Firecooked!
Firecooked!
The Housekeeper and the Professor
The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko OgawaMy rating: 5 of 5 starsA very sweet, short book: the story of a housekeeper who cares for a math professor who had brain damage. One thing that I hate about the Kindle is that you don't know how long a book is before you start. In print it was 192 pages (and must have been big print), it was really a quick read. But it covered so much. The beauty of math, love for children, caring for others, lost and hidden love. Highly recommended.View all my reviews >>
Javelina Turds
I've had lots of requests for this recipe, its something we typically have around the house.. they are perfect when you get home from the pool or a hike or the gym or off a plane and need to eat something. I posted a version of this a while back, but that version has lots of options (different nut butters, sweeteners, etc). Since I make them so often, I have developed an efficient process. First, I weigh the ingredients (an idea from Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking
), especially since almond butter and honey are messy to measure. This also insures that I use exactly half the jar of almond butter, since this the only place I use it. Then, instead of making balls or log shapes (which begat the nickname which has stuck), I mash into in a large square and cut -- see the pictures. I can do these in about 20 minutes, including clean up.
), especially since almond butter and honey are messy to measure. This also insures that I use exactly half the jar of almond butter, since this the only place I use it. Then, instead of making balls or log shapes (which begat the nickname which has stuck), I mash into in a large square and cut -- see the pictures. I can do these in about 20 minutes, including clean up. Javelina Turds
8 oz 1 cup almond butter (Trader Joes organic creamy / salted)
6 oz 1/2 cup honey (usually from small producer - the flavor of the honey comes through)
1 tsp vanilla extract
9 oz 3 cups old fashioned oats
3 oz 1/3 cup dried cranberries ( sweetened)
3 oz 1/3 cup chocolate chips (Ghirardelli dark)
Combine all ingredients together; mix well. Dump onto a cutting board covered with wax paper, and form into a large square, about a ½ inch thick. Cut into 1 or 1 ½ inch squares. Place squares on another piece of wax paper, put in a large baggie or other container, and refrigerate.
Mixed:
After pressing (you can use a rolling pin with a top piece of wax paper) to get really smooth, plus I use the edge of the knife to straighten the edges:
And cut:
Think twice about eating these if you have not just been at the gym, swum 2000m, or hiked up a mountain. They are about 100 calories per square inch.
Recent books...
Our internet was seriously slow yesterday, and I could not get to this blog site, but could get to the Good Reads site. So I added January's and February's book group books (yes.. I have already finished February's book, amazing what you can do with a a bit of time off and no TV).
The books were Still Alice -- a rare 10 rating, and The Elegance of a Hedgehog -- came in strong with a 7 rating. Click on the titles for more!
Catching Fire
Pots from pottery class
Pottery is one of the more communal forms of art, due mostly to the large amount of equipment needed. And even though I have all the equipment I need, I miss working with a group and the stimulus that comes from that. Plus, I always can use some help in improving skills, especially on the wheel. I learned from some friends that South Mountain Community College was offering a non-credit class at Desert Vista HS and decided it was time to get our of my own studio for a while.
Turned out to be a good decision. Desert Vista has an awesome studio with lots of wheels and lots of kilns. In addition, Mark (who in the guise of "Mr. Honig" also teaches the HS classes) was an awesome instructor. He had lots of energy, and really good throwing skills. And (as seems typical) a fun bunch of people in the class.
For the most part, I focussed on tall vases, working on throwing skills so as to not get thin spots or a twist in the body, plus get reasonably thin bottoms. Overall, I am happy with my progress... but still have a ways to go. In addition to vases, I also did a bunch of bowls for charity and learned a few new tricks. First was a way to trim by putting down a thin layer of clay on the wheel -- bowls will just stick! , I learned about carving on green porcelain, may take more patience than I have, but you can get some neat results. I also enjoyed using the reduction glazes, you can get some colors and effects that are not possible in an electric kiln, but had problems with applying too thick and having the glazes run and stick to the kiln shelf. I have a few more bottles that have been bisque fired, but not glazed (next session!), but here are all the pots I finished. Click through to see pictures and more comments.
