Maybe I'm back?

I think I might be ready to start writing more often, thanks to inspiration from a distant but very friendly friend. He just started a blog and has been telling delightful stories from his childhood. Reading his charming posts makes me want to write again. Now, if only I could find something to write about. Here I go...squeezing my eyes shut, holding my nose & taking a deep breath before the plunge.......

Mostly what's on my mind today is getting well. I've been one kind or another sick this month (including while visiting son in New York) and it's getting old. The bright side is that my calendar is nice and empty, a true luxury! Thus I am able to stay in bed for all the rest I might need and occasionally foray out to a Room I'm working on. There is a LOT of sorting to do in that room and I rarely have time to concentrate on it. So yay on me!

I've found a new system for sorting papers. In 'the Room' I have a lot of stacks of papers that have been willy nilly, going wherever they wished, for the last 2 years. They are finally all in one place, but they look daunting! I usually open the door, take one look, turn around and go back to the hallway. So a couple days ago I emptied a stack that was on my rocking reading chair. The papers got dispensed with in mere moments so it seemed like I was on to something. The next round consisted of picking up another handful of papers and doing the same thing...simply taking them where they belonged. Including in the wastebasket. Again, yay me!

But a glitch loomed...I had to quit before the handful was gone. So I put it on the empty rocking chair, a risky move to re-clutter something that was just de-cluttered. But it worked perfectly: now when I go in the room, I just head for the bite-sized project that got left on the chair. Ie, I no longer am repelled by the sight of mountains of paper. Genius. Or at least determination.

Here are 3 pictures from my trip to NY. Claudine with a bindi on her forehead, Mia holding on to a flagpole in the park, and Claudine/me playing with Facetime on my iPhone.

Today I have to decide what to make for Christmas food gifts. I have my heart set on making a loaf each of every quick bread recipe in my new cookbook but Dan has diplomatically (for real!) cautioned me to approach it as simply as possible. Hmf. That's boring, but I know he's right. I'm leaning towards my wildly famous carrot cake. Or soon to be wildly famous. No cream cheese frosting on these...instead a refreshing lemon glaze. In fact I'll copy it for you:

Carrot Walnut Bread
From Ladies’ Home Journal in probably the 60’ or 70’s
1 loaf
350 for one hour

1 c. vegetable oil
¾ c. sugar
2 eggs
1 t. vanilla
1½ c. flour
1 ½ t. b. soda
½ t. cinnamon
½ t. salt
1 ½ c. grated carrot (3 large)
1 ½ c. ground walnuts
Lemon glaze

1. Grease a loaf pan, dust lightly with flour.
2. Combine oil, sugar, eggs and vanilla.
3. Sift flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; add to sugar-oil mixture.
4. Stir in carrots and nuts
5. Mix JUST til blended.
6. Turn into pan.
7. Bake at 350 for one hour or til center springs back.
8. Cool in pan 10 minutes.
9. Cool completely on wire rack.(see "My way" below for another option)
10. Top with lemon glaze.

Lemon Glaze:
Combine ½ c. powdered sugar, 1 t. grated lemon rind and 1 T lemon juice in small bowl; stir til smooth; drizzle over top and sides of bread.

My way:
Cool the cake in the pan. After cake is partially cooled (keep it in the pan) poke holes in the cake and drizzle the glaze over top and sides.

There. Whew.

Musings

"Musings" just means I don't know what I'm going to put in this post yet. Miscellaneous just sounds so boring.

Five of the kittens (of 6) are still here. 3 more leave Friday. Then I have to find a home for the remaining 2 quickly. I need my house and my life back. They are like guided fur missiles the way they careen around the house. Their claws are still sharp. They're eating me out of house and home. But they are the softest little things I ever saw and they're all turning into lap cats. Their new owners will appreciate that, I'm sure. Oh, and if anyone ever asks you if cats can get pregnant while they're nursing, the answer is yes. We're right back where we started with her. Grapefruit belly again.

I'm going to a talk tonight about salmon in Alaska. I'm so interested in the incredible impact they have on their environment. A woman wrote a book about it, "Salmon in the Trees." She's a conservation photographer and will be showing lots of photographs so I invited brother Steve. Sister-in-law Anne is coming, too.

Marie...I know you check in here hoping I've written something. And I know you want to know about my progress with the house. Not much to report. Kittens have put major work on hold. As soon as they're gone, I can tell you the very first thing I'm going to do is have the carpets shampooed about a million times. Then boxes of papers that need attention will get some attention. Haven't planned beyond that. Will be going to Brooklyn for gramma duty in December and think I should wait til after that. 2011 sounds good to me.

I'm going to give you all a recipe here that I got from a great cookbook called Falling Cloudberries. I happen to like garbanzo beans and feta so I loved this.


