Less is More

Photo courtesy of Victoria de la Maza

Dinners for two or three have a certain je ne sais quoi about them. Small dinner parties are the ones we can host at the moment. The cozy size has appealed to my entertaining sensibilities for the last decade. I adore them! 

The size is particularly useful for one of our essential needs — connection. When you meet a person you want to get to know better, don’t wait. Go for it! Invite the person for dinner au deux (or three) and deepen the relationship quickly. What’s the worst that can happen? It will either fail to take or become a lifetime thing. The friendship can spark and cement in one night, rather than taking decades to develop. Using your home works better than coffee out or meeting in a restaurant. After giving many hundreds of all size dinner parties, I can attest that some of my deepest and more astonishing friendships came from hosting the smallest ones.  

More positives of the dinner size, so obvious they do not need to be stated but worth repeating anyway: less work up front and afterwards, perfect for last minute plans, costs less. The smaller the dinner the more loose and comfortable you and your guests will feel…less expectations but more opportunities for surprise.

When my friend Dick Jenrette was alive, we had frequent dinners together. At one he asked, Will you do me a favor? Will you dance with me? I said, Of course! He put on “Fever” by Peggy Lee and twirled me in his arms from the bar to the dining room, using the whole space. (People from that generation were taught how to dance so elegantly.) During this little joie de vive I saw a neighbor peeking in the window and could almost see his eyebrows rise in astonishment! I miss my friend with the twinkling eyes and way of connecting like no other. I am thankful for that delightful evening he gave to me. 

Recently, I went to a small dinner party in the midst of Covid and learned something new. Since people are more relaxed, less inclined to bring out the big energy or feel the need to make a lasting impression, the night might end in an unexpected way.  After our host fed us Spanish gazpacho, Turkish moussaka and a Caribbean citrus tart, on the spur of the moment she cued in Italy and played a song by Italian pop singer, Ornella Vanoni, on her iPhone. The song Dettagli moved her to translate the words and dance at the very same time, while the three of us sat transfixed and transformed in front of our tarts. What an ending to a party! But it wasn’t the end. The other guest turned Barry White on her iPhone and announced more babies have been born because of Barry than any other singer. (Quite possibly true!) That night goes down as the most fun dinner in downtown Charleston in decades. It proves that, even during Covid, it’s possible to escape our unknown future with an evening of international dishes and music bringing up past loves, longing and hope, connection to each other and the world.

REMINDER — Sip with Suzanne.

Learn the skills to make classic cocktails for your small dinners AND learn the style and strategy around the drink hour. BTW “drink hour” does not necessarily mean 60 minutes. Learn that fact and other pertinent information each Wednesday from 5:30-6:00 EST.  Zoom in! Or DM us for a calendar invite... 

Cheers to Moms

Hemingway in Cuba…

Do not mistake the daiquiri for a girly drink. The daiquiri was created by manly men. Supposedly an American mining engineer near the coastal town of Daiquiri in Cuba made the first one. Then the popularity spread man to man — from miners to Admirals to the Army Navy Club in DC. The great hunter who turned out to be a fine author but not such a nice guy, Ernest Hemingway himself, made the daiquiri his own. 

But the girls do like the drink and here’s where mothers come in…it’s delightful!

I loved the girly version when my children were small. The daiquiri desire started because the sips loosened my uptight self. With four toddlers underfoot, I am not ashamed to say liquor played a tiny part in getting me through the week. The context is important. I had baby twins and an 18-month-old, and the times were a-changin’ but they hadn’t changed yet! My pediatrician prescribed two beers per night so I could nurse my twins. Once a week I had lunch with my closest friend, where we consumed many courses and glasses of wine, and that was fine and normal for anyone to do then. There were no ‘girls nights out’ in those days! 

Car seats were not mandatory till your child was a tween either. I drove a green Jaguar, the inside of which looked like a men’s club, to swim meets all over the South, with three kids in the car and one beer for me. Who would even do that today? Who would want to? Daiquiris came into my picture because of swimming. After laps in the pool, another friend & I ordered banana daiquiris. How lame is that? Everything we did in the pool was undone by the drink! Luckily I didn’t drink too much because I don’t have that gene. Not too much, not too little, just pure pleasure for 20 minutes. That’s what moms everywhere want, a 20-minute R&R. 

