ON-LINE SHOPPING RECIPE.

As I recall, on-line shopping was supposed to make life easier, convenient, less expensive. I guess it is true in some areas. But try and decide what type of heat pump you want, among the many styles and sizes that perform in various ways. Whole house? Or zonal mini-splits. Do ductless units have Seer ratings? What is that? Installers?  Another search.

There is lot to compare and I learned a lot, but over two days I probably spent 12 hours on-line. Geez. Too much sitting.

Doug returned to Oregon yesterday to find all the water had leaked from his temporary domicile, the 5th wheel. No cold or hot water. He couldn’t find where it had leaked. Good thing he has a hose from the well.  He had a good vacation, but things are just as problematic as usual. Now, hopefully his plumber knows how to fix a plumbing problem in a 5th wheel.

One thing you can’t buy on-line is daughter-in-law, Laurie’s, recipe for black bean coleslaw. Or, wait, I haven’t checked, maybe you can?  But here it is, anyway.

2 bags of mixed slaw

1 red bell pepper, chopped (can use orange or yellow too)

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

1/2 c chopped cilantro (or more if you want)

2 green onions, chopped

optional- sometimes I add fresh corn, about a cup.

Dressing:

2/3 c lime juice

4 T honey

6 T olive oil

1 t cumin

Cracked pepper to taste

Delicious and keeps well for a couple of days.

I wish there was a less tedious recipe for on-line shopping.

HOW TO MAKE A CLAM BOIL.

Donna Parker is renowned for her clam boil so I’m sharing her recipe and method. First she scrubbed up about 10 potatoes and 6 pounds of little neck clams. The potatoes go in the bottom of a big corn cooker pot. She covers them with water, i can of beer and arranges the clams on top and sprinkles them lightly with salt to taste and cayenne pepper.

Next she loads individual cheesecloth bags with the meat. Here is 8 hot dogs.

This is 12 breakfast sausage and another bag holds  four linguisa cut into chunks. You can place the meat in the pot without a bag, but it is easier to dish up from the bag, explains Donna. The meat is arranged on top with four vidalia onions and all is set to boil. It takes about 45 minutes from cold start to finish. Donna cooked four ears of corn, broken in half, in a separate pot.

Bob tied a lobster bib on Jim and then the feasting began while the clams boiled.

We visited and snacked on shrimp and crackers and ate lobster because at the Parkers, a clam boil is a feast and you have to have lobster, too.

In 2010 when we visited, Bob taught me how to pet the lobster to put it in yet another giant pot to cook. You stand them on their tails, pet them and they become docile and go into the boiling hot water without thrashing and splashing. These one to one and a quarter pounders cost $3.99 each already cooked. They are soft-shelled. You can crack them open with your fingers. Bob explained that lobster shed their shells and the newly grown shells are still soft. They don’t taste any different.  In may they are caught before shedding.

Bob poured a bit of strawberry bubbly.

Donna loaded individual bowls with clams and for each a cup of the broth.

You load up your plate with potatoes, onion, meat  and corn. Pour on a bit of butter and broth and chow down. The clams you dip in the broth first, (or vinegar if you prefer) then into the butter and enjoy. Yum. The broth is so delicious, you can drink it straight, cup after cup. I got to take some back to the motor home.

I must apologize for no pictures of Donna. I was concentrating so hard on the recipe and getting every step in the process, and busily eating in between, I forgot to take a picture of all of us before I waddled, much too full,  out to the motor home with my containers of broth.

JUST VISITING

It’s been fun cooking with my friend Sandee, enjoying the view out her back window of the beautiful mountains and seeing Sandee’s artwork and collections.

An artist herself, she is working on this bobcat. She has routinely seen a bobcat walking her back fence and she thinks the  bobcat may identify  with the sculpture. We keep watching for the real thing, but he hasn’t shown up while we’ve had cameras poised.

She has a friend with a pooch in the National Kennel Club Trials and her dog and cats enjoy seeing other animals on television and watched the dog show intently. Who knows?

Judy and Mike stopped by to visit and discuss full-time RVing with Jim and share their experiences. They’ve just sold their trailer and haven’t gotten a new rig. We were supposed to have left by now but we are still dealing with a signal problem. Jim got a new device and is cursing it as I write. I’m on a signal from Sandee’s neighbor.

The only wildlife we’ve seen is a few birds. This dove came to visit.

Sandee is multi-talented and  makes jewelry, and I photographed gobs of it just because it is so beautiful. Not all of it was jewelry she made.

As I walk around her house, I continually spot stuff I hadn’t noticed the day before because there is so much to attract the eye.  Better than visiting a gallery.

I particularly liked this kitty…

…and his outdoor painting of sunflowers.

And this cute glass frog.

I have a recipe of Sandee’s to share, too.

Prepare 1/2 inch eggplant slices to fry in olive oil until tender by dipping them in egg and bread crumbs first. Then slather them with blue cheese, put on the lid, and when the cheese is melted, serve them. Yum.

