Archive for the ‘Food Stuff’ Category

Replicating Nyel’s gazpacho recipe! (Maybe.)

Wednesday, August 16th, 2023

Nyel’s Gazpacho Recipe

There was a lot of peeling and chopping and dicing and pulsing in my kitchen this afternoon.  And laughing and wondering, too.  My neighbor, Carol, came over to assist me with a recipe for a soup she’d never heard of and one I’d never attempted.  After all, it was Nyel’s recipe and he, of course, was the chef extraordinaire of the household.

Gazpacho!  It’s  a spicy soup that is usually made from chopped raw vegetables (such as tomato, onion, pepper, and cucumber) and is served cold.  Year in and year out, I never think of it — until the weather turns hot and my taste buds get to hankerin’… Plus, there is no such thing as making “a little” gazpacho as far as I know.  So with house guests coming for a weekend which promises to be sunny (and maybe still hot), I got out Nyel’s recipe box and… voila!  (Almost.)

Carol Wachsmuth – July 10, 2016

The problem as I (the non-cook of the family) saw it, was that the “recipe” was simply a list of ingredients with their amounts and a one-word direction saying “pulse.”  So, I called Carol.  “Do you have a food processor?” she asked.  “Maybe…” was my unsatisfactory answer, “but I’m not sure where it might be.”

She realized way before I did how hopeless things  were and she said, I’ll bring mine over and we’ll make the recipe together.  Which we did, though it was mostly Carol.  “Do you think the cucumber (or tomato or red bell pepper) chunks should be bigger than this?” she would ask. “Well, I’ve seen them bigger… but I’ve also seen gazpacho that is completely smooth,” was my less-than-helpful answer.  And then we’d laugh some more.

End result:  it looks beautiful; it tastes terrific; by Friday night dinner it will have blended to perfection!  (At least, I hope so.)  Bless Carol!  Bless Nyel!  And bless whoever “invented” gazpacho.  In fact, gazpacho predates the 16th century arrival of tomatoes (and peppers) in Europe; most culinary historians say that its roots go back to Islamic Spain, sometime between the 8th and 13th centuries.  So there you have it!

 

Toaster Report: Part II

Friday, June 9th, 2023

Boxes for storage or for return?

A message in yesterday’s email said that my new toaster would arrive in the evening and, even though I had managed to toast those bagels perfectly in the oven, I was looking forward to an entirely new wide-slot toasting experience.  “But,” I said to myself, “I don’t think I’ll get rid of this old ToastMaster.  Not yet.”

So, I unplugged it and turned it upside down to open the crumb tray and give it a good clean-up before putting in the back-forty.  (In the back of my mind I could imagine Dell coming to visit Tucker this summer and just happening to mention that he hadn’t fixed an old toaster in quite a while…  )  It was during that little reverie that about a gazillion crumbs fell out of the toaster even before I had opened the crumb tray.

And, you know how inanimate things — or in this case semi-animate things — sometimes speak to you?  Well… I clearly heard that toaster say, “Plug me in!  I feel better now.”  So I did and… voila!  That lovely old toaster is up and running once again and I, of course, am very apologetic for my neglectful housewifery.

One Toaster or Two?

The new toaster arrived and with it, of course, a new dilemma.  Should I trust that the old one has had a reliable resurgence?  And, even if I do, should I keep the new one specifically for bagels and English muffins and as an emergency back-up?   Or should I be sensible and send the new one back?

Hmmm.  I have until July 8th to return the new one (said that email) so maybe I should wait a bit and see if the old ToastMaster is actually cured or is just teasing.  And maybe this “attack of the cheaps” that I’ve been experiencing since the replacement of our west chimney will abate by then.  Go up in smoke, as they say…  You probably can’t really go wrong with two toasters.

Speaking of that “Clean Plate Club”

Wednesday, March 29th, 2023

When I was a kid and was at the point toward the end of dinner when I was endlessly pushing peas (or beans or brussel sprouts) around on my plate, I was invariably told to “remember all the starving children in Armenia.”  I can’t remember that the reminder did any good at all.  Not as far as finishing up my meal.

First and foremost, I had no idea where Armenia was nor did I know any of those children.  I thought they might be starving because of the war  — World War II which we had entered when I was in Kindergarten and would be a major factor all during my grade school years.

But why eating those vegetables would help never was made clear.  And my sotto voiced “Couldn’t we just send them these?” once or twice got me sent to my room.  I can’t remember that I ever got to join “The Clean Plate Club.”  And I fear that the children in Armenia continued to starve.

