A Prunepicker's Posting

Recipe's from Alexandra's Kitchen & Marcella Hazen

2011-09-03T10:25:00.000-07:00

Spent a furious afternoon in the kitchen baking Ernie's birthday request. It was fun and the end result was perfect as it always is when I use recipes from Alexandra's kitchen. She had suggested Marcella Hazen's tomato sauce recipe on Pizza Margherita with delicious results.
For me it was two new recipes but regretfully the kitchen sink showed that I have not perfected the execution of it. Notwithstanding that the results were great.
My section of the Pizza Margherita had anchovies and Ernie's pizza and a half had the Lepori Italian Sausage. We were both happy! The Nectarine pizza was also the best dessert I have eaten and it only had 2 tsp. of sugar in the bread dough. If you follow the Alexandra's kitchen link you can find the recipes. I didn't have time to make the home--made ricotta so I used mozzarella for both pizzas. You can make the tomato sauce while you are making the dough. I picked the basil from my garden and the tomatoes also from the garden. I used the "freeze the tomatoes" suggestion to peel the tomatoes. It was a breeze in this hot Sacramento summer. Have fun cooking.

2011-07-30T11:23:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note - just about as quick as this summer is passing. The last few weeks have been full of reunions and short trips. Our H.S. classmates who live in Texas and who we spent a week with in Jan. of this year came and spent a week with us. It was a fun time!
Then E. & I & grandaughter took a few days to go to Gold Beach, Oregon to take the Rogue River Jet boat trip up the Rogue River for 80 miles. Our grand daughter loved the ride. From there we went to Ashland and saw the Pirates of Penzance in the Elizabethan Theater. We ended the visit by seeing a colleague of mine from the teaching days.
The telephone booth pictured at the right is in the Columbia Hotel, a great place to stay while going to the plays in Ashland. Couldn't resist taking a look at a place we stayed at 10 yrs. running.

Coming up for air!

2011-06-14T09:18:00.000-07:00

Summer is beginning for me. The weather is finally cooperating, the garden is showing signs of vegetables, classes are finalizing and I'm feeling very light. We took off for a 3 day get-away to Fort Bragg/ Mendocino a couple of weeks ago and it was wonderful. I love the ride to the coast. Our little car(stick shift) is like driving a sports car (which it isn't) and it took the curves so well. The mountain country was lush, drove through some coast redwoods, saw vineyards in the rain on the way back. The weather on the coast was perfect. I walked the headlands and took beaucoup pictures of wildflowers. I only know the name of one of them and hope to research the names of the others. Maybe I'll get around to posting them & someone will recognize them.
I'm finishing up a knitting project, reading a new blog, following up on 2 favorite food blogs and even cooking some new dishes.

Hurray for summer!

What is my name?

Persimmons 2010

2010-11-27T11:32:00.000-08:00

Hi,
It's persimmon time again and we had a wealth of persimmons this year. Last year I dried our neighbor's persimmons but this year she had none and we were loaded. Both of us have the Fuyu variety but she has the small, flat bottomed ones that are my favorite. I have dried about four batches of them and will put on another as soon as I finish this posting. When my fuyus get soft, I make date-nut persimmon bars with lemon frosting to give as presents or take to a potluck. When I run out of time or energy I try to give the rest away. Neighbors don't walk by our house at persimmon time because I'm known to put sacks into their arms after a chat. One year I used the kid's wagon loaded up with persimmons & then walked the neighborhood. How to win friends, right?

Incredible trip to Japan 10/19/2010

2010-10-31T20:28:00.000-07:00

We landed in Narita and flew to Chitose, Hokkaido. Were bussed to Sapporo to this hotel. Very pleasent - first breakfast was a treat - Will put it up just so that I will have written at least one thing every month. The pictures to follow. Incredible tour - we saw arts and crafts that I never expected.

This & That for Sept. 2010

2010-09-09T20:49:00.000-07:00

Well, here it is Sept. already and I didn't post anything in August! August was a vacation month in that there were no classes, no knitting only the garden in which I harvested green beans, tomatoes and crook-neck squash every day.
We have had our fill of Bruchetta as the basil has grown like a weed and the tomatoes that our neighbor planted have been plentiful for the last month.
We've had several parties under the persimmon tree out in front. It's been like a hidden garden with the brick half-walls and the persimmon tree. I've been complaining because so much of the persimmon crop has fallen, little by little. I'll let you know in Oct. if we have a crop to harvest.
But it was as if we were in another country ( Italy comes to mind) as we ate and drank outside under the beautiful, spreading persimmon tree.
A couple of things have come up. One, is that my neighbor and I are going on an Art's and Craft's tour of Hokkaido and Northern Honshu at the beginning of Oct. Of course that occasioned rethinking the travel clothes - so after research, I bought a travel vest from Scottevest. Look at the travel vest for women, black in color. Don't really like to carry a purse, but even less do I like to wear something with pockets on the outside. This vest is perfect and I have made several trips into S.F. wearing the vest with no purse in sight. I have memorized the pockets I put things in and it works! Have to admit that I don't fill all of the 22 pockets.
I have the vouchers to visit the Ghibli Museum - My neighbor Totoro has absolutely won my heart. When our youngest grandson from Japan was left in my care the time the rest of the family went on an outing, the little guy cried himself silly until I put on the video of Totoro. The sounds of Japan soothed him and he got caught up in the story. I still remember the feeling of this little child completely relaxing as he watched the movie (in Japanese). The Ghibli Studio has created wonderful movies. My daughter wants me to buy a black cat from the movie "Kiki's Delivery Service" which I will do of course.
In April, I left the Shodo and entered in the Pen shuji portion of our clase. I've included the July class assignment where we get judged as to the level we should be in. If you understand Japanese, you'll see that I moved up a level. I was in the 5th and now am in the 4th.

