Yesterday was Sam’s birthday. It’s hard to believe how quickly 21 years have flown by; it’s even harder to imagine that Noah will be 26 in December! My boys grew up so fast, I was looking through a few photos yesterday, and I picked out a few that I love and a few that show how much they have grown. I have different relationship dynamics with each of my sons, but I laugh a lot with both of them.

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Last night after Sam’s birthday dinner, he kissed me on top of the head and said,  “Thank you, everything at dinner was perfect.” 🥰

As a cook and someone who likes to entertain, this was such a great thing to hear. Yes, the food was delicious, and the cake was decadent; but the table, the outside temperature, the fan keeping flies away, and the company all set the stage for that perfect dinner. 

After I picked up the seafood for the seafood boil, which ended up being a combination of a low-country boil and a New England clam bake, it was a lot of prep work, but the cooking portion was a snap! 

I made my court bouillon with the Old Bay seasoning I made the other day, along with a whole head of garlic, red and green onions, and some fresh herbs. I made the bouillon earlier in the day so the flavors would have time to develop, and indeed they did. 

While I prepped everything, I put each component into its own containers. It wasn’t all getting dumped into the stockpot at once; they would go in one at a time, beginning with the potatoes, corn, colossal shrimp, clams, and the lobster went last. 

I dressed my table the traditional way with lots of newspapers, a tray covered with newspapers, and lots of lemons not only for squeezing on the seafood feast but also to keep the flies away. I also had Marty set up a fan to blow in the direction of the table, which is an entertainment trick to keep bugs away. 

I got out the little seafood cocktail forks and nutcrackers. The newspapers were our plates, and I had lots of paper napkins on hand. I usually prefer cloth napkins, but not in this case. Everything had to be simple and rustic. 

When the seafood pot was done, I literally piled it in the center of the table, on the large flat tray covered in newspaper. After everyone had a cup of drawn butter and a little cocktail sauce, we dug in. 

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It was so much fun watching everyone cracking lobster tails and claws, peeling the colossal shrimp, and dipping their baby potatoes and mini pieces of corn in their butter cups. The clams were amazing, and only two didn’t open, just like last time. 

Everyone took their time while they ate, and slowly the huge mound of the seafood feast was whittling away. 

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Clean-up was a snap, or I should say roll and fold. We rolled and folded up the newspapers and threw them directly into a garbage bag. The table was clean and didn’t even need to be wiped down!

I grabbed the birthday cake, which was a Boston Cream Pie, one of Sam’s favorites right after we ate. It was getting late, so I didn’t want to wait; I know Noah was beat and needed to get up early. 

The cake came out good; at a couple of points, the cake became a huge pain in the ass, but in the end, it was better than I hoped. Sam’s eyes danced when I told him what kind of cake it was. 😊

We had some funny conversations while we were having dessert. My heart was so happy that the four of us had such a great dinner together, and everyone loved the food. A cook’s dream…always. 

Everything that was presented at dinner looked like it was smooth sailing. Cooks, chefs, and hostesses know that this is what you strive for whenever you cook and serve others. The dinner guests don’t see the cluster-fucks that go on behind the scenes in the kitchen. 

I am always honest with you guys, so I’ll share the three fuck ups that I had to fix. The first one was the pastry cream for the cake. I made it on Friday, trying to save time on Sunday. While it was cooking, it seemed ok and tasted good. I put some film over the top so a skin wouldn’t form and popped it into the fridge. 

Sunday morning, I pulled out the 2 yellow cakes and the pastry cream. The cream got thin after it cooled. “Sons of bitches!” I sounded like Ralphie’s father from the movie A Christmas Story.  

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Ralphie tells us that his father “worked in profanity the way other artists might work in oils or clay. It was his true medium. A master.“ Illustrating the point, Ralphie says that the Old Man “wove a tapestry of obscenities that as far as we know is still hanging in space over Lake Michigan.” Change Lake Michigan to Arlington, VT, and it could be me that Ralphie described when things go wrong in the kitchen. 

