As we look back on all the recipes of 2011, we have favorites from some new adventures that we started this year. In January we began working with The Kids Cook Monday, sharing recipes that the whole family can help make together. And in August I began a new creative endeavor near and dear to my heart. I call it The Farm Project, and it takes me to farms all over Northern Virginia photographing them in all the seasons and making dishes with foods produced by the farms.

As always our favorites are the recipes that we make over and over again, the dishes that everyone goes back for seconds (or thirds) on.

I made these mini spiced pumpkin Bundt cakes with maple glaze as part of the a photo shoot at Wegmeyer Farms in the fall. The mini cakes are just the right size for dessert, and our boys licked the glaze off the plates.

This year I finally posted the Black Forest Cake (Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte) that I make every year for our anniversary because our tenth anniversary, which we celebrated last year, was extra special. We shared our honeymoon and anniversary story and recipes for our favorite German dishes with the wonderful people at Where Women Cook, and they included it in their book Where Women Cook: Celebrate!, which was released this fall.

I’ve been making my own hummus for years, since moving back to the U.S. from Saudi Arabia in the mid 90’s, and I’ve been experimenting with flavors for almost as long, and I have to say that this harissa hummus is my new favorite. The flavor with the smoky homemade harissa sauce is addictive.

The classic Mexican brunch dish huevos rancheros was a favorite for our oldest son to make for The Kids Cook Monday. He even plated the food for the photo, impressive for an 8-year-old!

Our new favorite cocktail, the caipirinha, is a classic from Brazil. We tested several versions with different fruits, and we found that pomegranate is a favorite for us.

I’ve adored these gems since first tasting them in Colombia back in the early 90s. I didn’t have a recipe, so I made up my own, and now we love to make mashed potato-stuffed tomatoes with our homegrown tomatoes in the summer. They go perfectly with grilled meats.

An abundance of gorgeous fresh peaches that I brought back from a visit to South Carolina filled our kitchen with smells and tastes of peach cobber, peach ice cream, and this delicious and easy spiced peach butter. There isn’t any left now, but we’ll definitely make more next summer.

I shared my sushi dilemma, how I’m the lone sushi lover in our house and my secret to getting my sushi fix. I sometime make sushi on a cracker with tamari ginger dip, layered with smoked salmon, sliced English cucumber, and thin avocado slice. It’s easy and satisfies my cravings between sushi runs.

Since strawberries come into season in May, we always celebrate Mother’s Day with a strawberry dessert. This year we licked the crumbs, filling, sauce, and ate every last bite of strawberries of this strawberry chocolate cheesecake, and it was worth every calorie.

Ham is our favorite meal for Easter, and this year the maple whiskey glaze ranked up there as one of our all-time favorite glazes for our celebration dinner.

Spinach tortellini soup is another Kids Cook Monday recipe that Hockey Guy whipped up, one that he made nearly all by himself. He did a great job and the soup was excellent, a definite keeper.

And finally, the first Kids Cook Monday recipe we did, a pizza pot pie inspired by the Chicago Pizza and Oven Grinder Co. This is a fun recipe for the family to make together, and you can stuff the pizza with whatever you like.

Thanks for joining us for our adventures in the kitchen and garden in 2011, and as always we look forward to sharing more with you in the coming year. Best wishes and Happy New Year!

Thanks for subscribing to this blog! Copyright © 2005-2011 Andrea Meyers: making life delicious.

The holidays were a lot of fun and we had a wonderful time with family visiting. Those last two weeks of the year weren’t entirely relaxing as I still had some work leftover and then more came up late last week, and I’ve been going around the clock to meet those deadlines. But that work signals good things to come and as I tested and photographed and wrote, my thoughts wandered over the last five years of working on this blog and how much life has changed in that time. Last year I wrote about our first four years on the blog and how it wove in with our family life, because this blog is truly about our family as much as it is about food and gardening.

Our fifth year on the blog held quite a few surprises for us, both the good and the challenging. Here’s how 2010 went at the Meyers’ house:

After confirming in 2009 that Top Gun had ADHD plus some other suspected problems, we had more tests done last winter and spring which confirmed that he has gross and fine motor deficits as well as vision and speech deficits, and finally confirmed that he also has dyslexia. My heart broke and I’ve lost many nights of sleep and there have been many tears shed. My time to work on this blog was cut in half as we spent hours each week in therapies and working at home trying everything we could to help him. The work continues, but life is smoothing out a little. And today, after 20 months of trying to get the help he needed, we finally received word that he has a spot with a speech therapist and starts next week. That made me tear up again. He’s such a strong, smart little guy, and we hope that all of this work will give him the best chance in life.

All that made for a challenging year, but last spring had some good surprises, too, and there have been a few more since then.

GoodBite.com invited me to join their cast creating video recipes and participating in sponsored videos series. That has been an amazing experience and I have a lot of fun creating the recipes and videos. I also contributed to their upcoming cookbook, Good Bite’s Weeknight Meals: Delicious Made Easy. Stay tuned for updates on that.

