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dream big pot roast
If there’s one thing I hope you can take away from any time you’ve spent on this blog, it’s this: buy the Alice Waters’ cookbook the art of simple cooking. It is the seriously the best. Her recipes are so basic and simple and delicious, always delicious. Go write it on your Christmas list right now.
I bought this beef chuck because Whole Foods was having a sale and the meat-monger basically guilted me into it. I bought two pounds when I should have bought three, but oh well. The recipe also calls for cloves, savory, brandy, and bacon, but I oh-welled those too. Because I bought it before I was planning on using it, I heavily salted and peppered the meat, wrapped it in saran wrap and left it in the the fridge for three days. Alice is a big fan of this type of aging (though probably more the 24 hour-type than the three-day-type.)
This was so so so good. Joe and I were aghast at how good it was. As I was nibbling on corners of it, waiting for Joe to get home, I had visions of Sunday dinners and hosting friends with this dish. Anything seemed possible, all of a sudden. I think the clutch element is really browning all sides of the meat at the beginning of the recipe.
I use these concentrated “better than bouillon” stocks for all my chicken stock or beef stock needs. It is easy to keep them in the fridge and you never have to say, “shoot, the only thing I’m missing is chicken stock.” And, ultimately, they make better stock than most cartons. Available at all grocery stores.
I wish I had made mashed potatoes or grainy bread to go with it. I did make biscuits, they were a little on the rich side. I don’t think you could drink red wine with this dish, it’s so savory! Maybe scotch with soda?
Alice Waters Beef Stew-as-Pot Roast Recipe
3 pounds beef chuck, seasoned with coarse salt and fresh ground pepper (a day ahead if possible)
3 slices of bacon, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
2 tablespoons oil
2 carrots, chopped into 2-inch chunks
2 medium onions, quartered
2 whole cloves, stuck into a quarter of onion
2 sprigs each of thyme, parsley, and savory (I skipped the savory and used dried thyme)
1 bay leaf
a few peppercorns
3 tablespoons brandy (optional)
1 3/4 cups red wine
3 tomatoes, diced (fresh or canned)
a small head of garlic, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 thin strip of orange zest
2 cups beef stockHeat the oil in a heavy skillet and cook bacon until fat is rendered and bacon is lightly browned, but not crisp. Remove bacon.
Brown the beef on all sides in the bacon fat. Put meat into a heavy pot or braising dish. Lower heat and pour off most of the fat from the skillet. Cook the carrots, celery, and onions with the herbs, bay leaf, and peppercorns until lightly browned. Add to the beef in pot/dish.
Raise heat of empty skillet and add the brandy, then the red wine. Scrape up the browned bits stuck to the bottom of the pot and reduce wine by two-thirds. Pour over the beef and vegetables in the pot.
Add the tomatoes, garlic, orange zest, and broth to the pot. The liquid should come up at least 1/2 of the way up to the top of the beef/vegetables; add more broth if needed. It does not need to cover the ingredients entirely.
Cover and cook at a bare simmer on the stovetop, or in a 325-degree oven for 3-4 hours until meat falls apart when tested with a fork. Check the stew occasionally to make sure it’s not boiling and there is enough liquid.
Let stew rest for a few minutes before serving and skim off layer of fat on top. Season to taste and serve, if possible, sprinkled with freshly chopped parsley and garlic.
note: the photo up top is right before I added the beef stock, put the lid on, and slide it into the oven.
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Le Creuset interview
I love this little interview with Boston foodie dream team Ana Sorten and Chris Kurth. Ana is the chef behind Sofra, Oleana, and Sarma (new! Somerville!) and Chris runs the Siena Farms farm stand, CSA, and South End shop.
It’s particularly fun to hear about a lunch in Turkey that was a turning point for Ana…
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Nashville City Record List
I’m using this list of Nashville records as a kitchen playlist, with the help of my Spotify account. I wish I was a little more old music-savvy, and this is helping! Wildsam put it together for their gorgeous Nashville guide. There’s so much poetry and story in just reading through these album titles and artist names.
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November
I made nutmeg muffins the other day that called for an entire grated nut. They were spicy to the point of gingery and the toddlers didn’t like them, which was fine by me because I found them astounding. I put four on a plate and brought them down to our neighbors on the floor below us. “Happy November!” the note read, but what I really meant was “Sorry about all that stomping and jumping and ball thumping.”
They’re probably the best downstairs neighbors I could ask for. They wake up before us typically and get home close to Lux’s bedtime in the evening, and thus I don’t think we’re the worst neighbors in the city limits, but definitely in the running if polled on the wrong Saturday morning.
Four days later she returned the plate to me with fresh baked blueberry muffins. It was 11pm and the smell of the muffins had been wafting up the stairs from their kitchen for the last hour. I think she meant for me to find the plate in the morning, but I ate one immediately after I heard the faint chink of the plate being slide onto the shelf outside our door.
