snowangel

Three nights ago, I got up at 11:00 pm and larbed some leftover rare steak. It was really yummy. The leftovers made a great breakfast. Two nights ago it was sweet corn. At midnight. Two ears. Delish!

I hated, absolutely hated, my electric ceramic stove in our old house (it was quite new when we moved). Yes, we went the extra mile to run gas from the laundry/furnace room (DIY) and I couldn't be happier. It was the cleanup that I hated. When the kids helped me cook, something was always boiling over or getting spilled. I'd never, ever go back. But, fifi, did I feel it was unsafe? No. I never had the "skittering" pot thing happen. It was just the cleanup that I abhored. Plus, I am really enjoying the instant nature of gas.

The brochure about the MN State Fair which accompanied yesterday's newspaper reports two new "treats" on a stick: a Cob Dog (battered and deep fried ear of corn) and a deep fried Reuben sandwich. We plan to attend on August 30, opening day. The rides are cheaper, the grease fresh and the bathrooms clean. I can't wait to gorge on corn dogs, cheese curds, mini-donuts and a plethora of other artery-clogging food. I will probably decline the two new on-a-stick offerings.

Or, you could Larb some fresh tuna. Check here for some recipes.

I would larb some of it. Here are some Larb Recipes. Do what the others have suggested with what you don't Larb.

Yes, more outlets are better. I went from a kitchen with outlets everywhere to one with TWO (yes, only two) duplexes. We will fix that this fall, but it is certainly easier to do it on the front side than the back side. My former kitchen was wired for sound, had phone jacks in two places, and cat 5 wire in two places. "Network" in the kitchen, believe it or not, was a selling point! Right now, I would kill for more outlets. So, until we get around to cutting into the sheet rock and installing some more electrical outlets (we're DIY'ers), I swear and just buy another power strip cord.

Some comments, Owen. I have been growing Thai and sweet basil for years, and the Thai is always smaller and "sparser." Tomatoes. Yes, your 12" pots are too small. We are at the very northern edge of Zone 4 in our northern Twin Cities suburb, but the weather this summer has acted more like Zone 3 than Zone 4. We have had no heat to speak of, and the nights have been cool. Tonatoes (like peppers), as I recall, like nights above 60 or 65 degrees in addition to warm days to flourish. They also need a lot of sun. They will keep ripening until the days get too cool; you'll know when they are done. One thing you can do to help the fruit you have ripen fully is to carefully trim the plants. Any branch that is pointing downward will not bear fruit, and at the time of year (days getting shorter), and should be trimmed. In addition, remove any and all buds dilligently as well as any fruit that is really tiny. At this point in the year, you want the fruit that may ripen to have a fighting change. You do not want the energy of the plant going into leave and bud production. This is turning out to be the summer that never was for us. I, like everyone here I know, have pathetically few tomatoes, none of which are starting to turn color. It doesn't help that the temps for most of this week will be upper 40's/low 50's at night and maybe 60 during the day. Keep experimenting. It is natural (even for an experienced gardener) to plant too much, too close together. Walk around your neighborhood and see how the successful gardeners in your neighborhood are doing!

I always look for Thai fish sauce. I am partial to Tiparos brand. Just make sure whatever you get doesn't have sugar (ick) in it.

Was at the cabin when this first appeared. Good thing, Brooks, that we aren't married. I am also wont to take demo projects past the point of return when my spouse is away. He has no clue what's about to happen to Diana's room. Love my sledge hammer. He now just shrugs his shoulders and gives me the "no time like the present" look. My sink is double, very deep and one side is a lot bigger than the other. Works just fine. It's that enameled or whatever over cast iron. I've hated every stainless sink I've every had. My faucet is a Moen Legend Hi-Rise and the second one I've owned. The spout pulls up so you can get really tall stuff under it, and the end of the spout has a thing that pulls out and sprays and swivels. It has been far more reliable than my friends' pull-outs. Thanks to everyone for flooring advice. I just put in granite countertops and had planned to live with the old kitchen floor for a while, but the counters are so beautiful the floor looks even crappier and uglier than before. So, it's off to shop I go! Took that, yesterday, to a point of no return by ripping some of it out.

I remember well my first trip to Berkeley to visit my sister. Fall of 1990. I took Diana, I think she was about 2 weeks old. Sister, husband and daughter lived within walking distance of everything good. Diana spent her days in the front pack, me walking. Monterrey Market. Acme Bread. Cheese Board. Mr. Mopps. Fat Apple's. It was heaven. It was a good place to recover from a difficult pregnancy and acquaint myself with with this most wonderful little girl ( who is no longer little, but even more wonderful than before). Midway through my visit, my mom came out for a conference, so we went to Chez Panisse for lunch. Diana was with, and woke a time or two for "lunch" (on me!). The staff was wonderful, the food delightful. We were the last luncher's there, and the staff coddled us, cooed over Diana and we met Alice Waters. But, that was many years ago. Yes, when I visit now and get off the plane, the first stop is to the Berkeley Bowl. We're thinking about a Berkeley/Black Mountain Christmas again this year, which we did two years ago. The only caveat is that my BIL and I will once again shop for Black Mountain provisions at the Berkeley Bowl together.