I have been studying Kanji at Sakura Gakuen for the past couple of years but am changing to another class as the Pen Shuji is teaching me more in a more relaxed fashion. Besides I love the teacher and all my classmates. So at Sakura Gakuen, I'll be focusing on conversation. (I hope)
Well in an abbreviated form that brings you up to date on a few things. I'm not doing the cooking that I have done in the past. These days we go to two tennis matches a week and one football game. All at High School level but our grandkids are so involved we just have to root them on.
My other past-time is playing scrabble with my neighbor through an app on iPod Touch. That is soooooo much fun.
Cheers to you all. Write if you have a mind.

Summer vegetables & meals

2010-07-27T18:43:00.000-07:00

Well the garden is not growing as well as last year. The successes are the green beans, cucumbers, some of the tomato plants, one large eggplant and crookneck squash. Of the 4 squash plants only one has been producing much to my chagrin.
But I should complain as we have had the best bruschetta using the tomatoes and basil from the garden. Ah! the taste of summer.

Another taste of summer is this salad. I couldn't resist adding the anchovies. The salad along with sour dough French bread and a glass of red wine is a feast incomparable.

We traveled to Tamales Bay Oyster Company recently to have a fun day at the bay picknicking with friends who also love oysters!!! I tried to upload a video of our day but will need another lesson at Apple. I did upload this video to youtube though after much editing.

My girlfriend and I ate the raw oysters as fast as the fellows could shuck them. But mainly we sauteed them. A salad and French bread completed our meal. On the way home we stopped at the Marin French Cheese Company (Rouge et Noir brand) An artery clogger of a day but delightful! I posted the web adddress of the video. My video is very amateurish - don't laugh!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfmiW7QG3i8

Front Yard Gardening 2010

2010-06-24T10:16:00.000-07:00

We had a rainy & cold April and May and because of the rain I don't think the bees were able to polinate the persimmon flowers. So the persimmon tree has been dropping a lot of fruit which makes me wonder if we will have any persimmons to dry this year. Also I couldn't plant the garden until later than usual because my farmer friends said the ground was still too cold. So here are pictures of my late garden.
With extreme pleasure I go out and tend the garden in the early morning. I think my talking to the plants encourages them to grow. Or maybe they keep me smiling at their green and vibrant beauty.
I haven't shown you pictures of the Japanese eggplants because they got planted really late this year. They are still small. Last year my friends gifted me with good starts and we had abundant eggplants late into the Fall.
Since this is all front yard gardening in areas where the sun shines on the plants all day, I couldn't plant everything I wanted to. I didn't show my herb garden but I have already made one batch of pesto that we ate on tagliarini.

Long time between postings

2010-05-17T13:41:00.000-07:00

We have been spending a lot of time cheering our grandkids on in track and it has been fun. Now we are arriving at the end of baseball season cheering on a team that only lost one game this season. (The last game too) Also, we have gone to a lot of band & Blues Band concerts. So enjoyable!
Besides the events we are working through our garage to square it away. Read on. Today is an overcast one and one of us is in the garage reading through Great grandpa's box of memorabilia. Grandpa corresponded with so many people and he saved most of the letters. I'm going to pass on some special letters that our children wrote. More later.

Pineapple Upside-down cake

2010-03-23T10:02:00.000-07:00

In February we spent 10 days mainly in Maui, Hawaii and ate some incredible food. One of the memorable meals was eaten at Hailemaile General Store which is one of the best restaurants on the island. Their pineapple upside-down cake was so delicious that I took a picture of it and decided to come home and try my hand at it.

After a couple of tries, I made this one with fresh pineapple using a modified recipe from Bittman's How to Cook Everything. I had used a cast iron skillet for the first two but I should have used a bigger skillet because the cake part was too high and you got the taste of the cake and not of the brown sugar and pineapple.
The cake in the picture was baked in a round cake pan. I buttered two pans, poured a melted stick of butter into each pan, sprinkled 1 cup of brown sugar over the melted butter in each pan. Then I added the fresh pineapple until it covered the pan.Then I put the pans in a 350 degree F. oven while I prepared the cake batter.