Chickpea, Feta and Cilantro Salad
Serves 6
From Falling Cloudberries cookbook

1 ½ c. dried chickpeas soaked overnight in cold water OR
1 can chickpeas, 14 oz.
1 c. olive oil (divided)
1 large red onion, chopped
5 garlic cloves, very finely chopped
1 or 2 red chiles, seeded and finely chopped (I left this out)
1 2/3 c. crumbled feta chees
4 scallions, green part only, chopped
½ c. chopped cilantro
1 c. chopped Italian parsley
juice of 1 lemon

If using canned chickpeas, bring to boil and simmer a couple of minutes. Drain and let cool. If using dried, drain the soaked chickpeas and put in saucepan. Cover generously with water. Bring to boil. Decrease the heat slightly and cook for 1 to 1.5 hours, until soft but not falling apart. Add salt toward the end of the cooking time. Cool, drain and put in a large bowl.

Heat 3 T. olive oil and fry onion gently until cooked through and lightly golden.

Add garlic and chile and cook a few more seconds. Let cool completely.

Add feta, scallion, cilantro, parsley, lemon juice to chickpeas and season with pepper and a pinch more salt, if needed.

Add the cooled garlic oil and remaining olive oil and mix well.

Enjoy!

Lemon Ricotta Cookies w/Lemon Glaze

This is a recipe of Giaida's from June 2009 Redbook magazine. Quite impressive. I made a mistake and added too much flour. Also didn't have enough lemon as was called for. They were still delicious.

Makes 44 cookies

COOKIES
2 1/2 c. flour
1 t. b. powder
1 t. salt
1/2 c. unsalted butter, softened
2 c. sugar
2 large eggs
1 (15 oz.) container whole-milk ricotta cheese
3 T. fresh lemon juice
Grated zest from one lemon

• Heat oven to 375
• line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper
• in medum bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside
• in large bowl, combine butter and sugar. Beat with electric mixer until light and fluffy, aout 3 minutes
• add eggs, one at a time, beating until incorporated
• add ricotta, lemon juice and lemon zest; beat to combine
• stir in dry ingredients
• spoon about 2 tablespoons of dough for each cookie onto prepared baking sheets
• bake 15 minutes or until slightly golden at the edges.
• remove from oven and let rest on baking sheet 20 minutes.

GLAZE
1 1/2 c. powdered sugar
3 T. fresh lemon juice
grated zest from one lemon

• in a small bowl combine powdered sugar, lemon juice and zest
• stir until smooth
• spoon about 1/2 t. onto each cookie and use back of the spoon to gently spread.
• let the glaze harden about 2 hours.
  

Curry fights Alzheimer's

Well, this is certainly great news for us curry lovers:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/5436618/Curry-may-prevent-Alzheimers-disease-expert-says.html

Professor Doraiswamy said: "There is very solid evidence that curcumin binds to plaques, and basic research on animals engineered to produce human amyloid plaques has shown benefits. Turmeric has been studied not just in Alzheimer's research but for a variety of conditions, such as cancer and arthritis. Turmeric is often referred to as the spice of life in ancient Indian medical lore."

I've heard of turmeric being a pretty useful spice for various health reasons, but didn't know (or didn't remember...ooops) that it might be good for Alzheimer's. Great; I can get into eating more curries!

One source of recipes:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipes/World-Cuisine/India/Indian-Curries/Main.aspx

I had flower-picture-taking opportunities recently. Here are some. Thank you, Mark, for the amazing bouquets you brought all of us last night. One would have thought it was Mother's Day.

Day 3 continued

OK...I had a great dinner tonight! Tony at Olympia Seafood Company (the freshest best seafood around) suggested sablefish (black cod) as being full of flavor. Which works for me because I kinda have to poach every fr... thing these days. I creatively chopped up some chard in a pan with a touch of water, put bite-size pieces of the fish on top and steamed them til done ... not long. Salt and lemon juice. omg it was so good.

While at OSC I bought some wasabi sesame seeds as a surprise for Mark. I took a tiny taste and have to say that everyone who likes wasabi should be buying this. Perfect blend of little tastes.

Speaking of Mark, I am once again directing you to his and Jenna's blog. Today it's rhubarb pie. The pictures will make you weep. The recipe will send you looking for rhubarb.

Homebody Beans

Michael just texted asking for this recipe. I bought this little paperback cookbook in 1968 with a resounding recommendation from a dental hygiene patient of mine. She had nine or more children and I asked her how the heck did she cook for all the brood??? She said this book was her lifesaver: The I Hate to Cook Book, by Peg Bracken. I have made quite a few things from here that were staples while my children grew up but have gotten away from this kind of cooking so the book stays buried between my fancier ones. When Michael asked for the recipe I happily dusted the little tome off and read recipes, reminiscing about the good old days.

