The Vacuum bit the dust

I guess it was inevitable with 4 dogs in the house. My poor vacuum cleaner had been seeing more action than at any other point in it's life. The belt finally blew out. Michael is currently out looking for a replacement belt.
Well, this just sucks...

Holiday cookies complete with recipe

Well, I've completed my first recipe upload. These are cookies made without butter. I found the recipe with Crisco Shortening sticks.  These are taste-tester approved.

Packages in the mail!

Some of my favorite gifts come via airmail. This arrived the other day from my brother in Vienna, Austria.


It's an advent calendar with each day containing a toy from the popular European kids treat , "Kinder Uberraschung." (btw: spell-check thinks Uberraschung is a misspelling of Maraschino)
Each time I've visited Europe I've tried to gorge myself on these treats and the toys they contain have never ceased to entertain me. I still remember the first one my big brother got me when he was stationed in Germany. Now that my little brother lives in Austria, I have a steady supplier. I can't wait until December first now! Miranda is now wearing her holiday toenail colors. That's Spinner on the ground underneath her trying to sneak in and grab some attention and possibly score a belly-rub.

Grok Rocks!

Tonight we went out with Michael's friends D&H. We drove into St. Paul for some Russian at Moscow on the Hill. (I swiped the pic from their website. I had woefully forgotten my camera at home) I loved this restaurant. The atmosphere was simple and unpretentious. There was a wandering accordionist. The menu was nothing fancy, but the dishes were rich and flavorful. (Plus they had Pilsner Urquel on tap!) I had the Siberian dumplings which were so simple and so awesome. Mike had a rich beef stroganoff smothered in thick gravy. For and after-dinner drink we shared a glass of grok, which is a warm red wine punch. (If anyone has a recipe for this stuff, please forward it my way, I would be most grateful!!)
After dinner we set out for a perfect dessert. We went to Latte Da for a huge slice of triple decker Turtle cake and Dulce de Leche cake. Both were rich and presumably contained more calories than our entire meals. I had a Swiss Mint Latte, complete with an Andes Candy suspended in the whipped cream topping. next door to the coffee shop is a Pottery Barn, so we had to indulge and scan the holiday decorations. We left there with a lot of ideas for our Christmas dinner event.
After eating we retired to a local Brunswick recreation center for a few rounds of darts and a chance to unwind. In all, a great evening.

Happy Black Friday

I have just partaken in one of the strangest rituals in our society. I wanted to experience something bizarre, unnecessary, and capable of inflicting extreme discomfort to all the millions of participants it attracts annually. I'm talking about Black Friday shopping of course.
I've been up since 4am, trying to psyche myself up to go out there and join the battlefield. Finally at 5:30, I mustered up enough courage to brave the cold and the crowds and out I went. Kohls had opened at 4am, and next door to it, Target, was opening at 6am. I walked into Kohls with one item in mind. When I found it, before taking it down from the shelves, I tried to find the end of the line. It was wrapped around the back of the store and was almost back to the entrance. This was not good. It actually freaked me out enough, the idea of standing in line for an hour for one item, (which they had plenty of, and were running no risk of running out of before the end of the sale tomorrow) so I bolted, empty-handed. I got to Target 20 minutes before the doors opened. The line outside the doors was already 200 people deep. I had a gameplan. Again, I only wanted one item. I stood there and froze in the 15 degree pre-dawn morning air and waited. And waited. Time stretches out a little more when it's below freezing. When the doors opened one enthusiastic shopper let out a whoop and everyone filed in. Here's where I learned a few things:

1. Never get a cart if you can avoid it. Bring friends if you need arms to carry things. Carts slow you down. I was able to nimbly maneuver through the cart traffic jam on my way to the checkout.
   
2. This is no time to be afraid to ask for directions. If you're in elecronics and there is a store clerk standing there, it is vital to ask them where to find your specific desired item. This will save valuable time if you're after a popular item, which in this case, I was.
   
3. Abandon slow moving check out lines quickly. The guy fussing slowly over the credit card key pad will not be done in an acceptable period of time. If the lane next to you opens up, Run!

So that's it. I pulled my car into the garage at 6:07am, with the most important item on my list purchased and a firm belief that I can get the other big ticket item for it's sale price after the hub-bub has died down. Next year I will scan the sales fliers better and if I want more than one item, I'll map out a course in the store. This was definitely a bizarre experience.

