Waiter, There's something in my .... Easter Basket!

I know it is not good to take advantage of the misfortune of others but since the host of the WTISIM... Easter Basket! event is taking advantage of her children's illness to extend the deadline over at the Passionate Cook, I was inspired to take advantage to share a recipe I was already planning on posting. This is a family recipe for coconut cream Easter eggs that came from my mother-in-law, Virginia. When I was newly married she showed me how to make these, and over the years I think I am the last child or in-law to still make them. I usually make a huge batch because I give them to friends, family and coworkers. When my mother-in-law made them she would make the cream and knead it for 15 minute every night for a week to get the creamy coconut flavor, but now, with mixers with dough hooks you can make short work of the kneading and still have a rich and creamy outcome. This recipe makes about 8 large multi-serving eggs an about 30 2-inch "bite-size" eggs. You could easily cut this recipe in half, if you like. I know a lot of people buy their eggs from church groups, but at least once you should try making them yourself.... they put the commercial ones to shame. I have always wanted to color part of the fondant yellow to make "yolks" in my eggs, but I am either in a hurry or forget until the eggs are formed. I dip mine in a mixture of bittersweet chocolate and paraffin which make the chocolate easier to handle and the finished product smooth and shiny. You could use semisweet, but I prefer the darker chocolate as a counter to the sweet richness of the coconut cream. Believe me, once you try these you will want the waiter to leave these in your Easter basket!

Dowd Family Coconut Cream Eggs

2 sticks butter softened

1/2 15 ounce can of cream of coconut

10 cups confectioners sugar

1/2 tablespoon coconut extract

1 1/2 14 ounce bags of flaked coconut

For dipping:

12 ounces bittersweet chocolate

1/2 of one sheet of paraffin (used for canning)

Begin with mixer using mixing blade to cream butter, cream of coconut and coconut extract. Add sugar 2 cups at a time, mixing after each addition. Once you have mixed in all ten cups of sugar, the mixture should look a lot like bread dough(it should pull cleanly away fro the sides of the bowl and form large ball) Take off blade and mix coconut in by hand. Then, using dough hook attachment,knead fondant until it is smooth, shiny and doesn't stick to your hands. If you don't have a mixer with dough hook attachment you can knead by hand for 3 10-minute periods (great for pecs and upper arms!- if you can do all 30 minutes at one time you should be on a body-building blog!).

Once the fondant is ready you can form the eggs. The larger size are great for giving, and these eggs freeze very well and so can be frozen and eaten a bit at a time (several of our friends and neighbors would eat theirs slice by slice). Line a cookie sheet with either waxed paper or parchment and once all eggs are formed, place eggs in freezer to firm. You will know you have done a great job if, when you are done this part, your kitchen and the front of your clothes or apron are covered with powdered sugar!

The final step is to dip the eggs in chocolate . Melt the chocolate and paraffin together in a pan over boiling water (my kitchen equipment doesn't include a double boiler!). Do not leave this mixture unattended! Once the chocolate and paraffin are melted and mixed together, take the eggs from the freezer for dipping. You will need a couple of cold cookie sheets with parchment for this process, which is the most time-consuming (for me, at least!) I use a two-prong meat fork and stick it into the side of the eggs , dipping them, and then placing them on the sheet, using the back of a spoon to remove the fork, then quickly use a little melted chocolate to cover the fork holes. Those of you who are more experienced candy-makers may have a better and prettier technique (and if you do, please share it!) The smaller eggs are a lot quicker and easier . Once all are dipped, set in freezer again until chocolate is set. If you like you can use frosting and personalize eggs, drizzle with white chocolate, whatever suits you. The eggs then need to be refrigerated until ready to eat. They are best if you take them out an hour before you want to eat them to allow them to come to room temperature.

So thanks to Passionate Cook for this great event (and thank her for the extra pounds you see on your scale and the temporary spike in your cholesterol!- but hey, Easter is only once a year!)

What's in (on) my refrigerator?

It has been awhile since Michael of Chicken-Fried Gourmet tagged me with a meme to show what is in my refrigerator. Okay, Michael, I am a working mother who blogs. When I saw that you tagged me, I wanted to do all of the following: 1) buy a new refrigerator (my preference pictured right), 2) take the day off and clean my existing refrigerator, 3) Go to Trader Joe's and fill my fridge with triple cream brie and beluga caviar. However, reality (and finances) prevailed and so I waited for a weekend when I had time, tidied up and took inventory so Michael would not think I had forgotten or worse, was ignoring him. Besides, I started this blog to make cooking approachable, and what could be more approachable than a fridge whose contents go from Velveeta to venison?!

First of all, because this blog centers on cooking for a family, what is on the outside of my fridge is as important as what is inside. To the left you see my fridge from the outside, plastered with appointment reminders, papers with good grades, certificates, a picture of us all at Katie's college graduation party, the operating calendar for Busch Gardens Williamsburg, and phone numbers of whomever the kids were with last. You know, when it was brand new in the showroom, its stark white double doors looked so neat...

but our house is not a showroom but a home, and so...



