A Plea For The New Year

 

If only life were like living in a fairy tale with gingerbread houses and spun sugar gifts. The year past has been just awful to restaurants, diners, bistros and cafes worldwide. We need to order more from our local mom and pop eateries as much as we can. If they're offering outdoor dining , then have a meal in the fresh air if the weather is good  - or just bundle up. Try to eat out even twice a month. If you feel this is too much, then order from them at least every week. Make it a fun weekend treat.

 2020 taught us to not only protect ourselves but protect each other. This year, in 2021, we need to protect the worldwide restaurant industry. They need us as much as we need them.

A Happier New Year

 From my half done gingerbread spice cookie house to yours 

Happy New Year!!! 

Let's hope and pray 2021 is the year we go back to our favorite restaurants!!!!!🎩🎉🎉🎉🎉🎆🎆🎆🎆🎆

Restaurants Lost

 This year has been a truly devastating one. Besides the genocidal loss of life, businesses have also been badly impacted. None worse is the restaurant industry. It's not just the big cities like New York or Los Angeles were hit. Smaller towns' culinary gems were also destroyed thanks to quarantine and the loss of business. It is catastrophic to say the least.

The New York Times Food section devoted most of today's section to this heart wrenching loss. One of the most saddest is Philadelphia's City Tavern which opened in 1773. This was Ben Franklin's hangout where the menu really hand't changed since then. There was  even a tofu recipe inspired by Franklin's 1770 letter to John Battram. Diners raved about  celebrity chef Walter Staib's  roast duck and Colonial turkey pot pie. Chef Staib is also the host of the PBS show A Taste of History  which now will be his salvation . Other famed eateries that everyone thought would go on forever folded. The famed K-Paul's Louisiana Kitchen closed its' doors forever snuffing out the memory of the late chef Paul Prudhomme. Both chef and restaurant opened the world's eyes to such truly Cajun dishes as blackened redfish and chicken-Andouille sausage gumbo. Manhattan's Lucky Strike was also one of this year's victims.It was known for its' lychee martinis and tuna tartare.It was one of regular contributor Julia Moskin's favorites. Chicago 's Blackbird is also no more.Like Lucky strike it came into being in the prosperous 1980's with its' sophisticated menu.

Smaller family owned restaurants have also affected.  Honolulu's Like-Like Drive In which opened even before Hawaii became a state closed after sixty-seven years of feeding the city. For three generations the Nako family served teriyaki burgers, Vienna sausages and lemon chiffon pie to locals and tourists alike. Chef Mark Noguchi  remembered his childhood visits there where he had Green River lime soda and the Hawaiian noodle soup saimin.Dallas' Taco Shop may have opened in only 2012 yet this taqueria  in a former gas station was an instant hit with construction workers and suits alike. People went  for their carnitas, barbacoa and picadilo as owner , former psychologist Emilia Flores made everyone feel welcome . Even bakeries felt the virus's bite. Sunny Donuts in San Jose, California created mouth watering buttermilk, blueberry and chocolate glazed ones as well as one with homemade raspberry jam inside. Sales dropped during the pandemic and the owners Chip and Sara Lim decided to retire. They already had gone through a McDonald's and Dunkin Donuts franchises.

We need to be a restaurant culture again when this pandemic ends - and it will. Support your local  family owned eateries , coffee shops and bakeries. We need them as much as they need us.

A Summer Classic Winterized

 Spinach salad is always a welcome lunch or dinner come summer.Yet it's winter and what do you do? Winterize it. I also gave this an Italian twist with garlic, serving it on polenta rounds.

It's sauteing about sixteen ounces of already chopped baby bellas and sixteen ounces of spinach   along with two cloves of chopped  garlic and olive oil.

I also added one large chopped beefsteak tomato. 

I felt I needed more flavor so I added some I Can't Believe It's Not Butter and a cube of Not Chick'n bouillon.

It cooked  up nicely.

As this was cooking, I sliced the polenta into rounds and fried them on the grill.

I used I Can't Believe It's Not Butter for a more buttery flavor which I feel goes with polenta.

The taste was more intense than a simple salad. It was a delicious blend of veggies that worked well with the polenta. You could add pancetta to copy the bacon in the original salad if you want or chicken strips, soy or the real thing.

Nothing beats a spinach salad . Yet it's winter. Time to winterize it with  heating up the ingredients and creating a hot tasty saute to warm you up.

Holistic Eating In The New Year

 Now that Christmas is over and a better year (hopefully awaits) it's time to start thinking about eating better. Holistic eating is a start in the right direction. You can lose weight  but without the strident rules of other diets.

