suzilightning

i like my food cuddly ... especially if it's bambi or thumper. what broadly painted, sexually biased b*%%s@*&. sounds like this author needs to get out and meet some real women.

tuesday i was HUNGRY...(reference the PMS THREAD) so stopped at "li'l skeeters" which used to be the "halfway house" on the golf course. now they advertise bbq foods and, when it was the halfway, had an hispanic cook who could whip up the best burritos i have ever eaten. you do NOT smell wood at all and i think they "bbq" the meats in an oven somewhere. i ordered a cheese quesadilla. except for the one i ate in vermont(my own fault) this had to be the worst tasting thing ever conceived. quesadillas should not taste like they are fried in butter - but this did. i asked for a tomatillo salsa and got what the server put into the takeout box. why would you serve sour cream when 5 minutes away you could buy cremea? the first taste had me running my tounge across my teeth trying to banish that butter taste ... and wishing for a toothbrush.

chris here's what i did: 2 pears in small dice- seed but leave the skins on, divided about 12 fresh sage leaves - the ones i had were mid sized, minced, divided 1 cup cannaroni rice 6 cups vegetable stock 1 Tbsp oil - i used enova 2 medium sized shallots, diced 1/3 cup white wine - i used the last of a bottle of Macon-Lugny "Les Charmes" 2004 saute the shallots in the oil, add half the pears, half the sage and the rice to coat. deglaze with the wine. cook until absorbed then add the stock in the usual way till about halfway through the process(about 15 minutes). add the other half of the pears, continue with the stock until the rice is al dente. incorporate the remaining sage. the sage didn't seem to overwhelm the dish at all and by incorportating the pears at different times i think it helped distribute the flavors. i think maybe a different pear, bosc for example, might be a different story

OH MY GAWD!!! flashback to the start of christmas break freshman year(1972) with the new boyfriend just before leaving for home. not much of anything in the machines...so he mixed Dr. Pepper and Johnnywalker Black. can anyone guess why it was called a "stoned dane"?

in the kitchen there are 5 pieces of food based art: a large watercolor of red onions i bought for the steep price of 75.00 at the showing of a local artist in the community college where i worked(1982), a photo of vegetables at a farmer's market with a little sign saying "Susan's garden" - yeah, like that will ever happen - given to me by a friend for one birthday, a sign a cowoker gave me for my tenth anniversary with the library that says "I like to cook with wine. Sometimes even put it in the food.", a copy of the menu from around 1923 or so of a restaurant from my home town called The Shelter Island House i unearthed when i was hired as part of a kitchen crew to clean up and set up a new restaurant in that building and my most cherished relic: THE SHRINE TO THE PIG. many years ago - 1979 or so- a dear friend and co-worker in kitchens went off to the island of Saint Thomas. she couldn't take everything and i inherited her framed copy of the Gourmet cover of the roast suckling pig. it has been to Hudson, New York, Hooks, Texas and now resides in Lake Hopatcong, NJ.

last night's dinner was a pear risotto that incorporated sage and anjou pears then was topped with slivers of smoked salmon(for john). will do this(minus the smoked salmon) at christmas to go with a pork roast.

i REALLY wanted a circle burger but no time to get there then to work...so the burger king has reopened. whopper junior, heavy pickles with a vanilla shake. dinner was leftovers - grilled chicken breast, lettuce, tomato, crispy bacon and jalapeno slices on a hard roll(i had them leave off the mozzarella cheese - though cheddar might have been nice) and dessert has been two pieces of really good dark chocolate. sigh.......i really want some coleslaw now - and another 2.5 hours to work

we also do a capon for christmas dinner. i have the butcher cut it as you would for spatchcocking. i save the backbone to make stock with that the mil will use to make her sausage stuffing. i like to roast it over a scattering of aromatics - shallots, carrots, celery, fresh sage. i use a mix of salt, peper and lemon zest. will serve it with oven roasted sweet and white potatoes and green beans with garlic.

c'mon, rachel.... the only things that should go in/on sweet potates are bourbon, brown sugar and pecans.

