The Celebration of 5 Weddings in 1 Year

The bachelorette weekend I attended about a year ago was the kick off for our "Year of Weddings" - five weddings that started in December of 2013 and ended last weekend. 

This "Year of Weddings" was unusual for us for two reasons. We are in our 40's and we haven't been to one - let alone five - weddings in one year in probably 10 years. And in that decade or so, life has gotten more complicated and less carefree. So when an opportunity to celebrate comes along, we don’t take it for granted and appreciate every chance we get to be with dear friends in sharing their joy.

From posh hotels, modern art museums, outdoor venues (including one with longhorn cattle) and being on the banks of the Mississippi in far west Illinois, each wedding was as unique as the couples getting married. We had a wedding with an after-party that included a pizza truck (how the bride/groom met), another where we were honored to be the Padrinos de Arras  and the infectious joy of the dozens of cousins, aunts, uncles and immediate family attending rubbed off on all of us. Another wedding was more intimate but the bride’s parents let loose and danced the night away. Which is exactly what we did in Illinois (20,000 steps on my Fitbit) but under a tent with hard rain muffling the sound of the music. Finally, this past weekend we were at a semi-working ranch with a groom who is my husband’s brother from another mother and a bride who glowed to the point that she was illuminating the dance floor. The exclamation point on an incredible weekend of celebration was the informal jam session with the groom on guitar and other talented musicians from around the country. 

The Celebration of Dancing, Drinking and Laughing

One morning years ago, when dropping my oldest off at our sweet Montessori school, I noticed a woman with wavy hair, an inviting demeanor and generous smile.

I knew I wanted to meet her and when I did, I felt an almost instant connection with her especially when she told me her name ... which confused me. Gentil (pronounced: Hen-teal) Weiss Najera. Sometimes the filter between my thoughts and my mouth doesn't work so well and this was one of those times. The questions "How do you spell that? Where are you from?" tumbled out of me before I could stop myself. Luckily, she wasn't offended. We discussed how her name meant "kind" or "nice" in French (in her case, the name really does fit the person) and then she told me of her Puerto Rican mom, her Jewish dad, her step parents and siblings spread between California and the East Coast.

It's been about seven years since that day on the playground and we've been friends ever since. Through the years, I've come to know Gentil as someone who is so generous with her talents, time, advice and willingness to help. Her family is part of a small group of us that get together for Jewish holidays which I hope connects her with that part of her heritage. In turn, she shares lovely stories about her mom, who passed away several years ago, her elderly grandmother, all of her siblings and the rich Puerto Rican heritage and pride that was imparted to her. 

At one of our recent gatherings, she shared an old family recipe and the story for Pastelón (a Puerto Rican style lasagna), that is typically made on a special occasion or holiday.

"Growing up, I heard the stories many times about how my mom would make this tasty dish with her Abuela and mom (my Abuelita)! They would gather all of the ingredients and turn up the music and enjoy their time together. Sharing stories, dancing a little, drinking a little and laughing a lot!!" Now, Gentil makes this with her family and each member takes responsibility for a part of the recipe with salsa music in the background, adult beverages, dancing in between steps (of the recipe) and tasting all along. 

I often think of jewelry being passed down from mothers to daughters. But in Gentil's case, it was a pilón (a wooden mortar and pestle) that started in the hands of her great grandmother (Abuela), passed to her grandmother (Abuelita), then mother and is now in Gentil's kitchen. This is where Gentil's version of  pastelón starts and most of her other Latin inspired recipes. As she describes it's "where the sazon is made ... the garlic, salt, pepper, oregano, olive oil and apple cider vinegar is mashed together into a nice paste and is used for the seasoning of any sauce." It's well worn from years of use and it "holds the flavors and oils from years past." Can't you just imagine the hands of those generations of women encircling the pilón, infusing it with their energy and filling the contents with love? 

"My Abuela's recipe was more traditional even though she never measured her ingredients ... According to my Abuelita, who will be 90 this November, my mom always adjusted her recipe and substituted the meat for soy or vegetables but it always came out amazing and oozed sabor (flavor)." 

You serve this dish with a green salad, bread, wine and the traditional toast "amor y dineró, y el tiempo para gozarlo." (Love, Prosperity and Time to Enjoy them).

I will dance and drink (and eat) to that. 

The family heirloom with four generations -
Gentil at 1 year old, her mother, grandmother and great grandmother. 