I better list ingredients:
2- 8 in. round cake pans
16 Tblsps. butter (2 sticks)
2 cups of brown sugar
one fresh pineapple, cut in thick slices about 1/2 inches, enough to fill the 2 pans.
Or 1 can of sliced pineapple
Cake batter ingredients:
4 Tblsps. melted butter for cake batter
1 cup buttermilk or sour milk
2 eggs
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda, 1/2 tsp salt

Combine and beat the melted butter, buttermilk or sour milk - (I used sour milk) eggs and granulated sugar until mixed. Measure out the flour, baking soda and salt in another bowl and gradually add to the liquid mixture until it looks mixed.

Try to divide the mixture over the two pans you've pulled from the oven. You may have to spread it to cover the pineapple. Put in the 350 degree F. oven for about 20 minutes. Because the pineapple sugar mixture is hot, it bakes a little faster. Also the thinness of the pans compared to the cast iron skillet makes it bake faster. Keep an eye on the cakes -

Write me if I haven't been clear enough. I made the cakes with canned pineapple and fresh pineapple. We liked it both ways. By putting the pineapple/brown sugar mixture in pans in the oven while I mixed the batter, the cake cooked evenly. I do that now with all my fruit cobblers.

I used both buttermilk and sour milk. Couldn't tell the difference. I had sour milk but in the past I have made sour milk by adding 1/2 tsp. vinegar to 1 cup of fresh milk.

2010-03-14T16:40:00.000-07:00

Well, not having a lot of luck managing this blog. But if you wonder what I've been doing, I've been doing lots of things with grand-kids or let's say watching them participate in concerts, track meets and Japanese school graduation days.
Also, The Albuquerque grandkids came in and today we went to San Francisco to be real tourists. Last night was a family gathering at a restaurant and then Vic's Ice Cream parlor to celebrate a son's birthday. We take off tomorrow to visit a famous aquarium and castle so I'll post more next week. Ciao!

Thoughts on Hawaii

2010-02-25T19:13:00.000-08:00

We spent a lovely 10 days viewing whales from our 2nd floor balcony. You'd think we would have slept in, but most days found us on the balcony at 6:00 a.m. having our coffee and looking through the binoculars at the whales and the people who were having a morning swim. The day before we left we went on an early morning boat ride with the Whale Foundation and saw a competition of whales. Never thought whales bellowed at one another. The following photos didn't show as much as I wanted. I think I need lessons in picture taking with my new camera. CLICK ON EACH PICTURE TO GET A BIGGER VERSION.

We also explored the Upcountry of Maui - Gail our hostess and guide knows this island very well.
Ate strawberry papaya, ripe star fruit and apple bananas every day. Also bought fish from Suda's market on the days we ate at home. It was a lovely restful vacation.
A special sidetrip to the big island to visit friends in Kamuela was the icing on the cake. We were in Paniolo country and my picture taking doesn't do it justice. So I'll just post some highlights.

These ladies greeted us at the Kona Airport. The weather felt much more humid and warm than Maui. We enjoyed the open kiosks of the airport.

The stories of the cowboys of Hawaii came alive when I saw the statue of the famous cowboy of the Parker Ranch with the brands of the island below him. This statue is in a prominent park in Kamuela.
Just had to share some of the flora. There are so many flowers.
Visited a lavender farm that had all kinds of plants & statues on the farm.

More later on the food aspect of our vacation....

One minute speech for Fri. night Japanese class

2010-02-06T21:29:00.000-08:00

一分スピーチは落とし物について話します

去年のクリスマスの時、　アーニーは図書館でけいたいを落としました。けいたいを落としたことをしらなかったです。けいたいを拾った女性は私達を電話しました。私はしめいと住所と電話番ごを質問しましたでも女性は私の住所と電話番ごを質問していました。拾った女性は家にけいたいを持ってきてくれました。一割のお礼があげました。アーニーと女性がうれしかったです。

Well, and so it goes. Still write like a pre-schooler but that's where I am.

Lunar New Year Celebration

2010-02-06T21:02:00.000-08:00

What a day this has been! There was an emergency trip to the Genius Bar at Apple to solve a problem of connection to the internet through Ernie's iPod. Got that squared away and thought we were packed and had all in order when we got a phone call asking us if we were coming to the Chinese New Year celebration dinner. We were a quick ten minutes away so made this wonderful gathering of friends.
After that I watched a beautiful DVD movie by Miyazaki called Ponyo by the Sea. Cute story but extraordinary seascapes and landscapes. But I guess no movie so far has passed Miyazaki's Tonari no Totoro in my estimation. It was not only the story of the family but a story of the country-side, the people, the customs and beliefs set in gorgeous landscapes.
Will leave the last of the roses to be pruned when I return.

Calligraphy Archive - Ukiyoe and Dec. lesson

2010-02-03T15:24:00.000-08:00

I'm saving these two examples of my classwork of brushwriting because come April, I will change to Pen Shuji. I belong to ShoSui Shodokai and we meet every Tues. & Thurs at 12:30-3:00. Since I am also studying Kanji at Sakura Gakuen, the Pen Shuji fits with the Kanji class. More later as I am going to try to upload the Dec. assignment.