I am putting off showing you the inside, but part of blogging is opening up, even if it is your refrigerator! So ta-da! Here it is to the right with the fridge and freezer open (you can see I spent less time on the freezer!)



So what is in there? Here is a partial list:



Meat: Some chorizo, turkey bacon, Jamestown Sausage (you caught me, it's my husband's addiction), a defrosting flank steak I am stuffing with blue cheese for dinner and a defrosting whole turkey for tomorrow's dinner



Cheese: Cambia artisan blue, Land O Lakes White American slices from the deli (my sister in law loves this cheese and turned us on to it), Kraft American, Manchego, neufchatel, Dubliner, and some Emmenthaler, Feta



Staples: Sundried tomatoes, Artichoke hearts, chipotle peppers in adobo, capers, chili and garlic sauce, butter(for cooking) and Smart Balance (for eating), anchovies,



Condiments: Mayo, 5 kinds of mustard including Trader Joe's Sweet and Hot, Honeycup (my favorite), French's and Dijon, and jalapeno dijon, Ketchup, Alfredo Sauce, pesto,



Miscellaneous: Buttermilk (remainder used from a recipe for soda bread, skim milk, Perrier (bought for a dinner guest who had wine instead), Diet Pepsi, Ruby Red grapefruit juice, Kirkland bottled water (where would we be without Costco?), eggs (real and Eggbeaters), yogurt (I love the Trader Joe's Mediterranean); Sliced roast beef and baby swiss cheese for sandwiches.



Produce: Asparagus, Celery, Romaine, Lemons, Cauliflower, Broccoli, Onions, scallions, radishes



Leftovers: Feta-stuffed chicken breasts (from a recipe I got from Elizabeth at Mommy Cooks), Homemade barbecue pulled pork



Okay, so now I feel so much better- I responded to a meme and cleaned out my fridge and posted all in the same day. Now, I have to tag someone. If you have been tagged previously, I apologize, but if not, open up those fridge doors and bare your (filet of) sole!



I tag: Shelley of S'kat and the Food (she will probably be glad to feature a kitchen appliance that works), Shauna at Gluten Free Girl (I know her fridge will be interesting), and Anne of Cooking with Anne (she probably has two fridges!)

On the Same List as Ruhlman?!

There are two types of validation for writers (even if they are food bloggers)- internal, when you are satisfied about how something you wrote turns out , and external, when someone other than you (or your friends and family) recognizes what you do. This week brought both to me and Play with Food. First of all, in my visits around the blogosphere, I saw a food blogging event over at Ellie's Kitchen Wench that spoke to me. She was hosting a one-off event to write about a recipe that had some nostalgic story attached, that brought back some significant memories (and you know how I feel about food and memories). I knew exactly what recipe and its story was waiting to be told. The post virtually wrote itself and when it was done, I felt really good about how it turned out. My feelings were confirmed when my husband read the post about his father and said (in a broken voice) "You really captured what may father was like". You can check my previous post and decide for yourself (but frankly, your opinion won't change how I feel about it!)

The second came this morning when, after checking my "staple" blogs, I went to Technorati to check my ranking and links (okay, I know I'm a sucker) and saw that there was a new link on Epicurious (which I had just checked). I went back to find that in the list of Tanya Wenman Steele's list of "Food Blogs I Like", there was Play With Food, right above Ruhlman (albeit the listings are alphabetical)!!! I'm not kidding myself, I am no Michael Ruhlman, nor do I want to be (sorry, Michael), but to be on the same list with bloggers like him and Cooking with Amy, Becks & Posh,Chocolate and Zucchini, and 101 Cookbooks, is a bit overwhelming. These, along with Tanya's blog, are ideals to which I aspire, and frankly makes me feel like a "marching band girl" who has become a varsity cheerleader!

How do I explain this? I can't possibly. I know it is not my beautiful food photos, since I am the rankest of amateurs. It is not the beautiful layout of my page, since I am still on a Blogger template. I hope it is because readers want to visit me like they would a friend, or a favorite aunt or cousin, or a close neighbor in a small town. They know I am here to listen and to share a laugh, a recipe, a memory or even a tear. And with it, a recipe or idea that they can take back to their own kitchens. If that is the reason Tanya listed me, then whether my pictures are fuzzy, or my layout is clumsy, or even if my writing is not always what it could be, I will consider this blog a success.

If you are here for the first time, please come back, the door's always open and there is always room at the cyber-kitchen table for new friends, and their comments. If you are already a regular reader, thanks for supporting this blog and its purpose and don't be shy, speak up, share. More than talking or preaching or teaching, I want to listen!