At the end of June I went to Boulder for the Food and Light Workshop, which was fantastic. Jen, Helene, and Todd and Diane put on a great workshop and helped me figure out a lot of things I had been struggling with. Thanks again for all your work on Food and Light!

The garden did pretty well in spite of the unbearably hot weather. Our summer water bill was quite a bit higher than usual, which made us consider digging a well for watering purposes or at least starting a few rain barrels. The garden expanded again as we added a little more space on the south side for bell peppers and rosemary and put in some raspberries and muscadine grape vines. We also added figs and a pomegranate tree and finally got two rosemary bushes to take and live in the cold. If they keep going like they are we’ll finally have a rosemary hedge, something I’ve wanted for years.

In July I got an email from my friend Amie who introduced me to Loralee who wanted to talk about doing something with the new magazine Where Women Cook. A few months later we hosted Jo and Ryne in our home for a photo shoot and had a fantastic time. I can’t say enough how much we love them! We had a German 10th anniversary celebration and they took pics for the new magazine and the upcoming book Where Women Cook Celebrations. More on all of that soon!

In September I spent a weekend learning about portrait photography from MeRa Koh and Brian Tausend, two more people I dearly love. I found that making photos of people isn’t as intimidating as I had thought and they inspired me to continue working on that skill. [Note: I forgot to include my favorite shot from that weekend, but have added it now. He was a precious little guy.]

Then we heard about One Big Table, the new book from Molly O’Neill that made the New York Times Best Cookbooks for 2010. About 18 months ago one of her researchers contacted me about the pickled green tomatoes recipe. After conversing with my sister and me, she said they’d let us know if the recipe was selected for the book. We never heard anything back and I kind of forgot about it. Then last month an email arrived thanking me for the contribution. So my sister and I had our first collaborative recipe published in One Big Table (p. 71, Two Sisters’ Green Tomato Pickles). How cool is that?

September, October, and November were rather painful for me. An 18-year-old spine injury that I incurred from a riding accident reared its ugly head, which isn’t new because it acts up about every 6 years, but this year the diagnosis was troubling and the pain nearly unbearable. Surgery will be required at some point, but I’m hoping for another 6 to 10 years before I have to go down that path. The thought of spine surgery gives me the willies.

November ended on an upbeat note as we hosted my family’s Thanksgiving meal, with 15 of us crowded in here. It’s never a dull moment with my family and we loved having everyone together again. And December brought the usual cookie and Christmas goodie making marathons, and Michael’s parents spent Christmas with us. My favorite moment that month was when Top Gun’s occupational therapist asked him what he wanted for Christmas, and without even skipping a beat he replied, “I don’t know. I’ll be happy with whatever I get.” That boy sure knows how to make his mother cry.

2011 is starting out busy as ever with some new projects and opportunities already in the works. And of course I’ll still be here cooking, photographing, and writing about our adventures in the kitchen and garden. We hope you’ll grab a spot at the table and join us!

Thank you for everything.

And just because I didn’t get this done before New Year’s Eve, here are our favorite recipes and posts from 2010.

January – Popcorn with Brown Butter, Rosemary, and Lemon

February – Mini Chocolate Whoopie Pies with Nutella

March – Toby Train Birthday Cake

April – Chipotle Chicken with Creamy Spinach

May – Stuffed Burgers (aka Juicy Lucy/Jucy Lucy)

June – Lego Star Wars Storm Trooper Birthday Cake

July – Cheese Torta with Basil, Olives, and Sundried Tomatoes

August – Dinosaur Bar-B-Que’s Garlic Dill Pickles

September – Muscadine Grape Jam

October – Colombian Arepas with Cheese (Arepas con Queso) and Aji

November – Gluten-Free Cornbread Stuffing with Sausage and Herbs

December – Vaina Cocktail

Top image courtesy of VintageHolidayCrafts.com.

Thanks for subscribing to this blog! Copyright © 2005-2012 Andrea Meyers: making life delicious.

The alarm went off at 6 am, but I really didn’t need it as I’d hardly slept a wink. I was too excited and my body clock went off at 5 am, though I managed to coax myself into a few more minutes of sleep. Breakfast was just a glass of milk, not enough to fill me up but just enough to stave off the hunger pangs and last minute dashes to the ladies room.

My new dress shoes felt comfortable enough until I started briskly walking the streets of New York City, then I began to wish I had worn my nice fuzzy LL Bean Comfort Mocs instead. They aren’t nearly as cute but so much more comfortable and warm. My toes were freezing as I stood in line outside the studio building and grew numb as the wait stretched on.

The whole process of getting into the building and going in and out of the studio was very precise and organized, not that I would expect anything less from The Martha Stewart Show. Organizers allowed a few people at a time into the building and through check-in and security, then as we passed into the waiting room, more people came in.

