Category: Personal

Random August Notes Including Art and a Table

August 13, 2010

First and very foremost, I want to tell you about an amazing project I am a part of.   Hsiao-Ching Chou, a former restaurant critic for a Seattle newspaper, decided to start her own magazine geared toward helping families who love to eat.  The first issue of Refrigerator Soup, which you can purchase here, includes articles from some wonderful local food writers and bloggers.  This issue’s focus is on the role that moms play in the world of family eating.  I’m honored that she asked me to write an article for the magazine and am thrilled to be in the company of some truly great writers.  Please check out Refrigerator Soup and if you like it, tell your friends!

Randy and I hosted a big party last weekend, ostensibly for my birthday.  (Yes, the celebration is ongoing.)  We like to have a party each summer because we have a good summer party house.  Unfortunately, the weather was more like November so we all stayed inside and, consequently, I did not take a single photograph of the food I made.  (And yes, I made the food for my own party.)  But I did get a photo with two of my best friends.  Michelle, on the left, I have mentioned here.  Lauren, in the middle, I have mentioned here.  I have been friends with both of them for over 15 years.  I have several photos like this in albums and shoeboxes, just the three of us together at various stages in our lives.  I feel lucky to have celebrated my 40th with them.  We are not the Three Musketeers, we are the Three Brunettes.

This is my dining room.  I love this room.  It is west facing so it gets wonderful afternoon light and it is where I take almost all of my photos.  Lauren, see above, helped us pick the color of the walls and I love how they look in both winter and summer light.  We recently got this new amazing dining room table, again with the help of Lauren, and I was thrilled to see the company highlighted in the New York Times.  Meyer Wells makes incredibly beautiful furniture out of reclaimed wood.  Trees that have fallen in storms or have been taken down due to disease find their way into their studio and re-emerge as functioning works of art.  All of the furniture is made from trees that come from within a ten mile radius of Seattle.  Cool, huh?

For our table, we were able to choose our wood and then choose our actual tree.  We were able to customize it with two leaves so that, when they are both in, we can comfortably seat 12 and up to 14.  This will come in handy at Thanksgiving and it came in handy when a certain party ended up indoors rather than outdoors (see above).  We have been using a nice but very plain teak table that we bought in London and had shipped back here.  I always thought it was crazy to spend money on a table but that was before I saw learned about these guys.  (By the way, those little votives are GlassyBabys.  I catered an event at their glassblowing studio in May.)

I can’t show you the dining room without mentioning this painting.  Soon after we moved in to our house, we realized we were going to need something big for this wall.  It’s a big wall.  We went to a wonderful local art show and met an extremely talented artist there named Erik Hall whose work we really liked.  Erik does custom work so we invited him over for dinner to take a look at our wall.  He envisioned a triptych, showed us some sketches, and just a few short months later, this beauty graced our walls.  Three years later I am still mesmorized by this painting every time I see it.

I leave you with a minor miracle in the Dana Treat household – an on the fly family photo where all four of us are looking at the camera.  And it’s sunny.  And Mt. Baker is in the background.  Great job Mr. Ferry Man!


Category: Personal
Permalink | Print Print | 13 Comments

Forty

July 27, 2010

Yesterday was my birthday.  I turned 40.  I’ve been talking about this for a long time so I won’t go on and on about it.

Last year, I decided this was going to be the year of yoga.  I wanted to start slowly and get my practice back on track so that, on my 40th I could do 40 sun salutations.  I am not a big goal-setter.  But I did set this goal and I accomplished it.  Without really even breaking a sweat.

Yep.  40 of those.

Last year I also set some food goals for myself.  I haven’t gotten around to making my own pasta yet (I bought the Kitchen Aid attachment though!), or crèpes, and I’ve given up on the idea of a sourdough starter because the truth is, I don’t really like sourdough bread.  I did make Holly B’s cinnamon rolls and almond butterhorns, I’ve made lots of ice cream, and I’ve gotten more practice with layer cakes.  I’m not sure I could say I’ve gotten better at them.  I feel they still control me rather than me controlling them.  After another year of practice perhaps.

My 30’s were quite a decade.  I started them untangling myself from a disastrous relationship and working at a job that I hated.  Just a few short months later, I met Randy and everything changed.  In the last 10 years I have…

gotten married
had two children
trained to teach yoga
taught yoga
moved to London and back again
traveled a fair amount
bought and sold two houses
started a personal chef business
stopped my personal chef business
started my blog

And countless other little and big things.  I’ve been busy.  I wonder what the next 10 years holds.


