One a day...Number three and four.

Well, I missed yesterday. Maybe because I was busy drinking these.Today: Three very happy packages arrived - food processor, ice cream maker, and film processing supplies, oh my!

One a day...Number two.

The only photos I've taken today have been analog - I finally got a new battery for my trusty old Mamiya and, oh, I've got big plans for her. So, in the spirit of at least uploading one photo every day in an effort to make myself be creative at least part-time, I give you last night's dinner. Nothing fancy, just some light buttery pasta with veg and a good, big, fat salad.

In other exciting photo news, not only did I find TWO places that have rentable darkroom space, but I also dug out my old tank and ordered up some chemistry so that I can develop my own film again! It's been a long, long time since I did it and just reading a tutorial to remind myself how it goes made me go all misty/nostalgic. I remember so poignantly the feeling of my fingers going all puckery while washing freshly developed film combined with wafting chemical smells and everything being nice and cool and clean and dust-free. And come Wednesday (when my happy little shipment arrives) I'll be doing it again, theoretically. I am a little nervous to discover that I've lost my touch or that it's not as much fun as I remember it (as with so many foolish things we did in college), but I'm sure it'll come back in a snap and be even more satisfying now since I haven't done it in ages.

All this photo-Schwärmerei was brought about, in case you're wondering, by some fun shooting in Ireland and the decision that if I'm going to have the kind of well rounded life I really want, now is as good a time as any to get started. So here we go - I'm plunging back in.

One a day...

It may be time for another attempt at 365 photos. Keep your expectations in check.

Faux toes

This is a taste of my photos from our trip to Ireland. Many, many more can be seen here.

Hot weather equals ...

An urge, a craving, and, ultimately, sweet satisfaction

Yesterday I found myself with the urge to do something in the kitchen. These moods tend to strike at the least opportune times - as far as possible from mealtimes, when I have a ton of work to do, when the kitchen is dangerously low on supplies (which, admittedly, forces creativity, but usually ends with less than ideal results), and so forth. This was combined with a craving for bread, which - tragedy! - we did not have in the house.

And so I pulled out the book that is quickly becoming a Bible for me - The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook and started to read recipes. I quickly decided against rolls, sandwich bread, and a variety of sweet options. I landed on their quick, easy recipe for Rosemary Focaccia (my rosemary needed a little pruning, after all).

The result, with a little fiddling and a lot of shameful ignoring (How long is it supposed to rise again?), was a crispy, yet soft, chewy focaccia with the tang of good olive oil and the bite of good, crunchy sea salt. In short, it hit the spot.
Rosemary Focaccia - The Book also provides suggestions for substituting parmesan, sage, or olive and thyme. They all sound delicious.

Note: don't use dried rosemary for fear of burning.

1 russet potato (I used Yukon Gold) - be sure you'll have enough for about 1 1/3 cups grated potato (for me, this meant two small ones)
3 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1 1/2 t. instant yeast
1 1/4 t. salt
1 c. warm water
1/4 c. extra-virgin olive oil, plus some for the baking sheet and rising bowl (I didn't measure very carefully, which resulted in a rather too-oily bread. But it's good oil, so it tastes fine anyway.)
2 T. fresh rosemary (Again, I did not measure, but instead just liberally plopped the rosemary down on the top of the dough)
3/4 t. coarse sea salt (I used too much.)

1. Cook the potato until it's easily pierced with a knife (~10 minutes). Allow to cool until it's comfortable to handle. Grate it on the large holes of a box grater. The recipe initially asks you to cut the potato into 1-inch chunks, but in the future (for the sake of grating it more easily) I would leave it in halves or quarters. The small chunks were rather unwieldy and quite messy to grate. Reserve 1 1/3 c. grated potato.
2. Mix 3 1/4 c. of the flour with the other dry ingredients (yeast, table salt). On low, add potato, water and 2 T. olive oil until the dough comes together.
3. Ratchet up the speed (medium-low) and knead until dough is smooth and elastic (~10 minutes). If the dough is too wet (sticking to sides of the bowl), add flour. I needed all of the extra flour, perhaps because of the massive humidity in Boston yesterday?
4. Turn the dough out onto the counter and knead it to form a smooth ball (~1 minute).
5. Put the dough-ball into an oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. I would also suggest oiling the plastic wrap, lest the plastic wrap stick to the dough, which mine did (tragedy!). Let rise for about an hour, or until it's doubled in size.
6. Finagle the dough into a 12x18 rimmed baking sheet - just try to get it to stay in the corners - with WET HANDS. This part is very important. It calms down the dough a little and keeps your hands from sticking without drastically changing the flour/oil/water balance in the dough.
7. Cover and let it rise for another 45-60 minutes. It should just about double in size and will slowly return to its original shape when prodded.
8. Preheat oven to 425. Dimple the dough with your fingers in a more or less regular pattern. Drizzle the rest of the olive oil, sprinkle with sea salt, and toss on the rosemary.
9. Bake 20-25 minutes (25 for me) until the bocaccia bottom is golden and crisp. (I found a normal spatula very very helpful in lifting up the focaccia to check the bottom.)
10. Try to wait until it's cooled a little before slicing. You won't be able to.

**Another prop for this book - they have EXCELLENT descriptions and photos of how to know when the dough is too wet. Very useful for those who are uncertain about these sorts of things. It's a SERIOUSLY good cookbook for cooks at any level. Also, they provide rationales for a lot of their recipe and ingredient choices, which is reassuring.

Lessons I learned in Ireland

Figure One. Scones are better in Ireland. So is the butter.
Figure Two. Guinness is good for you.
Figure Three. When asked the question "Would you like a bit of cream with your raspberry crumble," say yes.
Figure Four. When making a sandwich, good bread is obviously a necessity (good Irish brown bread, in this case). Also highly recommended, however, is shredded cheese instead of sliced.
Figure Five. Even if it doesn't look like much, fish and chips is truly a memorable meal when you're near the sea and have lots of salt and vinegar at your disposal.
Figure Six. If you ever find yourself in Kenmare, County Kerry, go to Mulcahy's. Order the pork.

