tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-43031943987907107072024-03-13T06:43:12.666-07:00The Literary FoodieJessicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17279465481708169566noreply@blogger.comBlogger46125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4303194398790710707.post-51562420979196673502012-10-25T17:01:00.000-07:002012-10-25T17:01:41.294-07:00A Memory of a Meal<span style="font-size: large;"><i><b>I</b></i></span> was 19 and living in White Plains, NY the summer of 2003 when the North East and parts of the Midwest United States had the most stunning blackout of my lifetime. I was driving on the highway when the blackout first started, and kept spinning my radio dial trying to understand why it wasn’t working. Everywhere I went people were outside, and the energy in the air was crackling. As I would later learn living in Northern New York with snowstorms and the like, we humans congregate when something large scale is out of our hands. <br />
<br />By the second day many areas had power back, but much of New York City was still without. I don’t remember what the reason was but I had a friend coming to visit that day from Massachusetts and as had been planned ahead of time she would be coming into Port Authority by bus. <br /><br />Looking back now, it was completely stupid for us to drive into a Manhattan with little power, but at the time it seemed like no big deal. Not only not a big deal but it seemed like it would be fun, and it was. At that point the crazy grid-lock that the blackout had originally caused had died down, and no one with any sense was driving around. So for the first time we were able to quickly make our way from White Plains to Manhattan. Once in Manhattan we found that where there would normally be some of the worst drivers in the country, instead you found incredibly aware and conscientious drivers. It was something that I would never again see driving around that city. <br /><br />Once we picked up my friend Peggy we decided to hang out in the Village and absorb the celebratory mood that the blackout had brought on. Many businesses were still closed but we found a brick oven pizza place churning out pizzas to a crowed mashed out their front door and tumbling along the sidewalk. We waited longer than we ever normally would have for what turned out to be the best slice of pizza I have ever had. We ate our slices sitting on the curb in Greenwich Village as the power was restored to the area. We cheered along with the residents as we watched the lights turn on and the sounds that are a constant in New York began once again to fill the air around us.<br /><br />Having grown up outside of Manhattan but close enough to easily hop on the train and go in for the day, I have a romantic relationship with the city that will stay with me always. I could easily bombard you with too many stories of the way this city helped shape me growing up, specifically in my teens. That day, immersed in the energy of the city without power, and seeing that gorgeous skyline blacked out for the first time, is by far one of my favorite memories. Living on the West Coast now, I have accepted that I can only have truly good pizza when I get to visit back home. None will ever taste like that day though.<br /><br />Were you living in the area during this blackout? Got any stories to share?<br /><br />Jessicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17279465481708169566noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4303194398790710707.post-91514641539161995112012-02-27T17:46:00.000-08:002012-02-27T19:45:22.874-08:00An Affair With MagazinesI am a bit of a magazine junkie, though I hate the term as it insinuates something negative. A magazine lover? Whichever, I believe it started with Seventeen magazine, at a much earlier age then seventeen and grew from there. Surprisingly, though I love them, I am only subscribed to one food magazine. I tend to wait for the magazine to offer a special subscription price before I hop on board, and now I am at the point that if I add on another I will never read them all. There are of course months that I skip an issue or two, but for the most part I always get around to reading each one.<br />
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I love opening the mailbox to find a new one, I love the short and to the point articles, I love the pictures, I love it all. They are happy little vacations from the many books that I seem to always have wrapping up my attention. Those are some of the reasons that I get subscriptions, the other is that I really, really want journalists and writers to have jobs, and I want to keep these magazines in existence. Each year it gets harder and harder for print media to stay in business, and along with them the shops and individuals that make them available to us. Everyone in the food community remembers when the closure of Gourmet magazine was announced, and closer to home for us in Sacramento the awesome and unique midtown magazine shop Newsbeat that closed down just a few months ago.<br />
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There is something to be said for a really well written article, and just as importantly a perfectly shot photo. Though I love books, magazines hold a special place in my reading time, that sexy half hour vacation where everything is pretty and interesting and so perfectly propped, placed and posed. Can’t help but love them.<br />
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Currently my magazine subscriptions include:<br />
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<a href="http://www.foodandwine.com/">Food & Wine</a> (got a great holiday offer and so far so good, man love those pictures!)<br />
<a href="http://www.msmagazine.com/">Ms. Magazine</a> ( A Christmas present from my husband, the feminist that he is. I have wanted this one for years and never subscribed)<br />
<a href="http://www.marieclaire.com/">Marie Claire</a> (Gotta get my beauty tips somewhere J<br />
<a href="http://www.sacmag.com/">Sacramento Magazine</a><br />
<a href="http://www.sactownmag.com/home.php">Sac town</a> (seriously I live in a town that has two magazines! I think it is shameful to live here and not support these two great local magazines)<br />
<a href="http://www.bottomlinepublications.com/newsletters">Bottom Line Personal </a>( A Christmas present from my dad, and I love the random things I learn with each issue)<br />
<a href="http://www.mcsweeneys.net/luckypeach">Lucky Peach </a>( though I don’t have a subscription yet, I am loving this brand new food mag, and I think, it is a new essential for any lover of food writing)<br />
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So, what are your favorites? Do you subscribe to the print edition, buy it off the stands, read it online, or subscribe to the digital edition?<br />
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Another yearly favorite of mine:
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<a href="http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780231159401?aff=literaryfoodie"><img onerror="this.src = 'http://www.indiebound.org/files/book_not_found.jpg';" src="http://images.booksense.com/images/books/401/159/FC9780231159401.JPG" style="border: 1px solid #000;" /><br />Shop Indie Bookstores</a>Jessicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17279465481708169566noreply@blogger.com46tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4303194398790710707.post-50973836231780047792012-02-20T18:15:00.000-08:002012-02-20T19:03:29.686-08:00Libraries and Oranges<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><i><b>S</b></i></span>o, I have been away from the blog for sometime, it’s true. But, they gave me a library. Seriously, a whole library, that is <i>all </i>mine. I get to make all the decisions and plan all the programs, I even get to make the displays and pick out the stories for story time.<br />
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I have been a little distracted to say the least. More than distracted, I have been in love. If I were to have written down all of the things I wanted in a job, I probably would not have thought of half of the things that I love about this job. I am running an entire elementary school library, and I am the only one in there, thus making most decisions on my own, and also figuring it all out as I go. Sadly, due to budget restraints, it is only a part time position, which you would not know by everything I have been able to pull off. One book, One School anyone?<br />
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This job is by far more perfect for me than I could have hoped for, and though there is the very real threat of budget problems that make this job a bit insecure, I am so, so happy that I have it. This should not mean that I let the other things I love fall to the wayside, like The Literary Foodie, but that is what I have done . I have the tendency to put all of my energy, creativity, and thought into whatever major project I have going and not leaving much left over.<br />
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But then the orange trees started producing fruit. And producing. And producing. You may remember from my little rant last year, <a href="http://literaryfoodie.blogspot.com/2011/02/pick-your-damn-fruit-or-how-i-love.html"><i>Pick Your Damn Fruit, Or How I Love Winter in Sacramento</i></a>, how strongly I feel about the fact that I live in a place that oranges grow. This year I had the good idea of putting a request on freecycle to pick peoples citrus fruit that they are not eating. I got a pretty awesome response and so, every few days Rob and I have gone to different homes in Sacramento to pick from different trees. We have ended up with yellow grapefruits, lemons, and bags and bags of oranges.<br />
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As you have figured out, when I have a large quantity of something I see it as a project, and these oranges were no different. Now that I am not (as) afraid of canning, that is what we decided to do. The results?<br />
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<a href="http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780778801399?aff=literaryfoodie" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img onerror="this.src = 'http://www.indiebound.org/files/book_not_found.jpg';" src="http://images.booksense.com/images/books/399/801/FC9780778801399.JPG" style="border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0);" /><br />Shop Indie Bookstores</a>
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4 4oz & 2 16oz jars of Orange Beet Chutney from this <a href="http://www.dirtykitchensecrets.com/edible-holiday-gift-idea-1-roasted-beetroot-orange-spice-chutney/">recipe</a><br />
3 4oz & 1 16oz jars of Morning Cheer Marmalade from The Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving<br />
2 16oz jars of Honey-Orange Slices from The Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving<br />
Two trays of Candied Orange Slices from this <a href="http://www.food.com/recipe/candied-orange-slices-dipped-in-chocolate-144348">recipe</a><br />
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(with hopes of doing an orange and lemon curd in the next few days)<br />
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So, not that I needed any, but February is yet again giving me more reasons that I love living in California. I can’t make any promises, but I hope to start learning some time management so that I can actually do all of the things that I love to do. We will see. <br />
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But, seriously, <i><span style="font-size: large;"><b>MY OWN LIBRARY</b></span></i>!Jessicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17279465481708169566noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4303194398790710707.post-48339330399516785722011-10-27T16:44:00.000-07:002011-10-27T18:48:22.706-07:00Happy 1st Blog Birthday: A Year in Review<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>A </i></b></span>year ago today I finally figured out a way to alleviate some of the pressure from being unemployed as well as found a way to talk about books and food as much as and whenever I wanted to. Thus The Literary Foodie was born. Though I am not exactly what anyone would call consistent I absolutely love this blog. I love that it has me learning/trying/tasting/seeing new things. I also love that it has helped me meet new people, in person and virtually, as well as kept my family over in New York more involved in the things that I am doing here is California.<br />
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Moving away from everyone you love, and everything you know is incredibly hard. This blog was one of the things that made it not only easier but a pleasure. I hope you have all enjoyed it as much as I have, and I hope you will all stick with me for many more to come. For kicks and giggles you should go check out my very first post, <a href="http://literaryfoodie.blogspot.com/2010/10/and-so-i-begin.html">And So I Begin</a>, and see just how hopeful and earnest it is, I think it’s pretty cute.<br />
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Happy 1st Birthday The Literary Foodie!!<br />
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And here are some interesting factoids about the blog:<br />
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The most popular post so far is my Valentines Day Post, <a href="http://literaryfoodie.blogspot.com/2011/02/food-of-love-happy-valentines-day.html">The Food of Love</a>, talking about romantic food and recommending some romantic reads.<br />
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After that was my post,<a href="http://literaryfoodie.blogspot.com/2011/05/new-family-member-and-emptying-fridge.html"> A New Family Member, and Emptying the Fridge</a>, about getting my dog and getting ready to move. I am pretty sure that one was popular because everyone was hoping I was pregnant.<br />
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By far the most popular pages have been <a href="http://literaryfoodie.blogspot.com/p/food-fiction-list.html">Food Fiction</a> and <a href="http://literaryfoodie.blogspot.com/p/food-memoir-list.html">Food Memoirs</a> with Fiction coming in first.<br />
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The country with the most Literary Foodie readers is (obviously) the USA followed in order by Russia, Canada, The United Kingdom, Poland, India and Australia. Can't deny that I have been pretty darned excited each time a new country gets added to the list. <br />
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The Google searches bringing people to my page have been the interesting, and sometimes pretty funny. The most common has been people searching for Isabella Allende books, which I completely understand because she is incredible. There has also been: equipping a kitchen, literary restaurant in NYC, and how to rediscover passion for writing. I am pretty sure none of these folks were looking for me when they did their search, but find me they did. I would like to think they were pleasantly surprised.<br />
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So far my favorite post to write was, <a href="http://literaryfoodie.blogspot.com/2011/02/pick-your-damn-fruit-or-how-i-love.html">Pick Your damn Fruit or How I love Winter in Sacramento</a>. Followed in second place by one of my very first posts, <a href="http://literaryfoodie.blogspot.com/2010/10/as-i-stare-into-fridge.html">As I Stare Into the Fridge</a>.<br />
