Another night of tasty baking!

We're headed to a baby shower tomorrow afternoon and I thought some baked goodies would be well received by all involved (I happen to know firsthand that pregnant ladies love cookies...) It turns out new mothers also have a real soft spot for chocolate chip cookies (as does John!) so I figured I'd seize the chance to bake cookies and not have the responsibility of eating all 48 of them...

I swear up and down by this recipe, but the recipe itself is nothing special. The KEY TO GOOD COOKIES is how you cook them... If you don't watch them closely, you end up with those over-baked biscuits that all too many bakeries refer to as cookies. Don't get mixed up with 48 of those frisbees! Watch your cookies closely and DON'T over cook them!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yield: 

4 dozen cookies

Ingredients: 

11 ¹/₂ ounces Ghirardelli Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips 
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
³/₄ cup sugar
³/₄ cup brown sugar, packed
2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla
2 ¹/₄ cups unsifted flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
¹/₂ teaspoon salt
1 cup walnuts or pecans, chopped (optional)

    

Directions

Heat oven to 375ºF.

Stir flour with baking soda and salt; set aside. In large mixing bowl, beat butter with sugar and brown sugar at medium speed until creamy and lightened in color. Add eggs and vanilla, one at a time. Mix on low speed until incorporated. Gradually blend dry mixture into creamed mixture. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop by tablespoon onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown.

* I happen to think that most recipes ask for an excessive amount of chocolate chips. I usually opt for about 3/4 of a bag instead of the recommended whole bag... though it's possible I eat the remaining 1/4 bag of chips while I'm cooking. : ) 

Baking up a storm!

We're in the city this weekend and have all sorts of festive engagements on the books. In an effort to ingratiate ourselves (and offset the possible imposition of bringing a wiggly infant to a dinner party), I decided to offer to bring desserts for each of our outings...

For this evening's dinner party, I whipped up a raspberry pie, following Simply Recipes' directions for the pie crust and lattice top, and then tailoring a blueberry pie recipe to my preferred ingredients (I happen to have a lot of frozen raspberries in my freezer...) The recipe was a cinch, and the pie baked up beautifully...

Swing by her website to get all the nitty-gritty details. I followed her recipe to the letter, so you can get the scoop there!

I like to pre-bake my crusts as I find that a pre-baked crust holds up better against the dippy, fruity goodness of a raspberry pie, so I skipped steps #4 & 5 from the recipe above... 

****

To Pre-Bake a Pie Crust

If your recipe calls for a pre-baked crust, as fruit and custard pies often do, follow all the steps on the Simply Recipes website, until you get to the point where it says to put in the filling. Remember that her recipe actually makes two crusts, so you'll only need to make half recipe if you are only doing a bottom crust. Freeze the crust for at least a half hour, until chilled. This is an important step in pre-baking. Otherwise the crust will slip down the sides.

Start by preheating your oven to 350°F. When the pie crust is sufficiently chilled, line the pie crust with parchment paper, wax paper, or aluminum foil. Fill at least two-thirds full with pie weights - dry beans, rice, or stainless-steel pie weights. 

Bake with weights for 20 minutes. Remove from oven, cool a few minutes and carefully remove pie weights. Poke small holes in the bottom of the pie crust with a fork and return to oven (without the weights) and cook for an additional 10 minutes, until the crust is golden. 

Cool completely before filling. You may need to tent the edges of the pie with aluminum foil when you bake your pie, to keep the edges from getting too dried out and burnt.

Sadly, I'm really bad at reading all of the directions, so I neglected to tent the edge of my crust, and paid the price. As you can see in the photo below, my edge looks a tad over-cooked... : ( Hopefully everyone will be far too merry by that point in our dinner to notice a little burnt bit. 

****

Then, because I'm an obnoxious overachiever, I opted to make a lattice top, which turned out quite well using the PIZZA WHEEL to cut the individual crust strips. What a revolutionary idea! I've never used one for pie-making before and it's a total game changer. Awesome! 

