Lemonpalooza

I have a lot of lemons.  Beautiful Meyer lemons.  My tree is extraordinarily fecund (that always sounds a bit off color...) this year.  Truly an embarrassment of riches.  I have heard you can keep ripe citrus on the tree for 10 weeks, and the quality will not be affected (my tree is in a sheltered spot, so frost is not an issue).  That said, I do feel quite a lot of pressure to put all my fruit to use.  In the December issue of Food & Wine magazine, there is a recipe for a lemon Bundt cake.  I made it today. It was quite a project--zesting all those lemons takes a fair amount of time!  But it was well worth it, as the cake is delicious. Actually, I didn't have to zest all 10 lemons--I mean, look at the size of these!  The lemon on the right is the usual size of a Meyer lemon, and I have just a few that size.  Most of the ones on my tree, however, are the size of the one on the left!  Why this is is anybody's guess.  Radiation from Japan?  Are they Three Mile Island lemons?  No, I don't think so.  Just a happy confluence of growing conditions that led to this crop.  I was worried that the size would mean a thick skin, more like a Eureka lemon, but no.  Thin skinned and juicy as always. There would have been an even bigger crop, but we had some crazy wind in early fall that knocked a lot of the baby lemons off (which, upon further reflection, may have led to the bigger lemons).  Perhaps just as well! Above are some of the ingredients for the Bundt cake--see how much zest there is?  The batter is thick and creamy--can you see the little flecks of peel in there?

See the finished product?  It's pretty!  I pasted the recipe in here from the Food & Wine  website, just so you know.  Read to the end of the recipe--I made a few small changes.

Lemon Bundt Cake

Food & Wine Magazine, December 2012

cake

1. Nonstick cooking spray


2. 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting


3. 1 1/2 cups cake flour


4. 1 tablespoon baking powder


5. 1 teaspoon salt


6. 2 3/4 cups sugar


7. 1/3 cup lightly packed finely grated lemon zest (from 10 lemons)


8. 1/2 cup canola oil


9. 2 sticks unsalted butter, melted and cooled


10. 3 large eggs


11. 3 large egg yolks


12. 3 tablespoons dark rum


13. 2 tablespoons pure lemon extract


14. 3/4 cup heavy cream

lemon syrup

1. 1/4 cup sugar


2. 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice


3. 1 tablespoon dark rum

glaze and topping

1. 1 cup confectioners’ sugar


2. 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice


3. 1 teaspoon almond extract


4. 1/4 cup slivered almonds, toasted (optional)

1. MAKE THE CAKE Preheat the oven to 350°. Generously coat a 10-inch Bundt pan with nonstick cooking spray and dust the pan with all-purpose flour. Sift the 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour and cake flour into a medium bowl, along with the baking powder and salt.


2. In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle, use your fingers to rub the sugar with the lemon zest until the sugar resembles pale yellow wet sand. Add the canola oil and cooled butter and beat at medium speed until blended, about 1 minute. Beat in the whole eggs, egg yolks, rum and lemon extract until just incorporated, about 1 minute. Reduce the speed to low and beat in the heavy cream and the dry ingredients in 3 alternating batches, starting and ending with the dry ingredients; be sure not to overbeat. Scrape down the side of the bowl and fold the batter until it is blended.


3. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and use a spatula to smooth the surface. Bake in the middle of the oven for about 1 hour, rotating the pan halfway through, until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Let the cake cool on a rack for 30 minutes.


4. MEANWHILE, MAKE THE LEMON SYRUP In a small saucepan, combine the sugar with the lemon juice and rum and bring to a boil. Simmer over moderate heat, stirring, until the sugar dissolves, about 3 minutes. Let the lemon syrup cool slightly.


5. Invert the cake onto a wire rack set over a baking sheet. Using a wooden skewer, poke holes evenly all over the cake and brush with the lemon syrup. Let the cake cool completely.


6. MAKE THE GLAZE AND TOPPING In a medium bowl, whisk the confectioners’ sugar with the lemon juice and almond extract until smooth. Pour the glaze over the top of the cake, letting it drip down the sides. Sprinkle the almonds on top and let the glaze set, about 20 minutes. Cut the cake into wedges and serve.

I put 3 Tbl. of lemon extract in the cake, instead of 2 Tbl.  The Meyer lemons are so sweet, you can lose a bit of the lemony sharpness.  In the syrup I added a 1/2 tsp. of lemon extract, again for the same reason.  As far as the glaze goes, you can see it was a bit too thin.  Next time I'd add a bit more powdered sugar, so so much didn't end up puddling underneath. And finally, it said to bake for 1 hour, which I did.  Next time, however, I'd check it at 50 minutes, and I bet that 55 minutes would be perfect. Now, go make some tea.  This cake begs to be eaten with a cup of tea!

Fig Fest!

[caption id="attachment_2072" align="alignleft" width="140"] This is not really Cleopatra. This is Vivian Leigh. If you've seen busts and coins that show what Cleopatra really looked like...well, she must've had a really good personality.[/caption]

Cleopatra says, "Oh, excellent!  I love long life better than I love figs!" in Antony and Cleopatra (do you see me here, quoting Shakespeare??).  Her enthusiasm (I mean, who doesn't love long life?) for figs speaks to their appeal.  Although, in this day and non-Mediterranean age and locale, there seem to be either fig lovers or fig...well,

[caption id="attachment_2088" align="alignright" width="144"] Figs in about March[/caption]

haters seems a bit strong, so fig dislikers. Most people enjoy a Newton, but the fig relationship is snuffed out with the emptying of the package.  We've always been big Fig Newton fans (big fans, not big Newtons, although big Newtons would be fine, too),

[caption id="attachment_2089" align="alignright" width="180"] Figs in June[/caption]

and we are blessed with a prolific fig tree in our yard, which was, back some many moons, a volunteer.  A stray, if you will.  The figs we grow are entirely organic (not exactly due to our commitment to the earth's well-being, rather that the tree thrives on neglect), and quite large.  Some of them verge on being the size of a pear!