The Greatest Chicken Salad I Will Never Make Again

This post is in response to Kitchen Wench's one-off event challenging bloggers to share a recipe attached to some event in your past in a substantial, yet bittersweet way. When I read this challenge, I knew immediately the recipe and its story that I wanted to share even though I cannot include a picture (you will see why!). It is the story of the greatest chicken salad I will never make again.

I can't even remember now where I got this recipe, it must've been from a person, because it is neatly copied on one of my beautiful 4x6 recipe cards for a set that included a recipe box with matching cards that I received as a gift back when I and my family was young. Most of my recipes are torn from magazines, cut from a newspaper, scribbled on random bits of paper, or typed by friends or acquaintances, printed out from Food Network or Epicurious. A recipe had to be really special in order for me to use one of the 50 cards that came with my set, and it had to be something that I was sure would be a permanent addition to my culinary reperatoire.

This recipe is everything a recipe should be - delicious, light, healthy, easy to make, filled with complex, swett-hot flavors and very portable! In fact, I made this Szechwan Chicken Salad several times when I needed to take something to a pot luck and there were never leftovers. Everyone in my family loved it and were always suggesting it, particularly during the dog days of Tidewater summer!

There was nothing unusual on a day, so long ago, when I made a big double batch of this salad. The weather was going to be warm, lending itself to a light salad, and I was planning to take any leftovers for lunch at work in the next week. I had just placed the covered bowl of salad in the fridge when we got a call from the hospital that my husband's father was near death. The Colonel, as he was affectionately (and respectfully) called by all, was an incredible man, with a sharp memory and a knowledge for world history that would have shamed any history professor 4 decades his junior. He had served in three branches of the service during his military career, had served in the esteemed 1st City Troop, and danced with Lucy Mercer in the Roosevelt White House as a young officer. He was full of stories for anyone who would listen, and since most of his family had heard them all (multiple times) , as the newest daughter-in-law, I was a welcome audience. As our family grew, he was a doting grandfather with all of the grandchildren, bouncing them on his knee to the tune of "Gary Owen". The older Dowd grandchildren remember to this day their "Grandpapa" blowing the bugle. He was always an ally to a grandchild who wanted an extra dessert or to stay up past bedtime. A man who was sometimes remembered as stern by his own children, was a marshmallow to his grandchildren.

I will never forget the first time that I met him. It wasn't long after the movie Patton had come out. My father-in-law, who was at that time the Superintendent of the Winchester National Cemetary, was strolling among the headstones and when he turned around, I thought I was dating the son of George C. Scott!! He had the bearing and demeanor (and the posture) of a career military officer. You could imagine that he cut a dashing figure in his younger years (and he delighted in telling you so!).

As young newlyweds, my husband and I moved in with my in-laws in order to save money to buy a house, and allowing our mother-in-law to travel to wherever my sisters-in-law were having their children (and for awhile there was a steady stream). In the years that we lived there I never saw my father-in-law in any state other than either fully dressed (to the nines I might add) or in his pajamas, robe and slippers. When I had my own first child, my mother-in-law was away, so I brought my daughter home to a house run by the Colonel and my husband, who had gone to the commissary to get all manner of food for a new mom... and Guinness stout because he was sure that would help with my nursing!

His pet peeves- Cheap suits or shoes, runs in a lady's stockings, adults or children who were disrespectful, lazy or dishonest people. When he was told by his doctor (he was a Type 2 diabetic) that if he was good, he could have a half-cup of ice cream a night, he picked the largest mug in the cabinet and then used about about 600 psi to spoon in as much Breyer's chocolate ice cream as could be accomodated by the laws of physics!

My mother-in-law told me about his one cooking experience, when she came home from the hospital after the birth of one of their children. She said that he was determined to make her a meal and serve her (despite the fact that, to my knowledge he could only cook hot dogs and toast!). This was when TV dinners were brand new and he said he would make her one. Despite her offers to help (and her strong conviction that he had no idea how to use the oven!), he insisted that he could do it. She ate her words when he marched proudly up the stairs with the foil plate with a turkey dinner golden brown and steaming, smelling delicious and inviting. As he ran to get her a drink, she stuck her fork to take the first bite... and found that beneath the golden brown steaming surface, the food was still frozen in the middle!

The days leading up to his funeral, we put the Szechwan Chicken Salad that I had made what seemed like an eternity ago out with the other food brought by family and friends, and as always, it disappeared. My husband has, since then, associated that chicken salad with his father's death and even though I and my children have tried to convince him otherwise, I have not ever made it again.

While it may seem strange, this blog event gives me the opportunity to share not only my fond memories of the Colonel, and his incredible life, but to share with anyone who reads this a great recipe that you and our family can enjoy. I hope that you will make it and enjoy ...and also remember, in a fond way, a man you never met except through my words.

