The countdown

People have told me that after you turn 25 it's all down hill. I have a couple days left to totally indulge.

• mashed potatoes with lots of butter and heavy cream
• juicy steak with caramelized onions
• broccoli with sunflower seeds

I guess I'll have to eat more of the broccoli and less of the fatty meat and mashed potatoes!

And when you don't cook....

when you don't cook you just sit back and relax. I'm not 100% convinced that I even enjoy cooking all that much. I think it's way more about the final product than the actual process. I think basically I love eating. Yesterday I didn't cook at all and I was totally content because we had an awesome dinner. We had some friends over and it was totally fun. Chris made stir-fry and the Paris brought a delicious chocolate cake.

Enzo was totally entertained the whole time they were over due to the amazing 3 year old Ella who not only let him get away with anything but also put on a contortionist show for us

the perfect recipe for an in house date night

The first and most important ingredient for a perfect in house date night is a very bad day. Yesterday I woke up and knew right away it was going to be one of those days. It was rainy and very windy which in our family translates into no playing outside for Enzo and no surf for daddy. I had two grumpy boys on my hands. We all kind of lost it at around 6:30pm when Enzo spilled ALL the wheat on the kitchen floor and living room carpet. By 7:00pm we were ready to have Enzo asleep. He wasn't, of course, but we were. So Chris started his night time routine and I decided to make a nice dinner for just the two of us. I had already made chocolate mousse in the afternoon to keep Enzo busy and thought a nice quiet dinner would be perfect to accompany the fancy dessert. We could of just gone out on a date and not have the stress of making dinner but we actually couldn't because we're too cheap and because our trusty babysitter/neighbor wasn't home.

So after having your first ingredient you need to also convince yourself that this is a good idea and will not add to the extra stress of the day. Here are some ways to convince yourself

• you're saving money
• you can stay barefoot and you can wear your pajamas
  
• you don't have to leave the house
• you can bust out your fancy napkins, plates, silverwares, etc etc
  

of course all these pros can quickly turn out to be cons. The saving money part is fine but in house dates can also mean that you don't get to leave the house and that you don't get to dress up. Technically you could dress up at home but seriously who does? You especially don't want to dress up if you're going to be cleaning up all the extra gadgets you pulled out to make it seem somewhat dateish.

The other major thing to think about is your time frame. Since Christian started putting Enzo to sleep at 7:00pm and Enzo was totally not ready to be asleep I knew I had a good hour maybe even hour and a half to prepare dinner. This can also be a catch 22 because if it takes your spouse this long to put your kid to sleep you know s/he's going to be coming out of that room in an even worse mood. Hence the need for a very delicious dinner. I don't want to brag but dinner was very delicious. It was also very easy to make. Notice in the picture below how everything is set so that we face the wall and not the messy living room. A key component of in house dating.



the menu

• grape and brie fritters
• green salad with carrots
• pasta with broccolis, sun dried tomatoes and fresh grated Romano cheese
  
• chocolate mousse

I'll post a recipe for all 3 things (I'm omitting the salad - green salad and carrots- there) and you'll see what I mean about easy. The mousse took the longest because it needs to chill for 2 hours but with a little planning it's no problem, or ditch the mousse and make something quicker.

The winner for the night was definitely the fritters. I was totally skeptical about the grapes being deep fried but it's actually the perfect combination. I stole this recipe from the Chicago sun times. I'll add the link here just to be a bit more honest but here's the exact same thing below.

Grape and brie fritters

MAKES 40 (They are not exaggerating. I cut the recipe by 1/3 and we still had way more than we could eat)

• 1 cup water
• ½ cup butter, cut into ½-inch pieces
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 8 ounces Brie, diced
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups halved red seedless grapes
• Vegetable oil for frying

1. Place the water and diced butter in a saucepan over medium heat; cook gently until the butter has melted, then bring to a rolling boil. Remove the pan from the heat and pour all of the flour in at once. Stir with a wooden spoon until the mixture is smooth and comes away from the sides of the pan. Let cool slightly.
2. Place the warm flour mixture in the bowl of a mixer. Add the diced Brie and mix with the paddle attachment until well combined. Mix together the eggs and salt, and gradually add to the dough, beating well between each addition. Stir in the grapes.
3. Deep fry 5 to 6 spoonfuls of batter in 350-degree oil, turning the fritters occasionally as they cook. Cook for 3 minutes, or until the fritters are completely puffed and a dark golden brown. Drain well and continue with remaining fritter batter.
4. Serve warm as appetizers.

