blue artichoke

I'm finally emerging from my Thanksgiving stupor. What a great holiday!

Anyway, I promised the second part of my spa story, and here it is. This counts as a separate entry on the 30 New Things list because, while happening in Mexico, this took place at a spa at a different resort the day after my foot massage. The resort where we stay is part of a cluster of resorts owned by the same company, and we have free access to all of the amenities offered by any of the related resorts. The spa I went to for the foot massage was part of a newer resort, and was very upscale. The "spa" I went to for a pedicure was part of our resort, and resembled an inner-city Mexican hair salon. It was in a basement, down a dark hallway, past what looked like the resort's laundry room. The room was small and cramped with hair salon chairs and chairs for waiting, a far cry from the clean, light and airy spa from the day before.

My pedicurist waved me over to a chair in the corner underneath a wall-mounted tv. She filled a bucket with water and indicated I should put my feet in. After a few minutes, she smacked my knee and pointed to her lap, so I put my wet foot on her lap. She started clipping my nails at an alarming pace. I had just read an article about how you should always cut your toenails straight across and avoid rounding the edges to prevent ingrown toenails. I've endured several ingrown toenails and surgeries, so I was quite concerned when I noticed she was cutting straight down on the nail edges. What could I do, though, she had already done one foot and spoke no English.

Done with the first foot, she set it back into the tub of water and smacked my other knee. When she finished clipping the nails, she took a metal pick and went to town scraping my nails. I have some scar tissue along one side of my big toe from the ingrown toenail fiasco, and she was hellbent on removing that tissue. That's a tender area, and I kept jerking my foot away. She waved over an interpreter who told me I had an ingrown toenail, did I want her to dig it out? I said no, it was scar tissue, not an ingrown toenail, and please tell her to stop jamming metal picks under my nail. Mind you, my pedicurist has not said a word to me this whole time, and barely looked in my direction. She dried off my feet, waved a pumice stone in the general direction of my feet and said, "color." I was disappointed that she didn't take her frustration out on the callouses on my feet; that was the whole reason I wanted a pedicure. I don't like painted toenails (or fingernails either -- too much work to keep looking nice), so I said no. She drizzled a coat of clean polish on my toes and sent me on my way. I felt bad leaving a tip for her, as she did not even deserve a thank you, but I felt bad stiffing her. I think I left something small enough to express my displeasure at the experience. And that, folks, was my very first pedicure. I can't imagine ever going through that ordeal again. I think I'd prefer more ingrown toenail surgeries. In fact, my toe where she kept jabbing the metal scraper did get a little bit infected and tender, but cleared up a few days later.

I only have a few months to complete my list. I'd best get crackin'!

1. Roast a duck

2. Learn to make glass beads

3. Swim in an underground river

4. Sea-Trek

5. Touch a sea turtle

6. Make a chocolate meringue pie

7. Eat collard greens

8. Cirque du Soleil: Ka

9. Make ice cream

10. Eat lunch with a down's syndrome guy

11. Learn to post pictures on my blog

12. Wear shorts, a tank top and a thong on purpose, all day and in public

13. Join a Ladies’ Disc Golf League

14. Begin Muay Thai lessons

15. Visit a Spa and Got a Foot Massage

16. Pedicure

Getting to Know All About You: Tell us about your disastrous pedicure/manicure/spa or salon visit.

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 01:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Gentleman Caller and I returned last night from our Thanksgiving visit with his family. Our Thanksgiving meal was fantastic and plentiful, despite a near-catastrophe with the turkey. My father-in-law usually grills the turkey on a rotisserie, bundled up in the back yard. After only 20 minutes of rotating, the rotisserie broke. We all rushed around like a turkey with its head cut off, trying to rearrange the cooking schedule to free up an oven for the turkey, but grill-master that he is, he just removed the turkey from the rotisserie, put it in the pan he had on the grill to catch the juices, and grilled the bird, old-school style. The bird might have caught on fire a few times, but it eventually settled down and cooked up nicely, and on schedule.

I made a baked apple and cranberry dish. The recipe is from my sister-in-law, but I've prepared it for the last two years. It's very easy:

Apple-Cranberry Dish

Wash, core and cut apples into chunks (don't peel), ~ 6 cups. I didn't measure the apples; I just cut up 12 apples, fed one to the demanding babies underfoot and used the other eleven for the dish. I used Granny Smith, but other good baking apples would probably do just as well. Toss the apple chunks with a bag of cranberries and a cup of sugar, then transfer to a greased 13x9" dish (preferably glass). Next, mix 1 cup of brown sugar with 1/3 c. of flour and sprinkle over top of the apple mixture. Finally, melt a stick of butter and drizzle over the brown sugar mixture. Bake at 350 for 1 hour. This dish smells great as it cooks.

Along with this dish and the turkey, we had marinated green beans, glazed sweet-and-spicy meatballs, chicken & dressing, sweet potato casserole (half topped with pecans and half topped with marshmallows, to keep everyone in the family happy), frozen cherry salad, crudities and, of course, gravy. For dessert, gooey pumpkin butter cake and banana pudding. What a feast! I've said it before, and it still holds true: Thanksgiving dinner is my favorite meal of the year, and this one did not disappoint. Everyone ate too much and lolled around the house for the rest of the day. GC and I took his nephew for a walk around the neighborhood (we walked, he rode a big wheel) for some post-feeding frenzy exercise. We recovered from our lethargy just enough to go out that evening for drinks with some of GC's high school friends, where topics of conversation ranged from the hygenic merits of wiping front-to-back or back-to-front (doesn't matter), the difference between Sheila E (drummer) and Sheena Easton (singer), and the geometry of triangles.