If you see something you like, let me know.. I always like to have feed back. And if don't just like it, but want to have it, just let me know (and the normal friends and family discount will apply).
3rd Annual Napa trip
For the 3rd December in a row, we journeyed to Napa Valley. (here's why). Mornings were foggy but the afternoons were sunny... not bad for this time of year. Unfortunately, one of the couple that was going meet us there got sick, so we were on our own.
Courtyard at Clos Pegase
Courtyard at Clos PegaseWe grabbed lunch in Napa (the city) at the Fatted Calf, and had soup and a sandwich (the are really a butcher, but have a special every day). We started our winery visits at Clos Pegase, one of our long time favorites (and a good place to start, since we had not bothered with reservations). We re-joined their wine club which we had to stop when we moved to Arizona, fortunately the shipping laws have changed so we can once again get club shipments. They also took care of making us a reservation that afternoon at Failla, a winery we passed on the way there. We had had (and really liked) their Pinot's, but had never visited. Failla was definately the new find for this trip. They are a small producer, mostly Pinot Noir's and a Chardonnay. Most of the fruit is sourced from the the Russian River or Sonoma, which is a bit cooler and better suited to these grapes. They ferment in open containers (!), and then into French oak. We tasted several different Pinot's ... they were all good.. and only one is available outside the winerly. Last, we visited Salvestrin, which is conveniently were we stayed (again). Dinner was at Cook, a small restaurant in St. Helena. Roy had some really awesome pasta, with roasted pork. I had cioppino... lots of good seafood, but it was pretty spicy, which was OK but not wine friendly.
On Saturday, after a good and huge breakfast at the B&B, we wandered around St Helena a bit. Then we went to Casa Nuestra, an even smaller winery. They did some interesting stuff ... we bought a few bottles, I'm reserving judgement until we tasted them a bit more. Lunch was at Greystone, in addition to the temptations appetizer, I had the onion soup which had a fun meringue / souffle top. Roy had the butternut squash soup. That afternoon we visited Bremer Family Winery, one of our absolute favorites. We liked everything we tasted! After that, we were pretty much winery-ed out... and had enough wine coming to fill the wine fridge. Dinner was at Martini House. I had chicken pot pie and Roy has pot roast... nothing like comfort food done sous-vide!
There was another great breakfast Sunday morning, then we were back to airport to come home. And now, the wine starts to arrive... did I mention that before? Not like in the summer where you need to have the wine held before shipping. Another great reason to go this time of year!
Appetite for Life: The Biography of Julia Child by Noel Riley Fitch
I will be the first to admit I’m not the type to read big non-fiction books. So I’m pretty proud of myself for actually getting through the 500 pages of Appetite for Life! This is a biography with a big B: it was authorized; the author had full access to Julia Child, her letters, several family diaries, as well as letters and interviews with family and friends. It’s very much the historical work, sometimes overstuffed with minutia, names and dates, but does an excellent job of describing Julia and how she fit into the recent history of food as well as US history. The appendices describe all the source material, a great job was done in editing to only 500 pages. In the end, I find myself awed and inspired by Julia and her works.
The early part of the book is slow, she grew up as a spoiled California party girl which was not all that interesting. The story picks up during the time she was in the OSS in India and China. Fascinating to me (as someone who doesn’t read big historical books, but lately, lots of WWII fiction) was the non-European perspective of WWII: the people and politics of the time, including the OSS, McCarthy-ism, and their influence on Vietnam.
Later in life, Julia Child was quite the celebrity between PBS shows and Good Morning America appearances in addition to her books. I never saw much of her on TV (but knew enough to fully enjoy Dan Aykroyd’s satire of the show), and never had the Mastering The Art of French Cooking
cookbooks. I didn’t understand her real influence on food. Her memoir, My Life in France by Julia Child and Alex Prud'Homme gave me much more background on what went into the first cookbook, but this book brought so much more to the story.
cookbooks. I didn’t understand her real influence on food. Her memoir, My Life in France by Julia Child and Alex Prud'Homme gave me much more background on what went into the first cookbook, but this book brought so much more to the story. Julia was passionate about food, and wanted to share this passion with others. She followed through with incredible organization, detail and hard work to share the vision through teaching. She had the drive to get things right (and that would be her definition of right). Also impressive was the energy that Julia had, right through her 80’s, even with the problems of aging like bad knees and loved ones in nursing homes.