Me thinks the Cabin might just need one of these roasting boxes. But, me also thinks that we will forego the tubing. Too noisy. We're more into the 25 horse johnson on the back of a tin boat or a canoe. But that's up here. Thanks for sharing. Sounds like a beautiful weekend.

Here in MN (zone 4, the north part of zone 4), it has been a most disappointing gardening season. Everyone I know has 6 tomato plants. For all of us, two have no tomatoes at this point -- just blossons -- so I'm pulling those two tomorrow. The other plants, for all of us, have seberal fruits set that are the size of marbles. A couple that are the size of two fused golf balls. I've been trimming like mad to get the sun to the parts that need it. To get the plants to quit putting stuff into the green and into the tomatoes. Tomatoes are almost precious at the farmer's market. My neighbor's pole beans have just started setting beans. This is not unusual. But, it has been a good year for greens. That's what a lot of rain and nights under 60 degrees (F) will get you. We realized today that we have turned the A/C on only twice this summer, and it's only been on for about 24-48 hours a stretch. We did have a bit of summer when we were at the cabin. But, as soon as we left, the nights we cooling to 35 degrees (F). Geez. It's still the beginning of August. The summer of '04 will go down as the summer that did not get out of April. On the other front, I am making headway on removing the dreaded rock. Over half is gone from the front. I am removing rock from the back, at this point, only where necessary to get some good stuff in. We have yanked some more OverGrown, Poorly Plants and Ugly plants. The Spruce From Hell was chopped down this past week. This yard certainly looked better in the dim light of December when we bought the joint and the ground was covered with the S word. And, to think I thought the squishy parts were a garden. Little did I realize that the yard had never been raked -- the leaves every year had merely been blown into piles and left to rot for years, and years, and years. We have eradicated most of the fossilized dog poop, as well. Time to go to bed, get up, roll up my sleeves (high tomorrow mid-60's in August -- yikes) and get to work again tomorrow.

My last dinner guests (who had seen my kitchen in advance) brought a most wonderful gift of dish towels. Very much appreciated. Those of us who were brides more than two decades ago need need new stuff. Everyone can use pretty linens.

If you are in the Twin Cities (Minnesota, USA) area, buy Hope Butter. Available at Kowalski's, Wedge (and probably other coops) and a bunch of other places. You can read about Hope Butter here

As parents of a child with disabilities, it is not reasonably feasible for both of us to work outside the home (unless one of us works nights; not in the cards for us). So, currently, I am the one home. I do the cooking. When he was the one at home, he did the cooking. He is an OK cook, better in the winter (braise) and summer (grill and steam or boil) or fry (bacon for BLT's) and I am better in all seasons, especially in the the spring and fall when the nuances are different. But, I am best of all when daughter Diana (age 13, "typical" as opposed to disabled) is assisting. And, Paul makes the coffee every morning. Always has. He knows I don't shag my sorry arse out of bed until the pot has been started. I married a good man (he also sorts and does laundry on Sunday so I can have a nap )

If you have way too many roma's, nothing wrong with halving them, scooping out the seeds and setting them in the sun or a very low oven to "sun" dry them. Or roasting them. Depends on what is too many.

Yes, this is the stuff. I picked up a bottle out of my folks basement 10 years after they brought it back to the States from Thailand (it was unopened) and was the best bottle ever. It did have salty "sediment" at the bottom, but was absolutely beyond belief. Like I said, this is the stuff on which I grew up. It was the prefered brand of cooks in Thailand, at least 30 years ago.

