My Summer Vacation by Rose Rings

Well - I know it been a long time since I have blogged. Sorry about that! At first it was just work and all the other various business of life - then I went on vacation! Woohoo! Yeah! I took a whole three weeks off from the rat race. Man did it feel good...there is nothing like letting go and not giving a flying crap about the minutia of your work. Of course that doesn't mean that I did have anything to do. First we went to Kansas City and visited friends there. Yes I did try some Barbecue. We were taken to Rosedale's Barbeque - a barbecue place in Kansas City started in 1934. Oh my god - I have never eaten so much in my life. I split a slab of ribs with my friend Eric, and it was still too much. No little dinky baby backs here! Here is a picture of Annie's plate. She got a half rack, plus three sides including some great french fries. All that for $8.95. I will say, I was not fond of their sauce. I am sure that in Kansas City that is tantamount to sacrilege, but it was way to ketchup-y and tasted strongly of celery seed. Fortunately, the meat was so good it didn't need any sauce.

After I got back to St. Louis, people were asking me if I have tried the "Brain on a Bun". I was told that it was a KC specialty along with the 'cue. Now I like a good brain as much as the next guy, but since Mad Cow Disease has come along, I am very hesitant to eat it. I used to eat it all the time with my dad. It is very creamy, like soft scrambled eggs. Maybe once I can be sure I won't die in a horrible prolonged manner, I might try the brain on a bun next time we are in KC.

If you are lucky enough to find yourself traveling along I-70 between St. Louis and Kansas City, keep an eye out for a place called Bobbers. I can't tell you which exit, but they have plenty of signs along the interstate to give you a heads up. Here is kinda how the whole adventure went. As we are driving down the highway back from Kansas City, we were getting pretty damn hungry. Now I had seen the billboards for Bobbers. Tony starts making fun of name. "Sounds like they should be selling bait!" "Maybe the specialty of the house isn't the food!" and so on. (Most can't be repeated in front of a family viewing audience.) Finally, we pull off of the highway at the proper exit, and start looking at the restaurants. A 'cue joint. Nope - just ate 'cue. A bar and grill. Nope - not open. Fast food. Nope - hatin' the fast food by now. So Tony was over ruled by the rest of the car and we headed over to Bobbers. Here was the first good sign. The parking lot was full at 1:30 in the afternoon. Second good sign. Lots and lots of old timers gathered at the counters eating. Tony asked one of them if the food was good. He said he had been coming there for years and it was the best food within 50 miles. He recommended to Lunch Buffet and mentioned the baked chicken in particular. We opted for the dining room with a table close to the buffet. The waitress rocked. She kept filling up our drinks and clearing the old plates away without a second thought, all the while making small talk with her regulars. The food was really really good. No food service, except the dinner rolls (which were hard). Baked chicken, BBQ ribs,homemade Salisbury steak, fresh corn in butter sauce(Best corn on a buffet ever.), new potatoes cooked with bacon, mashed taters and gravy (gravy was homemade) plus more stuff I can't remember. Great salad bar with fresh ingredient including the best tomatoes I have ever had in a restaurant. I went back for extra. All this for $8.95 a person. So there Tony! You can't poke fun now! St. Louis was - as always - a blast . We attended the Midwest Magic Jubliee and ran a party suite all three nights of the convention. My theory about running parties at conventions - add booze, stir and wait to be amused. I have rarely been disappointed. We pulled into town on Wednesday and started setting up shop in the suite when several people showed up out of the blue and started a "pre-con" party. This pretty much set the tone for the rest of the weekend. We had crazy drunk chicks, foot magic, guys offering to nail a body part (yes-that part) to a board for money, balloon twisters - it was a lot of fun. We also saw some great magic - and unfortunately, some really really really bad magic. The performing highlight of the convention was watching Tom Burgoon and Mike Finney MC the evening shows. If you get a chance to see either of these guy perform - do it! (Yes, that is me in the leopard print fez tending bar!) Oh this is a food blog isn't it? Well we ate at Las Palmas. Again. Awesome food as in years past. Great staff. Good prices. If you are near the airport in St Louis - try to stop by.

We also ate at India Palace. It is has the strangest location ever. It is on the top floor of a small hotel beside the St. Louis airport. You can watch planes arrive and depart during dinner. The really bad news - it is almost impossible to get to now - thanks to some creative construction on the part of MDOT. Take the time to get a hybrid view map via Google map before you go. I wished we had before we left the hotel. It would have prevented much anxiety on our part.

Definitely worth the trouble though - one of the best Indian buffets I've been to in a while. A nice mix of vegetarian and meat dishes - pretty typical offerings with things like Lentil Dal, Chicken Tika, "Tempura" spinach leaves, and mini dosas plus a nice selection of pickles and salads. The buffet became a "must visit when in town" eating experience.

Just wanted to mention this, India Palace had goat. I like goat curry. Goat is damn tasty. Yes it has a pronounced flavor, and that's OK in my book. India Palace had goat curry with the bones still in. The people at the next table were flipping out about that. Lord forbid - they had to work to get the meat offa the bones. So sad... if you don't like it - leave it in the tray! I will gladly jump on the grenade and eat an extra helping so it doesn't go to waste.

So you think to yourself, "Wow! Rosie had a great time in St. Louis and Kansas city - she must be ready to go home!" And you would be wrong... As is our want, we headed out to the Lake of the Ozarks for three days. We swam. We drank. We ate - boy, did we eat. We ate at Kay’s Home Cooking again. You can check out my adventures there from the last time we were at the lake.

I also got to cook this time. That's the really nice thing about having a cabin with a full kitchen - you have the option of making something great to eat instead of eating out all the time. I went and bought some really nice two inch thick ribeye steaks and grilled them bad boys up. Along with hobo packets and a huge salad it was one of the best meals we ate on vacation. Not that I am tooting my own horn or anything...but I can make a nice dinner when I want to.



There was a little bit of a disagreement with our host, however. I love Steve. Steve is a wonderful, generous and awesome friend who we love hanging out with. However, his one fault is that he likes to marinate steaks in Italian Dressing. Oh. My. God. How can anyone ruin a beautiful piece of meat by throwing Seven Seas Italian on it is beyond my comprehension. I like a little garlic, sure. I like salt and pepper - it's a given. But vinegar! Pa-leeeeze. It pickles the beef and hide the flavor of the meat itself. Sorry Steve - not gonna happen on my watch. You can mangle your meat as you see fit once I leave.

So that was my big summer trip! I had another week's vacation after I got home and I'll tell you about it later... but for now - that's all folks!

Whee!!

Dave and I got a few seconds of fame in an article featured in the Dispatch today. Take a gander at it here.

My Hubby - Man Ho

Yup. He has no shame when it comes to some things - and pate is one of them. A friend of ours, who just happens to be a chef, needed some work done on his computer system. He asked my hubby how much it would cost, and Tony's response was "A terrine of pate." My hubby has had a long time love of this dish - it's essentially a meatloaf - a fancy one, yes - and he loves large chunks of meaty goodness.



