Hair Chicken

Last night, we invited one of Henry's friends, just back from college, to join us for supper and a play (Black Comedy, entertaining and fun). Naturally one of the first questions was "So how is your roommate?"

Did you know there are people who measure their hair as a hobby? And then blog about it? Who knew? Interesting person, although perhaps one with not much in common with her roommates.

Almost as odd as people who blog daily about what they eat, I suppose.

We had grilled (another perfect BBQ night, according to John) chicken marinated in rum and lime juice, the usual immoderate vat of brown Basmati rice, snow peas and carrots, salad, pears, apples and kiwis. Oxford Landing cab.

I Googled measuring hair, and sure enough. There seems to be quite a community of hair measurers.
Way more food bloggers though.
http://www.foodblogblog.com/

Duck soup!

We have had a helluva two weeks - 100-year old grandmother passing away, Natalie cold/cough/fever and just in - pink eye! At one point we went straight from the cemetary to the urgent care clinic, now that's fun! Anyone want to come for a late night shift? I hate to admit it but we've had both In-n-Out and McDonalds in the past few days.

Yesterday we went to the Chinese grocery store to stock up on some supplies like hoisin sauce, bean sauce, fresh noodles and vegetables. Based on how much you spend there, the grocery store gives you coupons for their deli section. In that section, they have roast duck, roast chicken, bbq pork, and bunch of other foods that you'd have to see to believe. We picked up half a roast duck.

For dinner, we had some egg noodles in duck broth with mung beans and the Chinese variation of romaine lettuce. It was some of the tastiest roast duck ever. Or maybe it's just that there is no comparison between a McDonald's Big Mac and roast duck. Achoo!

Alaska, Oy Vey! Oy Vey!

Well, I had to say something in response to my daughter so far from home.

Last night we had baked chicken for dinner. I like baked chicken, it's a procedure that my mother stole from a friend of hers and it's pretty easy. All you do is roll the pieces in flour, dip in beaten eggs, milk and buttermilk and then roll in bread crumbs (oh, wait I forgot the step when you go to the pantry and slap yourself on the forehead and say "Oh shit!" because there are no bread crumbs) seasoned with basil, oregano and parsley. Then you bake at 350 until it's done. About a half an hour or two glasses of wine later. I heated up the last of the kasha and steamed some broccoli and tossed a salad.

My version is not quite as good as Nancy's fried chicken but it is crunchy on the outside and moist on the inside.

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Kasha, man do I love kasha. Technically it is usually called bulgur but it is something that Aunt Ruth (alev shalom) used to make, or maybe Alice the maid made it, and I always loved it. I think that this is where I first had the dish where it is mixed with bow tie noodles that I have mentioned many weeks ago. Two carbohydrates in one dish? You betcha tiger!

The other good thing about it is that it is pretty idiot proof. I add onions, celery and garlic to my kasha. Usually I add mushrooms but we had a guest that does not eat mushrooms so I left them out. If any of you in the "lower 48" are reading this remember to send us a box and many thanks to Cousin Martha for sending this box.


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I am glad that my daughter is carrying on the family tradition of checking wine lists while on the road. Way to go Bird! I will make sure the folks at Vineyard Brands sit up and take notice.


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Nancy is correct that I am not as wildly enthusiastic about squash as she is but I did like the soup she made the other night. A hot bowl of soup in this weather is always welcome. I rarely make soup any more. After having made roughly 10-15 gallons every other day for eight years cured me of that. Occasionally I will make Minestrone because it's another excuse to eat pasta and if I clean out the freezer and find little scraps of fish I will make Chowder. Henry likes chowder and once a year I can stand.

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Nancy is also correct that I tend to be a bit of a curmudgeon about Christmas and I am sorry. The Prime Rib "incident" that she is referring to happened about eight years ago. I cooked a Prime Rib up at Nancy's mom's house in Haines for Christmas. It was perfectly cooked when I took it out of the over but due to some combination of fatigue and wine my carving job was a joke. It looked like I had gone at it with a screwdriver. I still don't know how it happened but I learned my lesson and it has not happened since.

I also like having leftover Prime Rib bones for lunch the day after Christmas.

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I am glad to see a contribution on the blog from our friends Candy and Dick. Candy, we note, did not laugh when I asked her for help on a Christmas present for Nancy that I did get organized to execute. She could have laughed because she made the Christmas gift that Nancy gave me, although I think that secretly Nancy wanted it also. It is a hand made Adarondack bench that has a painted salmon as a back rest. It's way cool.

So what did you make with all of those lemons and lime?

Alaska, mon dieu

Wonderful things are being eaten in the wonderful land of Palma de Mallorca, which is as close to paradise as I think you can get. With the exception of the hoards of germans that have discovered the island and are now quietly taking over. James was tickled that we found a real estate company called Engel and Volkers.

The hostel is fabulous, equipped with a roof-top terrace and cafe-con-leches. Every morning as we take our breakfast on the terrace, there is a cute old french couple enjoying the sun and having some fruit for breakfast as well. They also bring up their radio and play classical music, which makes for an enjoyable atmosphere. One day, after noticing that james had wiped the condensation off of the table top with his hand, the french man started talking to us. After a few pleasantries, he inquired as to where we were from. We replied "alaska" and he cried "ALASKA! Mon dieu! Mon dieu!" and then went wandering around the terrace muttering "Alaska! Mon dieu, mon dieu." It was very cute.