Now, about Thanksgiving:
Michael and I tag-teamed the pies this year. I made all the crusts and he made most of the fillings. This is his pumpkin egg-nog pie. I copied the leaf design from a Martha Stewart template.
Here we have Apple and Pecan pie. I thought it was adorable that Michael was amazed that the only filling in an apple pie is apples, cinnamon and sugar. I think he was under the impression that I made a rich elaborate sauce when I made an apple pie. Both of these turned out excellent.
The show stopper was the orange cranberry sour cream tart. (Pardon the plastic wrap, this picture was taken after it was assembled and ready for transport.)

We were also tasked with bringing rolls. We used the Fleishmann's 60 minute rolls recipe, and we made 2 batches. Next time we might make the rolls a little bigger, but they were more moist and chewy than store-bought and that was appreciated, which makes all the effort completely worthwhile.

Taking a break from doing nothing.

Since hubby has been away I haven't been cooking. Last night I made spaghetti from a box and jar. The night before he left we were too busy to cook because we were at my SIL's to drop off our bulbs in her root cellar. We stopped for some absolutely awesome curry on the way home.
Today I've been addressing Christmas card envelopes. I know, I know, it's too early to even discuss the holiday, but if I don't get this stuff out of the way early I get painfully bogged down later on. There's so much to do. Lots of decorating, baking, gift making, etc. Plus we're hosting Christmas dinner for the extended family.
Anyway, I've also been doing some deep cleaning in the house. I've been tearing apart our bedroom because with 4 dogs sleeping in there each night with us, it gets pretty scary quick. I washed the comforter cover and I thought the poor dryer would choke on all the dog hair. That's what we get for letting the dogs use it as a bed on warm nights.
The trees have lost almost all their leaves here in the neighborhood. There was a quick little snowstorm yesterday, but today has been warm (42F) and foggy. A good day to catch up on cleaning.

Recipes coming soon

Hi all!

Just to let you know, I've been working on a way to upload my recipes to a separate website which i will then add a link to in the blog posts. This keeps the recipes handy in one location and it doesn't bog down the blog entries with long posts.
If you're curious, this is what I've got so far. I'm doing all of this in plain html so bear with me. It's a slow and painful process and I've got a long way to go.
Michael will be out of town next Sunday through Tuesday, so I might be able to sit down at the computer for enormously long stretches of time and get this accomplished. Wish me luck!

Panettone, my new favorite bread

This stuff was so fun to make. I got the recipe from Martha Stewart's Christmas Cookbook.
The recipe in the cookbook called out much smaller paper bags, but I only had lunch bags available, so rather than 12 bun-sized loaves, I made 4 meal-sized loaves. I have to say, buttering the paper bags was gross. I used a pastry brush but my hands got very slimy in the process. As a side note, they've felt surprisingly soft and I haven't needed moisturizer since.
I studded the loaves with chopped dates and craisins, rather than raisins and apricots. We have one raisin aversion and one severe apricot allergy in the house, which compromises a lot of holiday baking now that I'm learning more about traditional European baking. However, since I've discovered dates, all is well.
It turned out to be a moist, flavorful, delicate bread with a slight citrusy flavor (due to the lemon zest) and occasional fruits. It's a heavy egg bread, basically. Upon further research, I found out this is a traditional Italian bread served on New Year's Eve with Sparkling wine. I'll have to make another batch for New Year's then!

The way to a man's heart is through a bypass

Occasionally a girl just has to remind her hubby that she can be daring. A surefire way to get him to stop dead in his tracks is to ask, "Should I put sauteed onions or bacon on the blue cheese burgers?" It was as if time had frozen as he contemplated the utmost severity of the question. Bacon was concluded due to time constraints.
The burgers are a favorite around here. They're a tried and true Paula Deen recipe. Just some blue cheese and butter surrounded by plain ground beef and cooked in butter in a cast iron skillet. God bless Paula Deen for bringing rich fatty foods cooked in cast iron back into the mainstream. You go girl!


I love this picture. Spinner looks like the Flying Nun and Patch blinked. So cute!