読み方：渓山永く光くを仰ぐ、
意味：　山や谷あいに永く陽が当たっている

So the meaning of the latest is something like this:
Between the mountains and the valley, the sun has been striking for a long time.

Wed. evening: I finally broke down & got a camera. This time it has an optical zoom instead of a digital one. I will be able to capture the grandkids as they cross the line in track meets and also get the judo holds as they win a match. Not only that the camera can do a burst of pictures so that when they catch a ball or football, I'll be sure to catch it on the camera.
This afternoon I finished trying on summer clothes & deciding what to take to Hawaii. I'm all but packed up. Wish me luck in capturing pictures of whales as they pass through the bay in front of Maalea.

Comentario de reuniones

2010-01-29T20:37:00.000-08:00

Today has been filled with reunions both of friends and of family. More poignant because friends of our elementary school years are our same age and also because some of our family are going through a rough, rough patch health- wise. You know each one of us has opinions and such about how friends and family should be handling each of their problems but we ourselves are personally not going through each of these crisises so we should just keep our silence. To amend that, we are going through it second hand which is not the same. Sorry to sound confusing but suffering second hand is not the same as first hand.
Still have not found my camera but today a friend offered her camera to us for the trip we are going to take to visit friends in Hawaii in Feb. I sure appreciate that because I hope to record the visit with photographs. Still cannot believe that I lost my camera.
Tonight one of the dishes we shared with friends was a recipe from Bitten of the New York Times,Beets With Garlic-Walnut Sauce, It was a fine accompaniment to Exclusively Food's Prawn and Tomato Pasta Recipe.
Well, enough for tonight. The delicious red wine is wearing me down. Thank heavens that I printed up Bitten's Beet recipe because I can't find the link now. Anyone interested write me and I'll copy it out.
Bueno, el vino me hace querer contar mucho. La emoción me conmueve decir demasiado. El sufrimiento de otros es difícil de aguantar. Siempre les deseo que les vaya bien.
ダイアナ

Chicken Soup Weather

2010-01-21T06:24:00.000-08:00

Since I wrote last, I have been desperately searching the house and car for my camera. I've also involved anyone I have ever visited. Which means I'm being a real pest. Because just recently I had done a search of pockets and the house for the missing front door keys that we always leave on the entry table, I had a pretty good idea that I wouldn't come across my little camera but I did an exhaustive search anyway.

So that will explain why there is no photograph of this new recipe I tried. With all the wind and rain and cold temperatures, Chicken soup sounded good to me. I got the idea in San Francisco last week. I was in a restaurant that has Kotosoupa Avgolemono (Chicken and Rice Soup with Egg and Lemon) every day. Heavenly!

When you click on the colored word recipe, you'll see that the recipe calls for one whole chicken.
I used two chicken breasts from the freezer which I didn't defrost first. Just washed them and cup them up a bit and put them in the hot water. Before I put the egg/lemon juice mixture in the soup, I did add one can of prepared chicken broth. I was a little unsure of myself. But the result of this recipe was very satisfying.

I don't make New Years Resolutions but I'm going to make my life a little less busy real soon.

Happy New Year-明けましておめでとうございます

2010-01-07T10:42:00.000-08:00

This has been a very happy but busy time. My hands have been busy knitting projects for Christmas & birthdays. For that reason I haven't spent much time on the computer. Just basic checking mail and looking at the postings of family and friends on Facebook. I'm especially happy with how Ernie's vest turned out and I see that he is wearing it quite a bit. I made two mini-vests and a ribbon scarf. With these projects completed, I can begin another project for my self without feeling guility.
Tomorrow a new box of fruits & veggies arrive from Farm Fresh Farms, so I'll have a new round of cooking to share. Since we went to our daughter's for Christmas, we didn't have leftovers after Christmas and I missed that. To make up for that, we bought a nine pound turkey breast and roasted it. So that filled the turkey, mashed potatoes & gravy craving - today I'm going to fix a lentil stew with jalapeno sauce and cutup turkey in it and turn it into tortillas filled with the mixture. Avocados are fairly inexpensive now and I'll add that to the tortillas. By the way I froze turkey slices from over half of the turkey. It sure beats lunchmeat.
Speaking of avocados, I've been mashing a quarter of an avocado on my toast instead of butter or peanut butter. Then I add a thin slice of provolone on top. Makes a perfect breakfast.
Anyone out there have interesting and different ideas for breakfast?

Trip by train to New Mexico

2009-12-12T15:30:00.001-08:00

We left Sacramento at 6:00a.m.headed for Bakersfield where we transferred to a bus to get to Union Station, Los Angeles. Was interesting traveling through the valley because we saw all sorts of crops. This valley is big.
Union Station is beautiful and hugh. Not only is it a train station but it is the Metrolink station. So we saw lots of movement of communters and also train travelers.
After about 4 hours of waiting around we got on our train for Albuquerque, made a reservation for dinner in the dining car and changed our sleeping accomodations from a roomette to a room (shower & toilet included). So from 7:00 p.m. to 12:00 p.m. the next morning we traveled in a lot of comfort.

