New Year's Day Brunch: Rice Cake Me Baby!

Happy New Year to all my blog readers!  Thanks for making 2011 so fun!

On January 1st, of any given New Year, Koreans eat rice cake soup.  My paternal grandmother did hers with these special balls of dduk that she would hand roll herself while most families are familiar with the sliced kind.  No matter your preference, rice cake soup is what you traditionally eat the first day of the New Year.  I will be partaking of a bowl or two with family, Son and Daughters this year and I know it's going to be delicious because Mother puts in homemade Korean dumplings (mandoo 문두) in there which just makes it more special.

When younger, single, unmarried, child-less and more ENERGETIC, friends and I would find ways to have fun in through the night, in a manner more exciting than sitting in front of the TV watching the proverbial ball drop somewhere else in the world.  Newly married, in Hong Kong, husband and I found ways to go out and have fun with all the other young hipsters in the city, but I have to say that it feels like a very distant memory, those days of staying up late.  If I were hosting a New Year's Day brunch, I'd just want to invite some families over, have the kids play together and relax and not do anything too strenuous.  Even if I didn't do much else the night before except watch the ball drop.

Here are two potential menus you might find helpful for planning your New Year's Day brunch or meal.  I've done a Korean one and one with more Western leanings.  Happy New Year my dear readers and see you on the other side!

Korean New Year's Day Menu
Traditionally a mother will slave over the kitchen making lots of complicated things which require effort like individually pan fried vegetables (Juhn 전), mung bean pancakes (bindaedduck 빈대덕), and fresh vegetable side dishes (nameul 나물). Me? Not so much.  I want a satisfying meal that will come together with minimal craziness in the kitchen.

Korean Rice Cake Soup (떡국)
Sweet and Sour Spicy Wings
Bokchoy Salad or Tofu Salad 
Spinach Nameul (if you are feeling industrious, do this in lieu of one of the salads above)
Steamed Tofu with Spicy Sauce (an extra nice touch)
Mochi Cake

New Year's Day Brunch

Bagels with cream cheese, lox, capers, onions
Spinach Dip and Vegetables
Chicken Salad (done the night before)
French Toast Bread Pudding (Takes 90 minutes in the oven, so if you're doing this and the potato bake as well, you'll need two ovens.)
Egg Havarti Asparagus Potato Bake (Prepare the night before, and take it out of the fridge and cook it day of, but give it about 20 minutes at room temperature before sticking it in the oven.  It takes 1.5 hours to bake.)

New Year's Eve Party Ideas: Make fun and have some fun too!

Husband and I host quite a few parties, but one that we never have hosted is New Year's Eve party.  For the most part, it has to do with the fact that either we were living in another country away from family OR that we are WITH family and not really doing anything outside of enjoying the love of our loved ones.

But I do know about hosting, and what I know about New Year's Eve parties is this - you wanna have fun with your guests.  You don't want to be the one slaving away in the kitchen while your guests are footloose and fancy free and enjoying themselves without you.  And truthfully, although the food is important, your bubbly presence is just as essential for throwing a great party.  New Year's Eve parties also tend to mean that people stop by, drop by, swing by at various times.  This means, the food has to be easy, make ahead, grazeable (it can stand up to room temp and hang out for a while without being gross) and self-serve to make it the most fun for you.  Depending on the guests at your party, you also want it to be fairly kid friendly.

If your guests are anything like mine, they will want to bring something.  My choice for most people to bring?  Drinks.  I usually like to control the entire menu (my control freak personality) while my guests just bring the drinks to share.  But feel free to divide up the work amongst many so that it is less work for you.  Because, the key is to make sure that you can get out and have some fun too.  Here are some fun and easy menu ideas that you might want to consider.

Noodle in the New Year Menu
Drinks
Beer and wine

Dishes
Spicy Sesame Noodles 
Sesame Noodles
Korean Style Non Spicy Ribs
Korean Style Spicy Wings

Dessert
Mochi Cake

Nosh and Graze into 2012
This menu does require that you tend to it a bit more, going back and forth and making fresh batches of stuff, but you can make all the components ahead of time and then just put them together.

Drinks
Whatever the guests want to bring you!

