Morning 50: Looking for the Great Pumpkin

It's 0100 on a Wednesday morning, and I can't sleep.  So what do I do?  Just what any healthy, well-adjusted 23-year old guy would do:  I get up and start cooking and blogging.

To be fair, I suppose I'm not really cooking so much as assembling a cake, but it's still probably not the normal early morning activity for my peer group or most people.

Anyway, I'm writing as I'm waiting for my pumpkin ice cream to soften a bit sitting on top of the pumpkin cake I made so I can roll it up to finish off the double pumpkin roulade I started making last week before my adventures to Connecticut.  I like the fact that this dessert can pretty much be prepared and stored, though I may be stretching the limit as far as time before assembly goes.  When I was making both the ice cream and the cake last week (that's where Tuesday and Wednesday went), my home smelled delicious...maybe the best so far, or at least tied with the granola.  I never really knew what all went into "pumpkin spice" things, but it turns out that cloves, allspice, cinnamon, and nutmeg do a pretty good job of it.  I have three more pumpkins that my sponsors gave me two weekends ago when I was there (it turns out they yielded plenty enough for the Project), and I don't quite know what to do with them.  Any suggestions?  I don't really want to make a pumpkin pie.  Not because I am suddenly above pumpkin pie, I just don't want another dessert around unless it's unusual.

So, the pumpkin spice puree that went into making the cake was fantastic, and the cake set very moistly so that I could roll it up and store it in the fridge on a sugared tea towel--that is to say, it would have been a tea towel if I had had a clean one handy; rather, it turned out to be a heavily sugared hand towel from my bathroom...it worked the same.  This time I gave the ice cream enough time to freeze hard in the baking pan to avoid a soupy disaster like at my sponsors.  And now, after letting the slab of pumpkin ice cream soften just enough to dimple when poked, I rolled it into the cake.  It's not as pretty as it could be, I think I needed to let it soften just a tad more before starting to roll to not break the initial bend, but I definitely have the idea down.  I think I'm going to bring this in to work tomorrow and see how it goes over.  I'll edit this post with pictures tomorrow, but I don't have my camera cord and such out right now, and I am trying to go to bed, after all.

I can't wait to taste the pumpkiny creation.  I'm very grateful that I have sponsors who take care of me so.  Homestead Gardens is about to start up their annual Fall Festival.  If you're in the Chesapeake region, it's worth checking out.  I wish I got all my produce from them, but I can't make it there every time I need something (and goodness knows I'm not prepared enough to make a list every time I head up that way).  Go check out that or any other fall festivals or fairs in your area.  Go with family, friends, or even on your own.  You never know what you'll learn, who you'll meet, or over what meal you'll end up sharing grace.

Happy Ham Day!

The Official 2010 Ham Day T-shirt

Today is Ham Day.  I enjoyed ham as part of my three meals today, did you?  For dinner especially, I adapted one of Patrick's recipes to make a ham/bacon linguine.  I sauteed some vegetables in butter (of course delicious), added some bacon (sounding better), then added a little ham, sherry, and chicken stock and cooked it down till it was thick enough to pour on the linguine.  I highly recommend something along those lines if you're looking for a non-tomato/non-cream pasta sauce.  It was easy, and you can put in whatever root sort of vegetables you want (leeks, onions, carrots, celery, etc.).


The below was written by my sister, the Prophet of Ham Day.  She did her part to spread the holiday this year by taking ham biscuits to school to share with her friends and teachers.  I really think this holiday is starting to take off.  I encourage you to read its history and mark your calendars for a year from today (and don't worry if you missed it, you can celebrate a day late):



Ham Day: some fear it, some turn their noses at it, some even doubt its existence. Well, I’m here to tell you once and for all that some, are wrong.

Ham Day is a time-honored holiday celebrating its eleventh anniversary this year. Its fans are concentrated mostly in Austin, Texas, its hometown. However, this fan base is growing, and all of y’all get to contribute.

Ham Day started, as so many great things do, in the mind of--most would say--a child prodigy. She had noticed the constant comparison of ham and turkey, a battle for the ages. People were taking sides, things were ebbing on outrageous. Manufacturers were trying to outdo each other with spices and packaging. Judgmental sidelong glances were being shot across the aisles of grocery stores based the contents of carts.   And the omnipresent question at every sandwich restaurant loomed over each customer, “Ham or turkey?!”

Society was losing it, the world had gone mad!

If something didn't change soon, we could’ve lost everything near and dear to us. Enter Clara Navarro, our protagonist. There could only be one winner.  There just wasn’t room enough in the fridge drawer for two deli meats.

