A few people checked this blog for that information. I would follow roasting guidelines for a chicken, albeit a larger one. Of course, cook it longer if it has stuffing in it. My surefire test is to take it out of the oven, poke it with a knife between the thigh and breast, and see that the juices run clear. That’s after basting it every 20 minutes with butter or whatever pan drippings you have so you can gauge done-ness. You don’t want to cook it three hours and have a dried bird.
I still can’t find one and am miffed at Whole Foods for not lifting a finger to help out (see previous post “Capon”). It’s tough enough that my mother, who always had Thanksgiving, died last year. For the past few years we’ve gone to my husband’s grandmother’s home for Thanksgiving with 50 other family members and we can’t go there this year and take Thanksgiving Friday off. So we’re stuck here, I don’t mind cooking Thanksgiving dinner for two but it’s also sad that grocers in one of the most high-end markets in the nation won’t help me find the ingredients I need to make a special Thanksgiving.
If a capon is to be found, you’ve found one! I still have some browsing to do before I throw in the towel and find something else to cook. It doesn’t help that my husband would prefer a steak. We’re in a new environment, alone for Thanksgiving. Why not go out for dinner and see a movie? In my dreams. Dee
Categories: Editorial
Tagged: how to cook capon
We have two small decks, one off the living room and another off the master bedroom. A few weeks ago Jim (the consummate shopper) researched charcoal grills and found one with the smallest footprint and 10K btu’s. It’s a Char-Broil Patio Caddie,
Verboten?
Now the HOA has hit the owners with a citation and upcoming fines for us having a “deep fryer” on the deck. First, the fire comes up through a hole in the bottom so a sane person would not drench that in oil that would drip everywhere. Now I’ve had to provide owners and HOA with proof that this is a small propane grill, without all the frills (sides, extra burner) most are used to. They just saw a can on the deck and automatically sent off a violation notice that we have a deep fryer on site. Know your grills! That’s why we’re ahead of the curve. I invited them to come and check it out. Of course they won’t and will probably send out another notice.
Did I say Jim was a savvy shopper? And that we have a small deck and he’d like something at counter-level he can work with? I do 98% of the cooking here and would appreciate a few grill sessions on a perfectly legal grill he can operate while I work on the side dishes. That’s not to much to ask, even from a homeowner’s association. A perfectly legal device they just don’t understand.
We don’t understand this violation, and are enjoying the Patio Caddie on the few warm nights we have left, and plan to do so on the cooler nights to come. Last night I made and Jim grilled 2 NY Strips and I’m cooking up the remainder for his steak and eggs later this morning. Inside, on the stove. Perhaps the HOA wants to police what I cook inside as well. Join us! Dee
Categories: Editorial · Utah
Tagged: Char-Broil Patio Caddy, deep-fryers, grills, HOA's, smokers
November 7, 2009 · 1 Comment
Yesterday was my birthday. I heard from family as I settled into regular household duties, including making my birthday dinner. Today, we plan to attend a local music festival and perhaps go to an old-fashioned lunch counter in a drugstore for a burger. Is this heaven or what?
A couple of months ago I contacted the living music teachers I’ve had who have inspired me to take up guitar at an advanced age. I played American Pie by sight, all the way through, at my lesson on Thursday and hope to expand my musical horizons with Cowboy Poets this weekend. Out of the blue, my grade-school music teacher (a true-blue relic of the days when public schools supported music as well as sports) called. Why? There’s a new book in Chautauqua County about cooking with grapes!!!
It’s in the mail and I look forward to reading it and sharing it with you, perhaps interviewing the authors. This is very special to me, because it’s my home, where I grew up, and I know the context and hope in mere words can convey it to you. It’s this blog, it’s magic!
If someone told me to write a 500-word paper I’d have balked in college. Now I write one nearly every day. It’s not a research paper but at my age I should be able to opine on writing, cooking, music, relationships and dogs. Oh, the cats said add them too. Yes, I speak cat.
