Category Archives: Food

2023, Business, Food, Health, Movies

Discounted

35 Comments

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!

Do you get any kind of discounts?

2023, Food, Nature, Travel

The Cauliflower That Ate New York

25 Comments

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.

SaladVinaigrette
1 good-sized head cauliflower, cut into florets¼ c. olive oil
3 hard-boiled eggs, peeled, coarsely chopped3 Tbsp. hazelnut oil
2 shallots, finely chopped3 Tbsp. white wine vinegar
2 Tbsp. capers, drained1 tsp. Dijon mustard
 1 tsp. chopped fresh or dried tarragon
 Salt & pepper to taste
  1. 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?

2023, Automotive, books, Fantasy, Food, Kids, Travel

Road Trip

17 Comments

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!

Who do you like to travel with?

2023, animals, Business, Family, Food, home

Adieu to the Milk Man

32 Comments

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?

2023, Food, Media, Nature, Words

Peppered!

52 Comments

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?

2023, Fantasy, Food, gardening, Nature

Watermelon Gone Wild?

45 Comments

I knew when I planted two little watermelon seedlings in one bale that I was probably making a mistake.  While I’ve never grown watermelon before, I’ve certainly heard that it likes to spread out.  And spread out it has – it has completely overtaken the bale, spilling out over three of the four sides (I’ve been pushing it away on the 4th side where the cherry tomato plant is trying to hold it’s own).

You know me, had to google “watermelons gone wild” to see what funny stuff was out in cyberspace.  The first thing I discovered is that the comedian Gallagher, who was famous for smashing watermelon, passed away last year. I remember thinking he was hysterical back in his heyday.   Here is a clip with more smashing and less talking:

I also googled watermelon books.  There are a lot of kids’ watermelon books; none of them seemed all that exciting to me.  I did find Moons of Jupiter by Alice Munro with big watermelon slices on the cover.  Can’t find anything online that explains this so I requested the book from the library.  We’ll have to see.

But the biggest watermelon issue for me is the logistics.  If we get even a lukewarm harvest, what the heck are we going to do with all this watermelon? There are just two of us and I expect we’ll also be busy eating tomatoes at the same time. 

Any good watermelon books?  How about recipe for using up watermelon?

2023, Food, gardening, Nature, pets

Tomato Time!

45 Comments

My bales are doing quite well this summer.  I’m managing to keep them watered and the added calcium seems to be helping the romas keep their beautiful shape.  We planted watermelon plants on one bale and as expected they are going crazy.  Guinevere is enjoying hiding beneath all the tendrils that have exploded all over the place.

As well as they are doing I didn’t expect to be eating my first cherry tomato on July 3.  I knew that there were a couple starting to turn but was surprised to find THREE ready for picking yesterday afternoon.  The photo above is not the tomatoes I picked.  After a quick squirsch of the hose, they went straight into my mouth, one after the other.  All three were wonderfully sweet and juicy – no way was I waiting to go inside and get the camera. 

I know this is early for tomatoes but whatever goddess of the garden is looking out for me right now, I’m thankful!  Better start pulling out my favorite tomato recipes.

Tell me about your favorite summer produce!

2023, animals, Family, Food, Nature

Memento

47 Comments

YA and I took a trek to Wisconsin last Friday to visit Fawn Doe Rosa.  We go at least once a year but on Friday, we got a bucket list moment. 

Just by the luck of the draw, we rounded the corner to the llama, mini horse and donkey paddocks to find a donkey mama on her side, just about to give birth.  It took only about five more minutes and there was a baby donkey out and breathing.  The staff said that the baby would probably stand in about 25 minutes.  YA and I had animal food in hand, so we hung around feeding the various critters in that part of the park.  The baby stood up almost exactly at the 25-minute mark.  Both YA and I have seen an animal being born before (Miracle of Birth at the State Fair) but neither of us had actually seen a new baby take its first steps into the world.  Amazing.

Even without seeing the new foal entering the world, it was a wonderful day at Fawn Doe Rosa.  We even had a female peacock keep us company during our picnic lunch.  We did try to give her some of the corn that we had in our animal food buckets, but I think she was hoping for something from our picnic basket. 

There was a new design of sweatshirt in the gift shop.  Why settle for the three FDR sweatshirts you already have at home when there is a new one!?!

Do you do souvenirs when you go places?

2023, Family, Food, home, Science, Uncategorized

Flour Power

24 Comments

About two years ago, I found a great deal on King Arthur artisan flour. It is called Sir Galahad flour. I got it from a wholesale restaurant supply company. We got 50 lbs for $18.00. I thought I was buying King Arthur artisan bread flour, which has ascorbic acid as well as a little white whole wheat flour in the mix. I was mistaken, as it was a general flour with ascorbic acid but no white whole wheat. No matter. It turned out to be a great all round flour for bread and pastries. We have maybe 8 lbs left. We also have every kind of rye flour, graham flour, and other esoteric flours you can imagine. That is Husband’s doing.

We bake a lot, and it worked really well for a long time in all our breads along with Swany White flour from the mill in Freeport, MN. I think we got 40 lbs of that at the same time we got Sir Galahad. We have large bins to store it in next to our freezers.

As time has passed my French bread has become inexplicably denser and less springy. The loaves are smaller. The recipe has remained the same. I make four loaves at a time with 6 cups of King Arthur and 5 cups of Swany, adding a little gluten, and using bread salt and the same brand of fresh yeast.

We ran out of Swany earlier this month, and I ordered 20 lbs from Freeport. I love the Swany White mill. Gary, the owner, only takes cheques, but he shipped our flour so fast this month it arrived the next day after I placed the order by Speedee Delivery before I could get the cheque in the mail. The last time I ordered I gave all the information to his wife, who said Gary was down with a bad flare up of gout. I love the trust and community feel of this.

I baked French bread this weekend using the old Sir Galahad and the new Swany, and the loaves were big and puffy and wonderful. All the other ingredients were the same. In the past I have ignored comments from Master bakers who say that flour ages poorly, and you should only bake with flour that is less than 6 months old. Well, I believe them now. I plan to pep up the remaining Sir Galahad with 5 lbs of a new bag of King Arthur regular bread flour and pound of white whole wheat. Who knew? I am grateful for the Scientific Method! We will only order flour in 20 lbs bags now.

How old is your flour? What are your favorite kinds of flour? When have you used the Scientific Method lately?

2023, Family, Food, Uncategorized

Spice

33 Comments

A couple of weeks ago we had an exciting UPS delivery of a box of spices and seasonings from Penzeys. It is always exciting to get a box of spices delivered to the house.

We have ordered spices instead of buying them in the grocery store for decades. The nearest Penzeys store is probably in the Cities or Denver. In Winnipeg there was a bulk spice store we frequented regularly. I think learning to prepare East Indian and Asian foods contributed to our spice inventory. Our justification was that buying from the grocery store was more expensive per ounce and that we were mainly paying for the glass jar.

We typically buy spices in bags and keep them in mason jars. Sometimes we buy a smaller jar of spices we don’t want to have too much of and have it go stale. Here are photos of our spice cupboards.

Husband has a special shelf just for his grilling spices. I try to organize the jars into whole spices, ground spices, and spice blends.

Both our son and daughter buy spices like we do. Our son has his in a lovely pantry off his kitchen, in pint jars that are labeled and in alphabetical order. I imagine there are Baboons who have even more spices than we do. I can’t think of a more lovey and useful luxury.

What are your favorite spices and seasonings? How do you store your spices? How do you organize your spices and seasonings?