Happy New Year Everyone!

See you in 2011. Here's a pic from my party in Chicago last year. This year, the party's in Los Angeles. Friends will be close by and that's a good thing when one year is ending and another is beginning. Here's to more consistent posting in 2011! xo Kath

Merry Christmas!

Mom was here - then she left, just before the rain. She saw seven shows in four days! It was pretty intense, but great. I took this pic on one of our sojourns. Hope you and yours have a Merry One.

Happy Holidays, yo!

Yes, this is what passes for yard decorating near my house. Gah, this time of year, I miss Chicago a lot. Not that I'm that into Christmas, but I like OBSERVING others' Christmases. I like looking at lights, eating festive fare, listening to music. I have a lot of shows this year, both choral and theatrical, and I prefer working through the holidays, but it's nice to see what other folks do. This made me laugh, though.

It's been really cold here - cold for LA - I have zero tolerance. Mom comes next week. Hope it warms up for her!

Lantern!

Look at this incredible lantern Dean found at a sale. 45 bucks. He's going to wire it so it lights up. But even with the sunlight streaming through it, it's spectacular! Can't wait to see it at night when it's done. My patio is looking so great these days!

Striving for Serenity

Hey, my blogiversary is almost here! Remember last year around this time (it was actually November) I posted about traveling to NorCal to do a show? I'm going back to the same place this year. Rain is in the forecast. I get nervous driving in the rain. Must strive for serenity - it's a long journey. Look at these lovely serene pictures from a benefit Dean and I went to recently. Talk about peaceful. More to come! Oh and I have a killer Walnut Cookie recipe to share with you too - no butter! But that's for next time.

I'm still here

It's been quiet lately. Ree Drummond of Pioneer Woman Blog fame says, water your blog every day. Even for a minute. She might be on to something, but I have a lot on my plate every day and sometimes, blogging falls by the wayside. That said, I'll try and keep up more this fall.

Check out the Eames/Saarinen designed fireplace. Dean and I went to a benefit. I swear, if this were in my house, I would always be in front of it. It was so beautiful, I wanted to cry.

Also, for a new recipe, google coffee and donuts cake. Looks amazing - but too much work for me!

Happy Fall!

Pinwheels

Pinwheels and Patterns seem to be everywhere. Two pictures for you. One from a hike Dean and I took in the Santa Monica Mountains. The other, from Hearst Castle. If you've not been there, I highly recommend it. Two small pinwheel-type recipes for you today. I've only made the savory version - but Dean liked it! Yes, my meat and potatoes guy loved the seaweed! Go figure. I don't use puff pastry often enough. These recipes come from the great food blogger Dorie Greenspan, with a few tiny variations. She also (today!) has a recipe on her blog for Puff Pastry Pizza. Woo, that'll be next.

Cinnamon Pinwheels OR
Seaweed Pinwheels

1 cup sugar
1/4 to 1/2 tsp cinnamon (to taste)
1 sheet frozen puff pastry (about 8 1/2 oz.), thawed but still cold

1. Mix the sugar and cinnamon together; dust work surface with half of it. Don’t unfold the puff pastry. Put it on the sugar and dust the top. Roll the dough, keeping sugar on both sides, into a 13-x-15-inch rectangle.

2. Brush off excess sugar and, starting from a short side, roll up the dough jelly-roll fashion. Cut 1/2-inch-thick slices and place them 2 inches apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet.

3. Bake at 350°F for 20 to 25 minutes, or until baked through to the center. Lift them off the sheet immediately and turn them over onto a clean sheet of parchment. Cool before serving.

For the Savory Seaweed Version:

The dough was already rolled out, so all I did was brush the top of the dough with a little melted butter, sprinkle the surface with salt, and then dust it with seaweed flakes. Trader Joe’s sells bags of dried seaweed now, chich practically crumble when you touch them. Instead of slicing them into 1/2-inch rounds, as I'd done with the sweet pinwheels, I cut these very thin - the rounds were between 1/6- and 1/4-inch thick. Bake these longer, in a 375-degree F oven for about 17 minutes. No need to flip these, just put them on a rack to cool.

