Book Update / Dinner Party

Since April, when last I wrote about what I've been reading, I've finished both Sense and Sensibility and Shades of Milk and Honey.  I've also completed the sixth and final book in the Rebecca series, Changes for Rebecca.  It definitely elevated my opinion of the whole series.  Additionally, I've read two of the books that I brought home in my library haul: The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly and Odd and the Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman.  Plus, I've listened to two shorter stories: Clockwork by Philip Pullman and Porch Lies by Patricia McKissack.  I've also gotten started on The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (audiobook) and I'm still working on Discoverers of the Universe by Michael Hoskin (print book).  Also, I finished another season of the BBC Radio series Cabin Pressure.  Also also, I forgot to mention that long, long ago (in February) I listened to Hans Christian Andersen's The Snow Queen. And, I finished the first four episodes/interviews in Michael Ian Black's podcast, "How To Be Amazing."  As predicted, Lin-Manuel Miranda's interview was my favorite of the four.  I admire Miranda's work so much and I really hope to see Hamilton when it hits Broadway. 

In other news, I forgot to mention that last Wednesday, I held a dinner party!  It was so much fun to actually take the time to cook and to have the food appreciated by my friends.  I made an herb tart and a chicken-plum pie, a loaf of cheddar-thyme bread, a lemon-basil pasta salad, a caprese salad, stewed cherries, buttered crab with tortilla chips, Thug Kitchen cauliflower, and syllabub.  In addition to my friends from graduate school, a couple of friends from college dropped by!  I was so excited to see Mel, since she lives in L.A., but we didn't get to talk a lot (we will have coffee when next I am in L.A. to really catch up).  We all gathered round the kitchen island and ate and drank and watched a Bollywood film on Netflix and at the end of the night there were no leftovers, which I say is the sign of a dinner party well done.

On Breakfast

I'm truly getting better about eating breakfast.  I resolved to eat it in January, and though I've missed my fair share of breakfasts in the ensuing five months, I've eaten more than not.  Another huge help to my breakfasting quest has been the vegan cookbook Thug Kitchen.*  In one of their "Dropping Knowledge" sections the authors reiterate how important breakfast is-- and the fact that those who don't eat it are at a higher risk of heart disease.  As they say, anything goes for breakfast (except they say it in much more colorful language)!  Breakfast doesn't have to take long or be fancy.  Cold leftovers work.  So, while some mornings I make myself a cheddar-cheese-scrambled egg with bacon, and I've gotten really into whipping up Thug Kitchen's vegan French toast with coconut-oil fried bananas, some days it's all I can do to heat up a leftover tuna croquette or finish off a large snickerdoodle cookie I purchased the day before.  Do cookies count for breakfast? I think the answer is yes.


*not a sponsored post in any way, though I do love Thug Kitchen and highly recommend it. It's great, even for non-vegans like me.

Some Food Resolutions

In 2015, I resolve to eat breakfast.  I don't have work early in the morning this semester, so in addition to my morning cup of tea, I plan to actually eat something for breakfast-- either a bowl of cereal, an apple with peanut butter, or toast and honey, etc.  Which means I need to go buy some cereal, apples, and peanut butter.  A bit more difficult resolution: incorporate my slow-cooker into my weekly routine.  What with how crazy Zan's and my schedules are a slow-cooker can mean the difference between a healthy, home-cooked meal or ordering a pizza at 11:00 PM.  Seriously.  Also, more baked potatoes.  I love them, but I rarely think of making them.  They are so easy and delicious and so many toppings to play with-- and as a bonus, inexpensive!  Just like apples and peanut butter.  Looks like a tasty 2015 for me!

Quiet in the Noisy Swirl

My life this past week turned into a noisy swirl.  I led an ordered life during the summer: in June, I read during the day and attended class in the evening.  In July, I spent carefree days in Williamsburg, reading in the mornings, watching movies during the afternoons, and visiting friends in the evenings.  In August, I spent a lovely week at the beach, finishing a book for my thesis, completing a Rosetta Stone unit, and starting on a cross-stitch sampler.  Then it all changed, and suddenly the noise came back to my head, telling me to read more and do more and that I'm not enough.

This week, I had meetings to go to, appointments to attend, interviews, and events to plan.  Suddenly the rapidly approaching change of seasons started to agitate me; how will I withstand the cold of another winter?  Why are we drinking pumpkin spice lattes in August?  Then I begin to have anxiety about how will I ever learn Spanish and have all these hours been for nothing, because I can't even read children's books without stumbling over at least a few words, and why am I not perfectly fluent yet, and will I ever be? (My perfectionism won't let me appreciate my small accomplishments as I learn more and more words.)  Mostly, I began to panic again about my thesis project and the seeming impossibility of it, and dread that seeps into my bones when I try to imagine writing another thesis.  I know this dread is of the moment, and will dissipate as I read and formulate ideas (better-- will turn into joy! I do love the eighteenth century) but that doesn't stop it from feeling awful now.