Every year the tree is very generous, giving enough not only for us, but also for the birds, the deer, and the rabbits, too.  I like to use as many as possible fresh, but then I am

[caption id="attachment_2104" align="alignright" width="150"] The harvest[/caption]

still left with a lot of unused figs.  I bought a dehydrator, which is like a triple-decker cooling rack, except that it is enclosed and has a fan that blows warm air on the fruit.  I have tried this many times and, sadly, have been left with tough little carcasses of figs, rather than the sticky lusciousness you get with a store-bought dried fig.  So why keep trying it? Hope springs eternal, I guess (and yes, I do know the definition of stupidity).  But this year I looked into it online, and on eHow I found a way to oven-dry the figs.  It worked very well.

The first thing you do is to make sure all your figs are ripe, clean, and free of bird, uh, detritus. Then preheat the oven to 250 degrees.  Cut off the stems, then slice all the figs lengthwise.  Place the

[caption id="attachment_2094" align="alignleft" width="180"] Ready for the oven[/caption]

figs, cut side down, in a shallow dish with sides.  I used Pyrex 9x13s, and they worked well, but use a dish to fit the amount of figs you have, as the figs need to fit snugly in the dish.  You need a pan with sides because the figs give off a lot of juice, and you want to contain it.    Place the dish with the figs in the oven, and set the timer for one hour.  After an hour, turn the figs over, cut side up.  The juice should be starting to flow now, so kind of mop it up with the figs as you turn them over. Set the timer for another hour and repeat, this time turning the figs cut side down, mopping up the juice again. Set timer for an hour again, and turn figs

[caption id="attachment_2095" align="alignright" width="180"] After an hour[/caption]

cut side up.  If you have a lot of juice, tilt the pan and use a spoon to drizzle that juice over the figs. At the end of three hours, the figs will be dark, wrinkly, sticky, and fragrant. Reduce the heat to 200 degrees, and return the figs, still cut side up, to the oven for about 30 to 45 more minutes. That will allow the excess liquid to evaporate, the figs to dry somewhat, and the texture to become more like that of "real" dried figs.  The whole process will have taken about three-and-a-half hours. Turn the oven off and allow the figs to cool down in the oven (I left them in the oven overnight and it was fine).

[caption id="attachment_2096" align="alignleft" width="135"] Finished product[/caption]

These figs stay quite moist, so I would store them in the fridge for short-term use, or freeze them for longer storage.

This isn't exactly a cost saving recipe--the oven is on for a very long time.  But what you do get is some tasty, nutritious dried fruit that is prepared with absolutely no chemicals or preservatives.  I made fig bread, which was delicious toasted with either brie or blue cheese on it, and will be making fig bars soon.

Apparently figs were one of the first foods cultivated for agriculture, 11,000 years ago in the Middle East, according to Wikipedia.  I don't understand why they are not used today to help solve hunger problems.  While they do need some winter rain, they don't need any water for about 9 months out of the year, and they seem to self-sow.  In addition, they produce two crops every year, one in June and the other in about August--there are huge amounts of fruit! I would think some poverty-stricken areas in the world could use a few fig trees to help alleviate some of their problems.  Figs are very high in sugar, which would surely be a boon to starvation-prone areas.  They even have a little protein in them!

Well, I'm off to dry another batch, and then I will wait for the second crop to ripen.  And so it goes.

[caption id="attachment_2097" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Almost ripe fig with second crop on deck[/caption]

Family, Feasting, and a Merry Christmas!

We have our Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve.  Usually prime rib, but due to austerity measures this year, we are having bangers and mash (which we all love but rarely eat, for obvious reasons). On Christmas Day, we graze. There are mince tarts, jam tarts, and maid of honour tarts (yes, these get spelled the English way).  Christmas cookies, Christmas toffee, Christmas cake  (I feel like Elf and his four main food groups: "Candy, candy canes, candy corns, and syrup").  Sausage rolls, lox and cream cheese with bagels, bourbon balls, peppermint bark, mini quiches, and a box of chocolates.  Later, we add rolls, cold sliced turkey and sliced roast beef, and condiments and crudites into the mix.  It is a food extravaganza that goes on all day Christmas Day.  And because we do have this embarrassment of riches, I don't have to cook on the 26th, either.  Which is quite a treat, really, since I have been cooking like a fiend for the week (and longer, for the things that can be frozen) leading up to the 25th.

Springerle cookies (at right) are a new addition this year--we'll see how they turn out.  The sausage rolls (at far left in the picture above) are a perennial favorite. The tarts are on the tiered plate above, and Christmas sugar cookies (below right)  are made in a double batch, frozen, and then slowly doled out and quickly iced, otherwise we would scarf them down in a day or two.

Bourbon balls (below) are probably my favorite Christmas goodie.  Even when I was a little child I loved them.  They are very bourbony, so I'm not sure this says anything good about me.  The Christmas cake is a fruitcake draped with almond paste, then iced with royal icing (hey! this is what Kate and William's wedding cake was--just one more way in which my life parallels that of the royal family...).

