Who’s Coming to Dinner

In New Hampshire I taught writing classes for Concord Community Education. One of my favorite assignments was: If you could have dinner with three people, living or dead, who would they be and why? Oh, and what would you serve for dinner? (After all, I am a food writer.)

I was always amazed by my student’s answers. Many wanted one more dinner with a loved one who had passed away, or even a relative who died before they were born but lived on in the stories of others. Some wanted dinner with famous actors and historians. One particularly creative student selected Jesus, Ghandi, and Hitler!

Who would I choose? I can see them now, all gathered in our apartment. Julia Child is in the kitchen, coaching me along at the stove while I make Chicken Florentine for our dinner—chicken in a creamy wine sauce served over spinach and egg noodles—with warm Italian bread and zabaione with berries for dessert. She makes sure I use enough butter and wine in my dish, while she enjoys her cocktail—a traditional martini. She is delighted by my choice of cocktail munchies—Pepperidge Farms gold fish, one of her favorites. And I enjoy telling her about my sweetheart, Michael, who reminds me of all the stories I’ve heard about her husband, Paul—loving and supportive.

Our apartment is small enough that everyone can be a part of the conversation while I cook. Molly Ivans has us all rolling with laughter with one of her classic political tales. A popular political commentator, her stories were funnier than most, perhaps because of her Texas drawl. It would be hard to imagine even the most hardened politician being angry with her, no matter the insult. She told her tales in such a way that the offended party would also join in the laughter, even as she pointed out their partisan stupidity. I make a mental note to ask her what she thinks of Obama and Palin during dinner. That should be a kick!

Laughing right along with the rest of us is Katherine Hepburn. No one can miss her laugh, or her voice, as she tells her stories of Hollywood’s past. Her face softens when she mentions Spencer, and brightens when she tells us about Cary Grant’s antics on the set. She is such a unique mixture of femininity and toughness.

Actually, all of these women fit that description. They chose their path, followed their dreams, and succeeded in having fulfilled lives. I hope I “grow up” to be just like them—tough ol’ broads, in the very best sense of the phrase.

Chicken Florentine Style

Adapted from a recipe by Giada De Laurentiis

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

All-purpose flour, for dredging

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 tablespoons shallots, sliced

1 tablespoon chopped garlic

1 1/2 cups dry white wine

1 cup whipping cream

1 tablespoon chopped fresh Italian parsley

2 (10-ounce) packages frozen cut-leaf spinach, thawed, drained,

and/or 1 package of egg noodles, cooked

Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper. Dredge the chicken in the flour to coat lightly. Shake off any excess flour. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add the chicken and cook until brown, about 5 minutes per side. Transfer the chicken to a plate and tent with foil to keep it warm.

Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in the same skillet over medium heat. Add the shallots and garlic and sauté until the shallots are translucent, stirring to scrape up any browned bits on the bottom of the skillet, about 1 minute. Add the wine. Increase the heat to medium-high and boil until the liquid is reduced by half, about 3 minutes. Add the cream and boil until the sauce reduces by half, stirring often, about 3 minutes. Stir in the parsley. Season the sauce, to taste, with salt and pepper. Add the chicken and any accumulated juices to the sauce, and turn the chicken to coat in the sauce.

Meanwhile, melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter in another large skillet over medium heat. Add the spinach and sauté until heated through. Season the spinach, to taste, with salt and pepper. Arrange the spinach over a platter. Place the chicken atop the spinach. Pour the sauce over and serve.

Or, if you do not like spinach, boil a package of egg noodles in salted water until tender. Drain and add the butter to the noodles, stirring to coat. Place the chicken on top and pour over the sauce. Serve.

(You can also serve both spinach and noodles. Then everyone is happy!)

Peeved at the Dinner Table

I’m amazed how often this happens. My sweetheart, Michael, and I will be at a favorite—or new—restaurant. Partway through our meal, someone at a near-by table will blow their nose. Michael stops eating instantly! Just the sound takes away his appetite. Now, if he were on the Blow Your Nose Diet, then the loss of calories might be a good thing. However, we paid for a nice meal and it's a shame to see it go half uneaten because of someone else’s bad manners.

According to the Table Manners column on Chow.com, Peter Post of the Emily Post Institute says a person should leave the dinner table to blow their nose when possible. Wasn’t this something we all learned growing up? Perhaps like many other rules of etiquette that have gone by the wayside, such as a man not wearing a hat inside, blowing the nose at the table has become acceptable. Since I’m not bothered by it, I never noticed until now just how common an event it has become.

What is your dining pet peeve? People using cell phones? Rude wait staff? Chefs not getting your order correct? Chewing with an open mouth? What bothers you the most?

For the Love of Veg

Last Thursday a major change happened in our household—we got cable internet and upgraded our cable television selection! The internet upgrade was wonderful. The pictures for my blog upload almost instantly, which was a big improvement from the 1 to 2 minutes it took with my cell phone hot spot connection. I’m in heaven!

I’m also in heaven because we now get the Cooking Channel. (I can just see Michael rolling his eyes. He just doesn’t understand my need to watch cooking shows! But then, I don’t understand his love for old western television shows—Gunsmoke, The Big Valley—so I guess we’re even.)

Jamie Oliver has always been one of my favorites, ever since his days as The Naked Chef. (No, not what you think!) I like his way of using the freshest ingredients to create a simple but delicious dish. And the fact that he is British makes him even more appealing to my anglophile heart.

The Cooking Channel is showing his series “Jamie at Home,” which I never got the chance to see when it originally ran on The Food Network. Yesterday I went to the library and found the cookbook that goes with the series; Jamie at Home: Cooking Your Way to the Good Life (Hyperion, 2007). 

The book is a delight to read, especially since I love gardening but now live in a downtown apartment with no outside space whatsoever. (Thank goodness for the Wednesday and Saturday farmer’s markets just a few blocks away.) The book is full of delicious ways to cook just about any vegetable imaginable—rhubarb, asparagus, peas, beans, tomatoes—plus recipes for game birds, meats, and fruity desserts. He also includes growing tips, a list of the vegetable varieties in his garden, and lots of beautiful photographs.

Oliver begins by talking about his "extramarital affair" with his vegetable garden. He writes, “I just like spending time with my veg. And I’ll tell you something, this has been the best cooking year of my life…Like most people these days, with a busy family life and a hectic working schedule, I began to struggle with finding a balance between the two. I seem to have evened things up a bit now, and it’s all thanks to my veg garden, believe it or not. I love spending the odd hour out there, as it really relaxes me. You might think I sound like a complete hippie now, but growing my own veg for these past few years has filled me with such pride, pleasure, and passion.”

Here is his recipe for Beautiful Zucchini Carbonara, which I also found on The Food Network’s web site—go there to check out a photo of the dish. Yum! (www.foodnetwork.com)  Since everyone seems to grow an excess of zucchini, this is a delicious and simple way to use some of it up. Now I’m headed to Amazon.com to buy my own copy of the book!

Beautiful Zucchini Carbonara

From Jamie at Home: Cooking Your Way to the Good Life by Jamie Oliver (Hyperion, 2007)

Carbonara is a classic pasta sauce made with cream, bacon and Parmesan and is absolutely delicious. Try to buy the best ingredients you can, as that's what really helps to make this dish amazing. I'm using a flowering variegated variety of thyme but normal thyme is fine to use. When it comes to the type of pasta, you can serve carbonara with spaghetti or linguine, but I've been told by Italian mammas (who I don't argue with!) that penne is the original, so that's what I'm using in this recipe.

