Short Attention Span Girl: February 2011 Archives

Meaty Goodness

By Marcella on February 28, 2011 11:42 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

Saturday morning we did not wake up to the predicted snow, or even rain. We had a cold, clear beautiful day for a drive.

We were headed up to Napa for a class at the Fatted Calf to learn some methods of meat preservation.

The class of about 12 students took over the kitchen of the shop. We were back there with racks of sausages hanging to dry, a pot of soup simmering on the stove and all manner of ingredients surrounding us. Three techniques were being covered - brining to make corned beef brisket, smoking to make kielbasa, and potting to make pork rillettes.

We started right in cubing up pork. It was then tossed with spices and covered with lard and placed in a low oven to cook for several hours. A pan of pork that had been cooked earlier was then taken from the oven and it was drained of the fat and allowed to cool enough to shred. The meat was then seasoned and mixed with gelee and some of the fat and packed into jars. It was capped off with a bit of lard and ready for a few weeks in the fridge before eating.

I had never tried it before but it, along with many kinds of salume and pate, were on the counter for tasting during class. It was rich and meaty spread on some good levain. Our class did a whole lot of tasting, I think the guys in the front refilled our tray about 3 times.

Next up was kielbasa. For this there was some meat that had already been seasoned and refrigerated overnight. This was placed in a meat grinder. After some mixing we made a patty of some and fried it up to taste to be sure the seasoning was correct. Yum! and it wasn't even smoked yet. We all got to try stuffing the casings to make sausage links and learned how to tie them up. A batch of kielbasa that had been made the day before was hung in the smoker and hot smoked for us to take home.

Finally we were all able to see how corned beef is made. The beef brisket had been soaking overnight in a brine. To be sure that the flavor got all the way through we got to take turns injecting more brine into each piece of meat. Then the meat was placed in bags along with some herbs and spices and vacuum sealed. In a few weeks it will be ready for eating.

I have visions of this in my head:

OK, maybe without the turkey and cheese.

After class we enjoyed an enormous lunch of more pork in the form of a very juicy and delicious roast, some roasted veggies and what is likely the most wicked salad ever - arugula, toasted hazelnuts, and shaved fois gras. That salad was amazing! We waddled back to the shop for our bag of meat deliciousness and headed back home.

If you ever get the chance to take a class at Fatted Calf, jump at it. They fill up fast and I can certainly see why.

- - marcella

Apples, Apples, Apples

By Marcella on February 26, 2011 8:00 AM | 1 Comment | No TrackBacks

OK, I did do that pie thing, but since we didn't eat it all it was sort of a waste. It was also a pain in the neck to deal with.

Then I got the insane idea (from a dear friend) that dehydrated apples were the answer. Usually I make dried apples once a year when my parents apple trees are ready for picking. Together the three of us get all the apples prepped. My mom stores her apple slices in the freezer and mine go home with me and into the dehydrator.

Doing this alone and with no kitchen was a bit different.

Still, they did turn out rather well.

Here's how it went.

On Thursday promptly at 6 am the alarm went off. I had been mulling over this dried apple idea for a couple of days. I knew I couldn't do it all alone. So, I told my husband he needed to help me with a hair brained idea. He suggested that this was not the best way to ask for something.

In spite of how I asked, he did agree to help me out. The dehydrator was sitting neatly on the shelf in the garage. However, the worker men had decided that shelf was a really great place to lean sheets of wood siding and a window frame or two. There was no way I could move that stuff alone and get the bulky appliance off the shelf without damaging something. Gamely my husband trooped upstairs at way too early in the morning and helped me collect everything I needed. Off to work he went and off to work I went as well.

Currently my sewing room contains a long folding table along with my computer and other things that do not fit in the office during construction. I cleared off half the table and covered it with a beach towel. I placed another towel on the floor because I was not risking apple juice splatters on the carpet. I grabbed the handy apple peeler slicer gadget, cutting supplies, a bowl of pineapple juice for soaking and I was on my way.

