Fidget

Yes, I saw the movie! I loved it. I thought it was so much fun. I liked the family dynamic of the rat colony, and how the skinny redheaded kid gained confidence and built character… and, Gusteau was so cute, and what a great motto - Anyone can cook!

I’d found this recipe even before I saw the movie, and afterwards I was inspired to try it. Now is the perfect time of year, when eggplant, zucchini, and fresh herbs are plentiful at the farmer’s market - I’ve been trying to go once a week this summer, and it’s been really fun to get such fresh yummy veggies that are all local and mostly organic. Very cool. I highly recommend this recipe - especially if you’ve tried making ratatouille in the classic simmer/saute method before. I have, and it was nothing to write home about. But this one’s a keeper! It’s really easy, too. The only trick is cutting the veggies as thin as you can. And, it’s flexible. My veg slices weren’t all the same diameter, so I just layered them in rows (or rounds, as in this pie dish) and it looked great. I like to eat pretty food, especially if it’s not a lot of work to make it look pretty. That’s the nice thing about cooking with lots of vegetables - it’s effortless to make it colorful. This recipe calls for goat cheese, but we used sour cream instead. Something about that creamy finishing touch, mmm - magnifique!

I made freezer jam out of my blueberries. It came out yummy! The pectin package, which has detailed instructions for making many kinds of jam, emphatically warned me that I shouldn’t mess with the fruit-to-sugar ratio or else my jam wouldn’t jell. But, seeing that they called for 4 cups of fruit, 7 cups of sugar, and a cup of corn syrup to prevent sugar crystals… I decided to mess with it anyway. I used 2 cups of sugar with my 4 cups of coarsely pureed blueberries, and my jam came out fine. It’s quite firm, too, it just has a lot of runny juice along with it. So it’s not so great for peanut butter sandwiches, though if you eat ‘em right away it’s OK. But excellent for other purposes such as a topping for pancakes or yogurt or ice cream or…

Even though my freezer was already laden with frozen whole blueberries, 3 jam jars and 4 yogurt cups full of jam, I decided to go blueberry picking again as I’d been invited by the K’s - GK and her daughters, M and A. Another friend, CO, came too. This time, the weather wasn’t nearly so hot, it was quite a cloudy day. The berry bushes were wilder, bushier, and more tangled. But, get this - the blueberries were twice as big as the ones I’d picked before, and those were big, too. Wow. I tried to restrain myself and not pick too many, because I’d run out of freezer space if I came back with another 6+ pounds of berries!

Team Blueberry

Gotta pick ‘em all!

Victory!

Aren’t they Bluetiful?

Left: normal-sized berry. Right: GI-NORMOUS berry. Told ya.

… since I started this blog! Hooray. If I was on top of my game I would have a visual re-design all ready to launch today. But I don’t. But I’ve accomplished lots of other projects in the last year - ran my first 10K, knitted my first real sweater, learned to throw pots on the wheel, designed quite a few user interfaces, and just yesterday I dropped 4 whole bags of stuff off at the Goodwill donation center. (It’ll be a lifelong effort for BN and I to keep our collector-of-stuff tendencies under control. You never know what might end up being useful someday!) Our spare room has never looked better.

Well, this has been a good week. We had quick visit from my brother and sister-in-law, and it was a blessedly beautiful day so I took them down to the river and we strolled around and checked out the geese, who were having a major convention with whole nestsful of goslings of all different sizes. Cute!

Monday evening I had my usual knitting group. Nowadays we meet at a cafe that’s sort of behind (or in front of) a restaurant. All the small tables are pushed together for a big knitting circle. (or rectangle.) We have a waiter to order dinner or drinks or coffee from, and a good time is had by all. I’ve been going to this group pretty regularly since early in the year. I really enjoy it because there’s such a range of people there - different ages, different skill levels. Even a few men. And they knit.

