Cocktails... On Tap?

A cocktail article in Thursday's Wall Street Journal got me thinking about what I value in my beverage-consuming experience. First and foremost, I'm focused on what happens when I receive the beverage. Does it stir my nose? Is the glass cold or warm against my lips? Does the liquor bite the end of my tongue or does it coat and tingle? What flavors am I tasting--herbs? Fruits? Woods? What's the effervescent experience as it passes my throat and enters my digestive tract?

But apparently there's also a place for the bartending performance in my psyche. To charge me $14 and serve me a beverage that's been produced en masse irrationally infuriates me. I have been robbed of an experience--a bonding between the alcohol artisan and myself. I freeze spiked punches for myself, but I expect more when I dine out.

Again, I acknowledge the irrationationality of this! I don't seek out the soup master and demand that my vichyssoise be borne of potatoes unique from another's. I often don't see more than a glimpse of the shaker that holds my beverage. Yet somehow I've become entitled to a labor-intensive experience as a contract of my happy hour purchase.

How do you feel about your bar experience? Do you pin a thought on the dispensary of your drink?

Chicken potpie for dinner

Helen's been talking about Mrs. Clemans' great pot pies, so with a plentiful amount of chicken thighs freezer-burning in the deep freeze, I thought I'd give one a try. I found one in The Martha Stewart Living Cookbook, which has been a reliable and tested set of recipes.

Absolutely delicious! I slow-cooked the chicken and swapped chopped onion and celery for pearl onions and leeks. The potatoes were white instead of red. I omitted the carrots and mushrooms, and added some leftover peas.

Squeezing Citrus

The secret to squeezing out the maximum amount of juice from a piece of citrus is a microwave. While cooks often avoid this instrument, the breakdown of the cells within the fruit [note: my science may not be science] aides the squeezability [definitely a technical term] when pressed in a vise.

Tonight's mai tai is excellent, by the way!

Saturday's menu

I recently discussed my paleo diet with a co-worker. She asked for a sample of what I eat during the day. Here it is.

Breakfast
Whitney Scramble for 2
Dice 1 1/2 slices of bacon and heat in frying pan on medium-high. When fat starts to coat pan, add 5 or 6 sliced mushrooms and allow to cook and wilt slightly. In the meantime, slightly strain extraneous juices from a 1/2 cup of pico de gallo (I just use the plastic jar from Costco) and gently combine with 6 eggs (we remove 2 yolks per our taste preference). Add egg mixture to bacon-mushrooms and scramble to desired consistency. Remove from heat and divide into bowl. Optional: top with 1/2 of a diced red bell pepper and/or 1/3 of a diced avocado for taste and textural contrast.

Lunch
Leftover Chicken
Today I lunched on a leftover rotisserie chicken leg from Costco. While the ingredients used to flavor these birds may not be strictly paleo, we accept the compromise by removing skin. Granted, that tasty skin goes into a soup we'll enjoy later...

Snack
1/2 Hot Dog
Nitrates and all, today's snack was a 1/2 all-beef hot dog with mustard and relish from Costco, minus the bun.

Apertif
Mai Tai
Hey, don't judge me! I'm constantly telling people I'm not a strict paleo-follower! I like to think of myself as 80% adherent to the "rules." We all have our own standards...

Dinner
Steak and Salad
We enjoyed beef rib steaks from Cheryl the Pig Lady today. We're attempting to move toward eating grass-fed beasts, but it's a pricey proposition! Luckily, our small meat samples were exceptional! The hubby grilled them on our gas grill and seasoned them with salt and butter. The meal was complemented by a large salad of spinach, jicima, red bell pepper, daikon, green onions, orange sections, tomato, balsamic vinegar and olive oil.

Most of our shopping is done at Costco and the Proctor Farmer's Market. Paleo tends to require a great deal of from-scratch cooking, and so I try to "cook ahead" on the weekends so as to supply our lunches and dinner sides with tasty variety. It is my hope to post more menus as time allows.

Morning eggs

Now that we're showered, let's think about breakfast. Downstairs I go, still wearing my interim tee-shirt!

In the kitchen, I'll start by pulling forward the coffeemaker next to the sink and insert its filter holder and pot. I fold an oversized paper filter to fit the mini holder (mine is a 5-cup model), preferring the thrift of bulk-purchased filters to the convenience of the smaller (and more expensive) filters. I used to use the golden metal filter that came with the unit, but it took on an old-coffee flavor over time.

