Also, interestingly, I’ve found that as I’ve settled into this new life with my husband-to-be, I’m entertaining and cooking more than ever, but compelled (less than ever) to photograph what I’m making, Tweet my updates, check in on Facebook, or write posts.  All of that social media activity tends to break the flow of what’s really happening, and it has become harder and harder for me to do as I’ve felt more rooted and connected to the real world around me.  (As I write this, I notice that my last Tweet was over a month ago – yikes.)  Someone suggested that I hire a PR assistant to tweet and post for me, but then, what’s the point of that?  It seems so inauthentic and deceitful to my readers, for that matter.  Do other bloggers really do that?  I hope not.

As much as I know I’ll miss my friends in the blogging community, I feel more enriched and more grounded in a broader sense than ever before.  I feel present and happy and appreciative of this special time.

My television pilots and instructional videos continue to float around in the entertainment world, and I hope with all my heart that one of the networks will pick me up someday soon.  Everyone seems to want “big concept” shows like Top Chef and Cake Wars these days, which isn’t really me.  I hope that eventually the trend will shift back to a style of programming that is geared toward an audience that actually wants to learn how to cook.  If it does, and there’s room for me in the lineup, I’ll be ready!

For now, I leave you with a virtual potluck of some favorite recipes that have appeared on this blog over the past three years.  Click on the picture, and you’ll be taken to the recipe in the archives.  I hope this is enough to keep you cooking and happy until I return.

I sign off with the deepest gratitude for the many talented bloggers, producers, photographers and stylists who have inspired me and supported me from the beginning.  We’re not done yet!  I’ll be back as soon as I’m ready, and we’ll dive back in.

-Miri

Holiday greetings! Thanksgiving was a total blast. We rented an 8 foot table, moved the couch and ottoman, and put that big ol’ table right down the middle of our living room. Ten people gathered round it for a feast of turkey, sage and sausage stuffing, cornbread, whipped sweet potatoes, buttermilk biscuits, cranberry sauce and green beans. My dad (pictured with me) and I  did most of the cooking and baking (that’s me rolling out the biscuits), which is more like performing an elaborate piece of choreography in our tiny shoebox of a kitchen. But we had a fabulous, fabulous time. Moe’s mother and sister came, along with my parents, our good friends G&K, and our other good friends B&S, along with their one-year-old daughter.

But what was most special about this year’s Thanksgiving was not what we ate, but what we ate it on.   Our table was adorned with some very special pieces of china and silver, all from my grandmother.  Her china is white and ivory with a band of gold around the perimeter, delicately etched with a lacy floral pattern.  It dates to the 1930s, when my great grandmother bought a 20-piece set at Marshall Fields in Chicago.  (My mother now has the other half of the set.)  The sterling set consists of goblets, serving pieces, and a butter dish.  My grandmother had a stroke nearly ten years ago and, sadly, can’t entertain like she used to.  But it made her happy this year that all of her most cherished pieces were being put to good use.

And Hanukkah is here already! We celebrated and lit the menorah last night with cousins from out of town and I whipped up a dinner to make my Jewish grandma proud: whole roasted chicken, matzah stuffing, and crispy potato latkes with sour cream and apple sauce. For dessert, we devoured a platter of homemade baklava given to me as a holiday gift by a dear friend. We had a wonderful time talking and laughing over wine and delicious, traditional food. This, to me, is what the holidays are all about.

And for Christmas and New Year’s? We are off to Vietnam and Thailand for a two-week tropical trip of beaches, sand and some of the world’s freshest seafood. Not terribly traditional, I’ll give you that, but I think we’ll have a great time. We’ll be on Phu Quoc Island, Vietnam, for the first leg of our journey, then Railay Beach, Thailand through the first week of January.

Photos of food, beaches and paradise to follow shortly.

Happy holidays to you and yours.

-Miri

I have had the exciting privilege of appearing on NBC’s “Arizona Midday” with my friend Chef Chuck of Chef Chuck’s Cucina.  Hosted by Destry Jetton (and, yes, she is as drop-dead gorgeous in person as she is on screen!), Arizona Midday features a cooking segment nearly every week.  In our last appearance, we made Spaghetti a la Carbonara and some really amazing, simple stuffed artichokes.  I’ll be on again on September 16th, so I hope you’ll tune in if you’re local.

A few months ago I posted an entry about my big move to San Francisco and now I’m all settled into our cozy city apartment.  Moe’s bachelor pad has been all girled up with curtains and decorative pillows and other pretty little things.  It’s been… transformed.