Today I went to my ladies’ lunch Bible study. This is pretty much the highlight of my week - everybody brings something to share, mostly salads, but sometimes we get other goodies like today was EL’s birthday so we had a not-exactly-cake confection that was constructed mostly of whipped cream and strawberries. It took 3 people to get it cut up and served because it was collapsing in all directions. Totally delicious, though. Even more than the food I enjoy the girl-time with a diverse set of sisters in Christ. I’m usually the youngest unless JM comes, and our 2 “elder stateswomen” (as GP would say) are in their 80’s.

It seems like we are squarely into spring, now, with temps up into the 70’s. we had a real heat wave a week or so ago, but the week before that the highs were in the mid-50’s again for awhile. That was weird… it’s really nice to see the sun. (At our ladies’ study we get to sit outside on TR’s deck surrounded by her beautiful garden.)

There are quite a few clothing resale stores in town, and this week I had a bit of success in selling some of my used clothing. Trading in, really, because you get more value if you opt for store credit. The first place was too LA-teen-trendyish to want most of my cast-offs. The next place was more sophisticated and the nice woman who helped me surprised me by taking one of my home-sewn dresses (those are the hardest to give away, but it never fit me right.) The last place, with a more hippie-like flair, took a record-setting 4 items, and all of them were garments I had originally gotten at thrift stores. Score! What a beautiful cycle of fashion funkiness.

So that’s what’s going on. A mixed bag of newsy items. I’ll leave you with a cooking secret: Those little tiny cans of Thai curry paste. You can get ‘em at the Asian market. They are the same shape as tuna cans except smaller, and seriously all you have to do is stir one (or part of one, they are strong medicine) into a pot of coconut milk (and whatever meat and veggies you have on hand) and you have an awesome tastes-like-we’re-eating-out dinner at home! Lemon grass helps, too. Serve over rice or noodles and you’ll knock the socks off of your dinner guests.

Well, I hope everybody’s having a good week and maybe by next year I’ll have this blog looking more customized.

Love,

KT

It’s so hard to choose my favorite type of cuisine. I’ll take the entire continent of Asia plus the Indian subcontinent, please…

Thai: Thai Basil in Sunnyvale, CA.

Indian: Banjara in Sunnyvale is pretty good; they have mango soft-serve ice cream included with the all-you-can-eat lunch buffet… But, I still recall the little cafe we ate at in Siliguri, West Bengal, India… it was very yummy. Very hot. The name started with K but I can’t remember now… Rob Foster, wherever you are, help me out here…

Japanese: OK, yeah - the best Japanese food I’ve had was in Japan. duh. But, there are good places in Sunnyvale - Seto and Midori come to mind. I love all kinds of sushi and sashimi, but I’m also partial to tempura, and udon noodles.

[Gosh, I miss Sunnyvale… or at least the food!!!]

Chinese: Chef Li in San Jose. Best ever, bar none. For a cheap lunch, Lucky Gourmet in Mountain View. Two items with chow mein, please! And of course, P.F. Chang’s is a bit overpriced for what you get but a sure thing for a delicious dinner. Nice atmosphere.

Falafel: Something about falafel is just magic. If I’m sitting down with my falafel pita in hand and I’m really hungry, I’ve been known to gush about how much I looooove falafel… Good falafel in Santa Cruz, Falafel House just off Pacific on Walnut or somewhere close…

Pho Bo: Vietnamese noodle soup. Pass the hoisin sauce! It’s pretty hard to mess this up. Had it lots of good places. Look for a hole-in-the-wall or the chain Pho Hoa. As BN and I like to say, it’s nose-dripping good.

Mexican: Here in Eugene we really miss Una Mas. It’s consistently good, fresh-mex - I guess Mexican with a California twist to it. I crave their fish tacos, grilled, with chipotle cream sauce and shredded cabbage. Gotta love it. I had tacos in Mexico on my high school missions trip - that was the first and best Mexican food I ever had. Just street vendor fare, with a twist of lime. It changed my life.