The next morning we headed over to GC's grandparents house for a big country ham breakfast. His grandparents cook as if they're feeding the whole neighborhood: biscuits, red-eye gravy, a platter of country ham, bacon, leftover turkey, sliced tomatoes, scrambled eggs, hash browns and plenty of coffee and orange juice. We packed it all away, leaving very few leftovers, and loosened our belts a little bit. Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day, and this is the king of breakfasts. After the breakfast feast, we helped GC's parents decorate their house for Christmas: the girls decorated the tree and the guys hung the wreaths. With many helping hands, this doesn't take very long at all. GC spent the rest of the afternoon playing disc golf. I napped. With both of our appetites somewhat restored, we took GC's other grandmother out to dinner. I had a salad. Then we headed out again for a night on the town with GC's friends.

As if we needed to eat more food, we went out for a big pancake breakfast with GC's parents on Saturday before we got on the road back home. About an hour after we pulled into our driveway, friends came over to watch the big game between Missouri and rival Kansas. This was a night game, so we cooked several frozen pizzas. Friends brought over nachos, chips, bacon dip with beer bread, and peanut-butter chocolate bars. We ate a lot and consumed many, many shots as we loudly and obscenely cheered MU to a victory.

And now, I'm tuckered out. What a great Thanksgiving.

GtKAaY: How was your Thanksgiving? What dish would cause a revolt if missing from your Thanksgiving menu?

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 06:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I wasn't particularly in the mood to cook yesterday, but I forged ahead into Belgian territory. I made Carbonnade a la Flamande, aka Belgian Beef, Beer and Onion Stew. This stew almost didn't happen, because we drank the beer I had been reserving for this recipe. I couldn't just leave it out, it's part of the title! So, I sent my ever-helpful Gentleman Caller out on a beer run, and he returned with a Belgian winter brew: Full Moon, by Blue Moon (which, by the way, is a pretty good beer, even to my beer-phobic taste buds). So, the dinner went on as planned.

Carbonnade a la Flamande (Belgian Beef, Beer, and Onion Stew)

Top blade steaks (also called blade or flatiron steaks) are our first choice, but any boneless roast from the chuck will work. If you end up using a chuck roast, look for the chuck eye roast, an especially flavorful cut that can easily be trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces. Buttered egg noodles or mashed potatoes make excellent accompaniments to carbonnade. The traditional copper-colored Belgian ale works best in this stew. If you can't find one, choose another dark or amber-colored ale of your liking.

3 1/2 pounds blade steaks , 1 inch thick, trimmed of gristle and fat and cut into 1-inch pieces (see illustrations below)
Table salt and ground black pepper
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 pounds yellow onions (about 3 medium), halved and sliced about 1/4 inch thick (about 8 cups)
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 medium cloves garlic , minced or pressed through garlic press (about 2 teaspoons)
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3/4 cup low-sodium chicken broth
3/4 cup low-sodium beef broth
1 1/2 cups beer (12-ounce bottle or can)
4 sprigs fresh thyme , tied with kitchen twine
2 bay leaves
1 tablespoon cider vinegar

1. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position; heat oven to 300 degrees. Dry beef thoroughly with paper towels, then season generously with salt and pepper. Heat 2 teaspoons oil in large heavy-bottomed Dutch oven over medium-high heat until beginning to smoke; add about one-third of beef to pot. Cook without moving pieces until well browned, 2 to 3 minutes; using tongs, turn each piece and continue cooking until second side is well browned, about 5 minutes longer. Transfer browned beef to medium bowl. Repeat with additional 2 teaspoons oil and half of remaining beef. (If drippings in bottom of pot are very dark, add about 1/2 cup of above-listed chicken or beef broth and scrape pan bottom with wooden spoon to loosen browned bits; pour liquid into bowl with browned beef, then proceed.) Repeat once more with 2 teaspoons oil and remaining beef.

2. Add remaining 1 tablespoon oil to now-empty Dutch oven; reduce heat to medium-low. Add onions, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and tomato paste; cook, scraping bottom of pot with wooden spoon to loosen browned bits, until onions have released some moisture, about 5 minutes. Increase heat to medium and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are lightly browned, 12 to 14 minutes. Stir in garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add flour and stir until onions are evenly coated and flour is lightly browned, about 2 minutes. Stir in broths, scraping pan bottom to loosen browned bits; stir in beer, thyme, bay, vinegar, browned beef with any accumulated juices, and salt and pepper to taste. Increase heat to medium-high and bring to full simmer, stirring occasionally; cover partially, then place pot in oven. Cook until fork inserted into beef meets little resistance, about 2 to 2 1/2 hours.

3. Discard thyme and bay. Adjust seasonings with salt and pepper to taste and serve. (Can be cooled and refrigerated in airtight container for up to 4 days; reheat over medium-low heat.)

Serves 6.
Cook’s Illustrated, 11/2004

I halved the recipe and cut the beef into smaller chunks, because I had to reduce the cooking time from 2 1/2 hours to just 1 hour. Why? Because it took so long for me to assemble the second Belgian dish that I got a very late start on the stew. The stew is really good, dark and meaty, and very filling.

The other dish was a Belgian Prune Pie. Prune pie sounds kind of gross, but if you think of it as a dried plum pie, it's not so bad. I like prunes, and I wanted to know what desserts will be like when I become a crotchety old lady who measures time by bathroom visits. This recipe is the worst I've ever seen, more difficult to follow even than tipsy scrawlings on a damp bar napkin. It was from the book American Pie, which has lots of great pie recipes and stories, but this one is really confusing. The crust is made from mashed potatoes, and the instructions say to let the crust rise until doubled. It will rot before that happens, as there is no leavening agent included in the ingredients. There is flour, though, so I tried using self-rising flour. Not powerful enough to make potatoes double in size. The prune filling uses 1 1/2# of prunes, and makes about a half-gallon of filling. Just what sort of pie plate can hold this much filling? Don't know! The recipe doesn't say. I used a springform pan, anticipating the overflow of a pie plate. I still had too much filling, which is now in a bowl in the fridge. What the heck am I supposed to do with pureed prunes? Wander the streets looking for homeless babies to feed, I suppose. After I assembled the thing as best I could, the 20 minute baking time left me with a runny mess. After an hour of baking, it still wasn't done, but I was sick of it and took it out of the oven anyway because I was tired and wanted to go to bed. I was ready to chuck the whole thing in the trash, but GC's cooler head prevailed and we at least sampled the thing (that is, after the still-runny prune filling seeped out of the bottom of the springform pan all over the stove top). This "pie" pissed me off and made me hate baking. It took forever, dirtied all sorts of dishes, created unwanted leftovers, and wasn't even good. Boo! Worst pie ever.

