still wheezy after all these… days

Still feeling like hell, so I’m going to do the simple thing and post a quick “book meme” which originated (I believe) at a site called Tea Reads.

1. One book that changed your life: “I, Claudius.” When I was a kid, I always thought I disliked history, because all I knew about it was that in school they tested us on dates and battles. Historical figures were always either unrealistically noble or irredeemably evil. Then, in high school, I happened to watch the BBC production of “I, Claudius,” and then to read the two books by Robert Graves. It turned me into a history nut, and I still enjoy reading both historical fiction and nonfiction.

2. One book that you’ve read more than once: All of the Discworld books by Terry Pratchett. All the Vorkosigan books by Lois McMaster Bujold. All the books by Christopher Moore. Most Stephen King. Tolkien. “Dune.” All Georgette Heyer. The two “Claudius” books mentioned above. The Harry Potter books. I could go on and on… I’ve read all of these umpteen times, and many of them I re-read on a yearly basis.

3. One book you’d want on a desert island: Ack! Just one? Hmmm. I can be true to the letter of this question and not the spirit — I’d want to have a big-ass crate of books with me, and *one* of the books I’d want in that crate would be a guide to the flora and fauna of whatever region I happened to find myself stranded in, with an emphasis on what’s edible or otherwise useful in a survival situation.

4. One book that made you laugh: Well, since some of my favorite writers (above) make me laugh, it would be easy enough to name one of them. But I’ll try to choose a book by someone I don’t read all the time. Let’s see… Ah! I very much enjoyed the book “Mama Makes Up Her Mind,” by Bailey White. To this day, I can make myself chuckle envisioning her elderly mother wearing too-large pantyhose with the crotch dangling below the hem of her dress, or the scene with the worms crawling up and down the light cord. Wonderful book!

5. One book that made you cry: So many. Ummm… how about “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn,” by Betty Smith. I read that when I was a girl, and never forgot it.

6. One book you wish you had written: My own.

7. One book you wish had never been written: None — I’m happy to have any books written! Even the stuff I think is crap.

8. One book you’re currently reading: I’m reading my way through the Dresden books by Jim Butcher. Much fun!

9. One book you’ve been meaning to read: “The Time Traveler’s Wife.” I have a copy, I just never seem to get around to it.

Okay, that’s it! And, before I close and go crawl under all the Klennex littering my bed, I’ll note that the Lemon Cream was a *very* great success, and is now a family favorite. if only it weren’t so rich (meaning, if only it didn’t make your ass explode out of your jeans just looking at it) I’d make it often. As it is, it’ll be a special treat. Very highly recommended! If you look online for “The Most Extraordinary French Lemon Cream Tart” you’ll find the recipe.

all I want for Valentine’s day is a box…

of Kleenex.

Come July, Jeff and I will celebrate our 25th anniversary, and after this many years of marriage, we’ve learned one thing beyond a doubt — catching each other’s wretched, miserable, lousy diseases is all part and parcel of the whole “for better or worse” line in those wedding vows.

So, here we are. Jeff’s finally beginning to get over the creepin’ crud, after almost 3 weeks. And I’m wheezing and sneezing my way through week one of my “I swapped spit with my husband and damn, that was a mistake” blues. Danny, luckily, hasn’t come down sick yet, and we’re all hoping he manages to avoid it, although since we’re all idiots and known for unthinkingly offering each other “a bite off my fork” or “a sip of this, didn’t it turn out well,” there are still chances for him to experience the joys of coughing til he almost pees himself or smearing his nose with Vaseline because it’s so red and sore it feels like leprosy is eating it away.

There! Did that whet your appetite for some food talk? Heh, wonder why not?

But food talk there will be, at least a brief mention. Because despite my assertion above, I do care enough about Valentine’s Day to want to give Jeff and Danny a little treat. This year, I decided to make a lemon tart. Actually, since I’m feeling tired and wobbly, I’m cheating and will be using a regular pie crust I’ve had stored in the fridge, so it’s really a lemon pie, I suppose.