Home cooking: I love, love, love to cook. I totally feel happy when I’m in progress on making a yummy dinner. There are elements of suspense, like, can I really pull off a multi-dish extravaganza and get everything finished at one time? I’m still working on that. But for the most part it makes me feel relaxed and satisfied that I am creating a delicious, nourishing and even beautiful meal to enjoy with family and/or friends. I get a kick out of cooking FOR people, like for church potlucks or meals-on-wheels for someone who’s recuperating from illness. One such mother told me last week that her son, who usually distains vegetables, liked my salad. Rock on!! I also get a thrill from creating an ethnic specialty at home, like Curry, Sushi, Hot-n-Sour Soup, Pho Bo, even Falafel. If you ever need recipes, I got recipes, happy to share. I favor recipes that deliver great food for not much fuss; my absolute favorite cookbook is Frances Price’s Healthy Cooking for Two or Just You. This woman taught me how to cook - practically every recipe I’ve tried in this book has become a favorite, or at least was quite good and easy to make. I love cooking but I’m not really into baking. I guess I like a hands-on approach with the freedom to improvise. I do follow recipes, but I like to modify them to suit my taste and preferences. Also, baking is mostly about dessert and dessert is extraneous. Dinner is a necessity. I’m very practical deep down, so maybe that has something to do with it. Like I just don’t do Fine Art. I’m truly a designer at heart - I like filling needs and solving problems, in a creative and beautiful way. Cooking is one way for me to do that.

Favorite Recipes (leave a comment and I’ll send you the recipe.)

Chili-Lime Burritos

Tamale Pie (Thanks, Mom!)

Eggplant Lasagna

Rosemary Lemon Chicken & Pasta Primavera

Garlic-baked Mushrooms

Hopping John Risotto

Couscous with Sweet Potatoes and Zucchini

Spinach Pockets with Carrot Fries

Falafel with Yogurt Dip

Pad Thai

Slow-cook Teryaki Honey Chicken

Teriyaki Salmon with Green Tea Rice

Hong Kong Primavera

Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce

Szechuan Chicken in Lettuce Bundles

Curry-in-a-Hurry (my own adaptation of more complex curry recipes)

Thai Beef Curry with Peanut Sauce

Chicken & Onion Pie

Sushi Maki (easier than you think, and raw fish is not required for great results)

Hot & Sour Soup (just like the restaurants, but better)

French Onion Soup

Chili and Cornbread

Moroccan Orange Salad

Wasabi Three-Bean Salad

Chinese Cabbage Salad

(I always make my own salad dressings: Balsamic/Dijon, Honey Mustard, Sesame, Caesar…)

Thai Peach Salsa

Rainbow Hummus

Roasted Garlic

Clafouti (French-style Apple dessert)

Lemon Bars (BN’s favorite)

Tapioca Pudding

Mango Gratin

Crepes with mixed berry fruit sauce

Chai Tea

Yesterday, we had quite a full day of non-school and non-work activities. Yay!

We got up early enough to feel like we had time for a real breakfast. I made crepes - yum!!! The basic crepe recipe in Joy of Cooking is as simple, if not more so, than regular pancakes and they are so delicious in flavor and texture. Then I just throw a bag of frozen mixed berries in a saucepan for awhile to make a fruit sauce, and with whipped cream or even just yogurt, it beats a restaurant breakfast all hollow. (Except you have to clean up the mess. That’s the main reason I like eating out nowadays - my cooking is good, but I hate to clean.)

