Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Dinner in 30 minutes or Fewer
Dear Elise,
Remember those Penzey's spices I bought when we went to the Penzey's Spice Shop as part of our Foodie Tour of Seattle? Well, I used some tonight. (Not the Cake Spice that you disparaged as containing all spices that you already owned so why would you need the mix?) I had a Sweet Curry Powder and a Vindaloo Curry Powder and I wanted to sample and compare.
And it was 7 by the time I had walked and fed the dogs. I make a chicken curry with tomatoes (I substitute V8 juice for the tomatoes). It is really a curry chicken salad but very often I leave out the yogurt and eat it hot. The Sweet Curry Powder went into that one.
Then I make a curried spiced chick pea dish, a maje fave. The recipe calls for individual spices, (right up your ally) and I used the Vindaloo blend for that.
Both were good, but the Sweet one was not as complex and nuanced as the Vindaloo. And the Vindaloo was much hotter.
I also used coconut oil for both. I have read, or maybe just heard, (maybe true, but perhaps not) that coconut oil is the new best thing, very healthy and so forth. It was good. Better with the chick peas, lost in the chicken curry. (I want to try it in brownies.)
Everything was better with the chick peas. Maybe I just prefer chick peas. And since I didn't have to open, measure out, close and put away 6 different spice bottles, everything was ready before 7:30. Suddenly Dinner!
For dessert? Dark Chocolate, as we read in the paper today (so it must be true), mice who consumed dark chocolate for two weeks performed 50% better on an endurance test than mice who didn't get any chocolate. Preaching to the cocaophiles maybe, but I'm sold.
Love, spice blends and dark chocolate, Margaret
Monday, July 4, 2011
Power is the Greatest Aphrodisiac
Dear Elise,
As you know from the endless stream of anguished texts, my power was out for an excruciatingly long time. The sink was stacked with teetering towers of dirty dishes, the counters were strewn with all manner of crumbs and debris. Tmi, but I hadn’t flushed a toilet in 16 hours. The refrigerator was as warm as the air which was as warm as a dog's breath, and the freezers were dripping red tinged effluvia. Finally, I spotted the Power trucks at the end of the road. About time!
The power is back on, (cue the chorus) and I have every appliance going. The dishwasher is churning, the washing machine is sloshing, the freezer is refreezing my popsicles, I hope into some edible shape.
And the oven is baking a lemon poppy seed cake. The recipe called for whipped white chocolate ganache as a frosting, but I hate white chocolate. Not as much as I hate waking up at 4 and worrying that I am going to have to throw out all the meat in the freezer and wondering if I should put it out in the woods for the foxes, or if it would rot and grow bacteria and then the foxes and their babies would all die and the coyotes might also eat it and die, but just the babies, because coyotes are scavengers and must be able to tolerate a certain amount of bacteria, and so maybe I should just throw the meat away, but I can’t let it sit out in the trash bin in this heat (95 feels like the Lut desert), which means I’ll have to take it to the dump, but it’s the Fourth of July and the dump is closed. Rotten meat, dead baby foxes, and I’m wide awake. I hate that more than white chocolate but just a little.
I told Chris that I had a hard time falling asleep the other night bc I was consumed with a very vivid worry. When I had walked the dogs, Turtle had gone down into a stream bed and barked and barked. The last time he did that, he had a ground hog cornered and he wanted the other dogs to come help him dispatch it. I am trying to discourage the killing, so I didn’t let the other dogs go help him, and he stayed there and barked for 45 minutes. I didn’t think about it again until I was trying to fall asleep that night, and it suddenly occurred to me that maybe it wasn’t a ground hog, maybe it was a person who had fallen and was injured and Turtle was doing the whole Lassie thing, getting help, or at least trying to, and I had ignored his pleas and the poor victim was trapped, injured, possibly dead already, his hopes having soared when Turtle discovered him and then sunk away to despair when it became clear that Turtle’s exhortations were going to be written off as just some varmint harassment. I worried and fretted and considered driving back down there to see if possibly the poor man was still alive and still awaiting rescue by spaniel. When I told Chris about this, he said, “What kept you awake, the fact that that entire scenario was actually in your head?”
I’m going to make a cream cheese frosting. I’ll add some lemon zest and lemon juice. I’m pretty excited.
