A few years ago, when I was trying to promote my (now defunct) personal chef business, I set up a table at my son’s day care center and offered brownies to those people who were interested to hear about it. Then a little girl passed by with her father and commented, ”these brownies look like poopy.” Her father was embarrassed and scolded her about being impolite and such, but she was right. The tiny little brown bite-size pieces did look like poop, even though I put each one in an adorable heart-painted mini cupcake liners. Ah, the honesty of children—so brutal! So pure!

Speaking of poo, I had a pretty crappy day this week. I was in a bad, bad mood because of… never mind. Unfortunately, I volunteered to bake some desserts for a teachers’ appreciation lunch at the school.

Bad mood + making desserts = ?

I guess that maybe because of my bad mood, the desserts didn’t turn out so good… At least not in my mind. Not the kind of treats I felt I could bring to the school and put my name on the tag attached to it.

Mediocre brownies. Bland lemon bars. Mixed nuts cookies which were actually totally awesome only they included a secret ingredient, peanuts!, and I found out about it hours after they were done, packed in a box and ready to go, when I read the fine print, “may contain peanut ingredients”—darn!

Regardless, taste-wise, it sure is a great thing that people cannot taste the emotions of those who were involved in making the food! I keep thinking about this book that I just finished reading. For that reason, that day, I served my children cereal for breakfast.

The kids were SO excited. For them it’s a special treat. They are too young and innocent to know that it is a bad sign. A sign that their mother is either one or more of the following: tired, lazy, emotionally drained, and/or angry. That specific morning, I just didn’t care what they ate, the love was not pouring out of me, so I served factory food .

But the following day was better. I woke up with better energies, clearer thoughts and I was ready to tackle the day, and the desserts that needed some TLC (Tender Love and Care). I had 3 hours to fix things and/or bake something new.

First thing, I quickly made Citrus yogurt cake. That took about 15 minutes to prepare and put in the oven. Great. I love that cake.

Next, I thought about ideas how to make the brownies I made which were sooo meh—It’s the recipe’s fault!—taste better, more exciting. One idea I had was to turn them into rum balls. After reading some recipes, I’ve decided to try something else.

I took a small piece and drizzled cherry brandy, mashed it with my hands and stuck a dried cranberry in it… It tasted good.

But it needed something else, texture. A crunch.

A-ha!

You know these coco puffs?

They turned out to be just perfect.

I mashed and mixed everything,

Rolled them into balls, and coated them with powdered sugar,

(so they don’t look like you know what…)

Pretty, ain’t it?

Yum yum.

I liked it a lot! I was proud of it. I could sure put my name on it.

I thought it was brilliant!

I wish I left some for my family to eat—there was a lot of joy in them. (Ah! The secret ingredient.)

So, teachers and staff, if you happen to read this post, tell me, did you like them?

***

Next post: I’ll tell you what I did to the lemon bars…

When I started writing this blog about 2.5 years ago, I didn’t know what a blog was. I started it only as a way to keep in touch with some parents who had attended a session I gave about kids and food, picky eaters, and planning a weekly dinner menu (something that I have done as a personal chef ) at my son’s day care

My first posts were the handouts I gave to the participants. (Hey, first readers from way back in July 2008, are you still reading my blog?)

Later on, the blog took a life of its own and led me in different directions. From focusing on those 3 topics, with the weekly dinner menu plan as the main focus, I added A cake for the weekend “column” (Because I’m crazy about baking, and eating, a home-made cake—it’s just sooo relaxing!), Cooking with kids, Family friendly restaurants but their kid-friendly menus. I actually named my blog family-friendly food because of my deep dislike for the kids’ menus offered in restaurants. (It’s mostly junk food and low quality.)

Down the road I became aware of the politics of food after watching a movie about genetically modified food—what horror!—and wrote a few Power and Food posts after that. Those led to launching a second blog! called Good Food & Bad Food, but keeping two blogs was way too much work. (There’s good stuff posted there though, that you might want to read.)

Then I started blogging about Weight Loss/Diet, but I lost interest because I never cared that much about diets or the extra roundness on my thighs. When you’re 40, it’s sexy!

For a short while I experimented with Restaurant reviews and Food books & Cookbooks reviews. Then I had a series of Happy posts to lift up my spirit and some of the readers who needed it…

Next, Food Photography. But when my father became seriously ill, I started focusing more on my family relationships in my posts.

So, as you can see, I traveled many roads in the past 2.5 years of blogging but in the end, I lost track and interest.

