Friday, November 30, 2018

"...one may smile and smile and be a villain!"

Shakespeare is remembered for the plays he wrote but most people never read them in their entirety. Yet we live in a world that still contains smiling villains and encompasses the treachery and power that Shakespeare describes. So we may remember lines and themes and neologisms more than the entirety of his works, but we understand completely what he means when we see Vladimir Putin and Mohammed Bin Salman grinning and high fiving each other at the G20.

Petulance Personified

Trump is at the G20 summit in Argentina, no doubt making friends as usual. All the press people noted that he walked by MBS and Vladimir Putin without exchanging greetings but the press must be the only ones who ascribe meaning to such a petulant gesture. We know he is not angry with either of them as all of his public pronouncements have been in the, "Maybe he did, maybe he didn't" or "he denied it strongly" realm. So not greeting them can't signify displeasure. More likely to be, "You guys know everyone will give me a hard time if I greet you" column-- Apparently holding his breath until he turned blue worked for him when he was younger. Whiny and sulky are his main personality traits.

Tuesday, November 27, 2018

Who's The Dummy Now?

The title of this entry references a movie that most people never saw but it expresses my exasperation with the language of Donald Trump. I like words, I like language, I like how various languages express culture. Trump often says things or tweets things that are moronic and I don't mean moronic in that they express dumb ideas but that they are moronic in that he expects people to listen and/or believe him. So he starts calling the media "fake news" and then claims that other people call the media "fake news" and then says that everyone is calling the media "fake news" because by that time his original statement has been repeated ad nauseam so in a very narrow sense he has circled back on his own language to make people believe that what he says is the consensus.

Today he declaimed that there are people in the migrant caravan who are called "grabbers" who pick up children along the way, apparently meaning that literally, to try to get a more favorable outcome when applying for asylum. He repeated multiple times that these people are called "grabbers", that other people call them "grabbers", that he heard the term from someone else but that "grabbers" is colloquially understood in Honduras and El Salvador.

Oh come on! Who is the dummy now? These are people who speak very little English but somehow use English language words to describe desperadoes in their own countries. Trump not only is moronic, he thinks you are too.

Turkey Mushroom Soup

Many people end up making turkey soup from the carcass of their Thanksgiving bird. We do that as well but we usually then jazz it up as turkey mushroom soup. Taking the broth that you make from your turkey bones (if you have never done this just put the carcass in a large pot with water to cover, carrots sliced, onions sliced, celery sliced, a good handful of parsley, one or two garlic cloves sliced, and a small number of peppercorns just whole). Bring to a boil and then simmer for at least three hours. You then strain off the solids and chill the broth so you can get the fat off the top. You can pick the turkey meat off the bones and put it in the broth but my husband always thinks that meat is old and tasteless at this point so we save some meat from the dark and light portions to add when we add the sliced mushrooms in the next step.

Then put in a bunch of bay leaves. These can be fresh or dried but a good number is what gives the broth a good winter aroma and taste. Add the stems of one package of fresh mushrooms chopped up and simmer for at least 30 minutes. Check for seasoning at this point. It might need both salt and pepper. About 30 minutes before eating, bring the soup up to simmer again and add all the mushroom tops sliced, and about 1/2 cup of dry sherry cook for 20 minutes, add up to 1/2 cup of heavy cream and heat through. Now you can thicken this with the classic egg and cream or you can use cornstarch or a roux made by melting butter and stirring in flour or a combination of these methods. Some people like their soup thicker and some like it thinner so how much you do is individual. Do warn people that there are bay leaves so they don't accidentally swallow a whole leaf but they are pretty big and visible so it shouldn't be a huge problem.

Monday, November 26, 2018

Another Paragary's Dish

Don't pay any attention to the title because I did not ever ask Paragary's for this recipe so I could not be intruding on their business, but in the course of writing about Paragary's noodles previously, I had occasion to look them up. Online references abound but what stood out from most of the mentions was that folks wanted to know about the mushroom and cheese salad.


Since I had that during our visits to Paragary's when we lived in Sacramento, I had already come up with my own version.

First make a nice lemon vinaigrette with the juice of one lemon, one small garlic clove crushed, some fresh ground pepper, a teaspoon of Dijon mustard, a half teaspoon of good salt, and about a half cup of very good olive oil. The ratios are loose since the juice of one lemon varies, but the oil should be about four times the lemon. Stir in some chopped chives or finely sliced green onions and about a tablespoon of finely chopped parsley.

Slice very fresh white mushrooms into 1/4  inch slices (should be easy for quilters),  If you are prepping ahead of time (don't do this too far ahead but a couple hours is okay if...), squeeze a little bit of lemon over the mushrooms to prevent oxidation. Any more than about a quarter of a lemon will cause it to wilt the mushrooms so be judicious, and toss generously.