Next we headed off to the Craft Center to glaze our most recent ceramics pieces before the term’s last kiln firing early next week. I had a flower pot, 2 bowls, and a mug to work on, and I managed to get them all done while we were there. Glazing is such an involved process. First you have to sponge down the piece and dip the bottom in wax to leave a spot unglazed (which keeps the piece from fusing to the shelf inside the kiln.) You can paint on details using oxides, which react differently under or over the various glazes. Then you want to dip your piece, either completely or partially, in 2 to 5 coats of 1 or more glazes - the Craft Center stocks about a dozen or so. All of which turn out differently depending on how you layer and overlap them. I tried a drip-on effect with some of my items, using an eyedropper. And, between coats, you’re supposed to let the piece dry pretty thoroughly. So it’s good to plan at least 3 hours to glaze a batch of pots.

I survived the marathon glazing session by snacking on some nuts and dried fruit I had brought from home, but I’m a pretty cranky camper until I’ve had some lunch. We headed over to the Glenwood for a home-style burger. Whew, now I feel better.

It was another beautiful afternoon. I knitted outside on a bench while BN finished up some more glaze, and then we sat in a coffee shop (I knitted, B journaled) and people-watched the flip-flop clad folks strolling in the sun outside.

Back at home we ate Mac n Cheese and played Settlers of Catan. It’s really better for more than 2 players, but we’ve adapted some rules and it usually turns out to be a good game. BN won by a narrow margin - this time!

We stayed up way past our bedtime to go see a movie - a video recording of a U2 concert, 1987 in Los Angeles. It was a professional recording, not some bootleg … Rock ON!!! They played all our favorites. You may not know this about me but I actually love rock concerts. I can’t resist rockstars when they’re up there in their element. The long hair, the enthusiastic stage stunts. Takes me back to 1987… just kidding, I was 10. Actually, it takes me back to 1997, when I was actually somewhat in on the “scene.” I knew some guys in local bands and my cousin was Woody, (“the Woody?!”) guitarist for 2-Car. Those were the days, in the late 90’s when ska was the thing and going to a show meant a full cardiovascular workout, dancing and jumping around. Fun, fun, fun. I’m a fairly new U2 fan but they rock so hard. Bono - yeah, he’s the best ever. Gotta love that voice, which sounded great even (especially?) in the live recording.

So, yeah - it was nice to have such a stress-free weekend to kick off Spring Break. BN’s giving his trig class their final on Tuesday, and then we’re off to SJ for a 10-day visit with family and friends.

So, since that first try at making sushi, I’ve made it several times again since it’s so easy and so yummy. It’s easy, but somewhat time-consuming, depending on what ingredients you use for fillings. I learned this, as I worked for more than 3 hours prepping goodies for a tray of sushi to take to a Ladies’ International Potluck party with the church girls. The problem was that I made 4 different kinds, with 3 different ingredients each. From left to right, you see: Shitake Mushroom & Egg with Daikon radish sprouts; Tofu & Asparagus with Carrot, Roasted Butternut Squash & Cucumber with Carrot, and California roll (Krab & Avocado with Carrot.) Really, 3 ingredients is too many for one roll anyway… as you can see from a few messy specimens shown above. Plus, I added toasted sesame seeds and chopped pickled ginger to each roll (you have to eat sushi with ginger, but this was a party tray rather than a sit-down meal.) Whew. I learned my lesson… But the ladies loved it. It was worth it.

Hey, last night we tried making sushi… it came out great! I wanted to take a picture but my camera batteries were dead…

I had given BN a sushi mat in his Christmas stocking as a sort of “gift certificate” that we’d try it soon. It was actually so easy. I think the key was getting special sushi rice… The sushi rice cooked perfectly in our rice cooker, and I mixed in sushi vinegar as instructed by my Japanese cookbook. For fillings we used carrots, julienned using a gadget I got from Pampered Chef; cucumbers, marinated dried shitake mushrooms, and an egg cooked in a thin pancake. We had the essential garnishes: pickled ginger, soy sauce and wasabi for authentic flavors. And toasted sesame seeds - sesame seeds are totally useless unless you toast them. It’s really easy to do that, in a dry skillet on the stove. Just have to watch them, they burn quick.