Those were my coping strategies for being a mom then. I didn’t know about meditation, yoga, smoothies. But now…WOW! Moms are the heroes the wide world over. Moms are everything and do everything as our world has become our home. (Dad’s are great too, but we don’t have to worry about that on Mother’s Day.) Moms do their jobs, teach, cook, clean, nurture, even bribe household members to get through cooped up survival.

Daiquiris are the perfect Mother's Day drink. They bring a bearable lightness of being in this almost unbearable time. They are a tropical trio of rum, lime juice and sugar, plus ice, combined in a shaker, usually served up but you can drink on the rocks. I do. The ice melts slowly, giving a little less punch and allows a 20 minute brain buzz instead of a headache in the morning. Think about it. Do the math. 2 ounces hard stuff +1 ounce sugar = on the way to sh*t faced. The sugar combined with the alcohol packs a double whammy.

This is math at the Academy. We are not awarding degrees in trigonometry, we are working towards a degree based on a meaningful life in a functioning home. Distilling all that higher thinking down to the narrowest point possible gets us to one question: why drink a daiquiri? For a delicious 20 minute break injecting a tiny bit of flirt, frisk and fun for mom on Mother’s Day. 

Let’s make our drink.

Squeeze a lime, or maybe two, to get 1 ounce juice. Pour in a cocktail shaker. Add sugar syrup, ¾ to 1 ounce (made with a sugar to boiled water ratio of 1:1), depending on how sweet you want to go. Pour in 2 ounces white rum. Add ice cubes to fill the shaker three quarters full. Shake shake shake your cocktail shaker. Strain in a pre-chilled glass. Add a lime slice.

Cheers to Moms everywhere!

The Academy’s job is to help make your home life as meaningful as possible. Part of a meaningful life is taking a step back, accessing any situation, giving ourselves some breathing room — and that’s where the Wednesday sip comes in. We all need a break and we need community!

You are invited to join us (via Zoom) on Wednesdays at 5:30 - 6:00 for Sip with Suzanne. Next week’s topic: The Marvelous Martini…

One Action Dinners, Part Three

One Action: OPEN YOUR LIQUOR CABINET. 

Cook with gin, vermouth, tonic, bitters & more. Those bottles can do more than fill cocktail glasses. Let the elixirs flavor your dinner food, too. Last week’s Academy project (finding fun anyway possible) was cooking with booze, using tablespoons and cups, not shot glasses. Still consuming alcohol but with emphasis on creativity and sophistication. The alcohol gets burned off so dinner is still child friendly. And the aromas are divine, as Mae West might say... 

Beefeaters & Beef

Beefeaters is more than a foundation for martinis and G&T’s! Smooth, silky and juniper scented, gin and beef is a marriage made in a pan. Sauté salted and peppered ribeyes over high heat. When steak is almost to your liking, pour in the gin and turn down the heat. Add a couple tablespoons of butter. While the gin and butter swirl together, turn the steak over a couple of times in the sauce. Remove steak to cutting board, slice, plate and pour gin sauce over steak slices while the juniper aromas are still strong.

Vermouth & Quail

The Vermouth bottle has been getting a workout. And when friends drop off quail, I quail with delight. After a quick flour dusting, sauté the birds in olive oil over medium high heat. When browned on one side, flip over. After both sides are brown, pour in vermouth. (our new favorite is Dolin.) Simmer until quails are cooked, throw in a tablespoon or two of butter, fresh thyme leaves, coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper. Done!

Vermouth & Savory Scones

When making ham and cheese scones (no yeast required) add equal parts vermouth to crème fraîche along with enough butter to satisfy fat requirements. To find out more, schedule a virtual scone class at the Academy.

Tonic’s Many Uses

Besides delivering a tiny hit of quinine, that lovely bitterness that mixes so well in cocktails, tonic can be whisked into flour (to the consistency of sour cream) making a batter for fried zucchini slices. Even children enjoy these green vegetables enclosed in crisp. After turning golden brown in very hot oil and draining on paper towels, use a generous hand when sprinkling coarse salt over the fried pile, because salt is a taste accelerator. 

