Catch Up: Two Weekends Ago

As much as I posted about my CZT experience last week, I didn't tell you about our excursions around Providence, a city none of us had visited before.  Unfortunately, the 30-degree/40 mph/snow squalls weather wasn't conducive to any outdoor activities such as Slater Mill, Coggeschwall Farm, or the Roger Williams Zoo that was most recommended to us.  But we did do a few fun indoor things, starting with the Culinary Museum on the campus of Johnson and Wales.  A history of American food and restaurants, mainly, we saw a great exhibition on diners, complete with diner car and fake food.  There was also a section on soda shops, one on the evolution of the stove (from hearth through cast iron and beyond), and another on outdoor cooking, including the Girl Scouts!  We marveled at the exhibition of sugar sculptures--real actual sugar work on display with this amazing lattice.  And a tiny space on the history of foods in ancient China, Greece, and Rome (I think.  Might have been some Aztecs, too.)  The only downside of the whole place?  No cafeteria!

So we searched for local places and Mama found this amazing old hot dog stand, officially called the Olneyville New York System Hot Wieners and Sandwiches.  There were neon signs, chrome bits, wacky signs (buy 1 for the price of two, get second free!), older male staff full of characters, and even bar stools just like the ones in the exhibit.  We had their hot dogs--which are wieners with flat ends in a steamed bun covered in some kind of ground meat and raw onion plus a smattering of seasoning somewhat like nutmeg--and french fries and cheesesteaks and a coffee milk, Rhode Island's signature drink made with coffee syrup.  It was all a riot of local color.

That evening, foregoing another meal, we wandered around downtown near our hotel, the Hotel Providence.  There was a craftsy store (full of artsy things, NOT a craft store), a used bookstore, and two Korean-Japanese places with one that sold bubble tea and other drinks.

LOVED this at the craftsy store Craftland

Exhausted, we spend the evening watching mediocre television--introduced the kids to "Deadliest Catch!"

 Before my Zentangle class began on Sunday evening, we spent the day around town.  Mama and the kids dropped me off at First Unitarian of Providence, which is a 200+ year old congregation in a lovely old building on an amazingly preserved historical street called Benefit.  (We had also marveled at historic Federal Hill the day before.)  I only heard some of the typically Unitarian service because I was distracted by the architecture.  It had the usual somewhat awkward but enthusiastic UU singing (our hearts are there--with so many aging hippies--but we aren't always such great singers in a group and we can rarely keep time) and a sermon about prayer which, also in UU fashion, skipped over the "to whom it may concern" acknowledging how fraught that was for us to focus on how it affects the praying person.  Then there was coffee hour--with real china cups in the early 19th-century parsonage and a book sale!  I felt right at home and missed my own UU congregation, which we haven't seen in awhile.


Mama and the kids did come across their own spiritual message:  the sign at a church down the street said "I find your lack of faith disturbing. --D. Vader"  LOVE IT.



We went to the museum of the famous Rhode Island School of Design, which is free on Sundays.  We wandered some of the galleries, focusing on the period rooms with all of their dec arts.   Mama even analyzed an 18th-century chest for us, you know, having built a replica herself. Sis noticed right away one of the "real" Gilbert Stuart paintings of George Washington.  There were also paintings by Hudson River landscapist Cole, portraitists Copley and Sully, and also the sculpture Nydia the Blind Girl by Rogers and busts by Powers.  We didn't spend too much time in the modern wings, though we nodded at the Warhol cow wallpaper, Rothko, and Twombly.  The kids were starting to sink, Mama was antsy to miss the weather on the drive home, and I was ready to start CZT class.

So even though it was a very short introduction to Providence, we enjoyed ourselves.  And eventually we'll get back for the zoo!

Fast Fast

Ramadan.

Latter-Day Saints Fast Sunday.

Yom Kippur.

In some ways, Lent.

I'm talking about fasting because there was an article in the NYTimes recently about the health benefits of fasting.  There are recent books and studies that suggest that intermittent fasting, particularly 2 days fasting a week (hence the name 5:2 fasting) is good for cholesterol, insulin resistance, weight, and other areas.

And all those are quite interesting, but you know how I feel about diets, especially as they really are the antithesis of a healthy lifestyle, mentally and physically.

But I am intrigued by the spiritual aspects of fasting.   Self-reflection, self-discipline, mindfulness, social justice.  Now, UUs don't officially observe any fasts, but, being a non-doctrinal community means we are free to explore our own rituals.  With food insecurity in our community, which was the focus of our Girl Scout troop's Bronze Award, and all the hunger and starvation in the world plus discussions of food processing, food waste, sustainability, and the environment, I appreciate something that brings these issues to the forefront of my mind.  Of course, I recognize that choosing to fast and controlling the boundaries of any hunger I feel is a sign of my privilege; however, I don't think that negates the value of the exercise for me.

And so, twice this week, on Tuesday and now today, I've done a partial fast following the method outlined in the book mentioned by the NYTimes, Moseley and Spencer's The Fast Diet.  This means keeping to under 500 calories two days a week.  I've been fasting (though, with tea and, today, some broth) until late-afternoon or dinner.  It's not a strict fast, tops about 10 hours from wake-up to dinner.

For a spiritual practice, it was all very physical.   Perhaps because it was only 2 days, or perhaps because I wasn't praying, I didn't have the clarity or focus or any other meditative experience you sometimes here connected to fasting.  I was so busy out and about on Tuesday that I only noticed I was hungry in passing and skipping meals was easy.  Well, until I fell on my dinner at 8 pm, after a meeting.  I would guess it was more than 500 calories, being take-out Vietnamese.  But, after a bit of wolfing it down, I slowed down and think I certainly appreciated that meal more than I would have.  Today, I notice it more, more because eating while I'm home is a habit--breakfast with kids, lunch around noon, snack with kids; eating organizes my day.  So I make a lot of tea, with a little milk.  I  haven't been uncomfortable.  I haven't been weak or queasy, probably because of the milk in the tea.  Most of the time, I wasn't even thinking about food.  And when I did think of eating or hear a few rumbles, I could only imagine what days and weeks of that might be like, especially without the knowledge that dinner comes at dusk or food is so easily available all over.  Personally, I am also much more mindful of cycles of hunger and how I feel throughout the day; also, shopping, cooking, and eating habits become so visible--what we buy, how it's packaged, how I cook, what I cook, how we eat a meal, when we snack, what we waste.  I know my thoughts don't help people who are food insecure and hungry, but, with our recent Girl Scout project helping out at the soup kitchen, I am more aware of ways to help out in my area and intend to do so.