The reason he is extorting pate from strangers is that I just haven't had the chutzpeh to try it myself. I even got Ruhlman's book Charcuterie out of the library - still a little intimidating. Once the weather cools down, I am going to give it the old college try just for him - he claims he won't be holding his breath.

I just wanted to show you this picture of a cross section of the pate - those pink ovals in the center? Those are whole duck breasts. And the little green dots? Pistachios. It was awesome, by the way.

Now that you are all familiar with my husband's proclivities, I will mention that we went back to Smackies last weekend for a follow-up on their buffet. They fixed some of the sides - the green beans were pretty good, the greens were cut up a little more and the cobbler had a lot less cinnamon. Over all still a great bargain for $12.00. Service is still not great - we mentioned it to the gal who checked us out. Hopefully they will listen - bad service will doom a place even if it has great food.


I did order a half slab of dry rub ribs. They were fantastic. Tender, flavorful - yum yum. The meat comes with either a side of white bread or "corn bread". I will say - it is not really corn bread - not in the traditional sense. It was very moist and had whole kernels of corn in it. It was really nice, but not what I was expecting. I would call it "corn pudding" instead.

In parting, here is a little 'que poetry for you:

half rack
dry
dry rub
cornbread

Summertime and the BBQ is cookin'

I love barbecue. Something about taking a tough piece of meat, adding heat and spice thereby transforming it into a moist, succulent inside with chewy caramelized exterior - it's food magic at it's finest. It's tough finding good BBQ at a restaurant in this city - everyone seems to love City BBQ. I used to love them when they only had the one store. Now, every time I've had their meat, it's been dry - and to my mind that is a cardinal sin. It's part of what happens when people get too ambitious and decide that they have to own an empire. I guess I am the type of person who would rather do one thing well than a dozen things badly...

So this past weekend I found someone who likes doing barbecue well. I almost don't want to tell you - I wanna keep all the goodness for me and mine. But being the generous soul that I am (and, as the hubby points out, I can never keep my mouth shut) I am going to tell you about Smackies.

Recently relocated to the old Jimmy Dean restaurant building in the Columbus Square Plaza, I had passed them by a couple of times on my way to Mi Mi's. (In fact, they are very close neighbors.)

After my experiences with other Columbus barbecue places, I wasn't really going to get worked up. But damn - it sure smelled good. Plus - I saw the sign out front that said they had a "Southern" buffet on the weekends. I figured that was a pretty good place to start. I like Southern food. It makes ya fat and sassy. And I need all the sass I can get.

After a morning in my garden (which is doing well, thank you for asking), Tony asked if I wanted to go out for lunch. I said yup and he suggested we try Smackies. Unfortunately, we got there about 45 minutes too early for the buffet. Fortunately, the waitress was really sweet. She got us seated and brought us some sweet tea. It was good tea and my hubby was happy. During our wait, we watched the kitchen staff bring out various equipment and prepared foods. It looked good. It smelled good. Damn I was hungry. So the time came - the staff lowered the brisket and pulled pork into the steam table and BAM! we were off to the races.

On the buffet that day was homemade coleslaw, green beans, biscuits and gravy, scalloped potatoes (also homemade), mac and cheese (homemade as well), brisket, pulled pork, greens, fried okra, stewed tomatoes, chicken wings, fried chicken, waffles, peach cobbler, apple cake, plus lots of white bread. Gotta have white bread with barbecue.


First the sides: Loved the slaw. It was creamy with a little bit of a vinegar bite - the cabbage was still crispy. Awesome stuff. Scalloped potatoes - nice and creamy, potatoes done correctly. They had a little cheese in them, but not enough to make them compete with the mac and cheese. Speaking of the mac and cheese - creamy,mild and cheesy. The noodles were just the right constancy - not mushy, not hard.

OK - just to show I am being fair, there were some things I didn't like about some of the side dishes. The greens - while tasty - weren't cut up at all. Same with the stewed tomatoes. Tasted great - pain in the butt to get out of the serving trays and onto your plate. The biscuits were only OK - they were over mixed and didn't rise very well. My mother, the biscuit queen, would have been very upset. The peach cobbler had too much cinnamon in it - you couldn't taste the fruit at all. And lastly - the green beans were bland. I would say right out of a can and doctored up some.


Of course those are minor things... the real star was the pulled pork and brisket - along with the sauces that adorn them. The meats were moist and the burnt ends were mixed in for those of us who covet such treats. There is a bucket with three tomato based sauces brought to the table - Molasses & Cayenne, Whiskey & Hickory Smoke and Brown Sugar & Molasses. I was assured that all the sauces are made in-house. I liked the Molasses & Cayenne the best - it was sweet, tart and had a bite to it. The other two were a little too sweet for my taste, but I have a feeling most people would like those better. The hubby ate his BBQ without any sauce. That is a sign the meat was done right.

So my first impression of Smackies was - "Damn that stuff is good!" I can't wait to go back and try some of the dry ribs, which are not on the buffet. I haven't seen dry ribs in Columbus before. For those of you who don't know what dry ribs are: The are cooked with a dry rub, moistened with mop sauce during cooking and then finished with more of the rub seasoning before serving. The BBQ sauce is provided at the table for those who want it. Me - I like my "Cue" without sauce most of the time.

So get on over to Smackies then. I say try the buffet - see if you like it - then come back for more...lots more...

(Smackies is located at 5730 Cleveland Ave, Columbus, Ohio 43231 Phone 614-794-1600)

I'm back from the grave....

May was a long long month...

This is kinda how it went -

Work - bitch bitch bitch

Gardening - too much rain, bitch, bitch, too little rain, bitch, bitch, dead plants, bitch, bitch, bitch

Cooking - too busy, bitch, too hot, bitch, too damn lazy

Thank goodness that month is over - maybe I can get a fresh start on things...

To start June off on the right foot, I took a trip down to the North Market to meet up with some of my fellow bloggers and to buy some produce.

The Produce

First was some strawberries. I have been waiting a whole year for this. I can only hope that in the next couple of weeks we can get a big bucket of these beauties and make some first class homemade jam. I am sick of flavorless, overly sweet commercial products. I've almost given up on buying them...

Next - asparagus. These babies are slated for the grill tonight....

And lastly some Swiss chard - I have to confess, I had never eaten Swiss chard until two years ago. I saw some at the Farmer's market with it bright red stems and bought it just for the way it looked. Then I had to figure out what the hell I was gonna do with it. (Thank you Joy of Cooking - you saved my patootie once again!) I loved it so much I grew some last year but this year I decided I had more important things to grow and will just buy it fresh from the market.

The Bloggers

With summer coming into full bloom, I was really tickled to have Lisa, Dave and Lorence meet me at the North Market for a quick gab session. It amazing how many bloggers there are in Columbus now. I will be hitting my two year mark here in July. Dave's been making beer and grillin' since 2003, Lorence has been in his kitchen since 2005 and Lisa has been a widow for about two years now. (Becke over at Columbus Foodie keeps an ever growing list of bloggers on her site - so stop by occasionally to see who is joining the ranks.)

