onrushpam
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Posts posted by onrushpam
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Off with their heads! Most times, you aren't losing much of the good part anyway.
I just stand over the refuse bin with paring knife in hand and whack away, pitching the berries into a colander. But, I have many, many years of childhood experience freezing strawberries from gandpa's "truck patch". He'd bring the first ripe ones to the house like an offering, carried in the crown of his straw hat. We'd sit on the porch and savor them. A few days later, we'd be child labor, prepping many quarts of them for the freezer, whlist many more were carted off to be sold. My grandpa was a strawberry farmin' expert.
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Oh, Jerry, I really must figure out how to factor KC into some trip back to Missouri!
Your dim sum post is wonderful.
Many years ago (maybe just after you graduated high school) I spent 6 weeks in Hong Kong for work. (Not a fun thing for a Western woman alone in the heavily Chinese part of that city, especially since it was exactly one year after the Tiannmen Square massacre.) Anyway.. I got to experience all sorts of dim sum, from the Westernized hotel versions to a wonderful Saturday morning in Aberdeen with an Aussie guy fluent in Cantonese. The Aberdeen place was a literal dim sum HALL, full of big round tables, populated by old Chinese guys who had brought their birds with them. The walls were full of cages hung on big hooks! My Aussie friend dealt with grabbing stuff off the carts and arguing with the cart ladies. I just ate and ate and ate! I'd love to experience KC dim sum with you!
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I kind of wondered this myself. The asparagus at my parents' house was already in the garden when we moved there, and the house had been unoccupied for about 15 years prior to us purchasing it. That section of the garden, which also had rhubarb, was always treated with care and respect.
I wonder also...
I worked hard to get a fabulous bed of asparagus and rhubarb going at our last home in Missouri. It was just becoming very productive when we moved. The people who bought our house plowed it under.
I'm thinking maybe the question is about what to do with the bottom part of the asparagus stalks? Some good soup can be made from those trimmings.
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Jerry, your blog has sent DH and me down KC memory lane...
Just now, he's watching Best Little Whorehouse on TV and we've been remembering the night we saw it at the Music Hall. One of my other favorite KC memories is of seeing the full-length production of Nicholas Nickleby at UMKC. I was a little concerned about spending 8 full hours in a theatre seat. But, it was magical! I don't remember where we ate on either of those trips. I'm thinking the Savoy Grill was probably involved in one of them... You were still in high school at that point and the Savoy was actually good. I'm thinking these days, probably not so much.
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Marcella Hazan's Fish with New Potatoes is one of my favorites, though I prefer to use thyme or a mixture of fresh herbs. I'm not a big rosemary fan.
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Jerry, I meant to say how much I'm enjoying your blog! I was born in and lived most of my life in Missouri (the Ozarks) and also lived a bunch of years out in the boonies a couple hours South of KC... it was where we went for serious shopping/eating. One of my favorite memories is of the night 15 college friends joined us for a Buffett concert at the Starlight... HUGE harvest moon hanging over the stage. Fun times! Most of my KC food memories involve hung-over mornings at some weird coffee-shop in the CC Plaza... can't remember the name of it. Oh, and Stroud's and Stephenson's Apple Farm. A couple of really memorable meals at the Peppercorn Duck Club (friends over food) and The American Restaurant. We were young and poor and not so much into food in those days. It was decades ago!
Friday, I have to attend what has been termed "IT family bonding" <gag> at a nasty, cheap sushi place. They also serve some sort of bowl filled with noodles or rice and token cheap protein/veg. Who knows what I'll choose. (where's that puking emoticon when you need it?)
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My workplace used to be filled with really good home cooks and our holiday potlucks were amazing feasts! Now, I'm about the only old-time cook who hasn't retired yet. Our holiday potlucks are filled with Publix deli and bakery items. At T'giving, I'm always asked to bring cornbread dressing and that's easy, so I do it. Other times, it depends on my mood. Sometimes I make something I want to eat!
My husband's workplace has a lot of good cooks and they go all-out for bring-a-dish meals, often with some sort of theme. I don't mind helping him prepare things for them, because it is always appreciated. They had a sort of "Top Chef" contest as a charity fundraiser and the required ingredient was sweet potatoes. The judges were local chefs. We won with a roasted sweet potato curry. That was fun!
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I got some wonderful corn at Publix yesterday. It was much better than what I got at the farmer's market last weekend. I just bought 3 ears... one white, one bi-color, one yellow (totally on accident).
At the DH's request, I made corn salad/relish/salsa (whatever you want to call it)...
Cut the kernels off the corn
Chopped bell pepper (the one I had was orange)
Chopped scallion
Lime juice (I think I used one for the 3 ears)
Just a little bit of sugar
A little bit of olive oil
Pinch of salt
Let it sit in the fridge for about an hour before dinner.
Outstanding accompaniment to crab cakes and a caprese salad
Sometimes I add jalapeno.
I also like to mix this up as succotash salad with cooked baby butter beans or white acre peas, half-and-half with the corn.
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Interesting... down here in the Deep South, I've had some outstanding watermelon, compared to recent years... also some excellent peaches!
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OMG! Mouth watering!
I used to go with work colleagues to Beijing Gardens in Farmington, CT...
There were usually 4 of us. We'd get one duck, a cold sesame noodle app and a veg (usually baby bok choy). It was perfect for 4. One time, 2 others joined us and we knew our usual order wouldn't be enough for 6. So, we ordered double. UGH! We all ate so much we made ourselves sick. I haven't been there in years, but just Googled and they are still in business. Wish I could find a place for good Peking Duck down here in the Deep South!