The waiting area filled slowly with audience members, and as I took my camera out to snap some photos, I realized my battery was almost dead. I’d obsessed over the rest of the details of the trip but forgot to charge the camera battery, so I quickly found an outlet in the room and plugged in, hoping to get enough juice to last through the morning.

While waiting for the call to go into the studio, I had time to chat with Tami (Running with Tweezers), her friend Shameeka (The Broke Socialite) and Jennifer (In Jennie’s Kitchen). I love these gals, they are so nice and down to earth.

When it was time to start moving into the studio, we were called in groups based on a symbol on our ticket, and Jennifer and I had both had the same symbol so we went in together. The process was very orderly, and as we walked into the studio various people wearing headsets asked how many were in our group then directed us to seats in the audience.

The audience organizers placed us in the back row, just in front of the sound and light booths. I guess they thought Jennifer and I would be trouble makers.

I spent a number of years performing in and working on community theatre productions, so I was as geeked about the set, lights, and cameras as I was about seeing the show and Martha herself. The set is laid out with a prep kitchen on stage right, then the show kitchen, a craft area, and finally a room filled with beautiful plants on stage left. The ceiling is covered with all kinds of lights, including many soft boxes, and as I studied the camera layouts I started wondering about getting a couple soft boxes to help with lighting in our dark kitchen.

The kitchen had some gorgeous appliances and I really wanted to sneak in there and fix lunch after the show. Do you think they would have let me? Um, probably not, but a girl can always hope.

Once the audience was seated, Joey Kola, the warm-up guy started working the audience. He’s quite a hoot and it was a lot of fun to watch him.

I enjoyed watching the bloggers do their thing: Pim (Chez Pim) made pad Thai, Jeff (Jeff and Martha) learned how to frost a cake, and Andrew (Martha Moments) made yarn cards. The audience hoped for some samples of the pad Thai and orange cake, but alas we were denied. One lucky blogger, Brianna Campbell (Hire Me Martha), had the opportunity to spend a day working with the Art Department.

After the show, Martha came forward and took some questions from the audience.

All the fashionistas took note of her snazzy YSL strappy pumps with ultra long heels. I would have fallen flat on my face in those shoes, but she carried them off well, even propping her leg up on the craft table later during the Q&A session so the audience could get a good look. (I captured that moment on video but have had technical difficulties getting a screen capture from the video, so will add a photo here once I sort that out.) (Photo added January 23.)

After the show was over, Jennifer and I had lunch at a noodle shop on 30th Street (the name escapes me, but the food was pretty good), then we parted and I got ready to return to DC. The bus ride was quiet and relaxing, a good time to transition from my little vacation to the bustle of family life.

Can you tell I had fun? I had a fantastic time and would do this again in a minute.

You can view the episode online at the Martha Stewart website (The Martha Stewart Show – The Blog Show).

UPDATE: The Martha Stewart website published a list of all the bloggers who were in the audience.

Thanks for subscribing to this blog! Copyright © 2005-2012 Andrea Meyers: making life delicious.

Four years ago today…

We were living somewhere else with our two sons.

We found out we were going to have another child.

I was playing around with recipes and porting them to WordPress, my chosen organizational tool, when I found a comment from a complete stranger. Then it hit me: people were visiting my silly little site that I hadn’t told anyone about. Suddenly I realized I had a blog. Then I panicked.

Three days later on my 40th birthday (bonus points if you can guess how old I’ll be on my birthday this Sunday) I sat down and wrote about my worst failures in the kitchen, My Top Ten Culinary Flops (So Far) post, because I wanted to officially start the blog by laughing at myself. Writing that post helped focus my thoughts on what I wanted to learn, and it also made me wish I’d taken photos of some of those disasters.

The First Year

I was sick. I was so sick during that pregnancy that I couldn’t eat most of what I prepared for my family until I was six months along. I developed a new appreciation for foods I could digest, which wasn’t much.

I shot all my photos in Auto mode because I didn’t know how to do anything else with our little point and shoot camera. There’s a reason why I try to update those photos whenever I get a chance. White balance? What?

We had a bumper crop of tomatoes and basil.

I found a number of the food blogs that I still read today, blogs that continue to inspire me.

Monkey Boy joined our family in September. I took a month long break while trying to recuperate from an emergency c-section and adjust to having three little men under the age of four.

The Second Year

We moved to Northern Virginia.

I finally learned about using manual mode on the point and shoot, and my photos improved a bit.

I first heard about BlogHer and the annual conference. I wanted to go so bad but couldn’t that year.

We had a container garden on the deck while trying to figure out what to do about a bigger garden.

We dealt with drought.

I joined The Daring Bakers and for my first challenge made the Strawberry Mirror Cake. My mirror looked more like the lunar surface than a mirror, but I still felt pretty good about tackling something brand new.

Since we like to grow our own herbs and vegetables, I started looking for a blogging event with a “grow your own” theme. When I couldn’t find one, I started it myself.