I'm back today!

The nice thing about a blog you don't depend on for income is that you can leave it for awhile. I left. Went to San Fran. Did the wedding. Got lost in the Presidio! Suddenly, it's late August. There've been a few deaths. A lot of visitors, some trips. I've been looking at food blogs trying to figure out how to cook more and eat out less. Even with cooking, food is a challenge. I have a recipe for you though that is so easy and yields so much good stuff, it almost boggles the mind. This comes from two sources, but it uses an ingredient I was not that familiar with: instant yeast. For some reason, this dough, which is a non-knead dough, just sits there in the fridge, comfy, for weeks. Whatever you make with it, in whatever form, usually turns out fantastic. In these economically tough times, it helps to have a go-to starch recipe if, like me, you are the one responsible for all of the cooking in your household. Enjoy! And, I will try to be more present here. I've missed you, dear Reader(s), and I've missed blogging too. Oh and I've enclosed a picture of the view from our hotel room in Cambria. We were there for a few days to celebrate Dean's 'significant' birthday. To say the least, it was wonderful. But it is part of the reason why I'm cooking at home so much! :)

Master Bread Dough Recipe

Use your largest bowl. Wrap with saran, but make sure some air gets in the corners, or the whole thing will explode!

3 cups water
1 and 1/2 TBS of salt
1 and 1/2 TBS of instant (must be instant) yeast
6 cups flour

Mix first three - whisk till blended. Add flour all at once. Stir will you have what looks like a big goopy mess. Cover loosely with saran. Let sit three hours.

It will rise - punch it down and stick in fridge. Use as needed - it's good for about 2 weeks.

Three things I make with this dough:

Naan:

Take a golf ball sized piece and roll it in some flour. Flatten out with your hands. You can use a rolling pin, but this is a sticky dough, so be sure and flour up.

You can use butter, ghee or olive oil. I've been using olive oil lately. Get a pan on the stove hot and add whatever grease you are using. (I've even switched to using a non-stick pan instead of the old reliable Le Creuset). When grease is hot, plop the flattened dough piece in. Don't splash yourself. Immediately cover. After about 3 minutes, turn over with a pair of tongs. Cover again. Cook for about 3 more minutes.

Remove to plate and sprinkle with salt (I also sprinkle with dried garlic too)

Repeat. You may have to re-grease the pan as the cooking process goes along.

I'm still tweaking my methods with this naan recipe. But here's another one I've had much more consistent results with.

Garlic Bread Balls

Get out a large lasagna pan, either glass or otherwise (again, I use a Le Creuset).
Preheat oven to 450. Make sure it's super hot.

The original recipe calls for a melted cup of butter to start, but again, I switched to olive oil and was very happy with the results. Pour about 1.5 cups of olive oil in a bowl. Add 1 tsp. of italian seasoning, 1 tsp. parsley, 1 tsp. dried garlic, 1 tsp. dried onion, 1/2 tsp. of coarse black pepper and 1/2 tsp. of kosher salt. Mix together.

Take your master bread dough and break off larger pieces this time. You can sprinkle flour right on the dough in the bowl to make it easier. Roll a piece of dough in your hands about the size of a plum, maybe a bit smaller. Dunk in oil mixture and put in pan. Repeat till you have 5 rows of three. Sprinkle the top with more italian seasoning. Bake for 25 minutes. Break the bread pieces apart if you have to and cool on a rack. Fantastic!

Boule Bread

Finally, just good old basic bread. You can do all sorts of stuff here too. Break off a large chunk, maybe the size of a small pumpkin. Keep it plain, or have fun. Black pepper, white pepper, red pepper, dried jalapenos, dried garlic, onions, sesame seeds, poppy. You can do whatever you like. The original recipe says to score it, but I find the dough is too wet to even do that.

