Chef Amy Ferguson's Travel Blog

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!

You know your holiday is a good one when your heart is filled with love, joy and peace. The kind of peace you feel when all is right with the world... at least in my world.

This has been an incredible week ridden with opportunities for miracles. Nick my 16 year old is home from school. He has been spending  a lot of time with his dad. Time well spent, because Frank my ex is the local Hawaiian connection for Nick. Frank has spent the past week teaching Nick about trapping Pigs, skinning, etc..and diving. Frank is a champion free diver and is very knowledgeable about the ocean, the tides, things that live in and around the ocean. One night last week Nick and Frank took the boat out for a what was suppose to be a short dive. Neptune reared his head and the seas became rough. Nick alone on the boat with the anchor set...ran into trouble. The boat flipped capsizing and throwing his overboard into the rough sea. About that time, Frank surfaced to see the situation in progress...He got to Nick positioned him on the capsized boat and wait for rescue. No one came. Pitch black, the day before the new moon, they were going to wait with the boat until daybreak. Unfortunately the boat sank around 1am. Frank being the powerful swimmer and loving dad that he is grabbed Nick and towed him to shore not withstanding the struggle of a high sea, distance and rocky Kona coast. I could have lost both of them that night. I knew when I couldn't reach something had happened. When I got that call 6:30am the next morning I cried with relief that every pray I prayed was answered. They were safe.

Christmas has a very special meaning for me this year. I am grateful our family is safe and sound...

I'd like to take a minute to say one last thing before I continue cooking for the 30 folks coming to Christmas dinner... My heart goes out to my friend Bill who I was lucky enough to get to spend Christmas Eve day with. My relationship with Bill has always been a sort of doting, care giving, big sister sort of role...we have been told we have spent many lifetimes together in one fashion or another... He is recovering from a form of brain cancer that is curable and the treatments are working. Bill, my friend who I fought with, been mad at, loved and laughed with has been a source of renewal for me. An awakening you might say. Have you ever caught yourself going through life numb unaware of anything but your day in day out existence...well that's where Bill and I found each other...I was going through divorce and Frank and Nick were really mad at me for my choice and then Bill came along and added laughter to my broken hearted life. Yesterday as we sat and watched the food network, AFV, Psychic Detectives... I cooked and organized and decorated a bit for Christmas...Bill still has he way of making laugh and feeling at peace...time melts when Bill and I get together..hours run into days etc. Christmas Eve was no different. A trip to make lunch ran on into a 7.5 day. Nick ran errands and then fell asleep on the floor. You might say he gave all of us a floor show, snoring and talking in his sleep. Bill, thank you for a great Christmas gift. The joy of sharing time with you and kind Capt. Bob who has been watching over you this holiday season...you will be eternally in my heart. I have said this many times. I have never known any one person loved by so many people as you are Bill. Your gift of laughter has been contagious and created a network of wonderful relationships around the world...Mele Kalikimaka Bill.

Well I'm off...to make Latkes (our tradition on Christmas morning)..don't ask. Pop a bottle of Champagne and cook for my ex-tended (no pun intended) family...

HO HO HO...Amy  May your Christmas be as wonderful as mine.

Memories

Paris is only a few days away and I wonder if any of the foods, chefs, charcuterie, markets, cafes I remember are still there. I look forward to retracing my steps. Food memories: Sables, pain au chocolat from the corner boulangerie on Rue de Grenelle....the 5 franc (then) 4 layered chocolate meringue filled with chocolate mousse covered with bittersweet chocolate from the En Face du l'Eglise on Rue St Domonique, The Drugstore hamburgers (unlike the American version) on the Champs Elysees along with the decadent ice cream parfaits and sundaes,the petit suisse with strawberries, street vendors selling both marron roti and marron glace, the rotisseurie chickens and pomme de terre frites, and the saucissions, pates, rillettes, foie gras from the charcuterie found on rue Cler ...all eaten with baguette straight from the ovens...if I timed it right.

