Oh no! I stopped by the grocery store last night to pick up something quick and was confronted by a HUGE display of Cadbury chocolate eggs. Not just any run-of-the-mill Easter candy, but my nemesis, the Cadbury egg. I don’t know why I like these, but I really do.
How do I keep myself from temptation for the next six weeks?
I thought when I left Winnipeg for the last time in 1988 that I would never live in another place so full of Ukrainians. There are hordes of people of Ukrainian ancestry in Manitoba, and they weave a fascinating influence into the tapestry of region. There are elementary schools in Winnipeg that have Ukrainian language immersion classes. You can get Ukrainian food in lots of places.
Imagine my surprise when we moved to western ND and found ourselves fifteen miles from Belfield, a vibrant Ukrainian enclave of immigrants and their descendants with a strong cultural identity and customs, including a Cultural Institute, Ukrainian churches, and a summer dance festival. There are locally made perogies in all the grocery stores here.
I was talking with a Belfield native last week, a foster mom and Licensed Addiction Counselor, who is married to a Ukrainian national who immigrated about ten years ago. She noticed my diploma from the University of Manitoba, and asked how expensive tuition must have been for me, since I was a foreign student. I told her that tuition was “Cheap like Borscht”, as there was no differential cost to out of Province students. She was amazed about my description of tuition costs, since the only person she ever heard use that phrase was her immigrant husband.
The foster mom found her husband in Winnipeg at a Ukrainian dance competition. “Cheap like Borscht ” is a common phrase in Winnipeg. I assumed it was something everyone said, but apparently not. I think it is a lovely phrase.
What are your favorite turns of phrase? Got any good Borscht recipes?
With all the channels that I have access to, I usually just scroll through the tv guide; I only have a few channels actually memorized. I don’t suppose it will surprise you that Food Network and The Cooking Channel are two of those channels?
There are quite a few shows on those two channels that I don’t watch. Any kind of competition in which one of the contestants gets thrown off at the end – I won’t watch that. It’s just mean. I don’t have too much trouble with contests where at the end they just announce one winner, as long as there isn’t too much trash talk, but no throwing people out!. (And please.. nobody needs to tell me how different “The Great British Bake Off” show is and how I’ll like it – I’ve heard it all before.)
My favorite kinds of shows feature different dishes from places around the world, shows like “Bizarre Foods”, “The Best Thing I Ever Ate”, “Unique Sweets”, etc. I’ll even watch Guy Fieri’s “Diners, Drive-ins & Dives” in a pinch, although he’s not my favorite chef.
Last Sunday, while enjoying Leap Day, I was switching back and forth between two cooking shows that were on at the same time. One of those shows was “Unique Sweets”, a program that showcases desserts from different bakeries around the country. By luck of the draw, at one point there was a dish on each channel that were both interesting to me, so while “Unique Sweets” was showing ingredients being stirred together, I flipped to the other channel. They were also showing some ingredients being stirred together, but it seemed like they were stirring really quickly. I switched back and forth several more times before I figured out that Unique Sweets appears to be slowing down some of their food prep shots a bit compared to “live action”. This caught my attention so I watched a whole bunch of “US” episodes very closely and what I discovered is that slowing down the action makes the food seem a lot more appealing; more sumptuous, more mouth-watering. That would explain why I like this show so much. Does this mean I’m into “food porn”? Or am I just imagining it?
What makes your mouth water?
Over the weekend I made thank you cards for the good Samaritans that pulled me out of the snow last week, baked two loaves of zucchini bread, wrapped them and tied them with ribbon. When it was time to go to dog class Monday night, I put everything in a tote bag and took it along. Neither of my Samaritans was there. One is on vacation in Mexico, the other under the weather and skipping class. I left one loaf for the other staff to enjoy and YA has already polished off quite a bit of the second loaf!
When have you had best laid plans go awry?
We spent the day in Bismarck on Tuesday with short, but eventful, episodes at the eye clinic interspersed with notable periods of down time in which we could shop and eat.
We hit the mall after Husband’s pre-op appointment to search at Penney’s for an extra long ironing board cover (No luck. I will have to order one). Then to Target for lubricating eye drops, therapy art supplies, and shampoo, and then to the grocery store. Our grocery list consisted of roasting chickens, Maggi Seasoning Sauce, and barley malt syrup for bread baking.
The Bismarck grocery store we like to go to is rather higher end than the ones in our town, and we both made a bee line to the produce section as soon as we entered. I said “I think we should look for a Savoy cabbage”. Husband said “I was thinking the same thing!” Neither of us had mentioned Savoy cabbage to the other, but it was on both our minds as we drove to Bismarck that morning. Husband has anxiety about getting enough fresh greens during the winter. I do not have vegetable anxiety, but I have had my eye on a recipe for Fischrouladen, which is cabbage rolls stuffed with savory cod and topped with a winey mustard cream sauce and fresh dill. It calls for Savoy cabbage.
Sure enough, they had Savoy cabbage but not any of the other things we wanted. Those will have to wait for a trip to Fargo. I think it is funny we both thought of Savoy cabbage. How weird is that?