Before I started another batch of pastry cream and looked up a recipe for a rich custard, this is what I should have made in the first place, not the pastry cream I use for cream puffs…dumb ass Julz!

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The next flub up was the amount of chocolate ganache I made; I didn’t make enough. I clean as I go, so I dirtied the clean double boiler, whisk, and spoons again when I had to make a second batch. Grrr!!!  

The last mistake took me by total surprise. I used a small aluminum pot to melt the butter for the seafood; I usually use a stainless steel pan. I used the aluminum one because the other one was dirty from the second batch of ganache in the dishwasher.

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I put the butter into the small pot and put the heat on to the lowest setting like I always do. Scientifically, aluminum is a better conductor of heat; in other words, I burnt the damn butter! Think Ralphie’s dad again, this time ten minutes before the rest of the meal was going to be ready. I had to get the pot I usually use out of the dishwasher and wash it quickly by hand; what I should have done in the first place. 

I forgot about all of my flub-ups when we sat down to eat. When we finished dessert, I asked Noah what he wanted for his birthday dinner in December. “I really want that Korean beef and noodles with those kimchi arancini balls you made a few months ago. That meal was one of the best bites of food I’ve had this year!” Yay, this night couldn’t get any better for me as a cook.

I gotta tell you that this made my heart happy again; I can’t wait to make this meal for him again. Shit, I wish I wrote it down when I made it! It’s a good thing my palate can remember flavors so I can duplicate things. 

Birthdays are low-key for our family without big fancy gifts or cards given just for the sake of it. We enjoy each other’s company while chowing down on the birthday person’s dinner of choice, which apparently turned out to be perfect! 

Ever since our boys were little we let them choose whatever they wanted to do or have for their birthday dinner. When I was little my parents gave me the choice of where I wanted to go out to eat for my birthday; I always picked either a Chinese or Italian place.

I am making a low-country boil tomorrow for Sam’s birthday. I’ll also be making a court bouillon to “boil” the shrimp, potatoes, corn on the cob with lobster or crabs if I can find them, hopefully they aren’t outrageously expensive; however, if the four of us went out to dinner it would be much more expensive for sure.

I’ve made a low-country boil before, but I when I did I didn’t make a flavorful court bouillon, I may have used just water.

I looked up a few legit low-country boil recipes and saw they all used either Zatarain crab boil seasoning or Old Bay. I had an old crab boil seasoning way in the back of my spice cabinet. I didn’t buy it so I am guessing I took it when I closed up my mother’s apartment after she had her stroke. Why she would have it is beyond me since she didn’t cook. It was probably my dad’s who passed in 2000! Yikes talk about old spice! Lol! 

I wasn’t going to buy either Old Bay or crab boil seasoning since I don’t make low-country boil often; plus I have all the spices that I needed right here. 

When I looked up recipes for crab boil and old bay, true to my nature I decided to combine both and make my own low county boil seasoning.

Out of curiosity I looked at the almost empty crab boil can to see what the ingredients were: salt, red pepper and spices. Very specific indeed! 

I used 16 spices, which is a shit load, more than my jerk seasoning that I make. I grabbed a spoon and started throwing spices into the mortar and pestle. I had an idea of the quantity ratios from the recipes I read. 

I tasted mine then bravely tasted the 20+ year old crab boil and there was no comparison. Well no kidding…one was old as dirt and one used fresh spices, but it wasn’t even that, the combo I used was better. For a 20 year old the crab boil still packed a ton of heat, that was about it. 🔥 

I was surprised to see the large array of spices used in Old Bay, ones you wouldn’t think of. I started digging through my spices and got out my mortar and pestle. 

Making your own small batches of spice blends is a practical idea. When I see people at warehouse stores buying their spices in bulk I think how long will it take them to use that shit up…like my father’s crab boil seasoning. 

I’ll let you know how it comes out on tomorrow. I also made a gf yellow cake and pastry cream for a Boston cream pie as Sam’s birthday cake. It’s a surprise do don’t tell him! 😉

When I was a kid, the only fish we ever had at our house were fish sticks, Gordon’s Fishermen beer-battered cod, or tuna fish. We never had real fish or even shellfish; my parents liked to go to seafood restaurants down the Jersey shore. 

