simple

After a particularly looooong day, I drove up to find husBen and Quimby sitting on our front stoop waiting for me to get home. Despite all the loud rap I had listened to on the way home, despite my desire to run straight to the treadmill still wearing my scrubs and clogs, despite the stress conceiving a headache behind my right eye, I felt completely taken care of in that moment. I felt that life was simpler than my tightly wound mind had perceived it to be. I felt calmed and reminded of how lucky I am. These boys are my simple joys through a complexity of love I cannot even begin to understand, and I only hope that time eventually affords me as many opportunities to be a stronghold to them in return.

Simple Fish Tacos

Tilapia fillets + seasoning (I chose comino seeds (cumin), Tony’s (because that is what I grew up on), and garlic salt.

Sliced avocado

Tortillas

Mango salsa + tablespoon of whatever jam you have on hand

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Drizzle a baking sheet with olive oil and on it place fish fillets, turning to coat. Season with spices of your choosing. Bake for 15-18 minutes, until fish flakes easily with a fork.

Mix mango pico de gallo with jam (adds a great depth of sweetness!).

Build taco with fish, mango salsa, sliced avocado.

Simple, as life should be. Enjoy.

its personal

Have you ever written a personal statement? I recently started trying to formulate one, and I am finding it a bit difficult to eloquently lay out how I chose to decide my future by what I want today. Wouldn’t a personal statement vary considerably over the years? For example, my desires/ambitions today differ markedly from my desires/ambitions 10 years ago. Yet I am supposed to write something that encompasses both who I am now and what I hope for my future. What if that future me looks back on my 25 year-old self and questions it’s decision making abilities (because I must admit I occasionally look back on my 15 year-old self with trepidation for decisions made then). I suppose my maturity level at this point should produce the ability to make choices with lasting impact…after all, I am 25 (ha!).

In all reality though, I do feel excited about my plans for the future. I do know that God has designs on me that I expect He will carry out accordingly. I know I was created with certain personality traits that fit intentionally with my purpose and passions. I see my future work as a way of life wherein my specific nature will be engaged and I can delight in the satisfaction of another through meaningful investment of myself in their improvement.

made this a couple weeks ago.
bring this to a dinner party and be stellar. 

Caramelized Garlic Tart from Yotam Ottolengh’s Plenty

            13 ounces puff pastry, defrosted if frozen

            3 medium heads of garlic, cloves separated and peeled

            1 tablespoon olive oil

            1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

            3/4 tablespoon sugar

            1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary

            1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme, plus 3 sprigs for garnish

            3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

            4 1/2 ounces soft, creamy goat cheese, such as chevre

            4 1/2 ounces hard, mature goat cheese, such as goat gouda

            2 large eggs

            6 1/2 tablespoons heavy cream

            6 1/2 tablespoons creme fraiche

            Freshly ground black pepper

Roll out puff pastry into a 16-inch circle. Fit puff pastry into an 11-by-1 1/2-inch round fluted pan with a removable bottom. Place a parchment paper-round on top of puff pastry; top with pie weights or dried beans. Transfer to refrigerator; chill for 20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Transfer tart shell to oven and bake for 20 minutes. Remove weights and paper and bake until pastry is golden, 5 to 10 minutes more. Remove from oven and set aside.

Place garlic cloves in a small saucepan filled with water. Place saucepan over medium heat and bring to a simmer; simmer for 3 minutes. Drain and return cloves to saucepan. Add olive oil and place saucepan over high heat; cook, stirring occasionally, until garlic is fried, about 2 minutes. Add vinegar and 1 cup water; bring to a boil and immediately reduce to a simmer. Let simmer for 10 minutes. Add sugar, rosemary, chopped thyme, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Continue simmering over medium heat until most of the liquid has evaporated and garlic is coated in a dark caramelized syrup, about 10 minutes more. Remove from heat and set aside.

Break both goat cheeses into pieces and scatter in tart shell; spoon garlic cloves and syrup over cheese. In a large glass measuring cup, whisk together eggs, cream, creme fraiche, and remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt; season with pepper. Pour egg mixture over cheese and garlic filling, making sure the cheese and garlic are still visible.

