eG Foodblog: balmagowry - Back to the future....

[StInGeR]

After reading the beginning of this blog and bleudauvergne's, I think I'm going to rename my foodblog "inept and inadequate" either that or race out today and buy a digital camera for next time . Seriously though I'm really looking forward to reading this.

Cheers

Tom

[balmagowry]

Aha!

She shoots...she scores!

Congratulations!

Um... Zowie... thank you! Whoa - this one is a surprise. I have to admit I thought my entry for the 20th Smackdown was a pretty decent contender, but... I'd, um, forgotten all about this one. Wow. (I am not kidding, BTW - false modesty is not by any means among my traits, I'm afraid. This knocks some wind out of me.)

COOL!

[balmagowry]

Hoo boy, I can see it now - this is going to be one of those cathartic things, isn't it. Dang.

Well, first of all, gotta thank you again for such warm welcomes and for saying such nice things about L&SD. Yeah, I'm proud of it - and I gotta say, whether you cook from it or not, you should only enjoy it even a fraction as much as we did researching and writing it. So it warms the cockles to know people do.

Docsconz - I knew there had to be some other PO'Bians around here somewhere. A glass of wine with you, sir! And with yez all - bumpers all round, and no heel taps.

Jensen, you're in luck - today was a yogurt day. Pictures follow as soon as I get 'em uploaded.

JohnnyD, for the sake of the Gullet I will dare all and try for a few clams this week, even at the risk of frostbite. I also have some pictures from seasons past, including demonstrations of the use of a toilet plunger for getting steamers, and perhaps even some stuff about the MusselMatic that I kept mentioning on the Mussels thread but never got around to describing in detail. Oysters from the Sound - I dunno, though I can inquire. That's the North Shore, don'tcha know, and this is the South Shore. You'd be surprised how fa-a-a-a-a-ar apart they are, ideologically and stylistically!

Soba - Fire Island is lovely - I have cousins, and family history, there. One of my more idyllic memories is a summer afternoon spent visiting friends who had a back yard overgrown with blueberries. One of my ideas of heaven.

Yup, Carolyn, that's me - thought you knew. Figured it'd be up your alley...

Hmmm, jayhay, I'm delighted you have the book but I have to admit that you've chosen some of my least favorite recipes from it, though the names of course make up for a lot. Will be happy to recommend favorites if you're interested. In fact, one of the... no, I'll get to that below.

Blessings on you, Ms. Victoria. That means a lot to me.

StInGeR, I'm not sure what to say. I'm a little embarrassed that Bleu's is the first food blog I've really followed and read - catching up on some of the others is a pleasure I've been promising myself as I sink deeper into the Gullet, but I hadn't gotten to it yet. The thing is, there isn't any rule about washing all one's personal linen, clean or otherwise, in public - I'm a little suprised to be doing so much of it myself, but I think Lucy's blog somehow put me into semi-confessional mood. My life is pretty weird right now, not that it's ever been what you could call normal (whatever that is), and you guys just happen to be on the receiving end. But I refuse to believe that that in any way affects the value of other blogs that have been done from a different perspective. So there. It's already wordier and more maudlin than most, and that ain't for everyone; there've got to be those around here who are merely too polite to say, shut up already with the personal stuff - show us some FOOD.

Which, without further ado, I will.

Weird hours, as I said. Just got back from the gym, and am thinking about lunch; there are a lot of small artichokes downstairs. I'm not very good about lunch. I tend to get focused on what I'm doing, and forget, and the next thing I know, damn, it's at least time for High Tea. That's OK, especially today, because I have no idea when dinner will be. Mr. Boy isn't home yet and I don't know when he will be. Dinner may or may not wait until he gets here - we shall see. (And, um, it may or may not end up being Chinese take-out, given my state of unreadiness. ) But I'm getting ahead of myself. Gimme a few minutes to upload some pictures, and I'll show you my "morning" - if you can call it that.

Edited April 24, 2004 by balmagowry (log)

[John Whiting]

. . . was it Jules Feiffer who wrote "My World and Welcome to it"?

Welcome to Blogland! As one pedant to another, I'm sure you'll forgive me if I point out that it was James Thurber.

[balmagowry]

OK, here goes, then. First of all, to orient you a little more. Here's where I live:

.

