Usually I would post a boozy punch, but there have been loads of reasons why we need a punch with no booze recently. Mostly because I have children who feel the need to participate in every party. It would be so much easier if they didn’t think I was cool. We’ll get there soon - my 10 year old is already starting to be embarrassed by me.

If you aren’t looking for a booze free situation, then add 1 cup of whiskey and 1 teaspoon of bitters. Cheers!

GINGER CHRISTMAS PUNCH

4 cups orange juice

1 cup pomegranate juice

1 bottle DRY Sparkling Ginger

Mix everything together in a punch bowl or a pitcher and serve iced.

I kept wanting to host a cooking class this December, but it was just not going to happen. Personally I was super busy and had almost zero time to plan a class. For you, I assumed you were also busy with winter concerts and family parties and also would have struggled to come to the class.

So here we are - in the middle of December and scrambling for holiday gifts which is perfect timing for classes in the new year! I’ve uploaded three new classes - one in each month - and you will LOVE these classes. I’ve also included a printable gift certificate so you can fill it in and gift it! It’s the perfect gift for the ‘hard to shop for’ person on your list - and you could buy two tickets and make it a ‘date!’

January 24th is the first class. Once you’re back from the holidays and you’ve finally put away your decorations, come cook an amazing winter menu that you can make for a dinner party or just a dinner!

Menu

Winter Minestrone Soup

Roasted Black Cod with Panzanella Salad

Winter Greens Salad

Persimmon Cake

In February we’re cooking on the 28th - it’s the last day of February but I figured how would we ever get together for a class before then? With Valentine’s Day and mid-winter break (which I recently learned is called “Ski Week” in California??) there is almost no time. So here we are - ready for spring to pop up so I thought we’d cook a menu filled with spring vegetables and herbs to get us in the mood for warmer days, fresh vegetables, and a little less rain.

Menu

Spring Gnocchi

Herb Rubbed Pork with fennel

Spring Green Salad

Berry Cake

March might be the best class ever. I am so excited for this class - I love St. Patrick’s Day! I created a menu that’s perfect for showing you how to create a simple St. Patrick’s Day celebration just in time for your own party. We’ll meet on March 14th and cook together. Can’t wait to cook with you - and maybe do shots of Jameson??

Menu

Potato Cheddar Soup

Braised Corned Beef

Irish Soda Bread

Pot ‘o’ Gold Dessert

Right click the gift certificate to download and fill in the blanks!

1./ 2./ 3./ 4./ 5./ 6./ 7./ 8./ 9.

There’s a chance I am mildly obsessed with everything on this list. I’ve actually purchased everything on this list for someone in my life. Also, nothing on this list is sponsored. I am genuinely obsessed with everything. You will be too when you try them.

Every year my mom hosts a little brunch/ coffee hour for her friends at Christmas. For years I rolled my eyes every time she tried to get my friends to come to the party too. I mean really? My cool friends - or worst, people I wasn’t 100% sure were friends - to come rub shoulders with some of her weird old birds?

But then last year my friends were there - my actual friends - and they liked some of her weird old birds. We had coffee and cookies and chatted and it was actually fun. So I decided you should all host one too. Brew some coffee. Invite every weird friend you know and celebrate the season together. It’s totally worth it.

Here’s how to pull it off:

1. Send your friends an email or write a note at least one week ahead of when you think you’re planning the party.

2. Aim for a weekday at 10am if most of your friends are at home during the day. A Sunday at noon is usually best if they are at work during the day.

3. Buy or make at least three kinds of cookies. A small variety in large quantity makes the biggest impact.

4. Brew a pot of coffee, a big one. And bring out the good china mugs to serve it in.

5. Prep everything the night before - like platters for the cookies, mugs, napkins - then just set out the cookies in the morning!

PEPPERMINT MARSHMALLOWS

Yes, these take a bit of time but it is so worth it. Homemade marshmallows are nothing like store bought. These are so much better. And nothing is better in hot cocoa than a peppermint marshmallow. Unless of course that’s peppermint schnapps. And the marshmallow on top.

4 packets unflavored gelatin

3 cups sugar

1 ½ cups water

1 cup light corn syrup

1 teaspoon peppermint extract

½ cup crushed candy canes or other peppermint candies

Powdered sugar

Butter the bottom of an 11x17 sheet pan and top with parchment paper.  Butter parchment paper and dust with powdered sugar.  

In a stand mixer, combine gelatin and ¾ cup water.  Let stand.

In a medium sauce pan with a heavy bottom combine sugar, remaining water, corn syrup, and salt. Slowly bring to a boil over medium heat. Continue to cook until mixture reaches the soft ball stage on a candy thermometer (about 240 degrees).  

Turn on stand mixer and pour in sugar mixture in a slow steady stream.  Leave mixer running on high speed for 15 minutes until mixture is light and fluffy.

Blend extract into marshmallow mixture and pour marshmallow onto prepared pan and smooth out to the corners. Evenly coat the top with crushed candy canes and dust with powdered sugar.  Let sit uncovered for 12 hours.  

Turn out onto a cutting board dusted with powdered sugar.  Butter and dust a knife with powdered sugar.  Cut marshmallows into 2” squares and dip each cut edge into powdered sugar.  Store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.  

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Inspiration 1/2/Beverly Hills Hotel

Do you know what’s a real trick? Letting your eight year old girl “help” design her room while making sure it’s something she’ll like in the long run - and - more importantly - fits with my aesthetics as a super anal retentive person.

Here’s where the disagreements are:

1. She has a really unattractive hanging “pod” that’s hot pink. If it was a rattan hanging chair I’d be all over it but she wanted a cozy & snuggly one. There’s a chance you’ll never see it in photos.

