Home & Food

Seared Steak with Black Garlic Aioli and Cauliflower Rice

Posted on by Jeanine / 1 Comment

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I’ve tried “ricing” cauliflower in my food processor and it works fine, but it’s time consuming and makes a bit of a mess, so I was SOOO excited to come across this new item at Trader Joe’s this past weekend.

….and then I came across an article about black garlic in Bon Appetit magazine and remembered that Taylor told me she had cooked with it about a year ago.

Black garlic doesn’t have a garlic taste at all and is described as molasses-like with a balsamic, caramelized undertones. More info here.

So, since Sunday night usually means steak, I thought I’d sear roast a ribeye, make a black garlic aioli and add a cauliflower rice side dish. It was yummy!

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Generously salt the steak on both sides (bringing it to room temperature) pat dry and sear roast. While it’s in the oven make your black garlic aioli….

5 cloves black garlic, chopped finely (you can use more, it’s pretty mild!)
1 egg yolk
squeeze of lemon juice
1 tsp dijon mustard
up to 3/4 cup Extra virgin olive oil
salt

  • throw the egg yolk, garlic, mustard and lemon juice into a food processor (or you can use a whisk)
  • Pouring in a thin stream of oil whisk the olive oil in to make a thick emulsion. You may or may not need all the oil depending on the egg yolk you used.
  • Taste and season, you can add a little more lemon…and salt to taste.

(Full disclosure…mine was a little too much like a vinaigrette, so I don’t think my egg yolk was large enough & I might have used too much oil?…but the taste was still there!)

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When your steak comes out of the oven it needs to sit for about 10 minutes. I took mine out of the cast iron pan and placed it on a plate, covered. ….and here’s the super easy, super yummy part…I just put the pan back on the stove with all those mouth-watering steak juices and just poured the cauliflower in. The cauliflower soaked up all the juices, became a golden color and turned out so delish!

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Unfortunately you can’t really see the aioli, but it’s the sauce on the steak..and a bit on the plate. I like the look (& picture) of a steak that’s been given some good grill marks on the BBQ, but you really can’t beat the taste of sear roasting. I made the cauliflower rice another night this past week and did it just like rice pilaf, browning it in a little butter & onions and adding parmesan at the end..I also love to add pine nuts if I have them on hand.

There you have it! Bon Appetit!

You cannot direct the wind, but you can adjust the sails!

Home & Food

Improv

Posted on by Jeanine / 1 Comment
When you think of Improv you think of comedy, right? After discussing the ramifications of technology on the younger generation a few weeks ago with Mimi & Sandi, our conversation segued to Improv and how it’s becoming an in-demand class on college campuses. At first I didn’t understand why it would be a class at all, thinking in terms of a comedy improv group, but if you think in terms of what improv in general teaches, it totally makes sense. When it comes to engineers, it might help this very focused, inquisitive group of students come out of their shell (not that they all need it! I love my engineer friends)….or how about those that experience anxiety in social situations. So colleges, in essence, are helping students that have been looking at their phones/ipads, etc… throughout their childhoods to feel at ease in new social settings.
Think about it…what does practicing improv make a person do? You have to become quick thinking on your feet, coming up with on-the-spot solutions to given scenarios. …and then you have to perform them in front of others. Have you ever watched “Whose line is it anyway?” It’s a very funny improv show…I’d recommend catching a few episodes. Yes, they’re hilarious, but how about the skills being taught under the guise of improv….
  1. Increased Confidence.
  2. Improved Public Speaking Skills.
  3. Enhanced Acting Abilities.
  4. Gained Comfort in Social Settings.
  5. Refined Brainstorming Abilities.
  6. Improved Listening and Observation Skills.
  7. Enhanced Creative-Thinking Abilities.
  8. Improved Decision-Making Skills.
  9. Team Development Skills.

What a great talent for anyone to learn. Great for parties, small talk and job interviews. It can also help in life in general, because when you are handed a set of circumstances, instead of panicking and reacting, you have the skills to come up with solutions in, hopefully, a more calm way. Shit happens, you don’t freak out! It has become a much sought after class at Cornell, Dartmouth and Northwestern Universities….to name a few.

From this….

To this!

The subject made for such an interesting “coffee talk” about how we are all adapting to the impact of technology on our world. We’re all ensconced in our technology, but we can still remain a social society.

…and that’s when we realized our conversation had come full circle. The impact of technology on communication and personal interaction skills is being remedied by teaching improv on college campuses. Just another great reason to go to college! Problem solved!