The trick here is in the execution. Again, oven at 450. Put a pizza pan in the oven when you turn it on. Also put a rimmed cookie sheet in the rack just below it. Wait till oven is super hot. Then, caarrrreeefullyyyy take your dough pumpkin and plop it on the pizza pan. It will ssssizzle. Then, even more carefully, add a cup of cold water to the cookie sheet. It will steam up, so be very careful here. Shut the oven door so the steam says in. Bake 40 minutes. Crust should be nice and brown and bread should be nice and chewy! Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy!

San Francisco

...here I come. My pal is getting married to a wonderful girl. I could not be happier. I fly out tomorrow. Back Sunday. Lots going on here, that's why I'm not driving. I hate flying, as you know. Here are some shots from my patio. My angel trumpet tree is in full bloom! Yes, that's Mary you see in the lower right on the first photo. I need all the flying help I can get, and she is one of the patron saints of air travelers. I'll have San Fran pix hopefully next week and maybe a final New Year's roundup and more recipes! That is, if the pilots know what they're doing....:)

Industrial Photos, Easter Past, Six Hour Recipe

Google Docs recipe upload is trudging ahead. It's nice to revisit old recipes and look through them and think, will I ever make this? Really? In the world's smallest kitchen? It's been fun to see what makes the grade. Here's an old one I have made.

Wow - did I really make the recipe I'm going to share with you? Well, yes. It's good, but six hours? Eh, those old European recipes take forever, or forevs as the kids like to say now. Easter is long gone, but this sweet cake-bread (?) is pretty good. Great for breakfast and/or french toast, or even trifle, if you are really feeling ambitious.

Meanwhile, remember yesterday I told you I posted some industrial pics on Facebook cause I had a show last weekend and my dressing room was a locker room? Here are a few of them, with some random nun stuck in there for snickers. Yes, I can hear you snickering in cyberspace. Hey, try making this bread. Soon, I'll hear NO snickering but a lot of cursing! Meh - whatevs. Rhymes with forevs....:)

Easter Bread Cake from Croatia

Takes nearly 6 hours!

1 pk. active dry yeast
1 cup + 1 tbs. sugar
1/4 cup warm water
5 large eggs, separated
1 cup milk
6 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 sticks butter
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. salt
confect. sugar for dusting

Dissolve yeast and 1 tbs. sugar in warm water. Let stand till foamy, five minutes

Beat egg whites in stand mixer till soft peaks. Add yeast mix, milk and 2 cups flour. Mix. Leave in bowl, cover, let sit one hour

Whisk egg yolks with 1/2 cup sugar. Melt butter with remaining 1/2 cup sugar. Cool, then mix with egg yolks, vanilla and salt.

Add butter/egg mix to yeast. Mix well. Add 4 1/2 cups flour and mix with dough hook. Knead 2 to 3 minutes. Cover and let rise, 1 1/2 hours.

Stir down, cover, let rise again, 1 hour.

Grease a 10 inch tube pan. Put dough in pan and let rise again, 1 hour!

Heat oven to 325. Bake for 1 hour. Cool in pan for 10 minutes and then a rack. Dust with brown sugar.

Tabletop Variations

I've been taking some industrial type photos lately. Just put up a whole album on Facebook of a locker room which was my dressing room for a show over the weekend. Sometimes I get fixated on certain things. This first picture is a tabletop from a local Indian restaurant. The three blue ones are right on my very own patio. My pal made the table and gave it to me when it proved too big for his new house. I just love it.

