Today, we are shooting for our Winter Spring catalog – so the heat outside doesn’t match the food on the table. My last two weeks have been spent finalizing some of the products for this shoot – and we’ve had a blast! A troop of us went way out in Texas to the test kitchens and ate all afternoon. It’s the one place where all tastes and opinions are created equal.
We ate salad, slow cooked meals, barbeque brisket and preserves – then we had lunch and dinner! It’s amazing what you can learn about someone when you talk about food. You learn about their family life as a child, their ethnic heritage by what’s on the table… but the hot discussion of the day was Mexican!
I have come to the firm belief that great Mexican food is that with which you grew up. I’m from Los Angeles and the formulating chef in this case was from Texas. You would have thought it was the Mexican American war all over again. We had two distinct and vehement points of view on what constituted an “authentic” product – mole in particular.
The word mole comes from the Aztec meaning stew or sauce. In Mexico, mole recipes are passed down from generation to generation, and are as individual as your family. It’s a closely guarded secret. Mole is a rich thick sauce, made from a variety of chiles, onions, garlic, cumin, coriander, cinnamon, cloves, nuts and chocolate.
And that’s where the disagreement started – the Texans didn’t want chocolate! Where I am from, without chocolate there is no mole. Then there was the discussion about chicken vs. beef.
So we compromised – we sent both up to our research panel at our facility in Chicago and are having our target audience vote! May the best Mexican win.
In the mean time, if you want to try mole easily, go to a restaurant, wait for us, or if you have what can be a considerable amount of time you can try:
Summer time! A little heat! A lot of friends! Looking to have a fun, easy party? Keep it simple! Have a fiesta featuring Margaritas – it’s the thing to do these days!
Mexican food is now the most popular food in America (after pizza!) Having a Margarita is the perfect way to cool off on a warm evening, or to bring the spirit of fiesta to your home. Bright colors and candles can top off the fiesta feel with little money and effort. Add some salsa music to your playlist and you’re all set.
It’s as easy as one, two, three! With the right fixins, a pitcher and a blender start the party by makeing a chilling frozen margarita . A classic margarita features tequila, Triple Sec and Lime Juice.
Then grab some chips and salsa, TSG Black Bean and Corn Salsa or Mango Peach Salsa are great. Add traditional guacamole (if you can’t get fresh avocados, then buy the frozen and jazz it up with some onions, garlic and tomatoes).
If you want a fun dinner inside that takes no time to prepare – have a taco buffet – the only part you really have to cook is the ground meat. Cook with any commercial packet of taco seasoning, lay out lettuce, tomato, sour cream, salsa and shredded cheese. And you’re done.
Easy Recipes for a Great Margarita Party
Here are some easy recipes if you want a little more pizzazz!
Believe it or not, the catalog to be released in August was shot a month ago. I spent a week tasting our new products and looking (and eating) comfort food, holiday desserts and other great treats! I thought it would be fun to show you a little of the behind the scenes effort.
We all know that you eat with your eyes as well as your mouth, so food styling for the catalog is very important. There can be a lot of “bad press” about how food stylists “cheat” the dishes to make it appropriate for a magazine shoot. Take for example ice cream, it’s impossible to get real ice cream not to melt under hot lights. But the attitude of companies, savvy consumers and digital photography have changed the issues in shooting food and allowed all of our photography to be much more “natural”.
When we prepare food for the catalog, we actually create and test recipes (that’s a popular day in the office because they get to taste finished dishes, not just product). At the shoot our fabulous stylist Catrine Kelty prepares each of the dishes (with leftovers) and then works with our great photographer Paul Saraceno to bring it to you in the best possible light.
It’s true that we do help out our dishes a little – after all they do have to sit on the table for hours at a time and need to keep looking fresh. We spritz the lettuce with water to make it glisten, hand arrange the leaves, stack berries just so, and melt our cheese with a gun that peels paint off walls so it gets perfectly brown.
Tips to Make Your Table Look Great
Here are the top tips that Katrine uses in preparing our food whether for photography or your family table.
Set the table beautifully – make sure you keep a nice centerpiece and candles ready to be lit every night.
Use fresh, high quality ingredients – there’s nothing more sad than wilted lettuce!
