mhadam

schmaltz was used as a spread, as a treat, in my parents home on some nice rye with a sprinkling of corse salt my parents always had a jar in the fridge of it.

Breakfast -- as i mentioned earlier I overslept this morning so I had the leftover salatka that John bought from Rosmart and a bite of his pasztet. I made John two (minus one bite) of the pasztets and left them in a little too long in the toaster oven - but they were still tasty. Here's the prep for lunch -- the luxdamer swiss cheese, some gouda slices, turkey and cucumber. At lunch, John and I will split the piz, again from Rosmart, and the sandwich. The piz (potato dumpling filled with meat) will be nuked in the cafe at work. Pictures that I promised: wasabi peas some dried dragonfruit from TJ's the garlic salsa that was used for the eggplant my tea drawer close up of the tea drawer and some treats the pistachoes from TJ's (chile and lemon) and a different type of baked dough rounds -- these are puffy and slightly sweet -- again purchased at the Shop N Save deli

Pan -- the oriental mustard powder from Penzys is basicly dry spicy mustard powder. Penzy recommends 7 parts of the powder to 8 parts water and you get tht nice, hot, yellow mutard sauce which is perfect for egg rolls and the like. I however use it as a flavoring agent as you would any dry mustard. I add it to my rubs for meat or to my cornstarch slurry when thickening a stew. Tomorrow I can take a picture of the notes from the bottle for you.

Jake -- "crap" food is junk food, fast food, something that i don't need to make after a very long day. Don't know what it will be yet.

Handmc -- my apologizes, John had some Mandarynka at the table as well. The Pumpkin Ale was pre-dinner. As for the ale's taste, you have the hops and malt and a slight pumpkin taste. There are no pumpkin spices, just a hint of the fruitness that you get when you smell a pumpkin. If we still have the bottle I'll read you the label. I have always loved to cook but found things that we (my parents and I) didn't have regularly to be intimidating to make. Then when I was about 12, my father went out of town for about a month and it was just mommy and I. She let me have free reign of the kitchen and I made a gumbo, beef wellingtons, tried to deep-fry everything I could get my hands on -- really just played in the kitchen trying to imitate all those lovely dishes I saw Julia, Jeff Smith, Graham Kerr, the Louisiana Chef who said oooonnnion make. By the time my dad came back, I was not afraid anymore. Than at 23, I got married and suddenly became afraid again. What if John won't like my cooking? What if he won't like my experiments? Oh no -- what will I do and then he fell in love with my eggplant experiment, and loved my twist on the wellington (I use a mango/onion chutney as the filling on top of the steak and an onion/shallot confit with salmon) and was astonished by my balsamic marinated, goat-cheese stuffed portabella caps. Gradually I became comfortable stepping over that line of self-doubt and trying to make things again that I saw and read about. My point being -- if you don't try you won't have that satisfaction of conquering that self-doubt. It's not fear -- it's doubt that it will taste bad. My public service announcement is done.

Morning all just an update that we are running late as I overslept this morning. Pics and posts will come later from work today. Have a great morning! Maggie

