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...