Ribs and Champagne might not be a traditional combination, but it ought to be. When paired with Jan’s version of brussels sprouts and Czech potato salad, all the components came together surprisingly well. I found brussels sprouts too bitter before I tried Jan’s take on them, which he sautéd in chicken broth and bacon.
Wash Brussels sprouts, trim the ends, cut them in half, and set aside. Cut bacon into 1/2 inch strips and saute over medium-high heat until crispy. Remove bacon and the fat from the pan, leaving about 1 teaspoon worth of bacon fat. Add olive oil to pan and add the Brussells sprouts to begin cooking. (Option to keep all the bacon fat and use instead of the olive oil, or remove all the bacon fat and use only olive oil). Add chicken broth, and cover pan with lid. Let cook until Brussels sprouts are tender and the broth is mostly absorbed. Uncover, add bacon, salt and pepper, and stir together for another few minutes.
For a bacon-free version, simply sauté the Brussels sprouts in the olive oil, then add the chicken broth.
I can and will use any excuse to make s’mores. It’s winter time? Well, I should sit by a nice fire and roast some marshmallows. It’s summer? The perfect time for camping, campfires, and making s’mores outdoors. I adore chocolate in any form, but the funny thing is, I’ve never been crazy about graham crackers or marshmallows on their own. But when it all comes together in melty, messy gooeyness, there’s no comparison to anything else.
Roasting technique
Jan and I recently camped with our friends Ken and Amy at the Dorabelle campground in Shaver Lake. While Jan was busy putting together all the ingredients for our feast of steak tacos, Spanish rice, and refried beans, I was doing my part: getting out the two-pronged skewers reserved specifically for the task of roasting marshmallows over a fire.
Now, I had to endure a bit of teasing for the degree of seriousness of which I took the s’more-making, and luckily Ken appreciated my scientific approach. Everyone laughed as I demonstrated my technique. I got out two graham cracker squares, placed two squares of Hershey’s Special Dark on top of one, and placed the graham crackers over the bbq grate part of the fire pit. While my chocolate was melting, two marshmallows were skewered and slowly roasted. Just before the marshmallows were so hot inside they were ready to melt off the skewers, I placed them on top of my graham cracker with melting chocolate, covered with the other graham cracker, and removed the skewer.
Ken still needs some practice
Of course I got chocolate and marshmallow everywhere in the process, but my s’more was amazing. Everybody else joined in making s’mores, but they went more for the set-the-marshmallow-on-fire and char the graham cracker approach. My method took a bit more patience and wasn’t so satisfying for pyromanics, but either way, I’m dreaming about the next campfire.
Rough translation: spiced Indian feast. Since Laura gave me Madhur Jaffrey’s Quick & Easy Indian Cooking and a large bag full of Indian spices and ingredients, I’ve been excited for my first foray into Indian cooking. A weekend visit from my friend Anjali was the perfect time: I would have a well-practiced coach to guide me.
Our list of items to make from the cookbook: onion fritters, yogurt sauce with tomato and cucumber, and rice with mushrooms and mustard seed. Anjali used her own recipe for Chana Masala, which translates to spiced chickpeas. I knew it wasn’t Indian, but I included a toned-down version of the Lebanese Fattoush salad with Romaine lettuce, cucumber, tomato, green onion, radish, and the Sumac salad dressing.
The spices bring the scent of Indian cuisine into the kitchen
We made a list of things we needed from the store, including the spices nutmeg and cardamom, chickpea flour, and vegetables. We already had many of the spices, including whole and ground cumin, whole cloves, and whole coriander seeds, and even though the recipes called for ground versions of those, I was confident we could use the mini food processor to grind the spices.
India Sweets and Spices on Cedar and Herndon (in the same shopping center as Tahoe Joe’s and Casa Corona) provided us with chickpea flour, which was called Besan or Chana flour. Anjali also recommended an Indian trail mix of sorts called Kaju mixture, which was a spicy blend of nuts, puffed rice, potato sticks, chickpeas and spices.
Turning whole cloves into ground
At home, as soon as we began grinding the spices, the kitchen smelled fragrantly warm and rich. The food processor, however, couldn’t get the spices ground fine enough, and the volcanic mortar and pestle wasn’t cutting it either.
Through a combination of the mortar and pestle, as well as putting the spices in a zip-top bag and hitting them with the smooth side of the meat grinder, we managed to grind them sufficiently. Next time, I’ll buy the spices pre-ground or figure out a better solution.
Onion fritters
We made the yogurt sauce first, which combined plain yogurt with salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, ground cumin, diced tomato, and diced cucumber. I often make a similar yogurt sauce to serve with grilled salmon, but this version kicked it up a notch with the spices.
