What Did You Eat?

Eggplant and Potato Stewed with Cumin Seeds and Fresh Ginger

Yesterday, I noticed that the interval between the times we eat meat has gotten longer. I mentioned this to Bob and he informed me that he could give it up completely, and never miss it at all.  If I ever went that route, I would still eat seafood.  And cheese. I have to enjoy a Mt Tam cheese now and then.    This recipe for eggplant and potato stew was very good, and it allowed me to play with my new Penzey's herbs and spices. It calls for cumin seeds, bay leaf, garlic, fresh ginger root--but no meat. (I grew up in a house where eating stew always meant there was beef in it.)  The smell of all the ingredients as they cooked in this meatless stew was wonderful.  They permeated the entire house for hours, the best air freshener possible.

Spaghetti With Zucchini And Saffron

It doesn't happen very often, but there are times when I question the whole cooking thing. This happens when I'm very stressed or tired and that was the situation on Monday.  A dinner of shredded wheat seemed fine with me. But, then I thought of my new spices and herbs from Penzeys.  That revived my spirits a bit. But, I knew that any recipe I made had to be fast. Really fast.  Not one of those recipes labeled fast, but actually requiring fifteen minutes or more of chopping or shredding. Or stripping watercress leaves off their stems.    None of that.  And I wanted to use my new saffron.  The result was this fast (I swear) recipe of Spaghetti With Zucchini And Saffron.

Corn-Rye Muffins

A few months ago I went into a tirade about all the insipid muffins sold today. Too sweet, too mushy, too much like cake.  Well, that's not the case with the humble muffins you see pictured here.  I baked them to serve with the meatball soup I made a few days ago.  I wasn't sure how they would taste, but the recipe comes from Deborah Madison.  I figured she wouldn't let me down and she didn't. Made with whole wheat flour, rye flour, and cornmeal, they were absolutely delicious.   They taste the way muffins were once prepared before the likes of Otis Spunkmeyer warped the quick bread industry. Sorry if I've offended any Otis fans. I know the company is very popular and sells millions of muffins each year.  Just let me say this about Otis: imitation vanilla.  'Nuff said.  I'm about to go on a rant again. So, just make the muffins.  They're very, very good.

Weekend Cat Blogging: Upsie's Beauty Tips

I often get questions on how I manage to stay so gorgeous. First, besides good genes and exercise, finding a personal assistant who understands your sense of style is crucial.  For instance, here you see my Charlize Theron Oscar Look which would have been impossible without an assistant to tie the bow.

Second, always make sure your assistant combs your fur every day for a minimum of 10 minutes. If they forget to do so, yank out large tufts of fur with your teeth and swallow them.  That should bring them running with the comb.

Third,  remember to give back to the community.  After a good combing, I have my assistant knit sweaters from the fur ball, for the poor hairless cats of the world. 

And last, go to Eatstuff where Clare provides a meeting place for all the styling cats and their personal assistants.

Arugula and Meatball Soup With Pesto

Once again, it's Weekend Herb Blogging. Go to Kalyn's and read about all the other sites with great recipes featuring herbs. I learn something useful every weekend from the other herb bloggers.  This weekend my lead actor is arugula, but we also have basil and fresh oregano in supporting roles.   The fresh oregano goes in my meatball recipe.   But this was a moment in time when rolling raw meat into little balls was about as tempting as sticking red hot needles into my eyes.  So, I used a package of Aidell's sun dried tomato meatballs, which are pretty good.  Not as good as homemade meatballs, but that's OK.   I was very tired and rushed, so thank you Aidells. 

Kale and Spinach Enchiladas with Tequila Sauce

A few weeks ago, I saw a clip of Paula Deen drinking a small cup of melted butter.   (Well, of course it was melted, how do you drink solid butter?)  Actually, who could be surprised that Paula would do such a thing?  I thought of her as I was making this, because I would gladly drink this tequila sauce. And not because of the tequila. If you've ever had tomatilla sauce, you know It has a tangy, spicy kick to it that's very different from red tomato based sauces.  And this one is very good.  You can barely see the sauce in the picture, because it's not heavy and just naps the enchilada.  That's good because you can serve extra sauce on the side for people to pour on their serving if they wish.   The filling looks a bit evil because I wandered off as the kale and spinach were sauteing.  It cooked longer than I wanted and darkened quite a bit. But, it still tasted good. 

Yippee!!!!! Penzeys!

My Penzeys spices and herbs just arrived!!  What a wonderful smell when I opened the box.  I remember when Penzeys was a tiny company with just one shop in Wisconsin. My mom and I would drive there from Illinois to buy our supplies.  It's nice to see how they've grown. 

I'll be sharing these with friends. Well, maybe not the Tellicherry peppercorns. Ahhh, I love that stuff so much. OK, I'll share a little of it.

Yowza! It's a great feeling to have good herbs and spices! 

Asparagus Fettuccine

When I was around 8 years old we lived in Lincoln, Nebraska, two blocks from the Capitol building. Nice town.  When we first moved into our small rented house, my mother reconnoitered the backyard and spotted some fluffy bushes, around 4 feet tall.  "Asparagus", she whispered to me.  We walked down the alley behind our house and found more asparagus plants growing in a ditch. "Don't tell anyone about this", she said. And in the years that followed while living there, we harvested lots of delicious asparagus spears in the Spring. Whenever my mother moved to a new home, she had an unerring ability to find wild asparagus growing in ditches or fields.  It was always our little secret.  I've never found any wild asparagus here in California. But, commercial growers produce beautiful blue tipped asparagus in the Delta, not far from where I live.  Still, it's not as much fun as discovering the wild variety.

Salmon With Tarragon Butter

Last night I went to a restaurant named Chops with Nancy and Helene. It's located right across from the Capitol Building, where Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger works when he comes to town. Governor Schwarzenegger. That's still hard for me to believe, after all this time.   The staff at Chops confirmed that the Govenator comes to Chops regularly. He often walks around  the room admonishing people for eating inappropriate things like potatoes. Well, he should have been there last night and tried to come between me and my potatoes.  I haven't had them (or a dessert) in months, so I treated myself to some fabulous french fries, a huge hamburger and molten volcano chocolate cake.  It was marvelous.  Sorry, I don't have a picture of me threatening Arnold with a french fry.  But take the time to consider the wonderful salmon I fixed tonight. 

Weekend Cat Blogging: Security Duty

Why am I looking up?  For the same %@*# reason as yesterday and the day before and forever.  Because I'm the only one who cares about this yard. I'm out here protecting the yard, while THEY are in the house watching something called NCAA Basketball or reading cookbooks.  Meanwhile I'm all alone dealing with rats with wings.
 

Every morning this disgusting pigeon comes with another one (I guess they mate for life or some stupid thing) and they wait for me to go inside.

Why does it wait for me to go inside, because Cookbook Reader (people call her Sher) puts BIRD SEED on the patio for them!! You can see it to the left of me.  Can you imagine such a disgusting thing????  She invites them into our yard!   Rats with wings!  Well, I'm not leaving this patio.

I can't believe I fell for the same trick. Cookbook Reader shook the Pounce can with the chicken treats, so I had to come inside.  You see that, don't you?  I had to. To get the treats.  Then the filthy pigeons flew down and ate the seeds. They are soo smug. They see me looking at them from the window.  It makes me want to puke!   Just wait you &^$# birds, your day will come!

I have such a headache.  I barely have enough energy to go over the Clare's site. She's the one who started this Weekend Cat Blogging. I know she hates pigeons as much as me. So, go to Eatstuff.