Fun Fermenting

I love kitchen stuff. I’m like a kid (and some adults) with a comic book when the William Sonoma, Sur la Table, or Chef’s Catalogs arrive. I browse them over and over, dog-earing pages of interesting new kitchen equipment and gadgets. Just writing this reminded me of one of my favorite new tools that Lauren gave me for Mother’s Day. I hadn’t planned to talk about it, but I’m so excited about it and this is the perfect forum. It’s called a Kuhn Rikon Smart Lid. The lid snugly fits both our 10” and 12” fry pans, but also may be used with smaller pans; it's clear on top so you can see what’s happening in the pan and it has a venting system that allows you to let the steam escape or it may be closed tight keeping moisture in. It’s a bit expensive at $30, but well worth the price. Check it out.

Okay, back to the point of this story. During my MFP training, we learned about fermenting and made sauerkraut as an example of that technique. It was incredibly easy and turned out well. It was while I was eating the sauerkraut at our graduation dinner that a fellow-MFPer told me she’d bought her father a fermenting system from a store on Etsy. He hadn’t used it yet, but the design she described sounded interesting. I wasted no time and ordered a starter kit from the shop, Primal Kitchen. The starter kit included a glass crock with a special lid (Kraut Kap) with a hole in the middle and an airlock device that securely fits into the silicone seal surrounding the hole. The design is unique, because it allows the carbon dioxide to escape, while not allowing oxygen to enter the system (or anything else while it sits in a closet for over a month fermenting). Also included in the kit was a crock rock Mason jar weight, which keeps the kraut submerged in brine. It sounded good and looked impressive and I ordered it. We started our first batch in August and not being able to wait any longer, we ate it this past weekend. This story isn’t really about the recipe we used, but this is a perfect time to share it, so I’ll digress again. 

This is a recipe a friend shared with us and includes our changes. Place a quart of sauerkraut in a Dutch oven. Top it with a layer of sliced onions (I can’t stand partially cooked onions, so we lightly caramelized them). Next, add a layer of sliced apple that has been cored and peeled and a layer of sliced potatoes (Yukon Gold are my favs). Finally, top with a couple of fresh sausages (for example, Apple Sausage from Lockeford). Pour over these stacked ingredients about 4 ounces of beer or white wine and cook on the stove top for about 35 minutes or until done. At the end of the cooking time, remove the sausages and either quickly brown them in a frying pan or grill pan. Serve. It’s an easy one-pot meal and very tasty. The sauerkraut was the star and it didn’t disappoint.

Back to the fermenting jar. Our results were perfect. Never had a problem with loss of brine, slime, or scum and no bad smells in our pantry where it resides; all problems that can occur when making sauerkraut. We spent no more than 30 minutes total preparing the cabbage for the fermenting process. That’s it.  After that we just checked it weekly to make sure the cabbage remained submerged. The closed system seemed to keep the brine from evaporating and the level actually increased slightly at first and then remained constant. It couldn’t be simpler.

What’s the point of fermenting? Aside from the incredibly beneficial bacteria created, lactobacillus, I find the process absolutely fascinating. To think that two ingredients, cabbage and salt…

…placed in a fairly warm room (68° to 72° F) for a month or more result in something edible is beyond me. We happen to love the taste, so that’s a bonus. Now, if you don’t like the taste of sauerkraut, but do like a good dill pickle, then there’s still an opportunity for you to begin fermenting. Before we started our second batch of kraut today, we started three quarts of Kirby cucumbers fermenting in a salt-water brine and a few other non-essential additions to the fermenting process, dill weed, garlic, red peppers, cabbage leaves, and grape leaves for crispness. 

Preparing the pickles for the fermentation process was very similar to making sauerkraut. This time, though, we just used a 1-quart large mouth canning jar. The extra Kraut Kaps came with my second order from Primal Kitchen. I know what you’re thinking (second order?)…LOL! Here’s the web address: www.etsy.com/shop/PrimalKitchen.  Order a starter kit and have a little fun fermenting. 

