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"Foodie"
Taylors of Harrogate Assam Tea *
Harney and Sons Decaffeinated Earl Grey **
Bleh. You get what you pay for. This has spoiled me.
Luxury for Mom:
Started off the early morning with 1/4 cup of Mariebelle Aztec Hot Chocolate… just enough for me to handle in the dark hours of the dawn…
Out of the Mouths of Babes
Yena’s Quote of the Month: “Mom, what’s the name of that movie, Princess Diarrhea?” (Princess Diaries)… oh my child, so blessedly out of the loop.
Tip for Slow Food Lovers in Wintry Weather:
Take some oxtails from your favorite grass fed beef farmer, put in water in a large heavy pot, bring to a boil, then simmer overnight on LOW LOW LOW. Wake up in the morning to falling-off-the-bone tenderness. Take out meat pieces with slotted spoon, leave pot with stock outside in the cold (32 degrees F here right now), covered. In the early evening an hour before dinner, take pot inside. Scoop out solidified beef fat (could probably use this for a birdseed feeder?), bring stock to a boil, season with salt and add yummy things like peeled quartered potatoes, lots of onions, whole black peppercorns, green beans and cabbage leaves. Return meat to pot and simmer just until all warmed up. Perfect for fall.
Prayer to Saint John Bosco for our Young Driver
O glorious Saint John Bosco, who in order to lead young people to the feet of the divine Master and to mould them in the light of faith and Christian morality didst heroically sacrifice thyself to the very end of thy life and didst set up a proper religious Institute destined to endure and to bring to the farthest boundaries of the earth thy glorious work, obtain also for us from Our Lord a holy love for young people who are exposed to so many seductions in order that we may generously spend ourselves in supporting them against the snares of the devil, in keeping them safe from the dangers of the world, and in guiding them, pure and holy, in the path that leads to God. Amen.
Keep her safe from irate drivers who are impatient to get to where they’re going…
On my to-do-list today:
- David Lebovitz’ Ginger Ice Cream
- Ginger Molasses Cookies from King Arthur
- a fruitcake, perhaps this one from Traveler’s Lunchbox
- If I have time to spare, make oven mitts kinda like these for Christmas presents — using the material we have right now, including the Insul-Bright and cotton batting I got from Over the Rainbow, we could make 15 of these!!
- Request Advent books (yeah, a tad late) — to pick up on Friday after Thanksgiving. Might post links and book suggestions later, we’ll see.
- Go shopping with hubby for our artist-in-training, soon-to-be-10-year-old’s put-together art box: tackle box filled with goodies like Prismacolors in his favorite hues, a new sketchbook or two, and other goodies from Michaels
- If not too tired, shopping for stocking stuffers also for St. Nick‘s Day on the 6th.
- Return shoes to Zappos, my very own shoe store in the living room.
- Print out Bible verses and fill advent calendar.
Off to do my 15-minute-each-room tasks, so I can check them off Toodledo, THE (so-far) perfect online spot to help me accomplish tasks according to GTD principles. Still working on a paper-based organizational tool, but haven’t perfected *my* system yet.
Need to use up these things before we leave. I’ll be crossing out as I use them up.
“oriental noodles” (from mommy)
5 century eggs
acorn starch (K)
agar sticks 3
agar strands
baby corn
bean curd sheets
belacan
besan flour
bihon 1/2
black corn
bonito flakes
Botan rice
chee hou sauce
chili powder (K)
chinese green tea 2
coconut shreds (dried, Indian)
dried anchovies
dried kamias
dried lily flowers 2
dried mushrooms 2
dried shrimp (K)
fermented black beans
glutinous rice
glutinous rice flour 3 1/2
green bean starch (K)
idli rava
instant dashi (1/4 packet)
jackfruit
kare-kare mix
konbu 2
large instant tapioca 2
malt powder (K)
mi chay dac biet
mini tapioca 2
misua
mochiko 1/2
palm sugar (T)
panko
pho noodles
pinipig 2
rice flakes large
rice wrappers (V)
sinigang mix
straw mushrooms
sweetened bean paste
tamarind concentrate (T)
tapioca sticks
tofu mix
urad dal 2
wakame
wheat starch
wild rice mix (K)
Kids, here you go. In a few short months. (Argh, do you see rice?)
Yea!! (Go Bears 
)
Heat canola oil in skillet, over high heat. Add minced garlic, minced ginger, sliced onions, and crushed red pepper flakes (or broken up dried Chinese hot pepper). Stir-fry 10 seconds. Add broccoli florets and 1/4 cup water. Cover for 3-5 minutes and cook over medium-high heat, just until broccoli is almost done. Add fish sauce (or soy sauce) and 2 pinches sugar. Stir to combine flavors and remove from heat. Serve immediately.
This is also delicious made with broccoli rabe.
I can’t remember what cut of beef this was. I just told the farmer I wanted a roast cut and would take whatever he had, and he handed me this — maybe a bottom tip roast, or something. Suffice it to say, any slow-cooking roast will do here. The one I used was wrapped in one of those elastic net thingies that hold the meat in nicely and helps it keep its shape.
Preheat oven to 200 degrees. In a oven-proof pot (I like using enameled cast-iron here), bring meat — and water to cover — to a boil. Immediately transfer to oven, covered, and let simmer all night.
In the morning, turn oven off, remove pot and let cool. When meat is cool enough to handle, lift up from liquid, and transfer to a cutting board. Cut crosswise into 1/2 inch slices. Set aside, tented with foil.