Transfer tart to oven and bake until tart filling is set and top is golden brown, 35 to 45 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool slightly before removing tart from pan. Trim tart as necessary and garnish with thyme sprigs; serve.

proud to be my mother's daughter

What learned wisdom can I boast of in my 25 years of life thus far?

Work hard in serving others, in whatever manner engages your full and unique faculties, and love well in ways that lend spiritual, mental and bodily satisfaction.

I experienced this most recently during our dinner party this Saturday night, when my closest people leaned back from the table, satisfied and seemingly content after a delicious meal and rich company. Each of these people is a testament to me of how truly blessed I am, so to see them well fed and in good spirits in my home just made my soul glow a little.

Can I also share the thought that persists still days later? I am so proud to be my mother’s daughter.  Let me explain. I have wanted to throw a dinner party for my friends for a while now and saw this birthday weekend as a perfect time to do so. I recruited my mother’s help because she has been throwing the most amazing dinner parties her whole life and I wanted to indulge my friends in her talent…namely her ability to smoke ribs. My mom and dad arrived Friday night, with the trailer smoker/grill in tow and I absolutely knew we were about to do something big. You see, Myra (my mom) only does things big. She would never let the amount of effort something would take halt her in her consideration of whether or not she should do it. She loves well and exhausts herself in doing so. Ahhh, the perfect personality to throw a dang good party.

We woke up Saturday morning and I think her feet hit the ground moving. We ran all over town gathering up this and that, then back home to marinate the ribs, set up tables, arrange flowers, and hang lights. Brussels sprouts roasted and focaccia dough rose. Bacon grease popped and meat was basted. Table cloth upon table cloth was smoothed out and the silver ware tied up in napkins with jute. The flavors and best intentions of the night came together as a piece of art, all orchestrated by my mom (and obediently carried out by myself and our friend Mrs. Janet, her lucky minions). That woman knows how to love exhaustively and I felt such gratitude that she expended such effort for my friends. For me.

7:00 finally arrived and so did my people. I suppose I was too in the moment to stop and take pictures (even of the food, so unlike me!) but I was just so satisfied at the hard work that brought us to that moment and the people finally there to enjoy it. I cannot thank my mother enough, but I suppose my whole life should ring of that sentiment.

Cheers. 

tables set...

ready for my people to arrive

Ben worked so hard to prep our backyard this week

picture from Bon Appetit...enjoying the night too much to snap my own!

Menu

Cheese tray with homemade fennel shortbread and honeycomb

Philadelphia Fish House Punch (+ beer and wine)

Shaved zucchini salad, Focaccia bread, bacon roasted brussels sprouts

Myra's famous ribs

Cake and Blue Bell

Philadelphia Fish House Punch

Arrange 2 cups sliced fresh (or frozen, thawed) peaches and 12 thyme sprigs along the bottom of a 10–12-cup Bundt pan. Fill pan with cold water and freeze to make an ice ring. Combine 1 1/4 cups sugar and 1 1/4 cups water in a jar; cover and shake to dissolve to make simple syrup. DO AHEAD Ice ring and simple syrup can be made 2 weeks ahead. Keep ice ring frozen. Chill simple syrup.

Pour simple syrup into a large wide container or a punch bowl. Add 1 liter (4 1/4 cups) Jamaican gold rum (such as Appleton Estate), 2 cups Cognac, 1 1/2 cups fresh lemon juice, and 1 cup peach liqueur (such as Bols). Cover and chill for at least 2 hours or overnight. Add 6 cups cold water to punch; stir gently to blend. Remove ice ring from Bundt pan and float, rounded side up, in punch. Ladle into glasses filled with ice.

Serves 24, Bon Appetit October 2012

time. flies. always. thankful.

