category: food
Apple Butter Festival 2008I realized that I was getting some weird looks this afternoon in Grand Rapids, Ohio, at the Apple Butter Festival. Of course, I *was* wearing my Pump Up The Jam t-shirt from Hot Topic, prominently displaying a piece of toast with jam on each boob.
After discussing this unexpected attention with Aaron, he pointed out to me that I was "That Guy." You know. Don't be the guy who wears a condiment t-shirt to the condiment festival. Don't be that guy.
Not only that, but we purchased condiments at the condiment festival: three pints of apple butter (handmade in Grand Rapids, before an audience of onlookers), a jar of habañero pickles, and one small squeeze-bottle of peanut butter spread (made in Holmes County, Ohio, and which we had previously enjoyed on our 2005 vacation to Amish Country).
Three cheers for a diet which allows apple butter! We've never purchased apple butter in Grand Rapids before, since sugary goodness was taboo. Now, though, three or four tablespoons of apple butter is only one WW Point. Spread that on a toasty whole-grain English muffin, and you've got one tasty breakfast. Nom nom nom.
Found: Recipe for Monkey Bread
From a scrap of paper brought home from my previous job: a basic recipe for monkey bread:
Monkey bread -
cut biscuit dough into pieces
cover w/ sugar & cinnamon
place in bundt pan
melt butter (1 stick) & brown sugar
pour over biscuits & bake
Can't say this sounds too healthy... but I can say that it was quite delicious at the time.
Go Green: Buy Local
When I was a younger lass — say, in high school and college — I was a bit more environmentally conscious than I am now. I was really into recycling and buying recycled products, and my mother placated me by buying Green Forest recycled bathroom tissue and paper towels.
I also walked a lot in high school and college, but that was mainly from necessity, not so much from a sense of reducing my carbon footprint. Not that anyone knew what a "carbon footprint" was back in the '90s.
These days, I find I'm much less environmentally conscious than I once was. Recycling is more of a hassle than a given (except for donating to Goodwill, which is ongoing, mainly because I'm a packrat). Walking everywhere (especially to work) is just not feasible. I use more disposable products than I need to. Now, getting myself back to the environmentally-conscious side of things is more of a "what am I willing to do" gambit, kind of like dieting. What am I willing to give up? To change? Am I willing to adopt a slightly different routine?
This weekend, Aaron and I took a trip to a couple of local produce establishments to try the whole Buy Local concept. Thompson Farms, just a few miles from our house, was selling fresh strawberries — you can't get much more local than that! Granted, the hand-sorted high-quality quarts were $5 each, which is a little pricey, but they looked great. (They also had jam-and-jelly grade quarts for nearly half that price.)
We then visited Monnette's Market on Reynolds, also just down the road apiece. There we found produce that wasn't *quite* as local, but still more local than the friendly neighborhood megamart has, I'd bet. There were Canadian tomatoes, complete with a sign deeming them safe per the FDA. There were homegrown strawberries (not as ripe as the farm berries, but cheaper), and I can only assume that most of the produce was locally grown. We got some bell peppers, tomatoes, green onions, pineapple (yes, I know it wasn't locally grown), vidalia onion (also not quite local), and an impulse buy of some fat-free chocolate muffins.
So, our first foray into buying locally grown produce was relatively successful. We'll see if this is something we continue, or if it was merely an interesting excursion. Monnette's actually has some competitively priced deli items, too, so we might end up going back next week for more of our normal shopping.
Not sure what the next step in "reducing our carbon footprint" will be. I'd like to keep taking baby steps toward joining the revolution.
Attempt at Light Coconut Pie, Take 1
After picking up a recipe for Key Lime Pie at my Weight Watchers meeting last week, I decided to think of variations to the basic recipe to make it a coconut pie for my upcoming luau. After a little searching online, though, I found a recipe for Light Coconut Pie that promised to be just what I was looking for.
I assembled the no-bake pie this afternoon, ramping up the "light" part even more than the recipe said: lowfat graham cracker crust, Splenda instead of sugar, and Cool Whip Free (which just tastes like Cool Whip to me). After the pie was assembled and cooling/setting in the fridge, I did the math to see how many points one piece of pie would be.
Damn you, sweetened coconut flakes. Damn you to hell.
