What's for Dinner

I hear that the things my Facebook friends like to read most are my status updates about my adventures in the kitchen.  Since I was little, I enjoyed helping Mom in the kitchen, creating fantastic things from combinations of other basic things.  I am always dubious of the true quality of the products from my  kitchen -- I am not professionally trained and my skills are far from great, and I am sure that anyone, following the same recipes can create the same dish better than I could ever do.  But my personal doubts do not stop me from trying out new-to-me recipes.

With that in mind, I thought it might be interesting to do a recap of this week's cooked from scratch meals.  Here in my own kitchen, I have to make more things from scratch.  There are fewer convenience products available in Australian groceries -- for example, there is no biscuit/baking mix or refrigerator biscuits.  So every time a recipe calls for biscuit mix or a tube of refrigerator biscuits, I have to add the extra step of making the biscuits.  As a result, my collection of cookbooks from the 1950s and 1960s have come in handy.  I do not know for sure, but based on the products available in my local stores, groceries have not really advanced beyond the US 1960s here.

Dearest works late most Mondays and Tuesdays, so I do not bother cooking those nights, as we usually have plenty of leftovers to choose from, and I keep a pantry stocked with quick meal ingredients.  So my cooking week runs Wednesday to Sunday.

This week, the plan was:
Wednesday: Skillet Burger Supper, purchased hamburger buns, and corn on the cob
Thursday: Risotto-Style Peppered Rice & bean burritos
Friday: Country Chicken Casserole
Saturday: Cream of Cheese Soup, Corn-Meal Buns and Hot Milk Cake with Mocha-Chocolate Frosting
Sunday: Three Cheese Chicken and Noodles and green beans

Right now, it's Saturday night and we are planning to go for a drive tomorrow (Sunday) so that meal will be pushed back to Monday, which is a State Holiday in Victoria.  I'll report on that meal when I have actually prepared it.

Wednesday:
Skillet Burger Supper would be more recognizable if it were to be called Sloppy Joes.  I found the recipe in my 1953 Edition of Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook (yes, the red plaid one everyone's mother had).  BH&G reprinted the 1953 edition in the late 1990s and I bought a copy from the bargain book table at Barnes & Noble.  I prefer it to the newer versions as it has meal planning guides and better instructions for some techniques than the newer versions.  And as I found, it is easier to get the ingredients from older US edition cookbooks than it is from newer ones.  This one of the recipes that I used merely as a guide, and did not follow exactly.  I realized when I was gathering the ingredients, that I had forgotten to buy the required celery at the grocery that morning, and was not going to make a special trip for one stalk of celery.  I had a tomato left over from last week's menus so I seeded and diced that instead.  And since I have discovered I do not particularly care for the celery with beef, I thought the substitution made a better end result anyway.  My menu plan had been to purchase hamburger buns or Kaiser rolls, but I had some Basic White Bread cloverleaf rolls left over from the weekend that really needed to be used, so I served the Skillet Burger Supper atop the rolls.  I purchased frozen corn on the cob, prepared it as per the package instructions, and served the ears with whipped butter and salt and pepper at the table.

This meal was a meal my mother would have prepared for us growing up, so there was an element of comfort food about it.  But this version of sloppy joes called for bottled barbecue sauce in addition to ketchup, so it had a smokey flavour to it, that traditional sloppy joes lack.  I would rate it better than Manwich, but not the greatest recipe I have tried.  I am still on the hunt for a good from-scratch sloppy joe recipe.

Thursday:
The Risotto-Style Peppered Rice was actually a recipe from my copy of 3 Books in 1 Rival Crock Pot:  Slow Cooker Favorites, Winning Slow Cooker Recipes, and Slow Cooker Recipes for All Occasions (a brand-name back-of-box cookbook I picked it up from the bargain book table at Barnes & Noble one time), but I knew that it would be too much for just the two of us if I prepared it in my Crock-Pot, so I decided to alter the recipe a bit and use my rice cooker to prepare it.  That was a brilliant idea and I will definitely add that to my stock recipes for rice to accompany other meals.  I cooked the rice in vegetable broth with the diced red pepper and onions, as well as the seasonings the original recipe called for.  When bell dinged, I added milk, cheese and butter leaving it to simmer for another twenty minutes.  That resulted in a smooth, creamy, flavourful, but not over-flavoured mock-risotto.  It was great by itself, but I had some tortillas leftover that needed to be used, so I heated a can of refried beans in the microwave to make rice and bean burritos.  After I rolled the burritos, I put them in the oven for a few minutes, to crisp up the tortillas for another texture in the meal and served them.

