As a Matter of Food

Planning my Christmas dinner menu has been harder than I anticipated. Now I’m down to planning just the big Christmas Eve dinner. My family, being of Asian decent and having lived in Europe, we make a bigger deal about Christmas Eve than Christmas morning. We would eat and go to midnight mass and then come home and open presents. Luckily, my husband’s family and he follow the Christmas Day tradition. So it’ll work out just wonderfully! We’ll spend Christmas Eve at our house, have my parents and siblings come over. We’ll head out to midnight mass and then come home and open presents. Christmas Day we’ll head up to the mountains to spend time with his family. Sounds pretty simple, but it isn’t. Some of you probably can relate to how I feel. Unless we have access to and can afford a personal shopper, a maid, a chauffeur, and a chef, things just get away from us. My ambitions of throwing a get-together for our friends and then Christmas Eve dinner for my family was great, but now looking at our work schedule and some of the things we have to do (not food related at all), it just doesn’t seem realistic anymore.

If I find time to have a small gathering with friends, I’ll go with hors d’oeuvres only and drinks. I have a few drink recipes up my sleeve as well. I can always whip up a pretty mean Long Island Iced Tea that’s really yummy and of course my wide array of martinis. (I learned these from my days of working my part-time job at Tabouleh Mediterranean Restaurant in Gaithersburg, MD) I think that would be fun!

I am planning on something really scrumptious for a main course for my Christmas Eve dinner. I’m going to prepare a Roast Beef with Yorkshire Pudding. Here’s a recipe:

Roast Beef
Serves 8

1 Prime Rib of Beef Joint (6 lbs / 2.7 k)

2 Tsp Dry English Mustard

3 Tbsp All-Purpose Flour

1 1/4 Cups Red Wine

1 1/4 Cups Beef Stock

2 Tsp Worcestershire Sauce (Optional)

Salt and Pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F / 230 degrees C.
2. Season the meat to taste with salt and pepper. Rub in the mustard and 1 tablespoon of the flour.
3. Place te meat in a roasting pan large enough to hold it comfortably and roast in the oven for 15 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 375 degrees F / 190 degrees C and cook for 15 minutes per 1 lb / 450 g, plus 15 minutes (1 3/4 hours for this joint) for rare beef or 20 minutes per 1 lb / 450 g, plus 20 minutes (2 hours 20 minutes) for medium beef. Baste the meat from time to time to keep it moist, and if the pan becomes too dry, add a little stock or red wine.
4. Remove the meat from the oven and place on a warmed serving plate, cover with foil, and let stand in a warm for 10-15 minutes.
5. To make the gravy, pour off most of the fat from the pan (reserve it for cooking the Yorkshire pudding), leaving behind the meat juices and the sediment. Place the pan on the stove over medium heat and scrape all the sediment from the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle in the remaining flour and quickly mix it into the juices with a small whisk. When you have a smooth paste, gradually add the wine and most of the stock, whisking constantly. Bring to a boil, then reduce to heat a gentle simmer and cook for 2 – 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and add the remaining stock, if needed, and a little Worcestershire sauce, if you like.
6. When ready to serve, carve the meat into slices and serve on warmed plates. Pour the gravy into a warmed pitcher and take direct to the table. Serve wit Yorkshire pudding.

Yorkshire Pudding
Serves 4

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F / 220 degrees C.
2. Make a batter with 3 1/2 oz / 100 g plain flour, a pinch of salt, 1 beaten egg and 10 fl / 300 ml milk and water mixed. Allow to stand for half an hour.
3. Heat 2 Tbsp roast beef dripping or olive oil in an 8-inch square roasting tin in the top of the oven.
4. Remove the tin from the oven, pour in the batter and bake for 25-30 minutes until it is puffed up and golden brown.

***Recipe taken from ‘Steaks, Chops, Roasts, & Ribs’ by Parragon Publishing

Are you planning a holiday get-together this Christmas? Maybe two or three? One for your family and then two or more to get all your friends together. I plan to have one to get my family together. Then I have to pick a date for my friends. So here are already 2 opportunities for me to create some great meals to please the crowd.

