Kitty's Scratch Pad

Vanilla Bean Caramel

Something I don't want to forget...  This New Years Eve party I made vanilla bean caramel for one of the fondues and it was delicious.  The recipe is below:

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 to 2 vanilla beans, split lengthwise
• 1 cup granulated bakers sugar
• 3 tablespoons dark corn syrup
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled and cut into pieces (I recommend using Plugra)

Preparation Instructions

Bring the cream and vanilla bean to a boil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Remove from the heat and let steep for 10 minutes. Remove the vanilla bean. Scrape out the tiny seeds with the tip of a knife, and add to the cream. Discard the vanilla bean. Set aside.

Place the sugar and corn syrup in a 3-quart saucepan, and mix with a wooden spoon until as much of the sugar is coated with the syrup as possible. Scrape any sugar back into the pan. Turn the heat to medium. The sugar will begin to break down after 3 or 4 minutes. Stir once or twice, mixing the undissolved sugar into the warm liquid. When it becomes foamy after about 2 more minutes, stop stirring. Continue heating for 2 minutes until the syrup begins to turn medium brown and the smell of caramel begins.  Be very careful not to overcook as the sugar will burn quickly. 

Whisk in the butter a little at a time and continue whisking until the mixture comes together. Remove from the heat and very slowly whisk in the cream a little at a time and continue whisking until the mixture comes together again.

The caramel is extremely hot and initially will bubble up as the cream is being added.

Return the saucepan to the burner over low heat and sir until the caramel sauce is completely smooth and all ingredients are incorporated. Sauce will thicken as it cools.

Allow the caramel to cool completely before storing in a covered container in the refrigerator. Serve warm with sliced apples and bananas.

Trip to Napa August 2008

Catching up on travel notes from last year, I thought I would share with you the tasting summary from our August trip to Napa.  Each year we take our annual trip (okay sometimes we go more than once a year) to Napa for the Chappallet Club party.  It is always a wonderful time and they treat you like family.  The Chappellets were the first to plant vineyards exclusively on high elevation hillsides (Pritchard Hill to be exact) and the second winery to be established in the Napa Valley after Prohibition. While organic farming is important, the family felt sustainability was more important than having the "organic" stamp of approval.  They employ many of the principals that make up organic farming.  The introduction of solar panels to 100% offset the winery's energy bill, bird boxes, compost tea and nutrient rich cover crops are a some of examples of the changes the family has made to help their efforts of sustainable farming.  The funny thing is, if you asked them why they are doing all of this they would tell you above and beyond any social benefit, they truly believe it makes the wine taste better and that is what really matters as grape growers. 

First off, if I haven't explained this trip already, it is worth a little background.  Alex and I have folding bikes that we can fit in the plane and we have been pretty excited about finding places to fly to where we can ditch the car rental for simply landing, unfolding our bikes on the tarmac and riding off to our destination.  This trip would prove to be our farthest ride.  We always stay in Calistoga which is 38 miles from the Napa County airport.  If you ever want a great place to stay in the Valley, our favorite two places are Indian Springs (easy on the pocketbook) and Solage (less easy on the pocketbook).  Over the next three days we traveled over 125 miles which I know doesn't sound like a lot until you take into account the folding bikes weigh 30lbs and well, there was some wine tasting.  It was a little deflating each time a nice, light roadbike would pass us on the road.  Nevertheless, we pedaled away and were pretty happy to be out getting exercise and enjoying the scenery. 

A benefit to riding was it kept us relatively close to where we were staying when we were off tasting wine.  We ventured between St. Helena and Calistoga throughout the weekend.  Below is a quick summary of our tasting highlights.

Duckhorn- We liked the 2004 Howell Mountain Merlot and 2004 Estate Cab best. The 2005 normal cab was "ehhh"...not really interesting at all.

Summers- The Summers Cab was nice, but their Charbono was the most interesting & we also grabbed a bottle of Petit Sirah port which appears to be a hot thing now.

Cuvaison - Their normal wines were so-so, but we got two bottles of Brandlin Cab which interestingly enough doesn’t have any Cuvaison branding on it.

Montelena- Their Estate Cab continues to be great. Their normal one (which now has very subtle branding distinctions from the real one, but for example is what they pour at Purple) is "ehhh".  The one thing we found funny is how many people were swarming the winery.  Bottle Shock was in theaters and those who hadn't heard about the 1976 "Judgment of Paris" wine tasting, had after seeing the movie and everyone was just dying to try the Chardonnay which we think isn't all that amazing.  We saw the movie and it was very cute.  I would recommend putting it in your Netflix queue for sure.

Chappellet- Their 2003 Prichard Hill Estate Cab seemed great. The 2005 signature didn’t really impress me that much. I continue to love the 1999 signature cab…  The special thing we got was the 2007 Cultivation. The barrel tastes were great- if their other 2007s are as good, this is a good sign.