I will definitely do this again, though I will buy a different brand of refried beans.  Even though this brand was listed as "mild," I found the chilies in the mix to contribute too much heat which overwhelmed the delicate flavour of the cheesy rice.  I can highly recommend this rice preparation to anyone, even to my mother who swears she does not like risotto.

Friday:
I altered my meal plan for the week today.  I had planned to bake the Hot Milk Cake with Mocha-Chocolate Frosting on Saturday, but I decided I needed the dessert sooner.  And I was glad I made the decision.  Friday was one of those days that just needed buttercream to make it better.  Both the recipes for Hot Milk Cake and the Mocha-Chocolate Frosting come from the 1953 Edition of the Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook.

I was looking for either a flavourful cake with a simple frosting or a simple cake with a flavourful frosting.  This creation is the latter combination.  I am used to baking cakes from boxed mixes, so I have very little experience with from scratch cakes.  This was simple enough.  The hardest part for me was scalding the milk.  I heated it in the microwave rather than the traditional method of heating the milk in a saucepan, but once I figured out how long to warm the milk, everything was good.  I also found the process for mixing this cake a bit different than I am used to.  In this recipe, the eggs were whipped with the sugar, then the flour was added, and finally the hot milk was stirred in.  I was a bit nervous using the unfamiliar process, but it turned out beautifully.  The only issue may have resulted from overmixing the batter, or baking the cake a bit too long, as the cake was tougher than I would have liked, but it was still a very nice cake.  The frosting was easy as anything to put together and produced a great buttercream, though I can say DO NOT take a test taste before adding the sugar to the coffee/cocoa/butter mixture.  Just trust me.

The Country Chicken Casserole was from my copy of From Amish and Mennonite Kitchens.  It's a creamy spaghetti casserole made with chicken, carrots, peas, cream cheese, milk and mayonnaise.  I don't like mayonnaise, so I substituted an equal amount of sour cream.  The other tweak I made was to sprinkle buttered seasoned breadcrumbs on the casserole before baking for a bit of crunch.  Like most casseroles go, any of the additions could be switched out.  In fact, I have plans to do the same thing again, adding some Taco Seasoning to the cream sauce and using whole kernel corn, sauteed bell peppers, and onions in place of the carrots and peas.  This is not something I would prepare it for a meal when company was coming (though dearest often wonders why when I say that about a particular dinner), but for an average weeknight family dinner, this is perfect.

Aside:  In the US, I used Tyson frozen chicken chunks for most recipes calling for cooked chicken.  That product is not available here in Australia.  I have the choice of buying a prepared roast chicken or roasting my own chicken.  This week I took the latter option and roasted my own chicken.  I seasoned a self-basting whole chicken with my personal blend of dry rub seasoning, both on and under the skin, and roasted the chicken according to the directions on the package of oven bags.  If I do say so myself, this was one of the best chickens I have prepared yet.  I picked the meat from the bones and used 1/3 of it for Friday's County Chicken Casserole and have planned to use the remainder for the Three Cheese Chicken and Noodles on Monday.

Saturday:
With 3/4 of the cake still to enjoy, I set about preparing the other aspects of this meal.  Both recipes come from the 1953 Edition of the Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook.  As I mentioned in a previous post, I am experimenting with yeast breads.  Most of my yeast bread recipes come from the Breaking Bread with Father Dominic series, but this one looked interesting so I decided to give it a try.  I thought the Corn-Meal Buns sounded like they would be a yeasted cornbread, which would, in my head at least, go beautifully with a creamy cheese soup, but the rolls actually turned out more like hearty dinner rolls.  They turned out well, though I think I overworked the dough trying to work in the 5 1/2 cups flour, so they were a bit tougher and denser than I would have preferred.  If I make them again, I am going to trust my judgment with the amount of flour, even if it means ignoring the recipe.  Father Dominic may say "It's bread, it's going to forgive you," but that doesn't mean it always will.  Overworked dough will bake up tough.  The rolls were good, but I know they could have been better.

