New Year's Eve is a perfect time to pop open a bottle of bubbly, but here you can have your cake and drink it too.

The BF and I love our new year's resolutions [Ed. note: I promise to get out and run as soon as I can fit through the door], and January will be a chance to reboot the holiday-sweet mode to eat cleaner and leaner. However, for tonight let's celebrate with this citrus champagne bundt cake. Have it with bubbly when the Times Square Ball drops, or with coffee while you watch parades and football the next morning.

Thank you all for reading, commenting, liking, and spreading the word about the blog! I wish you all a very happy and prosperous 2018.
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Adapted from: Tutti Dolci
Number of servings: 12

Ingredients

• 2 ½ cups flour
• ¾ teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 ½ cups sugar
• 3 tablespoons fresh citrus zest (blend of tangerines and Meyer lemons were used here)
• 10 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 cup champagne or prosecco
• ¼ cup freshly squeezed citrus juice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• powdered sugar, for dusting

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 °F and spray a 10-cup bundt pan generously with nonstick spray (you can butter and flour if desired). Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl.
2. Combine sugar and citrus zest in a food processor and pulse for 1 minute; combine with butter in a large mixer bowl and beat on medium speed until pale and fluffy. Reduce speed to low and add eggs one at a time. Mix in flour mixture on low speed until almost incorporated. Add champagne, citrus juice, and vanilla; mix on low speed until just combined. Do not overmix.
3. Spoon batter into prepared bundt pan and smooth with an offset spatula. Tap pan sharply to reduce air bubbles. Bake for 40 to 44 minutes, until cake is golden, springs back to the touch, and a tester inserted in the center comes out clean or with a few crumbs attached. Cool in pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes; carefully invert onto rack and cool completely. Dust with powdered sugar before serving.

NOTE: For baking pan, I used this 10-cup Heritage Bundt Pan

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Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!

Traditions are discussed a lot here, and everyone has their must-see Christmas movies. For us, it's not December if we haven't watched Bad Santa, A Christmas Story and holiday-themed episodes of South Park, Family Guy and Aqua Teen Hunger Force. [Ed. note: Grow up? You fool!] This year my BF surprised me and found the 1964 Rankin/Bass Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, which I haven't seen since I was a child.

On Christmas Eve we hosted our annual traditional dinner with a small group of dear friends. In previous years I'd made seafood paella, but this year I veered away from that tradition and made cioppino. Although it was delicious, my guests took a vote and it's back to seafood paella in 2018. (Am not complaining. Note to self: don't mess with tradition.) I also made a delightful sugar-free low-carb peppermint cheesecake, and bought a chocolate layer cake wrapped like a gift, because I didn't think all the guests would go for the sugar-free option. Of course, the sugar-free cheesecake won out (and will certainly be featured in a blog post next year).

Christmas day was gloriously relaxing. For me, a rare day off. Music and movies playing all day, a leisurely breakfast, gifts to open [Ed. note: I got Joker socks and you didn't], taking our chocolate lab Marlowe for a long romp, and a Christmas Story-inspired Chinese take-out dinner of Peking duck and Chinese greens.

The aforementioned "leisurely breakfast" was this gorgeous, colorful, refreshing, jewel-toned citrus salad. Blood oranges and citrus are at their peak right now, so it's the perfect time to make it.

Wishing everyone a happy, healthy and adventure-filled 2018.

NOTE: I cut the sugar amount in half from the original recipe as my preference is to not over-sweeten, but if that's not of your concern, stick with the original recipe. I also added two Cara Cara oranges, which look like regular navel oranges on the outside, but the inside is red-fleshed, juicy and sweet. You can make this one day in advance. Keep chilled.

​Number of servings: 8
Adapted from: Gourmet (December 2008)

Ingredients

• ⅓ cup sugar (as mentioned, I used 2 ½-3 tablespoons)
• ⅓ cup water
• 3 whole star anise
• 5 large ruby red or pink grapefruit
• 4 blood oranges
• 2 Cara Cara oranges 

Directions

1. Dissolve sugar in water in a small heavy saucepan over medium heat, stirring. Add star anise and simmer 5 minutes. Let stand off heat 30 minutes.
2. Cut the peel off, including white pith, from fruit with a sharp knife. Cut segments free from membranes into a bowl. Squeeze juice from membranes into bowl.
3. Add syrup with star anise to fruit, juice and stir gently. Remove star anise before serving if desired.

