Friday afternoon ended with a lovely massage. After a very hectic week at the office, there's not much better way to spend some time on a Friday! Then, I had to go shopping. Now, unlike a lot of my friends I do NOT have the shopping gene. Unless, of course, it means shopping for cookbooks or my gardens... The pocket in my purse where I stash my car keys, keys to my other two offices, modem, good pen, and assorted other "sharp" objects had sprung a leak. EVERYTHING had worked its way through the hole and was now under the lining of my purse. I'd discovered it Thursday evening when I'd worked way late and just wanted to get home. Connie and I'd driven separately so I was at the office by myself. I'd locked my office door behind myself and headed for the front door of the office. No keys. ARGH! I rummaged and rooted to no avail. Finally in desperation I headed to my admin's desk and emptied my purse. I could feel them but not get them. Fine then. Scissors it was. A few snips and the whole lining of my purse was split. And, my keys were in hand. Now, I had to deal with replacing the purse. Ugh! That meant shopping. So, Friday I was off to Macy's to find a purse. Two separate pockets, both of which zip. Black. Strap I can carry over my shoulder. Not much to ask, eh? Well, there was ONE purse that met my requirements. Ok, fine then, it'd do.
On my way home I detoured to Goodwill. My friends Pete and Roby came up with a brilliant idea a few years ago. When they take her famous rum cake to a party, they use a plate they've bought at Goodwill. No messing with paper plates that bend, fold and crinkle. No Styrofoam that's so incredibly bad for the environment. Just a one of a kind plate. We're heading to three parties and I'm taking Lizzy Do's famous mounds bars. Here's my link to them: Kate's. And, here's her link: Liz. I wanted three plates. Lucky me. I found three plain, white plates that'd be perfect. And, on the way past the cookbooks, I finally bought a classic I've never owned, Marcella's Italian Kitchen. For all of $2.49 :-) Shopping trip over, time to head home and fix dinner.
It was one of those I can't find a recipe nights. So, we improvised. Our friends Tom and Barb had given us a few homegrown sweet potatoes. I'd not yet found the perfect recipe for them. We had leftover pulled pork. The two might just combine with an apple (also from Tom and Barb) and some shallot to make a wonderful sweet potato hash. Topped with a fried egg. Connie had mentioned that cranberry sauce sometime soon would be good. I'd read a recipe for spiced cranberry sauce. But, it must be in the mountain of recipes in the office ready to be scanned in. Fine then. I'd make both up.
The cranberry sauce was first. Whiskey and orange juice would be good with warm spices. Brown sugar was a must. And, maybe a hint of chipotle pepper... It worked! Then, on to the hash. Peel, dice and cook the sweet potatoes. Saute the apples and some shallot in butter. Drain and add the sweet potatoes. Something was missing. How about some Italian seasoning It's actually a mix called Renaissance rub.
What did we think? Both were a four on a scale of one to five. As Connie said, fives are reserved for something we could pretty much eat every day. Like slices of happiness. We did add a bit of Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce to the hash. It was still a four. Very good but I wouldn't want it every day...
Spiced Cranberry Sauce
Ingredients:
2 lbs fresh cranberries
1/2 c brown sugar
1 heaping tablespoon orange juice concentrate
2 T whiskey
1/4 t chipotle chili powder
1 t ground allspice
1/4 t cardamom
Directions:
Mix all the ingredients in a large saucepan. Cook, stirring frequently, until the cranberries have mostly popped and the mixture has thickened.
Sweet Potato and Pulled Pork Hash
Ingredients:
4 small or 2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
1 lb pulled pork
1 large apple, diced
1 shallot, minced
2 T butter
1 T Italian seasoning
salt and pepper to taste
4 fried eggs
Directions:
Cook the sweet potatoes in boiling, salted water until just tender. It'll take 5-8 minutes.
While those are cooking, melt the butter in a large saucepan and add the shallot and apple. Saute just until softened.
In yet another pan, small skillet this time, fry four eggs. Drain the sweet potatoes and add those to the apple and shallot along with the pulled pork and Italian seasoning. Stir gently to mix . Serve a mound of hash topped with a fried egg.
Well, let's talk about everything we've missed talking about.
Connie had a birthday. Not one of the big ones but we celebrated nonetheless. Three dishes and three cocktails. Loved the meal. Haven't blogged about it yet... In truth, I can't find the recipes now...
Drove the Natchez Trace to a conference in New Orleans. Amazing food and drinks. Except for the food at the conference hotel - Hyattt by the Superdome. Go to Borgne but do not stay at that hotel. The food was the worst conference food I've EVER had. And, I go to a LOT of conferences! New Orleans, however, was stellar. Antiones, Commanders Palace, Arnauds. Oh, yeah.
Had a party. 90+ people at our house for a pitch-in. We did BBQ from Black Diamond. Except, we found out on Friday that we'd have 90+ instead of 70+ and we couldn't add to our order. On to Sam's to purchase six racks of ribs. Many dishes that I want the recipe for. YUMMM
Went to Michigan for a long weekend with our friends Chris and Mark. Saugatuck and the Hungry Village Tour. AMAZING! Then, on to Grand Rapids for the Meijer Gardens and the Gerald Ford Museum. One fabulous B and B and one we'll not be back to.
