Category Archives: Food/Wine

Festive Table

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I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and mini-vacation. Although, the holiday has passed, I wanted to share our festive table. R and I hosted this year, and I was pretty proud of how well everything turned out.

Here are the deets:

  • Table runner from Target (actually a tablecloth folded)
  • Pumpkins from Terry’s Berries and Scholl Farms
  • Brass candle holders – vintage, the tall ones were wedding presents to my parents that they lent us
  • China – vintage from my grandmother’s aunt
  • Silverware – Vintage Gense gifted from the Nana
  • Flowers from Metropolitan Market arranged in stemless wineglasses
  • Water glasses – double Manhattan glasses from when Canyons Resort hosted the MLS All-Star Game events
  • Champagne Glasses – Stolzle
  • Water pitcher – Gurgle Pot
  • Napkins in Golden Yellow and Henna  – World Market

Some highlights from the actual meal:

  • Turkey, braised using bourbon and fresh rosemary, I sort of made the recipe up. I would recommend buying a turkey that has the belly button that pops when it is done. It makes it so much easier to gauge if the turkey is ready to be pulled from the oven or not.
  • Brown butter green beans from Real Simple.
  • My mom brought The Pioneer Woman’s Stuffing.
  • My brother and sister-in-law did an amazing cheese platter, with tons of cheeses from Grocery Outlet (whaaaat?) and crackers from Trader Joe’s.
  • Bourbon-Apple Crumble Pie adapted from this recipe.

Drinks

So many things to be thankful for this year, and always.

xx

-h

Luxury Bazaar

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Last weekend Dormans was one of the vendors at a Luxury Bazaar that featured catering, fine wine, gourmet food, high fashion, designer cosmetics, eco furniture and live music.  I was pleasantly surprised that this Kenya Concierge guided event was handing out free Rift Valley Leather bracelets and champagne at the door.  While perusing around, champagne in hand, I tried pie from KOS Delights, got a foot massage from Nothing Like It, tried Browns Cheese and jellies, drank Sierra beer and Kenyan made wine, had sushi from Talisman restaurant and checked out MIA designs.  I, of course, also enjoyed Dormans, who was handing out coffee samples and selling a special blend of espresso.  They were also selling coffee accessories, spices, salts and chocolate.  Every time I passed by, I was happy to see that there was a line of people waiting for coffee samples.

I heard people saying that the bazaar wasn’t very big, but I liked the intimate setting under a tent as the Nairobi rain misted the outside.

The entrance to the Luxury Bazaar

Talisman sushi making

Inside the Luxury Bazaar

Browns Cheese

Dormans Coffee – Happy workers!

xo

-s

Safari Cat Dancers and Acrobats

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Last night I went to Safari Park Hotel for dinner and a show.  To start, the hotel is amazing.  It has beautiful grounds and includes six restaurants, a casino and a nightclub.  I visited the Nyama Choma Ranch where they have a large variety of meats that are cooked in a massive barbeque at the entrance of the restaurant and the chefs walk around and serve you off the skewer.  I tried the lamb, beef, pork ribs, crocodile, ostrich and goat.

The menu at Nyama Choma

One of the chefs at Nyama Choma and the giant BBQ filled with meat

Getting my first piece of meat (pork ribs)

After dinner, there was a really fun show of dancing and acrobatics that was on the stage right in the restaurant.  From my table, I was basically front row.  The acrobats were my favorite, doing tricks like standing four people tall on each other’s shoulders and limboing under a flaming stick.  After the show, I sheepishly went on stage for a photo-op with the performers.

Safari Cat Dancers

Fire Limbo!

With the Safari Cats

All in all, it was a really fun night!  I would definitely recommend, that if you are visiting Nairobi, you go to Safari Park Hotel’s Nyama Chroma for dinner and see the Safari Cat Dancers and Acrobats.  The performance is every Saturday night at 9pm and the show is 500 KSH or free with dinner.

xo

-s

 

Jalapeno Jam

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I always say, when life gives you Jalapenos, make Jalapeno Jam. Wait, I never say that. But when your coworker gives you a huge bag full of spicy jalapenos, and another bag full of thai chiles, you can’t just eat them raw. You’ll die. Well maybe you won’t, but you won’t be comfortable or happy. So, take those peppers and add a bunch of sugar, some vinegar, and some pectin and you have jam.

Seed and slice red and green bell peppers into chunks.

Wash and pat jalapenos dry.

Half jalapenos and remove the membrane and seeds on most of them. I left some in tact to add some extra spice. When you are doing this I would recommend wearing plastic gloves. I did not do that and regretted that decision later.

Here’s my secret ingredient. Half and take the seeds and membrane out of one thai chile. Whew those babies are spicy. In a food processor pulse the peppers together until everything is juicy but some peppers are still small dice size.

You will need 1.75 oz of pectin, Sure-Jell sells it in packets this size, but I decided to buy this because it was cheaper, so I weighed it out. Oh snaps, I forgot to take photos of the rest of the process. 

I finished the jars with labels from Cottage Industrialist.

Judge wants to know what 1000 Wonderful Things is up to and if he can have any. He’s pretty food obsessed, and no Judge you can’t have Jalapeno Jam.

Recipe adapted from My Kitchen Addiction.

Jalapeno Pepper Jam
Makes 16-4 oz jars

  • 4 cups of seeded, membrane removed peppers (about 12 jalapenos, 1 thai chile, 1 green bell and 1 red bell)
  • 1.75 oz of pectin
  • 4 cups of sugar
  • 1 cup cider vinegar
  • 1/4 tsp salt

Prepare a boiling water canner, sterilize jars and lids.