We had some tasty strawberries with Dave's wife and daughter while we talked about beer making, chemical additives in food, growing gardens, child rearing, among other stuff - I have to say, these guys are just pretty darn nice, intelligent and good looking to boot. If you blog here in Columbus and are interested in getting together sometime later in the summer, let us know. We don't bite much.

So after my inspirational visit to the market, I decided to grill out for the first time this season as well. It was awesome - the hubby said it was the most perfect meal I had made in months...and he doesn't gush over things easily...

So what hit the grill?

Thick cut pork chops, thinly sliced potato packets and fresh asparagus from the Farmer's Market. I like being to cook everything on the grill when the weather gets hot.

The chops I brined - with so little fat on pork these days it just drys out too fast. My brine for this recipe: 2 cups of water to 1/4 cup kosher salt, the juice of one lime, some garlic and onion powders plus some fresh ground pepper. I cheated big time and used about a 1/2 cup of hot tap water to dissolve the salt, then added the other spices. I then proceeded to top off the rest of the liquid with cold tap water. I tossed in the chops and refrigerated them for about two hours.

The asparagus-I stuck them on skewers, brushed them with olive oil and sprinkled on some kosher salt. Threw them on the grill while the chops rested. Awesome. I have decided to eat veggies as simple as possible these days.

The potato packets - I used to make these all the time. Not a new idea, I've seen them called hobo packets - and have also read about them being used in camping. The reason I decided to try them again? I got me a real cheap mandolin on the clearance rack. A whole $2.50. Damn near broke the bank. Sure its a cheap peice of crap, but take a look at how thin you can get things like potatoes...sweet!!
Here is how you make your potato packets.

You need:
1 large potato per person
A medium onion
oil - olive or veggie
non-stick spray (if you have it, not really essential)
Seasonings: seasoned salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, cayenne or anything else that strikes your fancy
heavy aluminum foil

Peel your potatoes if you like and slice them on the medium setting on your mandolin. That is about an 1/8" for those of you with mad knife skills.
Do the same to your onion.
Now get out a nice large piece of foil - make it wide enough to hold a double row of potato slices.
Coat with non-stick spray or brush on some oil.
Lay down a layer of potato slices slightly overlapping as in the picture.
Now top with some of the onions, and some of your seasonings.
Now another layer of potatoes. Top with more seasonings.
Now bring together the two long edges of the foil and roll them together to seal the edge. Roll up on of the short ends, and then dribble in about a teaspoon of oil into the remaining open end and seal the packet.

I usually put the packets on the grill first. They cook fast - the potatoes are done when the bottom layer is lightly browned and you can poke a fork into the potatoes.

That's about it - it's one of those "make it up as you go" kinda things.

Ok - time to put the nose back to the grindstone...

Way to go!!

For those of you who don't read the Columbus Dispatch website, here is a link to a recently published interview with Lisa of Restaurant Widow.

Yeah Lisa!

Well it seems like some of the local bloggers are actually interested in getting together! I have set up a Google Calendar so we can share potential dates. Some of you have already received notices - the rest of you only need ask.

Also, any suggestions on venue?

Dave of Dave's Beer has mentioned going to MiMi's and then bowling. Sounds like a good time to me!!

Wow!! Time flies even when you are not having fun!

I took an assistant manager position with my store - better money, but you know how it goes - the company expects twice what they are paying for. So beside working - I haven't done a whole heck of a lot.

I did take some time out to meet with Lisa and Becke, two of my fellow food bloggers here in the capital city. We had brunch at Zen Cha tea salon. (I love Zen Cha - great teas and pretty decent food. Their bubble tea is the best because they make it fresh, not from the weird mixes like so many other places in town.) Us gals decided that this summer would be a great time to get all our other fellow bloggers together for a confab. Also, maybe a bunch of us could meet up for a raid on one of the farmer's markets on Saturday as well. It's always fun to put faces with blogs!! If you are interested and live in the Central Ohio Area, let us know!

Because I had been pressed for time lately, I have been eating out a little bit more than usual. And boy does it suck! I hate chain restaurants! No consistency - too many crap-tastic items on the menu usually pulled out of a freezer and nuked at the last minute. Some restaurants suffer from "food service-itis" - sauces from mixes, pre-cut potatoes plus other atrocities - you know that every box and can in the pantry says "SYSCO" on it. Life is too short to eat nasty food like that...

So what's a gal to do?

My solution - Try to eat at little places in town that offer great food at reasonable prices. It isn't always easy. There are a lot of really bad restaurants out there. You all have horror stories of that little Mexican joint that was so scary you were afraid to eat there the moment you walked in the door. There used to be a "diner" here in town that would display strawberry pies with green mold growing on them. Thank god they died a quick and painful death before any of their patrons did.

My first favorite hole in the wall is Mi Mi Cafe [5858 Columbus Square, in the Columbus Square Shopping Center (just down the way from the Bowling Palace) at the corner of Cleveland Ave and E. Dublin-Granville Rd.] I learned about the cafe from Lisa over at the Restaurant Widow. I count on her for her flawless ability to sniff out great food. So far she and her hubby have batted 1000 for all the places they recommended and I have tried. So get on over there and check her blog out!

So back to Mi Mi's. They have the best Banh Mi sandwiches. Who would have thought a fusion of French and Vietnamese cuisine would be so freakin' addictive? Crusty bread is layered with pate, mayo, pork, pickled radish and carrots, a little bit of fresh jalapeno and cilantro for kick, topped with a little fish sauce. Oh boy! It is really good. I am drooling just thinking about them. Here is a picture of the culprit.

Best part - it's only $3.50 per sandwich. No kidding. Worth it at twice the price.

While the hubby and I are addicted to the sandwiches and the Vietnamese coffee (both hot and cold), our daughter loves the Pho. I do too, truthfully. For those of you not familiar with this noodle dish - it is rice noodles served in a excellent Asian-style beef broth, and topped with thinly sliced beef, tripe, and meatballs that have gelatinous pieces of tendon in them. It comes with a platter of herbs, bean sprouts and lime to doctor the soup to your taste, plus hoisin and sriracha sauces to dip your meats into. My hubby just adds the sriracha right into the broth. When we were all sick with the flu a couple weeks ago, this is what I brought home for dinner. Better than mom's chicken soup!!

Mi Mi's has a very small menu. Only four items on it - plus coffee, tea and bubble tea. Lunch is pretty busy, with the patrons stopping in to grab sandwiches - so you may want to stop in for dinner if you can't take time for a leisurely lunch. Sunday morning is really really busy. The owner joked it was because all the nail salons were closed on Sundays. The service can be slow when they are busy - they only have three people running the whole operation. Be patient. It is worth it.

The other place I have been stopping into on the way home is Pita Hut Grille. It's been years since I had a shawarma. What is a shawarma you ask? In this case, its a combination of beef. lamb and turkey that is highly seasoned and then roasted on a spit. It is then slivered off and tucked into a pita with hummus, tomatoes, onions and pickles, and topped with a tahini dressing. Dammit - now I need to go get one. I'll be back in a few....OK all better now....