Getting to Know All About You: What's your greatest culinary disaster?

P.S. I was "ma'am"ed at the gym today, and by a guy that I sort of know and have spoken to before! I feel old. Maybe it's time for the pureed prunes after all.

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 08:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

November is to be the month of weekend pumpkin muffins. The recipe for this second batch also came from Cooking Light (as did last week's recipe), and the muffins are similar enough to be difficult to pick a favorite. I think I liked last week's muffins better because they seemed to have a deep, rich pumpkin flavor (probably because of the molasses); GC picks these muffins because they are moister (probably because of the applesauce). You can't go wrong with either one; both are better than most pumpkin muffins I've had.

Pumpkin Muffins

1 cup all-purpose flour (about 4 1/2 ounces)
½ cup whole wheat flour (about 2 1/2 ounces)
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup packed brown sugar
1 ¼ teaspoons pumpkin-pie spice
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup canned pumpkin
½ cup fat-free buttermilk
½ cup egg substitute
¼ cup canola oil
¼ cup applesauce
Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 375°.

Lightly spoon flours into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flours, granulated sugar, and next 5 ingredients (through salt) in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk.

Combine pumpkin and the next 4 ingredients (through applesauce) in a medium bowl, stirring with a whisk. Add pumpkin mixture to flour mixture, stirring just until moist. Spoon batter into 16 muffin cups coated with cooking spray.

Bake at 375° for 20 minutes or until muffins spring back when touched lightly in center. Cool muffins in pans 5 minutes on a wire rack; remove from pans. Cool completely on a wire rack.

Yield: 16 servings (serving size: 1 muffin)

CALORIES 145(28% from fat); FAT 4.6g (sat 0.5g,mono 2.3g,poly 1.6g); PROTEIN 2.6g; CHOLESTEROL 0.0mg; CALCIUM 33mg; SODIUM 149mg; FIBER 1.2g; IRON 1.1mg; CARBOHYDRATE 24.1g
Cooking Light, NOVEMBER 2005

I don't often have buttermilk around, so I usually just sour regular milk by adding some lemon juice or white vinegar, ~ 1 T. lemon juice per 1 c. milk. I also don't usually have egg substitute, so I use regular eggs. One egg = 1/4 c. egg substitute, so I used 2 eggs in this recipe.

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 12:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tonight, Gentleman Caller and I plan to watch the UFC fights on pay-per-view. Usually, fight night = pizza night, but tonight I'm making a badass meal to complement the fights. While soup isn't usually known for it's aggressive style or heavy hands, this soup has knockout power. It's a five lily soup, containing onions, leeks, shallots, scallions and garlic, all members of the lily family.

Not only does this soup provide TKO-breath, it's actually quite healthy. Especially the garlic. The smell associated with garlic comes from allium, which is an antibiotic, an intestinal antispasmodic, a decongestant and an expectorant. Garlic lowers the levels of blood cholesterol and triglycerides, lowers blood pressure and reduces blood clotting (as do onions, leeks and shallots). It stimulates the immune system and is an antioxidant, as well as a germicide, fungicide and intestinal worm killer. What a heavyweight powerhouse! Onions, leeks and shallots contain antibacterial agents. The stuff in onions that make you cry also breaks up mucus congestion. And all members of the lily family generally promote heart health and prevent various cancers.

All of these lilies are available throughout the winter, so take advantage of this soup's medicinal qualities to help you weather winter colds and sniffles.

Five Lily Soup

The ingredient amounts are mere suggestions. This is what I happened to use for tonight's soup, but feel free to increase or decrease amounts according to what's in your fridge and how much crying you can stand, chopping all those oniony ingredients!

1/4 c. butter
2-3 leeks, whites and light green parts, diced and rinsed properly
1 yellow onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, whole
1 shallot, diced
2 green onions, sliced (I used the white and light green parts in the soup, then used the darker green ends for garnish)

Sweat together. This means cook over low heat until soft, but not browned.

+ 1/4 c. flour. Stir and let flour cook a little bit to make a roux.

+ 1 can chicken broth
1/2 c. heavy cream
Bring to simmer.

For a more refined soup, strain through china cap or strainer and whizz with an immersion blender. I prefer a more peasant-style chunky soup, so I just correct the consistency by adding more chicken stock or water if the soup is too thick and season with salt until it's just so good that I can't stand it. (Plus, I don't have to clean a strainer or blender. Aces!)
Done.

It is possible to OD on garlic, as GC found out after a visit to a garlic-themed restaurant in San Francisco when he suffered some gastric distress. We both had garlic-scented sweat for days after that glorious meal. That garlic smell is difficult to remove. Some say rubbing your hands on stainless steel or rubbing them with cut lemon removes the odor. I'm not convinced. I'd say just feed garlic to your friends and family so, in the words of UFC light heavyweight champion Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, everyone's "bref stank."

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 06:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Finally, I had a night where I wasn't too busy to cook, and we could enjoy the tastes of Scotland (no haggis!) that I had planned for last Sunday. I chose Scotland because I recently spoke with Magenta Green Goddess, a friend since elementary school. Though we have moved apart ideologically and geographically, we still keep in touch and see each other whenever we can. She's the kind of friend who will call up after several months of silence and invite you to go to Poland with her, on a whim. And I'm the kind of friend who says, "Poland? Bring it on!" So, why a Scottish meal instead of a Polish meal? Magenta Green Goddess studied in Scotland for a while, and the two were a good fit for each other. I think she feels the same way about Scotland as I do about eastern and southern Africa. Just give me a reason to go...

