I AM THE CHEF!

I'm on spring break and my grandparents are here taking care of me while my parents work. Mom assigned me Wednesday night for cooking to help out - and since I love to cook - and last night I made Spaghetti Amatriciana from The Silver Spoon for Children: Favorite Italian Recipes cookbook.

I also made a tomato salad with a recipe I created myself; here's the recipe:

• first you need tomatoes - cherry tomatoes are perfect
• cut the tomatoes in half and put them in a bowl
• add olive oil, chopped cilantro, and a pinch of salt
• toss ingredients and present your tomatoes nicely
• Voila!
  

Shoe . . . box . . . Tour . . .

This is my shoe:

This is a shoe box:

This is the Shoebox Tour 2011:

On Friday night the Shoebox Tour 2011, an international juggling tour, came to my school, the Waldorf School of Pittsburgh, for a show (Thursday night the Shoebox Tour was at AiP, where my daddy works). Jay Gilligan and Wes Peden were the jugglers for this year's tour. Jay was born in Ohio and Wes was born in New York and they both now live in Sweden. This was my 4th year to see the Shoebox Tour perform in Pittsburgh - the second year at my school - each year it is a different group of jugglers and each year they are AWESOME! Here's why: My favorite parts are always the funny parts! One was when Jay pulled off Wes' shoe, and then Wes stuck his other shoe out for Jay to take, but Jay was still too busy juggling, and so Wes hopped over to Jay and put his foot on Jay's leg and pulled his shoe off while Jay was still juggling (without dropping any of the balls he was juggling)! And then . . . Wes did three back flips on the wooden stage! Whew!

They started the show with Jay juggling three pink sand balls that had balloons attached to them. It was crazy because the sand balls were heavier and the balloons kept dragging behind. After some juggling, Wes came over with a long thin pin and started popping the balloons as Jay juggled the sand balls, without ever poking Jay - how do they do that? Seriously, how did he do that without poking Jay? Mom says, "It's all about good timing." You wont believe how good their timing really is unless you see their show. There are parts where they are all twisted up together and are both juggling, another part where one holds the other's hands and makes his hands juggle. The show is funny and amazing and is kind of like the 4th of July with so many "Ooohs and Ahhhs", clapping and cheering. We were all kind of tired and worn out at the end because it is hard work to keep up with what they're doing, trying to figure it all out.

I'd personally like to thank Jay and Wes for doing their FABULOUS show at my school again this year, raising money for the school, and also introducing more people in Pittsburgh to Shoebox's AWESOME juggling (which is really so different than any other juggling I've ever seen)! THANK YOU JAY AND WES!

If you live on the east coast, they're coming your way, check their calendar at sbta11.blogspot.com for tour dates the next two weeks from Virginia to Maine.

Some of my favorite breads . . .

First, apologies for missing my post last week. I went on a little trip - a PA-staycation - with my parents last weekend to Lake Erie. Before coming back I got to go onto the re-creation of the U.S.S. Brig Niagara, the warship that won the Battle of Lake Erie in the War of 1812. It was interesting and . . . cold, because there was a blizzard while we were there. We got our own private tour of the ship after looking through the museum because we were the only ones in the museum . . . because there was a blizzard. I'll be glad to go on it again this summer when it sails - if my parents let me. This picture (by Lance Woodworth) is a little different from our tour because when we were there, the sails were not up, the skies were not blue, the water was frozen, and the ship was tied to the dock, but it was still AWESOME.

But today's topic is really my favorite breads because it has been a kind of bread-y weekend . . . (at least it wasn't a pork-y weekend, as my mom says).

Almost every Saturday, my dad and I (and sometimes my mom) go to the farmer's market by Home Depot in East Liberty. The market is awesome, we buy all of our meat there (except for fish), many of our vegetables, fresh eggs, apples, apple cider, Amish goat cheese, olive oil, and my parents get coffee. And there is also a baker lady who's name is Rebecca (I used to call her "the baker lady" before I knew her name). She always has a nice selection of pies and breads and pizzas. My daddy was talking tonight about how her table at the market reminds him of bakery windows in Europe. She sometimes has brownies and also usually has some turnover-like pies that are filled with sweet potatoes, or regular potatoes, with chives or the ones with carmelized onion only - these are my favorite of her turnover pies! I also like her ricotta tarts but get tired of them if I have them too often - and I have had them too often sometimes (blame my parents).

I also LOVE her zucchini bread! Daddy now buys two of her bigger loaves so I can have it for breakfast and also in my lunch each week - her big loaves are not as big as the loaves of bread in the store and they last just the right amount of time. I think that I remember her saying that her zucchini bread recipe is her grandmother's recipe. I'm not really a fan of zucchini AT ALL, especially if it is overcooked and mushy, and I don't know what Rebecca does with the bread, but it just doesn't taste like zucchini - which is a good thing! (Mom likes her ginger molasses bread.)