Trials and Tribulations of an MFPer

Don’t think I’ve been idle because I haven’t blogged since the first of this month. I have been canning like crazy. Actually, Verne would probably say I’m a crazy canner or just plain crazy. It’s true. I have a passion for putting food by, in general. But, it’s not canning that’s kept me from blogging.

Less than three months ago I graduated from the MFP training and was faced with the community service hours I’d agreed to complete prior June 2015. This thought ranked right up there with facing a dentist appointment. I fully intended to do it, but I wanted a painless experience with plenty of novocaine. Not being one to procrastinate, I wasted no time and agreed to assume certain responsibilities within the organization, including a co-coordinator role (Vera is my cohort) for 2014-15 public classes. I envisioned spending my volunteer hours at home in front of my computer working off my time by preparing handouts on food preservation. Right up my alley!

I volunteered for the position on the first Monday in August. By the second Saturday of the month I was standing in front of a classroom of strangers demonstrating water bath canning...this couldn’t be further from my plan. I’ve spent hours re-working class handouts and creating checklists to be used by the presenters. However, with September’s class right around the corner, I’m now being forced to interface with the other volunteers.  None of these people seem to check their email more than weekly…frustrating! I’m a “multiple-times-per-day kind of girl,” so by my third email, I’m no longer gently coaxing them to do their part, but I’m rather bluntly screaming (all caps does the job): “This is my third attempt to reach you. Will you PLEASE send me the DAMN RECIPE you plan to demo!!!”? My last line of attack will be to go low-tech and pick up the phone and call them. In fairness to these volunteers, they are just that: volunteers; and, I’m sure they don’t approach this assignment with the same sense of urgency that I do. As Public Education Coordinator (Top Dog), the buck stops here and I’m feeling the pressure! This kind of stress was not in my original plan to earn hours. I can already see this is going to be a thankless job and within a few short months everyone will hate me…the very reason I was hoping to stay behind the scenes. Double Damn! I may just let my much-nicer cohort do the calling. We’ll do the good cop, bad cop thing and see how that works. My hours? Let me just say 50 hours is laughable. I’ll have them by the end of October and by yearend will be so fully immersed in this program that I’ll never find my way out and have no time left for all of the things I so enjoy doing (alone). Goodbye canning. Goodbye quilting. Goodbye life as I’ve known it (and liked it).

On a more pleasant note, sometime in August I managed to find enough personal time to browse an email from William Sonoma and order a Kilner Jam Pot. I’d never heard of a jam pot, but based on the description I knew it was something I needed. Strike that last word…it was something I “wanted”. After using it a dozen times I now know that it is something every jammer needs! What an amazing pot! Here’s the sales pitch: “The Kilner Jam Pan is a hard wearing stainless steel pan featuring a pouring lip and carrying handle…it has an 8 litre capacity with an internal litre and pint measuring gauge with an encapsulated base for even heat distribution.” When I removed it from the box and saw its size I regretted not buying a smaller one, although it was only offered in the 8-litre size. It was huge! It only took one use and I realized that the large size (not a single splatter on my stove), the heavy bottom (no scorching), and the pint markings on the inside (great for reductions) were three of its best features. 

In addition to preserves, we’ve used it for blanching fruits and veggies and making extra large batches of sauces to be frozen. I recently received a Chef’s Catalog and they have a similar jam pot called the Maslin Pan in both a large 10-quart and a smaller 6-quart size. Both come with a lid. My Kilner is lidless. (:  Over 70 customers have left rave reviews of the Maslin pot giving it a near perfect average score of 5! Hmmmmm…I’m seriously thinking about ordering the baby Maslin for small-batch preserving and more.

