Iftar

One of the many marvelous things that came from our summer comparative religions series was a new friend, actually a family of new friends. Andrea Mikulin of the Mosaic Foundation was our hostess when we visited the mosque and her husband, Hasan, and their friend Ihsen, shepherded the guys through worship downstairs. Andrea and Hasan have turned into marvelous friends. Andrea faithfully prayed for my husband as he went through the diagnostic process and continues to pray and offer help as he begins his chemo process.
Last night, Andrea and Hasan hosted Iftar, the fast breaking meal of Ramadan, in their home. We met Christine, a sociology professor who is writing a book on second generation American Muslims. The daughter of a Pakistani father and an Italian-American mother, she knows a thing or two about her subject. There was the couple visiting from Turkey and their daughter and granddaughter and four people who are active at University Park Methodist. We were about as varied a group as you can imagine. Yet there were commonalities around that table. All of us love to travel and experience other cultures, all of us apparently like to eat (the food disappeared with oohs, aahs and yums) and all of us were very interested in learning about each other.
The Mosaic Foundation offers free cooking classes on Turkish cooking and I have every intention of being there when the next class is offered after Ramadan! I'll let you know all about it!

A New Favorite

We've been going to Mount Crested Butte for the week starting Labor Day weekend for more than ten years. While the stated purpose of our trip is the annual Consultants' Camp, the reality is the peace of Crested Butte. Even the year they raised the beams on what is now the Grand Lodge, even the year they demolished the old, old, old motel, even the year the World Music Fest folks were everywhere, we just relax there in a way we rarely relax elsewhere.
Consultants' Camp campers have some planned or traditional meals. Brian Lawrence takes pizza to a whole new level and Ron Thompson accompanies it with beer tasting. Alan and Judy Cox, owners of the Nordic Inn where we hold our camp, welcome us with an opening dinner and say farewell with a traditionally rainy barbecue. Many campers look forward to a fried chicken dinner at Slogar's. That still leaves a couple of free evenings for dining. Typically, we spend some time at Avalanche for basic bar and grill food. Frankly, interesting and adventuresome food has been a bit lacking other than Brian's pizza. There are some nice places down in the town, but the selection on Mount Crested Butte in the off season is tricky. This year I read several great reviews of a place called Django's and I corralled a group to walk half a block down the hill to the relatively new Mountaineer Square. The five of us had a great evening, a bit cool in the outdoor area but far from the heater, but we loved the food. I completely forgot the camera, so I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to get pictures of the food. Another group wandered down to Django's on my recommendation. They brought down before and after pictures of what I imagine was Venison Loin, encrusted
with Grains of Paradise, Blackberry Whiskey sauce, and Parsnip pureé.

These were great pictures, but what I really wanted was to eat at Django's again, so, on Wednesday night when my spouse was off for chicken and mashed potatoes and all those down-home treats he loves, I rounded up a my friend, Ron Thompson, to eat with me at Django's.


If you can, go to Django's with a group so you can share many of the tasty morsels. That said, Ron and I managed to enjoy quite a number of wonderful dishes. We started with Peruvian Piquillo Peppers stuffed with creamy Mascarpone, Gorgonzola, Lemon zest, and Herb salt because they were out of the ingredients on my earlier visit.These were a lovely contrast in texture. There was no real crunch, but there was the slick texture and slightly piquant taste of the peppers against the creamy smoothness of the cheese. My slight criticism is that I would have served this dish just a tiny bit closer to room temperature so the full flavors would be readily available. Django's does not offer wines by the glass, but by the quartile (approximately 1/3 bottle). We shared a quartile of Pascual Toso Estate Bottled Torrontes Mendoza, 2007 Argentina as our first wine.
On my earlier visit, five of us shared the three little risotto cakes topped with fried quail eggs in an order of Arancini with Quail Eggs, not nearly enough to truly enjoy the lush risotto cakes and certainly not enough to appreciate the Idiazabal fondue and black garlic accompanying them. On my second trip, these were a must order! My friend enjoyed the chorizo on the dish and the two of us were amazed at the addition the black garlic made to the dish, something I had missed on my first visit.

I didn't realize how out of focus my picture was when I took it and that makes me feel bad, because they made an extra one just for my picture!
I am always nervous around Brussel sprouts because my mother used to murder them with an hour cooking in a pressure cooker, but the Crispy Brussels Sprouts, Fresh Apples, Crème Fraîche, Apple Cider reduction, and Pistachios dish was a true delight! The apples added a sweet contrast to the earthy and crispy Brussel sprouts. The apple cider reduction and pistachios continued the sweet-tart, crispy-smooth contrast going on in the dish. There was just a tiny touch of crème fraîche that left us wanting more.

We split a quartile of Fanetti Vino Nobile di Montepulciano Riserva, 2003 Italy for our last courses. Just a tiny quarrel, we would have liked new plates at this point. After a few dishes, the plates are littered with the lovely tastes of the previous dishes and a clean plate would mean fewer carry over tastes. For my main dish, I repeated a favorite from my previous trip, a pecan-encrusted goat cheese with a delightful kumquat-cranberry compote to be eaten on lavosh.