We learned that our oldest son has an autism spectrum disorder. We adapted.

The Third Year

Baking better bread was my theme for the third year. I played with starters, killing off several while managing to keep a few alive.

We started our new outdoor garden by digging up some really ugly inedible bushes on the south side of the house then planting tomatoes, tomatillos, peppers, and herbs. It was a good year for harvest and we put up lots of tomatoes and basil.

I went to BlogHer ‘08 in San Francisco and participated in a panel discussion at the DC Reach Out Tour.

We celebrated the first anniversary of Grow Your Own.

We hosted our first Drop In & Decorate event.

Michael gave me a DSLR for Christmas. I cried.

The Fourth Year

We built four raised beds for the garden and planted fruit trees and bushes, thus growing our edible garden from 48 square feet to over 200 square feet.

We fought wet, cool weather and garden pests (bunnies and insects). The basil hardly did anything, the bunnies ate all the peas, beans, and eggplant seedlings, and insects killed off the zucchini, cucumbers, and pumpkins. It was a frustrating summer.

We celebrated the second anniversary of Grow Your Own.

We discovered we could grow purple tomatillos and that they make a delicious and beautiful salsa. We also found a persimmon tree behind our property.

I tested recipes for Chef Mark and Jennifer as they were writing their new cookbook, The Gilded Fork: Entertaining At Home, and actually got some of my photos published in their book.

I went to the first annual BlogHer Food conference in San Francisco, which was literally a dream come true. I remember the email and Twitter discussions among several food bloggers in 2008, trying to advance the idea and see if there was any support for it, and boy was there ever support! In case I haven’t said it enough, thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone working at BlogHer and to all the bloggers who made it a wonderful first conference. And you can bet I’ll be back in 2010!

I started a partnership with the good folks at Springpad.

We learned our second son has ADHD. Once again, we adapted.

What I’ve learned.

I’ve learned that working on a food blog can be hard, but it is one of the most creatively satisfying things I’ve ever done.

I’ve learned that it’s ok to try new things and divert from the path I had set for myself; taking chances can lead to wonderful unexpected surprises.

I’ve learned that the food blogging community is a committed, passionate group of talented people that inspire me every day.

I’ve met some incredible people, a number of whom I consider good friends, because of this little blog. And there are many more of you that I hope to meet someday.

My favorite things on this blog (so far).

We like to have adventures in the kitchen, so we try new things all the time. It’s hard to choose only a few recipes to mention, but these are definitely at the top of our list:

Michael asks for Inside-Out German Chocolate Cake for his birthday every year.

Ajiaco Bogotano is still my favorite soup.

Chicago-Style Stuffed Pizza, which really doesn’t require an explanation.

What’s Ahead?

I don’t know. I started this blog as a hobby and it has grown into something more, something I never envisioned, and the biggest reason for that is my readers. Whether you are a blogger or not, your support over the years has always made me smile. Thank you for reading, for leaving supportive comments, for asking questions, for telling me when I had a typo or accidentally left something out of a recipe. I hope you will continue to enjoy this blog and find it a useful resource in the coming years.

Thank you for everything.

[Birthday clipart courtesy Vintage Clip Art (http://vintageholidaycrafts.com/). ]

Thanks for subscribing to this blog! Copyright © 2005-2012 Andrea Meyers: making life delicious.

2009 was a learning year. I started off the year learning how to use my new camera and am so glad we made that investment. The learning curve was steep even though I had been using manual mode in my little point & shoot camera for two years, but I’m finally seeing results and improving my photography.

We celebrated the third anniversary of this little cooking blog in January, and as I think about it I can hardly believe it’s been almost four years. I’ve learned so much while working on this blog and have made some wonderful friends that I treasure.

In February I offered to be a recipe tester for a new cookbook from Culinary Media Network, and I’m so glad Chef Mark and Jennifer took me up on it. The recipes were delicious and it was a lot of fun to play around, give feedback, and take some photos. The big surprise came when Mark and Jennifer asked to use three of my photos in the new cookbook which was released in July (The Gilded Fork: Entertaining At Home). Mark and Jennifer, congratulations again on your new book and thank you for letting me be a part of it!

In June I accompanied Michael on one of his trips to Germany and had a fabulous time traveling around and photographing the area and sampling the food. My visit to the Stuttgart Markthalle is one of my favorite memories.

In September I traveled to San Francisco for the first annual BlogHer Food conference and it was indeed a weekend to remember. The sessions were informative and being in the company of so many fantastic food bloggers was inspirational. Getting to meet some of my favorite bloggers was quite a treat!

Autumn was a time of epiphany for me as I assessed the state of our family life, and I decided to take some time off from freelance work and went on hiatus from Grow Your Own for the winter so I could more easily devote time to helping our special needs sons with school. Work will always be there in one form or another, but I only get one chance to raise our sons.