The mini quiches, peppermint bark, box of See's, and Cadbury fingers are all gifts or purchased (once a year treats, and I can't do everything), and they nestle up nicely to the homemade English toffee (at left).

Now, I've not given you recipes, but these are all easy to find, run-of-the-mill Christmas treats.  I know Christmas isn't just about food, like I know that Christmas isn't just about presents.  But certainly you can't deny the huge role both play in the celebration.  Christmas is, of course, when we celebrate the birth of Jesus, but it is also a time to celebrate family and tradition, which I think is just as significant to most people as the religious reasons for the holiday.  So have a very Merry Christmas, and enjoy your families and your feast.

Cider, Music, and Movies

Truly a delight, on a rainy November evening....



Some previous day, hopefully you went to Trader Joe's and bought a bottle of their spiced apple cider.  And at some other point in your travels, hopefully you happened to pick up some Calvados (apple brandy from France).  Now all you have to do is heat the spiced cider in a mug (the microwave is fine--let's not make more work here), and when it's done, pour in a shot of Calvados.  I feel quite sure you will be pleased.

And while you are knocking back a spiked cider (or two?) maybe a little something on the stereo?  Maybe Christopher O'Riley's Out of My Hands (all piano music--get it?).  Or Tony Bennett Sings the Ultimate American Songbook, Volume 1.  His version of "The Way You Look Tonight" is so lovely, so wistful.  It's one of my favorite songs, and so different from Frank Sinatra's more upbeat version (even though I love that one, too).

What about something to read?  I just finished Amor Towles' Rules of Civility, which I very much enjoyed.  Very F. Scott Fitzgerald-ish, what with an introspective, somewhat cash-strapped, heroine who is caught up in the world of wealthy socialites.  Kind of reminded me of the Nick Carraway character in The Great Gatsby.

Or how about a movie?  It's still a bit too early for Christmas movies (well, at least for most people, myself not exactly included...), so how about something like The Ghost and Mrs. Muir?  Gene Tierney is so beautiful, and Rex Harrison so dashing (albeit crabby...), it's excellent rainy-day/night fodder.  Or for something completely different, what about Keeping Mum?  Rowan Atkinson is an absent-minded vicar, Kristin Scott Thomas is his randy wife, and Maggie Smith is their charming, though rather homicidal, housekeeper.

So there you go.  You have all the information you need to have a relaxing, entertaining evening tomorrow night.  Enjoy!

Gainful Employment

It's finally happened.  The Vacaville Housewife has begun climbing the corporate ladder.  Well, the corporate step stool at any rate. And it is, may I say, absolutely no fun whatsoever.

[caption id="attachment_859" align="alignright" width="300" caption="The raw material"][/caption]

I get home after everyone else is home, and I'm beyond tired, and I still have to make dinner.  I know, I should have spouse or offspring do it, but  I'm not willing to do that.  I still feel adamant that dinner (and food in general) is my responsibility and I will persevere!  I didn't want to go back to work yet, but needs must, and so here I am.  When I was growing up my mother worked, but she was home by about 4:00, and we had housecleaning help.  If that scenario was on deck, I'd feel much better.  But sadly, it's not, so I content myself with planning my exit strategy, fantasizing about flinging down my papers and shouting, "I quit!"

Until that dramatic day, however,  I am left juggling grocery shopping, cooking, and laundry.  On the weekend, I make three lists of dinners:  make-ahead (to, uh, make, you know, ahead) quick and easy (to make on work nights), and regular (to make on weekends).  And as far as baking goes, well, there just isn't a lot of time for that.  Which makes me sad.  A quick and easy cookie that my mother used to make has always been one of my favorites, and it is also one of my children's favorites.  They are called Valley Cookies (though I'm not sure why, since they look more like little hills.  I also make what my children call Cave Cookies, so we have all the landforms covered.  But more on those another time.), and you don't even have to bake them.   You make them on top of the stove, leave them in the fridge to harden, and they take literally five minutes to make.  Do it before bed, and you'll have cookies for lunches tomorrow.

Valley Cookies  makes about 3 dozen

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup milk (I use whole milk)

1 stick butter (4 oz.)

1/2 cup chunky peanut butter

4 Tbl. Hershey's unsweetened cocoa

1 tsp. vanilla

3 1/4 cups oats (quick cooking or old-fashioned--I use old-fashioned)

[caption id="attachment_861" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Miss Congeniality cookies"][/caption]

Place butter in a saucepan and melt over low heat.  Add sugar and milk.  Increase heat and bring to a boil.  Boil for one minute.  Remove from heat. Quickly add the peanut butter, cocoa, and vanilla, and mix well.  Now add the oats (no dilly-dallying--you don't want the mixture to set up before you get the oats all mixed in).  Cool mixture slightly, for just a few minutes.  Drop mixture by tablespoons onto a greased or Silpat-covered baking sheet. You can also cover the baking sheet with plastic wrap, and drop the cookies onto the plastic.  Put the uncovered baking sheet in the fridge and let cookies harden.  When hard, remove from sheet and store tightly covered in the fridge.  They won't win any beauty contests for cookies,  but they sure are tasty.  And they get tastier when you think  how it took you about five minutes to make them.

It's Coming... (along with some pumpkin muffins)

Fall, that is.  You know, autumn.  Even though it is still, to put it delicately, stinking hot during the day, when I go outside first thing in the morning it is quite cool.  Verging on crisp even.  Even the leaves that face east are starting to turn, as you can see.  I don't know why this is, but I am sure there is some folkloric explanation for it of which I am unaware.  Here it is, September 1, and I feel so much better!  It is my reverse seasonal affective disorder--I get crabby and depressed when it's hot for too long, while most people get crabby and depressed when it's cold and gray for too long.  Not me!

