Boozed up cherries Saturday, October 02, 2010
From here on out I'm not going to comment on my inability to write regularly. I know with my schedule right now it's probably just not going to be possible. I'm out of the house by 9am and I'm never home before 9:30 a least 3 nights a week, by Thursday I all I want to do is sit like a lump on the couch. And often that is exactly what I do, my brain has turned to mush and making dinner seems impossible. Which is why last week I tore into an entire bag of Archer Farms Blue Corn Tortilla Chips and a whole jar of salsa. That was it, nothing else for dinner.It seems planning right now is essential to my life, if I don't think ahead and plan meals it means I'm either forgetting to eat until I realize I've got the full on low-blood sugar shakes and am light headed or I'm having to compromise and eat something quick and not so good for my waistline. And lets be honest, I need those extra calories for beer and custard consumption- wasting them on shitty convenience food is a crime against Wisconsin's many culinary delights.
This week I'm trying a new plan- on Sunday (tomorrow) I'll be making a big casserole from the most recent Eating Well and then portioning it out for meals during the week. Perhaps even freezing some of it so I can pull it out for those weeks when I fail at life. I also need to make a couple of really awesome soups and freeze those, but that will have to be next weekend as I've totally run out of time this weekend.
This summer while I was staying at my parents I halved some cherries and made a simple syrup and threw in some booze (two jars were rum another two were vanilla vodka). I sort of winged the recipe after pursuing some online, then I canned them up and passed out some as gifts for helping me move and such. I did keep one jar for myself and sweet baby am I glad I did. These little vanilla vodka cherry bombs are amazing, I tried them a couple of different ways- one with just seltzer water. Sort of very grown up cherry soda, and while it was good I really thought that they were the best of best in Coke. Cherry Vanilla Vodka Coke. Hello, you are delicious.
I know cherries aren't really in season but I feel I should share anyways:
Boozed Up Cherries
- 2 lbs of pitted and halved cherries
- 2 cups of sugar
- 2 cups of water
- bottle of vanilla vodka
- canning jars, rings, lids (sterilized)
Bring the water and sugar up to boil on the stove top and once hot and the sugar is dissolved turn off (basic simple syrup). Fill the jars with the halved cherries about 3/4 the way full, fill 1/3 of the way with simple syrup, fill the rest of the 2/3 with vanilla vodka.
Then follow standard canning procedures. Wipe down the edges of the jars, place lids and rings and tighten. Then place in a boiling water bath and process for 7-9 minutes. Remove from hot water and allow to cool. Check to make sure they've "popped" and sealed correctly or re-process them.
Again, please use proper techniques when canning- which are easily look-up-able online.
Then placed these lovely jeweled babies on the shelf and crack them open and make up a boozy cocktail after a very long week. When you sigh in happiness you'll know why these are becoming a regular in my canning rotation.
Labels: Awesomeness, drinking, food
WTF Potluck Friday, February 26, 2010
I know everyone is desperate to know what I decided to do about my cell phone...I went with Verizon and the Droid Eris. So far so good, a few hiccups with it's fancy-ass-ness. But I've successfully sent texts, photos and made calls. I have also managed to be on the phone with my sister, put her on hold, call my mother, hang up on her, call her back, hang up again and then call my friend, hanging up on her- and finally hanging up on my sister (who was on hold). All in the span of 30 or seconds. It was spectacular.Last weekend I spent the snow behind for a meet up of internet nerd friends. We've all been posting online in some iteration of our message board for damn near 10 years (some less than that- fresh meat and all that jazz). It was probably the best time I've had in years, so much laughter and hilariousness. It's mind boggling that we've all shared so much over the years (weddings, divorces, babies, deaths, moves, graduations, etc) and not all of us have met. I honestly think my abs may have given up by Sunday because of all the laughter.
One the best parts of the weekend was our amazing WTF Potluck. Over the years we've discussed various regional dishes- the sorts of things one finds in church cookbooks. Things that sound dubious in nature but actually are extremely tasty. In order to win over the doubters it was time to make those dishes and share them with the group. Top of the WTF list was the 7 Layer Salad. In case you are unaware it is a salad of lettuce (iceburg only), cauliflower (or broccoli), peas, cheese, bacon, tomatoes, and mayonnaise. It sounds horrifying but it is great- the mayo layer is provides the salad dressing. I promise it is delicious.
Other contributions include Grilled Stickies from State College, Pa. Which is a breakfast cake/bread that you butter and heat in a pan. It is warm, cinnamony goodness. A classic taco dip, cream cheese covered in chili sauce, beer cheese dip that was amazing. It actually tasted like beer and cheese, I feel most dips of this nature are lacking in the actual beer flavor. Also there was a velveta corn macaroni casserole and the ever classic Hanky Panks. Cheesy beef and sausage on rye toasts, they aren't pretty but they are tasty. And even good cold.
