andiesenji

I am also looking forward to following your blog. I do love many Japanese foods. Pickles are a particular passion of mine and I am intrigued at the way almost every ethnic group on earth has found this way of preserving fresh fruits and vegetables. Amazing, isn't it.

I do love pantry cooking. At home my pantry is stocked with so many things that I have to keep a "rotation list" on the inside of the door to make sure I use things before they expire from old age. I even have a small pantry at my office and can turn out a fairly complicated lunch if needed. We have a combination convection/microwave oven which is good for baking as well as heating and in which I have prepared strata, pizza, all kinds of quick and yeast breads and puddings. I have an induction range (like a hot plate) which only I use, as everyone else is afraid of it, and a great old toaster, actually a toater oven made by GE more than 30 years ago which is the best toaster I have every used - it pops open automatically when the cycle is finished. It gets a checkup and rewiring if necessary every ten years from Speedy Appliance Service in Woodland Hills, a place that has renovated most of my antique appliances. With this array of tools, I can fix a lot of meals with little effort. When we moved into this office in 1985 I told my boss that I wanted a kitchen in which I could do more than heat water for tea and warm up a burrito. He gave me carte blanche to do what I wanted. Our employees use it also, but I am the only one who actually prepares meals in it. The pantry is the heart of it.

There is a large Armenian community in the L.A. area, particularly around Glendale and parts of the Valley. Back in the early 50s I spend most of a year out here with my dad and went to Van Nuys highschool. One of my classmates was Sarkis Sarkissian (another was Don Drysdale) who lived fairly close to my dad and I often visited his home and his mom and grandmother and aunts all cooked like demons. I loved everything, Kufta expecially, also the breads, Boereg, meat and also the cheese (little turnovers) and any of the numerous eggplant dishes. I learned to make the Kufta and an apricot/lentil dish as well as the flaky pastry and Boereg. For many years I prepared these only rarely. Then in the early '90s I read the first of Jane Haddam's mysteries about Gregor Demarkian and there were so many references to Armenian foods that it awakened my interest and I dug out some of my ancient recipes. I also contacted an Armenian church, knowing that the ladies auxillaries usualy had a recipe thing going and indeed, they had published a lovely cookbook which I purchased. It is indeed a "crossroads" cuisine but with subtle touches that make it interesting enough that it deserves a niche of its own. Particularly for vegetarians, the many completely vegetarian dishes are wonderful.

I dry the cinnamon basil and holy basil, steep in hot water to make a strong infusion and use it as a rinse in my hair. Lovely aroma.

I've had an Ulu knife for several years and it cuts better than most mezalunas but it takes a little getting used to the different grip but once you get used to it you will find it very handy. I used to make trophies for the Siberian Husky club (engraved glass pictures of sibes) and one year they offered Ulu knives with a Siberian head engraved into the knife as class prizes. I happened to mention that I collected knives and would love to have one and the club gave me an extra one. I really didn't use it for a long time, it was a novelty item. However when I began having more trouble with the arthritis in my right hand I thought of it and gave it a try. I was surprised at how easy it was to use. Do you have this site?Tools for disabled

What did you, and any of you with peaches, do with the loaded crop this year? We only got 5 dozen off our crazy peach tree that we ate as fast as we picked them, but the neighbors loaded me down with about 30 pounds of peaches! I made a ginger dough cobbler, batch of jam, and batch of ginger-spiced peach butter. We gobbled the rest! I am still working on apricots. Plums are ripe and need processing. However when the peaches come in I will be canning some (halves and slices) making spicy peach/mango salsa and canning that, plus preserves, peach butter and of course chutney. If the sugar content is high enough I will dry about 20 pounds and glacé some of them.

Thanks for the pricing info on the Napoleon Apollo, Richard. Curious though about what the dealer told you regarding the plastic tab. My tab never melted and I've routinely taken that grill up past 600 (maybe even 700?) degrees F. over the past 8 years But, I'm sure he has a lot more experience than I do in this area. Oh well, I will consult my local hardware professional this weekend for a carbon steel bit and to see if there's a suitable way to add some sort of melt-proof tab to the damper control on the newer lid. As it turns out, a friend of mine had the lid of his grill stolen (probably by vandals, it's become a trend of sorts around here) so I can pass one of them on to him. Thanks also Dave, for the grill recon. =R= Uh, this may seem a bit on the simple side, but why don't you just get one of the very small vise-grip pliers, (I have one that is 4 1/2 inches long, and the handles are coated with silicone so heat won't transfer), and clamp it on to the tab. I don't have the problem with my old Weber, but I have one of these little vise grips clamped on to the damper on the heater in my greenhouse - poor design, the damper is in a recessed area and it is impossible to grasp it with fingers when the heater is hot. The vise grips have been doing a fine job for about four years.