And what about apartment cooking, you ask?  It’s not that bad.  Our building dates to the mid-1930s, and while the kitchen is small and mostly original, it’s pretty functional.  I find that I make less of a mess because there really isn’t much counter space to make a mess of in the first place.  And I do dishes as I go since there’s no dishwasher, which means the post-meal cleanup is less of a chore.  (On that note, you’ll have to pardon the mountain of dishes drying in the rack pictured above; we’d just had brunch.  But the light coming in from the window was so pretty, I just had to snap a shot.  And I didn’t want to tidy it all up before I photographed it and so you would think that my kitchen always happens to look picture-perfect… because it doesn’t.)

Last weekend we stayed at a friend’s swanky Tahoe home and I found myself feeling somewhat lost and overwhelmed in the spacious modern kitchen, what with its endless planes of cool, slick granite and shiny stainless appliances.  I found I really missed my little kitchen, so full of character and history.  I love the old wooden window over the faucet and the single-basin ceramic sink, and the glass-paned door that leads to our patio herb garden.  It’s a kitchen that has interesting stories to tell, no doubt.  I’ve often wondered who else has cooked here and what they were like.  Who was this apartment’s first tenant, back in 1936, and was she wowed by the modernity of the place?  Who lived here when the milkman still delivered milk through the milk door, and when the ice box actually had ice in it? (It has now been converted to a cabinet.)

Who else has stood at that sink, their hands in warm soapy water, and paused for a moment to feel the cool, damp air blow in from the Bay?

If only a kitchen could talk.

We definitely only buy what we need, because the fridge is about the size of a large upright cooler. It's hard to tell from the photo but believe me, you've never seen one smaller except perhaps on an RV.

My cookbooks now live, quite happily, in the built-in in the dining room.

The most prized feature of any city apartment -- a deck! Complete with herbs, lettuce, tomatoes, and flowers.

Flowers picked from planter boxes on the deck - nasturtium, lavender, and violets.

]]> http://www.mirileigh.com/2011/08/so-this-is-where-i-cook-now/feed/ 5 http://www.mirileigh.com/2011/06/peach-custard-pie/ http://www.mirileigh.com/2011/06/peach-custard-pie/#comments Wed, 08 Jun 2011 23:32:04 +0000 miri http://www.mirileigh.com/?p=2558 Continue reading →]]>

The weather is still wintry here in San Francisco… I ran to the Golden Gate Bridge along Crissy Field this morning and nearly blew away in an icy breeze!  So I’ve been pretending that it’s summertime in my kitchen, beckoning warmer temps by doing lots of grilling and pie baking.  On Sunday night, we grilled halibut with vegetables and and I baked this peach custard pie with peaches from our farmer’s market.  The recipe is adapted from the June issue of Martha Stewart Living, but my version uses less sugar (the peaches are plenty sweet, even this early in the season) and a touch of almond extract, which imparts a subtle, rich flavor to the custard.  I also mixed some of the peach juices into the custard, so every last bite is perfectly peachy.

We’re off to Yosemite this weekend, where it really will be warm and sunny (yay!).  We’ll explore the waterfalls, do a little hiking and treat ourselves to a nice dinner at the famous dining room at the Awahnee Hotel.  I haven’t been there since I was about nine years old, when I visited the park with my family, so I’m looking forward to it.  Photos to follow, I promise.

Crust:

1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 stick unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
2-4 tablespoons ice water

Filling:

4 medium ripe but firm peaches
2 large eggs
2/3 cup sugar
½ stick unsalted butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon almond extract

Make the crust:

Pulse flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor until combined.  Add butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal, about 10 seconds.  Drizzle 2 tablespoons ice water evenly over mixture and pulse just until it barely holds together when pinched between two fingers.  If additional water is needed, add it cautiously, 1 teaspoon at a time.  (Mixture should not become too wet or sticky.)

Shape dough into a disk, cover in plastic wrap, and allow to rest in the refrigerator for at least one hour.  Allow to sit at room temperature at least 15 minutes before you are ready to proceed.

Preheat oven to 375F.  Roll dough to 1/8-inch thick circle on a lightly floured surface.  Fit dough into a 9-inch pie plate and trim crust to a 1-inch overhang using kitchen shears or a sharp knife.  Fold edges under, and press to seal using the tines of a fork.  Prick bottom of crust 6-8 times with a fork.  Freeze prepared crust for 15 minutes.

Line crust with parchment paper, leaving an overhang on all sides.  Fill completely with dried beans or rice.  Bake for 20 minutes.  Remove from oven and remove beans and parchment.  Bake crust until bottom is lightly golden, about 11 minutes more.  Let cool.