You cannot direct the wind, but you can adjust the sails!

Home & Food

Fondue Friday

Posted on by Jeanine / 5 Comments
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Photo cred: Dan Collery

Well, you’ve heard of Pizza Monday…but how about Fondue Friday? Another fun dinner in my childhood, in my kid’s childhood and even now with friends, is fondue. My friend Maggie dubbed it “Fondue Friday’s” when she frequently had it for dinner at the end of the week with her family. I’ve done cheese and chocolate, which are FABULOUS…but I do an oil fondue with all the fixin’s!! Here’s what you’ll need…
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  • electric fondue pot (electric allows you to control the temp) and skewers (they usually come with the fondue pot
  • oil (I use vegetable, but peanut is recommended for it’s higher smoking point)
  • raw steak, cut in cubes
  • raw chicken, cut in cubes (I use boneless, skinless chicken breast)
  • raw shrimp (peeled)
  • lumpia (you can find it in the frozen food section at the store)
  • onions (just cut into rings)
  • broccoli florets
  • cauliflower florets
  • frozen french fries
    …and basically anything you want to fry!
  • tempura batter (just mix with a little water and put in a bowl)
  • ginger miso dressing

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IMAG0335One fondue pot is enough for about 5 people, but any more than that you want to have two pots going. The cord for the fondue pots are pretty short, so it usually requires an extension cord to plug in…just make sure you tape it to the floor or put it out of the way of your diners…a hot oil spill would be EXTREMELY dangerous. Also…I didn’t do this with my kids until they were a bit older and not squirmy at the table.

I use an oil cloth tablecloth because it looks pretty, but is easy to clean up, so there’s not worrying about your table. I’ve also used real tablecloths and just covered them with clear plastic tablecloths too. I put each item in it’s own small disposable bowl so clean up is easy. There are platters that you can get with compartments if you want to get fancy. One tempura bowl between two diners is best. Here’s what it looks like set up.

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With a larger group use two pots & be careful with your extension cord set up (photo cred: Dan Collery)

Pour the oil in the pot, turn up the heat, wait at least five minutes and then we usually throw a lumpia in to see if it’s hot enough. You’ll know…it sizzles…and be careful, it spits out at you too! Okay, so it’s a little dangerous, but it’s OH, SO DELISH!…and fun too! Items will come off skewers, people will be stabbing the pot for the ones that got away and there are usually some good laughs too! The tempura batter is for whatever you want to coat before cooking and the ginger dressing is great for dipping after the meats are done. You can add a salad or some rice as a side dish, but that’s optional.

When you’re done turn off the heat, unplug it, cover it with tin foil and let it cool overnight. If it’s summer it’s best to dine alfresco because it can really make your house smell like oil…but we do it in winter too. Just light a few candles to take care of the odor…or maybe Fabreze works too?

Don’t pour the oil down your drain. Using a strainer, pour it back into the bottle. If it’s a large amount we’ve taken it to a recycling center, but if it’s not much, just cap and throw in in the garbage. (some cities recycle too)

Bon appetit!

You cannot direct the wind, but you can adjust the sails!

Home & Food/Life

Technology and Communicating

Posted on by Jeanine / 3 Comments

It’s always great to get together with girlfriends over coffee…or as we sometimes call it, “Therapy Thursdays” just to reconnect with each other and hear what’s going on in our respective lives. A couple of weeks ago Sandi & Mimi came over for scones & coffee to chat and it turned into such a great conversation…I was sorry I had to go to work!

I’m not sure how we got started, but the conversation turned to the relationship, or maybe I should say cause and affect, between technology and human interaction. We’ve all noticed when we go out to a restaurant for dinner and you look over at your neighboring tables and every child, or teenager and, yes, parents, are on their phones, ipads, etc… Sometimes I’ve just wanted to go over and say, “You know it’s actually really enjoyable to converse with one another!” There are tables of people sitting in silence looking at their phones instead of enjoying each other’s company. It’s so sad. One of my fondest memories of my childhood was playing 20 questions at the dinner table. My dad would think of a person, place or thing (& tell us which it was) and the five of us would ask 20 questions trying to figure out what, or who, he was thinking about. I continued the tradition with my kids and eventually we graduated to the game of “Tabletopics” as they got older. The “Tabletopics” box would always be on the kitchen table and I loved listening to all the kids who had gathered for pizza Monday just pick it up and start asking each other questions. They had some really interesting, deep questions and answers (yes, I was listening…love to be that fly on the wall while I’m acting like I’m just cleaning up!)

