serendipity strikes again

all they had were the really big watermelons, not the small sweet ones, but we figured it would be ok for the party.
 but then we didn't get to go to the party!
 plus it was hot hot hot
 thank goodness for the world wide web, the information highway, the 'net.
i discovered a new fabulous hot weather cooling beverage...fill the blender with watermelon, mince up some mint (rampant in our back yard), and when it's all a liquid, chill it.
it looks so pretty in a glass with a sprig of mint.
deeelicious, plus i filled several quart jars and froze them for winter.
watermelon mint ice cubes would be good too!

Dancing and dessert

is there a standard length for a minuet? i got a new recipe book -- one recipe mentions 'minuet' several times but it doesn't list it in the back under the measurements section!

must be a commonly used measure, because when i google "how long is a minuet" there are numerous sites addressing the question.

answer is, it depends.  but not on what you are cooking -- it depends on the piece of music, and also, it is usually played faster if there are no dancers.  so if i dance, this will take longer to cook.

warm brown & fragrant

everyone knows Freud's famous comment "What do women want?" (my favorite reply is from Gloria Steinem: "ask them one at a time.")

do you ever hear "What do men want?"

usually John does the cooking, but lately I've been cooking.  last night i made a meatloaf so good he actually dreamt about it during the night.

in case you are wondering, it was a turkey meatloaf recipe from the internet - lots of onion, garlic, ketchup, some w. sauce,  breadcrumbs, 1 egg, i think that's it!

do i ever dream about food? not that i remember...i'll have to pay attention.

American Tea

she's from London.  just visiting the USA.  

so of course we had the tea conversation.

me: "oh you are right, americans just don't know how to make tea. you can't get a good cup of tea in a restaurant!'

she had her own electric kettle she brought with her to use in her room.

how many times have i had this conversation?

i think i will not have it again.  i hereby declare that there is such a thing as American Tea!

you make it by pouring hot water over a tea bag.

we are busy people! we won the war, remember? (otherwise, we'd all have health insurance *ahem*)

she also said something i found very telling.

she is British.

her mother is German.

i said my father's family was German.

she said it is so nice to be in a place where that doesn't matter.

ah, America!

making vinegar

friends used to talk about fruit flies - even get into animated conversations with strangers - it was some class i guess i didn't sign up for....breeding fruit flies.

my neighbor has given me a big bowl of blackberries from her bushes. 

or are they black raspberries?  the internet says: Black raspberries become hollow in the middle when picked from the main plant whereas the blackberries retain its stem.

must be black raspberries.

last year i froze much of what she gave me, then never knew what to do with them. 

so this year i am making vinegar. 

here's how:

cover berries with water.

mash them up.

pour into a sterilized jar (i boiled a large canning jar for a bit)

cover with cloth and a rubber band (i used a flowered handkerchief i found in my drawer - where/when did i ever get that?)

wait 3 months or so until the mother (gloop on top) falls to bottom and then pour off the vinegar!

sounds easier than the saurkraut i tried to make last year and ended up throwing away !

but what about the fruit flies?

they seem to like the idea, and gather on the top.  what are they doing?  

if they are sitting, ok, but if they are laying eggs or pooping, i'm not happy about that.

i can't see that they are leaving anything there...they just seem to like to gather in the vinegary atmosphere.

i guess i should have taken that class!

chocolate mousse guacamole??

some saturdays i leave the radio on a while after "wait wait don't tell me" --  until it just becomes annoying.

a few weeks ago, a cooking show came on with guest cheryl crow. her recipe for chocolate mousse caught my ear, basically thick chocolate pudding, made with 2 avocados, agave nectar, cocoa powder, vanilla, and almond extract!

i got a couple of avocados and gave it a try. since john doesn't like avocados, it seemed like a perfect test!

it was simple to make and he loved it. 

deeeee-licious!  (it's not green either)

i didn't have almond extract, plus one of my friends is allergic to almonds, but i had just made coffee, so i put in that instead.  we ate it like pudding, in little bowls, not being the owners of martini glasses. 

hell i drink wine out of little juice glasses and john likes to drink water or juice from canning jars....martini glass? gimme a break.

here's the link to the recipe....it's great stuff!

  chocolate mousse recipe
oh another thing...i didn't use a food processor, just an old blender i have.  worked fine!

ricey beanie recipe

cook some brown rice
  (organic is best - for the planet,
     the pickers and planters,
      the web of life,
       your health,
        maybe your karma).
open a can of organic beans
  (the plainer the better,
    the kind you like best,
     black beans are my favorite
       recycle the can).
rinse all the packing liquid off the beans.
put beans in a pan with 2 cups of the rice.
open a jar of organic chunky salsa
  ( local if possible,
     otherwise newmanzone is good,
      whatever heat level you like
         recycle the glass jar).
add to the rice and beans
warm it up good.
put it on nice pottery plates
  (or eat from the pan if you are alone
    and really depressed).
good with salad and red ale
  (or you can skip the salad
    and add seconds on the ale).