Radio Silent

I'm off to the land of Guinness, shamrocks, and Leprechauns. Don't expect to hear much from me for a couple of weeks.

Lasagna and clafoutis and cocktails - oh my!

In other weekend eating news, I tried Sweet Amandine's clafoutis recipe with a few too many berries (again with the moisture issue), but it came out gorgeously. (See the pre-batter photo, as the post-baking result wasn't as pretty as it was delicious.) The clafoutis was dessert for a rather decadent dinner involving lasagna and a newly invented cocktail.

But first, the lasagna. I followed the America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook recipe (if you don't have this book, buy it immediately). They handily start with a vegetarian version (Simple Cheese Lasagna) and offers options for other versions (Meat, Mushroom & Spinach, etc.) and clear instructions.

First, the sauce recipe (it is delicious for lasagna or other pasta).

1 T olive oil
1 minced onion
6 cloves minced garlic
1 can crushed tomatoes (28 oz.)
1 can diced tomatoes (28 oz.)
1/4 t. dried oregano (I used fresh)
1/8 t. red pepper flakes (I used cayenne)

You basically do what you would expect to: cook the onion until it softens, add the garlic until it's fragrant. If you're making it MEATY, add the meat (I used 1 lb. ground turkey and 1/2 c. diced prociutto) now. Then tomatoes (don't drain!) and season with oregano, cayenne pepper (or pepper flakes), and salt and pepper to taste. Simmer until it's a little thicker.

And then the process of the lasagna itself. The book (quite rightly) recommends no-boil noodles, but I only had yes-boil noodles on hand. There are four basic layers that you repeat as long as your pan holds out.

1. Sauce. You can make the sauce from the recipe above or use jar sauce.
2. Noodles. Three standard lasagna noodles will cover the bottom of a 9"x13" pan.
3. Happy, rich ricotta mixture. This is comprised of 15 oz. ricotta mixed with 1 c. Parmesan, 1/2 c. minced fresh basil, an egg, and salt and pepper.
4. Mozzarella, grated.

Layer these one over the other until the pan is full. If you've ever seen me packing a suitcase, you understand the method I find useful to employ: pour in more goodies and apply pressure until it all fits. Just be prepared to get a little dirty. Finish this layering process with a layer of noodles, then sauce, then a cup of mozzarella and the final 1/4 c. Parmesan. Then cover the lasagna with oiled aluminum foil and bake for 15 minutes at 375. Remove the foil and continue baking for 25 more minutes until bubbling and brown on top.

But, as I mentioned before, there have been a couple of cocktails created in the last week: First, the heady one. I have a little herb garden growing on my balcony, which includes a curious plant called Pineapple Sage. It is primarily decorative and aromatic, but is perfectly safe for culinary use and I had read it recommended for cocktails. So, I got adventurous.

For four generous pours:
Muddle:
8-10 small Pineapple Sage leaves, roughly chopped
2 T. brown sugar

Mix in about 4 oz. gin

Pour about an oz. of this mixture into each glass and top with ginger ale. Garnish with an additional sage leaf.

The other cocktail was a little less aggressively flavored (probably a good thing, as it followed lasagna and clafoutis and we were all practically collapsed with heavy food). It was smooth, citrusy, and herby and went down quite easily.

Muddle:
ca. 5 large basil leaves, roughly chopped
2 T. powdered sugar
1 lime, cut into eighths

Mix in about 4 oz. vodka. Pour about an oz. of this mixture into each glass. Top with club soda. Drink up! Oh, and I haven't named these cocktails yet. Any ideas?

More Cooking Adventures

It's not often that I find myself arrested by a recipe with an urge to try it immediately, but it happened yesterday. A few weeks ago the New York Times did a profile of Twitter-users who tweet recipes. The most impressive of them is, in my opinion, Cookbook. She tweets entire recipes in the allotted 140 characters, with the help of a battery of abbreviations and sometimes curious punctuations. This epicurean Morse code is sometimes difficult to parse, but the effort of condensing them and eliminating all those pretty words seems herculean. Anyway, over the weekend the following popped up in my feed:

"Olive Oil Cookies: beat egg/7T oil/5T wine. Fold+c flour/6T sug/.5t mince fresh rosemary/.25t bkgpdr&s+p. Form~20t's; 12m@375F/190C to brwn."

"Hark!" I said to myself," Hath someone shown me the way to eat olive oil and sugar at the same time!?" And I sprinted to my kitchen. A scant 25 minutes later, the lovely, chewy little morsels you see to the right came out of the oven with a puff of olive oil scented steam. A note, however. (And this was a theme of the weekend.) The dough for these cookies came out more like a batter, so I added a little more flour to thicken them up. This may have been unnecessary, but I couldn't see a way to "form" anything out of the slurry that resulted from the above proportions.

In any case, the cookies came out (with a little extra baking time, which confirms my suspicion that my oven runs cold) delicious, chewy in the center, crispy on the edges, and with a complex, sweet, mildly salty, peppery flavor that surprises and challenges the taster. These cookies go equally well with wine and coffee and on their own. Oh, and being lighter than butter cookies (blessed, blessed olive oil), it's easier to eat a whole batch in one sitting. Try these immediately!

The promise of things to come

I've decided that maybe the key to making beautiful photos (as Jess does over at Sweet Amandine) is to consistently surround myself with beautiful things.

For a brief period a few years ago, I spent more of my time making and printing photos than doing almost anything else. Anyone who knows me has heard me say that the best part of the process was being in the darkroom and experiencing what my (batty) photo teacher called the "alchemical process" of developing photos. I liked to watch the photo paper swimming around in the developer and the faint ghost of an image creeping onto the paper and then the full, vivid image appearin all in a rush.

I feel sort of the same way about my plants. I like counting the buds of new leaves and blossoms and watching them unfurl by the day. And now I have vegetable plants that are similarly exciting to watch! And so, here are a few mundane flower and veg shots to get myself back in the swing of things.Figure 1. My sweet little "Bell Boy" pepper plant! Near the top you see two teeny little peppers and at the bottom, one bigger one! The biggun is about two inches long and about an inch in diameter.
Figure 2. One of the meaty little Peonies I bought yesterday.Figure 3. The meatier of the two Peonies I bought yesterday.Figure 4. And look what they did today!Figure 5. You can imagine how I'm ogling these sweet little green buds. And the actual snappy blooms aren't bad either.

