Knives out!

I like to blame all my inefficiencies on not being allowed to be a boy scout. I consistently lose pine wood derby because of it (it has nothing to do with the aerodynamics of my dinosaur or fail whale car I'm sure). I'm not so good at camping. I'm going to go ahead blame them for my lack of knife skills too. I know, I know, I could have been a brownie. Let's face it, other than the cookies, girl scouts got nothing on boy scouts.

I did get to attend some boy scouts meetings since my brother got to participate and my dad often helped out. I even got to go when they learned about whittling. I asked my dad with puppy dog eyes if I could try too, I think I was 6 at the time, so he gave me his knife and soap. I cut myself immediately. No tears, just the revelation that knives are something I'm not good at. Soap and knife were taken away but my dad did make me a nice little soap whale.

Yesterday was the day I had to face my nemesis. After a brief demonstration we were asked to perform nine different knife cuts ranging from 1/2x1/2x3 inches to 1/16x1/16x1/16 inches. Heart palpitations. I took as long as possible to set up my station but at a certain point I had to get started. The chef instructor was walking around checking our work and I guessed at some point he would be wondering what I was doing. I started off by turning my potato into a nice little rectangle. Man, potatoes look like butter after you square them off! I started with the big cuts and gradually got smaller. I had to blanch a tomato and cut it up but luckily I am a pro at that after all that canning (I did learn a way to cut up the tomato real tiny without coring it and without getting seeds mixed in). Garlic was no problem because who hasn't minced garlic before. I also learned that if you cut the root end of an onion first, no tears!!

I got all my cuts done (first to finish even) and approved by the chef. The knives did claim their victims though. Two girls cut themselves, almost immediately. My time will come. I know this. I am just happy I didn't go first.

Camp Out!

This past weekend we had an awesome camping experience with friends. I am not the best at camping but the experience was seriously improved by the company we were keeping, the air mattress my dad lent me, the great weather and the lack of mosquitoes. And it didn't hurt that this particular group of people happen to be fantastic cooks.

For the first time ever while camping I had ribs, a sampling of the biggest steak I have ever seen, grilled veggies, risotto, oatmeal, bagels and lox, cookies, and bars, all in addition to the regular camp fare of hot dogs, chips, etc. My contribution was pumpkin scones with cinnamon/pumpkin spice icing and cheddar bay biscuits. Yup, like the biscuits from Red Lobster. You can find anything you want on the interwebs. Lucky for me I had leftovers of both that I popped in the freezer and now will enjoy at my leisure. Yesterday I made a breakfast sandwich out of one of the biscuits and today I had a scone with my morning latte.

My only regret of the weekend was not taking pictures. I took none. Fail.

In other news, today I learned to sharpen knives and on Thursday I will have to use them. Did you place your bets yet?

You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and there you have?

I'm having a good news kind of day.

Good news! I finally got an x-ray and it showed a fracture. This is good news because it means I haven't been wearing that clunky boot for the last 4 weeks for nothing.

Good news! It seems to be getting better.

Good news! I can start weaning off of the awful boot that has helped my foot feel an awful lot better.

Good news! Culinary school started today.

Good news! I don't have to wear the boot to school! They have strict footwear rules so I'm not sure how that would have gone over.

Also, today I received the best textbook ever. It is full of delicious recipes and I think I will start making them immediately. Immediately meaning this weekend. Or maybe tomorrow.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Place Your Bets

I can promise you three things. At some point in culinary school I WILL:
1. set something on fire ( they use gas stoves which terrify me). Let us just hope it isn't myself that I set on fire
2. Break something. I am super good at this.
3. I will cut myself. Maybe cut off a finger.

Start placing bets as to when these things will occur. I don't think I'll be doing much cooking the first week so believe in me and set your dates out a bit.

I had my orientation for culinary school today so these worries are fresh on my mind. Very soon someone will be giving me a sharp knife and asking me to cut things in a rapid fashion. Foolishness. Even though I am going to school for pastry and baking I still have to take a basic culinary class. It is one of the first I take so lets hope I don't flunk out immediately. I have been doing all this canning and food prepping lately in hopes of sharpening (hahahahahaha) my knife skills. I cut myself twice. And we have dull knives. I maintained all digit attachment, no worries (due to the dull knives).