In my last post I confessed to several failures in the kitchen. While we haven’t achieved perfect success, our failure rate is certainly on the decline…leaving me few bloopers to blog. No one wants to hear about the successes. The good thing about less than perfect results is the research it prompts and the stories I have to tell while I do public demos. (Yes, I’ll be doing more of them. I got through the last without fainting or vomiting, so I’m thinking they will just get easier with more experience.) Our only problem this month was again with peaches. We had planned to make another trip to the Fruit Bowl to buy more peaches. This time, O’Henry’s. I’ve been hearing about O’Henry peaches from a couple of my friends since I began making jam in 2013. I missed their season last year and was determined to time our trip appropriately this year. The O’Henry peach was developed in the 1970’s by UC-Davis as the perfect canning peach and I’ve been anxious to compare it to the Elberta. Well, our trip to buy O’Henry’s was planned and then, unfortunately, it had to be postponed a few weeks. I’m learning that the window of opportunity to purchase various varieties of fruit and vegetables is often as short as two to three weeks. By waiting those couple of weeks, we nearly missed the season. The day we went, the last of the O’Henry’s had been picked that morning. It was a near miss. However, being a positive person, I just took our timing as a good sign (and a reminder of the time-sensitive nature of canning from buying to preserving). We went home with almost 30 pounds of peaches and got busy in the kitchen. This time we did it by the book: read the recipe, staged our canning paraphernalia, blanched the peaches and promptly placed them into a cold water bath with ascorbic acid, filled the wide-mouth jars with the peeled peaches, and processed according to the recipe...just as I was taught. Sue, my food preservation teacher/guru, would be proud of me.

By the book, and yet the peaches boiled over during the processing turning the canning water to a pale shade of pink and they continued to spew out simple syrup for five minutes after being removed from the canner? And, why did I get an inch of frothy white bubbles at the top of one jar? I didn’t panic this time and refrigerate them all after canning (to be used in peach margaritas). The seal was good, even though the liquid was well below the ½ inch headspace line. Here are a couple of possibilities for boil over or siphoning, as it is sometimes called. Too little headspace (clearly not a problem now), rings may be too tight or not tight enough, or the jars may be packed too tightly which can start a siphon. I suspect the latter. I like to tightly pack the peaches knowing they will reduce in size during processing leaving them floating about 1-1/2” above the bottom once they cool. As for the frothy bubbles? 

I don’t know the answer to that one. They are obviously tiny air bubbles that occurred after the jar was removed from the canner. The question is why? I’ve spent over two hours on the web reading self-taught canning experts’ theories and am no closer to an answer. I did accuse my helper of leaving soap in the jar, but he assured me the jars were rinsed twice and then spent over 30 minutes in the water bath canner heating. So, I crossed that off my list of possibilities. If you have a scientific explanation or a truly original idea, send it to me. I’ve got to get to the bottom of this. One last thing, I’m looking for a new assistant. After accusing the last one of leaving soap in the jar, he got mad and quit, so I’m kind of in a bind here.

More Confessions from the Master of Mess-Ups

When the girls were in elementary school they would occasionally do something that was not quite to their liking and they would say, “I made a mess-up.” (Probably all kids say that, but it was especially cute coming from our two precious daughters.) I like the term and use it, not only because it conjures up sweet memories of our children, but it also helps soften my true reaction to a failed project, which is to scream, “S**T, another failure!!!” Most of our attempts at preserving food have been successful and go unmentioned. It’s these less than perfect results, these failures, which haunt me a bit. So, I need to use this forum one more time (providing there are no more failures) to consider and hopefully explain why each one of this month’s canning mess-ups occurred.

