Mixed Plate: Home for the Holidays

There's no season I love more than Christmas. For all the complaints about how early it starts, with a kickoff from the retail industry, decorated trees up as early as September, I still look forward to the time of year. As a child, it was of course about Santa and getting the equivalent of the Red Rider BB gun without shooting my eye out, and then in my late teen/early twenties, I lost sight of the holidays. I would sit staring at the tree and wonder if the day would be any different than the next, disappointed to not easily have that holiday joy again. It felt as though something important was misplaced and you were left frustrated, looking everywhere to find it, feeling even more distressed having known you once had it and now it was lost. It wasn't until being apart from family, losing the things you had begun to take for granted that you realized the holidays were for celebrating the times of togetherness and maybe trying to recapture a little of what was lost. That's when Christmas came back for me, and why it was important to make a big deal out of something, at least once a year.

Tis the Season to Celebrate - Photo by Wasabi Prime

Not to get all maudlin about the holidays, but since Christmas has just passed us by, it feels a little silly to list off holiday food ideas and suggestions. Plus I think everyone's probably sugar plummed out by now. It's more important to see why we make such a fuss over this time, especially since there's so much effort into the lead-up to December 25th. We did our share this year, but with a measured effort. For the first time, I didn't decorate a tree, mostly because my schedule was too stressed and I knew in my mind it would come down to a question of taking time to dress up a tree or use that time for spending with friends, and quite frankly, myself. What they say is true, if you don't take care of yourself, you can't take very good care of others, and the season is all about giving of yourself and your time. And even if we weren't planning anything extraordinary for Christmas, I wanted it to be a good and comfortable one. The Mister and I were long overdue for the recharge.

So our big Christmas feast was shared by a few friends who came over and I made a heaping pile of spaghetti and meatballs. Extravagant, no? Mostly because some of our other friends made the clever suggestion to do a Flying Spaghetti Monster dinner party, a kind of internet meme secular feast. Also, spaghetti and meatballs is a pretty easy dish to make ahead of time, which was a good thing, since our Christmas dinner was a little touch and go -- a sudden windstorm knocked out the power for a short time and we were having flashback fears of a previous holiday when the storm knocked out power for days. Luckily, this was not the case. Power was restored, friends gathered, we drank several bottles of wine and totally carbed-out on pasta, bread and tiramisu for dessert.

Feast of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (with Meatballs!) - Photos by Wasabi Prime

You're seeing an Italian theme, albeit an Americanized variation. Everything revolved around the spaghetti and meatballs. I said that's what I was planning on making and everyone was happy to have it. Regardless of one's background, it's the one dish that evokes a lot of comforting childhood food memories, and maybe that helped make it a good holiday choice. Since neither the Mister nor I are particularly religious, there's no compelling ritual we adhere to outside of the fact that we just want everyone to have a good time and not feel like this was fancy. I was wearing fuzzy PJ pants through dinner! I made a big batch of antipasti, which was like a Kitchen Sink salad of everything -- artichoke hearts, fresh cucumber, roasted bell pepper, garbanzo beans, salami, cheese, all tossed together with some pesto and left to marinate in the fridge. I also made a tapenade to spread on toasted bread, made of sundried tomatoes, kalamata olives, capers and pistachios. I have to say, adding pistachios is fantastic for pesto -- gives it a nice sweetness and a nice alternative to the typical pine nuts.

Dinner was finished off with little tiramisu parfaits. A more personalized and pretty way of presenting dessert. Plus one of the people we had over was having a birthday -- sharing your big b-day with JC, that's a tough room, no? And a little tiramisu parfait looks just dandy with a little birthday candle in it. I used the basics of this tiramisu recipe from Epicurious, swapping out the traditional ladyfingers with sliced chunks of pound cake. Total cheat, yes, but tis the season to take shortcuts. Knowing the cake would be layered in a little glass, the ladyfingers would be too bulky and the smaller bits of cake made for even layering. And for the coffee sugar syrup, I used amaretto instead of marsala, which gave the cake a fragrant almond flavor - definitely doing that again. For as many times as I've eaten this dessert, it was the first time I'd ever made it, and I was really pleased with how it turned out. I could have eaten just the creamy mascarpone layer on its own!

Pesto is made best-o with chopped pistachios, a new tasty addition - Photos by Wasabi Prime

As for our Christmas at home, it was one that was becoming a growing tradition in our small household, since I've stopped spending the holidays with family. Brock and I wake up, we give our dog Indy a Christmas Morning snuggle (no different than other lazy weekend snuggles, but special all the same), and we have a good hearty breakfast. This Christmas breakfast was a taste of Hawaii -- I had made some Spam fried rice earlier and seared up some Portuguese sausage and fried some eggs to go with the rice. Not exactly the same as waking up to a tropical Christmas, but good enough. We stay in our cozy robes, having our very own Forever Lazy/Snuggie morning, opening presents and taking calls from family.


Christmas gifts galore, Indy is the happiest dog in the world - Photos by Wasabi Prime

We always give each other one special Christmas gift -- Brock got a membership to the Rare Beer of the Month club, so weirdo beers are starting to arrive to our house. I got a very special gift from the Mister -- all new cookware. He's a nut for researching products and chose a set of stainless steel, heavy-duty pots and pans. It wasn't the gazillion-piece set, where you wind up with odd-sized cookware you never use; he chose a select few pots and saucepans the size we'd use and not so heavy so that I couldn't easily handle and clean. To some, this may sound like a Bad Husband Gift, the bowling ball with "Homer" engraved on it, but it was really special to me because number one, I really needed new cookware, I've been using pots and pans from college, and number two, he knew I'd never have bought them for myself. He knows how I am -- any spare bit of money goes towards savings or bills; buying something like good quality cookware, despite how much I'd use them, would feel too extravagant. My brain tends to work this way: I have pots and pans, why buy new ones? Even if those ones I have are so old, the bottoms are totally warped to a curve and the handles are plastic, aka, not oven-safe (yet I put 'em in the oven anyways). I'm fairly sure the old nonstick coating flaked off ages ago, and it's just a miracle we haven't been poisoned or gone blind from some weird metal poisoning. Yeah, this new cookware is a total godsend! You totally rock, Mr. Wasabi!

