Happy New Year's Eve

Gold python Jimmy Choos, as seen on the Manolo's shoe blog. What girl in her right mind could possibly resist these?

Irish Apple Cake

I had some friends over for dinner tonight and I tried so hard to have it ready when they came and then I realized I'd forgotten to buy an onion but they had one which was great but then I couldn't make the pasta sauce until they arrived and then of course I only have one little pot so once the sauce was ready I took that out and could make the pasta. I realize now that I could have cooked the pasta while they were on their way, but what fun is old pasta?
So what was going to be my grand foray into timely serving turned out to be yet another late meal. Fortunately, these are kind and understanding friends who have interesting things to say, so postponing the meal a bit wasn't a problem.
I did have one thing ready when we wanted it, and I suppose I could look at that as tonight's triumph. It was the Irish Apple Cake, which I baked this morning. I don't know where my mother got the recipe, and I do hate uncredited recipes, but this one really is a mystery to me. In any case, it goes as follows:

Stir together:
1 3/4 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking powder

Cut in:
1/2 cup cold butter

Add:
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1/4-1/2 cup milk (enough to make it spread)

Spread half the dough in a buttered glass nine-inch pie pan
Peel, core, and chop apples, mound in pie plate and sprinkle with 1 Tablespoon sugar
Dab remaining dough over apples until covered
Bake 50 minutes at 350 degrees

Ready for the oven

My notes on this recipe:
I usually end up putting in the 1/2 cup of milk, any less and it won't do much but crumble
I like to quarter my apples and cut thin slices, just a personal preference over chunks
This dough isn't too easy to work with, I find it easiest to drop dough all over the apples and then try to get them to meet. Putting all of it in ones mass and spreading from there doesn't work too well for my sanity. This dough will spread properly, it just requires patience.
It was ready to come out of the oven right at fifty minutes, which I view as a small miracle.
Tonight I served it with Haagen-Dazs Sticky Toffee Pudding ice cream which looks like a puddle on the plate (my freezer is still not-so-secretly wishing it were actually a refrigerator, a delusion my super has yet to correct) but it was oh-so-tasty and went with the apples magnificently.


Yes, that's right kids. It's a feature flavor. And no, I haven't the slightest what that means.

Ikea dishes

If I didn't already have three sets of dishes crammed in my Manhattan apartment and fourth far away in storage, I for sure would have bought these at Ikea the other day.



I'd mix them up with some of these


And throw in a few of these for fun

Cold Comfort Farm

As I was watching Cold Comfort Farm yet again tonight, and we (and by we I mean I) came to the two party scenes, I was reminded of the joy inherent in a well-executed event. At the first, our heroine Flora is a guest. Technically I suppose it was Charles who had the invitation, who brought Flora, who brought her cousins Seth and Elfine. Now, I can't say that I generally support one invited guest bringing a plus three unannounced, but in this instance it was quite necessary which you would understand if you watched the movie or read the book.

In any case, everybody gets all gussied up for the grand coming-of-age party and everybody has a lovely time.

Random extra, random extra, Seth, Charles, Flora, and Elfine

The other bit is not an actual party, but the few shots they have of all the preparations going on in the kitchen. There are jello molds, pastries, cuts of meat, everything coming in and out of the oven and molds and being arranged on the table. It really is lovely and makes me want to churn out a dozen different recipes but really let's face it, that's not happening tonight. Still, it gets me positively giddy.

Apple Spice Cake

A few of us got together for dinner on Sunday afternoon and it was my job to bring the dessert. Well, it was also my job to bring the tablecloth but I completely forgot. Luckily, Cristi had one on hand just in case.

I'd wanted to try the apple spice cake recipe on the Martha Stewart website, it's apparently one of the most searched recipes she lists. It was easy to make, the batter tasted better than it should have, and the cake was excellent. Other than the fact that it wouldn't come out of my non-stick bundt pan that I'd greased anyway. So it was one big caramel sauce-covered lump. It tasted oh-so-good.

Next time though, I will not only grease the pan, I'll flour it as well.

Merry Christmas!

Holly's ficus, which I am tree-sitting, played "douglas-fir" for the day

I had planned to host a small brunch for the other lonely hearts who lingered in Manhattan over the holiday, but somebody else beat me to it and I decided I could use a break (translation: my apartment needed cleaning and I felt like sleeping) so instead of making people attend two breakfasts, I sent them off to hers and I slept in and wandered on downtown to the Stardust Diner to see none other than the incomparable, inimitable, and quite possibly indestructible Ryan Simmons.



Ryan, you are my hero.

Merry Christmas

Egg Nog

I'm actually not the biggest fan of egg nog, in fact I rather dislike the store-bought stuff, but there is something so undeniably festive about stirring up a big punch bowl full of the home-made variety, I always try to fit it into a holiday party. That didn't happen this year, but I made it last year and was able to convince a number of skeptics that a) my kind is different from what comes in a carton and b) it is better. Much better. All the same, I can't drink very much. Talk about rich. In any case, here is the recipe:

12 eggs, separated
2 cups sugar
2 cups whipping cream
1 quart 1/2 and 1/2
2 quarts milk
nutmeg
vanilla

Beat whites until very stiff, adding 1 1/2 cup sugar gradually. Beat egg yolks until very thick and lemon colored. Add 1/2 cup sugar gradually. Whip cream until stiff. Fold cream into yolks. Stir in 1/2 and 1/2 and milk. Add nutmeg and vanilla to taste. Fold in whites.