Clip Show: June is almost over?

This is what I've been doing lately.
Fig. 1. Photobooth pictures were taken.
Fig. 2. Rooty trees were ogled.
Fig. 3. Just maybe the happiest place on Earth was visited.

Feast for a visiting friend

Recently, the puppy and the hubby and I played host to a dog called Snoot - Lucy's best friend from puppy-hood who tragically moved to California with his human, whom we shall call Ishmael. Ishmael came over to visit Snoot one day and I cooked a little feasty goodness for lunch. So very lovely to see this good friend and his gorgeous dog. Ishmael calls himself a Vegetarian of Convenience, so we decided to be a little inconvenient and eat fish (which he adores and which you all know is a recent project of mine).

I did a rerun of the lemon-tomato-baked chicken I posted about earlier, this time with Scrod purchased from the Court House Fish Market (about which I will be separately posting very soon). But! Before we get to the main course! The appetizer - swoon.What you see there is the end - it was so good I forgot to take a picture of the whole dish before diving into it - of a small green salad topped with some olive oil, some SERIOUSLY good Balsamico, and one plump, moist, delicious, melt-in-your-mouth, gorgeous scallop* with a little ribbon of prociutto. The salad was simple. A few mesclun and butter lettuce leaves, oil and vinegar, and that's it. The scallop was almost that simple. I wrapped the prociutto around the scallop and tossed it in a pan with a little olive oil (loose ends of the prociutto on the bottom for starters) and cooked it til it was golden brown on that side (about a minute?) and about 30 seconds on the other side (just til it started to brown). This resulted in a little crispy edge on each bite, but a creamy just-done middle. Delicious.

So, Ishmael, we enjoyed having you and Snoot visit. I hope you enjoyed the food enough to induce a repeat visit!


*Note: If you know me, you know that next to chocolate, nothing makes me go weak in the knees quite like a perfectly-cooked scallop.

Cute Puppy Photo of the Day

Sesame Crusted Mahi-Mahi with Orange-Soy sauce

A success story from last week's creative cooking! I took two frozen mahi-mahi fillets, defrosted them and crusted them with sesame seeds (dredged in egg, rolled in sesame seeds). Then I pan fried them (canola oil) and made a little glaze-y orange-soy sauce. (garlic, juice of one valencia orange, drizzle of soy sauce, salt, pepper) Served with steamed Asparagus. Delicious!

Necessity is the Mother of Invention

My need, in this case, is twofold: One: to get healthy; Two: to lose a little weight. My problem with these projects is also twofold: One: I hate working out; Two: I hate diets. And 'healthy' food.

So, in this series I'm going to try to cook healthily (i.e. less pasta, more healthy protein, less cholesterol) within the guidelines of the South Beach Diet, with which I had a lot of success in the past.

IMPORTANT NOTE: This is the only mention of the Diet that I will include (save the occasional Phase notation). My plan is not to write a Diet Blog (Those irritate me and you all don't need the blow-by-blow of my fight with my thighs.), but rather to share some recipes - some plundered, some invented - that are indistinguishable from Real Food. Wish me luck.

Today:

Lunch: Turkey burgers

-ground turkey
-drizzle of olive oil
-salt, pepper, garlic powder to taste
-smidge of pesto

Smoosh all the ingredients together, form into burger sized balls, squish onto hot griddle and cook until done (juices run clear, golden brown surfaces, internal temp of ca. 165° F).

Dinner: Crock Pot Lentils

-16 oz. bag of dried lentils
-1 carton chicken broth
-1/2 can crushed tomatoes
-1 small yellow onion, diced and browned
-2 cloves garlic, sliced
-salt, pepper to taste
-generous heap of Ras el hanout (thank you, Jamie!)
-smidge of ground cumin
-a few mushrooms, quartered
-also a dash of cinnamon

I searched briefly for a good crock-pot lentil (not soup) recipe, but quickly became bored with samey recipes that included many many ingredients I don't have on hand. This recipe is very much a "what do I have on hand" invention. I know it really needs some freshening up - celery would do wonders. Carrots would also be nice, but this is a Phase I recipe. I'll be adjusting liquid and seasoning as it goes, but my goal is to cook it on high for about 5 hours and hope they don't turn out too soupy. At this moment, they smell disarmingly like the chili my mom made when I was a kid.

I'm going to serve this as a side with some as-yet-undetermined chicken or fish dish. Yes, I need to go to the grocery. Stay tuned for updates.

Two Meals

One: Fish.

As you might recall. I hadn't until recently cooked fish before. I did try, though, and it worked out great! This is what I did.
I drizzled a casserole dish with olive oil, then placed a half-pound cod filet (cut into two servings) into the pan. I drizzled the fish again with olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper, some thyme and rosemary. Then, I chopped garlic and two roma tomatoes and sprinkled them over the top. I squeezed half a lemon over the fish and sliced the other half. I placed the slices on top of the fish and sprinkled capers over. Then I baked the fish until it was flaky. I served with steamed broccoli and buttery cous cous. Delish.

Two: Picnic.

Last weekend, my girlfriends and I descended on Northampton for our fifth college reunion. In a (feeble) effort to save money, we thought we would lunch on the grass on picnic food rather than forking out for a reunion-sponsored meal or schmancy restaurant option. Though I would be surprised if any of us actually saved money with this plan, we did indulge in one of the most delicious, nostalgic, idyllic early-summer picnics you could imagine.
On this plate:

• Satay noodles - the stuff of my dreams - from the State Street Fruit Store Deli. Oh, how I have missed these noodles.
• CRAZY delicious strawberries.
• Sunflower seed bread with cheddar and sopressata.
• Rosemary bread with brie. French Batard with smoked gouda. Bread from the Hungry Ghost Bakery.
• We also had prosecco with strawberry juice.

We all lounged on a blanket under the Big Elm Tree on Chapin Lawn and swapped stories and muppet imitations and news from our every-days. The funny thing was that even though we're five years and miles and miles away from then, it seemed like nothing more than the old every-day we had in college. Much love to all my Smithies.

