eG Foodblog: hillvalley - Back to normal eating.....

[hillvalley]

While the meatballs and soup were simmering I tried a recipe from this month's Cooking Light. Polenta with Warm Berry Sauce. It was rediculously simple. Cook some polenta. (I could only find ground corn at WF yesterday so it took 40 minutes!) In another pot melt some butter, add honey and a bag of frozen berries and bring to a boil. Cook until warm.

It did not taste nearly as good as it looked, but it has potential. The berries were not sweet enough, and I made the polenta with water instead of milk which made it less creamy. For the middle of winter, it will eventually be a great dish.

[hillvalley]

I have a belly ache from all the food I ate today.

The meatballs turned out great. Before they went into the sauce they were too salty, but three hours of simmering later they were great. A little too much onion.

The chicken soup was a success as well. Except when I was taking the chicken out it fell apart and now there are pieces of chicken floating in the soup. I am hoping to get another stock pot for my birthday so I will be able to strain the soup when it's finished.

This was a very unusual amount of cooking for me. Infact, I do not know when I cooked so many dishes in one day. I am usually pretty sedentary on Sunday's but not today. This blog is definately partly to blame!

[hillvalley]

I have passed on the blog to JennyUptown. She will start tomorrow. It will be an interesting contrast to mine since we are about the same age (I think) and live in the same part of DC.

If people are interested I will post my photos from today in the next few days. Let me know.

I've got more to say before I go, but my head is pounding and it will have to wait for tomorrow.

The last Godiva truffle is a cinamon one.

[Jake]

Thanks for the blog, hillvalley. I caught it late, but read it all. I really enjoyed hearing about your kids. You obviously give as much of yourself to them as you receive in return. They're lucky to have you.

[suzilightning]

hillvalley -

since the basil didn't make it into the meatballs or gravy did you think about making an infusion with it? we actually overwintered basil that was more of a bush than a plant for the last several years so we had clippings to make the infusion from as well as to use in pestos and sauces.

hope your students are well and you feel well

[fifi]

Many thanks for the enjoyable blog. And please do post the photos. You would be surprised how older threads get reread or read by new members. I don't have the statistics but I suspect that the blogs are pretty popular. Stay warm!

[torakris]

great blog hillvalley!

please post the pictures!!

[ronnie_suburban]

Great blog Hillvalley!

Please do post the pics and thanks again for the terrific week.

=R=

[Pan]

I have a belly ache from all the food I ate today.

The meatballs turned out great. Before they went into the sauce they were too salty, but three hours of simmering later they were great. A little too much onion.

Is it possible to have too much onion?

I enjoyed getting to know you a little from this blog.

Stay warm and feel better.

[Marmish]

Thanks for sharing not only yourself, but your students as well.

[hillvalley]

It's my last "sneak posting" from the lounge. Ronnie, wish you were here to liven things up!

Snack was really bad sugar cookies a volunteer brought in. LUnch was the leftover meatballs and polenta, which I will talk about when I get home.

Just found out we will be eating Israeli foods this week in class. We usually don't do two food feasts two weeks in a row, but we are a little behind from when I was sick. I have had a great time sharing my expoereinces with you and would love to continue if people are interested. (I may just do it anyway, there is a book somewhere in this!)

By the way, it's up to 46 degrees. I am bringing out the shorts and tank tops!

[Mayhaw Man]

Thank you for the blog, I think you did a great job.

I really enjoyed reading about your children, especially your Japanese dinner. Those children are lucky to have you around.

[hillvalley]

I found a way to show you pics. of my kids.

This afternoon we gave the kids lollipops. Here is what happens when you eat a blue Dumdum. (It's Eric's tongue)

[hillvalley]

The chicken soup in the beginning

and 7 hours later

[JennyUptown]

Hilarious!!

Great blog, neighbor.

[hillvalley]

Thank you for the blog, I think you did a great job.

I really enjoyed reading about your children, especially your Japanese dinner. Those children are lucky to have you around.

Thanks, it was a little quiet out there so I wasn't sure how I was doing to what people though. I appreciate all of your kind words.

[hillvalley]

So is there a "Life After Your Blog" club?

Is there life after your blog? Oh yeah, all the threads I neglected all week long!

A few more pics

The berries and polenta

Don't worry, I added more berries after I took the pics!

I have leftover berry sauce that I am going to eat with some organic whipped cream. I had had the meatballs for two dinners and one lunch, with more leftovers for tomorrows lunch. Now I don't have to make meatballs for a long time.