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

6 medium green and yellow zucchini

1 pound penne

4 large free-range or organic egg yolks

1/2 cup heavy cream

2 good handfuls freshly grated Parmesan

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Olive oil

12 thick slices pancetta or lean bacon, cut into chunky pieces

A small bunch fresh thyme, leaves picked and chopped, flowers reserved (if you can get hold of flowering thyme)

Optional: a few zucchini flowers

Before you start cooking, it's important to get yourself a very large pan, or use a high-sided roasting pan so you can give the pasta a good toss.

Put a large pan of salted water on to boil. Halve and then quarter any larger zucchini lengthwise. Cut out and discard any fluffy middle bits, and slice the zucchini at an angle into pieces roughly the same size and shape as the penne. Smaller zucchini can simply be sliced finely. Your water will now be boiling, so add the penne to the pan and cook according to the package instructions.

To make your creamy carbonara sauce, put the egg yolks into a bowl, add the cream and half the Parmesan, and mix together with a fork. Season lightly with salt and pepper and set aside.

Heat a very large frying pan (a 14-inch is a good start - every house should have one!), add a good splash of olive oil and fry the pancetta or bacon until dark brown and crisp. Add the zucchini slices and 2 big pinches of black pepper, not just to season but to give it a bit of a kick. Sprinkle in the thyme leaves, give everything a stir, so the zucchini is coated with all the lovely bacon-flavored oil, and fry until they start to turn lightly golden and have softened slightly.

It's very important to get this next bit right or your carbonara could end up ruined. You need to work quickly. When the pasta is cooked, drain it, reserving a little of the cooking water. Immediately, toss the pasta in the pan with the zucchini, bacon and lovely flavors, then remove from the heat and add a ladleful of the reserved cooking water and your creamy sauce. Stir together quickly. (No more cooking now, otherwise you'll scramble the eggs.)

Get everyone around the table, ready to eat straightaway. While you're tossing the pasta and sauce, sprinkle in the rest of the Parmesan and a little more of the cooking water if needed, to give you a silky and shiny sauce. Taste quickly for seasoning. If you've managed to get any zucchini flowers, tear them over the top, then serve and eat immediately, as the sauce can become thick and stodgy if left too long.

Summer Holiday Food, Part 2

Boy, is it hot! My computer is flashing 102 degrees on The Weather Channel’s desktop alert. Nice way to head into the 4th of July weekend, isn’t it?

One of my all-time favorite grill marinades is one I developed for a Boston Globe article a few years ago. I called it Mediterranean Chicken since the ingredients are Greek in flavor—olive oil, lemon, oregano, and garlic. It’s simple to make and always gets raves from family and friends.

When I first started to cook for my sweetheart, Michael, I had some boneless pork chops to make for dinner one night. Since the marinade works well on chicken, I thought I’d give it a try on the pork. However, when I was reaching into the spice cabinet for the oregano, I spied the rosemary. It reminded me of how in the past I would butterfly a pork loin, rub the inside with olive oil, garlic, and rosemary, tie it up and put it onto the grill’s rotisserie. Yum! So I decided to try rosemary in place of the oregano for the marinade. And I added a sliced onion because I thought it was part of the original recipe. (I found out later it wasn’t.)

Since the apartment Michael and I share doesn’t have an outdoor space for a grill, I used the George Forman variety. The pork was great, or in Michael’s words, “Good. Real good!”

A few weeks after I first used the marinade on pork, I made up a batch for Michael’s brother in-law, Don, to cook up on his backyard charcoal grill. He, his wife, Lisa, and his mother, Sharon, all thought it was delicious.

Also on my menu for this weekend, I’m making Mamaw’s Broccoli Salad. It is full of broccoli florets, raisins, sunflower seeds and bacon. I’ve never made it before, but Lisa loves the one they serve at a favorite local restaurant, The Pad. She asked me to try to make it for a bridal shower tomorrow. I tasted it, and the salad dressing seems close to one you would use on cole slaw. After some research on the internet, I happened to be talking to Mom on the telephone and asked if she had a recipe for the dish. Turned out the one she had was from my grandmother, Mamaw. I have Mamaw’s recipe file, which she gave to me many years ago, so I looked inside. Sure enough, I had the recipe all along.

Here are both the Mediterranean Marinade and Mamaw’s Broccoli Salad recipes for you to try. I hope they make a nice addition to your holiday cookouts. If you do try them out, let me know what you think. And I’ll let you know how what everyone says about the salad at the shower.

Mediterranean Marinade

Serves 4
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts or 4 boneless pork chops
1 teaspoon dried oregano (for chicken) or ground rosemary (for pork)
Juice of 1 lemon
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 medium onion, sliced
1/2 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
 
In a zippered, plastic bag, place the chicken or pork. In a small bowl, whisk together the remaining ingredients and pour over the meat. Seal the bag and allow to marinate in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.

Mamaw’s Broccoli Salad

1/2 cup raisins (I like golden, but either will do)
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
2 bunches fresh broccoli, heads only
2 bunches green onions, chopped
1 pound bacon, fried crisp and crumbled or 2 tablespoons bacon bits
Sauce:
1/2 cup mayonnaise
4 tablespoons vinegar
4 tablespoons milk
2 tablespoons sugar
 
Mix sauce and pour over other ingredients. Refrigerate for 2 hours.

Summer Holiday Food: Part 1

I have a confession to make. I hate summer. I know many of you wait all year for June, July and August, but not me. Give me cool weather, sweaters, and even snow any day over 90-plus degree heat and drippy humidity.

(Okay, the thunderstorms can be exciting—as long as no one gets hurt. I’ve always enjoyed a good show by Mother Nature.)

The upcoming 4th of July weekend in Kansas is scheduled to be a scorcher, starting with temps in the 100s tomorrow and Friday, and then cooling to the 90s for the foreseeable future. With that in mind, I was thinking of some easy summer recipes that may come in handy for your Independence Day weekend get-togethers.

First up—breakfast. As I stated in a previous post, this is not my favorite meal of the day. However, I do like to have a little something to ward off starvation until lunchtime. A few years ago, I made a Blueberry Muffin Cake recipe created by writer Susan Gagnon and published in the Concord Monitor newspaper in New Hampshire. It was yummy, but way too cake-like and sweet for my breakfast tastes. The author even suggested serving it with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream, so I believe she envisioned it more as a dessert than breakfast. But I really liked the idea of the one-pan convince of a muffin cake instead of muffins.

Today I dug out the original recipe and made some changes so it would be a bit more breakfast-like and healthier. First I cut the amount of sugar in half. Then I switched one cup of the regular all-purpose flour to whole wheat flour. And finally I exchanged brown sugar for regular sugar and added pecans in the topping.

Almost immediately after I put the coffee cake into the oven, yummy smells started to fill the kitchen. It looked just as good as it smelled, and the taste was just what I wanted--sweet with blueberries and a brown sugar topping, but not too guilt-inducing sweet.

However, some of you might not like the amount of whole wheat flour in the recipe. If you’re not accustomed to whole wheat baked goods, use only a 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour and 2 cups of regular flour instead of what the recipe calls for. And if you like sweet treats for breakfast, use a whole cup of sugar in the batter instead of half a cup.

