Arbor Inspiration

This fall I went to the Central Park Conservatory Garden for the first time, and I was so struck by the beauty of the half-circle arbor covered in greenery.

I know it’s a slightly strange obsession, but I absolutely love arbors covered in greenery.  Flower arbors somehow don’t do it for me – too Laura Ashley, I think.  I confess that I had to even look up what arbors are called; for a while I was just calling them “those green covered things that I love,” but you know what, it’s not the name that matters as long as people get what you’re talking about.  Or so I tell myself.  Anyway, now I know thy name is arbor.

I love this arbor too, which is also in Central Park.

Arbors like these make me desperately want to host a small garden dinner party under the archway, with long wood tables covered only in white hydrangeas and potted plants, white dinnerware, rustic family-style food, and zillions of white pillar candles.  Dinner would begin at dusk, just when you start needing the candles, and there would undoubtedly be acoustic music of some kind imbuing the atmosphere without much trouble on anybody’s part.  The wine would be one of those gorgeous bottles you vow to remember the name of and always forget, and the conversation would flow beautifully amongst friends.

Large image my own of the Central Park Conservatory; images on right from Martha Stewart Weddings

Under the Arbor Menu (to be passed family style; no delineated courses)

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Christmas Eve Family Dinner Party

Well, things have been a little rough around here with the passing of my grandma, who was my mom’s only immediate family besides my sister and I.  I’ve been writing pages and pages about her very interesting life and want to condense it into something readable, but am finding it difficult – hopefully will manage it soon just to make myself feel like it’s finished and I can stop writing every detail before I forget.  And I tweaked my back last week on my way to California for the funeral, so I’m right now sitting up very straight with a hefty pillow behind me.  My mom is convinced that your back’s health is a metaphor (or simile?) for how supported you are in your life, so I guess according to her I’m not supported enough – though I feel like that’s a big world of excuses just begging you to come in, and really I just picked up my suitcase wrong when getting on the plane last week.  I have lots to do for Christmas that doesn’t involve lifting or twisting; there is no snow here anyway, so I don’t feel badly about not being able to snowboard for another week or so; I have a massage therapist who is incredibly good at inflicting a lot of pain on me; and with family and friends all descending on Jackson Hole for the holidays everything is really just fine. This is even my view while I write, looking south into the valley and over the Snake River:

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Plus, I’m completely obsessed with Christmas in general and love love love this time of year!  Lights everywhere, merry people, and presents galore for all the good little girls and boys – and everyone I love was very good this year ;)

I’m trying to come up with my Christmas Eve menu.  We always have fried oysters for Christmas Eve; I don’t know why, yes it is a strange tradition, and I think it just originated because my mom likes fried oysters and who goes to the trouble of such a thing on non-holidays?!

oysterbiteCoconut & Lime

So it has to be centered on the oysters, and I really want to make brussel sprouts just because they’re in season and I’m completely obsessed with them right now, plus they’re also, like the oysters, a little different and fun.  But what else?  Oysters and brussel sprouts do not a meal make.

A nice simple potato would be quiet enough to meld with the strong oyster flavor and also go well with a nice aioli sauce for the oysters.  I like this plan: oysters, new potatoes, and brussel sprouts (please continue for the recipe) for the meal.  Something like poached pears for dessert, because my mom has to have her fruity desserts, and I think no appetizers because we’re all going to be crammed into the kitchen cooking and frying until everything is hot and ready to be devoured.  Patience is not a virtue in my family when there is hot food waiting to be eaten.

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Total Californian Immersion Project Dinner Party

{This guest post was written by my good friend Teal Pennebaker, who lives in San Francisco and created www.analyzewords.com}

First, some background/disclaimers:

  1. I rarely cook. In fact I just got a kitchen, like, two months ago. Hey, the perils of being 27 and living in the land’o’expensive real estate.
  2. I’m not a details person.
  3. I’m also not an entertainer who notices aesthetics (or “cleanliness”). I fear my friend Danielle would be horrified if she saw the state of my tiny apartment when I have people over.
  4. I was recently given an Alice Waters cookbook and was reminded of how much I admire her cooking but find her unbelievably obnoxious in her elitist message of only eating fresh things and not – God forbid! – microwaving.

My conscience is now cleared. Let the tale of my foray into cooking and entertaining begin.