I measure3 generous scoops of ground coffee from my canister over the sink. The coffee is a windfall for me - my father-in-law is a coffee-lover and is generous in sharing his mail-order Starbucks with me. I pull the faucet sprayer over to this side of the sink and fill the water tank to the "3" level and close the top. I plug it into the wall and press the power button to commence brewing. Since it is meant to be left on all day (for the 1/2 hour of use I give it?), it has a digital clock, which now blinks to remind me to bring it current. I press the hour button once. If I had a young child just learning to tell time, he would think that we breakfasted at 1:00 a.m. every morning.

With the coffee in the works, I put the small fry pan on to heat. On my particular gas stovetop, I turn the dial on the closer-left burner to just-after-4. Sometimes I have to pivot the handle around because the body of the pan tilts up and away from the flame; the handle needs to extend in the same direction as one of the iron arms of the stovetop.

I put on exam gloves once the pan is heating, and reach into the fridge for bacon and eggs. The gloves are a protective measure against excessive hand-washing - a recommendation from my dermatologist for my continual hand eczema, an "affliction" I've had since my teen years. My bacon has already been sliced into halves, and I choose 3 of these for mincing. I do this quickly so I can get them into the pan and melt the grease.

With gloved hands still greasy, I break 3 eggs into a bowl and fish out one of the yolks to toss down the garbage disposal. The shells get put into a brown bag specifically for egg shells. When the bag is full I'll crush them in one lot and sprinkle them on the ground outside.

I toss my gloves in the trash and return to the fridge for mushrooms (1 if I have the large ones from Costco, or 2-3 if they're from nearly anywhere else). I slice these and add them to the spittling bacon. I'll also take the opportunity to scrape up the less-fatty bacon bits from their adhesion to the pan (non-stick, my foot!).

I return the egg carton, bacon bag, and unused mushrooms to the fridge, trading them for the Costco carton of pico de gallo. Depending on how new it is, I drain a bunch of liquid using the cap to catch solid stuff. Otherwise, I just dip in a slotted and regular serving spoon and squeeze a reasonable amount of juice off before adding the mix to my eggs. I lightly whip up the combination with a fork, at least making sure that the yolks are broken.

The egg-and-pico goes on top of the cooking bacon and mushrooms. I can let these sit for a moment, and find a mug to pre-warm for the coffee. I put away the pico-de-gallo and any other items that are out of place and easily handle. Every so often I take my rubber scraper (silcone, so it won't melt) and move the egg mix around for even cooking. I don't try to scrape up what burns to the bottom; I consider that the "cost of doing business" with this recipe. The bacon grease helps quite a bit, though.

Finally, when the eggs are done to my liking, I put the whole batch out into a bowl. If I have avocados available, I'll slice one on top (even though they serve only a single purpose, I highly recommend avocado-slicers!). Then I add a fork and put it on the table. The pan goes to the back of the stove for later attention. While the eggs cool to an edible temperature, I dump the warming water from my cup into the sink and fill it 3/4 full with coffee and add perhaps a tablespoon of French Vanilla Coffee-Mate for sweetness and creaminess.

When I'm completely virtuous, I "absorb" the meal with all my senses while I eat it. More likely, however, I read a book at breakfast. Or blog.

You've circled it on your calendar, haven't you?

My birthday is just around the corner. Have you ordered my terribly expensive birthday present yet? Don't worry - you can nearly always hire "white glove" service to get it couriered to me on time.

I'm already feeling the love. I've received dear and personal [automated] emails inviting me to collect my free Crown Bar tee-shirt [with purchase of entree] and 15% discount at Maximilien's.

I'm particularly looking forward to my free coffee at Starbucks. I'd love to take advantage of my free birthday admission to Olympus Spa, but I've been so busy recently that I doubt my ability to find time for it. Maybe the minions can take over for the day...

Insomniacial

It's my own, special word - somewhere between unable to fall asleep and losing one's mind from the inability to fall asleep. Actually, I doubt it's a special word... or a special "condition," anyway.

There must be thousands of other mothers up late at night reveling in the recent playtime with their young child, and wondering why they don't take more time for such carefree one-on-one silly playtime. I loved being my daughter's brief center of attention today as we posed for silly pictures - on our tummies in the snow, her on my back, me steamrolling her, us wiping the cold, dry snow off one-another when the portraits were taken. It was easy, it made us happy, and it's probably the goofy story she'll share with her friends at school after holiday break.

