Thanksgiving- Is your family standing around with the leftover stuffed refrigerator, door open, asking, "what do we have to eat?" You standing there still dazed from weeks of planning, preparing and presenting a Thanksgiving dinner fit for the King and his family? Are they in a "Turkey Stupor"? Did they eat so much their eyes are clogged with turkey gravy? What is wrong with my family?
I was surprised to hear one of the trainers at my gym say that he prefers
instant mashed potatoes from a box rather than the real thing! I thought
to myself – he needs a few tips on how to make perfect (real) mashed
potatoes!
Last February on our annual holiday to Jamaica Inn, Chef Maurice Henry served us a delicious Cheese and potato soup. I was blown away by the deliciousness of this soup and found myself licking up every last drop. I later cornered Chef Maurice and asked if he would share his recipe. He did!!! Yay!! A few months later, I received the recipe in my e-mail. Thank you Chef Maurice Henry.
I have a lot of favorite recipes that I like to make, my Meat Lasagna is one of Wee Bears favorites. A lot of my favorites I have carefully crafted on my own, tweaking and adjusting, trying
to perfect over time - adding a little something here, a little
something there. I have mostly chosen these recipes based on the
positive feedback that I have received from Wee Bear, family and friends. Each
time I knead the dough or caramelize the onions, each time I make one of
these recipes for the 10th, 15th, or 30th time, I can feel history
shaping. For an actor it may be the performance of a lifetime, for a
poet the perfect sonnet, for a scientist, winning the Nobel prize, but
for me...... I'm assuming many others are out there! It will be my signature
recipes that I am remembered for........ along with a few other things!
It is always a mystery to certain members of my family what cocktail I might order when we are out to dinner. Most of my family have their drink and that's it, year round.....Borrrrring! To me there are certain flavors that are really only appropriate at certain
times of the year. For example, a passion fruit and coconut swizzle is
just not done in November. A wonderful drink, for sure, however, not when it's cold out. On the flip side, eyebrows would be raised if you
were to offer a maple and cinnamon Old-Fashioned in July. To me it's just not
right. So, now that the evening is bringing us a little chill in the air and daylight's a fleeting thing, lets make a Fall drink that will warm us up. Thanksgiving is around the corner quickly followed by Christmas, this is when those rich, warming spice flavors come in favor.
I've written before about my Mother's love for creme brulee. She is crazy about this delicious dessert. So the last few dinner's we had together, before Wee Bear and I left for Scottsdale, I made her creme brulee. She was in heaven with delight, in fact one night she devoured TWO!!
Of course who wouldn't likes this? We all rejoice at the fun in cracking the sugar on top and the caramel is the quintessential
trademark of smooth, creamy, vanilla custard, foiled by the
ever-so-slightly bitter burnt sugar.
I still remember the first time I made these remarkable cookies. I was in my late 20's. My father had taken the Summer to go to Montana and find where he was born. He had given us a address to write letters to him, so, I not only wrote letters, I sent him cookies. This cookie was the one he talked about the most. He described his first bite like this, " ahhhh, this is nice- then, without warning his entire mouth was on fire!" However, he couldn't stop, he told me, "these cookies are addictive"!
