Rip your heart out books!

I have not gone to the library a lot lately because it is just too expensive! I will try and explain. When I bring home books, sometimes they get ditched all over the house. By that I mean they will be piled on some chairs, the coffee table, by the bed, you get the drift!? Then I will have the gall to suggest that the chairs should be available to sit on, and perhaps the dining table could be cleared so we can eat a meal there, and someone, who shall not be named, will gather up all his, I mean the stuff, and haul it to the garage. So somewhere in the garage are library books and magazines that I have had to buy, thus it is too expensive. Nes pas?

But, because I am on vacation (hahaha) this week, I needed to run into the bank and thought, while I am in town I will pick up those books I ordered and see what's new.

Are you with me so far?

Good.

I am attempting to give you a brief overview of these books but I find that I cannot with out giving away the whole damned story. Which might be a good thing if it kept any of my two (lol) readers from ever reading them. Let's just leave it at, nice people have really, really bad things happen to them and then they learn to deal with the effects!

I am trying to read and sob, quietly, because it annoys the two men in my life. All the while wondering why I am not one of those people who can just PUT A BOOK DOWN!

But No, I must finish them and then I promptly return them to the library. Hubby wants to know what they were about but I give him the hairy eyeball and tell him they are NOTHING he would EVER want to read.

Gentle readers, If you read these books and loved these books and are offended that I did not...I am sorry.




So I quickly looked around and found some books, but what I am wondering is why I pick the books that I do? I mean, the library is full of books, right? And we have just experienced a country wide thrashing, right? Why would I need to pick two books that rip your heart out, take a giant bite out of it and then cram it back into your chest??

"Imperfect Birds" Anne Lamott and "Every Last One", Anna Quindlen. These are authors I do not read and genres I do not particularly like. Why then did I choose not one, but two of these books? What made me sit down and read one, completely iin two days and then start the next? Have I lost my mind?

Perhaps.

Maybe I just needed a good cry, or two. Maybe, like beating yourself in the head with a hammer, it just feels so damn good when you stop!


Yesterday was a soup, stew, something warm and filling kind of day. I thought I was going to make Mushroom Go Ba Soup, which is one of our favorites. The Go Ba part is sizzling rice added to the soup which makes a distinctive noise and steam and is quite dramatic. Then I thought some more and decided to make Posole.

Is everyone like me when it comes to cooking? God, I hope not. But sometimes I read about something and just want to try it at home. Sometimes I stand on my head and dig a package out of the very bottom of the freezer and decide to make something with IT. I have even been known to take a cookbook to the store with me and pick up all the ingredients for something. Yesterday it was "I took two pork chops out of that package, what could I do with the rest?", kind of inspiration. That's why the Ga Ba Soup and the Posole. They both start with pork. Only I changed my mind when my freezer-foraging found a nice 1-1/2 pound pork roast, maybe a loin roast, cannot remember.

In my opinion, and after all you are reading my blog so you must want it, soup does not need a recipe. Soup is a large pot or a crockpot and you just start filling it up. If I do not want leftovers (Ha!), I start with a medium sized pot and expect to have to pour the contents into a larger pot at some time. If I want a lot I start with the jumbo pot and know my limits. Yesterday was the large pot because we are expecting (and getting) some nasty weather and everyone knows soup is better the next day and the next.

Roughly:

1 - 1 1/2 pound pork, cubed. 1" cubes. discard any obvious fat.
old pie pan with some flour, salt and black pepper
Large pot, start heating on medium and then when it is getting hot add 2 tbsp. olive oil
2 carrots, washed and cut into 1/2" circles
3 stalks celery, same
\
6 cups hominy (I opened one of those restaurant sized cans and put the rest in the freezer for later)

2 cloves garlic, at least!
1 california red dried chili
1 ancho dried chili
what ever dried chili's you have. Crush them , remove the seeds and stems, put into a glass measuring cup with the garlic and cover with boiling water. Let sit while you busy yourself elsewhere.

Go back to the fridge and see if anything else looks interesting.


