back to food

So today I made yet another recipe out of the Babbo cookbook. Heretofore, EVERYTHING I have done out of that cookbook has been really, REALLY good, and there are several I've made more than once. This was bass cooked (grilled, actually, in olive oil), and served on Belgian endives cooked for a very long time in O.J., honey and white raisins, with a vinaigrette made from O.J., saffron, white vinegar and olive oil (actually it called for Champagne vinegar but I used white wine vinegar). And actually I made it with cod instead of bass (hey, they had cod at Kroger, Martin loves it, etc., what would you do?!?). Cooked fettuccini, tossed it with butter, pepper, and Parmesan.

Had a LOVELY 2005 not-very-expensive red Bordeaux with it.

The pasta was good; however, it is hard to mess this up, unless you overcook it, use margarine instead of butter, ground pepper out of a can, and Parmesan out of a box, none of which I EVER do.

The wine was VERY GOOD. 2005 was an exceptional year; we weren't in SouthWest France that year, but have heard about it. The temperature was up to 50 degrees centigrade for quite awhile, late summer, and the wine as a consequence is supposed to be very good. This is indeed very good.

The cod was okay. The sauce, endives, etc., were pretty lousy. And I spent most of the late afternoon and evening messing with it. Drat.

Lillie

Sesame Street

It took me approximately the entire week to figure out that the "logos" on Google this week were Sesame Street characters because this week is the 40th anniversary of the invention/creation/release of Sesame Street. And there was an entire "Fresh Air" hour devoted to it, a great deal of which I heard while driving back from Lexington this afternoon. Sarah and I spent a great deal of time watching Sesame Street in the house on Nicholasville Road (also Mr. Rogers, and Today's Special--I found Mr. Rogers a bit dull but she didn't, and we both thought Today's Special was great, at least I think we did--I know I did). I have a couple of distinct memories. One was of her (Sarah, about 1, I think) wreaking havoc in the pantry, moving stuff off the shelves, I think, and suddenly saying "Pogga, Pogga, Pogga...", and making a bee-line for the living room, where Kermit was talking about something or other (Pogga being, of course, "frog"). Another was when I had my brief career doing latch-hook, and made the cover for a pillow of Ernie. When I had FINALLY finished, and showed it to Sarah, her only response was, Where's Bert?!? I think I MAY have actually turned Ernie into a pillow, but I HATED latch-hook stuff, and sorry, Baby, but Ernie never materialized.

Love, Mom

food

So twice in only one week I've tricked the boys into eating spinach. First was the ravioli that I stuffed with spinach (fresh), can't remember exactly what else, but I think shallots, ricotta, parmesan cheese, some fake egg... Butter and parmesan cheese on top. Not only did they eat it, but they ate it left-over (both are generally opposed to left-overs, unless it's cheese enchiladas).

And then last night I made some crepes, which were actually fake crepes, since I used fake eggs and soy milk instead of eggs and milk. And I didn't manage to make enough because I took some out to make some dessert crepes (added some sugar and orange liqueur) that I stuffed with cherry pie filling.

The real crepes had spinach in them, also mushrooms, onion, a bit of ricotta (couldn't find any goat cheese at Food Lion--recipes call generally for cream cheese with the spinach stuffing for crepes, and I try to avoid cream cheese, as I don't want to get sick). Instead of a proper veloute sauce, I used chicken broth instead of milk. Put some frozen shrimp in half of them (for some reason, Martin hates shrimp in any guise). rest of the sauce and some grated (seriously mediocre) Swiss cheese (also from the Paris Food Lion). Not only did they say it was very good, Martin asked if there would be any left over. I didn't tell him the active ingredient in the filling was spinach.

I also bought a pie pumpkin, and am trying to figure out a way to get them to eat that. It certainly won't be in a pie. Soup, maybe?

Cheers,

duck

Just read Garlic and Sapphires, by Ruth Reichl, lately editor of the late Gourmet. Read it again actually; I read it when it first came out several years ago, and didn't enjoy it all that much then. I've since been to NYC several times, and when I read it before, I was still mad at her because of the changes she'd made in the magazine when she took over.

This time I loved it.

I also cooked tonight. Not sure what you'd call it, but it was the breasts from that whole duck I bought at Critchfield's last week, and I marinated them for awhile (probably not long enough) in Madeira. Sauteed them in butter, rapidly, until they were rare. Made a sauce with the Madeira, some red wine, shallots, mushrooms (shallots and mushrooms sauteed earlier in butter), chicken broth, the syrup from a can of dark cherries, and finally the cherries. Didn't manage to thicken the sauce but the boys thought the duck was really, really good. Served it sliced and spread onto mashed potatoes (I forgot that I had some french bread....) with the cherries and mushroom sauce poured over everything. Evidently they really liked it all.

Also made garlic soup (Gascon staple in the wintertime, doesn't keep at all well, but easy to make, cheap, and good for you), and a green salad.

Wasn't ready until 9:00 p.m. but they were watching the World Series game anyway.

Lillie

another thing

Did you see the post (perhaps a week ago, or so) about Phil bringing me a miniature metal Mini-Cooper? to try to cheer me up because I've been dealing with the boys with swine flu? Not only is it NOT the real thing, it's YELLOW. I want a RED Mini-Cooper. Don't give a fig whether or not it has a sunroof. I DO NOT WANT a CONVERTIBLE Mini-Cooper. I do, however, want a RED MINI-COOPER. And it needs to get major mpg. So there. I think they are cute. Ought to be easy to get around corners and into parking places, and they are low to the ground, so should be basically stable, unlike those van things that I can't seem to drive. Not to mention get myself into.

But I'm not getting any younger and I WANT A RED CAR.

Lillie

Sunday at Christ Church

So perhaps I drank too much last night when Therese and Gillian were here, but ah, it was fun. We ate at Phil's grandmother's table out on the porch. This is the wrought iron table, with a glass top, and six wrought iron chairs, that was, I think, on the sleeping porch at Mammaw's house on Western Ave. in Fort Worth. House no longer there, and I never saw it. By the time I met Phil his grandmother had had a bad stroke and was living with his parents, house had been sold, I think.

There are many family photos that involve the table. M.A. and Frank's wedding photos, with them cutting the cake; Philip's sixth birthday party, with the cowboy theme, his grandfather holding him; not sure what else, but evidently there are lots of family photos around the table. Bob, his cousin, had it for many years, and recently moved into a house (very modern) with no good place for the table. We seem to have acquired it (at non-trivial expense to move it up here, and get it sanded, primed, and painted white), but it looks great on the back porch there. Problem is, a great deal of the year it's COLD out there, but it was fun eating out there at the table.

I never feel well in the morning, but went to church anyway. All Saints' Day, Gerre Hancock was here for the weekend, directing the combined choirs and playing the organ (Martin is seriously jealous and asked me "how does he do that?!?!?"). He does seem to be able to work wonders with the choirs.

At Evensong they sang "Blessed City Heavenly Salem" (or maybe it is "Blessed Salem Heavenly City"---whichever) as the anthem. They have sung this before. Several times. Never before did it sound this good. The man is a wonder as a choirmaster. It was a real treat.

Turns out that, on top of being a top-notch, world class organist and choirmaster, HE IS A TEXAN. HE HAS ACTUALLY BEEN TO GOLIAD. KNOWS where it is, etc., etc. Small world.

Lillie