I'm pretty sure I have a doppelganger at nearly every workplace - someone who takes delight in the arrangement of good, clean data - someone who places in the numbers and ideas and wrings out attainable hopes for the organization. A person who sits back and reflects on what may be the "bigger picture," and adjusting standards to best suit immediate and future needs. And I'm sure she has trouble scaling the brain to "standby" as logic pours into her imagination, creating queries and refined exports... without her bidding, it keeps pouring.

What about all those Thanksgiving hostesses with food and entertaining on their minds? The end of November looks like a big, rising hump, with a steep ascent to its peak on Thursday, and slowly tapering off into the next holiday. The groceries are on premises, but there's prepping, timing, placement, and tasting. There's table-setting, plating, polishing, and dusting. There's games to lay out in the family room. The video games need to be hidden away. The cold beverages need refrigeration while the hot beverages need to be prepared and put on warmers. The turkey needs to start early (earlier than Monday's test bird, by far!) and the soup needs to go into the crocks. Bathrooms needs a quick scrub. Beds will need changing. Oh, and let's just hope everyone makes it on Thursday, because if not, we'll probably repeat this all at the next snow-free date when all family can assemble.

There are so many books I want to read. I'm in the middle of the latest Terry Pratchett novel, and I've just begun Freedom for our "book club" (FYI - those are air quotes). I have several Christmas holiday decorating books that beg for a leisure read. Those are pure fantasy for me; I don't have any intention on following up on the actual activities. Oh, I've sewn quilts and made many scrapbooks, but those weren't inspired by magazines - they were inspired by life itself. (Oh, how poetic!) (FYI - poetry is another unlikely craft for me.) So how many times do you hear someone lamenting that there's never enough time to read?

And then there's my job. OK, so I'm not sure "everyone" has my same complaint. Perhaps it's less of a complaint and more of a conundrum. I am grateful to have a good job, at a good place, doing good work that I enjoy. My difficulty is the work-life balance - my part-time status allows me the luxury of being available as a mama when my kiddo is out of school. What's lacking are the freedoms I had pre-job - school volunteerism, menu planning, housework, leisurely grocery shopping, and exercise. I satisfied myself for the last many months with an intent to return to these lesser-paying (OK, NON-paying) options when my project ends at the end of the calendar year. But it looks like it will continue, which is GREAT because I continue to be a valued-and-contributing member of society by measurable standards, GREAT because I will be working in areas of my strength, and GREAT because I'll continue to receive a paycheck and benefits. But, whiny girl that I am, I was really looking forward to starting at the gym... getting a handle on the cooking... making my face familiar at school again.

Hmmm... let's see... what's keeping YOU up late at night?

Sloppy Joes

1 C TVP granules
1 1/4 C hot water
4 cloves garlic, pressed or crushed
1/2 C diced onion
6 oz can tomato paste
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/4 C ketchup
1/2 tsp celery seed, crushed
1/2 tsp pepper
4 slices of break (day-old sliced Italian loaf is perfect)

Combine all ingredients (except bread) in a large pot and mix well. Simmer for 10 minutes or until TVP is tender.

Toast buns if desired. Scoop sauce onto each bread slice and serve immediately. Heat-seekers may enjoy a dash of Tabasco on top.

Serves 4
Adapted from Miserly Meals (c)2004 by Jonni McCoy.

Personals

MTCW seeks MWM for romantic dinners at "foodie" restaurants and hole-in-the-walls. Urban and rural walks are nice, strenuous upward hikes are not. Tolerance for crafting, gal-pal-ing, and travel a must. Music tastes should range from 80's rock to Kid Rock. Humor necessary. Lights out at 10 o'clock. Must have interest in raising a family and enduring marriage for more than 11 years.

Creamy parsnip soup

Serving Size : 8

2 tablespoons butter
1 pound leeks -- sliced
1 pound parsnips -- trimmed, peeled, and cut crosswise into 1-inch pieces
2 apples -- peeled, cored, and cut into 1-inch pieces
1/2 pound baking potato -- peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
14 fluid ounces chicken broth
4 cups water
salt and pepper

To prepare leeks: Trim and discard root ends and dark-green parts. Halve lengthwise; thinly slice crosswise. Wash in several changes of cold water until all grit is removed.

Heat butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add leeks. Cook, stirring, 5 minutes.

Add parsnips, apples, potato, broth, and water. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer, partially covered, until vegetables are tender, 20 to 25 minutes.

Use a hand blender or, working in batches, purée soup in blender until smooth. Season with salt & pepper.

