“The only paradise is paradise lost.” – Marcel Proust
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Hurricane Sandy, Day Two - Copied from Lynne
This is a photo of our driveway on the other side. We have a circular drive and thankfully we don’t use this part very much.
I am blogging from Rick’s iPad since I guess I was a bad girl and have not been syncing my iPad with my computer so that my version of BlogPress is not working. Sigh.
We survived the night. The wind was ferocious last night. We started off by sleeping downstairs but woke up about an hour after going to bed and hearing that the wind had died down, we went back upstairs to our own bed for the remainder of the night.
If I had seen the sight I saw this morning of our neighbors’ (Kim and Mark) trees down across the road I might have stayed downstairs!
So far we got the generator running and right now the fridge is plugged in. It’s still raining outside and pretty gray, so not a lot of lot is coming in to the house. I am typing by lantern light at the moment in the kitchen.
We have a fire going in the wood stove and I just put a tea kettle full of water on it to heat up for either washing a few dishes or a little sponge bath.
We walked down our street and saw lots of trees down.
But the worst thing we saw was the major road and all the trees and power lines down on it. This was the same exact spot where our power problem was last year in the October snowstorm!!
Last time it looked like this it took us five days to get our power back. Not looking good!!
In the meantime we are safe and warm. We plan on reading around the wood stove and maybe we’ll put a puzzle together.
Rick’s company is closed again today and we know that they don’t have power, so until power is restored down in Wayne he won’t be going to work.
We got coffee perked on our butane burner and ate biscuits that Rick baked yesterday. Not sure what lunch will be. Grilled cheese sandwiches? Soup?
Apologies in advance for any typos!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Posted under: Stuff You Gotta Know! • by Rick on 10/30/2012 at 08:12 AM
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Sunday, October 21, 2012
Chicken Liver Paté
Yesterday, in preparation for the upcoming holidays, I made a batch of chicken liver paté. This time I used a recipe from Emeril Lagasse. In the past, I’ve used a somewhat different recipe, which I modify slightly.
In either recipe, start with fresh raw chicken livers, cleaned of any “hangy on bits”, rinsed well, and marinated in milk for a couple of hours. The milk marinade removes the gamey-ness of the livers and makes for a milder flavored paté.
While marinating, prepare your other ingredients: a cup of finely chopped yellow onion (about one small onion); two teaspoons of finely chopped garlic (two large cloves); two tablespoons of green peppercorns (drained); two bay leaves; a teaspoon of fresh thyme leaves, chopped.
After marinating, drain the livers well. While they are draining, sauté the yellow onion in four tablespoons of butter. When softened, add finely chopped garlic and cook until fragrant. Add the chicken livers, half of the peppercorns, the bay leaves, thyme, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/2 teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper.
Sauté for about 5 minutes until the livers are brown on the outside, but if you cut into one, still pink in the middle. Add 1/4 cup of Cognac and continue cooking until the juices are reduced and the livers are just cooked through.
Remove from the heat, allow to cool for a while then add to a food processor and puree until smooth. Add the remaining 4 tablespoons of butter, one at at time and pulse to blend well. Remove blade from the processor scraping all the goodness from it. Stir in the remaining tablespoon of green peppercorns.
Pour into 3 or 4 small ramekins and cover well with plastic wrap. Place in the refrigerator for at least six hours.
Serve spread on toast and a nice red wine or champagne. A bit of chopped parsley dresses it up some. Cornichons are a great accompaniment.
Posted under: Food and Cooking • by Rick on 10/21/2012 at 06:24 AM
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Sunday, October 07, 2012
Chicken in a Pot
Sometimes Lynne and I really struggle with what to cook for dinner. “What do you feel like?” … “I don’t know.” … “Well? Fish? Seafood? Chicken? Pork? Beef? A salad?”
We were engaged in this dialog yesterday when we settled quickly on Chicken in a Pot. The recipe is a way to slow cook a roaster chicken in its own juices, flavored by a bit of aromatic veggies and some herbs. It always comes out moist and delicious and it makes its own gravy. If you like crisp skin, you won’t get it with this recipe.
We decided to cook the Hen-in-the-Woods mushroom we found in our back yard, along with some glazed carrots and mashed potatoes to accompany the chicken. If you are a member of Lynne’s blog and have been keep up with it, you know the story of the mushroom. If not, I’ll just say that we found a delicious, edible mushroom in the back yard and decided to pick it for this dish.
