yet another ecclesiastical rant (I suppose that's what one should call it...)

Okay, so I'm a "recovering" Texas Southern Baptist (the "recovering" part has meant a great deal of grief from some parts, actually, as it means I left the Texas Southern Baptist church...). I married into a serious Roman Catholic family; my father-in-law, whom I adored, was a Texas Baptist who became a Roman Catholic, so this is all complicated...

HOWEVER, there are actually problems.

Longstanding. I love the liturgy, but have some problems with the Catholic hierarchy...

and yesterday, I heard a story on All Things Considered (that liberal Left-Wing Dem station...) about a Roman Catholic woman in Arizona. She is 24 or 25 or so, mother of four, pregnant with her fifth child, 11 weeks pregnant. Is admitted to St. Joseph's Hospital, a Roman Catholic hospital in Phoenix, AZ, seriously ill. She was desperately ill, with heart failure (cause(s) and symptoms not explicit, other than the consensus that she was dying), and all doctors involved were of the opinion that (a) she was dying and (b) she MIGHT survive if (IF) she had an abortion and (c) both she and the baby were going to die IF she didn't have an abortion. The Roman Catholic nun on the staff, also the liaison with the local diocese, at the hospital gave approval to her medical staff for her to have an abortion, as both would die otherwise. So she had an abortion, and is evidently on the road to recovery, so she can (we assume) now tend to her four live children...

The bishop got wind of this, and what did he do? Notwithstanding all the allegations/admissions/convictions of pedophilia, etc., few followed even by de-frocking, and NOT A SINGLE ONE followed by excommunication...what does he do? he EXCOMMUNICATES the Roman Catholic nun who approved the abortion...

And Rand Paul is now the Republican nominee for Jim Bunning's seat in the U.S. Senate...go figure. Rand Paul thoroughly thumped the McConnell-anointed successor to Bunning, Trey Greyson. Like I said, go figure...

Cheers, Lillie

more random thoughts

I am actually not going to say anything here about the blow-out in the gulf of mexico...

some of the folks who were here on Saturday at the graduation gig (not sure there were any actual graduates involved this year...I don't ask these questions anymore, though)...it was pretty much a success, and the only reason I think I may actually do it again next year is because I got SO MANY compliments on the food and drink as well as the setting, etc. Unfortunately, the setting wasn't ideal this time, as it was not typical mid-May weather this time. It didn't rain, but it was too cold, too windy, etc. I had a seriously large number of very large potatoes to use with the potato guns, but nobody used them because it was too cold to do anything much outside. bummer. But what the **** does one do with 30+ pounds of potatoes?!? toss some of them, cook some of them, give some of them away...

Many thanks to Eula, as well as Gretchen and Charles Tremoulet, for helping out at the party. Lots of interesting people to talk to; I was unfortunately so tired from staying up so late cooking on Friday night that I confess I didn't enjoy it much. Evidently pretty much everybody else did, though. I did the planning, shopping, prep, and cooking; Eula did kitchen support (with compensation...); Phil and Martin did the yard work and set-up; Gretchen and Charles did a ton of the rest of the work; and Eula cleaned up everything that nobody else had afterward...

I will at least consider continuing the tradition, and I admit I enjoy a lot of it, but it's a LOT of work...and I also admit that I've become much better at it, so there...

I wish I had done our tax returns...

At least I don't feel so bad now; Elena Kagan is as short as I am now...

My new problems with my back and knees have me seriously worried...

It's even colder in the Dordogne right now than it is here...AND there's this problem with the volcano in Iceland...we may not actually be able to get to France in a couple of weeks...

Cheers, Lillie

food and parties

So yesterday was the fourth (fifth? third? sixth?) annual "graduation" party out here at the farm. I have lost count, and I am not at all certain that any of the graduate students who were here yesterday were actually graduates. I suspect not; but it has at any rate turned into a tradition (although I'm not sure how long it will last, as I am seriously TIRED!).

Evidently the food got a "10", or close to it, at any rate, although the weather did NOT. It was windy and cold, COLD. Not sure it got up to 60 degrees yesterday. And we couldn't put tablecloths on the serving tables, because of the wind. It was COLD.

Menu included but was not limited to:

Mint juleps

Pop

beer

wine

Smoked salmon rolls (rolled around goat cheese, EVOO, fresh ground pepper, chives) more or less invented by yours truly

Charred bell peppers (not green!), with VG mozzarella, red onion, served on romaine lettuce, with a vinaigrette containing anchovies as well as garlic.

Bruschetta topped with tomatoes briefly cooked in a great deal of EVOO that had a great deal of chopped garlic not cooked in it for very long, smeared or spread on the bread, topped with shaved Parmesan cheese

Country ham and sausage meatballs baked in brown sugar, vinegar, and Dijon mustard in it.

Roast chicken salad (?) actually supposed to be made from bar-b-qued turkey legs purchased (very good, I might add..) at the WIndmill Quick stop or whatever it is in Raisin, Tex, between Victoria and Goliad.

Roast pork (spiced with Chinese stuff, served with Wasabi Mayo), was not a huge hit, at least in the a limited group with no prejudices about either mayo or Wasabi. So there..

That's not all, but hey, it's late...

wisteria

First the really, REALLY good news...

ever since the first time I saw the wisteria blooming on that huge wall at Hampton Court (where Henry VIII wooed and seduced Anne Boleyn, et al.), I have wanted to see blooming wisteria at my house/on my house/on our fence, or whatever.

I think that first time may have been in 1983 maybe.

At any rate, almost as soon as we moved to the stone house on Cochran Road in 1984 (I think, and it seemed pretty much English, although Hampton Court was dark red VERY OLD brick), I have been trying to grow wisteria.

It is gorgeous when it is blooming, it smells good, and the plant is graceful. So I planted some "wisteria" at the base of the stone wall on Cochran by the patio. Turned out it wasn't actually wisteria; it was wygelia (wigelia?) something like that. although I had purchased the plant from a "reputable" garden center. It was (and probably still is) a lovely plant, though, with very nice flowers in the spring, which while they are not ACTUALLY wisteria flowers, are not really UNLIKE wisteria.

So then I planted actual wisteria plants both by the curved wall in the living room at that house (very near the Wygelia plant), and on the back, by the back bedroom. Despite all my best efforts, doing everything (EVERYTHING) anybody told me to do, NONE of these plants every bloomed. They did basically grow like weeds. Had to be cut back frequently, which I have on good authority is common.

But I gave up hope of ever having actual wisteria blossoms on my yard and/or land.

But last spring when we were doing work on the back yard in preparation for Sarah and Aaron's wedding, I got Clif Maehr to put in a wisteria vine up next to that fence, on a whim. And a MIRACLE occurred this past week: the ****** thing is BLOOMING! Amazing.

I suspect that I should not get used to it; the superstitious person inside me suspects that this will be the ONLY year the wretched plant will actually bloom.

I should take photos. Like tomorrow; it may not last...