For the last seven years or so, my BF and I have held a Christmas Eve dinner for some very dear friends. For the first few, a new towering cake would be presented, i.e., spice with eggnog buttercream, chocolate with peppermint chocolate ganache and peppermint buttercream, whiskey soaked dark chocolate bundt, gingerbread roulade with eggnog filling, etc.

Then, this one. Moist, stout-spiked [Ed. note: HELLO], spicy gingerbread and mascarpone whipped cream icing–it has a deep, dark, mysterious flavor, yet tastes surprisingly light.  It tastes like Christmas.

For a while I had been making a similar recipe as a gingerbread loaf, but after discovering this layered-cake version (originally adapted from a Claudia Fleming recipe, who created it while she was pastry chef at Gramercy Tavern in New York; then adapted by Deb Perelman of Smitten Kitchen), I knew the holiday dessert tradition was forever settled. No more auditions.
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Wishing you and yours a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
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Number of servings: 8-10
Adapted from: Smitten Kitchen

NOTE: You’ll have up to 1 cup more whipped cream than you’ll need, which I use to frost the outside of the cake (not a fan of "naked" cakes, like the original recipe). If you wish to save the cream, it can stay stable for a couple days due to the added mascarpone. Start the cranberries the night before. 

NOTE: Deb Perelman of Smitten Kitchen says, "This recipe makes three thin cake layers. As most of us have two cake pans, at best, you could also make it into two thicker cake layers, giving it a little more baking time. Or, you could do as I did, which is to hold the last bit of batter in a bowl until the first layer comes out and can be unmolded. It holds up just fine at room temperature for an hour."

Ingredients
Sugared cranberries

• 1 cup (200 grams) plus ⅓ cup (65 grams) granulated sugar
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup (100 grams) fresh cranberries

Cake layers

• 1 cup (235 ml) oatmeal or Guinness stout
• 1 cup (235 ml) dark molasses (ideally, not blackstrap)
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 3 large eggs
• 1 cup (190 grams) packed dark brown sugar
• 1 cup (200 grams) granulated sugar
• ¾ cup (150 grams) vegetable or another neutral oil
• 2 cups (260 grams) all-purpose flour
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• 2 tablespoons ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
• ¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• Pinch of ground cardamom

Filling

• 2 cups (475 ml) heavy or whipping cream
• 6 tablespoons (45 grams) powdered sugar
• ½ cup (115 grams) mascarpone

Directions
Sugared cranberries

1. Bring 1 cup granulated sugar and 1 cup water to a gentle simmer (not a full boil) on the stove, stirring until sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat and add cranberries. Pour mixture into a bowl and let syrupy cranberries chill in fridge overnight, or at least 8 hours.
2. The next morning, drain cranberries (can be saved for sweetening cocktails). Place remaining ⅓ cup sugar in a bowl and roll cranberries in it. Arrange them on a tray or plate and refrigerate for another 45 minutes to an hour, so that the sugar sets. (Will feel mostly dry to the touch.)

Cake layers

1. Heat oven to 350 °F. Butter and flour, or use a nonstick spray to coat three 9-inch round cake pans (see note above, if you have fewer) and line the bottom of each with a fitted round of parchment paper.
2. Bring stout and molasses to a boil in a large saucepan and remove from heat; whisk in baking soda carefully (it will foam up). Cool to room temperature.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together sugars and oil. Whisk in eggs, then whisk in cooled stout-molasses mixture. Place dry ingredients in a fine-mesh sieve or sifter and shake over bowl. Stir until just combined.
4. Divide batter into prepared cake pans; you’ll have a little bit less than 2 cups or 515 grams of batter in each. Bake for 18 to 22 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out batter-free. Cool in pan on rack for 5 minutes, then flip out onto cooling rack, carefully remove parchment paper (it’s sticky) and flip back right-side-up, letting each layer cool completely. You can hasten this along outside (if it’s cold) or in the freezer.

