October, 2019 ~ What's cooking today?

Bugster2 wrote:Yes, I can grow herbs and I do have some now: oregano, rosemary, thyme, catnip, and some parsley and basil that have seen better days. I use the Aerogarden for basil and cilantro and parsley in the winter. They have short lives and die within a couple of weeks in cold weather, so, that is why I have the Aerogarden. I have grown cherry tomatoes and lettuce but the lettuce is too soft for my taste but the cherry tomatoes do ok.

How cold does it get where you live, Debbie, and when does your cold weather begin? Does the weather where you moved differ any from the weather you were used to in your last home?

Our basil will last probably into late November. but cilantro and parsley are the herbs that do REALLY well here once it cools down.

Y'all might laugh but yesterday was the coolest day we've had all summer -- yes, October isn't supposed to still be summer but it has been. It was 83 yesterday and people here were soooo relieved, as we've seen record highs since October began (a few days ago the high was 97 in some areas, 94 at our house). We're all on pins and needles waiting for this weekend, as the HIGHS will be in the low 70s. You'd laugh but the minute the highs are in the low 70s, it seems like every woman in N.O. breaks out a pair of boots! When we commuted together via ferry to downtown where I worked (my SIL, who lives in CA, says less than 5 miles is NOT a commute!), Brian and I always cracked up when all the boots made an appearance on the very first mild day!

UNCLE JIMMY wrote:Tina always sings..... "There's nothing like Homemade Bread, and Home Churned Butter!"

One day, she got a butt worm for baking bread, and started baking Batter Bread recipes.
OMG......at the end of that 5th last Loaf of bread ( boring by now ), I didn't want to see
any more bread. NOT Tina though......there she was, baking another 5 loaves of her batter bread... 'A G A I N' .....

I used to go thru "kicks" like that, Jimmy, whether it was bread, fancy desserts, or something else. It usually started with me either reading an article in one of the cooking magazines I get, or seeing a cooking segment on television which piqued my interest. I'm smiling now, as any current "kick" I'm into might involve a SINGLE recipe, as I sure don't have anywhere near the stamina I used to.

Bugster2 wrote:How did you get it so charred??? Love char!

I made them in my 12-inch cast iron pan, Debbie, that I heat up for 5 minutes on a medium-high flame (a 6 on my stove's knobs), using a timer to make sure I wait the entire 5 minutes. Then I add the olive oil and it normally takes less than 30 seconds for the olive oil to smoke, which is my signal to add the steaks, which I've had at room temp for at least one hour, usually longer. If the climate here was cooler, I'd do like a lot of people do by sticking the pan in the oven while preheating it to 500°F but it's too hot here to do that. Might work for your climate though, especially if it's winter time.

Normally when I cook ribeyes, I always get them cut 1-3/4 inches thick and I cook them 5 minutes on each side in my cast iron pan and then finish them for EXACTLY 7 minutes in a preheated 375°F oven (I've cooked them so many times while testing them often with my Thermapen that I now just leave them in for 7 minutes and then test them once when I remove them from the oven). Since these were 1-1/2 inches thick, I cooked them for 4 minutes on each side (I don't move them during that time period) and then using tongs to hold them up, I cooked the edges of each steak for 30 seconds, which could be done in three "spins," so this added another 90 seconds to the cooking time. One steak was a bit thinner than the other so my Thermapen showed it was right at 123 degrees, which was perfect for Brian before resting. The other was a tad thicker, so I cooked the three "edges" again for 45 seconds total before removing it from the pan. That one was mine and it was just like I like it, too.

What I've been reading lately re steak cooking is to flip the steak OFTEN whether cooking it on the stove or on the grill; they say it leads to more even cooking. It's funny but for years it seemed everyone advocated NOT flipping a steak while cooking it. At this age, I'm too old to change my method so I don't flip or move the steak at all until it's time to cook the other side. I'd never be able to keep track while flipping it constantly and I'd be afraid I'd end up cooking one side more than the other. The way I do it is a lot simpler for me with the timer. Due to the makeup of these steaks -- the fact that they were rolled rather than "solid" and much more marbled than the thick ribeyes we're used to, I figured they'd cook a bit quicker than the steaks I'm used to, which is why I decided I'd do all the cooking on the stovetop. I do admit to taking their temperature more often than I do with ribeyes but I wanted to make sure I didn't overcook 'em!

