How hot is it?

It's so hot today that my lipstick melted in my pocket. Blech.

It's wonderful once the sun isnt' hitting the place directly, but because there is no insulation in these 1940's walls and roof, the heat actually radiates from the walls. I'm not looking forward to another brutal summer here. We're trying to decide if we want to go for another year or month to month, or just move to a place w/ central air. I love it the rest of the year, the cross breeze, the quiet (usually), the huge sinks, gas stove, hardwood floors. But this heat makes me want to crawl into the fridge and nap.

Public Health Home Kitchen Grade

I got a letter today that made my heart skip a beat. A letter from the County of Los Angeles, Environmental Health, Consultation and Technical Services. What on earth would they want with me? I made scones for the wrong person?

I opened the letter to find this!



A postcard sized laminated grade A. With a magnetized back, so I could hang it on my fridge, well, if my fridge front was metal anyway. I was surprised because I had taken the 'home inspection survey over 2 months ago. When I completed it, the grade was available to print, so I made a copy, framed it, and hung it in my kitchen. It makes me smile and makes others wonder. It never said anything about sending me an official looking one.

Want to take the survey? Find it here
http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/eh/ehquizlt.htm

dreams and memories

I woke this morning to sweaty sheets and the corners of a dream cutting into me. I threw off the covers and while I evaporated I recovered pieces of it. And realized it was a memory, not a dream.

One of my earliest memories was being in a white dress (must have been 4 or younger) and new white sandals with metal buckles. I guess mom was talking to friends out by the recreation center, cause she let me go explore. There was a scrubby dry marsh behind the apartment complex, so I carefully took off my new shoes and went wandering in to explore. I have no idea how long I was out there, but I remember the colors and textures of the bushes around me.

When she called me back, I went looking for the shoes, and only found 1 of them. I don't know why, why would I have taken them off in different places? She was furious, dragging me around the area where I thought I'd left them, to no avail. Then she spanked me. That was the part I remember most, being yanked up by my arm and smacked repeatedly for losing an expensive new pair of shoes.

To this day, my mom says she has never spanked me. But she did many many times, the last one I was 12. I remember many of them. How can she blot out every one of them? I remember that I learned to cry and scream as soon as she started hitting me so she'd think she was inflicting enough pain and stop sooner.

And now that I think about it, I've never owned a pair of white sandals in my life.

No Knead Bread

It's all the rage after the NYT article in Nov 2006, and while I was on vacation, a friend borrowed one of my massive Descoware pots to try it. She returned it with a loaf, and I was immediately driven to find the article, recipe and do some experimenting.

Of course, I never go the simple route. I started with 2 c. AP flour, 3 T gluten and 1 c. rye instead of the standard 3 c. AP flour. And my yeast was dead. After getting down to the last 4 tablespoons in the 1lb bag, and sitting in the fridge for 4 years it gave up the ghost. So I had to spend a whopping 2.69 and get another pound. Which will take even longer to use up if I only stick to this recipe, since it uses 1/4t of yeast per loaf instead of the regular 2-3 t.

Because the yeast was dead, or at least badly maimed, I gave it 2 days instead of the standard 18 hours. It still came out perfectly, though even with 2 t of salt, a bit bland.

Now I'm baking an all AP flour with olive oil and herbs de provence, and the whole house is warm with the smell of real bread.

I tend to be lazy when I bake, and don't knead enough (unless it's a really soft dough), so most of my bread is too dense. This really does make a stunning artisianal loaf, and the pot is still clean at the end of it! Less mess, no flour on the counter, and letting time do the work is a brilliant change in the standard bread making process. I've read that if it sits around for a full day or longer, it just gets more sour, which I don't mine. And if you decide not to bake it right away, I'll bet you could just seal it and refridgerate it, bringing it to room temp for a couple hours before baking.

Only major thing I changed is to do the second rise on parchement paper, as it doesn't stick like it tends to do to the towel.

Tea Recipe - Red Pepper Jelly

Misplaced my recipe for Red Pepper Jelly. I think I originally got it from a friend's book about tea recipes. The local market had bright orange bell peppers for .99 a pound, so even though I was going to make this jelly later in the month for a tea, I decided I'd make a large batch now and can it.

Even with the jalapenos and serrano, there is only a hint of bite to the jelly. I prefer this jam to be more savory than sweet. 3 cups of sugar seems like a lot, but it's over 3lbs of peppers.