In case you ever feel the need to work your butt off

...in the kitchen that is, I have a great recipe today. Speaking of hauling butt, you'll never guess what I'm doing: putting ALL my recipes onto Google Docs. This way, WHEN I get an iPad, I'll just do that kitchen thing - stick the iPad on the wall and access my recipes that way. My recipe binder is huge. This is kind of a good opportunity to go through each one and be realistic about the ones I will or won't make. With this one, I would have given it a pass. But that would have been a big mistake. I actually ate this at a friend's house once and begged her for the recipe. I've made it twice. I'm not going to sugarcoat it: it's a pain in the ass. But the payoff! My God, it's so good you just want to die. But you've earned every bite, believe me. Don't let it drive you up a tree (get it? see attached Drummer photo) Enjoy!


Boeuf a la Bourguignonne

8 ounces slab bacon (regular does not work) preferably peppered, cut into small dice
3 pounds beef round, cut into cubes
1 1/2 cups chopped red onion
1 tsp. minced garlic
Salt
Pepper
3 tbs. flour
2 cups full bodied red wine
2 cups beef broth
3 tbs. tomato puree
3 tablespoons fresh parsley
1 tbs fresh (or 1 tsp. dried) thyme
1 bay leaf
1 pound pearl onions
3 tbs. unsalted butter
8 oz. fresh mushrooms, wild varieties
3 tbs. flat leaf parsley
Whole fresh chives for garnish

In Dutch Oven - cook bacon till crisp. Remove to paper towels and drain. Keep grease, but remove to a bowl. In the pot add one tbs. of the bacon grease. Add beef cubes (but don't crowd) and cook over medium heat, browning on all sides. Transfer beef to a plate and continue like this with the rest of the beef, using the bacon fat to cook it as necessary.

Preheat oven to 350

In the same pot, add 1 tbs of drippings. Add onion and cook 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook 1 minute.

Toss beef with flour and salt and pepper. Put back in pot and cook for 3 minutes or more, till flour is browned.

Pour in wine, stock, tomato puree and herbs. Bring to boil. Cover and transfer to oven. Cook 2 hours.

Cut small X in root of each pearl onion (PITA!) Drop the onions into a pot of boiling water. Return to a boil and cook 5 minutes. Drain onions. Rinse under cold water. Drain again. When cool, peel and put in a bowl.

In another dutch oven or heavy pan, melt butter. Add mushrooms, cook 2 minutes. Reduce heat and cook till tender for 8 minutes.

You should now have a bowl of bacon, a bowl of onions and a bowl of mushrooms

When stew is done, add all three bowls. Heat through. Sprinkle each portion with flat leaf parsley and chives, if desired.

Goofy Animals and Rhubarb

Why are animals so goofy? They just are, that's why. I have come across a few goofy animal shots that I'll share with you today. Here's my pal's two cats in Chicago, being badasses. Well, not really. But still, these pictures crack me up. Here's a few dogs in cars. What the heck...here's Drummer on the roof, reconnoitering. No surprise there.

I'm off next weekend to attend a pal's wedding in San Francisco. I'll be staying with my friend Janet. Janet and I used to live in Chicago and now we live out here. She has a killer recipe for rhubarb crisp, which I'll share with you. I love how simple this recipe is. Hardly any ingredients at all. Rhubarb is a hard sell for my meat and potatoes-lovin boyfriend, but a girl can dream. Here it is:

Rhubarb Crisp (Janet's)

2 cups rhubarb
1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup flour
3 tbs. brown sugar
2 tbs. butter
1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Put first two ingredients in a baking dish. Mix the remaining ingredients up with a pastry cutter. Pour over the top and bake at 350 for 1/2 hour.

Serve with ice cream!

New Year's Eve Catchup

Yes, I had them put both the Sears Tower and the Hollywood Sign on my cake. Why not? I'm bi-city-ish. Well, not really, but I like to think I am. Bittersweet Bakery in Chicago did it. They rocked the party. My pal in Chicago has a killer place. The family room, which you see here, used to be the corner bar. They revamped it and took over the rest of the building as well. It's the perfect party palace and they could not have been nicer about it. Good friends, huh? Well, they are the best. My old singing partner brought me roses. Dean arranged the napkins like a champ! And the food, too. He could style for magazines, I'm telling you. I'll have a few more tomorrow, and then I think I'm caught up, miraculously.

