It's been a couple years since I have been able to be here because of very loved elderly in my family.  I hope now that I can go back to family history and cooking.

today is Thanksgiving in the States:

So happiest of thanksgivings to all - and gratefulness to all the people in the world.  Peace.

I will be posting soon my dear aunt Rolande's pear bread as well as my cousin's (2nd- 86 years old) Alsacienne Apple dish.  She sent it to my mom and I hope I can make it and share it with you.

Ina's Seared Scallops with celeriac/potato/leek puree with basil oil

I love recipes that look elegant, taste rich and are easy to make and this recipe by Ina Garten fills that roll beautifully.

Ina Garten's photo of her seared scallops - our recipe was eaten by the family before we could take a picture of it.

The puree was so easy to make but we did make some changes and would make some other changes the next time we cook it.

1. Ina has a tendency to add a tremendous amount of salt to her dishes; so, at the onset of cooking the puree we added less to the dish as instructed - and it turned out perfect.

2. She cooks her scallops in grapeseed oil... I personally will change that next time to a clarified butter and oil mixture as I like the buttery taste rather than oil for scallops

3.  I made the basil oil before cooking instead of buying special oil -

Otherwise I would make this for company at any time - and I will use this version of puree and basil olive oil for other meats as well.

Cookbooks we are trying right now.

My dear youngest bought herself Jaimie Oliver's cook book called "Comfort Food" and has made some delicious meals for our family.  The dishes are have multiple layers of flavor that make each dish remarkable.

I bought two Donal Sheklan's, a lovely Irish young chef, cookbooks and am looking forward to trying his recipes.

I also bought Dorie Greenspan's new book and can't wait to get myself baking.  Her recipes always raise the cook to higher levels of cooking or baking.

Time and life

I started this blog for two things: 

1. to join a lovely group of women and men who cook their way through Dorie Greenspan's lovely cook books. 

2. To remember my family's recipes and my family history. 

What I found: 

1. I love to cook and so does my youngest daughter - cooking with these lovely people helped expand my daughters knowledge as well as making her fearless to try any recipe. She has surpassed me in her daring and her ability to season a dish perfectly. She is a remarkable home cook at 19 years of age. 

 Many times I find people are afraid to cook because they lack experience, lack patience and most of all because they see themselves as incompetent in the kitchen because they have made one or two simple mistakes by taking on a recipe beyond their experience. They become afraid.  They may not realize that cooking is like anything we learn.. it takes steps and knowing that failures will be part of the learning process and need to approach it as you would teaching a young child to do math, music, reading or any skill.  If you watch a young child play you can see them learn - They learn from others and by many fun times practicing over and over. 

2.  Life - is always a surprise and that is a good thing as it helps you learn so much.  Over the holidays my family was  blessed to have our cousins visit from France - I miss them already.  I am lucky to have had a chance to do what was really important and be with my loved ones when they needed me. 

My youngest took over the cooking and I have to admit it was hard for me to start cooking again as she is so talented and I needed to get back into the swing of things. (I always thought, most of the time, that I was a good/ok home cook but she has natural talent to be a chef if she went to culinary school), 

3. I lost sight of my purpose for this post, in the first place; I put this post up for myself and my family -I am a horrible writer and knew that others would not see it.  I have hit a road block regarding getting the recipes just right and, with a busy life, I haven't had the time to get back to recording family history through memories and cooking. 

4. I and my daughter haven't stopped cooking but cooking was simplified during this time.  I just didn't have time to update here as we were living life.  I found my passion for my family history and cooking had not changed but I had to put it on the back burner.  Not a failure.. just how things happen.

5.Most of all,  I am awed by my dear husband (a generous and kind man) , my children (can't say enough about them) and the entire family on both sides.  I don't know how I became so blessed.  I have had to put many visits on hold but I can't wait to get back to both sides of the family on a regular weekly basis.  

I am looking forward to getting back to the true reason I started this blog - family.  

In every conceivable manner, the family is link to our past, bridge to our future.

Alex Haley

 

Thanksgiving.