Anyway, I associate her with Scotland, so after a long catch-up phone call, I thought I'd try out some Scottish food. The entree was cockaleekie, a traditional Scottish stew made with a tough old foul that needs hours of cooking to tenderize. Some say that this stew was the fate of the losing bird in a cockfight, thrown into a pot with leeks for flavoring and served to the spectators. Hmmm... I kind of like that imagery, brutal as it is. I'm now going to think of a chicken processing plant as one big cockfighting ring, where the losers are scooped up, plucked, dismembered, packaged and sent into my awaiting arms. The winner wears a crown of flowers and struts around the plant. It seems more humane somehow; the chickens at least stand a chance against each other.

You don't need to go to the seedy back alley cockfights or find a tough old fowl for this dish. Using fresh, young, boneless, skinless chicken breasts makes this a quick-cooking and low-fat dish. Prunes are a traditional ingredient. You can omit them if you want, the dish will be good either way. I doubled the amount of prunes, and thought it was excellent.

Cockaleekie

2 whole skinned, boneless chicken breasts
2 T. veggie oil
4 leeks, white part only
2 c. water [I used 1 c. of water and 1 c. of chicken stock]
½ c. pearly barley, rinsed and drained
1 bay leaf
½ t. salt
¼ t. each dried thyme and white pepper
8 whole pitted prunes
2 T. minced fresh parsley

Preheat oven to 400. Cut each chicken breast into 4 pieces lengthwise. In a Dutch oven, brown the chicken pieces, a few at a time, in the oil. Remove the chicken.

Cut the leeks in half lengthwise and wash well; chop. Sauté the leeks in the Dutch oven until they are limp and lightly browned. Return the chicken to the pan and add the remaining ingredients, except the prunes and parsley.

Bring to a boil, cover and place in oven. Bake 30m. Add the prunes. Bake 15m, or until the barley is tender but still al dente. The chicken should be cooked through. [When adding the prunes, I roughly cut the chicken into smaller, bite-size pieces by using a fork to pull it into chunks. The big pieces just seem unwieldy.]

The stew can be prepared ahead and reheated in a microwave in a glass casserole for a few minutes or in a conventional oven for ~30m at 350.

Remove the bay leaf, sprinkle with parsley and serve.

Serves 4.

Superfoods: 300 Recipes for Foods that Heal Body and Mind, by Dolores Riccio

This was a pretty plain and straightforward chicken stew. I thought it would be kind of bland or boring, but I was pleasantly surprised at the depth of flavor. I'll definitely make this dish again.

The dessert, however, was just so-so, and I definitely will not make it again. I made a peach and raspberry cranachan, which is a traditional Scottish dessert. Nowadays it is usually made from a mixture of whipped cream, whisky, honey, and fresh raspberries topped with toasted oatmeal. Earlier recipes for cranachan or cream-crowdie are more austere, omitting the whisky and treating the fruit as an optional extra, leaving just the cream, honey and oatmeal. This version is made with low-fat pastry cream instead of whipped cream, but in true Scot fashion, I used Scotch whisky for the pastry cream flavoring. A little splash will do! I made the pastry cream two days in advance of serving, which meant that the Scotch flavor had 48-hours to develop. Not a Scotch drinker, I thought it was a bit too boozy for me.

Peach and Raspberry Cranachan

1 c. uncooked “old-fashioned” oats
2 T. brown sugar
¼ t. cinnamon
1# can cling peach slices packed w/o water, or 3 large fresh peaches, peeled and thinly sliced
1 ¼ c. pastry cream* flavored with 1 T. rum or, if you want to be really authentic, Scotch whisky
1 c. frozen raspberries, packed w/o sugar, unthawed but separated

Layer the oats in a baking pan and toast in a 350F oven until golden, 8-10m. Watch carefully that they don’t become brown. Put them in a bowl and stir in the brown sugar and cinnamon. Blend the mixture by rubbing it between your fingers.

Drain the peaches well.

Make the pastry cream. Put a heaping tablespoon of the pudding in each of 4 dessert bowls. Divide the drained peaches among the bowls. Top with the remaining pudding. Sprinkle with the frozen raspberries (which will thaw before serving). Press them down lightly. Chill until set, ~1h.

Just before serving, sprinkle the desserts with the toasted oat mixture.

Serves 4.

Pastry Cream

2 T. cornstarch
1 c. milk
2 egg yolks or ½ c. egg substitute
¼ c. honey, slightly warmed
1/8 t. salt
Flavoring

In a med-size saucepan, stir the cornstarch into the milk until there are no lumps. Whisk in eggs, honey and salt. Cook over med direct heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture bubbles and thickens. Lower the heat and cook 1m. Remove from heat and stir in the flavoring.

Let cool before using it as a filling, then chill it in the fridge until set.

Makes ~ 1-¼ c.

NB: The basic flavoring is 1 t. of vanilla and ½ t. of natural almond extract. Substitutions depend on the recipe in which the pastry cream is to be used. Instead of vanilla and almond, you may want to use on e of the following flavors: 1 T. liqueur or dark rum, 2 T. of a sweet wine such as Marsala, or 1 T. lemon juice with ½ t. grated lemon zest.