Category: Personal
Permalink | Print Print | 30 Comments

Summer

July 9, 2010

If you have ever lived in Seattle, or know anyone who lives in Seattle, then you are familiar with the words “summer starts on July 5th”.  Some years we are lucky and get a sunny June.  This year the entire spring was a nightmare of cold temps and lots of rain.  It stays light here until 10pm around the solstice but what good does that do you if you can’t even be outside in the light because of the rain?  Those words – the ones about July 5th – became something of a mantra in our city this year.  Leading up to that (late) first day of summer, I was seriously considering a move to California.  And I grew up here.  I can’t imagine the poor souls who recently moved here and were wondering what in the sam hell is going on with the weather??

Well, what do you know.  July 4th was 57ºF and raining.  July 5th the heavens parted and the sun came out.  Today, Friday, it will be 91ºF.  Now trust me, seeing the sun and feeling warmth on my skin is intoxicating.  That vitamin D thing is real!  But (I swear I’m not complaining!) would it be too much to ask for, maybe 75ºF?

I have a backlog of recipes to share.  Summer means lots of things food-wise.  It also means new haircuts and shorts jammies.

Oh yes!  I had a little contest a few weeks ago and have finally picked a winner.  As usual, my trusty sidekicks picked the winning comment number and I took a picture of it.  That picture did not turn out.  So please trust me when I say comment #24  wins David Lebovitz’s The Sweet Life in Paris and her choice of one of his other books.  Cynthia says this about Paris:

There’s a hospital, or what I think is a hospital, near Notre Dame. I peeked in their courtyard, and saw a statue dressed in bright gold pajamas. I neither speak nor read French, and my traveling companion was off photographing the cathedral. Too see that bit of whimsy made my day. The fact that I was in Paris! didn’t hurt, either.

Cynthia, send me an email with you address and choice for the second book!  Thank you all for your thoughtful comments and suggestions.


Category: Personal
Permalink | Print Print | 7 Comments

Bounty

July 1, 2010

I’m home.  It was hot.  I got a pot.  The end.

Just joking.  You’ve never known me to be particularly pithy, have you?

My trip to Europe was wonderful as you can imagine.  I had worried a bit about it being too short and that I was trying to cram too much in that short time.  But I didn’t feel that way at all.  By a good stroke of luck, I was able to get right on Cannes time without the three days of jet lag that I used to feel whenever I would fly East.  I think that helped.  And of course I would have liked more time in each of the three cities I visited but I never felt like I was running from one to the next.  The fact that I didn’t have two very sweet but very-noisy-demanding-of-my-time-and-attention boys following my every step made the whole trip feel luxurious.

This also helped contribute to the feeling of luxury.  That would be the view from our hotel room.

You know how every family has stories that get told over and over again?  Every time we all start to talk about American ideas of what European hotels should be, my mom brings out the one about me biting into a bar of soap in Cannes.

In 1971, Europe was impossibly cheap for Americans and because my parents were young and insane, they decided to take me on a whirlwind trip to five different countries.  I was just under a year old.  In Cannes, we stayed at a very posh looking hotel called the Carlton.  The rooms all had toilets but no baths or showers and if you wanted to bathe, you had to call for a maid who would unlock the room with the bath located on each floor.  After a day of playing in the sand, I was filthy and my mom decided she would just get in the bath with me to wash off.  For one second she turned her back and in that time, I managed to get a hold of a bright white bar of soap and take a big bite – a foodie even then.  As soon as I actually tasted what I had bitten into, I started to scream.  And because that little bite of soap got stuck behind my brand new front teeth, I continued to scream.  My mom, horrified, tried to hook her finger behind my teeth to get the soap out and I bit her.  Imagine my poor mother, 25 years old, naked with a screaming baby and a bleeding finger in a hotel where she barely spoke the language, just waiting for some gendarme to come and bust down the door to save the screaming baby.  One of those funny now, so not-funny then stories.

