I Love The Smell Of Onions In The Afternoon!

There is such a thing as too much/many onions. If you've seen Julie & Julia, you have an idea of what too much/many onions looks like. Last night I made french onion soup. The recipe called for SEVERAL POUNDS of onions. There is no way I was chopping 6 onions. I barely made it through the two (huge) onions I did chop. The onion fumes were so strong I was blinded by tears before I was done with the first onion. I had to go to another room to wipe my eyes. But I finished and threw them in the pot with AN ENTIRE stick of butter. Mmmmmmmm! Once they were done, (a deep yellowy color) I added the tablespoon of flour. Slowly, just like the recipe said to. Why is there flour in french onion soup? I have no idea. But it was in the recipe, and didn't seem as objectionable as six onions, so in it went. After that, it was just a matter of adding beef broth, again, slowly. I didn't have enough beef broth as it turned out so I had to get a can of it (concentrated) and add that. Now, I didn't put as much water in (to balance out the concentrate) as the can said to, but it turns out I didn't need to. I also made the croutons that go in this soup. Slices of baguette, soaked in garlic and chive butter, then baked. Gruyere was the cheese the recipe called for, and was perfect! I had a friend over for dinner and we decided that the soup was perfect! We each had two helpings and my step-father ate ALL of the leftover soup for lunch today. Making it made me realize something. I will never buy french onion soup in a can again. I will only make it the hard way. There's a bit of an ego boost when you make it yourself, and it turns out the way you wanted it to. It's not just the food that tastes good, the success does too!
So today, the dish will be roasted fingerling potatoes, served with a dollop (on the side) of sour cream and onion dip/sauce. I'm going to roast some chicken breast too, so it's more of a complete meal, but it's the sauce that's the experiment.
No, I am not working my way through a cook book. I'm just trying to cook (really cook) every day. And I'm trying to cook some new things. Things I may not ordinarily try. Chances are, if it's not something that really appeals to me, my folks will love it! I've made things before that I despise (beets for example) for Mama Bird, simply because she likes whatever it is.
I'd like to ask again what your favorite recipes/dishes are. I need some ideas!!!

---Little Bird has a plan

Fresh Is Best

Last night the temperature dropped to 48. In AUGUST! It had been kinda chilly all weekend, so when I was trying to come up with what to serve for the regular family Sunday night dinner, I was thinking fall type things. And then Mama Bird and I went to the farmers markets, to a booth that was selling tomatoes for a dollar a pound (if you bought more than 5 pounds). So of course we bought 5 and a half pounds! That of course meant we were going to have chili. So we then had to figure out the other things we needed. Onions, cilantro, and chilies. The beans we used were from a can, but we don't really know where to find fresh beans, or rather, the right type of fresh beans. Anyway, using my canned beans (from Whole Foods, 4 cans red kidney, and 2 cans black), and the 1 and a half pounds each ground chuck and ground pork we started the chili. Sweating the onions and some garlic (picked up at the market the week before) first, then adding the meats. I mix my own spices for this dish and those came next. Following that comes the tomatoes. Now, before we could add them to the chili, we had to skin them. To do that you dip them in boiling water for about a minute and the skin just comes right off. So with our now skinless and chopped up tomatoes we add those and the two whole red chilies and the diced jalepeno. We had purchased some beef broth to add if the chili was too dry. Five plus pounds of tomatoes provide ample amount of liquid, just so you know. The beans get added last and only after everything has simmered for about thirty minutes. Once the beans are added it's another twenty minutes or so and it's ready to serve. We had ours with a dollop of sour cream, chopped cilantro, sliced avocado, and chopped green onions. Oh, and queso fresco. It was divine!
It's true that when you use the freshest ingredients your food tastes better. This most certainly proved it.
So now I have an entire container of beef broth to use. Tomorrow I'm going to another farmers market and buying onions. Yellow onions to make french onion soup. I'll need to pick up some gruyere cheese to smother the top with, but that's not a problem. We also have a bunch of fingerling potatoes to use. Those we intend to roast with salt and pepper (a little olive oil too) and serve it with a little side dollop of sour cream that has green onion, chives and a smidge of garlic.
Yeah, I'm back on a food kick. After I told Mama Bird my plans she sighed and said "I'm gonna get fat". She won't.
Also at the markets this past weekend, one of the booths had giant bunches of basil for only a dollar each. We bought three. In addition to the two we had gotten at a different booth earlier. Basil is hard to find at the other booths now, so when we first saw it we jumped on it. And then we found it for cheaper (and better quality) we decided to make a ton of pesto and freeze it. You can freeze pesto for up to three months, and I'll keep making it as long as I can find basil at the market. I have to keep that freezer stocked!
Everybody has favorite autumnal foods, what are yours?

