I have lived in Kentucky for six months now. I have a lovely home, a beautiful man, and blessings abound. I want for nothing but a job and new friends. It’s frustrating to know that I have skills and value but can’t convince anyone else of that. Yes, I have my passions but I also have a need to work and ultimately I’m not that picky about what I do for emplyement. I want to be of value, use the professional skills I’ve developed and support my hobbies.

Speaking of which, last October I planted some crocus and tulips. It’s the end of February and they are already coming up. I hope a freeze doesn’t get them. I’m amazed they’re coming up at all but I would have liked them to come up when they were supposed to.  I’m anxious to get started on my garden. I bought a giant book on gardening and I’m learning more about planting vegetables. I’m going to start slow but I hope to grow some cucumbers, cabbage, lettuce, green beans, potatoes and perhaps even some corn.

Speaking of gardening, I’m thinking of applying at the local green house. This will function to teach me more about planting (especially her in Kentucky).

I realize this blog is rather boring and I haven’t said a single informative thing. Nor have I made you laugh. I’ll work on that. I will say that I’m probably going to get in trouble with D because I opened a bottle of wine that was probably one he wanted to save. It’s delicious. I mean YUMMY!

Guess I’ll get back to cooking this weekend for D. I’ll keep you updated.

Comfort food. If there’s one thing my mother taught me to do well it’s comfort food. I’m battling depression over my lack of employment by baking whole grain rolls and making super spicy Mexican Chicken Soup (aka … white chili). One is really good for you and the other just makes you feel really good.

Mama taught me how. These rolls are amazing and the soup is spicy!

It took me a several tries to get mom’s dinner roll recipe right but I have done it. I even managed to put them together without calling mom to make sure I was doing it right. It’s something you learn to do by feel. I even remembered the right amount of salt! Miracles never cease. I can’t wait to see Derek’s face when he bites into one of these rolls. If he wasn’t convinced I knew how to cook before, he most certainly will now.

Modesty would be becoming right now I know but I needed an ego boost, even if I had to do it myself.

The soup on the other hand may turn out to be just too hot. I’m going to attempt to temper it by thickening it up some but that usually won’t work. We’ll just dump some tortilla chips and sour cream in it and hope for the best. Don’t get me wrong, I love me some spicy food but no one want’s blisters when they eat.

I suppose the moral of this story is when you’re feeling down about your life and skills or ability to do something right, go do the one thing you KNOW that you can do well and it will help to mend your heart at bit. I know what I can do is cook. I love doing it. I am afraid to translate that into a career for reasons I can’t articulate. It’s pressing on my spirit however and eventually I will find a way.

Happy eating ya’ll!

I want to cook. I need to lose some weight. The things I want to cook always lean toward baking some tasty item like a cake, cookies or some other non-diet item. What to do what to do.
I suppose what this really means is I need a freaking job so I have something to do besides wander around my house cleaning, listening to Stephen King’s audiobook, “The Stand”. I read the book as a teenager and loved it. I’m listening to it now and it’s just as wonderful as the first time.

So, what should I do? Boredom sucks!

I love it when I figure out how to do something well. Cooking is after all for most of us a big risk and opportunity to fail. I love when I make something the right way and the response to it is, “Oh, wow! This is great!”. That’s how I learned to properly bake chicken breasts.

For years now I have been cooking chicken breast by cutting into bite size pieces and marinating them in what ever sounded good at the time then browning them and eating in a stir fry kind of way.  Recently however, I learned how to bake a bone-in chicken breast and have it turn out juicy and flavorful. I admit it, I was on the low cal, low fat bandwagon, and believe me I still am. What I have discovered though, is that you do not have to skip those flavor inducing tricks in order to have a healthy low cal, low fat dish.

What’s the secret you ask? Temperature, oven rack placement and time. The temperature of the chicken when placed inside the oven is important. The juices will stay inside the meat if you don’t place freezing cold chicken in the oven. Make sure your chicken is nearly room temperature before placing in a hot oven. I don’t understand the physics of it but after many bad attempts I know this to be true.

