Pierogi

Kerry, *that* is a lunch to write home about ! Simply amazing, quality "junk" food (and I mean that in the abosolute most complimentary way... )

Pretty much anything deepfried, because it's such a mess, such a waste of oil, and such a PITA for just one person. So I limit my French fry, onion ring, fish & chips, fried zucchini sticks, fried chicken, hard taco shell/tostada shell/tortilla chip experiences to commercial ventures. Ditto potato chips. Can't even fathom making them at home. Nachos. Never had them at home that comes close to even a half-@ssed Mexican restaurant. Probably won't ever try croissants, though. Or puff pastry. Perfectly fine specimens of those out there at a good price point. Same for cheeses, although I did make Indian paneer once, and would try it again. But everything else is fair game. A lot of it is economics. I *can* (and do) make Indian/Mexican/Chinese/Asian food cheaper than I can buy it. Plus it's fun. And I know what goes in it.

Day-um ! I want that sausage...and that bacon. And I bet Mr. Lloyd has some amazing tasso as well... BTW, "Popsicle Toes" is one of my favorite songs. Both the Michael Franks and Diana Krall versions. I'd always wondered if that was the source of your screen name. And Aunt Bobbie, well, Bobbie is, of course, a nickname for "Roberta", although I drop the last "e".... And let's just not talk about those onion rings. Oh man. Our strawberries are still a little too early. We had a blast of hot weather about a week and a half ago, and now record rain and cold, so I'm not hopeful. The first batch I bought were astringent and cottony. Then the rest rotted before I could eat them. Maybe another couple of weeks. Believe me, I *know* about eating late during Blog Week. I wasn't kidding when I said I should've started dinner around noon !

LOL, I think I'm in the same boat about the concept of "empty stomach". That said, I have some meds that I take in the morning with the same warning. Thinking, as you do, that I still have food left in my gut from dinner (which I eat late) and midnight snack, I, for many years, didn't eat anything with/before/or after them. Then my tummy started to rebel, and I felt generally crappy. I found a little "something" helped immensely, especially if it were something dairy or starchy. For some reason, yogurt doesn't sit well with me in the morning, so I got into the habit of making scones/muffins/biscuits for a morning pill cushion. Now that I'm not working, a couple of spoonfuls of cottage cheese, or hummous, or a bite or two of leftover dinner does the trick. It doesn't have to be a full-on "trucker's breakfast" of eggs, pancakes, meat, etc. but something in the tummy makes for a happier tummy and a happier day. A serving of yogurt should do it, or one of your smoothies. Or a bagel or such. Something to "coat" the insides (to phrase it as delicately as I can), and cushion the meds, and to absorb the nasties of the meds.

*edging in between Blether, Shelby, robirdstx and KayB*.... WOW ! This is going to be a GREAT week, Rhonda. I am so looking forward to this. Now we'll see how a *pro* does Louisianna food, not some wanna be California Girl.

To sit down at dinner, every day, *at the table*, with family. Even today, a bazillion years later, as a single, I still set the table with a placemat, napkin, full flatware service, wine glass and water glass. Dinner was important, and our day stopped for it, and we all came together for it. I can no more imagine eating my dinner standing over the kitchen sink than I could flying to the moon. To put yourself into what you cook, because giving your food to people you care for, even if it's just to yourself, is the best expression of YOU that there is. To accommodate varied tastes and palates, and not force your preferences on them. I can remember plenty of times my mom making my dad a steak, or a pot roast, or something "meat and potatoes", while we'd have tacos and lasagna and stir frys. Daddy didn't get that type of food, so Mom would make something he'd like, and then we'd go off on our tangents. To have fun in the kitchen.

Heidi, neither have I ! They remain my Holy Grail of produce in Southern California....if you find them, please share your source, as I will if *I* do.