Some other highlights of the weekend included pictionary that went slightly pervy and got very loud, laying in bed giggling like a bunch of school girls over a hilarious joke- laughing so hard the bed was shaking, our walk through the park where we basically looked like a gang of ladies, convincing our host to take us to Bojangles for breakfast, a deep and involved discussion of what a Hurdy Gurdie is, and a hilarious diatribe about solar sun panels and Rascal wheelchairs.
I'm sure some of the above things will make very little sense but I still bust up laughing every time I think about my friend pointing at me and saying "YOU! You will make canned tomatoes!" when discussing her plan if the U.S. government should fall and we are thrown into chaos.
I could really go for a Grilled Stickie right now.
Labels: Awesomeness, beer, drinking, drunken shenanagans, food
Over Easy Wednesday, December 16, 2009
For the last 7+ months I've been cultivating a serious addiction to eggs. I want to put them on everything, salads, potatoes, rice, tomatoes, curry and tonight- cabbage. I sauteed up some cabbage, turkey bacon and then topped the whole lot with a lovely fried egg. Then devoured the whole damn thing. It was delicious and easy.I think the best eggs come from one particular booth at the farmers market but they rarely come in the winter months so I must be content with eggs from other vendors. Which I should note are still delicious but not the orange yolk colored, rich ones from Crowing Rooster farm. Oh, I dream of those eggs.
Sunday mornings are my favorite time, I cook up some hash browns, fry up a couple of eggs and then douse it all in Tabasco. Then I die and go to heaven. Really. It's probably my favorite meal of the whole week, which is why it's spilling over into my week night routine.
Last week I had little interest in dinner one night so I took an avocado, diced it and topped it with a fried egg and hot sauce. Really, I think I could put an egg on just about any savory food and be happy. I highly recommend curry with an egg on top, I believe it was a potato and chickpea curry.
There, I've now nattered on about eggs for probably entire too long and you are probably wondering if I've got sky high cholesterol (I don't) or some weird egg-centric obsession (likely).
Labels: food
Flat rate. Saturday, April 11, 2009
A little bit ago I instituted a new budget, and while I'm valiantly trying to stick to it sometimes is massively hard. I swear, I am a bit shocked at how much money I can easily blow on a Saturday morning just doing the normal weekly shopping.It does not help that lately I've had one of those runs where all the expensive crap I need all runs out at the same time. In one week I ran out of propane for the grill, olive oil, toilet paper, plus I needed to gas up the car and on and on. So of course that is adding extra to my weekly bills. Another $20-30 depending on the week.
But what really put me under was shopping for my brother. Little bro is in Afghanistan and stationed on a super remote mountain top without out some of the most basic neccessities. Like a shower, depending on the week he may or may not get a shower. Ok, so a bunch of people shoot at you daily is definitely higher on the list of shitty things about where he is. There is absolutely no way in hell I could do his job.
Mail can be sketchy, and take weeks upon weeks so shelf stable food that can hold up to be dropped from a helicopter and various other rough delivery treatment is a must. When he was home in February he was so damn skinny, probably the thinnest I've ever seen him in a long time. He is having trouble getting enough protein in order to keep on muscle so he specifically asked for high protein items.
The packages were loaded up with beans, beans, tuna, laughing cow cheese (did you know this stuff is shelf stable? Isn't that awesome?!), rice, coconut milk, 6 boxes of triscuits (his favorite) and various other canned food stuff. The thing that blew my mind, besides the Laughing Cow cheese, is that those things are so freaking expensive. I rarely, if ever, buy those things (except the beans and laughing cow) that I spent more on his groceries that I do on myself in two weeks.
Luckily the post office has flat rate shipping boxes to APO addresses. I just hope he gets it all, sometimes things get lost or damaged and like I said- stuff happens and mail delivery can be postponed for months.
Dan Rather recently did a show about where my brother is stationed, it's entirely too surreal to hear Dan Rather say my last name over and over again. My brother sounds so smart and diplomatic, the camera really loves him too. It was more than a bit hard to see how he is living (shanty-like bunkers) and the sort of thing he deals with on a daily basis but important none the less. The show is called A Border Runs Through It (available on iTunes) and if you'd liked to know which one is my brother email me (address at the top right column of this page) and I'll tell you my last name so you'll know which guy he is.
Labels: food
Trippy Cake Tuesday, March 24, 2009
I have to admit I'm very proud of this cake, if only for it's eye popping decorating job(even though it's not as perfect as I wanted it to be). My coworker had a major birthday today and he absolutely loves M&Ms, has a bag of them every afternoon. He's also a big fan of southern cooking so I made the cake red velvet with cream cheese frosting.
I followed Smitten Kitchen's Red Velvet recipe with a couple of modifications...I only used two pans instead of the three she recommends. Also, I definitely doubled the frosting recipe (omitting one cup of sugar- so 5 cups instead of 6).
The decorating took about a bag and half of M&Ms (the medium size bag). Be forewarned though, those bastards at Mars didn't put in equal amounts of each color. My bags where disproportionately heavy on the orange and blue M&Ms, and light on the rest of the colors which made the decorating a bit more tricky.
