A few weeks ago we went to the aquarium, then the science museum. Kelly and I pretended we were in 3rd grade on a field trip. It was fun.
So, life developments. My best friend from high school lives here, and has an adorable baby and equally adorable chocolate lab puppy. I go over there every so often for dinner and to pretend that I'm a grownup. I did this on friday, and driving home it was rainy and stormy because of my good buddy Ernesto. So, I'm driving, I've got Puff with me, my registration has run out and so has my insurance so I'm driving carefully. What happens? OH. A TREE LIMB FALLS ON MY CAR. Smashes in my windshield, bounced forward and messed up the front of my car and then I ran it over. I pull over, make some calls, cry a little, and pray that a cop doesn't come to see what happened. I tow my car back to my friends house, she drives me home, and now I'm carless. Looks like I have to quit my job. But no! Instead I'm going to use Kelly's car [shes so wonderful] to drive to work on fridays, and commute to the NYC office two [maybe 3 sometimes] days a week. It's a $20 busride and 2 hours, vs. the 3 hours it would take public transportation to get me to my office in NJ. Which is 16 miles away. I'm going to find a part time job, Kelly's going to take care of Puff while I'm in NY [did I mention how much I love her?] and I guess things will work out. I love NY. SO much.
Anyway, with all these things, I've been spending a lot of time in bed, and some time in the kitchen. It's been raining for weeks. I'm so over it. One thing I make all the time lately is lemon curd. Curd sounds so gross.
curd [kurd] Pronunciation Key -–noun
–verb (used with object), verb (used without object)
It's like lemon pudding. Lemon filling for pie. Or bars. Or standing in front of the fridge eating out of the bowl with your fingers in your underwear. Whatever you want to do with it.
I've been using Craig Claiborne's New York Times Cookbook a lot. I like how it's written. HIs recipe for Lemon Curd is: [I double it because I eat so much of it]
4 T butter
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
juice and zest of 2 lemons
Cream the butter and the sugar, beat the eggs in, then add the lemon juice and zest. cook over low heat until thickened to desired consistency. Serve hot or cold, or use as a dessert filling.
I usually skip the zest because I don't have a good way of zesting lemons, and instead add a little more lemon juice. I've also used one egg and three yolks, because I had a bunch of leftover yolks from making meringue.
Since its been rainy and cold, I've been wanting soup.
I cleaned out all the chicken bones in the freezer [2 whole carcasses, a ribcage and a whole breast with meat on it still] into a big stockpot, added an unpeeled head of garlic, two unpeeled onions cut in half, half of a head of celery, and a bunch of carrots. I threw in some salt, peppercorns, bay leaves, and rosemary, topped the whole thing off with water, and simmered it for a good 4 hours. After an hour or two I took the meat off the breast [breasts? it was one whole chest part of a chicken.] and set it aside, putting the bones back in the pot. Once it was done, i strained it into a big mixing bowl and stuck it in the fridge, letting the fat rise up to the top and harden. I skimmed that off, and have been eating it and using it the last few days.
For breakfast the other day I plopped some soup [I love how soup congeals in the fridge, I refused to eat it when I was little because of how gross it looked] into a pot and heated it, poached an egg in it, and ate it like that.
For lunch I heated some up with some of the breast meat and some parmasean cheese.
Yesterday I made potato soup. I didnt have leeks, or cream, or milk, or anything that all the potato soup recipes called for so I made it up.
I peeled and cubed some potatoes [4 of them], covered them in stock, and cooked them until they were tender. In the meantime, I diced an onion and a few cloves of garlic, cooked them in butter until they were soft, added some salt, pepper, cumin [2 teaspoons? I measure with my fingers] basil and cilantro, cooked a minute or two more, then dumped that into the food processor. I pulled out about half the potatoes into a bowl, then put the rest of the potatoes and their liquid into the food processor on top of the onions, mixed the whole mess together until it was kind of smooth. I roughly mashed the potatoes I'd put aside with some butter [I may never have milk, but I always have plenty of butter], and added them back to the pureed bit. I heated that back up on the stove, added a little cheese [I only had a little chedder], adjusted the salt, and it was delicious. Just what I wanted on a shitty rainy day where I'd spent the entire day in bed watching movie after movie after movie.
(oxtail stew, from last time. My god, its delicious.