Grazing
Brie Pancetta Arugula Crostini
Caramelized Onion and Gorgonzola Tart
Sweet and Sour Glazed Wings
Sesame Orzo Salad with Chicken and Apricots
Hot Artichoke Dip (done in ramekins, so that you can continually make up a fresh batch)
Cheese, Salami, Cracker Plate

Dessert
Everything Cookies
Mochi Cake


Chili and the Fixin's Menu
Drinks
Margaritas, beer, non-alcoholic beverages

Appetizers
Chips and Salsa
Guacamole
Michigan Caviar (best made a day or two ahead so it can really chill)
Spinach Dip

Main
Turkey Chili
Salt and Pepper Wings

Dessert
Ice Cream
Chocolate Chip Cookies with Sea Salt

Caramelized Onion and Gorgonzola Tart: Getting REALLY into the pantry

Friend SH said in passing to me last week, "I really should eat through my refrigerator and pantry."  I perked up when I heard that because it really is something that I love to do - every once in a while just eating up whatever we have and really consuming it all.  I looked at her dead on and said, "Let's do it together.  We will borrow from each other's refrigerators and pantries and see what we can make."  She looked doubtful, because I think she REALLY wasn't ready to do it, but I put her up to the challenge and together we began planning what we would do with our stuff.

I did not go to the grocery store for 12 days.  (In a regular week, I'm happy to go almost daily.)  The break from the grind of daily shopping - I have to say was really nice.  Shopping for groceries takes a lot of time and as much as I love cooking new foods and experimenting, the challenge of really trying to make use of what we had was one that I couldn't pass up.  So we set off to do it.  

This past Monday, while working out together, SH and I began talking about what we had in our fridges and pantries and began planning what we'd do with the stuff.  She decided to bring over a random assortment of whatnots and see what we could do together for lunch.  I was excited and jazzed and ready to rumble.  Of particular note in our refrigerators was an excess of puff pastry.  She had a pack and I had a pack and so it seemed that we'd be doing a lot of work around that.  

Here is a list of some of the crazy stuff we made with stuff from our food supply.  (excuse photo quality as I took them with my phone.)

Braised Asian Pork Shoulder (SH had some leftover pork shoulder, and I offered to braise it for her in a soy sake concoction.  I didn't taste it, but she said it was good.)

Popovers (SH had some half and half and I had some non-fat milk and eggs and flour and we mixed it all up for our first run at popovers.)

Pigs in a Blanket (Puff pastry from my freezer with sausages sliced in half from my freezer.  Rolled them and baked them.  Dipped in ketchup it was so good.)

Cherry Turnovers (SH had some cherry preserves in the pantry (which turned out to be AMAZING on the popovers) and more puff pastry from the freezer)

Pesto Potato Quiche (sheet of puff pastry, and then some roasted potatoes I had tossed with some pesto I had and mixed with egg and the half and half and some additional milk.  Caramelized onions as well.  YUMMY!)

AND.....Caramelized Onion and Gorgonzola Tart.  This was the first thing we ate (we were starving) and it was so yummy.   I had a half bag of arugula, so I wanted to use that up to, so I eventually topped this with some lightly dressed arugula (like the picture above) and it was really delicious.

Caramelized Onion Gorgonzola Tart with Arugula
Serves 6

Ingredients
1 sheet of puff pastry, defrosted (Trader Joes has a nice one)
1 large onion sliced (about 4 cups sliced)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
3 leaves of sage, finely chopped
¼ cup crumbled Gorgonzola cheese (or other blue cheese)

2 cups of arugula, washed
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
2 teaspoons olive oil
pinch of salt and pepper

Method
In a heavy fry pan, over medium high heat, melt butter and olive oil together. Add onions and season with salt and pepper. Cook over medium high heat until onions have softened and begun to golden brown, and then reduce heat to low, cooking onions slowly for an additional 10 minutes. Add oil if onions seem dry or sticking to fry pan. Set aside. to cool slightly.

Preheat oven to 400. Line baking sheet with parchment or grease it liberally. Place defrosted puff pastry sheet on top and spread caramelized onions over entire surface of puff pastry. Sprinkle Gorgonzola cheese over entire surface and chopped sage as well. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until pastry is puffed and golden and cheese has melted.

In a small bowl mix together vinegar and olive oil. Add arugula and toss lightly. Place dressed arugula on top of puff pastry onion tart and slice into pieces. Enjoy warm.

