This is a re-post with very few changes…

My earliest memories of Christmas are all involved around this delicious recipe from my mother.  She used to make platters of it, then cut it up, roll it into two inch long pieces and wrap it in crinkled paper and foil and hang it on the fresh cut Christmas tree my father had just brought in.  Also hanging on the tree were precious oranges, walnuts in their shells, prettily wrapped candy, cookies, and real candles dripping wax.  We lived in communist Romania back then and didn’t have strings of lights, electric trains circling the tree, nor ornaments weighing down the branches.  Life was much more simple, much more real.  Maybe because we lacked what we now take for granted, any unexpected treat was such a luxury and such a joy.

Eagerly we anticipated the carolers we knew were coming anytime between nightfall and the crack of dawn on that Christmas Eve night. We dressed in our finest, helped set out the pastries, the cookies, and the little fancy sandwiches my mother, my aunts, and my grandmother had worked on for the last several days.  The best china was brought out, for it was a perfect opportunity to show it off.  Butter, sugar, chocolate and coffee were precious commodities hoarded throughout the year, and only used for special occasions: Christmas, New Year, Easter, birthdays, weddings, christenings, and funerals.

The house filled up with guests who reminisced all through the night, feasting on sausages, creamed potatoes and delectable desserts.  The kids got to stay up too, and usually there were so many of us that when we couldn’t keep our eyes open anymore, every available surface or parent’s lap held a softly snoring child.

725 grams (3 cups) powdered milk

5 tablespoons good quality cocoa powder unsweetened

500 grams (2 cups) sugar

1 cup water

2 sticks unsalted butter cubed and at room temperature

1 tablespoon (or more) rum

1 cup roasted walnuts or hazelnuts (optional)

Coat a large cookie sheet with non-stick spray, or if you are seriously self-indulging, butter.  Have it ready and close by.

Sift the powdered milk and cocoa powder into a bowl, and combine with a whisk until well blended.  On medium heat make a syrup of sugar and water by pouring the cup of water into a deeper pan and gradually whisking in the sugar.  Don’t forget to stir!  Let it simmer a few minutes and check readiness by placing a teaspoon of it into a glass of water.  If it holds together it is ready, if not keep stirring! Add the blended powdered milk and cocoa and mix with a wooden spoon until it’s well incorporated.  If it is too thick, you can add water, but only a little at a time.  Work those muscles in your arms until it resembles a smooth chocolate frosting, otherwise you get air bubbles, or a mouthful of powder. Add the rum and the nuts, take it off the heat and stir in the cubed butter until all melted.  With the help of a spatula spread it on the prepared cookie sheet and let it cool at room temperature.  It will harden as it cools.  Enjoy it!  I guarantee it won’t last long.

By the way, I have no idea on the number of servings.  And since I have never made or eaten the American version of fudge I don’t know how closely it resembles it, in either recipe or taste.

Also:  HUGE congratulations to Autumn of#mce_temp_url# for winning this week’s $25.00 giveaway to Target.  Now leave me a comment and go check out her site.  Don’t forget any comment from today on qualifies you for the next $25.00 giftcard giveaway.

Apparently I work too many hours, have horrible eating habits (too much chocolate, coffee and pastries), and sleep too little.  For the second time, in as many weeks, I am sick again.  I’ve had the flu shot and the H1N1 shot, to no avail.  I have no idea what exactly is the matter, as I dread going in to see the doctor just to be told to go home and rest.  But my right ear hurts so, I feel like cutting it off, and I who have never smoked, have a smoker’s raspy voice.

It’s been sunny, yet very cold.  At night the wind scratches at the windows and sends the kids to our bed, where they snuggle in wide eyed, clutching at the covers and twining their legs with ours.  And although I am sick and should know better, I love the warmth of their little bodies and let them stay, only to awaken hours later my limbs all numb, hubby gone down the hallway to sleep in the empty room.

My hours awake are spent in bed, looking through my journal for favorite recipes,

pasting cutouts of images from my favorite magazines,

opening my mail (yay, Christmas presents have arrived!),

and reading this lovely book I have first heard about on #mce_temp_url# in early October.  By the way, if you haven’t been, go visit Pamela and Edward pronto.  You’ll be transported into a magical, enchanted land of beauty and wonder.  Pamela throws the most fabulous dinner parties with her songwriter husband and their two lovely dogs, in the beautiful home she has designed herself, as she is an interior designer as well as a poet and a curator of the disappearing art of living gracefully.