Vacaville in autumn is lovely.  Look for more pictures in the weeks to come.   In recent years, cities (and even CalTrans--have you seen the trees at the Midway Rd. on-ramp to Highway 80 east in October, November--amazing!) have been more aware of their choices with regard to tree planting and fall color, thus making for gorgeous leafy shows.  Downtown Vacaville in November could rival an Eastern city, with regard to the trees' display.

So as I get ready for fall to officially arrive in a few weeks, I will make these pumpkin muffins, which are quick and easy.  Nothing says fall (or fall pending) like pumpkiny spices.  The muffins started out as a Katie Lee Joel recipe and morphed from there. May I say I wanted to hate her cookbook, The Comfort Table?  (Did she and Billy Joel really think they had a love connection?  And not that she was a young hottie looking to get a career boost, and that he was marrying her for reasons other than her scintillating conversation? I mean, please.  Although I must confess I did not actually hang out with them at any time, so perhaps I am mean and cynical and they were a match made in heaven.)  But ANYWAY, I really like Katie Lee's (as she is now known) cookbook, The Comfort Table!  It's good weeknight food.  Give it a whirl.  But here are the Vacaville Housewife Lee Joel (I don't want you to feel used, Billy--I'm keeping the Joel.  I'm here for you, Billy.) pumpkin muffins.

Pumpkin Muffins  makes 12


These muffins keep really well, staying fresh for a few days after you make them.  Also, the batter does seem to be mounded up very high in the muffin cups, but don't worry.  It is very dense and it keeps its shape, not overflowing everywhere.  But you could put the muffin tin on a cookie sheet if it makes you feel better.

2 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ground ginger

1/4 tsp. ground cloves

1/2 tsp. salt

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup canola oil

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1 can (15 oz.) pure pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Line twelve muffin cups with paper liners.  In a small bowl, combine the dry ingredients.  In a bigger bowl, combine the sugar, oil, eggs, and vanilla.  Add the pumpkin puree and mix well.  Add the dry ingredients and stir until just combined.  Scoop the batter into the lined muffin tins.  Bake for about 20 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.  Let muffins cool in tin for about 10 minutes, then remove to a rack.  Serve warm or at room temperature.  An easy breakfast, and so good with coffee!

Use What You Have Cooking

[caption id="attachment_751" align="alignleft" width="225" caption="My well-stocked but somewhat untidy pantry (with art)"][/caption]

Well first of all, you have to keep your pantry and freezer pretty well stocked.  When the cash flow is, uh, flowing  and I see skirt steak on sale, I buy a couple extra ones to freeze.  Favorite wine on a really good sale?  Several bottles now live in my fridge.  See a good price on the 28 oz. cans of pureed or whole peeled tomatoes?  Toss them in the shopping cart.  Prewashed spinach in the giant plastic box for less than $3?  I'm on it.   When I was feeling flush and bought lots of boneless/skinless chicken?  It's what's for dinner.  There is pesto I made when basil was cheap, and zucchini bread I made for the same reason.  I've got enchilada sauce frozen, as well as refried beans I made.  You see, the austerity measures at our house have reached sort of epic proportions, so I am trying to buy as little food as possible.  After all, I've gone to the trouble to stock my pantry and freezer.  Isn't this exactly when I should be trotting out all that food?

Of course I'm still going to buy milk and fresh fruits and vegetables.  But I'm buying cheese, milk, and half-and-half at Costco (where it's so cheap that I prefer not to think about the aspects of factory farming that are no doubt in practice), and I'm looking at peaches for 88 cents a pound, not grapes for $2.50 a pound (and prebagged so you can't just buy a pound; rather, you have to buy the three pound bag so your grapes are now $7.50.  $7.50!!).  But besides the dairy and the plants, it's whatever is in the freezer and pantry.

This week, my shopping list is pretty small.  Milk, cream, fresh fruit, fresh veggies, beef broth, orange juice, ground beef, ground pork, mushrooms, basil, pine nuts (well, depending on how much they are--otherwise I'll just toast and chop some slivered almonds), and red onions is about it.  And baby aspirin for the dog (his hips are bad and he loves St. Joseph's orange chewables).  By taking a little time to go through my cookbooks (which, I must confess, I love doing, so it doesn't feel like work) and to check on the contents of the freezer and pantry, I have come up with thirteen dinners.  And there is always flour and sugar on hand to make cookies, etc.  So we're good to go, and I don't feel too terribly deprived.  Worried, yes, but not deprived.

So what's on the menu?  Well.  --Now wait.  I thought of giving you all the recipes I use, but first of all that would take forever, and secondly, you can just as easily find a recipe online that works with your supplies.  Okay, back to the menu.  Spinach and mushroom quiche.  Macaroni and cheese (not Kraft or Velveeta--the real kind you make with a roux!). Beef tacos with guacamole, with refries on the side.  Chicken and mushroom crepes (my favorite dinner as a child of the '80s).  Gyros.   Mandarin beef with bok choy.   Chicken with balsamic vinegar.  Stir-fried pork with garlic.  Lemon chicken.  Meatballs in tomato-herb sauce. Smoked salmon quesadillas (smoked salmon is an unopened package left over from a party--not usually on the menu).  Breakfast burritos (with egg, sausage, cheese, and potatoes they make a great dinner).  And barbecued burgers.  So they don't suck, foodwise, these austerity measures.  But it only works if you take the time when the money isn't quite so tight to stock up, and to do some cooking ahead of time.  I could add enchiladas to the week.  Or pasta with pesto.