I have this on loan from the local library, so I could look it over and decide if I want to buy it. I want to buy it !!!! Now that I've regained my will to cook after "Blog Week", I made a couple of recipes from it over the last couple of days. One was the "Swiss Chard Pancakes" on page 350. I had Swiss chard from the CSA last week, and this was a good way to use some of it. I made them as a side dish, with some pork sausage patties. They were a bais pancake batter (eggs, milk, flour) with onion, garlic, shallot, and some herbs tossed in. Dorie recommends fresh parsley and chives, but I had no fresh herbs in the house, so I used the green part of a couple of scallions and dried thyme, basil and rosemary. You mix up the batter with the aromatics in the blender, then toss in the chard in batchs to shred it. Then fry them up. They were fabulous. Very good flavor, and a nice, pillowy texture. A great use of chard in an unusal way. Tonight was the Next-Day Beef Salad on page 260. I used a leftover piece of a tri-tip steak I'd cooked on the grill pan a few days ago. Mixed with red pepper, apple, cornichons, a hot chile, green olives, tomato and scallion, then dressed with a mayo/mustard dressing and served on baby greens, it was a great blend of texture and flavor, and the play of the sweet, tart and savory. And very filling. No pictures, I'm trying to quit food photography "cold turkey" for the time being ! The book would be well worth the price for these two recipes alone, but there's about 100 others I want to try.

After breaking the glass jars on two Oggi Boston shakers in a little over a year and a half, this is precisely what I use now as well. Both the glass jars broke in a VERY scary fashion....it reminded me of those old Western movies where the bad guy broke a bottle on the bar during the fight scene and threatened the hero with the jagged glass. One I broke simply by hitting it against my sink faucet while I was washing it. And it wasn't a SLAM into the faucet, it was at best, a hard tap. The other shattered into lethal pieces when I pushed too hard with my muddler. *THAT* time I was seriously lucky I didn't bleed to death, or at least need stitches, from the resulting break. I was honestly scared carrying it to the recyling bin. And neither of them had been washed in a dishwasher, always by hand. So, now I stick with the bastardized 2 metal cobbler parts. A plus is they both go into the dishwasher ! And I don't have to worry about having the ER on standby when I mix an adult beverage.

The Northgate is on 21st & Pacific, which is quite close to where I have a routine doctor's appointment. I'm actually going on Monday, so I may swing by Northgate then. I think the one on 10th & Long Beach is a Superior. Next time I head towards downtown, I may check them out as well.

Thanks runwestierun ! As I said, you guys who contributed are the best. Sorry I'm so late in answering your question, it got lost in the haze of Thursday and Friday. Luckily it's not too late to slide in a response. You know, I rarely actually *see* the little critters, but I assume they come because the nectar goes away ! I think I've only ever seen one AT the feeder two or three times. I do know there's a nest in the avocado tree in the yard in back of mine, because I see one (or more, who can tell if its the same one or not?), flitting back and forth from the power and phone lines above the feeder to the tree when I'm out in the yard with The Girls. And I did get lucky about 2 weeks ago, and catch this shot of one sitting on the top of the shepherd's crook holder that holds the feeder: I call it "Bird On a Bird" !

Well, folks, it has been an absolute blast, and a true honor to share my week, my environs, my kitchen (and my now, less-fuzzy fuzz bombs ) with you. I want to thank all of you who contributed comments and questions, and most especially for all the kind words. All y'all made me laugh out loud more than once, and get tears in my eyes more than once. Although in terms of complexity/volume the week was most certainly NOT typical, as johnnyd said in his comment, we do "amp up the cooking" when we're showing off, everything I did this week *is* very typical of what and how I cook. What brings it full-circle I think, is that many of the things I did this week, bread, yeast dough sweets, homemade tortillas, homemade refried cooked from dried beans, cocktails outside of the Margarita/Cosmo/Martini model, etc., etc., etc. are projects or ideas I learned about, or got confident about, here on eG. I saw other members making tortillas, and thought....Hmmmm, *I* can do that ! I saw other members baking bread, and thought....hmmmmm, *I* can do that ! I read the discussion threads, and saw the failures, and made mental notes, and incorporated the fixes when I had the same failures. Or had enough "courage of my convictions" (thanks again for that line, Mrs. Child) to figure out a fix on my own. I am rather proud of the fact that, when I read the recipe for the King Cake, and saw the slashing instructions, I now have enough experience to know it would have been a flat-out b*tch to move onto a baking sheet in one piece. So I slashed on the parchment, and moved it on the paper. Worked like a charm. Wouldn't have done that 5 years ago, and I'd have had a mess, and been frustrated and thought...."see, I knew I can't bake". eG gives us all that confidence and experience, through our shared knowledge. Now, I just have to figure out what to do with all the food still in my fridge ! I think it may be even MORE full than when I started, especially with the haul from 99 Ranch and the new CSA share. (I heard about CSAs for the first time on eG, too !). The Girls will be very happy to have their Mommydog back, I think they've been feeling a bit neglected. Tonight's dinner I think will be a burrito with the chicken left over from the curry, and some of the refrieds. Now if that isn't cross-cultural, I don't know what is ! Me, I'm going to studiously stay out of any major cooking projects for at least 2 or 3 days... . And I do sort of wonder if I'll remember how to cook without a camera in my hand, and without constantly thinking "I should get a shot of that" ! I leave you with one last adult beverage, which I am enjoying right as I type: That'd be my signature drink...a dirty, not-too dry gin Martini, with *both* olives and cocktail onions (gotta get those 5 servings of veggies somehow ). Yes, I know "dirty" Martinis put me into the "cocktail heathen" category, but that's how I like 'em. Plus, I get points for making my Aviation yesterday with creme de violette ! I think they're going to keep this open until tomorrow morning, and since I'm on LaLaLand time, I'll check in later and answer any last questions/whatevers. Thanks again, all. *YOU* made it worth the effort

