snowangel

I went to the farmer's market today and got some beautiful really little new potatoes and a chicken (grown by "jessica"). Butterflied the chicken and put it on the grill, stuck the new potatoes in a pan with a bit of water on the grill (drained and tossed with Hope butter and parsley from my garden when done), and spritzed some EVOO on the last of the spinach from my garden. It was way hot here today, and the kids and I loved it...dashing in and out of the sprinkler.

A very "puffed up" parental moment. You did a grand job, I can tell. Diana called me from my folks house a few nights before she left for camp for vinegar advice. I was pleased as punch.

I am almost in tears. The "for sale" sign went up today in their yard. They want a little bigger, closer to where he works, and closer to the larger Hispanic community in St. Paul. They have, however, priced their house on the high side, so hopefully, this summer will be punctuated by many more endearing stories.

I really like what Paul calls the Big Ass 10" chef's knife (the wide one). I'm about to toss every single knife at the cabin (crappy selection; the stuff my mother-in-law got when she got married 50 years ago) and replace with one single Big Ass 10" chef's knife. Yes, you can use it to pare. And yes, using a steel is cool. Learning to use a whetstone properly is also really cool.

My kind of girl!

I hate my airbakes. They have become project trays for the kids. I'd rather double up on cookie sheets. Now that I have a convection oven, I don't even have to do that.

Diana left Sunday for a month at camp. Boo hoo. Now, not only do I have to come up with meal ideas, I have to cook them. Plus, Diana is so good with leftovers, that I'm sure I'll be wasting a ton of food. Plus, she's my larb-mate. But, Saturday night, she fixed kabobs. She did a great job -- sorting the various items that cook at the same rate, and getting them onto the grill at the appropriate times -- nothing was over or under-done. She did mention that the night she returns from camp, she's expecting a nice, fat, black and blue rib-eye. I miss her already.

I will try to explain: BECAUSE IT DOES. The closest dictionary to my hand defines salad as: 1 a : green vegetables (as lettuce, endive, or romaine) and often tomatoes, cucumbers, or radishes served with dressing OR b : a dish of meat, fish, shellfish, eggs, fruits, or vegetables singly or in combination usually served cold with a dressing 2 : a green vegetable or herb grown for salad; especially lettuce 3 : a usually incongruous mixture

Those who have listened to The Morning Show on MPR (Minnesota Public Radio) will remember the song "Lime Jello Marshmallow Cottage Cheese Surprise." This dish makes regular appearances at Lutheran potluck suppers in small towns.

Today, the first day of summer, is the longest day of the year. Which poet wrote about the first day of a season being the beginning of the death of the season? Everything in my garden is doing spectacularly well, with the exception of one tragedy. We had a very dry fall, and no snow until February, and the big casualty was the old wood vines of my wisteria which should have grown across the entire pergola this year. Because of the winter, the plant did the "spare the shoot, save the root" thing, and I am back to where I was three years ago. Boo-hoo.

Now that would be really tragic.

When I was growing up, it was lard (but rendered by the lady at the next farm). But, the chicken was hand picked and killed by me and my grandmas. Based on size, and "activity," per my grandmother. One wanted a chicken not too big, but not too small, and one not too active. An active chicken, according to grandma, was to be stewed, or roasted. The buttermilk was unpasturized, from the farm two farms down. But, this was in a different time and place. Summers in Nebraska in the 60's. Ah....

CHefmate stock pot. I have a big one. I left something simmering on the stove for a couple of hours (it was somewhat thick and creamy) while I went to retrieve a sick kid from school, and the both the pot and contents were just fine. I base my cookware purchases on feel. I'm not above taking a pan out of a pan, going over to the utensil aisle and pulling off a wooden spoon or something and pretending I'm cooking. I have an odd, and small assortment of cookware. Some of it is over 80 years old, some of it new. Each piece has been purchased or saved with care. If I don't use it frequently, and really love it, it has no place in my kitchen.

