The chili last night was good! Tasted like mom’s even. So yay, I can make chili! And best of all? Left overs! Chili again tonight!
Now I shall endeavor to work on a recipe in order to compete in the Chili Cook Off at Fisher’s this year. 🙂
Tag: cooking
Soupin’ it up
With Autumn firmly upon us, I decided this weekend that SOUP was what I needed. I already have mom’s recipe for vegetable soup and have successfully prepared it before, but I decided I also wanted to make mom’s chili soup. So I called her up on Sunday and asked for her recipe. I bought ingredients for both soups later and made the vegetable soup on Sunday. It is very yummy and I have lots of leftovers.
Today was my day to make the chili (my first time ever!), so it’s now simmering on the stove. I’ll post later to let y’all know if it was successful as well. It does smell right, at least. Heh.
Tonight I intend to watch Debate #3 with (I hope) judiang along for commentary. I should pick up some more ice cream from the gas station so I can properly celebrate my third Debate Party. (Must admit, debate parties are more fun with parental units around (and virtual elsaf and Judi), but they’re in Cali and I’m not, so I’ll stick with virtual Judi and ice cream. Heh.)
The Feast of Elsa
Wow, it’s always wonderful when I get together with elsaf & judiang (and sometimes hergrace can join us too). We know how to celebrate the joy of FOOD.
We started out the day slow. Elsa was up first, then me. I played CoH for a bit (on Judi’s PC) and then worked on my LJ post. While I was finishing that up, Judi showed up. Wow – Judi was awake and we didn’t have to get her up! We then got ready and headed up to the penthouse to exercise for the second day. I played with the two bikes and the elliptical trainer. Shame the regular bike has a dead battery cuz it would be neat to try some of the settings.
After exercising, Judi was still nearly comatose, but we promised her latte after brunch. Elsa drove us to Chinatown to our regular Dim Sum place, Three Happiness. Once again, Elsa showed enormous restraint, sticking to steamed dishes (and having the smaller half of one of my sesame rolls). We still ate well, despite the conscience eye on avoiding excess. The little steamed items are SOOOOO GOOOOOOOD. And damn, but those sesame balls are wonderful. Judi got 3 more right before we had stuff tallied up and took 2 home with her.
Elsa then drove us to Target where we found a few essentials (and Judi and I magically caused a Starbucks to suddenly appear so that she could get her hazelnut soy latte), and then to Dominick’s (which I haven’t been too since that fateful day when Judi made alryssa, tiger5 and I walk across the Long Ass Bridge the night before Thanksgiving. I can still hear Carole saying “I’ll pay for a cab! I’ll pay for a cab!” the whole way there & back, with Judi completely oblivious. Heh heh.) Dominick’s thankfully had the phyllo dough that Elsa needed for one of her dishes for the evening meal. Oh, and I picked up 3 bottles of white wine for Judi. A Chapel Ste. Michele (sp) Riesling, Turning Leaf Pinot Grigio, and Fetzer Gewürztraminer (my mom’s favorite). We put the Riesling in the fridge when we got back, but the other two are now on Judi’s new wine rack (one of her “garage sale” purchases of the day before).
The rest of the day has been spent with Elsa furiously making Yet Another Ultimate Judi Birthday Supper and me cleaning dishes. And once again, Elsa has topped herself. She truly rocks.
While light classical music played on Judi’s TV (digital cable, you know), dinner started with an appetizer of grilled shrimp with pineapple salsa. The soup course was next with the mushroom soup (with sherry) which she’s made before and which I love. For salad, she had arugula with a lemon vinaigrette and goat cheese souffle in phyllo cups. There was a small break while I cleaned a few more dishes and the lamb rested after being removed from the oven. Then we continued with rack of lamb with mushroom sauce (morels – yummy), asparagus, and rice pilaf with brown & wild rice and wine soaked cranberries. Very tasty. By now we were nicely full from a fabulous meal. It was time to open presents.
Judi got nice sheets and a mini food chopper from Elsa and noise-cancellation headphones from me. Oh, and a photo of David Tennant for her to squee at. I’d also scanned in the other DT photos that I recently bought in an eBay auction and gave her a CD of that. (The things I buy when I’m shopping for Sylvester McCoy photos!)
After present opening, I vegged for a bit and finally got the strength to finish cleaning the kitchen. But before I was done, we messed up my table again in order to eat CHEESECAKE. Yup, Elsa once again made her wonderful cheesecake. Very yummy. Judi had the biggest piece of the three of us, and then proceeded to have a sliver more. But hey, it’s her birthday and if you can’t live it up on your birthday, when can you?
Dessert over, I was able to finish cleaning the kitchen, and now I’m here, dishpan hands typing this entry. Believe me, it was worth all the cleaning. 🙂
ETA: that bit about Starbucks – just remembered it. Heh.
Baking Day (Part 1)
A tradition for as long as I can remember, mom and I spend a day baking up all the Christmas goodies for our upcoming gatherings. Sometimes it spreads over two days, like this year. We started by heading out to get supplies. First, I had to get my haircut cuz people were beginning to notice it was getting LONG. (Long for me, BTW, isn’t horribly long. I can’t ever stand it enough to get to that stage.) But then we went to Wally World and got supplies. Lunch was Chinese Buffet. Then home again to start baking.