Don’t forget the bitters lurking in your refrigerator…

Who doesn’t love nuts? Add a healthy dose of Angostura when you make spicy nuts. 

Roast 2 cups of unsalted nuts — a mixture of nuts is especially yummy — at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Combine 1 tablespoon of Angostura bitters, 1 tablespoon brown sugar, 1 tablespoon honey, 1 tablespoon butter, 1 tablespoon chopped rosemary, 1/2 teaspoons of cayenne pepper and cinnamon and finally, 3 teaspoons of coarse salt. Mix with warm nuts. Serve with cocktails. Reheat extras for tomorrow and the next day and the next…or toss in a salad for crunch.

And desserts love liquor too.

You can flambé, scent, and build flavors with booze. Flame Bananas Foster with rum, make Grand Marnier or dry curaçao souffles, add tablespoons of sweet vermouth to macerate fresh strawberries for shortcake. 

Inquire about Academy classes to learn these techniques & other spiritual matters. During the past few weeks we have learned how to hold your hand, guide you step by step, answer all questions and even look into your cabinets, examining mixing bowls and knives. Real learning takes place when you do all steps on your own!  It’s not watching and wishing. It’s watching, doing, producing and tasting, together. Best of all, it’s hanging out with your friends and completing an activity!

One Action Dinners, Part Two

Less equals more, that’s what we are learning. We know what we do not need, what we can live without, and what we can do that we didn’t realize before. We might be discovering that the simplest dinner ever can be soul satisfying. The children might be happy with macaroni and butter but you need some fiber and greens.

One Action Dinners are simple. The one action might be brushing olive oil on a vegetable. Something delicious awaits you about an hour later. Sixty minutes to sit back, feel proud, drink a cocktail or finish a work project, know that you will be fed, and soon!

By the way, who said dinner had to be a meat and three? No it doesn’t! Sometimes one is enough. Kids might not like all of these, but you will. (Because…health.)

• Huge baked sweet potato - 425-degree oven for 1.5 hours, served with salted butter and sour cream and plenty of S&P.

• A pound of veggies - cut up & marinated in olive oil and any spices you’d like, grilled until charred. 

• Roasted red cabbage - slice, toss with olive oil and place in a 400-degree oven for an hour. Sprinkle in some caraway seeds and S&P. (Some cabbage slices get crispy, others are soft, all delicious and a little different.)

• Crispy potato pancake - thinly slice peeled white potatoes, toss with olive oil, arrange in an overlapping circle, sprinkle with S&P and bake for 1 hour at 425. What you want is golden brown crispness. This potato cake is addictive. If you want two actions, serve with a poached egg. 

• Fennel bulb - cut lengthwise into fourths, add oil and salt, roast for an hour at 425. Toss with fronds before serving. Served hot, warm or room temperature for a very pleasing dinner.

• Broccoli rabe - toss with olive oil, sprinkle with S&P, roast for 30 minutes at 400. 

For a change in pace — when you feel like doing two things and have some farm vegetables a neighbor left at your door — melt a little butter in a pan and sauté spring onion bulbs (white parts cut lengthwise in half) until lightly browned, and their delicate onion-y smell fills the kitchen. Then throw in a few snap peas and add tablespoon or so of heavy cream. While the mixture simmers, get a plate, fork, S&P and DONE! Dinner is simple and simply delicious.

What to do with leftovers? Add in pasta, rice or salads for yet another One Action delight.

The Art of Biscuits

Photo by Landon Neil Phillips 2016

THE ART OF BISCUITS 

Carbs make people feel better, that is by now a well-covered fact. Another current fact is that yeast is difficult to find. The first and foremost beauty of the biscuit is no yeast is required.

Find the Academy’s best Biscuit recipe HERE and CONTACT to schedule a virtual class with the Dean on this or any other subject under the domestic sun…

The Beauty of Biscuits

Oh, what the mighty little biscuit can do if you just ask him. He serves a purpose all day long. What other food can bring satisfaction all day, every day? Especially something so easy to make?

• Breakfast biscuits - split (never cut) and slathered with marmalade or honey. 

