http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/cc65ed650d
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Thursday, October 09, 2008
Jess' New Etsy Store - Name Change
Ah, the young. They can (and do) change their minds like a leaf stealing levitation from a puff of air.
Jess pondered and pondered and pondered, and renamed her Etsy store after much debate and argument with her favorite advisor.
It is no longer MachineMaker, or MakingMachine, or whatever the hell it was.
It is not LeftyScissors. (no comment, besides a big sigh of relief)
Or Natureza (my favorite).
Her store is now called Samba Street, and you can find it here.
Enjoy.
Jess pondered and pondered and pondered, and renamed her Etsy store after much debate and argument with her favorite advisor.
It is no longer MachineMaker, or MakingMachine, or whatever the hell it was.
It is not LeftyScissors. (no comment, besides a big sigh of relief)
Or Natureza (my favorite).
Her store is now called Samba Street, and you can find it here.
Enjoy.
Wednesday, October 08, 2008
Heather Commands
Heather wants a punkin recipe. Here goes. This soup can be made with any orange squash that is taking over your garden / kitchen. I make it with butternut squash most times, but once in a while, will sneak in some pumpkin, acorn squash, or even sweet potatoes. Whatever is on hand.
Curried Squash/Pumpkin/Sweet Tater Soup
In a large soup pot, saute a large sweet onion in some type of fat. You can use butter, or olive oil, or even bacon fat if you keep it after browning a particularly large and delectable batch of thick-cut maple bacon on an autumn Sunday morning. Just sayin. You don't need to caramelize the onion if you don't want to, but the longer it cooks, the more flavor comes out to play.
The next step is to add the squashes or whatever you plan to put in there. If your veggies are raw, cube them up. If it is from a can or frozen, just dump it on in there. The raw squash cubes should cook with the onion for awhile, to make friends. The purees are going to be agreeable right from the start. Don't add liquid just yet.
After the veggies are hanging out for a while, say 15 minutes, add in the following spices:
1/2 - 1 t. kosher salt, or to taste
1/2 - 1 t. WHITE pepper, or to taste (don't use black - the soup will not look as nice with black specks in it)
1 t. yellow curry powder (fresh curry - not the stuff that has been gathering dust in the back of your spice rack since that last time you got ambitious in the kitchen...) or more to taste
1/2 t. ground cumin (don't go much heavier in this unless you really dig cumin. A little dab will do ya.)
1/4 - 1/2 t. fresh ground nutmeg (FRESH - buy nuts and grate them yourself in one of those cute little nutmeg graters with the little house on top for the current nut in use - only don't store the nut there - put it back in the jar. The grater is still cute, though.)
Stir in the spices, let them get all hot and bothered with the veggies for about five minutes or so. The squash should be almost fork tender at this point, depending on how small you cubed it.
Pour in enough chicken broth (sodium free, please!) JUST to cover the squash. You can always add more later, so don't go nuts. Bring to a slow boil, and keep it there until everything is very very soft.
Here's the fun part. I use a wand blender - you can use a standard blender if you don't have a wand. Shut off the heat, and puree the crap out of the soup. Be really careful - the stuff is like lava. Get every last lump and clump. It will turn a really beautiful and shiny orange as you do this. And the smell will make you want to slap your mama.
You can serve it just like this, after you test for seasoning and add more of whatever you wish. If it is too thick for your taste, add some more broth.
But, here are some variations I slap on it:
Curried Squash/Pumpkin/Sweet Tater Soup
In a large soup pot, saute a large sweet onion in some type of fat. You can use butter, or olive oil, or even bacon fat if you keep it after browning a particularly large and delectable batch of thick-cut maple bacon on an autumn Sunday morning. Just sayin. You don't need to caramelize the onion if you don't want to, but the longer it cooks, the more flavor comes out to play.
The next step is to add the squashes or whatever you plan to put in there. If your veggies are raw, cube them up. If it is from a can or frozen, just dump it on in there. The raw squash cubes should cook with the onion for awhile, to make friends. The purees are going to be agreeable right from the start. Don't add liquid just yet.
After the veggies are hanging out for a while, say 15 minutes, add in the following spices:
1/2 - 1 t. kosher salt, or to taste
1/2 - 1 t. WHITE pepper, or to taste (don't use black - the soup will not look as nice with black specks in it)
1 t. yellow curry powder (fresh curry - not the stuff that has been gathering dust in the back of your spice rack since that last time you got ambitious in the kitchen...) or more to taste
1/2 t. ground cumin (don't go much heavier in this unless you really dig cumin. A little dab will do ya.)
1/4 - 1/2 t. fresh ground nutmeg (FRESH - buy nuts and grate them yourself in one of those cute little nutmeg graters with the little house on top for the current nut in use - only don't store the nut there - put it back in the jar. The grater is still cute, though.)
Stir in the spices, let them get all hot and bothered with the veggies for about five minutes or so. The squash should be almost fork tender at this point, depending on how small you cubed it.
Pour in enough chicken broth (sodium free, please!) JUST to cover the squash. You can always add more later, so don't go nuts. Bring to a slow boil, and keep it there until everything is very very soft.