Their side dishes are acceptable - I didn't like their tabbouleh. It was too minty - it over powered everything else. I like fresh mint - but there are limits to everything. Their French fries are food service - acceptable but not great. They had an eggplant salad ( I am not sure of its official name) and while it was pretty darn good the rest of the family was less than impressed.

Pita Hut is not the bargain that Mi Mi's Cafe is. At roughly $5 a sandwich, it sets me back almost $20 for three sandwich combos. True, they have coupons on their website, but still...it ain't cheap fast food folks. If you are really poor, you'd better resort to the dollar menu at Wendy's across the street.

Now here is a debate that my family had when eating their dinner one night - Shawarmas or Gyros?

My family is gyro crazy. It is our fast food of choice when we are on the Northwest side of town. We have been customers of The Gyro Shoppe for about 15 years now and I figure the owners must be buying a summer home with all the money we have spent there over the years. Now here is the thing - don't expect this to be a Greek restaurant. It ain't. Don't expect haute cuisine. It ain't that either. And it definitely isn't health food. They serve a great gyro and fries quickly and cheaply. I love their fries. They are cut on site and fried up fresh. They aren't like Mickey D fries at all - but add some seasoned salt and they rock my world.They also have something called a Romanburger which a double burger with everything PLUS several slices of grilled salami, feta and gyro sauce. I don't even want to think about how many years have been taken off my life by those damn things. Lastly, they also have baklava for dessert. Lots of kinds - including chocolate chip. Hang on - need to make another quick trip....must have chocolate chips....hmmmmmmmmmmm.......

So after a heated debate in the best "If a tiger and a lion fought - who would win?" tradition, it was decided that if we were presented with a gyro and a shawarma - the gyro would win. Sorry Pita Hut - it was the fries that really swung the vote in this case. A good helping of salty starch is a requirement for every fast food experience and the Gyro Shoppe's fries are superior to yours...

So yes Virginia, there is good fast food out there - even if you have to search for it and possibly pay a little more than you would at the Golden Arches. But isn't making your taste buds happy worth a couple extra bucks now and then?

Something I've been meaning to try...

I was cruising the library the other day - for books, people - for books!!! Get your minds outta the gutter...

So - as I was saying - I was cruising the library for books the other day when I came across Simple Chinese Cooking by Kylie Kwong. I was pretty excited - I had read about the book on Barbara's blog Tigers and Strawberries and wanted to give it a try. I've got a wok and I am not afraid to use it...

Having a five pound bag of chicken wings left over from feeding the gamers on Friday night - I decided to try the Soy Sauce Chicken Wings with Fresh Shiitake mushrooms. The picture looked pretty damn good - it was arranged in the best food porn style. First things first - while I had the soy sauce and the spices, I did not have the Chinese cooking wine or the dark soy sauce in my pantry. I tried to pick up the wine at the local groceries but had no luck so, I headed over to Asian grocery to get my supplies.

Side note: I love Asian supermarkets - it's like going on a hunting expedition. Since the English titles on some of the items are pretty darn tiny, you have to take your time and make sure you are getting what you came for. And there is always the chance you will get the crappy brand of what ever you are looking for - so you have to pluck up the courage to ask the owners and other shoppers what they would recommend. This time, in addition to getting the cooking wine and dark soy, I picked up oyster sauce, hosin sauce, fresh shiitake mushrooms plus a huge bag of baby bok choy. I have to admit, however, that there are items that kinda worry me. Things like Big Bird Pork Fu - but we'll tackle that another time....

So I get home and measure out all the ingredients for the poaching liquid and set it to simmering. It sure smelled great. Anise, cinnamon and garlic were the dominate aroma. The anise worried Tony a little bit. He hates liquorice but I assured him it wouldn't be too strong as I had only put in 5 star anise instead of the 10 the recipe called for.

After 40 minutes, I dropped the wings into the pot and cooked them over very low heat the seven minutes specified in the recipe, then pulled them off the heat and let them set to finish cooking in the hot liquid.

In the meantime, the rice was cooking away on the stove and I followed the recipe for the bok choy with oyster sauce. Very quick, very simple. You blanch the bok choy in water, toss with sesame oil and oyster sauce, then pour hot peanut oil on it at the last minute. Kylie uses this technique on a couple of other veggies as well. Quick and simple, it let the flavors of the bok choy stand out. This recipe is definitely on my keeper list.

So about 15 minutes later the wings got fished out of the sauce, finished off with the mushrooms cooked in a reduction of the poaching liquid, finished the bok choy and this is how it all looked!


Looks pretty damn yummy huh?

So what did the family think? They really disliked the wings. The skin, which had been in contact with the liquid, was very rubbery and the meat, which had not been in contact with the liquid, was very bland. I am going to chalk it up to cultural differences. We, as a rule, love things like chicken feet - which are nothing more than rubbery skin surrounding some tendons and bone. But with wings, we wanted the skin to be crispy - and the same with roast chicken. That means poaching a whole chicken in the same manner would be right out for home dinners. I thought maybe it was just us, so I gave Gail some of the wings. She and her family tried them for dinner. Her son was not too upset by the skin and really liked the wings. Just a note - he is also a professional chef and eats a lot of things with relish that most would not consider. Jim and Gail, on the other hand, disliked the texture of the skin, but found the meat acceptable.

On the plus side, the reduced poaching liquid with the shiitake mushrooms in it was great over the rice and the bok choy was the best. Everyone went back for seconds, and was upset there weren't thirds on the bok choy.

Truthfully, I am not too discouraged by the whole wing debacle. It looked good, it smelled good, but the texture was just too much for us to eat the wings as an everyday meal. The sauce, which I see as an investment, I froze for future use. I was thinking maybe I could use it to poach skinless chicken thighs thus avoiding the skin issue and adding more flavor with the stronger tasting meat. Plus - thighs are a lot cheaper than wings. Once the poaching liquid was finished simmering, the whole dish really only took about 25 minutes - not too bad for a weeknight dinner.

I am also going to be trying some of the egg dishes from the book. I am a big fan of soft poached eggs and several recipes are devoted to different ways of preparing them.

Now for the big question - would I buy this book?

The recipes are fairly simple. Everything I have tried comes out correctly the first time when the directions are followed. The ingredients are mostly easy to find, but some will require a trip to a specialty market to purchase (At least in Columbus). (This might put off some of the more timid souls who are unwilling to go outside their comfort zone just to make dinner one night.) So yes, I would buy the book - it is on my wish list right now.

Making money for my babies...

I have been cooking up a storm recently - honest! Not for my family, but for my friends and coworkers

Starting on March 1st, Gail, Debbie and I have been cooking lunch three days a week as part of a fundraiser for the March of Dimes. This will go on until the last week of April when we have a silent auction in store and then participate in the March of Dimes fundraising walk.

The rules for the fund raising lunches are this:

• The cost of lunch has to be kept at $3.00. We found this is cheaper than people can eat out, so they are more likely to partake.
• The meals have to make money. Of course.
• The meals have to be able to hold up to either sitting in some type of heating devise (like a crock pot or steam table) or can be served from the refrigerator with ease. Microwavable leftovers are also a plus.

