Goth Chicken

According to its package, that chicken enjoyed her life. I made sure she--or, at least, I--enjoyed her afterlife. If I had known that carcass was going to contribute to as much and as various deliciousness, I'd have documented it along the way, but I had other things on the mind, like passing my dissertation proposal defense and keeping Kleenex in business with spring tree pollen allergies.

First I roasted her with some potatoes, and had steamed asparagus on the side. Divine. And much to my delight, the package also contained two livers, which I fried up as an appetizer. Glory days.

A few sandwiches later, I pulled apart a thigh and a leg and made green curry with the rest of the asparagus and some bamboo shoots I found in the cupboard.

Then, Saturday, I sent her off in style as enchiladas. I had in mind to try to replicate the enchilada half of Charlottesville Guadalajara's "#F" (would half of #F be # C?), which I did, except that my cheese wasn't right and I didn't also try to replicate their salsa--so really, I just had chicken enchiladas, which were gorgeous. If I had known they were that easy, I'd have been making them all along!



The rest of the carcass is in the freezer, awaiting inclusion in stock.

Saturday was a day of recreational cooking all around: I also made my first cake from scratch. Devil's food. Much better than Duncan Hines. That recipe, like the enchilada sauce recipe, came from Joy of Cooking. I didn't take a picture, though, because I decided not to ice it, so it's not all that pretty--but it sure does taste good.

And a couple of weeks ago, I made latkes, but forgot to write about that. Not kosher, but totally fun to make in that way that frying things can be. I et them with garlic mayonnaise alongside pinto beans and asparagus.



In gardening news, my parsley sprouted but hasn't achieved its real leaves yet. And I found the perfect use for the cable box:



That's chard in the tupperware, waiting to sprout. Chard seeds look like they're from outer space. I have some lettuce seeds started elsewhere, but there wasn't room on the cable box for them, too!

The Book I'm Not Reading: I'll know as soon as I come up with a revised research plan!

Recent Cooking Endeavors, Etc.

It's been a hectic week, and the next two are likely to be just as bad, if not worse, as I get ready to take my Irish translation exam and revise and defend my dissertation proposal. But once I leap these two hurdles, I'll officially be ABD.

Anyway, despite the busy-ness, we've eaten well:

Last weekend, J made pizza crust, and so we had pizza several times this week. This one is vegan:


Then, Friday, I made another batch of granola. I've been doing this off and on since I lived at Twin Poplars, where Rowena showed me how. This batch is particularly tasty: in addition to the oats, oil, and honey, I put in raw sunflower seeds and dried cranberries. The trick with making granola, I've discovered, is to make sure to soak the fruit for a little while before toasting the whole thing--otherwise, the fruit gets hard and dry.


Lately, we've gotten some nice wines from the local wine shop, whose name--I'm a little embarrassed to say--I don't think I've ever noticed. It's on 7th Ave between 14th and 15th, and the folks who work there are nice, helpful, and have good senses of humor. But my not remembering the name of the shop is only indicative of the problem I have remembering the names of wines I like, so I'm going to try to begin taking pictures of the labels and posting the pictures here with a little commentary, however minimal.

The one on the left is, I think, my favorite since I've been back in NYC, and it was perfect with the pizza. The one on the right wasn't particularly memorable--nice enough, but nothing stuck in my mind about it. We also had a nice French one, but that bottle got recycled before I thought to take a picture of it.

In other news, I started some parsley and marigold seeds indoors yesterday. Not much to see right now--just wet brown dirt in a container. I haven't ever had much luck starting plants from seeds, probably because I tend not to pay attention to when and how they're to be sown, but I have some hopes for these. I'll be curious to see how the marigolds do--I saved the seeds from last year's, but have no idea whether the seedlings I bought last year were hybrids or what. Possibly they'll do nothing, but we'll see. Next on the list are basil, arugula, and whatever else strikes my fancy. I'll buy rosemary and lavender already started, I think.

And finally, the kitty doesn't want J to go on her next residency:

Bye, J--we'll miss you!