Entertainment

2009-11-19T06:22:00.000-08:00

Last night it seemed as if we were carried away to a small dark bodega by the Fado singer Mariza. What was even more captivating was the musician who played the lute-like Portuguese guitar (guirarra Portuguesa). According to the write-up, the resonant, unmistakable sound of this 12 string guitar is one of the defining characteristics of "fado".
Mariza told us that she was born in Mozambique of a Portuguese father and an African mother. They moved to Lisbon when she was three and her family opened a tavern where fado musicians entertained on weekends. This history comes through in her music.
We are fans!

Broccoli Rabe with Butternut squash & Italian Sausage

2009-11-14T17:50:00.001-08:00

Today was a marvelous day! I made a deal with my granddaughter to help me harvest my neighbor's persimmons(the Fuyu kind) and help peel the persimmons to get them ready to dehydrate and I would take her to Macy's to window shop for a dress for her graduation from middle-school. She asked a girlfriend to help and we got so much done in a short time. Then we went shopping and that was delightful.
These two young girls lit into the junior girl dress area like hummingbirds flitting from blossom to blossom. Their joys of delight were wonderful to hear. Before I knew it they each had 6 dresses that they promptly took into the dressing rooms. I was outside to help when they needed zipping up or tying a bow. As they each tried on a dress, they came out of the dressing room to show me and then went back into the dressing room to snap a picture of the two of them by means of their phones through the mirror. That was repeated 6 times and then they went out and found six more dresses to try on following the same procedure. By this time I had found a chair to sit on. It was a great excursion!

So for dinner tonight I just had to use the broccoli rabe and butternut squash that had arrived in my Farm Fresh Box on Wed. I had never cooked the rabe so went on the internet to see if I could get some ideas. Found a lovely recipe calling for Italian sausage, the rabe and farfalle noodles. Should mention that several other pastas were suggested. Also the recipe that I used did not call for butternut squash but as I was cooking the pasta I added cubes of unpeeled butternut squash to the boiling water. Then I fished the pasta out when it was done and let the butternut squash cook a little longer. I also didn't use hot Italian sausage that was called for so I added a little cayenne pepper to the mixture. Was a great dish!

Autumn Colors

2009-11-11T20:40:00.001-08:00

The leaves are falling quickly now. I've enjoyed the color so much that I couldn't resist taking a picture. The bare branches of the persimmon tree always signal the start of our foggy season. I am going to miss the sun.
So I got in and finished my wool sweater in time for the cold. This sweater is an Elsebeth Lavold pattern by the name of Enigma. It is a Mosaic pattern which didn't mean anything to me until I started it but it is a lot simpler to knit than it looks.

Persimmons dehydrating

2009-11-07T15:10:00.000-08:00

This dehydrator was a gift from our son who decided he didn't have time to make jerky.
So one day in the mail we get a package and it just happened to coincide with the harvest of persimmons. I have a fuyu persimmon in the front yard but this year there wasn't a one on the tree. But my neighbor who has an almost seedless small fuyu tree full of fruit that she wasn't going to use offered them to us.

We have bags of persimmons.

So what you see is my first attempt to dehydrate anything. I did peel the persimmons and slice them about 3/8 inches thick. The dehydrator book suggested different things to do with fruit but a friend who had dried persimmons before said they didn't need any thing. Looks like it is going to take about six hours to dry this batch - I've tasted some and the dried persimmons are delicious.

The finished product is delicious. It took about 6 hours to dehydrate.

I think I will let some of the remaining fruit get soft so I can make some persimmon,date-nut bars with lemon frosting to give to friends at Thanksgiving and Christmas.
11/13 I'm on my 3rd batch of persimmons. I may give dried persimmons instead of the bar cookies. Much healthier and almost as delicious.

Alexandra's Kitchen's Bolzano Apple Cake

2009-11-07T14:50:00.000-08:00

Well, I've sure been busy today. Must have been hungry also because after reading this recipe on Alexandra's site, I got in and baked it. I didn't have Fuji apples but yellow delicious so that's what I used. Also didn't have vanilla bean so I used Mexican vanilla which has a divine taste. I tasted the batter and it reminded me of the homemade Mexican vanilla icecream that we make in the summer. I can hardly wait to eat the finished product.

Fri. night Japanese Conversation class' 1 min. speech

2009-11-07T08:59:00.000-08:00

一分スピーチはサンフランシスコの旅行について話します。先週の週末は高校の同窓会がありました。卒業の五十四年のパーテイでした。行われたホテルの名前はソフテルです。すばらしいホテルです。晩ご飯とダンスパーテイがよかったです。バンドの音楽は五十年代でした。たくさんダンスをしました。週末で一番大好きなことは有名なベーカリーにいくことです。名前は"Tartine's"です。（Alexandra'sKitchenのインターネットのサイトでTartine'sベーカリーはおいしいと言った。）べーカリーは"Mission　Dolores"の方面です。駐車場は遠すぎるのでアーニーは車でブロックと回っている間べーかりで私はチョコレトイクレアとレモンバルを買っていました。とても楽しい週末でした。
Forgive the errors-I'm such a beginner. After our hour's class we bring out the food & wine and have a more informal chat. I love Friday night's gathering.

