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Anatomy of a Bean Rollup

Aug 20th, 2011
by htwollin.
1 comment

Folks, your Aunt Toby has a batting average on entertaining that hovers pretty far down there (well, I got better at batting when I learned to raise my elbow but that’s a story for another time), which is why the most popular birthday party my kids ever had was ‘let’s go bowling’. High anxiety is pretty much the norm for moi when we invite people to Chez Siberia.
Is the house clean enough? Is it so clean it looks as if we are trying too hard?
Are people lost (this actually happens quite often and I should stop going crazy about it)?
Will people like the food? The DH always says, “It’s free – what’s there to complain about?’
Will I make anyone sick with the food?
Will everyone have a good time?

The list goes on and on. I try to schedule an anxiety attack about an hour before everyone is due so that I have time to take a shower. I really DO sweat the small stuff. (more…)

Pepper Cole Slaw

Aug 7th, 2011
by htwollin.
1 comment

Anyone who visits here regularly knows that Aunt Toby is a real fan of all things cabbage. One reason is that cabbage is good for you. Another is, for my money, it’s more texturally interesting than other greens, particularly the lettuces. The third thing is that cabbage, because it has more taste ‘oomph’, can handle stronger tastes in a salad combination and holds its own.

We like cole slaws at any time of the year (and it’s one way to get salad even during the winter when traditionally you can’t get other greens, although hydroponics and high tunnels are putting pay to that, even up here in Upstate New York), but I especially like them in the summer, when other veggies are available to change them up a bit. We very much like red pepper slaw, and here is a version that a) makes a lot so if you need a bunch for a ‘dish to pass’, this is your go-to that is different than pasta salad, and b) has grown up flavors in it, is not sweet so it is memorable and can hold its own with other dishes. (more…)

Busy Summer Days

Jul 3rd, 2011
by htwollin.
5 comments

Well, like everyone else in the summer, we tend to throw the household into ‘overdrive’ because so many things need to be done and can only get done when a) they are in season and b) the weather is warm and dry enough to do them. So, this week has been super busy, starting out mid-week when our eldest daughter called me when I was coming home from work to announce that a local apple grower also had sweet cherries and they were ready to pick and would I like to come along (Would I?!). In Upstate New York, the fruit schedule goes strawberries (and we are just about done with that), then sweet cherries and raspberries, then pie cherries, then early blue berries, then maincrop blues and black berries and early apples, then late blues and early peaches and plums and more apples and on it goes through the fall with apples until nearly November, when all we basically can go out and do ‘you pick’ for is Northern Spy apples which are great for baking. (more…)

Lightweight Cheesecake, Courtesy of My Dad

Jun 25th, 2011
by htwollin.
3 comments

My father was a first generation American; his father came from (depending on what period you are referring to) Austria/Russia/the Ukraine, and married a woman whose parents were basically from the same area as he was from (when you come to a new country, marrying someone who’s a ‘landsman’ is sort of a piece of security, I guess), so the selection of family dishes was pretty consistent: lots of dairy food, lots of onions, cabbage and potatoes, chicken or fish, and when the family got a little bit ahead, ‘gedempte fleisch’ (boiled meat – what is referred to now in that chic way as ‘brisket’ because the back end of the cow can never be Kosher, no matter what you do). Eating cheap was basically all my dad knew how to do — even after he became a doctor, his favorite meal was cottage cheese with pepper and onions. (more…)

Tropic Island Cake

Jun 1st, 2011
by htwollin.
3 comments

I don’t know if I invented this or not (does anyone invent anything these days), but we had three rather sorry looking bananas in the fridge at Chez Siberia and I had the idea that I wanted to add dried cocoanut and pineapple/pineapple juice and make a cake. Aunt Toby is very fond of cakes that have fruit in them (see cake, banana; cake, blueberry, and so forth) because they taste wonderful just..the…way…they…are. No frosting needed.

Not that Aunt Toby feels some sort of ill will toward frostings (see frosting, cream cheese), mind you; it’s just that with some cakes, it’s too much sweetness for me. (more…)

The Hot Dish This Season is Chicken Pot Pie

Apr 5th, 2011
by htwollin.
5 comments

Or, it might be meatloaf or mac and cheese. So sayeth the New York Times in a recent article about what’s being served at the parties for the fashionables.

Comfort food. (more…)

New Year’s Resolution: Gonna Eat Better

Jan 2nd, 2011
by htwollin.
5 comments

Well, it’s January 2 and I’ll bet there are already a lot of people out there who are despairing of keeping any sort of New Year Resolutions. It’s ok – you are not a bad person and frankly, there is no reason to drag those resolutions around like some sort of anvil for the rest of the year if you know, deep in your heart of hearts that it’s sort of a waste.

But here’s one that we work pretty hard at here at Chez Siberia that might work for you: Gonna Eat Better. (more…)

Forget the Cookies! Bake a Cake!

Dec 19th, 2010
by htwollin.
Comments are off for this post

So, in our last class, we investigated the relationship between fats which are solid at room temperature and their behaviors when combined with sugar and flour and baked. Everyone got that? Good. We will move on.

That was all in the service of science, of course (which is why the ‘o cookies’ disappeared like snow off a dike by Tuesday…). Today’s discussion is much more up my alley because frankly, Aunt Toby doesn’t like having to fuss with all of that. Any baked good that requires that level of diddling around with doesn’t get made at Chez Siberia very often (read that: the only time. If anyone lusts after homemade ‘o cookies’, they will have to make them). But, I digress.

At this point in the year, people have been fiddling around with cookie cutters, jimmies and egg wash for the past several weeks, tinning things up to give as gifts and so on. People have been eating decorated cookies since Thanksgiving and will continue to do so until they run out, which will probably be after New Years. If you have missed out on this ‘cookie steamroller’, good for you. If you want to give a gift that someone will thank you for in March, read on.

Forget the damn Santa cookies; make a pound cake (more…)

Where Chemistry Meets the Kitchen: Cookies

Dec 11th, 2010
by htwollin.
1 comment

This is not a discussion about the frontiers of candy versus cookies versus bars versus cakes. Aunt Toby is saving that for another time. Today’s discussion has to do with one type of cookie, and what makes that cookie ‘work’ versus other sorts of cookies.

It all comes down to fat. (more…)

Heritage Turkey for Thanksgiving

Nov 22nd, 2010
by htwollin.
3 comments

OK. So, you decided to go the distance for Thanksgiving and you got what the grower claimed was a Heritage Breed Turkey.

Now, what the heck do you do with it? (more…)

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