suzilightning

he is cooking up here in northern morris/southern sussex county at a place called Alice's overlooking lake hopatcong. ny times review here:http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/10/nyregion/10dinenj.html

that's because he is up here in the hinterlands: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/10/nyregion/10dinenj.html

last night was spaghetti with meatballs in a red sauce. i'm single tonight and i am craving cauliflower cheese and braised kale with garlic. right now i'm defrosting the freezer and unearthed some duck maigrets. i'm thinking about some sort of an etouffee for dinner tomorrow night when i get home from work...though reservations would be nice, too.

at the in-laws for christmas and made a ham with ginger ale/orange marmalade/brown sugar glaze, german potato salad, sage honey glazed carrots and green beans almondine. brought home the bone to make soup to send up to my mother-in-law but before then when i got home from work on sunday night i dragged johnnybird into the kitchen to help me. i had him chop up some of the ham that was left on the bone and grate up some whiskey cheddar as well as a few other miscellaneous pieces of cheddars that were in the fridge. while he did that i thinly sliced some red bliss and idaho potatoes and par-cooked them in some milk that i had floated a bay leaf in. potatoes, ham, cheese - repeat and cover with the poaching milk. 350 oven for about 450 minutes and casserole. off for 3 days after tonight so doing some planning for the long weekend meals: pork shnitzel with german potato salad and green beans matloaf, olive oil mashed potatoes and either peas or carrots chicken parm with penne also need to make the soup and some tomato sauce we celebrate our christmas on new year's eve so i'm thinking just noshes - a nice cocktail, champagne natch, pigs in a blanket, shrimp, sweet and sour mini meatballs, some roaring 40's or rogue blue with pears, some cheddar and apple, chocolates for dessert...then the loot!

the following books have been claimed : Folse, John. Hot Beignets and Warm Boudoirs Time-Life Foods of the World. Wine and Spirits Verge, Roger. Cuisine of the Sun Williams- Sonoma. Simple Classics Cookbook

greetings all - some books that came into the library that weren't added to the collection and i have harvested the recipes i want so.... if anything strikes your fancy pm me and all will be answered in order of receipt Folse, John. Hot Beignets and Warm Boudoirs Lagasse, Emeril. Every Day's a Party Lewis, Richard W. Absolut Book: The Absolut Vodka Advertising Story An Old Fashioned Country Christmas The Southern Living Cookbook Stewart, Martha. Martha Stewart's Christmas Time-Life Foods of the World. Wine and Spirits Verge, Roger. Cuisine of the Sun Williams- Sonoma. Simple Classics Cookbook

We are staying at the Raddison and they don't even have an in room refrigerator but they do have sleep by number beds - THANK GOODNESS!!!

dear unknown - thanks for those. We already hve Scenic Cafe and Nokomis on our list as well as Sven & Ole's. will check out Bridgman's and Takk for Matten. We are going to be in town for a hawk conference so for 4 days we will be listening to papers being presented alternated with field trips.

I'm afraid not on this trip, Kerry. We need to make it to Duluth from Poughkeepsie, NY in 3 days. We have done several wineries in the Niagra Penninsula and around Point Pelee on other trips.

The hubs and I are heading for a conference in Duluth from his childhood home in Poughkeepsie. We are planning on driving but rather than rt. 80 we are planning to hit Niagra Falls then using the 69 to Sudbury, picking up 17 to Thunder Bay then 61 down to Duluth. Any places you can recommed? Anything we should miss? Are we crazy? Any and all input is appreciated.

we will be heading that way for a conference in the middle of April. I have a few ideas in a file at home. has this trip already happened? susan am writing down those recommendations as well...thanks

and now a new product specifically for the kitchen: http://www.mydemy.com

johnnybird was down the shore and i thought he wasn't coming back until tomorrow but he informed me he would be back about 7. i just had my first day off from work and the hawkwatch so i was able to cook. he now has a choice between chicken fricasse with some egg noodles or some meatballs that were frozen and about to come to an expiration date that were poached in a nice tomato sauce. for me it was red beans with a hambone and rice with leftovers shared by an expat texas girl and a neighbor who has been out of work for over a year. a few small containers are in the freezer for after oral surgery.

i don't clip - i copy onto recipe cards then am able to pass the intact mag along as a laginappe when i send out a load of cookbooks. i am about to go to my third athletic shoe box for my recipe cards. i've already told johnnybird that if i die before he does he has to offer the recipe boxes on the FREE COOKBOOK thread and send one box to each of the first three people who reply and the fourth gets all the leftover mags. hope you like 'em.

