It's A Girl!

We have had a busy weekend. First we got the House cleaned and prepped dinner for our murder mystery get together.

Then we got a home inspection and were given our new child. She is a 5 month old, pure bred Shar Pei. We got her from an animal shelter in Winston-Salem.

We have named her Kelekona, Kele for short.


As the night wore on Lili went over and laid down near Kele. This was only Kele's second night without her sister.


She got up on the bed with us and I spent about 3 hours Sunday morning sleeping with her head and sometimes her chest on mine. My guess is that she likes the sound of my heartbeat.


And of course the Sunday nap shot. Kele is settling in well and snuggled up with Richard for a nap on the sofa.


How can you resist this face?

A Night of Murder and Mystery

My daughter likes having murder mystery dinner parties. So we decided to give one a try.

Our murder was set in London, May 1943.

The characters were:
Captain Samuel Robertson and Lindsey Johnson


Lt. Commander Nathaniel Cooper and Major Lady Hillary Bagshaw


Lt. Rexford Diamond and Sheila Barnes


As the night went on the Lt. Commander started getting cozy with Miss Barnes who admits she likes to have a "good time" with high ranking officers.


Capt. Samuel Robertson relaxing between chapters.


The lovely Lindsey Johnson and the only person who correctly guessed who the murder was.


We had a great time and already talking about hosting another one.

A Weekend "Camping" Trip

Years ago, in my previous life, I used to love to go camping. Pick a weekend, plan a menu, load up and head off.

So a few years back I traded my tent for one that floats and does not leak in heavy rain storms. It is also nice to have a much more comfortable place to sleep at night.

However,,,,,there can be drawbacks.

When I first arrived for my long weekend, I got onboard and heard a strange noise. I went around and turned off all the fans that Richard had left on to circulate the heat. But the noise was still there,,,,,I walked over to the heater and as I stepped on the sole in front of the heater(that's the floor on a boat) the noise changed. I turned off the heater and listened. There was still an odd noise.

Further research showed I had no water pressure and the sound was the water pump trying to build pressure on an empty water tank.

So, this photo shows our wonderful breaker board and all the switches we need to deal with. We usually turn off the water pump and many other things before we leave. The last time Richard was down he forgot to do that.


Friday morning I got up and took Morgan for a walk. Once back onboard I got the largest saucepan I have and headed up to the clubhouse for water to make my coffee with.

When one opens up the area where the control valves for the 4 water tanks are this is what you get to see. The black thing on the left is the water pump itself, to the right of that is a filter. To the right of that there are 3 yellow valves. One is for priming the water pump when things like this happen, another one is for back-filling the tanks from the front of the boat and the last one is for back-filling the tanks from the back of the boat. Under two of the yellow valves there are 4 stainless steel knobs. Those control which ONE tank you are running off of.


Once I had my coffee I connected a water hose and back-filled all the tanks. Only the one we had been running on was really empty. I topped off all the others just because. Then I had to prime the pump and was able to get water flowing from the faucets again. That task done I put up our American flag and my Admiral's Pennant.

Since Richard had been down to the boat several times by himself I knew I had a "bachelor's mess" to clean up. Now in his defense he knows that I am responsible for stowing everything onboard and he also knows that if he were to put something away in the wrong spot I would fuss at him. But at least he could have cleaned the head and vacuumed the place.

Friday I started in our head (bathroom for landlubbers), then moved on to our master stateroom. Once that was done I tackled the galley (kitchen,,, there will be a test later). I ended up the day in the saloon (living area) which I only got half done before it was time for a hot shower and a very stiff cocktail.

Here are two shots of our nice and clean master stateroom. Doesn't that look a lot more comfortable than a sleeping bag in a tent?




Saturday I finished the saloon and was able to relax for a few hours in the late afternoon.

Sunday I tackled the worst chore I had left to do,,,,,,the aft stateroom, a/k/a the garage. No matter where it is, cleaning out the garage is always a pain and this was no different.

By noon on Sunday my neat and tidy saloon looked like a battle zone.


Halfway into the project this is what the aft stateroom still looked like. It was quite awhile before I made any real progress.