Printable recipe

Apricot Cardamom Shortbread Bars: Losing it and in need of humor

I hit a low point in my career as a stay-at-home-mom last weekend when I completely lost my temper with my children.  I yelled harshly at my children, screaming at them to get away from me, to leave me alone to just GET AWAY.  I couldn't stand to hear them one more time, to see their faces and I broke down in tears.  It was a day fraught with much stress of the season - the combination of work, parenting, Christmas, and being sick.  Even as I yelled at them, the reasonable part of me thought, just calm down.  Just relax.  It's not that big of a deal.  The reasonable part of me observed the completely insane part losing it and couldn't do anything about it.  Torn into two, the crazed side won out.  I don't know if I cried more because of serious stress or the dismay over my lack of control over myself.

I apologized to the children and explained to them that I shouldn't have lost my temper.  And children are resilient.  They looked solemnly at me and nodded their heads and said that they were sorry too.  But that night, after they had gone to bed, I couldn't help but crawl into each of their beds, and pray that my own lack of control did not cause any trauma and that the would recover.  Snuggling with each of them as they slept, when they were quiet (no talking back or bickering), warm and innocent in their sleep was a balm for me.  I prayed over each of them asking God for forgiveness for not taking care of them better.

The days that have followed have been better.  I've made a point to hug and cuddle them more.  To listen to them more.  To SMILE at them more.  (I generally scowl because I want them to do something and they aren't obeying me.)  To giggle, to make funny jokes, to just be silly with them more.  And it's been fun.  My heart is lighter from the effort and even though Son and Daughters still drive me crazy, I try and view their antics and their behaviors with a bigger sense of humor than I did before.

This shortbread requires a bit of humor because as my friend JEL puts it - it looks like melted cheese but doesn't taste like it.  These shortbread bars are made with the very unusual technique of grating frozen dough. Sounds crazy and nutty, but the result is a crisp, light, tender and totally delicious shortbread.  With the notes of vanilla and cardamom, it is really a special treat.  Just get yourself past the fact that you're grating dough and you're set to go.  Do NOT attempt this if you do not have a food processor with the grating disk, because grating frozen dough is WAY harder than grating cheese.  (unless of course you have a great sense of humor and then maybe you can put up with it.)

Apricot Cardamom Shortbread Bars
(adapted from Gale Gand’s Butter Sugar Flour Eggs)
Makes 32 bars (large ones, or 64 smaller ones)


Ingredients
1 pound (4 sticks) unsalted butter, slightly softened
4 egg yolks
1 vanilla bean, split, and seeds scraped out
2 cups granulated sugar
4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons ground cardamom
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 ¼ cup apricot jam at room temperature

Method
Cream the butter in a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or using a hand mixer) until soft and fluffy. Add the egg yolks and the inside of a vanilla bean and mix well.

Whisk the granulated sugar, flour, cardamom, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt together. Add to the butter and egg yolk mixture and mix just until incorporated and the dough starts to come together. Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface and form into four balls, small enough to fit into your food processor tube. (Doing smaller portions for the freezer means that the next day you won't be trying to cut chunks of dough small enough to fit into your food processor.) Wrap each ball in plastic wrap and freeze at least 2 hours or overnight (or as long as a month, if you like).

Heat the oven to 350 degrees.

Remove two small balls of dough from the freezer and coarsely grate it by hand or with the grating disk in a food processor into the bottom of a 9x13-inch baking pan lined with parchment or a 10-inch tart pan with a removable bottom. Make sure the surface is covered evenly with shreds of dough.

With the back of a spoon or a flexible spatula, spread the jam over the surface. Another technique is to put the jam in a plastic bag and cut the corner and squeeze all over the shreds of dough. Found the squeezing jam technique slightly easier but not much. Remove the remaining dough from the freezer and coarsely grate it over the entire surface. DO NOT PRESS DOWN.

Bake until lightly golden brown, 35 to 45 minutes. A Cool on a wire rack, then cut in the pan with a serrated knife.

Printable recipe

This piece of equipment will be your friend.


Really wonderful book - but many of the recipes were beyond my ability to make.

Vanilla Bean Rum Cake: Drinking in front of the parents

Growing up, I was incredibly straight laced.  I NEVER took a drink of alcohol until I was actually way past 21 years old.  I never experimented, wanted to try, or was even tempted by alcohol.  It just wasn't me.  Therefore, Mom and Dad have never worried about me and alcohol because I never drank as a young adult.