Come back to me, Blueprint!

If anybody actually reads this and has ever opened an issue of Blueprint magazine, please join me and other Blueprint fans in begging for some tolerabale form of the magazine to survive Martha's executioner's ax. They are currently taking comments and suggestions on Bluelines, the Blueprint staff blog. So, for the love of all that is glossy and full of good entertaining ideas and tips, please go and comment away!

Christmas Craft '07

Ann (the other Ann, sometimes known as Ann Major to my Ann Minor) was my co-host this year, and being quite the crafty lady, she was in charge of the craft. She brought rolls of paper - white, brown, gold and silver, stamps, and poster paint, and we all went a little nuts. It was super fantastic.
We taped them to the wall to dry so as to have enough room, and soon discovered that painting it on the wall was easier. And we used painter's tape so it wouldn't be too sticky on the wall or the paper.

The other Ann, showing us how it's done

Felt Ornaments

Somehow, in my mind, my Christmas party is a tradition. Never mind the fact that this is only the second one, and how it was actually quite different from the one I threw last year. In my head, it's like it's been going on for twenty years now and is something fantastic, the stuff legends are made of. Okay, maybe that's going a little far, but that's the general idea.
Of what exactly does this tradition consist? Breakfast for dinner, stockings, a personalized ornament, a white elephant gift exchange, and a craft of some sort. Pure good times. Really, the stockings are my favorite part. They are from Michael's, the ones I got last year are acceptable and Richard (last year's co-host) hand-lettered our names on them (turns out he's got skills). I bought more this year for those I did not know last Christmas, but Michael's only had ugly ones this year and I couldn't figure out a quick and attractive way to label them so you better believe they got Post-It notes.
Anyway, I fill the toe and heel with the usual apple and clementine, and then stuff the rest with chocolates, nuts (oh #*^%$@, I forgot the candy canes), cola-flavored chapstick, and little dollar presents wrapped prettily. This year I had a ton of post cards from who knows where (don't worry, they are all blank, it's not like I'm recycling my old mail in other people's stockings) piled up on my desk so I stuck those in as well.
The best bit, in my opinion, is the hand-made ornament I tie to the loop of the stocking. Last year I made clothespin people, and this year I made felt letters, the first letter of their first names. I tried to use different color combinations, stitches, and decorative themes for each one. It's a good thing I only had eight guests.








For some reason I don't have a picture of the third A, I'll get that on here eventually.

ps- Apparently cola-flavored chapstick is tinted and glossy. Who knew?

Richard, you look lovely. Vanilla coke chapstick really suits your skin tone

Fresh pasta

Becca with the pasta maker

I think I've mentioned before how, when I was a little girl, we used to make pasta, and how much I loved it. Then I bought the KitchenAid pasta maker attachments which led to the ravioli disaster of August 2007. You know, I thought I'd posted about that but I think I may have glossed over that incident. Let's just say it was me, about six feet of pasta going in each direction over a sink and into a crowded corner of the counter, and let's not forget the chicken filling I was stuffing inside that ended up all over said sink and counter. Not much of the ravioli got served for dinner that night.

So anyway last night my friend Becca came over and we tried a better set up and let me tell you, a second set of hands makes it so much easier! We used this recipe for plain pasta, which made about a pound of linguini. In spite of a huge mess in the beginning (make that well in the flour super deep, otherwise you'll have egg running all over your table), it turned out well and I have high hopes for continued successful pasta making in the future.

Cranberries

Yesterday afternoon was the first of my work holiday parties (that was the corporate one, I still have the branch and department parties to go). In spite of the complete lack of alcohol, which made no difference to me but was a severe disappointment to more than one of my coworkers, and the lack of any planned amusement or audible music, I had a smashing time. For the hour I was there anyway. Did I mention they pulled the old no-plates-at-the-buffet trick? Yep, you had to eat your chips over the communal salsa bowl. Good times.

Anyway, they had some servers going around with appetizers and here comes the reason for this whole post: cranberries. They had covered the trays with fresh cranberries and placed the appetizers on top. I thought it was a lovely way to bring in the holiday color as well as an interesting texture. Next time I have trays of food at a party, I think I'll give it a go.

Butterscotch Ginger Cookies

I was recently transferred to work dangerously close to Billy's Bakery (I know this is a raging debate here in New York City, but I think they just might have the best cupcakes in town) and the other day they had bits of butterscotch gingerbread cookie on the sampler platter. Tasty. I thought I could make something similar pretty easily.

Billy's version

And then there is Martha Stewart's Cookie a Day until Christmas. I saw her recipe for Giant Ginger Cookies and decided to try those, adding a few butterscotch chips to approximate the cookie at Billy's.

The Martha Stewart version

In the end, I think it went rather well. I'd like to put in a little less molasses as I like the flavor to be a little more on the subtle side. Of course I also have to work a little on presentation, mine didn't crinkle anywhere near as prettily as either of these examples.
In any case, they turned out well and they were gone before I remembered to get a photo, so I'll chalk that up to a success.