Good Mourning Doves,

Two years ago something wonderful happened. A pair of doves chose my fire escape as a nest. They used an old plastic planter as their home, and filled it with scraps they found around the neighborhood. I loved to watch those doves nesting. It wasn't long before I realized they had an egg. They took turns sitting while the other went off for food. And soon enough, the egg hatched and there was a tiny dovelet right outside my window. I was in a transitional time in my life- my college roommate was moving to Boston, and she was already gone most of the time. G was moving up in a few weeks. I didn't work for Tal yet- I was just biding my time waiting for my summer job teaching Shakespeare. It was a quiet time- the calm before the storm. Those doves reminded me that nature prevails, even in this concrete jungle.

Something went wrong. I realized that the baby wasn't moving any more, though the parents wouldn't leave the nest. I watched amazed as these small animals truly mourned their loss. Finally they moved on, and it was up to me to deal with their dovelet. It's wake was in the garbage in the alley. What was I supposed to do? By the time the parents left the flies were swarming. Also, I have no access to proper burial space.

The doves came back a year later. I wished they'd try to nest again, but the plastic pot was long gone. They've become a fixture on the fire escape though. It's amazing to me that they come back to the space specifically. Do they remember? Is there a special energy surrounding the landing? I like to think so, but I can be silly like that.

The great and amazing thing is a new development. Recently my doves have been back, and they brought two new doves. G noticed it first, wondering if they'd expanded their little flock. But the two new doves are different. They are small, new to this world. They're about 2/3 the size of the others. These new doves are their children, and they love to hang out on our fire escape more than the parents. Two years after losing their first baby, the doves had twins!

They sit close together preening and cooing.


It was a chilly day, so they had to puff up their coats.


They hung out for an hour or two.


Then they were ready to explore the rest of the hood.

Doves are my favorite NYC animal. They're beautiful, clean, and they mate for life. I'm glad to get to see this little family evolve.

The Hudson Kitchen: Floors

Oh, things are happening up in Hudson. Most of the decisions have been made, and slowly, yet surely they are coming to life. Case in point, the floors.

I don't remember what the floors are. Maple? Yeah, that sounds right. I guess if I'm going to continue telling you about these renovations, I should pay more attention. I'll make a note of it. So, it's hard to explain, but there was a time, not very long ago, that there was a bathroom taking up much of the kitchen space. That part of the floor was damaged and had to be replaced. The wood there is obviously newer and reacts differently to the stain.

So here we have the floors so far:


You can see where the new wood is. Someone will be working to match it to the old wood this week.

Then it will all look like this:


The kitchen is going to be very light, when you take into account the new windows, the lighter floors and lighter paint. I really like that. Natural light is great for photographing food!

While we're at it, check this out:


That's our stove. We're retro like that...

No- this is the kitchen at Clermont. It's not really put together at all. There is a sink and a stove.

I always want to know about the kitchens in these old mansions, and I rarely get anything. I was looking forward to this kitchen, and was a little disappointed. I guess they're working on it, so maybe I'll go back someday and get more. Maybe. The tour was a little boring, and I don't know if I would want to hear it again.

I wonder if it's fun to cook on one of these wood stoves...

Maybe someday I'll find out. But not in my kitchen. That would be crazy. And hot...

I'll bake with electricity and gas, thank you very much,
Meredith

Lamb Shearing at a Mansion???

What do you expect when you visit a mansion in the Hudson Valley?

Anything.

Seriously, we went to visit Clermont, expecting to see a nice house and grounds. We didn't expect a sheep and wool festival. But that's just the way these things go.

The estate was owned by the Livingston family for seven generations. The patriarch was one of the authors of the Declaration of Independence. Apparently there was a great deal of intermarrying because they wanted to keep the Livingston line pure. The last heirs were two women, neither had children. Inbreeding eventually caught up to them I think...

We went on a tour of the house and then I went to go buy some yarn. Yes, my friends, I learned to knit this weekend. I did it on the internet. I think you can learn how to do anything on the internet these days. I mean, I did learn to bake bread that way...

While I shopped Michael checked out the sheep. He happened upon a sheep shearing demonstration. This dude is a pro.

He sheared this huge sheep with these old fashioned shears.


That kid is really into it. I hope the sheep doesn't kick him.


That sheep shearer was pretty awesome I have to say. The sheep was like putty in his hands.


Interesting fact that Michael picked up: if your wool is scratchy that means the shearer cut the shorter hairs closer to the body. Only the long hairs are soft. So scratchy wool was sheared poorly. Who knew?

Sunday Sunday

Hello my friends,

My weekend has been wonderful and I want to tell you all about it. But not now, because the weekend isn't over. But stay tuned. There will be kitchens from the 18th century. Lambs being sheared. Floors being stained. Oh the stories I have to tell. Just you wait. It's going to be a great week.


Until then, check out this beautiful picture from near the Saugerties Lighthouse across the river.


Stay tuned folks!
It's gonna be fun,
Meredith

Play On

I haven't talked much about music since I told you about Matt's Concert back in March. To tell you the truth, I haven't really been to a concert since then. I love music, but I've never been the active pursuer. When I see a concert it's because someone invited me. I usually enjoy myself a lot, but the switch never really gets turned. I want to change that though. And last night when Michael took me to Club Helsinki in Great Barrington Massachusetts, I was reminded of that.

Chris Scruggs is a young hipster looking guy. His band consists of guitar, bass and drums. It's so simple, and yet totally amazing. The style is rockabilly. His voice reminds me of Buddy Holly. His guitar licks are so complex you wonder if there's an extra guitarist hiding behind a curtain somewhere. It's a fun lively show, and the banter is pretty hilarious. His voice was worse for wear last night, so it was all about tea. It's pretty funny to hear a guy in a band talk on and on about tea. I thought my dad would be impressed, though, because he hates it when musicians drink- strips the natural oils from the throat, he says. Despite Scruggs' sore throat, his voice was still pretty great.



Check him out here. I think you'll like what you hear.

Kiddy Cauliflower

Okay, so I try to keep my job with Tal out of this forum, but something happened the other day that I have to talk about. I need to share it with you because I think it might enrich your lives. Especially those of you who have young children.

This is a story about my small triumph over the will of a seven year old. You might think such a mini victory trivial, but I beg to differ. I've been nannying Tal for over a year and a half, and coming in that late in the game to a child's life makes every step in gaining respect and authority difficult to reach. Nearly impossible. And so, I made a step, and it had to do with food, and I'm going to tell you about it right now.

Tal eats green beans. That is the only vegetable she'll eat. Before I came into her life, apparently she was an amazing eater. A little gourmet. She ate salads and brussels sprouts with abandon. I have had no evidence of this, but I'm assured that veggies made it into Tal's diet in a big way. Now it's green beans. So you can imagine that there is a slight void of nutrients in Tal's diet, and that her parents might seek to remedy the issue.

That's where I come in. Apparently I'm a goddess. I don't know how it happened. For nearly a year Tal wore me down, demeaning me, making me feel inferior, mentioning her previous babysitter with fond memories. She didn't gain any sort of respect for me until I was a counselor at the camp she was at. More than that, I was a flashy Upper Camp counselor, and Tal was in Lower Camp. I became a rockstar. All of the sudden, instead of resisting my authority she obeyed unquestioningly. It was amazing. I feared that when camp ended, she'd go back to her old ways, and though she has her moments, she hasn't called me stupid since. (Yes that happened.) So when her parents decided to open up her veggie repertoire I was the man for the job.

It went like this. I was on the phone with Tal's mom. Tal's mom is the nicest woman I know. Really, she's a saint. Tal isn't really supposed to watch TV, so I always call to make sure it's okay. Tal's mom asks whats in the fridge, and god forbid, there are no green beans, but there is cauliflower. I say I'll make her some.

Tal, who is in the room, screams, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!" And immediately breaks down into the most convincing tears I've ever seen in my life.

I immediately say, "Well, if you don't eat a vegetable you can't watch TV."

"I'm NOT eating cauliflower!" She says it as if I were asking her to eat rotten putrid maggot-ridden meat.

"Well, Tal," I say, "It's either cauliflower or arugula- you decide."

"NOOOOO!!! I'm not going to eat cauliflower (SOB) I hate cauliflower." Apparently the arugula didn't even register. "I want to talk to my mom (SOB SOB SOB)"

I don't want to give her the phone because I know her mom will fold. She always does. "Mamma," Tal wails, "I'm not eating cauliflower."

"It's just a vegetable!" I say to her. I mean seriously, it is.

Then she goes and concocts some wild story, "But it made me sick once! (SOB SOB SOB SOB)" Lies. All lies.

No matter, my worst fears are true, and not only does her mom say she can watch more than one TV show (that was the original deal) she only had to taste a bite of cauliflower, and if she didn't like it she didn't have to eat it. Let me tell you I was seething. This huge show over cauliflower. Interestingly, Tal is actually quoted in a magazine article by her dad touting the joys of vegetables, saying that it's fun to eat cauliflower because you can imagine it's a flying tree. Well I thought to myself as I went to make the required cauliflower. I'll make her a cauliflower she can't refuse. I'll make it so amazingly delicious that when she sticks her tongue on that first bite, she won't be able to resist. It will be the best cauliflower that ever was.

And it was. I used butter. I used a little garlic. I used cheese. I mashed it up until it didn't resemble those "flying trees" that obviously weren't so fun after all. And guess what.

She looked at it. She took a bite. She wanted to hate it. I could see it on her face. Hate it, hate it, hate it... It was a struggle. For a second I thought her stubbornness might actually prevail. But then, she folded. Her eyes widened and her mouth salivated and she said, "Good." very nonchalantly. It was reserved, because she knew I had won.

I couldn't contain myself, "Ha!" I said as I went into the kitchen to finish her dinner. She cleaned the bowl.

And there you go folks. If you have a kid who has an aversion to a vegetable, don't go and hide it in their brownies. Make the most delicious version possible. Don't worry about health- once they are over their initial hesitations, you can lower the butter/cheese factor. But don't give in, whatever you do.