On the whole it was a resounding success, everyone was super in love with it and tons of compliments and such. Unfortunately my stomach wasn't playing nice and was being a cranky bastard so I didn't have any. Then again, I'm not much of a sweets person even though I have a raging baking addiction.
Labels: Awesomeness, food, photos
Celt Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Truthfully St. Patrick's Day is one of my most favorite holidays, it always has been, always will be. Today I was a bit homesick for Cleveland and it's St. Paddy's lovin' ways. The holiday here just isn't as important it seems. Growing up if the holiday fell on a school day there was no school, which was awesome. It meant everyone headed to the parade in downtown, as I got older there was the deliciousness of beer added into that equation.I was completely panicked when I couldn't find my Irish cable knit sweater this morning, my mother assures me that I left it at their house though. Crisis averted! I managed to have a couple of Guinnesses (is that the plural of Guinness?) and some corned beef (my head a touch fuzzy around the edges which might be why my writing is a bit subpar). So my Irish heart is happy and content this evening, I'm totally looking forward to homemade corned beef hash for dinner tomorrow.
And since I'm rambling on, dudes who wear kilts are hot. For real.
Hopefully everyone has had a lovely holiday.
Labels: Awesomeness, beer, cleveland, food
A deep and abiding love Sunday, February 15, 2009
When I was a girl, probably no older than 5, my mom started going to this french bakery by our house in Texas. Besides smelling absolutely heavenly and being full of warm and crusty loaves there were also cases full of french pastries. There was one case on the right side of the shop, it was very tall and entirely made of glass. It spun very slowly and within it were fat, red strawberries covered in dark chocolate.The moment I saw them I fell in love.
The French bakery is just a memory but to this day I still adore them so. Several years ago I was at a friends wedding, stuck at the singles table at which none of the other singles showed up to which was pretty much the longest meal of my life. Every other table was full and no one offered to join me at my lovely pathetic party of one table. The bright spot was when the servers brought out the tray of strawberries. You can bet your sweet bippy that I attempted to eat that entire tray myself. I failed though, because although the idea of being a complete glutton is alluring the actual carrying out of it is a whole 'nother reality.
I bring this all up because I was in Cleveland this weekend visiting my brother who was on leave. This means my very lovely father bought me a whole box of chocolate covered strawberries for Valentines Day. So now I'm camped out on my couch with the box of strawberries and momentarily very glad I don't have to share with anyone. Although I'm sure that will wear off when I realize that I can't realistically finish them before they spoil and that I actually do like to share. Damnit.
The alcohol breakup lasted all of 5 days. Restraint, I don't have it. In my defense I was at Great Lakes Brewery and could not pass up the delicious Edmund Fitzgerald porter. It's amazing. If you can at all get your hands on some please do so and then write me to tell me all about it.
I'm completely lacking in the ability to come up with transitions this evening (blame it on the chocolate-strawberry coma I'm slowly slipping into) but I also cut my hair this weekend. It's about chin length and choppy, I really wanted to hack it all off completely due to my usual winter malaise but refrained because I don't know if I have the face to pull off super short hair. I think my head might be too round and I would look ridiculous. Photo coming soon, hopefully.
Labels: cleveland, family, food
Insomnia. Monday, February 09, 2009
For a couple of years now I've been experiencing what is called alcohol induced insomnia. Which basically means that my body freaks the fuck out if I drink. It started off just as waking up obscenely early after a night of excessive drinking but it seems to be getting worse. Two drinks spaced out evenly throughout the night and I'll sleep for 3 hours before waking and being unable to fall back asleep.Which totally sucks. Today I was the walking dead since I had two cocktails last night after seeing He's Just Not That Into You (don't go- it sucks. There are no words for it's suckitude. It's not even campy-hilarious-Showgirls bad, it's just painful). Three hours of sleep are just not enough for me to function on and those three hours were quite fitful to start with, by the end of the work day I was near tears.
So I think I'm going to have to take a hiatus from drinking. Which pains me, I love alcohol and it loves me like Ike loved Tina. Sometimes all I want is a cold frosty Oberon Ale or a belly warming snifter of bourbon. I will probably be a bit cranky and annoyed while this self imposed exile from adult beverage land is taking place. Be forewarned.
I've still been cooking up a storm. This weekend alone I made orangettes, london broil and my mom's cheese zucchini. Which doesn't sound like too much food, but it was.
Some of these lovely orangettes will be dipped into chocolate, the rest left plain. I plan on making some candied lemon peal soon and tossing them in sugar and citric acid to make a very grown up version of sour patch kids.
Labels: drinking, food, photos
nothing of consequence Sunday, January 25, 2009
I've been seriously boring lately. I've not gone out in weeks, preferring instead to hide from the sub-zero temps by spending ungodly amounts of time squirreled away inside my apartment. Inside, where I'm either staring blankly at the TV or cooking. I think there is some sort of disastrous disconnect in my brain that causes me to forget entirely that I'm one person and end up cooking for about a family of 45. So then I've got entire pans of chicken enchiladas and double batches of Swedish meatballs. Ridiculous.In good news though I finally finished a blanket I started working on when I was a junior in college. Finish is entirely subjective though because the yarn I bought, lo those 8 years ago, has gone missing. Pth! So I just bound off the edge and considered it done. And since I've finished it I've found it to be the perfect couch companion. It's exceedingly warm and perfect for snuggling under since it is so freaking enormous (originally slated to fit a queen sized bed).
