MelissaH

I need a shirt like that, I think. You scared me for a minute, Kerry. I thought you were going all Sweeney Todd on us! The whole day sounds like a completely enjoyable episode. MelissaH

That's one of the reasons I treasure my meet-ups so much, and work hard to make an opening in my schedule each week. We moved here about 6.5 years ago, and like many other small college towns, this isn't the easiest place to make friends outside the university community. Add to that the fact that I work in a largely male field, and for whatever reason many of my hobbies seem to be favored more by men than by women, and I was having a hard time finding girlfriends. I love the diversity which I lack in other parts of my life.) I just wish we had more options for places to go, although we always seem to spend a lot of time comparing restaurants we've visited! Of course you count, as long as you aren't wiping your nose on your sleeve. That would truly be unladylike. (Of course, I say this only because we spend a lot of our time talking about decidedly unladylike subjects, such as cute (human, not pork) butts, and whether we care more about butts, legs, or something else!) MelissaH

We generally think about things a week at a time. For us, the first consideration is the week's schedule. Specifically, are there things going on that will affect our dinner plans? Are there nights when we're going to have company? If there's a hockey game, we know we'll need something fast and easy that night. If there's a concert, we'll generally have a little more time than we will for a hockey game. In either case, sometimes we're able to work our schedules such that we can eat lunch together, which means we don't need to worry so much about dinner. Sometimes one or the other of us has a meeting over dinnertime. Those nights, whoever's not at the meeting often uses the opportunity to make something that the other doesn't particularly like...or downright hates! Some days, we're lucky and one of us has a clear schedule to make something that takes a little more effort, either because we get home early enough or because we'll have time to do the prep the evening before. If we're thinking a couple of days ahead, we'll pull something from the freezer in enough time for it to thaw. We also consider the weather as we plan our meals. Will there be a "soup day"? Or will it be nice enough outside that we don't mind firing up the grill? That said, sometimes our plans fall through. Those are the days we rely on our pantry and freezer staples, such as pasta. If we were so inclined, we could probably eat from pantry and freezer for a month, with fresh milk and veg supplements added in. We generally try to construct our meals such that we can eat leftovers for lunches, or renovate leftovers into a different meal. Case in point: last week we had stir-fry with rice on Saturday, and meatloaf on Sunday night. Tuesday night we had a friend joining us for a quick dinner before an 11 PM skate-and-shoot session on the ice. The local supermarket had decent-looking red peppers at a decent price. I combined leftover rice and chopped-up leftover meatloaf with a little shredded cheese binder and used the mixture to stuff the peppers. As far as shopping, the one supermarket left in our town is really lousy for most things, although occasionally they'll have better prices than the Wegman's in the city (closest one is 45 minutes away) on produce but quality can be dubious. We have a small market in town with a terrific meat counter and terrific sausages they make themselves, but very limited produce and dairy. We have a farm market the other side of town from the meat-counter market that's a very good place to buy produce. And about once a week, I find myself in the city for other reasons, and on those visits I try to go to Wegman's, where I don't mind shopping or spending time but try not to make special one-purpose trips. Generally speaking, we look at the ads to see what's on special that week. If there's something notable, we put it on the list and find a way to work it into the week's menu. We're both thankful that we have enough of a knowledge base that we can punt, if need be. We usually don't plan out each week's meals to the hilt; we leave a day or two open, which gives us the flexibility to use the fresh ingredients we buy for other purposes than whatever our initial intent was, because it seems like we never have a week go exactly as planned! One thing that's saved us more than once is that both of us like to cook, and have enough of a solid knowledge base that we can improvise as needed. When we've had students over, this is the thing that surprises many of them. MelissaH

McD's is great for on-the-road food that you eat in the car en route. (That's about the only time we eat there.) It's all eatable with just one hand, and they don't cover the sandwiches with shredded lettuce that then showers everywhere. When the fries are good, they're terrific, which is important in the car because we don't do ketchup or anything else for dipping. And when the fries are good, they're better than any other fries I've had except the ones you buy at the two carts outside the bell tower in Brugge...but McD's is a lot more accessible and less expensive here. MelissaH