Awesome Cauliflower

1 Head of Cauliflower
2 Cloves Garlic, smashed
1 cup water, or chicken stock if you've got it
4 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup grated Parmesan Cheese

Break up the cauliflower into florets. Make them as tiny as possible. Don't use any tough stalks here, we're going for as smooth a texture as possible. Bring the water or stock to a simmer and add the butter and salt. Add the florets and garlic. Cover. Simmer until completely tender. Then uncover and let the liquid completely evaporate. Remove the garlic cloves. Then mash the heck out of it. If you have a food processor, that's even better- then they'll be more like mashed potatoes, which is awesome. I just mashed. Add cheese, reserving a little for the top. Kids love cheese sprinkles. Or at least Tal does. Serve. Eat the rest yourself, because yes it's that good.

Uncle Dave's Pound Cake (with a Player's twist)

Well, I took requests yesterday, but they came in after I left for work, so I had to go with my gut. Also, in preparations for my trip to Greece with G (coming in May!!) I am pretty low on funds, so I needed to make something with stuff I had around. Pantry stuff like butter, eggs, sugar and flour. I went to my Uncle Dave's cookbook to find a simple dessert and found a perfect solution: Mama Long's Pound Cake. I never knew Mama Long, so I associate this with my Uncle Dave. Or maybe Aunt Sue- she's more the baker of the family. Anyway, it's a Long classic, and I was excited to make it.

So I made a slight adjustment to this recipe. I have shortening, which is what the recipe called for, but I tell you, I'm all about the natural stuff. Also, butter tastes better. And I'm all about stuff tasting better. So I used butter.

Actually I used a cup of butter and 1/4 cup of olive oil because I didn't want to bother with the extra half stick of butter. Also, I didn't want to use it all up. So there's a little olive oil in there. Some heart healthy fat to balance out the non heart healthy butter. Or something like that...

Make sure your butter is softened. In fact, you'll want everything to be room temperature. It just comes together better that way.


Add your sugar. Make sure it's vegan. I never thought I'd say those words. I also didn't mean them. I got this sugar because it was Fair Trade, which means that it's nice to the farmers. I like farmers, and think they deserve fairness. So any sugar will do, but it's nice to think about where it comes from.


Cream the sugar and fats together. I use my hand mixer because I have a tiny kitchen and can't really have a standing mixer. I do all right though.


When the ingredients are creamed together, add six eggs, one at the time. (That's how Paula Deen would say it)


Stir till combined.


Now mix your dry ingredients separately.

3 3/4 cups of flour:


1/2 teaspoon of salt. I didn't take a picture. I take so many pictures of teaspoons of salt, that I'm tired of it. I need to come up with a new creative way to keep myself interested. Any suggestions?

Moving on- add a heaping teaspoon of baking powder.


Now add a bit of the flour and mix.


Then add part of the 1 1/4 milk and mix.


Alternate until everything is combined. Remember, don't overmix because it will make the cake tough.


Now add your extracts.

Vanilla:


Almond:


And lemon. That's not extract, it's lemon essential oil. This brand is food grade. My mom gave it to me, and it is a good substitute if you don't have lemon extract. Just don't use a lot- a few drops go a long way.


Butter and flour your baking dishes. I had to use this bunt pan and a round cake pan because I don't have a tube pan.

Here's a nice tip- use your butter wrapper to grease your pans:


Pour in the batter.


Smooth out.


And put into a 350 degree oven for about an hour.

Then lick the spoon. I dare you.


Here are the beauties fresh out of the oven.


Now, I can't eat all that pound cake, so I left half of it for G.


I'm taking this one to Hudson to share with our guests.


It's pretty darned good. Tender, slightly moist, not too sweet, not to heavy. I highly recommend it. It's also really simple, and that's a good thing.

A Player's Take on Long Pound Cake

1 1/4 cups shortening (or Butter and olive oil) softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
6 eggs, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 heaping teaspoon baking powder
3 3/4 cups flour
1 1/4 cups milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon lemon flavoring or a few drops of essential oil
1/2 teaspoon almond flavoring

Cream fat and sugar. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each one. Mix dry ingredients and add alternately with the milk, beating well after each addition. Add flavorings. Bake in a greased and floured tube pan at 350 degrees for about an hour.

Thanks Uncle D for a great treasure!

Playing with the classics,
Meredith

Coming Soon!

You know you want it. I'll be here this afternoon telling you all about this wonderful delicacy.

See you soon!

I Got Plenty of Nothin

Hello Readers!

I know, I disappeared yesterday. The truth is, I'm running on empty. Although I had a wonderful beautiful weekend, it wasn't exactly the usual productive cooking extravaganza. I mean, how does one cook with this?


I mean, it's very exciting and everything, but it took about 6 pictures to talk about it. What about an elaborate epic cook-athon that gives me banter for half the week? Didn't happen. Didn't come close.

And I'm going back on Thursday, so that cuts my kitchen time again! What am I supposed to talk about? I'm at a loss.

So perhaps I'll make a little something for you during the day today. I'd be happy to take requests if you have any.

I want to play!!
Meredith

A Garden Party

On Saturday afternoon, Michael and I went to a fabulous party at our friends Noah and Jim's house. It was such a beautiful day, and everyone was dressed for the weather. I leaned over to a friend at one point and said, "We're at a garden party!" I'd never been to one before. But I like it.

Here are the lovely snacks. Michael helped slice the bread. I helped make the elderflower water- sparkling water and elderflower cordial that Noah brought back from England.


I had to take a picture of Jim out on the oriental rug in the yard. It was just so perfectly decadent for a party on a Saturday afternoon to lounge in the sun with a glass of wine. When the party really got going everyone gathered around the cushions. But I like this solitary moment.


It was a great party, and I hope there are more to come.

Now, it's back to the city...

The Hudson Kitchen: Before

Hello All,

As promised, I'm here to give you a little tour of our work in progress. The kitchen was functional for a long time, but finally it's on it's way to being a finished space. You might not be able to tell by the pictures, but much progress has already been made. Gabe, our amazing contractor is doing a great job.

So, put on your imagination caps and take a tour of the kitchen that will be.

Here we have some newly exposed brick (very exciting). This will be the site for open shelves and the ovens.


We've cut out holes for new windows, but the siding is still covering them until the glass comes in. We already have a white apron sink, but now instead of a cheap bar sink, we'll have beautiful Kholer. The countertops will be soapstone. The backsplash will be tiny 1 by 4 white subway tiles.


Here is my section: the baking center. It will be marble an have places for all of the baking appliances.


And here is our island, newly sanded, ready for wax, or oil- I'm not really sure. The grain is so beautiful, don't you think?


And, just for fun, here's the porch. It was the first thing that we really had done, and we love it. This will be it's first summer, and it's already a great place to sit and have a glass of wine.



Here is the view of the back of the house. Just imagine how great it will look when the aluminum siding comes off.


The back door goes into the kitchen. It's going to be great.

Stay tuned for further updates on the progress.
I can't wait to start baking here.

Meredith

Away Again

As per usual, I'm spending the weekend in Hudson. I promise I'll get better about posting regularly when I'm up, but the kitchen is no mas. Kaput. Donesky. Actually it's being redone, or really done, as the first time we just threw up some rough counters to get thanksgiving on the table 2+ years ago. Now it's the real deal and it's gonna be awesome!! I'm taking pictures to tell you all about it, but more on that later.

Have a beautiful Saturday.
Playing Upstate,
Meredith

A Joint Venture

Hello my friends,

I'm so sorry this post was so long in the making. I've been quite busy, believe it or not. I've had yoga classes, plays to see, trains to ride and pies to bake. Okay, well I didn't actually make the pie. I made the pastry and G made the pie. Thus our "Joint Venture".

G has a special friend at her job. He lives in London, so she sees him very rarely, but she interacts with him on a daily basis. G has a very robust admiration for the guy. I'm sure he deserves it. From what I hear he's a standup guy. He's a light in the dim world of watches. And this light came into town today. G wanted to bake him a pie to celebrate. I had no quarrels with such a project, but as the big day got closer, things got busy. I decided I'd help her with the pastry.

Pies are the first thing I really started baking. I'd like to think that I'm pretty good at it. I can do a crust by hand or in the food processor, depending on my resources, and I've perfected my recipe.

So I told G I'll do the crust if you do the filling.

She said Cheerio. (She didn't really say that, but she very well could have- G wishes very much she were British.)

And there it was.

This is a new recipe that I've been working with lately. I read about the technique in Cook's Illustrated (where else?) and found it to be quite good. I'm going to go ahead and give the instructions for food processor-free pastry, as I was food processor-less.

Measure out 1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour into a bowl.


Add one teaspoon salt:


And 2 tablespoons sugar. If I was doing a really sweet pie, like pecan, I might not add any sugar.


Stir the dry ingredients together with a whisk, or a fork if you don't want to wash a whisk.

Now measure out 1/2 cup shortening. I like to use lard. I'm not kidding. Lard is awesome in a pie crust. But you have to use leaf lard, not the processed lard you can get in the supermarket. If you live near Fort Worth, you should take a tub from my parents- they have a lot. Obviously I bought it for them, so I could make pies. Don't be scared of lard. It's actually better for you than butter. I promise. Google it.

But, alas, my lard is in Hudson, and I haven't bought any for the City yet. So I had to use shortening. I also like an all butter crust. Perhaps that's another post...

Anyway, here's my organic shortening. It was really hard because it had been in the fridge, so I weighed out 4 ounces instead of trying to put it in a measuring cup.


It's actually best if it is cold, by the way. Take a knife and cut the big chunks into smaller, more manageable chunks.


Now take a stick and a half of cold butter and cut it into small chunks.


I combine the shortening and butter and put it in the freezer to get really cold. You want your fat to be cold so it creates little steam pockets in your pastry. This makes it nice and flaky.


Now add the chilled fat into the flour mixture and start rolling it in between your fingers, making the chunks smaller and smaller as you incorporate it with the flour.


If you have any extra hard to deal with chunks, smoosh them with a fork. (Smoosh: that's a technical term)

Once the mixture looks like course meal you know you're done. Don't let that butter get melty. If it does, throw the whole shebang into the freezer for a few minutes.

When it's ready, add another cup of flour.


Now this recipe gets unique. Measure out 1/4 cup vodka.

Vodka in pie??? Oh yes, it's magical. You get to add more moisture to the dough when it's uncooked, but the alcohol evaporates so quickly when it bakes, it's as if you barely added any water. Water helps the dough come together, but you don't want too much of it.