Next up, my friend Lily's dad makes THE BEST wheat bread. I had a play date with Lily on Saturday while my parent's worked. We went to the Natural History Museum, had a snack, and went back to Lily's house to play. Her dad had been painting the bathroom while we were gone and also baking bread - I think he bakes it every week for their bread for the whole family. I like it much better than my Whole Foods bread and I like that his bread doesn't taste like store-bought bread. It is soft, it has a good crust without being crunchy, and it tastes like BREAD - it doesn't taste sweet or full of preservatives. (Mom just asked me how I know what preservatives taste like, and I told her it was because at my old school my teacher would give me Kool-Aid.)

And then, Mommy's famous COFFEE CAKE! She made a BIG batch this morning because she wanted to take some to school with her both today and tomorrow and still leave enough for us for a few days. It is okay cold but is the BEST when it is warm and out of the oven - when it is soft, not crusty. Mom's coffee cake is sweet enough - without dripping in frosting - with a perfect cinnamon sugar crumb top. Next time I promise to take a picture!

That's all for now, see you next weekend where I'll be reporting from New Jersey!

Chocolate chocolate better than Vanilla . . .

Today was Daddy's 48th Birthday (boo hoo hoo hoo - I don't want my family to get older)! Here's a picture of my happy parents - I love them. Here's what 48 looks like on Daddy, I think he's cute. Check out their hats, Momma made them; she gave Daddy his blue and red hat today for a birthday present . . . the colors of his favorite football team, the New York Giants. By the way I'm reading a book called the BFG (Big Friendly Giant by Roald Dahl), and the BFG says that human beans, that's what he calls us human beings, sleep half our life. So Daddy is really only 24.
Remember a few weeks ago when I said that Vanilla Pastry's cupcakes were better than Mom's . . . ? I take it all back today. Daddy and I gave Mommy an awesome cookbook for Christmas, called Baked Explorations and we, she and I on Friday night, made the Devil's Food Cake recipe (page 133-134) as cupcakes. I was a bit suspicious since it had both coffee and dark chocolate in the recipe. Daddy actually stuck his finger in the chocolate bowl while we were working and he didn't know it was all bittersweet chocolate - he went running around looking for something to kill the bad taste - blech! On Saturday, Mommy made the frosting (different recipe, same book, page 147-148) and it had even more dark chocolate - I was extra suspicious. BUT . . . today . . . oh my gosh . . . ! These cupcakes are BETTER than Vanilla Pastry's. It's a texture thing, totally! The cake is not even like cake, it is airy, soft, moist, crumbly but still moist. And the frosting is thumb's-up perfect, just enough without being gobs of too much. Check me out, here's my seal of approval.
One more thing, I'll have to tell you about Dinette a different day (my FAVORITE PIZZA IN PITTSBURGH) but right now I would like to ask you to vote for the chef Sonja Finn in Food and Wine Magazine's "The People's Best New Chef" Award. You can vote for her at: eatocracy.com/foodandwine she's represented in the Mid-Atlantic region, one of two chefs nominated from Pittsburgh. Her bread sticks really are awesome: long and thin and crunchy and yummy. I just voted for her; I hope you will too!

See you next weekend when I tell you more about Dinette and my favorite farmer's market baker Rebecca - her zucchini bread is AWESOME, especially when toasted.

Happy Valentine's Food

On Friday, we went to an opening to see the work of my mom's new colleague Aaron Henderson (I was glad to see his work AND his cute round-cheeked son Takumi and wife Reiko). I was starving and when we were deciding where to go for dinner, I said, "Taste of India," like I always do. But the last few times I suggested Taste of India we haven't gone, and this time, when my parents didn't seem interested, I got REALLY frustrated. Since they couldn't really think of anywhere better to go, we ended up at one of my favorite restaurants . . . Taste of India. My favorite things there are the chicken tikka masala, raita, plain nan, and the mango lassi - they are all YUM! I don't know the name of our waiter, who always recognizes me and is so nice, but even when we said we were full, he brought me two honey ball donuts that were AMAZINGLY YUMMY!

(Photo is by my mom of juiced orange pulp in a strainer - she didn't shape it into a heart, it did that on its own as she tapped it on the container to drain the juice.)

Mom and dad have been working on making our own version of chicken tikka masala and we tried it for the first time for our Christmas Eve dinner this past year. Though it was good and showed promise, it was WAY too salty. They tried again after new year's and it was MUCH better but still not as good as Taste of India. Keep trying mom and dad!

