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Last year when I was in Vietnam for Tet I got to experience one of the most common Vietnamese New Year’s traditions: visiting family and friends on New Year’s day to wish them joy and luck in the New Year. They will always invite you inside to sit down for tea and snacks. On everyone’s coffee table is a box divided into little compartments filled with different kinds of nuts, dried coconut … little goodies. So, you sip tea, snack on nuts and chat. You don’t have to stay for long, twenty minutes or so is typical. The important thing is that you make it a point to spend some time together. It’s a nice tradition, eh?

Inspired by those coffee table boxes of goodies, here’s a quick and easy recipe for spiced almonds. From our house to yours, Happy New Year!

In a large bowl mix together coconut oil, maple syrup and spices.

Toss in nuts (I used 2/3 almonds, 1/3 pecans) and coat thoroughly with maple syrup mixture.

Spread mixture out on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes. Let dry completely, then break apart.

These suckers are addictive. They’re perfect for tapas and a good glass of red wine.

If you feel like it, package some up in cute little containers or baggies and call a friend for a get together. It’s the perfect way to start the New Year.

Spiced almonds with a kick
Makes 3 cups

1T coconut oil, heated to liquid state
3-4T maple syrup
1 1/2T cinnamon
1/2t ground ginger
1/2t all spice
1/4t nutmeg
1/4t cayenne
3 cups almonds (or walnuts or pecans)

1. In a large bowl combine coconut oil, maple syrup and spice. Toss in nuts and coat thoroughly.
2. Spread nuts out on baking sheet covered with parchment paper or other non-stick sheet and bake at 325F for 20-25 minutes.
3. Let cool completely and break apart.

One of my favorite Vietnamese dishes is the traditional sandwich, also known as bánh mì. They’ve caught on with tremendous popularity in the U.S. and I can understand why, they’re absolutely delicious. I talk about it a little more here >>>

One of the essential ingredients of bánh mì is a condiment: daikon and carrot pickles. So, today I’m going to share how to make this simple, but delicious condiment and then a quick and easy mushroom bánh mì that is so warm and comforting, it’s perfect for winter.

This pickling recipe is ridiculously easy. You’ll need equal amounts of carrot and daikon, or whatever proportion makes you tingly. It’s all good.

In a food processor shred the carrot and daikon then mix together so they’re evenly distributed.

Tightly pack the carrot/daikon mixture into jars.

Next mix the brine: hot water, rice vinegar, salt and sugar. That’s it! Pour over the slaw mixture until the jars are filled. Seal the jars and place them in the refrigerator for a minimum of 3 days. They’ll keep for months.

But I’m telling you, they won’t last long.

Now, for the sandwich.

These are the essential ingredients for bánh mì: french bread, carrot/daikon pickles, cucumber, jalapeno pepper, cilantro, mayonnaise.

To the essential ingredients listed above add any kind of meat or meatyish goodness. Today, I’m choosing to saute up some crimini mushrooms in a little butter with a splash of shoyu.

Put it all together and you’ve got yourself a little bit of heaven. I’m telling you, make this sandwich! You’re gonna love it!

Enjoy! And Happy New Year!

Carrot and daikon pickles

2 pounds carrots (about 5 medium sized carrots), peeled
2 pounds of daikon radishes (about 2 large daikon), peeled
3 cups hot water
3 T distilled or rice vinegar
2-3T sugar, depending on how sweet you want your pickles
2T salt

1. Shred or julienne carrots and daikon in a food processor.
2. Pack carrot/daikon mixture into clean storage jars.
3. In a medium saucepan heat remaining four ingredients until everything is dissolved to make a brine.
4. Pour brine over carrot/daikon mixture.
5. Seal jars and refrigerate for at least 3 days.

It’s less than a week to Vietnamese New Year, Tet 2012, the year of the dragon. To get us into the celebratory mood I thought I would share some Vietnamese and New Year-inspired recipes and traditions.

First up, we’re using Buddha’s Hand citron. My mom has a citron tree in her front yard and throughout Fall and Winter it produces prodigiously. Lucky us. They’re crazy looking fruit, aren’t they? I think the biggest question is always: “What in the world do I do with it?” Good question. I wondered the same for many years.

The Buddha’s Hand citron is a really mellow lemon that is all peel and spongy pith. You can actually eat this gem raw, the pith does not have the bitterness that we generally associate with more commonly known lemons. The lemony flavor is quite soft and very aromatic. You can slice up the fingers and body of the fruit into long thin slices, add it to salads or pastries. You can use it with braised meats the same way that you would traditional lemons. (I think it would make an amazing glaze for salmon.) It can work beautifully to infuse vodka or to make limoncello. However, it’s most commonly found candied: cooked in a sugar syrup for long-term preservation amd use in sweets or even over ice cream. David Leibovitz has a great recipe for candied citron.

Today, I’m showing you a quick tea and a beautiful vinaigrette that brings a taste of Spring into the dead of Winter.

To make tea just steep a few slices or chunks of raw citron in hot water to make a gentle, mild lemon tea. Once brewed (~5 minutes) enjoy straight or add a little honey and oh, my—it’s a gentle, aromatic essence—soooo good!

Now, for the vinaigrette we’re going to make a wonderful base vinaigrette that can sit in your fridge for months. It’s so fresh and Springy, it feels decadent.

The reason that we’re simply doing a base vinaigrette is so that you can enjoy this fantastic (and sometimes expensive) fruit for as long as possible. Once you add things like fresh garlic and herbs to the base it will go bad within a week or so. We don’t want that.

