ordered a new copy…

I ordered a new copy of On Food and Cooking.

What happened next? Within an hour of opening up the box from Amazon, husband found the book. Where was it? On the bookshelf in the back room, where I was looking for it. argh. Well, one more Christmas present down, I already know where it is going.

Also purchased a new camera, my other bit the dust, would take pictures but they were black. So pictures can now be taken of the goods we make. Found a recipe for Paneer, and Moroccan Spiced Spaghetti Squash. If you havent tried spaghetti squash yet I would highly recommend it. I picked up one after hearing someone rave about it, sliced in half and baked face down in a baking dish with ~1/4″ of water and then scrape the insides when its done. a little butter, maybe some cinnamon tasty and better for you than pasta.

I also have a pumpkin pie, from scratch, on the books for this week, I’m testing for Thanksgiving.

food and cooking

i went looking for my copy of On Food and Cooking to do a little research before Thanksgiving happens at our house this year. it is MISSING. i have the dust jacket, but no book. argh. if anyone comes across the wayward hardback minus its dust jacket send it home.

in the last month i came across Food Pairing.be. while the selections seem a bit redundant it is interesting to have a look through.

Washing Dishes

I originally wrote this post August 22nd of this year.  Over a month ago.  I FINALLY got a dishwasher October 1st.   note A dishwasher.  The one I had originally picked out, back ordered… then discontinued… and they were going to ship the new model to relieve the back order.  new model= new features= untested features.  argh… why bother with 2 weeks of research.  at least it was the same price as the old model.

So we have had dishwasher problems, previously solved by soaking a gallon of vinegar in it over night then running an extra hot, empty load to flush things out. Not this time, the dishwasher foamed up around the bottom of the door. Think dishwasher with rabies. We are very grateful that we didn’t start it up and go in to town or go work outside. We cleaned up the mess then let it sit again, overnight, over 2 more nights. Finally had to bail it out of the dishwasher, couldn’t the smell of vinegar in the kitchen any longer. We did find a dishwasher we really like. GE’s GLD6700NBB, its mid-grade not super fancy but it still has almost everything I wanted. Apparently Whirlpool is the only one who puts the silverware holder on the door (and gives you a few other options about where to put it.) I just could not find enough good things about Whirlpool to bring myself to it, I’ll let you do your own research to find out if its for you. Big Box 1 said the sold mostly Maytags (the ones pointed out were nice models that were potential choices), Lowe’s didnt really bother to tell me anything I didnt already know and just pointed out features. OK so maybe Big Box 2 was having an off night and I’ll tell you Big Box 1 just didnt quite stock the right models for me.  Of course they are all online through the Big Boxes but I am a touchy feely type.  I want to see the product, push the buttons etc.

A local appliance shop with KNOWLEDGEABLE people showed me the differences between different models.  They actually were cheaper than the big boxes, if you include delivery and swapping out the old copper supply line for the flexable steel it comes out about the same.  And by the way, the big box places wouldnt touch our old copper line supply line.    the local place will change it out for very reasonable fee (which stil only brings them up to the price of the big boxes.  They do their own installs, have their own repair men.

new laptop perks

husband makes a blog debut,

I didnt say it was his blog but they are a funny read when you need it.

thank goodness for his little laptop, he can browse TKF, YSaC and I can poke about Serious Eats and Amazon…

Le Creuset

I have finalllly got my laptop ‘back’– we got the husband his own. Maybe, just maybe, this will increase my post frequency…

I went to San Antonio last weekend to see E. and wish her well off to Nevada. I stopped in San Marcos on the way back, I was encouraged by signs for a LeCreuset store at the outlet mall.  Wow… don’t get me wrong even at second quality it is still some of the most expensive cast iron and stoneware on earth.  BUT nothing quite like this store trying to get rid of the first quality red because they are only going to carry second quality from now on (it is an outlet store after all).  <!–more–>

Still over $100 for a moderately sized dutch oven but it wasn’t over $200.

argh.

ok, what do we not have, a grill pan.  With it regularly up over 100 degrees outside and the property so dry you could start a fire just by thinking about it, we haven’t used the grill in quite a while.   I did the math on the grill pan and it came down to an oh, so reasonable $60.  SOLD.

