Beebs

Being as I'm a bit of a grump when it comes to Valentine's Day and personally find it a silly, made-up holiday, my husband & I have been doing pizza and beer and a cheesy action movie. Unfortunately, we're both training for a marathon and have a long run tomorrow morning, it's going to be pasta-and-lean-protein-and-lots-of-water night instead.....

The onion confit. This was what brought me to join eGullet in the first place. Runners up are cumin carrots, larb, and Ah Leung's Coca-Cola chicken.

Hmmmm…..good question! Here I was just trying to think of some blue and orange foods I could make First thing that comes to mind is a Denver omelette. Oh and Fat Tire beer is brewed there, I believe. I'll keep thinking. OH and I'll ask mom, she still lives in Colorado. Spanish tortilla-style Denver omelette, maybe? Put it on slices of baguette?

Woot! We're hosting a small gathering this year, half a dozen people, only cuz the Seahawks are in. I think I'm going to make a chili as the main dish and throw some coffee in there. Maybe gyoza or teriyaki wings. Smoked salmon or shrimp cocktail. I still need a veg salad - probably Caesar salad. For drinks, Northwest-style pale ale (it'll be local B.C. micro, though) and I dunno...margarita with blue curacao??? Starbucks coffee with dessert?

Have you tried packaged pressed tofu? Like this one: http://superiortofu.com/archives/144. I haven't baked it before, can't comment on the results.

I accidentally garbage disposal-ed a small shot glass once and toasted the motor. I will never again put shot glasses in the garbage disposal side of the sink. Fortunately it wasn't very difficult to install a new GD ourselves and save on the plumbing bill.

It came from a can. It was fine after defrosting, smooth. It could be I used too much puree - I didn't measure, just dumped the baggies of puree in a saucepan. Puree must have dried out in the cooking....

This thread reminded me of the little baggies of leftover frozen pumpkin puree in my freezer (which I've been trying to clear out over in the "Don't Shop" thread here http://forums.egullet.org/topic/130362-klatsch-dont-shop-now/page-8). I made it into a pasta sauce for penne. Unfortunately, it wasn't delicious. The sauce kept thickening up, despite additions of pasta water and milk (I didn't even use heavy cream!). Anyway, the pasta ended up as a thick, heavy, nearly-unstirrable clump before I gave up and ate it anyway. I've never made this sauce before, but I'm guessing that the pumpkin puree just kept evaporating its moisture and/or the pasta absorbed it all.

I haven't done much no-shop cooking in the past week or so. I did make a penne pasta using some frozen pumpkin puree & evap milk as the sauce with some chorizo, but it wasn't very good. Got really clumpy and thick, despite adding more pasta water. Also kind of bland, probably from all that pasta water.... Yesterday I turned it into a mac & cheese, which improved it. Haven't gotten to the quinoa yet, either. On the weekend I went to the farm market and got a little crazy there. Hauled home piles of apples, sweet potatos, onions, and broccoli. Also went to the supermarket for a few other things, but I exercised great restraint and did not buy any pantry items. Except for the two frozen tilapia which are now living in my newly-spacious freezer. What I like about this exercise is that it is making me more conscientious about my shopping habits, and not just shopping/buying on robot-mode. It's also forces me to keep better stock of my...uh, stock. And because I've reduced my shopping frequency and time, I've got more free time - yay! I managed to clear out a lot of my freezer and fridge. Not so much success with the condiments though, nor the canned items and other pantry stuff.

Thanks for the link, Jaymes! I searched "mulled" and "glogg" but didn't think to enter gluhwein into the search function....must have imbided too much mulled wine! Did you happen to notice in that other thread that somebody suggested adding Amaretto. And someone else is making it one cup at a time, in the microwave, using mulling teabags. I tried each suggestion back when I first read about them, but haven't gotten started yet this year. Think I'll correct that at once. I did see the amaretto suggestion, but I'm particularly intrigued by the vanilla vodka addition. I'll have to give both a go. Mulling teabags is a good idea, I'd bet it would be a fun experiment to try chai or orange spice or other spice teabags. I usually make a largish amount of mulled wine at a time, keep it in a pitcher in the fridge, and microwaving a cup at a time. Mulled wine microwaves very well.

I am indulging in the first cup of hot mulled wine of the season. I think it's the one drink that unfailingly puts me in a winter holiday mood - it's so festive & cozy & delicious. Mine is a rather basic mulled wine: bottle of inexpensive red wine simmered with whole cloves, cinnamon, allspice, orange, sugar, good slug of brandy at the end. Sometimes I'll throw on a couple dashes of angostura bitters. First time I ever had mulled wine, it was at a New Year's Eve party our neighbour had thrown on the beach. I never knew hot wine with spices in it could be so good! Not realizing how easily it goes down, I ended up quite a bit tipsy after...well, too many cups. Is anyone else drinking mulled wine / gluhwein / glogg and have a great recipe, story or tradition to share?