QUESTION FOR ALL: Do you flip often or just once when you're cooking a steak?

Bugster2 wrote:Things are getting crazy out here in CA. Remember that fire last year that wiped out the town of Paradise, CA? Well, PG&E is saying that they are going to shut off power for up to a week because there are the Santa Ana winds that will be coming in this week. October is always a fire month for CA. They are telling people just to shelter in place. Nice of them. That will play hell with the people trying to get to work and think of all of the businesses that will have to shut down because they might lose power. It will be financially catastrophic. Grocery stores, restaurants, fast food. SCE is also threatening to shut off power if the winds get bad. That will affect us down here.

Wow -- I can't believe they just expect people to do without power for such an extended period of time. Think of the refrigerators! OMG, who controls what the power co. does in your vicinity, Debbie? Here in N.O., it's the City Council; it would never fly over here considering Katrina's effect on refrigerators where power was off for so long. Most people just threw their fridges out rather than attempt to clean them out. One person even published a book with pictures of all the fridges waiting for garbage pickup, as the messages written on front of most of them were really hilarious!

Bugster2 wrote:To add insult to injury gas prices have gone through the roof. Some places are charging as much as $5.69/gal. Average is $4.25 around here.

Wow, when I filled up a couple of weeks ago, I paid $2.19/gal. I've got to add some gas to the car now (Brian likes to fill up when it's at half a tank; I think that stems from keeping it gassed up during hurricane season (June through November) and it looks like current gas prices are up around $2.23 to $2.29 a gallon; will find out later today. I hadn't put gas in the car since we bought the prior car in 2009 (we got this one in 2017) until recently. Gassing up the car is one of those things, like putting out the garbage and taking in the empty can, that Brian thinks a woman just shouldn't do! You'd laugh but when I got out of the car at the dry cleaners prior to heading to the gas station, I had to check to make sure I knew which side of the car the gas tank was on!!!

Crybaby, we are about 30 miles inland from the beach. Our old house was about 15 miles inland. It is about 10 degrees hotter out here in the summer but colder in the winter. Our low last year was 20 degrees. All of our plants froze and had to be cut back. Some herbs just don't make it through. My parsley, tarragon, basil, dill and cilantro are dead from the heat. The oregano, chives, thyme, catnip, rosemary are doing ok.

Bugster2 wrote:Crybaby - I just saw that Rao's has come out with two new soups. One is chicken & gnocci  and the other is chicken noodle.

Thanks, Debbie. I was just reading about Beth's neighbor's pork chop dish with soup and was about to post how I don't like any dishes made with canned soup. Years ago when I was young, I made a few dishes from recipes in one of those cookbooks that women's clubs put out; here one popular one is "About Good" put together by the Junior League of Lafayette, LA.

I just can't stand the flavor of recipes with canned soup in them anymore so I no longer try any of them. As far as the famous green bean casserole, I've always hated it ever since my sister first made it in high school. Brian loves it but after making it about three times for him since we've been together, I told him about 30 years ago I would never make it again 'cause I hated it! Always wondered if a "homemade" version would be any better but then saw where Beth said she went to a lot of trouble making it homemade several years back and no one seemed to appreciate it -- so I decided it was simply the flavors together that I didn't care for. Brian has asked for it probably 10 times over the years and I told him the best I could do was get all the stuff for it so he could make it, something he never took me up on.

The only canned soup I buy anymore is Progresso Chicken Noodle Soup, as it's something I heat up when either one of us is sick and wants something light like chicken soup. I used to have that a lot more often when I didn't feel like making anything but once I discovered Raman chicken soup, I now make that if I don't want something to eat but feel like i have to eat something. It's quicker but I know I can't have it often due to the salt content (and my PH).

