We’re here, there, not here, not there, swirling like specks of dust, claiming for ourselves the rights of the universe. Being important, being nothing, being caught in lives of our own making that we never wanted. Breaking out, trying again, wondering why the past comes with us, wondering how to talk about the past at all. (Jeanette Winterson. from Lighthousekeeping)

sunny sunday

the sandwich

http://www.windowfarms.org/

most productive saturday ever

rain rain go away

rainy weekend

bears like marmalade

market day

Monster and I have both had just about enough of the blood-glucose testing involved in trying to get her diabetes under control and this is only day two of the establishing-a-baseline exercise that requires blood tests every four hours. Insulin shots, no big deal. Poking her ear every four hours to get a drop of blood so we can see how she's responding to the insulin, we hates it. No, we really HATES it.

When I wasn't poking my cat with sharp things I spent the day in my kitchen where my beautiful new stock pot simmered all day making chicken stock (no more msg laden store bought inferior chicken broth!). And I made beef stew with dumplings and a pineapple upside down cake. But the stew didn't turn out very well. The recipe said I could use parsnips, turnips or rutabaga and I opted for parsnips and turnips but the parsnips gave the broth a sweet flavour which wasn't very good with the savoury dumplings. And, while the cake looked very pretty on the platter, I used a Cooks Illustrated recipe and I think that was a mistake (I hardly ever say that). I should have stuck with the old version from my grandmother's 1940s cookbook. CI modified the cake batter to give it a lighter crumb (not in itself a bad thing, I thought, since it meant about half the butter the older recipe called for) but what I have sitting on my kitchen table this morning, with only a modest 3 pieces missing is some yummy pineapple topping on a dry and crumbly white cake. I have distinct memories of having no leftovers using the 1940s recipe.

So, to sum up, I love my new stock pot (I now have 13 cups of home made chicken broth in my freezer) but the things I actually tried to eat yesterday weren't what I hoped for and I still have to continue poking my cat with sharp things for another two days. (grumble)

But today, between the poking with sharp things at noon and the poking with sharp things at 4pm, I'm going out into the grey and the cold to the loveliness of Kensington Market and I need a list...

Sunday: Pizza Bianca
Monday: Eggs Benedict (make pasties)
Tuesday: Brie & Bacon Pasta & Chicken Cesar
Wednesday: Pizza
Thursday: Greek Pitas
Friday: Pasties
Saturday: Chicken & Dumplings
Sunday: Spaghetti & Meatballs
Dessert: Banana Cream Pie (crust)

It occurs to me that my favourite dessert is cheesecake and I've never made one. Not ever. Not once. And I've been collecting cheesecake recipes for a good long time. Hmmm.

I do have one thing to report. I finally made these and they were delicious and ridiculously simple. Dangerously simple. I'm not sure it's a good idea for me to have the knowledge that I can have a plate of these on the table in a matter of fifteen minutes using things I already have in my pantry.

poem

making a list the slow way

Here is yet another reason why science is good. I want one or two of these in my kitchen so I can run some tests. And, as it happens, I just had my first baguette baking lesson so the timing couldn't be more perfect.



What I'm really doing while I sit here in bed drinking coffee is making a menu for the week and then turning it into a grocery shopping list. Since baguettes aren't going to be on the menu this week, there's some strong indications that I might be malingering and I'm fine with that.

I need six meal ideas. I get to carry over two from last week that I have ingredients for but didn't get around to making (Lamb Curry and Calzones) and I have meat in the freezer for greek pitas if I want to make those... Oh and I have 1.5lbs of lean ground beef that hasn't been spoken for or frozen yet... and, it being super bowl sunday, chicken wings are on sale just about everywhere so I could have a chicken wing and macaroni night easy as anything and whether that's this week or another week, now's the time to put the chicken wings in the freezer.

Monday: lamb curry & rice
Tuesday: calzones
Wednesday: garlic chicken with fries & gravy and green beans
Thursday: beef stew with dumplings
Friday: spaghetti & meatballs
Saturday: chicken wings & white cheddar macaroni

Leftovers: michigan pasties (this is my favourite pastry recipe)
Desserts: churros and/or oatmeal cookies

Recipes to try some other week: Thai spiced tomato soup, Devil's chicken thighs, mushroom risotto, coq a vin, garlic soup

the great grey beast February - first Saturday

Song: Alley Cats (Hot Chip)

"Offerings" by sculptor Jeff Tritel (his gallery is here)

"So young a child," said the gentleman sitting opposite to her, (he was dressed in white paper,)
"ought to know which way she's going, even if she doesn't know her own name!"
(Lewis Carroll Through the Looking-Glass)

random

(from Girls with Slingshots)

Cook's Alchemy

Cooks have been doing this magic since the position of cook was first created. I mean, it must have started not long after the first person made a meal to be shared and, by the time 'cook' became a division of labour that other people relied on for survival, this alchemy would have been essential. But how is it done? How do you feed people day after day with limited resources? The puzzle for the home cook seems particularly tricky: turn limited money into a grocery list that can be used to create a variety of meals for a specific number of people with known likes and dislikes within a limited amount of free time. I just spent a month attempting to do this and I still feel I have no idea how it's done and I have a new sympathy for women who've spent years doing this who say they no longer enjoy cooking. I mean, after juggling the grocery list and menu and finding seven recipes that are varied but that don't have completely divergent ingredient lists and that don't include any of the things people hate to eat and that are affordable... it feels like I've completed a jigsaw puzzle in record time without the aid of the picture on the box. Fun, sure but... every day?