Glue traps are indeed awful - it's terrible seeing a mouse freaking out in them. I personally prefer snap traps that kill mice right away. But glue traps are effective, if they're placed in the right spots. When tenants are howling down at you to get rid of the mice, you gotta do what ever you can and do it asap, or risk getting in trouble with various local agencies. Sometimes this means glue traps. When I first started in working in property management, I had a conversation with the PC guy about humane traps and whether we can use them. He said that there are no such things as humane traps that will solve a mice infestation permanently. With humane traps, the point is to release them outside, but mice will come back in again, especially as the weather gets cool. It's not the same as trapping & releasing skunks and raccoons. He said the only permanent solution is to kill the mice as quickly as possible. I'm not a cold-hearted person, I hate seeing critters killed. Unfortunately, mice are pests and they should not be in your home. I agree with Shel_b, though - prevention is the best long-term solution. Sealing up cracks & holes, securing foodstuffs, properly disposing of garbage, etc. It's a little more difficult and complicated in dense urban areas, though, when apartment buildings are rubbing shoulders with restaurants & supermarkets, there's an alley in the back with garbage all over the place, and the empty lot next door is over-run with tall grass and nice hidy-holes for critters. You could be doing everything right for pest control and prevention in your own apartment or building, but the guy down the hall or the building next door isn't doing a darn thing. Our PC folks have reported things like, "Yeah, your tenant has a mouse problem because there are open bags of oatmeal and cat food on the floor and there's a big hole in the screen that they hadn't bothered telling you about....".

I'm a big fan of calling in a reputable pest control company to deal with mice problems, too. I work for a property management company and we deal with mice & other critters on a regular basis. It is obviously more costly than other home remedies, but a good PC company will do a thorough job of setting proper traps & poison in the right places, check & dispose the err...corpses, and also advise how to prevent them coming in (eg. patching up holes, etc.). They'll also deal with scarier critters like rats (ugh!). Well worth the money spent, I think. We had a horrendous mouse invasion at my old office before we moved, to the point where the critters were running over our feet as we worked! They used a combination of snap traps, glue traps and poison. The poison had a dessicant in it, so the mouse would eat it, then go and die somewhere, and its body would dry up & no dead mouse smell. It did take some time and multiple visits from the PC guys before it became less of a problem, but there were noticeably fewer mice. And no, I don't get kick-backs shilling for a pest control company!

Frittaten noodles? What are frittaten noodles? I am intrigued! I think what I'll do is make quinoa & cheese, and any leftovers I'll squish up into fritters, like deep-fried mac & cheese balls. Yum!

Alrighty! Back to pantry-clearing! Today I used up the vac-sealed package of inside blade steak that had been in my fridge for about a week, marinated it in hoisin, soy, ginger, and grilled quickly. My mom had given me some leftover broccoli, cauliflower & brussel sprouts, so gave that a quick sauté to reheat. Also found some turnips that had been living in the crisper since...kinda long. Cooked them in miso & butter. DH pan-fried a few frozen scallion pancakes and that was dinner. Tomorrow's dinner will clear out some more freezer space. Simmering a bag of pork & chicken bones for soup right now. Tomorrow I'll throw in thawed frozen tofu, napa cabbage (I bought a small head today), and bean thread vermicelli from the pantry. Thawing out what I thought was a whole frozen tilapia, but turned out to be pomfret. Not sure what to do with it yet, probably steam with ginger. My challenge this week is quinoa and figuring out what to do with it. I have a large bag of it that was used for pilaf. I don't love quinoa salad, and hubby doesn't care for quinoa at all. But I'm thinking some kind of gratin or mac & cheese with quinoa instead of macaroni might be acceptable.... If anyone has any non-salad suggestions for the pile of quinoa, I'm all ears!

Oh dear. Sliding off the wagon a bit more this week. It's been a crazy week and I haven't been clearing out my pantry/freezer/fridge as much as I've wanted. We've had a bunch of dinners out and also take-out. Unfortunately, take-out leftovers are now stacking up in the fridge. On the other hand, I haven't shopped either, if we're not counting take-out. This week I've managed to use up a package of tortellini, box of mushrooms, the remains of a nearly-expired half-and-half, for mushroom pasta. Also some tomatoes, fresh mozz, and the rest of the wilty basil for caprese salad. Tonight is chili dogs (DH wants his chili beside his hot dog. Claims chili makes it soggy. The messy sloppyness makes is part of the fun of chili dogs, but then again DH is an odd character.). I'll use up the bratwurst from the freezer (no proper ballpark dogs) and the chili. Need to buy hot dog buns though. A handful of grape tomatoes as salad. Hopefully this week will use up a butternut squash and the rest of the sad apples for soup. And some of the celery. The Bloody Caesars didn't pan out (we got to the party so late, nobody wanted Caesars by then), so I'm back to square one with the celery. I don't think even I can consume half a head of celery's worth of Caesars! Vlcatko, I envy your duck haul - especially the snacky bits of crispy duck skin!

