September, the Month of Change

September is the month when I notice that the sun is a bit lower in the sky and more golden in hue. It’s a transition month from the bright hot colors of summer to the warm, earth tones of fall. September is when I notice that the sun rises a little later and sets a little earlier. It’s the month when we start shifting our lives from outdoors to inside. September is the start of school and the end of our outdoor pool. It’s the month when we start eating apples and pears rather than peaches and plums. And it’s the month that filled with many of my life’s changes.

September is when I transitioned careers. It was the month I left my old work life and started my new. September is the month of birthdays. It is the month of my dad’s, mine and many of my friends’ birthdays. September is the month of holidays. It is the month the New Year, Rosh Hashanah. September is the month of change.

My dad was born in September and the 4th, today would have been his 84th birthday. Amazing to think that not only has he been gone for 15 years, but that he would have been 84.

And the 10th is my birthday and I am hitting a milestone birthday — a number that seems unreal to me as well, 55. Yup admitting it, 55 though in my head I’m still 35 lol! Dad hated birthdays. He hated to be told that he had to celebrate a specific date. He would always tell me “I’m not getting you a gift just because it’s your birthday you’ll get one when I want to give you one.” He meant that, gifts were not for birthdays, they were for when he felt like giving them to me or mom; and that was ok for me. He was generous to a fault — all mom and I had to do was say we liked something and at some point it was ours; but never because it was a birthday. He and I would celebrate at grandma’s over a Strawberry Shortcake from Gertels, the famed Lower Eastside Jewish bakery. I never had the heart to tell her that I hated their Strawberry Shortcake and so did dad, but we ate it, smiled and made her feel like she was getting us our favorite dessert in the universe. It was pareve, aka non-dairy, and overly sweet, but our eating it put a smile on her face more than ours.

Some birthdays stand out more than others and 2 of my milestone birthdays that stand out were my 16th and 50th. My 16th was not the traditional large scale sweet 16 as many of my classmates had; mine was more subdued, a family affair but at my favorite restaurant, The Four Seasons. We stopped by my grandparents first so they could see my dress which was a beautiful Bill Blass white organza cocktail dress that dad got me. I can still remember that day. It was the year that our apartment was destroyed in a fire — big change! My dad had put aside a bottle of Chateau d’Yquem 1967 for this special occasion but sadly it was destroyed in the fire. Luckily he had a friend who had one and gifted it to us unbeknownst to me. Yes I was 16 and yes I drank wine at dinner — times were different no judgements please! Remember I grew up in the wine industry! Flash forward a few years to 2015 and my 50th. Same restaurant, this time with my close circle of girlfriends, great wine and same cake. I look the same right!

September is the month of change. It’s the month of the New Year, Rosh Hashanah, and boy can we all use a new year! As with so many holidays no matter what the religion, we celebrate with food, wine, family and friends. The table will be filled with apples and honey, honey cake, challah with raisins all to celebrate the sweet year to come. I think we can all agree that thus far 2020 has been a challenging year.

Here’s the recipe for my honey cake — and of course I used what was in my pantry — traditional is with almonds, but I had walnuts.

CAKE
1 cup vegetable oil, plus extra for the pan
3¾ cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for the pan
1½ cups granulated sugar
1 cup honey
½ cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
3 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoons grated orange zest (2 oranges)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon ground cloves
½ teaspoon ground allspice
½ teaspoon ground ginger
1 cup hot coffee
½ cup freshly squeezed orange juice (2 oranges)
¼ cup bourbon, Maker’s Mark is my fave
½ cup chopped walnuts
GLAZE
4 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup bourbon

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Brush a 9-inch bundt pan with with oil, line the bottom with parchment paper, then oil and flour the pan.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment,(or a hand mixer) mix the oil, granulated sugar, honey, brown sugar, eggs, orange zest, and vanilla on medium speed for one minute. In another bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, cloves, allspice, and ginger and blend. Combine the coffee, orange juice, and bourbon in a bowl. With the mixer on low, alternately add the flour and liquid mixtures to the oil-sugar mixture in thirds, beginning and ending with flour, until combined. Scrape down the bowl with a rubber spatula. Don’t worry; the batter will be very liquid!

Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Tap the pan to get rid of any bubbles in the batter. Sprinkle the top with the walnuts. Bake in the center of the oven for 40 to 45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool completely, then remove from the pan and place almond side up on a flat serving plate. Make the glaze, by melting the butter in a skillet over medium-high heat; stir in sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla. Cook, stirring constantly, 1 minute. Remove skillet from heat, and stir in bourbon. Drizzle over the cake let soak in and serve!

As we start the month of reflection about the New Year to come, let’s embrace the change. Enjoy the golden hues and earth tones. Embrace the change to come. September is the month of change!

A Rock, A Raccoon and Red Wine

I can honestly say 2020 has been one year I won’t be sorry to see end; and, we still have a little over 4 months to go. 2019 wasn’t too great either but 2020 takes the cake. Just when you think things can’t get worse or stranger they do. So that takes me to the title of this edition of my blog — A Rock, A Racoon and Red Wine. What do these 3 things have in common? And how do they lend themselves to the strangeness of 2020? Now if you don’t already know the story (and some of you close to me do) then hold on because this is one of those stories where you roll your eyes and say, “you just can’t make this stuff up!”

