A Dignified Life, In Memory

It's Memorial Day weekend, a weekend all about remembrances and parades. It's a weekend to remember the heros.

From now on, I'll be remembering a different sort of hero. Our lovely dog Dylan, who had a life filled with love. He spent Saturday morning chasing chipmunks, around 7pm began to act strange, jumped up in bed with us when we went to sleep, then jumped down at 3am and collapsed after taking just two steps.

We rushed him to Friendship Animal Hospital. Dr. Bier was kind, straightforward and empathic when she told us he had muffled heart sounds and a lot of fluid of unknown type around his heart. As we considered surgical intervention and whether we should put Dylan through anything like that, the doctor came back out to the waiting room and said she thought he was trying to die. We rushed to him, held him and felt his life end just twenty minutes after we first walked through the door.

It's been pretty sad around the Barrow household. Both of us are traumatized, but we can feel the pain and shock lifting, and we remind eachother how much love he gave, and how much we loved him.

Dylan ....
scruffier than you can imagine
as goofy a dog as I've ever known
loyal, kind, happy, gentle
tolerated our cat, Beans, but any cat outside was fair game
waited every night for the neighborhood fox to appear on the street, then barked his head off
also barked at owls
but only occasionally barked when someone came to the door
hated the little black dog who roams the neighborhood and growled and chased him off the front lawn regularly
walked with a spring in his step, and sometimes boing-ed
once caught a squirrel, then dropped it when Dennis said "drop"
was the fussiest eater, but loved Smith Family Farm's liver treats, which we used to garnish his dinner every night
had four coat options, including an orange raincoat
never did anything destructive
wouldn't let you pick him up
could scream and cry his head off, and did it as a pre-emptive strike when he was frightened
every night, had a bedtime snack of peanut butter and a biscuit in his Kong
slept in our bed, usually with his back against me, and his feet touching Dennis
talked in his sleep
never spent a day in a kennel once we adopted him
went everywhere with us, making friends
made dog-lovers out of even those people who don't like dogs much
made children squeal with delight
was incredibly gentle and polite when offered a cookie
ran crop circles with his buddy Henry, and sometimes by himself
loved his walks in the woods, especially balancing along fallen trees
didn't swim, but liked to walk in the creek and get  his tummy wet
chased chipmunks around the back garden
loved nothing more than being with the two of us, and we felt the same way

We'll bring another dog home one of these days. It will be another scruffy terrier mix, because we like 'em. The dog won't be Dylan, we realize that, but that next dog will have the same Dog's Life this sweet little fellow had.

Thanks go out to all of you who have left messages, called and written to express your sympathy. Dylan touched so many people in so many ways and the outpouring of love has been amazing.

We're glad to have known him. And we're starting to heal. Here's a link to the Flickr set - a Dylan Photo Gallery

Special thanks go to
Winchester, Virginia SPCA
Collins Animal Hospital and Dr. Jay Merker
Friendship Animal Hospital and Dr. Bier
Betsy Pritchard and Smith Family Farms
Bethesda Central Farm Market vendors who knew and loved Dylan
PetMac for high quality dog and cat foods and open crates of treats from which Dylan helped himself
And, especially, Portia Wood and her two dog loving children, Jack and Violet, and her dogs through the years - Goldie, Holly, Jones, Henry and Mystic. A place where Dylan always felt safe.

In The Book - Food52 Love

I'm honored, thrilled and just plain floored that a recipe I have been making for nearly 30 years has been selected today as the Best Salmon Recipe on Food52. Salmon with Sorrel Sauce.

The recipe will be included in the cookbook coming out sometime next year, I think. I'm just so excited to be in such good company.

If you've been following along here, you know I am a huge Food52 fan. It's completely replaced Gourmet magazine for me. (I miss the travel writing, but ...)

The very concept - estabilishing a place for home cooks to gather and creating two contests a week that get your cooking mojo going? It's a food-loving competition! How can this be bad? In fact, it's been great. Thank you, Amanda Hesser & Merrill Stubbs.

I've found a wonderful community of fellow cooks *out there* on the Interwebs, made friends, met for lunch, hosted a potluck and so much more. Food52 is brilliant.

Making Room for the New

This isn't a post about food or about gardens. It's really just about life.

