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ElainaA

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Everything posted by ElainaA

  1. It's funny - although I've been semi-retired for 2 years now I still follow the pattern I developed when I had 3 "part time" jobs. I read the flyers from the local grocery stores on Saturday, think about the sales and the recipes I like that work with the sale items. On Sunday morning I often spend a while looking through cookbooks and my recipe files over breakfast. And then work out a menu for the entire week. And go shopping. I post the menu on the refrigerator. I really like the feeling of knowing ahead that I am making something we both like and that I have everything I need. I suppose this all stems from many years of working 8:00 to 6:00 and then knowing I have to grade papers after dinner. So probably I need therapy - but actually it works for me.
  2. Thanks everyone for all the great ideas. At this time I am leaning towards a professional looking apron that I will personalize with embroidery along with a book - probably on bread or cakes. The family has a very well equipped kitchen but I don't believe either parent bakes bread so that would give her a niche of her own. She has already traveled widely in Europe and Asia with her family so she has a pretty sophisticated exposure to food for her age. Thanks again, everyone!
  3. I would love some suggestions. My great-neice is 10 and, her mother says, loves cooking. I rarely see her as they live in Southern California and I'm in NY. Both parents are good cooks and they have a well equipped kitchen. When I google "gifts for kids cooking" most of what I get is for younger children - she is way past the miniature kitchen tools or all picture cookbook stage. I saw a couple of books that looked possible but all had very mixed reviews. Any ides are very welcome.
  4. ElainaA

