Tonight’s the night! The 20th anniversary of Project Return’s Annual Birdhouse Auction. This popular event attracts whimsical and creative structures for indoor and outdoor use as well as bird themed art. It all goes to a great cause supporting girls in crisis. The auction is held at the Rolling Hills Country Club in Westport CT after a preview of the artwork is displayed for two weeks in the storefront windows of Westport CT. This will be the third year I’ve participated in the event.

Most people think of me as a cookbook author but there’s another side of me—The side that grew up drawing  from life as I saw it on Saturday morning cartoons.  Those were the days when cartoons were still created on cells before the age of computers. I particularly liked all of the detail in the really early Disney cartoons that my parents used to watch in movie theaters with feature films. It got to the point where I actually “dreamed in cartoon”. I loved my two dimensional world. It was a happy retreat for me where anything was possible. My imaginary friends weren’t invisible to my family, I’d drawn portraits of all their familiar faces.  Best of all was  I wanted to design my own hat or coat I’d just draw them and like magic they were right there before my eyes.

There was just one problem with my artwork then and now… I never really mastered the human form or face. My people always looked more like political cartoons (recognize Nixon, tailors Haldeman Erlichman and “Little Johnny Dean?).  As a teenager, I wrote a fractured fairy tale turning Watergate into The Emperor’s New Clothes !

So I decided to stick to what I know best whether it was  dressing  household pets  to prehistoric animals as paper dolls. Here I have some dapperly dressed dogs :

And some “Designosaurs”:

For the 2013 Project Return Birdhouse Auction, I decided my paper doll concept was for the birds and created the character Alfred Albatross who ended up in the window of Brooks Brothers:

This year I got this inspiration to dress doves in the Edwardian and 1920’s attire from Downton Abby and put them into a coatrack frame. It was on display inside Brooks Brothers until tonight where it will be up for silent auction. 

This will be the first year where credit card bids will be made by cell phone so the mantra is “CHARGE”— Both as much as you can!

Some people like to mix things up on Thanksgiving with pomegranate glazed turkey or hazelnut stuffing. I’m not saying I’m one of those but I do tend to deviate from the norm now and then on Saint Patrick’s Day. Many times I’ve substituted Brussels sprouts for boiled cabbage or I will make an “Irish Tiramisu” using Bailey’s for dessert. This was one of those years for me. I decided to serve my corned beef as a side dish. In this case, I only needed about 6 oz of slivered deli corned beef but you can make this dish even better the day after if you have your own boiled corned beef from the main event.

I’ll admit I was inspired by kale sprouts I’ve recently started seeking out at Whole Foods. They are a product of Belgium and come in a 150gm bag.

They are really quick to cook. I simply trim off some some of the brown leaves from the sprouts and arrange in a large shallow glass bowl. Fill with about 1 1/2″ of water. Sprinkle with sea salt and microwave on high for 3 minutes. Stop microwave, redistribute them in the water, and cook 1 minute longer.

Drain Sprouts well on a paper plate and allow to cool to room temp.

Roll sprouts in a paper towel to squeeze out excess moisture.

Now for the cream sauce: heat 2 cups of milk with 2 tbs fresh snipped chives in the microwave for 2 minutes.

Make a roux by melting 1/4 cup butter and blending in 1/4 cup flour, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp onion powder a few grinds of black pepper and a dash of nutmeg. Blend together with a wire whisk over medium heat until bubbly and smooth.

Blend in heated milk and bring to a boil, stirring until thickened.

Take about 6 ounces of deli sliced corned beef, roll up and slice into julienne strips. (If you are using home-cooked corned beef, just chop up leftover meat since the texture tends to break apart more when simmered on your stove.

Stir into chive cream sauce. Add drained kale sprouts.

Spread into a casserole and cover with buttered breadcrumbs.

Bake at 350° for 20 minutes or until breadcrumbs are golden and bubbling.

This actually a great post- St Patrick’s Day dish just like a turkey casserole after Thanksgiving. There I go again comparing the two holidays. I can’t tell you how many times I say Happy Thanksgiving to people on St Patricks Day!

It’s cherry season again. Not when the trees blossom or or the fruit ripens but the month that has become synonymous with cherries. As a food writer for most of my life, it’s a given that any column you do in February should involve themes of chocolate or cherries or both. We are now past Valentines Day and sandwiched between Presidents Day and  Washington’s official birthday which means it’s time for cherry pie.

Before we start the recipe,  let’s first review the cherry tree legend. From our earliest days in elementary school, we were taught that young George Washington was given a small hatchet at age six to play with and went to town whacking away at bean posts in his parent’s garden. Something possessed him to take a swing at his father’s cherished cherry tree. When George’s father first discovered his favorite tree had been axed he was angry. George supposedly came forward and fessed up because he “could not tell a lie”. This impressed his father who valued his son’s honesty over a thousand trees . The iconic tale has been one of the first lessons on values in American classrooms. There’s just one problem with it (aside from the bad choice of toys for one’s child): most historians agree that it never happened.

