Cooking techniques have given me far more pleasure during my lifetime....than bookkeeping, studying the balancing of equations, driving about in even the most luxurious of vehicles...even dining in 'fine' restaurants, or having the skill set to change my own motor oil.......When I was in High School, home economics really appealed to me....but, at 'that time', was a 'girl thing......NOT for 'boys'.....One might think this would have been a 'case' for protest....but, NOT in 1961, when MEN had to take to the 'ball fields and courts'.......Girls were encouraged to make omelets.....Boys, to cut out sheet metal parts and work drill presses!...... The way 'out' of this cycle of gender crap was 'mechanical drawing'......where, at least, I could draw elevations of houses and demonstrate skills at rendering machine bolts.......But...go figure!.....I never had a job, when young, cooking...... the 'drafting' course DID ge...
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Booze-soaked Sponge.......
another 'find' ....at the back of the fridge.....a jar of maraschino cherries that had been marinating for a couple of years..in Cointreau......I felt compelled to pour the Cointreau over some leftover sponge cake, add a dollop of whipped cream and surmount this bread pudding, of sorts, with a boozy cherry........
My kind of 'breadsticks'.......raw sugar-crystal-covered, fruit-filled croissant sticks........waiting for the coffee to brew.......
I'm ready for some "Tea with the Dames".......I'd be the cute, young man with the sugar-covered energy sticks.......with my favorite four senior lady actors, and "Dames", Joan Plowright, Eileen Atkins, Judy Dench and Maggie Smith......
A REASON TO KEEP A KITCHENFUL OF CONDIMENTS AND A BEAUTIFUL SET OF CHINA.......
50 ingredients went into this afternoon vegetarian salad of fresh noodles with small white and black beans, okra, vindaloo, curried and roasted sunflower seeds, drops of green dragon sauce, tamarind and date chutney & fig & olive bread rusk crisps over a mixed green salad with sesame/ginger/tamarind vinaigrette, chopped black cherries and tart grape slices........tasty enough for the Gustav Klimt salad plates!
BACON AND SHARP CHEDDAR CHEESE SOURDOUGH SANDWICH, FRIED IN BUTTER........
AN OPPORTUNITY TO UTILIZE A BEAUTIFUL KNIFE AND FORK AND AN ANTIQUE LINEN LAP NAPKIN......MAYBE A NECKERCHIEF WOULD SAVE YOUR SHIRT AS WELL AS YOUR PANTS.......AND ROLL UP YOUR SLEEVES......THIS TASTY TREAT IS REALLY MESSY!
GRAZING WITH FONDANT POTATOS IN MIND.......
what's better than a 'halfed, smashed, 'herbed' and pan-fried' red potato, topped with cilantro/sour-cream... and tabouleh? A 'tasty treat' ...every hour or so.....has supplanted two or three 'complete meals' each day.......this human's stomach does not like to be 'empty'....it likes to be kept 'busy' take '2'.....with roquefort/asiago cheese sauce, sprinkled with hot harissa powder and the leftover chopped parsley, quinoa and diced tomatoes, marinated in garlic oil...ground yellow, red and black peppercorns and freshly-ground Oliver & Taylor Tuscan cinnamon, rosemary and sea salt.....again, iron skillet-cooked in clarified butter......
TACO CHALLENGE.....SNACKING, WITHOUT A NET IN ONE'S LAP.....
Now, ladies.....without bending toward the plate......or showing eager, open salivating facial orifices.....a 'thumb & index finger' challenge.......then, gloves back 'on'.....time for some afternoon croquet.....
VITAMIN 'A' OVERLOAD, BUT LOWER IN CALORIES & HIGHER IN NUTRITIONAL VALUE THAN THE MOST POPULAR FOUL 'PART', THE 'BREAST'......'OFFAL' is not 'AWFUL'....
A rare afternoon snack.....chicken livers, rolled in organic white corn grits, thyme, rosemary, granulated garlic and onions, chervil and parsley, ground orange pepper and sea salt.......food product cost, $0.34! liver, contrary to what I was told in 8th grade "Health" class, is not particularly good for us, but I absolutely love it......with ketchup.....these were on sale at the grocery for $0.29/lb, five years ago; however, with increasing popularity...who'd a thought it?....now, they are $2.99/lb.......
SWEETNESS IS ALWAYS BETTER AFTER SOME BITTERNESS..........
FIRST, EAT YOUR BRUSSELS' SPROUTS....... THEN........DESSERT!
Fish heads, pretty little fish heads.....eat 'em up...but, when in culinary delusion land.....it's all about those fish 'eggs'......what's 'better' to do at 4 a.m.? My stomach spoke, in its 'rumbling way'.....and told this kitchen witchdoctor what to 'do'....plate up some fish eggs, fresh from the sturgeon's belly.....
then, revitalized...by 5 a.m.......take those 'feelings' to the Fabric......then, alas, distracted by innovation, i stepped on my last pair of 'working' eyeglasses.......before threading the needle, whose eye' I cannot see, now...... But, even the 'blind' must eat! Well....I CAN see well enough, without those glasses......to make a Gumbo....to 'color-match' the two 'fish egg' dishes....... then, a 'turn' toward Japan.....voila! a 'trip' from New Orleans to Toyko....because I just discovered an old Nonsuch Album of Japanese Koto music....so, an easy-enough conversion from a Cajun wooden bowl to some 'uptown' lacquerware...... and the addition of some leftover shrimp sashimi,.....and a sweet potato chip....
Sliced, Fried and Tossed
Kumato tomatos, alternating with deep-fried polenta cakes & mint/coriander chutney with a mixed green salad, sprinkled with Roquefort crumbles, yard scallions and viscous red balsamic vinegar & walnut oil......