Last week someone on TV mentioned tomato soup cake. (I can see her face but can’t think of her name.) I became fascinated. Google brought me over 2 million results in 0.12 seconds. I haven’t read them all. About the middle of page 2 of search results I picked one recipe found on page 1. (It’s true that placement counts on search engines.)
I made a few very minor changes to the chosen recipe before even starting to assemble the ingredients. The more I cook, the more I can taste the recipe just by reading it. I often get sidetracked while getting ready to cook. I look at the spices that must be moved to grab the ones I want and think about things to make. I walk back to the laptop to check something in the recipe and start another web search in a quest for something utterly unrelated. (By the way, the woman responsible for my tomato soup cake obsession is Elizabeth Falkner.) I digress . . . and digress again.
First, I assembled tools. Three bowls, measuring cups and spoons, whisk, rubber spatula, big bamboo spoon, and regular dinner fork (just in case). The room on my small counter almost exhausted, I wedged a stick of unsalted butter (the only kind I ever buy) between the can of tomato soup and the bowl waiting for wet ingredients. Went and played on Facebook for a bit while the butter came close to room temperature. It was also time to turn on the oven to 350 F. to preheat.
It was now time to do everything at once so I measured out dry ingredients first. Everything went straight into the biggest bowl. In went two cups of all purpose flour. The flour looked a little lonely so I added ¼ teaspoon of salt. White stuff in a gray bowl looked boring so I added a teaspoon of ground cinnamon. The recipe called for another teaspoon of ground cloves and another of ground nutmeg. I eyeballed about half a teaspoon of each with the one-teaspoon measure. Just for kicks, I added about half a teaspoon of ground ginger. That may have been a mistake. On the other hand, it may have been a good idea. I haven’t decided yet and Izzy likes it just the way it is. I added a teaspoon of baking powder and combined everything with the whisk. One bowl finished!
I put the butter into the next biggest (or next smallest, depending on how you look at it) and added a half cup of sugar then creamed them together with the big bamboo spoon. It’s the first time I used it instead of a wooden spoon. I love my bamboo tools!
Then came the really cool part. I dumped one can of tomato soup into the smallest bowl (about a quart) and added one teaspoon baking soda. I stirred that in with the dinner fork and just watched. It’s kitchen magic. The red soup turns an orange-pink color. The acid from the tomatoes in the soup mixes with the soda. The whole thing swells a little and bubbles a bit. It’s fun to watch!
Mixing ¼ cup of water added to the soup can to get as much soup as possible into the cake can be a little anti-climactic but it does add a little more fizziness.
Time to get mixing! Add the foamy soup mixture to the butter and sugar. I stirred it with the dinner fork. (No need to clean it. You’re stirring in the stuff that’s already on the fork.) You can use a mixer, stand or hand. Then mix in the dry ingredients in two or three additions.
Once mixed, pour into well-greased and floured cake pans. These cakes are pretty forgiving. I used a Bundt pan but any cake pans or even a loaf pan will work. The directions said to bake the cake for an hour. Ever read the back of a cake mix? Time and temperature differ for different sizes and different types of pans. My suggestion is to keep a close eye on it after about half an hour. Make sure a skewer or toothpick comes out clean before you take the cake out to cool.
Cool cake about half an hour in the pan and turn it out to a cake plate to finish cooling. You can frost it (cream cheese frosting or some variation thereof is recommended), glaze it, or dust it with powdered sugar.
The batter is thick enough to use the waffle iron. That should make Marc happy. I could probably make Napoleons with tomato soup cake waffles layered with macaroni and cheese without even changing the recipe. That should make Kathy happy. Playing with all this should make me happy. Of course, can’t forget Izzy. She’ll be happy because I always share with her.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Saturday, May 14, 2011
What Day is It?
I promised myself I’d post to this blog every Monday to atone for missing the last three months of my life. Monday became Tuesday rather quickly. And now what day is it? I’m almost a week late!
