Category Archives: Food Blogs

My Husband’s Tuna Noodle Casserole

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For anyone who has missed it, my hubby Mark Peel has a cooking video on goodbite.com. It’s taken from his cookbook New Classic Family Dinners. It’s only two minutes long so check it out. Now, does he cook up vittles like this for us all the time? We’ve had it maybe twice ever (the guy works a lot).  But it’s DELISH and it’s great for leftovers. I made meals out of it for days. On it’s own, with a salad, with steamed broccoli, etc.

Oh, and it was just announced that Mark is on the coming season of Top Chef: Masters. Stay Tuned.

Here is the chef with his son.  Rex sleeping, Mark needing sleep.

Cookbooks for a Cook?

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Home cooks and foodies ask me what cook books Mark has. He has so many I made him throw lots out before our last move, and he still has boxes of them. But here are two that my sister Carole gave him for his birthday. One about old-school cocktails, natch. And somehow she got her hands on Pearl Bailey’s cook book.

Raise your hand if you remember Pearl Bailey. It’s great because it is written exactly how she use to speak. The recipes are not written out like a cookbook normally is. She just tells you how Pearl does it.

The Tar Pit Opens

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I’ve decided to skip any bad/sad/challenging news for as long as possible. So, let me highlight one way in which 2009 ended very well. The opening of the Tar Pit. This is the cocktail bar and eatery my husband Mark Peel (and by extension in a community property state me as well) and partners have been working on for a long time. As you can imagine, to try to open an establishment and get investors during the crash of ’08 (and our own personal crash) was a CHALLENGE. To see people in it now is like watching a baby be born that I carried for close to three years. If only babies made a Gin Gin Mule like this one does!

Many food blogs have said this and that and the LA Times just ran a review so glowing I looked for my name in the byline (bless!). If you are ever in the area please come and check it out. It really is a pretty place. Of course it’s important to our family that it does well, but I do think it’s a great drinking/dining experience. Also, though it is a risk to start a business these days, I feel really good about how by taking this risk we have created jobs for people. And it’s a great crew.

I feel so much camaraderie with other small business owners. Most people are just trying to pay their bills. Very few businesses are going to have a huge payday. They just need to keep going and support the people who run them.  Here’s to 2010 being a good year for all small business folk.

I’ll drink to that!

Thanksgiving Doesn’t Suck as Bad as Christmas

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Well, it’s true right? First off there is no gift giving. Also, when something is heavy on your heart, a break up, illness in the family, robbed of life savings, it always seems to feel heavier on Christmas. I always felt less is expected of me on Thanksgiving. Bake and eat and drink.

Last year was my favorite Thanksgiving ever. Here I am having a gay old time. We were in my dream house, and for the first time in my life I could play grown up. I had a big house and the means to host the dinner. I was expecting Rex, surrounded by friends and family, and very happy.  Content.

Well, now, my sister Carole is hosting again as she has the biggest house. But everyone is fine, so I can’t complain. It’s one day. Not a whole season with Christmas and its build up. But I did like when I was (for once) not the guest on Thanksgiving.

We’ll still play football before the dinner, and I will again host Turkey Trot Trivia, a game I have long played as dessert is consumed. I’m a game person and highly suggest a game for a mix of people. It’s bonding, and if you have people of different views it can be a nice way to channel discussion away from controversy and into American trivia. I have tchotkes for prizes.

Do you like Thanksgiving better or worse than Christmas or Hanukkah? Is it harder this year? Do you have any quirky traditions?

We always go around the table and say something we are grateful for. Other than the obvious being good health, I still maintain we should all be grateful for modern plumbing.

Can That Boy Eat!

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“Babies love lamb,” our pediatrician said in her thick accent. I don’t know what accent it is, but it’s charming. I can’t ask her where she originally is from because I know she told me a long time ago (9 months ago), and I didn’t retain it. No surprise there.

She listened to me tell her all the things Rex loves to eat… everything.

(Here he is happily being fed by his Aunt Carole). And this was her new suggestion, along with several sheafs of colored copy paper with guidelines for feeding a 8-10 month old. These hand outs make feel like I’m back in grade school.

