So...whats for dinner?
Comments
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I had a starter that was over 100 years old when I adopted it and had kept it healthy and happy for another 20 when my father-in-law came to spend the summer with us. One day while I was at work he decided to clean my fridge. He was so proud of himself, said he didn't know what that stinky stuff he found shoved in the back was but hhe flushed it away. Woman I'ld gotten it from had left town and I could find no source for a replacement.
So, I made my own. Mixed together a cup of water with enough flour to make a thick batter, about 2 or 3 cups. Added a scant 1/2 tsp bread yeast to get it going. I covered it with cheesecloth and stashed it on top of the fridge (nice, warm spot) for a week or so. Be sure your bowl is large enough for the starter to double or triple as it works.
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I third that "starter" question as I am hunkered down, enjoying watching the storm and getting bored with the media coverage of it. I do hope everyone is warm and safe....worried about the homeless who refuse shelter help.
Got some chicken (breasts and thighs)simmering in a pot on the stove since I will use it to make soup as well as chicken chili with cannellini beans. Love that chili since it ends up with a shredded quality, which I prefer to ground chicken or turkey meat. I've got to figure out an organized actual recipe for this.....I keep just making it and not writing it down. Poor discipline!
A little story for a snowy day....symbolism...it relates to the out of control snow:
I just rec'd an email from our Western MA estate host who I offered to create a dinner for as a "thank you" for his generosity in having DH and me in a small group of people who stay at his home/art gallery a few times a year. OMG! I had asked one of the other board member's wives, who I got to know recently, if she wanted to join me in cooking for him and his girlfriend. She also likes to cook and was excited to do it, and when DH and I told our host that she and her DH would also join us, our host asked about whether we asked another couple who are also connected to the board. I felt I needed to say that we could open it up and he could let us know who he wanted to have as guests at his table, which my compatriot was also happy with.
OY! At the moment this dinner could involve 14 people, and our host has offered to have his house manager and housekeeper be our staff for procuring the food and implementing the event. Yikes!! What have I gotten us into!? I'm sure that it will end up fine, (I think it will....I think it will....I think it will...)...although very different from our original "thank you dinner" idea. I sure am glad that this event is not until September so my friend and I can figure this all out. Chuckling at the vicissitudes of life right now as I watch the snow fall.
Oh...and to add a comedic element, the man who will be taking us to procure food and helping implement the plan is the house steward who thought that my friend and I were sloshing down red wine all morning, (as we sat talking in the living room surrounded by empty and half-full wine bottles) and offered to open more bottles in case our DH's wanted to join us drinking after their meeting. He probably will figure he'll have to cook the meal himself given us "lush ladies" (who had been drinking coffee;).
I'm picturing the big smile you must have on your face Michelle as you basque in the sun on your Hawaiian beach! -
Thanks for the starter info, Chabba.
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Mine was a, I guess, a wild yeast.
In the spring I put outside a cheese cloth covered large glass bowl with a cup of water and cup of flour mixture in it. Each day I checked it...if, after two or 3 days, it wasn't bubbly, I threw it out and started over. The 7th or 8th time I tried it, I got "something good".
I started playing with sourdough while I was still in college. In that case, I got the starter from my neighbors....an elderly couple from St. Louis. When moving, I left it in the car and killed it. Cars out here will hit 175F degrees in the summer...all attempts to revive it failed :-)
Eric -
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Lacey, that French bread in the picture looks very familiar. I went through a phase when I made French bread. DH formed a baking pan for me out of aluminum. The pan held two long loaves. Not all bought French bread loaves are created equal. There's a bakery in NO (can't dredge up the name) that makes the best. Very crunchy. Mandina's restaurant on Canal St. uses this bread for their poboys and their oyster poboy is the best, IMHO. Also, their oyster artichoke soup is the best I've had. That's what dh and I order when we go to Mandina's, a cup of soup and s half-loaf oyster poboy. The whole poboy is much too large for one person.
I bought two carton's of Edy's Slow-Churned French Silk ice cream today since it was on sale. That's our favorite ice cream. French Silk pie is my favorite pie. We used to buy it at a restaurant bakery in Chicago area when we visited dh's parents, who are now deceased. We would buy the French Silk pie as our choice and a berry or fruit pie of some sort for the other family members who had stated that type of pie was their favorite. Guess which pie got eaten? Yep. The French Silk.
The Weather Channel does overdo coverage of weather events. I hope all of you in the NE stay safe and comfortable.
Lacey, I would have a nervous breakdown facing the prospect of serving dinner in that situation. Can't wait to hear all about it when the dinner takes place.
I'm still not feeling my best. Normally I would be working around the house this afternoon instead of sitting in my chair. If I'm not feeling good by next week, I'll go to see my PC dr.
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My starter was given to me. It originates from a 100 year old "mother" by way of King Arthur flour.
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HOLY CRAP Lacey!!!!! This is a new beast of a different color!! It will be ok if you plan, plan, plan!! Even still...wow!!