Back to the pot which is now nice and hot. Start dredging the pork cubes into the flour mixture. Gently and carefully drop them into the hot oil (I said carefully), and let then get a golden brown. A purist would remove them to a bowl when nicely browned, but I just shove them to the side of the pot and keep adding more, browning, shoving, maybe add some more olive oil (It is good for you), until all the meat is browned.

Then start tossing the carrots and celery and give it a nice swoop around the pot. As those begin to cook (you can smell them), you can start playing with the seasonings.

This is when I begin my refrigerator foraging. I found some salsa that G said was way too hot, the Better then Bullion (chicken) (If I had Penzney's Pork broth I would have used that).

I am an impatient cook. I boil water in my trusty Krups boiler and pour it into the pot, add a big spoon of chicken buillon, swirl it all around and then add a couple of tablespoons of the hot salsa, a few good shakes of chili pepper, some grinds of black pepper.

A traditional cook would take the chili mixture, put it into the blender (be careful here, it is hot and HOT. Hold the lid of the blender on with a towel to protect your hands. Then they would strain it and pour the entire contents into the pot. Then they would eat it. But it would kill you and I, just too spicy! So I use tablespoons of the liquid until I like the taste of the soup. I can always add more but I cannot take away heat, so be careful.

This soup is best served with sliced radishes, diced green onion (Mexican Onions if you can find them, they have a larger white bulb and are divine), cilantro and a good squeeze of lime.

Chanterelle Guilt

Today my Sister in Law came down to pick up some boxes I collected for her at work. Her tenant passed away and she and his spiritual advisers were packing up his worldly belongings and the least I could do was collect boxes. We chatted about this and that and she said in passing "Paul (her riding partner) and I picked about 20 pounds of Chanterelle's yesterday". I nearly fell over and said "do I need to jog after you so I can pick some too?" WE laughed and chatted some more and she left.

Then a few minutes later I heard the distinctive rattle of her diesel truck and here she came with bag of goodies. She gave me a quiche (with chanterelle mushrooms), a nice serving of lasagna with Chanterelle mushrooms (but also with the kiss of death, zucchini) and a plastic bag of Chanterelle mushrooms!

She gave me the quiche because "she can always get another one", and the lasagna because of the previous reason and the bag of goodies because of guilt! Works for me!

I was fixing Sole Almandine, broccoli and brown rice, so I gently sauteed the Chanterelle Mushrooms in butter and EVOO and laid them across the brown rice. The fish was served with roasted sliced almonds and the broccoli was steamed. It was an amazing dinner. Really.

The cheep-o rice cooker that is the second in a line of cheep-o rice cookers. The first was bought of Fry's Electronics, when I got tired of watching my three children go gaga over computer crap. We nearly wore it out, and I think R finally took it. I have actually bought a nicer one, but it is pretty big for the three of use, so I use this one and it's great.

Speedy Rice

2 cups rinced rice (today I used short grain brown rice
3 cups water , with 1 tablespoon Better than Bullion chicken stock

1 stalk celery, finely diced
hand full of cilantro, chopped
Tablespoon minced garlic

Put everything into cooker, turn it on and voila, perfect rice.

I play around with the ingredients whenever I make rice. Sometimes I mix the types of rice, or add a small pasta like Orzo, or use vegetable broth,or beef broth or broth from an aseptic carton. I might add finely diced broccoli or tomatoes or spinach or whatever is in the fridge. Play around. About the only thing you need to be consistent on is the fluid. Have enough moisture and the rice will cook, regardless of what goodies you put into it. I love golden raisins, and almond slivers. Num!

In small skillet, heat a tsp of olive oil, add the almonds and saute until golden. Set aside.

I a larger skillet, heat olive oil and a small amount of butter, saute the sole maybe 2 minutes one the first side and just barely when you turn it over. Plate it, put a small squeeze of lemon and then sprinkle the almonds on top. Microwave the broccoli then plate the whole mess and enjoy. It honestly took me only a few minutes to prepare this for three people.