Christmas goodies, including what everyone needs, an inflatable turkey - Photos by Wasabi Prime

And so another Christmas has come and gone. The madness of the holidays can subside for another three hundred and sixty-odd days until the decorated trees get propped up around September, or maybe even earlier next year. We didn't have a big decorated tree this year, but I didn't need to stare at it blankly, trying to find the spirit of Father Christmas somehow nestled in its pine needle-filled boughs. I'm thankful to find the holiday spirit so much easier these days, especially after this year minus the crutch of a big Christmas tree. It was found in the time spent with friends, silly and sweet gifts, food that's more familiar than fancy, and in the appreciation for changing traditions. I hope you all had a good holiday, no matter how you celebrate this season, and I hope you find the spirit of goodwill stays with you throughout the coming year.

UnRecipe: Upgrading the Classics

We're still in that home stretch of holiday meals, meaning rich complicated feasts that take days to prepare. Even with Christmas out of the way, we still have New Year's Eve coming up, and in between the festivities, it's good to do something simple and cozy like our good old friend, the humble pot roast. Feelings of comfort and home are what the holidays are all about, and we're still in a festive season. Who says you can't relax between the celebrations with an extra-rich slow cooked pot roast and a riff on a classic PB and J?

Pot roast does not have to be boring - Photo by Wasabi Prime

I cooked this a little while back, when I was so very glad to be pulling out the old kitchen friend, the slow cooker.  The summer heat had ended, the fall chill was starting to set in and I was doing a happy dance to be entering the season of warm, cozy food. Pot roast is one of those weekday staples that your mom probably cooked once a week and you likely became totally bored of it after being subjected to it week after week. It's one of those dishes where over the years, it's gotten a bad rep from its ho-hum status, also not being helped by the fact that you can actually buy a pot roast already cooked, veggies and all, in a prepackaged container in grocery stores. This skeeves me out. Mostly because I have to wonder how much salt and preservatives have to be injected into that container to keep it shelf-stable, gravy and all. A nuclear winter isn't going to knock a dent into this thing, and someone wants to make you believe you're serving up a wholesome family meal? Only if you want to be as well-preserved as Joan Rivers' face. And I also have to wonder why you'd pay a premium on something that was always meant to be made cheaply, simply and at home? It's kind of like buying Rice Krispy treats already made. Really, America? Are we that lazy that we can't be bothered to make our own Rice Krispy treats, the undisputed king of all lazy no-bake snacks???

But I digress. Back to the lowly pot roast. Which is the thing, it's not so lowly if you take the time to build up its flavor. You get a sinewy, inexpensive cut of beef, likely something that's labeled "pot roast," because that's probably all it's good for. But you salt and pepper that baby up, sear it nicely on all sides in a hot stew pot, developing a nicely caramelized crust, and let it sit on the sidelines for a moment while you build up a nice braising liquid that will infuse this chunk of meat with really good flavor. I like to deglaze the pot I browned the meat in with stock and red wine. I've used just red wine, but it sometimes makes the sauce extra acidic, so you end up adding a lot of extra sugar to balance it out. I like making a braising liquid that's half stock (whatever you have on hand, I usually use chicken), and half wine, usually a lighter, fruity red like a Pinot Noir or Syrah/Shiraz, just because that's what I tend to drink at home; select your weapon of choice accordingly. Chop up a bunch of carrots, onions and whatever odd root vegetable bits you have on hand into small cubes, not big chunks. I just like that it breaks down faster, making the sauce less like a stew, more like a chunky ragout sauce. The vegetables get soft and silky, thickening the sauce and the flavors meld together nicely, especially the carrots, which help sweeten the sauce naturally. You can always add some sugar if you want to balance out the flavor, but it's nice when you can get that vegetable sweetness to do the work for you. I add a big spoonful of tomato paste as well. It gives it a zippy flavor and brightens things up. A few dried bay leaves and this is my braising liquid of choice for when the seared meat is added back in, the pot is lidded-up and I put the pot into the slow cooker heating element and let it do its thing, breaking down the toughness of the meat and making the sauce melt-in-your-mouth perfect. In a slow cooker, this can take four or five hours, but on a stovetop, set to low, it may cut the time as much as half. I like doing the half-half time, using a stove to do preliminary high heat and let the slow cooker finish it off, as you can walk away and not have to worry about a burner being on for hours.

Comfort meal, complete with dessert - Photos by Wasabi Prime

The resulting pot roast is a stick-to-your-ribs good meal, tasting extra good spooned over a pile of pasta. I had some dried tagliatelle pasta, but egg noodles or even shell pasta would be fine. A mash of potatoes is also fine n' dandy -- anything starchy that soaks up all the sauce, so you don't miss out on any of that flavor you worked to build up. And another great thing about a good pot roast is that it gets even better the next day. If you can hold out, make your pot roast the day before you want to eat it, so it's got an extra day of just working its leftover magic, the flavor only deepening with that extra time.

You have to have something equally comforting to go with such a classic meal. One of my last batches of ice cream was making a peanut butter and jelly ice cream. Yes, it's totally possible, and it's as delicious as it sounds, especially if you make it with homemade jam. I made vanilla ice cream, mixed with plain peanut butter, and after it was churned, I swirled spoonfuls of blackberry jam between each finished layer of peanut butter ice cream. Mixing the jam with the ice cream would have just gotten me pink ice cream, but the layering helps for when the ice cream is set and you're scooping it out into a bowl, you get the swirls in each scoop. If you don't have an ice cream maker, you could probably do an ad hoc version of this, getting plain vanilla ice cream, letting it soften, and mixing in peanut butter with it. It won't be as integrated as making the ice cream from scratch, but you'd get the peanut butter flavor mixed in. Then when you serve the hardened ice cream, spoon some jam over it. Would make for great ice cream sandwich-making. The best way to have a real peanut butter and jelly dessert!