I’m also going to make a summer squash casserole. That is going to be recreated from memory. I made one once, and it had summer squash and onion and garlic and perhaps an herb and perhaps some broth and then it was topped with lots of crunchy, buttery bread crumbs. I can’t find the recipe, but how hard can it be?
This is what happens when you don't harvest for two days. I'm seeing zucchini bread.
Love, Margaret
As you know from the endless stream of anguished texts, my power was out for an excruciatingly long time. The sink was stacked with teetering towers of dirty dishes, the counters were strewn with all manner of crumbs and debris. Tmi, but I hadn’t flushed a toilet in 16 hours. The refrigerator was as warm as the air which was as warm as a dog's breath, and the freezers were dripping red tinged effluvia. Finally, I spotted the Power trucks at the end of the road. About time!
The power is back on, (cue the chorus) and I have every appliance going. The dishwasher is churning, the washing machine is sloshing, the freezer is refreezing my popsicles, I hope into some edible shape.
And the oven is baking a lemon poppy seed cake. The recipe called for whipped white chocolate ganache as a frosting, but I hate white chocolate. Not as much as I hate waking up at 4 and worrying that I am going to have to throw out all the meat in the freezer and wondering if I should put it out in the woods for the foxes, or if it would rot and grow bacteria and then the foxes and their babies would all die and the coyotes might also eat it and die, but just the babies, because coyotes are scavengers and must be able to tolerate a certain amount of bacteria, and so maybe I should just throw the meat away, but I can’t let it sit out in the trash bin in this heat (95 feels like the Lut desert), which means I’ll have to take it to the dump, but it’s the Fourth of July and the dump is closed. Rotten meat, dead baby foxes, and I’m wide awake. I hate that more than white chocolate but just a little.
I told Chris that I had a hard time falling asleep the other night bc I was consumed with a very vivid worry. When I had walked the dogs, Turtle had gone down into a stream bed and barked and barked. The last time he did that, he had a ground hog cornered and he wanted the other dogs to come help him dispatch it. I am trying to discourage the killing, so I didn’t let the other dogs go help him, and he stayed there and barked for 45 minutes. I didn’t think about it again until I was trying to fall asleep that night, and it suddenly occurred to me that maybe it wasn’t a ground hog, maybe it was a person who had fallen and was injured and Turtle was doing the whole Lassie thing, getting help, or at least trying to, and I had ignored his pleas and the poor victim was trapped, injured, possibly dead already, his hopes having soared when Turtle discovered him and then sunk away to despair when it became clear that Turtle’s exhortations were going to be written off as just some varmint harassment. I worried and fretted and considered driving back down there to see if possibly the poor man was still alive and still awaiting rescue by spaniel. When I told Chris about this, he said, “What kept you awake, the fact that that entire scenario was actually in your head?”
I’m going to make a cream cheese frosting. I’ll add some lemon zest and lemon juice. I’m pretty excited.
I’m also going to make a summer squash casserole. That is going to be recreated from memory. I made one once, and it had summer squash and onion and garlic and perhaps an herb and perhaps some broth and then it was topped with lots of crunchy, buttery bread crumbs. I can’t find the recipe, but how hard can it be?
This is what happens when you don't harvest for two days. I'm seeing zucchini bread.
Love, Margaret
Monday, June 27, 2011
Jamming
Hi Marg,
We have gone from no strawberries, to a few tasteless ones, to 4 different vendors at the market offering taste tests, each claiming to be "the best berry in the market". Extensive sampling led us to settle on The Berry Dude, in spite of his oft repeated motto - there's lots of berries but only one Berry Dude. Honestly, that almost had Amos asking for his money back.
Speaking of which, I'm all about supporting local ag as you know, but $72 for 2 flats of berries? Really? are the gilded?
They are delicious, and we made two batches of jam and are still pigging out on the fresh berries. I tried to convince Amos to have strawberry rhubarb pie for his birthday but he wants gingerbread. None of this seasonal eating for him!
We made jam the way I've been making it for years - Sure Jell low sugar in a box. The low sugar part seems a bit of an overstatement since you use 4 cups of sugar to 6 cups of mashed berries. Amos' job is to stem and mash the berries, and hand me things and set the timer when there's a pot of berry pulp at a full rolling boil and I'm trying to keep stirring it while not dripping sweat into it. Team work!
The jam came out great and I made bread today so we are Set. The good part of working from home.
Love, Elise
PS and now? the strawberries in our garden have decided to get ripe!