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Growing up in the Ozarks, I strained/squeezed many quarts of grape and other types of juice through those diapers. Before that, they used feed sacks (back when they were made of printed cloth). I even have a quilt my grandma made from feed sacks that had been made into dresses for my mother and aunt, then when they outgrew the dresses, she made the quilt!
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I was recently gifted with a big box of home grown tomatoes... mostly plum/paste type, along with a few slicers. Last night, I blanched/peeled/seeded the paste ones and froze them. I'll make sauce with them when I have time. I've been saving the slicers and hope I can use them all up before they go bad. Salsa may be an option tomorrow.
Now, if somebody gave me Cherokee purples or mortgage lifters or stripeys... those would just go right into my mouf!
I've been buying those at the growers' market... the other day I spent $11 for 4 tomatoes... enough for 2 BLTs and one caprese salad. Worth every penny! -
Yep, Publix started carrying them in their GreenWise section 6 months or so ago. We love them!
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16.5 inches everywhere except over the peninsula overlooking the family room/eating bar. 29 inches there.
Larry
Yep, that pretty much matches mine... the cooktop is under the 29 inchers, next to the eating bar.
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My mother wasn't a great cook... she was a great gardener who canned and froze a lot of wonderful produce every year. But, she really didn't like cooking. However, she did lead my Girl Scout troup and 4H Club cooking classes, where we learned to do baked eggs, grilled cheese sandwiches, s'mores and brownies and such. And, she taught me to make great gravy! She also taught me how to find people in the community who loved to cook and would do it for you and how to put out a nice spread of food other people cooked and that it's okay to do that. She was an organic gardener in the 60s... long before it became the "in" thing. I'll never forget the arrival of a box of praying mantis egg cases. They were creepy, but cool!
Grandma taught me to make bread, veggie soup, pot roast, green beans, corn bread, angel food cake, etc., etc... and, how to shell peas, snap beans, cut corn kernels off the cob, cut up a chicken and all that.
Grandpa taught me to eat the first fresh strawberries out of his straw hat, how to eat the first ripe tomato like an apple, leaning over the dirt in the truck patch and how to feed the squirrels peanuts out of my hand.
I had a great childhood, full of gardens and horses and drinking sweet tea with fresh mint on the porch swing. I was blessed.
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We have a local place that makes very good Larb. I often get it as take away and make lettuce wraps with butterhead lettuce. Yum!
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Make a big ol' batch of wilted lettuce, Southern style!
Tear up a big bunch of lettuce in a heat safe bowl (about double what you think you might need)
Add some very thin Vidalia onion rings or a big pile of chopped green onions
Fry up 4-6 pieces of bacon and crumble it. Leave 2-3 T of the drippings in the skillet.
Mix 1/4 c or so of cider vinegar in a cup of water with some salt and pepper and a couple teaspoons of sugar. (I just mix it up and taste it... you want to taste the vinegar and you want it slightly sweet.
Heat up the bacon grease and then pour in the water/cider mix. Bring to a rip-roaring boil.
Pour it over the lettuce and lay the skillet over the top of the bowl. You want to really let it WILT.
Eat immediately with cornbread and whatever hunk-o-meat you had on the grill.
Taste of childhood for me! Best part is dunking the cornbread in the "likker" from the lettuce.
Pam
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My favorites are shrimp or crawfish etouffee mixed with rice
or shrimp/crab/crawfish and cornbread stuffing.
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I try to keep this rub on hand... it's a sweet one. Great on ribs, chicken thighs, pork tenderloin...
3/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup Hungarian or smoked paprika
1/4 cup kosher salt
1/4 cup granulated garlic
2 tablespoons ground black pepper
2 tablespoons ground ginger
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I'll admit I'm not a big fan of benne wafers, because I just don't enjoy the benne/sesame flavor all that much... But, of the ones I've tried (and I've had LOTS of variations), I think I like Natalie Dupree's the best... here's a link I think will work to her recipe.
It's on the sweeter side, but not dessert sweet.
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Their roasted red peppers and pickled okra are also really good!
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I'm sure there are Boston peeps who can give you more info than I. But, I spent a lot of time in the Boston area years ago and went back for a vacation last summer...
If you really want fried clams, you need to venture up the North shore to Ipswich or Essex. I'm a big fan of Woodmans in Essex. Others prefer the Clam Box in Ipswich.
Last summer, we hit Neptune Oyster in the North End and I loved it! Others in our party, not so much, but that was because they wanted fish, not shellfish. It's tiny, expensive and they don't take reservations. The food is great. They'll take your cell number and you can wander the North End until they call you for your table. DH and I had a bunch of stuff off the raw bar and split a lobster sandwich. Heaven! They do fried clams, but we didn't go there. We knew we'd be hitting Woodman's later in the trip.
IMHO, Barking Crab is a tourist trap... steer clear.
Haven't been there, but Island Creek Oyster Bar is getting a lot of good reports. It's relatively new.
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We are well into spring down here in the deep South... in fact, we're getting close to tomato season!
Recent lovely stuff from the farmers market have included English peas (I asked the seller where they came from and he huffily said "I picked them myself yesterday!"), teensy yellow squash, quarter-sized new red potatoes, crisp green bush beans, and the biggest treat of all are the baby Vidalia onions with their bright green tops still intact.
We threw a couple of those new Vidalias on the grill tonight, along with a pork tenderloin. Combined with the green beans and new potatoes, we had a feast!
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I'll be watching this one as I have two people close to me who are in similar situations and will be moving into new "digs" in the next couple of weeks. Maybe I can help them out a bit.
Giant Green Avocados
in Kitchen Consumer
Posted
I, too, have always avoided these. But, when they were $1 each, I decided to give them another go.
The guacamole I made was pretty darn good. Not as thick/creamy as what you get from the Haas variety, but it was still tasty on our shrimp fajitas.