HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

Tennis season has arrived along with spring rain. My little creek rose and fell. There are snow covered peaks in the distance and flowers in the foothills. I am celebrating the good things that spring will bring: farmers' markets, my garden, biking, and an improved real estate market. I have a new listing in Lyons, a charming town that is the site of the annual Rocky Mountain Blue Grass Festival. I decided not to take a writing class at the University of Colorado, but I will join a writer's group. My new tennis partner (hi Donna) is great & we are on 2 teams together. Go pink, go green !! I haven't written lately so will post an old poem I wrote for my mother.

My Mother sits at my breakfast bar
I see her reflection in the shiny black granite
That covers my new kitchen cabinets
She is small but her back is straight
She eats her food one bite at a time
The granite mommy does the same

I watch her as she gracefully eats
The good food we have prepared
There are fresh vegetables and
Little bowties like my father once wore
My heart is full of love and yearning
I want to take care of her forever

Stay here, I plead to the mommies
Who shake their heads in unison
Affirming their independence
Much the same as I once did

PEEPS LIKE BOATS

Peeps, like Santa's elves, sometimes need a break. I took my Peeps on a trip to the Antique Boat Show in Tavares, Florida. The Peeps were drawn to anything yellow, including beer and yellow men. Shiny stuff caught their attention, as did a puppy. I prefer a red zinfandel like 7 Deadly Zins.











THE PEEPS NAME THEIR PUPPY "BO"

PASSOVER FOR DOGS

How do dogs celebrate Passover? Do they switch to Kosher-for-Passover dog food and is there such a thing? Are dogs even Jewish? My research into these important questions has taken me to Miss Cleo's site (not THAT Miss Cleo,the one on TV who was arrested for not actually reading your fortune.) This Ms. Cleo has a site for pet supplies including a $95 package for a BARK MITZVAH. It includes: all meat canine Bark Mitzvah cake, happy Bark Mitzvah Hat, Doggie Treat Bag filled with draydel and menorah biscuits, Star Bark Mitzvah collar, and a ribbon balloon cake topper. I believe most of her customers are residents of Boca Raton, Florida.

Reading the ingredients on the bag of dog food in my pantry, I see that my dog is eating pretty well for a non-Jew. However, most of the ingredients will need substitutions. The chicken and egg products must come from kosher chickens that have been humanely killed by rabbis with long black coats and equally long beards. Oatmeal is out and matzoh is in. The whole grain brown rice and millet sound healthy so I'd like to keep them in. But can I?

According to Nachum Mohl, writing for Jewish Magazine:

One of the more noticeable differences between the Ashkenazi (European Jew) and his S'fardi (Arab Country origin Jew) brother is brought to light during the Passover festival. The Ashkenazi Jew does not eat rice or legumes, where as the S'fardi Jew does.

There are five different types of grain from which we must make matzo for the first night of Passover: wheat, oats, barley, rye and spelt. These five types of grains are the types that become chametz if left in contact with water. Eating chametz on Passover is a very serious sin.

Rice and other legumes do not become chametz even though flour made from them may rise; it is not considered chametz. Therefore, according to the Torah, it may be eaten on Passover.

Understanding a wee bit of history may help us out a bit. Somewhere during our long exile the Jews seemed to move in two directions, one was into the Arab lands and the other direction was into the European lands. Approximately one thousand years ago, the Arabs were at their zenith, but the Europeans had not begun their ascent to cultural and financial superiority. The Jews moving from country to country divided into these two groups. This was also during the time of the crusades. The physical boundaries and distances between the two cultures, together with the cultural differences cause the split between the Ashkenazi and S'fardic Jews.

Each group had its group of wise Rabbis that made the decisions and rulings for its local Jewish population. The S'fardic Rabbis did not see rice and legumes as a problem in their milling processes. It was the Ashkenazic Rabbis that saw that in their communities that rice and legumes were becoming a major stumbling block.

The problem is that rice (and legumes) is a grain-type food. It has long been sold and packaged and handled by those factories and middlemen that handle also the wheat and the other grains. It is not uncommon when purchasing a package of rice to find another grain of something else in the package. It is very difficult to mill the rice with out the inclusion of any of the five grains mentioned above since rice is generally milled in mill that are used also for flour. Because of these two reasons, the Ashkenazi Rabbis have forbidden the eating of rice and legumes on Passover. This ban has been accepted by all Ashkenazi Jews.

