snowangel

Because you and your husband walk in the door at 5:45 pm with three small children, all of whom want all of your attention (the arsenic hour), to talk about their days, show you the treasures they make in art class. Your feet ache, the office politics have given you a headache. It is nice to walk into a kitchen that smells great and know that all you have to do it heat up a loaf of bread, set the table, and that's that. There were many, many nights that assembling ingredients and waiting the 40 minutes would have sent the two adults in this house to the loony bin.

My kids' favorite fast food (many commitments this evening): Bow tie pasta slathered with a sinful amount of butter and romano Steamed green beans with lemon and kosher salt Burnt sugar cupcakes

The fact that the Powers That Be are willing to tackle this, plus the new look of TDG, the Q & A's, lead me to wonder how they even have time to work for $. They are to be commended for dedication to this and the many other things on their plates. Remember, there are plenty of people who could and would volunteer to help with the mundane aspects of this; just ask.

I find Tuesday mornings to be about the best time to shop at Costco (or just about anywhere for that matter). Interestingly, I've noticed that they have a really poor selection of crackers. Their cold cereal (for quick breakfasts on over-sleeping school days) and toilet paper are cheaper at my grocery. I tend to steer as far away from the free food as possible unless I want to get run over or boxed in. The customers at our mid-western Costco are every bit as cut-throat as elsewhere in the country.

Other than the shopping, Diana and I did not sit down and plan this out; we just winged it: Bacon candy (with pecans). Tuna larb. Absolutely outstanding; served on napa cabbage leaves. A soup with the mushrooms, chicken thighs, star anise, ginger, jalapeno, remainder of the cabbage, and bean thread noodles. We also added some dried black mushrooms, slivered, and finished it with sesame oil. This was also outstanding. We braised the lentils (like Grant did), pureed them, and served them over riced Yukon Golds. Again, very good. Finished the meal with a butternut squash pie. Not bad, considering we just pulled the stuff out and started cooking. She and I had a blast cooking together, and she wants to know when we will get the next market basket. She also told me she considers bacon to be a "pantry" item.

Further to this question, where and when do you get inspiration for your columns (are these middle of the night, in the shower, sit down at your desk, walking down the street ideas)? How many ideas do you toss for every column? Thanks for your participation in this Q & A.

Last Friday, after the follow-up to my Xmas Eve root canal (disaster; after finishing, including permanent filling, an X-ray indicated that "oh, shit, I missed a canal or two," so you need to have it redone, but don't worry, I won't charge you any more"), I decided a trip to my favorite butcher was in order. He had called me a couple of days before to tell me he had a load of beef and veal bones in the freezer for me. Anyway, I had a hankering for a burger, and remembering what Danny Meyer said about his burgers during the recent Q & A -- "After lots of trial, we've ended up with a beef blend that is 33% brisket, 33% shoulder clod, and 33% chuck. It's about 85% lean and 15% fat. And it's is ground fresh daily" I mentioned this to the butcher. They were not very busy, and since I had a couple of other errands to run in that area, he decided to help me out, by not only assembly the ingredients, but hand chopping them for me. It is a good thing to be on a first name basis with one's butcher, and doesn't hurt if one's husband was a good friend in high school. This made an absolutely outstanding burger, as grilled on our weber. But, when one grills outdoors in sub-zero temps, it does take longer for one's burger to grill. And, forgot to ask the butcher -- what is shoulder clod? All I know is that he had it.

PM me if you want my (actually, my great-grandmother's) chocolate cake and frosting recipes.

If it's something you are going to want to use in a dish with olive oil (like basil), stem, blanch, shock and chop (like Jin said), mix with a little olive oil, and roll in logs in plastic wrap. The oil makes it so that it is easy to cut off a little or a lot when still frozen. Or, wrap small quantities in square of plastic wrap, toss the wrapped parcels in a zip lock, date and toss in the freezer. I use the latter technique with canned tomatoe paste, as well. Freeze in 1 T. quantities.

First rule of thumb. Do not preface serving chili with a comment like "this may be a little too spicy for some of you..." The power of suggestion is strong.

Thanks for the advice. I did set grind before I filled it; will advice husband of same. But, one of the two of us (probably him; I sleep in) would have stood there like an idiot. Post-it note to go on grinder ASAP.

Not a chance. It's loaded and ready to go for tomorrow morning (with beans I roasted; my first batch). I'll get the strong coffee I so need...

Wild Rice Pudding. Made it today. It was not a cold and wet day; it was an almost sub-zero and snowy day: 2 cups half & half 4 eggs 1/4 cup sugar 1 tsp gound Cinnamon 1/8 tsp salt 1 tsp Vanilla Extract 1-1/2 cups well-cooked wild rice 1/2 cup golden raisins 1/2 cup chopped almonds Preheat oven to 325 deg F. In a small saucepan, scald half & half; set aside. Beat eggs and sugar until frothy. Stir in cinnamon, salt, vanilla, wild rice, raisins and almonds. Gradually stir in half & half. Divide mixture evenly between six 6-ounce custard cups. Place in large metal baking pan; fill with hot water to within 1-inch of top of custard cups. Bake 25-30 minutes, or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. Remove custard cups from pan. Serve warm or cold with whipped cream.

3rd tool (important if one is drinking while smoking) -- the timer.

Boy, did I get lucky. Visited my cousin today, and admiring her Solis Maestro. She said "I got two for Xmas. Want one?" So, bliss will return to our household

He states it's because of "time", but methinks it may be because I suggested this would be a good idea? It boiled down to a discussion of "how much is lost" by pre-grinding. Enough said.

Even as a child, it had to be spicy (not necessarily hot spicy; I just love how the Thai language allows for "hot" in two senses -- temp vs. peppery). No root crops, no melted cheese, no ketchup, no runny egg whites, no undercooked poultry. Come to think of it, not much has changed, except I will tolerate melted cheese on pizza. And, I will eat root crops (except parsnips) when they are roasted.

