snowangel

I'm having a party. Smoked pork, assortment of salads. A lot of people, including a single friend and her two daughters. I should preface this by saying that this particular mother feels that the only control her kids have over their lives is what they eat, so she regularly fixes three separate dinners. Anyway, youngest daughter announces, without tasting anything, that she doesn't like anything I'm serving. Next thing I know, the mother is rummaging around in the fridge, and has pulled out a packet of bacon, some eggs and a pan and is preparing to fix her daughter a seperate meal! I just said that the daughter really needed to try the pork, because it was akin to bacon, and that I didn't want her having a separate meal because it would send the message that if anyone didn't like something, they could use my kitchen as a short-order joint.

Here's a picture of a Norwegian wedding cake. It is of a cookie like texture, and eaten layer by layer. Bottom layer first, and upwards. The layers are broken into pieces about 2" long. The one we had didn't have nearly as many flags on it! When Paul brought it home, it was in two parts -- top and bottom, and they fit together very easily with a bit of twisting. The layers are "glued" together with the icing swirls. It makes for a light and impressive looking dessert, and the pieces are great dunked in coffee.

Beautiful! And I also appreciated the rub system tutorial. It's breakfast time here in Minnesota and I'm sure wishing I could nibble on brisket!

My mother fondly recalls her first coconut cream pie. Recipe said "prepare pie crust." It never occured to Mom that she should pre-bake said crust.

Tonight, dinner was chicken on the grill (lots of leftovers for, perhaps, a composed salad tomorrow night). Green beans, tomatoes, sweet corn, zucchini on the grill. While the chicken was great, the sweet corn was to die for. Literally. I ate 6 ears (and no chicken), and tons of the other veg. Everything, except the chicken, was purchased at the farmer's market this morning. As we ate dinner, I remembered this topic, and wonder why anyone would want this season to end?