• Lunch - split and covered with gravy from fried or roasted chicken.

• Herb biscuits - fresh herbs either folded in dough or stuffed inside. A version of a salad. 

• Tea time - wipe heavy cream on top, sprinkle a lot of sugar on top, and Voilá!  You have a version of scones. (You could even add dried fruit if you are feeling fancy.)

• Cocktail hour - ham biscuit with lots of cheese and/or freshly ground black pepper in dough. Hot mustard optional.

• Don’t forget about dessert! Split and serve with strawberries and freshly whipped cream.

See below for recipe adjustments...

The Beauty of Biscuits Part 2

Perfect to make ahead the morning of, the day before, the month before — simply freeze and bake as needed. It's called being Ready for Anything.

The Beauty of Biscuits Part 3

Not daunting to make if you follow instructions and learn to handle the dough 'til it resembles a baby’s bottom. Practice a few times and you will become as good as Bash, the Biscuit Baby, Academy alum.

Why I came up with my particular recipe:

The first time I tasted a croissant, visiting Europe from Africa, my head spun! I fell in love for life. I’d never tasted anything as light and airy as a croissant. However, as love affairs tend to do, I became a prisoner. I skipped school for two days and made croissants. I promise, if you are learning to bake croissants, even now, you are planning to open a French bakery. They are so hard it’s unbelievable. There is a great probability they will turn into hockey pucks. 

Biscuits will not. I never had a biscuit until I moved South. My head spun once more. They are friendly, probably because they are not as sophisticated and as haughty as the elegant croissant. Croissants are the couture pastry. I took what I learned during my croissant cooking try and added that to biscuit making. 

Only takes 8 - 10 minutes to bake so bake them fresh. 

The Pleasure Biscuits Bring

To see your loved ones happy and smiling when they first smell the baking, then bite into the biscuit is the greatest pleasure; to say nothing of your own satisfaction later when everyone wonders where all the biscuits have gone and you can tell them matter-of-factly, Straight to your stomachs.

Biscuit Basics

What to use if you can get it:

• Use full fat buttermilk

• Use European style butter.

• Any kind of flour - I have made 1,000,000,000 biscuits. White Lily is good and so is King Arthur’s unbleached white. King Arthur has a little more structure, While Lily, sort of similar to cake flour, is a little softer. What can I say? I like structure in everything. 

Alternatives when your grocery store is out of buttermilk:

• Sweet milk - biscuits made with whole milk.

• Yoghurt or sour cream - fresh thyme leaves are super good in these!

• Heavy cream - more like scones. Add a cream wash and sugar to the top.

• Cheese - add 6 ounce any kind of cheese to the 3 cup flour biscuit & use 4 tablespoons of butter. Roll a little thinner, but not like a cracker. I like spicy with cheese but prefer freshly ground black pepper instead of cayenne. Split and stuff with country ham and hot mustard. These are delicious hot and at room temperature. 

• Sweet potato - add 1/2 cup mashed cold cooked sweet potatoes. Dough will be heavier so roll out thinner. Delicious taste and color.

'The Greatest Gifts' for May VIE

“Our brains tend to run wild with stories all the time, even more so after a cancer diagnosis. The [first] surprise gift from the unknown sender was titled A Year to Live by Stephen Levine. Receiving the book out of the blue, between the time of the biopsy and the doctor’s calling to report on the result, served as a sharp wake-up call. Who sent this? Who cares? I considered the gift in the context of fantasy, my brain fuzzy with unwanted, unexpected news. Could this be a gift mystically organized by my deceased father and cousin’s spirits? Were they trying to tell me: ‘Pay attention! It’s time for you to do the things that matter to you, things we did not have time to do before our deaths from cancer’?”

Read more about three of the greatest gifts (all surprising in their own way) received by the Dean, when she needed them most, in the latest issue of VIE Magazine HERE.

A Kitchen Wears Many Hats

Natalie Wood by Martha Holmes, 1944.

In quarantine time the kitchen will serve as dining room, office, playroom, classroom, homework station, living room, winery, even penal colony. It’s a room that is integral to family life no matter the size of the family, one to a dozen. 

Exploit all its advantages. First off:

Order in the Kitchen!