We were even at Claudia's Natural Food Market this weekend, and saw unsweetened organic coconut, and didn't buy it, thinking that it was a little over-the-top... and not realizing that Meijer only sold sweetened coconut. Turns out that the sweetened coconut flakes added the most calories to the pie overall.
One piece of "light" coconut pie? EIGHT points. That's one-eighth of a normal-sized pie. Not exactly "light" in my book, but certainly lighter than a normal dessert, I suppose.
Guess I'll have to do a little more experimenting, and try the unsweetened coconut next time. I'm sure I'll have a passably light coconut pie by luau time.
Quick Update
On my to-do list for this evening was posting more about the Japan Trip of 2007, since I'm running out of time to finish up with that before the next vacation. However, the other things on the to-do list took precedence.
I've rediscovered the joy of cooking, and spent a good part of this evening preparing food for the upcoming week. I cooked two cups of rice and portioned it out into six servings of one-third cup each. I made the Pureed Broccoli Soup recipe I read in this month's Women's Health magazine. Add to that the two single-cup servings of Three Amigos Chili I have stashed in the fridge from this weekend, and I'm loaded for bear.
Also on the agenda: a cardio workout with PUSH (quickly aborted ten minutes in, when the yoga-cardio chick started doing a V-step and some sort of jazz hands) and processing / uploading audio files from my Zen teacher's most recent retreat with his Zen teacher.
In the foreseeable future: Tomorrow is my second-ever Weight Watchers weigh-in and meeting. I have four more days of work before I get two weeks off. And I have only nine days to wait until I can see the sunny shores of Oahu!
I'll try to post some more substantive entries within the coming week. We'll see...
Old-Fashioned Dutch Apple Cobbler
I made this recipe on Sunday, and both Aaron and I declare it a success. Granted, I forgot one ingredient in the crumb topping — 2 Tbsp. cold water — but it still turned out pretty good.
It's not exactly low carb — OK, it's not low-carb at all — but it is lower in sugar than normal desserts, thanks to the inclusion of Splenda products. Plus, I feel better about my food in general when I know what's in it. No high fructose corn syrup for me, thanks, and make mine wheat flour.
Food Experiments: Mayonnaise
I don't remember where I got it in my head that I wanted to try to make my own mayonnaise. Might have been Alton Brown. Might have been my Cooking Club magazine. At any rate, it seemed pretty simple.
Tonight was the night I decided to go for it.
Attempt #1 began with two egg yolks, a cup and a half of olive oil, hot water, lemon juice, and seasonings. These items were poorly combined in my food processor, with oil poured in entirely too quickly, and the mayo never set up for a myriad variety of reasons. I even tried pouring it into the blender instead, to no avail. Batch #1 was a miserable failure, and went straight down the kitchen sink.
Attempt #2 began with a different recipe, from the book my Memaw bought me about a year before she died. Every time I have a stupid, basic cooking question, I crack open my copy of How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman, and I say aloud, "OK, Memaw, how do you make _____?" as I flip through the index. This time, Memaw and Mr. Bittman taught me how to make a basic mayonnaise — including the proper technique.
One whole egg, ¼ cup of peanut oil (as a basic neutral oil), 2 Tbsp of lemon juice, and identical seasonings went into the blender. Then I slowly, s - l - o - w - l - y added another 3/4 cup of oil as the blender blended.
And, holy shit, I had mayonnaise.
It's a little excessively lemony, and a little runny, so I think I know which ingredient to back off next time. That's OK, because I'd intended this batch mainly as a base for tartar sauce; but I do want to perfect the method and the recipe before I move on to something a little different. After I get the basic thick mayo downpat, my next version will use diluted vinegar instead of lemon juice, and will include some Splenda, for a more Miracle-Whippy type of mayo.
My homemade mayo will never be like Hellmann's, but it's fun to make — and maybe I can stretch out our "real" mayo just a little and spice things up by having something a little different in the fridge.
Booze As Part Of A Balanced Diet
A couple weeks ago, I discovered this great site that has nutritional information for all kinds of alcoholic (and nonalcoholic) beverages. The website is drinksmixer.com, and it's not just a good "nutritional" resource, but it also has the ever-helpful Cabinet feature. Tell it what you've got, both booze and "normal" beverages, and it tells you what you can make, either with only what you have or with one or two more ingredients.
