Pot Luck

Good evening... (4.00 / 4)

I just had something from the Hawthorne New Seasons called 'Muttar peas & tofu' for dinner.

I could eat this every night for the rest of my life if I had to.

:)

A spicy-ish (well, relatively speaking - since I've gotten into taco trucks and Thai carts over the past year, nothing is really "spicy" to me anymore, or at least certainly not anything from a grocery store deli case...) potato, tofu, pea, onion, chutney and tomato sauce thing.

I need more Indian food in my life.  Next week, I think one of the Indian food carts downtown is up for a long overdue visit...

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by: JayinPhiladelphia @ Thu Aug 25, 2011 at 06:18:31 AM UTC

That sounds good! (4.00 / 3)

I cooked up the breasts and thighs from all 5 of those guinea fowl I slaughtered last week. I stewed them with onions, carrots and bell peppers in chicken stock from last week and some blush wine. I think I have 10 or 15 lbs of food to package up and freeze now. I doubt that even I'll be able to eat that much before it goes bad if I don't freeze half of it.

I've got the carcasses to put in the crock pot with onions, carrots and peppers for stock tomorrow. I might put the drumsticks in there too. Those things are going to be tougher than an old tire....

The guinea fowl is great. All dark meat. Even the breast meat is a bit darker than the dark meat on a chicken. I had to stew it for a couple of hours before the meat got tender. Even the breast tenders were tough until I stewed them for a while.

I tossed a half pound of pepper bacon in there too for good measure, which turned out to be a total waste. I can't taste it at all. The vegies and guinea fowl completely drowned out the bacon flavor.

Normal people scare me.... But not as much as I scare them.

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by: JoanneRigutto @ Thu Aug 25, 2011 at 06:40:58 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

warning for veggie heads :) (4.00 / 3)

did you use the parts of the fowl that are gelatinous for stock? That's one thing I have learned from my friend Aliza about making good stock.

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by: LeeN @ Thu Aug 25, 2011 at 11:53:36 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Sometimes I make my dog food (4.00 / 2)

instead of buying it, because we can get cheap chickens here. I tend to just take the whole thing and boil it and then strain out the carcass. What I have left, I refrigerate and then skim off the fat.

Sometimes I'll use the same "stock" to do another chicken in. It gets pretty aspic-ey. I don't eat meat often but it looks like something that would be good for stock.

I usually wind up cooking up some grated carrots and oatmeal in it,  and adding that to the dog food, though.  

"If God were to appear to starving people, he would not dare to appear in any other form than food." - Mahatma Gandhi

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by: Miep @ Sat Aug 27, 2011 at 06:35:07 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

muttar (4.00 / 2)

"Muttar" means green peas. Muttar dal is dried green peas, for example.

I repeat: Jay, check out an Indian place that has a good reputation for its lunch buffet.

The thing I appreciate most about good Indian food is that, a half hour after I'm finished eating I still have good tastes in my mouth. I don't know of another cuisine I can say that about.

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by: count @ Thu Aug 25, 2011 at 07:14:13 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

I LOVE INDIAN FOOD (4.00 / 2)

I made Naan using my pizza stone. Even daughter who has been to India and never thinks my Indian food is authentic give it the thumbs up.  

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by: LeeN @ Thu Aug 25, 2011 at 11:51:12 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

authentic (4.00 / 1)

Going by some cookbooks I have, one difference between Indian food in the U.S. and "authentic" Indian cooking is that traditional Indian cooks use a lot of ghee, maybe three or four times as much for a recipe as we would use. That would have a big influence on taste and texture, but it wouldn't apply to naan.

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by: count @ Thu Aug 25, 2011 at 13:56:00 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

you are absolutely right about ghee (4.00 / 2)

and most food in India is swimming in it

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by: LeeN @ Thu Aug 25, 2011 at 14:32:52 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

I love matter paneer (4.00 / 2)

Which is the same thing but cheese instead of tofu.

SInce they don't sell paneer around here, I get Mexican queso fresco, which is really the same thing.

ya know, it's really easy to make. Try it sometime.

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by: Crider @ Thu Aug 25, 2011 at 19:00:56 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

is anybody following the food war (4.00 / 2)

between Anthony Bourdain and Paula Deen? If you are read Bruni's column today http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08...
about class issues regarding the food eat. He is SO right

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by: LeeN @ Thu Aug 25, 2011 at 11:57:15 AM UTC

Bruni (4.00 / 2)

Bruni has a point about class issues and he might have been able to write an interesting column about the subject, but using Deen and Bourdain to illustrate it is misguided, I think. If I ate a meal at Deen's house, I might discover that she cooks reasonably, but her TV show is not about thrift or economy. Her TV food isn't blue collar, and it is not even typically or essentially Southern. It is obstreperously about ostentatious excess. I wonder if anybody actually cooks like that, or if people only watch for the entertainment.