Update: As I smoked my butt, I complained that I really missed my Weber one-touch (there's a Weber up there, but not the one-touch with the 21" grate), with the hinged grate, as well as my chimney. So, as my dad passed a yard sale today, he spotted a Weber one-touch box. 15 years old, never used, along with a hinged grate, those thingies that hold the charcoal to the side, a Weber chimney, 4 20-lb bags of charcoal, and 10 pounds of wood chunks (mixed 1/2 and 1/2 hickory and applewood). Turns out the folks registered for this as a wedding present and then decided that "gas is better." Picked it up for $20.00. For the lot. Seems I'm set. And, a recent condiment thread made me ponder what we have at this cabin, and I did a perusal this past weekend to set me up for the rest of the summer. THree kinds of Mae Sri curry paste (red, yellow and green). One bottle of Tiparos fish sauce. One bottle of sirichi. Chili garlic sauce. Two bottles of balsamic (one really good, one supermarket variety). Several other kids of vinegar. One 1/4 full bottle of ketchup. Six kinds of mustard. Cheap olive oil (the good stuff comes and goes with me). Maple syrup. Fake maple syrup. Five dry rubs. Assorted dried and powdered chilis. Mexican vanilla. Two pepper grinders (one black, one white). Several dried herbs (dried by me a few weeks ago, fresh from the farmer's market). Toasted rice (for larb; I did add one of the surfactent -- sp? -- capsules from Heidi's medicine to keep it dry). Lots o' garlic. I always carry keefir lime leaves (just a few; I have a tree), ginger, Thai "bird" peppers, cilantro (with roots), limes and onions when I go up. These are as essential as the other perishables -- meat, veg, eggs, milk, ice and booze. While not condiments, we do have the requiste flour (pastry and AP), brown sugar, regular sugar, cocoa, shortening, corn meal, masa harina, regular oil, leavenings, kosher salt, regular morton's salt, etc., etc. There are also palm, "bakers" (very fine) and raw sugar at the cabin. This is probably the best stocked cabin just east of Cusson, MN (just try and find it on a map). Good thing it's a big, deep cupboard. I should also add that we larbed some of the leftover steak. I'm starting to think I like leftover steak larb the best of all.

My local Asian markets actually have three types of wrappers: egg roll wrappers (similar to pasta; probably akin to what we think of wonton wrappers), the rice/basket weave ones, and some thin "crepey" things that I think are the best if one wonts to do fried "spring rolls." But, for summer rolls, the rice/basket weave ones are best. Hot water. They keep well, once made, if covered with a wet paper towel or flour sack dish cloth and covered with plastic wrap. If the veg contains a lot of water, it may help to shred, salt and drain, then rinse and squeeze dry in a dish cloth. As you fill, keep the notorious stickler's instructions close at hand. A few trys, and they will look picture perfect. As usual, SuzanneF is spot on .

I have whined plenty in the past few weeks. About Houseguests from Hell. The trauma of uprooting a family and moving from a beloved home of many years into a wonderful house, but one which looked much better in the dim light of December than the bright light of summer. But, most of all, many of us in Minnesota have been whining about the lack of summer. My return to the cabin coincided with the return of summer. I will add the caveat that I took far too few pictures of food but a ton of photos of kids, adults and pet frolicking. So, it was on a Saturday morning more than a week ago (I’ve lost track of the days), I piled a ton of gear, lots to eat and drink and two of my kids and my best friend’s (also named Susan) two kids into the Bronco and north we headed. With every mile, the stress of the last few weeks and months melted away, and the weather steadily improved. The kids and I stopped at Gordy’s Hi-Hat in Cloquet (a well-known burger joint with a patio right on the highway; open only from Memorial Day to Labor Day) for lunch. Burgers (more than commercially acceptable; hand-formed patties cooked to medium rare), fries (great), onion rings (hand cut and battered; outstanding) and milkshakes. As we headed north out of Cloquet, the weather improved even more, and my foot got heavier. It was a quick trip. Upon arrival, I opened the cabin, started the fridge, and we all stripped down (we had donned suits under clothes before leaving in the hopes of swimming). The water was glorious; the sun glinting on the water was almost blinding. So our days went. We had one day that was overcast in the afternoon and one day with intermittent rain; it provided a nice shady, breezy day for picking blueberries. This is about half of what we picked. We ate a blueberry pie with whipped cream; a rather delightful salad with blueberries, blueberry vinegarette, maytag bleu and baby greens; and lots of blueberry pancakes. The picking is not particulary good this year. We were on the early side, but it was apparent we weren't going to hit any of those pockets where one can sit for 15 minutes without moving. A few days into our sojourn, Paul and Susan drove up. A few days later, Susan’s husband came up. Somewhere alone the line, my folks picked up Peter from summer camp and joined us. Heidi’s PCA came and went twice. So, what did we eat? Breakfast was always bacon or sausages, perhaps eggs, pancakes, strong coffee (always) and most often waffles on my nifty Nordicware stovetop waffle maker A big breakfast makes for a noshing lunch. Deviled eggs. Salsa (homemade, of course, with the first of the crop of heirlooms and peppers) and chips. Salami and mustard on good bread. Bruschetta on baguettes (with people constantly coming, fresh good bread was easy to come by). Sometimes a nap. For dinners. Tacos with homemade salsa and venison on fresh flour tortillas. I smoked a might nice butt (rule of thumb – don’t start drinking mojito’s before putting the butt on). A dog really likes the idea of smoked butt. The dog got the bones. Chuck eye steaks to celebrate my birthday. Sunset on my birthday was stunning. A deck railing makes a good clothesline. BLT’s with 4 pounds of bacon (several varieties; the bacon from Hackenmuellers, a local meat market, won out over the other two local meat market bacon’s and Neuske’s). Smoked brisket (a leftover brought from home). A couple of chickens. Lots of sweet corn (we brought fresh with us, and everyone that joined us brought more) slathered with Hope butter ( ). The girls made rice krispy bars for my birthday. It was a birthday as I have come to expect every year for over the past two decades. Spent at my favorite place, with my favorite people. A lot of people around a little table, some of us are eating outside on the deck. All washed down with raspberry lemonade (for the kids) and iced coffee, cocktails, beer and wine for the adults. All consumed while listening to our local gem of the state – KAXE-FM. A wonderful “northern community radio station” (read public) with an unbelievably varied selection of music, phrenology reports and odd bits and pieces. We played cards. We played scrabble. We spent endless hours in the lake. We fished (nothing but small-mouth bass which in my book are catch and release). We napped. We played. We watched birds. We swam late at night under the northern lights. Every night, after the kids were in bed, Paul and I would head to the dock. He’d hold the flashlight while I went for my pre-sleep swim. As I crawled into bed, he noted that my flesh was cool, my skin warm. It was a luscious, sensual 10 days. We were warmed by the company of each other. We are sun kissed. It is with regret that I showered this morning. Something about that lake water makes my skin feels satiny and my hair extra silky. I am slightly discombobulated; I enjoy so much not needing to know what day of the week or month it is, and for time to be ruled by what one feels like doing at the moment. I went for 10 days without looking at a clock. Life is indeed very good.