Then, a few weeks ago, I invited some friends over to dinner. One of them got very excited about the roasted chicken I was preparing. As she stood next to me and peeled some vegs, she made a few enthusiastic comments. At first I thought she was pulling my leg. So I doubled checked: “You’re kidding me, right?” I asked her.

“No!” she said, “I mean it!”

Still not-believing, I asked carefully, afraid not to hurt her feelings or sounding patronizing, “You are that excited about a simple roasted chicken?”

“Yes! If I make this kind of dish for my family, they will go crazy!” she insisted.

And then it hit me.

There are people out there who don’t know how to roast a chicken. (But she says she can stir fry.)

My conclusion #1: invite friends over to dinner more frequently!

My conclusion #2: make your friends work with you in the kitchen! You might hear something interesting and/or get inspired.

Her comment did put me back on track. Re-focused me.

Her excitement about the simple dish of roasted chicken (with a Dijon marinade) and vegetables underneath it—the easiest thing to do, or so I thought—reminded me why I started writing this blog (and before that, why I was cooking as a personal chef), and about other things I wanted to do relating to food. Or, to be more exact, the food & family connection.

And this is exactly what I will be focusing on in this blog from now on.

And if I forget or go astray, please remind me with a whack on my head. But be gentle, please.

I will be refocusing on what drives me the craziest, Dinner! With a capital D.

Family dinner. Dinners.

And cakes.

OK, and cookies too. Because… They are an inseparable part of a family.

So, in a way, after 2.5 years, I’m closing a circle. I’ve taken a road with lots of loop-de-loops and now I’m back to the starting point. Only a bit wiser and more experienced.

***

Epilogue

So… my friend roasted a chicken and vegetables for dinner and planned to make a chicken stock after from the bones as I have done when she was here.

She reported back that dinner was a failure. Humf.

This means only one thing: I’m on a mission. There is still a lot of work to be done.

There are people out there who need to know how to roast a chicken.

***

Let’s start with some roasted chicken recipes I posted in the past:

Baked Chicken Meatballs

Roasted Delicately-Lemony Chicken

Balsamic and Sweet Roasted Chicken

Thanksgiving-y Chicken Dinner

Whole Roasted Chicken with Chardonnay-Tarragon Sauce, Roasted Potatoes and Carrots

Leftovers: Roasted Chicken

Roasted chicken with orange-mustard marinade, yellow jasmine rice, steamed broccoli

***

Thank you to all the readers who have stuck with me and are still visiting my site and reading my posts!

Thank you to those who comment!

Thank you to those who have tried my recipes!

Thank you to those who came back with feedback about the recipes!

Thank you, people!

I’ve been busy making lots and lots of doughnuts in the past week. It’s Hanukah and those doughnuts are the best treat ever!

After 5 batches of homemade doughnuts (Which we call “Sufganiyot”) and many guests and parties, I self-declare myself The Queen of Doughnuts—everyone said mine are the best! And I believe them.

And after eating 2-3 doughnuts a day I declare that I no longer worry about having muffin tops. Not at all…

On a different note, I been having thoughts lately about quitting to blog.

I lost my enthusiasm for so many reasons. Maybe one day when I have the time and energy for it I will explain it.

But last night we had a party. My guests and I spent nearly 3 hours in the kitchen—I was cooking and my guests were helping, and we drank wine and nibbled on cheeses and zucchini pancakes—and in a conversation with one of my guests I had an “A-ha!” moment. I was reminded why I started blogging in the first place. Because I want everyone to have a family dinner at home.

I am a great believer in family dinners. We made many changes in our life style so we will be able to have family dinners every night with our children, at home. I will write about that someday too—this IS important!

Meanwhile, I’m rethinking… I think I need to refocus on my goal/why I started blogging in the first place.

This blog sure took so many turns and went in different directions since I’ve started it two and a half years ago, and I lost focus on what matters to me. I know that what makes me tick is this family dinners “thing”. So, I will be back.

I think.

We got there right on time. One minute before the sun disappeared behind the mountains. Can you see it?

I turned around and snapped this,

and the sun was gone. Sunset has begun.

It was date night. We had dinner—the restaurant was fancy, the food was good, a bit pricy, and overall OK but not worth mentioning to you (We won’t go back)—so, there won’t be much talking about food today. However, afterwards we went to the beach, to lazily sit on our bottoms for hours and gaze at the sunset and the water.

I was in desperate need for some quiet time–rest time for my crazy multi-tasking, tired brain—with no one around around to call “Mommy! Mommy!” and ask me for this or that. I desperately needed to sink my feet in the sand and feel the cold ocean water between my toes…

Summer is short; I count every day that goes by. And each day that passes without enough outdoors time makes me nervous—winter is waiting around the corner.

