Let Us Speak of Pickled Things

Here lately, what with the interest in canning, I have given a lot of thought to pickled things. I love them. I love pickles in many forms, and I know that it's a typical food in the south, but I am not sure about other places. Anyway, we had a dinner party last weekend, and I put together a few of my favorite pickled things of late and called it an appetizer. They were hits, so I thought I would share these with you.

These pickled cucumbers are struggling to find a name with me. They need a special name because they aren't even pickles really- more like brined cucumbers. And they are also very Asian-flavored- lots of ginger and fish sauce. But they are crisp and crunchy and have about a thousand different uses- they are great on top of a peice of grilled tuna, great in sandwiches, on crackers, or just crammed into your mouth while you hang out on your deck, all bundled up and pretending it's spring. I adapted this recipe from a marinade I found in one of our cookbooks on modern asian and thai cooking.



Asian Briney Cucumber Thingys

3in peice of fresh ginger, grated
2 garlic cloves
just a bit of thai chili paste or maybe a dash of Sriracha
5T sugar
5T fish sauce
juice of 2 limes
1/3 c of water
2 cucumbers, seeded and sliced sort of thin

mix it all up and toss in the cucumbers. at first the cukes will not be very well covered by the marinade, but within about 20 minutes they will give up some of their juice and kind of settle in. Let sit overnight. This will keep for about 10 days in a sealed container.

I feel like people should make the most of what's available locally. This is double true when you are lucky enough to live in a fishing town, where local shrimp can be bought pretty much fresh off the boat. If you can't go down to the docks for your shrimp, find the best ones you can get. As with all things, that is the difference between goodness and greatness.

Pickled Shrimp
Adapted from This Recipe

2 pounds shrimp, peeled and deveined
large onion, sliced thin
green pepper, rough chopped
1C vegetable oil
1 1/2 C ketchup
2C Apple Cider Vinegar
1T yellow mustard
3T worstershire
1t Old Bay
a few shakes of salt, pepper, and hot sauce

mix up everything but the shrimp in a giant bowl. drop the shrimp in boiling water for just a short short time- like one minute. Seriously. It won't look to be fully cooked, but the vinegar will continue that process. If you fully cook them when you boil the shrimp you will end up with some very tough shrimp, and we all know that's not fun. Serve with crackers.



Have a great weekend! There are buds on the trees here, and the dogwoods are in full bloom. I will be popping Claritins, enjoying the view, and wishing for more pickled things.

The Jelly Jar Is Half Full

I tried.

I failed.


Sort of.

this is yet another foray into yet more uncharted territory. Up above in those sunny pictures, you see some Three Citrus Marmalade, from Well Preserved. This book was a Christmas gift, and I fell in love with the idea of preserving small batches of things at the height of their awesomeness (really, in December, who doesn't dream of a time when zucchini is in season?) and having them to enjoy later. Each recipe for preserving something is followed by a handful of recipes that use that item as a key ingredient, and I must say, those recipes are sexy.

Yeah, I called them sexy.

So, for the first time ever I made marmalade. I got to use my candy thermometer, I carefully processed all the jars like i should have, and all of them sealed. I understand the process and no longer have a fear that during water bath processing, all the jars will explode and glass shards will go in my eyes. Vivid imagination + generalized fear of the unfamiliar = eternally living in a B horror movie, if only in my own mind. So that's the good thing.

The bad thing is that i HATE the resulting marmalade. HAAAAAAAAAATE. And you know who is to blame for this? Me. That's who. I mean in retrospect, I should have known that while i like oranges quite a lot, I don't like grapefruit at all. Lemon- eh. So why I thought that a great thing to make would be Three Citrus Marmalade with grapefruit and lemon- well, I'm just not sure.

Now back to the good thing. It's actually a Great Thing. While stirring and canning and timing, I got that smug feeling that I thrive on. And since my shady little yard that is patrolled by mongrel dogs isn't conducive to growing things, the next best thing is buying stuff that other people have grown, and putting it in little jars to store away for another time. The bonus is that BF REALLY enjoyed the process. Surprisingly so. It involves science, precision, gadgets, and squirreling away food- not sure why I didn't realize sooner that this could be his life's work. I figure since I am In Charge when it comes to the kitchen, he will be a great little minion, and lord knows I do love to Supervise. But yay! Another thing we like to do together, and another thing that has me looking forward to a good Southern Summer- long growing season, lots of time for trial and error.