I have come to an unfortunate conclusion, though. I dislike Applejack. It wasn't very expensive, but I do wish I'd managed to sample it somewhere before procuring an entire bottle. After this, I'm not sure I'd be a fan of any kind of brandy, if apple brandy isn't floating my boat. It's just too damn strong; the first sip always takes my breath away. Yeah, maybe I'm a lightweight. I'm OK with that.
On the same night I bought my bottle of Applejack, though, I tried the Classic Irish Whiskey Flight at Claddagh Irish Pub. My original plan had been to sample some scotch, but the Irish whiskeys had more detailed descriptions in the drink menu, being that Claddagh is an Irish-style pub and all. So, I got three small shots of Irish whiskey, and I must say that the Jameson was my favorite of the three. The waiter made comment that a woman who likes Irish whiskey is a good catch, which amused both Aaron and myself.
I'm really not much of a drinker, and whenever I get to thinking about alcohol too much, it makes me feel like I'm some kind of lush. Which I know I'm not. Still, it's weird to be thinking about what kind of alcohol I'd like to try, in the same way I'd think about different ethnic foods I'd like to try; especially knowing that I only really drink once every six months or so, and very rarely with the goal of "getting drunk."
Yes, I have half a shot of the Applejack sitting here on my desk. And, yes, I'm going to finish it. Will I have anything else tonight? Probably not.
Homemade Thai Rules.
Made some Thai Red Curry with Shrimp and Pineapple for dinner tonight. Actually, it was green curry. The Cooking Club recipe called for red curry, but Aaron couldn't find red curry at Meijer yesterday.
Once we find some red curry, I'm totally making this again, because it was SO good with the green that I'm curious how much better it would be with the red.
Now that I have green curry paste and fish oil in my cupboard, I'll be on the lookout for more Thai recipes that I can make and serve over brown rice. I can't believe how yummy that turned out. And, since I didn't try to halve the recipe, Aaron gets to have it for dinner tonight when he gets home, and I get to have it for lunch tomorrow, and then someone gets to eat the last Gladware containerfull of homemade Thai.
*swoon*
Ohayocon7 Retrospective, Part I: Fried Bologna Sandwiches
[Posted on Flickr by dianaschnuth].
I haven't blogged about the last few cons Aaron and I have attended, mainly because I prefer to save my opinions and narratives for Aaron's podcast. This time, though, there are enough other random, un-anime things that deserve mention that I think I'll go ahead and blog about the weekend. And I will begin at the beginning, with fried bologna sandwiches in Waldo, Ohio...
read more...Tonight's Main Course
Homemade shrimp and cucumber sushi. I haven't rolled sushi in years, but this turned out relatively well.
I took the less-pretty pieces (shown) for myself, and put the better-looking ones in the fridge for Aaron when he gets home from work. He'll be surprised; we haven't made sushi at home in probably almost three years.
For future reference: I cooked one cup of brown rice in the rice cooker, then added two tablespoons of rice vinegar and two tablespoons of Splenda after the rice cooled. That yielded two rolls. Two strips of cucumber and six shrimpies per roll. It actually turned out a little sweeter than I'm used to, so I might have to revise the recipe next time I try this.
Peanut Butter Chicken
This is a very interesting recipe. Especially with my substitutions.
The recipe called for:
* 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
* 1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cut into 1 inch cubes
* 1 medium onion, sliced
* 7 fresh mushrooms, sliced
* 1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
* 1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes with juice
* 3/4 cup chicken stock
* 3/4 cup smooth peanut butter
* salt and pepper to taste
I had no onion, so I just did without. I substituted canned mushrooms for fresh. I substituted chunky salsa (medium) for diced tomatoes. I substituted chunky PB for smooth.
I could tell that the salsa added some heat to the dish that was probably never intended, and the person who created this would probably smack me or something if they saw how I massacred their original recipe. Still, it was pretty good. I'll have to get the real ingredients and try it again sometime to share with Aaron. (I don't like to inflict my cooking attempts on him the first time I ever make a given dish.)
Does anybody know if peanut oil (particularly Chinese peanut oil) is expensive? I'd like to try cooking the chicken in peanut oil next time, to get the peanut flavor going on even more.
Yep... I think I like it.