When life gives you too much celery....make (Bloody) Caesars. For those not familiar with this beloved & delicious Canadian beverage, it's a Bloody Mary made with Mott's Clamato (clam broth + tomato juice), garnished with a celery stick. I like mine made with tequila or gin, rather than vodka, with extra hot sauce, extra worcestershire (good way to use up these condiments!). The clamato was leftover from Halloween (unopened). This is one of my contributions to a potluck-type housewarming party tonight. I'm also tasked with bringing a veg to the party, so my other contribution is a broccoli salad. Unfortunately, bit of a backward slide here - I don't have any fresh veg, so had to buy broccoli, tomato & an onion. But I did use up a last handful of pecans and a tub of goat feta. I also bought beer. But I'm not including booze in my list of things not to buy.

Vlcatko, good idea on the fritters! I have panko crumbs, too. Mjx, speaking of gifts - I've seen ideas using powdered milk to make homemade hot cocoa mix, packaged in a nice jar, and giving it away for Christmas presents. For dinner tonight, we're doing what we like to call "foraging". Which consists of pulling all the leftovers out onto the counter and picking & choosing from the miscellany. No cooking except to reheat.

Mjx, I could have really used your skim milk powder a couple weeks ago, when I made a gelatin zombie brain for Halloween! Wouldn't it be great if we could all just get together and have a miscellaneous ingredients and weird condiments swap? Anyway, this morning, in an attempt to use up leftovers, I somehow ended up with more leftovers than I started with! I made a hack kedgeree with leftover basmati and short grain rice, leftover vindaloo sauce, some red lentils and a tin of salmon. Tasty, but now there's a pot of it taking up my fridge space.... Naan pizza for dinner tonight.

Great idea reviving this thread, didn't know it existed! I'm inspired to have a go at this - it'll be nice to clean out some freezer/pantry space before Christmas. I'll be buying fresh veg/fruit as needed (there are a couple green grocers within a 3 block radius here, so I never do weekly veg shopping anyway), and stuff like eggs, bread, milk. We did do a small shopping trip for staples on the weekend, though. I've got tons of pantry items, unfortunately - mostly grains, rice, pasta, noodles, legumes; also items for baking, like chocolate, nuts, dried fruit; and a ridiculous glut of condiments, both Asian & western. I think the biggest challenge is the condiments taking up half my fridge .... Tonight's dinner was grilled pork chops (from the shopping trip); oven roasted broccoli with lemon & pecorino; stuffing made from old bread in the freezer, celery, and a sad apple. Ended up with some leftovers. Tomorrow might be leftover chili (some of which was turned into nachos yesterday) or naan bread pizza to use up the basil getting sad in the fridge.

My lazy way is put a wet-damp paper towel over the rice, cover the whole thing with plastic wrap or lid (or use an extra piece of damp paper towel), and micro the whole thing. My mom's (better) way is to steam in a bowl, set on a trivet directly in a pot. Throw a couple links of lap cheung on top, splash of sweetened soy, steam it, and there's dinner!

Yes, I've had the same happen - larger, older scallions with some goop mostly in the green parts. Less goop (if any) in smaller, younger scallions. I've just assumed it was natural plant goop, sort of like aloe vera leaves.

Possibly burdock / gobo / kinpira root? Lotus roots? Might have luck finding them at Asian supermarkets.

Well, didn't make broa today, but had some leftover buttermilk so made regular cornbread. Unfortunately, laziness & carelessness made for a less-than-ideal loaf. Used the usual William Sonoma recipe. Used oil instead of butter, because the butter was frozen; forgot to mix the oil with the other wet ingredients, so stirred it into the batter at the end; baked it in my toaster oven knowing that it bakes unevenly, because too impatient to wait for my big oven to preheat. Cornbread ended up unevenly brown, tough & dry. Yes, it is possible to screw up cornbread.

Thanks for the broa recipes, Andiesenji & Tri2cook! I'm going to give the Leite's recipe a go. I think I have all the ingredients except for fresh yeast cakes. How do I substitute regular dry yeast? I'm assuming the flavour probably won't be as authentic and I'm ok with that. Or is it really worth it to source fresh yeast for broa?