Adapted from Martha Stewart's Everyday Food, 2005

Potatoes and carrots and sausage - oh my!

Using the potato recipe from Saturday, I added some carrots and topped with sausages. It was messy, as the carrots completely broke down into mush, but everything was flavorful and ready within 10 minutes. I was particularly impressed by the plumpness of the sausages as they absorbed copious amounts of the broth.

Again, it was flavorful, but not texturally-appealing. I saved the leftover broth and will report how that fares in a future soup.

Electric pressure cooker

Recall my previous "Love of Cuisinart" blog entry. Since then, upon instruction, my hubby brought it home from Costco.

Saturday's experiment was successful! I made red potatoes with parsley as directed in cookbook that came with the unit. It all happened surprisingly fast and the potatoes were perfectly cooked and tasty.

On Sunday, I followed the instructions for chicken soup with noodles, using homemade stock I had in the freezer. I misread a step and boiled the pasta separately, on the stove, instead of in the pressure cooker, so it seemed a bit more complicated, but I think I can blame that detraction on me. Again, the end product was delicious.

Last night I thought I'd give rice a whirl, since that was the impetus for the discovery! According to directions, I put in a little rice, a LOT of water, pressure-cooked for 10 minutes, slow-released pressure for 10 minutes, and then drained it in the sink. The resulting rice was moist and good, but... I'm not sure it saved me much time or effort? I think a rice cooker may still be in my future.

Checklists

As my high school English teacher can attest, I'm a fan of list-making. I make grocery lists, packing lists, cleaning lists, and music lists. I organize my work life in an online task list. I make lists of books to read as I peruse the reviews. I continually update my Amazon wishlist. Somewhere I have lists of things I want to do in the next 5, 10 and 20 years.

When Helen was a baby and first tasting solids, I strove to offer her a perfectly-balanced diet. I tracked our inventory and her consumption on a kitchen whiteboard. Later, when cholesterol reared its ugly head in my lab results, I met with a nutritionist and created a purse-sized laminated dietary guide to list out the acceptable foods and serving sizes.

I've recently reincarnated a food guide for our current life. For purposes of balanced diet and economy, I pack lunches for all three of us every day. I found I was dreading the task, whether I prepared the night before or morning of. I was attempting to please 3 palates with an unknown array of refrigerator offerings.

Thinking back to Helen's baby days, I found the whiteboard and put it to renewed use. I keep the food column updated as items appear and disappear from our larder. Helen and Ken know to make their selections the night prior. I have less thinking to do and lunches are eaten in their entirety.

My life is easier with lists.

Love of Cuisinart

I'm addicted to Cuisinart products and I blame my mother. Since I can remember, she has always had a food processor (called a "koose-in-art" in our household). It chopped, it grated, it sliced, and it had a futuristic acrylic rack that hung in a most pristine manner next to the clutter of pots and pans on the wall. Clearly, it was the appliance among appliances.

Specialty blades were later added to the collection. Then she branched out to professional-looking pots and pans of the same brand. I think she might own a hand blender, as well.

I received a Cuisinart coffee grinder as a gift, likely from her. I have not only a full-size food processor, but also a mini processor/blender. I can't imagine giving these items away, even those the mini processor receives minimal use. I have a small blade organizer that shuts out the dust. I have a couple of Cuisinart saucepans and a larger covered pan. Again, these are the favorites in my kitchen. I think I even have a waffle iron.

Recently I came to the conclusion that my life would be better with an automatic rice cooker; I figure if I throw my healthy grains in the timed pot at the start of the day, I'll be three-quarters of the way to a complete meal by the time my tummy starts growling for dinner. As with any major purchase consideration, I headed to Costco.

Past the office supplies and luggage comes the small kitchen appliance aisle. I first found a specimen far down on the left. Cuisinart. SCORE!

For $70 I can have an Electric Pressure Cooker. Sure, it's not a rice cooker, but it seems like an expected function. And it's a Cuisinart, and oh! how wonderful those products are! I took notes on the model number, determined to research its timed rice capacity from home.

I continued down the aisle. Further up, on the right, was an Aroma digital 10-cup rice cooker for $30.

Now, common sense says I should save $40 and buy what I came for. But, it's Cuisinart! Perhaps it's just their good marketing department, but there's a voice telling me I shouldn't settle for just the rice cooker, but I should find my way to make a Cuisinart investment. Darn those voices in my head!

So now I'm at at the Cuisinart website, trying to make a pitch to myself for the pressure cooker. It's like a kid with a sweet tooth trying to read labels in a candy store!