We got a boost this year from a friend of Debbie's who is a caterer. Jen gave us a pan of pasta in tomato sauce and a big salad which helped us get some starting money to buy more supplies.

So what did we spend our starting cash on? Mostly meat. Protein sources are the most expensive thing for us to purchase - and meat is expected by our coworkers. We picked up a 5 pound "buffet" ham for $.79/pound at the restaurant supply warehouse, plus a big tube o' ground beef. The beef is now taco filling, meatballs and chili. The ham is going to become scalloped potatoes and ham casserole, "fried" rice, and what ever else we decide on.

The biggest lunch hit so far? A baked potato bar. Yup - a lowly potato ruled them all. I picked up a 50# box of 40 ct potatoes. What does that mean? That those potatoes weighed, on average, a little over a pound each. I got up early,wrapped them in foil, tossed them in the oven at 450 degrees for 90 mins and then transferred them to my Nesco roaster at work where they held up nicely for the rest of the afternoon. We provided chili, salsa, cheese, bacon, sour cream, butter and broccoli. True - that's a lot of starch, but hmmmmmmmm so good... There were about ten leftover potatoes, so Gail turned them into cheddar potato soup for the next day. Took next to no time and it was damn fine soup as well...

The biggest seller for us, though, has been the Debbie Crack Corn. Little bags of this fine treat have been selling like hotcakes. In fact, in the beginning Debbie was selling small bags for 50 cents each - just to get them hooked. Now she is selling $5 and $10 bags - known affectionately as nickle and dimes bags. My hubby has now spent $10 on this stuff and I am sure he will buy more. I have the recipe right here - for those of you who don't live close enough to get your own fix from Debbie. By the way, the recipe doesn't say it, but use air popped corn. It makes sure the product stays light and airy, not greasy.

If you really love this recipe - please make a donation to the March of Dimes. They provide money to fund research that helps premature babies grow healthy and strong...

CARAMEL CORN aka Debbie Crack Corn and we don't care!!!

8 cups popped popcorn
4 cup packed brown sugar
6 tablespoons butter or margarine
3 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon vanilla

1. Put popcorn in a 17x12x2-inch baking pan. Remove any unpopped kernels.
2. Measure brown sugar, butter, corn syrup and salt into a 11/2 -quart saucepan. Turn burner to medium heat. Cook and stir with a wooden spoon till butter melts and everything is mixed. When mixture boils, stop stirring. Cook for 5 minutes. Turn off burner. Remove pan from burner.
3. Stir in baking soda and vanilla. Pour mixture over popcorn using rubber scraper to scrape pan. Gently stir the popcorn and hot mixture so all popcorn is coated.
4. Turn oven to 300 degrees. Put pan into oven. Bake 15 minutes. Remove pan from oven and stir mixture with wooden spoon. Put pan back into oven and bake 5 to 10 minutes longer. Remove pan from oven. Use a pancake turner to remove caramel corn from pan to large bowl; cool. Makes 8 cups.

And the gloves come off...

Like most mothers who are single, we have lives and children to feed and we are doing it the best way we can. So,
I can not slave behind the stove for 2 hours and 45 minutes with my mommy to make Rosie Eat Bite Your Tongue It’s SO Good Soup; and
After working all day, dropping kids off to sports and pick them up from after school programs I am tired as hell.

Do you have 5 kids and no husband or help?
So pardon me, I find it refreshing to see someone who can show me how to create meals in a short period, while using ingredients that I can purchase form the store (everyone does not have a Secret Garden in the back yard) so that I able to spend time with my kids before they fall asleep. I like eating around the table with my family, allowing my kids to assist me in preparing quick meals and having lively discussions with my kids and not passing out because I am tired. And too your comment about edutainment. I like the style. I can watch food programs with my kids that don’t bore them and me to death. No, Rachael is not for everyone...and sometimes she is not for me but, they are people out there who are looking for ways to create quick meals and spend time with family who can’t wake up in the morning and try out recipes all day long. She is popular for a reason.

I CAN NOT SPEND QUALITY TIMES WITH MY KIDS IF I AM PREPARING MEALS FOR 4 HOURS.

I have a 3 year old toddler, 5, 9, 13, and 17 year old - all boys and did I mention that I am by myself(38 year old MILITARY WIDOW for the last year and a half). So tell me when do I have time to create this dish: Rosie's It Too Damn Cold Outside Chili. Which should be titled,
Rosie’s Its too damn long from me to make this chili because I got kids to feed, homework to check, and work to finish.

You and your bloggers must come the some socio-economic demographic. You all (your bloggers) sound mad because folks can relate to Rachel Ray. I don’t have a husband that could watch the kids while I enjoy my “Lustful Apron Experience.” Do you have 5 kids and are on a limited budget? Could you see how that could be difficult? I pride myself on making meals that are healthy and affordable for my family. So, before you and your “friends” start to insult anyone you must consider that everyone is not in the same boat as you are.

Oh, by the way this is the Anonymous writer who you wanted to sign up so my name can be displayed. In reference to your “Back on the 4th I posted about how I had fallen out of love with the Food Network and garnered this comment.

Yeah, do you remember I talked about how mean you are. I was wrong, you are not mean. You are just not empathic to others lives.

Sammies,
Regina

And Roise I will advise you to respond with caution.

Regina - It is nice to put a name to the comments. The world is so large and there are so many people who feel that they can just "flame on" without standing behind what they have to say. Congratulations on having the courage to take responsibility for your words.

I did not intend for my comments to be a personal attack on you - how could they be since there was no name attached to the words? I do not know you or your situation any more than you know me or my situation. How can I be empathic to someone who I know nothing about? As far as I knew, you were one of Rachel's paid publicists who go around defending her honor. (And don't say there aren't paid guns who do it - that's the way it works in the big city.)

Actually Regina - I don't have time to slave over a hot stove every day either - even if I do only have one child and a even bigger baby (the hubby). I work full time with overtime, plus freelance graphics work and helping my hubby with the family business. That means I generally need to make decent meals in a quick amount of time. I am also always looking for the cheapest way to use my food dollars. I have better uses for my time and money then making high end meals every day of the week. (Actually, that is one of my pet peeves with other bloggers - but that's another column.)

As far as Rachel Ray is concerned - I do not think she is the only answer. I outlined my issues with her earlier. I still stand behind them. I am glad you and others like you love Ray Ray. If her show gives you inspiration-great. But she is not the only show in town - and "her" solutions are not always the only or best ones. Quick "one night stands" as I call them are something I resort to only when I haven't had the foresight to plan ahead or my plans go to hell in a hand basket -and we all have those weeks - sometimes more often than we care to remember.

However - that being said - I am also not a fan of Once A Month Cooking. For those of you who haven't encountered that before, it means you buy everything you need for an entire month of meals and cook it over a weekend once a month - usually with the help of others who split the rewards of the labors. Then everything gets tossed into the freezer and pulled out and defrosted according to a set menu. I don't have a whole weekend to give up for cooking meals - and I bet you don't either. I also dislike the fact you can't really shop for great bargains in the weekly ads. And I really don't love casseroles that much.

