birthday dinner season

meyer lemon tart.  georgia buchert made the stunning crown for me, and it's become our birthday crown.

we have eleven family birthdays in january, february and march. 

what are you people gettin' up to in april, may and june?

birthday dinner season is in full swing at my house.  today was cecily's family birthday dinner.  i'm always really curious about what my people will ask me to cook for their birthdays--i finally get to know how they really feel about certain dishes.

some of them have predictable favorites:  moses always wants spaghetti and meatballs.  christian always wants a classic chocolate cake with no frosting.  eva frequently requests beef stroganoff. 

catsup chicken, broccoli with daddy's dipping sauce.  i bought a cheaper rice this week to see if it really made a big difference.  it did :(.  have been spoiled by a much more delicious rice.

cecily surprised me by asking for something new this year: two family staples::  the meyer lemon tart from alice waters' & lindsay remolif shere's chez panisse dessert cookbook (a classic cookbook you might add to your collection if you're into that kind of thing,) & mark bittman's  minimalist ketchup chicken from the new york times, a fantastic, garlick-y comfort food i discovered a few years ago that is very popular chez exoskeleto.

(a note on the tart:  meyer lemons are sweeter than eureka lemons.  i use the two meyer lemons called for in the recipe PLUS one fairly large eureka lemon.  i always want less sweet, more tart, and more lemon flavor in lemon desserts.  i need to continue working on making this tart a little tarter, but this alteration is a step in the right direction.) 

what do you want for your birthday dinner?

i want chicken under a brick, lula's curry fries, and the tart cockaigne from the joy of cooking.  

my birthday's in july, so heads up!

list

holiday family & friends time:

georgia buchert made this beautiful crown for me.  i was so touched.  this pic doesn't do it justice.  i'll try to get a better one.

1) omg.  food.  out of control food.

2) prime rib & brussels sprout, nativity, very sketchy pick-up rendition (omg.  out of control melismas) of "for unto us a child is born,"  buche de noel, and christmas crackers on christmas eve.

3) matching swiss nightgowns for me and all the girls.

4) thoughtful "experience" gift certificates (dim sum, play lists, shopping expeditions, pedicures, thrifting and vintage store shopping), cool, creative gift-wrapping jobs & hand embroidered cards.

5) turkey dinner at bam's on christmas day.

6) christmas day migraine.

7) pitch perfect with my sis at the dollars.  yes!  see it.

8) boxing day locust salon featuring:  candy cane cake by ingrid, baked brie with fig and cranberry by kathryn, carrot-jicama salad AND hand made crown by georgia, cheese ball and last minute table arranging by bonnie, olives, cheese and nuts from the belnap-jensens, lots of baking and cleaning by amelia, magical drum solo by greg, stylophone virtuosity by steve, and prepared piano by christian.

el gallo giro is one of my favorite provo restaurants.  check out their molcajete.

9) over-the-top take out from el gallo giro for lunch today--handmade guacamole, molcajete, pollo with pickled pink onions, 29 handmade corn tortillas, nopales, mole rojo, sangria, and, yeah.

10) the hobbit--loved having moses' running commentary, as he sat on my lap for most of the movie, and obviously it was his favorite movie he'd ever seen since it looked exactly like a video game, but, dude, i hate cgi.  it seriously looks like a piece of crap.  sorry fans.

the opening salvo

homemade yogurt

the asplunds have begun to arrive.  almost everyone is here now--we're just waiting for emily, adam, and new baby charlie to get here next week.  bammy assigned each family to do a dinner, and tonight's my night.  since i'm feeding 20 +, and many of them are vegetarian, i opted for the locust salon dal, rice, raita, and naan.

fresh ground spices are best, but if you're not up to the extra steps, just go with already ground.

today i went to bollywood market to pick up supplies, and a few new cooking tips.  here's the recipe i use for raita, that i've cobbled together from various trips to bollywood market.  i'm sure indian cooks would die at how i've bastardized it, but it still tastes good.

grapejuice from our garden

today was a super productive day:

1) finished grading final portfolios.  now i just have to tabulate and post grades.
2) finished christmas shopping.  i resolve to not step foot in a single store again between now and christmas.
3) made yogurt.
4) got neighborhood christmas treats--our homemade grape juice--ready to go.
5) made dal & raita for dinner.  just about to start the rice, with black cardamom, cinnamon stick, and cloves, as per bollywood market directive.

diced cucumbers.  love the colors.

here's how i make my raita.  tomorrow i'm going to try a tomato version.

lara's raita

32 oz. plain yogurt
1 english cucumber, peeled and diced
1-2 handfuls of cilantro, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely grated
1 t. cumin seeds, toasted on the stovetop and crushed in mortar & pestle (or just use some pre-ground cumin)
1 lemon, juiced
1 t. salt
cracked black pepper
1/4 t. sriracha (you can omit.  sometimes i like it a bit spicier, so i add the rooster sauce)

add cilantro on a sliding scale, according to taste.

mix ingredients a few hours ahead of serving and let sit, covered & refrigerated, so flavors can come together.  or obtain something eva and anna have dubbed "second day swag."