Anyway, some of my recent forays into this area have seemed more or less successful and I'm going to attempt to make note of them since odds are good I'm going to need the information again sometime. (but right now there's pizza dough rising in the bread robot and I have to start the sauce making, cheese grating activities... I forget - can grated cheese be frozen?)

Fruit Crumble Bars

I had leftover fruit in the freezer from those Christmas pies and it was Sunday so... I started with this recipe from smitten kitchen which uses fresh blueberries and I modified it a bit and ended up with this blueberry/cherry mash-up recipe: two types of bars, one pan. Based on this experiment, I'd say any type of fruit could be used and that frozen fruit works fine.

First, preheat the oven to 375 degrees and grease a 9x13 baking tin.

For the CRUST combine the following ingredients in a large bowl
     1 cup sugar
     1 tsp baking powder 
     3 cups flour 
     1/4 tsp salt 
     lemon zest from one lemon  
Once combined, cut in (with pastry cutter, a fork or your fingers)
     1 cup cold butter (2 sticks / 8 oz) cut in small pieces 
     1 egg
Until all ingredients are combined and the mixture is a course crumble.
Press half the crust into the bottom of the greased baking pan. 


For the BLUEBERRY FILLING combine the following in a small bowl
     1/4 cup sugar
     1 Tbs lemon juice
     2 tsp cornstarch
     dash of cloves
     1/2 tsp cinnamon
Toss this mixture with fruit to coat.
     2 cups of blueberries (frozen)

For the CHERRY FILLING combine the following in a small bowl
     1/4 cup sugar (+ 1/8 cup if the cherries are sour rather than sweet)
     1 Tbs lemon juice
     2 tsp cornstarch
    1/2 tsp almond extract
Toss this mixture with the fruit to coat.
    2 cups of cherries (frozen)

Pour filling(s) over prepared crust


Crumble the remaining crust evenly over the filling


Bake 55 minutes (check after 45) - until top is browned and filling is bubbling


Chill completely and cut into squares

NOTE: These were pretty good the day they were made but they went downhill fast. Make them the day you want to eat them. They are best when the crust is crisp and cookie-like but the crust gets a bit soft by the next day, quite soft by the day after and not-worth-the-calories soft by the day after that.

Small Variations

The guys over at tweet me harder rate and conduct a semiotic analysis of junkmail

The blogess has a ground breaking discovery about cats, towels and looking younger.

January

For, after all, you do grow up, you do outgrow your ideals, which turn to dust and ashes, which are shattered into fragments; and if you have no other life, you just have to build one up out of these fragments. And all the time your soul is craving and longing for something else. And in vain does the dreamer rummage about in his old dreams, raking them over as though they were a heap of cinders, looking in these cinders for some spark, however tiny, to fan it into a flame so as to warm his chilled blood by it and revive in it all that he held so dear before, all that touched his heart, that made his blood course through his veins, that drew tears from his eyes, and that so splendidly deceived him! ~ Fyodor Dostoyevsky White Knights




http://www.theroadtothehorizon.org/2010/01/terror-alert-levels-in-chaos-around.html

Chili Recipe

This is my first foray into the world of Chili - I started with this recipe but made some changes:

Chili Recipe

8 slices of bacon chopped fine

Fry the bacon on medium heat in your chili pot until it is browned and crisp then remove bacon to a paper-towel lined plate. Pour bacon fat into a bowl and reserve.

2-3 lbs boneless well marbled beef pot roast cut in 1/2 inch cubes

Brown batches of beef cubes in 2tsp of the reserved fat over med-high until well browned on each side - as cubes are browned, remove to a plate until all beef is well browned.
1 large onion minced

3-5 jalapenos seeded and minced (heat source - don't use your bare hands to slice)
3 Tbs chili powder (it's not hot)
1 Tbs ground cumin
1.5 tsp dried oregano

Add 2-3 Tbs of reserved bacon fat, onion, peppers and spices to pot over med-low heat and cook about 5 mins.

1 Tbs Brown Sugar
5-8 cloves of garlic minced

Add sugar and garlic and cook about 30 seconds.

1 28oz can of diced tomatoes (not drained)
3 cups water

Add tomatoes, water, beef and bacon. Simmer 2-4 hours adding water as needed - should be thick and dark.

1 can red kidney beans drained and rinsed
1 can black beans drained and rinsed

Add beans and simmer for another 30 mins. Note, adding beans as close to serving as possible keeps them firm.

Note: I served it with thick slices of buttered fresh bread. I used only 3 jalapenos and thought it could have used more heat - a pinch of cayene or some hot sauce can be added but I think just adding another pepper or two and only seeding - not removing the ribs would have probably been enough.