    Aldi

    They are doing just that here. Our Aldi is old - at least 30 years old - dark and smelly. They have announced plans to build a new, larger store on land immediately adjacent to the old one. I believe the plan is then to either sell or lease the old store or tear it down. It is not clear to me why they do not simply remodel and enlarge the present store but that doesn't seem to be the way things are done anymore. A couple of years ago both Walmart and McDonald's tore down their stores and built new ones just down the road from the old sites. Anyway, after reading this thread, I have hopes that the new Aldi will be an improvement.
  5. I'm not quite sure if these are preserving or if they belong in confections since they will eventually be dipped in chocolate and included in my holiday candy bags. Candied pears and orange slices (Greweling's method). I found some very tiny bosc pears at the farmer's market. The pears are ready to start drying: The orange slices have a ways to go - they are at 55 brix today.
  6. What gorgeous meals! Thanksgiving was at my daughter's and I did not take pictures. None of us are that fond of turkey so we had lasagna. I made Marcella's Bolognese sauce and home made pasta so it was a holiday lasagna. We got home Saturday. Sunday I made bread and Barney made dinner: pasta with scallops, leeks and tomato. Last night: Mark Bittman's Unstuffed Cabbage over rice. Not terribly photogenic but I really like it. The recipe makes a lot so we have lunch for a couple of days.
  7. Very simple dinner tonight - as we leave tomorrow for Thanksgiving in Northampton MA with our daughter. Roasted potatoes, salad and a piece of sirloin done in the oven/broiler. I would have prefered to have grilled the steak but there was the condition of the grill - and the foot and a half of snow against the door leading to the porch where the grill is located.
  8. I love them and grow them (Touchstone Gold from Johnny's Selected Seeds) but I have never seen them in a grocery store.
  9. Can spring be far behind? (Well, yes. But it little self deception is not a bad thing. )
  10. Somehow the meals accumulate without getting posted. Baked cod (CI's "crunchy oven fried fish" - I really don't get the 'oven fried' bit - but it was very good) with potatoes and a red cabbage/carrot/apple slaw. Kielbasa, potato and pepper hash. I made this for our New Year's day brunch last year and it was a huge hit. With salad. It was Barney's night to cook so he made one of his (and my) favorites - Marcella's 'thin steaks with tomatoes and olives' and pasta with garlic, parsley and evo. These was also a salad.
  11. The idea for dinner tonight was to go out for pizza. Then we remembered that today was the annual epic football game between SUNY (State University of NY ) Cortland (our nearest town, location of our favorite pizza place) and Ithaca College (known as the Cortica Jug), Who ever wins there will be hoards of celebrating, usually very drunk, students every where in Cortland. ( A couple of years ago it got so bad that we made the national news). So we stayed home. I had no plans - so - a lesson from MFK Fisher - An Omelette and a Glass of Wine. Maybe several glasses. An omelette filled with sautéed tomatoes, onions and bacon, pan fried potatoes and a salad of endive, pears, red onions and cucumbers.
  12. I found this recipe on line looking for things to do with all the leeks I have hanging around from the garden. Salmon with apple butter sauce and creamed leeks. All the reviews raved about the sauce. I thought it tasted like, well, buttery apple sauce. But it did go well with the salmon much to my husband's surprise. And I really like creamed leeks. There was also rice and a salad with endive, pears, cucumber and red onion. And wine. Right now, lots of wine seems called for.
  13. When my daughter was in elementary school I used to do a table at their Holiday Fair. I sold "Breakfast in a Bag" - a clear bag with jam or jelly and homemade English muffins or a miniature loaf of nice bread. That always went over well. There were always lots of parents (usually Moms) with cookies and cake but rarely bread. Another thing you might consider are homemade dog biscuits - there are lots of recipes out there. In my experience putting an item in a clear treat bag with a bow makes it more sale-able that the same item just sitting on a table. (My nephew lives just outside of SanDiego, in LaJolla. I am pretty sure that his daughters' school have a holiday fair also - Probably not the same one?)
  14. I found a huge, beautiful cauliflower at the Syracuse farmer's market for $2. Tonight's dinner used about 1/4 of it. Cauliflower, potatoes and peas (gobhi mater rasedar) and split pea dal (masala dal) from my go-to book for Indian cooking, Julie Sahni's Classic Indian Cooking. And naan, from Meera Sodha's Made in India.
  15. I like Johnny's Selected Seeds - the source of probably 2/3 of my garden - and Territorial. @DiggingDogFarm (I think it was him) posted a link some time ago to High Mowing Organic Seeds - it looks very interesting - I'll be looking closely at that around February. I also like Pine Tree Garden Seeds - they are aimed at home gardeners so the seed packets are smaller and also cheaper. If, like me, you like to plant 14 varieties of lettuce and 12 varieties of tomatoes, it's a good choice. I also use Pine Tree's "kitchen sink mix" for micro greens all winter.
  16. Sometimes life gets in the way of posting (but not of taking pictures) Roasted chicken with tomato chutney, sautéed broccolini and roasted potatoes. This tasted a lot better than it looks: Gratin of eggplant, roasted peppers, roasted garlic, tomato sauce, fontina and parmesan with grilled polenta. And a salad. Pasta with some of the left over roasted chicken, lots of garlic, red and yellow peppers and mushrooms. And salad (of course). A Mark Bittman recipe - red cabbage and kielbasa cooked in beer. With sweet potatoes mashed with maple syrup. Guess what? There was also a salad.
  17. Wow @Wayne - I am so jealous of your climate! The only thing still alive in my garden is parsley. I just finished pulling up the drip system - this afternoon it's time to start pulling the greenhouse tomato plants. Six outside garden-less months ahead.
  18. I use a lot of Ferber's recipes but i also dislike the "big hunks of fruit" result. So it either chop or puree the fruit and then continue with the recipe. And the results are, (do far at least) wonderful/
  19. I have to admit I never thought about this before. I am a plumber's wife. My husband had installed plumbing fixtures in many restaurant kitchens and many doctors' offices. In the doctors' offices there is always a knee lever to activate the faucet so their (possibly contaminated) hands do not touch it. Never in a restaurant kitchen.
  20. Sweeney Todd (The demon Barber of Fleet Street). I've never seen the movie but I have seen at least 3 stage versions. I love Sondheim. Sorry, I don't see enough movies to come up with a contribution.
  21. I haven't been finding time to post so here are a couple of recent dinners: Last night: pork tenderloin medallions with a balsamic/honey/garlic sauce and wild rice with roasted squash (gold nugget), leeks and corn. Chicken with vinegar and peppers (from the booklet that came with the CSO) and rice. There was also a salad somewhere. Pork chop with leeks in a mustard sauce, parsley potatoes and apple/celery/walnut salad (no mayo so it's not Waldorf)
  22. No picture because my camera battery flat lined. I have just finished reading M.F.K. Fisher's How to Cook a Wolf and decided to try one of the recipes. Ham steak baked with sweet potatoes and apples. The ham was topped with a mix of chopped parsley, the fat from the ham (also chopped fine) and mustard. Everything went into one pan, was sprinkled with brown sugar, some apple juice poured in and baked. I finished it under the broiler to crisp the topping on the ham. The recipes in the book are rudimentary to say the least (bake at 325 - 375, no time given) but it actually turned out to be very good. Served with a large mixed salad.
  23. I hope this is the right place to post this. My husband and I just spent a weekend at the Safford Mills Inn and Cafe in Bennington Vermont. Although listed as a B&B on Trip Advisor, this is really as B&C (Bed and Cocktails). The building (built in 1774) has 5 guest rooms and the first floor is also a cocktail lounge. They do not serve breakfast but, as a guest, you can order anything (or everything! - there are no limits) from the cafe menu - 3 pages of cocktails, lots of local, artisanal beers and a some what limited but good wine list. Also a menu of appetizers, flat bread pizzas, quesadillas and desserts. This was a new concept to me and a wonderful one. I am not usually a cocktail drinker - we generally stick to wine (and my husband did so here) but I tried a cocktail each night - first a "passionate cosmo" (vodka,grand marnier, champagne, cranberry juice, passion flower juice) (absolutely delicious), second a "Bombay afternoon" (Bombay gin, ginger syrup, cardamon bitters, club soda and lemon juice). Also really good. With drinks and a few food items (all very good) we did not have to go out for dinner during our stay. (The owner commented that his wife likes mixing drinks and neither likes getting up early to make breakfast for guests so this seems like a good idea. The lounge area was full of locals both nights (Friday and Saturday) but there it was still comfortable - there are four separate, small rooms furnished with couches and soft chairs. Two of the guest rooms are right off the lounge area which could be awkward - we had an upstairs room which was quiet and private.) Menu here: http://www.saffordmills.com/cafe/
  24. That looks lovely. This is exactly one of my favorite dishes for just the circumstance you describe - except I have never seen wild shrimp here. And this is another household where enough garlic would probably be FAR too much for many people. I grow my own and harvested just over 200 heads in August. After pulling out the seed for next year;s crop (planted yesterday) we have about 150 heads - that should get us through the years.
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