NB: To make 1 ½ x the recipe, use the following measurements:
3 T. cornstarch
1-½ c. milk
3 egg yolks or ½ c. egg substitute
1/3 c. honey
scant ¼ t. salt

Superfoods: 300 Recipes for Foods that Heal Body and Mind, by Dolores Riccio

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 09:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

It's been quite a while since I've done anything new to add to my 30 New Things list. My visit to a spa wasn't recent, last March, actually, but I neglected to tell you about it and forgot to add it to my list. The spa was in Mexico, and a birthday present from my brother. My mom and I went together, first for a foot massage. Neither of us are the pampering sort, so it was probably quite comical how uncomfortable and awkward we were. Given a key to a locker, we were ushered into a silent and wooden locker room. Unlocking the locker, we found a robe and a pair of slippers. Did we have to get all the way undressed if we were only having a foot massage. We whispered back and forth, trying to figure out just how many clothes we needed to shed. Luckily, another lady came in and we asked her what to do. I can't remember her answer, but I think I took off my pants. I might have left my shirt on. Anyway, we were led to a waiting room with low light, quiet spa mood music and candles. Other ladies were there, all dressed in robes, some reading, some meditating and some snoozing. From this waiting area, a glass door led to the showers where, from my seat, I could watch nude ladies scamper about from shower stalls to other changing areas. A small Mexican lady came around a corner and whispered my name. I've forgotten her name, but I liked her immensely. She was concerned because I wrote on my form that I didn't want smelly creams slathered on my feet. I'm allergic to a lot of fragrances added to lotions, so I was hoping to avoid a post-massage itchy allergic reaction. She opened several bottles and had me sniff each one, very concerned that I pick the right one. I picked the lightest scent. Relieved, she laid me on a massage table, put a warm towel over my face, massaged my head for a minute, then got to work on the feet, ankles and calves. She had very strong hands, not painful, but very firm and relaxing. I probably could have fallen asleep, but I was too afraid that I'd drool or, even scarier, kick her in the face in my sleep. The massage lasted 30 minutes, and was amazing. And no allergic reaction.

Foot massages always seemed silly to me. I can rub my own feet. But now that I've had a professional spa-quality foot massage, they no longer seem silly. They're decadent. Every 30-year-old should have a foot massage.

Here's the list so far:

1. Roast a duck
2. Learn to make glass beads
3. Swim in an underground river
4. Sea-Trek
5. Touch a sea turtle
6. Make a chocolate meringue pie
7. Eat collard greens
8. Cirque du Soleil: Ka
9. Make ice cream
10. Eat lunch with a down's syndrome guy
11. Learn to post pictures on my blog
12. Wear shorts, a tank top and a thong on purpose, all day and in public
13. Join a Ladies’ Disc Golf League
14. Begin Muay Thai lessons
15. Visit a Spa and Got a Foot Massage

Next week I'll tell you about Part II of the Mexican Spa Adventure: the pedicure.

Getting to Know All about You: What do you do to relax after a difficult day?

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 03:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

After work today I went to the mall to try to do some more Christmas shopping. I like to get as much as possible done before Thanksgiving, so I can relax and actually enjoy the holidays. Anyway, I was walking through Dillard's and passed between two men (employees) standing on either side of the walkway through the men's department. One said hi to me. The other, right as I passed, said to the other man, "A girl I dated in the Sixties used to wear that kind of stuff." That kind of stuff? That doesn't sound like a compliment to me. The first man's laugh wasn't complimentary either. I didn't think anything was wrong with my outfit; in fact, GC said he thought it was a good look for me. You decide:

Note: Yes, I took the picture myself. Yes, I intentionally cut off my head. And, no, I haven't been sawed into pieces. The lines through the picture are from the mirror.

Brown pants. Brown shoes. White button-down shirt. Green vest. Bad?

Getting to Know All About You: What's your biggest fashion faux pas?

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 04:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Saturday morning breakfast at IHOP.
Sunday dinner take-out from Red Lobster.
Monday dinner with friends.

Man, we've been some eatin' out fools lately. I have a Wandering Gullet meal all ready to be prepared, but things just keep coming up.

I spent the day in St. Louis today, trying to knock out some Christmas shopping. I got a few gifts for people, but mostly for me. I was looking for some khaki cords, because I find myself in the delightful predicament of not fitting into most of my pants (they're too big, thus delightful). I can make do with those that do fit, but a pair of khaki or black cords would offer a nice selection for winter wear. Anyway, I was at TJ Maxx, trying on 5 pairs of cords and 5 sweaters, in what is probably the most unusual dressing room experience I've ever had. I took the sweaters (limit 5 items) and headed into the third or fourth dressing room when the attendant invited me to the front dressing room with a curtain instead of a door. "It's nice in there. Big. Lots of room. Do you like curtains? And you'll be here right close to your pants. Mmm-hmm. I got your back." Got my back? Whatever. I know Muay Thai. I got my own back. I gathered up my items and headed up front to the big curtained room. It was nice and big, and I did indeed like the curtain. The whole time I tried on sweaters, she talked to herself. "Five in. Five waiting. Five out. Five in. No waiting." And so on, talking about my items. Finished with the tops, I took the sweaters out to her to exchange for the pants. While I was trying on the pants, I heard this, "This one is so pretty. I'm scared of it. There must be something wrong with it. My, it looks like one arm is longer than the other one. Mmm-hmmm. Oh, I'm scared of it. It's too pretty." All of this was said in a low voice. She was not talking to me. I had to dress very quietly to hear her. I almost called Blue Grilled Cheese, to let her listen in on this, but I was afraid my giggling would give me away. I wonder which sweater she was afraid of, and if it was one of the three I bought. I'd better check the sleeve lengths!

Getting to Know All About You: What's the weirdest thing that's happened to you in a dressing room?

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 09:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

After IHOP failed to satisfy my hankerin' for pumpkin pancakes yesterday, I turned to my own kitchen to comfort my tongue. Instead of pancakes, though, I made muffins and ate them this morning. Now, that's the taste my tooth was set for!

Pumpkin Muffins

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (about 10 ounces)
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup golden raisins
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/3 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup canola oil
1/4 cup molasses
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
Cooking spray
2 tablespoons granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 400°.

