Orts & Reports: Nordic Dreams & Canine Book Clubs

Plus, a new MEN in MENU!

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Small Bite #1: A Dreamy Interlude

Drømmekage. Danish Dream Cake. I clipped the recipe mainly for the name and, okay, maybe because part of me still clings nostalgically to that shred of Scandinavian life I experienced while living in Oslo so many years ago. I spent a weekend in Copenhagen then, a memory that now seems more of a dream: the gorgeous ferry crossing along Oslo Fjord; pub-hopping through the cobbled streets; the malty, sweet elephant beer; riding the merry-go-round at Tivoli; a stroll through the Christiania commune.

I made this dream cake—and what a sweet dream it is—two years ago to celebrate two silver jubilees in sobriety, 25 years and still counting for me and a woman I’ve known since I was eight. Lightly toasted shredded coconut and dark brown sugar melting over the warm cake…yeah, that was heaven.

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Small Bite #2: The MEN in MENu | Jimbo Edition

If you’ve subscribed for a while, you’re familiar with Cook & Tell’s annual Men in MENu issue, which, until now, has been dominated by subscriber Rob W. He’ll be back this summer with a new menu for us, but for now, here’s our latest dude in the kitchen, featuring Jim R., my running buddy’s husband.

“When both parents worked and you wanted to eat, you learned to cook,” Jim told me as he sautéed a panful of red peppers for the shrimp linguine he was preparing for us two hungry trail runners. “It was breakfast mostly; my grandmas taught me how to make cinnamon rolls and peanut-butter-and-brown-sugar sandwiches when I was in sixth grade.”

Jim kept cooking, even after he moved out own his own. In fact, he cooks most of the meals in the household. In the mid ‘80s, he even made and sold his own line of salad dressings. Mexican vinaigrette was the most popular dressing under the Jimbo’s label, pairing the sliced leaves of nopalito (prickly pear) cactus with cilantro. He also partnered with Sam Lee, former owner of a Phoenix Hunan restaurant to create Chinese stir fry sauces sold in stores throughout the West.

Here's Jim’s signature dish, Fettuccini with Sausage-Fennel Sauce, narrated as he cooked dinner and transcribed verbatim while I waited.

FETTUCCINI WITH SAUSAGE-FENNEL SAUCE

Brown 16 ounces of sweet Italian sausage and add in a chopped onion and a little water. Drain fat. Pour in a swig of olive oil and a 28 ounce can of petite diced tomatoes. Add fennel, garlic powder, Italian seasoning, onion powder, soy sauce and Tabasco. Be liberal with fennel! Love your fennel! Top with drained green salad olives Add uncooked fettuccini and bring almost to a boil, then simmer until done.

Jim & the shrimp linguine

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Small Bite #3: Book ‘Em

Kimber’s pick for fiction this month is Ron Currie’s The Savage, Noble Death of Babs Dionne, a clever, disconcerting, funny, painful and engaging saga about an Acadian drug-running granny from a failing Maine mill town and I am devouring it.

Meanwhile, from the annals of Cook & Tell’s culinary collection, Max— always on brand and game for anything food-related—selected Blood, Bones & Butter, Gabrielle Hamilton’s intense, witty, and snarkily enjoyable confessional. It’s one of the many food memoirs I’ve been reading as part of an ongoing homework assignment (in this scenario, I am both teacher and student), to get the flavor of the genre and also, to see if there’s anything out there similar to the bio-memoir I’m writing (there isn’t).

And while I do enjoy research almost more than writing, I’m still on track for a year-end thoroughly messy first draft of the book.

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Endnotes

What am I looking forward to this summer? The annual return to the island where I’ll sample offerings from the new bakers at the general store — externs from the CIA (Culinary Institute of America, nothing top secret about it)—and up my pie-making game. I’ll be demoing five different pie crust recipes in my tiny test kitchen where everything just seems to bake and taste better. If you’re around this summer, pop by for pie!

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Friends, fans, foodies, followers…thank you for being here!

Your Pantry Pal,

Amie

The Cook & Tell Library | Recipe Index | Owner’s Manual | Notes | the micromashup