For the turnips, consider this: Turnip Salad I grate medium to large turnips using the medium fine grater and mix with shredded cabbage and thinly sliced onions. Then follow the directions (*) noted in the cuke and onion salad below. Also add the seeds, dill/caraway/celery. Sometimes I also shred bulb fennel and add to the salad. Gurkensalat -- Cucumber & Onion Salad 2 cups thinly sliced cukes - I generally cut them in half lengthwise and then slice so they are half-moon shape. 2 cups thinly sliced sweet onions. (If you have a really hot onion slice it, place the slices on some paper towels, sprinkle with Kosher salt and leave for 30 minutes, then place in a colander and rinse with cold water.) *Place cukes and onions in a bowl that will allow you to toss them add 1 tablespoon celery seed. (you can substitute dill or caraway seed if you prefer it.) Mix 1/2 cup cider or rice wine vinegar + 1/4 cup water with 1 tablespoon sugar and pour over cukes and onions, toss, cover tightly and place in fridge for about an hour tossing 2 or 3 times during this period. Drain liquid into a measuring cup, save. Allow cukes and onions to drain 10 to 15 minutes in a colander. Use 1/4 cup of the vinegar liquid and add 1/2 cup of sour cream, beat well until creamy. Add a pinch of Kosher salt and a couple of dashes of Angostura bitters. Pour over the cukes and onions cover tightly and chill for 30 minutes. Serve. If you use red or purple onions this will turn out a very pale blue. YIELD: 4-6 servings

They are called Caloro or Caloro Yellow Wax. The simple heat index is 5, the same as Jalapeño. They have a fruity flavor a bit like apple, which makes a nice flavor combined with the tomatillos. (Manzano or Rocoto peppers also have this apple flavor but they are much, much hotter.) You can see a photo of immature ones HERE before they have begun to turn color. Scroll down - they are in alphabetical order. I picked all the ones with color but didn't have enough so picked some not quite ripe. It is okay to use the immature ones, they just don't have all the flavor of the more mature ones. They are easy to grow and the plants bear heavily. I only have 4 plants and got all these peppers. There are a lot more tiny ones and lots of blooms.

I have ordered steaks as gifts for friends from Prather Ranch in No. Calif., with great success. The recipients reported that they were the best they had ever eaten. I don't know if they had tried Niman Ranch but am sure they did not try the others. I checked at their web site and they are sold out at present. Prather Ranch They were recommended to me by a friend in Davis, CA. who shops at a market that carries Prather beef. I have never bought any of the mail order steaks or beef products. A neighbor and I buy a calf and pay the expenses (vet bills, feed, etc.) for raising it for kids who are doing it for a 4-H project. The butcher slaughters it for part of the meat and my neighbor and I split the remainder. We buy registered Angus or Charolais and they are fed premium feed and are butchered quite a bit older than most beef so the steaks are larger than anything you would see in a market. The inspector who checks the abattoir has checked our beef and says it is would be graded as super prime if it needed to be graded.

I was taught that it was bad luck to pass salt directly to another person at the table, you were supposed to place it on the table next to their plate. Every News Years eve there would be food placed on the dining table just before midnight so that the new year would bring sufficient food. We always had Hoppin John on New Years Day for good luck. This was introduced to the family by the cook from the lowcountry. The table was always cleared after dinner and the tablecloth removed because of some superstition. We were never supposed to cross our knife and fork on the plate when we were finished eating. I think it was supposed to mean there would be arguing. And of course dropping silverware meant company was coming...........

Here is the verde (green or tomatillo) sauce I made today. Ingredients cut into chunks. Tomatillos, onions, peppers, Jalapeños are customary but I like these Caloro, they are about the same heat level as the jals, but have a fruity flavor. I usually use 6 to 8 large cloves of raw garlic but since I have a lot of already roasted garlic I am using that instead. Salted, peppered and tossed with oil and roasted garlic. After roasting for 45 minutes in a 450 degree oven. Ready to pulse. Pulsed for 40 seconds. Two quarts of green magic! This sauce is now ready to be combined with chicken stock and cooked down a bit for an enchilada sauce, or with a little pork stock for pork stewed in verde sauce.

