Cat, Interrupted

Today I was innocently sitting in our library, getting ready to watch No Reservations with Anthony Bourdain. When what to my wondering eyes should appear? My cat. My cat who apparently decided that sitting on the desk, and incidentally blocking my view of the TV, was the right thing to do.

Ah, even the guy on the television is trying to see over the cat. Maybe I shouldn't have the cat's glass of drinking water sitting there?

And Midnight is completely oblivious to the fact that he is interrupting my time with Anthony Bourdain. Bad kitty.

Meat and Potatoes, Again?

As it is becoming more and more of a rarity for our family to be able to eat dinner together, I try to make those occasions memorable. Now, my husband is a meat and potatoes kind of guy and he really doesn't appreciate having that tried and true formula messed with. So of course, I do what I can to spice things up. Today's offering? Argentine steak with Chimichurri Sauce and a Potato Bar.

Chimichurri sauce is to Argentinians what catsup is to Americans.

I opted for Emeril Lagasse's recipe for Cimichurri Sauce.

Unfortunately, black swallowtail caterpillars are attacking my flat-leaf parsley, so I decided to halve this recipe. As this still made quite a bit of sauce, that ended up being a good call on my part.



And no, I have no intentions of moving or harming the caterpillars. I can share. (Besides, by the looks of these guys, they are about to pupate, so they won't be eating much more of my parsley anyway.)

So here are my players for the sauce: chopped garlic, shallot, basil, oregano and flat-leaf parsley. Extra virgin olive oil, red wine vinegar and freshly squeezed lemon juice are in the mini-processor bowl. Freshly cracked black pepper, sea salt and red pepper flakes will also be added.

The ingredients are ready for processing.

And now you can see why I just knew that I should have ignored the recipe and gone with my instincts. The olive oil should have been added at the last, being slowly drizzled in while the processor ran so that it could form an emulsion. But, since I followed the recipe as written, I ended up with an oil slick on the top of the sauce. Listen to your instincts, folks.

Now we're moving on to the Baked Potato Bar. First, I fried up some bacon. Set aside, and reserve the bacon grease in the pan.

Add some sliced Crimini mushrooms and saute in the bacon grease. At the very end I add in some chopped chives, thyme and rosemary. Remove the mushrooms from the pan and set aside.

And here we have the Chimichurri sauce and some of the toppings for the Baked Potato Bar. In the dish are the bacon, mushrooms, chopped green onion, minced celery, finely shredded carrot and broccoli florets. Diced chives, sour cream, shredded sharp cheddar and mozzarella cheeses round out the Baked Potato Bar toppings.

And finally two boneless rib eye steaks are added to the hot pan. The steaks are seasoned simply with kosher salt and black pepper. Cook to desired doneness and set aside, covered, to rest before slicing.

This was a nice, filling dinner. In fact, it was so filling that we three only ended up eating one of the steaks. Oh goody. Left overs for me for lunch.

And I'm definitely emulsifying the Chimichurri Sauce next time.

Shrimp Salad

Now this is a dish that I have been wanting to try for some time. And today was the day. As I didn't feel like dealing the the monkey business that is phyllo dough, I bought some pre-made phyllo cups. Other than that? This is a serious business of cutting and dicing and cooking and peeling.

I opted to follow Paula Deen's recipe for Shrimp Salad in Phyllo Cups.

Here we have pre-made phyllo cups, black pepper, salt, mayonnaise, pre-cooked (raw) shell-on shrimp, celery, lemon and green onion.

I heated some water to boiling and then added a splash of white wine and a pinch of salt. The shrimp cook quickly and it is important to watch this carefully. Over-cooked and rubbery shrimp is never a good thing.

As soon as the shrimp are finished cooking, immediately immerse them in an ice bath to stop the cooking process.

Once the shrimp have cooled, peel them and set the shell and tail aside. These discarded parts will then be bagged and frozen for later use in a seafood stock.

Then we chop. And chop. And chop. And, man are my arms sore now. And isn't this cutting board in real need of a good scrubbing now?

Mix together 1/2 cup mayonnaise, 1/2 cup minced celery, 1 tablespoon minced green onion, 1-1/2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper.

Add in the 2 cups of finely chopped cooked shrimp and mix gently.

Fill the phyllo cups and serve immediately.

It is a very good idea to set this dish over ice while it awaits the diners.

As there was filling left over, I placed the remaining shrimp salad in a bowl and provided crackers as an alternate version of this dish.

Our response? The phyllo dough was not substantial enough to hold its own against the shrimp salad filling. In the end, we much preferred the shrimp salad topped on crackers.