Cream of Cheese soup is a at its heart a cream sauce (bechamel sauce) with cheese, thinned with broth to be a soup consistency.  This version adds cooked shredded carrots, celery and onions to the cream sauce before the cheese is incorporated. I think it was a very good soup, though I may need to re-think my choice of cheese.  I used Colby and I think it could stand up to a stronger flavour such as a sharp cheddar.  I will most certainly make this quick soup again, though I may make additions of either potatoes to create a cheese chowder, or macaroni to make a "macaroni & cheese soup."

On the whole the week's meals were a success.  Some of them could have definitely been executed better, but none were failures in my eyes and most recipes can be added to my list of things that can be made again.  I am very pleased with the efforts that came from my kitchen this week -- so much so that I am off to get a slice of Hot Milk Cake with Mocha-Chocolate Frosting.  Can a bring a slice to anyone else?

Required Reading

Some years ago, I undertook a personal challenge to read all the books generally considered to be Classics I had not read already.  Most of the Classics I had read were required reading in high school or college.

I firmly believe that the best way to ruin a book for the readers is to make it required reading.  It is also my theory that Classics are only required reading because some previous generation was required to read a crappy novel and wanted to share the torture with future generations.  Either that, or some bookstore manager somewhere had a surplus of copies of A Tale of Two Cities and thought "what better way to get rid of the crap than require classes to read it?"  Whichever theory is correct, and I have no doubts that one of them is, it stills ends up that most of the so-called Classics, are in fact, crap.

Even with the belief that most Classics are crap, I began my challenge by reading Jane Eyre.  I decided fairly early in the book that I did not like it, but I persevered to the end, enjoying not one single second of the book.  After failing to enjoy one word of Jane Eyre, I gave up on my challenge to read all the Classics for a while, but kept the other books I had purchased when I was gung-ho about the challenge.  Along with Jane Eyre, I had copies of:  The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Wuthering Heights, The Magnificent Ambersons, and Vanity Fair.

Years after I began my Classics project, I re-evaluated it, thinking that maybe I picked a bad book to start and there really were good Classics out there.  I read and actually enjoyed The Magnificent Ambersons, so I thought I would continue the project.  I dived readily into Wuthering Heights and immediately regretted it.  Back on the shelf it went for another few years, until a message board I frequent picked it as the inaugural Classics Book Club read.  I thought, why not give the personal challenge another go?  The book club had been scheduled to read approximately five chapters a week, with a weekly discussion to make it easier and to generate continuing interest.

It's not helping.  Three weeks in and I am slogging through Wuthering Heights as much as I did when it was required reading in high school.  Though to be fair, in high school I gave up long before Chapter XIII, where I am currently mired.  I am torn between wanting to give up now and place the book on the very tip top of my to be donated as soon as possible pile -- I cannot bear to throw away or destroy books just because I do not enjoy them -- or to persevere through to the end of the horrid, hated volume, coming out with a sense of a accomplishment and grateful knowledge that I never, ever have to read the book again.

Still on my shelf are The Tenant of Wildfell Hall and Vanity Fair.  I may at some distant point in the future decide to once again attempt to read all the Classics that everyone should read, but that point will not be any time soon.  Right now, I think "Life's too short to read crap, even Classics crap."

More Kitchen Magic

I have waxed poetic on the kitchen magic that can come from mixing flour, pantry staples, and liquid.  And my amazement now is in no way diminished.  But I have found the magic that is yeast breads.

Sitting on my new cookbook shelf is my collection of cookbooks from the Public Television series, Breaking Bread with Father Dominic.

I "bought" the first as part of a pledge drive incentive and collected the other two over time as I saw them in the bookstores.  The series dates from before the time of 24-hour cable cooking shows and has a familiar comfortable host, who made familiar, comfortable food.  There was no pretense about being a gourmand, about needing specialized, celebri-chef branded tools, or using esoteric ingredients.  Father Dominic made honest and humble breads.  He demonstrated simple techniques using old fashioned hand tools, and even your own hands.  There was a bit of information about the loaves he created, whether history or folklore, and a bit of fun relating his personal experience with testing the loaves on his more than willing fellow-brother guinea pigs.  It was a fun show to watch, and the memory of the enjoyment has stayed with me longer than the three seasons the show was on.

