May 20, 2012
It’s the time of year that it’s hard to pin me down. I’m outside. Busy in the backyard, planting, weeding, sitting, contemplating. I just want to be outside. Watching for the return of Chestnut. Seeing if we have any new baby rabbits in the yard. I just find so much peace there, that you’re hard pressed to get a post out of me. I have better things to do.
Because of this I was there, in the backyard, when the peonies bloomed this year. They are my absolute favorite flower: profuse, heavy blooms; heady fragrance. I turned the confetti of abundant petals into syrup. I did this last year, but not as adroitly.
Marry to this that I went strawberry picking with friends last week. And 17 pounds picked meant there was certain to be some jamming. Did there happen to be some master pastry chefs along? Why yes, there were. (Thanks, B.) So I asked them how to incorporate my peony syrup into the jam that was sure to follow all that picking. Add the syrup at the last minute, they said, to keep all the flower essence. But of course.
Ten cups of strawberries
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Posted in Canning, Columbus, Family, Flowers, Friends, Local Foods, Music, Ohio, Peony, Pistacia Vera, Seasonal, Strawberries, Summer |
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May 6, 2012
This weekend’s weather made me gear back up in the garden, get back in the kitchen and get my groove back. Warm weather is all about ease: barely putting a pot on the stove, most things cooked over the grill. Who needs a mess when the back garden begs you to come and play? A quick ten minutes of chopping and a quick simmer is all it takes to throw this big-enough-to-serve-a-crowd slaw together.
Summer Picnic Slaw for Friends, serves 6
1/2 c rice wine vinegar
1 T whole cumin seeds
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Posted in Recipes, Music, Quick, Family, Vegetarian, Salad, Cabbage, Carrots, Coriander, Vinegar |
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April 4, 2012
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pomegranate = olive green; blackberry = purple; blueberry = …blue; beet = pink; turmeric = yellow; dandelion = almost nothing
Playlist included Stay Young, Go Dancing, by Death Cab for Cutie.
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Posted in Easter, Eggs, Family, Foraging, Holidays, Music, Ohio, Spring |
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March 17, 2012
When we visited our farmer friend Dick Jensen a few weeks ago for maple tapping, we picked up some of his lovingly raised and delicious grass-fed beef. We blew through the short ribs (I still owe you some posts on those, two ways) but we also bought a brisket with the full intention of having it as corned beef.
And everyone loves it for St. Patrick’s Day. But consider it as something you could make anytime. It makes enough for leftovers for a couple of days. Turn it into amazing sandwiches with a little Russian dressing and coleslaw. Add some leftover potatoes that you par boiled and then roasted in fat and turn it into hash. This is not your out of the can variety.
It’s worth the effort.
There is a bit of wiggle room just how long you choose to brine your brisket.
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Posted in Local Foods, Flying J Farm, Music, Potatoes, Spices, Beer, Family, Beef, Ohio, Irish, Preserving |
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February 13, 2012
This is hardly even a post about cooking.
It’s a post about what what to do when you want to help. When things happen in life and I feel like I want to hug and cry and help, I cook.
And often, because I feel such a connection with meals, the thing to be cooked just comes to me. This time it was the humble stuffed cabbage.
When I was little, stuffed cabbage was a comforting dish that my mom would make on Sundays. When I was newly married and a fish out of water in New Jersey, it was the dish my mother-in-law and I connected over at Paul’s Diner in Mountain Lakes. Turns out, she loved it, just like I did. She grew up with her mother making them, as well as serendipitously being at a diner on the rare day the kitchen made them. In Texas we don’t have much of a diner culture, but I really grew to love this aspect of New Jersey.
As she explained it, every diner had its own schedule of when things were made and you kind of needed to be a regular to figure it all out. We happened to be there on a Monday, during lunch and we both decided saw and decided immediately that we’d have the cabbage. She grew up with cabbage rolls being served with copious amounts of mashed potatoes.
This was not something my mother did.
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Posted in Beef, Cabbage, Family, Flying J Farm, Rice, Seasonal |
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January 1, 2012
I didn’t plan on having a craving for cinnamon rolls this morning.
If I knew it would have been coming on, I might have got a yeast dough together last night to be ready to bake this morning. But it just happened as I was coming down the stairs thinking about scrambled eggs and bacon for New Year’s morning breakfast. And, I thought, wouldn’t some cinnamon rolls be so good with that? Mmmm.
So it is entirely possible to satisfy that spicy sweet craving for dough; it will just be with a quick rise dough (using baking powder) instead of yeast. It’s about as much trouble as making a batch of homemade biscuits, which is to say not much trouble at all.
Happy New Year. Here’s to resolving to make it yourself this year!
Fastest Cinnamon Rolls, makes a dozen, inspired by various recipes around the interwebs
Preheat the oven to 400 F.
For the Filling
4 T softened butter
3 heaping t cinnamon
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Posted in Baking, Breakfast, Brunch, Cinnamon, Entertaining, Family, Music, Quick, Recipes |
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December 24, 2011
May all your Christmas wishes come true.
Linens from great grandma, dishes from an aunt and uncle, glassware from mother-in-law, antique ornaments from Grandmother, antique ball jars from a Twitter friend, food from our kitchen. (Plus cute clementine place card holders for whimsy.) I love a meaningful table.
Playlist included I’ll Be Home for Christmas, by the Carpenters.
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Posted in Christmas, Entertaining, Family, Holidays |
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It’s the time of year that it’s hard to pin me down. I’m outside. Busy in the backyard, planting, weeding, sitting, contemplating. I just want to be outside. Watching for the return of Chestnut. Seeing if we have any new baby rabbits in the yard. I just find so much peace there, that you’re hard pressed to get a post out of me. I have better things to do.
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