****

How to Make a Lattice Top for a Pie Crust

•     Prep time: 10 minutes

1 Before starting the lattice top, roll out half of your pie dough and line your pie dish with it. The dough should extend beyond the rim of the pie dish by about half an inch. Put it in the refrigerator to chill while you work on the lattice. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the other half of your pie dough to the same extent as the first half (about 3 inches beyond the diameter of your pie dish). It's easier to work with the dough if it is chilled, so if it the dough has softened too much, put the rolled-out piece on a flat cookie sheet and chill it in the refrigerator or freezer for a few minutes.

 

2 Cut the dough into even strips, 1/2-inch to 3/4-inch wide, depending on how thick you want your lattice strips. You can use a blunt knife with or without a ruler or straight edge to guide you, or you can use a pizza wheel or a pastry wheel if you have one.

 

3 Fill your pie shell with the pie filling. Lay out 4 to 7 parallel strips of the pie dough, depending on how thick your strips are, on top of the filling, with about 1/2-inch to 3/4-inch space between them. Fold back every other strip.

 

4 Place one long strip of dough perpendicular to the parallel strips as shown. Unfold the folded strips over the perpendicular strip.

 

5 Now take the parallel strips that are running underneath the perpendicular strip and fold them back over the perpendicular strip, as shown. Lay down a second perpendicular strip of dough next to the first strip, with some space between the strips. Unfold the folded parallel strips over the second strip.

 
 

6 Continue this process until the weave is complete over the top of the pie.

 

7 Trim the edges of the strips flush with the dough of the underlying pie dish, which should be about half an inch over the sides. Fold back the rim of the shell over the edge of the lattice strips, and crimp to secure.

 

Hurray for pie! There will be more baking tomorrow, so check back for another delicious fool-proof recipe!

Getting Ahead of Myself...

Holy smokes! I saw this "rocking-horse" on GILT this morning, and it took every ounce of my being not to buy one for Julian. I'm pretty sure it is ill-advised to buy (and store) a toy years before a kid will be able to use it, especially when you live in a New York City apartment, but- MAN! That is one snazzy looking modern-day rocking horse. Even better, Julian's uncle (my brother) just got his very own vespa, so they would be partners in crime!

Loving it! 

Finally, something to show for our trouble!

After much research, pondering, vacillating, and finally some deciding, our George Nelson-esque Orange Ball Clock arrived today-- hazzahh! It really looks terrific, and well worth the $80.00 we paid (and not nearly worth the $325.00 an authentic version of these clocks goes for). I'm not sure what a clock would have to do to make me want to pay $325.00 for it, but I think I would expect more than just reliable time-telling.

The good news is that the arrival of the clock inspired me to finish hanging up the remaining art in Julian's bedroom in Brooklyn, so now we can now proudly post those photos too!

More Nursery Art!

Mummy picked up these five fantastic vintage animal bingo cards for Julian's nursery at Fox Ridge, and I've given myself the task of framing them, IKEA-style!

I found what I think will work perfectly on their website-- the slightly antique-y SONDRUM frame, with its cute beaded-detail and crisp white finish, I think it's going to work terrifically with the spindle-y Jenny Lind crib we bought for Julian's room. And at $7.00 a pop, the price is pretty manageable too, even times five...

Now that I've figured out the perfect frame for these lovely bingo cards, I'll just have to work on my next feat: Getting to IKEA with Julian, without John, to buy them.

Wish me luck folks! 

I have to say, IKEA's framing department continues to impress-- hopefully the SONDRUM will be just as great! I'll report back. : )

More on the George Nelson Orange Ball Clock

So-- after much discussion with my construction crew ( John, Mummy and Papa) and some additional online searching, it was concluded that building the George Nelson clock from scratch was probably more work/money than it was really worth... John reminded me of this story to illustrate his point:

We have a great friend from college who once wanted a wooden futon frame. After looking at a couple of frames in a store, he decided that he wasn't willing to pay the $100.00+ to buy a frame when he could obviously make one himself. Fast forward six months and he finally finished his futon frame. The materials ended up costing him almost exactly $100.00, he had horrible back pain from sleeping on a mattress on the floor while he built the frame, and he had relieved himself of dozens of hours of leisure time building the frame instead of just buying it ready-made. Whatever sense of accomplishment he felt for building the frame was almost completely overshadowed by his annoyance at the cost, difficulty, and time of building it, and in the end, it was really a bittersweet victory...