For those of you who know me, some find it hard to believe that I’m a bit shy. Type A at work but reserved in my personal life. I had always thought it would be a great idea to join a wine club, meet new people and enjoy a common interest, but was a bit timid about doing this alone. I can also admit that I was a bit hesitant to join a consumer club and not one filled with industry professionals. Finally I saw a club that seemed interesting with a line up of wines that looked awesome. This night’s line up featured a bunch of older vintages from one of Australia’s premiere wineries, Clarendon Hills. A relatively young winery founded in 1990, located in McLaren Vale, Clarendon Hills produces some of the region’s finest wines and was one of the first, if not the first to make a single vineyard bottling. This night’s tasting was a flight various 2010 bottlings including Grenaches, Syrahs and Cabernet Sauvignons — all very highly rated.

I arrived at the restaurant where we were seated outdoors in the back courtyard on a lovely summer night. The group was super nice and I was happy I had ventured out. We introduced ourselves since I was the newbie, gave our dinner order and then got started tasting. So here’s the RED WINE part of the tale. First wine was a bit over the hill, but the next 2 were tasting really well and I was getting excited to try the rest when…now hold on folks because the next part of the tale is well, hard to believe. What follows is the A ROCK and A RACCOON part of the tale.

All of a sudden, out of nowhere I get hit in the head, by a rock. Now this alone is crazy, but when you add the fact that the rock was shoved over a 6 foot wall onto my head by a raccoon now you have a story! Yes I was hit in the head by a 4-5 pound rock, shoved over a wall by a raccoon.

After the initial shock wore off and my head packed with ice, the restaurant’s hostess ran up behind the wall with an umbrella (as if this couldn’t get any more absurd) and tried to chase the raccoon away — since he was still peering over the wall surveying the damage he had done. I think he was just up there looking and thinking to himself — “Hey Lady, You Gonna Eat That?” Lucky for me it hit me on the top of my head and as anyone who knows me knows, I have a very hard head — part of the DNA from both mom and dad for sure! I let a few folks at home know what happened and all checked in on me and I spoke to a neighbor who was a nurse. Head’s still a bit sore, but what a tale I have to tell in the year when things just keep getting stranger and stranger. Yup, A Rock, A Raccoon and Red Wine — what a trio. I will go back to the next tasting with the group, this won’t dissuade me from doing so since what are the chances of this happening again ha!

Blackout, Cookout, Dine Out!

So Tropical Storm Isaias came and went and left quite the path of destruction in its wake. A blackout that lasted 4 days, so no tv, no radio, no lights, and the worst was a fridge and freezer filled with goods about to spoil. Living in the dark for an extended period of time with only cold water to shower and battery operated lanterns for light made me feel like I was camping in my own home. Now I’m not someone who likes to go camping. Anyone who knows me knows that I will avoid it at all costs. I think it started with the trauma of my folks sending me to Girl Scout Camp in 4th Grade and being forced to sleep in a tent and use a latrine. I went with a friend from my troop and when she called her folks, they picked her up but well, my parents told me to tough it out. Ha, I’d like to see either of them do this for 2 weeks, they’d be calling me to come get them. Call me soft, and I won’t argue! Or maybe it was in 8th grade when my school forced us to spend 10 days roughing it as part of the curriculum. Oh yeah they had their own facility in the mountains and a Searchers like program, but the day they dropped us off in the middle of nowhere with just a compass and told us to get to the base camp, I knew I was in trouble. Yuck, a 3 day hike was how it was to end, and my group hated it so much, we decided to do it in 2 days. I think this was the school’s way of laughing at us — take away our subway tokens (now I’m aging myself) and hairdryers (it was the 80’s folks) and put us in the middle of nowhere to tough it out. I won’t even talk about the food in any of these outings — no glamping here!

Not that there’s ever a good time for a storm and blackout but this one’s timing during a pandemic couldn’t have come at a worse time. Of course if you know me by now, my fridge and freezer were packed. Not only were they packed because as I’ve explained, it’s in my DNA handed down from grandparents to parents to me, but, because of Covid-19 I did not want to go out shopping as frequently. Panic set in, not just because at night my neighborhood was pitch black out, but because I was afraid I’d lose everything in the fridge and freezer. After the storm settled down and the skies cleared, I like everyone else in the complex started to grill. I live in the burbs in an apartment complex so thank goodness we all have grills. Nothing fancy, just hot dogs, and a chicken burger, but at least I had the grill — now what to do with all the rest of the food! The next morning I ran out super early and searched for coolers and as much ice as I could get. Score! Came home with both and packed the freezer with ice and hoped it would only be a day without electricity. Well no such luck, the power company had very little information but the rumor mill was that it could be as many as 5 days in the dark. I knew my ice would not hold out too long and luckily a friend came for the contents, took them home to her mom who had — now hold on, 3 freezers so she had room! A woman after my own heart, 3 freezers in her house, I knew my food would be in safe hands. The contents of the fridge, well that was another story. Sadly, and I mean sadly, most wound up in the trash. How horrible, in this time when food is in short supply due to the pandemic and folks are getting their from food pantries, I had to throw out food. What a waste but there was nothing else I could do — even the veggies were getting spoiled.

When I woke up the first morning without power, all I could think of was, coffee. Dilemma what would I do for coffee, I had no milk because I had to throw it out! Can’t live without coffee! Ok being melodramatic, but thank goodness down the hill they had power and good old Starbucks was up and brewing! I could tolerate the cold showers, but no coffee, that I could not tolerate! Now that the fridge was empty, the freezer bare, and the only way to charge my phone was in the car, the boredom started to set in. At least it is summer and I could be outdoors during the day, but at night, reading by camping light was not my idea of entertainment. I could have used the grill more for lunch and dinner, it would have worked for boiling water on it for pasta, or cooking eggs, if I had any, in a pan but I actually just didn’t want to. Besides I didn’t have much left in the fridge, so even with my still stocked pantry it was not easy to put a meal together. My complex became a ghost town with many fleeing to friends and relatives, because it was getting hotter outside and inside, so they left in search of electricity.