I haven't been able to be here as I haven't been able to cook, really cook, for a long long time. My youngest has taken up many of the cooking experiences in our family.  She has become quit an accomplished cook for a teen. I am enjoying watching my children learning that cooking can be fun and not a chore.

sharing some of my Mother's art work.

My mother is a petite feisty French Alsatian woman who is amazing.  She is constantly creative and that is why I am proud to share just a few of her paintings here.

spring pea soups....

                                                           Art by Jacques Pepin

I am a big fan of spring peas... sometimes I plant them in time to use in my dishes and other times with our Chicago weather our winter goes straight into summer, I don't get my peas planted in time.
  I am lucky to have a Fresh Market in driving distance of my home where seasonal vegetables and fresh fruits are available to buy my peas or I just use the organic freezer peas for my spring cooking.

My favorite soup may be split pea but today I had on my cooking wish list, Jacques Pepin's Cold Cream of Pea soup with Mint from his book ESSENTIAL PEPIN.  AS THE RECIPE IS NOT SHARED THROUGH PRINT OR VIDEO, I WILL NOT BE ABLE TO SHARE IT HERE.  If you want the recipe go to his book ESSENTIAL PEPIN and look on page 3.  

I personally like Daniel Boulud's version of cold pea soup better, probably because it has bacon and leeks in the soup, but it was fun making Jacques quick cold pea soup.

PHOTO BY THE CHALK BOARD MAGAZINE:  (LOVELY PEAS AND GOAT CHEESE)  http://thechalkboardmag.com/taste-of-pace-spring-english-peas

Jacques Pepin's recipe has onion, chicken stock, mint leaves, baby peas, plain yogurt, butter, sugar and tabasco.

 Jacques Pepin's cold pea soup. (w/o mint leaves on top) 

DANIEL BOULUD

 not my photo 

http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/chilled-spring-pea-soup  by DANIEL BOULUD

photo by Quentin Bacon 

COPIED EXACTLY FROM FOOD AND WINES RECIPE PAGE (LINK ABOVE) THE RECIPE IS PROPERTY OF DANIEL BOULUD AND FOOD AND WINE MAGAZINE. 

1. "8 slices of bacon
2. 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
3. 2 celery ribs, thinly sliced
4. 1 onion, thinly sliced
5. 1 leek, white and tender green parts only, thinly sliced
6. 5 cups chicken stock or low-sodium broth
7. Two 4-inch rosemary sprigs
8. Salt and freshly ground white pepper
9. 1/2 pound sugar snap peas, thinly sliced
10. Two 10-ounce boxes frozen baby peas
11. 1/4 cup flat-leaf parsley leaves
12. 1 cup heavy cream
13. 1 garlic clove, minced

1. In a medium soup pot, cook the bacon over moderate heat until browned and crisp, about 6 minutes. Transfer the bacon to a plate. Pour off the fat in the pot.
2. In the same pot, heat the olive oil. Add the celery, onion and leek and cook over moderately low heat, stirring occasionally, until softened but not browned, about 7 minutes. Add the chicken stock, 4 slices of the cooked bacon, 1 rosemary sprig and a pinch each of salt and white pepper. Simmer until the vegetables are very tender, about 15 minutes. Discard the bacon and rosemary. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the vegetables to a blender.
3. Meanwhile, bring a medium saucepan of salted water to a boil. Add the sugar snaps and cook for 3 minutes. Add the frozen baby peas and the parsley and cook just until heated through, about 1 minute; drain. Add the sugar snaps, baby peas and parsley to the blender and puree until smooth, adding a few tablespoons of the broth to loosen the mixture. Transfer the soup and the remaining broth to a large bowl set in a larger bowl of ice water to cool.
4. In a small saucepan, bring the heavy cream, garlic and remaining rosemary sprig to a boil. Simmer over low heat until slightly reduced, about 5 minutes. Strain the garlic cream into a bowl and let cool.
5. Ladle the chilled pea soup into bowls and drizzle with the garlic cream. Crumble the remaining 4 slices of bacon into each bowl and serve.

MAKE AHEAD The soup and cream can be refrigerated separately for up to 2 days.

SUGGESTED PAIRING

Brisk, lively Austrian Grüner Veltliner."