Now don't get me wrong-- I love a DIY project as much as the next overly eager blogger, but sometimes it simply doesn't make sense to build something when you can buy it for almost the same cost.  However, if you DON'T have a newborn and DO have time to burn, Mummy found a George Nelson Clock Building Tutorial online, so you can totally give it a shot!

The good news is that I've found an excellent reproduction (aka knock-off) online from a company I've worked with numerous times, so I feel  confident and enthusiastic about buying it from them (the Ebay vendor had a long and woven return policy that did not inspire confidence). And priced at $102.00, minus a 20% discount, this clock seems like a reasonable and affordable solution that requires about 10 hours less time from me (or more likely, from Papa, who I had planned to recruit as head builder of said clock.)   

In a moment of uncharacteristic decisiveness, I have made a quick decision and clicked "Confirm Order" in under five minutes and my orange George Nelson-esque clock is now en route!

Now that's lickity-split!

Autumn English Dinner for the Hungry... Yum!

I'm not sure if I've ever mentioned that both of my parents are English, but there it is! The truth is out-- they're both born and raised Britons! One of my very favorite English dishes is something that Mummy used to whip up every year when the weather got chilly. Now that fall has arrived up at Fox Ridge, we thought it was a perfect opportunity to put this recipe into action...

Classic English Toad-in-the-Hole Recipe

• Prep time: 35 minutes
• Cook time: 30 minutes

Add to shopping list

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/2 cup of all purpose flour
• 1 scant teaspoon Kosher salt
• Pinch of freshly ground black pepper
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 1 1/2 cup milk
• 2 Tbsp melted butter
• 1 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 lb of bangers (an English sausage made with pork and breadcrumbs), or good quality pork or beef sausage links (in casings)

METHOD

1 In a large bowl, whisk together the flour with the salt and a pinch of pepper. Make a well in the center of the flour. Pour in the eggs, milk, and melted butter into the well and whisk into the flour until smooth. Cover and let stand 30 minutes.

2 Coat the bottom and sides of an 8x12 or 9x9 casserole dish with vegetable oil (we use high smoke point grapeseed or canola oil). Place a rack in the bottom third of the oven. Put the empty dish on the rack. Preheat the oven with the dish in it to 425°F.

3 While the oven is coming to temperature, heat a tablespoon of vegetable oil in a skillet on medium high. Add the sausages and brown them on at least a couple sides.

4 When the sausages have browned, and the dish in the oven hot, pull the oven rack out a bit, put the sausages in the casserole dish, and pour the batter over the sausages. Cook for about 20-30 minutes or until the batter is risen and golden.

Serve at once.

Yield: Serves 4-6.

*If you can't find english banger sausages, a standard bratwurst will also suffice. There are two keys to making this dish a success: 

1.) Make A LOT of the yorkshire pudding batter. You might even be inclined to make more than the recipe recommends above...

2.) If you can find it, HP brown sauce will bring this dish to the next level. Albeit, English cooking doesn't get a very good rap, but HP brown sauce will really do wonders!    

"Tick-tock"... said the orange clock!

There's a shop just down the street from our apartment in Brooklyn called Two Jakes which sells all sorts of fabulous mid-century and modern furnishings, and months ago I stopped in for a gander with Mummy. We spotted this super-fun Eames-era bright orange wall clock that we both thought would be an excellent addition to the collection of orange "POPS!" which can be found throughout my Brooklyn apartment. In particular, I was thinking that it would be a terrific addition to any baby's nursery....

It might be hard to believe, but Design Within Reach sells a new version of this same clock for $365.00, so this vintage one, priced at $185.00 was a pretty good deal. However, I wasn't sure if I was really ready to spend $185.00 on a clock, so I filed it away in my "to remember" memory bank and left the clock at Two Jakes.

