I Started Cooking . . .

I started cooking and filled the pot, then I poured the contents into a bigger pot and filled that one too! Now it's three gallons of tomato, beef, chicken, sausage, brown rice, and vegetable soup!

My New Favorite Store

here.

The Largest McVitie's

Job lot has had these lately and I am hooked on them. They're not too sweet ~ perfect with tea and coffee.

The Largest McVitie's Digestive

The largest digestive biscuit in the world was made by McVitie's in the early eighties - and what a monster it was. Almost a metre across and over 6cm (2.4 in) thick, the holes for this one-off whopper had to be made with a broom handle. It was transported from our factory in Ashby in a special presentation case to London for display at a garden party. There are no reports of a correspondingly large cup of tea waiting for it at the party but we're sure a good time was had by all, nonetheless

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

One must ask children and birds how cherries and strawberries taste.
-Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Chinese New Year

Year of the dragon. Read here.

Turnip Facts

Like rutabaga, turnip contains bitter cyanoglucosides that release small amounts of cyanide. Sensitivity to the bitterness of these cyanoglucosides is controlled by a paired gene. Subjects who have inherited two copies of the sensitive gene find turnips twice as bitter as those who have two insensitive genes, and thus may find turnips and other cyanoglucoside-containing foods intolerably bitter.
-Wikipedia

Ginger Snap Obsession!

Okay I'll admit it, I am obsessed with making gingersnaps. I depleted my stash of powdered ginger so at 4AM when my dog woke me up to eat, I decided to make a batch of gingersnaps using freshly grated frozen ginger root and a pinch of cocoa powder. They came out great and I sent my husband off to school with a batch to share.

Chef Lester Esser

Meet the chef here.

Sewing Soakers for Skaters

Instructions here.

Dream

I dreamed I made a birthday quiche for a friend. Popping out of the surface were two hands holding a camera made of carved bread to look like a photographer was taking pictures.

When I woke I heard the hum of a firetruck engine outside my window. The red lights were flashing the curtains and buildings pink but no sirens. I stood at the window and watched eight firemen carry a young woman away on a stretcher.

Asian Market

My new source of Napa cabbage, garlic, ginger and Chinese Broccoli, and sesame oil, and more! Located next to the Wooonsocket Harris Public Library.

Asian Market
475 Clinton St, Woonsocket, RI
(401) 766-8163 OPEN 9:00 AM - 9:00 PM every day!!

Lorna Sass

Fabulous cookbook author. Read all about her!

Chinese Soup and Ice Fishing

I love the winter. I sharpened my skates last night.

My neighbor Steven was just telling me all about the joys of ice fishing. I want to experience it.

I just found GOLD~ a frozen container of clear golden stock chicken or is it turkey stock in my freezer? It wasn't labeled but it is good. I am making a vat of Asian vegetable soup out of it ~ Napa cabbage, Chinese broccoli, mushrooms, chopped fresh ginger root, fresh garlic, lots of fresh scallions, and simmer. I stopped in at the Asian Market on Clinton Street next to the Harris Public Library. I was able to tie up Lily to the big metal sign post and run in and buy vegetables while keeping my eye on her through the gigantic plate glass windows.

I feel extremely LUCKY in spite of migraine. Wearing sunglasses helps, and making soup helps.

Sharp!

Lemay's Sharpening
Knives, skates, lawn mower blades etc.
Located in an adorable setting; a very tidy house basement. It's been in operation for 40 years!!
Hours: Mon - Thu, 10am - 9pm; Fri, Sat, 10am - 7pm; Sun, 10am - 5pm
206 Saint Barnabe St, Woonsocket, RI
(401) 769-1095

Gramercy Tavern Gingerbread

The use of leavening in a cake is first recorded in a recipe for gingerbread from Amelia Simmons's American Cookery, published in Hartford in 1796; I guess you could say it is the original great American cake. Early-19th-century cookbooks included as many recipes for this as contemporary cookbooks do for chocolate cake. This recipe, from Claudia Fleming, pastry chef at New York City's Gramercy Tavern, is superlative—wonderfully moist and spicy.