In a large pot combine ready peppers and vinegar. Gradually stir in the pectin and bring the mixture to a rolling boil. Add the sugar and salt and return the mixture to a boil. Cook this for an additional minute or until the sugar is dissolved.

Pour into prepared jars, wipe rims, and put lids on. Process in boiling water for 15 minutes.

Let it sit overnight or until all the tops have popped. The lids popping is by far the best part about canning things.

If you’ve never used a water canner, be sure to read up about what the best strategies are because it’s not exactly as easy as making a grilled cheese.

My favorite way to serve this jam is with crackers and cream cheese. The cream cheese cuts the spiciness of the peppers, same reason everyone tells you to drink milk if your mouth is on fire from hot sauce competitions with your siblings. Oh, you never did that? Huh.
The final product will have some chunks of the peppers and have a golden color.

Enjoy

-h

Brunch

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I love breakfast. Give me any kind of morning delicacy and I’m happy – french toast is one of my favorites. I love them all, omelets, eggs benny, waffles, hash browns. Yum, yum. When I was in high school, I had the privilege of spending time with my friend’s family in Whistler every winter. Her dad was famous for making pancakes on mornings before skiing, and he would always make too many. When everyone was stuffed and heading toward the rooms to get ready to head out for the day, he could be heard in the kitchen, “Panner, anyone, panner, there’s still a few left!”

I always find myself saying that same thing when I’m making breakfast on mornings when we have guests in our house.

Anyways, seems like breakfast these days has evolved to brunch out. Usually accompanied by a mimosa or bloody mary and sometimes ending with a Sunday Funday.

If you ever get a chance to snatch a bloody mary from a St. Regis Property. I absolutely recommend it. This one is from our visit to Park City last winter and includes black lava salt on the rim, wasabi foam on top, complete with syringe of Worcestershire and horse radish you inject yourself.

Want to take the more casual bloody route? Try a bloody mary bar, giving  you options to spice it up or mellow it out, plus add enough veggies to justify calling the drink your salad for the day.

Anyways, drinks or no drinks at your brunch, be sure to take time to relax and enjoy the company you are in. And, don’t worry, if you don’t get your laundry done when Sunday brunch turns into Sunday Funday, there’s always Monday night for that.

xx

-h

Homemade Ice Cream Sandwiches

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Last week S and I were tasked with providing dessert for a “Meet New Baby” party. We started brainstorming ideas and decided on homemade ice cream sandwiches. Given the temperatures last week in this area (90 plus) transportation was a little difficult for these babies, so if it is going to be hot I would suggest serving these for a party that does not require moving them from freezer to freezer.  Melting and re-freezing aside, I loved them. We made 3 types all in mini form: chocolate chip cookie/coffee ice cream, funfetti cookie/vanilla ice cream, and pineapple cookie/pineapple coconut ice cream. I missed my chance to snap a photo of the pineapple ones but I did manage to capture the other two flavors.

I used this recipe for the Funfetti Cookies, and they turned out fantastic. Once the cookies cool, place a small scoop of ice cream and sandwich, we rolled the edge in sprinkles like a tire for a bit more detail.

I consulted All Recipes for the Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe, and swapped mini chips for normal ones since we were shrinking the size, I also skipped the nuts.

Other flavors we considered making – peanut butter cookie/strawberry ice cream, ginger cookie/peach ice cream, sugar cookie/lemon sorbet. My mouth is watering thinking of the endless possibilities. Summer isn’t over yet!

xx

-h

Lavender Mint Lemon Bars

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Lemon bars are by far my favorite dessert ever. My mom received this recipe from her grandmother, Ri, who was an excellent cook. The interesting part about these is that because you use 4 eggs in the lemon part, they develop a custard like crust that has this amazing flaky texture to it. Although this recipe needs no adaptations I decided to incorporate the lavender that is blooming like crazy in my yard right now and because when I passed the lavender, I saw the mint, I added that in too.

Lavender Mint Lemon Bars

Mix 2 cups flour, 1/2 cup confectioners sugar together and cut in 1 cup butter. Press into 9×13 pan and bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes. I usually do about 17.

While that is baking:

In a food processor or blender – 2 cups granulated sugar, 3-4 teaspoons lavender buds, and 5-6 sprigs of mint. Let ‘er rip until the lavender buds have broken apart. It will smell glorious.

Mix 4 beaten eggs, the sugar you just processed, 1/3 cup lemon juice, 1/4 cup flour and 1/2 teaspoon baking powder using an electric mixer.

Pour this over the baked crust and cook for an additional 25 minutes at 350. Sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving if you like. I usually find that unnecessary though.

Enjoy!

xx

-h

Pretzel Pups

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Sometimes you have to use a little incentive to get things done. In this case, it was a nostalgic favorite for R, the pretzel dog. I used Joy the Baker’s Mini Pretzel Dog Recipe, and they came out amazing. Not quite as picture perfect as Joy’s but the flavor was great and the recipe was very easy to follow. Dip ’em in ketchup, mustard, a little srirancha (sriracha/ranch), or whatever you desire.

I would recommend this recipe a million times over – well I’d recommend any of Joy’s recipes really.

Enjoy.

-h

Tintero Vino Bianco Grangia

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Let’s talk about summer wines, I’ve made it pretty clear that I reach for sparkling anytime of year and summertime is no different. This week I met a friend at Tom Douglas’ Seatown near Pike Place for dinner. After perusing the wine list I noticed a by the glass called Grangia, next to it the notes said lightly sparkling, crisp. Yes, please!

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First sip- apple, sparkling, oh my!

A blend of Chardonnay, Favorita, Ameis, and a bit of moscato grapes from the Puedmont region in Italy.

Just be careful, Grangia goes down easy!

xx
-h