Fast-forward 6 more months and here we are. Julian in tow, I decided to roll on over to Two Jakes to see about that orange clock. I happened to have it on good authority that it was still in the shop (Mummy saw it through their front window) so I figured, nothing ventured, nothing gained, and off I went...

Well! Whoever came up with the phrase "Nothing ventured, nothing gained" forgot about the possible outcome: "Something ventured, nothing gained" -- which is what happened today. When I arrived at Two Jakes today, there was my lovely orange clock, just as reported. However now it was priced at $325.00. Evidently, they had also found out the true value of their clock, and re-priced it accordingly. When I mentioned the previous price, the owner was mercilessly firm on the new price (and claimed total ignorance about the former number), and more or less sent me packing. The presence of my gorgeous, brilliant, astronaut son did nothing to soften his stance. Hard-hearted animal!

Foiled! 

Not to be defeated now that I had my heart set on a retro orange clock for Julian's room, I went straight home and googled "Ball Clock" and came up with a reasonably inexpensive alternative on EBAY that is a terrific reproduction of the original. And for 1/3 of the Two Jake's price!

But then I started thinking... This clock probably wouldn't be THAT difficult to make, if I gave it a shot. I was thinking one could probably buy all of the components at the local craft store (Michael's would be my preference). I'm thinking one could get wooden balls there and then spray them orange lickity-split. Likewise, one could buy skinny doweling to paint brass-colored and then glue the orange balls onto the doweling, and I'm pretty darn sure that you can buy the clock-component at Michael's too... Hmmm...

Could this be a project in the making? 

Now I guess I just have to decide if I'll ever have free time again, so I could make it. Odds aren't looking good at the moment, but Julian's likely to start sleeping eventually, right? RIGHT?!?! 

So, parenting is pretty time consuming...

Sorry I haven't been updating the blog as often as you might hope, but this parenting thing is a pretty full-time gig. I'll try to be better about it, but I've got to confess, "Update the blog" isn't on the top of my to-do list when I find a pocket of free time lately. : )

However, Julia just sent me the link to this terrific video, made by the same folks who printed the playful "Paris vs. New York" art work that we have in our dining room. Such a fun clip, I thought I should share with all of you...

In the event that the video link doesn't work for you, check it out on You Tube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji1iIRwl0W0&feature=player_embedded

Check back soon-- I've got some yummy recipes to post and a new addition to Julian's room to talk about... : ) 

Remember-- patience is a virtue! 

Because I can't help myself...

...a couple more photos of the ever-delightful, ever-growing Julian!

What-cho lookin' at??

Julian, disguised as a glow worm...

That's one cute kid!

(Okay-- I might be biased...)

Room & Board Sofa Triumph!

I know I'd promised you all photos of our new Room & Board sofa yesterday, but we had a bumpy day and I just didn't quite get around to it. Our fella Julian has been suffering from what I'm calling "The Gas of Wrath" which made him a force to be reckoned with, but thankfully, that has finally passed (ha!) and we're all looking forward to brighter days ahead. (Fingers crossed!)

Now then... let's take a look at that new sofa!

The end of this story is a good one... As soon as we got our new sofa set up in the apartment, I posted our old mid-century daybed style sofa on Craig's List, and by 10:30 Wednesday morning, someone had picked it up and given me $400.00 for it! So-- less than 24 hours later-- we had exchanged our old, slim-line sofa for an almost new, much more plush & comfy one for a mere $300.00... Not too shabby! 

 Thank goodness Mummy was here or it would have been pretty darn tricky to pull off with Julian in tow!

Gorgeous Summer Salad...

I am refusing to believe that summer has officially ended, and have decided instead to go by the astronomical definition of summer, which says that summer comes to a close on September 21st... Now that I've just gained myself extra 3 weeks of summer, I'll put my big straw hat and white linen pants back on, and plan another stint of rest and relaxation.

Yeah-- that's not going to happen...