Pasta

I just threw it together so I don't have the right measurements I'm totally guesstimating.

• 1/2 package pasta (use whatever kind you like)
• 2 cups cooked broccoli
  
• 1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes
• 1/4 cup garlic
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/3 cup Romano cheese

1. cook the pasta
2. after the pasta is cooked and drained add it back to the sauce pan with the garlic and olive oil. warm it up in the pan for about 5 minutes stirring constantly. You'll really start smelling the garlic.
3. add the broccoli and the sun dried tomatoes
   
4. serve warm with cheese on top.

Chocolate Mousse

• 4 egg yolks
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 cup whipping (heavy) cream
• 1 package (6 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips (1 cup)
• 1 1/2cups whipping (heavy) cream

1. Beat egg yolks in small bowl with electric mixer on high speed about 3 minutes or until thick and lemon colored. Gradually beat in sugar.
2. Heat 1 cup whipping cream in 2-quart saucepan over medium heat until hot. Gradually stir at least half of the hot whipping cream into egg yolk mixture; stir back into hot cream in saucepan. Cook over low heat about 5 minutes, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens (do not boil). Stir in chocolate chips until melted. Cover and refrigerate about 2 hours, stirring occasionally, just until chilled.
3. Beat 1 1/2 cups whipping cream in chilled medium bowl with electric mixer on high speed until stiff. Fold chocolate mixture into whipped cream. Pipe or spoon mixture into serving bowls. Immediately refrigerate any remaining dessert after serving.

post date reflection......
It was a great dinner and really nice to just be the two of us. Christian even kept saying how everything was delicious and he is NOT one to complement my cooking. Christian, I know you'll eventually read this and disagree but it's true. I've come to good terms with this fact because when he DOES complement I know he really means it. He complemented so I knew it was a success.

Hercules and Hemings: Presidents' Slave Chefs

I am so excited about the new Hidden Kitchen's piece Hercules and Hemings: Presidents' Slave Chefs. I TA an African American and Latino history class this quarter and a student asked me "why is African American history month on the shortest month of the year?" and "why do we celebrate President's day on African American history month if there hasn't been any African American presidents, don't you think it diverts from celebrating African American history?" Thank you Kitchen Sisters for producing such a great piece!

What a role model

Enzo LOVES Elmo. I could go on and on about how we don't have a T.V and how I don't let him watch that much Sesame Street blah, blah, blah. It doesn't matter because he's watched enough that he sure knows who Big, Bird, Cookie Monster and definitely Elmo are. He is so into Elmo that I've started doing the bad parenting thing;

me: Enzo eat your cereal
Enzo: no!
me: Elmo eats his cereal
Enzo: (eats his cereal)

On Monday Chris had to print some stuff out at the Grad lounge and I had to make sure Enzo didn't destroy the lounge. Since I can't chase him around I went on youtube and searched for Elmo videos. No wonder Enzo thinks Elmo is so cool he has videos with all these artists such as Chris Brown, Goo Goo dolls, Norah Jones, Destiny's child, Robert DeNiro, James Blunt and on and on. I was really getting into all the music videos, maybe even more than Enzo. My favorite was this one by Andrea Bocelli. I'm convinced that if Enzo was this articulate he'd say exactly what Elmo is saying and if I could sing like Bocelli I'd be rich and I guess a man. I'll just take the being rich part. I am making an audio documentary about sleep training. I think I'll use excerpts from this song. What do you think? Do you guys have any other lullaby or songs that talk about sleep that you like. I need to get a rough cut together by Friday.

