Champagne Punch

For your new year’s party, very appropriate. Also lovely for a summer party, as it is very fruity and refreshing!

Adapted from a recipe from Food.com:

• 1 (12 ounce) can frozen lemonade concentrate (small can)
• 1 (12 ounce) can frozen orange juice concentrate (small can)
• 1 (12 ounce) can frozen limeade concentrate (or 1 small can pineapple juice concentrate)
• 1 (2 liter) bottle ginger ale
• 1 (2 liter) bottle champagne

 Dump concentrates into punch container and add ginger ale. Stir to dissolve. Dump in a cheap champagne (such as Andre), and then don’t stir anymore (otherwise you lose all the bubbles)! Top with orange slices.

(If you’re lucky, like me, and have a friend named Melanie who can lend you her awesome punch dispenser, you can use that, which will keep everything cool. If not, I recommend freezing your orange slices in advance, and maybe investing in one of those neat ice cube trays that lets you make fun shapes.)

No-fry Latkes (Oven-Baked Latkes)

Thanks for the responses to the previous post about no-fry latkes. I wound up going with a recipe that my friend Michelle recommended from Kveller, by Zoe Singer. I liked the taste of the latkes, but her method of using aluminum foil had me cursing in front of the stove whenever I tried to flip the latkes.

So I definitely recommend her proportions of onion/egg/potato, etc. But next year, here’s what I’ll be doing to make it easier on myself:

• Ensure that you have clean oven mitts on hand that cover your entire hand. Because you will be going in and out of the oven a lot, and this will increase the probability that you get burned.
• Don’t use aluminum foil. Sturdy cookie sheets with rims worked great. (Just make sure they aren’t warped, because otherwise the oil will collect on one side of the pan.)
• Use the recommended half-cup of oil per cookie sheet. It seems disgusting, but these are latkes, they really do need oil. Hey, it’s Channukah!
• Make each latke smaller than you think. Each one should be about 1/4 cup of batter.
• Turn the oven up to 450. I swear that my oven is pretty decent, but the batches I was doing took forever until I turned the oven up a bit.
• If you’re making more than one batch of the recipe, designate a second in command to help you with checking the latkes. Because you will get sick of it.

German Ragout for Pastetchen

I wasn’t lucky enough to grow up knowing most of my grandparents. By the time I was old enough to remember, there was only my father’s mother, my Oma. And unlike other kids whose grandparents were a car ride away, mine was a plane ride away — all the way across the Atlantic Ocean in Germany. My memories of her are limited; as I got older, so did she, and it wasn’t long before our relationship was limited to what remained in her long-term memory.

One of the memories I wish I’d gotten to have was cooking beside her. She was a solid German cook, making simple, hearty food that had little fuss. On the day we flew in, there was always a tasty broth-based soup waiting for us as lunch. (I still crave broth-based soups after a long plane ride). She also made delicious Christmas cookies, inventing recipes that my cousin Tina has passed down to me.

The other Christmas tradition that she did was make Pastetchen — pastry shells filled with a meat stew. It looks fancy, but it’s really peasant food. Tasty and very filling, my family still has it every year on Christmas Eve. Her recipe, written out in German, is above, written with her signature blue fountain pen. Below is my translation.

Quality Ragout for Pastry Shells.

Good-quality veal! (and neck when it’s not fatty) Let the butcher cut it into small pieces (smaller than for goulash). Brown it in half butter and half margarine with chopped onions. Dust with flour and lightly roast. Deglaze with white wine (cooking wine). Salt and some pepper, lemon juice, Worchester sauce [she means Worchestershire sauce]. Season to taste, and if it isn’t done yet, let it cook lightly a bit more.

Separately, prepare mushrooms in butter with onions (cut small), some parsley (chopped) as well and either mix it with the ragout and pour into the hot pastry shells, or serve on the plate next to the pastry shells (with the ragout). I find the latter better, as it looks better arranged on the plate. (A raw salad is good with this.)

——————

We make a few changes (beef instead of veal, and adding in peas and carrots), but for the most part, that’s the recipe we still use. And we do serve it with a big green salad!

Merry Christmas!

No-fry latkes

It wouldn’t be Channukah (or Hannukkah*, or Chanuka, or, perhaps most correctly, חֲנֻכָּה), without latkes. That delicious concoction of potatoes and grease which the non-enlightened folk (see that, I made a Channukah joke!) simply call hash browns.

However, this year, I want to make latkes without frying them. Not that I don’t love my fried potato products (although I am in the small minority of humans who doesn’t think french fries are the greatest thing in the world), I just can’t stand the house smelling like grease.

Does anyone know any good no-fry latke recipes?

*For a good time, google Hanukkah! (Let it snow is also another fun one.)

Travel Tips: BOS to NYC

I hate traveling around the holidays. All transportation companies know that this is the one time that you need to travel, so they hold all the cards.