Kitchens crave order. Having multiple people hanging out in the house day and night is a recipe for maximum mess and stress. Coats, backpacks, mail, needs to be put away. After classwork time the countertops need to be cleared to start the nightly dinner. And after dinner — we all know that dirty dishes do not improve with age, so get them done! The silver lining is NOW is the perfect time to reboot the responsibilities of all residents, from tiny to teetering on how to properly wash the dishes, fill and empty the dishwasher, sweep a kitchen floor and mop one too. Keeping the kitchen tidy is vital for mental stability. 

Kitchen Therapy  (Tackling the Frustration of Focusing) 

Your mind may may be all over the place, way worse than usual. It’s hard not to spin our wheels. One way to tame the wildness of the brain is to focus on skills. Bake biscuits, or a pie. These foods, while not slimming, make anyone everywhere feel better. The smell of a baking project perfumes a house and makes inhabitants feel comfortable and loved. And the recipes require attention. 

Another way of occupying your time is by organizing one pantry at a time, or even your cookbook shelf…

Kitchen Gym

Install an iron bar from one short wall to another, or in a corner near the ceiling. Use the bar to do pull ups. Even one, a half one, a fourth of one, will make you strong. And the time commitment? Two seconds. Unless you are superman and can do multiple. 

One Action Dinners

We love Churchill’s Action This Day! campaign. He believed in getting the extreme priorities done daily. (Everything else was relegated to Report In Three Days...)

At the Academy, we take Churchill’s quote in a culinary direction because feeding people is an extreme priority. We like the idea of one step at a time towards delivering dinner tonight. Sometimes it’s too difficult to focus on more than a single action during times of distress.  

Know that some of the tastiest meals are the simplest. Here is a dinner menu made up of one action items, all delicious:

• Had Enough Cocktail - Pour soda water over ice. Sprinkle a few cocktail bitters on top. This is a perfect drink if you decide to reduce alcohol but still want the illusion of a cocktail.

• Roast Chicken - Liberally sprinkle the outside and inside with coarse salt, freshly ground pepper and Herbs de Provence. Stick chicken in 425-degree oven for 1.25 hours. Done!

• Fennel - Cut fennel bulb in quarters and save the fronds. Toss in oil. Place in 425-degree for 1.25 hours. No turning. To serve sprinkle the crispy roast fennel with S&P and lots of reserved fennel fronds. Delightful! 

• Sweet potato - Wash sweet potato. Put in 425-degree oven for 1.25 hours. Cut and let diners load potatoes with butter, creme fraiche, sour cream — any or all. Their choice! 

While looking through the fridge and figuring out what to make with what’s inside, remember that often the simplest things are the best.  Sometime all it takes is ten minutes and even less ingredients to deliver a meal you can proudly serve to anyone in need.

• Eggs + Butter = Omelette

• Jars of cherries + Angostura bitters = Old Fashioned

• Parmesan + Heavy cream + Fettuccine from the pantry = Alfredo

• Olives + Anchovies + Capers + Tomatoes + Spaghetti from the pantry = Spaghetti alla Puttanesca 

• Sour cream + Buttermilk + Herbs + Lemon = Dressing for a wedge of lettuce with crispy bacon

• Sour cream + Yogurt + Lemon zest and juice + Garlic = Creamy sauce for meats of all kinds…

@#$%&! #’s are difficult right now. Looking at a scale (going higher), looking at a bank account (tanking), all information that leads to even more numbers — faster heart rates. Let’s lower that beat by counting breaths, counting numbers in a recipe, counting projects to be done in the house and the times it takes to do them, counting how many times our children and other inhabitants living at home ask, ‘What is there to eat?’ (Actually don’t count that last one but the Academy has solutions for that too.) 

For all of us it comes down to one number, ONE. One step at a time, one day at a time, one problem solved at a time. But make that one into a smart choice. Make that into One Action Now.

Cocktail Parties in Isolation

Never underestimate what you can accomplish from the comfort of your own bed! E.g. Matisse…

To stay mentally healthy, we must connect. One of the most delightful ways used to be inviting people into our homes and giving them not only food and drink but also our undivided attention. Now that the world has changed and many of us are having, or will have, health emergencies, we still need to connect but we also need behave in a different way. Instead of cocktail or dinner parties (the thought of hosting them borders on bad taste!) we will learn to gather in new ways. How else will you contribute to friends’ and neighbors’ emotional health? 