the final product.  resting in my fridge right now, waiting for guests to arrive.

tomorrow i hope to get my dal recipe posted, as i've had a few requests for it, but it's not written down yet.  so.  wait for it.

legwear:  black pointelle tights

inspiration:  bollywood market

looking forward to:  feasting with the family

the rubble of our feast

hoagies, potato salad, crudite, chocolate chip cookies

trying to get every last drop of summer.

one more day until school starts for me and the two small children.

tree climbing at huber grove.

looking at this list, i have yet to:  1) hike timp, 2) take a road trip to southern utah, 3) buy a new pioneer bonnet, and 4) serve a fancy italian backyard dinner with candles.

today we had a picnic.  i wanted to go to southfork, but christian suggested huber grove in midway, and i'm so glad we went.  we haven't been this summer, and i had forgotten how cool it is.

the creamery.  snake creek ran through the cellar, keeping the dairy cool.  it's built of pot rock, volcanic rock prevalent in midway.

huber grove is a homestead from the 1800's built by mormon swiss immigrants.  the homestead is filled with fruit trees, aspen trees, a cottage and a pot rock creamery, and snake creek runs through the property.

Add caption

best of all, the homestead is covered in little plaques with excerpts from huber's journals and poems he wrote.  and quotes like this, that casually suggest a dramatic and amazing lifetime: "when huber was in vienna, he spent evenings at the vienna opera, when he was not imprisoned for his faith."

or this:

bees!

moses and i walked the little trail near the creek, dense with horsetail, and read up on the flora and fauna of the homestead, courtesy of the wasatch state park.  moses asked me afterwards if i had enjoyed our "naturous" walk.  ingrid wrote down quotes from the plaques in her journal and read snippets of the poems in german to us.

moses' ninja pose on "naturous" walk.

lula climbed a tree.

we ate.  we showed anna from cambridge a beloved place of ours.  since my mom grew up in midway, it has a special pull for me, and for the kids, who've spent many summers and vacations there.

anna from cambridge.

every time we have a picnic, i think of c. thomas asplund's beautiful poem, seasonings.  christian's father was such an amazing poet, and he didn't have time to write nearly enough poems in his foreshortened life.

II

The smallness of it all makes one wonder;

the sitting on a smooth bank

in the river smell and sun

and ants and grass

tickling up the sleeve.

The dry kiss

and the moist kiss.

The baby reeling through the grass on reckless legs

and you

stretching, head back amid the rubble of our feast,

reaching beyond me for the tiny sun

blink

                        you are gone with the flick of an eye

                                    blink

            gone are the empty cartons of a summer day

                        blink

            gone is the shameless sun.

            Suddenly my child stands before the tiny sun

            a giant shadow before the tiny sun

            and I can see that in his reeling quest for age

                                    he has stolen my years

                                    and shatters in the prism of  my tears

                                    and with the tiny river I am young no more.

blah blah

so not bland

today was kind of bland.  probably because i spent it grading.  no doubt because i spent it grading.

i will do the same thing tomorrow, then have a break.  then everything will be okay, right?

because at this very moment i'm on the brink of an existential melt down.

allow me to take a moment to reflect on the tangible evidence of the real and good in my world.

and to  show you pictures of the most unexistential thing in the world.

tamales.

mi amigos green corn tamales. thanks to my parents and brother david for their hard work keeping a high quality restaurant going and for being so generous with it.

these are from the family restaurants, mi amigos, bought by my parents in 1980 (or '81?) and now run by my brother in mesa and phoenix.

whenever my parents visit utah, they bring a dozen or two green corn tamales, frozen in a bundle, and a quart of the best green chile sauce in the world.  we so look forward to tamale dinner at my parents' condo on each and every visit.

every time, the menu is exactly the same:  tamales with green sauce, my dad's roasted chile salsa, "corn crisps"(a kind of open faced quesadilla on a corn tortilla), black beans garnished with cilantro and diced white onions, and shredded lettuce, tomatoes, and sour cream.

my dad's roasted chile salsa.

it's part mexican, part gringo, and 100% candland family tradition.

don't you love little boxes with presents inside?

so sunday was ingrid's birthday (have i mentioned that?) so my parents hosted a dinner for her.  the light was so beautiful, the table so warm, and lula's lemon curd filled cupcakes so tragically delicious.

anna did the pretty writing.  i added sparkly sprinkles cuz i couldn't leave well enough alone.

sexy close-up of lula's lemon curd cupcakes.

i'm lucky to have a great family and some really fun, strong traditions.  and parents who have worked really hard to create family unity and loyalty.  julie has reminded me on several occasions that i can't take this for granted.

the older i get, the more grateful i am for my family, and the more i realize how unusually blessed i am in this regard.

christian, mom & dad. something about the light was special that evening.

also lucky to have my 90 year-old grandparents around and my wonderful aunt bonnie who is like a second mother to me slash really awesome therapist/girlfriend.

feel the luv.

more details and photos of someone else's family dinner than anyone could possibly care about, but thank you for the indulgence.  i do feel slightly less existential now.

it's time to start talking about julie turley's birthday now, right around the corner.