Here are the ways I like to travel between Boston (home) and NYC (close to childhood home), ranked in order of preference (best first) and lowest agony levels (to borrow a measurement tool from Hipmunk). Afterwards, I’ll share what I did.

Jet Blue

Pricing: When flights are at their cheapest, it’s around $49 each way. Right now, holiday flights are ranging around $89-$181 and higher. You knew the little voices in your head were right when they told you to book a month ago.

Time: Worst case scenario: 1 hr (travel to airport) + 1 hr (security and boarding) + 1.5 hrs (flight) + .5 hrs (deboarding) = 4 hours. But it’s broken up, so it’s not that bad.

Agony levels: Minimal. During your security and boarding time you are free to buy things and use the restroom at your leisure. And while you’re flying… you can watch live television! This is one of my favorite benefits of Jet Blue. Also, their seats are so much roomier and comfortable than other airlines.

Delay potential: Low. Usually just weather related, and then your delay is experienced in an airport, which isn’t so awful. Again—opportunity to buy stuff and use the bathroom liberally.

Amtrak

Pricing: Acela trains are around $100 bucks right now, which is decent. Not great, but OK.

Time: Not awful. Worst case scenario: 1 hours travel to South Station and boarding + 3.5 hours travel = 4.5 hours.

Agony levels: Not awful (unless you’re not on an Acela train, in which case… awful). Trains tend to have wifi and outlets, and seats are generally pretty comfy (just sometimes you have to walk a bit to find one). I usually load myself up with DVDs and a couple of snacks and I’m fine.

Delay potential: Medium low. Generally just weather. If not, it’s usually just 15 minutes here or there. But if it isn’t… then you’re stuck on a stupid train. (See above re: not taking anything besides the Acela. It’s just not worth it.)

Bus (Bolt Bus or World Wide Bus and in a pinch MegaBus)

Pricing: Dirt cheap. Usually it’s around $20 bucks (but buy in advance in case seats run out).

Timing: Average scenario: 1 hour travel to South Station (or less if I’m going to Alewife for World Wide) and boarding + 4.5 ride = 5.5 hours. For best travel time, take a very late bus—I got on a midnight Bolt Bus and was in NYC 3.5 hours later ON THE DOT. You can do anything in NYC at anytime, so why not arrive near Penn Station? It’s perfectly safe now.

Agony levels: So high. People around you stink. There’s no elbow room or foot room or computer room. There are outlets (that may or may not work) and wifi (ditto). The bathroom is small and cramped. The pit stops are always in terrible locations (seriously, has anyone ever voluntarily eaten at a Roy Rogers?) and the view is 95.

Specific-company tips:

• World Wide Bus will sometimes give you water bottles. This is usually only from Boston TO New York, and not the other way.
• MegaBus will sometimes let you board the bus you bought a ticket for. Sometimes not. Get there early and fight like hell.
• Bolt will sometimes let you go standby for an earlier bus. If you bought a ticket, just wave that. If not, have $20 in cash.

Delay potential: So incredibly high. Traffic and weather can compound to create 7 or 8 hour trips (this has happened to me multiple times). DO NOT GET ON THE BUS IF IT IS GOING TO SNOW. Take an earlier or later bus until the storm has stopped. Otherwise you will spend 2 hours driving the 2 miles around the 90/84 interchange. And it will suck.

As you can probably tell, I hate the bus with an undying passion (but I also love holding onto my money). So I compromised and booked an Acela train ($101) for before Christmas and a Jet Blue ticket ($82, after taxes) for after. If it made sense to travel in more off-hours, I might’ve taken the bus. I don’t love that I just spent $183 bucks for services that I *could* have spent $50 bucks on (if I’d taken the bus), but I do love knowing that I’m less likely to spend 5+ hours feeling dead inside each way…

Hungarian Mushroom Soup (Moosewood Cookbook)

Every year, my mother’s entire extended family descends on our home for the annual Channukah celebrations. We’re a big group—what originally began as “just” the descendents of my grandma Bubsy and my grandpa Nuit is now a gathering of over 50 people, including their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.

And like most Jewish holidays, the occasion is also an excuse for a feast: Whitefish, lox (which is not the same as smoked salmon), bagels (and all the fixings—which includes capers!), hummus, tabbouleh, and an enormous salad (with homemade dressing, of course). We used to do latkes, but we’ve abandoned them so that no one spends the whole day in front of the stove (and so the entire house doesn’t smell like a frying station).

Truth be told, I can do without the latkes—we all usually get our fix on one of the other eight nights. But there was one thing I do miss, that my mother used to make for years: A big batch of Mollie Katzen’s Hungarian Mushroom Soup. From The New Moosewood Cookbook, this is a beautiful soup that I crave during the winter months. It’s creamy and tangy, with a tiny bit of heat from the paprika. My mother used to make multiple batches of this recipe and then keep it warm on a hotplate during the parties.