New Traditions
It appears that, in addition to keeping alive the Christmas tradition of sausage cake, I have inadvertently begun a new tradition.
Both this year and last year, I had to run out and purchase an ingredient last-minute. Both years, it was a vital ingredient for the brown-sugar glaze (although it hasn't been the same ingredient I was missing). Both years, I attempted to buy the ingredient at the Quik Mart just down the street, but was foiled and had to drive seven minutes to Kroger instead — for one singular ingredient.
Hopefully, I can maintain the tradition of the sausage cake not sucking.
Oh, and in case you aren't privy to the joys of baking with meat, it's apparently a Welsh recipe handed down through the Cook family. As far as our family recipe goes, I'm sworn to secrecy, but this one will give you an idea of what it's all about. It tastes kind of like a heavy spice cake. With a thick glaze / candy coating of brown sugar, reminiscent of maple candies. Except made with brown sugar instead of maple syrup.
OMG, so good. Sausage cake IS Christmas to me.
Homemade Adult Beverage
Take this recipe, substitute Splenda for white sugar and Splenda Brown Sugar Blend for brown sugar, and you've got a seriously kickass homemade amaretto with a fraction of the sugar.
Note to self: Next time I make this, I must remember to use less Splenda Brown Sugar Blend. It really is twice as sweet as regular brown sugar; they're not kidding around. Also, reading the ingredients correctly and adding 2 TEASPOONS of vanilla would make things better, as well. *facepalm*
Still, though, I *heart* my new Homemade Amaretto And Caffeine-Free Diet Coke. :-)
Butternut Squash Pie, Mark II
Some of you may recall that, last Thanksgiving, I attempted to make a butternut squash pie. It was pretty yummy, although it didn't set up very well due to my forgetting to add the eggs.
This year, I remembered the eggs. Not only that, but I made the edges of the pie crust all pretty, and sprinkled the top with allspice.
But I'm taking the pie to Thanksgiving in Westlake, so I can't eat it for a day and a half. o.O
Mind you, I should have been podcasting tonight instead of baking, since my next podcast has already been promised to the listenership as "The Thanksgiving Survival Guide," and it's going to be pretty much useless if it comes out on Wednesday night before Thanksgiving...
Massive Update on Stuff In General
I took my final half-day off of work today so I could go to lunch with two women I used to work with. We caught up on each other's lives (mainly work-related), reminisced about the Bad Old Days...
24 September 2002: Just Another Day...Hey, for once I worked an 8-hour day! Yeah, we were doing so well that we actually took a one-hour lunch and everything. Just for reference, yesterday I worked a 14-hour day. Seriously. My co-worker and almost-supervisor, Loni, worked an hour and a half more than me, since she came in at 6am. Damn, that sucked. Makes the normal 8-hour day seem like a luxury instead of a burden.
...and ate some yummy Mexican food. And despite my lack of a lunchtime walk, I still got my podcast-listening time in, since a.) our lunch meeting was a half hour south of where I work, and b.) I bought a Kensington FM transmitter for the iPod(s).
When I got home, I had intended to work on the LSM site, as it needs some stuff added and updated (like audition info). Instead, I ended up finishing off the cosplay skirt. Yes, indeed, the skirt is complete! Well, except for possibly adding some velcro for good measure, and the final ironing before we leave for Youmacon in two weeks.
Don't worry, I'll definitely post pictures of me and Aaron in costume. :-)
What else...? Oh, yeah, tonight's dinner. I know, blogging about what I made for dinner is certifiably lame, but this was really good. Ten-Minute Szechuan Chicken. It's really easy (even I can do it), and really good... but, now that I think about it, I think I'm going to put the recipe on my next Low Carb Lifestyle podcast, so I'm not going to publish it here yet. If you download this old-school DOS recipe filing program, though, I could be convinced to e-mail you the database file that this fantastic recipe came from. (Thanks, Uncle Pete!)
Yesterday, I told the Acting Executive Director of LSM that I've decided not to march next year. He was understandably disappointed, but he completely understood, which is cool.
I'm sure there's other stuff I should write about, but that's the overall rundown of everything I wanted to mention. Now I'm going to go work on the LSM page. Yay for contact info and audition info and pictures? w00t.
