suzilightning

As I diplomatically try to explain it, my wife has well-defined culinary comfort zones, outside of which she is reluctant to venture. Usually when I explain it this way, she follows up with "I'm a fussy eater like most of my inlaws they aren't challenged or exposed to anything other in their comfort level After I recovered, we discussed what she didn't like about fish, and what she wanted to avoid. The answer? "That fishy taste and smell." HELLO if it smells fishy it isn't fresh. as far as fish taste usually you get in the fish like blue or weakfish that have the stronger fat steak running down the spine. i grew up fishing and eating these fish and you CAN'T pay me enough to eat them now - which is why i will never fish for this species. if i catch it i will eat it. the "fishy" taste is probably the fat streak.

about going out on monday if you can find someplace open? or about the place itself? v.d. is the freaking worst day to go out. johnnybird and i will celebrate the day before (and i guess some in the njforum are going out to the chinese new year celebration). have to check if i have to work sunday. if not..... but i will pack a special meal and some treats for the birdy for work on the day

roasted sprouts are divine. i've never had fresh limas...only favas (they're different, right?) but super fresh peas make me giddy. ←

try a different style of sherry than the cream(as well as copious amounts of garlic) say an amontillado or a manzanilla. maybe briefly(15 minutes) marinate your shrimp in the sherry with salt and pepper.... then olive oil, butter and garlic

chufi - i covet, CRAVE your first course dinner tonight was more experimentation - wilde green chicken i copied out from an irish cookbook several years ago. don't get it but my friend's birthname is wilde - an english/irish lass. it is chicken breasts marinated in a mix of chunky peanutbutter, olive oil and minced garlic then sauteed in olive oil in which paprika, salt and pepper and dry mustard are heated. add water and cook. served over lemon rice with my first attempt at ROASTED CAULIFLOWER. OH MY GAWD!!!!! i never jumped on this bandwagon before but it is awsome. will turn 'chelle on to this since the only veg her hubby eats are of the cruciferous kind. (hello - someone who doesn't like peas!!!!! - ok so she doesn't like lima beans[am i the only sane one in this land of the insane - limas grown in the right terroir are to die for]) want to now try broccoli and sprouts... definite possibilities here

cool - one i actually can get and do have in my cellar right now. now what to serve with it hmmmmmmm.......

vegetable beef barley soup is on the stove. we'll have that with german rye bread and an arugula salad. dessert for john later will be cranberry orange tea loaf that is in the oven along with tomorrow morning's french crumb cake. i'm debating between a glass of stout and a glass of red wine...we'll see what johnnybird wants when he gets home. since SOMEONE didn't get home till almost seven and i was hungry at 6 i ate and john got the soup reheated with a glass of stout

maggie - that does sound dead easy. hmmmmm guess i'll have to do that next week when johnnybird is out of town on business. some nice rye bread with lurpak... beef vegetable barley soup on the stove as i type. some for work as well as dinner tonight. we're going to need it ambient temps at 0F and hopefully the wind will die down. though it does make chilling a bottle of wine quite easy

cold and i was craving gravy so... pasta bolognese made with ground buffalo, yellow and red peppers and Bully Hill Ives a simple salad with a vinaigrette stay warm and happy cooking all edited to add that my (almost) 18 year old cat really enjoyed the ground buffalo. glad i can give her some fun

supposed to go into single digits here(the guy on metro traffic just said tomorrow is supposed to be "Wicked Cold"). i'm off for a week(have to use up comp time) and john just got home from poughkeepsie. i was craving meat gravy so made a bolognese with ground buffalo, red and yellow peppers and Bully Hill Ives. took split pea soup up for the people at work, made cinnamon buns for john's breakfast and have to do the following tomorrow: vegetable beef soup to take up to work later in the week(and for our dinner as well) rye bread more cranberry orange tea cake just got a delivery of free trade cocoa so maybe some fudgy bourbon brownies

ohh, ohh, ohh...... venison sirloin with a nice mushroom sauce?????

finally gotten cold here and i am on a northern europe comfort food kick. last night was maultaschen, rye bread and salad tonight golumbki tomorrow will probably be scotch broth - i have the lamb shoulder, 3 garlic cloves and an onion at a bare simmer. when done shred the meat, let the broth sit overnight and skim off. reheat the broth with barley and carrots, add the meat back and serve - childhood all over again. yum

Would you please expand on the "cranberry orange tea bread"? It sounds interesting! A recipe would be even more welcome, if you aren't breaking trade secrets or copyrights! sure thing. adapted from The New Fannie Farmer Boston Cooking School Cookbook from many many years ago. 1 orange water 2 Tbsp butter or margarine 1 egg 1 cup sugar 1 cup cranberries(if using fresh chopp them up; i many times mix fresh and the craisins) 1/2 nuts (walnuts, slivered almonds, chopped pecans) 2 cups flour 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 tsp baking soda Microplane the rind off that orange. Into a mixing bowl squeeze the juice and add enough boiling water to make 3/4 cup. Add the rind to the water/juice mixture along with the butter and stir to melt. In another bowl put the sugar and egg. Beat well and then incorporate this into the orange mixture. Add the cranberries and nuts. Sift together the dry ingredients then stir into the first mixture. Spoon into a 9" x 5" loaf pan that has been sprayed with baking spray or buttered and floured. Bake 1 hour at 325 F. sometimes i will also add a little more dried orange peel or zest another orange.