But the food. The food is great. Our first night here, tired and bitter from missing trains and having to fork over a lot of euros, James and I stumbled into the only restaurant still serving. And a good thing nothing else was open, because it was probably one of the best meals I've ever had! We both got lamb ribs that were rubbed with apricots (perhaps apricot chutney? James says) and stuffed with rosemary. THEN there was the potato/olive/garlic puree which made both of us giddy with happiness. Needless to say, we were very happy to have finally arrived in Palma and we could put our bags down for a few days while we enjoyed sunshine and good food. Tapas anyone?

Also, my father will be pleased to know that thus far I have only been in perhaps one restaurant that did not serve Marqes de Caceres. (sp?)

Butternut Squash, still not a family fave

Personally, I like the orange winter squashes: Acorn, Butternut, Delicata, all those. I don't think my family shares my enthusiasm. At one point, when Ren was still in a high chair, and I served a puree of butternut squash, she poked at it a bit, and then stood up in her chair to announce that she knew what to do with it: "You know that thing in the sink that goes 'rrr rrr rrr' and the food goes away?"
So the other night I made a puree of butternut squash soup with candied spiced nuts as a garnish, accompanied by a spinach salad with hot beet chips, roasted onions, and goat cheese with a faint balsamic dressing, and cheese grits from the wonderful bag of grits we received as a gift for Christmas.

I liked it. Had it all for lunch the next day too.

Holiday Meals

We don't have too many "traditions" connected with the Christmas holiday, in fact I think if it was up to John, and perhaps the children, we'd just sit in our chairs and read and let the day go by unmarked, but once upon a time, a long time ago, for Christmas Eve we adopted the menu John's mom would serve then: Spaghetti. It's easy, fast, can be made to feed lots of folks or few, and everyone likes it.

So Christmas Eve: Invite old friends, the families we raised our kids together with, the kids home from college mostly and so good to see them growing into such wonderful adults, one just passed her CPA exams! and invite Uncle Thad and Aunt Lynn who always fly away on Christmas Day. John made the spaghetti, someone brought garlic bread, there was a yummy baby Romaine salad with dried cranberries or cherries and nuts, a melty bread pudding studded with raisins and dressed with rum sauce, and a cheesecake. J sparkling wine, Belgium and Alaskan beers, some red wines, and the conversations about 'how are you liking school' and so nice to see this group we've known since the Fiddlehead days and before, and been through barenaked kids on the beach picnics, carpools, and school plays, and and don't often get altogether with anymore, but the folks it is just OK to be ourselves with without apology.

Christmas Day was a low key event, we invited some friends who often invite us to their home for holidays, their children also home for the break. John took over the kitchen again, preparing a beautiful prime rib roast (perfectly carved: one of these days he'll live down the odd carving project he turned a Christmas Roast into one year) cauliflower au gratin, tossed green salad, kasha, fruit, and for dessert a wonderful chocolate torte. Los Cardos Malbec. We talked into the evening about traveling in Ecuador, living abroad, life in the Coast Guard, books, and more.

Merry Christmas to you all.

Family

Christmas in Portland with the kids.  We've not been away from Juneau for Christmas since the kids were little!  Both of them with jobs that required them to be there both the day before and the day after, it made much more sense for us to travel to them.

We'll be making Christmas dinner here in the condo, with a kitchen more sparsely equipped than mine, it might just be more of a challenge!  Last night for Christmas Eve, we went to Saltys on the Columbia.   It's such a pleasure to go to dinner with your kids as new adults!  We were seated in a quiet corner, which we promptly made not so quiet.   We had one of the best servers we have had in some time.  Selected Celeilia Beretta 2001 Amarone Della Valpolicella, a new favorite.  Ironically Amanda at 20, is probably the most knowlegeable about wine having just graduated from Western Culinary here in Portland and having served her externship at a winery.  A sly taste pronounced it "velvety" and "tasting of chocolate".  It was wonderful. 

Mac wanted mussel shooters to start, which luckily they didn't have, but they did have great oyster shooters instead.  We had to have the "Chilled Seafood Tower", king and dungies, more oysters, grilled prawns, and marinated mussels and clams as a starter.  Candy and Amanda had Spinach & Feta Ravioli, made with Crimini mushrooms, Kalamata olives, sweet onions, and tomato bisque.  Mac chose fresh Maine lobster, no wonder when Mom and Dad are paying!  I chose the Pan Seared Diver Scallops with creamy polenta, sauce puttanesca, served on the side as recommended by our server, and fried leeks.   Great conversation and time spent with the kids.  Miss the days of when they were little, but very happy the days of adulthood are here.

So now Christmas dinner is in the works and I (candy here) find that I wasn't too thorough in my examination of the contents of the kitchen!  I've got lots of limes, lemons, 3 apples, 2 cups of flour to figure out something to make for desert - we'll see!  In the mean time we bought a beautiful prime rib at a butcher shop down the road and some nice asparagus.  Interesting to cook in a kitchen not your own and a pantry/refrigerator stocked the same way...

We did buy a nice champagne and wine for dinner, so perhaps no one will notice the odd

desert I might come up with!

Merry Christmas everyone, Candy and Dick