This following bit is stolen from my facebook, but since it took me over a whole day to write I felt it should get a bit more mileage. Also, have I mentioned sometimes I'm epically lazy?
So 25 things about me:
1. I occasionally can be a horrible procrastinator, this is a perfect example considering I got tagged over a week ago.
2. I love a good dirty martini with a shot of hot sauce. Or a glass of bourbon. Or a Bombay Sapphire and tonic.
3. I could easily spend days knitting and being completely happy doing so.
5. Yellow roses are my favorite, hydrangeas are a close second, peonies are third.
6. I have deep and abiding love of good corned beef. A good reuben (with sour cream and mustard instead of thousand island) might be the most perfect food in the world.
7. I could easily spend the GDP of a small ex-U.S.S.R state on makeup and other skin care items from Sephora.
8. I miss playing softball.
9. When I was about 8 I was in a grade school talent show. I've blocked most of it from my memory but do recall there were very sparkly tights, big hair and a choreographed dance routine involving bouncing a basketball.
10. My two favorite books are Pride and Prejudice and East of Eden.
11. I hate eHarmony commercials. I want to throw a lamb shank at those overly happy, smug couples.
12. I want a dog.
13. When I was a little girl I had to wear braces on my legs to correct my walking. I shared an orthopedist with the Cleveland Browns. This makes me feel special.
14. My grandparents gave me a claddagh ring for my Confirmation and a few months later I lost it when I was playing hide and seek in a cornfield. I felt awful about it because I loved that ring, luckily the next time they went to Ireland they bought me another one and I hate to admit I like the second one better than the first. It's prettier.
15. I hate it when people call me Susan or Suzy. Yet I let my Grandmother get away with calling me Suzy, only because she is very old.
16. I remember Sr. Nancy who taught American History would let Katie M and I talk all the time in class and never yelled at us for it. She sure did yell at Devon for telling us to be quiet.
17. Thinking of 25 things has been immensely hard.
18. I'm wickedly allergic to cigarette smoke.
19. I still love the times I had in Apartment #2. The Bitchin' Bitchass Bar was the best home bar ever. It was totally Ro-bitchin'.
20. Apartment #2 had two squirrels that lived on our back porch, we named them Gwen and Ron. Ron fell into our keg bucket and drowned. We felt really bad about that as we dumped him over our porch railing to his final resting place on the roof of the house below us.
21. I love trashy romance novels, especially if they are British period ones.
22. I love to shit talk and am very competitive. Consider that fair warning.
23. I've been weirdly obsessed with the idea of living in Wisconsin for long time. I think it is the availability of cheese curds and lots of breweries.
24. Currently I only have 5 minutes of hot water, my landlord is sending someone out to fix that this next week. Thank god.
25. Even though I don't go out without sunscreen my freckles have suddenly reappeared after having been missing for nearly a decade. I love them.
Labels: food, knitting, lazy, TV
New Years, same old feelings. Thursday, January 01, 2009
It's the new year and we all know how I feel about this particular holiday (hate it) and how sad and crap I get around it. Yes people, sad and crap is actual way to feel. Embrace it.I'm not one for making resolutions because mostly I hate them. I think that they in general fail and that my time can be better spent sitting on the couch watching another endless set of NCIS or House reruns. Isn't Mark Harmon dreamy? He can build a boat in my basement anytime, and since I live in actual basement I guess that means he'd be building in my living room. Which might make me testy if said boat got in the way of the tv. Then again, Mark Harmon in my basement means I'd probably prefer to watch him instead of my tv.
And now that I've shared with you more than you'd ever like to know about my feelings for Mark Harmon I'll get back to blathering on about resolutions. Oddly though, I'm making one resolution this year. Deal with my goddamn mail problem. It piles up on the TV and the armoire and the pretty blue side table.
I HATE the mail, every day I get scads of it- none of interesting and the majority of it are bills. Ugly, hateful bills. 90% of which I pay online. This year I'm going to have them all stop sending me crap. I don't need those endless cable bills (kudos to me for having already signed up for paperless this morning). Recently I also lost my check register, I have no idea where it went off too but it's gone. Which is most annoying since I do try to keep my bills checking account balanced. In an effort to never lose it again I've downloaded a spread sheet that will calculate all that crap for me. I'm willing to take a short cut on the math portion since it never really was my strong suit. Having Excel do it for me is lovely.
On Friday I'm heading out to buy a paper shredder. Then all those pile of mail will be dust, or tiny bits of shredded paper. I will instantly feel lighter and freer. I won't be consumed with shame when I have people over that they are secretly judging me for piles of mail that I stead-fastly up till now have refused to deal with.