Awwwwwww, Andie, your compliments literally mean the world to me ! You're one of my eG heroines When I was first researching CSAs a couple of years back, I was blown away by how few there were that service Long Beach. At the time I think there was only one, and even that had a pick-up location in Orange County. Now there's a few more, but I'm so delighted with The Growing Experience and its values, I'm not going anywhere. You grow so much of your own produce though, you're YOUR own CSA The fish was IQF cod from TJ's ! I think they're frozen fish is great. I'll keep my eyes open for the Vallarta. There's a Northgate Supermarket in town that gets pretty good reviews on Yelp (for whatever, *that's* worth....) that I had in my back pocket to scope out this week, but ran out of time and steam. I'll be paying them a visit soon though. Thanks again for the kind words and your contributions to the blog.

Great minds, Bruce ! Over in The Pierogi Blog, I made fish tacos for dinner last night as well....

Good one ! I loved that show, and was so sad to see it go.

Thanks Mitch ! Your's was pretty damn good as well, so that means a lot. The CSA *is* amazing. As I said to 6ppc, above, the concept is so simple, and yet so profound. I'm still amazed that Jimmy got the County to sign off on it ! It doesn't really sound like something the bureaucrat suits would get behind too readily. And I still just get blown away by eating food that was literally grown less than 10 miles from my kitchen. I joined in September, so I've really not seen what they can do for spring and summer yet, and I'm excited. Jimmy told me to expect tons of figs (NEVER a bad thing) and peaches and nectarines ! The large shares are $24.00 per pick-up and the small are $12.00. The large shares get more of everything that's in the small ones, plus two or three additional items. This week the large shares got artichokes, collards and lemons that the small ones didn't. You can pick up once a month, every other week or weekly. The eggs are an add-on at $2.00 per half dozen, and the honey is an add-on at $6.00 for 12 ounces. I know, I know, I know....fat equals flavor, fat equals flavor. One of these years, I'll get it !

Thanks rooftop100 ! Glad to have "warmed" you up, even vicariously. COOL !

It has been a fun week for sure. That was really what sold me on The Growing Experience. They're pretty convenient to my area, since I'm over in the northeast corner of the city, so that was a factor as well. But, as much as I loved the idea that the food was truly local, I loved the fact they were giving back to a fairly disadvantaged area of the city. It just seemed like such a positive thing, and so simple yet profound. I wanted to be a part of it. That I get good, stunningly fresh produce out of the deal is a nice perq.

Bacon fixes anything, doesn't it?? The rooster is not only literally "cock of the walk" but Jimmy was telling me he's a brave sucker too. The coop with the chickens and Mr. Thang is pretty large, I'm lousy at guesstimating measurements, but I'd say it was at least 20x30 feet. At least. And with really high, fenced walls, probably about 10 feet at least. They obviously have it pretty secure to keep predators out. But they only have netting over the top of it, and one day a hawk landed on the netting, and his weight dropped him down into the pen, where it couldn't get back out. Jimmy said Mr. Rooster was on the hawk an in instant, defending his ladies.