Izzy has noticed something about me lately. I’ve been sleeping through the night every night even when she tries to wake me. When we both need to run to go potty in the morning, I let her out first, usually doing a little dance before running to the bathroom. When I come back to let her in, I see she’s out of water. She’s used to me getting up every three or four hours. Seven or eight hours without checking her water is totally unacceptable, Izzy told me.
Maybe it’s the heat. It’s too hot to do much in the yard. That and housework have been the bulk of my exercise. It’s too hot to cook. If it can’t be thrown in the microwave, I’m not eating it. That makes it pretty hard to write a cookbook. The weather is supposed to let up a bit next week. I’m hoping to finish the appetizer chapter then. From the looks of things, it won’t happen. The appetizers chapter is turning into a book all on its own.
Maybe it’s the humidity. Florida is famous for its humidity. I wash dishes by hand and sometimes even a little laundry. Is it any wonder that my hands often feel like they’ve been in the pool too long? Makes me hate to think what this wet air might do to baking.
Speaking of baking, I read somewhere lately of putting cake batter in a waffle iron. That sounded interesting. Not interesting enough to get me on the floor reaching into a dark cabinet to dig out the waffle iron. It would just be another thing to clean.
My mind is going back to the microwave. A catering friend of mine once suggested I cook pasta in the microwave. May try it the next time I make my quick mac-n-cheese. That would mean a quick, cheap lunch or side dish for Izzy and me and a steam bath for the microwave. Better do it soon. My lunch just blew up, shooting the paper towel covering to one side of the box and two pinto beans to the other. Mac-n-cheese with something green – should it be broccoli, green beans or peas? – for dinner tonight.
The quick mac-n-cheese (admit it, you’re curious) is made without milk. No sauce to break. The whole thing takes less than 20 minutes and now I can make it in one bowl! Boil a cup and a half of water in the microwave. That takes about 2 ½ minutes. I used a one-quart glass bowl. Don’t forget to add salt! Put a generous 2 ounces of pasta into the water. (I used shells this time but Izzy prefers elbows.) Microwave for 10 to 12 minutes, stirring at least once. If the water starts to boil over in the bowl, lower the cooking power to no less than 50%. (Or you could have started with a 1 ½ quart bowl.) Drain the pasta. Return to bowl and add a little bit too much butter, a couple of tablespoons if you can stop there. Stir until the butter melts all over (and inside) the pasta. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Stir. Add your favorite grated cheese. Stir that all around your pasta. Return to the microwave and cook on high for about 15 to 30 seconds to melt some of the cheese (but not all). It’s a little grainy but it’s so easy and fast that you can overlook that.
By the way, I added peas to make mine dinner. And the microwave is pretty clean!
Izzy has noticed something about me lately. I’ve been sleeping through the night every night even when she tries to wake me. When we both need to run to go potty in the morning, I let her out first, usually doing a little dance before running to the bathroom. When I come back to let her in, I see she’s out of water. She’s used to me getting up every three or four hours. Seven or eight hours without checking her water is totally unacceptable, Izzy told me.
Maybe it’s the heat. It’s too hot to do much in the yard. That and housework have been the bulk of my exercise. It’s too hot to cook. If it can’t be thrown in the microwave, I’m not eating it. That makes it pretty hard to write a cookbook. The weather is supposed to let up a bit next week. I’m hoping to finish the appetizer chapter then. From the looks of things, it won’t happen. The appetizers chapter is turning into a book all on its own.
Maybe it’s the humidity. Florida is famous for its humidity. I wash dishes by hand and sometimes even a little laundry. Is it any wonder that my hands often feel like they’ve been in the pool too long? Makes me hate to think what this wet air might do to baking.
Speaking of baking, I read somewhere lately of putting cake batter in a waffle iron. That sounded interesting. Not interesting enough to get me on the floor reaching into a dark cabinet to dig out the waffle iron. It would just be another thing to clean.