All I want is to get as much time as possible with water and sand, sand and water, and lots and lots of sun, and yeah, a little bit of sweating won’t hurt either.

Now I warn you, you are about to see a lot of feet!

Ready? Here we go:

Because I badly needed—I still do—a lot of this,

And I encourage you to do so as well, and hurry, before summer ends!

and stare at this,

for hours…

and more and more of this splashing in the sand—well, sort of…

and gazing at the ocean for hours and hours

I call it Water Therapy. I really, really need one.

Water Therapy, in my book, includes: sitting or lying, hardly moving, rarely talking, and a lot of water and horizon staring…

Looking up

and looking down, watching the ferries go by, back and forth from Seattle to the islands

But then, then, bad habits take over

I just can’t sit still for more than 15 minutes—this is what motherhood does to a woman! (Apparently, men are less affected…)

And I really really needed to feel my feet touch the cool sand (Because right now, for example, I have two kids talking to me at the same time, one about Lego and the other about hair clips…) before summer is over.

And, back to the blanket, to sit and do some more gawping and gaping and gawking, and not much moving,

Just staring at the horizon, and the water, the ferries, the boats, the sail boats, the planes… Gosh, there’s so much traffic in this world!

***

What is your must-do summer activity you just can’t seem to get enough of???

***

No, it’s not going to be a butt blog.

But I’m having a little face lift accompanied by some clean up. No, not me-me, the blog, of course… silly. Have you noticed the new light blue background (it used to be green) and the new header (still a work in progress)?  Do you like it?

Anyway, it’s been taking hours of our time but behind the scene there’s been some cooking and baking done only I didn’t have a chance to post any new recipes. So, I thought I’d share with you some sneak peek into what’s coming up next, are you ready?

Bacon mashed potatoes. A no brainer to make, really…

Fried rice, no brainer either…

Sautéed kale. Simple…

My son made this…

For a few minutes I considered putting it in the header, instead of the cupcake photo, but wasn’t sure if people will get the joke. Some might think I’m a psycho or whatever…

***

After a long long time that I thought about it, I have finally baked these date cookies

The weather was nice and we had lunch in the backyard. A new version for my crispy chicken legs was born, crispier, sweeter, and better

Ok, from last night…

Ground buffalo

Roasted butternut squash

which I used in a wrap (I love wraps)

and tonight I’m going to turn it into a different dish. maybe I’ll cook the buffalo in tomato sauce with some chili peppers and cilantro… give it a little kick. Add maple to the squash and roast it a bit more… we’ll see…

***

and as we speak this hazelnut with chocolate chunks cake is being baked in the oven…

I had a little experiment with another recipe so we’ll see how it turns out.

in 15 minutes I’ll know…

So, do you have any preference as to which recipe you would like to have first?

3/15/2009 update: A few days after publishing this post I was contacted by a PR person for the company that makes one of the brands. I’d like to make it clear that my point in the post was not to promote brand A or B but to emphasize the importance of reading labels and the ingredient lists on the products we buy and to remind myself as well as to encourage other people to know more about our food so we can make better choices at the grocery store.

***

This puffed rice and corn treat/snack has become a recent favorite treat for my son. I’m not sure it really qualifies as a snack. Maybe a munch? In any case, I don’t know where he has seen it and/or ate it for the first time, but one day, out of the blue, while we were grocery shopping, he asked for Pirate’s Booty. “Pirate whaaat?”, I asked. “Pirate booty”, he said. “Pirate whhhhat?”, I asked again… I had no idea what it was. We looked for it and found it at the snacks isle. I read the label quickly and thought it wasn’t so bad, and I bought it for him. No need to say how very excited he was.

Yesterday I was terribly busy but had to go grocery shopping. Since I wasn’t sure I’ll have time to go to the usual store where I shop, I stopped for a quick purchase at another one which is smaller and closer to my home to pick up a few things. Both stores claim to have a good selection of organic, free-range, better quality food compared to the other chains, but the smaller store – let’s call it store A – is perceived to be cheaper. (I don’t know if that’s true or not since they mostly carry different brands).

On my way to the cashier I noticed a product similar to the Booty one. It had a different name but it looked the same. Later I opened it in the car and ate a few puffs and thought that it tasted pretty much the same. Back at home, I read the ingredient list (It’s just something that I do from time to time. Am I crazy?) and I got curious about whether it’s the same product or not.