Whipped mascarpone cream 

1. Beat heavy cream and powdered sugar in a large bowl with whisk or electric beaters until soft peaks form.
2. Beat in mascarpone, one spoonful at a time, just until it disappears into the cream.

Assemble cake 

1. Place first cake layer on cake stand and level top with a serrated knife if it has domed. Spread with 1 cup whipped mascarpone.
2. Repeat twice, then smooth sides.
3. Decorate with sugared cranberries. Serve immediately, or keep refrigerated until needed.

In grade school, my classmates were jealous because they thought I had eight days of extravagant presents for Hanukkah. Truth be told, in our family, as a kid I received gifts for Hanukkah two, maybe three times total. And when we did, my siblings and I all received the same small gifts. It mattered not, as I remember being so appreciative and excited to get these favors, and waiting to light the candles.

The first year we received presents, I was in the second grade, and this is what we all opened on each night: (1) a pencil in our favorite color and with our name; (2) a comb; (3) rabbit's foot; (4) notepad; (5) paperback book; (6) The Sound Of Music album that we all shared; (7) chocolate Hanukkah gelt; and (8) flavored chapstick. Am not sure why I remember that particular Hanukkah so well, but it's embedded in my brain how thrilled we all were to get a pencil with our name on it!

To me, it's all about tradition. I loved the traditions as a kid, and love continuing the rituals today. My BF and I still light the menorah. He is typically the one to fetch the pillowed box from the shed, and place the menorahs around the house.

For years, family food Hanukkah traditions revolved around some sort of brisket, with latkes always making an appearance during the week. More recently, I've been making all variations of short ribs: chipotle, Moroccan, beer braised, etc.

This red wine braised variant, which I've been making for many years, may very well be the favorite. It's easy to make, meltingly tender and savory. The red wine sauce has exceptional depth and flavor, and I love substituting celeriac (celery root) purée in place of potatoes. (For those of you watching the carbs.)

Happy Hanukkah!

Number of servings: 4
Adapted from: Short Ribs–Bon Appetit (October 2011); Celeriac Purée–Saveur (April 2014)

Ingredients
Short Ribs

• 5 pounds bone-in beef short ribs, cut crosswise into 2-inch pieces
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 3 medium onions, chopped
• 3 medium carrots, peeled, chopped
• 2 celery stalks, chopped
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• (1) 750 ml bottle dry red wine (preferably cabernet sauvignon)
• 10 sprigs flat-leaf parsley
• 8 sprigs thyme
• 4 sprigs oregano
• 2 sprigs rosemary
• 2 fresh or dried bay leaves
• 1 head of garlic, halved crosswise
• 4 cups low-salt beef stock

Celeriac Purée

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 1 medium leek, white part only, thinly sliced
• 2 ½ lb. celeriac (celery root), peeled and cut into 1″ pieces
• 3 ½ cups chicken stock
• ½ teaspoon ground celery seed
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• Pomegranate seeds (optional)

Directions
Short Ribs

1. Preheat oven to 350 °F. Season short ribs with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high. Working in two batches, brown short ribs on all sides, about 8 minutes per batch. Transfer short ribs to a plate. Pour off all but 2 tablespoons drippings from pot.
2. Add onions, carrots, and celery to pot and cook over medium-high heat, stirring often, until onions are browned, about 5 minutes. Add tomato paste; cook, stirring constantly, until well combined and deep red, 2-3 minutes.
3. Stir in wine, then add short ribs with any accumulated juices. Bring to a boil; lower heat to medium and simmer until wine is reduced by half, about 25 minutes. Add all herbs to pot along with garlic. Stir in stock. Bring to a boil, cover, and transfer to oven.
4. Cook until short ribs are tender, 2–2½ hours.  To test if the ribs are done, pull on a bone, it should slide out freely. Transfer short ribs to a platter. Strain sauce from pot into a measuring cup. Spoon fat from surface of sauce and discard; season sauce to taste with salt and pepper. Serve in shallow bowls over celery root purée  with sauce spooned over.

