A good friend brought a quart of vegetable soup and some homemade bread for tonight’s supper.
Especially welcome as I just got home after being in Ohio for the Thanksgiving break and no chance to go to the store yet.
Simmered the soup and sliced the bread and enjoyed the delicious meal. Thought of how fortunate I am to have good friends.
My friend J in Omaha trades a quart of homemade soup each week with her friend A.
I won’t return the mason jar empty!
For those followers who celebrate traditional Thanksgiving this Thursday……which is your preference?
Fresh, Frozen or Veg?
Hardy Virginia Turkey Feather from Neighboring Farm, November 2012
We’re holing up.
Waiting for the predicted snow.
Not quite a burrow but definitely staying close to home.
It’s probably going to impact Thanksgiving travel plans for many in this neck of the woods.
I’m avoiding all stores with crowds- as everyone rushes to get milk and the last roll of T.P.
There’s urgent hype on the car radio as I drove home from school and I hear from a friend that reports on TV are insistent.
So I went to the Bryant Street Market to get a pound of coffee beans and spied Donatelli’s Mushroom Ravioli in the freezer.
Came home and baked the dozen in some vodka sauce from the pantry (don’t ask) for 45 minutes and pretty soon there was a meal worthy of a winter night that feels like February instead of November.
In the dining room. What made the meal though?
The grater was in service again tonight. This time for the Parmigiano- Reggiano cheese. Steve added the beer and we had spinach salad. The candles made it seem warmer.
Low thirties temperature makes me want to make soup or chili, some sort of stew. And devour it, too.
A pot of something simmering on a low flame, creating a welcoming aroma when you enter the house.
Dinner was chili and beans with a side of brown rice on the adjacent burner. It’s time to pull out that Cold-Weather Cooking cookbook that my sister uses (author Sarah Leah Chase).
Tonight I used grass fed beef, sauteéd with organic onion and garlic from my brother in Okanogan Washington. Last weekend , I’d replaced my chili powder with a new glass jar of organic chili powder.
Earlier today a friend had posted an article about the 8 Foods Experts Won’t Eat and I remembered the article and got worried about the canned tomatoes (I used the Fire Roasted Muir Glen Organic Crushed Tomatoes) and wondered if the acidity of the tomatoes had leached the can lining into them but ate the chili anyway. Not sure if they use liner with BPA in it or not. I read they have a non GMO commitment so surely they don’t line their cans with the bad stuff.
You could lose your appetite if you think about things deeply.
What is safe to eat these days? Is there any way to totally avoid the pesticides, preservatives, additives and harmful chemicals and the genetic modification nightmare?
I’m trying.
Made these for a breakfast a couple of weeks ago. 350 for an hour.
A perfect dish for the fall.
(and Bill McC, enjoy your day!)
There- I put it right in the title – Horse Piss Beer- so there are no surprises about the photo of the day. I try to keep things family friendly on the blog but this is about family.
My son Mark is on business in Kentucky and sent me this on the phone tonight. He’s near Lexington. I love when my family sends me a photo and says “for the blog” and the other reason I’m posting-
My dad always told us that beer tasted like horse piss. I think that was to make us not want to drink it. Now he was born in 1912 in Farmersville Illinois and grew up on a farm that included horses but I doubt he actually tasted the urine from any horse. My parents didn’t drink but my father’s father surely did and that is why my dad did not. So maybe he knew what he was talking about, the taste was like the scent? One of the reviews of the beer said it smells like tomatoes.
This is not an endorsement for drinking this golden colored brew ( I went and read a few reviews and am not seeking a sample!) but their website states
“Horse Piss Beer is dedicated to helping others. A percentage of the sales of the beer and merchandise will be donated to help disabled jockeys and adoption programs for our equine friends.”
My father and his warnings about the taste of beer made me feel my dad was sending me a message with Mark’s photo. Seriously. And so I share it with you.
and a photo I took in a backyard at a birthday party almost two weeks ago (thanks BJ and T)
My colleague brought me a dozen fresh eggs from her chickens. Thanks S.
