Category Archives: Food

In My Garden

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Spring is definitely here! Winter seemed a bit longer than usual this year…or perhaps this drafty old house makes it seem that way. Either way, the air is warming up to what one might consider: Absolutely perfect Southern California weather. I’m fond of saying that this is the time when tourists come to visit and decide to move here. They’re in for a surprise when Summer hits and temperatures reach the triple digits.

Until then, the sky is blue, the birds are singing, and the sun is shining. A feeling of renewed sense of everything is happening. It’s this time of the year that I can’t wait to get outside and fiddle around with my plants. I’ve been anxious to start growing productive greenery – things we can actually use and eat. I’m starting small with herbs and tomatoes, but eventually I’d like to have a small (manageable) vegetable garden. It will involve lots of work – specifically, removing a large bamboo thatch, clearing the land, and prepping it. I figure, it won’t be fully functional for at least a year. These things take time. Which reminds me, I need to start composting again.

In my garden, I currently have: Parsley, Oregano, Spearmint, Peppermint, Catnip, Aloe Vera, Oranges, Lemons, Kumquats, Apricots, Plums, Early Girl Tomatoes, and various other lovable plants and trees. Since I missed last year’s apricot and plum harvest, I’m going to get to them before the squirrels do and make preserves.

Here are some of the items I’m currently working on:

Homemade Butter. I Made Some.

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I like the idea of making my own food. This way, I know where it comes from and I know what’s in it. Over the last 5 years, I’ve become increasingly aware of what I eat and how bad store bought food is. Thus, I’ve attempted to eat better, make more of my own meals, and chide myself when I don’t.

When AJB and I moved into this house, one of the biggest selling points for me was the large kitchen – plenty of storage space, two ovens, and scads of counter tops. It’s the kind of kitchen you want to cook in. I’ve taken some time gathering good equipment, filing my favorite recipes, and gazing lovingly at foodie blogs (thanks to my sister’s influence). I’ve always loved cooking and I think I’m pretty good at it. Whether the Food Channel will call me and offer me my own show – well, that’ll never happen, but I do love being in the kitchen. I especially like making things you wouldn’t ordinarily make. I’m really getting into it. For example: Butter. I also recently got a brand-spanking-new Kitchenaid Stand Mixer for my birthday and have been anxious to try it out.

Homemade butter is so simple, it kills me. You imagine Danish girls on a country farm laboring over churns, but it’s so much easier than you think. In fact, all you need is a stand mixer (you don’t even really need that) a sieve, bowl, spatula, and a container for the butter. That said, I won’t tell you how to make your own butter. Go here for that. Truth is, I’m also not good at it, just yet.

Today’s experiment went over pretty well, but I don’t think I’m the butter master just yet. What I ended up with is very much like store bought butter, but tastes so much better. And because it’s organic, it’ll only last a week, so we’d better enjoy it. I wasn’t able to get all the buttermilk strained out. In fact, that’s the hardest part. Most recipes say to use a sieve, but I couldn’t figure out why the buttermilk wasn’t just coming out like in the instructions. I think that I should have left it in the mixer a bit longer. I ended up using thin kitchen towels to squeeze out the buttermilk. Probably not the ideal method, but it mostly worked. Oh well. What I got is pretty great, tastes good, and is so good for you! I’ll try again next week, I think.

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Dinner at Home

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Tonight, we finally had friends over for dinner. When we first moved in, we planned on having a big house warming party, but that failed. Then we tried for a 50′s themed Summer BBQ…that never happened either. You see, this house was made for entertaining. We have a huge kitchen, two ovens, a semi-industrial stove, a butler’s pantry, a large main room with a fireplace, and an expansive yard. This house wants to party. And because I’m a girl, I’ve always dreamed about throwing fancy dinner parties. You know, ’cause it would be fancy. I like the idea of entertaining, having people over, cooking, and setting the table.

I recently read an article that summed up my desire to entertain. To paraphrase, it said that entertaining it part selflessness and part selfishness. On the one hand, you want to provide a nice evening for your friends, but on the other hand, you want them to adore you for doing so. Life centers around food. The dinner table is the cornerstone of every house. It’s where you eat, get to know people, play games, and discuss important things. Doing all those things over a beautiful table setting and delicious food only heightens the experience.

I would call tonight a success. I was thrown off by a timing mishap in which I was originally told our guests would arrive at 7:30, but they were told 7pm. Otherwise, everything went swimmingly. I prepared an appetizer with sourdough bread cut into thin slices topped with cheese (I forget which, my sister knows…the soft one from Christmas) and apricot preserves, which tastes like marmalade. I followed this with an apple and almond salad topped with raspberry vinaigrette. The entree was vegetable penne rigate with a homemade pesto sauce – OMG, it was so good. For desert, Greek yogurt with blackberries and honey drizzled on top. It was all so delicious, I even surprised myself. I’m always amazed when I cook something good. I usually imagine it won’t ever be as good as it’s meant to be, or that somehow it will be lacking. Somehow, I’ve turned into a pretty great cook, if I do say so myself. Surprise! I guess it’s because I love it and I really try to put a lot of thought into the meals I prepare.

After dinner, we retired to the main room, drank coffee and talked away the hours. It was frickin’ delightful. Naturally, it helps to have delightful guests. We had Dave and Jason over and both of them are quite lovely and so much fun to be around.

I’m really digging this entertaining thing. The whole dinner took about an hour to prepare, maybe a little more. I got most of my recipes from the Food Network website and don’t tell anyone, but the penne was a Rachel Ray 30 Minute Meal. Who knew you could make fresh pesto pasta in less than 30 minutes? It all looked so lovely, I wish I’d taken pictures. I wanted to, but ran out of time. Maybe next time. Oh, and by the way, you’re supposed to toast the pine nuts, but I burnt them a little. Didn’t seem to matter. Oh and Greek yogurt? The bomb. Desert only took 5 minutes to make.

I can see more dinner parties in our future. I love it. Total grocery cost was about $100.00 which ends up being about $25.00 per plate – about what you’d spend at a semi-fancy restaurant, but in this case, you get the comfort of home and the pride in doing it yourself. You could probably do it for less, but we bought everything fresh and got it all from Whole Foods…which I imagine bumps the price up a bit.

My sister recently asked me if I was planning on becoming a house wife. Not that she meant any malice by it, but it later occurred to me that Morticia Addams was a house wife. A pretty good one too. But no, not really. I have a career and my own interests. I also really, really like being around my friends and serving them kick ass meals. I figure, I can do both. If you can have your cake and eat it too, why not? The best part about this is that it’s actually really easy to entertain. Easier than you think. There’s something quaint and old fashioned about having people over for dinner. Something magical as if your taking yourself back to a better place in time when people had the forethought to do these sort of things. It helps that we have vintage 1950′s dinnerware. And now to figure out how to invite people over with hand written invitations. Or is that taking it too far?

Tonights Menu:

Appetizer: Sourdough bruschetta topped with soft cheese and apricot preserves
Salad: Apple, almonds, mixed greens, and raspberry vinaigrette.
Entree: Penne Rigate pasta, asparagus, thin green beans, and homemade pesto sauce.
Dessert: Greek honey flavored yogurt with blackberries and honey drizzled on top.
After Dinner: Coffee and leftover Christmas cookies.