Maybe you've noticed. I like a very controlled, organized life and home. We're about to start a major renovation. These two statements don't always co-exist happily, but I'm determined to get through the next two to three months with a smile on my face. Oh, who am I kidding? I'm hoping to get through the next two months without sobbing. Daily.
Fortunately, this renovation will not include my twin sanctuaries of kitchen and garden. Sure, my little sitting space in the kitchen will have a minor bit of disruption, but not three months' worth.

So, because I'm getting used to sharing my life here, it's time to show you the before. I'm planning to complain a lot. Oh, let me restate that. I'm planning to SHARE a lot of this experience here, if only to reduce the sobs.

This all started out about 8 years ago, when we thought to search for our retirement home. I've chronicled some of that experience here.

"We'll have nice furniture and a cool house when we find The House." was the refrain. As soon as we decided to stay here, we each chimed in with what had to happen. Dennis was all about the trim and the doors. For me, it was all about the furnishings. I wanted a grown up look.

We hired one of my best friends to do the interior design work. Julie Goos has great vision and a talented eye, there's no doubt about that. She's also adept at finding the middle between my taste and Dennis', always in an inspired way.
She blew us away immediately by suggesting some big changes to the doorways and openings on the first floor. They'll be lifted to the ceiling in this renovation, trim removed, so the eye will travel from room to room.

We said "We have no style. We need a style. It's a mishmash." Julie has now defined our style as clean, green, natural and American. It's true, we admire recycled or safely harvested woods, and items crafted by individuals are much more interesting than those manufactured. The pieces she's found already just blow me away. Julie is a curator and we're her fortunate clients.

In the meantime, we're trying to clear out closets and bookcases, making piles for donations, Craig's List, and so on. It's confronting, trying to fit our entire life on the tiny second floor. The workers can have the first floor. It'll be alright. I'll have to open the garage door to get to the laundry room, but I can cope with this, right?

We hope to start in the next few days. And to finish on time and within budget. Uh huh.

Marcus Samuelsson & Pad Thai

I had the good fortune to attend a cooking demonstration by Chef Marcus Samuelsson recently. I say good fortune for two reasons - first, I was asked to attend by Jaden Hair, the brilliant mind behind Steamy Kitchen and the Food Blog Forum. I've long admired Jaden's work, both her recipes and her photos make my stomach growl.

Second, I was thrilled that I would have the chance to meet Marcus Samuelsson. I ate at his restaurant, Aquavit, 23 years ago, when he was the newest chef sensation in America. To this day, I can still recall every bite of that dinner.

Oh, there's one more reason! His expansive new cookbook New American Table. I can't stop turning the pages. Beautiful photography and exciting recipes!

Samuelsson, born, and then orphaned, in Ethiopia, and raised by adoptive parents in Sweden, is one big combination of flavors, so it's no surprise his food reflects that fusion. He's clearly been influenced by his time in the USA, too, and that was the inspiration for the recipes throughout this new cookbook.

In the front row were all the VIPs: the wife of the Swedish Ambassador with her chef Martin Johansson. (It was Chef Johansson's kitchen that supplemented the White House kitchen when Samuelsson prepared President Obama's first State Dinner.)

Chef Samuelsson is charming and affable. He cooked three dishes, each infused with his signature touches . Seared Gravlax on Corn Cakes, Crab Cake (smashed yukon gold potatoes used at 30/70 ratio with crab) with Pistachio Aioli, and Fried Chicken with Collards. The audience was offered a taste of everything. Luscious is all I can say. With each demonstration he called a member of the audience up and made the whole experience charming, funny and inclusive.

this woman was not so sure Chef knew how to fry chicken

He describes food as storytelling. Food is something we all share - as opposed to religion or politics - people come together over food. This is why he believes the issue of food and culture is so important. In food we marry and combine food to tell stories. He is interested in authentic food, and even the cross cultural foods he creates are still very much authentic.

This woman had to be convinced to eat gravlax. She sort of liked it. She really liked Chef. A lot.

If you're watching Top Chef Masters this season, you'll get a sense of how Marcus cooks. His deconstructed spin on Indian food for this week's Simpson's challenge was a classic example.

Here is a link to the Flickr photostream from the Macy's event. Thanks to the Culinary Council and Macy's for bringing Marcus to DC.

Here's the sassy Steamy Kitchen post about the event, including a little video I did. Thanks so much for the opportunity and the shout out, Jaden! And that salmon sandwich is the next thing I'm making from this cookbook!