The peaches…a special trip to Lodi to buy them and an afternoon of hot work in the kitchen to can nine quarts of the things, and what do we have? Nine quarts of over-processed, brown-tinged Elberta’s in the refrigerator/freezer. We managed to make every mistake in the book and then some. The first lesson in canning: Focus, minimize all distractions. Not only were we not focused and did not go over the recipe, but we were preoccupied the entire time with taking photos (remember Ann, the reporter who needed pictures for her article and the reason we were canning peaches in the first place?). Next, we either didn’t remember from canning peaches last year (yes, we’d done this before!), but once peeled they need to be placed in water with lemon juice or ascorbic acid, which minimizes the browning from oxidation. Like apples, peaches will brown very quickly if left exposed to the air. And they did! We were cold-packing the peaches, which means the uncooked peaches are put into a hot jar, a hot simple syrup is poured over them, a warm lid and ring applied, and then the jars are placed in a boiling water bath canner and processed according to the recipe. Verne had prepared several quart jars, both regular and large mouth. I grabbed one of the jars and attempted to stuff the peach halves through its “regular” mouth opening (kind of like stuffing a size 12 arse into size 10 jeans). Not a chance for those extra-large peaches to go through a 3” opening. It took a few jars of mutilated peaches before we went searching for additional wide-mouth jars, which then had to be thoroughly washed and prepared for canning. Time was ticking. When we were finally ready to process the jars, everything was room-temp to cold…the jars, the simple syrup, the lids. This has to explain our catastrophic results. They didn't seal! In fact, the syrup bubbled over reducing its level in each jar by a good ½” and creating a sticky bond between the lid and glass jar, which a less informed canner might consider a seal…not me, though. I was not about to be fooled by a false (sticky) seal and all of the jars went into the fridge. According to Lauren, an “epic fail” as the peaches were for her! Here's the $50+ picture...

I’m scheduled to teach a class on jams and jellies in the fall. My preparation has included several hours of research on the various commercial pectins available as well as homemade pectin and, of course, the slow-cook or reduction techniques to making a no-added pectin jam. Rather than just research the topic, I decided to test each of these pectins/techniques by using them to make a batch of strawberry jam. I chose that particular fruit because strawberries are plentiful and inexpensive this time of year. Also, if you remember reading my previous "canning mess-ups" blog, I had severe fruit float with my new Pomona Pectin and assumed (bad idea to assume) that it was due to the brand of pectin I was using. I ended the blog post by saying “the jury is still out (on Pomona).” Well, the jury has returned with a NG verdict, Not Guilty. Every jar of pectin jam I’ve made so far (four different brands) has had significant fruit float (solids at the top, jelly at the bottom). I have yet to make my no-added pectin strawberry jam, which is a slow cook reduction. However, I’d be willing to bet money that it will be perfect with no fruit float. My theory is this: the quick cooking time used with added-pectin jams does not sufficiently remove/release the air from the fruit making it lighter than the jelled liquid in which it’s preserved. It thus has a tendency to float to the top. A reduction jam is cooked for 30-40 minutes, constantly stirring, until the mixture has reduced by one-third to one-half. At the end of the cooking time, it is one cohesive glob (technical term) and (this is my theory…you won’t find it in a food science book) much of the air has been removed due to the constant stirring and the long cooking time. Secondly, the liquid has jelled sufficiently to keep the fruit particles suspended. That’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it!

We now arrive at our third failure in July: Pickles. I know this sounds like an excuse, but by reading past blog posts you know that I readily admit to my failures and shortcomings…It was a very bad recipe! I was so excited to be taking our second big step in our journey into home food preservation…Making Pickles. I was hoping for a pickle something like Claussen or Vlasic, but didn’t really expect perfect results from our first attempt. Sadly, they didn’t turn out to be like Claussen or Vlasic or any other pickle I’ve ever eaten and they were so bad, so salty they were inedible. No, I didn’t expect perfection, but certainly was not prepared for total Failure. We tossed the six-pint jars, spent an afternoon commiserating, and got up the next day with a mission to find the perfect dill pickle recipe.  We searched our cookbooks as well as the Internet. With few exceptions, all dill pickle recipes call for large amounts of salt. I’ve found one recipe by Ball that uses their commercially-available pickling concoction that we’re going to try next. If we don’t have better results, our plan is to put quick pickles on the back burner (pun intended) and move on to fermented pickles for now…a much longer and more intimidating process, but it does seem to use less salt.  For now, I’d avoid eating pickles at the Moser’s and just stick to the peach margaritas!  