I had not done the research on the price of an enameled cast iron grill pan before the purchase, I just knew that $60 for a piece of LeCreuset that was larger than a pint sized dutch oven wasn’t bad.  I took a look at Lodge’s website their 10″ cast iron grill pan runs ~$67 according to their website, can probably find it cheaper but its not too far off from what you would pay.  Lodge and a few brand names that are not immediately coming to mind tend to favorable reviews when looking at price and quality.  Cooks Magazine did a review on enameled cast iron some time ago that concluded Lodge and the other brand were reasonable choices when the famed LeCreuset was out of the question.  I have to agree.  I really like my lodge dutch oven, it is fully enameled, even the black rim around the top of the pot and underside of the lid is coated in flat black, so no rust, anywhere and soap and soaking are perfectly acceptable.

Back to the LeCreuset outlet store….. the blue and black stoneware (solid color, not the standard LeCreuset fade) and a selection of deep dish pie plates at 1/2 off the lowest marked price.  I think these were seconds but honestly I could not tell, didn’t ask.  I picked up a lovely green apple colored pie plate for cheap.  Its huge, I immediately saw a giant apple pie stacked tall with apples.

We did use the grill pan this week, I was craving hamburgers, worked out fabulously.

Second quality merchandise can be a great way to acquire larger more expensive pieces for your kitchen.  Many of my large Fiesta serving plates and bowls are seconds.  Otherwise they just would not be affordable.  Some of it is incredibly obvious as to where the flaws are (personally I put those back and keep digging for a better piece), some of it not so much, maybe the color was a little off from the rest of the batch or the plate is just slightly warped.  I had a good look at the seconds of LeCreuset.  Some of it you could see where there was a knick in the enamel most of it only an expert inspector could find.  I have no problem with that.  Especially to get the price knocked down on expensive items.

I had not done the research on the price of an enameled castiron grill pan before the purchase, I just knew that $60 for a piece of LeCreuset that was larger than a pint sized dutch oven wasnt bad.  I took a look at Lodge’s website their 10″ cast iron grill pan runs ~$67 according to their website, can probably find it cheaper but its not too far off from what you would pay.  Lodge and a few brand names that are not immediatly comming to mind tend to favorable reviews when looking at price and quality.  Cooks Magazine did a review on enameled cast iron some time ago that concluded Lodge and the other brand were reasonable choices when the famed LeCreuset was out of the question.    I have to agree.  I really like my lodge dutch oven, it is fully enameled, even the black rim around the top is coated in flat black, so no rust, soap and soaking are perfetly acceptable.  The LeCreuset isnt, not a big deal but for those of us who didnt grown up with much cast iron used in the house it is comforting.

Go Greek

I have the equipment to make my own yogurt. the process is simple. Add some dry milk to liquid milk (makes a better texture) mix throughly.  Heat your milk concoction up, to almost boiling, allow to cool until it hits somewhere between 115F and 118F. Remove a little of the warm milk mix to a small dish/cup/bowl. Mix the starter with this. It should allow you to get the lumps and clumps out if using a powdered starter. Pour this back into the the rest of the milk mix, combine well. Pour into your yogurt maker cups and turn it on. (no yogurt maker, check this out, they use goat milk but the process is still the same. 101 Cookbooks also is a good guide).