As an older adult however, things have changed.  I like a little celebratory something here and there, and I don't mind taking a little bit of something boozy every once in a while.  Even on my 40th birthday I had a some small drinks with friends, when I have never celebrated as such in the years before.   While in SoCal visiting around my birthday, my high school friends wanted to take me out so we all agreed to meet at restaurant.  While getting in the car with my best friend, I said goodbye to Mom.  She said in Korean, "You're going to dinner right?"  And I responded, "Yes.  And then maybe a bar."  The expression on my mom's face as she exclaimed, "A BAR?" was so funny I couldn't stop laughing.  At 40 years old, being questioned by your mom about what you do when you go out is pretty darn....humiliating.

So Mom, I am warning you that this cake has some alcohol in it.  Rum to be precise.  1 cup of it (or more if you like) and it tastes like...rum.  It's like going to a bar and having some fun, all the while eating a piece of cake.  And I have to say - although I'm not a HUGE fan of boozing while eating cake, this combination is really quite delectable.  And moist.  And delicious.  And not to be missed.  Just make sure my Mom isn't around while you're consuming it.

Vanilla Bean Rum Cake
Makes 10-inch bundt cake, serving 12 to 14

Cake
Ingredients
3 cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1¾ cup granulated sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
1 vanilla bean, split, seeds removed (empty vanilla bean used for the syrup) OR 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk
½ cup of dark rum

Rum Syrup Glaze
Ingredients
1 cup sugar
1 stick of butter (1/2 cup of butter)
¼ cup of water
½ cup of rum (you can use ¾ cup of rum if you really like the flavor)
empty vanilla bean pod (leftover from the cake)

Method
Place rack in center of oven, and preheat oven to 350. Grease and lightly flour inside of 10 inch bundt pan.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Set aside. Mix together rum and buttermilk. Set aside.

Using either a stand mixer (paddle attachment) or a hand mixer, beat the butter at medium speed until creamy, about 2 minutes. Gradually add sugar and beat at medium-high speed until the mixture is light in texture and color, about 3 minutes. Beat in eggs one at a time, beating for 30 to 40 seconds after each addition. Scrape down sides of bowl as necessary. Beat in vanilla bean. At low speed, add flour mixture in three additions, alternating with buttermilk rum mixture. (Add a bit of flour, a bit of buttermilk rum, a bit of flour, a bit of buttermilk rum, a bit of flour.)

Scoop batter into pan and smooth out. Bake cake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until a tooth pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Place the cake, on the rack, over a baking sheet.

After the cake has been baking about 40 minutes, begin to make rum syrup glaze. In a heavy saucepan, heat together butter, sugar, water and empty vanilla bean pod over medium heat. Bring to a boil, and allow to boil for 4 to 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and pour in rum. Return to heat and cook for an additional minute.

Once cake is done baking, place cake on a rack over a cookie sheet and immediately drizzle about ⅓ of rum glaze over the cake while it is still in the pan. Drizzle all over and begin saturating the cake. Allow cake to rest for 5 minutes after drizzling. Then invert cake on rack and with a fork, begin poking holes all over the entire surface of the cake. The more holes you poke, the better the absorption of the rum syrup. Drizzle the remaining syrup over the cake allowing it to saturate fully. Cool to room temperature to allow for maximum soaking of the syrup.

Printable recipe

The vanilla beans I love


the bundt pan I have

Popovers: My commandments

For SH, who gave me my pans and is always willing to try things out.

If I were ruler of my own land, and Queen of this land where I could make royal decrees and commandments, I'd like to firmly instill in Son and Daughters, their understanding of a few simple commandments.

1.  Whenever mommy (aka Your Highness) asks you to do something, you immediately say YES, jump up and execute whatever command is being made.

2.  Always wash your hands after the bathroom.  (this is really Son's commandment.)

3.  Exercise excellent manners, where ever you go, for failure to do so reflects poorly on mommy (aka Her Highness.)

Alas, getting them to follow those few simple rules has been nothing short of impossible, especially in recent weeks.  Nonetheless, I like to imagine a world where they can follow those rules and follow them they do.

