Posts filed under 'Food and Cooking'
With the recent sad events in CB lives, I got to thinking of childhood celebrations. Food, of course. Birthday? Christmas? Thanksgiving?
My own favorite birthday food was Mama’s spaghetti and canned spinach and garlic bread. No, in Florida during those times fresh vegetables were unacceptable.
But the meal I remember best was my brother’s birthday parties. He was at least 16 and had friends that could eat mountains of food. He wanted shrimp. No prebreaded shrimp in those days. So my mother would go to the fish market and get at least 5 pounds of shrimp, also lobster for me. Huh? Florida. Anything from the ocean wasn’t that expensive yet. So there she sat for hours in the kitchen, deveining and delegging and breading 5 lbs of shrimp. Cutting mountains of potatoes into French fries. Deep fat frying was the thing in those days. No one had ever heard of healthy eating.
Oh, that was good. I love shrimp. But I LOVE lobster. Mama wasn’t good at all on cakes. So we must have had lemon meringue and chocolate meringue pies. Her 2 desserts. All those boys would gather around the table, along with my father, mother, other brother, and me. Eat, joke, laugh, eat, eat, eat. Well, I drooling now.
How about your favorite childhood meal?
June 29th, 2007
Easter is this upcoming Sunday. I imagine for each of us that means something different. For some of us it’s a day of religious observance. For others it’s just another day. At my house, it means that certain traditions must be observed, many of which revolve around food. In case there was any doubt, my DD19 called from college the other day to refresh my memory.
“Mom, have you ordered the Honey Baked Ham yet?”
“Well, no, it’s not something you really need to pre-order. You call the day before, they give you a number, you go pick it up. But are we doing that this year?”
“Of course we are! We always have ham.” Um, no, we don’t.
“Well, that’s a lot of ham for just the two of us,” I said, still counting all the years we did not have ham. “And I’m not sure your brother is going to be able to come home.”
“I’ll eat all the leftovers. I’m a starving college student, remember?”
“That’s a lot of ham.”
“I have friends.” I wonder how many of them I’ll be feeding this weekend. “And don’t forget the Jell-o, we have to have Jell-o. And don’t put anything in it.”
“Yes, plain cherry Jell-o in the Waterford bowl. I remember.”
“In the what? What are you talking about?”
“Just something I wrote about on my blog.”
“You wrote about Jell-o. On your blog.”
“Yep, sure did.”
There was a pause while she digested this information. “No one reads your blog, do they?”
“Nope.”
“That might be why. You are so weird. Don’t forget the rolls. And potatoes, the good ones.”
“Rolls and good potatoes. Got it.” I make bad potatoes? “What about dessert?”
Requests for Easter dessert vary from year to year. It could be cheesecake or grasshopper pie or brownies with ice cream or–
“Could you make fudge?”
Fudge? That’s not what I was expecting. Fudge is pretty much a Christmas thing in our house. But then I remembered that we skipped a few traditions this past year so we could go on vacation the week before Christmas. I never got around to making fudge.
“Sure, I can make fudge. As long as you take all the left–”
She interrupted, “Mom, don’t worry, I’ll take all the fudge too.”
“Good. So is that everything?” I know darn well it’s not.
“Well, you know we have to have asparagus. And salad.” Another pause. “And maybe you could make Christmas cookies?”
Sigh.
Traditions. You ignore them at your own risk.
By my clock, it’s a half week before Easter. Do you know what your traditions are?
April 3rd, 2007
OK, clearly it didn’t work. So -
Berry Lemon Bars
Serves 8 as a tart, makes 16 2” bars
Based on “Lemon Crumb Tart” from Elinor Klivan’s Bake and Freeze Desserts
Crumb Crust
1 ¼ C cake flour
1/3 C powdered sugar
10 T cold butter, cut up
Crumb Topping
1/3 C unbleached flour
1/3 C brown sugar
4 T cold butter, cut up
1 ½ C fresh or frozen unsweetened raspberries or blueberries
Lemon Filling
1 ½ C sugar
4 large eggs
¼ C fresh lemon juice
1 t baking powder
¼ C unbleached flour
2 t grated lemon zest
powdered sugar for dusting
Preheat the oven to 350º F. Butter an 8” square pan or a 9” springform pan.
