borscht; steam the beets, simmer the veggies in white wine

•3 quarts beef or chicken broth
•1/4 tsp butter
•2 garlic cloves, minced
•white wine
•1 turnip, thinly sliced
•1 teaspoon dried marjoram
•2 celery stalks, trimmed, thinly sliced
•1 carrot, peeled, thinly sliced
•1/2 head shredded cabbage
•1 bay leaf
•salt and pepper to taste
•4 beets, peeled, grated
•4 tbsp lemon juice
•sour cream

other recipes involve:
•no beets at all!
•1/4 cup dill, minced
•2 onions, diced
•1 leek, white and light green parts, thinly sliced
•2 parsnips, peeled, thinly sliced
•whole allspice berries
•potatoes
•bacon
•meat
•2 Tbsp tomato paste
•6 Tbsp honey
•beet stalks and beet greens
•pickle juice


Scrub beets, cut off tops an inch from the base. I steam them in a double boiler and peel off the skin with gloves when they've cooled. Reserve any juices that have dripped into double boiler. Other recipes bake them in foil or boil them.

Bring broth to a simmer while you prepare the vegetables. Heat a large soup pot over medium heat with the butter. Add garlic. Cook for 1 minute and stir in the marjoram.


Add the celery, turnips, carrot, and cabbage. I add a generous splash of wine to minimize the use of butter. Cover and simmer over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are slightly tender, about 8 minutes

Add the vegetables and bay leaf to broth. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Simmer partially covered for 10 minutes before grating the beets directly into the soup. Add any beat juices that dripped into the double boiler. Simmer, partially covered, until the soup is flavorful and the vegetables are completely tender, about 15 minutes. Add the lemon juice.

Cover and chill in fridge for a few hours or overnight. Reheat before serving, but not to boiling or the color will disappear. Serve with sour cream.

christmas eve

i left everything to the last minute, which left me snowed in for the past week without a tree, and, as i discovered this afternoon, without a lot of food in the house. so for christmas eve dinner, i used a tray full of almost too-ripe vine ripe tomatoes for a curried peanut and tomato soup along with roasted potatoes and roast beef with dijon sauce. very unchristmas-y of us, but perhaps reflective of our unfestive mood. the snow and, in andrew's case, work, kept us from being home with our families this year, so it's just the two of us this. and of course the cat.

thanksgiving

thanksgiving is a huge deal in the states, almost on the level of christmas. i've been asked several times why it's celebrated a full month earlier in canada, or even at all since we don't have fond images of "pilgrims" in our history books, and why monday, and now that i've looked it up, i've found there is no succinct answer. there is an amusing blog article that documents the origins and permutations of the canadian thanksgiving.

canadians give thanks for a successful harvest, and due to the colder climate, this happens a month earlier than their southern counterpart's. however, canadian thanksgiving underwent a tumultuous history of dates. a Martin Frobisher, trying to find a passage to the orient, happened upon the canadian continent and celebrated one of the first thanksgivings in 1578. in 1872, a date in april marked the first post-confederation thanksgiving to celebrate the recovery of King Edward VII from a serious illness.

thanksgiving was observed every year after 1879, but the date was proclaimed annually and changed year to year on a thursday in november, till 1899, when it became a thursday in october, with a few variations here and there. after World War I, both Armistice Day and Thanksgiving were celebrated on the Monday of the week in which November 11 occurred. ten years later, the two days became separate holidays, and Armistice Day was renamed Remembrance Day and thankgiving became the second monday in october, which means it currently falls on the same day as America's Columbus Day.


i have three american thanksgivings under my belt, and with it being such a huge deal here, all of our friends have very family-oriented celebrations, so i take it upon myself to band together with a fellow canadian or two. jason park came from nothern BC our first year, and laurie has stopped by two years in a row.... except this year we didn't really have turkey because i filled us up with butternut squash soup and spinach salad with pears, avocados, and fennel. and then there was spaghetti squash with spicy sausages, sugary molasses yams topped with pecans, and my mom's stuffing recipe, which i foolishly added walnuts to. that, and the turkey finally made its way out of the oven at about 8 o'clock. i also had a truckload of pears from costco so i made a pear crisp.

best butternut squash soup ever. my first year i used a different recipe and it was overwhelmingly full of cumin.

Gingered Butternut Squash Soup

1 onion, chopped fine
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 1/2 cups chopped peeled butternut squash
2 1/2 cups water
2 garlic cloves, mined and mashed to a paste with 1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon grated peeled fresh gingerroot
3 tablespoons minced fresh parsley leaves

In a heavy saucepan cook the onion in the oil over moderately low heat, stirring, until it is softened, add the squash and 2 cups of the water, and simmer the mixture for 15 minutes, or until the squash is very tender. Stir in the garlic paste and the gingerroot and simmer the soup for 1 minute. In a blender purée the soup with the remaining 1/2 cup water and stir in the parsley and salt and pepper to taste.

chocolate chips pecans and oats

i have found the perfect cookie. my only criteria was that it would retain its softness after it had fully cooled from the oven. i have an 8 1/2 x 11" page recipe in my folder with the words "best cookie recipe ever" scrawled across it in a sharpie. i thought i would archive it here in the event that i lose that piece of paper. epicur-ating the recipe, i came across a four-fork recipe that involves cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, and orage zest (?), but for now, this recipe is tops.

i grew up in a house without butter, and as a child, all the cookies i made (i say "i" because my mom is a fantastic cook) inevitably melted themselves flat in the oven and hardened after 10 minutes. a very wonderful roommate introduced me to the wonders of butter on my beloved bread and i soon realized its necessity in baking. in an attempt to achieve something like the divine consistency of a UBC Blue Chip Cookie, figuring that it could only be attributed to the fattiest substance know to man, the super-crispening property of shortening was a lesson quickly learned. i poured through martha's recipes, looking for keywords like "soft" or "super-soft." one cookie that boasted such promises called for bananas and came out of the oven very much like a muffin top. i found this recipe randomly, and not only does it call for good old fashioned margarine, but the cookies stay soft!



1/2 cup margarine
1/2 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
1/4 cup plus 1 Tbsp. sugar
1 large egg
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 packages instant oatmeal
semisweet chocolate chips to taste
chopped pecans to taste

Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease 2 heavy large baking sheets. Beat margarine and both sugars in large bowl until fluffy and well blended. Beat in eggs 1 at a time, the vanilla. Sift flour, baking soda and salt over margarine mixture and stir to blend. Mix in oats, the chocolate chips and pecans.

Working in batches, drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto prepared sheets. Bake cookies until golden brown, about 14 minutes. Transfer cookies to racks and cool completely. (Can be prepared 1 week ahead. Store cookies airtight at room temperature.)