Please, be mine.

Oh, dear life,
Please be my valentine.
Let's kiss and make up.
Enough of this sadness and fighting.
Instead we can have big, sweet, sticky
times together again.
(With powdered sugar)

Sometimes it is easy in all the obligations and details and paperwork
to forget that it is about the food and making things taste great
and sharing that with others. That is what makes me passionate.
That is the reason.

shorter days and longer nights

The days are getting shorter- and Just at a time when I need every second of every minute of every hour to get as much done as I can. The nights are getting longer- and yet it gets harder to rouse myself in the early hours. But all of it is wrapped in a delicious layer of late autumn sights, smells and of course tastes. I had my first mikan (japanese tangerines) and my first persimmon is waiting for me, a larger harvest moon of sweetness. Today I had my first inklings of holiday happiness.

it is all about the food

I am working on new ideas, as I try to execute the old ones.
it's a tougher balancing act than I thought it would be.
I guess that has been true about almost everything in the last two years.
But at least I know the turkey will be good.
and afterall, it is all about the food.

You Will Find the Answers

One of the most amazing ways to experience and feel community is to make food together
in this case- writing fortunes and then making our own fortune cookies.
The kids did a great job on the writing
...and so did my pastry chef/ on the folding.
Can't wait to have an excuse to do it again.

Utterly Collapsible

There are things shifting and changing inside.
Perspective is funny that way.
I had a great visit with a creative vision yesterday.
Lovely give and take, and she let me steer the location which always means so much to me.
We adventured and relaxed. And I felt old worries collapse and new ideas surface and become more clear.
Also, we ate cake.

Soul Food

We are food people. Definitely. When we travel we talk a lot more about what we ate than what we saw.

Food is culture, family, love, tradition, and just a darn good experience that we get to have multiple times a day.

I wish more people would stop and think and take pleasure in what that put in their bodies. I wish they would think about it more. I try to. But in the modern world I know it is easy just to grab a prepackaged, lifeless box or bag of crap and mindlessly eat it while working overtime in front of our computers. It is worse than bad for your health, it is bad for your soul. Soulless food that gives nothing and takes everything.

In my little home, a weekend (and sometimes even weekday) morning celebration comes in the form of eggs. Egg sandwiches most often, but sometimes omletes, fried eggs (I like mine over easy) Scrambled or poached. On Saturday we have them at home while reading on the internets, on Sunday we have them at my restaurant as we get ready to make good food for other people too. It is a good thing. Good for the mind, body and yes the soul. Good food is a gift we owe ourselves and others.

PS- the recommended pairing for an egg sandwich? English breakfast tea, of course!

Wine Adventure, Life Adventure

Soul Food What did you eat this year that you will never forget? What went into your mouth & touched your soul?- #Reverb10

This one is easy- I opened my own little bistro this year, and it has been lovely. I have felt so good feeding friends and new comers and one of the really amazing things has been designing these new micro wine dinners. 3 wines 3 courses an intimate experience with 10-15 people. We did 8 of them last year, and we will do one a month in 2011. Each and everyone was memorable and amazing. My chefs worked together to really push the envelope and It was glorious seeing and tasting their efforts. The reviews were great. I have repeat customers and big fans of the whole program. We are calling it "My Table- Wine Adventures" and for 2011 we started a club for a bulk purchase of reservations! Very fun, and very enriching, creatively, and deliciously.

Resurgence of the Slow Cooker

Slow cookers are back in vogue and better than ever. On our trip home for the holidays we picked up two for the catering business and the wine bar. There are tons of recipes out there and slow cookers make it easy for even busy folks to make and eat real food.

We test drove the smaller of the two - this one was a christmas present from my mom. It is a 5 qt. simple slow cooker with 3 settings; keep warm/ low/ and high.
Our first test was a pork roast, my catering chef prepped and browned it for some nice color, then tossed it in the pot with carrots, potatoes and some very fresh nice rosemary. TaDa! done. This one needed maybe more juices added to keep it moister but we are testing so trial and error is A-OK. Next up perhaps is a Winter Beef Stew. Didn't get photos of the first dish (bad-food-blogger-bad!) But I will be sure to better document the next one.

Anyway, I recommend either getting a slow cooker or dusting off the one that you put in storage and trying it out again!

Happy 80th to tastykake and esp. to my beloved krimpet

Someone should really include me in the celebration and send me a box of these... seriously. I LOVE butterscotch krimpets, they are one of the things I never got over missing when I moved to Japan. IN the early days of my excile here in the land of sushi and rice- folks occassionally sent us a box or even a stray pack or two. Though they arrived a bit squished- we loved them!

but it has been a long cold krimpet-less couple of years.

Anyway- WOW 80 years of krimpets and other delights.
and yes I DO know they are bad for me- but everyone has a vice or two.

simply tasty- a fujimamas side bar

This dish from the restaurant I run is one of my simple favorites. Not flashy like some of the dishes, nothing special at all really- but just plain good. Fresh stir fried noodles, seasoned beef, onions, tomatoes and cilantro. This is good any time of the day. A real pick me up. Comfort food.

We do fancy, but we also do simple and to be frank I am proud of both equally. Good food does not necessarily mean fancy food. Start with fresh, delicious basic ingredients and even the most simple dish can be totally satisfying.

think about some of your favorite foods. I bet many of your top 100 list would be simple things. Dishes you remember from your childhood, or easy things you can make for yourself at home on a rainy night. Simple things, well done, are (more often than not) the best.

My top ten (as of this week anyway) not nec. in this order...

1. My grandmother's homemade macaroni and cheese
2. penne pasta with marinara sauce
3. a phildelphia cheese steak
4. fujimamas fried rice
5. chris'egg sandwich
6. bacon (with any kind of eggs)
7. the Dutch kitchen's 2 egg plate (in the reading terminal market)
8. chocolate chip cookies (homemade)
9. a good NY style cheesecake
10. toasted ham and cheese sandwiches.