I decided to try Chef Samuelsson's Pad Thai recipe and all I can say is DELICIOUS. I just loved the chili spiked vinegar dressing. While this is not a cookbook for the casual cook - more for experienced kitchen adventurers - I'm having fun with it, and I'll bet you will, too.

Pad Thai with Leftover Chicken
from New American Table by Marcus Samuelsson
I will admit to some adaptation - mostly due to ingredients missing from my pantry, but also to reduce the number of saute and other pans used from five to two.

8 oz wide rice noodles, soaked in 4 c hot water for 30 minutes, drained and tossed with 1 T canola oil
2 large eggs, lightly scrambled in 1 t. canola oil and set aside
Canola oil
1 T minced ginger
1 T minced garlic
1/4 c sliced scallion
1 tsp crushed red pepper
1 T fish sauce
1 T tamarind paste, moistened in hot water to loosen
3 T soy sauce
1 T sugar
3 scallions, cut in 1" chunks
1 c roasted peanuts, unsalted (I only had salted, so adjusted the soy sauce)
2 T cilantro or parsley, rough chopped
1 T thai basil, torn
2 or more c chopped or shredded leftover chicken (you could use tofu or shrimp)

Chili Vinegar 1/2 c rice wine vinegar
2 T sugar
2 small Thai chilis (I only had dried arbol chili, so I used that)

2 c steamed broccoli would have been a pretty addition to the bowl.

1. Make chili vinegar: warm all the ingredients just to a simmer. Simmer a couple of minutes and set aside.
2. Prep the rice noodles. Bring 1 qt of water to a boil. Remove from the heat and add the rice noodles. Stir gently and allow the noodles to soak for 30 minutes. Then drain and toss with 1 T canola oil. Put in the serving bowl.
3. Scramble the two eggs in 1 t. canola oil and add to the noodles.
4 In a wide saute pan, heat 2 T canola oil and add the ginger, garlic, red pepper, fish sauce, tamarind, soy, sugar and sliced scallions. Cook quickly on medium low heat for 5-6 minutes, until the scallions are just starting to wilt.
5. Add peanuts, chunks of scallion and chicken and stir to combine.
6. Add this combination to the noodles and stir and toss until everything is coated well.
7. In a large wide serving bowl, plate with warm steamed broccoli and scatter cilantro or parsley and thai basil over everything, then sprinkle with some of the chili vinegar.

The Salad Bowl - A Mother's Day Gift from the Garden

Here's a quickie idea for Mother's Day.

I make a little salad bowl every year. It's a fun container garden of lettuces, herbs, whatever I feel like putting in. I planted this one in April, so I used the cool weather greens. It's a great gift - for Mom, for a housewarming, for any summer hostess gift.

Start with a pot. You can use a terracotta, ceramic or plastic. It really depends how much money you want to spend.

Buy market packs of some lettuce varieties you like - in the pot you see at the top of the post, I used romaine and leaf lettuce, as well as arugula. And some cilantro.

Look around the nursery - see what sort of herbs or plants you might want to add.

this is some pretty sorry looking arugula, but pot it up
and give the roots room, and it will produce for weeks

Fill the container with good, organic potting soil.

Plant the lettuces and herbs, leaving room for them to grow. Water well.

If this is watered regularly, the outside leaves removed from the lettuces for a daily salad, herbs nipped back, and given enough sun, this salad bowl will produce for several weeks.

Put in a pepper plant for jalapenos or Thai chilis later in the summer.

Add cilantro, parsley and basil and you've got the start of all sorts of Mexican or Thai recipes.



The Salad Bowl will cost about $20. or less, take just a few minutes to put together, and will make anybody, especially a cooking Mom, really happy.

Thyme, parsley, three kinds of basil. I'm going to add a rosemary plant tomorrow.
This pot is ready for the beach house we rent every August.

Feeling Jammy: First Crop Strawberry Preserves

The very first crop of strawberries arrived at the market this week. I could smell the berries long before I saw them; they are sweet and ruby red. And the perfect size for preserves.

I've been influenced in so many ways by Mes Confitures (Christine Ferber.) She taught me to approach making jams slowly. To taste the fruit at the market before deciding to preserve. And when I bring the fruit home, sometimes I let it ripen another day, until the scent of fresh berries fills the kitchen.