Now, I am going to guess that you don't have a Sister in Law that is an avid horsewoman and mushroom gatherer, so lucky me, but pick up a few Chanterelles at the local farmers market and enjoy.

The guilt....well, that is something you will have to work on.

Funny odd or oddly funny? Jicama Slaw

We have been having some work done on a room in our house. Actually it was a sun-porch, built by crazed people with too many nails and no skill. Sounds harsh, but honestly it was gastly. However, it would make a great tv-rumpus room (do people call romms that anymore?) When my brother died last year, he told his wife, M, that she was to see to it that the room got finished. I will not make the story any longer, but with fits and starts it now may be near completion. Woo Hoo!

So, as you are scratching your head wondering where I am going with this, let me explain.

I work crazy schedule, so I have Mondays and Tuesdays off. Yesterday being Tuesday, I was helping with some of the finish work. M and I took of to get the molding for the floor. I was busy sanding and staining it out on the grass. Hubby was wondering why the 67 Galaxie that he has been trying to get reliably back on the road for, well, too darned long, hates him. Brakes that should have been a slam-dunk have been no-end of trouble. Flushing the tranny has turned into a very large can of worms. He is not a happy camper.

Meanwhile, M showed up and offered to go into town and get some hamburger patties that she had recently that have blue cheese and seasoning in them and are really yummy, if I will throw them on the barbie...What a deal. So as she dashed into town I looked in the fridge to see if there was anything to make a salad from. There sat the Jicama I had bought at my sons request and some carrots, green onions...hum.

The Jicama was about the size of a large navel orange. I grated it on a box grater. Then grated 2 average carrots. Diced 2 green onions. In a measuring cup I put 1 tablespoon sugar, 2 tablespoons lime juice, 1/4 cup white balsamic vinegar (good stuff, get some), several shakes of chili powder (to taste, M does not like spicy food so I low-balled it), salt and whisked in olive oil to make a vinaigrette. Dumped the dressing on the slaw, tossed it and covered and put in fridge awaiting M's return.

Now here is the funny part...at least to me and my son. Possibly even the hubster.

Later that evening after we had eaten and M went home, I picked up the daily newspaper. Tues has the food section, but I always save it to last because it is like dessert to me. Don't even try and figure that one out, okay? When I finally allowed myself to look at the Foodday, right there, above the fold and everything was a beautiful color photo of three cheerful ramekins, filled with...drumroll...SLAW! The middle one, Carrot, Jicama and Orange Slaw! Seriously!

My family accused (maybe that is too strong a word), suggested, implied, that I had pilfered, maybe even took the idea for my slaw from the article. The article that I had not even seen until after dinner. The shame. And of course, because I rarely even copy a recipe, the lack of orange would make perfect sense to them.

Actually mine was great. Not sweet. Just a bit of a zip to it. Maybe later I will post their recipe and you can try them both and decide.

Convenience, or another darned thing to clean??!!

When we moved into this home we inherited a JennAir range, electric, with a grill. I was pretty excited about the grill and the JennAir, but no so much about the electric part. I really hate cooking on electric ranges, there just isn't enough "umph" for do proper sauteing, woking, searing.

But, we have no money to change it, because that would entail having a propane tank brought in, installed, piped into the house, etc etc etc. Big, big bucks.

So when the parts started breaking, and we were driving across town repeatedly to get these little bits, we started looking for a used stovetop. After all, the thing was 20+ years old. Craigs list was the place to go and we found this little 'ol man who buys up "stuff" and off we went.

He actually had two JennAir stovetops and it was cheaper to buy them both, so I have a spare of a stovetop that I really don't like, just in case...go figure.

But the purpose of this post is that darned grill. Granted, it is handy to sling the odd chicken breast or hamburger patty on it and call it good. When the thought of schlepping out to the yard, uncovering the BBQ, cleaning it (because I was too lazy to clean it after I used it the last time), turning on the gas, heating it, yada yada yada. You get my point. I love to BBQ, I love to grill, I love to slow roast over flame. We have a gas grill, A Weber, a smoker. Use them all, most of the year.