It took a while to work my way through all those apples. Mostly I hoped that I would finish before either the contractor called me upstairs for a question (because I was rather sticky) or before the drywall man came in to patch a hole in my sewing room. I wasn't sure how I would explain my apple project.

At any rate. It was soon time for putting the slices on trays and sprinkling them with cinnamon sugar. This is really rather messy and I was only willing to risk so much in my sewing room. Into the bathroom for phase two.

Only one tray could be done at a time because this is it for counter space. So, as each tray was completed it was carried into the family room and loaded into the dehydrator which was stationed on the fireplace hearth.

About 6 hours later I had a gallon ziplock bag full of dried apple slices and it only took about a zillion dishes and three rooms to do it.

It will really be nice when making something to eat only involves one room.

- - marcella

Taping Seams

By Marcella on February 25, 2011 7:32 AM | 1 Comment | No TrackBacks

It's actually kitchen remodel related. Now that the drywall has passed inspection, the drywall man has been coming and working away. First mesh tape went over the seams and then some drywall compound was thinly spread over them filling in all the cracks and gaps.

Now the holes in the living room ceiling are nearly done. This means I need to start thinking about paint colors and gearing myself up to climb our really tall ladder so I can paint it. We have a vaulted ceiling and it's a long way to the top.

The headers between the hallway and dining room and dining room and living room are officially gone. Soon my favorite pale blue ceiling in the dining room will be too. I will miss that. I don't however, want blue ceiling in the kitchen, hallway and entry way and so something has to change. Without headers it's now all one continuous ceiling.

- - marcella

Smaller Holes

By Marcella on February 22, 2011 11:08 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

The drywall men came and in the process of making a lot of dust, they turned the big holes in our walls and ceilings into nice little holes.

Now the only holes left are the necessary ones for outlets and switches and other things electrical or plumbing related.

More Progress

By Marcella on February 18, 2011 10:49 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

Happily there has been a lot of hole filling going on lately.

There are wires everywhere. Now the new lights in the kitchen work and there are wires going to all sorts of outlets and switches.

There are now can lights filling the holes in the living room ceiling and they are even hooked up to a very cool dimmer switch.

It's hard to believe I'd ever think a dimmer switch was cool.

The window hole that was made even larger is now filled with a bay window.

I have to say this window really makes the kitchen feel larger. Someday the counter will fit inside the bottom of that window which right now seems to be a very good tool storage space.

The other window was also removed and that hole was made smaller. The delivery of the new window was delayed a bit and then came the rain, so for now that hole is filled with plywood.

The plan is to install that new window tomorrow when not so much rain is expected. Here's hoping the weather man is actually right!

Inspection was passed this morning. If the window gets installed this weekend, they can start putting in sheet rock on Monday. The prospect of real walls and whole walls is pretty exciting.

- - marcella

Cooking in the Family Room

By Marcella on February 15, 2011 9:42 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

A lot of people have been asking me how we are managing to eat and/or cook without a kitchen. The question is generally immediately followed by their asking "or do you just eat out a lot?"

Other than two lunches out on the weekend while doing kitchen shopping we've been eating in. It's been tricky, but we've learned a few useful things.

The tricky part is that while we believed our old kitchen was too small for two to cook together easily, having about 18 inches of bathroom counter is definitely only workable for one at a time. We use the spare bathroom for storage, the microwave hangs out on a shelf, trash and recycling cans are tucked in corners, prep work happens and the sink is used for well, sink things. Most of the actual cooking happens in the adjacent family room.

Our family room has a fireplace with a hearth that runs the width of the room. This gives us a long expanse of non-flammable brick which even has a handy outlet. The hearth has been the home to the coffee maker, a very cool and fancy toaster oven, and hot plate. It's not exactly a decorators dream look, but we keep telling ourselves it's not forever. Frankly, it's not like we're having company over right now either.

While we're not the sort to buy frozen dinners to pop in the microwave, we certainly aren't above finding short cuts and we've definitely been keeping things simple.

