randomly chaotic and frequently mundane

This weekend I wrote 2 new recipes.  One for a creamy potato soup which was just yummy yummy yummy.  The second was for a nice chicken soup made with a few chicken thighs.  Also yummy yummy.  I have a chicken to roast so I’m gonna do a roasted chicken leftovers soup at some point, too.  I also did a pork soup a couple of weeks ago and a variation on great northern bean soup that makes enough for about 4 servings or so.  I’m focusing on recipes for fewer servings that can be multiplied if needed.  I have a couple of chili recipes and a couple of other soup recipes so far.  I only need… oh… 100 or so more, lol.  This winter there will be a lot of soup, I think.  And not to be arrogant, but they will all be delicious.  I’m shooting for late summer of 2008 to have all the recipes I need for a soups, stews and chili cookbook.  I plan on including a lot of recipes for 2 -4 servings as well as recipes for big pots of soup and recipes for some standard leftovers (chicken, turkey, ham…).

Or “This is the night…”  Gage is watching Lady & the Tramp and singing along.  It’s terribly cute.  He’s also got the keyboard and is banging on it along with the music.  I’m thinking it might be worth it to get that video game that teaches piano.  I can’t remember what it’s called.  I bet he’d enjoy that, though. Heck, I’d probably enjoy it too.  What can I say, I’m just a big kid.

Did you know that you can make fried chicken in the rotisserie?  No, I’m serious.  I suppose that technically it’s not fried chicken, but damned if it didn’t come out just like fried chicken but a little less oily.  I prepared the chicken just like I normally would for fried chicken.  Flour, egg wash and my breading mixture.  Put it into the rotisserie basket (after rubbing the basket down with a little vegetable oil to prevent sticking) and cooked it according to the directions.  See, as it turns and the fat cooks off, the fat rolls over the outside of the meat before it drips off.  That’s part of what helps keep it moist and helps it sear.  I lost very little breading in the cooking process and had what was essentially fried chicken.  It was pretty damned cool.

Trying to decide what I’m gonna make for dinner tonight.  I’m thinking maybe spaghetti.  Haven’t decided, though.  Meatloaf is also a possibility.  I have Saw 2 to watch tonight.  I think it’ll go better with meatloaf, actually.  I’ve seen bits and pieces of it so I look forward to being able to see the rest.  After it goes back, I’ll get Saw 3 and finally see that.  I currently have Secretary and 28 Days Later on the way.

Gage keeps building a tower of “cylindrical things” and everytime something falls he yells “whoops.”  Sometimes he just yells.  Earlier, Tiger backed into it and Gage started yelling “no-no-no-no-no-no!”  It was kind of cute, but kind of not.  He’s gotten more obsessed with that whole grouping together cylindrical things, thing.  I’m hoping that it passes soon.  Usually he does it for a week or so I put everything away every night and at the end of the week he forgets about it.  This has been going on for 2 weeks now.  I wonder if there are any cylindrical blocks that you can buy… Maybe that would change his focus.

I talked to Woody’s mom the other day.  She wanted to thank me for the photo album I made for her.  I used some of the fabric Gage painted to cover it.  It came out pretty cool, actually.  It was really nice talking to her.  I miss Woody’s parents, they’re awesome.

when i was in high school, i took a cooking class (are you surprised?). it was during the latter half of the year, so we got the end of year hot weather. one of the things we did was make these awesome smoothies. i left the class with 4 smoothies to give to friends, which was cool. it’s so hot right now, i’m thinking that i need to dig the recipe sheet out and make some smoothies. the recipes on the sheet are without alcohol… i might have to change that

i’ve got a couple of other smoothie ideas of my own, as well.

as some of y’all know, i’ve been working on writing a cookbook for a few years. at this point i’d say i’ve got about 50 solid recipes to include. i’d like very much to get more, but i’ve decided that first i need to decide what kind of cookbook to do. i’m actually considering a soup/chili cookbook, since i always get rave reviews on both. even woody, who really doesn’t like soup loves my soup. actually, he calls soup “meat water.” so, that’s where i think i’m going to start. a soup/chili cookbook. THEN perhaps i’ll move on to chicken and fish.

gage keeps holding up his blue crayon and saying “my blue crayon.”  he’s also been asking for pizza  rolls all day, it’s terribly cute.  what’s not terribly cute is that he was trying to make me color, which is fine, except that he was trying to direct my hands in unnatural positions.  it’s uncomfortable.