I’ve always been leery of fishy fish; I never order it out or make it at home. However, I do make shellfish all the time. Whenever I watch cooking programs, I am always interested in watching different chefs prepare different fish types.

Our friend Martin, a chef, has always introduced us to different kinds of fish over the last two years with the premise that if we don’t like it, he will make us something else. He’s never had to make us something else, by the way. 

I know how much people love salmon, but never eating it when I was younger made me shy away from it, ok afraid of it. I have had it on several occasions; I will eat it, but it’s not my favorite, and I would never order it out. Martin’s salmon is better than others that I’ve choked down since his salmon isn’t fishy at all; he removes the blood vein that tends to make it fishy. I had to eat creamed salmon at a friend’s house at a holiday dinner party and suffered through that meal, but I ate it because that’s what we had to do when we were being brought up.

Martin has made us other kinds of fish; Oysters Rockefeller, which was my favorite! I’ve still never tried a raw one, but I want to with a mignonette sauce. I need a couple of drinks in me, and someone who loves them, and I would try them.

Over the last couple of years, the only type of real fish I’ve made is fish fry-style using cod or haddock. Last month, I picked up some frozen flounder fillets. I wasn’t sure what I would do with it but knew I would come up with something. 

I looked through some flounder recipes, went the safe route, and made flounder bread with a “Ritz” cracker crust. I’m our case a gluten-free cracker crust. I used the brand Schar’s entertainment crackers that are similar to Ritz. I know it’s still like a fish fry, but I’m still new at this fish jazz.

I read a couple of recipes and knew I could wing it. I set up my usual dredging station with cornflour, eggs and I ground up the gluten-free Ritz-type crackers in a food processor. I breaded the fish earlier in the day; one recipe said to bread the fish and let it sit for an hour or two in the refrigerator uncovered; it helps the breading stick to the fish better. Okie Dokie, by the way, it worked.

I used the shallow fry method on the flounder using a cast iron frying pan. Once the fish was golden and crispy, I let them drain on a baking rack over a baking sheet pan that I had in the oven set at 140 degrees while I fried the rest of the fish. 

I made a simple tartar sauce and served the fried flounder with fresh lemons and Indian spiced lemon rice as a side dish. I chose the Indian spiced lemon rice because I didn’t want the whole meal to be fried, so french fries were out. The Indian spices and the lemon flavor from the rice enhanced the dish rather than weighing it down as french fries could.

The flounder came out better than I ever thought it would. The fish had absolutely no fishy smell when it was raw. The house didn’t smell like fish either dinner. The fish wasn’t greasy or heavy with batter and had a lovely lemony flavor. For fried fish, it had a delicate texture and was pleasing to the palate.

I’ll be making this again, it’s something different from the usual suspects that appear at our dinner table, plus it tasted great. I was pretty happy that the meal came out so well and didn’t stink up the house.

I know lots of people who cook fish all the time, and for someone who likes to cook as much as I do, it’s bothered me that this is one category that I completely lack in. I’m not sure what I’ll try to make next or when I will have the chance to try my first raw oyster, but I want to at least. 🦪 

My love of Paris, France, started when I was a little girl. I loved reading the Madeline series of books that I used to check out of the library. I read each book dozens of times. I forgot about Madeline until our oldest son Noah was small, and we watched the cartoon Madeline.

Noah wasn’t a fan of Madeline, but I remembered how much I loved those books as a young girl. Paris just seemed like a magical place; I wished I was one of those little girls who stood in two straight lines. I wanted to be friends with Madeline because she was a caring, fun, and adventurous little spitfire of a redhead.