Worth Mentioning

Like so many others in the blogosphere (I find it so strange that "blogosphere" is like a Real Word now. Huh.), I have been in hibernation mode. And again, like so many others, I am full of things to say, and they are all random and not totally coherent. It's funny- is this proof that things will find a universal rhythm if you let them- like that time i worked with 13 other women in a law office and within three months if you weren't on some sort of hormonal birth control you wound up on the Universal Monthly Cycle? Or is it simply that i have had too much coffee this morning? Anyway:

I found these two sitting this way yesterday totally of their own volition. I love their friendship, and the way that they stick together. These two teach me a lot sometimes. I only wish I could return the favor, but they don't seem interested in learning.


We have been in the most unfortunate position of discovering fleas. We caught it early, the vet has been most helpful, and we procured lots of very expensive sprays and medications and have been removing them from the house. Ever the optimist, I see that although I am SICK of laundry, the Spring Cleaning type phenomena around here is nice. I love nice tidy baseboards, organized closets, and switching furniture around. Although this does nothing for ridding the house of pests, it seems to have shaken my hibernation.

With the hibernation shaken, I made the Apple Cobbler with Cheddar Cheese biscuits this weekend out of Rustic Fruit Desserts. It was stellar, and I had it for dinner last night. And again for breakfast this morning. The cheddar gives just enough of a bite to the cobbler so that it's not sickeningly sweet. I declared the book a Keeper; BF remains skeptical. He says that it must contain two knockout recipes to be declared a success; I say he's inexplicably jaded with regard to homemade desserts. Bah.

Comic Relief is a great thing to have in your home. Even if it has fleas. She was restrained for the photo, but this was her idea. Honest:
If I had one wish, it would be for a space heater, so that I could warm up the sunroom enough to make use of it this morning.

I am finding the job search tough. There are no prospects, and because we have all we need in so many ways, I am surprised to find myself in an identity crisis of sorts. It's not sitting well with me, this trying to fill up my days and feeling like my sole worth is wrapped up in doing the laundry. However, I am pleased to say that taking my vitamins and doing as much exercise as possible, particularly yoga, is really helping. When I think about taking charge of my well-being, I feel better.

Lost returns this week. This is so exciting to me.

Bacon, basil, fresh mozzarella, and balsamic vinegar sandwiches are the best thing ever.

I've been knitting.

Hooray for February!

Good Things In Yellow

Today is a gross day. It's gray, it's cold, and it hasn't stopped raining all day. The dogs have gotten out of bed once today, and I am fighting so hard not to join them. When dumping my pics onto my hard drive today, i was happy to see lots of yellow around here- it cheers me up considerably.

Let's talk first about the second attempt at ravioli. MUCH better looking, no? It was butternut squash filling of my own devising, and i must say- delicious. Served with a pesto sauce, and it also froze beautifully. I am so so so pleased with this.

The flowers that the BF bought me are finally opening. And aren't they pretty! I am sort of not allowing much in the way of spending on stuff like this right now, but they were the last ones left, with no blooms open, and you could almost tell they would be yellow. So he was sweet and spent the $2 it required to get me these pretty flowers. I am so glad he did. He's good that way.
And finally, a pictorial that is proof, i think, of becoming an adult: a snack in my house. Yep, that's butternut squash and brussels sprouts. We are working hard at eating well, and it's starting to show around here. It would also seem that my dorkiness is starting to show (starting?!?!?) because i thought the color combo of the veggies in the blue bowl was so pretty I had to take a pic.
I hope your day is bright and shiny, and that you don't have to try as hard as I do to keep the gray away.

The Zen of Pasta

See that pic up there? since you can't tell just what it is I'm sure, I will tell you. It's ravioli. Portobello ravioli to be exact, and made by my own two little hands. Well, my two hands and a pasta machine that I got for Christmas.

It is really ugly looking, but I learned a lot about making pasta, one thing being that you really ought to roll it out much thinner than you think you should. i did not do this, and it was so thick that it sort of cooked up into a very bland, crumbly bread with yummy stuff in the middle. So here's a rundown on what I learned- possibly more for my benefit than yours.