This Week's The Grand Essential To-Do

• Do laundry (ASAP)
• Final Edits/Bibliography tweaking on Prospectus (By Tuesday 5 PM)
• Post lecture notes (today)
• Finish PITF application (today)
• Submit Final Exam question proposals (today)
  
• GWF final report (today)
• Find and book a moving company (by Friday?)
• Finish grading for Extension school (by Thursday)
• Write Extension School Final (by next Thursday)
• Car for 5/21-24 (ASAP)
  
• Hotel for 7/18 in Marion, MA (ASAP)
  
• Hotel for 8/20-23 in Tiverton, RI (ASAP)
  
• Change addresses on everything (5/15)
  

Summer Fare

The heatwave of this week has put me in mind of an issue I face every summer. What to eat?

Necessary background information: I am pathetic when it comes to heat. For all my bitching about winter this year, I would rather have snow than blinding heat any day. I spent entire summers of my youth wilting on a sofa waiting for fall. Things have not improved.

On Sunday we were in Northampton, sitting down to eat after a day of gallivanting (mostly in an air-conditioned car) in the 80-some degree heat. I ordered my favorite dish in my favorite restaurant (Chicken Piccata served over Lemon Fettucine) and found, to my dismay, that I was too hot and wilted to have an appetite. A feeble attempt at mustering hunger left me with a little over half of my food leftover and a fridge for left-overing nowhere nearby. Alas.

So, I'm asking you all: do you have delicious recipes for tasty, yet light dishes for the summer? A few preferences: salads are well and good, but not considered by myself or my husband to be much of a meal most of the time (this may change come summer in our new third floor walk-up). I have never (not even once!) cooked fish, and it seems like a good hot-weather option, so send those recipes along! Otherwise, I'm open to suggestion.

Also, any tips on container-gardening are also welcome.

Big fat failure

As this week's phenomenally ambitious plan has been a complete and utter failure, I am taking good advice from a great friend (who got similar advice from our fabulous adviser). I am going to try to think small. Starting tonight I am going to do the following.

• Read about 50 necessary, productive pages a day and
• Write 250 words of notes a day about the aforementioned pages.

Hopefully this will work.

If you're into cooking and/or Twitter

These recipes are awesome. This woman condenses all her recipes into 140 characters and posts them for all to share! Awesome.

For my reference: Grand plans

This will likely not be entertaining to any of you, so feel free to skip right over it.

Monday 4.20
4-5 PM: do a little reading/writing on prospectus
5-6:30ish PM: Faculty dinner at Annenberg
Evening: clean the house and chill

Tuesday 4.21
8 AM (latest): Up and at 'em, breakfast, shower
9 - 12 PM: Read Sloterdijk and write about him
12 PM: head to campus
1 - 2 PM: Childhood Lecture
2 - 4 PM: Prospectus (Read and write about Bachelard)
4 - 5:15 PM: Childhood Staff Meeting
5:15 - 6:45 PM: Graduate Writing Fellows
6:45 PM: Home, chill

Wednesday 4.22
8 AM (latest): Up and at 'em, breakfast, shower
9 - 11 AM: Revisit Prospectus draft, add/delete material
11 AM: Head to campus, lunch, date with Danny
4 - 6 PM: Continue prospecting
Evening: Chill

Thursday 4.23
8 AM (latest): Up and at 'em, breakfast, shower
9 - 11 AM: Plan for Childhood section
11 AM: Head to campus, lunch
1 - 2 PM: Childhood Lecture
2 - 3:30 PM: Prepare for Extension School
3:30 - 5:15 PM: Continue tinkering on Prospectus
5:15 - 7:30 PM: Extension School
7:30 PM: Home

Friday 4.24
6:55 AM: Up and at 'em, head to campus, breakfast
8:30 - 10 AM: Prepare for section
10 - 11 AM: Childhood Section #1
11 AM - 1 PM: Lunch, chill
1 -2 PM: Childhood Section #2
2 PM: Home, chill
Evening: something fun?

Clip Show - Springtime edition

In the weeks since our last Clip Show, Spring has arrived in Boston (limping and undecided, but at least the snow is almost all gone), grandiose decisions have been made regarding a new abode, and work has been put ever further off. Here are some highlights from the last three months.

Figure One. Daffodils from Russo's and the little red calendar that could.
Figure two. I am not an egg fan, but I have taken a fancy to bagel breakfast sandwiches featuring scrambled egg, sharp cheddar, and rosemary ham. This one had the extra benefit of avocado.

Figure three. The Fraktail. This is a drink I made in honor of the end of a particular television show that I came to adore. Recipe adapted from the "Creole Lady Cocktail" in Old Mr. Boston's De Luxe Official Bartender's Guide (1951 edition).

My recipe:

1 oz. Bourbon Whiskey
1 oz. Madeira Wine
generous splash no sugar added cranberry juice (to remind us of the bittersweet goodbye)
shake over ice and serve in a martini glass with a cherry.

So say we all.

Figure four. Sofra. This is a very surprising little lovely middle-eastern bakery and coffee shop. They serve the most astonishing and delicious things.

Figure five. The delicious Mezze platter I had for breakfast (outside) on the first warm Sunday of 2009. From left to right: Bean plaki - braised with tomato, garlic and green peppers; Moroccan carrot salad (harissa, ground ginger, olive oil, and vinegar); smokey eggplant with pine nuts; Armenian bean and walnut pate (red kidney beans, walnuts, butter, olive oil, and pomegranate molasses); Moroccan style goat cheese with almonds, raisins, and cilantro. Also, flatbread with black sesame seeds.

Figure six. Lucy had a visitor. Gerta came to stay for a long while.

Figure seven. After making a beautiful pork shoulder, I used the leftovers to make a gorgeous pork ragu served over creamy-dreamy polenta. Recipe from Fine Cooking.

