suzilightning

Picked up : 1 bottle Canadian Club 1 bottle sweet vermouth - Martini 1 bottle Angustora bitters 1 jar marischino cherries Husband is taking up to Poughkeepsie along with the formula for a classic Manhattan. He will make it up then sneak it into his mom in the nursing home.

this kicks up several things for me: i like to patronize local non-chains. i have, however, had some perfectly dreadful food at them. and i know that with standardization i can get a pretty good chicken sandwich on whole grain roll with honey mustard dressing, banana peppers, black olives and some good greens at Subway. my husband, the johnnybird, is an engineer who over the years has traveled to almost all 50 states. many times coming out of meetings they folks just want something that is reliably good to eat as many of those guys think of food as fuel, not a dining experience. sometimes the best option in some of the far flung outposts is a chain. if you ever meet him please have him tell you what it is like driving down the main road to Yuma Proving Grounds (Taco Bell, In 'n Out Burger, McDonalds, Wendys, Burger King, Taco Bell.....). On the other hand being married to a semi-worldly hooked in woman like me he has now eaten at Jaleo in DC twice and I haven't darkened it's doors once . growing up off the east end of Long Island in the 1950's and 1960's there wasn't a lot available outside of our home kitchens. i ate at Nettie's Italian Kitchen once. i never ate pizza again until i met my friend ,joyce, 19 years latef. it was that bad. the nearest McDonalds went in 30 miles from where i grew up in the very late 1960s. once coming home from a field trip we stopped there and considered it a treat. i did however get instruction from teachers when were were out on other field trips on how to behave and order in white tablecloth restaurants and found it an invaluable lesson throughout my life. i'm glad that those folks have another possiblility for meeting and eating at, perhaps, a reasonable price for ladies who probably have cooked most of their life.

mother-in-law still in the nursing home, sister-in-law has to work a 3-11 shift, rest of the full and half siblings going for the first time to an aunt and uncle(because their mom is in the nursing home). we are going to have a late breakfast and i'll have food for when we get home from visiting the nursing home: herb crusted pork roast with onion and roasted carrots mashed sweet potatoes green beans with olive oil and garlic stuffin' muffins and gravy

since you have a fresh bird you should definitley go with a brine. i like to drape the breast with some bacon before i roast it. i roast it on a raft of sliced carrots, shallots and some thyme. since the hubs only likes the breast, i strip the meat from the carcass and use the bones - with bay leaf and aromatics - to make a broth. i use the broth and the meat to make soup with wild and brown rice and aromatics. congratulations on having such generous folks.

we appear to be up to almost 10" of snow here in nw nj. tried to make some chocolate chip cookies. nice and gooey with some crisp edges but need to work on them. made a set of Portugese sweet bread to use for sandwich bread this next week. dinner is awaiting johnnybird waking up from a bit of a nap. long cooked green beans in olive oil and veg stock. drained then doused with my concentrated vinaigrette. mashed potatoes. swiss steak/french onion soup from RR. knocked it down a bit for us and used ground bison. by reducing the stock to make the soup you get a nice, dense gravy to go over those potatoes. shoveling out tomorrow and leftovers!!

make Syracuse salt potatoes - unless you have problems with sodium. how about roasting the peeled butternut squash with the apples and some olive oil, salt and sage? then pair it with the roasted pork? or can you make a stuffing with the apples and squash with some of your bread and make stuffin' muffins to go with the pork but with some great gravy? i am so freaking envious of your bounty...but i have to learn to not covet but go with what i can find/glean/harvest.

am i the only one making soup? it was wet today and i was inspired by the latest issue of Saveur that included an article about soups - specifically the soups of mittle europe. i had roasted a pheasant on sunday. today stripped most of the meat from the carcass and it is simmering with bay leaf, juniper berries and the bag of vegetable scraps from the freezer. in an hour or so i will strain it and then transform the broth into a german barley and knockwurt soup. dinner will be that with some rye bread, some good butter and some sauteed greens. come on folks - it's getting cooler in the midwest and the east coast of the us - how about you guys from europe? south of the equator you are just coming out of winter into spring...surely there is more soup out there to brag about.

hope you interfaced with the librarians and use them to your student's best advantage (30 year librarian) wanted to inhale that mopo tofu - didn't think about the silken tofu, though. ohh.... lamb and johnnybird would love the walkin beer cooler

last night was the beef daube i had made on friday and "aged". served with some egg noodles. the last will go to work with johnnybird tomorrow with a whole grain roll. tonight i roasted white sweet, yellow sweet, fingerling potatoes and some butternut squash with some sea salt, thyme and olive oil. stuffed a pheasant with sage and apples then draped the breast with bacon and roasted. steamed some broccoli and made a warm broccoli salad with some shallot and a vinaigrette.

