November Random Ramblings

remember this?  these two tiny chicks?  back in june i regaled you, Dear Reader, with pictures and anecdotes about our brand new fuzzy fluffy chicks, and wondered who they would become and what they would look like.  not surprisingly, they became grown up chickens.  it has been fascinating to see their progress, and i look forward to their first egg probably toward the middle of december!

tumblr now!

tumblr then...

twitter now!

twitter then...

tumblr has grown into a very fancy chicken, her feathers a riot of shiny greens and subtle yellows, bright oranges and dark reds.  twitter has matured into a lovely soft-plumed blue marans, with the rather odd dual effect of being an attractive bird and looking a bit like a buzzard.  they aren't quite full-grown yet, but they are truly coming into their own as full-fledged (literally!) members of the TUFlock.  i can't wait to see what their eggs look (and taste!) like.

speaking of eggs, sammo/bolo/pearl/ninja have been laying like gangbusters, and i was able to create a whole mess of delicious egg salad finger sandwiches for a recent family dinner party.  there is something quite satisfying about hard-boiling a slew of home grown eggs!

the laying ladies have slowed up a little with the time/season change, it would appear, but i'm sure they'll be back to normal eggliferation soon.  i deeply appreciate their contribution to our household and, indeed, my psyche: one recent tuesday night, i was feeling a bit sorry for myself after a hard day at work.  it seemed that nothing could lift my spirits, that i was glued to the couch by the potent adhesive combination of lonesome and lazy.  then, i had a sunny side up idea...

...that i promptly made into huevos rancheros!    the evening was saved by the chicken(s) and the egg(s).  amazing how home-made good food can change one's perspective in an instant.  another case in point: dungeness crab and asparagus, prepared by TUF chef dan one recent evening in which we had the fortune to eat together at home...

granted, no eggs here....only my FAVORITE seafood item, and one of my FAVORITE vegetables.  i'm just going to go ahead and say a few things about dungeness crab: 1) it's better than lobster 2) it's better than any other crab, including king crab 3) it's one of the most ethical seafoods out there.  (that's right, i said it's better than lobster, cuz it is!  and it's cheaper!  why are you not eating it right now?  why am i not?)

Spot, helping make copies

handy Hairelena

in other news, it's thanksgiving break!   i have so much to be thankful for, and so much to look forward to.  the science class pets, Hairelena and Spot, have come home for the break, so they have added their ranks to our veritable home zoo.  other members of the household have barely noticed the newcomers, preferring to focus on the recent addition of a new fuzzy blanket to the living room couch:

or hope that something awesome is going to fall out of the sky:

at any rate, the holidays approacheth, and my favorite time of the year is upon us.  an important school long haul is over, and we are settling into our new schedule. last night i woke to the sound of Big Rain, and today was coolish, sunny and windswept.  this week there will be family, friends and food...more on that, and other adventures, to come!  november on the TUF in the ATX!  i am giving thanks!

Lately on the TUF

traditionally, i have maintained a tenacious loathing of all vegetables that share the pepper/chili family.  it is well documented by those close to me how vehemently and for how long i have opposed peppers and chilies in my food.  this is particularly notable, as there are almost no other foods in the WORLD that have given my appetite such pause.  in just the past few months, however, i have noted the end of this preference phenomenon.

case in point: we went to the downtown farmer's market yesterday for the first time in a while, much to the dogs' collective thrill!  there was a riot of colorful vegetables out in force, with some tantalizing signs of the cooler weather (!) harvest to come.  this time, i was completely dazzled by the peppers and chilies offered up by booth after booth at the market.  i could not believe the diversity of shapes, colors, and sizes--piles and piles of vibrant shiny peppers!  i wanted to swim in them, roll in them like the ball pit at the children's amusement park.  i nearly seized and devoured a bag of impossibly beautiful small specimens labeled "scotch bonnet chilies," but dan (forever the logical realist) informed me that those may be some of the spiciest chilies available, and would turn my pepper-reverie into a hellish spicemare.  he then gathered a collection of delectable, reasonably-spiced peppers and chilies to turn into his famous buffalo chili for dinner.

when we got home, chili preparation began immediately.  it is an all-day cooking event, after all!  the chili master decided to grill the million chilies and peppers we had acquired.  the ground buffalo browned with the onion and garlic as the chilis became aromatic.  THIS WAS GOING TO RULE.

dan then mixed the grilled goodness with the browned business in the big skillet.  he added some lone star beer, chili spices, and a can of tomato paste.  our eyes burned from the onion and chili chopping, but even with eyes squeezed shut we could smell the deliciousness that was in our future.  simmertime!