My mind is going back to the microwave. A catering friend of mine once suggested I cook pasta in the microwave. May try it the next time I make my quick mac-n-cheese. That would mean a quick, cheap lunch or side dish for Izzy and me and a steam bath for the microwave. Better do it soon. My lunch just blew up, shooting the paper towel covering to one side of the box and two pinto beans to the other. Mac-n-cheese with something green – should it be broccoli, green beans or peas? – for dinner tonight.
The quick mac-n-cheese (admit it, you’re curious) is made without milk. No sauce to break. The whole thing takes less than 20 minutes and now I can make it in one bowl! Boil a cup and a half of water in the microwave. That takes about 2 ½ minutes. I used a one-quart glass bowl. Don’t forget to add salt! Put a generous 2 ounces of pasta into the water. (I used shells this time but Izzy prefers elbows.) Microwave for 10 to 12 minutes, stirring at least once. If the water starts to boil over in the bowl, lower the cooking power to no less than 50%. (Or you could have started with a 1 ½ quart bowl.) Drain the pasta. Return to bowl and add a little bit too much butter, a couple of tablespoons if you can stop there. Stir until the butter melts all over (and inside) the pasta. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Stir. Add your favorite grated cheese. Stir that all around your pasta. Return to the microwave and cook on high for about 15 to 30 seconds to melt some of the cheese (but not all). It’s a little grainy but it’s so easy and fast that you can overlook that.
By the way, I added peas to make mine dinner. And the microwave is pretty clean!
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Menu Planning
The menu for May 5 is usually planned at my house before April is gone. I love Mexican food and can cook for Cinco de Mayo all month. I used to take a break from Mexican food for the sake of my family and Derby Day was a perfect break. Mother’s Day was always by request of whatever mother was closest. My mother, and father for that matter, used to request my scratch-made pizza whenever she didn’t reserve cooking duties for herself. My daughter, born in Phoenix, requests my enchiladas.
This year I’m saddled with no car and infrequent shopping trips. I try to load two or three weeks of provisions into two reusable bags. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t. Last Thursday’s trip found ground pork for nearly two dollars a pound less than ground beef. Pork it was – for chili and an experiment I bought some cheese and canned diced tomatoes. Unfortunately, I forgot tortillas. Also missing is fresh produce. No tortillas and no tortilla chips means no nachos, one of Izzy’s favorite dishes, and no quesadillas, one of her other favorites.
Fire-roasted tomatoes are making their first appearance in my chili this year. I’ll be cooking the chili for a couple of days. The weather’s too hot to cook it all at once. I’m hunting for desserts. Maybe I’ll make two, one with chocolate and one to share with Miss Iz. Maybe I’ll make something that goes well with ice cream.
Somehow it’s hard to plan anything but Cinco de Mayo these days. Wonder how long I’ll feel that way. There’s a good chance of Mexican food in the forecast longer than drought and high temperatures. If and when the summer squash bear fruit, the kitchen may have to learn Italian. There are still canned tomatoes in the pantry.
This year I’m saddled with no car and infrequent shopping trips. I try to load two or three weeks of provisions into two reusable bags. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t. Last Thursday’s trip found ground pork for nearly two dollars a pound less than ground beef. Pork it was – for chili and an experiment I bought some cheese and canned diced tomatoes. Unfortunately, I forgot tortillas. Also missing is fresh produce. No tortillas and no tortilla chips means no nachos, one of Izzy’s favorite dishes, and no quesadillas, one of her other favorites.
Fire-roasted tomatoes are making their first appearance in my chili this year. I’ll be cooking the chili for a couple of days. The weather’s too hot to cook it all at once. I’m hunting for desserts. Maybe I’ll make two, one with chocolate and one to share with Miss Iz. Maybe I’ll make something that goes well with ice cream.