Szechwan Chicken Salad

Dressing:
1/4 cup peanut or sesame oil (I used sesame)

4-5 tbsp red wine vingar

1-2 tbsp honey

2 tsp sesame seeds

2 cloves garlic
3/4 tsp hot pepper sauce, adjust to taste

1/2 tsp grated fresh ginger

1/4 tsp salt

Combine all ingredients above until well mixed and then toss with the following:

1/2 lb bow tie pasta, cooked and drained

3 cups broccoli florets

2 cups cooked chicken cut in chunks

1 cup fresh or frozen snow peas

2 green onions, cut up

Once combined, salad is best if it sits for 4-8 hours or overnight.

Fear of Fish

One thing that a lot of budding cooks are afraid of cooking is fish and seafood. I have met people who have only eaten fish by Mrs. Paul or the cute Gorton's Fisherman. While there is a time and place for "freezer fish", there are so many quick and easy dishes you can do with fresh fish and seafood that is a shame to let your fear get the better of you, especially now when we know how good fish, particularly cold water fish is for you. Even if you are not that adventurous, there is lots you can do with a can of chunk white tuna or some smoked salmon and you can work your way up to a whole fish as you gain confidence!

One of my fish memories growing up was a fish called butterfish that my mom used to make. They were really bony but they had this great buttery taste, that I will never forget. I have never made butterfish as an adult because my husband inherited from his father a fear of fish bones. In all fairness. if you had a beautiful filet of fish, my father-in-law could find the one tiny bone in the whole platter! Somehow my husband has inherited this and so there are only some fishes that he will eat.

In our area, stripers and bluefish are very popular, but even if you don't live near the coast you can get flash frozen salmon or mahi-mahi filets. So you have a chunk of fresh fish and now what do you do with it? Well, the simplest thing I do that almost anyone likes is to put the fish in a greased pan, slather the top with mayo (light is fine) and then sprinkle with a seasoning mix like jerk seasoning, Season-all, lemon pepper, or any of the great combinations you can buy from Penzey's Spices. Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for about 10-15 minutes or broil until the fish flakes easily. Believe me, the mistake that most people make in cooking fish, or any seafood, is cooking too long. If you take your fish out too soon you can always put it back under the broiler to finish it off, but if you cook it too long... well, that's the reason that many people have bad feelings about fish to begin with.

What else can a beginner do with fish that will impress even their mother-in-law? I am including a couple of simple dishes that look great, and taste even better, as well as a surprising tuna surprise recipe that is light, low carb and delicious!

Smoked Salmon Appetizer

1/2 cup of smoked salmon pieces (you can sometimes buy them this way or if you get the Costco fillet, cut it in bite-sized pieces)

Juice of 1/2 -whole lemon (depending on how much lemon flavor you like)

2-3 tablespoons of capers

1/4-1/2 tsp dill weed

Gently stir all ingredients together and chill. Serve with crackers or belgian endive.

Thai Sweet Hot Salmon

1 pound of fresh salmon, cut into 4-6 ounce portions

1/2 cup Thai sweet red pepper sauce

Spray baking sheet with nonstick spray and place fish portions on sheet. Brush fish with Thai sauce. Bake in 350 degree oven for 10-15 minutes until fish is moist but flaky.

Jim's "Even My Kids Will Eat It" Salmon

This is a recipe that Jim, a friend from work, gave me for salmon. Every time I make it, people ooh and ahh (after they eat up every bit!)

1 lb salmon filets or salmon steaks

1 large sweet onion (Vidalia or Maya)

Your favorite BBQ sauce
Havarti-dill cheese in thin slices (or other mild white cheese)

1/4-1/2 tsp brown sugar (I use brown Splenda)

4 tbsp butter

Slice onions. Spray large skillet with PAM (not non-stick- read my post on Good David's PAM warning). Prepare the salmon by coating with your favorite BBQ sauce. Saute onions in 2 tbsp of the butter with brown sugar until translucent and onions are caramelized and set aside. Put other 2 tbsp of butter in pan and add salmon. Cook over medium heat, turning once, allowing about 2 minutes each side. When salmon is done, top with onions and then cheese slices until cheese melts. Serve over long grain and wild rice and collect the compliments!

Grilled Whole Fish with Herbs

It took me awhile before I was ready to buy a whole fish, but it is a dramatic meal that tastes great and good for you. Look for a fish without a strong smell and eyes that have not sunken. I usually have it gutted (what a lovely word) and the head taken off.

1 whole fish (3-4 lbs) - I like bluefish, spanish mackeral, trout.

1 lemon sliced (or any other citrus or combination

A handful of herbs of any combination of the following (dill, chives, lemon balm, rosemary, celery tops, fennel tops, fresh basil... or any others you like)

1-2 tablespoon olive oil

Coarse sea salt and pepper

Spray large piece of aluminum foil with PAM (large enough to wrap the fish) and lay fish at middle of it and drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle inside and out with coarse sea salt and pepper. Stuff citrus and herbs in the fish cavity and wrap fish tightly. Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes or cook on preheated grill over indirect heat) until fish flakes with a fork.

