A Lone Veg Presence in a Sea of French Chefs

French class is about to start after a nearly three month break (a lifetime when trying to study a language when you have a full time job and many other hobbies). In any event, all things French are on my mind: food, music, film and so on.

Flashback to a black tie French dinner I attend every year with my boyfriend, who is a chef with a fine French dining background. Last year's event was at the Ritz-Carlton New York, Battery Park. This is a far cry from our usual weekend nights of a pizza or bowl of pasta and a DVD from the library.

Whether eating vegetarian or vegan, I'm never impressed with what the kitchen comes up with at these types of functions just because it is so uninspired. I can almost predict the green salad, steamed vegetables and sorbet I'll get before I even sit down.

On the menu:
Poached White Asparagus
Herb Mousseline and Petite Salad
Vegan: The same, without the mousseline. Needed a drizzle of olive oil. Photo too fuzzy/dark: project four white asparagus with a small salad.

Butter Poached Lobster
Fava Beans, Sweet Breads, and Lobster Tarragon Sauce
Vegan: Green Salad. I hate to say I told you so.


Braised Short Rib
Polenta, Fiddlehead Ferns, Artichokes, Baby Carrots and Zinfandel Sauce
Vegan: Fiddlehead Ferns, Artichokes, Baby Carrots. Expected.


A cheese course is typical after the entree in many French meals. Tête de Moine (a Swiss varietal), Quince Puree and Port Wine Reduction arrived. A fresh fruit platter usually comes here. I didn't have any cheese that night, but I will be honest: I don't have the willpower I did initially turning down cheese in communal situations.

Molten Chocolate Pie with Vanilla Ice Cream
Vegan: Sorbet, mango and grapefruit.

Petits Fours ended the meal. I couldn't resist a dark chocolate.

I'm used to being the only one eating vegan or vegetarian in such situations. I don't think my food made anyone's mouth water.

They didn't have my favorite French cocktail, kir royale, which is champagne with crème de cassis (a blackcurrant liqueur). But I did dance cheek to cheek with my sweetheart to La Vie en Rose (an Edith Piaf classic) in my vintage 1950's black dress from the C.A.T.S. Resale Shop, which was marked down to $7 due to barely noticeable discoloration on the bottom. Add to that my $4 heels from C.A.T.S, which just needed a quick $10 repair at my local cobbler, and off-white gloves from a now closed vintage shop. It was definitely a French-themed night at the Ritz: Vegan Good Life-style.

Marc's Birthday- Blondies and Caramel Sauce

Marc loved the blondies from week two so much that he requested them for his birthday. I have had some requests for recipes so I decided to post the recipe for this, as well as the caramel sauce. I quartered the recipe we used in class and it fit perfectly in a square pan.

Blondies

butter- 4 oz
granulated sugar- 4 oz
brown sugar- 4 oz
vanilla extract- about 3/4 tsp
eggs- 2
All Purpose flour- 8 oz
cream of tarter- 1/2 tsp
baking soda- about 1/3 tsp
salt- 1/2 tsp
chocolate chips (white or dark)- 1 1/4 cups

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Cream butter and sugars.

Add vanilla and eggs slowly.

Add all the other dry ingredients.

Add chips in last and mix just till combined.

Spread in a pan sprayed with nonstick spray and bake at 350 degrees until toothpick comes out clean. Mine baked around 25 minutes.

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Caramel Sauce

butter- 1 stick
sugar- 1 cup
cream- 1 cup *less if you want a thicker sauce*

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Place sugar and cubed butter in a heavy bottomed pot. DO NOT MIX!!!



Let the butter melt and turn a medium brown in color. DO NOT MIX throughout process!!




Turn off the heat and slowly whisk in cream. Place in smaller containers to cool. It will thicken as it stands and cools.





Serve blondie with vanilla ice cream and drizzle with caramel sauce. I will take a photo of this later. Enjoy!

Goodbye, Hello: A Thrift Story

Goodbye Viktor & Rolf dress from H&M, never worn, $100 with the tags still affixed. I'm sorry I kept you for so long (a few years). I liked the idea of you (vintage-inspired), but didn't like your fabric and felt uncomfortable when I put you on. Too clingy. I saw you advertised in a glossy fashion magazine (Marie Claire to be exact) before I knew better and was wrongly seduced.