I’m new to Northern California – I’ve been in Alice Waters’ vaunted stomping grounds a mere 11 months. And as much as I hate being the cliché, I admit that I’ve really taken to the “healthy lifestyle.” Or at least the parts that involve going to farmers markets (i.e. “free sample festivals”) and shamelessly wearing yoga clothes everywhere.

But I often still feel like the new kid, so last week I decided I needed to kick my total California immersion project into high gear. Time to follow my mantra: go big or go home, kids.

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I’d been warned before I moved west that San Fransiscoans love their dinner parties. And since I was now the owner of Alice Waters’ cookbook and knew my favorite free sample festival was mere days away, I saw an opportunity. I decided to cook for some friends and actually attempt to commit to this local ingredient business that has made California cuisine famous. The big event – which I termed the “Alice Waters Will Cry Dinner” – would take place on a blistery Tuesday night in San Francisco.

To be extra true to my roots – very Alice Waters – I spent the days leading up to the dinner surfing the Internets, trying to find the perfect recipe for chile rellenos, a staple of my childhood diet. In my homestate of Texas we like our chile rellenos hearty (there’s a reason two of our largest cities always end up on the “fattest places to live” lists), stuffed with beef and/or cheese, deep fried and swimming in ranchero sauce and sour cream. And, also true to my roots, the recipes online either followed the traditional Texan deep frying routine or some weird Midwestern casserole take on the dish.

Cali-healthy these recipes were not. Every other person I know here has a start up  – this would be mine! I’d create a healthy chile relleno. So on Sunday I hit the farmers market and bought a bunch of things that sounded like they’d taste good stuffed in a chile. “Garlic? Sure! Dried kale? Think I’ll pass.”

Not planning social events ahead is another staple of NorCal living. And so a day before the dinner party, I recruited (via email, natch) two of my favorite San Franciscoans, Dan and Chava, to serve as guinea pigs for my Alice Waters Will Cry dinner party. When they arrived on Tuesday, I shoved chips and salsa towards them, and demanded they start snacking and drinking wine (from Sonoma … because Napa, everyone tells me, is the overpriced stuff).

Another disclaimer—I can be a nervous entertainer. No one wants to be known as The Girl Who Poisoned Her Guests or, perhaps worse, That Bland Cook. I figured the drunker my friends, the less discerning they would be. Safety net of sorts.

As Dan and Chava discussed the virtues of working at funky local corporations, I went to task.  I stir-fried, I broiled, I baked, I simmered and I stuffed. (Alice would say that, right?) Oh yes – into the dark green poblanos went a mix of eggs, onion, garlic, tomatoes, corn (canned – sorry Alice!), cilantro, spinach, jalapeno and cheddar cheese. I topped the myriad of gorgeous colors with a ranchero sauce I’d spent the week researching. I’d finally settled on a recipe I’d dug up after extensive Bing’ing, and tweaked it a bit with canned chipotles (again, apologies). I created a last minute side of black beans and leftover stuffing (one thing I love about Danielle’s meals – all the sides – and decided last minute to emulate).

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“Friends,” I declared, “dinner is ready.”

Chava had laid out a tablecloth – how much we’ve grown up since our days of eating cold pizza on dorm room floors – and Dan refilled the wine. We clinked glasses and dug in. The colors were gorgeous and the taste was pretty damn good. We plowed through the meal, exchanging stories, laughing, mocking and reloading our glasses.  When our plates had been cleared, I tossed everyone a clementine (very seasonal) and opened a box of Paul Newman’s chocolate coated toffee pretzels (I’m sure Paul and Alice would be friends – liberal! Organic lovers!). “Dessert has been served,” I said.

It was delightful.  For the first time since I moved west, I felt completely at home. It wasn’t just that I’d be able to claim some sort of Alice Waters-inspired moral superiority since I’d used so many damn local and organic ingredients. It was more that things came together perfectly—the company, the flavors, the warmed kitchen on a surprisingly frigid Bay Area night. I finally, contentedly, felt local.

