A Very Merry Christmas!

I loved when my children were small and Christmas was totally magical, from the original Christmas story whose focus was, after all, a baby, to the wonder of Santa Claus and how he knew who wanted what. When they were very young we used to minimally decorate and then during Christmas Eve night (and into the morning) the house would be transformed with lights, and candy canes and piles of presents under the tree. Now, at least some of that magic is gone because this is the first year we acknowledged that Molly, our youngest, no longer believes in Santa Claus (Last year she pretended mainly for us!) I have to say that her brothers and sisters were very vested in helping her to believe by playing along, even when friends were telling her that Santa wasn't real. I knew that we had successfully promulgated the legend when one of my children was adamant with her school mates that Santa was real because her parents could not have afforded all the presents!

This is really a new era for us as a family, one between having young children of our own and having young grandchildren, and I was unsure how I would feel about it. A house full of adult children (all 6 were here for the holiday!) and their significant others means that there could be tension (hereditary among Dowds). Lets face it, the "Don't touch me!" and "He pushed me!" does not just go away when siblings grow up. They are just manifested differently. Coming from the different points in their lives, they bring their own stresses, concerns and personalities, and that can cause friction. In our house we had a child between jobs, one away from their significant other for the holiday, one who just graduated from Nurse Anesthesia school, one who is still getting on his feet, one who just finished her first semester of community college, and then, of course, Molly! Among them we have Christians, atheists, and practicing Catholics, lovers of techno, country, and alternative music. And yet, with all of them here, they looked past the differences, crowded around our table (and around the Wii) to laugh and tease, reminisce together to make this one of the best Christmases I can remember.

We had all eight family members, three significant others, and a guest who has lost both his parents and often comes to our house for a dose of craziness and hilarity. There wasn't much elbow room at the table but there was lots of laughter, food passing in every direction (including a roll successfully passed-and caught- across the table!) We had two turkeys, one with oyster stuffing and one with my traditional sausage stuffing, an overdose of carbs, cookies, cakes and eggnog. After opening of stockings (which traditionally comes after dinner at our house) we played several rounds of "murder", a parlor game played in the dark that our neighbors the Calverts introduced us to.

With all their differences of opinions (and those are strongly held), they really enjoyed each others' company, and to me, while that is not the magic of Santa and flying reindeer, that is really the magic of Christmas.

May you and your families experience the joy, shared history and laughter that makes every day magic!

10 ways you know Christmas is coming at the Dowd's

Work... shopping... graduation.... cleaning.....decorating....baking....you notice blogging is squeezed out in all the hectic preparation. But I do want to touch base with all of you who are also in the throes of holiday preparation, and share a recipe that will surely make you much more relaxed at the end of a tough day at the mall or an evening untangling the Christmas lights. It is a recipe for eggnog, that, in our family is legendary and its pedigree is supposedly the recipe used in the White House. I posted this last year, and Epicurious editor Tanya Wenman Steele wanted to make it - I hope she didn't forget, but if she did, here it is for her and any of you who want to taste the very best eggnog there is! But first, here are ten ways you can tell Christmas is coming to the Dowd house:

1) Bags under my eyes.

2) Smell of Pine-Sol everywhere.

3) Bags of packages hidden in every closet and the basement.

4) Lots of whispered conversations

5) Lists everywhere.

6) Dark circles under my eyes.

7) 30 Christmas balls all around in different stages of being painted with a design I do annually.

8) Dowds go to the liquor (ABC) store

9) The "snowman room" is set up.

10) We make the eggnog!!

Dowd "White House" Eggnog

12 eggs, separated (I use pasteurized eggs so I don't have to worry about the dangers of raw eggs)
1 lb confectioner's sugar
2 cups bourbon (nothing from the cheap bottom shelf of the ABC store)
2 cups rum (See above tip)
1 quart heavy cream
1 quart half and half
Freshly grated nutmeg

Beat egg yolks until light in color and slowly beat in the confectioner's sugar. Very slowly, beat in one cup of bourbon and 1 cup of rum. Once liquors are incorporated, let this mixture to stand at least an hour before continuing. This will help get rid of the "eggy" taste.