I hope someone else loves you can't wait to wear you. I donated you to the C.A.T.S. Resale Shop, and hope your proceeds can buy some cat food or pay for part of a vet bill. Actually, I should thank you. You were one of many valuable lessons to not "treat myself" to any more high priced fashions.

Hello, $5 GAP jeans! Online or in the store, you sell for $70. These are from the C.A.T.S. shop. With the seasons soon to change, you can find even greater bargains at thrift shops who are turning over winter items to spring. Many items at C.A.T.S. were just $1 last week.

This is my kind off "green fashion." More green in the wallet, more green for the charitable shop, more green for the planet (keeping things out of landfills and not producing new items).

One of the residents of C.A.T.S. up for adoption.

Do you have a fashion mistake lingering in your closet? Say goodbye. It's liberating. Give it away to a friend or relative, a charity shop or sell it on eBay, through a garage sale, or your local resale shop.

Find a charitable shop near you through TheThriftShopper.

I love that Oprah Winfrey is cleaning out her closet to shed unused items, and provided a list of where to donate everything from bridesmaids dress to eyeglasses and more.

I didn't love that her creative director on her show followed it up by telling women what they "must have." Among them: "spicy colors" (saffron and paprika: those are usually much more expensive than yellow and orange); a glitzy top; a fitted jacket; a printed jersey dress and a utility jacket. Even Oprah and her audience seemed skeptical about the printed jersey dress. Is there some secret meeting in Paris or Milan every year where fashion czars decide what the "must have's" are?

The fashion industry lives and breathes on getting women to no longer desire what they have and covet something they're told to like. I loathe the words "must have" and "on trend." I encourage all women and men to develop and embrace their own sense of style.

Everything I Have Inventory

We found this awesome poster at Caligraffiti, a Blog developed by Brazilian designers.
It includes everything the author has. A "personal belongings inventory" is a perfect exercise to put kids (and some adults!) in perspective. What a great way to teach kids the value of resources!

Toxins Linked to Brain Disorders in Kids

An article in a forthcoming issue of a peer-reviewed medical journal, Current Opinion in Pediatrics, just posted online a potential link between toxins exposure and brain didorders such as autism in kids. The author is Dr. Philip J. Landrigan, professor of pediatrics at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York and chairman of the school’s department of preventive medicine.

The article cites "historically important, proof-of-concept studies that specifically link autism to environmental exposures experienced prenatally." The "likelihood is high" that many chemicals "have potential to cause injury to the developing brain and to produce neurodevelopmental disorders."

Suspicions of toxins arise partly because studies have found that disproportionate shares of children develop autism after they are exposed in the womb to medications such as thalidomide (a sedative), misoprostol (ulcer medicine) and valproic acid (anticonvulsant). Of children born to women who took valproic acid early in pregnancy, 11 percent were autistic. In each case, fetuses seem most vulnerable to these drugs in the first trimester of pregnancy, sometimes just a few weeks after conception.

Sources: Current Opinion in Pediatrics and NYTimes

Honey Bread Covered with Dark Chocolate: a Tradition Overseas

Honey Bread with Dark Chocolate topping is a tradition in some countries in Latin America. Considered a comfort food, locals can find it in almost all bakeries, and serve it throughout the year. Very delicious, healthy and decadent! Here is the recipe:

Honey Bread with Dark Chocolate Topping
Servings: Makes a 9x12 inches pan

- 3 cups all-purpose flour (make it whole wheat to increase fiber value)
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 3 tbs cocoa powder
- 1 cup honey
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- 3 tbs butter
- 1 cup milk
- 1 tsp baking powder

Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl and stir until well combined. Pour into a greased 9 x 12 inch (22 x 30 cm) baking pan and bake in a preheated 325F (160C) oven for about 20 minutes, or until done (test with a toothpick).
When cool, cut into 2 inch (5 cm) squares and glaze with a chocolate or sugar frosting.

2 Versions for Dark Chocolate Topping:

1. Easy way using the microwave:
- Dark chocolate bars or chips for baking.

Place coarsely chopped dark chocolate, or dark chocolate chips for baking, in a microwave-safe container and microwave at MEDIUM (50 percent power) for 1 1/2 to 4 minutes, until the chocolate turns shiny. Remove the container from the microwave and stir the chocolate until completely melted.
Cover the bread with the chocolate paste while still warm.