In a fit of gimmickiness I took this picture from my boat, because I had promised bleu a picture of said boat. So that's the house shot from the boat, and this

is the boat, shot from the house. (You can start hating me now. It will save time later.) The house is not named. The boat is named Pauline, after my grandmother. A Southcoast 23, 1969 - Alberg design. This is taken from the porch outside my study; those little branches in the lower right corner are part of my white dogwood (the pink one's on the other side). I was going to crop this closer, but then I decided it'd be nice to show you this stretch of the Sumpawam Creek.

I don't miss commuting....

Also, here's what I'm working with. Actually, I'm doing all this graphical stuff at my desktop computer, which is solid and unremarkable - but this

is Shtinky, my faithful vademecum notebook computer, which follows me just about everywhere, though more sedately than Luke. Shtinky ain't the fastest horse out of the gate, but he's compact as hell:

(the blue item on the left is a VHS videocassette, for size comparison) so with a WiFi card he's the perfect writing machine. Can't photograph the camera at the moment, so you can take my word for it: Canon S-20.

Enough of this technical hoo-ha.

To answer Bleu's question, Murphy and Luke have a most un-exciting diet.

When I got Luke two years ago (he's a Rescue cocker spaniel), I learned a lot about animal food and the chemicals in most of the commercial brands, and started giving serious thought to what I was feeding my animals. Apparently there is an extremely high incidence of cancer among pets, and studies suggest... well, you know. Luke is benefiting from this knowledge. Murphy, at 14-1/2, is too old a cat to learn new tricks, I think; but his contemporary Flanagan having died of lymphoma a couple of years ago, I could wish it otherwise. Anyway, Murphy still gets Purina One in the morning, in whatever formula is most fattening. In the evening he gets canned food; the choices here are less exotic than Sissy's, but there is still a certain amount of variety. In fact, I vary the flavor as much as I can from day to day, but I never give him fish. I think this started out being some sort of dietary thingy, but now it's because of his breath. I live here too, you know. So here's Murphy at breakfast:

Luke, as I said, benefits from my newly-rasied consciousness about health and nutrition, so he eats Wellness Super5Mix, which fortunately agrees with him very well. Cockers have particularly delicate digestion, so having found something that works for him I don't vary it at all. Mr. Boy laughs at this food because it contains, oy, baby carrots and blueberries. I think it's a little innerness-of-the-outerness myself, but since I'm the one wielding the pooper-scooper I have to keep my priorities straight! I know from experience what happens when Luke manages to get hold of, say, an entire stick of butter. I'm happy with what works, baby carrots or not. So happy that I buy 30-lb. bags

which I then decant into these former-cat-litter-bottles.

This, in my family, is what we call "a Brilliance," and in fact I also use these bottles for storing flour, corn meal, garden supplies, etc. - no limit to their uses. But the real Brilliance, in my view, is the decanting funnel:

Clever, no? Most fortuitously the two bottles snap together - they're a perfect fit. I must have done something right to deserve this! Luke loves it when I decant dog food - every now and then my hand slips and he gets a bonus.

The other thing he loves is the rare occasion when I give him an extra-curricular treat. I make these myself, and keep them in the freezer.

Appetizing, aren't they.... The little round ones are dried slices of Hebrew National hot dogs - answering to a higher authority means no chemicals or preservatives. The others are my own mix of liver, cheese (cheddar), whole wheat flour, ground flax seed, and... I forget. Some egg, I think, and some mint. Can look up the recipe if anyone is dying to emulate - but I warn you they smell pretty vile while baking. Luke, of course, adores them. (Somewhere around here are some others I made for him - peanut butter, oats, flax, etc. Those may be in Gilgo.)

He's a cocker. We called our last cocker "the vacuum cleaner," because they'll eat ANYTHING.

Have just heard from Mr. Boy - he should be home fairly soon, whereupon the Dinner Debate will ensue. I shall of course report. Meanwhile, having got some exposition and livestock out of the way, I'm off to prep the breakfast and yogurt-making post.

Edited April 24, 2004 by balmagowry (log)

[winesonoma]

Congrats on your Golden Gully. Can't wait to see some pictures of where I grew up. Do you tong, rake, short rake or toe dig your clams?

