Tuesday, February 04, 2003

Folly:  a word you don't hear everyday. I've been watching National Velvet again, first time since girlhood, as I cook the Chicken Wild Rice Soup, but from a different perspective now that I'm a mother. I can't wait for my little boy to have a dream that is complete folly and ask my permission to pursue it.  I'm reminding myself now to say, just as Velvet's mother said to Micky Rooney,  "What's wrong with folly?"   comment []12:16:47 PM     Summing up January’s Struggles:   My stomach is empty. I feel light, much less grumpy, and able to think about food in a rational way once again.   Before I get to work on today’s soup, I wanted to take a second to reflect on January's kitchen experiments.   Keepers:   Roast Capon:  Definitely the best fowl I’d ever eaten, despite the fact that I’d overcooked it a bit.  Next time I’ll roast it again, but undercook it slightly and let it finish cooking as it rests, (making sure it still reaches 180 degrees, but not letting it shoot up to 190) as Rayne suggested.    Thai Style Pork Tenderloin with Jasmine Rice:  a relatively quick, flavorful supper stir-fry.  I think I produced it in less than half an hour and that’s saying something because I am an abysmally slow cook.     Try, try again:   Pheasant:  note to self--make sure bird is completely defrosted before you stick it in the oven! However, the one edible forkful I managed to salvage from this disaster was incentive enough not to give up on pheasant forever. I’ll need to refer to my book Hot Birds and Cold Bottles in order to do justice to pheasant.  What I need to learn is how to cut up a bird properly.  Put this on the to-do list.   Lentejas con Chorizo:  like the Biblical Esau, it was a bowl of lentils that changed my life.  Madrid, December 2002, one happy bowl of lentils so good I was near tears confirmed my decision to write about food and cook better food.  My early experiments in duplicating this maravilla fell short.  But Kristi has provided me with a recipe that looks very, very promising and I intend to try it this week.     Discard:   Nigella’s Aromatic Lamb Shank Stew:  I’m afraid I’ll have to exclude this one from the family dinner repertoire.  My husband just wasn’t crazy about it.  I will, however, make it for myself and adventurous dinner guests when he is out of town—or whenever I just can’t help myself. . .provided I have some lamb shanks lying about.     Is that all there is? I feel like I did much more cooking.  I guess this is just the new cooking I did.    I don't post many recipes, because that's a lot of monkey-business and I have other responsibilities, but know that I am always happy to share anything by request. comment []10:49:04 AM

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