Somehow it’s hard to plan anything but Cinco de Mayo these days. Wonder how long I’ll feel that way. There’s a good chance of Mexican food in the forecast longer than drought and high temperatures. If and when the summer squash bear fruit, the kitchen may have to learn Italian. There are still canned tomatoes in the pantry.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Life Goes On
I’m always amazed how long I can live out of the pantry, refrigerator, and freezer. It proves that even though I buy only what’s on my grocery list and usually only what is on sale, I still buy more food than I realize. We all probably do.
Can you tell I never made it to the grocery store last week? It was too hot to take a bus, too expensive to take a cab, and I felt too much of an imposition to pester anyone for a ride. We’re running out of cookies (mine and Izzy’s) and I’m low on coffee but we’ve eaten our fill every day and even had dessert once in a while. The surprising thing is that I was able to make two holiday-type meals out of the freezer and pantry and none of them looked like offerings from an episode of “Chopped.”
If I were reading this blog, I’d wonder about Easter. I’m writing this blog and I wondered about Easter too. I did until I figured it out. There were two pork chops in the freezer. They had bones. It was as close to ham as I could get. (Of course, my mother never made Easter ham. She made Easter lamb, the leg of course.) There were a few new potatoes left on the counter. There were hard-boiled eggs in the refrigerator. There were peas in the freezer. My Easter eating would consist of what was at hand.
The appetizer round was, naturally, deviled eggs. I don’t remember ever having made deviled eggs before. I sliced the eggs in half lengthwise and emptied the yolks into a small bowl. While crushing the yolks with a fork I contemplated additions to the creamy stuffing. I knew there would be mayonnaise. Did I want to add a drop of sriracha? Not if Izzy was having any. (She likes it with nachos but it’s a little much for Easter.) How about a little pickle relish? Not if it’s going in the egg salad I’ll make Tuesday. No, just mayo in the egg yolks. (I would have added a little mustard but who knew prepared mustard could go bad?) The stuffed egg whites looked good. To make them look even better, I dusted them with a little paprika. Does that sound like deviled eggs to you?
The entree round was planned to take two burners on the stove and the microwave. The potatoes started in a small saucepan of salted water. After a few minutes, I started browning both pork chops in a pan large enough to hold them both without crowding. A little kosher salt and pepper I checked the potatoes - quite ready. My attention turned back to the pork chops. They were ready to play. I added a little Key lime juice to the pan, a tablespoon or two. I almost always use Key lime juice instead of regular lime or lemon juice because there’s always some in the fridge. Then I added about a quarter cup white wine. That was in the fridge too. I let the pork chops and liquids get acquainted then turned the chops and put the cover on the pan, lowering the heat a little. Just before the chops smelled just right, after adding a little more lime juice and wine, I added about two teaspoon of capers. Izzy and I ate like princesses.
A trip to the store is in order today only for dog biscuits and coffee. I’ll be taking the bus and the quarter mile from the corner gets very long with a reusable bag full of heavy food. When I finally make it to the grocery store my list will include fixings for Cinco de Mayo food and Derby Day. Pretty good eatin’ comin’ up!
Can you tell I never made it to the grocery store last week? It was too hot to take a bus, too expensive to take a cab, and I felt too much of an imposition to pester anyone for a ride. We’re running out of cookies (mine and Izzy’s) and I’m low on coffee but we’ve eaten our fill every day and even had dessert once in a while. The surprising thing is that I was able to make two holiday-type meals out of the freezer and pantry and none of them looked like offerings from an episode of “Chopped.”
If I were reading this blog, I’d wonder about Easter. I’m writing this blog and I wondered about Easter too. I did until I figured it out. There were two pork chops in the freezer. They had bones. It was as close to ham as I could get. (Of course, my mother never made Easter ham. She made Easter lamb, the leg of course.) There were a few new potatoes left on the counter. There were hard-boiled eggs in the refrigerator. There were peas in the freezer. My Easter eating would consist of what was at hand.