In other news fall is here, officially. I am trying to celebrate the farewell to summer by using up the last of my heirloom tomatoes. We had blt's but my favorite use of tomatoes is to put them on crackers with mozzarella cheese, basil and balsamic vinegar. I could eat a mabillion of these. And I have.

I did it

I canned the farmer's market. All of it.

I also saw the movie Contagion over the weekend. Should a pandemic ever break out we will be well stocked. Or next time we get a blizzard, we will be ok. Or next time I'm hungry, I'll be able to find something. Or when zombies strike, well I'm not sure canned goods will help in that situation.

Have noticed how one project will inevitably lead to another? I had so many canned items that I had to clean out a kitchen cupboard to hold them all. That led to some major reorganization. Then I filled said cupboard with the canned items and I still have about a dozen jars of this and that without a home. That means we need to make additional storage in the basement. That means we need to clean out a basement closet and build shelves. More reorganizing. I will also have to make that space look cute or I won't use it (or less likely). More and more projects. Fall seems to be the right time for such endeavors.

Also, orientation for culinary school is finally happening at the end of the week. I have been talking about going to school for so long that it started to feel like it was just something I talk about, not something I do. Now it is going to happen for real. Emotions. All kinds of them.

Banana Cake

My cat loves it when I buy more jars.

I haven't done a lot on the baking front lately. I have made a decision. I decided to can the crap out of the farmer's market while I can (hahahaha, can). There is all kinds of fresh goodness available right now and it is going to go away, soon. Today's high is in the 50's I believe. In preparation I went to 2 farmer's markets this weekend and spent a lot of money. I intend to do the same this weekend.

So far I have made canned blueberries in syrup, red wine vinegar red onions and chili okra. Today will bring salsa.

Hoi An, Vietnam

I did manage to bake one item a couple days ago. Banana cake. I got the recipe from Luke Nguyen's cookbook, My Vietnam. I love Asian desserts so much. They aren't too sweet but they just hit the spot in a way nothing else does. I have been eating them all my life (thanks to my awesome Vietnamese second family). Earlier this year I was fortunate enough to travel in Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand. My only regret of that trip is not eating more dessert in Vietnam. I turned down the ladies with the tasty pastries every time. What was I thinking? I went crazy in Thailand but nothing compares to Vietnamese desserts. I guess I have to go back. As soon as possible.

Anyway, the banana cake was so simple and so delicious. It called for finger bananas, which are plentiful in Asia and a little harder to find here. I did track them down and combined them with a little sugar, lots of eggs, butter and condensed milk and some flour (recipe here). The result is banana cake. Almost like banana pound cake. This deceptive little number doesn't even let on to the amount of naughtiness it contains so we gave half away and should have given away more.

Hopefully I will be canning and baking more but my peg leg is still slowing me down and I made the poor decision yesterday to test my foot to see if it still hurts. Yup. Sure does. I have a really hard time waiting for things to heal. I feel the need to keep testing the waters. Not smart. Today will be a day of rest (after I make the salsa... and maybe try out pickles again).

Like a Bandit

That is how I made out.

All of my crazy canning lately has been for a purpose, several actually.
1. I have more veggies in the garden than the three families participating in the FSA(friend supported agriculture) have been able to eat. More cucumbers at least. I wanted a way to preserve the overgrow for a later time.
2. I like learning new things.
3. Winter is coming. Won't it be nice to open a jar of farmer's market preserved tomatoes or blueberries in the dead of winter? I'll let you know.
4. I signed up for a food swap event.

The food swap event happened yesterday. My friend and co-conspirator Miriam and I had no idea what to expect and we were very nervous. What if no one wanted our things? I am really not good about putting any products I make out there for the world to see and sample. I am very self-conscious and a perfectionist when it comes to my own product. I will never think it is good enough (this is going to be a huge obstacle if I become a pastry chef). Anyway, all of these fears gave me the sweats, that and the 90 degree weather.

For my first swap I brought carrot daikon pickles, peach lavender jam, carrot habanero hot sauce, mago chili butter, wasabi green beans and petite baguettes. I only brought two or three jars of each item because I had no idea if they would be popular (and I becoming a canned goods hoarder).

