Waiter There's Something in my.... topless tart!

Besides sounding the the punch line of an off-color joke, this is the theme for the monthly WTSIM blog event hosted this month by

Cook Sister! and as usual I am getting in just under the wire. I have not participated in WTSIM since there was something in my Easter Basket, but besides the incredibly rich humor potential in this month's theme, I actually made a recipe that fits in for a Wednesday tapas (no, not topless!) night that is both topless and a tart, and I thought this would be as good a time as any to share.

If you have followed my blog at all, you know that just about every Wednesday night we have a tapas night with our friend "Evil" David, where both of us make several small dishes. It is a time for us to try new things, explore new ingredients or combinations. If they turn out, it is great, but if not, it is a lesson learned, and we move on. Tapas night has included great successes such as a venison backstrap with a drunken dark cherry sauce, grilled sardines, and bulgogi and some real disasters like the time David's watermelon puree for his planned granita was spewed all over my kitchen and cabinets due to an ill-fitting blender lid. It took weeks before things were no longer sticky again.

Tapas also has become a way to experiment with and use up seasonal bounty- summer's zucchini, tomatoes and corn, fall beets and spinach , venison and winter squash in cold weather- all of these have found their way to the tapas table. And that is how we got to the topless tart that is my entry in the WTSIM...

I came up with this recipe as a way to use the last of the really good locally grown tomatoes and some goat cheese I had to create a light dish. I confess to using an all-ready pie crust for the bottom of this tart, but if you had time you could, of course, make your own. Now that great tomatoes are not as easily come by I would try oven roasting some tomatoes first to sweeten and intensify their flavor. In the summer this is a nice light lunch or a dinner with a big green salad. So give this topless tart a try when you need something light and luscious and hot (okay, okay, enough innuendo!)

Tomato and Goat Cheese (Topless) Tart

1 refrigerated all-ready pie crust

1-2 tablespoons pesto

3 large vine-ripened tomatoes thinly sliced (if tomatoes are out of season, roast sliced tomatoes in slow oven with a drizzle of olive oil for about 30 minutes)

4 ounces goat cheese crumbled

Press pie crust into a tart pan and crimp sides. Brush bottom of crust with pesto, and place sliced tomatoes in overlapping even layers.Slating and peppering each layer. Crumble cheese over top of tomatoes. Bake in 375 degree oven about 20 minutes or until crust is done, tomatoes are bubbly and cheese is soft and brown. Cut in squares or wedges and serve warm or at room temperature.

Your Turkey Sandwich

Almost as central to the big turkey dinner for American families is the turkey sandwich, the favorite use of turkey leftovers in the days after Thanksgiving. But just how to make a turkey sandwich seems to be as personal as one's DNA. When I was first married, I thought that a turkey sandwich was white bread (hey, I grew up when whole grain wasn't cool!) slathered with lots of mayo, and sliced turkey, very minimalist. After all, the turkey was the star, no need for distractions. So imagine my surprise when my husband asked me for a turkey sandwich after our first Thanksgiving together, and I found that he had a completely different and more complex expectation for what would be included.

My favorite: one slice of bread or leftover rolls split, small slathering of leftover stuffing, sliced turkey topped with warmed leftover gravy (My name is Deborah and I am gravy-holic...)

My husband's turkey sandwich: White bread spread with a thin layer of butter (or lately, Smart Balance), a light sprinkle of salt, a layer of stuffing, sliced turkey, thin slices of canned jellied cranberry sauce, topped with another slice of white bread.

In our house, some children have followed his lead- Andrew likes the Dowd Full Monty turkey sandwich like his dad, with Bridget simplifying by taking off the cranberry sauce. Young Gavin tends towards my minimalist approach, but with a very large helping of mayo (it has to be Duke's)

In looking around the blogosphere, I can see that there are as many versions of the turkey sandwiches as there are individuals, so tell me- what is your favorite formula for a knock -out turkey sandwich?