So on Wednesday I decided to try to quiet my mind.  I walked up the hill listening to my Frankenstein audiobook, feeling productive (I am loving audiobooks).  I stepped inside the Bayou Bakery, where zydeco music is always playing and the smell of chicory coffee and beignets fills the air.  I ordered a glass of sweet tea and a slice of freshly made blackberry-almond coffee cake, still warm from the oven.  One gooey bite of warm blackberry dispelled most of my worry.  I opened my new book, the one I really didn't need to buy at the beach, but that I felt I needed to buy at the beach, and I began to read.  Then I stopped, because this book is too good and I don't want it to ever end, plus I needed another bite of that warm crunchy coffee-cake top.  With a bit of blackberry, too.  Then I read a bit more, and I think some odd sixth-sense must have led me to this book, or maybe this book-- like the house it's about-- is magic and it knew that I needed it and it placed itself on the shelf just so, that my eye might catch its bright cover.  I'm only twenty-two pages in, but already I think this may be a book I read again and again, like Eat Pray Love or The Alchemist.  I feel comfortable in its pages, even though I'm still new to it.

Then I finished my tea and coffee cake, and I walked further up the hill, listening to Frankenstein, and I bought a pair of crop jeans and I used up the last of a Barnes and Noble gift card on a Spanish children's book full of illustrations and some words I understand and lots of words I don't understand, but have faith that I will learn.  Then I walked home in the warm-but-not-too-warm evening sunshine, and I cleaned up the apartment a bit, which helped my mood considerably.  The noisy swirl inside my head felt calmer; my mind felt clearer.  And even now, as anxiety again tugs at the corners of my thoughts, whispering horrible things about my academic preparedness and the state of my thesis research, I try to remember that my adviser told me not to harden my thoughts, and that I'm on track, and that I have two books ILLed that should arrive at the library anyday, and in the meantime I'm just a short walk from sweet tea and just a few pages from a magical house full of hope.

At The Beach

At the beach, you're allowed to have peanut pie and tea for breakfast.

At the beach, you're allowed to have eggs, bacon, and toast at lunch.

At the beach, you're allowed to wake up late.  You can read for hours on the front porch, or in the sunroom, or on a couch.  You can work on your language skills; you can play silly iPad games.  You can start a new cross-stitch pattern, or you can play a Mario game on the Wii U.  You can play card games at night, or watch movies during the day. 

At the beach, you can get ice cream in the afternoon, or buy a new book from a local bookstore.  Even though you know that the last thing you need is a new book.  You can also get Classic Literature-themed MadLibs.  Because when was the last time you played MadLibs?

At the beach, you can start the day in the hot tub.  You can also end the day in the hot tub.

At the beach, you can actually go to the beach.  You can also run into the ocean and play with the waves, and there's a long sandbar.  You can lounge on the sand or swim or wade.

At the beach, you can do whatever you please.


But the best part is that peanut pie for breakfast.

Cooking Spree: Tuna Croquettes with Avocado-Lime Sauce

After I completed my strawberry sheet cake, I decided that I would make a healthy dinner.  This dinner was a two parter: Watermelon-Feta Orzo Salad, and Tuna Croquettes with Buttermilk Avocado-Lime sauce.  Let me first tell you about the Tuna Croquettes!

 (Fry them in real butter; it makes all the difference!)

These are quite a bit like crab or salmon cakes, but with tuna!  The recipe suggests them as a way to use up leftover canned tuna, and I think you could make it work with leftover tuna salad, too.  You know what I mean: you make the tuna salad, make one sandwich, then someone asks you out to lunch the next day, so you don't use the rest of the tuna?  Well, now you can make that tuna into a hot dinner meal! 

The recipe (from Southern Living, of course) can be found here, and it's really quite simple.  Just tuna, mayo (or, if you want a bit more of a flavor kick, a little Cheese Shop House Dressing), egg, green onion (or onion), and panko bread crumbs, basically.  Throw in whatever you'd put in a crab cake!  Make it your own!  I would also note, you could probably make these gluten free by substituting the panko bread crumbs for cooked quinoa.  If you do that, you will probably need to refrigerate either the mixture or the quinoa, so that you can shape it into croquettes.  Once you've mixed up whatever you want to use for your tuna croquettes, form them into little circle cakes, melt some butter in a fry pan, then fry for a few minutes on each side.  The recipe calls for them to finish in an oven, and let me tell you that was worth it!

But the real star of this show is the Buttermilk Avocado-Lime sauce.  Make according to the recipe and you will not go wrong.  I may have put in a bit too much lime, but the kick was nice.  Since I already had buttermilk from making the cake, it worked out perfectly!  If you don't have buttermilk, you can "make" buttermilk using milk and lemon, or maybe try using milk and yogurt.