I apologize for the delay, dialup is taking forever to post the pics to egullet. Tonight was dim sum night. Before I go into the preparations, I’d like to state that this was not from a recipe. One day I decided I want to make dim sum and went from there. The filling is my own creation based on what’s worked in the past. And the folds, well … they are mine again, minus the standard goyza fold. Let’s begin with the finished product: I made two batches with 3 different folds at about 6 each. But first – need to prep all the ingredients - 1 red pepper - 1/2 a green cabbage - Celery hearts - Ginger - Garlic - Onion - Lime - Carrots - Green onions The cutting board after prep Whizzing of the veg in the food processor took about 5 minutes. I worked in stages and would empty the processor bowl after each stage. Everything was roughly chopped prior to going in except where noted. As you can see, everything is finely minced in the processor. Stage one – cabbage Stage two – red pepper and celery Stage three – carrots Stage 4 – aromatics: 1 small onion, 3 whole garlic cloves, 2 green onions, whole thumb-sized piece of peeled ginger, two peels of lime zest (used a veg peeler) Then I added the flavoring agents – I don’t go heavy with anything as these little gems are dipped in sauces. I want to be able to taste the sauce and the filling – you know, strike that perfect balance. - 1 tbs of soy - 2 tbs of sesame seeds - Pinch of rosemary - 3 cranks of black pepper - Twice around the bowl with the sriracha - Few microplane strokes of nutmeg - 1/4 tsp of galangal, oriental mustard, allspice, dill Then went in the meat and I mixed by hand, as if making meatloaf. Damn, no photo. Now it’s time to wrap As I mentioned I alternate between three different folds: - standard goyza - upright package - flat package I use the larger end of a melonballer to scoop the same amount for each wrapper. I always place the filling in the center of the wrapper and push and flatten as needed with my finger. I always wet the edge of the wrapper with a pastry brush and water. To make my folds: - goyza: fold over half the wrapper over the filling and seal. Nothing fancy, no pleats, just pinch together as if making empanadas or pierogi. - Upright package: bring two opposite ends together and pinch, then bring the other two opposite ends together and pinch. Voila – a small cute package of love - Flat package: I have pictures of this one since it’s hard to explain Finally fold over the last bit and that's it. To cook – I steam the two packages, but fry the goyza. I use a 2 tier bamboo steamer over a pot of simmering water. Cooking time is about 5-7 minutes. For the goyza, I smear a little bit of olive oil over a warming non-stick pan – pan is on a med-low flame. I place the goyza down and fry for 1-2 minutes. Right before pouring in the water (that I heated in the tea kettle) I crank up the flame to high. Once I pour in the water I put on the lid and turn down the heat to low. I let them cook until the steaming goyza are ready. Here they are plated. After we finished off the first batch, I folded and cooked the second set. Sauces: See my pretty flower bowls!!! They are from the pottery shop within Mitsuwa. It’s a set of six bowls, but tonight we only use three. From left to right: Sauce one: standard hot dumpling sauce cut with soy Sauce two: sweet chili sauce mixed with some mirin Sauce three: hoisin sauce mixed with soy For beverages – John had the last of Sea Dog’s Pumpkin Ale from TJ’s. And I had some Mandarynka. You can see it in the first tabletop photos above. Speaking of John – And here’s a photo of Cashew “helping” Tomorrow is a long day – out at 6am and home after 10pm. I will post from work as usual, and then once we get home. Breakfast has yet to be decided, might be a smoothie (sorry no pears at home) or a pasztet. Lunch will most likely be a sandwich. There will be a snack in the car – TBD – on the way to class. Dinner: crap-food. As we make our way home from class I’ll take pictures of scenic Crystal Lake and the fine food offerings down the busy strip: Route 14. Btw – as I’m typing I’m having more earl grey tea. From work I’ll post pics of my tea drawer.

One thing I've realized after starting this blog that your house can't be clean enough. I can't believe how filthy the toaster oven is. Should I be lucky enough to blog again, I'm cleaning every off nook and crany of the house. Anyhoo -- that is two years of "use" in/on that toaster oven. Quick off topic comment - dinner is done and I am now uploading the photos to egullet. As we only have dialup plan on waiting for a looong time for my dinner recap.

So finally someone asked -- I've been waiting for the baseball question. Here is my real answer: I don't like baseball. I am not interested in the sport, however it is very amazing what the WS have been able to accomplish this year - let alone this month. As Chicago really doesn't have any major sport teams which are consistently good this is something to cheer at. However I am a Chicago Fire fan and can't wait for their soccer stadium to be built.

Just an update -- I'm still at work and plan on being here for another hour or so. Dim sum is still on the menu for tonight, so expect a report later this evening.

JayBassin -- how much do you consider a splash, are we saying a tablespoon or literally a splash? I have some berries in the fridge that I'm worried will get moldy and would like to try this on. Thanks for the tip

Just as an FYI -- Trader Joe's sells dried dragonfruit. It was $1.99 for a 4oz (I think) package. I bought it and was surprised by how sour it was.