Cheers, Lillie

Various rants

1. Airline travel. Volcanic ash...this is a natural event/"disaster" and one can't fault the governments and airlines for worrying about it. But how about if they quit assuming I'm a terrorist (late middle age American female, Ph.D., Caucasian, slightly disabled, usually carrying a computer, hard-to-remove shoes with custom-made industrial-strength inserts so I can actually walk without much difficulty, never, NEVER have set off an alarm, no arrests, much less criminal record, although a few tickets for speeding and failure-to-obey-stop-signs over 45 years of driving)? I ALWAYS get searched. My luggage ALWAYS gets searched. I am always thirsty, and now I can't carry anything liquid onto a plane. The latest insult is that on international flights I can no longer have my glass of Scotch before dinner without shelling out real money for it.

This summer I plan to take onto the plane, if, IF they will let me, a couple of those little bottles of Scotch you can purchase for an outrageous price (albeit less than they will charge me if I buy it from Delta) onto the plane is a Ziploc bag. Stay tuned.

2. The oil spill in the Gulf. Evidently BP is claiming today that they are not "responsible" for the spill, because the company (whoever it is) they outsourced something or other to is actually responsible for the failure of whatever it is that caused the explosion/blowout/whatever that resulted in the spill.

Give me a break. BP is the company that drilled/owned/whatever the well, and has been making buckets of money of late from this offshore drilling. As far as I'm concerned, BP is responsible for whoever or whatever company they outsource whatever to, and also for whatever results from same. The oil companies have gotten a free pass for far too long for whatever they did so we can have cheap oil/fuel here in the US. They can sue the company that screwed up if they want, but I'll bet they gave the contract to the company, whoever it is, who made the lowest bit, which they were able (probably/possibly) to do because they cut corners on safety issues. BP is ultimately responsible, as far as I'm concerned. And BP should be held responsible not only (NOT ONLY) for the damage done or inflicted, and clean-up of same, but also for lost wages and income of all those people put out of work by the damage from the spill. And they should be responsible not JUST for the cleanup, but also for whatever expense is incurred in restoring the marshes and wetlands that appear to be likely to be destroyed to viability.

Katrina was a natural disaster. All or most of the destruction in New Orleans was directly traceable to the Army Corps of Engineers. But problems in the delta and marshlands, etc., was NOT caused by the Corps of Engineers. This oil spill, however, and all the damage it will cause, is caused by negligence on the part of BP, and BP should be held accountable.

So there.

Cheers, Lillie

random thoughts on Derby Day

Weather is wretched for the Derby. Rain. Lots of it. We will probably go to a Derby party anyway. Sarah and Aaron are having a Derby Party for friends of theirs in NYC. Including mint juleps, etc. 14 people. Aaron evidently discovered a basketball game he had scheduled this morning, so Sarah is left to prepare for the gig. She phoned a couple of times, and commented that preparing for a party is a LOT of work. I allowed as how I am well aware of this. And I have yet another graduation party I'm working on right now, but that's not really as tough as the parties we used to do for seminar speakers. They were always, ALWAYS on Thursday evenings; I was working full-time; and we had two kids in school.

Some of these hats at the Derby are not just gaudy, but appalling. And if you are at Churchill Downs, you can pay $1,000 for a mint julep. I assume you get to keep the sterling silver julep cup. It's a fundraiser, of course.

I think BP should have to pay the ENTIRE cost associated with cleaning up this oil spill, and I mean ALL of it, including replacing income lost by all those fishermen down there in the Louisiana delta. There is blathering in the paper whining that the government should have done more. This disaster is totally different from the hurricane in N.O. The government was actually responsible (Corps of Engineers, folks!) for soooo much of the damage. That was a natural disaster aggravated by government incompetence. This disaster is caused by corporate incompetence and corporate greed.

crisis averted

The cat is found...he has come out of hiding. Martin is no longer worried...all is well...

Do I care? only because I no longer have to listen to worries that he's lost...

Cheers...

This and that

I suspect that in May and June, central Kentucky is probably the most beautiful place on earth. (October is usually lovely, too). It also has the highest pollen count in the world during May and June. I guess you can't have everything.

I don't like cats. Martin loves cats. I just spent most of the day going with him to adopt a new cat. Since we need an outdoor cat, we had to get an older one. Came home with a brown tabby male. Had lived in the shelter all his life (he's a year old), and was clearly terrified at doing anything different. So Martin set up a litter box, food and water in the other room in his cabin (not his bedroom), took him out of the cage and put him on the litter box, and went outside to put away the mower and gas cans before leaving for rehearsal. When he went back in, the cat was (and is) nowhere to be found. He is either so freaked out that he's hiding somewhere in the cabin where Martin can't find him, OR he managed to slip out unnoticed when Martin opened the door.

So Martin is distraught. He asked me how likely it is that we'll find him. I said that, if he's hiding in the cabin, it's 100% certain we'll find him. If he got out, who knows...

I am really, really, REALLY tired of being a grown-up.

So there...

thoughts on things in general

Am I the only person who has decided that virtually everyone involved in state or federal government, politics at almost any level, university politics, and/or pretty much ANY position of influence or power is virtually by definition compromised, e.g., fundamentally crooked, or has at the very least "sold out" to some sort of power structure?

I do hope the duck breast prosciutto I just peppered and hung out to dry is good...

the pancetta I made is (!) mediocre.

Life is short.

One should eat well, spend time only with genuine friends, relatives one loves, let go of grudges (thank you, Judy!), drink well...SO THERE..

Cheers, Lillie

Charcuterie, once again

Turns out my pancetta is okay. The mold on it doesn't mean it's gone bad, especially since it otherwise looks and smells really, really good. I'll cook some tomorrow, and we'll see...

Gretchen asked me about the smoker...huh? I haven't cranked it up yet, although I did buy a bag of charcoal and some mesquite chips and a can of starter fluid...will report after I do something with it.

Cheers, Lillie

My career as a charcutiere

This is an update....

I have twice (three times?) now made duck breast prosciutto using that recipe in Michael Ruhlman's Charcuterie book. It has been GREAT. After I take it down and start slicing it to eat, it doesn't seem to keep well, e.g., sliced, but the stuff is really, really good.

My first batch of cured salmon using their recipe was also very good, although Phil didn't like it that much because it tasted too much of fennel. It did have a whole fennel bulb, fennel seeds, Pernod, and a few things like that in it. I liked it.

So the next time, I made it with dill weed and dill seeds instead. It was underwhelming. I have in the past made gravlax using (more or less) Julia Child's recipe, and this stuff wasn't as good. And I frequently make salmon tartare, which is always a hit. and yes, I made that one up...

I used the Charcuterie book method for making sauerkraut. It was, shall we say, not just NOT a success, but seriously not a success. I threw it out.

I have had several plans to make sausage of various sorts, purchased a meat grinder attachment to my Kitchenaid mixer, also a sausage suffer gizmo, and lately have purchased a charcoal smoker thing. I have also on a couple of occasions started sausage, but haven't yet worked up the nerve to actually DO it. Stay tuned.

My latest effort is a serious (I think) disappointment. Pancetta. You "cure" this pork belly like you're going to make bacon, for a couple of days, season it some more, roll it up, tie it, wrap it in cheesecloth, tie it up some more, and hang it in a cool place for awhile, until the texture changes. And then you have pancetta, e.g., un-smoked, WONDERFUL Italian bacon. All of us were thrilled when I discovered this stuff. It's great.