Surprising Tuna Surprise

This was a recipe I made up when we were on the Atkins diet, but we continue to prefer this over traditional tuna casserole. It is easy light and delicious, not to mention healthy. You won't miss the noodles at all!

1 large can of chunk white tuna (picture of Jessica Simpson's favorite, left)

2 1/2 pounds of zucchini

1/3 -1/2 jar of prepared alfredo pasta sauce

1/2 - 1 can french fried onions

1-1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

2 tbsp butter or olive oil

Wash zucchini off and, using a vegetable peeler, make ribbons of the zucchini into a colander working your way around the zucchini until you reach the seeds (discard the seeds). Do this for all the zucchini and salt lightly and let stand for about 15 minutes. Rinse off zucchini and drain well. Melt 2 tbsp butter or olive oil in saucepan and add zucchini ribbons, and saute lightly (1-2 minutes) until just cooked. Add sauce and stir in tuna. Put mixture into a 1 1/2 quart casserole dish or 9x9 pan and top with onions and cheese. Bake at 350 degrees until bubbly and cheese is melted (about 20 minutes). Enjoy.

St. Patrick's Week

I guess it shouldn't be a surprise to you that a family with the last name Dowd would celebrate St. Patrick's Day... for a week. As I have said before, in our house any excuse for a party is good for us and celebrating the patron saint of Ireland is an excuse to watch The Commitments(one of my very favorite movies), make Irish coffee, and pull out all manner of things green. I have to say that my father-in-law, The Colonel, used to say that the shortest book ever written was "Great Irish Recipes", but how can cuisine with potatoes as a cornerstone be bad?

Several years ago I was looking for some ideas beyond the traditional corned beef and cabbage, and I was surprised to find a wide variety of foods, so during the week around St. Paddy's Day we incorporate some dishes like salmon, soda bread, and bangers (Irish sausages) into our diet. A couple of years ago I found a recipe for what we call Irish Grilled Cheese that make a great meatless meal (remembering Lent, of course) with a nice side salad. Shepherd's pie, lamb chops, and Irish stew are also great options to celebrate the contributions that Ireland has made to our lives (Irish whiskey...Enya...Bono...Waterford crystal (my pattern, Colleen, to the right!))

Sources like Food Network and Epicurious are great for finding not only traditional Irish foods, but new twists using traditional ingredients in new ways (I can't wait to try the recipe for a Stout Float that I saw on Party Line with the Hearty Boys- anything that sounds so weird has got to be good!)

For us, while we enjoy corned beef and cabbage, our favorite meal is the next day when we have corned beef hash topped with eggs and grated Irish Cheddar. There is no higher calling for leftover corned beef and potatoes, believe me.

Don't you have to love a nation that has foods with names like boxty, bangers, "bubble and squeak" and blood pudding? So put on the Chieftains or Enya or even Flogging Molly (my daughter Molly doesn't like this much, once she found out what flogging was!), get out your Jameson's, and Bailey's, and put a shamrock in your lapel and take your own culinary journey to the Emerald Isle. Irish food... it's more than green beer (and it is not true that a 7-course Irish meal is a six-pack of Guinness and a bag of potato chips!)

Day After Corned Beef Hash

2-3 cups leftover corned beef cut in small cubes

4 cups leftover cooked potatoes (if you cooked carrots with your CB&C, you can use these, too)

2 tbsp butter

1 egg for each person being served

1 1/2 cups Grated Irish Cheddar (Blarney or Dubliner is best, but you can use regular Cheddar if that's all you have)

Melt butter in large lidded frying pan. Mix potatoes and meat together thoroughly and put in pan over medium heat. Stir a couple of times until heated through and then pat lightly down into the pan to let the hash get crispy. Using a spoon make a well in the top of the hash for each egg and break egg into well. Lightly salt and pepper the eggs and cover pan with lid, checking frequently to see when whites are set, then top with cheese and put lid on till egg white are fuly set and cheese is melted. Serve hash with the egg on top for each serving.

Irish Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

10 slices of whole grain oat bread (I like Oatnut best for this)

8 ounces cream or Neufchatel cheese, softened

4 scallions chopped (green and white parts)

2 cups grated Dubliner cheese

1 beaten egg with 2 tbsp milk beaten in.

1-2 tbsp melted butter for toasting sandwiches

Mix cream cheese, Dubliner, and scallions together until all ingredients are incorporated. For each sandwich, spread cheese mixture thickly on bread, top with another bread slice. Brush both sides generously with egg mixture and toast in pan like conventional grilled cheese in melted butter on griddle or frying pan. Cook until sandwich is brown and crusty and the cheese is melted. Cut in quarters and serve.