Just when I’m beginning to feel like a real MFP…

July has been a busy month for us with two road trips, jam making, a couple of Music Circus plays in Sacramento, more jamming, and the beginning of my community service for the Master Food Preserver program. I’m finishing the month with 10+ hours served of my total 50 hours required this year. Woohoo! I’m off to a great start…not totally my own doing though. I signed up to work a four-hour shift at the Amador County Fair with my cohort, Vera Allen. Being Sunday morning, the last day of the Fair, and a bit smoky from a fire that had started the prior Wednesday in an area close to the fairgrounds, attendance seemed light and interest in our booth was even lighter. The most exciting part of our shift was watching the butterfly exhibit next to our table. I spent hours watching the Monarchs and growing more and more certain that Verne and I need to create a habitat that will draw these beautiful insects.

I’m so busy right now with an Etsy site that’s still not completely up and running, working on three commissioned quilt pieces (actually, they aren’t started yet), and putting in my MFP hours, that I’ve decided it would be a wonderful project for Verne. He already knows quite a bit about Monarchs and we have an expert, Alicia and her Buena Vista Butterfly Farm, within an hour of us. A quote from Alicia’s letterhead, “Where Beauty Flies on Gentle Wings,” is enough for me to love the woman without even meeting her. Also, Vera tells me that the 4H program has a butterfly project. All I need is a kid to join it…anyone have a kid they’d like to rent out for a few hours a month? Afterall, it won’t be the first time I’ve used children to get myself into a 4H project. I had the girls sign up for a dozen projects over the years because I wanted the experience of raising chickens, rabbits, sheep, pigs, and cows. Well, the Fair this year wasn’t a total bust (butterflies excluded). Verne used the four hours I was working to leisurely partake of all the exhibits and enjoy a few beers before noon, not his usual practice. He spent a little time with Vera and me at the booth offering his two cents when we had the occasional question from a passerby.

That explains four of my ten hours spent on MFP business this month. The other six were not exactly elective. I don’t know who reads this blog, but I’ve decided that since I consider it to be my personal journal, I won’t hold back, but bare all. I haven’t exactly looked forward to the community service requirement of my new title as a Master Food Preserver. I will certainly meet my commitment and serve my time, but I was hoping to just lay low and pick and choose the activity. In other words, be a bit invisible. Well, I received an email the Monday before Fair telling me that our tickets for entrance and parking were available at the Cooperative Extension office. I thought about having Vera pick them up since she’s there several days a week, but Verne and I were in town so I asked him to stop by the office so I could get our tickets. Big mistake for one who was hoping to lay low and remain invisible for the next year. Lo and behold, Sue, our teacher and leader, was in the front office that day. That poorly timed visit resulted in my additional community service hours in July. I left with a new assignment and within 24 hours had a second. I’ll save the first for another blog, because I’ve yet to get started. The second, however, has kept me busy for the last five days. I was to return a phone call to a reporter of the Sierra Lodestar (serving Amador and Calaveras Counties), who wanted to write an article on canning. The Lodestar likes to personalize their stories, so her questions went way, way beyond the technicalities of canning. She wanted to write about my personal history and experience with food preservation, complete with pictures of me canning. The pictures were a problem as I’m usually behind the camera and I couldn’t find a single picture of me canning. I tried to talk her into just including the MFP logo and she insisted that their readers want pictures! With her deadline looming, I agreed to provide her with a few on Monday.

We set out early this morning to buy peaches and strawberries (and take pictures) at the Fruit Bowl on Highway 88. I was reminded why I’m the one who is usually taking the pictures…I’m a more skilled photographer than Verne and, secondly, he’s more photogenic. It took dozens of shots before we got one that is useable.

We got home and started the process of canning peaches and taking pictures of each step. We managed to get five acceptable pictures from over 50 shots. (Thank goodness for digital cameras.) However, the canning was a disaster! I’m still not sure how we messed up something as simple as canning peaches in a simple syrup. I’ve identified a few things we could have done better had we not been so distracted by the photo shoot, but I’m too embarrassed to disclose them here…even though I promised to “bare all.” It’s just too distressful to have such a failure now that I’m a full-fledged MFP and what if word got out and Ann at the Lodestar stumbled onto this blog and shared my failure with the public? Yikes! I’m once again humbled and reminded that I’m a food preserver novice…a soon-to-be local MFP celebrity, but still a novice.