When I got the first book, I attempted a few of the recipes when the show was being aired.  Unfortunately, my house then was kept too cool for happy yeast and my creations were so less than stellar that I left them for the appreciative canal bank denizens.  But now that I have my own house, and can control the ambient temperature, I remembered the books, and after the success of my King Cake, I pulled out the books with the intention of actually making some bread, instead of just dreaming about it.

I think my experimentation so far has been a success, and judging by my dearest's reactions, I'm not the only one who thinks that.  So far I have tried:

• Pizza Dough (several times)
• Red Onion Focaccia (twice)
• English Muffin Bread
• Basic White Bread 
• Pesto Swirls.

And there are so many more tempting recipes in the books.  I have plans for a sweet dough lattice bread (similar to a fruit-and-cheese-filled danish), honey-oatmeal bread, and challah for starters.

The magic that is flour and liquid is no less amazing when it's a loaf of beer bread than it is when the beer is replaced by warm water and yeast.  The latter may take more than two hours, but the end result is worth waiting for.

(Pesto Swirls)

Office Politics

Just something silly that developed from a conversation I had with my dearest this morning:

The Office Dinner Party

The bartender and head waiter at a popular Brussels restaurant checked over the reservations for the night.  “It’s gonna be a long night,” the head waiter mused.  

Looking out the window, the bartender commiserated, “Yes, indeed, it will be a long night.  And it’s already getting started.  I think I see the early arrivals at the valet stand.” 

The evening was loud and raucous, and lingered longer than the diners originally anticipated, as these kind of office get-togethers tend to do.  It was a busy evening for the staff, who were kept hopping with 27 picky, demanding diners.  

“But the worst is yet to come,” the bartender thought as he saw the head waiter putting no so little pieces of paper in the slick vinyl portfolios to deliver to the parties. 

“This is going to be trouble.  It always is,” the head waiter thought to himself.

Germany picked up the bill, glanced at the total, and quickly calculated an equal per-person share, assuming that the bill was going to be split 17 ways.

Italy piped up first saying that he had only credit cards because he never carried cash, and everyone knew that; it ruined the line of his suit.

France then complained that they were at this place only because Belgium’s brother knows the owner and they were supposed to have gotten a discount as a result.

Belgium retorted that no one else had any better suggestions, so they defaulted to the usual place.

But the arrangements were in Germany’s name, so he can pay for the outing, announced Portugal. 

Austria muttered under her breath about Germany never allowing for dissent anyway, just look what happened the last time they all decided not to go along with Germany’s plan.

Ireland grabbed the bill, checked the items he had ordered and promptly reminded everyone that Spain had arrived hours earlier than anyone else and ran up a huge tab at the bar, which ended up on the table’s bill.

Slovakia, or maybe Slovenia -- who could tell them apart anyway? -- was complaining that Greece had ordered the most expensive things on the menu, while they had only had a salad, and there was no way that either was going to pony up for a share of the filet mignon!

Finland griped that Luxembourg had ordered expensive bottles of wine, while Luxembourg countered that everyone at the table had shared in the wine.

Malta and Cyprus argued that they had split an appetizer, so there was no way they were paying more than half a share each, while everyone else grumbled about how much vacation time those two had.

Estonia shouted that she was late, arriving just in time for dessert, after the bar was taking orders, so there is no way she is paying for anything other than the ice cream that was brought out to her.

No one bothered to count heads, so no one noticed that The Netherlands had ducked out for a smoke just before the bill arrived.

Meanwhile, a smaller table was watching the larger party.

“And that, my friends, is why we requested separate checks,” England laughed.

Sweden and Denmark nodded in agreement, while Latvia and Lithuania giggled tipsily with Poland over the word “Zloty.”

Romania, Hungary, and Bulgaria were glad they had escaped Germany’s influence and toasted the UK with raised glasses.

And the Czech Republic just wondered why everyone was talking so much about him, but then, they always did at these kinds of events.