Wish List - in no particular order

1. a larger bed
2. and bed frame
3. kitchen table and chairs
4. more bookshelves
5. frame for our Chagall print
6. trip to Seattle and environs, Vancouver
7. trip to Ireland/UK/Guernsey
8. trip to Germany
9. new wardrobe
10. another puppy
11. the necessary accoutrements for a really cool office space
12. herb and vegetable plants to grow in containers on our new deck
13. a cheap, trustworthy moving company
14. oriental rug
15. comfy leather armchair
16. coffee table
    

End of an (albeit brief) era

My little family (big husband and little dog) has really loved living in our suburban little town for the last year, but we've decided it's time to grow up and move back to the big city. So, we're up'n and movin' to a lovely new neighborhood (all new territory to explore and lots of new smells for the pup) come May 15. Very exciting!

Lust.

I desperately, oh so desperately, want one of these. A Yashica Mat - old-school. And I want to trundle around Berlin snapping square photos with it.

Comfort Food: Part One

One of the unique challenges of food photography is trying to make a beautiful photo of a delicious dish that just simply doesn't look very appealing. Think oatmeal, but without the added visual interest of currants or nuts or anything. Result: something resembling kindergarten paste. Or take as an example a big pot of chili (which can be, but isn't always beautiful) or something like tripe (not that appealing to me in general, and certainly not attractive. For me, this challenge is embodied by (tragically) perhaps my favorite food. I find myself longing to blog about, but unable to make beautiful the food I would very likely request for my last meal on Earth.

I speak of the mighty Biscuits and Gravy.

Many of my more East-Coast-Cosmopolitan friends have wrinkled their eyebrows at the mere mention of such an odd invention as Biscuits. With Gravy. "What kind of gravy?" is the inevitable question. My inevitable, inevitably unsatisfying answer? "Good gravy."

Fig. 1. Good gravy.

Sunday it had decided to remind us, weak as we are, that winter is not yet over. Gale force winds and driving snow chilled me, my husband, our puppy to the bone and made it difficult to keep the house warm. The windows rattled. My teeth chattered. It was time for some warm-making food.

So, in need of comfort and general foodstuffs, we trekked to the stout and steady Zipcar and made our way to the Super Stop and Shop (It is material for another blog post altogether, but this is a beautiful supermarket. It was our first - and definitely not last - trip there.) I was lingering in the Pork section of the meat aisle, considering the merits of tackling another roast when I spotted it: the Jimmy Dean sausage that I haven't found elsewhere. (Is this a rare thing in New England? Don't you sometimes just need a big tube of peppery, delicious pork sausage?) I picked up one of those delicious pounds of flesh and, in the spirit of quickly attaining comfort food, scooped up another tube, this time of Grands! Homestyle Buttermilk Biscuits (the kind where you have to explode the little cardboard tube before baking the goodness).

Home I went and cooked up perhaps the Best Biscuits and Gravy I've ever had. After only minutes of simmering, crackling, bubbling goodness, my whole house smelled peppery and rich and like my childhood. Here's how I did it. Please pardon the pictures. Biscuits and Gravy is not one of the supermodels of the food world, but it is one of the finest dishes there is.

Biscuits and Gravy - roughly as my mom would do it.

1 lb. Jimmy Dean (or other unpretentious) sausage
1/2 c. (ish) all-purpose flour
1 qt. (ish) milk
1/4 c. half and half (I use the fat free stuff)
generous salt and pepper

1 tube ready made biscuits (or you can make your own, overachiever)

1. Prepare the biscuits as directed. Put them into the oven.

2. Squeeze the sausage out of its tube into a good, heavy-bottomed pan over medium heat. Squish it around until it is more or less evenly distributed and broken into smaller pieces over the bottom of the pan. Brown it quite thoroughly (but don't burn), while stirring more or less constantly.

3. When the sausage has browned and released it's juices (read: grease), spoon some flour over it and stir. The idea is to coat all the sides of the sausage, but not too heavily. The measurement is VERY APPROXIMATE, due to the different levels of greasiness, different actual volume of sausage, etc. etc. Use your own good judgment. Also, pepper at this point, but not too much.

4. This is where my mother says "And this is the MOST IMPORTANT STEP. You must BROWN the flour or it will taste RAW." (Her emphasis) Basically, cook the flour-coated sausage until it's more brown than white and the little crumbly bits where it's just flour and grease turn almost crispy. Stir very frequently to be sure all the sides brown evenly. My mother also always says, "You will think it's burning, but it's not."

Fig. 2. "You will think it's burning, but it's not."

5. Start adding the milk. This is another very approximate part of the recipe and depends on a) how much flour you put in, b) how much gravy you need, c) how long it cooks before the biscuits are done. Now, I'm personally partial to a thicker gravy, so I use slightly more flour and slightly less milk and I cook it slightly longer so the milk also browns a bit and it reduces rather drastically. Continue adding milk until you think the consistency looks good to you.

6. Stirring frequently to prevent skin forming and bottom of the pan burning, bring the gravy to a slow boil and allow the milk to reduce and thicken. If it thickens too much, add more.

7. I added some half and half at the end to thin the consistency a bit without reducing the richness. You can do this, too, if you like.

8. TASTE IT. You may want to add more salt and pepper at the end (It's difficult to predict the saltiness of the sausage). I like my gravy quite (probably dangerously) salty. But your taste is up to you.

9. To serve: Break two of your biscuits open (i.e. separate the top from the bottom). Do not cut them. That's the coward's way out. If you don't burn your fingertips a little bit, you haven't earned your biscuits and gravy. Pour a generous amount of gravy over the biscuit halves. Eat with a fork. I also find it delightful to pair this with a sweet-tart beverage. Orange juice is delicious, as is cranberry.
Fig. 3. NOT Kindergarten paste.

Hooray for Clara!

This video is fabulous and oh-so-timely. Long live the Poverty Diet! (via Jezebel)

Let's pass a hat for the poor, poor investment bankers

This article from the New York Times is endlessly frustrating. Basically, it's trying to make a case for the massive salaries Wall Street Types make and denouncing the idea of Obama's proposed $500,000 salary cap. The most frustrating bits of the article for your reading pleasure:

"Sure, the solution may seem simple: move to Brooklyn or Hoboken, put the children in public schools and buy a MetroCard. But more than a few of the New York-based financial executives who would have their pay limited are men (and they are almost invariably men) whose identities are entwined with living a certain way in a certain neighborhood west of Third Avenue: a life of private schools, summer houses and charity galas that only a seven-figure income can stretch to cover."