Edited April 24, 2004 by winesonoma (log)

[balmagowry]

. . . was it Jules Feiffer who wrote "My World and Welcome to it"?

Welcome to Blogland! As one pedant to another, I'm sure you'll forgive me if I point out that it was James Thurber.

Damn - of COURSE it was! I knew Feiffer wasn't right, but forgot to look it up. Besides, I have you to keep me on the straight and narrow!

Well... at least I got the Pascal right. You know, I might as well face it: one reason I so loved working on the Patrick O'Brian material is that I'm simply living in the wrong century. I mean - I'm not about to give up computers and microwaves and Cuisinarts and dishwashers! but intellectually, literarily, take me home to the early 1800s, oh please. Or earlier. You'd never catch me making that kind of mistake with Austen or Bronte or Richardson. Or Trollope. Or Fielding. Or... well, anyway, you get the idea. Forgive you? I'm grateful. Thank you for setting me straight. :sigh:

[therese]

I'm managing to keep overwhelming jealousy at bay by reflecting on the fact that our spring is in full swing, with the azaleas and irises roaring along and the dogwoods just about done, stray white blossoms among the fully-leafed branches.

[balmagowry]

Congrats on your Golden Gully. Can't wait to see some pictures of where I grew up. Do you tong, rake, short rake or toe dig your clams?

Ah - a former Guylander! Thank you. Clams - depends on the variety. Hardshells: toes. Softshells - hands and toilet plunger. I do my clamming on t'other side of the bay, down at West Gilgo. Here along the Sumpawam, though, we have a lot of characteristic Guyland clam-boats - today while walking Luke I selected a picturesque one for blog uses, and shall shoot and show it soon.

[balmagowry]

Breakfast always includes yogurt and coffee - in the past couple of months I've taken to doing it in that order. Used to be remiss about the yogurt (indeed, about eating breakfast at all, tsk, tsk), but my last experience with antibiotics cured me of that! Usually there's also fresh fruit, semi-seasonal: orange, grapefruit, clementines in winter; peaches, apricots, nectarines, plums, berries in summer; green grapes whenever they are affordable. I am a glutton for fruit. At the moment, however, I'm fresh out. Will do something about this tomorrow.

As I've been bragging lately on the yogurt-making thread, I have been so happy lately with the flavor of my own yogurt that I have more or less given up mixing anything (peach or apricot jam, lekvar, honey, etc.) into it, and I let it stand proudly alone. So today's breakfast is a study of white on white - not my last for the day, either.

(I don't know whose cookie that Chinese fortune came from, but it says "Your ability to juggle many tasks will take you far." Must be mine. Oy - I hope.)

This is the last of the latest batch, so I shall be making some more before the day is out. And for once I am going to start it early enough so that I won't have to stay up until 3:00 AM to stop the incubation. Though the way things have been going lately, I'll probably still be awake then anyway.

Before eating the yogurt, I started the coffee brewing.

Of course there are stories attached to the coffee. Aren't there with everything?

The Boy loves super-duper fancy-schmancy Colombian coffee, and when I first knew him he always had a plentiful supply of some wonderful kind that you can't get in this country unless you know the guy who knows the guy who knows the smuggler who.... That is the coffee he always served me when we were at his house. It is delicious - but I find it almost too aristocratic for my serious caffeination needs, if only because I am unaccustomed to its richness. My own tastes are more plebeian, running to what he calls "burnt" coffee - meaning a dark roast. What to do? When I turned around one day and realized that he was basically living here, I wanted to celebrate by upgrading the coffee operation. I was already grinding mine fresh for every pot (keeping the beans zip-locked in the freezer); now, since The Boy drinks coffee at all hours, I thought it would be nice to get one of those thermal-pot types, and to try to get a dual one so that he could have his flavor and I mine. No, no, no - he would have none of it. You're The Girl, said he, and I like whatever you like. When we're here we will drink your kind of coffee and I will love it.

So we got the Gevalia freebie promotion thing, which has a nice serviceable thermal jug -

and at my insistence we compromised on the flavor by blending the dark 50/50 with the Colombian. (I'm sorry, Owen, you must be shuddering by now. My palate is refined in some things - I can identify the nationality of butter in blind tastings - but coffee... well, I do know good from bad and I do vastly prefer good, but I'm just not educated much beyond that.) I figured now we were happy.