In fact, the GS troop will be working on their Savvy Shopper badges this month, which includes learning about price points, budgets, meal planning, etc.  We think we'll let them each bring $2 and work in small groups, so that they have less than $10 to spend to buy ingredients that would make a few meals for themselves.  To help them, we'll be consulting Good and Cheap, the $4 a day food guide developed by Leanne Brown that features healthy, tasty recipes and meal ideas for people who use SNAP (food stamps), which I first learned about from NPR.  The girls will actually buy the food and we'll donate it to the local food pantry (along with a few copies of the book, which you can download as a free pdf at the above link.)

So, as I type, the kids are looking for dinner, which we are privileged enough to have so easily available.  Maybe, one day, they can fast with me.

Tidbits Plus

We have been very pun-ny recently, mostly before sweet Mr. P died.

• Sis, when we were talking about "Ceiling Cat," which in our family is kinda the Spirit of cats gone by, said that our cat Albus must be "Cat-olic."
• Goo referred to our cardboard cat tree as "Fort McKitty."

Plus, there have been three other fun and distracting events in the last few days:

• Mama took Sis rock climbing!  Sis loved it; even Mama climbed the wall.  (Bud and I stayed home in our pjs.  I fell asleep and, when I awoke, I said, "Did I fall asleep?"  He replied, "Yeah, Mom, it's April.")  Sis would love to go again, but, until she is 13, she has to climb with an instructor.  Maybe we'll take the Girl Scout troop.  
• Goo stopped by on his way home for a swazu in Vermont.  He loves the scenery and the food--local restaurants, food purveyors, and such.  He brought four loaves of bread (challah, brioche, boule, and baguette) to share with us from King Arthur Flour, and a great Cabot cheddar, plus some maple syrup and even maple syrup cotton candy.  He stayed for a few hours chatting and keeping us company.
• Today, the kids went rollerskating (as part of a birthday party, which Bud squeezed in between two kung fu practices) for the first time.  Yep, on wheels, not ice.  Sis took to the rollerblades right away, though she realized she couldn't move in them quite the same way.  Bud wore traditional skates and soon had the hang of it enough not to hug the wall.  The rink was old school, with disco ball, flashing lights, indoor carpeting, and those molded plastic-coated benches.  They even did the hokey pokey and the limbo (Sis did well at this, mainly because she is so little.)   I have such good memories of rollerskating--I took lessons (and could "shoot the duck," which was a maneuver squatting with one leg extended!) and even had skates well into college (when I had a terrible fall and almost broke an elbow--the nurses at the urgent care clinic had to scrub my arm to remove all the gravel!  And also use tweezers . . . ugh.  I never really skated again, but I could relive the sensation today.  I'm not sure I'd ever strap on stakes again, but it sure would be fun (and terrifying.)  I think the kids will skate again.  And I'd love to watch.  
  

Prost!

Nothing like Germany in Connecticut for Oktoberfest the last weekend of September.

For my German relatives in Texas, you must understand that Connecticut is Italian the way Texas has Germans.  Maybe even more so.  I've never seen so many Italians, even in Chicago or in NYC--every second person has an Italian surname or maiden name, or both.  And they all make homemade gravy, or sauce (the name depending on the region their grandmother came from!)  Perhaps that explains the 25 pizza restaurants in our town!  And only 1 or 2 German restaurants--and they count bars that sell Brats--in the whole state.  The delis here are Italian, not German or even Jewish, for the most part.  Which means no kraut or German potato salad or kolaches or rugelach or matzoh ball soup, really.  But lots of pickled peppers and prosciutto and tortellini salad.

Still, they like beer.  And beer and Oktoberfest go hand in hand and so I went to one this weekend.  And had a wonderful time.  Sure, the German band didn't know what a schottische was (I remember we danced the schottische at every dance in jr and high school), but there was sauerbraten, roasted pork, German potato salad (well, sort of), noodles (not spaetzle), sauerkraut, beets and cabbage, apple strudel, and Black Forest cake.  Yum!  I miss German food sometimes, having had access to it in Chicago (Berghoff) and in NYC.  There were also lots of German drinking songs, including the schnitzlebank led by lederhosen-clad guitar and accordion players.

Now if we could just get an Oma's Haus and Nagelin's Bakery up here!

I'm Free!

That's gluten-, dairy-, soy-, sugar-, caffeine-, alcohol-, starch-(rice and potatoes), any-fruit-but-berries-, and all-beans-but-lentils-FREE!

Yep, elimination diet.  My PT and I had been talking about inflammation, which I have a lot of between my dermatagraphism and chronic back issues; she noticed that I'm generally puffy--not in a fat way, but in a water retention/inflammation way.

So I'm doing a cleanse, ostensibly for 3 weeks, but really as long as I can manage, which will probably be shorter than that.  And then I'll reintroduce everything, concentrating on the wheat and dairy, which are common troublemakers.  I didn't react to either on an allergy skin test, so who knows.  But from all my reading, I'm guessing all the anti-inflammatories I took four years ago have unbalanced everything.  We'll see.

And at the very least, it'll be a week or two of really healthy eating.

Family Food Fads

Mama brought me home a wonderful book from the library, Fashionable Food:  Seven Decades of Food Fads by Sylvia Lovegren.  It traces the food crazes from the 1920s to the 1990s and thus charts America's always-odd relationship to food.