So I made some. Did all the stuff it said, let it hang in the pantry for awhile (the pantry in our house, where the washer, dryer, extra fridge, freezer, and food storage are, is seriously far from the reach of both the boiler and heat pump, so in the winter, is SERIOUSLY cold, like frequently near freezing, sometimes for long periods of time). Today I worked up the courage to cut it down and take a serious look, with the intent to use it in pasta for dinner.

There was a big problem. Fortunately, I had also purchased some commercially made pancetta at Kroger. The stuff looks great, smells great, except there is sort of a serious amount of mold in the middle, and I don't exactly know whether or not it's safe to eat. So we didn't.

Any advice would be welcome...

And I do still intend to actually stuff sausage, crank up my smoker, and get busy...

Cheers, Lillie

this and that

I've decided that reading political stuff and agonizing over it is bad for my blood pressure. and makes no difference in the long run. So I am ignoring most of it. This unfortunately means I don't get to pay much attention to my favorite newspaper and online sources, but so be it...

Have spent the last several days trying to get all the bits and pieces of paper, not to mention a great deal of much-postponed filing, in folders. This is not just boring; it is also traumatic. And the next time the orthopod at Lexington clinic tries to talk me into letting him do surgery on either of both of my knees (and also offer to pray about it, overdose me with acetaminophen/tylenol, and relegate me to try to get around on crutches with my badly damaged arthritic shoulders and hips...but hey it was all in the official protocol), somebody out there PLEASE STOP ME!!!

I found Christmas cards with lovely photos of beautiful kids that I hadn't managed to open (lots of this from just after the ghastly surgery, that, folks, did NO GOOD...). Also of course there were bills, etc., that have been ignored. I'm trying very hard to get things under control AND to drag myself, kicking and screaming, into the 21st century...

On another front: the duck breast prosciutto is very, very good. Haven't tried the pancetta yet, but it may be very good, too. It's about ready.

And another thing, I bought a charcoal smoker from Lowe's the other day when I bought the new, very sophisticated (compared to the other ones we used to own that were supposed to be not just wonderful, but also indestructible...), grill/outdoor cooker that uses a propane tank. We'll see.

I hate baseball. Even more than I hate basketball...so there...

I'd rather be sewing, cooking, making sausage, etc., and cooking than dealing with boring paperwork. So there...

Cheers, Lillie

food and other things

I finally laid my hands on some more cheesecloth, rolled up the pancetta, and started another batch of duck breast prosciutto (two pieces, one whole breast). They are all hanging now in the pantry. We'll see how it goes. I do need to make some bacon, don't I.

My pal Gretchen is on a real anti-Mitch McConnell trip, and is trying to find a Ditch Mitch bumper sticker for her car. Problem is, he just (barely) was re-elected to yet another term in the Senate last year, so everybody who hates him has given up on trying to make him unemployed. She is having a difficult time finding a Ditch Mitch bumper sticker, so is making one herself. If I hadn't thrown them out, I would give her my old Ditch Mitch yard signs, but I fear they are history.

Cheers, tomorrow is April Fool's Day.

cars

So now Ford, the only American automobile company we the taxpayers do NOT own, is selling Volvo to somebody in China. I remember when Ford acquired Volvo. For awhile at least, Volvo suffered from the new owner; what on earth is going to happen when it's owned by Chinese?

I am seriously not suited for the 21st century.

taxes, tea baggers, and state budgets

I realize this is an anathema to lots (LOTS) of my friends and relatives, but there is something that I have never understood about taxes.

Some things have sales tax on them and others don't. Some of these things I understand. Like clothes, shoes, computers, birthday cards, etc., being subject to sales tax, but food and drugs NOT having sales tax.

The list of things subject to sales tax and the list of things exempt are both extensive, and both vary from state to state. Okay.

However, at least in Kentucky (and I think Kentucky is typical), services are not subject to the sales tax This results in some seriously bizarre situations (and people like lawyers will probably not agree with my logic here...). So if I wash all my own clothes and sheets and towels, etc., and iron my own clothes and shirts, etc., I have to pay sales tax on the following: the washer and dryer; the ironing board; the iron; the detergent, stain remover, bleach, fabric softener, starch, etc., required to do a decent job of washing same. I can probably think of a few other related items if I work on it. HOWEVER, if I take ALL my clothes and laundry to a cleaner who also does laundry, I can get all my clothes cleaned and washed and ironed, and all my linen laundered, ironed, and hung, so long as I can manage to pay their bill, and there is NO SALES TAX to pay. On top of which, I assume that the company that does the cleaning, washing and ironing not only does not pay sales tax on the equipment and products they use, they also deduct these expenses as well as the wages paid to the people who take care of my laundry, AND write off all the taxes, insurance, interest, depreciation, etc., on their equipment and buildings...

This makes no sense to me; it seems only reasonable that I should have to pay sales tax on the bills to get these good people to do my laundry and cleaning for me when I have to pay sales tax on everything required to do all the work myself.

Another example of this: I do not cut my own hair, although I wash it and dry it myself most of the time. I also no longer care for my toenails, etc., although I used to. I do still take care of my fingernails.

But why is it that I must pay sales tax on shampoo, conditioner, dye (although I do not use it, at least not yet!), chemicals, etc. for permanents (don't use them, either, at least not yet!), scissors, mirrors, etc., if I take care of my own hair (my husband used to be my hair-cutter, back when I was young and it was long and straight), but if I get somebody else to take care of it, there's no sales tax on what he or she charges?!? Sorry, folks, it makes NO SENSE to me. I also don't have to pay sales tax to get the guys at the local shop to give me a pedicure, where they provide all the equipment, etc., needed, including little things like nail polish and cream. But if I purchase the products, I must pay sales tax. This makes no sense to me.

UK Basketball -- huh?

HELLO!!! Nobody has told me to score, and as I mentioned earlier, I was banished from the den as I was deemed to be bad luck. Appears it didn't matter. Phil just told me they went down the drain. Martin is not speaking to me...

C'est la vie. C'est le jeu de basketball a Kentucky. Do you think John Calipari should be looking for another job? This seems to be the normal course of events?!?

On the other hand, this was a VERY young, very immature team, etc...

So there.

At least the brackets I chose aren't any worse than those of anybody else in the family...

Cheers, Lillie

food

About the duck breast prosciutto. Have made it twice before and it was really, really good. The stuff I made yesterday needs to be hung wrapped in cheesecloth in the pantry (it's still pretty cool in there, what with not being very warm outside, and the pantry being so far from any heating that it doesn't get actually hot until late summer...AND there's a thermometer on the counter in the room). The problem is that I started this pancetta from pork belly, which wasn't ready to hang before I left for Texas, and should have been dealt with, washed, dried, rolled, peppered, tied and wrapped while I was down there. But it wasn't because I wasn't here (it was in a zip-lock bag in the fridge). So yesterday I washed it, dried it (maybe it was Thursday), peppered it, rolled it, tied it (perhaps not all that well...this is not exactly my forte), wrapped it in the rest of my cheesecloth, and couldn't figure out how to actually hang it on the rod in the pantry where it's cool. It is on the laundry drying rack, which means there is air on all sides, so it can cure, or whatever it is it's supposed to do.

