Tag Archive | personal: food

The Thornes Go to Hershey (#altonbrownlive)

Nov16

We’ve been watching Alton Brown on TV for years. We watched Good Eats nigh-on religiously, watched Next Iron Chef when there was nothing else Alton-y to watch, and watch and love Cutthroat kitchen.

We’re the sort of people that brine our turkey every year; I make biscuits by Alton’s recipe for our soup and we do own two of Alton’s cookbooks. I think it’s fair to say we’re fans.

So when the live show was coming to Hershey, PA, well… that’s only four hours away. We’ve driven three and a half hours to Albany three times between September and October (there was a wedding); we can drive to Hershey.

T and I don’t take many vacations. We used to do conventions with the Camarilla™, back when we belonged to said world-wide live-action Roleplaying game, and we did Dragon*Con once – in neither case did we pick the hotel. We’ve turned weddings into vacations for ourselves – again, we didn’t pick the hotel. I think this may be the first time we’ve chosen the hotel… ever.

Ahem. Alton Brown.

The show was awesome. I hadn’t done a lot of research about it, so I didn’t go in expecting anything in particular – but it was everything I could have wanted. He ranted about food, he did wild food tricks, he sang. It was two hours of pure Alton.

My only sad point? He took audience questions via twitter w/ selfie. Awesome… except for the 1% of us (me) that came sans smart phone.

But all in all – awesome show. I don’t think we learned anything about cooking, but we had a lot of fun. (Also, in his song about EZ Bake ovens, I got to examine how lucky we are to live in a sub-sub-culture where the fact that my husband does 9/10 of the cooking is entirely acceptable.)

Back to the hotel. So, I was a little hesitant about staying in a Howard Johnson (hotel snob), but it was the only one on the main drag that was a) well-reviewed and b) had a king-sized bed. So.

Turns out, it has a phenomenal restaurant underneath, and an absolutely tasty brunch place right next door. So not only did we get to listen to our favorite TV-food-personality, we got to eat delicious food, too!

All in all, a very good vacation, & back home in time to feed the kitties.

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Adventures in Cooking

Oct8

Yesterday, I learned:

That porchetta is a food item (Wikipedia says it is “a savoury, fatty, and moist boneless pork roast of Italian culinary tradition”). It is also a food item that our local grocery store sells.

That pancetta is a food item. (Wikipedia says that is is “is Italian bacon made of pork belly meat that is salt cured and spiced with black pepper and sometimes other spices”).

That my husband’s handwriting can make pancetta look exactly like porcetta (it’s that a-n) and that I should really check the list in the evening, before I go to the grocery store at 8:30 a.m.

That the recipe I want to make later this week calls for pancetta, not porchetta.

And that porchetta is very tasty, and very different from pancetta.

Time to hit the local butcher’s!

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Tomato Season!

Aug20

This is my favorite time of year for garden-eating, because I get to eat Tomato Everything.

Fresh Tomatoes on Pizza.

Grilled Cheese & Tomato Sammiches.

And homemade Tomato Soup.

We made this the other day – it’s one of my favorite non-recipes.

More or less: cook a hot sausage (we used chorizo) in a deepish pan. Once it’s rendered some fat and is cooked, pull out the sausage and put it aside. Toss in two onions and plenty of garlic, chopped roughly. Cook until tender, then add a bunch of fresh tomatoes.

Add some fluid – usually water – and maybe a bit of bouillon – or just stock, but we have bouillon around, not stock, so.

Let cook until the tomatoes are stewy and the soup is red all the way through. Add the sausage back in, and add fish sauce & molasses to round out the flavor.

Stir a little cream in at the table & enjoy.

Aah, summer.

(bonus? It’s so cold this summer, we can actually enjoy soup).

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Here in Spain We Just Call That Rice.

Aug13

Homer: Can you let me out of the boat?
Brazilian Kidnapper: What for?
Homer: [Whining]I have to go do a piss.
Brazilian Kidnapper: [Annoyed] Again?
Homer: I’m sorry, I have a bladder the size of a Brazil nut.
Brazilian Kidnapper: We just call them nuts here.
Simpsons, Season 13: Blame it on Lisa

We made Spanish Rice Monday for dinner – we are on the great Clean Out The Freezer quest, and the first thing to come to T’s hand was ground beef. We have peppers, bell & hot, ripening in the garden, and I’ve been in a rice mood.

Thus: Spanish rice. It’s one of those dishes, like stir-fry, that you don’t need a recipe for, but I looked it up just for fun (our version involves white long-grain rice, tomatoes, the last of a jar of salsa, the aforementioned ground beef, onions, the white ends of some bok choy, and a strange variety of spices that included Tabasco and Garam Masala)

I got a kick out of the Wikipedia article:

Etymology
Although called “Spanish rice”, this dish is unknown in Spain. The term “Spanish rice” is not used by Mexicans or Mexican food enthusiasts, and its use probably stems from the fact that the Spanish language is spoken in Mexico; the dish is usually simply referred to as arroz (“rice”) in Mexico.

“…here in Mexico we just call that rice.”

~

I got all the way through this & then realized that my quote might make it sound like I don’t know the difference between Spain, Mexico, and (Portuguese-speaking) Brazil. Not the case! We’re a Simpsons-joke household, and that one comes up even in totally inaccurate situations (“…here in France we just call that toast.”)

