Aunt Lydia's Sugar Cookies!

Technically, Lydia was my great, great aunt. She was the second of eight children born to Allison Henry Porter (whom I am named after) and his wife Joanna. Lydia's younger sister, Mary, was my great grandmother. As far as I am aware, this is Lydia's original recipe. They have always been hugely popular in my family, and are always referred to as "Aunt Lyda's sugah cookies" (with a Texan accent).
Making these cookies is my oldest cooking memory, and this is the first time I have made them on my own. I recently became the owner of a copy of The Porter Family Cookbook, put together in the late 80s by my grandmother. Not only does it have hundreds of beloved family recipes, it has a family tree dating back 150 years. One of my goals in life is to update this book and add some historical chapters to it, and have it actually published.

Old Fashioned Sugar Cookies

2 1/4 C flour
1/4 t salt
2 t baking powder
1/2 C Crisco
1 C sugar
2 eggs, beaten (1/2 C eggbeaters)
1/2 t vanilla
1 T milk

Cream the Crisco and sugar together in a bowl. In a separate bowl, sift the flour, salt and baking powder together.

To the sugar mixture, add the eggs, vanilla, milk.

Then add the dry ingredients. Mix thoroughly and chill. The dough must be cold enough that the cookies can keep their shape, so a few hours in the refrigerator is best.

Roll the dough thin on a floured board - I use a large plastic place mat, as this makes clean up easier. Cut into shapes or rounds. Bake at 375 degrees for 12-15 minutes.

I decided to make these cookies today because it was snowing. All. Day. Below is a photo of the result of one day of snow.

Also, making cookies gave me an excuse to use the awesome cookie cutters I got for Christmas.
Who wouldn't want cookies in the shape of a beehive or a pirate ship?

Yum.

Sapporo - Restaurant Review

Saporro Restaurant
230 Commercial Street
Union Wharf
Portland, ME 04101

Friday was the first day Dave and I had had alone together in three weeks, so we decided to have a real date night. Both of us wanted Japanese food, and the movie we wanted to see, The King's Speech, was only playing in Portland, so to Portland we would go. Being a port city, any cuisine based in seafood is very popular, and there are quite a few Japanese restaurants. We had already been to one, Benkay, and while it was good, I wanted to try a new one.

Sapporo got good ratings on Yelp! and seemed reasonably priced, so we made a reservation for 7:30. The restaurant was full, but the layout makes it both private and quieter than it really is. There are half walls in between most of the tables, and cloth hangings on the walls and ceiling to absorb noise. The ambiance is lovely and lets you concentrate on (and hear) your own conversation.

The food was simply fantastic. The menu is extensive and has both sushi, noodle dishes, teriyakis and various other things. We got miso soup, shrimp tempura (fried shrimp and vegetables - 6 pieces), shumai (shrimp and vegetable dumplings - 8 pieces) and edamame for appetizers. That sounds like a lot, but bear in mind that seafood is light and portions aren't huge. I had never eaten edamame before (yes, I know, *gasp*, the horror!) and I loved it. I'm craving more right now, actually.

For the sushi course we got a spicy tuna roll (excellent), a Boston roll (good) and a California roll (good). I would like to try different ones the next time we go back. And maybe be more adventurous. Anything not eel. I don't do eel.

For dessert Dave got the ginger tempura ice cream (good, just not enough ice cream) and I had the mochi sundae. The latter consisted of chocolate ice cream (which I generally don't like, but I ate it anyway), fresh strawberries and, my favorite, mango mochi ice cream (small scoops of mango ice cream encased in mochi). I'll ask in the future if they can substitute some other flavor for the chocolate.

After all that (very good) food, our bill came to about $50, which is insanely reasonable for a Japanese restaurant. There is an extensive drink menu, but hot tea is free, which is a large bonus. All in all, a fantastic restaurant that I look forward going to again.

Chocolate Covered Orange Peel

This has been a favorite of my dad's for as long as I can remember, and as I have gotten older, my tastes have changed enough that now I love it too. This is the third time I have attempted this treat (only the second successful one), and this is definitely the best recipe I have found for it. Enjoy.

Chocolate Covered Orange Peel

Makes about 2 1/2 cups

3 large navel oranges, scrubbed

3 tablespoons light corn syrup

1 cup sugar

1 cup water

12 ounces bittersweet chocolate (The best you can find)

For the Peel

Using a sharp knife, cut a thin slice off the top and bottom of each orange to expose the flesh. Score the peel of each orange into quarters, cutting through the white pith, and carefully pull the quarters of peel off the orange. Using a sharp spoon, scrape off any stringy membranes from the inside of the peel (do not scrape off the white pith). Cut each quarter crosswise into 1/4-inch-wide strips.

*A few other recipes I have tried in the past instructed the removal of the pith. Don't do it. The pith is what soaks in the sugar, and prevents the peel from becoming incredibly sticky. It also leaves more peel, which means more flavor.*

Put the orange peel in a large heavy saucepan, add cold water to cover and bring to a boil. Drain. Repeat two more times (blanching the peel removes the bitterness).

Return the orange peel to the saucepan, add cold water to cover by about 1 inch and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer gently, stirring occasionally, until the peel is tender when pierced with a knife, about 15 minutes. Drain and set aside.