Spicy Catfish Nuggets
I just created something yummy. Forgive the lack of measurements — I'm my Memaw's grandbaby, and tend not to measure when I can get away with it. :-)
Catfish nuggets, unfrozen
2 Tbsp butter
Cayenne pepper
Lemon pepper
Ground ginger
Salt & pepper
Preheat over to 350°F. Melt butter in a medium-sized bowl. Combine spices in a second bowl or dish. Dip catfish nuggets one by one in melted butter, then in spices, then place each in a glass baking dish. Bake at 350° for about 30 minutes, or until flaky.
For dipping: in lieu of tartar sauce, I combined mayonnaise with lemon juice and the drippings from the nuggets after they were done. They're flavorful enough that they really don't need any sort of sauce, though.
I ended up putting in more cayenne than I really needed, so my nuggets were super-spicy. I also think I may have left them a tad underdone (I was really hungry and growing impatient). Apart from that, though, I think I'm onto something here.
Potential Culinary Disaster
Since my department is having a potluck tomorrow, I went to Meijer over my lunch today to get ingredients for the banana pudding I was planning to bring. Our second car is on the fritz, so I knew I wouldn't be able to hit Kroger after Aaron left for work, like I usually do on Potluck Eve.
I just went upstairs to unload the ingredients from the shopping bag... and realized that I bought not vanilla pudding, like the recipe calls for, but white chocolate.
I'm going to make the banana pudding anyway, with white-chocolate-flavored pudding as a base.
I hope this doesn't suck.
Butternut Squash Pie
I just finished baking a pie. It's my first attempt at pie-baking from scratch (OK, the crust was store-bought), so I'm not exactly sure how it's going to turn out... but it sure smells good. Since I have such faith in my wifely kitchen abilities (note sarcasm), this pie is NOT going to Westlake for Thanksgiving.
However, the three pies Aaron plans on baking later this week will be.
We got volunteered to bring dessert for about 15 people or so. *rolls eyes* Aaron had been hoping we'd get asked to do rolls or green bean casserole or something. No such luck. ;-) And, get this: Uncle Pete (who's hosting Thanksgiving this year) is apparently going to call ME about the pies later.
Riiiiight. Let's wait until we see whether the butternut test pie comes out OK, then we'll talk.
...If this pie ends up being pretty good, would you like me to post the recipe?
Edit, 10:30pm: The pie is quite yummy. More along the lines of sweet potato than pumpkin, and distinctly squashy, but still quite yummy. I'm content.
You Might Think I'm Crazy...
I've just discovered the most wonderfully unexpected treat.
You know the pickled ginger that comes sliced in a jar? The stuff that's been sitting in our fridge for months now because we can no longer eat maki, but we don't want to pitch a full jar of expensive sushi ginger? Yeah, that's the stuff.
Take a slice out of the jar and suck on it.
It's the greatest thing... first, it's all sweet and delicious—that would be from the 3 grams of sugar per ounce of ginger. OK, so I'm a (slightly) bad monkey. Anyway, after you get used to the sweetness, the pickling finishes dissolving or melting away and you're left with the hot spice of the ginger to chew on. It's like two treats in one!
...See, I told you that you'd think I was crazy.
Yum.
My place smells so good right now.
First, I lit one of the amaretto candles when I got home from work — actually, it's the candle with eggnog-scent leftovers in it, and Iadded the amaretto that wouldn't fit in the sundae cups, plus a new wick. So, walking a few feet from it, you can smell amaretto... which, surprizingly, smells pretty good as candles go. Much better than I'd expected. Then, I started baking my low-carb-brownies-from-scratch again, in preparation for tomorrow's monthly Birthday Treat Day at work. (I love my new department.) So, after you walk through the amaretto smell, toward the kitchen, you're instantly barraged with the smell of chocolate. I'm loving it.
It's a little early to make a prediction, since they're still warm out of the oven, but I think the brownies are passable this time. I'm going to leave a couple home for Aaron, and take the rest to work. If everybody thinks they suck, well, that's their prerogative, and I'll get to take them back home after the day's done. But I don't think they suck. No more so than some people's "regular" brownies do.