Can't very well have fish tacos without some feeeesh now can we? Measure out equal amounts of flour and cornstarch: Add in some salt and pepper, and whisk together: Whisk in enough dark beer to make a fairly thick batter: It will thicken as it sits, so this is about the consistency you want: Let the batter stand for at least 20 minutes. Hmmmmmmm. That's enough time for another of these: Pat a piece of fish (I used cod) dry, and cut into fairly thick fingers: Dip in the batter: And plop (ewwwwww, I'm all FULL of technical terms today....yeah, I'm full...of somthin'! ) into hot oil: Pan fry them on both sides until you acheive the venerated "golden brown and delicious": Drain on paper towels... ...and for the ultimate in smart-@ssed irony, serve on a fish plate: To assemble the fish taco, put two of your fresh tortillas on your plate: Top with some cilantro slaw: A piece or two of fish: And top with your chipotle tartar sauce. Money shot: And that was Friday dinner, and pretty much the week. I'm going to take a short break, and then come back and wrap up !

On to the cilantro slaw ! Hey Heidi ! Check out the (out of focus) shot of this bowl. It's an entirely different pottery maker than the set of the chalky blue ones, but the blue matches exactly. Anyways, into the bottom of whatever pretty bowl you use, put some crushed red pepper flakes: Add in some olive oil and lime juice and salt: And whisk that around: Shred up some cabbage, and add it to the bowl: HELLLLL-OOOOOO nice lady.....we heard cabbage being chopped. Got any for us, especially since we were *everso* good at the groomer today? You guys are incorrigible ! Chop up some cilantro, and dump it in the bowl with the cabbage. Mercifully the vulture dogs don't like cilantro.... Toss well, add some pepper ifn's you want, and you've got cilantro slaw. Onto the fish for the fish tacos !

Three stages to our entree tonight. We'll need these: For our chipotle tartar sauce. These: For our cilantro slaw. And these: For our fish tacos ! First up, the tartar sauce. Put some mayo, chopped onion and drained pickle relish in a jar/cup. Add in some chipotles. The recipe says to rinse and seed the chipotle, to which I say WIMP ! Note that the La Costena chipotles in the class photo was a stunt double. THESE.. ...are the chipotles from my fridge that I used. But I figured no one would know what the heck they were ! Blitz up that mix with an immersion blender. You could also use a regular blender, but, since I was again scaling down the recipe, I figured the boat motor would work better. You end up with this: That you serve like that: Chipotle tarter sauce is done.

We need something besides corn tortillas, though, good as they are. So, let's gather up these, and make us some frijoles: Cut the jalapeno and onion into large-ish chunks (another highly technical term, that, "large-ish"): Sort and rinse the beans, and toss them in a pot: These were cranberry beans, pretty, aren't they? Pintos would obviously work as well (and be more authentic), as would black beans. But the cranberries were open, so they got the call. Toss in a sprig of epazote if you have it, which, thanks to The Growing Experience, I do. And thanks to the advice of eG-er's I have it in my freezer ! And some beige gold, baby. Bacon fat: Cover that with water, and bring to a boil. Let it just barely simmer for an hour and a half or so, and check the beans for tenderness. While they're simmering, it's a good time for an adult beverage break: An Aviation tonight. Hit the spot. My beans took about 2 hours to cook. About 15 or 20 minutes before they were totally done, I added some salt. But, we're not done with the frijoles quite yet. We're going the next step, and making frijoles refritos. But these ain't your canned refrieds, baby. Pull the beans out of the cooking liquid, and set aside. Save the cooking liquid, too: That's one spent sprig of ezpazote. It's given it's all: Melt some more lovely bacon fat in a pan: And toss in a couple of minced cloves of garlic: I said yesterday that nothing smells better than cilanto and lemongrass together. I dunno. Garlic sauteeing in bacon fat may just top that one. In fact, I'm pretty darn sure it does. Don't let the garlic brown, just smell heavenly. Add in the beans... ...and just cover them with some of the cooking liquid. Don't worry about taking out the onion and jalapeno, they've cooked so long they're soft enough for the next step. Which is to take Granny's potato masher and start smooshing the heck out of the beans (note the additional, highly technical term, smooshing): Don't mash them up too much, leave a good deal of them whole: Cook down for a bit, until they're nice and thick and creamy: Now *THOSE* are refrieds !