Anyway, the irony is the Carlton is where Randy and I stayed.  I assure you, we had a bathroom with a tub.  And we had that view.  I don’t remember one second of that 1971 trip, so I will tell you that this was really my first trip to the Côte d’Azur – the beautiful Riviera.  I am always amazed by the diversity of landscape in that incredible country roughly the size of Texas.  This view has nothing in common with the rolling hills of Normandy or the Kansas flat of the region right around Paris.  It is a beach very different from the wind-swept wild sands of Brittany and the food, accent, and look of the people is completely different too.  Cannes would probably not have been on my life’s itinerary if not for a conference which brought Randy there.  And we certainly would not have had the room with its king size bed, soaring ceilings, and incredible view, so I am grateful to have experienced it.

But on to Paris and the list of kitchen shops I had crunched in my fist.  We walked into the first gleaming gorgeous shop and I got that huge flutter of excitement in my gut.  Like the proverbial kid in a candy shop – where do I start first??  I want one of everything!  (Incidentally, I later found myself in an actual candy shop on the Île St. Louis and I got precisely the same feeling.  I walked through the shop, running my hands over the gorgeous sweets on offer, and was too overwhelmed to actually buy anything.)  As my eyes flicked around the shop and as I wound my way up three floors of beautiful things for the kitchen, I started to realize something a bit disturbing.  I have most of this stuff.

There are those people who say that all you really need in the kitchen is a few good pots, a frying pan, a trio of sharp knives (chef, paring, bread), and a cutting board.  While I appreciate the simplicity of that claim and can certainly tell you that those are the only things I use without fail every single day, I am the person who will also tell you that having a citrus juicer and an egg slicer, several bench scrapers and pastry cutters, 9, 10, 11, and 12-inch fluted tart pans, all manner of palette knives and offset spatulas, countless wooden spoons, and an egg poacher – not to mention drawers and cabinets full of other things – is a joy impossible to describe.  Until you find yourself on a trip six years in the making and realize that all those things you thought you might purchase?  Well, you already have purchased them.

Not everything of course.  I bought some tiny tartlet pans and a loaf pan in a size you never see in the States.  I got a couple of serving forks and a spatula with a wooden handle, and a bread knife from Poilâne.  I bought a copper ladle that I will probably never use because it’s too pretty.  I also got this guy.

On my search for a brand of copper pot well-known in France but impossible to get in the States, what I found is that everyone sells Mauviel.  The type you can get in any Williams Sonoma store.  The exact brand of the gorgeous risotto pot that my parents bought me for Hanumass last year to start me on my collection – the pot that I returned because I was going to find my boutique brand of pot in Paris, and I wanted them all to match.  No need to kick me, I am doing it to myself as I type.

Anyway, the prices were better in Paris than in the States and I couldn’t come home pot-less so I decided on this beauty.  As someone who bakes, I actually have use for a double boiler.  Yes, putting a bowl over a pot of simmering water works just as well – but isn’t this pretty?  My dad, ever the scientist, asked me about the chemistry of this decision.  Why do you need copper if you are trying to tame the temperature?  Don’t you buy copper for the heat conductivity?  Silly dad.  No,  you buy copper because it is gorgeous.

Speaking of gorgeous.  Look at my mom.  I have that to look forward to.

Anyway.  I got all kinds of food treats and ate some yummy things.  All to come in the next post.


Category: Family, Personal, Travel
Permalink | Print Print | 18 Comments

Spoiled Rotten

June 19, 2010

Six years ago, right around this time of year, Randy and I were living in London.  One day I sat in a wonderful cooking class at Leith’s – a day-long class on vegetarian food.  The teacher was swift and engaging and while I didn’t learn much in particular, it was a joy to watch such a professional work.  My eyes kept drifting up to the stacks upon stacks of copper pots on the shelves behind her.  She mentioned that the school had bought the pots and pans back in the 1950’s and they were the ones still used in the kitchens.  Dreamily I thought, “I want copper pots from Paris”.  Practically I thought, “I just got brand new stainless steel All Clad pots – there is no way I could justify buying copper”.  Dreamily I thought, “For my 40th birthday, I want to go to Paris and buy copper pots”.  The class wrapped up, I went home and told Randy about my 40th birthday plan – six years in the future – to which he said, “Got it”.

“Got it” in Randy language means many things.  Sometimes it means “please stop talking, I understand you” and other times it means “I am taking your criticism and I am moving on”.  In this instance it meant “you are making a special request of me and regardless of how frivolous it may sound, I will see that I fulfill it”.  If you know my husband, he is a get-shit-done kind of guy.  He is a tremendous problem solver, an incredibly hard worker, and he really likes to plan.  What you may not know is that he is a pretty romantic guy and he really likes to make me happy.