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Fall Greenmarket Menu

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Now, I do not subscribe to Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop newsletter.  Let’s just make that clear straight away.  I loved Gwyneth in Shakespeare in Love and Sliding Doors, but I do not need to know her opinions on what $1800 Christmas gifts I should buy my friends, what Balenciaga coin purse I should buy, or how we should all really sleep more than eight hours.  My friend subscribes, though, and she forwards it to me when she thinks it particularly interesting or entertaining – which is how I got this particular tip about a place which, yes, as much as I hate to admit it, is kind of awesome.

from rivercottage.net

rivercottage.net

River Cottage is a sustainable farm in England that offers courses in such classic skills as breadmaking, beekeeping, mushroom foraging and butchering and cooking various animals “in a day”.  They also have evening dinners made with food grown and cooked on the farm that I definitely want to go to the next time I’m across the pond.  How wonderful to have a meal in which you grew the food and  know exactly where it came from and what you’re putting in your body – something that is difficult to do in NYC.  I love that the White House has a garden now and is raising awareness about knowing where your food comes from.  Anyway…I digress…the point of this is that River Cottage has a yummy butternut squash and blue cheese recipe on its website and I got excited  about making a simple vegetarian and gluten-free fall menu around it!  This would be lovely for just yourself or for a casual dinner party – it would have been great at my Sweet Home Dinner last week!  I’ll have to remember it for next time.

krissa.org

krissa.org

Fall Greenmarket Menu

The Girl in the Garden

You haven’t heard of Kamala Nair, but you will.

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She just sold her debut novel for six figures to Grand Central Publishing. The folks there are either incredibly lucky or insanely smart – or both – because The Girl in the Garden is going to be huge.  I was lucky to read it for the first time several months ago because (full disclaimer!) the author is my best friend.  I started it just before bed, planning to do some nice sleepy reading for a few chapters, then go to sleep and finish it later.  I had to be up in the morning fairly early, and I was tired.  Well: two hours later I looked at the clock and realized it was really late and I’d better go to bed ASAP to have any chance at a functional tomorrow – and I still could NOT put it down!  I read until it was done because I absolutely could not go to sleep without knowing what happened.  It was completely worth it.  It’s a beautifully written family drama that will thrill and delight you, worry you, surprise you and keep you turning the pages until there aren’t any left.  So, buy it!  Though this is rather early – it will probably come out in summer 2011 – but never fear, I will remind you then quite incessantly.

beach read

Ahhhh....summertime reading....

Here is the official synopsis from Publisher’s Marketplace: “Kamala Nair’s THE GIRL IN THE GARDEN, the redemptive journey of a young woman unsure of her engagement, who revisits in memory the events of one scorching childhood summer when her beautiful yet troubled mother spirits her away from her home to an Indian village untouched by time, where she discovers in the jungle behind her ancestral house a spellbinding garden that harbors a terrifying secret.”

The Girl in the Garden will be a fantastic book club selection because there are so many controversial characters that can’t be pigeonholed into good/bad – people will have a lot of different opinions, I think.  Which, naturally, would make for a great dinner party or cocktail party.  I love themed parties like this, but hate for them to be too obviously connected to their inspiration.  For example, the novel is primarily set in India, but serving only Indian food would just be so expected.  And we don’t ever want to be predictable, do we!?  I won’t give much away, but there are other elements of the novel that gave me inspiration with a twist – two primary themes are inner beauty and childhood.  My menu is below, and flexibly works for either hors d’oeuvres or a casual dinner party (everyone will have to feel comfortable about eating with their hands).  You’ll have to read the book to truly understand why I chose these dishes ;)

  • Samosas
  • Hot Peel and Eat Shrimp with Saffron Parsley Butter
  • Arugula with Pineapple and Pine Nuts, served in the pineapple
  • Wedding Cake

I started with samosas, because although they are obviously Indian food, I love them and I refuse to leave them out.  We also needed a little something Indian in the menu.  The shrimp reminds me of the tropical climate of Kerala and in their skins, they are ugly on the outside but wonderful on the inside; a major theme of the book.  Also, you have to eat the samosas and shrimp with your hands, tearing off the unattractive outer covering to get to the tastiness inside, which takes us back to childhood and obviously follows our theme of inner beauty.  The plating of the pineapple salad follows it as well and is evocative of the garden wall, and since the fruit itself has a prickly skin but is sweet inside, it too adds to our theme.  Pineapple is also a tropical fruit, and – an aside – I thought I didn’t like pineapple until I went to Kerala and someone convinced me to try one.  Oh my goodness, I can still remember how sweet that pineapple was.  I’ve been completely converted to pineapple ever since, and love using it in non-fruit salad ways.  Finally, wedding cake (which is really any cake you feel like making as long as you decorate it nicely) for the ending the main character hopes to have – plus, back to our childhood theme: everyone likes cake.