Madeline is a 1939 book written and illustrated by Ludwig Bemelmans, the first in the book series of eleven books, which inspired the Madeline media franchise. It is considered one of the major classics of children’s literature through the age range of 3 to 8 years old.[1][2] Wikipedia

“In an old house in Paris that was covered with vines
Lived twelve little girls in two straight lines
In two straight lines they broke their bread
And brushed their teeth and went to bed.
They left the house at half past nine
In two straight lines in rain or shine-
The smallest one was Madeline.” 
― Ludwig Bemelmans, Madeline

As an adult, I still love Paris and still think it may be one of the most magical places in the world. I haven’t been to Paris yet, but I will someday. It’s been on my bucket list of places to go for 30 years. I recently found a copy of a Gourmet Magazine that is decades old called Paris on a budget. I reread the magazine, and all the hotels and cafes that talk about are still not only in business but still for people looking for French excellence on a budget. 🙋🏻‍♀️

Last week when Marty and I took a ride to Amherst, MA, we stopped at a 7-11 on our way home. It was an emergency potty pitstop where the employee let me use their private bathroom since they had no public restrooms—what a nice guy who didn’t have to be. I believe when you treat someone nice, and with respect, you get results likewise.

After we both used the restroom, I looked around the store for a snack since we still had over an hour ride home. I was so pleasantly surprised by what I found. I found legit, real French macrons. I also found some other snacks that I have not seen before in other convenience stores.

When I opened my sexy package of macrons and tasted one, I was like, “Shut the fuck up!” OMG, they were the real Macoy! In 7-11, for Pete’s sake! On our ride home, I looked up these macrons and found an article about 7-11 and how they are striving to offer high-end gourmet snacks along with their own brand of snacks. They won an elegance award for their new product lines back in 2019.

Here’s the thing…they want to carry these types of gourmet snacks that cannot be found in any other convenience stores. They want their customers to remember these products and seek out a 7-11 for their specialty snacks. Guess what? I went looking for one in Albany in search of more macrons. I tried the vanilla & raspberry ones, but I want to try the chocolate & pistachio ones. Chocolate and pistachios are two of my favorite flavors!

So you may be thinking, why am I so excited over macrons? Well, because I love them, the flavors and colors they come in, plus they are not common, at least in this neck of the woods anyway.

A macaron (/ˌmækəˈrɒn/ mak-ə-RON;[1][2] French: [ma.ka.ʁɔ̃]) or French macaroon (/ˌmækəˈruːn/ mak-ə-ROON[3][4]) is a sweet meringue-based confection made with egg white, icing sugar, granulated sugar, almond meal, and food colouring.

The macaron is traditionally held to have been introduced in France by the Italian chef of queen Catherine de Medici during the Renaissance. Since the 19th century, a typical Parisian-style macaron is presented with a ganache, buttercream or jam filling sandwiched between two such cookies, akin to a sandwich cookie. The confection is characterized by a smooth squared top, a ruffled circumference—referred to as the “crown” or “foot” (or “pied”)—and a flat base. It is mildly moist and easily melts in the mouth. Macarons can be found in a wide variety of flavours that range from traditional (raspberry, chocolate) to unusual (foie gras, matcha).Wikipedia

In Paris, the Ladurée chain of pastry shops has been known for its macarons for about 150 years.

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The next question you may have is there a difference between French macarons and the heavy coconut macaroons Americans think of whenever they hear the word macron?

According to Masterclass, they say this about macaroon vs. macron, not to be confused with macaroni. LOL!

Macarons and macaroons differ in their main ingredient, which for macarons is almond meal, and macaroons is shredded coconut. … Coconut macaroons are made from shredded coconut held together by egg whites and granulated sugar. They have a craggy surface and chewy interior and are often dipped in chocolate.

I have never attempted to make French macarons because I know they are tricky to make. They are also gluten-free, like coconut macaroons. I watched a program on Tasty where one of the producers, Alex, tried to make French macarons, and she had an extremely hard time with them.

Tasty is a social media giant that shows people how to make unique and different recipes. I’ve never had the time or wanted to go to the extent they go to, like making a 100 layer lasagna or mirror cakes. Some of the recipes they show are easy and great ideas, but others are out of most people’s leagues. Now, if I was being paid as an employee of Tasty, you bet your sweet ass I’d make time to try to make those tricky recipes too.

