We closed on the new home yesterday. I’m so friggin’ excited about it. We went for the inspection at 10 (and found that the sellers had left all kinds of stuff of which they consequently asked us ‘you wanna have it’ — uhm… no!) and then to the notary (which in Holland is a serious legal job for which you’ll need to specialize for a while after attending law school) to actually close. The house became our property at 11.20 am exactly. Yes, the time is specified in the legal document. We then proceeded to sign over our life/paychecks to the bank for the next 30 years and at 11.40 am to the minute, our mortgage contract was legally signed as well.
Instead of celebrating or going back to the house, we then walked to the tram to get to our offices, where I had to rush into a meeting completely unprepared the minute I got in there. (I hadn’t gotten the agenda and underlying memo’s until that morning, while I wasn’t at the office. I don’t usually go in unprepared, I just didn’t have anything…)
After work, at 7.30 pm we met up with our contractor (who happens to be a friend) to walk through what needs to be done. The sellers came by too to pick up some of the stuff they left. (There’s still stuff they’ve left in the house, but I guess that’s our property now, I now have 3 extra tv’s I don’t need… and some bath sponges…)
After we did the walk-through with D (our contractor) he asked when we wanted him to start. We joked and said, well, tomorrow, or yesterday, why aren’t you finished yet. D responded with “sure, we’ll start tomorrow” which totally surprised us, but made us very happy.
Today after work we decided to stop by the house to look at it. We didn’t expect to see any progress. We figured they might’ve just put some stuff in the house which they’d work with later. We figured they’d needed to go shopping first, or do whatever. We really had no idea what to expect, but we surely didn’t expect to see a wall broken through and a door placed instead and another door taken our and the beginnings of it being closed off. WOW, they sure made progress.
I was very sad that I didn’t bring my camera. Now I not only didn’t have before pictures, but I’d miss the in-between-pictures too. So L took 2 pictures with his iPhone. Thank goodness for him being the geek he is, he makes me very happy!!!
So our family reunion is over. We had tons of fun and it was great being able to spend some time with everyone again. As I mentioned on here before, I was in charge of making a full Italian meal one night. And obviously I can’t go for a giant bowl of spaghetti and jars of sauce. I seriously, physically can’t. It just wouldn’t feel right. Especially in summer, when there’s tons of fresh produce and making your own sauces is totally doable.
Making a 4 course dinner with several options for 30+ people is a lot of work though. I opted out of making fresh pasta, partially because of the large amount of people I’d be serving, but mostly because I didn’t have the right equipment ready at hand.
That said – cooking in a different kitchen than your own is hard! Even when you’re pretty familiar with the kitchen (my parents’) you just don’t have those things you need (or only find them after you’ve resorted to more-time-consuming methods). And had I known how super-heavy-and-annoying a hand-cranked food mill is when making sauce for so many people, I would’ve gone to the gym beforehand!
Most of the recipes I used can already be found on this site. So all I’m giving you now is some pictures and the final menu.
We started off doing aperitivo, about an hour and a half before dinner. Just some tasty treats as a late afternoon snack. I made bruschette, focaccia, we had some salumi, some olives and chips.
Then the first course came around, the primi. A choice of my now-famous pasta alla gorgonzola or fettuccini alla pomodori. A lot of people opted for a little of both.
After everyone had cleared their plates (or even come back for seconds) the Secondi were served. A choice of uovo in cocotte ai porri or pollo con finocchio. As contorni I served an insalata mista and insalata caprese. My 10-year-old cousin pretty much commanded me to give the fennel recipe to her mom. Very flattering! (Also, this same darling cousin later sent L and me a gift, a lovely potholder she made herself, as a gift for our new home. It will definitely receive a place of honor.)
We did dessert by the campfire, later that night. I’d made two versions of my again now-famous tiramisu. One was the regular one I always make, the other was a decaf, non-alcoholic version. And to be completely honest, I could hardly tell the difference myself.
The day after my big dinner (couldn’t do it the day of, as I was literally cooking all day that day!) we did a recipe exchange. So stay posted here to see me trying out my family’s recipes!
Oh and on another note, the past 3 weeks I’ve hardly posted, since I was on vacation in Colorado and Nevada (the reunion was part of my vacation). Yesterday we closed on our new home. I’m going to try to update a little here and there, but it might not be much – and I bet a lot of it will be house related. Just hang in there with me, the end of September/beginning of October everything will be back to normal (or so we hope!)
Some days you’ve just gotta say ‘screw seasonal’. Sure, the seasonal veggies are better, but why can you only eat heavy potato dinners or chicken and dumplings or chicken and noodles when the weather is cold and dreary? Why would it be unacceptable to eat something like that on a nice summers day?