I think that I've got some options here. Dugus can eat matzoh brie which is basically an omlet made of beaten eggs and matzoh (soak crackers in water until soft and drain) that is fried in butter and topped with a sprinkle of sugar. He can dine at the home of a Sephardic Jew. He can eat Evanger’s Dog and Cat Food Company kosher varieties, which have been endorsed by the Chicago Rabbinical Council. Or I can whip up some chicken and vegetables (no peas) and he can share his dinner with my grandson, Gavin, who has just started to eat meats and vegetables. I think they will both like my cooking better than anything that comes in a jar or can.

STEVE'S CHAIR

I recently spent some time at my friend Steve's studio. He is a terrific photographer & kindly took pictures of some of my paintings. Despite all his talent and creativity, not to mention all the how-to books and equipment he has, he admits there is so much to still learn. Is this the 10 year learning curve that I have read about? It is so much simpler in law. Do something 17 times and it is considered a habit, admissible in court as evidence of a propensity to do something. So while my painting and writing qualifies me as having a propensity to paint and write, it still doesn't mean I know what the heck I am doing.

But if Steve can admit there's much to learn and still snap away, so can I continue my creative process. I came away from his studio & our conversation with a great visual image and more than a few words to go along with the picture in my head. So here you go, Steve. This one's for you.


Steve’s Chair

Steve’s chair doesn’t recline
And there is no pillow
To give you comfort
Still, it is a safe place
To reveal small secrets

Within the artist’s studio
There is a solace to be found
In a blue boat with billowy sails
That holds fast to the wind
To escape the rocky shore

In a room filled with books
Liberated nudes have no shame
They do not blush in black and white
Clear-eyed portraits reveal themselves
Smiling people have secrets too

Written March 5, 2009 by Susan Soklin for Steve Z

A NEW COMPUTER

Our laptops and my camera were stolen just before Christmas. Oh the horror of buying a new computer, recovering lost data (some of which is gone forever) and getting a new laptop up and running. We have spent untold hours on the process and our computer geek, Brian, has spent hours on the phone with the foreigners at Dell tech support. Those guys read from their scripts looking for key words that Brian feeds them, hoping for an "aha" moment. At least two routers and two wireless cards later, I am up and running more or less. Windows Vista does strange stuff and I am having trouble with emails, but I am once again on line. Perhaps there is a message in this....it's more fun to paint and bake and whatever happened to my Rolodex?

Speaking of Christmas, Jesse and Dana and baby Gavin visited us in Florida. Gavin is so squishy cute and he celebrated the New Year by drinking milk and spitting up.

SO WHAT DOES THE PHOTO ABOVE HAVE TO DO WITH COMPUTERS AND BABIES YOU ARE ASKING? Not a thing. But this week, I had a wonderful opportunity to join a small group of very talented photographers and painters as they worked with a live model. I have much to learn but hope to join them again and develop my creative side. I did pen and ink sketches and took some photos for my collages.

DAS BOOT OR SUSAN BAKES A BOOT

This Tuesday, the bakers at Tuesdays with Dorie baked some sort of caramel pecan bars & shared their photos and comments with happy TWD bloggers across the universe. I, on the other hand, got the boot.

Having failed to timely post per the rules, I am flying solo now. The good news is that I can post on Wednesdays and paint on Tuesdays if I choose. And that is exactly what I did. Rick is happy that he got sugar cookies this week (his favorite) rather than the TWD treat of the week. So all is well that ends well.



Except the dog ate my cheese: my favorite little round of goat cheese, Cana de Cabra, from Cheese Importers in Longmont. I hid the bag under the car seat when I stopped to buy fresh bread at the Harvest Bakery. The little squirt managed to pull it out and ate it wrapper and all, leaving nary a clue except his cheese breath. He did not share his find with Dugus, who remained in the back of the car and sulked about having a doggie guest for the day. Bad dog Luca, but you sure are cute. Bad dog Dugus for nipping Luca earlier in the day - you guys need to quit those food fights. Here's Luca below.

WORLD PEACE COOKIES & CREME BRULEE

It's fun to play with fire

Daughter-in-law Michelle takes on the cookie challenge
Michelle cuts the chocolate logs into disks.

Is this on my diet?


