snowangel

Rebecca, this soup could easily be pureed without any cream, or puree and add an egg (if one so desired). I was mighty skeptical about this one, and had a pizza deliver coupon at the ready. But, I liked it! Thanks for the compliments on the bread! The Family prounced it the best ever! Maggie, the only celery I could find was organic, and organic celery is NASTY!

Please tell me what this is: Hint: it's cold.

Sorry to be late in posting tonight, but homework and parent/teacher conferences an IEP meeting sort of interfere at times. But, Maggie, I did bite the bullet aand made the One of Everything Soup. The ingredients: Note, there is almost a speckle on the banana. (makes me want to hork) OK, Maggie, all of these white chopped things are looking, well, let's say dubious. Then I add the cream. Yew! I'm about to order takeout, but I keep going, trusting you. Then I take the IB to it, add the cream, and the curry powder, and voila! They actually liked it, although I sort of improvised on my bowl. Cilantro, and a slight squeeze of lime, and oh, my. Would I make this again? If I had a banana, in a minute. The kids loved it! And, on the side, what the Family determined was the best epi they'd ever had. I'd hoped to get away with takeout tomorrow night, but The Family has determined that it will be something with something else (the something else involving the boule!). Does this boule have a name? I basically take the kitchen shears to the top of it.

Everything is better with lemon. I'm so glad you posted about the halibut. It sounds delicious . . . I even have a bag of smoked almonds . . . Thanks for the idea!! ← Hmmm. Everything is better with LIME! As soon as the kids are done with homework, you'll hear about dinner, which was surprisingly good. And, I was a skeptic! Heal soon, Pam!

Our next blogger starts Friday the 9th of February And blogs through the 17th. Guesses? I'm giving no clues, other than I need to get my reading glasses to try and discern the book to the side of the cup! (edited to remove extra photo!)

It looks something like one my family picked up years ago in Berea, Kentucky... do tell. ← My folks picked up as a gift for me on a trip through the smokey mountains. Somewhere in my file cabinet, I have the brochure, which tells me how to send the handle back to "re-broomed." I love this broom. The bristles have a nice angle and are soft, yet hard enough, for sweeping The Ugly Floor.

Ta Da! Pantry project is finished, and it gave me a very good idea of how I will want the pull-outs. I may actually add another one, that's got low height for spices. But... And, the rest of the kitchen, nice and clean, with only the essentials and my bread dough sitting out: The pictures above the peninsula are artwork my kids have done in school. I change it seasonally. And, another small improvement: The old phone cord barely reached the stove, much less the fridge. Yes, we do have a cordless phone, but it's not always convenient. The new one reaches not only the fridge, but the pantry! Oh, and below the cord, a shot of my kitchen broom, which was a gift from my folks. Any ideas where it is from?

Up in these parts, how well the heater in a car works is far more important than the A/C! Winter grocery shopping tips. If you must have greens, and know you'll have to trudge through the parking lot for a long way, take some newspaper. Does a nice job of insulating. And, if you are running a bunch of errands, buy the produce last stop. You don't need to worry about the ice cream. If they haven't plowed the parking lot, try not to buy more than you can carry in your arms or you're going to have one mean upper body workout. Beware of those parking lots. The lines disappear! Oh, and Steve, I'm anxious to hear about Fraboni's bacon.