I used one 12 oz can of tuna, and I made nine croquettes out of the recipe.  I had lots of leftover sauce, but it would go well with a variety of dishes, so I'm sure you can find a way to use it up.  I paired my croquettes with the above mentioned Watermelon-Feta Orzo salad, but it would go well with sweet potato fries or any kind of lettuce-y salad with a sweet vinaigrette and maybe dried cranberries.  And voila!  A healthy, easy dinner for you and your family to enjoy!

Cooking Spree: Strawberries-and-Cream Sheet Cake

Last week I went on a cooking spree.  Since receiving my April edition of Southern Living, I've wanted to try out the recipe for Strawberries-and-Cream Sheet Cake, I recently discovered a recipe for Tuna Croquettes with Avocado-Lime-Buttermilk dressing, and the July edition had a very tasty looking recipe for Watermelon-Feta Orzo Salad.  Since I turned in my paper and promised myself I'd relax a little before starting my thesis, I decided to take a few days to try to make these tasty treats.

(Looks a little like a cake from a MarioParty mini-game)

First up, I made the Strawberries-and-Cream Sheet Cake.  Making cakes from scratch takes lots of time and work.  I know I did it last year for my job a lot, but that felt different.  Time flows differently in the eighteenth-century kitchen, and I never really noticed how long I spent making a pound cake.  But this cake!  I started at 9:00 AM and finally put the finishing touches on around 1:00 PM.  Not that all of that time was hands-on, but still.

Speaking of hands-on: I really wish I'd just creamed my butter and sugar by hand (like I did for all my cakes last summer) and then started using the electric mixer once that step was complete.  Don't get me wrong, I loved using that electric mixer for the rest of the cake, but creaming butter and sugar by hand really is the best and fastest way.

I decided to do this cake right, so I specially bought cake flour and buttermilk.  I tried to do the whole "parchment paper" bit recommended, but it wasn't working quite right, and after spending nearly two hours preparing the cake batter I didn't want to ruin it during the baking process.  If you just grease and flour your pan you'll be fine-- although, I warn you, I tried to invert my 9x13 cake onto a wire rack and it broke in half.  "Oops," I thought, "Guess I'll just slip this half back into the pan and cover up the mess with icing."  I think you'll agree based on the picture, you can't tell anything went wrong!  Icing works wonders.  But, if you do want to take it out of the pan, you might go ahead and buy extra large parchment paper  and try that fancy step in the recipe.

One bright part of the cake breaking in half was that I got to eat some of the broken bits (necessary to clean up the look a little, that's how I justified it).  The cake was very moist and very sweet.  Very, very sweet.  Given this little taste of the cake itself, I decided to cut back on the sugar in the icing when I made it about an hour later-- I think I used probably 1/2 a cup, rather than the called for 2/3 cup.  The icing consists of whipped cream, cream cheese, and fresh strawberries.  This presents a bit of a conundrum.  How to store this cake?  The first day, I put it in the refrigerator.  When I served a couple of slices that night, the cake tasted dense and dry.  So, I put a couple slices of bread in with it, covered it in saran wrap, and left it out overnight.  The next day it tasted MUCH better.  But, after about two days out (and still only about 1/2 eaten), the strawberries in the icing started to mold.  So, my suggestion to you is, eat this cake fast!  Take it to functions, make it for your friends, put it in the break room at work.  Don't let it sit around for very long!

I highly recommend making this cake (especially if you like strawberries)!

The recipe can be found on the Southern Living website, here.

Two Down, One To Go

As of this morning, I have finished two of my final papers/projects, and I am gearing up to throw myself wholeheartedly into the third.  I plan to finish by Thursday night, at the latest.

Last Thursday night, Zan's uncle was in town, so Zan's dad got us all Indian food and we had a feast in our apartment.  Sadly, I forgot to take pictures of it, but we had a wonderful evening.  I also got packages of new clothing that I had ordered that day, and I'm super excited about a floral dropwaist dress and dainty Oxford shoes that arrived.  I used opening the package as my motivation to complete the introduction to my project.

On Friday, my mom and I got crepes at a little crepe-stand, then ate our crepes as we walked across the bridge into Georgetown.  I showed my mom around campus (but I forgot to show her the courtyard, so next time I'll need to remedy that), and we walked around the streets of Georgetown swooning over the adorable townhouses.  We stopped at Pizza Paradiso on M Street for their carbonated lemonade and bruschetta.  That evening, my parents, Zan and I went to see Eddie Izzard!  We had an excellent dinner together beforehand, then spent an evening in stitches over his routine.  After the show, Zan headed off to participate in a 48-hour film festival, and I stayed up until the very wee hours working on my project for Approaches to teaching literature.

On Saturday, I woke up early (around 7:00 AM) and worked on my pedagogical framework until about noon.  Then, I met my friend Shea for lunch.  I again forgot to take pictures, but we had a great time catching up over all the big news in her life!  After lunch, I returned home and continued to work on my pedagogical framework for a few more hours, then watched "Frasier" and ate an artichoke with garlic butter.  Yum!!!  Late that night, my friend Alicia arrived!