Night 2 a friend from the city surprised me and we had a lovely dinner outside by the Hudson River. Night 3 I got a call from one of the neighbors who suggested that we go out for dinner since she too had nothing left in her fridge, so we did. Maybe not the smartest move or best choice of dining because, the end result was heartburn on top of heartburn — who knew your heartburn could have heartburn, but you can trust me!

By day 4 this was getting old. I saw another neighbor who had stayed behind and we decided that we’d sit out on my patio and I’d grill what she had saved from her freezer. By the time I was ready to start, the electricity was back on and we were all happy again. Her saved steaks, sausages, were paired with grilled veggies a homemade chimichurri with my garden herbs, and of course wine! We celebrated the return to modernity with a feast.

Homemade chimichurri: combine 1/2 cup olive oil with 1/4 cup red wine vinegar (or more I like more vinegar) 1/4 tsp jalapeno minced (more if you like it spicy) some minced onion, maybe 2 tablespoons, and a blend of fresh parsley, oregano and I added a bit of mint, salt to taste. Chimichurri in my opinion has no formula! Every cook has her own tastes and things on hand so have fun with it, play with herb combinations. This makes 1 – 2 servings

Food and wine brings us together, I’ve said this many times. Sharing a meal, sharing stories around the table, these are some of life’s greatest pleasures. The food doesn’t have to be fancy. The wine doesn’t have to be the most expensive. It’s about the sharing, the caring, the nourishing of your belly and the nourishing of your soul.

Cooking for One Can be Fun

I’ve had a bit of writer’s block lately. Maybe it’s the slowness of the Summer. You know, those lazy days that kind of fry your brain and turn your thinking to mush. And since I’m not good at art projects, can’t focus enough to decide what to watch on Netflix other than 90-Day Fiancé and all the spin-offs, and have too much attention deficit for puzzles, I’ve turned to what I know, which is cooking. That’s been my creative outlet, and my outlet for all that pent-up energy from being home during this quarantine.

When I worked and lived in the City (New York City) I could barely be bothered cooking. If I wasn’t traveling, then I was out for dinner either for work or with friends. I was probably home 2-3 nights at most a week. If I was home, I usually bought prepared food from one of the great neighborhood places because — and I think I’ve said this before — it was cheaper to do that than buy all the ingredients to cook a meal. I know that sounds crazy but I would wind up throwing out so much because I never knew when I’d be home to use what was in the fridge. Now that we have all been home for months it’s been great watching on social media how many people have learned to love cooking!

So now to the title of my blog today — Cooking for One Can be Fun! Yes it can. How many times have you been told that it’s not enjoyable to cook for one person? How many times have you looked at a recipe and the recipe serves 4 or more? Where are the recipes for one? Why do portions not come in single serving units when you go to the supermarket? Hey, what about us single folks? We are people too, right? So I say yes, cooking for one can be fun. Who better to create something special for than yourself right? You deserve it, I deserve it. And if you make a little extra, well then you have leftovers or something to share with the neighbor. It’s ok! Cook for yourself, indulge, create, enjoy. Doesn’t have to be fancy, just use what you have on hand. Look up recipes, there are so many great apps like the NY Times Cooking app, or Epicurious, or Yummly or my blog FKDecanted. Go to them for inspiration. Go to them for guidance and create. Put good things in your belly, even the simplest meal can be yummy. So many of my friends have been asking me to start compiling the recipes I’ve been making, so going forward I am going to start incorporating recipes into my writing. And folks there will be recipes for 1 serving and sometimes for more! And well, if you want it for more you know what to do — double it, triple it … but let’s start with serving sizes for the single folks out there. Here are a few of my recent favorites that I’ve made for myself.

Tuna Tartare with cilantro guacamole and a Hendricks Gin and Tonic

Ingredients for the Tuna Tartare: One 4-6 oz piece of piece of high quality tuna, cut into small dice. Marinate for about 30 minutes in the following: 4 Tbsp Soy, 1 Tbsp Mirin, 1 Tsp Rice Wine Vinegar, 1 Tsp Swad Ginger Paste, 1 Tsp Ponzu, and wasabi powder to taste.
Ingredients for the Cilantro Guacamole: 1 avocado smashed with a fork so that it’s almost smooth but has a bit of texture. 1 Tbsp Swad Cilantro Chutney, juice of 1 lime and about 1-2 Tbsp fresh cilantro chopped.
Assembly: Take a large pastry cutter, if you have one, or use a tumbler and start layering the guacamole and tuna tartare. If using the pastry cutter, place it on the plate and create your layers directly on your serving plate. If using the tumbler, then make your layers and gently invert onto a plate. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve with kettle style chips.
To drink: I liked my Hendricks Gin and Tonic but a wine choice should be something with good acid and fruit balance such as a Gruner Veltliner, Vinho Verde, Albarino, Torrontes and of course Sake.

Egg noodles with pine nuts, lemon, ricotta and spinach

Super fresh and easy, a quick Summer night’s meal made in 1 bowl!
Ingredients: 1 cup of dried egg noodles 1/2 cup spinach, 4 Tbsp Ricotta, 1 lemon zest only, handful of pine nuts.
Directions: Cook the egg noodles in boiling salted water. While that’s cooking, toast the pine nuts until lightly browned in a dry pan on the stove. In a large bowl — even the bowl you’ll eating from if you have a pasta bowl, add the ricotta, spinach a pinch of salt and pepper and mix together. Add the drained noodles directly into the bowl, the heat will wilt the spinach and top with the pine nuts and lemon zest. Season again a bit more. Even drizzle a bit of extra virgin olive oil over the top for a bit more texture. Serve immediately.
To Drink: I’d love an Orvieto or a good Pinot Grigio or even a glass of Falanghina. Acidity, floral and bright, these types of wines will go great with the freshness and creaminess of this dish.