You know how Michael Pollan says something akin to "eat what your grandmother would recognize as food?"  Well, I think I might have to go back further, because my grandmother started cooking in the 1920s and 1930s and, after reading this book cover to cover in just two days, I can spot the trends.  It's fascinating to know that her Tomato Aspic (yes, she made it and she I even tried it once as a tween; ick.), my dad's fondness for canned pear halves filled with cottage cheese (and sometimes wasn't there cheddar on there, too?) on a bed of lettuce as well as for canned asparagus, the family devotion to yams with marshmallows on top at Thanksgiving, and open-faced bacon, onion,cheddar, and pickle sandwiches browned in the oven come from this era?  From Gommie's mom, in the 1940s, comes Eggs a la Goldenrod and chocolate chip cookies.  Later, from the 1950s, there would be Spam cooked with brown sugar, canned baked beans mixed with bacon and bell pepper and brown sugar, shish kebabs, and Chex mix, called "trash" in my family.  There were even examples of foreign food fads, with hamburger chow mein and spaghetti with sauce from a jar, way back when Chinese and Italian were foreign.  As Gommie learned to cook as a newlywed and then a mom in the 1960s and 1970s, we get pot roast with the ubiquitous Lipton's onion soup mix (one of my all-time favorites), green bean casserole, chili con carne, Swiss steak, grasshopper pie, pumpkin bread, California dip (said onion soup mix in sour cream), rum or Tipsy balls, Tang tea, and lemon bars.  I was floored that I knew so many of the dishes from home on a regular basis and could recognize the rest from friends or one-time experiences, like nut-covered cheese balls, Jell-o Poke cake, chiffon pies, chocolate truffles, those creamy marshmallow-fruit cocktail salads, three-bean salad, and several others.

The recipes for many of the above are a bonus to all of the history (and many of the recipes are included just for edification, sounding awful), from the effects of Prohibition on fine dining (ruined it and the American palate) to the struggles of cooking under the ration system during WWII, which was then followed by the excesses of meat and alcohol in the 1950s.  A side narrative involves the influence of refrigeration and the obsession with chilled or frozen dishes.  And throughout most of the decades there was, according to Lovegrean, a huge separation between food for women and food for men, most clearly delineated by ladies luncheons and the tearooms of the 20s and 30s and the barbecues of the 50s.

What's also fascinating about the book is the continuity of sweet, creamy/gooey, and processed food (oh, the love of mini-marshmallows, Miracle Whip, Cool Whip, creamed condensed canned soup, and canned fruits and vegetables) from the 20s all the way to the present--oftentimes all mixed together!  What doesn't continue is the focus on homecooked food.  Intriguingly, Lovegren focuses on the homecook until the 1980s when all the foods and fads she discusses are clearly restaurant-based, with Alice Waters and California Cuisine, Wolfgang Puck, Paul Prudhomme, etc etc etc.  Even the recipes she includes in this part are beyond the pantry and skills of many regular homecooks.

I wonder, if she could add the last few decades, what she would write?  What were the trends of the 00s and now the teens?  She'd have to write about the rise in gluten-free and other allergen-free diets, the anti-carbs diets, the Paleo diet, and all the vegetarians and vegans.  Also, there would need to be something about the influence of the Food Network, internet food sites, the demise of Gourmet, and even Pinterest.

And yet still I make for my kids some of those dishes my mom made for us from her mom and my dad's mom.  Only, I don't use dried onion soup mix anymore.  Just real onions.


Next up:  The History of Food in 100 Recipes by William Sitwell, which is much less likely to be familiar, as it starts with ancient Egyptian bread, Viking dried fish, and Roman cheesecakes!

-=-=-=-=-=-

Note:  These are all taken from my family recipe archives and are not from the book!

Milk Toast or Eggs a la Goldenrod

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon flour

milk

hard boiled egg

toast

            Brown flour in melted butter, until thick paste.  Add milk slowly, forming white sauce.  Pour over toast, grate egg, add salt and pepper to taste.

                                                                                                                       

Gommie Hungry

Mom's Mom's Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 ½ cup sifted flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup shortening

¾ cup brown sugar (firmly packed)

¾ cup granulated sugar

2 eggs (Eggbeaters also work)

1 teaspoon hot water

1 cup nuts

2 cups oatmeal (quick or regular; uncooked—old fashioned regular are best)

1 teaspoon vanilla

14 oz. chocolate chips

            Cream shortening until soft.  Add sugars gradually, cream until light and fluffy.  Add eggs (1 at a time), beating after each.  Add vanilla and hot water.  Sift in dry ingredients.  Add nuts, oatmeal, and chocolate chips.  Bake at 375°F for 8 minutes. 

                                                                       

Bammie (Gommie's mom)

Spam

¼ cup brown sugar

1 tablespoon vinegar

¼ teaspoon mustard

liquid from spam or 2 drops of water.

            Pour mixture over spam.  Bake at 350°F for 20 minutes.

                                                                                                                        Gommie Hungry

Baked Beans

4 slices bacon

½ cup chopped onion

2-1 lb. can Pork and Beans

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 teaspoon mustard

1 teaspoon ketchup

chopped bell pepper

            Cook bacon until crip, drain and crumble.  In 2 tablespoons of drippings cook onion and bell pepper unil tender but not brown.  Add with bacon to beans and other, mixing well.  Put in 1 ½ quart casserole dish.  Bake uncovered at 350°F for 20-45 minutes.

                                                                                                                       Gommie Hungry

Trash 

1 box Crispex (2+ quarts)

2 quarts stick pretzels

2 quarts Cheerios

4 tablespoons Worcestershire

1-2 teaspoons garlic powder

1-2 teaspoons onion powder

            Spray with Pam.  Microwave 8-10 minutes, stirring every 2 minutes.

