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snowangel

eGullet Society staff emeritus
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Everything posted by snowangel

  1. Please remind me what a daffodil is. I hate March in MN. Sunday was 60 and sunny. Brilliant. A nice long day, a day of hope. I doffed my polar fleece pants and socks, and donned my birkies. Alas and alak, it was in the single digits when I awoke Monday morning. I just blanking blank hate this time of year. The teasers. The anticipation. I really hate waiting for the really great stuff. So, as I went to bed last night, I reminded myself that we are a little less than 5 months from home-grown heirloom tomatoes and sweet corn. Lest that seem like a long time, it's certainly a lot less than the 10 months we were counting down not long ago. To top it off, we're only 10 weeks, this coming Friday, from CABIN TIME!
  2. Patti, I did find pounding the paste better than using the food processor (I started in the latter and moved to the former). Also, the lemon grass. I ended up using 4 pieces because by the time I removed the tough leaves and got to that tender center, there wasn't much of it. In lieu of the mortar and pestal, I spice grinder or microplaning some of this stuff might be a good idea. Also, fresh galangal is really fibrous, I can't think of a reason not to used dried.
  3. Tonight was the Beef Rendang. I made the spice paste in my mortar and pestal, and cooked it in oil. I remembered to grab the camera just after I'd added the beef, cinnamon, cardamom and star anise. Then I added the coconut milk and brought it to a gentle simmer. This was at 2:00 pm. At about 4:15, I got worried. Although it had been gently simmering, it sure didn't seem to be reducing like I thought it would. Since I had a meeting tonight, I needed to have dinner on the table not much after 6:00 pm, so I dumped the works into a skillet. The oil has started to separate, just like Molly said it would. I added the lime leaves (from my own little tree) at this point. Then, I made a quick trip to school to pick up Peter. When I got home, this stuff had reduced considerably. I quit taking pictures to get Heidi off the bus and hear about the kids days. I started the rice cooker and cut up some broccoli and minced some garlic, and turned the meat again. Rice done, broccoli stir fried, and everything into bowls. This is what the skillet looked like with most of the beef in the serving bowl. . Peter plated up and took this picture This was an absolutely wonderful dish. Everyone loved it (except Heidi, but I knew she wouldn't!). Paul and Diana wished that there had been more sauce, but admitted that they wished I'd made a saucier broccoli (they like some juice on their rice). This dry braise is very rich, and very deep with a lot of complex flavors. Wonderful for a family dinner, a dinner party or a pot luck. I didn't have the kind of dried peppers she recommended, so I used the small Thai dried peppers. I used 5 of them, but next time I will up it to 7 or 8 of them -- the coconut milk really does tame them, but there was still an ever-so-subtle heat. I did use fresh galagal, but dried tumeric. Although the cubes fry in oil, there is still quite a bit of the coconut milk sediment, so these cubes don't get as crispy as carnitas. This one will have a fairly regular rotation on the menu. They would be good in the summer, and I can see making this one with chicken thighs, as well.
  4. Further to fifi's post, what kind of onions?
  5. I had forgotten about this. I can stuff pleat and stuff and pleat some more. It is very calming. Some great tunes, a pile of filling and skins. I get into a rythm that just makes me happy.
  6. Fifi, several thoughts: I have found her temps consistently too high, except for the shorter braises (like the salmon). For me, too, given the shcedules of my kids and their comings and goings, lower and longer is better. So, do you have access to two similar sized LC's? (I don't). Try one with the parchment, one without. You are science oriented, do a test for us! The last time I used the parchment, I followed Paula's instructions (wetted and crumpled, not over-hanging under the lid). I will continue to use the parchment because I have 1,000 sheets of the stuff (a gift). I don't marinade in a bowl. Always a ziplock. It's easier to stuff it into my overcrowded fridge. Yes, you are right. The recipes are wonderful. The advice on meats and the various cuts and the stuff on other ingredients is wonderful. Some of it is just flat ditzy, and I circumvent and make it easier whenever possible. Marlene, thanks for the notes on the ribs. I will dutifully pencil then onto the recipe. That's one of the things I do. When someone on this site posts info/comments/recommendations on a recipe in a book I have, I make the notes. I loved marked up cookbooks.
  7. I was at Menard's today (a local home improvement superstore) and went weak at the knees. The seeds are there. The hoses, the gardening tools, the trellises, everything that disappears come September -- it was all there. Target now has a gardening area. There is a rack of Burpee seeds at my local supermarket. The days are getting longer, and in just a couple of weeks (OK, a bit more), we will have has much daylight as we have night, and from there on, the days just get longer and longer and longer. My fingers are aching to dig in the dirt. My dreams are fueled by looking at seed catalogues and reading my gardening books as I lay in bed at night, dreaming of the coming season. I can almost taste that first green bean, smell the smell of that basil that I crush between my fingers. The squeeze of that first tomato, that one that is eaten, with dirty hands, in the garden, in a moment of pride. And, although I don't grow my own sweet corn anymore, the thought of that first early, very sweet, very tender ear, is positively sexual. Ah, the anticipation. The watching and tending, watering and weeding. Just call me hopeful and waiting.