Tomato stuffed with ricotta, basil, oregano and more!

Here’s a light summer lunch — simple in-season ingredients from the garden and farm.
Ingredients: 1 ripe tomato, 1/2 cup ricotta, 1/4 cup parmigiano reggiano, 1 garlic clove minced, 2 Tbsp chopped basil, 1 Tsp chopped fresh oregano, salt and pepper to season, extra virgin olive oil to drizzle.
Directions: Take the top off the tomato, and remove the pulp and seeds — save the pulp, drain the liquid. Drizzle tomato with olive oil, rub inside with salt and pepper set oven (or toaster oven) to 400 degrees. In a bowl mix the ricotta, parmigano, garlic, basil, oregano and the tomato pulp. Stuff the tomato with the ricotta mixture, and drizzle with the olive oil. Roast the stuffed tomato in the oven until it’s soft, but still holds it’s texture — too mushy and it will fall apart, you want to be able to cut into it. This might take about 20 minutes — but check!
To Drink: A light Pinot Grigio or even a Gavi would be a fantastic white pairing but you could also go red with a glass of Barbera or Dolcetto or even a Pinot Noir from Oregon — I’d serve them slightly chilled.

All of these meals are really simple and easy so why not go ahead and cook for yourself. And feel free to edit, tweak, modify, whatever makes you happy! Just get creative and get cooking. Like I said, you deserve it. Seasonal ingredients make your life simpler as does a well-stocked pantry. Also look at some of the on-line sites like Penzeys, or Kalustyans, or my favorite Spice Mountain from the UK, for cool international spices, rubs and chutneys. Open a nice bottle of wine — so many now come with screw caps so you can have a glass and put it back in the fridge. Or invest in a wine preservation system like the Coravin. Go ahead make a cocktail I won’t judge I would probably join you! Cooking for One Can be and SHOULD BE Fun!

Cooking for Comfort, Cooking for Joy

Sometimes you just need things that feel comfortable. Comfort comes in many forms. Comfort can be your favorite sweater or a warm blanket. It can be a song that makes you think of something happy, or it can be a meal that evokes a memory. From the beginning of the pandemic I’ve been wearing comfortable elastic waisted pants and polartec fleece; now that it’s warm I only shed the fleece. In fact with all the cooking I’ve been doing I’m not sure I actually fit into my jeans — ok yes I do and for those of you concerned I’m working out at home. I found not only comfort but also joy in cooking during these trying times. Cooking became an outlet for me, a way to get my energy out, and do something creative. I looked forward to the end of the day when I would peek inside my fridge, freezer and pantry and see what yummy meal I could whip up. And since I can’t paint, I can’t draw, don’t have the patience to knit and with lots of animals around doing a puzzle just wasn’t an option, I decided that cooking would be my creative outlet. It didn’t matter if I had fancy ingredients or the most basic, it was all about the creating.

I would put my chef head on after a long day at the computer and look in the fridge and freezer and plan my next episode of Chopped, the Homecook edition. Now that I live in the burbs and not a tiny apartment in the sky, I am lucky enough to have a pantry! And I think it’s in my DNA to keep it all well stocked. My parents were always of the “You Never Know” philosophy so we always had a full fridge, freezer and pantry. And that way of thinking was most probably handed down from my dad’s mom, the grandmother I’m always referring to in my stories. Grandma was from that generation of immigrant Jews that believed that if you had food on your table all was good in the world, it was a sign for them that they “had,” even if they didn’t. Grandma always had a full table no matter how little money she had or what the circumstances were in life. This type of thinking was handed down to my dad who lived by the same credo and he handed that down to me. My fridge and freezer are full and so is my pantry so I’ve been doing a lot of what I call #pantrycooking and #freezercooking.

When I lived in the city and had a job where I traveled a lot, I didn’t cook very much. I used to tell people that it was more expensive and wasteful to cook than buy ready-made or get delivery. Often I’d either be out for dinner for work or traveling, and most of the bought ingredients would go to waste. Now being home, I am very mindful about what’s in the fridge, freezer and pantry and am trying not to let things go to waste. This has been a good lesson, and has encouraged me to let my creative juices flow and turn these items into meals. Both the cooking and planning brought me joy. Each night, I think about what protein I might take out of the freezer and then think about what’s in the fridge and pantry and what I can then create.

There is something very soothing about cooking, there’s a rhythm, a cadence that when you get into it can be very comforting. Yes of course there can be chaos too but I find the whole process very soothing even the chaos. When you find that right rhythm, have your timing down and all things flow, it’s kind of like a symphony. When it all comes together and the meal is created, now that brings me joy. Sharing a meal, cooking it, creating the menu this all brings me joy. But what brings me the most joy is the look on my friends’ faces as they partake in what I’ve made for them — comfort and joy for me.

My inspiration today comes from all the fabulous foods I’ve seen or tasted from all the amazing places I’ve been. At times I felt like I was taking a trip through my meals — a Spanish inspired or Italian inspired dish made me feel like I was somewhere else. If I felt a little exotic I’d make an Indian or Thai inspired meal; or if I felt like I needed something more “homey” maybe I’d make a stew or pot pie. I love cookbooks, websites and cooking magazines and cooking shows and am constantly looking at them all for more inspiration. I have boxes of index cards from my parents along with memories of my grandmother’s cooking and I’ll take these ideas and transform them based on what’s in my fridge, pantry and freezer. It’s hard to cook meals for yourself, most recipes are for at least 2 and usually more so you have to be very mindful about how to adapt to solo meals. Occasionally I’d make a large batch of something and I’d either freeze the extras or share with my neighbors. My former neighbor in the city used to be the recipient of extras, and she has told me on more than one occasion that she is envious of the fact that I am now sharing with others.