You don’t know?
Good!
Exactly, there is absolutely no solid reason to never swim against the stream. I mean, salmons do it all the time, and they’re wildly popular. Right? (Well, okay, not with me, but the fact that they swim against is good, that’s cool, I like that… Now go away fishy, I don’t like you!)
What you read above plus 25 million-zillion other random thoughts went through me as I bought chicken and soup-veggies (lazy me) while declaring that I was going to make chicken and noodle soup.
Sure, I realized I wasn’t sick. And I knew it wasn’t fall or winter. And I voiced that concern to myself.
And then I dismissed all that and proceeded with my grocery shopping with the knowledge that I was going to eat chicken noodle soup that night.
Things like this happen to me quite often. I don’t know why. I can’t help it. (And as long as my beloved doesn’t complain about the food he gets, I’ll keep on doing it – for sure!)
As soon as I got home from the store – and put away all my groceries, I got started on the noodles. Then I got started on the chicken stock. Using the cheater’s way – I combined pieces of bone in chicken breast with some chicken bouillon cubes and threw in some seasonings.
While throwing in the seasonings I decided chicken noodle soup didn’t have to be wintery if I didn’t want it. If I’d keep it a light, thin soup. No cream of something, no milk added, no flour, just broth with chicken, some summer veggies and noodles. I made it a summer soup. Or at least a not so wintery soup.
And there we had it. Chicken noodle soup in summer. With home-made noodles (as that’s the sole reason why I want chicken noodle soup, I jsut want the from scratch puffy, slippery and oh-so-tasty noodles. The chicken soup is just an excuse.
Despite the heat that’s become a little too much for me to bear at times, I’ve really been enjoying summer. At the same time, I’m thoroughly looking forward to fall too. I can’t wait until I’m ready to eat the heavy stuff again. To eat my noodles with mashed potatoes. To make thick, heavy stews, and chicken with stuffing instead of on the grill. Yes I truly love all the different seasonal foods. I just don’t always stick to the right season.
Love through the stomach...
Valerie’s summer chicken noodle soup
2 cups Flour
4 Egg yolks
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
some bone-in chicken
seasonal thin cut soup veggies
summery-seasonings
enough chicken bouillon cubes/powder to make a broth
You just mix the flour, salt, baking powder and egg yolks until everything sticks together. Roll it out and cut thin strips from it (whatever size you like, just kindof similar in size). Let them dry on a kitchen towel. If you have a pasta maker, things get even easier, just put it on the widest setting and pull the cough through, then cut it. – No hand-rolling needed!
In the mean time put as much water as you need (measure please!) to make your soup in a pan and add the bone in chicken. Add half the bouillon cubes you need and let it get to a simmer. Let the chicken simmer until the meat practically falls of the bone (If you buy relatively small thigh parts or so, this shouldn’t take too long).
Remove the bones, but leave the chicken in there, then add seasoning and the rest of the bouillon cubes to taste. Bring it back to a simmer and add your noodles. They’ll puff up a little. Once they’re puffy, (this goes away again) add your soup veggies, and let it stand until the veggies are as tender as you like them. Serve and enjoy!
Yes, not only did I manage to participate in the Daring Bakers challenge this month, I also finished the daring cooks challenge. Who am I kidding, I didn’t just finish it, I rocked it, right the night the challenge was posted, I made my wonderful (somewhat) whole wheat tasty happy great awesome <insert whatever positive adjective you want> pierogi. Yummm.
The August 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge was hosted by LizG of Bits n’ Bites and Anula of Anula’s Kitchen. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make pierogi from scratch and an optional challenge to provide one filling that best represents their locale.
Pierogi, Perogie, Perogy, Pierogie, whatever the correct spelling is (seriously, I have found a LOT of different varieties in spelling) are awesome. Dumplings filled with mashed potatoes and deliciousness. How could you ever go wrong with that?
The challenge included an option to include local food traditions, but since pretty much the only Dutch traditional food we have is mashed potatoes with veggies mixed in, I figured there wasn’t much of a challenge there. Instead I decided I’d just make the best mashed potato filling I could come up with.
Once I loaded my potatoes with loads of butter, milk, loads and loads of cheese, lots of bacon bits and onion and garlic, I started feeling a little guilty.
I have no idea why!!!
I never feel guilty about good-tasting-food, so why on earth would I feel guilty about this??
I gave in to the guilt though and added a small handful of peas into the mix. There, that made me feel better. Now it’s a healthy family dish, right?!
