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Home again
May. 6th, 2005 12:14 pmHome again
I was gone for about two-weeks. It's a strange thing to discover one has settled. I am, in many ways, a gypsy. I've moved, completely, up stakes and don't look back, almost a score of times in the past 20 years.
That doesn't count the short stints here and there, where the Army saw fit to send me someplace(s) for more than three weeks (though I am counting the three major moves during my wartime peregrinations, but not the smaller jumps we made from Kuwait to everywhere else in country).
Most of these have been fairly easy to take. Pack the bags and boxes, move; unpack the bags and boxes and call it a day.
So coming back from LA to discover that this was, in fact, home; that I was happier here than elsewhere, was pleasant.
I had free reign in the kitchen again(I have become very territorial about the kitchen... it is my part of the house and last night I was irked to find that I was irked at having been displaced for the evening. Not that I mind not cooking but it just sort of happened and the not knowing this was frustrating me because it was me, not Maia who was in the way).
Time in Pasadena was spent well enough. Did some minor yard work, tried to repair a spa. Having a leak, below the basin of a Jacuzzi is frustrating. Having it in PVC piping is more so. There are no threads, one uses hacksaws and glues, where regular plumbing would be almost trivial (a wrench and some teflon tape, with a bit of putty... problem solved). After two days feeling as though I was living in a trench (it rained while we were working on things, which made being in the hole all the more pleasant... you betcha), we still hadn't managed to repair the leak... which was just noticeable when the pump was at rest, but couldn't be missed when under pressure. But, because it was all done with PVC the actual working space was reduced.
If Barry and Michael can't fix it between now and when I am next down, well a low-clearance hacksaw and completely ripping out everything from that T-joint to the flexible PVC (which isn't all that flexible) will come out and I'll force the new piece so far in it barely needs the welding compound.
I also spent some time in the pottery lab. My joints weren't up to much, so I think I only kept one piece. It has a very nice shape, thin walled (about as thin as that clay can manage) and a decent flare to the lip of the bowl. It's smallish (I'm factoring in the shrinkage after firing) and I trimmed the base to a deep foot and thin bottom. I was afraid I'd be either too aggressive, or not enough, but when I asked Maia if she could guess how I knew to stop she said "the bottom started to fall in," and that was the answer, so I guess I did all right.
Barry and I also played with glaze. A Cone 06 raku (boring looking thing, sort of khaki colored) which was supposed to give a purple/turquoise break when reduced at Cone 10. PCC fires to 11, so we had great hopes. We also, looking at the formula, expected a runny effect. In that we were not disappointed. The bowl I fired has no evidence of either Barry's stamp, nor my mark. Filled in completely. Sadly the kiln didn't reduce much, so it is a verdigris color, with hints of purple and blue. Nicely textured, and with promise. Josh has been trying to get, "track stars" so we added some wood ash to the mix and we'll see what comes of it.
And when Maia goes down next she'll being back some of the mix, sans water, and we'll see how it fires at Cone 5.
Maia was down on Thurs., and we had dinner with friends of hers (her employers at the Faire). For reasons of politics I had to decline passes, but I did go and collect her on both days, which meant I got to take pictures of the birds at the lake (the faire moved, because they managed to piss off the county of the site they had before... seems to me they figured they were a big enough boon to the local economy that they could make like a sports team and expect concessions. They were wrong). I could do this because the Faire is ten minutes from her house, and because the new site prohibits camping, so for the first time in almost 30 years (perhaps since the beginning of the faire, some 37 years ago, there is no night-life).
That let me shop for her birthday present, which took two days, because the lesser part was trivial to find, but without the greater part it was pointless. I am not sure why I was so hellbent on getting it while we were down south, because 1: I had three weeks still to find it and 2: That increased the risk of her seeing it and 3: there is a shop in walking distance of the house which has it, but I had this silly quest.