This coffee cake would make a nice, easy treat to serve holiday guests on their way to the lake, park, or beach. Just sit a few sliced squares out on a plate next to the coffee maker, tea kettle, or juice/milk pitcher. I enjoyed a piece this afternoon with an iced coffee, and can’t wait for another square with my morning coffee tomorrow. (I may even sneak a piece for a late night snack!)

Blueberry Muffin Coffee Cake

For the cake:

1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup milk
1 1/2 cup flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 pint blueberries
 
For topping:
1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) butter, chilled
1/3 cup flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray a 7-by-11-inch baking dish with non-stick cooking spray. With a mixer, cream together the butter and sugar. Add the egg and beat well.

In a separate bowl (I use the measuring cup), mix milk and baking soda together until soda is dissolved. In another bowl, mix together both flours, cream of tartar, and salt. Add the flour and milk mixtures alternately to the butter-sugar-egg mixture, stirring well after each addition. Add the lemon juice and vanilla. By hand, fold in the blueberries. Pour batter into baking dish.

Place all the topping ingredients into a bowl and crumble together by hand until the butter is in small bits. Sprinkle over the top of the cake batter.

Bake for 30 to 40 minutes. Cool for 30 minutes before serving. (I know it’s hard, but try to wait. It will be worth it!)

The Lawrence Food Tour: Part 1 of ?

I love my new home city, Topeka. My sweetheart, Michael, grew up here and is helping me explore all of the different food offerings the city has available, which I plan to share with you along the way. We live in the downtown area, and I’ve just begun to scratch the surface on the food places within walking distance of our apartment. So stay tuned.

However, go east on I-70 a few miles and you will come to the city of Lawrence, home to the University of Kansas. The downtown is filled with shops, bakeries and restaurants, most of which have a great reputation. There are so many places that a food tour would need to be broken into multiple parts to cover them all, not counting return visits to places newly added to your food favorites list.

I’ve made short trips to this city before, each time vowing to spend a longer amount of time discovering all of the delicious taste sensations available. This past Saturday, Michael and I did just that--The Lawrence Food Tour, Part One of Many.

We started with lunch at Mirth Café (745 New Hampshire, themirthcafe.com). This is the type of place you would expect to find in a university town, with rustic brick walls, tables decorated with flower-filled wine bottles, and an espresso machine creating rich, dark coffee nirvana. It’s easy to imagine Bob Dylan in one corner plucking out a new tune, J. K. Rowling at a table writing Harry Potter’s comeback, a family enjoying breakfast in front of large street-side windows, and two sweethearts sharing bites of each other’s meals.

In my case, that last scenario was reality! Michael, ordered Mirth’s Big Breakfast, with two scrambled eggs, potatoes, sausage and wheat toast. (And, of course, he drenched it all in ketchup.)

I ordered the Ultimate Grilled Cheese—not an over exaggeration for its name. This is the best grilled cheese sandwich I’ve ever tasted! Cheddar, feta and provolone cheese is melted between two slices of white or wheat bread (I had white this time) with fresh spinach leaves and a spread of pesto--hey, I think I can make this at home! I had it with a side of the house salad made with fresh baby greens, cucumbers, homemade garlic croutons, feta garlic dressing and fresh Parmesan. And of course, I ordered a latte to appease my coffee addiction. (Notice Michael's line of jellies waiting for the toast.)

Next, after spending some time (and money) in an antique mall on Massachusetts Street, we went to Brits, a quaint small shop that stocks everything British (929 Massachusetts Street, britsshop.com). I’ve always been an anglophile and I stock-up on the imported items I remember from my two trips to the UK. This time I picked up some McVitie’s Digestives biscuits (a wheat and wholemeal cross between a cookie and a cracker) and Nestle Toffee Crisp candy bars (crunchy rice puffs with caramel, covered in chocolate). I also purchased the book Full English: A Journey Through the British and Their Food by Tom Parker Bowles, the brother of Camilla Parker Bowles, otherwise known as the Duchess of Cornwall and wife of Prince Charles. I have seen Tom Parker Bowles on television a number of times and can’t wait to read his take on British cuisine.

Michael and I also made a stop at the Great Harvest Bread Company (807 Vermont), where we tasted the Italian herb bread—mmmmm! I left munching on a snickerdoodle cookie, and we took home a wonderful loaf of challah, a braided Jewish egg bread.

 
Our final food stop for the day was dinner with my soon-to-be sister and brother in-laws’ family at Bigg’s BBQ (2429 Iowa, www.biggsribs.com). It's an unassuming restaurant with the best barbecue I’ve had yet since my return to the Midwest! I ordered a smoked turkey sandwich with spicy fries on the side. The turkey was tender and filled my taste buds with just the right amount of smoke flavor. I topped the sandwich with the Bigg’s spicy barbecue sauce. (Please ignore the poor photography--I'm still learning.)

Michael had the smoked half-chicken with potato salad and baked beans. He ate it all, so it must have been good!

His sister, Lisa, had the burnt ends, which turned out to be one-inch cubes of smoked brisket with barbecue sauce. She gave me a taste, and it, too, was tender and smoky. For dessert, I had a deep-fried brownie--rich and sinfully wonderful. However, I enjoyed even more the homemade ice cream that came with the dish. It tasted like what my Mom and Dad churn for summer cookouts. Lisa’s husband, Don, is a bread pudding addict, and he ordered the white chocolate bread pudding. He said it was the best he’s ever had, and now he doesn’t want to order bread pudding anywhere else! 

Part one of the tour was such a success, I'm already looking forward to part two, once I've fully recovered from this one. I'm still full! Now I need suggestions of where to go next. So all you Kansans, let me know your favorite spots in Lawrence, Topeka, or anywhere! Until then, I think I'd better start a new exercise routine.

Ketchup and Goulash

Everyone in a successful relationship has to learn to live with the other person’s quirks. We all have them. In our household, they include how to place the toilet paper roll on the holder (I like it to roll over the top and Michael--best known as The Picky Eater--likes it to roll from underneath), where to put the dirty dishes (I put them to the left of the sink and The Picky Eater puts them to the right), and the car radio (he leaves it on when he gets out of the car and I turn it off.) These types of quirks are minor ones we all learn to compromise over so we can live in harmony. No sweating the little stuff!

There are also food quirks we learn to live with each day. The Picky Eater likes Miracle Whip on his sandwiches and I like mayonnaise. (I think this is a Midwestern taste since I also grew up with Miracle Whip and only changed after I moved east. I still use it for potato salad.) I like all kinds of vegetables, including asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower, and beets. The Picky Eater will only eat corn, green beans, carrots, celery, and tomatoes, plus basic lettuce salad with lots of Dorothy Lynch or Ott’s salad dressing. He also likes to eat a big breakfast, complete with eggs, sausage, hash browns and toast, while I don’t like to eat breakfast much at all. If I do, it’s usually just yogurt or cereal.

We both quickly learned there are two food items that we will never be without in our house—coffee and ketchup. The coffee is for me—the day just doesn’t start right without it. And I like the expensive stuff in the bag, not the can. (What can I say—I’m a coffee snob.) The Picky Eater doesn’t drink coffee. (He loves Earl Grey tea, so I forgive him the coffee thing.)