Valentine's Day presents an opportunity to catch up on my baking. I decide to use this occasion to bake some recipes that were selected by the bakers at Tuesdays with Dorie. World Peace Cookies are a January 2009 selection, but Creme Brulee was a recipe chosen back in 2008. Rick returns from the garage with a blow torch and a fire extinguisher and I proceed to make creme brulee without fear of burning down the house. Rick is on a blueberry kick (muffins, pancakes) so he votes for blueberries in the custard rather than rasberry sauce. The recipe is simple and the gang enjoys the pyrotechnics. I only used a light dusting of sugar on top of the cooked custard which resulted in a carmelized topping that was rather minimal. Next time, I will put a very thick layer of sugar on top and call in the fire department for back up.


Check out the recipe for World Peace Cookies
The guys are fascinated by fire

INAUGURATION DAY

TODAY IS TUESDAY, JANUARY 20, 2009. A SIGNIFICANT DAY FOR MANY REASONS, NOT THE LEAST OF WHICH IS THAT ON TUESDAYS, THE BLOGGING BAKERS AT TWD POST THE HIGHLIGHTS OF THEIR EFFORTS TO BAKE THE WEEKLY RECIPE. BUT WHY BAKE WHEN DUNKIN DONUTS IS OFFERING A FREE DONUT TO ANYONE WHO BUYS A BEVERAGE? So at the moment that our nation welcomed the 44th President, Nancy Antos and I ate our free donuts (toasted coconut) and downed a cup of Joe. How American is that?



When President Kennedy was shot, I was in class. I remember the announcement on the P.A. system. Our principal interrupted us with the news of his death. I don't remember anything else about that day except that I did not cry. Leslie Schatzer did. (Where is she now?) I want to remember what I did today so I will use this blog to list the things I did today: I cleaned the floors, I went grocery shopping, took a Pilates class, rode my bike, started 3 new minature mixed media paintings, got a free donut and watched Barack Obama take the oath of office. A perfect day.

Nancy Antos is a world traveler and the most energetic person I know. She's been visiting a mutual friend from Boulder and stopped by on her way to the airport with donuts on her mind. Amazingly, the Delray Beach Dunkin Donuts had no line and donuts galore (no free apple fritters). So at the very moment when millions stood in the cold waiting for Obama to take the stage, Nancy and I had donuts and coffee in Delray Beach, Florida.

FLORIDA SNOWMAN

Question: What would Xmas be without a pine tree and snow?

Answer: Just another day in Florida


In Florida, where every day is pretty much like the day before, I lose my bearings. I become ungrounded when Sunday and Wednesday are interchangeable. Tennis and relaxation only go so far. I miss Colorado where it is 32 degrees and snowy today. So I make the best of it. I make sugar cookie snowmen because today is Tuesday and Grandma's sugar cookies is this week's Tuesdays With Dorie recipe. The dough spends a lot of time in the frig because the outside temperature is about 82 degrees. Only crazy people bake after 10 am. My cookies are patiently waiting to be decorated & hope that they don't end up looking like a chicken with buttons, like their buddy in the photo above. Not to worry fellas !

Notes: Some of the cookies are sugar cookies & some are linzer cookies - last week's recipe. They are more or less anatomically correct for tonight's ladies' only party. Did I mention that I used gel colors straight from the tube for the trim? See how our hostess has green teeth to match her outfit? Very chic.

AND HERE WE ARE READY TO PARTY...

A MORAL VICTORY AND CHEESE

I LOVE CHEESE....

Having a full cheese drawer comforts me. Parmesan of course, but versatile goat cheese (omelets, salads, appetizers) plus some stilton with apricots (great contrast against the bite of arugula), maybe a little queso (quesadillas & dip) and let's not forget figs and prosciutto on the side. My favorite goat cheese: Haystack Mtn. Peak, from a Boulder County (Colorado) dairy.

Having a Costco or Whole Foods nearby helps feed my habit. I just stocked up on a bid wedge of gorgonzola, some Rosy Goat cheese from Spain with a rosemary rind plus fresh mozzarella. I'm spending less on wine given the economy but I haven't given up my cheese habit. What about you? Show me your frig !

AND NOW THE MORAL PART: We spent over 4 hours today at a hearing protesting a tax bill. Incredibly, we reached a compromise that will save us $. Was it worth our time today plus all the prep time, the $15 protest fee, the parking tab, the 2 Starbucks we had while waiting and the sweater I bought while we had coffee? No. But it was a moral victory.

LINZER SABLES & SPAGETTI SQUASH

What do Linzer Sables and squash have in common you might ask. Squash makes a perfectly good substitute for a rolling pin. I am all about making substitutions while I am in Florida. Substitutions may not be allowed when ordering the early bird special, but they are allowed by the Tuesdays with Dorie bakers. One of the fun things about this group is sharing ideas and comments about the weekly recipe without straying too far. I have strayed across the country from Colorado to Florida and cooking down here is very different, nothwithstanding my lack of cooking equipment.