Ingredients

* 1 cup oatmeal stout or Guinness Stout
* 1 cup dark molasses (not blackstrap)
* 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
* 2 tablespoons ground ginger
* 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
* 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
* Pinch of ground cardamom
* 3 large eggs
* 1 cup packed dark brown sugar
* 1 cup granulated sugar
* 3/4 cup vegetable oil
* Confectioners sugar for dusting
* a 10-inch (10- to 12-cup) bundt pan

Preheat oven to 350°F. Generously butter bundt pan and dust with flour, knocking out excess.

Bring stout and molasses to a boil in a large saucepan and remove from heat. Whisk in baking soda, then cool to room temperature.

Sift together flour, baking powder, and spices in a large bowl. Whisk together eggs and sugars. Whisk in oil, then molasses mixture. Add to flour mixture and whisk until just combined.

Pour batter into bundt pan and rap pan sharply on counter to eliminate air bubbles. Bake in middle of oven until a tester comes out with just a few moist crumbs adhering, about 50 minutes. Cool cake in pan on a rack 5 minutes. Turn out onto rack and cool completely.

Serve cake, dusted with confectioners sugar, with whipped cream.

Cooks' notes:
- This recipe was tested with Grandma's brand green-label molasses.
- Like the chocolate decadence cake, the gingerbread is better if made a day ahead. It will keep 3 days, covered, at room temperature.

-Gourmet Magazine

Bread: Quicksand Method

This week I made my sourdough bread with a ton more water - what I call quicksand style batter. No kneading just a quick stir with a wooden spoon. It rose the same day in my boiler room (80 degrees) and was a complete success. This will become my new method.

Ginger Snaps

I am addicted to these. I have made four batches in 2 weeks. I love them with a half teaspoon of freshly ground pepper in the recipe and extra ginger. The flavors bloom over days if they last that long.

I am not quite ready to put away the holiday cookie tins. The cold wind and 8 degree forecast had me starting up another batch of cookies. This time it's ginger snaps. Years ago my favorite children's book editor told me that he had heard from an in-law who had worked in a cookie factory, that ginger snaps were made from spicing up all of the leftover cookie dough scraps mixed together at the end of the day, including the bits swept up from the floor! I loved the image and have never forgotten it.


Ingredients:
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup corn oil
1/2 cup dark molasses (not blackstrap)
1 egg
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1-2+ teaspoons ground ginger (or finely grated fresh or frozen ginger root)
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon cocoa powder (optional)
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg (optional)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
In a large bowl, mix together the brown sugar, oil, molasses, and egg. Combine the flour, baking soda, salt, cloves, cinnamon, and ginger; stir into the molasses mixture. Roll dough into 1.5 inch balls before placing them 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets or cast iron skillets or baking stones.
Bake them for 7 minutes in a preheated oven. Cool on wire racks. Store in an air-tight jar or tin. They are delicious with hot tea.

-adapted from Mom's Gingersnaps All Recipes.com

Teaching Cooking and Baking

My neighbor is wonderful artist Father Onisie Maror from Romania.

See his art here.

I hope to be teaching bread making + cooking in his church kitchen!

C'est la Vie!

I just pumped up my bike tires and rode my bicycle a few hilly miles in the windy cold sunshine with a tin of my home made gingersnaps. I was traveling to meet a friend. When I arrived, nobody was home. There was a UPS package on the front porch. I rang front and back doors. I thought c'est la vie! I pedaled home. When I arrived our cold house seemed warm compared to outside. I was hungry. I made a peanut butter on toast sandwich and cooked up overripe pears and bruised apples with raisins, cinnamon, grated ginger, and a little honey. It was delicious.

Moonlight Wieners

My favorite neighborhood joint is Nagla's Moonlight Wiener's on Rathbun Street. Ask anyone in Woonsocket and they know the place. It's open all the time and is popular among the out of towners too. The wieners are superb and the restaurant is adorable, clean, and friendly. We were hosted by Nagla herself and her lovely staff. I had a business meeting luncheon there yesterday and we didn't realize how long we'd been until we looked up and it was dark. Three hours had gone by. Nagla is also a dog lover and runs out to greet Lily nearly every morning when we walk by. She gives Lily a wiener and Lily is in heaven.

