Seattle Visit and Chambers 520 Reunion

After visiting Jasmine and John in San Francisco, I had the chance to make a quick trip to Seattle to visit my Uncle Tony, Aunt Joni, and cousins Alyssa and Jared, as well as to catch up with my girlfriends (and roommates) from college.

It was a very quick visit. Aunt Joni and my cousins Alyssa and Jared met me at the airport, and then we went to visit Uncle Tony's offices at Microsoft, where he works in the XBox division. It was a special treat-- not only did we get a hands-on demo of the latest Microsoft product, which is a large table with interactive software for editing and collaboration, but we saw the offices decorated for Halloween. These weren't your average decorations. Instead, it was another world! Uncle Tony said that each group/division competes to have the best decorations, and that in the past some groups have even hired professional movie set decorators for assistance! Uncle Tony's hallway with a moving ghost was definitely making a strong showing.

I had a great time with Alyssa and Jared. They showed me their Wii program, and we did some ski jumping. The part of the program where you can make your own character was really fun. We saw the Uncle David guy, which looked just like Uncle David! We worked on making a character for me, which wears all black (naturally) and has short spiky hair and glasses. Now I will be another face in the crowd when Alyssa and Jared play their games. I loved seeing how much both of them have changed, and I hope I get to host Alyssa next summer in New York City when "Cousin Kelly Camp" opens its doors for its first visitor.

At the top is a picture of my roommates and me. We all lived together our senior year in college. We were quite a large entourage-- 5 adults (actually, six-- Megan's mom was visiting from Kentucky and took the picture) and 3 kids-- ages 3, 2 and 1. Coincidentally, the weekend we all decided to meet in Seattle, which is where Megan and Claire live, was the weekend of our 10th college reunion. Time really flies by. I love that although we have very different lives, different interests and are scattered across the country, we still have a connection that keeps us close.

Goodbye, Mother's Animal Cookies

Sadly, Mother's Cookies filed for Chapter 11 last week. I'm hopeful that another company will buy the recipe and continue to make the beloved pink and white frosted animal cookies that I love. They remind me of our elementary school days when Penguin's frozen yogurt was a new and exciting novelty. The ultimate treat was a vanilla frozen yogurt with Mother's Cookies broken up and sprinkled on top.

The news inspired to me make my own version. I used a sugar cookie dough recipe. I thought that I had either made a mistake or used a bad recipe because after creaming the butter, sugar and egg as directed and incorporating the flour and baking powder, the dough was very crumbly like sand and did not come together into a "smooth dough" as the recipe directly. I was contemplating adding more butter or egg, but then I remembered from my days of watching Auntie Mable make Christmas cookies that the dough comes together by pressing it into a lump and refrigerating. All those years 0f Christmas baking paid off. I squished the sandy grains together, and the heat of my hands melted the buttery crumbs into a smooth ball. After being refrigerated for about 2 hours, the dough rolled out smoothly.

I didn't have any animal-shaped cookie cutters, so I used my butterfly and star shapes instead. The small cookied baked quickly, and once they were cooled I gave them a quick dunk in some bright pink royal icing and liberally sprinked them with those little rainbow-colored rolly balls. Although they weren't a complete replica of the Mother's cookies, they were crunchy and buttery. Yum!

Welcome Tyler Jackson!

Welcome to the world, Tyler Jackson! Tyler was the rare baby to have made his appearance on his expected due date, which was October 6, 2008. I couldn't wait to meet the newest member of our family. I went to visit Jasmine and John in San Francisco a week after he was born. He was so cute and tiny, and I forgot how strong newborn babies are. After only one week in this world he was able to lift his head and let everyone know that he was HUNGRY.

His big sister Ella gets so excited when she is around him-- she stamps her feet and says "ooh ooh ohh!" She continues to grow and amaze me. Ella has a great memory; she remembers that I always wear boots, and when she came in the door she pointed to my boots and said, "Kelly shoes!" That's her walking around in my boots.

What a great looking family.

Cod est geniale!

The Marc Jacobs legal department is on a diet. After the stress of Fashion Week (during which time multiple croissants and pastries from next door Balthazaar bakery were consumed on a daily basis) and all of the wonderful wine and dinners we had in Napa, enough is enough. On the diet: lots of salad, fruit, and lean meats (chicken and fish). As Emmanuel declared yesterday, "Cod est geniale (Cod is brilliant!)." It helps that we are both on the same program-- we keep each other in line and discourage each other from raiding the receptionist's candy jar, which is always fully stocked with tempting chocolate treats. Without our diet, how else are we going to fit into our clothes?

A Napa Treat

I was lucky to be invited to a legal conference in Napa Valley in September. The conference was for all of the lawyers for the North America companies of Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessey. It was very well attended-- lawyers representing Duty Free Shipping, Wine and Spirits (Moet and Chandon, Newton, Hennessey, Belvedere, etc.), Sephora, Louis Vuitton, Donna Karan and Marc Jacobs were there.

