Goodbye, 2008!

And so we come to the end of another year. This year has not been an easy one for me. Sure, there were a lot of high points. We attended four weddings, and it was truly a blessing to witness our friends pledging vows and starting new lives with partners that in every case seemed like perfect matches. We also spent four beautiful days by the ocean with Dan's extended family. But these trips, though pleasant, formed but a small part of a year that was filled with challenges, including many frustrating setbacks and Dan's emergency surgery. It was a year rife with hard decisions and difficult circumstances, punctuated by brief but wonderful experiences. Today, in the snow, walking back from the video store, Dan remarked that this year had been a roller coaster, and I said that I hoped next year would be a more of an ascent; that a year from now, we would look back and say, "Look how far we've come."

One of the high points of the year for me has been starting this blog, and I thank you for joining me here. Improving Choice of Pies is high on my list of goals for 2009, and I plan to start tomorrow with a new look. I'll post a few of my cooking-related resolutions tomorrow, and I hope you'll join me throughout 2009 as I attempt to make these changes. In the meantime, have a safe and happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

I'm taking a few days off to ping-pong back and forth between the houses of Dan's parents and mine. I'll be back shortly before the new year. Happy Holidays, everyone!

Family Tradition: Grammy's Cookies

In my family, on Christmas Eve, desserts take center stage. Yes, the ham and the macaroni and cheese are important -- God forbid anyone try to change that menu -- but that spread pales in comparison to a dessert table so weighted down with homemade cookies and candy that it is shocking the table still stands. My mother and grandmother would spend the month of December crafting peanut butter fudge, chocolate fudge, needhams (aka potato candy), penuche, peanut butter cups, and out-of-this-world candies. The cookies might vary a bit from year to year but the old standbys are peanut butter blossoms, spritz, and sugar cookies.


Oh, the sugar cookies! For years, my grandmother would spend days rolling and cutting Christmas trees, stars, stockings, candy canes, reindeer, elephants (my grandmother collects elephant figurines), and Santas. Another day would be devoted to glazing the cookies and, once the glaze dried to a shiny finish, piping on the final details. The cookies are highly coded, the decorations painstakingly proscribed; the specific design patterns are as much a tradition as the Christmas Eve gathering itself.

Growing up, just about every year, I would help my grandmother decorate the cookies. It was from her that I learned how to make a vanilla glaze, how to make buttercream frosting, how to use gel colors and how to pipe intricate designs. This year, for the first time, instead of aiding Grammy, I got to take responsibility for the whole process. I had a lot of fun making these cookies, and I hope you enjoy looking at these pictures. Click here to see more.

Year in Review: Autumn Afternoon Tea

Remember when we took Grammy to the tea room? While we were comparing our cups and plates and playfully arguing over who was using the prettiest ones, Grammy remarked that she had a beautiful teacup collection of her own and lamented that her lovely cups and saucers sat on a shelf and were never used. "Why not have a tea party?" asked Dan, and so a plan was hatched.


Grammy and I worked out the menu and settled on the Saturday after Thanksgiving for a date, since many people (including Dan and I) would be back in Maine that weekend. I printed invitations at the letterpress studio on campus. The day after Thanksgiving, the three of us shopped for ingredients and prepared the table. The hardest part of this was choosing our ten favorite cup and saucer sets out of Grammy's collection of around three dozen.


The next morning, I made two batches of scones while Dan and Grammy made all the sandwiches. Grammy had already made some cookies and I had previously baked an applesauce spice cake with cream cheese frosting.

The full menu:
-Earl Grey scones
-cranberry-almond scones
-blueberry muffins (brought by Aunt Gail)
-lemon curd, clotted cream, and apricot jam for the pastries
-chicken salad on French bread
-cucumber sandwiches (no crusts)
-rye toasts with cream cheese and olives
-almond-raspberry cookies
-applesauce spice cake with cream cheese frosting
-cream puffs (purchased)
-Swiss rolls (also purchased)
-three kinds of tea: Earl Grey, Scottish Breakfast, and classic orange pekoe


We had a wonderful time! We sipped and nibbled and chatted the afternoon away. As the only female out of seven grandchildren, I've always been surrounded by boys. I like boys, I really do, but having a room full of women at Grammy's house was a refreshing change.