Makes it a bit awkward for hanging clothes on the drying rack.

Also means I need more cheesecloth for the duck breast prosciutto.

ALSO, I was making sauerkraut. From a cabbage. Was not exactly a success. Had to throw it out. Will try again later.

Lillie

trip to Texas

Just got back from Texas last Tuesday. Shorter trip than I'd planned, because my life has been hijacked by my rheumatologist (what exactly is wrong with that word? this editor does NOT like it), who talked me into trying yet another of the biologic drugs, hoping to find a magic bullet to deal with my RA. This is the second. I've already tried Enbrel for several months, and it didn't do squat.

It would be really nice if one of these were to work; it would be lovely to be able to get out of bed at a reasonable hour, and get going asap, etc. I realize that nothing is going to cure the joints that are already rotten, or make my spine 20 years old again, which would also mean that I would once again be almost (ALMOST) 5'5" instead just barely over 5'2". This at least gives me a reasonably good excuse to be short, fat in the mid-section, etc. But I do still have skinny legs, right?!?

And while I'm basically lonely and bored, and not intellectually stimulated like I was when I was working, AND am bored with having to deal with all these chores at home that everybody has been ignoring for > 6 years, I am optimistic. I WILL manage to get re-engaged. I WILL get rid of a whole slew of books we have that NOBODY will ever look at again, which will relieve the pressure to acquire yet more bookshelves. I WILL get the family financial books, home inventory, appraisals, etc., under control. AND I WILL do it while making pancetta, duck breast prosciutto (SOMEBODY please, PLEASE tell me where to get cheesecloth around here for a reasonable price?!?).

Also, while I was in Texas, San Antonio to be exact, specifically Central Market, the high-end grocery store owned and run by HEB, the Texas version of Kroger, I talked to a couple of the folks working there about making cheese. They make their own Mozzarella. I came back with three cartons of their Mozzarella curd. Yesterday I actually worked up the courage to make some Mozzarella from one of them (need to use them all SOON, as the stuff doesn't last very long once you open the package and expose it to air and whatever...she suggested a week, but it's already been longer than that). The boys loved it. I think I left the stuff too long in the brine (salt and water), but must admit it was good.

Stay tuned...

Cheers, Lillie

Kentucky basketball, etc...

So I have been banished from the den because evidently I bring bad luck to the UK basketball team in its effort to beat W. Virginia and get itself in the final four.

The real problem is that they (UK) were actually ahead early in the game and figured it was going to be a blowout. HOWEVER, given that they can't hit 3-pointers, are basically a bunch of very (VERY) talented 13 year old back lot basketball players who are actually 18 and 19 year old UK players, they are actually probably going to lose (unless they get their act together REAL FAST) to a really inferior college team. Notwithstanding the seriously expensive UK basketball coach they now have, John Calipari, with the multi-million dollar pad on the most expensive block of Richmond Road in Lexington, and the serious multi-million dollar "renovations"/"additions" he's doing there. If you aren't familiar with Lexington, Henry Clay's house and what's left of his estate is a block down the road, and Calipari's pad is probably in Ashland Park (all of Ashland Park used to be part of the Henry Clay Estate, which is called Ashland...also, disclaimer here, our house in Lexington on Cochran Road was at the edge of the Henry Clay Estate and was therefore in the Ashland Park subdivision...although it sorta wasn't in the same league as the mansion Calipari inhabits)

The only problem with the UK basketball team at the moment is that, although they are seriously talented, they are sorta immature (is it okay to say that?!?)

I may have to leave and take a LONG vacation in France if they lose tonight, as Martin may be insufferable...

so there...

academy awards

So I want to see the film about Tolstoy, and I'm mad because Meryl Streep didn't win Best Actress. And it's been 66 years since there were 10 nominees for Best Picture, and Casablanca won. This year The Hurt Locker, another war film, won. Haven't seen it, but I wonder if it'll turn out to be a classic like Casablanca. And hey, a WOMAN won the Best Director award for The Hurt Locker.

I want to see The Educator, or whatever it is that was nominated for all these awards, ditto The Last whatever, the one about Tolstoy.

And one last observation: all the women involved in any role seemed to be taller than any of the men, largely to their shoes. However, do you think this is significant of anything other than women are stupid enough to wear ridiculous shoes that will ruin their feet?

Cheers, Lillie

new food source

We went to Cincinnati yesterday and spent the day with Jim Krupa and Rees. Visited Findley Market, originally a German market started by Bavarian (I think) settlers in Cincinnati sometime in the 19th century, maybe 1870 or so. Wonderful place. Want fresh fish? they've got it. veg? ditto...sausage? what kind? what animal? bison? duck? camel? hey, it's there...a deli? yep...serious cheese? yes. Mediterranean shop with 50 different EVOO's? It's there, but here may be more than 50.

So there's IKEA, Jungle Jim's, Banasch's (fabric store, maybe the only one still existing in a 300 mile radius of central Kentucky...), and now a REAL market...

On top of which, we visited a restaurant called Nada, where we had some crazy drinks, the craziest of which was Phil's margarita that had this tequila infused with arbol chiles. It packed quite a punch, and I plan to try to replicate it.

my office

I realize that blogging is now "tres passe", but I'm an old lady and don't much like tweets and facebook, etc. Was seriously pleased with myself when I learned to blog...so there...

have just mostly cleaned off my desk upstairs; this is the first time you've been able to see its surface in months...am giving myself positive reinforcement...

forgot something in my recent rant

Mitch McConnell...I am sick of him, too, but he's so smart he doesn't drive me nearly as crazy as John too-tan Boehner and pretty boy Eric Cantor...

random thoughts--am bummed out, so read at your own risk...

The sun is out for the second day in a row. MAYBE IT'S A TREND...

I'm a Democrat, but here are some things I'm sick and tired of:

harry reid

nancy pelosi

ben nelson

that guy stupak

charles rangel

gov. paterson in NY

john mccain (I realize he's not a democrat but I'm sick of him, too)

john too-tan boehner (see John mccain)

eric cantor (ditto)

joe lieberman whatever or whoever he is

rick perry (ditto again)

health care (Obama is absolutely correct: everything that can be said about the bills floating around has been said, far too many times, by far too many people...let's vote)

jim the baseball player bunning (ditto) and the WSJ reaction to his bizarre behavior...all ignoring what every economist on either side of the political spectrum says...at least bunning won't be around much longer, but he's an embarrassment to kentucky (if you're not from Kentucky, brilliant bunning said during the recent gubernatorial contest that Dan-the-Italian-M.D.-Mongiardo, who was running for Lieutenant Governor, looked "like Saddam Hussein's son"... too a room full of Republican donors, however, there was a reporter sitting there taping it)...

I've quit reading the newspapers and watching the news. That leaves Antiques RoadShow, which unfortunately comes on only once a week.

