Pierogi

COOKBOOK TOUR ! Storage rack between fridge & broom closet Top of cabinets above fridge Aaaannnddd, cupboards

KITCHEN TOUR ! Don't get toooo excited, its a SMALL kitchen. However, one other thing eG has done for me is made me stop kvetching about how small it is. When I see some of the other member's kitchens, especially those in Asia and Europe, I realize I gots nothin' to gripe about. View from the back door To the left of the dishwasher is the door into the living room/dinette area. To the left of THAT door is a pass through breakfast bar that runs the length of that wall, about 6 feet or so. Reverse view from above The main work area The black hole of a corner And the unfortunately placed spice cabinet Unfortunately placed because every time I need a spice or dried herb, I have to MOOVE the dishwasher and MOOOVE the storage cart and MOOOOOVE the garbage and recyling bins. So I try to gather all the spices for the meal in one shot ! Saves angst. BTW, the spice cabinet used to be one of those old, tilt-down ironing boards. Just about everyone in this neighborhood did exactly the same thing with theirs !

Thanks Jons ! Surely you don't want me to give away all my cliffhangers yet, do you ?

One more shot from the Farmers' Market.... 'Cause you just GOTTA love "The Peanut Dudes" !

Long Beach has, I think, more Farmers' Markets per capita than any other city in the area. We have four every week. For a population our size, that's quite a lot. There's one downtown on Friday, which I believe is the largest, one in the north end of the city on Thursday afternoons, and two on Sundays; one in one of the marinas, and the newest, which is about 2 miles from my house (wow, run-on sentence, much?) This one's only been open for about 3 months, and is really nice, because it's not too crowded. The one in the marina can be quite a zoo.... So, let's head over to the Eastside Farmer's Market, held in the parking lot of an office complex on the edge of Long Beach Airport. Lots of produce stalls: Looks like strawberries are starting to come in: Check out the colors on this cauliflower: This vendor had a nicely arranged display: To keep the kiddies occupied, there's a pony ride... ...and a petting zoo Lots of prepared food, pick a cuisine, any cuisine Some plants, perhaps? Or you *KNOW* you're craving some Thin Mints And doesn't EVERY Farmers' Market need an Elvis Impersonator? One final vendor I was particularly impressed with this stall's selection. Everything from fresh fava beans (also, no "Keee-auntie") to nopales, both whole, or already cut and bagged for you. Field trip number 1 in the books. Maybe some fridge shots next...?

Well, one of today's projects is...... The technique I use most, and probably have the most success with, is in this article from "Cuisine at Home" magazine a few years back. I'm still enough of a novice at baking that I have a hard time working with the very wet doughs that are needed for the nice, crusty rustic loaves. I have Reinhart's "Bread Baker's Apprentice", but haven't used it too much. I keep forgetting to start the process early enough, and his doughs are VERY wet so I have troubles shaping them. This "Cuisine at Home" method seems to be a happy medium for me. It's still a very wet, soft dough, but I can work with it, especially if I make a boule. I still haven't mastered shaping baguettes. So, remember this from yesterday, that I said we'd come back to? Here it is after an overnight rest in the fridge. Look at that lovely gluten. Starting to look like dough... It's on its first rise now, so we'll take a little look around Long Beach for a while.

All right ! I'm back from the field trip and I have photographic evidence ! Let me get today's project started, and I'll be back to share some field trip pics, and the promised kitchen tour (such as it is...). See all y'all in a bit !

Thanks Christine. It tastes really good as well. I'm very pleased with it. I had toyed with the idea of making cabbage rolls, but I posted a step-by-step of my techinque over here in the eG Cabbage Roll Cookoff thread. So not this time, although I do sorely need to make some again soon. No, just stay tuned to see what good old rib-sticking dish I have up my sleeve. And yes, good cabbage rolls are sublime. Bad cabbage rolls are very, very bad.

*YOU* get to bring the next King Cake ! You're killing me. Hey, we gotta have *some* perqs for living with earthquakes and the 3-hour daily commute.

"Happy Days" and Arnold's Drive-In !!! Yo, Fonz. ETA---Ooops, sorry. Didn't see Cass' post above. Tooooo tired.

Kim (and Heidi) you will LOVE this book. It's just really beautiful, and really so meaningful, especially if you love New Orleans and its culture and food traditions. All of the recipes I've made from it have been winners.