It's easier, I think to write, commandments about popovers, and have THEM followed, than have Son and Daughters follow the ones listed above.  I'd like you to imagine yourself in the Land of Popovers, where I am the Queen, and I have given you the following commandments when making popovers.

Popover Commandments

1.  ALWAYS work with room temperature eggs and milk.   This means take your ice cold milk and eggs out of the fridge and leave them at room temperature for at least 1 hour before you actually make popovers.

2.  PREHEAT your oven so that it is REALLY at the right temperature and PREHEAT your popover (or muffin) pan.

3. NEVER EVER peek inside the oven.

Popovers use very simple ingredients (eggs, milk, butter, flour, eggs) but it's following the RULES that changes how they come out.  In the past two days, I've actually made 5 different batches of popovers, breaking and bending rules as they come to see how things work out.  Don't bend the rules.  You'll end up with bad popovers.  FOLLOW my popover commandments, and you WILL get fabulous fabulous fabulous popovers.  Making Popovers requires Preparation, Precision, and Patience.  Think a bit ahead (get those ingredients room temperature) and you're well on your way to total deliciousness.

Popovers (adapted from Williams-Sonoma’s recipe)
Makes 6 popovers (easily doubled to make 12)

Ingredients
3 large eggs, room temperature
1 cup of milk, room temperature
2 tablespoons of butter, melted
1 cup of flour
½ teaspoon of salt
¼ cup Parmesan cheese, optional (you can sprinkle on top of popover batter before sticking them in the oven.)
oil spray for greasing pans

Method
Preheat oven to 450. You really want to make sure that the oven is good and hot, so even after it says it is 450, give it another minute or two.

While oven is preheating, in a medium bowl, whisk eggs (room temperature.) Add milk (room temperature) and melted butter. Whisk again. Add salt and flour, and whisk, using a bit of arm muscle to really get the batter smooth and uniform. It might take about 2 minutes of hand whisking to get the batter really smooth. Batter will be pale yellow and quite runny. Set batter aside until oven and pan are ready.

Once oven is preheated, place empty popover pan into the oven for exactly 2 minutes. DO NOT place popover pan in oven before the oven is ready, as you will not get the pan up to temperature. Once popover pan is preheated, carefully remove from oven, and spray oil in all the cups. Then fill cups with batter, about ¾ of the way full.

Place pan carefully into the hot oven. Once the door closes, DO NOT OPEN IT until the time is finished. Bake at 450 for 20 minutes. At the end of 20 minutes, reduce heat to 325, and bake for an additional 15 minutes more. DO NOT OPEN IT UNTIL TIME IS UP!!

Remove from oven, turn popovers out onto a cooling rack. IF desired, stab sides of popover with a knife to release excess steam. (some people like the moist inside and others do not. You decide.) Enjoy with butter or your favorite preserves.

Printable recipe

the popover pan I have (Amazon has them cheaper than most places, and if you have other friends who want it, you can take advantage of their 4 for 3 offer - which allows you to buy 4 items for the price of three.)


Definitely recommend that you whisk your popover batter with one of these guys

Caramel Pretzel Bars: Won't you be my neighbor?

Remember watching Mr. Rogers as a child?  I do.  It was one of the few TV shows I watched before my parents unceremoniously chucked the TV on the curb of the street for the trash men to take away.  I remember Mr. Rogers putting on his sweater, and allowing us to spend time with him and be his "neighbor", even if it was only metaphorically through the TV screen.

When I was growing up, I remember being close with the neighbors on our suburban street.  There was Kevin, who lived across the street whose mother was an opera singer who made the best popcorn balls ever, Troy who lived next door to us, a boy whose father was a doctor and a boy who at one point got in a fight with Brother #1, next door to us on the other side was an older couple who used to talk to us through the fence (like Wilson on Home Improvement).  Around the corner from us lived my best friend Lily and a few other school mates from school.  Around another corner was Brother #1's best friend George, and invariably on summer nights we would all get on our bikes and ride around the block, shouting and playing cops and robbers until our respective mothers all called us home.  I enjoyed feeling this sense of neighborhood.