Oh holiday recap: There was a lot of ice on the way to Kentucky. I nearly got run over by a double-trailer Diet Coke Semi who was sliding on black ice. This resulted in me driving down the center median, off road style to avoid being crushed. Did you know that Honda Civics are totally built for off-roading? Because they totally are.
There was an epic 5 hour opening of presents at my sisters during which I was hellishly jealous of my nephew's new huge plasma tv. I want one. The rest of the time was spent eating copious amounts of food. In years past I've managed to avoid to stuffing myself to the point of sickness but this year was a failure. Because my mom, sister and I were the only ones cooking it was everything I liked. And thus I put everything in my mouth. Ugh. Then I caught some sort of bug once I got home and didn't eat for 2 days. I'm hoping it sort of helped move the scale back in the right direction. But I think I'll still be paying for it for a little while.
Bits of my thoughts Thursday, October 23, 2008
Hi, I'm a lazy wanker lately. Writing is entirely beyond me and unfortunately everything here is going to be in bullet points because paragraphs are just to much fucking work.-Hey smartypants, remember your inside whisper voice is not so whispery after 4 high alcohol content beers. That is why that girl heard you mocking her speech patterns and proceeded to stare at you with daggers in her eyes.In my defense she rolled her r's without a good reason.
-Signing up for the young professionals email list as "Skeezix-the slutty one" probably wasn't professional. Again, sign up for shit BEFORE you drink 4 beers.
-My flirting skills are RUSTY. Especially confronted with extreme hotness.
-I swear. A lot.
-Dear cute guy at the gym, I'd like to thank you for doing those lunging chest presses while wearing those small running shorts. Seriously fine ass.
-I was never a huge fan of NKOTB, but
Sarah's recap of the concert makes me wish I was there with them.
-The new AC/DC album is only being sold at Wal-Mart, WTF? That is so wrong.
-My pants have been feeling tight lately, so I've stepped up the workouts. Except then today for lunch I ate my body weight in bad chinese food and for dinner had a soft serve ice cream cone. Clearly a practice in failure.
I promise the next post will be full thoughts and paragraphs, most likely about my zip lining adventure on Sunday. So FREAKING excited.
Labels: drinking, embarassing, food, gym
Pie Weekend Sunday, September 28, 2008
Yes, I'm talking about food again. I should be writing a post about Kate's birthday and how we enjoyed copious amounts of alcohol on Tuesday night plus watched some of them do karaoke, but I'll save that because there is video- which I've not uploaded yet. On to the pie...Something about my family never allows us to do things in a small, normal way in regards to cooking. Perhaps the Irish genes embedded deep inside of us remind us of the famine and thusly cause us to make more food than is possible to consume. I have memories growing up of my mom making enough cookies to keep a family of 6 fed for months, pies were not made by the single or even double rather 5 to 6 pies at a time. Granted we do like to eat, but mostly things ended up in the freezer for later. Nothing like having a randomly shitty Wednesday and your mom being able to pull one of her amazing homemade pies from the freezer. An hour or so later things didn't look so awful because really, pie makes everything better.
Of course I am the exact same way, just a few months ago I was making cooking for my nephew. Why double a recipe when you can quadruple it? Yeah, 7+lbs of cookies is overkill but I didn't hear any complaining.
This week my mom sent me a box of crack apples from a Sage's farm in my hometown. There are no apples that can compare to these, they are spicy and tart and perfect. There is a different apple farm in the area, do not be fooled by them. Their apples suck, their pies aren't homemade (they tell the people in the bakery to lie to you- trust me I worked there), and they pay poor teenagers crap wages. So anyways, heroine apples- my mom didn't take her usual precautions with packaging and they arrived slightly bruised and battered needing to be consumed quickly. I can totally put away 4 or more apples a day, but there were way more than I could eat before spoilage set in.
That's right, it is apple pie time. Oh, and because I've been craving french silk pie I decided to make that too. What? Too much pie for a single person. Yes. Who cares. If you are already in the pie making mode, make a lot. Ahem, which is why I ended up with 3 batches of 2 crust pie doughs. Hell yeah.
First up, Saturday's apple pie. Spicy and good, although a little soft about the middle considering the apples weren't as firm as Mom recommends.
Then on Sunday I made the French Silk pie, my brother's favorite. I've briefly considered sending him a photo via email, but that seems a bit torturous considering he's in Afghanistan and won't be getting pie like this for a loooong time. I'm not cruel. I used a stabilized whipped cream frosting on top because nothing spoils a pie like a weepy whipped cream frosting ruining all that delicious crust.
Tomorrow I suspect my office mates will be quite happy, I plan on taking the leftovers in. Because I've had several slices of each at this point and am about to enter a pie coma.
*I am massively annoyed that I can only do one photo in the middle at a time, sorry for it looking a little long and janky.
