Thursday, August 30, 2007

Paparazzi and Malibu




For fun, Rob and I headed to Malibu, or the 'Bu as WE called it back in 1997, and I have proof, to check out the action. The big place is the Malibu Country Mart where they have Juicy Couture, Nobu and Wise potato chips. We've always wanted to go there because there are always pictures in magazines of stars taken there and we just HAD to check out the scene.

Apparently the paparazzi dudes -- and for the most part they are dudes -- hang at Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. Even though there's a Starbucks a few hundred yards away, it doesn't seem to have the same cachet. Go figure. We watched as they chased some people, but we couldn't figure out who they were. One was a really small non-descript girl and another was some dark-haired dude. The paps didn't seem TOO excited so they weren't big.

The Hollywood people LOVE to complain about paparazzi, but then they make sure they go to the places these guys hang out, and from the looks of things there are certain set places you're sure to find the cameras.

It's a unique experience. There are the shiny, skinny, coiffed Malibu moms taking the kids to play in the sandbox, which being in the middle of a shopping area doesn't seem to be the best place to go for kids, but I suppose if you're all into The Scene, and these people are, this is where you'd bring the little darlings.

The trophy wives were all leading their little spawnlings as they bitched at them. Dena says they're cranky because they never eat, which is apparent from their teenie butts. The look du jour is teenie tiny little skirts or dresses that look like tennis tunics -- if you're wondering about such things. One particularly emblematic mom was scolding her kids, "mommy is just going to get a coffee. Is that OK with YOU????" Of course the little boy, about age 4 was wearing a long black dress. I said she was letting him express himself. Rob said kids need to be told what they can and can't wear at this age and not knowing boundaries and rules does no one any favors.

Of course I stood out like a sore thumb, what with my camera, walking cast, cane and old gym shorts, which are the only things that fit because of the hemotoma on my hip from the accident. I'm almost to the point of being freaky looking enough to move from my customary middle-aged invisibility to ewwwww, not that I care much. I had fun and it's so cool that I live so close to a place like this. It's like a surreal theme park -- Malibuland -- I can visit any time I want.

Damn. This place has celebrities AND Wise potato chips -- incidentally the BEST potato chip in the WORLD, which are unavailable west of Pennsylvania. I actually called Bordon corporate headquarters once in Columbus, Ohio, when I lived in Dayton to see if I could get them to sell Wise potato chips in Ohio and the girl on the phone laughed at me. But they have them in Malibu. I bought two big bags. Rob said, I don't want any chips." I said, "I don't care what you want, you're not touching my chips."

UPDATE: It turns out they were waiting for the Backstreet Boys. TMZ is reporting that they had lunch together sans Nick Carter. THAT explains it. I wouldn't know a Backstreet Boy -- except perhaps for Nick Carter and that's only because of his creepy reality series -- if I ran over one. Later on, Reese Witherspoon went to Nobu, but we missed that.

Friday, August 24, 2007

Food frenzy

 

 
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I've been coping with the stress of finding out about my foot by cooking. I pretty much cope with all major life problems by cooking. The fact that the garden is producing all kinds of wondrous bounty is fueling the fire. The only down side is that my foot is officially a mess and really hurts when I cook. I've put a stool in the kitchen and use that whenever I can, but it's hard.

So the doctor has said surgery is needed for my foot. It appears I've lost my posterior tibial tendon. Apparently I had some tendinitis there and the trauma of the accident snapped it. Fortunately I have pictures of my swollen, bruised ankle from right after the accident. And while posterior tibial tendon dysfunction is fairly common -- causing falling arches, having the tendon snap is not as common and is, of course, not good.

The recovery time isn't good. It's about six weeks for the site to heal and 10 months recovery total. I'm also not entirely thrilled with the doctor I've been assigned, he seems a bit managed-care oriented.

All of the material I've read indicates that treatment of a ruptured tendon usually consists of taking another tendon from the back of your foot and putting it over where the tibial tendon was. The tibial tendon is the tendon that pretty much holds the structure of the back of the foot together. Without it the foot collapses inward. In addition, they put titanium spikes in the ankle to stabilize it. But this guy acted as though repairing the tendon wasn't that necessary. It's been pretty necessary up to now and without it my foot is completely collapsing, so -- as the kids say -- WTF? AS I told the doctor I have at least 30 more years on this foot and I want it to work -- well.

Plus why is modern medicine set up so we have to go online to research our problems because we can't trust doctors to be as interested in practicing the best available medicine as they are in bonuses from the insurance people for avoiding expensive procedures?