Like those quesadilla? Well here are two of our great recipes using the Two Sisters Gourmet Black Bean and Corn Salsa, but you can really add your f avorite ingredients and make them your own:
My maiden name is McCarthy, I’m sprinkled with kisses from the sun (freckles) and I’ve actually kissed the Blarney Stone (now that shouldn’t surprise you) and I’ve lived in Chicago and seen the river dyed green – but when it came to writing about Irish food and St. Patrick’s Day I actually drew a blank. Even after searching Google.
St. Patricks Day Myths
What I learned is that much of the American hoopla about St. Patrick’s Day is just that – American hoopla. Until recently, St. Patrick’s Day was a religious holiday in Ireland. And we all know it was to celebrate driving the snakes out of Ireland. Right? Except there were no snakes in Ireland. Those snakes were most likely heathen symbols.
And ready for this? St. Patrick wasn’t Irish. He was actually born in Scotland or Great Britain in 373 A.D., was enslaved in Ireland as a youth and returned in adulthood as a priest when he probably took the name Patrick or Patricus. Oh Well! Why ruin a festive celebration with facts? I think we just needed a celebration in March – a month that is frequently without one. So what to make?
Of course, most traditional Irish plates include potatoes (although that didn’t begin until after the great potato famine) and are very simple – meat, potatoes, vegetables. You can do a great corned beef in your slow cooker or a lamb stew. There boxty which is an Irish potato pancake (rhyme). There’s fun potato and sausage dish called a Dublin Coddle. But my personal favorite, Colcannon (mashed potatoes with onion, kale and bacon), is traditionally served at Halloween.
Easy Recipe – No Bake St. Patrick’s Pops for Kids
For the kids, I found this great, fun, easy no bake idea to help celebrate – St. Patrick Cookie Pops. Now this is celebrating!
So on March 17, I’ll wear my green (the shamrock was a symbol of rebellion in Victorian times), have a Guiness (my one per year) and say Erin go Braugh! (Ireland Forever) with all my other American Friends!
Personally, I love a culture where the proper greeting is “Have you eaten yet?”
Whew! We just finished our New Years and it’s time for Chinese New Years – 2010 the Year of the Tiger! For us New Year is just a day or a weekend,but in China it means that everything shuts down for two weeks! Wouldn’t we just love a holiday like that?
Chinese New Year is based on the lunar calendar, so this year it occurs on Valentines Day, February 14. It was a real dilemma when it came to blog writing! This year is the Year of the Tiger – part of the Chinese Zodiac (think our astrological signs)
As it turns out, most of the country really only quiets for a week, but there is truly a different celebration for almost every day from the first, Family Reunion Dinner , to the Seventh (Everybody’s Birthday) to the final Lantern Festival.
Much of the celebrations and customs have to do with tradition and superstition. Many foods are considered lucky because the name sounds likes other words in Chinese for good fortune, prosperity and long life. Gifts of oranges and tangerines abound as representations of gold and good fortune. Decorating colors are also red and gold. This link will take you to a great overview of the holiday season.
On the eve of the first day, Family Reunion dinner, the main dish served is typically a whole carp, not fully eaten so there will be prosperity for the New Year, with enough left over to carry you through. Traditionally, the first day itself is vegetarian, and everything needs to be prepared in advanced – no cutting allowed in case you cut short the good luck for the New Year.
To make a symbolic dish that everyone will love, I go back to our family favorite – longevity noodles (long noodle-long life).
Longevity Noodles
This is so simple you don’t really need a recipe. Take your favorite vegetables and blanch or stir fry them (be sure to include those golden carrots). Then take and soak a package of rice noodles in boiling water(takes 5 minutes or less) and toss with a dressing that includes rice vinegar, a tiny bit of sesame oil, vegetable oil, garlic and fresh ginger. This is one night when noodle slurping is definitely allowed, no noodle cutting allowed!