The ketchup is for Michael. He loves the stuff and puts it on just about everything! I call him a ketchup fiend, and his daughter Jaime is just as bad. I keep saying we should buy stock in a ketchup company so we can recoup some of our ketchup expenditures. I do like it on my hamburger and French fries, but I can live without it.

Not long after we met, The Picky Eater started asking me to make goulash. My first question was what kind—the traditional with chunks of beef and paprika, or the kind I knew from my childhood made with hamburger, elbow macaroni, and tomatoes? (What people in New England call American chop suey.) He said wanted the kind with lots of ketchup that his daughter makes.

I Googled goulash with ketchup, and there are recipes out there with it as an ingredient. But just to be sure, I asked Jaime for the recipe. When she e-mailed it, I was surprised. The ingredient list included tomato soup and cheddar cheese soup. No ketchup! When I asked about the missing ingredient, she wrote that she just squirts in a little ketchup since she and her dad both like it.

So I made the recipe and included 1/2 cup of ketchup, and then had The Picky Eater come in to test it. His immediate response was, “It tastes like tomato soup [which he hates]. Did you put ketchup in it? It needs more.”

I kept squirting and he kept tasting until we got it just right. My best guess is I put in a total of 1 to 1 1/2 cups of ketchup. Even though it’s not the goulash I grew up with, I did like it. Michael devoured it!

Yesterday I decided to make my childhood version of goulash. As I was cooking, The Picky Eater kept asking, “Do you have a backup plan just in case this doesn’t work?” I suggested he keep an open mind, and that we had ham sandwiches in an emergency.

When we sat down to eat, the goulash was—okay. It tasted good, but something was missing. My mom put chili powder in hers, and I know some people put Italian seasoning in the dish, so perhaps that was the issue. The Picky Eater grabbed his ever-available bottle of ketchup and put in a small squirt. He then started to eat away and said he liked it. So, I decided to give it a try, and it turns out ketchup was the missing ingredient. I loved it! It doesn’t take much—I would only add about 1/2 cup to the recipe, but it really makes the dish!

Here are both recipes so you can try them out for yourself. And now I have a new-found respect for ketchup!

Jaime’s Goulash

1 pound ground beef

1 (10.75 ounce) can Campbell’s Cheddar Cheese soup
1 (10.75 ounce) cab Campbell’s Tomato soup
1 1/2 cups water
2 cups uncooked medium shell-shaped pasta
1 cup ketchup—or to taste

Cook beef in skillet until browned. Pour off fat. Add soups, water, pasta and ketchup. Heat to a boil. Cook over medium heat 10 minutes or until pasta is done, stirring often.

Linda’s Goulash

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 pound ground sirloin

1 medium green pepper, diced
1 medium onion, diced
2 (8 ounce) cans no salt added tomato sauce
1 (14.5 ounce) can no salt added diced tomatoes
1/2 cup ketchup
1 1/2 cup water
2 cups elbow macaroni
salt and pepper to taste
Italian seasoning or chili powder (optional)

Brown ground sirloin in a deep skillet or Dutch oven until just brown. Add onion and green pepper, and continue to cook until onion is translucent. Drain off any excess fat. Add remaining ingredients, lower the heat to simmer, cover and cook for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the macaroni is soft. (This dish also tastes good with a little parmesan cheese sprinkled on top!)

My New Life—Part 2

One year ago, after almost 20 years of living in New England, I drove I-70 into Kansas and a new life. I settled into a great house in Meriden, renting a new basement room from my friend Derrick. He and his 12 year old daughter showed me around my new area. I was writing for both Kansas and New Hampshire magazines, plus I returned to a career as a Montessori preschool teacher—something I did for four years in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. All was well.

Then my life completely changed—again!

 
In an effort to meet new people and see even more of my new state, I signed up on Match.com. I was a little nervous at first, but I knew a great couple, Tara and Tim, who met through this dating Web site, married, and just had their first child. Plus, I wasn’t necessarily looking for a relationship. After my divorce and a couple of misses in the romance department, I was more interested in having fun, meeting new people, and seeing what the Topeka-Lawrence-Kansas City areas had to offer.

I got responses right from the start! Derrick’s daughter and I sat at the dinning room table looking over the profiles. She proved to be a very insightful advisor regarding which men I should reject and the ones I should consider. We still joke about the one we nick-named Psycho Santa. Imagine the Unabomber crossed with Santa Claus. I still shiver at the memory!

I started communicating with three men via e-mail. One in particular, Michael, seemed very nice. He asked me out for dinner one Thursday evening, which happened to be Veterans Day. We arranged to meet at the local Dillon’s grocery store parking lot, and then I would follow him north to the Prairie Band Casino for dinner. I had heard good things about the food at the three restaurants housed in the casino, so I was looking forward to the evening.

 
Michael turned out to be the love of my life!

Believe me, I was as surprised as anyone to have found the man I had been looking for my whole life on my first time out in the online dating world. Michael is 52 years old and has his own business as a currier. He has two grown children—Mike, Jr. who is married, just graduated from law school and going for his MBA, and Jamie, who is also married and just graduated from college with a marketing degree.

Long story short, I now live in downtown Topeka with Michael. (The state capitol building is right outside our door!) On June 6, he proposed to me in the same grocery store parking lot where we met. We are getting married on Christmas Eve morning.

Now that I’m settled in my second new home of the year, I promise to write more frequently. There is a lot to talk about! And don’t worry—food will be a large part of the conversation. I have a bunch of new recipes and restaurants to share!

A Cusine Survives the Storm

I love New Orleans food. Gumbo, jambalaya, beignets...all of it! To honor the city's survival five years after Hurricane Katrina, here is an article I wrote for the Concord Monitor newspaper that ran on the first anniversary--complete with recipes! Enjoy!

New Orleans Cuisine After the Storm

One year ago, eighty percent of New Orleans was under the flood waters of Hurricane Katrina. Possibly the first sign of life amid the devastation was the re-opening, one by one, of the city’s restaurants. In a place where food establishments dominate just about every square block, it was a clear statement from the community, “We are still here and not giving up.”

At first, many of the restaurants gave out free food to rescue and relief workers as well as the local folks, some who could no longer cook in their own kitchens. Soon these eateries became recovery places. People came together to hug and share their storm stories with other survivors.

“The restaurants have pulled the city back together again,”said Tom Fitzmorris, a well-known food critic and author of New Orleans Food (Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 2006).

Born on Mardi Gras, Fitzmorris is a life-long Orleanian. In fact, the longest he has ever been away from the city was when his family evacuated the Sunday before Katrina made landfall, first to Atlanta and then to Washington, DC. Luckier than some, his home north of the city was largely undamaged. However, his office across from the Superdome was completely destroyed. His loses included an extensive collection of restaurant photographs dating back to the mid 1970s.

Fitzmorris had started his cookbook before the storm, but it was watching the devastation on television, “Drinking martini after martini,” that motivated him to finish the book. He is donating a portion of the profits to Habitat for Humanity, since housing is still the number one problem in the city. He noted, “Sixty-five percent of the housing stock in the city is still uninhabitable.”

Katrina was also what inspired Linda and Steve Bauer to finish their book, Recipes from Historic Louisiana (Bright Sky Press, 2006), a collection of recipes from the area’s most famous restaurants. They convinced their publisher to donate the proceeds to the National Trust for Historic Preservation Hurricane Relief Fund.

