Allen

Well, I tried again to upload videos of my boy singing, but the computer is just not cooperating. Sorry. I'll try again another time.

I do have some good Allen stories, though.

I'll go back to the Sunday that I was there. Allegra and I had just gotten home with groceries and Dad (aka Papa) was in the garage "tinkering" with his car (he has an Austin Healy). Brian was watching football and Allen was bouncing between Papa, Daddy, Mommy and Aunt Kristen. When Papa was done with his car, Allen declared that he needed to go for a ride with Papa and Aunt Kristen to look at houses. (Papa loved that Allen wanted to "spook" houses with him.)

Now, I love my monkey. But I was getting ready to make roasted veggie soup for my mom. This just wasn't part of my plan. As his face was getting screwed into the beginning of a minor fit, Papa asked why I had to go with them. "Because," he said, "I love her and I like her and I love her." That was it. I went. Allegra peeled all the veggies. The soup was really good.

Going back to the evening before, I babysat so Brian and Allegra could go out to dinner just the two of them. I had just purchased Beauty and the Beast (Josh said I had to have the movie because Belle is my animated Disney alter-ego. Who's yours?) Allen agreed to watch it with me. I talked to him all through the movie. I wanted him to see that Beast wasn't all mean.

So there are, in my opinion, two funny things about this evening that stand out to me. 1)I knew all the words to the songs (except for the new one! yes, there's a new song!) and sang every one of them. Loudly. When I asked Allen if he thought I'd seen the movie before, he said No. And B) When a child thinks a movie or something on tv is going to be scary, what do they do? In my experience, they cover their eyes or bury their face. Not Allen. He sticks his fingers in his ears. You gotta love him.

So my last Allen story is as much mine as his. He knows all the continents. He sings a song about them. It ends..."Don't forget Antarctica." I asked him about Uncle Arctica. He knows that Uncle Josh goes with Aunt Kristen, so what about Uncle Arctica. He thought about his seriously for a bit and then began to end the song with "Don't forget Uncle Arctica." Oops! Maybe I'd taken my joke too far. I explained to him that he could sing it that way to his teacher, but not with his whole class. I think he got it.

Allegra just told me that when she picked him up yesterday afternoon, he was standing beside his teacher. He told her, "When my aunt Kristen was here, she sang Uncle Arctica." Thankfully, Allegra was right there to declare Aunt Kristen as silly.

All agreed.

I wore many hats

1. I was nurse to Mom.
2. I cooked.
3. I did laundry.
4. I tended to maniac dogs. (Made me appreciate my Sonny-dog that much more.)
5. I was a shop girl.
6. I sat for my Allen-boy. He figured out that I was much better at reading stories than playing cars and I love him so for that.

All in all it was a good trip. I feel like my presence was appreciated. And I appreciate the Josh and Sonny let me go but I'm happy to be home now. So, I'm doing laundry and cooking and taking care of my own dog.

I wanted to upload some videos of Allen singing, but it was taking way too long. Sorry.

Kristen out.

The Haul

This has been a very culinary anniversary for me! I've already mentioned my gift from Josh...The America's Test Kitchen cookbook and 10th season DVDs. But it has gotten so much more exciting.

See for yourself:


This is Williams-Sonoma's newest "gold" bakeware. So excited to try it. Mom and Dad (Hunter) sent us a gift card. I was like a kid in a candy store. Thankfully, I had already shopped online and had a pretty good idea of what I wanted. Not wanting to hog the whole thing for myself, we did order this Martini Pitcher for Josh. No one knows why it's no longer available in store.


This is my immersion blender from Mom and Dad Saxe. Again, I can't wait to use. I'm pretty sure it will rule my little mini-prep food processor obsolete as it has a chopping blade in a canister. How cool is that?! They bought Josh this bar book. Only difference from the catalog pictur is Josh's has an S in stead of the D.


This is present from Amelia. Spiders! Aren't they cool? Good for more than just fried things. She also gave me a new set of measuring spoons. These are shaped to fit in spice jars AND the smallest one is 1/8 of a tsp. So excellent.

She got Josh the new Clapton cd and soap. She's not making a comment on her brother's cleanliness. These are Star Wars soaps. He thinks they are very cool. I'm pleased to say that they will be on display in his cube at work.



This is from myaunt and uncle. The cork screw says "One good turn deserves another." On both sides. Clever eh? There are a total of four coasters.

And last but certainly not least, is this frog from Brian, Allegra, and Allen. I love him. He looks like Josh. Very smug expression and with a crown on his head. Josh doesn't have a literal crown, but he does like/expect to be treated as royalty.

We got a lovely bottle of wine and some cleverly presented wine tools from our dear friends. And a couple of checks (being used for Josh's winter chapeau) from other members of his family. Thanks! The hat has been ordered.

Finally, at the request of an aunt, pictures of our room at the W.


Th best part of our room was the view. Quite possibly the best view we've had. We were overlooking the lake. Did I take a picture of that. Of course not. I can't remember to do everything, now can I?

And this is, well, it's Amelia. With a spoon on her nose. A heavy spoon.


That seems like a good place to end this post. I'll be back in couple weeks.

Kristen

Well, Well, Wellington

As in Beef. As in crusted with pastry. As in what Josh suggested I make for our at-home anniversary dinner.

I had never made such a meal. I had never considered it. I didn't think it was something I wanted to make. I didn't have a recipe.

