Category: minutiae

I made Beef Carbonnade last night. I tried a little of it, but I really wasn’t into eating when it finished cooking. So I guess it’s okay. Jon says it needs salt, but then, Jon says everything needs salt. And he’s usually right. He thought it was a little sweet, which I attribute to the chosen beer- I used Fat Tire, because it’s what I had. Well, it was either that or pumpkin ale, and that probably would have been vile. The beer Cook’s Illustrated (if you didn’t have an actual Belgian ale) recommended was Newcastle, which I like, and I would totally buy, but like I said, I already had Fat Tire. So I’ll try it again tonight or tomorrow, and let y’all know.

I’m so hungry. I’ve got the last container of my pasta e fagioli in the fridge here at work. Looking forward to lunch.

ARGH. I forgot to set my VCR and turn my Tivo off last night so that I could tape Veronica Mars. God, that’s annoying. (Don’t laugh at me for liking a show on UPN. I already know.) Also, networks need to learn that there are other times in the week to schedule programs other than Tuesday nights from nine to ten. Starting next week, I have major problems. Scrubs on NBC, Veronica Mars on UPN (shut up) (it’s not airing next week, though, which is a mixed blessing), Amazing Race on CBS, and House on Fox. I’m interested in House because it stars Hugh Laurie, one of my preferred British actors. You may have seen him in Blackadder or Jeeves and Wooster. He’s also done guest bits on Friends and MI-5. My favorite show of his has been A Bit of Fry and Laurie. It’s a great sketch comedy show that ran from 1986 to 1995 (according to IMDb). He and Stephen Fry wrote and acted in it. I caught a few episodes on a local PBS station back in 1997, bought the one VHS tape produced, and have been interested in a DVD purchase since. I doubt it’ll ever happen.

Where was I? Oh, yeah. I want to see House because of Mr. Laurie, but I have scheduling conflicts. Playing D&D on Tuesday nights isn’t helping the matter much, either.

The Sandra Lee thread on Television Without Pity has now reached 600 pages, the last hundred of which were filled in only four weeks. That’s some big hate, right there. Very impressive.

One of the cookbooks I bought a few weeks back was The Complete Italian Vegetarian Cookbook by Jack Bishop. “Sarah, you’re SO not a vegetarian.” Very true. However, Jack Bishop, or as he is better known, “Taste-Test Guy from America’s Test Kitchen,” has written a few books on vegetables that are pretty good. And, while I am not a vegetarian, I am interested in treating vegetables with respect, as well as any vegetarians I might have over to dinner. It’s so much fun to read cookbooks. I can’t remember who said it (or if I’ve mentioned this on the blog before), but it’s true: cookbooks are like fairy tales for adults. And I’m a gal who loves both. Ryan picked up a copy of the Lang Blue Fairy Book this past weekend, and I can’t wait to read it. I’ve got hardcover copies of the Red and Green, but I’ve never read the Blue, which was the first of them (and there are quite a few). Dover started putting them out for cheap a while back, but I’ve never gotten around to buying them. Need my adult fairy tales. Ooh! A frittata. Mm.

So, if you can’t see the comments, try looking at them in another browser. For me, they’re not showing up in Firefox, but they are in IE. Bizarre.

I got to sleep sometime between 10 and 11pm last night. Which means I have to take the Tea of Insanity this afternoon/evening if I want to make it through the D&D session. Tea of Insanity is Guayaki Yerba Mate, which contains, like, a pound of caffine per cup. Since I plan on being crazy later, I need to be calm now. So, until then, I am drinking the Tea of Soothing Calmliness. I like the flavor of licorice- I know many people don’t. Jon, Ryan, and I all really like this herbal tea. My mom, on the other hand, can’t stand the way it smells.

I’ve started defrosting some short ribs that I bought AGES ago. I figure I’ll use them in the other thing I want to make, Beef Carbonnade, which I forgot to mention yesterday. There was a recipe in the new Cook’s Illustrated. It looks easy. I am wondering if I can brown the onions and beef in a pot and then transfer everything to a slow-cooker for braising. I think that’s a valid option.

I’m $195 poorer today, but at least my car’s registered.

Savoy cabbage. Not Napa cabbage. Anyway.

There are a lot of things I want to make. My supervisor is ill, so my brain immediately jumped to SOUP today. That could be seen as too much of a suck-up move, though, so I probably won’t. Although roasting a chicken sounds good- especially if I do the rice thing again (crap, but I don’t have any onion soup- I wonder if Jon’s got any still in his freezer). I want to make the smothered pork chops from America’s Test Kitchen (ohhh, the gravy is so good- and I don’t like gravy in general). I want to make a sour cherry cobbler (also from ATK). I want to make tortillas and these very cool looking butter cookies with a garnish of salt (San Jose Mercury News from a couple weeks ago). I want to make baked beans again (ATK).

However, I’m extremely paranoid about driving at the moment, so no store for me. I got pulled over yesterday for an expired registration. I have very good luck. But if it hadn’t happened then, I still wouldn’t have seen it, and it just would have been until the next officer noticed. So m’dad and I are going to the DMV today hopefully to sort things out.

Sometimes I make things that don’t turn out well. Sometimes I grate my knuckle, too. Sometimes recipes call for a crapload of cabbage in a soup. If I ever make ribollita again, I’m going to use one kind of leafy vegetable, not three. Kale, Swiss chard, and Napa cabbage? Far too much. I ended up with, like, a keg of soup.

Finished up my not-naan yesterday. I should stick to biscuits. I kick ass at those. And yet, there’s a recipe for tortillas that intrigues….