Crust: Mix flour, powdered sugar and butter, ‘til pea-sized crumbs form. Press into the bottom and 1” up the sides of the pan. Bake 15 minutes. The crust will shrink slightly, but is only partially baked. Set aside.
Crumb Topping: Without washing the bowl, add the 3 topping ingredients, and mix ‘til large bean-sized crumbs form. Set aside.
Filling: Put sugar, eggs and lemon juice into a large mixing bowl. Mix ‘til just smooth. Sift the baking powder and flour together, then, with the lemon zest, stir into the egg mixture, just ‘til smooth.
Pour the lemon mixture over the crust – it should not be allowed to over top the edge. Gently berries on the lemon mixture before putting it into the oven. Bake 25 minutes. Scatter topping over the filling and bake 25 minutes or more, ‘til the middle is set when gently shaken. Adding frozen berries slows baking time. If omitting berries, or your oven runs hot, reduce each baking time by 5 minutes.
Let cool thoroughly before attempting to remove from pan – draw a knife around the edge to loosen. Sprinkle with powdered sugar after cooled.
March 29th, 2007
well, i was going to do homework but yeah, it’s boring. and i noticed it’s almost at 130 comments and since some of us can’t see past them we need a new post.
first go here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vz8AuKmItwM
(if you want to skip him talking click at 37 seconds and it gets right to the good stuff)
my mom’s rule of thumb was always to try something, and if i didn’t like it i didn’t have to eat it, but i had to try it. this has turned me into someone who is willing to try any food (that’s reasonable made/cooked; i never lost enough of my mind to try the Bowl- you know, when you and your friends basically mix everything left on you and all your friend’s plates and cups together and dare someone to eat it. in my group of friends, someone ALWAYS tried it. and then normally went into a dark coner to groan for a couple of hours. i miss those idiots).
anyways, i eat fish eyes (white fish, for the most part), pig ears (my friend’s mom Angela used to make them for me when she knew i was spending the night; they tasted so damn good), cow tongue, snake from Arizona (my dad would bring it back), and probably some other stuff i’m just not thinking of that makes my friends go ewww. of course, some of my friend’s go ewww when i eat sushi.
so what’s the grossest thing you’ve ever eaten?
(this better stop all that damn brownie talk that makes me sound like Homer Simpson drooling)
January 29th, 2007
I’m not technically supposed to be ‘on stage’ until the weekend, so let’s just start the weekend early, shall we?
What’s the big deal about designer labels? I’m not talking about the high prices. If something is exactly what you want, the quality is good, the right color and style, particularly suits your needs, etc. – if its right and you have the money go ahead and get it. But what’s the big deal about whose name is on it? Would it be any less the perfect handbag or pair of shoes if the label wasn’t recognizable?
There’s this kind of fish, a type of puffer fish, called fugu which is apparently extremely toxic unless it is fixed a very specific way in which case its a great delicacy. Who figured out what the right way was and, more to the point, why? How did they know they finally got it right, experiment? “Oops, there goes another customer. Back to the drawing board.”
That woman in the Bathfitters commercial (Do you get this commercial? This woman walks into her bathroom and pulls back the shower curtain only to discover that her tub is covered in grime and mold, really and truly filthy. And she’s shocked. Apparently she never noticed before): what happens when her bathtub gets filthy again? Does she just keep buying new ones? I mean, she never cleaned it before, why would she start now?
Has anyone every been enticed to buy a particular perfume based on those scented cards stuck in magazines? Have you ever decided against buying the magazine because of them?
Does Bob have a middle name? If so, what is it?
Do you realize that every culture on the planet has figured out how to make alcoholic beverages from something? I mean even from things like rice and potatoes. Why?
~~~~~~~~~~
P.S. after making fun of my pansies, you guys probably don’t deserve this … but here’s a snap of Cerise and her friends anyway. 
Yes today was the day I took my cousin’s family to see the National Zoo.
And no trip to the National Zoo is complete if you don’t have photos of …
PANDAS! Baby on the left and Mama on the right.
January 12th, 2007
Seeing as we haven’t finalized the schedule yet, I’ll continue the free-for-all and upload the photo Glamour-Geek sent me of the dessert bar.
I’ve modified the picture to make it clickable. Lessons on how to do this coming soon in the Author How-To’s. – Bryan
Help yourself. Hmmm, delicious.
