MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Right. I know. I'm four days late with this. I'VE BEEN BUSY!!! I did make time on Christmas Eve, however, to visit Jeff at Parker Wine Cellars to apologize for missing so many wine tastings lately and to take him a sampling of Greek pastries. (There's an interesting thought: which wine would you pair with kourambiethes or melomakarouna?)

I walked into Parker Wine Cellars at the PERFECT time, because there was an open bottle of wine and I got a taste. Steve, the representative for Amancaya, was showing off their 2008 Malbec/Cabernet Sauvignon blend from Argentina. Very dry, full-bodied, with a good flavor. I think Jeff is considering whether to carry the wine in Parker Wine Cellars.

We're past Christmas now and almost to New Year's, so I'll get a head start by saying HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Kourambiethes (as promised)

We all have our favorite childhood memories. A great many of mine revolve around food (travel too, but that might have to be a subject for another blog). Kourambiethes and my beloved Greek grandmother are among my earliest memories. Traditionally, Greek grandmothers are called "YaYa" but mine was "Nana." That loving title was bestowed on her by her first grandchildren, whose mother, my Aunt Mona, came over from Wales as a war bride after World War II. She was always Nana to me, and no child could have wished for a better grandmother. Or a better baker. She divined early on that her little granddaughter simply adored the Greek shortbread, and made sure that when I visited her big clapboard house in Englewood, New Jersey, a large supply of the pastries were readily available to someone of my short stature. The door would open and I'd take off for the pastry cupboard as fast as my fat little legs would carry me.

I never outgrew my love for these pastries so, naturally, when I was old enough to start cooking, I learned to make them. Mom used to just throw in a little of this and a little of that, but *I* have a recipe:

1 lb. unsalted butter (yes, a whole pound)
1 egg yolk
1/4 cup confectioners sugar
1/4 cup orange juice
1 oz. brandy, whisky or ouzo
3 3/4 cups flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
Whole cloves (for garnish -- optional)
1 lb. box confectioners sugar for topping

Allow butter to soften to room temperature. Beat with electric mixer until creamy. Add sugar, egg yolk, orange juice and liquor, beating all the while until thick as mayonnaise. Add flour and cornstarch and mix. Turn out onto a floured board and knead for 5 minutes until smooth (no cracks in the dough from unmixed flour -- those will come back to haunt you). The consistency of the dough should remind you of PlayDoh. Roll dough into a round log and cut diagonally into 1/2" thick slices about 2" x 1", or make into round balls, or whatever shape you like, really. Place on ungreased cookie sheet about 1/2" apart. If you want to, stick a whole clove in the center of each one. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 25 minutes.

In the meantime, sift 1 cup confectioners sugar on a clean shallow pan or cookie sheet and cover the bottom thickly. Using a spatula, transfer hot cookies onto the sugar gently and side-by-side, as soon as you remove them from the oven. Sift the remaining sugar on top and sides of the cookies. Cool for a few hours, if you can keep people away from them. They can be made ahead of time, because they taste great the next day and the day after that . . . if they last that long!

Melomakarouna!

My mother was Greek, born in America to immigrant parents. Her rich cultural heritage included some kick-ass recipes that I remember fondly from childhood and, as The Family Cook, I have faithfully recreated as many of them as I can.

Jennie and I are particularly fond of Melomakarouna, which is ridiculously easy to make. Simply mix together the following ingredients:

1 1/4 cups oil (I use canola oil)
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup orange juice
Rind of one orange
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 cup whisky or rum
1 Tbs. honey
1/4 tsp. cloves
1 tsp. cinnamon
4 cups flour
3/4 cup chopped walnuts (either in the batter or sprinkled on top)

You'll also need a medium size bottle of honey, but don't put that in the dough.

The consistency of the batter is a little weird, kind of like wet Play-Doh. Form the dough into little oblong or round cakes (about 1 1/2" in diameter) and place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees F for 15 minutes, or until light brown.

In the meantime, put the honey into a deep saucepan (trust me on this one), and bring to a boil. Honey boils up and over VERY easily, by the way, so don't walk away from it. When the cookies come out of the oven, drop them a few at a time into the boiling honey and then just as quickly take them out. That's the time to sprinkle the nuts on top, if you haven't put them in the batter, because they'll stick nicely in the honey. And I'm SURE my readers are smart enough that I don't really need to say "please use tongs to pick the cookies out of the boiling honey," right?

These cookies are great for a decadent, carb-filled breakfast with a cup of coffee, and they stay moist for days, if they last that long. My mother used to make a big batch of them before a family vacation, and we'd have them for breakfast with a cup of coffee in the motel rooms instead of spending money for breakfast at a restaurant. No complaints from me -- I love Melomakarouna!

Today I'm going to make Kourambiethes, a Greek variation on traditional shortbread. This was my grandmother's specialty, and I'll regale you with family stories in my next blog. Opa!

Fireworks For My Birthday

The holidays are full of good food and wine, and I've been too damned busy to write about any of it. If I'm not eating and drinking, I'm recovering. Or shopping. The day after Thanksgiving, one of my best friends flew over from England for a much-needed escape, and we spent five lovely days eating, drinking and shopping.

Two days after she departed, I celebrated my 55th birthday. Yes, I am now eligible for the senior citizen discounts at both IHOP and Sigel's Liquor Store (on Tuesdays only). Three guesses which one I'm hitting up first. And this year, the City of Murphy, Texas provided fireworks for my birthday! Unfortunately, I had to miss the weekly wine tasting at Parker Wine Cellars in order to make it home in time, but, well, fireworks don't happen on EVERY birthday!

Oh, okay, the fireworks weren't FOR my birthday, but they did occur ON my birthday. Murphy Maize Days, our October vendor fair, got rained out so they rescheduled the fireworks for December 2, my birthday, which pleased me enormously. I've loved fireworks ever since I lived in Anaheim, California, close enough to Disneyland that we could watch the summer fireworks from the end of our street.

In celebration of both the fireworks and my birthday, my friends Bonnie and Margaret came over with a few bottles of wine. We sampled prosecco, moscato, and 7 Deadly Zins. The prosecco and moscato were an experiment, and we all agreed that Barefoot Bubbly was a better sparkling wine for the price. However, it was all wonderful: friends, fireworks, and a toast to my new year.

Because of family obligations, tonight was my "official" birthday dinner (see, I managed to celebrate all week in one form or fashion!), which I chose to have at Urban Crust, a lovely restaurant in historic downtown Plano, Texas. The menu is simple yet fresh and innovative: wood-fired pizza, interesting appetizers (mussels in tomatillo sauce -- YUM), and a daily special, which today was Almond Encrusted Flounder with a Lemon Butter Sauce. It was absolutely delicious.

My wine of choice was their special: a 2005 Shardana, Sardinia Carignan-Syrah. It was a complex wine with hints of fruit and dried flowers and a finish of vanilla and black pepper. I savored every sip. Yes, it was too heavy with the fish, but it was a truly perfect wine, so instead of having a wine that complemented the meal, I enjoyed the wine and I enjoyed the meal. It's my birthday. I can do what I want.