And the year has ended on a high note with the word that I was invited to be in the audience for the upcoming Martha Stewart blogging show in January! I’m so excited! I’m making the trek to NYC for my first ever overnight stay in the big city—I’ve gone on a couple day trips for business but never had a chance to see anything—and I hope to catch up with some of my friends I met or wanted to meet but missed at BlogHer Food (Alice, Jennifer, Olga). If you are a food blogger and will be at the taping, let me know so we can hopefully arrange to meet. And of course I hope to have at least one amazing meal while there! I’m also looking for a decent affordable place to stay in the Chelsea area and would love some recommendations.

In closing, Michael and I want to share our favorites from the blog this year. Best wishes to you and your loved ones for a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2010.

Thanks for subscribing to this blog! Copyright © 2005-2012 Andrea Meyers: making life delicious.

A good market will always get my attention. I think it goes back to my childhood when my parents and grandparents would take us to flea markets and we would walk all over, seeing the wares for sale. When we were young we would get tired and cranky, but as I grew older I started to appreciate the market and the bargain hunting, and I learned the fun of the negotiation by watching my dad. Then later when I was off on my own, some of my favorite and most vivid memories of my travels would include visiting indoor and outdoor markets and bazaars, such as the Qingping Market in Guangzhou; the Ladies Market and Stanley Market in Hong Kong; the outdoor markets in Bali; the little market that would set up on Sunday mornings just outside my apartment in Bogotá, where I could get great fresh meats, fruits, vegetables, and flowers, as well as the mercado de las pulgas (flea market), where I could stroll around and find all sorts of neat things; the Grand Bazaar and Spice Bazaar in Istanbul; and the flower market in Amsterdam.

Here in the U.S. there are many markets I would like to visit, and since I have a couple trips planned this summer, I want to do some market hunting. When Michael and I lived in Southern Maryland we frequented the market in Charlotte Hall, which had become quite vibrant, and I loved getting the fresh Amish eggs and butter. I’ve enjoyed the Central New York Regional Market in Syracuse, the Market Hall and Sheds in Charleston, and Eastern Market in DC, and I hope to take in some market action in Hawaii and San Francisco this summer! (Please leave me some good market tips for HI and SF in the comments! Perhaps I should bring along an empty suitcase on those trips…)

In Northern Virginia I’ve been scoping out the market scene since moving to the area last year, hoping to find some markets that represented the best of the area: great local produce, cheeses, breads, meats, dairy products, and maybe even a fun flea market to go along with it. I visited the Leesburg Year Round Market a few weekends ago and had a chance to meet some of the vendors and sample some of the goods. Up to eighteen vendors gather in a strip mall parking lot throughout the year and have a great variety of products. I tasted some really delicious award-winning cheeses (photo below) from Oak Spring Dairy, savored a hearty whole grain cookie from Quail Creek Farm while drooling over the beautiful breads, and sampled some tasty pizzas provided by American Flatbread in Ashburn. They were visiting the market that day to do some cooking demonstrations and talk about the relationships they have with the market vendors. The restaurant purchases meats, cheeses, and produce from local vendors and showcases those ingredients in their seasonal pizzas, and it all tasted great.

The market had several family operations participating, including the couple running Conicville Ostrich (eggs and meat seasonally), Chicama Run (eggs, grass-fed lamb, beef, pork, chickens), and Chef Eloy’s Kickin’ Salsa (some seriously hot salsa, Michael loves it). And since it was Easter weekend, the Easter Bunny paid a visit, there was a craft that the kids could do, and there was even a sheep for the children to pet and turkeys on display.

The market is currently limited to 18 vendors per day due to location in a parking lot, but who knows how it could grow? I would love to see the markets in this area continue to grow and flourish and become a regular stop for local residents and visitors. I was having a fantastic time until the freezing rain started and the temperature took a nosedive. I had to put the camera away and put my frozen body back into the car, but I will definitely be a regular for this market. Thanks very much to Sandra Stickovitch, the Winter Market Manager, for greeting me and talking with me about the market. For more information about markets in Northern Virginia, check out the links below.

Market Information for Northern Virginia, DC, and Maryland

Loudoun Valley HomeGrown Markets Association

Virginia.org – Farmer’s Markets, Northern Virginia

Local Harvest – Virginia Farmer’s Markets

Thanks for subscribing to this blog! Copyright © 2005-2012 Andrea Meyers: making life delicious.

This is a story of chance meets opportunity, of how I went to a cooking demonstration thinking that I would just be a number in the crowd but in an amazing bit of luck got a three hour private cooking lesson with a famous DC chef! And it all happened this past Saturday in my own neighborhood.

Around the end of September, we received an advertising flier in the mail from Van Metre Homes announcing a big open house day on October 20 to promote their new home designs in several communities around Northern Virginia. What caught my eye was the announcement that the pros of DC’s famous Equinox Restaurant would be doing cooking demonstrations at the various sites, and Executive Chef/Co-Owner Todd Gray would be in my neighborhood only a few blocks away! Immediately I wrote the date on my calendar and made plans to attend.

