Confession of the Week:

I know it's shocking, but Kobe didn't really jump over the speeding Aston Martin. I actually thought it really happened. I am so gullible! I seriously will believe anything. After getting up once for breakfast and once for a shower, I slept until 3:30 today. This photo has nothing to do with this post and was taken completely by accident. I just don't like posting without images. I also don't like the idea of it already being the work week again! I mean WTF I just worked 5 days straight! I don't want to go to work tomorrow not one bit. Week 2 of sewing class starts tomorrow. I wonder how much I'll sleep next weekend since I teach 4 times this week, twice more than this past week (6-9pm, after working all day 10-6). But OMG the lakers won today, by ONE POINT.

From the Studio of Brian Gershey

I know I like to keep the blog pretty PG rated, but Brian, these paintings are fucking sick dude. Loving the tie dye elements.

OMG OMG OMG OMG

The Goat

The goat that stands on top of the Wedgewood.

And a kitten inspired by a kitten. A screaming kitten!

More Party Cooking!

Chop the ends off brussels sprouts and halve them. Smasg garlic cloves with coarse salt and thyme in a mortar and pestle. Toss with your hands in a bowl, with the garlic mixture, a small sliced bulb of fennel, a large sliced shallot, lots of olive oil and maple syrup, and pepper. Taste the marinade with your finger and add more salt, pepper or maple syrup if needed. Make a single layer in a pan and roast at 400 for 30 mins. Perfection.

Sliders or burgers: 1 lb ground organic beef (I like an 85/15 lean/fat split, so the meat stays moist) plus 1/2 lb ground organic pork, 1 egg, chopped fresh flat italian parsley, a few needles of chopped fresh rosemary. 1 cup of breadcrumbs, minced garlic and salt & pepper. Knead with hands and form into burgers. Grill in an iron grill-pan and serve with goat gouda, avocado and homemade garlic aioli. You can get little buns at most good markets these days.

Garlic aioli: (not shown) the easiest simplest and best tasting condiment imaginable! Take an egg yolk (the egg should be very fresh), put in a bowl with 1/2 teaspoon of water (seriously like the tiniest dribble of water.) Add 2 cloves of chopped garlic and a pinch of salt. Whisk vigorously, adding 1/2 cup of olive oil, in a slow steady stream to the bowl. The mayonaise will thicken and become opaque the more you whisk. Refrigerate 3o mins then taste, adjust garlic or salt if necessary. It's sooo good with burgers or fish or french fries!

Chicken paillard: get some organic chicken breasts. With a sharp knife, filet them very thin, crosswise so they are just thinner breast filets. Put them between layers of parchment and pound the shit out of them. Like as hard as you can, with the FLAT side of the mallet. Then rub the breasts in a mixture of pounded garlic, salt, parsley, thyme, and chervil. Marinate over night (filets stacked on top of each other) and then grill quickly, about 3 minutes each side.

Roast fennel pork tenderloin: Tenderloins are easy to cook, but small so since this was for a lot of people i got 2 and tied them together with butchers twine after spicing them. Smash a tbsp of fennel seed in a mortar and pestle to a grainy powder. Rub the loins with pressed garlic and then sprinkle them (liberally) with kosher salt, ground pepper and the fennel seed. Heat about 1 tbsp olive oil in a dutch oven and brown the loin on all sides. Chop a whole red onion and 1 granny smith apple into thick wedges and toss with olive oil until lightly coated. Place the pork loin in the center of a large roasting pan, and surround with the onion and apple slices.

In the dutch oven, still hot and with brown bits, take a cup of white wine and deglaze the pan, stirring constantly bring up the oil and browned bits from the pork. It will bubble up and steam and before the alcohol evaporates, add honey and a chopped up apple. Like a 1/3 cup or 1/2 cup (I just eyeball it), whisking together so the honey liquifies with the wine. Pour the honey glaze on top of the pork loin and roast 50 mins at 400. Check after 40 mins so it doesnt overcook.. the smaller the cut the faster it will cook. An instant read meat thermometer should read 160 when inserted into the fattest part of the loin.