“New Orleans’s restaurants are places with a fabulous history and great food,”said Linda Bauer. “Many of the restaurants have been handed down for four generations. Just about every kind of food that you can imagine is found there. What other city had so many restaurants in such a small space?”

It is New Orleans’s unique food and music culture that draws Chef Sean Burt back time and again. The owner of Tooky Mills restaurant in Hillsboro has gone down for the city’s annual jazz festival a number of times. “The food is so authentic,” said Burt.“It’s food like you don’t get anywhere else in the world. They take basic ingredients and come up with great dishes.”

New Orleans’s cuisine is local food. To many people outside the region, it is synonymous with Creole and Cajun dishes. What is the difference? “Creole cooking has a French face, a Spanish soul and African hands,” said Fitzmorris. “It then got an Italian heart and a Cajun smile. If you have to define the difference, it would be that Cajun is considered country cooking while Creole is city cooking. If you are from here, you never ask what the difference is because you don’t care.”

To cook New Orleans’s style, the kitchen pantry should include a container of Creole seasoning, Louisiana hot sauce, filé powder (powdered sassafras leaves), molasses and brown sugar. Fitzmorris also recommends, “Boulders of (salted) butter and seas of cream.”

Below are some recipes for well-known New Orleans dishes. However, the city’s food made outside the area never quite tastes the same. Fitzmorris calls it the Gumbo Paradox. He explained, “Two hundred New Orleans cooks make gumbo with two hundred different recipes, but they will all taste like gumbo. Outside of New Orleans, it doesn’t taste like gumbo, even if you use the exact same ingredients. I don’t know why.”

Burt has several New Orleans-inspired dishes on his menu, both as specials and regular offerings. “I try to create my flavors based on what I’ve had down there,”  he said. “We aren’t in New Orleans, so I don’t even try to make them exact. People need to go there and experience it for themselves.”

Barbecue Shrimp

The name is misleading since this recipe does not use a grill, smoker or barbecue sauce. Chef Sean Burt of Tooky Mills Pub developed this recipe for his menu based on the popular dish he had many times on his trips to New Orleans.

Serves 4

1/2 cup olive oil

32 extra-large (16-20) shrimp, peeled and de-veined

1 1/3 cups chicken stock

1/2 cup fresh lemon juice

1/2 cup Chef Paul Prudhomme’s Blackened Redfish Magic Seasoning Blends, or your favorite Creole/Cajun spice mix

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, chilled

Heat a large saute pan over medium heat until hot. Add olive oil. When oil is hot, add the shrimp and cook until almost done, about 30 seconds to 1 minute per side.

Add the chicken stock and lemon juice to the pan. Turn off the heat. Add the spice mix (more or less depending on your taste.) Let pan sit while stirring for about 30 seconds.

Once pan cools slightly, add the cold butter. (If the pan is too hot, the butter will break and not make a smooth sauce.) Swirl the pan until the butter melts and combines to create a creamy Cajun lemon sauce.

Place the shrimp in individual bowls and pour the sauce on top. Serve with crusty bread sticks or French bread to sop-up any leftover sauce.

Beignets

This is a New Orleans breakfast favorite best associated with the Café Du Monde. It is traditionally made with yeast dough, but Fitzmorris’s recipe, which is similar to biscuit dough, is a bit easier for the home cook.

Makes 12 to 15 beignets

2 cups self-rising flour

1 tablespoon Crisco

1/4 cup water

1 tablespoon sugar

Vegetable oil, for frying

1 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted

Combine the flour and Crisco in a bowl with a wire whisk until the mixture resembles coarse cornmeal, with perhaps a few lumps here and there.

Warm the water in the microwave oven until barely warm to the touch. Pour the water into a large bowl, add the sugar, and stir until dissolved. Add the flour mixture and blend it with kitchen fork. Work the dough as little as possible.

Turn the dough out on a clean counter and dust with a little flour. Roll it out to a uniform thickness of about 1/4 inch. Cut into rectangles about 2 x 4 inches. Let sit for a couple of minutes while you heat the oil.

Pour oil to a depth of 1 inch in a large, deep skillet and heat to about 325 degrees. When the beignet dough squares have softened and puffed up a little, drop 4 to 6 at a time into the hot oil and fry until light brown. Turn once and fry the other side. Drain on paper towels. It’s all right to fry the misshapen dough pieces from the edge of the dough sheet.

Dust with confectioners’ sugar and serve hot.

-- From New Orleans Food by Tom Fitzmorris (Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 2006)

Pumpkin and Pecan Bread Pudding

Tom Fitzmorris said that almost every restaurant in New Orleans has bread pudding on the menu. This version utilizes New Hampshire’s new state fruit.

1/4 cup sugar

3 whole eggs

3 egg yolks

4 cups half-and-half

2 cups heavy whipping cream

2 tablespoons vanilla extract

1 can solid-pack pumpkin

2 tablespoons cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

2 tablespoons salted butter

1 loaf stale French bread, cut into 1/2-inch thick slices

1 cup pecan pieces

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees. Whisk the sugar, whole eggs and yolks, half-and-half, cream, and vanilla in a large bowl to make a smooth custard. Combine the pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg and 1/2 cup of the custard mixture in another bowl.

Generously grease the insides of two 10-inch cake pans with the butter. Line the perimeters of each pan with the smallest slices of bread, then cover the bottom of each with an overlapping bread layer. Pour one-sixth of the custard mixture over the bread to soak it. Spread one-fourth of the pumpkin over the bread in each pan, then sprinkle about one-fourth of the pecans over the pumpkin. Repeat the process in the same order, ending with a layer of bread, pecans, and a final soaking with the spiced custard.

Bake for about 1 1/2 hours. The pudding will rise a great deal, but it will fall again when you take it out of the oven. Remove and cool. Cut into pie-style slices and serve either warm or cold.

--From New Orleans Food by Tom Fitzmorris (Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 2006)

Bourbon Whiskey Sauce for Bread Pudding

Makes approximately 1 1/2 cups

1 stick unsalted butter

1 cup sugar

1 tablespoon orange juice, strained

1 egg

1/4 cup (or more to taste) bourbon, or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Melt the butter in a sauce pan over medium-low heat. Add the sugar, orange juice, and 1/4 cup of water, and cook until the sugar is completely dissolved. Remove from heat.

Beat the egg well in a bowl. Add the butter-sugar mixture, about a tablespoon at a time, whisking constantly. (You can pick up the pace after half of the butter-sugar is added.) Add the bourbon or vanilla and whisk until smooth.

--From New Orleans Food by Tom Fitzmorris (Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 2006)

Creole Gumbo

This recipe is from Antoine’s Restaurant, started in 1840 and the oldest family-run restaurant in the country.

Serves 6

6 tablespoons salted butter, divided

2 cups green onion, chopped

2 cups okra, sliced

3 crabs (top shell discarded, cut into 4 pieces)

1 cup white onion, chopped

2 cups raw shrimp, peeled

2 cups raw oysters

1 cup tomato pulp, chopped

2 cups tomato juice

1 1/2 quarts fish stock (or vegetable stock)

3 tablespoons flour

1 tablespoon filé (ground sassafras, available by mail order)

Salt, pepper and cayenne, to taste

3 cups cooked rice

Melt 3 tablespoons butter and sauté the green onion, okra, white onion and crab. In a separate pot, put the shrimp, oysters, tomatoes and tomato juice with 1/1/2 quarts of fish stock and bring to a boil. Let boil for a minute, then add to the first pot.