So there I was on Sunday trying to find my preferred game-shop. I made the drive to Burbank, and parked. Things looked bad, because half the block on which the shop is located is being turned into town-homes. Having not been in recently, I wasn't completely sure they weren't a bit further on. They weren't, and the Burbank Town Center didn't have anyplace with it. Nor did it have a phone book. This makes the second time the building for this shop has been bulldozed. The last time was to build the Town Center.
I found a phone book, in the restaurant across from where I'd parked and drove the couple of miles to the new shop (less attractive, in all descriptions, than the most recent, which was probably the best of the four venues I've known them to inhabit), and bought the game.
So we headed home, jiggety-jig.
Monday we got the box from the Cal-Poly farm project. Kale, and beets, and onions and garlic and parsnips, and radishes and lettuces. There were also no small numbers of veggies from before I left, and while I was gone. Out comes the stock pot, in go the leafy greens, the celery and some onions. I also took a cleaver to the carrot we bought before I left (this carrot was about 2 lbs, measured just less than 5" across and about 10" long... it needed the cleaver) and simmered that with half a dozen parsnips (I'd never bothered with parsnips before... silly me. These were sweet, smooth fleshed and went soft in no time at all... they will make an interesting puree, perhaps as a side dish next week with the borshch) until they were filling the kitchen with sweet savor. Then in to the pot.
Dinner was perfumed rice with lamb. Parboil some basmati, and some lentils. Take a bit of yogurt and a bit less than half that of melted butter, mix this with about 3/4" inch of the rice and place in a deep pot; over a medium heat for about ten minutes.
Layer the rice and the lentils with dried fruits (I used currents and montmorency cherries, but dates and raisins are canonic, apricots would not be ill, prunes might be a little rich), in a slowly tapering mound. Sprinkle the rice layers with persian allspice (ground cardamom, cinnamon, cumin and saffron {I used about equal parts of cumin (2/3rds of which I toasted in a skillet first) and cardamom, 1/2 that of cinnamon and a healthy pinch of the saffron, all ground to a fine powder [as much as the saffron would grind]} in a deep mortar and pestle). The saffron in the mix will color, and flavor, some of the rice, so you get a few pearls of delicate red/yellow rice. Drizzle with the rest of the butter you melted (you can clarify the latter butter, but don't do that for the yogurt mix).
For the lamb I used about two lbs. left over from Passover. Since it had been cooked some of the classic steps were changed. If you have raw lamb brown it in some persian allspice, absent the saffron. Then cover with water and simmer with apricots (and maybe some dates/raisins) and a few whole peppercorns. You may want to cook this up ahead, it will do fine simmering on the back burner while the rice cooks.
When the rice is done, remove it from the stove and place it on a dishtowel, soaked in cool/cold water. This helps release the crust on the bottom (a non-stick pan helps too). When the steam stops, start ladling the rice into a bowl... fluff it as you go. At the bottom will be a crunchy disk, with luck you can get it out in only a couple of pieces (with a non-stick pot it can even be done in one). Break this into pieces and put one on each plate. Guests may help themselves to some of the stewed lamb.
One of the advantages (or not) of using lamb from the week before is the increase in the lambiness of the meat, as it rests after roasting. Since this had been roasted over coals, not baked, there was a small counterpoint of smokiness to go with the sweetness of the diced apricots. I thickened with a bit of cornstarch, because I started it about 30 minutes too late.
I started the bread the night before. I was trying for a na'an like bread again. So in addition to the sponge I used some old yogurt (this I have discovered is part of the secret). I did three batches, one with fresh dill, one with toasted cumin, and one plain. It was tasty, but I still had large loaves of pita. I'll figure it out yet.
Some tatziki (Fage yogurt, fresh garlic, and some dried cloves, cucumber) and the meal was complete.
The only thing which bothered me was the wine. I wanted to find some retsina, but the only place which might have some is all the way in SLO, and I forgot to have anyone check. I say the only place because everyplace nearby has not a drop.
