Plains on the inside

Have the colors of a landscape ever inspired your dinner?

I mean, have you ever looked at a particularly lovely place and thought, "I need to create something like this to eat. Something red and purple and orange...." Maybe you haven't and you think I'm delirious for thinking the Flint Hills in north-eastern Kansas have anything to do with food.

Perhaps I am insane. Or I just got hungry and wistful as I looked through some photos of my trip to Kansas this fall. I flew from Portland to Kansas City in late September for a wedding, and on my way to see family in Wichita after that, I took a leisurely drive through the Flint Hills. By leisurely, I meant I pulled over onto a service road near Alma, Ks, and took a walk, and I even read every historical marker along the three-hour drive. Leisurely.

If I hadn't slowed down, I would have missed these guys.

They were just lounging in a field near the entrance to Grandma Hoerner's gift shop. I don't know if they were more intrigued by my appearance on a Sunday (Shop's closed!) or the fact that the grass I fed them by hand tasted so! much! better! than the grass on their side of the fence. There's just something about tooling through these rolling hills that makes you want to pull over and look. The fields are so elegant, so unfussy, and the sky so blue and expansive.

I find everything about the Flint Hills soothing. Even in pictures. Perhaps that's why I linked the following unfussy chickpea dish with the hills. Just a pat of butter (or swish or olive oil) in a skillet, some peppers and cabbage, seasonings, and chickpeas heated until they're warm and crispy. Soothing fall colors, in winter. Breathe them in.

fair simple fare

Pan-fried chickpeas & cabbage with potatoes
serves 2

• 2 medium Yukon Gold potatoes
• 2 Tb. unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup thinly sliced red bell pepper
• 1/3 cup chopped green cabbage
• 1/3 cup chopped red cabbage
• 2 cloves fresh garlic, chopped
  
• 2/3 cup cooked chickpeas
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1 tsp. Sriracha chili sauce
• cracked black pepper

Melt the butter over medium-low heat in a skillet while you chop the potatoes. Pour the potatoes in the skillet and stir until they're coated in butter. Leave them to cook, covered, while you prepare the other veggies.

Mix in the cabbages, peppers, salt, pepper, garlic, and a 1/4 cup of water. Recover the skillet. Cook everything for another 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the potatoes are tender. Swish in the chili and soy sauces, uncover the skillet, and increase the stove heat to medium. Toss the chickpeas in, and serve when the chickpeas are thoroughly warm and the edges of the potatoes are crispy.

If you liked this recipe, you might also enjoy:

New potatoes with onions and chard
Polenta fries
Butternut squash soup

It's a Christmas miracle!

Oh boy.

Yesterday was a doozy. Though we started out at a leisurely tempo with coffee and holiday jazz, Raymond and I crashed around midnight at our neighbor's party, quite full of mischief, casserole, and ham. Between those bookends, we all shared A Very Muppet Christmas, spiked coffee and beers at and (open!) bar down the street, and two very cold walks down an empty Barbur Boulevard.

The evening was, as our hostess put it, a Christmas miracle.

If you celebrate Christmas, I hope your yesterday was a mad whirl of lovely like mine, a celebration of family and good friends. And if Christmas isn't your thing, I hope you had at least a moment to pause and enjoy the flickering light displays and the crystal-clear view of Mount Hood.

This morning, I'm recovering with a little Django Rinehart and leftover Christmas coffee cake. Unlike some of its sugary, fly-by-night cousins (I'm looking at YOU, fruitcake!) this cake grows on you slowly, like a friendship that ripens sweetly over the years. It's made from comforting foods: whole-wheat flour, just enough brown sugar, buttermilk, vanilla. I like this cake plain or with coffee, sometimes topped with yogurt. Maybe it'll help you wind down from your festivities and enjoy a quiet winter afternoon.



Whole wheat buttermilk coffee cake
serves 8

• 2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 1/2 cups packed medium brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp. sea salt
• 2/3 cup unsalted butter, cold and sliced thin
  
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp. ground cardamom
• 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1 tsp. vanilla
  
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/3 cups buttermilk
  
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans

Grease the bottom and sides of a medium baking pan and set aside. In a bowl, mix together the dry ingredients -- flour, powder, soda spices, sugar and salt. Cut in butter with a fork or pastry cutter until the bowl is full of coarse crumbs.