The conference was a very special event. Not only was it a great learning experience, but I also had the chance to meet all of the other lawyers from the various companies and it was a good opportunity to share information that was relevant to the entire group. Each label had to make a presentation, and I presented on behalf of Marc Jacobs. My presentation was on the effect of bankruptcy law on contracts and specifically licenses and intellectual property, my favorite legal topic of all time!

The first night we had a tour Domaine Chandon and dinner at Etoile, the restaurant at the restaurant. It was an amazing night, starting with a tasting of 6 different wines (half sparkling, half still) from Chandon in the garden, followed by a wonderful dinner with wine pairings.

As a special treat, the next day we took a tour of the Newton winery. It is a private winery that was opened this year to the public, although it only offers two tours a day limited to 12 people each. Not only was the winery the most beautiful winery I have ever been to, with rolling hills and manicured gardens, the wine was unbelievable. It was the first time I was convinced to buy multiple bottles after a tasting.

Caja China Time

I went to Miami for Labor Day weekend with Dalmau, my friend from law school. Since I am not much of a beach person, I was most excited to try out the Caja China, which I had read about in Jeffrey Steingarten's Vogue article. The official story is that it was an invention for roasting meat brought by Chinese people who moved to Miami, hence the name (which means "Chinese Box"). It is a wooden box on legs that is lined with heavy stainless steel. The stainless steel lid/top is a shallow pan which is meant to hold the charcoal that provides the indirect heat to roast the meat inside the box. You can roast anything in it-- turkey, steak, etc., but the best of all is pork shoulder!

Dalmau's brother, Felix, had a large Caja China which was big enough to hold an entire half pig. Unfortunately, that one was ruined from leaving it outside in the rain. In anticipation of our visit Felix ordered a new smaller one that was better for when you aren't cooking for a crowd of 20 people. After about an hour of fitting and hammering the pieces together we had our brand new Caja China!

We put two marinated pork shoulders (with plenty of garlic, salt and onion) into the box skin down and about a quarter of a large bag of charcoal in the coal pan. We left it to roast for an hour to half and when shopping. When we came back, we turned the pork over to finish roasting and crisp up the skin, added more charcoal, and left it for another hour and a half.

The results? Absolute perfection! The best pork I've ever had. It's too bad I can't have one here in Brooklyn. I need a garden floor apartment with a backyard to hold my own Caja China.

Olympics and Chinese Cake

In honor of the Olympics, I decided to try my hand at Chinese cake as my weekend project. I tracked down the recipe in the "Secret Koyama/Gee Family Recipe Book." This was a high protein snack; one recipe called for 8-9 eggs! I enlisted my trusty KitchenAid hand-held mixer for the project, which required a grand total of about 1/2 an hour of active whipping of eggs and the batter.

Although the recipe called for baking the cake, I recalled that this cake could also be steamed, so I divided the batter among two round cake pans and baked one and steamed the other. The baked cake (on the left) came out toasty golden brown with a nice crust. The steamed one (on the right), made up for its lack in color with fluffiness.

I brought the cakes as a special treat for my ballet class. After a hard hour and forty-five minute class, I brought out the cake, and no one hesitated to pounce on it. I encouraged everyone try try both kinds. The results? About half and half. Some preferred the baked cake for its golden, slightly carmelized flavor. Others loved the tenderness of the steamed cake. Amazing that one ballet class can eat two cakes in about 10 minutes flat!

Kentucky Hot Browns and Massages

Jasmine and I planned a "Sisters Day" with Heather in Louisville the day before Heather's engagement party in Evansville, Indiana. We had such a great time! Jasmine and I flew into Louisville on Thursday night, and we both arrived very late after flight delays. Heather ended up going to sleep soon after she picked up Jasmine from the airport because she was working a half day the next day, but Jasmine and I ended up staying awake until almost 3:00 am watching the finale of So You Think You Can Dance! It was fun analyzing and discussing the dancing. I still think Katee was cheated.

The next day Jasmine and I lazed around the apartment until lunchtime, when Heather picked us up and we went to the Brown Hotel in downtown Louisville for its famous Hot Brown sandwich. The Hot Brown was developed at the Brown Hotel in 1926, and is a Hot Brown is an open-faced sandwich using thick cut bread, hand carved turkey and bacon covered in Mornay sauce and baked until the bread is crisp and a delicious, cheesy crust is formed on top. Served with grilled tomatoes on the side, it is absolutely decadent and delicious. Jasmine and I first saw this sandwich on the Food Network's Throwdown with Bobby Flay. Bobby Flay had a throwdown with the Castro Brothers, the official Hot Brown Chefs at the Brown Hotel, to see who could make the best Hot Brown. Of course, the Castro Brothers won, and they are now official spokespersons for General Electric, Heather's employer.

