Quick Beer Bread

The other night I whipped up this quick bread to go with soup. I was browsing through Williams-Sonoma BREAD cookbook, and chose this recipe since it did not involve yeast, kneading, or rising (I'm too impatient for that stuff!) So here it is; an easy bread recipe you can make any night of the week:

Quick Beer Bread

3 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons firmly packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 bottle (12 oz) beer*, unopened at room temperature
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.
In a bowl, stir together the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, and salt.
Open the beer and add it all at once; it will foam up.
Stir briskly just until combined, about 30 strokes. The batter should be slightly lumpy. Pour into the prepared loaf pan and drizzle with the melted butter (or omit to make lowfat).
Bake until the top is crusty, about 35-40 minutes. Let rest in the pan for 5 minutes, then turn the loaf out onto a rack. Serve warm, cut into thick slices and accompany with butter. Best the day its made. Enjoy =)

* I used a bottle of Heineken, since it is what was in my fridge...but you can use any beer you want. In fact, the bread will take on the character of whatever beer you choose to use, so the bread can taste different each time you make it...how fun is that?

Thomas Keller Dinner

No, I did not get to eat with master chef Thomas Keller of The French Laundry, Bouchon, and Ad Hoc; but I did get to eat a dinner inspired by his cookbooks, cooked by my own master chef Scott. The French Laundry cookbook has been a staple in our cookbook collection since its inception, and Scott has used it for inspiration over the years. In the past few years, Thomas Keller released 2 more cookbooks that coincided with the addition of his new restaurants. However, at $60 a pop, they are not cookbooks you just run out and pick up. This Christmas, our Thomas Keller trifecta was completed, as Scott received Bouchon and Ad Hoc.
Our newly complete TK collection meant dinner party time! So as a thank you for connecting Scott with his most recent job, Scott decided to cook a Thomas Keller dinner for our family friend Pam. And of course my parents were invited to join in on the good food, wine, and fun!
Here's our menu:

Written on the slate platter Jeff gave me for Christmas!

Shrimp with Avocado Salsa, The French Laundry, p. 50
Parmigiano-Reggiano Crsips with Goat Cheese Mousse...The French Laundry, p. 49
Dungeness Crab Salad with Cavillon Melon...Bouchon, p. 109

Hmmm, we forgot to take a picture of the main course! I guess we had had too much wine by this point in the evening...
Beef Stroganoff...Ad Hoc, p. 42

Coffee and Donuts...The French Laundry, p. 262

Let me explain the coffee & donuts...it is a delectable cinnamon and sugar donut as it appears, but the "coffee" is actually coffee semifreddo with "cappuccino foam" on top. Seriously. to. die. for.

Pesto Pea Soup

Soup is my favorite winter meal. It is so comforting, and if you make it from scratch, it is really healthy and full of nutrients. If I could, I would make a soup every night, and eat the leftovers for lunch! However, now that my husband is actually home most nights of the week, I have to vary my meals a bit more, so no soup 5 nights a week. Here's the clincher though, Scott never wants soup! He has spent and still spends so much of his career making soups that it just doesn't appeal to him for dinner at home (with the occasional exception to homemade turkey soup). I guess all of us Scrippsies could compare this to wanting more Core, ughh, no thanks! So soup is Scott's Core, except he is a master at soup, and I don't know about the rest of you, but I got a C in Core 1.

Earlier this week, the stars aligned and I could make soup. Scott was resigned to the couch fighting off a cold, there was some spaghetti leftovers in the fridge, and the kitchen was mine! I jumped on this opportunity to serve Scott spaghetti leftovers while I whipped up this pesto-pea soup recipe I had torn out of Gourmet (RIP), with a few adaptions of my own. I was in soup heaven, I ate it for dinner, and then for lunch for the rest of the week. Finally got my soup fix!