Lately and Pepper Lasagna

Life has been going alright. Earlier this year I decided it was time to cut my extra weight. It didnt hurt that work decided to kick in and cover a  Weight Watchers program if we could get X number of people to sign up. We did. Its been going well. I’ve dropped ~18 pounds since January. Some of that before the WW program started up. Honestly I dont know that I would have signed up on my own. BUT with meetings paid for by work and at work… what did I have to lose aside from some extra weight. So far it has been a good thing! I started NOT going back for seconds on dinner packing smaller lunches, more veggies, I decided that if a tomato slice came on a sandwich that I would eat it etc. It also didnt hurt that I decided to walk during my lunch hour, whatever time i have left after eating lunch. Generally 20-30 minutes. Work has an exercise room, a couple of treadmills a defunct StairMaster (which has been taken in for repairs) and an elliptical was added this year. The elliptical is not for the faint of heart. I sweat looking at it but have managed to work up a tolerance, so to say, of about 30-40 minutes, twice a week for now maybe I can add another after husband is finished with school this semester. There is not much else that can make me sweat like that. I am eventually looking for a total loss of 60 pounds from where I started the begining of this year.

Popcorn Escape

last night, our popcorn tried to escape.

this also happened on the other end of the bag. the popcorn didn’t burn, there were a few loose kernels around the microwave. I didn’t hear anything unusual. oh well… it was still tasty.

The Butcher

We have been getting most of our beef from a local butcher. Generally we get some sausage and ground beef. I’m new to this relatively fresh meat served up by people who know what they are doing. When I drove up this morning I noticed the sign listed a variety of steaks that were available. Ok, so I like sirloin, its not expensive and as long as its not over cooked its good. Dont get me wrong, I’ll eat a ribeye or strip steak no problem. I just like sirloin. When I asked for 2 sirloin steaks ~3/4″ to 1″ thick. The lady on the other side of the counter said they were just about to cut some. WOW. so she gestured over to where a gentleman had a hunk of beef in front of him and he sliced me off of couple of slabs. I ended up with two slaps of beef something roughly 10″x6″ each. I put one in a vacuum sealed bag, the other we ate tonight! A bit of olive oil, salt and pepper that was all. Due to some not so spectacular weather we ended up broiling, not grilling unfortunately. Set the fire alarm off oh… I think 3 times. The meat was just about right, I would have preferred a little more done.

lesson here, visit your local butcher. did i mention this particular place has some darn good breakfast sausage? you never know what you are going to find, but it will likely be much fresher than what you find at the grocery store. if you want something a little off from the normal cuts they can probably find it for you. The meat also could be a bit more local if you think about that. it is likely not being packaged in Georgia, originally from who knows where, then shipped plastic wrapped to the store where it sits and waits for you. something to think about i suppose.

Southern Cooking

A while back (like July) I picked up a copy of Screen Doors and Sweet Tea by Martha Hall Foose. I’d read several reviews and recipes from it and decided I was going to acquire a copy I actually sat down and read through it.  There are little quips in with the recipes, how the author came across recipes or made them up.  Foose provides tips through out as well as the all important pictures of recipes, a good portion of the recipes anyways.  In my experience recipes always look tastier than they sound.  Recipes all sound pretty good aside from the banana pudding.  As I see it, it should consist of vanilla pudding, with ‘nilla wafers and banana slices.  Fake banana flavored pudding has no place in my pudding cup if that is how it is going to work.  Although making banana pudding from scratch, not the box, should avoid this.  But still.  That’s how I  like it.  I hope we’ll be making the sweet potato biscuits next weekend.

I also picked up a copy of Southern Cakes by Nancie McDermott.   I should be absolutely honest here, I got it mostly to look and go ‘ooo that does sound good…’ and to maybe make a cake on the rare occasion that I have the opertunity to bake for more than husband and I.  Most recipes have a picture.  There is one of a Lady Baltimore Cake, I do realize there are as many versions as there are southern cooks, but after comming across a recipe in an OLD (circa 1940s)  Watkin’s brand Cookbook at Grandma’s house, I was curious.  I now have a copy of the book, a scanned copy.   Although I have to admit I haven’t checked it out yet.      Strange enough, I have noticed Watkin’s at, of all places, Wal-mart.  The main stream spices and extracts mostly are what I have noticed.  I can not say for sure if I have seen it at the real grocery stores in town yet.  The wider line of products appears to be sold in the same manner as Avon/Mary Kay/Tupperware.