Labels: Awesomeness, food, photos
Give me a passle-load and I'll be a happy girl Monday, September 22, 2008
I've not done a food post in a while and lately I've become obsessed with dumplings. Of the pan fried Chinese variety.I can sit down and tear through them, their soft pillowy goodness offset by the seared and crunchy bottoms. Honestly, there are times when I think I could just go face down into a giant plate of them and die a happy woman. But rather than be shamed at ordering a large number of them at one of the various restaurants that serve them I've opted to make them at home, so when I do eventually consume all 25 dumplings I've cooked up there is no one to shame me with their eyes or comments.
Let me digress a moment, there was a Chinese restaurant next door to the wine shop. They happen to make spectacular Szechuan vegetables, delicious and perfectly steamed. So last week I ordered two orders of them and asked them to hold the rice. For a couple of reasons, one being that I try to avoid white rice being that it is pretty nutritionally void and just filler. I don't need filler. I've got plenty of filler already perched on my belly, thank you. So when I ask her to hold the rice she cackles into the phone "What! Are you on a diet?! HAHAHA!" I don't know how to take this, is she saying I need to diet or that I don't? WTF? Maybe she is just making small talk, whatever. Just give me my damn vegetables.
So anyways, my friend Yumi gave me a good jumping off point for making my own dumplings at home. Here is the humble recipe I've come up with that I like most, and everyone should be impressed that I wrote down actual measurements rather than generalities. If you can get your hands on some garlic chives then use those rather than straight chives, but sometimes they are hard to find.
Also, you may have trouble finding a ground un-seasoned pork. Generally I grab a pork shoulder or pork roast and just have them grind that up for me since most ground pork is seasoned or "sausage". Also I found the pot-sticker wrappers at my local Asian market in the frozen food section. I believe one could substitute wonton wrappers in a pinch though.
Pot Stickers
1/2 pound of ground pork
1/2 pound ground chuck
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon Worcester
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon sesame oil
5 tablespoons of chives
2 minced cloves of garlic
1 tablespoon of grated fresh ginger
1 package of pot sticker wrappers
Mix all the ingredients together except for pot sticker wrappers. Work the meat and seasonings as little as possible to get the ingredients combined though, don't overwork the meat (haha, why does that make me laugh. Oh, right because I've got the dirty mind of a 13 year old boy).
Place a sheet pan off to the side with a damp towel on top. Also have a damp paper towel to cover the stack of pot sticker wrappers so they don't dry out. Place a small amount of meat in the center of the wrapper, using your fingers moisten the edges of the wrapper with water so they will pinch shut. Try not to leave any pockets of air in the dumpling. Fold in half and crimp closed.
Place on sheet pan and cover with damp cloth.
I practiced with different ways of pinching them shut, but that was just my inner Martha coming out. I ended up leaving one side flat and then fold/crimping the other side. It's hard to explain and I suck at writing down what is clearly a visual process that I'm unable to photograph because I don't have a spare set of hands. Once you get a sheet pan filled you can stick them into the freezer for a couple of hours to harden up. Then transfer to a plastic bag and you are ready next time you need a quick go-to meal.
To cook, take frozen dumplings and put in a hot pan that has been coated with a little oil. Sear the bottoms till they get crispy. Then dump in some water (and I add a little soy sauce) and put a lid on. Steam away for a few minutes until done. Voila! Dinner in 7 minutes.
Labels: Awesomeness, food, recipes
A post in which I even bore myself Thursday, September 04, 2008
I have been entirely meaning to write more but I just cannot seem to get my ass in gear at all. Everything lately seems to move very slowly and it's all I can do to get my laundry put away. Or not. I've had a bunch of it sitting in basket for 2 weeks now. Crappity crap crap.Instead, I seem to be practicing the sort of things that would make a person you'd want to be married to in case of an apocalypse. I spent the whole of the Labor day weekend knitting, canning and refinishing furniture. Really, come on over once all hell breaks loose- I'll have whiskey and vodka and knit you things while preparing a meal from homemade canned goods.
Granted, I only canned one jar of tomatoes this weekend...I thought for sure I'd get two out what I brought home from the farmer's market. This weekend I plan on buying a boatload more, since I'd like to think that my homemade canned tomatoes will be better than what I get from the store. I might try to oven roast some of them to concentrate their flavor and make it deeper.
I also canned up a couple more jars of pickled okra. Because one can never have too much pickled okra- delicious for eating straight from the jar or in your Bloody Mary.
When I moved my parents brought me a table from my grandparents basement. A table that my grandfather had randomly drilled holes into and splashed a million different types of paint on. It was a dingy green color and in need of some serious loving care. After scraping off the layers and layers of paint, removing a few random nails and filling all the holes I was ready to paint.
Before:
After:
Oh my, this is boring isn't it? Fuck, it really is. I'm sitting here reading my own crap and drifting off.
So whatever. I painted, knitted a bunch and canned some food.
Really, I think whatever I write will not compare to the drama surrounding the Republican VP nominee. It's like the best lifetime movie ever. I can't get enough of it.