What a morning I've had! From the Little Shop of Horrors to the Thing that Almost Ate my Fridge. The Little Shop of Horrors: This is my pantry. I just hate it. It is about 30" deep, and does not have pull-outs. And, when these houses were built, these were simply left empty. Which brings me to another complaint. A lot of home improvement. The shelves are scrap 2x4's, which are nailed to the side rails, but otherwise only held together with ugly shelf liner. But, we are working to change this. Paul has built a mock-up of a drawer, and has purchased runners. He, unlike one of the former owners, will get new lumber and do it up right going so far as to dovetail the joints. So, I'd figured I'd wait to unload the damned thing until we were further along and it came time to plan the height of the roll-outs. But, early this week, I noticed some flying bug things (they looked like tiny narrow moths) and I've been puzzled as to where they were coming from. Yes, from the Little Shop of Horrors, so I unloaded it today, and this is what my kitchen looks like now: The culprit was some forgotten potatoes. Now, I never, ever store potatoes in this pantry because it sits right above the furnace, so runs warm (the floor of it is an ideal place to raise bread at this time). Turns out that when I was gone in November, the family tossed some uncooked potatoes in there. So, the pantry got vaccuumed and completely washed down with a bleach/water mixture with a brush. Now, onto the Thing that Almost Ate my Fridge. I made bread dough yesterday, and it was wet, so once it has risen, I opted to put it in the fridge for an overnight retard, figuring that it is easier to shape cold than warm. So, when I looked in the fridge this morning, this is what I saw: But, I'm trusting it will be fine. I have shaped two loaves to bake today. Then, I sat down and ate 3/4 of a carton of Haagen Daz strawberry ice cream (the label says it is four servings ). It seemed a more appropriate choice than a cocktail after what I've been through. But, the bugs appear to be gone, and I haven't seen a single one flying around. So, I'm going to leave the pantry door open and get my shopping done. Then, reload the thing. It seems that during everyone of my blogs I have had some sort of disaster, and leave it to the last day for one to present itself!

When I was growing up in Thailand, Dottie and Gordon and my folks were fast friends, and it evolved into a family friendship -- one which is still alive today. Anyway, I had many of my food firsts with them -- that first bowl of kaosoi when I first visited them after they'd moved to Chiang Mai. My 9th birthday was our first day in Thailand, and Dottie arranged a birthday dinner for me, and it was my first taste of larb. When we'd head to Pattaya on Sunday mornings to go scuba diving, Gordon and I would hit a noodle shack for a bowl of guay teo rad na (sp?) with squid for breakfast. Dottie introduced me to gumbo. On our annual trips to Phuket (scuba diving again), we'd go out for dinner with them. Gordon was fluent in Thai, and would spend 10 minutes in the kitchen, talking to the "chef" and ordering (off the menu) some of the most spectacular meals I've ever had.

Heat wave! It's only -2 this morning, and it looks like we might even get above zero! It is softly snowing, and I am drinking my first cuppa, which I must have before getting Peter and Heidi up. But, the snow is very pretty. When it is really cold, the snow seems to come in tiny, glittery flakes. Think falling sparkles.

Yes, Maggie, you are right. And, yes, I promised that I would take one for the team! But, I'm not buying a speckley banana!

Pam, tomorrow, when I go shopping at Cub Foods and to Target (I love Target, btw), I will cross Coon Rapids Boulevard. We chose our new neighborhood very carefully. It is an area that has a mess of 1970's houses, and a mess of 1950's one. We are also in the largest school district in Minnesota, which means good opportunities for special ed and the brightest of the bunch. And, we targeted a very narrow area that had this mix of houses and was close to the river. But, when Paul spent some time on the computer tonight, he found this about Coon Rapids Blvd.!

My Monday night list. I did not use the slip that came home from school with Heidi because it had a note that she is on the A honor roll, based not on academics, but attitude, partipation. She is apparently a very popular little girl, who does not display the attitude that is so often accompanies budding teens! So, to my list: Based on the short list of foods, can you guess what soup I am making tomorrow? And, 100 points who can guess the reference to "little shop of horrors" (and it isn't a movie!!)!

Judith, could you elaborate more on the chocolate bread? The cherries were dried, right? How tart were they? (sometimes the dried tart cherries are quite sweet!). While flour? Sour dough? Inspiration? A story, please!