Planning ahead is just as important as "30 minute meals" in my schedule.

Sunday is generally my cooking/household chores day. It's the day the weekly ads come out and my whole family is home so I can use them as cheap slave labor. I get up early, hit the stores, come home and get to cracking. (Most of my blogs are written on Sunday too, by the way. I sneak it in between loads of laundry and dishes.)

Let's take that chili you disparaged - that is my mid sized car recipe. I make it about once a year or so when I have the good fortune to luck into inexpensive ground beef ($1.29/lb at Meijer's) When I wanna make my compact car chili - it's different. First, I cut the amount of meat by about 2 pounds. Second, I substitute about half the beef for ground turkey ($.79/lb at Aldi's). I also throw in a couple extra cans of beans to make up to difference in bulk. It makes it a little more beany than I like but hey - everyone gets to suffer with me afterwards. Then- the best part - it goes in the crock pot on low and cooks for six hours while I do some illustrations for one of my clients. When it's all cooled off, I then portion it out - some of it is for dinner the next day, but the rest goes into quart sized freezer baggies and tossed into my small chest freezer. (At $85 bucks on sale the freezer was a great investment.)

So how does the freezer chili get used? Sometimes it's chili mac. Boil pasta, toss into chili, top with cheese and serve with green beans and a salad. Or chili dogs - served with carrots and chips for a midweek treat. Sometimes I will make chili burritos - messy but good.

Another thing I do when I hit the cheap meat bonanza is to spend a couple of hours making up dinners that I can throw in my freezer. Ox tails on clearance? The it's oxtail pasta sauce. Fast? No- but the time it's in the oven on Sunday morning allows me time to get laundry done and clean the bathroom. Into the freezer when its done! Ground beef on sale? That means meatloaf and meatballs - essentially the same recipe. I make up a big batch of mix, portion out the meatballs, then add a couple more ingredients to the mix that left and portion into two loaves - one for Sunday night dinner and the other for the freezer. Meatballs get cooked in the oven, then tossed with a jar of sauce then frozen. Then the meatloaf is tossed in the oven with some potatoes. An hour later - dinner is served. And there are leftovers for lunch for me and the kid. Meatloaf sandwiches rock.

Chicken on sale? I like whole chickens best. I get more mileage from them than anything else. Last week, Meijer had whole chickens on sale, $.69/pound. My two birds when in the oven. Half of one chicken got eaten for dinner. I made plain white rice and served it with defatted pan juices and glazed carrots. I also chopped up a bunch of veggies for later in the week while I was hacking up the carrots and bagged them up. Meat got stripped off the bones and packaged up. Chicken bones went into the crock pot and turned into stock overnight using the tail ends of the veggies left over from preping dinner. Monday morning - took the stock out of the crock, quickly strained it and put it in the fridge. (I know you would not have time to throw the bones in overnight, Regina, with five boys to wrangle in the morning - so I would recommend throwing the bones in the fridge and doing the broth on Monday night on the stove. It's the type of thing that doesn't really need watching while you are bathing, cajoling, counseling and otherwise parenting your boys.) Monday lunch - chicken sandwiches for me and the kid. Monday dinner - fried rice made with leftover rice, plus the leftover chicken and a bag of stir fry veggies from the freezer. Tuesday - Chicken noodle soup made with the broth from the bones, the pre-chopped veggies from Sunday and a bag of noodles from Aldi's. Wednesday night dinner is usually something like a casserole - tuna or chili mac so that I can have leftovers for Thursday - which is usually my really long night at work. It is usually the hubby's night to cook as well. Maybe you could teach your oldest how to make something simple like spaghetti. I just taught my daughter how to cook baked pork chops so she can get dinner started on Wednesdays when she beats the rest of us home...

So there are some of my tips - true they are not recipes.They are not peppered with cute catch phrases - every person needs to come up with their own in my opinion (both recipes and catchphrases). And I am most likely not as photogenic as some TV hosts. But, I get the job done. No one in my family starves. They are healthy, well fed and happy. PLUS, I have a reputation as a great cook. And I don't need hoards of fans to convince me of that. I simply have to look at my friends and family to know it.

Rosie

PS Regina - my condolences on the death of your husband. My family and I appreciate the sacrifice he made for us so that we can live fear free in our homes. Maybe that is a small consolation to you considering that you still have to raise your family without him, but it is all I, a stranger, have to offer.

Chilly or Chili?

Chili is one of those dishes that get people all worked up. Beans or no beans, tomatoes or no tomatoes, armadillo or no armadillo...you name it, someone will claim it's not really chili with/without various ingredients.

My mother made what she called "Chili Soup". She would take 2 quarts of homemade stewed tomatoes, two cans of kidney beans, a pound of ground beef, a couple of onions chopped fine, a tablespoon of chili powder and about 4 quarts of water, cook it up and serve it with lots of crackers. Mom also loved Wendy's chili because it reminded her of homemade chili.

Blech! I hated chili until I went away to college and ate chili at the original BW3. They used to have Buffalo Breath Chili. It was a meat paste with lots of flavor. No tomatoes that I recall, and no beans...just meat and spices. And hot - boy was it hot....You could weld with this shit it was so hot. I loved it. It was real in a way that Mom's and Wendy's chili wasn't.

A recent "chili" recipe in a local newspaper called Columbus Alive called for 54 oz of tomato products to 16 oz of ground beef. That is just wrong. That is flavored tomato sauce with beef in it.

My definition is fairly broad: Chili is a stew that consists of ground meat seasoned with chili peppers, tomatoes and onions with just enough liquid added to turn it into soup instead of a loose meat sandwich. The major ingredient must be ground meat. Not water - not tomatoes- not beans. All those ingredients can play a supporting roll, but I want meat dammit. Meat Meat Meat!!!!

I will be honest - I do not have pictures of my chili. Mostly because they were so damned unattractive I deleted them from the camera. It looked like - ummm - body stuff. Bad body stuff. Chili is one of those foods that just isn't very photogenic. The same with my cream of tomato soup. Tastes great - photographs badly. My food porn is definitely amateur. It is equal to real amateur porn shot with an flabby chick who has a skin rash and a c-section scar. Wrong wrong wrong!!! (Pardon me while I wash that image from my mind with a bottle of beer...)

I have a couple different version of chili - one where I take my time and roast dried chiles and grind them into a paste so on and so forth. That's my "I have nothing better to do this weekend but cook" chili. I don't make that very often anymore. Then I have my "friends are coming over and want something that will warm them up because it -17 with the windchill" chili. This is that recipe. If you want a "I have nothing better to do this weekend" recipe, I recommend wasting time on the Internet before starting. There are people who are more anal than I putting up their recipes online for you to try out.