That was - sheesh - four years ago.

It wasn't until a few weeks ago that the worm turned at last. The Boy, without a word to me, quietly rummaged among the cupboards and found another pot he could rig, and started making his kind of coffee for him.

The next time his back was turned, I - without a word to him - got on-line and ordered an early birthday present for him.

Girl-coffee on the left. Boy-coffee on the right.

Now we're happy.

In my father's house are many mugs, but I always use

this one

if I can. Why?

Because it is wider than the others,

just wide enough to accommodate a cat's head. Murphy always drinks the dregs of my coffee, and he loves to get his whole head inside the cup. His predecessor, Basil, did the same. It wasn't the milk - sometimes I drink it black, and that has never deterred either of them.

Today I am indulging - not only milk but...

Carolyn knows what that is.

Yup - Autocrat's best-kept secret, the spinoff brand Coffee Time... coffee syrup for making coffee milk! That I should live to see the day when I would put anything sweet in my coffee. Extraordinary.

I like to heat the milk first.

Aaaaaahhhhhhh.

On to the business of the day. The dog food being decanted, it's time to make the yogurt.

I'm still experimenting with flavors and textures, so at the moment I'm only making 1-quart batches, and haven't yet started using my own yogurt as starter. So far my favorite combination (again, this is all thoroughly documented on the yogurt-making thread) is whole milk with

Erivan Acidophilus Yogurt as a starter. The batch I just finished was made with this freeze-dried culture

and it was excellent, but so far Erivan is the clear winner. My local place still doesn't have Brown Cow in stock, though, and the jury is out until I can compare that. So today I'm experimenting with texture instead: for the first time I'm adding some dried milk to thicken it. I love it as it is, but there's only one way to find out whether I'll love it even more if it's thicker!

So I'm starting with one tablespoon. (Dang - I should be weighing this. Next time.)

White on white again:

the milk is just coming to the boil.

Once it cools,

I put the starter yogurt (about 2 oz.) in a bowl, pour in a little of the milk,

whisk thoroughly together; then pour it back into the rest of the milk, add the dried milk,

and whisk some more.

I use old containers from store-bought yogurt, Axelrod and Stonyfield Farms; for some reason this really amuses me. I am terminally easily amused.

Ready to incubate. This means it's time to face the logistical problem.

I know the sign says "AND/OR," but actually I haven't yet done both at the same time.

The seedlings (tomatoes and peppers, at the moment, behind schedule of course) will have to be rearranged.

Fortunately, we have the technology. Yogurt put to bed around 3:00 PM.

And here it is almost 10:00 PM, probably time to take it out, and did I ever get around to lunch? Of course not. Dinner? Still TBA.

In the course of the day I did, however, make one other important observation:

violets in bloom. Inspired by several threads on the Cocktails and Fine Spirits Forum, I am hoping to do something of a liqueur or cordial kind with them, so I must pick them soon - and make sure I have a supply of vodka on hand in which to preserve/infuse them.

Off to, um, grab some lunch... or just start the Dinner Debate and have done with it.

[balmagowry]

Aha! Here is the very beginning of bleu's blog. I wasn't the only one caught off-guard!

When StInGeR infomed me that the flame was passed by PM, I was at the office, and my heart was beating, hard.  After several minutes of hyperventilating, I came back to reality.

I thought I wan't going to start till Sunday!

Well, she did do her full 7-day stint after all, but maybe once she's rested up a bit we can persuade her to do a guest day on here. Bet she and I could come up with some kind of weird wicked collaborative combination....

[balmagowry]

The dinner debate was short and sweet: the hell with lunch, we're going to the local diner. It'll make a nice contrast with M. Pierre's bouchon, that's for sure!

Don't think I'll post the pictures tonight, though.... I'm trying really hard to achieve a more normal sleep schedule.

[Jensen]

Rogie, the youngest animal at my house, would definitely approve of your choice of coffee mugs. His idea of morning coffee:

My friend, Dunja, reminds me that doping is illegal on the track.

I don't usually measure anything when I make my yogurt. I don't take the temperature of the milk (although I did confess that was due to a technical problem ... my thermometer broke!), I don't time it, and I don't measure the starter. I just put the entire container in (waste not, want not?).