I heard on the news out of Sacramento the other night that people were talking about how they can't help it that they eat so much fast food, because it's so cheap.  That made me mad!  It's not because it's cheap (because it isn't--you only get one meal), it's because people are lazy!  And while I'm ranting, I'm so mad that they are healthying up McDonald's Happy Meals.  Fast food should be a treat, once a month or less, not a way of life.  Happy Meals should still have french fries in them and not have to contain carrots or apples or whatever, because french fries are a treat, not something you should be downing a couple times a week!  So by putting in "fresh" fruits and vegetables (and who are we kidding--how long have those apples or carrots been floating around?) we are encouraging eating fast food, as though it is a healthy choice!  No!  It's a treat.  Do you go get an ice cream sundae with two scoops and sauce and cream and...and...every few days?  No, because it's a treat.  Be responsible about your family's well-being!  Oh!  Excuse me.  Got a little carried away.  I digress.

So back to the matter at hand.  If your family struggles with money, it's important that when you do have cash, you need to stock up on the food (and not stock up on cute shoes) so that you don't get caught in the fast food trap.  Of course it's good for you physically, but it's just so good for you psychically, too.  There are a lot of things you can't control, but you can control what you eat. It's a good feeling to know that you are doing right by your family.  And now, sadly, I have to get back to looking for a job.

Community Supported Agriculture

I've subscribed to a CSA (community supported agriculture) farm. It's called Eatwell Farm, and it's in Dixon.  I love it!  While it's not particularly cheap, the quality is well worth the cost, and I do get very fresh, locally grown produce.  I mean, look at this picture!  I just quickly unpacked the box (note the messy paper towel), and it's like something out of a Dutch master still life!  I've been using a lot more vegetables, and I know we're eating better.  Eatwell Farm drops off here in town, so I pick up a crate of fruits and vegetables at a Vacaville business every other week.  I could do every week, but I know me and I'd get stressed out trying to use all those veggies in a week.  So the every other week plan works well for us.  The picture above is of my first box, and I was very impressed.  Yesterday I resubscribed for four more weeks, and this time I'm going to try out  farm-fresh eggs with my weekly box order.

I find I get a little more creative in order to work these veggies into our diet.  Two nights ago, after I picked up the crate,   I threw together this salad for dinner, and it was delicious.  The box had arugula and mixed lettuces, which I washed, dried, tore up, and put in  a salad bowl.  There was also a nice, tight little head of cabbage, about half of which I shredded and added to the bowl. There were also little Tokyo turnips, which I had no idea you could eat raw.  The turnips I peeled, very thinly sliced, and tossed in the bowl.  I also had some leftover grilled chicken thighs, some blue cheese, and heaven knows I've got lots of apricots.  I cut up the chicken, the cheese, and the apricots and they all went into the salad too.   Finally, I made Martha Stewart's Shallot Vinaigrette (substituting olive oil for grapeseed oil, and omitting the walnut oil and increasing the olive oil to compensate) and tossed everything together.  It was very tasty and took all of about 20 minutes to put together.  So healthy, and totally satisfying because it was so flavorful.  I guess you can call me a convert to the local food movement.

What Should I Do with All These Apricots?

[caption id="attachment_539" align="alignright" width="300" caption="The crops"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_540" align="alignleft" width="210" caption="The jam"][/caption]

Whilst sitting by the pool today with my good friend Mr. Heineken, enjoying a gorgeous Vacaville day, listening to Danger Mouse's latest disc, Rome (which is wonderful, by the way), it slowly began to dawn on me that if I have something to say about apricots I had best do it posthaste.  Apricot season is short but intense, leaving one with a frantic need to quickly do something with a lot of apricots.  Apricots are my very favorite fruit, but one can only eat so many. So, yes, yesterday I made yet another batch of  jam.   And then I also made a batch of Apricot Chutney.  My mother made this every year when I was a child.  I have only one apricot tree, but the house where I grew up came with about six.  Sort of an embarrassment of riches.  This chutney smells wonderful as it cooks, instantly taking me back to my childhood summers, where the kitchen was hot, the windows were flung wide, and chopped apricots, onions, and limes, as well as little piles of chilies and raisins, covered the counters.  This is a spicy chutney,  and it goes well with Indian food, as well as with your average roasted chicken or grilled pork tenderloin.  Chutney is so much easier than jam--no skimming the foam, no water bath needed. It's a nice change from Major Grey, and makes a good Christmas gift, too.  So here you go.

[caption id="attachment_544" align="alignleft" width="210" caption="Chutney in progress"][/caption]

Apricot Chutney    

makes 4 pints (or 8 half pints)

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup cider vinegar

1 Tbl. minced fresh ginger

1 tsp. allspice

1 tsp dry mustard

Dash ground cloves

3 small dried chile peppers, crushed

1 small whole lime, finely chopped (peel and all)

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 cup raisins

1 clove garlic, minced

[caption id="attachment_545" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Chutney complete!"][/caption]

4 lbs. pitted apricots, cut into 1/2" pieces

Put all ingredients except apricots in a large pan and bring to a boil.   Add apricots and bring mixture back to the boil.  Reduce heat and simmer for about 45 minutes, stirring often to prevent sticking.  Ladle into hot sterilized jars and seal with hot sterilized lids and rings.  Yup, that's it.  We're done.  This recipe is from the '60s--feels very M.F.K. Fisher, n'est-ce pas?