Stuff white people like

This article was sent to me by a good friend. It's hilarious!
http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.wordpress.com/2008/01/31/44-public-radio/

My favorite Vegetable

Today Christian asked me if I had to give up one which one would it be sugar or meat. I didn't even have to think about it, sugar fo' sure! No meat? No Thanks! I recognize how bad it is for the environment. I won't go into details, it just makes me feel guilty. When I'm in Brazil I eat red meat all the time. It's good and pretty cheap. Here I try to eat more chicken. Anyway the thought of giving up any meat and fish is just too hard. I am proud of my sis-in-law Bekah and bro-in-law Jesse for going vegetarian for a week, I mean what would you even make? Sure I make vegetarian dishes but I just couldn't go vegetarian for a whole week. It would mean no bacon in the beans, no slow cooker beef, and no fried fish. If you have any suggestions for vegetarian dishes read Bekah's post and leave her a comment.

Even though I love meat I also love veggies. Tonight we had kale stir fry. Kale is my favorite vegetable. Kale accompanies Brazil’s most famous dish feijoada. In fact we are planning to serve it for Enzo's second birthday. We are now harvesting it from our garden. It’s so delicious. I like to sauté it with garlic but here are 20 kale recipes I found on the web. Most of these have meat…oops.

So proud of Natalie!

The first time I met Natalie was in the TVA park in Laie Hawaii. She had 3 little boys, one was a newborn. Inspite of all the craziness of watching 3 kids she still came over and talked to me. I quickly became drawn to her enthusiasm. She was always smiling, and always seemed Genuine. What I love about this lady is that she is isn't afraid to talk about her struggles, I guess she isn't afraid to make mistake. Well it was through and I guess it still is this learning process that helped Natalie become the amazing photographer that she is. She now got an official position at the digital photography school. Her blog is so fun! She posts great tips about shooting AND she'll even comment on your pictures. Way to go Natalie!
Check out her blog
and her posts at the digital photography school

I'm itching to steal a picture from her blog to give you a sample but decided against it. You'll just have to go and check it out yourself. I'm convinced that Natalie will continue to help me take better pictures of food.

ps: I also have to add that her coolness comes from also marrying someone who served a mission in Brazil. I need to convince her to go down to Brazil and take pictures there. I think she would love it!

Last chance

I had everything planned for Valentine's day and was really excited to share with you my love story. However, on Wednesday night I broke my foot. If you want details you can go here
I don't have the energy to go over it one more time. Besides, this is a food related blog (focus, focus). That's a lame excuse if I also tell love stories. In my defense though my story does involve food (sort of).

I met Christian on February 14, 2003 (5 yrs ago today). At that time I was doing my undergraduate in western MA and my friends from church had convinced me to go to a Valentine's young single adults dance. If you're Mormon you know exactly how these go. If you're not Mormon imagine middle school dances with boys on one side the girls on the other and a refreshment table with store bought cookies. It took some convincing on their part but I felt like I needed to go because my dear roommate was going and I wanted to support her in her decision to try and socialize with boys. This dance was held in New Haven CT and even though it was a Mormon dance it was held at a Baptist Church. The bishop's wife worked as the custodian of this Baptist church and they had a really big social hall, perfect for a big dance. The turnout was minimal, as usual, and my roommate and I were bored to death. No cute guys around, in fact there were probably no guys at all when suddenly.... That's right, Christian walked in. He looked out of place. I was convinced he had come to this Baptist church for soup kitchen and would be upset to find out that instead he had walked into the world of Mormon wholesome activities. Sure he looked like a bum but I DID this he was a very cute bum. I was immediately attracted to his big curly hair. I told my roommate that she should go tell him that this was not soup kitchen and I would get him some snacks from the food table. Five years later I am still concerned about what he eats, mainly that he's had enough to eat. My roommate did her part and then called me over. Christian was not a bum. He in fact had organized the party and looked the way he did because he had been at the big NY anti-war protest. I was in love. Our conversation only got better when I found out that he spoke Portuguese, had served a mission in Brazil and was interested in Sustainable Development (my absolute obsession at the time). It turned out to be a very fun dance. I danced a lot, not with him though because he didn't ask me. However, he made it up 2 weeks later at another activity AWE (all New England Winter Extravaganza) where we talked even more and had our first dance together. After that we hung out as often as we could commuting from CT to MA. I am so glad I didn't miss my last chance to meet the love of my life.