Vodka! Kettel One, to be exact. My favorite brand when I was a bartender. I don't drink much vodka these days.


Now add 1/4 cup cold water. The mixture needs to be cold. If it isn't, put it in the freezer. I use my freezer a lot when I make pie.


Now sprinkle some of the cold liquid onto the dough and stir with a rubber spatula.


Do that again and again until you've sprinkled your last drop. Then I usually get in there with my hands and combine it. Yes, they're clean.


Now divide the dough in half, form into discs, and wrap in plastic wrap, and let rest for at least an hour in the fridge.

And here ends my part of the story. G proceeded to come home and fill the pie and bake it. But, since this is my blog, I'll tell you about it.

Here are the discs.


Roll out the first one. G used parchment. That was very smart for cleaning up purposes, as well as transferring into the pie pan.


Here it is, all rolled out. Now, I'm going to do a little critiquing, because well, as I said, I'm an expert. Well if I'm not an expert, I know what I'm doing, sort of, and I want you all to learn, so I hope G doesn't mind.

If I were her, I would leave the pastry hanging over until the pie was filled and topped with the lid. That way you can fold the two layers together and get a nice, sealed pie. Also you get a nice pretty edge.

Her's looks pretty good. Note the chunks of fat visible throughout. Oh, the flakiness that will be...


Here are the apples. You'll want to peel, core and slice them. Make sure to have a little lemon juice to toss them with so they don't get brown. I picked this picture before the apples were peeled because it's pretty. I like pretty things.


Now, here's where G really deviates from my sensibilities. She went all crazy with the filling.

Here are some blackberries.


Now, there is nothing wrong with blackberries, except that they are in no way in season in the city, and you know how I'm always preaching against that. Perhaps I'm just a purist. I mean come on, if you make something so quintessentially American for a visitor, wouldn't you want it to be traditional and simple? It's very Barefoot Contessa of me. She love traditions...

Also, there's no corn starch or flour to make a gooey sauce out of the juices, and seemingly no sugar to sweeten the fruit.

And there's basil in it. G swears by a cobbler recipe that has basil in it, which is where I'm assuming she got this idea.

G, I'm so sorry. I'm cruel. I'm relentless. I'm a critical witch. I haven't tasted the combo. I have no right to question your recipe.

All I'm saying is that for pie numero uno in your repertoire, perhaps you could have gone a little more simple.

It is beautiful though, I have to say. Pretty green, white and black.


I'm hard on her, but truly folks- this is G's pie, she gets to do what she wants. I'm sure it's great. I'm sure it came together beautifully. I mean, I wasn't there to supervise, and honestly G doesn't need supervision. She's perfectly capable of making delicious food. I know, I've eaten it.

So G, I hope you comment and tell us how the pie turned out. Leave us the recipe. (I'm sorry, I forgot to ask you for it this morning.)

Perhaps in all my closed-mindedness I've missed the boat on some really interesting and good flavors. And I'll be the first person to say I could very well be wrong on my basil blackberry apple pie aversion.

Anyway, I hope G doesn't hate me for all this. I really do love her. I'm sorry I used her as a teaching platform. She didn't sign up for this.

I really do love her decoration. It's a clock face. You have to admit that's pretty cute.


I might have cut a slit to let out steam, though... I have to stop that.

Okay, for my half of the recipe:

Foolproof Pie Dough

(Adapted from Cook's Illustrated)

For one 9-inch Double-Crust Pie

2 1/2	cups unbleached all-purpose flour (12 1/2 ounces)
1	teaspoon table salt
2	tablespoons sugar
12	tablespoons cold unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), cut into small pieces
1/2	cup chilled solid vegetable shortening , cut into small pieces
1/4	cup vodka , cold
1/4	cup cold water

1. Whisk together 1 1/2 cups flour, salt, and sugar. Add butter and shortening and work through fingertips until dough just starts to look like coarse meal. Add remaining cup flour and mix until combined.

2. Sprinkle vodka and water over mixture. With rubber spatula, use folding motion to mix, pressing down on dough until dough is slightly tacky and sticks together. Divide dough into two even balls and flatten each into 4-inch disk. Wrap each in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 45 minutes or up to 2 days.

Here's a good simple filling.

Stay tuned for G's recipe.

Hope Alex enjoyed it!

Your hopelessly critical Baker,
Meredith

Orientation

Okay,
For all of you out there who are jealous of my roommate G, because she gets to taste all of the wonderful delicacies that I create, there is a catch. I'm cuckoo. Just a little. Okay, maybe a little more than that. First of all, I have the uncanny ability to sense even the slightest change in the space I inhabit. This sense is particularly strong in the kitchen.

When I was growing up, I would come home from school, go into the pantry or fridge, and go right to the new exciting snack my mom had bought. It could be in the freezer in the garage, or in the back of a cupboard, and it wouldn't matter- I'd walk right up to it. So now that it's my kitchen, I've stocked the pantry with care. Everything has it's place. I know what I have and what I don't have, and if I'm not sure, I know exactly where to look.

Now, that's all well and good, but as you are all aware, I share this space with another person, who happens to be on her very own culinary journey.

That is where orientation comes in. Now, ladies and gentlemen, orientation happened a long time ago when G first moved in. We had a third roommate for the summer (my dear friend Anne Claire) and they arrived within days of each other. Now, as I went through the kitchen, explaining what went where, and what goes in the dishwasher and what is hand washed, they pretty much laughed me off. They thought I was being silly and ridiculous. Well, it wasn't a day before I had to answer where this or that was, or one of my nonstick pans would end up in the dishwasher. It was frustrating for all of us. So orientation became a slow process, each thing coming up randomly. G has done a pretty great job with it, but sometimes I'll add something new, and forget to tell her about it. Or, she'll pick out a recipe at work, and buy the ingredients on the way home, and we already have two boxes of corn starch. She didn't remember where it was, and doesn't always think to ask me. Or maybe she doesn't want to bother me (as if I wouldn't love to give her an impromptu lecture on the contents of the pantry).

What brings this up now, 2 years after G moved in? Well, I found a bug in my tea. Well, it was in the plastic sleeve that held the tea bags. And it was gross. So I immediately had to take everything out of the cupboard and spray it with the natural orange bug spray I got at WF. I had been talking about doing a spring cleaning of the pantry- pair down on corn starch and corn bread mixes that G's mom likes to send her. So I took the opportunity to go ahead and do an overhaul on the whole shebang. I was getting started when G was leaving for work, and she asked me for another orientation when I was done. And so, with that orientation in mind, I thought I'd give you one. Feel free to giggle. It won't hurt my feelings, but if you come over, don't even think about asking me where the baking soda is. Just kidding.

I think.

Okay, so here is the cupboard. It had some random stuff in it. There were two types of popping corn and lots of packets of granola that were three years old.




This is how it goes now:

Bottom Shelf: Beverages: Teas on the left, EmergenC in the center, and Coffee on the right. Also, there is some extra honey behind the coffee filters. We have a lot of honey around here.

Middle Shelf: Extra Tea/EmergenC, Extra Spices, Possibly Crackers and Cereal (I threw all that stuff away on account of the bug)

Top Shelf: Crazy Turkey Salt Shakers G's mom bough, Brita Filters, Cookie Decorating stuff.


Here's the window. I just wanted to show it to you because I've started putting tiny things on it. My dad, I mean Santa loves to put tiny bottles of stuff in my stocking. I love them, but I never know what to do with them. So now they go here.


That honey bear used to be a regular sized honey bear, but I put it in the microwave this morning to get the rest of the honey out, and it shrunk. It was a shrinky-dink honey bear, and I didn't even know it. So, since it's tiny, it goes on the window.

Here are my cookbooks. On top of the cookbooks is a platter which houses random cooking accessories, like my scale, thermometers and a board scraper. Over to the right is a flashlight and my tripod. I love my tripod. Oh, next to that is my mortal and pestle. Michael gave it to me, and I love it.


Okay, moving on, here is my pantry. I added this a few years ago, and I honestly can't remember how I managed without it.

The bottom shelf houses the blender, hand mixer, extra olive oil, salad spinner, and the long pasta holder. (It's too tall to live with the other pasta)


Second shelf is the baking shelf. All of the different flours are to the right. In the middle you've got the baking powder and soda. To the left are the sugars, salts, and cocoas.


Third shelf: Short pastas, grains, and dried legumes. The liquor is to the right.


Fourth shelf: Snacks!! Nuts, dried fruits, and chips live here in the red colander. To the right you've got the oils and vinegars. That big oil is for frying, so don't use it for baking. That would be gross.


On the top shelf: canned goods, extra towels, rolling pin, and vases.


Tiny tabascos- you don't belong here! Move it or lose it! Actually, I might use those some time, so I don't want them to sit in the sun.

And now for the new spice rack configuration. I got very crafty and hot-glued those clothes pins to the wall to hold up the packets. Is that silly or very organized? You tell me. All I know is I was tired of them falling all over the place.


On the first shelf we've got the savory spices: you know, cumin, peppercorns, sage- stuff like that.


On the second shelf, we've got the sweet spices: cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, etc. Behind those are the extracts.


Well, that's pretty much it. I won't bore you with the fridge. I didn't organize it anyway. I think this new system will work pretty well, but only time will tell.

I'll find out shortly, because I'm going to make a pie crust for G. We're going to a two part post on the apple pie she's making for a coworker, but more on that later.

Okay, I know you think I'm a crazy neat freak, but I don't care. It's who I am. You wouldn't think I was so neat if you looked at the floor...

I'm just keeping it real, people.
Always playing,
Meredith

A High Carb Diet

Ha! Those of you who know me well might think I've gone insane. Grits? Bread? Hey Meredith, where's the protein? I don't know what's come over me. What can I say, my life as a baker has transformed me from carb-adverse to a bread lover. I still stay away from processed sugar. I mean, let's not go overboard here. Nobody needs corn syrup in their life.

I'd like to take a moment to show off these beauties.

I did some new slash marks, because I'm creative like that.
Here's an x. X marks the spot... to deliciousness.



This beauty has three lines. Odd numbers are very important in cooking. Perhaps I should have made three mini-loaves. Maybe next time.


Slicing in, you can see that the texture is once again perfect.