Father's Day Gift Idea (and a menu)

Even if your dad is not a reader, he'll read this.  Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand is the amazing true story of Louis Zampirini, an Olympic runner and B-24 bombadier.  His tale of survival during World War II is nothing short of incredible and awe-inspiring.  (As a side note, may I ask why the Germans are so vocally criticized for the atrocities they committed during the war, and the Japanese are barely mentioned?  Their acts were every bit as horrific as those of the Germans.  I was just wondering....)  Boyhood delinquency, triumph in the sports arena, airplane talk, and survival against sharks, the elements, and especially the Japanese are the components of this terrific book.  Really, take a leap of faith and know that even your anti-reading father will pick this up and be immediately engrossed. And hey, it's way better than a tie.

At our house, we will be having a late lunch for our Father's Day celebration.  We are having grilled rib-eye steaks (did you know Costco now sells prime beef, the same grade sold to restaurants?), and for the first time I'm going to try making onion rings from scratch.  Spinach salad with warm bacon dressing, roasted asparagus, and garlic bread will be on deck as well (it's heavy on the veggies because someone in the group--ahem--is on a diet and wants to feel like she's not being deprived when she only gets one onion ring and no garlic bread).  For dessert, cheesecake with strawberries. And of course red wine and lots of Dos Equis amber.  Happy Father's Day!

Cookbook Review: Food Network Magazine Great Easy Meals

I have what some may call an addiction to cookbooks.  I am somewhat powerless to resist them.  Making space for books is always important in our house, but at the same time, I don't want to feel that I'm drowning in them.  Too messy.  I am getting ready to purge my books of the regrettably purchased, seldom opened tomes lurking about my shelves so that the double stacking can stop.  It makes me crabby.  I go to the library and get cookbooks now, with the intent of copying the few recipes that I am interested in, rather than buying the whole book and thus losing shelf space to something mediocre.  Sometimes, though, I can't help myself.  If I have so many Post-its sticking out of the top of the book to mark pages I want to copy, I figure it is more cost effective (within reason) to go and buy the damned book instead of using up lots of ridiculously pricey printer ink.  The latest addition to be deemed worthy of purchase is Food Network Magazine Great Easy Meals. 

The Food Network website is a great resource for recipes and how-to information.  Their magazine is good too, although I do a fair amount of weeding out of the recipes published therein.  The cookbook, however, has done the weeding for me.  Everything I've tried so far has been very good, with minimal tweaking (but I always tweak recipes, so I don't count that as a strike against it). The nice thing, also, is that the recipes really are very easy.  When I sit down with several cookbooks and plan out my menus and shopping list for the week I often have delusions of grandeur.  "Why, yes, I think making my own pasta (or tortillas or pita bread or...) on a Wednesday night will be completely doable!"  And then Wednesday night rolls around and I've been at a child's sporting event until much later than expected, and so it's quesadillas on store-bought tortillas (which, don't get me wrong, are delicious).  So having these recipes that are quick and easy but also delicious (and made without a drop of cream of mushroom soup) is awfully helpful.  I even made the grilled Rosemary-Mustard Pork Tenderloin with Peaches for a special birthday dinner for company.  So easy, no stress, delicious.

It's good to have a go-to source that is reliable, and that gives me (and my family) a change of pace.  So far I've made the pork above twice, Spicy Chinese Beef, Chicken Korma, the roasted asparagus, and Pork Tenderloin with Eggplant Relish (which was spicy and made with Japanese eggplant, which I would never normally buy, and which even the anti-veggie delegation happily ate, although, to be fair, said delegation may not have known it was eggplant...).  Everything is very flavorful, it's on the table quickly, and ingredients are easily obtained.  The only quibble I have is the "kitchen tips from the stars" that are touted on the cover.  You'd think that meant some...uh...kitchen tips, just say, but not so much.  Melissa D'Arabian telling us how great it is to cook with kids, Ellie Krieger reminiscing about her daughter recognizing the smell of basil on a bus, Guy Fieri building a second kitchen at his house--I'm sorry, I don't care.  But really, that's a small complaint, and a very small part of the book.

I see no reason why the rest of the recipes in Food Network Magazine Great Easy Meals won't be every bit as delicious as the ones I've tried so far.  On Amazon.com it is less than $15, and it is well worth the money.

What Would You Do...

...that's right, for a Klondike Bar.  Here is a shameless product plug.  (Note to self: find out how to get paid for shameless product plugs.) If you like mint-chip ice cream (which I do), go and buy some of the new mint Klondike Bars (which I did).  They are in your grocer's freezer (it's like I'm a professional endorser), and they are delicious.  I mean, how could a slab of unnaturally green mint ice cream generously coated with chocolate go wrong?  Well, trust me, it doesn't.  I'm going to need a 12-step program to get the Klondike monkey off my back come autumn.  But for now, I highly recommend you get a box (or two) and stash them in the freezer.  You will thank me.  No, really, you will.

Happy (for a limited time only?)

This morning I was standing in the kitchen, home alone.  My trusty Russell Hobbs was boiling, and I stood watching the steam rise, waiting to pour hot water over the coffee I'd just scooped into my little Melitta filter.  I felt very, very content.  It had been a productive morning so far--I'd decided on tonight's dinner (hot and sour soup and pork buns), I'd stripped the beds, the first load of laundry was in, I had bagel dough rising, and now I was ready for another cup of coffee. Then a thought crept into my mind--I just may have to get a job.  You know, the kind outside the home?  That pays money?  It's an issue that has been swirling around lately, carrying with it crabbiness and arguments and unfolded laundry and takeout food. The thought of going back to an office every day and filing and answering phones for eight hours almost makes me feel ill.