--Little Bird is back in the kitchen!

It's The Little Things

This is a question for the women who read this. All three of you.
What do you keep in your purse?
A wallet, sure. And in that wallet are credit cards, money and ID. I bet your keys are in your purse too. A hairbrush, some make-up, perhaps a phone. Anything else? Anything that you value?
If you keep anything at all that you value in your purse never, EVER hang said purse from the back of a chair when you are anywhere but home. It will eventually get stolen. Then you have to replace those things. AND whoever took your purse now has your home address and your keys. That's worse than having to replace all that stuff.
My mothers purse was stolen yesterday. Right off her chair. People saw him, but didn't realize what he was doing. Most of the stuff is replaceable. But (and here's where it gets kinda sad) the only hairbrush she had was in that purse. It was a really good hairbrush, the kind of thing you have for years. Of all the hairbrushes she has owned, this was her favorite. So when her purse was stolen she couldn't even brush her hair. Something so simple, so everyday. Her stolen purse interrupted her very basic daily life.
After she came home (my step-father and I took care of cards and keys) she and I went to get her, among other things, a new hairbrush. As soon as she got out of the store she ripped the brush out of it's packaging and brushed her hair. You could literally see her start to feel better. Reclaiming that little tiny part of her life made a difference. It was... moving to see it happen.


Salsa with Corn

1 ear sweet corn
2 large tomatoes
1 serrano pepper
1 smallish red onion
cilantro

Roast the corn (on the ear) after brushing lightly with olive oil. You can also put it under the broiler, but keep an eye on it. It will need to be turned a couple of times.
While the corn is roasting, chop the tomatoes into pieces smaller than a half inch. You can leave the skin and seeds in or not, whichever you prefer ( I like to leave them in).
Remove the seeds and membrane from the serrano pepper and discard them.
Dice the pepper finely. Be very careful not to touch either your eyes or your nose until you wash your hands very carefully).
Dice the red onion, again you want really small pieces.
After coming back to the kitchen after wiping your eyes from the onion fumes, start removing the stems from some cilantro.
You can add as much or as little as you like, but you don't want the stems. I recommend chopping the leaves a bit as well.
Mix all these things together and allow to sit so the flavors really mix.
If the corn is done by this time, remove it from the oven and allow it to cool. When it is cool enough to handle, remove it from the ear with a knife (or one of those nifty corn "zippers"). Allow the corn to cool completely before adding to the mixture. You can eat it right away, or put it in a sealed container and chill overnight. Serve with corn chips or heat it up and serve over chicken.
It's a great mix of spicy and sweet!

--Little Bird with a public service announcement

On Windows And Jets

I've learned an interesting lesson this past week. If the windows are open at my folks' place, I can stay with the cats for a longer period of time. I now know why my step-father ALWAYS has a window at least cracked! We had a heat wave here in Chicago recently and I had closed the windows and turned on the a/c. I itched. I sneezed. I turned off the a/c and opened the windows today. It's not as bad this way. And the heat wave seems to have passed.
My folks are extremely lucky to not be in town this weekend. The air show will be here. Fighter jets and freaking HUGE planes will be buzzing our buildings for two days. I hate the air show. And they are doing practice runs all week. Nothing says "good morning" like an F-15 (I have no idea what kind of plane it was, so I'm using a name I know) screaming past your window at 8 am. I should point out that they are at roughly the same height as my windows too. It sounded like the thing was going to come crashing into my living room. I wasn't at my folks' place so I couldn't tell you what the cats did. But I can guess. They must have freaked. And hid in the closet. And I know one of 'em puked.
Why do we even have air shows? Friday morning about a million people will descend on my neighborhood and trash it. The maintenance guys are putting up the orange hurricane fencing now in an effort to keep them off the grass. They'll have to post one guy up on the sundeck to keep non-residents out. If we have to have air shows, why can't they be out in the 'burbs?
Other than that, it's been slow around here. With the folks being in Europe for a bit, and not due back for a few more days, there's not all that much to do. The markets are nice, I live off of them nearly exclusively. Which means the food is good. I've been walking (primarily to the markets) and I have somehow managed to lose some weight. I am now down ten pounds from the starting point. When I reach my goal I'll tell what that was, but not before.
The ice cream ball is getting a little use, but not too much. I don't want to gain weight, I want to lose it. Nor have I used the fry daddy. To be honest, I'm a little afraid of it. I don't want to start a fire. Or burn myself. And I regularly burn myself on my oven so you can imagine what damage I could do with the fry daddy.

