One of my earliest “I want to cook” memories was at the summer house in Copake Lake when I was not yet tall enough to reach the stovetop. We had this glorious gourmet summer where we grew our own veggies and combed through cookbooks to plan and prepare every meal. We made “exotic” dishes like rijstaffel, fromage romanesque and Swedish meatballs (back then, the meatballs were super-fancy-schmancy—dating myself again). Being the youngest, I was relegated to the lowest rung on the cooks’ totem pole (peeling bloody carrots!) and I was not happy. I vowed I would rise to rule the stove. Cooking for friends and family (and even professionally) has been one of the thrills in my life—it makes me happy and it certainly makes others happy. If one of my dishes evolves to something you use to make your peeps happy, how wonderful is that?
When life gives you chutney, you better find ways to serve it up. I made these for Thanksgiving starters to sate the guests till the turkey is ready! I had two Thanksgivings and this was a bacon Parmesan johnny cake the first day, but they were just okay, so I whipped these up and they were stunning!
Thanksgiving is my absolute favorite holiday! I’m so excited about Thanksgiving (read: since I don’t have my chocolate cafe weighing on me like it has the last four years) this year that I’m having it twice! For the family on Thursday and on the Friday for my friends who have to work in restaurants on Thanksgiving with a sprinkling of who were otherwise occupied on Thursday. Here is the menu as it stands now. I use a combination of dishes that that are traditional with dishes I make up to use up stuff I have too much of (read: chocolate, nuts, toffee) and a couple of things that are new and fun in the starter section. Until I actually make dinner, there are no pictures. I will do my best to get some shots on the day!
Since there is nothing more interminable than slip skinning Concord grapes, every year I swear that it’s the last time I am harvesting any more than a bunch of them for munching from my garden. Yet every year the fruit lures me back with promises of chutney and maybe some ketchup or jelly and I fight the mosquitoes, spiders, birds and bees for them and set aside a day for making chutney.
I whipped this up yesterday from things I found in the fridge and it was awesome and beautiful to look at. I didn’t think to take a pic of it until I’d nearly nibbled it out of existence, but I restrained myself and got a wee shot. The proportions of the ingredients are very flexible. I had it with some jerk chicken and garlic bread.
For me July 4th screams potato salad! My Southern-style one is colorful and tastes like a parade in mouth!
Yesterday, friends and I planned a picnic at Hudson River Park in spite of the storm warnings—since it ain’t the weather report, it’s the weather opinion. We were hopeful that Mother Nature would spare us on what was finally a beautiful, dry day in the city. I coordinated the food that folks were bringing, but I’d yet to make a dish by 6pm (event start time) when I was back in my cafe, after Jackie’s Mad Dash, aka my usual Friday schedule. I figured the blackened sky and deluge that met my much prompter friends bought me a bit of time so I whipped up this zingy salad lightning fast.
The highlight of my mother’s birthday celebration this year was the presence of her granddaughter Janea and her gift, a photo book of Janea we made at MyPublisher.com which came out surprisingly beautiful (O, me of little faith—I was worried about the resolution and quality of the printing) and of course the food!!!
I, Auntie Jackie, fondly known as “Chopped Liver”—long story—cooked up a multi-cultural storm for my niece Janea Lani Gordon’s first birthday at Divalicious Chocolate! Cafe. I whipped up an antipasto of her many heritages to the theme of duckies. You’d think that with the popularity of freakin’ rubber duckies one might be able to find a Mylar rubber ducky balloon in our fair city. I searched party stores in NYC and parts of NJ—nada! Like hens’ teeth. And a special thank-you to the genius at Party City in Brooklyn who doesn’t know the difference between a ducky and chick.
Rant aside, Janea was unfazed by lack o’ ducky balloon since she loves to eat and as a gourmet-in-training knows what is truly important at a partaaaaaaaay!!!!
Here is the menu followed by the recipe for the pepita cranberry popcorn balls I made as a culinary homage to her First American roots.
I decided that fried chicken and waffles was the proper meal to serve for the Inauguration Brunch. Originally I had planned a dinner until I found out that inaugurations take place during the day. Cooking is my thing, not political procedure. This was also a 50th-birthday celebration for my dear friend Frank, whose birthday wish was that Obama would get elected.
Jackie always loved parties, but only if there was delicious food. So in addition to her mega-holiday dinners, she needed little excuse to throw one.
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Jackie Gordon muses and munches on food, music, design, small business and more in the Big Apple.
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