From this to this...

I know I've posted that wintry photo before. I just posted it again to illustrate how it was taken on a very early morning in Chicago. That SAME afternoon, after we landed in Los Angeles, Dean and I took a hike and I took the second picture. How can the same country have such disparate weather on the same day? We literally went from winter to summer in one day.

But...sometimes, the opposite happens. I had a sleepless night. My friend Beverly (from Chicago, now living in Wisconsin) has gone from summer to winter. Well...I wouldn't exactly call it summer. I'd say, chilly Spring to Deep Freeze. She's been battling cancer for a few years now. They just told her the other day: maybe, six weeks tops. Maybe.

She's taking her leave. Facebooking a lot of us, keeping her blog up to date. Incredible strength. Unimaginable difficulty. All I have to say is, (third picture) celebrate life and hold your loved ones close.

Hallways

Where are you headed to? I took this pic backstage at a recent gig in Northern Cali. Love the blue lights and how the light from the outside reflected on the floor is also blue. Hm, I guess I really love it because it's wallpaper on my home AND work 'puter and my iPhone too.

Speaking of tech stuff, I had a chance to play with an iPad over the weekend. V. cool! I'll wait for the second or third generation, though. That's where I'm headed. Straight to technoland! Seriously, the iPad would be best in the kitchen - great for storing recipes. Just mount on the wall, look up your recipe and go. Now, I have to pull out this big-ass binder and find my recipe and then it gets all sticky and gummy. Eh, the future is tech. One step at a time.

Rainbow

Dean and I went to Julian, CA a few years back, because I had a show there. It's very rustic and pretty and known for its apples (and apple pie). It's near San Diego (in fact, a friend was telling me the other night he was hiking in Julian when the 7.2 earthquake hit in Calexico - he said, it was WEIRD to be outside during an earthquake). Anyway, on our way back, we took a back road. This is something Dean loves to do. And a rainbow followed us for part of the trip. This pic was taken with my old cell phone but it was so trippy and CLOSE that I had to share with you. Next week, I'll do more on my party on 12-31. Have a good weekend!

My tiny kitchen

I have the smallest kitchen in America, I'm convinced. It really is smaller than an airplane galley - at least the 767s and 777s. My bathroom is only slightly bigger than an airplane's as well. I do miss having a tub, that's for sure. But I digress. Here are old photos. The tile-less ones are when I first moved in about 10years ago. The tiled ones are about 4 years old. Dean has since then stepped in and rearranged my kitchen so that it's functional. Thanks to him, my stylin' boyfriend, I have a lot more counter space now that appliances are all tucked under and above and behind, etc. He also found for me a killer Kitchen-Aid stand mixer and a ton of Le Creuset pots and pans (for D-I-R-T cheap, like 5 or 10 bucks cheap) that I have stacked on top of the shelves. My crazy pal painted it orange with all sorts of swirls and here we are. It's...busy in there, to say the least. Here are some photos!

I've found my cake and frosting recipe

These will now be my go-to cake and frosting recipes. Yellow cake courtesy of Lottie + Doof. Frosting courtesy of Smitten Kitchen. Make them both if you can. So easy and so much better than boxed. Speaking of cake, here's a teaser from New Year's Eve. As you can tell from my blog title, I'm a 1-1 baby and every 12-31, I have a party for myself. On big birthdays, I return to Chicago. So this past New Year's Eve, I had a big birthday and got my cake from that fabulous Chicago institution, Bittersweet. I was mostly happy with this cake, although I made one or two choices that I might have done differently (not their fault at all). Anyway, more New Year's Eve pix to come. Here are the two recipes you have to make - it's Spring as in Spring Form Pan after all! Cake for everybody!