The garden was in decent shape. I think the Thai Basil might recover, and I still have three plants (maybe four) of the 17 which used to be in the pot. I suspect a snail got to them. I have placed copper tape around the bottom of that pot. Not pretty (around the half-barrels it has a certain charm, on a red with black glossy glaze it looks terrible) but I want pesto, and pistou, and grilled cheese with basil sandwiches.
Weds. to the Farmers' Market in Arroyo Grande. We don't buy as much as we used to, because we get that box every week. On the other hand Maia and Alexa salvage the scraps, and feed them to rodents and rabbits. I bought an odd flower (Calceolaria Pocket book. It looks like a yellow snapdragon with a fat lip, and burst capillaries, or a cross between a snapdragon and a pitcher plant), as well as a number of small calla lilies with a dusky pink coloring.
Thursday night, at the larger market in Slo we bought a half-flat of strawberries (I think I'm making jam), a chardonnay grape (with two bunches of grapes on it) and some slow-growing basil (O sanctum ornamental, not used in cooking, according to the University of Ohio. I'll try it in some pesto and see if they are right).
It also turned out to be the Slo Wine and Food Festival so we watched (as the rain abated) a master cooper making some barrels. Sigh. A new barrel, suitable for actually storing things in, is only $350, if made from american oak. For French Oak (though I don't need it, since I'd not be aging wine, nor spirits in it) the cost is $900. I don't want to think what Limousin oak would run.
Today I'm going to make some beer bread with some of the last of Anchor Steam's 2004 Holiday Ale (I found almost two-cases worth while shopping for Passover, and couldn't justify buying more than one. If you should see any, grab it($11 dollars a six-pack and worth it, but $80 worth of beer was more than I thought I could get away with, esp. as I'd just bought $40 worth of wines at TJs, three Amarone and a BeerenAuslese). It is, in my opinion, the best year they've had in at least a decade and I'm curious as to how it will bake. I wish it was a live bottled beer, since I'd love to experiment with that. I'll have to buy some Red Tail Ale and see if it has any barm to it.
I was gone for about two-weeks. It's a strange thing to discover one has settled. I am, in many ways, a gypsy. I've moved, completely, up stakes and don't look back, almost a score of times in the past 20 years.
That doesn't count the short stints here and there, where the Army saw fit to send me someplace(s) for more than three weeks (though I am counting the three major moves during my wartime peregrinations, but not the smaller jumps we made from Kuwait to everywhere else in country).
Most of these have been fairly easy to take. Pack the bags and boxes, move; unpack the bags and boxes and call it a day.
So coming back from LA to discover that this was, in fact, home; that I was happier here than elsewhere, was pleasant.
I had free reign in the kitchen again(I have become very territorial about the kitchen... it is my part of the house and last night I was irked to find that I was irked at having been displaced for the evening. Not that I mind not cooking but it just sort of happened and the not knowing this was frustrating me because it was me, not Maia who was in the way).
Time in Pasadena was spent well enough. Did some minor yard work, tried to repair a spa. Having a leak, below the basin of a Jacuzzi is frustrating. Having it in PVC piping is more so. There are no threads, one uses hacksaws and glues, where regular plumbing would be almost trivial (a wrench and some teflon tape, with a bit of putty... problem solved). After two days feeling as though I was living in a trench (it rained while we were working on things, which made being in the hole all the more pleasant... you betcha), we still hadn't managed to repair the leak... which was just noticeable when the pump was at rest, but couldn't be missed when under pressure. But, because it was all done with PVC the actual working space was reduced.
If Barry and Michael can't fix it between now and when I am next down, well a low-clearance hacksaw and completely ripping out everything from that T-joint to the flexible PVC (which isn't all that flexible) will come out and I'll force the new piece so far in it barely needs the welding compound.