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So, again thank you all for joining me I hope you have been enjoying as much as I have. Know that I love all of your feedback, and welcome any questions. Here's to another year!<br />
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What have been some of your favorites over the past year? Is there anything you would like to see?<br />
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<br />Jessicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17279465481708169566noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4303194398790710707.post-75357209866154957412011-10-05T14:30:00.000-07:002011-10-05T15:55:28.197-07:00My Fear of Canning: Spiced Lemon Fig JamThis is one of those things that I don’t tend to talk about, because once it is out there, there is no taking it back, and honestly I would rather not find out that I am actually alone in this. Here it goes anyway, I have found my 20’s to be rife with insecurities. Most people seem to reminisce and romanticize their 20’s so much that at points I have felt like I must be doing it all wrong, thus the insecurities. Though I am finding my way more, and refining my once vibrant confidence I still find those moments when uncertainty seems to be trailing my every move. I am in awe of the confidence that I vibrated with in my teens, some of it certainly an act, but so much so that I believed it myself. Back then I didn’t doubt anything. I honestly can’t wait until I stop feeling so nervous about each new undertaking. <br />
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Most of it has had to do with the idea of being an adult and realizing that I have no idea what that entails. As I mentioned recently for the first few years out of college I worked in a bookstore, which I absolutely loved. With that, though, came disapproval from my parents and (so I thought) judgment from others. Why was I working in retail with my degree, why wasn’t I making more money? With the best of intentions, these types of questions tended to cement the fact that I felt like I was doing it all wrong. At the time and still sometimes now it always felt like everyone else had it down and it was just me stumbling around. <br />
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I know better than all of this of course. I look back at each new thing that I was scared to try, certain that I was going to do it wrong, and many of those same things are second nature to me now. More often than not it turns out that I am very good at many new things, and I know how to ask the right questions so that I learn how to do whatever it is correctly. For some reason I still go into the unknown with some serious insecurity. I will say that after making the move from New York to California my confidence has risen considerably. I mean really I did that and survived/succeeded what else can really knock me down? Besides canning that is.<br />
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I have wanted to start canning for years, sometime around the time my husband started working on farms and bringing me home excess amounts of whatever was in season. But each season and each year has found me too nervous/unsure/insecure to actually try to can anything. I blame it on the fact that I think about things too much, and then to make is worse I research. When you research canning you find out that if you don’t do it right you make people sick. Bad sick. Making people sick is not something that I am interested in, especially people outside of my household. My husband will probably forgive me, but what about the people that I give these canned goodies to? It was all just too much for me to handle, and since I didn’t have anyone to actually teach me to can I never tried. <br />
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Last year I made a refrigerator fig jam that was pretty incredible, and I got very anxious that I did not know how to can it so that I would have it all year. So, this year when fig season came around I vowed to learn how to can so that I would have the jam all year. I read a lot, I googled a lot, and in the end I feel pretty foolish that I did not try this a long time ago. I did have trouble with the fact that most of the fig jams out there were pretty strait forward with minimal ingredients but I found a few to give me an idea that last years recipe was right on, I just had to actually can it. So I went out and got a big pot with a tray in the bottom, some Ball jars, and a jar lifter. In the end we jarred three different batches of jam, one batch of marinated roasted peppers, pickled carrots, and pickled grapes. Hopefully we will be making some regular pickles pretty soon too. Now that I actually bit the bullet and learned how to can I seem to want to “put up” everything. So, at the age of 27 I have gotten over one more hang up and learned to can.<br />
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How old were you when you started canning?<br />
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What kind of cooking fears do you have?<br />
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This was one of the many books that I referenced to figure out what I was doing:<br />
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<a href="http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780778801313?aff=literaryfoodie"><img onerror="this.src = 'http://www.indiebound.org/files/book_not_found.jpg';" src="http://images.booksense.com/images/books/313/801/FC9780778801313.JPG" style="border: 1px solid #000;" /><br />Shop Indie Bookstores</a>
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And<a href="http://missvickie.com/canning/jars.html"> this site</a> helped answer a lot of my question. <br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><u><b style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Spiced Lemon Fig Jam</b></u></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Though the recipe is my own I followed the process <a href="http://www.pickyourown.org/figjam.htm">here</a></span><br />
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<i>24 medium figs chopped<br />¼ cup lemon juice<br />¼ packet pectin*<br />½ cup water<br />Zest of 2 lemons<br />1.5 teaspoon vanilla <br />2 teaspoons honey<br />2 cups sugar<br />1/2 teaspoon cinnamon</i><br />
<i>1/4 teaspoon ground cloves</i><br />
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Prepare your jars and lids for canning.<br />
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In a medium pot bring lemon juice, pectin, water and figs to a rolling boil.<br />
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Add remaining ingredients, stirring occasionally bring pot back to a boil & allow to boil for 1 minute.<br />
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Turn off heat and skim foam from top of jam, allow jam to sit for five minutes. <br />
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Take jars from hot water and line up on counter, using a funnel fill each jar, leaving a ¼ inch at the top.<br />
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Remove air bubbles from jars.<br />
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Put on and tighten lids, and process jars in boiling water for 5-10 minutes<br />
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*I used a minimal amount of pectin because I felt like I had to use it, this is not a runny jam so next time I don’t think I am going to use any at all. It’s all up to you and what you prefer.<br />
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I also think that more spice could be added to this with nice results, let me know any combos you try out. <br />
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Of course now that I have figured it out some other great Sacramento food bloggers have been putting out some fig jam recipes, you can check them out <a href="http://www.kitchentravels.com/2011/10/raspberry-and-fig-jam-recipe.html">here</a> and <a href="http://www.52kitchenadventures.com/2011/10/05/quick-and-easy-fig-jam/">here</a>.Jessicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17279465481708169566noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4303194398790710707.post-59256109311318858682011-09-26T21:43:00.000-07:002011-09-26T22:49:10.981-07:00Another Taste of A Homemade Life<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I would not normally do <a href="http://literaryfoodie.blogspot.com/2011/01/this-life-that-we-make-or-homeade-life.html">two</a> posts from the same book but when the <a href="http://cookthebooksclub.wordpress.com/">Cook the Books club</a> chose Molly Wizenbergs <i>A Homemade Life</i>, I couldn’t resist another go at it. Some of you will remember back in January when the other online book group I take part in, <a href="http://thisbookmakesmecook.blogspot.com/2011/01/homemade-life.html">This Book Makes me Cook</a>, did the same book. The fact that I have tried and loved quite a few of Molly’s recipes, either from her blog <a href="http://orangette.blogspot.com/">Orangette</a> or from the book was my driving force in doing another post. Unlike some other food related pieces of literature the recipes from <i>A Homemade Life</i> have not only all worked for me but have often been very nice surprises.<br />
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You have all had that moment (I hope) while reading a book, memoir or fiction, where you stop and start taking stock of your life. Not in a bad way, not to look at your life and say that it is not good enough or nitpicking all the faults. But in the good way, in the way that makes you look in every corner for your potential. This is what reading "A Homemade Life" does for me. Reading about Wizenberg’s life, from her childhood through her college years, a studio apartment in Paris, a long distance relationship started with a fan of her blog, and settling down in Seattle, all I think is that I want to know her. <br />
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I tend to embrace anything that makes me take stock of life, and when you have your eyes open most things probably do. The breeze as you walk down a city street, a certain song playing at a certain time, a good bookmoviephotographmusician. The sun hitting me in just the right spot on the back of my neck that made me decide to ask my husband to marry me (I promise to tell you more another day). So you see, I was happy to chat with you again about <i>A Homemade Life</i>. <br />
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This time around I chose not to re-read it, though I found myself taking quick little bites as I flipped through trying to decide which recipe to do. How do you pick between all these recipes? <br />
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Wizenberg on tomatoes:<br />
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“<i>They were fleshy and deep red, with edges crinkled like smocking on a child’s dress. When we bit into them, they shot rich, vermilion juice across the table. We were sold.”</i><br />
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Wizenberg on getting married:<br />
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<i>“First, when you get engaged, a few things happen. You agree to marry someone, for starters. Also, your head sort of explodes. Third, you are handed a ticket--rather sneakily, I should note, with no warning at all-- to an amusement park ride known as THE WEDDING.”</i><br />
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Wizenberg on trying new recipes:<br />
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<i>“I have a lot of cookbooks, and they demand my attention. You wouldn’t believe how pushy they are. They lie next to my bed like fat, lazy dogs. They stretch and yawn all over my lap.”</i><br />
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I don’t know if I picked the best sentences, but do you see what I mean? You want to read more don’t you? I hope you do, and you should. Please come back when you are done so we can chat about it. Which recipes did you try, which could you already taste before you had even finished the page? Why sections made you cry, did she make you want to live in France? Enjoy!<br />
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Trying to pick between the recipes is fruitless, I want to try them all, and so I have placated myself by saying that eventually I will try most of them I just need to pick one for today. <i>Okay</i> maybe two.<br />
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If you remember I recently posted about having trouble with the heat in Sacramento when I am so ready for fall to start. I have countered my feelings by picking all the incredible fruits and produce that California has to offer and canning them. Well not all, but a lot (you will read all about it in the next week or so) figs, peppers, plums and, thanks to <i>A Homemade Life</i>, carrots and grapes. Grapes? That’s right, pickled grapes. And I am sure glad I did.<br />
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The quotes and recipes are directly from Molly Wizenberg’s <i>A Homemade Life</i><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Spicy Pickled Carrots with Garlic and Thyme</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>from A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenberg</i></span> </b></span></div>
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<i>2 cups apple cider vinegar plus more 1 ½ teaspoons red pepper flakes<br /> for topping jars heaping 1 ½ teaspoons salt<br />2 cups water, plus more for topping jars heaping 2 teaspoons brown mustard<br />¼ cup granulated sugar seeds<br />6 (5-6 inch) sprigs fresh thyme 1 ½ pounds small (finger sized)<br />5 large cloves garlic, thinly sliced carrots, or standard-sized carrots,<br />1 ½ teaspoons black peppercorns cut into sticks about ½ inch wide<br /> cracked and 3 inches long</i><br />
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In a medium saucepan, combine 1 ½ cups apple cider vinegar, water, sugar thyme, garlic, black peppercorns, red pepper flakes, salt and mustard seeds. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat, and let cool for 5 minutes. Stir in the remaining ½ cup of vinegar.<br />
Put the carrots in a large, heatproof bowl, and pour the warm brine over them. Cool to room temperature.<br />
While the carrots cool, wash 2 quart-sized canning jars and their lids in warm, soapy water. <br />
When the carrots and brine are cool, distribute the carrots evenly among the jars, arranging them snugly. (Hands and fingers work best for this tongs make a mess.) Using a ladle, divide the brine evenly among the jars. The carrots should be covered completely by brine. If they are not, add a mixture of 2 parts vinegar and 1 part water to cover.<br />
Seal firmly and refrigerate for at least 3 days, or, preferably, a week; carrots are dense and take time to absorb the brine.<br />
Note: Covered and refrigerated, pickled carrots will, in theory, last indefinitely, but we try to eat them within a month or two.<br />
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<i>Yield: 2 quarts</i><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Pickled Grapes with Cinnamon and Black Pepper</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>from A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenberg</i></span> </b></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Adapted from Susan Kaplan</i></span></div>