Next time I will stock up on Krab and avocados to make California rolls! Maybe someday will we try raw fish. I’m just cautious about purchasing, storing and preparing it correctly. But I do love sashimi, especially tuna and salmon.

Compared to this one…

…The scene in A Christmas Story where they go to a Chinese restaurant on Christmas Eve and have whole roast goose and are serenaded by a quartet of waiters mispronouncing the chorus of Deck the Halls may not be the most memorable. But I sure was reminded of it this Christmas Eve. I had spent the afternoon in the kitchen making Figgy Pudding so BN suggested we go out for dinner. A perfectly reasonable and good idea, other things being equal. But it was Christmas Eve, and not very many restaurants are open then. And this is Eugene, where there really aren’t very many good restaurants to begin with. BN called and found that “Kabuki Japanese Steakhouse” was in fact open. We hadn’t been there before, but we like Japanese, so we hoped for the best. It turned out fine except:

1. We were the only ones there, which felt sort of dismal - it’s one of those chef-cooks-at-your-table kind of places, where you’re supposed to have a crowd of friends in a busy restaurant with lots of excitement.

2. As a result our waitress was very attentive, and there was a 1-to-2 chef-to-diner ratio. That contributed to the awkwardness. Plus, the two of them were identical twin sisters and probably about 19. (Not Japanese, of course.) They were chatty and friendly, but it wasn’t our idea of a romantic date to make conversation with a couple of people waiting on us hand and foot. Something about the whole thing felt really surreal and like, are we being filmed? isn’t this a scene in a movie?

3. Because of the service-intensive nature of the restaurant, the food was very expensive.

4. But, it was not at all what I would call Good Food. Certainly not worth what we paid for it. The portion sizes weren’t even large. The rice was chewy, not fluffy. The vegetables were boring. The chicken and shrimp were not impressively flavored or textured.

On the whole, we wished we’d taken the money and bought groceries and cooked our own dinner. I coulda stir-fried way better than that.

Nevertheless! Our Christmas Eve was far from ruined. I will block yet another restaurant fiasco from my mind with memories of sitting cozy on the futon, lights dimmed except for candles and our tiny tree, playing Trivial Pursuit with my dear husband. We eschewed the board and chips and just took turns reading the cards to each other, if you get three or more right you keep the card. Everybody wins. We even had cocktails - BN invented a mix with the brandy bought for the Figgy Pudding, pomegranate juice, etc. Life is good.

My family is very tradition-oriented. Not that we do everything in a very culturally traditional way (though in some cases we do), but rather we tend to do the same things the same way every year and feel a bit sad if something’s different. This year was pretty different since BN and I stayed in Eugene for the holiday. But, I was mostly very glad for the chance to break out of the mold and try new things this year. I thought, I should find some classic Christmas food that I’ve never tried and make that, and what more obvious choice than Figgy Pudding. “Oh bring us a figgy pudding…and bring it right here! We won’t go until we get some…” When I was little I always thought it was Piggy pudding because Piggy was a real word, whereas Figgy? not so much. Though a pork-based pudding doesn’t appeal to me, then or now. Anyways. Whenever I want to find a recipe for something like this, I look online. I can pick and choose and even combine recipes. (I also tend to check Joy of Cooking so I can see if there is any Definitive American Way to prepare the food in question.) So I discovered that the thing to do is base one’s Figgy Pudding on a carrot-cake mix and go from there. The whole thing seemed quite straightforward and also, figgy pudding being British, “pudding” really means more of a cake-like substance. So there was no tricky milk-scalding, egg-white-stiffening, or gelatin-firming to be done. Just baking, or rather steaming, for a very long time. (and yes, GC, it’s baked in a pudding basin!) I have to confess I haven’t had a very good track record with baking recently. I used to bake cakes and cookies quite a bit when I was a teen, with reasonable success, but recently I have gotten way over into the other camp, of gourmet cooking, mostly savory Asian entrees rather than sweet European desserts. Which is all very fine for our waistlines. I just like to experiment and substitute ingredients to suit my taste or convenience, and that doesn’t always work out so well in baking. Another thing is, I don’t even own an electric mixer. (I got a lot of mileage out of this Figgy Pudding thing talking to ladies at church and they all gasped and said you have to have an electric mixer to make cake!!!) Luckily I actually ended up making a figgy muffin, which doesn’t need much stirring at all, let alone beating in a mixer… See, I was in the grocery store (actually, the grocery palace - more about that another time) and the Betty Crocker type of cake mix had trans fats and high-fructose corn syrup. And I needed carrot… the only other carrot option was an organic, all-natural muffin mix. So I figured, I can adapt and substitute. It’ll be fine. I took note that the cake mix called for more oil and eggs than the muffin mix. And off I went. Christmas Eve was Figgy Pudding day, so that afternoon I got right down to work. I brought dried figs and water to cover to a boil, took them off the heat and soaked several hours until softened. Chopped the figs and boiled the fragrant liquid down a ways with some sugar. I used 3 eggs and whirled the liquid ingredients in my blender because I figured that couldn’t hurt. But I stirred until just combined with the muffin mix (plus golden raisins soaked in brandy, orange zest, sliced almonds and spices.) I also used melted butter rather than oil, cause it’s way yummier.