Pesto Pea Soup
4 servings

2 shallots, chopped
1 celery rib, thinly sliced
1 3/4 cups chicken or vegetable broth
2 cups water
1 lb frozen peas
4 tablespoons pesto

creme fraiche and chopped chives for garnish

Saute shallot and celery in olive oil over medium-high heat until glistening, about 3-5 minutes.. Season with salt and pepper. Add chicken broth and water and simmer until vegetables tender, about 5 minutes. Add the frozen peas and simmer until bright green, about 3 minutes. Stir in the pesto, then puree the soup with a hand blender. Season with salt and pepper again.
Garnish with a dollop of creme-fraiche in the middle and sprinkle with chopped chives.
Enjoy =)

My hand blender died a few weeks ago, and I was so excited to replace it with this cool red one! Is it normal to get so excited over a new hand blender?

Somehow red has become our kitchen accent color over the years...check out all our red things!

Disney Birthday

I grew up in a Disney family, meaning we visited Disneyland just about every summer growing up. My parents studied up on the best way to get the most out of a Disney day with a family of 5, and over the years, our whole family has become experts at navigating the parks. We are masters at the FastPass system, know where the best food is, and even know silly trivia facts (if you stand at the end of Main Street at the entrance of Frontierland and look at the Walt Disney & Mickey statue in the plaza, Mickey's nose suddenly becomes Walt's x-rated feature!) Scott and I even had season passes one year, where we learned such secrets as the Dole Whip (a pineapple whipped frozen treat sold ONLY infront of the Tiki Room), and discovered the huge margaritas sold at Neptune's Bar in California Adventures (I'm still surprised we didn't get kicked out the first time we found those!) So it was only fitting to celebrate my birthday at Disneyland this year, seeing that we were in Orange County, and you could get in for free on your b-day in 2009.

We were joined by Scott's mom, Linda, his sister, Kelly, and my best friend Carla; and I am proud to say we rode everything we wanted to ride on one of the busiest days of the year...in fact, we even rode Space Mountain twice!

Don't tell Disney I took a picture of the screen instead of buying my pic!

And to top it off, we even had a few bar breaks in Downtown Disney (seriously, whats a birthday if it doesn't involve numerous margaritas followed by a monorail ride?)They gave the drunkards a private compartment (all you have to do is ask for the back!)

The only down point of the day was discovering how many people shared the same birthday as me.

Happy Birthday to me!

Everyone with a free birthday ticket got a birthday pin to wear, and frankly, there were way to many of them! Really, that many people have my birthday? Not cool, that's my special day!
If anyone needs any Disney tips or advice, shoot me an email and I'll spill my knowledge!

Mr. Toad (he's the one in the middle)
Pretty Castle!
Christmas was still in full swing on the 27th

Carla and I with our BFF Minnie

McCarthy Christmas

This was my first year EVER not being at home for Christmas, but sharing holidays is one of those things that come with marriage. After 2 years of promising Scott's mother, we finally spent Christmas in the McCarthy home.
We began our Christmas Eve with breakfast in Claremont with my grandparents, and then headed off to Orange County, where we braved a packed Costco to pick up a Christmas ham. Once at Scott's mom's house, we began preparing Christmas Eve dinner: Chipotle-Pineapple Ham, "Not From a Can" Green Bean Casserole, and Fontina Mac'n'Cheese. We spent the evening eating, drinking wine, prepping gumbo for Christmas Day (thanks Jeff!) and playing The Price is Right on the Wii.
Christmas morning was spent tearing open gifts, enjoying family, and prepping a seafood feast. We had Jeff's Christmas Gumbo, and a Crab-Shrimp Boil. Not my family's tradition, but a mighty tasty one indeed!
I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas. Next up: Birthday post!

Christmas Eve Dinner
Jeff waits to see if Kelly will beat is $1.00 spin...
You drink a little wine, and then suddenly its a good idea to WEAR your xmas stocking!
Look Mom...Scott gave me PJs! (apparently you scared him into buying me some)
Scott got a bacon-sea salt chocolate bar in his stocking
Crab and Shrimp Boil
The New Orleans natives had a shrimp peeling contest
Christmas Doberge Cake, complete with Nativity scene (don't worry, no one ate Baby Jesus)