Gommie Hungry

Pot Roast

3 lb. roast (chuck, pot, shoulder)

1 package dry onion soup mix

2 cups water

6 potatoes, peeled, cut in 1” cubes

1 onion, cut 1” squares

1 package carrots, peeled and sliced

1 green pepper, cut 1” squares

            Place roast in pan with soup mix and water.  Cover with foil; bake 350°F for 2 hours.  Add potatoes, onion, carrots, and pepper.  Cover with foil and continue to bake until tender (45 minutes).

Gommie Hungry

 Hamburger Chow Mein

1 lb. ground beef

1 chopped onion

2 teaspoons salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

2 cup diced celery

1  1/2 cup water

1 small can sliced water chestnuts, drained

14 oz. bean sprouts, drained

4 1/2 oz. sliced mushrooms

1-2 tablespoons soy sauce

3 tablespoons cornstarch in 3 tablespoons water

            Brown beef with onion, add salt, pepper, celery and water.  Bring to boil.  Cover and simmer 15 minutes.  Add remaining vegetables, heat until hot.  Combine cornstarch and water; add to mixture.  Cook until slightly thickened, stirring constantly.  Serve over hot cooked rice or chow mein noodles.

Gommie Hungry

Green Bean Casserole

2-16 oz. cans whole green beans, drained (can also use frozen)

1 can Cream of Mushroom soup

½ cup milk

Dash pepper

1 teaspoon soy sauce

1-2.8 oz. can of French-Fried Onions

            Combine soup, milk, soy sauce and pepper.  Stir in green beans and ½ can of onions.  Bake at 350°F for 25 minutes or until hot; stir.  Top with remaining onions.  Bake 5 minutes.

                                                                                                                       

Gommie Hungry

Swiss Steak

1 pound beef round steak, cut ¾ inch thick

2 tablespoons all purpose flour

1 tablespoon cooking oil

1-16 oz. can tomatoes, cut up

1 small onion, sliced and separated into rings

½ cup sliced celery

½ cup sliced carrot

½ teaspoon dried thyme, crushed

            Cut meat into 4 serving-size pieces.  Trim fat.  Combine the flour, ¼ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper.  Coat pieces with flour mixture.  In a large skillet brown meat on both sides in hot oil.  Drain fat.

            Add undrained tomatoes, onion, celery, carrot, and thyme.  Cover and cook over low heat about 11/4 hours or til meat is tender.  Skim fat.  Serve with hot rice or noodles. 

Gommie Hungry via Better Homes and Gardens

Pumpkin Bread

Makes 2 loaves

3 cups sugar

3 ½ cups flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons each nutmeg, allspice, cloves, and cinnamon

4 eggs

2 cups fresh or canned cooked pumpkin

1 cup oil

½ cup water plus ½ cup apricot or peach brandy (or another ½ cup water)

1 cup each chopped pecans and raisins (optional)

            Preheat oven to 325°F.  Combine sugar, flour, soda, salt, nutmeg, allspice, cloves, and cinnamon in large electric mixer bowl.  Mix eggs pumpkin, oil, water (or brandy) and combine with dry ingredients; beat until well mixed.  Fold in pecans and raisins.  Bake in large greased Bundt pan until cake tests done, about 1 hours and 30-45 minutes.

                       

Gommie Hungry

Tipsy Balls

Makes 100 balls

small 12-oz. box vanilla wafers (3 cups)

4 jiggers whiskey

3 tablespoons karo syrup

1 cup powdered sugar, dissolved (?)

2 cups chopped nuts (fine)

            Mix, roll in balls, coat in powdered sugar. 

Pop's mom

                                                                                              

Crème de Menthe or Grasshopper Pie

Just a note—Crème de Menthe gets much stronger with age! 

2 cups whipping cream

7 oz. marshmallow cream

¼ cup crème de menthe (or to taste)

            Whip cream and then add crème de menthe.  Then add marshmallow cream.

Pour into crust.  Freeze.  Remove from freezer 20 minutes before serving.

Crust

1 stick melted oleo

24 chocolate cookies (1 ½ cups crumbs)

            Combine and form to pie plate, chilling for 1 hour before filling.

Gommie Hungry

Tang Tea aka Russian Spice Tea

1 cup instant tea

1 cup lemonade

1 cup Tang

½ teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon cloves

            If pre-sweetened ingredients are used, no additional sweetener is needed.  Otherwise, add 1 cup sugar.

Lemon Bars

Makes 25 bars

1 cup flour

½ cup butter, softened

¼ cup powdered sugar

1 cup sugar

2 teaspoons grated lemon peel, optional

2 tablespoons lemon juice

½ teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

2 eggs

powdered sugar

            Heat oven to 350°F.  Mix flour, butter, and powdered sugar.  Press in ungreased quare pan, building up ½ inch edges (8x8 or 9x9).  Bake 20 minutes.

            Beat remaining ingredients with electric mixer on high about 3 minutes or until light and fluffy.  Pour over hot crust.

            Bake 25-30 minutes or until no indentation remains when touched in center.  Cool completely in pan on wire rack.  Sprinkle with powdered sugar.  Cut into 1 ½-inch squares.  

Gommie Hungry

And as an added bonus, 

Mrs. C's Cheese Ball

2 packages cream cheese

1 can deviled ham

            Mix cream cheese and deviled ham.  Chill.  Serve with crackers.

History Saturday

We did our annual pilgrimage to Philadelphia this weekend, taking in the sights over Memorial Day Saturday before Bud's kung fu tournament on Sunday.  We're reveling in nearby excursions again and look forward to adding more places to our Boston-NYC-Philly-DC repertoire in the future (where else is there, you say?  Small places with interesting attractions, like Newport or Mystic or Litchfield or Northhampton.)

