"playing office"

well, i finally did it; joined the ranks of the self-employed (freelance stylist) a few weeks ago. this, of course, meant i needed a place at home where i could sort papers and get inspired, so i claimed this little spot in our first floor guest room and thought photos of it might be an appropriate intro to this new venture i'm on.
anyway, work's been coming in pretty regularly so far and i haven't spent much time at the desk until this week. which is when i realized how much i enjoy being surrounded by the kids' artwork and sitting at the beautiful desk that dp picked out for me more than 10 years ago. makes "going to work" any day, a pleasure.
happy vocationing,
lani

http://live.wsj.com/video/a-new-world-of-thanksgiving-side-dishes/831F4D21-4603-400B-8F24-E6BD86E9D4F4.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_videohome_1


(sent from a box of animal crackers)

mom's strudel

(can't believe i just wrote her name in lower case. she deserves ALL CAPS more than anyone i've ever known).

my mom made the most incredible saturday morning strudel. folks raved about it. little did i know that it was quite simple to make. follow this recipe and you'll have enough to make three, yes THREE, strudels of your own.

the dough.

can you read that?

now divide the dough into thirds and pop them in the frig for a bit.

or bake one and pop the other two in the freezer for when you forgot to plan ahead for the in-laws' overnight visit.

when you're ready to proceed, roll out the dough to a large rectangle (approximately 8" x 18") and smear with 3-4 tablespoons of jam/jelly/preserves whatever.

all rolled out with blueberry jam

then fold over the sides to cover the jam and bake in a 450 degree oven. for "20 minutes or until golden".

pull it out and dust with confectioner's sugar.

you'll thank me.

it's one of the easiest recipes ever and yet it garners accolades beyond belief.

now that's style

just outside of chicago yesterday, our son proposed to his lovely (and shocked) girlfriend while they flew over a field he'd plowed the day before. 

she said "yes"

and as one of his facebook friends so eloquently put it:

"Way to set the bar so high! Suddenly asking a lady for her hand in marriage over some endless bread sticks and salad at The Olive Garden seems kinda anti-climactic."

so for all those single men out there, this post is definitely a "serving suggestion only".

good luck improving on it.

"our orange pot is famous!"

that's what my husband said when he saw today's copy of the Wall Street Journal.

dig.drop.done ad with orange pot

(close-up of pot at home)

so maybe the pot's not famous...but it was part of the set i designed for one of our clients, dig.drop.done, that the Journal wrote about in an article on the bulb industry's efforts to encourage women to consider planting bulbs.

(you can see the online article here, with the ad featured in photo 5 of the slideshow.)

 oh, and that cake? it's a fake. styrofoam disks and spackling. made that too.  

trickery

back to the pot....it's an old 13-quart le creuset i found on ebay a few years back. ebay is a great source for these pots if you're willing to go with "used" as the retail prices are ridiculously high (the 13-quart goes for a whopping $445).

here's a link to one of the really tasty, almost as famous, dishes that has come out of that pot to date.

chicken 'n dumplings

and since the weather right now is just begging for chicken 'n dumplings, let me encourage you to make some this weekend, in any pot. it doesn't have to be a famous one.

sixteen thousand calories

that's how many are present in the two dishes i just completed for tomorrow night's dinner (recipenutrition.com told me so).

i've already shared one of them with you here, but there's more. so much more. like 9000 calories worth.

and those delicious calories are housed in the following recipe for braised short ribs:

(first of all, i was so excited to finally be making this dish after months of anticipation, that i had to pour myself a glass of wine (okay, port) just to calm my nerves. seriously, it felt like christmas eve.)

back to the recipe...

first you take some bone-in short ribs and rub them with black pepper and thyme (2 t. fresh cracked and 2 T fresh, respectively)

here are the ribs smothered in black pepper and thyme

after the ribs sit like this for 30 minutes, you sprinkle them generously with salt and move on to the next step where you put some pancetta in a pan over medium heat to render the fat.

once the pancetta is cooked, remove it from the pan and add enough olive oil to make 3 T.

then you sear (and i mean, practically blacken) the four meaty sides of the ribs. in batches if needed. do not crowd your pan or rush this step. this is where the flavor is really developed.

this can take 30 - 45 minutes

seared ribs

while the ribs are searing you should chop (or put in the food processor) 1 shallot, 3 carrots, and one large onion. then add them to the pot along with a couple of bay leaves and 2 or 3 sprigs of fresh thyme.

remove the ribs and add your veggies and herbs

saute for a few minutes until soft and "sweated". then add in the dark stuff: 2 T balsamic, 2 1/2 cups of deep bodied red wine and 1 1/2 cups port. cook this over high heat until it's been reduced by half.

deglazing with balsamic, syrah and port

then you place your ribs back in the pan with the reduced liquid, cover tightly (i used aluminum foil and the pot's lid) and place them in a 325 degree oven for 3 hours.

add the ribs (and some leftover mushrooms)

unfortunately, i do not have a photo of the completed dish. but if you make this yourself, you'll understand why.

you see, after smelling this cooking in the oven for hours - practically fainting every time i came back into the house from outside - i could think of nothing else but "where's my fork?!" when it finally came out of the oven, and failed to pause long enough to grab even a single shot.

go ahead - check the internets. you'll find very few photos of this dish in its completed state for the same reason, i'm sure.