I loved how each egg had a date written on the end. I made an omelet this Saturday morning with some Cabot Creamery Extra Sharp White Cheddar. Maybe a tad too much butter. Couldn’t cook and photograph with the cell phone simultaneously. I was told you want “sound” when the eggs hit the pan.
I know the chickens are well cared for and eat organic feed. Fresh eggs make the best omelet. It was delicious. If I were a true photographer I would have made a neater looking one and photographed it again but no one else around to eat the wrinkled one. I went on Google images to see how my omelet fares by comparison and I think it is fine. These eggs are too precious to waste.
Yes, a little too much butter. Eat the toast with jam no butter due to excess amount on the eggs!
Hiding the imperfect folds with the farm grain bread toast. Now to polish the French PepperMill that was a wedding gift in 1974.
When I got home from school, Steve asked me if I wanted to go eat at the Thai Cuisine Restaurant in Bloomfield. Bloomfield is considered the Italian section of the city and I have blogged the Italian Festival and scenes from the Bloomfield Bridge.
On Liberty Ave at Pearl Street, across from the Bloomfield Laundromat,there’s delicious Thai food in this wonderfully Italian neighborhood.
I was so tired when Steve suggested going out to eat, I thought about lying down and taking a rest instead.
Fortunately, I decided to take him up on his offer and am I ever glad I did. He’d brought home take-out from this restaurant before but had never dined in. He told me how nice they were to him and always remembered his name.
It’s BYOB. They have a vegetarian menu,too. The service -friendly and nice, the food fresh and perfectly prepared. Very tasty. The decor and ambience clean and comfortable. Love the cloth napkins.
We enjoyed our dinner tremendously.
We ordered two dishes to share and the brown rice. There are curries and appetizers, soups and salads and desserts. Spicy Basil Fried Rice seems to be a favorite in the reviews. The YELP reviews = overall four out of five stars. The Urbanspoon seemed quite favorable and highly recommended by the City Paper Critic, too
Ginger Roots Onions, Black Mushrooms, Broccoli, Carrots, Red Pepper, Green Pepper, Snow Peas, with Chicken
Classic Shrimp Pad Thai
The view from my seat in the front window booth.
And the high gloss lacquered table reflecting formerly St. Joseph’s Church
Our server rolled all the silverware in wonderful cloth napkins- stacked and ready to go
And Steve took a shortcut down the alley to get us home. Love being a passenger so I can photograph with the good old iPhone camera. Did not take my regular camera to dinner.
Late Sunday afternoon, I drove across the river to shop for dinner ingredients and some fruit for lunches this week. The larder was looking a bit sparse. It was either go shop or eat another grilled cheese and/or egg sandwich. M and I had just talked on the phone, earlier in the day about wanting a real meal. She was thinking Thanksgiving like. I opted for meat and potatoes.
At the meat counter I asked the butcher for two petite steaks (on sale). Not too big. It’s funny about meat. Sometimes it actually turns me and I can’t even think about eating it, and other times I am actually craving a serving. It was one of those days of wanting it. Not thinking about it having a face.
Came home and sautéed an organic yellow onion in some Amish butter and then sliced up a box of fresh mushrooms. Baby Romaine salad with Steve’s favorite brown Clamato tomato( I swear they look chocolate) and a drizzle of olive oil and red wine vinegar. Garlic smashed Russets.
After I plated the food, I used the phone to capture the dinner. Feeling ready for the start of a new week, fortified.
It was Steve’s idea that we should try the new Japanese Restaurant. He brought home a menu that said Grand Opening.
Turns out it opened at least a year ago, but they had a lot of menus printed up with that on the front.
So we headed over for dinner on Saturday night. A clear soup, salad, Steak Hibachi with vegetables and rice added up to $13-
The food was fresh, nicely prepared and delicious.
The server told us there was a bad review on YELP but I checked it out and they are mostly favorable, especially about their Sushi.
Lunchtime meals are about 6 bucks. Really reasonable.
It ‘s a BYOB but we had no B to bring tonight. We are planning a return trip to explore the menu. It’s in the Italian section of the city, Bloomfield.
iPhone shots of the exterior and my dinner below.