The appetizer round was, naturally, deviled eggs. I don’t remember ever having made deviled eggs before. I sliced the eggs in half lengthwise and emptied the yolks into a small bowl. While crushing the yolks with a fork I contemplated additions to the creamy stuffing. I knew there would be mayonnaise. Did I want to add a drop of sriracha? Not if Izzy was having any. (She likes it with nachos but it’s a little much for Easter.) How about a little pickle relish? Not if it’s going in the egg salad I’ll make Tuesday. No, just mayo in the egg yolks. (I would have added a little mustard but who knew prepared mustard could go bad?) The stuffed egg whites looked good. To make them look even better, I dusted them with a little paprika. Does that sound like deviled eggs to you?
The entree round was planned to take two burners on the stove and the microwave. The potatoes started in a small saucepan of salted water. After a few minutes, I started browning both pork chops in a pan large enough to hold them both without crowding. A little kosher salt and pepper I checked the potatoes - quite ready. My attention turned back to the pork chops. They were ready to play. I added a little Key lime juice to the pan, a tablespoon or two. I almost always use Key lime juice instead of regular lime or lemon juice because there’s always some in the fridge. Then I added about a quarter cup white wine. That was in the fridge too. I let the pork chops and liquids get acquainted then turned the chops and put the cover on the pan, lowering the heat a little. Just before the chops smelled just right, after adding a little more lime juice and wine, I added about two teaspoon of capers. Izzy and I ate like princesses.
A trip to the store is in order today only for dog biscuits and coffee. I’ll be taking the bus and the quarter mile from the corner gets very long with a reusable bag full of heavy food. When I finally make it to the grocery store my list will include fixings for Cinco de Mayo food and Derby Day. Pretty good eatin’ comin’ up!
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Another New Start
Spring is time for new starts. Luckily it’s not the only time. Since moving to Florida, new starts have jumped into my life in the winter, not necessarily by choice. Around Chicago, the only starts I expected in winter were from my old Chevy.
Izzy, my canine sister, has been trying to speak to me. She has code motions and sounds that may not be words but convey her meanings nonetheless. Ask any dog owner. They understand. Wednesday night I started planning dinner out loud. Since Izzy and I were alone she assumed I was talking to her. She told me no when I mentioned cooking the chicken breast with a sauce. We then went on to discuss the entire meal – chicken, baby portabellas, and red potatoes. When a dog suggests everything in the dish be sliced and sautéed, you can forgive her. She eats straight from a dog bowl, not on a plate with a knife and fork.
We’re having leftovers tonight. That doesn’t mean we won’t consider future dinners but right now I’m thinking about lunch. That’s almost hard to do since I want to go work in the yard. We got our first zucchini blossom today and the new squash I planted have sprung out of the ground. Went out this morning to water the little plots of plants and noticed the amazing growth since the morning before. Tried to work on readying the pepper patch but the bugs were vicious. I tried a little later before it got too hot out. Impossible plan. It got too hot in about five minutes and the bugs never gave me a break.
I must make a short shopping list for tomorrow since I need coffee and Izzy needs cookies. I’ll be hoofing it almost a quarter of the trip. A bus will take care of the long and boring trek. It will also save me from the verge of heat exhaustion that necessitated a cab ride last week. This week I’ll wear a hat. Hopefully, next week I can bum a ride from a kind neighbor who drives a hybrid. If I’m lucky, at least one of the busses I ride will be a hybrid. (They have ramps instead of steps. Double plus.) I miss having a car - even with the gas prices going sky high. I miss having a job. I miss having Ernie around. There’s time to get everything back if I’m lucky, everything except Ernie.
Two zucchini blossoms have dropped so far. I’ve read that’s no cause for alarm. Male flowers do that since they have no future. They live to pollinate and then die. Sounds like a guy thing to me. Suffering through blossom drop with my pepper plants two years ago toughened me to blossom drop of all kinds. Nothing has toughened me to ready this year’s pepper patch in the heat and swarms of biting insects. Think I’ll start working on next year’s garden this winter. Only the sun will stunt my yard work then. Sure, the days will be shorter but they’ll be cooler too.