Okay, well,  that's enough whining.  My point is that it is so important to notice your happiness!  Pay attention to what you are doing and notice your contentment!  It is so easy to let the days get away from you, focusing only on what's hard, what's a nuisance.  Noticing your satisfaction is like visting an oasis if you're having a crappy day, and it's a nice bonus if you're not having a crappy day.

Knowing that my time at home may be coming to an end (hopefully not totally--a part-time job would suit me just fine), I'm trying to be even more aware of how much I love staying home.  I approach housewifery with the same work ethic I approached any paid position I've had.  I start early, stay late, and keep to a schedule.  I look around to see what else needs to be done.  I give it my all.

So when I'm in some office filing and answering phones, I won't feel like I didn't appreciate my life.  To the contrary--I know very well that being a housewife is the best job I've ever had.  And, well, okay, perhaps I've not been looking very hard for a job--I'm kind of hoping that something to do with books or food or writing, for, oh, four hours a day, that pays an enormous amount of money, will--poof!--appear before me.

Hope springs eternal.  Now I have to go put the laundry in the dryer.

A Mother's Day Punch

"Punch" the drink, not "punch" the physical violence.  That wouldn't be a very good Mother's Day.  But "punch" the drink makes for a very nice Mother's Day (or any other time you are having company for brunch or lunch).  This extremely quaffable libation  is not expensive, it is delicious, and it'll keep both your minimal-drinker friends (and mothers) happy and your wino-in-training friends (and mothers) happy. It works well for a brunch or a lunch, which is perfect since you don't hear a lot about Mother's Day dinners (probably because Mom's usually back on duty by dinnertime).  The fruit juice seems to eliminate the headache that can come with drinking early in the day,  and you can feel slightly virtuous because it is, after all, fruit juice.  And you can feel stylish, too, because punch seems to be turning up more and more as a cost-effective, but still delicious, way to get a large group of people liquored up (and of course I mean that in the most genteel way).

Confession:  this is not a picture of my actual punch (even though it looks just like it).  I didn't happen to have any photos of punch lying around, and making a batch of punch just for a photo shoot seemed rather wasteful.  And if I had made it I'd have felt compelled to drink it, and...well, no good could have come of that situation. I mean, it's Tuesday.  Morning.   So I cribbed this picture off the internet.  Mea culpa.

Here's an interesting tidbit:  the word "punch" is from the Indian (or Urdu? I can't remember) word for "five," and a traditional punch always had five ingredients (and now you can see why a "punch" in the nose is called that--Good Lord, more physical violence!).

On to the task at hand.

First of all, a day or two before you are serving the punch, make an ice block.  I like to slice up a lemon and/or an orange (it looks prettiest with both, but use whatever you have), and then place the fruit in a small container ( a square 4-cup Gladware is perfect for the size of my punch bowl).  Put lots of fruit in--you want it to look like a block of frozen fruit, not like an iceberg adrift in your punch bowl.  Then fill the container with water. Place it in the freezer.  After about two hours, push the fruit down into the slushy water (but if the water isn't "thick" enough yet, come back in a little while) so that there is fruit throughout the block of ice, not just floating at the top.  Freeze at least overnight.

Brunch/Lunch Punch

1 (6 oz.) can frozen lemonade concentrate

32 oz. pineapple-orange juice  (I buy a half-gallon of Dole, in the carton, and just use half)

1 bottle well-chilled dry California white wine

1 bottle well-chilled brut California sparkling wine

Mix lemonade concentrate and pineapple-orange juice in punch bowl.  Add bottle of white wine. I usually use an inexpensive (but certainly not rot-gut) sauvignon blanc. (I specified California because hey--we live less than an hour away from one of the world's greatest wine producing regions, and if that's not being a locavore, I don't know what is).  Add ice block. Gently pour bottle of sparkling wine down the side (the inside--do I have to say that?) of the punch bowl (helps minimize carbonation loss) and serve immediately.

Feel free to top up the punch bowl with more champagne and/or more pineapple-orange juice as  it gets drunk. I can't tell you exactly how much this will serve, due to whether you use those funny little cups that come with the punch bowl, or some heftier, more, uh, thirst-quenching-size glasses.  At my house recently,  seven  people (with large glasses, not the little cups) were kept amply hydrated for the afternoon with these amounts.

The Olive Project

[caption id="attachment_185" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="The crop"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_186" align="alignright" width="300" caption="The harvest"][/caption]

It's kind of like the Manhattan Project, only different.  Although, if I made them into martini olives then it could be the Martini Project, because I much prefer martinis to manhattans.  But I digress.

I feel like Martha Stewart Ingalls Wilder.  That is, I'm "putting food by," but the food in question is olives, hence the Martha Stewart vibe.  And the olives in question are home grown, so you see where I'm coming from.  On February 13, I picked a couple of jars worth of olives from our tree.  I don't know what kind they are--if they end up tasting good I'll look into it.

I found directions in Hobby Farm Home Magazine on how to cure olives in water.  There is a way to cure olives in lye, but that seemed outside my skill set.  Lye-curing involves protective clothing and the possibility of severe injury if not done correctly.  Didn't seem fun.  So anyway, the directions said to put the olives in ordinary water to cover, seal them in a jar, and then rinse the olives and change the water every day for 40 days (it's all very biblical, isn't it--olives, 40 days, washing in water...).  So I did that.  On March 20, just about 40 days later, I tasted the olives.  They were incredibly bitter still and, basically, nasty.  So back in the water they went.

