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10 Legs in the Kitchen

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10 Legs in the Kitchen

Tag Archives: family

Mirror, Mirror

11 Sunday May 2014

Posted by Stacey Bender in family gatherings, the kitchen

≈ 36 Comments

Tags

dessert, family, food, Goat cheese cheesecake, lemon curd, Mother's Day, recipes, strawberries

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I sometimes feel like a broken mould. A fish that feels out of the water. A unique character that is looking to be told that she is okay, or perhaps, okay is what she is? Life can take us in many directions; one way may not necessarily be better than the next, and that way, not necessarily worse than the last. Life’s paths are often twisted and sometimes it is hard to steer them straight. Many years ago, I seemed to have lost touch with a piece of my family, one that I never really knew all that well since our connection was lost through the early death of my natural mother. Sadly, despite my adopted mom’s attempts at keeping us all in contact (she was the one who raised Scott and I from a very young age and is the only mother we ever really knew). As kids we traveled every summer to California to visit them, until we didn’t. Another path.

I have always thought it would be fun to have a twin, an identical twin like my mother had, but I would have settled for a sister. I have two brothers who, don’t get me wrong, I love very much; one slightly older, one younger, and all of us quite different from one another, but then in some ways, not too much. Through the years I always wondered if my cousin Julie, daughter of my mother’s twin sister, would be like me? I heard about her on-and-off through the years and although we had similarities, we didn’t seem to be the same.

Yet, I met a version of myself last week. A version that felt familiar, yet one I didn’t know. She was different enough, yet strangely quite the same. Her hair was longer, a bit lighter (perhaps because this version lives in the sun), her jawbone more pronounced, and without that bump in my nose (Tom was sure she’d have it too!). A version that was possibly more articulate and perky, more humble and less vain. This version, was my cousin Julie. I had only seen her once since childhood. She was only one and a half years older, but when you are under the double-digits in age, that year and a half is much grander than it is when the decades begin to multiply.

20140511-093625.jpgCousin Julie on the left.

So here we were this past weekend, talking and carrying-on about family, memories and life. Looking at her I realized that time goes by fast and we better take care not to let another 30 years slip by! Generously, she brought me a handmade year book that my natural mother had made, filled with black and white pictures and handwritten captions that I had never seen. When I opened the brown, rabbit-eared craft-paper pages, I thought I was looking at photographs of my young self, but realized they were photographs of our twin mothers.

Julie also brought me a silver hand mirror that our mothers were each given for their sixteenth birthday. I picked it up in my hand and felt the weight of the silver, saw the tarnish and crazing of age and understood the irony it implied. We are only versions of ourselves and in life, nothing is ever just the same, but sometimes objects are closer than they appear.

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Lemon (goat) cheese cake
Makes 5 mini and 1 small cake (or would likely make 8 mini cakes or 4 small cakes)

The name of this cake might immediately turn my brother, Scott, away from this blog page. Not because he wouldn’t be interested in letting me finish my thought, but because he saw the title and felt he need not read more. I hope he does (read more that is).

Dinner, the night that Julie and her charming (and unknowingly witty) husband, Joe came for dinner (a mere three hour plane ride and 30 years later); my brother Scott also joined. My week at work, well, let’s just say it was challenged. My best laid plans had not been laid. I came up with a menu based on, well, unlike me, not much other than… just because. I didn’t know what Julie and Joe liked, or didn’t like (something I pride myself on knowing of my dinner guests).

Julie called me the night before our dinner. Having gotten only the polite response that “they were easy and ate anything” via email to my inquiry of their culinary discerning, I felt compelled to ask, “really, what don’t you eat”?

Mistake? No. Challenge? Maybe. I had just the night before braised a pork belly, in red wine and rhubarb for our first course. “We are easy” she replied. “Oh, well, there is just one thing”, she said, “if you must ask, I don’t like pork”.

Okay, so I could adapt. I bought her fresh scallops to replace the pork. The other diners would now get both because I decided they go well with pork belly too. I mentioned this casually as I was prepping our plates and Scott chimed in, proudly describing my knack for choreographing the food based on individual preferences; how his two dislikes are cilantro and goat cheese and if serving either, I always provide him a version without. Yes, that was true. I began feeling guilty because, well, for obvious reasons, if you remember the title of this cheesecake. I did have a back-up carton of ice cream ready to step in, but in the end, he ate every bite without mention. I’ll let him chime in again and tell us if he noticed?

Next visit, no pork for Julie, no salmon for Joe (especially not rare). There will be cosmopolitans (and/or Italian cocktails with Prosecco); most importantly, Scott, I promise, no goat cheese for you (even if you admit to having liked the dessert).

INGREDIENTS

8 oz chèvre (goat cheese)
1/3 cup natural turbinado sugar
Juice of 1/2 small lemon plus zest
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 TB whole wheat pastry flour
4 eggs separated

Ramekins wiped with butter on the inside and dusted with turbinado sugar.

Fresh strawberries and lemon curd for garnishing (I use purchased “Thursday Cottage” lemon curd).

COOK

In a large bowl. Using a hand mixer, combine the chèvre with the sugar, lemon/zest, vanilla and flour. Add the egg yolks, one at a time and beat well.

In another bowl (smaller), beat the egg whites until stiff. Add these to the yolk mix and stir to combine.

Pour the mixture into each of the prepared ramekins. I like using the mini ramekins but found that I was either short of them or long on batter. It doesn’t really matter what size you use as long as you can cook them in a pan filled partly up of water. Like I mention in the title, this particular batch made up 5 “mini” and 1 “small” ramekin.

