Color My World

I've been experimenting with food and light and tried to steal a page from More Magazine's September issue... I love the way the thinner edges of this cranberry relish ignite with the back lighting, how the seeds and pulp cast shadows, and the color reflects off the surface of the Pyrex dish. Glam!

Spoiled Rotten

Deb can always be relied upon to spoil me rotten for my birthday, an event we could just as soon skip, thank you very much. I got a rare evening out though, and she treated me to a lovely dinner at the new L'Appart in San Anselmo. I ate so much, I should have walked home...

Sunny All Day

This evening we had a gathering of a handful of people from church who came to visit with a former member who's moved away. So many folks said the same thing: we need more gatherings like this, the kinds of events that really bond the community. That's just the way I grew up, drenched in Southern hospitality. I have to admit, I miss that here sometimes. More gatherings? I'm all for it! I should post a picture of all the guests, but this bright, cheerful image captures the feeling of the day...

Chocolate 10,000 Ways

Claire and I attended the SF International Chocolate Salon this morning with great expectations. It was less an industry event and more for the general public, a strange mishmash of chocolate makers and other affiliated businesses. Claire was brave enough to try most everything, including a fiery chili-laced dark chocolate that left her begging for water. After a surfeit of the the sweet stuff, she soothed her tongue with lavender-infused ice cream, and we both headed home to nurse our tummy aches...

Humble Beginnings

Planned to take a photo of the gorgeous almond-chocolate torte I made for Dad's birthday, but this simple visual captured my attention...

Bring on the Gravy

Wynham muscles a mean mash!

Love it!

Food Art Fun

I love what Claire does with the leavings of my stew...

Festive Fare

After months of planning, weeks of shopping, days of coooking, and hours of prepping, the food for the Art Angels Festival finally came together! I'm thrilled with the way everything turned out... if you're still hungry, you can see more to eat here.

Butterflies are Free

Such a sneaky way to get the kids to eat more greens!

Crabby Girl

Claire discovers the joys of a crab leg dinner

on our last night in Orlando,

while Wynham stabs his steak in the background.

'Tis the Season

Yup, 'tis most definitely the season for coughs, runny noses, fevers, colds -- the "ickys", as we generally refer to the symptoms. Theoretically, most of these ills take a week to get over, or seven days if you choose to medicate (!). What your grandmother told you is true, though; nothing cures the ickys like a liberal application of chicken schmaltz. Preferably in some simmered-all-day-on-the-stove homemade soup. And the heart-shaped noodles really do make all the difference. Slurp.

Forks and Knives

One of the benefits of travelling in a group is making new friends. The very first day in Graz drew together a group of talented, creative and intelligent mothers (and a dad or two), and I've really enjoyed getting to know these people. Mostly this revolved around meal times, as we peered at maps, searching for the ubiquitous symbol of the crossed fork and knife. Dining is still an adventure, as we try to guess different dishes by their placement on the printed menu. Apparently, big brown beans drenched in pumpkin seed oil are a specialty of the region...

Bier und Suppe

I am so bleary-eyed, beleaguered, and befuddled at this point, it's a wonder I can even sit up in my chair. Since the only German words I know are "please", "thank you", and my maiden name, the menu I'm staring at looks a lot like the Rosetta Stone, undeciphered. I know there's something for me to eat in this cafe, I just don't know how to ask for it.

The waiter seems nice, but he is definitely not going to help me out; he's enjoying my helpless expression. "Beer..." I say, and he says "Ja, bier." So far so good. "Soup?" I venture to ask, and he suddenly starts speaking quickly and pointing at the menu. I really want onion soup, which I think might be zwiebelsuppe, but I don't see that. He jabs his finger at something and I respond, "Ja," defeated.

The beer is cool and refreshing, the soup (even though it has mystery meat floating in it) is warm and nourishing. I'm ready to go lie down now, probably face flat, probably for 10 hours, but at least I know how to say "danke" as I get up to go. Maybe tomorrow I can play at being more like Jean-François Champollion...

How Green Was My Salad

The official First Day of Spring is not a calendar day in our family; for us it's always marked by Easter, when we go down to Stockton for the Mother of All Egg Hunts. James' aunt and uncle live on an island in the Delta, and the sprawling lawns and gardens around the house provide the perfect backdrop for this activity. The kids (even the ones who should technically be to old for this sort of thing) look forward to it each year with eager anticipation. That must have something to do with the large golden egg (one for each child) that has a $5 bill in it...

What I most look forward to (besides a long lazy afternoon with a huge extended family) is when all the "men folk" pile the trunk of the car with crates of asparagus from the family farm. It just wouldn't be Spring without this tradition, and I love finding new recipes each year for the days and days of asparagus we will be eating. Shaved, steamed, grilled, pressed, in salads, in pastas, in stir-frys; you name it, we've tried it.

My favorite recipe, though, is the one on the inside of the wrapper. In all the years we've been experimenting, this Asparagus Torta is the winner by far. If you'd like to try it for yourself, visit Coco's Kitchen for complete instructions. Your friends will be green with envy!

Gifts DO Grow on Trees

One of the most special gifts we received this season was a bottle of olive oil from some good friends of ours. The oil itself is wonderful -- pungent and piquant. But what makes this gift so exceptional is not just the product, but the love, thoughtfulness, and creativity that went into the making of it.