I’m rambling. I noticed that and am sure you did too. Time to make dinner. This time it will be a surprise to Izzy. She’s just a dog and planning recipes shouldn’t be part of her job description. Sometimes I appreciate her input, though.
Izzy, my canine sister, has been trying to speak to me. She has code motions and sounds that may not be words but convey her meanings nonetheless. Ask any dog owner. They understand. Wednesday night I started planning dinner out loud. Since Izzy and I were alone she assumed I was talking to her. She told me no when I mentioned cooking the chicken breast with a sauce. We then went on to discuss the entire meal – chicken, baby portabellas, and red potatoes. When a dog suggests everything in the dish be sliced and sautéed, you can forgive her. She eats straight from a dog bowl, not on a plate with a knife and fork.
We’re having leftovers tonight. That doesn’t mean we won’t consider future dinners but right now I’m thinking about lunch. That’s almost hard to do since I want to go work in the yard. We got our first zucchini blossom today and the new squash I planted have sprung out of the ground. Went out this morning to water the little plots of plants and noticed the amazing growth since the morning before. Tried to work on readying the pepper patch but the bugs were vicious. I tried a little later before it got too hot out. Impossible plan. It got too hot in about five minutes and the bugs never gave me a break.
I must make a short shopping list for tomorrow since I need coffee and Izzy needs cookies. I’ll be hoofing it almost a quarter of the trip. A bus will take care of the long and boring trek. It will also save me from the verge of heat exhaustion that necessitated a cab ride last week. This week I’ll wear a hat. Hopefully, next week I can bum a ride from a kind neighbor who drives a hybrid. If I’m lucky, at least one of the busses I ride will be a hybrid. (They have ramps instead of steps. Double plus.) I miss having a car - even with the gas prices going sky high. I miss having a job. I miss having Ernie around. There’s time to get everything back if I’m lucky, everything except Ernie.
Two zucchini blossoms have dropped so far. I’ve read that’s no cause for alarm. Male flowers do that since they have no future. They live to pollinate and then die. Sounds like a guy thing to me. Suffering through blossom drop with my pepper plants two years ago toughened me to blossom drop of all kinds. Nothing has toughened me to ready this year’s pepper patch in the heat and swarms of biting insects. Think I’ll start working on next year’s garden this winter. Only the sun will stunt my yard work then. Sure, the days will be shorter but they’ll be cooler too.
I’m rambling. I noticed that and am sure you did too. Time to make dinner. This time it will be a surprise to Izzy. She’s just a dog and planning recipes shouldn’t be part of her job description. Sometimes I appreciate her input, though.
Monday, April 11, 2011
I Might Be Back
Inactivity is one of the greatest sins of blogdom and I have committed it big time. I’m guilty of ignoring this part of my writing life and therefore my internet friends.
I could offer you excuses. They probably wouldn’t hold up. I could offer promises. Would you believe me? Truth be told, my interest in the blog waned when comments ended. It isn’t fun talking to yourself, at least not for me. I spend most of the day talking to Izzy. She’s trying to talk back to me but she’s a dog and not really built for verbal communication.
I played with blogspot to see if I could fix the problem for months. Time to give it a try again. Trying to talk to Google about the problem has been as successful as trying to learn now to fly. I haven’t been alone. There are plenty of blogs with the same comments problem. Several bloggers have posted solutions. I’ll try fixes until I find one that works. I’ll need your help to see if the comments start working since the owner of the blog can always post a comment.
Meanwhile, the actual manuscript of A Table For One or Two is slowly taking shape. There are times I wish diced tomatoes came in 8-ounce cans. (The way food packaging is shrinking, that would be a 7-ounce can soon.) I wish vegetables planted from seed grew faster almost every day now. I will be staggering plantings to have a fresh, new crop until winter arrives. Gardening is taking more of my time than cooking or writing lately. That’s no way to write cookbooks but it’s a great way to get fresh, organic produce.