Meanwhile, bring cooking liquid to a boil, along with cut up potatoes (I used small Yukons) and carrots and herbs and aromatics and seasonings you like. I sometimes use thyme, bay leaves, aromatics like celery, onions, plus Worcestershire sauce, etc. Today I just used salt and pepper and a bit of soy sauce, oh and yeah, two dashes Tabasco. Cook ~10 minutes or until potatoes and carrots are just cooked through. Remove with slotted spoon and set aside.
Tomatoes (canned or fresh) and/or some full-bodied red wine are nice additions here, if you like. Continue boiling liquid until reduced a bit, and thicken with a cornstarch-water paste to desired consistency. Return meat and potatoes carefully to gravy to heat through, lowering heat, 5-10 minutes. Transfer to serving platter and garnish with a sprinkling of freshly chopped flat-leaf parsley.
You can also adapt this recipe to a crock-pot/slow-cooker.
Small Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled, quartered and tossed with extra virgin olive oil and salt and pepper, herbs if you like
Several slices prosciutto di Parma, heated briefly in dry skillet and chopped into pieces
Frico
Romaine lettuce, torn into bite-sized pieces, rinsed and spun dry
Drain potatoes from the olive oil and cook in a pre-heated cast iron pan, covered, 15-20 minutes, turning every 5 minutes or so, until cooked through and nicely browned in places. Set aside.
Make the dressing: whisk together extra virgin olive oil, red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, herbes de Provence, salt and pepper to taste
Toss everything together and serve.
I wasn’t very happy with how the frico turned out — I had put the baking sheet on the lowest rack because I was cooking a roast on top, and so the sheet was resting on my baking stones. My hips were achy or I would have taken out the roast just to bake the frico, but hey… sometimes you just don’t have what it takes to do what it takes to make everything perfect . They were a bit too overdone on the underside and hence had a bitter taste. Bleh. There’s always a next time. The prosciutto was soooo good though…
After a quick review of what we’ve been eating the past couple of weeks since Aisa’s party, I decided that we need to add more ORANGES and YELLOWS to our diet. So I bought ~10 pounds of garnet yams to make into SOMETHING.
Somehow, this really wasn’t what I had in mind when I decided we were going to eat healthier around here… but heh… I couldn’t resist.
Spiced Sweet Potato Cake with Brown Sugar Icing recipe at Epicurious
from an Epicurious recipe (sorry, too tired to look for the link again)
Toast pecans and almonds in 375 degree oven for 10 minutes or so. Let cool and chop.
Meanwhile make Elizabeth Foss’ Favorite Family Granola (I’ve tailored this to our own taste with a few adjustments, but the original is just as wonderful)
While granola is baking/drying/toasting, chop up dates.
Toss granola with pecans, almonds, dates, and dried blueberries. Yum yum!
This is a nice dinner entree when you forget to take stuff out of the freezer in time, like I did today. [blush]
Put 2 frozen chicken breast halves (leave skin and bone intact)
into a skillet. Pour extra virgin olive oil on top and the juice of 1/2 lemon. Sprinkle with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Poach over low heat for 30-45 minutes or until just cooked through. Remove from skillet, set aside 5 minutes, then cut into slices down to bone but not all the way through. Believe it or not, this served a family of 5 (dd was in KY practicing with choir), with side dishes!
I was planning to add some white wine or vermouth halfway through cooking, and sprinkle with some freshly chopped flat-leaf parsley before serving, but by then my energy level was down to ZERO, so I served as is, simply topped by the cooking juices. But if you want it fancier looking that’s what I would do.
Sorry about the fuzzy recipe.
1 scoop dried baby lima beans (I mean the scoop at Whole Foods, which probably came to about 1 1/2 cups)
vegan buttery spread (I used Earth Balance)
soy milk to thin mash to desired consistency
pinch garlic powder or 1 large clove garlic crushed to a paste
salt and pepper to taste
Pick over lima beans to discard ickies. Boil lima beans in water for ~1 1/2 hours, or until tender. Drain and put into food processor bowl along with the rest of the ingredients. Process until smooth to your liking (we like ours with a bit of roughness left). Great side dish!
1 medium head romaine lettuce, torn into bite-sized pieces, rinsed and spun dry
1/2 English cucumber or any waxless cucumber, deseeded if necessary
4 ribs celery hearts, leaves discarded if you like, sliced thinly (leave unpeeled)
the dressing, whisk all in a bowl:
~1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
juice of 1/2 lemon
4 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
salt and pepper if you like (I didn’t use any)
Toss together and enjoy!
Boil together in a pot large enough to accommodate a large salmon fillet (this was enough for 6 people):
water (enough to cover salmon when you put it in)
2 bay leaves
a teaspoon or so allspice
a tablespoon or so whole black peppercorns
a tablespoon or so sea salt
When boiling, gently add salmon, cover pot, and turn off heat. Let poach 15-20 minutes.
Drain salmon and set aside on cutting board until cool enough to handle, loosely tented with a piece of foil. Cut/Pull off skin gently.
In a small bowl, mix together
mayonnaise (or Vegenaise if you’re allergic to eggs like my dh is)
Dijon mustard
dried or fresh tarragon
dried or fresh dill
freshly squeezed lemon juice
Serve salmon topped with mayo-mustard sauce.
It’s not picture perfect, and I wish I could say I grew the basil that went into the pesto, and the tomatoes… but no. It was still perfectly yummy, and what’s important, it’s all mine 
— well, except for a couple of bites Paco took. My little ones don’t like this particular salad, dad’s allergic to cheese, and Aisa’s sensitive to cheese and didn’t want to try.
The fresh buffalo mozzarella is from EuroPomella Italy, imported by Mozzarella Fresca in California, and locally available at Jungle Jim’s.
I made a batch of pesto, so I’ll be having the rest of that maybe with some penne, chopped up tomato and chopped up rest-of-the-mozzarella tonight. Yum. The baby should like it