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<i>1 pound red or black grapes, 1½ teaspoons brown mustard seeds<br /> preferably seedless 1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns<br />1 cup white wine vinegar 1 (2½ inch) cinnamon stick<br />1 cup granulated sugar ¼ teaspoon salt</i><br />
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Rinse and dry the grapes, and pull them off carefully from the their stems. Using a small, sharp knife, trim away the “belly button” at the stem end of the grape, exposing a bit of the flesh inside. Put the grapes into a medium bowl and set aside.<br />
In a medium saucepan, combine the remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil over medium- high heat, then pour the mixture over the grapes. Stir to combine. Set aside to cool to room temperature.<br />
While the grapes cool, wash 2 pint-sized canning jars and their lids in warm, soapy water. When the grapes are cool, ladle them into the jars. Chill for at least 8 hours or overnight.<br />
Serve cold.<br />
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<i>Yield: about 3 cups</i><br />
<i>(Wizneberg recommends eating these in the first few days, though she mentions that others have really enjoyed them after a week or two)</i><br />
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If you would like to read about the last time I read <i>A Homemade Life</i> and tried the recipe for Dutch Baby Pancakes with Lemon and Sugar you can check it out <a href="http://literaryfoodie.blogspot.com/2011/01/this-life-that-we-make-or-homeade-life.html">here</a>.<br />
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To read the other blog posts from this months book group, or to join this great little collection of bloggers come on over to <a href="http://cookthebooksclub.wordpress.com/">the Cook the Books Club</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.indiebound.org/book/9781416551065?aff=literaryfoodie"><img onerror="this.src = 'http://www.indiebound.org/files/book_not_found.jpg';" src="http://images.booksense.com/images/books/065/551/FC9781416551065.JPG" style="border: 1px solid #000;" /><br />Shop Indie Bookstores</a>Jessicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17279465481708169566noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4303194398790710707.post-87167001918076491682011-09-16T13:14:00.000-07:002011-09-16T13:14:51.342-07:00A Sad Farewell to Red Fox Books<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i><b>I</b></i></span> remember walking by the brick building for the first time knowing that there was going to be a independent bookstore opening up and I did a dance out there on the sidewalk. I did a dance not knowing that this store was going to change my life, or that the people opening it would become my dear friends. I don’t remember my first impressions of them, I was so nervous on the interview I don’t remember much of anything, including whether or not I made a fool of myself. It was my first job outside of temping since I graduated college, and though some people would not consider working at a bookstore to be the next logical step after college, but to me nothing else could possibly make that much sense. <br />
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Years before a travel partner asked me what my dream job would be if money was not an issue. Everyone else in our group had exotic answers, I answered that I wanted to open a bookstore/poetry venue. So to find myself four years later working in a fairly brand new independent bookstore was the hands on experience that I could never get in college. I was also lucky enough to be working for two incredible people that were more than happy to show and teach me all they could about the business. They were also comfortable enough to give me room to be creative and start my own projects within the walls of their wonderful bookstore. <br />
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Since opening its doors in 2006 Red Fox Books truly grew into an integral part of the small town of Glens Falls. The downtown is only a few blocks and all of the small businesses and restaurants feed off of each other making what was not that long age a sad deserted little town into a place to come and spend the day, shopping, eating and walking around. In my years there I saw a few businesses close, but I also saw many more open up. All of these businesses have been independently owned and run by some very brave and creative people, who understand what a local business can do for an area.<br />
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I know that people in this country are finally coming around, I see it everywhere I go. You see more and more people focusing on eating locally, and wanting to know where their food comes from. Willing to pay that little bit more, to know how there food is raised and the people that are raising it. You see this with other independent business as well but not nearly as much. When it comes to a book people have a fairly easy time justifying going online at all hours and buying a book from an online retailer that has the ability to sell it for a few dollars cheaper. <br />
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I don’t think that I need to go into the whole lecture about all the many reasons you should support an independent business, it would be like lecturing a smoker about why they have to quit. Believe me I understand, I was a smoker for a very long time. I know you all know better, and I also know that many of you will continue supporting nameless faceless businesses for the sake of a dollar or two. I get it. You can blame it on the economy or on E-readers, but the truth is there are just too many people that don’t much care where their belongings come from or who they are supporting, though I hope some day soon we will start to see those numbers change.<br />
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Today will be the last day of business in Red Fox Books in Glens Falls, NY. Next month the store would have hit it's fifth year in business. They have had some incredibly wonderful and loyal customers, who I have missed dearly since I moved away. I am sad for those customers, Ann and Keith, Matt, Gary, Jon and Liz and so many more of you that have loved this store as much as I have. That found a home there as I did, a place that was safe and comfortable that always made you happy to be there. I know how lucky I was to have had Red Fox in my life, and to have been able to work side by side with Susan and Naftali for the three+ years that I was able to. I am pretty sure that most people don’t get that lucky. I can't tell you how sad I am not to be there right now, though for what reason I don't know it just feels like I should.<br />
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I hope all of you, no matter where you live will go into an independent business today, I don’t care what kind, and buy something. Make sure you ask the person working there for a recommendation because for once you will actually get a good one, from someone who is doing this for a lot more reason than that it is just a job. Stay and chat awhile, because they will actually be willing to chat instead of moving you along to get to the next person, or selling you a membership or store credit card. I know it is easy to go to the larger store where maybe you can get more things done. But I promise you the more you do that the more you will look back on your life and see a blur, because none of those shopping moments (and we as Americans have a lot of them) will be of any substance, and more likely than not the things you buy in those places will not last you long enough to remember. <br />
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So today, for me, Susan, Naftali and Red Fox Books, go to an independent business. I have the feeling you will thank me. Jessicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17279465481708169566noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4303194398790710707.post-32528492670580722142011-09-12T17:41:00.000-07:002011-09-12T20:55:38.406-07:00An Olive Oil Education: "A Taste of the Good Life" at The Greek Village Inn<span style="font-size: large;"><i><b>W</b></i></span>hen my husband and I made our original life altering drive into California, we entered the state from the North traveling on Route 97 and then connecting to I-5. Our conversation on that first monumental drive went something like this:<br />
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Me: oh my God it’s snowing, how can it be snowing, we have to go home!<br />
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Husband: I think it’s just the elevation, yeah, it has to be the elevation.<br />
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Me: but we’re in California!<br />
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2hrs later<br />
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Me: what are those trees?<br />
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Husband: I don’t know maybe Oranges?<br />
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Me: they don’t look like oranges, look at all the little ones in white tubes, what are they? <br />
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Husband: maybe nuts, I think they can grow almonds here.<br />
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Me: really wow, almonds, that’s cool.<br />
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And thus the idiotic conversation of two New Yorkers entering a state that can actually grow things, lots of things, things that even New York big chain supermarkets don’t always carry. Those trees, for those of you that don’t know, were olive trees, which I<i> now</i> know are abundant in California and specifically in this part of the state. <br />
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So the irony of now, a year later, being invited to an olive oil tasting and dinner put on by <a href="http://www.starfinefoods.com/content_star_products/content_star_olive_oil/index.html">STAR Fines Foods</a> olive oil, is not at all lost on me. Along with the Olive Oil that gave them their start, the company also imports and sells pepperoncini, anchovies, Onions, Capers, vinegars and much more. This summer they debuted their first grown-in-California olive oil, and as part of <a href="http://www.starfinefoods.com/content_star_products/content_star_olive_oil/index.html">STAR</a>’s “A Taste of the Good Life” tour, I was lucky enough to be invited to a dinner and olive oil tasting at the <a href="http://greekvillageinn.com/default.aspx">Greek Village Inn</a> here in Sacramento featuring a six-course tasting menu created by<a href="http://greekvillageinn.com/default.aspx"> Greek Village Inn</a> Chef Matthew Martinez.<br />
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To say I was thrilled is a complete understatement. Not only did I get to try out a restaurant that I had never been to, I also got to meet members of Sacramento’s incredible food blog community and spend a few hours eating and talking about food, blogs and everything in between. STAR and The Greek Village Inn put together a wonderful evening and I think highlighted the beautiful relationship between olive oil and great food quite well. The fact that I am Italian and sometimes feel as if I was born with the taste of Olive Oil in my mouth just heightened my enjoyment of this event even more. Some of the other bloggers that I had the pleasure of sitting near and sharing wonderful conversation with were: Charlotte from <a href="http://www.foodwinediva.com/">The Grand Adventures of a Food and Wine Diva</a>, Dawn from <a href="http://www.kitchentravels.com/">Kitchen Travels</a>, Doug from <a href="http://rumahmakanmurni.blogspot.com/">Javaholic</a>, and Stephanie from <a href="http://www.52kitchenadventures.com/">52 Kitchen Adventure</a>s, plus many more. Special thanks to Catherine over at <a href="http://www.munchiemusings.net/">Munchie Musings</a> for getting it all together. <br />
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And now for the Food!<br />
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Along with the full menu we also had a wine pairing from, <a href="http://www.4bearswinery.com/">Sean Minor Wines</a>, supplying some very unique wines. I never thought to get any good wine shots, but you can see by the stems of the wine glasses surrounding the food just how many we got to try.<br />
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I know, I know and yes you should be jealous. Now I don't know if you can recreate this evening exactly but you are more than welcome to try. If you are lucky enough to live in the Sacramento area head on over to The Greek Village Inn and give it a try.<br />
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<br />Jessicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17279465481708169566noreply@blogger.com1Sacramento, CA, USA38.5815719 -121.494399638.4822709 -121.65232809999999 38.6808729 -121.3364711tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4303194398790710707.post-36357025493843880292011-09-07T18:41:00.000-07:002011-09-15T11:35:44.454-07:00Missing the flavor of you (Fall)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i><b>W</b></i></span>hat is it that I have been missing? I admit that technology has made moving so far away from New York easier to deal with , between facebook and email I am kept up to date on the little details, thanks to unlimited long distance, Skype and even Google Earth I am able to hear my families voices, see their faces, go on tours of new apartments and even spy on them from above. It is my memory though that I rely on the most when I start feeling homesick <br />
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I have a very good memory for detail and can mentaly reenact entire scenes and moments of my life, often getting caught “daydreaming” in public while I do so. Sometimes this is terrible, just recently I went mentally step-by-step through the process of lighting and smoking a cigarette in a windy car, and though I quit over a year and a half ago this little memory dalliance left me craving nicotine like I had just quit. I have been doing this a lot lately (not as destructively as smoking a cigarette) and it is what first cued me in to the fact that I was missing New York.<br />
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I caught myself mentally getting of the subway (in New York City) at Astor Place and walking through the village looking at all the piercing shops and restaurants, wandering my way through until I would find myself waiting in line outside of the <a href="http://www.nuyorican.org/">Nuyorican Poets café</a>. I would be walking outside in the 95 degree California weather thinking about walking to work in the snow, my chin tucked tight to my chest as I watched each boot encase foot plow through the fresh flakes.<br />
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Mostly, though, I have been envisioning fall. Fall is my weakness. Fall could probably push me back to the East Coast faster than anything else, though hopefully I would have the sense to remember that after fall comes winter and I would not trade in a Sacramento winter for a New York one for all the Fall in the world. This does not stop my romantic little mind from reminiscing on all of the things that I love about this upcoming season and missing New York.<br />