So, we’re not car shopping tomorrow, I hope, and are going to enjoy a quiet day together listening to cowboy music. Yippee! Dee
Categories: Editorial · Music
Tagged: blog, grape cookbook, Music
November 7, 2009 · 1 Comment
Once I realized we weren’t going to be able to go to TX for the grand clan gathering of my husband’s family because of business, I’m stymied that I have to cook Thanksgiving a deux, the first Thanksgiving I’ve ever cooked alone! No, the husband doesn’t cook. He takes out the dog and keeps her out of my kitchen, and grills occasionally.
When I was growing up, Mom used to get capons a few times per year, for special occasions. The “neutered” rooster develops extraordinary flavor, is larger and tastier than the largest young hen would be, and makes for a special occasion.
I’ve happened upon Wapsie Farms, the nation’s largest capon producer, and asked them where I can find a capon for Thanksgiving. It’s just the two of us and I’d rather a 6-8 lb. bird rather than a minimum 12-16 lb. turkey. Today, I asked a Whole Foods butcher, who had information out for holiday ordering, where I could find a capon and she’d never heard the term and advised me to look elsewhere. So that’s when I sent an email out to Wapsie Farms.
A turkey breast sitting over stuffing is a last resort, and WF has Diestel organic turkeys. Aside from Labor Day, it’s the only holiday Jim will have this year. I don’t want to make it all about cooking. Just a bird, great stuffing, mashed potatoes (my fourth masher, others in storage) and perhaps glazed carrots and roasted brussels sprouts. And perhaps a mincemeat tart to salute the Penny sisters.
So, are there any family farms in Utah who raise organic capons? Cheers, Dee
Categories: Editorial · Utah
Tagged: capon, diestel turkeys, mincemeat, Park City, wapsie farms, whole foods
It was a lovely weekend, temps up to nearly 60 degrees and blue skies that did not stop. It was actually the moon that awakened me in the early hours of the morning. Our upstairs deck was so bright it looked almost like the sun was shining. Stars are out and it’s 40 degrees (it’s been in the 20’s lately at night) so it may be warm again tomorrow.
We spent the weekend looking for a car, again. Tech support for Jim’s parents, who upgraded to a Mac this weekend and while set-up has its glitches, once they get going their son’s tech support will be minimal. Margie had fits with both her old PC and internet service and has now changed both for the better.
With the balmy weather we cooked out both nights over the weekend. NY Strips from our door-to-door organic vendor on Saturday with sliced tomatoes (olive oil, oregano, salt and pepper), corn and baked potatoes. Last night I made baby back ribs mainly inside with a basic dry rub, then grilled with BBQ sauce for five minutes. That was served with salad and scalloped potatoes. Yum.
Now we have to turn our sights to pot roasts and winter meals. Also the first Thanksgiving I’ll ever cook alone (a lonely thought but one that may include plans for interesting soups and sandwiches afterwards). Years ago I read of Frank Sinatra’s recipe for chicken and sausage. I made it once but it called for 1 cup of olive oil for a dish that served four. Even 20 years ago I didn’t do that. New ideas are needed. As Jim can’t eat fish, any focus on chicken and pork is better than too much beef.
Tonight we’ve got the heat on. It’s finally warm down here at my desk with the vent at my feet. It’s time for slippers and a cardigan. I can’t turn on the fire because it’ll suck the heat out of the bedroom and Jim will freeze.
Trifle. I’ve made four in my lifetime. One many years ago, one last year for a surprise concert for Nanny, and two in the past week. Now I’ve another to make this week and am ready for the challenge. I made up a recipe the other day to bring to some of the guys at Jim’s work. Three layers. I found a cranberry-pecan bread from the delivery folks a couple of weeks ago and immediately froze it. Then I figured… cranberries. The only thing I didn’t do was brush the bread with liqueur (for this I would have used Grand Marnier) because many are Mormon.
So I layered a trifle bowl (under $15 at Bed, Bath and Beyone or even Sur La Table) with thinly-sliced bread, using whole slices then cutting to fit. I made cranberry sauce of 2# fresh cranberries, juice and zest from one orange and 3/4 cup sugar. I made whipped cream and added 1/4 c sugar to 3c cream plus orange zest and 1T fresh orange juice at the end. Add fresh berries to the top and some orange rind.