Peanut butter and jelly isn't just for sandwiches anymore! - Photo by Wasabi Prime

UnRecipe: Holiday Wishes and Last Minute Gift Shuffle

I know I said this before, if you weren't holiday gift-ready by the first couple of weeks of December, it's Game Over by now. Hey, the Prime doesn't pull punches when it comes to the holidays! Procrastinators, abandon all hope, ye who enter these waning days before December 25th. But I've got one final bit of last-minute holiday gift inspiration!

Homemade vanilla extract, easy-peasy 1-2-threesie gift idea - Photo by Wasabi Prime

I talked before about making vanilla extract -- it's pretty basic: take a bottle of vodka and shove some vanilla beans in the bottle, let it sit. In a few weeks, you'll have at least the basic beginnings of liquid vanilla gold. If you had a vodka bottle-sized batch of vanilla extract in your pantry, siphon some of that tasty goodness off into some smaller bottles and label them up as a little gift for someone. Sharing is caring, and it always sounds impressive that you made it yourself. To gussy-up the bottles, I  got some decorative oven mitts, shoved in a decorative tea towel, some silicone spatulas and a bar of baking chocolate to go with each bottle of vanilla extract. For a friend who loves to bake or just loves chocolate chip cookies, it's a sweet, easy gift where a lot of those items can be picked up at a grocery store. For someone who prefers cocktails over cookies, give it as a flavoring agent to add to a cocktail, along with a pair of highball glasses. If you've been steeping vanilla beans in bourbon, all the better to give to your cocktail nerd friends for a vanilla-flavored spirit.

Share some flavor and sweetness - Photos by Wasabi Prime

But, Wasabi, I don't have a giant bottle of vodka sitting in my pantry, shoved full of vanilla beans. What then? Well, if the vanilla beans aren't fully steeped, consider adding a label of "Do Not Open till (Almost) Next Xmas" to the flask of soon-to-be vanilla extract and throw in a batch of fresh-baked cookies. Chances are the recipient is wrapped up in their own holiday whirlwind and will be pleased to just let the science experiment of homemade vanilla extract take its course. I didn't say this would be the perfect gift, just one that could be fashioned as a last-minute holiday gift bail-out!

From December 2011

Meanwhile, as for the Prime, I'm in the home stretch of finishing off our own supply of holiday sweets for ourself and getting ready to settle in for a bit of a winter's nap. I love the holidays, it's a mad dash of crazy-busy energy getting things wrapped and out the door, and the reward is just feeling like I made the most of the season trying to let others know how much they mean to both the Mister and myself. Yes, I totally took shortcuts this year, doing a mix of homemade sweets mixed with store bought treats for some care packages -- Trader Joe's always saves my bacon when sending gifts to family in TJ-less Hawaii. I don't feel bad about it because there's only so many hours in a day and a big gift for myself this year was trying to give myself a spare moment's breath wherever possible. Time is the greatest luxury of all, and it's one of those gifts we can only give ourselves, if we can afford it.

A very Merry Christmas and happy holidays to you all, and to all a good night, from the Prime.

OMG a Recipe: Harvest Delight

One of the best things about the holidays is the eagerness to get together with friends. Not that we don't do this throughout the year, but it feels more appropriate -- almost with a sense of urgency -- to spread the good cheer, lest Santa downgrade you to the Naughty list. Again. And so we had some friends over for dinner one chilly Sunday night. Nothing fancy, just evening spent 'round the table with platefuls of food!

The almighty mac n' cheese - this time with pumpkin! - Photo by Wasabi Prime

Cold weather cooking is the best kind, because it's always full of rich smells and flavors of things slowly simmering on the stove or slowly baking away in the oven.  For the dinner we had planned, I wanted it to be a total harvest-themed meal, with a winter salad tossed with pears, pecans, dried cranberries and blue cheese; a creamy macaroni and cheese made with roasted pumpkin; a chicken flavored with rosemary, sage and sweetened with marsala; then to finish, a rustic pear crostata.

Spices take on double duty, hopping across the Mason-Dixon line of sweet and savory, especially ones like nutmeg and cinnamon. I love how a good pumpkin pie isn't all sugar, and that you can taste a bit of the squash, married with all the added spices. So I got all Dr. Moreau in the kitchen, hybridizing the spice and flavor of pumpkin pie with macaroni and cheese. Not as weird as you'd think, it was quite tasty. I've been on a steady kick of roasting sugar pumpkins and other squash. The trick of shoving the whole squash into the oven for about twenty minutes at 375 degrees, just to soften slightly, has made it much easier for me to halve them without worry of personal injury. Seriously, doing a Norman Bates on a large squash can be hazardous to the squash-killer's health! So the pre-softening helps, then you can halve it, remove the seeds and let the oven finish the rest of the roasting. I'll do several at a time to try and be more energy conscious about the oven. I'll scoop out the roasted squash and freeze it for later use. I've gotten to be pretty good at recognizing the color and texture of frozen squash, because for all the preparation I do, I neglect to label anything, and our freezer just looks like we're obsessed with quarts of plain yogurt. Dear Santa: for Wasabi, a lifetime supply of Sharpie markers. Stat.

Cold weather comfort dinner at home with friends - Photos by Wasabi Prime

The pumpkin macaroni and cheese gets a nice, light sweetness from the roasted pumpkin. Additional sweetness and texture is added with the help of caramelized onions and diced apples. I know -- is this mac n' cheese or a pie? You often see recipes of apple pies with cheddar cheese mixed in the crust, so cheese and apple are no stranger to one another, and when you cook with apples, it's not overly sweet, especially if you're using tart Granny Smiths. I think our tastebud brains get a little tastebud brain-washed by processed fruit products and baked goods, which add a ton of extra sugar to make it abundantly clear it's dessert. So, hey, go crazy. Add an apple into something!

