From a foodie friend
TOFFEE TURTLE BARS
By DAWN LaROCHELLE
When you have three baseball-obsessed sons, you learn a lot about pre-game superstitions and rituals. Don’t step on the foul line coming on and off the field. Tap the bat on the plate before hitting. Step out of the batter’s box before a pitch, secure the bat between your legs, readjust your batting gloves, grab the bat again, take a deep breath and get back into the batter’s box. Eat chicken prior to every game, a la Red Sox great Wade Boggs.
When you own a restaurant and two catering businesses, you have your own superstitions and rituals, without which you don’t want to open your doors. My days at Perigee all begin with my sitting down at my desk, warming my hands on a strong cup of coffee and re-reading the three inspirational quotes framed on my wall (“Press on—nothing in the world can take the place of persistence;” “Keep calm and carry on;” “Tough times never last. Tough people do.”). Then, I swivel my chair around so I can see the two turtles on my credenza.
Turtles were like him and meThe turtles are ceramic, with colorful mosaic tiles on their shells. They were a birthday present from Jamy, my great friend and once-partner in all things culinary. He told me the turtles were like me and him because they weren’t afraid to stick their necks out.
My Jamy was notoriously forgetful when it came to things like birthdays, and I always had a sneaking suspicion that, in this case, he waited until the eleventh hour; panicked; grabbed the first thing he saw at the store; and came up with a rationale later to make it look like he actually thought his gift through. Nevertheless, I loved those turtles, and the imagery behind them that Jamy evoked. It may be that leaving a stable legal career behind to become a small business owner in a down economy qualifies as sticking your neck out, but Jamy, who thumbed his nose at death in the wake of a complete liver transplant three and half years ago, was a turtle in the true sense of the word. In a coma for six weeks, with every organ in his body shut down except for his heart (which, I always thought, was symbolic—he had the biggest heart of any one I’d ever met), Jamy was as close to a dead man as any of the physicians in the transplant unit had ever seen survive…and not only survive, but refuse to accept disability…and not only refuse to accept disability, but go back to work full-time in the most stressful job imaginable, as chef and general manager of a start-up restaurant.
One note to God, one to me
Why, then, did Jamy kill himself last month? He left two notes behind, one to God and one to me; neither provided me with any solace, or any real understanding as to how some one with talent, grit and fight to spare, whose very existence was a medical miracle, would be in such agony that he would take his own life.
Why, then, did Jamy kill himself last month? He left two notes behind, one to God and one to me; neither provided me with any solace, or any real understanding as to how some one with talent, grit and fight to spare, whose very existence was a medical miracle, would be in such agony that he would take his own life.
After Jamy bought me my turtles, I always looked for turtle-themed gifts to give him on special occasions. It wasn’t easy—frogs, roosters, dogs and cats always seemed to be more popular than turtles. This holiday season, however, no matter what store I wandered into looking for Chanukah presents, I saw turtles. Crystal turtles. Porcelain turtles. Turtle board games. Turtle wind chimes. So many turtles that I didn’t—that I couldn’t—buy.
Jamy made a decision that broke my heart into a million pieces, and set me forth on a personal emotional journey that I never wanted to take. I’d like to think that, even if Jamy’s pain was so great that he chose to retreat permanently under his shell, he sent those turtles my way to encourage me to keep sticking my neck out.
TOFFEE TURTLE BARSIngredients• Hot shortbread base:• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour• 1 cup confectioner’s sugar, plus more to decorate the finished bars
• 1 teaspoon salt• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened but still cool, cut into 1-inch piecesTopping:
• 1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract• 1 cup pecans, coarsely chopped
• ½ cup semisweet chocolate chips
• ½ cup white chocolate chips
• ¾ cup toffee-and-chocolate baking pieces (such as Heath)Preparation:1) For the hot shortbread base: Spray a 9X13-inch square baking pan with nonstick cooking spray. Fold two 16-inch pieces of foil or parchment paper lengthwise to measure nine inches wide. Fit one sheet into the bottom of the greased pan, pushing it into the corners and up the sides of the pan (overhang will help in removal of baked bars). Fit the second sheet in the pan in the same manner, perpendicular to the first sheet. Spray the sheets with nonstick cooking spray.
• 1 teaspoon salt• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened but still cool, cut into 1-inch piecesTopping:
• 1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract• 1 cup pecans, coarsely chopped
• ½ cup semisweet chocolate chips
• ½ cup white chocolate chips
• ¾ cup toffee-and-chocolate baking pieces (such as Heath)Preparation:1) For the hot shortbread base: Spray a 9X13-inch square baking pan with nonstick cooking spray. Fold two 16-inch pieces of foil or parchment paper lengthwise to measure nine inches wide. Fit one sheet into the bottom of the greased pan, pushing it into the corners and up the sides of the pan (overhang will help in removal of baked bars). Fit the second sheet in the pan in the same manner, perpendicular to the first sheet. Spray the sheets with nonstick cooking spray.
Please visit Dawns blog for more information http://jewishworldnews.org/2012/01/19/in-good-taste-sticking-your-neck-out/
