Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays everyone! I am leaving today to spend the holidays in Orange County with Scott's family. Our first stop is Claremont to visit my grandparents for the night, then we spend the next 10 days in the OC. We have Christmas with the in-laws, my birthday at Disneyland, and New Year's with our friends. See you all in 2010!
Here are a few pictures from the min-Christmas we celebrated with my parents last weekend...

Martinis

Mom, Marianne & Max
Max & Victoria
Victoria wrapped up Scott's favorite cookies from Safeway...great gift!
Marianne got walnuts to feed her squirrels!
New cookbook!
We gave my parents official chef coats

Merry Christmas!

Tyler Florence!

If you watch the Food Network, you are most likely familiar with Tyler Florence, chef and host of such shows as: How to Boil Water, Food 911, and Tyler's Ultimate. His most recent endeavor is creating a cookware line, which sells at Macys. He is also on the "culinary council" of Macys, which is a network of well-known chefs that sell their wares, have miniature restaurants in various Macys, and do cooking demonstrations in the stores. That brings us to Wednesday at Macys Union Square. Tyler Florence was doing a cooking exhibition to demonstrate his new cookware and talk about his most recent cookbook.

He's very passionate about his new cookware (see, the lids attach to the handles for storage)

A few days prior, Scott's catering company (Barbara Llewellyn Catering), gave Scott a job on Wednesday as "Tyler Florence's Personal Assistant". What! That is so cool! So I promptly went online to Macys and reserved a spot for the cooking demonstration.
I showed up to Macys early, found some seats (Leslie was meeting me later), and much to my surprise, Scott was center stage in the demo kitchen frying calamari. A few days later, he told me people were walking by while he was prepping and saying "Is that Tyler Florence? I think that's him!".

Scott preps calamari in the demo kitchen

The seats began to fill with eager Tyler Florence fans, while Scott finished prepping and disappeared back into the green room. I wasn't sure if Scott would even be on the stage for the demo, but when Tyler Florence came out, there was Scott, right on the stage with him! His job was making sure he had everything he needed.

Scott prepped each dish like this, so Tyler could come in and cook it

So although they did not actually cook together, it was pretty cool! Tyler even called Scott "chef" when he needed something...like "Where's the halibut....thanks Chef." Later on he lightened up and began calling Scott "man"...like "Thanks for the peeler, man."

I did manage to get a shot of Scott and Tyler on stage together!

His son ran in and joined him on stage, then he wanted to play with Scott

Tyler made a halibut/lentil dish, and then the best fried calamari I have ever tasted, and ended with ricotta gnocchi (delish!).

Halibut with lentils
Calamari
Ricotta dumplings with shaved radishes and greens

The audience of about 100 people tasted each dish, and the audience tastes were all prepped by Scott and his team.

Look at the big audience!
Leslie had the responsibility of passing each sample down our row...she rocked at her job!

During the demo, Tyler would take questions from the audience, so Leslie asked how to make brisket for her soon-to-be-in-laws for Hanukkah, and Tyler gave her personal cooking advice on how to prep it. (Leslie...I want a blog post on your brisket!!)

Even Tyler Florence loves the immersion blender!

After the demo, Scott remained on stage and schmoozed with little old ladies who had cooking questions, while Leslie and I tracked down Tyler Florence to sign our new cookbooks.
I took tons of pictures with my camera, but thankfully Leslie arrived with a "real" camera to better document the experience. There were even professional photographers there, and one of them sent me his pictures. So thank you, Barry Jan for sending me photos, and hopefully I will get Leslie's photos soon too.

80 Years Young

Oh wait, the cake says 08!