The trickiest part of the whole process was lining my large metal bowl with foil. I tried to use one piece to go all the way around but it was just not working. So I had to use several pieces. What a concept. The main thing is to have a “collar” of foil around the top of the cake to fold down over it and steam rather than just dry out your pudding.

And it came out great - not soggy, not dry or hard, but just a nice dense, fruity cake. Served warmed with the fig syrup drizzled on and whipped cream, it was a unique holiday treat to write home about.

Well, it finally cooled down. Last weekend’s 105 cooled down to the seventies. whew. Our activity level was down this weekend as well - July turned out to be a a really busy month. But yesterday we just hung around and made special beef broth for Vietnamese Beef Noodle soup. Pho (”fuh”) is a wonderful treat and we’d been meaning to try making our own. I found this article and wasn’t surprised to discover it was from the SJ Mercury news - the south Bay Area probably serves the most Pho outside of Vietnam. So, the recipe at the end of the article looked pretty authentic, pretty in-depth, but not difficult. After a trip to the Asian market near our house (it rocks!) I was ready to begin.

We fired up our camping stove out on the deck and charred the onions and ginger as directed. That was fun! In they went to the stock pot along with beef bones, a few pieces of London broil and whole spices like star anise and cinnamon. It’s definitely important to plan ahead - the almost 6 quarts of broth were very hot and quite greasy - it needed to chill in the fridge overnight so I could skim off all that fat. By lunchtime today we’d worked up the usual Sunday afternoon hunger, so after I prepped the goodies, we assembled our bowls.

First, dipped the noodles briefly in the defatted, re-heated broth and put them in the bottom of the bowl. Added sliced onion, scallions, chopped cilantro, and pieces of beef - some cooked from the broth process, and some raw paper-thin slices from the market. Then, we ladled boiling broth over all, which cooked the beef on contact and softened up all the noodles and veggies. Just like the pho restaurants, we had our garnish plate with bean sprouts, lime wedges, sliced chilies and Thai basil. And, the all-important hoisin sauce and sriracha hot chili sauce. Yum!

If you’re up for a cooking adventure, I’d recommend this recipe. It’s more time consuming than difficult, and it seems that the main key to success is finding all the right ingredients at the Asian market. The broth recipe is huge (I’ll be freezing what’s left for a few future pho feasts!) and it’s a bit of a production so you want to get a lot out of it. It would make a great group/party supper, too, because it’s very basic and mild in flavor, and everyone can add what they like to customize their bowl.