After stuffing ourselves full of turkey, cheese and bacon, we headed to the Z Salon for massages. What a treat! Each massage starts off with a foot wash/massage, followed by a 45 minute massage with the scented oils of your choice. Heather said she fell asleep and started snoring-- I think I did too. After our massages, we relaxed in the sauna and the waterfall shower. Jasmine loved the waterfall, but I thought it was too forceful. It can't be relaxing if you're being pounded in the back and ears with a huge rush of water!

We headed to the Zappos outlet to see if we could find any shoe bargains. The Zappos outlet is the best part of Louisville! Sadly, no fantastic treasures, although I was able to find a pair of sandals to wear the next night at the engagement party. We picked up some pies from a local pie store for dessert later in the evening, and settled in for the night to watch the opening ceremonies of the Olympics with Heather's fiancee, Robert, and the two "boys" Herbie and Freddie.

What a perfect day.

Devils on Horseback

Devils on Horseback are the easiest, most delicious hors d'oeuvres I've ever made. And quite a miracle in and of themselves, since normally I hate dates. Nothing makes me shudder more than dry, slightly grainy/mushy/ tough dried dates. But stuff them with goat cheese, wrap with bacon, and voila! Instant deliciousness. Just be careful to let them cool down after they come out of the oven -- otherwise these little molten lava balls of goodness will burn your tongue. *ahem*

This is a picture of the little guys before they went into the oven. I was so preoccupied with drooling that I forgot to take a picture when they came out of the oven all crispy and brown.

Homemade Pop Tarts

Homemade poptarts-- easy to make, and completely delicious. Will never go back to the store kind. From upper left, clockwise: blueberry, Nutella, raspberry, cherry. The tangy raspberry was the best. However, these were monster-sized (bigger than my hand). Next time I will try to get them a little bigger than a deck of cards so that I won't have a stomach ache after eating an entire one.

Black and Whites

"Black and whites" are a New York City speciality. It is an unusual cookie because the cookie part is more cake-like than cookie-like-- almost a very dense yellow cake with a light lemon flavor. The distinctive frosting is half vanilla/lemon, half chocolate.

A couple of weeks ago I had a craving for these treats and dug up a Martha Stewart recipe. I stopped by Sur La Table to pick up a small ice cream scoop, which is necessary to get the perfectly round shape. The saleswoman warned me that the frosting on black and whites was tricky. The batter was easy enough to put together, but needed an hour to sit undisturbed in the fridge while the flour absorbed the liquid. Bad news because I started making the cookies at 9:00pm!

I was very happy when the cookies finally came out of the oven. Perfectly round, smooth, and a golden yellow color. The frosting itself was not too difficult, but just took a little care and patience to let one half dry before starting the next half. I could hardly wait until they were dry enough to eat one!

Once the cookies were dry, I took one and eagerly took a bite. Blech! The lemon extract in the cookie batter and vanilla frosting gave the cookies a somewhat alcoholic, astringent flavor. I was somewhat discouraged, but decided to let the cookies rest overnight in the time-honored Koyama baked goods storage center-- the microwave (door closed, of course).

The next morning I decided to try the cookies again. After eating a healthy (ha!) breakfast of cherries and Triscuits, I did another taste test. I was happy to note that the lemon flavor had mellowed, and the cookies no longer had the unpleasant taste of pure alcohol. The chocolate side was yummy-- very chocolately. However, I was disappointed in the cookie part. I didn't think it had enough flavor, and was not enough to stand up to the strongly flavored icing, which was right on. I will have to research other recipes to see if I can improve the cookie. Martha let me down

Summer Breeze

Thanks to my good friend Dalmau, I no longer have a big empty space on the wall above my dining room table. We (well, he-- I just watched) applied my new Blik decal today. Getting all the little details to unstick from the transfer paper was a little bit tricky and involved no small effort on Dalmau's part. I think the effort was worth it-- it looks great, doesn't it?

Marshmallows!

I had never thought about making marshmallows before. Actually, I had never put much thought into them at all. But after reading a recipe online, I really wanted to try my hand at making them.

The directions were easy enough: make a sugar syrup, whip air into it using a mixer, and then gently stir in whipped egg whites.

I made the sugar syrup and then starting beating it with a hand mixer. I was suspicious because the sugar syrup looked kinda gray and thin. Hmmm.. this doesn't look like anything that would turn into marshmallows. But after about 10 minutes of hard work with the hand mixer, POOF! It was like magic-- suddenly the mixture turned bright white and fluffy. Hurrah!

I let the marshmallows set, and then used small cookie cutters to cut them out. I made 3 shapes: squares, circles and stars. I think next time I'll stick with just squares and circles, since the soft texture doesn't hold the star points very well. To be extra fancy I drizzled half with some chocolate. I think they turned out pretty good! These might be good Christmas presents this year. The marshmallows made a sweet treat each day (in the morning AND when I came home from work) for about a week until I had my fill of them.