We had a mouse on board and here are signs of its miserable existance. It had shredded a rather nice towel and had attempted to build a nest in it.


But by the end of the day Sunday this is what our aft stateroom looked like. Of course on Monday I could hardly get out of bed my muscles were so very stiff and sore.

Carbonnade De Boeuf A La Provencale

Sometimes in my effort to be really efficient I occasionally do stupid things. For example I backed up all my photos to a flash drive, then deleted them from my computer's hard drive,,,,the result no cookbook photo for this post or the next one.

When I first decided to make this I was going to do it on a Saturday but instead we ventured over to Winston-Salem. So I thought I would make it on Sunday. At 2 pm on Sunday I read the first part of the recipe which tells you to marinate the beef for at least 6 hours, preferably overnight. So Sunday's dinner became Monday's dinner.

The next problem was I failed to read the entire recipe and so when I started on Monday at 6 PM I had no clue that it would take 1 1/2 hours to bake once you had it ready to go in the oven. We did not eat until 8:30 that night. By then I was so hungry I served up the meal and we ate before I realized I forgot to take a picture of the finished product. So what you get is a photo of the leftovers ready for me to take to work for lunch.

We both really liked this dish and I would make it again,,,like in the middle of winter when I know we will not be going anywhere for the weekend.

Since it is only the two of us I halved this recipe. I used the pan I sauteed the onion in as my casserole dish for the oven, pushing the slices of meat into the cooked onions before topping with the potato slices.

Carbonnade De Boeuf A La Provencale

3 lbs chuck steak cut into slices 3 1/2 x 2 x 3/8"

THE MARINADE
1/4 cup wine vinegar
1 tblsp olive oil
2 large cloves garlic, minced (I used 4)
1/8 tsp pepper
2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp savory
3/4 tsp thyme

Mix the marinade in a glazed, glass or stainless-steel bowl. Add the meat, turning and basting with the liquid, cover and refrigerate for at least 6 hours or overnight, basting and turning the meat several times.

THE ONIONS

Optional but traditional: 4 oz. fresh side pork (I used bacon)
a heavy skillet
1-3 tblsp olive oil
5-6 cups sliced onions

Cut the optional pork into 1" pieces about 1/4" thick. Saute slowly in a tablespoon of oil to render the fat and brown very lightly. (If pork is omitted, pour 3 tablespoons of oil into your pan). Stir in the onions, cover closely and cook slowly for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally until onions are tender and just starting to brown.

BAKING

A 6 qt. flame-proof casserole
7-8 cups sliced all purpose potatoes
salt & pepper
Beef bouillon
1/4 Parmesan cheese for the final step

Preheat oven to 350.

Drain meat, saving marinade, and season with salt and pepper. Alternate layers of onions and meat in casserole. Pour in marinade, then arrange layers of potato slices on top, seasoning each layer with salt & pepper. Pour in enough bouillon to cover the meat; bring to a simmer on the stove top.

Cover casserole and set in middle of preheated oven for about an hour or until meat is almost tender when pierced with a fork.

Raise heat to 425. Tip casserole and spoon out accumulated fat. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese over the potatoes and baste with a spoonful or two of the cooking liquid.

Place uncovered casserole in upper third of oven and bake about 30 minutes, to brown top of potatoes and reduce & thicken cooking liquid. Serve from casserole.

Serves 6.
Serve with green beans or peas, French bread and either a Beaujolais or a rose wine.

Coquilles Saint-Jacques Sautees A La Provencale

So here is the third recipe from the Julia Child Cookbook.

This was a relative easy recipe and quick. Julia wrote that if you used frozen scallops, which I did, you needed to drop them into a pot of boiling water, quickly bring them back to a boil and then drain. Otherwise the scallops would thaw out in the frying pan and they would not brown.

My one complaint with this dish was the flour the scallops had been dredged in stayed on them and was too much. The next time I make this I would skip the flour entirely. Overall, they had a nice taste.