Yesterday morning, I again woke early and began to write up my literature review portion of the final.  Around 10:30, Alicia and I headed out for a few hours.  I got a caramel frappiccino and lemon poundcake, and we made our way across the bridge, again to walk around the winding streets of Georgetown, and I picked up a book from the library.  After a couple of hours, we grabbed a quick lunch, and then she headed off for her ten-hour drive up the coast!

I spent the rest of the afternoon writing up my literature review, then put on a few episodes of "Frasier" while I made dinner (cornbread, blue-cheese-stuffed bacon-wrapped dates, some pre-made Trader Joe's beef brisket, seasoned cauliflower, yum!). Zan arrived home, triumphant in the 48-hour film fest (that is, they made the film and turned it in on time).  We ate dinner, then I finished up the bibliography of additional resources during Game of Thrones.

The best part?  My study buddy.

Magical

Spring Break, besides the tooth thing (which now might only be "a very serious sinus infection"?), was really nice.  I went to Disney World!  Disney World was warm.  I could wear shorts and swimsuits.  I didn't have to put on layer after layer plus fuzzy aviator cap to go outside.  Ahhh... Did I mention that it snowed here again on Monday, and that we're supposed to get a chance of snow this coming Tuesday?  This is so unseasonably cold!  COME ON WINTER, END ALREADY!

Anyway, Disney was lovely.  We soaked in the hot tub, we lazed about the Lazy River.  We ate lots of good food from the Flower & Garden Outdoor Kitchens in Epcot, including frushi, candied strawberries, and Pineapple Dole Whips with rum.  We had lunch at Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater and enjoyed amazing spinach-artichoke dip, Orbiting Oreos milkshakes (with Godiva Chocolate liquor), and trailers for 1950/60s Sci-Fi B-movies.  We saw "Wishes" and "Illuminations" fireworks.  We rode "Soarin'", as beautiful as ever.  We rode Dinosaur.  Kay, Brian, and Kelsey were traumatized on their first time seeing "It's Tough to be a Bug:; Mike, Zan, and I were more prepared.  Kelsey, in an attempt to do one thing each day that scared her, went on "Twilight Zone Hollywood Tower of Terror,"despite her better judgment.  We rode "Peter Pan's Flight" and Zan claims it was his first time on that ride (I'm doubtful).  Kay made me tea in the mornings when I got sick.  We wore fake mustaches and played "Gloom."  We got ice cream sundaes.  We sat out on our balcony enjoying mixed drinks and the sunshine and reminiscing about old times.

 (Me: on Jewel-Bluebell, my favorite Carousel horse)

(Turkey Leg Madness!)

And now, I want to go back.  I want the warmth again.  I want the relaxation again.  I want to hang out with my friends everyday again.  I want to go and not even worry about going to the parks, but just walk around the Boardwalk, play Fantasia Gardens mini-golf, maybe hit up some new spots at Downtown Disney (Splitsville Bowling, anyone?).  Mostly I want the warmth, though. 

Queen's Cake and Roasting Chestnuts On An Open Fire

On my second day back to work, I decided to make a Queen's Cake.  In full disclosure, I'm going through a bit of an American Girl phase at the moment.  Last week, my mom and I went through my Felicity collection, straightened it out, figured out what we owned, put it in the proper boxes, etc.  In her tea set, Felicity has a Queen's Cake.  So, it'd been on my mind.

(Mmm Queen's Cake!)

A Queen's Cake is your basic pound cake, except you add in cinnamon, nutmeg, mace, and currants.  My currants were soaked in a liberal amount of brandy, which also found its way into the cake itself.  For those who want to know: first, take a pound of butter.  Using your hands, work the butter until it's very soft and creamy.  This takes longer in a cold, cold kitchen than it will in your climate-controlled kitchen at home.  Once the butter has been creamed, add in a pound of sugar and work it into the butter.  Work and work until you can barely feel the grains of sugar in the butter anymore.  This also takes a while, but your hands get a nice butter-sugar scrub, so that's good.  Then, separate your eggs into two bowls-- one for yolks, one for whites.  Whip up your yolks good, then fold them into the butter-sugar mixture.  Next, whip up your whites really well, until they are starting to become like a solid froth.  Like bubbles in a bath tub.  The whites are your leavening in this cake, so the more whipped they become, the lighter the cake.  This will be a dense cake no matter what, so be sure to really, really whip those whites.  Fold them into the mixture.  Then add in your flour, get it to a batter, then add in your spices and currants.  Once you've worked it altogether, put it into a buttered/greased small cake pan (or bundt pan) and bake... at cake-heat until done.  If you recall from this summer, I really can't give you a better estimate than that.  Maybe 350 degrees for 45 minutes?  It will also depend on your cake pan; just keep an eye on it is all.  Then, enjoy!