Family party at my brothers where he cooked the PERFECT summer dinner. Yup, it just doesn't get better than bbq chicken, corn on the cobb, sliced cucumbers, salad, cheesy bacon potatoes and pickled beets.
Now, if I was to do a blog on all of those I'd still be typing tomorrow morning when I'm supposed to be at the office for the first of six appointments. With an internet that's running at maybe 25% of what it's supposed to be doing. Painful. So, let me tell you about the ribs and the leftovers from the party. Oh, and a few photos from the party. Of course.
Back in 1994, Cheryl and Bill Jamison published Smoke and Spice. I bought it that year. It was my first true barbecue cookbook and is still my favorite one. I've tried rubs, marinades, sauces, entrees, side dishes. They've all been wonderful. So, when we wound up with a herd of ribs to cook at the last minute, I turned to Smoke and Spice. I'd already decided to use the Maple Mustard Porter mop and sauce we made a couple of months ago. Nice warm spices, thyme, brown sugar. Those were the flavors I was looking for. They were there. In a rub recipe called Sweet Sensation rub that I first used back in May, 1997. It was labeled, "WOW" back then. Same applies today.
Here are a few shots of the party:
Then, we had leftovers. Lots of our friends left goodies. Sue left half a pan of baked beans. These weren't just any baked beans. They were so good that Connie stopped me in the hall outside our offices and asked who'd brought them and could I get the recipe because they were the BEST beans he'd ever had. I had to agree. Sammy and Sarah left chorizo mac and cheese. Killer. Just killer. There was another half pan of REALLY good mac and cheese. And, Nancy and Roy left some of her German potato salad. That I don't share. Connie says he's not that fond of potatoes so I take that as a green light to hoard the potato salad all for myself. It's the best I've ever had. There was a big tub of a yummy bean, corn and red bell pepper salsa. I have NO clue who brought that. We also had some of Becky and Dave's loaded baked potato salad. Yummy! Brett and Gabe left a huge bowl of pimento cheese. Not only is this one of our favorites, but Brett kicks it up with jalapenos and other goodies. Connie said please, please, please get the recipe. I've already got it somewhere in my email. Thank goodness! We had part of a pan of mostly pulled pork with a few flecks of beef brisket mixed in. The meat was a bit crispy and dried out but I'm too Scotch to toss that. As Connie said, it was kind of reminiscent of burnt ends. We had a few ribs left. Last, but not least, there were a few dried out pieces of smoked chicken. So, an overload of protein and carbs. What to do?
Lunch Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday was ribs and baked beans. Normally after two times I'm done. Not quite sure I'm done after three even though we're out of beans... Yes, I'll share the recipe as soon as I get it. This will go to family dinners and be devoured!
Monday night was pulled pork and pimento cheese sliders. On the side we had carbs, carbs and carbs. And, boy oh boy was it all good!
Tuesday night some of the pulled pork got mixed into some of the mac and cheese along with some pimento cheese and milk. The whole shebang was topped with toasted panko crumbs and baked. The only thing missing was some red peppers. Either roasted red bell or peppadews or another red pepper would've added a bit more pizazz.
Wednesday night was hot smoked chicken and pulled pork salad. Topped with shredded cheddar and crumbled bagel chips that Brett had brought for the pimento cheese. We paired that with a cherry cherry tomato salsa. Yes, there are two cherries in that description. I'll share those recipes in another post...
Sweet Sensation Rub
1/4 c ground allspice
1/4 c brown sugar
1/4 c onion powder
2 T salt
2 t ground nutmeg
2 t ground cinnamon
2 t dried thyme
Indy just hit a new record! For the snowiest winter on record :-( We are all SO very tired of the snow. Late last week I looked at our calendar and realized that the next opportunity for grocery shopping MIGHT be Sunday. And, there wasn't time in between for much cooking. But, we did want to eat - LOL. So, I suggested to Connie that we stop at Black Diamond Barbecue on the way home. It's our favorite and it's on the way home. Super double bonus.
We picked up beef brisket, pulled pork, mac and cheese, greens and green beans. Wednesday was a feast. Thursday and Friday weren't bad at all.
Thursday I headed south to my Columbus office. My first appointment was at 10 and my second wasn't until 1:00. So, I took goodies for lunch. Then, as I was talking with Daryl and Dot during my 10 appointment, they found out that I'd never been to Shorty's. Off to Shorty's we went. It seems that Shorty is long gone and the place is now owned by the ladies who run the kitchen. They specialize in pork tenderloins. Not the platter-sized, pre-formed mell of a hesses you get all too often. These are nice sized pieces of pork that fit on the bun. Novel concept. I bought an extra tenderloin to take back to Connie. My thought was a pork-a-licious sandwich for dinner.