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, ginger, and salt in a medium bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Stir in raisins; make a well in center of mixture.

Combine brown sugar, canned pumpkin, buttermilk, canola oil, molasses, vanilla extract, and eggs, stirring well with a whisk. Add sugar mixture to flour mixture; stir just until moist.

Spoon batter into 18 muffin cups coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle with granulated sugar. Bake at 400° for 15 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove muffins from pans immediately; cool on a wire rack.

Yield: 18 servings (serving size: 1 muffin)

CALORIES 202 (23% from fat); FAT 5.1g (sat 0.8g,mono 2g,poly 1.9g); PROTEIN 2.9g; CHOLESTEROL 24mg; CALCIUM 35mg; SODIUM 159mg; FIBER 1.2g; IRON 1.7mg; CARBOHYDRATE 37.5g

Cooking Light, NOVEMBER 2006

I halved the recipe because we've been slow to eat muffins recently, and after several days, they seem to dry out. I wish I had made the full recipe of these, though, because they're so good that it's difficult to stop eating them. They're so light and moist, too, that I think they would store well for several days, if you could hold off eating them for that long.

I omitted the raisins, which I think was a good move. They don't need the extra sweetness or the competing flavor. I also sprinkled cinnamon sugar on the top. I have a few more recipes for pumpkin muffins, which I"m eager to try out. Instead of sating my desire for pumpkin pancakes, these muffins have increased my appetite for all things pumpkin. Perhaps November will be Pumpkin Muffin Month...

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 11:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I haven't been cooking very much this week. I'm lazy and we have a freezer stuffed with leftovers, so why bother? Yesterday, though, I made a traditional French beef stew, Daube de Boeuf.

It all started with a leftover roast chicken. Yesterday was trash day, so I wanted to pull off the remaining meat to freeze and throw away the chicken carcass. Usually, I put that sort of trash in the freezer because it stinks up the kitchen trash can between pick-ups. But, you see, my freezer is too full to add trash to it, so I decided to go ahead and use the beef roast I had been thawing in the fridge and throw out the packaging and trimmings right away. This recipe takes a while to prepare, because the meat needs to marinate for at least three hours. Perfect! I trimmed the meat and prepared the marinade in the wee hours of the morning, in plenty of time to take the trash out to the curb. Late afternoon, I drained the meat, chopped the rest of the vegetables, layered them in my Dutch oven, poured in the reserved marinade and beef stock, and put it in the oven to cook for several hours. Though it takes quite a while to assemble, the long marinating and cooking times give you plenty of opportunity to clean up the mess you make in the kitchen.

Daube de Boeuf

Like most stews, this gets better the next day. Don’t be intimidated by the lengthy ingredient list. It’s actually quite a simple recipe.

3# rump pot roast or chuck pot roast, cut into 2 ½” squares, 1” thick
1 ½ c. dry white wine or dry white vermouth
¼ c. brandy, eau de vie or gin
2 T. olive oil
2 t. sea salt
¼ t. freshly ground black pepper
2 T. thyme leaves
1 bay leaf, crumbled
2 cloves garlic, peeled and mashed
2 c. thinly sliced onions [I used a food processor to slice the onions and carrots.]
2 c. thinly sliced carrots
½# lean bacon, cut into ¼” thick strips and 2” long, simmered in water 10m, drained and dried
1 ½ c. sliced mushrooms
2 ¼ c. canned whole, peeled tomatoes, drained and coarsely chopped
1 c. sifted flour, on a plate [I omitted the sifting. It's just too much work, and not necessary.]
1-2 c. beef broth

In a large nonreactive bowl, combine beef and next 10. Cover and marinate at least 3h, stirring up frequently.

Remove the beef from the marinade and drain in a sieve. Preheat the oven to 325.

Line the bottom of a deep 6-qt casserole with 3-4 strips of bacon. Strew a handful of the marinade veggies, mushrooms and tomatoes over them. Piece by piece, roll the beef in the flour and shake off excess. Place closely together in a layer over the veggies. Cover with a few strips of bacon and continue with layers of veggies, beef and bacon. End with a layer of veggies and 2-3 strips of bacon.

Pour in the wine from the marinade and enough stock almost to cover the contents of the casserole. Bring to a simmer on top of the stove, cover tightly and set in lower third of the oven. Regulate heat so liquid simmers slowly for 3-4 hours. The meat is done with a fork pierces it easily.

Before serving, skim off excess fat. Correct seasoning. The daube can be served with boiled baby white potatoes, lightly crushed and seasoned with melted butter, coarse salt and chopped parsley.

Cooking for Mr. Latte: A Food Lover’s Courtship, with Recipes, by Amanda Hesser, adapted from Mastering the Art of French Cooking: Volume 1, by Julia Child.
Daube for 6.

Blanched bacon, while smelling good, looks gross. It contributes a deep smoky and meaty flavor to the daube, but is rather disgusting to find on the end of your spoon. I picked it out of my bowl. I wouldn't omit it from the recipe, it contributes too much to the dish, but if serving this to company, I might think about picking it out afterwards, though tedious. Or, if serving it to good friends or family, I'd just issue a warning and let people pick it out themselves if they wish.

This made plenty of leftovers (more things to add to the freezer!). If it's true that this stew gets better the next day, than it will be outstanding, because it's pretty darn good on the day it's made.

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 02:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Check out the top of the list of vegetables. Artichokes! Woohoo! Sadly, the season is winding down this month, so I'd best get my fill while I can.