I’ve been drawn to making what might be considered comfort foods. Yes I know my pictures make them look fancy, I love photographing food; I think ingredients either raw or cooked are beautiful. But in fact, most items are really non-fancy, pantry, fridge and freezer ingredients that can be put together fairly quickly, without too much fuss and with ingredients that are not too expensive. A key is to make sure that you have lots of different spices and dried herbs in your pantry. Another key is to have lots of cans of beans, tomatoes as well as dried pastas and rices as well as stocks.

One of my favorite comfort dishes that I recently made was my mom’s lasagna. I remember her making this rich Northern Italian recipe that would take hours to prepare. I used to love watching as she’d make each part of the lasagna, browning the sausage; cooking each noodle with care so that it wouldn’t break; making the bechamel and the red sauce; mixing and flavoring the ricotta and finally layering and assembling with loads of mozzarella. I basically followed her recipe but of course put my own twist on it to cut down on the cooking time — I used no cook lasagna noodles, and enhanced a fantastic jarred tomato sauce with some extra goodness. I had all the ingredients on hand so it was easy to make and the end result was an ooey gooey rich lasagna that I shared with my neighbors and also froze for later meals — pantry cooking and freezer cooking at its finest. Here’s the original index card from mom in her handwriting and original cooking splatters — along with a picture of my creation.

I’ve been posting my cooking to my instagram and facebook pages and who knows maybe one day I will put them all together along with the recipes into a book. Posting them and sharing them has been my way to connect with people and bring joy to those who liked seeing my creations. In these days of self isolation, we all needed ways to bring comfort and joy to ourselves. My way was to share my creations; it was a way of reaching out with something that gave me joy and hope that it might put a smile on the face of others. So I will leave you with a few of my favorites from our quarantine time. All the ingredients came from either my fridge or freezer, peppered with what’s in the pantry and now my garden. I hope they inspire you to look in your fridge, freezer and pantry and create meals that bring you comfort and joy.

Fish stock in the making from leftover lobster shells

Step with Both Feet Forward, Now Pivot!

The past year and a half has been interesting to say the least. At bit overwhelming at times to say the most! So here goes from the beginning the actual timeline of change: mom goes into hospital, new president joins my old company, mom passes away, new boss joins company, leave city after 20 some odd years, move back to childhood home, sell apartment in city. Then I decide I need more change so I leave my job of 29 years for the unknown. And that was only the first 6 months. Flashforward from there another 8 months. Change in life is inevitable, it’s how you embrace it and move forward that is the interesting part. You can chose to crawl under a rock, let it all overwhelm you or you can move forward and pivot – change direction and find a way out. I had only had one job in my career of working; I had never not worked as an adult. I was not in a position not to work, too young, not a trust fund baby, so I chose to find the way out — to strategically pivot and find a new path. After applying for similar positions to the one I had previously, I decided to pivot and set out on my own.

My high school friend, Allison Kluger lectures about Strategic Pivoting at the Graduate School of Business at Stanford. To quote her, “Pivoting is an intentional, methodical process for nimbly navigating career changes.” Check her out, from being a tv producer to being a professor, she too had pivoted her career. In fact Alex Rodriguez is a guest lecturer about career pivoting. Tyra Banks also teaches with Allison as a co-lecturer on Personal Branding, much of which involves pivoting your narrative, your interests, and message as you evolve in your career. Being nimble and able to take your own personal assets and find a new way to use them is really what life is about. How do we adapt and find that path forward that’s the main question and task. Once you’ve defined what you have to offer and have evaluated your personal assets, then you need to figure out how to use them! Simple, not so simple, kind of like putting a puzzle together but once the pieces fall into place the answer becomes more clear.

Behind The Scenes Strategic Pivoting - YouTube — Allison Kluger’s Class

I looked inward, reached outward and came up with creating 2 opportunities for myself and the pivot began! Blogger and Sales & Marketing Consultant for the Wine & Spirits Industry were the 2 paths I chose. I knew that I had a lot of stories in me about food and wine. I grew up in the industry, went to culinary school, travelled around the world of wine from a young age, met many of the industry’s most iconic figures… all this led me to create my own blog called FKDecanted, My Life’s Journey in Food and Wine. I never thought I’d have the patience to write. I’m not inherently a patient person as those who know me can attest! But with change comes well, change and I’ve learned to be a bit more patient. Writing, I have found is not only cathartic, but is also enjoyable and comes fairly easily to me once I’ve developed the idea.

The second career path has been to create my own Sales & Marketing Consulting Firm for the Wine & Spirits Industry, called WineDistilled. I thought long and hard here; how do I use my experience and create something of my own that is of value to those in the industry. It wasn’t until after I had taken a trip to Argentina for fun that I had a revelation — I not only have the contacts but the valued experience in the Argentine wine world to become a consultant to wineries. But really it wasn’t until I spoke with a dear friend of mine who represents one of the iconic wine brands in Argentina that I realized this would be my new path. It was he that said to me, “take your own assets which are your passion, knowledge and contacts in the Argentine Wine Industry and set out on your own!” Thank you Ramiro, because once I got home I knew that this would be my path. So I pivoted, changed my way of looking for a career and set out to create my own company. Once I set my mind to this direction I did so with a vengeance and created WineDistilled LLC. I traveled, spoke to, met with and it all worked! Pretty soon once was all was in place I landed my first client.

