Fear and New Year

Things I've Learned This Year

I know, I know, it's not the new year yet, and resolutions are supposed to be for things you'll change next year, but I am starting a new tradition, and I'm inviting you to join me.  I'm celebrating the things I learned, the fears I overcame - this year.   More fun, less guilt than New Year's resolutions.  Invite your friends.


1.  This year I learned the words to Adeste Fidelis - in Latin.  Remember what George Carlin said about this song? *

2.  How to caramelize sugar.  I was okay if there was some butter mixed in, but straight sugar scared me. Now, you would think a girl who makes her own potato chips and butter toffee and the fried chicken from Ad Hoc (two days.  three people. worth every minute.) wouldn't be afraid of much.  You would be wrong.  But I've been making Bourbon Sea Salt Caramels, and I'm not afraid any more.  

3.  Replace things that need replacing, even if they're not worn out. Like the candy thermometer someone (ahem!) scrubbed all that caramelized sugar off...and all the numbers.  Soak, please - don't scrub.  A candy thermometer without numbers may not be worn out, but it's not much use. Squinting at the shadows left by the scrubbed-off numbers, trying to dodge the little pops of blistering hot caramel from the pot, I decided it's time.

And the microplane grater that's dull.  No more skinned knuckles for me.  The spatulas with nicks and dings in the blade (from trying to get the last bits out of the Cuisinart).  The garlic press that is now missing its little plastic clean-out thingie - Ally had a great snack; I have a new garlic press in my future.  

4.  Playing the piano - again.  It was harder than I expected, and I'm glad I'm hanging in.  Come by just before midnight, and most nights you can hear me practicing.  

5.  Don't attend every argument you're invited to.  And as Robert Brandt said, "Life becomes easier when you learn to accept the apology you never got."  I would not have understood last year, but I do now. 

6.  Ask for help.  Accept help that's offered.  Say "Yes, I am awesome." Thank you Karyn.  And thank you to my friends.  I love you.


* George Carlin famously said "Oh Come All Ye Faithful is the only Christmas Carol to successfully combine sex and religion".   Go George!  

The French Laundry and Garden Envy

I don't have a lot of sun. My garden slopes down, and faces north. It's damp and gloomy in the winter, in summer the ancient oak trees shade everything. Tomatoes struggle. The soil is thin, the water runs off, the oaks steal the sun. I try, but every year brings disappointments. I read about the Beekman Boys smacking seeds in the soil and harvesting bushels of yummy stuff, and I am green. With envy. Here seeds rot, seedlings wilt, there are leaves on the tomatoes and pumpkins but few fruits.

So a level garden in the sun? I covet it. In an old river bottom with deep rich soil? I drool. With raised beds, organic compost and a host of busy gardeners? Oh dear. And grass paths.

The French Laundry has such a garden. I would like to lie down in the compost and stay. I would like to adopt the garden - or have it adopt me. The well worked raised beds are lined with drip irrigation (or as we used to call it in Landscape Architecture school, irritation).

When planted you can't see the drip, just the lovely labels...

...and the gorgeous chard. Or peppers.

Or salsify...

or pumpkins

and chickens!!

they have a chicken tractor! Check out my old blog posting on Chicken Tractors

I should back up. The French Laundry in Yountville is one of the two best restaurants in the world. The other is Per Se in New York, and they are both the creation of Thomas Keller who has changed the way we all eat. And how we eat - from courses (many and small) to plates (many and stacked. All white sculpture with your food). 

In France people travel and stay in hotels (sometimes in unattractive towns) to eat splendiferous food. Not so here - until Thomas Keller. Altho the Napa Valley isn't ugly...

Thomas Keller has three other restaurants in Yountville: Bouchon, Bouchon Bakery, and Ad Hoc. Try all three - breakfast at Bouchon Bakery, lunch at Bouchon (oysters and shrimp and a glass of rose - quick before Indian Summer is over).  Ad Hoc for dinner (it's really hard to get a reservation at the Laundry) or get take-away at Ad Hoc Thursday thru Saturday. Fried chicken or barbecue. Get the chicken.

Bon Appetit and happy gardening. I will be in my shady garden shedding tears on the thin soil.

Ad Hoc

I hate Ad Hoc committees. My garden club is forming one for strategic planning. Seriously? it's a Garden Club, for Pete's sake, not a multi national corporation. I have started two successful companies. The biggest waste of time? Strategic planning. Makes my teeth hurt just thinking about it.

On a brighter note - it's my favorite cookbook. Ad Hoc at Home. After Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc restaurant,  in Yountville. Simpler, faster and less expensive than The French Laundry, the best restaurant in the world. With a really cool web site.

After the fried chicken I wanted something simpler. So I made the Cauliflower Soup. 

 His photo, not mine. I didn't make the crispy florets or the beet chips. I didn't use a vita-mix I used a stick blender. And it was fabulous. And not very complicated. 

I will make it again soon. I may even make the beet chips. Or maybe I'll just make the beet chips...no, that soup was too good. It's a cool rainy day; I'm going to the store for cauliflower and cream.

Ad Hoc Fried Chicken

I had been looking for the ultimate fried chicken recipe for ten years, and Ann, Pam and I agreed to make Thomas Keller's Buttermilk Fried Chicken from the Ad Hoc Cookbook for Wally's birthday.

If I'd been using my head I would have photos of the whole two day process - the herb filled brine, the big lumps of seasoned flour and buttermilk on our fingers as we dipped the chicken pieces.

First you make a brine - salt, sugar, lemons, garlic, herbs. Boil and cool. Then you brine the chicken for 12 hours - no more, no less. Then air dry for a hour and a half, then seasoned flour, buttermilk, seasoned flour again, then fry in peanut oil. It took about an hour to fry all the pieces including letting the oil return to temperature between batches. If you've been paying attention you realize to do this recipe properly you need to get up at 3 a.m.  Do it. 

We cheated, got up at 7, and it was still the best thing I've put in my mouth in years. Puts other fried chicken to shame.

This is what was left over...and it made the best picnic ever. You will have to buy (or borrow) the Ad Hoc cookbook by Thomas Keller. Do it - make this chicken. Invite your favorite people. This is too good to waste on people you don't adore. I will make it again - but not soon, for it is a lot of work, and you need good friends who are good cooks in the kitchen with you. But oh what a delicious delight! I had a great time cooking with Ann and Pam...

and Wally truly enjoyed his birthday - and that, after all, was the point.