the arugula files

Foodie Xmas Gift} Grandpa Goode's Homemade Kahlua

 "Careful, man, there's a beverage here!"  --The Dude protecting his drink of choice, the White Russian

If there is any time to indulge in The Dude's favorite drink, it's the holidays.  And if you are mixing a White Russian with anything but Grandpa Goode's homemade kahlua, then you are missing out.  Seriously.  

Who is this Grandpa Goode?  My sister-in-law Denise's grandpa. That's who.  According to his granddaughter, Roy Goode was a talented chemist who invented liquid soap, worked to save elephants from African poachers, won the best garden in Louisville, sang in his church choir, was a member of the Rotary Club, had the best basement full of trinkets, and with out a doubt, knew how to craft a "goode" drink. 

Denise and my sister recently treated their wedding guests to sips of his delicious liquor.  Unlike conventional versions, you can taste the deep coffee  and chocolate notes in this homemade brew.  It's such a treat.  

I asked Denise for the recipe so I can share Grandpa Goode with all of you.  You can make enough for yourself and store it in a growler or bottle it in flasks to share as holiday gifts.  The aging process takes two weeks, so plan ahead.  I'm including these awesome labels that my sister designed.  Grandpa Goode says keep the buzz going!

Halupki (Stuffed Napa Cabbage with Sweet and Sour Sauce)

Thanksgiving is over. 

Now it's time to plan for Christmas!  First comes the decor.  Have you decorated your tree yet?  Marcus and I are trying to figure out how to put up a tree and protect it from Josie.  All our beautiful glass ornaments. Disaster!

Then comes travel?  My family lives in Boston and Marcus' family lives on the eastern shore of Maryland.   With a one year old, we decided not to travel on the 25th, so this year, as a way to bring our family together, we are celebrating Marcus' boyhood tradition of Ukrainian Christmas on January 7.  Everyone is coming to our house.

I can't wait.  

I've already started planning the menu.    Stuffed cabbage, or halupki, as my husband calls it, can be delicious. Unfortunately, I've tried many bland versions as well.  The key, I think, is to heavily season the meat, and make a flavorful sauce.  

CSA} Meal Planning

 

My challenge moving forward, which I don't think I achieved in the recipe selection below, is figuring out how to turn winter's best vegetables, i.e., roots and tubes, into something light, rather than heavy. If you have any ideas, please drop me a comment.

Things I'm Thankful For: Onion Dip and Oyster Dressing

 

My family has one dish that is always part of our Thanksgiving meal.  It's not sausage and cornbread stuffing or green bean casserole with durkee onions.  This dish is how we start our meal.  Nope.  Not shrimp cocktail. Usually we eat so much of this dish that we are completely full by the time the turkey makes its dry debut.  Nope.  Not mixed nuts.  We eat this particular dish with chips, and while it is utterly delicious, it leaves our breath so stinky that you are damn glad you are in the company of family because no one else would put up with you. Onion dip.  That's my family's traditional Thanksgiving dish.  

Pumpkin Sweet Rolls, Plus Do You Have Smitten Kitchen's New Book?

Listen, it's not all leeks and lettuce around here.  My sister-in-law Denise loves to bake and when she visits she usually brings sweets.  Halloween weekend she brought these pumpkin cinnamon rolls.  They were quite tasty. Not as sweet or as unhealthy as Cinnabon (they include pumpkin)!  

Bok Choy Ginger Stir Fry with Chicken Apple Sausage and Cashews

I've cooked bok choy before, but it's not a part of my regular repertoire.  Its appearance in my CSA this week helped us get reacquainted.  I really liked this dish.  It's light, but filling, and packed with flavor from the ginger and garlic.

A Variation of Sophie Dahl's Warm Winter Salad

If I had to pick a cookbook to live in, I would pick Miss Dahl's Voluptuous Delights.  I imagine it would be like living in Anthropologie.  My walls would be lined with Venetian Bouquet wallpaper.  On rainy days, I would stir up vintage cocktails.  It would feel cozy all the time, like being wrapped in a throw that just came out of the dryer.  Suburban sprawl would be replaced with rural, country cottage romance.   Basically, a modern day Downton Abby. 

I like Sophie's style in the kitchen, but I haven't cooked much out of her cookbook, mostly because its pages offer inspiration, rather than exact recipes follow.

CSA } Meal Planning

It's week 2 of the CSA and I've gone from super excited to holy parsnips, what am I going to do with it all? Originally, I was planning on splitting the share with my neighbor, but it turns out that splitting a CSA share isn't as easy as we thought.  If you split it literally down the middle, then you end up with things like a half of a squash or four potatoes.  Not enough of one thing to make a dish.  On the other hand, if you do the "pick and choose" method, then you may leave your neighbor with things they don't like (like, parsnips, ahem).  The third option is switching off weeks.  After a test run during the first week, during which we used the "pick and choose" method, we decided that we would split the share by switching off: one week I would get the entire share and then next week she would.  Sounds good, right?  I thought so.  Then I saw how many vegetables came this week and I started to feel overwhelmed.

I'm going to cook all these vegetables.  It's going to take some planning, though.