How often do we get a chance to reboot the cocktail party? A powerful and inexpensive way to host is with this simple plan. Invite someone spontaneously — because when you need a companion, we guarantee one of your friends does too. Text a time, topic and menu so a little happy vibe comes through. While you pour yourself a cocktail, a glass of wine or soda water, warm some olives to nibble and find a quiet place to sit; your friend will do the same and then Zoom, Facetime, Skype, or just call. The virtual cocktail doesn’t have to go long but it will do you both some good.

Let’s all stay connected, stay sane, stay well, stay healthy at home!

Personal Libraries

These are some of my favorite personal libraries seen last week in NYC. Libraries are not the place for interior designers but interior thoughts and tastes.

There is really nothing better than sitting in a room full of books, stacked on tables, lining walls from floor to ceiling. Books call to mind the wild and unpredictable minds of human beings with new ideas, ancient histories, exceptional writers, artists, scientists, thinkers and (let's not forget) home cooks & chefs! A library is the closest we can get to the inside of a brain, showing the many sides of a homeowner.

A tip for keeping your reading shelf in rotation: inscribe your favorite books with a note to a dear friend on what you loved about it & why it reminded you of them, then gift at the Holidays (or anytime of year) for a uniquely thoughtful present.

"Walking into a Perfume Bottle" for October VIE

“A ballroom needs structure to contain its empty party space, and a garden ballroom is no different. Four ‘walls’ were a way of containing the area but open to the sky where anything seemed possible: a place for sitting still or dancing among a crowd. One wall was an avenue of thirteen twenty-foot holly trees, and another was a line of five black cement pillars with gigantic pots of pink sasanqua trees shaped like umbrellas. (This was the view from the kitchen table.) Two clipped hedges formed the north and south walls. Four pots of standard orange trees stood in the corners. Ballrooms look grand with a piece of art, so we installed a sculpture — a seven-foot-long hippopotamus bench made of Pennsylvania granite….”

Suzanne writes of her time spent living in the Elizabeth Barnwell Gough house (c. 1780) in Beaufort SC, where she restored the gardens to their original glory with her signature nod to modern. In case any readers are like us — faced with fallen trees and perhaps a future blank slate in your backyard, desperately needing the ultimate yard inspiration after Hurricane Dorian — read the rest of this article in the October issue of VIE Magazine HERE!

Start a Project: PICKLES

Why not spend an afternoon making pickles? A pickling is not a big time commitment but still delivers huge rewards in the coming weeks. A refrigerator door lined with jars of homemade pickles is always worth opening — if only to admire, get a blast of cool air, and for the good feeling of being on top of your domestic game (at least for the moment.)

Here at the Academy, we choose refrigerator pickles because no canning or boiling is involved, and they are the definition of simplicity and tastiness. You will have brightly colored jars of tangy morsels to enhance any plate of food, adding a touch of something handmade to your meal.  Smart parents know that the pickle is one way to introduce stronger flavors to the pickiest eaters on earth, most under the age of fifteen.

Pickled Mushrooms

Ingredients:

• 1 pound white, cremini, bella or shiitake mushrooms (cleaned with paper towels to remove dirt)

• 1 tablespoon olive oil

• 3 teaspoons coarse salt

• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

• 4 garlic cloves

• a few branches fresh thyme, marjoram and parsley, leaves removed from stems

• 1 tablespoon honey

• freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine mushrooms with oil and 1 1/2 teaspoon salt. Roast in a roasting pan for about 10 minutes. The mushrooms will give off a liquid. Drain in a colander. 

2. Combine the vinegar, garlic, thyme, marjoram, parsley, honey, pepper and 1 1/2 teaspoon salt and mix well. Add the warm mushrooms and stir. Chill the mushrooms in the refrigerator until cold, about an hour. Transfer to mason jars. Seal tightly and refrigerate. 