I'm spending most of my days hiking around Williamsburg with Julian strapped to my front, and if I'm not doing that, I'm trying to grab a couple of minutes of sleep to make up for the many lost hours I've been donating to Julian's cause... : ) Not exactly restful, but Mummy's been whipping up one great meal after another, which has made things a bit more relaxed.

Most recently, we took this recipe for a spin, and I was a major fan! Mummy found the recipe in a cookbook I had hiding on our bookshelf: "Tossed" by Jane Lawton. I have to confess, I haven't used it many times, so I can't swear by the book, but the recipe we tried was a total hit and that's a solid first review...

Cannellini Bean Salad with Fennel & Tuna:

INGREDIENTS:

3/4 c. dried cannellini beans
1 large garlic clove
2 c. green beans
2 fresh bay leaves
1 baby fennel bulb thinly sliced
1/4-1/2 red onion, finely sliced
1 handful of parsley leaves, chopped
1 T. olive oil
10 oz. fresh tuna steak 

*We happen to love this fancy pants tuna we buy at our local grocer. It is more expensive than regular canned tuna, but 10 X more delicious, and considerably cheaper than fresh tuna steak, and half the work to prepare. Can't say enough about Tonnino tuna! 

Lemon & Chili Dressing Ingredients:

3 T. lemon juice
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 red chili, seeded and finely chopped
1/2 t. sugar
1 T. lemon zest
4 T. olive oil 

DIRECTIONS:

1.) Put the cannellini beans in a bowl, cover w/ cold water, and soak overnight, or for at least 8 hours. Rinse the beans well and put them in a large pot. Cover with plenty of cold water, add the bay leaves and garlic, bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for about 20-25 minutes. Drain. (Alternatively, you can use a 15 oz. can of cannellini beans instead of dried beans. Leave out the first step and just rinse/drain the can of beans before adding them to the salad.) 

2.) Bring another pot of water to a boil and add the green beans. Blanch until just tender, approx. 2-3 minutes. Drain and then rinse under cold water. Gently toss in a serving bowl with the fennel, red onion, and parsley. 

2.) Heat the oil in a large, heavy frying pan and cook the tuna steaks over high heat for 2 minutes on each side-- they should still be pink in the center. Remove from the pan and let sit for 2-3 minutes. (If you're using the tonnino tuna, you can skip this step too...)

3.) Whisk together the lemon-chili dressing ingredients in a small bowl until well combined. Season w/ salt & pepper. 

4.) Cut the tuna steaks into 1 1/4" chunks, and then add the cannellini beans and tuna to the green bean mixture, pour the dressing over the mixture, and then gently toss to combine. 

Serves 4

Finally-- we're grown ups!

You'd think the baby would have signified our transition from young-adults into grown-ups, but nope! It is the acquisition of a real sofa that has rocketed us into full-blown adulthood. John and I have been pondering the purchase of a new sofa for a while, but were continually deterred by the obvious: money. A brand new sofa costs a lot of it and we don't have loads to throw around, so every time we looked at our options, we'd eventually hit a major road block. Were we really ready to spend $1,700.00 of our savings on a sofa? Um... no.

The Room & Board sofa we'd been dating is shown above... We liked the mid-century style, we liked the dog-resistent fabric (we were considering the custom fabric option Teton "Ink"), but weren't quite as smitten with the price tag, which came to almost $1,900.00 once we factored in the taxes and delivery. Yikes!

On a whim, I checked Craig's List today and happened upon a Room & Board Jasper sofa, listed for $700.00, being sold in Williamsburg! Not just in Williamburg, but 5 blocks from our apartment!

Shut the front door!! 

The Craig's List version was available in the fabric Trip "Straw", which-- granted-- wasn't as dog-resistent as the Teton "Ink", but I actually preferred the lighter fabric over the deeper blue option. I was a little nervous that although the "Ink" would fight off the dog dirt, it would look like a very big, very dark colored couch. This version, if purchased brand new, would have totaled more than $1,950.00, and was being offered on Craig's List for $700.00 in like-new condition.