The kumquat-cranberry combination was another contrast for the sweet pecan and goat cheese combination. I teased them a bit about using a California chevre when there are such lovely ones avialbel from Colorado cheesemakers, Haystack in Longmont and Jumping Good Goat just over Cottonwood Pass in Buena Vista. They pointed out that Buena Vista might as well be in another state in the winter when the pass is closed.
Ron told me the seared lamb carpaccio served with a salad of heirloom-cherry tomatoes and shaved manchego with a pomegranate gastrique was great. I trust his opinion. I can say the pomegranate gastrique was a lovely one with just a subtle difference from something like a balsalmic reduction which is so common these days.


There was a dessert special for 09/09/09, but not even two normally priced $7 desserts for $9 could tempt us to eat another bite. I do hope to meet up with the almond-pear tart someday, but on that particular evening, neither of us could indulge in more than a double espresso.

I don't know how we missed Django last year, but I know we won't miss it again!
Django, Mountaineer Square, at the base of Mt. Crested Butte. Small Plates $4-17. Wines $30-225 bottle, $9-52 quartile.

A Personal Health Care Reform Plea

It is all so new that we do not yet know how it will all sort out, but my husband and I are perilously close to becoming poster children for health care reform.
We are both closer to retirement age than we are to the beginnings of our careers and we have worked very hard to overcome the vagueries of the financial market to build what we hope is an adequate retirement fund. We hope for a few more good working years for Robert and I am hoping to find a reasonable job with health insurance.
But now there is reason to think Robert has cancer and all our carefully laid plans seem futile. Robert's company offers Family and Medical leave of 12 weeks without pay and the disability insurance we never expected to need would not even cover our house payment let alone the cobra payments to continue our health insurance. If Robert needs chemo, what will happen if he cannot continue to work? More importantly, how will we afford the chemo if he is unable to work? How long will our retirement funds last?
These are the very real questions of people who have tried all their lives to be fiscally responsible. These are the very real questions that health care reform would answer by making sure that no one has to bankrupt themselves to stay alive, by making sure everyone has health insurance, by eliminating from our fear list those words "pre-existing condition." I wonder how many of those who are protesting health care reform and yelling at town hall meetings and distributing the negative emails would be in better shape confronted with the same situation my husband and I face.
Health care reform may well come too late for me and for Robert, but I pray it is not too late for you, gentle reader.

Sweet Freedom Cookbook Offers Treats for People Who Have to Watch Their Eats

One of the new perks of belonging to BloggerAid: Changing the Face of Famine (hereafter BACFF) is the new View and Review program where we get to review cookbooks and products. I just received my copy of Sweet Freedom: Desserts You'll Love without Wheat, Eggs, Dairy or Refined Sugar by Ricki Heller. Ricki has a Toronto bakery specializing in offering sweet treats to people who have to avoid gluten, soy, sugar and/or dairy.
I haven't had a chance to bake anything yet, but I have been looking at the 100+ recipes in the book and planning my course of action. First, I need to find a few ingredients...

The Long, Long History of Misinformation

As I watch the procession of Teddy Kennedy's body to the Kennedy Library and listen to the media folks discuss his heritage, I can't help but hear a bit of my mother's voice. My mother was scared, very scared of the Kennedy family. I remember her uncontrollable sobs the night John F. Kennedy was elected. She was convinced that the Pope would be taking over the United States with JFK as his mouthpiece and we would all be forced to become Catholics. It was a very real fear for her and one she never overcame, even later in life when she became (gasp) a Democrat. I carefully hid my Kennedy campaign buttons from her!
Mom had lots of these fears, including the fear so common at the time of the "niggers" who were going to take over the world and commit some unmentionable atrocities against innocent, unsuspecting white folks.
So, remembering Mom's fears, I have some familiarity with the fears we have heard expressed lately at the town hall meetings. Now Mom would never have expressed her views publicly, but times have changed and people seem to be willing to share all kinds of things publicly these days. I have no idea where she got her crazy ideas about Kennedy or, for that matter, blacks. In the case of blacks, I suspect she came by those fears almost genetically from her parents. As for the Kennedy's, I do not know. I suspect it was more fear of Catholicism than of the actual Kennedy family. And that may have been from her family as well.
At any rate, it all made me realize that fears, unreasonable and uninformed fears, are not unique to those who fear health care reform. There may be more ready access to misinformation that feeds the fears, but the fears themselves are ageless. The public way in which they are revealed and the screaming nature of their presentation are new, but the fears are "same old, same old" and they are as stubbornly resistant to facts and truth as they ever were.

Food Bloggers Compile Charity Cookbook to Benefit World Food Programme

Here is the latest information on the food blogger cookbook I have been telling about. I've been very involved in editing and proofreading lately and I assure you the recipes (about 50 of them) are spectacular. It is killing me not to make some of the recipes, but I am honor-bound to wait until you can make them too. It sounds like we may make it for November on amazon. com -- think holiday gifts!