When Brian was doing the grocery shopping, he'd occasionally pick up a can of soup he wanted, the most recent being a can of Campbell's French Onion Soup. That soup was in the cabinet for a couple of years when I gave it away with a bunch of canned goods when the post office had a food drive (they pass out brown grocery bags and then a week later pick them up after we've filled them up with non-perishable items. He asked me where it was quite recently and I laughed and told him I'd given it away after it was in the cabinet for 2 years without him touching it.

Beth wrote:Did I mention the first time I ever heard of the 'cut' was on a Food Network show where Bobby Flay was raving about a restaurant that serves the steak? I'm not usually a huge fan but his description and the highlighting of the cut was so interesting to me.

AND THEN NORM SAID HE FOUND THEM AT COSTCO! ! !

That shocked me to no end ~ who would have thought to even check at a retailer like Costco for prime meat? It's so great we're able to share information.

I'd never heard of that cut of steak until reading about it here and Lord knows I get a lot of cooking magazines and read a lot about cooking. I've been frequenting that Weber-sanctioned website (www.virtualweberbullet.com) for more than 20 years so I knew Costco was a great place to get large cuts of meat for grilling or smoking, and I also knew they had a lot of prime cuts I never saw other places for reasonable prices, like a whole brisket. And then Norm used to get a lot of his smoking meats there, too. N.O. finally got a Costco about 10 years ago I guess; it's not that far away, probably 8 miles but I know if we paid for a membership, we just wouldn't go there enough to justify it. Plus when I DID go, it would mean I'd end up buying tons of stuff we didn't need, shouldn't eat and I'd spend too much money on things we couldn't eat fast enough.

Of course, my getting PH and then the horrendous back problems I suffer with now changed our lives a lot. For one, Brian started doing most of the grocery shopping and now, I'm back doing it. Funny how things change so often. Thank GOD for Walmart which I've always hated, but I can get all of the bulky groceries not only shopped for but delivered and CARRIED into my kitchen for $4.95 delivery fee (we usually tip $20 because I get a lot of heavy stuff there to take advantage of the carried in part: 36 cans of canned milk, LOTS of Boost, lots of six packs of lemon water and berry water that we keep cold in the upstairs fridge, etc. Other stores including Rouses that we love have delivery too but the items are marked up terribly on the website you order from whereas Walmart seems to offer delivered goods the same price I'd pay for them in the store. So I go to Rouses to get meat, specialty meats, and most of the produce we use that needs selecting. Wine, beer and liquor can't be delivered either. Brian only goes thru a case of beer now in a month or more (he can only have one beer a day while getting chemo but doesn't have even that, and doesn't drink very much anymore when not getting chemo), and I not only drink wine regularly (mostly Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir, though I often buy Cabernet Sauvignon for cooking) but cook with it often. I no longer buy my large bottles of Sauvignon Blanc as I don't go through as much wine, drinking or cooking, as fast so I now buy the regular size bottles. It's been kind of fun checking out different shippers's Sauvignon Blancs too, and our local grocery has a huge wine section, as most groceries do. When I go to my pain doctors every other month, I hit a HUGE wine place Uptown that has EVERYTHING you could ever want in the way of wine, liquor, cheeses, and more, Martin Wine Cellar. I always spend WAYYY too much!!

Crybaby, I was reading a review of Ree Drummond's new line of frozen food. They raved about the green bean casserole. Maybe you should give it a try for Brian when he gets the cravings for it. I will also give a whirl and see how it tastes but i don't have high expectations. Katie loaded up my freezer with Lean Cuisine's, Amy's, Weight Watchers frozen meals. She now won't eat them because they have bad things in them (according to her). So, I have been cooking them just to get rid of the. I got rid of them alright - right in the trash. One was ravioli and the other was chicken alfredo. Terrible! I have found most frozen meals are pretty bad.

Speaking of frozen. I love French toast but it is a pain to make. The frozen varieties from the grocery store brands, Aunt Jemima's et al, are ok, but not really that good. EGGO has come out with a new French toast that is good. Thought I would pass the word.

$2.14/gal for gas is something I can't remember. What is so absurd is that we have summer gas and winter gas. I get the air pollution bit but they are really sticking us hard with the cost. We have off-shore oil rigs and refineries right here in Los Angeles and they are trying to tell us the price is due to the Saudi oil field explosions so there is a shortage of gas. Right.