I thought of that last Sunday when I noticed that 92-year-old Ray Hicks had eaten every morsel on his plate at the luncheon served at the Pacific County Historical Society’s Annual Meeting.  Ray’s caregiver, Larry Holland later told me that Ray told him he had finished eating while I was speaking because if he cleared his plate, it wouldn’t rain!

Now that’s an incentive I could get behind — when I was in my single digits or even now!   The promise of sunshine ia about the best inducement for almost anything along about this time of year in our neck of the woods!

I’m not exactly a foodie, but…

Tuesday, March 21st, 2023

Chef Nyel and The Lamb Roast! April 17, 2022

It seems like I’ve been hankering for lamb for four or five years now — leg of lamb, lamb chops, rack of lamb… you name it.  Lamb chops, especially, were a staple in this family.  Broiled with a dash of salt, pepper and dredged in oregano flakes!  Yummm!  The best.

But then the local butchers said lamb was costing too much to keep it in stock.  CostCo held out for a while but then said they could only get it from Australia and supplies were limited.   And then came Covid and we just stopped looking.  Mostly.

But yesterday I found THREE loin lamb chops at Freddy’s!  Count ’em: one, two, three.   Tucked way out of sight, they were, almost like they didn’t want to be found.  I do so wish my closest girlhood friend, Joanne Bruner, were still among us.  I’d call her and ask her to come up from California for a meal!

I so clearly remember when we were Freshmen or Sophomores in high school and I asked her over for dinner.  “We’re having lamb chops!” I enthused.  Her face fell — just a little.  She’d never tasted lamb.  Her folks “didn’t believe in it” she said.  Something about them being from Colorado and “beef country.”

At Gulley’s Butcher Shop, Astoria, 2022

Huh?  I didn’t get it at all.  I still don’t — probably have the state wrong.  But she came to dinner and I have to say, one bite and she was hooked.  We had her to dinner on lamb nights many times after that…

I also remember that I was seven or eight years old before I really understood that beef and lamb were different from one another.  They both tasted great to me.  It must have been about the time that we tried horse meat that I noticed all meat wasn’t the same.  (It was during World War II and meat was rationed so you managed the best you could.)  I remember that mom used it in a stew — the chewiest stew ever! From then on, I paid a little more attention to just what kind of meat we were eating and I realized that I liked lamb the best.

Last year, Nyel wanted to do a lamb roast for Easter.  We ordered it from Gulley’s Butcher Shop in Astoria.  Four pounds boned and rolled! .  “Money is no object,” Nyel said.  And it wasn’t.  I’ve totally forgotten what it cost but I’ll never forget the pleasure Nyel had in cooking it and our subsequent enjoyment at Easter dinner.  I haven’t had lamb since.  But, soon!

…And everywhere that Sydney went,
Some lamb was sure to show!

 

 

 

Duck! Duck! WOW!

Saturday, January 7th, 2023

Frozen Duck Breast Ready For Slicing

It’s probably some sort of sin or at least a serious transgression against the food gods, but nonetheless I want to tell you that my duck dinner tonight was great!  So great, in fact, that I actually shed a few tears that I couldn’t share it with Nyel.  I know for a fact that he would have considered it another “personal best.”

He only used those words in relation to an achievement of mine once, and it had nothing at all to do with food.  He actually said that he was proud of me when I managed to climb up to the balcony house cliff dwellings in Mesa Verde National Park.  “Definitely a personal best!” he said.

Definitely A Personal Best

His comment, of course, was because he knew of my irrational fear of heights — acrophobia in the extreme.  It is difficult for me to even look out a second story window.  But I wanted so much to see how the cliff dwellers had lived…

Well, my dislike of cooking isn’t nearly that extreme.  But you can be sure that when I noticed Nyel, a true foodie, pouring over recipe books and searching for hard-to-find ingredents, I did absolutely nothing to discourage his love affair with all things food-and-kitchen.

When I did make one of my “specialties,” he was always delighted and when I protested that I “couldn’t” cook, he said loud and clear that that wasn’t true.  So the other day, when I was lucky enough to receive two gorgeous breasts from my duck-hunting neighbor for the second time in a month, I decided to give them my “all.”  Once again I followed my Cousin David’s recipe.  But I felt a little bolder this time  AND, thanks to Bob Kelim, my knife was razor sharp for cutting those 1/8″ slices!

Not A Great Presentation – I was too busy eating!