so you will miss the new mexican restaurant staffed by many of the local hispanics and supposedly serving tex mex as well as regional specialities. ok- i'm done with the hawkgawk - when and where are we putting together a pub crawl?

well, if you're STILL working where you were last year at least the commute is against traffic instead of with it....did you ever get to East Cafe or Hot Rods BBQ?

my mil just gifted me with a year of cooks illustrated ( through a filled out card) but in this issue(11-12/2006) issue is a note on The Ultimate Cooking Wine. they found that overall boxed wines did better than bottles over the long run because of the bladder system they used as opposed to corking. hmmmmmm may have to pick up some red for the kitchen

last night was our traditional "night before thanksgiving"(ok- 2 nighs before this year) dinner - homemade manhattan clam chowder with oyster crackers. this year i cheated and bought freshly shucked clams from my local fishmonger - 2 pints. sauteed half an onion in bacon fat, bay leaf, carrot, celery, potato cubes in the clam liquer and water. them chopped tomato. when the potato was just tender add the clams and turn off the heat. took a pint to my neighbor for her mom and john has a pint and a half in the freezer for a future meal.

last night was our traditional "night before thanksgiving"(ok- 2 nighs before this year) dinner - homemade manhattan clam chowder with oyster crackers. this year i cheated and bought freshly shucked clams from my local fishmonger - 2 pints. sauteed half an onion in bacon fat, bay leaf, carrot, celery, potato cubes in the clam liquer and water. them chopped tomato. when the potato was just tender add the clams and turn off the heat. took a pint to my neighbor for her mom and john has a pint and a half in the freezer for a future meal.

OMG...what a treasure!! miz d. is blogging...and while those pictures are purty the word pictures are the best. what can i say i am a librarian after all i never knew my paternal grandparents since - highly unusual for the time- my parents split in 1955 when i was a mere 1 year old. my maternal grandmother was nan or nana or nanny but her influence was small since she was in ill health and died when i was 5 almost 6. my maternal grandfather pretty much raised me till he died when i was 20. pop was a character - who preferred cooking and doing housework to doing outside chores. i am going to be making his clam chowder later today for johnnybird and a friend's mom and john still loves it when i make smooch(that pastiche of macaroni, tomato and ground beef). i also got to know - over 20 years- john's grandmother (granma)who was a diplomaed (?) cook from germany. while her daughter and granddaugher didn't have the inclination to cook, and only did under duress, i learned how to make apple kuken, esslin(butter cookies made in the shape of an s), spaetzle, potato salad and cucumber salad in her kitchen. i also spread out from there and have become adept at maltashen and a few other southern german items. really looking forward to spending this holiday with you......

our daube is reheating now... beef cut into 3" cubes then marinated for 48 hours in a reduced bottle of cotes du rhone with aromatics - garlic, bay, rosemary, parsley, thyme and onion/shallot. simmered yesterday for 3 hours or so adding a tea ball of fresh aromatics then, at the last 45 minutes or so some olives, capers, anchovy paste, and shallots. when reheating tonight i also added some criminis well cleaned and broken up will serve over pasta with a salad and a baguette for dipping. and another bottle of the cotes du rhone for drinking

i discovered quinces last year at the appletree store(mexican/asian owned and operated). i quartered them and stewed them with some water, sugar, cinnamon stick and some black peppercorns. it took about 45 minutes. then i used them to make a quince and port sauce for some duck breasts, on my oatmeal and with my yoghurt. i noticed them back in the market last week....

pouring rain here but still oddly warmish. i wanted to do some vegetarian soup to go with some pumpernickel bread i did yesterday/today. had borrowed Deborah Madison's book from work so riffed off her lentil ministrone - french lentils, leek, white onion, yellow onion, the last shallot, garlic, bay leaves, parsley, thyme, tomato paste, vegetable stock and water. i have some pepe and some kale that will get added in the next few minutes to finish it.