Since buying our home, I've been thinking of ways to connect with the neighbors.  The ones on either side of us are different from us.  On our right is a family with older children, and these folks tend to keep me up late at least once a month with their raucous talking and pot smoking ways.  Our walls are pretty close to one another so I hear their laughter and shouts and their dog also barks wildly and sometimes keeps me up.  (I actually have called the police on them on more than one occasion.)  They aren't my favorite people as neighbors, but they do live next to us and we share a fence.  On our left is an older gentlemen and his son.    Once again we share a fence and these two gentlemen are always cheerful and chipper when we walk by their house, waving to us and giving us a smile.  I'm not sure why a family of two men has four cars, but that's another story.

We do know two families very well in our neighborhood, and they live around the corner from us.  One of the families has my "emergency" babysitter in house, which is wonderful in case I want to run somewhere really quickly and have a responsible person come to my house.  The other family has two children, similar in age to ours and are easy playmates and easy fun when we are walking the neighborhood.  We've had parties and get-togethers and it's wonderful knowing them and being able to have fun with them.

I've been talking to Sons and Daughters about how to give to others and we talked about whom we would like to share something with during this holiday season.  They definitely wanted to give something to the two families that they knew well, and they also had this idea of giving something to the two homes who have the best lights in our neighborhood.  I thought it was a good idea and suggested that perhaps we might want to give to the people who live directly next door to us, and they were excited.  The girls made cards for everyone, I made two kinds of bar cookies to pass out and we packed them up in the stroller and made some deliveries today.

The kids were on their scooter and mommy behind, pushing the stroller loaded with boxes.  And I have to say - it was FUN.  We took on the challenge of delivering to COMPLETE strangers first, going to the two homes with the best Christmas lights.  The kids were very excited to SEE who was behind the lights and rang the doorbell.  I had to do all the talking of course (suddenly talkative kids become very shy kids) and simply presented the cookies and the card saying, "My children have gotten so much joy from your lights and they wanted to say thank you."  The first house a very tall gentleman (I heard Daughter #2 mutter, "He's a giant") came to the door and when I said my little statement, broke out into a huge smile and thanked us.  The kids hopped on their scooters and we went to the second light house, where again, they were thankful and even said, "You didn't have to do this."  The two neighbors to either side also were wonderfully warm and kind and when we delivered to our good friends, it was just loads of fun.

Son and Daughters really enjoyed the experience of just handing out treats and cards simply for the sheer enjoyment and it was fun for me too.

If you want to do a mass handout of treats, I have learned that bar cookies are really the way to go.  I decided to explore a non-nut caramel bar cookie and came up with this fantastic concoction that is really good.  (I'm going to enter it into Saveur's Cookie Contest.)  Pastry crust, caramel pretzel topping, with a salty sweet finish.  You can't go wrong!  Bar cookies make for easy handouts because it's one tray, you can cut it into various sizes (depending on your need) and it's one pan.  Make some of these, and hand them out to the neighborhood, and let's see what happens when you extend yourself just a bit.

Caramel Pretzel Bars
Makes 32 bars (large ones, or 64 smaller ones)

Sweet Pastry Crust
Ingredients
1 ¼ cup all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
⅓ cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method
Position rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350. Line a 9X13 baking pan with parchment paper or grease bottom and sides very well. In a small bowl, whisk together flour and salt; set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer using the paddle attachment (or a bowl that you use your hand mixer with), beat the butter and brown sugar at medium speed until combined, about 1 minute. Beat in the vanilla extract. At low speed, add the flour mixture and mix just until the mixture is crumbly, 10 to 15 seconds.

Pat the dough evenly into the bottom of the prepared pan. Prick the dough well with a fork. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, until golden brown around the edges. Allow to cool slightly as you prepare topping.

Topping
Ingredients
1 ½ sticks unsalted butter
1 ¼ cups light brown sugar
¼ honey
¼ cup maple syrup
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup heavy cream
6 ½ cups small pretzel twists, lightly crushed

Method
In a large saucepan, combine the butter, brown sugar, honey, syrup, and salt and cook over moderate heat, stirring, until foamy and slightly thickened, about 10 minutes. Add cream and cook, stirring occasionally, until a candy thermometer inserted in the caramel registers 240°F (soft ball stage), about 11 minutes longer. Add the pretzels, quickly incorporating it into the caramel. Pour the filling over the crust, spreading it evenly. Bake for about 15 minutes, until the topping is bubbling. Let cool completely. Remove onto a cutting board. Cut into bars and serve.

Printable recipe

The candy thermometer I want to get

Kale, Arugula, Persimmon, Pomegranate Salad: On kicking someone out of bed

For HKL, for always keeping an eye out for me and telling me what the next best thing to eat is.