This week's recipe is Linzer Sables and I have baked my cookies on time. I've substituted pecans for almonds (having failed at last week's pie, I've got lots of pecans to use)and my food processor does not know the meaning of the word "fine." The cookies are not quite Linzers and not quite pecan sandies. But they are good.

My dough needs to be kept really cold in order to roll it successfully. Even so it is kind of sticky. A glass makes a fine cookie cutter and that squash comes in handy. My finger makes a hole in the middle of every other cookie so my rasberry jam can poke through. I only bake my cookies for 8 minutes. Maybe my new stove is off - things seem to cook faster than I expect. My turkey was done in a record 3 hours.

Next week's recipe is sugar cookies and Rick will finally be happy that I joined this group. Besides ice cream, sugar cookies are his favorite dessert. I guess I will need a rolling pin since the squash is on tonight's menu.

List of things to buy: rolling pin, oven thermometer, shaker for powdered sugar, almonds. Plus wine. In Florida, they whine alot.

THANKSGIVING

Thanksgiving is the only day of the year when I eat 4,000 calories at one meal. I don't eat anywhere near that number of calories even when I bake the recipe of the week for Tuesdays with Dorie. Not even if the recipe is Thanksgiving TwoFer Pie, a layered pie that is creamy pumpkin pie on the bottom and sweet/crunchy pecan pie on the top. Not even if I lick the bowl.

I prepared to tackle the TwoFer Pie with my new stove and an apron that belonged to my grandmother. I started by emptying my mom's cabinets of baking supplies since she has given up baking. Her record was about 10 banana breads in one week and her fame was such that neighbors left their old bananas on her door step. I fill bags with pans, cookie sheets, flour, sugar, vanilla, nuts, Pam and oil. In exchange, I organize her cabinets. I also scrub the pantry after a container of Hershey's powdered chocolate spills downward through her wire shelves. But what I don't have is shortening, which is not a real food anyway. Shortening helps make a crust flaky & tender when combined with butter. I decide to substitute oil and hope for the best. But what is that yucky taste? The raw dough tastes awful & reminds me that, as a kid, I drank some cooking oil in a brown bottle assuming it was apple juice. (To this day I hate apple juice.)

Maybe Mom has done it to me again. The crust may bake up fine but the oil could be past its prime, like me. How long do food products last in the Florida heat? My logic tells me that expiration dates in hot Florida and cold Colorado should not be the same, but I will write to "Ask Marilyn," for confirmation because she is an actual mensa member who answers readers' questions in her syndicated column. I'll also ask my sister because she graduated Phi Beta Kappa in math from Cornell and our mom once told me that her I.Q. is higher than mine. I am not sure I would have let my sister borrow my clothes had I known this fact.

On the other hand, longevity runs in our family and when we are 94, Iris and I will be even because she sends me great birthday gifts. I forsee a future where we play bridge and double date. This is because about the time other folks start drooling on themselves, the women in my family start dating again. Grandma and Mom were both 86 when they met a new feller. I guess nothing beats having a guy pull out your chair at the early bird dinner. But I digress.

The plan for Thanksgiving is that I will cook the food and take it to my mom's for dinner. We are 3 couples. Mom and her beau, my uncle and his fiance, and us. It's a pretty traditional menu with an emphasis on low fat (mashed potatoes with chicken broth and a bit of sour cream are awesome). But the guests are uncertain about two of my dishes. Mom thinks the sauteed green beans with shallots, garlic and toasted almonds aren't done. She suggests the oven roasted sweet potatoes need more cooking as well. I explain that mushy vegetables are out except at Denny's or Country Buffet. She accepts this explanation but pretty much sticks to mashed potatoes, peas and stuffing. For dessert, we have pie from the store as I have given up on TwoFer Pie.

It has been hard to bake with the TWD group while in Florida. Heat and lack of cooking equipment have been major set backs. My new oven has arrived and I will buy some shortening. I've missed the TwoFer Pie but I have plenty of pecans in the pantry. I shall commit myself to baking the next recipe: Linzer Sables, a jam-filled almond cookie that sounds delish. Except that mine will be more like pecan sandies.

POETRY

It is about time I do some baking, but I don't even have a hand mixer, let alone sugar, spice and everything nice. Or flour for that matter. That's what happens when you travel. So here's a poem in recognition of the word part of my blog. With any luck, I'll be baking with my mom this week. She is the banana bread queen of Wynmoor, Florida.