Julia’s vision started with an attempt bring the pleasures of cooking and eating to the American public, not the “America home economics with its undercurrent of nineteenth-century melioristic scientism”. (Definition of melioristic: the notion that the world can be improved by human effort). Her cookbook was out of step with the current fashion: “Americans were then eating canned vegetables with marshmallows melted on top, frozen chickens cooked in canned mushroom soups, frozen fish sticks, and dishes that could be served during commercials… Processed food products and junk food led to unwanted poundage, which in turn stirred up a wave of dieting and diet books … Avis [Julia’s agent] commented about the “gunk” in the American kitchen and the increasing number of manuscripts for diet books she was receiving … “[There is] not a single honest recipe in the whole book – everything is bastardized and quite nasty .. Desserts .. sweetened with saccharin and topped with imitation whipped cream. Fantastic! And I do believe a lot of people in this country eat just like that, stuffing themselves with faked materials in the fond belief that by substituting a chemical for God’s good food they can keep themselves slim while still eating hot breads and desserts and GUNK.” This was in 1959! (and its taken until 2009 for me to get all of the high fructose corn syrup out of my house, and even then some slips back in, last in the guise of Rice Crispy Squares).
The other theme that runs through Julia’s work was to help Americans overcome their “fanatical fear of food”. An example: “fear of food was endemic in suburbia. Every new health warning (Poisons in Your Food) reinforced America’s puritanical relationship to food and wine. Food was either a sinful or a bothersome necessity. The most popular food books in the early 1960s were Calories Don’t Count and the I Hate to Cook Book…” That said, she had some confrontations with other visionaries of the time, like Alice Waters. Julia felt that all the talk of organic foods and evils of pesticides would just further scare people from cooking.
I could go on.. but this book really hit home for me during my current quest to reduce the amount of processed food in my diet and understand the struggles of those around me with food. Plus I have another role model on living a full life, continuing to learn and share and grow (bad knees and all). The other take away: During the life of Julia Child, there was massive amount of written communication compiled, including letters, diaries, manuscripts, and written articles. I sometimes wondered if she ever made a phone call! But I can hope that in addition to more people cooking from the larger selection of fresh food available, that someday people can use our blogs, tweets, Facebook and other written communications to write inspiring biographies!
Stuffed Mushrooms
Last night at a wonderful party with lots of friends, we were discussing seasonal favorites, and someone mentioned how often she makes "my" stuffed mushrooms and how everyone loves them. I'm not even sure where I got the recipe, and have not made it myself in a long time. But a good reminder of something yummy I should make for the next get together -- especially convenient since you can make them ahead, and bake when you need them. And maybe a good experiment when I get around to trying to make sausage (being that I can't do anything the easy way).
Stuffed Mushrooms
3 hot Italian Turkey sausages, casings removed
1 clove garlic chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
Olive oil
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (about 3 ounces)
6 ounces low fat cream cheese, room temperature
1 large egg yolk
48 small ( or 24 large 2-inch-diameter) mushrooms, stemmed
1/3 cup dry white wine
Sauté sausage, garlic and oregano in heavy large skillet in small amount of oil over medium-high heat until sausage is cooked through and brown, breaking into small pieces, for about 7 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer sausage mixture to large bowl and cool. Mix in 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, then cream cheese. Season filling with salt and pepper; mix in egg yolk.
Line cookie sheet with parchment. Brush cavity of each mushroom cap with white wine; fill with scant 1 tablespoon filling. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill.) Arrange mushrooms, filling side up on prepared sheet pan and sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese.
Preheat oven to 350°F. Bake uncovered until mushrooms are tender and filling is brown on top, about 25 minutes.
Bread for stuffing and other Thanksgiving comments
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving, with all the traditional fixings ... but we are slowly losing the tradition of cans and packaged foods. And I think we have started a new tradition of smoked chicken wings for lunch (Lou's new specialty).
