Saturday, July 10, 2021

Simple pleasures

 I seem to be coming back from my slough of despond, after catching up with my weight training and stair exercises. It's always good to move a bit even when I'd rather do almost anything else. Afterwards I'm glad I did.

I even put them on my calendar so that the alert pushes me into doing them.

And a couple of friendly very early morning  texts from someone newly back from India, helped the mood.  I suspect she's still dealing with jetlag, since they were so early I thought it must be an emergency. Clearly her clock isn't all adjusted yet. Lovely all the same.

And here's an entry for the doh, why didn't I do this years ago file

Cutting boards. Washable. Bendy so you can easily tip the food into the pan, or the trimmings into the backyard. So much easier than my improvising with wooden boards, or my handy Plexi sheet, very unfriendly to your knife blade. Also they skid.

These proud beauties are nonskid, yay, different colors for, they say, different purposes, there are rules. They say.  I say I'll pick the color I feel like using. My kitchen, my rules. Not that anyone's arguing the point.

As you see, in today's gallant attempt to catch up with the green veggies in the freezer, the onion cutting board

Soup of the endless leeks, some carrot greens, celery and

The last of the Bad Food hot dogs. This is the hot dog cutting board..

The dogs made a nice addition. I used the newly mixed Bill Veach Curry Powder a shot of Old Bay, kosher salt, added a bit more salt later. Some good chicken stock.

And it did come out a bit too fibrous, mainly because of the celery. So I strained it a bit, and that improved matters a lot.

I saved the pulp, and it's in the freezer. I'm wondering if it will make a good pasty filling, with yellow potatoes and maybe carrots. That baking might make it less chewy. Anyway, anything rather than toss good food.  And it's a new idea to try. And any cooks listening please suggest what you think might be a good way to use it. Other than chucking it out back, that is.

Meanwhile here's lunch with


sprig of Thai basil. 

Doesn't take much to amuse me. I've been so busy winnowing that I haven't paid attention to things I should really get. Like these boards. 

Speaking of knives, ss I was earlier, you know how TV cooks, particularly with restaurant experience, sweep stuff off the cutting surface with the sharp side of the blade, making home cooks scream in horror? Use the back of the blade!!  

Well, I heard one recently explain it doesn't matter in a high end restaurant because they have knife service. Constant resharpening available. So they don't get concerned about the cutting edge. 

I will just have to get to it and sharpen my knives, service only provided by me around here, in honor of the new fancy cutting boards. I wonder when my knife service will show up? When my food stylist does, I expect.





13 comments:

  1. I love those cutting mats. I have some much older plexi ones similar to those only not so good because they have become pretty cut up. Yours look much better but I have one question. It looks like they may have a rough surface and if so does it get cut up when using? Can they go in the dishwasher?

    Your soup looks good. Enjoy the last of your hot dogs! I hope you have a good weekend and can stay out of the heat!

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    1. They can go in the dishwasher. I don't have one so I won't be testing that claim. They seem to resist being cut by the knife, as far as I can tell up to now -- day one! These are a flexible material, not plexi.

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  2. Good grub and a friendly chat...doesn't get much better.

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    1. Couple more words and it would rhyme. Also it would be good to remember how great that is. Thank you.

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    2. You are right. Good to keep a sense of humor too.

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  3. We have a fellow in town who retired and opened a knife sharpening service. Red's Edge, it's called. I took all my knives and for a dollar an inch ($17 total) they came back sharpened. Next time it's back to myself.

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    1. Our local farmers market sometimes has a knife sharpener, but you can't count on his being there. I don't want to drive over there in the offchance, with large knives, which are illegal to have in in your car in this state! I doubt if I'd be stopped but oh well. And, a bit pricey to get them done. Especially when I own sn excellent sharpener.

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  4. my knives are in serious need of sharpening.

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  5. I have a couple of small plastic chopping boards I use. They have a handy-dandy handle, a place to catch errant liquid, and fit perfectly in the dishwasher. ps - you know - hotdogs are not real food right?

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    1. Hot dogs are the remnants of the Bad Food for the Fourth. No, they're not food! That's point of Bad Food. I buy them once a year, figuring that's enough for a year.

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  6. Our son is a chef and he certainly doesn't get a knife sharpening service and does his own. I'm sure he'd love to have it done for him! Sometimes he even treats our knives which Resident Chef appreciates. Bendable cutting boards - interesting and useful.

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    1. I think the knife sharpening service is in those high pressure city Michelin type places. Where there literally is no chance to sharpen. With multiple hot and cold running sous chefs, that kind of setup. Maybe not your son's scene.

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