Anjali began prepping the ingredients for the rice and Chana Masala, and quoted her mom, saying the beginning to a great Indian feast starts with oil, cumin, and onions. Soon after, she added the mustard seeds, and waited for them to start popping in the oil. The kitchen began to smell better and better.
Fireworks on our plates and for the Fourth of July
While the rice and chickpeas cooked, we got to work on the onion fritters, which combined onions, yellow mustard seed, chickpea flour, chopped jalapeno, and spices.
We sat outside in the front courtyard and watched Jan and our neighbors set off fireworks for the Fourth of July. Our Indian feast was definitely a success and the onion fritters were the biggest hit of the night. The yogurt sauce offered a light and tangy flavor that complimented the fried bites. I also found the combination of the mushroom rice and Chana Masala to be surprisingly good. With a full stomach, a new confidence and sense of adventure, I was ready to tackle more recipes in the book.
We ate the most amazing pizza the other night thanks to our friends Russell and Amy. Russell, who just happens to be a professional baker, just had a massive pizza oven installed at his home, and we were lucky enough to get to try it out.
The bacon and red onions on the deep-dish pizza made an excellent combination
While Russell perfected his dough, letting it sit for 3 days (I’ve still so much to learn about making bread), some of the fun was left for us: topping the pizzas, which I can definitely do. On top of a deep dish crust, I added pepperoni, bacon, red onion, red, yellow, and green peppers, mushrooms, and artichokes. Jan’s thin-crust pizza was a monster with double cheese, tomatoes, basil, and artichoke hearts so high that Russell wasn’t sure he’d be able to slide the pizza off the wooden cutting board and into the oven. Our friends Kristi and Ferol also got into the action, making a thin-crust margarita pizza, and another combination deep-dish.
Margarita pizza and Patron margaritas were another good pair
While Russell insisted his dough recipe needed perfecting, we all had to disagree. It was amazing! The thin crust was crunchy and light, and the deep-dish was the first time I’d had that style pizza without it being a soggy, greasy mess.
Amy and Russell sent us home with some dough for another pizza and I’ve now got my work cut out for me: trying to convince Jan a pizza oven shouldn’t be our next big investment.
I love the fattoush salad served in Mediterranean restaurants, but have never been able to perfect the combination of ingredients to get the right flavor at home. My dad recommended this recipe to me and sent me home with the ingredients I was missing. He really wanted me to try it.
I tried it that night, and followed the recipe pretty much exactly, except I added Feta cheese (the recipe didn’t call for cheese of any kind). When I was putting in the mint, Jan looked over my shoulder and said, “that’s a lot of mint,” to which I repied, “It’s in the recipe!”
Well, when it was time to eat the salad, he was right. The salad probably would have been much better with less mint, or, without any of it, which I think I’ll probably do next time.
The dressing, however, was amazing, and I had never used Sumac before (Dad sent me home with a little bag of it). I’m now convinced it must be the secret ingredient to get the authentic taste I was missing in earlier attempts.
Here’s the recipe for the dressing:
Sumac salad dressing
1 clove garlic
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon Sumac
1/4 cup olive oil
Directions
Use a garlic press or finely chop the garlic, then mash with the salt in a bowl with the back of a spoon. Add the lemon juice, Sumac, and olive oil and whisk together. Store until ready to serve.
About a two hour’s drive away is a completely different world that I only just experienced for the first time. Last week Jan took me up to see Florence and Edison lakes, an area that he spends some time patrolling at work. After driving to Huntington Lake on Highway 168, we took the turnoff for Kaiser Pass. The road soon turned into a narrow, bumpy, one-lane road that Jan said is purposely kept that way by Southern California Edison to limit traffic. And lonesome it is, except for the marmots, lizards, and deer we saw along the way. I asked Jan, “Really? This is your cubicle!?” It was beautiful.
Drive through Kaiser Pass = backroads bubbly
Both Florence Lake and Edison Lake sit at the edge of the John Muir Wilderness area, and offer services to backpackers either about to embark on a journey or need of more supplies. Both lakes have boats to ferry hikers to the other side of the lakes, and each has a small store, restaurant, or both. After a picnic lunch at Florence Lake, we checked out Vermillion Resort at Edison Lake, where Jan has eaten many times while fighting lighting fires in the area.
We hiked through a muddy path to see some of the volcanic hot springs, but I had forgotten insect repellant and was getting eaten by mosquitoes and didn’t want to stay for a dip into the water.
Homemade blue cheese dressing perfected
We stopped for dinner at Mono Hot Springs River Rock Cafe, and on a Tuesday night, had the entire patio to ourselves. After enjoying salads with homemade blue cheese dressing (yum!) we watched the sunset over the mountains and ordered two specialties of the house: Corned buffalo for Jan and a buffalo burger for me.