We have gone from no strawberries, to a few tasteless ones, to 4 different vendors at the market offering taste tests, each claiming to be "the best berry in the market". Extensive sampling led us to settle on The Berry Dude, in spite of his oft repeated motto - there's lots of berries but only one Berry Dude. Honestly, that almost had Amos asking for his money back.
Speaking of which, I'm all about supporting local ag as you know, but $72 for 2 flats of berries? Really? are the gilded?
They are delicious, and we made two batches of jam and are still pigging out on the fresh berries. I tried to convince Amos to have strawberry rhubarb pie for his birthday but he wants gingerbread. None of this seasonal eating for him!
We made jam the way I've been making it for years - Sure Jell low sugar in a box. The low sugar part seems a bit of an overstatement since you use 4 cups of sugar to 6 cups of mashed berries. Amos' job is to stem and mash the berries, and hand me things and set the timer when there's a pot of berry pulp at a full rolling boil and I'm trying to keep stirring it while not dripping sweat into it. Team work!
The jam came out great and I made bread today so we are Set. The good part of working from home.
PS and now? the strawberries in our garden have decided to get ripe!
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Days of Heat and Salad
Dear Elise,
This is what it said on the news today.
A HEAT ADVISORY IN EFFECT UNTIL MIDNIGHT TONIGHT. A HEAT ADVISORY MEANS THAT A PERIOD OF EXCESSIVE HEAT IS
EXPECTED. THE COMBINATION OF TEMPERATURES IN THE MID TO UPPER 90S
AND HIGH HUMIDITY WILL CREATE A SITUATION IN WHICH HEAT ILLNESSES
ARE POSSIBLE. THE ELDERLY, YOUNG CHILDREN AND PETS ARE MOST AT
RISK. CHECK UP ON RELATIVES AND NEIGHBORS.
The thing is, it has said that for the past three days. The only reason they call the Heat Advisory off at midnight is that the day is over. The new Heat Advisory starts at 12 AM tomorrow.
It is suddenly salad days. (Do you remember Suddenly Salad!? It was a pasta salad/dressing mix combination that was sold together. You cooked the pasta and mixed the dressing pack with oil or mayo and presto, Suddenly Salad! I liked the ads bc the woman always looked so pleased and surprised by the suddenness of the salad.)
I made a tuna salad from The Barefoot Contessa, (yes, I know how you feel about her, but she suits me. I very often don't know how much mayo and celery to add to the shrimp to make shrimp salad and it can start to feel like Sudoku, one mistake cascading into many more until I have to delete the whole thing or throw the salad in the trash, and peeling and deveining a lb of shrimp is about as tedious and tiresome as those wild stabs in the dark when there are too many empty boxes in Sudoku.)
This salad had rare seared tuna which we really shouldn't be eating. There are as many reasons not to eat rare seared tuna as there are ingredients in the salad. 1. it's endangered, 2. it could be dosed with radiation from Japan, 3. it is FULL of mercury, 4. it could contain parasites, (mom's friend's son just got two different parasites from eating sushi and they so compromised his immune system he has had to undergo repeated hospitalizations and now has chronic fatigue syndrome.) 5. the dolphins.
Tuna, lime juice, avocados, wasabi, scallions, tamari, Tabasco. OK, two more reasons not to eat tuna, 6. carbon foot print, 7. it's gross.
Actually, it wasn't gross. It was really good. I served it with a sushi rice salad, many of the same flavors and also pickled ginger.
I served it to friends and they loved it. I was busy with entertaining anxiety (entertaining my social anxiety) and didn't think to take a picture.
Then, the same friends came over and we were still having a heat advisory, so I started obsessing about watermelon salad.
Watermelon, oil, lemon juice, cayenne, salt, mint, olives, feta, sweet onions. Suddenly Swirly!
It was good but in a troubling way, watermelon and olives are just so far apart that one is made uneasy by their miscegenation. So even though it was very tasty, and everyone voluntarily had seconds, I ended up throwing away the leftovers. By the next day I was just too unsettled by the whole thing. And I'm not in a hurry to make it again. Unless I'm invited to a party by people who I don't like but still want to impress. And really, that never happens. Those people never invite me anywhere. But perhaps if the Heat Advisory continues, they'll come check up on me.
This is what it said on the news today.
