Plum Crazy for Vintage Pressed Glass Relish Dishes

Maybe because it is winter, but I have found a new love.  Vintage Press Glass Relish Dishes.  I have always loved glass.  It must run in the family (my brother is a stained glass artist and my house is filled with his work).  Or perhaps because when photographed by sometimes look like snowflakes when you look at them under a microscope. 

I like the feel of the different shapes and sizes, bumps and crevices.  Best of all, I like the memories they evoke from holidays past.  Looking at these dishes reminds me of the whole nuts (walnuts, almonds and the deep mahogany brazil nuts) that were always available (along with the nut cracker) in these dishes on end tables as people sat in various family members living rooms catching up.  Or the various assortment of olives (always from jars, and always green with pimento or black) on one side, and perhaps some pickles (gherkins, bread and butter, maybe dill) on the other.  Then the dishes filled with various hard candies always available at my grandmother’s house. 

As a kid, I never really appreciated the shapes and sizes that say so much about when they were made.  Some, such as this square dish, just screams l920s or l930s.  Others just say l940s or l950s.  Either way, they say warm memories of family holidays to me.

Cookbook Foraging

After several long months of being adrift, I am back in the saddle again on the thrifting and gaining momentum.  While the warmer months seem like the optimal time to meander in and out of thrift stores, I am finding that winter is the time I like best. It seems like a good enough thing to do to while away some time on a gray winter day.  And, there are few people out and no crowds (and it always involves going out to a diner for breakfast on a cold winter weekend).

I have gotten pretty psyched with many of my finds.  Like this originally published 1930 Savoy Cocktail book with its art deco illustrations in mint condition.

Or, this cookbook written by ‘Elsie the Cow’ from the 1950’s. The dust cover was in the book in bad shape, but the illustrations are priceless.

Finally, how about this cookbook devoted to recipes for edible insects?  At first I thought it was a joke, but it is a serious cookbook written by a noted academic with deep subject matter expertise on what insects are edible or not.  I imagine that this person is likely to be well known among ‘survivalists types’ but I doubt if my East Coast friends, besieged by Stink Bugs the past few years, knew that they are supposed to be delicious when roasted. Remember this during the next power outage when you run out of food…..a great gift to give people who bug you.

Recipe for "Stink Bug Pate"

(from "Creepy Crawly Cuisine" by Julieta Ramos-Elorduy, Ph.D.)

Despite their name, stink bugs are actually one of the most delectable insects.  Here, they add a unique flavor to a traditional pate.

1/3 pound roasted stink bugs

10 chicken livers

4 cloves garlic

1 small onion

1/8 tsp salt

Black Pepper, Oregano, Marjoram, Powdered Bouillon, and Olive Oil to taste

Saute the chicken livers in a saucepan with the garlic, onion, salt and pepper and cover.  Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes.  Remove the chicken livers and place in a blender or food processor, reserving the broth.  Add the roasted stink bugs and about 1/4 cup of the reserved broth and puree, adding more broth as needed, until the mixture is smooth and reaches a spreadable consistency.  Add spices and oil to taste.  Place in a wooden bowl and serve with crusty french bread.

By the way, I have never seen so many “In the Kitchen with Rosie” books in my life.  Poor  Rosie.  It is hard to believe this book is selling new for $12.00 when there must be a bazillion copies in thrift stores all over America.  I saw so many copies in each store that I started to pull them all together in each store so they would not be so lonely…..

No Yard Sales, A Cooking Slump – So Why Not Take Up Knitting?

Maybe because of the unbearably hot and humid weather, or my yardsale radar is down, but I am in a complete slump here with no place to pick cookware.  As a result, my cooking has completely gone into the yips, and my waistline expanding from the uninspiring take out food and BLTs (after all, what is summer without a couple of BLTs with Jersey tomatoes).  As a substitution, and perhaps as therapy to get myself back into some kind of creative groove, I have begun the process of re-teaching myself to knit and crochet.  As a young girl, I have many fond memories of crocheting, knitting and embroidering pillows, afghans, scarves – I even remember that I used to take my knitting to Red Sox games (in retrospective, I suppose that was a pretty geeky thing to do but like then, I cannot put the work down!  I am obsessed.)  In the course of one week, I have knit one afghan, started another, crocheted a potholder (yes, I am starting with the basics but I am practicing changing colors), started another, and my personal favorite – knit a pincushion, then felted it (my first!).  I love it.  Very Dr. Seuss-esque.  

