Monday, October 31, 2005
The Calicocat Cookbook
| At the outset, there were supposed to be recipes, so I am catching up. These are selected on the basis of what you said about favorite meals. Now has anybody got a favorite very easy main dish of the sort that tired people can make at the end of the day? Or something good for breakfast? |
Recipe for Sporcupine and the Queen, too
| Sporcupine recalled potato skins with caviar, and I happen to know that Queen of Sheba really, really, really likes caviar -- so here's one for both of them. Roasted Potato Skins with Sour Cream and Caviar Makes about 20 Serve with vodka. Keep the potato centers from this recipe for another dish — if you have any sour cream and shallots left over, you can mash them all together, make them into patties and fry them until golden brown. 4 large baking potatoes150 ml (5fl oz) oil for deep frying200 ml (7fl oz) sour creamSalt and white pepper100 g (3/2 oz) Oscietre caviar2-3 shallots, finely chopped 1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. (350 degrees F./Gas Mark 4). Wash and dry the potatoes, then prick them several times with a fork. Bake in the oven for approximately 1-1/4 hours. 2. Slice the potatoes open and scoop out as much flesh as possible with a spoon. Cut the skins into strips about 2.5 cm (1 in) wide 7.5 cm (3 in) long. In a large saucepan heat the oil and, when bubbling, drop in the potato strips and fry until they turn crisp and golden brown. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain well upside-down on several sheets of kitchen paper. 3. Arrange the potato strips on a serving dish, smear with sour cream, then sprinkle with salt and pepper. Top each with caviar and sprinkle with finely chopped shallots. From Caviar: the Definitive Guide (Available on Amazon.com) |
Sunday, October 30, 2005
Best meal you ever ate?
| In answer to the last question, Barelyblogging said, "my favorite saturday is a "destination saturday", which means i have plans for a specific trip to a specific place or area rather than my usual running of errands and house cleaning day. i can anticipate the trip all week and then after i return, it feels like i have a tangible accomplishment rather than the usual running everywhere, doing the same things over and over,:) we sometimes go with friends on the "barbeque trail". we have a particular restaurant we have chosen to visit to sample their brunswick stew, bbq, etc, and then we wander around the area, stopping at interesting places and meeting some really interesting people. we also sometimes go to the atlanta farmers market or harry's with our cooler and buy a picnic lunch from the exotic offerings and bring new things home to try later like soup mixes." Sounds like fun, doesn't it. Especially the "barbecue trail" And it also leads to another discussion that's travel-related for me What's the best meal you ever ate? (or "one of the.." if you can't settle on the superlative one) Describe the place and the situation. I'll put mine in the comments to follow: |
Saturday, October 29, 2005
Days of the week and weekend
| I head "Manic Monday" the other day. It has that silly rhyming line about Sunday being "my fun day" I always thought of Saturday as the fun day. On Saturdays in my teens I would sleep until 11 a.m. or noon very often. Now I think I'm "sleeping in" when I stay in bed until 8, but I have a deep resistance to going anywhere on Saturday morning. It's 8:53 by my clock right now. I'm on my second cup of coffee, still in a caftan, have "read the news" (NYT,CNN, AJC) on computer. I'll probably cook myself some eggs or something in a while, and get going in due time, and may even be out adventuring later in the day. I just want to take it at my own speed (.346 mph) for a while. So what's your ideal Saturday? Or go ahead and expand it to a good weekend. Or tell us something about the way the different days of the week feel to you. I'd say Tuesday is the least appealing. I'm fond of Wednesdays at work because I know nobody's going to have a meeting or "do" of some kind in the evening and want pictures taken. People in the south may not actually go to Prayer Meeting on Wednesday night, but they honor it by not planning club meetings or government meetings or whatever. I tend to be tired and running out of steam on Fridays, and when I lived in Macon Adrienne and I would often go to something called "Happy Hour" at T.K. Tripp's or Bennigans with a bunch of people. Five on Friday was NOT happy, though. Everybody was worn out and letting off steam about work tensions and problems. I never want to go anywhere on Friday night. Your turn. |
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
Congratulations, you have just won...
| You have just one $13.5 million in the lottery. (Okay bear with me. Probably you don't buy lottery tickets, but we're fantasizing here.) Any ideas about what you would do with that money? Would you quit working? (And if so, what would you do with your time) Would you move? Would you buy a new house? If you could start a charity, what kind would it be? If you could start a scholarship fund, what kind would it be? Is there a luxury you would splurge on? Is there a trip you'd like to take? Etc. |
Cats just wanna have fun
Tina took this picture of Emily Jane trying to make herself comfortable in a box that is not as wide as she is.