Am also tired of the Academy Awards and they haven't even happened yet.

Am so bummed out I actually watched a basketball game the other day. UK beat Georgia, I think it was. They looked really amateurish at first and then blew it away. These freshmen like John Wall are ready for the pro's???? Puleeze, give me a break.

Am tired of having RA, a degenerative spine, constant pain, etc. My right arm, wrist, and hand are driving me crazy again and my GP is afraid it's because of another pinched nerve in my neck. Lower back pain, leg pain, foot pain I can generally cope with, but I need my arm, wrist and hand. This is not good news, but I guess I will have to go back to a neurosurgeon if it doesn't go away.

Am profoundly uninterested in cleaning up my office and dealing with both bills and taxes.

Tired of it being cold, and it's still really too cold in the kitchen to cook much.

So there.

I'm going to Texas next week; maybe it will be pleasantly (but not terribly) warm, and maybe the bluebonnets will be out...

new culinary invention

So I sort of invented something tonight, and the boys liked it A LOT. It's not exactly low-calorie, but it is full of veg.

Filling:

1 shallot

1 chopped onion (it was red because that's what I had)

1 8 oz pkg. mushrooms

most of a bag of frozen chopped spinach

goat cheese

grated parmesan

salt, pepper, nutmeg, a bit of butter and a bit of EVOO

1 sheet of puffed pastry

So I sauteed the chopped shallot and onion in some butter, added the chopped mushrooms, cooked them a bit, added the spinach, seasoned it with salt, pepper, and freshly grated nutmeg. Decided it needed some EVOO. Put in a big blob of goat cheese, probably about 6 ounces, until it melted, added a handful of grated parmesan.

Rolled out the pastry. Decided to cut it into pieces, ended up with 6, put a big (BIG) blob in the middle of a piece, folded it up around it and sealed it, put egg white on top, and baked them.

The boys really like them. (and they are full of veg...)

Decided I needed to write it down before I forget what I did. This way it's also online, not scratched on a piece of paper I'll lose.

Lillie

charcuterie

Cassoulet... I actually purchased a Cassoulet kit from d'Artagnan, largely because I wanted the Tarbais beans for cassoulet, and also couldn't find either Ventreche or French garlic sausage anywhere here. These are all things you need to make authentic cassoulet. So I made cassoulet, mostly using their recipe and ingredients. I have been making confit de canard (preserved duck legs) for some time. And we can get pancetta here, too. For the record, Ventreche tastes almost exactly like pancetta, as far as I can tell. The Tarbais beans are indeed seriously hard to find, and nothing I can find in Lexington even comes close. After I made the cassoulet from Ariane Daguin's d'Artagnan, a few observations. I/we didn't/don't like the French garlic sausage. It just doesn't taste like the stuff you buy in Southwest France. The cassoulet is very good, however. And I think it may be the beans...

The kit came, however, with six confit duck legs. I used either two or three of them (three, I think) in the cassoulet. I mean, there was all this sausage (there was some Armagnac duck and pork sausage, I think it was, as well as the French garlic sausage), the confit, the pork, and I may actually have used some lamb. I just didn't need all six of those duck legs for the cassoulet.

We had the last three for dinner tonight. They are already cooked, of course, as "confit" is by definition cooked. We had them (sauteed to brown them), with new potatoes sauteed in duck fat, sprinkled with chopped garlic and parsley, and a bit of salad and red wine. Typical southwestern France meal. I asked the boys what they thought about the duck legs. They both said they are "bland" and that they like the ones I make better, this despite the fact that my confit de canard (preserved duck legs) tend to be smaller and also tend to fall apart.

So there...

more food and other things

Other things:

the weather is still dreadful. I actually LIKE having a real winter. However, during the four years we lived in Michigan, with wonderful autumns that were colorful, spring that was lovely, but with very short, very hot summers ("so mild" you didn't "need" AC, yet so hot that they had to close MSU offices because the un-air-conditioned office spaces had temperatures in the 90's even with all the lights turned off...you can get an average temperature of 80, not so uncomfortable, by averaging a high of 60 and a high of 100, neither of which is comfortable in late July), and winters that seemed to last FOREVER, I was always either too hot or too cold. Kentucky has, as a rule, short, cold winters, short, hot and humid summers, and gorgeous falls and springs. This winter has been TOO BLOODY COLD. TOO MUCH snow. At least we haven't had a nasty ice storm, but it's been too cold for that.

Yesterday it got up to NOT QUITE BUT ALMOST 60 degrees. And the sun was out. Today it was back to 40 degrees, misty and temps falling. But hey, March is just around the corner...

My new batch of duck prosciutto is almost ready. And the last batch was really good. The jury is out on the sauerkraut. I don't think it's really ready yet (been far too cold out in the pantry, which is where I cure these things). If it's dreadful, though, I don't think I care much. It made a big mess, and it cost me about $4.00.

I am now curing some brisket to make corned beef. Put it in on Saturday, and it needs to cure until at least Thursday. At which point I will have a look, and if I decide it's ready to cook, I plan to cook half and freeze the other half. I hope it's okay to freeze corned beef. I bought half an un-trimmed brisket (7 pounds), cut it in two, and am curing it in a huge stock pot out in the pantry (the temperature out there isn't much higher than the temp outside...I have a thermometer on the counter there...it's in the low 40's right now...so who needs a fridge?!?)

My next project will be (I hope) garlic sausage. I have had all the ingredients and have been postponing actually leap into the sausage making project for a couple of months now. And I have a couple of pork bellies in the freezer (you buy the stuff frozen from Critchfield's Meats, and I have been putting it in the freezer to await my project...), which I need to turn into bacon. I'm not sure exactly why I've been dragging my feet on this, but I have.

I have cured salmon, however. My gravlax (which predates my Charcuterie book, a gift at Christmas 2009) has been really good. My cured salmon using the recipe in the Charcuterie book was very good, except that Phil didn't like it, as it tasted too much like fennel. It was cured with salt, sugar, pepper, fennel seeds, and slivered fennel, including a couple of other things; these were the active ingredients. Phil suggested that I try it again with dill flavoring, which I did, using dill seed, dried dill weed, and live dill fronds, etc., otherwise the same recipe. It was BORING with a capital "B". Stay tuned...

Stay tuned...but the guys at Critchfield's said that the pork Shoulder roast butt (I think it is) has enough fat to make decent sausage, and I will indeed try it, but based on a very small sample size when I made some Mexican sausage using the meat grinder gizmo on my Kitchenaid mixer, I am not convinced that it won't need rather more fat. And the only decent supply of pork fat I seem to find here in Lexington is the pork belly (from the part that is not lean...). We'll see, when I finally get around to taking a big gulp and making sausage...

food and things

Got yet another copy of Bon appetit in the mail yesterday. This is the wonderful mag I now get compliments of Conde Nast since they canned Gourmet. What's the cover story?!? One dish casserole meals. Tamale pie, staple of pot luck dinners in Texas. I'm underwhelmed by the recipe, too. Tuna noodle casserole, complete with crushed potato chips on top. Give me a bloody break.