Men's Pocky is dark chocolate around the standard pocky stick. For those not familiar with the taste of a standard pocky stick -- umm... it tastes like an unsalted pretzel (to me at least) Thanks -- I'm trying!

I can't go on Wednesdays -- I work too far away from it. Lucky! Please pm me with a report of what they have. Thanks

Lunchtime -- As usual lunch was made while John ate his breakfast. We both have the same thing. He has a green bag though. The bottle of water is Rada and it's from Serbia. I drink about 1/2 a bottle everyday. The bottle is 1/5 liters. It was purchased last Saturday here: The store is in Niles, Illinois on Golf by Milwaukee. Back to lunch: Polish rye, filled with: 1. Cucumber from Joseph's -- see earlier thread 2. Poledwicza -- ie canadian bacon 3. luxdamer swiss cheese -- polish swiss cheese 4. spread was butter, prepared horseradish (bobak's purchased at Shop N Save) and some dried herbs (thyme and oregano) Both the meat and cheese were purchased on Saturday at: The yoplait cherry yogurt is from Dominick's. As for a treat later I will have: An icebreakers sour candy and some dried dough rounds. These are also from Shop N Save. You can find them in the deli under the glass displays. Shop N Save is located in Niles, on Golf and Milwaukee. There is also one that just opened in Des Plaines on River by Dempster. For the record I will have only 1-2 rounds, NOT the whole bag. The dried dough rounds are nothing more than crispy backed dough. No seasonings on these -- i like the ones with fennel. In Poland you could buy these on the street corner from a vendor. They would be formed on a string. The whole thing was baked so the string would be this brown color and have yummy baked on dough that you could gnaw off or not.

Smithy, it's a small kitchen but I make do -- hence all the bars on the walls (gotta love ikea). I do use the kitchen table as well as the corner counterspace infront of the delonghi. If my picture of dredging station came out you would have known. I like to chop and set my mise in that counter space. It's more efficient when cooking than using the table. We are thinking of expanding the kitchen out -- *gasp* I haven't even taken pictures of my garden and yard. bad maggie very bad maggie I might not be able to until Saturday since we get home so late you wouldn't even see anything. I'll save the expansion comments for later then. Yes, Cashew is quite good at open doors, so the cleaning supply cabinet (under the sink) has a velcro ribbon to keep it shut. He can figure out how to pull open a door but not tug on velcro I love our house. It has the formal dining and living rooms so you can have space to entertain in. Thank you for the compliment.

Kim -- I've been to the Green Market at least 6 times this season. We've gotten peruvian potatoes, the zuchinni blossoms, apples, beets, you name it we probably bought it. We are going back on Saturday, 10/29, in the morning. You know it's the last one for the season?

The garlic salsa is store bought -- it's the generic Safeway brand from Dominick's. It's quite chunky with lots of garlic slivers. I'll try to remember to take a pic for you. Hmmm -- a pear smoothie. Is that a request?