I find it fascinating that so many of my friends, work friends and peers have also found themselves in the same position and all of us around the same age. In fact what strikes me is that so few of my friends have not had a major work life changes. Some have pivoted by choice, and others because they had to do so. Some have gone in totally different directions; and some have stayed closer to home. The common thread has been that once they decided upon a direction they were all in! They took a step forward and pivoted.

I look at what we are faced with today with Covid 19. Pivoting, being nimble, being able to adapt your business strategy, is more important than ever. I am watching my industry the wine & spirits as well as hospitality industry, do this and it’s fascinating to watch. How do such a huge industries with multiple facets change, pivot and find new ways to do business so quickly. Virtual tastings, virtual education, virtual sales calls, social distancing at point of purchase, ready to go cocktails, ready to go wine by the glass. Virtual ordering platforms, and e-commerce had just started to be implemented by our distributors prior to the pandemic, are even more important than ever, Direct to Consumer on-line sales, and so much more – our industry is Pivoting at a rapid pace. We are turning this ship around not slowly, but rapidly and at times into uncharted waters. There is a positive, can do energy and it will makes us even stronger once things have opened up completely. Our industry’s way of doing business will change and become different from what we have been used to all these years. The strong ones who are innovative and ready to not only embrace change but lead the change will come out of this stronger.

As has been my custom here’s a picture of one of my favorite culinary creations from during the lockdown. Cooking has been my joy while home and I’ve become very adept at using what’s in my pantry, freezer and refrigerator. I’ve turned pantry cooking and freezer cooking into mini homecook episodes of Chopped. I look in, assess what’s inside and then create! I had farm tomatoes, zucchini and eggplant, onions and a piece of arctic char and homemade pesto. So I whipped up a Provencal Tian and a pesto coated Arctic Char. Simple, good food that is easy to make and used what I had on hand!

I’m super excited about all the possibilities ahead of me. So many more things I’d like to do with career. So go ahead embrace the future. You have nothing to lose and potentially everything to gain!!! And with both feet, take a step forward and pivot!

I Say Doughnut, You Say Bombolini

Anyone who knows me well, knows I’m obsessed with doughnuts. I think they are the perfect food. A food group all unto themselves. Fried, baked, round, square, filled, frosted, powdered, I could go on and on! Ok I will. I would happily forego a designer dessert for the a crisp on the outside, soft on the inside, sweet, ooey gooey drip down the front of my chin and slight explosion of powdered sugar on my face jelly doughnut. Or give me a doughnut filled to the max with pastry cream and covered in chocolate ganache and I’m in heaven. I felt like one of Pavlova’s experiments when the red light would come on at the Crispy Kreme that was at the bus stop near my old apartment in the city. It was impossible for me not to stop in and get one of those hot off the conveyor belt glazed delights that would melt in my mouth. And try to stop at just 1, impossible just impossible.

My Favorite Doughnut stall at Borough Market in London

So why doughnuts? Why would I want to have a blog about doughnuts? I’ll get to that in a minute. I told this little story to a friend of mine last week and she thought it would make a cute story and encouraged me to put it into my next blog. The theme of my blog is about my life’s journey in food and wine and yes folks doughnuts are food! This past week the food and wine industry mourned the passing of one of truly great restaurateurs, Sirio Maccioni, owner of Le Cirque. In a league of its own, Le Cirque was the epitome at its time of elegant dining. I am lucky to have dined there on a few occasions from the original location to the last, and was even luckier to have made the casual friendship with some of its greatest chefs. Through my work in the wine industry, I had the fortune of meeting both Daniel Boulud and Jacques Torres when they were both at Le Cirque. Jacques Torres, the now famed chocolatier was Executive Pastry Chef and Daniel was Executive Chef — and what a team they made!

Jacques who for some reason always called me Martine, was as funny as he is talented. He was always cracking jokes and for all his celebrity in the food world, just as chefs were becoming celebrities, he always had the time to chat if I called. So one day, I was walking past the restaurant and decided to pop in to say hi and ask him if he would be open to working on a project with one of my Port wines. Chocolate and port are a marriage made in heaven so I wanted to see if he would create chocolates filled with port. I went into the kitchen of Le Cirque where he held court and chatted and joked around, after which as was usual, he would say, what would you like to take and bring home. And it was there that I saw the most perfect round, fried pieces of goodness, filled to almost exploding with cream. And since it was Le Cirque it wasn’t just a doughnut but a bombolini. My eyes dilated and I said, ok I’d love one bombolini please. He said Martine of course, here have one it’s yours. So I did, and ate it right there! Heaven is a warm out of the fryer bombolini filled with pastry cream and coated in sugar. What I didn’t know was that he had taken a whole handful and wrapped them in a napkin and quietly put them in my pocket. So after we chatted I left and started my walk home up Madison Avenue and now I’m sure you can imagine what happened next. I shoved my hand into my pocket, not knowing that I had cream filled bombolini inside and well what happened next was an explosion all over my pocket. Sadness is an exploding bombolini in a pocket that can’t be eaten, a long walk to follow and no napkin. Oh well, at least I had that one in the kitchen! Thank you Mr. Chocolate aka Jacques Torres for one of my most favorite doughnut memories and am writing this as I sip a cup of a homemade cappuccino laced with your wicked hot chocolate powder (and a little Jameson’s) but sadly no doughnut to accompany.

