Posts filed under 'Food and Cooking'
I’ve been thinking about my post for this month and what I should write. Should it be something fun and lighthearted like my trip to the stock show and rodeo last Saturday? Should it be something bizarre like going to Casa Bonita this weekend? (They have cliff divers inside the restaurant) Insightful? I could do something about my attempt at actually keeping up with my new year’s resolutions and how it’s almost February and I’m still on track. The weather? It’s unseasonably warm here today so I raked leaves that have arrived since I raked leaves in the fall.
No. I think I’m going to talk about what is most on my mind right now. The hamburger I made for dinner yesterday. It was perfect!!
I started with hamburger from the local market that grinds their own and grabbed a couple of sausage patties to mix in. This gives a little flavor and fat to the meat. I mushed everything up with a little salt and pepper and W sauce (you don’t really think I can spell it or pronounce it do you?) I got out my handy dandy Pampered Chef slicer, and used the hand guard, to slice three onions thin. The burgers and onions got cooking. Sharing flavors and becoming brown and yummy. In a seperate pan I put some burger drippings and a little butter and a container of mushrooms (I cheated and got the sliced ones) which got all toasty and yummy and were made even yummier with the addition of some red wine. For a bun I picked up some Kaiser rolls. I buttered one, placed it in the pan I had cooked the burgers and onions in, and let it get all toasty and brown. I thought about adding pickles or other stuff to it but decided that a little mayo and mustard with the onions and mushrooms were all it needed. And I was right. I drank a bit more of the red wine while sitting on the front porch. Talk about a perfect burger.
I don’t always work this hard to make a burger, but sometimes it’s just the right thing to do. What is like that in your world? Something you do or create that is not too bad most of the time, but sometimes you go all out and impress even yourself?
January 21st, 2009
This is what I woke up to this morning. 
Ever optimistic(that and the fact that some days it is indeed warm enough to lounge) I’ve left the plastic lounger beneath the tree.
It was such a beautiful, icey drive to Niagara-on-the-lake that I stopped to take some photographs for those of you who are unfamiliar with icewine. I doubt Lou’s local winery makes any. 
Grapes are carefully wrapped to protect them before the Icewine Harvest,often around the winter solstice. Temperatures have to drop, and stay below 17F before the grapes can be picked. This ensures dehydration is complete so that the sugar content of the grape is coma inducing. It’s a proces done entirely by hand, and most often in the middle of the night so that the grapes, and workers, remain frozen until pressing. When you consider it takes an entire vine to make one glass of wine you could see how costly a mistakes can be. Not that I’ve actually heard of workers being pressed in with the wine…
Once the midnight party is over, the vines are bare. Still pretty though.
December 10th, 2008
If not, you probably will be after this post. Muuahahahahhh. Hmm, haven’t practice my evil laugh in a while. I think it needs work.
Given the number of times food and drink creep into our conversations, I’m fairly certain that I’m not alone in my love of food. All types of food. I think one of the hardest questions anyone can ask me is what is my favorite food. It’s right up there with if there was only one book you could take to a desert island, what would it be. My response: One? I can only pick one?
Sometimes I think I could eat spaghetti with marinera sauce and parmesean cheese for weeks on end. When I was considering moving to Scotland, one of the foremost questions in my mind was whether I would be able to get black beans. Because I’m not sure I want to find out how long I can live without having a black bean and grilled veggie quesadilla. Italian food, Thai food, Chinese food, TexMex food, Middle Eastern food, Indian food, even a good ol’ grilled burger. My version is a Original Garden Burger with pepper jack cheese, pickles, tomato, lettuce, and a little bit of spicy mustard on a toasted whole grain bun. Yeah, baby.
Hungry yet? Muahahahahahaa. There, that one was a bit better.
And this time of year, the fresh fruits and veggies that are available right out of the garden or orchard. Slices of a perfectly ripe tomato sprinked with salt. Freshly picked sweet corn. An apple right off the tree. The perfect peach and berry cobbler, bubbling right out of the oven. Hot apple crisp. Pie. Chocolate….
Mmmm, I don’t know about you, but my mouth is watering.