I emailed the seller ASAP, and zipped over there with John as soon as he finished work tonight. It was just as promised: beige, Jasper-tastic, perfect condition, and 4 stories up. : ) Luckily, we'd zipped over in our station wagon, so with a little help from the seller (4 stories down), we were soon the proud owners of our own very grown up sofa, at less than half the VERY GROWN UP price!

We're so stoked. I'm writing this blog posting from the comfort of our new sofa, and I have to say, it's sublime!

I'll post photos of the new configuration tomorrow 

morning (...once we're not all sitting on the sofa!) 

Check back soon! 

First of Fall "Heirloom" Tomato & Corn Tart

Since the mother figure is still in Brooklyn, we've been experimenting with all sorts of delicious recipes that she's been whipping together while I am busy tending to the demands of our ever-growing peanut Julian...

Mummy will be here for another 5 days, so I hope that you, the reader, will tolerate a few more recipe postings until she leaves, and then I'll try to get back to the world of design...

Last night's dinner was a scrumptious success, pulled from the pages of August's Elle Decor. It is pretty multi-stepped, but worth the effort when you come out the other side, and if you're like me, I'd never attempted to make a quiche before (which is essentially what this recipe is) and wasn't even sure I'd eaten a quiche before, so this was twice the adventure.

Heirloom Tomato & Corn Tart:

Serves 6 to 8

The Tart Shell

1 1⁄4 cups all-purpose flour

8 T cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1⁄8 tsp. salt

1 large egg, lightly beaten

2 cups dried beans or rice, for baking shell

Combine flour, butter, and salt in a food processor and pulse until crumbs form. Add egg and pulse until the mixture resembles moist curds. Turn the dough out onto a work surface, and knead once or twice to pull dough together. Flatten into a disk, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. (At this point, the dough can be kept refrigerated for up to two days or frozen for up to a month.)

Center a rack in the oven, and preheat to 350°F. Cut a 10" dia. round of waxed or parchment paper. Place a fluted 9" tart pan with a removable bottom on a baking sheet. Lightly dust a work surface and the top of the dough with flour. Roll the dough out into a round that is approximately 10" dia. and 1⁄8" thick. Fit the dough into the bottom and up the sides of the pan. Trim excess dough even with the pan's rim and, with the tines of a fork, poke a few holes on the bottom. Line the shell with the paper round and fill with dried beans or rice. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes. Take the pan out of the oven and carefully remove the paper and beans, then bake the shell for 3 to 5 minutes more, or until lightly browned. Remove and let cool in pan on a rack. (The shell can be kept covered at room temperature for up to 8 hours.)

The Filling

3 T unsalted butter

1⁄4 cup chopped onion

2 cloves garlic, chopped

11⁄2cups uncooked corn kernels (about 2 ears)

1 cup heavy cream

4 eggs: 3 whole eggs, plus yolk from 1 egg

3⁄4 cup sliced scallions

Dash Tabasco sauce

1⁄2 lb. heirloom cherry tomatoes, halved, or 1 to 2 large heirloom tomatoes, cut in thin wedges  *If you use regular cherry tomatoes instead of heirloom, I will not judge you... Use what you've got available-- ideally the freshest tomatoes you can find-- so that the flavor is worth showcasing in a tart. 

1⁄4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1⁄2 tsp. smoked paprika

1⁄3 cup panko bread crumbs

Salt and freshly ground white pepper

Preheat oven to 300°F. Melt 1 T of the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring, for 4 minutes, or until the onions are translucent. Add the corn, with a sprinkle of salt and pepper, and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes. Reserve 1⁄2 cup of the corn mixture in a medium bowl. Add the cream to the saucepan, bring to a simmer, and then transfer to a blender. Puree until smooth and transfer to the bowl with the reserved corn. Whisk in whole eggs, egg yolk, 1⁄2 cup scallions, Tabasco, and another sprinkle of salt and pepper until well combined. Pour the mixture into the prepared tart shell, and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the custard is set. *General consensus at the end of our tart preparation: It could have stood another 5 + minutes in the oven to make it slightly more firm and less scrambled-eggy. This is probably oven specific, so keep an eye toward the end of baking...