Imagine the delicious poultry I make with a vertical rotisserie!

I could take the edge off Mondays with a programmable espresso maker!

A programmable slow cooker? Oh, that would nicely replace my 1970's Crock Pots!
Aren't we always saying how nice it'd be to own an electric knife?
Lunches would be 10x more interesting with a panini press!
We would be the hit of the alley parties with a soft serve ice cream maker.
An egg cooker, while not essential, sounds neat!
We have, however, talked seriously about a countertop filtered water dispenser.
And look! They do have a rice cooker (um, for $150).
OK, now that that's out of my system, I'll take a closer look at the capabilities of the electric pressure cooker (as seen on Jacque Pepin's PBS series!). And, if I haven't then determined that it fits my rice-cooking needs, hopefully someone will have talked me out of it.

Cuisinart played no part in this blog. Again, I blame my mother.

Chicken soup

Costco rotisserie chicken is the *best* deal in town! We enjoy it hot for dinner, cut out favorite parts for two consecutive lunches for Ken, and convert the rest into an easy homemade chicken soup for the next couple of dinners. I've been asked for my recipe, and so here it is:

1. Buy rotisserie chicken from Costco (grocery store chickens tend to be smaller, more expensive, and never quite as tasty). Enjoy it for dinner.
2. Remove remaining big white meat chunks and set aside for lunches.
3. With your fingers, pick off any remaining meat you think looks good enough to eat (I avoid the gristly stuff), breaking apart bones as needed to access the best flesh. Reserve this meat.
4. Stuff remaining carcass, skin, and other bits into crock pot and cover with cold water. Throw in any herbs you find handy (I clip off a handful of stems from my enormous rosemary bush and stuff them into the pot). Cook on high for several hours. Scents the house nicely.
5. Strain broth and dump the solid stuff. Add reserved meat and refrigerate.
6. When ready to use, add salt & pepper to taste, as well as any veggies you like, and bring to boil on the stovetop. Add desired amount of pasta and cook 'til tender. Enjoy!

This process is incredibly easy and ridiculously thrifty.

Secrets of my trade: frozen PB&J

It's time to let you in on a secret of my success as a lunch-packing mother - I don't create my daughter's PB&J's from scratch each morning. *gasp*

A couple of months ago I realized that the best PB&J's were not made on dark rye, and that my daughter was more likely to consume them in their entirety when made on "sandwich bread" (white or wheat). However, we couldn't get through the multiple loaves in the bread drawer before one went moldy.

I finally had the brilliance (yes, brilliance - it's my next best asset after modesty) to put the sandwich loaf in the freezer and pull out the individual slices each morning. The firm bread was a breeze to coat with peanut butter and jelly, and it thawed well before lunchtime.

It then occurred to me that I'd seen Uncrustables in the freezer section of the grocery store. Could I freeze my own sandwiches? I made a prototype, put it in a Ziploc, and put it in the freezer. Two days later it was in my daughter's lunchbag.

Upon her return from school that test-case day, I asked her how her lunch was. "Fine," she replied. She tends only to elaborate when elements of her lunch are not pleasing to her palate, so I decided we'd had a smashing success.

Since that day, I seek out $1.39 loaves from the Oroweat Outlet (unless I can find them in the 99¢ aisle)...


Spread them with peanut butter and jelly from Costco...


Cut off the crusts (indulgent, I know, but I have to admit they're more delectable this way)...


Stack them up in the bread bag...


And stack up the bags to put in the freezer.


And there you have it, one of the better morning time-savers I've discovered in recent months.

Wide awake

I couldn't sleep last night. Instead, I lay awake pondering:

How tall could I make a layer cake without using an internal rod for support? Without experience, could I frost layers in different colors without bleeding onto other layers? Is fondant the way to go? How hard could butter-cream flowers be, really? What flavor would I make it? Are "scratch" recipes necessarily better-tasting that some of the mixes I've used? Why doesn't Food Network consider the cake texture and flavor when evaluating their cake-building contests? Do people really sit the entire several-hour competition time and watch the pastry chefs? What does contending in such an event do for their business - does it draw in enough interest to offset the time and materials spent to attend the competition?

Masa lunch

Beth and I had an excellent lunch at Masa on 6th Ave today - we split empanadas and mushroom quesadillas. Best of all, the meal cost us a whole $11, including tax and tip. Masa offers a good happy hour menu all day on Sundays, Mondays, and Tuesdays.