Murder and Sardines

Trying to find something to do with older kids is always a challenge....it is much easier to entertain a group of preschoolers, or toddlers than it is to entertain sullen teenager or eye-rolling pre-teen. Food is one thing you can count on to bring your kids (and sometimes their friends) to the house. Another thing we have recently found is a big hit is...parlor games. We were introduced by our neighbors and friends Renee and Calvert. Since we moved to our neighborhood, they have been like surrogate grandparents to our kids and great friends to us. They are retired, but I mean only from work- they are some of the most fun and active people we know, and Renee is the game queen. She loves board games and every chance we get we play together. We usually tend toward games that border on hilarity or have the potential for double entendres that kids miss but break up the adults - Pictionary, Mad Gab, Apples to Apples (one of our new favorites), and Cranium are a few of our favorites (Renee once screamed out "Johnny Appleseed's nuts!" in response to a drawing I did in a round of Pictionary we played on vacation two years ago, a line we have never let her forget!) We have popcorn or cheese and crackers, dip and pita chips, or if we are at Renee's on her big screened porch we have something like lemon bars, or some other delicious baked good. But here the food is a more of a complement to the activity, not the star - it only provides the fuel for the peals of laughter and straining of the brain trying to win.

While board games can be a family occasion, what Renee and Calvert introduced us to was parlor games like Charades. My kids' favorites are Murder and Sardines (two different games, not one). In Murder, you shuffle the Ace, King and Jack and enough number cards equal to the number of players, and have each player select a card and not show it to anyone. The Ace is the murderer, the King is the investigator, and the Jack is the back-up investigator (in case the investigator is murdered). The rest are the potential victims. Once the draw is complete, you turn out all the lights and wander around a pre-agreed area (at our house it's the downstairs) and the murderer looks for an opportunity to select and kill a victim (by putting his hands gently around the neck of the "victim"(for younger or shorter people you can squeeze an arm to convey the crime!). The "victim" then counts to ten silently then screams and falls to the ground wherever they are and the lights are turned on and the person who drew the King begins the investigation (unless he/she was the one murdered, in which case the back up investigator takes over). The investigator can ask only yes or no questions, and everyone except the murderer must answer honestly. When the investigator thinks he knows who the murderer he/she can make a guess and he/she gets three guesses, and once the investigator starts guessing he can't ask anymore questions. My kids love this game ( and they love having their parents or siblings as victims!)

The other game that Renee taught us, we learned when they invited us to stay a night when they were at the beach in Nags Head. I had a migraine that night but Renee had talked so much about this game I had to try. It was called sardines. In this game, one person is chosen to be the hider. The area you are playing in should be darkand the rest of the players should count to 50 and let the hider find a hiding place. At the end of the count, the rest of the players start searching for the "sardine". The person who finds them joins them in their hiding place and one by one the players join the other "sardines" until the last person finds them. This game is hilarious and once you get two or three people crammed into a closet or shower, you cannot keep from laughing. Even though I had a wicked headache, I could not help but enjoy it. Just something about grownups playing this version of hide and seek is just too much. Try it sometime - you won't be sorry.

Parlor games and game night lend themselves to either a dessert and coffee venue or finger foods that can be grabbed in between rounds or turns. Some of our favorites are veggies and dip, hummus and pita chips, assorted cookies and/or brownies and flavored coffees. So invite your neighbors, some friends or your kids friends, pull out your card table (we often during the winter put a round table in front of the fireplace and play board games there on winter evenings) and close the doors on your entertainment center - you're in for an evening you won't forget and it is playing with food at its best!

Play with Beans Hummus

1 can garbanzo beans (or other white beans) rinsed and drained

Juice of 1/2 lemon

2-4 cloves garlic mashed

1-2 tablespoons of tahini (sesame paste) or peanut butter if you prefer

1/4-1/3 cup good olive oil

Toasted pita chips ( I like to make my own from pitas that I get at the bread outlet store)

Mix beans, garlic, lemon juice, tahini in a food processor and blend. Then add the olive oil by tablespoons until the dip is a smooth consistency. Add salt to taste or a dash of tabasco , and serve with chips at room temperature.

Easy Mexican Dip

8 oz cream or neufchatel cheese, softened

1 cup of your favorite salsa

1 cup guacamole or 1 chopped avocado

2 cups shredded cheddar or mexican blend cheese

Sliced black olives

Sour cream

Corn or tortilla chips

Spread softened cheese in a thin layer in a 9-inch pie plate or equivalent. Spread salsa on top of cheese, then place a layer of chopped avocado or guacamole, and top with grated cheese. Spinkle top with olives, and dollops of sour cream if desired and serve with corn or tortilla chips.

Cream Cheese with Pepper Jelly

Place softened cream cheese on a plate and slice in two lenghtwise to create two layers. Spread red or green hot pepper jelly between layers ond on top generously. Serve with water crackers. Note: This a great appetizer when you don't know whether you want something sweet or savory.