What's not perfect? Well, because this is a full-disclosure blog, I'll tell you straight out. That salt that I forgot to add at the appropriate time, but added later- yeah, it didn't exactly redistribute evenly. Believe me, worse mistakes have been made, and every bite is good, whether slightly bland, or slightly salty. But, lets just say that I wouldn't recommend missing the salt step. Unless you're from Tuscany or Umbria, and then you might not mind at all (they don't salt their bread at all). This bread tastes way better than that, by the way. Some salt made it to every bite. I swear. Well, I can't be perfect all the time. Sometimes I get distracted by taking pictures and forget things. I'm working on that.

Anyway, the bread is pretty good, and you know what good bread needs?

Why, something to sop. How about creamy chicken stew, or what I like to call:

Pot Pie Guts


You'll need:

3 smallish potatoes, scrubbed
2 carrots, peeled
1 onion
olive oil
2 tbs butter
2 tbs flour
1 c chicken stock
3/4 c milk
1/2 rotisserie chicken or 1/2 lb precooked chicken
1 c frozen peas

Chop your veggies into chunky pieces. I like to leave the peels on my potatoes for the vitamins and such. Sauté in olive oil until the onions are translucent. Make a little room in the center of the pan and add the butter. When it's melted sprinkle the flour on it and mix it into a paste. Let it cook for a minute, then stir it throughout the veggies. Pour in the chicken stock and stir until all of the flour lumps are dissolved. Stir in the milk.

While the sauce thickens, pick your chicken. Shred it into bite size pieces. When the sauce is thick, toss in your chicken and peas. It's ready when the peas are heated through.

Of course, you can throw some puff pastry on this and pop it in a 400 degree oven until golden brown and delicious. But if you have freshly baked sourdough bread, there's no need.

Enjoy!
Bake away,
Meredith

A Quick Note

Hello my faithful readers,

It has come to my attention that my posts are really long. No, actually I already knew that. What I didn't think about was iPhones. People need their sourdough on the go, and I don't blame them! So in an effort to slim down the main page I've limited the posts to two day's worth. If that's still too much, and you need to view one post at a time, you might want to push that little orange button above the Shakespeare quote and subscribe in a reader. A reader tells you when a new post is up, and sends you directly to the post's page, bypassing the main page.

I hope this helps. If you have any questions, comment, or send me an email at smartmer@gmail.com.

I'll be back later with one of those ridiculously long posts.
Just playing,
Meredith

Sunday Brunch

Yesterday G's class was canceled, which was a godsend because she had a cold, and needed a day to recover. While G read the New Yorker (cause she's literary like that) I surfed my usual sites. Serious Eats has a fun weekly piece: Sunday Brunch. And, as it happens, the item for this week was Cheese Grits. And, as it happens, we had the ingredients, so I basically had no choice but to make them.

So, G ventured out to get some bacon (she loves bacon) and while she was at it, some sharp cheddar (I could have made do with the low fat cheddar in the fridge, but sharp would be better). I got going on the grits.

Okay, polenta. But guess what- grits and polenta, both ground corn. I'm sure there are some minor differences, but basically, they're interchangeable. If you live in a place where grits are highly available, like the South, use them. I live in the Northeast, and we happen to have a plethora of polenta.


Pour 1 cup of grits/polenta slowly into 6 cups of boiling water while whisking vigorously.


Cover and simmer, stirring occasionally until the grits are thick and creamy (about 15-20 minutes)


Remove from heat and stir in 2 tablespoons of butter. Mmm.


Now separate three eggs. Stir in the yolks one at a time.


Grate your cheese. We had two kinds. White and Yellow. Both sharp.


You'll want about 2 1/4 cups of cheese, or if you're a weighing fiend, 8 ounces.


Stir in 2 cups of the cheese. Or, if you're a cheese fiend, and don't pay attention, stir in all of the cheese and grate a quarter cup more for later.


Add 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper. The recipe didn't specify, so I just made that up. If you're a wimp, use a pinch, but this is a lot of cheese and grits, so it can take a little kick.


Whip the three egg whites. You can do it in the mixer or with a hand mixer, but I didn't want to get another thing dirty, so I did it by hand. I'm hard core.


Whip to stiff peaks. Then take an advil, because your arm will be sore.


Now stir in about 1/4 of the whites to lighten the grits.


And, ladies and gentlemen, because I want to enlighten the world with the joys of cooking techniques, a new video showing the folding process. I know some of you (Lena) might think you can't do it- but watch and learn. You don't see closeups like this on FoodTV, that's for sure.

I promise I'll try to actually speak while I do videos next time. The silence is a little strange. Or I could play some music.

Anyway, now pour the mixture into a buttered baking dish.


Cover with that extra cheese. Or grate some more.


Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Then remove the foil and let it get nice and bubbly for another 10 minutes or so.

Here's the recipe again.

This is a great brunch dish, because it's actually best just warmer than room temp- then it kind of firms up a bit. With a salad, perhaps crisp bacon, and a mimosa or bloody mary, this would be a perfect meal for entertaining. It was also perfect with tea, bacon and my roommate.

Playing,
Meredith

In the Beginning: a Sourdough Retrospective

Well hello there,
I've been baking away the last 24 hours, in order to fully complete the sourdough story I began two months ago. You may recall that I started my blog by baking two proofed sourdough loaves. I hinted at what came before, but I always felt a little guilty that you didn't get the full story. Well, I'm about to make it all alright, because I baked the bread again, and I'm going to share it all with you today, every single minute detail (just like I like it).

This recipe is from Cook's Illustrated. You have to pay money to get the recipes (thanks Michael) but I really think it's worth it (to Michael). I know I've already waxed poetic about the incredibly succinct recipes, so I won't bother here. The key is definitely to follow the recipes to the word. Otherwise, they may not be perfect.

Let's begin. First you make the sponge. Pour out 1/2 cup of refreshed starter. I prefer to weigh for baking, since it's more accurate. Accuracy is very important for baking. If you agree measure out 4.5 ounces.



I just push tare every time I add a new thing. This also really saves on cleanup.


Now add 3/8-1/2 cups or 3-4 ounces of 80 degree filtered water. Okay, my water was 86 degrees, let's not get crazy.


I went on the low side with 3 ounces, just to be safe.


Now add 1 cup or 5 ounces of flour.


Mix using a rubber spatula. I don't know why, it just said so.


The mixture should resemble thick pancake batter. I ended up adding the other ounce of water.


Now cover with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until doubled in bulk. It could take two to three hours. Note the large rubber band. My cling wrap isn't so clingy, so I use one of these. You can get them at the Container Store. They're actually made to hold the trash bag on, but this one has never touched the can, so don't worry.


When your sponge is nice and bubbly it's time to make the dough.


IT'S ALIVE!! Sourdough is so awesome.

Stir in 1 1/2 cups or 12 ounces of 70 degree filtered water.




Add 4 3/4 cups or 24 ounces of flour. You know I always use Bread Flour for the gluten content. It works, so why mess with it?


After stirring with the spatula for a while, inevitably I go in with the old hands. They aren't really old, and they're clean, so it's all good. (Old hands can dive in as well, no ageism here)


A side effect of getting in there:


THE CLAW! IT'S ALSO ALIVE!!!
hehe

Eventually it will come together and look like this:


Then you know it's time to knead. Check out my kneading video. Oh yeah, we're going multimedia. I thought you might like to see how the Player gets it done. Oh yes, and while you're at it poke a hole in the bread and add 2 1/2 teaspoons of salt. Let it incorporate while you knead. I forgot to do this, and ended up doing it later. It turned out fine.

You'll know it's done when it's no longer sticky, and bounces back when you poke it.

Now spray a large bowl (or tupperware in this case) with cooking spray.

Put the dough in and give it a spray as well.

Let the dough rise until doubled in bulk (about 3 to 5 hours)

And here it is:

Now you stretch the dough into as big a rectangle as you can manage without tearing it.

Then fold the dough into thirds like a letter. One side in:

Other side in:

Cut in half:

Loosely shape into balls:

Cover with at damp kitchen towel and let rest for 15 minutes.

Now shape the loaves by using one hand to push the dough against the unfloured work surface, using the other hand as a guide. You want to make a tight ball, but don't rip the surface.

Now pinch the bottom seam and set the loaf seam down on parchment paper.

Put the shaped loaves on a cookie sheet.

Cover loosely with plastic wrap and place in the fridge. Refrigerate 12 hours.

In the morning, pull out your loaves and place them onto a room-temperature surface.

Let them rise until at least doubled in bulk and the dough barely springs back when poked- about 3-4 hours.

For the next chapter in this thrilling tale, go here.
I can't wait to show you my new loaves. I tried some different slashing patterns.

Baking but still Playing,
Meredith

Pizza Pie

Good afternoon my friends,

Well, sourdough mania has been reborn, beginning with sourdough pizza I made last night for Battlestar Galactica viewing. Well, actually BSG is at ten, and that is way too late to eat in my humble opinion (or in the opinion of my stomach) so Lena came over and we had pre-show pizza.

I used a recipe I got off Sourdough Home, which is a pretty good sourdough resource. They recommend pre-baking the pizza shells, and I agree. I like that my pie is guaranteed to be cooked through and crispy.

So, take 1 1/2 cups of your Sourdough starter. (If you have no starter, just ask me and I'll send you some)


Add 1 tablespoon olive oil.


One teaspoon sea salt. I love this kind- it naturally has minerals in it, which make it pink. G picked it out.


Add 1 1/2 cups flour. You can experiment here. Bread flour would give you a chewy crust. All Purpose might give the most crunch. I like to add whole grains, and I came across this flour at the greenmarket.


I love spelt. It's an ancient form of wheat. Check out the wiki if you want to learn all about it. Mostly, it's fun to buy from vendors like Wild Hive Farm. Who wouldn't want to support "food products made with the local, organic bounty of the Hudson Valley"?


Now stir to combine. It may take a little while. If it is too dry, you can add a little more starter or some water.


At a certain point, the dough comes together and it's just easier to mix with your hands.


I kneaded in the bowl. Pizza dough doesn't require the kneading of a loaf of bread, so you can easily do it this way, and save the mess on the counter.


When the dough springs back to your touch and stays in a nice tight ball, you're good to go.


Now cover and let rest for about thirty minutes. You don't need it to rise, but it isn't so bad if it does a little.