I personally like a slice of Queen's Cake for breakfast.

Anyway, it was cold outside that day, so Barbara also decided that we should roast some chestnuts.  My goodness!  "Chestnuts roast[ed] on a open fire" are amazing!!!  They are kind of chewy and sweet and totally wonderful.  Years ago we had some very bad roasted chestnuts that totally put me off of them, but these!  These were amazing!  Plus, it's not often you can say "Oh, yes, I went to work and roasted chestnuts on an open fire."  What a perfect way to get into the Christmas spirit!

(Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire)

Hog to Ham: 'Little House' Style

On Saturday, I helped butcher seven hogs.

So take warning, there be graphic photos ahead, mateys.  If you're squeamish, or don't want to see  pictures of a butchering, I suggest you stop here.  There are dismembered pig bodies and blood in these photos.

Yes, you read that right.  On Saturday, I returned to Foodways for the holiday season.  Once more, I put on my shift, layered up my petticoats, straightened my cap, and headed to the kitchens.  This time, I also wore some thermals under my eighteenth-century getup, and luckily the costume center gave me a pair of mitts and a winter weight kerchief.

And my first day back?  Our annual "Hog to Ham" program.  If you've ever read the butchering chapter in Laura Ingalls Wilder's The Little House in the Big Woods, you'll have a pretty clear sense of how my day went. We began the morning at eight, with the delivery of the hogs.  They were slaughtered and cleaned off-site at a professional slaughterhouse (bristles scraped; heart, liver, bladder, etc. removed; thank goodness); we just got the bodies.



We divided into rotating teams: I headed Team 4.  We had four stations: "Hog to Ham," Palace Kitchen, Larding and Salting, and Wrapping.  Team 4 started in the kitchen, which was quite a nice way to start the day-- and my first day back.  Since Butchering Day is a special day, we fixed a big lunch for everyone.  We roasted beef on the spit, made fried apples and fried potatoes, and grilled some (freshly butchered) porkchops on the grid-iron.  When the first pig head came off, I was very glad to be stirring the apples.

At the start of Hog 2, we went to wrapping, but we didn't have a lot of cuts to wrap at first (since we wrap as they bring us the cuts of meat from the butchering), so we helped carry all of the food to the break-room and took a minute to eat some of our goods-- including pre-prepared Chelsea Buns, Pears Stewed Portuguese, and bourbon balls!  Then for Hog 3 we switched to Larding and Salting.  I was in the Larding Room, rendering lard.  Basically, you cut up bits of fat from the freshly butchered pig, then put it in a pot over a not-too-hot fire, and strain the lard through cheesecloths into a big jar.  Once the pieces of lard have boiled down enough, they become cracklings, which are very tasty.







Then Hog 4.  We were at the "Hog to Ham" station.  We got the pig we dubbed Il Monstro. He weighed 210 dressed down, 250 when alive.  He had a nose ring.  I cut the head meat to the bone (basically, I cut off the head) and then another member of my team gave the head a twist to make it come off.  I'm very glad I wasn't the one to give the head a twist.  Then I scraped out the fat from the hog's side with my hands.  It was very, very difficult.  I felt a little shaky once all that was done.  Then I removed the kidney buried in the fat, and took the fat to the larding station.  Then we cut the pig down the spine both ways, to separate it into two sides.  We chopped the spine meat into three sections-- top chine, middle chine, and bottom chine.  I used the hatchet to chop out the bottom chine.  It wasn't easy work.  We also chopped the tail off-- another group in town wanted the tail for a program, so I didn't get to roast it like Laura, which was disappointing.




 



Then, we removed the ribs from one of the sides, then the shoulder and ham.  We repeated this with the second side.  We also cut off the trotters at the joint.  I took all four of the trotters over to the wrapping station. 



Once our pig was done, it had begun to rain.  Our next station was the kitchen.  We cleaned up what was left, and did the day's buckets.  Then off to wrapping-- and this time there was lots of work.  We wrapped, and labeled, and wrapped, and labeled for the rest of the afternoon-- the teams fell apart after the rain started, as those who were dry were told to stay dry, and those who were wet became soaked.  I did go back out for the last hog, and again cut the head to the bone (but didn't twist), and held the legs back while another woman cut down the spine of the hog.  Then back to wrapping and labeling until 3:30 or so.  Once all of the hogs were done, we adjourned to the kitchen until closing time, warming ourselves and steaming off by the cozy fire, as the rain came steadily down outside.

I wouldn't say it was something I would want to do regularly, but it was a very interesting day.  It gave me a lot to think about.  The meat is now being salted, then will be smoked.  Some of it has gone into modern freezers for use in later Foodways programs.  It will be very tasty, I assure all you omnivores out there.  Or carnivores.

And now, I'm back in Foodways!  Look out for more recipes!