The base ratio for any vinaigrette is 3 parts oil to 1 part vinegar, plus salt and pepper to taste. For this recipe I used a really nice olive oil that we got as a gift for Christmas (Thank you, Adrienne!) and rice vinegar because of it’s natural sweetness, but you can use whatever you would like. I imagine that white wine vinegar or balsamic would be fantastic as well.

Grate on a microplane 2 to 3 tablespoons of citron.

Add to the base vinaigrette and shake.

Use as is or add mustard and honey, garlic and herbs, or any number of combos that float your boat.

Enjoy!

Buddha’s Hand vinaigrette
Makes 1 cup

3/4 cup extra virgin oil
1/4 cup rice vinegar (or any vinegar of your choice)
kosher salt to taste
black pepper to taste
2-3T finely grated Buddha’s Hand citron

1. Mix everything together in a jar and store in the refrigerator.

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Every January people go insane with New Year’s resolutions to be healthier, wealthier and wiser.

Well, here’s my little contribution to the healthier and wiser bit: chocolate bon bons.

WHAT? Bon bons ain’t no health food!

Well, yes … and no. These nutty chocolatey, scrumptious bon bons are packed with antioxidants and good for you ingredients. There’s no dairy, no processed sugar, no unhealthy fats.

AND they’re crazy fast and easy to whip up. So enjoy these babies guilt-free and know that you’re being to kind to your body. Woo hoo! Happy New Year to all of us!

In a food processor (I used my little mini-chop) throw in nuts, raisins (or dates), cacao, vanilla, pinch of salt and grind it up to a thick paste/dough. Scoop out little balls onto a dish and pop them in the freezer for five minutes while you make your chocolate sauce.

In the microwave (or on the stove) melt a couple tablespoons of coconut oil. (In the microwave it takes only 20 seconds.) Add equal amounts of cacao powder and stir. It’ll be fairly thin. Add a couple DROPS of stevia if you like it a little sweeter. Personally, I like my chocolate super dark and two drops of liquid stevia worked just fine for me and did not give off that funky stevia aftertaste. For maximum healthiness stick with the stevia versus agave, which will spike your insulin like table sugar.

Next, take your dough balls out of the freezer and roll them into nice, neat little balls. It’s much easier and less messy to roll the dough balls once they’ve hardened up a couple of minutes in the freezer. Now, pop them back into the freezer for another half hour, you want them to be nice and cold when you finally roll them in the chocolate sauce.

When you take your dough balls out of the freezer drop them into your chocolate sauce and thoroughly coat.

Drop your chocolate covered bon bon onto a plate. The chocolate will firm up in less than 60 seconds. If you like, and if you have enough chocolate sauce, coat these little gems twice.

Ta da! Scrumpdiliumptious! And oh, so easy!

Happy New Year!

Nutty chocolate bon bons
makes 8-12 pieces

Dough
1/2 cup nuts
1/2 cup raisins or dates
3T raw cacao powder
1t vanilla
pinch salt

Chocolate coating
2T coconut oil, melted
2 drops liquid stevia
2T cacao powder

1. Mix all the ingredients for the Dough in a food processor with an S-blade. Drop 8-12 rough dough balls on a plate and place in the freezer for five minutes.
2. In a microwavable bowl heat coconut oil for 20 seconds. Stir in cacao powder and stevia. Set aside on the counter.
3. Remove dough balls from freezer and roll the rough shapes into nice neat little balls. Pop them back into the freezer for another half hour.
4. Remove dough balls from freezer and drop each ball into the chocolate sauce thoroughly coating it with chocolate. Place each ball back onto a plate and the chocolate will harden in less than a minute.

ENJOY!!

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The last couple months I’ve taken an unintentional hiatus from blogging. The time has been filled with what seems like non-stop travel. In the past three weeks we’ve hit three states, the latest being New Mexico. And I have to admit that our time in Santa Fe has been lazy and idyllic—hot springs and hiking, lots of reading and catching up on sleep, good food and peaceful hikes. Anything resembling “work” has taken a back seat to lying on the couch and brainstorming with my eyes closed.

I’ve got hundreds of photos to sift through, but for now here are a few snapshots of Santa Fe, all taken with my phone, so bear with me.

The impetus for our trip to Santa Fe: Lee and Sarah’s long awaited wedding. Beautiful!

The Square in Santa Fe lit up for the holidays. Lots of window shopping and idle wandering.

Maria’s New Mexican Kitchen: a local’s favorite for authentic New Mexican cuisine. Here’s Jack sweating through the carne adovada, which was 5-alarm hot and spicy. We laughed through the entire meal.

And throughout our stay we took off for some incredibly scenic hikes followed up by equally enjoyable trips to the hot springs and spas. Lovely. It’s all been so lovely.

Happy New Year, everyone! We’ll see you on the other side!

XOXO,
Mic and Jack

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Just a few months ago I was sorting some of my mom’s papers for her and came across something that listed her height. It read: “4 feet 9 inches”.

Whooops. I barked out a laugh. No way!

All these years I thought she was five feet tall, at least. First of all, she always wears heels (gee, wonder why) and secondly, she’s got a BIG personality, which makes her seem much, much taller.

Lastly, she’s “mom”, so no matter how much taller we are then she, she’s still taller. Know what I mean?

She’s an inspiration.

She’s a terrific grandmother.

An honored humanitarian.

A doting life partner.

And a wonderful friend.

We wish we could be with you to celebrate, but know that you being you, you’re out on the town, having a good time and living large (and tall!)

Mom: you’re the best. Happy, happy birthday!

Love,
Your kids (who you absolutely never ever drive bananas)