Around here, we use Utica Club, Old Style if we've imported any, or whatever other cheap beer we have on hand. Pig's Eye isn't found in this area, alas. MelissaH

I guess you could sort of call me a luncher. Except that we usually clear out by lunchtime. There's a group of us, 6 when everyone's in town and available. One of us is currently a professor. Two of us have taught in the past. One is currently a student. Four of us have husbands who are professors. One of us has a husband who is not a professor. Four of us have dogs. Three of us have cats. One of us has a hamster. One of us is allergic to furry pets. Three of us have kids, and one of us has grandkids. Three of us work as sports officials. Two of us are currently in physical therapy. Two of us have been to the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto, making the other four jealous. Three of us knit, and we're holding out for the other three to bring some kind of needlecraft at some point. We come from all over, big cities and small towns, east and west and Europe. No topic is off-limits. We, too, get together on Wednesdays for a couple of hours, usually mid-morning till about lunchtime. Our favorite meeting place is a coffeehouse downtown, one known for their pastries, sandwiches, soups, and salads. They're in the midst of an expansion into the building next door, where they plan to install a pizza oven and stretch their repertoire. And unfortunately, at the moment the construction noise makes discussion a little difficult...not to mention the thought of sawdust near the kitchen! This is a small town, with limited options, but we're ready to explore them for the immediate future. We're also discussing an opportunity to expand our horizons by staging a group party-dinner at one of the Korean restaurants in the city, accompanied by another friend/professor and his family---who are Korean. (Spring Break is coming up!) I wish we were closer to you and Anna, Kerry. Any chance you two might feel like a road trip sometime after the snow's done for a while? MelissaH

Braise them, shred the meat off the bone, and use for ravioli or other dumpling stuffing? MelissaH

The lasagna recipe I've gotten the most raves for is a take on something from Cook's Illustrated: it's a no-tomato, bechamel and spinach lasagna. I usually do a variation with added mushrooms. I'm not thrilled with the flavor of the cottage cheese they use, so I generally go for ricotta instead. For the pasta, I use no-bake noodles---but I give them a bath in hot tap water for about five minutes, then pull them out onto kitchen towels to drip-dry. The texture seems to be less leathery that way, and you don't need to walk that fine line between too-much-liquid-soggy-lasagna and not-enough-liquid-yucky-noodles. That, to me, was a big revelation. MelissaH

Spiced roasted chickpeas.

Or any kind of filled dumpling. I wouldn't call it a party, in the traditional sense of the world, but the Polish Catholic church in my hometown spends a week getting ready for their big festival every August. Even though I'm neither Polish nor Catholic (which means I miss out on all of the inside jokes) I try to go and help at least a few mornings, because I enjoy the process of making pierogi, and because I get to learn from the best! MelissaH

I did, in fact, try it with turkey, as I needed something to do with some stuff from the freezer but not a lot of hands-on time. I had a single breast and a single leg/thigh quarter from the freezer, the other half of our Thanksgiving turkey. I thawed them, put them in a pot with a couple of halved onions, a handful of baby carrots, a celery stalk which I broke into smaller pieces, a bay leaf, a few peppercorns, and barely enough water to cover. On the stove it went to simmer for a couple of hours, at which point I took out the veg and tasted them but deemed them spent, removed the meat from the bones and put it back in the pot, and strained and defatted the resulting broth. At this point, I sliced a couple of onions. I sauteed them in a little of the schmaltz in a small frying pan, deglazed the pan with a bit of the broth, and added the whole shebang to the pot with the turkey meat. I added a little extra water because it seemed like it needed a little more liquid, a couple of handfuls of frozen peas because it looked really boring without any color, and salt because it really needed it. When it came back to a boil, I covered the top with some homemade ricotta gnocchi that I'd made a while ago and stashed (you guessed it) in the freezer, put the lid back on the pot, and let it go till the gnocchi were cooked through. There wasn't much left, and we were too hungry to think about photos. MelissaH