Everyone makes their own choices about how to to deal with children's bedtimes and sleep routines, and each family has to make the choice that is right for his or her family.  Before we actually had kids, Husband had the idea that he'd like to cuddle with the children and sleep with them, while I always said that I fully intended for the children would sleep in their own beds.  I won.  It was the right choice for our family, and firmly, one by one, Son and Daughters learned to sleep in their own cribs, sleep through the night and just sleep well on their own.  Husband admired my resolve and since Son and Daughters went down to bed easily every night, on time, there was nothing really much for him to complain about.  It was the right choice for us and from the beginning, whenever Daughters tried to stray from the path, I gently walked them back to her room with minimal fuss.

In recent months, Son has developed a habit where he wakes up about an hour or two before morning wake up and crawls into bed with me.  Husband watched him from the sidelines and commented, "You NEVER let the girls do that."  I justified it to Husband saying that it was only a bit of time before we had to get up anyways, so it wasn't a big deal.  Truthfully, I didn't like it because Son insisted on poking and talking and breathing loudly and I'm not a great sleeper, so that morning interruption upset my sleep.  But I put up with it simply because I was too lazy to walk him back to his room.

But things have finally come to a head as my sleep has been reduced and the quality has deteriorated,  and I  told Son that I need him to stay in his room, because it's better for his sleep.  He definitely needs the sleep and in the early morning when he wakes up, he has a harder time falling back asleep.  I want him to sleep all the way through, getting more solid sleep and resting more deeply. I explained it to him, promised him a prize if he could carry through, and basically explained what he needed to do.

The first night?  BAM.  He did it.  He came into the room in the morning and said, "Good morning mom.  I slept the whole night in my bed."  The second night, he did it again.  The third morning he did it again, but he looked wistfully at my bed and said, "I really do like lying down next to you.  But I want my prize."  And slowly and but surely we are moving towards his staying in his bed and not with me.  Now the moment when he looked wistfully at my bed and expressed that he likes lying down next to me was a slightly bittersweet one, and it was a mixed bag of emotions.  A part of me was so excited about having him stay in his own room while the other part of me was sad that he was missing our time together.  That mix of sad and sweet is oftentimes the very flavor of parenting and one that I still can't get quite used to.

This salad, with its mix of bitter kale, peppery arugula, sweet persimmon, and sour pomegranate is a mixed bag of flavors and experiences, but delicious together.  And eating it reminds me of how sometimes the craziest flavors come together and become something great.

Kale, Arugula, Persimmon, Pomegranate Salad
Serves 6

Ingredients
Salad
¾ lb of kale, stems removed, cut into small bite sizes (about 3 cups of kale chopped up)
3 cups of arugula, washed and dried
3 fuyu persimmons, washed, peeled and cut into wedges
½ cup pomegranate arils (the little jewels of the pomegranate - from about half a large pomegranate)
½ cup shredded Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

Dressing
2 tablespoons lemon juice
6 tablespoons olive oil
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper

Method
In a large salad bowl, mix together kale and arugula. Arrange persimmons wedges and pomegranate arils and sprinkle Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese on top.

In a small bowl, whisk together lemon juice, olive oil and salt and pepper. Drizzle dressing over salad and toss well to coat evenly.

Printable recipe

the mix of yummy flavors coming together

Healthy Holiday Celebrations: We never leave the schoolyard, do we?

For SH and JA who share my passion.

It's holiday time and it's a stressful time for many parents and families.  In December alone, I think we had over 10 invites to various parties and activities, more than half of which we had to decline.  Personally, it's always a hectic time for me because of my work (college applications are due after all) and the intense pressure of that plus celebration has made things hectic.

And someone, please remind me, that if I ever want to have another child (I do, but not realistic) NOT to have the birthdate in December.   The pressure of dealing with that on TOP OF the regular intensity of the holidays isn't fun either.  So yes, it's a stressful time.  It's a stressful time for all involved.

And if you have school age children, then there are additional pressures of holiday teacher shopping (or making of presents), classroom holiday parties and celebrations as well as preparing for activities to occupy the natives, once they are out of school, occupying the home territories.