Now you can roll it out. Sourdough Home suggests using parchment.


I went a step further and used a piece on top as well. It was a little awkward, but I didn't have to use any extra flour for dusting or get the rolling pin dirty.


I eventually took it off that pizza pan in order to get it a little thinner.


I then used the pan as a peel. I really need one of those, but I guess I do all right.
Put it in the hottest oven you've got. Mine goes to 530 or so. A pizza stone helps as well, but before I used that I used a pizza pan, and before I had that, I used a cookie sheet.


Bake 5 minutes or so. At this point you can refrigerate or freeze the shell for future use. Or you can wait for G to get home.


Proceed to top as desired. For this pizza I precooked some pancetta. Hello Martha Stewart Pan, looking good.


I used canned pizza sauce. I mean, how much time do you want me to spend in the kitchen? Anyway I like this sauce a lot. It's tangy and good.


Don't go too heavy on the sauce though.


I used fresh mozzarella, which can be a bit watery. It tastes so good I don't care. I put it in the freezer for about 15 minutes before slicing to make it easier.


Here it is before the oven. Oh yeah, I also like to drizzle olive oil on the crust to make it extra crispy.


Put on your stone, or cookie sheet, or whatever you've got and bake until melty and delicious.


And here are my lovely tasters. Lena:


Doesn't she look good? She's lost the equivalent of a two year old child. And she even gets to eat pizza. Yay Weightwatchers.

And here's G. She's so cute. She's skinny too, but she was always that way, so it's not as special. She's special for other reasons...


For instance, she did the dishes!

I think last night was a big success. Everyone enjoyed the pizza, and we had a pre-BSG viewing of Galaxy Quest, which was fun. It's great to be a geek!

Play with your Pizza,
Meredith

I'm Your Handy (wo)Man

Really. I'm pretty handy. I got my drill my sophomore year, and I know how to use it. It's been good to me. It's hung shelves and curtain rods. It's created set pieces for Shakespeare plays.

It looks a little strange on my cutting board, I have to say. But we've got a kitchen project to do.


Watch her go!


Okay, so the purpose for the drill in my kitchen is my new sauté pan. It's so huge, and my kitchen cabinets are so limited. It does not fit where my old nonstick did, in the drawer under the oven. So I decided to hang it up so all can bask in the glory.

First I drill a hole. The hole has to be large enough to fit one of those plastic drywall anchors. We don't want anything falling on our heads while we cook, do we?


Hammer in your anchor.


Now, screw in your screw. I guess I could have used a hook, but I didn't have a hook, but I did have some long screws. I think it will do just fine.


Make sure you've got about an inch sticking out so your pot has something to grab on to.


And there you have it. I think it looks mighty fine up there. Plus you can see yourself while you wash the dishes. In case you have any need to look at yourself at such a time.


Stay tuned for Sourdough Pizza! My was it good. I think it's a double post kind of a day, don't you?

Shiny New Pans

Okay, so let me explain how I went to Macy's to get one pan and ended up with two. I didn't mean to, I swear. I really needed to replace my big nonstick pan. It was getting crackly, and you know that means you're eating nonstick in all your food, and well that's gross. So I heard that Macy's was selling Martha Stewart's new "Greenpan Cookware". It's a new kind of nonstick that holds up better to high temperatures, and is somehow better for the environment. I'm not exactly sure how, but I'm just glad to get the nonstick bits out of my diet. Here's more info. And some more. Thiens, you should definitely consider replacing your nonstick pans- the prices aren't too bad at all, and that one tiny pan that is flaking like no tomorrow scares me.


So I walked into the Cellar at the famous Herald's Square Macy's and went to pick up my pan.
That would have been fine, but this pan is only 11 inches, where my old one was 12, and it was also nowhere near as deep. A lot of the jobs that my old pan did would not be possible in this smaller pan. But I still liked it, so I decided to get two pans to replace the one.


Note the pretty Martha Stewart detail in the handle. She makes great stuff. I love her.


So, there has been another thing missing in my kitchen, that I thought might fill the larger skillet void. A stainless skillet. You can't get a good sear on meat with a nonstick pan. I'm sure my new pan can come closer, because you don't have to worry about high heat, but to make a good pan sauce, you want all those little brown bits on the pan, and they just don't do right in a nonstick pan. So I walked around looking. I looked at every pan in the entire store. I wanted to make sure I was making the right choice. There has to be a balance between quality and price. I'm no gazillionaire, but I have fancy taste, so I have to worry about these things. Plus, I want to have the best possible equipment, so your reading experience is enhanced.

I finally chose this baby.



It's the Cuisinart 12 inch 5 1/2 quart sauté pan with lid. It was on sale. Check it out here.
Now, you probably think I'm crazy, because this pan costs almost twice as much as the first one. Thank goodness I was using a gift card. Thanks Dad! And I didn't spend it all- the rest is for my brother.

But I promise, it's going to be worth it. Look at it, all shiny and beautiful.


Also, apparently Lidia Bastianich loves it. I love Lidia and her show on PBS. I'm also a little afraid of her, but I would risk her slightly severe temperament in order to have her make fresh pasta for me any day.


Here is my new stainless pan in action.


This is a simple recipe- brown a few slices of pancetta or bacon, scoop it out, add two or three cloves of garlic thinly sliced, a sprig of rosemary and some chili flakes and quickly sauté. Add a few tablespoons of water to the pan and add a head of escarole (a slightly bitter green) chopped up. Let your greens wilt. Throw in a drained can of white beans, season with salt and pepper, and top with the crisp pancetta and some parmesan. You can also make it into a soup by adding chicken stock and simmering.

Last night I just wanted something easy, flavorful and full of vitamins and minerals.


My new pan did a great job right? Also, the high sides kept oil from splattering all over the place, so it even keeps my kitchen cleaner.

I've used the other pan as well, and it is a breeze to clean up. No scrubbing necessary.

I love kitchenwares.

playing with pots,
Meredith

Getting Back to My Roots

Hello my faithful readers,

I feel like I've veered far away from the true purpose of this blog. No, I didn't just start it to tell you every detail of my slightly mundane life. I also didn't start it to document every meal I create in great detail. Yes, I do both of those things around here, but that isn't what we're all here for. A Player and a Baker started out as a blog focusing mainly on my adventures with sourdough. For those of you coming in late in the game, check out my posts on sourdough. They're fun. But alas, when I up and left town for over three weeks, I had to put my little baby in the fridge and give her a rest. I've been meaning to wake her up since I got back, but two things have been stopping me. One, the sourdough container, left for G to make pizza shortly after I left, was sitting under the table growing disgusting and nasty special friends. I didn't tell her to clean it out, but I certainly didn't want to do it. The second reason I waited was that during vacation, there were no pilates and yoga. There was no walking everywhere lugging a seven-year-old's backpack. There was lot's of sitting and eating. So I needed a little bread break.

Those days are finally over, and my baby is awakened. I bit the bullet and cleaned out her home. Oh my, that was nasty. I refrained from pictures in that part of the process to save you the horror.

I took my starter out of the fridge. It had separated into two parts- an opaque sourdough-looking part, and a clear liquid part. That liquid is called hooch by my fellow sourdoughers.

You can't really see it here. It's actually just alcohol from the fermentation process. You can pour it off, but it's good stuff, and I think it should be stirred back in.



There's the hooch. It looks scary, but don't be afraid. Stir it in, and get excited.


Pour off a cup of your starter and discard the rest.


I like to mix in the water first, because it makes it easier to take the flour. Remember that the water needs to be about 78 degrees, and filtered or bottled. It's a cup of water, by the way.


Now add a cup and a half of flour. I'm using King Arthur Bread Flour, because I like to follow the rules. The higher the gluten the better your bread. Just keep saying that over and over.


Now just stir it in. Don't be afraid to really stir, but don't be too afraid of lumps either.


And here is my newly awakened and fed starter.


You'll want to wait 8-12 hours and repeat the process, pouring off all but one cup, and feeding with one cup water and one and a half cups flour. Do it a total of three times, and 8 hours after the last feeding your starter will be ready to go.

Stay tuned for the full story on sourdough pizza. It's going to be great!

Happy as a Clam

On Sunday night, I had a guest star in the kitchen. She's actually in my kitchen a lot, as it's also her kitchen. But she's been more on the reading/eating side of this blog, until now. Gwendolyn Lane, or as I like to call her in Gossip Girl fashion, G joined me in the planning, shopping and preparation of this wonderful meal. It all started like this:

G: Hey, what are we going to do tonight?

Me: Well, I'm going to yoga at four, and then I don't know.

G: I know! We should cook together for the blog!

Me: Allrightie, how about you meet me at the WF after yoga?

G: It's a plan.

Me: Oh yeah, what are we going to cook...

Well, we chose something from our new favorite book Simply Organic. Seriously you should get this book. We picked something from Winter this time, because it still isn't spring at the markets. Very soon, I hope, but not yet. We picked Seafood and Angel Hair Pasta, and we loved it.

I met G at WF in a post yoga haze. I quickly came to my senses upon eating two samples of vegan vanilla and buttercream cake. Then I felt a little sick. Then I got over it. We talked about taking pictures, but it's illegal at WF, and I have trouble breaking the rules, so instead we just shopped and then I took this picture of G upon leaving.


Doesn't she look so cosmopolitan with her beret and her shopping bag? I just want to sing: Who could turn the world on with her smile?....
But I won't.

We got these clams from Maine. Maine is not so far from here, and so these clams are kind of local. We like that sort of thing around here, if you haven't noticed.


I immediately put G to work. As I've said before, it is much easier to do these shoots when someone else is doing the cooking.

Scrub G! Scrub those clams like there's no tomorrow! (I'll be over here taking pictures)


I did do the shallots, though. I thought I'd walk you through shallots since they're new to the site. Shallots are the love child of onion and garlic. Not really, they often have separate cloves like garlic, and they're milder than an onion.


Peeling and chopping is much like a small onion. Slice off the top end.


Cut in half.


Take off the peel, and in this case thinly slice.


Easy peasy. While I did that, G was mincing up some garlic. She has such good nails. I'm jealous.


Melt together butter and olive oil (2 tbs each).


Add the shallots and garlic. Yum.