I just rediscovered this post. And wouldn't you know: not long ago, the King Arthur Flour blog posted this about baking cookies and brownies in a waffle iron. Since I do love the crunchy edges of brownies, I think I may need to give this a go. Now, I'm off to cook the waffle batter that's been resting in the fridge overnight.... MelissaH

Love it, and look forward to more pictures when you use it some more! MelissaH

We have half a turkey, part of our freezer cleanout, thawing. It should be ready tomorrow, when the snow comes back. Would it be wrong to make turkey and dumplings with it? MelissaH

We definitely need to go through ours. It strikes me that this might not be a bad time of year to go through the freezer, as if we discover that we need a little extra short-term storage space, we might be able to find it in the walk-out. Wish I could find veal bones here. They don't seem to exist anywhere. MelissaH

Make that +4 on the pressure cooker. I don't think there's any other way to be sure you'll break down the connective tissue in the timespan you have. MelissaH

You're welcome. If you haven't done so already, you might also try toasting the oats first. I usually stir them around in a non-stick frying pan until they're starting to pop a little, smell toasty, and you see a bit of steam coming off. This usually takes me about the same amount of time as it takes the water to boil. Then carefully add to the hot water, stir, put the lid on, and go to bed. MelissaH

Dinner went over very well. The first comment from most of the girls: "It's not pasta and chicken!" That's apparently most of the repertoire of the one residence hall dining hall that's open during break, for both lunch and dinner. The entire team minus the one player who's taking an intersession course and the one who's running with the Olympic torch for a few weeks still, both head and assistant coaches, and an advisor who frequently travels with the team and is a friend of ours too, came over. That's a total of 28 people. The team had an afternoon practice, but after that, probably half a dozen of the more kitchen-inclined headed over immediately afterward and helped prep, which was an immense help. *We found 6-inch tortillas, and bought 11 packages of 8 tortillas each. We heated 8 of those packages, and had one lonely tortilla left. *We wound up with probably half a dozen servings of pork left over, from what we cooked. They're vacuum-sealed and waiting in the walk-out until we get around to them. *We made two rice cookers full. We probably could have gotten away with just one rice cooker of rice, but it was getting down to almost nothing by the time people were slowing down. *I made a double batch of =Mark's BBQ sauce. One batch would not have been enough. *Casey made a huge batch of mole. Lots left over, but there's not a whole lot more work involved in making a big batch than making a small batch, so we always make a big batch. *We probably would have been fine with just two pounds of black beans, but the leftovers will freeze just fine, or go into black bean soup, or can get made into refried black beans, or other dishes, so again I don't mind having them around. *We now know that most of the team adores mangos. We'd had a couple left over from another event, so we showed the earlycomers how to deal with them, and put a bowlful of cubes out on the table with everything else. They were the first thing to vanish. *Ditto on the guac. We bought pre-made stuff, but doctored it up with fresh avocado and cilantro. It went fast, too. *We ran through about a pound of shredded cheese, maybe a little more. We have lots left over, because we'd gotten 4 pounds. I think we might need to make a point of acquiring a bag of chips, so we can have chips, refried black beans, and cheese for dinner one of these nights. *We went through nearly an entire squirt bottle of low-fat sour cream, which we thinned with a touch of cream for easier squirting. It's great for easy application and portion control. *We only needed about a head of lettuce. Lots left over for salads this week. *I made a batch of Rick Bayless's quick pickled red onion. Those who liked them, loved them. *Lots of cole slaw left over. Had I known how well the mangos would go, I might have skipped this in favor of more mango. *Carrots are a more popular vegetable with sour cream/salsa/cilantro dip than either celery or red pepper. *I got apples (Braeburn) and pears (Bosc) from the orchard store up the hill, and we totally spaced putting them out. I do have a baggie of crumble topping in the freezer, so I'll probably bake up a small crumble for us tonight. The rest will go down in the walk-in. *Some of the choc chip cookies and brownies went, but the big hit of the desserts was the rice krispy treats, especially the batch I made with a higher proportion of marshmallow goop. I'll probably freeze most of the rest of the cookies and brownies. Some will go to the kind folks who sharpen my skates, when I see them on Sunday night. Some I may send into the office. And some will sit there for a while, chilling out. *Washing and drying dishes, and packaging up leftovers, goes really quickly when you have a dozen volunteers helping! All in all, it was a great evening, if a somewhat tiring day for us. We'd be happy to feed the team again next year, if the timing works out for everyone. And judging from the responses we got, they'd be thrilled with a repeat of this year's menu. MelissaH

