Category Archives: Food

2025, Food, Government, home, Uncategorized

Tarriff Taradiddle

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Ever since all the news regarding the tariffs that 47 has been threatening, I noticed that our kitchen and larder are full of imported foods. From the Swedish lingonberry preserves to the Maille Cornichons from France, to the arborio rice and the huge half wheel of wonderful parmesan we get once a year from an Italian importer, to the Spanish fire-roasted jars of pepper, the chorizo and cheese from northern Spain, and canned paella fish broth, the world is well represented in our cooking. Heck, yesterday we got Salvadoran crema for enchiladas at the lovely little Mexican grocery store downtown. (It is sweeter and less acidic than crema from Honduras).

We are particularly fussy about our olive oil. Our favorite for years had been a Turkish olive oil we usually get at a Syrian grocery store in Fargo. We have branched out into some lovely Spanish olive oil that is more delicate than the Turkish oil, and is great in dressings. The Turkish oil is an important staple for us, and its cost has gone up in the last few years. Last week I started worrying about even greater increases with the tariffs, so I ordered two 1 gallon cans of it. It arrived yesterday and won’t expire until late in 2026.

I think my Dutch ancestors would approve my being proactive and potentially saving some money. I don’t forsee too much more panic purchases, at least I hope not. I know these worries are paltry compared to those of the millions of people who struggle with food insecurity, but they still weigh, and the more money we have for food banks, the better. Some call us foodies. Husband says we have a radical food ministry.

What imported foods do you buy? How do you see your spending changing?

2025, animals, Food, Gatherings, Nature, Uncategorized

Keep Calm and Carry Yarn

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A couple of weeks ago I was straightening up some papers in my “maybe I’ll scrapbook this” box and came across a bookmark advertising The 26th Annual Shepherd’s Harvest Festival”.   It was in the box next to some other items that clearly came from the Eco Building at the state fair.  I don’t remember picking it up but where bookmarks are concerned, I’m a little like a crow and shiny objects.

The festival was a week away and even though I’m not a knitter or wool person, it seemed like it might be a fun way to wile away a few hours.  Just half an hour from home and only a $5 entrance fee.  Dog herding demonstrations, sheep shearing, food trucks and a LOT of vendor exhibits were promised.  It was the dog herding that was the top of my list. 

When I headed off Saturday morning (a gorgeous day), my plan was to see the dogs, look around the rest of the festival and then maybe see the dogs again during their second demonstration.  I never made it back to the dogs a second time because the rest of the festival was fascinating.  I got to pet several kinds of sheep (including cashmere), got to watch two different sheep get haircuts (this goes much faster than I thought), listened to some music and had a Grilled Cheezey from a food truck. 

And then there were the vendors.  My oh my.  There was one building with vendors doing classes and then an additional four buildings stuffed full of folks selling anything you can imagine having to do with wool  Spinning wheels, combs, spools, drop spindles of all kinds and designs, needles, dye, hooks, stitch markers, patterns and, of course, wool.  Wool straight off the sheep in plastic bags, wool in every color imaginable, yarn by the mile.  I’m not sure how anyone who is in the market for wool goods can decide what to get.  If I were a knitter, I’d have to back a u-haul up to the festival gates.  It was a lot of fun to look at, but my pocketbook was really glad I didn’t have anything invested in this craft.

I did end up purchasing some fun soaps called “felted soaps”.  They are made with sheep’s milk, brightly colored and fantastically scented – and they are wrapped tightly with a think layer of wool.  It acts as a washcloth of sorts and shrinks down as the soap gets smaller.  I can’t wait to see how it works out.

Robin was there on Saturday as well, although we didn’t have each other’s cell phones, so didn’t manage to run into each other.  It would have been nice to have a “tour guide” but I might have held her back.  Maybe next year.

Do you knit?  How old were you when you learned?  Or better yet, do you have any favorite woolens?

2025, Food, Gatherings, Music, Uncategorized

Sing For Your Supper

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The church choir year is winding down for us, and I couldn’t be happier. We have sang and rang bells since September, and now have one more service to ring at next Sunday. Then we are done for the summer.

There are only eighteen active musicians at our church, plus two organists. Many of us perform in both the choir and the bell ensemble. We are a rather large congregation with around 500 members, but it is only we few who keep the music going. That gets a little disappointing and exhausting at times. The congregation is quite thrilled with the music we provide.

We were pretty tickled at choir last week to hear that a congregation member who is a rancher wanted to thank the musicians for all our work, and donated 100 lbs of ground beef from his own cows to us. It came in 2 pound packages and had been processed at a butcher shop in Belfield, a little town just west of Dickinson. It was a rather unusual gift, but certainly heartfelt. It was also a reminder that we truly live in the West. We will all be fortified to start in again after our summer off.

What are your experiences in music ensembles? What are your favorite bird songs?