I normally view myself as independent and somewhat resourceful, content with a certain amount of alone time, and full of energy to complete my responsibilities. After a week without Ben, I realize I am only led to believe those fallacies by the community of behind-the-scenes helpers on whom I actually rely on a daily basis. Thankfully good friends came to my rescue, especially where child care was concerned….and by that I mean dog care, an equally privileged responsibility in my life right now. Needless to say I am quite pleased to have husBen back from his vacation.

We are now settling back into our student and work schedules, which as a student hardly renders any settling at all. I like this way of life though, full of new responsibilities and opportunities daily, so I still cannot imagine it ever coming to an end. Ben on the other hand seems ready for his education to wrap up so that he can start his real life, his job and the after-hours relaxation such a schedule provides. How time flies, eh? I still look up at the Houston sky-line each time I drive home from the hospital and feel so amazed that Ben and I live in this city. I so vividly remember us moving all our stuff in our first little four-plex, freshly married and a mere 22 years old (babies!!!). That feels like last weekend, yet somehow Ben will graduate from law school here before we blink. Slow down life!

Perhaps I am being dramatic. I must confess I have a birthday coming up, and while I still picture myself as 23, I am told this will be my 25^th. Shouldn’t I be really wise and independent by this age? Shouldn’t I have my life plans figured out?

Nahhhhhh.

At least I have my weekend plans oriented… 

salted cocoa brownies with toasted pecans

food is my love language and my favorite way to say thank you

10 tablespoons (1 ¼ sticks) unsalted butter

1 ¼ cups sugar

¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder (natural or Dutch-process)

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 cold large eggs

½ cup all-purpose flour

¾ cup walnut or pecans, or mix of both

Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 325°F. Line the bottom and sides of the baking pan with parchment paper, leaving an overhang on two opposite sides.

Combine the butter, sugar, cocoa, and salt in a medium heatproof bowl and set the bowl over a double broiler. Stir from time to time until the butter is melted and the mixture is smooth and hot enough that you want to remove your finger fairly quickly after dipping it in to test. Remove the bowl from the skillet and set aside briefly until the mixture is only warm, not hot.

Stir in the vanilla with a wooden spoon. Add the eggs one at a time, stirring vigorously after each one. When the batter looks thick, shiny, and well blended, add the flour and stir until you cannot see it any longer, then beat vigorously for 40 strokes with the wooden spoon or a rubber spatula. Stir in the nuts, if using. Spread evenly in the lined pan.

Bake until a toothpick plunged into the center emerges slightly moist with batter, 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool completely on a rack.

Lift up the ends of the parchment or foil liner, and transfer the brownies to a cutting board. Cut into 16 or 25 squares.

Feta crusted halibut

Today marks the end of a state of mind. Vacation treats us well, and for the proper amount of sleep and good time with friends, we owe it the highest gratitude. I am ready to start school again though, as my restless little mind seems to operate better with an occupation/distraction/challenge of some sort. I am ready to be busy again. 

HusBen has 1 more week of vacation, which he will pack with as much golf as possible...and Palm Springs, CA is waiting for him! I am excited for him, but also already miss him. Oh, vacation. 

Feta Crusted Halibut

4 halibut steaks, cut of your choice


4 teaspoons dijon mustard


1/2 cup homemade breadcrumbs


100 g feta cheese, crumbled


small handful of fresh basil, roughly chopped


4 tablespoons olive oil


ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 400°F.
 In a bowl, mix the breadcrumbs, feta, basil, olive oil, and black pepper.
 Lay the halibut in an oiled baking dish and spread 1 teaspoon of mustard on each. 
Cover the fish with the crust mixture, and don’t worry about some falling around, you’ll use it on the plate.
 Bake in the oven for about 15-20 minutes, depending on the thickness of the halibut. You want to keep it moist.

From http://thebitehouse.com/2012/09/20/feta-and-basil-crusted-halibut-with-garlic-wilted-spinach-and-risotto/

break

So I really enjoy these breaks. I realize this affection for time off from school glaringly marks the fact that I still go to school, but all the same, I love breaks. I do not even need to do anything fabulous or extravagant with this time off, I just appreciate that there exists time entirely protected from even the thought of studying, built into my every year. Ahh, to be young and responsibility free.