Marge, Nope, I've only ever done a single batch at a time. I'm usually only making it for me, and a single batch is enough for a while. MelissaH

Yep, the yield is about right, and about what we figured on. We had three pieces, each 6-7 lbs, with bone and skin. We also rendered out a lot of lard...some of which will get used to fry up mole paste later today. MelissaH

The pig is cooked. (It made it into the oven before I started the brownie batter.) We started with about 21 lbs of raw pork shoulder (that's about 9.5 kg) on the bone, which we slow-roasted. After cooking, we have about 4 kg of shredded meat, which works out to be about 130 g per serving for 30 servings. (That's a little more than 1/4 lb cooked weight per serving, for those of you who prefer stupid American units.) Rice krispy treats are made but not yet cut. Second batch of brownies will get baked tonight, cooled overnight, and cut in the morning; one batch is a 9 by 13 inch pan. (We ate some of the first batch just after I baked them, so we'll actually wind up with more like 1.5 batches of brownies. I cut the first batch into 2-inch squares, but I think I'll cut those in half or possibly even in quarters before serving them tomorrow. On the savory side, 4 lbs of dried black beans have been sorted and are now soaking. Dip will get put together tonight also. Still need to get out to buy cabbage and apples and onions. And the rest we'll finish up tomorrow. (And there's a fire in the woodstove downstairs. The floor down there is cold!) MelissaH

Marge, Yes, fully cooked. I use the salt because I find without it, the oatmeal tastes flat, even if you use good-quality stuff and toast it first. But a little salt might also help keep nasties away during the overnight rest. I use it mainly because it tastes so much better. MelissaH

I'm going to put in another plug for the overnight method: boil 4 cups of water with a pinch of salt. Take off the heat, stir in 1 cup steel-cut oats, put the lid on the pot, and let it sit overnight. In the morning, heat what you want to eat (either in the pot on the stove, or in the microwave). Store what you don't eat in the fridge and heat and eat over the next few days. No special equipment required. MelissaH

I, unfortunately, am not going to be able to make it this year. MelissaH

It's the day before. Here's where we are: *We shopped yesterday. *I'm about to start the second batch of brownies; I already have the first batch waiting in the freezer along with all the balls of cookie dough. *The brownies need to get in and out of the oven this morning, so the oven will be available for the pork all afternoon. *We still need to get cabbage for cole slaw, apples to go with dessert, and onions because we only have two left in the house. *Grapes aren't gonna happen, at $4/lb this week. *This afternoon, we'll be sorting dried beans and then getting them in to soak. *We're serving water to drink. When the team asked what they could bring, we said that if they wanted anything to drink other than water, bring that. (Water was the only option at a team dinner this weekend, so we don't feel bad in offering only water.) *We may carbonate a keg of water, so seltzer will also be available. *We had a tough time finding good limes, but once we're done with prep, we'll see if we have enough limes left to make at least a little bit of syrup for limonatas. Now, time to start chopping chocolate for those brownies! MelissaH