Here we're taking it as a given that these MEN have a God-given right to live that extravagant lifestyle... sure, I'm not going to say it's not their right to, but in light of what they've done to the economy, I think they can stand a little frugality, too. Also, prices will only stay that high as long as the market can bear it, surely. So wouldn't it be good for everyone for the number of people who can afford that lifestyle to dwindle and drive prices down? I know, I know, then the RABBLE would get in.

"The work in the gym pays off when one must don a formal gown for a charity gala. “Going to those parties,” said David Patrick Columbia, who is the editor of the New York Social Diary (newyorksocialdiary.com), “a woman can spend $10,000 or $15,000 on a dress. If she goes to three or four of those a year, she’s not going to wear the same dress.” Total cost for three gowns: about $35,000."

I guess it goes without saying that the man in these couples is inevitably going to be buying the dress for his wife or girlfriend who is busy hanging out with society types and working on charities and is obviously not earning a living. This brings me to my biggest gripe with this article and with the whole system behind it. These Big Wall Street Men are allowed by our society to expect this kind of coddled existence, including a big pay check to pay for all these completely unnecessary things and it is just accepted as the state of affairs that one of these things is a trophy wife of varying intellect who doesn't work and doesn't contribute to the exorbitant bills their lifestyle kicks up. How is this shit still going on? Don't these people realize that if both people in the couple were earning $500,000, then they'd be back up to their precious seven figures and then they'd maybe have a good reason to hire a nanny? Ugh. I hate investment banking/bankers/the society that still allows this kind of shit.

Good words

"From the first moment I met you, your arrogance and conceit, your selfish disdain for the feelings of others made me realize that you were the last man in the world I could ever be prevailed upon to marry."

Ahh... Jane Austen via Hollywood.

Liveblogging the Inauguration

9:10 PM: Jason Wu, apparently...

8:32 PM: THERE IT IS! The dress! It's light yellow? Cream? Maybe ruffly? In any case, its details don't stand up amazingly well to harsh onstage lighting.

4:11 PM: "Tell us Soledad O'Brien... Michelle was walking in those high heels. What is that like?" Ugh.

2:52 PM: So, it was Teddy.

2:44 PM: Good grief... Wolf just called Nancy Pelosi Dianne Feinstein. So, since toasts are still going on, the collapsed Senator must be okay.

2:43 PM: Oh, shit. Maybe it was Ted Kennedy instead?

2:42 PM: A Senator collapsed in the Statuary Hall lunch. We don't know who, yet. Maybe Robert Byrd.

2:38 PM: It's The Moment on CNN! The "Synth!" Kind of cool, but utterly useless on TV. I imagine in person it would be cooler.

2:30 PM: This is entirely unrelated, but this commercial made me inexplicably happy. Link to video.

2:25 PM: CNN has finally noticed whitehouse.gov. That took long enough.

2:19 PM: In case you missed THE HAT, here's video.

2:14 PM: I'm just looking at the new whitehouse.gov and I've got to say the agenda points are inspiring. Also, on The Blog there are a ton of posts from 12:01 PM, the first minute they could post on behalf of President Obama. Very happy-making.

2:06 PM: Also, what the hell is up wiht CNN prattling on constantly about Reagan?

2:02 PM: A note: Yes, it is remarkable that a black man has been elected president. But perhaps more important is that it is this particular black man. What if it were a war-mongering, neocon, bad man and not this specific, intelligent, young, progressive, fabulous man?

Also, unrelatedly, I hate when journalists interview college students and say "What was the ... coolest ... part of this for you?" Ugh. How condescending and disingenuous.

1:54 PM: Was Bush's daughter actually wearing leggings and a metallic mini? Because it kind of looked like it when she was just boarding un-Air Force 1.

1:49 PM: OOH! More CNN exclusive technology! SATELLITE PHOTOS FROM SPACE! A 3D photo compilation of the President at the moment of his address! Woo! Sad no hologram, though. I do respect CNN for getting Q to work for them.

1:39 PM: Alice Walker had advice for the President:

"We are used to seeing men in the White House become juiceless and as white-haired as the building; we notice their wives and children looking strained and stressed. They soon have smiles so lacking in joy that they remind us of scissors. This is no way to lead. Nor does your family deserve this fate. One way of thinking about all this is: it is so bad now that there is no excuse not to relax. From your happy, relaxed state, you can model real success, which is only what so many people in the world really want."

Full quote at Jezebel.

1:35 PM: CNN has Colin Powell right now. I don't respect all the decisions he's ever made, but I am still really pleased and grateful that he so eloquently and forcefully endorsed Obama.

1:30 PM: 1. Anderson Cooper just had to correct himself from saying "Barack Obama" to saying "President Obama."
2. I still can't *quite* believe that Obama got elected. It's almost too good to be true.

1:28 PM: Vice President Joseph R Biden and Dr. Biden! (It's terrible that I didn't know she was a Dr., probably.)

1:27 PM: Aww... bipartisan seating chart at the Congress lunch. Rahm Emanuel seated with the McCains!

1:13 PM: Sullivan's whole post "Hello to all this" is really good and hits the nail on the head. Also, it has full text of the address.

1:11 PM: This photo, via Andrew Sullivan, is great on a lot of fronts.
1. Lincoln Bible. Looks pretty good. Bound in red velvet, silver metal frame, heavily gilded edges, I've heard.
2. Look at those gorgeous gloves!
3. Obama's ring is cool!

1:09 PM: There's Al! I love that big meaty Tennessean.

1:05 PM: Facebook status update roundup time:
"every time cnn says "former president bush" it makes me happier."
"Has the whitehouse.gov site changed design? I quite like it."
"Awesomeness reigns at last."
"[X] is gettting back to Bar Study. Seems like a let down. But the Pres would want me to be responsible!"
"[X] is finally proud to be an American."
"[X] is transfixed by the sense of history happening around her this day."

