let it snow, snow, snow!

As my dear Pickle reminds me daily, Christmas is fast approaching! As of today, we’re T-minus seven days and counting till we celebrate Jesus’s big day and Santa Claus’s magical visit.

 

As the grocery stores get busier and busier with each passing day, I like to menu plan for the days preceding December 25, so I don’t have to battle the crowds and I can enjoy my holiday with my three boys to the fullest.

 

We want lots of memory-building moments that – of course, with me – involve sharing food together. Pizza dinners while watching holiday movies, hot chocolate with marshmallows after a snow-walk, comforting dinners to end a busy day with lots of homemade cookies in between the big meals.

 

As someone who wants to eat as healthfully and wholly as possible during these decadent days, I have the fridge and pantry filled with health snacks:

• Locally grown popcorn and extra virgin coconut oil for the best movie-watching snack
• Pumpkin puree for whole-wheat muffins and baked pumpkin-spiced steel-cut oats
• Dried fruit and toasted and caramelized nuts for impromptu trail mix
• Clementines and Satsuma tangerines for a refreshing snack
• Smoothie-making ingredients: almond milk, kefir, frozen OJ, frozen mango, blueberries and banana

Here's my favorite Christmas song to get you in the holiday spirit (if you're not there already).

p.s. Here’s what we’re eating from December 20^th on to the big day …
Friday, the 20^th: winter pizza margarita with apple-celery slaw
Saturday, the 21^st: A Family Christmas Party
Sunday, the 22^nd: Swedish meatballs with sautéed cabbage and apple-cranberry sauce
Monday the 23^rd: Slow-cooker chicken in milk with mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli
Tuesday, the 24^th: Christmas Eve dinner after church — braised beef ragù with cavatelli, citrus salad with pickled red onions; cookies for dessert
Wednesday, the 25^th: Happy Christmas! Breakfast of Panetonne strata, roasted bacon and sausage, fresh-squeeze OJ … and lots of coffee for our early morning gift opening!

p.p.s. Here’s some of the cookies I made this year:
Buckeyes: sans rice krispies – the only way, in my opinion, to make them!
Classic gingerbread (a Bay Bakery classic from Milwaukee)
Cardamom-scented Mexican wedding cakes
Aunt Bill’s Brown Candy
Chewy ginger cookies

p.p.p.s. And, finally, to get you through the holidays, some VERY seasonal cocktails:

Can a cold cocktail be comforting? Here's one I think fits the bill ... milk punch:

Puerto Rican eggnog, anyone? Um, yes! The Coquito

The Midwestern classic: The Tom & Jerry

Anything with grapefruit this time of year, just tastes so, so good: the 522 North Pinckney Cocktail

 

Wishing you the merriest of Christmases!
Happy holidays, -s.

 

 

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving; my favorite. It's a wholly American holiday (who else would put marshmallows on sweet potatoes?) that is focused on the best of things: food and family.

 

Mr. Klein and I have spent two Thanksgivings in foreign lands — one in Prague visiting my brother, Mattie, and the other on the beach in Barbados. It feels a little odd to spend a national holiday in a place where — to everyone else — it is just another Thursday.  In Prague, we ate at the lovely, lovely Kampa Park just steps from the Charles Bridge. In Barbados, we ate The Sandpiper resort’s restaurant, where you could order a traditional Thanksgiving meal, but with it being 80 degrees outside and being steps from the ocean, fish was the way to go. And while, in either locale, there was no turkey, no pumpkin pie, we were sharing a meal together and that's what made it feel like Thanksgiving.

 

This year, our toes will not be dipping into warm Caribbean waters (although that would be nice), nor will we be drinking fine Czech beer; no, we’re keeping it traditional (in the best way) — turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, sweet potatoes topped with sautéed apples and a spinach gratin. My mom’s amazing pies will round out the meal. And there will be, of course, that comforting feeling that only family can bring to the table.

Wishing you the happiest of Thanksgivings!

p.s. a song for the day ahead.

p.p.s. just in case things go awry … Splendid Table’s Turkey Confidential 2013

p.p.p.s. my grandmother used to use lard in her pie crusts from time to time  — especially for her amazing meat pies. Here’s an interesting article that sheds a light on this once-abhorred fat.

p.p.p.p.s. what to drink with that bird? Look no further that this guide (it happens to highlight one of my favorite wines for drinking with food in general).

p.p.p.p.p.s. wow, now that's a turkey sandwich.

For cocktail hour: a festive and fizzy drink to cut the richness of the day.

Quote of the week: There are no strangers in here, just friends you haven’t met …” –Roald Dahl

 

Happy eating, -s.  

gorgeous ceiling of the Irish Barn at Whistling Straights

Hello, November. Your first day on the books is cold and grey and dreary. Aching for sun. Can you help us out a little in that regard? Thanks much.

