For our luxury dinner, I set the table with my grandmother's China. This China has been in my family since my grandmother purchased it for her mother in the 1920s. It is a soft shade of yellow with a delicate flower pattern and gold trim:

Sharing a meal with friends and family is about more than just eating. It is about connection and sharing and bonding. My grandmother passed away at age 97 in 2006. Whenever I use this China, I almost feel like I've invited her to the table. I love that!

Some words on planning: When I was creating my menu for this dinner, I wanted to include seasonal produce but I also wanted to create some unique flavors that went well together.

My tips for pulling this off:

• Choose produce that is in season for the best flavor. Also, shop locally if possible. The closer the produce was grown to your table, the better it will taste!
• When creating your menu, select dishes that include similar ingredients. For example, my pate and soup both contain thyme; my salad and dessert are both centered around pears; etc.
• A well-planned menu should draw its variety from multiple ingredients that go well together. Varying textures (crunchy, creamy, chewy, etc.) are okay, but the foods should have similar flavor profiles. No one course on the menu should drown out the others with over-powering flavor.

On wine: With our meal, I served a light white wine (Elva from Jodar Winery which was, coincidentally, named after the vintner's grandmother). For those who prefer a sweeter flavor, an orange muscat would be great (especially with this dessert).

Cheers!

Let's get started!



We began our meal with a baby greens salad with red pears, pomegranate arils, and pine nuts. I tossed the greens in a light pear vinaigrette of my invention and the result was colorful and delicious!

For the pear vinaigrette: In a blender, combine 1 ripe pear (peeled and cored), 3 tablespoons white wine vinegar, 3 tablespoons olive oil, salt and pepper to taste. Blend until very smooth. The dressing was a pretty pale yellow that looked so much like the yellow of my China!

Allow me to pause here to talk about feeding children. My kids are two and four and they are not yet into eating so luxuriously. Planning to feed them isn't tough, though.

Here are two tips to consider when you have little people to feed:

• Younger kids prefer foods that are disassembled or in pieces. For example, instead of serving my boys a salad, I gave them a plate with pears, pomegranate arils, nuts, etc. that they could enjoy one thing at a time.
• Serve sauces on the side in a dish that facilitates dipping. Kids are sometimes suspicious of sauce, but they love to dip!

Back to our meal!



Along side the salad, I served a walnut mushroom pate. This pate was out of this world! It tasted great on the warm bread and would also make an excellent sandwich spread.



For our next course, we enjoyed a rich and velvety smooth butternut squash soup with crispy sage leaves. The fresh thyme in the soup went well with the thyme in the pate and the smell of the onions and sage cooking together for the soup was heavenly. It is one of my favorite things this time of year!

Fresh thyme in my garden.
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“Peace, it does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, no trouble, or no hard work. It means to be in the midst of those things and still be calm in your heart.” ~Unknown

Know what feeds you

I am a part of a triathlon training group and we train from January to August. I love the seasonal nature of triathlon training. I love that we start a fresh season at the beginning of the year and slowly ramp our training through the spring. We take a break in the fall and then start all over in January.

This year was my second season with the group and something interesting happened shortly after we wrapped up our season. Up to that point, I'd honestly been feeling a bit burned out on training and I welcomed the end of August with open arms. The first couple of weeks were fine. I changed my exercise routine to be more weight-training focused and cut back on my swim/bike/running. I was still getting the exercise that I needed to keep my spirits up but something was missing. I started to feel stressed and grumpy and a bit depressed. At first I couldn't figure out what was going on with me but, after some reflection, I figured it out: I was having tri training withdrawals! I missed my tri training friends and the support and friendship that I get from this group that is unique to that area of my life.

I have so many wonderful people in my life whose friendships feed me in a zillion different ways. This was a great lesson that reminded me that, despite my somewhat introverted ways, I still have a social side that is energized, fed, and nurtured by the company of others.

