Shannon_Elise

After having my virgin expirience cooking soft shell crabs last spring I am going to start stalking the fish monger here until I see them. Other things that are worth the wait: Good sweet corn Ripe Strawberries and, be still my heart, morels Shannon

It is an official SPAM calander bought at one of those center mall calender stores. I just got it down off my wall so I could read the company name: Day Dream Brand. The name of this calender is SPAM Crazy Tasty Just for kicks I thought I would list the "recipes" starting with Dec.03 through Dec.04: Spicy Spam Party Dip Spam Cupcakes Crunchy Spam Salad Dipped Spam Swiss Sandwiches Spam Puffs Bang Bang Spam (Spam salad in wonton cups) California SPAMBURGER Hamburger Spam Kabobs Spam Torte Rustic Appetizer Spam Rueben Dip Spam Anna Bread Spam Oven Roasted Turkey Gyros Spam Oven Roasted Turkey Mega-Muffins (a holiday treat of Spam, cornbread stuffing mix, and dried cranberries) Merry Christmas and Happy Heartburn! Shannon

Last year as a joke my mother bought me a "Spam" calender, complete with a recipe for each month. February (or March, I forget) had "Spam Cupcakes" as the food of the month. I jokingly told my mother that I was going to make them for her. She took me seriously. I am sad to say that I made them. The cupcakes required grating the block of processed animal parts on a box grater. I now wish that I had worn a glove, as it took 3 washings to get the smell off my hand. It was then mixed with egg, bread crumbs and milk (are you grossed out enough yet?). Following that it was pressed into muffin tins and baked. After a brief stint in the oven I had to waste one of my piping bags to pipe instant (yes instant) mashed potatos in a faux-icing swirl on the top, then back in the oven to brown slightly. Did I mention the brown-sugar/mustard glaze that went on before the taters? It was like a demented, fermented shepard's pie. Nasty. To redeem myself I made Thomas Keller's recipe for Pot Au Feu from "The French Laundry Cookbook" that weekend to restore my faith in myself that I can make real food. And yes my mother ate a cupcake, I couldn't get past the smell. Shannon edited for spelling.

I think of Food Network kind of like Mtv. Food Network started out with wonderful programing (and it still has a few great/informative shows) and has slowly changed into "Top 5" and "Unwrapped" type shows, just as Mtv once showed music videos and now you are lucky to see one if you stay up late or watch TRL. When I first got cable I was so excited to watch Food Network and now I find that I watch more of the Fine Living Network for informative programs. Shannon

My family knows that I have not been able to sleep when they wake up to baked goods on the table. When I can't sleep, I don't eat, I bake. The other night I was up at midnight, walked out to the kitchen, spied a bowl of lemons and made some decadent lemon bars. On varying occasions I have made Challah, chocolate chip cookies, brownies, crumb cake etc. Shannon

You could make achiote paste with it. It usually consists of annatto seed, allspice, cumin seeds, black peppercorns, cloves, habanero peppers, orange juice, white vinegar, garlic, salt and lemon juice (all in various amounts, there are tons of recipes for it on the internet). Shannon

NulloModo- Did you know that they sell Skyline Chili canned in the store and at Sam's Club? I will admit that Skyline is the only fast-food chain I have visited in the past year, however I would gladly trade you that for fresh soft shell crab any day. Shannon

My pasta rolling machine hates me. Shannon

I am insanely jealous of all of you who have such access to these beauties. Last year I had the luck of finding them one week at a local market (I live in Columbus, Ohio) and snatched up as many as I thought I could eat. I did them just in a little flour and pan fried, and deep fried with a batter then on some french bread. Loved it both ways. If I find them this year, I have to try grilled. Luckily my dad (parents, I still live at home, I'm 21 and still at college) was grossed out by the entire concept of them, so my mother and I relished twisting their little legs off and eating the entire thing in front of him. Shannon

Clothier- Your Thanksgiving dinner reminds me of our recent Easter dinner. My grandmother had decided that we should have the meal at her house. She is not the best cook in the world (unlike others, I have not learned a damn thing food related from my grandma except how not to do things). She has prefaced this by saying she wanted to cook everything and my mother could bring the deviled eggs and she "allowed" me to make dessert. After grilling her, she said that she was "making" those brown and serve rolls so I insisted on baking some bread. When we got to her house (at the preset time) she was running around like a chicken with her head cut off. The meal consisted of the Honey Baked Ham store's Roasted Turkey Breast, which she managed to render into plastic by putting the damn thing in the oven and forgetting about it. On the side was canned cranberry sauce (this is Easter right?) that was still in it's cylindrical shape. Also served was "homemade" stuffing, which was StoveTop (I saw the box in the trash). The gravy that she insisted everyone put on the stuffing was a combination of two jars of Heinz gravy (regular and fat free). She then stood over everyone as they ate, insisting that they were not eating enough and asking what she had done wrong (I remained silent). Oh, I almost forgot, my father is not a fan of turkey so she made him ham. She opened a can of processed ham (glorified Spam) and burned it in the toaster oven. Needless to say I had a half a slice of turkey and a hard boiled egg from an earlier Easter Egg hunt for dinner. Dessert turned out great though, a cinnamon cheesecake with Ceylon, China Cassia, and Vietnamese Cassia cinnamon. Bread was a greek easter bread with Mahlab. As for my own dinner party disasters, once I was serving Thomas Kellers "Pot au Feu" from The French Laundry Cookbook to the same family my sister and brother in law (both 27) refused to eat the weird white vegetables on their plate (turnips!). They wouldn't even try them. Meanwhile, their son, my seven year old nephew tried every bit on his plate. Even my 1 1/2 year old neice was stealing away the bread that had been spread with roasted bone marrow. Yet my sister and brother in law's plates remained rather full. It was infuriating to go through all that work and realize that they would have eaten more at McDonald's. I had to tell them that the creme fraiche sauce that was served with dessert was kind of like "heavy cream and sour cream" otherwise they wouldn't have eaten it (they don't like french food??). Okay, so my situation is not all that bad, but it feels good to rant to those that understand the situation! Shannon

bleudauvergne- I know that I am fairly new to egullet, but I had a question. My grandmother is visiting family in Austria this summer, and I am quite sure that I can fit in one of her suitcases. Would you mind if I took a bus/train from Vienna to Paris? I am a petite blonde who will be waving enthusiastically with no luggage! I think that I joined egullet (although I have lurked here for over 6 months) just in time for this blog. I wonder how long it is going to take me to save up to finally visit France. Your pictures and words are the motivation I need to get me to move my ass and get a third job. Thanks. Shannon

Right now I am plodding my way through "Red Meat Cures Cancer" by Starbuck O'Dwyer. I am not sure how much I like it yet, very dry humor (the best kind), but a little bit too over the top. Alas, I am only 20 pages into it, so I can't be the best judge of it yet. Looks like with my horrid use of comma's and apostrophes I should read "Eats Shoots and Leaves". Shannon

I must preface this post by stating my current living situation. I am a 21 year old college student who still lives at home. All of my cookbooks are on my bookshelves in my room (along with my Le Cruseut Cookware, which my family is not allowed to touch). Not including all of my mother's cookbooks, which I occasionally use, I have approx. 76 cookbooks (with one on the way: "The New York Times Passover Cookbook". Shannon