Back to the grill. Number one son (of one only) likes to cook. He cares not what mess he leaves behind; when he gets a thought or reads something on-line he is Johnny-on-the-spot to try it out. Lately he has been using the grill, to nearly disasterous results.

I believe it started with the making of quesadillas on the grill. Actually not a bad idea. They grill up nice and crispy, the cheese melts quickly, not a bad idea at all.

Then came the addition of goodies. I believe the near disaster was due to bacon. Yes, grilling bacon is zippy, but there is a lot, a lot of grease. And if you snap the 'ol tortilla on the grill, it has a tendancy of catching fire. From all that grease. Dicey, to say the least. As son puts it "the bacon cooked fine it was the quesadilla that was the problem. It got very crispy, very fast! Very, very crispy!"

Today I finally remembered to ask hubby for the Oil Eater he keeps in the garage so I could clean up the grill. Now why I am doing this I do not know. Not having spent much time cooking, especially grilling this week, I do not understand the honor of getting to clean up this horrible mess. But clean I did.

Removing all the grills, phoney rocks and depositing them on newspaper on the front walk, I sprayed them liberally with Oil Easter. They are sitting out there right now. I am not sure how many applications I will need, they are really dirty. The stuff works great, but remember to wear gloves. It really messes with your skin. Evenwith gloves on my hands feel dry. Probably my imaginazation.

So I guess my point is: why are these supposed convenience tools so hard to clean? I have been scrybbing on these things for several hours. Spray them wait, scrub, repeat. Oil Eater is good stuff, but man oh man, this is a mess. There needs to be a better way.

I dearly loved my Mother-in-law. But she flat refused to use anything that took forever to clean. No, let me rephrase that. If she , say, spent three hours cleaning a toaster oven, my Father-in-law would throw it away. Really! The family lore contains the story of Apple Slog, created because she refused to put ANYTHING into the oven uncovered. Period. Never! If it was going to make her oven dirty, she would cover the dish no matter how much it would effect the outcome.

So, unlike Nana, I will continue to use the grill. My son will continue to use it to estremes too. It will get amazingly dirty and I will clean it again. But I will not like it, Sam I am.

Recipe format, Cookies, Bake Sale, Confusion

It had to be near 5 PM when a co-worker came up and reminded me of the Bake Sale scheduled from tomorrow. We are fund raising like crazy people for our Relay for Life team. I, of course, had totally spaced it. Though I would guess I wrote it on every imaginable calendar, piece of paper and possibly my hand, it slipped by me like the breeze.

So, after my late shift, I went home and started searching for the best cookie book I have found, so far. Of course I have not given up the search, I collect books like cats collect fleas. But this won is a winner...literally. It is the Blue Ribbon winners from a midwest Country Fair. The bad news, is I cannot find it, anywhere. Not in the stack of books by the bed, not on the coffee table, end table, two, no three, bookshelves, not on the kitchen table. In frustration I have to give up. I will need to get up early to bake something and I need some SLEEP.

So, I grab the two books I can put my hands upon.

And therein lies the rub...."The New Cookie Book", Catherine Atkinson with recipes by Joanna Farrow and Valerie Barrett, published by Hermes House in London in 2003.

Now, I read cookbooks like novels, sorta. I mean, some I thumb through, some I really read cover to cover and some, apparently this one, I skim. I totally missed the NOTES at the base of the publishers page. especially the one that said "Bracketed terms are intended for American readers"

After that statement, I would have seen: For all recipes, quantities are given in both metric and imperial measures and, where appropriate, measures are also given in standard cups and spoons. Follow one set, but not a mixture, because they are not interchangeable.

Well, duh!

But, I, in my haste and impatience (yes, I typed that!), did not see this bit of information. I simply wanted to bake something different, something you would not normally see on a bake sale table. Possibly something chocolate because that is what everyone wants.
.
Flipping thought the book I see "Chocolate Truffle Cookies". I have all the ingredients, oddly enough, including the cherry brandy! Hey, be prepared and all that! So I stick a bit of tissue in between the pages and know that I will have at least one new recipe for tomorrow mornings bake-a-thon before work.