Luckily all my items went away with happy people and I returned home with their things. I got candied sesame walnuts, matcha rice krispie bars, cowboy caviar, fresh pasta, giardinara, concord grape jelly, ponzu sauce, leek soup with dill oil, chocolate cake pops, healthy truffles, mock watermelon pickles, ginger plum applesauce, taco seasoning, savory seasoning and a fresh herb bouquet. Miriam and I also traded our opened sample containers so I also got zuccini relish and tomato apple chutney.

The fresh pasta we used right away along with a baguette that I didn't bring to the swap. My husband made a delicious, fresh tomato sauce with the herb bouquet and tomatoes from the farmer's market. The rest of my bounty is being slowly munched on as I type.

I had so much fun at this food swap. I really want to do it again, and again, and again. I have a feeling it will become super popular and hard to get tickets in the near future.

Help

I may have gone canning crazy.












I don't have a lot to do during the day.


Don't judge me.

Waste not...

One of my book clubs recently read this book on food waste. I knew that ridiculous amounts of food get wasted everyday but I was not aware of the environmental effects that come along with food waste. Long story very short, food releases methane as it decomposes and methane is bad. Plus it is just wrong to throw away perfectly good food. This book changed me. After reading it I am much better about composting and trying to use all the food that I have in the house before I buy more. I can hear the book whispering as I'm about to wash food scraps down the sink. I see it on my shoulder as I am about to throw a banana peel in the trash. I feel it judging me when I think about going out to eat instead of eating what is in my fridge. I guess haunts me would be a more accurate description. This book haunts me.

The ghostly form of the book popped up while I was canning raspberry rosewater syrup yesterday. I found myself with a whole lot of raspberry pulp. The juice went to the syrup but the meat was left behind. I tried it and it was delicious, I couldn't just throw it away. Eating it plain didn't seem like a great plan. Mixing it into yogurt seemed boring. I decided to bake it into bars.

First I made a simple crust of sugar, butter, flour and salt. I pressed the crust into an 8x8 square glass dish and baked it for 15 minutes. Then I smoothed the raspberry bits over the top and baked again for about 15 minutes. When I pulled it out of the oven I spread dark chocolate chips over the top. Once they were melty I smoothed them out and VIOLA! Dark chocolate raspberry bars!

Thank you book ghost for helping me create this delicious dessert.

Do the Can Can

What can you do with such a beautiful bounty of vegetables? You can can. It is scary but I was assured by this book that it is not rocket science. It is some kind of science but no rockets are involved.

First things first, I had to acquire the right equipment. It actually took me about a week to find a stock pot that was the right size and also worked on our crazy induction stovetop. Target to the rescue (as usual) and I was ready to go (and also shaking in my boots). At first I didn't realize why I was so scared of canning but I developed a list:

• It is cooking. I love to bake but I am terrified of cooking
• It seemed fast paced
• There is so much to go wrong
• I won't know if something is wrong until I open the jar
• I may poison my friends
• I may poison myself
• I may burn myself
• The name doesn't make sense to me (you use jars, not cans)
• There is a lot of prep work involved

I decided to dive in and face my fears. Turns out it is a combination of fast paced moments but also a lot of waiting. There is a lot of prep work but with the right music on it is sort of fun. I have burned myself but that probably would have happened regardless. There is endless potential for disaster but that is life. The poisoning is still a concern but that is a risk we will all have to take. I promise to taste everything first. The name still bothers me though.

First I made some simple salsa with tomatoes from a friend's garden and jalapeños from my own. Not too difficult and not too scary. Next I made mango chili butter because mangoes were on sale at the grocery store. Other than peeling pounds and pound of mangoes, it wasn't too difficult either! Success!

Then came the pickles. I recently made refrigerator bread and butter pickles with cucumbers from my garden and they turned out great. I assumed that meant that I could use any old cucumbers for any old pickle recipe. Wrong. So wrong. I made spicy dill pickles and everything went along fine, until I took one out of the jar to taste it. It was floppy. It was soft. There are a million jokes to be had here but I wouldn't touch them with a foot-long floppy pickle. Yuck. Out they went.

It seems I have caught the canning bug. And it is labor day weekend so what a better way to celebrate than laboring over a hot stove full of jars?