1:03 PM: Obama signing nomination papers! He looks so little in that big chair! Also, according to Wolf Blitzer, his penmanship is excellent and has "a little flourish."

1:02 PM: Jeebus. Can fox news not get over Clinton? He's NOT slimy!

12:58 PM: Photos via Jezebel:
Gothic: Dick Cheney
Chipper: Bill
Frackin' Cylon: John McCain

12:56 PM: Not to spoil the happy tone of the day, I'm a little pissed that they're delaying Hillary's confirmation for a day. WTF gives? She's going to get confirmed anyway...

12:55 PM: Of the Bidens and Obamas standing together watching the old regime depart, wjh says, "they are wearing the german colors together!!"

12:52 PM: Michelle fashion update: the gauzy bits are actually ties on the jacket - repeat - the jacket ties in the front. AND a scarf underneath. All impeccably matched to the brocadey fabric of the dress and jacket. They're calling it "maize-colored," but it's almost mustard-y and a little metallic. Also, I've decided that it is elaborate beading at the neck, not a necklace.

12:50 PM: Obama walking Bush out of the Capitol now. Obama's face says, "Ciao, sucker!" Bidens/Cheneys looking much more cordial. Oh, and Jill Biden's gorgeous red coat makes my knees weak.

12:49 PM: Ohhhh, Roberts screwed up the oath, not Obama. Probably an elaborate Bush-camp ploy to make the inauguration unconstitutional.

12:45 PM: Michelle's suit is by Isabel Toledo. Cuban-American designer who headed up Anne Klein for a couple years. The suit is really pretty - lovely textured fabric and the color is gorgeous on her, but not on almost anyone else. I also like the gauzy bits around the neck (attached? a separate scarf?). Note: both Michelle and Laura Bush are wearing suits with long jackets (same length of the shift underneath) and no lapels. Almost funnel necked in LB's case.

12:43 PM: Cute picture of Sasha and Malia.

12:40 PM: Back to the important things: is that thing at the top of Michelle's dress a necklace or some elaborate beading on the dress itself?

12:38 PM: Biden just took a picture for Malia! Awwww....

12:37 PM: "When black will not be asked to get back, when brown can stick around, when yellow will be mellow, and when the red man can get ahead, man."

12:36 PM: "Tanks will be beaten into tractors"

12:35 PM: Rev. Dr. Joseph Lowery's benediction is pretty great. We will "turn to each other and not on each other ... we will make choices on love and not hate, on inclusion and not exclusion, on tolerance and not intolerance."

12:31 PM: Obama's face has changed since he took the oath... kind of a transformative moment, I guess. He looks less nervous, more self-assured in his (HIS!) power, now. He looks very calm, whereas while he took the oath and just before, his face was a little shaky, his chin wrinkling a little to contain overflowing emotion.

12:30 PM: Edifices is not an easy word to say.

12:29 PM: Elizabeth Alexander is on message: things to repair, children in school, power of language, curiosity beyond our own borders.

12:27 PM: What a damn good speech. And I'm happy to report that Bush looks sheepish. Cheney is wearing a fedora and managed to stand up for a handshake. By the way, how gothic is it (to steal my sister's word) that he showed up in a wheelchair? My first thought was, "What, now that he's off the hook we can actually see how weak he is?"

12:25 PM: "In this winter of our hardship..." He's literate! And articulate!

12:23 PM: Oooh good rhetoric: "These things are old. These things are true."

12:22 PM: Katrina reference followed up by an economic reference. Good parenting, all good things. It's an Aaron Sorkin inspired "Ask not..."

12:20 PM: "We will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist."

12:19 PM: "We will not apologize for our way of life and we will not waver in its defense." Kind of hawkish, but sounds nicer coming from someone who has really benefited from the good parts of our way of life. I.e. that our country makes room for things like constitutional amendments and the civil rights movement. It's not another oil-fat straight old white man vowing to fight the little guy.

12:18 PM: Has it occurred to you all that we can be happy about reading the news now? Bush can't do any more harm!

12:17 PM: "Founding fathers?" Didn't he used to say Founding Parents?

12:16 PM: Economic regulation! Yay!

12:14 PM: Science! Renewable energy! Education! Hooray!

12:13 PM: A mention of American innovation and inventiveness. "We must begin the work of remaking America." I've missed his rhetoric over the last couple months.

12:13 PM: "They saw America as greater than the sum of our individual ambitions."

12:11 PM: "Greatness is never a given. It must be earned."

12:10 PM: "The time has come to set aside childish things."

12:09 PM: So very happy. "Less measurable, but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across the country." "The challenges are real and they are many. They will not be met easily, but know this, America, they will be met."

12:07 PM: For all you geeks out there, I thought I'd share the text of the last inauguration we were all happy about:

"I, Laura Roslin, do now avow and affirm that I take the office of President of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol, without any moral reservation or mental evasion that I will protect and defend the articles of colonization with every fiber of my being."

Compare to:

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

12:06 PM: Hell, yeah. Little bumpy in the recitation, but I think we can put that down to emotion.

12:02 PM: No Oath, yet, but congrats, President Obama.

11:59 AM: JOHN WILLIAMS? When they first announced Itzhak Perlman and Anthony McGill (clarinet), I was hoping for some Presidential klezmer.

11:58 AM: Joooooooooe!

11:57 AM: They'd better make it snappy. Obama becomes pres at noon, oath or no.

11:56 AM: Here's a good article about past Inaugural prayers.

11:54 AM: I never much liked "My Country 'tis of Thee" before. Maybe politics just needed a little soul...

11:52 AM: Is the Lord's Prayer traditional at these things?

11:50 AM: That water carafe next to Obama is a Crate & Barrel design.

11:49 AM: "You are loving to everyone you have made." That's surprisingly inclusive.

11:48 AM: Bracing for Rick Warren - only a smattering of applause... very little. Is that because it's Rick Warren, or because people don't clap for a prayer?

11:47 AM: "Real and necessary change." "Renewed call to greatness."

11:45: Dianne Feinstein. "Peaceful transition of power" mentioned for about the 73rd time today. It is pretty awesome, of course.

