Spanish Tortilla

First post of 2016, let's do this. When the big 2-0-1-5 came around a year ago, I remember not being in a good place and wanting more out of life. Those feelings forever preserved in a time capsule through this blog post filled with anticipation and expectation. That entire year came and went and it blew through every single desire I had in my heart of hearts. It was a damn good year. Here's hoping the next one will be just as amazing.

It certainly is off to a good start. January has been keeping me busy with the usual stuff: work, recipe testing, friends, drinks, and laughs. There's barely been enough time to despair about winter weather. When February rolls around, we're heading across the ocean to China for the month before coming back in time for leap day. Many noodles and "stinky" eats will be had.

Since there is a lot of colorful food to look forward to soon, I decided to start the new year off with something simple and tasty. Something that can be eaten for any meal of the day, made with four easily found ingredients. As was described to me the first time I had it, spanish tortilla is like a frittata but better: soft eggs wrapping tender potatoes and onions, delicious at any temperature and endlessly versatile.

Chocolate Dipped Shortbread Cookies

A typical Christmas with my family consists of a full day's worth of Chinese hot pot. Three meals (and snacks in between) of beef, lamb, fish balls, squid, napa cabbage, taro, tofu, seaweed, noodles, and my mom's famous dipping sauce. Cookies, especially home baked cookies, are usually nowhere to be found. Not exactly your typical American Christmas, but it's what I always associate with the holidays. It's what makes me nostalgic; what all the lights and buzz remind me of.

It's been a few years since I've spent the holidays with my family, life takes you in other directions sometimes. So last year, yearning for a piece of home, Phillip and I went out for hot pot in Chinatown on Christmas day. It wasn't as good as mom's, but it did ease the homesickness a bit.

In a change from tradition, this year there will be lots of cookie baking and no hot pot (only because I already got my fix last week). However, I still want to honor the non-typical ways people can celebrate Christmas, so I present to you a slightly non-typical cookie in the form of chocolate dipped rhinos.

After Thanksgiving Turkey Noodle Casserole

Did you guys have a wonderful Thanksgiving? We started cooking wednesday night, and besides eight hours of much needed sleep, it was non-stop until thursday night; a constant flow of pies, casseroles, and rolls from our oven. When people started arriving, I was still in the middle of frying onion strings for the green bean casserole. It made its way into our bellies soon enough. We ate too much food, drank a few too many drinks, and had a jolly old time.

Though turkey is usually the star of the show, to be completely honest, it's the sides I look forward to most each year. But despite my lukewarm feelings, the big bird always makes its way onto our menu partly because of tradition, but mostly because I love repurposing the carcass to make turkey noodle casserole after we've grown tired of eating the standard leftovers.

The friday after every Thanksgiving, I place whatever is left of the turkey into a large stockpot, cover it completely with water and let it simmer for hours while we camp out in front of the tv until dark. When the stock has finished and cooled, I take the carcass out, pull off whatever meat is left on the backbone, and store everything in the fridge until we feel like making the noodle casserole (usually sometime during the weekend). It's a wonderfully therapeutic end to a frantic few days.

Kale Caesar Salad

We're hosting our first real Thanksgiving this year, where more than two friends come over and I can finally stop being the person looking for the smallest turkey in the store. To celebrate such a big occasion, instead of gifting you with a drool worthy recipe for pie or casserole...you find a kale salad. I swear I'm not a party pooper, a good kale caesar is the cure to all of life's woes. And if you're looking to sneak some greens among all the carbs, butter, and sweets on thursday, the kale caesar is here for you, here to save the day.

This salad has been a part of our weekly repertoire for a while now, ever since we discovered the wonder that is homemade caesar dressing. But we didn't discover just how good it could be until we were dining in this tiny restaurant called El Rey on a friday night, ordered their kale salad, and reveled in how tender the leaves were. The key, we learned, was massaging olive oil into the leaves before assembling, covering every crevice and surface with a thin layer, working it in with your fingers, to turn the kale from tough and fibrous to tender and silky in just a few short minutes.