As usual the best commentary is coming from The Daily Show:
In brief Sunday, July 13, 2008
I think I could have stayed in Texas for a little while longer, if only to eat delicious BBQ and Mexican food. There were a couple of nights I laid in bed moaning because my belly hurt from over fullness. My poor sister had to listen to me go on and on about how I shouldn't have eaten that last 12 bites of beans or tamale or whatever else I had overindulged in.But seriously, that tamale was delicious. But really the most amazing thing I ate the whole time I was there was a roast beef sandwich from this little roadside smoke house Robertson's Choppin' Block. I'm completely in love with it, there just are no words to describe the tender meat that just falls apart and their own rich BBQ sauce. (Le sigh.)
I truly believe that this sandwich could bring about peace in the middle east. At one point I had a fantasy that I would someday get married on the back deck and serve the delicious sandwiches for the meal (with lots of shiner bock). Have I strayed too far into hyperbole? Perhaps, but damnit- that sandwich is worthy of such great blathering on.
And really, I could have used some more of the poolside sunbathing with a book.
Last but not least, the snow cone. These are not the crap pellet-ice versions that are available in the north rather they are shaved ice topped with fantastic flavorings and snow cream.
Labels: Awesomeness, food
Wiped. Monday, April 28, 2008
I'm entirely too tired to write much today so instead I'll leave you with some photos I took this weekend. You know why you should all want to love me and be my friend? Because I like to bake but dislike actually eating baked goods (except bread- get between my bread and I and I will fork you.)So really, I routinely pawn things like these red velvet cupcakes I made off onto friends:
Recipe and more will be forthcoming once I can put more than a few coherent sentences together.
Labels: food
Screw the spoonful of sugar, I'll take a slice of cheese to make the medicine go down. Wednesday, April 02, 2008
The other day I spent $45 on cheese and olive oil at Trader Joe's as a conciliatory reward for a lady-business doctor's appointment. I'm a firm believer that if I have to have my feet in those stirrups and be poked about by a doctor that cheese and wine are most certainly in order. The wine, I'll admit I did not imbibe because I still had a hour and half drive back home. But never fear I did have some wine the minute I walked through the door of my apartment.So what kind of cheese did I manage to blow lots of hard earned money on you might ask? (Ok, honestly you didn't ask but I'm going to pretend you did and that you love cheese as much as I do. Because if you don't then I really don't ever want to talk to you again.) I bought a lovely double cream brie which was smooth and silky, it was all I could do not to sit down demolish that (not-so-tiny) wedge all by myself. I also bought parmesan , which is besides being wonderful atop many dishes is also fantastic when you steal little chunks of it from the fridge while drinking red wine and watching trashy television (possibly in lieu of a proper dinner).
Also purchased was blue cheese, and really there are few things in the world more lovely to me than blue cheese. Blue cheese on granny smith apples (maybe with a bit of honey- this is seriously heaven. You should go to your kitchen right now and eat this. It will change your life.), blue cheese in salads, on burgers, eaten straight from the block- I love all of it's incarnations. Lastly there is a hunk of white, very sharp cheddar cheese which will possibly go into mac and cheese or perhaps be eaten with my mother's spicy sweet mustard. There are many reasons to love my mother and her mustard is just one of them. It's got a fantastic English mustard-based heat, a nice vinegary kick and then a lovely note of sweetness to balance out the other two.
Jesus, it is no wonder I've put on 5lbs in the last two months. Oh, also the fact that I've been a terribly lazy ass.
Lots random bits...most rant-filled Tuesday, March 18, 2008
So terribly I had my heart broken this last weekend by the boy I mentioned way back in January. Privately, there was lots of crying. Oh the crying. It went on and on. The next morning I looked like I had been beaten roundly about the eyes. They were so puff-tastic they were doing that thing were they have become so swollen it actually looks like your eye lashes have curved under and are now growing from inside the lid.I don't know if I'm stuck in a place of total and complete denial but I'm actually doing quite ok these last 2 days. The distraction of work has had a soothing effect on my psyche, so really I'm going to keep going forward with the plan to remain wickedly busy in order to hold my shit together.
Enough of the self-pitying rambling, lets engage in a little bit of ranting- shall we?
First off I'd like to take a brick to any tv chef who utters the words "Pre- (insert word here)". This could be used in reference to a multitude of sins, "pre-shredded cheese", "pre-washed greens", "pre-cooked chicken", etc.
Listen people, pre-shredded cheese is in fact a BLOCK OF CHEESE. Pre-cooked chicken is RAW CHICKEN.
The prefix "Pre" refers to the state of the item before you performed the action. This is simple English usage, and baby Jesus knows I'm not the best with complicated English rules- but this is a fairly simple concept to grasp.
Why use the term "pre-shredded"? Some marketing genius somehow believed that it added a certain value or cache to their product, or perhaps someone thought it made them sound cool and like they were giving you a hint on how to cut down time in the kitchen.
It's dumb. It pisses me off. The end.
In that same vein of stupidity put forth by marketing and advertising geniuses; I say that knowing full well I work in the marketing world- we're great but some of the shit we come up with is completely fucking ridiculous, as evidenced by the following:
Really, 100% Beef?
What is your implication here? Perhaps before you didn't used 100% Beef? Do I really want to conjure up ideas about what you were using before you loudly declared that you use 100% beef?