  8. While digging some bacon out of the freezer, I espied a chuck roast that has Beef Rendang written all over it. We are going out tomorrow night, but I do think that this dish in on Sunday night's menu.
  9. My brother-in-law and I do this together every Christmas. Every year, we wonder why everyone flees the kitchen when we mention this task. We have a wonderful time together, solving the problems of the world, our lives. I also really like cleaning off the counters. Wiping, drying, getting them gleaming and devoid of little bits of stuff (be they kid treasures or food ick). Looking clean, sleek and like they should be in a magazine.
  10. Be still my beating heart! A work of art in progress. Framing, insulation, drywall, outlets, lighting fixture holes. This is all big stuff (trust me, I've done it myself!) I loved these photos. I think we have that same ladder! Progress is being made, and rapidly. Breaker panel looks sleek.
  11. Glad, Dean, that it is going well. When we were actually doing the reno, it was fine. It was an adventure, and I planned well, as have you. What I think was stressful for us was that day I did a demo that took the kitchen to the point of no return. Would have been better had I told Paul I was doing it before hand. We had "mentioned" changing things a bit in passing, which I took as approval for getting out the sledgehammer. Think Mayhaw Man might just understand this. And, when you take out the sledgehammer without having thoroughly thinking out the project, it does bring new things to the table... Glad you are eating well, and still speaking. Glad the inspector has come and gone so the project can progess to the point where there will be things to photo that people will want to see (although, some of us fins pictures of wiring in walls fasctinating, but then again, I am a woman who wants power tools for gifts and gets giddy in the electrical aisle at the local home improvement joint).
  12. Dean, it's time for a photo(s). Show us what has happened. For some of us, there is appreciation for the stuff that doesn't look like much. Wiring can be exciting (but then again, I'm the person that drools at my local hardware stores, and wants power tools for gifts). How are you and the family holding up? What have you been eating at home in your mini-kitchen? You and the wife still getting along? Kids not killing you or the parents?
  13. A short walk from my sister's house in Berkeley will take you to Monterrey Market, Acme, Peets' and a plethora of other fine places for stuff to nosh. I grew up in Bangkok, and that wasn't too bad, either. There, some of the food (noodle carts) actually came to you!
  14. How about two of the three kids are about to kill each other, every night when I get dinner on the table?
  15. Marlene, I can think of worse obsessions! And, I will empty the card on the camera, get it charged up, and keep it in the kitchen. It's just that there is always some crisis when I put dinner on. And, I promise to be better about photoing while I'm cooking. One of the things I've been thinking about is that I need new dishes. My dishes are plain white Corelle (tough to break; thanks kids) and so everything looks so, well, plain.
  16. I reheated the Zinfandel pot roast and we ate it tonight. (made on Sunday and reheated yesterday, but not eaten) To test Paula's theory/premise about it being better than ever on day 3. As usual, kid commitments and whatever prevented me from photoing this. But, suffice to say, byday 3, the roast is not slice-able. But, it was succulent. Positively silky. Even Heidi ate it. She never eats beef. Never. Third time is a charm (like a hat trick). Instead of the glazed carrots (last minute preps and kids sometimes do not agree) so I roasted carrots, pearl onions and a ton of garlic. Mashed potatoes. Salad. Dinner tonight was wonderful. I'm looking at a couple of her suggestions for the leftovers. Memesuze, glad you enjoyed the rib/coconut/lime/mango dish as much as I did. I, too, were I not feeding my family, have upped the chile, although the cousin who took ALL of the leftovers (that'll teach me for being generous) reported that there was more heat on day 2 and even more on day 3, but he did advise me to up it next time.
  17. More for you to ponder... I wonder if the extra you have in your budget isn't because you buy the chickens and make the stock? OK, so it seems more expensive, but you get so much more with the chickens. Stock, and chicken. Me thinks it would be more expensive to buy stock and chicken meat? International night. You mentioned this is a favorite. Do you think you have introduced them to new things? Or merely provided a diversion? I'm loving your blog, and am more and more appreciative of the fact that I only cook for 5.
  18. I've been picking "freeze dried" rosemary all winter long from my garden (I had a very big plant). It is close as damn-it to fresh. Better than the "fresh" stuff I can find in my local supermarket. Plus, it gives me an excuse to wade in the snow and dream of summer and fresh everything.