The 6th Annual Halloweentown Party

Once more, I held a Halloweentown party.  I spent a bit longer than intended getting ready for the party-- I had a lot of work to finish this weekend, since I'm at a conference this week-- but because this is arguably my favorite night of the year, I decided to let myself be okay with that.

First, Zan and I visited our new Pier 1 Imports and took advantage of their Halloween clearance deals (already on clearance?!) and I got a spooky "top-hat" fascinator, little witches feet to put under doors to make it look like a house landed on her (or, a door, I guess), Halloween napkins, and an owl with a top-hat and a piercing gaze.  Actually, Zan got the owl.

Then we went to the grocery store for mini-pumpkin pies, pumpkin cookies, sugar cookies with orange icing and black sprinkles, popcorn, and lots and LOTS of candy.  We also got apple cider, which we heated up at the party, and let people choose whether or not to spike theirs with rum.  This was one of our favorite autumn drinks in Seattle.  One of the girls in my cohort is British, though, and she couldn't figure out why we were adding rum to cider-- she didn't realize that apple cider is a non-alcoholic beverage in the States.  "Isn't it just apple juice, then?" she asked. 

Once home we set up the food and decorations, and I dressed for the party, and then Zan and I realized we had no idea what to eat for dinner, so we decided to order a pizza, then thought, well, hey, the pizza place is running a good deal on pizzas let's just order for everyone!  So we ended up with pizza at the party, as well.

Right on time, people began to show up.  First, my friends Kelsey and Mike came-- Kelsey is a huge Halloweentown fan, too, and this was Mike's second Halloweentown party (he attended the first many, many moons ago).  Then people from my cohort came bearing gifts of beer and wine and cookies, and we all talked and ate and drank and then the main event: the film!  It's just as wonderful as ever to introduce a new group of people to this terrible, terrible, wonderful, amazing film.  It's such a masterpiece of Disney Original Cinema.  I love it.

All too soon the party ended, and now it's one more year 'til Halloweentown!

An October Pumpkin Pie

I have begun to check off my October Bucket List Items.  Or, well, I've tackled ONE item: "Make a cream-cheese pumpkin pie."  But that's one very important item, right?! 

A few weeks ago I attempted a Harry Potter-style pumpkin pasty recipe.  While mine tasted quite good and made a wonderfully unhealthy breakfast food, they kind of looked like one of those pictures on a Pinterest fail meme.  Let's a take a look, shall we?

(Oh noooo!!!  Compare to the beautiful ones linked above!)

Anyway, after making that recipe, I ended up having a lot of extra pumpkin that needed using up, so I decided to attempt my first ever pumpkin pie!  After looking through several recipes, I decided to riff on this one.  I used nearly all of a can of pumpkin (minus about 1/4th cup), probably 7 oz of cream cheese, and only two eggs instead of three.  I liberally added in spices (especially the cinnamon, and I added allspice), but moderated the sugar, putting in slightly less than the recipe recommends.  I also decided that for a fun visual Halloween-esque twist (black and orange!), and a nice flavor combination, I'd use a store-bought Oreo crust.  I ended up having to bake for about an hour instead of the recommended forty-minutes, but it turned out beautifully!



This one both tastes amazing AND looks amazing!  One bucket list item down, eleven to go!

Wannabe Soup Addict

I love autumn.  I love the leaves, and the blue sky, and sweaters, and boots.  But do you know what I love most of all?  I love that it's chili/stew/soup season.  There is absolutely nothing like making a nice, bubbling stew or soup, warming up some crusty bread, and having a hot apple cider to round out the meal.  I loved last fall in Seattle, when Zan and I would sit on our balcony in the cool night air as the smell of the stew would waft out to us.  Ahhhhhhh.......

So this fall, I'm determined to make even more soups/stews/chilis.  The other day I made chili for the first time ever, using my mom's recipe.  It turned out pretty well, so I'm going to attempt it again tonight for my dad.  I have pinned several likely looking recipes on Pinterest, and I have bought some chicken broth in anticipation of the season.  Plus, my dad has some beef broth on hand that needs using up by mid-October, so obviously, soup.  I'm so excited to try my hand at all of these soups and stews!  I just hope that I have the patience to actually make these recipes, and that I don't let homework and rehearsal become excuses to run down to one of the nearby restaurants to grab a quick bite.  Eating out certainly has its place (and I do love to try new restaurants), but taking the time to make a real, hearty, home-cooked meal often has many more intangible rewards (and leftovers!).

Here's to an autumn of soups! 

... and maybe baked goods, but that's another post for another time.

Sinful Spanish Loaves

One of my last days in Foodways we ate-- I'm sorry, I mean, we made-- Spanish Loaves.  These are absolutely, sinfully, decadently, wonderful.  Once I describe this you'll probably think it's a dessert, but in the eighteenth century this would have been a side dish.  Yes, a side dish.  I suggest you still put it with your side dishes, because who doesn't want chocolate at a meal?