Martha Stewart Weddings

Martha Stewart Weddings

I would serve this on a table designed with a combination of whimsy and practicality.  It’s going to be a messy meal, and one napkin is not going to hold up to that shrimp.  So, two strategically placed paper towel dispensers placed on the table where the candles would usually go will be amusing and purposeful!  Then, with the white paper towels keeping it from getting too crazy, dress up the rest of the table with color: bright pinks, yellows, blues, reds, oranges.  This would be a great time to use the idea of aluminum cans (labels removed) or old jars as vases, again bringing us back to childhood and a casual feeling, and the colors are evocative of India without going overboard with the connection.

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Images on left from Martha Stewart Weddings and on right from Snippet and Ink

This is neither a table nor menu that would make sense served without a connection to The Girl in the Garden, and it’s so fun to have inspiration come from extraordinary stories like this one.  I can’t wait for it to be published so everyone can read it!

Sweet Home Dinner

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It was gorgeous and a wonderful evening. Alexis was down from Connecticut for the day and stopped by to stay hi while I was stringing the flowers for the ceiling. Of course I invited her to stay for dinner, and she was such a wonderful addition to our party – and got to hear lots of stories about Fairfield (where we all grew up) that either scared or intrigued her! Ha!

It’s an artistic group, so it was really fun to create a colorful table with bouquets of color pencils over brown craft paper that begged to be drawn on. I used it as the easiest place cards ever – just wrote everyone’s names above their plates.

DSC00963The flowers were simple, but added a punch of color. I bought four bunches of carnations in yellow and three shades of pink, and kept each color in its own vase rather than mixing them. It made the flowers look cohesive and at the same time, with the colored pencils, made the table as a whole very colorful.

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I then strung blossoms on three long strands of thread and hung them from the ceiling for something more festive and with a little bit of South Asian flair.

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DSC00948We made gorgeous doodles.

mosaicc029a8a12365810ee7ba98c79040ae60c68648d2And the food…Anna brought her gorgeous macaroons made with organic sweetened condensed milk, but I was so consumed with eating them that I completely forgot to take a photograph. Just imagine perfectly browned, chewy golden macaroons, and you’ll have a good sense of how lovely they were. Please continue for the post-mortem on my dishes.

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Sweet Home Dinner: Menu

Remember when I decided I needed to try gluten-free pasta to see if I could substitute it in for my tagliatelle with gorgonzola? I ran down to the store the other day for the ingredients to make classic mac and cheese with rice pasta, and couldn’t find rice pasta. However, they did have quinoa pasta and corn pasta, so I chose the corn because it came in classic elbow macaroni and cooked it up. It tastes good! Honestly, I couldn’t even tell the difference. Plus, according to the wise comments, rice pasta falls apart anyway – so I will take that to mean my choice of corn pasta was a genius move on my part and even if the store had had rice pasta, I undoubtedly would still have chosen the corn because I just know things like that….yeah….

So this is excellent, and will let me go with my original menu idea of soup followed by pasta and simple veggies, and maybe a nice brown bread for the gluten eaters.  One of my guests offered to bring macaroons for dessert, which are obviously gluten-free and sound soooo good!  I’ll just save the balsamic truffles for another time; it’s always kind of a nice feeling to know you’ve got a dessert in your back pocket that will go with almost any meal and no one has seen it before.  We’ll start with a nice simple zucchini and goat cheese appetizer, which I can not only make the day before, but will be extra vegetables (always good!) and a little protein in the cheese.

Zucchini_Rolls_lgAs for libations, a non-drinking friend is bringing something tasty and non-alcoholic. For the drinkers, I think the wine will have to marry well with the gorgonzola but otherwise could probably be whatever you like. I’ll probably just ask at the wine shop what they would recommend, as I’m no wine expert. I even went to a lovely wine tasting the other night that was meant to be focused on how to order wine from a mysterious wine list – we all know how foreign those look, right?! This was information I needed! – and I kid you not, the advice they gave over and over was “Ask the sommelier.” So basically there is no way to figure it out yourself. Oh well, I still had a great time at the tasting and got to see friends from college, so it was overall a win.

Sweet Home Dinner Menu

  • Gluten-Free Pasta baked with Mushrooms, Gorgonzola and Walnuts (continue for the recipe)
  • Roasted green beans with balsamic vinegar and honey
  • Macaroons from my friend AC

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