in the "k" sound, the "ed" is pronounced "t"{walked}). Part of this craziness comes from teaching phonics and teaching kids to speak English, where you actually have to explain rules like these, which came naturally to all of us native English speakers. But in the end, it does add to my nerdiness, and I have come to the conclusion that Scott is correct, I am indeed a nerd.
So last month Scott's boss sent Scott home with an "interesting read". As Scott is not an avid reader if the book is not a cookbook, this novel sat on our bookshelf for weeks and weeks. Last weekend, needing a good read on a cold day, I picked up the book and settled on the couch with Cleo, and started reading. Here's my latest read, and the ultimate marker of a nerd:

Salt, A World History

I have to say, I am not very far yet, but already know loads of information about the ancient Chinese and their use of salt (did you know they discovered natural gas 2,000 years ago and actually piped it into houses using bamboo pipes?) Another interesting tidbit that my fellow linguists will enjoy: The Chinese and Japanese have different western words for soy sauce, and different pronunciations in their languages, but they are written with the same character! Wow, I just blew your mind!
When I am finished with my book, I will answer any and all salt questions =)

Ringing in the New Year

After a dud New Year's Eve party last year at the Orange County Fairgrounds, I made up for it this year by having an extra good time! Our good friend and groomsman, Chris, came up to visit this New Year's, and we made plans to see a concert in the city. There were so many good shows to choose from this year, but we opted for ALO, a jazzy, rock, jam band, playing at the Independent, with an open bar (that was part of our decision making). I saw ALO years ago, but in the time that has lapsed, they have gained quite a following and know how to put on a fun show. ALO (Animal Liberation Orchestra) consists of 4 members: drummer, keyboardist, bassist, and guitarist. They all attended college in Santa Barbara with Jack Johnson, and have collaborated on a few songs with him. No Jack Johnson last night though, but they did have other guests join in and a full horn section. So that's the band story.

Scott had to work New Year's Eve, but was hoping that he would get off in time to Bart into the city and find a cab to the venue before midnight. So Chris and I headed into the city earlier in the evening and secured great spots to see the show (up on the platform on the side so short people like me can actually see!) Chris and I waiting for Scott to arrive

Once settled in, we made it our mission to take full advantage of the open bar, which was no crappy well drinks and draft beer bar. I drank Effen cherry vodka all night...dev had that at her wedding, and I usually drink it with coke which makes a lovely cherry coke flavor, but last night the bartender messed up and mixed it with soda water, and it tasted like a black cherry New York Seltzer...delicious!
Chris and I danced through the whole first set, and during set break, we got word that Scott got off work, about 10:45pm. His pre-midnight arrival was going to be close! During the second set, Scott kept me updated on his journey through text messaging, and during the second set break, he arrived! Woohoo, he found a cab on New Year's Eve, and made it on time, I think he arrived about 5 minutes before midnight. Yeah, I got to spend my first married New Year's with my husband =)

Happy 2009!

The show ended around 2am, and we had to make it back to the Bart station by 3 to catch the last train. It would be close walking it, we were a good distance from any station, but we started walking, fingers crossed that we would run into an empty cab. Instead, Scott flagged down a towncar, and the guy said $20 to go to the Bart station, so we piled in and off we went. The driver talked the whole time about what a good deal we were getting and that after us he was upping his charge to $50. Nice. But when he dropped us off, we discovered we were at a Muni station, not Bart, and still had to walk a good 5 blocks. Hmmm, looks like he screwed us too. But no harm done, we made our train and journeyed back to Walnut Creek amid a train of drunk revelers.
Oh, so I forgot to mention that Chris and I failed to eat dinner prior to the show, so we were starving by 3:30am. We had already eaten all the cashews and rice crackers I threw in my purse prior to the show. Back in Walnut Creek, we headed to the only 24 hour place, Jack in the Box, and proceeded to sit in the long drive through line. 20 minutes later, when we were 4 cars away from the front, we hear the girl on the speaker box say they are closed until 4:30am. Ummm, since when does a 24 hour restaurant close? And there was a line of cars out into the street. What is that all about? We ended up scouring 7-11 for dinner, I dined on the culinary treat of canned Chef Boyardee raviolis, while Scott and Chris ate some gross convenience store burritos and cheeseburgers (ewww, I was not going to eat that!)
Finally, after we got some sustenance into our empty stomachs, our night was over. I have to say though, New Year's Eve in SF beats out Orange County New Years by a landslide, there is so much to do up here!
I'm leaving you with 2 video clips. The first one is ALO playing with Audio Angel singing. Audio Angel has an amazing voice, I saw her for the first time last week at the sweater party. The second clip is Guadalajara Tony, the opening act. He cracked me up...sorry about the camera turns.
Hope everyone else had a safe and happy New Year's 2009!