I love my husband of almost 22 years. We have survived many, many things -- unemployment, self-employment, three kids, disabled child. But coffee is becoming a problem. Gem that he is, he insists on getting up every morning and making the coffee. Background is that we have a very substandard and very small grinder (soon to be replaced) grinder, so the coffee just plain isn't strong enough for me. In a pinch, he will admit that it is " a little weak." So, I suggest that I take my freshly and home roasted beans, and grind an appropriate quantity at night (two batches), but them in a strange black glass jar that I own, and he can simply use this to make coffee in the morning. Plop them in the filter, add water, and push "on." He insists that the quality of the ground beans, by sitting in a sealed, black jar for less than 12 hours, will deteriorate enough that we will be dissatisfied (as opposed to drinking weak coffee. Comments on grinding that far (less than 12 hours) in advance of brewing? I am currently using my new Phillips thermal drip (which worked great on the one occasion that I ground the two rounds of beans?

Even Peter (7) knows how to make boiled icing -- without a candy thermometer. I was raised thinking that this was basic knowledge -- like sewing on a button.

I can relate. Remember, I live in Minneapolis. It's been too cold to even go ice fishing (no comments, please). On a light note, my kids plead with me this morning for summer. Peter dressed for school in SHORTS. I made his put on sweat pants and long underware UNDER his shorts. So, for dinner tonight, we had carnitas, tortillas, rice and salsa. We pretended it was summer. Topped it off with ice cream sundaes (no problem with the ice cream melting on the way from grocery to car). We turned on every light in the house and cranked the furnace up to 75. Not to worry about food, though, when I get my gas bill, I won't be able to afford food. Peter showed up for dinner in his swimming trunks. On other frigid nights lately, soup, stew or pot roast is in order. P. S. The furnace is now set to the almost affordable 67 degrees.

So, Diana is in 6th grade -- middle school. Every six weeks, they switch core subjects -- math/science and engligh/social studies. Throughout the school year, they have the "extras" -- art, gym, "life skills" (what we used to call home ec -- learning to sew on buttons, how to use tools, cook, etc). Anyway, the students have the opportunity twice a year to earn beaucoup extra credit if they are willing to make an interdisciplinary presentation to their class. Diana loves her new "cooking" book -- Complete Techniquest by Pepin, and is determined to work this into an extra credit presentation. The problem is what to do? Bringing a knife to school is a not permitted, so there goes garnishes, or teaching proper knife techniques. She settled on mayonnaise. She is clever. The night before, we assemble the ingreidents. We boil a mess of eggs. In her presentation, she states that while this book might not be considered literature, there are stories, the social studies can come from the history of the various dishes, the science from the whole area of emulsifying (she talked about hollandaise, beure blanc, etc.; ration of eggs to fat -- math), then demonstrated how to make mayonnaise. She tasted (using a new popsicle stick. Adds a little something. Tastes again, on a new popsicle stick. When one of the students asked why a new popsicle stick, she tells them to keep her spit out of the mayo (more science). So, now you ask, just why did we boil eggs? Why, deviled eggs, naturally. After the mayo is complete, she mixes it with the pre-seived eggs yokes, and uses her pastry bags (three, each with a different tip) to show how they can be filled to give different looks. She even had capers and chopped parsley to show different garnishes (latter two items for art). She felt she was lacking in the phy ed area, so she mentioned that as mayo is high fat, one would be wise to augment with fresh veggies, grains, etc. to ensure a balanced diet. Her "main" teacher called to tell me that this was without a doubt the most engaging presentation they've had. There wasn't a student "wandering." There was no when will this be over eye-rolling. And, the teacher said, best of all, were deviled eggs.

While not exactly a chip, those Larp flavored Pretz things I got were absolutely dreadful. Those who tasted them applied all sorts of off-color adjectives, but none really came close to describing the flavor.

We put in a nice wood swing/slide/fort thing a few years ago for the kids, and realized one day after it was in that the grass would not survive. Instead of trying to grow grass, I planted some short, lemon thyme. It has filled in completely, withstood countless hours of swinging and sliding, and even withstood creeping charlie. Plus, that wonderful fragrence as their feet brush it under the swings. The bottoms of their shorts smell like lemon all summer long.

Ahem. I do make layer cakes regularly, and do still make boiled icing (is there any other kind for a layer cake?). Our two favorites are a buttermilk chocolate and a burnt sugar (I've posted recipe for latter on the cupcake thread). If you want the chocolate cake, PM me. I use the recipes hand-written by my greatgrandmother many, many decades ago. People feel so special when you serve a layer cake. They are impressive.

At the best Chinese restaurants I've eaten at in SFO and Mpls., the cash register has been manned by grandma/mom; surly as all get out to the employees -- if her guests aren't satisfied, she's not going to make money. In fact, I remember, growing up in Bangkok, the "old wives' tale" that if the cashier wasn't old and crabby, it wasn't a great Chinese restaurant. At our last really great dim sum experience, in San Francisco (sorry, the name of the restaurant escapes me), we (a party of 14) walked in. The hostess assured us that we could be seated immediately. The joint was packed. We walked up a few flights of stairs, through several dining rooms, to a large table occupied by two older gents sitting at the table with their bottles of VSOP (it was 11:00 am). The hostess barked some things at them, they grabbed their check and bottles of VSOP), wobbled to the cash register, and we sat down. Food arrived immediately. Same sort of story at my favorite Chinese restaurant in the Twin Cities, Sueng Cheng. Food is outstanding, atmosphere zippo, service somewhat surly. Not an Aquavit or Goodfellow's experience, but far more charming.