:: ricotta is the glue that holds a good filling together.
:: roll the dough out much thinner than you think you need to
:: experimenting on loved ones is a good thing
:: the best way to go about the sealing and cutting is probably an egg wash, then a pizza cutter, then a fork. I will do this next time and likely save myself a lot of heartache.
:: pasta making is a great meditative process.

Loss touched our home this weekend, and I find the reactions to that sort of thing interesting. The way we cope, the way we process things. I tend to cook my feelings, like so many others. My heart was heavy and my brain was all over the place, and it felt good to put my hands to work. Over and over I cranked that dough through the machine, and kneaded, mixed, folded, cut, and it was good. My mind got to be elsewhere for a while, and think of good times, and ponder questions that have no answers. And then at the end of it all, it was good to sit down over a bowl of homemade pasta and talk about what we were feeling. BF said it was comforting. I thought it was grody, but the act itself was of greater comfort to me.

That is sort of what cooking is becoming to me. On a day to day basis, it's how we sustain ourselves, but special dishes, or taking the long way to get to a finished dish- we sustain ourselves differently with them. We eat them, but it's our souls that get fed. That's giving and comfort at their best, and I love being able to do that for the ones I love.

that's the sort of thing that I thought about yesterday while I worked on The World's Ugliest Ravioli. But i know that next time it will be better, and the time after that better still. That sort of knowledge is so comforting when things seem sort of dark.

and before I veer off totally into a strange new and very serious direction, let's have a look at two doggies from over the weekend who desperately wanted a crack at some ravioli. I like how Lilly's face looks so sinister when her eyes arent visible and all you see are her brown eyebrows. As for the little dog, would you be able to resist that face? It gets harder and harder.

Thanksgiving Rundown

Whew! I had a really nice Thanksgiving week, and I hope you did too. I am sorry if I came across as overly dramatic in my last post. It was a hard week, and this is new territory for me. But thanks so much for the kind words and all- I appreciate it. I know that we will be okay. Maybe this is even a blessing. It really did make this holiday different. I tried very hard to distract myself in the kitchen and around the house, but I thought a lot about how much there truly is to be thankful for in my life, and I feel really fortunate in spite of all the stress and uncertainty.

Moving right along. Here's our table.


Lilly doing what she does best, which is nose around for food. In the interest of fairness, I will say that the smell of turkey was making the human family sniff around the oven a lot too.
Lilly doing what she does second best, which is be incredibly goofy.
A wonderful new practice of mine: I have been buying myself a bunch of fresh flowers every other week. Mums keep forever, so by the time I am bringing new ones in, the old ones are only just starting to get sort of funky. It's amazing what they do for my mood.

Okay, so I thought that since my Thanksgiving was such an amazing success, I would share some recipes, while I still remember where they are. I will probably be making most of this stuff again next year, but maybe you might like to try it over the Winter Holidays, whatever those may be to you.

Turkey Brine
Oyster and Cornbread Dressing
Honey glazed Carrots
Green Bean Bundles (no recipe, just wrap a bundle of fresh beans in bacon, then secure with a toothpick. Pour Italian dressing over them, marinate, then bake at 350. YUM!
Sweet Potato Casserole this one is similar to the one we use. I cut the sugar way down though.
Mashed Potatoes-everyone does this their own way, so we will skip that
Caramel Pecan Pie- SWEET MOTHER OF GOD THIS WAS AMAZING. I followed the modifications posted in the very first review. So. So. Good.

So that was our holiday! The pace was very Festive-Lazy, which I think is my new favorite holiday vibe.

Make This Bread

Well, only make this bread if you really like Banana Bread. It so happens I love it, and have this recipe. I took about 5 recipes and cobbled them together to make this one. I am asserting that it is mine, however, I am open to the possibilities that there is another one out there just like it. If so, please don't sue me for CopyWrong. I just like to share.

Super Awesome Banana Bread

2C Enriched Flour
3/4 C sugar (I used white, but it was because I thought we didn't have brown. Use light brown.
2 eggs, beaten
1/2C Butter
3 of the biggest ripest bananas you can find
some Reese's PB chips (add according to how much you like peanut butter. I recommend a lot)

preheat oven to 375F
grease your loaf pan
cream butter and sugar
stir in eggs
mash bananas and fold in
fold in PB chips
dump in your loaf pan
bake for about an hour. after about 65 min, start poking with a toothpick. Mine took about 75 minutes or so.
allow to cool
stuff your face

I can report that this slice was only cut out so that I could show you the inside of the loaf as well. It is NOT because this is such a moist, delicious, and wonderful snack when it is still warm from the oven. Nope. Not at all.