One type of food that I really, realy love but rarely get to eat is Japanese. Yummmm. I don’t get to eat it very often, partly because I’ve never really learned to cook anything Japanese other than teriyaki salmon, and partly because good Japanese restaurants – heck any Japanese restaurants, are few and far between. And they’re usually expensive. And I’m a snob when it comes to Japanese food. While in Australia, it occurred to me that this might be my best chance in the foreseeable future to get good Japanese food. Lots of Japanese folks in Australia. Hence, there must be at least one good Japanese restaurant in the Brisbane, right?
Google to the rescue! And on my last day in Brisbane, I had two goals: see a bit of the city and eat lunch at Mizu. Hopefully this weekend, I’ll be able to get pictures up on my blog about the first part. But below are pictures of my lunch at Mizu, which by the way, I heartily recommend if you ever find yourself in Brisbane. It was simple Japanese food at it’s best. Oh yeah. I’m pretty sure I was making yummy noises as I was eating.
This is their vegetarian bento box. Two avocado sushi rolls, vegetable tempura with dipping sauce, rice, agedashi tofu, and a salad with the yummy ginger-soy dressing that I can only seem to find in Japanese restaurants. On the left is the cold sake that I tried. It was very, very nice on that hot sunny day.
For dessert, I had green tea ice cream, which I order whenever I have the opportunity. I’m not kidding. Last time I was in Japan, I probably ate it at least 6-7 times. This ice cream was very tasty, but not the best I’ve ever had, alas. Just an ever-so-slight let down. Very pretty presentation, though.
I savored and enjoyed this lunch like I haven’t one in a long, long time. After all, who knows when the next time I will get another really good Japanese meal.
So what foods would cause you to make yummy noises while you’re eating?
Oh, and before I forget. I did promise to try to bring back some Aussie lads. Given that I was conferencing most of the time, I didn’t have too many opportunities to set out lures. But not wanting to come back empty handed, I did happen to find these fellows. Not sure if it’s what you were expecting, but it’s the best I could do. Enjoy! :+)
October 1st, 2008
Happy birthday to me*! Of course, since this is the magic six five, AARP and Social Security and every person that can get at my vital statistics has been wishing me well and wanting my business since early summer.
We did have a lovely family Thanksgiving dinner last weekend while DD#2 was here. Yes, I did all the cooking, since no one else in the family can cook worth a plug nickel. Although DD#1 did make a very fine German chocolate pie. So she’s exempted from that plug nickel list.
Every year I fix DH a chocolate Bavarian cream pie. That’s chocolate crumb crust filled with a vanilla custard enhanced with whipped egg whites and whipped cream. His mother used to make everyone a pie and him an extra one all to himself. So I continue the tradition.
I also remember DD#1’s birthday party that I slaved over when she was about 6. She’s a January baby, and I wanted something different. So we had a swimming party at the local Y. What I remember is being blessed out by another mother who had to search all over town to get her daughter a fancy new bathing suit. Mine just wore what they had from the summer. No one noticed the girl’s chi chi bathing suit. Oh, well. That was the last January swimming party.
And this summer we had a luncheon at a restaurant for MIL’s 93rd birthday. As much of her family came as possibly could get here. Never mind that three there couldn’t remember much after, oh, say 30 seconds.
A theme? Mostly eat. None of that alcoholic drinking stuff, though. These family get-togethers are Baptist based. Not much tea or coffee either. Most of us are getting more caffeine-intolerant.
So how do other CBs celebrate birthdays?
September 6th, 2008
I’m feeling under the weather (not to worry, CMS, I didn’t get it from you; my whole department at work is sick right now) and not feeling very creative. So … Ya’ll always said you’d read a certain author’s shopping list. Let’s see if you’ll read mine.
- One container Brummel and Brown margarine with yogurt $2.19
- One bottle Newman’s Own Light Raspberry & Walnut salad dressing $2.99
- One container cherry tomatoes $2.50
- Two bags of Just Lettuce $3.98
- One box Cheerios Crunch $3.69
- One half-gallon milk $2.19
- One loaf bakery-fresh organic roasted garlic bread $3.99
- One bottle All laundry detergent $4.79
- One box Green Giant cheesy broccoli and rice $1.67
- One can Bumblebee tuna $1.67
- One box Barilla rotini 89 cents
- One container fresh strawberries $2 (big and red and juicy and on sale)
- One box rye Triscuits $2.50
- Four Lean Cuisines $9
- Six-pack of toilet paper $2.79
- One 20-lb jug of Tidy Cat litter $8.99
- Farmer’s market pitstop: pint of baby red potatoes, six giant peaches, four zucchini, three ears of corn, one yellow watermelon: $11
What did you buy?