My Pa turned 80 last weekend! I when I say 80 years young, I really mean it...he still plays tennis regularly with his 'Old Geezer' group (don't let the name fool you, they could beat most of us!).
To celebrate this huge milestone, my Nana planned a party at Trader Vic's restaurant in Emeryville. Our family has a long tradition with celebrations at Trader Vic's, from birthdays to anniversaries to bachelor parties. Back in its heyday, my grandparents were regulars at the restaurant, and the staff knew them well. It was one of those places that required a coat and tie(gasp!), and if a man showed up without one, he had to borrow the restaurant's coat for the evening. Those were the days...I can't think of one restaurant that requires coat and tie now. My uncle remembers celebrating events at Trader Vic's since 1972, in fact, he told me that once he, his ex-wife, and my parents went for dinner in a private room and brought Trivial Pursuit, thus spending hours playing the game and drinking mai-tais in the restaurant. I remember a few trips to the restaurant as a child, and feeling very fortuitous to be able to go...as I remember just as many occasions that my parents went without me and my brothers. So needless to say, our family has quite a history with Trader Vic's, and it was the perfect place to celebrate Pa's big day.
Almost the whole entire family made it out: grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles, siblings, and parents. We were only missing three: my cousin Jim (he had to work), my Aunt Kim (she had to work too), and my brother Jason (in Bolivia).
We spent the evening in a private room looking over the bay, with mai-tais in hand. Trader Vic's is a Polynesian-themed restaurant, and they specialize in mai-tais, pupu platters, and other Polynesian fare. Of course, we snacked on pupus: BBQ spare ribs, crab rangoon, crispy prawns, and some yummy cheese things I can't remember the name of. After the pupus and mai-tais, I was almost full, but still made room for my green goddess salad and lamb curry.

Lamb Curry, look at all the fun toppings to mix in!

Dessert was off the hook...snowball icecreams (chocolate sauce, ice cream & coconut), sesame cookies, fortune cookies, and of course a chocolate cake for Pa! We all had 2 desserts infront of us, with big trays of cookies in the middle of the table.

Hank & Max chow down on dessert

It is always so much fun to see the whole family, especially so close to the holidays. Happy Birthday Pa!

Nana & Pa

Mom & Max

My Pa with almost all his grandsons (minus 2)

Julianna...gold medal skier...good luck this year!Not another photo! Please don't take my picture...

Twas the night...

Twas 16 days before Christmas

And all through the house
Not a creature was stirring
Not even a kitty.

The stockings were hung

By the cookbooks with care
In hopes that my husband would soon be there!

It's almost Christmas! We've been making our home cozy and warm by simmering apple cider and mulling spices. It fills the house with such a scrumptious holiday scent! I absolutely LOVE the holidays (and not only because it's my birthday too...but that might be part of it!)

Salad Dressing 101

There are some items in life I feel the need to know how to make sans recipe. Among others, these include spaghetti sauce, stir fries, fajitas, and fritattas. You know, the stuff you can make even if you don't really feel like cooking. However, in my opinion, the most important recipe to store in your memory files is salad dressing. It is so easy, and after investigating store bought ingredient labels, I opt not to purchase bottled dressings anymore (except for when I get the urge for ranch dressing and pepperoni pizza, which is maybe once a year). Bottled dressings come with lovely ingredients such as: disodium inosinate and disodium guanylate, and lots of sugar. Organic lines such as Annies are a good option for bottled dressings, you can understand all the ingredients on their label, although they do add xanthum gum, which I decline to put in my own dressing.
Here's a quick rundown of basic salad dressing making:
For any salad dressing, you need acid (any type of vinegar or citrus juice), oil (olive or other), salt, pepper, Dijon mustard, and sweetener (honey, sugar, fake sugar, whatever you prefer). Those are the 'must have' ingredients, and you can jazz it up with additions like minced red onions, fresh chopped herbs, or crumbled cheese. The key to making it is using a jar with a lid. I use an old mustard jar (as does my mom), you just add the ingredients and shake. So here is a super simple salad dressing 'how-to' guide:

Your Typical Everyday Salad Dressing For Two

2 Tablespoons vinegar or citrus juice (or a mixture of both)
2 teaspoons oil
1/4 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 1/2 teaspoons sweetener
salt and pepper

Add vinegar to jar (tangerine juice here)
I also added a little red wine vinegar
Add sweetener and oil
Season with salt and pepper
I also added the Dijon mustard, but forget to take a picture (but I promise I added it!)
Shake Shake Shake!
Dressing ready for my salad