Here's the fun part. I use a wand blender - you can use a standard blender if you don't have a wand. Shut off the heat, and puree the crap out of the soup. Be really careful - the stuff is like lava. Get every last lump and clump. It will turn a really beautiful and shiny orange as you do this. And the smell will make you want to slap your mama.
You can serve it just like this, after you test for seasoning and add more of whatever you wish. If it is too thick for your taste, add some more broth.
But, here are some variations I slap on it:
- add about a cup of half and half, or light cream
- grate some good Parmesan cheese and sprinkle
- grill and slice some garlicky chicken sausage, slice thin on the bias, and float a few slices on top of the soup
- a few sliced scallions or chopped chives
A warning - and my DH can attest to this - squash and pumpkin and sweet potatoes are REALLY good for you, no doubt, so you will be tempted to finish the pot. BUT - these same veggies are very high in fiber. Really high.
I won't go into vivid detail.
Enjoy!
Punkins Everywhere - Want One??
Last April or May or so, I had a small sugar pumpkin in my kitchen that had started to get soft on the bottom. I had bought it with the grandiose notion of baking it, pureeing it, and making a pie. I laugh at me. Ha.
Instead, I chucked it out into the side yard for the deer. The deer didn't eat it.
Now, like a bad joke from the Powers That Be, there are NINE punkins in my living room.
And I did bake off / puree two of them last weekend. Because there are at least another half dozen out there.
Want a punkin?
Instead, I chucked it out into the side yard for the deer. The deer didn't eat it.
Now, like a bad joke from the Powers That Be, there are NINE punkins in my living room.
And I did bake off / puree two of them last weekend. Because there are at least another half dozen out there.
Want a punkin?
Tuesday, October 07, 2008
The Stinking Rose
No, I didn't poop on a flower. Yeah, Chris, I know that's what you were thinking. Thut up.
But my house did challenge the average nozzicle for a weekend recently, as I put up a huge batch of roasted gahlick for my BFF (well, she got most of it). It's a good way to clear the DH out of the house - he can't stand the smell (irony too good to elaborate on, by the way...).
You probably won't ever be inspired to do this yourself, especially if you know me and have figured out that all you have to do is ask for some, but here's the recipe and steps anyway.
But my house did challenge the average nozzicle for a weekend recently, as I put up a huge batch of roasted gahlick for my BFF (well, she got most of it). It's a good way to clear the DH out of the house - he can't stand the smell (irony too good to elaborate on, by the way...).
You probably won't ever be inspired to do this yourself, especially if you know me and have figured out that all you have to do is ask for some, but here's the recipe and steps anyway.
- Cut enough off the tops of whole garlic heads to expose most cloves in their skins. Do not separate the head, or cut so much off that you waste the garlic. As a matter of fact, if you have an extra hour, you can get a good yield in raw garlic from the tips you cut off.
- Arrange the heads in a foil lined baking dish. Pack them tightly - won't hurt.
- Drizzle good olive oil liberally over the heads, make sure each one gets a dose.
- Grind fresh black pepper and sea salt over the heads to taste. I go heavy on the pepper, not so heavy on the salt.
- Cover the heads with a layer of parchment paper before bringing the tin foil up and over. No real reason for this, except that I don't like the idea of aluminum in direct contact. Seal the foil tightly but not crunched down on the garlic - leave some room there.
- Bake at 350 for a half hour, then at 300 until the smell is so amazing that you are going to pass out if you don't take them out of the oven. But don't - wait another 15 minutes. Should take about 2 hours. It depends.
- Using a very small spoon, carefully pull each garlic clove out of the skins.
Yes, this is a labor of love. You'll get olive oil and garlic smoosh all the way up to your hairline. Tough. Suck it up. The cloves will be really soft, but should still hold their shape. Don't panic though if some are mushed up. I DO NOT recommend just smashing the whole head to make all the garlic squirt out. It is not a zit. Treat this stuff with respect. If you go the smooshing route, you'll spend almost as much time picking the skins out anyway.
After all cloves are extracted, fill jars and bottles about 3/4 full with cloves, and top off with more olive oil. Refrigerate.
After all cloves are extracted, fill jars and bottles about 3/4 full with cloves, and top off with more olive oil. Refrigerate.
I can't make enough of this stuff - Miss Janet eats them like they are candy, right out of the jar.
It's worth the effort though - throw a big spoonful into hot mashed potatoes, and OMG.
It's worth the effort though - throw a big spoonful into hot mashed potatoes, and OMG.
Oh yeah - if you have any small jars with screw top lids you would just recycle anyway, save them for me, would you? I think there'll be another batch soon!!!
It's a Work of Aht...
The pictures here are paintings by my favorite roller derby chick, daSilva Bullet. She isn't just hip checks and elbows to the neck - she is also a recent RISD graduate, and a starving artist / grad student in Art Education at UMass.
I bought the first one - you can't have it.
But, if you are interested, she now has an Etsy Shop - her seller name is MakingMachine (yeah, I know...). If the rest of these (and a few more) aren't in there now, they soon will be.
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