Dish up - chicken with mushrooms, herbs and marsala - Photos by Wasabi Prime

The main course was just a chicken broken down into all its edible pieces -- I'm weird that way, I don't like cooking the whole thing, I like breaking it down like Kid N' Play, and cooking the parts accordingly. I just had a small fryer chicken, whose parts were salted and peppered generously before being put into a hot pot to brown up. I wanted a nice sear of crispy skin, locking in all the moisture. I didn't cook the chicken all the way, just wanted to get some color, then set the birdy aside to deglaze the pot with marsala. I added aromatics like diced onion, garlic and chopped sage and rosemary. I threw in halved mushrooms and let everything simmer and cook off some of its liquid before nestling the chicken parts back in, covering the pot and shoving into the oven to finish. Sort-of chicken marsala? I guess that's the best way to describe it. I just love the combination of sweet marsala wine with flavors like rosemary and sage, which can pack quite a punch -- they balance out nicely. It's like all the flavor-kids meet up in the park and plays nice... right before you eat them!  

Pear crostata, my favorite lazyman dessert - Photo by Wasabi Prime

As for dessert, pear crostata was an easy thing to make. Flat rolled-out dough, layering of sugared fruit, fold up the edges, and bake. No pie dish needed and who cares if it looks like someone ran over Grimace with a steamroller -- it's rustic.  I've been making a lot of pies lately, what with the holidays, and most recipes for pie dough gives you two rounds. I tend not to do the lattice top, so that just means: two pies. Boo-hoo, right? It's still pears aplenty in season, and since apples were in the mac n' cheese, I thought pears would make for a great dessert. They're creamy, the sweetness is more complex, and it just sounds more fancy when you make a pear dessert. And that's all that matters when it comes to desserts -- it sounds fancy. Secret of Life = Revealed.

Wham, Bam, thank you for dessert, ma'am - Photos by Wasabi Prime

The dinner was really nice. Holiday season of good cheer, but no holiday meal pressure to make something over the top. Lots of food and quality time with friends we hadn't seen in a while. It's a couple who's always so good to invite us over and we were overdue to return the favor. It was also a good night to sample beers -- they're a couple who does a bit of homebrewing and were the ones who taught Mr. Wasabi how to start brewing his own beer, also known as, the filling of our garage with mad scientist equipment. If you are a homebrewer or live with one, you know what I'm talkin' about -- can I get an a-men, sistahs and brothas??

But to the real matter at hand -- Wasabi's gonna lay some knowledge down on your cranium. What-what? Aw yeah, so here's the recipe for a pumpkin macaroni and cheese:

Ingredients for the Sauce:
1/2 stick unsalted butter
3 tablespoons flour
4-5 cups whole milk, warmed
1.5 cup pumpkin puree - from a can is fine, just make sure it's not sweetened!
2 cups grated Gruyere cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
pinch of cinnamon
salt and pepper to taste

Ingredients of Chunky Goodness:
2 large onions, thinly sliced (about 2-3 cups' worth)
1 large apple, peeled, cored and diced (about 1 cup; can be any apple, but Fuji is really nice)
1 tablespoon butter

1/2 pound medium-sized shell pasta or 1 pound of small elbow macaroni
1 cup of panko bread crumbs to top before baking

Caramelize the onions first, they take the longest time -- ake a large pan and set to medium high to melt the butter and start to cook down the onions. Stir constantly, moving them around in the pan; they'll wilt, turn translucent, and start changing color. When they start to brown slightly, drop the heat to medium-low. You want to slowly caramelize, not burn them. When they're evenly browned, add the apples in. You just want to reduce some of the liquid in the fruit, no need to brown them. When they're slightly softened, remove from heat and set this mixture aside.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Set a large pot of salted water on the stove, set to high heat. When it's boiling, add the pasta. Cook until still somewhat firm, a little more than al dente. The baking will finish it off, and it will continue to absorb the flavors of the sauce.

To make the sauce, put a medium sized, uncoated pot on the stove, set to medium. Melt the butter down and sprinkle in the flour. Mix well, making sure all the flour is coated in the butter, resembling a light paste. Use a whisk and slowly drizzle in the warm milk, whisking vigorously to make sure there are no lumps. Keep whisking until all the milk is incorporated and the sauce is smooth, this may take a few minutes. Then slowly add the shredded cheese, one small handful at a time, continuing to whisk, ensuring it melts evenly. Lower the heat to medium-low and add the nutmeg and cinnamon. Taste to see if it needs salt or pepper. Carefully scoop in the pumpkin puree and mix until it's fully incorporated. The sauce should be thick, but not stiff, as it will need to coat the pasta evenly -- add more milk to loosen.

In a large bowl, combine the cooked pasta and onions with apple, and carefully fold in the sauce. Gently mix, so you don't break up the pasta, it just needs to be coated and the apple and onion distributed. Pour the mixture into a large baking dish and sprinkle the top with panko crumbs. Place the dish into the oven to bake, until the top is browned, about 15-20 minutes. You can also refrigerate the mixed pasta and sauce, if you're making it a day ahead, and then bake in the oven to finish and brown.

UnRecipe: Tips for Holiday Baked Gifts

I realize we're only at the halfway point of December, and Christmas isn't for a couple of weeks, but if you're on true Holiday Time, you know it's the home stretch for getting gifts prepared and mailed off or ready to give away at the next holiday party. By the time the dwindling days of December's early twenties hit and Christmas Eve is just around the corner, I hate to say it, your holiday goose is cooked since a lot of online stores may not be able to guarantee Dec. 25th delivery and if the malls seemed crazy before, they'll be like a cracked-out madhouse by then. So, why not keep things simple and consider something handmade and edible. Like Wasabi Mom would always say, Food Always Fits.