2. Another version using the cooktop:
- 1 tablespoon of unsalted butter
- 3/4 cup of sugar or honey
- 3 full tablespoons of dark chocolate powder
- 3 tablespoons of milk

Mix all ingredients in a pan. Cook for 3 minutes, stirring it. Spread on top of the bread.

Verrines

A while back, Kate at Serendipity introduced me to verrines. And when I looked into it, I discovered Tartelette had posted several others (scroll down on her page to see the rest)...so unusual that I've been intrigued ever since. Needing to know more, I went online, then to the library (no luck), then to Barnes and Noble (still no luck) and finally ended up back online with Amazon. And there I discovered a little gem of a book simply entitled Verrines. However, there was a bit of a problem...it was in French. Damn. Oh well, I had to have it so I treated myself, cringing as I paid the USED price of $35!!! The only thing that makes me feel the least bit smug about this wild splurge is as of today, the cheapest one Amazon has is $88! My treasure arrived last week. I love it, love it, love it and plan to solve the language problem by using Google translate and my darling French-speaking daughter.

Verrines can be just about anything: appetizer, salad or dessert. For my  trial run I chose an appetizer verrine. Now I don't have the adorable glasses that Kate and the book have, but used a small glass coffee cup. It seemed the perfect size for an appetizer as savory as this. I loved the way it turned out and served it the same night. Everyone was so enthusiastic! Here are a few other brilliant ideas from the book. The first two are both appetizers, the first one has a ratatouille base and the second is ham and cucumber. The second two are desserts, something fabulous in chocolate and the other is made with bananas and perhaps a panna cotta:

I'm going to make some these recipes for future posts, but after looking through the book it occurred to me that many of these verrines actually looked like deconstructed salads, appetizers and desserts. Why couldn't I give that idea a try? So I made a dessert I have been meaning to post: Eton Mess. And decontructed it in the brandy glass so when it's served, everyone can stir it all together and make the "mess" they're supposed to make!

Eton Mess originated at one of England's most famous public schools, Eton. As I understand, it is served during their prize-giving ceremonies. I think this translates perfectly into a dessert verrine.

Enjoy my two successful experiments, take another look at your glassware, think about what recipes would be fun showcased in each and go for it! Let me know any super inventions you come up with!

Verrine À l'italienne
Adapted from Verrines by José Maréchal

 
Ingredients:

60 grams (2 ounces) of black olive tapenade
50 grams (1.6 ounces) pesto
4 tomatoes
60 grams (2 ounces) sun dried tomatoes
large ball of Buffalo mozzarella

Method:

Cut the tomatoes into quarters, remove seeds and dice. Mix the tomatoes with the sun dried tomatoes in a food processor and process.
Cut thin slices of mozzarella with a cookie cutter that is exactly the size of your container.
To finish your verrine, layer tapenade, a slice of mozzarella, the tomato mixture, another slice of mozzarella and top it off with pesto. Serve with breadsticks.

Eton Mess Verrine
Adapted from Jamie Oliver’s Cook with Jamie

Ingredients:

1 basic meringue recipe (or buy some ready-made)
1 pint whipping cream
1 vanilla pod, scored and seeds removed
2 tablespoons sugar
2 cups strawberries, hulled and sliced
1/2 cup raspberries
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon rosewater

Method:

Have your meringues prepared in advance. Whip the cream with the vanilla seeds. Soft peaks are good enough, you don’t need it to get too stiff. Take half the fruit, mash it in a bowl with sugar, balsamic vinegar and rosewater. The other half I sliced and added a touch of sugar. Smash the meringues into smallish chunks. Bring out your glasses and layer as follows: some of the crushed fruit, some crushed meringue, some whipped cream and then some of the sliced berries. Continue until your verrine is filled and top with a nice strawberry.

Paintable Villa

These unique green, eco-friendly toy provides your child with hours of creative play after the painting is over. It comes with a set of eight, washable, non-toxic water colors.
The cottages are 100% recyclable. Made with sturdy double walled corrugated board, all non-toxic and extremely durable.
Kids can use unlimited imagination to create a whole city!


From Inventive Parent

Wooden Bookends for Kids

These wooden bookends are beautifully handcrafted. Several options to choose from, matching almost all nursery themes. A great motivation to add up on books!
The Clowns are from Beyond the Rainbow. The biplane is from Chucks Wooden Toys.

