snowangel

Jen, busboy has a point. When I think about it, by the time Diana was ready for cookbooks, she was well-versed in many kitchen things. Cutting, kneading, whipping. Perhaps you should look at giving a cookbook, but maybe more important, assuming you live nearby, are some "coupons" for an afternoon cooking with Aunt Jen. Teach then to scramble eggs, watching for the butter to foam. Teaching them how to knead bread. Make mayo (science lesson in that one, as well). How to blanch and shock, and how different your green beans look when you boil them for a long time. How to make salad dressing. How to clean greens. They could make a meal of scrambled eggs and salad for mom and dad (basic, but never unappreciated). So, if distance permits, give a gift of yourself. Memories in the making.

You are absolutely right, goddess. I save this stuff because it seems like such a shame to toss things that are delicious and have a place in the kitchen. It's not about frugality. But, when my MIL found the top of our wedding cake in her deep freeze, some 20 years after the fact, we declined the offer of delivery, and suggested that perhaps the trash would be just fine. (and, you have no idea of the small scraps of wonderful quilt fabric that I have saved, and used, to glorious effect.)

One of the things I think it's really important to teach them is technique. How to use a knife. How to make vinagarette. How to make a roux. My first cookbook was some Betty Crocker thing with stuff like a bizarre salad that used pineapple rings, a banana, probably a couple of raisins and a cherry to make a face, or a spaceship or something. But, it didn't really inspire. What inspired was a farm journal cookbook that taught more technique (but not nearly enough) and gave me some tools to make an actual meal. Diana wasn't but about 8 years old when I found her curled up in bed with Michael Field's Cooking school. Made me proud! Edited to add: Check as many of these out from the library as possible and review them before purchasing.

Removing the popcorn sounds like more than I am up for. I really don't mine drywall/taping/mudding work, but really hate to work over my head. Sounds like a guaranteed crick in the neck, and there's no way I'd hire that done. There is a lot of square footage of the stuff. I've been hankering for another power tool, and think a sprayer might just be the ticket. Prep sounds like a ton of work, but then again, if I smoke a butt and brisket and ply friends with same and a mess of beer, we could probably make short work of the prep.

Our cars are both early 90's. And, the deer by his stand were just on the other side of the "posted" land. Except the doe with the two fawns that stared him in the eye. I'm not worried, by FIL always gets two and one will be mine. Back to Frittata. The brie smoked salmon prep sounds just like what I'm looking for. Diana mentioned seafood (scallops/shrimp) as well.

Paul got home from deer hunting last night (no deer, yet), and shoved the remainder of the food he'd brought home in the fridge. Today was one of those days. Very busy. I didn't even think about dinner until a few minutes before I knew the troops would start clamouring. So, I opened the fridge. Out popped a hunk of ham (really good ham). A hunk of cheese (sharp white something). A half a head of broccoli that was soon to be on it's way out. An onion (yes, he stuck an onion in the fridge). Lots of eggs. A bag of pre-packaged greens. So, what was for dinner, you ask? Why, frittata, of course. One of those great dishes that you can almost always put together. Sometimes they are more intentional, sometimes more of the "what in the hell am I going to feed people" things. So, please talk about frittata. Intentional ones and unintentional ones. Odd combinations? Favorites? I'm hosting a series of small luncheons for my mother's upcoming 70'th birthday, and think that perhaps frittata and a salad would be appropriate, and easy, for one of them, but would prefer to do something that is not "the dregs of the fridge." Ideas?

Wow. I'm learning all sorts of other things to save which will make my family crazy. (Why do we have bags of vegetable and meat scraps? etc.).

I, too, save it all. The odd veg bit that doesn't get saved gets composted. Chicken fat also helps keep leftover chicken meat from drying out. Had leftovers one time, and we had to rush out of town. I've always really disliked cooked chicken that has been frozen, so I bathed this in chicken fat before freezing. Yum. Probably somewhat akin to confit. I am also manic about reusing what I can (plastic bags, yogurt containers, etc) and recycling what I can't. Use paper grocery sacks for trash (I think the trash bag industry is the smartest of all -- they have people actually believing that you need to spend money for the sole purpose of throwing it away!). As a side not, my mother's family owned a small corner grocery from late depression days to the early 60's, back when they were common in the midwest. During rationing days, my mother well remembers someone coming in and buying coffee; this person had never bought or drank coffee before, but they figured since it was rationed, it must have been good.