Almost as easy as opening up the fridge and taking out a bottle of dressing, the only difference is you can read and spell all my ingredients! Once you make it a few times you can eyeball the measurements and adjust to your liking. I store leftover dressing right in the jar in the fridge for the next night. Also, this is a healthy dressing, Scott says a classic dressing uses 1 tablespoon vinegar to 2 1/2 tablespoons oil...my recipe cuts down the oil a bit so we can all stay nice and trim.
Enjoy =)

Thanksgiving 2009

Ha! I bet you thought I stopped blogging since I haven't posted for weeks, but I'm back. Technically I didn't go anywhere, but having the in-laws in town for 5 days is excuse enough not to blog =) So on to Thanksgiving:
Scott and I have been excited for months to cook our very first Thanksgiving dinner. We hosted Scott's family this year at our house. There were 8 of us for the big meal, and Scott and I blended our family food traditions to come up with a new "Scholly" Thanksgiving tradition.

Thanksgiving 2009 Menu

Bourbon-brined all natural Deistal roasted turkey (18lbs!)
Cornbread-sausage stuffing (my mom's recipe, adapted by Scott with a few changes)
Mashed Potato Casserole (my grandmothers' recipe)
Stuffed Melatons (Scott's mom's recipe)
Brussel Sprout Hash (overtook both our family's tradition of peas)
Gravy with Mushrooms (a McCarthy tradition)
Homemade Tangerine Cranberry Sauce
Cranberry Ice (my Nana's recipe)
Homemade Pumpkin Pie (Libby's canned pumkin's recipe)
Chocolate Eclairs (Mother-in-law's recipe)

And there you have it, a nice blend of our traditions with a few things of our own. I have to say, the biggest hits of the dinner were the mashed potatoes, brussel sprouts, and the turkey. My very favorite part of the meal was the turkey skin, which I sneaked a few bites of while Scott was carving. It retained the flavor of the bourbon and had a crisp crunchiness from being basted all day.....mmmmm!
For those unfamiliar with brining, I will explain the process (which I had no part of, this is totally Scott all the way). On Tuesday evening, Scott cleaned the turkey and put it in a huge stock pot with 2 gallons of water mixed with sugar, salt, and bourbon (not sure the quantities, but I think its like a cup of salt and cup of sugar, and 2 cups bourbon, something like that). He then left the turkey in the brine for 24 hours, in the fridge (I swear the glass shelf almost broke from all the weight). After 24 hours, he rinsed the turkey off and returned to the fridge on a cookie sheet to dry until the next morning. The next morning, he seasoned the bird and began to roast it. Brining is supposed to keep your turkey nice and moist, and it really works. The bourbon did not penetrate the meat like we thought it would, so next year Scott wants to try basting it with a bourbon glaze while it roasts.
Another curious menu item is stuffed melatons. Melatons are a squash, and you stuff the squash halves with breadcrumbs, shrimp, and celery. It is really tasty, and represents the New Orleans heritage of Scott's family...they found a way to sneak their seafood into Thanksgiving =)
So our first Thanksgiving was a huge success. We used our wedding china for the first time, drank a magnum of Whitehall Lane Merlot, and ended the night with a game of Balderdash. Pictures of our day:

Prepping potatoes
Peeling celery for the melatons (yes, Scott peels his celery...it gets rid of the stringy part that you can't chew)
Cranberry Ice in the ice cream maker
Quince paste and manchego cheese appetizer
Mother-in-law Linda frosts the chocolate eclairs
Chopping brussel sprouts (it took forever!)
The veggies for the cornbread stuffing
Taking something out of the oven, not too exciting, but I thought I look darn cute =)
The table ready to go!
Cranberry Ice on our china
Ta da! Our first Thanksgiving dinner!
The whole gang (minus photographer Scott): Linda, Kelly, Jessica, Lennon, Jeff, Carolina, me (Jessica and Lennon are Carolina's sister and brother-in-law...Carolina is Jeff's girlfriend)