But I did have the interweb and thus I had a world of recipes within my grasp. So I searched. And I found one. This one in fact:

Ingredients

For the Duxelles:

• 3 pints (1 1/2 pounds) white button mushrooms
• 2 shallots, peeled and roughly chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves only
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the Beef:

• 1 (3-pound) center cut beef tenderloin (filet mignon), trimmed
• Extra-virgin olive oil
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 12 thin slices prosciutto
• 6 sprigs of fresh thyme, leaves only
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• Flour, for rolling out puff pastry
• 1 pound puff pastry, thawed if using frozen
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt
• Minced chives, for garnish
• Green Peppercorn Sauce, recipe follows
• Roasted Fingerling Potatoes
• Warm Wilted Winter Greens, recipe follows

Directions

To make the Duxelles: Add mushrooms, shallots, garlic, and thyme to a food processor and pulseshallot and mushroom mixture and saute for 8 to 10 minutes until most of the liquid has evaporated. Season with salt and pepper and set aside to cool. until finely chopped. Add butter and olive oil to a large saute pan and set over medium heat. Add the

To prepare the beef: Tie the tenderloin in 4 places so it holds its cylindrical shape while cooking. Drizzle with olive oil, then season with salt and pepper and sear all over, including the ends, in a hot, heavy-based skillet lightly coated with olive oil - about 2 to 3 minutes. Meanwhile set out your prosciutto on a sheet of plastic wrap (plastic needs to be about a foot and a half in length so you can wrap and tie the roast up in it) on top of your cutting board. Shingle the prosciutto so it forms a rectangle that is big enough to encompass the entire filet of beef. Using a rubber spatula cover evenly with a thin layer of duxelles. Season the surface of the duxelles with salt and pepper and sprinkle with fresh thyme leaves. When the beef is seared, remove from heat, cut off twine and smear lightly all over with Dijon mustard. Allow to cool slightly, then roll up in the duxelles covered prosciutto using the plastic wrap to tie it up nice and tight. Tuck in the ends of the prosciutto as you roll to completely encompass the beef. Roll it up tightly in plastic wrap and twist the ends to seal it completely and hold it in a nice log shape. Set in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to ensure it maintains its shape.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

On a lightly floured surface, roll the puff pastry out to about a 1/4-inch thickness. Depending on the size of your sheets you may have to overlap 2 sheets and press them together. Remove beef from refrigerator and cut off plastic. Set the beef in the center of the pastry and fold over the longer sides, brushing with egg wash to seal. Trim ends if necessary then brush with egg wash and fold over to completely seal the beef - saving ends to use as a decoration on top if desired. Top with coarse sea salt. Place the beef seam side down on a baking sheet.

Brush the top of the pastry with egg wash then make a couple of slits in the top of the pastry using the tip of a paring knife - this creates vents that will allow the steam to escape when cooking. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes until pastry is golden brown and beef registers 125 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer. Remove from oven and rest before cutting into thick slices. GarnishSauce, Roasted Fingerling Potatoes, and Warm Wilted Winter Greens. with minced chives, and serve with Green Peppercorn

Green Peppercorn Sauce:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 shallots, sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
• 3 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves only
• 1 cup brandy
• 1 box beef stock
• 2 cups cream
• 2 tablespoons grainy mustard
• 1/2 cup green peppercorns in brine, drained, brine reserved

Add olive oil to pan after removing beef. Add shallots, garlic, and thyme; saute for 1 to 2 minutes, then, off heat, add brandy and flambe using a long kitchen match. After flame dies down, return to the heat, add stock and reduce by about half. Strain out solids, then add 2 cups cream and mustard. Reduce by half again, then shut off heat and add green peppercorns.

This is Tyler Florence's Ultimate Beef Wellington.

Before Baking

On the serving platter after resting and slicing.

I made every part of it--including the Green Peppercorn Sauce. (I had to order the green peppercorns from a spice outfit in the Bronx. Then I had to find a brining recipe. Yeesh, the things I'll do for love,) I got to flambe it! That was fun. I'm not a big sauce person with my beef, but you just can't go wrong with cream and brandy.

Green Peppercorn Sauce (the green modifies the peppercorns not the sauce)

So let me go back to the beginning of the evening:

I made Ina Garten's Sausage Stuffed Mushrooms. The recipe said to bake them all squished together in a pan. I was only making 6. I didn't have a baking dish the right size! What to do?

Then I had what I thought was wonderful idea. The solution to all my problems. Use a muffin tin!

You can see that the mushrooms nestled in very nicely. They just didn't come out as cleanly as I had hoped. I thought that small tongs (like for asparagus) would have been the perfect tool. Not really. A paring knife and fork worked much better.

Josh made Manhattan's when he got home. He had to make the cocktails. You see, my anniversary gift to him was a Boston Shaker. (We exchanged gifts on Saturday. He is enamored of his new "toy." I got the America's Test Kitchen cookbook.)

We had salads. Caesar for Josh, complete with hardboiled egg and anchovies. Garden for moi. I forgot to take pictures of those. (If you like hardboiled eggs, you should really follow the link. These are beautiful and tasty.)

I made mashed potatoes. Josh told me that I make the best mashed potatoes. In the world. Better than any restaraunt. Better than his mom's. He likes that I leave the skins on. (Really, that's more of a lazy thingt than a culinary thing.) He didn't want me to do anything different from what I typically do. (Don't tell him I used buttermilk this time.) For the first time in our married life if not the first time in his entire life, Josh thought that maybe the potatoes were "too much with the starch" at dinner. I think the pastry on the beef was a slight sensory overload. We'll see how he feels about that tonight as we eat leftovers.

Mashed Potatoes

I made a spice cake for dessert. I forgot to take a picture of that, too. Sorry, I'm only a girl. The recipe came from my new cookbook. It's tasty, but not particularly special. Oh well. Live and learn, I guess.

I have been doing a lot of cooking and baking and I'm sorry I haven't been sharing. I will try to do better. I will tell you all, though, that I'm off to SC on 10/13. Mom's having sinus surgery and my presence as nurse and babysitter are required. I return on the 22nd, so maybe I'll have more to post then.

Till later,
Kristen