Project 365: April 14, 2011

Christian is the happiest man alive at this moment.  When we lived in Los Angeles, he ate at Chipotle ALL THE TIME with his friend, Troy.  Since we left L.A., Troy has been gloating about eating Chipotle on a regular basis.  Like calling Christian every time he's there.  And probably making num num noises in the phone.  Until today, the closest Chipotle to us in Mississippi was in Nashville, Tennessee, 4 hours away.  Gas is WAY too expensive, and we're way too busy (lazy) to drive there.  So we (Christian) suffered.  And not in silence.  The "we" in suffering = Christian suffering because he couldn't eat the delicious Chipotle, and me suffering listening to him.


NO MORE!!!


The location below just opened in Memphis... only 1 hour away!!!!


And can you guess what Christian did?  He called Troy and gloated.

Project 365: April 4, 2011

Mmmmmm... asparagus.  Love the monster spear.  Thank you K&K's garden.

Project 365: March 31, 2011

Now this is more like it.  A great way to end the month!  Christian and I are gluttons for crawfish, and typically eat it at least once a week during the season.  Delicious, spicy, juicy mudbugs!  Mmmmm...

Project 365: March 24, 2011

Every year, during crawfish season, Christian and I get crawfish fever and eat our weight in the delicious little mudbugs.  The spicier, the better.  This year has been great so far.

Crawfish Man

Kimchi time!

Nayoon hooked me up with the goods!

thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you!

yum yum yum yum yum yum yum!

Like butta...

May 1st - Shake, shake, shake...shake, shake, shake...shake your butter!  Homemade butter is SO easy to make if you have a source for good milk.  Utilizing the low-tech method, I poured a pint of cream into a quart mason jar and shook it until it turned to butter.  It's a pretty amazing process.  You don't even have to shake hard or fast, just a gentle back and forth motion does the trick.  While watching a movie, I shook my jar for about 35 minutes, and just when I thought nothing was going to happen, the cream started to feel like it was sloshing softer.  That was the first stage...basically whipped cream that clings to the sides of the jar.  Keep shaking and you begin to get a cottage cheese consistency as the milk fat separates from the "buttermilk" and starts pulling away from the sides of the jar.  Keep going and the fat globules start sticking together and turning yellow (I read that the natural yellow color is from the chlorophyll the happy, grass-fed cows ingested).  Once you see those yellow globs sloshing around in milky clear liquid, you can stop shaking!  Strain off the buttermilk and save it for another use.  Put the butter in a bowl, run cold water over it while pressing it against the side of the bowl.  This washing removes the rest of the milk and helps prolong the life of the butter.  Once you squeeze all the water out of the butter, you can salt it to taste and refrigerate it!  Yum!

Things I know now, and will try next time:  My butter may have taken longer because my cream was fresh-out-of-the-refrigerator cold.  It can be made in a blender or with a mixer in much less time.  I've also read that the butter has more flavor if the cream sits out at room temperature for 8-12 hours to culture.  Guess we'll see next time!

Props to Brown Family Dairy for supplying my milk and cream.  They don't pay me, but I love their products and will continue to pay them!

Here we go 'round the mulberry bush...

Bush?!?  Does anyone else think that's a severe understatement?  When hub and I bought our house, I wondered what kind of HUGE tree was in our backyard.  After some research, I thought I had my answer, but I had to wait until the following spring to be sure.  My regret is that I didn't harvest the mulberries that first year.  But I've wised up since then.  Mulberries are DE-LIC-IOUS!  Especially when eaten straight off the tree or mixed with strawberries for jam.

Strawberry Season

May 17th - Picked strawberries at a local farm and got home just before it poured down rain.  My strawberry jam supply has run out, so it's time to replenish the larder.  I would like to take a moment to thank all the strawberry pickers of the world.  As my sore legs and back reminded me, it ain't easy work.  

Mujadara

Dinner last night was a vegetarian meal of mujadara (lentils and rice with caramelized onions),  roasted rutabaga and parsnips, and sauteed spinach with garlic.  Mmmmm.  Comfort food.

Andouille gumbo

After a trip this weekend to the Farmers' Market (the store, not the gathering), I decided to make andouille gumbo last night.  I love Liz and Frank and their Market so much that I'm touting them without any compensation.  They have great meat, veggies, spices, bulk goods, dairy, international goods, and prices.  Stop by and see them sometime.

I used their andouille sausage, okra I had frozen last summer and homemade shrimp broth.  Hopefully, next time I make this, I can use homegrown parsley, onions and garlic as well.  Keep your fingers crossed for my garden!

Ode to crawfish

Colorful cajun crustaceans, how I love you.  I do things to you I wouldn't do to any other food.  I twist you, I suck your head, I pinch your tail.  All in the name of love.  And love hurts.  You make my lips burn.  You make my fingers raw.  And if I happen to scratch something delicate, like my eye (why oh why does my eye always betray me and itch after I've dipped into the spice?), you reward me with a blazing explosion of pain.  Yet I love you still.  You are my drug.  Please don't ever leave me.

The afterglow aftermath.

Crab boil...mmmmm

We LOVE snow crab legs.  A couple of nights ago, we decided to boil some crab legs I had bought on sale for $4.99/lb.  Wow...I don't think I'll ever pay retail price for crab again!  And we were out of crab boil, so I made it myself from spices we had on hand.  Virtually free, and TASTY.  Here's what the boil looked like:

Sorry, no pictures of the crab legs.  I was too intent on eating them to photograph them.

Making kimchi: Part Two

February 15th - While off work on my snow morning, I finished the kimchi.  At least to the point of letting it sit and ferment more.

To the brined cabbage, I added fresh ginger, garlic and scallions, the Korean red pepper, salt and sugar.

Here's the first jar, filled and capped with a bag of brine.

I filled one quart and one pint with the original kimchi mixture.  To the rest, I added 1 teaspoon of the dried anchovy mix seen in the photo above.  I've eaten kimchi both ways, so I wanted to try making it both ways.  The finished count was 3 quarts total.

 

Pretty, isn't it?  Now I just have to wait 3 to 6 days, depending on how sour I want the taste.

Making kimchi: Part One

February 14th - I love kimchi.  love, Love, LOVE!

I decided to celebrate the day by attempting to make kimchi, that irresistably spicy, tangy, fermented cabbage pickle from Korea.  A few months ago, I discovered a book, The Joy of Pickling by Linda Ziedrich, at the local library, and had to buy it so I could try the recipes.  Naturally, kimchi was the first thing I tried.  A few years ago, my friend Nayoon and her hubby came for a visit, and she brought me Korean red pepper and anchovy powder.  I finally used it.  Thanks, Nayoon!

Here's the Chinese cabbage being chopped.  Two heads, cored and chopped into 2" pieces.

Here's the cabbage packed into the churn Mom loaned me.  Thanks, Mom!

Here's the cabbage with brine, weighted by a plate and a heavy glass.  Now we wait 12 hours for the cabbage to brine and reduce in volume.

Oops!  Almost forgot the daikon radish.  Chopped that and added it to the brining cabbage.  Re-weighted it and covered it with a dishtowel.  Now...back to waiting.  Impatiently, I might add.