Back in the Olden Days, it was the husband who sent the wives, their kids, and servants off to the north shore, Lake Minnetonka, or wherever (along with the servants) while the men folk worked, so the women and kids could beat the heat. The men folk would join them as they could. These days, it's the women folk, lead by The Gainfully Unemployed One (Me) who gets the Best Friend to off her legal cases onto others so we can make the trip. And, instead of relying in the servants/cook to make meal decisions, we do it ourselves, since the only cooks are ourselves and our kids, and the only purveyors we have mid-trip are our husbands. But, I digress. We chose the perfect time to be gone. One of the hottest spells around. The weather up north...well, imagine 85 degrees (F), completely sunny, slight breeze coming over the lake at you. Water almost bathtub temp, until you dip way down. Nights in the low 60's. Earlier in the season, the water was like Rachel's Jello Salad. Very striated. The water this past weekend would be same that Jello salad after sitting for hours in the sun on a hot day. Sort of muddled, and more warm than cool. Needless to say, I should only have packed one t-shirt, one tank, one pair of shorts and one pair of undies (also must mention the one pair of VERY lightweight long pants for an excursion). We all spent the week in our swimsuits. Did you know that a stomach can become pruney if it spends too much time in the water? Anyway, back to the food that we ate. On the way up, we were running late (we needed to drop brownies off to the girls at camp), so we had cheese-its, caramel corn and some sort of stop-and-rob beef jerky for breakfast/lunch. Washed down with several Nalgene's of water (more ice than water). Dinner Night One. Seared scallops and a salad with a meyer lemon/dill dressing. Susan got the vinegar at the St. Paul's Market Market at the Golden Fig Epicurean Delights stand. Forgive me, please. I took far fewer photos of food than kids frolicking over the course of the next few days. This trip commenced with Susan (Best Friend), her son (Nick), my son (Peter) and Heidi. The man folk are coming on Friday with The Girls From Camp. Elizabeth (Heidi's Aide) and her BoyFriend also joined us. We decided because the weather was so beautiful to reduce breakfasts (at least until the masses arrived) to cereal. That included granola from Trotters, on Cleveland in St. Paul, which happens to make the best granola ever. Especially when one remembers to bring half-and-half. Lunches, before The Masses, was of the sandwich variety. We had salami. Bread from Breadsmith. Cheese from Eichtens. Melon, berries. All on the dock, of course, because the swimming was so great. Come to think of it, the lunches after The Masses were just the same. Night number 2 we did burgers. Some ground chuck, some turkey with Salsa Lisa's Chipotle mixed in. Along with sweet corn. I forgot to take a pic of dinner before, but you get the idea from the remants. The turkey burgers were problamtic. They were too soft and wet to flip neatly. I would not do turkey burgers again. I did get the ground turkey that was meant for grilling (i. e. more fat). Night 3. It was just a few of us, some having had left. I made typical Thai satay. It was the hit of the trip. Served alongside were peanut sauce (peanut butter, coconut milk, curry paste, a hint of lime) and the cuke side marniated in vinegar, sugar, hot peppers. By night 4, The Real Masses descended. We had tube meat. Weiners from Bob's Produce Ranch (some of the best in the cities) and brats from Hackenmueller's (my fav raw brats). Potato salad. Melon. Since I only had russets, we did the salad with those, and diced before cooking, and tossed with the above-mentioned meyer lemon/dill vinegar while warm. Dressed with onion and celery (finely minced) and mayo. We forgot the kraut. Day 5. Blueberry picking day! It was Saturday and dawned cool and cloudy. Perfect for berry picking. A Bronco load was up for the picking, so we donned lightweight long pants (first long pants I've worn in ages), boots (LLBean duck boots for me, other boots for others), shirts and hats. Loaded said Bronco with people, ice cream pails, bottles of water and bug junk. This is the earliest we have ever picked berries. And, pick we did. With difficulty. Given the cool early summer with tons of rain, followed by tons of heat, the berries were early, and largely very overpicked. Our Secrect Hill is no longer our own. We picked for an hour -- 5 of us -- and only came away with 3/4 of one 5 quart ice cream bucket (which I neglected to photo). The berries are as flavorful as any blueberries I have had, and as big as I have seen in almost 30 years of berry picking up here. We did manange (out of the foraging) one batch of buttermilk pancakes with blueberries (not photoed, as the photographer was busy flipping 'cakes, and one blueberry pie . The recipe is right here. Not baked, the best of the best. Some of them cooked, some of them still with that pop. So, having not scored as big on blueberries as we thought, we went seeking. We think we have found The Spot for next year. Granite ridge, recently logged, new plants which should be ready for bloom and picking next year, providing that Mother Nature agrees. Our diversion to look for a New Spot returns me to the cabin scurring to Get My Butt On. Yes, there is nothing like smoking a butt in a bathing suit, beer or cocktail in hand. One needs to set a timer so one gets out of the lake periodically to check on the progress of said butt. I have all of the makings of =Mark's South Carolina Mustard BBQ sauce recipe up at the cabin, and I know this recipe by heart. Butt Done: We ate it with sweet corn that kids shucked while sitting on the deck We did clean up (and compost) the corn remains and recycled the cans! I'm a pro at butts, and it was as well received as always. By Sunday morning, I was ready to cook breakfast, so it was blueberry pancakes (not photoed) with breakfast sausages (from Miltona meat market). Dinner Sunday night was a boatload of chuck eye steaks. They were great. Steaks. Green beans. Cole Slaw. Out on the deck. Pre-bugs. This was a wonderful weekend. We saw the Northern Lights. Naked, on our backs. We spent time with the kids identifiying constellations. We listened to KAXE, a Northern Community radio station (one of the best in the country). Peter answered several of the Green Cheese questions correctly on Saturday night. We lived, we loved, we were cool. We saw Sunfish of all sorts. Both those that were little and will be catchable in a couple of years, as well as a daughter out on one of these for the first time ever We gave new meaning to the idea of a (Golden) Retriever And, if you'll notice what the person in the floaty chair is lifting to lips, you'll see a new meaning to "liquid." It was a week about languishing. So, cooking bacon for breakfast with a bloody mary in hand. Following an early morning swim. Watching the kids toss balls into the water for the retriever. A life of leisure. As we drove home, Diana, in an almost sleep stupor said "Daddy, we are really lucky. Lucky, we are. " Yes, 4-1/2 hours in a car can get you to heaven. Every summer is the best, I swear. Been saying that for almost 30 years. We are brown as berries (whatever that means, since most berries I know of are blue, red or black). Warm through and through. Happy and relaxed. I always return from the cabin with an almost Zen-like aura wrapped around me. Must be all of that yoga in the water. Edited to fix junk and add a couple of things. Like the blueberry pie.