I used the recipe for Lemon Cream I found in Dorie Greenspan’s book (Baking: From My home to Yours), and am thrilled with the way it turned out. It’s chilling right now. I’ll bake the crust this afternoon, and will spoon the filling into the room temp crust right before serving. I’m considering lightly glazing the inside of the crust with strawberry jam after baking, or maybe baking it most of the way and then sprinkling it with a little sugar and baking til it makes a sugar coating on the inside of the crust so that it will be nicely crisp before filling, but I don’t know — may well simply fill it and serve it.

This was a simple recipe for lemon cream, and I’m so pleased with it that I’m already thinking of other ways to use this cream. Since we’re all very big fans of anything citrus, it will be a popular treat here…

Ok, enough blog time. I need to go take some duly prescribed drugs and settle my butt down on the sofa for a while. I’m sure Jeff and I will look like the image of romantic bliss tonight, both of us red-nosed and bleary-eyed, but at least we’ll have zesty lemon pie to cheer us up!

the great bookmark exchange

A friend of mine has been running an ongoing swap in which members exchange books and bookmarks, and I’ve decided to participate. I have an exam scheduled with my eye doc next week, so I hope to soon be able to read again for more than a few minutes at a time!

I’ll post my responses to the swap survey below, so any swap partners I have will be able to find the info.

BOOKMARK SWAP SURVEY:

1. What genre of books do you enjoy most? (i.e. mystery, romance, horror, historical, biographies, autobiographies, fantasy, sci-fi, etc)

I like almost any genre, but tend to read more science fiction and fantasy, non-fiction history and biographies, or other non-fiction.

2. What sort of bookmarks do you like best? (long, short, lacy/elegant, fun/cute, corner, tasselled, etc)

I like them all!

3. What are your favorite colors?

Morning glory blue, peony pink, light lemon yellow, emerald green, deep chocolate brown, midnight blue…

4. Are there any colors you don’t like?

Hmmm. Maybe baby shit brown or potato bug green or battleship grey.

5. What sort of “theme” would you like your bookmark to be?

Surprise me! I’ll enjoy anything you make.

6. Are there any “themes” that you wouldn’t like??

Not really. Just having someone go to the trouble to make something for me, especially if they relax and genuinely enjoy what they’re doing, will bring me pleasure.

7. Can you send internationally?

Not a problem.

8. If your partner wants to send along extra goodies (like tea, candy, cocoa, etc), what do you enjoy? And is there anything you don’t like/can’t have??

Oh damn, I like everything. It shows! I enjoy sweets, coffee, teas, chocolate, vanilla, cinnamon… I swear, I really do like non-food items, too, but you’d never guess it from the way I natter on about edibles.

9. What crafts are you going to use to make your bookmarks? Is there a particular craft type you would like to receive? (knitted bookmarks, plastic canvas, etc)

Well, I do crochet, but I’d like to play with making bookmarks using other types of materials and crafts, too. Whatever seems like fun at the time. As for what I’d like to receive, do I still need to say “anything!?”

And that’s it for the survey. Time for me to close, as Danny has been sweet enough to make me a cappuccino. I’ll grab my mug and go curl up in my comfy chair, and pray that Cardinal Fang doesn’t burst through the door to poke me with soft cushions.

not so sour dough

I decided to do some baking today since my starter was going great guns, so last night before bed I got a sponge going, and today made some sweet dough with it, using half whole wheat and half unbleached flour. Ended up making a loaf of sandwich bread in my larger, clay loaf pan, a smaller loaf with orange-cinnamon-sugar blend swirled through the center of it, and then a small batch of orange-cinnamon sweet rolls in my ceramic pie plate. I tasted a small bit of the dough before shaping the loaves and rolls, and it’s nicely sweet with a terrific tang to it from the sourdough. I think the tang will complement the orange-cinnamon in the rolls and small loaf. When they come out of the oven, I’ll glaze the rolls and loaf with a powdered sugar and half & half glaze, and will brush the sandwich loaf with some butter.