I also spent some time in the pottery lab. My joints weren't up to much, so I think I only kept one piece. It has a very nice shape, thin walled (about as thin as that clay can manage) and a decent flare to the lip of the bowl. It's smallish (I'm factoring in the shrinkage after firing) and I trimmed the base to a deep foot and thin bottom. I was afraid I'd be either too aggressive, or not enough, but when I asked Maia if she could guess how I knew to stop she said "the bottom started to fall in," and that was the answer, so I guess I did all right.
Barry and I also played with glaze. A Cone 06 raku (boring looking thing, sort of khaki colored) which was supposed to give a purple/turquoise break when reduced at Cone 10. PCC fires to 11, so we had great hopes. We also, looking at the formula, expected a runny effect. In that we were not disappointed. The bowl I fired has no evidence of either Barry's stamp, nor my mark. Filled in completely. Sadly the kiln didn't reduce much, so it is a verdigris color, with hints of purple and blue. Nicely textured, and with promise. Josh has been trying to get, "track stars" so we added some wood ash to the mix and we'll see what comes of it.
And when Maia goes down next she'll being back some of the mix, sans water, and we'll see how it fires at Cone 5.
Maia was down on Thurs., and we had dinner with friends of hers (her employers at the Faire). For reasons of politics I had to decline passes, but I did go and collect her on both days, which meant I got to take pictures of the birds at the lake (the faire moved, because they managed to piss off the county of the site they had before... seems to me they figured they were a big enough boon to the local economy that they could make like a sports team and expect concessions. They were wrong). I could do this because the Faire is ten minutes from her house, and because the new site prohibits camping, so for the first time in almost 30 years (perhaps since the beginning of the faire, some 37 years ago, there is no night-life).
That let me shop for her birthday present, which took two days, because the lesser part was trivial to find, but without the greater part it was pointless. I am not sure why I was so hellbent on getting it while we were down south, because 1: I had three weeks still to find it and 2: That increased the risk of her seeing it and 3: there is a shop in walking distance of the house which has it, but I had this silly quest.
So there I was on Sunday trying to find my preferred game-shop. I made the drive to Burbank, and parked. Things looked bad, because half the block on which the shop is located is being turned into town-homes. Having not been in recently, I wasn't completely sure they weren't a bit further on. They weren't, and the Burbank Town Center didn't have anyplace with it. Nor did it have a phone book. This makes the second time the building for this shop has been bulldozed. The last time was to build the Town Center.
I found a phone book, in the restaurant across from where I'd parked and drove the couple of miles to the new shop (less attractive, in all descriptions, than the most recent, which was probably the best of the four venues I've known them to inhabit), and bought the game.
So we headed home, jiggety-jig.
Monday we got the box from the Cal-Poly farm project. Kale, and beets, and onions and garlic and parsnips, and radishes and lettuces. There were also no small numbers of veggies from before I left, and while I was gone. Out comes the stock pot, in go the leafy greens, the celery and some onions. I also took a cleaver to the carrot we bought before I left (this carrot was about 2 lbs, measured just less than 5" across and about 10" long... it needed the cleaver) and simmered that with half a dozen parsnips (I'd never bothered with parsnips before... silly me. These were sweet, smooth fleshed and went soft in no time at all... they will make an interesting puree, perhaps as a side dish next week with the borshch) until they were filling the kitchen with sweet savor. Then in to the pot.
Dinner was perfumed rice with lamb. Parboil some basmati, and some lentils. Take a bit of yogurt and a bit less than half that of melted butter, mix this with about 3/4" inch of the rice and place in a deep pot; over a medium heat for about ten minutes.
Layer the rice and the lentils with dried fruits (I used currents and montmorency cherries, but dates and raisins are canonic, apricots would not be ill, prunes might be a little rich), in a slowly tapering mound. Sprinkle the rice layers with persian allspice (ground cardamom, cinnamon, cumin and saffron {I used about equal parts of cumin (2/3rds of which I toasted in a skillet first) and cardamom, 1/2 that of cinnamon and a healthy pinch of the saffron, all ground to a fine powder [as much as the saffron would grind]} in a deep mortar and pestle). The saffron in the mix will color, and flavor, some of the rice, so you get a few pearls of delicate red/yellow rice. Drizzle with the rest of the butter you melted (you can clarify the latter butter, but don't do that for the yogurt mix).
