Saturday, November 23, 2013

Chard galore!

As promised, here is the picture of the cord of wood delivered today. And it was an adventure. My driveway is a bit slippery and steep and I've had pickups slip and slide trying to get back up it, so I warned the driver about it and he agreed to back the big dump truck just a tad down the grade and then dump the load. It was exciting. Dump trucks are cool. He did the job and I have a nice cord ready to go when needed. That is a big deal here is the frozen tundra called the coastal redwoods. Now for the fun part, lugging it down the hill and stacking it up. Maybe I'll wait 'til tomorrow.

And the chard...the chard. Anyone for some chard pudding, chard bread, chard soup, chard chips? The leaves measure 18" long. Wow. Big chard country. I don't even water it, but it keeps coming.

With Thanksgiving Day coming up, I've been watching the Food Network Thanksgiving Day special. Flay, Alton, Giada, and coolness, Ina Garten. She has some of the best recipes. I like her show, too. She was the go-to person on the show. To brine or not to brine, that is the question. Flay made his own special stuffing, which had about a gallon of chicken stock in it. I think he was a little heavy handed with the stock. It had lots of stuff in it. Ina's stuffing was a custard-style that looked interesting, but it doesn't go in the bird. I gotta have mine all juicy with turkey juice. I like my mom's stuffing. It isn't a T-day without that stuffing. Recipe? Very simple. Mom used to toast the bread herself, or we would pitch in doing the toasting, Good old white bread. Onions, butter, sage, celery, chicken stock to soak the bread, salt and pepper. That's it. Simple and sooo good. Stuff that turkey!
 

Sunday, November 17, 2013

A Feast Fit for a Cheesehead

During my recent trip to NY, I had the great pleasure of a cheese and wine living room picnic with my son and his wife. We made the trip to Whole Foods at Union Square (the center of the universe, I hear) and hovered around the bakery, cheese and meat counters ogling the delicious prosciutto and cured meats, the fresh bread, the tempting cheeses from all over the world. It took a long time to make our choices but we managed to limit ourselves to a reasonable horde.

Our feast consisted of Italian bread, a good olive oil, roasted red peppers from Greece, a kalamata olive tapenade, Dijon, paper-thin fresh prosciutto, and 4 kinds of cheese: aged fontina, herbed cheddar, aged provolone, and a double brie. We chose a red from Italy at the Aster Place wine emporium, Fatalone Teres Primativo, that paired nicely with the rustic theme.

The best thing about the picnic was the company and having time to enjoy those simple pleasures with my son and his beautiful wife.

But because of my competitive nature, we had to have a Best Bite contest. We tried combinations of all the elements and the winner?

Best bite unanimous winner was aged fontina with a drizzle of olive oil, tapenade, prosciutto and red pepper on a slice of Italian bread. Delicioso!

No farewell picnic would be truly complete without a final pastry from my favorite bakery, so to top it off we shared a pistachio layer cake filled chocolate tulip.

Farewell NYC for now!