In honor or the theme here is your last chance to make Valentine's Day sugar cookies
as a disclaimer I love sugar cookies and I've tried many recipes. This one was given to me by Stacie Gruwell a very good cook. I am convinced this is the best sugar cookie recipe alive.

RECIPE:


sugar cookies

• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg (if recipe is doubled put 3 eggs)
• 3 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt

1. cream butter (make sure it's room temperature) and sugar
2. add egg and vanilla
3. stir flour, salt and baking soda and add to cream mixture
4. This is the most important step...leave overnight in fridge!
5. next day you can roll the dough out about 1 cm height. Of course it will be rock solid at first but trust me it gets soft.
   
6. bake at 375 for 5-8 minutes. I baked mine for 5 minutes. The ones I left in longer got way crispy
   
7. This recipe makes about 50 cookies

Frosting

• 1 cup butter or 1/2 cup butter and 1/2 cup shortening. (The second option actually tastes better even though its less healthy but if we're making frosting for sugar cookies we're not that concerned about what's healthier)
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 1tbsp vanilla
• 2-4 tbsp milk

1. mix the butter and sugar together
   
2. add the vanilla
3. add the milk one tbsp at a time until you've reached the consistency that you want
   

This is a great dough to work with. It's so easy to cut.





Since Enzo is a hit here's another picture of him. He likes helping me cook. He was way entertained with the flour. Christian had to vacuum the floor and vacuum Enzo.

Documenting your love story

Yaminette and David sent me their love story. I was so excited because it was happening at the same time that Chris and I were falling in love. In fact if it wasn't for Yami I don't know if we could of kept up our relationship. I got SO many rides from her to and from New Haven (where Chris was going to school) among other things, like house sitting together in CT which really helped Chris and I to spend more time together. Your stories were great. I'll send you the dish towels. There's 2 so you can each have your own (just kidding). Before I go on to their stories I have to add that David is one of my favorite musician ever. If you've known me long enough you've probably gotten one of his CDs from me. This guy's voice is incredible and I suggest listening to it. Here's his website. http://www.myspace.com/czechaitian

David's Love Story:

Coming out of a recent breakup, I decided that I wouldn't be with anyone else until I turned 30, and then I would just marry whoever I was with next. In explaining this decision to my co-barista at Rao's in the Mt. Holyoke library, I mentioned that there is only ONE person for whom I would break this rule and I know her face but not her name. As I extolled the physical virtues of this Mt. Holyoke student who I had seen maybe twice, with months in between, she suddenly walked in to order coffee!

I had to think fast. I had CDs of my acoustic singer/songwriter tunes on the counter for sale, and
in striking up a conversation about guitar music, I learned that she had been taking lessons with her aunt but was now stranded with a guitar and no teacher. I offered her a free CD and guitar lessons like my life depended on it, and when the lesson time eventually came around, I brought my guitar as a front to work my love plan.

But ask her and you'll see, I wasn't the only one with a love plan. She told her roommate after the first time seeing me working my barista magic that she would marry that man! And for the rest of the time that I worked at Rao's, which added up to half a year or so, she left me a tip
in my tip jar EVERYDAY of work. But it wasn't a money tip, it was an inspirational quote or verse from the Bible. That's love people!

Fast forward and it turns out that Rao's never left the picture. She worked there for several months on the heels of my several months, plus they gave us massive amounts of coffee for our
wedding. Many newlyweds have a chunk of wedding cake in the back of their freezer which they dig into at their year anniversary. For us, we had two five-pound bags of Ethiopian Yirgacheffe light roast beans waiting to be ground. We still have most of one of those bags that will bring us through at least one
more anniversary.

