Pood

I don’t recall how I came upon it, but I have spent far too much time mulling the various messages offered by the essay You Weren’t Meant to Have a Boss. In an effort to move on and get something productive done today, I hereby announce my intention to fob off at least a few of them on to you readers.

Winter is arriving in fine style here, as those of you who read the news and/or follow the weather know. As I mentioned earlier, we got a lot of snow earlier in the week, and yesterday evening, the winds picked up and more snow started flying. It almost feels like I’m back in Wyoming! Except Wyoming doesn’t have the monster evergreens that are everywhere ... nor the green that persists here, even this late in the year.

I was introduced to a lot of foods and food tricks while at college ... reconstituted dried eggs (although I’m not sure that really counts as food), the use of ketchup to disguise scrambled eggs made from reconstituted eggs, veal, and several others that escape me at the moment—probably because they were deservedly forgettable. Not so the granola. I’m not sure what their source was, but it was excellent granola: crisp, with a hint of sweetness, and a good ratio of raisins and nuts to the oat base.

Since then, I have looked high and low for good granola; and in the process, I’ve sometimes paid quite dearly for it too. It was our very own Polka who first encouraged my thoughts of making my own—and who, in the process, reminded me that in some parts of the world the stuff goes under the term muesli. After collecting several recipes and experimenting with a few, I really don’t see myself buying the mass-produced product ever again—especially since, as Wendy McElroy points out, it’s easy to dehydrate one’s own produce. Using dried fruit is a boon in another way—the cook can experiment with varying combinations that simply aren’t possible with fruits that ripen at differing times in the season. It isn’t a good candidate for long-term storage [thanks, SRS and Mama, for correcting me on this!], but it’s so easy and good that it’s worth doing.

That’s probably the last question y’all would expect from a candy-making snake, and particularly at this time of the year. But it’s for real—I’m thinking about undertaking a fast and would appreciate input from anyone who’s done it before.

I hadn’t intended to offer truffles this early, simply because of how busy this time of year is; I didn’t want to get in over my head. But someone I don’t want to disappoint inquired after four flavors, so I figured I’d toss the idea out here in case others are interested.

For those of you who follow this place via RSS—and therefore wouldn’t’ve noticed when I updated the sidebar—I am offering caramels for sale. Several varieties are available, and others, as well as other treats if one is interested, can be had. If you’re interested in giving caramel gifts for Christmas, the deadline for placing those orders is Sunday, December 14 (primarily so they’ll have plenty of shipping time).

We can start the annual truffle flavor selection conversation at any time, too. :-)

A ramble from early October mentioned in passing the FDA guidelines for melamine in foods. Surprise, surprise—they’ve tweaked them again!

Whether one’s new to the magicks of the kitchen or an old hand, it can be useful to take some time to think about the processes necessary to turn ingredients into delectable dishes. If you think cooking is just about tossing ingredients together and mixing, this should help you improve your skills. Not all mixing is created equal—and neither is all application of heat. Shall we head to the kitchen?

I think I have all the packing supplies I need on the way to me for carameling and truffling, at long last. Now to find the time to figure out prices and such in order to officially start offering them again. Meantime, I need to make some caramels of varying flavors, and I don’t like the thought of the remainder of the candies going to waste. Is anyone around here interested in getting a sampler box of my caramels, as sort of a warmup to official caramel season?

Did you go through the "red meat is bad" scare and eat nothing but chicken until you were sick to death of it? I sure did. The budget wouldn't stretch to buy fish very often, and there's only so much tuna I'm willing to eat under any circumstances, so I was pretty much stuck with chicken and cheese of one sort or another. And no, I don't eat soy anything either.

The other major drawback to this time frame was the idea that ALL fats were bad, so the chicken was skinless and as fat free as possible. Cubed sawdust comes to mind...

Preemption could be coming to pharmaceuticals. Supreme Court considers the reach of drug warning labels, reads the LA Times headline, which gives barely a hint of how profoundly things might change with the Robed Nazgul’s ruling.

Even though I've made bread most of my life, I had a challenge learning how to adapt to a much higher elevation than I was used to. I was having consistent problems with over rising, rising too fast, and large airholes in the bread because of it. I tried lots of things, from reducing the yeast to reducing the temperature, but I couldn't get the slow, steady rise that makes for smooth texture and easy slicing... until now.

This recipe is a favorite and comes from "Sundays at Moosewood," a collection of the very special recipes from the vegetarian collective in Ithaca, New York.

I decided to alphabetize by category after all, just to be different. :)

First, let me say that most of my recipes are very simple and plain. I believe strongly in whole foods and natural ingredients, but I do not worry about any particular school of thought as to what foods are "good" or "bad" other than that, and I don't do "organic." If you want to consider that, you just need to find "organic" ingredients or make substitutions where necessary.

Coffee and chocolate are the key to long life, sez someone besides me. No, seriously—a British scientist is quoted in this report advancing the claim that 20 polyphenol-rich foods are essential to fulfill one’s maximum individual lifespan. Luckily for y’all, I just happen to use several of the delectables on his list in my truffle offerings!