Ok, so here's what you do.  Either buy or make six French rolls, then let them go a bit stale.  Cut off the tops of the rolls, then hollow out the roll, like you would a miniature bread bowl.  If the rolls have a thick crust, carefully grate off the outside crust to make the next step extra wonderful.

The next step is soaking them in wine.  Get a bowl of nice white wine and dip your bread rolls in til they are soaked through, then drain them and cover them in flour til they feel dry to the touch.  Make sure they feel dry or you could start a grease fire.  Then, heat a pound of lard (or butter, or vegetable oil) in a deep frier and put in the floured rolls.  Fry until golden brown. Then, roll the fried rolls in sugar. 

Finally fill your fried, sugared rolls with a chocolate cream.  To make chocolate cream, grate four ounces of dark chocolate (unflavored).  Heat a  pint of cream over the stove, then stir in the chocolate.  Once it's melted together a bit, add in two pre-whisked egg yolks tempered with a bit of the chocolate-cream blend, and as much sugar and spice as you desire.  Some good spices to add are cinnamon, nutmeg, mace, and a pinch of cayenne.  Stir constantly or you will end up with creamy chocolate scrambled eggs because of those yolks!  Once heated and a bit thick, take it off the stove and pour the cream into the French rolls.

Then enjoy!!!

Pretty as a Pear

Yesterday I finished my last day of work in Foodways for the summer.  I can't believe how quickly the past few months have gone by!  It seems like it can't have been so long since I signed my papers and got my costumes and began to cook and learn in earnest.  I'm so thankful for all of the friends I made this summer and the relationships I strengthened.  I'm also thankful for the cooking skills I gained!  Particularly, I like knowing how to make a pretty dish.  One dish that I made this last week at the Palace came out looking especially pretty.

It's called Pears Stewed Purple, or Pears Stewed Portuguese.  The recipe can be found in several cookbooks from the period, and it's very easy to make!  You will need three pears, port wine, sugar, cloves, and lemon-peel (optional).  Skin your pears, then leave one whole and cut the rest into quarters or eighths.  Put them in a relatively deep earthenware dish-- or a deep oven safe dish-- and add in about two cups of port wine, a quarter of a pound of sugar, some whole cloves (not too many!!! Too many cloves can make your mouth go numb.  Maybe only a teaspoon full, or 6-8), and a little bit of lemon-peel, if you choose.  Cover them with parchment paper and put them in the oven at about 325-350 degrees farenheit.  I have no idea how long this will take, so I would say to check every twenty minutes or so.  I cut the paper open to check.  Once they have softened and begun to take on the color of the wine they are done.



Arrange them on the plate, garnish with cloves, then enjoy!  They have a very nice flavor and can be served warm or cold, though I really liked them warm out of the oven. 

Eggs and Tomatoes

The other day in the kitchens I made a dish I’ve made once before and long ago: Eggs and Tomatoes, from Mary Randolph’s cookbook. The first time I made this dish was with Jim Gay when I was an intern. When I came across the recipe the other day, I felt as though I should attempt it again, considering I have such a short time left in Foodways. Silly though it may seem, I felt a bit like I was paying tribute to a great man and a great time.

It's a fairly simple recipe, and very tasty. While now we might think of this as a "scrambler" or an "omelet"-- definitely in the breakfast category-- in the eighteenth century this would have made a nice side dish to a dinner.

You will need six ounces of butter, a small-to-medium-sized onion, six or so small-to-middling tomatoes (note: you can use canned tomatoes in puree, just be sure to strain the tomatoes out from the puree), six eggs, and salt and pepper to taste.

First, get a large frying pan and add the butter.  Let it melt, then saute the onions in the butter until translucent.  Add in your tomatoes-- if you are using fresh tomatoes peel the skin off first-- and then cut them as they fry.  If you are using sliced canned tomatoes, strain off the juices.  Let the tomatoes and onions fry a bit more in the butter, then add the salt and pepper.  I like to use a little salt and more pepper to give it a kick.  Once all of that has fried a bit, break in six eggs.  Or, break six eggs into the bowl, whisk, and add into the fry pan.  Let all fry for a few more minutes, until the eggs are cooked to your liking, then serve.  

A Rich Dish: Buttered Crab

This is one for the books, folks!  Buttered crab!  An incredibly delectable dish full of flavor that you will not be able to finish alone.  I'm planning on making this for the next pot luck I'm invited to, and I suggest that you all do the same.  It will be a hit!

My buttered crab recipe comes from Hannah Glasse.  She suggests this recipe for either crab or lobster.  You will need: crab or lobster meat minced small (about a pound or a pound and 1/2), a glass of white wine, two tablespoons of vinegar (just plain white), a bit of nutmeg, half a pound of butter, two egg yolks, and an (optional!) anchovy.  First, if you have a whole crab, take the meat from the shell and save the great shell.  Hannah Glasse suggests that you serve up this dish in the shell when done.  If you have canned meat, skip that step-- it's not necessary, but makes for a great presentation.  Can you imagine?  Served in a crab shell!  But, it's not necessary.  As you can see, mine was simply presented on a plate.