What I didn’t necessarily change for guilt or health reason, but just for my personal preference is the dough. The recipe I used called for all white flour, but I replaced some of it with whole wheat. If given a choice I’ll choose whole wheat bread over white about 99 out of 100 times. I jsut prefer that structure. And despite the fact that piergogi’s wouldbe (Are, I know, had them before!) wonderful with all plain white flour, I figured using some whole grain in there, would give it a nice little extra kick.
It did. Especially after frying the pierogi’s in butter afterwards, the whole wheat gave it a little something extra.
So that night, almost a month ago, we had pierogi’s for dinner.
And then we couldn’t move anymore and L said it was my fault. I repeatedly try to tell him that it’s his own fault, that he doesn’t HAVE to eat such large portions, but he still blames my cooking. And now, finally, after all the time hearing him saying that it’s my fault for cooking well, I could blame somone else.
So I blame you, LizG and anula, for giving us a full tummy (and a freezer filled with 3 or 4 more servings). It’s positive blame though! A freezer full pierogi and a full tummy are good things in my book!
To conclude this post, I’m not giving you a full recipe. Yeah, I know, evil me! But I really, truly want to leave this to your imagination. All I’ll give you is the recipe for the dough I used. You go ahead and combine your own filling. Do you want heavy, or light, do you want potatoes and cheese, or are you going for something else? Anything is possible with pierogi! So go on, grab your flour, make your dough and get creative. That’s what it’s all about!
Love through the stomach...
Pierogies (dough and boiling/frying instructions) (recipe made me about 22 pierogies)
1 1/2 cups of plain white flour
1/2 cup of whole wheat flour
1 egg
1 cup of water
a good pinch of salt
In your stand mixer add your flour (both types) and your salt. Using the dough hook attachment start mixing and drop your egg in there too. Slowly start to add water until the dough takes and starts coming together. You don’t want the dough to be too sticky. Depending on the brands of flour and the size of your egg, you might not need the entire cup (I had a little water left by the time the dough was formed.) If your dough gets too sticky, no worries, just add some extra flour (either kind).
Once the dough is formed, lay it down to rest, covered with a kitchen towel, for about 20 minutes. (This gives you plenty of time to work on your filling. Once the dough is rested, start rolling it out. You can go as thin as you want with it, mine was probably 2 to 21/2 milimeters thick (so not incredibly thin). Cut circles from the dough, put some stuffing on there, fold the dough and close with the tines of a fork. You shouldn’t need water, it should stick by itself. You could also use a dumpling mold for this if you have one.
The leftover dough can be rolled again and used for more circles, all the way intil you’ve finished the dough.
Boil the pierogies a couple at a time in fast boiling salted water. Once they float to the top, they’re done. Set them aside, then heat up some butter in a frying pan and fry the pierogies a couple at a time, so they get nice and brown and buttery!
Pierogies can be frozen, I personally prefer the uncooked freezing. Flash freeze them first (on plates or a cookie sheet or whatever works in your freezer. Once the outside is frozen and not able to stick anymore, you can put them in a baggie or container together and store them until you need them. Don’t thaw them before cooking!
Now that I got onto the confession stand last post, I might as well keep going. And get you puzzled about the fact that I ever came to love cooking, baking and food in general so much that I even started blogging about it.
I made cheesecake for the first time in my life last week.
When it was finally finished, I ate cheesecake for the first time in my life last week.
Yes, I know, crazy right?! A 30-year-old who’s never had cheesecake.
Okay, okay, I know I have some explaining to do. As you all know (hopefully) I’m Dutch. And in Holland, we have ‘kwarktaart’, which looks a lot like cheesecake (or so I thought) but is something completely different (which I didn’t know).
Kwark is a dairy product that comes in somewhere between yoghurt and cottage cheese, but closer to the yoghurt side I would say. It’s not something I enjoy. To be completely honest, there aren’t many dairy products that make me very happy, unless processed. Cheese – in whatever way, shape or form is the one exception. But milk is only used in food prep or for cappuccino’s, yoghurt is only used for sauces. Whipped cream, well, hey, it’s whipped! Cram is again used in dishes. But besides cheese I don’t use dairty products that aren’t severely altered.
Quick fact: did you know that about 2/3 of the world’s population is lactose intolerant. Being able to consume dairy products is apparently some sort of genetic defect that only 1/4 to 1/3 of the world population have. The defect historically goes back to north-western europe, which is why the defect is now spread out throughout the world and widely custom in the US too.
Back to our regular scheduled programming.