Bitten's Sweet Potato Salad

2009-10-29T10:25:00.000-07:00

I like the color better on this picture. So much so I think I'll make this for tonight's get-together.
What do you think? Does one picure look more inviting than the other? I have another computer class next week and I'm going to focus on enhancing pictures. I think I need a better camera.

Well, I can't believe I didn't post this dish. It is one delicious recipe. We loved the taste of the sweet potatos in contrast to the sauteed purple onions, lots of cilantro and lime juice. The black beans added just the right amount of subduing taste. Check out N.Y.Times Bitten for the recipe

Bitten's polenta without fear plus Alexandra's Kitchen's take

2009-10-25T18:52:00.000-07:00

Well, didn't get to cooking as soon as I wanted as we went to my H.S.reunion dinner/dance in Bay Area shortly after I got the box. Had a great time as I did get to talk to old friends and dance a few swing dances. On the way home through S.F. we went to a bakery/restaurant I had read about on Alexandra's Kitchen. Tartine's at 600 Guererro in the Mission. Worth the drive around and around the blocks to find parking. I won't go into all the goodies I bought but Tartine's has a bar/restaurant on Valencia that I plan to go back to. The menu looked divine.
Meanwhile back at the ranch, I cooked up Bitten's Polenta without Fear and Alexandra's take on a 1 person meal with stir-fried chard with onion & garlic on top of the polenta, with a fried egg on top of that. It was delicious. My photography doesn't do it justice.

Farm Fresh Oct. 22, 2009

2009-10-22T14:50:00.000-07:00

Well, here it is another week has passed and I've been enjoying reading Bitten who makes the best recipes. I tried his Bok Choy with Shiitake and Oyster Sauce stir-fry with great results. I think it really helps that he makes little videos that you can access from the New York Times, Bitten on line. I added sliced scallops to this recipe and that's what I ate over rice. At the same meal I served a Beef Stew with Prunes to people who don't like seafood. Got this recipe also from Mark Bittman.

It's like Christmas when I open the door to get the newspaper in the morning and there is the box. I can't wait to open it and find out what treasures are inside. Today there was more fruit than vegetables which was okay with me. Purple pears, fuyu persimmons, black seedless grapes, and gala apples. A bunch of beets like last month plus swiss chard, arugula, green beans, yellow zuccini, red bell peppers, radishes and pumpkin. Can't decide where to start. More later

This tomato, cheese, red bell pepper & Japanese eggplant tart was delicious. I got the idea from Alexandra's Kitchen. I used her recipe with a few changes. Her photography is incredible and you will just have to prepare the dish. Look for the Tomato,Corn,cheese galette on the list of her posts.

Last produce of container garden

2009-10-17T09:29:00.000-07:00

The remnants of the typhoon from Japan hit this week and really messed up my earthbox garden. But no hurting the Japanese eggplant and this morning I harvested a bunch along with some pretty small peppers. Still have cherry tomatoes although they tried kissing the ground during the storm. The other tomatoes are a pale orange which leads me to believe I should pick them & fry them up.

Bitten's recipes

2009-10-10T08:34:00.000-07:00

Last night we had our Friday night Japanese Conversation class at my house. It's a fun get-together and we always have food and drink after the class. This is one of the desserts we ate. I got the recipe from The New York Times' Bitten's column. There was even a video so you could see how he made it. Boy, am I a fan of this column! This Almond Frittata is made in a most unusual way - check it out.

knitted project-don't let the picture scare you.

2009-09-30T11:07:00.000-07:00

It's a great windy day - weather has dropped by almost 20 degrees- great for wearing a sweater that I just completed. The yarn for this sweater is bamboo and I thought it would be great for summer wear, what with all the lacy, open features of the knit. Turns out it is feel good yarn but very heavy and warm. Surprised me. So I will wear a cotton knit shirt under it in the spring & autumm. My knitting compadres at Rumpelstiltskin had many ideas on how to wear it.
Also had another computer class today and I'm learning another way to watermark the photos. Really a short cut from the first way I did it. But I haven't quite mastered it - so next week I'll go in with a lot more questions.
Now I'm picking up a long sleeve wool sweater I quit working on when summer hit. Only have the sleeves to finish. Piece of cake!
ダイアナ