As discussed here before (Tori Spelling Makes Her Own Baby Food) I’m not the best at pureeing vegetables and fruit for my kids. Um, rarely do it. Mark does sporadically. So, when I went to the Plan A baby event… which was some big mishmosh of all kind of cool things for babies that a PR gal I know invited me to… I picked up two samples of organic baby food called Sprout. Yes, like Nina and Star (I’ve watched the “Good Night Show” so often I see her striped pants in my sleep).One was mashed-up apples, and the other was sweet baby carrots, apples, and mango. Fat chance I would ever cook that up myself.

In one feeding Rex finished off the 3.5 oz and whatever else I had handy. I tasted them both, and they tasted good to me. So I used the 15% off code they gave me to order some more. After I put in my credit card, I saw that I didn’t get my 15 % off. I wrote the website and complained. I’m glad I was nice because the guy who wrote back said, “Hey, Daphne it’s me Jody, I’m a friend of Matthew’s. [good friend of mine] We last spoke at his engagement party.”

Ouch, the world is so small. I quickly went over the email I wrote… not a bitch, check. Phew. So, the upshot is he gave me my discount and a coupon code for any of you all who want to order any of the food. www.sproutbaby.com.  The code is SB002295 for 15% off the first order. (They send it Fed ex, which is a few bucks. I ordered a tad more than I had expected to make it worthwhile.)

He has some other products, but I can’t vouch for them. I do like the food. But no lamb. I will have to mince that up myself.

Look Familiar?

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You have served your kids dinner, and you are so TIRED that instead of making something for yourself you FINISH what is on their plates before you clean them and call it a day. Yes, I’m married to a chef, but 5 to 6 nights a week it’s real world around here. And dang it, homemade chicken tenders, leftover pasta, and day old green beans, not bad, not bad at all.

Note the cider donut mix. My friend Ella just brought that back to me from Vermont. She swore they were good, and I was wondering how different they could be from regular donuts.

I have a new project.

Festival of Leftovers

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As the wife of a chef I often have people say to me, “Wow, you must eat great!”

“Why are you eating that slice of cheese on a grocery store roll; you are married to a chef.”

Etc.

Well, I do eat well, IF I go into his restaurant. But 5 to 6 days of the week we are on our own. And when dinner is Mark’s job, he is kind of pooped so his fare is simple–but good– grilled steaks, sauteed vegetables.

One thing he is good at doing is making something out of nothing.

When we were dating he would drive over to my apartment when he was done. Seems crazy to remember that he could show up at midnight, and I was awake and happy to see him. As opposed to now when I fall asleep at 10:30 and growl if he wakes me up at midnight. Poor guy, bait and switch.

So, one night I said, “Please bring me something to eat.” I waited in my little pad thinking of all the yummy food he would be bringing me. But he had spaced.

He brought nothing.

I said, “But I have NOTHING TO EAT, and I’m hungry. I’ve been waiting for your fine food.”

He said, “I will fix something.”

“No, no there is nothing Mark, nothing!”

Well, like in some reality show challenge, he made me a great tomato salad and something else good I can’t remember.

In our current life when we are both too pooped to shop and cook, Mark has birthed FESTIVAL OF LEFTOVERS. In this picture, he made a nice salad with cold steak and other ingredients. It was what we had on hand, and it did taste good, but his presentation really sells it.

When he isn’t home we often eat practically standing up. With Mark, it must all be Plated.

And please note Rex’s onesie. My dear friend Heather made this for him. She is a crafty little child-free friend.

Top Chef Judge

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Tonight’s the night!  Where Rex’s dad is a judge on Top Chef (Wednesday, September 2nd). His appearance on Top Chef (not the Masters, different show) came at a provident time for us. April 30th we were loading out the last our possessions from the dream home where we had to sell. And May 1st we were being flown to Las Vegas so Mark could do the show. We were put up in a suite on the outskirts of town, but it was sweet to be sure. I left the kids for 22 hours and had such a great time. Here is where we stayed. It was actually prettier in person and wasn’t chock a block with white trash in the pool the way Vegas can be. We drank, had naked time, got massages in the beautiful spa, and saw a show. What parents away will do. The next morning MP filmed his first bit with Padma. I was a good wifeager and asked them to promote his book, which they kindly did. Then I had to get home to see my babies.

I honestly think that trip really helped me from getting the blues.

MP shot there a couple more days and had a great time. So, it will be fun to watch it.

