Sushi, dregs
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).
Musings
On ice
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?
Traditionally welcomed
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.
Goodbye hummus*
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….
Alight, then depart
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….
By-product of Xmas “cookie” making
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.
New market
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!).
Assembly of tasty-bits
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.
(Basically) irrelevant
Sunday, 7 December 2014
We’re easing into the holiday hubbub. Made a double batch of bourbon balls today. Not sure how many other flavors of sweets we’ll get to….
It’s not quite relevant, but I got a new flavor of spam today courtesy of gmail—the flavor? in Vietnamese. Yeah, I’m liable to click on that!
Leftovers after turkey
Monday, 1 December 2014
The turkey-day leftovers were all but gone last evening, necessitating a groc-run today. We needed coffee, so we hit TJs…and discovered that their year-end holiday goodies are now on the shelves. JCB hypothesized that this recipe was created to make use of leftover bits in a candy factory. I think they’ve used everything but peppermint candy canes.