In a small skillet, cook the rest of the butter and flour together until brown. Blend this brown roux with the filé and some of the gumbo liquid and add to the gumbo. Add salt, pepper and cayenne to taste. Simmer for 1 1/2 hours.

To serve, pour 1 1/2 cups of gumbo into each bowl over 1/2 cup rice.

--From Recipes fro Historic Louisiana: Cooking with Louisiana’s Finest Restaurants by Linda and Steve Bauer (Bright Sky Press, 2006)

Bananas Foster

Invented at the renowned Brennan’s restaurant, this dish is often served for breakfast as well as dessert.

Serves 4

1/4 cup salted butter

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 cup banana liqueur

4 bananas, cut in half lengthwise, then halved

1/4 cup dark rum

4 scoops vanilla ice cream

Combine the butter, sugar and cinnamon in a flambé pan or skillet. Place the pan over low heat either on an alcohol burner or on top of the stove and cook, stirring, until the sugar dissolves.

Stir in the banana liqueur, then place the bananas in the pan. When the banana sections soften and begin to brown, carefully add the rum. Continue to cook the sauce until the rum is hot, then tip the pan slightly to ignite the rum.

When the flames subside, lift the bananas out of the pan and place four pieces over each portion of ice cream. Generously spoon warm sauce over the top of the ice cream and serve immediately.

--From Recipes fro Historic Louisiana: Cooking with Louisiana’s Finest Restaurants by Linda and Steve Bauer (Bright Sky Press, 2006)

What I Think I Think, So Far…

In many ways, it’s hard for me to believe I’ve lived in Kansas for two months now—and how long it has been since I posted on this blog! On the flip side, it feels like I’ve always belonged in this state. So for fun (and with a nod to Sports Illustrated columnist Peter King, who does this every week) here are my Ten Things I Think I Think about life in Kansas so far:


1. It’s the humidity, stupid: We’ve all heard the saying, “It’s not the heat. It’s the humidity.” Well, whoever first said it knew what they were talking about. The humidity is killer in the Midwest. For example, I was helping mow the lawn on a hot summer day—something I did often in New Hampshire. My clothes were soaked through, I was aggravated at everything, and I had to finish the job the next day! Things improved the next time—I guess it is possible to adapt to humidity. Still, I can’t believe how much time I spend inside in the air conditioning, including the week when it hit more than 100 degrees every day!

2. The doctor is in: I think people in the Midwest drink Dr. Pepper more than they do in New England. I grew up enjoying it in Missouri, and my high school friends and I would hang out at Darla’s house, who stocked Diet Dr. Pepper by the case! In the East, any mention of the beverage was usually greeted with a negative reaction, but I’ve noticed here both the regular and diet versions are available at most convenience stores and fast food places. I know I’m drinking it more since I got here.

3. Fiesta!: The Fiesta Mexicana in Topeka reminds me a lot of the St. Peter’s Fiesta in Gloucester, Massachusetts, though one is Mexican and the other is Italian. Houses near the festivities decorate for the occasion, music is played everywhere, and people fill the streets. One aspect I enjoyed more in Topeka was the food—traditional Mexican favorites made by volunteers from Our Lady of Guadalupe Church. The tacos, enchiladas, burritos and tostadas were terrific!

4. Just getting started: Every time I find myself in Downtown Lawrence, I discover some new place to explore, and I leave with a list of places to visit the next time. This is a downtown area that knows how to do things right by not only attracting the college students from near-by KU, but also offering shops, restaurants, and activities us somewhat more mature people will enjoy.

5. Speaking of Downtown Lawrence: I had a great meal at the Free State Brewing Company—a Brewery Burger made with locally raised beef and topped with blue cheese, washed down with a glass of their Copperhead Pale Ale. (freestatebrewing.com)

6. Lighting up KC: Drove through the updated Power and Light District of Kansas City a couple of weeks ago. Wow, what a beautiful place! Lots of restaurants, shops and clubs. I’m looking forward to exploring it more. Also, the Sprint Center looks amazing from the outside!

7. Speaking of KC: I enjoyed the Orecchiette Carbonara Gorgonzola at Osteria Il Centro on Main Street—“little ears” pasta with pancetta and a gorgonzola cream sauce. Mmmmm….(osteria-ilcentro.com)

8. Curler for Life: I’m hooked—I love the sport of curling, which is a bit surprising since I spent most of my first lesson falling on my butt! For those of you who don’t know the sport, it’s the one you see in the Winter Olympics where a large stone is slid down the ice, followed by a couple of people with “brooms” furiously sweeping along in front of it. On TV it looks simple. It’s not! But it’s getting easier every time I play, and now I’m totally hooked. The summer season is coming to a close this week, and I’m already looking forward to the next one starting up in October. (www.kccurling.com)

9. School has started—already!: School starts early in Kansas. This week, to be exact. For you New Englanders, Kansas schools do not have a winter break, spring break is in March, and we get out of school before Memorial Day.

10. Waiting on Fall: I can feel summer’s end approaching, and I’m looking forward to seeing what a Kansas autumn has to offer. I know it will be very different from New England, but I’ve learned to enjoy this state’s unique qualities instead of judging it against New Hampshire.

Topeka Food Discoveries—So Far

I can’t believe how quickly the time has passed since my arrival in Kansas. Three weeks already! And I'm rapidly falling in love with my new home state and having a lot of fun exploring all that it has to offer—and I’ve just started to scratch the surface!


This past week I set out to discover some of the food offerings around Topeka. One of the best ways to do this is to visit the weekly farmer’s market, especially if you're like me and interested in local produce and products. Of course, the peaches I bought were from Georgia since the ones here aren’t yet ready! But I also bought some wonderful herb-garlic bread from The Summer Kitchen (the ladies appeared to be Mennonite,) and a great cinnamon roll for breakfast from Granny’s Kitchen.

Along with all the produce and baked goods, there were also dairy, meat, craft, furniture, and plant offerings. (I bought cat grass for my fur-ball, CJ.) It was a sunny, bright day, so I treated myself to a fresh-made limeade. And I learned about the Topeka Blues Society, who had a band there to entertain the market-goers. (topekabluessociety.org) It was a wonderful way to spend a Saturday morning and I plan to become a regular! (topekafarmersmarket.net)

One sign that you are a serious foodie is when you spend an hour walking around a supermarket just to see what the store has to offer. I was guilty of doing just that at the Dillons in north Topeka—now my favorite supermarket. I also found a terrific gourmet food shop, Ice & Olives, that carries my favorite cheese, Port Salut from France (www.iceandolives.com), and the wine shop next door, Lakeside Wine & Spirits, with a knowledgeable manager who convinced me to try a sauvignon blanc from the Thracian Valley in Bulgaria! (Not much of a risk at $7 a bottle.) And my roommate, Derrick, was already a regular customer of the Iwig Family Dairy in Tecumseh. There is something a bit magical and satisfying about buying milk in glass bottles straight from the farm. I also picked up a yummy coconut cream pie on one of our milk runs! (www.iloveiwig.com)

I’ve even made the switch to a local coffee—the Coffeehouse Blend from PT’s Coffee Roasting Co. (www.ptscoffee.com) It’s a delicious way to get my caffeine jolt each morning as I enjoy the view from my new front porch.