-- Little Bird itches, a bit

Having a Ball

Ok, so I went to another concert in the park yesterday. It was a glorious evening, not too hot, not chilly. There was no rain to soak the grass (and therefor my blanket). Since it was just me, I only took the blanket and some food. And a bottle of wine. I made a salad of roasted corn and grape tomatoes, this time with chives. And of course, pesto. I brought a book so I could relax and read while enjoying the music. Not too far from me was a couple with a few kids. About 30 minutes before the music started the kids (boys) were running around giving themselves noogies while shouting "NOOGIES!". I think perhaps they were unclear on the concept. Shortly after that a small group of people set up camp behind that family. That family was joined by a couple more adults and a couple more kids as well. Then four more adults and a kid. Then one more adult and about three kids. The people who had sat behind them moved so the family could have more room. That family kept growing. And someone brought hula-hoops. By this time there were sooo many people they were standing right next to my blanket. So close in fact, that in order to get past the standing adults, the kids were running on my blanket. Then the music started. And. They. Did. Not. Shut. Up. The adults in the group all moved to one area and chatted away while the kids started to hula-hoop. Right next to my head. Those folks that moved earlier suggested I might want to do the same. I very much agreed and they helped me do so! It was so kind of them! I offered them some of my pesto and salad, but they had brought their own feast and declined. Not five minutes after I moved, the guy in the kind group got whacked in the head by a hula-hoop. Twice.
I wish I could tell you about the music, what little I heard sounded like the score to a really good movie. The kind with sweeping scenes of fantastic vistas. But so much of the music was drowned out by yelling kids and yammering adults. Once again it bothers me that what is most memorable about last nights experience (other than the fantastically helpful, thoughtful group) is the sheer inconsiderateness of the family group. A concert is not the place to hold a family reunion. There are other people there who have come to hear the music. I don't think I'll go alone again. I'll go with someone or a group and let them pick the spot since I seem to have rotten luck at it.

In other news, my ice cream ball came in today!!! And yes, it has been christened. I made Strawberry-Orange sorbet. And it was great! It only takes about 30 minutes plus whatever time blending your ingredients before putting them in the ball's canister. I'm gonna make real ice cream this weekend.
Also planned for the weekend, pizzelles. To be formed into little cups to hold the ice cream. I also plan on making french fries (finally gonna use that fry daddy) and then spraying those with truffle oil. I figure I'll use every gadget I own this weekend.
One of these days I plan on making a meal where nearly every aspect is made from scratch. Veggies with an onion dip, the dip being made from sour cream and onions and parmesan. Pasta (by hand) with a pesto cream sauce (no surprise). And either sorbet or ice cream. If I got really adventurous (and planned ahead, waaaaay ahead) I could make bacon vodka and make bloody marys with it. No, the morph into Martha is as yet incomplete. But I'll keep you posted.

--Little Bird can't picnic alone anymore

Hey Pesto!