My goal is to get decent enough to 'yarn bomb' cookware.  

Blueberry Jam and My Preserving Pan

July for me means it is time to make Blueberry Jam and Mint Jelly.  Unfortunately, the mint in our garden has been taking a beating from both the heat and some kind of bug so nix the mint jelly this year.  But Blueberries are such a “Jersey thing”.  If you drive down into South Jersey on Route 206 toward Hammonton you will see endless blueberry fields and stands selling blueberries and blueberry plants. 

And Blueberry Jam is so easy to make.  After the summer, opening a jar of Blueberry Jam takes you right back to those hot July days.  For the past twelve years I have been a total jamoholic.  I started a journal and began teaching myself how to make jam (I could not find a class to take at that time).  That first year I made 34 different jams and jellies; this year I am at 4 including taking (for the first time) the marmalade class in England.   At this point, I have collected over 25 books on preserving and jam making, but overall my favorites are always the British recipe books.  They are so much more authentic.

Over the years, I have learned a few things – but most important has been investing in a good preserving pan (one where you are fairly certain that you won’t burn the jam or have it spill over the sides of the pan when the jam is in the rapid boiling stage – all of which I have done.  Cleaning up jam off a stovetop is no fun task).   

My favorite pan is the one I bought from England back in 2000 when you could not really find a decent pan in the United States.  Today, you can find great pans (sometimes called Maslin pans) at William Sonoma, Lee Valley and Amazon, to name a few. Here’s to the summer of 2012 and another fine batch of Blueberry Jam – almost always guaranteed to be made in sweltering summer heat when the lilies are in bloom. 

A Heat Wave, A Watermelon and Some Time on my Hands

This weekend was bloody hot with temperatures hovering around 100 degrees. Lucky for me,  I had a watermelon sitting on the counter looking for something to do.  I could, of course, just cut it open and eaten it.  That would have been too practical and healthy.  Instead, a business colleague of mine was in town, visiting his sister who was celebrating her 50^th year as a Salesian Nun (Wow!) so I decided to break out the Cuisinart Ice Cream and Sorbet Maker (a ‘red’ beauty snagged by my husband Irv for $2 last year at a Catholic School Rummage Sale – I just realized the Catholic connection here as I am writing this – karma) and make sorbet.  Perhaps I gilded the lily too much, but instead of simple Watermelon Sorbet (last year’s attempt ended up all over the ceiling after I opened the blender lid while it was running – I think I still see the pink dots up there), but…

Watermelon-Jersey Strawberries with Sea Salt and Pepper Sorbet

1 ¼ cup sugar

1 ½ cup water

3 cups fresh watermelon puree

3 cups strawberry puree

Juice of one lime

Sea Salt and Coarse Ground Pepper

In a medium saucepan, bring the sugar and water to a boil.  Reduce the heat and simmer until the sugar is dissolved completely.  Set aside to cool.

Put watermelon chunks in a blender or food processor (keep the lid on!).  Pulse to chop the watermelon and process until it is completely pureed.  Press the watermelon through a strainer to remove the seeds and extra pulp.  Aim for three cups of strained watermelon puree.  Put strawberries (fresh or frozen, I had some local strawberries that I had frozen) in a blender or food processor.  Pulse to puree the strawberries and process until completely pureed.  Aim for three cups.   Combine the purees with the juice of one lonely, soon to be happily married lime and cooled sugar syrup.  Chill in refrigerator for one hour or many more.  Pour into the freezer bowl of your hopefully bought-at-a-yard-sale ice cream maker and whirr away.  Add sea salt and coarsely ground pepper as it is whirring and making all kinds of noise.  Eat right out of the freezer compartment or put the sorbet directly into a container (better yet, a snagged - unused please - Whole Foods take out soup container) and freeze.  Serve when the temperature is too hot to sit outside, but you still want to sit outside because it is summer.  Nobody complained about the sorbet (just the weather).   Enjoy!

Bringing Home Baby tashtego

This June we welcomed tashtego into our hearts and into our yard.  This cause for celebration gave me the impetus to try and make a very large paella on the grill using charcoal (enough for 20). 

tashtego sailing in the back yard

 It was a bit dicey -- I forgot that you had to level the grill (I had it on cinder blocks so it was up higher), and oh, the coals burned so fast it almost stopped cooking in the middle (remedy: lift pan,  add more charcoal!).  A little burned on the bottom (again, remedy:  take off the grill before it burns), but great all the same.

Simmering paella

The almost finished paella