I know I'm late with a report, but I've had trouble downloading photos from my camera (lame excuse, since I only have one pertinent photo). It was a magical afternoon. I know for a fact that my in-laws were very impressed. I did all of the food (well, almost), and my FIL, with whom I've had a very cantankerous (sp?) relationship had tears in his eyes when he thanked me. The menu: little mozarella balls with grape tomatoes and an assortment of olive-oil/herb marinated olives; assorted marinated veg (asparagus, mushrooms, green beans, artichoke hearts); pita, hummus, tabbouli; a greek salad. For dessert, I got a Norwegian grooms cake (they had one at their wedding) and since it was high local strawberry season, I ordered a huge mess of pre-picked ones from the local You-Pick-'Em place. Beverages: Raspberry lemon ade, Lemon Solistice iced tea (tea from the TeaSource, wine (Black Box, given this crowd and it was perfectly acceptable), bottled water and assorted beer. The main food table. I neglected to get a photo of the berries and cake . My SIL has a friend who owns a huge tent, which we borrowed. We borrowed tables and chairs from the school where she works. She had a friend who had the serving dishes and table clothes for the tables. I really should have taken more pictures. We had flowers (farmer's market) on each table in mason jars that the kids had painted with silver paint, and we adorned them with that silver lame ribbon that I've had for longer than I can remember and never had a use for. My two SIL's and I both needed more wine glasses, so we went together to IKEA and each bought 2 dozen, so all beverages were served in wine glasses. I borrowed dishes and flatwear from our church. The weather was perfect. Mid 80's, sunny and dry. We were glad we had the tent. Guests arrived at 2:00, as per the invite. We expected people to leave at about 5:00, the last one left at 6:00. We sat down with the family remaining, had a drink and a nosh, and then off they went. We got down to business, got the tables and chairs down and loaded up, folded up the tent. The kids washed what dishes didn't run through the dishwasher. The kids involved were Peter (mine) and my SIL's four kids (two per SIL). It was fun watching the kids, now old enough, be helpful and wonderful with the guests. Total cost: $9.00/head, and it would have been less had we not had too much food. But, this is the midwest, and if you don't have way too much food, well...food equals love. This party was such a success that the givers of the party have received a total of 18 thank you notes for hosting the party. That's per sibling. My folks celebrate their 50th next year, and I would not hesitate to do something for them. I kept very good notes about how much of everything I purchased and how much was leftover. Outside of the cake (which was made by a co-worker of my husband's), tabbouli and hummus, everything else was purchased from costco or TeaSource.

So, my first composed salad. I must preface this by saying that tonight was a perfect night for dining outside. Slight breeze on the deck, no bugs. Couldn't have been better. What made this dinner even better was that Diana (daughter, age 14) and I worked in concert, making croutons, frying bacon, and making aioli (mayo with garlic). We cut together, decided on a platter together, and decided on just how to arrange it. This was a serious garlic commitment, BTW. . We laid down lettuce (romaine) dressed with the mayo, and then arranged the stuff on top, and obviously, none too artfully. We decided after the fact that we would do this slightly differently next time: lay a ring of tomato on the outside, a ring of lettuce, and pile the croutons in the middle, topping the croutons with the bacon. Partly so the tomatoes didn't get the croutons so damp, and so that any bacon fat would meld into the croutons. We're doing chicken something on the grill tomorrow night, and I'm doing extra chix for leftovers for another composed salad. Diana and I are inspired. We ate this, on the deck, accompanied by that first of the season sweet corn. That sweet corn that says "I don't need butter. I don't need anything. And, you will never have better sweet corn than these ears." But, then again, we say that every year with the best of the first corn.

Kebabs are a bit hit in our house, and the kids didn't have to be very big before they could help with prep. Another thought is to grill something extra (chuck eye steaks, which are fabulous and usually a great bargain come to mine) and use them the next night for a Composed Salad. And, one of the things that I found very gratifying when I worked outside the home when the kids were younger was to plan at least a day ahead so Diana could help me do some prep for the following night's dinner. Good time to teach, as well as spend time with a child. BTW, if anyone wants to toss more chicken ideas this way, that would be great. Chicken has been cheep, cheep, cheep lately.