Pesky Squirrels, Part 2

Arrrrrgh! The cayenne pepper didn't work at all. Next try: some sort of screen, or maybe bars (perhaps from old grills?). The plants do need to achieve their height, after all.

What really rankles is that the squirrels don't even seem to be using anything from the pots or plants, nor do they seem to be using the pots as toilets (thank goodness). They just seem to want to get in there and scrabble up the earth out of pure devilment!

I bought some mint today--hoping to get that going before I bring it inside. Fingers crossed that the squirrels don't 'molester' that too!

Pesky Squirrels

I'm attempting to make something of the last little bit of Indian summer weather by getting some thyme growing outside (which I plan to move inside under a grow light), as well as nursing Jenny's little pepper plants along in hopes they'll bear (one finally has a tiny pepper! woo hoo!--though I don't think it'll amount to much before it's too cool for it), and letting the marigolds go to seed so that maybe I can get them to grow from seed next year. But the squirrels around here--"skrats"--won't stop digging in the pots! Does anyone have any good solutions?

Yesterday I sprinkled a little cayenne pepper on the soil in the thyme pot, since that seems to be the most popular with the "rats in cuter outfits"--we'll see if that does anything. They didn't really bother the basil that much--I wonder if they avoid certain smells....

Rosy-Fingered Dusk

J & I enjoyed another evening outside today, with her guacamole and beer--a last little celebration before she heads off to LA tomorrow for the ECHO conference at UCLA. Even though we can't take any credit for the tea roses (I think that's what they are), marigolds, or verbena (both of which we merely transplanted), they're lovely. It's too early yet to see the sprouting bachelor's buttons, and the peppers still aren't up--not sure what will happen there, because as feared, the neighborhood cats (or other critters) have been 'molestering' the soil in the pots.







...and here, finally placed in the yard, is the "chocolate" green man I accidentally won at the BRIMS silent auction in March.

Saturday Night Feast

After a delightful afternoon planting things (marigolds, verbena, basil, peppers, and bachelor's buttons) in our back garden and then admiring our work from newly-de-dirted chairs sipping glasses of wine, J and I came back in to cook. Once again, simplicity ruled the day--simplicity with a fair helping of decadence.

Nice salmon, broiled. Fried potatoes. Fiddlehead ferns sauteed with shallots and a little of the white wine. Red pepper "aioli" (just roasted red pepper, garlic, olive oil, and salt--no egg, although I guess I made mine a more proper aioli by adding mayonnaise to it). And to complete the picture, fresh bread from the Italian store up the street. We ate ourselves silly.

Now I'm debating about whether to go make pancakes or not....

Happy Second Life for Leftovers; Tropicália

Last night, to celebrate my return home J made a batch of her wonderful pesto and a pot of the quick version of her tomato sauce. We were too late to get fresh pasta from the Italian store on 7th Ave, but she also cobbled a bean dish together from spinach, red bell pepper, and cannelini beans--very simple but tasty nonetheless. I ate the beans cold for breakfast, and just now fecked the rest of the leftovers into the pot with chickpeas, more red pepper and spinach, and a little more pasta. Voila, damn good dinner!

In the meantime, I've been listening to that Tropicália album. Great stuff altogether, though not quite what I was expecting. This is a compilation done by Soul Jazz Records of London, and includes tracks from Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Gal Costa, Os Mutantes, Jorge Ben, and Tom Zé--and only one duplicate track--predictably, Caetano Veloso's Tropicália. Definitely lots of influence from the US and UK--Beatles, Bob Dylan, etc.--which is exactly what the movement was about. (Read more here.)


In other news, I finally put the azaleas I won in the BRIMS silent auction into the ground. Let's see if they live. The best spot for them also seems to be a place popular with local critters, perhaps the tomcats who occasionally stop by to yowl at Maddie. I figure the plants stand a better chance there than in their pots, anyway. Maybe this weekend J & I will get around to planting the seeds I gave her for her birthday....