Rosie's It Too Damn Cold Outside Chili

(This will fill my 6 qt crockpot which I use as a warmer when we are having people over)

6 pounds of ground beef (yeah SIX pounds - I didn't say this was cheap)
4 medium onions, chopped
4 cloves of garlic, smashed
4 fresh chile pepper chopped (such as jalapeno, Anaheim or whatever is lurking at the grocery store that looks good.)
2 packages of onion soup mix (Yeah - onion soup mix - deal with it)
1 bottle of good beer
1/4 cup of good commerical chili powder (I use hot chili powder from Penzey's)
1 t cumin powder
2 t of Mexican oregano
1 oz unsweetened chocolate
2 chipolte peppers in adobo sauce
2 cans of black beans, rinsed and drained
2 15 oz cans of tomatoes with chile peppers
1 6 oz can of tomato sauce (Mexican style if you have it)
Black Pepper to taste

Brown off the beef with onions, peppers and garlic in batches. Add the veggies after the meat has started to cook to avoid burning the garlic. Drain off fat. Put in a large dutch oven or heavy soup pot.

Add everything else to the pot. After you add the beer, add enough water to make sure everything is wet. Cook on medium heat for 3-4 hours stirring every so often until the beef is tender and flavors are melded. Taste partway through cooking and adjust the amount of salt - since I am using so many canned ingredients plus the onion soup mix, it usually doesn't require any additional.

That's it. Pretty straight forward. It's the kind of dish I know can be ready to feed a crew without a lot of work on my part. Serve with shredded cheese, chopped onions, crackers and anything else that strikes your fancy.

To extend the batch of chili, you can serve it over spaghetti (bastards!) or save some out and hit it with a stick blender and turn it into the makings of fantastic chili dogs...

Anything to alter your conciousness...

I have always maintained that humans (and other animals) love a tipple - and they will do anything to get it...

Here are some instructions on how to make fermented tea.

Fermented mare's milk, anyone?

I'll let you know if I get brave enough to try the tea. I am not planning on milking a horse anytime soon...

In response to a response...

Back on the 4th I posted about how I had fallen out of love with the Food Network and garnered this comment:

Anonymous said...
Why are you guys so mean? I know, maybe Rachel is not the best cook or baker--but neither am I. I want to prepare meals for my family that are quick and enjoyable. What's wrong with that? Yes, the FN should bring back classic cooking shows that really TEACH. I am not confident enough in the kitchen to try new dishes from experts like Rosie. After mastering meals from Rachel, which don't require a lot of thinking, i have some cook notches under my belt. And that's ok for right now. However, once mastered I am looking forward to real-quality shows like Roise once had.

First of all Anonymous, please use a screen name. Nothing irritates me more than people who see fit to parade their opinions in public and use the screen name "Anonymous"... If you take the time to write it, have the balls to stand behind it. It takes two minutes to sign up for a blogger account.

Rachel Ray bugs the hell out of me for a lot of reasons. One, her whole act is so damn saccharine that it makes me gag. "EVOO" and "Sammies". Damn! Sounds like some eight year old invaded the set of a cooking show or something. I am not a kid and I resent being talked to in baby talk. Use big people words, for Pete's sake. Shows like Cook's Illustrated and Jacque Pepin's Fast Food My Way have recipes are just as easy, quick and tasty - and guess what? They speak as though they are talking to intelligent adults! My god! It's so shocking!

The second thing I want to point out is that Rachel Ray does not develop the majority of her recipes. You ever watch "Next Food Network Star"? You ever see those people flitting around the edges of the kitchens in some shots? Those are the people who work hard making mooks like Rachel Ray look good. They are the people who went to culinary school and earned their lumps the hard way. They develop the recipes, write them up and pass them on to an editor who looks them over and THEN your precious Ray-ray gets them. By and large, Rachel has become a figure head for a huge machine. She has no professional experience. If you asked her how to fix a broken holandaise sauce, I am putting money she would have to ask one of the technical advisers for help before answering. (Hey Raspil - how do you salvage it?!! Put that degree to work girl!)

So much of Food Network is about entertainment. It is what makes money. And some ditsy girl spokeswoman is what people want. If consumers really wanted Sara Moulton or Cat Cora, those chefs would still be on the channel. The only reason Good Eats has survived is that Alton Brown put an entertaining spin on his messages. As the seasons go on - there is less and less science in his shows and more and more entertainment. Get the DVD's if you don't believe me...

By the way Anon - you don't mind if I call you that do you? How do you think I learned to cook? Sure I got a little bit from my mom, but mostly I taught myself from books. And not one of those books were endorsed by Rachel Ray or her ilk. If you really care about feeding your family good food, then get down the the local library and check out books by people like Mark Bittman (aka The Minimalist), Jacque Pepin, Marion Cunningham plus lots of others. Read reviews. Sometimes you will look through a whole book and only take one recipe away. And that's ok...becoming your own person is not something that you can buy in a box and just add water too. It requires you to put some effort into it.

If you really love food, you don't need someone dumbing down the recipes. You're a big girl (or boy). You don't need Rachel and her hollow shell of edu-tainment. Enough Pablum. No more milk toast. Cooking is not entertainment. It's not a spectator sport. It requires you to use your brain. It requires skills, intelligence and a willingness to maim yourself in the name of good nutrition. If you are not thinking about the food you cook, then you are doing it all wrong. You know what? I can walk into my kitchen and whip up noodles four different ways in about 30 minutes from just the items in my pantry. Rachel didn't teach me that. I taught me that.

So that is why I am so mean...I demand that credit be given where credit is due. I demand that I be addressed in a mature, adult manner. I demand more substance and less filler. And lastly, I demand that Rachel go on the air and admit she is a big fat figurehead who is pimping it out for the man... Of course, I can demand all I want. And I'm just adult enough to KNOW that none of them are going to happen.

So after all is said and done, Anon, I have one real piece of advice for you: Unhook yourself from Rachel's glass teat and try some solid food...

I'm back!!

Wow...the month of January officially sucked.

I have never been so continuously ill for a long time. And when I wasn't ill, I was so depressed about the amount of work that was piling up that I just didn't care about food at all. Amazing huh?

So now that I am finally healthy thanks to antibiotics and Vicodin cough medicine...I care about food again and celebrated with a trip to Schuman's meats. Fifty Dollars and a ton of meat later, I was feeling back to my old self. So Tony and I sat in the car and ate ham salad on white bread for lunch. Hmmmmmm damn fine stuff. All we needed was a pickup and a double wide.

So now on to the unfinished business of blogging...

The best thing about it being the new year? That the cookie baking season has come to an end.

Here is a list of cookies we made for the holidays:

Snickerdoodle pinwheels

Fig Drop cookies

Pecan Diamonds

Peanut Butter and Jelly Thumbprint cookies (Gail cheated here! Bad bad Gail!)

Payday cookies (aka peanut bar cookies)

Dream Bar cookies with white chocolate, dark chocolate and dried cherries

Rum Balls

Spritz cookies

Pecan Apricot balls

Decorated Sugar Cookies

Spice Krinkles

Lebkuken

Stroopwaffles (plus caramels with the left over filling)

Orange Ginger cookies

Pecan Sandies

Coconut Cherry Drops

Master Dough Cookies

Poppyseed rollups with orange flavored dough

Cherry Cranberry rollups with almond flavored dough

Chocolate Raspberry cookies

Chocolate Pigs

And boy! Are my arms tired!!