I agree with fifi. Also, I have two kinds of garlic. When I bought both at the farmer's market (I don't remember what the names of these were), she said one was for using raw and one for using in cooking. I know that the cloves of the "salad" garlic are much juicier and the flesh is almost transluscent.

Ah, cookies. I bake them frequently. My go to sources are my grandmother's recipe box and both of Maida Heatter's cookie books. I especially love chocolate chip. THey either need to be chewy, or really crisp (like the Cook's Illustrated Thin and Crispy ones). Other favorites are a raisin oatmeal cookie of my great grandmother's recipe where you grind oatmeal, raisins and peanuts together. Another (gasp!) favorite is orange slice cookies. Take those sickening orange slices from the grocery candy aisle and cut them into slices and put them into an oatmeal cookie. Then, there's my great Aunt Laura's recipe for rollout cookies that feature nutmeg. Or, Maida Heatter's Sour Cream Pecan Dreams. Better go put some butter out to soften. Who needs sleep when one needs cookies?

Remember, there is nothing sad about your kitchen as long as you are using it to make good food and great memories. Happy blogging! It is an interesting and involving experience.

... My popcorn/stucco ceilings also have sparkles! Can't wait to get rid of them. If i wanted sparkles, I'd get a mirror ball. ← Are you sure it isn't asbestos? ← 98% positive, at least if the house behind me (just like mine before modifications, built in the same year -- 1970) is any indication. They had their's tested and it wasn't. Neglected to mention my GREAT find of the day at Ikea. I have had these really ugly knobs on the cabinets and cupboards in the kitchen. Sort of an ugly Old English (I think that's what they call it) with all kinds of nooks and crannies. The kind of knobs you need to take a toothbrush to clean properly. Brand, new knobs at $1.99 for six of them. Much better. Clean looking. Sleek to the touch. No more gook collectors.

I'm cheaper than cheap when it comes to home renovation. Get the best quality ingredients and teach myself how to do it. So, did the stuff drip after you painted it? Miles of drop cloths? My popcorn/stucco ceilings also have sparkles! Can't wait to get rid of them. If i wanted sparkles, I'd get a mirror ball.

OK. So, I didn't get floor samples yet. That's tomorrow's job, but I did get to Ikea and replaced the motley assortment of drinking glasses (after 23 years of marriage, I need another bridal shower!) and did get the dining room and kitchen primed, and did get the cord for the over the sink microwave built in (involved pulling the medicine cabinet in the bathroom, which shares that wall with the microwave). So, no more cord. And, I did it without electrocuting myself, and the microwave works, the lights in the bathroom work, and I haven't blown a circuit yet. Next question. The former owners of this house smoked HEAVILY inside. Every wall has been washed 3 times and are now clean. The textured ceiling is an ugly brown that is really, really bugging me. I'd much prefer "flat" ceilings, but don't have the energy to remove the 1200 square feet on the main floor of the popcorn/texture stuff. So, paint for the ceiling seems to be in order. Buy a sprayer to hook up to the compressor? Use a roller? The thought of this is both exhausting and energizing me.

Word. Thanks so much for the last week. I am looking at everything I plate (or not) in a different way. Bloggin can be a pretty "baring" experience. Susan and Russ, hats off! I want your dishes! I want your warm weather! I want, right now (after 4 days of being a single parent -- Paul is deer hunting), to be an empty nester.

Listen to the Godesses -- fifi and Marlene. RIVAL. I'm still using the Rival that I inheritied when my grandmother died. It was old when she died, and that was 15 years ago.

Thanks, folks. It's rip the vinyl up. It ripped like tissue, which seems to me speaks that it wants to be gone. In between my previous post and now, I have done some "picking" appears to be just laid down, anchored by crumby 1/4 round. No, Marlene, we are here for the long haul. I am a perfectionist when it comes to the house. I put way too much into everything to leave it. There were six months of angst and tears and tearing my heart out to leave the old place. Yes, Body Bag (they can take my new granite counters and make a monument to me). I work way to hard to make everything perfect. Let's not even talk about how we left a paid-for house for another 30 years of servitude to Norwest (should be Wells Fargo) Mortgage. Gotta love that second bathroom. So, I have primed the walls that I recently denuded of gawdawful wallpaper (ferns and daisies!). I can't put on real paint until I choose, or narrow down choices for a floor. I'm in a pickle because I'm hosting a series of birthday luncheons for my mother in the next could of weeks, but figure instead of 50's party games, we can all muse on flooring and wall color choices. Oh, Dave. You got me hot to trot. My family is going to hate me in the next few weeks. And, love me for years after. So, when I'm at Ikea tomorrow, maybe time to think about new cabinets and cupboards?...

