Swedish Eve

New Years and Christmas Eve dinners in my family are typically a meal of tasty snacks. This year was no exception. Mom and Dad even brought the candle set that propels 3 angels around a set of two bells... a happy memory from childhood. We had the traditional Swede-treats for Christmas Eve dinner... and then some. No limpa or lutfisk this time, but we had plenty to eat:
1. Smoked salmon
2. Pickled herring
3. Potato sausage
4. Lingonberries (actually cranberries)
5. German potato salad
6. Shrimp
7. Wasa crackers
8. Roasted potatoes
9. Tortilla pizzas
10. Stuffed mushrooms
11. Seaweed salad
12. Sourdough rolls from Schlabachs
13. Many different cheeses
14. Corn salsa and tortilla chips
15. Roasted chestnuts
And we didn't have room for dessert:
1. Schlabach's fudge pie
2. Jennifer's pie (see food quiz below)
3. Pizzelles (Joe's favorite cookie)
4. Almond cigars (made yesterday)
5. Cookies, chocolate

Joe inspects the dinging angel candles for the first time. It was dinging a little awkwardly that night. Nan always had her set out for holiday meals, so it was cool that my parents brought theirs. Below, I hold up a perfectly intact chestnut. Apparently Italian chestnuts are the way to go.. the other kind is just kind of mealy and bland. Ours were rich and sweet.

Cow Christmas

I've been sick the last few days, but thanks to Advil and a lot of multi vitamins, I was able to spend Saturday with my parents and Joe in Nashville. The John Cowan Band was at the Station Inn, which was decked out in Christmas decorations and serving free cookies. We were seated directly to the left of the band, so that's why our pictures aren't that great.

Food Quiz #8 and #9

It's been a long time since I've done a quiz... but because I have an abundance of interesting foods in my house, I figured I'd do a double quiz to make up for lost time.

#8: A chewy Asian snack from the sea...

Can you guess what this is?

#9: A Kentucky-style Christmas treat from Jennifer P. Brown (No guessing if you work at the New Era)

Can you name this pie?

Snack showcase #1

A new favorite

If you or someone you know lives near a Trader Joe's, I highly recommend these Tandoori Masala Pappadums. It's sort of the Indian version of BBQ potato chips. The flavor of these chickpea crisps is sweet and spicy. They are the perfect thing to curb the pain and emptiness of a growling stomach.


Almost gone... but rest assured, Mom Tilsch brought me another bag this weekend.

Priscilla's wedding

I had a wonderful (but exceedingly brief) weekend in Chicago, where we celebrated Priscilla and Chris's wedding.

"Forgetting the things which are behind and stretching forward to the things which are before. I pursue toward the goal, for the prize to which God in Christ Jesus has called me upward..."

Winter snacking

Yes! Veggie Chips!
In this long overdue post...I want to focus on two things.
1) snacks
2) people who give me snacks, and particularly, people who go out of their way to buy and send me snacks I can't get in western Kentucky.

This motherload of Asian munchies comes to me all the way from Darnestown, Md. where my good friend, fellow animal lover and favorite dessert maker, Lily, lives.

Growing up with weekend trips to Chinatown made me no stranger to Chinese snacks-- like shrimp chips and Botan rice paper-wrapped candies. Then living with a Taiwanese roommate in college got me hooked on dried squid, deep fried broad beans and wasabi peas (which, I recently noticed are actually not peas at all, but garbanzo beans masquerading around in an ungodly amount of green food coloring.) Next, a year in SoCal introduced me to the likes of Ranch 99, an Asian megamarket. Mango gummies and Taro jelly cups were standard fare in my house there. But all those Asian snacking opportunities couldn't compare to living in Taiwan, where many of these snacks originate.

One of my favorite parts of Taiwanese culture is the little bowls of snacks and plates of fresh cut fruit produced by any good host or hostess after dinner. On most Friday nights, Joe and I would walk ten minutes to another couple's apartment for our small group meeting. Sister Luan Seong always had the best snacks. :) An evening at the Seongs could involve mango, papaya, guava, wax apple or even durian, if they were able to smuggle one on the plane from Malaysia, their home country. There might be some egg jam and biscuits. Or some watermelon seeds. Or some dainty little cookies from a local bakery. Ahh... those were the days.