This year, we stayed close to home and baked the majority of the cookies at Gail's house. You have to realize just how small Gail's kitchen is - I won't even call it a galley kitchen. It's more like - an afterthought.

Builder 1: "Oh crap! We forgot to put a kitchen in these units!"

Builder 2: "That's ok, we'll just take out this closet. There will be plenty of room!"

Here are Gail and I in the closet - I mean kitchen - making lunch.

The good news is - working together for 10+ years has made it possible for us to waltz through such small spaces without any elbowed ribs or trod-upon toes.

This year was really a challenge because friends and coworkers were asking for specific cookies...snickerdoodles, peanut butter, chocolate chip...all violations against rule number one. Our general attitude is "we bake what we like and the rest of you are damn lucky to be getting at all!" Being generous, we decided that we would find decorative versions of these everyday favorites - namely snickerdoodles and peanut butter. But next year - no way! They can suffer and be glad for it!

Here am I showing my contempt by burning a tray of cookies...

Just last week, the clache united for a post holiday round up. Gail and Debbie had taken two weeks off during the post-holiday work slump so this was the first chance we had to get together and talk.

The first consensus - we did too many cookies. Surprise.

The second consensus - many coworkers have started taking the cookie ladies for granted. Those individuals think we are their own personal baking slaves. Got news for you folks - we ain't your bitches. Never were - never will be. The cookies ladies are now tired of being EXPECTED to do anything for ungrateful welps who can't even express a small amount of gratitude. Just see what that nets you next holiday season - I bet it ain't cookies...

So after several hours of pissing and moaning, we headed off to Whole Foods because Gail had never been there. Whole Foods is a danger to your pocketbook. Fortunately, the only things I bought were some fine cheese, a couple of Meyer lemons, a couple of blood oranges and a bottle of unhomgenized milk. Hot damn - I love the cream cap on top!

The reason I bought the Meyer lemons? The produce hunk cut one up for us while we were ogling the fruit and let us have a slice. A nice flavor - not too sweet not too tart...though a mixture of OJ and regular lemon would do in a pinch. And for a lot less money.

Oh yeah - also got a couple bottles of Small Beer from Anchor Steam. What is small beer you ask? It is second run of beer from previously used mash. It was very light and refreshing. I will be buying a few more bottles when the mercury starts to climb...

BTW I got yelled at for taking pictures of baked goods. So I just slipped my camera in my pocket in fear that they would insist I delete everything on my card. Here is some of my photography with my new Christmas present - a Canon Powershot. (Thanks Tony!! I love you!!!) Just keep in mind I risked the wrath of Whole Foods legal department to bring these to you!!

Gail and Debbie then got a bug in their ear for bubble tea made at home. So off we went to the New Asian Supermarket right across the street from Whole Foods. I love Asian groceries. Even if I can't identify was 85% of the items are in the produce department. Their produce looks wonderful - I plan on heading over there again soon to pick up some tasty greens for dinner. Even better, they have live fishes swimming in tanks that they will kill and clean for you. I know that this is not a new thing, but it just never occurred to me that I should be taking advantage of it. Duh!

We did find the makings for bubble tea - I still haven't asked if they have figured it out yet...

Plus Gail went crazy buying cute dishes for the grand-baby. Me? I am plotting on spending the income tax return on some lovely Japanese bowls for noodles among other things...

So that it about it. The rest of my sick time, I made a lot of my old standbys - quick and easy. Cream of tomato soup, potato soup, hamburgers - stuff like that. I did however make a recipe for Chicken Pot Pie. I kind of made it up as I went along, plus I stole an idea from the new Cook's Country magazine (brought to you by the folks at Cook's Illustrated). Damn fine recipe for a night when you are sick, depressed and cold.

Rosie's Chicken Pot Pie

4 chicken leg quarters

4 cups of homemade chicken broth

1/2 cup cream

4 tablespoons of butter

1/2 cup flour

3/4 cup chopped mushrooms

3/4 cup frozen peas

1/2 cup of frozen pearl onions

1 cup chopped carrots

1 cup of chopped celery

1/4 cup chopped regular onions

Salt, Pepper,Garlic powder to taste

Handful of Chopped Parsley

Box of Pillsbury's Pie refrigerator crusts (Sacrilege!!!)

1 egg, beaten

Poach the chicken leg quarters in the broth until tender and remove meat from the bone. Husbands who are watching television are excellent tools for accomplishing this while you are busy chopping vegetables.

Once veggies are chopped, add a small amount of oil to a pan and start sauteing the two onions. Once they are soft, add the carrots, mushrooms and celery. Cook until just tender. Toss in peas and parsley. Add chicken meat after vetting it for any random bits of skin. Note that there seems to always be a little less yield when the hubby does the chicken. Put into a round casserole dish.

Take the prepared pie crusts and beaten egg. Paint one crust with the egg and lay the other crust on top. You now have a heavy crust that can be used for potpie. This is the tip I borrowed from Cook's Country.

In a clean saucepan, heat up the butter until melted and hot and stir in the flour. Cook until the flour just starts to turn bone colored -a very very pale tan. Start adding the chicken broth a little at a time, whisking constantly. Once all the broth is added, let the sauce come to a boil. Add the cream and remove from heat. Pour over the meat and veggies, season to taste.

Top with the cheater's pie crust. Poke holes in crust to let the steam out and bake in a 425 degree oven until crust is brown and the filling bubbling hot, about 30-40 minutes. If the edges of your crust brown too fast, get out the foil and make reflector strips to cover them up.

So that's it. Most of the prep work could be done ahead and you could use leftover chicken from the night before. Easy as pot pie!

So I will get back to work now - I have a ton of cleaning to do and I will be much better about posting in the new year! Promise!

I don't lub you no more...

I've fallen out of love with the Food Network. It was fun while it lasted. The glitz, the glamour, the whirlwind lifestyle...but now it just seems so...hollow...

Sure - I had a few laughs with Emeril, nodded sagely as Sarah dispensed her advice and even worshiped Alton from afar, food god that he is...

No longer.

I break with thee
I break with thee
I break with thee
And then I throw creme brule on your shoes
(I couldn't find dog poopie)

So that's pretty much it.
We are broke up. Kaput.
Don't give me the old saw about, "But we'll try harder...I promise!"

What about Mario huh? You just kicked him to the curb!
What about Tony? Couldn't take the heat huh?
Who's next?
Not your girl Rachel...I see how you are...
Well I am sick of Rachel - Rachel Rachel Rachel!
How come she always get her way huh? You always were a sucker for a pretty face. Never mind skills or talent....There is a reason people call her the Ray-tard you know...

So that's it. I am a PBS girl now...and I watch Tony on the Travel Channel. I can get my groove on without you, ya'know...

And don't be sending me any of those automated emails asking me to come back either. I told my Spambot to filter them out...