so… decided to make a pizza of sorts with the leftover ribs.  i de-meated the bones and chopped the meat, then heated it w/ a little sauce and added it to a pizza crust that i made.  it’s tasty.

i’m contemplating selling my bread machine and my ice cream maker.  they take up space, and i hardly use them.  really i don’t have the room to use the bread machine.  the ice cream maker will be hard to give up, tho… i love it so.  and i love making ice cream when i can.  even if it’s just milk (or heavy cream) and pudding mix that i put in it.  it comes out so good.  also contemplating losing the fondue pot, the octagon dish set and a few other things.  yeah, i should probably ahve a yardsale, huh?

yesterday wasn’t bad.  had ribs for dinner, which were tasty as hell… here’s what i did.

first, i brined them overnight in a combination of water,lemon juice, salt, peppercorns, garlic salt and brown sugar.  i used a cooler and ice cubes to keep it cold.  if you do that just remember to wash the cooler thoroughly, before and after using it.

THEN… i took 1 section of the ribs (i cut the slab into 3 sections) and put it in the crockpot on low with a combination of stubbs barbecue sauce and brothers hot barbecue sauce.  that cooked for about 6 hours and was so tender it coulda been pulled pork.

the other two sections were given a shot of lime juice (1 lime), pepper and garlic powder before being covered in stubbs barbecue sauce, wrapped in foil and popped into a 350 degree oven for 1 hour, then the temp was dropped to 150 and they cooked for another hour.  then they were taken out of the foil, brushed with more sauce and put under the broiler for a few minutes (i would have loved to have been able to put them on the grill for that portion of the cooking…).

so good, so tender.  so delicous.  i wanna get some kaiser rolls so i can just shred the meat and have pulled pork ribs sandwiches or something.  lip smackin good i tell ya.  damn can i cook!

cooking is hit or miss for me lately.  not the quality, the enjoyment.  i’m just not enjoying it as much as i usually do lately.  i suppose that’s one more symptom of depression.  i hate this.  i want a car.  part of me wants to pack up and move back to new jersey.  but the school here for gage is just too perfect.  even without having seen it, i know that.  we need to go see this school son.

gage is hit or miss lately, too.  some days are good and some days are bad.  and there’s really no way to determine which is which.

got an offer today on my entire paperbackswap bookshelf.  so i’m taking it and clearing them all out.  that’s a good thing.  it’s 35 books out of the way and i’m getting 7 credits (so it’s a 5 for 1). i’m contemplating getting rid of some/all of my cookbooks.

i’ve started contemplating recipe contests again… what can i say, i come up with good recipes and it can be worth a good deal of money.  it’s also fun… the creating, the anticipation, etc…

speaking of recipes… try this on for size:

Spicy Margarita Shrimp

•  1 lb shrimp, peeled
• juice of 1 lime
• 1 tsp fresh ground pepper
• 1 tbsp hot sauce
• 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
• 2 tbsp tequilla
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 tsp crushed garlic

toss shrimp with lime juice, tequilla, pepper, cayenne and hot sauce.   let marinate at least 1 hour.  melt butter in a non-stick skillet, add garlic and let it cook until it becomes aromatic, then add shrimp and cook until pink.  mucho delicious.   if you wanna get cute, serve the shrimp in margarita glasses w/ a salt rim — he he.

when i was a kid… when we lived in millington tennessee, there was a guy down the road with a huge vegetable garden.  occasionally i did my best peter rabbit impersonation, and snuck into said garden to snack.  my favorite thing to eat in his garden was the cucumbers.  they were so good.  crisp and delicious and truly the flavor of a summer day.

since moving from there, i’ve longed for a cucumber as delicious as the ones i swiped from his garden.  i’ve always chalked up the lack of equal flavor up to the cucumbers i get not being homegrown.  i haven’t tasted a cucumber as delicious as those since i was 5 or 6 years old…

until yesterday.

i bought an english cucumber at the grocery store this weekend.  i cut it up yesterday… i thought the texture of the “shaft” of the cucumber felt familiar (oh hush you perverts!) when i was slicing it, but i couldn’t place it… and when i put the first slice in my mouth, there it was.  that flavor i’d been longing for.  that delicious summer day flavor.  and to think, if the cucumber seeds i planted last year hadn’t frozen and actually grew, i would have been very disappointed by the flavor.

hooray for english cucumbers!!!!

cleaning the kitchen. full scrubdown kind of cleaning. not that it’s in bad shape or anything, it’s just tedious. i should put on some music when i get back to it. i’ve been listening to the rocky horror show soundtrack a lot lately. i’d love to be in a production of it someday. the song once in awhile never fails to make me cry…

Once in a while she don’t want to call you
Speaking on the telephone
And once in your life she won’t want to know you
You look around, the one you found she is gone

And that’s all the time that it takes
For a heart to turn to stone
The sweeter the wine the harder to make the break
You hear something about someone you thought you’d known

So baby don’t cry like there’s no tomorrow
After the night there’s brand new day
And there’ll be no pain and no more sorrow
So wash your face and phone my place, it’ll be okay.