Winter survival plan

I don't want to wait until the dark days of winter and the craziness of the holidays kick me in the backside to think about how I'm going to stay centered. It is really important for me to approach this season with a plan. Not a shopping, cooking, party plan. But, a plan for nurturing my whole self; physically and mentally. I'll share my list of reminders to myself for this year. When I get to January, I hope to have gained some wonderful new memories and to have enjoyed the winter holiday season moment by moment. I hope that you will stop to consider what you need as well.

My list:

1. Social: Spend time with friends and family doing things that are fun instead of stressful. Make time for gathering just for fun.
2. Fitness: Keep up with my running plan. Consider entering a turkey trot and a snowshoe race! Go full moon snowshoeing or cross-country skiing.
3. Health and immunity: Get lots of sleep. Get a flu shot. Drink lots of water and eat whole foods. Get my omega 3s. Stay away from high-sugar foods. Get some sunlight as often as possible. Play outside!
4. Soul: Take hot baths with pretty smelling things followed by my favorite lotion. Sit in the spa. Do one thing at a time and finish one thing before starting another. Read books and magazines. Light candles. Listen to music. Work in some yoga and meditation. Write.
5. Family: Spend more time on "want to" than "have to". Laugh together every day. Take day trips to build a snowman or to the beach. Read stories by the fireplace. Have date nights with my hubby. Have a nighttime stargazing picnic with hot drinks and fuzzy blankets.

What is in your plan this winter?

Injera bread:
I didn't have teff flour, so I processed a small amount of teff grain in my VitaMix to make flour (1/2 cup teff made about 3/4 cup flour).

Recipe:

3 cups self-rising flour (or 3 cups all-purpose flour plus 4 1/2 tsp baking powder and 1 1/2 tsp salt)
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 Tbsp vital wheat gluten
1/2 cup teff flour
1 Tbsp dry active yeast
3 1/2 cups warm water

1. Combine all of the ingredients except for the water and mix well. Add the water and mix until well combined. Cover and let sit for 3-6 hours (for traditional sourdough, the dough is let rest for 3 days).
2. After the rest period, stir the dough again to incorporate any liquid that may have separated. Add the dough to a blender 2 cups at a time along with about 1/4 - 1/2 cup water and blend to mix for a few seconds. The dough should be very thin- thicker than crepe batter but thinner than pancakes.
3. In a non-stick skillet heated over medium heat (no oil), pour the batter 1/2 cup at a time. Move the pan in a circular motion to spread out the batter so that it is no more than 1/8 inch thick. Cover the pan and let the injera cook until it is cooked through (don't flip). Remove from the pan and stack the breads as they are made. They will initially be a little crispy on the bottom but will soften up.

Misir wat (wat or wot is a stew and misir wat is a common lentil stew that is seasoned with traditional berbere spices).
I made my own berbere using:

¼ tsp cloves
¼ tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
¼ tsp allspice
1 tsp fenugreek
1/2 tsp cardamom
½ tsp coriander
¼ tsp turmeric
½ tsp cumin
½ tsp black pepper
1 tbsp cayenne
¼ tsp nutmeg
3 tbsp paprika
1 tsp salt

Squash tibs (tibs are sauteed veggies or meats).

Kik wat (a stew made from yellow split peas).

Sauteed greens (I used turnip).

Put on some Ladysmith Black Mambazo, get out your copy of The Ladies #1 Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith, pour the African red bush (rooibos) tea, and dig in...with your hands, of course!

I really love the ceremonious nature of traditional dining in other cultures. I am also fascinated by traditions such as the Japanese tea ceremony. In Ethiopia, one very simple such ritual is goorsha, which is an act of friendship. During a meal, a person might roll a piece of injera bread in sauce and place it in a friend's mouth. The larger the goorsha, the stronger the friendship. Amesege'nallo' (thank you)!

If you have the chance, I encourage you to expand your horizons and give Ethiopian or other new-to-you foods a try. After all, life is too short for frozen pizza!