The copies of Bon Appetit may make good kindling if I managed to roll them up. Mary Elizabeth gave me a subscription to La Cucina Italiana, which is promising. Now if that were paired with a similar magazine on France, it would go a ways toward replacing the gap in serious food writing created by the demise of Gourmet.

It's been too cold and nasty to cook; the kitchen is too cold. Cancelled my trip to Texas last week, actually postponed it to sometime in March. It will, I hope, warm up a bit both here and there. And maybe the snow will melt. I am seriously tired of trying to talk people into bring fire wood in so I can keep the den warm.

I may have found a fabric store in Cincinnati. And I have directions...now I just need to muster the energy to drive up there.

Cheers,

snow and other things

1. I think I'm glad I postponed my trip to Texas. We will go to Stephenville when I do go, and they had a foot of snow in Dallas. I remember a big snowstorm when I was about 8 and we lived in Fort Worth (there's a photo of me somewhere with a snowman), and we battled snow and ice up there in Fort Worth while MA and F still lived there. I'm not eager to do it again, and Stephenville is in that area. I'm sure they got at least a foot, too. Kentucky is bad enough. Lots of snow in north central Texas is something to be feared.

2. I remember being shattered when I was either in high school or college and I discovered that a penny box of matches no longer cost a penny, although I can't remember what it went up to. I now have some of those "penny boxes" of matches, and now not only do they cost MUCH more than a penny, but there's not enough of that red stuff on the ends to actually get them to light.

3. Many more winters of bad weather like this are likely to send the airlines out of business at this rate.

4. Why doesn't the United States have a high speed rail system. CHINA seems to be able to put one in; Japan has had one forever; Europe has one. Why don't we? Yes, yes, I know, everything has to be done by private business with minimal government involvement. NOBODY in Europe goes on long car trips, though. They get there by train or plane and THEN get in a car. It reduces the attraction of large family cars. Saves gas. Saves the planet. Ask any New Yorker why they don't own a car.

For that matter, a decent high speed rail system would even help New York out, not to mention the rest of the country. Some astonishing percentage of plane delays are caused by congestion in the New York area. It would be lovely to be able to get onto a fast train, say, in Cincinnati (I'd be happy to drive to Cincinnati to do this) and not too many hours later find myself in mid-town. Sarah and Aaron would get really tired of seeing me/us. It's relatively easy to fly into the area, but it's such an ordeal.

SO there..

weather and other things

I am trying to figure out how to track the number of hits to my posts. It is clear that people are reading it who are NOT "followers". I get emails about it. There must be a way to do this, and there is probably someone among my acquaintances who knows how to do this; I just haven't yet asked the right person.

I think I am still patting myself on the back for not going to Texas this week. It is evidently bloody cold down there. The DFW area has had more snow this winter than Toronto (if you're reading this and don't know that Toronto expects buckets of snow every year, like feet on the ground all winter, not inches, now you know). Rumor is that the DFW area had about a foot of snow yesterday or last night or sometime. And pretty much everywhere I would be in Texas if I were there, the weather is seriously nasty. HOWEVER, here it is STILL COLD. SERIOUSLY COLD. It's tough on my joints, and while I'm the first to admit that I like having a legitimate winter, this one needs to be over with and done. Everything hurts, our electric bill is astronomical (heat pumps, folks), I've no idea how much propane we've used in the last six weeks trying to keep the temperature in the whole house somewhere in the 50's, and did I mention that all my parts hurt?!?

On top of which, the kitchen is so cold I can't stand to cook. Sometimes I complain that it's a lifestyle issue that I can't chop like I used to be able to and like to do. I have lately purchased a new can opener (even Martin can operate it, and it's less trouble for me); I dug out my small Cuisinart chopper gizmo and use it all the time; got a juicer attachment to my Kitchenaid mixer for Christmas (much easier to use than the one we got for a wedding present); purchased a pasta attachment gizmo for the above mixer and gave my hand-cranked one to Sarah; and bought a new easier to use Cuisinart food processor. Unfortunately the new food processor is so sophisticated that I haven't been able to figure out how to use it without a manual, which was missing from the box, and the one I asked to send me appears to something I'll never get. Ah, well...

I really have difficulty cooking in a kitchen that won't warm up to at least 60 degrees (F).

I have managed to make a batch of canneles, those wonderful things indigenous to southern France. They are sort of a cross between a brioche, a muffin and a cooky, and are highly addictive. Unfortunately I have only one cannele mold (this situation will be rectified this summer...) as I didn't believe I would actually be able to make competent canneles in the US. I am also making some more duck breast prosciutto, which requires little time in the kitchen, but some weeks hanging in a "cool" place. They are hanging in the pantry, where it hasn't gotten up near 40 degrees for some weeks. Excellent curing spot.

The current problem is that there is yet another seriously cold cold front, complete with snow (not a very big deal...) and nasty cold temperatures following (ThIS is the big deal). I am well and truly tired of this. I guess the problem is that this is the first winter since I haven't been working that it's been so cold. Always before, I was working, and for 6-8 hours/weekday, I was usually in a warm building. Now I'm not...

Trips, weather and food

So I was supposed to leave this afternoon for two weeks in balmy Texas. Trouble is, there's a storm going on; in northern Kentucky it snowed overnight, now is raining, supposed to turn to sleet momentarily, and then return to snow. And I was supposed to fly out of Cincinnati. As of this morning they were saying we should avoid the roads, and while the flight was not yet cancelled, it was "delayed" 40 minutes. I cancelled the trip. Will try again next month.

I do wish the house weren't so cold.

At least Phil took the Volvo to Lexington today, not the Buick.

The duck prosciutto I made is really good. My second attempt at cured salmon not so good. The first salmon I cured was good, but Phil didn't like it much. I cured it in fennel with fennel seeds, actually followed a recipe. Second one I did with dill seed and dill weed, and it is seriously mediocre. Actually "was" mediocre; I tossed the rest of it.

I might thaw out that duck in the freezer, make more prosciutto out of the breast and cook the rest for dinner. This weather has one serious advantage: the laundry room/pantry is ice cold, and makes an excellent curing shed. It's too far away from the boiler to get a reasonable amount of heat from the system. We just keep it closed off, and it's a great place to hang prosciutto...

Cheers,

back to food

So last night Martin ate sweetbreads. He didn't know it was sweetbreads (if you don't know what this is, it's the veal thymus gland). I salted and peppered them, coated them with flour, and sauteed them in a combination of EVOO and butter. Told Martin it was chicken, put a slice of lemon alongside on his plate. He not only ate the stuff; he asked for more.

Am making sauerkraut, and have managed to make a big mess on the counter in the pantry with my sauerkraut bowl covered with a dish towel. Ended up with salty water all over the counter. bummer.

The duck breast prosciutto is very good, albeit a bit salty if you eat it alone. I think I tend to leave things in the salt cure a bit too long. It is definitely seriously good, though. And my latest batch of cured salmon is better, dill this time instead of fennel.