Bugster2 wrote:Crybaby, I was reading a review of Ree Drummond's new line of frozen food. They raved about the green bean casserole. Maybe you should give it a try for Brian when he gets the cravings for it. I will also give a whirl and see how it tastes but i don't have high expectations. Katie loaded up my freezer with  Lean Cuisine's, Amy's, Weight Watchers frozen meals. She now won't eat them because they have bad things in them (according to her). So, I have been cooking them just to get rid of the. I got rid of them alright - right in the trash. One was ravioli and the other was chicken alfredo. Terrible! I have found most frozen meals are pretty bad.

I'm smiling but I'll wait until YOU try them and tell me about them, Debbie!

I had a pedicure appointment this afternoon at the local beauty school (for $15 !!) so it was a late start on supper. Fortunately for me I had thought about it ahead of time and decided to make creamed ham on noodles with peas. Took me about 15 minutes to walk into the kitchen and have a meal fixed.

I have never had a pedicure or a manicure. I think I am the only female I know who hasn't had one. I don't have the patience. $15 sounds like a good price. Katie had to pay $25 for hers.

I pay $45. +tax, plus tip, so it ends up $55. Worth every penny!

Bugster2 wrote:I have never had a pedicure or a manicure. I think I am the only female I know who hasn't had one. I don't have the patience. $15 sounds like a good price. Katie had to pay $25 for hers.

Laughed, Debbie, as I didn't get a pedicure until I was about 40. I don't get them as often as some women do but it's pretty much a necessity now with my back being as bad as it is. Plus in summer I wear a lot of sandals and open-toed shoes; if you're going to show your feet, I think they need to look good. I find getting a pedicure is very relaxing.

I pay $25 but that includes a hot wax treatment on your feet at the end; they put hot wax in plastic, she rubs it on your feet for a couple of minutes, and then they leave it there about another 5 or so minutes. Heavenly! Lots of places in N.O. cost a lot more but I love the place I go to. I've been going there about 12 or so years now; the last owner sold the business last year to a woman who worked there for several years. Though I miss him a lot, Tuhyen (pronounced Twin) is very nice and she just redid the whole place -- new flooring, new paint, new lighting. got rid of some of the prior owner's stuff so it's more roomy now, new manicure stations, and 4 new pedicare chairs with massaging features. I like the place because it's always squeaky clean. All ages go there, too, which appeals to me...

The fires have started here. A mobile home park is gone. People trying to evacuate their animals from the ranches. There are 4 fires that I know of here in SoCal. It is that time of year. Humidity is 10%. Wind isn't too bad here - yet. Dry though and my skin is starting to itch.

We had burgers for dinner. Three kinds of cheese, lettuce, tomato, french fried onions, bacon on brioche buns.

Crybaby: [quote] QUESTION FOR ALL: Do you flip often or just once when you're cooking a steak?

I leave a 1 - 1/4 inch thick rib eye on the 400 to 500F grill for 7 minutes grill top down, then flip over for 7 minutes, flip again for 1 minute. Done!
Cover with foil to eat after 2 minutes.

In a pan, I keep flipping every two minutes until done. ( medium well )

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A trick..... Gas pump shown on the dash or instrument panel Gas pump with hose on the right = passenger side gas cap. On left = on left side.

We're suppose to have beautiful weather for a couple days.....no cloudy skies, no rain. And the temperature is in the mid 80's! Absolutely perfect for me.

But instead of planning something on the grill, I went for a kitchen cooked meal. I had thought about making the Cuban picadillo but changed my mind and went with good old American Sloppy Joes ~ on toasted buns. Made some coleslaw with the last of the head of cabbage & a shredded carrot (with the Original Marzetti Slaw Dressing) and some fresh green beans seasoned with the Penzey spice blend we enjoy.

And now I'm stuffed. To the gills......I need to go for a walk to get it all to move and settle.