On the short cut front, we've discovered frozen cooked rice at Trader Joe's. Cut a vent in the plastic bag, pop it in the microwave and 3 minutes later there's hot cooked rice to go with dinner. Also, if you are a potatoes fan they also have pretty good frozen mashed potatoes.

The crock pot has been great. Normally, it's a bit of a chore to wash it out and with just a little bathroom sink I was thinking no crock pot for us. However, I found these liner bags at Target and they are great. Line the crock with the bag, add the ingredients, pop on the lid, and turn it on.

One day in a fit of desperation I also bought some frozen pie crust at Trader Joe's. It's already rolled out which was a great help. Our fruit delivery had been piling up and we were overwhelmed with apples. In our fancy toaster oven we baked up this:

It was very tasty. It was also too much pie to deal with. With only 18 inches of counter it was a pain in the neck to deal with most of a pie. When I'd do dishes I'd move it to the family room. Then we'd need the coffee table or hearth for something else and move the pie back onto the counter. By day three I'd pretty much had it with moving pie leftovers around and off to recycling the rest of the pie went. As nice as that oven baked, that is likely the only pie that will be happening around here until the real kitchen is back.

I have really been missing baking though, so I thought I'd dig out my husband's old bread machine. My idea was I would put the ingredients in on a Friday night, set the timer and we'd have hot fresh bread for our Saturday morning breakfast. Doesn't that sound nice?

The bread was ok. I'm not the biggest bread machine bread fan, but it was warm and fresh and the house smelled really good. However, when you want bread at 9 am did you know that means the bread machine turns on at 4:30am? And, do you know how loud a bread machine mixing and kneading away in the next room is when you are trying to sleep at 4:30 am? Really, really loud.

Bread that wakes you up at 4:30 in the morning causes resentment.

I'm not thinking breakfast bread is going to happen again around here either. Maybe bread baked the day before, but definitely not ready in the morning bread.

We're muddling along and learning as we go what works and what we don't need to ever try again. The little oven is great for baking potatoes, roasting veggies and broiling or baking meat or fish. I'm getting really good at steaming veggies in the microwave too. We're eating just fine and we'll definitely appreciate the new kitchen that much more after having had this experience.

happy cooking!

- - marcella

Happy Monday!

By Marcella on February 14, 2011 7:37 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

Hope you have a wonderful day today!

- - marcella

Holes

By Marcella on February 11, 2011 12:39 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

In the children's book Holes, the children at the juvenile camp have to dig and dig perfect holes in the ground. The belief is that "if you take a bad boy and make him dig a hole every day in the hot sun, it will turn him into a good boy."

At my house, the workmen are cutting many holes in the walls and ceiling. We're hoping that in the end all these holes will turn our old kitchen into a new, beautiful and functional kitchen.

In the office there's the big hole for the relocated sewer line.

And on another wall in the office is a very similar hole for the new gas line.

In my driveway sits a lovely new bay window. I'm hoping it will soon fill this big hole - at least before the predicted rain arrives!

- - marcella

Kitchen Update

By Marcella on February 7, 2011 2:26 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

Some of the work has been encroaching the rest of the house. My husband's office is under the kitchen and he's had to deal with moving around the office so that a gas line could be added and the sewer line could be moved. Not so fun, but fortunately our work men are pretty neat and tidy so office work can still go on.

Good-bye to the second door into the dining room. With this door gone and the window to the right made smaller, we will be able to wrap the counter and cupboards all around the room.

The old kitchen had a very 70's stylish florescent light box in the center of the room. It's been removed and some recessed lights are in its place.

NY Restaurant Week part 2

By Marcella on February 4, 2011 9:48 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

Wednesday morning we woke up to some snow. Off we ran to the bus stop and we started out the day with a swim. Good thing too given that we were eating out twice that day!