Layer the bread (as indicated), 1/3 of the cranberry mixture and 1/3 of the whipped cream, repeat two times and finish with berries and orange segments or zest or both. I used whatever berries I could find: raspberries; blackberries; and a few pomegranate seeds I had leftover from the last trifle. It still helps to brush the bread with a syrup of sorts, even orange juice for this one.
This week I’m going back to a version of Tyler Florence’s lemon-berry trifle (find it on www.foodnetwork.com) with store-bought pound cake and lemon curd. The blueberries are gone now, but I’ll make do. Hey, have a great week! Dee
Categories: Editorial · Utah
Tagged: grilling, Trifle, winter food
Chowhound has an interesting piece this week on a subject dear to my heart. I recall making a complicated meat sauce, boiling noodles and basically spending four hours to turn out a lasagne for my husband and I. I asked how he liked it and he said it was “OK.” Now I make the ten-minute version and he likes it just fine. After the four-hour lasagne, I made chicken breasts sauteed and finished with lemon and capers and the result? “Wow! That’s the best chicken I’ve ever had!”
The most time consuming meals I’ve ever made include a cassoulet I made for my family over 20 years ago (now they have a kit with the appropriate sausage, duck, duck fat et al) and an entire side of salmon covered with scallop mousse and topped with 1/2 rounds of zucchini to look like scales. Plus deep-fried parsley as a garnish. That was for graduation from cooking school for my family, godparents and my cousins.
I now buy mainly local ingredients, the best I can find, and don’t mess with them. Local organic butter, good olive oil, local produce. Pop things into the oven or onto a hot grill and they’re delicious. We just bought an inexpensive patio grill so plan to use it even with snow on the ground! Simple things like grilled radicchio (tossed with salt and pepper and a little olive oil) taste fantastic when browned a bit on the grill.
We mainly use healthy ingredients, OK too much beef but that’s Jim’s preference, not mine. I’d have more fish if he weren’t allergic to anything that swims. We splurge on occasion and have scalloped potatoes with half-and-half, or buy a pint of chocolate ice cream (I add milk and a banana and make a milkshake for breakfast).
The holidays will be interesting this year. Jim can’t take any time off from Sunday until Christmas so we won’t get to Thanksgiving at Nanny’s, my first in eight years to miss and the first Jim will miss in his entire life. I may actually have to cook a turkey! We’re talking leftover soup and sandwiches for two weeks! I’ll need to work on that menu and figure out if I can get him to like Brussels sprouts. Cheers! Dee
Categories: Education
Tagged: simple food
Yeah, I went out with a couple of dumb guys in high school. I never thought of myself as smart but, unbeknownst to me, always surrounded myself with smart people. All well-spoken, they write well although their handwriting may be atrocious (witness husband Jim) and some genius-level talents.
My father is smart, Mom was wicked smart. Sophomore year in college I got tired of hanging out at school so met some folks at the local law school and shared witty banter. Years later I ended up with engineers. My loving husband is a physics grad who went into software development. He’s of the brilliant variety, getting a letter from a place called MIT at age 15 and not knowing what it was, he threw it away. He still got a good education and is furthering it every day.
Here is a lesson for you young girls out there today. Study. Learn your lessons. Concentrate on math and science. If you’re the smart girl in school, don’t hang out all the time with those with lesser potential just because it makes you feel superior. Always hang out with folks that are smarter than you. Learn. Do not dismiss guys you think are “geeks.” Go out with the cute running back or go out with a future Bill Gates. Your choice. The Bill Gates variety will give you 50 years of great conversation, which is way better than the physical rush you’ll get from the dumb jock. Not that all jocks are dumb.
Learn something new every day. How to press grapes, mine copper or whatever. Always be learning. In junior high, I hung out with girls who wanted to be Freshmen cheerleaders. They were neighbors and we’d just moved in. They passed because they were “cool” and I failed. Mom said, why cheer for something when you could be doing something? So I joined track and gymnastics. Thanks, Mom. Cheers, Dee
Categories: Editorial
Tagged: Education, geeks, smart girls
It’s tough moving to a new town with no idea where you’re going to live for a short period of time. Fully furnished place, all of our dear belongings in storage 1,500 miles away. When I need a kitchen item it’s a thought process that makes me ask myself: do I really need this?; is this a complement to what I have in storage or merely a duplicate?’ and when am I getting my stuff back.