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Yesterday I had a wake up call from all of my fall musings in the form of peaches… and figs… and peppers and melons and almonds and tomatoes and plums. It might have hit 100 degrees today and yes I might find that a little hard to deal with but I live in a place that I can go pick all of those glorious treats on September 6th. Fresh, ripe and begging to remind me of just why I chose this place I now call home, and why it was a damn good decision. <br />
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I have plans to make a spiced peach butter that I found <a href="http://www.mykitchenaddiction.com/2010/08/spiced-peach-butter/"><span style="color: blue;">here</span></a>, and maybe a plum sauce if I find a recipe I like, I am also thinking of jarring some roasted red peppers and maybe some pickles. In New York fall would be coming soon, and normally that would mean I would start baking, here in California I am just getting around to canning the summer bounty, and I am not even late! I will always be in love with New York fall and I really hope that next year I will get the money together to fly home just in time to get a little taste of the season. In the meantime I will rely on my memory, and keep myself afloat with the flavors of fresh figs.Jessicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17279465481708169566noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4303194398790710707.post-23500100688840313252011-08-11T17:55:00.000-07:002011-09-15T11:36:15.433-07:00Risking Our Lives While Celebrating Our Love (Part 2)<span lang="EN">I realize that I left out a pretty major detail of yesterdays story, the car that we drive is a 2004 Chevy Malibu. That’s right a sedan, and not just a sedan but a pretty low riding sedan. Does that put things into a little better perspective for you while also making us look a little stupider? <br />
Now that you are armed with that important bit if information why don’t you join us again as we watch the sun set while <strike>walking</strike> trudging along the road our car can’t follow. The further we go the more we realize there is no way our car can come this way, the road crisscrosses back and forth over the creek, and there are very few openings if we were to try to go anywhere but on the road. We are pretty numb now mentally, and we just continue on knowing that this is way bigger than we are. We can’t even hypothesize about the possibilities because we can’t think of any. One of the few I could come up with I did not share, and that was the fact that we very well might be leaving our car for good. <br />
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We made pretty good time, in part thanks to the lizards on the road that kept the dog busy running forward. As the sun set we finally met up with a real dirt road, we did figure out that what we were on was definitely not a road, though we had no idea what it was meant for it sure was not us. At the last stream crossing we could see a roof in the distance and our moods lifted quite a bit. What scared me the most during this whole time was not all the things that had happened so far, but the fact that we were in the middle of nowhere and might not have been able to find help. So, seeing sings of civilization helped me out a lot. That first house showed no signs of life and neither did the second, so we continued on until we got to a home that was obviously inhabited with the lights on and cars out front.<br />
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I am ashamed to say we questioned knocking on the door, and really we know better than to have such little faith in people, but after a day like the one we were having who knew what could happen. As we debated I asked Rob what he would do if people in our situation came to our door, and that was all it took. So Rob, Murtry and I went to the door and tried to look as pitiful as possible as we knocked. At first we were greeted by two very excited terriers, who we later learned to be named Rufus and Ruby (a very significant fact being that those are the names of my parents cats). After a moment a man came to the door, looking very much like he was at the end of his day and a little wary of having strangers at his door (little did we know the amount of times this has happened before). We quickly tried to explain that we had gotten our car badly stuck, and asked if he could take us to town, hopefully to a police or ranger station. After asking a few questions of how it happened and how much gas we had the man, Randy, went inside to get dressed. <br />
His wife, Kim, came out to chat while he got ready, and definitely put us both at ease about everything. She seemed so nonchalant about it all and was so welcoming and comfortable that I actually started to believe we were going to be ok. <br />
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Rob, Murtry and I loaded up into the jeep with Randy, and thinking we were going to town, were a little surprised when he turned back to the way we had come. Another important detail you should know, I have never done any sort of off-roading in my life and had no idea what a jeep was capable of, so you can imagine my state of mind as Randy starts driving along these creek beds. Randy had some realizations of his own as we started giving him directions, quickly figuring out that no we were not stuck on a road, it turns out what we had been following was a fire break, a term I had never even heard of before. Apparently the forest service cuts out roads/fire breaks to slow the path of wild fires, and which we were stupid enough to follow. When he figured this out, Randy got on the phone to tell Kim to throw on another pork steak because they were having company for dinner. We arrived at the car, filled it with gas and rode back down the creek bed to their house. Showing our ignorance of the type of people we were dealing with we said that we would sleep in the car and try to get out in the morning, which Randy responded to with silence. Not only did they fill our car with gas, and feed us dinner they also gave us a bed to sleep in (or at least lay awake worrying in which is what I did). <br />
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The next morning after feeding us breakfast Kim dropped us half way to the car loaded with rope and a hand wench (another thing I had never heard of until now), with wishes of luck and insistence that if we couldn’t get out to come back to their door. Though I loved meeting them, I really hoped we would never see Kim or Randy again. Sadly, and gladly all at once, this was not true. We were feeling pretty hopeful though, especially without the pressure of a dwindling gas tank, and we really did try our best to get out the way we had come. My mind had conveniently forgotten how bad it had truly been and the first time around we have mostly been going down hill. This time we were not so lucky and we were not even able to get the car up the second hill (sounds easy but all of this took us about three hours). So with the sun beating down on us and our spirits completely crushed we walked back to Randy and Kim’s house to wait for them to get home from work and somehow tell us what we were going to do. <br />
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Kim got home first and immediately called Randy, phone calls were made and equipment collected and when Randy got home all four of us hopped into the jeep ready to go. I had no idea what they planned on doing but both Randy and Kim seemed so light hearted, and almost as if they were on a fun adventure. As Randy took the road that we should have been following, the one we sadly turned off of and which was aptly named Black Diamond, Kim pointed out different sites in the distance and the animal tracks along the way. They both took turns correcting each other as they told us about the many folks that had come before us arriving at their doorstep, pointing out the spots where they had gotten stuck, slid off the road or crashed. Sadly for us no one else had been stupid enough to follow the cat trail, we were the very first, and I personally think a damn good addition to their collection of rescue stories.<br />
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I think Randy knew it first, and seeing this trail a second time around I really don’t know what we were thinking, but there was no way we were getting out the way we came. One way or another we were going to have to get out over the creek. Going through all the details would make this rather long story much longer and honestly would not do the experience justice. So I will paint it for you this way, the jeep led the way as two-to-four of us cleared out the major rocks that the Chevy could not drive over, and we crossed over the river seven times. The jeep had to pull us out three times, and we built two bridges out of logs, but we manually made a new road down Dry Creek creekbed. <br />
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When we arrived back at their house all four of us got out and hugged laughing and shaking our heads. Both Rob and I were in a bit of a lightheaded shock, we couldn’t believe we had actually gotten the car out, not including the scratches to the paint job the car had not been damaged either! We sat around with Kim and Randy for a bit, drinking beer and wine, trading stories and reveling in our success.<br />
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To say that we made mistakes in an understatement, we definitely risked our safety and the life of the car. To say that I regret it would be wrong though. I met two incredible people whose characters have given us a pretty darn good model to strive after, and we have got a story that is going to last us a lifetime. I am so happy that Rob and I go on adventures and I believe it is things like this (preferably not always so dramatic) that build a relationship that will last a lifetime, and if Kim and Randy are any indication I am right. As Kim said, all we have to do after this is pay it forward, and I intend to do so every chance I get, it is people like them, and hopefully us, that make humans so unique and this life so absolutely wonderful. Also, Randy left us with some very good advice, always go to the park service and pick up maps before driving into the mountains.</span>Jessicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17279465481708169566noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4303194398790710707.post-55034054674541706952011-08-10T21:41:00.000-07:002011-09-15T11:36:55.836-07:00Risking Our Lives While Celebrating Our Love (Part 1)<span lang="EN"><b><i><span style="font-size: large;">M</span></i></b>aybe not our lives (although there were points that I sure felt that way) but definitely the life of our car. Before I continue I will warn the mothers of the stars of this tale to only read on at your own risk, sometimes it is better that you don’t know. I will also say that there are no photos, and this story has nothing to do with food or books, just the craziness that is life. <br />
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I had a bit of time in the last few days to try to figure out where things went wrong. I think I can blame it on finding out that I will be out of work come September leaving my mental state a little frazzled, but there were so many places for our path to diverge I can't truly pinpoint a single event that could have stopped the end result. The possibilities are endless: deciding to go camping for our second anniversary, staying up till 2:00 am the night before, picking a campsite so far from the mountain we wanted to hike, not filling up with gas before entering that forest, Rob stepping on the one rock that tossed him into the river, and most importantly following GPS directions while driving in the mountains. <br />
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Our campsite was perfect, sitting on a lake surrounded by mountains, and on the day of our anniversary we decided to go hiking to a waterfall in Mendocino National Forrest. So Rob and I and our dog Murtry drove the hour to the trailhead and set out on our hike. The day was beautiful, we had a picnic in our packs for when we reached the waterfall and the trail was nice and steady, never too difficult but also not so easy that it was boring. When, two miles in we reached a stream we were not fazed, first trying to skip from rock to rock and then deciding to take off our shoes and walk across. Rob gave it one more try before taking off his shoes and right at the last leap lost his balance falling knee first into the creek. At first he seemed fine, but as we watched his knee quickly began to swell. <br />
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It has always been a fear of mine that Rob would get hurt when we were out in the woods. Sure it would be terrible if I did but Rob can get me out, when you turn it the other way around the situation gets a lot more complicated. I am sure you are thinking this is the climax of my story but it is actually just the beginning. We hung out by the stream for a while keeping Robs knee submerged in the freezing cold water and enjoying our picnic. After an hour or so his knee had gone down a bit and we were able to hike back out. Though we never got to see the waterfall our hike was actually really nice and thanks to a tightly wrapped bandana by the time we got back to the car the swelling had almost entirely subsided. This is where we made our first major wrong move.<br />
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We were running pretty low on gas, not dangerously so, but enough that we wanted to take the shorter route out of the mountain instead of the one that we had taken in. So we turned to our GPS, I know a lot of you are thinking this was a stupid move but at the time it seemed ok. It quickly showed us a road out that was much shorter, ending at a town with a gas station. Off we went on the “better” road. You must remember that Rob and I drove across the country to move here, and we have also taken a lot of trips together, and though I may grip the side of the door until my hand hurts I trust Rob to get me through even the scariest of mountain roads. So we drove the twenty five or so miles along this tiny dirt mountain road, with nothing but emptiness along the side of the car. There were definitely points that I was scared, especially areas where you could see that parts of the road had already slid off down the cliff, but the views were unbelievable and we were moving steadily along. When we got to a point where the road split the GPS told us to go left. Major wrong move number two, we listened. <br />
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<span lang="EN">We knew it even then, after turning left we reversed back to where the trail split looking for a sign and checking the GPS. The GPS showed that if we continued strait we would have had a very long road ahead of us, and though to the eye the road to the left seemed rougher it was only four miles to paved road. So we continued on with the rougher road. Just minutes after making the turn we went down a hill so steep that our decision was sealed, we couldn’t go back even if we wanted to. Each hill crossed made turning around more and more impossible and as the Manzanita bushes scraped along the side of the car and the tires locked while sliding down hills we new we were in some trouble. <br />