A Matter of Endurance

About this time four years ago while Lauren was off to Southeast Asia for the summer, we decided to take advantage of her empty home and spend a week there with friends. Verne came up with several ideas for entertainment appropriate for Pam (my age) and her son (around 20). He’d just read about the opening of Portland’s 4T, the T’s standing for Train (MAX), Trail (ranging from easy to parts that are moderately difficult), Tram (Portland Aerial Tram), and Trolley (Portland Street Car). It sounded like a great way to spend the day experiencing Portland. We were all game. The first leg of the adventure is a train ride from Pioneer Square downtown to the Portland Zoo, where a 4-1/2 mile hiking path (Marquam Trail) with a 650 feet elevation change between beginning and end takes off through forest trails and ends at OSHU (Oregon Health and Science University). From there the aerial tram, pictured below, carries passengers from OSHU to the city’s South Waterfront district providing a beautiful view of the city. A short walk and about a 15-minute ride on the trolley returns one near the starting point in downtown Portland. Well, we did it and although Pam and I were limping a bit by the time we completed the hike, it was the highlight of our week together.

We’ve wanted to do it again with Lauren, but either timing or weather has prevented us from doing it until this past weekend. We set out from Pioneer Square around 9 a.m. and finished about four hours later. There’s no way the hiking trail is just 4-1/2 miles…it’s got to be at least 6+ miles. If we ever do it again I’m going to wear a pedometer and test the accuracy of the trail map. And, the level of difficulty? It’s got to be a 4 out of 5 stars! I seriously thought I wouldn’t make the last ½ mile. There was one thing, though, that kept me going the distance and it wasn’t Lauren’s urgings and coaxings. When we set out on the trail from the Zoo, we passed a group of about 15 very, very old women (we heard one say she was 90 and I expect the average age was in the late 80’s) and their leader, a very fit-looking man in his early 50’s, who appeared to be gathering for the hike. We weren’t far when we heard talking and laughter behind us (actually, gaining on us) and it was this very group of old ladies. It’s all I can do to huff and puff and complain while hiking. Chat it up? No way! Here I am after the first mile...

Verne was not about to have them pass us, so he was in the back of our threesome pushing me and Lauren was the pacesetter in front encouraging us (me) to pick up the pace a bit. We made it to the first rest top, Council Crest, with these women on our heels still chatting and laughing and their leader giving us a smug look, as if to say “Not quite what you expected, huh?” The group appeared to be stopping and I figured they were just going to make a short hike of it, admirable and fitting for this geriatric group. Another hiker took this picture of the three of us before we pushed on. 

We hit the trail without much of a break to get some distance between us in case they were planning to hike the next two miles to the second rest stop, Marquam Shelter. It was no time before they were close behind and we’d hardly had time to catch our (my) breath after reaching the rest stop when they walked out of the forest still talking and laughing, completing the gruesome four miles no worse for wear. Unfricking believable!!! Well, there was no resting for us. We took off uphill as fast as I could walk, because at that point it was either hike at my pace or carry me. We managed to save face and beat (not by much, though) those old women and their cocky guide, but the experience has definitely got me motivated to get in shape before we attempt the 4T again. I plan to break out the Weightwatcher cookbooks I packed away years ago, stop making excuses and open the exercise videos (still in their shrink wrap) I’ve collected over the years, and hang a picture on the fridge of some very fit 90 year old (I’m thinking of Helen Mirren as my inspiration…not quite 90, but older than me). That’s at least a start!