FOR MY MOTHER


Mommy sits at my breakfast bar
I see her reflection in the shiny black granite
That covers my new kitchen cabinets
She is small but her back is straight
She eats her food one bite at a time
The granite mommy does the same

I watch her as she gracefully eats
The good food we have prepared
There are fresh vegetables and
Little bowties like my father once wore
My heart is full of love and yearning
I want to take care of her forever

Stay here, I plead to the mommies
Who shake their heads in unison
Affirming their independence
Much the same as I once did

EGGPLANT PARMESAN

Every October, Boulder artists open their studios to the public. This self-guided tour lasts two weekends, but it was 3 pm on the final day when I joined the parade of people looking for yellow "open studio" signs. And oh, the studios and secret gardens I saw!


Behind one small house, I found painter Elizabeth Black in a trailer. The stone path to her studio opened to a huge garden & grape arbor as well as a Christmas tree orchard. I could buy her art or a jar of her honey (take a jar & leave your money in the box). What a delight to find this magical garden in the middle of town.


The light rain didn't deter me or anyone else for that matter. It was hard to park and the small studios were crowded. But, people were enjoying the day and buying handcrafted items fresh off the shelf. It was a wonderful distraction from the bad economic news.


Artist Linda Faul, one half of the spagetti sisters, lives on a mountain top just outside of town. Linda paints landscapes and buffaloes (Univ. of Colorado mascot) and she's been commissioned to paint the holiday star that shines over Boulder each winter. I buy a small painting to go with the eggplant parmesan that she is serving at her open house. Linda and her sister Claudia come from a big Italian family and their recipes have been handed down from parents and grandparents. Linda's kitchen is filled with comfort food, family and friends. When she calls "mangia," I obediently eat two plates of eggplant parmesan.


This is like the food I ate growing up in N.Y., not far from the town where Linda & Claudia lived. Our neighborhoods were filled with 2nd generation Italians and Jews, and the Nanas and Bubbes still cooked for their families. My grandma would arrive with jars of stuffed cabbage & borscht and squares of rice pudding that my dad pretended to like. For me and my sister, there were treats like rugelach, Barton's chocolates and apple pie-cake.

My sister, Iris, is amazed that I remember the name of my grandparents' apartment building (the Mira Mar) in Brighton Beach. She finds a picture in the Brooklyn Library archives. The building, adjacent to the wide boardwalk that leads to Coney Island, had two small shops where my dad bought us Italian ices and steaming hot knishes: potato, kasha and his favorite, cherry cheese, wrapped in white paper. They were almost too hot to hold and when you did take a bite, the flaky strudel-like outside broke apart releasing a sweet or savory filling that I haven't tasted in 40 years. No wonder I remember the building so well.

Heads Up !

I want to thank Allison Marshall for her creativity and the time she spent designing a new header for my blog. She's done beautiful headers for other bakers and I am pleased to pass her name on to you. Her website is: allisonjstudios.webs.com

BOULDER CHEFS ON TOP CHEF

Two Boulder chefs will compete on this season's Top Chef. But, they are not only from the same town, they handle kitchen duties at restaurants owned by the same chef & restauranteur, Dave Query. So if you are in Boulder, Colorado, check out Hosea Rosenberg' fare at Jax, a too-noisy seafood place on west Pearl. Nevermind that your table abuts that of other diners - take a look at what they're eating for an idea about what to order. On the same block, Melissa Harrison is sous chef at Centro Latin Kitchen. Get a table on the bustling outdoor patio.

DORIE EXPLAINS HOW-TO-MAKE CARAMEL

It is pretty clear from advance posts that making caramel is risky business. Your sugar mixture cooks longer than the suggested time, fails to turn deep amber, and so you give it a quick stir. Instantly, you turn to stone. But didn't Dorie warn against stirring in her recipe for Caramel-Peanut Topped Brownie Cake?

Sure she did, but part of the fun of baking with Dorie is experimenting with her recipes. Like the blogger who made a white chocolate brownie cake or the baker who topped her cake with pecans.

My cake, baked in an 8" square pan (Dorie suggests 8" springform), came out dry, especially around the edges. It caved in the middle, but Dorie warned about that. I baked it for 40 min (Dorie suggests 40-45). I cut all the edges off & decided to make 4 individual cakes. That left lots of trim for tasting - not that I wanted more after the first few bites. The cake is only mildly chocolately. There are much better cakes out there and I decide not to bother with the caramel topping given the mixed reviews on this cake from other bakers. (For a good chocolate cake see my post from September 19, 2008: "Talk Like a Pirate Day.")