  19. Paula, I didn't wet the parchment. I didn't crumple it either, but rather placed it on the pot (LC oval) and pressed it down so it was almost touching the meat, with the ends of the parchment hanging over the sides of the pan, and then I put the lid on. Now, I've only braised in this pan a couple of times, but the other two times, there was some condensation on the lid when I opened to peek. This time, there was no condensation on the lid (which there wouldn't be because of the parchment), but when I lifted the parchment, the parchment was not wet. There was no evaporation of the liquid in the pan. If anything, there seemed to be a bit more liquid, but perhaps the vegetables gave up some more liquid as they braised. I have made this same braise once before. This time, when I tasted on Sunday, the meat was a succulent as before, but the liquid seemed a bit richer, a bit more concentrated. I reheated it yesterday, as per your instructions, but forgot to taste it. Tonight, we will eat this.
  20. Marlene, I did the parchment paper thing on Sunday with the Zinfandel roast. ANd, again, yesterday when I reheated the thing (I'll reheat once again tonight for dinner). Once I got the lid seated properly, no problems. As to the temp. It seemed to take longer to get to the bubble/simmer, but once it was there, I had to lower the oven temp to about 240 to keep it from simmering too vigorously. I also felt like there was less moisture on the paper than there is on the lid. I think maybe I'll PM Paula and have her chime in.
  21. Yes, Bill's dipping bowls are wonderful. Spring and summer rolls. In my experience, spring rolls can be either of two things -- the ones we are referring to as summer rolls or a fried one. In Thailand, a spring roll is made with a square paper, most often it is not a noodley paper like an egg roll, but rather it's like a crepe. I buy them frozen at the Asian market, and they make for a much more delicate, flakey roll when they are fried. I've never seen summer rolls that are made out of anything but those round rice paper sheets.
  22. I made the chuck braised in Zinfandel yesterday for dinner tomorrow (did some serious braising yesterday!), reheated to day, to be reheated again tomorrow, on the advice of Paula Wolfert. I did take the meat out and put it in a ziplock and am storing the liquid separately, as Paula suggested. I don't have particularly easy access to Pancetta (although I really wanted to do that recipe) and didn't feel like driving 30 minutes one way to get it.
  23. Thanks for chiming in Mamster. When I did the cabbage (I don't think I reported on it in this thread), I did add bacon and bacon grease, because my great and wise grandmother said that if you cooked cabbage, it had to have pork and pork fat in it. My kids have liked everything I've cooked from this book, and I can't say that they really appreciate all of my experiments!
  24. On the table tonight was the Salmon baised in Pinot Noir from Molly's book. I used two kinds of bacon -- regular bacon for the braise, and bacon ends for the sauce/garnish. This dish was outstanding. Salmon really stands up well to the other ingredients, which would indeed overwhelm a more delicate fish. This dish however, is somewhat ditzy. There is considerable prep and chopping, which I certainly don't mind, but since this dish braises for such a short time, the work is more concentrated! I served it with pasta with ricotta and peas from the recent Bittman column in the NY times. This was the perfect starchy accompaniment. This particular dish is not highly seasoned, so it shown in it's simplicity and allowed the rich tastes of the salmon to come through. Finally, a salad of buttercrunch, a perfect pear, some blue cheese, carmelized pecans. I would have taken pictures had Peter not dumped almost a full gallon of milk on the floor as I was dishing up.
  25. Tamiam, in reply to a couple of your thoughts: I had to replace the sink. It was a hacked up stainless (with dents!) and only 6" deep. So, I went with the above. Above the sink, you will see my knives. My kids are a bit older (9, almost 11 and 14), but the sink and counter are deep enough that little kids can't get into them. I think that magnetic strips in the right space are pretty great. I only have 4 small drawers in my kitchen, so giving one of them up to a knife thing wasn't in the picture. And, I remember well the gunk I found underneat the knife block on the counter in our former house, as well as the gunk in the drawer mounted knife block in my folks kitchen when I cleaned for them. Somewhere there is a thread on EG about knife blocks and gunk. Above the sink, you can see the microwave, which is strapped in with that metal stuff with holes in it. We did make sure to purchase a microwave that didn't need venting on the back side. You can also see the cord that needs to be buried in the wall. Fortunately, behind that wall is the bathroom, with a medicine cabinet which has electricity. So, we will take out the medicine cabinet and tie into that space (like I said, we have an empty circuit) and my husband is very electrically handy. (I should add that we buy each other tools (power or not) for anniversary and birthday and holidays gifts ). This photo shows the nifty keen faucet I have: In the preceeding photo, you saw the faucet as it usually is. It's a Moen Legend High Rise. It is neat because the neck of the faucet rises to the occasion. That white thing at the end of the faucet, if you pull it out, does the spray thing. It's a wonderful thing, and unlike those pull-out things, does not wear out (the pull-out spray thing and a little overactive child with a fascination with all things mechanical mean frequent replacements). I had this same faucet in my former house, and in over 10 years of constant use, never had a problem, nor needed a replacement part.
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