TMI Tuesday

--Lilly is just fine. She is healing well, and is being super annoying as usual. She stays inside while we are at work, since playing with her sister is prohibited, and unavoidable when they are alone for even 5 minutes. She also ate a bunch of Halloween candy today, and Hershey's pumpkin pie spice kisses have not done anything to her but give her bad farts. Thusly, I conclude the obvious: American chocolate is total shit.

--the ductwork was replaced without a hitch. We did a great job just patching a new length of it in after cutting a destroyed section out. I feel like this could be a great fallback career in These Trying Times. the ease of replacing it, and building a trap door to keep her out has resulted in Maya resuming her place on the Good Girl List. She is not on the list with anyone else. See above.

--I am a cooking machine lately. I have been making all sorts of ethnic cuisines and baked this and thats. Perhaps it's my huge new kitchen. Perhaps it's the cooler weather. Perhaps it's my new healthier habits in an effort to look good for the Sisterly Wedding Extravaganza taking place in March. Perhaps I should start taking pics and sharing recipes? Tonight I am making low fat chicken and dumplings. The dumplings are made with corn meal, which is different, and the Chicken soupy part is made with apple juice and thyme. Strange, but so, so good.

--I've also gone and done something crazy. I have hauled off and joined a gym. I am going about 5 nights a week and LOVING it. Loving. Oh man, loving it. I am having lots of fun and really look forward to it most days. I am even getting over my hatred of sweating. However, I have a giant red zit on my back. I can't really see it, but I am told it's totally Unhot. Hey, TMI is right up there in the title. I didn't make you read this.

--I'm also feeling smug what with my Christmas Plan of Action. I have a list of who is a knitting recipient, a pattern picked out, and a tentative knitting schedule. If I can finish one thing a week (most are small projects- cowls and mitts and such) then I should be able to get it all done by christmas with a week to spare. That leaves the week days to knit for myself. Since I am so smug and prepared, it is just a matter of time till this blows up in my face.

--the house is coming along nicely. I am still on the $60 a week trip to Lowe's kick, and the yardwork on our tiny lot-- oh the yard work. I hate picking up crap. But hey, it's gotta be done. This weekend I have big plans for a few bits of furniture, stopping only to go see Zombieland and crank out a cowl. See above.

That's all that's fit to print. Soon, very soon, I should be showing finished things, for a change. I have my very own computer up and running after a long hiatus. Now I should be able to post pics more frequently since it isn't such a collossal pain in the ass. I hope your week is off to a wonderful start!

Awesome Summer II: The Perfect Cocktail

The Kimmy Gibler

Lemonade
The Berry Flavored Vodka Of Your Choice
Ice

Enjoy.

Bonus Points if you remember Kimmy Gibler and what show she was on. Children of the '80's, show yourselves!

Awesome Summer I: Seasonal Cooking

What with the holiday weekend sort of informally signifying the end of summer (for SOME of you. Till we can get our high temps under 85, fall is just a dream to me), I would share with you a few things that I learned this summer which have made it one of the best summers ever.

Have a wonderful Labor Day weekend!



Blackberry Tiny Pies

some blackberries
some sugar (about 1/3c)
some flour (about 1/8c)
a roll of crescent roll dough


To Make:
combine flour, sugar, and blackberries.
roll out the crescent dough
spoon berries onto dough
fold dough over and seal (with a fork or your cool Press N Seal if you have one)
bake according to directions on cresent roll package
serve with ice cream, topped with leftover berries
devour

The Most Important Thing You Will Ever Eat

Crab and Green Tomato Quiche

Ingredients:


4 eggs
1/2 lb crab meat
2/3 c green tomato, chopped
1/3 c green onion, minced
1 c Swiss cheese, grated or cubed (i prefer cubed because i love the little melty cheesy pockets they make)
1/4c sour cream
Old Bay seasoning
worcestershire
9 in. pie crust