Wild Mushroom Pie Recipe

So I made this recipe up and I will try my best to estimate measurements. I can't promise success the first time, but if you can cook intuitively you will likely be fine, lavishing in mushroom heaven about 90 minutes after you start. Mushrooms won't brown if you crowd them, so this pie is made in a series of batches where you kind of build up the flavor. There's lots of butter and some cream, and here is where I admit that I don't do pie dough. If you can get the frozen pie dough from the local Trader Joe, those are the best. If not, you can use any ready made crust or make your own. If you can't find all the different mushrooms here just improvise with the different varietal at your grocery store. Mushrooms shrink a lot, so you will want to have about 6 or 7 cups of uncooked funghi to cook down for one hearty pie. Here is the shopping list:

3 portobello mushrooms

1 medium fresh shitake mushroom, chopped

about 1/3 lb cremini mushrooms, sliced

about 1/3 lb white mushrooms, sliced

1oz bag of dried mushrooms (oyster or porcini etc)

3/4 cup of fresh or frozen green peas

1 large shallot

3 cloves of garlic, smashed or minced

leaves of 2 sprigs of thyme, removed and chopped

1/2 white or yellow onion, chopped

olive oil

butter

1 cup dry white wine

1 cup heavy cream or half and half

1 egg yolk beat with 1/2 teaspoon water

2 pie crusts

Rinse the mushrooms. Choose the portobello with the best stem and slice out a cross section from the middle and reserve for the top of the pie. Drizzle olive oil on it so it won't dry out. Then chop up the rest of the mushrooms, and the shallot and the onion.

Place the dried mushrooms in a bowl and cover with a cup of boiling water. Let them steep for 10 minutes or so until hydrated. The ones I got were a mixture from Trader Joe but you can find dried mushrooms near the fresh ones in the grocery store, or near the fresh herbs. These will be the most intense tasting variety so once they're hydrated, chop them up into smaller pieces but keep them separate from the fresh mushrooms.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and thaw crusts or bring to room temp as per instructions on the box.

In a heavy bottom pot or a dutch oven, heat a tablespoon of butter. Cook some of the shallot and onion until translucent and then add 2 cups of the chopped fresh mushrooms. Stir while cooking until browned, adding a little more fat if needed (butter or olive oil) like if the bottom of the pot feels dry. Transfer the first batch to a bowl and repeat, browning the fresh mushrooms in butter and onions in batches, being careful not to crowd them, transferring each batch to the bowl. Lightly salt and pepper each batch while cooking it.

With the batches of mushrooms cooked and reserved, keep the empty pot over the heat. Add a tbsp of olive oil and scrape up the browned bits, then add the garlic and sautee a minute or so. Return all of the cooked mushrooms to the pot and add the white wine and thyme leaves, cook and reduce so the mushrooms absorb the wine. Add the hydrated wild mushrooms, peas and heavy cream, stirring and cooking over medium heat until the whole thing starts to thicken. Taste the mixture and adjust salt and pepper, garlic and herbs. Add more if necessary. Fill the bottom pie crust with the filling. I find it easier to cut the slits into the top crust before fitting it on top of the pie. Pinch edges of crusts together to seal. Drizzle olive oil on the mushroom slice (to keep it from drying) and place in the middle of the crust. Brush the crust with the egg and water mixture, bake for 45 minutes, or until crust is crisp and browned, and filling is bubbling. Enjoy!

A Celebration for Katie's Baby

Katie's baby shower was a smashing success, I truly had such a pleasure planning a party in honor of one on my very favorite people. Julie's house is so beautiful and warm, it was the perfect place to be on such a day, she had the genius idea of having a big table and chairs delivered, and she made the amazing letterpress invitations for the event. We couldn't have asked for more perfect weather, especially after a week of wind and rain. Katie's mom and Aunt Jenny even flew out from Maryland the festivities. It was great to meet them, and they were just absolutely lovely. I always enjoy so much, meeting my friend's moms and family! With one of my other greatest joys being cooking, I took on the food preparation for much of the sit down dinner for our 14 guests. With help from Julie, Megan and Gail, we pulled off one heck of a meal. The food and company were divine, (recipes coming soon), Julie got the most amazing spread of cheeses from Silverlake cheese, we had delicious wine, baby-safe beer, and then to top it all off Megan rolled out yet another incredible dessert course. Thank you everyone for making Katie's day so special it was just so fun to be a part of it all. I think we accomplished our goal of reinventing the baby shower for 2010.

The Menu:

Every fancy pasteurized cheese imaginable, olives, grapes

Sliders with avocado and garlic aoili

Arugula and shaved fennel salad, lemon vinegarette

Wild mushroom pot pie

Herbed chicken breast over buttermilk biscuits, bechamel gravy

Goat cheese mashed potatoes

Apple and honey glazed roast pork tenderloin

White beans with spinach and sun dried tomato

Roasted brussel sprouts with shallots and maple syrup

Meyer lemon cake with lavender cream

Chocolate chip cookies

And lots and lots of joy!