If the corn is really, really fresh, I would add tomotoes (heirlooms picked and served straight from the vine) and forget the pork. But, then again, I'm a corn fanatic. But, only if it's really, really fresh.

Everything not perishable has been purchased. The laundry is done; the duffles packed and in the Bronco. The Bronco has been vaccuumed and all of the trash is gone ( minimal trash, BTW). Diana, Heidi and I are beyond excited, and we are still more than 24 hours away from departure. When I am up with just the kids, I have planned noshing menus for these growing bodies. For when the Rest of The Adults Arrive, more substnatial. Chuck Eyes. Roasted Potatoes. Ribs. Smoked Butt. Sweet corn (finally, local is here!), Burgers. Brats. BLT's (Bacon Taste Testing). Green beens. Cheeses from the St. Paul Farmer's Market. Homemade salsa with locally grown cilantro (complete with the roots; it's the key). All sorts of things. Vodka. Beer, Wine. G & T's. So, my plan is to head out Saturday morning (wish it could be tomorrow, but dental and orthadonia prevail). Pick up the other two kids and a dog. Head north. Lunch/late breakfast at the White Castle in Hinkley. Drop off care package for Peter at camp. Arrive at Cabin. Hoist one kid through the one window we can open (lost key in move). Get kids ready to swim. Get kids in lake. Then I will get things like the fridge and pilots on the stove going, unpack, etc., and have a cocktail. May have cocktail first. Don't know. It has been warm -- finally -- up north. I would be beyond ready to leave this Project of a New-To-Us-House we bought. In celebration of the most recent 10 lbs. I lost, I just bought a new bikini. Aug. 2, I will turn 47. I will be at the cabin, which is where I've been more for birthdays than many EG'ers have had. I will be happier. I will be even happier if we have fresh blueberries for my favorite Blueberry Pie.

Be sure and check out Dave the Cooks ECI course on Brining. This is a good thread on smoking butt -- Behold My Butt. And, don't forget Klink's class on Smoking Meat at Home.

One of my favorite stops is at the gas station in Hinkley, MN. A White Castle is part of it. A bag of sliders and onion chips and we are set. Makes a great breakfast. There's also a great little stop just north of Cotton, MN (home of the Fiddle Festival, usually first week of August) that has great ice cream cones. Nothing like driving and having that first dip land plop in your lap.

I am afraid that you have lost me again with strange talk of things that don't exist her in the swamp. What is this strange "chuch eye" of which you speak? Is this something I should seek out, or is it something better left to you denizens of the North Country-as I have decided about "Tuna Hot Dish". Typo! You caught me. Should have been "chuck eye's" as in chuck eye steaks. I blame it on the past few days and the Houseguests From Hell. I've lived in the northland for many years now (a transplant from parts far south and far tropical) and have yet to understand "Hot Dish." Sort of like a pan of "Bars." But, this does not diminish my love or longing for things north. The lists have are in the making. Yes, I go. I leave soon for beauty, peace, fireflies, swimming and perhaps Blueberries.