Certain foods are what they are, and I will not shun pancakes or macaroni and cheese just because Paula Deen cooks them, but I could not bear to eat 90% of the things she produces for the TV show.

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by: count @ Thu Aug 25, 2011 at 13:42:17 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

I've watched Paula's show (4.00 / 2)

and everything she cooks looks good to me. I'd eat it any day of the week if I could.  

Normal people scare me.... But not as much as I scare them.

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by: JoanneRigutto @ Thu Aug 25, 2011 at 22:04:51 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

I love pancakes and mac and cheese (4.00 / 2)

Joanne does a lot of physical labor so she can use the calories.

Weavers Way Food Coop where I belong has struggled with class and race issues for years. The neighborhood where it is located is mixed racially but the coop is mostly white.

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by: LeeN @ Fri Aug 26, 2011 at 11:11:25 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

daughter going back to school Sat. spent afternoon yesterday (4.00 / 2)

picking fruits and veggies at a pick your own. We picked the last of the rasberries and we will make jam today. Also picked peaches,apples (stayman) and tomatoes.

I had another lousy harvest that I think is due to my soil. I add compost but that's not enough.

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by: LeeN @ Thu Aug 25, 2011 at 12:00:52 PM UTC

Doing hard time (4.00 / 4)

What are you in for?

Selling lemonade!

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by: Eddie C @ Thu Aug 25, 2011 at 12:30:48 PM UTC

oh the irony of it (4.00 / 4)

selling "illegal" lemonade in front of the buildings where the real criminals are.

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by: LeeN @ Thu Aug 25, 2011 at 12:44:29 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

I must so thank you for that. (4.00 / 3)

"If God were to appear to starving people, he would not dare to appear in any other form than food." - Mahatma Gandhi

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by: Miep @ Sat Aug 27, 2011 at 06:42:28 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Cornucopia (4.00 / 4)

All from this little story about Mother Nature telling Monsanto to stick it where the sun don't shine.

Roundup and birth defects: Is the public being kept in the dark?, Earth Open Source, June 2011

Herbicide-tolerance and GM crops, Greenpeace, June 2011

Per USDA, Herbicide Use Increases with GE Crops, Beyond Pesticides, June 2011

More problems with glyphosate: Rice growers sound alarm, Food Freedom, May 2011

Scientists warn of link between dangerous new pathogen and Monsanto's Roundup, Food Freedom, Feb 2011

Monsanto's superweeds come home to roost: 11 million US acres infested, Generation Green, Oct. 2010

GM Soy: Sustainable? Responsible? Superweeds and birth defects: A review of scientific evidence on genetically modified soy and the herbicide glyphosate, Sept. 2010

Three Approved GMOs Linked to Organ Damage, Food Freedom, Jan. 2010

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by: Eddie C @ Thu Aug 25, 2011 at 12:44:19 PM UTC

No but seriously folks (4.00 / 4)

Best radio show I've heard in a long time. Sort of like where Wal-Mart came from but back in the day of respect for customers and workers, How The A&P Changed The Way We Shop.  

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by: Eddie C @ Thu Aug 25, 2011 at 12:48:19 PM UTC

Anybody hungry? (4.00 / 4)

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by: Eddie C @ Thu Aug 25, 2011 at 12:56:32 PM UTC

Hmm (4.00 / 3)

I bet that was fun cooking in the studio. How much do those sandwiches cost? Never mind . . . I just looked it up and it's $27.

Ha. Still a vegetarian here.

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by: Crider @ Thu Aug 25, 2011 at 23:51:12 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Wesson Spanked with Lawsuit Over it's Crappy Soybean Oil (4.00 / 3)

Just a few days ago I was writing Joanne about how Wesson doesn't even call their 100% soybean oil Soybean Oil, they call it !00% Natural Vegetable Oil. Well, they aren't getting sued because of the 'Vegetable Oil' name, it's because of the '100% Natural' BS. From Huffingtonpost

A class action lawsuit has been filed against ConAgra Foods regarding the company's use of the term "all-natural" in the packaging and advertising for its Wesson line of cooking oils. The suit, which is being handled by Milberg LLP, alleges that ConAgra's inclusion of genetically modified corn and soy in the oils disqualifies their labeling as "all-natural." The plaintiffs cite accepted definitions of genetic modification -- including one by leading GMO booster Monsanto -- that specifically stipulate the unnaturalness of the process.

The vacuity of the term "all-natural" is quickly becoming one of the food world's dirtiest open secrets. It took a thrashing a few weeks ago, when news of the OJ industry's frankenjuice recipe for "100% all-natural orange juice" got serious play. It's becoming clear that a food marked "natural" is at least as likely as any other to be artificially processed. Indeed, the Food Marketing Institute flatly states that, "The term 'natural' is not regulated except for meat and poultry."