After Son's enjoyment of sharing muffins with his friends during Thanksgiving party, I decided to do two things that he would be able to pass out to his friends at school.  I made vegan banana muffins as well as these snowflake crayons.  After printing out 20 of the cards, I realized I didn't really like EXACTLY what I had written (wasn't being a good wordsmith at 2 AM) but decided to let it go and save some trees.  If you ever want to do it, I'd go with a phrase something like this: "I am thankful for all my wonderful friends, as different as all the snowflakes that fall from the sky."  I had a few other ideas as well, but you get idea.

These are simple to make.  I simply bought this mold and followed instructions on Sillie Smile's blog.


In addition to Son's party planning, I was asked for some advice for Daughter #1's holiday party by one of the room moms.  I simply asked if we could not do a party that involved a ton of sugary treats, especially since the classroom has been focused on healthy eating since the beginning of the school year, and instead make it more interactive and craft like. She immediately agreed with the idea and with the teacher planned really wonderful activities.

There would be a couple of crafts to do, and in addition, there would be a "gently used" book exchange, where each child brought in a book, appropriate to 2nd and 3rd grade reading, and exchange and trade with classmates.  I LOVED this, and I thought it a wonderful addition to the holiday party.

But it turns out, not all did so.  One father questioned the meaning of the term "holiday party" and demanded to know WHY the party wasn't called "Christmas Party" to the room mom.  The room mom calmly explained that there were many different cultures at our school and not everyone celebrates Christmas.  He wanted to know WHY there were no treats, no sugar, no candy, no fun things to eat.  She also calmly had to explain that the party was going in a different direction, one more interactive and more fun for the kids (beyond eating sugary treats.)  His parting comment was something to the effect that "they" were going to take America back and restore it to "America."

Now I'm not sure what he meant by THAT comment, but I am pretty sure I'm supposed to be insulted.  This father has his child at a school that is ethnically 75% people of color.  Our school is blessed with an amazingly rich diverse environment, so if he's planning to take America back from all of us,  I'd like to see him try.  And to that father, I'd just like to say, open up your eyes, and see this is not the playground of your childhood.  There are more people from different places than there were when you were growing up, and although this may be at times, like the holidays, a slightly awkward thing, it is a good thing.  And if you really can't figure it out, then your child is going to be working for mine and not the other way around.  (Ooops.  I didn't really mean that.  Okay maybe a little. )

And I'm brought back to a time, growing up, when two mean kids came up to me on the schoolyard (I was one of TWO Asian kids at this school) and said to me, "Are you Chinese?
"No," I replied.
"Are you Japanese?"
"NO," I said.
"Then WHAT are you?"
"I'm Korean.  I'm American," I replied tentatively.
"You're WHAT?"

I'm brought right back there with this father's comments.  I have a few more zingers to send his way (already I have yelled them into the air to no one in particular) but I'll restrain on this blog.  But I'm still going to insist on a non-sugar, non-Christmas, healthy, holiday school celebration. And I'm proud to do so.  And I'm happy to be one of the different snowflakes that fall from the sky.

Food as Gifts: Appreciating those around you

I try and do a bit of homemade gifts every year, because I think it not only lets someone else know how much I care and appreciate them, it also gives me a chance to reflect upon and think about what individuals have done for me in the past year.  When you make things homemade, it really makes you evaluate those who have touched your life and left a bit of a wonderful mark on you and your family.

I always spend a great deal of time thinking of the teachers in our life as being one reminds me how much those who teach and instruct our children need to be appreciated.  This year, just thanking the teachers in Children's lives - regular school, Sunday school, music school got me to the number of 26.  I wanted to give 26 individuals a bit of something homemade to thank them for all of their care and affection towards my children and all the goodness that they have done.  

I came up with various different packaging ideas and various different treats to stick in mostly mugs.  I was very happy with what came about this year and so here are some ideas.

Option 1: Treat Boxes for the Sweet

Caramel Almond Pretzel Bars
Apricot Vanilla Bean Shortbread Bars (A modified version of this)

Option 2: Mug for the Coffee Lover

Anthropologie Mug 

Various Starbucks coffee and hot chocolate

Option 3:  Chew and Brew

Anthropologie Mug 
Pecan Rolo Pretzels

Option 4: A Little Bit of Everything

Anthropologie Mug 
Caramel Almond Pretzel Bars
Apricot Vanilla Bean Shortbread Bars (A modified version of this)