The past weekend was supposed to be relatively quiet one devoted to housework and gardening, with very little cooking. The only dish I was going to make was a rice and cabbage minestrone to use up one of our lovely savoy cabbages from the garden. We had almost everything we needed from the store on hand, and just needed to pick up a few things.
Everything changed rapidly when we got to one of our two grocery stores and discovered they were having a Hatch chili extravaganza and were roasting the peppers right there in the parking lot. The smell was wonderful, and, of course, we had to get some of the freshly roasted medium hot peppers. Husband started feverishly thinking about cooking with them, and by the time we got into the store he decided we were going to make roasted tomato and tomatillo salsa. Since he was going to fire up his grill to roast the veggies, he figured he might as well get a rack of baby back ribs and some of the Hatch chili brats. He insisted that we had to get the tomatillos at the Mexican grocery store downtown. Once we got to the Mexican store, I realized that I had left my debit card at the first grocery store, so we had to drive back out to get it. We drove home after that.
Husband got more tomatillos than he needed for the salsa, so I decided that I would make some Texas green sauce with the leftovers. My recipe called for six Serrano peppers, which we didn’t have, so I ran to another grocery store to get them and some more limes. When I got back home, I couldn’t find the Serranos I had purchased, so I drove back to the grocery store to get more. I must have dropped the first ones in the parking lot. Husband roasted all the veggies and meat, and we ended up with three pints of Texas Green sauce and seven pints of salsa, and they are all in the freezer. It was rather exhausting running to various grocery stores five times in one day. We also planted a late crop of cold hardy spinach and fenced it in to keep bunnies out. Sunday we slept in. I never did get the minestrone started.
What are your biggest distractions that get you off task? What fresh produce are you enjoying now?
We took a long weekend last week. Daughter has been saying we needed to take a vacation, and we fully agreed with her. But May through July is Kelly’s busiest time, and of course spring is bad for me, and, well, we can always come up with an excuse NOT to go somewhere. Spur of the moment, we decided, let’s just take a weekend. We asked daughter what she thought we should do; I mean are we renting a cabin on a lake or are we going to a hotel. Well, she wanted swimming, and rides at Mall of America. OK, sounds like we do the Embassy Suites, which has been a family favorite over the few years because they do complimentary breakfast really well. They set the standard for hotel breakfasts! Fruit, yogurt, Sausages, bacon, eggs (not as good as ours of course), hashbrowns, bagels, made to order omelets, cereal, drinks: milk, juice, coffee.
We got there late evening Thursday and had supper at the hotel restaurant. Friday we all slept in and took naps and didn’t leave the room until 3:00 PM. Over to “THE” mall and had lunch, then walked around a bit and bought some ride tickets. We waited in line for an hour so we could all do the log flume ride. Because there was some bad weather in the area, the rides were going at half capacity, so the wait was longer than it should have been. Boy, if we didn’t get covid waiting in that line. Then daughter and I did a crazy spinning loop de loop roller coaster and I think I learned I might be too old for those rides. Woo boy. A couple times I had to just put my head back and close my eyes and I’d think, “DON’T CLOSE YOUR EYES!” There was a young boy about 8 years old who was on the ride with us; he said he had two little sisters and mom had to stay with them. After the first spinning loop he said “That was unexpected!” Yep, sure was! When it was over, I told him I had no idea what had happened in the last 40 seconds.
Even daughter, who’s a daredevil, was a little shook up after that. We all went to the Ferris wheel from there. And then Daughter and I went on our favorite roller coaster from 10 years ago; the one that goes straight up, then straight down. And upside down and right side down and over this way and around and back upside that way. Aye aye aye. Whew. That was easier last time I did that. Kelly and daughter did the carousel and we decided that was enough. I saw a sign that read, ‘Barking Lot stroller parking’, and I thought it said ‘Barfing lot’ which I thought was really appropriate.
I bought the 30 point arm bands, but no one put them on our arms, so I’d just show them to the ride operator. The first ride scanned them all. The second person was talking and looking away and only scanned one, and the third ride just put us on without even scanning the tickets. We gave them to a young couple and told them to have fun.
Daughter also wanted Red Robin for supper. We don’t have one of them in Rochester. At some point in her brief past, she had a shake at a Red Robin she really liked and wanted another. Supper was really good there and my vanilla malt was yummy. I don’t know about hers.
Saturday, we got the swimming in and had the pool to ourselves for an hour. We saw the Barbie movie, (and got a free icy drink), and had supper at Giordano’s pizza with a hostess named Joy who was super helpful and sent us back to the hotel with plates, drinks, and plastic ware.
Sunday, we stopped to see our son and daughter in law. When we got home, the dogs were glad to see us, (our neighbors took care of the dogs and chickens while we were gone) and Humphrey just had to stay outside for a couple nights. Once in the house, he had a big drink of soft water, and slept for several hours on his pillow.