Week 7- tortes and souffles

This week in pastry we worked on tortes. We started with a mango torte and also made a caraibe torte. The mango torte used a patterned jaconde cake as the base so when it is inverted, it has a pretty patterned top. This was placed in a mold and the rest of the layers were spread or cut to fit on top of that so it was all nice and even. The next layer was a mascarpone mousse that we sprinkled with diced mangos. Next was a layer of spongecake topped with a layer of mango gelee. Another layer of spongecake was placed on top of that, followed by a final layer of the mascarpone mousse. It all got topped off with another layer of the jaconde cake. This got placed in the freezer to set up and then was unmolded. I do not have photos of this or the caraibe torte yet because we are going to finish them off another week. It is going to be used in a buffet that we are going to be doing with another class.

The caraibe torte was a layer of devils food cake that we brushed a simple syrup combined with rum on top of. We then spread a layer of chocolate buttercream on top and placed another layer of devils food cake on the top. We glazed that with the syrup again and it is being frozen. We will finish it off with a chocolate ganache and decorate it with chocolate meringue sticks.

The chocolate buttercream we made was absolutely amazing!! In case you are interested, here is the recipe. It is the smoothest icing I have ever had and I wanted to just eat a cup of it all by itself.
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First you make a pastry cream:

milk- 1 qt
vanilla bean, split- 1
granulated sugar- 7.5 oz
egg yolks- 6 oz (10 yolks)
cornstarch- 2.5 oz
unsalted butter- 2 oz

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Bring the milk, vanilla bean, and 3 oz of the sugar to a boil in a non reactive saucepan.

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks and gradually add the remaining sugar to them. Whisk in the cornstarch to combine.

Temper the yolk mixture with 1/4 of the boiling milk. *This means to slowly add the milk while whisking continuously into the eggs. It SLOWLY cooks the eggs without curdling them.* Return the yolk mixture to the saucepan and cook, whisking vigorously, until cream thickens. Boil about 2 minutes, stirring constantly.

Remove from heat and pour into a clean mixing bowl.

Fold in butter until melted. Do not overmix!!

Cover with plastic wrap on the surface of custard. Chill over ice bath. Remove vanilla bean just before using.

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When pastry cream is cold, make the buttercream:

butter- 1 lb
powdered sugar- 10 oz
vanilla extract- 1 fl oz
semisweet chocolate- 14 oz

In a mixing bowl fitted with whip attachment, whip all ingredients until light. Add 1 lb 8 oz of the COLD pastry cream and mix until combined. Turn off the machine and add 14 oz of melted and then cooled to 88 degrees semisweet chocolate. Whip until well blended.

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We also made souffles. We made a basic chocolate souffle and we also made a chocolate souffle cake with peanut butter honey centers. Here are the photo's of that. You serve them piping hot, straight from the oven before they deflate. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and split with a fork at the table and pour in cream so they don't burn their mouths. My group topped the peanut butter chocolate souffle with a berry coulis, as well, and it tasted like peanut butter and jelly!





Here is my tablemate's plate:

Baby Shower Plantable Ducks

What a great idea for a shower favor, or goodie bags! These plantable ducks bloom flowers including baby's breath, powder puff asters, and black eyes susan flowers. Each duck comes in a vellum package with the message: "Thank you for sharing this special day. Please plant this duck to create4 a garden of lasting memories."

Find it at greenplanetparties.com

Multilingual Cards

These products are perfect for multilingual kids! Gender neutral wall cards made from 100% recycled cardstock, with numbers or alphabet in foreign languages. Perfect for the nursery or playroom. Each set of cards come wrapped in a biodegradable cello package.
Card sets are available in sizes 5x7 or 8x10. They come in English, Chinese, Spanish, Italian, German, French and Swedish.

From Children Inspire Design.

I Can't Believe It's Vegan: Chocolate Cake Edition

It was hard to top the vegan lemon blueberry cake, but co-worker extraordinaire Kathy outdid herself with this vegan Mexican chocolate cake from RecipeZaar at our Tuesday tea breaks.

After most of the day in my cramped cubicle (doesn't working in New York City sound glamorous?), a cup of tea (I went for Tazo's Awake this time) and a slice of cake lifted the spirits.


Non-vegan crumb cake was also offered. Veganize it with help from VeganYumYum.

