A Few Moments of Escape

It's not been a good couple of weeks ... it's not been a good New Year. Really, it hasn't. I read a post on Twitter last week that said "Locked out of the house. Husband is at work. No umbrella. Happy Friday. Ug." Are you kidding me??? Go to a coffee shop, get a nice hot cup of tea, treat yourself to a pastry while you wait, and get over it!

I won't re-hash the chaos of my past few weeks, or share (yet) the utter misery that *I* experienced last Friday. (Locked out of the house??? Pfffft!) Suffice it to say that I was awakened by a phone call at 3 that morning, still had to slog in to work despite sleep deprivation and stress, one of my faithful cohorts doesn't work on Fridays and the other was home sick, I had to schlep and run an errand that I didn't want to in another town nearby and was rushed to do it by a certain time, and I'm still in shock over what happened and how pointless and unnecessary the situation is. And the situation will be prolonged and stressful and expensive. I am not happy.

But the next day -- on Saturday -- I had a few moments of escape, a blessed reprieve. Tom noticed it, and I felt it. I really was transported out of my reality.

Tom and I were out running errands, picking things up at the library and at the drug store, buying coconut milk for the chicken curry we planned to make that night, and looking for a birthday present for a very, very dear friend. We meandered through a collection of quaint and charming shops downtown looking for the perfect gift, but hadn't quite found what we wanted.

Until we got to the spice shop.

Spice Merchants is a store so lovely, so enticing, so colorful, so aromatic, so utterly sensual that it is hard to fully describe ... this shop must truly be experienced. The photos are woefully inadequate, and there is no way to share the fragrances of the curries, the teas, or anything else with you.

Each time I visit the store, I wish I had the resources to buy a little of everything. It makes me want to cook and, especially, to experiment. It makes me want to not just throw together a quick meal, but to linger over a day-long affair of toasting and grinding and mixing spices to infuse flavor into something cooked slowly and lovingly ... something exotic, usually, and unique.

There are a dozen varieties of salt, in pink and white and grey and yellow and green and brown; some are flavored with citrus, some are smoked, some are naturally colored and have been imported from around the world. Spices can be bought individually or pre-mixed for Indian, Moroccan, Cajun or other cuisines, and come in the most glorious shades of red, orange, and yellow or the deep burnished tones of tan and brown.

There were also other unique uses for the astounding array of spices, including small gift bags of crumbled cookies with ginger or vanilla mixed in, to use as ice cream toppers. There were soup and chili mixes, tied with pretty ribbons and ready to give to loved ones. But Tom and I settled upon the Lemon-Garlic Orzo -- a lovely bag of the rice-shaped pasta that "has a subtle hint of lemon & the robust taste of garlic." We thought it would be perfect to prepare as a side dish or as the base of a salad, or even as an addition to soup.

Then, as we stood in line, Tom said that I looked genuinely happy surrounded by food stuffs and things to play with ... and I was! I was holding his hand as we waited to pay for an ideal gift for someone who appreciates good but simple food ... it was perfect.

And, for a short while, I had forgotten that significant stressors loom large. I had magically and momentarily travelled to my kitchen, travelled to far-off lands, travelled away from daily life and into a beautiful world of color and fragrance and inspiration ....

Roasted Cheddar-Herb Almonds

Jeremy, I'm sorry to say, has gone on the late, not-so-great Atkins diet -- you remember, the one that was all the rage 'cause it let you eat all the bacon and burger patties and pork rinds you wanted without expecting you to eat anything nutritious like fruit??? He and his dad started it just in time for Christmas, on the "buddy system" ... sigh. They've had a great deal of success already, but it certainly made life difficult for this chickie who made a dozen different types of sweet treats!

So, while I've been baking cookies and planning to give a tin of them to Jeremy, he's been eating Quarter Pounders without the buns, strips of bacon doused in cheese, pork chops in sour cream sauce ... oh, and one token taco salad without any chips. What kinds of treats could I give to him, then???

Jeremy suggested Jell-O Jigglers, made with sugar-free Jell-O; he told me that the blue ones looked good. Oh, if only I could capture in words my look of disgust and disdain when I heard that!

And then another idea struck, a much better one than rubbery blobs of blue goo: roasted nuts ... almonds, to be specific.

I dug through some recipes for ideas and mangled this one together from pieces of all the others. They smell so, so good as they're baking! And they're unbelievably addictive ... Jeremy is lucky that I left a few for him!!! When he tried some at our Christmas gift exchange, he just closed his eyes and said, "Mmmmmmm" ....

Roasted Cheddar-Herb Almonds

1 egg yolk
2 cups raw almonds
3/4 cup finely grated sharp cheddar
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon herb seasoning
1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Preheat oven to 325F. Lightly oil a baking sheet.

In a large bowl, beat yolk; add almonds and stir to coat.


In a small bowl, combine cheese, garlic powder, seasoning and salt; pour over the almonds and stir to coat.


Place the almonds on the prepared baking sheet in a single layer.


Bake for 15 minutes. Stir, then bake for another 10 minutes. Turn off the oven and open the oven door a bit, then let the almonds rest for 15 minutes.