in the meantime, we had been incredibly productive before noon, dinner wasn't for many hours, and there was some trout in the fridge that needed immediate attention.  it was grilled quickly and turned into a leisurely weekend lunch.  dan enjoyed his neat, the light seasonings and grilled-flavor enough for him.  being kind of ridiculous, i decided to turn mine into non-traditional fish tacos.  that is: organic lettuce and local goat cheez (purchased mere hours before!), some dill pickle slices, and the flaked grilled trout, on toasted tortillas.  HIGHLY RECOMMEND.

at this point, i'm going to do something kind of odd: i'm going to bring up our compost heap.  i began to discuss it in jest in a previous post, but it's time i gave it some real attention.  the compost heap is pretty amazing, actually--it has gone from a tiny afterthought to a real, dirt producing, waste-reducing entity in our backyard.

we have implemented a tupperware container on the kitchen counter in which we accumulate compostables: vegetable tops, bottoms, guts and peels; coffee grounds; compostable dryer sheets; eggshells; various other (non-greasy, non-meat) bits and pieces.  we also have been composting the guinea pig and rat bedding, and incorporating coop/run hay as well.  after several months of stuff-adding, raking, watering, and waiting, the pile is actively producing lovely dirt.  it leans against the chicken run, and the ladies love the bug-fet it offers.  we are still considering the best way to use the finished dirt, considering our shade/sun gardening challenges; however, it has certainly reduced our landfill contribution.  more on this and gardening as developments develop!

now, back to food.  saturday evening, the chili has been simmering all day, filling our house with chiliful aromas.  dan has his over penne, sprinkled with chopped onions; i have mine over market lettuce greens, with the onions and some creamy chunks of goat cheez (i LOVE the stuff!).  as predicted, IS DELICIOUS.

the million grilled chilis lent an unusual sweetness to the dish.  i can safely say this was the best chili i had ever had IN MY LIFE.  i feel like i say that a lot when i talk about dan's chili; he is a really good cook.

in short: tastes change, seasons change, kitchen scraps change into dirt, and the food around here stays tasty.  thank you for your readership, Dear Reader...more soon!

Current Culinariousness...

 even though we don't have a garden yet, we have the great fortune of living next to someone who does.  someone who recently went out of town, and who left me in charge of watering her about-to-totally-domino tomato plants.  JACKPOT!

seriously, one of the best things about summer is a texas tomato.  i can't wait to grow my own.  a summer tomato sums up why vegetables, gardening, and life in general is awesome: this plant sucks up water and sunlight and carbon dioxide and turns it into sugar and oxygen.  to reproduce, it makes a flower, and behind the flower begins to swell a green bead. sun and water create more sugar, and the bead fills with seeds and juice and tender flesh and grows red and sweet.  and then...you pick it!  and eat it! and the plant just makes more and more. tomatoes are a summer eruption in my mouth.  I LOVE THEM.


my kitchen candy jar.



anyway, so we started to get a whole bunch of these awesome tomatoes, big and cherry, red and yellow.  i was determined to use them to their greatest potential, as well as the delicious organic meats and vegetables i had acquired from a recent grocery store adventure.  also, i had some ethical fish to deal with.  so let the foodblithers begin!

i have never been the biggest chili fan, but in recent years i have acquired a taste for it--especially now that i've learned how to use a slowcooker thing.  d. loves chili and devotes a lot of time and attention when he makes it, and his techniques inform my own chilimaking.  it seems more like a winter food, in some ways; however, chili made with a slew of fresh tomatoes and onion is a revelation. we don't do chili with beans--just diced tomatoes, onion, browned ground buffalo, chili powder, cayenne, cumin, salt, garlic.  slow-cookered on low for 6 hours.  i used about 5 smallish whole tomatoes this time, coarsely chopped. the skins slipped off during cooking and i just fished them out, but that was super lazy...next time i'll actually peel them.  right.

i did squeeze out their seeds and keep the remaining 1/2 cup of juice, to which i added 1/2 cup lone star beer. and dumped that in there too, right at the beginning.  YUM!

then, just to be silly, i made cheese popovers from a recipe straight out of The Joy of Cooking (p. 637, 75th Anniversary Edition) to go with the chili.  now granted, i've had a lot of time and eggs lately for such silliness.  but it was a leisurely 45 minutes well spent.

so, we ended up having tasty chili and popovers for dinner, and there was way too much, so i stuck the leftovers in the out-of-town neighbor's freezer.  i figure, gotta pay up, you know?