I must confess that Michael and I have never been to Equinox, but it’s because DC is a little far away for us to go for an evening out, and well…there’s the boys. We take them everywhere we go because we think it’s important, and even though we have taken them to restaurants since they were only days old, the kids are still too young for a place as quietly elegant and genteel as Equinox. I can see it all in my mind…the baby dropping food on the floor, because gravity experiments are his favorite thing to do now; the 3-year-old standing up in his chair so that he can see something interesting across the room, or diving under the table to retrieve his spoon or fork for the fiftieth time; and my oldest, who is almost 5, loudly and proudly announcing that he pooped on the potty as he comes back to the table. Yeah, I’m sure the other diners would be thrilled with us! So for now we have to stick with restaurants that have a minimal noise level of around 90 decibels (equal to the noise produced by a lawn mower), but someday Michael and I are going to get a sitter and have ourselves a lovely, quiet time at Equinox.

Since I had not been to the restaurant but wanted to be prepared for the demonstration, I spent time on their website trying to learn about the Grays, the menu, cooking philosophy, history of the restaurant, and anything else I could pick up on. I read about all of their awards and Chef Gray’s five James Beard nominations, as well as their focus on fresh, local, organic produce, sustainably fished seafood, and certified humane meats. After all my reading, I felt that I would be able to fully enjoy the presentation and even ask a question or two if the opportunity presented itself. On Saturday morning I got ready and left early to get a good seat, because I felt certain that foodies from all over Northern Virginia would descend upon the place, but when I arrived I realized I had left my camera at home and had to run back. When I returned a few minutes later, Chef Gray and his wife Ellen were just arriving. They were very pleasant and greeted me as they came into the model home and started setting up in the kitchen. So far I was the only person in attendance other than the Van Metre sales and marketing people and the photographer.

A menu and recipe handout was sitting on a ledge, so I spent a few minutes reading and trying to prepare any questions I might have about the menu. It appeared that the plan was to serve a tasting of fall comfort foods throughout the afternoon. The menu included:

• Butternut Squash Risotto with Cippoline Onions and Sauteed Spinach,
• Tournedos of all Natural Beef with Madeira Peppercorn Jus and Potato Mousseline, and
• Warm Apple Cake with Ginger Ice Cream and Rum Caramel.

Chef Gray and Ellen introduced themselves and her parents (who had come along for the day) and shook my hand, and I did respond in kind, but I suddenly found myself all shy and tongue tied! I cannot believe how nervous I was! In a bit of bad luck, I’ve also had laryngitis since Wednesday and could barely talk, but I managed. The Grays finished setting up and then had a couple minutes to chat before the appointed starting time. Chef Gray asked me questions about my cooking blog and by then I was starting to relax. I asked if I could take photos, and he said of course.

Now it was eleven o’clock and time to start, but I was still the only person in the audience. I was shocked that no one else was there. Chef invited me to come up with him and get a lesson on how he would make the butternut squash risotto. I wanted to jump out of my seat and run to the cooktop, but I tried to look composed and casual, as if famous chefs offer to share cooking techniques with me every day of the week. I think I pulled it off.

He demonstrated how to saute the arborio rice for a few minutes in olive oil and onion, deglaze with white wine, and then add a clear vegetable stock and let the rice cook until the stock was absorbed. He added the vegetable stock two more times, stirring as he went. While the risotto was cooking, he sauteed some baby spinach in olive oil and shallots. He had brought along some cippoline onions to add to the spinach, but at the last minute decided to skip that. Lovely aromas were starting to drift and as visitors came through the house, he would turn around and tell his audience what he was doing. As the last round of vegetable stock was added to the pot, Chef added diced butternut squash and squash that had been pureed with heavy cream. He stirred that all in and let it cook until heated through. For the final touch, he stirred in butter, Parmesan, and salt and pepper, then plated it with the sauteed spinach on top and a sprinkling of Parmesan.

The risotto was wonderfully rich and creamy with a hint of sweetness, and the sauteed spinach provided a nice earthy contrast with some salty Parmesan sprinkled on top. Chef kept the pot warm on the stove throughout the afternoon and would occasionally add some more stock to keep the risotto creamy and prepare warm plates for visitors as they came to visit the house.

The whole time he was cooking, Chef was very congenial and kept up the conversation asking about cooking blogs and how they are different from restaurant blogs, and also sharing information about a food blog multimedia magazine that a friend of his recently started (Cork & Knife).

The next course was the beef medallions, and I got another cooking lesson. He seasoned the medallions with salt and pepper and seared them in the pan for about 4 minutes per side. The sauce had been prepared offsite, a simple pan sauce made with shallots sauteed in butter with Madeira added, then reduced. Cream, veal stock, drained green peppercorns, and salt and pepper are stirred in and the sauce is warmed. The potatoes were pureed with butter, milk, heavy cream, and then seasoned with salt and pepper. It was all plated with the potatoes as the base, a slice of tender beef on top, and topped with the peppercorn sauce, then a few crystals of dark smoked sea salt was sprinkled on. The flavors were simple and comforting, great for a fall afternoon, and the smoky sea salt added a nice touch.