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At the bottom of one of the windiest of the hills we finally leveled out, and according to the GPS we only had two more miles to go. Right at the bottom of this hill was a dried out creek bed, but we could see the dirt road on the other side and the bed did not seem too terrible. So as I walked backwards in front of the car waving my hands in a made up sign language Rob slowly guided the car along the rocks. When we got to the other side I hopped back into the car, and we were both laughing feeling pretty good about ourselves and knowing we would get out with no problem. Not even a minute later we turned a bend and our road ended. That dry creek bed that we had no trouble crossing fed into a low but active creek that with no amount of luck or hope were we going to cross. <br />
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I am pretty proud of us (specifically myself) that we did not freak out at this point. There was no question of the situation we were in, and what we would have to do. We had an hour left of sunlight and a little over two miles to hike out, before we hit a road where we hoped to be able to hitch a ride. We quickly packed up water, food and clothes as well as any survival type tools we could think of, leashed up the dog and started on our way.<br />
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<b>Due to the length of this post I will continue the rest of this story tomorrow, I hope you return to see how it goes.</b></span></span>Jessicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17279465481708169566noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4303194398790710707.post-85070194737480007212011-06-21T13:53:00.000-07:002011-09-15T11:37:20.836-07:00Wild Plums and To Do Lists<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>I</i></b></span> have no good excuse for my absence; except that once you skip one week it becomes dangerously easy to skip the following ones. I think this probably goes for most anything in life: writing, exercise, cooking etc. Sadly, the things that we so easily find excuses to skip are things that make our days better, those things that we have chosen as extras because we enjoy them and gain from them. It is so easy to get wrapped up in trudging through the days, working too much forgetting to pay attention to all of the extras that really make up your life.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I know many people have the opposite of this problem, and I often envy them. For whatever reason I have the tendency to put so much focus on work and the things I feel “have” to get done, that I stop paying attention to the things that I truly enjoy. I also often allow my to-do list to taint the times that I do just take-it-easy. I am very aware that this is really unhealthy and it is something that I am constantly working on, though it is an incredibly slow process. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">What my usual to do list looks like</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Though I would like to blame it all on (the lack of) money, I know that I would probably do this no matter how much money we had. I have worked two jobs for the last four years with a six month hiatus after we moved where I was unemployed (and as you read <span style="color: blue;"><i><b><a href="http://literaryfoodie.blogspot.com/2011/04/healingcooling.html">here</a></b></i></span> was anything but a happy experience). My current two jobs do not have set schedules so I never have any idea what my weeks ahead will bring. I also have the tendency to always say yes to shifts, and though this is great on payday, it is not so great the rest of the week. We moved into our new apartment at the beginning of the month and at the same time I said yes so many times at work that I did not have a day off for our first two weeks here. As a result my to-do list is getting pretty overwhelming and I never really got to properly unpack. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I woke up this morning extra early because I knew that it was supposed to reach 100 degrees by mid day and I wanted to get things done. Last night I went to sleep going over my to-do list and woke up with the same items flickering through my head, though I work from 3-11 tonight I viewed my morning as the perfect time to get all these things done. After having my coffee I took Murtry (my dog) out for a walk, again trying to get it in before the major heat of the day hit. And here is where my day changed. I spent the first part of our walk rushing Murtry along, trying to get him to stay in the shade, not really taking anything in or even seeing my surroundings. While I was busy looking down I saw a little yellow fruit on the ground, and then another and another. I look up to see two little trees tangled in the bushes and vines along the side of the road, one heavy with little round purple fruit and the other just shining with these bright yellow orbs. Wild Plums!!!</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The New List</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Normally I don’t just assume that I can eat a random fruit that I have never even seen before, but thanks to Hank Shaw and his awesome <i><span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://honest-food.net/">blog</a></span></i> I knew exactly what these were. I filled a bag with these little beauties as happy as I can be, entirely forgetting the things that I was supposed to get done today. As I finished my walk popping plums in my mouth and letting Murtry decide our pace I started thinking (as I often do) about my problem with just letting go and enjoying right this second. Why can’t I treat these things as important as the other to-do’s on my list? I do actually know there importance and yet when it comes to the day to day I so easily brush them aside. I would like to tell you that I came up with an answer and that I am all cured but I know this is not true. I did make myself a brand new to do list, placed at the very beginning of my planner, a list that will never get crossed out and will never be finished. Thank you plums.</span></div>
Jessicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17279465481708169566noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4303194398790710707.post-13890356982091717932011-05-23T16:13:00.000-07:002011-09-15T11:38:02.688-07:00A New Family Member, and Emptying the Fridge<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b><i><span style="font-size: large;">O</span></i></b>ne of my least favorite things about the move was the overwhelming feeling of insecurity. Having no idea if what we were doing was going to be the right choice and the sheer size of this possibly wrong decision was pretty overwhelming, and here it is again, albeit on a much smaller scale. When we landed in Sacramento we had to find an apartment pretty quickly, since we were living out of a Motel 6, so we we</span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">re not really picky. We had no idea where in the area we would want to be, so we chose our apartment based solely on the cost of rent (very low) and the length of lease (very short). </span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aPJ8yfIVvqI/TdrpaW9opKI/AAAAAAAAAJE/L8wKdSQLpvo/s1600/100_2767.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" j8="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aPJ8yfIVvqI/TdrpaW9opKI/AAAAAAAAAJE/L8wKdSQLpvo/s320/100_2767.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Meet Murtry, the newest member of our tribe</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">It has been some time since our lease was up and we have been looking for a new apartment for months, though somewhat lazily. When we got our tax return back our search got a little more serious, and then our family expanded. About two weeks ago we adopted/inherited a dog. This was not at all a planned thing, so we were completely unprepared. One of the first things I said to my husband when he told me that he was bringing home this dog was that we had to find a larger apartment by the end of the month. I cannot in good conscience keep a dog (though he is small) in our one bedroom apartment. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">So our search has had a bit of fire put under it. We have looked at tons of apartments in the last few weeks and none of them seemed to be right. More than once we tried to convince ourselves to take apartments we didn’t want because they looked good on paper. We tried making lists of all the things we want in an apartment and the more we looked the more realistic we had to become, with our price range there is only so much you can ask of an apartment. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XwRsjPy1D1c/TdrpbhBCfKI/AAAAAAAAAJI/HrSbBwcZmb8/s1600/100_2787.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" j8="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XwRsjPy1D1c/TdrpbhBCfKI/AAAAAAAAAJI/HrSbBwcZmb8/s320/100_2787.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This might take a while</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">We have (hopefully) chosen an apartment that works, and as we wait to find out if our applications get approved the anxiety is building. What if we are making the wrong choice? Its main selling point for us was its location, walking distance to Rob’s job and the American River. Since Rob and I share one car this is pretty huge for us and will relieve a lot of stress and gas money. Though I know that we made a good choice I can’t stop having doubts, which get exasperated by well meaning folks that question whether we should continue looking for that perfect place. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I can’t wait till we are actually in the apartment so that these doubts will be behind me, and I can start cooking and eating for real again. We are currently trying to empty out the fridge/freezer/cabinets because I have a weird thing with moving food, of all the things we have to pack, carry and move I find food to be unnecessary. So a lot of our meals are consisting of canned beans, frozen stocks and soups and root vegetables. Though some are coming out great (I have plans tonight for a meal that I will tell you more about if it works) I hate to be so contained.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qIW8KBKWBfs/Tdrpc4TVDmI/AAAAAAAAAJM/hGC-NCfMBGU/s1600/100_2799.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" j8="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qIW8KBKWBfs/Tdrpc4TVDmI/AAAAAAAAAJM/hGC-NCfMBGU/s320/100_2799.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I-man is less than pleased with the new guys eating habits</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Our new buddy seems to be thrilled with his new family, and has been eager to show us his love, which is pretty awesome. I am confident our new home with more space and the river so close by will make him ( and us) happy, and though there will always be a mythical better choice over the horizon I am more than happy to end the search, and get on with things. We did talk to the landlord this morning, who said that our credit looks great and as long as our current landlord says good things it is pretty much ours. Keep your fingers crossed!</span></div>
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Jessicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17279465481708169566noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4303194398790710707.post-77597415275373237222011-05-07T19:53:00.000-07:002011-09-15T11:38:46.987-07:00An Edible Upbringing<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b><i><span style="font-size: large;">I</span></i></b>t seems that most of my childhood food memories blend together into a big blur of taste, smell and experience. Not because they weren't special or because there were so few of them, instead it is exactly the opposite. Food was a constant in my life and my family, it was always there being prepared, often from scratch, as the central focus not only to large family gatherings, but also the nightly gathering of my own little universe. It was not until I was older that I really grasped how special it was that I spent every evening with my family around the dinner table. I credit this with my love of food and cooking, and also my ability to be a good listener and to engage in lively (often political) conversation. I didn't realize until I was in high school that all my friends were not going home to dinner when I was, I just thought this was what families did. I had many rebellious stages but not sitting at the dinner table was never one of them. Even when I figured out that there was all this action going on when I went home for dinner, I still did not try to get out of this nightly ritual.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-he4kfTpoEsQ/TdvBElSl7JI/AAAAAAAAAJY/FGqh2XuRQ8E/s1600/shower.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-he4kfTpoEsQ/TdvBElSl7JI/AAAAAAAAAJY/FGqh2XuRQ8E/s320/shower.bmp" t8="true" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My mom and I @ my wedding shower</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I am lucky enough to have a mom that takes pleasure in cooking, though I can assume there were plenty of those nights that she would have rather ordered a pizza or stuck something in the microwave. It was important for her to gather our family around the table, and I think the act of making dinner was also a winding down from the work day for her, her way of leaving that world and entering the one at home. Whatever her motivation for it, I can easily say that this was one of those things that hugely affected who I am, and for the better. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">It was pretty rare, in my early days of figuring out how to cook for myself, that I did not call my mom mid cooking with some edible dilemma that I needed her to fix. I will still call her over googling my quandaries, knowing that her answer will probably be better. I have gotten to the point that I am pretty confident in the kitchen, though I still hold my mom to this standard that I can’t imagine myself reaching. I do not yet have the ability to open the fridge, and not matter what is in there, put a full meal on the table. If I realize that I am missing an ingredient half way through a recipe I will often go get it at the store, though I am sure my mom would know a replacement. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-650jU0CzLS8/TdvA9kBBpNI/AAAAAAAAAJQ/fjW_l_VN7Mo/s1600/100_2662.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-650jU0CzLS8/TdvA9kBBpNI/AAAAAAAAAJQ/fjW_l_VN7Mo/s320/100_2662.JPG" t8="true" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1st time grilling this season</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Early last month my parents came for their first California visit, and I was thrilled to be able to show them this place I have chosen as my home. Of course much of the visit was spent concerned with food, either in the deciding, procuring, cooking or eating format. My mom and I had the pleasure of cooking together as equals, possibly for the first time. We have cooked together many times, but usually with me asking her tons of questions, and lacking confidence while in the kitchen with her. This time around I was pleased to know a few things that she didn’t, and to impress her with the quality some of the ingredients that we have here. Though she will always be a few (or lots of) steps ahead of me in the kitchen it was a pleasure to know that I could hold my own, and I think that she enjoyed it just as much.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-plQDV9jhPZM/TdvA_iRgRdI/AAAAAAAAAJU/TAFTM5Cvjn4/s1600/100_2709.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="260" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-plQDV9jhPZM/TdvA_iRgRdI/AAAAAAAAAJU/TAFTM5Cvjn4/s320/100_2709.JPG" t8="true" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A meal made by my mom and I</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">We take away a lot of things from our upbringing, some of them we realize and many of them we don’t. I know for certain that without those nightly meals I would be a very different person, and I wonder if I would take as much pleasure from food as I do. I hope that many of you were as lucky as I was in these nightly dinners, and if you weren’t I hope you are doing your best to introduce them into your lives. I can promise you that it is worth it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Happy Mothers Day to all you moms, I hope you all have a wonderful and relaxing day, preferably with someone else fixing you a great meal. </span></div>