Oh, and did I mention that I made hazelnut eggnog this weekend? It's surprizingly simple... as long as you don't overcook it. Then the eggs start to cook, and it gets a little lumpy. Yes, I speak from experience. Over the past few days, it's been sitting in a saucepan in the bottom of the fridge — "getting happy," as Emeril would put it. Tonight, I took it for a spin in the blender to smooth it out and whip it up, and am now drinking my last glass of eggnog with a dash of nutmeg. (Aaron's glass is in the fridge with plastic wrap over it.)
I am somewhat ashamed to admit that I had a moment of weakness today at work. All I brought for lunch was two string cheeses, and I didn'twant to go to Jimmy John's again... so I succumbed to the snack machine and bought a pack of Soft Batch cookies. Again, as with my last cheat a couple months back, I wasn't terribly satisfied, despite thinking long and hard about my choice. The chocolate tasted too sweet, and I got a brief but powerful blood sugar spike at my desk afterward. Not shaky, but lightheaded. I knew exactly what it was as soon as I felt it. Let that be a lesson to me... again. It's just not worth it. Heaven forbid I ever decide to "treat" myself to Olive Garden.
Anyway, they've got me actually doing my real job at work now. At least, when there's enough work to split between two people. I ended up actually reading the online instructions for the web forms I use, surfing the Sky intranet, e-mailing HR about my incorrect W4, anything I could do to stretch out my time at the end of the day. Especially being new to the position, once I figure out how to do something, I can't force myself to do it s-l-o-w-l-y just to "milk the clock," because I feel the need to prove that I can do what they've given me with no problems.
So, today's schedule was:
- 8:00am - 8:30am: Turn on computer. Bullshit.
- 8:30am - 10:00am: Highlight reports. Ask Judy what she does with them.
- 10:00am - 10:30am: Training session in Tom's office. Learn how to do my job.
- 10:30am - 12:00pm: Correct missing birthdates in client information database.
- 12:00pm - 1:00pm: Lunch
- 1:00pm - 2:00pm: Look through reports, filtering out non-personal accounts.
(A company or non-profit organization can't have a birthdate, silly.) - 2:00pm - 3:00pm: Research Cash Letters for Angie in Deposit Support.
- 3:00pm - 3:30pm: Look through reports again. Seem busy when boss comes by.
- 3:30pm - 3:45pm: Break.
- 3:45pm - 4:15pm: Staple reports for Angie in Deposit Support.
- 4:15pm - 5:00pm: Read job instructions. Surf intranet. Look at payroll info.
And that was my day. Woo-hoo... exciting.
But, you know what? I'm OK with that. Especially since the Post Office has been fucking over Lockbox all this week, not getting them all their mail in the 9:30 mail run, so they don't get their full work to start until 1:00pm. They stayed until 9:30pm on Monday, I'm not sure when on Tuesday, and 6:30pm last night. Loni comes in to my area every now and then, since I'm on her way to the other end of the building, where the restrooms, break room, kitchen, and all that are. She had an interview yesterday (incidentally, for one of the positions I'm helping cover for, the one where I hunt down Cash Letters), and she said it went well. I'm crossing my fingers for her and hoping for the best. She's been with the company for something like seven years, with Lockbox for five (since its inception), and it's about time she moved on from Lockbox.
Angie (the one in Lockbox) was hired in from temp to permanent, effective Monday. (This past Monday, I think.) I'm kind of glad for her, but then again, I kind of feel bad that she's going to be stuck there with shitty hours. Just like I was when I was hired in, actually. I talked with her in the hallway the other day, and she said in no uncertain terms that she plans to stay in Lockbox only for the required six months, then post out of the department to another position. Seems to be all the rage lately... Mary did that earlier this year. (Remember Mary? The middle-aged woman who fell asleep and ran her car into a ditch after a particularly long night in Lockbox?) I've been trying to find an appropriate job to post into for the past six or seven months, ever since I was eligible to post out. Now Loni's looking to post out, and has been for several months herself.
Remember those Ethnic Studies and Sociology classes we had to take in college? Remember the section about immigration? Push factors vs. pull factors? I think that almost every other department loses people to new jobs via pull factors—the other job has a draw to it, something that makes you want it. For Lockbox, though, people leave due to push factors — kind of an "anywhere but here" mentality. Yeah.
And in closing... as I write this entry, the BGSU/Miami game is 35-17 Miami in the 3rd. Sigh.
