Sometimes you just need a recipe just so you can eat caramelized onions.

Caramelized Onion Tart (serves 4-6)

2 large onions, peeled and thickly sliced
2 Tablespoons butter

1/2 cup butter
1-1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup ice cold water

Sliced fresh or sun-dried tomatoes
Crumbled Goat Cheese
Fresh Oregano Leaves
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Coarse Sea Salt

First, caramelize the onions. Melt the 2 tablespoons butter in a large, heavy skillet. Add the onions and cook on medium-low heat for at least 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. They should become a golden caramel color. If you find they are cooking slowly you can increase the heat for a few minutes so they start to brown a little, then reduce the heat so they continue to cook slowly. When they are finished transfer them to a container and set aside.

Prepare the tart dough while the onions are cooking. Combine the butter, flour and salt in the bowl of a food processor and process until the butter is mostly incorporated. Slowly drizzle in enough cold water to make a medium-stiff dough. Roll the dough out on a floured surface to 1/8-inch thickness. Cut into 6-inch circles, then chill until ready to bake.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spread a layer of caramelized onions on the top of each circle of tart dough. Top with fresh or sun-dried tomatoes, followed by the goat cheese and fresh oregano. Drizzle with a little olive oil, and sprinkle with sea salt. Bake the tarts for about 20 minutes, or until the crust is fully cooked, but not too dark. Remove from the oven, let cool for a few minutes, and carefully remove form the baking pan, as the crust may be fragile. Serve warm or at room temperature.

You may recall from yesterday’s post that we were waffling over what to have for our Sunday lunch out since our plans to go away had changed. It used to be that Mark and I would make the decision, but with the girls old enough to voice their opinions, it isn’t always easy to get 4 people to agree. We decided to spend the afternoon in the East Village, our old neighborhood, and one that I’ve lived in on and off since the early 90s. Sadly, we don’t come to this neighborhood much since we moved to Brooklyn 9 years ago, so walking from the Union Square subway stop to our lunch destination, Soba-ya, I pointed all sorts of places out to Mia: our old apartment building on 12th street, the cheese store on 3rd ave, the Kiehl’s store (which, by the way, is HUGE now), Sunrise Mart, among others. Weaving our way down 9th street Mark and and I wondered if the Takoyaki stand was still open…and it was!

So after our delicious lunch of freshly made soba noodles in savory broth, which Claudine slurped down till she was the last one left eating, and an appetizer of uni tororo (sea urchin in grated Japanese yam, which Mia couldn’t get enough of), we headed out to Otafuku across the street to get Takoyaki, or as we used to call them, octopus balls. The space is tiny tiny so we waited outside on the bench for our order. Mia could hardly contain herself - she was so excited to try them and kept peering into the little window to watch the the guys cook the batter with octopus. After a 7 minute wait and one bite, she was hooked.

Soba-ya and Otafuku were old standbys back in the day since we used to live around the corner, but since we were in the neighborhood, we decided to drop by the Momofuku Milk Bar to see what all the hype was about. I have to admit that I still haven’t eaten at any of the David Chang empire of Momofuku restaurants, which as a foodie (did I just call myself a foodie?) is lame, but I attribute that to being a working parent on a tight budget (and maybe that’s an excuse, but it is true). The Milk Bar menu is a little bit eclectic as there are both sweet and savory dishes, including the famous pork buns and the cereal soft serve, but we went for the cornflake, marshmallow and chocolate chip cookie, and the Crack Pie. Both items had good flavor, but they were both really densely sweet and very buttery. Despite the fact that we’re in the business, I’ve never been able to handle very sweet desserts or cookies, but I do realize that a lot of people like them that way. I’d come back here though, but I’d have to have an intense sugar craving to plow through a cookie by myself (the girls had no problem though).

Once home, it struck me that weekends are fun again now that Mark is no longer stuck working in restaurants. Now that we are out of the baby phase, it’s really fun to explore the city with the girls who are enjoying these outings. Maybe Claudine is even growing out of her culinary pickiness just a little bit, as she’s starting to try new things and even tried a salmon roe (which Mia loves) and a piece of Takoyaki. Speaking of which, Mia is still talking about those octopus balls, raving that they are now her new favorite thing. What was my favorite takeaway from this day? The Soba-ya bathroom, which has one of those fancy Japanese toilets with heated seats and a bidet. I took Mia there hoping they would still have them. She was afraid of the idea of a bidet, but as she sat down on the heated seat, the funniest look of surprise spread across her face and she said, “It really IS warm. On my butt and on my legs”.

I’m not sure if I can think of anything better to eat on a cold winter morning than a dim sum brunch. While our go-to place is usually Dim Sum Go Go, I was in the mood for the large banquet/dim sum cart experience, so we bundled up the kids on yet another snowy morning and met our friends Melissa, Brendan and their kids at Jing Fong on Elizabeth Street. I haven’t been there in years since I used to go fairly regularly with my NYU grad school asian posse friends, and I think it was the first time I went with the kids, but it’s the perfect place for rambunctious 2 and 4 year olds who, for some reason, thought it would be okay to go hide under the table and dance in the aisles even though they don’t normally do this in other restaurants. It’s probably because Jing Fong is loud, bustling and huge. The carts come right away even before you have time to sit down. Mia’s favorite dish has always been the fried taro (pictured above) and she expertly waved a cart down and pointed to a bamboo steamer full of dumplings that she wanted, even though she’s never done this before. The babies didn’t eat anything except peanut butter pretzels and banana (”blahnahs”, as Claudine calls them), but that wasn’t a surprise. We left the table an hour and a half later with full stomachs, though once home, Mark and I both revealed that we could have eaten so much more.