In the afternoon I had a chance to go to the regular store – let’s call it store B – with the kids to complete my shopping. I looked for the pirate booty package as well. I read the label on the back. It was different. Shorter. I knew I had to do some serious research. At home, I had to compare. This is what I found:

Also, I asked my husband to arrange a blind taste testing of the 2 brands. With my eyes closed I could tell from the first bite which one was brand A and which one was brand B. There was a difference. One of them had an artificial and somewhat metallic flavor, and compared to the second one tasted pretty horrible. Guess which one tasted better? (Answer: Pirate B)

And besides, I don’t know about you, but me… As I get older, I like things to be simple. I like short lists of ingredients. I like to know (preferably) all of the words in those lists. Bizarre words in my food scare me. Now all I can think about is should I give Pirate A to my children to eat? Or, should I throw Pirate A into the trash? Am I being too paranoid about the quality of food?

What would you do?

***

The moment I saw Matthew open a plastic container filled with red stuff in it called “kimchi”, a smell of dirty socks filled up the room. I wondered, has someone taken their shoes off – it’s been a long day after all – or is this what kimchi actually smells like? I never had kimchi before and I try to resist the urge to ask my neighbors at the table if they had eaten kimchi or know what is, but the stench of moldy socks terrifies me and I decide to play it safe.

“Have you ever had kimchi?”, I ask the woman who sits next to me. “Yes!”, Diana replies with a spark in her eyes and a big smile. “What is it? What’s in it?”, I hear myself asking. I consider myself an adventurous eater and hearing myself asking all these questions surprises me. I postpone the moment of tasting it by writing down the dialogue that goes on in my head.

I lift the fork with a cube of a pickled veggie stabbed on it, it’s covered with red matter, and I bring it closer to my nose. “Hmm, it actually smells good. Fresh and vibrant”, my brain tells me. I touch the kimchi with the tip of my tongue recalling vaguely something that someone once said about kimchi being hot and spicy. “Hmm, not so bad”, I think. I take another tiny bite and feel pleasantly surprised.

It’s almost 9 PM; it’s been a long day and I’m tired but each part in my mouth that has touched the kimchi is being brought back to life. I should take another bite.

***

This is when I had to stop because time was up.

You might still not know what kimchi is from my description so, well, you’ll have to do your own research, or check out this post on Matthew’s blog.

But why am I telling you about this? Because I share with you my experiences with food photography, the workshops, my learning curve, the tips and tricks I learned. I am also taking writing workshops and I wanted to share this one with you as well.

I never planned to write. I disliked the writing class I had to take in high school as well as the literature one. I had no patience for reading books and analyzing what the author meant to say back then. I had more urgent things to do at 17. I think my final scores in those classes were around the 70 +/- (out of 100). I now wish I listened better.

I did get better with writing essays and research articles when I was a student and a research assistant, but this kind of writing is different than academic writing. I have a lot to learn. I need a lot of practice. I don’t know how good or bad, interesting or boring I am. I’m trying to find out.

(Hint hint: Your feedback will be greatly appreciated!!!)

Do you write? Do you struggle with it or does it come easy to you?

I don’t feel like posting recipes lately. Do you mind at all? I wonder… Please do tell me. Because my head seems to be more into daily family stuff, writing or photographing whatever is around me than posting new recipes that I cooked or baked. I feel more excited telling you about Saturday then the slowly braised beef brisket and creamy potato gratin I made a few days ago. Although now, when I think about it, I do want to share those with you… Oh, they were lovely. But Saturday… Saturday was my kind of day. It started with an amazing 7 am sunrise and turned into a sunny, relatively warm winter day, quiet, blue sky, a few feather white clouds here and there. A perfect day for a little stroll in the neighborhood before lunch time. The air was fresh, clean, and crisp, and we wanted to taste it as well as shake some of the dust and the rust in our bones.

We went to the playground. Although it’s been only a week since the last time we went to the park, it feels as if it was a long time ago. I miss it so. In summer we go almost every day.

On our way to the park we walk through patches of green and mini forests with a water creek that runs through. The water is cold and so clear.

Beautiful trees.

We pass a few office buildings and then I notice the sparkling drops of rain still hanging onto the branches and leaves, shining like diamonds in the sun

Finally, we’re at the park. The little one goes straight to the swing. She’s been swing deprived for a while now and can’t have enough of it.

But the boys like to fool around. They got so much energy locked inside that needs to be released…

And here she goes to the swing, again, for a second round

We fuel up with a little snack and water

Fool around and munch on crackers some more

… and swing, again…

And before you know it, it’s time to go home before we get too hungry and tired. On the way back, more trees and a bird house (Who bothered to climb so high and nail a bird house to this tree?)

A small pond and a handful of ducks. This guy looks a little pissed off, doesn’t he?! Scary.