The story was first published by biographer Parson Weems in 1809. The tale came from Weem’s interviewing a neighbor who had known Washington as a boy. This is the only historical source and not considered to be very credible which brings us to the next famous folklore. Washington most likely did not eat his cherry pie with wooden teeth. He had notoriously bad teeth, in fact he had only one tooth left by the time he became president. Instead, he wore dentures fashioned from cows teeth, hippopotamus  ivory even human teeth his dentist had purchased from slaves. None of these worked out that well because Washington was said to have been plagued his whole life with chronic pain from his false teeth.

This year my spin on the cherry tree/ cherry pie theme has a classic crumb topping with some toasted almonds in it. It’s a great version for those of us with a sweet tooth who like the contrast to tart cherries.

Cherry Crumb Pie

1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

3/4 cup quick cooking rolled oats

3/4 cup all purpose flour

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup butter, cut into cubes

1/3 cup sliced almonds, lightly toasted

1 unbaked 9″ pie shell (I prefer baking in a glass pie plate)

Cherry pie filling for 9″ pie  (see below)

Combine brown sugar, oatmeal, flour and salt in a mixing bowl. Using a pastry blender or two knives, cut butter into dry ingredients until crumbs are about the size of small peas. Stir in almonds.

Spread cherry pie filling into unbaked pie shell.

Cover filling with crumb topping and place on a foil lined baking sheet.

Preheat oven to 375° and bake on the bottom rack of oven for 50 minutes or until crust looks golden. I like to use glass pans for this reason. If the topping starts to brown much faster, lay a piece of foil across the top of the pie during the last 10 minutes of baking.

Cool to room temp before slicing.

Cherry Pie Filling

4 cups fresh or frozen tart cherries

1 1/3cups granulated sugar

5 tablespoons cornstarch

1/4 Tbs almond extract (optional)

Place cherries in medium saucepan and place over heat. Cover. After the release most of their juice, which may take several minutes, remove from heat. In a small bowl, mix the sugar and cornstarch together. Pour this mixture into the hot cherries and mix well. Add the almond extract, if desired, and mix. Return the mixture to the stove and cook over low heat until thickened, stirring frequently. Remove from the heat and let cool.

If you are still hiding the kid’s leftover Halloween candy, there are other ways to celebrate Valentine’s Day without overdosing on chocolate. How about an activity that actually helps them burn off a little of that sugar rush? I like to turn to Alice in Wonderland’s Queen of Hearts for inspiration. When she played croquet, it was no ordinary match. The court would swing pink flamingos at roly-poly hedgehogs. This is a great game indoors as well as outdoors. Think rainy day miniature golf and dream up your own obstacle course using stuffed animals, sofa cushions for tunnels and books for ramps. I even like to make big, bend able wickets out of playing cards and pipe cleaners. An ordinary croquet set can be transformed into a flock of flamingo mallets with some easy-to-sew felts heads. Rules…What rules? Unlike traditional croquet this is an improvisational sport. However– should anyone get too unruly shout “Off with her head”! (and take a time-out.).

FLAMINGO MALLETS & HEDGEHOG BALLS
(Note- croquet sets vary from 4 to 8 mallets. Materials are listed per individual mallet.)
Materials:

Light pink felt (a 9” x 12” rectangle will make one head

Yellow felt (a 9” x 12” square will make about three beaks)

Pencil, sheet of 9” x 12” paper, scissors, craft glue, pins, thread and cotton batting (or cotton balls)

Pink pipe cleaners, glue-on hobby eyes, pink craft feathers 4” or 5” styrofoam balls (one per mallet)

Acrylic paints (deep pink, black and shades of brown) brushes and sponge brush

Playing cards, white pipecleaners, invisible tape

Fold a piece of pink felt in half (6” x 9”) and cut through both layers into sort of a light bulb shape. Cut remaining pink felt the same way. Fold yellow felt in half (6” x 9”) and cut through both layers to make crescent shaped beaks. You should be able to get 3 double sided beaks out of one square. Glue two sides of each beak together and allow to dry. Pin beaks to one side of felt heads, facing inward. Pin remaining felt head piece on top and sew around edges, leaving bottom open.

Turn inside out. Stuff heads with cotton and place over ends of mallets. Secure around stick with a pink pipe cleaner. Secure feathers around neck by wrapping with pipe cleaner. Paint end of beaks, mouth and nostril with black paint. Accent head of flamingo with darker pink paint. Glue on hobby eyes. Paint styrofoam balls to look like furry brown hedgehogs.

Twist ends of white pipe cleaners together to add length. Tape cards along two parallel cleaners and bend into a D- shaped wickets.