Coquilles Saint-Jacques Sautees A La Provencale

1 lb scallops cut into 1/2 inch pieces
Lemon juice, salt & pepper
About 1/2 cup flour
Olive oil
10" fry pan (preferably non-stick)
2 tblsp minced shallots or scallions (I used scallions)
1 clove garlic mashed (I used 4)
2 tblsp butter
2 tblsp minced fresh parsley

Dry scallops in paper towels, then place on a large double sheet of waxed paper. Sprinkle with lemon juice, then salt and pepper. The moment before sauteing, dredge with flour and shake in sieve to dislodge excess flour.

Film the pan with 1/16 inch layer of oil. When almost smoking, add the scallops. Toss for 4-5 minutes until scallops are lightly browned. Then toss for a moment with the shallots and garlic; finally toss with the butter and parsley.






Serves 4

A Nice Pre-Spring Weekend

The title of this could be "How I Spent My Weekend" but a pre-spring weekend works well.

I will start this post with some good news,,,for those of you who have been to the house recently you noticed that my Gerbera Daisy was struggling to stay alive over the winter,,,,which really bummed me out as it was a gift. The good news is it had 2 blossoms last week and now it has four more coming up.



Here is a close up of the newest flower buds.


In the past week or so we have had a lot of rain so I hiked down the side of the road and unclogged the pipe which feeds our pond. Richard said he did not remember it flowing so well. It took about 4 hours for the pond to fill up and then start flowing down the rock waterfall near the front walk.



We have frogs in our pond, a few in the one at the front door but a lot in the large pond, I saw this mass of frog eggs near the edge of the pond. If these frogs were bigger I would entertain frog's legs one night for dinner,,,,alas they aren't.


So as I wandered around the yard I noticed our garlic and daffodils are starting to come up. If you look just to the left of the landscape timber you can make out spots of green. What a great sight.


After we brought some wood in I thought it would be interesting to show all of you how much we have burned over the winter. Look at this and then go back to one of my summer posts and you'll realize that we have been through a lot of firewood. Good thing we have a few trees that are dead and need to be taken down around the yard.


Late on Sunday one of the last things I did was to roast more garlic. We buy our garlic from Sam's Club in 2 1/2 pound bags. One of the first things I do is roast 8-10 bulbs. Once they are roasted I squeeze out the garlic onto sheets of plastic wrap and then freeze them for quick use in the future. Did I ever mention that garlic is a food group in our house?

Coq Au Vin

This was the first time I played with fire while cooking. I made sure I had a fire extinguisher very close at hand just in case.

Before I get too far into this I want you to be aware that I made a few minor changes to the recipe. They are listed at the very bottom of this post.

Coq Au Vin


The Bacon:
3-4 Ounce chunk of lean bacon
10" flame-proof casserole
2 tblsp cooking oil

Remove rind and cut bacon into sticks 1" long and 1/4" across. Simmer for 10 minutes in 2 quarts water, drain, rinse in cold water and dry. Saute slowly in skillet with oil. When bacon is very lightly browned, remove to a side dish, leaving fat in pan.


Browning the Chicken:
2 1/2 - 3 lbs cut-up frying chicken
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1/4 cup cognac

Dry chicken thoroughly with a towel. Brown on all sides in the hot fat. Season chicken with salt and pepper, return bacon to pan, cover pan, and cook slowly for 10 minutes, turning chicken once. Then uncover, pour in cognac, ignite with a lighted match. Shake pan back and forth for several seconds until flames subside.




Simmering in Red Wine:
3 cups Burgundy, Macon or Chianti
1-2 cups beef stock or bouillon
1 tblsp tomato paste
2 cloves garlic, mashed
1/4 tsp thyme
1 bay leaf

Pour wine into pan, add just enough bouillon to cover the chicken. Stir in tomato paste, garlic and herbs. Bring to a simmer, then cover and simmer for about 30 minutes or until chicken is tender when pierced with a fork.

The Onions:
12-24 small white onions
salt to taste
1-2 tblsp cooking oil

While the chicken is cooking, drop the onions into boiling water, bring back to a boil and let boil for 1 minute. Drain, shave off the two ends, peel carefully and pierce a deep cross in the root end with a small knife. Heat oil in a frying pan, add onions and toss for several minutes until lightly browned (this will be a patchy brown). Add water to halfway up the onions and 1/4-1/2 tsp salt, cover pan and simmer slowly for 25-30 minutes, or until onions are tender when pierced with a knife. Drain and set aside.

