A FRIDGE FULL OF FOOD...

Indian Rice Pudding on a Dark & Stormy Night

Like the rest of the Midwest, we hunkered down last night with our suppy of candles, flashlights, batteries, weather radio, extra bottled water, extra milk, bread, lunch meat (gag), assorted other junk, and charged cell phone waiting for hell to ice over.  As condemned people I said "screw the diet!" (I did go to the gym yesterday) and Gene and I each picked whatever we wanted for dinner before the maybe/probable electrical power outage could come to pass.  I chose Alton Brown's Indian Rice Pudding for dessert so I could use the cardamon Auntie Miranda had given me as a treat brought back from one of her business trips, and Gene chose the artery clogging pasta carbonara, except he wanted it with scallops.  Okay.  Works for me.  I didn't take any pics of the carbonara, though.  I have a friend who always says if you're going to sin big, for God's sake, don't talk about it, don't write anything down, and don't take pictures.  Well, I've already blown my cover on the first two so I thought I'd play it smart on the third.  NO photos of the carbonara.  So the calories don't count, right?

Yeah. Let's just move on and pretend and I didn't talk or write anything down.

Isn't the Indian Rice Pudding lovely?

It was so incredibly good I'll be making the recipe again and again. Well, maybe not that often considering the ingredients but you know what I mean. It was really yummy and very simple when you look at it. The flavor is all packed in the coconut milk and cardamom, which by the way, is my spice/herb this week for Kalyn of Kalyn's Kitchen Weekend Herb Blogging.  Cardamom is a spice from the ginger family that is used culinarily throughout Scandinavia, India, and the Middle East, and culinarily and medicinally thoughout Asia.  It also happens to be (and this is my favorite) what makes graham crackers taste like graham crackers.  Cardamom makes my beloved Teddy Grahams, grahamier.

As a postscript of sorts, just got a phone call. With all the rainy icy crap (haven't actually seen outside yet, it's still dark) and more along with snow on the way, lots of people who live in the little towns and out in the country around here can't get into work this morning.  I live two miles from the hospital and have four-wheel drive. Hmmm... even though it was supposed to be my day off, guess who gets to go play respiratory games this morning? I'm thinking a bigger check before Christmas, what do you think?

Thanksgiving: Norman Rockwell? Not even close

If you've come to my door looking for anything Norman Rockwell or Martha Stewart-ish, then you've come to the wrong door, baby. But then, if you've come here anytime before you know that well enough by now.  Martha Stewart doesn't live here and neither does Mr. Rockwell.  Here's how my Thanksgiving went down. Nothing fancy, nothing huge, nothing orchestrated.  And you know what? It was pretty fantastic. One of the best I can remember.

First, I had to work. Well, I didn't have to work. I put myself on the schedule. I've said this before but I'm pretty highly motivated to work on the high holidays.  For one, you have to know my family.  Certain members of my family who if I looked right at them would say "What do you mean, little ole me?" but everyone else in the family would know exactly who and about what I'm referring to, who each holiday seem to go out of their way to turn the family party into a Jerry Springer throwdown.  That drama used to be worth the trouble when I was younger. But now, I'm just too old for that shit.  Something happens to you, I think, once you pass the big 4-0.  It's like God gives you an invisible license to not give a crap about what people think anymore or what looks right or what the neighbors will whisper behind their hands.  Life's too short to spend any more time fighting and worrying over the retarded crap.  You hear what I'm saying?

So I volunteered to work for that selfish motivation and then also, altruistically, because Gene and I don't have small children and I'd rather be at work on Thanksgiving and Christmas than watch Neil or Joel or Mary or some of the others with really small kids have to work.  It feels right for me to be there.

Had a good day.  The docs had cut loose everyone from the hospital they possibly could so our census was down to people who absolutely had to be there.  But that's okay.  I find it easy to be extra caring to people who have to be there and that most of the families aren't cranky like you might imagine, they're making the best of the holidays so it's, to me, an uplifting experience to work on the holiday.  I took care of one very old lady that it was just her and her son. They had no other family left but they were both so happy to be together on (probably their last) Thanksgiving.  They kept saying that our hospital pumpkin pie was the best they'd ever had.  You know, I don't think our pumpkin pie is the best anyone's ever had but I love that their hearts made it be the best they'd ever had together.

