suzilightning

this reminds me of an axiom in my business "20% of all books make up 80% of your circulation". i borrow books from the library or through Interlibrary Loan and decide if they are something i want to own (thank you Pam R. for the soup cookbook that i had to buy - and have turned a couple at my library who keep kosher onto - Randi demanded a copy for Chanukkah). if i don't use them they go on the FREE Cookbook thread. i also do as many do and look at several books to synthesize a final recipe. but i HAVE to have my Fanny Farmers for my pot du creme and the banana cake recipe, the midwest cookbook for the cooked slaw recipe, the shelter island cookbook for - ok- sentimental reasons and the good recipe for crab imperial(sorry mom<looks up to heaven> but the bluefish baked with french salad dressing just doesn't do it for me).. just read Black Forest Cuisine. would not bother buying it and it really needed some better editing for language and ingredients. one recipe listed 4 bottles of lager and only listed the use of 3 in the recipe... i guess you were supposed to drink the 4th?

fizzy lizzy has been around here in the northwest part of new jersey for several years and i like her grapefruit soda - though i can create a reasonable replacement on my own. see if yo can find GuS - Grownup Soda. this has become my new addiction - especially the meyer lemon and valencia orange. here's their website: http://drinkgus.com/

last night was our christmas celebration and that included dinner: roasted rack of venison with a sweet pepper and jalapeno relish potatoes au gratin steamed broccoli with garlic and olive oil leroy-duval champagne chocolate truffles then the presents...

tomato ketchup or another kind of ketchup like cranberry?

a girlfriend made these for me last week: shell and devein shrimp marinate in limoncello, olive oil(equal parts), basil chiffonade, salt and pepper and red pepper wrap in slices of prosciutto skewer and grill really wonderful with the salty meat and the limoncello

we head for the inlaws tonight then, when we get back on the 26th i have to work straight through the 30th. the 31st is when johnnybird and i celebrate our christmas and then on the 1st we have our annual birding spree when we range around the area looking for interesting birds or go chasing a special species. that said here are my plans 23 - sister in law is making burgers for us 24 - lasagna, pork roast, pear risotto 25 - roast capon, sausage dressing, roasted sweet potatoes, green beans with garlic 26 - reservations at Mohawk House or Plaza Bistro 27 - chili from the freezer 28 - beef stew from the freezer 29 - soup from the freezer (clam chowdah, albondigas, white bean with kale) 30 - shrimp marinated in limoncello, basil, and olive oil then wrapped with prosciutto and grilled, pilaf 31 - roast rack of venison. haven't figured out my sides yet. dessert will be champagne and chocolate in some form 1 - sandwiches out in the field

visting with my friend in catskill and were in town shopping. went to mod cafe for lunch and it was both reasonably priced and good food. while not something i would go out of the way for if you are in the area it's good to know there is some good food available. i had the soup and 1/2 sandwich - chili with blt on pumpernickel. the chili was nice and chunky with a nice spice and the tomatoes(i was worried about those) were sliced grapes. crisp lettuce, beautifully fried bacon and i was licking my fingers. my friend got the chicken salad with tapenade in a wrap and ate every bit of it - didn't even give me a spoonful to try. for dessert they bring a tray around and it contained a pistachio pudding, bread pudding with tullamore dew creme, a few other things and what i had as a take away - a gingerbread cupcake with a tart lemon icing. the cupcake was more like a spice cake but the spices i associate with gingerbread came through and the icing was a perfect foil- creamy and tart. total for two meals, an arnie palmer and a dessert was 26.00. course my tab went up by 90.00 because of the painting of the mountains i bought off the wall...

after reading the cookbook thread i need to get rid of some stuff so... Breakfast at Nine Tea at Four: Favorite Recipes from The Mainstay Inn Cooking in Old Salem Elisa Celli's Italian Light Cooking The King's Bread: Eighteenth century cooking at Niagra Know Your Onions Old Sturbridge Village Cooking pm me if you are interested edited to delete any claimed item(s)

Thanks for your insights, they are hard to come by. I guess my next take is going to be with lamb, less tomatoes (I think, they've mellowed the peanut flavour) and no carrots. ← i'm going for the goat next time .... just won't tell johnnybird.

adapted a recipe we had done before from Dr. Jessica Harris for a West African Sweet Potato and Red Bean Stew. 5 chicken drumsticks sweet onion ( about 2) chopped 4 cloves garlic, sliced 5 sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed 1 can red beans, drained and rinsed(didn't have time to cook my own) 2 cups vegetable broth 2 small red bell peppers, seeded and chopped small knob ginger, peeled and grated - maybe 1-2 tsp 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 tsp white pepper 1 tsp garam masala 1 can diced tomatoes 3 poblano chiles, roasted, peeled and seeded, diced 3 Tbsp peanut butter chopped dry-roasted peanuts lime wedges Roast the halved, seeded poblanos in a hot oven(450-500) for about 15 minutes. Put into a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and set aside to steam. After about 10 minutes peel and chop roughly. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Sear in Dutch oven in a filming of neutral oil(i used Enova). Remove from Dutch oven to a plate. Add 1 tsp. more oil and add onions. Cook for about 3 minutes. Add garlic and cook for several minutes more, until tender. Add sweet potatoes and bell peppers. Stir and cook for another minute or two. Add the spices - salt, white pepper and cumin(I didn't have any so I substitued the garam masala I did have). Stir until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Return the chicken to the pot, nestling it into the vegetables. Add the vegetable broth, ginger, and poblano chiles. Bring to a boil then lower to a bare simmer for about 1 hour. Pinch the meat from the bones of the chicken and discard the bones. Add the red beans. Remove about a cup of the liquid from the stew and whisk in the peanut butter. Return the mixture to the stew and incorporate. Return to the heat. Serve alone garnished with chopped dry-roasted peanuts and lime wedges alone or over rice. dinner tonight and for tomorrow for us.

unfortunately when they uncircled the Ledgewood Circle(New Jersey) Tom's Diner also went. a tiny chrome diner with about 9 counter seats and a few booths and the best breakfast for 1.49 - 2 eggs anyway, toast, hashbrowns, breakfast meat and coffee. my favorite diner now is Circle Diner in Netcong, NJ. it used to be a drive in and a restaurant family from Sparta bought it. it has a counter with 6 seats, a few booths, tables and in good weather outside seating. the best coleslaw properly creamy and tangy and pretty good potato salad. real fried onion rings that come out hot and crunchy and about 1/2" wide. the circle burger (1/3 lb. of meat with lettuce, tomato, pickle and a small cup of slaw, the gibby(burger, fried onions, cheddar cheese on grilled rye), or the butch(burger, bacon, cheddar cheese, fried onions and coleslaw on a kaiser roll). they do wraps and panini, salads and chicken stuff, teas weiners and italian hot dogs, egg sandwiches and hash browns, egg creams, shakes and malts.

unfortunately i just gained 10 pounds in the last three months because i couldn't get to the gym. i'm trying to be good, really....

i have just found out hostess makes a caramel ho-ho... and the serving size is 3 rolls...and a serving has 385 calories... and more fat than i care to think about right now....

the tiara? i can loan you mine if you like.... actually it sounds fabulous but what about a sparkling wine/ champagne for a special toast?

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?