August 25th, 2008
Want to Bet Me that I know exactly what you thought of when you read that title?
Earlier this month I took a cooking class through the local school district’s community education services. I’ve taken several classes this way – Soups of the World (Polish Beet Soup, anyone?) and Mediterranean Cooking (fabulous spanikopita), among others – for several reasons: I love to cook, I love to eat, it sounded interesting (Polish Beet Soup, anyone?), and people say it’s a good way to meet single men.
No one told that to the single men.
Anyway, this class’s theme was Chicken Dinners, with one of the recipes being the aforementioned Chicken Marsala. You know I could not pass that one up, being both Italian and a Jenny Crusie fan.
Generally I like these classes, but this one was different in that she taught us how NOT to make dinner. She decided that, despite the class fee and the $10 per person materials fee, she would save money by buying bone-in, skin-on whole chicken breasts. Anyone who has ever had Chicken Marsala knows that is not how it’s made. But, that’s what we did. So we had two extra steps: pulling off the skins (ick), and then after pan-frying for brownness, baking the chicken to finish cooking it in slow middle-school home-ec cheap-ass ovens to make sure we didn’t die. This added 45 minutes and a lot of standing around to the process. In the end, however, it turned out fabulously yummy and I snarfed it all down.
So, knowing you are all Crusie fans and knowing you all like to share recipes and cook and eat, here is the recipe for Chicken Marsala (the correct way). (I also have recipes from this class for Chicken a la King, Almond Boneless Chicken, and Forty Garlic Clove Chicken, if anyone is interested.)
Ingredients:
Four 4-6 oz boneless/skinless chicken breasts
1/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon oregano
4 tablespoons olive oil
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
one 8-oz package sliced mushrooms
1/2 cup marsala wine
linguine
Flatten the chicken breasts to 1/2-inch thickness between 2 sheets plastic wrap, using a meat mallet or hammering with a rolling pin or a can or whatever’s heavy.
Boil linguine to directions on box.
Mix flour, salt, pepper, and oregano on large plate. Coat chicken in mixture, shaking off excess.
Heat olive oil and butter in frying pan over medium-high heat. Place chicken in heated oil, do not overcrowd. Cook three minutes on each side to brown it. Remove chicken and keep warm in the oven.
Add mushrooms to the frying pan. Cook 2-3 minutes until a little browned on both sides. Add Marsala wine and stir for 1 minute, loosening brown bits from bottom of pan.
Add a pat of butter to make sauce creamy/shiny, and add salt & pepper to taste. (I cannot give you better directions than that, as another thing I didn’t like about the class was the instructor came to our stove and did this herself, to make it to her tastes, without telling us how much she added.)
Drain and plate the linguini, put chicken on top, and pour mushroom sauce over it.
Eat.
March 21st, 2008
I like chocolate. A few years ago I would have called myself a chocoholic without a second thought. I ate chocolate in just about any form, and would even eat that nasty grainy cheap stuff it that’s all that was available. Then I became more…. discriminating? Picky? Ornery? Difficult to please? Pick the one that makes you happiest.
I prefer dark chocolate. My preference is at least 65% percent cocoa. I like pure, unadulterated dark chocolate, but if you threw in some cocoa nibs or chewy bits of ginger I wouldn’t complain. But I admit to having a milk chocolate weakness… Hershey’s. I like an old fashion Hershey’s Bar and Hershey’s Kisses.
Which gets us to today’s question. What’s with all the Kisses flavors? And why isn’t the Hershey’s website updated? Wait. That’s two questions. We’ll discuss the first one first. Kiss flavors. I am known for finding the odd flavored kisses and bringing them into the office. I have recently had hot chocolate, cheesecake, dulce de leche, peppermint stick and cherry cordial stashed in my drawers. Today I picked up strawberry creme, orange creme, and lemon creme. I also seriously contemplated the coconut and the vanilla. Almost forgot, I picked up a bag of Trios, which are dark chocolate and milk chocolate kisses drizzled in white creme.
