an early look at pickling. Do pickles always have salt? Is that part of it? I made these pickled cherries and didn’t think much of the recipe as it unfolded but the end result is strangely salty. I think I will try this again after researching a bit more. They look gorgeous though, so I get the 4-H prize for that.
january
so, I am interested to see if my grocery couponing is worthwhile overall and decided I would keep track of my savings versus spending in 2010. I didn’t have my best month for various reasons but overall here is how January shook out. February should be less taxing and budget blowing.
Spent: 385.28
Saved: 168.27
cooking class – week two
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tonight was appetizer night in preparation for the Superbowl. This isn’t your standard pizza, nachos and layout of chips and dip. Our group made two, a caramel apple upside down cake and a rummy cheese loaf. The offerings were:
- Crabmeat Avery – A hot & spicy crab dip in honor of the Saints
- Toasted Tuscan Walnut Squares – kind of a pizza base thing with artichokes and sun dried tomatoes
- Tortellini Kabobs w/ Red & Green Sauces – pesto & marinara
- Adobo seasoned Chicken Wings – I have issues w/ chicken on the bone.
- Date-nut dessert cheese aka rummy cheese loaf
- Caramel Apple Upside Down Cake – it was good but could’ve stood more caramel…
patty melt
today ends an officially ‘good’ day. Z was in the hospital for an, up to this point, unexplained fever of 103.4. But, he is home now and not a moment too soon. Yesterday was the anniversary of his liver transplant and all is more or less well. There will always be things to contend with, like this fever, but I think we both learn a little something each time.
While he was in the hospital I subsisted on eggs and food from the Cafe at work. I didn’t really feel like making dinner tonight but goodwill for Z prevailed and I got up the energy to pull off the next to last burger of our book challenge.
The patty melt is based on that all-American favorite but with the twist of Bobby Flay and my own twist of turkey.
Buttered and pan toasted rye with melty Swiss cheese and an unctuous reduction of red onions, red wine, red wine vinegar, honey and thyme – red onion relish. We served it up with some bread and butter pickle slices and a serving of crunchy jalapeno onions by Alexia.
We enjoyed it but felt it could have used Bobby’s prescribed pickled jalapeno that I didn’t have time to put up – just for that extra kick.
The best thing about this evening is having dinner together at home.
onwards and upwards
wow. When I sat down and agonized figuring out blogger all while wondering if I would fizzle out or actually get better I wasn’t sure I could find my true voice, and if I could, how I would share it and what it would look like. I now think about how far I have come and how I have grown into it and become more fearless and more intrigued by what could be.
The usual New Year’s practice of many is to make resolutions. I don’t really do that but have been thinking about new things and fresh starts. I didn’t make 1/1 but 2/1 and that’s ok because the date holds the significance of Z’s transplant which is about as new start as it gets.
- I want to work on the blogs beauty…kind of like urbanpantry 2.0. I whiled away my morning figuring out making a new header for the web in Illustrator and tweaking the html code to correctly size it. I want to work towards some new artwork and refinement and better pictures.
- I have a new series already running through my head to take the place of the burgers called alphabet soup. I have been thinking my way from A-Z and am looking forward to blogging about it.
- I have a new fascination with pickling and making jams and chutneys that I want to dig into.
- I am looking forward to an upcoming adventure traveling to Chicago and Michigan that will be an adventure in American cuisine and Brian’s family and am hoping to plan some southern short trips to Atlanta, Charlotte and Savannah and Miami to further investigate southern and Cuban food. Expanding my range, as it were.
It is a good start.
My Urban Pantry 