Vegetables

• artichokes (w)
• avocado (n)
• beans, green (w)
• beets (n)
• broccoli (n)
• cabbages: bok choy (n)
• cabbages: brussels sprouts (n)
• cabbages (n)
• carrots (n)
• celery (n)
• chard (n)
• daikon (p)
• dill (p)
• garlic (w)
• greens: mustard, endive, salad mix (w)
• kale (w)
• kohlrabi (w)
• leek (w)
• parsnip (w)
• peppers, hot (w)
• peppers, sweet (w)
• potato (p)
• potatoes, sweet (p)
• radish (w)
• rutabaga (p)
• squash, winter (p)
• sunchoke (n)
• turnips (n)
• yams (p)

Fruits

• almonds (w)
• apples (w)
• berries: cranberries (p)
• berries: huckleberries (p)
• chestnuts (w)
• guava, pineapple (n)
• kiwi (n)
• kumquat (n)
• lemons (n)
• mandarins: orange, navel (n)
• mandarins: tangerines (n)
• pears: Anjou (n)
• pears: Bosc (p)
• pears: Comice (p)
• pecans (w)
• pistachios (w)
• persimmons: Fuyu-firm (p)
• persimmons: Hachiya-soft (p)
• pomegranate (w)
• quince (w)

n = newly in season
p = peak of season
w = winding down

I'm also pretty excited about sweet potatoes, winter squash, cranberries and chestnuts.

Getting to Know All About You: Anything on this list particularly excite you?

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 06:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Sometimes I'm inspired to try a new country or experiment with new ingredients and flavors. Sometimes I'm not. This week I wanted comfort food, familiar and hardy. So, moussaka, which is Greek. I love moussaka, particularly the moussaka at the International Cafe, a local restaurant. I've tried many recipes, but this is the closest I've come to duplicating that recipe. This one is also the closest to a traditional moussaka as I've made: a bottom layer of sliced eggplants, topped with a layer of ground beef or lamb (I used beef) sauteed with onions, garlic, tomatoes, oregano, thyme and a bay leaf, and spiced with cinnamon, allspice and pepper, and topped with a layer of cheesy béchamel. This recipe included mint jelly or fresh mint; I used dried mint. Other variations I've made have included potatoes and zucchini; those are good, no doubt, but not the moussaka I seek. This one is. It is sort of time consuming to make, as the eggplant and ground beef are fully cooked before layering, but it's no more difficult than making a lasagna. Try it. You'll see.

Moussaka

3 medium eggplants, peeled and sliced ½-inch thick
Olive oil
6 tablespoons butter
6 tablespoons flour
3 cups milk
2 eggs plus 1 yolk, well beaten
Fresh nutmeg, to taste
1 pound ground beef or lamb
1 onion, peeled and chopped
3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
8 ounces tomato sauce
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
½ teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon fresh parsley
2 tablespoons mint jelly or fresh mint
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1 cup dry bread crumbs
2 cups mozzarella cheese, grated
2 tablespoon pecorino cheese

Salt the eggplant slices generously and drain in a colander for one hour while making béchamel and meat sauce. Rinse eggplant and sauté in olive oil on both sides until brown. Drain on paper towels.

For the béchamel sauce: In a saucepan over medium heat, melt butter with flour. Whisk until well blended and add milk. Gently bring to a boil, stirring, and simmer two minutes. Whisk a cup of this mixture into eggs and yolk. Whisk the egg mixture back into the white sauce and bring up to a gentle simmer, whisking until thick. Do not boil. Add nutmeg. Let cool. It will be thick. This can be prepared a day ahead and refrigerated.

For the meat sauce: Brown meat in heavy frying pan with a little olive oil. Drain grease, add onion and sauté until soft. Add garlic, sauté 30 seconds and add tomato sauce, seasonings and mint jelly. Simmer gently until quite thick. This can be prepared three days ahead and refrigerated.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Assemble: Line bottom of 9-by-13-inch pan completely with eggplant. Spread ½ of meat mixture on top. Spread 1/3 of béchamel over meat. Sprinkle with 1 cup cheese, 1/3 cup of crumbs. Repeat layers. Then put in the remaining eggplant, white sauce and crumbs. Cover and bake one hour, uncover and bake until browned and bubbly. Serve with a light green salad.

This recipe freezes well.

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 06:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

GC and I are turning into football fans. Well, GC has always been a football fan, but I've never shown much interest. I like going to games, but I lose interest after a while and find myself watching the caricature of a man in front of me or the shivering body-painted fans in the student section instead of the action on the field. Missouri is having a good season this year, which somehow makes it easier for me to pay attention. Yesterday's game was away, so, again, we had people over to watch the game on our fancy big TV. And, once again, I made a big pot of chili and a pan of cornbread to feed the hungry fans. I also made a batch of Autumn Trail Mix; surprisingly, at the end of the night, all that was left in the bottom of the bowl were M&M's and candy corn. That's the best part!

This time I made a chicken chili, which was pretty good. It isn't as good as the chili I made last time, but different. Like comparing steak and chicken. This is a fast chili, not one that simmers on the back burner all day, so I didn't start it until people came over. In fact, I missed the first half of the game puttering around the kitchen, but my sport-attention-span is short, so I didn't mind. I used shredded chicken left over from making chicken stock, so it actually came together rather quickly. Also, in the excitement of laterals and interceptions, I forgot to add the corn. I bet that would have been nice... This is a really good chicken chili. Best chicken chili I've made so far...

Chunky Chicken and Corn Chili

2 t. veggie oil
2 large onions, coarsely chopped
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 ½ T. mild chili powder
1 ½ t. dried oregano
1 t. ground cumin
1 t. ground coriander
1 t. cinnamon
¾ t. freshly ground black pepper
½ t. salt
1# skinless, boneless chicken thighs, cut into ½” chunks
2x 8 oz. Cans no-salt-added tomato sauce
2x 16 oz. Cans kidney beans, rinsed and drained
2 c. frozen corn kernels
2 T. light sour cream

In a nonstick Dutch oven, heat the oil until hot but not smoking over med heat. Add onions and garlic and cook, stirring frequently, until onions begin to soften, ~5m. Stir in spices and s/p and cook, stirring constantly, for 30s.