Cut some very good Swiss cheese (Emmenthaler or good Gruyere) in to matchstick pieces and toss with the mushrooms. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve--remember that two hours is the maximum time before serving.

Wash some nice salad greens. This can be to your taste but we like red leaf lettuce and butter lettuce and sometimes arugula. Arrange this on salad plates.

Toss the mushroom mixture with the vinaigrette--use your own judgment about how much to add but err on the light side. Place the mushrooms and cheese on the greens and serve.

Sunday, November 25, 2018

Another Leftover Day

Even though we only cooked a very small turkey, there are still plenty of leftovers of everything except the brussels sprouts. That's because it is easy to limit the number of brussels sprouts prepared and they don't really lend themselves well to leftovers unless you just pickle them. Today my husband is making turkey cottage pie from an old Gourmet cookbook recipe. In essence you just chop up the stuff you like such as carrots, onion, and celery (typical start for so many dishes), then add whatever leftover meat, dressing, and gravy you want depending on how much you want to make. Don't use leftover dressing if you put oysters in it. Cook over low heat until nicely mixed and nicely warmed. If you used an oven proof pot, top with leftover mashed potatoes, drizzle with butter, and bake at 375 for about 20 minutes until the potatoes are warmed and browned. If you didn't use an ovenproof pot then put the saucy mixture in an oven dish deep enough to hold everything and top with the mashed potatoes drizzled with butter and bake. Very satisfying on a cold day and you get to use your leftover cranberry sauce on the side.

Saturday, November 24, 2018

Paragary's Noodles

Paragary's is now a restaurant chain in Northern California, but when I ate there it was just one restaurant near CSUS. This is a recipe inspired by a meal I had in the mid to late 80's when my husband and I lived in Sacramento. The original meal was presented by the server as a way for the restaurant to use up leftover duck back before even foodies didn't necessarily eat duck. I never relied on a recipe to make most foods other than baked goods. I cannot say that I am gifted but I can certainly discern spices and other ingredients in a dish and then either replicate that dish or adapt it to my own use.

As the original of this dish was already leftovers, I knew that it would be good for a variety of leftover meats or even for vegetarian or vegan applications. Since I had the original duck version we have used the basic idea for duck, pork, chicken, turkey. It could also be beef though you couldn't expect the beef to be rare. The recipe is based on the Chinese recipe of Noodles Both Sides Brown which as far as I know is like bouillabaisse--there are as many recipes for that as there are houses in France. So you can start with a standardized recipe for Noodles Both Sides Brown or you can use these guidelines but the results will be good regardless.

No matter what meat you have left over, cut enough for your meal into pieces that can be picked up by chopsticks--approximately 1 inch by 2 inches but cut fairly thinly. Put in a bowl and add 1 tablespoon soy sauce, 1 tablespoon mirin or rice wine, 1/2 teaspoon sugar and stir. Leave to marinate for at least an hour.

The fun part is deciding what vegetables you use. We always follow the Paragary's lead by starting with strips of fresh eggplant fried quickly, Chinese cabbage, snow peas, shallots sliced thinly or yellow onions sliced thinly, shiitake mushrooms or other fresh mushrooms, and on and on. Go with what you have in the refrigerator but keep it fresh and crisp.  But you can go all American by using celery and onion and broccoli. You get the idea.

Depending on how many people you expect to feed you will need one or two packages of  Wel-Pac dried Chow Mein Noodles. Cook according to package directions.  Drain and toss with some salad oil to keep it from sticking together.

Seasoning sauce--Mix together 2 tablespoons soy sauce, 2 tablespoons mirin, 1/2 teaspoon sugar, some fresh grated ginger, one clove of garlic crushed, and some sriracha or other Asian hot sauce to taste.

At this point you can go read a book until about 15 minutes before you are ready to eat. Put your noodles in  one fry pan with a little oil and brown on the bottom over medium heat. At the same time, start heating up/cooking your other ingredients, starting with the meat. When your noodles are browned on one side, flip them to the other using a plate or a pizza pan or something to help you flip the noodle pancake. Then just let that brown while you proceed with the other ingredients. When the meat is warmed through add your onions and cook until they are soft--they don't have to be brown, then add your other vegetables in the order they take to cook. For us that means the mushrooms, then the Chinese cabbage, then the snow peas. Each ingredient takes about 90 seconds. When you have done that, and your noodle pancake is ready on a serving platter--at this point it should simply slide out of the frying pan without flipping--add your seasoning sauce and stir for about another 90 seconds and then pour it over the top. Serve at the table giving everyone some noodles and some other stuff.

If you have any questions about this you can look up a Chinese Noodles Both Sides Brown or add a comment to this entry and I will reply. This is a leftover meal that rivals the first serving.