So it's been sorta busy around here lately. My step-sister was in town, and there has been more walking, and farmers markets, and pesto.
About two weeks ago I decided to make pesto. The hard way. With a mortar and pestle. Using an entire bundle of basil from the farmers market. It should be known that nearly every stall at the market has a different sized bundle of basil. I found the biggest, for the best price. This yields about 2 to 2 1/2 cups of pesto. And takes over an hour to make. I am now making the stuff at least twice a week because my step-father likes it so much. I think he may cry when the farmers markets close for the season. That or he's gonna have to learn how to grow basil in an apartment, because I will surely kill any plant I try to grow.
The foods prepared over the past two weeks have been: Fennel, green bean, and roasted potato salad, pesto, Tex-Mex chicken salad, pesto, mixed green salad with sun-dried tomatoes and mozzarella, pesto, caprese with pesto instead of basil (that one was just for me and was spectacular), Salsa, bean dip, yogurt dip, and more pesto.
I picked up a new cooking magazine when I went to the new Whole Foods up in the Lincoln Park area. And have made four of the recipes so far. And there are at least twenty more that look like something my family would like. The magazine is awesome and I want a subscription! It's Fresh, from Fine Cooking, and appears to be a "best of" type deal.
But what else is amazing is the new Whole Foods! It is beautiful. I never thought I would ever refer to a grocery store as beautiful, but Oh My God is it ever! If you live in Chicago you must go experience it. There is a BAR in the grocery store. There is a cafe AND a wine gazebo. The store is huge, the cheese department alone is bigger than most store's entire dairy departments. Go, just go. You'll see what I mean.
Tomorrow I will be preparing a picnic that will include a new bean dip recipe, that salad with the sun-dried tomatoes, bread, and caprese made with pesto. I love summer and the opportunity it affords me to cook with FRESH ingredients!

Pesto

One bundle basil
One - two cloves garlic
Parmesan- Pecorino Romano blend cheese (grated)
Pine nuts (raw)
Olive oil

Start with just a few leaves a little of each of the rest ingredients if using a mortar and pestle. Smoosh it all until smooth and bright green. Keep adding bits of everything until the bowl is too full to work. Keep putting the excess in a container off to the side until all basil is used. Then put it all back in the mortar and smoosh it around some more to really blend it together.
I can't really give you exact measurements, but the finished product should be bright green with darker flecks. Just keep at it 'til it looks and tastes the way you want it to. You can add sea salt and cracked black pepper to taste as well.
Now you can also make this in a food processor. That pretty much just entails putting all the ingredients into the machine and pressing "Puree". Pesto can be frozen for up to about two months. But tastes best if used immediately. And it's even better when simply used as a spread for bread. My step-father practically eats it with a spoon, by itself.

--Little Bird eats fresh

Don't Read If Easily Disgusted

So, last week I had a medical scare. It turned out to be nothing of great significance, but was disturbing before I went to the doctor. It started out with a lump on the back of my neck, just inside the hairline. This was on say Monday or Tuesday. Wednesday it erupted. It oozed. I apologize if you've just eaten. It continued in this vein for a couple of days. Sunday Mama Bird looked at it (again) and the two of us had a discussion on the possible reasons for the ickiness. I thought it might have been an exploded tumor (it's happened before) or a spider bite from a venomous spider (also happened before). Mama Bird thought it was ringworm. We discussed the possible places I could have come across the last two. Monday I noticed that I now had a growing lump lower on my neck, in the back. I went on-line again and figured that my lymph nodes were swollen. The posterior cervical lymph nodes to be exact. So Tuesday morning I called my doctors office and spoke with whoever it is that answers the phone there. I made clear that if MY doctor was unavailable, I would be MORE than happy to see whoever else that might be there. I also told him the three things we thought it may have been. According to him, at the time of the call my doctors day was full, but he'd ask if I could see someone else. Not even twenty minutes later I got a call informing me that my regular doctor would be able to see me 45 minutes later. So I walked over to her office. Yes, I can turn this into a loooonnnggg story. Good news: the prognosis is none of the three choices. It turns out to be a decidedly unhappy hair follicle. Really unhappy. The bad news: I am currently taking clindamycin four times a day, 300 milligrams each time. I have to wake up at 2 am in order to do this. And I can't lie down for at least a half hour after taking it. I read the side effects and was not terribly worried, but didn't know why I couldn't lie down for half an hour. I looked on-line again. I found a site where people were telling their horror stories. I haven't had any of the most noted side effects, but then I have been obsessively good about the half hour rule. Even for the 2 am dose. And that seems to be making the difference.
That's really about it for this week. Oh yeah, I've started bike riding again. Not that that has anything to do with anything.

--Little Bird is on a schedule