Combine the corn syrup, sugar and water in the same saucepan in which you blanched the peel and bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Add the orange peel.

Bring to a simmer, reduce the heat and simmer gently, stirring once or twice, until the peel is translucent and very tender, and the syrup has reduced to about half a cup, 45 minutes to an hour.

*Do not allow the syrup to reduce to less than this, or the bottom of the pan will become too hot and will crystallize the sugar. Seriously. I tried doing this last year, and melted the pan because I fell asleep.*

Using a slotted spoon or a fork, transfer the peel to a wire rack to drain, separating all the strips of peel. (I use a cookie sheet covered in wax paper. Less clean up afterward.) Let cool and let stand until dry, at least 4 hours - overnight is best.

Once the orange peel is thoroughly dry, it can be stored in an airtight tin at room temperature for up to 1 week.

For the Chocolate

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler. This involves filling the bottom pot about half full with water, putting the chocolate in the top pot, and heating uncovered at a low temperature. If you do not have a double boiler, you can improvise one with a pot and a glass bowl.

Melt the chocolate, and stir to make sure it is smooth.

Turn off the heat. Dip each piece of peel in the chocolate and cover as much as desired. Lay on a piece of wax or parchment paper to dry. You may have chocolate left over, so have some other dried fruit or nuts on hand to dip. I used dried cranberries and pieces of candied ginger.

This is a time consuming recipe, so make sure you are into it before attempting. It is delicious though, and not terribly difficult, so it is good for someone just starting out in the chocolate making field. I find it helps to listen to the soundtrack for Chocolat to put you in the mood. :)

Post-Thanksgiving Recipe - Thanksgiving Leftover Casserole

If you're like me, you probably have a Tupperware container full of chicken/turkey/grouse/ostrich/Big Bird in your fridge right now. If you're also like me, the idea of pulling out a piece of meat - touching it in any way - and eating it repulses you. So, what are you to do with all of that food, which, given a few weeks, may resolve itself into some mutant, eyeless freak of nature and peck you to death in your sleep?

You do this.

Thanksgiving Leftover Casserole

1 can of cream of celery soup
1/2 bag frozen peas (about 8 oz)
1/3 C milk
2 C chicken
3 C stuffing

Add soup, peas and milk to a microwave safe bowl, cover. Microwave 3 minutes, stir and re-cover, then microwave 4 minutes more.

Add chicken and two cups of stuffing, stir, top with remaining stuffing. Microwave uncovered for 7-9 minutes.

Thanksgiving Weekend

This year for Thanksgiving, rather than try to split time between four households and two states, Dave and I decided to make our families come to us. The result was both of our mothers being here for a few days, exploring the wonder that is Maine.



Thursday we cooked and ate all day. I have never done much of the cooking for a holiday before, and I was amazed at how tiring it is. I passed out pretty much as soon as my head hit the pillow that night.



On Friday, because my mom wanted to, we all went to the beach. It was freezing but we all acted like little kids - picking up shells and rocks, running from the waves, in my case taking far too many photos and being grossed out by the very dead seal on the shore.

























We even got a surprisingly good photo of all of us.

Dave, his mom, me, my mom

For the rest of Friday and much of Saturday we ate, shopped, and just lazed around.

On Sunday we went into Portland to eat and shop more (are you beginning to see a theme here?).

We found a human sized lobster wandering the streets of Portland, no doubt advertising for some restaurant. Naturally, I got a picture with it. The back of his/her shirt said "Eat Me".















Dave and I had seen a harbor seal in the bay they last time we were in Portland for lunch, so we walked down a pier to see if we could spot some more. Sadly, we didn't, but the view was still worth the trip.

It was a really fun weekend - I'm glad we decided to be difficult and make Mohammad come to the mountain.

Thanksgiving Menu!

Appetizer:
Baked Brie with Apple Butter

Main Course:
Chicken (I hate turkey) with apple and cranberries

Side dishes:
Cranberry sauce (the one from a can, I love it)
Sweet potatoes
Stuffing
Confetti Green Beans

Dessert:
Noodle kugel with apple pie filling
Jello salad
Blackberry pie
Pumpkin pie

Thanksgiving recipe #7 - Harvest Chicken

The chicken was probably the easiest thing we made today - using a crock pot to cook it not only made it self sufficient, but it kept the oven free for the hundred and one other dishes we were making. For this we added to a recipe my mom had used recently, to much success.

Harvest Chicken

1 whole chicken, and additional parts depending on how many people you are feeding
Apple cider (I used cinnamon apple cider for added flavor)
4 apples, sliced
dried cranberries
mulling spices (cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, orange peel, etc)

Set the crock pot to cook for 6 hours - this will allow the chicken to cook for a while, and keep it out of your hair all day, but it wont get too dry.

Make sure the chicken is cleaned out, remove all wayward feathers.


Put the chicken in the crock pot.

Cover the chicken with apple cider - use enough to fill the crock pot halfway. Drop in dried cranberries and mulling spices, cover the top with apple slices.


Cook for the full six hours.

Make sure to remove all bones and cloves - cloves are edible, but kinda nasty, so try to avoid them.

The chicken was delicious, and we even used the serving plate my grandmother sent us :)