Dan was allowed to attend, despite not being a woman, because, well, the party was his idea! But he's also a wonderful man who can appreciate a nice, civilized tea. However, he did spend most of the party in the other room, having been dragged there by our niece, Leah, who, at two years old, has better things to do than sit at a table while we drink tea. Instead, she and Dan played bedtime: she ordered him to lie down on the couch, covered him with a blanket, said goodnight, and then commanded, "My turn! Switch!" This was the pattern for about an hour and a half, although at one point, Dan asked for a lullaby and was gifted with a rare live performance of Leah's hit John Denver cover, "Sunshine on My Shoulders Makes Me Happy."

Year in Review: Thanksgivings

When it comes to holidays, we are a family cemented to tradition. Change and innovation do not come lightly. Something as a simple as the suggestion of a change to the Christmas Eve menu has been known to cause actual rioting. So it's no surprise that on Thanksgiving, our table has always been filled with traditional fare: turkey, of course, plus gravy, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, turnips, cranberry sauce, dinner rolls, and roughly one 9" pie for every two people in attendance. Delicious, indulgent, tryptophan-triggering? Of course. But I felt something was missing: the color green. So I asked my mom, who hosted this year's get-together, if I could bring brussels sprouts.


As I mentioned in my review of The Harrison, I love brussels sprouts. This is not an enduring affection but rather a newfound passion, still young and bright and wallowing in the puppy-love stage. You see, prior to this fall, I had never tasted brussels sprouts. Never. But we got some in our CSA one week and for me, it was love at first bite.

For Thanksgiving, I sliced three pounds of loose sprouts in to halves and roasted them with a little olive oil at 400 degrees for about forty minutes. The outsides turn dark, nearly black, but the inside becomes a soft, creamy treat. I tossed the roasted sprouts with crisped pancetta, grated parmesano-reggiano, and some lemon juice. The sprout eaters at the table were very satisfied, and I got to eat the leftovers for days.

Incidentally, this year there was another green dish: Aunt Liz's spinach casserole, which is absolutely delicious. I'm going to get the recipe from her and will write about it in a separate post soon after I do.

You may have noticed the s in the title and thought it a typo. It's not; this year, we were blessed with two Thanksgiving dinners, as my in-laws decided to push their celebration up a few weeks and have a Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings in late October, to coincide with a visit from Great-Aunt Rose. The menu was similar to that at my mother's, with a few variations. Lynn, my mother-in-law, makes an awesome homemade cranberry sauce (while my side of the family is married to the canned kind). Also, because Lynn is Armenian, instead of mashed potatoes, she serves pilaf. (Pilaf holds a very special place in my husband's heart, so years ago I secured his mother's/grandmother's recipe; when he asks what's for dinner and my response includes pilaf, I'm guaranteed praise for days.)


For this early Thanksgiving dinner, I made a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting and busted out my piping tips to add some old-school decorations. The pattern was not planned: I just went where the frosting took me, which was apparently back to the 1970s, as the bright orange frosting, inspired by the frosting carrots that top bakery carrot cakes, reminds me of nothing more than the orange formica countertops in the chalet my family once owned.

The carrot cake (based on this recipe -- I skipped the pineapple and used whole wheat flour) was moist and delicious and I had fun making it. My decorating skills have deteriorated, though, so I might have to start using my piping tips more often.

Not dead yet!

December has been absolutely insane. I've been battling a cold on and off since the month began -- just when I think I'm over the cough, congestion, and nausea, they bounce back up like whack-a-moles. On my healthy days, I've been baking up a storm, and in the midst of regular holiday madness, two work projects that had been languishing for months both suddenly needed attention. But with the month almost over and thirty things crossed off my to-do list in the last three days, I can finally turn my attention back to this poor, neglected blog.


Between being ill and being inundated, I haven't done as much cooking as I should have. Too many times this month I have resorted to takeout, frozen pizza, or pasta sauce from a jar. But I have done a little cooking and a whole lot of baking, which I'll post about over the next week or so. I'm also preparing some year in review posts, where I'll look back at some of the meals and events that somehow never made it on the blog. And I can promise a new and improved Choice of Pies for the new year: look for a relaunch early in 2009.

Bagel Time!