made gumbo after the HawkGawk today: 4 duck breasts 1 package of Shaller and Waller andouille sausage red and green peppers yellow and white onions garlic bay leaves thyme branches oregano beef and chicken stock then heresy of heresy - mustard greens used the rendered duck fat with Wondra flour to make my roux - only 1 1/2 bourbons with branch cajin napalm - herbage stock then the stripped andouille(johnnybird for whatever reason will not eat sausage with skin on it - why we don't have many hotdogs here) returned the shredded duck breast to the pot had some baby mustard greens that begged out for inclusion - so i did. what a nice counter point to everyting else - a green that stands up to the spice. since himself has only showed up will not serve it tonight but i have dinner for tuesday which is supposed to be wet and cold. some rice and i will be a happy camper happy cooking all

on the way to the hawkwatch this morning an intense craving for a western sandwich. i almost detoured to my favorite diner for takeout but.....i had to get to the watch and had food in the trunk. finished off three pieces of toast with miracle whip light and finlandia heavenly light swiss cheese and grape tomatoes as a side. off to run a few errands and a new craving for a circle burger with bacon and onion rings so a bit of a detour for an early dinner/late lunch. i still want red meat...

i'm sending up to poughkeepsie this year: turkey breast in gravy green beans with garlic the inevitable portugese sweet bread and oatmeal bread black forest mousse pie my mil will provide country crock potatoes bruces yams with brown sugar and butter country crock macaroni and cheese sara lee raspberry cheese cake edward's key lime pie i will eat whatever i feel like after i finish my hawk count probably a nice burger with some salad i have found since i am so busy at this time of year doing other things the food really isn't that important to me. it's in late december/ early january when the nesting - food thing is most important to me. when i have time to even think of anything other than a cheese sandwich for lunch -if that- and more importantly the time to spend on thinking about and creating the food for someone i love and want to share with

nor is it something if you grew up on the east end of long island you didn't make your potato salad without, sandy. (thought the octaroon heritage comes from my dad's side i really didn't know). viva la mw!! once the hawkgawk is over i want to try that recipe for miracle whip. ido a boiled dressing for my coleslaw....

score the skin and fat without biting into the meat. season with salt and pepper. start on a sear, skin side down then lower the heat drastically so the fat renders out, the skin crisps up and the breasts cook. remove from pan... now where do you want to go? remove all but about a Tbsp of the fat. add minced shallots then deglaze with port, add quartered figs and serve over the breasts. use the extra fat to fry brabant potatoes in red onions...poached quinces... flat leaf parsley... red wine red onions(again) ... roasted ancho chile strips...crema ...heated tortillas lettuce leafs... thinly sliced onions...a mix of hoisin sauce and sesame oil then thin strips of the duck with the skin cracklins baked potatoes hollowed out... the potato meat mixed with sour cream(in our case a fake sour cream that is kosher), chives, the cracklin skin then served alongside the slices of breast mixed salad with the breast thinly sliced and served over it with a vinaigrette of the fat, sherry vinegar and shallots uh..... invite me for dinner?

what about a vegetable beef soup using carmelized onions, carrots, celery (if you can tolerate it), the ground up beef, potatoes, garlic, some thyme and some peas? add in some bread and a green salad - ohh....or if you have good greens - mustard, kale, chard- can you chiffonade them and add to the soup? it is supposed to be quite cold tonight so when i get home from work tomorrow i'm planning on a white bean, pasta and greens soup using some squash, onions and some mystery greens(maybe mezzaluna?) i got from the farmers market last weekend. because they are organic and fresh i find they do keep well. i am adding some raw milk cheddar and the rest of the loaf of an olive bread for our dinner.

some of the more "odd" (mostly local) cookbooks this time that came to me from a well meaning patron who knows i love to cook as well as one more mainstream. please PM me if you are interested - as always first come first served... Campbell's: Easy Meal Ideas from the Campbell Family of Brands Cooking Around the World: Favorite Family Recipes from the Sparta School Community Favorite Recipes: New Jersey State Council of Emergency Nurses Association Sharing Our Best: Recipes from Jefferson Families edited to remove claimed book(s)