Indulgences

One of dearest's friends was celebrating his 50th birthday with a party at a pub, complete with a band, a U2 tribute/cover band.  Dearest didn't want to miss the party and I never miss an opportunity to explore a bit in Melbourne, so we headed up to the city for an overnight getaway.  We had a list of must-dos:  (1) an afternoon indulgence at the Koko Black Salon; (2) a visit to the Oriental Tea House to pick up a package of Raspberry-Lime herbal tea to send to my mother; (3) the party on Friday night; and (4) breakfast at "our" breakfast spot on Saturday morning.  We had no other real plans, and while it sounds like a full to-do list, there was ample time for wandering about and checking things out along the way.

The drive up was uneventful, well, except for my nervousness to get going.  I am always a bit jumpy when I have planned to get out and on the road.  Dearest is a bit more easy-going than I am.  I tend to schedule things and live by the clock -- if we had planned to get out by 11:00 a.m., I am ready by 10:30 and nervous until we get out the door and on the way.  I tend to dally, but not when we have plans.  When we have to be somewhere, I'd rather leave early, pack a book and do the dallying once we get where we are going.

Once we were on the road, the trip up to the city was uneventful.  We arrived at the hotel with no problems, parked in the hotel's small lot, agreeing to have the car out of the lot by noon the next day, and checked in.  The room was basic, but more than adequate for the night, and actually much larger than I anticipated.  After dropping our gear, we headed in search of the Koko Black Salon, checking out a book store on the way.  On a previous visit to the city, dearest was very disappointed to learn that the long-time Melbourne institution independent book store had closed.  On this trip he was overjoyed to see that the it had re-opened, in a shiny new location, in the lobby of an office building spanning the block.  I was glad as well.  I found the next-in-series Erast Fandorin book I was missing to complete my series (at least until the final book of the series comes out in September), and I was very surprised to see books I thought were out of print, and a number of series I read in the US but had not seen here.  After spending a bit more time and money than planned at the unscheduled stop, it was off to Koko Black for afternoon "tea."

I had been looking forward to the indulgence, and a trip to the Koko Black Salon can only be described as an indulgence.  We knew we were getting nibbles at the party, so we didn't really plan dinner, but an afternoon "snack" was just the thing.  And I had been wanting to share Koko Black with dearest since I had visited last March with my college friends.  It was exactly as I remembered it.

The last time I was there, I indulged in a Chocolate Affogato Spoil -- a tasting plate with chocolate cake, Belgian chocolates, drizzled shortbread, and a goldfish-bowl sized brandy snifter of decadent hot cocoa poured over house-made vanilla bean ice cream.  This time I was not in the mood for anything quite so indulgent.  

After perusing the menu, I selected a milk chocolate mousse slice -- an almond shortbread cookie base topped with a layer or milk chocolate mousse, vanilla-rose water cream, and white peach jelly (I could have had bowls and bowls of the white peach jelly and been perfectly content), topped with a milk chocolate lattice.  The plate was highlighted with an apricot coulis, perfect for dipping the cookie base in.  

I did not want a chocolate overload, and there was a fresh strawberry-mint iced tea on the menu, so I had one of those.

Dearest took a bit of time deciding, going back and forth between a couple of options, finally settling on the Belgian Spoil Plate -- a tasting plate of house-made dark chocolate ice cream with a dried raspberry studded milk chocolate fan, a dark chocolate mousse, drizzled shortbread, Belgian chocolates, and a chocolate cake.  

He selected to wash everything down with a Belgian hot cocoa.

After leisurely enjoying our treats, we headed out to tick off the rest of our Friday must-dos.  On the way out, we saw the last of the Easter chocolate display, including these:

(chook-o-lat -- yes, it's a very bad Aussie pun)

We were in no real hurry, so we wandered here and there as the whim struck us.  Dearest had gotten his friend a birthday present at the book store, and we needed a nicer bag or wrapping, so we were on the lookout for a card/wrapping store.  We found one, and in the same mall, a lingerie shop specializing in larger sizes.  At dearest's urging, I stopped in to check out what was on offer.  I am in the market for a few new bras, but as usual, I am picky about what I want, and while I was very appreciative of the knowledge as to what is available, I was not really in the mood to purchase anything, and certainly not a $90 something that was not exactly what I was looking for.  But I will keep the shop in mind when I am ready to make a purchase.