Ok, dinner! Remember, I made it a few days ago, but held the pics back. It was the day when things sort of collapsed around here (as things do with active and involved kids) and ate salami and yellow mustard on toast. While I often make my own curry paste, I didn't that day, and opted for the stuff at the grocery. Given how busy I was, and given that the prepared stuff is really cheap and keeps forever, I always have it on hand. I also buy canned coconut milk, and my market carries the cans in two sizes. You'll also need curry powder, and a few kaffir lime leaves are helpful, and I have a little tree that is struggling. And, you need meat. Although most of the talk tends to be about Kaosoi is chicken these days, my memories are of beef, so venison seems appropriate. If anyone wants to know about why I am so fond of kaosoi, please let me know! Open a can of coconut milk and scrape off the really thick stuff (one should never shake a can of this stuff). Put it in a pan with some curry paste, and "fry" it until the oil starts to come to the top. This takes and while, and you can ignore it long enough to make a glass of chocolate milk. Dump in the rest of what's in the can(s), add chicken broth, and the whacked up venison. Note that after a long cook, that silverskin on the venison just melts away. Cook until the venison is tender and silky. Then, either get things ready to eat right away, or stick in the fridge or outdoor freezer until ready to go. So, dinner tonight was sort of a dance. I knew right off the bat that Peter and Heidi would not eat kaosoi, but that Diana, Paul and I would. But, when we'd been at the market a few days ago, Peter chose a treat: So, they got... But, back to the kaosoi. You need a few other things. (and since the photo didn't turn out because I was calming a crying child), you need Chinese egg noodles. The ones I get are fresh in a plastic bag. You also MUST have limes, scallions and pickled mustard greens. I don't think that what I get at my Asian market which they make are exactly the right things, but I really, really like them. They are very good on tuna salad: Then, with the egg noodles, you fluff a mess of them up to be boiled, and make a few "nests" (according to the number of bowls you're going to be serving) to fry. I always rinse the noodles since they have a lot of cornstarch on them. If you rinse the noodles that will be fried, that combo of water and hot oil is a sure fire burn and stained sweatshirt! Frying the noodles: Hot oil, you don't need much. These also keep fairly well for a few hours, and I certainly could have done them when I had my nap, but my nap was a good thing! So, once the boiled noodles are done, a tong-full in a bowl, kaosoi, and the accompaniments: You can't really see the scallions, which I sliced, or the whole hot peppers (which only I take) that are in the pickled greens from the Asian market), but this stuff can use and can take a lot of lime. I usually figure at least a 1/2 lime per person. I have plenty leftover, and as always, I will need to add more broth. I always forget that it should be thinner rather than thicker and there should be lots of juice to the meat. At least this time, I remembered to sort of undercook (slightly) the noodles. On the side, for me, a vodka tonic with a whole mess of lime. Although you could add cilantro with this dish, I prefer it with just tons of lime. This is one of our favorite dishes, and I can't wait for Peter to get his kaosoi legs. It's not far away, because he did eat what I couldn't finish. BTW, this is a one dish meal, and great for hungry teenage boys, Bruce!

Ok. I'll go with the logical questions. Ice cream - today??? Capris and thongs??? ← She is 16. At 16, one is invincible and knows everything!

Diana is feeling better, and one of her best friends just got her driver's license today, and the first thing a 16 year-old does is need to drive. So, Brianna just picked up D and they went off to Cold Stone Creamery for ice cream (hopefully, she'll be hungry for dinner), but they were both wearing capri pants and rubber thongs on their feet.

Pam, the filling is coarsely ground pork, finely diced napa cabbage, some ginger, garlic, soy sauce and sherry. For the cabbage, I salt it in a collander and let it sit for about 20 minutes, then squeeze out the liquid. My favorite thing to use for the squeezing is a flour sack dish cloth. Just lay the cabagge down, roll it up and wring it out. And, yes, there is a sauce: They really are very easy, and my recipe is modified enough that it is mine, so I'll get into RecipeGullet. (edited to add: Pam, there's be no reason not to use ground turkey or chicken -- although I think you'd want to add some fat to keep the filling from being dry -- or other ground meat)