3. Storage: The pickles will keep for at least a month in the refrigerator.

Start a Project: Reading List

An old-fashioned concept might be brand new to some: READ A BOOK!

Since school is starting soon, we at the Academy took it upon ourselves to watch less Netflix and read more books. Immediately we were reminded that reading is just as relaxing and possibly more rewarding than night after night of episodic TV. Netflix CEO Reed Hastings laid down this fact, “Netflix’s number one competitor is sleep, and we are winning!” which is proof that the vast majority of us have not only stopped sleeping but also stopped reading. 

The feel of a real book in your hands — turning the pages without stopping to look at a screen — is pure magic. If you need inspiration, open an old-fashioned cookbook, as opposed to TV chef-authored book. Those books instruct, delight, and transport us to other worlds in the past or over the seas.

 The Academy team’s favorite food books (pictured at top): 

Suzanne - How to Cook a Wolf by MFK Fisher

AK Lister - A Taste of Country Cooking by Edna Lewis (which is a proper cookbook but still a pleasure to read & will open all kinds of doors into the soul of American cuisine.)

Geoff Yost - Blood, Bones & Butter by Gabrielle Hamilton

Sarah Bachleda - The Lost Vintage by Ann Mah

John-Anthony Thevos - At Home by Bill Bryson

Francine  Maurokian - Alice Lets Eat by Calvin Trillin

For more reading ideas, join us in Charleston during the first weekend of November to experience the exciting Charleston to Charleton Literary Festival featuring an array of world class authors, speakers, and parties.

I Heard You Twice the First Time

When it comes to managing uncommunicative teenagers, your home is the ideal place to get this surly age group to start talking to you. The second most ideal place is your car, essentially the family home on wheels.

A well-known fact is that everyone feels comfortable in anyone's kitchen, even young adults. So set up an environment that puts teens at ease around a kitchen island or countertop, and organize a project making gnocchi together.  Making and forming gnocchi will be a learning experience, no matter how expert you are already. (If you are frightened by the prospect then get the Academy to do the teaching.)

Here's what happens when you are creating something with your hands and concentration is needed: brains are 75% occupied with task at hand, which makes the other 25% of motor functions relax. Don't ask the Dean why but she knows this is a proven fact after raising four of her own children. Talking subjects can be about the steps to making the gnocchi, a completely non-threatening topic which offers lots of areas for delving into -- food, culture, nutrition, taste. Not to mention that a hands-on experience is always more fun to do with someone else, because you become pals in a project instead of adversaries.

If you can get into a routine (maybe once a month) a one-on-one tradition may start and memories will be made, believe us! Once a skill becomes more familiar and less scary, there is always opportunity for laughing at mistakes which will definitely occur, being proud of the final product, and creating a delicious dinner. With patience, the space will arise for talking about other, more personal subjects...maybe not on the first try but eventually. Number one key: don't ask penetrating questions, which moms can be expert at doing.

Nightly dinners are the time and place to become an active listener. Ask questions that need more than a yes or no response, but remember, not too personal! The big mistake is to do all the talking or give too many opinions. Allow these teenagers of yours time to answer a question so they can formulate what they want to say and how. Let these guys be the smartest ones in the room. Every person needs that. 

Flash Party in Review

No One Hour Party ever left anyone feeling quite like this...at least not of its own accord. 

The reason why the penultimate night of the year is ideal for a One Hour Party is because the following night always starts too early, goes on for too long and ends up a little snooze-y by the time the Ball drops. Not to mention, the OHP must be given in cities or neighborhoods where guests can easily get to the party by foot or by a short taxi ride, without a long travel commitment. Sixty minutes of fun isn’t worth a thirty minute commute.

People arrive knowing they do not have a lot of time, sort of like Henry the VIII with his wives. Get right to it! Find the person you most want to talk to, dispense with wasted words and wasted time, delve into a real conversation. The clicking time clock remains on guests minds in an exciting way.

The infamous Ice Cube Trick worked wonders, saved time and even impressed the Academy’s Dean of Drinkery. The hostess discovered that it only takes a moment to separate ice from water balloons when you run under the faucet to melt slightly. The orbs were placed in waiting Old Fashioned glasses and lined up on the bar for guests to ladle their punch into upon arrival. This functioned as a way to get hands involved immediately -- a tiny but genius trick. (Anybody would rather pour a cocktail than wash a dish.)