When I look out the window this winter, it’s hard to believe there was actually a February when we kid-tested this game for my column in The Connecticut Post on my neighbor’s lawn!

However, you can just as easily set up Crazy Croquet in your living room as we are about to do! What a way to enjoy yet another snow day.

I’ll admit I’m sentimental (not about snow storms, they drive me nuts!) but about the first kid’s column I ever wrote for The Connecticut Post.

Years ago, I was very excited the Saturday it was coming out. It was a monthly column, a whole full page on recipes and crafts for children. Naturally, the calendar begins in January and I thought ice cream snow men made the perfect project: Something to do when you’re cooped-up with your kids on a snow day. Only problem was… it was springlike weather all month!

I almost ran out of  month waiting for a really good blizzard to re-publish my old January column on this blog and here the storm is turning to rain. Truth is, I couldn’t be happier!

So stock up on ice cream and coconut the next time the media is predicting snowmaggedon and  here’s the transcript from the article below:

You’re up an hour early listening for school cancellations. You call the snowplow guy and his message box is full. The car is somewhere out there underneath a snowdrift. You’d like to pull a warm, cozy blanket over your head and hibernate but when the weather outside is frightful— so are the kids! Relax… the best cure for kiddy cabin fever is to occupy them with a new and memorable activity. Once you’ve heard that winter storm warning (it’s coming, it’s coming), when you’re out raiding the supermarket for bread and milk, just pick up a few extra ingredients for sweet and savory snow men. Even if the blizzard is a bust, you’ll be prepared for the next snow day.

Frosty Ice Cream Snow Men

(Note: This recipe will make about six, more or less depending on the air content of the ice cream)

1/2 gallon vanilla ice cream

Shredded coconut (at least 2 cups in a shallow pan or plate) Miniature chocolate chips

Fruit roll candy (in strips)

6 chocolate covered mint patties

6 chocolate bon bon type candies

Toothpicks. Full size and mini-size ice cream scoop (very useful to have-available at cookware shops)

For each snowman: Roll two large scoops of ice cream and one small scoop in coconut. (Place scoops on a foil lined tray in freezer, while making the others) Stack one large scoop on top of the other and stack the head on top of that. Use chocolate chips to make eyes, nose, mouth and buttons. Cut strips of fruit roll candy and wrap around the neck of snowman for a scarf. Make a bowler hat out of the chocolates by spearing a toothpick through the mint patty and the bon bon so that the bon bon becomes the crown and the mint patty is the brim, secure in place on head. Keep frozen until ready to eat

It’s that time of year when everyone in the house has been “cutting back” after the holidays and trying to stick to new, healthier regimes. My New Year’s resolution was walking a mile and a half every day. Why a mile and a half? Because last year my resolution was to walk a mile every day and, I’m proud to say that I actually did it! It wasn’t easy because I live in the North East and walking outside in the winter can be treacherous most of the time (take it from one who’s a “frequent faller” on ice).  Mall walking is great but I live too far from a mall to waste time and gas to drive there. My solution is walking in circles around the periphery isles of Home Depot or BJ’s Wholesale club which are a short distance from the house. Sometimes I’ll even use Whole Foods for my exercise track but it takes more laps around the place. I use the pedometer iPhone app to know how I’m doing but, in general, it takes six orbits around my track to to reach this goal.

It’s not only a good work out for the body but for willpower as well. To any shopper,  there’s the desire to stop and check some new product that catches your eye but that has to wait until I’m done with my mile and a half. One of my favorite discoveries this year has been ready made Parmesan crisps. These have always elevated any Caesar salad to a whole new level and if you skip the croutons it makes a perfect meal for anyone who’s doing Paleo or low carb (as so many are in the bleak month of January). Parmesan crisps are very basic and simple  to make. You just bake grated piles of Parmesan cheese on baking sheets until they form crispy, lacy wafers— but when I’ve been walking for miles, I get lazy and would much rather pick up a box.

To my delight, I have stumbled upon two excellent brands. I first came across these Kali Parmesan Crisps for $7.99 at whole foods.

About a month later I noticed these Simply Indulgent Gourmet Parmasan Cheese Crisps at BJ’s Wholesale club for $4.99.

Both products are excellent and the only real difference is that the Simply Indulgent Gourmet Parmesan Crisps contain a trace of potato starch and their label list having 1 carbohydrate per serving as opposed to Kali’s 0 carbohydrate per serving but it a savings of three bucks so it’s a matter of which matters most to you.

So how do I use these things? On salads and soups of course. They are even a good dip dipper if you are off of eating chips. My go to favorite will always be a Caesar salad. I like to do my chopped style– where you toss the romaine with dressing, pack it into a bowl, invert it on your plate and garnish with a Parmesan crisp– a totally guiltless pleasure.