I cannot imagine my life without something a little sweet. I have no desire to a) be a size 2, b) live to be 110, or c) deprive myself of one of life's greatest pleasures – soul-nourishing food.

I go back to what Michael Pollen said about the French associating chocolate cake with celebration and Americans associating it with guilt. I guess I'm a Frenchie at heart.

Find vegan baking tips at Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale, including endless recipe ideas. It often just involves a few swap-outs and ta-dah...it's vegan.

Vegan has a stigma. It shouldn't. Eggs from chickens in battery cages don't seem to have a stigma. Those should. Eggs should not cost 99 cents a carton (that's 8.25 cents per egg). Those low prices come at a very high cost to living, sentient beings.

Monkey Pants

Cute, cute, cute. This organic baby Monkey Pants set is really something. Very soft, and 100% organic cotton.
You can also buy extra pieces, including the bib, the burp cloth and the diaper bag.

All made by Sckoon, and sold through Amazon.

New Healthy Recipes Index : For Babies, Kids and Adults

Check out our new index with several healthy recipes, for babies, kids and adults. The index features delicious, healthy and easy-to-make recipes for breakfast, main courses, sides and desserts, ideal for for kids and adults.
The baby food section includes recipes for stages I, II and finger foods.

The recipes are definitely easier than you think...check them out!

Is It Safe for Babies to Drink Water?

Can I give water to my baby? That is a common question among parents that should always be checked with each individual pediatrician. We found an answer in a publication from Dr. Greene, a renowned pediatrician. Here is the summary:

Water intoxication

"Too much water can cause water intoxication in babies. Each time a baby pees, he or she loses not only water but sodium and other electrolytes. But unlike with adults, who tend to get too much sodium in our diets, babies usually get just the electrolytes they need from breast milk or formula. Too much water and they lose too much sodium. The sodium levels in their blood can plummet and cause irritability, brain swelling, unresponsiveness and seizures. (Note: Water intoxication also involves other factors, but that’s more detail than I can go into here.)

The risk of water intoxication is especially high if the baby is losing both water and electrolytes from diarrhea. Fluid losses should be replaced with breast milk, formula or perhaps a rehydration solution. Don’t give plain water for rehydration.

The risk is also high if formula is diluted with too much water in a misguided effort to save a little money."

What about dehydration?

"If you are concerned that your baby is getting dehydrated, contact your health care provider. We expect babies to pee at least once in the first 24 hours of life, at least twice in the second 24 hours, and at least three times every day thereafter."

Should you boil water given to young babies?

"Boiling is the most certain way of killing all of these organisms. Even though the risk of any infection is probably far below 1 percent, I agree with the American Academy of Pediatrics in recommending that sterile water be used for young babies, even when used to prepare infant formula. In practice, this usually means boiling the water for one minute, at least for the first couple of months."

For more details, please logon to drgreene.com, or nytimes.com

Peace, Love and River Cleanups

For keeping all of this and much, much more out of our waterways...

...someone should throw the Hackensack Riverkeeper a party.

Instead, they threw us one!

Captain Bill Sheehan, the Hackensack Riverkeeper, giving words of thanks to the crowd at their annual volunteer appreciation party.

The night's theme: Flower Power. The attire: hippie. Easy: all from my own closet. I didn't see this much tie-dye since my weekend in Woodstock. Born in 1975, I missed out on the sixties. If I had a time machine, it would definitely stop there for a while.

The environment was kept in mind. I took a cheerful plastic cloth home to reuse again.

Retro or not, every party should have a punch bowl.

Vegetarian Sloppy Joe's! Make them at home using BOCA ground crumbles, or try recipes using tofu or beans.

I love one-pot meals like this for entertaining. It keeps it simple. I'm often mortified by the amount of food (and food waste) at parties, weddings, etc., and that people spend so much for food many don't even want.

Spinach salad was available, but old school iceberg lettuce seemed like a fitting choice for sloppy joe's.

I always feel like a little kid around cupcakes.

Even the Mississippi mud pie was in the spirit. Veganize it at home.

Love tricky tray auctions. This wine carrier with glasses and cloth napkins would go so well for my summer picnics. Didn't win.

Nor did I win this cute little cloth tote.

The cleanup season kicks off officially on Sunday, April 18, in Overpeck County Park in Leonia. Learn more about river cleanups, and their other eco-programs. I'll be documenting the clean-ups I attend, so you'll be there too.