I have to admit, it was a meal even Nyel would have been pleased with.  Oh how I wished he could have shared it with me.  And, yes, a few unbidden tears did flavor a bite or two.

I guess you never know when you will rise to a challenge.  I certainly wouldn’t have guessed food would be involved in anything I would be working at — and it probably won’t be again.  But for today, it was perfect!  A personal best for sure!

Holiday Picnic at Our House!

Monday, May 31st, 2021

Lynn Madigan In Full Picnic Mode!

It’s not every day (or even every holiday!) that friends bring a picnic right in through your front door!  But that’s what happened at our place today!  At high noon here came Michael and Lynn Madigan with fried chicken, green bean salad, pissaladèire which was a flatbread with all sorts of goodies on top. Plus oysters on the half shell ready for the barbecue.  Oh, yes.  And Prosecco.  Close on their heels came Pat and Erik Fagerland with potato salad, ice tea and, most importantly, the grill.  (We could have supplied that but… we were told just to set the table and set ourselves down.  So we did.)

Michael Madigan Prepping Oysters For The Grill

We’d had a couple of days notice — enough so I could get a messy “project” cleared off the dining room table, a new leaf added, and six places set with Fiesta Ware and Sterling Silver.  I have to say here that the old oak table hardly knew what was happening.  She’s been laden with project after project since the sheltering began and having a luncheon party was almost more than she could manage!  But she and I both thought the bright dishes and gleaming utensils (recently polished during one of those “projects”) made the old dining room look especially festive.

And, I’d suggest you eat your hearts out looking at the pictures but none of us (spelled N-O-N-E) of us with our fancy schmancy cell phone cameras thought to take pictures once the food was set upon the table.  We were way too busy talking and eating, eating and talking!  It was fabulous!

 

 

From Champagne to Salad Greens!

Thursday, April 15th, 2021

Nyel, Bill (my dad) and Noel Around The Champagne Table – 1988

Recycling, refurbishing, renewing.  Nyel is adamant about all of it.  Including repurposing.  Today’s (read “this week’s” or possibly “this month’s”) project deals with an old galvanized washtub.

Neither of us remember where that washtub came from.  Maybe it has been on the premises since my grandparents’ time.  Certainly, it has seen better days.  There are holes in the bottom and dents on the sides.  It definitely has character.

Getting Ready for the Salad Greens!

For years we used it to hold champagne bottles nestled in ice — a hallmark of our Annual Oysterville Croquet and Champagne Galas (1984- 2002).  For the past two decades, though, it has been sitting atop a metal storage cupboard in the garage and has been the repository for between-seasons Christmas tree stands and other sometimes-necessities of the household.

Today that old, leaky washtub is headed for Nyel’s new kitchen garden where it will be filled with topsoil and compost and planted with little green onion sets and several kinds of lettuces.  Salads-in-a-Tub within steps of the dinner table!  I don’t think as many people will be bellying up to it now as in its glamorous champagne past, though.

On the other hand, it’s likely to get a little too much attention from our girls.  Those chickens do love to peck and poke in the soil and I know they’ll be excited about a “new” container to explore.  I wonder if Nyel has a Chicken Discouragement Plan in mind.

That Easter Bunny had nothing to do with it!

Monday, April 5th, 2021

A Rack of Lambykins

The Easter menu here in the Chef Nyel household was simple but elegant-to-the-max.  Three items only: rack of lamb;, au gratin potatoes; green beans with sesame seeds, garlic, and thyme.  Perfection on a plate!

Every time we have lamb — which isn’t all that often these days now that it’s become so expensive — I think of  Alan Greiner and Debbie Drew and a fabulous dinner we had with them at The Ark.  Not The Ark Restaurant in Nahcotta of Nancy and Jimella fame.  No.

The Ark at Camp Willapa c. 1940

We were at the Peninsula’s original Ark at Camp Willapa — the building that Dorothy Elliot used as her house and where summertime campers went once or twice a month to have a bath (bring your own fire wood, pump your own water) and, also, where we went every Sunday Night for a “sing-song” of   old-fashioned hymns.  The building had been an old oyster house on pilings in the bay and when it was close to falling in, its owners gave it to Dorothy.  She had it cut away from its moorings and lloated over to her property on the bay — hence, “The Ark.”