January 2nd, 2007
Since many of you have no doubt recently made resolutions that involve food and the intake thereof, and since we do have a food category, I thought I’d be nice and post one of my kids’ favorite recipes for you. They’ve each asked me to make this for their birthday cake for the past several years, though it is not technically a cake. They don’t care. It’s really, really good. And you can stick birthday candles in it.
Fudgy Caramel Wedges
From Pillsbury Chocolate Lovers III (c 1988)
BAR:
2 oz. (2 squares) semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
1 oz. (1 square) unsweetened chocolate, chopped
½ cup margarine or butter
¾ cup Pillsbury’s Best All Purpose or Unbleached Flour
(please note this is a Pillsbury recipe, I just use whatever flour I have on hand)
¾ cup sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 eggs
½ cup coarsely chopped pecans (or more)
TOPPING:
10 vanilla caramels, unwrapped (duh!)
2 tablespoons milk
½ oz. (½ square) unsweetened chocolate, chopped
2 teaspoons margarine or butter
1 teaspoon light corn syrup
Heat oven to 325 F. Line 9-inch round cake pan with foil; grease.
(I use a springform pan and I don’t grease it.)
In medium saucepan over low heat, melt 2 oz semi-sw choc, 1 oz unsw choc and ½ cup marg, stirring constantly. Cool slightly.
Add flour, sugar, vanilla and eggs; blend well. (I beat the eggs, sugar and vanilla in a mixing bowl, add the flour, and then add the chocolate mixture.)
Pour into prepared pan.
Sprinkle nuts over batter.
Bake at 325 F. For 20-30 minutes or until set (kind of puffs up in the middle).
In small saucepan over low heat, melt caramels and milk, stirring frequently (constantly) until smooth (this takes approximately forever).
Drizzle, using a squiggly pattern of your choice, over the bars.
In same saucepan (don’t wash it first) over low heat, melt ½ oz unsw choc, 2 tsp marg and corn syrup, stirring constantly.
Drizzle this over the bars, as well.
Cool completely; cut into wedges. Makes 12 to 16 servings (unless you’re serving my children, who want huge pieces, then there are fewer servings).
Good with ice cream, too.
I guess if there were ever any left over, and there never is, I would store it covered on the counter.
There you go, my contribution to your downfall. Why, you’re welcome.
December 31st, 2006
First, one issue resolved: The tiny font in the comment window has been fixed. I don’t know how long I had to search to find that little snippet of code that was making it so small. It would have helped if it had had a name that was even the tiniest bit meaningful. Heh.
Second, third, fourth etc.: How are we going to work this thing? I know Tal and Tigress had talked about sharing a post a month (week???) on something enlightening, but, aside from that,
- do those of you/us who are planning to contribute want to be on a schedule or just post at will?
- do those of you who will be in receive mode want a regular schedule of posts, by author? Some of the time? All of time? Never?
How about topics?
- poster’s choice?
- some regular topics, like craft, reviews, recommendations?
- occasionally by request?
It seems like the best/easiest way to hand things would be to let posters do so at will, unless someone wants to be responsible for a weekly/monthly post of a particular topic. Unless we find ourselves with 6 posts a day or 6 posts a month, that should work. Right?
What does everyone think? BTW, is anyone in touch with our two T-ladies to know if they still plan to post here?
December 30th, 2006
And an explanation, of sorts.
WordPress provides a wide variety of “themes” for its bloggers. A theme is like a template. If you find one you like as is, that’s great. Otherwise, you might go for the general colour scheme, or for the layout.
I chose the one I did for its layout and tools. So, not our colour scheme or images. I’m creating new icons and adding categories and playing with the colours. Each step is really four (+) steps:
- make the change
- get the change incorporated into the files that run the blog
- upload the altered files to Bryan’s web server
- Test it and do it all over again if it’s not right.
Right now I’ve stopped playing with the styles (colors and fonts, mostly) and am doing the icons.
I’ve created a few categories for testing purposes, but if y’all have any great ideas for categories, send them to Lori to post on her blog, please.
And, for some reason, WP is putting extra spaces before my list. Grrrr.
December 11th, 2006
I couldn’t remember whether we had a tagline or not. Changed the blog name, but that’s about it. I’m going to leave the rest of the design up to you. Delete or change this post when you can so that I know you got in okay.
Edited to add all categories so that we quit getting the error when choosing a caategory from the sidebar. – Bryan
September 20th, 2006
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