Tis the season to take over the kitchen with cookies - Photo by Wasabi Prime

It's gotten more difficult to buy things for people over the years. Personal interests change, priorities get shuffled with new jobs/babies/life as a whole, and for most of our friends and family, we're in that stage of "no more stuff, please." We have all the things we really need, and frankly, so many people are looking to simplify their life by cutting back on the objects that eventually become clutter. But holiday gifts are all about showing appreciation, a token of love and gratitude for the person being important in our lives, so why not get into the true holiday spirit and shower them with sweets and junk food we'll all be swearing off in the new year? Pull out that rolling pin and unholy amounts of butter -- it's time to get baking!

Dress your cookies up for the holidays to make 'em feel special - Photos by Wasabi Prime

Homemade baked goods as gifts don't have to be fancy. If anything, the simpler the better, if you're making large batches of gifts to give away. I've gone through my phases of doing complicated confections like layered petit fours with fancy-schmancy icing, holiday-shaped sugar cookies that took more time to decorate than bake, and any number of ideas I saw on Martha Stewart's site that inevitably brings up the, "Oh, that's a good idea," lightbulb in my head and I'm up till 2am, just trying to get a single batch of something completed. I've gotten to the point where I look for simple cookie recipes where the dough is very basic and easy to double or triple batches, and keep the decorating simple, but colorful. The cupcake fad has brought more confectionary elements to the basic grocery store aisles, so I've been able to find little pearlized sugar dragée decorations, along with sanding sugars in gold and silver. Instead of going to the high-end specialty shops, I often find large containers of colorful sanding sugars at discount stores like Ross or Marshalls, where they have small kitchen sections. The decorative sugars are dry goods and have a fairly long shelf life, so I often buy my supplies after the holidays and just keep them in the pantry for the following year. I probably use the plain, large crystallized sugar the most for baking projects year-round, so if you're only going to get one item, that would be the most useful.

Best tip for baking cookies for gifts? Keep it simple! - Photo by Wasabi Prime

I stuck with the simple sugar bonbon cookie recipe from the CakeSpy book. It was small and jewel-like with some sprinkles on it, you stuff each cookie with bits of chocolate or nuts for a sweet surprise, and it was easily made in multiple batches since you use a little cookie scoop tool to get the shape nice and round. If you're making about three or four batches of something, this is the recipe for success. Once they're baked, it's all about packaging them to finish them off so that they feel very precious and gift-like.

Cookies with a sweet surprise and how packaging makes all the difference - Photos by Wasabi Prime

Little celophane cookie bags are your friend during the holidays. You can get printed ones or clear bags, and while they come with handy wire twist-ties, I like using those and then tying some ribbon or strips of cloth to really make it feel like a little gift. The bags come in bulk, and you can either buy them online or if you're in the Seattle area, my favorite store for getting packaging is the aptly-named Packaging Specialties store in Bellevue. They have cardboard boxes of all shapes and sizes and many have the clear, food-friendly coating on the inside, if you're putting something rich like brownies in them, and don't want the food oils to soak through. Get some ribbon or strips of decorated paper to make a simple band around the boxes and finish off with an address lable seal, writing what the item is. You don't really need wrapping paper, and probably shouldn't, as you want the recipients to know right away it's a food gift, so eat immediately. Another way of packaging food to make it feel extra-special is using glass jars. You can get large canning jars in bulk, or if you're only getting a few, nose around antique or secondhand stores -- there's often inexpensive vintage glass jars that make for great presentation. A quick run through the dishwasher, fill it with a favorite treat or snack, and then put a nice bow around the top -- it becomes a special gift, as well as a unique cookie jar for future use.

Along with cookies, I made some quick candy treats. Caramel popcorn is surprisingly easy and fast. I bought a jar of popcorn kernels and popped about three or four batches' worth of plain popcorn over the stove in a large lidded pot. I was careful to remove as many of the "old maids" as possible, to keep people from cracking teeth on seeds, and set the popcorn aside to cool while making batches of caramel. I had a basic recipe for caramel corn, but added extra flavor by putting in some cayenne pepper and cinnamon, which gave it a nice spicy sweetness. I did have one caramel casualty -- I was multitasking too many things and let the caramel sit on the stove for too long, and burned one batch. Caramel sauce down!! But it was a good lesson to not take your eyes off cooking sugar, not even for a second. Once I had a few ample piles of caramel corn popped and cooled, I stored them in large freezer bags until I could fill the individual gift bags for the final presentation. As you can see from the photo below, our house becomes like a food factory, with a few days devoted to making the sweets and then another day devoted to packaging everything up for the dozen or so people who get sweets as gifts. But it's totally true when they say packaging is everything -- if you go through the effort of making something special, it should be presented like a treasure, no?

Welcome to Santa's Village, aka, our dining room table - Photo by Wasabi Prime

I think variety is what makes baked gifts more interesting. Instead of giving a hefty bag of the same cookie, I'd rather give smaller portions of different things. So far I had cookies and caramel popcorn, so my last item was a riff on the old favorite, peppermint bark. I had done the classic peppermint bark in the past -- melting white and dark chocolate, layering on a tray and sprinkling with crushed peppermint candies. It's a pretty and simple presentation, but I wanted to do something different. The combo of chocolate and peanut butter is a favorite, so I did a layer of melted peanut butter chips mixed with white chocolate, then a layer of milk chocolate and a hefty sprinkle of crushed almonds to finish.  I also did an all-chocolate version, using a layer of melted dark chocolate sprinkled with dried cranberries, crushed pistachios and a sprinkling of a smoky finishing salt. They're so intensely sweet, it's fine to give small amounts of each one. They show nicely in clear bags, so I divided the broken-up shards of two different candy bark and labeled accordingly.