We next wandered back past our hotel in search of the Oriental Tea House, to get the tisane for my mother (and, as it turned out, an impulse purchase box of vanilla-scented black tea for me).  On the way, we passed T2 and noted its location to have a wander after getting what we came for at the Oriental Tea House.  T2 is a hip, urban tea shop, while the Oriental Tea House is a more traditional, sedate shop.  I like both, but I have to say I prefer the tea at the Oriental Tea House.  Sometimes hip, happening tea is good, but more often the flavours are lost on me.  I prefer to have my tea iced, and iced tea is still in the introductory phase here in Australia -- it's much more of a novelty than a staple -- and in my opinion, most hip, happening teas seem wasted when used for iced tea.  But I still like to check in at T2 when I have the occasion.  I was pleased to see "iced tea jugs" were on display.  It may mean that the ubiquitous drink of the Southern US is on its way to becoming mainstream here.  (Not a moment too soon if you ask me!)

After T2, we realized we needed to head back to the hotel to change for the party if we were going to make it on time.  I noted a shop to visit tomorrow and scurried off after dearest to the hotel.

We had planned to get a bit of dinner on the way to the party, just in case the nibbles were not to our liking.  We passed through the restaurant district around the hotel, but every place was understandably packed on the busy Friday evening of the Melbourne Comedy Festival (I missed seeing Hannah Gadsby to attend the party -- not a bad thing, but she is one of the acts I would not mind seeing when I have the chance).  We had hoped to find a McDonald's or something similar on the walk, but did not.  In the end, we found the outlet mall associated with Spencer Street Station and nibbled a fairly good steam-table pizza from the food court.  So fortified, we headed out to the party.

We arrived relatively early, which was good for me, because it meant we got to talk to the birthday boy before it got to loud or crowded.  And we could stake out a table before they were at a premium.  It was a fun party, though anyone observing me might have guessed I had a terrible time.  It was louder than I would have preferred -- I MUST remember to get earplugs and bring them with me! -- and a bit darker than I would have liked, but I really did have a good time.  

It was after 1:00 when we left, and I was a bit sleepy.  We considered walking back to the hotel, but then thought a taxi would be a better idea.  Dearest called the number for a taxi but, as he was put on hold for a while, we decided it was probably just as easy to walk up to Spencer Street Station and grab a taxi from the taxi rank there.  My luck with taxi drivers is no better than it has ever been -- this driver was a bit confused as to where we were going and dearest had to direct him.  At least in Melbourne we had an idea of where to go and how to direct the driver.  We made it back to the hotel without too much trouble, and I was asleep before I remembered much else of the night.

Morning broke early -- about four hours after we turned off the lights.  I was rudely awoken by a man on the street below loudly proclaiming he was God.  I grumbled about being dragged from dreams to that reality, but managed to get another three or four hours of rest before we got up to start our day.

We checked out of the hotel, and on the suggestion of the parking lot attendant, dropped our bag in the car (rather than paying for a storage locker) and headed out to our breakfast spot.  By that time, we had about an hour and a half to see what we wanted and get breakfast before we had to bail the car out of the parking lot.

Our first stop was the stationery store I had noted yesterday, but finding nothing I could not live without, we headed on for breakfast.  Since our visit to Melbourne in 2009, we have had breakfast at the same cafe on every trip to the city.  And we usually have the same order -- two eggs, any style, with toast, bacon, orange juice, and tea or coffee.  This time dearest changed up his order and had a spinach and feta pastry, but it was still our breakfast spot and I enjoyed it.

We made it back to the hotel's parking lot with about fifteen minutes to spare, and headed out of the city on our way home.  We discussed it and decided to stop at the Springvale Ikea on the way.  That was a whole other adventure.

A Bowl of Kicked-Up Comfort

Last night for dinner, I wanted comfort food, but a little different.  Dearest is a vegetarian, so I like to plan at least three vegetarian meals a week.  So I needed vegetarian, different, comfort food.  Looking through my cookbooks, I found a recipe for Chili with Cornmeal Dumplings.  Perfect!  It was comfort food with a twist.  The only problem was that the chili in the recipe was ground beef-based -- no good for the vegetarian meal I wanted.  But that recipe planted not only the idea, but the taste for chili with cornmeal dumplings in my head.  What could I do about it?

First, check the pantry.  Aside from staples, I had canned tomatoes, canned kidney beans, tomato paste and a variety of seasonings.  A search of the fridge yielded onions and garlic.  I had all the makings for chili.  My kicked-up comfort food dinner was on.

