crafty_packrat

( Ingredients )

( Directions )

I added a bit of bacon fat that I saved from making spaghetti carbonara a week ago, as the bacon I had was fairly lean, but any mild vegetable oil would do if you don't have that.

Also I used my hickory-smoked salt from Auntie Arwen's to give it bit more of a smoky taste, but it's not required.

Serve with crusty bread, if desired.

I made Vaquero Bean and Chorizo Stew tonight, using vaquero beans from Rancho Gordo, chorizo from the farmer's market, and chiprika instead of the cayenne and paprika.

It's quite tasty and filling, and will go with the cornbread I made from a box mix.

I definitely want buy vaquero beans again. Along with the sangre del toro beans, which are absolutely fabulous and I can't find anywhere.

Also, I'm going to try ayocote morado (a runner bean) and Good Mother Stallard beans the next time I order beans.

Breakfast sausage, pork belly, snacking peppers, parsnips, daikon radish, mushrooms, carrots, potatoes, raspberries, chicken empanada, and tamale del elote.

Also picked up black bean chili, pretezel challah, ginger butternut squash soup, and a carmelized onion-and-mushroom sandwich from the kosher vegan soup cafe.

I have some linguica that I was planning on turning into Portuguese Kale Soup this week, but my stand of kale looks like it was attacked with an axe.

I'm not sure if the ice and snow got it or if the groundskeepers got it with a weed-whacker, but there is not a leaf left on the thing, and the stumpy remnants of the stems look pretty chewed up. I guess I'll have to stop by the grocery and grab a block of frozen kale -- if I'm going to be buying it from the store, I'm getting it pre-chopped.

Otoh, I should be starting celery and celeraic, which will be nice. It's the time of year to look longingly at seed catalogues. I'm debating this year whether to just give in an buy a horehound plant, or try to grown one from seed again. The same for breadbox poppies...

Gold rush and pink lady apples, yellow bartlett pears, cheese danish, plain and bell pepper quark, batard of white bread, and breakfast bacon slab ends.

I'm boiling down Thursday chicken for stock -- with a nub of ginger and some garlic as well as celery and carrots in the water, because the chicken was roasted with garlic and za'atar to start with so I might as well continue with the Middle-Eastern spice theme. The bacon ends are cooking slowly -- I'll use their grease to caramelize some diced onions and make cauliflower-bacon-cheese soup out of the cauliflower puree that wound up being too soupy to serve.

Other than that, I'm taking it easy because I wound up standing for about 6 hours yesterday at the Johnathon Coulton/They Might Be Giants concert.

went to the yarn tasting for Cascade Yarns tonight -- I didn't have time to play with everything, but Cascade's Ultra Pima is a likely candidate if I ever do try to clone the shawl-collar sweater from Talbot's. Of course, the problem is that a) that sweater weighs 1.25 pounds, which is a LOT of yarn, and b) it's all-over cables at something like 8 st/in, which is frankly ridiculous for me to attempt, given how loosely I generally knit.

I did make the Pork Chili with Cumin Polenta from the new soup cookbook early in the week. It's very tasty, though I think I need more practice at making polenta -- mine is rather like slurry in texture, which I don't think it's supposed to be. Oh well, I can always try again.

So, I made the Beef and Barley Soup from Sunday Soup, even though I apparently forgot to get celery yesterday at the co-op.

It's *spectacular*, and really close to the canned Campbell's Beef and Barley soup I loved as a kid. I suspect if I had celery, it would be a near duplicate.

However, I only made a half recipe -- which should be *four* servings -- according to the cookbook, and I have at least 6 if not 8! I think 1/2 lb of meat per serving is excessive, and while I think the soup is extremely tasty, I think I could reduce the meat by at least half and still have a pretty good soup.

Batard of white bread, chocolate cream cheese muffin, pink lady apples, normal and seconds potatoes, red and yellow onions, white mushrooms, 2 lbs of cubed buffalo, 3 lb boneless pork loin.

I'm going to try the "Beef and Barley Soup" (a half recipe, because I do not need 8 servings of anything) and the "Pork Chili with Cumin Polenta" from Sunday Soup -- I've managed to pick up three cookbooks this week -- Everyday Harumi and Kansha being the other ones.

I just need to pick up some carrots for the beef and barley soup, and some limes for the pork chili -- if I go to the co-op today, I'll probably get some celery and leeks as well, because their is this recipe for "Celery Bisque" that sounds fantastic -- I can make it next week and buy Blue Suede Moo from Kenswick Creamery for the accompanying "Stilton Toasts".

But first, time to boil potatoes for Heisser Kartoffelsalat (Hot Potato Salad -- made with bacon and vinegar). I'm going to try adding a juniper berry or two to the recipe, since I've finally gotten my hands on some.

The pair of hydrangea socks I've been working on recently are just not working out -- the colors are obscuring the pattern, and I think I made a major mistake somewhere, since things are not lining up.

I'm going to frog them and restart that yarn as simplicity socks.

Also, made autumnal soup tonight and found out that my blender blade needed oiling, severely.

I made Cream of Sorrel soup tonight. It worked out much better than the last time I tried cooking with sorrel -- maybe this particular batch was better quality or something?

It's an interestingly green with a slight lemony taste. It's going on my list of 'green vegetables that are actually tasty'. I might be a supertaster, given how few dark greens I will eat voluntarily and how revolting I find the taste of alcohol...