Wow, seems like so long ago.

And Now for Some Good News…

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(Sound of trumpet!) Yesterday we received a copy of Mark’s new cook book, “New Classic Family Dinners.”

It will come out in October. But it is already available for order on Amazon, and Borders and is going to carry it as well. Hard to sell books these days, so this is all great news. This is the first we have seen of it. It was VERY EXCITING. As many of you probably know it takes a LONG time to write a cook book (See my video about Kate Gosselin’s cookbook). A REAL cook book. Then once the lengthy part is done (he and his collaborator writing the book for over a year), it’s in production for quite a while.

For all those moments when nothing happens, when a day blurs into the other, it’s nice to have a day where one finally sees the fruits of ones labor. When we first started talking about this book, I was pregnant with Vivien and it was two homes ago. What a journey!

When it comes out, I have to have some kind of virtual book signing party on Cool Mom. Uncork the champagne and play “Ain’t No Stopping Us Now.”

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Yesterday I was a last-minute guest on “Show Biz Tonight” on CNN Headline. Making jokes about Michele Obama wearing short shorts. Lemme say I was in the zone. I had so many one liners. The producer said, “I’ve been interviewing you for years, and you’ve never been this funny.”

Hmm, what did I say??

“Baby’s got back.”

“Why shouldn’t she wear shorts?  What are mom’s suppose to wear, dumpy mom jeans? No, her husband can do that.” (call back to baseball incident)

“Her shorts are in protest to the GOP’s opposition to the public option. The more they protest, the shorter the shorts will get.”

“Shorts-gate is such a big deal, Woodward and Bernstein are getting back together and…” (Can’t remember the joke. I work in the moment and don’t write it down, but I think that one was funny.)

I think it helped I did a double espresso beforehand. And I had already had an audition for a mom makeover show. First time auditioning in almost two years. More about that if anything comes of it…

I Saw a Movie!

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We went to the premiere of Julie and Julia. I NEVER GO TO THE MOVIES. So I was pretty excited. The last time I was in a movie theater it was to see Paul Blart: Mall cop. I was with my stepson, but honestly I liked more than he did. Which tells you about how giddy I get when I go to a movie.

Now, I already shared the promo Mark did for the film. So, we were treated well. It was the premiere in Westwood (the big, old movie houses). When we picked up the tickets, they asked Mark if he wanted to walk the red carpet.  He said yes. When we got on the red carpet Alice Waters was there. Mark worked for her years ago; she is a very warm person. I steered them both toward a reporter I know at E! channel. My co-host Lawrence Zarian was working for Entertainment Tonight. They weren’t chatting with the chefs. But he was excited he had interviewed Meryl Streep (who didn’t stop to talk to TV Guide). I was suppose to take the mic from the TV Guide reporter to do a line that we would use on “The Fashion Team,” but when I approached her she said they were waiting to get Amy Adams, who was about 4 tv outlets away from them. I know how tense it is to be waiting to get the big ones to stop and talk to you, so I hung back till she had chatted with them. onestly, i don’t think I loved what she was wearing. Thick material, off white… she should wear color.

Which is what Vivien has been telling me lately. She crosses her arms and says “Mommy, you aren’t pretty enough.  You need color.” So Mark helped find a red dress to wear to the party (sidebar: we went to a store that had a sale, and in my new mode I’m not bashful about looking for a deal.). The gal was bringing $300 dollar dresses over to me and I would say, “Is this on sale?” No.

“Well, I’ve never heard of this designer; it’s not well made, and it’s $300. I need something from the 75% off rack.” Which we found.

I forgot to take a picture!  But here is the dress. Vivien had me wear a double strand of black beads my mother-in-law gifted me and gold shoes. She is probably going to replace me on my show.

But how was the movie? It was GREAT. There was free water and popcorn, which would normally cost about $14. Ha, I make myself laugh… no it was a good movie. Funny and charming and well written. It was a perfect film for us. eCombining blogging and food. Highly recommended. But be forewarned, before you go, make a roast chicken that you can eat after, or go to the nearest French bistro you can find ASAP. I was ready to rub garlic on my shoe and dig in. We ate afterward, and it was a great night out… of course my breasts were going to explode by the time I came home.

And not that it goes with the story, but I love this picture of my kids.  Sigh.