I hope this is the winter of muffins. It will be the winter of sugar, I can say that. We are the eastern reach of the east coast time band. Our sun is deeply set by 5pm. I went the whole summer mostly craving fruit and vegetables but now it’s sugar cream butter sugar.
I’ve already bought hot coco mix and put it on a prominent shelf, next to the coffee. I look forward to a winter of bribing Lux to walk up the hill without delay. Luring her with the promise of hot chocolate shared, once we’re home.
Speaking of chocolate, my friend Laura tipped me off to the Mast Brothers visiting Central Bottle this Tuesday. Is Central Bottle God’s gift to Cambridge, or what. I can’t think of a better product to stock up on for pleasing-to-all-gifting this Christmas than their gorgeous chocolate. See you there?
Image from the Mast Brothers goofy Cookbook preview
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baptism
My heart did a little skip every time I thought about Joan being the star of the show on Sunday. Even though I can’t pay attention to her most of the time, even as she has to start crying before I notice that Lux is sitting on top of her feet, I still like for her to get fair praise. I’m awfully fickle with who I feel needs attention in my household—if too many strangers coo over the baby, I direct the conversation to Lux. If everyone is laughing over what Lux is saying, I start to chirp about funny baby things Joan has done lately.
But it just seemed so right, for us to think about Joan for a bit, to light a candle and gather round and celebrate her existence and say out loud that we hoped she would know God and that we would raise her with that hope. At our Episcopal church, the Baptism part slides simply into a normal Sunday service. Between the homily (more of a meditation/story than a sermon) and communion. The four of us went up to the front, plus David, our dear friend-godfather of both of the girls. We talked through, out loud, a series of questions about what we hoped for Joan. Sammy, who was the presiding priest for the day, is our good friend. I’ve probably shared as many drinks with him as I have heard sermons from him, which is a nice thing to feel when you’re handing over your daughter for some legit blessings.
Maybe it’s the bourbon, but I get weepy thinking about this now. “And will all you who witness this,” Sammy’s voice rang out across the pews, “do all in your power to support this child in her life in Christ?” “We will,” answered everyone, strangers some, old friends others. It was beautiful.
Not to say this is what she will choose for herself in the future, not to say that she won’t have moments of thriving and withering, but to say now, in this moment, we acknowledge our part in what she is raised to believe. “…give her a spirit to know and love you, and the gift of joy and wonder in all your works.”
Then the entire congregation trouped to the back corner of the church, to gather around the stone font with its hammered copper bowl. This is my favorite part because from my corner you feel surrounded by a small sea of faces watching and smiling. Sammy dramatically poured water into the bowl, intentionally splashing some over the edge onto the giggling kids below. Joan got sprinkled and anointed with oil that smelled like balsam and fresh cut trees. Salt, for wisdom, was pressed onto her tongue. The kids gathered close and watched every move, laughing when she yawned and hoping she might let out a shocked cry at the salt (obviously she didn’t because she’s born to love salt just like Lux and me. Heritage).
We brought a case of Sofia blanc de blanc, the California sparkling wine that comes wrapped in pink cellophane, to celebrate with everyone afterwards, the early hour notwithstanding. It’s a fruity sparking wine, perfect for the morning. I made 70 golden gougeres (ina’s recipe, easy, reliable, five stars on the crowd-pleasing) and piled them into a big bowl next to the chilled bottles. They go best with champagne if they are hot and crunchy out of the oven, but they still taste sharply of gruyere and softly eggy, even when they are one day old.
<thanks to Kelsey and Julianne for the photos>
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baptism dress
A couple weekends ago I spent a cold morning helping organize a tag sale. Joe entertained the girls back at the apartment while I met up with three other moms at our playground. We had our paper cups of coffee, our mittens, and tons of donations. There were big bags of clothes, and my job was to hang up each item of children’s clothing and place it on the right size rack. Organizers got first dibs on shopping, but Lux doesn’t really need anything, so I had just pulled out a box of infant socks so far.
AND THEN a woman dropped off a ziplock bag of antique linens. A bag, I’m not kidding. Folded over delicate dolls’ jackets and infant victorian-style tops, and two dresses that looked like baptism dresses to me. I pulled those out to buy for myself, and packaged up the rest of the bag for some other antique-lover to find. It seemed like too much for one person to claim all for themselves.
This dress, the one Joan wore, is so pretty, and I feel lucky to have it. I like to think about the woman who made the dress. I bet she made it by hand, and I bet she picked out the lace months beforehand. I wonder if she made it for a boy, or a girl, or maybe both, for her whole family. It must be at least 100 years old but it’s in such beautiful shape.
So this will be for whoever comes after Joan. And maybe, just maybe, it will make it to a granddaughter someday.