This recipe, Homebody Beans, is fantastic and worth the 6 hours it takes to bake it. Great potluck fodder. Oh...I took it to a Sopchak potluck once, near Poughkeepsie NY, where we ended up on the back lawn, under the stars and hovering around a little campfire. After having feasted on beans, the usual effect taking place, plus the campfire, made us all think about the movie Blazing Saddles which has a famous campfire farting scene. We laughed til our sides ached, so this recipe will forever be etched in my brain alongside the Blazing Saddles movie.

HOMEBODY BEANS
2 one pound cans of kidney beans
3 big ripe tomatoes, sliced thickly
1/2 pound lean bacon
2 onions, sliced

In a casserole dish, alternate layers of the beans, tomatoes & onions til you run out.

Bake at 300 for 2 hours, uncovered

If beans on the side are getting overcooked, push them towards the center a little so they are mixed in with the other beans.

Cut bacon in half & lay half of the strips on top.

Put casserole back in the oven, uncovered, for another 2 hours. The bacon should be brown by now.

Remove from oven, punch bacon into the beans, lay the rest of the bacon on top again, & bake uncovered for another 2 hours.

That's it...

And even colder today

I woke up to the house being 52 degrees. Dang! And 27 degrees outside. What did I ever do to deserve this? I like heat, doesn't the universe know that?

Well, anyway....I'm off to do a big food shopping. My bit for the economy. I'm doing more cooking than usual this year...2 family dinners on Thursday for which I'm taking 2 things per family. And my own dinner on Friday. I just found an amazing smashed sweet potato recipe from a great food blog: 101 cookbooks. Here's a link to the recipe. Hint: it has macadamia nuts and coconut milk in it!

And, Marie, if you're reading this, I'm making that great salad you found the recipe for. Oranges, mint, lettuce, etc. I'm supposed to take a "large" green salad to sister-in-law's house but didn't want to take one that was too busy. Then I remembered yours and how much we liked it.

Far Breton

• 1 1/3 c. pitted prunes


• 2 T. rum


• Seeds from 1 vanilla bean


• 12 c. unbleached all-purpose flour


• ½ c. vanilla flavored sugar *


• 5 large eggs


• 2 c. warm milk


• 1 T. butter for baking pan


• * Make vanilla sugar several weeks in advance: one emptied pod for each cup of sugar

1. Preheat oven to 450


2. Add prunes and rum to the seeds from the vanilla bean and let sit for at least 15 minutes to allow the prunes to absorb the liquor. If time permits, they may macerte for several hours.


3. Place flour, sugar, eggs in large mixing bowl. Beat with wire whisk until blended. While still beating, slowly add the arm milk, then stir in prunes with the rum.


4. Butter a straight-sided ceramic dish. Carefully pour the batter into the pan. Bake for 10 minutes, and then reduce to 350 and bake 25 minutes longer.


5. Serve the flan warm or at room temperature from the baking dish, cutting into wedges.

Far Breton @ Group Recipes

Back from New York

Wednesday night, midnight, touch down. Dan picks me up soon after...we talk on the way home and til 3 in the a.m. Woke up 6:30 a.m. Have been on the go ever since. It may start to catch up with me this weekend now that I have given myself 2 days to quietly stay at home. I'm looking for copies of all the Harkas that I collected for Joe and can't find them but, in the process, re-organized and made room for lots of loose things.

Yesterday Lara and Per brought his parents to lunch. They're here from Norway and it's my first time meeting them. They're awesome. Olav is very funny and kept us in stitches. Even Dan couldn't keep from chuckling and that's saying something.

I made one of my favorite meals: sopa majorca and chicken hazelnut feta salad.

SOPA MAJORCA (a very refreshing cold soup)
It is similar to one I had in a Santa Fe restaurant: Three Cities of Spain so I named it after theirs)

1 can tomato bisque soup (NOT plain tomato soup)
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 8 ounce can minced clams with the juice
lemon or lime juice to taste

Beat soup and buttermilk together with a whisk. Add remaining ingredients and stir.
Cover and chill several hours or overnight.

COOL CHICKEN PLATTER WITH MUSTARD SAUCE
Layer each serving plate in the following order, with the lettuce starting at the bottom. Amounts are to your own preference.

1 large leaf red leaf lettuce
a handful or 2 of a small pasta like penne or rotelle, cooked. (I sprinkle a little of the Mustard Sauce over it while it's cooling)
thinly sliced poached chicken breast
sliced Roma tomatoes
crumbled feta cheese
kalamata olives
drizzle Mustard Sauce over

MUSTARD SAUCE
1/2 c. white wine vinegar (try not to substitute)
1/4/ c. olive oil
2 T. Dijon mustard
1 T. dried herb (calls for tarragon but I prefer basil)

I wish I had pictures of the salad....it's quite beautiful.