Kentucky Wildcats

So of course here in central Kentucky, the sun rises and sets with the Kentucky Wildcats, especially the basketball team. And if you don't live in Lexington, you may be surprised to hear that the Lexington Herald-Leader (the local daily rag) has not one, but TWO, sports sections. There is the section called the Sports section. And there is the other section, also know as Section A, which contains the front page. Most of the time, however, when you look at the front page, the lead story is about the basketball team or the coach or which bowl game the football team is going to, or speculation about a bowl game, etc. Unless some current or former politician has been indicted, convicted or "exonerated" for a crime, or the son of a former governor has just shot his girlfriend, the lead story will be about the Wildcats. The latest murder on Race and Sixth will be down at the bottom of the page.

And last Saturday the Kentucky Wildcat basketball team, at that point undefeated, had just been ranked #1 in the country, and was about to play SOuth Carolina (which I think was ranked #7 or something...not sure), when President Obama phoned Coach Calipari to congratulate the team on their #1 ranking. So all these talented and coddled basketball players got to talk on the phone to the President. They were pleased; it was all over the TV and the newspaper, and then they got ready for their basketball game against South Carolina.

Guess what. They lost. I watched most of the game. They missed lay-ups; they missed free throws; they fouled; they couldn't pass the stupid ball. John Wall, the freshman who is (or was) expected to be #1 in the pro draft this year, had a terrible game. It was pitiful.

And according to the local news, the letters to the editor, and the word on the street, guess why they lost? It's Obama's fault. It's all his fault. Nobody else's.

I suppose the current snowstorm and arctic air rolling across the state is his fault, too...

Angels and ministers of grace defend us...

Cheers

Sarah's visit and Martin's birthday

I do have the best kids anybody has ever had. So there.

Sarah has been here most of the week, and it's been lovely, as she was here to work, rather than for a holiday. She has worked almost non-stop, but it's been nice, because we weren't always on the go doing holiday stuff. She went to Louisville yesterday for a meeting/conference with a client of her firm, officials, etc. Today we had a SSI hearing for Martin. It was also his birthday, and he got some neat presents, phone calls, a ridiculously huge meal at Bella Notte, things like that, and THEN we got to watch the KY Wildcats' first loss of the season (I think) which of course came on the heels of their being voted the #1 team in the country. So it goes...

I've been cooking. Sarah and I watched Julie and Julia the other night, and she mentioned that she'd never had Boeuf Bourguignonne (I think that's how you spell it...beef burgundy, at any rate). So I made it, and we had it for dinner yesterday. It was seriously good. I also made garlic soup, the "potage" you get at a lot of places in Perigord. Need to write down the way I made it, as I think I have figured out how to do it well, and it's sort of a combination of several recipes I've found. This stuff fits into the category of "cucina povera", or "poor people's food". It's made from local and readily available ingredients (garlic, water, duck fat, leftover bread, an egg, vinegar...), and is basically great. Tastes like the "terroir". Cheap to make, filling, nutritious...

The beef burgundy isn't far from that, either. It's a stew made with whatever kind of beef is around, cooked (flavored of course with things like garlic, herbs, onions, a carrot, celery...) for a LONG time in a local red wine, with onions and mushrooms added. How to feed a lot of people well without spending a lot of money? hey, folks...

Before she leaves, I need to get out the duck breast prosciutto I've made; we may have that with a first course tomorrow with the rack of lamb I bought. HOWEVER, I do not plan to eat the lamb, however wonderful it is; sorry folks, I'm allergic to lamb, and it seems to do bad things to me.

So there...

Cheers, Lillie

animals

So this car full of guys pulled up the driveway this morning, and we could tell the dogs didn't know who it was. They wanted to know if they could buy one of the white chickens out in the henhouse. I said I'd have to discuss it with Jim. That's a new one, though. I've had people ask about buying eggs (this time of year, there aren't any), but never wanting one chicken.

So I went out and checked. There are 20 guinea hens he has free-ranging, and it looks like he's had his incubator at home working overtime and there ARE eggs being laid, because there are various kinds of birds out there under heat lamps (babies), quail, pheasant, chickens, unidentified species, and there's still that gigantic turkey out there. Every time he builds another aviary, the just gets more birds...I'm staying out of it.

So I checked on the mushroom logs while I was out there (no mushrooms, at least no shittakes, or is it shitakke or shitake...you know what I mean). And then I checked on the pond. oops...it never occurred to me to worry about the goldfish. At the house on Nicholasville Road, I always wintered the goldfish (it had a pond out back) in a wading pool in the basement. Until one year I forgot to bring them in before the pond froze. And they survived anyway. It is clear that many of the ones here did NOT survive. And there's a dead frog floating in the pond, too.

Is the term "dead livestock" an oxymoron?

And then there are the dead moles. Molly (the cat) loves catching moles; I just watched her chase a really big one across the driveway. It got away, though. Now she's got a mouse out there. I think she may be the reason we don't have all that many mice in the house this winter.

To spring...

It may be a Miracle

The weather is better, the sun is actually out, AND the Christmas tree has disappeared. The living room is one of the rooms we've had closed off during the deep freeze here, and it was simply too cold in there to even walk through. Another one was the dining room, and all the Christmas junk is gone from there, too...WHEEEEE...

Maybe my bones will be better when it's a bit warmer. There are lots of birds out flying around in packs and chirping all over the place. And the snowdrops are blooming out front. Maybe I'll even manage to get my ticket to Texas...

I think I will feed Phil some of that cured salmon, although I suspect he won't like it much; too much fennel. And I haven't done anymore with my charcuterie book because the kitchen has been too cold. This week will be different. And Sarah arrives on Friday for nearly a week--hearing in Lexington and a client in Louisville--so will be here for Martin's birthday.

Cheers, Lillie

more on weather, more on food

The deep freeze up here seems to be breaking. It actually got up to 30 degrees today. I went out without Mary Ann's fur coat, just with two sweaters and my Harris tweed blazer, and survived. Maybe all the snow and ice on the drive will melt tomorrow...which means that just maybe the boys will quit driving the Buick so I can have it back. Not sure why exactly I am the one who seems to drive the Volvo when the weather is bad (it's a 1994 sedan I bought from Brenda 10 years ago...still runs like a top but it's hard on my back, and I'm the one with the bad back...), but that's the way it's been.

My duck breast prosciutto that is curing in the pantry (aka laundry room) isn't ready, probably because it's been TOO COLD in there, as it's been in the 30's lately. The boiler system can't cope that far away, and we keep it closed off when the weather is frigid.

The kitchen is almost warm enough to start thinking about some more of my charcuterie projects, like sauerkraut (I bought a cabbage to try that with), sausage (I bought casings and a sausage stuffer, just need to take the plunge and try it...).

On the other hand, it's not yet mid-January, so the brief break in the weather could be brief.

Cheers, Lillie

food, despite the weather

So I got this Charcuterie book for Christmas. I asked for it, actually. I've made this cured salmon, and am making duck prosciutto. Now my project is sauerkraut. The prosciutto is hanging in the pantry, which has been in the 40's for awhile; it's been there over a week and is clearly not yet ready. It's seriously too cold...

The cured salmon is ready, not sure whether it will be worth a damn...