Any suggestions? can you get Tuthilltown? I like their baby bourbon though you may not be able to get it out near you. edited to add: sorry i missed the picture and thank you for the walleye

and food service gloves to you can keep on.... even when i half cut the tip of my thumb off i didn't go for stitches. wrapped, elevated, pressure and, at the urging of our maitre 'd a glass of red wine "to replace the blood".

ohhh.... that cheese plate is calling my name. i've been lucky to have some of the Hook cheeses and they are wonderful...like the old rat cheese of my childhood. do you have any apples coming in that you can pair with your cheeses? and please, sir... some walleye?!! it is still the first thing i get when i get up around a freshwater lake of any size and i haven't had any since a year and a half ago......... how do you like the Hayman's?

drinks and chacuterie? someone from NYC? or katieloeb?

have y'all thought about a hard sided insulated lunch box? both john and i have them and they are great. i have two smallish sig bottles that i half fill with water, freeze and fill in the morning with more water. great, ice cold water that keeps the tiny containers of whatever is in the box good. course pb&js do also go in several times a week

randi- are you on any injectible meds for the psoriatic arthritis? johnnybird has the condition as well but his physician didn't say anything to him about beef. is it possible since i source locally raised organic it makes a difference? can we see the ocean? how about fresh dates - fruits not people!?

Chicken Canzanese from Cook's Illustrated - though I did leave the pepperoncino out since my husband can't tolerate heat. I really, really liked the crispy chicken skin.

that's how we were taught in culinary. the bowls were of equal size and 3 quarts. since i usually don't have to do massive amounts of garlic i don't use it that much anymore.

a rain day!!! so time to run errands and tried a recipe i had copied out of a Vegetarian Times. i borrowed mini muffin pans from my neighbor, carol (the joke is she doesn't do a lot of cooking but she has the best kitchen equipment) and made mini ginger cupcakes with honey cream cheese frosting. still waiting for them to finish cooling so i can frost them but the naked cupcakes were very nice and moist. i wasn't blown away with the balance of spices so, next time i have some time, i think i will be working on the formula. i also thought that since they bake up so well another formulation might work well with something buried into the batter.

i don't eat hot pizza. the thin crust is too floppy and the sauce and chhese(s) are too hot and slidy. when i buy slices i order them plain and not heated. then i eat themat room temp. that way you can taste every part of the pie. my husband also loves to eat my foccacia with olive oil and some a light tomato sauce at room temp for lunch.

wow - nothing quite as interesting as some of you folks. yesterday had a day off from the hawkwatch so i got to take a side tripafter the gym to Texas Smoke Barbecue to pick up a bottle of the mild sauce and snagged a pulled chicken sandwich from their lunch menu. today back to the hawkwatch so i pack my basket which really is lunch and breakfast: black forest ham and swiss on rye, a banana, a tomato salad with ricotta salata and olives, a glucerna, some yoghurt and water...lots of water...and some chocolate to attract the birds for john he will get french toast, some cookies, a chicken with avocado on rye sandwich and chips and a fishcake.

i really want that crispy chicken skin. a question about using your parents kitchen...does california require a certificate of health on the kitchen to do catering or do you just have to a food handlers certificate? just wondering since i have been doing some work but have to rent/beg/borrow space as well as having my certificate. looking forward to your marvelous food.

does sandy smith live near there? or katie loeb?

calzones from mid island(around bohemia on long island). the other item is from my friend joyce's family: scaccia. for all hoidays that have to have non meat "pizza" products that comes from italy - pizza dough, tomato sauce, romano cheese that is fine grated, grated like mozzarella and then cubed. fold up and roll like a stromboli, bake and serve with the extra tomato sauce. it is fantastic hot or room temp.

You can get it on Amazon.com search Kraft Green Goddess or it is very easy to make at home. check out the recipe section

fg- it is like toast dope. everyone has their own favorite recipe. for my friend joyce she dips the stale bread in a batter then shallow fries it. i made french toast for john this morning before he left for business travel. it was nothing more than beaten egg that had potato bread quickly soaked then fried in a pan that is only used to make french toast and pancakes that had been heated over medium high heat and coated with light olive oil. it browns up beautifully and he likes it with real maple syrup. alton brown has a great recipe, too. figure out what you want then go for it