Batteries in my camera are dead, sorry)
So, life developments. My best friend from high school lives here, and has an adorable baby and equally adorable chocolate lab puppy. I go over there every so often for dinner and to pretend that I'm a grownup. I did this on friday, and driving home it was rainy and stormy because of my good buddy Ernesto. So, I'm driving, I've got Puff with me, my registration has run out and so has my insurance so I'm driving carefully. What happens? OH. A TREE LIMB FALLS ON MY CAR. Smashes in my windshield, bounced forward and messed up the front of my car and then I ran it over. I pull over, make some calls, cry a little, and pray that a cop doesn't come to see what happened. I tow my car back to my friends house, she drives me home, and now I'm carless. Looks like I have to quit my job. But no! Instead I'm going to use Kelly's car [shes so wonderful] to drive to work on fridays, and commute to the NYC office two [maybe 3 sometimes] days a week. It's a $20 busride and 2 hours, vs. the 3 hours it would take public transportation to get me to my office in NJ. Which is 16 miles away. I'm going to find a part time job, Kelly's going to take care of Puff while I'm in NY [did I mention how much I love her?] and I guess things will work out. I love NY. SO much.
Anyway, with all these things, I've been spending a lot of time in bed, and some time in the kitchen. It's been raining for weeks. I'm so over it. One thing I make all the time lately is lemon curd. Curd sounds so gross.
curd [kurd] Pronunciation Key -–noun
| 1. | Often, curds. a substance consisting mainly of casein and the like, obtained from milk by coagulation, and used as food or made into cheese. |
| 2. | any substance resembling this. |
| 3. | Also called curd cheese. Chiefly Northeastern and Southern U.S.. cottage cheese. |
| 4. | the edible flower heads of cauliflower, broccoli, and similar plants. |
| 5. | to turn into curd; coagulate; congeal. |
I've been using Craig Claiborne's New York Times Cookbook a lot. I like how it's written. HIs recipe for Lemon Curd is: [I double it because I eat so much of it]
4 T butter
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
juice and zest of 2 lemons
Cream the butter and the sugar, beat the eggs in, then add the lemon juice and zest. cook over low heat until thickened to desired consistency. Serve hot or cold, or use as a dessert filling.
I usually skip the zest because I don't have a good way of zesting lemons, and instead add a little more lemon juice. I've also used one egg and three yolks, because I had a bunch of leftover yolks from making meringue.
Since its been rainy and cold, I've been wanting soup.
I cleaned out all the chicken bones in the freezer [2 whole carcasses, a ribcage and a whole breast with meat on it still] into a big stockpot, added an unpeeled head of garlic, two unpeeled onions cut in half, half of a head of celery, and a bunch of carrots. I threw in some salt, peppercorns, bay leaves, and rosemary, topped the whole thing off with water, and simmered it for a good 4 hours. After an hour or two I took the meat off the breast [breasts? it was one whole chest part of a chicken.] and set it aside, putting the bones back in the pot. Once it was done, i strained it into a big mixing bowl and stuck it in the fridge, letting the fat rise up to the top and harden. I skimmed that off, and have been eating it and using it the last few days.
For breakfast the other day I plopped some soup [I love how soup congeals in the fridge, I refused to eat it when I was little because of how gross it looked] into a pot and heated it, poached an egg in it, and ate it like that.
For lunch I heated some up with some of the breast meat and some parmasean cheese.
Yesterday I made potato soup. I didnt have leeks, or cream, or milk, or anything that all the potato soup recipes called for so I made it up.
I peeled and cubed some potatoes [4 of them], covered them in stock, and cooked them until they were tender. In the meantime, I diced an onion and a few cloves of garlic, cooked them in butter until they were soft, added some salt, pepper, cumin [2 teaspoons? I measure with my fingers] basil and cilantro, cooked a minute or two more, then dumped that into the food processor. I pulled out about half the potatoes into a bowl, then put the rest of the potatoes and their liquid into the food processor on top of the onions, mixed the whole mess together until it was kind of smooth. I roughly mashed the potatoes I'd put aside with some butter [I may never have milk, but I always have plenty of butter], and added them back to the pureed bit. I heated that back up on the stove, added a little cheese [I only had a little chedder], adjusted the salt, and it was delicious. Just what I wanted on a shitty rainy day where I'd spent the entire day in bed watching movie after movie after movie.
(oxtail stew, from last time. My god, its delicious.Batteries in my camera are dead, sorry)
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