Scrabble night – part 3

I had to throw most of the chicken out.

We tried to whittle down the mountain of poultry that had taken over the fridge, but it was a feat way beyond us. We needed my old gang of cadets – teenage boys that could drink 3 bags of milk and consume dinner plus 2 sandwiches for “dessert” in a single sitting.

I used to feel so guilty about having to throw out food. After all, not only had I carefully shopped (read: put a lot of time into it), I had lovingly spent umpteen hours prepping and chopping, sauteeing and broiling. But I have come to realize that in today’s crazybusy world, you can’t plan the way you used to. Some nights I am certain (and in the mood) I’ll cook and instead I have to do a restaurant review or a meeting runs late and I grab something where I am. And some nights things go awry, a phone call goes well into the night or a neighbour drops by and we open a bottle of wine and, well, dinner gets waylaid.

Since then, because of the heat,  we’ve had a lot of simple foods:

- corn on the cob

- salads topped with organic sprouts and sunflower seeds

- stir frys, pasta, sandwiches. – anything that doesn’t require the stove to be on too long

The most complex dishes I’ve made lately are veal scallopini and stuffed pork chops.

Most disappointing.

Especially since I’ve had the food book clubs and been dying to get to the stove to make some of the dishes we’ve been reading about.

It is 19 degrees tonight. Cold enough for 3/4 sleeves and a jacket.

Cold enough to cook.

Worth the wait

Last night’s food book club discussion was held at a sweet little French restaurant that was like being at a little cottage in Provence.

The long white table was lit by candles in towering silver holders.  The room was filled with smart folks and raucous laughter.  The menu was a long list of French classics, that made it hard to choose.  Selected dishes included Sea Bream, Choucroute Garnie, Calf’s Liver and Onions, but almost everyone couldn’t resist the Cassoulet.

I have written about Cassoulet again and again because it is such a comforting dish.  It is love in a bowl, I think.

Carmen took a picture of hers last night, though you can’t smell its richness or see the heft of the cast iron skillet.

Now I want to make it again, having seen how people were completely transformed by it last night.

And really, it is still cool enough here to have such a hearty winter dish.  Our heat is still clicking on at night and yesterday I went right back to wearing boots and a scarf.

Will you send me your cassoulet recipe or what you do to yours to make it your own?

I’ll post the recipe I end up using.

But it will have to wait as I’ve got a restaurant review  tonight and birthday gifts to buy for the love of my life.

It will be worth the wait.

Renovation means re”no kitchen”ation

I am grateful for our new tap.

The last one, our only one, leaked like it had just seen Mississippi Burning.

This one is nice and a little fancier, but in order to put it in, they had to take a hunk out of our wall (our tap was cemented in back in the 20s apparently).  It was 3 days this week of having to move everything off of the counter – coffee maker, dish rack, dish detergent and sponge, spices, cooking oils, etc.

In other words, things I need in order to cook.

The first day I didn’t move anything back because the handyman was coming the next morning.  I’d just go out and get us some coffee.  No biggie.

That first night though, making dinner was a pain.  My fella had helped to clear away everything and some of my essentials were nowhere to be seen.

It took a little digging, but I found my cooking oil in the hallway and many of my spices.  It took a little while to reassemble everything and knowing I had to take it all down again caused me more than a little heartbreak.

I made a relatively easy dinner of steak and shrimp with fingerling potatoes, broccoli and cremini mushrooms.  Not too bad.  The second night I had a restaurant review and brought home leftovers for my fella, so we skated through that one, but last night was tough.  Again, I had to bring everything back into the kitchen to make a pretty labourious Beef Kerang.

It paid off though.  Scott said how much he liked it – not only last night but today as well.  Woo woo!

I get to have the kitchen as is until Monday morning, when the handyman comes back for the last time to do the finishing touches – put in a shelf to hide the pipes and tidy up the corners.  Then I can put everything back for good.

Phew.  How the hell do people survive FULL kitchen renovations?

I totally acknowledge and accept the fact that I would have to be heavily medicated to handle that.

That, and some seriously good takeout.

A nice problem to have

I’m reviewing a restaurant tonight.

Funny, I look forward to the next one practically the moment I’m leaving last week’s restaurant for review and yet I always feel a little sadness at not being able to cook the night I’m out.

Of course, the next night I’m at the stove, I’ll be thinking, “Gosh, wouldn’t it be great to just head out for a bite to eat and not have to worry about marinating, chopping or washing anything?”

It’s a nice dilemma to have though, isn’t it?