11:42 AM: All the bigshots walking out now. Obama with assorted Congress leaders (yay Nancy!). As a sidenote: "Hail to the chief" was composed circa 1821, based on some verses from "The Lady in the Lake" by Sir Walter Scott. It was made the President's official theme tune in 1954.

11:41 AM: He's using the Lincoln Bible - it apparently hasn't been used *since* Lincoln's inauguration... not bad.

11:36 AM: Also: Michelle O's gloves! Olive leather!

11:27 AM: Could Aretha Franklin be any cooler? What a killer hat.

11:22 AM: Wow. There's a moving van at the White House even now. Kind of awesome.

11:06 AM: "That will be the last time they play 'Hail to the Chief' for Bush."

10:15 AM: Guess who isn't President anymore!!

Mental Health Break

That's what Lucy looks like, plowing around in the snow. Here's a still photo for comedy value:

First Foray into Fine Cooking

In keeping with my maybe resolution, I'm trying one recipe (at least) from this issue of Fine Cooking. This month I'm trying out Roast Pork Replay. The idea is that you "Cook once, eat twice." This does seem to be a misnomer, as the leftover recipes still require a bit of thought and effort, but still the principle is a good one.

This recipe appeals because 1. I love a roast, 2. I love pork, 3. Pork shoulders are CHEAP and stretch quite far, 4. I'm looking forward to the Pork Ragu and Polenta leftovers.

It is daunting, though, on two fronts: 1. I am very impatient with cooking (as with knitting). 2. This is by far the largest hunk of meat I've ever tackled.

So, last night I wielded my butcher knife ("ChrisSY! Bring me the big knife!" - 5 Points if you can identify the film) and removed the skin from an unsettlingly large hunk of meat (I had the butcher de-bone the sucker). While doing so, I wondered whether my 5 quart saucepan would be big enough - roasting pan (wedding present) hasn't arrived yet, but alas, the meat won't wait. (It turned out that the pan is *just* big enough for the meat and hopefully the veg that gets added to it later on.) After the skinning, and testing of pan size, I massaged the meat with a hefty dose of salt and pepper and put it to bed in the fridge for the night.

This morning (10:30) I pulled it out and according to the recipe, let it sit around for an hour and a half before pre-heating (only 300? Slooooooow roasting...) and popping it in the oven.

Here's a before shot. (Apologies to vegetarians and the squeamish.)

1:57 PM UPDATE: After an hour and a half or so in the oven, the pork is largely unchanged, save the fat beginning to curl up and melt off. Hopefully this process keeps the pork moist? I'm very suspicious of this roasting-without-liquid process, but I trust the Magazine.

3:12 PM UPDATE: There's now a big pool of fat around the bottom of the meat... still a LOT of it on top. I hope that will all melt off in the next, what, hour? It's smelling splendid.

3:46 PM UPDATE: I've just checked the meat again. (See above comment about impatience.) It is progressing. More fat coming off. I did the first fork check and it's tender in some spots, VERY dry and tough in some spots, troublesomely. Also, fat poured out of some spots when I forked them. Lots of fat. Maybe this meal isn't the healthiest?

6:14 PM UPDATE: Well, it's done and looking delicious. Right now it's loosely tented in aluminum foil and "resting" while I cook potatoes for mashing and wait to be able to skim fat off the juices. Can't wait to dig in. Photos to come.

8:24 PM UPDATE: WOW. That was a good meal. Very simple, rustic one might say. But thoroughly satisfying. Lots of good pork fat-ty goodness and the juices became delicious - just water and white wine and lots of garlic and onions and a very few carrots and MAGIC. Pictures below.
Figure 1. The whole platter of goodness.
Figure 2. One full plate. Mashed potatoes, peas, and pork.

Feet upon feet of snow = time for baking

Yesterday, inspired by deep-seated boredom and the approximately two feet of snow (and higher drifts) that have piled up around the house, I decided it was time to do away with some leftover bananas and a heavy dose of malaise by baking. I took another swipe at this banana bread recipe. This time, I used real eggs, a hand-me-down Kitchen Aid stand mixer (thanks mom!), more vanilla and twice as many bananas than the recipe called for, and walnuts. The results were very, very tasty. Banana bread having been accomplished, I decided I wasn't satisfied yet. I decided to make pizzas for an early, delicious dinner. I used Joanne Weir's recipe for crust (from Wine Country Cooking), which worked out DELICIOUSLY. I messed up the first step (the yeast/water/flour mixing part), but it worked beautifully anyway. Here's the dough before shot:I was worried about how small the dough was before rising (it did NOT look like enough for two 10-11" pizzas as I had been promised), but in an hour it had almost tripled in size! It was a light, fluffy, almost frothy dough, which resulted in puffy, crunchy, perfect crust. Crunchy under the sauce and toppings, but it had enough body that munching on the crusts afterward was pleasant. I wish I had reserved some sauce for dipping.

Speaking of sauce and toppings... while the dough was rising, I assembled toppings (with Dan's able help).There you see (clockwise from top left), 1. the wine I was drinking, 2. green peppers and zucchini, 3. red sauce (I whipped this up from some canned crushed tomatoes, lots of rough-chopped garlic, dried thyme, salt and pepper, and a generous dose of cayenne for kick), 4. mushrooms, sauteed with salt and pepper to release the juices, 5. rough-chopped broccoli, 6. rosemary prociutto, chopped, 7. goat cheese, 8. fake pesto I made from that basil in a tube stuff (kind of gross, but effective), some garlic paste (ditto), salt, and pine nuts (whole), 9. Ricotta. We then assembled these toppings into these two pizzas:1. (top) Veggies with spicy red sauce (broccoli, zucchini, 1/3 of the mushrooms, and green peppers, dusted with shredded mozzarella, topped with lots of good pecorino romano).

2. (bottom) The piece of resistance (as Dan and I have started saying): Green Pizza. (fake pesto base, LOTS of mushrooms, rosemary prociutto, clumps of goat cheese, and dollops of ricotta). It was Ridiculously Tasty. I heartily recommend this recipe, but maybe with real pesto instead of the fake stuff. But keep the whole pine nuts. They're delicious.