When Mom turned to me during the car ride down to the train station and declared, "I have to get a bagel before we leave the city!" she echoed my thoughts perfectly. Thursday morning we went to the deli across the street from Grace's apartment and got bagels, juice, and fruit salad. We watched all the New Yorkers rushing in and out to grab their breakfasts on the way to work and enjoyed quietly pointing out the particularly interesting ones: the man wearing a vicuna coat with a baseball cap, the Spanish woman with a very cool minidress with long belled sleeves and an agressive, full-length frontal zipper, the young Russian man behind us who was almost too pretty to be real. It was nice to sit and relax in the midst of all that hubbub. And there's really nothing like a New York City bagel. We both chose multigrain with cream cheese; Mom opted for scallions on hers while mine, pictured above, was slathered with strawberry-flavored spread. I don't eat bagels very often, but when there's a really good bagel to be had, I can be tempted. My favorite combo? Salt bagel with veggie cream cheese. Mmm....

The Harrison, NYC

I'm back from a fantastic but short trip to the city. It was great to finally see the movie I worked on three years ago and to meet up with some old friends. My mom and I carpooled down to New Haven, took a train in to Penn Station, and stayed at my friend Grace's apartment. Grace joined us for the movie and for dinner beforehand. She is a devoted foodie and assembled a fabulous list of restaurant options; after some debate we narrowed the list to two and Grace made the final choice of The Harrison.

Please excuse the lousy photos; the restaurant's candlelight made for great atmosphere but terrible shooting conditions. It was just too dark and I had to resort to using the flash. With food this tempting, we could barely hold off on digging in long enough for me to take pictures, so I snapped just one quick photo of each dish.

Above is Mom's appetizer of black mission figs with blue cheese and prosciutto; it was absolutely delicious and something we will definitely make at home. It's such a simple but satisfying combination.

Grace opted for the oven-roasted sardines with breadcrumbs and garlic oil. It was tasty, but I'm not sure I'm a sardine fan. I've only had them once before, at my second grade class's Oktoberfest (my teacher was German).

And here is the dish that caught my eye from the very first moment I opened the online menu: kabocha, delicata, and brussels sprout salad with pumpkin seed vinaigrette. It was spectacular - the squashes perfectly roasted, the textures pleasingly various, and the sprouts - oh, the sprouts! The sprouts had been marinated and were very, very vinegary, which was fine with me, because I love vinegar. They were plump and juicy and when I bit down they let loose bursts of tangy, green flavor. Brussels sprouts are my new favorite vegetable, and while so far I've tried roasting and pan-searing, now I'm determined to make some sour, mouth-puckering, marinated sprouts like these.

Apparently I'm not alone in my love of vinegar; the chef at The Harrison must love it, too, as he uses it liberally. Sometimes a bit too much, it seems. This is Mom's entree of red snapper with graffiti eggplant, tomatoes, and fregola (a Sardinian pasta akin to couscous). The snapper had a really nice texture, with a surprisingly crisp crust, considering it didn't appear to be breaded, and a nice, flaky interior. But it was a little bland and didn't quite stand up to the robust flavors offered up by the rest of the dish. The server had warned us that the graffiti eggplant was very sweet that day; the sweetness wasn't a problem, but the excessive vinegar was. On its own, I rather liked the eggplant (again, I love vinegar), but it was too much vinegar for my Mom, who ordered the dish, and it definitely overpowered the delicate flavor of the snapper.

I ordered the Black Angus flank steak with red potatoes, pommery mustard, and sweet red onions. I love, love, love stone-ground mustard, and since no other entree really jumped out and screamed "EAT ME!" I ordered this. It was a good choice; the steak was incredible tender, the potatoes and onions were perfect, and there was just the right amount of mustard. The greens that you can see peeking out from under the onions were also doused with vinegar, but since there weren't a ton of greens, it was just the right pop to wake up the tastebuds.

Grace chose the monkfish special with broccoli rabe and spaghetti squash and I believe she enjoyed it. (Grace, if you're reading, can you weigh in in the comments?) She certainly came closer to finishing her entree than either Mom or I did. That's another thing about The Harrison- the portions are quite large. I hardly ever leave anything on my plate when I go out to eat, but I left probably a quarter to a third of my food on the plate. Not because it wasn't good, but because I didn't have room.

