That's What Jenni Said

To follow the roasted goose we served on Christmas (as mentioned in my last post) Jonathan baked sticky toffee pudding, following a recipe I clipped from Bon Appetit. It’s a confusing dish for Americans because it’s not pudding (it’s cake!) and it doesn’t feature toffee (the Brits call caramel toffee). Language barrier notwithstanding, it’s a terrific dessert. Sweet and decadent. Even more so when we plated it atop a generous spoonful of vanilla custard we had leftover from the morning’s pastry breakfast. We also opted to top the pudding with roasted hazelnuts and pecans. ingredients Pudding: 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan 1 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour plus more for pan 1 1/2 cups chopped pitted dates (about 6 ounces) 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon sea salt 1 cup sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 large eggs Sauce: 1 1/4 cups (packed) light brown sugar 1/2 cup heavy cream 1/4 cup (1/2 st...

  This year we decided to roast a goose for Christmas (it turned out really well) which meant I found myself with a goose liver on hand. After a bit of researching I found this wonderful recipe from Jacques Pepin and after making a few modifications, I set about preparing it for tonight’s New Year’s Eve celebration. Like Christmas, tonight’s dinner will be a quiet, low key affair for just the two of us as I’m still feeling down about my mother’s passing in early December. We picked up her ashes yesterday. It’s all a bit surreal. We snuck an advance taste of the pate this afternoon and it is marvelous. Marvelous! I recommend serving it with cherry jam (we’re going to use the homemade jam we canned over the summer) on rich buttery crackers. ingredients 3 ounces goose fat 1 large shallot, peeled and coarsely chopped (2 1/2 tablespoons) 1 goose liver (about 3 ounces), chopped 1 teaspoon herbes de Provence (or more, to taste) 1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/...

This month's issue of Bon Appetit featured a quick and easy winter soup infused with Asian flavors. I made it for dinner last night with some modifications and it went over very well.  Herbs and spices are paired with poached chicken and mushrooms and the result is a warm and flavorful broth that elevates ordinary chicken soup to a deeper, more soulful, plane. I've adopted the recipe as my own and with how simple and speedy the prep is, I'll be making it frequently.  Here's my version (serves 3): Chicken and Mushroom Soup with Chile  1 T olive oil 5 cloves of garlic, peeled 2   bay leaves 1 T allspice 2 large  boneless, skinless chicken breasts  1½   teaspoons   kosher salt, plus more 1 T chicken broth base 8   ounces baby portobello  mushrooms, sliced 1  serrano  chile, thinly sliced 1   1” piece ginger, peeled and grated 1  T rice  vinegar 1  T  ...

I've been varying my media diet as of late and ingesting a lot of content that I don't normally favor and it's been GREAT. I want to highlight some of the stand outs. Movies 1. Hillsborough. This documentary is part of the ESPN 30 for 30 soccer stories that have been produced and are being released in advance of the upcoming world cup. The film draws us into the scene of one of the worst soccer stadium disasters in history during a soccer match between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest at the Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, England. It's not so much about sports as it is about crowd behavior, police cover up, politics, and the importance of proper architectural design. Even if you're not a sports fan you'll be riveted. It's airing again on June 6th at 10pm on ESPN. If you don't mind spoilers, the in-depth discussion of the film can be found here: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/espns-30-30-soccer-stories-694728 2. Hoop Dreams. This documenta...

  I received a copy of Sue Conley & Peggy Smith’s new cookbook, Cowgirl Creamery cooks, several months ago after great anticipation of it’s publication. There’s a Cowgirl Creamery right here in the Washington, DC metro area, making it easy to source the recipes. Our review team has made a handful of recipes from this beautiful book so far: Parmesan crusted chicken, classic mac and cheese, and pancakes. The chicken dish turned out the best; the recipe was easy to follow and included a helpful and detailed description on how to wet/dry coat the chicken breasts and make clarified butter. A novice cook could follow this recipe with ease. We would have liked to see a picture included but otherwise it was very good and we will make this again. The mac and cheese turned out well also. The directions were easy to follow and we loved the beautiful picture. Note that this recipe uses a béchamel sauce as the basis for the cheese sauce and this can be a tricky sauce to perfect, so it m...

I know that for you, my friends in my inner circle, it can be quite exhausting at times. I'm relentless and aggressive in evangelizing my outlook on life. I can't help it. I so firmly believe that there is joy to be found around that next corner that the enthusiasm for what's to come just bubbles out of me. I am excited about the magic within our reach. Life *is* magical. Life is a miracle. Every day is an amazing gift! I want to live mine to it's fullest potential and I want to see you do the same alongside. I know that God created the universe and from end to end it's filled with wonder. I'm an optimist because the most powerful all-mighty God set things in motion to come together for the best and that's not just a fairytale but a promise we can count on. I count on it. I expect it. When you're in my inner circle my joy is going to knock on your heart over and over again. It's going to whisper to you, 'Believe. Believe in love. Believe in joy. ...

After my father died and in the midst of my grief I found that I wanted to hear his voice more than anything. I scoured my voicemail archives, searching desperately for even one message from him. And then I found this, played it, and felt comforted. He died in March of 2011 and I have probably replayed this voicemail thousands of times since. At first I played it over and over and over again every day but as the time passed I find I need to come back to it only once every few months or so. Note that if you're viewing this post through the email subscription distribution you probably won't be able to playback the audio; you'll need to come to my blog site to listen to to.