Food & Thoughts

Is what I did this month. It's two weeks ago (it was on the 15th.), but I'm still revelling in it. I love being 30. I had a party - a FANTASTIC party, with cocktails, bubbly, dancing and finger foods. We had small glasses of butternut squash soup, shrimp cocktail in choux puffs (heavily inspired by Johanna's version - in fact, I took plenty of hints from Johanna's Canapées & Finger food section ), blinis with smoked salmon, creme fraiche and chopped red onion; we had chicken liver paté and little tarts with onion and bacon, sandwiches with grilled vegetables and bruschetta with aubergine and feta spread; there was homemade lamb sausages with slaw (and more on those some other time), pork meatballs with herbs and slow roasted tomatoes - and, pictured above, the party favorite, small baked potatoes with seared, VERY rare beef and a caper-tarragon mayo. Almost like béarnaise. There was cake - carrot cupcakes and a traditional lagkage , and chocolate mousse. Of cour...

nothing like a lazy weekend morning in bed, with breakfast, food magazines and a new lens (that I don't quite know how to master yet, but still already adore) I just realized I haven't recieved Gourmet since the May 2008 issue. (I am a subscriber. I don't expect them to just send them to me at random. Although after all those cookies, they should think about it, shouldn't they?) But seeing I didn't realize the lack of Gourmet for a full eight months - do you think that means I've gone overboard in the food magazine department? Is there really such a thing? I also subscribe to Saveur, Bon Appetit and Gastro (Danish food magazine. For men. I still get it though, it's the best around here.) Which ones do you get? (Real food, coming right up. Oh, and happy 2009!)

We're cookie O.D.ing here, I know, but I promise, this is the last one this year. These are Applebutter-filled Gingerbread Cookies. I found the recipe back when Luisa made applebutter last year, and she mentioned it could be used in cookies as well, providing a link to the LA Times and a recipe . Unusual for me, I didn't bookmark the recipe, only printed it, and it had been languishing in my notebook ever since. That is, until I made applebutter a couple of months ago and tried finding something to use all those jars for, besides licking it off a spoon. Which is good, but these - are absolutely divine. I made the dough a couple days in advance so I needed only to roll, fill and assemble, then bake on the day. That whole thing is a bit time consuming, but I really like the look of these, so I think it's worth it. I cut the "windows" at an angle, as you can see from the picture below, just to play around a little. They're gently spiced, and with the applebutt...

The last of the Gourmet cookies I tried this year. Chocolate Sambuca Crinkle Cookies . Admittedly, I made these because I have not one, but two half bottles of Sambuca lingering on top of the wine glass cabinet where we keep or liqour. We don't drink Sambuca. In fact, we rarely drink hard alcohol at all, but if or when we do, it's usually gin or vodka tonics, or the occasional mojito. I think maybe the bottles are leftovers from my younger days - I seem to remember a pretty hardcore shot of vodka, with orange slices dipped in sugar, resting on the edge of the glass, with a bit of sambuca poured over it, and then lit with a match. But truth be told, if that's what I drank, how on earth do I still remember? Sounds like it could make anyone forget! The cookies also have chocolate and walnuts in them, which are big ringers in the taste department, and Sambuca definitly needs something to pair up with. Personally, I like the anise-taste, but M despises it. I can't even get ...

I told you before that I am a hoarder . But I'm not only a hoarder of dried goods. I'm also doing very well in the kitchen utensils/machines/gadgets department. Like cookie cutters. I have a big jar full of them, and they look mighty pretty on my shelf, in my office - they're not even in the kitchen any longer. But truth be told, I've hardly ever used them.Yet, when I'm abroad (they're expensive around here, so I seem to be able to control myself) one or two always seem to sneak themselves into my suitcase. I have no idea how this happens. The truth is, I don't really care for cut-out cookies. They're often bland, buttery, boring affairs with their biggest asset being their shape (and perhaps their frosting). I know, you shouldn't judge a cookie - or anything else, except maybe a new haircut - by it's shape alone, but I do. I like the rugged, crumbly, fat discs of joy - not the controlled, straight-lined kind. Still, those cutters needed some e...