In our department, we all brought in a potluck meal to share which was fantastic. I love getting people and their food together.  That's when we all (foodies I mean) really understand that food isn't just about fuel for the body. It's about love and art and sharing.  Everyone was so generous with their time and skills.  For 25 RT's and a few docs, we had 2 6' tables overflowing with turkey, brisket, stuffing, bread, salads, and desserts of all kinds.  I took mini pumpkin spice bundt cakes with orange glaze and deviled eggs.

We had a nice day at work and I still got off at 3pm, plenty of time for Gene and I to have a nice Thanksgiving meal together.  I made a big psychological step forward this year. You know what?  Here it is. This is what I learned this year: It doesn't have to be perfect to still be pretty damn good.  And when I say not perfect I mean, holy cow, waaaaaaaaaay out in not Glenna norm land. That beautifully perfectly George Hamilton tanned 25 lb bird on every November magazine cover? Yeah, well he didn't make it to my house. At my house, I got up at 4am and left for work before 6am and when Gene got up he turned on the crockpot that held our 3 lb turkey roll of half white/half dark meat.  That's called being practical, knowing I'd be tired when I got home, and experimenting.

But I will tell you, it was the juiciest, moistest bird we've ever had and the sandwiches have been fabulous!

So I forgot the bread.. and who really cares about the vegetable?  I got the high points.  Turkey. It's not Thanksgiving without turkey, even in the crockpot. Check. Gravy.  Have to have gravy. Mmmmm...lovely gravy from the crockpot juices. THAT was  a definite plus for the crockpot bit to be repeated.  Check.

Mashed potatoes.  A huge bowl of them. Who was I planning on feeding? I don't know either but we have potatoes for an army. Check. Stuffing. Same army being fed.  Check.  Mac and cheese?  I don't why know either. It just sounded good to me at the time.  Check.

It's all hot.  Let's eat.  At the table with the good china. Pffft.  The news is on.  It's our Thanksgiving.  We're in our 40's. No one can make us do anything. It's not like we haven't eaten a million family Thanksgiving buffets with our plates on our knees in the living room anyway. What's the difference?

Yum.

Do you know how to make deviled eggs for two people? Neither do I so I made a bunch and took all but a couple to work.  But then I forgot to set them out last night.  Oh well.  Guess what I had for breakfast this morning?  Deviled eggs and macaroni and cheese. Yum! That's nutrition! 

It's all good. That's the great thing about Thanksgiving.  Hope yours was as relaxed and filled with warm memories as mine.

Now welcome to the Christmas season.  I'll race you to the nervous breakdown.

The best Scalloped Potatoes EVER!

I'm not speaking in hyperbole when I say these are the best scalloped potatoes I've ever had. First, you need to know that the recipe is from my newest cookbook: The New Best Recipe from Cook's Illustrated. For Cook's Illustrated fans, that should probably say it all.  When my poor old Better Homes & Gardens general cookbook finally fell apart past shoving the pages back together, I had to make a decision on what general cookbook to replace it with and I'm am so glad I chose this one.  Being a little kitchen OCD, I love the way CI and their show, America's Test Kitchen, not only tests all the variations you've ever seen on every recipe but tells you all about each one and what the did and didn't like about them and why they did or didn't work.   This general cookbook does exactly the same thing.  So there's a whole page prior to the scalloped potato recipe talking about all the different ingredients and techniques they tested before deciding on the quintessential recipe and I have to agree with them: this is the one.

There are a few things that makes this different from the way my mother scalloped her potatoes: 1)  The potato slices are parboiled to reduce cooking time and assure evenness of cooking, 2) thyme and bay leaf are added to the stove top cooking for flavor not found in many traditional recipes, and 3)  the parboiliong liquid is half chicken broth to reduce the amount of fat.

All of those are excellent improvements to the standard church basement casserole dish version. The thyme and bay leaf create subtle taste that almost hypnotizes you into not being able to stay out of the casserole dish and the aroma is better than perfume, it was like distilled fall, all garlicky, thymey, and bay leafy.  The neighbors were practically beating down the door. . 