Food

2009-09-29T18:23:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm not really obsessed with food although this site mainly talks about food. So be it.
I want to share a site that has given me some incredible tastes lately. New York Time's Mark Bitten on Food has a video on his site that shows you how to make soba spinach salad that is delicious.
I brought this salad to my own birthday dinner this weekend. My daughter in law made a tandoori chicken bar-be-que that was delicious which she got from Cook Pad, a Japanese site. She even marinated thickly sliced onions in the tandoori sauce and then sauteed the onions while our son cooked the chicken on the barbeque. It was a great meal with some favorite people.
Our daughter and her husband gave me a birthday dinner that was as simple as it was delicious. It was a chili-dog with coleslaw and any condiment you wanted to add. I love lots of dijon mustard so that's what I added. Then the four of us watched a movie and then visited. It was another perfect birthday. The grandkids were doing their own activities so we got a taste of things to come. NO KIDS!
Using some of the tomatoes I've been growing in another of Bitten's recipe's, Pappa al Pomodoro, was a comfort food success the other night. I used a half a loaf of sour dough french bread but I think you could substitue using everything from pasta to rice and still have quite a success. After the tomatoes are gone, I plan to use canned chopped tomatoes.
Well no pictures. I should have photographed the Chirashi Zushi that I ordered when a friend took me out for my birthday but I didn't think about it. The Banzai do a good job with their sashimi.
Enough talk about food - till next time.
ダイアナ

Farm Fresh Produce

2009-09-24T09:08:00.000-07:00

Today we got our monthly box of vegetables and fruit from Farm Fresh To You an organic farm that delivers produce the same day picked. Recipes that use the vegetables and fruit are always included in the box. So today I hope to turn these beets into beet chips(using a low temp. oven).
Also got more heirloom tomatoes and I am going to make a"Pappa al Pomodoro" Tomato Soup With Bread. IT IS A COOKING FRENZY DAY!!! Whopee !　More hopefully this afternoon.
ダイアナ

Beet Chips

Well these were easy to make and salty/crunchy but the finished product was dark like a beet.

1 bunch beets (there were 3 in my bunch)
1-cup water
1-cup sugar
Olive oil
Peel beets with a vegetable peeler, then slice thin with a slicer or knife, using stems as handles.

Bring water and sugar to a boil in a 3 -quart heavy saucepan, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Add beets, then remove pan from heat and let stand 15 minutes. Drain beets in a colander, discarding liquid, then let stand in colander 15 minutes more.

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat over to 225 degrees F.
Grease a shallow baking pan with olive oil, then arrange beet slices snugly in 1 layer. Season beets with salt and pepper.

Bake beets until dry, about 1 hour. Immediately transfer chips to a rack to cool. Chips will crisp as they cool. Serve immediately.

Well, I enjoyed these chips and had to put them away to keep from eating them up. But not everyone liked them. I have no idea how to store them or how long they will keep. I fried potatoes with eggplant, onions and garlic yesterday and it turned out okay. Maybe I'll add the beets to the leftovers. Though I'm afraid it will turn the mixture pink.
I didn't cook as much as I thought I would. Got caught up in reading a novel by Margaret Atwood.

Bruchetta for lunch

2009-09-20T14:30:00.000-07:00

There are still tomatoes ripening and the large eggplant is growing at least 5. The "nasu" started blossoming again and I guess there will be another round of Japanese eggplant coming. Oh, am I going to miss the vegetable garden! I can see the basil is slowing down and today it was a little difficult to find the amount of basil I wanted for the bruchetta. Lately I've been fixing a bruchetta and eggplant mixture for pasta that is my favorite.

The leaves are looking a little peaked. We'll see if the flowers develop.

But I'll have bruchetta for a while longer. They were selling basil plants in the vegetable section of the grocery store today.
Big event this afternoon is a reunion potluck of the teachers of the high school I taught at. It will be fun to see what every one is doing these days. I'm bringing a butter lettuce, mushroom, purple onion & mandarin orange salad with homemade blue cheese vinaigrette dressing.

As you might have guessed, I am learning to do all kinds of things with this site. Everything from taking pictures, to watermarking them to learning how to upload them. I have a lesson tomorrow and will ask to be reminded on how to link a work to someone's site.
Cheers! ダイアナ

Take a look at "Tonight's dinner" at gingergarden

Kobe Cream

2009-09-15T15:17:00.001-07:00

Wish I could claim this lovely bun filled with a cream filling but it comes from a new bakery called Mahoroba. Some of the offerings in this bakery make you think you are back in Japan.
My grandkids think it is a taste of home. As it was my turn to bring a goody to my calligraphy class, I remembered having a Kobe Cream that was so special. I think the owners of this bakery have one in Kobe. Sacramento is living big!

読み方：秋夜運筆の時　（しゅうやうんびつのとき）

Fall nights, the time for writing. (My interpretation)

Much work is still needed on this assignment. The style is called sousho 草書(そうしょ）or grass style (of Japanese calligraphy).　Sensei always corrects with this color ink. I'm lucky to not have more marks.

Calligraphy translation is my interpretation

2009-09-12T11:30:00.000-07:00

"Preserve our culture which is our fortune"
This is the lesson for September that our class is practicing. The sample on this blog is one of mine before my sensei corrected it. The translation is also my interpretation. I know there must be a better one but this gives the essence of the work. We practice the work of Kampo Sensei.
I took the month of August off and it shows.