We enjoyed eating a ton of great food too:

Thursday mid-afternoon snack - Bouchon Bakery

Thursday dinner - Solbar at Solage

Friday dinner - Terra

Saturday dinner - barVino

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Merry Christmas!

We opened our presents early this year so Fen could have his Christmas at home before taking off for Utah to spend time with his Dad's side of the family.

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Holiday Baking

 

If you haven't heard already, we have been snowed in for over 10 days now.  Our house got nearly a foot.  Yes some of you think we are crazy but a foot really can shut this city down.  There are hills everywhere and little infrastructure to plow or manage the roads.  So, in the meantime, I have been spending my time rearranging furniture, doing laundry, cuddling with the kitties and catching up on holiday baking. 

Christmas cookies were an institution in my house growing up.  I remember spending days with my mom, sisters and grandmother baking cookies using our families recipes.  Today I made my favorite.  I like to think of these as a more sophisticated holiday treat.  They are delicate, chocolaty and delicious.  My family called them Beacon Hill Cookies.  I am not sure if that refers to Boston or Seattle's Beacon Hill but since I grew up here I like to think it is a local reference.  So to celebrate the season of giving, this is from my family to yours.  Enjoy!

Melt 1 cup chocolate chips in a double boiler

Beat 2 egg whites and a dash of salt until foamy

Add gradually a ½ cup sugar until stiff peaks form

Beat in ½ teaspoon vanilla and ½ teaspoon vinegar

Fold in chocolate and ¾ cup chopped walnuts

Drop by teaspoon onto greased cookie sheet

Bake at 350 degrees for ten minutes

Vote!!!!

Bring your local campaign office food, keep people in line, get free coffee, get free doughnuts.  Whatever you do please, please, please VOTE!!!

More photos from the wine auction...

Click on the photo below to see more from the wine auction.

Auction of Washington Wines

For the past number of years, Alex and I have been participating in the Auction of Washington Wines.  My interest was sparked years ago while at Citigroup when I handled coordination of a $25K corporate gift on behalf of Citi.  Since then, we have attended a few picnics, a couple of winemaker dinners and this year we were invited to join our friends table at the gala auction.  It turned out to be an electrifying event that raised $2.25 million for the uncompensated care fund for Children's Hospital.  We drank amazing wine and ate delicious food and mingled with old friends and made a lot of new friends.  If you have a chance to attend any or all of the events next year, it is well worth it.  And best of all it's for the children...

  

Stone Fruit Cobbler

I have made this recipe twice now and the results have been a consistent hit (click image to go to recipe).  I reduced the sugar by more than half and used unripe fruit.  It kept things tart and not too soggy. 

All by myself...

The past four days I have spent alone.  Well not completely alone.  It has been me and the cats.  This is the second year in a row I have had this opportunity and I am thinking about kicking the boys out twice a year.  It sounds horrible but really it isn't.  What I do with my time is tremendously boring but incredibly theraputic.  Fen is off at Camp Orkila and Alex is in Chicago at Pitchfork. 

This year I spent the majority of my time in the garden.  I finally planted the bed on the south side of the house.  I also replanted the box off of our bedroom window.  I threw together some perrenial pots for the front steps and also a small water feature which I can hear outside my bedroom window.  I organized paperwork, did laundry, cleaned the kitchen, played Rock Band and relaxed.

I could get used to this!  But I do miss my boys and they will both be home by Tuesday :)

Our new house!

For the past two months we have undertaken our first set of big home repairs.  I am happy to say we made it through without an argument.  The previous owner thought it would be smart to use particle board as the facade to the front porch.  That might have lasted a lot longer in Arizona but in the Pacific Northwest, building materials that withstand the elements are essential.  We display one of our favorite and only pieces of outdoor art and I was convinced it was going to break through our disintegrating porch.  The paint was also beginning to peel and shingles were falling off the side of the house. 

Our project began with the porch.  It was a good intro to working with contractors and we actually had a really good experience.  Next was the paint.  This should have been fairly straightforward except Alex and I were really torn about the colors.  We kept going back to the original but in our hearts we really wanted something different.  Our walking route had a fantastic house with colors we really liked.  We just didn't trust ourselves to pick them.  We enlisted a designer to help us choose but she ended up never following through.  So with a few extra bucks left in our pocket but no sense of direction, we set out to select them ourselves. 

Next came the application.  The painters were quick and well organized.  They prepped everything well and applied the first coat of the base color.  We both panicked.  "Abort, abort!"  The main color is very bright and it was super hard to figure out how the accent colors would look.  In the end, it worked!!!  We were so pleased.  Our neighbors complimented our power to take a "big risk and pull it off".  I think that was a compliment :)