Ginger Jitters

An acute overdose of ginger is usually in excess of about 2 grams of ginger per kilogram of body mass, dependent on level of ginger tolerance, and can result in a state of central nervous system over-stimulation called ginger intoxication or colloquially the "ginger jitters".

-Wikipedia

Lights On, Lights Off

For some reason I always turn off lights when I enter a room and I find myself turning them on as I leave. Mostly I feel I don't need light so I turn them off to save electricity. When I have a smashing headache it lessens the pain to have dim light or total darkness but then I don't want to leave the house dark for my husband or dog or cat. They need the light to get around so I turn the lights back on as I am leaving.

Glass Mug

I bought a curved clear glass tea mug for a dollar at Job Lot as consolation while waiting to get paid from a client. I love this mug because when I fill it with cold tea it is cloudy until the tea heats up and then becomes clear. Then I add milk and it forms clouds and I drink it and then the glass is cloudy from use. Then I wash it and it's clear again. So much entertainment from a simple tea mug.

True Story of Bread

Yesterday morning we were out of bread! I started a two loaf sourdough batch that was so simple:
I used six to seven cups of medium grind whole wheat flour, one tablespoon of kosher salt, and three cups of water and a cup of my sourdough starter. I mixed everything in a bowl with a wooden spoon, covered it with a wooden cutting board, and set it in the boiler room on top of the huge metal boiler box, out of reach of the cat. By nightfall it had risen and had become glutinous. I brought it upstairs to my kitchen and punched it down and mixed it with my hands pulling it out of the bowl in one swoop like a magician's white rabbit trick and divided it in two. I shaped it placing it in two standard greased loaf pans. I then set it to rise in the ice cold kitchen overnight covered with a dish towel. I baked it this morning in a preheated 450 F oven temp for 35-40 minutes. The loaves were done when they sounded hollow when tapped on the bottom.

Rosie's Variety

Years ago when we first moved in my friend Merrill from Arizona visited me with her seven year old son Adam. Our urban neighborhood was nothing like where he had ever lived. We had an old guy who ranted from the porch on the top floor across the street. He was rumored to be a Vietnam Vet who was probably suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Poor guy. We knew him. His name was Normand. He cackled continually shouting things we couldn't fully comprehend. My friend's son, kept awake all night, was fascinated. The next morning he told his mom he wanted to go across the street and order a sandwich from the variety store on the ground floor. They came back an hour later. They loved the place! It's a time warp in there, Adam said.

Are Scented Products Toxic?

Articles here.

Readers Comment

When I traveled in the Netherlands once I was amazed at how healthy the people were, from young childhood to old age. The food quality there was outstanding. It was virtually impossible to find junk food anywhere and in the time I was there I saw only one child with a video device out of hundreds I saw happily playing. The parents were also lean and healthy, outside in all weather, cycling, walking, playing with their kids.
NYT, Young Obese and Getting Weight-Loss Surgery

Judith Jones

I am reading The Pleasures of Cooking for One by Judith Jones. It's excellent and inspiring! I had the pleasure and honor of working with Judith when she hired me to illustrate Cooking With Children by Marion Cunningham and Easy Family Recipes from a Chinese American Childhood by Ken Hom.

Bob's Apple Cake

Bob's recipe for the AMAZING apple cake he made at Christmas comes from Martha Day's Complete Baking London, Anness Publishing: 2000. p. 238

He told me It's an easy recipe but the trick is that sugar and flour are measured by weight not volume. I made that mistake once and 8 oz of flour dry measure is not 8 oz by weight! Also the recipe calls for a ring mold but it will make 3 - 4x8 loaf pans. A half recipe would probably fill a 8" round cake pan.

Sue's Pecan Pie

My sister in law Sue made a magnificent pecan pie this Christmas based on The Joy of Cooking recipe but using barley malt and maple syrup in place of corn syrup. It was amazing!

I found this fun blog about the joy of pecan pie while poking around today.

From Sue:

Here's the recipe, I made it again after Christmas, and I used a cupcake tin to make little one-serving pies. The only thing is, you need more crust than a regular pie.

