Merry Baking

I'm burning the midnight oil tonight. I'm waiting for my apple pie to finish and spent most of the day in the kitchen baking and preparing for tomorrow...or rather, today's Christmas lunch and dinner. I'm also watching TBS's 24-hour "A Christmas Story" marathon. I love this movie and look forward to watching it every year.

On my menu this year: (I'll start with the sweets) Deep-dish old fashioned apple pie with homemade pate brisee, chewy chocolate chip cookies, oatmeal raisin cookies, rugelach. On the savory side, prime rib, yorkshire pudding, shrimp and scallop linguine with tomatoes and basil, roasted harvest vegetables, potato salad (my mom's request :) ), Chinese roast duck and roasted sweet potatoes (my dad's request :) )

I'm sure I'll think of other dishes to prepare for tomorrow. I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas. My warmest thoughts and wishes for a blessed holiday season.

Love,
May

In a pickle

I had no idea how many different kinds of pickles there are on the market. I was at Whole Foods this afternoon getting potato salad ingredients and had to take a moment to "take in" the pickle shelf. I knew I wanted some sort of sweet and tart pickle, but there were three from which to choose: sweet gherkin pickles, sweet midget pickles, sweet whole pickles. Then, aside from the sweet pickles, you had dill pickles, bread and butter pickles, polish pickles, lime pickles. I spent almost 10 minutes picking up one jar after another, and ultimately chose regular sweet whole pickles.

After some research, I found out that the gherkins you get at the store aren't real gherkins. According to "Encyclopedia Britannica," gherkins are also known as bur gherkins or West Indian gherkins. "True gherkins have palmately lobed leaves with toothed edges, small flowers and furrowed, prickly fruits." So I bet you're wondering what you're going to do with your newfound knowledge of gherkin pickles? Well, now you can show off at that your next cocktail party when they serve gherkins next to the crudite and recite a brief history on the pickle. You never know when you're going to need this random bit of info.

Some Holiday Hosting Tips

Here are some ideas from The New York Times if you're hosting a holiday party this year.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/19/dining/19mini.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Trader Joe's is a great place to shop for ingredients. I like Whole Food's as well, but sometimes their items can be on the pricier end. However, it's the holidays, you only do this once a year, so why not pull out all the stops.

Finger foods also look best when served with creative garnishes and embellishments. Festive toothpicks, fresh herbs, fruit, flowers. Have fun!

Trader Joe's Jerky

After my work-out tonight, I headed to Trader Joe's for my usual salad mix and cereal. But tonight, I made a brief foray on their snacks/chips aisle and discovered TJ's All-Natural Buffalo Jerky. (No nitrates, no hormones, no preservatives, ranch raised buffalo). I was quite impressed with this find at recommend it. At 60 calories and 0.5 grams of fat per serving, the jerky is a pretty healthy snack, but there are 280 mg of sodium per serving. So just eat a small portion here and there and remember to drink plenty of water.

I haven't been updating this blog as much as my Chowza one (sorry!). I will make an effort to post more food finds and food/cooking ramblings here. Enjoy and come back soon.