The flowers get put to bed

Today the weather was just perfect, so we decided to finish up some outdoor chores. Michael mowed the lawn and then we went to Lowe's to buy some peat moss to pack away the Cannas, Dahlias and Elephant Ear bulbs that needed winter storage.
In the above photo, from left to right, you can see the bushel of tall orange blossom Cannas (the purple tubers), then the Dahlia bulbs(the brown ones), and then the smaller red blossom Cannas(the white tubers).
Michael made this box out of 4 pieces of scrap lumber and some wire cage material for the bottom. We then lined the crate with an old sheet, put down some peat moss and then back-filled with bulbs and then covered them again with more peat. He installed a divider to keep the orange Cannas and Dahlia's separate from the red Cannas. It's important to know which are which because the red ones are shorter than the orange, and it would not be good to get them mixed up and accidentally have the red ones wind up in the back of the flower bed. Here everything is all wrapped up and ready for winter storage. It amazes me that it all started like this:...and then turned into this:

Pork chops with Mandarin orange sauce

This is just about everything you'll need to make this dish if you want the plain version. I started with this simple recipe and expanded on it, but we'll discuss that later. The way i originally learned this recipe is to take 2Tbps vegetable oil (I used safflower because it was what we have on hand in our goofy kitchen) . Heat the oil over medium high heat and add pork chops.
Heat pork chops about 3 minutes on each side. The goal here is not to cook the meat through, but to sear the outer sides. As we all know, searing meat helps keep the juices in while cooking and helps you avoid that piece of shoe leather that pork often threatens to become.
After you've seared both sides dump the can of drained mandarin oranges overtop, sprinkle liberally with ground ginger and a smidgen of black pepper and lid. Cook over medium-low heat for the next 45 minutes. Remove pork chops from skillet along with the few pieces of oranges that remained intact. If you stop at this point, you've got the simple recipe. I wanted to do something more with the remaining oranges in the pan, so I started improving here:
To get a good mandarin orange sauce, add 1Tbsp honey, 1Tbsp butter, and slowly add 1/4cup water with 1Tbsp cornstarch whisked in (to avoid clumps- make sure the cornstarch and water mixture is completely smooth!) Keep stirring and cook over medium heat to desired thickness. Sprinkle with a little additional ginger if desired. The plate is ready for a bright green side dish. I recommend steamed broccoli.


A note about buying pork chops. As everyone knows, the death knell for pork is dry flavorless thin cuts. Another rule of thumb for any meat buying strategy is: the more frequently the meat was touched at any stage during processing, the more chance it had to get contaminated.
That's the reason we love Sam's Club as our butcher. We buy big quantities of unprocessed meat. We buy bulk ground beef that hasn't had that final "pretty" grind (especially important for the safety conscious) and in this case, we bought a whole pork loin. The price was less per pound and all we had to do was slice chops to our desired thickness and freeze them. This also yielded a pork loin tip roast (seen in the beets beets beets entry.) Better price, thicker cuts and a roast. We have a smug self-satisfaction when we see the exorbitant price of meat in grocery stores. Don't do it! Buy the 10Lbs log of beef for 20 bucks and then come home, put it into ten freezer bags and save yourself 20 bucks. (It's a lesser fat content too, can't beat that!)

I take requests!

Recently I received a request for my Butternut Squash Bisque recipe. I promised both the recipe and a photo tutorial:
First cut the squash in half lengthwise and scoop out all the guts. Place on a baking sheet cut sides down in a 350 oven for one hour. (I recommend cutting the thick section into at least 2 pieces. Mine did not cook fully) Reserve the seeds and fibers and place them in a saute pan with 2 Tbsp butter, a dash of pepper and one onion diced small.
Cook for a few minutes until onion is soft, stirring constantly. Add one cup of chicken broth and bring to a boil. Boil for a few minutes and then simmer over medium low heat for about a half hour or until thick. Strain seed mixture into a food processor or blender. Push seed mixture through mesh to extract as much pulp as possible. (This is where all that rich flavor lies)Remove skin from squash and add cooked squash to food processor. Pulse until mixture is well blended. Once a smooth consistency is achieved add 1/4 cup heavy cream and pulse lightly.

I also made pork chops with a mandarin orange sauce, but I'll add that recipe later. It's late and I need to get going. I'll complete this entry later.
Let me know what you think!
Here my husband decided to help with cleanup, so he took the blade out of the food processor and let the dogs clean the bowl. Then he had to clean the dog's muzzles. *sigh*