Make the filling:

Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil.  Prepare an ice water bath and keep near stovetop.  Cut a small X into the bottom of each peach (opposite the stem end.) Carefully drop peaches into boiling water and boil for one minute.  Use a slotted spoon to transfer to ice water bath.  After 1 minute, remove peaches from ice water and pat dry.  Peel and pit peaches and slice into 16 wedges each.  Place in a colander suspended over a bowl to catch the juices.

Whisk together eggs, sugar, butter, flour, and salt.  Whisk in the peach juices.  Arrange the drained peach wedges in overlapping circular pattern in cooled pre-baked pie shell.  Pour filling over peaches.

Bake for 45 minutes.  (Tent crust with foil ring after 15 minutes to prevent over-browning.)  Transfer to a wire rack and allow to cool for at least one hour before serving.

It’s arugula season!  Actually it’s almost always arugula season here in California, since the peppery, aromatic green can be grown in milder pockets of the state nearly year-round.  You can even grow it at home in a pot or in your vegetable bed.  It likes the cooler temps of spring and early summer, but will do just fine under the shade of other plants later in the season. I just started some in a pot on my patio, and I’ll sow more seeds in about 20 days so I have a continuous crop.

Arugula, it turns out, was grown and eaten during Roman times.  It was served in a salad of romaine, chicory, mallow, and lavender and served with a “cheese sauce for lettuce,” according to the Cambridge World History of Food.  I’m guessing that means some sort of salad dressing.

My twist on the ancient Roman version is this salad of Arugula, grapes, and manchego.  I first published this recipe last spring, but I have a feeling I’m going to be making it quite a bit in the near future.  The farmers at my farmer’s market last weekend were all selling arugula, and I can’t help but buy it when I see it.  Because it’s peppery, it’s often paired with sweeter foods –  the classic combination is arugula with beets and goat cheese.  But I like this variation — the grapes are even sweeter than beets, and the earthy, rich manchego provides a nice balance.

Assemble the salad:
1/2 cup seedless black grapes
6 cups baby arugula
2 cups loosely packed cilantro
2 Asian pears
4 oz manchego cheese, thinly shaved
1/2 cup whole roasted marcona almonds
1 teaspoon sea salt

Rinse and dry the grapes before slicing them in half vertically. Combine with the arugula and cilantro in a medium salad bowl. Rinse and dry the pears, leaving the skin on. Slice them into quarters and then, using a vegetable peeler, shave them thinly into the salad. Shave the cheese over the pears, add the almonds, and sprinkle the salad with the sea salt.  Toss gently to combine.

Make the dressing:
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons champagne vinegar
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Whisk the vinegars into the olive oil in a small bowl, add the ground pepper. Drizzle the dressing over the salad and serve immediately.

When I was growing up, we had a great backyard.  I lived in Orinda, about 15 miles east of San Francisco (just beyond the fog line), in a 1940s house that sat on about a half acre of land.  That’s not a lot of land, but we used every square inch of it.  The yard was terraced into a hillside: on the top level there was a deck built by my father, where we barbequed and ate dinner on warm summer nights.  The middle level featured a long flat lawn that was nothing short of perfect for slip-n-sliding.  That’s also where our swingset was, which provided hours of entertainment.

The lowest terrace was where we kept the vegetable garden, where my dad built raised beds for tomatoes, corn, beans, cucumbers, and lettuce.  In the corner there was a compost bin, where we recycled organic waste, weeds, lawn clippings and the like.  The compost got worked back into the soil every year when it was time to replant the beds, and anything too tough to compost got used as mulch.  In addition to the vegetable garden, we had fruit trees: three apple trees and a pear.  And under the largest apple tree, grapes growing on a trellis.  Every weekend, my dad was out there in the dirt, sweating and raking and shoveling.  I used to love to be in the garden with my dad, working alongside him in the sunshine. I loved the rhythm and balance of it all.

I don’t have a very big yard now, I rent a small apartment in a 100-year-old house in the historic community of Piedmont.  But last year my landlord did a wonderful thing — he tore out the landscaping in the rear of the building and then left the beds bare.  It was wonderful!  I promptly planted every square inch of the empty beds with all the vegetables I grew up with: the beans and tomatoes and pumpkins did especially well. These photos were taken early last summer.

This year, the beds have been planted with drought-tolerant grasses and low-maintenance shrubs.  It’s a little sad for me, though I’m learning to love container gardening.  So far I have cilantro, chives and tarragon in a pot right outside my door.  It’s not the same as working in a vegetable bed, but it’s still gratifying.

What will you grow this summer… in your garden, in a pot, or on your windowsill?

