Foodening

Ferment or Roast

A lovely daikon, sliced and placed in brine, then left to think about things. It ends up looking very pink, because I didn’t want to bother with peeling.

And it tastes marvelous. It took me a long time to start fermenting things, but now I can’t stop. I look at all sorts of vegetables and think “hrm, can I pickle that bitch? Or… maybe I can roast it?”

Ferment or roast. Either I drown the vegetable and encourage beneficial rot, or I toss it with oil and engage in controlled burning. And let’s not even talk about what I have planned for summer fruits, since I have all these canning supplies.

Food is weird. And with that thought, my darlings, I leave you to embark upon your weekend. Hopefully you have something tasty to snack on while doing so.

Sweet Pie, Friday the 13th

I made my first sweet potato pie this past week, my dears, and I think I’m hooked. I’ll need to play with the recipe some more–I think I want condensed milk for the custard bit instead of whole, and there wasn’t nearly enough cinnamon to suit me–but that’s no hardship. Canned pumpkin is fine, home-roasted better, home-roasted butternut squash better yet though there is always a hint of stringiness. But for smoothness, delicacy, and richness, I think I’m going to have to go with sweet potato pie.

It’s always nice to find out new things. The kids aren’t quite fans, but still, they haven’t met a homemade pie they won’t make a dent in for my sake at least.

Happy Friday the 13th. May Freya and her cat-drawn chariot bring you joy today.

Begin the Leftovers

I hope your Thanksgiving was a good one, my friends. Mine spawned a crop of leftovers we’ll be eating from all weekend, including this marvelous bread pudding from yesterday’s leftover plain bread.

“Didn’t you use the challah?” the Princess asked, and I explained it was silly to use the leftover challah because we needed that for ham-and-stuffing sandwiches later in the day. And lo, her eyes lit up.

Age and experience triumphed again. Leftovers are Serious Business.

Have a good weekend, my dears.

Fermentation Giggles

These silicon disks with vents in the middle are known as “pickle pipes”, but I call them “fermentation nipples” because, along with sounding more scientific, it makes me giggle like a schoolgirl each time I say it. Or type it. Or even think about it, frankly.

They fit on any wide-mouth Mason jar, and the nipples (*snork*) allow gases created by fermentation to escape while not allow oxygen in, so you get that lovely anaerobic reaction. I have a HUGE crock for making sauerkraut, but these will do for smaller batches, leftovers from filling said huge crock, and experimenting with things like carrots, cucumbers, and other ferment-able veggies.

Singing “Like a Pickle” to the tune of “Like a Virgin” and dancing around your kitchen giggling hysterically is entirely optional, but I think it makes the results taste better.

…sorry, I can’t stop laughing. Enjoy your weekend, chickadees.

Tower of Cookie

For the recent solstice, I requested the Princess’s famous Big Round Yellow Sun Cookies. They were fluffy, sweet, delicious dipped in coffee, and I ate a truly amazing number of them.

Work has taken precedence over sabbats and esbats for a while now, but maybe if things loosen up a bit I can begin marking those again.It would be nice; I feel at sea in the non-witch year, as if time has slipped out of its socket.

I’m not at my most productive during summer–I like the rain too much–but at least the food is great.

Have a good weekend, chickadees. May the sun shine upon you in proper and perfect proportion, and your ice cream melt at just the right rate.

Epic Fantasy Cake

The day I finished The Poison Prince‘s first-draft revision, I could not word. I was reduced to pointing and going, “The…the thing, that thing,” until one of the kids supplied the proper word. (Which is, not gonna lie, a type of hell for a writer, not to be able to find a damn word.)

So, of course, the Princess decided to bake me a cake. She even decorated it. “It’s a good chance to practice my tip work,” she said, modestly.” It was super tasty and I even had cake for breakfast the following morning.

I love being a writer, but I love being a mother even more. It’s hard, sleep-deprived work in the beginning, but the rewards once one gets over the psychotic break induced by lack of REM are amazing.

Poppers

I recently attempted jalapeño poppers for the first time. The filling was a mix of cream cheese, garlic, and shredded mozzarella. The Prince fell instantly, totally in love; the Princess decided she could take ’em or leave ’em. The dogs were extremely pleased with bacon drippings, since I only had three jalapeños and while I could have wrapped them in a whole package of bacon, well, I didn’t.

Me? I’ll gladly make them for other people, but eating more than two is unpleasant at best.

Those two, though, are fantastic. And I’m quite proud of myself for Trying Something New. One has to every now and again, to keep the stomach guessing.