My head is buzzing with ideas. There are the Christmas decorations, lights, and the tree. Then the biggest buzz is the one that involves planning my menu(s). I served up an incredible meal for Thanksgiving. It took a lot of prep time and my back is still aching until this day. Hehehhe… BUT if there’s anything I’d like to always outdo myself in it is cooking and creating pastries.

Here are some ideas for a main course I’ve thought of:

• Roast Beef with Yorkshire Pudding served with Pan Gravy
• Roast Lamb
• A Rack of Lamb
• A Turducken
• A Chicken Dish

As you can see, I’m still in the early stages of planning, but there’s much to do so I’ll have to narrow it down and decide. Not only do I have to pick the main course, but also the sides which will have to complement the main course and each other. Then there is dessert! I will take the most time selecting the dessert(s) I’ll be making this year. I am absolutely thrilled and plan to make it the least stressful for myself and the most enjoyable for myself and all my guests.

Last, I suggest you decide on how many people you will entertain and feed. Whether you want a sit-down dinner or go buffet-style, make sure you plan well ahead. This time of year is stressful enough, don’t make it so you will end up ripping out your hair as I have in the past.

Bimbo Snacks Truck on 270 South bound

On the way to work this morning my friend Hemmalaya saw this truck and was very tickled by it.  She took a picture and sent it in as her contribution to my blog.  I’ve never heard of Bimbo before and thought I’d look into it a little further to feed the inquiring minds of my readership.

Bimbo Bakeries USA is headquartered in Texas and is a part of Grupo Bimbo.  It is an international leader in baked goods and have a presence in 14 countries.  A big part of its growth is attributed to acquiring some smaller family run and owned bakeries in the past century to form Bimbo Bakeries USA.  Some of the name brands that are associated with Bimbo’s include Mrs. Baird’s, Oroweat, Bimbo, Tia Rosa, Francisco, Marinela, Boboli, Old Country, Weber’s, and Bohemian Hearth, to name a few.  The company has also acquired exclusive licenses to Entenmann’s and Thomas’ products in the Western region of the United States.  The company’s range of product lines consist of sweet and salted snacks, tortillas, pizza crust, english muffins, muffins, bagels, snack cakes,  cookies, buns, and sliced traditional and premium bread.  Wow!  I didn’t know all THAT!

If you’re interested in learning more about Bimbo Bakeries USA than the short synopsis I provided, please visit www.bimbobakeriesusa.com.

Hemmalaya and I both thought the name was neat and I decided to do a little digging.  She’s seen the snacks and trucks around before.  This was my first food find on this product eventhough I’m very familiar with some of the brands this company carries.  I’m always excited to learn something new.  Hemmalaya thanks for your contribution!

Have you had a Bimbo snack or seen a Bimbo truck?  Let me know!

I have cooked Thanksgiving dinners at my parents’ home for the last 7 years. My parents being of Asian decent (and I do have to attribute this more to their palettes than their heritage) have never really been into the whole “big-turkey-and stuffing-and-everything-that-comes-along-with-it”. Then there’s me, the one that wants to fit in and do the American traditions. I would sit down a few days before Thanksgiving day each year and start planning my menu.

The very first turkey we had was a 25 lbs. turkey given to us by this nice lady, Mrs. Lomax, I believe. This was back in 1991.  I didn’t have a cookbook or the Internet to show me how to cook this big bird. So I thought to myself “Just stick it in the oven for say…. 1 1/2 hours and we’ll have dinner!” Yeah right. Of course at 15 and not having the right resources or not knowing any better, I had no clue about the “cook for so much time if your bird weighs this much”. So after 1 1/2 hours I took the bird out, the color was nice. Plated it and served it with stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, and dinner rolls. Ahhh cutting into the bird presented our family with a huge surprise. It was still raw and some parts still frozen! Boy, what a disaster that was. I stuck the bird back into the oven for another hour at 450 degrees. After an hour I took it back out and checked it. Still raw, at least now the frozen parts were thawed out. I was disgusted with it all, to say the least. By now it was almost 7pm. So to make a long story short, by the time we were able to eat the turkey it was close to 7 hours from the initial start time and the bird was totally cut up into smaller pieces. We finally ate it but it wasn’t great. Seriously, nothing to write home about. It was dry and bland. Yuck.