Next beat in the remainder of the liquor and one quart of half and half, and then refrigerate for at least three hours.

Next beat the egg whites until stiff and beat the whipping cream to soft peaks (This will take longer with the pasteurized eggs, but add 1/4 tsp cream of tartar and keep whipping-it will happen ). Fold egg whites into egg yolk-sugar and liquor mixture until incorporated fully, then fold in whipped cream thoroughly. Grate nutmeg over the top.

I store mine in large plastic pitchers with lids so that each time, you can shake up the eggnog to make sure everything is well incorporated. Makes about 1- 1 1/2 gallons eggnog.

Explaining Kitchen Mysteries with Herve This

Even though my blog is now over a year old (somehow I let the day pass without fanfare), I am still surprised and delighted when someone takes the time to write and ask my opinion about something involving food or cooking. Whether it is trying a new product or looking at a new cookbook, I am always flattered that my blog has become a resource for home cooks and others who love food and use it to bring family and friends together.

So I am sure you can imagine my excitement when I got an email from Columbia University Press asking if I would be interested in reviewing a new book, Kitchen Mysteries: Revealing the Science of Cooking by the father of molecular gastronomy Herve This. I jumped at the chance. I am intrigued by molecular gastronomy, and the idea of a book about the science of cooking really piqued my interest. While I waited for my copy of the book to arrive, I read about Herve This, the author. Hervé This (pictured right, with a young chef) is a physical chemist on the staff of the Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique in Paris. He is the author of Molecular Gastronomy and of several other books on food and cooking and is a monthly contributor to the French-language edition of Scientific American, called Pour la Science (Can I tell you how much "street cred" this gig is buying me at a nuclear physics lab full of scientists!?)

I read articles and interviews to better understand a scientist who is dedicated to food, and all the physical and physiological and chemical elements and processes that help us prepare food that will result in tastes that will delight the palate. I was intrigued by the link This was interested in making between science and the home cook, and whether the laws of science and old wive's tales and other food-related sayings related to the science and chemistry of cooking.

I also took the Kitchen Mysteries online quiz, that was quick to show me how much I really did not know about the science of food. It was a fun way to launch into the book once it arrived. Now I have to say that if you are expecting a book full of full-color plates or recipes, this book will not be what you expect. But if you are a home cook, striving to stretch your abilities, Kitchen Mysteries is an invaluable resource. A beginning cook follows a recipe, an intermediate cook knows how to alter a recipe or make changes, but an expert cook understands why foods combined, or prepared this way or that become either delicious or a disaster. That foundation provides the expert home cook with the knowledge that can take them to the next level.

This hooked me right away when he began by explaining why microwaving meat just doesn't work, but knowing how the microwave affects the meat of a duck breast, he develops a method and recipe for a duck breast you can cook in the microwave that will wow the most demanding guests! His book is fascinating, educational, challenging covering topics from how smell and taste interact, to why dough has to rest before baking (besides to give your arms a rest from kneading), and why boiling meat is not appetizing, but braising meat is. Want to know how to approach a bottle of wine, how long to steep tea? Herve This has the answer. While Kitchen Mysteries is not your average cookbook, I highly recommend it, because reading it will help make you more than just an average cook.

While I am not a chemist or physicist, or a world-renowned author, or the mother of a whole field of cooking, I felt a strong kinship to Herve This when I read in an interview in Wired about what he hopes will be his next project. This says that the next big idea he wants to tackle is the role that love — of the cook for the diners, the diners for the cook, and of everyone for each other — plays in determining tastes. "Cooking for someone is a way of telling them, 'I love you.' This has to be understood, of course," This says ...

now that's a molecular gastronomist after my own heart!

Herve This, Photo courtesy of AP