Tag: food

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On the Subject of Food

Shelly

Do you remember Butternut bread? It came in a blue and white checked wrapper and was soft and moist and squishy. When we were kids, we used to tear off the crusts, then roll it into dough balls. Butternut bread made the very best dough balls. I’d forgotten about doing that. My favorite was to dip the dough balls in creamy peanut butter. Mmmm.

And that reminded me of a new favorite sandwich: cheese and peanut butter on toasted bread. It sounds disgusting, but it’s damnfinetasty. You have to use real cheese. The fake stuff, like Kraft singles or Velveeta, would get lost–flavor-wise and texture-wise–in the peanut butter. Sharp cheddar works best, I think.

Crankypantsing

From the Department of Ridiculous Questions

Shelly

I’ve tried three times to heat up my lunch in the microwave, and each time, there was a line of people. The third time, when I came back to my desk, a coworker asked me what I was doing. I explained. My cubicle neighbor, who sits behind me and who is fixin’ to be named Miss Nosypants, asked me if it was something I had to heat up. Strictly speaking, I guess it’s not, but what the hell business is it of hers, and why would she think I’d want to eat something cold when I’ve repeatedly taken the time and effort to try to heat it up?

Veggies and rice, by the way. Sure, it could be eaten cold, but I think I’d rather go without, thankyouverymuch.

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Spring

Shelly

I made a big pot of vegetable soup last night, along with a loaf of whole wheat bread. When I got up and went out to the living room this morning, it still smelled wonderful. Mmmm. And it’s supposed to storm this afternoon and again tonight, which I’m almost half-way looking forward to. It’s Friday for me, and I could use an evening with homemade bread and vegetable soup and a good book and the knowledge that I don’t have to get up in the morning[1].

Also, the forsythia and redbuds are blooming, as well as daffodils, and the grounds folks have planted pansies everywhere. I also saw tons of little violets out in the back field, while Harriet and I were tracking bunnies. Well, Harriet was tracking; I was just along for the ride.

The best part, though? I haven’t had to turn on the heat in several days. It’s supposed to cool off again this weekend, but I think it’s safe to assume that winter is well and truly over. It’ll be nice to have a month or so where I don’t have to use heat or AC.

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1. I think Mr. Upstairs must be out of town, because I haven’t heard a peep from him in a couple of days. There was a fury of cleaning activity on, I think, Monday, then the next day, silence. I haven’t even heard water running. Hopefully, this means I’ll be able to get caught up on sleep this weekend!

Photography

Breakfast of Champions

Shelly

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Scrambled veggie eggs with cheddar stuffed into a whole wheat pita. Normally, I’d have added mushrooms, celery, broccoli, spinach, and roma tomatoes, too, but apparently this was a plain old green pepper and onion day.

The peppers, by the way, were the cheapest I’ve seen them since last summer. They must be starting to come into season somewhere. Everything else in the produce department, of course, has gone up in price.

Oh, and Ms. Lea, that is the lone, last lunch plate from your mom’s restaurant. Somehow, my mom ended up with the leftover dishes, and when it got down to one plate, she asked me if I wanted it.

Genealogy

Apple-Cranberry

Shelly

I stopped at the grocery store on my way home yesterday, against my better judgment. I hate the milk-toilet paper-bread buying frenzy that possesses everyone when a storm hits. But, I needed cat litter, and I figured, if I was going to stop, I should pick up some veggies and rice, too. I wandered through the juice aisle, thinking I’d pick up some V8, when I got distracted by the cranberry juice. I suddenly remembered that I had half a bottle of sour apple vodka at home, and if you can’t drink during an ice storm, when can you drink?

After spending all day test driving GEDCOM-to-HTML converters, I’m completely brain dead, and thankful for my foresight in buying mixer. Aaah! I’m pretty sure that I’ve never, ever had such a damnfine tasty beverage.

As for the GEDCOM-to-HTML converters, ugh. I didn’t find one I liked well enough to fork over money for, and the free ones I tried didn’t make me happy, so I ended up back where I originally started. After making a few spelling corrections and fixing and adding information that some very kind relatives in Ireland sent me, I settled for just exporting the family tree directly from the database I use. I’m not in love with the format of the web pages it creates, but until I find something I like better, I guess that’s what I’ll use. If nothing else, I can be reasonably sure that it won’t convert living flags to dead (oops!). There’s nothing quite like prematurely killing off one’s relatives, eh?

Oh, and it’s still icy out, and not in a remotely pretty way, so I didn’t even try to go out and take photos. I think what that means is that there will be no PotD today.

Oh, andalsotoo! I did get to see the eclipse the other night! The sky cleared up very nicely. It was absolutely beautiful. Harriet wussed out on me after about 15 minutes, so she spent the rest of the time standing inside the patio door, staring disgustedly at me. I think she was convinced that I was up to No Good.

Photography

Tomato

Shelly

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Tomatoes were US$2.49/pound at the grocery store, which is out of control. But, since there were a few that still had green on them, I bought them anyway, so that I could have fried green tomatoes. For breakfast. Mmm. Much better than oatmeal!

This one was almost too ripe to fry, but it turned out fine. I actually like them better when they’ve started to turn a little pinkish red than I do when they’re hard and green. The semi-ripe ones get soft when you fry them, but the flavor is wonderful.

I just slice them, dredge them in a little bit of flour or flour and cornmeal mixture, and fry in olive oil until they’re brown. Then just salt and serve.

Photography

Granny Smith Apples

Shelly

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I love Granny Smith apples. I used to buy them by the bagful, because one of my dogs liked them, too. Elliott would eat them whole, or, when I ate one, would sit patiently and wait for me to give him slices. Harriet’s not too keen on them, unfortunately, so I don’t buy them as often now. They were on sale, though, so I got a 3lb bag of them today. Even if I don’t eat them all before they’re past their prime, I can slice and dry them in the dehydrator. Or, who knows, maybe I’ll bake a pie?

Addendum: Teh Google says that the Granny Smith apple was not introduced to the US until 1972. I had no idea!

Alsotoo, I like them best sliced and sprinkled with a little bit of salt. It cuts the sourness very nicely. That’s how I learned to eat grapefruit and tomatoes, too.