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Blue Bottle Tips
Extremely enlightening things I learned while browsing Blue Bottle Coffee’s brewing guides:
- French Press coffee should only sit/brew for four minutes
- Pour all of the coffee out of the French Press as soon as it’s done brewing
- Pour-over coffee should take 2.5-3 minutes of pouring to brew
- A Moka Pot (Italian stovetop) is best done with already hot water
- Pulling a perfect espresso shot is an art form.
The writing is a little snobby, but in a charming hopeless-nerd way. The photography is amazing. And the knowledge (particularly that French Press bit) is transformative. Nice website, guys!
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consignment
Joe’s bike was stolen last week. Emailing the renter’s insurance rep about it, trying to estimate the value from afar…It got me thinking about possessions. Loved, lost, cast aside, and in between. Will I always remember the sweatshirt I lost on Mackinaw Island, amidst the fudge and the horse-drawn carts? And how my mom told me I lost it because someone else was meant to find it. I hated that she said that, and yet it is still how I comfort myself over lost items to this day.
Let’s not turn this into soliloquy but I can tell you that somewhere in my head is a carefully noted legal pad with everything I’ve ever lost unexpectedly. I’m not proud of it, but it gets pulled out every now and then, and added to, and I read it over and think, DAMN IT I LIKED THAT JEAN JACKET.
The zillions of things I’ve purged to goodwill? Not so much.
I’m not sure why consigning things appeals to me. It takes time–you usually have to spiff up your castoff clothes, and call ahead to schedule an appointment. You have to time your purges with the changing seasons so you’re not showing up with flip flops in October. And I do believe in the mission of a goodwill or a Salvation Army, goodness knows I love to shop them when I have an afternoon to myself. Joe and I frequently remark that the drop-off experience at Goodwill needs to be remade by a big name consulting agency. They make you feel furtive and ashamed for showing up and giving them all your stuff. Like, “uh, sure, just dump that here. Thanks, I guess.” Consignment shops, on the other hand, make your stuff feel valued. They say, oh this is lovely, Sure, we’ll take it and sell it for you, someone will love it. Poor Little Rich Girl, my preferred Boston consignment shop, types up a list of all your items with their remarks, like “100% cashmere sweater. So cute and the best color for this season.” And you walk away thinking, yes that was a good buy, it just didn’t work for me at the time!
Do you ever consign your things? Oh, and I really enjoyed Allie’s carefully built wardrobe post–that’s a big SOMEDAY dream for me.
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a book I’m enjoying
A book I’m really enjoying: 100 Best Books for Children, by Anita Silvey. I was afraid it would be another list of ways to make your child a genius, but instead it was written by a book-lover all about those books you remember reading as a child. For each entry she has researched the stories behind the author and the author’s life when they wrote that book. For example,
Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel: Virginia Lee Burton first wrote a book called The Trials and Trails of Jonnifer Lint…yikes. Publishers turned it down and suggested that she see what her boys thought of it. They fell asleep while she was reading it to them, ha! So she wrote something about what she knew they would love: steam engines.
Arnold Lobel, the author of Frog and Toad are Friends, was from New York City and afraid of the countryside. Else Holmelund Minarik, who wrote Little Bear, taught at a rural school and originally wrote the books for her students. Lucy Maud Montgomery, of Anne of Green Gables, had to fight to get her book published. She was first offered a flat fee of $500, but fortunately, she took the other offer of .09 cents per book!
I picked it up at our library (our children’s librarian has exquisite taste). If you see it, grab it!
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what’s on your homescreen?
a new series wherein I ask friends what apps they use frequently and why. I’m going first, let me know what you think!
Voice Memo I’ve been using this to record Lux talking to herself and at music class so I can remember the songs for Lux later on.Google Maps Much subtler on the road than the Apple maps app.
Merriam Webster Good old fashioned knowledge.
Simple a new bank that Joe and I are using because their app is designed to help you save.
Google I use their search app because it’s quicker than the Safari browser.
Feedly, Twitter, Instagram Need no explanation, really.
TeuxDeux a to-do app for the daily and the long term. I really love the simplicity of it. In November, they are going to start charging $24-a-year, and I’m up for paying.
Foursquare Better for suggestions of where to eat more than over-saturated Yelp these days.
Notes Compared with TeuxDeux, I use it more for spur of the moment. Great for grocery lists. Intuitively designed not to waste your time when you are just trying to jot things down in the moment.
LevelUp Boston’s preferred pay-with-your-phone app, usually saves me $5-$10 every ten purchases or so.
Petting Zoo Still my favorite kids app, though Lux prefers instagram, especially #puppiesofinstagram.
Kayak for whimsical flight searches, just to satisfy my frequent “how much does it cost to fly to Bali in March?” thoughts.
iQueue it makes zero, ZERO, sense that I have to use a third party app to update my Netflix dvd queue, but there you have it. It works quickly and simply. Recently added: La Vie en Rose, A Nos Amours, Mystic Pizza, Skyfall.