Buffalo burger and rice pilaf
Both dishes tasted similar to their beef counterparts, but were leaner. Our server Lea offered a great finale to the end of an excellent birthday with New York cheesecake. And even though I’d previously made fun of Jan for celebrating his birthday for the entire month of April, I did have to admit that celebrating my birthday for a week and a half was far better than my previous attempts to simply pretend the day wasn’t different from any other. I had, by that time, completely forgotten about getting another year older.
Tamales are traditionally made around the holidays Christmas and New Year’s, but when my freezer’s supply runs out, which is usually around March, I start craving them, hoping my dad might get the inkling to make more. No tamale I’ve eaten in any restaurant or bought pre-made could compare to the recipe and technique used by first my grandma, and now my dad.
My dad and I have started our own tradition of making tamales together in small batches, and since they require some teamwork and a bit of time, our method seems to alleviate the feeling that making tamales is a gargantuan task that can only be tackled once a year.
My dad’s process requires no secret recipe, but it’s always been something that intimidated me, and I’ve yet to make them on my own. However, after spending this father’s day making tamales with my dad, I think I’m ready to try it on my own next time.
My dad had already prepared the meat ahead of time, but he assured me it would be easy to do on my own next time. He used 5 lbs of pork butt (actually the front shoulder of the pig), cooked slowly, then seasoned and cooked with the mole sauce.
Here was our process of making the tamales (I’ll post the full recipe when I go through all the steps on my own).
Since the local SaveMart carries the corn masa only seasonally, we headed to Vallarta Supermarket, where there was quite a selection. We found the Vallarta brand, which contained no lard (we’d add vegetable oil, baking powder, salt, broth, and chili powder to it at home) and was made fresh in the store.
At home, we soaked the corn husks in warm water until they were pliable. After mixing the masa, which we originally added too much broth to and had to re-thicken with corn meal, we began the process of spreading it on the smooth side of the ojas (corn husks). Then we added the filling, which was the meat mixed with mole sauce and black olives, wrapped the edges around each side, and folded in half.
My dad showed me how to correctly prepare the tamale pot, which is basically a giant steamer. He placed four dimes at the bottom of the pot, filled it with a few inches of water, then added the metal divider which we would place the tamales on top of. We used an upside-down funnel in the center of the pot and places the tamales, open side up, around it in a circle. Next, we used the rest of the ojas to cover the tamales, creating a tent that would direct the steam and water around the cooking tamales, not in them.
We placed the pot on the stove and listened for the sound of the dimes rattling, indicating that there was still water at the bottom. If the dimes are quiet, you need to add more water, or the tamales will burn.
We cooked the tamales for about 2 hours, and then removed them to let them cool, though of course I couldn’t wait very long before enjoying one. My dad and I divided up the tamales, and knowing they would all be eaten within the next few days, I set out to make them very soon on my own.
We began the next day back at the inn’s dining room, which was a converted cellar with exposed stone walls and great ambiance. When we sat down, a bowl of fruit and champagne glasses full of orange juice were waiting for us. The glasses were actually half-full of orange juice, and Jan and I briefly considered filling the other half from the bottle of Domaine Chandon sparkling wine we’d bought the day before. Mimosas sounded excellent, but we decided against it.
Breakfast, second course
The innkeepers said the breakfasts there were always hearty and meant to sustain guests for a day of wine tasting. As soon as we finished our fruit, the staff brought in the next plate, which consisted of an apple crisp and also an egg and potato soufflé.
After checking out we headed north, with a plan to drive to the top of Napa Valley and slowly make our way south before heading back home. Our first stop was Château Montelena, which I wanted to see after recently watching the film Bottle Shock. The building was beautiful, just like in the movie and the grounds featured a lush garden, lake complete with geese, and red pagodas.
Next we walked downtown Calistoga, enjoying the sunshine, but no mud baths that the town is famous for. I was too happy and clean after soaking in our room’s Jacuzzi tub to have any desire to be covered in mud at the moment.
Culinary Institute of America
We continued our drive, heading south on Highway 128 and stopping to tour the Culinary Institute of America, which was housed in an imposing but beautiful old winery. No celebrity chefs were spotted this time, but we saw plenty of students and checked out the winemaker’s hall of fame, learning a little more of the area’s history. At this point we were starving, so we drove through St. Helena, a town I would want to revisit in the future.
Deli counter at Oakville Grocery
We had lunch at Oakville Grocery Co., which came recommended to us by other guests staying at the Old World Inn. I ordered the Chicken Gruyere, which also had pancetta, balsamic onions, Dijon, and mayonnaise on a baguette, while Jan ordered the Classic Reuben, which had corned beef, Swiss cheese, sauerkraut, and Thousand Island dressing on rye bread. We also asked for two plastic cups so we could enjoy a glass of wine with our picnic outside. The sandwiches were delicious, the only thing we were missing was a pickle to go with them.