2. Pink. I have no problem with pink but not on all of the walls. It’s a little too much.

3. Unicorn everything. Again, there may be things that no one sees in photos that she gets away with. Think sheets.

My goal is to create a room that she will grow into. I feel like some of the things she wants now she won’t want in a few years and I don’t want to re-do large things like repaint. We’re working on some compromises that will make both of us happy.

I think.

Here’s how I think we’re solving the issues.

1. We’re painting the ceiling pink. A very pale pink from Sherwin Williams called Charming Pink. It’s not the walls, you won’t see it from the hallway, but it will create a warm glow in the room. She’s happy, I’m happy.

2. I’ll add a pink lamp and she already has a pink poodle rug, so that will tie in all of the pink. It’s also easy things that can be removed later or updated to seem more “grown up.”

3. Inexpensive art on Etsy. She can choose what she wants and we can swap it out without guilt when she’s bored of it.

What do you think? Will it work? Will I end up giving in?

floor plan by David Coleman

Back of the house facing the golf course

I get questions almost every day about the house. I am happy to talk about the house because I also can’t wait to see progress but the usual update is “not much.”

The reason it’s “not much” is because we are playing a waiting game on our windows. While we wait things are happening at the house - really exciting things like drainage. But not enough that you’d walk by and say “wow, look at that!”

Our windows were by-in-large the biggest investment of the house. A significant amount of the house is covered in windows and glass doors so we knew that they had to be good. Like really food, amazing good, outstanding good. And we wanted them to last for ever.

Front of the house facing the street

Our architect specified windows and doors based on pieces they’ve used before and what they like for the “reveal” around the edges. I cannot even remember how many window estimates we went after. Almost a dozen.

The price tag on installing walls and walls of windows is no small number either. So when we were looking at all of the estimates, there was a lot of sticker shock. And sticker shock makes you take a minute to consider which one you are choosing. We took more than a minute. We took weeks.

Weeks.

I’m sure if we would have pulled the trigger immediately we would have windows going in right now but we don’t.

See how great Mandy Moore’s windows look? That’s what I wanted. Link here.

I’m sure you’re wondering what we chose. And maybe why? Here’s what was important to us

1. Going with one company for windows and doors so everything matches. You would not believe how different “glass colors” can be if they are made by different companies. Most people would probably not notice, but I’m picky like that.

2. Going with one company also meant one delivery date, one delivery coordination, and one installation team.

3. I wanted really clean lines inside. And white walls. Which meant the window frames should really be white or very very light to make the lines clean. But the architect specified black on the outside. There is only one company that will create a window & door system like we need that’s black on the outside and white on the inside.

Mandy Moore also has the same sliding doors we will be installing. Giant. Link still here.

In the event you are going through the process of choosing windows - or really something large - here’s the process we went through:

• We requested bids from six different window companies who could all provide the window sizes we have in the plans.

• We immediately eliminated one company who was a pain in the ass to deal with and I felt like the sales person was really condescending to me. Not ok. Not dealing with that.

• We also immediately eliminated a company that was really expensive

• We also immediately eliminated a company that had wood interior and metal clad exterior. While I know that’s a selling point for ‘traditional’ homes, it wasn’t the look we wanted in our house.

• We discovered that two of the companies offered the same product from the same distributor at different prices. One is the guy in point #2.

• Once we were narrowed down to two companies we made a list of pros & cons to determine what was important to us. Each company had offerings, so we needed to figure out what we were willing to compromise on. I’m not good at compromise.

The windows will be delivered in January. We are on hold until they come in since the house isn’t weather tight until they get installed. Seattle in the winter isn’t exactly a dry scenario and we don’t want our insulation or anything else to get wet. Once the windows get installed, the progress will seem super fast (fingers crossed).

All drawings by David Coleman

The company we ended up choosing is called Minimal Glass. They are a newer company with an excellent reputation - plus a sales guy who could literally sell anything. Minimal can create the doors and windows at the same shop with the same glass and the same sill. We know that everything will match. Minimal was also the only company who could provide a different color inside than outside. So I get white on the inside to match the walls (literally it’s Pure White by Sherwin Williams) and black on the outside to match the rest of the metal work on the exterior.

When spending the day with relatives, I highly recommend a few of these.  Cheers to a day filled with too much food and too much family.  

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The turkey may be the main event but that's no reason why the sides can't be fun too.  What's your favorite side dish?

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POMEGRANATE RUBBED TURKEY

serves 16

STEP 1

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees.

Unwrap and rinse the turkey (be sure to remove the insides). Pat the turkey dry and place in a roasting pan. Rub 1/2 of one of the pomegranates all over the turkey coating the skin entirely. Be sure to squeeze as you go so you really get the juice out.

STEP 2

Slice the second pomegranate into 4 pieces and stuff inside the bird alternating with the sliced onion. Give the pomegranates a gentle squeeze so some of the juice comes out - but not all of it.

STEP 3

Season the top of the bird with salt, pepper, and the crumbled sage. Pop it into the preheated oven.

STEP 4

Check the turkey every 20 minutes and baste when the skin appears dry. When the temperature inside the turkey reads 100 degrees, rub the remaining 1/2 of pomegranate over the turkey and top the skin with the butter.

STEP 5

Reduce the heat to 400 degrees and continue to cook. Use a thermometer to check for doneness. The temperature should read 180 degrees when inserted into the thickest part of the thigh.

STEP 6

Remove from the oven, cover with foil, and let rest on a cutting board for 20 minutes.

NOTE

Gage the time it will take by assuming each pound will cook in 15 minutes. For a 16 pound turkey, that’s 240 minutes or 4 hours.

1 - 20 lb turkey

2 large pomegranates

2 large onions, sliced into quarters

1/4 cup dried sage, crumbled

4 tablespoons butter, cut into 4 pieces