We started at the Independence Visitor Center, where I met a friendly and interesting first-person historical interpreter who portrays 18th-century draper, Sarah Milton.  We talked about knitting--especially on large needles--and she shared with me a pattern for a cowl (given from memory, but too complicated for me.)  We also talked about Betsy Ross's house, Elfreth's Alley (the preserved colonial street), and the like.  When I told her I volunteered at an historic house, she broke character and we discussed the business--first person vs. third person interpretation especially in a place like the Visitor's Center.  It was intriguing and got me thinking about doing some first-person interpretation at our historic house.  And the kids and Mama were very patient.

We actually did start at Betsy Ross's house, on a self-guided tour through the tiny building that she actually shared with others.  The kids, being 18th-century house experts by now, made it through rather quickly, enjoying best of all the reading of the labels with the flip-cover Q&A.  They also enjoyed meeting Betsy Ross, who taught them how to cut a five-pointed start with only a few folds and two snips.  But most of all, I think Sis relished playing in the kids' kitchen in the basement, where a dramatic play area is set up, complete with recipe for turkey pot pie.  She diligently followed all the steps and had such a wonderful time.  I love that she still enjoys playacting and is so un-self-conscious about it.  I definitely want to do more areas like that at our historic house.

Yes, in ways, this was one big professional research trip for me!

After Betsy Ross's house, we went to Benjamin Franklin's print shop, which is just not as much fun as it used to be--several aspects of it are closed, due to construction or the Sequester, so there's really only one room. It's really a shame.

We headed to City Tavern, the restored 18th-century restaurant with period food and costumed wait staff. Oh, what a lunch! Anadama bread, Sally Lunn bread, sweet potato biscuits (Jefferson's favorite!), mushroom toast, mushroom barley soup, West Indian pepperpot soup, duck sausage with sauerkraut, lobster pot pie, turkey pot pie, homemade kielbasa with sauerkraut and mashed potatoes, tofu (a la Ben Franklin) with linguine, spiced raspberry pie, Martha Washington's chocolate mousse cake, and raspberry shrub to drink!  The kids were fascinated to learn that George Washington had eaten there several times, preferring a corner table in the next room.  I love that they get excited about stuff like that and also that they are game to try all that food.

But the best part happened next:  we were upstairs using the restrooms when I spotted the chef, Walter Staib, in his office.  The door was open and so I pointed him out to the kids, who have watched his show, "Taste of History," with me on television.  Soon enough, Sis was in there saying hello and the kids posed for a picture with him  He even gave them a copy of his DVD on the first five presidents.  Luckily, he was talking mostly to them because I was probably too excited to act normally--they saved me from gushing too much about his show and his food.  

After lunch, we headed back to the Visitor's Center, by way of a gift shop and the outdoor exhibition on the President's House, which details 18th-century slavery.  And we watched the protesters--on one hand, a group of 2nd amendment gun toters (and yes, right there in the middle of Philly, they were all legally carrying concealed weapons!), and, on the other side, a much bigger rally of people protesting Monsanto and GMO. Very disparate groups, with not a lot of overlap.  But they did give us an opportunity to talk to the kids about democracy, free speech, and the right to gather.

Tuckered out, we opted to head to our hotel to rest and regroup before Bud's big day on Sunday, which I'll post about next.

Table for Two

While Mama and I lazily delayed getting out of bed Sunday, discussing the big breakfast we would make, the kids surprised us by setting up a restaurant downstairs.  There were even menus!  So I ordered trail mix and cheese and crackers, with iced tea, while Mama had peanut and crackers with water.  (Not exactly the pancakes, sausage, bacon, eggs that we had dreamed of!)  We received prizes with our meal, little toys.  There was piano accompaniment.  And even a restaurant cat!  All for $2.  Plus tip. And we bought the discount membership.

They've been playing restaurant for years.  They have a huge assortment of plastic food and dishes and have many times converted the sofa table to a restaurant table.  On Sunday, there were cloth napkins and a tablecloth!  Sis even has an order pad she got from the nice man at the local gyro place; she uses it lovingly and sparingly.  One of my favorite versions is hibachi, where they chop lots of food and even bang the seasoning shaker cup over the meal.  I love that now they are using real food!

Of course, sometimes I wonder (or worry) that perhaps real restaurants play too big a role in our lives--we do so like to eat out.  But it's too late to change that and I'm not sure I want to that much.

Texas, O Texas

Here we come, Lone Star State!

We bought our plane tickets for a summer visit to my family in Houston.  It's been three years, specifically June 2010 (see first of several posts here) since our list visit and so we are both overdo and excited!  We'll meet my niece, Cousin Hungry (Cousin Banana?), for the first time.  We'll go to the bay, where the extended family often congregates.  We'll visit my Aunt Sis, who had broken her hip over Christmas.

And we'll eat.

I'm ashamed to admit that our first plans and discussions weren't meeting up with family--because that's a given--but plotting the meals.  Mama even said that we might have to add more days to the trip to fit it all in.

Bean and cheeses.  Chopped beef.  Sweet tea.  Chicken fried steak.  Apricot kolaches.  Chips and salsa.  Texas chocolate sheet cake.  Banana pudding.  Pop's salsa.  Pinto beans.  Gommie's fried fish and fried shrimp.  Mel's.  Taco Cabana.  Pappasito's.  Pappadeaux's.  Prasek's.  Mikeska's.  Buc-ee's.  Peli Peli.  Churrasco's.  Villa Emilia.  "Waterburger."  Vietnamese somewhere.

Even Bud thought of food--he fondly recalls buying shrimp right off a shrimp boat and then eating it at home.

It'll be a great visit!

Advent Activities: O Christmas Trees!

With rain in the forecast, we decided to ditch our plans to go to candlelight at Sturbridge Village tonight.  So we headed into NYC instead.  Not for the usual 5th Avenue promenade and visit to the Rockefeller Tree, but uptown on both the East and West sides to visit the Met and the American Museum of Natural History.