Reserve a cup of this mixture in a separate bowl for the topping. Add the pecans and an extra 1/2 tsp. or cardamom (if you like) and stir.

In another bowl, mix together the eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla. Pour this liquid into the flour mixture all at once, and stir until the batter is just combined. Gently spoon half of this batter into the prepared pan, top with half of the reserved topping, then repeat until all of the batter and topping is used.

Bake the cake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 35 to 40 minutes, or until you can insert a knife in the center of the cake and it comes out clean. Serve warm, with coffee. This cake keeps at room temperature for a few days; after that, you can refrigerate it for up to a week.

If you liked this recipe, you may also enjoy:

Chocolate coconut flax granola
Double lemon, double poppy seed cake

English seed bread

Nothing like I expected

Oh dear. My pictures of Portland's annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony didn't turn out at all. According to this picture, the tree is constructed of sponged-on tempera paint, flecked with glitter, and topped with a gold foil star.

The 70-foot tree sparkled in real life. At the ceremony, Raymond and I snaked our way through a jovial crowd and made friends (plus registered to vote!) in line for coffee. We bopped along to a global cocktail of holiday tunes, sung by a gospel choir and a dude with a saxophone. Classy.

After the ceremony, we walked over Macy's. Posh mannequins in puffer vests vogued in the window displays, but inside.....inside there was already an endless line of children waiting to see Santa Claus. After a steady diet of A Christmas Story marathons on TNT as a kid, you can imagine my joy at finally living in a town with a Macy's.

I could ask Santa for a Red Ryder BB gun!

The line was so long, we opted to watch kids write letters to Santa instead. Macy's donates a dollar to the Make-a-Wish Foundation for each letter, so what's the harm in sending a note?


I think the postal service should place these boxes at every corner. Although, can you imagine accidentally dropping your electric bill into the slot? PGE would not be pleased.

Before we left Santaland for other Macy's adventures -- namely flopping on bed displays, spritzing ourselves with perfume and cologne, and riding escalators -- I took the picture. The Norman Rockwell Christmas picture. I had to whip out the camera quickly, in stealth, and without a flash, but...

It turned out nothing like I expected. See the girl's fancy Christmas dress? See her red bow? And the boy -- his hands are pressed against the glass, waiting for the toy train to appear. See the white-frosted tree on the right with its miniature lights? This makes up for every blurry tree picture, those shots I set up with care. A perfect end to a perfect evening.

Like this pasta I made later that night. Though on the surface, this dish is only rigatoni in red sauce, you'll find a secret sweetness inside. Maybe it's nothing like you expected. Maybe it's better.


Rigatoni with red pepper cream sauce
serves 4

• 1 1/2 medium red or orange bell pepper, sliced
• 1 Tb. extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 large cloves garlic, diced
  
• 1/2 small yellow onion, diced
• 1/3 cup cooked yam or sweet potato (canned, fresh, or from Thanksgiving leftovers)
• 1/2 tsp. sea salt
  
• 1/2 tsp. dried oregano (or 1 tsp. fresh)
• 3 cups dry rigatoni noodles
  
• 1/2 cup cream
• 1/2 cup water or low-sodium vegetable broth
• 1/2 cup aged cheddar cheese (like Australian Boxing cheddar), shredded
  
• 1/2 cup medium cheddar, shredded

Saute the peppers, garlic, and onion in olive oil on medium-low heat. Stir occasionally until the veggies are tender but not mushy; cover the pan and add more oil if they dry out. When the veggies are almost tender, bring a pot of water to a rolling boil and add the rigatoni. Cook the pasta for 7-10 minutes or until al dente.

Transfer the vegetables to a blender or food processor. Add the cream, water (or broth), sweet potato and spices; blend until the sauce is creamy. Drain the pasta, then pour it into a medium casserole dish. Smother the pasta with sauce. Sprinkle half of the cheese over the pasta and stir thoroughly. Top it with the rest of the cheese and bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes, until the cheese is bubbly. Enjoy (and happy holidays, all.)