Carol- Hope you feel better. It can be quite frustrating and worrisom.
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Laurie.......HC indeed!!! I am already starting up with some anxiety...but the rational part of me realizes that it can be done with proper planning...and, after all, when have I ever had "staff" to support the effort?!?!? Maybe I will stop being such a DIYer! LOL I did make the mistake of starting to watch an auditioning chef show where the applicants screwed up badly and that's when my heart started beating fast.....off went the TV!
Are others getting brutal winds......WOW! That makes it seem like so much more snow than there even is yet. Hard to imagine that this is just the start of this storm.
Carole, yes, that bread recipe is supposed to be the favored one used for the poboys. Your double loaf pan sounds a lot like the one I use for my faux french loaves....w/o any DH ingenuity. I bought it.
Feel better...hope some nice weather there helps you with that.
Was planning to make pizza tonight, but actually want to get the rest of the veggie lasagna out of fridge, so I will have room for the chicken meals I will make this weekend
( between shoveling efforts). DH is fine with that, so it's lasagna and salad again. How many of you have a second refrigerator. I am often wishing I had one lately, but maybe it would just "feed" into my making too much food! -
Hahaha, Deborye! That very angry looking Nemo cracked me up! Also loved your Stawm Coming one! I can just hear that Boston (or is it all of Massachusetts?) accent!
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I liked the Nemo too. :-). I'm sitting in the airport in Las Vegas....It's crowded, both with business folks (me) wanting to get home and with folks that can't get back east.
I hope you quickly feel better Carol.
I'm on call this month for the disaster job. So far no phone calls raising telling us to get "more on call".
Stay safe everyone.
Eric -
That Nemo pic was clever and hysterical, Deb!
Seaside, not even all of Beantown shares that accent, IMHO, let alone all of MA. I do recall that the first time I spoke to a person in Boston/Cambridge (after driving all night with my college friend to find an apt for grad school), I had absolutely no idea what he was saying. It was a service station guy just asking what kind of gas I wanted. LOL
The most fascinating thing about that particular accent is that "r's" are deleted from places they belong, e.g. the proverbial "pahk", govahnah (governor), fiyah (fire), but find their way to places they do not belong....e.g. "pizzer" instead of pizza. Always get a kick out of that. -
The Govenor has requested that all cars be off the road at 12:00 noon. At 4:00pm there was a ban on driving with a fine of up to one year in jail for those still in thier cars. All businesses have been asked to close or the police will close them. Shelters have been opened.
We may need you Eric! But I hope not
I would like to add my condolences to you and your family
There are power outages expected and snowthunders.
I think that I will go to sleep and hope it all goes away.
I have my poached salmon thanks to seaside and Nance.
The kitties are not even trying to go outside, which is very unusual for them
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Carole,
I saw on the news that there is a pretty wicked stomach thing going around this year courtesy of the Norovirus... It's the virus responsible for those cruise ship outbreaks and can be pretty rough... Hope your stomach settles and you feel better soon!
Nancy,
I know next to nothing about bread making and thought you might be kidding but I googled it and you CAN buy a starter for sourdough through King Arthur Flour! Who knew?! I think I may throw caution to the wind and order it....
Lacey,
Interesting how what is known as the 'Boston Accent' depends on where you are from within the same city... With all the dropped R's it's no wonder they find their way into words that don't normally require one... They just want to be needed...lol!
Bedo,
Wow! A year in jail! Your state is serious about this storm..... Glad you have you salmon done and you and your kitties are safe and warm!
Eric,
I hope you get home safe and sound! I think sometimes when we are in the thick of the bad weather we forget how what's happening in one place affects people in other areas of the country! -
Hi everyone! Woke up in paradise at...3:15 a.m. We did go to bed at 8:15 because we were just exhausted. No food in the cottage so we hit McDonald's for coffee, breakfast and chatting with some locals. Then we were off for groceries and alcohol! I think we'll try to stay awake a little later tonight. Even the roosters were still asleep.
OK, I am leaving the area with internet service so I'll check in on you all tomorrow. Everyone stay safe and warm!
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Michelle,
Yay on waking up in paradise but a big boooo on the hour! I'm sure you and Rick will adjust quickly and settle in to island time! Enjoy yourselves! -
Have a wonderful time in paradise, Michelle! Looking forward to photos!
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Chabba,
Not sure how but I missed your post... I think I would have been heartbroken if someone threw out something I had nurtured for 20 years... The starter recipe sounds easy enough that I may give it a whirl...
One question for all the bread bakers... What is the difference with all the different yeasts... There is instant yeast, active dry yeast, bread machine yeast and rapid-rise yeast... which do you use for what? -
laurie - yay on the camper!
michelle - yay on your trip - have a blast!
carole - hope you feel better soon!
eric - condolences to your family, so sorry for your loss.
to everyone - hi!!!
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Seaside, I was wrong about my starters mother, it's 300 years old!
I can't really tell you about the difference in performance in the yeasts. I use instant for everything. -
Michelle, have a wonderful time. You sure picked a great time to be there!! :-)
I use active dry yeast. I don't use a bread machine, so I don't need the bread machine/rapid rise stuff.
