Christmas Eve Dinner for 8:

- Dungeness Crab Salad with Yuzu, Pink Peppercorns, Arugula

- Lobster Ravioli (lobster tail, bechmel, seasoning) in crab bisque concentrate) C/O KimPim (thank you you magical Christmas elves!)

- Filet Mignon with Mushroom Wine Reduction, kohlrabi & turnip puree, and creamed spinach (not pictured, since we’ve done it so many times before)

- Buche de Noel from Cafe Madeline in San Francisco

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New Year’s Eve Dinner for 10, C/O Joanne Ruggles, artist, mentor, chef & friend:

- Salad with Persimmons grown just outside the door, freshly roasted pecans and sweet vinaigrette

- Rack of Lamb with Mustard & Seasoning (recipe to follow soon)

- Roasted brussel sprouts & butternut squash

- Good company & Wine

Christmas Day Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls

Visited Birite yesterday to get a couple of steaks and procured some beautiful spring flowers for our dinner party last night; the combination turned out beautifully.

The Master Macaron Recipe

A few months ago I pledged my friend P that I would attempt making a tea macaron. I was given some shake from a Wuyi oolong from Red Blossom (heritage tie luo han), and had to figure out how to get the flavor in. Turns out, it’s not so easy to make tea infused buttercream.

Admittedly, this batch was a little screwy–I used some leftover egg whites (from one of those cartons that claims to be only egg whites) and everything was a little thinner than it should have been. In short, I don’t recommend using carton egg whites for macarons. It’s a bad idea. I’m confident if you follow the regular recipe with normal, fresh egg whites–you’ll be fine.

- sprinkle a bit of tea on each macaron before baking, or on 1/2 of the cookies.

- use the buttercream filing, but reduce sugar to 1/4 cup. Separately, steep 2 T tea in 1/2 C heavy cream, strain well and press excess liquid out of tea. Chill the cream, and whip it into whipping cream– fold into finished plain buttercream and pipe the cookies

Saturday night dinner for two. Birite Market – Five Dot Ranch.

The fat was so tender and tasty; just salt & pepper and the fat was catching on fire at the grill. Crispy on the outside, rare on the inside.

Our weeping cherry tree is blossoming right now, and it’s been a lot of fun to work in the garden lately. I planted a sorbet peony among other things, and the hydrangea I burned with fertilizer late last year is making a really nice come back. Pretty soon it’ll be real BBQ season (I lovely 76 degree day here today, but so unexpected it’s hard to get a BBQ group going) and we’ll be spending a lot of time back there.

I haven’t planted spring crops yet, but it’s on the to-do list. The chard from last summer is still producing nicely, as is the arugula. The leeks I planted a few months ago aren’t doing well; I think they’ve been too cold at night and too wet during the day and so they never quite spanned out and are still slim and clumped together. The other containers, for the most part, are resting right now. The kale missed its chance when it was attacked by caterpillars at its prime, and I’ll probably uproot it soon. The thyme is still doing well, and I ought to use it more often.

Anyone having luck with other crops in SF?

For those of you in San Francisco, you can go and make your own comparison–but for the rest of you, you’ll have to trust me: the best French toast you’ll ever have is at Park Chow in San Francisco. It’s light, it’s crispy, it’s moist, it’s sweet and cinnamony. And, for weeks, I worked on perfecting my own version for a cinnamon french toast recipe. Here you have it–enjoy! (and if you’re really in for the whole experience, get some coffee from Thanksgiving Coffee Company–it’s where they get their custom blend!)

Mascarpone Cream Topping Recipe
1/2 C heavy whipping cream, whipped very firm
1/2 C room temperature mascarpone cheese
1/2 C powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 T whiskey, creme de cocoa or other liquor of your preference

Mix all ingredients with a hand mixer. In an ideal world, you’ll cover it (or put it in a mason jar like I do) and refrigerate it until very firm.

Cinnamon French Toast Recipe – serves 3-4
4-5 1 inch thick slices Semifreddi’s cinnamon twist bread (a brioche style loaf with a slightly stick outside & cinnamon layers), quartered to triangles
3 eggs, whisked
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 cup milk

Whisk everything but the bread together, and then begin soaking the bread slices in the mixture. They should be pretty darn soggy.

Cook in 1-2 T butter in a 10-12 inch skillet at medium high heat. If your slices are very thick, or seem not to be drying out, reduce heat and cover lightly with a lid to steam through. Serve with real maple syrup, warm.

No-stress Sunday Brunch

- Almond Beignets using Cafe du Monde mix and adding 1 tsp almond extract

- Baked eggs in dandelion greens & collards with nutmeg & cream (modified from smitten kitchen)

- Arugula salad with yogurt-citrus dressing, cara cara oranges, watermelon radish & ruby grapefruit

- Butternut squash-lentil hash with goat cheese (make ahead)

- Lots and lots of mimosas

- A bit of coffee to straighten up

I hosted 8 (including myself) for dinner on Friday to celebrate my gentleman’s birthday; it was lively all night, everybody got full and we washed about 25 wine glasses. We drank champagne, prosecco, sparkling wine from california; we drank mouvedre from Chateau Margene, cuvee from Beckmen, a roussane blend from Tablas Creek–we had delicious wine, and the food came out great.

Recipes to follow in the next day or two. I wish I’d taken a photo of the refuse after making the crab stock, it was a pretty mess in my backyard compost container.

A few people from the engineering & operations teams @Yelp put together a little video during our latest hack-a-thon a week or two ago. Your favorite blogger may or may not be hiding in it here and there.

*I’ve added photos of the spread above after the fact, and will be adding recipes over the next few days.

This year, I’m hosting Thanksgiving. I’ve co-hosted in the past, but haven’t ever done the full-throttle. I’m expecting 8 guests, 3 of them being immediate family, one being a boyfriend, two being a pair of friends and another lone wolf friend. It should be a nice blast, this year more liberals than conservatives (traditionally, my brother and dad go at it on a team, I being the black sheep in the family and suffering the brute of the political banter).

I’ll be serving I served:

Persimmon slaw-style salad
Haricot-vert with garlic, lemon zest
Ina’s Sausage stuffing
Butternut Squash/Acorn Squash/Chard/Beet Green gratin (it is divine)
Whipped sweet potatoes with orange and cream
Fresh herb butter with delicious ACME bread
Turkey breast; one lemon pepper, one smoky-sweet paprika
Fresh cranberry sauce
Fresh Pumpkin Galette with cocoa nibs & creme de cocoa/marscapone whipped cream (using this crust and a variation on this filling with less moisture)

Missing recipes to come over the few days as I make them; If you’re a well-versed cook than can handle improvising on the missing ones (which are all quite simple), this is the plan I have for doing-ahead:

Monday:
wash/trim parsley, green beans
cook sweet potatoes, reserve pulp
make herb butter

Tuesday:
make cranberry sauce
dry rub turkey
chop & wash cabbage, reserve

Wednesday:
pick chard (from my garden)
slice butternut squash for casserole
prepare casserole, cook most of way, reserve
make pumpkin galette
make stuffing, cook most way, reserve

Tday:
chop persimmons in AM
cook turkey
reheat stuffing
warm galette
finish cooking casserole
buy good bread
set out butter in AM
make green bean dish
assemble slaw