Everyone survived on the farm, and Monday morning, daughter said she wasn’t ready to go back to her program. None of us are kid, none of us are.
We called this our ‘practice vacation’ to remember what works and what doesn’t when travelling together.
The soybeans are looking good, you know, for 6 weeks behind. They’ve finally started to canopy and, to add insult to injury, the weeds are coming too. A few buttonweed, lambsquarter, and ragweed are towering over the soybeans. Plus, a lot of volunteer corn. Which doesn’t really hurt anything, it just looks bad in a nice field of soybeans.
I started working on the shop again and started getting 2×4’s put on the walls and removed from the work bench an old radial arm saw that I haven’t used in I-don’t-know-how-many years. Back on Amazon Prime day I ordered one of those 360 degree green laser levels. It is pretty cool!
Remember a few months ago I showed a bunch of eggs under the deck? Well, the chicken hatched out 13 baby chicks the other day. She’s a good momma and moved them down to the main pen and she’s keeping a good eye on them. Thirteen chicks?? Don’t hold your breath for all of them. The other chickens seem jealous: ‘How come YOU got chicks!??’
My brother came out and we unloaded the last load of straw into the barn. 600+ bales in there again. Coming up, planting winter rye as a cover crop! Deep roots good for the soil, but it will over winter so it will have to be killed off in the spring before planting corn.
And back at the college, all my computer stuff is working this week! Yay!
This is a purely silly post for Friday. A friend posted this on Facebook yesterday, and I was entranced.
Once the Dutch part of me got past how wasteful this is, I was entranced with his creativity. I would have so much fun doing something like this. I am not a cake decorator sort of person. I haven’t the patience. But this seems so satisfying. I wonder if the creation is edible, and how he might serve it.
What is your favorite kind of chocolate? If you could make a chocolate sculpture, what would it be? What is your decorative style?
We find recipes from numerous internet sources, and are rarely purchasing cookbooks these days. I subscribe to the The New York Times Food app, and that has tons of great recipes as well. We like to have paper copies of the recipes, however, and a week doesn’t go by that we aren’t running recipes off on the printer.
Husband loves putting the recipes in plastic slip covers and filing them in their respective three ring binders. He has the binders labeled. There is one large binder devoted solely to rye breads and sourdoughs. I am not allowed to rearrange the binders. That is his role.
When a sufficient number of new recipes have accumulated on the buffet, Husband puts them in their binders, culling older recipes we either didn’t like or never made in the first place. There are fewer and fewer of those. His devotion to the recipes does not extend to our bank and tax papers, however, and it is my thankless task to organize those.
How do you store your recipes? What is your filing system for important papers? What kind of a librarian or museum curator would you have been?
Daughter came up with an interesting proposal for a winter family gathering this year. She thinks that we should go to Hawaii with her, her brother, and his wife, and all take a class being offered there in November to become Certified Barbeque Competition Judges. I don’t know how much call there is for Barbecue Judges, or how rigorous the one day training is. I suppose we could fine other things to do as long as were there. I would rather go to Paris and work with a master baguette maker.
Ever since I lived in Canada I giggle whenever I hear that something or someone is certified, as it has a different meaning in Canada and England than it does in the States. Those who we call Certified Public Accountants are called Chartered Public Accountants in Canada, as being “certified” there can mean that you have been declared seriously mentally ill, and may have been involuntarily committed to a psychiatric hospital. Perhaps one would have to be a little crazy, though, to become a barbeque judge.
What would you like to become certified as? What are your experiences with judges or being a judge?
To make that cauliflower salad I needed hazelnut oil. Not something I have sitting on my shelf. And, it turns out, not something that is all that easy to find. That’s how I ended up at my co-op (well, technically one of my co-ops… I have three different memberships) on a Tuesday morning. Although I can do errands whenever I want these days, I do find that I still end up with a lot of errands on the weekend.
The cashier at the co-op was a nice young man and when I checked out he very gently asked if anyone in my household was 50 or older. I laughed, pointed at myself and said “just me”. Apparently Tuesday is Senior Discount Day at the co-op. The discount was just enough to offset the ‘round-up’ that I always do when I shop there. As I was getting back into my car, I laughed a bit to myself thinking that they’ve probably had store-wide sensitivity training about asking folks if they are old enough for the senior discount. Maybe the “is anyone in your household” question was born there.
Aging, while not always the most fun I’ve had, isn’t a problem for me on principal. One of my favorite movie quotes is from People Will Talk with Cary Grant and Jeanne Crain. He plays a doctor and one of his elderly patients laments that it’s no fun to get old. Cary Grand replies “It’s even less fun if you don’t get to be old.”
The first time I got the senior discount was when I was 50, at a miniature golf course in Hayward, Wisconsin. It was listed on the price board and I asked for it. The second time was at Perkins when I turned 55. After that, I went home and sent my mother a sympathy card for having a daughter old enough to get the senior discount.
So the cashier didn’t need to pussyfoot around me about a senior discount. I’ll take any discount that anyone if willing to give me for having survived this long!