This fall, a dedicated group of food bloggers will make their mark on global hunger and kitchens around the world when they release “The BloggerAid Cookbook." The proceeds from the sale of this cookbook will benefit United Nations' Friends of World Food Programme (WFP).

“Food bloggers can best relate to a cookbook,” explained Mary Berchard, who co-founded BloggerAid…Changing the Face of Famine. “It just seemed like the most natural way of being able to make a difference.”

BloggerAid…Changing the Face of Famine is an international network of food bloggers united behind the cause of ending global hunger. Members use their blogs as a platform for raising awareness about hunger in communities at home and abroad. A team of over two dozen volunteers is responsible for editing and formatting the cookbook, which will contain about 137 recipes contributed by BloggerAid members.

“Many of our members are from poor countries and have seen the work of WFP, so they relate to it very well,” said Berchard. “We chose Friends of WFP to receive funds from the cookbook because of the work it does, and because we felt it has touched the lives of our membership.”

The cookbook’s profits will benefit the United Nations World Food Program (WFP)’s school meals program, which reaches an average of 22 million children each year. School meals programs improve the capacity to learn, reduce child hunger and undernutrition and encourage parents to send their children to school each day.

“School meals are important on many levels – it’s not only about raising money, but also about raising awareness in younger generations so that they grow to be strong role models for their own children,” said Berchard. “Many of our bloggers have small children, and their involvement becomes much more personal when they can relate to the issue.”

Returning to an Old Favorite

Ali Baba's on that tiny strip of Colorado Blvd. in Highlands Ranch has been a favorite middle eastern restaurant of mine almost from the time they opened. I was floored by their Baba Ganouj, which I think might be one of the best I've ever tasted. I made many meals off the appetizer page, but I sometimes wandered to the other pages of the menu to enjoy a vegetarian platter and a falafel plate.
About a year ago, two things conspired to come between me and Ali Baba. First, they hired a cook who was serviceable, but his dishes didn't make my tastebuds sing. Second, I got sick and found I just couldn't eat the way I did before.
After our trip to the Mosque last Friday, I had a hankering for baba ganouj and wandered in to my old favorite. The tables were new, but the waiter was my old friend Michael who welcomed me as if I had been there just the day before. He told me there was a new chef and there would be a new menu soon. I ordered the vegetarian platter and quickly realized there may be a new chef, but the baba ganouj was exactly how I remembered it. The stuffed grape leaves were a bit different and there were two small ones instead of the one larger one I used to get. In time, a serving of baklava magically appeared before me. "A treat from the chef," Michael told me. I told Michael I would come in after the new menu and take pictures and such for my blog.
In mere minutes, I met the new chef, Hasan, who brought me one of the new items on the menu, a spinach pie. We discussed the pros and cons of adding feta to the pie.
Yesterday, I returned with my husband to do a serious review of the restaurant. I had generous tastes of both hummus and baba ganouj. Michael swears the secret to the hummus is adding an ice cube to the blender when making it. I tried that after he told me that the first time, but I still can't match the texture.
The baba ganouj is on the left and the hummus on the right. The baba is almost creamy in taste and lacks the characteristic bite one expects from lesser versions. The hummus is unbelievably smooth. Even my little taster portions allowed me plenty for leftovers. The secret to keeping the leftovers of these dishes tasting good the next day is to lay plastic wrap directly on the surface to keep the air out.
Robert ordered a dinner which came with a similar sized portion of hummus and a substantial and classic salad of lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers in an olive oil and lemon dressing.
His main course was chicken marinated in Dijon mustard and special spices that my new best friend Hasan would not reveal. The ample portion of three half breasts was accompanied by a huge portion of very fluffy white rice appropriately garnished with parsley and a sprinkle of spices. Also on the platter, a grilled whole tomato and a mysterious dollop of something that turned out to be garlic paste. Robert is not fond of grilled tomatoes and the dollop of garlic paste didn't seem to him to be needed, but he loved the flavor of the chicken and rice.

Fully half of the chicken and half of the rice made their way into a to-go box that provided a nice supper for the next evening.
My entry was, true to form, off the appetizer menu. I had two of the lovely spinach pies and found they were plenty of food for me. The crust is a nice bread that is very similar to a brioche in richness. the filling involves cooked spinach, generous application of garlic and perhaps some onion. There was a definite touch of lemon and, perhaps, a touch of olive oil. I was bemoaning the loss of two of my old favorites on the appetizer menu -- samusek and muhamara. Call me fickle, but the spinach pie has replaced them both.

If you loved the muhamara as I did and you eat chicken, there is an interesting dish you might want to try. It is described as pieces of chicken in a sauce of pomegranate and walnuts. I tried very hard to get Robert to try it, but it is not his kind of dish.
We made generous use of the to-go boxes because I was determined we would share a piece of the delightful baklava. We wound up not sharing, but the baklava was nearly what I remembered from the previous visit. It might have been just the tiniest bit under-cooked, but there was a nice balance of crust, nuts and honey and we thoroughly enjoyed it.
If you are hungry for Persian or Lebanese food, this is the place. There are ample options for vegetarians and maybe too many choices for meat eaters. Just be sure to leave room for the baklava!