Good morning and happy Saturday, all ! I am feeling *much* more articulate today, so let's see where we went for dinner last night. These were the inspirations: Yep. Oh, Darienne....we're goin' to Mexico ! Let's start out with a staple. No, not an adult beverage, that'll come in a bit. We need these: And these: 'Cause you gotta have good, fresh corn tortillas with your Mexican food ! Put the masa harina and some salt in a large bowl: Add enough REALLY hot tap water get everything nice and moist. You'll need to start out stirring it with a spoon, but will quickly have to use your hands to incorporate the water. For 1C of the Maseca, the package says to use about 2/3C hot water, but check your masa harina for specifics. Knead the dough together with your hands until you get stuff about the consistency of Play-dough. You may need to add drizzles ("drizzles"...highly specific, technical measurement there...) more hot water, so have some standing by. Goopy hands prevented picture taking until it was together and rolled into a rough log. Cut the log into equal pieces. The 1C masa:2/3C water ratio of Maseca makes 8 tortillas, so for me it was 8 equal pieces. Roll those into balls. You want to end up with about golf-ball sized pieces. Let the dough balls rest under a towel for 15 minutes (HA HA food, *I* get to rest TODAY!) While the dough is resting, heat a cast-iron skillet (or a comal if you have one) over medium heat. Yes, that's a handle protector over the handle of my cast-iron skillet. Yes, I've grabbed the hot handle. More than once. Now I just use a handle cozy. Saves on burn ointment. Have a place to land the tortillas when they're baked. I have an auto-ignition stove, so I can just use an adjacent burner. If I ever go back to a cook top with pilot lights on the top, I will be dangerous. I'm so used to plopping things down on cold burners... And set up your tortilla assembly line: Line the tortilla press with a plastic bag that you've cut the zippy top from, and slit along the sides. Leave it attached at the bottom (or slit the bottom and leave it attached at one of the sides if you're contrary ! ). Sometimes I need a spatula to do the first flip, sometimes I can do it with tongs, so I keep both close. A nice, thin fish spatula works best for me. Take one of the dough balls and sorta squish a bit flatter in your hands... ...and put it on the bottom of the press. I usually start with the "hinge" on the bag on the left, by the hinge on the press. Flip the top of the plastic over the dough: And put the top of the press down: Fold over the handle and lay some muscle on that bad boy. But we're not trying to get the dough to the final thinness in one press. Open the press, and rotate the dough, still in the baggie, one-quarter turn. Close, and repress. Open, rotate, close, press, until you've done one complete rotation. At that point, it should look something like this. Still in the plastic, lightly feel around the edges to make sure the thickness is the same. If you find a thick spot, put it back in the press on the same side as the handle is. That's the spot that gives you the most pressure. Gently peel the top plastic back, then flip it over onto your hand, and peel off the bottom (now top) plastic. You'll come up with something like this: Flip that over onto the hot skillet. I find just quickly turning my hand palm down and letting the dough fall works best for me. Some people let the dough hang more off their fingers, let one edge catch the pan, and then quickly pull their hand away, but that's FAR more coordination than I have. Let that go on the first side for a while. Some techniques say 30 seconds, some say 10, some say until it's set. I find that works best for me. When you can get the tortilla up from the pan, turn it then. I get better results with shorter cooking times per side, but more turns. But you'll need to find your own groove on this one. When the first side is set, flip it over. You should see some brown spots... ...but not this many brown spots. I usually have at least one sacrificial tortilla per batch. If you've got good tortilla mojo going, (and I think if the Tortilla Gods are happy with the above sacrifice), you get the much sought-after "tortilla pooof": Kinda hard to see in that shot, but the two "layers" of the masa will separate due to steam, and the tortilla will puff up like a balloon. It may only do it in spots, or the whole tortilla may puff. Either way, it's a good thing, it means the interior of the tortilla is cooking through properly. Tortilla poooof may not always happen. Don't stress about it. The color is just as important. If it doesn't poof, but it looks good and browned, take it out of the skillet. Leaving it for the poof will dry it out (don't ask how I know.....). Pile the cooked tortillas in a clean towel, folding the towel over them in between additions: And save your nice, full little bundle for dinner ! You made corn tortillas.

Hey Folks ! It's about 9:30 Friday here in lovely Long Beach (or as we used to call it when I was a kid...."Iowa By The Sea"....) and I have flat, full-on run out of gas. I was going to post dinner pictures and answer some comments/questions, but I don't think I can string together too many more coherant thoughts. So I shall retire to my *ahem* boudoir, get a good night's sleep, and come back to close up and out tomorrow mid-morning my time. We'll close it out late afternoon my time, if that's OK with the blog mavens ! Have a good Friday night (what's left of it for y'all) and I'll catch you tomorrow... Nighty nite !