….and then there’s texting. I think it, and email, are such an incredibly efficient way to communicate….most of the time. Email is great when you have to plan an event that requires coordinating with multiple people. One or two (or more) emails, many recipients..BOOM..DONE! Texting not so much! When your texting there’s efficiency and brevity involved. When you can’t come to a consensus it can become a terrible way to communicate. I’ve seen instances…primarily with millennials (sorry kids)….when they will go back and forth, and back and forth, and back and forth, and back and forth, with texts and then start taking things personally, when all that’s trying to be done is make a decision. Feelings get hurt and sometimes there’s no malice intended. I guess my point is that if there’s some disagreement during your decision making maybe it’s time to pick up the phone so you can hear the inflection in the person’s voice. The brevity of texting “are you coming?” can sound welcoming (like, “CAN’T WAIT TO SEE YOU!’), impatient, or pissed off…depending on the inflection in the person’s voice. Go on, say it so yourself right now in those three different ways. See? Texting can become so impersonal and sometimes you just want to hear a person’s voice. A misconstrued text can be the difference between a bad day and a good day…so pick up the phone every now and then and hear your loved one’s voices.

God, I sound old!…and actually I love technology and how it’s made our lives easier…but it is contributing to a generation whose communication skills have been stunted to some extent.

Which brings me to Improv….another part of our interesting coffee talk! Have you heard it’s all the rage on college campuses?

…curious?…stay tuned for an informative Improv post!

You cannot direct the wind, but you can adjust the sails!

Home & Food/Life/Travel

a little more NYC talk….and an Almond Chicken Recipe

Posted on by Jeanine / 8 Comments

I have a couple more things to share about NYC before I get to the weekend recipe…

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If you haven’t been to the 9/11 Memorial and Museum, I’d highly recommend it next time you’re in NYC. The memorial pools are located at the footprint of the original twin towers and have the names of every person who died in the terrorist attacks on February 1993 and September 11, 2001 inscribed around the perimeter. You can find the location of a someone you knew here…and also at the memorial itself. It is quite a moving and beautiful remembrance of those lost…and there’s no cost.

I had been to the memorial pools in the past, but not to the Museum, which opened on September 2011, the ten year anniversary of the terrorist attacks. To say it is overwhelming is an understatement. I had no idea what to expect and thought we’d be there an hour or so. We were there for more than two hours and could have seen more short films, etc…but, again, it was overwhelming.

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After an emotional morning at the memorial we walked around lower Manhattan a bit, saw the Statue of Liberty in the distance and I finally, after having it on my list since the 90’s, went for a meal at Fraunces Tavern. Fraunces Tavern was one of my dad’s favorite restaurants in NYC due to it’s place in American history (he was like a walking encyclopedia of American history). It opened as a tavern in 1762, was the first office of the Department of Foreign Affairs after the Revolutionary War, and, most famously, the place where George Washington shared a meal and bade farewell to his officers after the British retreated, all but winning the Revolutionary war. His words to the troops…” “[w]ith a heart full of love and gratitude, I now take leave of you. I most devoutly wish that your latter days may be as prosperous and happy as your former ones have been glorious and honorable.” It’s a pretty cool, & large, place with numerous historical rooms and a nice American menu. I’d recommend it if you’re down near Wall St and lower Manhattan. IMAG0200

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We rounded out the afternoon with a walk through Chelsea Market and the High-Line before heading back to Brooklyn and an EatWith dinner that evening.

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stopped at The Park restaurant for an afternoon snack and glass of wine

An EatWith dinner…what’s that? It’s a different, awesome dining experience where you buy tickets for dinner in someone’s home. Austin, Kate, Val and I dined with 12 strangers at some guys apartment in Brooklyn and it was one of the highlights of the trip. Omar was our host and he made an amazing meal for all of us. It’s BYOB and the dinners vary in price…this one was $42.00…so reasonable and SO MUCH FUN!!

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new friends Laura and Bill…check out Bill’s new book “The Accidental Terrorist: Confessions of a Reluctant Missionary”

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Our final day in the Big Apple involved more sight-seeing with a visit to Eataly, Canal Street, finally seeing Fun Home (matinee) and back to Brooklyn for our three-bar date night with A&K and friend’s Doug and Peggy.