Would you please expand on the "cranberry orange tea bread"? It sounds interesting! A recipe would be even more welcome, if you aren't breaking trade secrets or copyrights! sure thing. adapted from The New Fannie Farmer Boston Cooking School Cookbook from many many years ago. 1 orange water 2 Tbsp butter or margarine 1 egg 1 cup sugar 1 cup cranberries(if using fresh chopp them up; i many times mix fresh and the craisins) 1/2 nuts (walnuts, slivered almonds, chopped pecans) 2 cups flour 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 tsp baking soda Microplane the rind off that orange. Into a mixing bowl squeeze the juice and add enough boiling water to make 3/4 cup. Add the rind to the water/juice mixture along with the butter and stir to melt. In another bowl put the sugar and egg. Beat well and then incorporate this into the orange mixture. Add the cranberries and nuts. Sift together the dry ingredients then stir into the first mixture. Spoon into a 9" x 5" loaf pan that has been sprayed with baking spray or buttered and floured. Bake 1 hour at 325 F.

susan- you haven't gotten to the Victory Storm King Stout? this is johnnybird's new favorite beer.

having just slid into my driveway after slip-sliding up rt 15n on about 1 1/2 inches of rain, sleet and snow here in nw nj with the temps sliding down from yesterday's high of about 60 - i am ready to cook!!! just finished lunch - weiswurt, saurekraut and TATER TOTS. up on the agenda: blueberry cake cranberry orange tea bread bake off the country rye bread that is on it's final rise unexpectedly have john home(he was heading north to his mom's) so i can't start the scotch broth soup - he can't abide the smell of lamb have to feed the boy so i think i'll start some onions and make maltaushen for dinner. it will go well with the bread, some beer cheese and some cucumber salad.

made this meatloaf from the newest eating well :http://www.eatingwell.com/articles_recipes/recipes/recipes_febmar05.htm/meatloaf_blue_plate.html really, really good - probably the best i've ever eaten yellow and green squash spinach cous cous john had some 365 truffles from whole foods for dessert

back in home ec, 7th grade, 1967 a casserole of pancakes and ground beef and onions. my grandfather, bless his heart, ate it all

as johnnybird takes his post dinner nap... simple with leftovers for tonight. i tried a new recipe from one of the mags - zinfandel cranberry sauce. oh my gawd. it was one of the best sweet and tart tastes. this went with a small pork roast done on a bed of leeks. i made a potato onion gratin and had a few pieces of potato leftover so cooked and mashed them with some leftover roasted garlic and a non-dairy sour cream i found in shoprite. john inhaled this. the veg was baby carrots cut on the bias cooked simply in some salted water then finished in a pan with some light olive oil, key lime honey(i HAVE to get a supply of this), fresh tarragon and a few scrapes of nutmeg. leftovers for tomorrow at work for both of us ... life is good.

maggie - i agree with salt but i salt through the process. not fleur de sel but kosher salt. i, unfortunately, am one of the 30% cursed with a sodium intolerance so i have to watch the amount i cook with - why i cook with something other than mortons or whatever. also if you use canned stock there is sodium in there so you should taste before you add more. ok for bacon if you do it one of two ways: 1) try it out. use the fat to sweat your onions and shallot after removing the lardons 2) use turkey bacon and crisp it in the microwave then crumble into the soup. hey - i cook for all contingencies and am nothing if not inventive

for which course gg? if dessert it would be the lemon charlotte - lemon cream with lemon flavored lady fingers done like a tiramisu that i first did almost 30 years ago. course it might be the black forest mousse pie i developed so my husband could have a "birthday cake" about 20 years ago when we realized he was severly lactose intolerant and the mil insisted you HAD to have a dessert for your birthday(give me a cheese course or an extra small plate any day rather than something sweet). or even the fudgy bourbon brownies that we have all the time at the hawkwatch but gussied up with a bourbon whipped cream for a main course it would have to be duck breast with a sauce of dried cherries, port and kumquats( course wait till tomorrow when i try a new sauce of cranberries and zinfandel) served with a side of wild and brown rice. some green and yellow beans sauted with garlic and nuts should accompany the whole package. first course would be bruschetta of an olive tapenade and thin sliced perona farms smoked salmon( just walk up to the back door and say - psst can i get something?) course if you didn't want "gourmet" it would be a different story - more home cooking though some things would stay the same

evie next time skip the vidalia. i use leeks and shallots. since i can't use cream i may use a bit of lactaid milk but rely on the soup with broth(veg or chicken) not water then pureed to do the job. and if you have baked garlic (whole clove baked at 350, wrapped in foil with a sprinkling of olive oil and salt the next time you have your oven on) it is wonderful to add along with only the barest bit of thyme. you really don't need the bacon, etc. for flavor - sorry nullo, my sweet.

I read this, and got really excited, then I read that part about lamb, and was less so. I am imagining then that Scotch Broth is not actually a soup based on Scotch (the liquor) but instead something Scottish? I wonder how a Scotch based soup would be... ←

So, suzilightning, which are you entering in the NJ Cooking Contest: Tomato, Corn, or Blueberry?? ←

Anyone else done the contest thing? Anyone win? I remember a thread a while back about a chicken recipe contest... anything come of that? ←