A HEAT ADVISORY IN EFFECT UNTIL MIDNIGHT TONIGHT. A HEAT ADVISORY MEANS THAT A PERIOD OF EXCESSIVE HEAT IS
EXPECTED. THE COMBINATION OF TEMPERATURES IN THE MID TO UPPER 90S
AND HIGH HUMIDITY WILL CREATE A SITUATION IN WHICH HEAT ILLNESSES
ARE POSSIBLE. THE ELDERLY, YOUNG CHILDREN AND PETS ARE MOST AT
RISK. CHECK UP ON RELATIVES AND NEIGHBORS.
The thing is, it has said that for the past three days. The only reason they call the Heat Advisory off at midnight is that the day is over. The new Heat Advisory starts at 12 AM tomorrow.
It is suddenly salad days. (Do you remember Suddenly Salad!? It was a pasta salad/dressing mix combination that was sold together. You cooked the pasta and mixed the dressing pack with oil or mayo and presto, Suddenly Salad! I liked the ads bc the woman always looked so pleased and surprised by the suddenness of the salad.)
I made a tuna salad from The Barefoot Contessa, (yes, I know how you feel about her, but she suits me. I very often don't know how much mayo and celery to add to the shrimp to make shrimp salad and it can start to feel like Sudoku, one mistake cascading into many more until I have to delete the whole thing or throw the salad in the trash, and peeling and deveining a lb of shrimp is about as tedious and tiresome as those wild stabs in the dark when there are too many empty boxes in Sudoku.)
This salad had rare seared tuna which we really shouldn't be eating. There are as many reasons not to eat rare seared tuna as there are ingredients in the salad. 1. it's endangered, 2. it could be dosed with radiation from Japan, 3. it is FULL of mercury, 4. it could contain parasites, (mom's friend's son just got two different parasites from eating sushi and they so compromised his immune system he has had to undergo repeated hospitalizations and now has chronic fatigue syndrome.) 5. the dolphins.
Tuna, lime juice, avocados, wasabi, scallions, tamari, Tabasco. OK, two more reasons not to eat tuna, 6. carbon foot print, 7. it's gross.
Actually, it wasn't gross. It was really good. I served it with a sushi rice salad, many of the same flavors and also pickled ginger.
I served it to friends and they loved it. I was busy with entertaining anxiety (entertaining my social anxiety) and didn't think to take a picture.
Then, the same friends came over and we were still having a heat advisory, so I started obsessing about watermelon salad.
Watermelon, oil, lemon juice, cayenne, salt, mint, olives, feta, sweet onions. Suddenly Swirly!
It was good but in a troubling way, watermelon and olives are just so far apart that one is made uneasy by their miscegenation. So even though it was very tasty, and everyone voluntarily had seconds, I ended up throwing away the leftovers. By the next day I was just too unsettled by the whole thing. And I'm not in a hurry to make it again. Unless I'm invited to a party by people who I don't like but still want to impress. And really, that never happens. Those people never invite me anywhere. But perhaps if the Heat Advisory continues, they'll come check up on me.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
When in Rome
Hi Marg,
We've been having a great time in Italy, and have fully adapted to the Italian practice of eating late and consequently, rising late. Last night we went out to dinner with Clare and didn't even leave the house to begin the half hour drive to the restaurant until 8. And that seemed normal. Dinner usually takes at least 2 hours, so we rarely get home before 11:30 on the nights we go out. We are on vacation so we can sleep in, but how do the Italians do it? I can't imagine.
Even in vacation mode, it's sometimes nice to eat at home, on the early side. The agriturismo (rental on a farm) where we are staying doesn't have an oven or a grill so we are limited to the stove top. I turned some lovely looking pork chops into shoe leather before deciding there's a reason why pasta is so big here.
I've made a few pasta dishes, all of which seem remarkably similar. Variations on a theme - pasta, cheese (ricotta, mozzarella, parmigiano), fresh tomatoes, and something green (arugula, zucchini, basil, etc). Depending on the green I either saute it in olive oil with a little garlic or just toss it in with the hot pasta at the end.
Here's the general idea:
Cook the pasta, reserve some pasta cooking water.
Toss the hot pasta with the greens, tomatoes (diced) and cheese.
Add a bit of the pasta water and some olive oil, salt and pepper and stir until it's combined. Add mroe pasta water if necessary.
Eat.
Leave the kitchen and let your dinner companion do the dishes.
Works every time.
Love, Elise
Saturday, May 14, 2011
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