We had some leftover onion buns to go with all that fabulous pulled pork. I fried a bit of bacon with garlic and pepper sprinkled on it, toasted the buns and put together some really fun sandwiches.
Friday we had tickets to see Steel Magnolias at Civic Theatre. It's a mere 9 miles from our home. But, you see, the 1-2" of snow predicted was turning out to be 5". Indy streets were a mell of a hess. And, to top things off, it was Valentines Day. So, we knew there'd be no running in and ordering fast at any restaurant! Leftovers it was. This time, I made savory French toast with some cayenne and grated Gruyere in the batter. Then, I sautéed a diced portabella mushroom and mixed it in with some of the leftover mac and cheese. We made open faced sandwiches like this:
Good thing we left the office a bit early and didn't make a huge production out of dinner because our short drive took 54 minutes! The other good thing is that Civic realized a lot of folks were in the same situation we were in and held the start for about 10 minutes. That meant we didn't miss a minute of this fabulous play. The casting was about as perfect as you can get. The set was just amazing. And, the acting was great. We absolutely loved it!!
Saturday was a long day at the office. I had LOTS of appointments the next week to prepare for. And, I had loads to do to finish up from last week's appointments. We had tickets to see I Love Lucy at a venue downtown. Needless to say our first thought was to go to our dear friend, Chef Joseph's restaurant. Then, we parked by the Murat and started hiking. The sidewalks were barely cleared. We were done walking. The closest place would have to do. It was Shiraz Wine Bar and Art Café. Ok, so I'm going to be critical here. Really critical. I don't expect this place to be around long. Initially we were the only two patrons. The waiter said he was a friend of the owner's and was helping out so please excuse him if he was a bit rusty. Rusty? Both James the waiter and Patty the owner had NO clue about the wine menu. I asked if the Pommery Pink Bubbles was sweet. That led to a lost cause of a search. No, they didn't have any. Some tv show had featured it and it was way overpriced but folks wanted it... Enough already. I never did find out how sweet it was... How about your Pinot Noirs? Well, in addition to those on the menu we have this one. We were handed a bottle plus a written explanation. Nothing verbal. Ok, so you really don't know what you're selling here. We'd asked when we walked in if they had food. Yes, tonight we actually have entrees. Great. So, we've got lasagna and chicken scampi. How much are they? I don't know, I'll have to ask the owner. We finally found a little board with the menu. $15 including salads. The menu also listed a charcuterie board and olives. By this time Patty had shown up. So I asked her about the charcuterie board. Well, it's whatever cheese she wants to put on it plus ham and salami and olives. The olives sounded good. We ordered olives and two entrees. Pretty soon we had a bowl of olives. Green olives. No pimentos. Cold green olives. Ugh. The breadsticks were great. Tasted like Olive Garden's. Oh, and what I didn't mention was that we ordered a bottle of the Pinot Noir that wasn't on the menu. I actually got a great shot of the taste.
Then, James poured the glasses. And, poured. And poured. About twice the appropriate amount. The kind of pour you'd like when you order a glass of wine and WANT TO GET AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE. But, not the amount you want when you've ordered a bottle of wine and want to enjoy every bit of it. Our salads appeared. With snow peas. Enough snow peas for Connie and Kate and a dozen of our friends. And, maybe their families. It tasted like soggy salad with snow peas added in. Before we'd even gotten through half of our salads, our entrees appeared. The chicken scampi pasta had angel hair and rotini. Interesting mix. The lasagna was good. Cold, but good. James came back by and offered to top off our wines. Connie said thanks but he'd handle it. By that time I was debating how tacky it would be to tell Patty exactly what we thought. She walked by, I opened my mouth and offered some constructive criticism. Turns out she wants to have a wine bar but not do the food. But, she says, Hoosiers want food. Well, and I can tell you that having a nice appetizer menu will help sell wine. The salad was indeed soggy salad with snow peas added in. And, yes the breadsticks tasted like Olive Garden's. That's where she'd gotten them. Totally frustrating. It was a great space with a nice wine list. Something that Mass Ave needs. But, what it really needs is a proprietor who wants to offer the public what they want... Otherwise, she's out of business!
Monday it was back to normal. More snow. Ice too. Connie skipped bridge. I had to scramble a bit for dinner. There was still some mac and cheese. And a serving each of collards and green beans. I had a palmful of pulled pork. And, ground beef to make glop for Tuesday evening. That's when I'm teaching my Social Security class so we're at the office til about 9pm. I figured I could use a little bag of cooked ground beef from the freezer and mix it with half of the newly browned ground beef. That'd leave quarter pound burgers. Ah, but they'd be a third of a pound if I added in the little bit of leftover pulled pork. Sold. Then, I looked at the mac and cheese and wondered about adding some blue cheese. And, a tablespoon of browned pancetta. That'd work. And, it did. Connie gave the mac and cheese a five. Me too. And, unfortunately, thanks to a crazy afternoon I was focused on getting dinner on the table and not taking photos... But, suffice to say - toss a bit of blue cheese in your mac and cheese. Your taste buds will thank you.
