What Did You Eat?

'Rabitos' chocolate-stuffed fig bonbons

No, I didn't stuff it. I once stuffed some figs and they certainly didn't look like this.  A hard working person in a little village in Spain did all the work.  And a fine job they did too!  This treat, 'Rabitos' chocolate-stuffed fig bonbons, is my one-a-day candy. I suppose people can toss them into their mouth like an M&M, but I've never seen that happen.  They're too delicious, and thought provoking to do that.  You have a perfect dried fig, stuffed with dark chocolate truffle cream, infused with brandy liqueur, and then dipped in chocolate.  As you bite into it, little seeds from the fig crunch under your teeth and the fig skin provides a tender chewiness, perfectly complimented by the richness of the filling.  Really, just one does the trick.
And the wrappers are very pretty too.

Cream cheese walnut cookies, with dulce de leche filling

My mother and I once ate seafood gumbo exclusively for over a week and swore we had file' poisoning.  After a week of baking and eating cookies, I could tell that I was well into a bad case of cookie poisoning.  There were shortbread, oatmeal cookies, empire biscuits, lemon squares---and cream cheese walnut cookies with dulce de leche filling. I think it was the latter that pushed me over the edge.  The cookies themselves were impossibly rich, but the dulce de leche sealed my fate.  Right now, I never want to eat another cookie again.  Ever.  Of course, my resolve will weaken eventually and then these cookies will fill my needs perfectly.   

Happiness is......

...getting Cowgirl Creamery cheese and Agrimontana cherries for Christmas.  Lucky me, I received two packages of the cheese and two jars of cherries.  One package of the cheese was demolished Christmas Eve. I hope the remaining package you see in the picture can make it until New Year's Eve.

Jewish turkey-wonton soup

As will happen, I recovered from my cold, but other people in my house were laid low by it. And they seemed put out about this, shooting me annoyed glances for passing on my virus. Of course, it was never my virus--just a loaner.  But, I understand how irritating it is to get sick. So, as a way to make amends, I made some soup. This was a recipe I found in Food & Wine, in an excellent article about The Soup Peddler, an enterprising man named David Ansel who built a business making and delivering soup on bikes in Austin, Texas.  I love wonton soup and decided to try this variation.  The Jewish part comes from the filling, which is meant to be a variation of kreplach. 

Spaghettini alla Chitarra with Bottarga

I finally turned the corner on my cold.  My heartfelt thanks to everyone who expressed concern for me.  I especially thank the people who listened patiently to my frog-like croak, as I tried to carry on a conversation.  I always wanted a deep, throaty voice like Kathleen Turner. Unfortunately I sounded like the little boy in The Shining.  Red Rum indeed!

I ate a lot of soup while I was sick.  Tortilla Soup, which contains the wonder drug chipotle chili, worked better than any decongestant on my sinuses.  But, I decided to cook something other than soup yesterday and spaghettini alla chitarra with bottarga seemed perfect to me. It's fast, satisfying, and it has chilies in it--which I still need for the sinuses.  I'm sure that chilies can cure cancer.

Banana bread

Here is the banana bread I made on Tuesday just before I got sick.  Back then, everything seemed right on course, holiday wise. I had a long list of cookies and breads that I intended to make every day.  As I prepared my banana bread, I imagined the astonishment of people as I presented them with baskets heaped with my baked goods.  "Oh, it was nothing," I would say modestly.  However, that night life dealt me an enormous custard pie in the face.  Once again, I was waylaid by my annual holiday cold.  And it has been a doozey.

SHARE and sushi

On Sunday Helene and I shopped at the annual SHARE Institute Open House. SHARE, founded by Dr. Soheir Stolba and Shaku Shankar, is a non-profit organization doing wonderful work to help improve the lives of people locally and abroad.  I can't show the items I bought, as they are gifts for certain people who read this blog (well, they claim they read it).  The volunteers at SHARE work very hard on these events and it's inspiring to see their efforts. Proceeds from the Open House provide money for the projects SHARE funds to help people struggling to survive in very difficult circumstances.  To learn more about SHARE, go to their website .

After shopping at the Open House, Helene and I had lunch at Mikuni, the most popular sushi restaurant in Sacramento.

Tortilla soup

Ahh, tortilla soup. So comforting, so  delicious, and so abused. Like chili or gumbo, there are many versions being produced in home kitchens and restaurants. It was interesting to surf the Internet and read the recipes, all claiming to be the VERY BEST.  Well, I haven't tried most of those recipes, but I feel certain that tortilla soup should not be made from Campbell's chicken and potato soup, as in several recipes that I read.  It shouldn't have cups of pureed carrots and celery and powdered taco seasoning.  Flour tortillas should not be added to the broth, to dissolve into mush. I assume that this is an attempt to thicken the broth, because many of the recipes show a completed soup looking more like mashed potatoes.  But, the broth should not be thick. It should be thin and full of flavor from chilies, tomatoes and herbs.  And finally, corn tortillas should be fried or toasted in the oven before they are scattered into the soup.  No soft flour tortillas, no taco chips.  Just say no!  Recipes aren't written in stone, unless it's seafood gumbo. But there are limits to messing with a good thing.
      

Carrot muffins

One way I know that it's the holiday season is because I'm baking muffins and cookies, and scrutinizing my yeast bread recipes.  I don't normally think of making brioche or panettone, but now it seems the thing to do.  I stand in the grocery aisles pondering items I rarely buy, such as cocoa nips.  Egged on by my friends, I considered baking brownies made with five sticks of butter and over two pounds of chocolate.  Pulling myself back from the brink, I made a promise to keep my baking in the safe and sane category.  Well, sort of safe and sort of sane. 

I made carrot muffins today and thought how muffins aren't sane anymore.  Somehow they Supersized into huge, heavily sweetened lumps of cake.  I hate to grouse about how things were different back in the day, but muffins have changed for the worse.  Once upon a time they were small and slightly sweet, with the texture of a quick bread.  I guess it's reassuring to people when they buy a food item so large it could be used as a door stop.  Look what happened to cinnamon rolls.  Shudder.  I blame shopping center food courts for this nonsense.

Birthday dinner at Biba's restaurant

I enjoyed terrific restaurant meals this past week, dining at the French Laundry last Sunday and Biba on Friday.  Biba has been rated the best restaurant in Sacramento since the day she opened for business.  And that's a story in itself.  There weren't many  premium places to eat in Sacramento at that time.  And there was speculation that she was foolish to spend so much money on her restaurant.  But, the place is now an institution, mainly because the food is so consistantly good.  It's always an event for me to go there.  Even though I'm Irish-American, her Italian food speaks to the very core of my being and I spend much of the meal making little whimpering noises.  Whimpering with delight, of course.