Busy-Day Cake (adapted from a recipe by Edna Lewis) via Lottie + Doof

Kath here - does everyone have a spring form pan? I'm sure two regular 9 inch cake pans would work. But I've never tried it, cause I do have a spring form pan.

8 tablespoons butter (1 stick), at room temperature
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1/2 cup buttermilk, at room temperature (make your own. Put 1 tbs. WHITE vinegar in one cup of milk and let sit till curdled, 10 minutes. You'll only use half, but no biggie)
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg (I'm sure jar would be fine, but I'm obsessed with fresh nutmeg, so I have it on hand - it lasts forever)

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Butter and flour a 9-inch spring form pan, set aside.

Beat the butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating to incorporate after each addition. Scrape down sides of bowl. Add the flour in 3 parts, alternating with the buttermilk, starting and ending with flour. Make sure each addition is incorporated before adding next. Add the salt, vanilla, baking powder, and nutmeg and mix until combined.

Spread the batter in the prepared pan, smoothing the top. Bake until top is golden and tester inserted in center comes out clean, about 40 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Instant Fudge Frosting
Adapted, barely, from a Sky High recipe via Smitten Kitchen

Deb recommends using a food processor for this! Mine's too small. A mixer worked just fine.

Makes about 5 cups

6 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled (the key here is COOLED)
4 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar (no need to sift)
3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
6 tablespoons half-and-half or whole milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Place all of the ingredients in a food processor and pulse to incorporate, then process until the frosting is smooth.

Awww, Chicago, you'll always have my heart.

Take a look at these snaps from Xmas. Too much! I love Chicago in the winter even better than I do in the summer. Honestly, Los Angeles summers are pretty great. Z-E-R-O humidity my friends. Anyway, these pix were taken at Xmas. Love the new building that looks like water. We also went to the top of the Hancock. Hadn't been there in....forever!!

Potatoes, Chicago, Wisconsin, oh my!

Peeps, I have not been this excited about a recipe in a long time. I have a history of sucking the big one when it comes to potatoes. Why, I have no idea. Mashed potatoes elude me. Baked, ditto. I'm all about the frozen section when it comes to this fab side dish. Not anymore. Thanks to Lottie + Doof, via Cook's Magazine, I made these yesterday (although, due to my tiny half-oven in my tiny airplane-sized kitchen, I had to make them three times due to size limitations on the cookie sheet. And they STILL turned out great!) for Easter dinner and they were the smash of the party. For that occasion, I tossed some leftover 4 cheese blend on the top, but in the future, plain and simple will do the trick.

Catching you up on a few photos now. Chicago and Kenosha in wintertime. The sign is from a restaurant in Chicago called Kuma's Corner, recommended by my OTHER reader, my bro. Great place, if you're ever in Chi-town. I love Kenosha winter skies. I'll have more Chicago photos tomorrow. Oh yeah, here's the recipe:

Garlicky Oven Fries (adapted from a Cook’s Illustrated Recipe) from Lottie + Doof:


6 garlic cloves, minced
6 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 russet potatoes (about 8oz each), each cut into 12 wedges
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Preheat oven to 475° F. Combine the garlic and oil in a large bowl and microwave until the garlic is fragrant, about 1 minute. Transfer 5 tablespoons of the oil (leaving the garlic in the bowl) to a rimmed baking sheet, tilting the sheet to coat.

Add the potatoes to the bowl with the remaining oil mixture and toss to coat. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and microwave on high power until the potatoes are translucent around the edges, 3 to 6 minutes, shaking the bowl to redistribute the potatoes halfway through cooking.

Combine the cornstarch, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and cayenne in a small bowl. Sprinkle over the hot potatoes and toss well to coat. Arrange the potatoes in a single layer on the prepared baking sheet and bake, turning once, until deep golden brown and crisp, 30 to 40 minutes. Serve.