Confession: I have been watching a lot of Sex and the City. I was previously unaware that I even liked this show, but hey, breaks can open your eyes to all sorts of new ways to indulge. I stand to learn a few things from these women, like: we should lunch more, you know, get together for mid-day cocktails wearing our finest fashions; we should talk about our daily lives with each other more (one area I am really bad at….by choice); we should have those “go-to” people, with whom we feel comfortable and honest; we should just spend more time with friends in general.

My new year’s resolution follows such a trajectory, although please let me assure you it was not entirely born out of my new Sex and the City obsession. If I tell you what it is, maybe that will commit me to following it for longer than just these “break” days….ready….here goes: to spend more time with friends, doing nothing. Oh, not the revolutionary resolution you were expecting?

You see, quality time challenges me. I want to plan that fun thing we will do together to circumnavigate us sitting around instead (in case you do not see that as relaxing/fun/memorable). I could improve greatly in the act of just popping in for a minute, to see how your life goes, to hear how your day went. I want to feel comfortable just being. Just sitting. Just walking alongside you in your very own life. 2013 could teach me that friendships build on those moments of real unplanned, unorganized life. We shall see.

Happy New Year’s y’all. I would so love to hear some of your resolutions….

…except if they entail any sort of new diet fads. In fact, here is a fabulous dessert recipe to deter you from making any such bad decisions.

Caramel-Almond Custard Tart with Shortbread Crust

Shortbread Crust

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

½ cup powdered sugar

¼ teaspoons salt

10 tablespoons very cold butter, cut into small pieces

1 large egg yolk

Put the flour, powdered sugar, and salt in a food processor and pulse a couple of times until combined. Scatter the pieces of butter on top and pulse until the cutter is cut in coarsely (some pieces will still be the size of peas, and that is fine). Add in the egg yolk and process in long pulses—about 10 seconds each—until the dough starts to come together in clumps and the dry ingredients are incorporated in. Dump the dough into  a greased/Pam’d 9 inch tart pan and press it to fit (evenly on the bottom and up the sides of the pan).

Center a rack in the middle of your oven and preheat to 375 degrees. Press a greased/Pam’d piece of foil snugly against your crust and put pie weights on top (or dried beans or uncooked pasta if you don’t have pie weights). Bake for 25 minutes, then remove foil and bake for another 5 minutes. Allow to cool while you start on the custard.

Caramel Almond Custard

¾ cups sugar, divided

2 tablespoons water

2/3 cups heavy cream, room temp

2 large eggs

pinch of salt

¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons whole milk

3 ½ ounces sliced almonds (about 1 cup), lightly toasted

Center a rack in the oven and turn down your already preheated oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil and place your semi-cooked shortbread crust on top.

To make the caramel, put ¼ cup of the sugar and the water in a medium sauce-pan and bring to a boil. If the sugar is coloring unevenly, swirl the mixture gently to even it out (otherwise, don’t touch it!). Watch this process very closely, and as soon as the sugar starts to bubble and turn a deep amber color, remove it from the heat and pour in the cream. Allow this mixture to meld together and feel free to coax it a little with an occasional stir with your wooden spoon.

In a mixer, whisk the eggs until they are foamy, then beat in the remaining ½ cup of sugar and the salt and whisk for another minute. Stir in the milk and then the caramel cream.

Scatter the toasted almonds over the bottom of the tart shell, then pour in the custard. Carefully slide the baking sheet into the oven and immediately reduce the temp to 300 degrees. Bake the tart for 40-45 minutes or until the filling is uniformly puffed (make sure the center is set). Transfer the tart to a cooling rack and let cool to room temp still in the pan.

Chocolate ganache

because everything should be coated in dark rich chocolate

1 cup fine quality dark chocolate (65-70%)

2 tablespoons heavy cream

Melt these two together and pour on top of the caramel custard (after it is baked). Spread with a knife, allow to cool for 30ish minutes before serving. Remove the sides of the tart pan and slice once the ganache is set.

Share. With those friends worth spending time with.