Wednesday, October 19, 2005
What every woman should have
| (Barelyblogging sent this, which I like. I will just say that now that stemless wineglasses have been invented and are high style, I plan to buy stemless ones as soon as all my stemmed ones get broken in the dishwasher.) EVERY WOMAN SHOULD HAVE: a set of screwdrivers, a cordless drill, and a black lace bra... EVERY WOMAN SHOULD HAVE one friend who always makes her laugh and one who lets her cry... EVERY WOMAN SHOULD HAVE a good piece of furniture not previously owned by anyone else in her family... EVERY WOMAN SHOULD HAVE eight matching plates, wine glasses with stems, and a recipe for a meal that will make her guests feel honored.. EVERY WOMAN SHOULD HAVE a feeling of control over her destiny... EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW... how to fall in love wthout losing herself... EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW... when to try harder... and WHEN TO WALK AWAY... EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW... that she can't change the length of her calves, the width of her hips, or the nature of her parents... EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW... that her childhood may not have been perfect...but it’s over... EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW... how to live alone... even if she doesn't like it... EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW... whom she can trust, whom she can't, and why she shouldn't take it personally... EVERY WOMAN SHOULD REMEMBER .... even on the loneliest of days..... With God in your heart, you are never really alone..... |
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
The Queen requests a tea party
| The Queen of Sheba suggested that I write a newspaper feature on tea, which struck me as a fine idea, but I will start here to get ideas. We are not talking about Iced Tea (Done that) but about hot tea. I like Tazo Chai Tea (the decaf kind that comes in a carton) mixed half and half with milk, and miked. Tazo boxes have very witty comments on them. Also am a longstanding Constant Comment Fan. Like Sporcupine's darling husband (He really is quite cute) I'm partial to coffee. However, I tend toward tea when I've got a cold. I also like the IDEA of tea, so tend to have multiple boxes of tea bags all around, as does my sister. We probably have enough tea right now to stock the pantry at Buckingham Palace for six months. The Queen says that she's discovered green tea and likes that, but I will ask her to explain herself in her own comments. The Queen (I have the advantage of knowing everybody) is also partial to art featuring melancholy 19th century ladies, cats, large wicker chairs and various forms of romanticism. So tea fits right in. Discussion is now open on the subject of tea.: |
Friday, October 14, 2005
Dinner for Eight
| Choose five of the following Pick seven of the following for a sit down dinner for eight. (#8 is you). Since this is a fantasy dinner, assume all are alive and well and can speak English. Mathama Ghandi, Oprah Winfrey, Brad Pitt, Thomas Jefferson, John Stewart, Mother Teresa, Susan B. Anthony, George Clooney, Ernest Hemingway, Emily Dickinson, Barba ra Tuchman, St. Paul, George W. Bush, Martha Stewart, Isaac Newton, Hillary Clinton, Nikki Giovanni, Leonardo da Vinci, Condoleeza Rice, Jane Austen, Charlie Chaplin, J. K. Rowling, Paul Newman, Albert Schweitzer, William Shakespeare, Abraham Lincoln, Queen Elizabeth I, Janet Evanovich, Karen Armstrong, Benjamin Franklin, plus one free choice of anybody. What would you serve? |
Monday, October 10, 2005
Art by Nora
Art by Nora
Here is some art by one of my favorite artists, Nora Weston. More to come.
Sunday, October 09, 2005
Inner Child Survey
I love that commercial that shows the man in an argument with his inner child about having a cappucino.
My inner child would win without a fight on the cappucino because I have no resistance to fancy coffees, and will pay ridiculous sums at bookstores just to drink the stuff out of a paper cup, despite the fact that I really think that anybody selling coffee for $3-4 a cup should serve it in a pottery mug at the very least.
My inner 5 year-old mainly comes out in other ways. For example, I am still persuaded that I would choke, gag and fall under the table if I had to eat canned spinach or canned asparagus, I still don't wear shoes longer than five minutes when I enter my own abode, and at some deep level, I am still worried that there is something under the bed, because I HAVE to have my feet covered to go to sleep.
On the positive side, I still like Babar and Bugs Bunny.
Anybody else got an inner child?
or maybe an inner teenager?
My inner child would win without a fight on the cappucino because I have no resistance to fancy coffees, and will pay ridiculous sums at bookstores just to drink the stuff out of a paper cup, despite the fact that I really think that anybody selling coffee for $3-4 a cup should serve it in a pottery mug at the very least.
My inner 5 year-old mainly comes out in other ways. For example, I am still persuaded that I would choke, gag and fall under the table if I had to eat canned spinach or canned asparagus, I still don't wear shoes longer than five minutes when I enter my own abode, and at some deep level, I am still worried that there is something under the bed, because I HAVE to have my feet covered to go to sleep.
On the positive side, I still like Babar and Bugs Bunny.
Anybody else got an inner child?
or maybe an inner teenager?
Friday, October 07, 2005
Favorite hymn survey
What is your favorite hymn? Plural is okay.
Comfort food survey
What do you want to eat when you're all worn out and frazzled?
What do you want to eat when you've just had a horrible day?
What would you take to somebody who needed a "food hug"?
Or do you think that food should not be viewed in the above ways.
Please comment.
What do you want to eat when you've just had a horrible day?
What would you take to somebody who needed a "food hug"?
Or do you think that food should not be viewed in the above ways.
Please comment.
Wednesday, October 05, 2005
Calico Survey I
What is your favorite sandwich?
Monday, October 03, 2005
What to read
Serious stuff: I just finished E.L. Doctorow's "The March" which is a historical novel about Sherman's March through Georgia and the Carolina's. It's grim, sometimes surreal, but very good. Doctorow is a great story teller.
Light stuff: Are there any Janet Evanovich fans among you? Spenser fans? Also, does anybody really like P.D. James, or do we just think we oughta?
Light stuff: Are there any Janet Evanovich fans among you? Spenser fans? Also, does anybody really like P.D. James, or do we just think we oughta?