Of course, not being able to finish our entrees didn't stop us from ordering dessert. The three of us split the chocolate pretzel tart with sea salt potato chip and malted anglaise. The cream on top seemed to be creme fraiche; Grace also detected a hint of creme fraiche in the chocolate fudge filling of the tart. The crust was similar to a graham cracker crust, only made with crushed pretzels. The tart was good, the chocolate very rich, but I think the salt could have been stronger. It was a little too subtle.

As you can see, we had quite a feast. Not pictured: an order of duck fat fries with malt vinegar aioli. It was the first time I had duck fat fries and I was suitably impressed. I kept thinking they were like regular fries, but then the richer and more complex flavor would rise up. We also started the meal with cocktails - Mom and Grace had cranberry-ginger martinis, which were delicious! I'm not usually a martini drinker, but these were so smooth going down. We're going to try to recreate them for Thanksgiving. I ordered an Apple Bulleit, which was a blend of bourbon, apple cider, lemon juice, grenadine, and something else that I can't remember. It was very good; Mom thought it was too sweet, but it didn't taste sweet to me at all. It tasted like autumn - fresh apples and pumpkin pie spices! I also had a glass of O'Leary Walker 2005 Shiraz, which I enjoyed very much; it had a wonderful smell and a plummy taste that stood up well against strong flavors in the food.

Overall, our meal at The Harrison was satisfying, with interesting choices and food that was generally well-prepared, but certainly not perfect. If, like me, you have a taste for the sour stuff, order away; otherwise you may want to ask your server about how much vinegar a dish contains before making your selection.

The Harrison
355 Greenwich St.
New York, NY

Out of the Box: Final Week of the Summer

Our CSA "summer" share actually lasted well in to October. Here's a shot of our final weekly pickup, which included potatoes, beets, celeriac, leeks, rainbow chard, dinosaur kale, cabbage, carrots, butternut squash, delicata squash, broccoli, and brussels sprouts.

Both the butternut squash and the kale I cooked and then froze for later use. Everything else I used in various dishes that I will post about over the next week or so, except for the celeriac, which I still haven't used! Luckily it's a root vegetable and keeps very well.

Here's the delicata squash after I sliced off the ends and cut it lengthwise, but before I scooped out the seeds. We received delicatas several times over the summer; the first time, I roasted the two squash halves with some water in the pan, and the result was indeed very delicate, with the texture of a very soft puree and a taste reminiscent of apples and pears. I also tried a delicata and gruyere soup, which was a huge disappointment: it was somehow too bland and too sweet at the same time (to me, anyway; Dan enjoyed it, but he's easy to please).

With this delicata, I think I finally found a method that really brings out the best flavor of the squash. I left the skin on and chopped the squash in to small chunks, which I tossed with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and roasted at 400 degrees for about twenty-five minutes, stirring once or twice. The result was amazing: the flesh was tender, the skin crispy, and the salt and pepper provided a nice, kicky contrast to the natural sweetness of the squash.


I tossed the warm, roasted squash cubes with dried cranberries and toasted pine nuts and added a simple side salad with mustard vinaigrette. This was a very satisfying and delicious meal, and the leftovers were not leftover for long; Dan couldn't pass through the kitchen without grabbing a few more bites, and I certainly couldn't blame him.

Popovers That Didn't Pop

At least once every weekend, I try to make something a little special for breakfast. Popovers are one of my favorite treats to make as they require very few ingredients, take only a few minutes to whip up, and are delicious with butter, jam, and a pot of tea. You have to be careful not to open the oven while they are cooking, as that will make them fall flat, and when you do pull them out, you're supposed to immediately pierce each one with a fork to let the steam out so they don't collapse. Sometimes, though, they fall anyway.


I've heard it helps to have the eggs and milk at room temperature before you mix up the batter; if they are too cold to start with, they just can't get and stay puffy. This time, I was impatient and took the ingredients straight from the fridge, so my popovers didn't pop. At least they still tasted wonderful.

For a simple popover recipe, go here. A note about pans: some people have special popover pans. Even though I sometimes go on popover sprees and make them several times over the course of a few weeks, I just can't justify another specialized piece of kitchen equipment, so I use a muffin tin. It works just as well (as long as you have the patience to make them properly).