Yep, have to agree with some of you. The Camparis, the Nature Sweets and the TJ-branded grape-shaped ones called "Splendid Little Tomatoes" are quite excellent in the winter, and I usually buy them when I want fresh tomatoes. Which is usually for using raw, not in cooked applications. For cooked, especially long cooked, dishes, even in the summer, I'll use canned. Usually S&W or Hunt's. The fire-roasted for Mexican dishes. ElsieD, Trader Joe's just stared carrying the Komatus, and I've been tempted. I'll have to give them a try based on your review.

Coming tomorrow... A field trip (yay !) Obligatory and mandatory kitchen, pantry and fridge shots. American comfort food for dinner. Another delightful adult beverage, no doubt. One thing I am eternally grateful to eG for is introducing me to cocktails other than Margaritas and a dry Martini. Who KNEW there was a whole world of brown liquor out there? At least I had enough sense to choose gin Martinis. Probably more Vulture Dogs shots. Maybe I'll even trim Rosie's bangs so you can see her sweet face again. And as a final send-off to today's efforts...please... Note to the Guiness World Record people This is the absolute BIGGEST load of dishes I've ever had when I was cooking only for myself ! I've done worse when entertaining, but for one, this is a record. Yeeeee-IKES ! Night all.

OK, so what *ELSE* went on in the little kitchen today? Well....we got this ready for lunches/mid-day snacks during the week That's some homemade hummus. I typically make that about once a month, and eat it for lunch/snackies during the week. I rotate it during the month with flavored cream cheese and crackers, regular cheese & cold cuts with crackers, and cottage cheese I tart up with some sour cream, chopped scallions and Lawry's (oh...the shame) seasoned salt and seasoned pepper. What can I say, the cottage cheese is comfort food. Mom used to make it for us when I was a kid. Funny, I absolutely loathe eating the same thing for dinner twice in a week, or even twice in a month, but eating the same thing for lunch/snackies doesn't bother me. Anyway, you hit me on a hummus week. Then there was this... That we'll use tomorrow. And this....which we'll use on Monday: And of course, I was surrounded by circling vultures the entire time They wanted mushrooms, and they wanted them badly....I was unable to shoot the amount of 'shrooms the Veggie Monsters scarfed (mushrooms ! REALLY, what doges eat MUSHROOMS??), due to the pressure of the circling vultures AND the King Cake being done at that moment AND the mix in the frying pan trying to burn, but trust me, they ate about 3 half-dollar size mushrooms a piece. Weird animals. And yes, they need to be groomed REALLY badly.

As you could see by the shot of the cookbooks I'm planning on using this week, I have very, *VERY* diverse tastes in food. We'll be doing Mexican, Cajun/Creole, Asian, American comfort food and Polish this week. As some of us were discussing in this eG link here, I personally have never met a cuisine I didn't love. Tonight was Indian. I knew had to use that mango before it walked out of the fridge under it's own power. Same for the mustard greens. They were in my CSA (we'll talk more about them later in the week) share a week and a half ago, and I could hardly fit anything else in my crisper drawer around them. But they were lovely. I had those 2 recipes I'd pulled from the March 2011 edition of "Food and Wine" and with a mango chutney from the Sahni book, there was dinner. The greens got boiled down, along with a bit of chard also left over from last CSA (recipe said spinach, I said close enough): Then blitzed in the Cuisinart There was also some red onion, garlic, fresh ginger and a MASSIVE, but sadly, very tame jalapeno involved. The Dhaba Chicken Curry needed, of course, chicken, skinless breasts, on the bone, sprinkled with salt & pepper Curry spices being bloomed in some hot oil (spices were ground corriander and cumin, cayenne pepper, cinnamon, ground cloves and ground cardamom) And then some processed onion, garlic and ginger added to fry down. Then some tumeric and tomato sauce went in Finished mango chutney with added raisins and almonds (spices were dry mustard, ground cloves, ground ginger, cinnamon and cayenne) Finished mustard greens And finished chicken curry, over basmati rice, garnished with garam masala powder and chopped cilantro Final verdict. All the dishes (which were all first time efforts for me) were tasty, but I don't think they worked well together. I wanted more sauce for the curry. The greens were dynamite, but I think they'd be better as a side to a more simple protein, like maybe something grilled. And the chutney, again, tasted great, VERY spicy but good balance, but guess I'm just more used to the artificially thickened commercial product (or I didn't let it cook down enough....a distinct possibility). Again, I think it would be better with a less complex main dish. Leftover count, and this is crucial to me as a single person, because they seem to BREED in the fridge of their own accord: 1 (really big) chicken breast in curry sauce. I ate most of the rice, most of the greens (OK, the veggie hog girls got a bit mixed in with their Pedigree, OK, and some rice too, golly !) and about half of the chutney.