Mme. Ferber (do you think I could call her Christine? I've been cooking with her for awhile now) taught me to macerate the fruit overnight, then strain the fruit out, and thicken the juices until syrupy, adding back the fruit at the end. This preserves the shape of the fruit and accents the color. You get jewel-tone jars with sparkly clear jam and whole fruit that tastes just-picked. This is preserves. Not jam.

Mme. Ferber also taught me about using spices and herbs in jam. She writes recipes using ginger, pepper, star anise. She adds mint, rosemary, thyme, and - a real revelation - lemon verbena. I have these herbs in the garden now, readily available for flavoring jams.

I've fiddled a little with the sugar, as I like to err on the side of less sweet and let the fruit shine through. But these are recipes inspired by Mme. Ferber's brilliance.

Here's what I'm making with first crop strawberries this year.

(If you're just getting started canning, this post has some basics.)

Each recipe will make 4 or 5 half-pint jars.

I'm all about small batches. Half of each batch is destined to be given away, because I'm all about giving gifts of love. Is there any more obvious jar of love than strawberry preserves?

Won't you let me know how you do with this project? Just leave a message in the comment section.

Strawberry Preserves with Mint and Black Pepper
recipe from Mes Confitures, with slight adaptations

Try to find real peppermint, not spearmint. Most better nurseries will sell peppermint plants at this time of year. It's a far better behaved plant in the garden, grows happily in a pot, and makes really good minty lemonade.

3 lbs. first crop strawberries, rinsed and hulled (if later, larger crop berries, halve or quarter)
2.5 c sugar
Juice of one lemon
10 black peppercorns, crushed
Ten peppermint leaves

In a large glass or ceramic bowl, gently toss the berries with the sugar and lemon juice. Cover with parchment and refrigerate overnight.

The next day, put the contents of the bowl, including any sugar that has accumulated at the bottom, in a heavy bottomed preserving pot (I like a 5 qt or larger heavy copper, Le Creuset, Staub or Emile Henry pan.)

Heat the berries and preserves for a few minutes, just until it begins to boil and all the sugar is melted. Return the berries to the bowl, cover, and refrigerate overnight.

The next day, strain the liquid from the berries and heat in the large pot, again. Bring this syrup to a boil - a hard, rolling boil. In order to achieve a good set, bring the temperature to 10° over the boiling point - or 222°. This takes a good long time and gets pretty scary looking.

Once it's at 222°, remove from the heat and cool for 5 minutes to allow the foam to gather on the top of the syrup. Skim the foam with a large meticulously clean stainless steel spoon. Get all the foam, slowly, carefully, so your jam will be county-fair worthy.

Add in the strawberries, pepper and mint leaves. Bring the jam back up to a hard, rolling boil, stirring gently all the while so the fruit doesn't stick, trying not to break the berries.

Allow it to boil for five minutes.

Funnel into your sterilized jars, cover with lids and rings, and process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.

Strawberry Preserves with Lemon Verbena
Inspired by Mes Confitures

3.5 lbs. first crop strawberries, cleaned and hulled (this is also wonderful 1/2 and 1/2 strawberry/rhubarb)
3 c sugar
Juice and zest from one lemon
10 sprigs lemon verbena, reserve 10 leaves

In a large glass or ceramic bowl, gently toss the berries with the sugar, lemon juice and zest and lemon verbena sprigs. Cover with parchment and refrigerate overnight.

The next day, put the contents of the bowl, including any sugar that has accumulated at the bottom, in a heavy bottomed preserving pot (I like a 5 qt or larger heavy copper, Le Creuset, Staub or Emile Henry pan.)

Heat the berries and preserves for a few minutes, just until it begins to boil and stir to make sure the sugar is melted. Return the berries to the bowl, cover, and refrigerate overnight.

The next day, strain the liquid from the berries, remove the lemon verbena, and heat in the large pot, again. Bring this syrup to a boil - a hard, rolling boil. In order to achieve a good set, bring the temperature to 10° over the boiling point - or 222°.

Remove from the heat and cool for 5 minutes to allow the foam to gather on the top of the syrup. Skim the foam with a large stainless steel spoon. Get all the foam, slowly, carefully, getting it out so your jam will be county-fair worthy.

Add in the strawberries. Bring this back up to a hard, rolling boil, stirring all the while so the fruit doesn't stick. Allow it to boil for five minutes.

Funnel into your sterilized jars, add two verbena leaves to each jar, cover with lids and rings, and process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.