Inspirations from Kirsten, Culinary Explorer

Kirsten’s comments and inspirations from her recent adventure to Germany. Michael and I were the happy recipients of Kirsten’s excitement. Here’s what she had to say~

Hello Wendy,

It was great visiting with the Pashman-Patrizio party this morning and trying to catch-up with each other. I was happy that you enjoyed my simple approach to breakfast. I was still so inspired by my visit to the Bavarian countryside and Munich. One of the highlight was a trip to a farm that produces meat and vegetable products including bread and beer. There is a store on the promises selling its products and a restaurant serving food made from their own supplies. Check it out http://www.herrmannsdorfer.de They also have great catering facilities.

My main pilgrimages in Munich are always the Viktualien Markt, which is in the center of downtown and has been there since 1807.

The food offerings are staggering. At my favorite bakery there Hofphisterei p://www.hofpfisterei.de/hpf_sortiment_natursauerteigbrote.php (scroll on the arrow to see their choices of bread alone!) a pretzel croissant got my attention and it was delicious. Soft like a regular croissant, but with a light pretzel coating. The other must visit is Sarcletti for ice cream. The plum flavor is my all-time favorite, elderberries are a new addition to the menu and it too was delicious. I was there at 11:30 on a warm night and there was still a line at the counter. http://www.sarcletti.de

All this inspired my breakfast menu. Fresh raisin-walnut bread from the Red Hen bakery with Danish Lure butter-in remembrance of my quick visit to Denmark. Fresh blueberries, red currants and plums from the Green City Market to be mixed with the Greek yogurt from Trader Joe’s, which also reminds me of the wonderful Danish dairy products. The plums turned out to be under ripe and sour; so I quickly cut them up and cooked them with sugar and a piece of orange rind into a little jam. Perfect for making “jamies”. The Ethiopian Crown coffee came from an other famous Munich institution, Dallmayr a food emporium founded in 1700. The deli department has wonderfully vaulted ceilings, which always make me feel like I am in the church of my religion. I give thanks for all this blessed abundance with a glass of champagne served at marble counters.

South India meets Chicago, Chicago meets South India~high
heat and humidity just the kind of day to do some marketing on
Devon Avenue (Chicago street of Indian merchants)~got there
at noon~ouch! First thing~hit Patel Grocery with every other
person who is thinking of cooking Indian food during the
week... okay, I've been in India, "we can do this" I assure my
husband. We're there on a Sunday(am I crazy?) gathering up
some of the ingredients (Asafotida anyone?)...my client has
given me her personal recipes and I'm hitting Devon with a
detailed shopping list~feeling confident about my ability to get
through the marketing in no time~early enough to get home
and fire up the Tawa...not!! Hmmmm. Lemon pickle..would that
be the same as Citron pickle? Chapati Flour...would that be the
same as Atta?
What about Curry Leaves? A sari'd fellow shopper led me the
parsley, mint, cilantro but no curry leaves~okay, they're
packaged near the watermelon. Tamarind paste~none with the
blue label I'm looking for~make a best substitution (my fellow
shoppers do a confab and point me in the right direction)is my
plantain raw/green enough? As I'm waiting with my shopping
cart, an adorable little girl of about 6~ asks me why I'm
cooking Indian food and do I know how to cook Indian food? I
answer that I love it and, as to do I know how, there's a
lifetime of learning there~I give her a short "yes" and she
gives me an encouraging smile. Let's get into that aloo now.

Food and Faces

Okay, its not enough that the party goes on for three days and
we're going to eat from buffet stations with titles like the" Celtic
Torah" Station (replete with corned beef (Torah) and Guinness
Stew (Celtic) we've got to figure out how to make the waiters
absolutely divine and part of the moving hardware of the
EXPERIENCE. A handsome plain waiter is good, a facepainted
waiter who progressively gets more and more detailed through
the evening is better~will the guests just think they've had one
too many of those slamming blue martinis? We can only hope
that its a night to remember for the "Guys" and Enrique will
definitely have to be there

Enrique's Cirq de Soleil

 

Friends Cooking and Toasting at Home, Anyone?

Okay, new brainstorm coming from the Entertaining Company chefing staff Sarah Graf, Kendall trained, catering acclimated to give specialized cooking classes in individual homes in the Chicagoland area~ want to understand Indian food, why its so darn hot, what are those ingredients anyway and where do you get them, what is a somosa and how do you make one??? What wines do you drink with spicy food?

Sarah would like to be invited to your home for an evening of group cooking and sharing of culinary information…

Menus, ingredients and preparation~Vegan, Vegetarian, Sushi, Southern France….

Comment here if you want Sarah to contact you and get down to specifics…

We’ve also recently met a young woman who enthusiastically represents regional and Boutique wines. We’re pretty psyched around here to discover refreshing Gruner Veltliner, Dry Rieslings, Sicilian wines, and lush Moscato dessert wine. The mind immediately flies to weeping willows with chandeliers in the trees on a slate patio with Cocktail table, bottles of wine chilling and a good book ~even if none of the other stuff appears~we can always have the wine. So new wines and interesting foods at home, cent’ anni… to be continued.

Comment here to find out more~

Blog July 4

Back from 4th of July weekend and what an eclectic food weekend it was~~ going from a robo shopping trip through Fox and Obel (hummus, cheeses, Sancerre, Chianti, Moscato, bagels and double chocolate chip cookies) with friend Bridget in anticipation of car trip with Janna (directions anyone?) on the way to Michigan to see Tom and John (perhaps busy riding bikes and forgot to do the grocery shopping?). Bridget (fellow Jersey girl) and I so engaged with explaining(to Janna) the socio economic dynamics of Jersey shore communities that we missed the exit (hmmm) and ended up in another state. John, dear friend, did his best to get us oriented by calling every 10 minutes in an attempt to locate us on the highway (one more U turn),exasperated we pulled off at the nearest Shell Station and waited for the guys to rescue us (somehow the rescuing part doesn't sound PC, who cares?)and bring us to their most beautiful (would we expect anything less from these style mavens, especially Tom, uber designer?) Michigan house (sorry that they sold it the day before but we'll look forward to their next adventure in second house real estate).

Fast forward to neighboring friend John and Tim's acreage with lawns that don't end, formal gardens, and tree chandeliers(I'm in love) and black and white upholstered patio furniture with marvelous white Iron chairs overlooking the pond and then 11 acres or so of blueberry fields I immediately felt the need for a croquet mallet and a dozen or so white gowned and suited friends with frosty tall Tom Collins but, I digress....

Following an interlude of viewing the gorgeously green and manicured property and side splitting comments by John not to mention a patio solo dance set by other friend John (the one who rescued us from the endless highway) we felt the need to bring it "down" (culinary-wise)before being faced with all those size 2-4's in "The Devil Wore Prada"... Into the Range Rover we piled to tool over to Woody's Barbecue at 12620 Red Arrow Highway in Sawyer which was at least my FIND of the summer. Here our pressed group threw caloric caution out the window and dove into chocolate malted and butterscotch malteds (now, that's a first course I can believe in) followed by family style Rib Tips, Smoked Chicken, Ribs, handmade Tator Tot like handmade potatoes(yum) and juicy corn on the cob (from Georgia y'all, Michigan corn isn't out yet)...Okay, try Woody's when hungering for a "fundamental" (as my friend Richard calls this un-style kind of experience) restaurant...screened in porch, warm buns, walk through the kitchen to get to the seating and then there's Woody himself, a friendly and funny character.We hope to see Woody and his smoker at a future Entertaining Company Barbecue Event...don't forget the pick n' brush, thanks Janna.

More on that and the Italian West Virginia feast that followed...