In this blog post, I’ll walk you through the preparation of the meal.
First, do the prep work. Coarsely chop the aromatics—a small onion, a rib of celery and a few cloves of garlic. You’ll want a sprig of rosemary and a bay leaf too.
Next, wash the chicken in cold water, trim any feathers and fat, dry thoroughly with paper towels and liberally sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Heat some olive oil in a Dutch oven large enough to hold the chicken and put the chicken in, breast side down. Put in the aromatics and herbs and cook about 5 or 6 minutes until the breast has browned slightly and the vegetables start to soften.
Then, using a wooden spoon or two, turn the chicken over. Continue to cook for another 5 or 6 minutes, stirring the vegetables occasionally. You want them to start to caramelize and brown some.
Then remove from the heat and cover with aluminum foil and a tight-fitting lid. (You don’t want any steam to escape during the cooking.)
Place the pot on the bottom rack in an oven preheated to 250°F. Let it cook for 90 minutes or more for a really big chicken like this one. When it is done, remove from the pot, tent with foil and allow it to stand for 15 or 20 minutes.
Meantime pour the drippings in the pot into a degreaser and allow to sit for 5 minutes. Pour the degreased liquid into a sauce pan, squeeze in half a lemon and allow to simmer to reduce. This juice is wonderful spooned over the sliced chicken and mashed potatoes.
When the chicken in about 15 or 20 minutes from coming out of the oven, prepare you potatoes and carrots. For the potatoes, I just cut a couple of yellow potatoes into chunks, put into salted water and bring to a boil. Cook until they are tender and easily pierced with a small knife. Drain, put through a ricer back into the pot they were cooked in, add some butter a little milk, salt and pepper and stir to combine and keep warm.
For the carrots, scrub to clean, cut into 1/8” slices on a diagonal, sauté in a little butter for a few minutes. Add, a little chicken or beef broth and a pinch of brown sugar. Toss in a sprig of thyme. Salt and pepper to taste and simmer until reduced to a glaze. Keep warm.
For the mushrooms, turn the hen over and trim out the stem. Then gently separate each lobe. Wash or brush to clean (don’t worry if there is a little dirt left.) Dry on paper towels. Heat a splash of olive oil in a skillet, when hot add the mushrooms and sauté until they just start to brown. Add a tablespoon of butter, some chopped rosemary and thyme, salt and pepper and toss to coat in the melted butter. Remove to paper towels to dry and serve warm.
When everything is done, cut the chicken, plate it along with potatoes with some juice, carrots, mushrooms. And, you have a great meal!
Posted under: Food and Cooking • Mushroom Articles • by Rick on 10/07/2012 at 09:29 AM
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Wednesday, October 03, 2012
Rain, rain and more rain
Just a note to document the tremendous rain we’ve had the past couple of days. Over 2” yesterday and a good start on that again today. It was cool and damp enough last night that Lynne built our first fire of the year in the fireplace. All the rain is bringing out some mushrooms. We saw a Hen of the Woods in the back lot the other day but chose not to pick it since we had nothing in the meal plan that called for it. I hope it grows again next year. Lynne saw a big Chicken Mushroom up at Skyline the other day.
Posted under: New Jersey • Stuff You Gotta Know! • by Rick on 10/03/2012 at 09:09 AM
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Thursday, September 20, 2012
Pool is Closed for 2012
Yesterday, Dennis closed the pool. We had a very nice pool season this year, just wish it lasted longer. We are thinking about adding a heat-pump next year to keep the water warm a few extra weeks and extend the season until the leaves start to fall.
Fall starts this weekend, so that means we are now working to move firewood under the deck and other preparations for cooler weather. Already the temperatures at night are quite cool. Lynne had to run the heater a few days ago to take the chill off the house after leaving windows open all night. Soon, leaves will begin to fall and that means weekly cleanup using Johnny to vacuum them up. It also means mushroom season—maybe we’ll find some. Nice slow tours of Green Turtle Pond in the canoe. And comfort food made with fall vegetables. Yum.
Posted under: New Jersey • Stuff You Gotta Know! • by Rick on 09/20/2012 at 05:14 AM
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