With November just starting, you have 28 days left to plan your thanksgiving menu. Here are some recipes for stunning side dishes that have caught my eye:   1/ 2/ 3/ 4/ 5/

And, since we may be turkey-ed out by month’s end, Bon Appetit has put together a brilliant guide of Chicken- and Turkey-Free Meals for November.

p.s. here's a song to start off the weekend; and a cocktail (named after a killer Neil Young song, no less) to start it off right.

p.p.s. I’ve been over the adoration (or rather, obsession) of quinoa for quite a while, but these look like a great way to start the day.

p.p.p.s. now here’s a food to adore: I bought some wheat berries here last weekend. So many things to make with this glorious, protein-packed grain! Cuccia for breakfast, a roasted sweet potato and wheat berry salad for lunch, and five (!) dinners out of one batch of wheat berries from the geniuses at Food52 … and we can’t forget dessert … a lovely wheat berry fool with Grand Marnier-soaked figs.

Quote of the week: Small cheer and great welcome makes a merry feast.

 happy eating, -s.

halloween last year

We're pretty jazzed for Halloween at our house. The pumpkins have been carved, spooky decorations have been hung from tree branches, skulls and spiders adorn many surfaces in our house. We all love candy and two out of the four of us like dressing up for Halloween (Chris is a dress-up hater and James is currently on the fence about the whole costume thing). Rhys is going as a SWAT team member this year; James as a dalmation (or maybe a drug-sniffing dog to go with his Bro?) Good guys seem to prevail at our home - last year we had a strong showing of the Light Side of the Force with Luke Skywalker and Yoda making an appearance (see photo above of cutie 1 and 2).

The weather forecast is for rain, so if trick or treating is a total bust, we'll watch It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown while eating pizza margarita on the floor of our den. Candy will definitely be eaten for dessert.

p.s. here's a spooky song to set the mood tonight.

Happy Halloween, -s.

Mr. Klein has been sick with a terrible cold for a few days; poor thing. It's been cold and damp all week and everyone seems a little Eeyore-ish this week with the gloomy weather. Hopefully the weekend will refresh us.

 

here's a song to kick-off the weekend ... and a cocktail to start it off right.

 

p.s. making this for dinner tomorrow night.

 

p.p.s. pretty funny.

 

p.p.p.s. so pretty and useful, too.

 

p.p.p.p.s. the sweet and savory side of pumpkin (and winter squash) that must be made this fall:

 

herbed pumpkin-seed mole



pan-seared salmon with pumpkin seed-cilantro pesto

baked pumpkin and sour cream puddings

roasted butternut penne with pistachio pesto

pumpkin stuffed with everything good

And finally, the quote of the week: The secret to getting ahead is getting started ... -Mark Twain

happy eating, -s.

As much as I love summer, fall is my favorite season. With so much texture, color and coziness all around - our house always feels more like home in the fall; probably because we're inside more. Woolen blankets are at easy reach, a bowl of winter squash has become the centerpiece of our dining room table and soups and stews are working their way into the weekly menu.

Pumpkin picking is in our future and lots of apples (eating, cooking, baking) and maybe some homemade cinnamon ice cream. We're going to tackle some furniture rearranging this weekend to better establish a landing zone in our house now that coat season has arrived. Pickle wants to make caramel apples, to which I cannot say no.

p.s. here's a song to start the weekend. Get your dance party going! 

p.p.s. seven lovely ideas for au natural halloween decor.

p.p.p.s. As a former Dairy Queen, I loved Amy Poehler's essay on her first summer job.

p.p.p.p.s. oh my goodness.

Happy eating, -s.

Covet: to want (something that you do not have) very much. While I don't even own a bike (I know; I live in Madison, WI, Bike City of the Midwest ... shameful), I want a Buca Boot nonetheless.

The Buca Boot is the super-stylish and genius invention of my gorgeous, smart, fun and utterly charming friend, Kathryn, who indeed owns a bike and rides it EVERYWHERE in her adopted home of Boston. Like a postman, Kathryn rides her bike no matter the weather, but as a successful economist, she cannot schlep into work soaking wet or covered in snow ... enter the Buca Boot. Place those Louboutins in the Buca Boot and they arrive safely and soundly - with a stop at the cafe for coffee - to their final destination.

What's great about the Buca Boot is that it has the flexibility and ease of a bike basket with the security and weather-proofing of a car trunk. Plus it's just plain beautiful with wood and brass and lacquered finishes.

So, while you can't have instant gratification ... you can have a Buca Boot if you head over to kickstarter and pledge a buck or a cold $200 to make this really smart and stylish accessory a reality.

Happy wanting, -s.