Christmas Bagel…funny…yes???
My first try at a kind of wreath shaped bagel-roll-bread thing.
Taste-wise…PERFECT. Some work to do on the shaping part.
A nutty Monday
This morning was a nut butter morning…
Peanut butter on the left, pecan-almond butter on the right.
Backtracking to the weekend…we all had a restful weekend. I added another bed to the recuperative suite as it became clear that my single was not necessarily going to be mine. It is musical beds but so far, I’ve been able to snag the largest for nighttime. I did have one nap in the smaller bed and it is quite comfortable.
While I would rather Bear had not had to have this surgery, given that he did and we have a critical period of rehab…I am not feeling like living in the sunroom is a hardship at all. It is very cozy and we are comfortable. Yesterday, I went in the bedroom for a change of clothes and the bedroom felt almost strange. I was glad to get back to the kitchen/sunroom which feels like home. I’ve thought that if I get a chance to build the house I’d like to build, it would be 1 large room with a kitchen corner, a sitting corner, a sleeping corner …a bath/utility room with a door, but otherwise – 1 open space. This experience confirms that I would very much like that. And it wouldn’t have only a front porch…it would have a wrap around porch with doors on all sides – high ceilings so the roof could overhang the porch all around. I have a friend who can design this perfectly.
Well, back to Monday.
For this morning’s nap, Bear in my bed and Bob in the dog bed that is now Bob’s bed as the dog’s preference leans in a different direction…
In lieu of a morning nap on a workday morning, I indulged in one of the nutty mochas I like to make with whatever nut butter is left in the blender. And this morning, for an extra special treat…cashew cream whip with cashew caramel drizzle. I think I can now get on with my day :) !
Sweet trade
I have GREAT neighbors.
My neighbors have been featured on this blog more than once :)! There was the first ever trade we did: the fencing around my yard in exchange for removal of the garden and fencing and grading of the the side yard. There are the numerous times that they have appeared on their backhoe to plow my driveway.
The plowing…we worked out a trade whereby I share a meal or bread or some treat now and again. I love to cook – they don’t “love” cooking and especially during the week and very especially in the winter, it is late when they both get home. I jokingly started calling it “Meals on Wheels” as I usually deliver via Jeep. It is fairly steep little incline between my house and theirs…and through the woods – so Jeepin’ over is less hazardous and a much better chance of food arriving intact.
The last food share was pumpkin pie. We were yacking about food and the holiday and family and family recipes and Mike mentioned that his mother made kolaches for them. He and Nancy had not been able to find a written recipe and none of Mike’s brothers or sisters had it either.
Yack…yack…yack. We talked about Bear and his surgery and how I was going to do things. I asked for their advice for a platform step I planned to build so that Bear could get to his sleeping chair. As we were talking, they suddenly said…”No reason for you to buy lumber, we have plenty of leftover and could make the step easily in our shop”.
Another trade was born: kolaches for a doggy step.
I googled and binged and read and googled some more. Kolaches are of Czech origin and it appears that families have their own variations. The photos of the size and shapes were extremely varied. BUT!!! – a number of hits revealed that West, Texas is home to kolaches so well loved that people go way out of their way to go to West and buy large amounts of kolaches to take with them.
AND, Lisa Fain’s Homesick Texan Blog (a favorite food blog) had a recipe: Kolaches … yippie – ki – yo – ki – yay!!
This is my second go at kolaches and I have more thoughts for the next round…not so flat, larger “pocket” and more posypka: the flour-sugar-butter-cinnamon topping that makes for a sweet crunch when you bite into one.
The dough is perfect. Well, I like it. Never having had a real kolache, I don’t know if it is right or not, but the dough is a pleasure to work with and results in a soft, sweet bun kind of thing. It is not flaky like a danish, but it is “airier” than a dinner roll. And although the recipe suggests eating them warm, I found that they taste best (to me!) the next day and they also freeze well.
They can be filled with anything. Per my reading, traditionally they are filled with a kind of fruit puree. But there are also savory fillings and Lisa notes that you can wrap the dough around sausage, cheese and jalapeno.