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Ok you northeasterners, if you have power, check in today!
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Not to be offensive, but the snow pictures in the NE are beautiful. Hope everyone is staying warm.
I use the dry rapid rise yeast in the packets for my oven-baked bread. Breadmakers require the special yeast that comes in a jar. Now there's a special pizza yeast that works great. I use it for pizza dough.
I'm doing a reduced-calorie cheese cake experiment today. I'm not using a spring pan since I don't want a tall New York style cheese cake. Not to mention I don't own a spring pan! I'm not much of a dessert maker. I'll use a pretty stoneware pie plate. I printed out the recipe for graham cracker crust from the Honeymaid site. So simple I see no reason for buying a graham cracker crust. I'm using 8 oz. of fat free cream cheese and 8 oz of reduced fat, 3/4 cup of sugar, 3 eggs and 1 T vanilla. I plan to make a cooked strawberry topping with splenda. Strawberries are already in season here. I will have the strawberries on the side. A serving of 1/8 of the pie is only 8 pts.
I'm not a big cheese cake fan but I had home-made cheese cake recently that was so light and delicious and my recipe is basically the same except I'm not using the regular cream cheese. Fat-free cream cheese is the ONLY fat free product that I find edible.
This afternoon we'll be going to New Orleans with our neighbors to see the Mardi Gras parade, Endymion. It's one of the big parades with beautiful costumes and floats. Our neighbor Brian works for an insurance company that has a condo on the parade route, so there will be food, drinks, and, most important, a bathroom! We're riding with them so we're just along for the ride. The parade is a night parade but we have to get to our viewing destination before the streets are closed off on the parade route. Needless to say, it will probably be a late night (later than our usual!) because we won't be able to leave until the parade has passed and an exit route is open.
Hope you are having a relaxed vacation, Michelle.
Will be glad to hear from our NE friends. I'll bet Laurie and family are having fun in the snow.
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Woke to about 35 inches of snow and complete calm. But now, it is snowing hard once again. Bean and ham hock soup is ready for lunch, and then dinner will be braised lamb shanks. Not sure if we will have mashed potatoes or polenta. We never lost our power, but lots of other people did.
Looking out the front door. See the huge drifts at the top of the stairs? Clearly no mail delivery today!
Out the back door. The snow on the railing is a fairly good indicator of the amount of snow, though it does get blown off and probably did.
*susan*
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Hi everyone! We have been lucky and never lost power either. Yay! The boys actually slept in a little today and then we had a huge breakfast around 9. I am still stuffed. Eggs, bacon, pancakes, gorton with english muffins and banana bread. DH is out there now cleaning the driveway. Once he has the work part of it done we will all head outside. Our neighbor stopped by last night on his way home from work and we are going to all get together this afternoon. We are going to attempt a bonfire and have a sledding party for the kids. I am sure it will roll into the dinner hour and we will get creative putting dinner together for all of us.
I will pop in again later.
Carol have fun at the parade! Sounds like fun!!
Susan- your neighborhood is beautiful!
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Never lost power, but had some flickering. Those down in South County around Newport have lots of outages and friend's Mom's phone is out. Still no driving and the snow is up to the car windows so I can't get to them. Kitty leapt over the snow drifted 1/3 way up the door when I opened it (it opens in) then jumped back in.
I ate half the fridge. Dinner was Sushi rolls, string beans, salmon, rice cakes, ginger ale, bananas and clementines.
I hope everyone else is safe. Don't have a camera or the thing to get photo of the phone.
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Wow. The only time I see snow in person like that is when I go into the mountains.
Breakfast this morning was the baked apple pancake that was posted here awhile back.
I spent Wednesday through Friday working in Las Vegas. I need to go back on Monday and will come home on Tuesday.......sigh.... -
Susan, gorgeous pictures and good food in your house!
Laurie, your afternoon sounds like fun.
Bedo, hope you have enough food left!
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Carole, never offense taken at such a complimentary comment.
I have a love hate affair with our winters....actually love snow...just annoying when there is a lot to push around...and not very pretty if it doesn't melt in a timely way. Not sure what is going to happen with the forecast of rain on Monday. Roofs will be very soggy!!
Did a bit of front porch shoveling while DH is breaking his back trying to get the cars out.
I'm sure I'll be hearing about the merits of condo living later today.....a conversation I try to avoid....but then I'm not out in the driveway.....maybe I'd better suit up and get out there with a hot toddy (or two) in my hands. -
Nothing offensive about thinking it is beautiful. Snow is very beautiful. It can make really ugly places seem to be lovely. The issue is living with all that snow on the ground. The huge snow banks make it impossible to get out of your car if you find a parking space. Our roads are barely big enough for two-traffic when it is clear, but delete 3 feet from either side, and they become one way effectively. Totally a mess.
Lamb is in the oven. Now I need to figure out a vegetable; thinking a salad to start.
*susan*
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