OK - Finally into 2011

New Year's Day feast: black-eyed peas, collard greens and cornbread. See the giant smoked chicken wing in the corner?

Although it's pathetically late, I am excited to report that the blog has officially made it to 2011 material, starting with the New Year's day traditional meal I cooked up for the family. Everything was pretty good considering it was my first time cooking greens and black eyed peas. I made some honey butter to go with the cornbread and it was delicious! I plan on catching up fast so get ready for many more posts ahead.

Pizza and Gingerbread - what could be better?

Ready to go into the oven!
One of our favorite family traditions is pizza making. We've gotten better at it over the past couple of years and the toppings only get more creative each time! One day we decorated a gingerbread house and made pizza - quite a fun day! The pizza was extremely tasty also and it made it from board to stone without getting too messy. The trick is LOTS of cornmeal - both in the dough and on the board. Having two people move the pizza from the board to the hot stone helps a great deal as well. Practice makes perfect I suppose! The dough from Your DeKalb Farmer's Market is our favorite - they have lots of tasty topping options too - check out the cheese section!

Gingerbread house decorating - what fun!

After cooking on the hot pizza stone - so delicious!

Korean BBQ and Bakery

When a BBQ restaurant has photos of cows on its sign... you know it has to be good!

On Easter Sunday I ventured to Han Il Kwan with some friends and family members. Although I've been to several Korean restaurants, this was my first experience with the tabletop grill. Overall the experience was very enjoyable - and much faster than one might think for a meal prepared at your table. The neat thing here is that the waitstaff is not intrusive nor are they putting on a show like at a hibachi place. Instead, the waitress controls the grill and cooks everything, but you are responsible for pulling the meat off and wrapping it in lettuce leafs with rice, spiced lettuce, kimchee and other goodies. We tried the ribeye and the marinated beef shortribs. Both were delicious. The seafood pancake was also excellent. Since we had quite a few folks we also got a rice dish with seafood. Although this was fairly bland before we added hot sauce, I do like how the rice crusts up at the bottom of the hot stone bowl. If you've never tried Korean barbecue, you should give it a shot. I've heard about several really good places in Duluth. What's your favorite place for Korean BBQ? Please post to the comments section!

Charcoal grill in the center of our table.



Banchan - my favorite was the one at nine o' clock - not sure what it is!



Meat - ready to cook!



Seafood pancake - delicious and not as greasy as some I've tried elsewhere.



Cooking meat.



Seafood bi bim bap.



Outside Mozart Cafe and Bakery.

After lunch we stopped by Mozart's for some ice cream. They have the best crumb cream bread here & an overall nice atmosphere for taking in a cup of coffee or tea and a pastry.

Closest in the photo - my favorite crumb cream bread. I could eat one of these every day!

Love Still in the Air

Despite the fact that it's just past St. Valentine's Day, I decided to bake some heart shaped cookies for various events I'm attending in the next couple of weeks. I ended up freezing half of the dough, so hopefully it will be easy to work with once I defrost it next week. The recipe I used (Sour Cream Cut-Out Cookies) can be found here. The sour cream really gives these cookies a good moist flavor. I tried to underbake just a bit to retain chewiness. A couple of the thicker cookies broke easily - probably underbaked a little too much, but my are they tasty!

The dough, just before rolling.



Ready to go in the oven.



The finished product - yum!

Chocolates Worth Ordering - John & Kira's

My mom came across these hand crafted chocolates made by John & Kira's, a small company run by food enthusiasts from Philadelphia who started their own chocolate company. They use ingredients from small farmers and growers who are committed to environmentalism and community support. In this "Every Flavor" collection, where each flavor is partially named after where the ganache flavor originates, you get to sample ten different chocolates, each with a Valrhona chocolate ganache center. My favorites are Drew Elementary Garden Mint, Just Us Bergamot and La Vigne Lemongrass. I was lucky enough to find this box waiting for me when I arrived home yesterday. Thanks, Mom!