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Jessicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17279465481708169566noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4303194398790710707.post-80341719994767388812011-04-28T12:44:00.000-07:002011-09-19T12:33:25.385-07:00Rediscovering A Writing Passion<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b><i><span style="font-size: x-large;">F</span></i></b>or a while after finishing college I seemed to have lost my creative fuel and motivation when it came to writing. Since I had so many other things going on, what with trying to figure out how to be an “adult”, I did not put much thought or worry into the fact that I no longer wrote. I figured it was probably a natural progression of things, and if I had the urge I would just start writing again. My biggest error was in not acknowledging the amount of creative stimulation I was surrounded by in school, and the fact that my own creative ability needed to be fed regularly. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I know that some people have the discipline to get up every morning and utilize a scheduled writing time, every day, whether they are in the mood for it or not. Though this method is not for me, I definitely see the value in it, and it sure beats ignoring your craft for years as I did. While in school I had the constant creative energy of writing workshops and discussions, arguments about politics and life and eternity. Upon graduation I abruptly found myself without this constant fodder and instead of actively seeking it out I just let writing fade out. My other problem was that because my main writing outlet had been poetry I never actually tried to branch out into other styles. If I wasn’t writing poetry then I was just not meant to be writing at the time. I know, I know stupid. </span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OEiOn34HBvg/TbnDDcVg_jI/AAAAAAAAAJA/Wu_0fcFJWmU/s1600/will-write-for-food-dianne-jacob_medium.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" j8="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OEiOn34HBvg/TbnDDcVg_jI/AAAAAAAAAJA/Wu_0fcFJWmU/s200/will-write-for-food-dianne-jacob_medium.jpg" width="135" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">It took not having so many distractions for me to notice that I was really lacking without having writing in my life. When I started this blog I tapped back into that passion and I have not started seeking out more sources. When I started reading “Will Write for Food” by<span style="background-color: white;"> <i><a href="http://diannej.com/blog/">Dianne Jacob</a></i></span>, I got a little giddy. As far as I can tell this is the only book around at the moment that is strictly about the act of writing about food, and though at times it is a little quote heavy, I find reading it to be pretty darned similar to being in a college writing class. Not only is it a trove for other food writers, whose names I have been scribbling away on random scraps of paper to be added to this blog, there are also great ideas and writing exercises. For someone who has been missing the stimulation of the classroom this book is perfect. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The beauty of all of this, the blog and now reading the book, is that it has a snowball effect, I am now looking into taking a one day <i><a href="http://www.learningexchange.com/index.cfm?method=ClassInfo.ClassInformation&int_class_id=31189">food writing workshop</a></i> with one of my favorite local bloggers Garrett McCord of <span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.vanillagarlic.com/">Vanilla Garlic</a></span>, and seeing what else is out there. Hopefully, more books on the subject will start coming out, and there will be more workshop in my area. Though none of it will compare to the pleasure and privilege of spending large portions of my days on writing and talking about writing as I got to while in college, I am thrilled to have the act of writing back into my life. For those of you that write, what do you do to keep the wheels constantly moving?</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Some books you may enjoy:</span></b></div>
<a href="http://www.indiebound.org/book/0738214043?aff=literaryfoodie"><img 0471405450?aff="literaryfoodie"" book="" http:="" onerror="this.src = 'http://www.indiebound.org/files
<a href=" src="http://images.booksense.com/images/books/047/214/FC9780738214047.JPG" style="border: 1px solid #000;" www.indiebound.org="" /><img onerror="this.src = 'http://www.indiebound.org/files/book_not_found.jpg';" src="http://images.booksense.com/images/books/450/405/FC9780471405450.JPG" style="border: 1px solid #000;" /><br />Shop Indie Bookstores</a>
Jessicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17279465481708169566noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4303194398790710707.post-3333519181877025212011-04-20T11:24:00.000-07:002011-09-15T11:40:28.651-07:00You Do Not Remember (A Quick Food Rant)<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><i>A</i></b></span>s you can rightly assume I have read a <i>lot</i> of food books, some of them have been incredible some of them have been horrible and many have filled the spaces in between. Though I won’t give a book a bad review on here, I will share with you one of my pet peeves when it comes to food writing, something that comes up in many, many food books good and bad. The writers declaration at the beginning of the book of their kitchen/food memory at 2 or 3 or 4 years old so eye opening that it was life changing and as a result they are now a cook, restaurateur, food critic etc. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">1. I don’t think you can have life changing experiences at such an early age, because you have not yet cultivated a life to change</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">2. I am sure many will disagree with me but I don’t think we are paying that much attention when we are that young to each individual experience. At that age everything is incredible and brand new. Your first time making cookie dough does not decide that you will be a cook, though when you become a cook you may look back on that time fondly.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">3. It may be a good start to a book but I don’t think you actually remember these things from when you were that young.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">This probably bothers me more than it should but as I said, I have read a lot of these books and this theme is annoyingly recurring. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I have an incredibly good memory, a trait that at times I love and at others I (and my husband) wish I could shut off. I do have memories from 2 & 3 years old, though they are very quick little snippets, not whole scenes with scents, flavors and thought processes. I do not have an early food memory that I credit my current love and interest on. My childhood was surrounded by food: a mother and grandmother that took pleasure in cooking, and a father that took pleasure in eating. I can’t say that I ever really noticed though, it was just always there and I took it for granted. There is no doubt that my upbringing has brought me to the point that I am today, and I have lots of great memories of cooking with my mom, and eating with my family. I won’t be starting a book, or a blog, out with my baby memory that changed my life though. </span></div>
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Jessicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17279465481708169566noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4303194398790710707.post-71905850386377712302011-04-19T11:38:00.000-07:002011-09-15T11:42:26.892-07:00Healing/Cooling<span lang="EN"> <b><i><span style="font-size: x-large;">W</span></i></b>hen I first moved to California I was unemployed for a little over six months. I had expected that it would take me a little while to find a job, I mean we <i>did</i> decide to move during a slightly precarious time in this countries economy. I was not prepared though, for how hard this would be on me. Rob found a job rather quickly and needed the car to do it so I ended up on my own with no way to get anywhere. I was already pretty fragile due to my fear from the move and the fact that I did not know anyone here in California, so I had to be extra careful with myself. <br />
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<span lang="EN"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NJnExUA9dOk/Ta3U1SWNTKI/AAAAAAAAAI8/8j1tfzDktuo/s1600/100_2754.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" i8="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NJnExUA9dOk/Ta3U1SWNTKI/AAAAAAAAAI8/8j1tfzDktuo/s320/100_2754.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<span lang="EN">Anyone that has been unemployed for an extended amount of time knows how damaging it can be and also how boring. Before my move I had worked two jobs for three years leaving myself with only 1 day off a week. During that time I dreamed of having extended time off and all of the things that I would do with all that time. I can now say that all those imaginings are a crock, I never did any of those things. What I did do was sit on the computer and watch TV a lot. I often felt guilty about my lack of contribution to the household as Rob worked his butt off, yet I could never seem to find the energy to carry my share. I would scramble around the house in the hour or so that Rob was to get home from work trying to do a days worth of chores and cooking so that he wouldn’t think I had spent my day doing what I had actually spent my day doing. <br />
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Rob was at as much of a loss as I was, and was doing his best to be as careful with me as I was. Neither one of us could do much about my employment situation, but we could try to fill my time. He brought me home tons of figs, peaches, pomegranates and persimmons from the farm he was working on in the hopes that the foreign to a New Yorker bounty would catch my attention. I won’t be so quaint as to say that cooking healed/saved me, though I think for many it can. I did learn the importance of simple things though. A lot of my unemployment was spent during the hottest months of summer in a pretty hot area of the country, so the foods I was drawn to and the ones that made me happiest included very little cooking and tended to have a cooling effect when eaten.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7kRQVSZDUzs/Ta3UanVb6BI/AAAAAAAAAI0/aDH14MIGtnA/s1600/100_2743.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="224" i8="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7kRQVSZDUzs/Ta3UanVb6BI/AAAAAAAAAI0/aDH14MIGtnA/s320/100_2743.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
Some of my favorite healing/cooling unemployment foods:<br />
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Gazpacho,<br />
Fig and lemon jam<br />
Plate of hard boiled eggs with cut up veggies and cheese<br />
Fresh tomato, Mozzarella and Basil sandwiches<br />
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I find when times are tough we seek out simple things to latch onto, so that although we may be surrounded by difficulty and our mood and emotions seem out of our control, we still have this little thing to find pleasure in. I am sure I will have many more instances in my life where things will be pretty darned tough, that is the nature of this glorious life, but I do know that eventually I will get out of them and I will usually emerge with a few more recipes and favorite foods. I will also say that knowing that is no consolation while these things are actually happening. <br />
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Some foodie books I enjoyed while I was unemployed:<br />
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<b>Born Round: the secret history of a full-time eater</b> <i>by Frank Bruni</i><br />
<b>The Feasting Season</b> <i>by Nancy Coons</i><br />
<b>Bento Box in the Heartland: the Japanese girlhood in whitebread America</b> <i>by Linda Furiya</i><br />
<b>The Big Oyster: history on the half shell</b><i> by Mark Kurlansky</i><br />
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</span>Jessicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17279465481708169566noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4303194398790710707.post-59395966287018011312011-04-18T11:35:00.000-07:002011-04-18T11:35:36.911-07:00I'm Back!!<strong><em><span style="font-size: x-large;">Hello? </span></em></strong><br />
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<strong><em><span style="font-size: large;">Is anyone out there? </span></em></strong><br />
<br />
<strong><em>Y</em></strong>ou all had every right to abandon me but I hope you haven't. My bank statement says that this new computer better mean that I will not be leaving you again anytime soon. For those of you that didn't hear, a few weeks ago my computer crashed, and though this was not a huge surprise it was still pretty darned inconvenient. The fact that I went as long as I did without a computer is pretty impressive I think (my husband rolls his eyes at this).<br />
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So what did you miss?<br />
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My parents first California visit<br />
Our first Spring barbecue<br />
My surprise birthday trip to Santa Cruz<br />
A food tour in San Francisco<br />
My first official wine tasting in CA wine country<br />
A food discussion/panel here in Sacramento <br />
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Yeah, it was a busy couple of weeks, is it possible that without a computer I had a little more time on my hands? <br />
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So with that list to start us off, which of those events would you like to hear about first, or at all? I have also been doing a lot of reading as well so there will be plenty of book talk as well. I have to admit to you that though I remember to take pictures while I am cooking I rarely remember to when I am out experiencing and so there are very few photos of any of these events. I know, I know I really need to work on this but in the meantime I am sure I will think of something.<br />