Yaminette's love story:

David, the love of my life, started working at my Alma Matter's library coffee shop, RAO'S after having chopped off his long dread locks after his reggae band broke up. This was in the Spring of 2003. I thought he was really cute, but was in a relationship so I was cordial. That Fall of 2003, when I returned to campus early for a residential life training, which I am happy to say Da was a part of, I saw him at the coffee shop and I thought, cool, he is still around. I had told my roommate that I thought he was cute, but I never imagined that he would be around after that Spring. I never really had the money to spend on a cup of coffee daily (who does as a college student?), but I made it a point to go into the coffee shop just to see him. At some point, I saw some CDs on the coffee shop counter and I was asking about them, what were they about...acoustic guitar solo stuff form a singer-songwriter? And "ooh, I was looking for a guitar teacher so do you know if this person teaches guitar?" At that point, David pulls out a CD from his back pocket, opens it and says, "this is my number, this is my email and these are my CDs. I am happy to give you guitar lessons." Wow, I thought...that was quick. It turned out he had been talking to his co-worker, Kasey about asking me out on a date, and what do you know, here I was giving him the opportunity.

We set up the guitar lesson that same week and as far as good guitar lessons go this one was amazing. I would say we had a great student-teacher connection. The only catch was that David didn't drive a car or have a ride back and was going to walk 5 miles back to his place through the dark streets of suburban western Massachusetts, which of course I was vehemently opposed to, so I offered him to pay for a cab ride back (since he would not accept payment for the lesson) and of course he rejected the cab idea, so I offered him my futon, which of course he accepted. (I should have known!) Let's just say by the time that week was over I told my dorm-mate that I was convinced this was the man I was going to marry. She laughed.

Fast forward through a lot of David sleeping over on my futon in college, David finishing his Masters in bioengineering all the while still pursuing his rockstar dream, (you can go to http://www.myspace.com/czechaitian to hear some of his music) a summer trip to Brazil together and a long engagement, (I am sure you all are thinking, where is this going?), I am happy to report we got married, and five months in I got pregnant. Our family of two welcomed its newest and quirkiest member, Nahum, in July 2007. And in the spirit of having met at a coffee shot, we make it a point to drink coffee together to reinforce our bond.

kitchen table topics

I heard today that the important topics of the 2008 election are "kitchen table topics." I agree! My best conversations have been during meals. Please talk about this potential president, but try not to let it spoil your dinner!

A Happy Valentine's to you from my favorite organization MomsRising.org

Let's spice it up!

Valentine's day means good love stories, chocolate, and fun presents. 

I got a little disturbed when I went to Target on Christmas eve to get holiday themed cookie cutters and instead only found heart shaped cookie cutters. It felt like Valentine's day had sabotaged Christmas. The whole store was filled with pink, red and white decorations. There's no Valentine's day in Brazil I guess it's an American Holiday. The U.S does a wonderful job to commercialize love, it's totally disturbing but...oh so fun! During that shopping trip I left Target with this cool apron and some dish towels. I have dish towels that I've never used. My poor little kitchen can't hold anymore. So I decided to give it away. Here's the deal. I met my husband at a Mormon single adults valentine's dance. It's a fun holiday for us. I'll tell you our story on valentine's day. I want to hear your love story. It can be about how you fell in love with your partner or even how you fell in love with a particular food.  E-mail it to me at damarispalmer@gmail.com and I'll post it here on Thursday. We'll then vote on the best story and I'll send you the dishtowels so you can match my apron (I'm totally keeping the apron).

You can get inspired by listening to This American Life's episode about Valentine's day. You can listen for free to this episode by opening this page.  Valentine's Day '98 

On Friday they'll air Valentine's Day 2008. Tune in to your local NPR station!

Recipe:

Pão de Mel (Honey bread)

• 1 cup white sugar
• 3 cups flour
• 1/2 tablespoon baking soda
• 1/2 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoon butter
• 1 egg
• 1 cup honey
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup dark or milk chocolate (for topping)
  

1. preheat oven to 350
2. mix all the dry ingredients first (not the chocolate)
3. add the butter, egg, honey, and milk.
4. mix until smooth
5. place mixture in cupcake pans. We filled it up 3/4 full and I think it was too much. I had 2 full pans (24 total). I would only fill it up 1/2 way
6. bake for about 15-20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean
7. when it's ready take out and cool in a wire rack.
   
8. Cool completely before you put the chocolate.
9. melt chocolate and cover the Pão de Mel (traditionally you're supposed to cover the entire Pão de Mel in chocolate. Because they were so big and hard to manage I only did the top).
10. Let the chocolate harden before you put the Pão de Mel away. I made sure to save it in an air tight container or else it gets rock hard.