Anyway, I'm scheduled to have surgery Sept. 24. It's outpatient, which is just fine with me. Hospitals nowadays are breeding grounds for staph infections and flesh-eating bacteria. The less time I spend there, the better. It is general anesthesia, though and I'll be pretty much completely incapacitated for a couple of weeks.

So I'm cooking in a mad frenzy. Cooking is so life-affirming. I love it for the smells and the creating something useful out of raw materials. I usually have my best moments of inspiration then. I used the zucchini to make a pasta dish. I grilled zucchini and onion in my grilling basket and added some sausage. The smoky, grilled flavor was amazing in the finished dish.

I'm still plagued by peaches. I've put up 23 jars of preserves, 19 jars of canned peaches; I've made six cobblers, one peach pie and for my latest, greatest creation, I made a peach, streusel cake for my monthly cake obligation. I'm serving it with whipped cream. I also froze a large bag of peaches.

I told Rob that I'm done with the peaches ... at least for this year. He says he's done forever and ever. Last I saw him, he was looking of an ax.

Peach streusel bundt cake

2 sticks butter (one cup) softened
2 cups sugar
6 eggs
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose *flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sour cream
2 cups fresh peaches, diced
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
confectioner's sugar
cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour a bundt pan. Beat butter and sugar until creamed and fluffy, but not over-processed. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. If using a stand mixer, make sure to scrape down the sides. Add almond and vanilla extracts. Mix flour, baking soda and salt together using a whisk. Add to butter mixture alternately with the sour cream. Fold in peaches. Mix streusel mixture together -- brown sugar, flour, butter and cinnamon -- using a food processor or by hand until butter is cut in. Pour one third of the batter in bundt pan. Sprinkle with one half of the streusel mix. Pour second third of the batter on top of streusel. Sprinkle second half on streusel mixture on top of batter and spoon final third of the batter over the streusel mixture. Bake for 70 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted comes out clean. Cool for 15 minutes before removing from pan. Dust with confectioner's sugar and serve with whipped cream.

Grilled sausage, veggie pasta bake

1 pound sweet Italian sausage links
1 large onion diced into 3/4 to 1 inch cubes
1 large zucchini cut into 3/4 to 1 inch cubes
Olive oil spray
1 can Progresso crushed tomatoes with puree
1 package *Dreamfields pasta penne prepared al dente
2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
6 ounces provolone cheese
4 bay leaves
1/2 cup red wine
Parmesan cheese

Spray prepared veggies and cooking basket with olive oil spray so all veggies are coated. Place the veggies and sausage in grilling basket and grill until sausage has browned and veggies are starting to brown. Spray 13 X 11 inch pan with olive oil spray. Pour pasta in pan. Top with half of the mozzarella cheese and half the provolone. Top with grilled veggies and sausage. Pour tomatoes on top. Add bay leaves. Pour wine on top and mix it in a bit with a fork. Top with remaining cheese, using Parmesan last. Bake in 350 oven for 30 minutes or until cheese is warm and bubbly.

*Notes: I've been using King Arthur flour's whole wheat, white flour, which is whole wheat ground really fine in place of unbleached white flour. so far, it's proving a good substitute and it makes me feel better about my whole grain intake.
Dreamfields pasta claims to have found a way to enclose wheat/carb molecules so they pass through the body, meaning that the effective carb content is lowered considerably. You can't taste the difference and according to my dad, who is a (Ph.D.) scientist, this method could work and seems scientifically sound.

Sunday, August 19, 2007

Rob's inspiration

 

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I'm in the middle of canning and otherwise processing all the peaches we got off the tree, which is exhausting, especially considering the bad foot. So on one of the hottest days of the year here -- it got all the way up to -- GASP -- 81 degrees.

We Venturans are like hothouse flowers, we only thrive in a very narrow band of temperatures, which is good because almost every day here, summer, winter, fall and spring is in the upper 60s early 70s. People here don't even have air conditioners and our fans tend to get dusty between uses.

So there I was with massive pots on the stove to peel the peaches and to process and sterilize the jars. Rob comes home from the store and has the bright idea of making grilled sausage with peppers and onions. Our peppers are looking pretty good this year, which is nice since the eggplants have all succumbed to a wilt. While this would seem a wonderful idea, when one is armpit-high in peach pits, the idea of cooking anything else is not met with a smile, to say the least.

In spite of my growling, I hauled out this really cool grilling basket I bought last year and have never used. It's designed specifically for this kind of thing. Rob didn't even know we had it. I grilled the sausage and sprayed the grilling basket with canola oil. I then cut the peppers and onions into large (about an inch to one and a half inches). I grilled them on the grill. Rob teamed his beef sausage with peppers, onions and a large, hoagie-type roll and I had bratwurst and veggies on a hot dog bun.