The dough had a wonderful texture this morning after I mixed it up from the sponge and set it in my dough bucket to rise. In around an hour and a half, it had more than doubled, and was a silky, moist (but not sticky) dough. To look at how high and fluffy it became, you’d swear it had to have store-bought yeast in it, but it was all from the sourdough. I enjoy that so much! Makes me feel like a magician.

Other than the baking, I’m not sure what I’ll be cooking today. Supper tonight is still a mystery to me. I do have some ground turkey thawing in the fridge, but it’s still frozen as yet. It may become chili in a day or two. I’m not feeling in the mood to do anything that takes a lot of effort, so I may end up asking Jeff to pick up some meat and cheese at the deli, and we can make sandwiches using the fresh-baked bread. Then again, I know we’ll all want to dig into the sweet rolls tonight, so perhaps I should consider making something that *won’t* involve bread for supper… We’ll see what inspires me as the day progresses.

The pic is lousy, of course. This stupid camera drives me nuts. But the rolls were perfect! Danny and I each had one fresh from the oven, after I’d flipped them out on a sheet and glazed them — we ate them with forks, after melting small pats of butter on them. Life is good, and we’re spoiled!

The loaves are baking now, and I’ll take (equally crappy, I’m sure) photos of them when they come out of the oven. I wish I could do them justice in the pics, as this bread is really quite a treat.

This is the orange-cinnamon swirl bread, glazed.

This is a pic of the sandwich loaf.

And this is a pic of the sweet loaf and the sandwich loaf side by side. The sandwich loaf looks glazed, too, but that’s just the butter melting on the crust.

By the way, supper is resolved. Jeff is going to eat leftover tortellini in brodo, and Danny and I will be having some ground round patties, with slivers of sharp cheddar, and apple wedges on the side. I know, I know, no veggies tonight. Ah well, it won’t hurt for one night.

taking stock

I love having a pot of broth simmering on the stove. I love taking the remnants of a roasted turkey (or, as in this case, a chicken) and making the base for another meal or two. I get to feel frugal and smug for a change, instead of feeling vaguely guilty for my spendthrift tendencies. (Oh, those Honeycrisp apples… But I love them so!) And there’s something simply *fun* about looking to see “what I have on hand” to throw into the pot when it comes times to make soup from this homemade broth — it seems to truly define the very essence of soup, to me. I so rarely follow any actual recipe when I make soup, because soup is *supposed* to be all about “what do I have on hand?” And I enjoy the surprise of it all, with no soup ever being quite the same twice.

I also love making sourdough bread. What a wonder, that nothing more than some flour, water, and salt can turn into a loaf of delightfull bread. The loaf tonight was perfect, with a wonderful tang and a crunchy crust. I’m planning to sit down later when we watch “Rome,” with a mug of strong coffee and a thick slice of sourdough bread topped with a drizzle of either honey or agave nectar and sprinkled with Vietnamese cinnamon. Yum!

I know lots of people have trouble with their sourdough, and worry about measuring everything “just so.” I’m glad I seem to have a lucky hand with it, because I’d absolutely hate to have to fret about being strict when measuring my flour and water, or worrying about every little thing. I’m too damn lazy to do it that way, and would end up simply not making it at all. I never measure out the flour and water when I feed my starter, I just stir up the starter, add a little tap water (sometimes I remember to let it sit out all night so the chlorine evaporates first, and sometimes I don’t) and stir that, then add flour til I get the consistency I’m looking for, which is pretty much like bubbly mud. I don’t worry about it if the mixture still has some flour lumps in it, either.

When I’m baking a lot, the way I am now, I usually feed the starter twice a day, and if I want to limit how much I have on hand, I dump some of it down the drain and then feed.

The bread I’ve been making recently is very simple, and we enjoy it a lot. Before bed, I take 1 1/2 to 2 cups of starter that has been fed and is bubbly and active and stir together in my biggest mixing bowl with 2 cups tepid water, a Tb of salt, and as much flour as needed to make a moist, shaggy dough, which is usually around 4 1/2 to 5 cups. I usually use half whole wheat and half unbleached flour (both King Arthur brand.) Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and a tea towel, and let sit overnight — Danny usually checks it before he goes to bed and stirs/jabs it down with the silicone spatula if it has risen quite a bit, and then Jeff will usually do the same if it seems to need it before he goes to work.