Get your next ingredients ready. The vermouth is back, and we've got tomatoes and clam juice. Don't be scared of clam juice, ya'll, it adds great flavor.


Dump in the tomatoes and juice with your perfectly manicured hands:


Next, clam juice joins in.


And a wide shot of G with the vermouth. Her hair was covering her face, but what can you do.


While that's simmering, get the next set of ingredients ready.
Zest a lime.


I like how it just sits in it's little reservoir.


Heavy cream. Mmm. The original recipe said this was optional. I say it isn't.


Thyme. Insert silly pun here. I love thyme puns. I could say them till the end of thyme. Sorry, I can't help myself.


Thanks G for chopping up that thyme!


I wanted to take a moment to share our little added surface area. That is the ironing board. It really helps when you have more than one person in the kitchen, because counter space is a premium. We used it to hold the cookbook and the ipod and speakers. I believe we listened to Bright Eyes.


15 minutes later, add the next set of ingredients.
Paprika:


Zest. (Pretty ring, G)


Cream. Mmm.


Stir it up and let it simmer about 20 minutes.


In the mean time, have a glass of wine. And chop up your chard. This chard is from California. There was no local chard at the WF. I know I should have bought more at the greenmarket...


Cut out the tough stems. These are my hands, and G is taking the photos. Note the short fingernails.


Stack all the leaves and chop it up.


Now here are some scallops from Massachusetts to make up for the California chard. The recipe originally called for lobster tails, but we felt that was over the top, and too much work with the shells and all. If you use lobster, simmer the shells in the sauce to add more flavor. We were happy with the scallops.

Here's G doing the dirty work, rinsing those scallops.


Here they are drying on some paper towel.


Add them to your reduced sauce.


And cover. This is a pizza pan, but it worked well as a lid.


Your water should be boiling at this point. Put it on before the 20 minute simmer.

Salt your water.


Add the pasta. We used whole wheat. Whole wheat angel hair tastes remarkably like regular angel hair.


In the last minute of cooking add your chard.


Let it blanch. That means lightly cook in boiling water.


Here are the clams, opened. They took considerably longer than the recipe said, so just keep checking them.


When most of them are open, call it a day. Toss the unopened ones. We had about four. Those guys were dead before they went in the pan, and are no good. Don't worry, they can't hurt your sauce, so throw them away and move on.

Here is everything tossed together. It was yummy, light (ignore the cream) and balanced.


I hope you take a chance on clams (if you aren't Michael and have a huge texture problem with them). They really are easy and delicious.

Thanks G for being a great sous chef.




Seafood and Angel Hair Pasta (adapted from Simply Organic)

1/2 lb scallops
2 tbs unsalted butter
2 tbs olive oil
4-6 cloves garlic, minced
2 shallots, thinly sliced
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes w/ their juice
1 cup clam juice or chicken broth
1/2 cup dry vermouth
1 tbs chopped fresh thyme
1 tsp paprika
2 tsp grated lime zest
1 cup heavy cream
1 lb clams
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Pinch of ground red (cayenne) or chipotle pepper (optional)
1 lb chard, tougher, large stems removed and discarded

Heat the butter and oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and shallots and cook for 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes with juice, clam juice or broth, and the vermouth. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes.

Add the thyme paprika, lime zest, and cream. Cook, uncovered for 20 minutes, or until reduced by one-third. Bring a large pot of water to a boil for the pasta.

Add the scallops and clams to the sauce. Season to taste with salt, black pepper, and red pepper. Cover and simmer for 3-5 minutes, or until the clams open and the scallops turn opaque (this took more like 7 minutes for us). Discard any unopened clams.

While the seafood is simmering, cook the pasta according to package directions, adding the chard during the last minute of cooking time. Drain and toss the pasta and chard with the sauce.

Enjoy, everyone!
Play with your food.
I know I do,
Meredith

Pao de Queijo

After Lena, my brother Brendan and I had brunch at Cafe Colonial last week, I had a hankering to make some pao de queijo. Pao de queijo is Brazilian cheese bread, and it reminds me of my childhood. It's pretty close to the dough you use to make cream puffs- pate a choux. The dough is sort of cooked twice. Once, heating milk and butter, and again in the oven. My family has recreated this bread with a packaged mix, but we never actually made it from scratch. I was talking to my mom the other day about another Brazilian treat, brigadeiros, a candy which my sister is attempting to make as we speak. I looked at recipes for the candy, and was drawn into the links for pao de queijo. And that was it. I had to make it.

We continue on our local feast with this cheddar from Bobolink Dairy. It was delicious and sharp but not funky at all. Aged cheese can get funky, but this one was smooth and creamy. I highly recommend it.




The flour in this recipe is Tapioca flour. It can be a little hard to find. Order it online here.


A great way to bake is to weigh. My scale goes from grams to ounces, so you can easily use foreign recipes like this one. Too bad I forgot that there are 1000 grams in a kilo, because I didn't have enough tapioca. Don't worry, all was not lost, but more on that later.

So measure 1000 grams of tapioca flour (not 100- I'm a dork)


Now mix in the cheeses. Parmesan:


And cheddar. This wasn't enough, so I used some regular cheddar to supplement.


Mix the cheeses with the flour.


Now add the fat. Or more fat, depending how you look at it... I did half butter half olive oil.



Melt it in 2 cups of milk.

Remember the milk?




Bring the mixture to a simmer and pour it in sections into the flour. I used a lot less because I had so much less flour. You might want to half this recipe to make it more manageable.


It should look lumpy like this. You don't want it to be watery at all.


Now crack your eggs.


Add them one at a time until combined.
I only used three eggs, by the way.


Then it got really liquidy so I added more tapioca.


The mixture is supposed to be much firmer than this. You are supposed to be able to roll it into balls. Next time, I'll do my math homework, but the nice thing about this recipe is that it's pretty forgiving.


I scooped it onto parchment paper.


Sprinkle and bake at 350 degrees until brown and delicious.

So, they're more like cheese cookies than bread, but the flavor was definitely there.



Pao de Queijo Recipe

1 kg fine sour cassava flour (Povilho Azedo). Also known as tapioca starch.
2 cups of milk
1 1⁄4 tablespoon salt
1 cup of vegetable oil or butter
2 cup grated cheddar cheese and 1⁄2 cup Parmesan cheese
5 medium sized eggs

PREPARATION:

Sift flour into bowl. Mix in cheese. Warm up milk in a pot, with oil and salt. Bring to a simmer. Pour warm milk into the bowl with the cheese and flour mix. Pour small amount of milk at a time and until the flour becomes very lumpy. Let it sit for a few minutes. Add the eggs, one or two at a time, mixing well by hand, until a smooth texture is achieved. Add milk if the dough is not soft enough. Let dough sit for 1⁄2 hour. Shape the dough into little balls (the size of a loonie) by rolling in your hands. Place on a well greased baking sheet (or on baking sheet with parchment paper). Top balls with some grated cheddar cheese to add a golden colour once baked. Bake in oven preheated to 350 degrees until slightly golden.
TIPS:

* Let dough rest after mixing by hand.
* Place balls at least 1⁄4 inch apart on baking sheet. They will grow to twice their original size.
* The size of the eggs matters. If you use large eggs you can likely use less eggs- check for smooth dough consistency and adjust accordingly.
* Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Time of baking is approximately 12 – 15 minutes.

****************************


And here it is, the final meal, pork chop, greens, and pao. It was a delicious meal, despite the setbacks. Hey, I've got to show the mistakes. Cooking is a process, even for someone who's been doing it a long time. A new recipe is always a risk, but with experience you learn how to deal with the hurdles along the way.

Creamed Spinach and Chard

Hello my faithful readers,

I had a culinary weekend, and you have a lot to look forward to in the coming days. There is the conclusion of the local feast, the rebirth of my sourdough starter, and a special guest appearance from my roommate G. Oh, tune in for the excitement! Also, you may notice that I've made the switch to larger pictures. My photography confidence continues to grow (it's barely a baby) and I'm ready to showcase my pics. I hope you enjoy the new format.

When I left you last, the pork chops were ready and waiting to join the rest of the meal. Of course, the meal was cooked simultaneously, but I find it much more helpful to split it up into more manageable chunks. So without further ado, I give you Creamed Spinach and Chard. Now, this recipe was posted by my hero The Pioneer Woman on Serious Eats. (the blog world is pretty small) Her version was just creamed spinach, but the greens at the greenmarket were so beautiful that I wanted to take advantage. I chose a sweeter milder chard, because G is sometimes scared of bitter greens. I don't blame her, actually. Poorly cooked greens can be a horrible experience. I don't want any such thing. Neither do you, so go ahead and use this recipe to get chard into your picky eaters. Mostly it's the heavy cream that makes it awesome, but I tell you it will make a green eater out of just about anyone.

Okay, so here are the players: Chard in the front and spinach in the back.



If you have baby spinach don't bother with the stemming, but my spinach was older so I tore off all of the tough stems. I tore the stems off the chard as well.



I washed my greens. They were straight from the farm, and therefore had dirt on them. Don't be afraid of dirt- we wouldn't have the veggies without it. It reminds me that my food didn't just appear in a plastic container in the supermarket. If your spinach is from a plastic container in the supermarket, that's totally fine- you get to skip this step.

I just use the bottom of my salad spinner. Put the greens in and fill to the top with water.



Give them a shake in the water and let them sit for a bit. Then pull out the greens and pour out the water. If your greens were really dirty go ahead and do that twice.

Now put them in the spinner basket.



And give it a spin. BTW, thanks Lis for this lovely red salad spinner. If you don't have one, they aren't that expensive, and can also multi-task as a bowl and a colander. Dry salad leaves hold dressing better than wet ones. In this case, I just didn't want to add extra water to my dish.


Now finely dice an onion. Note the addition of my other hand. Oh tripod, you make my food blogging so accurate and informative.

Slice off the top end:


Cut that bugger in half.



Peel it, then steady each half with your palm and make a horizontal slice.



Now slice down vertically. Note those tucked in fingers for safety.




Just slice again for a dice.



Yay knife skills! And tripods.

Sautee in 2 tbs butter and 2 tbs olive oil. Add two cloves of minced garlic at the end so it doesn't burn.



Chop up your greens a bit.


Add to the pan. Don't worry, they really will all fit in there.


I added a little nutmeg. I always do this to cream sauces and dark greens so it was a no-brainer.