First, toast 2 cups of chopped pecans.
I just put them on the tray in our toaster oven at 300 degrees for maybe 10 minutes. You can smell when they're done, you don't need them to toast much. You can do this even a week ahead.

Then make or take out of the freezer a store-bought pie crust (that's what I use) and brush the bottom with egg yolk.

Preheat the oven to 375.

Whisk until blended:
- 3 large eggs
- 1/2 c maple syrup
- 1/2 c barley malt (warm it up if it was in the fridge)
- 2 Tb. honey
- 5 Tbs melted butter
- 1 tsp vanilla (or 1 tsp of dark rum)
- 1/2 tsp of salt (omit if you use salted butter)

Stir in the nuts.
Warm the pie crust in the oven until it's hot to the touch, then pour in the filling. Bake 35 to 45 minutes, until the edges are firm and the center seems set but quivery, like jello, when the pan is nudged.
Let cool on a rack for at least 1 1/2 hours. Serve with whipped cream.

You can add 6 oz. melted chocolate (decrease the sweetener by half and the butter to only 1 Tb) to make a chocolate pecan pie.

Lauren Agnelli

Immensely curious about the world, I wasn’t squeamish about trying a dog biscuit, and I kind of liked them. They weren’t as good for snacks as those hard, crunchy Bavarian pretzels that mom sometimes had around the house, but dog biscuits weren’t bad!!
-Lauren Agnelli, Words and Music

Brie

I would love to find a fabulous brie to go with the bushel of ripe pears we were given.

Gone

My favorite hole in the wall wholesale produce store in the red light district of Woonsocket is now closed. Where will I get my fresh-off-the-Tourtellot truck at 6 AM cauliflower? I will start scouting the little family-owned Asian Markets.

Refreshing

A refreshing admission about food.

Peanut Butter Cookies

It is 20 degrees out and 40 degrees inside! I am wearing my hat and scarf indoors. Even my dog is wearing her coat and scarf indoors. I'm going to make these cookies today for warmth, aroma, and nutrition. I consider these home made power bars.

1/2 cup or corn oil (or butter or margarine)
1/2 cup natural peanut butter
3/4 cup brown sugar (or combined equivalent of molasses and white sugar)
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt (or more to taste)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/4 cups rolled oats
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup raisins + chocolate chips + dried cranberries combined.(optional)

Bake at 350 in a preheated oven on a dry cast iron skillet or baking stone or baking sheet for 12 minutes.

Presto Pressure Cookers

I can't say enough good things about my Presto pressure cooker. I have had mine since 1978. It was the very first kitchen appliance I bought when first living on my own, and it's still going strong! If you love beans or brown rice or beef stew in 17 minutes I urge you to rush out and get one!

Vat of Soup

I found a bucket labeled lamb and beef stock in my chest freezer and decided to make a soup. I boiled a pound of rinsed and chopped collard greens and I cooked a pound of soaked white beans and I cooked a few pounds of barley and added all of this together in my stock pot and seasoned it with Adobo and olive oil and salt. Delicious!

Ginger Snaps

I am not quite ready to put away the holiday cookie tins. The cold wind and 8 degree forecast had me starting up another batch of cookies. This time it's ginger snaps. Years ago my favorite children's book editor told me that he had heard from an in-law who had worked in a cookie factory, that ginger snaps were made from spicing up all of the leftover cookie dough scraps mixed together at the end of the day, including the bits swept up from the floor! I loved the image and have never forgotten it.


Ingredients:
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup corn oil
1/2 cup dark but not blackstrap molasses
1 egg
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt (less if using white flour)
1 teaspoon freshly ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2.5 teaspoons ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/3 cup white sugar for decoration (optional)


Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
In a large bowl, mix together the brown sugar, oil, molasses, and egg. Combine the flour, baking soda, salt, cloves, cinnamon, and ginger; stir into the molasses mixture. Roll dough into 1 1/2 inch balls. Roll each ball in white sugar (optional) before placing 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets or cast iron skillets or baking stones.
Bake for 7 minutes in preheated oven. Cool on wire racks. They are delicious with hot tea.

-adapted from Mom's Gingersnaps All Recipes.com