We started with some snicker doodles that mom bought from a co-worker. These were pre-made & frozen dough balls, ready for baking. The teenage daughter of this co-worker was trying to get money for a school or athletics related trip. And she’s a good dough maker. Then we made the chocolate chip cookies (aka Lindy Cookies – so named after my mom, Linda). We used some really great cookie sheets from KitchenAid which made baking easy-peasey. Mom made the dough for Ice Box cookies (aka butterscotch cookies). Those were then put into loafs & out into the back porch for ice boxing. 🙂 We hit something of an impasse here. We needed the recipe for candy buckeyes, and our favorite recipe was in a cookbook now at the Lake. So I called Granny & asked to borrow their copy. I headed off to visit with her & aunt Becky & pick up the book.
When I got back, it was supper time. I ate light – apple, orange, cashews – and returned to the folks’. Mom had made her praline mix (evil addictive munchy stuff) while I was at Granny’s. We then got to work on the peanut butter innards for buckeyes. That’s one of those things you just have to do by hand, so before too long, I was up to my elbows in peanut butter, powdered sugar, and butter. I then rolled the little buckeyes & we put them out in the back porch to cool. While I’d been rolling, mom was working one another of my favorite holiday treats, floor-sweeping cake. It doesn’t actually have floor sweepings, it just looks like it. 🙂 By then, it was nearing 9pm, so we had Advent & I returned home.
Tomorrow, we dip the buckeyes, bake the Ice Box cookies, and make peanut butter blossoms (aka nipple cookies – you know, the peanut butter ones with Hershey’s kisses in ’em). Oh yeah, and there’s the cheesecake cupcakes. I think we’ll be done then. 🙂
If I’m feeling in a generous mood, I might put the recipes of some of these delectables up in another post. Or I could just let y’all suffer. (judiang & elsaf will get to sample many of these treats this year – unless we eat them all before I get off to visit with them!)
Shangri-La
“All day long the sky is blue
and everyone says ‘how do you do’
in Shangri-La
Every day’s a perfect day
and you can go your own sweet way
in Shangri-La”
Yesterday, it was a Chumbawamba song stuck in my head. Today, the Rutles. (Hey, at least I get music that I like stuck in my head…)
We got up this morning and FINALLY gave elsaf her birthday presents. judiang put me in charge of getting the gifts, so it didn’t go as swimmingly as I’d hoped, but we got her some nice things nonetheless. A KMart gift card for her Martha Stewart tendencies. A garden hopper (being shipped from Amazon.com) for her green thumb. And an indoor/outdoor wireless thermometer, also yet to come from Amazon. (Therein likes the not-swimmingly bit – postpone and things don’t arrive in time.)
Then the three of us headed off to Shangri-La. Betcha didn’t know it was in a suburb of Detroit, didja? Heh. It’s a great place that serves a Dim Sum brunch on Sundays. We met Elsa’s family there and her parents bought us all lunch. Wonderful! And best of all, the Dim Sum was wonderful! Some of the best BBQ pork pastries I’ve ever had. And wonderful tarts. And just all wonderful tidbits.
We waddled back to the car and then looked for firewood. I still chuckle at city folks having to go to the grocery or whatnot to BUY their firewood. We rural folks just pick up the branches that fall & burn them. Home Depot was a strikeout, but Judi got yet another bit of birthday gift for Elsa while we were there. Lowes had some, but we had to ask the right questions to discover its location. Quick stop at Circuit City for a cable splitter for Judi, and then back to veg at Elsa’s.
We pondered going to a movie, but none of us wanted to go unless we all went. So we stayed and we’re all glad we did. We had a relaxing afternoon, followed by Italian dinner making by me & Judi. We tried to recreate the things we did in our cooking class. Elsa, it turns out, is a natural at rolling pici!
The dinner was a success – check out Elsa’s glowing review! Heh. It was nice to do that for Elsa, because she’s always coming up with wonderful meals to cook us.
Now we’re outside & writing in our LJs or (if you’re Judi) downloading pictures from our camera (from the July Italy Trip!!!!) It was a pleasant day – quite the Shangri-La, if you ask me!
Italy: Day 8 (The Cooking Class)
Jul. 27, 2005
Wednesday was a goof off day for everyone after that long drive to the seaside.
I walked to Al Viale to meet up with judiang, the Fishers, Jacki & Jo. Gary & Judi ordered the ravioli that I had the night before (still fabbo). I ordered pici with tomato & garlic sauce. It tasted like Gramma’s goulash! (That, btw, was not REAL goulash.) Not as good as the ravioli, but very fine.
Oh! Forgot to mention my gelato for the day. Before getting to the restaurant, I ordered some vanilla gelato from the only place open that was selling. It wasn’t homemade, but was still good. And only €2.50 or so.
Anyhoo, after lunch we walked back to the villa. Man, that last hill up the drive is a killer! But we made it and I got into the pool to cool off before our cooking class.