A few milestones

First thing this morning I heard something that sounded like rain. I opened the window and saw big fat snowflakes, almost like sleet, covering the roof. I took this picture when I took the dogs out. Yup, it's that time of season again.
Secondly, I got my braces removed! I've been on cloud nine ever since. I love the feel of my "new" teeth.
However, the combination of the two, (the snow and no braces) will have me looking like this for the next 6 months. (Hey Hazel, remember the hat?)I have to say, one of the things I've been looking forward to the most is one of my favorite childhood treats, the Pearson's Salted Nut Roll. Several years ago, one could find this particular candy bar amongst the shelves of candy bars in any grocery store or drugstore. Somewhere along the line, it was no longer available in my area. I found it again when Roz and I visited Colorado in 2002 and I gorged myself on them there. Upon moving to Minnesota, I've discovered they are produced right here in St. Paul! Unfortunately due to my braces I could only salivate from a distance. Poor Mike put up with several whining episodes from me as we passed them in the grocery store check out lane. Last night he came home from work with this:Isn't he sweet?

salads and a vet appointment

I've just made a Waldorf Salad and a Seafood salad and I took Miranda to the vet to have a Urinary Tract infection diagnosed.
All this before noon.
I lined a stainless bowl with leaves of Boston lettuce and then i nestled the seafood salad inside. I topped it off with 2 lemon halves cut into a fan.
The Waldorf salad didn't get quite the snazzy presentation, but I used both Braeburn and Granny Smith apples to give it a fun red and green coloring.
Poor Miranda has been having accidents in the evenings while we're watching TV. They've been happening more frequently and we're concerned it might be psychological. The vet said she has a few crystals so she's on anti-biotics and we'll recheck her in ten days after the medication is done.
Sure, just after we get one dog off of medication, we get another one on medication. Patch's ear infection cleared up and he's doing much better.
We were anticipating he'd have a tummy ache this morning because he finished off all the oil in the skillet that i had used to fry the chicken for our Cobb Salad last night. I went into the bedroom to fold laundry and 2 minutes later Patch walked in licking his chops happily. I should have known better than to leave the oil out to cool. Our fears that we'd be up all night with him begging to go out every few hours were unfounded. He has once again proved himself to have an iron stomach. I'm sure he'll have a nice glossy coat now...

Kitchen Kennel's Rating

I got a G rating because I only used the word "Crappy" once. I'm sure it didn't scan all the old entries. I'm sure I've used other swear words before.

Carpenters Curls

I was looking for a Borscht recipe within the cookbooks I have on hand. I was paging through a Czech cookbook, hoping to find something close to Borscht, but as I scanned over the cookie recipes, I stopped dead in my tracks. There were about 6 pages filled with the easiest to make and most tempting looking recipes I had ever seen. The one I couldn't overlook was called Hoblovacky, or "Carpenter's Curls." It has three cookie ingredients and one ingredient for sprinkling on top and it takes about 15 minutes to make them. I set aside everything else I was working on, temptation had gotten the better of me in this case.
It wasn't until I had a finished product that the name made sense. They are called "Carpenter's Curls" because they look like planer shavings. They are extremely tasty and disappeared quickly. The anise seeds add a light licorice flavor. The recipe is in the comments section.

Beets Beets Beets!!

If a person gets to choose their own personal utopia, mine would be filled with Harvard Beets. The color, the aroma, the flavor is all so beautiful, dramatic and fantastic, I could live surrounded by Harvard Beets and I'd be ecstatic. How could one not love something so bold and colorful?
Last night I made a pork roast with roasted potatoes and a side dish of Harvard beets. I made a quick gravy from the roast drippings (to appease my gravy-loving husband) and we had a sweet Riesling wine as an accompaniment. Aren't these Beautiful beets?
They were so much fun to boil, peel and cut. The gorgeous maroon drippings stained my fingers and I loved every moment of it. There's something so satisfying about working with a vegetable that doesn't mess around. It isn't afraid to stain, drip or challenge the cook. I can't wait to work with these again and I'll be actively seeking a good Borscht recipe the next time I find beets at a farmer's market.

Halloween accomplished

As per tradition in our house, we wait outside to hand out candy to the Trick-or-Treaters. Miranda waits with us as a tie-in to our Pumpkin Dog Treats offer. This year I bought her a costume at Target and dressed her up at a pumpkin. She was not amused. She did, however, receive lots and lots of attention from the 70+ kids who visited our stoop. She was very calm and let anyone thrust their hands at her. Patch would have jumped up on any of the kids who wanted to pet him, so he stayed indoors with Spinner and Blayze. We ran out of candy at 8:00pm so we closed up shop then.
Afterwards we went off to Mike's Flag Football game only to arrive to discover it had been canceled due to the holiday. So we sat at a table with the rest of the team and hung out while we watched the line of party-goers enter the club. There were some incredible costumes and some of those girls were barely wearing anything at all. Naturally, they got the most attention.