The best food smells

Over at Epi-log, I noticed that Tanya Wenman Steele was getting a lot of traffic when she asked for foods people hate, and I thought I would post about another very powerful part of the food experience - smell. Several years ago I had an incredible sinus infection that affected my smell and hearing for a couple of weeks. Without the sense of smell, almost everything tasted the same. Think about your childhood. Some of your most powerful food memories also involve smell. You might remember the smell of baking bread or cookies, or the smell of cabbage rolls. It might be the smell of Friday's fried fish, or banana bread, or a pot of simmering spaghetti sauce that evokes a feeling of comfort and warmth, or nostalgia. I'm going to share mine and invite you to share the food smells that take you back .

1) Roasting Turkey - This has got to be my personal favorite. I would buy an air freshener that smelled like that!

2) Frying bacon - I guarantee that this is the smell that will get everyone out of bed in the morning, particularly if you are camping. Just smelling it will make your mouth water!

3) Coffee - I know it is not a food, but this is another smell that will pull people to your kitchen or campfire. I will never forget the first time we went camping and we took a speckled-ware percolator with us (we draw the line at instant coffee) and when our coffee was percolating all the people on the surrounding campsites came out of their tents sniffing the air like animals.

4)Baking bread- This is one we don't smell much at our house but I remember my Grandmother McKinney baking loaf after loaf on the weekends, and the smell was incredible. I do make a loaf from a recipe in The Joy of Cooking called Brioche Loaf Cockaigne. It doesn't need to be kneaded and it has that wonderful yeasty smell.

5)Garlic - I love the smell of garlic. If you have ever made 40-clove garlic chicken you know what I am talking about. It fills your whole house with the smell of roasting chicken and garlic and wine- pure heaven!

6) Applesauce cake - My Grandmother Knighting used to make these incredible applesauce cakes with black walnuts that she baked in heavy cast-iron bundt pans. I have never been able to recreate her recipe that came out as dark as brown bread all moist and full of plump raisins, cloves and cinnamon. That was the only thing I would ask her for at Christmas and I would eat it slice by slice for a week or two after Christmas.

What are the food smells that take you back?

Lunching at the Ringling Brothers Pie Car

The "Core Four" had a great opportunity today to enjoy an eating experience that usually enjoyed only by the staff and performers who travel with the Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey Circus' Red Unit. We got to enjoy a meal on the "pie car", the train car that provides the food for the hundreds of trainers, performers, maintenance and set-up staff that make up the Greatest Show on Earth. A friend of ours who works with the circus invited us to come and have a meal and take a behind-the-scenes look. The circus actually has a red team and a blue team and this year it was the red team that came to our area (see right Al Roker on the blue team's pie car- for more of a behind the scenes look, see the Ringling Brother's site where this photo is posted) Since it is such an unusual experience (and a wonderful one) I wanted to share it with you to give you a peek inside a world that is very different from the one most of us are part of everyday.

When the circus comes to town, some staff and performers stay near the arena but the bulk of the people who make the circus happen live on a set of train cars that are "parked" during the show's run in a town and are bussed back and forth to the arena. Besides going to the pie car we had the opportunity to see a room for one of the staff. On the train, every inch is used, the corridors are tiny, only one person can pass through at a time. Most rooms have sleeping berths with a mini-kitchen like you would see in a small camper. The room we saw was described as one of the larger ones and it was about 8x10 feet but had been made a home on rails by its occupant.

The pie car takes up an entire train car and inside it looks like a diner with booths (see the Core Four seated, left) with a long narrow kitchen at the end. The kitchen has to be open 24 hours just like your home kitchen so people can come down to get a midnight snack or glass of milk. We were greeted by one of the Ringling chefs, Xavier, who had joined the circus in January. The day we were there, the train was celebrating their 100th show since they started the season in January (this was March 3rd to give you an idea of how hard these people work). He let us know our choices - tilapia, beef or chicken shish kebab, salad, macaroni and cheese or rice as a side. My husband and I, trying to observe Lent, opted for the tilapia (I had macaroni and cheese, my husband, rice) and the girls had mixed beef and chicken shish kebab). Our friend also brought along a young local politician and the chef from a local restaurant, who was quickly co-opted by Xavier to check out his kitchen (I don't think he will ever complain about how tight his kitchen is after that experience!) While we waited for our meals we had a chance to talk with some of the circus employees who were lingering over their meals in the pie car. They hailed from all over-New York City, Virginia's Eastern Shore, Southside of Chicago, Brooklyn and Hell's Kitchen (now the new Times Square, Xavier noted). They all were friendly and anxious to tell stories about their time with the circus, what the traveling life is like and how their time with the circus is a way to build their future. One electrician, a proud teamster, was getting additional skill, training and experience so he could start his own HVAC business. Xavier, our chef, is getting additional experience and saving money to eventually open a restaurant with his brother in London, and another young man wants to work toward an online degree so that he can return to Japan, where he grew up, as a teacher. They also didn't mind telling stories on and teasing each other, much like your own family would around the dinner table. When our food was ready, we had huge mounds of food, and for my husband and I, two fillets of tilapia, seasoned with a seasoning mix that was Xavier's secret, and perfectly cooked, tender and flaky. The macaroni and cheese was comfort food to the nth degree. The girls' shish kebabs had huge chunks of beef and chicken that had been marinated on a bed of white rice. They could only eat about half before they said that they would take their leftovers home for dinner (which they did, eating every bite!)