Lunch was a walk away (and a corner skip through Bergdorf Goodman to oogle accessories) to Le Cirque. This was probably the fanciest restaurant we ate it and taking pictures without drawing too much attention to ourselves was no easy feat.

I started with Salmon Tartar & Smoked Salmon. I confess, I stopped reading after salmon tartar and so the rest of the dish was a very rich surprise. The tartar was layered on top of a smoked salmon mousse which was very creamy and rich. It was topped off with egg and caviar and some greens and served with a very thin toast. I could not finish it and frankly, could have stopped eating there and been happy. Following that was Crisp Skinned Chicken Breast with sunchokes and kale which did live up to its crispy name though the chicken remained quite juicy. Lunch was finished off with Le Cirque Creme Brulée - more rich creaminess! It was really delicious and the recipe was printed on the bottom of the dish. Made me wonder if it was really their recipe - and how many brulée dishes might go missing as a result.

For dinner we took a short walk to Aquavit - I am so glad there was a lot of walking built into this eating trip!

Dinner is still three courses but they added on an amuse and a petit four at the end making for a whole lot of dinner. We started with a little egg salad topped with a white anchovy. I'm not much of an anchovy eater, but it was very good with the creamy egg and nothing like what is encountered (unhappily) upon a pizza. The salad was their Hot Smoked Goat Cheese salad and was very tasty. I love goat cheese and their crispy balls of cheese were very good but I could not discern anything smoky about it. Next I had the Creamy Celerac Barley which was very much like a risotto and came with a huge serving of hen of the woods mushrooms. Dessert was more goat cheese in their Arctic Circle, a frozen goat cheese "parfait" which was moulded around a rectangle of more lingonberry sorbet, topped with the sorbet and pistachios.

To finish, a little butter cookie with some lingonberry jam in the center.

A walk home in the snow and now, frankly I don't think I need to eat another bite until next week. Not that that will really stop me.

The good thing about the subway is that it runs no matter how deep the snow is outside. We had a bit of a wade to get to the subway station, but we made it just fine to Toqueville for lunch on Thursday.

The restaurant was pretty quiet, I suspect they lost a few diners to the snow. They started us off with an amuse of crostini with apple compote and parmesan. For a first course I chose the Roasted Mushroom Velote - I should have gotten a picture of all the beautiful mushrooms in the bowl before they poured the soup, but that was just a little too attention getting for me. Sorry. Next was Confit of Veal Breast with polenta and braised vegetables. Seriously, that was delicious but dinner for two. Portions at this restaurant were huge. Dessert was chocolate this time with a Bittersweet Chocolate Mousse that was the mousse piped between two thin layers of chocolate with cream on the side and the darkest, deepest chocolate sorbet ever. After tasting the sorbet, the mousse didn't even taste like chocolate. That was some serious sorbet.

We walked off that gigantic lunch with a little shopping and too much eating. We visited a couple of stores and then went to Eatily. I would describe Eatily as an attraction rather than a shop. Really, it seemed people were there to see what there was and might pick up a few things, but I cannot imagine trying to do regular shopping there. Every section had its own line for pasta and bread and meat and so forth. It was a lot of line standing. We did pick up some bread and then avoided some lines by going for the pre-portioned cheeses. With a few nibbles for dinner we left and I was then told we needed a treat. Seriously, I don't know that we needed a treat but how could we resist the Shake Shack?

The park was pretty full of snowman builders and kids having snowball fights but there was no line at the shack. We found out why when we got to the window - they were out of meat. Guess all those kids out of school had enjoyed their fill of burgers earlier in the day. We had a creamsicle shake sitting outside in the snow under a heater along with some hot and crispy fries.

Because we didn't have quite enough food in our shopping bags or under our belts it was off to visit Chelsea Market. We could see into the bakeries and watch the bakers shaping rolls and rolling out pastry. We wandered through all kinds of shops including a kitchen shop that might have even had a gadget or to I do not yet possess. But, mostly we bought food.

Seriously, this isn't quite all of what we brought home. There was at least one more jar of jam missing.