For the lamb I used about two lbs. left over from Passover. Since it had been cooked some of the classic steps were changed. If you have raw lamb brown it in some persian allspice, absent the saffron. Then cover with water and simmer with apricots (and maybe some dates/raisins) and a few whole peppercorns. You may want to cook this up ahead, it will do fine simmering on the back burner while the rice cooks.
When the rice is done, remove it from the stove and place it on a dishtowel, soaked in cool/cold water. This helps release the crust on the bottom (a non-stick pan helps too). When the steam stops, start ladling the rice into a bowl... fluff it as you go. At the bottom will be a crunchy disk, with luck you can get it out in only a couple of pieces (with a non-stick pot it can even be done in one). Break this into pieces and put one on each plate. Guests may help themselves to some of the stewed lamb.
One of the advantages (or not) of using lamb from the week before is the increase in the lambiness of the meat, as it rests after roasting. Since this had been roasted over coals, not baked, there was a small counterpoint of smokiness to go with the sweetness of the diced apricots. I thickened with a bit of cornstarch, because I started it about 30 minutes too late.
I started the bread the night before. I was trying for a na'an like bread again. So in addition to the sponge I used some old yogurt (this I have discovered is part of the secret). I did three batches, one with fresh dill, one with toasted cumin, and one plain. It was tasty, but I still had large loaves of pita. I'll figure it out yet.
Some tatziki (Fage yogurt, fresh garlic, and some dried cloves, cucumber) and the meal was complete.
The only thing which bothered me was the wine. I wanted to find some retsina, but the only place which might have some is all the way in SLO, and I forgot to have anyone check. I say the only place because everyplace nearby has not a drop.
The garden was in decent shape. I think the Thai Basil might recover, and I still have three plants (maybe four) of the 17 which used to be in the pot. I suspect a snail got to them. I have placed copper tape around the bottom of that pot. Not pretty (around the half-barrels it has a certain charm, on a red with black glossy glaze it looks terrible) but I want pesto, and pistou, and grilled cheese with basil sandwiches.
Weds. to the Farmers' Market in Arroyo Grande. We don't buy as much as we used to, because we get that box every week. On the other hand Maia and Alexa salvage the scraps, and feed them to rodents and rabbits. I bought an odd flower (Calceolaria Pocket book. It looks like a yellow snapdragon with a fat lip, and burst capillaries, or a cross between a snapdragon and a pitcher plant), as well as a number of small calla lilies with a dusky pink coloring.
Thursday night, at the larger market in Slo we bought a half-flat of strawberries (I think I'm making jam), a chardonnay grape (with two bunches of grapes on it) and some slow-growing basil (O sanctum ornamental, not used in cooking, according to the University of Ohio. I'll try it in some pesto and see if they are right).
It also turned out to be the Slo Wine and Food Festival so we watched (as the rain abated) a master cooper making some barrels. Sigh. A new barrel, suitable for actually storing things in, is only $350, if made from american oak. For French Oak (though I don't need it, since I'd not be aging wine, nor spirits in it) the cost is $900. I don't want to think what Limousin oak would run.
Today I'm going to make some beer bread with some of the last of Anchor Steam's 2004 Holiday Ale (I found almost two-cases worth while shopping for Passover, and couldn't justify buying more than one. If you should see any, grab it($11 dollars a six-pack and worth it, but $80 worth of beer was more than I thought I could get away with, esp. as I'd just bought $40 worth of wines at TJs, three Amarone and a BeerenAuslese). It is, in my opinion, the best year they've had in at least a decade and I'm curious as to how it will bake. I wish it was a live bottled beer, since I'd love to experiment with that. I'll have to buy some Red Tail Ale and see if it has any barm to it.