How cute are these?  I think I need to borrow somebody’s little girl this weekend and bake cookies.  Who’s got a daughter for rent?

I found these at Uncommon Goods and they are $32 (child) and $39 (adult) each.  What a great holiday gift!

["Friday Finds" is a weekly series designed purely to give you a little end-of-the-week online shopping bliss.  You see, I spend a lot of time poking around online for nifty kitchen gadgets, ultra-cool home decor items, and specialty edible food products.  And I have a ridiculously long list of links and bookmarks for the best stuff on the Net.  Don't worry, I don't get anything in return for posting about these products.  They're all just my personal faves, and I'm only sharing them because I genuinely believe you will love them, too.]

These cleverly designed and colorful salad servers are made from solid bamboo. Each is sold as a set of two utensils: one spoon and one forked spoon.  They are handmade by Bambu in China, and if you happen to be concerned about products from China, you’ll be glad to know that Bambu works only with manufacturing partners who demonstrate a commitment to health and safety, environmental protection and fair labor practices. In turn, Bambu supports and reinforces worker health and safety measures, and funds international third-party auditing procedures.  Good stuff, eh?

$14 per pair, available in four fun colors at Branchhome.com

["Friday Finds" is a weekly series designed purely to give you a little end-of-the-week online shopping bliss.  You see, I spend a lot of time poking around online for nifty kitchen gadgets, ultra-cool home decor items, and specialty edible food products.  And I have a ridiculously long list of links and bookmarks for the best stuff around.  Don't worry, I do not accept money for advertising or free sample products for review.  All the items I share here are my own personal faves, and I'm only sharing them because I genuinely believe you will love them, too.]

I’ve had so much going on these past few weeks, and it all came to a head this past weekend.  In my “real” working-girl life, I had a job offer that was pretty exciting.  It came through a b-school professor of mine who is on the board of snazzy technology company here in San Francisco. The trouble is, I already work for a snazzy technology company and they treat me pretty well.  You really couldn’t pay me enough to walk away from what I have.  But it was an interesting exercise for me, in the sense that I’m a sucker for opportunity and I have a hard time saying no.  I see smart people and cool technology and a big fancy building in the Financial District and I just want to do it, for the challenge, for the newness of it, for the sense of achievement and “moving up” in the corporate world.  I really had to slap myself upside the head and ask myself, “But, why?”  Is this job even in line with your career goals?  Or the overall lifestyle you want to have?”

It was not.

And yet still it was hard to walk away.

But I did.

Ironically, it was just days after I got the “day job” job offer that I landed an exclusive contract with a major production company in Canada.  And then three days after that I landed an interview with a production company here in the Bay Area.   So things seem to be happening for me in the TV arena, and I felt like the universe was trying to tell me… Hold on a minute, missy.  Stay the course!  Don’t lose sight of what you really want to do.

I listened.

The Universe is right.  My current job gives me a lot of flexibility to pursue my television goals.  And the fact is that I will have to keep my day job for quite some time before my TV stardom is substantial enough to support my weakness for expensive kitchenware and high-end knives.  So sitting tight seemed like the right thing to do.

So I did.  I formally declined the job offer this morning.  Whew.

All in all, it was a weekend of soul-searching and decision-making.  And it was a weekend of feeling grateful that I have these options at all… that I have a job when so many talented people don’t, that I was offered a job when I wasn’t even looking for one, and that I’ve been blessed with this incredible opportunity to work in television “on the side” and follow my passion for food.  I never dreamed I would get even as far as I have.

What else?  I cleaned up the garden.  I took down my tomato plants, which had gotten a little soaked in the early rains and were looking a bit sad and bedraggled.  I planted arugula, beets, scallions, and bok choy.  I put some tulip bulbs into some pots.  I swept and raked and tidied things up a bit.  It felt good.  Fall is definitely here.

Next up, I’m speaking at Bloggy Boot Camp in St. George, Utah this coming Saturday.  If you are a blogger and want to meet other fabulous bloggers and hear some great speakers, I hope you’ll come.  There are still seats available, but last I checked they were going fast.  I’m going to make a weekend out of it and stay in Vegas on Saturday night.   I’m hoping to see some old friends (Lindsay, I hope you’re reading this) and possibly a show.  If anyone has seen Cirque’s tribute to the Beatle’s, Love, please leave your review in the comments section.  (Oh – And I already bought tickets so please be sure to tell me that it was the most amazing show you’ve ever seen.)

I’m not sure what to cook or bake for this week’s mid-week recipe post.  I might try pflaumenkuchen.  Not sure what that is? Check back in a few days and you shall find out.  It might not sound pretty, but it’s beautiful and delicious.