As I have a few moments... Rosmart, the local Polish deli, sells sausages, lunch meat, cheeses, bakery items such as cakes and breads. It also has a decent selection of ready to eat items, like salads, beets, kopitka (potato noodles akin to gnocchi), pizy (large potato balls filled with meat akin to arancini), breaded and panfried cutlets (pork or veal) and of course herring. The store does offer pantry staples as well: juices, candies, flour, grains, bottles of water. Almost all of the pantry staples are imported. Husband tried taking a picture for you last night but was polited asked not to and then stared down. Below are our groceries from Rosmart -- John went last night since he had a hangering for Mandarynka, which is one of a selection of sodas that I grew up with in Poland. These are neon-colored, fruit flavored carbonated beverages. When I was a tot, it came in really 3 flavors: Ptys (multi-fruit), Oranzada (Orange -- like Orangina) and Cytryna (Lemon). Now the market, as with everything else, has exploded and you can get Kiwi and Mandarynka (Madarin Orange). Sorry for the blurry pic -- The center is the soda. It's sweet, a bit tart and very carbonated. To the right in the square styrofoam is the potato ball filled with meat. The top is sprinkled with bacon and chives. This is best reheated in a frying pan with bacon -- all you need is a few minutes. They are prepared by taking leftover potatoes, flour and egg and forming them into balls. You can also make them with potato flour should you not have 6 million pounds of leftover potatoes. Once filled, they are boiled and ready to eat -- or fried until GBD. Above the piz is a vegetable salad. John was great to buy a container of it, so you can see it. He hates it, but I love it. My dad (before becoming ill) would make it all the time and it's a staple of Easter and New Years. Salatka (little salad) as it's called is made with beans, peas, carrots, red pepper, celery, potato, onion and a little apple. The binding is mayo, a bit of mustard and of course there are seasonsings: salt, pepper. Occassionally you may find a bit of herring diced in -- but not this one. The texture is smooth, due to the potatoes being mashed a bit, but you have the bite of the peas and apples. It's really great. You can't tell but there is some missing from the container To the left of the soda in the round container are the kopitka -- you can see they are about the same size as gnocchi but without the grove. The "dough" of potatoes, flour and egg is rolled into logs (as if you were to make cookies) as thick as a thumb and then cut inch sized pieces on an angle. You then have the option to freeze them or drop them into boiling water. Like gnocchi they are ready when they float to the top. The best way to reheat the kopitka is to pan fry them with sliced bacon and diced onion or if you are in the mood for something sweet, with browned buttered bread crumbs (not panko), cinnamon and brown sugar. The savory version is a great soaker or a side dish to a saucy piece of meat or even breakfast (as you can see I don't eat many traditional breakfasts). The sweet work as dessert or breakfast. Above the kopitka container is the sack (6 in all) of the pasztety, which I discussed earlier in my breakfast post.

I really need to get some work done, so here are a few kitchen and dining room photos to tie you over I will elaborate on my setup later -- feel free to ask questions. The kitchen table, hutch, and wall hangings Back door, more stuff on the walls and some cabinetry stove, fridge, more cabinets, note the baking pumpkin I have yet to bake for pie filling sink and dishwasher Dining room: lowboy, john's scotch, wine rack the room

Perfect timing -- I have photos. I try to make a smoothie at least twice a week for breakfast. It's light, freshing but provides enough energy to get me to lunch My ingredients for today: 2% Milk Fresh Strawberries Plain Yogurt Vanilla Paste from TJ's I always use milk and yogurt, but will vary between vanilla and plain yogurt. If I fresh fruit I will use that -- bananas, strawberries, any berry - if not, then I will use frozen fruit -- mixed berries, cherries, strawberries, peaches and even TJ's tropical fruit mix (pineapple and mango). I usually don't add any sugar as the fruit has enough. I do like to add a bit of flavoring though: the vanilla paste, or citrus zest. For two cups, I use about 1/4c of fruit, 2 tbs of yogurt, a 1/4tsp of flavoring, and two good splashes of milk -- blend at a high setting and then taste. If it needs to be creamier I add more yogurt, if it's too thick I add milk, if I can't taste enough fruit -- add more fruit. I don't have set recipes for this. We also had the pasztets from Rosmart, the Polish deli. These are like sausage rolls, but made with a homemade liver pate which is rolled in the puff pastry and baked. I heat them up in the toaster oven for 10 minutes at 350. They get oh so crispy and a bit buttery as the oils come through.

