food

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Fri 13 Aug 2010

Five things make a Friday

Posted by PJ under erotica, fire, five things, food, health, Min, shakespeare, sin, work
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1.  It’s busy season at work.  The good news is, we were voted one of the best places to work in L.A.  Some who work here are dubious, but most of those people have never worked in the private sector and don’t realize how bad things can get.

2.  Last Saturday my friends and I prepared a picnic dinner and drove off to San Pedro to see Shakespeare in the park.  None of us had checked the website for months.  The venue had been changed because the city wanted to host “The Taste of San Pedro” in that particular park.  We drove home, built a fire in my fire pit, and ate our picnic in the backyard.  It actually turned out to be quite a pleasant evening.  Once we learned to never build a fire with paper and green kindling and turned on the fan to blow the smoke away from the picnic table and us.  “Hey, it’s Shakespeare for Dummies!” I said.  I smelt smoke for days afterwards.

3.  Maybe I should write erotica full time.  Then again, it’s so boring.

4.  Min has taken to sleeping on the pillow next to me.  I turn over in the night and get a faceful of cat and an indignant “Meow!”  So of course I turn over on the other side so as not to crowd her.

5.  I got really good results on my last blood test so I’ve spent the entire week doing all the things I had to give up in order to improve my blood test.  Penance will begin on Monday.  But first there will be ice cream!

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Mon 9 Aug 2010

Urp

Posted by PJ under food, quote of the day
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Random quote of the day:

“Part of the secret of success in life is to eat what you like and let the food fight it out inside.”

—attributed to Mark Twain

(This has been attributed to him since at least 1946, but there’s no proof he actually said it.)

Disclaimer:  The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Siegfried and Roy, Leonard Maltin, or the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

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Sun 11 Jul 2010

Made empanadas all day

Posted by PJ under cooking, food
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Am tired. That is all.

(spinach and Humbolt Fog smoky blue veined goat cheese + fontina)
(chicken, spices, green onion)

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Sun 30 May 2010

Will work for food

Posted by PJ under cooking, food, Min, recipe, the yard
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It seems like I spent the whole day yesterday cooking.  I didn’t, but I did work for my food.  I got a late start to the market, about 2, but got some luscious short ribs.  As soon as I got home I had to start chopping veggies and garlic, dredging and browning ribs, sauteeing, then adding everything to the pot with the broth.   We had a couple of cups of homemade beef broth in the freezer, but I supplemented it with Swanson’s.  I ain’t proud.

Then I could rest up for an hour and a half while everything bubbled away (about 4:30). I cleaned up the worst of the kitchen mess, then went to sit out in the back with Min and read a little.  It was a gorgeous sunny day, as I said yesterday, the first we’d had in awhile.  Today’s another fine day.  I enjoyed sitting in the sun.  (And my apologies to those of you enduring a late in the season snowstorm.)

About a half hour before serving time I added some sliced shrooms to the pot, then got the wheat noodles on to boil.  If I do say so myself, the meal was worth all the work.  Just delicious.  Below’s the recipe if you’re interested.  I got it from allrecipes.com and modified a bit.  It wasn’t all that hard, just a lot of prep work up front, but no more than if you made this in a crock pot.  I also use more onions and garlic then is called for here because I’m a barbarian who likes to punch up the flavor, and I may have added more celery and carrots as well.  Okay, so maybe my wrist got a little heavy on the wine, too.  I also added the mushrooms in the last half hour of cooking because I like mushrooms in stuff like this, dammit.

Smothered Beef Short Ribs

  1. 1/2 cup olive oil
  2. 4 pounds beef short ribs
  3. salt and pepper to taste
  4. 1 cup all-purpose flour (I use wheat flour as it adds a really nice dimension to the flavor)
  5. 2 cups chopped onions
  6. 1 cup chopped celery
  7. 1 cup chopped carrots
  8. 2 tablespoons minced garlic
  9. 3 bay leaves
  10. 1 tablespoon dried thyme
  11. 1 cup red wine
  12. 8 cups beef stock
  13. 1/4 cup chopped parsley

Heat the oil in a large pot over medium high heat. Season the ribs with salt and pepper to taste and dredge them in flour. Fry the ribs in the oil in small batches, adding oil as needed, to sear the meat. This should take 2 to 3 minutes per batch. Set ribs aside.

In the same pot, add the onions and saute for 2 minutes. Add the celery and carrots and saute for 1 more minute. Season with salt and pepper to taste, and then stir in the garlic, bay leaves and thyme and cook for 1 more minute.

Deglaze the pot with the red wine, scraping up all the bits on the bottom. Add the stock, bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer. Add the ribs and continue to simmer for 2 hours, until the sauce thickens. Stir in the parsley and serve.

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Sat 29 May 2010

Here I sit on a sunny day

Posted by PJ under cooking, food, Min, vacation
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It’s the first sunshine we’ve had here at the coast for a few days, and most of the last week has been overcast and gloomy.  Summer hasn’t arrived yet, and spring is still trying to make up its mind.  Min kitty likes it when I hunker down at home and write, but I’m thinking I really should go out and soak up some Vitamin D.  Lethargy after a tough week at work and knowing I have a four day weekend has made me, well, lethargic.  So here I stay.

I do have to go out eventually to buy the ingredients for the dinner I’m cooking tonight: braised short ribs with red wine and veggies.  If I can find the short ribs.  Ralph’s had some lovely ones last weekend—but that was last weekend.  No telling what they’ll have today.

And so, I think I’ll stop whiffling and go . . .

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