Now for the cream. Pour in about a cup. Delicious local Ronnybrook Farms cream. Look at the labels people! The closer you live to your dairy products, the fresher the taste.


Simmer to let those flavors meld and let that cream and butter concentrate.



These greens were the star of the night. They were so awesome, there were barely any leftovers. Make this, and everyone who eats it will fall in love with you. They might even do the dishes!

Keep on Playing,
Meredith

Just For Fun

Cylon Coffee Maker Model 0001 from Collin Cunningham on Vimeo.

Chippy Chops

And now, my faithful readers, I give you the next installment in the greenmarket saga. When last we met I was on my way home with a bag full of groceries. I bought another important purchase in this blogging journey: a tripod. The better to show you the intricacies of onion chopping, my dear. So, I took the M14 A bus home and searched for pork chop recipes. I would have walked home, but I went to the greenmarket straight from yoga class, and that milk was getting pretty heavy. I picked Cook's Illustrated. They always get the job done.

The recipe called for a brine. A brine is a watery salty marinade. There are lots of sound scientific reasons why a brine gives you juicy meat. I believe it causes the meat to retain water in cooking. Let's not worry our pretty little heads over the why's and how's- let's just trust that it's gonna be good.

I only did two chops but I didn't cut the recipe in half. I figured trying to split the recipe was overly complicated. My chops just got some extra room to swim around in.

Crush ten cloves of garlic. If you're using most of a head, the easiest thing to do is push down on the whole thing with the heel of your hand.


See how nicely all the individual cloves come apart:


Now to smash the cloves and get the peel off, put your knife over the garlic and give it a good whack. Seriously, hit the thing hard. The more smashed, the easier to peel. Also If you're chopping, you've done some of the work for yourself.


Here are all my naked and smashed cloves. Their clothes are in a nice neat pile, because I like things nice and neat.


Add 3/4 cups of brown sugar to a ziploc bag.


Now add the salt. It had different measurements for kosher or table salt, but I was using sea salt. I went in between with just under 1/2 cups. I figure it was finer than kosher but not as fine as table.


I added the garlic, even though I was supposed to add the water first. I don't think that it had any affect on the recipe though.


I then poured in two cups of hot water to dissolve the salt and sugar.

Next came the bay leaves:


I gave them a good crush before throwing them in.


Here are cloves and pepper. It was supposed to be peppercorns, but I forgot to buy them, so course ground pepper had to do.


Here are all the friends in the bath:


Then you add 4 cups of cold water to cool things down.


Add your chops. Remember him? He sure is a beauty.


Refrigerate one hour, turning once.


When they're good and brined, take them out and dry them off.


Put them in a pan with oil and brown them well on both sides.


Browned food is so delicious.


Remove the chops and place in a hot oven.


I made a little pan sauce with some wine and butter.


Now, I only left the chops in for 8 minutes, but they were way overcooked. They're supposed to be 125 degrees and mine were 160. It was a travesty. So beware when you put your chops in the oven. You might even check their temp before you put them in. And don't get sidetracked taking pictures of the spinach you might be making at the same time. Well, thank goodness for that brine, because even though my chops were overdone, they were flavorful and pretty good. They weren't even leathery.


So there you have it. A brine saved the day. Now go and cook these babies, because they truly are good, even overcooked.

Cook's Illustrated Pan-Seared, Oven-Roasted Thick-Cut Pork Chops

If you’re making one of our pan sauces to accompany the chops (see related recipes), you may opt to use only water, sugar, and salt in the brine and omit the other flavorings. If the chops aren’t being cooked immediately after brining, simply wipe off the excess brine, place the them on a wire rack set on top of a rimmed sheet pan, and keep them in the refrigerator, uncovered, to air dry for up to 3 hours.

Serves 4

3/4	cup dark brown sugar (lightly packed)
1/2	cup kosher salt (or 1/4 cup table salt)
10	medium cloves garlic , crushed
4	bay leaves , crumbled
8	whole cloves
3	tablespoons whole black peppercorns , crushed
4	bone-in rib loin pork chops (12-ounces each), 1 1/2-inches-thick
2	tablespoons vegetable oil

1. In gallon-sized zipper-lock plastic bag, dissolve sugar and salt in 2 cups hot water. Add garlic, bay leaves, cloves, peppercorns, and 4 cups cold water; cool mixture to room temperature. Add pork chops, then seal bag, pressing out as much air as possible; refrigerate until fully seasoned, about 1 hour, turning bag once. Remove chops from brine and dry thoroughly with paper towels.

2. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position, place shallow roasting pan or jelly-roll pan on oven rack, and heat oven to 450 degrees. When oven reaches 450 degrees, heat oil in 12-inch heavy-bottomed skillet over high heat until shimmering but not smoking, about 2 minutes. Place chops in skillet; cook until well-browned and nice crust has formed on surface, about 2 minutes. Turn chops over with tongs; cook until well-browned and a nice crust has formed on second side, about 2 minutes longer. Using tongs, transfer chops to preheated pan in oven. Roast until instant-read thermometer inserted into the center of each chop registers 125–127 degrees, 8 to 10 minutes, turning chops over once halfway through cooking time. Transfer each chop to platter; cover loosely with foil (be sure not to wrap foil tightly around meat), and let rest about 5 minutes. (Check internal temperature; it should register about 145 degrees).

A Local Feast

I want all of you to read Animal Vegetable Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. Not because I think anyone should live in an extreme way, but because all of you should know as much as you should about where your food comes from. And what I realized reading Kingsolver's book is that we don't think nearly enough about what we eat. I'll tell you now that I'm not perfect. I want to eat citrus in the dead of winter even though it costs more money and has a carbon footprint. But I try and that's what matters. Every little thing counts. And so, I take you to the Union Square Greenmarket at the very end of winter to show you what wonderful things you can find. Do the research and find the greenmarket near you. Most of you are farther south than I am, so see what you can find.

For those of you who live in the tristate area, I went to the market on Friday, which is really an off day. Not that much was going on. The market was only about 15 stands at the most, whereas in the high season there can be 50.

And yet, even though there is no asparagus, the market exists, and there are fresh local ingredients to be had. This is the story of my visit to the greenmarket. I will tell you soon enough what these beautiful ingredients became for dinner on the eve of the BSG premiere.

Here we are at the entrance to the market. Thank god for the rain, or it would be really crowded.



I like to make a run of the whole place and get a feel for what's there. In this case I didn't have to walk far. But I still got some good stuff.

Bobolink dairy- delicious aged cheddar for my Pao de Queijo:


This cheddar is sharp but round and not too sour, for an aged cheese. It truly is amazing.


Hello beautiful,


Moving on, how about some greens? Everything here is pretty much green-housed, but it's fresh and local, so I'm happy to see it. I got some spinach and a sweeter version of swiss chard.
I went here:



There were only two vegetable places to choose from, and the selection at this one was much better. New Jersey, thanks for some awesome veggies. G thanks you as well.


Chard, why are people afraid of you? Just treat it like spinach, and you'll do all right.


Here's what I brought home:


I wanted some milk. My usual, Ronnybrook Farms wasn't present, but I made a new dairy friend:


She's from Ghent, which isn't far at all from Hudson. They're only there on Fridays, though...


At last, we needed a little protein. I wanted something to go with my Pao. I wanted something different than beef, the obvious Brazilian choice. The pork guy looked nice, and he gave me these chops for only 20 bucks! That's a pretty good discount.


Here it is:


The chops had a lot of fat, and even the skin:


Look at that- a stamp on the skin. That is some hard core stuff. My pork was definitely pork, not some random item in a grocery store that "claims" pork.

There you have it. Some real good wholesome ingredients in the saddest part of the year, truly. The weather says spring, but the spring vegetables are nowhere to be seen. Get out there and see what you've got. Even at the local grocery store, things often say where they come from. Take note. The closer, the fresher, and the better for the environment and you.

Play with your food.
Meredith

A Confession

Okay, well I forgot to mention something in my earlier post, so I'm going to tell you now. My name is Meredith and I am a Battlestar Galactica fan. I'm not a freak who creates weird fan mash-ups or anything. But I do love it. And if you haven't given it a chance because you hate SciFi or something, I think you should reconsider. I didn't want to watch BSG. But I did, and I fell in love with it. Then I tried to get G to watch and she pretty much refused. I wore her down, and now she's almost as into it as I am.

In the sphere of normal people who are big fans (not the crazies who get married in Star Wars costumes, etc.) I am as big of a fan as there can be. I have an amazing capacity to be obsessed with many things at a time. For example, at this moment, I am obsessed with BSG, my blog, who reads my blog, my vacuum cleaner, Mark Helprin's Winter's Tale, Shea Butter, eating locally, cabbage, taking pictures of cabbage (and other food), John Adams, Top Chef, and the Pioneer Woman. Oh yeah, I'm a multitasking obsesser. Note, that auditioning is not on the list. That's because auditioning = rejection, which is negative. So even though I work on it, it's not something I obsess about, because if I did I would go insane. Maybe I obsess with all those other things so I don't have to obsess about my fledgling career.

Oh boo. Now I've gone and made this silly Battlestar post all dark and serious (just like Battlestar!) By the way, the reason I'm mentioning any of this in the first place is that the season 4 premiere is tonight! G and I are having a viewing party for 2, since no one else would truly appreciate the experience. So, no one call me between 9 and 10 eastern time. I will be unavailable.

And just for fun, a pic:


Wow, I feel better getting that off my chest.

Just playing,
Meredith

Shakespeare's Wife

I read this article in Slate and it got me thinking. Did Shakespeare love his wife? He didn't live with her. She was quite a bit older than he. But heck, I don't live with Michael and he's older than me, and that doesn't stop me loving him (not that we're married or anything, but still). Also Shakespeare apparently died of syphilis, indicating that he was less than loyal.

I'm going to conclude without reading the book mentioned in the article, that Shakespeare may have loved Ann, but there's no way you could call their marriage strong, on account of the diseases and absences and all. Perhaps they had some kind of an understanding. And perhaps she was happy to raise the kids and not deal with her crazy poet of a husband.

The point the article makes is that any commentary about Shakespeare is pretty much imagination. We know almost nothing about him, save for a few records and his own words, which whose ownership are often disputed.