As for dinner at the diner... I am a HUGE fan of diner food. Pictures! (please)

[tanabutler]

Well, if this isn't the weirdest, strangest, most comfortable, welcome thread I've seen in a long time. I feel right at home. Well, not that I own a dog or drink coffee or make yogurt or that. But the interior world I recognize.

Ms. G., so happy to learn more about you. When I saw your avatar, I assumed it was a photo from the Fifties and that you were a Woman of a Certain Age with a sentimental streak. It's so retro. (Compliments, of course.)

Now I find out you wrote a book about the Aubrey/Maturin novels, which my beloved Bob has read from cover to cover to cover times seventeen. I wonder if I can get him to read about food. (I tend to be the one to read the menu and choose for him. I don't roll gutterballs.)

And finally, I, too, live in a place where people come on their vacations: tourism is Santa Cruz county's number one industry, I think. (Long Island: I'm a former nanny for one of the weirdest, richest families in Amagansett.)

[balmagowry]

I don't usually measure anything when I make my yogurt. I don't take the temperature of the milk (although I did confess that was due to a technical problem ... my thermometer broke!), I don't time it, and I don't measure the starter. I just put the entire container in (waste not, want not?).

I don't generally measure much, either - didn't measure the starter (didn't dump it ALL in because I only needed about 1/4 of it and I want to EAT the rest!). And even when the thermometer looks right I still insist on finger-testing. But I was trying to pretend to be scientific.

Guess what, though? The damn stuff still hasn't set. That acidophilus-only yogurt may just be too delicate to contend with the extra milk solids... or maybe Somebody's Law dictates that no matter what time I put it in, I will always have to take it out at 3:00 AM. :sigh: I may yet live to be glad I still have 3/4 of that Erivan....

As for dinner at the diner... I am a HUGE fan of diner food. Pictures! (please)

Oh, you shall have 'em, all right. Nothing could be finer Than to have your ham and eggs in Carolina.... The diners of the Guyland are kind of a funny breed unto themselves: this bit will be fun. But I'll do 'em in the morning, which means early afternoon.

Well, if this isn't the weirdest, strangest, most comfortable, welcome thread I've seen in a long time. I feel right at home. Well, not that I own a dog or drink coffee or make yogurt or that. But the interior world I recognize.

And heartily welcome to it. No, it's clear you don't live with a dog or you would never refer to owning one. I belong to mine, though of course Murphy has seniority and is prepared to dispute ownership.

When I saw your avatar, I assumed it was a photo from the Fifties and that you were a Woman of a Certain Age with a sentimental streak. It's so retro. (Compliments, of course.)

Thank you. Well, I am of a Certain Age, I guess, though perhaps not as certain as you may have thought (in fact, I was actually born right around the time you thought I was photographed...). And in some ways I am certainly retro as hell. As for the avatar, funny you should mention; just today I posted a full explanation of its provenance and bittersweet significance here, on the Avatar Story thread.

Now I find out you wrote a book about the Aubrey/Maturin novels, which my beloved Bob has read from cover to cover to cover times seventeen. I wonder if I can get him to read about food.

About this food, you might, because it is all food that is enthusiastically discussed in the novels, food about which O'Brian fans had for years been asking, what is this stuff? It is also indexed to the novels and copiously interlarded with passages from them, as well as whimsical anecdotes about the sources and history of the dishes. Besides, it is verily the Authorized Gastronomic Companion - all you have to do is tell him Patrick O'Brian wrote the foreword (and if I get really boastful and full of myself, one of these days I'll tell you what he and his wife said about it ).

Only watch out: the plan may backfire. He may want you to... cook from it.

[Jensen]

I don't generally measure much, either - didn't measure the starter (didn't dump it ALL in because I only needed about 1/4 of it and I want to EAT the rest!). And even when the thermometer looks right I still insist on finger-testing. But I was trying to pretend to be scientific.

Ahhhh. It all becomes clear to me now. I like to pretend things too

Guess what, though? The damn stuff still hasn't set.

But it will! Okay, I'm only going by what you've posted previously but it seems ingrained in my grey cells that, no matter when you post that your yogurt isn't setting, invariably, it sets up about an hour later.