Make:
beat 4 eggs violently in a bowl
add sour cream and whisk till blended
fold in cheese, onion, tomato, 3 shakes of Old Bay, and 2 shakes of Worcestershire
fold in crab gently
pour into pie crust
bake at 400 degrees till golden at edges and no longer liquid-y in the middle



This is my very own recipe, and I am quite proud of it. It's super tasty, and the sort of things that will totally impress your friends. If you feel like sharing. And also if your friends are easily impressed. Mine are, but I didn't share with them. As for the crab, either lump or claw works just fine. I used claw, but it was because I was experimenting and didn't want to make a $13 in crab meat mistake. Sorry about the approximations on spices. It's just kind of how I roll.

I served this with a waffle with goat cheese and honey on it. You don't have to, but I really just wanted the goat cheese and honey.

The Crawfish Boil

Again, I am late on this, but I can't let the Crawfish Boil & Americana Music Fest go unmentioned. I had a FANTASTIC time. For $12 it was all you can eat crawfish, potatoes and corn (I ate about 5 mini ears- not kidding) and all you can listen awesome local musicians. Beautiful weather, cold beer, great music- I hate how much I love this town sometimes.

By the way, are you noticing the quality of my photos? Are you noticing that there's a bit of quality there? I am working hard on them, but mostly I am loving downloading them onto the computer and not groaning at all of them. I still groan at a fair amount, but hey! I got a few good ones.

In which I play with my food and the macro function:

Farmer's Market and Dog Show

I can't believe that I am about a week late on this post! The days are just flying by. Once I get home from work (read: where all the pics are stored) I am not going near the computer. There's too much life going on in the house to lock myself away in the office at home. But still, I wanted to share these pics with you.

Last Saturday we went to the sort of Town Square thing where they were holding a dog show, and the usual site of the Farmer's Market. It was such a beautiful (as you can see) and fun day. Lilly came with us, and behaved splendidly. We ate kettle corn, bought tomatoes, ate various samples and enjoyed the Dog Show. Sigh. It was a marriage of all my favorite things. Well an orgy of them, really. Dogs, local produce, handmade things, The Pickle Lady, beautiful spring weather, and so much food you can't believe it.

Let's get on with it then.


Beautiful Weather:
Dolly Parton (costumes were by FAR my fave):


Swine Flu:

Pirate Wench:
Ever wonder what a 73 pound Bassett Hound looks like? Gunther will show you. Bassett Rescue was out at the show and they make me feel all melty and wanty. I am a sucker for floppy ears.
I just can't stand the nice weather.
Child Handler Event. A girl and her Big Pink Bow and her Whippet. Even my heart of stone melted for them.
I love doing all my produce shopping here. It really gets no better.
Lilly, having what possibly amounts to the Time of Her Life.

More Weekend Baking.

Hello, I hope you had a nice weekend and your Monday is not shaping up to be total crap.

I was very very very busy this weekend. Very busy indeed. I spent a good bit of it making some gifts, and my goal was to have everything that was to be mailed out by today so that I can relax and enjoy the rest of the month. It was not to be, but that's okay. Anytime this week would be a SERIOUS improvement over past years.

So anyway, I got this recipe off of the Sew Mama Sew! blog, and I gotta tell ya- if you love chai tea, this is the recipe for you. It's seriously delicious, and I could well be ruined on any other for the rest of my life.

And I made more dog cookies. This time I made peanut butter and banana, and they were delicious. I am only slightly embarrassed to say that I know this first hand. Maya and I each had a few, and she agrees too. They are yummy. They were fun to make and I hope that all the doggies on our list enjoy them. I know they will because dogs have impossibly low standards when it comes to food.

Also, I gotta say that I am pretty proud of the labels. I made them all by myself. I was too cheap to buy printer labels (those suckers are expensive!) and feeling to holiday cheerful to steal them from work. So, i bought a $1.50 pack of those ones that you write your name on, and sat down with my stamps. I am pleased to report that other than the nametags, I didn't buy another thing for the labels. You can't really tell, but the whitish mod-snowflakey-star-thingies are embossed with sparkly glittery stuff. Festive.

Now to throw all this stuff in the mail and see if I can't squeeze a little fun out of the holidays.

Cookies.