Our hike pretty much exhausted me for the next few days, but I did manage to work through the pain of sore muscles and we walked the local Farmers Market and the Portland Berry Festival the following day. The Lake Oswego Farmers Market is superior to any market I’ve ever attended. It’s held on the lake in downtown Lake O and there must be over two hundred vendors. It’s a wonderful mixture of fresh produce, plants and flowers, food artisans, and entertainment. It’s an event that should not be missed while visiting the Portland area. This was our second year attending the Berry Festival. As we did last year, we arrived at Lauren’s with all of our canning paraphernalia, ready to make jam from the fresh berries. I showed some self-control this year at the Festival and only bought a flat (that is 12 pints) of berries, which yielded 20 half-pints of jam (as compared to 36 half-pints last year). We lucked out and one of the vendors had fresh boysenberries, which are typically not available until a little later in the summer. We made a single batch of boysenberry jam (to save and savor) and two batches of mixed berry jam (blackberry, raspberry, boysenberry, and blueberry) to share with berry special people. Nummy! Oh, did I mention...the majority of the Festival vendors, such as Salt and Straw (Portland's farm to cone ice cream shop) offer samples and sell berry products, such as marionberry, goat cheese, and habanero ice cream and cucumber and raspberry sorbet. I sampled both and they were amazing!

Saturday afternoon Scott and a friend arrived and spent the rest of the day with us. We had fun drinking wine and some pumpkin beer leftover from Thanksgiving and catching up. After a few Flying Pie pizzas we tried to make a hotel reservation and found there wasn’t a room to be had in the Portland area. Once again I’m reminded of the need to travel with reservations. Lauren (always the little sister) was kicked out of her bedroom and forced to sleep on the sofa with her cat, Chloe. Fun for the cat as she never gets to sleep with Lauren and she spent the night walking on her and biting her toes. Not too much fun for Lauren. Oh well, it’s just one of those things you do for a much older brother.

Much of the balance of the time was spent working a list of chores around Lauren’s home. The list didn’t look like much, but every item had its own challenges and we worked steadily for a couple of days. Seems like after our last trip to Portland Lauren assured us she’d not work us so hard in the future. Hmmmm….and she wonders why we’ve scaled back to quarterly trips to see her. Just kidding, Lauren! We always enjoy leaving knowing that we’ve made your life a little better with a few DIY repairs or home improvements (those spice racks are awesome). Start a new list…we’ll be back in September!

Peeling a Mushroom

Back in April I blogged about "Personal Pizzas" and as a footnote I mentioned peeling mushrooms. If you missed it, here's what I said...

"P.S. Just when you think you know your way around the kitchen, you learn something new…Vera prepared her mushrooms by peeling them, an old trick she learned when she worked in the deli department at Safeway. I had no idea you could peel a mushroom. Brush them off, yes. (Although, I’ve never been thoroughly satisfied with the results.) Wash them, yes (according to Alton Brown). But, peel? The results are pure, clean goodness. Google it…I’m sure there’s a You Tube on it!"

Well, each time I've brought this up with Jana she has laughed, said it's ridiculous, and that she'd NEVER peel a mushroom. We made this video for her Sunday morning to show her how easy it is and decided to share it on the Moser Good Eats blog. Watch it and give it a try.

July 4th Weekend

After three months at home with the only road trips back and forth to Nevada to prepare the condo for new tenants, we were ready to head for Southern California and spend a few days relaxing with Jana and Bashir. We try to avoid holiday trips and leave the road and restaurants to the working crowd, but a long weekend was too good to pass up. We arrived Thursday evening, meeting the kids at our favorite Japanese eatery, Musha’s. There’s not much I can say about Musha’s that I haven’t already said…it’s located in the heart of downtown Santa Monica, alive with conversation and good food smells, and has an extensive menu of small plate items that are fresh, innovative, and delicious. We love the place!