The kids didn't get into either of the audiobooks we had so we played car games--the ABC game (J and Q are hard), counting the cars (1 pt for cars, 5 for buses, 10 for trucks, -5 for police!), count the Christmas trees (more of that on the way home), then once we hit the city, we looked for iconic NYC things--taxis, food carts, police cars, ambulances, fire trucks, bodegas, fire escapes.

Our first stop was the Met, where we went straight to the medieval hall to see the creche.  All the while, Bud kept telling us that a group of Adelie penguins is called a creche.  We were a bit doubtful, having heard of colonies of penguins, even rafts of penguins.  But guess what?  I just looked it up and he's right.  A creche of Adelie penguins.

Well, there are not penguins in this creche.  Instead, we saw an elephant, a camel, numerous sheep, a donkey, an ox, some dogs, plus, of course, the Holy Family, angels, Wise Men, the shepherds, and all the Neapolitan peasants surrounding them.  It was a delightful I-spy.

  

Before we left the Met, we took a detour to the newly-installed (relatively) American galleries specifically to see Emmanuel Leutze's Washington Crossing the Delaware.  We looked long and hard at the huge painting, talking about art vs. history--the sunrise halo around Washington, the stable triangle-shape of the figures in the boat, the pinnacle at the flag, the diversity of figures in the boat (Scottish, frontiersmen, African, etc), as well as how and when the actual crossing took place.  Plus the original circumstances of the creation and exhibition of the work about 100 years later.  It really is a fun painting to explore.

The kids probably could have stayed all day, but we were off across the park to AMNH.  I have long wanted to see the Origami Tree and so we headed straight to it.  And we loved it!  If I-spy was fun with the creche, it was doubly fun with all the origami animals:  koalas, owls, penguins, bunnies, pandas, hedgehogs (perhaps--they were high up!), dolphin, ducks, swan, jellyfish, foxes, lemurs, peacocks, bears, horeshoe crabs,  oh so many different critters.  Just look at the pictures.  There are over 500 figures, made by members of Origami USA, who start in July to finish in time.  Very intriguing and inspiring.

   



We visited the dioramas--both in North American mammals (bunnies!) and the hall of the Blue Whale (penguins and manatee).  Did you know that the Blue Whale hall might be the best place to stretch your back in NYC?  (Well, I bet Central Park would be good, too, but not in December.)   I spent awhile on the floor, horizontal like those around me, admiring the whale from below.  Very good for the spine!

Then we headed to the special exhibition, Global Kitchen, which is all about "food, farm to fork."  The first bit of the exhibition was perhaps too science-y for me and even too preachy (and I'm the choir!  Maybe that's why!)--gallons of water, pounds of waste, etc etc etc.  Though, as the NYTimes reviewer notes, this is an exhibition about how people have intersected with nature for sustenance and how that has totally gone awry recently with agribusiness.   But then, I prefer anthropology and social history.  There were a few history of science facts I found intriguing--kohlrabi, Brussel sprouts, cabbage, and all cauliflower actually originate from the same wild cabbage weedy-thing that has been cultivated for thousands of years; apples are 7 times less bitter than their crabapple forebears; bananas might be extinct in our lifetime because they only use one genetic family which is susceptible to a blight right now.  We had fun tasting cornbread in the Whole Foods-sponsored kitchen (mine is better!  They change the topic every two weeks).  And we liked sniffing all the different scent interactives (yeah, lavender; ugh, garlic).  We especially liked the Aztec market with its basket and bags and pots full of fish, beans, corn, tortillas, agave, iguana, turkey, tomatoes, pumpkins, squash, squash blossoms, etc etc.  It was a great display.  And without wheat, cheese, chicken, or beef--several of the items we associate with modern-day Mexican food.  Or plastic or styrofoam or even glass containers!  We also loved situating ourselves at meals through the ages--a feast with Kublai Khan, ice cream with Jane Austen, reclining with Roman empress Livia Drusilla.  And cooking our own meals on an interactive computer "stove" making groundnut soup, poached eggs, grilled salmon (see here for more recipes and info).  And seeing what Ghandi usually ate (vegetarian), what Michael Phelps downs during intense training (Bud wanted to try to eat that--3 breakfast sandwiches, omelets, oatmeal, French toast, coffee, what Otzi (the 5,000 year old Iceman found in the Alps) had for breakfast the day he died (dried Ibex and some fruit, I think), and what Nobel Peace prize winner and sustainable food activist Wangari Matthai would eat.  There were also displays on cookbooks, the history of utensils, and the specific traditions of China, Morocco, France, and Korea.  The only part that fell very very short was food as ritual--two small cases cramming diverse celebrations such as Chinese New Year and Day of the Dead together, accompanied by a too-short film about different traditions.  This could have been an exhibition itself and was not properly addressed.  But the gift shop made up for the slightly rushed end--we chose several different kinds of chocolate and candies to sample on the ride home!  And so we drove home up Broadway, munching on black raspberries, peach chewies, chocolate marzipan, and "milk bottles" of condensed milk candy.

But that wasn't the end of our day!  After a two-hour rest at home (including several holiday specials I slept right through), we headed for dinner at Bloodroot--because it's Latke night for Hanukkah, where a lovely clay menorah was lit in the center of the dining room!  The kids even played the dreidl game with another little kid and his dad while we all waited for our food to come.   Then we happily gorged on porcini soup (Bud's favorite), Cambodian kanji, oatmeal bread, three kinds of latkes (potato, cauliflower, and beets, with sour cream, applesauce, and a great beet spread from the NYTimes, Selma said.  Sis loved the cauliflower latkes), halushkin (noodles and cabbage), solianka (tomato-y mushroom-cabbage dish), Jamaican jerk "chicken" with this spicy green chile spread, marinated tofu salad, and then cranberry kissl, kombucha squash roll with cream cheese (think pumpkin roll), and hot fudge sundaes!

A wonderful day of family, food, and fun.  And trees!

One of Bloodroot's cats curled up on Bud's jacket.

Gumbo Ya-Ya!