I believe in Shakespeare. I don't go for all that "he never existed" or "didn't write the plays" nonsense. I love Shakespeare, and even sometimes like teaching it. I want to believe in the legendary genius who lives a life as a player and playwright. How does Ann fit into that? Muse? I find it hard to believe. Devoted guardian to future Shakespearean spawn? Possible. Who knows, but it does make you wonder.


Oh, the Ultimate Player

Did you play your wife a fool?
Or was it she who made you drool?
Sad to say we'll never know,
As it happened so long ago.

Ha! I made a silly poem. I hope you aren't horrified and stop reading. I promise to keep bad poetry to a minimum. But the Bard inspired me, what can I say.

Stay tuned for a special Union Square Greenmarket post!
See how a true cosmopolitan girl shops in the wild concrete jungle that is New York.

I Love Cabbage

And I'm not ashamed to admit it.

I like it raw in a nice slaw. I like it braised. I like it fermented in kraut form. I like it every which way. I know some of you are cringing. Perhaps you had a bad cabbage experience growing up. I understand. These things happen. But really, cabbage can be a beautiful thing. I hope you give it another chance someday. A good place to start is a nice stew.

I picked up these ingredients at the WF after pilates (ouch after missing a month, BTW) and wanted to make something quick and hearty before having to go pick up Tal. It was rainy and cold, and a nice vegetable soup sounded good. Now, Michael is a vegetable soup purist. That means no meat products. But in his case it would be accompanied by his mother's famous cast-iron corn bread- which I will no doubt reveal to you when our kitchen is done- thereby making a light and balanced meal. I have no cast iron skillet, and also, Michael makes the cornbread, so I needed a little protein to add to the mix.

So, in addition to the cabbage, I got some salad onions (because they looked pretty and were from Georgia which at least isn't California) turnips (local) and turkey kielbasa (believe it or not, from New Jersey)


First I sliced up that sausage. Have I mentioned that I also love sausage?


Brown it in some olive oil.


Slice up the white parts of the onions.



I did half moons on these babies.


This one could be an ad Wusthof, don't you think? Oh, I can't wait to show you the Shun we've got up in H-town- it is pretty hard core.


Look at the browning goodness:


Peel those turnips. I only ended up doing two. If you don't like bitter vegetables you might want to do potatoes instead of turnips. I like the bitterness of the turnips with the sweetness of the cabbage (yes, cabbage is sweet) and onions.


Dice that baby like you've never diced before. Unless you dice a lot, like I do...


Give that a quick stir. And don't forget to salt and pepper. Lydia Bastianich seasons every time she adds something to the pan. I try to do the same thing.


Cut up some cabbage. I only used about a third of the head, since the pot I was using wasn't very big. Cabbages are so economical. They seem to explode when you cut them up. Another reason why they're awesome.


Toss that in. And now would be a good time to deglaze the pan. You add a liquid to help get those brown bits off the bottom of the pan into the sauce where they can add depth and flavor to your sauce or soup. Lena used beer here. Wine is very common. I always have a bunch of random fortified wines around (mostly for cocktails, or recipes that call for them). There's Sherry, Marsala, Lillet, and the old standby Vermouth.

That's what I used. Note the extra container for safety purposes.


So you pour that in and use a wooden spoon to scrape all the good bits up. Then add your liquid. If you were a purist it would be water. If you have leftover chicken stock in your fridge that needs using, go for it.


Now the added bonus to those onions: the green tops. They add nice color and a freshness to the stew (in this small of a pot with all those veggies, this soup became a stew pretty quickly). If you use regular onions, parsley would do fine. Parsley would be good with the onion tops as well, but I didn't have any.


Stir those in off the heat, and here you go.


Put it in a bowl and call it a meal.


But wait- there's one more thing. A little garlic toast. This is an easy version of Italian bruschetta. You just use whatever bread you have. Toast it. Then take a clove of garlic and cut it in half. Rub the garlic on the sandpaper-like surface and smell that garlicy goodness.


Drizzle with good extra virgin olive oil.


Dip into soup and consume.

There you have it. I hope you'll give cabbage a try. I promise you'll thank me for it.

Playing as usual,
Meredith

A Story

I've been doing a lot of photo posting lately. What can I say, I love to describe the minutiae that go into the makings of a great meal. And that's well and good. But today as I was photoshopping the pictures for my next food post, I thought to myself, this can wait for another day. After all, this is for you my friend, and I don't want you getting bored. So I'm going to shake things up around here. I'm going to tell a story.

I was nine and a half years old when we got him. We had lived in Monterrey, Mexico for about a year, and had finally moved into the house that had been under construction for some time. We were ready for a pet. We hadn't had one since Truman, our beloved cockapoo, the dog my parents got when they got married. He died while we were in Brazil. It was always a regret, because we hadn't realized how easy it really is to have a pet as a third world expat. The domestic help was amazing. We left Truman with my grandparents who proceeded to give him to someone else. He got out, and old and deaf as he was, didn't hear the car coming. It was a sad tale. We didn't get a new dog in Brazil because despite all the great help, we still lived on the 20th story of an apartment building, and that's no easy way to potty train a puppy. Plus, my sister was still being potty trained, so we waited.

When we moved into the house on Rio Rhine, it was time for a new dog. My mom found a breeder. He was a funny little man who pronounced puppy "poopy", and was very excited to sell us a top quality show poodle. We realized later that he had fudged a little on our dog's pedigree, but we didn't care. Over-bred dogs tend to be kind of dumb anyway.

And that's how a tiny Mexican apricot poodle found his way into my family. I remember the naming process well. We wanted to name him after an explorer, because we were an exploring family- braving the New World, or something like that. Columbus? Nah. Or Magellan? That was a favorite of mine, but it was a little hard to say. Melissa desperately wanted to name him Butch. Not in the explorer pool at all, but she was adamant. Finally we hit upon it. Marco Polo. Bringer of noodles from the Orient, easy to say for the Americans, Brazilians, and Mexicans that the puppy would meet. As a concession to Melissa, we named the apricot puppy Marco Polo Butch Smart.

When we got Marco, he could fit in my nine year old palm. In Mexico you get your "poopies" very young. Is that a good thing? Probably not. But the bond Marco formed with our family was a solid one. I remember sitting in the kitchen doing my homework, being distracted by Marco tugging on my shoelaces. We spoiled him rotten. Our maid Socorro would make him "dog soup" which was basically bland chicken soup with rice.

It was months later when Marco got sick. He was very very sick. As sick as I've ever seen a dog. It turns out he had distemper. The crazy breeder told us Marco had gotten all his shots. Either he hadn't, or somehow he got it anyway. Dogs who get distemper die. That's just the way it is. We thought Marco was coming home to do just that, but somehow, he didn't. He slowly got better. There's no real explanation why. Marco was a fighter. I remember sitting in the house working on my costume for The Wizard of Oz (I was the Good Witch). Marco lay on the floor next to me breathing. I knew at that moment somehow that he was going to be alright. And he was. Maybe it was the dog soup.

It was months later when Marco went away. Rio Rhine was under construction. The houses in Monterrey are fully walled in, including the front yard. Some men were doing work in the yard and left the door open. Marco wandered out and was immediately snatched up. My parents had the suspicion that one of the road workers was trying to make an easy buck. We put out signs for a reward, but nothing happened for a few weeks. My parents made the decision to get a new dog. A replacement. The children were distraught, and they wanted to fill the void, I suppose. They lost hope after a few weeks of nothing. If someone wanted money, wouldn't they be prompt? I guess not, because we got a call a week after we got Sebastian, our new poodle, red-brown and truly show-quality. The man said his son had grown to love the dog and would need enough money to buy a new one. That wasn't so bad, so my mom agreed to meet with him. The day he came I happened to be home sick. It was a coincidence. When the man, wearing a baseball hat, came to the door, he changed his story. His son needed a bike, not a dog, and he'd need more money. As soon as Marco saw me, he jumped out of the man's arms and ran to me. He was always my puppy. With the property returned, the man lost his negotiation power. "I'm not sure I understand you," my mom said, "perhaps we should call the police to help translate." "That won't be necessary." The man took the money we had offered and left. Ever since then Marco had a fear of men in hats.

And then there were two. Marco and Sebastian were fast friends. They smelled each other's hinies with abandon. They tripped the light fantastic among the fruit trees. They moved to a new world less than a year later. Back to Texas we went. Into a new house we moved. One day Sebastian got out. He was picked up by a visiting woman from Lubbock who proceeded to take him there. We found him and she brought him back, but we think he liked it there, be cause after that he never gave up trying to get back.

The dogs were always together. They were together one early summer day when my dad was mowing the lawn. It was my brother's high school graduation. The gate was left open. Sebastian was looking for Lubbock, and Marco was following him. A car sped by and they were both hit. I heard it happen and ran outside. My sister followed. It was a red convertible.

I screamed "YOU KILLED THEM! I HATE YOU! MURDERER!" I screamed louder and with more feeling than I'd ever screamed. More than I thought possible. The woman just looked at me, sorrow in her eyes, and drove off. There was nothing she could do now. I hope the scream of that fourteen year old girl is with her to this day.

They were both alive when my mother rushed them to the vet. Only Marco came back. He was a survivor. At that point, I seriously believed that he was invincible.

Marco missed Sebastian. He moped around looking for him. We moved to Venezuela and he was even sadder. We got Ringo to fill the void. Ringo is an over-bred albino pest. He distracted Marco alright, but these two were no fast friends. They've done fine over the years. Ringo has mellowed out with age, and lupus, and blindness into a sweet dog. But as Ringo mellowed, Marco's years began to show. He would get lost in corners of the house, shivering. He would pace back and forth, unable to remember what he set out for. He had moments of clarity when he was my old dog, sitting in my lap at breakfast, but even those moments became few and far between. Arthritis kicked in and made it impossible for him to get comfortable. We're talking about a sixteen year old dog here. He lost bladder control, and well, for an OCD family, it was time to let him go.

Marco Polo Butch Smart is in poopy heaven with his best friend Sebastian. He had an amazing life that spanned continents, and languages, and he'll always be in my heart. I hate to say, the loss of my dog has made the desire I've been harboring for a dog up here in the city even stronger. Perhaps someday soon it will happen. Not yet though.

Until then, good by old friend.