Bark if you love holiday bark! And tons of SUGAR!! - Photos by Wasabi Prime

This sounds like a wild and crazy undertaking, but by no means do you have to go this route of Holiday Baking Gone Wild. The point is to pick time-tested recipes that you're comfortable with and spending a little extra effort on packaging the finished goods. By making multiple things, it keeps the gift interesting, and I hope the recipients enjoy the variety as well. Since many of these had to be mailed, I chose items that weren't particularly delicate, since most of these treats would be sent off in boxes, tossed about every which way. Sturdiness is another Prime-Approved baked goods rule, so consider that as you're choosing cookie recipes.

As the pre-Christmas days dwindle, consider skipping the mall to get someone yet another piece of clutter they'll wonder what to do with, and just make them something sweet to show your appreciation!

FoodTrek: Christmas in Seattle

I know we're not supposed to say "Merry Christmas," because we're supposed to be nondenominationally-sensitive to all cultures, religions, etc. At the risk of turning the holiday spirit upside down - forget that noise, Christmas is here, and I'm ready to jingle bell rock-it all the way till December 25th.

Grrrawwwwrrr - It's Christmas, so deal with it, Political Correctness Police! - Photo by Wasabi Prime

The holidays have a special place in my memory because over ten years ago, my first view of Seattle was right around early December, touring the city with my mother, wondering if this would be the place I would call home. The Space Needle had the string of lights atop, making it look like a big Christmas tree, and Macys hadn't co-opted the local department store yet and it was still the Bonmarche Star that continues to hang all bright n' twinkly on the building corner in Westlake Center. All the halls were decked, all the streets were merry with holiday decor, and it really felt like a city ready for festivities. And it was a welcome sight for someone who was parting ways with family, off to a strange new place with an unknown economic future. Not too far from where a lot of us are today, I suppose.

A very sweet and edible Christmas in New Zealand - Photos by Wasabi Prime

But current affairs notwithstanding, Christmas in Seattle continues to hold a little piece of my heart, so despite the total stressball I become during the holidays, I try to take a day to at least enjoy some of it, walk the main downtown blocks to relive some of those decade-old memories and take in the city's way of celebrating. I recently used an afternoon to join the masses of holiday shoppers and muster up some Christmas Spirit patience as I dove into the fray. If you're unfamiliar with Seattle's main downtown area, there's a pretty concentrated block of shopping and large retailers, all near the Westlake Center area, pretty much smack-dab in the middle of the Needle and Pioneer Square/South Downtown. I mostly wanted to admire the store window displays and see the special decorations that come out for Christmas, like the gingerbread house displays at the Sheraton Hotel on 6th Avenue. This year's theme was trains and railroads, with each of the gingerbread structures representing stations from around the world, as well as imaginary ones. The display is open to the public, benefitting a local charity, so do remember to drop a few bucks into the collection box, as it's all for a good cause.

If only travel by rail could be this sweet... Photos by Wasabi Prime

The one from Britain had, of course, a Harry Potter theme. And then some were just too cute for words, like the New Zealand station swarming with adorable wide-eyed kiwi birds wandering around, and little lambs singing carols at the doorstep. For whatever reason, Grand Central Station had been overrun by the weird little cyclops creatures from that animated movie, Despicable Me. Maybe if I'd seen the movie, I'd have gotten the reference, but hey, the kids seemed to love it, and the cyclops creatures were cute, so who am I to complain?

I get a sugar high just looking at it - Photos by Wasabi Prime

It was a lot of walking about, and looking at all that sugary sweetness helps towards building an appetite, so it got me thinking about nearby spots to get a holiday nosh or two. I wound up at Sullivan's Steakhouse on 6th and Union, really close to the shops, but not right in the thick of it to where it's too busy to get a seat. They're in a great location since they're close to the retailers but also nearby the theaters, so it's a good spot to drop by before or after a show. The Mister and his workmates have dropped by here for happy hour before -- they do these crazy-good specials every Thursday, where their signature cocktails and bar food is $6 each. The place gets super-packed, but they run the special until closing, so if you're a happy hour-crawler and work in the area, you need to put that on your list of places to visit on a Thursday.

Tastebuds are partying it up at Sullivan's - Photos by Wasabi Prime

It was totally cocktail-o'-clock for my friend and I, so after a day of holiday wanderings, imbibed several of Sullivan's holiday-themed offerings, along with a big plate of their spicy-sweet calamari, which is one of my new favorite snacks. I have to say the most refreshing was the pineapple-vodka Knockout, and the Merry Berry, which had several different fruit juices like strawberry, pomegranate, lemon and lime juice, with Chambord. The most rich and holiday-decadent was the Chocolate Christmas, which is a perfect Seattle cocktail with its use of espresso liqueur. With the cream and chocolate syrup-decorated glass, it's dessert in a glass, to be sure. It was an indulgent way to spend the day, since these aren't drinks I'd normally have outside of a party, but hey, it's the holidays, and sometimes the best gifts are the ones you give yourself. In my case, it was a day to enjoy the pretty decorations and time to enjoy some pretty cocktails. Consider this your list of to-do's the next time you're on a holiday shopping mission in downtown Seattle.

What about you? What are some of your favorite things you like to do when the holidays come a-calling?

FoodTrek: Holiday Cheers to Winter Beers

The sunny days of summer are long past, replaced with a distinct chill in the air. We're all looking for ways to get cozy and seek out the rich flavors that seem to call out with a rebel yell in the wintery season. We start to think of hot mugs of steaming coffee, bittersweet nibbles of chocolate, and... beer?! Well of course. It's Seattle, after all! Raise a glass and toast the holiday season with a brewski or twoski, as we did at this year's Winter BeerFest.