Remove almonds from oven and let cool completely. Serve in a decorative bowl or place into a pretty jar to give as gifts.

Cinnamon-Sugared Applesauce Breads

I had some leftover applesauce after serving potato latkes for lunch two Sundays ago, on the 5th day of Chanukkah. Latkes are traditionally served both with sour cream and with applesauce, after all, even though people inevitably prefer one over another (and you'll never get an entire group to agree, so you offer both).

Now, you know me -- nothing goes to waste here: oatmeal becomes cinnamon bread, salmon immerses itself in a mustard-cream sauce to pour over pasta, turkey and mashed potatoes become transformed into a casserole. So I put the applesauce to good use by making mini quick breads to give as Christmas gifts. Ah, the spirit of interfaith cooperation!

This is a non-dairy recipe, because one of my co-workers has a severe dairy allergy. Since I'll be bringing treats to my friends for the holidays, I always want to be sure that I have items that are pareve ([PAHRV] = neither meat nor dairy, a designation within the Jewish dietary laws, a.k.a.: rules for keeping kosher) for him to eat -- he has a sweet tooth even more notorious than my own!

This batter can be made into 1 large loaf or, as I made it, into 3 mini loaves to share the wealth among more people. Sprinkled with cinnamon sugar, they are a most fragrant form of aromatherapy even before you can slice into them!

Cinnamon-Sugared Applesauce Breads

1-1/2 cups unbleached flour
1 cup white whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon + 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons brown sugar
8 ounces chunky cinnamon applesauce
1 egg
1 cup apple juice

Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly oil 3 mini loaf pans.

In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, whole wheat flour, salt, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, baking powder, 1/3 cup sugar, and brown sugar. Combine applesauce, egg and apple juice; pour over flour mixture and combine well.

Divide the batter among the loaf pans (1+ cups batter per loaf pan). Combine the 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon with the 2 tablespoons sugar; sprinkle over the batter.

Bake the breads for 30 minutes, until a tester comes out clean.

"Let the Pampering Begin"

Yesterday was my birthday. My card from Tom is pictured above, perfect with all the pink, the prissy pooch, and even a book and a pair of glasses! (My new ones came in, too; gotta get pictures to show ....)

Anyway, I'd spent a considerable amount of time -- as my regular followers know, I'm sure, given my usual brain paralysis when having to make any kind of choices about food! -- trying to decide where to go for lunch. I usually take the day off from work, just 'cause I can; and I'd rather have a feast earlier in the day than at night, so lunch was the perfect meal to pick for.

But did I want an Indian buffet, which was last year's winner (and which will win most of these types of contests)? God knows I adore Indian food, and a buffet means I can just eat some of everything rather than making only one selection. Buuuuut ....

What about pizza, which I almost never eat so I should treat myself?

What about the Real Seafood Company, where Tom and I had lunch for his birthday? Not only was the food exceptional, but the birthday girl gets a huge discount on her entree in addition to a free dessert. There's even a half-pound burger on the menu to keep Jeremy, my non-fish eater, happy.

What about a new deli here in town, a branch of one in the heavily Jewish suburbs of Detroit that I've eaten at and loved??? Corned beef, brisket, both old and new pickles ... food for my aging soul.

What about just going out for a fabulous dessert, rather than a full meal?

Oh, and then there's the whole "birthday cake" issue, too ... oy. Bake one for myself, indulging any whims I might have, which is what I usually do? Order an ice cream cake from Baskin-Robbins -- chocolate cake with mint chocolate chip ice cream, for which I have a distinct affinity? Buy a cupcake assortment? AAAUUUGGGHHH!!!

And then, I decided what I'd like most is to simply have my loved ones join me for a nice, home-cooked meal.

So I made a Sicilian pasta sauce over the weekend, the saga of which will be posted tomorrow. I decided to simply buy a two-layer chocolate cake from Trader Joe's, having read about it at work when the weekly flyer arrived in the mail and my co-worker Michele and I were perusing it. Suddenly, there was clarity! A quart of ice cream that had the Trader Joe's equivalent of peppermint Oreos crumbled into it would be a perfect complement ... et, voila!

Here's the pictorial tour ....

Spinach Salad with Vinaigrette:



Whole Wheat Penne with Sicilian Pasta Sauce:



Good Italian Bread with Butter and/or Seasoned Dipping Oil:



Dark Chocolate Cake:



From Jeremy -- a brand new coffee press, my beloved Intelligentsia coffee, and a beautiful new mug and saucer to sip the goodies from:



From Tom -- a sculptural watch with a flexible rubbery band to fit my scrawny 5-1/2" wrist, a case to hold business cards (which I now need to have made!), and lovely ginger candies:






From my friend Wendy -- a book all about my favorite game show (I was in the contestant pool in 2006, invited out twice but couldn't get there ... God's way of saving me from national humiliation, methinks!), and vanilla cupcakes with her grandmother's famous buttercream frosting:




And then, because today is the 8th and final day of Chanukkah (which began at sundown yesterday), Tom and I enjoyed another small piece of cake with the peppermint ice cream for an evening snack ... :)