For years, I’ve always baked my chicken at 350. Wrong. Bump the temperature up to 400 and the oven rack in the upper two-thirds of the oven (electric) and the juices are sealed inside the meat. Cook it for 25-30 with the skin down. Yes, you need to buy chicken breasts with skin and bones, it’s only way to truly retain the proper flavor. Then flip the oven to broil and the chicken skin side up and broil for 2-3 more minutes (max). This will crisp up the chicken nicely and seal juices in even better. Once the chicken is done, let it set for no less than 5 minutes before cutting into.

Try it this way just once and you will not want to have chicken any other way. Promise. Now for many of you I’m sure this is old news. But for the novice or even learned cooks (as I consider myself) this can be the difference between dry tasteless chicken or over seasoned bite-sized pieces.

Enjoy ya’ll.

I’ve been told that the best beef stew should really only include one item. Beef. No potatoes, no carrots and for heaven sakes no peas! Unfortunately, stew such as that would be sorely missing in a myriad of ways.

Once again I cracked open the Cook’s Illustrated cook book and found a recipe for Modern Beef Stew. It had some unusual ingredients in it and I was intrigued. It called for a paste comprised of garlic, tomato paste and of all things … anchovies. So, this a.m. I whipped it together with a few modifications. I don’t keep salt pork on hand and no packets of gelatin. I used flour and a bone in pork chop instead. I had to have mushrooms and potatoes but I did leave out the peas. I like peas in my stew but I didn’t have any on hand, they won’t be missed. You can’t make beef stew without red wine. Thank God for Charles Shaw’s Merlot. Two buck Chuck I love you!

Here is what the result looked like.  

We shall see if D approves. I think it’s AMAZING!

I’m going to serve this with a garnish of parsley, horseradish in sour cream.

I can’t wait to eat it!

So this year brings and entirely new Christmas experience. For the first time in over ten years I have a man to share Christmas with. I am all at once excited and nervous. We’ll be staying at his parents home and my family will celebrate on the Eve not the Day. I have no plans to cook. Which is even more weird. Perhaps I’ll get to do that at my mothers Christmas Eve day.

I haven’t posted anything in more than a week. I haven’t been cooking much. Well, nothing original anyway. I have made a few things out of the Cook’s Illustrated book. Last night I made poached salmon with a maple brandy glaze. It was delicious! Monday I made Beef Stroganoff. It was amazing. D, of course, adored it because it has a lot of meat in it. I’m telling you this cookbook does it all right. From what I can tell all the recipes are accessible to the average cooks home. Some of the ingredients may not be staples but they are usually available in most grocery stores I am going to bake for my nephews. They’ll love the peanut butter / chocolate cake I learned to bake. I made one for D’s birthday and it was amazing.

I found a blog like and think you should check it out too. Hopefully, she won’t mind the plug. http://londonfoodieny.com/

So, last weekend D took me to Chicago as our Christmas present to one another. I have never spent any time in Chicago so I was thrilled to be able to go. I loved it of course. We played to tourist role perfectly. A colleague of his got us a discount at the Palmer House Hotel. We had a suite. It was simply elegant, opulent and lovely. Our suite has a Christmas tree even.

City life amazes me. I love the crowds and the voices you hear in the passers-by. So many languages and accents. It’s inspiring. D took me to Billy Goats Tavern

Billy Goat Tavern

where we ordered cheeseburgers, because that’s kind of all you can order I think. It’s the restaurant SNL mimicked back in the 70’s where Dan Ackroyd and Jim Belushi bellow “cheeseburger, cheeseburger, cheeseburger”. It was greasy and dark and I wouldn’t want to see the joint in full light but the burgers were salty and crispy and wonderful.

We also ate at a place called Miller’s Pub. The atmosphere was great. The food, uh, so-so. It’s been around for over 50 years and there are pictures of the owner with every big celebrity name you can imagine. It’s a fun place.