Who thinks like you?
This is probably petty, but I have decided that I will never again eat shrimp. I made a similar declaration about carrots when I was so short that I could walk under the kitchen table without stooping. I remember it with absolute clarity. I was standing under the kitchen table, facing the east wall of the kitchen which bordered on the back yard, when I made the decision. I must have been 2 or 3 years old. I remember saying to myself “I’m not going to eat carrots anymore.”. There was no precipitating event. I just decided that I and cooked carrots would part ways. I think I was just exercising autonomy and independence at the time, and I remember refusing cooked carrots for many years. Then, sometime in Grade 2 I just decided to eat them again. I was fortunate that no one ever insisted that I eat anything I didn’t want to eat, and I was encouraged to cook for myself at an early age. I love cooked carrots now.
I dislike the taste, texture, smell, and harvesting practices of shrimp, especially the harvesting practices. They are so destructive to the environment. Most people I know love shrimp, but I do not. I do not think I will change my mind about this. There many other fish in the sea.
What are some irrevocable decisions you have made? What moratoriums have you declared? What fish do you like or not like.
Outside the airport, it smells like ribs.
It’s 55 and rainy here today.
The hotel is downtown but overlooks a lake named after a First Lady.
They have chips and pimiento cheese on the room service menu!
Where am I?
Earlier this week, Husband started to muse about the next thing he wanted to learn to bake. He makes all sorts of rye breads and sourdough breads, and he just made Julekage for for first time. He decided that he was ready to try his hand at Nordic flatbreads, crispbreads, and crackers.
That, of course, means purchasing a new Swedish rolling pin with little knobs all over it, and ammonium carbonate or Hartshorn, aka Baker’s Ammonia, a rather smelly leavening agent. (I guess the odor dissipates as the crackers bake.) The Nordic Baking book we consulted was very clear that out grooved lefse rolling pin just wouldn’t do, and that Hartshorn or Bakers Ammonia was essential to crispy crackers.
What have you mastered? What are you trying to perfect? Do you make your own crackers or flatbread?
I mentioned in a comment on the Trail on Saturday that I was enjoying some Veuve Clicquot champagne, and that led to some research on my part that I found fascinating.
I noticed on the bottle a portrait of a woman. I don’t speak French, so I looked up the name and found it meant “The Widow Clicquot”. I went on to find that in 1805, at the age of 27, this woman inherited a champagne vineyard and business upon the death of her husband, and was the only woman to run a champagne house. Her father-in-law insisted that she do an apprenticeship in champagne production, and she went on to be wildly successful. She invented a method of champagne production that is still in use today. She was the first to make Rose champagne. She was a friend of Napoleon, yet she made a point of smuggling champagne into Russia. Here is part of the Wikipedia entry for her:
On 21 July 1810, Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin launched her own company: “Veuve Clicquot-Ponsardin”.
Barbe-Nicole exported the vast majority of her champagne out of France. Unfortunately, she was facing naval blockades that kept her from sending her wine abroad. Furthermore, Czar Alexander I banned French products.
Facing bankruptcy, Barbe-Nicole took a business gamble: she decided to send her champagne to Russia, when peace returned ahead of her competitors. While the war’s naval blockades paralyzed commercial shipping, Madame Clicquot and Louis Bohne secretly planned to sneak a boat through the blockade to Russia.
With the French monarchy restored, Madame Clicquot and Louis Bohne put the plan they had been preparing for five years into execution. In 1814, as the blockades fell away, the company chartered a Dutch cargo ship, the “Zes Gebroeders”, en route to Königsberg,[6] to deliver 10,550 bottles of Veuve Clicquot champagne to the Russian market, taking advantage of the general chaos, while their competitors still believed such a move to be impossible. The boat left Le Havre on June 6, 1814. Meanwhile, Russia had lifted the ban on importing French products. The whole shipment was quickly sold. A few weeks later, another ship left Rouen laden with 12,780 bottles of champagne destined for St. Petersburg, which were sold out as soon as they arrived. When the champagne reached St.Petersburg, Grand Duke Michael Pavlovich of Russia, Czar Alexander I’s brother, declared that Veuve Clicquot-Ponsardin champagne would be the only kind he would drink. Word of his preference spread throughout the Russian court.[11
During the years that followed, Russia continued to buy Veuve Clicquot wines. Sales rocketed: from 43,000 bottles in 1816, they climbed to 280,000 in 1821 and increased until the 1870s. Within two years, the widow Clicquot had become famous and was at the helm of an internationally renowned commercial business.
I just love looking up stuff like this. It makes me no richer, but it makes life interesting. Research is sort of like finding out the juicy gossip about neighbors, but it is less damaging and hurtful.
What do you like to find out about? What were you doing when you were 27?
Photo credit: Dana Tentis
The last couple of days we’ve been dealing with some upset doggie tummies. Not sure of the cause but both are on a special tummy diet – pumpkin, sweet potatoes, rice, little bit of brown gravy. Both seem to like it and appear to be on the road to recovery.
What foods do you like when you’re feeling under the weather?
Trail Baboon 