I admit, it I loved it when they introduced Hugs. Special Dark Kisses? I’m in alt. I can understand Almonds Kisses, even though I don’t like big stuff getting in the way of my chocolate. But some of these flavors lately…
What about the flavors we really want? Kahlua or rum anyone? I enjoy the fruit and creme flavors (white chocolate type stuff) but I want orange and dark chocolate, or rich decadent cinnamon and spices. What flavors of Kisses, Hugs, or even Kissables would you like to see?
Question two- the website. I admit it, I’m not the best about keeping a professional website as updated as it should be, but I’m not a dedicated IT or design department. I don’t spend millions of dollars a year marketing my product. They don’t have the spring flavors up. They don’t mention anything about seasonal packaging. The most recent news article is from 2006, but go to the main site and it’s all about “Project Runway” and how they used the products to make outfits. Bizarre.
February 20th, 2008
The holiday meal here is always the same, except for the desserts. I vary the desserts, usually one new recipe and one old. That particular year I tried a new blackberry cobbler recipe. I used the recipe-off-the-can for the pumpkin pie, just like I always did. The blackberry cobbler was spectacular with the homemade vanilla ice cream. The ice cream never counts as a third dessert.
Nor does my from-scratch pie crust. Flaky, delicious. Ah, the pie was spectacular looking: browned crust, nice brown pumpkin. Just beautiful. Everyone around the table got a slice, a glumph of cobbler with another glumph of ice cream on top. DD#1 wanted only a small slice of pie. Everybody was chomping down on the cobbler when she says, “Uh, Mom, I think you forgot the sugar.” Not possible. The pie was beautiful. I took a bite. Let me tell you, NEVER forget to put the sugar into pumpkin pie filling.
Christina indicated she wants to learn 3 new recipes this year. So I thought we might encourage her and other newish cooks. Things go wrong, even with experienced cooks. But we survive.
What’s your meal disaster?
December 2nd, 2007
A little amusement to get you over the holiday hump day. Hopefully I did this correctly.
That’s Using The Old Onion
Turkey Pardons, The Stuffing of Historic Legend
November 21st, 2007
while i was reading about BCB’s mountain of things to do, my mom handed me a piece of paper that I decided you could all laugh about it (or go “i knew it!”) while we wait for BCB to post. so here it is (hope it makes you smile during your day):
In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth and populated the Earth with broccoli, cauliflower and spinach, green and yellow and red vegetables of all kinds, so Man and Woman would live long and healthy lives.
Then using God’s great gifts, Satan created Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream and Krispy Kreme Donuts. And Satan said, “You want chocolate with that?”
And Man said “Yes!” and Woman said “and as long as you’re at it, add some sprinkles.” And they gained 10 pounds. And Satan smiled.
And God created the healthful yogurt that Woman might keep the figure that Man found so fair. And Satan brought forth white flour from the wheat, and sugar from the cane, and combined them. And Woman went from size 6 to size 14.
So God said, “Try my fresh green salad.” And Satan presented Thousand-Island Dressing, buttery croutons and garlic toast on the side. And Man and Woman unfastened their belts following the repast.
God then said, “I have sent you heart healthy vegetables and olive oil in which to cook them.” And Satan brought forth deep fried fish and chicken-fried steak so big it needed its own platter. And Man gained more weight and his cholesterol went through the roof.
God then created a light, fluffy white cake, named it “Angel Food Cake” and said, “It is good.” Satan then created chocolate cake and named it “Devil’s Food.”
God then brought forth running shoes so that His children might lose those extra pounds. And Satan gave cable TV with a remote control so Man would not have to toil changing the channels. And Man and Woman laughed and cried before the flickering blue light and gained pounds.
Then God brought forth the potato, naturally low in fat and brimming with nutrition. And Satan peeled off the healthful skin and sliced the starchy center into chips and deep-fried them. And Man gained pounds.
God then gave lean beef so that Man could consme fewer calories and still satisfy his appetite. And Satan created McDonald’s and its 99-cent double cheeseburger. Then said, “You wnat fries with that?” And Man replied, “Yes! And super size them!” And Satan said, “It is good.” And Man went into cardiac arrest.
God sighed and created quadruple bypass surgery.
Then Satan created HMOs.
August 1st, 2007
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