If you want to add an American flair, then try the TSG version of a dipping sauce for pot stickers and spring rolls;
Two Sisters Gourmet Dipping Sauce Recipe
2 Tbsp Sweet and Spicy Pepper Jelly
1/2 cup Island Ponzu Sauce
1 green onion thinly sliced
2 tsp toasted sesame seeds (optional)
Mix ingredients in small bowl and serve with pot stickers or spring rolls
The Chinese know about family relations too! The third day of the New Year, everyone stays home. It’s known as the Day of Squabbles! Even in the West we know that family relations get strained on the third day. This is a great time to learn about some of the great and varied dishes that people use to celebrate. If you live in a city with a Chintown, go down to a local bakery and try some of their sweets – sticky rice balls for dessert or rice candy for the perpetual Tray of Abundance (sweets kept out for everyone to snack on during the holiday – not unlike the Italian tray with 12 tastes for the Twelve Days of Christmas).
Tray of Abundance
Bring them home for the Seventh Day Feast – Everyone’s Birthday! Traditionally in China, individual birthdays were not celebrated, and everyone turned a year older on the same day. This is a day for much feasting and festivals. What a great tradition!
Ok, the holidays are really, finally, at last over. I mean completely cleaned up and leftovers gone to that happy kitchen in the sky. But now you’re out of energy. And it’s dark and cold. And you are tired.
If you ask me, it’s time for a little attitude adjustment.
Remember our attitude is largely our choice! Maybe you like the cold and want to hunker down and have warm comfort food. Maybe you want to pretend that you’re on vacation in a tropical place (staycations get old after a while). Maybe you need to see the face of someone other than your loving family.
Attitude Adjustment Meal – 5 Easy Steps
1. Decide on your Objective. – What will really make you feel better? For me, it’s actually the cooking and eating. For others it’s the friends. Maybe it’s family game night around the fire. Picture the perfect setting and get it going.
2. Set the Mood/Make the Invites: – So this means you have to plan ahead and commit (boy do I sound like a broken record). Once it’s in the works, it’s harder to back out – even for a date with your husband or children. Is the mood suitable for paper plates or candlelight?
3. Pick one element that takes effort – make the rest easy. If it’s game night, take the time to find a new game that everyone will like or find a family favorite activity. Or make a new dish– a fun dessert to eat while you play.
4. Shop only once. Or better yet, don’t shop at all. I bet there’s enough in your kitchen to make a good meal. If you didn’t get that little last thing, forget it! It’s not part of the objective and you’ll be the only one to miss it.
5. Be There! – I don’t mean just physically. You set this up for a reason and it wasn’t to do dishes. Have fun, be part of the celebration and relax.Easy cheese Fondue with great dipping tastes!
Fondue - Recipe for our ideal Evening
I actually love winter, firesides, being cozy. There’s nothing better at the end of a long winter day than that warm, comfort food. For us it’s fondue and fire, followed by a game of some kind. And it’s easy –all you need is a little melted cheese and bread? We like to jazz it up with some fresh fruit and sausages to dip too. The great thing about fondue is you don’t cook in the kitchen and it’ communal eating, where the act is part of the entertainment.
If cheese isn’t your thing you can heat up some broth and do meats as well. Check out these easy fondue recipes. Sure fondue was big in the 70’s – and we have a fondue pot from then, but it’s back and better. It can be a pot over flame or electric – or even in a microwave for cheese or dessert!
If you are having a group, have them bring potluck for dinner and you provide a dazzling chocolate fondue with fruit, marshmallows, angel food cake and just about anything else you can think of for dipping! (I‘ve even had potato chips which are pretty good!)
Then let the games begin: Trivia, card games and board games are big in our house. The sillier they make you feel the better.
We’ve made it through Christmas and New Year’s is upon us. We celebrate and vow to do things better in the New Year. We get to start with a clean slate!
New Year’s Celebrations Around the World
When we were living in different countries, one thing I learned is that New Year’s isn’t always on January 1. In one year as we moved from Europe to Asia, we were able to experience at least 7 different New Year celebrations – we started with ours in January, with our favorite bubbly and good cheer. Then there was Chinese New Year in the beginning of February with its fireworks, gifts and dragon dances. Nyepi in primarily Hindu Bali where noisy celebrations scare away the evil spirits followed by a day of silence. Songkran in Thailand where we were soundly doused with water to wash away the past. Hari Raya in Malaysia, although not technically the Islamic New Year is a great time of celebration at the end of Ramadan. Rosh Hashana with good friends in many countries. Deepavali (Diwali)Festival of Lights. Each had it’s own sights, sounds, traditions and foods. Yum! We had a lot of fresh starts that year!