Easter Dinner 2021

In the ’80s and ’90s, the Ark was where Debbie and Alan lived — long after Dorothy’s Camp Willapa and Sherwood Forest had been sold to the Greiners and long after the Greiners’ Camp Sherwood had closed and things had changed quite a bit.  But what never changed was the joy of eating Debbie’s marvelous meals, the fresh produce from Alan’s garden, and the fun of renewing and sustaining long-ago friendships.  Debbie called the meat course “Lambykins.”  That has stuck, as has our friendship with Alan and his family.  Sadly, I’m not sure what has become of Debbie.  I hope, wherever she is that she, too, had Lambykins for Easter Dinner!

 

Cheers!

Thursday, July 30th, 2020

Cheers!

I never thought I’d see the day when I’d have (much less wear!) a tee shirt with an alcoholic beverage pictured on it!  But here I am, toasting Starla Gable who sent me a Bloody Mary tee shirt.  (I’m not sure about the “Hail Mary” part — it’s either a religious or a football term.  I think.)

Starla discovered some time ago that I, too, am a Bloody Mary “drinker.”  I doubt that she was using the term in quotation marks — she doesn’t really know me that well.  But any of my close friends and “drinking” buddies know that I’m really not one.  A drinker I mean.

Salad by Cuzzin Cheryl

Anyway, Starla wanted to know what my recipe is.  I imagine she thought it was too simple-minded for words:  4 ice cubes; 1 jigger of vodka; 1 small can of V-8  juice; 2 garlic stuffed olives on a plastic toothpick.  Over and out.  No hot, spicy stuff and no salad stuff.

My reasons are pretty straightforward. All during what should have been my “drinking years” — say from the time I graduated from high school in 1957 until I was in my mid-forties, I didn’t.  Drink, I mean.  Not that I didn’t try now and again — especially during my college years.  But I soon learned that even one beer or one glass of wine or one mixed drink led to a two or three-day migraine of major proportions.

Talk about aversion therapy — for years, even the smell of alcohol could send me into the nearest ladies room, headfirst into bowl. I eventually learned that I was allergic not only to alcohol, but to chocolate, cheese, and fish.  For whatever reasons, they triggered migraines and it wasn’t until an effective migraine medication was finally developed that I could chance any of the above.  By then I was 45 for 46 and probably too set in my ways to seriously change.

Rossotti’s Alpine Inn near Stanford — where I didn’t often go.

Even now, I don’t care much for fish.  Chocolate I can take or leave.  Only some cheeses have my undying affection. But I still can’t abide the smell of alcohol.  Bloody Marys are the answer to that!  And one seems the perfect number.  The “no hot spicy” part is just because hot spicy stuff makes me choke.  I can’t do spicy foods, either.  And the no-salad-in- my-Bloody — just a pain to deal with.  I like salads — but big ones in a bowl or on a plate.  Stuffing those ingredients into a glass seems wrong.  Just plain wrong.

But I sure do like my tee shirt!!  I never did learn if Starla liked my Bloody Mary recipe.  Probably not.  I admit that it’s a little simple minded.  But then… who isn’t?

And, let the new day begin!

Thursday, July 23rd, 2020

Spinach Salad

The alarm goes off without fail at 5:30 each morning but our day doesn’t usually begin for an hour or so — after we’ve had our morning tea (Nyel) and coffee (me) and, most importantly, after we’ve discussed food.  Each morning we decide together what we’d like for lunch and dinner.  For breakfast, we’re each on our own.  Easy for me.  I’m not a breakfast-eater.

In fact, it’s all easy for me.  My only responsibility in the food department these days is getting something out of the “outside” freezer if need be.  The freezer is in the pantry/laundry room which is down a step and involves a wheelchair transfer coming and going for Nyel.  So, magnanimous me, I do that chore.  Otherwise… all I need to do is show up for the meals!  How great is that!!

Hamburger and Tater Tots

The hardest part for both of us is deciding what the day’s menu will be.  Nyel is great about knowing what food is still on hand as we get closer to our every-other-week shopping pick-up at Fred Meyers.  I don’t really know what I contribute to the discussion except being “quality control” in terms of balanced meals and not too many repeats of our favorites.  (Nyel could eat red meat at every meal.  I wouldn’t mind pasta in some form or other every day.)

Nyel is the “foodie” in the family.  He loves to eat and, oh so luckily, he loves to plan menus and to shop for groceries and to cook!  If he’s not doing any of the above, he enjoys reading recipe books and, nowadays, exploring the world of food online.  I feel like I am the luckiest woman in the world!

So… today we were up and at it, decisions made by 6:30!  Chicken Caesar salad for lunch; hamburgers and corn on the cob for dinner!  The chicken and ground round came out of the freezer by 6:35 .  Let the day begin!