What could I do with my mini cakes? I checked Dorie's book for inspiration - no help there. But I recently bought a book for $9.99: "The Essential Dessert Cookbook" from Murdoch Books (no author credited). Great recipes, gorgeous pics, and chapters on pies & tarts, ice cream, fruit & baked desserts like creme brulee. The instructions, tips & photos make this book a real steal, particularly because there are 4 pages devoted to caramel including decorations like spun toffee. I could tackle caramel with this book as a guide and so can you. But what about the organic raspberries I just bought at Whole Foods for $3.00? Do they really go with caramel?

Wouldn't it be better to fill my little cakes with raspberries and frost them with chocolate mousse? Like so:

My dessert cookbook has a beautiful picture of Hazelnut Roll with Rasberry Cream. The filling is simple to make:

Whip 1 cup of whipping cream until stiff (it helps if your bowl and beaters are cold)

Set aside half of the whipped cream.

Fold the following into one half of the whipped cream:

8 mashed fresh berries, 1 T of sugar & 1/2 tsp vanilla

Make chocolate mousse using the remaining whipped cream:

Melt together: 2/3 C of semi-sweet chocolate and 1 T of unsalted butter

Stir 2 heaping T of the whipped cream into the chocolate mixture to lighten it up

Let it cool for about 10 min, then fold in the remaining whipped cream

FILL THE CAKES WITH RASPBERRY CREAM & A FEW WHOLE BERRIES. FROST THE FILLED MINI CAKES WITH THE CHOCOLATE MOUSSE. SPRINKLE ALL OVER WITH CHOCOLATE CRUMBS & TOP WITH A SUGARED RASPBERRY. (I made crumbs from the cake left over when I cut out four mini cakes with a donut cutter.)

Tip: keep the filled cakes and the whipped cream in the frig as you make this recipe, so they hold their shape.

AN INCREDIBLY GOOD DESSERT AND LOOKS FABULOUS.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY IRIS

This weekend, Dorie and I visited my sister in Chicago. I got an aisle seat but Dorie traveled in baggage with tomatoes, chard, basil and arugula from my garden. Adding more weight were a super-sized zucchini and my Dimply Plum Cake. The plan: 1) I'd cook a fabulous dinner for my sister & her husband, 2) we'd eat the DP Cake, and 3) we'd bake a TWD recipe together.

We did all the fun things sisters do. We had morning coffee with pumpkin bread, took a bike ride, shopped at Nordstrom's Rack, had pedicures at a fancy salon (the best foot massage I've ever had), walked & talked. We took a mini-tour of downtown Chicago on a gorgeous Saturday afternoon & checked out niece Emily's apartment with views of the city & nephew Mike's (& Steph's) cool loft-style space in a converted pencil factory.

We did our share of eating, including dinner at Cafe Ba Ba Reeba http://www.cafebabareeba.com/), a bustling paella - tapas bistro in downtown Chicago. Great service - our waitress was attentive & other servers hovered about our table bringing endless tapas & signature dishes of chicken paella plus calderos, a rustic soup-like stew of rice & mushrooms.

Did I eat too much? Sure. This was a two-handed dining experience. White sangria in one hand and tapas in the other. Tapas of note: calamari, riojo short ribs, eggplant with goat cheese. I did not think I could eat another bite, but a real baker wouldn't pass up a slice of birthday cake from Dinkel's. Dinkels has been a Chicago institution since 1922 & is still run by the same family (with computers now). This was a deep dark chocolate experience with alternating layers of chocolate cake, thick fudge and whipped cream with strawberries.

This being Chicago, we watched sports with my brother-in-law. But, what were they thinking when they built that saucer-like stadium inside Soldiers' Field? We also watched the 1st Presidential debate, candidate interviews (real and fake), and all the bad news on the financial crisis. When the news became too depressing, we made apple cake and rugelach.


Rugelach (p.150) is a family tradition. My grandmother made hers with yeast dough & apricot filling. Dorie's cookies are smaller so you can eat more and equally tasty. We made a double recipe and 2 kinds of fillings: a) chocolate/walnut/rasberry jam filling, and b) chocolate/gourmet nut-fruit mix/apricot jam filling. I was surprised that we all preferred the apricot version. Seems that Grandma had it right all along!