I was going to bitch about the election and stuff (insert list of everything I’m pissed and worried and scared shitless about here), but I am restraining myself. This is a geek’s food blog, and such it will remain.

So here’s that lentil recipe I was talking about.

Lentil Curry

1 1/4 cups moong dal, roasted

1 1/2 to 2 cups water

1 1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground tumeric

3 Tbsp ghee

Pinch of cumin seeds

2 small bay leaves

2 red chiles

2 medium onions, thinly sliced

1 1/4 tsp freshly grated ginger

2 1/2 Tsbp raisins

1/4 cup finely chopped fresh coconut

1/4 tsp ground cardamom

1/4 tsp garam masala

1/4 tsp sugar

2 to 4 Tbsp chopped cilantro

Wash roasted dal and bring to a boil. Add salt and tumeric. While boiling, remove scum. Cover and simmer about 20 to 30 minutes, or until tender. Be careful not to disturb dal during the simmering process since stirring may break the grains.

Heat ghee in a saucepan. Add cumin seeds, bay leaves, chiles, onions, and ginger. Fry about 2 minutes, stirring. Add raisins and coconut and mix in prepared boiled dal. Add cardamom, garam masala, sugar, cilantro. Mix well. Simmer over low heat, uncovered, for 16 to 20 minutes. If dal is too thick, add a little warm water. It should be creamy and thick, like pea soup.

(I used canola oil, since I didn’t have time to clarify butter. I didn’t have roasted moong dal, so I toasted the same amount of Le Puy lentils. I fried the onions, chiles, and spices for a lot longer- probably 8 to 10 minutes, adding the ginger near the end of that time, so it wouldn’t burn. During the final simmer, I ended up adding a lot of water, a bit at a time, to keep it the correct consistency. Also, I used more salt, and omitted the coconut. And I forgot the cilantro, although I did have some.)

I don’t care what your political leanings are, if you’re a U.S. citizen registered to do so, please vote today.

I ended up attempting to make a lentil curry and naan on Sunday. That didn’t really work. Well, the naan definitely didn’t work. It’s not bad, it’s just not naan. It tastes okay with that homemade cottage cheese I made, though. The lentils are tasty. But I don’t think they’re what they were supposed to be either. The recipe called for roasted moong dal, and I had Le Puy lentils, which I toasted in a skillet. I don’t know if that was an okay substitution, but it was all I had. Also, no coconut. I ended up cooking it for a lot longer than the directions said, because I couldn’t get the darn lentils soft enough. I wasn’t going to put raisins in it- I really dislike raisins in savory dishes- but I changed my mind in the end, and they’re actually not bad. I’ll post the recipe tomorrow. It’s good. It’s subtle. (I’m currently eating it for lunch.)

I have bread currently going stale. I’m thinking about soup. Ribollita or something.

I think maybe I’ll make something with lentils today.

Well, the adrenaline did not wear off before my alarm went off. I was kind of not happy on Thursday. I’m thinking about baking the firemen cookies. And my neighbor who helped out (assuming I can remember which apartment he came out of). That night, however, after a fabulous meal at Jon and Ryan’s, I came home and made cheese. Sort of a cottage cheese/ricotta hybrid. I’ve been interested in homemade cheese making since I bought an Indian cookbook- it calls for its use in a lot of dishes, both savory and sweet. However, the method they describe uses nonpasteurized milk, which I don’t think I can get unless I know a cow. So, after some googling, I ended up here. This is a fun site. Making the beginner recipe wasreally interesting- the vinegar really works quickly separating the milk into curds! Assuming I can find rennet tablets and mesophilic starters somewhere, I’m going to continue on this cheese path. We’ll see.

Pumpkinfest was last night. I really like the pumpkin I made. I used this design from Extreme Pumpkins, and then I painted black around it so it would be easily visible during the day, too. It’s all part of my endeavors to be the worst Halloween person ever. I’m planning on baking cookies for this, too. Very disturbing for parents. Hee!

I’ve got a little list… bank, Sigona’s, Jon’s, laundry, cookies, video games, possibly lentils, and a costume party. I’m even more lazy than I was last year, when I threw on a bathrobe, grabbed a towel, and went as Arthur Dent. I’ve got a toque and an apron- I’ll just go as a cook. The only question is whether the CCA apron or the Braisin’ Hussy apron.

Oh, my God. I am the world’s biggest moron. Seriously, you guys.

I woke up to the sounds of my fire alarm at 5am this morning. Panicked, I jumped out of bed to see what was going on. I saw blurry orange flames coming out of my wall heater. I ran outside and up to my landlord to ask him for help, but no one answered the door. I then ran back into my apartment to grab my glasses, my cell phone, and my bathrobe (it was quite cold, you see). I called 911 and got the fire department to come. After I hung up the phone, my brain started to clear a little bit from PANIC mode. I had an idea. A neighbor, alerted by my running around and PANIC came out of his apartment. I asked him if his heater had turned on yet this season. He said he turned it on once so far. I asked him if flames shot out of it. No. Okay, maybe I had a legitimate concern. Then, however, it dawned on me that I could just turn the damned thing off. So I did. And then the firemen came. A lot of them. There were two trucks. Even after I told them that this was all because I’m so incredibly dim, they, you know, had to do their job and check it out, so I had six firemen in my apartment, looking at my now turned off heater. I’m such a moron. Who needs to vacuum the dust from her heater.

I think this qualifies as a good story, Sarah. It’s now 6am and I want to go back to bed. Let’s see if the adrenaline has worn off yet.