10-12 large red, yellow or orange bell peppers, seeded and finely diced or processed
3 red jalepenos - as above
1 serrano - as above
3 c sugar
3 T lemon juice
1/4 c Cider vinegar
2 t salt

Remember to cover your hands with plastic gloves or bag when de-seeding the hot peppers. Even a little on
your hands can burn for hours.

Cook all in a large heavy pot over med low heat for 1 hour. Stir occasionally, until jellied consistency, 20-30 minutes.
Taste and adjust salt as needed. Put in sterilized jars and process jars. I filled 5 half pint jars with this recipe,
you may have more or less depending on how much water evaporates. If you don't want to can it, you can store it sealed
in the fridge for a week or longer.

Serve on french bread with cream cheese, or with baked brie, or on gryere gougere. I'll post my favorite gougere recipe soon.

When web surfing goes bad

I made the mistake today of watching a video on hoarders. About an hour later I started cleaning. And I cleaned all day. Sweeping, mopping, dusting, washing, scrubbing, laundry, organizing and general sanitizing. Because I'd already planned to wash the sheets today, it didn't occur to me until evening why I started on the cleaning frenzy.

I certainly feel better because of it. I now get to start the weekend with a clean house.

Runners lung, button pushing

I love that clear feeling you get when you run, when your nose gets sensitive from, well, I don't know what. When I ran into Trader Joe's today, I could smell every person, whether it was normal person smell, cologne/perfume, if they were smokers, old people, or someone who had very young kids (little ones have that baby smell, even of their parents don't use baby powdery products).

I have this pet peeve about cross walk buttons. Whenever I see someone repeatedly hitting it, clank, clank, taptaptap, bang bang bang, I imagine throttling them. Since I know that they are brainless, and telling them that pushing the button more won't make the light change any faster, all I can do is wish them death caused by their ignorance. I think that most people spend their day going through motions, completely thought free. Like animals. They eat, shit, sleep, and never think 'it looks like rain', 'it's gorgeous today', 'I wonder why I've hit this button 50 times and am looking blankly at the sign waiting for it to change'.

The skies above Glendale have been moody all day. Short breaks of sunlight and brilliant blueness come out every couple hours from behind dark grey expectant clouds. It feels like it should pour any minute. And during my half hour jog, it seemed like every 20th car wasn't paying attention. They were on cell phones, running lights, not going when the light changed, stopping well inside the pedestrian walk. People were honking at the idjuts who were off on another planet. Don't know if it's the weather, but I've run that route many times and it was never so filled with space cadets.

Be careful out there on the roads.

Thing a day - Pumpkin Stuffed Shells

Still perfecting the Ricotta Squash Stuffed Shells. Now that my Sage is making a comeback, it's so much better w/ squash than the dried stuff.

This time around the recipe looked like:

1 box large shells, slightly undercooked so they are still a bit stiff. Drain and add 2 T olive oil to keep them from sticking.

Saute in 1 T olive oil until soft but not brown:
3 shallots
1/2 onion
2 t fresh sage
2 t fresh thyme

In a large bowl mix:
shallot mixture
2 eggs
1 large butternut roasted and mashed equal to 4+ c (Any winter squash works, I love this recipe w/ fine grained Kabocha)
2 c lowfat ricotta
1/2 c cream cheese

Cheese sauce
Make roux:
2 T butter
2 T flour (I tried Whole Wheat this time for a slightly nutty flavor)

Whisk in:
2 c milk (whole, lowfat, whatever)

Stir until bubbly and thickened.
Add:
1 c asiago
1/2 parmesean
1/2 t nutmeg
1/2 t white pepper

Stir over low heat until cheese is integrated.

oil a large casserole pan (I use 2 9x9" so I can freeze one for later) with olive oil. Stuff shells with butternut mix, add to pan to form a single overlapping layer. Slather on cheese sauce and bake 350 for 30-40 min. Cool 5 min before serving.

Photos forthcoming

Thing a day - Handwarmers

Had a clothing swap a couple weeks ago, and I was left with the hundreds of unclaimed items. Found an xs wool sweater that had been felted by accident, so it was now an extra extra small. Cut the sleeves off, snipped thumb holes, and blanket stitched the edges. They go all the way to my elbows, they are now the longest pair I have, perfect for computer work during days like today, when it's just a bit overcast, but not cold enough to warrant a sweater.

Thing a day - Vietnamese Ribs again

Same recipe from Chubby Hubby with same modifications. I was planning to tweak the recipe further, but they were so good I stuck with what I did the first time around.