Patience, my sweet.

[balmagowry]

Guess what, though? The damn stuff still hasn't set.

But it will! Okay, I'm only going by what you've posted previously but it seems ingrained in my grey cells that, no matter when you post that your yogurt isn't setting, invariably, it sets up about an hour later.

I know it always does. But it hadn't at 8:00; it hadn't at 10:00; it hadn't at 12:00. So something is out of the ordinary. Maybe it's like taking photographs of aboriginals and stealing their souls; maybe I've jinxed it by exposing it to public scrutiny. My poor, poor yogurt....

[Jensen]

So something is out of the ordinary. Maybe it's like taking photographs of aboriginals and stealing their souls; maybe I've jinxed it by exposing it to public scrutiny. My poor, poor yogurt....

Quick! Drop a Coke bottle into your kitchen! The abos will be so taken with it that they will turn their attentions away from the yogurt!

Edited to add: It hasn't been an hour yet! Wait until 10:25 pm PDT.

Edited April 24, 2004 by Jensen (log)

[balmagowry]

I always did think the gods must be crazy; now I am sure of it. Hmmmm, that reminds me - I wonder whether Gifted Gourmet ever did see Joe Versus the Volcano....

[Pan]

Well, this will be fun!

One question: Were you born on Lawn Guyland?

[balmagowry]

Well, this will be fun!

One question: Were you born on Lawn Guyland?

Nope - in Nuova Iork itself. At what was then New York Hospital (and is now something like Columbia-Presbyterian-New-York-Cornell-and-its-Sisters-and-its-Cousins-and-its-Aunts, Esquire, Unlimited), and into a household on 89th and West End. I'm a conductor's brat, so the first 10 years or so of my life saw us moving around a good bit (Baltimore, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, wherever the major gigs were), but always gravitating back, in-between, to NYC and/or environs - that being where the family, the new-immigrant roots, and the Broadway show jobs were.

[bleudauvergne]

and this

is the boat, shot from the house. ... The boat is named Pauline, after my grandmother. A Southcoast 23, 1969 - Alberg design. ...

Your boat looks like lots of fun. Are there nice places to explore with her near your home? Do you keep her in the water all year?

[bleudauvergne]

Now that I've seen yours, I want a Shtinky. I can just imagine sitting in a cafe, on a bus, in a museum, on a park bench, etc. and putting down observations with one of those. Do your batteries last long? Is that a Smart Card you have inthe drive there? Do you put it to recharge every day when you get home? I don't know about you, Lisa, but I type about seven times faster than I can write. So I rarely ever write things out except in letters to my mother and in my idea books.

I think though, sometimes it is the incubation period between when you observe something and when you write it down that makes things gel. I guess a Shtinky for me would be like a sketchbook, where I could immediately collect vignettes, and working in an equipped studio would be the work on the big computer. I like to experience or think about something, sleep on it, and then sit down clear headed to write it and develop it the next day.

What exactly do use Shtinky for? I think it would be a very good research tool. One thinks about portable computers and their getting stolen in libraries. But who in their right mind would possibly want to steal yours?

But very importantly, We have the same parquet floors. That is just incredible. I also simply adore your kitchen floor (or is it the pantry?) and great wooden countertops.

Edited April 24, 2004 by bleudauvergne (log)

[paul o' vendange]

Lisa, yesterday I picked up a copy of your tome - my father in law is an O'Brien nut, and loves food (and food history - last book I got him was the Food of France/Italy), so looking forward to both of us reading your oeuvre.

Jealous of your locale! Used to live in Rhode Island (Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticutt - life of an itinerant actor - former member of Shakespeare & Co., with you, a belated b.d. to Will), miss clamming the bay; would love to spend a week or 12 in the Long Island vineyards...

Keep 'em coming!

Paul

[suzilightning]

Today I am indulging - not only milk but...

Carolyn knows what that is.

Yup - Autocrat's best-kept secret, the spinoff brand Coffee Time... coffee syrup for making coffee milk! That I should live to see the day when I would put anything sweet in my coffee. Extraordinary.

another former east ender here, lisa, and i have coffee syrup in my cabinet right now

have you ever thrown the cold milk and coffee syrup into a blender with some ice cubes? great for hot weather