The peeler was easy. It was a cheap grocery store metal peeler that cannot be used by a leftie like me. I couldn’t find the OXO I have in storage so got a Kitchenaid instead. I have a great meat pounder from Sur La Table that makes my chicken saltimbocca a breeze, but it’s in storage. We had to pick up another a couple of weeks ago because I really wanted to make that dish. The mixer. I bought it to whip cream for trifle that I made and need to make more (also the additional trifle bowl for $10). I justified the $40 mixer because my 5 qt. Kitchenaid stand mixer is in storage, and there are times when I weigh the option of whether I want to wash all that stuff by hand. Two blades are nothing.
So, we go along and get along in the cooking arena, not as well office-wise but I’m trying to minimize paperwork and all our bills are done electronically. Camera, now a couple of years old (I lent my other to my sister, never to be seen again) is digital so I’m working on this.
We would like this size or slightly larger place but with a two-car garage. Jim got a ding on his windshield last week and it’ll be repaired tomorrow at no cost to us and no deductible but it has to stay in the one-car garage overnight and my car has to go elsewhere and it’s going to snow.
So, we’re making do with what we’ve got. We brought very little with us seven months ago and have had to get a few shirts and socks and basics for both of us. Aside from my kitchen and office, I really miss our quilts, one Civil war-era and the other hand-made by Margie, Jim’s mom. They always helped make our house a home, and since she’s guarding them for us, will do so once again. Cheers, Dee
Categories: Editorial
Tagged: kitchen needs, moving?, Trifle
I remember the drama department at the college my father worked at staged Puccini’s Madame Butterfly. My sister, a few years old, was cast as the silent Dolore (Sorrow), the protagonist Cio Cio-San’s daughter. At one point she was on stage to pretend to sleep and actually fell asleep and had to be taken off-stage.
This is pertinent because my grade school music teacher had us sing “The Happy Wanderer” and many other songs. Her husband led the operatic performance, and also stepped in as the lead in our school recital on “Swinging On a Star.”
Now she’s found this blog and has even made a pie from Concord grapes. She still thinks I’m eight but I’m trying to get the recipe for you. And because of her and Mrs. Smith’s influence on my musical life, I’ve been to Giacomo Puccini’s Lake House in Italy and was shown around the house by his grand-daughter. I am a happy and intent wanderer, and always seek good food en route. Cheers! Dee
Categories: Editorial
Tagged: Concord grape pie, Puccini
October 26, 2009 · 1 Comment
The indomitable Juni Fisher was with us here for part of the weekend. We didn’t do many exciting things but went to town to walk down Main Street’s shops with no crowds. Juni’s a cowgirl poet and has won many awards for her songwriting and performances.
So, yesterday she called and said she was an hour away. Jim and I had been to Best Buy and, on a whim, we bought Rock Band, Beatles edition. He’d just set up drums and a guitar. We were terrible! The second song we did a bit better. Then Juni arrived and we played together – she sang. So did I, but harmony and not on the mike. She got 100%, I got zero, zip, nada, and Jim on drums was somewhere in-between. I know I got all the “chords” right but need to figure out their timing.
We laughed and put the ensemble aside after joking that we had to go out for a gig. It was fun. On Saturday, Jim and I went to the cowboy store for a few shirts. It was a nice, quiet weekend capped off with a viewing of “Some Like It Hot” and visions of the Hotel Del Coronado that brings back memories.
Berry Trifle
Sunrise, October 2009
This is what I walked Zoe to this morning.
Friday night I made the baby back ribs with roasted potatoes, and Sunday we had chicken saltimbocca with rice and green beans. I made a lovely trifle that we shared with neighbors and finished, and a broccoli-cheese soup that there’s just enough of for my lunch with a slice of good Italian bread. We ate well and had an enjoyable weekend. Cheers! Dee
Categories: Editorial · Utah