Flowers and chocolates, what else is Valentine's Day for?

Close up of several flavors. Each flavor has its own unique marking so you can tell what you're getting. The flavors are so intense, though, that even if the chocolates were unmarked, you would know right away on that first bite!

My box as it stands now... a few already missing!

Hanukkah/Birthday Part Dos

As the holidays approached we headed to Charlotte, my hometown, for some Hanukkah and birthday celebrations. We also attended a very neat Hindu wedding (see above post). It seemed like we were carried from one party to the next, celebrating with my dad's office, then a family Hanukkah party, then with my friend getting married and then for my birthday. Luckily my big day was not over yet!

Cooking latkes in Charlotte.



Amy with Cousin George.



Sticky rice with mango birthday "cake" from Monsoon Thai Restaurant - this is one of my very favorite desserts!



Calvin opening one of his presents as Grandma Sarah looks on.



The real cake! My mom's yellow cake with chocolate frosting. I'm feeling pretty good as you can see!

CO&S Holiday Shindig!

Our Holiday Office Party Feast. I made deviled eggs, lemon squares & butterscotch gingerbread cookies. I also helped put everything together!



Gifts under the tree. Since I never had a tree growing up I relish the office party tree!



Here's to a wonderful holiday season!

Gobble Gobble

For Thanksgiving we ventured to Celo, NC where I attended the wonderful Camp Celo as a child. In addition to enjoying a great meal with friends for Turkey Day, we had a chance to sightsee in Asheville and climb atop Mt. Mitchell, the highest peak east of the Mississippi.

View from Mt. Mitchell



Yum! My Thanksgiving plate - trust me I needed a nap after this!



Pies galore!

Rosh Hashanah Delights

Cousins Joanne and Craig graciously hosted a Rosh Hashanah dinner at their place to bring in the Jewish New Year. It was wonderful to feast on a homemade dinner with friends and family.

Our friend Dana brought a beautiful and very delicious challah.



Brisket, a rice dish and a wonderful chickpea salad.



The chickpea salad again and a pear and walnut salad.

Here comes the Hanukkah Man!!

The Hanukkah Table in Williamsburg - ready for night 1.

This year Hanukkah started on the evening of December 15 and continued until December 23 (also my birthday)!

Melanie gave me some really cute cookies in a Hanukkah holiday basket.

We were in Charlotte, Asheville and Atlanta during our vacation week - and we did A LOT! Actually, it was more of a busy, busy week than a vacation, but we still had a great deal of fun seeing everyone and travelling around.

My Dad got a new Ozzie Smith jersey. As you might guess, Dad's favorite team is the St. Louis Cardinals.

One of my favorite gifts, a goat donated to a needy family through the Heifer Project and a matching stuffed goat to symbolize the donation.


Steve with his new Ecko shirt - see the rhino?

Later in the week we enjoyed a wonderful Hanukkah party hosted by my Grandma Sarah at her Fort Mill, SC home. We saw lots of family members, ate potato latkes and had an all-around good time.

Family friend and mah-jongg player Howard making latkes at Grandma's house.


Steve helps cousin Dylan light the Hanukkah candles.


Grandma's cat (formerly belonging to Bernie, Teri, Jason and Adam) Pillow reigns supreme.

Overall we had a great Hanukkah!

Long time no blog!

Just wanted to put in a little post since it has been awhile. Great news is that I am moving to Atlanta to begin my dream job after graduation in May. I am really excited for the job and the town. Should be some great food opportunities down there and when I find a moment I want to take some cooking classes for sure.
Tonight I had some fabulous sukiyaki at Kappo Nara - I hadn't had any since I was in Japan and it brought back some great memories. For those who don't know, sukiyaki is a beef, mushroom, tofu, scallion and noodle stew with a rich borth.
This is also the season for latkes, Chrsitmas cookies and birthday cake (for me!) so we will be enjoying all of that soon. I will try and be a better poster in days to come, meaning, after exams are over!