Made some sausage, after a fashion, today. Bought myself a meat grinder attachment to my Kitchenaid mixer. Also bought a sausage stuffer for the mixer. Need to figure out how to actually make the meat grinder gizmo work before I start trying to stuff sausage with it. Bought sausage gizmos (the casings) at Critchfield's the other day.

Will keep you posted...

The pork filling for tacos I ground today turned out okay. Not great, but okay.

And part of my problem is that the kitchen is, shall we say, too cold, e.g. COLD.

Cheers, Lillie

weather

The weather in central Kentucky still stinks...so there. I think it's been nearly two weeks since the temp was above freezing. Normally this is fine; however, it is so ridiculously expensive to actually warm any of this house, I'm getting sorta worried about it.

The kitchen is far too far away from the boiler system for the boiler to keep it anything near warm, and that heat pump in the kitchen doesn't actually work when it's this cold; most days it's been in the 40's in the kitchen, and I can't face cooking when it's that cold.

For some strange reason, the heat pump just outside the back porch seems to be working pretty well, so the back porch (which in some ways acts as a sun room, at least when there's sun, which has been rare lately) has actually been more or less warm...and the den we've kept warm by keeping the wood burning stove in there going. It's ALMOST 68 degrees....whee!!

All the pipes in the cabin are frozen, as we didn't get the below-floor heater out there turned on before the deep freeze set in. I decided that the best strategy is to just wait it out and hope nothing bursts.

The pantry (the room with the pantry, washer and dryer, etc...) has been in the 30's for awhile. I am making duck prosciutto, and it's hanging in there, and NOT curing at a rapid rate, I might add.

Normally I really like cold weather, but all my joints hurt, and it's too cold to cook in the kitchen, so I'm not cooking, and I gotta admit, I'm ready for it to break. Cold and snow is good, but this is a bit over the top.

So there...

Cheers, Lillie

various problems

So I managed to FINALLY send out my Christmas letter (didn't send one last year, what with surgeries and all sorts of problems), today, I had had the sense to at least re-name it something like holiday season 2009-2010. But then after I had everything addressed, sealed and stamped, I realized I had made a big mistake in the letter. The url for one of my blogs is seriously wrong. PIA...

It's so cold here; we're in a serious deep-freeze. Hasn't been above freezing for awhile, and it's not going to be again for a good week. Pipes are frozen in Martin's cabin. I now have a thermometer in the pantry (next to the kitchen) as I am curing duck breast prosciutto in there. It is 33 degrees Fahrenheit in there. The heat pump in the kitchen (it's so far from the boiler pipes that heat from the boiler does no good in the kitchen anyway...) doesn't work most of the time when it's this cold outside, so most of the time it's about 45 degrees in the kitchen. I won't discuss rooms like the bedrooms. The back porch (lots of glass, a heat pump) is for some reason almost comfortable most of the daylight hours. It's almost WARM in the den, as I have been keeping a fire in the wood burning fireplace insert almost all the time. The frugal streak in me has actually quit worrying about how much trouble I have to go to (and how many starter sticks, etc. to use) to get it going again when it goes out. Fortunately, we seem to have a good supply of wood, as we lose big limbs and/or trees whenever there's a nasty storm.

Some days it's too cold to cook in the kitchen, but fortunately we don't seem to have any frozen pipes in the house (thanks to all the cellars...). It's supposed to be nasty cold for at least another week. We might as well be in Michigan...

So there...

Cheers, Lillie

exploring eastern Kentucky

So we're a whole lot closer to the stereotypical eastern Kentucky than I thought. I realize that US 68 (the highway we're on) goes basically east/northeast. I was feeling housebound this afternoon and decided to go in search of another covered bridge, one in Fleming County. We're in Bourbon County; the next one up is Nicholas County; and Fleming County is just past that one. Soooo, I went to Carlisle (maybe 10 miles up the road) and got on US 32 toward Flemingsburg. I was INSTANTLY in Appalachia...narrow roads, steep ravines, decrepit barns, trailer houses with junk piled all over the place outside, old cars rusted out, lots of tiny churches (none Catholic, few mainstream Protestant, rather think Holiness, 4-5-6 hour services with one lay preacher after another, snake handling...). I FINALLY got to Flemingsburg, which is a cute little town with actual schools and a hospital, etc. This had taken forever, and I never did make it to the covered bridge I was looking for. Instead, I headed back, and too the first road I found that would dump me out on US 68, an actual highway...

Happy New Year, everyone...

New Year 2010

So there is disagreement about whether the decade ended last night at midnight (whenever that was) or whether it doesn't end until midnight December 31, 2010; I'm hoping it ended last night, and that saying good riddance to a rotten decade (one that seemed to last at least 25 years...) is appropriate. On top of the obvious (9/11, Dubya, the elusive Papa Cheney, wars, market crashes....), there were the deaths (Daddy, Frank, Sidney, among others...), rotten treatment at jobs (me, Martin)... There were good things, too (weddings, most notably Sarah and Aaron's, and Aaron seems to be willing to put up with me, no mean feat...). Overall, though, I'm hoping 2010 will be GOOD...

Having said all that, we did the usual New Year's Eve celebration: the Curtz's came over for dinner. Unlike some years ago (say, about ten), we did NOT toast in the new year in Kentucky. Rather we started with France (at 6:00 p.m.), England (7:00 p.m.), Iceland maybe next...and gave up before we got out of the Atlantic, e.g., before 10:00 p.m.

I did better with the meal this time. Almost everything was actually ready before they got here. Champagne with gravlax (cured salmon) I'd made. The veal scaloppini (can't spell it) dish I made up with white wine, shallot and bleu d'Auvergne sauce, new potatoes and broccoli. Cheese--Roquefort, Brie and Gouda--and a VERY English two desserts: pears poached in red wine and Canneles. Was disgustingly pleased with myself for getting so much done ahead of time.

A New Year resolution (in addition to my plan to become a charcutiere...more on that in a bit): will use, e.g., USE, the silver we have. It's sitting there in drawers all the time. My mother's set of sterling probably didn't get used more than 20 times in her lifetime, if that many. Mary Ann did get hers out at Christmas, but she'd set the table about a week before Christmas and you couldn't eat there (a bit of a problem at 6416 Curzon, as they had only one table for eating) until Christmas Day, and I don't think she used any of it any other time. I do use the stuff more than that, and it is a bit of a pain to clean, but I've made a resolution to get the stuff out and use it...so there...the serving dishes, too.

My other resolution is to become a decent charcutiere; I got this book on Charcuterie by Michael Ruhlman and Brian somebody, maybe Polyan. Ruhlman is a prolific food writer and Brian is a chef. So far I'm working on fennel cured salmon and duck breast prosciutto. Bacon and things are next (sorry, Aaron, I won't try to feed it to you...). Eventually I am going to have to come up with some way to smoke stuff, but I plan to postpone that at least until the weather is a bit better. Right now it's January 1, wretchedly cold outside (and inside, too, in some parts of the house), and unlikely to improve greatly for quite awhile.

Am also coming down with an acute case of wanderlust. Be warned, Phil Crowley...

Happy New Year; Bonne Annee...

Lillie