Finally, I will be enjoying a bowl of this delicious stew prepared by my darling hubby, with a chunk of crunchy French bread, at the kitchen table surrounded by the dear faces of my family.  I adore the primitive taste of bone marrow.  There’s something so satisfying in it’s goodness.

And then off to bed for sleep and another day of the same, until I feel better.  Stay safe and healthy!

6 large garden tomatoes, halved lengthwise

half cube butter

4 large cloves garlic

1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh rosemary or 1 tsp. dried

1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh thyme or 1 tsp. dried

sprinkle of dried crushed red pepper

2 cups chicken stock

½ cup heavy cream

4 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

lots of baguette slices

olive oil

Heat the butter in large pot over medium-high heat. Add garlic and sauté until fragrant. Add the tomatoes and let the butter and garlic blend with it until it becomes almost a sauce.  Stir in the rosemary, thyme and dried crushed red pepper. Add chicken stock and bring it to boil. Reduce heat and add the half-cup of heavy cream. Simmer uncovered until soup thickens slightly, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in basil. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Preheat broiler. Brush baguette slices with some olive oil. Transfer to large baking sheet. Broil until golden. Serve alongside soup.

Now, I am really not a cook which is a shame, for I sure love to eat.  And more than anything else, I gravitate to those foods that take time and patience.  I’ve read and heard some amazing women say that the trick is having a few fabulous recipes up one’s sleeve to whip up at a moment’s notice. A few for every season, I suppose is best.  Enjoy!

side table arranged for a cookies and tea party

In the last month, I have been to more weddings, parties, showers, birthday celebrations, family barbeques, dinners, and lunches than I have the entire year. With the exception of the winter holiday season, the months of July and August are spent hopping from one place to the next. Rarely a day goes by that we don’t go somewhere or see someone. And while it is tiring (and we are the only neighborhood family carrying our sleeping children from the car into the house at midnight), it is also great fun. Both hubby and I are sociable people who love to be around other sociable people every chance we get.

Yet I am reminded that my turn is coming. One way or another, I have to reciprocate. Today I spent a good portion of my free time looking over easy summer recipes for a dinner with family and friends that I’m to give in the next two weeks. I say easy, because I usually go for the complicated, only to find out halfway through that either the meal will never be ready in time for the guests’ arrival, or judging by how dry it is, it was ready a while back, and the only thing it’s good for now, is the garbage can.

Because hubby is a fabulous cook (who really should do all the cooking in our family), and I am good at delegating, I’ll give him the job of preparing the meal. I’ll do what I do best: selecting and arranging the flowers, staging various surfaces throughout the rooms for exquisite presentations of food, donning my favorite embroidered apron from my mother-in-law, arranging the sofas and chairs in a conducive conversation provoking sitting area, and so on.

With the crowd coming, I don’t need to stress in the least. Because they love us, they believe everything we do is spectacular (and I am not giving away the menu, after all, some of you readers will be there). Still, we aim to impress, if not our guests then at least each other. That’s just how it is when one’s married, I suppose.

just had to take a picture before I took a bite!

I’ve decided that I will pamper myself daily.  Why not? Life’s short and we each get but one chance.  I’m brimming with ideas, but I will start today with crepes for lunch. Nothing savory though. Need something sweet, to sweeten my disposition on such an overcast July day.    

Ingredients:

1 cup flour

2 eggs

1/2 cup sugar

2 cups milk — may need to add more once it’s all mixed

half cube melted butter

1 tbsp. orange rind

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/4 cup mineral water (makes them fluffy)

Process:

In a deep bowl, sift the flour and sugar and make well in the middle. In another bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, butter, orange rind and vanilla extract and pour over the flour and sugar.  Mix until all lumps disappear.  Add the mineral water.  Extra milk may be necessary, because the consistency needs to be really thin.  

Medium heat is the best, as they are pretty thin and could easily burn. Enjoy!

Every once in a while I get a craving for something that reminds me of my childhood.  I often associate good food with it because most of what went into making a specific dish or dessert were such hard to come by commodities, that in my memories of it now, the preparation of the pastries and cakes were an event into themselves. Everyone was around.  Grandmothers and aunts shooing us out of the way, cousins skipping to the hen house for eggs, or to the larder for butter, or to the well to get a bucket of water.  Of course, we were also stealing precious chocolate or spoonfuls of sugar when we thought no one was looking.  And washing dishes.  There were always lots of dishes.