Some may dismiss holistic eating as being too New Age. However it's the best thing that can happen to you and your body. You can finally break up with the diet culture and trust your own instincts about what's good for you. Another important aspect is seeing it as fuel, something to drive you. It's not filler. It's also honoring your body and the signals its' giving you. Doing such will give you satisfaction and a new self respect. Start off with a temporary food journal - nothing long term or you'll make yourself crazy. Do it for the first couple of months. Record how hungry you were when you sat down as well as the mood you were in. Did you eat everything or left some on the plate? How satisfied were you with the food and what did you eat. Other questions deal with experiencing emotions and did you feel any gastrointestinal problems? Note flavors. You may notice patterns arising during your meal times. You may feel hangry or a mix of hungry and angry when you eat lunch. There may be stress at breakfast or tiredness at dinner. are you gravitating towards more processed than fresh foods? Do you drink soda and tea with your meals or just water? Look at all the bad habits you have and try to amend them.

What should you eat on a holistic diet? Load up on fruits and veggies. Try to get as much organic as possible. Hit the farmer;s market when they eventually come back (this may take a while thanks to Covid and the communities welcome back to open air markets). Try to eat as much raw as possible however don't feel guilty if you have steamed broccoli or pan roasted carrots. One of the most important steps in  creating a holistic diet is ditching all those white flour and processed products. Go for whole grain and gluten free. If you're into baking then go for King Arthur and  Bob's Red Mill gluten free barley, oat and buckwheat flours. There is even a  holistic cookie recipe that calls for white beans. Beans and legumes are a must. Think chickpeas, black beans , lentils and peas. They are full of protein, Vitamin B and dietary fiber. They  also help build the much needed healthy gut bacteria.Just don;t eat them raw. Cook them if they're not already cooked before canning. You will need healthy fats. Eat more avocados, nuts and olive oil. All three are very versatile and can be used in a number of dishes. What do you get rid of? Sugar!!!!!! Ditch the white stuff and switch to honey and/or maple sugar. That means nixing all those sodas and drinking water or flavored seltzer.

The New Year is fast approaching. Treat yourself and your body with a holistic eating. It's a way of getting in shape not just with your body but also your mind and life.

All That New Stuff

 Many home chefs around the globe probably received a lot of fun kitchen stuff yesterday. Yes, you're excited but take it slow. There's a lot to take in and and much as you want to make everything in that accompanying recipe book, don't . Take it easy. Start small.

One of the most popular kitchen items gives is the air fryer. It is a must have in any home, alleviating all the trouble of using your conventional oven. As much as you want try to cook everything in it , go easy these first couple of uses. Some home chefs may become frustrated trying to adjust a food's cooking time and temperature. The best bet is if the instructions say "Cook at 450 degrees" set the air fryer at 400 degrees F. It's basically  a convection oven so the food will be crisp and well cooked  thanks to the hot air circulating around it. Another trick is taking the cooking time and halving it. If the package says cook for fifteen minutes ,halve that to seven or eight minutes. Check the food, turning it over so its' completely browned and then cook for  a lesser time, like three or four minutes at a lesser temperature. Think 350 to 370 degrees F. Another Christmas gift is the Instapot. Many home chefs are probably beyond thrilled at this new "toy". Keep in mind that your dishes will not be instant. (that's what microwaves are for). They will take some time to cook. An important must not is don't place it on your stove top. It's for counter use only!! Please keep it away from external heat sources. Remember to also include the sealing ring otherwise you will have a ruined meal. It is key in pressure cooking.

Many bakers love what they've received for Christmas. I'm sure many have unwrapped cookie presses. These produce beautiful professional looking cookies, worthy of any bakery. However it takes a lot of practice and the right dough. You have to use the spritz dough, a mix of sugar, egg  butter and flour and then roll it into logs. The logs are then chilled in the fridge and inserted into the gun or tube of the press. That's the easy part. it takes practice and patience, trite as that sounds.If the dough is too warm, it sticks to the tube and also produces blobs  - not defined shapes as its' extruded through the tube. Try it out with one or two shapes is another good idea. The dough wields two or three big batches which can also be tiring to make. Another gift that many bakers probably have received is a cake decorating kit. There are probably visions of creating fancily frosted cakes and cupcakes. Again, go easy with this. Those rosettes aren't always simple to make. Even something as basic as leaves can be exasperating especially on the first few tries. Start with small fleurettes that can be piped on the edge of the cake. As for cupcakes, don't go fancy. Just do  squiggle and then work your way up to more elaborate flowers and shapes.

Those kitchen Christmas gifts are beckoning their new owners. Go easy. Yes, be enthusiastic, but proceed with care. Learn first and get used to this fun new present.

A Very Tiring Christmas

 This was the year home chefs cooked and baked their hearts out. It has been a little tough out there yet we persisted.

This is what's left of my Christmas dinner - gravy and Brussels sprouts along with stuffing.

Hopefully everyone  had a very good holiday , full of good food and good presents.

My heart and thoughts go out to the emergency and  first responders out there too, who couldn't be with their families this  year.

Happy Christmas - where ever you are.