And that’s all the time that it takes
For a heart to beat again
So give me a sign that a lover makes
You look around, the one you found is back again…

there’s a beeping sound. i keep hearing it. dunno what the fuck it is but it’s irritating me. i’ll have to go looking for it in a bit

went grocery shopping last night. it was good. fun. i love to grocery shop, especially w/ woody. he makes me laugh, and it’s always a good time. i think a big part of that is because we share a passion for cooking and food. there are times when we’re discussing cooking, recipes, etc… and we’re so in synch, we bounce ideas off of each other and come up with something phenomenal and delicious.

and it is good.  started chicken soup.  the groceries arrived around 5, so it was a little late to have soup tonight (my chicken soup takes all day to cook).  this variation on the theme, since i make it different every time i make chicken soup is:

•  take 1/2 c. chopped onion and saute in a tablespoon of butter (in your stock/soup pot)
• add 1 14oz can of chicken broth, stir and get up any onion stuck to the bottom of the pot
• add 1 whole chicken (rinsed) and enough cold water to cover, plus a generous pinch of salt, pepper and garlic powder and a dash (literally, just a dash!) of cayenne pepper.
• bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer covered about 2 hours

that’s where i’m at now.  tomorrow the chicken will be disassembled.  bones, skin and the like discarded and meat returned to the pot where i will simmer until it’s reduced by about 1/3.  i don’t think i’ll be adding any noodles.  just chicken and broth.

that’s the new rule in the bathtub.  actually it’s an old rule, just presented in a different way.  on the upside, i’ve probably got the cleanest bathroom floor on the block, lol.

so i’m going thru this book of herbal medicine i got from paperbackswap.com.  there’s a lot of interesting stuff in there.  i’ve tried a few basic things, like a cough soother (hot honey lemonade) which was highly effective.  alas i only had enough lemon to make 1 cup.  there are a few other things i want to try to help some of what ails us.  like a compress or soak next time woody’s foot acts up — since western medicine has failed helping that (miserably, i might add).   i’ve still got a lot of reading and research (since i’m not going by a single source) before putting some of the stuff in this book to use.

i took a piece of salmon out of the freezer and put it into the fridge thursday night.  haven’t cooked it yet.  i’m not sure if it’s still good.  i doubt it.  at the moment i can’t smell or taste anything, so i have no way of telling.  i’m thinking it will probably be thrown away.

gage clearly has an interest in cooking.  maybe it’s because he watches me so frequently…

he was in the kitchen, where i was heating up some chili for dinner that was previously frozen.  he pulled up his little chair and stood on it (i need to get that kid a stool), took the lid off the pot, grabbed the spoon and proceeded to stir it.  gently, too.  he didn’t spill or splash or slop anything on the stove.  i was watching closely.

i’ve noticed that he really pays attention in that arena as well.  if i say “careful” he moves slowly, deliberatly and handles everything gingerly.  if i say “hot” he moves as carefully, but also makes an obvious effort not to touch the stove or the pots on the stove.

he loves putting pasta in water on the stove — so much so that i’m glad i have a kettle for tea making.  sometimes if he wants spaghetti he’ll get a pot out of the cabinet, fill it with water, put it on the stove and come get me.  he takes me to the stove and says “please.”  i have no doubt that he knows HOW to turn the stove on.  he just DOESN’T.  i like that.

i need a chicken, some celery and some carrots.  so i can make a big pot of chicken soup and make myself feel better.

soup is good food.  i wonder if i have any soup in the freezer.  i might have some vegetable soup i made awhile back… that would be good.  *i go check now*

YEP.  vegetable soup is on the stove now.  interestingly, it looks like it settled and separated a little in the freezer.  the veggies were all at the bottom of the container, w/ the tomato sauce from the base around and above them and the vegetable broth on top of that.  it was like a vegetable soup parfait or something. lol  i’m sure it’ll be fine once it’s heated up… it’s a poor substitute for chicken soup, but it’ll do in a pinch i suppose.