And lo, unto you I bring you tidings of comfort, joy and delicious beer - Photo by Wasabi Prime

As in previous years, Winter BeerFest was held in the Ballard neighborhood, over at Hale's Palladium, a large event space adjacent to Hale's Ales Brewery. Fitting, no? This festival is especially tuned-in to the Seattle/Northwest vibe, as along with beer, there's a booth set up by Caffe Vita, slinging espresso shots of pure comfort, joy and caffeine to offset the mellowing buzz of beer. There was also a large table full of samples from Theo Chocolate, another local Seattle favorite. They're of the only organic, fair trade chocolatiers in the country, whose sweets are as good as their intentions. They had recommended beer and chocolate pairings, which if you're looking for a unique gift for chocolate and beer lovers, a few bars of Theo chocolate packaged up with some wintery Scotch Ales or smoky Porters would make a really fantastic holiday treat for someone special. This year they had something extra fantastic to add to the mix -- Taylor Shellfish Farms had a table set up, offering freshly shucked Virginica, Shigoku and Olympia oysters, all raised locally, and marvelously good with some of the more crisp hop-heavy beers.

Holiday cheers to Washington beermakers! - Photos by Wasabi Prime

The main event is, of course, the beer itself. Much like how Oktoberfest yields seasonal harvest beers rich in aromatic spices and flush with grains and hops fresh from the fields, winter seasonal beers reflect a style of beer that uses more developed flavors, like malted (partially sprouted) barley, grains that are roasted to get that charred coffee-like flavor, and deep-flavored sugars like molasses. You could say they reflect the flavors that yield from a warming fire on a cold day. It's not to say there is no ubiquitous hoppy IPAs at the festival, there are a few for the hop-head die hards. Most of the beers that are showcased at Winter BeerFest tend to be darker -- you'll find your lion's share of Stouts, Porters and specialty smoked beers. There are holiday-themed beers where they're spiced with things like cinnamon, coriander, ginger and other flavors you'd normally expect to see in a mulled wine. This year had several barrel-aged beers, where they sit in an old whiskey or bourbon barrel, with the beer absorbing some of that added flavor, making a really incredible tasting experience.

Palladium of brewskis - an early moment of calm before the place got totally packed - Photo by Wasabi Prime

I went with the usual Brew Crew, which is to say Mr. Wasabi and several friends who either do their own home brewing, work in the beer industry, or are just super beer nerds who take advantage of any opportunity to fully immerse themselves in yet another beer-tasting adventure. Everyone has their own personal tastes when it comes to beer, which makes for a good way to navigate the many tastings. You won't get through every table, that's just the plain and simple truth. And even if you did, your palate would be completely hosed a third of the way through, as there were many beers with fairly high alcohol by volume numbers, which as the math would have it, leaves one flat-on-their-face drunk. When there's a group of friends who all have personal favorites when it comes to styles, you have tasters who will be attuned to finding the best-in-show samples of winter beers. Mr. Wasabi prefers Doppelbock style beers, which is a malty, rich style of beer developed in Germany by Paulaner Monks in Munich, designed to be drunk during fasts, when they weren't allowed to eat solid food; it's oftend called "liquid bread" or Lent beer. For winter, it's just a good, hearty beer that's stick-to-your-ribs good. One of his notables was the SnowBockalypse by Icicle Brewing Company, from Leavenworth. We had one friend who managed to track down anything close to an IPA or with a generous use of hops, like Wingman Brewers' Ace IPA or 7 Seas Brewing's most LOL-named beer, the Ballz Deep Double IPA. Given our friend's mantra when it comes to beer is for the hops to punch him in the face, he was more than happy to go ballz deep at the festival, so hey, he's got that going for him.

Brewer-designed holiday cheer - Photos by Wasabi Prime

As for me, I stuck with my winter beer guns -- I prefer the rich, smoky coffee-chocolate notes in Stouts and Porters. One of my favorites was Fremont Brewing Company's Bourbon Abominable Ale, aka the "Bbomb." Which makes me think of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World and their punk band Sex Bob-Omb, and that of course makes me smile. Their ale most totally Bbomb-diggity, with a strong wood and vanilla flavor from the aging in 20 year old bourbon barrels, along with a nice chocolate-coffee bitterness. It's not a shy beer, to be sure, and went really nicely with the Theo chcocolates. I also enjoyed Snipes Mountain Brewing's No-Bake-Stout, a nicely well-rounded chocolate oatmeal stout that wasn't gimmicky or fussy, just very well made. I also made a beeline for Black Raven Brewing's Gunpowder Plot Bourbon Nitro Porter, one of the only nitro-poured beers at the festival (at least that I saw), which aside from the really lovely flavors from the bourbon barrel, the pour ensures  the porter has a velvety, creamy texture.

We wish you a Merry-Beer-mas and a Happy Brew Year! - Photos by Wasabi Prime

Overall, the best part of enjoying all these winter beers was the decoration of tables and general sense of holiday cheer. Breweries pulled out all the stops, wearing costumes, creating big holiday displays. They keep a kid-like sense of fun for a grown-up beverage, making this one of the most festive beer events you'll ever have the pleasure of attending.

OMG a Recipe (Book): Get a Real Taste of Aloha

This is generally how the conversation would go when I would say I'm off to visit family:
Me: "I'm going to Hawaii to visit my family for a few weeks."
Person I'm Talking To: "Really? That's so great -- are you going to be sitting on the beach every day?"
Me: "Nope."
Person: "But you'll be drinking Mai Tais and eating everything with pineapple on it, right?"
Me: "Not really. I'll be eating a lot of stuff, but most of it doesn't really have a lot of pineapple."
Person: "No tropical drinks or pineapple on everything? What the hell is wrong with you? Isn't that what everyone does over there?"
Me: *rolls eyes*

This exchange has lessened over the years. Maybe it's because I've had it enough times with people to where they stop asking the same questions about Mai Tais and beaches, but I'd like to believe it's because folks realize that when you go to Hawaii, it's not a cheesy postcard, but a pretty well-established and unique food culture. Yes, there's plenty of pineapple, but there's much more than that. Hawaii has a sizeable number of talented home cooks, so cookbooks are not only popular there, they're very well-used. A new book to make note of is Flavors from a Plantation Town.