So kwark, even thoug in a cake it’s obviously processed, is something I just don’t like. Then add the fact that kwarktaart is a refrigerator cake, made with gelatin, and that the cute pink or pale orange or yellow color of the cake usually comes from chemical fruit flavorings… And then you know why I don’t like it. (Not only do I dislike the chemical tastes and the gelatined-dairy, I also don’t eat fruit – as you might remember.) And yes, I tried one little bite once and spit it out right then and there. Yuck! Not my thing at all!
In comes my new food blogging, which comes with extensive other-food-blog-reading. And suddenly, to my utter surprise, I find that cheesecake isn’t kwarktaart made with cream cheese, it’s an entirely different thing. It’s baked, in the oven. There’s no gelatin involved, but eggs. And you can add whatever flavor you want to it!
I actually had a bunch of cream cheese in the fridge which I’d forgotten to use for a casserole and was nearing it’s expiration date. So I knew what I had to do. I had to bite the bullet, and not only bake a cheesecake for the first time – I had to try it too.
The end result took many many hours. Not only the prep and bake time, but then the chill time, which took forever! In the end, it was ready to eat about half an hour after dinner. So perfect for a delayed dessert. I cut off two pieces, warning L that if I didn’t liek it, he’d have to take the whole dang thing to work with him the next day. Then I tried it.
It took me a few bites to get used to the texture. But it was creamy and flavored just right. It was great.
Now the recipe I followed stated that you could use any topping and/or filling or eat it plain. I doubt I would really enjoy it without the added flavors of chocolate, nuts and caramel. But with those addition. Yes, yumm!
So now half my cake is in the freezer, to prevent us eating a full sized cheesecake in 2 days.
This surely ended up being one of the better discoveries this year!
Love through the stomach...
Cheesecake with chocolate, caramel and nuts
(recipe fills 1 standard springform – recipe adapted from the Pioneer Woman)
For the crust
half a package of tarwebiscuit (or graham crackers, or other dry cookies)
1/2 to 1 cup of mixed nuts (amount depends on how nutty you like it)
about 100 grams of melted butter
For the filling
500 grams of cream cheese
1 cup of sugar
3 eggs
1 heaping teaspoon of vanilla sugar
6 tablespoons sour cream
a smallish square of dark chocolate (chopped)
about half a cup of mixed nuts (chopped)
For the topping
a bigger piece of dark chocolate
another half cup (I just finished the package) mixed nuts
First make your crust. Using a food processor, cruble up the cookies and the nuts in a food processor or in a ziplock bag with a rolling pin. Melt the butter and add to the crumbs (if you’re using the food processor, just zap it a couple of seconds again to mix it well. If its too dry and not at all sticking together, add a little more melted butter.)
Put the crumb mixture on the bottom of a springform pan and push it down (I used the bottom of a glass to do so). It can come up the sides, but doesn’t have to.
Next start on the actual cheesecake layer. In your stand mixer combine cream cheese and sugars. Beat well until it forms a smoothe mixture. Then one-by-one add in the eggs. Keep beating, youw ant this to be smooth. Then add the sour cream and once that’s beaten in set the mixer to it’s slowest speed and add in the chopped nuts and chocolate (chop them fairly fine!). Pour the mixture into your springform pan and place it in a pre-heated oven of 375 degrees for about an hour. Check for done-nes (how jiggly and brown is it), then turn off the oven, open the door and keep it standing there for a couple more minutes.
While the you’re waiting for your cake to come out of the oven, grab your caramel sauce and (using the microwave) warm it up a little so it gets runny. Chop the remaining chocolate and nuts coarsely. Once the cake comes out of the oven, pour on the caramel sauce (which will seep into all cracks, yummm) and add half of the chopped nuts and chocolate on top, then pour on some more caramel sauce and the rest of the nuts and chocolate. Let it cool completely in the refrigerator for AT LEAST 2 hours). (When the chocolate on top is hard again, you may slice into the cake, not any sooner, you’ll want to, but you really shouldn’t. Waiting stinks, but it’s worth it!) Give yourself and your loved ones a nice big piece and enjoy!
After we did the walk-through with D (our contractor) he asked when we wanted him to start. We joked and said, well, tomorrow, or yesterday, why aren’t you finished yet. D responded with “sure, we’ll start tomorrow” which totally surprised us, but made us very happy.
Today after work we decided to stop by the house to look at it. We didn’t expect to see any progress. We figured they might’ve just put some stuff in the house which they’d work with later. We figured they’d needed to go shopping first, or do whatever. We really had no idea what to expect, but we surely didn’t expect to see a wall broken through and a door placed instead and another door taken our and the beginnings of it being closed off. WOW, they sure made progress.