The saddest thing for me about the fall of communism in Romania, is that some of the country’s yummiest recipes have become modernized in the interest of saving time.  All that nurturing and comforting right out the door the minute electric mixers and food processors entered.  

Don’t despair, this dish does not require anyone to give up any modern kitchen utensil.  Added bonuses: it’s easy, fast, and absolutely delicious.  Make it for your kids and they’ll be hooked for life.  With that in mind, allow me to remain nostalgic for another 50 minutes or so while I make this.

4 cups milk (2% or whole) + 1/2 cup milk 
1 vanilla bean, cut in half lengthwise with the seeds scraped out
6 eggs, whites and yolks separated
12 tablespoons sugar

1. In a saucepan over medium heat, bring the 4 cups of milk and vanilla bean and scraped seeds to a simmer, turn heat off so that it doesn’t burn. 
2. Beat the egg whites with half of the sugar until stiff peaks form. 
3. Place a metal serving spoon in the simmering milk so that it heats up and use it to spoon out servings of the egg whites into the milk. 
4.Turn the egg whites into the milk after 2 minutes or so, and then let them poach on that side too. After another 2 minutes, remove the egg whites and place them in one layer into a deep baking dish, leave room in between them so they don’t stick. Repeat this until all of the egg whites are done. 
5. In a bowl, use a whisk to beat the egg yolks with the remaining sugar and about 1/2 cup milk (you might need more). *
6. Add some of the hot milk to the cold yolk mixture in order to temper it and then gradually combine the two together. 
7. Once they are combined, remove the vanilla bean and whisk the milk mixture thoroughly. 
8. Gently ladle the milk mixture into the baking dish where the egg whites are sitting.
9. Keep warm in the oven at 200 for about 30-45 minutes (any longer and the milk will thicken and become like pudding)

*Rachel uses 1 tablespoon of cornstarch, which she gradually adds into the egg yolk mixture until incorporated.  I forgot to buy it, so I went without.   Nevertheless, they were delicious!!!

A few weeks ago I had a chance to spend a couple of days with one of my dearest friends and her sister, who is a fabulous baker, at the sister’s house where I was made to feel right at home by her kindness, friendly and loving children, and the mouthwatering abundance of delicious food.  Needless to say, I had not just eaten some of the best pizza of my life, but I had made a lifelong friend in the process, for which I am always grateful.  Not to allow herself outdone by her sister, my friend Daniela, bakes the most scrumptious desserts which she then takes pictures of and sends to me.  Following is the recipe for one of them, which even I can bake, and I am not a baker. I’ve taken the license to make a few exceptions– the recipe calls for lemon peel and lemon juice, but I didn’t have lemons on hand so I used orange peel and orange juice instead–and the result was still extraordinary. Enjoy!

BREAD

1 package active dry yeast

1/4 cup warm water

1/4 cup warm milk

3 tbsps. sugar

1/4 cup butter, at room temperature

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. ground cardamom

2 large eggs

1 tsp. grated orange peel

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

CRANBERRY-ALMOND FILLING

1/4 cup butter, at room temperature

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

2 tbsps. sugar

1 cup finely chopped almonds

1 cup dried cranberries

1/2 tsp. grated orange peel

1/4 tsp. almond extract

GLAZE

2/3 cup powdered sugar

1 1/2 tsp orange juice

Stir the yeast with the warm water in a large bowl and let it stand for about 5 minutes, or until it foams.  Whisk in the sugar, butter, milk, cardamom, eggs, salt and orange peel and with a heavy spoon add the flour, one cup at a time, folding it in well.  Stir it for about 10 minutes.

On a lightly floured board knead the dough until smooth, incorporating more flour if necessary to prevent sticking.  Place the dough in a greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap.  Let it rise in a warm place until doubled in size.

In another bowl combine the butter, flour and sugar and whip until smooth.  Whisk in the almonds, dried cranberries, orange peel, and almond extract.  Cover and refrigerate.

Remove the doubled dough from its greased bowl onto a floured board and pound it down to release the air.  Roll it into a rectangle.  Crumble the filling over the dough and then tightly roll it up, sealing the edges by pinching.  Cut the roll in half lengthwise, turning cut sides up and then loosely twisting ropes around each other.

Onto a greased and floured baking sheet shape the twisted ropes into a ring.  Seal the ends by pinching them together.  Set them uncovered in a warm place to rise until swollen.