Every once in a while I have to do something over the top. This is a hard cooked egg inside a layer of sausage inside a layer of grated potatoes.  It was fried until the potatoes were browned then baked until the sausage was done. 

Had a bag meal today.
2 Mac Doubles with cheese.....a medium fries, and 2 tastykake cupcakes.
I'm so full...

Beth, I read this on a cooking email from the Kitch'n and thought of you. LOL.

Quote:
As a food writer, I’ve long referenced a piece by Fuchsia Dunlop regarding how Chinese chefs reacted to fine cheese, describing it as “rotted thousand layers,” with a “bitter aftertaste,” that “affect the sweat that comes out of your skin.

Here is the article

https://slate.com/human-interest/2011/05/eating-cheese-in-china.html

Yup, my sentiments, to be sure:

“vegetable stinky foods are very clean and clear in the mouth (qing kou), and they disperse quickly, while milky foods are greasy in the mouth (ni kou), they coat your tongue and palate, and they have a long, lingering aftertaste.”  

Maybe I have Chinese in my heritage I never knew about.....

I thought the article was really interesting and funny. I wouldn't touch their stinky tofu and such with a ten food pole. Andrew Zimmern did an episode on those stinky foods and I was horrified. The tofu was marinated for a long time in a dark brown soup of rotted vegetables that is never thrown out. The marinade is really old. I am firmly convinced that tasting it would be the death of me. Andrew had a hard time sampling the stuff.

I've found there are many things that I find objectionable are those I wasn't raised eating. It's like fresh herbs. Grandma grew parsley (the curly kind), chives, tarragon, mint and some thyme. She used those in her cooking. She didn't ever grow cilantro (UGH!), basil or rosemary. And I find that although I do have them growing in my patio pots (well, NOT the cilantro), I don't really use the basil or rosemary much at all. I do occasionally put a couple big stems of basil in my marinara when I simmer it but I remove it before it's ever served. I'm not fond of the flavor when sprinkled on fresh tomatoes or sliced to sprinkle over a dish. I can't remember the last time I used any of the rosemary ~ it reminds me of a pine tree resin flavor.

And the same goes for not growing up with any real Mexican dishes. The taste of dried chiles is an unfamiliar one for me. We had green peppers in the garden, an occasional red one (called a pimento ~ but it was just a red sweet green pepper). And the Americanized Mexican restaurants were so unlike a 'real' Mexican restaurant.....they put melted cheese in and on EVERYTHING. And we all know that's one reason I don't do Mexican food often.

I think I was more drawn to Asian or Chinese foods because it was more vegetable forward and didn't have cheese. I figured even if I wasn't familiar with the vegetable it wouldn't be as objectionable in my mouth as cheese. I'm not a huge fan of tofu, and doubt I've ever had a dish with the 'stinky tofu' in it, but for the most part I do enjoy most selections from a Chinese restaurant ~ just wish I was better at using chopsticks. Our friends' children from China always have to suppress a smile when they see me struggle trying to pick something up with chopsticks. They are too well mannered to laugh but I know they think I'm comical in my lack of agility.

My husband and MIL hated cilantro. From what I have read, it is a genetic thing. I like it.
Rosemary does taste like a pine tree and can easily overwhelm a dish.
Old (gone to seed) basil tastes like licorice.
I only like mild chiles but they do not like me.
My mother used to make a revolting looking mess called pimento cheese. It would gross me out until one day in my 30's, I tasted it and thought it was really good.
It is funny how your tastes change over the years.

Dane and our oldest daughter like cilantro.

Our younger daughter and I think it tastes like "sweaty socks" ~ even though we've never tasted "sweaty socks" that was the first description that came to mind when we tasted it for the first time. I can now at least swallow it, like in a salsa with chips, but then I move on and just eat the plain chips.

But with all the things I don't care for (most cheese and other assorted things) I am very careful when reading a menu. Most objectionable items are listed. I have no problem asking for my salads or meals without a listed cheese. I don't ask for a substitution, just that it be left off my plate. I have friends who think if they delete one item they can add another ~ tit for tat sort of thing. I think that's asking for too much and will pass on the menu item if it's something that would be difficult to omit without changing the dish entirely.