We watched Princess and the Frog on Saturday, part of our ongoing viewing of the Disney canon.  The kids liked the movie just fine, but there have been some unexpected consequences.   Namely, an obsession with the food of New Orleans (which, if you haven't seen the film, does play a part--Tiana wants to open a restaurant).

So, last night we tracked down one of the only places we could find that served anything remotely Cajun or Creole, and had fried crawfish, fried catfish, jambalaya, and, best of all, beignets!   And the kids liked it!  Then they kept asking for gumbo, so I made some chicken and sausage gumbo today.  And they liked it, too!  With the sausage, even.  And the green bell peppers!

Color me purple, gold, and green!

Now they want to go to New Orleans.  Cautiously, Sis said they wouldn't talk to anyone wearing a skull and crossbones (a la the bad guy in the movie).  Bud was unfazed--the guy was dead!  But Sis said, what if the story happened in the future and he was still there now?!?!

Has she been sneaking "Doctor Who?"

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My gumbo recipe is here.  And it was so good I turned meat-eater for a meal!  Much to the kiddos' surprise!  "Mom, you're going to die if you eat meat,!" thought Bud.

Tastes of History

Mama and I have taken to watching Chef Walter Staib's PBS series, Taste of History, which focuses on the foodways of 18th-century America.  We knew of Staib from the historical restaurant, City Tavern, in Philly, where we've eaten twice (most recently with t he kids over Memorial Day weekend)--the first time, ten years ago, we actually met the chef, who came out to talk to us and signed our copy of his cookbook.  He is famous for researching, recreating, and celebrating colonial foodways.  And it's not just baked beans and apple pie but surprising combinations of fresh ingredients and international spices (and meats many Americans don't eat anymore--kidneys, oxtail, or tongue, anyone?).

But we didn't know he had a tv show--Emmy-winning, no less--until we visited the Tavern again.  And it's wonderful!  There are historic houses, costumed interpreters, old recipes, and open-hearth cooking!  Plus his charming and enthusiastic explanations, in his endearing German accent. With soccer over for another half-hour, we just watched the episode where the chef goes to Montpelier and cooks for the interpreters reenacting James and Dolley Madison.  You can watch the fourth season now on PBS, or old episodes on WE, I think, or on DVD, which is what we have.

It's really perfect tv  for us in these anxious times.

Greek to Us

We reveled in the Greek Fest again this year, eating our way through the lunch line and the pastries as usual.  In fact, the matriarchs of the sweets remembered Sis and Bud from years past, recalling them even as babies in strollers.  And, as in years past, at least one person mistook Mama for my other son (I know you don't believe me, but it happens regularly) saying, "Your big one was so helpful.  He told the younger ones not to touch anything!"

Anyway, in addition to our usual menu (note to selves for next year:  the kids do not like the chicken souvlaki; they prefer the roasted chicken and gyro), we gorged (well, I did) on gigante beans.  And when I went back to get some to take home for dinner, the woman behind the counter said she had made them and we compared notes.  She uses celery, a bit of parsley, and lots of dill in hers; she was interested to hear that I do mine in a slow cooker, but without dill.  I'm adding dill next time (which will be soon because I bought a bag of gigante beans).   


We bought fewer sweets this year but reveled in the ones we did get:  ravani, a citrus-soaked semolina cake, is still the favorite; diples, which is like Greek sopapillas, were Sis and Bud's favorirtes; Mama likes kataifi; and I still get finikia (honey-walnut cookie), methismena (the label said they make it with beer!), karidopita (the honey-walnut cake), galatoboureko (custard with phyllo).  We skipped kourambiedes and what I now know is saragli, kinda like a baklava roll (Bud got baklava but didn't like the nuts).  Our new favorite is pasta flora.  I know, odd name.  But it's a Greek jam tart, this time apricot, and we were all sorry we hadn't bought a whole one!


There is always next year!


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Greek Big Beans

1/4 cup olive oil

1 large yellow onion, chopped

3 garlic cloves, minced

3 cups slow cooked beans or two 15.5 oz cans lima or butter beans, drained and rinsed (or actual Greek gigante beans. )

28 oz can diced tomatoes, with juices

salt and pepper

1/2 cup minced fresh parsley leaves

Heat oil and cook onion, covered, until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in garlic and cook another minute or so.

Transfer the onion and garlic to a 3 1/2 to 4-quart slow cooker. Add beans, tomatoes, and salt and pepper to taste. Stir. Cover and cook on LOW for 4-6 hours. Just before serving, stir in parsley.

Robin Robertson, Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker


Or, an alternate "fabulous faux fassolia":   I sauteed onions in olive oil, added some garlic when the onions were translucent, then poured in half a can (or less) of tomato sauce, and added the other half of my cooked limas. This was incredible. Both hot and then later in the weekend cold, just like it had been in DC. Mmmmmmm

Fun Foodways

As part of our celebration of my first historic house tour, and just as something we'd been meaning to try, we cooked our way through many of the Colonial Williamsburg foodstuffs I received for Christmas.  We made Spoon Bread on Friday evening but were disappointed with the results, as the eggs separated--I either over or under beat the eggs or over or underheated the milk.  We'll try it again because I like the idea of a souffle-like cornbread.  On Saturday, we made Sally Lunn bread, oddly enough in a bundt pan, which we enjoyed with jam and later as Welsh rabbit.  Sis and Bud actually like the tang of the mustardy cheese sauce.  And then on Sunday, we literally whipped up some syllabub, a popular 18th-century boozy dessert/drink for which they even had special two-handled cups for sharing around (it was very common then for people to share drinks that way).  Tradition has it that the dairy maid would take the large punch bowl out to the barn and milk the cow right into the syllabub, making it both warm and frothy. We made the non-alcoholic version, but even so the kids didn't like it much. Next time, we'll just use wine and sherry.  Finally, yesterday, Mama and I had porridge for breakfast, made of white and yellow grits, wheat, and rice.  Now that's filling food!  And actually pretty good with honey or brown sugar (alas, we didn't like the traditional molasses as much; and it being a Southern dish, we didn't even think of maple syrup!).   Otherwise, we've been using our historic mushroom ketchup off and on for weeks--it's good on faux meatloaf and potatoes--think mushroomy Worchestershire sauce.  I think we still have a few mixes--for sweet potato muffins and apple spice cake--but those seem less unusual that the others and so not as interesting for now.   It was a fun exploration for the weekend--I'm just glad I had an electric stove and oven in which to cook the meals, unlike our colonial forebears.