Harvest in the Time of Covid 19

Up until now, most of my blogs have been personal, about my life’s journey in food and wine. I’ve been writing about my experiences and hoping you’d find them enlightening and at times entertaining. What I’d like to write about now is more serious than many of my other posts, more timely and more business oriented. We are all living through a very strange and serious time in our lives and it’s affecting us all very differently. For the past 15 years I’ve been working with the Argentine wine world and today I’d like to enlighten you on how Covid 19 has had a direct effect on the harvest.

When most of us think of harvest time we think fall; however it is fall in South American and harvest is well underway, if not almost done in Argentina. Again I’ll mention that I was there only a month ago and harvest was just gearing up. The Mendoza Harvest Festival took place and all seemed normal. The tanks were getting ready, the pickers were starting to pick, the trucks were being loaded with grapes ready to go into the crusher and all seemed well just fine, on track, if not even a bit early. Most wineries luckily finished picking by the end of March, but it was not before the country went into lockdown on March 13 just like we did.

On April 3rd, my colleague, friend and amazing winemaker, Karim Mussi Saffie of Altocedro in La Consulta, Mendoza wrote about how challenging things were. And in his words, ” These last days have been very stressful for us at the winery, dealing with many open fronts at the same time, but moving the fastest possible, keeping calm and managing everything by priorities. We are all healthy, both at home and at the company.” He immediately upon hearing what was going to happen, activated a crisis management committee and decided to manage the situation using the following strategy: Take care of the team in order to keep the operation active and ready for — “the day after.” Most Argentine business owners are pretty well versed in mitigating financial crisis, as you probably know it’s a country that has them often.

So what did he have to do and how did he do it with government mandated self isolation? Since wine is considered food, it was allowed to continue operating. Permission was needed for everything . Everyone who needed to go back and forth from the winery to home needed a permit. Without a permit you could not work outside of the home. They closed their offices and tasting room, however, they were able to keep the bottling line open and fill pending orders. In Karim’s words, “All of the staff at KMW are working under safe conditions in order to reduce the risk of infection and guarantee the quality of our wines. The preventative measures not only comply with the official protocols, but also reduce the risk of infection and have since been adopted as our official practices going forward.” Social distancing was mandatory, 1.5 meters apart for everyone. All of the necessary supplies or what we now call PPE’s are continuously being delivered to protect all staff and everyone receives daily instruction on how to use them. Masks, gloves and protective glasses are mandatory. Everybody was given alcohol based sanitizing sprays to clean the equipment, surfaces, tools, plugs, valves, pumps — basically anything touched. Additional measures include staggering the shifts so that a minimum amount of people are working at any given time again to mitigate the risk of infection.

As of April 3rd, they had harvested about 90% of their grapes from La Consulta. It was a very warm growing season, one of the warmest March months in a long time. Sugar ripeness came early which helped speed up the phenolic ripeness. Harvest was therefore about 2 weeks earlier than normal, for all varietals, including Cabernet, and this is a very good thing all things considered. In fact it is shaping up to be a great vintage, and the quality is amazing; a memorable one in more ways than one. All of Altocedro’s fruit is hand-harvest and getting cash was not easy to pay the workers so that posed another great challenge. Banks were not open, and they don’t “deliver cash” but as I said, Karim found the way to make sure all his workers got paid every Friday.

Harvest time is always a challenge even under perfect conditions, but this year as with everyone and everything, this has been a monumentally challenging time. This harvest will prove to be memorable and , according to Karim, “a beautiful and important activity, one that generates jobs, strong-minded people who persevere, and cannot be stopped no matter what crisis is in front of them.” Karim and his team took the task at hand and did what they do best, as a team, and as a family, so that at the end of the day we can enjoy his amazing wines. I’d like to end with two quotes from Karim, “Imagination is half the disease, tranquility is half of the remedy, and patience is the beginning of the cure” and “Wine is sacred and necessary for a human’s happiness and progress.” From me and Karim and his entire team, we wish you all well, stay home, stay safe and if you can enjoy a glass of wine with each other.

The New Norm?

As I sit in my kitchen while dinner cooks in the oven, I first want to wish all reading this, good health and if you are sick from Covid 19/Coronavirus, a speedy recovery. To our first responders, doctors, newscasters, folks keeping supermarkets open and stocked, truckers, wine/liquor shops, restaurants, (sorry if I have missed anyone) thank you for your commitment and sacrifice. Thank you to the military for helping my city – New York and for helping all of us in the trying time. For those of you in any industry who have lost your job, or business, but especially for my industry — Food and Wine, my heart goes out to you. I was grappling with the title of this blog, as I don’t really want to think that what we are experiencing is the new norm. I keep hearing this phrase over and over again each time I tune into the nightly news. But I don’t think anything about this situation is normal. Stay Home Stop the Spread, Social Distancing, Self Isolating, Flatten the Curve, shortages of food, no human contact, shortages of toilet paper, pandemic, and so many other descriptors; how is any of this normal? New Yes, Normal No.

In times like this I am grateful for what does make my life feel almost normal; my friends, my work, wine, cooking and the occasional Bourbon. I can’t believe that a month has past since I came home from an amazing trip to Argentina. Forgive me if I have mentioned this before but I really can’t believe it was a month ago. Now today I sit in my kitchen, or my office at home as so many of us are doing. I find that a good part of the day revolves around meal planning. In general I love meal planning for friends, entertaining is second nature to me, passed down from my paternal grandmother (about whom I’ve written in so many past blogs) and my mom and dad who were the ultimate entertainers. But now I plan lunch and dinner every day for me with the occasional delivery or curbside pick up — support your local restaurants folks! Previously I might have gone grocery shopping 3 or 4 times a week — leftover habits from city life and a small kitchen! But now I go once and load up so I don’t have to be out more than necessary. Some days I feel like a contestant in an episode of Chopped! I look in the fridge survey what’s in there and whip up a meal. Dad you’d be proud that I’m actually using my culinary education. Remember this is the man who said to me — “You Want to Do What; You Want to Go to the CIA and become a Chef?” Well glad I did because now that I live in the burbs, there are not that many delivery choices so cooking is the best option.