Vegetarian Chili with Cornmeal Dumplings

3 ounces tomato paste

1 teaspoon vegetable stock powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon chili powder

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon ground coriander

3/4 teaspoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1 small onion, chopped fine

2 gloves garlic, peeled and chopped fine

1 tablespoon oil

1 can kidney beans, undrained

1 can tomatoes, undrained

1 box corn muffin mix

2 teaspoons dried parsley

1 egg

1/3 cup milk

1/2 cup finely shredded sharp cheddar cheese

• Combine tomato paste and enough boiling water to make one cup. 
• Stir in vegetable stock powder, salt, chili powder, cumin, coriander, sugar and oregano. 
• Set aside. 
• In large pot (I used a dutch oven), saute onion and garlic in oil until onions are translucent and tender. 
• Add beans and tomatoes, and tomato paste mixture.
• Bring to a boil over medium heat.
• In bowl, mix corn muffin mix and parsley until lumps are broken and parsley is combined. 
• Add milk and egg, stirring until moistened. 
• Using half the corn muffin mix, make four dumplings by dropping tablespoons in the boiling chili. 
• Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 15 minutes, or until knife inserted in center of dumplings comes out clean.
• Bake remaining corn muffin mix according to package directions.
• Sprinkle hot chili with cheese before serving. 

Makes 4 servings

(501 calories/65 grams carbohydrates per serving -- 1 dumpling and 1/4 baked cornbread)

Adapted from:  "Chili and Dumplings," Better Homes & Gardens Jiffy Cooking, 1967 and "Vegetarian Chili with Cornbread Topping," Favorite Brand Name Vegetarian 3-Books-In-1, 2010

Getting Lost and S.A.D.

This weekend, dearest and I headed up to Melbourne overnight on Friday to attend a birthday party for a friend. More on the party and Friday's adventures later, but now, we'll talk about Saturday's big adventure:  we stopped at Ikea on the way home.  That was an adventure all unto itself.

The Springvale Ikea is the anchor at one end of a home-furnishings mall.  All the other stores in the mall sell either furniture or home-furnishings.  I think that alone is interesting -- the mall is anchored by Ikea, but the other stores are in direct competition with Ikea.  It surprises me that all the stores can stay in business.  Of course, the mall has only been open since last September, so the newness of it all hasn't worn off yet.

We didn't really plan the visit to Ikea, which we later found was probably a mistake -- we just decided on a whim to stop by, because it was on the way home.  We entered the parking lot (big bonus for having ample parking!) and found a spot.  Neither one of us are the kind of people who have to have the closest spot, and both of us quickly lose patience driving around parking lots, in the vain hope that there might be a spot.  We found a spot a bit away from the crowds, but still in the sight line of the door and set off to begin the adventure.

We entered the shopping mall at the end furthest from Ikea, and decided to wander through the shops as we came to them, rather than going straight to Ikea and backtracking.  We are shopping for bookshelves, and we stopped in almost every store that may have stocked shelving units.  We saw some options, but none that were perfect.  We want adjustable shelves, but also the option to purchase additional shelves.  As dearest noted, the shelves sold as "book shelves" are designed "vase height" not "book height."  And as you know if you have read this blog, what I have are books, not vases.  I need book shelves to be functional as book shelves, not as vase shelves.

So, on to Ikea.  Wow.  We entered the bottom floor, and went forward, not up.  My mother will tell you that I have to be contrary, that I have to buck the system.  She is right.  In college, I went to a walking track at the hospital, which had a sign posted indicating that on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, walking proceeded in a clockwise direction; Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays were counter-clockwise, and Sundays alternated.  I annoyed my friends regularly by pondering what would happen if I were the only person on the track and walked in the opposite direction to the day?  Yes, I am contrary.  So in true Lynn-fashion, my first introduction to Ikea was though the Ikea Food section and the checkouts.

We turned around and entered the store through the escalators like the thoughtful Swedish designers intended.  And what was the first thing we saw?  The most perfect bookshelves available right there, first display.  The shelves were displayed with real books, albeit Swedish versions, not the printed cardboard boxes most other stores use to indicate that the shelves may be used to store books.  Now that we found the perfect bookshelves, how do we buy them?