 

 

THE COOKIE FACTORY

Peg Bracken, noted cook and cook book author, claims the best way to keep cookies is in a can marked Rat Poison. I wouldn’t go that far, but it is tempting to save your favorite ones for a later time when you can savor them the more.

Doug arrived first and we made room for his tins. He has several to deliver to the neighbors since I’ve given over the cookie baking to the kids.

Then Laurie unloaded her stash of tins and bags until there was no room.

But, somehow, we stacked tins and Virginia unloaded her treasures.

The many types are the result of Doug trying to out-do Virginia and Vice-Versa. Laurie brings the family favorites and adds something new each year, which happened to be gluten free almond chai cookies and marzipan stollen, so the list goes on and grows. With 22 different kinds of cookies, Virginia wryly commented, the ratio of cookie bakers to cookie eaters is out of kilter with four cookie eaters missing. She was referring to Daughter Kristannne, her husband and two boys who were unable to come for Christmas because of their son Alec’s work schedule.

The cookie factory started years ago when I made cookies with the kids, and sometimes the neighbor kids, allowing them to cut and decorate sugar cookies with paint brushes and bowls of colored frosting.

We traded painted cookies each year with the Evans/Dollar family and one year Joanne Evans said enough, and brought a variety of yummy cookies that didn’t have to be decorated. A nurse, she worked full-time,  often with duty hours during the holidays.  So, the cooky factory got started with more and more different types of cookies, easier to make and better tasting.

It is hard to pick a favorite, but, you might try this one:

1 8oz. package dates chopped., 1/2 cup firmly pkd. brown sugar, 1/2 cup butter, 1/2 cup orange juice, 1 tsp. grated fresh orange rind. Cook first five ingredients over low heat, stirring until slightly thickened. Remove from stove and cool a bit.

Beat in two eggs, 2 1/4 cups flour that has 1 tsp salt and 3/4 tsp. of baking soda mixed in it. Add a 16 oz. package of chocolate chips, and 1 cup chopped walnuts and stir.  Drop by rounded spoonfuls  2 inches apart on ungreased sheets. Bake at 375* ten minutes. Remove at once to cool.ing racks.  Makes 3 dozen. If you cool the ingredients a lot, the chocolate chips stay chunky. If you leave the batter quite warm, the chips get melty. I like them melty.

Ciao!

CHOCOLATE, CRANBERRY APPLESAUCE

Can’t think, brain numb, inspiration won’t come. My destiny for today.

I worked apples yesterday, putting up bags of apples in the freezer for later use. Since I had a bag of frozen cranberries I thought I’d make cranberry sauce. With a sink full of apples, the combination intrigued me so I put them together and found it very tasty. After dinner, I thought about the ways I’d used cranberries. I remember putting them still frozen in the brownie mix  just before putting them in the oven.  A huge success. In the market, cranberries, cherries, ginger, nuts of all kinds and pomegranate seeds are paired with chocolate.  I decided to have a dish of warmed cranberry applesauce with chocolate.  It was okay. Not great, just okay. I guess I could experiment with the amount and type of chocolate and come up with a better result. A chocolate sauce instead of grated. Or perhaps chocolate chips. Maybe a bit of brandy? You know, somethings are just best left alone. I like chocolate and I liked the sauce.   Nuff said.

MOVING ON AND A RECIPE

Leaving the cousin “spoilers” yesterday, we headed for Marthas Vineyard. Everyone describes it as beautiful and appealing with no fast food places or billboards. Its expensive to bring cars on the island so traffic is light. At one time the best mode of transportation on the island for day visitors was hitchhiking. The locals biked. They now have a good bus system.

We’re hauling our motor home over on the freight ferry with the trucks that deliver goods. We spent the night at Buzzards Bay; walked around town under a huge black cloud that rained in the distance. A railroad bridge over the Cape Cod Canal, connects the island with the rest of Massachusetts. This bridge lifts up 135 feet to allow boats under it. It was put in service by the WPA in 1935 and for many years was the longest lift span in the world. Now, at 544 feet, its the second longest. Its a beauty.

Five trains a day still run over this amazing bridge. We parked at the Eagles Club in Buzzards Bay and had an impromptu concert by a bagpiper. Later the drummers came to practice as well. How cool is that?

Yesterday, I promised a recipe for French meat pie, and here it is:
You make a double pie crust, a bit short. The filling:
Brown a half lb. ground pork and half lb ground beef, 90% lean, if you can get it. Mix in one chopped onion and a stalk of celery and continue cooking until soft. Salt to taste.Then add to the pan two large previously cooked russet potatoes, mashed but unseasoned. Stir this around until everything is well mixed. Add a bit of water if it seems dry. It should be the consistency of hash.  Season liberally with poultry seasoning, about a 1/2 package of Bells. Then a tsp each of nutmeg and cinnamon. Fill the pie, top with crust, and bake for an hour at 350*. Hope yours turns out as good as mine. Better second day if you can leave it alone that long.