Wan Jah Juhn, Korean hamburger, kimchi slider-ized! - Photo by Wasabi Prime

You're not going to find this book on Amazon or on the shelves of any major bookstore, so stop Googling/Amazon Prime-searching. You'll have to go right to the source, ordering directly from the folks who produced the book. Flavors from a Plantation Town is an independently-published cookbook that just came out in November, put together by volunteers by the Friends of Waipahu Public Library, with all proceeds of the book going towards the Waipahu Public Library. It's a charity cookbook full of over 175 recipes, including a history of the city of Waipahu, on the island of Oahu, which started off as a sugar plantation town, much like many of the cities throughout the islands in the 1800s. Fast forward a century or so, and it's a busy, thriving city, with a library that, like many other libraries around the country, could always use a little support to continue its programs. The book is $10, available at the Waipahu Library if you're visiting or living in Hawaii, but if you're like me, Mainland-bound, there is an order form you can fill out and get as many books as you like. I posted a Word document of the form on GoogleDocs, if you want to download it here.

Tasty items from a new cookbook you have to buy several copies of. Do it -- right now! - Photos by Wasabi Prime

Hawaii has a unique cookbook culture, with schools, companies and organizations putting together books of collected recipes, someone gets a printer to donate services, and a big spiral ring-bound book is made and sold around town and at book fairs to help raise money. It's been going on for decades -- if you know anyone who worked at the Hawaii Electric Company, you may have a collection of the last twenty years of HECO cookbooks that get put out every year. The featured dishes are usually everyday favorites, family recipes, and they're about as local to Hawaii as you can get. The dishes aren't the things you'd get at a fussy four-star restaurant along Waikiki, these are the things people have been making for years, the local favorites that people crave, some recipes span several generations, reflecting the cultural bento platter that makes the islands so unique and special. If you're looking for a real taste of Hawaii, these locally produced cookbooks are the way to go -- for $10 it's a pretty reasonable price for a very unique gift, so consider this on your list of what to give your food friends this year.

If you get the book, you can make something like the Korean kimchi sliders you see, which were a bit of a jazzed-up version of one of the book's recipes, a Korean Hamburger (Wan Jah Juhn), where ground beef is heavily seasoned, marinated and then dipped in egg before pan-frying, so you get this great crispy outside and a tender patty. I made mini-burgers and got a package of small dinner roll-sized buns. I topped the burgers with kimchi and mixed some of the pickling juice with mayonnaise and smeared that on the bun before stacking everything together and eating with abandon. I also made the classic Potato Macaroni salad, using one of the recipes in the book. It's similar to my mom's recipe, except that this one uses shredded crab and it's seasoned with powdered Ranch dressing mix. This is resourceful, flavorful cooking at its best. Two scoops, please.

You're wondering what's my connection to the book -- I have one recipe I donated, a slow cooker spicy barbecue pork sandwich, done up in a Vietnamese bahn-mi style (p. 114) -- but my main connection is my family is part of the Friends of the Waipahu Public Library organization. My aunt and uncle live in Waipahu, they're involved in the community, they raised their children there and I just appreciate the fact that there's such a big effort to keep libraries and their programs alive and well. And my cousin Dawn Yoshimura did the artwork for the cover -- she's an amazing artist and she did an absolutely beautiful job. Everyone donated their time and effort to this book, especially the folks who collected and edited the book, gathering so many different recipes and organizing it in a way that's easy to browse and cook from. Bravo, Friends of Waipahu Public Library!

Local crowd favorites from Hawaii - Photos by Wasabi Prime

Back to the food culture of Hawaii -- I don't want to burst anyone's bubble about pineapple. It's okay, you can have it every day if you want, but don't expect it to be sprinkled on everything. When I explain that "Hawaiian Pizza" is not really what the locals eat, it's like I've just said Santa, the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny are all secretly working for the CIA, collecting information on little kids to be used against them in adulthood. Which, according to Agency rules, they cannot confirm nor deny, but still,  you get a lot of sadfaces about the pineapple thing. On my last visit to Hawaii, I was reminded of all the everyday comfort foods that are nearly unheard of on the Mainland, but I hope visitors to Hawaii will sample and enjoy as much as the locals do. My dad likes his Hamburger Steak, which is basically beef patties covered with gravy and onions, served with rice -- throw a fried egg on it, and it's a Locomoco. It's a staple at local restaurants, like mac n' cheese, but probably seems weird to most folks. I think my cousin was quietly aghast when I said you couldn't just pick up a Chocolate Dobash Cake at any old Mainland grocery store bakery. It's this chocolate-rich, yet delicately spongey layered cake -- yet another boon from the Portuguese immigrants who brought their pastry knowledge to the Islands. Why isn't this getting as much cool, hip love as macarons? And yes, the ubiquitous Spam Musubi and Saimin -- I adore them, but when I'm on the Mainland, I feel like my love of Spam is like an illicit love affair, whispered among cult-like members who share the same food-love. There should be a secret handshake.

Tropical fresh, from farmers markets to the home gardens (and even on the roadside) - Photos by Wasabi Prime

Of course, the ease of super-fresh tropical produce never fails to amaze me when I visit Hawaii. I was visiting around the season of fresh ginger, so the markets were selling bundles of the young pink and white root, barely any trace of that woody, tough skin you usually have to peel off. On morning walks with my mom, we'd pick the little wild guava growing along the side of the street, snacking on the way back to the house. And I did enjoy pineapple in the best way -- straight out of my aunt and uncle's garden in Kaneohe, where they lop off the tops, shoves them into the ground, and a few months later, the fruit starts showing up. They don't live on a farm, it's just a house in the middle of the suburbs, but this is how a lot of people roll in Hawaii. They take advantage of the rich soil, things grow well, and home gardens supplement what they get from the stores or catch from the sea. It's a nice lesson in being more self-sufficient and making use of what you have. This is the same mindset that went into a lot of the recipes in Flavors from a Plantation Town, as much of the heritage recipes in the cookbook are ones created out of necessity, blended with neighboring cultures, and using whatever ingredients the Islands could provide. Get the book, try the dishes out, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised with these Hawaiian melting-pot recipes.