I am going to order some of the hot cherry peppers for my boss. He was born and raised in Brooklyn and loves cherry peppers. He keeps trying new brands but always says that they just don't taste the way he remembers them in New York. I have tried making them from several recipes and I didn't get it either. Speaking of pickled peppers, Swab's High Sierra in Lone Pine, California now has an online site. For anyone who has driven up 395 toward Carson City, Tahoe, etc., and stopped at any of the eateries between here and Reno, and sampled Swab's Chileno peppers, they no longer have to rely on folks who live in the area to ship them Swab's products. Swab's High Sierra I have shipped my share of Swab's goodies, from the famous Chilenos to their garlic-stuffed olives or pickled garlic with orange peel to friends and even to strangers who learned that I have local access to their products, to places as far distant as Australia and South Africa, England, Switzerland and Hungary. A friend from North Carolina and I visited another friend in Mammoth (a caterer) a couple of years ago and when he tasted the garlic-stuffed olives he was hooked. He bought a case to take home and less than a year later asked me to send him another along with a mixed case of their other products. I love to make pickles but when there is a superior product on the market I do not bother.

Add 6 for me: Box arrived today. The new John Ash book: Cooking One-on-One In the French Kitchen Garden Kettle Broth to Gooseberry Fool: A Celebration of Simple English Cooking Grains Food of the Sun and What Einstein Told His Cook

Their bagels are at least authentic, not the fluffy ersats bagels that are the main offerings at grocery stores. But who could possibly take a chocolate chip/cranberry bagel seriously. An onion, o.k. not bad, even one with a cheese coat on top, but some are just too, too trendy for me. Years ago I knew the guys who owned the Brooklyn Bagel Bakery in downtown L.A. I lived in Burbank at the time and it wasn't too much of a trip to drive down and pick up a bag full. They were real bagels and the best I have had outside of NYC. They used to pull some for me before they were completely baked so I could freeze them, then thaw and finish baking. Almost as good as fresh. Western bagel bakery used to put out a decent product, when they had only the one bakery on Sepulveda in Van Nuys and sold their product to small vendors. Once they expanded and diversified and began distributing to supermarkets the product went downhill. I and Joy Bagels in the west valley also put out a pretty good product a few years back. They moved and I don't know if they are still in business.

On another note, I was out in the garden this morning, discussing some changes in some of the raised beds with my gardener. We walked back toward the fence that divides my kitchen garden from the big garden and I noticed some leafy vines showing behind the compost bins. I asked Jose what they were and he went to look. It was several huge tomatillo vines growing out of the side of one of the compost bins. We are talking "Day of the Triffids" creatures here. I couldn't get back there but the vines have completely filled the space between the back of the compost bins and the fence (3 feet), from the ground up to 4 feet high (the top of the bins) and spread 10 feet sideways. Jose found some giant tomatillos, the biggest I have ever seen. He pulled out some of the vines but left three since they were doing so well. He picked 15 of these huge fruits and I gave him several, keeping just these. The largest is 3 1/2 inches across and weight 9 1/4 ounces! Verde sauce is on the list of things to do tomorrow.

I grow Brandywine and it is quite good. However for the past couple of years I have preferred the Beefmaster and especially Park's Whopper. I have several plants this year and while they are not coming on as quickly as Celebrity, Mr. Stripey and Cherokee Purple, they now are loaded with marble-sized fruit. Park's Whopper However my absolutely favorite, which I have not been able to grow here, (in Lancaster) in spite of estabilishing a micro climate with a wind screen to protect them from the hot winds) and trying several growing mediums, is the old pink Ponderosa. I love them, they have very few seeds, the flesh is dense and the flavor is outstanding. It seems to be a problem with this area because no one else I know can grow them either. Pink Ponderosa Where is your co op garden?