Well, whenever Joe and I hosted the small group, we made good and sure that we had the munchies. We also had plenty of origami boxes on hand for spitting out seeds or shells or rinds. I'd like to say we continue the custom today, but we really don't have people over as much as we used to in Taiwan, or in Champaign--where we lived last, and where I met Lily.

Let's take another look at those snacks up close:
It helps the taste buds immensly when candy is packaged in an "attractive small bag"
Though incredibly tempting, I'm going to rip into these AFTER Priscilla's wedding...(Read: AFTER I need to fit into a little red dress.)

This was indeed a happy present, but credit goes to Lily.

Gnocci, made in Italy

AP article caught my eye. Apparently some of the folks who produce foods that are Italiano autentico are not flattered by copycats.


Having lived 2 1/2 years of my life in a city where restauranteurs didn't know the difference between Italian and Mexican food and thought a sign reading "Food fresh from the Franchland" (i.e. France) would woo westerner's business... I'm thinking it would be impossible to regulate what goes on labels in Asia.

I'm going to finish this post soon... more later.

Moroccan cooking class

Almond Baklava

It's got to be my new favorite dessert. Below, you can see me and my new friend Vivian rolling some "cigars" as our Viking chef/instructor called them.

Joe drove us down to Franklin, Tenn. yesterday after work for a "Salute to Morocco" class at the Viking Cooking School. In addition to the baklava, we made some intensely tasty lamb meatballs, and fall-off-the-bone lemon chicken tagine.

I learned a number of things this time around...how to hold a very sharp knife, how to avoid getting splattered with hot oil, and how an expensive rubber spoon-tula can keep Ras al Hanout and onions from sticking to a saucepan-- thanks to our quirky instructor. To see more pics click.

The inquisitive turkey

And other creatures at the LBL nature station.
Friday we had a picnic at Land Between the Lakes and caught a presentation on eagles at the nature station. The turkeys were very cute and seemed to like hanging out by the edge of their enclosures to be near people. If they only knew...

I also enjoyed watching the nuthatches, titmouses, wrens, cardinals and downy woodpeckers at the feeders.

And I wanted to take this bobcat home, he was acting very much like a big Pooky (my former pet cat). As you know, my other passion, besides food, is nature. I could have stayed there all day (or at least until the next time my stomach began to rumble).

Tilsch Parrino Thanksgiving

As you might have guessed, there was a whole lot more cooking and eating going on in my house than picture taking and blogging this weekend. So now I'm beginning my feeble attempt to make up for it.
Here's my dad opening a bottle of sparkling grape, while the rest of our dinner waits on the table. We had an early dinner... everything was ready by 12:30. At the top is a Boston cream pie, which we won at the Turkey Trot raffle. Jack and Joe placed second and third, respectively. Go Parrinos!
Apparently there was a pumpkin shortage this year, so unless you had one sitting on your front porch leftover from halloween, you wouldn't have been able to make pumpkin dolma.
So we improvised. Mom and Dad Tilsch were looking all over for pie pumpkins last week. Instead, they found these festive looking acorn squash.

We really are blessed...
We feasted on turkey with sage from the patio garden, ham with brown sugar and mustard glaze, spinach salad, roasted veggies, stuffed mushrooms, stuffed squash, green beans with country ham, herb mashed potatoes,bacon wrapped mini hotdogs (pigs in a pig), rolls and pumpkin pie from Schlabach's bakery, Tofu pumpkin pie (Mom made it without lumps! yay!) and homemade pizzles from Grandma G. and chocolate from Malley's in Cleveland. Too many favorite things at once.
Was having trouble posting all my pics, but here's an album.

Thanksgiving at the New Era

Today was our KNE Thanksgiving lunch. I borrowed Joe's camera to take these cool pics at the table. It was kind of a depth of field experiment. Pictured is my plate: green beens, mini potato, two kinds of stuffing, black bean salsa, corn, turkey, ham, pasta, collard
greens... I cleaned my plate! Reminded me a little of Thanksgiving Wong style (see food column below).
Ah, he notices me.