The final course was dessert, and all of the components had been prepped offsite, which turned out to be a good thing because the ovens wouldn’t heat up. Not unusual because many model homes do not make the cooking appliances functional until after the model is sold, but for the demonstration it would have been helpful to warm up the cake as Chef had planned. He took it all in stride and plated the dessert with the sauce drizzled over the top, a scoop of ginger ice cream on the side, and a sprinkling of crushed pistachios. The apple sheet cake was moist and tasty, but I think that the sauces and the ginger ice cream really made the dish. The ginger flavor was subtle and not overpowering, tamed somewhat by the sweetness of the milk and sugar.

I had such a fantastic time, and although I had a million questions I could have asked, I was still suffering from my attack of shyness. I did manage to ask questions about the restaurant and his upcoming venture, the Salamander Resort & Spa that’s being built in Middleburg, VA. He even asked me questions about my cooking blog and seemed quite pleased that I share my love of good food and cooking with my boys.

At the end of the demonstrations, I thanked Chef for the opportunity and expressed how enjoyable the experience was. He thanked me for staying throughout the afternoon and asked for my contact information and said that he wanted to check out my cooking blog (although he really doesn’t need any cooking tips from me!), then he presented me with a delicious gift: two beef medallions and some of the risotto. Guess what’s on the menu at the Meyers house tonight?

Chef Todd Gray’s Restaurants

Equinox Restaurant, Washington D.C.

Market Salamander, Middleburg, VA and Palm Springs, FL

Salamander Resort & Spa, Middleburg, VA (coming 2009)

Tips

Check out the Equinox and Market Salamander sites for information on Chef Gray’s monthly cooking classes.

Michael goes through phases in traveling with his job. Some months he’s only gone a day or two here and there, and others he’s gone for a week or more. Those weeks when he’s gone, like this one, I find myself dropping everything, including cooking, just to keep up with the kids. And this week it’s a real challenge since Mommy is sick with a yucky cold.

So what does a Mom who loves to cook do when she is sick and exhausted from keeping up with three little boys but still has to feed them and herself? First, I fix myself a nice hot lemon toddy several times a day! Then for our meals, I clean out the refrigerator, thaw stuff from the freezer, and prepare very simple favorites. The Day 1 plan is always to finish any leftovers in the refrigerator, and then the rest of the week we may have any of the following:

• Homemade soups stored in the freezer. We usually have chicken noodle soup on hand, which is always a favorite for the boys, but we may also have any of the following: beef barley, corn chowder, ajiaco, chicken tortilla, black bean, cream of baked potato, cream of roasted tomato, winter minestrone, and curried lentil and potato stew.
• Thaw out some spaghetti sauce and warm it up, then toss with cooked pasta or make a baked pasta if I’m feeling particularly daring.
• Make breakfast for dinner. It’s always a treat for the kids when we have pancakes, and I never have to worry about whether or not they’ll eat on those nights. Make them even more fun by adding bananas, blueberries, or cinnamon and raisins.
• Make fruit and yogurt smoothies.
• Treat myself to some sushi from the Wegman’s sushi counter.
• Desperate measures may call for pizza delivery from a local parlor that is pretty good. I reserve this for later in the week when I’m more likely to be absolutely worn out from chasing after my boys!

An interview meme is making it’s way around the food blogs, but in this one you don’t get tagged, you ask to be interviewed by someone who has already gone through the process. So I’ve brought this on myself, but I thought it would be fun. After you read my responses, you’ll have an opportunity to be interviewed by me, if you wish.

My questions come from The Passionate Cook herself, Johanna, who gave a great interview last week. She asked me some very good questions! I think it would have even been more fun if we could have done this in real life over coffee or tea, but we’ll have to settle for some virtual tea.

1. You’re a wandering soul, it seems: which destination has influenced your cooking the most? What are you missing the most?

It’s a toss-up. I was born in the southwestern tip of Virginia but grew up in the Midwest, so I have Southern cooking roots blended with a heart-of-the-US style. As an adult, I worked overseas for eight years and had many opportunities to enjoy foods from Asia and the Pacific Rim, South America, the Middle East, and Europe. I spent four years in Saipan, so the Asian/island influence is strong, but so is the Hispanic influence from Colombia. I try to incorporate a variety of Asian and Hispanic foods in my cooking, though I don’t think I have a fusion cooking style as I tend to enjoy each on its own.

There are things about each place that I miss. From Saipan, I miss the island barbecues, the subs from Mike’s Restuarant in Garapan, Diamond Chinese, China House, and the Sunday buffet at Pacific Islands Club. From Colombia, I miss the big pots of Ajiaco Bogotano, the best grilled meat I’ve ever had at Andres Carne de Res in Chia, and the little arepa restaurant near my apartment in Bogotá. From Saudi Arabia, I miss the excellent shawarmas and flat breads.