2025, Family, Food, Seasons, Weather

Orange Freeze Redux

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One of the very few things that I miss about Missouri (where I grew up) is Steak & Shake.  S&S is a hamburger joint.  No drive-through, just order and take it home or stay and sit.  Booths with individual juke boxes. 

I always ordered the same thing.  Shoestring fries and an orange freeze.  Normally my mom didn’t fuss that I didn’t have an entrée; if she did, then I added a grilled cheese.  An orange freeze was basically an orange creamsicle shake and I adored it.  When I moved away from Missouri, I lamented the loss of the orange freeze.  The orange Julius just didn’t cut the mustard.  (I did find shoestring fries at the Convention Grill that stand up to S&S.)

For forty years, every time I visited family in St. Louis, we would always have one meal at S&S.  This was OK until last year when we visited and discovered that S&S had DISCONTINUED the orange freeze.  Truly awful news.  Only my mother’s wish to not make a scene kept me at the table.  Grilled cheese, shoestring fries and diet coke just wasn’t’ the same.

Fast forward to yesterday.  YA and I were headed for grocery shopping and decided to make a stop at Dairy Queen.  While it’s not technically summer, a few nice warm days have a way of lulling you into believing it’s close.  As we were waiting in the drive through, I noticed something called an Orange Cream Shake featured on the menu with a lovely picture and a huge notice that it was new.  Cynic that I am, I didn’t consider it for a minute, but YA said “hey, that looks like that orange thing you like – let’s get a small one so we can taste it.”   Guess I’ve mentioned the orange freeze just a few times in her life. 

Well, glory be.  It’s perfect.  If I closed my eyes I could just imagine sitting in an S&S booth, sipping away.  YA was lucky to get half.   We’ll see how long the orange shake lasts on the DQ menu but I’ll have a few in the meantime.  Now if only I could get Dairy Queen to make those fabulous shoestring fries!

Do you have any favorite summer time treats?

2025, Food, Travel, Uncategorized

Fine Dining

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One thing I have always loved about Montreal is the quality of the food in grocery stores and restaurants. You may have difficulty finding Diet Mountain Dew, as a couple of our ND colleagues lamented, but in terms of other “real food”, it is Nirvana.

We had wonderful Punjabi food our first night there at a restaurant called Le Taj. The naan was the best I ever had, and now I want a tandoor in the back yard! There are scores of great restaurants serving any ethnic food you might want. We had an early supper one night at a Portuguese restaurant and had lovely lamb sandwiches on panini. That restaurant was wedged between a sushi restaurant and a Spanish restaurant. Many delis are open after midnight.

The hotel where our conference was located fed us breakfast and lunch most days, with a really big dinner on Friday night. The food was always served buffet style, and was wonderful in its opulent diversity. I never saw caviar at a conference buffet before, but on Friday night one of our options was poached salmon covered in about 3 inches of black caviar. I am not exaggerating the amount of caviar that was piled on that salmon. You could take as much as you wanted. I have never eaten caviar and probably never will, but it gives you an idea of the food we were offered. The French pastries and breads were superb. The Vegan and Vegetarian attendees told me they were very happy with the food choices they were offered, too.

Husband stocked our room fridge with great cheeses and cold cuts from a small grocery store for late night snacks. He didn’t find the time for a smoked meat on rye sandwich, though, something Montreal is famous for. It just means we will have to go back.

Eat much caviar? Tell about your travel dining experiences.

2025, Family, Food, holidays, Kids, Uncategorized

Easter Dinner

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I believe I wrote that we were so busy at church over Easter weekend that we had Easter dinner the weekend before Easter, and we weren’t going to cook Easter weekend. Well, as usual, that was not what happened. I made the header photo, Pizza Rustica, on Good Friday. It is a southern Italian deep dish pie with ricotta, mozzarella, parmesan, hot Italian sausage, mortadella, sun dried tomatoes, salami, and seven eggs, encased in a lovely crust. My pie looked just like the header photo. It was absolutely delicious. I highly recommend it.

We are traveling this week (more to come on that). The Grade 12 son of one of my coworkers is going to water the tomato seedlings, bring in the mail, and tend to the cat. He and his mom came on Saturday so we could show him what he needed to do. He intends to go to culinary school, so Husband showed him our cookbook library and I showed him the Pizza Rustica recipe. We loaned him several cookbooks and our pasta maker, since he expressed an interest in making homemade pasta and had used a pasta maker just like ours in school. It is one with a crank handle that is clamped to the counter. Husband calls this part of our “Radical Food Ministry “, getting people to cook from scratch. Husband told him he can borrow any of our cookbooks.

What is your favorite Easter dinner? Who mentored you? Who have you mentored?