As for hors d'ouevres, the hostess made ‘cocktail' instead of ‘breakfast' biscuits, which required a healthy grinding of fresh pepper into the dough. Then, the host filled biscuits with very generous servings of speck and lardo. He announced that the lardo replaced the cheese with its creamy texture. There was enough black pepper plus slices of speck to excite every taste bud and satisfy each stomach until guests enjoyed their dinner at some other place later on in the evening.

Don’t be fooled as to the workload of an OHP. It's hardly different than a regular cocktail party except for the fact that you offer one and only one appetizer + cocktail. The host went with the season and made a citrus & tequila punch. For those who didn’t want hard alcohol or would have rather had wine…too bad! They made due with Pellegrino for sixty minutes.

People policed themselves and really did manage to leave at the one hour mark, except for the couple who stayed and stayed and thank goodness they did! How else would we have discovered our Goose Guest, a financial man with a Ph.D. in goose and all it’s culinary charms? Which brings us to the final secret to any successful party, whether a quickie or an all-nighter: Invite the widest range of guests possible in ages, professions, interests. The Dean herself was honored to be included in the eclectic One Hour Party mix. 

Thank You StyleBlueprint!

Recently, the Dean sat down with StyleBlueprint to offer a few tips and guidelines for hosting a truly memorable dinner party: whom to invite, what to wear, how to make it special, and more. You can read the article here (and feel free to tell us about your favorite parties below!)

SALAD DAYS & SALAD NIGHTS

Salads are a life staple, so that means salad accoutrements are too.

Dean Pollak has lived long enough to know she has constructed over 25,000 salads. We will not divulge how we arrived at that number -- math is not our strong suit -- but it is absolutely accurate and means you should pay attention.

There are many reasons we insist that you take note of your salad bowls, salad servers, pepper grinders and salt cellars. Foremost, all the paraphernalia is essential in making salads addictive, beautiful, fun to construct, and will get your family on the daily salad wagon without rebuttal. Health concerns are the least of the reasons our lunchroom serves a big bowl everyday. We like fattening salads. We like thinning salads. We like beautiful salads. We like bread salads, also known as panzanella. But we like playing with wooden bowls, like the ones at The-Commons, around the corner on Broad Street, most of all!

Who doesn’t long to fill a gorgeous handmade bowl? Even kids do and will. A big wooden bowl is a thing of beauty. In fact, the only thing more beautiful is several wooden bowls nesting in each other, letting you choose how many people will eat your salad.

Collections are fun to start. We suggest that if you haven’t collected anything yet, you begin with salad bowls. Let us be your guides. As with any collection, done carefully over years, a collection swells and takes up real estate, so the objects might as well be useful to use and beautiful to look at. Handmade bowls will make your kitchen feel more grounded, your knowledge of wood expand, your waistline shrink, your menu decisions easier. Plus, the number of guests eating salad can start at one or grow to twenty -- three full 18-inch bowls will easily feed a crowd.

You can never go wrong serving a salad, whether it's a simple green one or a confetti of colors and surprises. They always delight.

A few suggested themes:

• Color, e.g. Yellow - yellow beets (roasted early in the day or even a day before, sliced thickly or cubed), wedges of yellow heirloom tomatoes, croutons count as yellow, slices of pear.
• Simple Green – sliced endive and watercress tossed with blue cheese.
• Seasonal, e.g. Fall - roasted root vegetables tossed with escarole, radicchio, red cabbage, topped with rare cold steak.

Ancient Wisdom: Get your kids on the job of helping in the kitchen and a green leaf just might make it past their lips.

• Toddlers can toss the salad. The utensils pictured above are especially easy and fun for little kids to use.
• Elementary school-aged children can become proficient in washing lettuce in a salad spinner.
• Middle schoolers can try their hand with knives -- chopping, peeling, and slicing.
• High schoolers can and should be in charge of dinner at least once a week. Let them dream up their own salad...even if it ends up being popcorn salad, do not judge!

Finally, here are a few Academy salads from the vault...

Happy Healthy!