Could someone please describe this dish: Thai Chili Profiterole with Curry Ice Cream, Warm Mango & Cilantro. Diana and I are into ice cream these days, and always looking for new ideas. Hurry. She goes to camp for a month starting this weekend.

I agree. Nothing like her first cookbook. I tried selling my copy at a used book store, and they said no because they get so many copies in, and told me that some of the copies they get to sell are copies they sold! I did copy out a couple of the cookie recipes before giving it to the library. A couple of them were quite good.

I have 3 of the Wei Chuan cookbooks (snacks, volume 1 and volume 2) and the three Pei Mei cookbooks, purchased in Taiwan in the late 70's. I also have Tropps Modern Art of Chinese cooking, and one of the things I like in her cookbook is the ingredient lists -- the suggested substitutions were important a few years ago before everything was so readily available in Minneapolis. I most often, however, do turn to the Wei Chuan cookbooks. They have been very well used. I think they were the first cookbooks I bought for myself when I was a freshman in college and spent several weeks in Taiwan.

Peanut butter sandwiches in the car on the way home from the cabin. I should add that lunch was fresh fish (walleye), caught by Peter (7), Paul (45) and grandpa John (60-something) flying into a little lake. The fish was eaten about 1/2 hour after being caught. It was Peter's first fly-in fishing trip in a float plane. I cooked inside, and we ate on the dock, in the water, wearing bathing suits.

Just returned from almost a week at the cabin. We have had heat. Everything looks wonderful. My beans actually have more than those two leaves that come up when they sprout, and my tomatos look like they just might need cages. It has been dry; thank goodness for good neighbors who come and water when things look "saggy." I planted a bunch of stuff at the cabin. I'm sure the deer will have eaten all of it when I get up there in a week and a half. Cilantro seems to be more of a cool weather crop. I plant it in and under things. Does great.

A Porsche is load-bearing? Shame on you! My husband, when he worked at the local porsche dealership, had a customer who had a trailer hitch on his 911...

First and foremost in Northern Minnesota would be deer wandering in the road or jumping out in front of you. Can make mincemeat not only out of the deer, but also the front end of one's car. Otherwise, it's White Castle in this family. True road food. And, the A & W in Orr, MN, now that Sue's Sweet Shop in Cotton (home of the Cotton Fiddle Fest) is no more. Places and things with character. Restrooms? If we don't need gas, we tell the kids to cross their legs tighter, and failing that, pull off on a gravel road, look to make sure there's no traffic, and squat (or stand). No food in the car. With three kids, it's a huge mess. We don't have a mini-van, so our kids shoulders actually touch each other's.

When I was young, and my grandparents lived on a farm in Nebraska, I spent most of every summer with them. Sunday after church, grandma would put on a house dress, and I'd put on shorts and a gingham shirt, and we'd kill and clean a chicken. She'd get out the flour, salt, pepper, a can of crisco, some lard (rendered by Dorothy, her sister-in-law; one farm down), and fry a chicken in the cast iron skillet she got from her mother who got it from her mother (which is now MINE ). I'd cut the potatoes and eggs and onions for yellow potato salad (made with miracle whip, yellow mustard and a splash of vinegar. If it was late enough in the summer, we'd have a plate of sliced tomatoes, but we always had either fresh picked peas or green beans. If the bugs weren't bad, we'd sit on the back stoop and eat. She always had ice cream (several different flavors) in the upright freezer in cake cones for dessert. I just love summer.

We do not have an automatic ice maker in our fridge. We use trays, and have a "bin" thingee to put the cubes in. The bin thingee is full of ice cubies. The trays are full of chicken stock, and there is a note taped to the end of the top tray indicating "chicken stock freezing." DH makes a G & T, but opts not to use the cubes in the bin thingee, but take fresh cubes from the tray, ignoring the note that states "chicken stock freezing." A G & T with chicken stock cubes is nasty, and a total waste of gin, tonic and stock.

Thanks. The butter is softening as I type.

Wow! What a score! Two more for me. Funny thing is that I really hate garage sales. I have enough crap. I went looking for two tomato cages (which they had ).

No need to rationalize cookbooks. Get rid of the guilt...