No danger of starvation if more snow were to fall.

Friday we dragged our overfed selves out of bed and went to enjoy our last lunch of the week at Fishtail with some friends.

Remember when I thought Toqueville had huge portions? These were bigger. What happened to tasting plates? I would swear that my starter of Dry Roasted Angry Mussels was at least two dozen mussels. I simply could not finish. Then came the Yellow Fin Tuna Burger with so many fries that even with help it didn't appear that any had actually been eaten. Dessert for me was Butterscotch Pudding topped with caramel corn. It will be no surprise to those who know me that I managed to finish that course.

Fortunately for me, I was still able to fit into one airline seat. It was, however, probably the first flight ever where I've been glad that I wasn't given so much as a little bag of pretzels!

It was a delicious week, but I'm glad to be back.

- - marcella

The Walls Come Down

By Marcella on February 3, 2011 8:32 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

With our house being a 1970's style ranch, the rooms are largely separate. Where the rooms are open to each other, there are headers handing down to give the feeling of division.

We decided to open things up a bit, not completely, but more than they had been.

First, out came the doorway to the kitchen.

What used to be a standard doorway at the top of the stairs has now been opened all the way to the staircase on the right, and part of the wall between the kitchen and the dining room on the left has also been removed. If you look at the ceiling, you will see that those foot high headers dividing the hallway from the dining room are nearly gone.

From inside the kitchen looking out,

Glutton for Lunch

By Marcella on February 1, 2011 3:13 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

While all the demolition was happening, I was spending my time with a friend in New York. We had planned a visit during restaurant week and it just happened to coincide with construction. Truly, I lead a charmed life!

Sunday I was whisked from the airport to Carnegie Deli. I was confronted by a HUGE pastrami sandwich. We also ordered a corned beef one and split them so we had half of each kind. Not that we could eat it all. We took a substantial doggie bag home.

Monday morning began the eating fun. Our first lunch was at Le Caprice.

I started with a salad of mixed beets, walnuts and goat cheese but forgot to take a photo. Next up was Wild Mushroom Risotto and for dessert Scandinavian Iced Berries. That may have been the best dessert of the week. Frozen berries of all sorts in a bowl and table side they poured melted white chocolate over the top.

Tuesday we started off with a swim so we could burn off some of those Monday (and Sunday) calories. Lunch was at Alto. A really beautiful restaurant, and I seriously want one of those lamps for my dining room.

I managed to photograph everything this time. It's not easy to take pictures in fancy restaurants with no flash and without looking too much like a crazy person. All I could think of each time was an old episode of "That Girl" where she took pictures in a department store with a banana camera. I don't think a banana would have been less conspicuous though.

Back to the food. Insalata Mista Invornale which means salad with apple, beets and gorgonzola; Brasato di Manzo which was amazing braised short ribs, polenta and kale and finally Panna Cotta a meyer lemon panna cotta with huckleberry yogurt sorbet and granola.

Nothing to do after a lunch like that but to shop it off. We visited the MOMA store and then saw some wonderful quilts at the Folk Art museum.

Next we took a subway ride to visit Purl Soho a lovely quilt shop. I did resist however! Then a little walk to Dean and Deluca for dinner to go. On the way I learned that you cannot judge how deep a puddle is by looking at it. It was icy cold nearly up to my ankle. That woke me up! One last stop on the way home at Dessert Delivery where we picked up a red velvet cupcake that was labeled as "Oprah's favorite"

There's some cupcake along with two flavors of Donut Plant doughnuts - meyer lemon and peanut and jelly. It was a good thing that doughnut place was not close to us or we would have eaten many more of them.

More later

- - marcella

February 2011 Archives

Meaty Goodness

Apples, Apples, Apples

Taping Seams

Smaller Holes

More Progress

Cooking in the Family Room

Happy Monday!

Holes

Kitchen Update

NY Restaurant Week part 2

The Walls Come Down

Glutton for Lunch

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