I posted this question on a santoku topic elsewhere, but dope that I was, someone had to remind me about this course and Q & A! Is there a distinct advantage to getting a knife with those dimple things on the blade? Cutting advantage, or does a maintenance hell outweigh the benefits?

Here's another question. In the past, when I've had composed salads, they have been individual salads. When making one for more than one person, do you toss before serving, or serve some of each component and let the eater decide what do do with their portion?

Is there an advantage to getting one with the dimples on the blade? Or, does it make it a sharpening nightmare?

I rarely buy prepared salad dressing, but every so often get a hankering for Annie's Naturals Shitake and Sesame. It makes a great dressing for a steak salad. On another note, we're planning on having sweet corn and BLT's for dinner tomorrow night, and how I'm starting to wonder about a composed BLT salad. Dressing ideas?

I know. Even my Big Ass Brisket (all 19 pounds of it, cut in half so it would fit on the kettle) only took 12 hours. I usually figure about 8 hours for an 11-13 pound shoulder. And, I hold it to 225 or under.

No, they have lots of flowers, I just think I'm running out of time. I did take a stroll around my neighborhood today, and a few people have a few tiny sets and lots of flowers. I think our really cool and wet June set these babies back a long time. Moving south. Too far from The Cabin.

How much sugar is in your rub? I use Klink's Dry Rub and as you can see, there is sugar, but not a very high proportion. I've never had trouble with this rub burning, and perhaps it is because of the low proportion of sugar. Further, I tend not to rub butt (we like it nekked), but do rub brisket and ribs. One of the things to keep in mind is that the meat quits absorbing the smoke when it reaches 140 (F), which is why I put them on as cold as possible (including sticking the hunk o meat in the freezer when I get ready to start my Weber. Keeping this "smoke point" in mind, there's probably no reason not to wrap it in foil as it reaches the stall point (usually about 170). And, given my experience with braising and smoking, I think you do need the low and slow to effectively break down that collegen.

Been noticing a lot of pizza appearing over on that Dinner, what did we cook topic that should really be expanded here! Dough, topping preps, baking, etc. Details, please!

A few years ago, Lynne Rosetti Kasper and Al Sicherman conducted one of their Spendid Table tastings on water. Yes, Minneapolis Waterworks water won out. Read about it here.

So, it's almost August 1. Granted, I was late getting my tomato plants in. But, until I got them in, the nights were in the low 50's and the days not much warmer. However, it is a new bed, and I probably didn't put in as much organic matter as I should have. I'm northern zone 4. I don't have a single set on any of my plants. I think I should just rip them out to give the soil a rest and augment said soil. Comments?

My thoughts exactly. I have too many months of the year to spend braising, stewing, and just flat trying to stay warm. Finding ways to occupy myself when the garden is under 2' of snow. Struggling to get enough veg and fruit into us. That 8 months of yearning for a real tomato. That feeling that the only time you are really warm is when you are in a hot tub. Give me corn. Give me cold food. Give me sun, sweat and warmth.

Melissa, hope you are planning on doing grilled pizza later this week, since you do have some viable yeast on hand.

I'm with Chris. Reuse them. I either add more charcoal from the chimney (if I'm grilling) or put them in a bag to add to the side if I'm smoking. Seems like a waste to toss something that I paid for that has life in it.

Marlene, since you seem to love being talked into buying "toys," how about one of those single induction burners? I don't know where you get them, but catering friends of mine absolutely love theirs. The only catch is that you need special pans (well, not really special, I think any pan that a magnet will adhere to) to use on these things. They seem really cool because the only thing that gets hot is the pan, not the burner.

No suggestions on herbs, but how about if you puree some of them and cook them down to concentrate the flavor? Add a bit of lemon to add a little zing?

If you prefer, you can think of me in the water, in a bathing suit on Opening Weekend. The water temp this year was in the mid-40's. We have a Weber Kettle (21.5" one touch) up at the cabin. We got it at a garage sale, it had been used twice, for $15.00. It has the hinged grate, and I use a standard oven thermometer and regular old-fashioned meat thermometer, when necessary as I do at home. Remember, I'm a Weber Kettle gal. When do you head north?