OK. I'm floor obsessed. The harvest gold vinyl with way too many cigarette burns is getting to me -- big time. So, this past weekend, Paul was deer hunting. As is my habit, when I'm home alone with the kids, I take projects to the point of no return. This time, it was a marbel that got wedged under the vinyl by the dishwasher. So, did I gently pull out the dishwasher, gently pull up the vinyl and extract said marble? No, I ripped a hunk of the vinyl off. It sure felt good. Paul, knowing me well, called 1/2 hour short of being home and asked "what sort of work did you create while I was gone?" I was able to reassure him, at least this time, that there was no sledge hammer involved. Me does think that now I do need to remove the vinyl before I lay down CVT. Or, Dave, should I just patch it and put on the blue junk? Further, should I lay new tile under the stove and diswasher, or just keep those on the subfloor? I have replalced a kitchen floor before. Last time around, we pergo'd, and never, ever again. It was awful. Tons of work. I have settled on CVT, and ran out today and got a mess of samples. I like a floor that needs to be waxed. It's work twice a year, but in between, much easier to take care of. So, back to my questions. Under dishwater and stove? Patch vinyl and put the blue junk on it? Moving was such a horrible experience that the next time I do so, it will be in a body bag, so want to do this right.

In my case, it's Hope Butter on Acme double Levain. So many of the above mentioned foods seem so springy/summery and so distant...

Whack them up with an axe and put them in the compost. Foor for next summer's garden.

Or, in Minnesota, seated on a lawn chair, in tank top and shorts, barefoot. Knees spread. Elbows on knees. That juicy slap of watermelon. Juice dripping down arms, onto legs. Kids of all ages racing around. Afterwards, a quick squirt with the hose to rid one on the sticky juice. As we viewed the first of the fall/wintery northern lights tonight, the thought of juice -- be it from sweet corn or watermelon or a peach, running down one's arms or legs, is mighty appealing. Ah, simple pleasures. Like that unique baby smell.

Paul and Terry were off deer hunting this weekend (please hope for a deer tomorrow am!) and so Susan and Kat came to spend the night so Kate and Diana could keep each other company and Susan and I would have a chance to plan our Thanksgiving weekend getaway (and drink wine together). The conversation turned to pure and simple foods, as we toasted Acme bread, spread on the unsalted Hope butter and sprinkled sea salt over said. We recalled many pure and simple foods. That first tomato of the season, eaten right off the vine, juicy and a product of our labor. That juice feels so good running down your arm. That first ear of corn. Sweet and succulent, adorned with butter and pepper, or perhaps not. Bacon. Cooked crispy/squishy. A really great raw carrot. At my house, dug from the garden, washed from the outside spigot. The blueberries at our "secret" picking spot on a granite ridge in northern MN. Vanilla ice cream. Hard-cooked egg, halved, with salt and pepper. Green beans, steamed, S & P. Omelet with chives. Haralson apples. Or, chestnut crabs. Other than adornment with butter, salt and/or pepper, nothing else. What are your favorites?

OK. My floor is worse than your old one was. Way uglier harvest gold. Mine is complete with many large cigarette burns (the house was a good deal). Off to look at flooring TOMORROW. Thanks for the pics -- inspiration to do something about the one in our house.

I am madly knitting slippers, to be felted, for everyone I know. They knit up in a minutes, and I have enough laundry to do on a daily basis. It's a royal pain in the tush trying to come up with inventive new ways to find the length of friends' feet. For a couple of dear friends. Some frozen rounds of Julia's pie crust and a foil thing of peach pie filling. Latter is from my Farm Journal Freezing and Canning cookbook (a real gem). You make the filling, line a pie tin with foil and freeze the filling in the foil. Time for a pie? Peel the foil off, put it in a crust-lined tin and bake away. Maggie, do tell about the raffish hat, please. I found, after we moved, a very nice stash of vegtable fabric. Just dying for a tete.

Do you usually mince, large dice or finely dice the birds? I prefer a subtle heat throughout the larb, which is why I use the dried chilies that are powdered, adding thin clides of birds of a blast of heat. In addition to the dried powdered chilies (as opposed to what we think of as chili powder), I ususally use 4-6 birds. I'd use that many, perhaps 3-4 more, if I just went with birds for heat. IMHO, of course.