kayb

Earlier this week, I made what was designated a "cherry cake pudding," which was a basic yellow cake with tart canned cherries and chopped walnuts stirred in and baked in a 9 x 9 pan. The syrup from the cherries was cooked with sugar, flour and almond extract, and finished with butter, and poured over the cake. It was a delightful dessert that did sort of have the consistency of bread pudding.... But the lemony-est dessert on the planet? Easy. Lemon icebox pie. 1 1/2 cans condensed milk. 3/4 cup lemon juice. 2 eggs. Beat and pour into a graham cracker crumb pie crust. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Cool completely. Top with slightly sweetened whipped cream into which you've stirred a lemon or two's worth of zest. Garnish with a candied lemon peel.

An organic beef burger topped with a tablespoonful (OK, OK, TWO tablespoonsful) of bacon jam and some feta cheese. Farmers' market red-ripe-in-January greenhouse tomatos, and oven fries. I did not bother eating the oven fries. That's balsamic vinegar and kosher salt on the tomatos.

I want those scallops, menuinprogress. dcarch, what's the sauce on the pork chops? As usual, stunning plating. Good-looking spaghetti, too!

Kim and Shelby, the ribs are from the Food52 recipe here: http://www.food52.com/recipes/9109_short_ribs_with_beer_and_buckwheat_honey (can't figure out how to make the clicky thing). I didn't have buckwheat honey, so used regular with a shot of molasses, and used Guinness. Lowered the heat and cooked longer to accommodate my schedule. They were wonderful. Pot was a b**** to wash. Lovely dinners, everyone. Seeing the shrimp makes me want some. I'm thinking shrimp and Andouille and grits this weekend. Tonight was pizza. Fresh tomatos from last weekend's farmers' market haul, fresh basil, mozzarella, parmigiano, and at the last minute because I saw it in the fridge and thought, "I need to use that," chopped barbecued beef, a leftover from lunch earlier this week.

You know, I'm tremendously envious of the dining and shopping options you all have (as well as your knowledge of liquor, which is a PhD compared to my high school dropout level in that regard). I get by with Kroger and occasional trips to Whole Foods and the farmers' market and a decent butcher shop. But then again, I can look out my back window and see the lake, and walk down the hill and swim in it (at least when it's not 27 degrees), and drive the eight miles to work in 15 minutes with a stop along the way in the racetrack parking lot to drink coffee and watch the thoroughbreds work out. Life's all about tradeoffs, ain't it? But oh, those markets.

Short ribs braised in Guinness and honey. I served it over fried polenta, with a side of lima beans. Can't complain.

Wow. Just...wow. I felt almost at home in Shelby's blog, albeit she's a lot more game-centric than my family ever was, but at least I was familiar with most of it -- but New York as viewed through this is like another world. Granted, I've only visited two or three times, and hit little but the high spots, but....wow. Fascinated. Keep it up!

Chicken cacciatiore which I did not photograph, but which was very good, and this: which was made from these: Homegrown greenhouse tomatos, from the Amish farmers at the farmers' market. In January. Basil is from the supermarket, as is the fresh mozz, but it still tasted like June.

Looking forward to this week!

Eggs look great, Shelby; I'd be headed for the kitchen to make some if I hadn't just had some yesterday! What's on top? I'm guessing red pepper and....?

No. You are not.

Sweet potato ravioli in brown butter and sage sauce. Good stuff. I learned, however, it IS possible to over-butter it. And another night this week, calzone. Although it blew out a side seam, it was still good.

Chitlins. Turnip greens or their more rural cousin, "poke sallet." Calves liver (I will eat chicken liver in a pate, but that's about it). Raccoon, bear, beaver and possum (greasy, gamy, nasty tasting). And -- sigh -- lamb shanks. I've TRIED to like lamb shanks, braised them in all sorts of preparations that others raved about. Just not crazy about lamb, and particularly not shanks.

Pastitsio. I bought sumac for this, and I'm not sure I can tell it has sumac in it.... And I crumbled feta over the top, as I forgot to stir it in before assembling and baking...

Food was a never-ending adventure on my two trips to Japan. A few off-the-wall ideas: Train station food courts. I was awed at the variety of bento and various and assorted other stuff you could get to eat on the train. Convenience stores. Lots of fried stuff, much like in convenience stores in the southern US, but they don't fry the same stuff. It's worth sampling! Noodle shops. Don't know what half of what I ate actually was, but it was all good! Sushi, early in the morning, at the Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo. There is no comparison in the universe. If you go to Kamakura -- seaside village just north of Tokyo -- I don't know how in the world you'll find this place, but it's worth it if you can. Up in the mountains, pull off in a gravel lot, walk down the path, down some stairs, over a couple of bridges, up a flight of steps, and there's a restaurant whose roof peaks are level with the lot in which you parked. I had possibly the best meal there I've ever eaten in my life, with good Japanese and American friends and pitcher-after-pitcher of ice-cold Sapporo and platter-after-platter of wonderful sashimi.

How about rutabaga? I have half a rutabaga that must have been the World's Largest Rutabaga; it was the size of a fast-pitch softball. Half of it went into a braised chuck roast with winter veggies. Half is reposing in my fridge in plastic wrap. I think I have a parsnip left. How about a parsnip and rutabaga gratin?

A few things my pantry is never without: Bush's black beans and Bush's white shoe-peg corn -- rinse the beans, drain the corn, and you've got the basis of a good, quick salad. Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk. Always some use for it. Pet Evaporated Milk. Will replace half-and-half in a pinch and you're out of half-and-half and it's way cold or raining or snowing or you've had three glasses of wine and don't want to get out. Sweet Sue canned chunk chicken. Huge timesaver when you want to make soup and don't want to fool with cooking chicken. And, while it's jarred, not canned -- Great Value (Wal-Mart) brand black bean and white corn salsa. This is the best jarred mass-market salsa on the market. I can make a meal with equal parts salsa and grated colby-monterey jack blend cheese and a sizeable bag of tortilla chips.

Camera-less, but nevertheless, some good meals during this snowy long weekend: Saturday: Carbonnades a la flamande, over buttered egg noodles, with a side of curried apples and pears. Sunday: Freshly baked honey whole wheat bread, sandwiched with leftover sliced pork loin, and an apple salad with bacon, feta and balsamic viniagrette. Monday: Ancho-coffee braised country style pork ribs. Tuesday: Leftover pork, in quesadillas

Oh...my...God. What I would give for access to a selection of cheese like this. You do seem to be blessed with marvelous markets. And you certainly do some marvelous things with the provender from them. Enjoying your blog!

I still want to come live with you. We need to work out an exchange program, I'm thinking.

Re: Little House books -- try abebooks.com. They have all sorts of out-of-print stuff!

We have an Australian emigre' as a receptionist at my office. Her mother sent her a care package with Vegemite and she insisted we all try it. I could get used to it!

I'm camera-less, at the moment, but breakfast was cheese biscuits, bacon jam, scrambled eggs and bacon (doubled-up bacon was for the teen, who does not like bacon jam, and so I could have some to put in apple salad later on). Eggs just rise to another level when cooked in bacon fat....

Yum....the goose and noodles....please tell how you seasoned and cooked that before it went into the slow cooker! Your blog has been absolutely astounding. Please, please shoot me an e-mail when you're coming to Oaklawn...would love the chance to cook for you or take you to dinner!

That is a FINE looking dehydrator! Do you do fruit and veggies in it, too? Please tell me tomorrow is goose and noodles...I've been looking forward to that one ever since you mentioned it!