The process of soaking is interesting.  The black color leaches out of the olives with every water change, and they become more and more purpley-mauve in color.  Also, right at the beginning, the olives must let off some sort of gas, because every day when I'd open the jar to change the water, they would fizz and sizzle like they were carbonated, to the point where you could see the little bubbles in the air, like a freshly poured class of 7-up.   Each day the fizzing would grow a bit less pronounced, until they pretty much stopped fizzing altogether.  Day 38 shows the beautiful color of the semi-cured olives.

[caption id="attachment_193" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Day 38"][/caption]

Around this time, however, disaster struck.  Well, that's a bit strong.  Let's say a nuisance occurred.  I lost the directions!  And Hobby Farm Home didn't have them on their website!  I knew I had to do something with oil and salt at this point, but what?  After poking around a bit online, I found the University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources Publication 8267, which tells how to water-cure both Kalamata style olives (black) and Mediterranean-style (green).  Since I'd already started, I went with Kalamata-style. Unfortunately, my original directions didn't mention cracking or slitting the olives, presumably to help the pits leach out the bitterness, which is apparently quite important.  Oh well, next time.

On March 26, I put them in a mixture of brine (made with pickling salt), red wine vinegar, and olive oil, where they were to rest in a cool, dark place for a month.  They sat in my pantry until today,  April 18.  Now I know it's six days short of a month, but I am impatient.  I had to try them!  Well, I am very pleasantly surprised.  There is still a little bitterness, but it is very minimal, and I'm sure over the next week or two that residual bitterness will dissipate.  There I was, at 7:30 this morning, eating olives (and believe me, I'm not a pizza-for-breakfast kind of gal)!  But I'm pretty proud of myself.  They'll keep in the fridge for up to a year.  I only did two jars this year in case they weren't worth the trouble.  But it really wasn't much trouble, and it was a fun little project.

I now have two jars of quite official looking olives in my fridge, rubbing shoulders with the pepperoncini and the Tapatio, just as if they were store-bought!  So if you get a jar of olives from me for Christmas, act surprised.

[caption id="attachment_196" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Ta-daah!"][/caption]

Dishwasher Resurrection

A bit of housekeeping:  if you are unable to see all my posts, click on the "home" button above.  Now, back to business.

The water where I live in Vacaville is sooo hard!  It wreaks havoc on my electric kettle, and I can only imagine what goes on inside my water-using appliances (I prefer not to think what it does to my hair color).  Last fall my dishwasher was, basically, a mess.  It’s a nice Kitchen Aid dishwasher, maybe five to seven years old, nothing fancy, but it wasn’t cheap, either.  However, dishes were coming out of the dishwasher sludgier than they went in.  My glasses had a haze on them, and there were little bits of…stuff…on everything. The stainless steel inside was all white and kind of crusty, and little tubes of hard water deposit were sticking out of the holes in the spray arms.   It was even starting to get kind of stinky. It was icky. It was time for a new dishwasher.

Financially,  it was a lousy time to buy a new dishwasher.  But I am not a fan of hand washing dishes.  My husband doesn’t mind it—it’s sort of therapeutic for him.  For me?  Not so much. My motto is if it fits in the dishwasher it goes in the dishwasher (my other motto is that if I’m in a sleeping bag it’s not a vacation, but I guess that’s neither here nor there right now) .  So a useless dishwasher needed to be remedied.

I started poking around on line, reading about dishwashers and detergent for hard water.  And I found out some interesting things. One site talked about how many dishwashers are sold each year, and how so many of them would not be needed if people had ever heard of Dishwasher Magic (and no, it wasn’t the product website).  It is my new favorite product, and I use it once a month.  It stops hard water buildup, and even cleans off the old buildup.  It comes in a plastic bottle that you put upside down in the cutlery rack, and then you run the dishwasher empty. The first time I bought it I got two bottles and used it twice to give the dishwasher a good dosing.  I was amazed at the change!  Truly, after the first two doses, it was like a new dishwasher.  The stainless is shiny and clean again, and all the hard water buildup is gone.   I use it once a month now, to keep everything up to snuff.  I believe you can purchase it in Wal-Mart, but I buy it on Amazon.com, several bottles at a time.

Once my dishwasher was all pretty again inside, I stopped using liquid-gel dishwasher detergent. Apparently it makes the sludginess worse.  Instead, I now use Cascade Complete, which comes with a blue and green swirl of dish soap and rinse aid (I guess), as well as powder detergent, all combined into one little cube-like pac.   They are kind of expensive, but if you buy them in Costco it’s much more cost-efficient.  Again—excellent product.

The last thing that I found is by Finish (they also make dishwasher detergent that I’ve never tried), and it is called Glass Magic.  You pour about a quarter cup in the bottom of the dishwasher every so often, and it really keeps the glasses sparkly.  You can buy Glass Magic on Amazon.com, but I’ve been getting it at Pacific Hardware here in Vacaville.

Now, a new dishwasher comparable to the one I have was going to be more than $700.  That will buy an awful lot of Dishwasher Magic, Cascade Complete, and Glass Magic. Before I tried these products, I had to scrub the dishes and glasses with an SOS pad before we had company.  Every day the dishes had to be checked, front and back, as they came out of the dishwasher, and we had some nasty surprises involving lettuce. In short, it was a total pain!   I know it sounds a bit loony to be so excited about products like this, but they saved me a huge amount of annoyance and money.  Now, thanks to Dishwasher Magic, Cascade Complete, and Glass Magic, when I take the dishes out of the dishwasher they are really clean.  It’s delightful!

And, no, sadly, I am not a paid endorser.