This week's column...

Thanks for giving
me so many choices

Wednesday, November 15, 2006 11:55 AM CST

Taste bud travels Emily Parrino

Growing up with Chinese, German and Swedish relatives has always been fun and a little confusing. My mom’s parents emigrated to the U.S. from Canton, the province where Hong Kong is located. My dad’s side of the family, many generations back, came from Germany and Sweden.

When my parents and I stand in line at a store, the cashier often thinks we’re separate customers. And I regularly mark the “other” bubble when filling out the ethnicity question on a form because there’s no Asian-Caucasian choice.

But growing up multiracial had plenty of perks — like regular trips to Chicago’s Chinatown and Andersonville neighborhoods for dim sum or potato pancakes. Along with the food adventures, my family gave me an adventurous appetite for food. Whenever my parents travel, they seek out the region’s specialty. Vacations, I’ve learned, are for finding the best foods a place has to offer, and buying inordinate amounts of them.

Naturally, holidays in my family center on a smorgasbord of everyone’s favorite foods.

For the last decade, the Thanksgiving holiday hub has been my Aunt Susie Wong’s house; where sticky rice, deep fried shrimp chips, and turkey drenched in a soy sauce marinade are standard. Chinese barbecued pork and crunchy won tons filled with crab are equally festive in our family.

Beginning to think this meal is a little unorthodox? Just wait. No tasty treat is out of season or off-limits in our minds. At our Thanksgiving, an extra cheesy lasagna and a bucket of KFC for the kids’ table are not uncommon.

The Wong Thanksgiving also involves plenty of pre-meal munchies. Potato chips, cheese curls, bacon-wrapped cocktail franks and spinach dip are ready and waiting so grazing can begin well before and continue long after the turkey is carved.

Though my clan craves an unconventional variety, we’d feign turn away the traditional staples. Ham, stuffing and both sweet and plain mashed potatoes are welcome at our table, as are Jell-O salads in several shades. My mom and I like to bring roasted autumn vegetables and a spinach salad with warm bacon dressing.

After we’ve eaten until we think we couldn’t possibly begin dessert, Aunt Susie will insist we try just a tiny sliver — from each of four or five pies. Then she cracks out the early Christmas cookies from several different tins and buckets. Coffee, Chinese tea and soda pop chase it all down. We leave languid from laughter and drowsy from digestion, but alert enough to take home a sack of our favorite leftovers.

Emily Parrino is a New Era copy editor. Her column runs once and month. Tell her about your family’s Thanksgiving traditions at eparrino@kentuckynewera.com.

Emily's test kitchen strikes again

A little strange?
It's sort of like if Picasso put his version of a gingerbread man's face on a pie that wasn't a pie but a big stack of crepes alternating with layers of pumpkin pie filling. I'm going to call it Pumpkin Crepe Pie. To make this weird dairy-free, no-bake dessert, (or is it breakfast?)make one batch of crepes. You could follow this recipe for Emily's Being Lazy Lowfat Crepes, or you could follow this recipe, which is more like the way my dad makes them.
1 cup flour
1 Tbs oil
1/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cups milk (I use Vanilla Silk)
a dash of lemon juice for zip.

Use an electric mixer to blend all that stuff together and get rid of lumps. (Adding a little liquid at a time helps).

To spread between the layers: 1 1/3 cups pumpkin pie filling (from a can), reduced on the stovetop, set at medium low heat as you make your crepes. Let everything cool before assembling, starting with a crepe and ending with a layer of pumpkin. Add funky decorations by using a cookie cutter on the messed up crepe that is too ugly to use in its entirety.

Salt & Vinegar Chip Soup

It started out as a lentil soup... somewhere along the way I got distracted and it became this.

1/4 cup lentils, soaked
2 smallish potatoes, peeled and cubed
1/2 medium sweet onion, chopped
1/4 cup chopped green onion
several cups of water, I'm sorry, I forgot to measure.
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp turmeric
1 tsp lemon pepper
2 Tbs white vinegar... or to taste.
1 tsp sugar
Dillweed to taste

Boil lentils until tender, then add everything else. Boil until mushy, but still intact. Dump everything into the blender and blend until smooth. Add water if it seems more like baby food than soup.