So much fun. Part of my enjoyment of being in the kitchen is trying new things. I love reading about traditional foods and although “kolache” was familiar as in I remembered seeing the name…I had no idea of the origin.
Mike’s mother is of Irish origin and lived in New Orleans so a mystery as to why they were a specialty of hers. And this recipe is not like hers…some resemblance but some difference – but that is as it should be…”Mom’s” should be best :)!
Meanwhile…Mike and Nancy made the doggy step.
It was delivered yesterday: Deals on wheels :). It is a brilliant design! I intended to build a square frame of 2 x 8’s and attach plywood to the top. I know now that that would have been monstrously heavy and hard to move around.
Their idea was a top…which I covered with one of my cheap-o carpets…
On top of an X of 2 x 8’s.
Not bad!! It is stable – I walked all around the edges and it stays put. I even jumped on it on the edges. Solid. And yet, I can easily take the top and move everything. Perfect.
Kolaches and the fun of the research and experimenting. A step for Bear. Sweet trade!
Joyful things
At the “late” hour of 6:00 p.m., it is now full dark.
But, this morning and all day, the sun did shine…
I tell the herbies to stand tall and look to the sun and take it in. The real thing is always the best and it is in short supply at 48 North in the Winter!.
With the sun shining, I mixed a bit of my new favorite condiment: pickled stuff. I started with pickled onions. Last week I added some fennel and this morning some english cucumber. The “pickling juice” is apple cider vinegar, sugar, salt and mustard seeds. It is a difficult recipe…mix the juice, pour it over thinly sliced stuff, let sit for several hours – stirring it every time you walk past it.
After awhile, I put it in a jar and stick it in the refrigerator.
It is great on a sandwich…I mean GREAT! Everything softens, sweetens, tangs and intensifies.
It is also good on greens. I like to massage some olive oil into a bit of kale, throw in some quinoa, toss on the pickled mix and let it sit in the frig. When I’m ready to eat it I add some avocado and apples, peaches or berries…maybe some sunflower or pumpkin seeds. It is good.
Bob aka Mr. Grumpy – took his sun with a bit of dryer heat.
Bear had his partial sun with a treat after a morning walk.
Sunshine, good food, time shared, joyful things.
Our Thanksgiving Day
Yep, I completely wrecked the turkey. I’ve had and made great turkey and ok turkey and it is really pretty hard to wreck one…overcooking is one way and that is what I did. It was a smallish, fresh turkey and I prepped it like I do a fresh chicken and set the timer at what I thought would be the halfway mark. But the halfway mark was already too late. Bob, Bear and I all had some of it – I actually roasted the bird the day before TDay…and although it certainly didn’t taste “off” as in tainted, it just did not taste good and I realized it had never smelled good and I dithered about what to do. Thinking I was just disappointed and my taste might be off I thought: gravy! But eventually in some moment of angst, I wrapped the whole bird up and put it in the trash. And I wasn’t sorry the next day! And the thought of turkey did not appeal.
Plan B.
Plan B was actually my original Plan A. Looking at the turkeys when I first went to buy and thinking about the lack of room in both my refrigerator and budget – and it was just me so I could have what I wanted…I thought buffalo (bison technically) – VERY American West. My mother had just given me a recipe for a buffalo meat loaf that she and Bill liked. AND – I recently purchased a meatloaf cookbook:
The Meatloaf Bakery is a restaurant in Chicago and most of the loaves are shaped into individual servings in pastry shapes: cupcakes, pie wedges, etc. and topped (decorated) with pipped mashed potatoes.
The change from turkey dinner back to meatloaf was easy to accomplish, but I admit to an initial loss of confidence. If I could wreck something as simple as a roast turkey, could I still make meatloaf….or pie???
I relaxed, got my kitchen mojo on…
…enjoyed the process…
And all was well.
It was a balmy (for late November) 44F.
We were all outside most of the afternoon
I didn’t make meatloaf cupcakes but I did make cheesy-garlic red mashers, smothered my piece of meatloaf with them and browned the potatoes under the broiler. Garden green beans with cherry-basil-balsamic syrup on the side. I was happy and full.
Bob, Bear and I hope all had a Happy Day.
Let the season of holiday madness begin :) !!