 
Celeriac Purée

1. Heat oil in a 6-quart saucepan over medium-high heat; cook garlic and leek until soft, 3–4 minutes. Add celeriac (celery root), stock, celery seed, salt, and pepper; boil.
2. Reduce heat to medium; cook until celeriac is tender, 25–30 minutes.
3. Let cool slightly; using a slotted spoon, transfer vegetables and 1 cup cooking liquid to a blender and purée until smooth.
4. Divide purée between plates and top with short ribs; drizzle with sauce and garnish with pomegranate seeds and, if you like, microgreens.

Family is not an important thing, it's everything.
~Michael J. Fox

Six years ago today, my beloved momala passed away. The best way we have honored her life and kept her memory alive is to embrace our little family and celebrate each other as often as possible. She used to say, "If you don't have something to celebrate, celebrate anyway." [Ed. note: Spinal Tap keyboardist Viv Savage also said it well, "Have a good time. All the time." youtu.be/WrhzX3dRRiI]

Our family recently got a little bigger. My little sister Julie brought the new man in her life, Frank, by for a whirlwind visit, our first time meeting him. Seems there couldn't be a more perfect person for Julie than Frank; they share a love of nature, geology, animals and family. Bonus, he has an encyclopedic knowledge of sports and wine (we were excited to try riesling and pinot noir from his own vineyard), which endears him even more to the BF. [Ed. note: We even coexist with his love for the St. Louis Cardinals and ours for the San Francisco Giants.] We feel like he's been here all along.

Unfortunately I ran out of time and could not make cookies for them to take home, but had I been able, these would have been the choice.

My momala would have adored them as well. Chocolate and orange coupled and a hint of fresh ginger and brownie texture. It would have sent her over the edge.

Dorie Greenspan (this is originally adapted from her book Dorie's Cookies) is an excellent source for all things baking. She mentions that this cookie is best on the day it is made, but I have found it stays fresh, moist and chewy for at least 3 days. So it works well for shipping or gift giving.

Number of servings: about 20 cookies
Adapted from: Saveur (Dec/Jan 2017) and Dorie's Cookies

Ingredients

• 2 ½ teaspoons minced fresh ginger
• ¾ cup plus 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
• Finely grated zest of ½ orange (¼ teaspoon)
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch cubes
• 8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 2 large cold eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• ½ teaspoon fine sea salt or kosher salt
• ¾ cup all-purpose flour
• ¼  cup plus 2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar, for dredging

Directions 

1. ​In a small bowl, combine the ginger and 1 teaspoon granulated sugar, mixing with fingers to coat. Set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, add the remaining ¾ cup sugar and the orange zest. Mix well.
3. Fill a medium saucepan 1 inch high with water and set a medium heatproof bowl over the top (be sure bowl does not touch water). Add the butter and ¾ of the chocolate to the bowl. Cook, stirring occasionally with a heatproof flexible spatula, until just melted (do not overheat).
4. Remove the bowl and whisk in the sugar-zest mixture; it will be grainy. One by one, add the cold eggs, whisking energetically after adding each, for 1–2 minutes. Whisk in vanilla, salt, and ginger mixture, which will be syrupy. Using a spatula, gently stir in the flour. Add the remaining chocolate, stirring to blend. Place plastic wrap directly against surface of the dough and chill for at least 3 hours or up to overnight.
5. Set a rack in center of the oven and preheat to 350 °F. If you've refrigerated dough overnight, let it sit on the counter for 10 minutes.
6. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Put confectioners' sugar in a bowl.
7. Using a medium cookie scoop (1 ½–2 tablespoons) or spoon, scoop out level amounts of dough and briefly shape into a ball using fingers (do not overwork or cookies will not have craggly tops); drop into the bowl of confectioners' sugar and toss to coat well. Transfer to the first baking sheet. Repeat until you have 10 cookies, leaving at least 2 inches between the cookies. Cover and refrigerate the remaining dough.
8. Bake for 8 minutes. Rotate the sheet, then bake again until the dough has spread and cracked, sides look set, and centers are a little soft, about 4 minutes more.
9. Remove and let cool for 2 minutes, then carefully transfer cookies to a cooling rack. Repeat with remaining dough and second baking sheet. Cookies are best eaten the day they are made.