So, as promised, I made more potstickers and wow, is it hard to take photos of potsticker shaping without assisance (Diana was having a much needed nap). A plop of meat filling in the middle of a wrapper. Oh, wait, first I had moistened the edges with water so they'd adhere better. This is where the photoing got trickey -- I please the right side with my right hand, and the left with my left, and it was just darned hard to do this (another thing is that since i plop the filling with my hand, I kept having to wash my hands -- three times for one potsticker!). Looking like disorganized soldiers! Then into a non-stick skillet that has been preheated with some oil. There should be a sizzle when they hit the skiller! When the bottoms are brown, add some stock, then put a lid on and let them burble away. Normally I would just peek under to see if they were browned, but that fogged up the camera lense. And, when I added the stock, it immediately started steaming up the camera lense, as well! When most of the stock is absorbed, remove the lid and let the bottoms recrisp. Then invert onto a place, eat and enjoy! (sorry for the crappy photo!) And, sorry for the delay in posting. I was tired after lunch, so I laid down on the couch, foot-to-foot with the patient, and we felt the warmth of the summer sun which blazed through the sunroom windows! Oh, and Rebecca, I'm sure my natural gas bill for this month will be more than chilling!

Judith, I know that creamy/milky things are out right now (too mucousy!), but there is a wonderful "loose but creamy" garlic soup in Paula Wolfert's Cooking of Southwest France which is thickened with eggs. This is a favorite here, and as I've said before, the only disappointment is that the wonderful aroma doesn't last for days... Diana is home today with The Crud. When I called her school this morning to report the absence, the Lady On The Phone informed me that I wasn't the ony mom calling intoday. She's also bundled up with a ton of clothes, and resting on the sofa, covered in a couple of handmade quilts. I'm getting to my bread dough and potstickers in a few minutes.

I made a firm starter to make bread dough (sourdoug again) two days ago and forgot about it. Do we think I can still use it to make dough? It is still unbelievably cold, so I am now wearing long underwear, a t-shirt, turtleneck, a heavy sweatshirt and a sweatshirt. It's hard to believe that it will ever get warm, and that in just a few (long) months, things will green up and grow!

Judith, Pam and I will blog through tomorrow night, and there will be little gap before the next blog. Stay tuned for a teaser!

It is yet another brutally cold morning...Heidi and I both flinched when I walked her to the end of the driveway to meet her bus. But, my house is warm, as is the coffee. Kao Soi for dinner tonight!

Ah, having a party. I ended up with closer to 30 than 20, and an eclectic mix which was very good. It's good to entertain. It forces you to get groups together, and to get the house clean! I must add that not 3 weeks after we moved into the New House from the Old House (where we'd lived for 18 years), I had 35 over for a fancy Easter thing. Kicked my butt in gear to get the house organized. Some would say I'm crazy, the the mission was accomplished, and all but about 4 boxes were unpacked! But, back to today. I have very few photos. In fact, I only have two, but one can cook and clean and tend to guests or take pictures, especially when the kids are prepping for a party on a Sunday by getting homework done. But, my two photos: First off, two kitchen favorites. These were both wedding presents. One is the container of "trivets." This has sat on my counter since that day 25+ years ago when we returned from our honeymoon. The other was the gift of a sleeve of bar coasters from a friend who worked in a bar. I'm sure it was an inexpensive (perhaps free?) gift, but we only have a handful left, and I"ll be on the lookout for more. Truely a good gift. So, back to our party. We ran through three salads, two heads of cauliflower and broccoli, a mess of chips, another pineapple, every single piece of fruit in the bowl, 9 pounds of wings, and 50 potstickers. I love potstickers, and I do a nice job of them. It took me about 10-15 minutes to pleat 50 of these. I saved a bit of filling and a few skins for me for tomorrow. I will say that the wings (ala Buffalo, with a mixture of Frank's and butter) were a hit, but the potstickers had them standing in line. I'll make a few more tmorrow, and hopefully provide a better photo essay on them. Potstickers rule, and I'd never be able to pleat like I do were it not for Barbara Tropp's instructions.