I’ve been trying to figure out how to return to my blog and continue writing it with love. The answer appeared as if by magic. My grandson has a link to my blog on his website. Actually, my daughter put it there. Garrison is only 6. (Sorry, G-man, six and a half.)
Writing on the blog will now be communicating with my family. As long as you’re reading it, you can be family too. Since we’re all family, I might ask you to chop onions or help with the dishes but you’re all invited for dinner or lunch or maybe even just dessert.
It’s time for me to do some cooking and thinking about the next post. I’d like to plan at least one new post every week. We’ll see how that goes. In a perfect world, we will be able to talk with each other. If that doesn’t work, I’ll continue the monologues.
I could offer you excuses. They probably wouldn’t hold up. I could offer promises. Would you believe me? Truth be told, my interest in the blog waned when comments ended. It isn’t fun talking to yourself, at least not for me. I spend most of the day talking to Izzy. She’s trying to talk back to me but she’s a dog and not really built for verbal communication.
I played with blogspot to see if I could fix the problem for months. Time to give it a try again. Trying to talk to Google about the problem has been as successful as trying to learn now to fly. I haven’t been alone. There are plenty of blogs with the same comments problem. Several bloggers have posted solutions. I’ll try fixes until I find one that works. I’ll need your help to see if the comments start working since the owner of the blog can always post a comment.
Meanwhile, the actual manuscript of A Table For One or Two is slowly taking shape. There are times I wish diced tomatoes came in 8-ounce cans. (The way food packaging is shrinking, that would be a 7-ounce can soon.) I wish vegetables planted from seed grew faster almost every day now. I will be staggering plantings to have a fresh, new crop until winter arrives. Gardening is taking more of my time than cooking or writing lately. That’s no way to write cookbooks but it’s a great way to get fresh, organic produce.
I’ve been trying to figure out how to return to my blog and continue writing it with love. The answer appeared as if by magic. My grandson has a link to my blog on his website. Actually, my daughter put it there. Garrison is only 6. (Sorry, G-man, six and a half.)
Writing on the blog will now be communicating with my family. As long as you’re reading it, you can be family too. Since we’re all family, I might ask you to chop onions or help with the dishes but you’re all invited for dinner or lunch or maybe even just dessert.
It’s time for me to do some cooking and thinking about the next post. I’d like to plan at least one new post every week. We’ll see how that goes. In a perfect world, we will be able to talk with each other. If that doesn’t work, I’ll continue the monologues.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
December In Florida
A week or so before Thanksgiving I started tasting the leftovers. As it was, there were none. With three invitations for dinner, I didn’t get a bird. There was a can of cranberry sauce in the refrigerator that had to be eaten. It’s finally gone though it took me four days to eat it.
Now I’m tasting Christmas cookies. There is no fear that elves are going to hide all my sheet pans for the next three weeks then return them in time for Christmas heavy with six or seven kinds of cookies, some wrapped as gifts and some left for me to munch on. Holiday baking will be, as always, my very own labor of love. Six-hour cookie-baking marathons are in my future. I know it. And I love it.
Local gift cookies will probably be baked in the middle of the night or wee hours of the morning during the week before Christmas. Cookies to be mailed will start earlier. I know my daughter and her family will probably eat them as they sort out the other presents. I sure hope the trip to Long Island doesn’t reduce them to crumbs. Perhaps a short list of uses for cookie crumbs may be in order.
My kitchen won’t spawn only cookies this year. I had planned on making bread for the neighbors. (That might be intimidating since one of my neighbors had a small bread delivery business.) French bread from an authentic French recipe was first on the list. Talk about a labor of love - it takes almost two days to make! When it comes out right, it even tastes like love.
I love to make pumpernickel. It’s one of those recipes that scare first-time cooks. How can all that stuff come out tasting good? Trust me. It does.
