Gong Xi Fa Cai

Happy Chinese New Year!

Chinese New Year, or the Lunar New Year, instills a sense of nostalgia in me. I can remember the house being filled with the pattering feet of cousins, the kitchen all a bustle with cooking adults, and the lively chatter of friends who had not seen each other for some time. The aromas of ginger and garlic, sweet and spicy wafting through the air. The walls were festively adorned with red and gold. All this coming from a very eastern European family.

My family, even though we feel close to our slavish roots, happen to be very eclectic. Almost all of us love to cook and love our family and friends around us. Almost every year our cousins would make the six hour trek in the dead of a New England winter. Braving the snow and cold just to cook and visit with us.

The adults would go to the local markets and even further, sometimes into Boston, to buy special ingredients for our feast. My mother would buy Chinese yoyo's and folding fans for us kids and occasionally a new set of Chinese pajamas for me. There would be a long table in the main room of our house to seat us all. On the table were our "special chopsticks", beautiful red and black lacquer, a treasure I always felt privileged to use.

Once our guests started arriving my father, mother, and cousin George, along with anyone else willing to join, would all convene in the kitchen to begin cooking. That was when the real excitement began. Plate by plate the delectable creations would arrive on the table, ready for any hungry guest to dig in. Every year my family seemed to out do themselves in preparing wonderful food.

After dinner everyone would bundle up and go ice skating on the beaver pond behind our little country home. A path would be dug through the sometimes waist deep snow. The frozen pond was lined with burning tiki torches, causing the surrounding snow to sparkle and glow. It was a truly beautiful sight to behold. Along with ice skating, we would always have a small fireworks display in the yard. It was an exciting and sometimes interactive event for all.

Of course not all years were this filled with hustle and bustle. As the kids got older the large parties were replaced with smaller New Years events. Although these were no less exciting than the large events. As I said before, my family will take any oppurtunity we can to get together to cook.

Unfortunately the seemingly huge to do's we once had, have not happened for sometime. But we still hold true to our Chinese New Year's traditions. Even now as I sit at my computer, the smell of cooling almond cookies and the taste of the floral oolong tea I am drinking, brings back very fond memories of love and happiness a family can bring.

I would like to share a great almond cookie recipe with you. May it bring sweet beginnings to the Year of the Ox!

Ingredients

* 2 3/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour
* 1 cup white sugar
* 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1 cup butter (or 2 sticks)
* 1 egg
* 1 teaspoon almond extract
* 96 almonds

Directions
1. Sift the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt together into a bowl. Using a fork, cut in the butter until mixture resembles cornmeal. Add egg and almond extract. Mix well.
2. Roll dough into 1 inch balls. Set them 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Place an almond on top of each cookie and press down to flatten slightly
3. Bake in a pre-heated 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) oven for 15-18 minutes. Cool on rack.


*Note the dough may be made in a food prossesor. To do so, combine the dry ingredients and the butter in the food prossesor bowl. Pulse the mixture until it resembles cornmeal. With the motor running add in the egg and extract and mix until it just comes together. Follow the rest of the recipe as normal.

Welcome!

I'd like to extend a very warm welcome to you, the reader. I hope you will find this blog both informative and interesting to read.

First, let me explain what this blog is about. I'll be discussing food, wine and restaurants I've eaten in. It's articles will, in rotating order, cover one of these topics weekly. For example, an article in Food might be anything from a particular ingredient, a style of food, or a food I may have tried recently. The Wine section may include wine reviews or how to pair wine with food. Eating can be a rather broad subject. I would like to include restaurant reviews, an article about "the home restaurant," and cooking for friends and family. I would also like to include an article about various home cooking gadgets. And, of course, a monthly recipe.

I would also love to share my experiences with you. This, I suppose, is the perfect place to tell you a little bit about myself. I am a chef, born and raised in New England - New Hampshire to be exact. I learned how to cook from three of the best cooks I know -my Grandma Ann, my father, and my Uncle Matt. These three taught me not only how to cook, but how to love food as well. You see, food always seemed to be an integral part of our lives. It's what brought us together every night, every holiday, and every chance we got together.

One of my fondest memories is at Thanksgiving. Every year we would make the six hour journey to New Jersey to my Aunt Dee and Uncle Matt's house. And every year, my uncle would give me my own apron and step stool. I would help him do small tasks like stirring the stuffing or tasting a dish. He would even try to get me to eat the heart and liver from the turkey - an offer I did not take him up on until many years later. Even to this day, any chance I can get to be in a kitchen with him, I gladly welcome!

It was experiences like these that made me realize in my mid-teens that I would never be happier anywhere else but in a kitchen. This pushed me to get my very first cooking job at a Bickford's Family Restaurant in Nashua, NH. For those of you unfamiliar with Bickford's, it is New England's version of a Waffle House. I'm sorry to say I didn't last more there than six months, but it pushed me to find better job somewhere else. I ended up working at Michael Timothy's in Nashua as a prep chef, under Michael Buckley. I am proud to say he was one of the most influential chefs I have ever worked for. He taught me some very important lessons that will stay with me forever.

Soon after I graduated high school, I moved to Denver, CO to attend college at the Art Institute of Colorado. After three and a half years of hard work, I completed my Bachelor of Arts degree in Culinary Management. While attending college, I helped open up a new Japanese restaurant in Littleton, CO. Sadly, the restaurant didn't last more than a year and a half, but such is the life. 8 out of 10 restaurants fail within the first two years. Living in a landlocked state did not agree with me, however, so after some deliberation I decided to move back to New England. I can honestly say I love it up here. I've worked as a sous chef on the seacoast and up in the mountians. The country is beautiful.

So with eight years experience in commercial kitchens and a passion for cooking, I would love to share all my experiences with you both past and present. I hope you visit with me again an share your cooking experiences too!