I am still in possession of a considerable amount of coconut, so I start my baking extraviganza with my classic Coconut Shortbread. It goes together fast, so I whip it up and get it into the oven. I a still dealing with the one-rack oven, which slows progress considerably. Then I start on the Truffles.

The recipe is laid out like this:

Makes 18
50g/2oz/1/2cup plain (all-purpose) flour EXCEPT

the / mark they used, in hind-site, was far more vertical. In fact, if my photographer son would take some photos, you would SEE that the / was SO vertical as to look like a 1. So, while I was consistent in using the AMERICAN measures, I was adding 1 to almost each one. When I looked at the mess in the bowl, I knew something was not right.

Americans always, I think, cream the butter into the sugar and then add the dry ingredients. This recipe had you dicing the butter (the one ingredient that I did not increase) and rubbing it into the dry. There clearly was not enough butter for all the dry ingredients.

So, rather than pitch the whole mess into the compost bucket I went in search of some cream(had none), some milk (had none) so I used Almond Milk and made the dry mess into a creamy mess that could be rolled in the confectioner's sugar and baked. Suffice to say they were not very good. They we not sweet enough for American taste. I should have thrown them into the bucket. I will know better next time.

What this all leads to....well, several things. When I was taking Diane Morgan's writing class she had us looking at the way recipes are written. In the back of my mind I knew there were some cook books that that I use over and over and some that I use once and then put back on the shelf. I did not really know why. It is because some are user-friendly and some are not. I suspect that a bit of it is what you are used to, but I do remember a Chinese book had all the ingredients numbered and in the body of the recipe of said " put items 1-5 into small bowl and wisk, add #7, blend, whip #8 add etc etc. I hated it. I do not think I have ever used that book again, and I have had it longer than I have been married.

If you have to keep referring to the ingredient list it does not save you any time. It frankly makes no sense.

The"meat" of the recipe, the written instructions should do just that. Instruct. In a concise manner, they should tell you what to do with all these items you have dug out of your pantry, your fridge, your cupboards, and make the combining of them simple. They should not leave you scratching your head and wondering where you went so wrong.

How to make a long story longer

I really hate to see things go to waste (or waist either!). I always overcook (leftovers are great for lunch). Extra rice makes great soup and ever better Congee.


When we traveled to Asia in 1998 with the two kids we ate every morning on the economy...that is military-brat speak for cheap...with the locals. So we have numerous versions of Congee, or rice-porrage. All were wonderful, all were filling and all were cheap. I have been playing with our-own version for years, and like those wonderful days in Laos and Vietnam and Hong Kong, all seem to be different.


All that being said, several days ago I fixed coconut rice to accompany a terriyaki pork loin for dinner. Naturally I made up the recipe for the rice...you do remember that I have A LOT of coconut? Rummaging through the outside pantry, I also discovered that I have a lot of Coconut Creme! Like the Sesame Oil that I continued to buy every time I went into an Asian market, I apparently have done the same with Coconut Creme. Spank me!

I read recently, though of course I cannot remember where, that you should never buy Coconut Creme, but use Coconut Milk and do not shake it. The Creme will rise to the top, you scoop it off and use the milk for something else.

So, back to the rice.

I went to the pantry and collected a "medley" of rices...some Arborio, some White Bastmanti, some short grain, some long. Enough to equal roughly 2 cups. I put them into a strainer and rinsed them very well. Then into the rice-cooker, along with a nice scoop of "Better than Bouillon" Chicken stock and a can of Coconut Creme and another can of water, oh, and some brown rice I found in the fridge. I added about 1/4 cup of coconut, just because I have it! Closed the lid and let the rice cook. A rice cooker is one of the necessities for a well-stocked kitchen. It does not have to be an expensive model (though I will someday have a Zojirushi), mine is the second I have owned, the first being a cheapie from Fry's and this one being an Aroma, which works, nothing special. But no more burnt pots, boiled-over mess on the stove. I simply love it!