I have to hand it to him. Despite the initial annoyance, this was a great idea for a quick summer meal on a hot day. But don't anyone tell him I said that ...

Friday, August 17, 2007

Harvest time and bum feet

       
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The peaches on my tree are finally ripening, as Tony, our next door neighbor felt it necessary to come over announce.

Tony is sort of the Gladys Kravtiz of the cul de sac. He keeps track of everything and everybody. It can be annoying, but somehow comforting -- if the house ever caught fire, Tony would be the first to at least tell firefighters that we have pets. Tony has taken a great interest in the tree and told us he's helped himself to a few peaches. It gives him something to do.

On the other hand (or foot, chuckle, chuckle), I'm having some trouble in the peach-picking department. I finally had an appointment with a podiatrist. I've always said that the best doctor's visits, like the best travel, are uneventful -- everything works just as it should. At the very worst, you go to the doctor, he writes out a prescription and 10 to 14 days later, voila, you're all better. This wasn't one of those trips.

The podiatrist took one look at the foot, which has been bothering me for a while and then took a dramatic turn for the worst and has been really hurting after the accident, and said it had collapsed -- I have no arch on my right foot now -- and it is "frozen" -- it won't move the way it used to. He ordered MRIs and put me in a walking cast, which explains why in the picture it's so dirty -- casts and cooking don't go real well together. I'll find out more when I see him for my next appointment, next Thursday, when we'll "find out what we have to work with," as the doctor put it. He said he thinks I've lost a tendon.

I've been trying to stay off it for the most part, but it's hard because I'm not very good at sitting still. We took Kaia to the fair for our traditional night where we let her do anything she wants. It was a lovely evening and she was wonderful, but I thought I was going to die, especially the next day when I could hardly walk. It was worth it because I would have been way more upset if I'd missed one of my very favorite things in the world -- going to the fair with Kaia.

In the midst of all this my zucchinis are ripening and the peaches are littering the ground attracting all kinds of bugs. I've been cooking up a storm. First, I baked a peach pie, then a peach cobbler, then zucchini bread. Finally, I made peach preserves flavored with the wonderful cinnamon I bought from Penzey's.

It's kind of circular, really. I'm nervous about my foot. I'm not really into things like surgery, especially if it's as bad as what is described online. The idea of anyone hacking away at me me with a knife does nothing for me -- especially if I'm not going to emerge looking 20 years younger. So I limp around in a frenzy of baking to give me something to do, which is KILLING my foot. And even I'm getting tired of my whining.

But I'm trying out all kinds of recipes and these two have met with accolades:

Peach cobbler

Biscuit dough
1 1/2 cups flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons chilled, unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
2/3 cup heavy cream

Filling
4 to 5 cups *prepared fresh peaches (skinned, pitted and sliced)
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 cup sugar (adjust depending on the sweetness of your peaches)
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt

Heat oven to 350. Place first five dough ingredients in a food processor and pulse until it forms a cornmeal-textured mixture. Add cream.
Prepare peaches by cutting an X with a knife in the skin and immersing them in boiling water for one minute. Immediately plunge into cool water and slip the skins off. Remove pits and slice inot 1/4 inch pieces. Mix with remaining filling ingredients. Grease oval gratin dish, if you have one or use a square 9x9 container. Flour a surface and roughly roll out biscuit dough after kneading about 8 times. Place fruit in dish and stretch the biscuit dough over the top. Brush biscuits with cream and top with sprinkled sugar and cinnamon. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes. Serve with vanilla ice cream.

Zucchini bread

For bread
3 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups white sugar
21/2 cups grated zucchini
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup chopped walnuts (toasted for five minutes)

For streusel
1 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup flour
6 tablespoons unsalted butter

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour three 8X4 inch loaf pans

In a large bowl beat eggs until light and frothy. Mix in oil and sugar. Stir in zucchini and vanilla. Combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, salt and nuts. Stir into the egg batter. Divide batter into prepared pans. Mix streusel ingredients by blending in butter by hand until it forms a crumbly mixture. Sprinkle on top of all three zucchini loaves. Bake for 60 to 70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Wednesday, August 08, 2007

Cedar planks


Rob and I are at the point in our lives where the things we want for our birthdays and holidays tend to be presents for the house. So for my birthday/Mother's Day, Rob got me a gas grill. We have a really wonderful built-in brick grill. One of these days I'm going to have it converted to gas, and those plans are the reason it took some time to get a freestanding gas grill. Why buy a grill when you're going to convert the one you have?