I will make this recipe again, but will make it as a dip with crackers rounding out the dish.

Home Alone Again, Part II

Now, you would think that my family would know better by now, but apparently not. For, once again I have been left to my own devices. Let's see what mischief I can come up with in the kitchen today.

How about some Bananas Foster? That sounds like a plan to me.

Here I have some light rum, bananas, brown sugar, vanilla extract, ground cinnamon and unsweetened, unsalted butter.

Melt the butter and brown sugar and cinnamon in a pan. For one serving, I would use one tablespoon of butter, 2 tablespoons brown sugar and 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon.

Cut the banana into thirds and then lengthwise in half. Cook briefly in the melted sugar mixture.

Pour 3 tablespoons rum in a bowl or cup. Now you can pour the rum into the pan. If you are cooking over a live flame, remove the pan from the fire to prevent accidents.

Stand back and light the rum. Allow the flame to burn out before continuing. Add 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract and stir to mix in.

Serve over vanilla ice cream. Rich and sweet and decadent.

That will teach my family to leave me home alone.

Moon Flower and Canna

Earlier this year I had received some moon flower seeds from my dear friend Rosie Hawthorne. She is an avid lover of this night-blooming flower and wanted to share this plant with me. I followed her directions to soak the seeds overnight before planting and then waited patiently. And waited, and waited. As it turns out, the moon flower is a slow germinating plant. Finally one of the seven seeds did begin to grow and the vine emerged from the pot. And now my patience has finally been rewarded.

It is late evening and the flower is opening.

Just a couple of hours later and the flower is open for business.

Moon flowers are pollinated by nocturnal moths. As with most night-pollinated flowers, the true moon flower is white.

The flower only lasts the one evening and wilts the next day.

Thank you so much, Rosie, for sharing this beautiful flower with me!

Looks a bit like a Georgia O'Keeffe painting.

Meanwhile, one of my cannas is sporting rather intriguing seed pods.

I like these almost as much as the flowers.

Home Alone Again

Let's see: it's Friday night, so the daughter is managing at her old high school's football game and the husband is at a bean supper up in Indianapolis (can I tell you how glad I am that the wives are not invited to that particular meal?). So that means that I have once again been left home alone. Who knows what sorts of trouble I can get into? Luckily for my family - and you - I decided to confine my mischief to the culinary arena.

Hmm, leftovers and imagination just might make for an interesting dinner.

I have some left over mustard glazed pork loin, some veggies from the fridge, a snack-size container of pineapple in juice, some pecans, a package of Udon noodles and some rice vinegar and sweet chili sauce. I think I'm sensing a sweet and sour pork dish here.

I chopped up all of my ingredients before heating some canola oil in a skillet. This is a quick-cooking meal so all the prep work should be done beforehand.

I added a chopped clove of garlic and some red pepper flakes to the line-up.

The onion, carrot and celery go in to the skillet first.

Now the cauliflower and broccoli join in the fun.

Both the pineapple chunks and the juice are added to the pan. At this point I also threw in a pinch of red pepper flakes.

The Udon noodles are soft so I didn't bother with boiling them first. I did set aside the seasoning packet, though. I have no need of mystery seasonings.

At this point the pork loin was also added.

I then tossed in about half a teaspoon of brown sugar, a splash of Aji-Mirin, a splash of rice vinegar and a glop of sweet chili sauce.

This is now ready for service. And can I tell you? This was good. The chili gave a nice bit of heat while the small amount of sugar and Aji-Mirin added just a hint of sweetness. There was no heavy, gloppy sauce to overwhelm the dish and the palate.

Maybe my family should leave me alone at home more often.

The Fourth Street Festival Returns to Bloomington

One local event that I look forward to every year is the 4th Street Festival. This is a nationally recognized arts fair and it pulls in artists from as far away as Florida and New Mexico.

It's still early, but already the crowds are building. Oddly enough, people even bring their dogs to this event.

Will play for money.

Will play for free.

Not to be outdone, the fire department has its own bagpipe player.

After laying down a good bit of money, I think it's high time I left this festival behind.

And by the way, when was the last time you asked what payment someone required for a purchase and they tell you that they would let you go home and write them a check if you don't have the money on hand at the moment? Luckily for the out-of-town artist, I did have the required cash so I could pay for my beautiful oval Shaker box.

Let's take a little detour on the way back to the car. This sight is well known in Bloomington. I wish they would come take care of my garden.

Every year many Wave Petuniastm and trailing vinca are planted in these window boxes.

The old county courthouse.

And what's that on top? A fish? No one really knows why a fish was chosen for the weather vane. But the fish is there and the community has embraced the fish.