susan, years ago i adapted the recipe for Ruby Chicken from one i read in a newspaper and still used it. chicken breasts, fresh oj, cranberries, some brown sugar, spices. bake. serve.

agghhhhh.... diana's 19??!!! my grandfather used to write me a letter every sunday night just as he had to my mom and uncle when they went to college and into the service(course my uncle had 3 years worth of letters when he got back from special assignment in korea to read). that was one of my favorite things...and he knew how to write local gossip real well. on holidays(columbus day, thanksgiving, valentines day) mom would put together small packages with maybe some costume jewelry, some candy, some local treats i couldn't get in fredonia - her blondies, aunt belle's fudge, some of the spiced pumpkin seeds from picozzi's or one of her frozen bread loaves that, when it arrived was ready to be popped into the dorm's oven to finish baking and some of the wild grape jelly we used to make. now of course there is email and cell phones so getting that letter isn't what it used to be which may be a bit of a loss for them. ps - you went to st. olaf's? isn't that where betty white's character on Golden Girls was from? and aren't they known for their bread?

not really sweet but in season now cottage cheese or plain greek yoghurt with fruit mixed in. in the colder months i would rather have a hamburger or leftover stew or pasta dish than anything sweet. i do love a good breakfast of dry scrambled eggs, home fries and corned beef hash with tomato. johnnybird prefers french toast with maple syrup and blueberries, toast with toast dope, cream of rice with maple syrup. though he does like some eggy potatoes (baked potatoes, eggs and some sort of meat - bacon or ham)

use it to make croquettas and serve with a quince dipping sauce. a little cheese goes a long way in this recipe. we actually subed the cabrales for the manchego.

After work and then the gym I got home about 3. I had shopped and done some prep work the day before but first an appertif: All recipes came from Mastering the Art of French Cooking vol.1. Poulet a l'estragon, champignons farcis, spinach au jus, rice with mushrooms and shallots and a cherry clafoutis to which I snuck in some white peaches that needed to be used up Got the chicken stuffed with some fresh tarragon, salt and pepper, trussed and massaged with butter. Then into the dutch oven to brown up a bit before being joined by some carrots, onions and more tarragon. Mince and squeeze the mushrooms for the rice but what is this? 3 leftover mushrooms... two stuffed mushrooms coming up. While the chicken is in the oven make the rice and add the mushrooms and shallots to it along with some freshly minced parsley. I had blanched spinach the day before so cut it up and sauteed it in some, whatelse, butter then added some flour and beef stock to make the sauce. Assembled the clafoutis that went into the oven when the mushrooms and chicken came out. While the bird rested I added beef and chicken stock to the defatted jus along with a slurry of port and cornstarch. You need wine to go with dinner of course Two pieces of breast, the rice, spinach and a mushroom. The next time I would add a few grates of nutmeg to the spinach and I WILL make more stuffed mushrooms. About an hour or so later after eating and putting all the leftovers away - and mixing the spinach into the rice - I will get johnnybird to eat more vegetables somehow, it was time for dessert. Clafoutis with port or a drop more champagne, anyone?

a mocha frosted fudgy brownie...and i'm at work for another hour

not much worth photgraphing around here but this weekend FINALLY some decent things at the farmer's market: basil, some unblighted tomatoes and olives from Pickalicious. add in some whole wheat pasta and oven roasted shrimp for dinner. also tried some wine from Westfall Winery. the wine in the glass to the right is their cranberry wine. light and very refreshingly tart. a few weeks ago after a workout i spent about an hour picking wineberries. i kept about half of these and made small steamed puddings with hard sauce and gave half to a neighbor for a pie.

the shop is gone now but Ren at Pies On Pizza in Lake Hopatcong used to make the most incredible tomato pies. The White pizza on Tuesday and the Pesto on Wednesday. One was a pesto pizza. thin crust, a smear of pesto, extremely thin slices of fresh tomato(so it wasn't too soggy) and finished with garlic bread crumbs. The other was the crust, a very thin layer of white, grated cheeses, the thin slices of tomato and the garlic bread crumbs. a friend of mine features a different type of tomato pie at her place - it is more of a quiche. This is how she phrases it: Cheddar Tomato Pie - "A slice of summer" Fresh tomaotes, basil, scallions, mayo and Vermont cheddar cheese

i like A Fresh Look at Saucing Foods by Deidre Davis. it gives a basic recipe then gives you ideas of which other foods could be paired with the sauce.

you might try Fred's Fishmarket in dover. i've used him for parties in the past

and i just found this: http://www.chefscool.com/aboutus.html Carol Murphy Clyne and her husband, Vincent, were my chef instructors when I did the Spain and the world table class at CIA. They are very good.