The place was once home to a saint (with her own church in Cortona). The lady hosting the class, Antonella, welcomed us in and set us out back where we drank wine and water (mostly water). She introduced us to her chef, Viviana, and to Pia, the pici master. They brought out oodles of antipasto.
Wheat (some Tuscan style) with carrots & celery, wheat with tomatoes & olives, eggplant, zucchini, cabbage – all with balsamic vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, and salt. Plus bruschetta (pronounced with a hard “c” not a “ch”) with tomato & basil, pecorino cheese (don’t eat the rind – sometimes made using the residue from olive oil pressing), and some other stuff that I don’t remember. [Fava beans with the same balsamico/olive oil treatment as the others.] It was all good, especially the first one and the eggplant. Secret to eggplant & zucchini is the deep fry before doing the coating. Oh, and before the deep fry, salt & let the moisture come out. The wheat was a real surprise – rice like texture, but different taste. All was yummy.
Next, Viviana showed us how to make bruschetta while Antonella translated. Garlic is the key – rub the bread with a piece first. I volunteered to try to make one and of course, forgot the garlic! The others in the class (Fishers, judiang, Tammy, Ruth, O’Neals, and Jacki) reminded me before I put the oil on. Don’t think I’ll ever forget that step when I try it at home!
The bruschetta a success (Mary volunteered after me) we came inside to learn how to make & roll pici (thick spaghetti – pasta fresca, not secca (dry)).
First, Viviana went through the steps and Antonella once again translated. Then it was our turn. I’d never made pasta before & Pia had to come and repair mine, but all it took was a little more olive oil.
We let the pasta set for a bit (resting) and Antonella took us over to the area next to our “classroom” & Viviana showed us how to make a simple tomato & garlic sauce. When that was done, it was back to our dough.
We rolled our dough & put olive oil on it, then sliced, as Pia showed us. While we attempted to roll our own, Pia made a really long pici – 10ft? Just for grins, really.
Pia was this little old lady, almost bent double. She still makes fresh pici for her family every week. Viviana was an older lady too, but I don’t think as old. Antonella has high school aged children – and even grandchildren, but through her husband’s children from a previous marriage. He is an amazing artist with wood carving!
Anyhoo, back to the class. They took some sample pici from each of us to boil later. However, the pici we were going to have for supper was made by Pia earlier in the day.
We returned to the other room where Viviana made crostata with wild plum preserves (from Montepulciano). She and Pia put the lattice on (which wasn’t easy because it was so warm, the dough didn’t stick to itself well) and I was pleased to see they weren’t putting lettuce on (that’s how it sounded when Antonella described it).
After the crostata lesson, Antonella took us on a tour of the house. Their chapel is actually a holy place because inside their canvas & stone altar is a relic sealed by a Pope from the 16th century or somesuch. The chapel/tower was from the 13th century.
We went out back & saw her mother and two kittens (one with a bent tail). Oh yeah, there were baby kittens in a box in the chapel – so cute!
Antonella took us up to the tower next and we sat around enjoying the view, the breeze, and the drinks (wine & water) though not necessarily in that order.
We talked with Antonella while the meal was being cooked. We decided that, at that point, we’d already gotten our money’s worth, but we went downstairs when it was time for pici. Pici doesn’t wait for you – you wait for pici!
They had a table set for 9 when we got down – in the same room where we’d made pici (mess since cleared by Pia). We had salad first – tasty greens, salt, balsamic vinegar & olive oil, I think. Then came the pici with a Tuscan meat sauce that was out of this world!
She brought out our pici with the tomato sauce that Viviana had made, and it was pretty good. We did well for first timers!
Dessert was crostata with little cookies. I didn’t care much for plums, but the crostata was very tasty. Will need to try with unsweetened peach preserves or similar.
The final part of the meal was lemoncello – an alcoholic drink that tasted like lemon meringue pie – with a kick!
As we were eating our meal, Antonella had a CD of oldies (US) playing. Once done with the meal, the Fishers danced for us to “Stand by Me.” Then Gary & Jacki danced. And finally, Gary pulled Antonella onto the impromptu dance floor and they danced too. It was a wonderful celebration of food, culture, learning, and life. Probably the best night of the trip.
Back to the ranch (after a slight detour where folks didn’t listen to me and went to the wrong exit – silly people!) I got into my suit & swam lots. Yeah!
As with my other Italy posts, I have photos to go along with this one. I took some photos of Foiana della Chiana this day, but I’ll save them for Friday’s post. (The Friday of the trip, that is. No idea if I’ll post tomorrow or not.)
The tower at Antonella’s place.
Antipasto! From left to right, fava beans, cabbage, wheat with tomatoes, eggplant, zucchini, and wheat with carrots.
Antonella translates as Viviana makes a volcano with her flour. Judi watches earnestly.
Pia rolls pici while Antonella translates.
Judi and I and Marcia enjoy the view from the tower. (That’s Gary’s wine I’m holding – honest!)
Our pici! Doesn’t it look simply scrumptious?
BTW, if you examine the door behind Antonella and either of the chefs – that was hand carved by her husband. It had stained glass in it. And it’s their front door. The furniture in the house was almost all carved by him, and it was all amazing stuff.