Aidan(4) and Elena(2) helped pick the olives off the trees on their property in Fairfax. Mama Superior Deb figured out the how, when, and where of getting the olives pressed. Deb and her husband Eric, both amazing designers, created the label together. A personal family effort, with all their devotion and imagination squeezed directly into the charming bottle.

Our hard-to-impress kids were wowed by this touching gift. We have been showing it off to anyone who comes by our house. It really is true: the best things do come in small packages. And we are duly grateful.

We Wish You a Berry Christmas

Okay, so I am WAY behind on all things related to the holidays, and everything else to boot (blogging included). With four kids at Christmastime, peak levels of insanity are to be expected. I try to remain calm and give myself a hall pass for the stuff I won't get done in the midst of all this hoopla. As always, Jack puts things into perspective, reminding me to stop and smell the raspberries...

Stolen Moments

I confess: I was trying to steal a moment for myself. Chloé has an early rehearsal this morning and there isn’t enough time to make it worth driving all the way home and back, so I go to the local boulangerie for a café au lait and a tartine, hoping to sneak in a few pages of my current book.

“Gorgeous day, isn’t it? Are you going to get out and enjoy it?” The man sitting at the table to my right is obviously hungry for conversation. Yes, I tell him, there will be a soccer game and a jaunt to the city and a dozen other things, what with four kids to amuse. “I hope you make the most of it. I wasn’t there for my son when he was young; I was working too much. Now I spoil my grandson instead.” I wonder, in his grown son’s mind, if that really makes up for lost time.

On my left sits a family of three, round and perfectly matched like a set of Russian matryoshka dolls. There are so many pasties on their table I’m afraid it might capsize. The well-dressed boy asks his mother, “Mommy, why are there pickles on your plate?” She feigns a European accent and says, “They gave them to me because I am so pr-r-r-e-e-e-ty!” She’s not what you might consider attractive, but the mirthful expression on her face and the way she trills her “r” make her beautiful.

Suddenly it’s time to go, and I haven’t even cracked the cover of the novel in my bag. The man next to me says, “Do me a favor, will you? Have a wonderful day!” I smile. My pilfered time has been snatched away from me, but I’ve received something in return: the gentle reminder that the numbered days with your children should never be taken for granted, and that life is exactly what you make of it. I can always read later, if I can steal a moment…

Let Them Eat Cake

Here's a shamless plug for Gayle's Bakery in Capitola, CA (http://www.gaylesbakery.com). Every time we visit the beach house in Santa Cruz, a morning trip to Gayle's is obligatory. It started out as one tiny store front a long time ago and has gradually expanded in an attempt to keep up with its success. This place is as close to pastry nirvana as you can get here on earth, and everyone has their favorites. Wynham lives for the egg and bacon croissant and Chloé favors the one with ham and cheese. The chocolate macaroons are my weakness, and James loves the bear claws. Claire always goes for the cupcake with frosting in various shades of sea green and an elegant souvenir fish on top. Jack's easy, he'll eat anything as long as you tell him it's a cookie...

If we have visitors (as we do this weekend), I like to get up especially early and make a run to Gayle's for "supplies". It's great when there are a lot of people at the house, because it gives me an excuse to buy one of everything for a sampling plate. This time, the Schnecken (pecan pie meets breakfast roll) wins the taste test hands down. We generally buy twice as much as anyone could ever really eat for breakfast, but mysteriously, over the course of the day, a mile-high platter of pastries is reduced to a tiny pile of crumbs. Those usually end up disappearing as well.

The sandwiches and salads bring the notion of a picnic lunch to new heights of euphoria. The cakes are works of art, inspiring "ooohs" and "aaahs" from even the most jaded chefs and gourmands. It makes me want to throw a party or a wedding, just for an excuse to buy one. Wynham peers over my shoulder as a write this, and says, "Oh, Mom, can we go there again tomorrow? It's SOOO irresistable! I could eat there every day without ever getting bored..." Of course, all this caloric excess is justified by the fact that we can "walk it off on the beach". If we can even move after all that eating...

Veggie Tales (with Cheese)

The end of summer brings with it a bounty of incredible organic, locally-grown fruits and vegetables, picked at their peak. Sheer perfection on a vine! Our largest farmer’s market, held in the shadow of the Marin County Civic Center designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, is a treasure trove of other-worldly delights. On our latest visit, we saw pink carrots, golden raspberries, and purple potatoes which Claire pronounced “simply gorgeous”.

For dinner we roasted up a beautiful medley of vegetables with some olive oil and rosemary to accompany grilled lamb with lemon and herbes de Provence. The miniature Japanese eggplant didn’t go over so well, and lately the ruling majority is down with mushrooms, but everything else is usually a go. People say, “Your kids are such good eaters!” but I don't feed them anything else, so how would they know differently?

Conversation at the dinner table circled around the topic of 9/11, with Chloé commenting that no mention was made to mark the day at her new high school. We’ll never forget? How quickly. Cheese turned out to be the real hot button of the evening. James says that anyone who eats dairy ends up cow shaped, but the rest of us argue for the quality of life – what would la vie be without fromage?

Besides, "cheese" is one of Jack's favorite words (along with "car", "go", "stop", and "shoes"), and how could anyone deny him anything?