When I woke up, it was a frigid 6°F outside. There was no way I was going outside today. To get some exercise, I spent 45 minutes on an exercycle in the workout room. It’s Sausage Saturday, but we’re missing the main ingredients: sausages and ice cream. Instead of sausage, I’ll make chicken pot pie using chicken from the freezer. And instead of ice cream, Dwight baked apple crumble, which is cooling now.
Category: Cook
Wot No Turkey?
Spent most of the afternoon making veggie moussaka as the main dish for tomorrow’s Thanksgiving. Porcini mushrooms, lentils and chickpeas nicely fill the meat space. The dish required red wine (3 cups); the cook required some too, but a much lesser amount.
Book and Biscotti
While Dwight baked these almond biscotti, I stretched out on the couch with a novel I’d checked out from the library on my Kindle, Sir Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Buried Giant. The Remains of the Day is still my favorite, but none of his novels has disappointed. Early samples of the biscotti didn’t disappoint either.
Comfort Food Foundation
Made a 24-hour chicken bone broth which I filtered four ways this morning. Now it’s setting up in the fridge, waiting for me to skim off the fat. I’ll freeze it in smaller portions to use in dishes where I want the flavor and smoothness to shine. On Friday, I picked up chicken parts from an Asian market; of course, I couldn’t resist grabbing some Japanese KitKats while I was there.
From Ug to Yum
Picked up ingredients for a braise, including one each of these gnarly beauties: a rutabaga and a celeriac.
Colorful Greens
Picked up a bunch of local Swiss chard to stir-fry with dinner. Normally this veggie is not on my radar, but Dwight suggested I should look out for some.
All Set for Sausage Saturday
Looked straight ahead as I walked past Kramarczuk’s extensive display of cakes to pick up garlicky house-made Ukrainian sausage at the meat counter. Next, I braved the chilly walk-in beer cooler at Surdyk’s, just down the road, for a local brew. Earlier I’d picked up crusty bread, a massive cabbage, and ice cream at Seward… Continue reading All Set for Sausage Saturday
Sunday Afternoon
As you walk through our home today, you walk from great cooking smells to the intense smell of rubbing alcohol. I’ve been preparing dinners through Wednesday, Dwight’s been spraying plants that have attracted bugs. Tonight, mushroom risotto; tomorrow beans (with a Spanish-style sofrito base) and rice; Tuesday, risotto patties; Wednesday, beans and polenta. “Food is… Continue reading Sunday Afternoon
Teacher Appreciation
At Coastal Seafoods, I pointed at a slab of fatty Atlantic salmon and asked for a piece to be cut from the thicker part then deboned. The cashier asked if I was a teacher, as they were offering a 20% discount to teachers. I replied that I was a volunteer English Language teacher, which she… Continue reading Teacher Appreciation
Mushrooms: My Two Cents’ Worth
Yesterday Dwight picked up Shiitake and (new to us) Trumpet mushrooms at the farmers market. Tonight I’ll put them in a risotto. Many suggest not washing mushrooms, but I prefer to run them through a bowl of water, then dry them. Shiitake stems are full of umami, but sadly they’re tough and stringy, so they… Continue reading Mushrooms: My Two Cents’ Worth