The Mushrooms:
1/2 lb fresh mushrooms
1 tblsp butter
1/2 tblsp cooking oil

Trim base of mushrooms stems, remove base from stems, wash stems and caps rapidly in cold water and dry in a towel. Cut caps into quarters, stems into bias chunks. Heat butter and oil in frying pan; when bubbling hot, toss in mushrooms and saute over high heat for 4-5 minutes until lightly browned.



Sauce and Serving:
3 tblsp flour
2 tblsp softened butter

When chicken is done, drain out liquid and strain off fat. Boil down liquid if necessary. You should have about 2 1/4 cups. Remove from heat, blend butter and flour together in a saucer, beat into the sauce with a whisk. Bring to a simmer, and simmer for 1-2 minutes or until the sauce has thickened. Add the onions and mushrooms and simmer a minute more. Pour sauce over chicken. This can be served now or set aside for a day or two. When reheating be careful not to overcook the chicken.



NOTES: I used regular bacon and did not simmer it in water. I drained off all the fat, oil and such BEFORE I added the cognac and set it on fire. I cheated and used frozen pearl onions, thus I did not have to peel them, nor did I simmer them in water.

How I Spent My Weekend,

So, as I posted on Facebook it was supposed to be a nice quiet weekend. It did not turn out entirely as I had planned but that is okay.

On Saturday I made Coq Au Vin out of the Julia Child Cookbook, that will be its own post. Then we drove over to Winston-Salem, looked at a dog, looked at a few motorcycles as Richard is thinking of buying one, then popped into Sam's Club for a few items before racing home to drop the "kids" off and then headed up to a neighbor's house for dinner. We had a great time with our friends and got home just after 12:30 am.

I had to post this photo of my Gerbera Daisy. During the middle of the winter I thought for sure this plant was going to die on me. But as you can see it has 2 beautiful blooms and one more just starting to come up,,,whew.



We had some rain on Saturday and it was raining when Richard got up on Sunday, he let me sleep late then woke me up when he hollered that it was snowing. I am so ready for there to be no more snow until much later in the year.



While I was still sleeping my sweetheart built a fire for us. At lunch time I made some Bruschetta with fresh tomatoes, roasted red peppers, minced garlic and basil. It was the perfect light lunch while enjoying the fire.



After lunch while Richard was napping (standard weekend activity) I made a pound cake with a 13 oz jar of Nutella in it. The damn thing would not come out of the pan. It also turned out that all the Nutella sank to the very bottom of the pan while it was baking. This was NOT AT ALL like the picture with the recipe. I still took it in to work and my co-workers agreed that looks are not everything as this tastes wonderful.



And as usual my weekend ending too quickly but on Monday morning the view out the front porch was wonderful.

Gratin de Pommes De Terre Et Saucisson

So I jumped into March and started the month off with the first recipe from this cookbook. Although it was easy to make and looked wonderful the first bite brought one word to mind,,,,,bland. Not at all what one would expect from Julia.

Richard and I agree that it needs more sausage and more onions. I had already doubled the amount of Swiss cheese. But I would make this again with the mentioned changes.


Gratin De Pommes De Terre Et Saucisson
(Sausage and Potato Casserole)

3 cups sliced potatoes (previously boiled), about 1 lb.
1 cup minced onions, previously sauteed in butter
1/2 lb Polish sausage, sliced
A lightly buttered dish or pie plate, 8" in diameter and 2" deep
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups light cream
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1/4 cup grated Swiss cheese
1 tblsp butter

Preheat oven to 375.

Arrange layers of potatoes,onions and sausage in baking dish. Blend eggs, cream, salt and pepper in a bowl, pour over potatoes. Sprinkle with cheese and dot with butter. Bake in the upper third of preheated oven for 30-40 minutes, until top has nicely browned.







Serves 4

In the past I have made several recipes out of this book. I used my first one so many times the pages started to fall out. If you can find a copy of this book try the Stuffed Mushrooms, Veal and Ham Casserole. If you have the time the Beef Burgundy is to die for, plus her French Onion Soup Gratinee is the best on a cold winter night.