rainbow trout is on the Super Green List from the Monterey Bay Seafood Watch, and it was also on sale the other day.  i have had great luck with trout whether i sautée or grill it, and this was going to be a sautée kind of day.  after rinsing it off and drying it thoroughly, i dunked each filet in a mixture of 1 (silkie-sized) egg and 1/4 cup milk, then in a flour/breadcrumb/dried spice combo (i know tarragon and basil and garlic powder were in there). 

after getting the fish happily sauteeing in some pre-heated, pretty hot butter and olive oil (skinside up first!  let it brown! then skinside down), i started steaming some spinach.  i had already been boiling some red potatoes.  i love when 3/4ths of the stovetop tops are occupied by deliciousness.

in the time it took the spinach to wilt to perfection, the fish was ready to go.  i love me some rainbow trout...the fillets are long and thin and get just a bit crispety!

if you eat meat, specifically pork: i suggest you get some good pork.  not just because it's more ethical if it's from happy pigs who are raised naturally and humanely and killed with respect; it is SO MUCH MORE DELICIOUS. it's like you can taste that the pig independently foraged for, and ate, flowers for breakfast. in this particular case, dan grilled these pork loin chops, seasoned with salt/garlic/olive oil/paprika, for around 6 minutes a side.  and we had it with rice and salad with tomatoes/fresh mozzerella.  i accidentally started eating it before i could take a picture of it.

so i have all these millions of cherry tomatoes now, may of them the golden pear kind, and i'm like, i can't eat all these.  not for lack of trying, either, but there are only so many sunbombs you can eat in one day!  there is only one thing to do.  make tomato soup.  not just any tomato soup, i thought...golden cherry tomato BISQUE, because that sounds fancier and more summery.  and i decided to have it with these colorado mountain lamb chops i had nabbed, with a side of simple parmesan noodles. yum. yum.

 so i chopped up ALL those cherry tomatoes and three big ones (i squeezed out the seeds but didn't peel anything....again), and the other half of the onion, and like 5 garlic cloves (we REALLY LIKE GARLIC) and i threw it all in a biggish pot with some butter/olive oil (per usual), and started cookin' it. i added a few glugs of chicken broth, and i threw the spice cabinet at it.  after letting it all melt and sizzle and stir together for about 20 minutes, i added about one glug (1/4 cup maybe?) of heavy cream.  after letting it simmer for one minute more (gently!), i blended it up and returned it to the pot.

now, it was time to grill up the lambchops. not much to that, i seasoned them with salt/garlic/paprika (my favorite combo!) and massaged them with a little olive oil.  as we are rare meat eaters, i did them on a pre-heated gas grill on med-high heat for 4 minutes a side.

the parmesan noodles were a simple matter of breaking up spaghetti noodles, boiling until al-dente and adding a bit of butter and parmesan. BAM.

lamb is one of my favorites, and this was delicious...however, i have to say, i like the lamb from the austin farmer's market a bit better than this colorado lamb.  something about texas grass maybe? the soup was definitely the best part of this meal, in my opinion...next time i make tomato soup, i will DEFINITELY peel the tomatoes though.  i PROMISE.  really!  again, we gave the leftover golden cherry tomato bisque as a tithing to our tomato-bearing neighbor, and i hope she enjoys it as much as i did.  tomatoes are so bleeping good.

i sure love cooking and food, and i feel deeply lucky that i get to eat dinners like these.  thank you for your attention, dear reader...more news from the 'farm', and further adventures in baking, are coming soon! stay tuned!

TUFcation Musings and Marvels

happy june!  school's out, new science teaching job on the horizon, loose ends tied up, ready for new adventures in frolic and farmlife.  we decided to take a quick jaunt down to the coast for some beachery (debeachery?), and wound up first in corpus christi, then port aransas, boat drinks in hand.  thanks to sara and tim for fledgling farm-sitting!  it is lovely to know that weekend getaways are still possible, even with zillions of pets, thanks to generous friends.  i thought i was being pretty cool when i said, hey, keep any eggs you find!  but they were already farm-sitting for another friend with some 20 chickens, and had already collected a dozen from this way TUF-er TUF!  they are good totally urban farmers themselves, with some lovely tomato and pepper plants growing bushy in the back yard.  i am thankful for the people i know.

we stayed the first night with some dear old friends who are in the process of opening a restaurant in corpus, and then we drove up to port aransas for a lovely evening spent right near the beach.  by chance we found a fantastic motel with an aviation theme; the inn-keepers were pilot people, and each well-kept room referenced a moment in the history of  aviation.  we stayed in the Women Pilots room, which featured pictures of many lady aviators (who were COMPLETE BADASSES) from the early- and mid-20th century.  of course there were some pictures of the most famous Amelia Earhart, but she had her very own-themed room!  these two women caught my attention the most--i may need to do some more research.  such. badasses.