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the first thing I see when I walk into Eataly is my brother Tim’s book…I squealed with excitement! Ask Val, I really did scream a little! What a treat…and a much deserved honor for my brother.
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view of the Flatiron building through the Christmas trees on the rooftop at Eataly
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Fun Home…a good musical..and an interesting, thought provoking book (we had quite the discussion last night at book club about it)… I’d recommend both
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first stop on our 3 bar date night…the Four Horsemen wine bar
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Stop #2…down an unmarked hallway to a speakeasy
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last stop…the dive bar The Commodore (Kate & I…photobomb by Doug)

….and now a Chinese food recipe to try this weekend that’s been in my recipe repertoire for years

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Almond Chicken
1 cups whole or sliced almonds (I use sliced, but they cook faster so watch them)
1-1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breast…cubed or on the diagonal for thinner pieces
1 bag of snow peas or @ 1/2 lb
optional…sometimes I throw in a can of mini corn or another vegie

mix together…
1 tsp dried ginger
2 tsp sugar|
1 TBS cornstarch
3 TBS water
3 TBS soy sauce
1/3 cup sherry…or any dry white wine (I, of course, usually just use chardonnay)

Heat some oil up in the wok (or a non-stick pan will do). add almonds and brown, add chicken and cook until meat turns white, pour in the sherry mixture and cook until it starts to thicken. add snow peas (& mini corn) and cook for about a minute or so.

Serve over rice…& don’t forget the fortune cookie…voila!

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To all my peeps in the East, stay warm & stay inside…and to all my peeps here in the West, let’s pray we get a drizzle or two this weekend!

You cannot direct the wind, but you can adjust the sails!

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#nyc, #eatwith, #eataly, #timegan, #dodsworth

Books and Daily Affirmations/Life

Out of Adversity Comes Strength and Hope

Posted on by Jeanine / 0 Comment
As I’ve said before, I have lived a very charmed life. I had great parents, a fun-loving upbringing, an awesome/fun family that have my back, an idyllic childhood, amazing friends, fabulous kids and kids-in-law…yet, shit does happen now & again to everyone. It’s not the shit, but the way we react to it that becomes our future and our reality.
I’ve also mentioned that my favorite genre in books are non-fiction, pull-yourself-up-by-your-own-bootstraps, kind of stories. I’m not sure why I’m so fascinated, encouraged and never get tired of reading them, because, as I said, I had a great upbringing, so it’s not like I’m trying to talk myself into overcoming something?? So, I thought I’d just write a post about some people who have overcome some challenging childhoods…or let’s just say “not idyllic” childhoods and have succeeded tremendously in life. In fact, they’ve done research that indicates that sometimes adversity is the reason people succeed.
A large study at the University of Buffalo concluded that some adversity can indeed make us stronger and more resilient. The study was more about “medium adversity” and how it can actually be better than high (relentless physical and mental abuse can sometimes do irreversible damage) or no adversity at all. Here are some pretty good examples of people overcoming the odds….
Elon Musk: CEO of SpaceX & Tesla, as well as Chairman of SolarCity…He was bullied relentlessly and at one point had to be taken to the hospital and his father “played brutal mind games” making he & his brother sit silent for four hours while he lectured them. From the book Elon Musk..”he feels that the suffering helped to make him who he is and gave him extra reserves of strength and will.”
Misty Copeland: First African American principal in the American Ballet Theater.. She grew up extremely poor, didn’t always have food to eat and competed for sleeping space on the floor of run down hotel rooms. She was told she had the wrong body type for classical ballet, but still achieved the highest honor for a dancer. Check out this book or this on-demand movie about her life.
Amy Purdy: Paralympian…She started snow-boarding at the age of 15, but contracted meningitis at the age of 19 with less than a 2 percent chance of living. She lost both legs beneath the knee and ended up needing a kidney replacement, given to her by her father. She desperately wanted to go back to snow-boarding, and not finding adequate prosthetics, designed them herself….wow, now that’s perseverance! Check our her inspirational book.
Trevor Noah: Daily Show Host…He grew up in poverty stricken Soweto, South Africa during the time of apartheid, the son of a mixed race couple…his father was a white man of Swiss/German ancestry and his mother was Jewish/Xhosa mix black woman (his mother was thrown in jail and fined for this illegal relationship.) His violent stepfather abused his mother, eventually shot her and tried to find & shoot him. He uses his adversity in his comedy, which ultimately brought him to the U.S. and his soaring career.
There are so many more like them who are not famous and exemplify the meaning of hope after adversity. I never get tired of their stories…and, finally, here’s an interesting article about two people who were successful in overcoming extreme childhood adversity.
So, next time you’re feeling sorry for yourself, or your lot in life, maybe it would help to check out the journey of others who’ve had to overcome so much more. ….or this might help?
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You cannot direct the wind, but you can adjust the sails!