I have so many of the same cookbooks you have. Did you get your mom's Mastering the Art and Joy of cooking? I love having some of my mother's and grandmothers' cookbooks. Thanks for the blog. I know nothing baout Polish food and look forward to learning. ←

So dinner is fantastic, a bit of a rest and it will be time for dessert. I guess you need to wait till tomorrow to see what's in the box *tee hee* I will modify this post tomorrow to add pics, the damn USB controller is not working again. Dinner Pics: Here is the sliced eggplant, pre-dredging. I try to have 1/4 inch slices. As I mentioned earlier, I don't salt/drain my eggplant for this. I don't see a benefit in the end product for the extra work. I thought I had a picture of my dredging station, but can't seem to find it. I use three bowls - one for seasoned flour (AP, salt, and hungarian sweet paprika), one bowl for beaten eggs seasoned with freshly ground pepper (I use 2 eggs for one eggplant), and the last bowl has panko. The eggplant goes into the flour first, then the eggs and finally into Panko. I shallow fry the eggplant slices in vegetable oil at 375 degrees (used Wesson last night) in a heavy-bottomed pan. I do about 2-3 slices at at time, depending on the size. I do use the end of the eggplant as well. It's my favorite piece since it's the "meatiest". Here's a closeup of the fried eggplant. The panko really does give it more texture than regular breadcrumbs. I pull out the slices once they are GBD and lay them on my broiler pan to drain. You can see my white flowered bowl in this picture -- it has the panko. The container above the panko bowl is for my kosher salt. I find it easier to use a canister that hinges, i have two scoops in there for easy measuring: 1/4 tsp and 1 tsp. Once the eggplants are fried, it's time for the ramekins. My mother bought me a set of these oval baking dishes (more flower pattern) that are perfect for this. They hold two slices perfectly. I use a garlic salsa for the bottom of the ramekin -- 2 tbs, then lay the fried eggplant, then 1 tbs of salsa on top of each slice and then shred some shredded cheese -- yesterday I used the queso fresco from Joseph's. Now it's time to go into the toaster oven for a few minutes to melt the cheese. I have the toaster oven at 350 and it's been warming for about 7-10 minutes. Above the toaster oven, on each side, I have a clear pushpin on which I hang my pot holders. It keeps them handy and out of the way. Note more flower pattern. Here's a closeup of the done dish -- melted cheese and all. It's a great contrast of flavors and textures. Gooey cheese, crispy eggplant, cold and chunky salsa. Sometime I will use a sweet pineapple and mango salsa instead of the garlic. When I do that I season the eggs and flour so they are spicier and more savory to balance against the sweet. Dessert Photos: When we were at Joseph's on Monday, I couldn't leave without getting some sweets. We purchased 2 cannolis and 2 tart shells filled with a sweet vanilla pastry cream -- the shells were topped with more dough. So yummy. I also had a cup of early gray tea with dessert. Thank you for all the posts, I'm finely relaxing into this. Maggie

Wendy -- this is what happens when you go grocery shopping at 8pm in the evening Sorry to those not in the area, but a TJ's less than 40 minutes away is F#$@% AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!! This is so cool. Husband and I did dance of joy!!! So cool!!! Anyhoo -- there are many more local places I will take us to. Rosmart, the Creperie, Francesca's and maybe Distinctions wine shoppie.

We are home, after a few trips, and I'm starting dinner now. Here are a few photos from our shipping trip after work - to Mitsuwa, the Japenese grocery store in Arlington Heights, IL. For those local readers, it's on the corner of Arlington Heights and Algonquin (by Yanni's Greek restaurant). I apologize for some of the photos -- it's hard to sneak a good shot. Here's the produce section, the back of the store (what you can kinda see in the picture) has the refrigerated products: tofu, wonton wrappers, and some nibblies. Within the produce section is also the fish counter. Here is a sampling of what they offer. I have purchased sashimi grade tuna from here and taken it home to make spicy tuna. Here's a blurry photo, that husband took, of the pocky display. We purchased, as you see below some Men's Pocky and Caramel Pocky. The wrappers are for the dim sum, the wasabi peas are for snacking, and the panko is for tonight's eggplant. We also got two Ramune sodas -- peach (which tastes like boonsfarm) and a melon that I have yet to try. Oh and soy sauce -- not for drinking of course need to get back to my eggplant. my temp is at 375.