Then there’s one of my favorite breads to eat, Swedish Limpa. It’s another recipe that might frighten one who has never tasted it. If you’re ever had it, though, you might be like me and wait in line at 5:30 in the morning at the bakery that (used to) make it only on Thursdays. (It’s a staple now that I’m 1500 miles away. No waiting for the bakery to open on Thursday morning.) Haven’t decided who gets Limpa. I might just eat it all.
After nearly twenty years I discovered there are pink peppercorns growing in my yard. Well, technically, pink peppercorns are from the Peruvian peppertree and mine are from Brazil. I think it’s the difference between $24 per pound and $36. This year it will be an experimental gift is to my daughter. (It’s no gift to people who watch the county try to eradicate the “weed.”) The entire family, including my six-year-old grandson, cooks. When I started cleaning the seeds, there grew a kinship to the girls and women picking stamens from a crocus to harvest saffron. I, of course, will try it before I mail it. As a gift, it should come with a small peppermill. In my kitchen, it will be ground in a mortar and pestle. I hope it tastes good.
Spice mixtures are always in the mix as gifts. They are very personal. Are you a grill master? You need a spice rub. There are Asian spice mixes, Mediteranean, Mexican. As I said, it’s personal. Don’t think I’ll give spice mixes as gifts unless I know they are going to people who really want to try them. Why go to all the trouble of grinding and mixing – and sometimes growing – the ingredients only to see them thrown into the garbage? No landfill in the nation has ever appreciated Herb de Provence.
Everyone loves cookies!
Now I’m tasting Christmas cookies. There is no fear that elves are going to hide all my sheet pans for the next three weeks then return them in time for Christmas heavy with six or seven kinds of cookies, some wrapped as gifts and some left for me to munch on. Holiday baking will be, as always, my very own labor of love. Six-hour cookie-baking marathons are in my future. I know it. And I love it.
Local gift cookies will probably be baked in the middle of the night or wee hours of the morning during the week before Christmas. Cookies to be mailed will start earlier. I know my daughter and her family will probably eat them as they sort out the other presents. I sure hope the trip to Long Island doesn’t reduce them to crumbs. Perhaps a short list of uses for cookie crumbs may be in order.
My kitchen won’t spawn only cookies this year. I had planned on making bread for the neighbors. (That might be intimidating since one of my neighbors had a small bread delivery business.) French bread from an authentic French recipe was first on the list. Talk about a labor of love - it takes almost two days to make! When it comes out right, it even tastes like love.
I love to make pumpernickel. It’s one of those recipes that scare first-time cooks. How can all that stuff come out tasting good? Trust me. It does.
Then there’s one of my favorite breads to eat, Swedish Limpa. It’s another recipe that might frighten one who has never tasted it. If you’re ever had it, though, you might be like me and wait in line at 5:30 in the morning at the bakery that (used to) make it only on Thursdays. (It’s a staple now that I’m 1500 miles away. No waiting for the bakery to open on Thursday morning.) Haven’t decided who gets Limpa. I might just eat it all.
After nearly twenty years I discovered there are pink peppercorns growing in my yard. Well, technically, pink peppercorns are from the Peruvian peppertree and mine are from Brazil. I think it’s the difference between $24 per pound and $36. This year it will be an experimental gift is to my daughter. (It’s no gift to people who watch the county try to eradicate the “weed.”) The entire family, including my six-year-old grandson, cooks. When I started cleaning the seeds, there grew a kinship to the girls and women picking stamens from a crocus to harvest saffron. I, of course, will try it before I mail it. As a gift, it should come with a small peppermill. In my kitchen, it will be ground in a mortar and pestle. I hope it tastes good.
Spice mixtures are always in the mix as gifts. They are very personal. Are you a grill master? You need a spice rub. There are Asian spice mixes, Mediteranean, Mexican. As I said, it’s personal. Don’t think I’ll give spice mixes as gifts unless I know they are going to people who really want to try them. Why go to all the trouble of grinding and mixing – and sometimes growing – the ingredients only to see them thrown into the garbage? No landfill in the nation has ever appreciated Herb de Provence.
Everyone loves cookies!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)