So, put the crab meat in a large frying pan, add in your glass of white wine, your vinegar, and your nutmeg.  Let cook together for a few minutes.  While that cooks, melt your butter (if you're using an anchovy, add it to your butter here) and mix it with your egg yolks.  Then add that mixture to the crab meat, "shaking the sauce-pan constantly round till quite hot."  Then, if you have the great shell, pour the mixture into the shell for the presentation.  If not, put on a plate.

Then you need to make toast points!  Cut your bread into triangles and fry them in butter or lard until brown, like you would with the bread in a grilled cheese.  Once the bread has been lightly browned on each side, place pleasingly around your plate (or shell).  When you serve it, scoop the buttered crab onto the toast points.  This is a delicious, delicious dish that will fill you up after two bites (or four... or six).  Definitely take it to a party.

Lemonade? No, Lemon Creams!

Desserts in the eighteenth-century are light, little things meant to clear your palate after the heavy flavors of the meal. One of the prettiest is a Lemon Cream. Despite the name, this dessert does not involve any actual cream, just lemon juice, sugar, water, and egg whites.

(Our dessert section.  The Lemon Creams are in the glasses in the back.)

I used the Lemon Cream recipe from E. Smith’s The Compleat Housewife. Her recipe reads, “Take five large lemons, and squeeze out the juice, and the whites of six eggs well beaten, ten ounces of double refin’d sugar beaten very fine, and twenty spoonfuls of spring water; mix all together and strain it through a jelly-bag; set it over a gentle fire, scum it very well, when ‘tis as hot as you can bear your finger in, take it off, and pour it into Glasses; put shreds of lemon-peel into some of the glasses.”

So, take five large lemons and juice them. I find that the best way to juice any citrus fruit it to cut it in half, then slash it across with a knife, then dig in your fingers and let the juice run into a bowl. Once you’ve juiced the lemons, get together your egg whites. Take care that no yolk gets into the bowl of whites. Beat them fairly well, but these don’t need to be stiff like they would if you were making a pound cake. Mix the juice and whites together, add in ten ounces of sugar, then twenty tablespoons of water. Beat all together, then strain through a cloth of some kind. If you have a jelly-bag, great. I used a rag. You can use a cheese cloth. Just push the mixture through the cloth/bag and into a pot. Then set it on a burner turned on low-to-medium and cook until it’s not quite boiling. Be sure to stir the whole time so the eggs don’t solidify! Pour into glasses when it’s at a jelly-like texture. Very lovely dessert and so pretty in the glasses!


Note: Eating not-fully-cooked egg whites can be detrimental to your health in rare cases, and I’m not sure these actually get “fully cooked” (I think 160 degrees is standard), so just be aware of that if you attempt this recipe.

English as an Apple Pie

I made an apple pie!  I must say, I felt quite proud looking at my finished pie, with a crust made from scratch and everything.  It was actually quite simple!  I used an apple pie recipe from Mary Randolph's The Virginia House-wife, which closely aligns with our many English recipes despite its provenance, so this made a very English apple pie.  Yes, an English apple pie recipe.  Believe it or not, apple pies are not American.  They are all over our 17th and 18th-century English cookbooks, with a key difference: cloves instead of cinnamon.  Mary Randolph's recipe calls the cook to make a good crust, cut apples thin and lay them in layers with powdered sugar between each layer, then at the end to add in cloves and rose-water.  It smells divine.



The hardest part is the crust, if you're not used to making pie crusts.  For this one, I took about a pound and a half of flour to almost one-third pound of butter.  Simply rub the butter into the flour bit by bit with your hands until it feels grainy and looks a bit like sand.  Then I added in one egg to give it a bit of strength (it needs to stand on its own outside of the pie tin), and just a little water until it formed a dough (remember, you can always add more, you can't take any out).  Then grease your pie tin and flour it (so the pie will come out).  You can use any standard size, because with the amount of flour you used you'll have plenty of crust.  Lay in your crust, then do as I described above: pare, then cut apples thinly and lay them in layers with powdered sugar between each layer.  For my pie, once the apples reached the top, I put in about a spoonful of rosewater and some ground cloves.  Feel free to spice as you like, though, with cinnamon or nutmeg.

Then the part that makes it a pie: roll out a top-crust.  It's not a pie without a top-crust by 18th-century standards.  Once rolled, add decoration!  To make the decoration stand out, brush a little egg white over the top before you bake it-- I neglected that step... oops!  I baked mine in a Dutch Oven, but you can bake as you would a normal pie (again-- bake times and temperatures are hard for me to give you).  Then marvel at how pretty it looks and enjoy!