Yotam Ottolenghi says of this eggplant dish, "I can't think of a more rustically elegant (is that a contradiction in terms?) starter." Contradiction? Hardly.

Ottolenghi is an Israeli-Italian chef residing in London, with a flavor palette that's out of this world. This recipe is adapted from his 2010 cookbook Plenty, and I selected it for today's post because of its gloriously gorgeous colorful presentation, not to mention it's delicious and a perfect easy-to-make dish for your holiday table (or anytime). ​I prepared it for an anniversary dinner party, not as a starter, but as a side dish with grilled lamb chops and naan--it was heavenly.

Another advantage for a dinner party: it can be served at room temperature, meaning it's easier to make ahead of time.

Adapted from: Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi
Number of servings: 4 as a starter or side dish

Ingredients
Eggplant

• 2 large and long eggplants (Japanese eggplants were used)
• ⅓ cup olive oil
• 1 ½ teaspoons lemon thyme leaves (regular thyme will do), plus a few whole sprigs to garnish
• Sea salt and black pepper
• 1 pomegranate (POM brand seeded pomegranates were used, available at Safeway and Trader Joe's)
• 1 teaspoon za'atar en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Za'atar

Sauce

• 9 tablespoons buttermilk
• ½ cup Greek yogurt
• 1 ½ tablespoons olive oil, plus a drizzle to finish
• 1 small garlic clove, crushed
• 1 pinch salt

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 °F. Cut eggplants in half lengthways, cutting straight through the green stalk (the stalk is for the look, don't eat it). Use a small sharp knife to make three or four parallel incisions in the cut side of each eggplant half, without cutting through to the skin. Repeat at a 45-degree angle to make a diamond-shaped pattern.
2. Place eggplant halves, cut-side up, on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Brush with olive oil—keep on brushing until all oil has been absorbed by the flesh. Sprinkle with lemon thyme leaves and some salt and pepper. Roast for 35 to 40 minutes, at which point the flesh should be soft, flavorful, and nicely browned. Remove from the oven and let cool completely. NOTE: I used Japanese eggplants which are smaller than regular eggplant, so start checking on doneness at the 20 minute mark.
3. While the eggplants are in the oven, cut pomegranate into two halves horizontally. Hold one half over a bowl, with the cut side against your palm, and use the back of a wooden spoon or a rolling pin to gently knock on the pomegranate skin. Continue beating with increasing power until the seeds start coming out naturally, falling through your fingers into the bowl. Once all seeds are in the bowl, sift through them and remove any bits of white skin or membrane.
4. To prepare buttermilk sauce, whisk together all ingredients, taste for seasoning, and keep cold until needed.
5. To serve, spoon plenty of sauce over eggplant halves without covering the stalks. Sprinkle za'atar and pomegranate seeds on top, garnish with lemon thyme, and finish with a drizzle of olive oil.

Epilogue
Writer Julian Barnes said of mourning, "The thing is—nature is so exact, it hurts exactly as much as it is worth, so in a way, one relishes the pain, I think. If it didn't matter, it wouldn't matter."

A friend sent this line in a condolence letter when my momala passed away, and it has resonated ever since. The grieving is commensurate with the loving, a testament to what’s missing.

This has been a particularly difficult year for my boyfriend (the blog's man behind the curtain, the one behind the editorial notes), who is grieving the passing of his mom, and today is actually the one-year anniversary.

Kathryn Bailey was an accomplished jazz pianist based in the San Francisco bay area, who accompanied everyone from Billie Holiday to the Buddy Morrow Orchestra, Berkeley's Straw Hat Theatre, and Ronnie Cass.

We miss you everyday, Kathy.