So, my 40th birthday is this summer (July 26th to be exact) and on Tuesday, I am flying to France.  Randy has business in Cannes so I will meet up with him there, then fly to Paris for a few days, then take the Eurostar to London for one day, and then back home.  It will be whirlwind.  I feel very lucky.  My in-laws are flying in from Atlanta to stay with my kids and I will get my husband all to myself for a whole week.  A week in Europe where I have not been in six years.

Will I buy pots?  I don’t know.  It is highly impractical.  I can’t carry them on the plane and to ship them would be ridiculously expensive.  I hope to maybe find a brand that does business online and buy them that way.  I have a list of shops to visit but our time is limited, especially since one of our two full days in Paris will be a Sunday.  Maybe I will just buy a symbolic pot (like a ½ quart butter-melter) and spend the rest of my money on chocolate.  I know that it doesn’t matter.  I will lay on the beach in Cannes.  I will have an early birthday dinner with Randy and my parents (who are joining us) in Paris.  I will get to have lunch with Ele and Hilary in London.  I get to fly on an airplane armed with stacks of books and magazines and not one single Sesame Street DVD, garbage truck, or Leap Frog game.  Parents of small children, you know what I am talking about.

Whenever I feel extra spoiled, I feel like I want to give back.  Here is where the chocolate cookies come in.  I got the recipe for these treats from David Lebovitz’s new book Ready for Dessert.  David Lebovitz, if you don’t know, is an American pastry chef and ice cream guru living in Paris.  He has written a number of cookbooks (including the only ice cream book you will ever need – The Perfect Scoop) and also a memoir about living in the city of lights called The Sweet Life in Paris.  Wouldn’t it be nice to have a contest, pick a winner, and send that person to Paris?  Unfortunately, that is not going to happen.  So, I’m going to have a contest, pick a winner, and send that person a copy of The Sweet Life in Paris and winner’s choice of one his other books.  Just tell me what your favorite spot is in Paris and if you haven’t been, tell me what would be your first stop in that beautiful city.

I will pick a winner when I return from my journey.  I will have a few posts go up while I am gone.  Until then, à bientôt!

One Year Ago: Strawberry and Sour Cream Ice Cream (from The Perfect Scoop!)
Two Years Ago: Spicy Lime and Herbed Tofu in Lettuce Cups (pardon the photo)

Flo’s Chocolate Snaps
Adapted from Ready for Dessert
Makes about 50 cookies

I took the liberty of adding ½ a cup of mini chocolate chips to my batter which you could, of course, leave out.  I cut my cookies a bit thicker than he recommends and next time I will just listen to him so they are thinner and snappier.

3 cups flour
¾ unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
2½ tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1¼ cups sugar, plus more for sprinkling
½ tsp. vanilla extract
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 large egg yolk, at room temperature
½ cup mini chocolate chips (optional)

Into a small bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt.

In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the butter and the sugar on medium speed just until smooth.  Add the vanilla, then beat in the egg and egg yolk.

Gradually add the cocoa mixture to the butter mixture, mixing until completely incorporated and no streaks of butter remain.  If using, mix the chocolate chips in by hand using a spatula.

On a lightly floured surface, divide the dough into quarters, and shape each quarter into a log about 7 inches long and 1½ inches in diameter.  Wrap the logs in plastic wrap and refrigerate until they’re firm enough to slice, about 1 hour.

Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven; preheat the oven to 350ºF.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.  (DT: I skipped this step and had no trouble with the cookies sticking.)

Slice the logs into disks ½-inch thick and place the disks on the prepared baking sheets, spaced about ½-inch apart.  Bake, rotating the baking sheets midway through baking, until the cookies are puffed and slightly firm, 10 to 12 minutes.  Remove from the oven and immediately sprinkle with a bit of sugar.

Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets until firm enough to handle, then use a spatula to transfer them to a wire rack.  They will continue to firm up and get “snappy” as they cool.

(The dough can be refrigerated for up to 5 days or frozen for up to 1 month.  The baked cookies can be kept in an airtight container for 2 days.)


Category: Chocolate, Cookies, Personal, Travel
Permalink | Print Print | 60 Comments

« Older Posts