I didn’t mean to come home from Madison with a cauliflower the size of my head.
But there it was – gloriously purple and calling to me. Never mind that I know full well that YA is going to be gone for two weeks. Never mind that we still had the entire capitol to walk around with this monster in my bag. Never mind that I only brought my smaller cooler for dragging stuff home and I had already bought 4 loaves of Stella’s Chili Cheese Bread. I had to have it.
It’s ways too big for just one recipe of anything (I put the can of water next to it for the photo so you can see how big it is). The first thing I’m making is Savory Cauliflower Salad from Twelves Months of Monastery Salads by Brother Victor-Antoine d’Avila-Latourrette.
Salad
Vinaigrette
1 good-sized head cauliflower, cut into florets
¼ c. olive oil
3 hard-boiled eggs, peeled, coarsely chopped
3 Tbsp. hazelnut oil
2 shallots, finely chopped
3 Tbsp. white wine vinegar
2 Tbsp. capers, drained
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
1 tsp. chopped fresh or dried tarragon
Salt & pepper to taste
To make the salad, put the florets in the top of a double boiler set over simmering water, cover, and steam until tender, 15-20 minutes, o cook in a large saucepan of boiling salted water for about 5 minutes. Drain and allow them to cool.
2. Put the cauliflower in a good-sized salad bowl and add the eggs, shallots and capers. Toss gently to combine.
3. Whisk the vinaigrette ingredients together in a measuring cup or small bowl until thickened. Pour over the salad and toss gently to coat evenly.
Not sure what I’ll do with the other half of this giant. Maybe a Parmesan Roasted Cauliflower. Maybe a soup.
What was your last impulsive purchase/acquisition?
When I was packing for a long weekend in Madison, I noticed Henrietta watching me from her spot on my little dresser. Since Henrietta was a gift from my Madison friend, I thought I would take her along. She seemed excited to be on the move.
It was overall a very lazy and relaxing weekend – we spent a lot of time sitting and reading but we did have a few outings so Henrietta could get some fresh air!
We did the farmer’s market at the capital. Henrietta enjoyed meeting some of the vendors and smelling all the good smells. We stopped at the library to pick up a couple of books and then had to have ice cream from Sassy Cow, a great creamery close to my friend’s house. Henrietta met two little girls there who petted and hugged her.
My friend is seriously considering buying a Tesla so we had a loaner for the weekend. Henrietta enjoyed the view but didn’t get to drive because she couldn’t reach the pedals. We drove up to Lake Merrimac and took the ferry across and back. Henrietta appointed herself “authorized personnel” but since the ferry ride is only four minutes, she didn’t get to flex that authority!
All in all a great trip although Henrietta is not a great conversationalist so the drive to and from Madison was a little quiet!
This weekend, for the first time in 25 years, I’m going to have to go pick up milk at the grocery store and lug it home. YA and I (well, it was mostly “I”) made the decision this week to discontinue our dairy delivery service.
The combination of YA and I doing a little less dairy these days along with the reduction of items available from our dairy guy (thanks SO MUCH Kemps… she says with her voice dripping with sarcasm), it just isn’t worth it. I find myself adding things to the order form that we don’t really need because I feel guilty not having as big an order as we used to have. This is how I ended up with six rolls of cinnamon rolls in my fridge and four bags of tortilla chips in the cabinet.
It’s going to feel weird to not put the cooler and order form out on Wednesday night (my guy delivers to our house at 3 a.m.) but I’m looking forward to not having to get up at the crack of dawn on Thursday morning to get everything out of the cooler and into the fridge. We’ll see how long before this wears off as I’m dragging cartons of milk home!
How much does a cow have to eat and drink to produce my gallon of milk every week?
One of my friends, Julie, is a freelance writer. She writes about a wide gamut of topics and she appears on the Eating Well site quite a bit.
Last week she penned a piece about why there aren’t ever green peppers in the multi-pepper packs you find in grocery stores. It’s a great bit (well, I think all her columns are great) and it included some fun facts about green peppers. This is quoted with her permission:
Fun Fact One: Peppers botanically are considered to be fruit, because their seeds are stored inside, but they’re culinarily considered a vegetable, like cucumbers.
Fun Fact Two: You can tell which peppers are male and female just by looking at the outside. “Males have three lobes, and females have four, sometimes five,” Schueller says. “The females produce more seeds, and that tends to make them less sweet. So if you like sweeter peppers, look for fewer lobes.”
Fun Fact Three: The peppers we call chile peppers all have spiciness, measured in Scoville units from mild to very spicy. But bell peppers don’t have any heat, and they ended up being named “bell” because a) they aren’t chile peppers and b) they’re shaped like a bell.
I had no clue that there were female and male peppers – not sure it will make me happy the next time I’m dicing up peppers for some dish.
If you’re making stuffed peppers, what do you like to put in them?
Trail Baboon 