OK, and now to the part I dislike about giveaways which is announcing the “winner”. Why? Because only one person gets a gift.

And you are all winners to me.

Maybe we can rename it the “gift receiver” instead of a “winner”. It sounds somewhat better, no?

So, the gift receiver of the cookie scoop giveaway iiiiiiiiiiisss… Grace.

Grace, please send me an e-mail to nurit AT familyfriendlyfood DOT com with your address so I can send you your gift.

Note the photography. I think I got better this year and soon I will share with you more Food photography posts and what I learned…. Meanwhile, I have found 2 useful posts, one about controlling the light and the other with general tips.

Also, don’t forget, the cookie scoop giveaway ends tomorrow and a winner will be announced shortly after.

Here’s my 2009 sweet recipes round up:

January: Rugelach are one of my absolute favorite cookies, way up there in the top 5. I love the cream cheese in the dough and the endless filling combinations. It’s a little bit of work rolling each cookie but worth every little crumb. I feel like a cookie monster when I make these. No sharing.

February: Ahhh, so hard to choose between Chocolate-Halva Babka Cake and Mini Cognac-Soaked Chocolate Cakes. I really can’t. Which one would you choose? A yeast cake that makes the house smell so good or a grown up cake that you can’t drive after eating 3 pieces of it?

March: It has to be Marjolaine Cake! Really really really one of the best! Certainly at the top 5 on my cake list!

April: Ricotta Bundt Cheesecake. Easy to make, with light texture and a hint of lemon goodness.That is the essence of home baking to me.

May: A little kid had a birthday and I made him this Dirt cake. He really thought it was dirt for real and refused to eat it… even after he saw all of us eating it. But we encouraged him to change his mind.

June: chocolate cake! Need I say more? Simple and easy, and yum-yummy!

July was a one year birthday for my blog!!! I celebrated it with the most amazing Summer Berry Cheesecake. Did I hear you say “oh, my goodness”!”? You can say that again…

August: This luscious, coconut oie with vanilla custard and lot’s of whipped cream makes the Triple coconut cream pie Seattle’s most famous dessert. It looks fancy but is pretty easy to make. See an even easier version on Giyen’s blog, Bacon is my enemy.

September: No cake. I wasn’t in the mood. But later on I made this easy and comforting Chocolate-vanilla tea biscuits bars which reminds me of a simple cream cake I had in my childhood over at my aunt’s house. I put mine on a plate I took from my father’s kitchen cabinet when I helped clean up his house.

October: I loved this Pumpkin banana cream pie so much that I’m gonna show off with two photos!

November: Figaro bars a recipe from my mother-in-law with a pinch of cardamom…

December: Dried cranberries and almond jumbles in a typical Seattle sunset blue light…

Happy and sweet New Year to you!

Virtual hugs,

Nurit

I thought I won’t, but I surrender… Here are my favorite savory recipes from last year.

Notice the quality of the food photography. I think I got a little better this year. Sweet recipe summary will come soon, in case you wondered, or was worried…

*** Reminders: Guest posting: want to guest post on my blog or want me to guest post for you? Also, a cookie scoop giveaway. Details here. ***

January: Young Onion Tart with Cantal, Applewood-Smoked Bacon was amazing! And amazingly simple to make! Look at it as an upscale pizza, if you must. I urge you to make it.

February: Sweet and Smoky pork chops, I made these so many times this year! De-lish.

March: Roasted potato leek soup and my first scary to publish post about a dream I had and wanted to share (Ahem, last week I dreamt that I was on the Oprah show talking about my book. Ha! But you can never know…. right?!)

April: Chicken Liver with Cinnamon and Apples, a real good choice of recipe for a tight budget (it was Hunger Challenge week) + a big flavor. Trust me.

May: Spaghetti with Carbonara, quick, easy, and luscious

June: A few recipes for easy grilled salmon because I had too.

July: Crispy chicken legs became a new favorite in our home

August was a rough month. No recipe. But in September I dedicated a recipe to my father who has passed away in August. How to make Shakshuka?

So I get to choose another recipe for September. It’s hard to choose between Foraged wild mushrooms soup or Israeli couscous with fresh veggies salad but I choose the second ‘cos it has pretty photos of my cute little one.

October: Chicken soup doesn’t need introduction…

November: I had a meatball attack. A total craving for meatballs, but my favorites were from my first Asian cookbook. Check out the Steamy sweet and sour pork meatballs

December: Minestrone soup, ending the year with a comforting soup.

Looking back at all of this makes me realize how much I love blogging!

Happy New year to everyone!~

Nurit