 Enzo was a huge fan. He had way too many. He only wanted to eat the top part that had the chocolate, of course.

FUN PRESENT:

I will have to nominate this cook book. Sorry the picture is so tinny. The title is "Food as Foreplay" and it is hilarious. I got it a couple years ago as a Valentine's day present and I use it to laugh much more than than to cook. The recipe's are o.k but the rest of the text is classic. They talk about good ways to find your soul mate in a super market, how to tell their personality by the food they buy, and lot's of other interesting facts about aphrodisiacs. They pretty much believe that you should be in bed all day eating. Sounds good to me! 

What would you have done?

I have 40 papers to grade. I have a teacher breathing down my throat because he wants them done by Tuesday even though I just got them today. I have a son who doesn't believe in entertaining himself.

This afternoon was beautiful. I was mentally prepared for an evening outside where I would get to grade papers and enjoy the sunshine while my perfect child would play by himself. Of course things didn't go as planned. I was interrupted several times during the FIRST paper. He then found a cookie on the floor. It seemed homemade, pretty harmless. I knew that it would take him 5-10 minutes to finish it because he would get distracted and walk around with it. That meant that I would be able to finish the first and potentially even the second paper of my grading saga. So I let him eat the cookie that I didn't make and that some other kid lost outside in the common yard area. In my defense I did say a silent blessing on the cookie while I was grading, praying that the baker of the cookie didn't poison it, or that the kid who had taken previous bites wasn't terribly sick, and I even prayed that since Enzo had found the cookie on the floor (I didn't see the exact location) that it was on a clean dirt area instead of on top of some deer poop.




But I didn't let him lick the yogurt off the ground even though he really wanted to and it would of given me easily another 5 minutes to grade. So there, I still think I qualify as an excellent mother.

forget homework...but never forget cookies!

Before school started I decided that I would only post once a week so that I could spend more time with homework and less time on the internet. Since I already blew it for this week with the funny sushi video I had to post on my blog, then I might as well post about cookies!

Enzo just fell asleep and the whole time I was in the room I kept thinking about chocolate. Ever since I moved to CA (and when I was in MA) I always had a 1 lb bar of Trader Joes milk chocolate laying round. It's my favorite chocolate. I've been out and pissed about it. I've been trying to schedule in a quick trip to Trader Joes but seems pointless when all I would really get is the chocolate. Chris just went a couple days ago and I forgot to ask for it. Anyway, when I don't have chocolate I'm super grumpy and just crave it none stop. I even went to my neighbor's house today because I could smell fresh brownies. I played with her son, hung out with her, and she DID NOT offer me any. I was totally offended and will probably be mad at her for a long time. Actually the second part isn't true BECAUSE I have the WORST memory EVER!!! It's true, ask my husband. I only remember people's birthday's but other than that I pretty much forget everything. INCLUDING the fact that I had made oatmeal chocolate chip COOKIES last night and they were right there in my kitchen. When I went downstarirs to asnwer the phone I happened to also get a drink of water and right on top of the microwave were the cookies I made. YAY! I seriously feel A LOT better now that I've had a few (a lot).

Here is a funny cookies story for you. For those of you who went to MHC remeber Chef Jeff cookies? For those of you who didn't go to MHC Chef Jeff cookies were/are the BEST chocolate chip cookies in the world. They are huge and very, very, very chewey. They prettty much melt in your mouth. When I was an undergrad I worked in the dinning hall helping the chefs and one day I was given the most important job of all, making Chef Jeff's cookies. I was trilled. This would mean access to the coveted secret recipe. I made the cookies and stole the recipe. I never got around to making it because all the measurements were in huge quantities, like 5 lbs of butter kind of deal. I kept hyping up the cookies to my friend Mariko and one day her husband Jake and Chris asked to see the recipe. They looked at the recipe and did the math so that I could make the recipe in a sane amount. It turnes out that the secret recipe is exactly like the Original Nestlé Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe!!! If you know Jake and Chris you can imagine how funny they thought the whole thing was. I felt totally betrayed. How could Chef Jeff's cookies be the Nestlé Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies, they tasted so different. To redeem myself I made the recipe following Chef Jeff's directions and there is ONE thing that is different and I will argue that it makes all the difference. You beat the butter with the sugars and vanilla for TEN MINUTES! That's right! The rest of the recipe is the same.