Eating again with friends

2009-09-09T20:36:00.000-07:00

This tofu,shitake, kimchee flavored stew came to the table bubbling hot. We cracked an egg into the stew and I let mine cook a little before I mixed it in. In the little dishes were: daikon in kimchee sauce, sauteed squash with a garlic/sesame flavor, boiled potato, a cucumber tsukemono, kimchee, spinach with sesame and finally, bean sprouts. Also a big bowl of rice. Delicious meal! and a nice change from the Julia Child style of cooking from the previous days.
My clothes are getting tight. Oh Oh!

Tortilla de Patata

2009-08-26T21:31:00.001-07:00

Tonight Obachan gave me the site and the instructions on how to watermark my photos. Thanks to a helpful friend.
One of the times I studied in Spain, the family I lived with taught me how to prepare the tortilla de patata. The tortilla with a green salad and french bread and a glass of red wine makes a wonderful meal.
On the table I have 2 skillets, a colander used to get the water from the potatoes & later to drain a little of the olive oil from the potato egg mixture, a bowl & whisk, measuring spoons and cup, and 2 large plates (they should be able to cover the skillet) and a large pot.
Ingredients:
6 large potatoes, 2 onions (chopped), 1 cup olive oil, 4 eggs, and 2 tsp. salt
Tomorrow I'll post some more pictures & instructions. Too tired tonight.

Well, I should have included the finished product first so that you could have an idea of what I was talking about but it was too much to handle that night. I have a series of pictures that demostrate the process but it might be overkill for many. I hope I can show enough of the essentials.

1. Pare the potatoes then cut them into small chunks and/or slice them into water so they won't .
get dark.
Once the potatoes are cut, I chop the onions, put them in a bowl and set them aside.
In another bowl crack the 4 eggs, add 1 tsp. of salt & whip them with a fork or a whip. Set aside.

Now we're ready to add 1 cup olive oil to the skillet, drain the potatoes and add to the skillet when the oil is heated. Stir the potatoes so that the oil gets mixed throughout the potatoes. Add 1 tsp. salt and repeat the stirring. Fry the potatoes for about 5 minutes before adding the chopped onion. Continue frying until the potatoes and onions are cooked.
I'll finish this tonight. :)
Well, a little late but the next step is to drain some of the olive oil from the potato/onion mixture. I found putting the colander in a container helps to collect oil.

Pour the mixture from the colander into a bowl and then add the beaten eggs to the potato mixture. Reheat the skillet, add a spoonful of the oil to the skillet and pour in the egg/potato mixture.

Press on the mixture in the skillet so that there are no gaps and that the tortilla is solid. I also go around the edges to push it in slightly from the side so that it is solid. The heat should be between medium and high.

The whole time you should be moving the skillet back & forth on the burner so that the tortilla doesn't burn. The tortilla is ready to be turned out on the plate when you can see -OOPS! I thought you would be able to see the little spaces where the air bubbles had come to the surface but you can't. Maybe lifting the tortilla carefully at the side of the skillet you can tell if it is ready.

I put a plate over the tortilla and very carefully using hot pads I turn the skillet over.

I've just lifted the skillet off of the tortilla. Then I put a tablespoon of oil in the skillet and gently slid the tortilla from the plate into the hot skillet. Keep moving the skillet on the burner and cook for
a few minutes until the other side is done. How do you know it's done? Well I repeat the process of putting the plate on the tortilla and turning it over. If you see it isn't cooked enough, put it back in the skillet for a few minutes more. If you think it is done, but you don't like the color of that side of the tortilla, I get another plate ,cover the tortilla and turn it over. I think that is what I did with this tortilla.

I have cut this tortilla into squares, stuck a toothpick in the squares and taken the dish to parties as an appetizer. In Spain we have ordered rolls with tortilla as a filling. When I was a poor student in Spain, one of the cheapest meals I had was in a bar standing at the counter with a "ración" of tortilla and a glass of"tinto". Bread always came with the order.
Hope you try the dish.
Diana

State Fair Time

2009-08-26T00:31:00.000-07:00

Went to the State Fair last weekend and sampled some of my favorite exhibits. The driving force to get to the fair was to see a family friend show his pig as part of the Future Farmers of America Organization at his High School. This was his first venture into raising an animal and he has learned a lot. His pig sold after the competition for three dollars a pound so he retrieved his costs.
I wish I had taken a picture of the cinnamon roll I ate. It is one of my favorite things to eat at the fair and every year the cinnamon rolls are great. Not at all disappointed by the food but many of the counties didn't show up to advertise their agriculture and location.
The economy has played a part with many of the exhibits.
The Industrial Arts exhibit seemed to have had only local contributions. In the past there has been exquisite furniture made by high school students entered from all over California. I hope the arts are still taught in the school.
The demonstration garden gave me some ideas for next year's planting.

Exclusively Food's Vegetable Slice Recipe's Results ¡Olé!

2009-08-25T16:33:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to learn how to put a watermark on my photos. This a.m. I saw a new recipe on Exclusively Food's Blog and tried it out. Delicious! even if I had to make a few changes to fit the food I had in my frig. It turned out great. I took a picture & played with it & hopefully the watermark comes through. It didn't. This is going to take work.