To Chain or Not to Chain

My first week in Kansas has been joyfully busy. I finally got my new bedroom painted, had coffee with an editor (and meeting with three more tomorrow), and enjoyed a Saturday afternoon learning about the sport of curling, though I spent most of the lesson’s first hour falling on my butt! I also got my favorite vanilla Diet Coke at a Sonic drive-in, a chain restaurant I haven’t been to in years since there are only three in New England, none of which are in New Hampshire.

As I was making the drive west, I realized there were many restaurant chains I haven’t been to in a very long time, and some not at all. I had breakfast one morning at Denny’s and dinner another day at Cracker Barrel, both of which were not in my part of New England. And I’ve never been to a Steak n’ Shake, but there are signs for them everywhere!

How do you feel about chain restaurants? It seems that in the “foodie” world, “chain” is a bad word. When I interview restaurant owners, most always point out how their menu selections and business practices are “not like a chain restaurant,” with the implication being that chains are inferior.

Overall I prefer to eat at local places to support the people following the dream of restaurant ownership and keep my money in the community. I like that the menu was created by the chef in the kitchen, often times utilizing local ingredients, instead of at a corporate headquarters. I would rather go to a local Italian restaurant than an Olive Garden, and a local pub instead of T.G.I. Friday’s or Chili’s. However, on the flip side, I do enjoy a quarter pounder with cheese or a chipotle chicken snack wrap from McDonalds, and a salsa roja tortada from Taco Bell. And a local chain restaurant is usually a franchise owned by someone in the area.

To chain or not to chain—that is today’s question. Do you enjoy chain restaurants or avoid them? What are your favorite restaurant chains and what do you order?

Finally Home in the Midwest

I finally made it to my new home yesterday in Meriden, Kansas. Nine states in three days--whew, I'm glad that's over! My housemate, Derrick, and his daughter, made me feel very welcome, and since then have been helping me learn to navigate my new home and surroundings, including the huge, beautiful kitchen. It’s always an interesting experience trying to learn your way around someone else’s kitchen—where to find things like spoons, sugar, and bread (the box on the counter marked "bread" should have been my clue.) My first challenge this morning was finding the “on” switch to the Keurig single-cup coffee maker—hard to do before that first cup of coffee! I used the special basket to fill with my favorite brand—Newman’s Own Organic Special Blend—and the machine makes a great tasting cup of coffee, similar in flavor to ones made in a French press. The kitchen has just about everything I need, but I am looking forward to my stuff arriving so I can use my own knives, pots and pans, and Kitchen Aid mixer.


I’m also looking forward to cooking for more people than just myself. Today I enjoyed going through my recipe binder for ideas while making out a grocery list. On tomorrow’s menu—Snickerdoodle cookies, and cheese tortellini with ham and broccoli in a Parmesan cheese sauce (easer to make than it might sound.) I’m changing the tortellini recipe around a bit from the one I have—I’ll share the results.

An Extra Note: Here is a shout-out and big thank you to a Good Samaritan who helped in my travels. While stopping for gas on Sunday in London, Ohio, I noticed one of my tires was almost flat. Being a Sunday, I was worried no tire shops would be open to help fix the problem. I went into a TA truck stop and my Mom/traveling companion noticed a tire shop in the back. I went into the convenience store area and asked if someone could help. They said the guys only work on the big rigs, but sometimes will fix a car tire if they’re not busy. One of the tire guys, Dan, was in the shop on his break and offered to look at my tire. He found the screw that was causing the problem and plugged the leak, and then checked the air in all my tires. And he didn’t want to take any money for his work! If you ever wonder if there are still good, kind, thoughtful people out there who will help a stranger, I can tell you there are—and one’s named Dan at the TA truck stop in London, Ohio.

Westward Ho!

My journey west has begun. I had my last dinner in New Hampshire at the Barley House with Mom and my friend, Shannon. It was Burger Fest, with a menu full of unique selections. Mom (who flew out from Missouri to make the drive west with me) chose the black bean burger, but Shannon and I stated with the favored Dublin burger. Proceeds from Burger Fest go to help the Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth, so it was a good meal for a good cause.

After a late start today,  we made it to Rochester, NY for the first night. On our way, we stopped at Tammy’s Candy Kettle in Hoosick Falls, NY. The walls are covered with all types of bagged candy, and house-made chocolates fill the glass cases of this country-styled shop/restaurant. The place also serves lunch and dinner items: Huge burgers of all sizes, sandwiches, subs, and hand-cut fries. I had an Italian sub with the fries—a great meal. Absolutely worth the stop if you are on NY Rt. 7 not far from the Vermont border.

The Ol' Neighborhood

My first nine and a half years in New Hampshire were spent on Wyman Street in Hillsborough. We were a close neighborhood—actually, that’s an understatement! Each Thanksgiving we celebrated as a neighborhood since most of our families lived far away, rotating to a different home each year. And if out-of-town family showed up, they were included in the fun. There was the one Christmas night when two feet of snow fell from the sky and we were all outside drinking Steve’s kick-ass homemade eggnog, singing carols, and riding 4-wheelers through the drifts. And every summer my ex and I held a huge barbecue to celebrate the Hillsborough hot air balloon festival.

Summertime was the best in the neighborhood. An ordinary workday evening would find everyone sitting on my front lawn until the mosquitoes ran us inside. We would chat while the kids played on the grass or zoomed their bikes down the road. One night we even took sidewalk chalk to the newly-paved street to leave our marks until the rain washed them away.

Sometimes, especially on the weekends, a spontaneous cookout would take place. Often it stared when we were hanging out on my deck when dinnertime approached and one of us would ask, “Want to cook something on the grill?” Then we would all take inventory of our respective refrigerators and freezers, making a quick run to the grocery store when necessary. Most of the time the menu consisted of hot dogs, hamburgers, and linguica (a Portuguese sausage.)

I went back to the ol’ neighborhood one more time this past week to visit my friends before I head west. As we sat in my friend Kathy’s front yard, all the memories came back. I will miss those times and these friends very much.

My neighbors were also my best taste-testers when I developed recipes. In their honor, here are three from an article on Kansas City-style barbecue that I wrote for the Concord Monitor in 2004. The barbecue rub and sauce were developed with the neighbors as taste-testers. And Kathy’s potato salad is requested for every cookout. (So are her deviled eggs, but I haven’t gotten that recipe…yet!)

Linda’s KC Rub
5 tablespoons brown sugar
1/4 cup paprika
2 teaspoons chili powder
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons kosher salt
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon dried thyme

Mix all of the ingredients together and store in an air-tight container until ready to use.

Linda’s KC Barbecue Sauce
(I like a lot of celery seed in my sauce, but if it’s not one of your favorite flavors, just cut the amount in half.)
1 24-ounce bottle of Muri Glen organic ketchup
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup molasses
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon black pepper
2 tablespoons onion powder
2 tablespoons paprika
2 tablespoons celery seed
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon Tabasco sauce or favorite hot sauce
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon liquid smoke (optional)

Combine all ingredients in a 2-quart sauce pan. Bring to a boil, then lower temperature and simmer for 30 minutes. Use right away, or refrigerate in a covered container until ready to use.

Kathy’s Potato Salad
3 pounds red potatoes, cut into cubes with skin on
2/3 cup mayonnaise
1 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon fresh or 1 teaspoon dried dill
1 tablespoon fresh or 1 teaspoon dried parsley
1/2 medium red onion, diced
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Boil potatoes in salted water until just done. Drain. In a large bowl mix the remaining ingredients and then toss in the potatoes. Cover and refrigerate for 4 hours before serving.