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I missed you all and I am so glad I am back. Be prepared for some proper catching up in the next week or so!Jessicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17279465481708169566noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4303194398790710707.post-65045944063013019752011-04-13T17:09:00.000-07:002011-04-13T17:09:54.612-07:00Excuse the delayYou will all have to forgive me for the delay in posting. My computer has crashed and I am in the process of getting a new one. I hope you won't forget me, and I promise that once I get my new computer I will have lots of new books stories and foods to share with you. Just stick with me!Jessicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17279465481708169566noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4303194398790710707.post-65406446054751976522011-03-25T21:26:00.000-07:002011-09-21T16:46:19.764-07:00An Embarrassement of Mangoes<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<i>As I mentioned a few months ago I decided to join two online book groups, one I have posted about the last few months but the other, <a href="http://cookthebooksclub.wordpress.com/2011/02/14/sailing-away-for-a-caribbean-interlude-with-an-embarrassment-of-mangoes/#comments">Cook the Books</a>, I had not gotten a chance to do until now. Of course, I am still posting on the very last day possible, but I enjoyed the chosen book “An Embarrassment of Mangoes” so much that I wanted to make sure to get one in this time. Enjoy. To check out everyone else’s reviews and recipes click <b><a href="http://cookthebooksclub.wordpress.com/2011/02/14/sailing-away-for-a-caribbean-interlude-with-an-embarrassment-of-mangoes/#comments">here</a></b>.</i></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">B</span></b>esides the fact that I stuffed my life, cat and husband into the car to move across the country with no actual plan set up I am not normally an overly adventurous person. I like security and plans. So, the fact that Ann Vanderhoof’s memoir “An Embarrassment of Mangoes”, seriously had me contemplating the merits of learning how to sail just so Rob and I could go live on a sailboat all over the <place>Caribbean</place> is a pretty good testament to how inspired I was by this book. If I had not already made my move, this probably would have pushed me over the edge. </div>
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Ann and her husband Steve made the major decision to leave behind their lives and successful careers in <city><place>Toronto</place></city> to spend two years sailing from <country-region><place>Canada</place></country-region> through the Caribbean. Early in their plan making you get the feeling that this is more a push by Steve than Ann, Ann seeming to be the more schedule/plan oriented of the two. But, once the wheels start turning they never stop and seven years after they first throw the idea out there they are sailing away from their jobs, friends and families towards a complete unknown that will leave them forever changed. The woman that you meet at the beginning of this book is not the same woman that you leave as you close the last page, and every moment of her transformation will leave you wanting to make one of your own.</div>
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You will quickly get wrapped up in their adventures as they learn the ins and outs of what it means to truly live on a boat. The space constraints and scary night sails are balanced by the fresh caught fish for dinner and the incredible community of fellow boaters that quickly takes them in. Vanderhoof has a great ability to fully engage you in her life and you find yourself just as entranced by what they are eating for breakfast as their first experience at Carnival. </div>
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Ann’s appreciation of food and her ability to cook under any circumstances (I can only imagine the size of her “kitchen” on the boat) make every edible moment of this book an adventure of it’s own. Thankfully, from my point of view, there are lots and lots of edible moments here. Each chapter is followed by a recipe, and each recipe will have you wondering which of the ingredients you can find where you live, so that you can try them out.</div>
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I changed what I would be making many times as I read this book and in the end I am trying a bunch of the recipes. As I wandered through the market earlier this week my eyes caught on a Papaya, and immediately my memory was dancing through the pages of Ann’s book, papaya salsa, papaya banana muffins! The fact that I have never even cut into a Papaya was thrown to the wayside as I thought about the amount of new foods that Ann and Steve tried on their adventure, if they could do it on their boat I could do it in my apartment.</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><u>Luperon Papaya Salsa</u></b></span></div>
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(recipe page 101)Which we served over swordfish alongside Bahamian Peas 'n' Rice (recipe page 64) and Steve's 'Ti Punch (Recipe page 149)</div>
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1/2 Large Ripe Papaya, diced (about 2 cups)</div>
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1/2 Cucumber, peeled, seeded, and diced</div>
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1/2 small red onion, thinly slice, cut into rings and halved</div>
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3 Tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro</div>
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1/2 small red hot pepper</div>
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1 lime, juiced</div>
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3 Tablespoons fruity olive <br />
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Salt and freshly ground black pepper</div>
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1. Combine the Papaya, Cucumber, Onion, Cilantro, and Red Pepper. Set Aside</div>
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2. Whisk together the olive oil and half the Lime juice. Add salt and pepper to taste. Toss with Papaya mixture.</div>
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3. Taste and add lime juice accordingly.</div>
<a href="http://www.indiebound.org/book/0767914279?aff=literaryfoodie"><img onerror="this.src = 'http://www.indiebound.org/files/book_not_found.jpg';" src="http://images.booksense.com/images/books/277/914/FC9780767914277.JPG" style="border: 1px solid #000;" /><br />Shop Indie Bookstores</a>Jessicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17279465481708169566noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4303194398790710707.post-12143745646674115682011-03-21T22:30:00.000-07:002011-09-15T11:44:41.870-07:00Awaiting The Flavor Of Spring<div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-5PrlEDbhJGk/TYgwN9VGIeI/AAAAAAAAAII/j-aZzxZXRRk/s1600/100_2571.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><i><img border="0" height="144" r6="true" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-5PrlEDbhJGk/TYgwN9VGIeI/AAAAAAAAAII/j-aZzxZXRRk/s200/100_2571.jpg" width="200" /></i></b></span></a><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><i>T</i></b></span>he amount of things that I found to worry about before actually making the move to <state><place>California</place></state> was irrational. Now that I have accomplished the move I can look back and say that most of my worries were silly, or have been proven unnecessary. One of my big worries was the loss of Spring in <state><place>New York</place></state>. I had this same worry about Fall, and though you only caught me at the end of it (if you have been reading the blog from the beginning that is) I can confidently say that I have not missed out by moving to <state><place>California</place></state>. Spring is a different issue, it is by far my favorite season, the one that I look forward to the rest of the year, and the one that I daydream about when I am struggling through hard winters. Can a California Spring really compare?</div>
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If you have never lived through a bad East Coast winter I don’t think you could understand the ridiculously giddy elation that comes with the first hints of Spring. You act differently, you find yourself with ADD like symptoms. This is when people skip class or call out from work, find themselves driving past their home exit just because the sky is blue and there is a good song on the radio. I am getting a jittery feeling in my belly just trying to describe the feeling to you. In short, it is incredible, or at least it was for me. This is also a pretty good indication of just how much I hated winter. Here lies my dilemma, was my love of Spring tied to my hatred of Winter or can I still experience Spring in the same manner here in mild <state><place>California</place></state>?</div>
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I will admit that the intensity of my emotions as Spring arrives is not at the height that it would hit in <state><place>New York</place></state>, but my emotions are also not swinging so wildly from one extreme to the other. <city><place>Sacramento</place></city>’s winter never dragged me so far from my Spring bliss, so, though I find myself thrilled by the season, it is not the same overwhelming experience as I am used to. I can’t say I am disappointed by this. </div>
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There are a few foods that I associate strictly with Spring, and I look forward to them all year. Artichokes and asparagus are at the very tippy top of that list, the first time I would see asparagus at the market in <state><place>New York</place></state> would be the first time I could breath properly. Here it is a little different, my two favorite veggies snuck up on me, I was not even ready for them. The official first day of Spring had not even arrived yet, and in <state><place>New York</place></state> forecasters are still droning on about yet more snow, and yet here in <city><place>Sacramento</place></city> there they are, the trumpeters of Spring. I can now add Strawberries to my list as well, apparently here in <city><place>Sacramento</place></city> they are one of the first signs of the change to the season as well and I am happy to welcome them.</div>
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So, Happy Spring everyone, I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. For my readers in <state><place>New York</place></state>, I know that the official (calendar) first day of Spring is a complete joke to you, but you and I both know how incredible it will be when it does actually get here. Know that you earned every minute of it. I will say that when Bon Iver came on the radio today and I had an incredible blue sky stretched out in front of me I had that urge to just keep on going. </div>
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Roasted Baby Artichokes</div>
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I leave this recipe pretty vague intentionally, you can do a lot of tweeking with this and have great results, so enjoy!</div>
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After following <b><a href="http://www.saveur.com/article/Techniques/Trimming-Baby-Artichokes">this</a></b> very handy tutorial for trimming baby Artichokes from Saveur</div>
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Toss your baby chokes with some salt and olive oil and chopped garlic and roast in a 400 degree oven until tender (covering with foil part way through if they start getting too brown)</div>
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I recommend tossing in a few cloves of unpeeled garlic, the experience of breaking open a roasted garlic clove with your teeth is one that should not be missed, the creaminess and flavor of the garlic is incomparable.</div>
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Eat these as a side as we did, or toss them with some pasta, either way they are great!</div>
Jessicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17279465481708169566noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4303194398790710707.post-47728905247503432642011-03-07T21:01:00.000-08:002011-09-21T16:48:01.762-07:00Simplicity: Tender at the Bone<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><i>I</i></b></span>t is no secret. I love, love, love Ruth Reichl’s books! If you remember my very first <b><a href="http://literaryfoodie.blogspot.com/2010/10/and-so-i-begin.html">blog post</a></b>, I mentioned that I became comfortable with my decision to move here when I found, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Comfort Me With Apples</i>, at the thrift store near my house. I have read each of her books, though out of order, at least twice, and I have enjoyed each reading greatly. It is not lost on me that she has spent a chunk of her life in both <state><place>New York</place></state> and <state><place>California</place></state> and has very strong feelings for both states. This month the book group I am in decided to read, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Tender at the Bone</i>, Reichl’s first memoir of her childhood and early adulthood. </div>
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As with all of her memoirs food is interwoven with every event of her life, sometimes shaping and other times accenting the tumbles and tribulations of her story. Though always told with a hint of humor we quickly come to understand the difficulty of being raised in a household with her manic depressive mother, and see that cooking became a means of survival for Reichl. A young Ruth took it upon herself to be the protector of the guests as her mother would consistently serve them food unfit to eat. She explains her mother as “taste blind and unafraid of rot”, someone who refused to waste food, even if others would consider it spoiled. Though the stories are always entertaining I found myself continually feeling bad for this young girl, it was not till later that her mother was labeled “manic depressive” and even with the title I doubt it helps the daughter any.</div>
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We get to travel with a young Reichl as she visits <country-region><place>France</place></country-region> for the first time, to <city><place>Montreal</place></city> where she is randomly banished to a boarding school, her college years in <state><place>Michigan</place></state>, and as she eventually finds home in <place><city>Berkeley</city> <state>California</state></place> living in a commune. For me, reading Reichl gives me the push I sometimes need to try that next thing that comes along, she makes you ask yourself, why not? Though things always seem to work out nicely, nothing ever seems handed to her, and you can tell that it is her adventurous spirit that draws the many good things into her life. </div>
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If you are like me and read her books out of order, you have still missed nothing. Towards the end of, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Tender at the Bone</i>, Reichl starts her path as a restaurant critic, a life choice that both her other books, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Comfort Me With Apples</i>, and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Garlic and Sapphires</i>, focus around. As you learn about her life growing up, and her many food adventures the woman that she is now (or at least the one she represents herself as in her books) starts to form and make sense. The adventurous eater, and descriptive writer all start to take shape as you read on through this tale of “growing up at the table”. Because, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Comfort Me With Apples</i>, was not only the first of her books that I read, but also the first foodie book I ever read, (sending me on quite a journey as you can see) I will always have the softest spot for that title of hers, but so far all of her books have been well worth the read. I am eagerly anticipating her next book, rumors have it that it will be focusing on her time as editor of Gourmet!</div>