Add chicken, stirring to coat thoroughly, and the tomato sauce. Bring to a boil over med-high heat, reduce to a simmer, cover and cook until chicken is cooked through, ~5m.

Stir in beans and corn; cook, uncovered, until heated through, ~3m. Serve the chili in bowls and top with sour cream.

Serves 4.
11g fat, 505C, 2.1g saturated fat, 66 carbs, 41g protein, 97 mg cholesterol, 714 mg sodium

Serve with: Red-leaf lettuce salad with a Dijon mustard vinaigrette, followed by an angel food cake with raspberry sauce.
Great Taste – Low Fat: Chicken, Time Life Books

This makes way more than 4 servings. I was afraid there wouldn't be enough, so I added a jar of diced tomatoes, undrained. The extra juice kept the chili from thickening and burning while we waited for halftime to eat. We had six people over, and though not everyone ate, we still have 2-3 servings leftover.

I tried out a new cornbread recipe too. Some questioned the pairing of a sweet, fruity cornbread with spicy chicken chili. I liked it, and others said they did too, but you may choose to serve a different cornbread with the chili. The cornbread is really good, though. I'll definitely make it again, and so should you.

Cranberry Corn Muffins

1½ cups dried cranberries
3 cups flour plus 1 tablespoon
1½ cups milk
½ pound unsalted butter (2 sticks), melted and cooled
3 large eggs
¾ cup honey
1 cup yellow cornmeal
2 tablespoons baking powder
1½ teaspoons salt
Sugar

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners. Set aside. Place cranberries and 1 tablespoon flour in a bowl. Toss to combine. Set aside. In a medium bowl, combine milk, melted butter and eggs. Set aside.

Combine 3 cups flour, honey, cornmeal, baking powder and salt. Mix with electric mixer. Add the milk mixture, mix on low speed just until blended. Add reserved dried cranberries, mix to combine. Spoon batter into prepared tins. Brush muffin tops with water and sprinkle with sugar.

Place in oven, bake until golden brown, 25-30 minutes (until toothpick comes out clean). Cool slightly on wire rack prior to removing.

Columbia Daily Tribune, 11.23.05

Instead of muffins, I made a 13x9" pan of cornbread. It took longer to cook, maybe 45 minutes. I don't really remember; I just kept checking in on it and when the top was nicely browned and started to crack, I took it out of the oven. This is a really moist cornbread, and keeps its shape well.

Oh, by the way, Missouri won.

Getting to Know All About You: What's your favorite sport (or team) to watch?

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 06:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Another Sunday. More muffins. More blueberry muffins, to be specific. Still working on cleaning out the freezer a bit, I dove into one of the big zipper bags of blueberries and came out with these uber-righteous muffins. For something that is supposed to be so healthy, they taste pretty good. Better than most of the other healthy muffin recipes I've tried, for sure. Like last week's, these are hearty. I ate only one, but it was a good one, full of blueberries and a nice rough-chewy texture. And I have plenty left over for breakfast throughout the week. Nice!

Blueberry-Walnut Wheat Germ Muffins

Serve these hearty, slightly sweet muffins with cubes of papaya, fresh strawberries, and vanilla yogurt. For an extra health boost, add 1/4-cup ground flaxseeds to the dry ingredients before baking. I did add the flaxseed, just for fun. The batter was rather runny when I slopped it into the muffin tins, but baked up nicely.

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
1 cup wheat germ
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts
1 egg, well beaten
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup molasses
1 cup nonfat milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup fresh blueberries or frozen wild blueberries

1. Preheat oven to 400°. In a large bowl, combine flours, wheat germ, baking powder, and salt. Stir in walnuts. In a medium bowl, beat together egg, oil, honey, and molasses. Beat in milk and vanilla extract. Add liquid ingredients to dry, stirring just until mixed. Gently fold in blueberries.

2. Line muffin cups with paper liners, and divide batter among cups. Bake for 18–20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean and tops are lightly browned. Remove from oven and let cool for a few minutes before turning out of muffin tin onto a cooking rack.

Makes 16
Delicious Living, March 2006

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 06:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I hope everyone had a happy Halloween, the one day of the year where you are actually encouraged to ask people for candy, or just sit on the couch with a bowl full of candy wedged between your knees. I always buy my favorite candy, just in case there are any leftovers. This year, I bought a bag of mini Reese's cups, a Hershey's minis variety pack and (mistakenly) another bag of single-serving regular-sized Reese's cups. I meant to grab a bag of Kit-Kats, but in the throes of a sugar-high just from being in such close proximity to the sugary goodness in the candy aisle, I grabbed the wrong bag. At least I got something I like, and not those awful black- and orange-wrapped peanut butter chewy things. Ugh. We didn't get a whole lot of trick-or-treaters, mostly teenagers, but still our candy bowl was depleted by the end of the night. We had a few pieces left over, but mostly Mr. Goodbars. Boo! I'd rather not eat anything than eat a Mr. Goodbar. The taste just isn't worth the fat and calories.

GC and I have been invited to a costume bonfire this weekend, and I find myself totally uninspired. I don't want to put a whole lot of thought, time or money into a costume, but I don't want to show up as the only uncostumed guest. GC is thinking about being Earl, from My Name is Earl. I suppose I could be Joy, but that seems kind of lame, and only works if I stick by GC's side. I have a box of belly dance costumes that I could probably raid, but I'll be way too cold. Anybody have any suggestions or ideas?

People seem to have definite preferences when it comes to Halloween costumes. Purple Fried Okra prefers scary costumes, the scarier, the better. GC likes clever costumes that take some thought to figure out (shirt that says "Venice" + sunglasses and a cane = Venetian blind). Another friend likes to parody current events, and another likes to imitate celebrities. I generally like to play a character, to create a story around my costume and adopt a persona. This almost got me into trouble when I was a too-believable prostitute.

Getting to Know All About You: What's your favorite Halloween costume?

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 01:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)