Dragon Dancers for Chinese New Year
In fact, that is one of the great lessons learned from our travels – whatever our celebrations, we are much the same. Whether it involves new clothes, cleaning house – sweeping away the old – new year’s is much the same. Everyone gets a chance for a clean slate and to start anew.
Granted my history with resolutions isn’t very good. I make them (usually to lose weight, see Diet and Exercise (next week)) and then need to start over again a few months later. Instead of feeling guilty about making and breaking New Year’s resolutions, I prefer to think that I start every day with a resolution
At least I know this is a universal trait of all people – we are just human. You don’t need six new years celebrations to get it right. Resolve to make each day a little better than the last.. Make everyday New Year’s Day – embrace the future and start to make it a little better.
Ok, I give up. My carefully laid plans ran aground again. We all had different schedules–my son had an afternoon crew practice, my daughter an evening ballet class and I had a late, late meeting. Thankfully, my husband was home to feed the dogs! Let’s face it, on a night like this it’s impossible to sit down together for dinner.
But there’s an easy solution! Make it a “scoop and nuke night.” What’s that?…. Here’s the easy recipe:
An easy, no fuss, semi–nutritious meal. It’s so quick that I had time to prepare it before the after school frenzy.
One pan cooking. After all, no matter what time I get home that pan will be waiting for me in the sink.
Make a lot. I always planned on leftovers, but never got any.
A meal that everyone will eat!
My family isn’t picky too about food, but like everyone their appetite depends on the day. My daughter couldn’t eat a heavy meal before dance, but my son was famished. My husband still thinks he plays college varsity soccer and I require just one dish–fast.
Ideas for What to Put on the Dining Room Table:
Soup with fresh bread – Make a pot of whatever is left in the refrigerator from the weekend – add broth.
Chicken stroganoff. A little heavy for the dancer, but one of her favorites and she could have some before and after class.
Spaghetti. If I boil the noodles and mix with sauce before leaving for my meeting (one pan remember?)
Tacos. Smorgasbord of cheese, lettuce, and tomatoes, except for the meat with sauce which can be “nuked” as needed.
Or ask friends! Our all time family favorite is an Indonesian spicy rice dish called Nasi Goreng (fried rice). You might think we picked this up when we lived in Asia, but no, we never do anything the easy way.
We first heard about this lifesaver on a ski trip with our best friends, who are Dutch. Apparently, Dutch cooking is replete with Indonesian and Malaysian influences, as they were a global trading power in the 1600’s. In fact, the rijstafel (rice table) is a frequent Malaysian occurrence – an assortment of Asian dishes, largely including or served over rice and named by the Dutch.
Anyways, we stayed in a rental apartment and everyone was tired from skiing all day. Yvette, my friend, was graciously in charge of feeding the troops that night. The pot filled with Nasi Goreng must have been as big as one of the best lobster pots, but 30 minutes later it was empty.
Nasi Goreng Recipe: Try it with your family!
Spice mix. I found the Dutch store and bought the Nasi Goreng by Conimex packets. For added interest you can also purchase Ketcap Manis (something like sweet soy sauce), to be truly authentic.
Cook rice. Mix with spice, add onion and chicken (optional). Then it’s ready to go!
Low and behold, a few years later my family was transferred to Asia. The first day there, my son saw Nasi Goreng on the menu and was thrilled to see something he both recognized and loved!
Well, let me tell you – the original native is not what comes out of the bag. After the first bite, and many tears of disappointment, I had to find the closest Dutch store and revert to our mix. We still horde it in our cupboards!
Share your scoop and nuke meals–and how they save your family!
Want some history on the Dutch East India Company? Makes for interesting dinner table conversation!
Today, we are shooting for our Winter Spring catalog – so the heat outside doesn’t match the food on the table. My last two weeks have been spent finalizing some of the products for this shoot – and we’ve had a blast! A troop of us went way out in Texas to the test kitchens and ate all afternoon. It’s the one place where all tastes and opinions are created equal.
Easy cheese Fondue with great dipping tastes!
We’ve made it through Christmas and New Year’s is upon us. We celebrate and vow to do things better in the New Year. We get to start with a clean slate!