Bake until lightly browned in a 375 degree oven.  

Prepare the glaze by combining the powdered sugar, orange juice and water until smooth.  Drizzle over the bread and let it cool before serving.  Pairs extremely well with coffee, after dinner, as a snack, anytime.

My earliest memories of Christmas are all involved around this delicious recipe from my mother.  She used to make platters of it, then cut it up, roll it into two inch long pieces and wrap it in crinkled paper and foil and hang it on the fresh cut Christmas tree my father had just brought in.  Also hanging on the tree were precious oranges, walnuts in their shells, prettily wrapped candy, cookies, and real candles dripping wax.  We lived in communist Romania back then and didn’t have strings of lights, electric trains circling the tree, nor ornaments weighing down the branches.  Life was much more simple, much more real.  Maybe because we lacked what we now take for granted, any unexpected treat was such a luxury and such a joy.

Eagerly we anticipated the carolers we knew were coming anytime between nightfall and the crack of dawn on that night before Christmas. We, dressed in our finest, helped set out the pastries, the cookies, and the little fancy sandwiches my mother, my aunts, and my grandmother had worked on for the last several days.  The best china was brought out, for it was a perfect opportunity to show it off.  Butter, sugar, chocolate and coffee were precious commodities hoarded throughout the year, and only used for special occasions: Christmas, New Year, Easter, birthdays, weddings, christenings, and funerals.

The house filled up with guests who reminisced all through the night, eating sausage and dainty sandwiches.  The kids got to stay up too, and usually there were so many of us that when we couldn’t keep our eyes open anymore, every available surface or parent’s lap held a softly snoring child.

750 grams powdered milk

5 tablespoons good quality cocoa powder unsweetened

500 grams sugar

1 cup water

2 sticks unsalted butter cubed and at room temperature

1 tablespoon (or more) rum

1 cup roasted walnuts or hazelnuts (optional)

Coat a large cookie sheet with non-stick spray, or if you are seriously self-indulging, butter.  Have it ready and close by.

Sift the powdered milk and cocoa powder into a bowl, and combine with a whisk until well blended.  On medium heat make a syrup of sugar and water by pouring the cup of water into a deeper pan and gradually whisking in the sugar.  Don’t forget to stir!  Let it simmer a few minutes and check readiness by placing a teaspoon of it into a glass of water.  If it holds together it is ready, if not keep stirring! Add the blended powdered milk and cocoa and mix with a wooden spoon until it’s well incorporated.  If it is too thick, you can add water, but only a little at a time.  Work those muscles in your arms until it resembles a smooth chocolate frosting, otherwise you get air bubbles, or a mouthful of powder. Add the rum and the nuts, take it off the heat and stir in the cubed butter until all melted.  With the help of a spatula spread it on the prepared cookie sheet and let it cool at room temperature.  It will harden as it cools.  Enjoy it!  I guarantee it won’t last long.

By the way, I have no idea on the number of servings.

After a long day of early Christmas shopping it felt good to come home, build a roaring fire in the fireplace and eat a bowl of this delicious salmon chowder with huge chunks of homemade bread (Danny is a great baker!), smeared with roasted garlic and whipped butter.  Try it and let me know what you think.  I apologize in advance that I do not remember where I got this recipe from, but I do know that I substituted some vegetables based on the discerning palates of my two little ones.  The recipe serves about four. 

1/2 cube unsalted butter

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 large garlic clove, cut in narrow strips

5 green onions, sliced

1 red pepper, sliced in narrow strips

3 button mushrooms, cleaned and sliced

1 large potato, peeled and cubed

kosher salt to taste

fresh ground black pepper to taste

2 cups vegetable broth (simmer 1 onion, 3 celery stalks, 3 carrots, 1 potato and 1 parsnip if you want to make your own, if not use store bought)

3 tablespoons tomato paste

2 cups low fat milk

1/2 cup heavy cream

10 ounces smoked salmon

In a large, heavy pot over low heat melt the butter and add the olive oil.  Stir in the garlic, onions, red pepper, and mushrooms.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Turn heat to medium and saute, stirring constantly, for about 3 minutes.  Potatoes are next, stir for 5 minutes or until they get a slight roasted color.  Add the broth and cover, letting all ingredients simmer for about 10-15 minutes.  When potatoes are tender, add the milk, tomato paste, and salmon.  While it all simmers add the cream.  Enjoy!

     (Total preparation and cooking time about 30 minutes.)