Do you like peanut butter cookies? Maya does. I bet her dog friends do too. That's why I made some.

they are too cute. I have been saving my pickle jars (I buy the medium ones, and sometimes several a week, I'm afraid) and now I am slowly filling them to the brim with little peanut buttery bones. I would fill them a lot faster if my Quality Control Foxhound didn't love them so much.

She gets to keep the big ones, which I only really made because I wanted to play with all the cutters in the 3 piece set. They are too cute, each batch makes easily 70 little bones, and it costs next to nothing to make them. I feel comfortable endorsing this recipe, because my doggie is a picky eater, and she does not usually get excited about dry treats. At best, she is ambivalent about cookies- unless her mom makes them. Here's a heavily modified recipe (modified because I didn't have all the stuff and was too lazy to hunt it all down):

2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter (feel free to add much more. the dogs won't mind)
some water (just keep adding 1/4 cups of it till you get a pasty, doughy consistency you like)
a bit of flax seed or some flax seed oil if you have it

mix it all up real good, then roll it out on a floured surface. I just mushed it out with my hands because it looks more home made (with love, of course) and cute with a non-uniform surface. Cookie cut them up in whatever shape you like, and then put them in the oven at 350 for about 30 minutes or so. cool completely before serving to your doggie friends and store in an airtight container, such as a pickle jar. serve and win the adoration of furry beasts far and wide.

I got the cookie cutters on eBay, and I am having tons of fun baking them up. Maya is having tons of fun eating them. Maya is giving them to her friends this year for Christmas. I was surprised last night by how many lucky doggies are on her list. It's a good thing all the ingredients are cheap, because Foxhounds don't really have a lot of money to spend on things like cookies.

What a Great Saturday

I am sorry I don't have more pictures. I was just too busy having fun. I promise to take pictures the next time I head out to

The Farmer's Market!

It was a beautiful day that was sort of fall like (not oppressively hot, but not cold enough for a sweater- sigh) and I was so excited to go to the farmer's market downtown. As a side note, I took my French Market Bag and it could not have worked out better. A Lady With a Purse Booth even commented on it and just had the nicest things to say. By then it was full of green tomatoes, and it works just great with stuff in it that has a bit of weight to it. I want to go back and buy more stuff just so I can feel the love for the bag again.


There were the usuals- TONS of jewelry, some soaps, bath products, jams and jellies (I got an apple butter and a Cactus and Prickly Pear Jelly) and other fun artsy things. It was a great time, and I really should make a point of buying y produce there. It was gorgeous and they had zucchinis as big as my leg. Almost.

Then we went to Cupcake, a store that surprisingly sells, well, cupcakes. Mine is the pecan praline one. Delicious sugar coma ensues.


Then we went to the Habitat for Humanity store where I got this gem:



Beautiful. I just love love love this chair. I got it for $28! It's so comfy, comes with a cushion that I am actually sort of loving and is in good condition, and has the most satisfying little creaks and groans. I even bought it in spite of the fact that I know it will be great for the porch but a little voice said "One day it would be nice to have in a nursery." I told that voice to STFU, and smacked the snooze button on my biological clock once more. I swear, it is the strangest things that make my ovaries twitch a bit and thing that a kid wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. Funny how the universe works though- while checking out we saw the rudest woman who happened to also be parent to the Rudest Child Ever, and well, now i think that rocking in my chair while doing some knitting will be just fine for now, thank you.

the rest of my loot will be revealed in due time: It's some linen napkins that will be hit hard with the fabric paint, and two place mats which believe will be made into something awesome to show you very soon. All for about $8 (the fabric that I got was some nice upholstery weight fabric, about 2 yards worth).

Then we went to Cobwebs, the place where I got my office chair and then I said a silent prayer of thanks for bringing my camera so that I could show you the strangest thing ever.




Now isn't that just the strangest thing you have ever seen in your life? Probably not, but for some reason, seeing all the crutches and walkers suspended from the ceilling over a second hand dining room table and chairs just struck me as incredibly bizarre. I laughed for the longest time about it too. I don't know why. Just one of those things. But man it looks strange. I didn't buy anything, but they have some really great desks there for like $40. I plan to wait and see if I can't maybe score one for like $20. Now that would be something to shout about.

Hope you all had a fantastic weekend! Make sure to get your asses to the polls tomorrow!