The best, of course, was the day after the party. I would creep down to the fridge, ladle some of the glop into a bowl, and pop it into the microwave. Always better the next day.

Salad Dressing Secrets

A friend of mine asked me for my salad dressing recipe recently.  The truth is, there isn’t one. I’ve never once thought about tablespoons or teaspoons when making salad dressing—I just add the ingredients, taste, adjust, and eat.

If pasta sauce is the hand-me-down of Italian families, then salad dressing is the hand-me-down in mine. I watched my parents make salad dressing hundreds of times over the years, and then at some point, I started helping and learning.

It goes something like this:

• good (or at least decent) quality olive oil
• fresh lemon juice (must be fresh! bottled is decent but nowhere near as good.)
• freshly pressed garlic (DO NOT USE THE STUFF THAT COMES FROM A JAR)
• salt (we prefer kosher)
• freshly ground pepper

Those are the basics. The ratio of olive oil to lemon juice is about 2:1. We use a minimum of 2 garlic cloves in each batch.

Variations include:

• Balsamic vinegar instead of lemon juice. To this I’ll often add some Dijon mustard and honey. Then extra pepper. I love pepper! This variation is dark and savory. Yummy in the winter.
• Rice vinegar instead of lemon juice. Add in soy sauce, reduce salt, and add some sesame oil for an Asian vinaigrette. You could even add some peanut butter or peanut oil instead of some of the olive oil.

My parents tend to be purists and just go with the original recipe, except they also have a little herb pot, so we often throw in a few sprigs of fresh thyme. To me, this is the taste of a delicious spring salad, usually arugula with shaved Parmesan and some fresh blueberries. Bright and delicious.

(And to all you garlic-phobics out there: Stop it right now. Garlic is amazing. Stop trying to resist and just accept it.)

Scottcakes (Provincetown, MA)

In recent years, a pink phenomenon has sprung up in Provincetown. Refreshingly, they have nothing to do with the pinkwashing that now defines marketing in the month of October. Scottcakes are simply this: vanilla cupcakes with a pink buttercream frosting, made by a guy named Scott. They’re pink because they’re pink.

On a recent visit to his store on Commercial Street, Scott explained how he’d gotten his start: “I used to make them for these kids I nannied for, and then friends demanded them, and, well, it’s a whole long story!” (See more here.)

Indeed. Apparently, Scott used to sell his wares on the street each summer, until permitting and popularity forced him into a storefront. And now he’s all the rage. Tasting a cupcake, it was easy to tell why. The vanilla cake is moist and flavorful, and the frosting is creamy, light, and just sweet enough. They taste like my memory of cupcakes from my childhood.

Well worth the $3 price tag (or buy 5 and get one free– you’ll find people to eat them). Highly recommended!

Oyster Festival (Wellfleet, MA)

It was a beautiful day in Wellfleet on Saturday, and I was incredibly excited to attend their annual Oyster Festival. What I thought would be a small, local food fair turned out to be a pretty huge deal (which we discovered when we hit traffic about seven miles from downtown Wellfleet). Tons of people everywhere, most of them happily gorging themselves on plates of freshly shucked oysters (average price was about $1.50/each).

In addition to oysters, there was beer (including the Sam Adams Oyster Stout, made with actual oysters), clams, chowder, stew, and the occasional hot dog. But mostly, there were oysters. And since that is what I came for, I was extremely content.

Free good karma! Act now!

So, dear readers. It has come to this.

My dear fiancee and I are in a contest. It’s on Facebook.

vote for us! we're cute!

Despite our best efforts, we are losing. (As it turns out, going into a Facebook contest against a school teacher is not a fabulous idea, what with her being surrounded by little adoring Facebook accounts all day.)

it's hard to beat this.

We have tried a lot to win. I have plastered my entire social network, from Facebook to LinkedIn to Twitter. We’ve written emails. We’ve made phone calls. We’ve even canvassed the very, very rainy Boston Pride and Dyke March with flyers and candy in an effort to generate more votes from the core queer demographic.

it's amazing what homos will do for a dum dum

But we are still behind. Now, would it be the end of the world if we didn’t win? No. Life would go on. Our wedding would still happen. But we like winning. And we like saving money. So we still want to win.

we feel an alliance with him suddenly

So I am asking for your help. In the off-chance that you haven’t voted, will you please vote? If you have, would you consider inviting your friends to vote? It takes 20 seconds, and you don’t have to sacrifice your Facebook soul or privacy to do it.

Everyone who votes gets free virtual gay cupcakes.

gay! cupcakes! gay!

Please, do it for the cupcakes.

*If you liked the format of this post, you’d probably like the blog Effing Dykes, from which I have blatantly borrowed the concept.