Cheesy Gruyere goodness
As we were eating lunch, the Napa Valley Wine Train passed by. I’m not sure how the food compared there, as I’ve heard the train is an experience not to be missed, but I could have sworn some of the passengers were eyeing our sandwiches.
I had heard about the art at the DiRosa Preserve, and that was to be our last stop. However, when we arrived, we were told that we had missed the last tour for the day, and that there wasn’t much to see in the entry gallery. But we weren’t too disappointed, as we added another item to our list for our next visit. As it turned to late afternoon, and we’d reached our limit of wine, food, and sunshine, heading home to Fresno was exactly what we wanted to do.
When I couldn’t come up with anything I wanted for my birthday, Jan decided we’d take a last-minute getaway to Napa Valley, taking advantage of his mid-week days off to experience it without the crowds. Neither of us had been to Napa Valley before, so we did some research on bed and breakfasts in the area, Jan found a good deal at Napa’s Old World Inn, and we booked a room for the next night.
We arrived a few hours before check-in, but the innkeepers graciously took us to our room (which had Ghirardelli chocolate squares on the pillows, they really knew how to win me over!) and informed us of the various items on the inn’s schedule: freshly baked chocolate chip cookies would be put out in the library at 3 p.m., appetizers and wine tasting in the dining room at 5:30 p.m., desserts at 7 p.m., and breakfast served the next morning at 9 a.m. Just as I was starting to think I should be writing this down, they offered their suggestions for places to visit that afternoon and circled those on the map.
Grapevines at Goosecross
For me, wine tasting is one of those things that’s better in theory than reality, as I’ve learned I can’t handle tasting at more than one winery without feeling the need to curl up for a midday nap. The next solution would be to taste the wine without drinking the wine, but that, along with all the wine sniffing and glass swirling, seemed a bit too much for me. I just want to drink good wine. So, without aspirations to be wine connoisseurs, we headed north on the Silverado trail for an afternoon drive.
Bread selection at Bouchon Bakery
I was also curious to see Yountville, a town with probably more fine dining restaurants per capita than any other place I’d experienced. Right away, we saw celebrity chef Thomas Keller posing for pictures for tourists in front of the French Laundry. We peeked into Bottega and Bouchon, both often referenced on Top Chef, but they offered far more than the small snack we needed, and we finally settled on the wheat-stalk-shaped epi baguette with butter and jam from the more modest Bouchon Bakery.
Old World Inn wine tasting
We arrived back just in time for the inn’s happy hour, but we weren’t the first ones there, as the other guests seem to have had the same idea. While tasting a Merlot from winery Folie à Deux, we met Lindsay and Joe from Ottawa, Canada who seemed just as excited as us to take advantage of the complimentary happy hour.
After exhausting the allotted supply of the tasting hour’s wine and appetizers, we wanted to continue the party, and our new friends invited us to drink a bottle of Syrah they had purchased at Burgess Cellars during their wine tasting earlier.
Shrimp cocktail on the balcony
While Jan ran to the Safeway across the street for a baguette, some brie, strawberries, and shrimp cocktail, we set up on the balcony outside our friends’ room. Before we knew it, it was 7 p.m. and time for the desserts to be put out in the library. Lindsay and I returned with chocolate covered almonds, chocolate covered apricots and brownies. After enjoying the extended wine tasting and finishing the bottle, we said goodbye to our new friends and set out to find some dinner in downtown Napa.
Cheeseburger at Buckhorn Grill
After all that wine and cheese, we weren’t looking for something too big, so we shared an avocado-swiss-bacon burger and onion rings from the Buckhorn Grill, a place that reminded me of Fresno’s own Doghouse Grill. Now thoroughly stuffed, we walked back to the inn to rest up for another day in wine country. To be continued.
Jan brought me breakfast in bed, and what I loved even more than waking up to the smell of bacon cooking and the amazing fruit and breakfast sandwich he prepared, was the fact that, unbeknownst to me, he photographed the plate before serving it to me. The next day, he asked me if I had looked through the pictures on my camera. I hadn’t, and there it was again for me to enjoy.
I was worrying that my increased photographing of our meals and their preparation was bugging him. After all, I do sometimes make him stop what he’s doing so I can adjust the light and arrange some of the elements in the background of the picture. Turns out, he just wanted to get in on the action as well. Photo by Jan.
Ribs and Champagne might not be a traditional combination, but it ought to be. When paired with Jan’s version of brussels sprouts and Czech potato salad, all the components came together surprisingly well. I found brussels sprouts too bitter before I tried Jan’s take on them, which he sautéd in chicken broth and bacon.
Our Life in Meals 