2. Having three kids myself, I know what strain family life can put on one’s kitchen. Are you an always-share-a-meal kind of family or do you end up cooking various meals a day?

I have to laugh because not too long ago my two preschool-age children were both good eaters and would try anything. Then somewhere between two and three years old, both of them went into a picky phase where even the foods that they loved were now despised. My oldest is finally outgrowing that phase, but our three-year-old is still pretty picky. I have observed through trial and error that they are more likely to eat something that they helped prepare, which I try to use to my advantage!

As a general rule, we serve the boys whatever we have cooked, and we encourage them to try at least a taste of everything. Some days that works really well, other days we have to fall back on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

And in spite of what people may think after seeing some of my posts, we don’t sit around eating lush desserts every day! Most of my daily meal preparation is light and healthy. Because the boys and work keep me hopping, I try to prepare three meals a week and then have leftovers the other nights. We save big cooking projects (the fun stuff) for the weekends.

3. With your background in education, do you think good eating and the love of food can be taught? Should it be? And how?

The love of food is taught every minute of every day. From the time we are babies our tastes are shaped by our environment. The region and culture in which we grow up has a primary roll in defining what we think is good food, which is why some people grow up thinking that sea cucumbers are a delicacy and other people don’t even know what one is or how to prepare it.

I believe the best way to shape diet is at home through example, and that’s why we talk about food with our children and why I have my boys help with cooking at such a young age.

4. If you could travel back in time, where would you go?

I would like to see my parents and grandparents as teens and young adults, B.C. (before children), because it would allow me to see a side of them that I never knew.

5. If you were confined to a desert island, which three books would you take along and why?

Assuming the island does not have a well-equipped kitchen, thus rendering my favorite cookbooks useless, I would take the following books:

• My hard cover copy of the Lord of the Rings trilogy that Michael gave me for Christmas a few years ago, because it’s been my favorite story ever since I first read it at 12 years old;
• Living Your Yoga: Finding the Spiritual in Every Day Life by Judith Lasater, because I understand more about myself every time I read it; and
• Some kind of desert island survival guide.

And now in keeping with the meme, it’s your turn! If you would like to be interviewed and post your responses on your blog, please leave a comment on this post in which you say, “Interview me!” I’ll come up with five questions for you and email them to you within a few days.

New home, new kitchen, new blog design.

We’ve been in our new home for a little over two weeks. At first we camped out while waiting for our worldly possessions to be delivered. The kitchen felt so empty without my cooking gear and dinnerware, but of course it wasn’t empty—the appliances, counter tops, and cabinets were all here, waiting to be filled and used. We ate with disposable plates and utensils while sitting on the floor since we didn’t have a table and chairs, but it was fun, like a picnic.

I took time to plan where everything would live in the new space. The Kitchen Aid mixer would fit nicely in the corner next to the sink. The toaster oven would work next to the wall ovens. A coffee/espresso/tea station would be nice next to the hand painted coffee plates near the frig. The polish pottery would go into the cabinet with the glass doors. Cutting boards and small appliances would live in the island. Wine would go in the dining room. Cookbooks would fit perfectly in the shelves in the mini office. I had a plan.

Then came the movers and everything descended into chaos. Boxes were everywhere at first, then everything was out of the boxes but all available counter, table, chair, and floor space was clobbered with kitchen gear. Getting the kitchen up and running has been quite a project. We’ve pretty much dug out of the chaos and have only a few things left to figure out, and the kitchen is now functional.

Like many other foodies, the kitchen is the center of the house for us. Much of our day-to-day living occurs in this room, and we wouldn’t have it any other way. It’s more of a “living room” for us than the living room itself, and each day I learn more about how to live in our favorite room. For example:

• We’ve ordered a cooktop cover. My boys are very curious about the knobs, and I don’t want them to accidentally light a burner. I’ll write a review after it arrives.
• Stir frying makes a real mess on the cooktop (glass under gas burners), and it isn’t easy to clean up. I may permanently move all stir fry operations to the gas grill side burner out on the deck.
• Turning on the oven lock function was not immediately apparent to me, but I learned how to do it very quickly after one of the boys unintentionally started the oven cleaning cycle.
• The western sun streaming through the breakfast room window is beautiful in the afternoons, but it makes reading the oven display almost impossible.
• Swiffer pads do not work well on highly textured ceramic tile. I had to buy a sponge mop to clean up the really sticky messes for which my boys are famous.
• The island is the center of the kitchen, and it’s also the center of my boys’ attention. The like to chase each other around it, then turn off and make a run through the breakfast room and go around the table, giggling all the way.

We’ve said several times that this is the house where we want to spend the rest of our lives. That should give me plenty of time to adapt to our new kitchen.

UPDATE 3/28/07: My 16-inch round pizza stone is too big for the oven! The door won’t shut!