Or are you trying to imply that your competitors don't use 100% beef in their hamburger patties?
The simple fact is that you could have used this term effectively for me if you'd added the qualifier 'American' or 'Grade A', but there is also the distinct possibility that you can't make that claim at all. I don't know where McDonald's beef comes from or what grade it is. This is all part of their new "healthy and fresh" makeover that they are trying to give us. For me, it doesn't work. I will never go to McDonald's and think that I'm eating healthy. I go to fast food joints for the exact opposite reason, sometimes one needs a bit of greasy, fat-filled food with a large fountain coke. (The perfect cure for those wickedly bad hangovers.)
This whole thing made me tool about on their website, and I have to say I'm annoyed by the implication that only mom's eat salads. Men eat salads, damnit. Why couldn't you have phrased that as "parents who bring their kids in for a happy meal." Eating salad is GIRLY, way to reinforce dumbass stereotypes. Men don't eat vegetables!
And lastly, 1 in 4 teenage girls has an STD. OH! SCARY! Lets talk about how 1 in 4 teenage girls have STDs, AND NEVER FUCKING MENTION HOW MANY TEENAGE BOYS HAVE STDs. I'm not some crazyass feminist conspiracy theorist but come on! Those teenage girls aren't giving STDs to each other, they are only half the equation. But no is talking about the boys and their STD rates, to me it just smacks of shaming female sexuality and blaming them for when really it takes two to get an STD. Why aren't we having an open discussion about males and their rate of infection? In all the articles I read and news stories I saw never once did anyone bring up teenage boys.
Labels: dating, embarassing, food
Perfection; in relation to happy hour Friday, March 07, 2008
Last night I was watching TV and there was commercial that caused me to stop and laugh for good 10 minutes. I also happened to be on the phone and luckily my phone companion thought the commercial I saw was as awesome and hilarious as I did (and wasn't annoyed that I was watching TV while on the phone with him).And what was this a commercial for? Tudor's World of Biscuits.
Shall I repeat that? Tudor's World of Biscuits. A world of biscuits, people. A whole world, how have I never known that such a place exsisted?
I like biscuits, perhaps I will take a trip to this Tudor's World of Biscuits since they are franchise and are scattered over the region (apparently). I love a good biscuit, I mean- who doesn't? I would probably think you were a zombie or alien if you didn't.
Here is the thing, I'm a little drunk. Actually I'm the perfect amount buzzed. You know where things are lovely around the edges yet I'm not ridiculously screaming at random college students on the street about how they are dressed (which would be 'like sluts').
The only problem is now I'm starving and tired. Yet, I've eaten two very sizable pieces of pizza and yet the belly is still clamoring for more. I could make myself a salad, but who the fuck eats a salad when they are drunk? It's not exactly the perfect drunk food, more like the worst drunk food. Whipping up a dressing seems like something I would mess up in my slightly altered state (and no, I don't own bottled dressing- so that isn't an option). So I'm pretty much screwed on the food front- I don't have any good snackable items on hand. Damnit.
Tired? Oh yes, I'm wiped out. Too many late nights this week (hello after midnight bedtimes!). Not the best idea, I'm just sleepy.
Ok, I'm off to forage in the kitchen. I know I've got some frozen corn, but again frozen corn does not a good snack make.
Also where have all my readers gone? Too much erratic posting? Lame entries that don't inspire comment at all? I'm sure it is all of these things and for that I'm sorry.
Labels: Awesomeness, beer, drinking, food, TV
Ambrosia Friday, January 04, 2008
Ok, really where has Apricot jam been all my life? How did I get to be 28 and never had such deliciousness? It's like heaven on toast, ok, who am I kidding. It's like heaven on a spoon. Because if I'm going to indulge in jam sometimes the bread is wholly unnecessary. And thus I've saved calories by not eating the bread, calories that can be use to eat more apricot jam. Foolproof logic in my opinion.I'm sure the shitty store brand version of apricot jam isn't anything like the real tried and true version that I could probably make but since it's January and apricots are completely done for the season I guess I'll just have to wait till mid-summer to find out.
It's the new year so now we are all being bombarded with tons of advertising tell us to stop being fat asses. Most of the commercials incite me into some sort of homicidal rage but I have to say that the Kellogg's Smart Start Cereal one made me fall in love. It features women exercising for their HEART! Not to make someone love them or fit into that size 8 but because it's what you do to be healthy.
It's like a choir of angel's opened up and started singing to me. Thank you Kellogg for realizing that working out for your heart's sake and not the sake of your ass is the right way to approach a lifestyle change. If you go to their website the whole page is dedicated to healthy heart living! Heart disease is the #1 killer of women (far outpacing breast cancer) and I'm so glad to see that a company is promoting something that is so important and isn't focusing on our waistlines and telling us our self-worth is wrapped up in our pant size (like every other diet commercial out there).
And yes, I realize the awesome dichotomy of posting about eating jam straight from the jar in the same breath writing about heart health.
Labels: Awesomeness, food, gym