Oh, and Shelby, it's about 9:30 at night, and all the windows are open..... Sorry. But it *is* supposed to drop by about 10 or 15 degrees tomorrow, and rain on Monday. We'll see...

PHEW!!!! Time to sit down. Maybe I can get those fur bombs to rub my tired feeties.... Warning....gratutious dog picture follows: The white Bichon is Rosie, who's in the Dodger hat in my avatar. The gray one is Lulu, who I think is mostly Shih Tzu and ??? They're both rescues....and they're both my babies. They'll be back later in a more food-related context. Back to food and drink. So, after I uploaded the King Cake extravaganza, I did in fact, retire to the kitchen to have a delightful adult beverage. Pegu Club Manhatten *With* homemade cordialed cherries (using Jacques Pepin's method in one of his "Fast Food" books. You plunk fresh cherries in a mix of vodka and corn syrup and let them sit in the fridge for a looooooong, looooooong time. To my palate, it's at least 6 months before they stop tasting like straight alcohol. Sadly, I only have about 5 left. Happily, cherry season is right around the corner. Inspiration for dinner tonight came from this: And this: That's a bunch of absolutely stunning mustard greens (which I'd NEVER cooked before) from my CSA. And this: A mango that was getting a bit long in the tooth. And these:

OK, there's a bit of a lull before it's time to cook dinner (and have a delightful adult beverage....) so let's get caught up on what's gone on in the little kitchen today. First off, it occurs to me that I haven't talked about what I actually ATE today. Well, that's 'cause I really didn't eat much, and it was really not very interesting. I had a storebought Chinese almond cookie for breakfast, mainly just to get something into my tummy other than medication ! About an hour later, I had a big glass of buttermilk, and then later this afternoon, a tangerine. That'll probably be pretty typical for the week. I've never been much of a breakfast eater, and now that I'm not working, I find I don't even usually want too much of a lunch. Don't get me wrong, I'll EAT if its put in front of me. I guess it has to do with not being a morning person... So, the baking project is done, and if I say so myself, I'm pretty impressed. Another effort I'd been wanting to try, and had never made before. We'll see how it tastes later, let's see how it went together now. When last we left our dough, it was rising. I'd say it doubled nicely Dough rolled out Some melted butter would be nice So would some cinnamon and brown sugar All rolled up and slashed to show the pretties Doubled again Out of the oven Needs some glaze and decoration Annndddd, voila ! A King Cake to celebrate Mardi Gras weekend with ! Nope, I did *NOT* forget the bean !

It *IS* pricey, and to be honest, right now, I probably wouldn't have bought it for myself. There are other cookbooks I really want, like "Around My French Table". But....I won it in a contest on another website (Serious Eats). Who am I too look a gift cookbook in the mouth??? I took it quite happily. Sunset, the magazine, only covers the states West of the Rockies, so yes, all of California, the Pacific Northwest, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Idaho are included. I don't believe they get into Texas at all, but all the other iterations of Mexican cooking are covered well and thoroughly by them. As is Asian, since we have such a large, and varied, Asian population. Then there's the dreaded "California" cuisine, but it's really food you'd WANT to eat, rather than the cliche of "California" cusinine from the 90's (or whenever).

Unfortunately, there probably won't be too much (if any) restaurant eating....budgetary constraints and all that. But we'll be out and about a bit anyway.

Here's one from The Way Back machine.... "It's A Living" set in the restaurant at the top of the Bonaventure Hotel in downtown LA. All the main characters were waitresses there.

Happy Anniversay Darienne and Ed !! Wow, 51 years, that is quite an accomplishment. And your pork looks ahhh-mazing ! I'll have to give that a try, know that I know it could be done in a crocker.

Yep, Roberta would be me. Just added it to my sig line, figured it was time to make myself known... VERY observant, Lisa !

First step of the baking project is done. Here's some in process shots... The ingredients The source The dough, which is currently rising "Cooking Up A Storm" is a very cool cookbook. It was put together by the food staff of the New Orleans Times-Picayune newspaper after Katrina. They had for years run, as most good newspaper food sections do, a recipe exchange where readers could request and share recipes. After the storm, they had so many requests for recipes from people who had lost theirs in the flooding, they decided to make a book out of them, from the paper's archives as well as from submissions by readers. The staff felt it would be important, not only to rebuild the sense of community, but to document and preserve the rich traditions and culture of southern Louisiana. The recipes are fabulous, but the descriptions that introduce and explain them are the real gems. Gives a wonderful background to the food.

That's the thermometer on my patio about 11:15 this morning. Sorry.....