Meanwhile, melt remaining butter, transfer to a medium bowl, and toss with the remaining scallions, tomatoes, Parmesan cheese, smoked paprika, bread crumbs, and salt and pepper to taste. Once custard is set, remove tart from oven, and arrange tomato mixture on top. Return tart to the oven and continue baking for 15 more minutes, or until tomatoes are soft and bread crumbs are golden. Let tart rest for 20 minutes before slicing.

**As per Daniel Boulud's recommendation (also found in August's Elle Decor), we served the tomato tart with a light salad of arugula and cucumber, tossed in a simple vinaigrette, and called the affair "Dinner!" Totally delicious!!

Now I will bribe you with photos of Julian in exchange for a little more of your patience... : ) 

Check back soon for our next culinary endeavor!

Holy Ceviche!

John and Mummy whipped up a wonderful dinner this evening up at Fox Ridge: John made his famous ribs and Mummy pulled out this awesome recipe from Rick Bayless, for a ridiculously good ceviche! It was positively delicious and Mummy claims that the recipe is dead easy, so it seemed like I should pass it along to my readers to enjoy as well.

"Ceviche is best made the day it is served. Flavorings can be added to the shrimp a few hours in advance."

Ingredients

• 1 quart salted water
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
• 1 generous pound unpeeled small shrimp (about 41 to 50 count to a pound)
• 1/2 medium white onion, chopped into 1/4-inch pieces
• 1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro, plus several sprigs for garnish
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1 to 2 tablespoons vinegary Mexican bottled hot sauce (such as Tamazula, Valentina or Bufalo)
• About 2 tablespoons olive oil, preferably extra-virgin (optional, but smoothes out sharpness)
• 1 cup peeled, diced cucumber
• 1 small ripe avocado, peeled, pitted and cubed
• Salt
• Several lime slices, for garnish
• Tostadas or tortilla chips or saltine crackers, for serving

Directions

Cooking and marinating the shrimp: Bring 1 quart salted water to a boil and add 2 tablespoons of the lime juice. Add shrimp, cover and return to a boil. Immediately remove from heat, set pot lid askew and pour off all liquid. Replace lid and set aside, letting shrimp steam in closed pot for 10 minutes. Spread out shrimp in large glass or stainless steel bowl to cool completely. Peel shrimp (and devein, if desired). Toss shrimp with remaining 1/2 cup lime juice, cover and refrigerate for about 1 hour.

*John suggested you could also make this recipe with shrimp and scallops, or even just scallops and skip the shrimp depending on your preference... Sounds good too! 

The flavorings: In a small strainer, rinse chopped onion under cold water, then shake off excess liquid. Add to shrimp bowl along with chopped cilantro, ketchup, hot sauce, optional olive oil, cucumber and/or jicama and avocado. Mix gently, taste and season with salt, usually about 1/2 teaspoon. Cover and refrigerate up to a few hours, or serve immediately.

Serving the ceviche: Spoon the ceviche into sundae glasses, martini glasses or small bowls. Garnish with sprigs of cilantro and slices of lime. Serve with tostadas, tortilla chips or saltines.

Nursery Cum Guest Room

The mother figure is in town for an extended stay, getting acquainted with Julian and generally lending a hand. Because she is here for a little over two weeks, we wanted to make sure she had comfortable accommodations in Brooklyn for her visit, so we rejiggered Julian's bedroom to function as a guest room for the duration of her stay. Keep in mind that Julian probably won't actually sleep in that beautiful room for another couple of months sadly, since we've been told that responsible parents keep their babies sleeping in the master bedroom until they're at least three months old, so it wasn't too difficult to give him the boot.

Oy and eye roll.
It's almost comedic how many people/dogs/babies are all sleeping in our bedroom at this point.

Nonetheless, that's the arrangement we've got, so we moved the changing table into the kitchen, set up this super slick camp-bed-inflatable-mattress-memory-foam-topper-job in the "guest room", made a couple of configuration tweaks, and - VOILA! - guest room!

The wonders of living with small spaces-- they elicit so much rethinking and innovation... 

...assuming you have a mother willing to sleep on a camp bed! : )