The motel also brought free breakfast to our door in the morning, which consisted of some locally-concocted apple fritters, coffee, and juice.  i highly recommend The Harbor Inn if you're ever in port aransas!

we also ate at The Venetian Hot Plate, where i partook of an incredibly fresh-tasting, locally caught fish called a 'triple tail.' this mahi-mahi-esque (ha!) fish came grilled with a roasted corn and tomato relish, which wasn't very italian until i got to the wonderfully garlicky risotto.  and the bread/olive oil RULED.  as did our whole little seaside vacation!  i didn't even get sunburned this time, and the swimming was soothing.

on the way to and from the gulf coast, i found some new amazement in the vast fields of crops that line highway 37.  of course, anyone who's ever been on a road trip has seen, and even may have dozed off to, the miles and miles and acres and acres of fields of food crops.  but for some reason, even thinking about the care and time that goes into small-time vegetable gardening makes me gape at these huge fields.  they are both awesome and terrifying: who and/or what harvests all that produce?  who/what keeps it pest-free and weeded?  how much water does it take, what waters it, and where does all that water come from?  i realized i didn't even know what crops i was seeing as we passed by.  i am reminded of the reason why i started all this TUF business--i want to feel less removed from food.

so now we're back, and i'm ready to devote some time to becoming TUF-ier.  next post will feature some new cooking conquests, like zucchini muffins!  i still want chicks!  stay tuned...

Food, Stuffs

i'm not sure i've mentioned this before. but i probably should, as it is a very important aspect of this TUFsperiment.  I. Love. Food.  i mean, i love it!  i'm not even picky....i've been happy for large portions of my life eating cheap crappy food with relish and abandon.  since i quit smoking (august 17, 2010!), i've even noticed that i've started enjoying peppers and chiles, which is a new and surprising development.  used to be that was the only group of foods i pretty much disliked across the board.  and now that is no longer the case.  WHO AM I???

i think it's worth mentioning here that i have struggled with my love for food vs. desire to fit socially acceptable thin-ness standards my whole life, and that i even delayed quitting smoking for fear i would eat tons more and gain weight.  i have learned the following things about quitting smoking:

1) it is hard, and i never want to do it again.
2) i have not gained weight as a result of quitting smoking.
3) i have been more inclined to exercise as a result of quitting smoking.
4) food is EVEN MORE DELICIOUS, and i find i eat less of it because i can taste more of it.

anyway, since a lot of TUF is about food consumption, and we've been getting more of our food from the farmer's market, i thought i would show off some of the dishes we've concocted lately!  and some gratuitous chicken footage, of course.

the picture above is a medly of zucchini, onions and mushrooms from the farmer's market, stirfried/braised in a bit of butter and white wine, with two cloves of garlic smashed over all.  it accompanied a very small leg of grass-fed lamb, which i rubbed with olive oil, tarragon, sea salt and paprika, and then rotisseried.

that's what it looked like all finished, with rice pilaf and my requisite summer dinner beverage of cheap white wine. love that farmer's market lamb and vegetables!

the evening before, we had sauteed scallops and rainbow trout, with chard and organic fingerling potatoes.  chard and green garlic are in abundance at the market right now, and they are deLISH.

dan pressed both the scallops and the trout in seasoned bread crumbs, and sauteed them quickly while the chard simmered away with the green garlic.  the potatoes got roasted with a bit of salt, whole garlic cloves,  and olive oil in the oven.  of course, it turned out to be way too much food, but completely delicious!

after dinner, i went out to give some of our scraps to the lovely chickens. i caught this intimate pearl moment to share with the world:



my chicken check-in was so inspiring that i came back in and made cookies.  admittedly, i used one regular (free-range, organic) grocery store egg in addition to the two remaining silkie eggs. i also tried out a new kind of unbleached, less-processed flour that is supposed to replace regular bleached all-purpose flour cup for cup.  i think it makes the cookies taste that much more TUF!

at any rate, it's been a productive food couple of days around here.  and just wait until i have more time on my hands here in a few days....gardens, pies, chicks, bread, cheese! (and yes, more exercise.)