Now that I live in the burbs with lots of space I have a stocked pantry — this is something mom insisted on and I am so glad she did. I have a full freezer filled with soups and sauces — a carry over from dad. And I’ve inherited from both an obsession for keeping as many cans of tuna fish and beans in the pantry as possible because you never know! Cooking for me is soothing and has become a great distraction right now. I love the cadence, the rhythm the pace in the kitchen. When you find the perfect ingredients and marry them together and get the timing right, it’s like composing a symphony.

I love looking at my social media feed and seeing others making fantastic meals and thoroughly enjoying the process. We may have physically shared meals with our friend only a month ago, now we are doing it virtually. So here are a few of my favorite meals that I’ve recently made. I’m sharing them virtually with you all in this new norm that’s not really a new norm as I’ve been posting these recipes and images for the past year hoping to inspire people to cook, and enjoy food and wine.

The Curried Chicken Pot Pie was made with poached chicken, carrots and peas, onions sauteed in curry powder, thickened with flour and chicken broth and made richer with a splash of heavy cream. Brush with egg wash, put a vent in the center and bake at 350 until golden brown. This was my favorite! As for the Mexican Peppers, I sauteed some beef and onion, add a tablespoon each of cumin, chili powder and oregano, cook until done. Add in some chopped green olives, shredded pepper jack and about a half cup of black beans. Moisten with tomato puree then stuff the peppers. Add some more tomato puree to the pan and bake at 350 until the peppers are soft and easy to cut through. These are my “Chopped Kitchen” recipes. The Chocolate Olive Oil Cake I must confess comes from Nigella Lawson, the Raspberry White Chocolate Scone is from a book of Scones I got from England and the Banana Bread is from the NY Times.

Is this the New Normal, that’s up to you, but for me I hope not. I don’t want to think that I will get used to being isolated and that this is something normal. New Yes, Normal No. I long for the day when we can all be well and un-afraid. I long for the day when I don’t have to converse with my friends via FaceTime or Zoom. I long for the day when we don’t have to have virtual cocktail hours. New Yes, Normal No. Keep cooking, drinking wine and, keep doing things that make you happy, but most of all stay safe and healthy. And again thank you to all the heroes out there working to make our lives safe and well. I virtually toast you all, you are the true heroes out there and I say Thank You.

Let The Sunshine In

I’m a morning person, anyone who knows me knows that I am usually up at the crack of dawn, and even before. I enjoy the silence and solitude that comes with the pre-dawn hours. There is a peace and tranquility that sets my mood, sets the tone for the day. I rarely see the 11 PM news, but always wake to the morning news. I used to joke that thank goodness for the re-runs of Law and Order since I fall asleep before the Order part. The ritual of the morning is something precious to me; feed the cats, make an espresso cortado, get back in bed, watch the early morning news until 7 then start the day. What I love the most about this ritual is seeing the sunshine. The morning sun coming into my kitchen through the lace curtains and filling the room just makes me happy.

I make another cortado, then go over to the living room window and stare out at the sunshine streaming over my little garden, waking up my flowers and I say hi to all. This is my “sun salutation”. I say hi to my little flowers, and am usually accompanied by one or 2 of my cats — Mia and Sammy and together we greet the day.

I think that in this time of uncertainty and isolation, it’s important to embrace your rituals and feel comfort in small things that bring a smile to your face. I smile when I see my little furry creatures basking in the sunshine on the windowsill. I call them my little sunshine cats when they do this. This is not about seasonality, or the fact that it’s now spring; I do this all year. I love the seasons and how the light changes — warmer colors in the winter and fall and bright in spring and summer.

I think that letting the sunshine in can take many forms, some literal and some figurative. Think about what makes you smile. Another way the sun shines for me is through — you guessed it food and wine. Don’t you just smile when you think of a favorite meal your mom cooked? Or when you make a meal that your friends love? Is it the perfect food and wine combination? When something tastes so good you just can’t help but smile? I say yes to all of these things. Now that mom and dad are gone, I love flipping through their carefully catalogued index cards of recipes. I smile when I see one that brings me back in time. I sit in their kitchen as I write this and can almost smell her cooking and it fills me with sunshine. A dear friend of mine was gifted one of mom’s hand-written index cards with mom’s meatball recipe; and the smile that swept over her face was priceless. I can still smell those savory treats frying in the kitchen and remembering how I’d steal one or 2 or whatever, as she was cooking them. Now my friend makes this recipe. Before all this self imposed isolation and distancing my friend and I were going to make her mom’s Irish Soda Bread recipe, also lovingly written on a piece of paper. Maybe we can do this now virtually together, not the same as in person but we all have to find ways to do things, keep to rituals and keep together to let the sunshine in. Both of our moms have passed but through their recipes we have a little bit of their sunshine.

I smile when I think of the beautiful warm sunshine of my recent trip to Argentina. The was sun shining in the vineyards making the grapes perfectly ripe for the winemaking to come. In fact the wonderful company that I am working with is called Vino del Sol — Wine of the Sun. What a great name and so apropos to this story! I can’t believe that it was a little over 3 weeks ago that I was there, and how the world has changed for us since then. So remember it’s important that you find ways to let the sunshine in and make you smile. It’s good for the soul and the spirits, so let the sunshine and I wish you all good health and happiness and of course great food and wine to keep you smiling.

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