The meatballs themselves were great, as I said before, just a few too many onions.

The basil was absolutely sad and flavorless. I am so disapointed. Guess I will have to wait for summer.

Sorry the focus isn't great on these. I am still learning how to photograph non moving subjects

Is it possible to have too much onion?

Yep, but only when your meatball with onions tastes like an onionball with meat.

I enjoyed getting to know you a little from this blog.

Thanks, me too. Now that I no longer have a place to post my photos I started

my bio page. Ask away!

Before I go I wanted to use this at least once in my blog. Eric often makes this face and says hmmmmm. When I first found egullet I was so excited with this face that I printed it out for the classroom bulletin board. He loves it!

Thanks for reading, I had fun.

[lovebenton0]

So is there a "Life After Your Blog" club?

Is there life after your blog?  Oh yeah, all the threads I neglected all week long!

The basil was absolutely sad and flavorless.  I am so disapointed.  Guess I will have to wait for summer.

Thanks for reading, I had fun.

Hillvalley I truly enjoyed your blog. I sat down just now and read it start to finish. I understand a bit more now what it is you do with your special kids and cooking.

Just a comment, and pardon me for being sacriligious here, but do you ever dry your own basil that you grow? I air dry some of mine every year. I use nursery flats covered w/papertowels, an elaborate set up is not necessary. Leave it on the stem, flowers and all, while it rests gently in some out of the way area until dried through (a couple weeks), then pack whole in sealed plastic storage bags. Better than in glass, as you can reduce the air volume in the bags. I grow different varieties of basil each year, depending on what I can find. My gently dried herbs are only a touch off the fresh, and far superior to bottled dry herbs, or out of season fresh. Of course it is not appropriate for all uses, but does quite well for many.

Fennel is also a success dried this way, if you have some around. Be even more watchful with it as the delicacy of the fennel will leave if left in the open air too long. One week is usually good. Just a comment if you aren't already doing that.

Thanks again for the delightful blog. Your simple sushi recipe might be nice for our EGCI course.

[hillvalley]

Thanks so much.

I'll write up the recipe and post it

If only I could grow my own basil Unfortunately, I live in an efficency on Connecticut Ave, which is a major road. The only thing I hate about my apartment is that I have no backyard.

Well, I'm off to vote. Here's to taxation without representation!

[helenjp]

Thanks for the blog -- my classes started back this week, so I've just caught up!

Your Japanese feast takes me back...I'm sure my Japan addiction started when I was 5 -- in New Zealand, we start school on our 5th birthdays, and I arrived at school just before they started studying Japan. I came away with the impression that Japanese people lived in paper houses and rebuilt them everytime it rained. A persistent but short-sighted culture, I thought...

We had a "Japanese feast too". The teacher cut us all "chopsticks" from bracken stems, and brought a supply of back-up teaspoons to eat our salted boiled long-grain rice with. Our parents were told to make us kimono out of paper. Apparently it was supposed to be newspaper, but my mother was new to it all, and made mine out of fancy colored crepe. She was humiliated. I was delighted!

When I was back in New Zealand the past couple of years, I have run a 6 week "Japan club" at the local primary school. Too late, the principal warned me that all the wildest boys whose parents had enrolled them in karate hoping to discipline them had signed up enthusiastically...

We had a "feast" to end up too! I had a good number of polynesian kids, so I had plenty of takers for sushi with raw fish as well as a salad-style sushi, and the usual beloved snacks and candies.

[squashblossom]

This post is dedicated to my friend Emme-lou (if she can find it!). I love ya bubbie, no matter what! Some day while lounging in St. Martin we'll tell our daughters about when we were single and poor.

Yay! I found it! (not that I could find my way into your blog again) I'm still figuring out this crazy egullet thing. And unfortunately if I keep farming I will always be poor and Saint Martin's might not happen- (Bethany maybe)

You forgot one thing essential to the parsnips- the parsley! I think that combination contributed to the dish's excellence.

So I just ate at Le Petit Plats on Conn. Ave. A little dissapointing, especially the restaurant week menu that had a very boring maincourse of chicken with mushrooms and pearl onions. I wanted to order the roasted winter vegetable plate, but as I was dining with a dairy farmer he wanted meat. But, we also had pretty good Mussels Provencale and French Fries. The mussels were pretty good- lots of garlic and warm french bread to mop up the sauce. They're served in a big black pot, which along with the cozy ambiance of the place made it a nice meal.

The French Fries were definately the best part- I might even go as far as saying they are the best french fries in DC.