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Now for the recipe:</div>
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I married a very simple man. I mean that in only the most positive way. Rob finds happiness in many places and it really does not take much to please him, the simplest things can make his whole week. I envy him this trait and am continuously trying to learn it from him. As I read through this month’s book I was trying to decide what I would be making from it, until I reached the very end, where the last recipe was for deviled eggs. It is the most uninteresting and unexciting recipe in the whole book, and I knew without a doubt that it would make Rob’s day if he came home and I had made deviled eggs. To him deviled eggs are for special occasions, parties, picnics, and gatherings. They are not something that you get on a regular old workday Monday. I could not resist. So, sometime soon I will probably flip back through the pages of this book to make the "Oleron Berry Tart" or "Claritha’s Fried Chicken", but tonight it shall be Deviled Eggs. Here’s to the simple things. Enjoy.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Happy Rob and a curious Kitty</td></tr>
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To read what the other members of the book group had to say about this months pick check them out<b> </b><a href="http://thisbookmakesmecook.blogspot.com/"><b>here</b></a>.</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>Marion’s Deviled Eggs</u></b></div>
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<i>Reichl talks about her friend Marion saying she “had reinvented herself in middle age and did not seem to think there was anything remarkable about it”</i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">¼ cup mayonnaise</i></div>
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Shell eggs, cut carefully in half lengthwise, and put yolks into a bowl. Mash the yolks with a fork until they are smooth</div>
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Add remaining ingredients and mix well. The mixture should be thick and creamy.Fill each egg white half with the yolk mixture. Grate a bit of pepper on top. Refrigerate until needed.</div>
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Makes 8 deviled eggs, or about 6 servings.</div>
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<a href="http://www.indiebound.org/book/0812981111?aff=literaryfoodie"><img style="border: 1px solid #000" src="http://images.booksense.com/images/books/117/981/FC9780812981117.JPG" onerror="this.src = 'http://www.indiebound.org/files/book_not_found.jpg';" /><br />Shop Indie Bookstores</a>
Jessicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17279465481708169566noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4303194398790710707.post-27264326852531155572011-02-28T21:59:00.000-08:002011-09-15T11:46:42.963-07:00The Biggest Shame of a Foodie<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><i>M</i></b></span>ost foodies don’t like to admit to not eating certain foods just because they don’t like them. Somehow they think that this lowers their credibility, and granted if your list is very long it will, but for the most part we can’t all like the same things. If we all had the same taste experiences with every food I doubt that there would be nearly as many different types of food. So, for that I am grateful. </div>
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My mind has always been intrigued by this concept, that although two people may be eating the same dish and enjoying it, they are both having a completely different meal depending on how their taste buds work. I believe it was in Mimi Sheraton’s memoir, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Eating My Words: an appetite for life</b>, where she discusses actually having her taste buds tested, and was relieved to find out that her taste receptors were average, exactly where you would want them to be as a food critic. I have the feeling that if my taste buds were tested I would not land in the comfortable average area. </div>
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Through the last few years I have made it my goal to go through every food that I thought I did not like, and make sure that I still did not like it. For the most part this project has been successful, I now have no problem eating fish, and have discovered that I like Pacific Salmon much better than <place>Atlantic</place>. I love cilantro, and my dislike of Hollandaise Sauce was the fault of a bad cook not a bad recipe. I am still not a fan of red peppers, I feel they take over the dish, but now I don't avoid eating them as I once did. </div>
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I have two things I still have not been able to cure myself of. Growing up my parents did their best to get me to drink milk, and I did my very best to get out of it. From knocking over my glass, to leaving a bit of broccoli floating in it making it undrinkable, I would do anything to avoid drinking that disgusting stuff. My parents finally gave up and added orange juice with calcium to the nightly ritual. I still have no interest in drinking milk straight and honestly don’t feel that I am missing out on anything.</div>
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Spicy foods are a whole other matter. I know I am missing out some of the time, and it drives me nuts. Believe me I have tried, and though I can take slight spiciness now, I have not been able to get myself very far with this one. I have mostly accepted that this is just the makeup of my taste buds and there is not much I can do about it. There are so many dishes, and sometimes entire cultures, that I am missing out on and if there is a way to train my tongue to like spicy foods I would really like to know about it. </div>
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So there you have it, I have admitted my dislikes, and I still have the nerve to consider myself a food person. You will have to forgive me if you never see a recipe or reference to glasses of milk and spicy foods on this blog, but you can trust me to always go into eating with an open mind, and to try everything I don’t like more than once. </div>
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Will any of you admit to your food dislikes? Are there foods that you thought you hated that you ended up loving?</div>
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Some books you might like:</div>
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<b>Are you Really Going to Eat That? Reflections of a culinary thrill seaker</b> <i>by Robb Walsh</i></div>
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<b>Fork it Over: the intrepid adventures of a professional eater </b><i>by Alan Richman</i></div>
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<b>Hugh Fearlessly Eats it All: dispatches from the gastronomic frontline</b> <i>by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall</i><b> </b></div>
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<b>How We Eat: appetite, culture, and the psychology of food</b> <i>by Leon Rappoport</i></div>
Jessicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17279465481708169566noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4303194398790710707.post-87996056604131042102011-02-23T17:35:00.000-08:002011-09-15T11:47:12.782-07:00We're Famous!<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><i>W</i></b></span>ell a little. Doug Gruse, (my very favorite) reporter from the <a href="http://poststar.com/#vmix_media_id=63685041"><span style="color: blue;">The Post Star</span></a> did an article on The Literary Foodie blog! As you can imagine I am more than a little excited about this, and even though I knew full well that it was happening it still felt like a big surprise. I think it was really well done and I hope you will all go check it out. This has turned out to be a very good day indeed.<br />
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<b><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;"><a href="http://poststar.com/lifestyles/article_36ad5226-3ee2-11e0-ab99-001cc4c002e0.html">Blogger serves literary dish</a></span></b>Jessicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17279465481708169566noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4303194398790710707.post-75731486622888073362011-02-21T13:31:00.000-08:002011-09-21T17:26:23.462-07:00The Art of Equipping a Kitchen<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b><i><span style="font-size: x-large;">R</span></i></b>ob and I decided not to rent a moving truck, or even get a roof rack when we moved, instead we crammed what we could inside of our Chevy Malibu and sold everything else. We had some boxes of clothes and other light things mailed to us once we were settled, but for the most part we pared down to the bare essentials. Being who I am about 50% of what was in the car came out of the kitchen: the wine and martini glasses I did not trust to ship, the All Clad cookware that I loved too much to let out of my sight, the hefty cast iron Staub pot, my grandmothers china, and the list goes on. We had gotten married less then a year before our move and our families and friends had generously updated our kitchen arsenal to items that may very well last the rest of our lives, so there was no way we were leaving any of it behind. </div>
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Our moving sales were pretty incredible, the type I am always on the hunt for yet rarely find. How we had fit all of that in our tiny apartment I have no idea, but it sure did help pay some of our moving costs. For all of the kitchenware that we kept we also sold a lot, and for the most part I don’t miss any of it. I think of certain items from time to time, why I got rid of the avocado slicer when I was moving to avocado territory I don’t know, it’s not like it would have taken up much room. Other things I find myself looking for, digging through drawers having forgotten that I no longer own them. The rest: the ice cream maker that I never used, the bread maker that I used when I first got it and then forgot about, the mini Staub pots that I loved because they were adorable yet never once used, had to be left behind to support the (moving) cause, and I don’t find myself missing them. Having to sell off a good chunk of my book collection was a whole other matter, and one that I am quite scarred by.</div>
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If you read my post <a href="http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=nesco+american+harvest+fd-61whc&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&oe=UTF-8&rlz=1I7GGLL_en&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=13077925164463683345&ei=68piTeizDoSmsQPcyK3ZCA&sa=X&oi=product_catalog_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CEAQ8wIwAg#"><b>"Foodie Thrift Store Find (of the Year?!)</b></a><b>"</b> you know that I am a thrifter, I love going to thrift stores, and garage sales finding the perfect things for very little money. It is one of the reasons that I have such a fun kitchen arsenal. If you are a thrifter you know that you see certain kitchen items everywhere you go: the bread machine and ice cream maker noted above, both found brand new at thrift stores and sold by me still brand new, are two of the most common. When you start seeing them that much you know odds are you will probably never use them either, a lesson I am still learning. </div>
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All foodies have a kitchen wish list, often changing depending on what kind of food faze they are going through. I have started to notice that if I am patient I will almost always find the things on my list at thrift stores or garage sales. Rob and I just got our first juicer which we are really excited about, found at our local thrift town (never used) for $10.00. Last month I found a yogurt maker for $4.00 still shiny and new but missing one lid. Being a soup lover I have had an immersion blender on my list for quite a while but it never seemed to make it to the top, that is until I found one at a thrift store for $2.00, the fact that it was hanging with the curling irons really worked in my favor. I am still bitter about the $75.00 Kitchenaid mixer with all the attachments that I didn’t have the money to buy last fall, and I know it is one of those things that will stay with me for a very long time. You don’t let a Kitchenaid mixer pass you by!</div>
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For many, kitchen items are a fad or a passing fancy, they buy them because they are popular or they have these big ideas of how they are going to change their diets, and then they sit around in a cabinet until someone thinks to donate them. There I await, ready to use them but never willing or able to pay full price. So I am grateful to all the magazines and cooking shows that convince non-cooks to purchase all the fancy cooking tools that they will never use, and I am even more grateful to those non-cooks who have the sense and courtesy to donate these items. Now if someone would just donate a food-dehydrator (preferably <a href="http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=nesco+american+harvest+fd-61whc&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&oe=UTF-8&rlz=1I7GGLL_en&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=13077925164463683345&ei=68piTeizDoSmsQPcyK3ZCA&sa=X&oi=product_catalog_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CEAQ8wIwAg#"><b>this one</b></a><b>)</b> I would be all set!</div>
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If you are so inclined check out:</div>
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<b>Alton Browns Gear for Your Kitchen </b><i>by Alton Brown</i></div>
<a href="http://www.indiebound.org/book/9781584796961?aff=literaryfoodie"><img onerror="this.src = 'http://www.indiebound.org/files/book_not_found.jpg';" src="http://images.booksense.com/images/books/961/796/FC9781584796961.JPG" style="border: 1px solid #000;" /><br />Shop Indie Bookstores</a>
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<b>In the Hands of a Chef: the professional chef's guide to essential kitchen tools</b> <i>by The Culinary Institute of America</i></div>
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<b>Cook's Tools: the complete manual of kitchen implements and ow to use them</b> <i>by Susan Campbell</i></div>
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<b>Warmans Kitschy Kitchen Collectibles Field Guide</b><i> by Brian Alexander</i></div>
<a href="http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780896892514?aff=literaryfoodie"><img onerror="this.src = 'http://www.indiebound.org/files/book_not_found.jpg';" src="http://images.booksense.com/images/books/514/892/FC9780896892514.JPG" style="border: 1px solid #000;" /><br />Shop Indie Bookstores</a>
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Jessicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17279465481708169566noreply@blogger.com0