We made our last holiday delivery on what felt like the coldest day of the year yesterday, dropping off 4 gift boxes and 8 packages of lavender cookies that will be carried on as gifts to Asia. The recipients were Celia and Cynthia, founders of the food site, Cravings, who had such lovely things to say about our company here and here. Afterwards, we took the girls for a celebratory lunch at Ippudo, a Japanese ramen noodle restaurant in the East Village. Claudine has been ever so picky lately, more so than usual, and has been avoiding sitting with us at mealtimes altogether, but I know how much she likes noodles so it seemed like a place where we’d all enjoy a meal. The pork buns were outstanding, pillowy soft buns with savory pork and bits of lettuce, folded like a taco, and even though it was slightly spicy, Mia devoured it with such enthusiasm that I ended up giving her much of my share. And our noodles? Mark got a spicy soup, while the girls and I had a stock that was flavored with shiso. Even though I got them both forks, they both insisted on using regular chopsticks and much to our surprise, Claudine was able to handle herself quite well and somehow managed to feed herself 2 bowls full of noodles. Despite the cold, it was good to get out and walk around the old hood a bit. I have so many memories of the East Village, having lived here at 2 different times, once when I was going to art school at the Cooper Union, and again 8 years later when I was at grad school at NYU. It still strikes me whenever I am back in the neighborhood with the kids - a different life, a different phase.

Mark is back at the Boathouse today helping the staff prepare for Christmas service in 2 days. I’m still in cleaning and organizing mode. I delivered a HUGE design deadline for my project last night and so I’m laying low today, ignoring some other work I should be doing. Now that I have a bit of time to think, the events of the past 3 weeks just seem like a huge blur, like it never even happened. It feels surreal and I can’t actually recall what it was like to pack all those cookies anymore. Weird, right? For 3 weeks everyday, both of us worked from 9am-6pm (him baking, me designing) and then from 8pm-3am, packed thousands and thousands of cookies every night, sending out 200+ gift boxes of all sizes. Through various clients, we sent cookies to companies like the Gap, American Express, Calvin Klein, MetLife, NBC, Balenciaga, Gucci, Ikea, Yahoo, Amazon, Target, Nike, JCrew, Macys and HBO. Sorry to name drop but I am still in slight disbelief, and the incoming feedback so far has been excellent with clients saying that they are actually getting thank you emails this year and getting rave reviews.

So we made it through our first holiday season. This is the first evening that Mark and I have little to do. We’re a bit anxious about re-opening all our shops again, and now that I’ve had time to read what is going on in the world, wondering what the new year will bring. But for now, after the kids are in bed, we shall just sit on the couch and do nothing.

I can’t seem to get warm today so I succumbed to turning on the heat at 7am this morning. I also bought some gloves just a few minutes ago (internet, why do you make it so easy to spend money??). I’m having these leftovers for lunch, to help warm me up before I have to go out to my meeting. Mark just took some ready-to-make dashi broth and mixed in soba noodles, some seaweed, spinach leaves and fishcake. Simple and something we know both girls will eat.

The humidity hasn’t hit yet but it’s downright warm today. Despite the copious amounts of sunscreen I slather on the girls everyday, they’re turning tan and Claudine even has funny little tan lines on her feet from her sandals. We met up with some friends in front of the Brooklyn Museum this morning to watch the choreographed fountains, but after 2 short thrilling minutes of shooting water works, the damn thing broke and stopped working. Instead, the kids frolicked on the grass while I tried coaxing Claudine onto the grass but she was not happy. I’m guessing she has some sensory issues because she doesn’t like walking on grass or sand, but seriously….how are we going to get by summer if she’s having these issues? Lunches on days like this are usually containers of fruit, cold cuts, sliced veggies and whatever else we might have in the fridge, laid out on a spread. Like me, Mia doesn’t have an appetite these days. Hard to believe how skinny she is getting - both the girls were such big, chubby babies. Now that she has lost all of her baby fat, she is looking so mature.

Despite the postings on this blog, I haven’t felt that hungry the last few days. It’s probably because the weather is getting warmer and I tend to eat less in the summer. In any case, Mark just handed me a grilled cheese sandwich with spicy chorizo which I happily chowed down even though I didn’t feel hungry. I’ve been unable to focus all day, totally scattered and jumping around from one task to another - work, potting tomato plants on the balcony, tending to and thinking about the business, and staring out the window. It’s a pretty day and the windows are wide open which almost makes me feel like I’m outside. I have exactly 1 hour of quiet before the girls come home from being out all day with their babysitter. The calmness of the afternoon will soon be replaced with chatter, chases down the hallway and incessant calls for mommy and daddy. I’m bracing myself.

When Mark was working as a Pastry Chef, holidays and weekends meant nothing since he was always working. In fact, getting 2 days off in a row was so rare that we never did short weekend trips or 2 day getaways. As you can guess, long weekends have taken on a whole new meaning for us and we happily drove out of Brooklyn and finally felt like any other American enjoying the long weekend. Part of our holiday was spent with swissmiss and her family who were gracious enough to host us (and there’s the pie on her site! ha!). We went to the beach, dutifully grilled meat for our dinner, and sat outdoors under a shaded umbrella for a spectacular summer lunch spread the next day.

This weekend was all about food. We came home Sunday evening for an extended family dinner at a small Korean restaurant in Flushing where we had barbeque cooked on stone plates and the best cold buckwheat noodles (Neng Myun) I’ve ever had. It’s officially summer when you eat that dish.

We ended the holiday weekend back in Flushing with a Chinese wedding banquet held for my good friend James and his new wife Rachel. A multi-course meal where the food kept coming even though we were mighty full midway after the 5th course. Mia ate like a champ and I was thrilled that Claudine liked the lobster soup. It was a spectacular weekend overall and this morning I’m having a bit of trouble switching gears and focusing on work. At least I have banquet leftovers to look forward to!