The loin roast is one of those things I like to have in the freezer for when I need food but do not really want to "cook". Nuff said.

So, moving on...

Coconut Congee

In a large pot

Add left over rice, I would guess I had about 1 1/2 cups.

Fill pot half way with water. Add another scoop of broth, use canned or boxed broth or check your freezer for home-made. It makes no difference if you use chicken or vegetable, whatever floats your boat.

I have loads of Asian stuff; fried garlic, fried scallions, that I throw in for taste. I dice 4-5 green onions, maybe some yellow onion (1/4 of med.)

Add two large tablespoons of Miso, 1 heaping tablespoon of ginger-garlic paste, some Bragg's liquid Aminos. Adjust the seasonings as you wish. Sometimes I add something spicy while the Congee is cooking, usually I add that at the end, when I am serving it.

Because I had a bunch of spinach, I added that. Probably 3-4 cups. It really cooks down. Feel free to substitute Chard or Kale or leave it out. I added a can of sliced mushrooms.

Simmer until the rice falls apart. Adjust liquid as necessary.

They joy of this is you can use whatever you like, there are no hard and fast rules. You can make it thin or thick. My husbands Congee has been lovingly dubbed "Congoo" because his tends to be really thick.

Traditional serving would include a scrambled egg, lightly cooked like an omelet and sliced, some chopped green onion, some sesame seeds and a dribble of sesame oil, some leftover meat, maybe a splash of "Chili Sauce" or "Chicken Sauce". Whatever suits your fancy.


Again, if you have any left-over, it will thicken up. Simply dilute it with broth or water and reheat.

Put it in the oven and forgetaboutit

Today I was off (yeah) but that does not include my playing personal driver to the G Man. So twice I made the trek into town, once to deliver and once to pick-up. Argh! The only redeeming thing was that it allowed me to make my monthly run to Bob's Red Mill (www.bobsredmill.com) and Dave's Killer Bread (www.daveskillerbread.com) and a quick stop at Cash and Carry. I got Teff and Spelt at Bob's so that I can try out my new - used - bread machine. And some wonderful bread from Dave's. Num. And veggies at Cash and Carry.

So before I left for the "pick-up" portion of the day I new I would have a hungry hippo on my hands and wanted something that would take no effort on my part. I am also attempting (this is when you either snicker or just just outright laugh) to clean out the inside freezer. Rummaging around I found a package with three smallish pieces of meat. Fine, that would work.

I knew there was Kale (or Chard), whatever, in the fridge and I always have lots of rice choices on hand. So I took a nice oval baker, put approximately 1/2 cup of rinsed Lundberg Countrywild (www.lundberg.com) rice mix (nice because it has some wild rice in it!), the Chard-Kale finely sliced, brazed the three pieces of meat with a sprinkle of Spike and some sea salt (which turned out to be beef) put those on top and then covered the whole thing with a container of Mushroom gravy (Pacific Natural Food's)www.pacificnaturalfoods.com. I needed more liquid, so I added some water and about a tsp. of Better than Bouillon Beef stock. Then I covered the whole thing with foil, put it on a cookie sheet (I knew it would boil over) and put into a 350 oven for however long I was going to gone on my journey. Bingo-bango - dinner done!

It was delicious. Really. Thus proving once again that you do not have to spend a lot of time to make a nice meal. I served it with a super salad and rye rolls from Bob's.

I do have to explain the "inside" fridge remark. When I was growing up we made the drive from the Central Coast of California to Los Angeles to visit my grandparents. They lived in a rented bungalow near Griffith Park and a very noisy freeway overpass and a Helms' bakery. Really, the actual HUGE bakery, with the trucks in and out all night. But I digress. The house was neat, you walked from room to room and it had those old-fashion push button switches for the lights. And the kitchen was pretty big with a screen porch that was large enough to store thing in. And thus, when things were "outside" they were on that porch. With "Dicky" the canary. Though I now know that there were many "Dickys". I miss that house and my grandparents.