Thanks, Samhill for the link. The knife is very interesting; looks functional and the design incorporates safety features. Check your local Wal-Mart, if you are near one. They now have an Ulu knife with a generous grip and a very reasonable price, (less than $10.00) which is easy to hold for someone who has arthritic hands. Ulu knife

Two or three years ago I used to shop at the Farmers Market in Woodland Hills, CA. on Fridays, and one vendor sold lettuce, looseleaf, butter or Bibb, Romaine and oakleaf, with the root attached and wrapped in wet newspaper. He said to set the head lettuces in a shallow bowl of water and cover it loosely with a plastic bag but not close the bag, just invert it over the lettuce, and with the longer leaf lettuce place it in a taller, narrower bowl as one would a boquet of flowers and also cover with the plastic bag. These kept very well, on the counter, without refrigeration (but in an air-conditioned house) much longer than cut lettuce would keep. I no longer work Fridays so have no occasion to drive the 70-some miles down below and we have no Farmer's market here, at least for now. We do have an excellent produce market but this is not like independent vendors. I gathered quite a bit of purslane this morning and have it in a vase next to the sink. This is one of the large leaf varieties and behaves much like any succulent, drinks water like a camel but it does stay fresh much longer this way.

I have made up picnic suppers for the Hollywood Bowl, using deli items, mostly salads containing meat or chicken, tucked into pita pockets. There are so many combinations one can please just about everyone. Waldorf salad with the addition of chicken is a particular favorite, some with a bit of curry sauce to make some a bit more spicy. I make deviled eggs, actually several varieties with the addition of various condiments, crumbled bacon, salmon roe, anchovies, and so on. There are some very clever containers made specifically for deviled eggs, that makes it easy to carry them in one of the soft-sided coolers with a blu-ice pack.

Easy Sugar-Free Spicy Ketchup The following is an original recipe for a very easy homemade spicy (or not) ketchup that also is a nice gift from your kitchen. Andie's Sugarless Spicy Ketchup Yield, 10 - 1/2 pint jars. 4 quarts tomatoes, peeles, cooked and strained (may be canned tomatoes) 1 Jalapeño (or other hot) pepper, seeded and chopped (optional, omit if you do not want it spicy) 3 cups apple cider vinegar 2 1/2 cups Splenda 1 Tablespoon Celery seed, ground 1 Tablespoon Allspice, ground 2 Tablespoons Cinnamon, ground 1 Tablespoon Star anise, ground 2 Tablespoons kosher salt (or sea salt if you prefer) 1 Tablespoon Black pepper, Ground Combine all ingredients in an 8-quart, non-reactive pot (stainless steel, enamel or anodized aluminum, do not use shiny aluminum). Cook over low heat, stirring frequently until it is reduced by half. Remove from heat and allow to cool, process in food processor or put through a medium fine food mill so that ketchup is smooth with no lumps. Return to cooking vessel and bring to a simmer, stirring constantly. (may also be heated in microwave, stir after every 5 minutes of heating) Using a canning funnel, ladle into hot, sterilized 1/2 pint jars, allow 1/2 inch headroom. Wipe rims and apply flat canning lid and ring but do not tighten. Place in hot water bath and process for 15 minutes. Tighten ring. (May use 5 pint jars if you wish.) This is an original recipe by Andie Note: I do a lot of canning. For hot water processing I use an electric roaster. It has a wire rack that covers the entire bottom and will hold more jars than the typical round canner or stockpot. It is also not as deep so it is easy to place and remove the jars. It maintains the correct temperature and additional boiling water can be added from a teakettle.

There is a bagel shop on Imperial in Brea, Orange County, Calif. that advertises 47 varieties of bagels plus a dozen bialy varieties. I refuse to go in the place when I visit friends nearby. Invariably I will be behind someone in line who can't decide on what "flavors" they want. Idiots..

You can drill holes in the lid for rivets. I have one of the big kettle grills, and have drilled two holes in it for thermometer probes. I rarely use it now, since I bought a larger combination unit but keep it in case I need the extra grill area for parties.

My advice is to cook the wild rice in chicken stock and water, half and half. If there are directions on the package, add about 1/4 more liquid than it says. It will take much longer to cook that white rice, about a third longer than whole brown rice. You can tell it is done when the ends split. It almost looks as if it is trying to turn itself inside out like popcorn. Underdone wild rice is hard and has an unplesant feel in the mouth.

I generally do this: Bread & Butter Fridge pickles In fact my gardener picked a bunch of pickling cukes for me this morning and I will probably make a batch this evening, after it cools down a bit.