Thursday, 12 February 2015
I don’t know what dessert Abe Lincoln would have requested for his b-day, but our family b-day guy on this day requested apple pie. I tweaked my recipe once again, and the flavors were great, but still too much liquid (or not enough thickener—these modern well-watered fruits mean more pounds to be sold (yeah for the farmer and vendor), but also having “wet” fruit to cook with—and compensate for in recipes…if that makes sense).
Thursday, 15 January 2015
I can’t remember the last time I made meatballs. I also can’t remember why I got the idea to do so today.
I’ll have to do it again soon; they turned out yummy!
I put lots of flavorings in the meat, including at least four herbs, one of them fresh parsley, plus chopped fresh garlic and a bit of BBQ sauce and the good Japanese organic soy sauce that I’m loving these days. No ketchup—too sweet; I kept them savory.
Sunday, 11 January 2015
At the last minute we changed our dinner plans (which were rather loose to begin with), and made a right turn…to sushi—very happy to have one of my favorites, agedashi tofu (not shown).
Sunday, 4 January 2015
If there is such a thing as a couple New Year’s resolution, ours is to up our whimsy quotient. We’re not sure exactly what our whimsy is, but we figure we’ll recognize it when we see it.
Today’s whimsy was an adventure to Jo-Ann fabrics (more on that another day), followed by a stop at the super-duper-market. We bought lots of veggies, but I almost always find myself photographing the feeeeeesh.
Maybe this is a big-eye fish from the Big Eyes movie?
Friday, 2 January 2015
We enjoyed the greens and beans and rice crucial to the traditional New Year’s Day dish, in a bid for luck and prosperity. In a year, we’ll know if it worked.
We slightly modified it.
The rice was Basmati.
The beans were lady cream peas that I cooked from dry. These are small cowpeas, off white when dry. They take about 1.5 hrs to cook, no soaking. I cooked them for an hour, then separately prepared tasty bits, sautéed separately, and added them for the final half-hour of simmering. Tasty bits included onions and poblano. At the very end, I added some sautéed turkey Andouille sausage.
I quick sauteed some spinach and sliced some green onions and mint (left over…).
I served it in layers, a mound of rice, scoops of beans and potlikker, topped by a twist of spinach, with a dusting of green onion tops and mint.
Monday, 29 December 2014
My new dietary obsession fascination is a sauce/spread of roasted red peppers and walnuts, thickened with bread crumbs, and flavored with, well, that part varies. One of the consistent additions is “pomegranate molasses,” which is pomegranate juice with sugar and lemon juice, reduced by about half. I use pomegranate concentrate plus the others…. Another consistent addition is some hot pepper kick, like flakes. From there, and proportions, seem to reflect regional variations, what’s available, and cook’s choice. At least so it seems from this node on the giant online recipe highway.
The name I’ve seen for this wondrous paste is consistent: muhamarra. The pronunciation seems to vary, though, with the final consonant sound sometimes pronounced “d.”
* for a while….
Sunday, 21 December 2014
Say bruschetta. That “ch” in the middle may lead you astray. Italians and in-the-know Americans say “broos-keh-tah” with a hard “k” sound. Just sayin’….
We had bruschetta at a fun, fine party this afternoon, congenial and fabulous. Then, we rolled on….
Thursday, 18 December 2014
I was messy today. Rolling bourbon balls, I got powdered sugar all over my skirt. No biggie; just went out back and shook like a wet pooch.
Tuesday, 16 December 2014
We checked out the new market over on Krog Street this afternoon. It’s an open warehouse space, with a wide aisle that passes by relatively small retail areas in the center or around the outside of the whole space—all under one roof overall arranged in a big rectangle.
The photo is from the Spotted Trotter‘s aging cooler; their beef kielbasa caught our eye for…next time.
The highlight was making late-lunch/early-dinner selections at Yalla, for take out. The cuisine is Middle Eastern, and the flavors are fantastic. I’ll be back! We’ll be back!
We resisted making purchases at Jeni’s ice cream (chain based in Ohio), although we tasted about five flavors—my favorite: lavender berry—and a gorgeous color, too! We also by-passed The Little Tart Bake Shop—VERY difficult to…keep…feet…moving….
However, we did buy goodies at Xocolatl (how could we skip that!).
Monday, 8 December 2014
I had great fun assembling a spread for the Book Club group this evening. The biggest hit was the PAMA pomegranate liquor in the upper left by the tea lights. The ginger cake in the center wasn’t very pretty looking, but pretty darned tasty (I got several ladies to take samples home, some to share with spouses, some, no). And there in the foreground are the bourbon balls mentioned yesterday.
I enjoyed the group, smaller than usual…and always fun.