Weekend Herb Blogging is being hosted this week by Nandita of Saffron Trail so be sure to head over that way late this weekend to see all the lovely herbacious dishes everyone's been cooking up this week.

Editorial Note: Some of the comments to this post will reflect a story I told here that has since been deleted.  It was linked to, and part of a discussion with, a couple of blogs that are no longer in existence.  The theme of the discussion was that, as cooks/hosts, we have an obligation to be mindful of our guests' real medical allergies but we have no obligation to be treated as short order cooks or servants to demanding, unreasonable, or irrational guests.  It's a common thing to many of us who cook often for others to have one or two people in our lives who drive us batshit crazy with their demands but it comes down to this:  No one should put up with anything less than respectfulness, no matter who is doing the demanding. There's a difference between assertiveness and aggression.  An aggressive guest is not being assertive and the reverse is true too:  an assertive host/hostess is not being aggressive.  No host should enable behavior that the guest themselves would not tolerate. 

The Cake that Almost landed me in jail...

Okay, today we'll do a cake pic and another "this would only happen to Glenna" story.  So...somebody, can't remember the client now calls and wants a birthday cake for a friend/husband/boyfriend--don't remember those details much, not that it matters--who happens to be a helicopter pilot for the hospital I don't work for.  Keep in mind this was long before I worked in any hospital and it was right after 2001. Get the drift? Heightened security.  So how happy do you think the hospital security guards with me when I was parked out in the hospital circle driveway near the portico with a pad of paper sketching their helicopter paint design and Hammons Lifeline logo, and writing down its registration number?

Yeah, not very.  Add that to the rent-a-cop mentality and I had finish the cake by memory and that was after I convinced them that as a short middle-aged women of Swedish/Norwegian descent I don't exactly fit their profiling make.  But then again, neither did Timothy McVeigh so it's not like I hold a grudge. I'm rather glad they had the guts to come knock on my window and ask me what the hell I thought I was doing.

Doctor's Kitchen Monday: Balsamic Sauce Repost

I know this is a repost but for all of our new friends from Carriage Park Preventive Health Care joining us it's a must have.  This sauce still appears in my dreams and frequently on my table on top of everything from the scallops to hake to Kalyn's salmon to chicken. It's a winner.

Salmon Photo courtesy of Kalyn Denny at www.kalynskitchen.blogspot.com )

To see the original links for balsamic syrup sauce recipe postings go here:

Scallops

Hake

Kalyn of Kalyn's Kitchen Salmon

The basic premise is this. Grill, roast, or saute any meat, fish, or poultry the way you normally would and then serve it with this sauce made on top of the stove.

Balsamic Syrup:

In a small sauce pan, bring:

1/3 cup Splenda

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar

1 tsp coarsely ground black pepper

a few drops of chinese red hot sauce (optional)

...to a boil until thickened and reduce by half.  This is basically a simple syrup.

Make 4 servings
Per serving  Calories: 10  Protein 0 Carbs 3 Fat 0

Halloween A Bit Late

I know Halloween is past but and this pics are really the past but when we recently upgraded my computer Gene found a bunch of Halloween pictures from the last big bash Halloween party right before I went into respiratory school and it made me miss those years when I made six gallons of chili and it would all be gone by 9pm.  Next year.  I'll do it again next year. I just had to take a hiatus for a couple of years.  Sniff. 

Halloween has always been my favorite holiday.  When I was a kid we used to trick or treat an aunt who had chili on the stove and popcorn balls on the table for us. I never forgot that so for several years when my nieces and nephew were little tinies Gene and I hosted a big party for anyone and everyone. I think we usually had 40-60 people throughout the evening, lots of family, friends, and neighbors.

Last year when I was in the respiratory program, I had a clinical in the hospital Halloween evening and several of the younger male RN's and RT's were joking about dressing the comatose patients up as pirates and taking them trick-or-treating because "they won't want their candy anyway".  That's sick but really funny to me.  If I'm ever in a coma tell the RN's and RT's I'd LOVE it if they dressed me up and took me trick-or-treating around the hospital, and they can even have my candy.

So taking a little skip down memory lane...here are a few pics..