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Welsh Rabbit, or Rarebit


8 oz. cheddar cheese, grated
3 tablespoons ale or milk
1 teaspoon prepared mustard (or Coleman's powder made into 1 teaspoon mustard)
4 slices of toast (doesn't have to be Sally Lunn bread, just any sliced loaf)
Worchestershire sauce to taste

Melt cheese with ale or milk and mustard over stove.  Pour over four slices of toast on an edged baking sheet.  Broil until brown and bubbly.  Remove to plates and score tops and drizzle Worchestershire sauce (without scoring, it just rolls off).  Eat immediately.

Mama Hungry

Here It Comes

30 Day Vegan Workshop leader Heather Bruggeman, of Beauty That Moves, is set to offer a new three-month course, Whole Food Kitchen.  Registration begins very soon.  And I'll be signing up!  The last workshop effected me immensely, even though I couldn't participate fully.  I'm ready, ready, ready for this one.

Another Slavic Saturday

It seems to be a theme this fall:  cabbage feasts in the basements of Orthodox churches!  Today we went to a larger, more elaborate Christmas Fair at a local church, spiritual home of Mrs. S and so many of the local women we know (and new ones we met--Mrs. H's was an hospitable guide through the fair!  And her family was just as welcoming).   In fact, the kids were shocked to run into beloved swim teacher Mrs. M and former preschool teacher Mrs. G.  (They talked poor Mrs. M's ear off but not Mrs. G's, because they were eating!).  They loved decorating gingerbread houses with their new little friends, Mrs. S's grandchildren.  And these weren't just small, plain gingerbread houses but elaborate creations made of graham-cracker-covered milk cartoons with steeples!  Plus two huge baggies of candies and cereals to decorate.  And a vat of frosting!  (It was the most organized kids' activity I've seen in a long while, if ever.  Oh the advanced prep work!)  Kid heaven!  Sis and Bud went to work earnestly, adding stained glass windows to their buildings, while their friends made chimneys, fences, and fanciful architectural features.  Apparently the older girl had really looked forward to our arrival so they could decorate the houses together, since she was an experienced fair-goer and knew how it went.  So sweet!  We also ate a ton--same food as last time--halupki, haluski, kolbasi, pirohi, and a new one, pagachi, which was like a double-crust pizza made out of egg dough with potatoes or cabbage flattened between (yum!).  And just like last time the kids inhaled the food.  We bought brownies and shopped a little, dropping our raffle tickets into the can for the lovely gingerbread house, of course. Bud told Mrs. M, selling the tickets, that he hoped she called him. (He was being extra charming--as I told her, he loves adult women.  "Adult" sounds better than the "older" I managed at the fair!).   It was a great fair, not only for the fun, food, and friends, but also for a glimpse of such a tight, cohesive, friendly, active, organized, vibrant church community.  No, I'm not planning to convert and yes, I'm sure there was drama behind the scenes, but it really had the feel of a giant family reunion (and we laughed, it could've been my half of the family!  Except there wasn't any Staff's barbecue!).

Goodbye, Old Friends

Crisco.  Velveeta.  Cream of mushroom soup.

These are the ingredients of many of my favorite childhood and early adulthood dishes:  chocolate chip cookies, cheese dip, Ranch chicken, chicken spaghetti, broccoli noodle soup.  Mmm, mmm, good.

I haven't made most of those dishes recently, eschewing the unwholesome ingredients without locating an adequate substitute.

But now I think I've found some.  Coconut oil.  Colby cheese.  A white sauce with mushrooms.

Actually, I've only tried the first two--substituting equal parts coconut oil for Crisco and equal parts Colby cheese (or 3/4 Colby and 1/4 American) tossed in a little flour for Velveeta in dishes where it's not the main ingredient (i.e. I don't think it would work in cheese dip as well, but I might try it, perhaps with Colby-Jack).  The coconut oil was indistinguishable from Crisco in a quick bread; the Colby was far more complex than Velveeta but the right consistency. And I understand that the white sauce with mushrooms is a good substitute too. It's worth a try.

Of course, such substitutions make sense because these convenience products were originally shortcuts for home cooks tired of (or looking for cheaper or easier substitutions for) lard, melting cheese, and a roux.

I guess more than getting rid of old friends, I'm actually embracing the originals.

The New Ice Age

I have a new favorite kitchen secret:  frozen greens!  Yep, frozen, organic, chopped kale and collards from Whole Foods.  Bud will eat it straight up.  Sis ignores it in soup, not bothering to pick it out because neither the taste nor the texture offend her.  Which means frozen greens aren't much like fresh but they a) don't go bad in the fridge quickly and b) are always available to toss in things.  Sure, I could buy fresh, chop, cook, and freeze, but, well, I haven't (and Sis didn't eat those when I did).  I actually put greens in chicken and dumplings (ours has more veggies than Gommie's) last night and added huge handfuls to my pasta lenticchie.  I might even throw some into my chickpea biryani today.  So, glad to have a little extra green on the table.  Especially because it's actually being eaten!

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Chickpea Biryani


1 small onion, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 small sweet potato, diced
8 oz cauliflower, cut into small florets
1 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas (if canned, drained and rinsed)
2 teaspoons garam masala
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 cups stock

Saute onion and bell pepper in oil.  Place in crockpot with remaining ingredients.  Cook on LOW6-8 hours.

Vegan Slow Cooker