Ikea has thoughtfully painted arrows on the floor leading to, what I could only assume was the checkouts.  I had picked up a map/shopping list, but had really paid no attention to it, thinking that Ikea would be like other furniture showrooms and have salespeople on the floor ready, willing, and able to sell me all kinds of things I did not want or need all in the name of commissions.  I led dearest along the path of the black arrows, meandering our way deeper into the maze.  We finally came upon a salesperson and asked our questions and armed with the information, needed to head home to discuss our options.  The only problem is, once you have made a decision, or gathered the information necessary for decisions to be made, it is near impossible to head out without wandering through the entire store.

It took another 20 minutes to get to the restaurant cafe, which marked, what we thought was near the end, but we found was only the half-way point.  Down the escalators we traveled, hoping there was a direct route to the exit, but found only another maze, this time with arrows projected onto the polished concrete floor, rather than painted.  Another 40 or so minutes of wandering, and we were at the checkouts.  Here we were faced with an interesting situation -- there is no easy way out of Ikea if you are not making a purchase.  It seems that there is a toll, in the form of a purchase, that must be paid for the use of the air.  We managed to escape without a purchase, but only by declaring so to the self-checkout observer.  While we managed to wander through the main showroom and the warehouse without a purchase, we did not escape Ikea without purchasing anything.  Dearest bought a "festive Swedish drink" and I bought a "blueberry drink" for much needed re-hydration from the Ikea Food area.

Back out in the shopping mall, dearest found a JB HiFi, and needed a wander through the cd section to decompress.  I agreed to the request and off we went.

Some years ago, my younger brother and I were watching a science news show and there was a story on Seasonal Affective Disorder related depression research in Sweden.  The reporter on the story suggested several humorous reasons for the unusually high incidence of S.A.D. in Sweden:  the fact that there are no pubs in Sweden?  the shape of the Volvo?  I can now add another reason:  the idea of a visit to Ikea.

Actually though, I was glad we went.  And we will be going back, just as soon as we figure out the logistics of getting the perfect bookshelves home.  And I will be trying the Swedish Meatballs on the next visit.

In other news, I have been awarded The Versatile Blogger Award by Eva at Eva Bakes.  (Thank you so much, Eva!!!)  Please stop by and check out her recipes.  The homemade granola bars and 2-minute chocolate cakes are well worth testing out in your own kitchens.

According to the award rules, I need to:

1.  Thank the person who gave you this award.
2.  Include a link to their blog.
3.  Select 15 blogs/bloggers that you've recently discovered or follow regularly.
4.  Nominate those 15 bloggers for the Versatile Blogger Award.
5.  Tell the person who nominated you 7 things about yourself.
6.  In the same post, include the set of rules.
7.  Inform each nominated blogger of their nomination by posting a comment on each of their blogs.

As honored as I am to receive the award for something I do mainly for myself, I don't know that I have recently discovered or follow regularly 15 other blogs that either have not already received the Award, are eligible for, or open to the Award.    So I do not know to whom I would pass on the Award.  Sorry to be a party-pooper.

Now for 7 things about me:

1.  I collect crayons.  I have 8 boxes of 64, with the built-in sharpener, unopened and still pristine, as well as about 20 other boxes of assorted crayons, most of unopened and unused.  I still use the box of crayons I had in grade school.
2.  I tried out for the College Jeopardy! Tournament.  I did not make it past the first cut, despite the fact that I answered 48 of the 50 questions correctly.  I did, however, get a vacation at Disney World as a consolation prize.
3.  Despite the existence of this blog, I really prefer old school writing with pen and paper.
4.  I would really like to be a redhead, but I am too lazy to even consider having my hair colored, as I would never keep it up.
5.  I have had a Hollywood crush on Pierce Brosnan since I was 9 years old and saw him in Remington Steele.  I sat through the Tailor of Panama and Mars Attacks merely because he starred in both.
6.  I was born and grew up in New Orleans, but cannot peel a crawfish to save my life.  When I go to crawfish boils, I usually manage to peel about 5 so that they are edible, but generally eat substantially more corn and potatoes.
7.  I choreographed a tap-dance routine to the rhythm of the copier at the law office where I worked.  It was an intricate dance, with interludes for refilling the paper drawer and for clearing jams.