But if the suit finds conclusively in favor of the plaintiffs, the term's days as an unregulated catch-all for semi-processed foods could be numbered.

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by: Crider @ Fri Aug 26, 2011 at 01:24:51 AM UTC

I'd think that this would be a precedent setting suit (4.00 / 1)

I a little concerned at something like that given that there is no regulation of the term 'natural' for anything other than meat and poultry.

If successfull, that would mean that I couldn't call my poultry or eggs natural, even though they are raised free range, drug and hormone free, etc. because I feed conventional grains which may or may not contain GMO corn, grain meals, etc.

I wonder if, because I wash the eggs with dish detergent to remove manure and dirt, if I'll be able to market the eggs as natural even if I were to feed organic grains if this lawsuit were to be successful.

On the other hand, I've been thinking about the whole GMO labeling issue, and the more I think about it, the more I think I'd like it. If everything that was made with GMOs as the whole component, or, as in the case of my poultry, were used somewhere in the process of producing the finished product, everything except organic whole vegetables, would have a GMO label on it. There'd be a bit of label shock at first, but when people realized that they had been eating and using these products for the past 30+ years, I think that shortly GMO labeling would become a non issue.

Normal people scare me.... But not as much as I scare them.

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by: JoanneRigutto @ Fri Aug 26, 2011 at 02:40:57 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

reading iPod (0.00 / 0)

I've definitely come to enjoy reading on my iPod. Never thought I would, but now I've finished the first two Asimov Foundation books. Only five to go!

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by: count @ Fri Aug 26, 2011 at 05:42:42 AM UTC

How's the text/font size on that? (4.00 / 1)

I've got Kindle for my Android, and it's a kind of a PIA to read. 'Course my eyes ain't as good as they were for close up reading. I'd love to have a regualar Kindle reader, but I wouldn't use it anywhere but home, and if I'm going to read online at home, I might as well stick with the Kindle on my laptop.

Normal people scare me.... But not as much as I scare them.

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by: JoanneRigutto @ Fri Aug 26, 2011 at 06:34:03 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

I'm probably going to have to have new lenses installed in my eyes (4.00 / 1)

if I ever get medical insurance. Harold got those, he said he could see great after. And they made his eyes glow in the right light when the light reflected off of them just right. Kind of reminded of Riddick's eyes...

Normal people scare me.... But not as much as I scare them.

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by: JoanneRigutto @ Fri Aug 26, 2011 at 06:36:08 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

cataracts (0.00 / 0)

Jean, now aged 70, had cataract surgery on one eye last year, paid for by her insurance. Insurance would't pay for the other eye because it wasn't bad enough, but it's getting worse.

A friend of mine from high school had cataract surgery in both eyes when she was in her late 40s or early 50s. I think cataracts ran in her family.

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by: count @ Fri Aug 26, 2011 at 07:40:56 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

font size (0.00 / 0)

iBook and Kindle both allow text sizing on the iPod. This Foundation set has its own application, which does not allow font sizing. Capital letters are about 1.75 mm (about 1/16 inch) and small letters are about 1 mm. Same size as the text of this blog on my screen. Very readable for me without glasses - I wear glasses usually, but the prescription is ancient, way out of date, so I remove the glasses for reading.

A person might wonder why someone went to the effort of making a special purpose reader application good only for one set of books. I think the answer is that a continually changing roster of discrete ad banners appears at the bottom of the screen. I guess the developer reaps income from it. The application itself (including the books) is a free iPod app. I assume the Foundation books are available for other readers, I just happened to download this one.

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by: count @ Fri Aug 26, 2011 at 07:56:47 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Trinidad Scorpion Chile Peppers (4.00 / 2)

Our neighbor came by and gave us three of them. Supposed to be the hottest pepper in the world. So, what should one do with three little hottest peppers in the worlds?

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by: Crider @ Sat Aug 27, 2011 at 18:01:35 PM UTC

Kindly neighbor (4.00 / 2)

Just came back with some of those disposable gloves. He had cut and cleaned six of them and his eyes were all red and had to get out of the house.

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by: Crider @ Sat Aug 27, 2011 at 18:10:12 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Whoa! (4.00 / 1)

I've heard of those. I'd be throwing them away.... I've got a high pain threshold (I once worked 6 hours with an arm that was broken bad enough that the ends of the radius were almost touching the ulna down by my wrist), but I won't go anywhere around those peppers.

Normal people scare me.... But not as much as I scare them.

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by: JoanneRigutto @ Sat Aug 27, 2011 at 20:03:30 PM UTC

[ Parent ]