2025, Food, home, pets, Uncategorized, work

Loungewear

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I am afraid I made a grave error with my last purchase of loungewear. I bought a really soft and fleecy cardigan that I wear over pajamas. The texture is very similar to fluffy cotton socks. Our dog is obsessed with stealing and chewing socks. Who do you think made off with the cardigan belt the minute I got it out of the package? I got it back before any damage was done. Now, though, I am afraid Kyrill thinks the cardigan is a big sock for him to chew!

Husband tells me that I am not allowed to cook in the cardigan as it is a cream color and he doesn’t want me to stain it. I confess that I do cook in my pajamas sometimes. I never wear them out of the house, though. My usual outfit is a sweatshirt with corduroy pants and soft socks. I wear those to work, too. I only have one pair of sweatpants. I only “dress up” if I have to testify in court as an expert witness.

I am still assessing what clothing choices I will make now that I am not working full time. I don’t think I will stock up on much more “loungewear”, especially if it is soft and fleecy like socks. I am drawn to comfy but not baggy, pants, and soft sweatshirts. I am taking care to keep my new cardigan out of Kyrill’s reach, along with all the other things he loves to steal and chew like socks, pens, papers, and eye glasses. Terriers certainly are good at helping us always put things away!

What is your favorite “loungewear”? Any memorable work uniforms?

2025, Family, Food, Media, Uncategorized

Garlic Soup

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Husband found a soup recipe the other day that called for 40 cloves of garlic. We had just been to Costco where he had purchased a bag of garlic bulbs, so he felt well equipped to make the soup.

The recipe only made 1.5 quarts of soup. It was a creamy style soup with chicken broth and pureed potatoes. The garlic cloves were sautéed and the pureed, too. We also added some white beans. It was really good and wasn’t all that garlicky.

I suppose some people might find that many garlic cloves in one dish kind of off-putting. Just for fun I looked up weird foods on the internet, and my, were there some doozies. Chocolate covered bacon caught my eye, as did fried caterpillars with guacamole. The recipes for these dishes were included, and people had actually made them and liked them. I don’t think we’ll be making either of those in the near future, though.

What is the oddest food you ever ate or prepared? Come up with some interesting food ideas.

2025, Family, Food, Uncategorized

The Last Rye Bread

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When Husband moved to Winnipeg for graduate school in 1978 he was immediately captivated by the rye bread from the City Bakery, a venerable institution that made wonderful baked goods. City Bakery rye had just the right texture for Husband, neither mushy nor hard, with an open but fine grain. He has spent the last 47 years trying to replicate it.

For all the years of our courtship and marriage I have watched him try scores of different rye bread recipes. Some sour dough, some not, some with dried yeast, some with fresh yeast, some with caraway, some with no herbs, some successful, some true disasters. They have been baked in a variety of pans. Last weekend he declared that he had finally found the last rye bread recipe, which he made yesterday. He also declared that he would throw out seven rye bread recipes and keep seven rye bread recipes.

We shall see how long this lasts, and when I shall have to see him fuss over some new rye recipe. It is hard to be a perfectionist.

What is your favorite bread? What have you tried to emulate or perfect?

2025, books, Food, Mysteries

Glug Glug

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You know my drill.  Find an interesting cookbook out and about.  Get that cookbook from the library.  Try out a few of the recipes.  If they turn out well, consider adding cookbook to the collection.  And the hard part, getting rid of a cookbook to make room for the newbie.

So yesterday I’m made a Roasted Tomato, Potato, Dill and Feta Frittata from a cookbook of tomato recipes.  I like to follow recipes fairly closely when I’m testing a cookbook; I think of it as giving the author a chance to really show their stuff.  After a couple of paragraphs in the recipe, I came upon this phrase – “… heat a generous glug of oil over medium heat”.

To be honest, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen “glug” listed as a measurement in a cookbook before.  I was pretty sure a glug has to do with the sound of the oil if you tip the bottle all the way up and the oil makes a glugging sound as it pushes its way out.  But for fun, I looked it up.  Internet says “about two tablespoons”.  So is a generous glug three tablespoons?  Four tablespoons would be two glugs, wouldn’t it?  Not exactly a precision measurement.

What I didn’t say is that when I read that instruction, I laughed out loud.  The reason for that is that in an earlier recipe, the author explained in excruciating detail how to make a grilled cheese sandwich.

“Arrange the cheese on one slide of bread, then put the two slices together.  Set a skillet that’s the right size for you bread (too large, and you’ll end up with burned butter), add about 1 Tablespoon butter, swirl it around to coat the skillet; as soon as it stops foaming, lay your sandwich in the skillet.”

To be fair, the grilled cheese recipe turned out great but not because I needed step-by-step instruction on how to grill a cheese sandwich but because it called for a Sun-Dried Tomato & Smoky Red Pepper Mayonnaise which was fabulous.

Glug, pinch, dash, handful…. how closely do you follow recipes?  Do you even USE recipes?