Perhaps this is what set my parents’ expectations of future turkeys. LOL Although the turkeys have become much better over the years, the memory of the first turkey has stuck with my entire family.

I’ve got more Thanksgiving stories, some ‘horror’ stories to add to the mix, but for now I’d like to hear yours.

Email me your Thanksgiving stories, whether good or bad, to asamatteroffood@gmail.com or gotfood13@gmail.com and get a chance to have your story told on my blog!

I ran across a subscription from 2005 to an online cooking forum.  The reason I was interested in subscribing at the time was because I was looking to expand my culinary skills and at the same time try to meet like-minded people to share in discussions of food, sharing recipes, and just being social with people without going to hang out at a bar or a club.  I stumbled upon http://www.cookinglight.com/cooking/co/0,14430,,00.html.  I was so excited about joining an existing one or starting a new one.  Some people expressed interest, but then it never got off the ground.  At least I didn’t join.  I don’t live or am near that area anymore.  Now two years later I find my posts and the responses I received and never answered….I feel BAD.  I’m sure all those people moved on and either started their own club or fell off just like myself.

What I liked about the Supper Clubs idea:

• Meeting new people and socialization
• Something for you and your friends to do to get together
• A variety of menu ideas
• Don’t have to put together an entire meal by yourself
• Cost effective

What I didn’t like about the Supper Clubs idea (which ultimately made me lose interest) was my fear of dependency and the fear of the mundane.  Let me explain.  Perhaps this is just me.  I was afraid of meeting strangers, even if they had the same interests, and not hitting it off with them.  Now I would have committed to this club and I didn’t want to start something I couldn’t follow through on.  So I shied away from the idea.  Now my close friends, at the time and at the age I was at, none of the friends who lived close enough to entertain this idea were really into cooking.  The ones that would be into cooking and trying this idea out, lived too far to do this even on a weekly basis.  So for this to work out and be somewhat convenient for all parties involved, I’d say that you couldn’t live outside a 5 mile radius from one another.  This all becoming too much of a chore, was the last thought which held me back at the time.

From what I read on www.cookinglight.com this concept has been a hit since its inception in 1999.  Supper Clubs have really taken off all over the world.  It is like that with anything, it takes a certain person.  Everything is sparked by an interest.  :-)  I would definitely be interested in starting a supper club with my friends if we all lived within a 10 to 15 mintue drive from one another.  The most I’d probably do is 20 minutes.  Still that still doesn’t take care of my fear of it becoming a chore.

My personal experience:

I once did what I called a “Lunch Pool” with a former co-worker.  She and I would take turns cooking and bringing lunch.  We started with taking weekly turns.  At first it was great, I thought.  She cooked a different ethnic cuisine and so did I.  So the “new” and the “different” definitely impressed me.  Then I realized that while I was making my exotic and healthful meals, she was cooking a lot of one dish meals which used a lot of starchy vegetables and a very cheap cut of meat.  I was very disappointed and felt that it wasn’t fair.  Without jumping the gun and getting too upset, I asked her where she shopped.  What the indgredients were, and what kind of cut it was if it were beef.  So when I confirmed my suspicions I had to start making excuses as to why I couldn’t continue anymore.  Yes, yes it was very cowardly of me!  How do you confront someone and tell them “I’m not cooking anymore because I’m spending money on really fresh and healthy ingredients.  You’re being a cheapskate and you’re going to turn us both fat and give us a heart attack.”  I felt horrible for even thinking that, but that was how I felt and it was the truth.  I’m not a splurger by any means.  I’m very frugal.  Frugal still doesn’t mean you have to eat in an unhealthy way. 

Stay tuned and I’ll show you how to make food stretch in my future posts!  Plus we’re gonna keep it as healthy as we can.