Thursday, November 22, 2018

Prep Work Done

The pecan pie comes out of the oven in five minutes. The potatoes are peeled and waiting. The brussels sprouts are washed and sliced. The stuffing is made and chilling until it is time to put it in the bird. My husband made the cranberry sauce and peeled the onions for baking. I made the broth for the gravy yesterday. The rest of the day awaits but I don't think I want to do more sanding or priming today. Thanksgiving dinner is more about organization than it is about cooking skills but the house already smells delicious.

Give thanks for all that is good and hope for the rest to be better. Happy Thanksgiving.

Monday, November 19, 2018

We Give Thanks

This will be the first Thanksgiving in many years that we haven't eaten with our sons. We did move away from them but that freed them to open up their own calendars instead of depending on ours. That was fine with me because even though I liked cooking for Thanksgiving, I had grown to resent the massive cleanup that no one seemed willing to help with. My husband always insisted on doing the dishes but none of the sons or their wives/girlfriends helped.

We will still be roasting a turkey with all the trimmings because we like the leftover meals almost as much as the original. There is turkey cottage pie, club sandwiches, Paragary's noodles, chop suey, turkey soup. My husband always says I am a genius with leftovers but that's probably because my mother wasn't. Her leftovers were just that--warmed up originals without being creative. Sometimes I cook the first meal simply to have the second.

But my sons will scatter to the winds and that is a good thing. Neither my husband nor I ever wanted to return home after we left for college--most of our friends were the same and live in very different places from their parents. For some reason the next generation stayed even though they weren't the generation that still lived in the basement and had mom do the laundry. Our sons moved out of the family home but they didn't leave Salt Lake City. We didn't have the same ties to Utah that they did so we left. This Thanksgiving one son is in Sicily rock climbing and one son is helping out at Hell's Backbone Restaurant in southern Utah to close out their year. Good for all concerned.

Proper Decorum

Last week a federal judge ordered the White House to return the hard pass access to Jim Acosta, CNN's White House reporter, because Acosta had been denied due process. The lawyer representing the White House claimed in court that Acosta was rude and boorish at which statement CNN's attorney laughed because he said that Trump was always the rudest person in the room so what standard was being demanded. So the White House announced that they would come up with standards for all of the press that would need to be followed if one wanted to remain in the room.

Naturally the boor in chief showed his class by tweeting that " Little Adam Schitt..." shouldn't complain about acting AG Whitaker not being confirmed by the Senate.

Keep it classy, Donny.

Tuesday, November 13, 2018

Family Heritage

Some folks have a family heritage of service and some don't. Trump comes from a long line of draft dodgers so it's no surprise that he found a little rain too much to take on Armistice Day (Veterans Day). Just how Macron and Merkel and all the other dignitaries made it out to the cemetery remains a mystery as does Trump's real reason for skipping out since the story has changed at least three times. Then when he did make it home in time to honor the service of others as presidents before him have done through visits to the Tomb of the Unknown or even hospital visits to Walter Reed, he stayed at the White House watching Fox News and blaming Democrats for the dive in the stock market.

Now he has a new term, "Presidential Harassment". No one really seems to know what that is but Trump thinks he can make it into criminal charges. Jim Acosta and CNN are suing him and his aides for their action in taking away Acosta's press access. We could make a new Trump doll--yank its chain and it whines and pouts.

Friday, November 9, 2018

My Mohs Surgery

I had my Mohs surgery this morning. As far as I know everything went smoothly. The dermatologist didn't indicate any particular special issues or anything.  If you want to know what to look for in this particular basal carcinoma or what the surgery and outcome look like there is a video online of a man who had the same lesion and the same surgery and resection. This video is not for the faint of heart but if you think you have skin cancer and want to know what it looks like the very beginning shows the lesion clearly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xK6kvcMcnwc

Friday, November 2, 2018

Malted Milk

My husband has always been a huge chocolate malted shake fan (for those not from the US that's a blended ice cream and flavor drink). When I read that malted flavor was the new fad taste in kitchens (good because I loathe kale) I told him and we jokingly talked about how a chocolate malted could be translated into some other dessert. One of the chefs featured in the fad article made lemon meringue type dessert but with vanilla malted milk on top. That didn't appeal to either of us, perhaps because we like regular lemon meringue pie and lemon shortbread cookies and couldn't imagine the addition of the malt.

But we ended up making a chocolate malted French silk pie--seriously rich but very delicious and a malted chocolate icebox cake. My grandmother actually attended the Fanny Farmer cooking school in Boston when my grandfather's company sent him up to manage their plant there. I don't remember her ever cooking anything, not even toast, but my mother always talked about her chocolate icebox cake.

You don't need me to give you recipes for stuff that's out there but just think about how you can boost a dessert if your husband likes malteds.