Keys to a successful Thanksgiving

Hectic. That is the best way to describe the time since I returned from DC. I am not sure how, but Thanksgiving snuck up on me, And now I am caught in a whirlwind of cleaning, planning, shopping. So many blogs are sources for recipes, how-tos, and tips to help you prepare for the biggest food day in the US, and I had great intentions there too,but alas, even my best advice and recipes are more than likely too late if, like me, you have already planned and shopped for the meal, so I am providing a link to my Thanksgiving post from last year, and taking a different route for this post.


First, here are my tips for a successful Thanksgiving:

1) Plan- it is the one way to make sure that you don't have to run out on Thanksgiving day to find cream or butter or canned pumpkin at the corner 7-11. And don't just do this in your head- write it down!

2)Prep- This is something that professional chefs do all the time and can really be a big help when preparing a big meal. I always chop my onions and celery for the stuffing a day or two ahead, bag in a ziploc and put in the freezer so I am not chopping at 7 AM. Make your fresh cranberry sauce, and your pies the day ahead. Another important thing to me is to clean out my fridges and freezer so that ingredients are easy to find and so there is room for the mountains of leftovers.

3) Don't stress- There is so much pressure around Thanksgiving, sometimes because of the expectations of others, but most often because of the pressure we put on ourselves. Don't try to make a whole Cordon Bleu meal when you have in-laws and cousins coming. Incorporate family favorites and pick one or two new dishes to stretch your culinary muscles (for me this year it is angel biscuits, a ginger-pumpkin cheesecake, and fresh brussels sprouts with chestnuts) Remember that tradition is very important at Thanksgiving, and people gravitate toward the foods that they remember from their childhood, so make those dishes prominent in your menu.

4) Enjoy- Thanksgiving is about family and friends first, and then food. Let people help by bringing sides or desserts or wine. If you have a huge crowd, get really nice seasonal paper plates so you are not spending hours on cleanup after the meal. Play games like Spoons or Apples to Apples while the turkey roasts to raise the hilarity factor. Pull a simple craft from the internet to keep children busy or set up holiday movies or video games in a room away from the adults so they don't get bored.

I hope to post at least once more before Thanksgiving, but I will be following my own advice and realizing that I can't do everything, so in case I don't get back to you before Thursday, my Thanksgiving wish for all of you is a day full of great food, and the people you love to enjoy it with!

Calling all DC bloggers...

There is training money this year at Jefferson Lab and so next week I will be attending a class sponsored by the folks at Congressional Quarterly November 14-16, and so am looking for recommendations on places to eat that I can afford on federal per diem (preferably without a drive-thru!) or at least that won't break the bank. I will be staying with friends in University Park and my class is in the Hall of the States. I am really looking forward to the trip since besides learning some new tricks of the trade, I get to visit with Linda, a good friend who helped me get my current job at Jefferson Lab, and I will get to visit with my son Gavin who moved to Rockville in early summer and works near Dupont Circle. So if you have some great little places frequented by natives, or great ethnic foods, or any little shops I should check out, please let me know, because all work and no play... well, you know!

Surf to Find your Real Age

This post is not directly related to food, but to helping all of us have more years to enjoy our food (and other things too!) You know that I am pretty brave, at 51 and with 6 kids, two jobs (that I get paid for), a blog, and assorted other responsibilities to go to a site called Real Age, a site that claims to help you decrease your age (biologically, not on the calendar, of course). I was intrigued by this site and went there to take the test, a series of questions about your health, lifestyle and habits that then spits out your Real Age. I was very relieved to find out that I was a few years younger than my biological age, and the site then provides some friendly advice on how I can become younger still. At this point, this site is no different than many other internet sites that test this or that for your entertainment.

But Real Age is more than that. Based on the profile information you enter during your test, it periodically sends you emails related to lowering your biological age or specific to any health issues that you may have identified. As a migraine sufferer I have received several emails related to that issue, as well as healthy recipes, reasons to eat pomegranate, reasons to pass up the french fries, and various other practical and some little-known tips regarding exercise, diet, and healthy lifestyle choices. They even have a new blog, Food Bites, specifically targeted to healthy eating.

The site has updates on the latest health-related findings and tips, recipes, and even a list of wellness centers in case you need help in reducing your biological age. Even though this is not directly food related, I found it very interesting, and I thought many of you would be interested in checking this out and taking advantage of yet another resource to live younger longer!