My NH Favorites

As a food writer, the most common questions people ask me are “What’s your favorite restaurant?” or “Where’s a good place to eat in (insert town name here)?”
I have written about hundreds of restaurants, food shops, bakeries, and food events. For the Hippo alone I’ve written more than 500 articles in the past 2 1/2 years. Add to that the pieces I’ve written for the Concord Monitor, Around Concord magazine, New Hampshire Home, etc…well, you get the idea.

Here is a list of my top 20 food places in New Hampshire. These are the ones I keep going back to time and again. They are not in any particular order since what I choose varies depending on what I’m craving. The exception is number 1, which is my all-time favorite restaurant in the state.

My Top 20 New Hampshire Food Spots

1. Tooky Mills Restaurant and Pub, Hillsboro: This is my favorite restaurant. I’ve never had a bad meal here, and the atmosphere is relaxed and fun. The menu has something for everyone, with entrees such as the Garlic Balsamic Steak Tips, Three Bean and Vegetable Burrito, and Fish and Chips, with the fish dipped in a Guinness beer batter. But my favorite meal starts with a bowl of the clam chowder and/or a house salad, and then a selection of appetizers. My top choices: Bourbon Street Barbeque Shrimp—a true New Orleans style dish, which is not actually barbecued! (I don’t know where it got the name.) Large shrimp are sauteed in a buttery Cajun sauce that is so delicious you will use the soft bread sticks to soak up every drop. Or pick the Buffalo Tenders, made with chicken tenderloins dipped in beer batter, fried, and served with a wonderful buffalo sauce. www.tookymillspub.com

2. Beefside, Concord: The best roast beef sandwich around, and great barbecued pulled pork and seafood. www.beefsiderestaurant.com.

3. Madeleines, Concord: A French-style bakery with the absolute best croissants outside of France. www.madeleinesed.com

4. Apple Hill Farm, Concord: Owner Diane Souther makes the best pies in the area. I dream of those pies! www.applehillfarmnh.com

5. The Red Blazer, Concord: I get the same thing every time I go—roasted vegetable quesadilla, made with red peppers, corn, onions and cheese. Yummm. Plus the restaurant has an amazing selection of more than 30 beers on tap, with many regional microbrews. www.theredblazer.com

6. The Barley House, Concord: I crave the Dublin Burger, a peppercorn charred hamburger topped with whiskey gravy, blue cheese, and crispy onions. I also enjoy the Irish-pub atmosphere that is conducive to a conversation with friends or just sitting quietly with a good book while you enjoy your meal. www.thebarleyhouse.com

7. The Red Arrow, Manchester or Milford: Look up the word “diner” in the dictionary and it will describe the Red Arrow. The menu is full of traditional diner fare, plus there are fun specials each day (I loved the eggnog French toast on Christmas morning.) Also, it is impossible to feel lonely in this place with the friendly staff and patrons at the counter. And I can’t leave without a Dinah finger, the diner’s take on the Twinkie. www.redarrowdiner.com

8. Ichiban Japanese Steakhouse and Sushi Bar, Concord: I enjoy dinner at the hibachi table—a fun show and delicious food! www.ichibanconcord.com

9. Granite Restaurant and Bar, Concord: This restaurant in the Centennial hotel has an elegant atmosphere, but the prices aren’t too outrageous thanks to the half order option. www.graniterestaurant.com

10. Butter Fine Food and Wine, Concord: I can spend an hour checking out all of the imported food options. And the cheese case is top of the line. www.buttersfinefood.com

11. Cotton, Manchester: Great art deco atmosphere. I like to check out what’s on the special’s menu. www.cottonfood.com

12. Z Food and Drink, Manchester: Gotta have the Asian nachos! www.zfoodanddrink.com

13. Shabby Chic, Windham: Gourmet cupcakes—enough said! www.shabbychicwindham.com

14. Greenwood’s at Canterbury Shaker Village, Canterbury: Kicked-up Shaker fare. www.greenwoodsatcsv.com

15. Ignite, Manchester: Great atmosphere, and I crave the hot dog Ruben sandwich. www.ignitebng.com

16. Johnny Troy’s, Manchester: Terrific thin-crust pizza and shrimp Siciliano. www.jtitalian.com

17. 900 Degrees, Manchester: Love the Margherita and Bella Cosa pizzas. www.900degrees.com

18. The Sausage Source, Hillsboro: When the outdoor cart is open in the summer, I always have the chuck n’ cluck sandwich. www.sausagesource.com

19. The Sausage King, Nashua: Great sausages (of course), buffalo chicken salad, and deep-fried Oreos! www.thesausagekingofnashua.com

20. Nonni’s Italian Eatery, Concord and Hillsboro: I always have the garlic knots, stromboli, and Penne Vodka ala Rosa. (The spaghetti Bolognese is terrific, too.) www.nonnisitalianeatery.com

So, what do you think? Do you agree? Disagree? Did I leave someone out?

Starting Again: Can my writing be translated into Kansan?

Tonight I taught my last writing class for Concord Community Education. I have had some amazing students pass through my classes since I began in the Spring, 2007. They have ranged from high school students to retirees. I’ve had ones with intellectual disabilities who wrote the most poignant and heart-felt pieces, and an amazing 13 year-old who will one day win the Pulitzer Prize. Many of my students have gone on to have their first pieces published, and some have completed their first books and are in the long process of finding a publisher. Many will go on to successful writing careers should they choose to continue writing. I’m going to miss teaching—so much so that I plan to turn the two classes into a 10 or 12 week writer’s workshop once I get settled into my new home.


A few weeks ago, one of my students gave me a card. In it she called me her first writing mentor. I was shocked, amazed and pleased to know I had officially graduated to mentor status! It took me right back to those beginning more than a decade ago when I knew I wanted to write but was uncertain I ever would.

Now, in so many ways, I’m back to that uncertain beginning again. When I first thought of moving back to the Midwest, I played a major game of tug o’ war with fear about my writing career. The majority of my writing is based in New Hampshire and this region. If I moved west, would I be starting all over again? I feared it would feel as if my life as a writer had never actually happened.

I know, it’s silly, but most fears are just that—irrational thoughts that keep us awake at night. I’ve published more 1,000 articles for crying out loud! And, best of all, three Kansas magazines and one newspaper want to talk to me about writing for them once I get there. Still, a little seed of fear nudges the back of my brain: “What if they change their minds?” What if they don’t think I’m good enough?” “What if I really do have to start again?”

I love writing. Food and travel are my two favorite topics. Here in New Hampshire I know where to find the good restaurants, food shops, farm stands, etc. In New England, I know the tourist sites, fun places to spend a sunny afternoon, and the great shops for souvenirs.

I know nothing about Kansas. In some ways, that’s part of the fun! I can’t wait to explore and discover what the state has to offer. (And I’d love suggestions, hint, hint!) On the flip side, what will I write about? Where do I go to fine a wine expert, someone who knows how to bake the perfect croissant, and who has the best take-out Chinese food?

Starting again—it’s scary in many ways, but also full of excitement and possibilities. And as far as my writing goes, I’ll just have to hope the talent I nurtured here in New Hampshire can be translated for my new home state.