Pastelón de León

Serves 8-10

Ingredients:

• 6 large ripe plantains (dark spots make it taste better!)
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 3 cups shredded cheese, your choice
• 3 cups dried soy meat substitute
• 3 cups water
• 1/2 cup Recaíto mix (recipe below)
• 4 cloves garlic minced
• 1/2 cup sofrito (you can buy the Goya brand in your supermarket but you can also click here for a recipe and here's another variation (I think there may be as many recipes for sofrito as there are people in the Caribbean.)
• 2 eight once cans tomato sauce
• 2 tablespoons green olives with pimentos
• 1 tablespoon capers
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1/4 cup red wine (use the bottle from last night or open a new one and have a glass)
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons water

What to do with the ingredients:

1. Preheat over to 350 degrees
2. In a large bowl, combine soy meat substitue, Recaíto, garlic and 3 cups of water. Soak for 1/2 hour
3. Peel and slice plantains, first in half, and each half into long strips giving 6 to 8 slices per plantain. 
4. Heat oil in deep frying pan, and fry plantains until golden brown. Then drain on paper towel.
5. In another deep frying pan, heat sofrito, and add the soy meat substitute (which has soaked for 1/2 hour) with all its water and seasoning.
6. Add tomato sauce, sugar, green olives, capers and wine. Simmer on low heat for 20 minutes.
7. Lightly grease a 13"x9"x2" pan and place one layer of plantains on bottom.
8. Follow with a layer of soy meat, and then a layer of shredded cheese.
9. Repeat this sequence two more times for a total of three layers.
10. Beat egg with two tablespoons of water.
11. Make knife inserts into pastelón and pour egg mixture into openings.
12. Sprinkle a little more cheese on top and bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees.
13. Let stand for 10 to 15 minutes before serving. 

Making your own Recaíto Criollo

Combine and chop all ingredients in a blender:

5 culantro leaves (this is different than cilantro. If you can't find it, increase the cilantro)

3 cilantro sprigs

1 green pepper 

1 onion

4 small sweet chili peppers (or 1 medium red bell pepper)

1 tomato 

1/4 teaspoon oregano

The Celebration of Bienvenu

The Village of Le Michels

My mother lived the book A Year in Provence years before it was written let alone a destination on any tourist map. Months before my older brother was born, my father (an Algerian born Frenchman) bought a home – sight unseen by my mom (a New Yorker with a knack for languages) – in a small French Village in Provence, France. There were 27, mainly elderly, inhabitants of Les Michels, France when my parents moved into the fixer-upper that predated the French revolution.

My mom tells the story that “The villagers were viticulturist – a fancy word meaning they grew wine grapes.” (Proof that wine is in my blood.) “They also grew table grapes, some fruits and vegetables.  In so many ways the people of the village were directly out of a book by Marcel Pagnol.  They were wealthy but you never could have guessed that fact.  As a matter of fact when we remodeled our house to make it a home, several of the villagers decided to install indoor plumbing!” It was 1966 after all.

I think the prospect of a shared village grandchild to spoil coupled with my mom’s natural gift of language sprinkled with a healthy dose of curiosity sweetened the locals temperament towards my mom.

Once I was born, four years later, it was like we had been there for generations. My earliest memories are of going from house to house in the village and being handed sweets at every door. And those memories are wrapped in a warm, fleece blanket of comfort and safety – her name is Tata Elvire. 

She was our housekeeper/nanny/auntie and became a dear friend of my parents. She took my brother and me to her farm where we ate fresh, hot French bread that created a mountain of crumbs as we bit into it. The bread was slathered with homemade butter and sprinkled with chocolate that was served to us with milk that I watched her heat up on the stove from a cow we milked moments before.

My mom still keeps in touch with Tata Elvire and although my brother and I are grown, and she is in her late 80’s, we will always be “mes petits,” my little ones, to her.  

From left
Yeyette, another family friend, my mom, my husband, Tata Elvire and me (pregnant with our 1st kiddo).
Le Michels, France in 2003.

The village was invited into my parents’ home to share in our celebrations and my mom was invited into their kitchens. In one of the most universally understood languages – that of food grown on their own land and every ingredient prepared by hand – my family was shown hospitality and love. They were farm-to-table before it was a catch phrase used on expensive restaurant menus.

“Late summer would bring a plethora of vegetables. Cases of roma tomatoes were made into homemade tomato sauce, abundance of red fruits were soaked in alcohol from the wine coop to make ratafia and the colorful vegetables were made into Pistou.  In Provençal Pistou means Basil, so you can guess the main ingredient of this soup.” As my mom recalls.

Pistou is a wonderfully simple, fragrant and comforting soup. For my mom, I suspect that a single whiff brings her back to being that late 20-something, very pregnant woman who was far from home with a village full of people ready to welcome her into their homes at their table and in their hearts.  

Here’s the recipe as my mom learned if from Tata Elvire.

Pistou a la Provencal

Ingredients:

*Try to go as organic as possible for the best flavors.

• 4 zucchinis sliced about an 1/8 of an inch thick
• 2 Chinese eggplants diced into bite size pieces 
• About 1 /2 pound flat string beans cut in approx. ¾ inch segments
• 2 -3 small to medium size potatoes cubed
• 3-4 tomatoes peeled and squeezed into the pot (I use a small can of crushed tomatoes)
• 1 small can of Cannellini beans
• 1 small packet of vermicelli
• Thyme (about a teaspoon full)
• Garlic, French bread, Basil, Olive oil, grated cheese preferably Gruyère.
• Salt and Pepper to taste.