After reading this, you may think I am even crazier than you first thought. As a food person, I think about food, what am I making, eating, buying 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and this, my friends, was a great food find! Until I can get to a French bakery in Paris or even a little closer in New York City, I’ll be stopping at every 7-11 I see and pick up packages of those sexy little macarons.

I made us chicken marsala for dinner tonight with mashed potatoes. No veg, just cranberry sauce, I know it sounds gross, but that’s what I felt like having.

I love chicken marsala; I never order it out because it’s always a disappointment. Sometimes the chicken breast is too thick or overcooked. Sometimes the marsala sauce is flavorless or too thick and gloppy. One time the sauce was way too sweet. Ewww!

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The point is, I love it and was really looking forward to it. I was even happier that I pounded the chicken breasts thinly a few days ago, dredged it in cornflour, and sautéed it in butter. I deglazed the pan with chicken stock; I put the cooked chicken and the stock into a Tupperware, so it was ready when I was.

Tonight, I sautéed some shallots, baby bella mushrooms, and some garlic. When the pan had a nice brown fond on it, I deglazed it with marsala wine. I scraped up the brown bits, added the stock, and let it simmer for about 10 minutes. I added the chicken and let that simmer for about another ten minutes. I added a bit of butter to give the sauce a little body to finish the dish.

Mashed potatoes, well, hell, I can make them in my sleep. I make the most basic kind, good russet potatoes, butter, kosher salt, and a little half & half. Did you know that Gordon Ramsey’s mashed potatoes are made with 60% potatoes and 40% butter? I’ve seen him several times making his famous “mash.” Listen up; this is why food in restaurants tastes better than anything you can make a home. It is fucking shocking the amount of butter, salt, and sugar that is used in restaurants and catered events. Staggering!

How do I know? I’ve seen it up close and personal and still can’t believe it. What bugs the absolute shit out of me is that most chef’s cookbooks are written the way people will cook them at home, not the way it’s done in restaurants. I can promise you this is 💯 true. One day my chef friend Martin and I will collaborate and write a blog post on this subject.

I am writing at 8:30 pm, 14 hours after starting my day. The first time I sat down besides eating dinner is right now. I stood up eating lunch while working on projects in our home. I started a huge project, bigger than I anticipated, and it took forever to finish. At one point, our entire upstairs hallway, bathroom, and bedroom were full of clothing, shoes, bags, donation piles, garbage piles, and stuff I didn’t know what to do with.

Poor Sam got up at 2 and wanted to shower and get ready for his 4 pm – 4 am shift and couldn’t get through. Lol! He did the same thing cleaning out his room and closet last week, and it was the same situation, just reversed. The mess has to get really bad and out of control before things get better—truth, 100% of the time.

Why in God’s name I started this after production, I do not know. Well, actually I do; I couldn’t find a black mini skirt and a white strapless bra. I thought both were stuffed in my belly dance costuming boxes. I was wrong. Then I decided to reorganize my costuming and put everything into smaller totes that are easier to manage. OMG, what a freakin’ mess!

In the end, I found the black mini skirt in my dresser shoved behind some black leggings. I have yet to find the white strapless bra, dammit. So annoying! I hate how careless I am with my things when I get busy.

Right now, every piece of my clothing except for what I am wearing is washed, folded, and put away neatly. Everything is hung up, and the closet is very organized. How long will it last? Jeez, I hope for at least a month.

I put a pork loin into the oven 3 hours ago, braising it to make pulled pork for dinner tomorrow night. It was a grand idea when I put it in the oven, but now I am so tired the last thing I feel like doing is pulling some pork. I wanted to have dinner prepared for tomorrow night since we eat around 8:45 pm after I get home from belly dance. I roasted some root vegetables earlier in the day, and they have to be reheated as well.

Ok, I am done. The oven timer just went off; I need to pull the pork out of the oven and let it cool so I can pull it still tonight. You can’t pull pork when it is cold, so tonight, it has to be.

Goodnite! I wish you a great day tomorrow, guys! ❤️

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