But we really wanted one right now and we aren't ready to spend the money on the brick grill. Living in Southern California makes gas grilling a necessity. Not only is it great year-round, but it's also a good standby in case of an earthquake. We keep an extra propane tank filled just in case. The grill we got is small, but it's just the two of us and we didn't want to spend a lot of money OBVS.

It's been working out really well and we have so much fun making our meals. We're both trying to watch what we eat and a meal of grilled meat and salad is healthy, tasty and good for the waistline. We've been trying out new ideas on how to use the grill and we were both enticed by the idea of cedar planks for cooking.

We wanted to get one to try it out but when we went to find one it seemed all the stores were out. Finding a cedar plank became a mission and we spent the past week trying to find one. I finally bought one today at Rain's in Ojai, which has a decent assortment of kitchenware.

So I bought some nice, fresh wild salmon at Westridge Market and got Rob a pork chop. I soaked the plank for a couple of hours and we were ready to rock. Rob and I were psyched. I seasoned the meat and the fish and put them on the planks and placed those on the low flame on the grill. It wasn't long until the smell of -- cedar -- filled the air. Oh yeah, we both realized cedar smells like -- well -- cedar; like the cedar closets where you keep the old stuff to keep out moths. It smells like the cheap souvenirs from the Poconos. It smells like summer cabins by the lake.

But hey, I thought hopefully, other woods have distinctive smells that work really well with food, so maybe it won't be that bad. I had placed Rob's pork on the plank and let it get a lot of flavor and then I took it off the plank and onto the grill to make sure it seared properly. I had moved my fish to the top rack, but when I came to check the plank was on fire. No biggie. I got the fish, which was fine, off, and put the fire out. I finished browning Rob's pork and we had dinner.

And there it was ... it all tasted like cedar. And we both realized that we never really wanted to EAT cedar. It's a strong smell, but it's never been anything I wanted to eat, unlike, say juniper, which smells really good and can be made into a really cool seasoning in a stew.

It kinds of reminds of the disappointment I felt when I tried gefilte fish. I'd read about it and was sure I'd like it. I like fish -- I LOVE lox and whitefish. I'd read about gefilte fish for years, what with this being back in the day of Philip Roth. But when I tasted the beigey/brown, spongy, slimy lump I was profoundly disappointed as I resisted the urge to gag. I felt, somehow betrayed. I tend to like everything and when everyone is going on how good something is -- like cedar plank salmon -- it's so disheartening when you find out it tastes likes -- surprise -- cedar, and I'm disappointed and feel a little stupid I didn't put that together in the first place.

Update: We got some oak pellets that you put in an aluminum foil pouch and place in the grill. They made the food wonderful. So remember, oak = good, cedar = BAD.

Tuesday, August 07, 2007

Poor peach tree

 

 

 

 
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Well I'm putting my poor fair showing behind me with a tried-and-true What Do They Know? attitude, which always works for me. Besides the peach tree is getting ready to literally burst and I have tons of work to do.

I'm not going to go into the whole peach-stick that was ridiculed by the neighbors story again, but suffice it to say there is no small amount of pride at having planted a tiny stick just six years ago and now I have a tree that is literally bending over with fruit. It's just now starting to ripen and it smells so good. All the neighbors are awaiting the bounty because there will be enough peaches to keep everyone we know supplied for the rest of their lives.

We propped up a couple of boughs with wooden skids, but I don't know how much it's helping. I'll be heading out for jars and will start putting up preserves this week. I'll have to print out labels because my handwriting sucks so bad. Guess what the Christmas present to family and friends is going to be this year? I have plenty of Penzey's really good cinnamon, so I'm going to add that in because I just love the combination of peaches and cinnamon flavors.

On another note, when I was visiting Courtney I had a chance to share a few tips with her. I've never realized how many tips I have to share, but especially in the kitchen, I've discovered about a zillion shortcuts. One really great tip is making corn in the microwave.

Super speedy corn

Shuck however many ears of corn you need. Rinse the corn off and wrap each cob in a piece of plastic wrap. Place the corn, one ear at a time, in the microwave for 1 minute. Turn and microwave 50 seconds -- 45 seconds is a bit too short and you will have uncooked kernels, and 55 seconds can lead to overcooked kernels. Remove wrapped corn from microwave and place on counter for about 5 minutes. Continue cooking the rest of the corn the same way. Be careful when you unwrap it as it will be quite hot and there will be a lot of steam escaping.

Another tip: This is from Dena: If you're bleeding, which I was at Courtney's because I cut my leg shaving, use cornstarch to stem the flow if nothing else will work.