Patio views

I thought soggy weather deprived autumn of its peak. But this morning I noticed there's plenty of color in my own backyard. Blueberry bush (below) with wildstrawberry squatters (right) and one of the many stealthy Sivley farm cats (above.)

Bash on, girl!

Today was yet another KNE farewell lunch, this time for our education and courts reporter, Jenn Basham. She chose El Bracero as the venue... home of very crunchy chips and drippy salsa, yummy fajitas, tasty chicken soft tacos and firey pico de gallo. Jenn followed her beau, Brent, to Hoptown when he was stationed at Fort Campbell, and now she follows him back to her home state of Virgina.

Matt, I think she's out cheesed you in these pics.

Swishin' by myself

Shabu Shabu
Tonight I made myself a little hot pot... one of my top 5 foods I think everyone should try in their lifetime. With a fondue pot, or just a pot on the stovetop, it's a very simple dish to make. Start with boiling water or chicken broth. Add a dash of teriaki or soy sauce. Drop in cabbage leaves, lettuce leaves, onion, garlic, green onion, tomato, mushrooms, tofu, corn on the cob, taro (or potato if you, like me, cannot get taro).


I used chunks of catfish tonight. But true Shabu would use thin slices of beef. One you've got your pot full of goodies, go fishing. Then dunk your catch in an addictive sauce of rice vinegar, soy sauce, 1 clove garlic, sliced green onion and a tsp of sugar. At the end add noodles and drink a soothing soup. Good stuff.

China King

Despite the fact that we have to drive to Tennessee to eat there... and that they put cream cheese in some of their sushi, China King Buffet in Clarksville is an OK place. I like to load up on the seafood and their kim chi cucumbers.

Haddock's Grocery

Sometimes the best food comes from hidden places. This is a Haddock's Teriyaki chicken with mustard and tomatoes on white bread so fresh it shows my finger prints. We've been monthly customers since former Hoptown Mayor Wally Bryan introduced us to this inner-city grocery.

Food Quiz #7 answer

Yay, Julie... they are indeed whole wheat crepes. (And go Rachel for guessing the whole wheat flour right off the bat.) I like mine with bananas and peanut butter. As an experiment I tried cocoa powder and confectioner's sugar... Tastes good. Looks ugly. Can't always have it both ways I guess.

My dad often made crepes for my mom and I when I was growing up. I liked to fold them in fourths and nibble them into edible snowflakes, kind of a craft and a snack all at once. Now that I'm grown up I don't do that (when anyone is watching).

I've only recently started making my own crepes... inspired by a whole grains cooking class at the Mettler Center in Champaign, Ill. that I attended as a last ditch effort to get a story for my Reporting 2 class. It didn't work because I was one of two people that attended the class and the other gal was really annoyed that I kept asking questions. Anyway. Here's a recipe adapted from the class:

Whole Wheat Crepes
3/4 cup unbleached flour
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
2 eggs
1 2/3 cups liquid (I like vanilla Silk)

If you want, add 1/3 cup sugar. Or 2/3 cup sugar. Or a pinch of salt.
To avoid nasty flour lumps, stir a little of the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients at a time. Add a little oil to a skillet just to season it and turn the heat to medium. Pour about 2 or 3 tablespoons of batter and then quickly rock the pan in a circular motion to spread the batter as evenly as possible. Try to get the batter slightly up the sides of the pan. When the edges of the crepe begin to look crispy and lift from the pan, it's done. Use a spatula to peel the crepe from the pan. Repeat, fill and eat!

If you missed my wonderful mystery picture in food quiz #7, click here.

trick or pie

I was hiding out in the kitchen last night, while Joe answered the door. I let him deal with the crush of little people crowding our stoop, smooshing my potted mum, demanding candy... 'or else!' as one of them even said.

I had an excuse for staying away, my hands were knuckle-deep in sliced apples and crumble-topping crust as I made my first apple pies of the season... er, first ever actually. Joe had promised Mr. Morris a pie a few weeks ago, for letting us plunder his garden all summer.