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Sunday’s Dinner: very indicative of the Thorne household shopping

May12

Dinner Sunday was shrimp alfredo with pan-roasted asparagus on the side:

Asparagus and tomato from a local farmstand
Shrimp from the restaurant supply store
Pasta from the Bulk Store
Spices bought online
Alfredo and Parmesan from BJ’s Club
Wine from Six Mile Creek Vineyards, bought during the Cayuga Wine & Herb trail last weekend

And then a pecan quickbread from the same place we bought the tomato & asparagus for dessert (with cream cheese from BJ’s.) Just needed something from Wegmans to fill out our normal shopping. 😉

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Tasty (Wednesday): Babka for Easter

Apr3

For Easter Sunday, as a change from the Incredible Simple Cake we made for St. Patty’s Day, we made a “traditional bread” that involved milk, eggs, leavening, sugar, and rum (as well as fruit and the normal ingredients)

Spousal Unit comes from a Polish family, and since I have almost no ethnic tradition of my own (When asked to write a poem about my roots in high school, I wrote “I bury me feet deep/in mud-deep soil/I walk barefoot through the land/my ancestors farmed…” Ethnicity? Farmer), I tend to borrow his.

So when this recipe – Polish Babka – popped up in my inbox, we just had to try it.

Wow.

Warning: we ate the entire thing. In one sitting. Um. There’s two of us.

Wow.

Notes: The candied fruit really added nothing, which is sad, because Rion and I quested for it. We’d double or treble the raisins next time & skip the fruit. And it really does need a full day to soak, and a heavier rum sauce (I added a 1/4 cup of dark rum, what’s this tablespoon crap?).

But really, wow.

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Tasty Tuesday: Baked Apple Steel-Cut Oats

Feb5

On weekends when we’re feeling like taking the time, we like to eat steel cut oats. They’re chewier and earthier tasting than rolled oats, but they can be very time-consuming (and really irritating to do in the microwave. Boil-overs everywhere!)

This is one of our go-to recipes, modified from The Kitchn‘s Baked Pumpkin Steel-Cut Oats.

The recipe claims to serve 4 to 6. This is a heavy breakfast for 3 to 4 for us.

1 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
1 1/2 cups steel cut oats
1 cup unsweetened applesauce or apple butter
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon allspice
(we use fresh ground spices for all but the ginger)
4 cups warm water
(Sometimes I use apple cider for part of it, or I put in 1/4c powdered milk.)
1/2 teaspoon salt

Pre-heat oven to 375F

Use an oven-safe pot on the stovetop on medium to medium-high.

Melt half the butter.

Add the oats, and toast them, stirring frequently, until they change color and smell toasty.

Move the oats to one side of the pan. Melt the second half of the butter, then add the applesauce and cook until it starts to stick to the bottom.

Add spices and water/milk/cider, and stir until everything is combined. Lid your pan, and put it in the oven.

Cook for 35 minutes. Let sit on the stove for approx. 5 minutes to thicken and cool to edibility.

Garnish with chopped walnuts, if you wish, drizzle on a bit of milk, and sweeten to taste. It doesn’t take much!

And now you, too, can enjoy a Thorne Family Saturday morning!

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Thursday it’s Summer

May3

The sun is out! My sandals are on! The weather is beautiful again! Summer must be here.. .*knock on wood*

I’ve been sanding away on the dresser, and hope to have it ready to paint by the weekend. I’m ridiculously happy about this. *bounce bounce*

Dinner tonight will be chicken soup – stage 2 in our 3-stage leftovers meal: Rotisserie Chicken –> chicken noodle soup –> risotto. Mmmm tasty. 🙂

Really, that’s about it going on in my life right now. I’m trying to stay back on the Weight Watchers Wagon, to start peeling off the rest of the weight before my cousin’s October wedding. And, of course, I’m writing.

Home-redo projects I like:
Floating Wall Display Shelf I might need one of these in my study someday.

Chair transformations – I’ve been contemplating doing something like this (get 4 mismatched chairs & paint & upholster them to match) – but that’s far down the line.

Also? been knitting like mad.

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Food Waste and recycled furniture – what I did on my weekend

Apr29

Today, I spent several hours or so sanding down my old dresser – and by old, I mean I’m pretty sure my Mom got it at a garage sale when I was 6 or so, so it’s been in our family for 30 years, more if I’m right about the garage sale.

This thing is stained – was stained – an orangy red color, and, well, it had been a child’s dresser. Possibly two or three children’s dresser. It is beat to shit. One of the legs is broken. I have been carrying it in move after move since I moved out of my parents’ house at 20. It’s well-used.

But it’s solid wood, it’s a good size for us, and the frame is still intact. So I picked up 4 new (taller) legs at the ReUse center (you should totally see if your area has something similar!) – also stained an ugly orangish red – and got to work with the palm sander.

I’ve gotten the drawer fronts (5), the top, half the front, and one side sanded down – it’s turned out to be a lovely poplar with a very green grain. My plan is to pain the carcass and drawer fronts (the same white as the bedroom walls), stain the top to match what we’re doing with the closet doors, stain the legs to match, and buy nifty knobs.

Truth be told, I’m doing all this for the knobs.
</cut.
Wow, that was a lot of text for “I’m sanding down a dresser,” sorry.

While looking for tips on refinishing furnishing, I found “The Frugal Girl” and, specifically, her Food Waste Friday segment, in which she blogs about, yes, food waste. I find it interesting, and I’m glad to see someone else thinks of it.

T. & I have learned to minimize food waste by using the freezer a lot and not buying veggies we don’t have a plan for – we buy a lot of canned food. How do you avoid throwing food out?

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Experimental Enchiladas

Jan10

Yesterday’s dinner was a chicken soup (from thigh bones & left over rotisserie chicken), heavy in the rice & beans.

Today’s dinner is going to be leftover-soup-with-tomato-and-TVP enchiladas.

I’ll let you know how that works out!

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