As a student with limited funds, these were treats. I spent most of my meals in the student cafeteria eating grilled steaks of horse meat...Yes I said horse. They were raised for food. (Perhaps that is why I spent the years following my staying Paris as a vegetarian)...Accompanying that delicacy was a leafy salad with a sharp vinaigrette and of course baguette...and yes wine sometimes cheese. This only lasted a short time until I moved into a demi pension with a fellow student Helen Go, a girl from Hong Kong. Then I discovered the delights of French home cooking and the french housewife's favorite simple sauce...the beurre blanc. I still have fond memories of veal birds, quenelles and creamed spinach...as well as the sip of anisette after dinner.

One of my favorite meals out was a Ham, Potato, Mushroom, Gruyere cheese omelette from an omelette cafe not far from the Sorbonne...I will make a point to see if it still exists...Another were the beautiful steamed mussels from a bistro near the metro Ecole Militaire.

If there is one concern I have returning to Paris this time it would be I would fall in love all over again and not want to leave...the other is not ordering correctly in the markets / cafes...It's been a while and even though my french friend Jessica tries to build my confidence in my ability speaking french ...who's kidding who. It's been 31 years. The quantities are what get me...I need a crash course in numbers...3 kilos of mandarin oranges is a lot to have to return because you made a mistake in the weight...you get my drift. If I over order, I just hope I err on the side of too much foie gras, chocolate or champagne...Nick and I can live with that...

Ah memories are overtaking me...The first classic French menu I prepared before heading to France my first time: Escargot Bourguignon, Ris de Veau Bourguignon en Brioche, Mousse au Chocolate. I was 14 cooking for and to the surprise of my then 15 year of boyfriend... I found back then it was best not to tell them what they were eating until they swallowed a few bites. My dad thought I was going to cook him out of house and home...I was always force feeding boyfriends ... thank god we were all young.

One more memory...The last thing I ate before leaving Texas to move to France was a peach so juicy the juices ran down my arm... hum...I have yet to find another peach as juicy.

To this day , I still look back and cherish my early days in the kitchen. Food is my passion , I love it in it's raw state of perfection and truly endeavor to never mess it up by preparation. The foulest form of arrogance in the kitchen is to ruin food by over manipulating it ... enough with the serious talk. To be totally honest with you the only time I have ruined food not on purpose but energetically is when I am cooking for someone I am mad at or have just been hurt by. There have been boyfriends who worried I might actually poison them...how ridiculous...they were lucky they got off with a bad meal...for that matter any meal at all! Did I say I am passionate about food...

I am including my Mousse au Chocolat recipe. It is classic and by far the best I have ever found... Bon Appetit Amy

Chocolate Mousse

Serves 6

4 Eggs room temp, separated (no yolk in the whites)

¼ cup Sugar Blend together in a bowl and cook over a dbl boiler until a ribbon stage.

Add: 1 oz Cognac or other flavored liqueurs Cook longer until bubbles appear indicating the alcohol is being cooked off.

Using a bowl of ice water: Place bowl with yolk mixture over ice and whip until cool.

Meanwhile: Melt over a dbl boiler:

8 oz. Chocolate: semi sweet, bittersweet or even white

2 Tbsp. Kona Coffee

4 oz Butter, unsalted

Blend cool to touch chocolate into the yolk mixture. Set aside.

Whip: 4 Egg whites to a soft peak

Fold egg whites into the chocolate mixture. Do not completely incorporate.

Whip: 2 cup Heavy Cream, to firm yet smooth peaks Finish mousse by folding the whipped cream.

Please be mindful not to over mix thereby changing the mousses’ texture. No Cream nor egg white should be visible. Chill for a minimum of 3 hrs or overnight.

The velvety texture will embrace your palate and delight your senses. Savor every small spoonful and think of me at 14 making this for the first time in my mother's kitchen. Recipe provided by Neva Paul my first cooking teacher.