Jana had planned Friday, July 4^th, beginning with breakfast at our other favorite restaurant, Flake. We arrived to find it closed for the holiday. Disappointed! We went on to eat at a place called Milo and Olive. I don’t know if it’s a recent trend or just something I’ve only recently noticed, but these “hip” restaurants often dedicate half of the tables to communal seating, especially when floor space is limited, which is often the case in high rent districts like Santa Monica and Venice. I made the first of several very good choices this past weekend and had an interesting breakfast: creamy polenta topped with coarsely chopped bacon and two soft poached eggs. That’s another trend I’ve been noticing for the past few years…poached eggs are everywhere. They top pasta, sandwiches, hamburgers, salads, and more. It’s an interesting idea, if you like soft cooked eggs (and I do), but it can make for a very messy sandwich or burger. It was actually a perfect addition to the creamy polenta, which included Parmesan cheese and a hint of tarragon, and is something I plan to make at home in the near future.

Mid-day was spent at the L.A. County Museum of Art (LACMA) attending a special exhibit – Van Gogh to Kandinksy. Most people must have been at home celebrating the 4^th with a back yard barbeque, because the exhibit was very lightly attended. Actually, that’s good, because we were able to leisurely view the paintings and then go on to view a few other installation exhibits. One that kept us riveted for almost an hour was called Metropolis II. It’s a “miniature city in motion consisting of 1,100 Hot Wheels-sized cars, 25 large buildings, 18 lanes of traffic, 13 trains and a human operator. The cars zoom at 240 miles per hour to scale, meaning upwards of 100,000 cars circulate through the urban network each hour.” It is fascinating and something to be enjoyed by all ages. 

After that fun experience, Jana wanted us to see Levitated Mass or more commonly referred to as the LACMA Rock. It’s another artist installation amounting to a 340-ton boulder affixed above a concrete trench.  Here’s a picture of us beneath the LACMA Rock to put its size into perspective…

The rest of the afternoon was spent at their Venice apartment enjoying several bottles of wine, admiring all of Jana’s plants (she has quite the green thumb) and her cats, Olive and Izzy, and sharing food, wine, and cat stories…all common interests with the exception of the cat stories. Jana and I never tire of stories or pictures of our adorable creatures. In contrast, the men just grouse about cat hair on their clothing (I ask you, what are lint brushes for?) and the dirt and destruction related to owning a pet. Thank goodness, they didn’t get into the expense of owning a pet (vet bills, grooming, special diets, pet furniture, pet sitters – the list goes on). They know it’s a hopeless argument, so it never goes much further than a few exasperated, repetitive complaints.

Our Independence Day dinner celebration was at Mercado in Santa Monica (not really appropriate, since we weren’t celebrating Mexico’s independence, but all the same it was delicious), where we enjoyed margaritas (I won’t go there again without ordering the cucumber-jalapeno margarita – it is amazing!), house-made chips and guacamole, and shared several small plates, including a delicious Choriqueso dip and Rajas Poblanos served with fresh tortillas. Their desserts, including flan and tres leche cake, were as excellent as everything else we had that evening. I think we may have another Santa Monica/Venice favorite restaurant.

Saturday morning we met at Flake for our Super Cro-Jo fix...

...and then drove on to Santa Barbara for a visit with our dear friend, Sally. We spent the afternoon watching a delightful movie, Chef, and then had an early dinner outdoors at Killer Shrimp on State Street. This was another one of my good choices: fried shrimp with coleslaw and fries. I know this sounds very ordinary, but I assure you, it wasn’t. The shrimp were butterflied, skewered, battered, and fried lightly. They came standing upright on the plate with the gathered ends of the skewers held together by a single piece of cucumber, thus, forming a teepee of shrimp. I’m sure this is impossible to visualize…just trust me, it was one of the more artistic presentations of fried shrimp I’ve ever seen. It was no ordinary batter, either, but included a bit of cayenne or some other source of heat, which left my mouth tingling with spicy pleasure. Only after I’d eaten each of the six delicious shrimp did I tell my fellow diners how extraordinary they were. I still feel a bit guilty about selfishly hoarding the best thing on the menu, especially after we’d all agreed to share. Hmmmm…I guess they both should know by now that I can’t be trusted when it comes to good food!

No parades, no fireworks, no meat-lovers barbeque. Just a couple of days spent with people we love eating and drinking and having a great and memorable July 4^th.  No better way to celebrate Independence!