So here is the famous Original Nestlé Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies with cheff Jeff's chocolate chip cookies recipe variation.

* 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
* 3/4 cup granulated sugar
* 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 2 large eggs
* 2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels
* 1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Directions:
PREHEAT oven to 375° F.

COMBINE flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl for 10 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels and nuts. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

BAKE for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

(sorry so much of this post was written in caps...must be the sugar high)

Sushi anyone?!

Dedicated to all of us who enjoy sushi and humor.

Chicken soup for the blog

It's been a pretty depressing weekend. We've had rain like there is no tomorrow, I've been sick and don't feel like I'm getting better and...It's CARNAVAL in Brazil which is fun for everyone who is there but not so fun when you're so far away and wishing oh so badly that I could be there right now. Last year I was in Brazil during Carnaval and decided to go watch the Samba schools perform one night. In Sao Paulo and Rio there are lots of Samba schools/clubs and they each have a theme and they parade according to their theme and song. This changes every year and it is beyond incredible what they do. There are thousands (yes thousands) of people that partricipate in each school and they all parade. So last year I went with my little sis and cousins and we had an amazing time. The only problem was that it was the night before my mom's party. We stayed at Carnaval till 6:00am (we left early). I got home hoping to get some sleep but instead I got a list of errands to run before the party began. I was exhausted the whole rest of the day but... YES it was worth it.

This year it's a whole different story. Not only am I not in Brazil but I am sick. I hate being sick. I have a hard time getting better just because I hate being sick so much I pretend that I'm not sick and don't really take care of myself. This time, however, I've decided to actually rest and try to take care of myself. It's easy being sick on the weekends when Chris is home all day and I don't have class. Tomorrow we both have class. I made myself a hearty Chicken Soup and took lots of naps. The first recipe I'll put up is the one I made. I used a whole roasted chicken. If you don't want to roast a whole chicken I have another recipe that's super easy and that I make all the time.

Hearty Chicken Soup

• left overs of a whole roasted chicken
• 4 cups water
• 1 can tomatoe sauce
• 1 cup chopped celery
  
• 1 cup chopped carrots
• 2 cups elbow macaroni

1. bring to a boil the left over chicken with bones and all the left over juices along with water and the tomato sauce.
2. add celery and carrots.
3. let it simmer for 2-3 hours
4. refigerate over night.
5. The next day take bring it to a boil once again and take out all the bones.
6. add a little bit more water and add the macorni and bring to a boil.

Easy, Easy Chicken Soup

• 4 chicken breasts
• 2 grated carrots
• 2 chopped celery
• 1/2 cup onion
• 1 package elbow noodles
• 2 cans cream of chicken soup

1. cup up chicken in cubes and cook in salted water
2. take out chicken when cooked but leave the water in the pan.
3. add noodles, carrots, celery and onions to the water
4. put the chicken back once the noodles are cooked
5. add 2 cans of cream of chicken
   

Beware that this recipe makes enough soup to feed probably 10 people so unless you have a big family I suggest making half. Also, don't try to freeze this. I did this once and I had to throw the whole thing out once it was thawed. I guess pasta should never be frozen it does some funky thing to the consistency.
Chicken Soup for your ears (listen to some Samba it's so delicious!!!)
I updated the Kitchen Dance party song for this week. It's samba of course.

• Escola de Samba X9
• Escola de Samba Mocidade Alegre

The first video is from the day that I was at Carnaval last year. This was my favorite school, Aguia de ouro. The scond video is a little better shot, not much. Enjoy and dance for heaven's sake!

The U.S also knows how to PARTAY. I enjoyed this documentary about Mardi Gras. This is a short documentary about Mardi Gras costumes, it's so fun but I just realized that you need to sign up to PRX in order to listen, oops. So this means that you probably didn't get to listen to the Spam one I put up last week. I totally encourage you to sign up for PRX (Public Radio Exchange) lots of good things to listen to. If you do have an account then listen to this piece.