The best meal though was at Sixteen in Trump Tower. Now I know how the 1% live. No prices on the menu. Mushrooms with names like “hen of the woods”. I had Nantucket bay scallops with osetra caviar, lemon confit, golden and red beets as an appetizer and for dinner I had the butter poached Maine lobster with kohlrabi gratin, turnips, bone marrow espuma, lobster jus, and chanterelles. See what I mean? Mouth watering and indescribable flavor. Wow.

Sixteen in the Trump Tower

So, that’s where I’ve been. With the holiday coming up I may not have the opportunity to post much. I hope my four readers have a wonderful, blessed holiday and may you know the spirit and peace of Christmas!

Much love,

Rachel

I was reading an article online about how eating Swiss Chard three times a week will make your fingernails stronger. So off to the store I went. I found some Rainbow Chard at  Whole Foods. It looked so pretty and green with dark red stems. I couldn’t wait. Upon returning home I searched my cookbooks and internet for tantalizing recipes. They all looked similar and from the recesses of my mind I had visions of my grandmother cooking greens with bacon grease and fried eggs. Rather than following a single recipe I decided to improvise. Of course I fried up some bacon (three strips), browned some pine nuts, onions and chopped dates in the bacon grease then threw in the stems. Once they all started to soften I added the chopped leaves and garlic. I cooked them until they “wilted”.

It was so very tasty. Well, except for the stems. To me they taste a bit like dirt, very earthy. The leaves are wonderful … next time I’ll leave the stems out. Oh and I took a picture. The steak I cooked looks sad so don’t judge.

Try it you'll like it. Just skip the stems.

Today I made Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies. OH MY GOODNESS. If you haven’t tried this recipe then you just have never baked cookies before. They are hands down the VERY best cookies I have ever had. Ever!

I really did bake these! They are perfect!

Mine was such a blessing. I was exhausted from working everyday prior but my mother and father were here. I was with my wonderful fiance in our lovely home and I was able to spend the a.m. cooking for them.

Since Mom and Dad were here I made biscuits and gravy again. Well, Mom made the gravy because she makes it perfectly every time. Yum-mee! We cleaned up the breakfast dishes and started in on Thanksgiving dinner. I followed the Cook’s Illustrated recipe for Herb Roasted Turkey. Wow! It was perfect. Here’s a picture …

Extremely tasty and moist turkey.

I also made their pumpkin pie recipe. It called for candied yams (which I didn’t have) so I used a sweet potato instead. It was truly one of the best pumpkin pies I’ve ever tasted. Mom bought me an immersion blender for my birthday so I made the whipped cream with it. Love that new gadget!

Those people at Cook’s Illustrated seriously know what they are doing over there. If you buy no other cook book, buy that one.

Moving to Kentucky has messed up my routines. It didn’t feel like Thanksgiving since I wasn’t in Republic. I loved every moment of it since I was able to cook with Mom. Saturday night D took me out for a date to Louisville. When we were coming home, our neighbors has put up their Christmas lights. It took my by total surprise.  Guess I’ll get my Christmas tree up this week. How exciting!

I hope my four readers had a blessed Thanksgiving. I am thankful for your encouragement and support.

I love Saturdays. D and I sleep in and take our time getting around. It’s my favorite part of the week. Since I have to work on my birthday D is letting me have today as my “do whatever I want to day”.

Today I choose reruns of “Angel” and  Biscuits and Gravy. I am so grateful to all the grandmothers and mothers of this world teaching us how to make comfort food. It’s been months since I’ve had it and I was craving it something fierce. If you don’t know how to prepare this basic breakfast food, you are missing out. I have worked on it for years and it seems like each time I do it’s slightly different. Today, however, I did it completely right. The gravy was perfect, the biscuits were fluffy and light. D even mooned over me having made it.

Cooking is so gratifying. I love watching someone respond with excitement to something I’ve prepared for them. Now I’m the first to tell you I am my own worst critic. I can find a flaw in even my most perfect dish. When someone smiles and says, “wow this is amazing”, well that’s just fun.

If you want to learn how to make this … I can hook you up. It’s not nearly as difficult as you might imagine.

Happy eating! Yum-Mee