Set the ramekins in a pan of water filled 1/3 (-ish) way up the ramekin. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 30-45 minutes or until cooked through so a toothpick comes out clean (you know that ‘ol trick) and slightly golden on top.

Let them cool in the water bath. Remove from the water and set the ramekins aside until ready to serve (keep refrigerated if made a day in advance).

SERVE

Carefully run a butter knife around the edge of each ramekin and turn them out onto individual plates. Top with a thin layer of lemon curd and garnish with fresh strawberries (as artsy or bohemian as you see fit).

Happy Mother’s Day, Mom!

and…

Happy Mother’s Day to Linda, Lois, Talita, Doris, Cousin Julie (Barb & Bev), Irma, Christine, Laura and Beth

20140511-100851.jpgPictured is the “small” sized ramekin. I think the “mini” is a better individual portion but I only require a “little” dessert.

20140511-104715.jpgTreasures.

More treasures…

20140511-192336.jpgLucky me, she signed my card

20140511-192508.jpgand house of cards as sun screen.

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Last one to the party (misses out on Joe’s sauerbraten!)

22 Tuesday Oct 2013

Posted by Stacey Bender in family gatherings

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Cheese sauce, family, Oktoberfest, Pretzels

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Damn, turns out that was us! I got a text from our niece Catherine saying they were having a party and would we like to come? A little prodding and I was able to determine that the party was for Oktoberfest, it began at 5pm and no costumes were required. I only asked about the dress attire because my sister-in-law is part-German and a young Catherine had previously shown up for no less than three Christmas dinners wearing her genuine dirndl given to her by her grandparents. A little further prodding revealed that there might actually be dirndl and lederhosen afoot, but neighbor/friend Joe G. would indeed be manning the grill. Not sure where to start with that story other than to say, Joe cooks, we’re there (boat dependent). Plus, Grandma Doris bakes a mean tart (amongst other things) and we hadn’t seen everyone since her birthday in April. Seeing that the message reached us at 2pm that afternoon and required catching a ferry… We procrastinated a little, then a little more because that’s how we (not quite) roll! Late as usual, we quickly packed up the pups and ourselves without the usual fuss. Fussing that always lands us in the back of the line at the ferry terminal; or the front after missing our boat. We are notorious for missing the boat, in more ways than one. We weren’t sure what to expect but were excited to see our family and friends!

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(No, it wasn’t vacant when we got there, this was prior to the big fest, courtesy of my niece.)

My niece had the start time wrong though; turns out the party actually began at 4 o’clock, which rendered our 6:15pm arrival – officially late for dinner. Sauerbraten may have been gone but there was no going hungry that night! Joe had made an enormous amount of home-made sauerkraut with the perfect balance of savory to sweet; unstoppable next to his grilled wurst. Doris had not made her German potato salad that is always just right, but made a just-right onion tart instead. Being a particularly avid fan of her apple tart, Tom was quite pleased with the state of affairs regarding the dessert table, but (different subject) not before polishing off 2, maybe 3 of the soft pretzels that he was not shy about rolling extras of into his wadded napkin to enjoy the next day. So, although we didn’t anticipate an outdoor party since you’ve been able to cut the fog with a knife lately, and should have used some more fuss time layering up, there was good company, good food, a keg of (obviously cold) beer (although maybe not as cold as our toes), an outstanding live Oom-pah band, and a good time on a crisp evening in October.

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Tom did get to enjoy his soft pretzel the next day, wadded napkin removed. I even treated it to a hot sauna and a dip in his favorite cheese sauce that I developed the last time he requested cheese whiz (with the usual reference to the Blues Brothers). Looking forward to next year (with more wool)!

SOFT PRETZELS WITH CHEESE SAUCE

My sister-in-law, Christine, bought a case of soft pretzels from Town and Country Market on Bainbridge. If you live in the greater Seattle area, Essential Bakery makes a very good one (you can pick up their baked goods at many places around town, I suspect that’s where the T&C ones were from). But I especially like the ones at Tall Grass Bakery in Ballard, I stop in there when the 8 legs get their fuzz cut nearby (more on that later, because we don’t live anywhere near).

HEAT THE PRETZELS:

Heat the oven to 375 degrees.
Place the soft pretzels on a baking tin and BRUSH with warm WATER.
SPRINKLE with SEA SALT and place in oven for about 5 minutes.

FOR THE CHEESE SAUCE:

I like to use individual ramekins for this because it is usually just a quick snack and this makes it easy to keep to a single size. You could use the same logic in larger quantities using a saucepan over the stove. A double boiler would work really well to keep the cheese from solidifying.

Using a good-quality cheddar, crumble or shred the cheese into the ramekins filling no more than 1/2 way. Put a dollop of Dijon mustard in (TB size dollop if you want a stronger mustard flavor and on down to a 1/2 tsp if you prefer it less tangy). Dribble in a little white wine or, better yet, white vermouth (there isn’t a lot of room left so that determines how big your dribble can be).

Now you have a few choices, either put it in the oven to melt, same time as the pretzels, or put in the microwave for approximately 20 seconds. Stir or whisk (if you have a tiny whisk) until creamy. You can add a little bit of water or wine, drops at a time, to help with the consistency, and put back to the oven or microwave to be sure it is nice and toasty when you dip in your pretzel.

Now if you have a beer, crack it open; it helps to wash this down. If not, pop open some ginger ale and break into the game closet. Prost!

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