As we lingered, mainly because the company was as good as the food, we heard about the challenges of cooking in such a small space, cooking when the train is moving, feeding people at two sites (the train and the arena), and from all over the world (Brazilians, Chinese, Russian are some of the larger populations in the circus). We heard that Brazilians can eat their weight in quesadillas, and that Russians love anything with potatoes. Xavier, who previously cooked in vegan and vegetarian restaurants is always trying to introduce more vegetables and fruits and fresh dishes into the mix. Asked what his favorite thing to cook was, he said that when he had the budget he loved to cook lamb, since that was his favorite meat. He then took me on a tour of his workspace (that is Xavier and I in his kitchen looking into his cooler at right). I have to say that the picture actually makes his kitchen look bigger than it actually is! I am a size 8 and I had to turn sideways to walk between the burners and griddle on the right and the steam tables on the left. Though I usually subscribe to the idea that you shouldn't trust a skinny chef, I told Xavier that I could see how he stayed slim since about a half hour after he had cooked it was quite warm in the kitchen. He said that when he was cooking he had the fans on, but acknowledged that even with the fans (upper right of the picture) it could still get warm in the midst of meal preparation.

After about two hours (that seemed much shorter!) we hated to leave but thought we had better let Xavier and the crew get back to their work. We said our goodbyes, took our leftovers (including a slice of cheesecake, that Xavier insisted we try). One of the staff members gave our girls Ringling Brothers patches, and as we drove off beside the train, the guys we had shared a meal with, including our chef Xavier, waved.

It was a meal, and people, that I will never forget!

Judging chili

So many of the more famous blogs I read talk about all the fabulous things that they get for being famous food bloggers - signed copies of the latest cookbooks, invitations to new restaurant openings, etc. My first non-foodie recognition came in the form of an invitation to serve as a judge in the annual Jefferson Lab Facilities' Management Chili Cook-off! This a morale-building event where employees enter and bring their chili and then it is blind tasted and a winner is selected by acclamation of three judges.
At the appointed time yesterday, in the midst of preparations for our yearly budget presentation, I walked over to the VARC building with one of my co-judges, JT. That was trouble already. JT is a crazy man and he gave me advance warning that anything hot was going to make him break out in a sweat. We were also a little concerned because over the next few (if you think of 9 as a few!) we were going to be in a small meeting room working on a presentation- not the best place to be after tasting seven different chilis! When we got to the VARC, we followed the smell to the appointed room, and there were more crockpots than I have seen anywhere (except maybe Bed, Bath and Beyond). Tables were full of chili and chili fixin's like sour cream and cheese, and rolls, biscuits and cornbread, and desserts. It was a feast! We were greeted by our other co-judge, Rick, and scads of the Facilities' Management staff. These people handle functions from security to architecture to engineering to maintenance (the pictures above are from their website!) Let me tell you that this is a diverse group of people- there are all types of people from Hispanics, African-Americans, to Southern good ole' boys, but from the smells I could tell that we were in for a treat (and a tough decision!) The only moment of hesitation I had was when I saw a bottle of Tums near the end of the food line!

It was interesting to me as a lover of food to see how different a spin each person could put on a classic like chili. All included meat and beans, but one smelled of cinnamon, one was spiced with cumin (When I mentioned this during the tasting, JT thought I said it had "human" in it!), one had a slightly sweet taste, some were thick, and others were thinner, one had lots of sweet peppers and onions. Each of them was different and reflected the person who made it, and their preferences, their history and heritage. Just as predicted, JT started to mop his face like Louis Armstrong as we made our way through the different entries, but we finally agreed on one entry that stood out - Number 6 made by Carroll. We all laughed (and the other contestants groaned) when Carroll confessed that this was his first time making chili and that with his wife gone, he relied on a packet of McCormick's chili mix for his spices!!

While we weren't told ahead of time who the chefs were, I think I could have told by the slightly nervous but proud looks that were on their faces. And I really don't think they cared so much that they were being judged by three rank amateurs in the food business, it was that they made something and were sharing it with their co-workers. Food can really bring people together and that is especially true at work. Besides necessary nourishment, you learn something about the people you are with 8 or more hours a day, you see them in a different light... and you can have a darned good time (not to mention putting on a few pounds).

When the judging was done it was all over but the eating, and there was plenty of that... and laughing and joking about who spent the most time on their chili, where the organic chocolate pie came from and whose rolls were the best. And there was already trash talking about next year's contest and who would be kickin' whose butt next year...

Thanks Rusty for inviting me and all the chefs who did an incredible job, and the Facilities' Management staff who made me part of their really special event.