The next morning, around 12 to 14 hours after I first mixed the dough, I check on it, and it’s usually high and bubbly, ready for me to work with.

I grease a baking sheet with shortening, and scrape the wet dough out onto it. The dough is very wet, so with greased hands I quickly fold it on itself several times, not kneading but just folding it in half onto itself from all
sides 4 to 6 times. Then I spray it lightly with Pam, and cover it with the plastic wrap. I let it rest 15 full minutes while I clean the bowl and the spatula, prepare the bowl I’ll use for the next rise, make myself a cup of coffee, etc. For the next rise, I use a slightly smaller bowl, one that is approximately the same dimensions as the Dutch oven. I grease the bowl with shortening, and dust it with cornmeal.

After the 15 minutes, I use greased hands to quickly and gently shape the dough into a vaguely ball-like shape — this is a very moist dough, so it won’t shape well. Plop this ball of dough into the cornmeal-lined bowl, cover
with the plastic wrap and a tea towel, and let sit til it has risen up to almost double the size. The times this takes varies from loaf to loaf, but it’s usually around 3 hours. When it’s close to the size I want, I place the cast iron Dutch oven and the lid into the oven and heat it up to 450 degrees. Once it is heated, I spray the top of the dough with Pam (this is the side that will be plopped into the Dutch oven for the bottom of the bread.) Take the Dutch oven out of the oven, plop the dough into it and quickly slash the top with a lame dipped in water (if desired — I often don’t) and put the heated lid on, and pop the pot back into the oven. Bake for 30 minutes with the lid on, then remove the lid and bake for another 30 minutes. When done, turn the bread out onto a board, and turn it right side up. Let cool.

This sourdough is made using the “Lahey-Bittman method” I mentioned in an earlier post, adapted to my own preferences. Simple, and successful.

Later — Danny helped me load a fuzzy shot of the sliced bread with agave nectar and cinnamon and my big mug of lapsang souchong. In return, he got to share my slice of bread. The partial loaf of bread is shown stood on its side, cut side down so as to keep the cut surface moist, and the top (which is what you can see) looks shabby because sneaky fingers picked off the crusty bumps on top.

He also says that if you right click on the picture, you can view the image in the larger size, although with such a crappy photo, it’s really not worth it. Now, if I can only remember how to do all this stuff on my own…

sufferin’ succotash

Just finished cooking a nice batch of succotash, and I’m waiting for the biscuits to come out of the oven so I can stuff my face. I have no idea why I was craving succotash, but I had all the fixin’s on hand, so I decided to indulge my fancy.

If you haven’t made it before, it can sound like an odd mixture, but it’s actually quite good. Today, I made it the easy way — cooked a chopped onion in about 3 Tb butter til soft, then dumped in two cans of drained Niblets corn, a can of rinsed and drained kidney beans, bag of frozen baby limas, a small can of chopped mild green chilies, a can of finely chopped tomatoes (half-assed drained) and 2 ts sugar, some salt, pepper, a couple pinches of nutmeg and several shakes of cayenne pepper, and 1/2 a cup or so of half and half. (I had no heavy cream on hand.) Cooked it for a while til it started to thicken a bit, then let it sit while I mixed and am baking a batch of buttermilk biscuits, because the succotash is better if eaten while warm but not piping hot.

A very simple dinner, but just what I was in the mood for. I wish my damn camera was working, because the succotash has good eye appeal, with the green and yellow and the red from the kidney beans and tomatoes…

Tomorrow, I’m roasting a chicken, and we’re having home-baked bread and some garlic-y Brussels sprouts, a family favorite. And I’ll probably bake some sort of “sit and watch tv and nibble on sweets” treat, since we have both “Rome” and “Battlestar Galactica” to enjoy on Sunday night! Tonight, nothing to watch, so I’ll be curling up with Terry Pratchett (my umpteenth time reading “Small Gods.”) Sounds like a good night to me!