What to do with the ingredients:

1. In a large soup pot put in 3-4 diced cloves of garlic and sauté them in no more than 2 tablespoons of olive oil until they start to turn brown.
2. Add the potatoes and stir so they are coated with the oil and garlic.
3. Add 12 cups of water and bring to a boil.
4. Add the tomatoes and eggplant and bring back to a boil.  Then add the string beans, zucchinis, cannellini beans, and Thyme.  The soup should not be watery.
5. When the soup is ¾ of the way cooked, add the small packet of vermicelli.
6. Once the vermicelli is cooked, peel 2 -3 cloves of garlic and crush them with a good size branch of fresh basil using a mortar and pestle if you have it. If not, crush garlic and basil on a cutting board using the side of a chef's knife. Transfer garlic and basil to a bowl and slowly add 2 – 3 soup spoons of Olive Oil to form a liquidy Ailoli. 
7. Cut up the French bread in thin slices.  The soup is served with the French bread in the soup with the Ailoli mixture on top of the bread and the grated cheese on top of it all.

This soup is thick and hardy and served with a salad makes a lovely meal.

The Celebration of Motivation

I’m not going to lie – I use food to motivate my children. And, as I write this, I realize I better start putting money aside for a future therapy fund.

Several years ago, we took the kiddos to Paris with the primary purpose of visiting my family but we also had several great days of sightseeing. We aren’t from a part of the country where people walk (I mean we drive to our neighbors house). So, we had to invent a few ways to motivate the kids so they would propel themselves on their own two feet throughout a city that’s best loved when walked. And, that’s where food for motivation comes in.

“If you walk to the end of this block, we’ll get a croissant at the next Patisserie.” “Oh, if you walk without complaining for 30 minutes, we’ll get you the biggest damn hot chocolate you have ever seen.” “In the next 2 blocks, I know there’s the best crepe maker in the entire city but he only makes crepes for kids who walk.” You get the idea.

Now, I use food as a motivator to get my kiddos out of bed and ready for school. I wish I could be one of those moms that’s perfectly showered, coiffed with freshly applied make up all before I wake the children with the smell of eggs and turkey bacon (no bacon in our house). That fantasy disappeared on the first day of pre-k. 

Most mornings, I’m lucky if I can wake up in time to change out of my pj's and find matching shoes before starting the yell-and-repeat we’re going to be late let’s get out the door morning routine.

The truth is, I can yell all I want but nothing gets the kiddos out of their rooms (with clothes and shoes on – teeth brushing is still questionable) more than hearing these words as they open their eyes “do you want a crepe with Nutella or one with banana and sugar for breakfast?”

Now, I know to most that sounds as complicated as the eggs and bacon routine but it really isn’t. The kiddos can grab their crepes either at the counter or on the run. Getting crepes ready just takes a little planning and preparation (that happens on Sunday’s in our household) with ingredients you probably have in your pantry already.

Starting our mornings with rich, velvety and indulgent crepes motivates all of us to walk out the door, conquer our day and with a little reminder of family and Paris folded up in our hands.

The recipe:
(adapted from The Paris Cafe Cookbook, Daniel Young)

I make the crepes ahead of time (Sunday evening) and put them in the fridge until breakfast. In the morning, I do a quick reheat in the microwave, put the desired toppings and off we go.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 3 eggs
• 1 ½ cups milk
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract (this is an addition by me)
• 2 tablespoons sugar (for sweet crepes only)
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• Pinch of salt
• Pam or other spray (recipe calls for 1 tablespoon vegetable oil)

What to do with the ingredients:

1. Put the flour in a large bowl and make a well in the center.
2. Break the eggs into the well in the flour. Add 1 cup of the milk to the eggs and stir in a circular motion with the wooden spatula, gradually widening the circle to incorporate a little flour at a time until all the flour is absorbed by the liquid.
3. Add the remaining ½ cup milk and the water, sugar, melted butter, vanilla extract and salt and beat with a whisk until all the lumps have disappeared. (If you can’t eliminate them all, pour the batter through a strainer.) Let the batter stand 1 hour in the refrigerator.
4. The recipe calls for vegetable oil but I use Pam. Spray a 9-inch crepe pan or skillet and heat over medium heat. Ladle ¼ cup of the batter into the pan, the quickly tilt the pan in all directions so the batter spreads into a thin layer covering the bottom of the pan. Cook the crepe until the bottom is lightly browned and the edges lift up easily from the pan, about 2 minutes.
5. Slide a spatula under the crepe and, grabbing the opposite side with your fingers, flip it over. Or if you are feeling adventurous, you can try the air flip. Also, know that at least one crepe will be sacrificed to the pan because the batter didn't reach all edges or you want to taste test them. 
6. Spread the desired fillings over the center of the crepe and cook the underside until it becomes brown spotted, about 1 minute. To finish, fold it three times into a rounded triangle: First fold it in half over the fillings, then folks the resulting semicircle in thirds, making two creases with the side of the spatula to ease the folding. 

Flour in the bowl

My daughter helped me crack the eggs so we crack them in a different
bowl to prevent shell in our batter.

Eggs in the flour well

Finished batter. In the fridge now for an hour (or longer).

Cooking in the crepe pan. I put my batter in the Tupperware overnight
until I was ready to make the crepes.

The Air Flip.