A big hit was the new version of Green Bean Casserole, using the recipe from Alton Brown. We did all the parts the night before: blanched the green beans, made the mushroom soup part, and cooked the onions. (Did you know that the first ingredient of the fried onions that you buy in a can is palm oil... yuck). The only tricky part is the onions. Don't cut too thin (go for ~ 3/16 of an inch) and try to cut evenly. And don't get too brown the first time, as they will get browner on the casserole (especially in the turbo-charged convection oven). We cooked in a 9x13 casserole dish, for about 20 minutes after the turkey came out of the oven.
Not so big a hit were the brussels sprouts, even sauted with a bit of bacon (and finished with a little cider vinegar). Roy, Sharon and I loved them, everyone else, not so much. At least Bridget had fun slicing them with the Cuisenart!
Also a note on a deconstructed turkey: You can do a big one this way: we did a 23-pounder. Using the turbo-convection oven, when started at 400F for 20 minutes, then 325 it was done in about 2 1/2 hours (we dropped the temperature to 300F towards the end so it actually cooked for almost 3 hours). I started at the higher temperature because I was a little late getting it into the oven, I had figured on 3 1/2 hours (which might be right for a normal 325 oven). As always, everything cooks evenly. We just had to use an extra pan because both legs didn't fig into the roaster.
Finally, here is the recipe for the stuffing. Last year I discovered that Pepperidge Farms stuffing (which is what our family ALWAYS used) had one of my banned ingredients (don't even remember if it was HFCS, hydrogenized oil, or MSG) so I made my own bread using the bread machine (where you don't care there are stupid holes in the bottom from the paddles). I'm always surprised at how long it takes for the bread to dry, especially considering that if you leave a slice of bread out you are making a sandwich from it is crispy in 15 minutes. If you don't have a bread machine (I suspect that mine is on its last legs), there should be no problem making like normal bread, would just follow the steps for any whole wheat bread recipe.
Herb Bread for Stuffing
2lb loaf, make 20 ounces of stuffing (lots)
¾ cup milk
2 tablespoons butter
¾ cup warm water
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons salt
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups bread flour
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon rosemary, finely chopped
½ teaspoon sage
Black pepper (a couple of good grinds)
2 teaspoons yeast
Heat the milk and butter together in the microwave until the milk is just a little warm, and butter is soft and starting melt. Put everything (in order) in the bread machine and start. When done, let completely cool, preferably overnight. Slice into cubes, about ½ inch square. If the crust is particularly heavy, remove some of the crust, but otherwise leave on. Spread the cubes on a large sheet pan, and let dry for a couple of days.
Stuffing
Bread Cubes
½ ounce dry mushrooms, reconstituted in ~ 1 cup boiling water.
8 ounces (1 package) mushrooms (sliced)
1 large onion (diced)
2 stalked celery (diced small)
½ to 1 teaspoon salt
¼ cup butter
2 cups turkey broth
¼ cup of chopped herbs (parsley, thyme, sage, etc).
Place the bread cubes in a large mixing bowl. Stain the dry mushrooms, reserving liquid. Chop and add to stuffing. Saute the fresh mushrooms, onion, and celery with salt in the butter, add to the bread cubes.
Add mushroom liquid to bread cubes, careful to not get any grit at bottom. Mix the cubes, add a cup of turkey broth (slowly pour around the top). Stir and taste. Add another ½ to 1 cup broth. Cubes should be just moist, not soggy. Ready to go in / under turkey, or in a separate casserole dish to cook (if cooking separately, put a bit of turkey fat and / or skin on top).
Thanksgiving's coming
Its just a week away! This year will be at my brother's house, with the standard Norman fare. I slowly can change things ... for example, everyone is now expecting homemade cranberry sauce, and not disappointed that you can't see the ribs from the can in the jelly.
Last year, I started making the bread for the stuffing instead of Pepperidge Farms ... as part of my ban on HFCS and hydrogenized oils, not sure if anyone noticed. I plan to do it again this year, just need to find the recipe (and I will post when I find it).
This year, I'm going to mess with the green bean casserole, and will make the mushroom soup part instead of using Cambells. Lou even agreed to use fresh green beans.
We will also do a deconstructed turkey. But the squash gratin will need to wait for Christmas.