Yesterday, my mom and dad had a date night to try out a restaurant they'd never been to before and to go see a show. Elise, my babysitter (former Virginia Tech pole vaulter, who works at AIR), helped me make a Valentine's surprise for my parents when they came home. And THIS is the recipe:

• melt as much chocolate as you need in the microwave (not for too long or it will burn, like mine did the first try, YECH!), a double boiler seems to work better, that's what my mom uses
• spread melted chocolate on honey graham crackers
• if you have red chocolate, you can sprinkle small broken pieces on top for decoration.

Mom and dad were surprised - and the cookies were very yummy.

Today after swimming, which was a phenomenal lesson with a different teacher, we went to the Frick Cafe a block away at the Frick Museum for a special Valentine's lunch. I had a potato and leek soup, daddy had a chicken basil sandwich, and mommy had a salad with crab dumplings (that weren't dumplings, they were really fried crab rangoons). My soup was good, actually ok. Good until I got to a part that was a little slimy. Daddy thinks it was a leek but the texture was enough to put my spoon down. I had a clementine Izzy that was really good and then for dessert, we all shared a slice of chocolate raspberry cake - THE BOMB! I've got half a slice left over for my lunch tomorrow . . . .

Super Bowl Means FOOD in our house (whoever's playing)!

Super Bowl Sunday is going to be busy. First, I've got swimming. Then a piano recital where I'll play Tarentella. My piano book says that "a tarentella is a fast Italian dance. There used to be a superstition that the madness caused from the bite of a tarantula spider could only be cured by wild dancing." Wild dancing . . . sounds like the perfect thing for Pittsburgh this weekend, since our city has gone crazy and the Steelers Nation started their parties on Friday night.

(Note from mom: Can you believe the city schools have already called a 2-hour delay for Monday morning for fear of student safety? Because win or lose, the party-ers might not have made it home yet (!?) when kids are heading to their bus stops at the regular time. We're staying at home after the recital by the way . . . to be safe . . . from the party-ers.) Back to Lila . . . .

And then . . . the Super Bowl where the Pittsburgh Steelers will play the Green Bay Packers. I'm rooting for Pittsburgh - I always do, unless they're playing the Seattle Seahawks. Big sporting events are always a reason for fancy food in our house. Two weeks ago when the Chicago Bears were playing the Green Bay Packers, my mom and dad made Chicago Style Italian Beef Sandwiches in honor of the Bears. I liked them okay, they were kind of soggy, but my mom said that they tasted just like she remembered, when she was kid, and that they were supposed to be soggy. WHATEVER. Daddy made french fries and was going to put them in my sandwich, like Pittsburgh's famous Primanti Brothers, but the fries were too hard and I wasn't interested.

I think Super Bowl Sunday food will be better, but we're not really having anything that is traditional Pittsburgh - no Primanti Brothers, no pierogies, no kielbasi, and no iceberg lettuce. Mom's already started the baked beans, Daddy's going to make us the Brooklyn Bowl Fried Chicken recipe from the New York Times Magazine a few weeks ago. (By the way, the title of the article, "Tastes Like Chicken" is the same as a fortune I got at New Dumpling House a few years ago - HA HA HA, some fortune!) And mom is also going to make Grandma Carol's version of Velveeta cheese dip with sausage and broccoli - that's our GOLD in honor of the Steelers. Mom will surely be wearing BLACK . . . .

When I was with mom at her studio today, all of the dumpsters that are usually behind the building were inside the loading dock of her building. Mom says they're doing this all over Oakland, where the universities are, because the students might get crazy after the game and light them on fire. Can you believe that? Isn't that silly? Is that the way to celebrate either team winning? Mom said that the last time the Steelers won the Super Bowl in 2009, we could hear the students celebrating in Oakland all the way from our house almost four miles away - I think they must have been really excited!

Yesterday, I was one of six kids who were finalists in a painting contest to make paintings for the little boy character in a pilot for a TV movie called Locke & Key (based on a graphic novel by Steven King's son Joe Hill) - I had made three BIG paintings two weeks ago as a tryout and they liked them! The contest finals were at my school and my friend Natalka was the only other Waldorf kid there; my dad wouldn't let me look at the book that the movie is based on (he said that it was a graphic graphic novel), but I had to make one painting from one of the pages.

Because we were all so tired afterward, we decided to go out and celebrate with SUSHI! We went to the New Dumpling House in Squirrel Hill that has Chinese food on one side and an AWESOME sushi bar on the other. We sat at the sushi bar because I like to see the sushi chefs cutting the fresh fish and putting the sushi together. I also like the sushi at Plum in Eastside but this sushi is a bit more affordable at New Dumpling House and we enjoy talking with the sushi chef. My favorite is the super white tuna sashimi and our sushi chef Ching split it nicely and carefully put a tiny spoon of black tobikko (herring roe) inside with the tiniest thin slice of lemon. As my dad says: DEE-LISH!