Obviously, ham was the superior choice. To secure its place in the winner’s circle, she saw only one option: a holiday honoring all that is ham. She knew that it would be an instant hit and was right on all accounts. It continues to touch the very fiber of humanity’s being every year on September 20th.

The basis of Ham Day is simple: do all possible to show your love for this pig-derived wonder. That means its presence at every meal is mandatory. Shirts, hats, and banners announcing the sheer joy ham has brought into your life are heavily encouraged. Ham is a versatile food. There are endless possibilities and absolutely no excuses for a Ham Day, God forbid, lacking ham. Tell everyone you know, plan a festive dinner, host a hog-tying contest--whatever tickles your fancy, go for it!

The one rule: by no means, NO MEANS is there to be any turkey celebrating! Celebrating includes eating!

So now, armed with knowledge and filled with the spirit of this awe-inspiring meat, go forth and make a ham sandwich, fully confident that you have chosen correctly.

Coley Conquers Connecticut

The below is a guest post from Red, a friend I've had since the fifth grade, whom I visited this weekend in New Haven where she's being a real scientist:

I’m happy to be guest-blogging tonight, as Coley travels on a (fortunately) delayed train back to MD.  He brought his project along this weekend, whipping out the cookbook when he first arrived and after a quality day of Yale football and New Haven pizza, we made a somewhat scrambled shopping list for the evening.  We enticed my Swedish neighbor Mattias to come along when we mentioned Lingonberry salsa, which I’ll describe later.  One lesson, if you don’t start shopping until after 6, then you won’t be cooking until after 8, and the food tastes that much better when you finally start eating after 10, not to mention how incredible dessert can be at 1 am...  I diverge.  

In general, I think our meals were good efforts but we didn’t always cook exactly by the book, so I don’t know what Patrick would think. We did check off a few more recipes for the project.  Tonight we cooked the red pepper soup, but be careful because the cream sauce with Sambuca can turn to butter before you know it.  Coley cooked up his favorite corn and pepper saute, topped with bacon of course.  And, we followed with the lamb carpaccio on a bed of arugula and mystery greens.  The greens give the dish an important crunch, but perhaps we should skip the mystery greens next time and stick to the arugula.  Mattias whipped up a delicious dill mayonnaise, although he didn’t even put a dent in my preposterous stash of fresh dill coming from the garden this time of year.  We finished the meal with a team-effort Chocolate pecan bourbon pie, which is pretty much what it sounds like -- take everything delicious, put it in a newly acquired pie dish, and bake until it reaches the consistency of gooey-goodness.

We went to bed full, tired, and happy, and woke up just a few hours later to prepare breakfast before church.  I put together the lingonberry salsa -- lingonberry preserves, chili, cilantro, lime.  According to Wikipedia, lingonberries can be called cowberries, and are small red berries found most prevalent in Scandinavia and IKEA.  I’ll take the rest to Mattias to test the authenticity of the jam.  Coley cooked his potato crusted fish, and on the side I put together the spicy pecans.  The pecans could take a second try to perfect, I think Coley is up to it.  

I should mention also that Coley whipped up a giant batch of granola in no time at all, using whatever random oats, nuts, honey and maple syrup I had around, and I’ll be thinking of him as long as I’m snacking on this delightful treat.  My house smelled incredible all weekend, so I’d say Coley is the best house-guest ever, y’all should be fighting over who gets to host him next time!  Time for me to sign off, as I just finished a piece of leftover pie and I’m heading back for more.

Day 38: Saucy

I almost bought a blowtorch today.

This all started when I stayed late at work for a flight.  It was a good deal.  I would get to fly and experience some Mondo magic, and Swervin got to go home earlier for his birthday.  Of course, it also meant I needed some quick food for dinner, so Subway was in the cards instead of the planned rockfish dish with creamy garlic polenta.

When I got home and was still a bit hungry, I thought, "that's okay, I can run by the store to grab some chocolate for this weekend, then I'll make that polenta as a snack."  I ran by the store, found the chocolate quickly, and ran over to the hardware section just to see if they had a blowtorch for the creme brulee that I would like to make properly at some point.  They did.  However, I already had enough in my basket with the triple sec and sherry that I was buying also that I decided against spending another $30 on a needless appliance.  I'll probably end up getting one at some point anyway.  I'm almost positive I will.  Because after all; a specialized, potentially explosive, fire-making device seems like exactly the sort of thing I should own.

Then I got home and discovered that I have no cornmeal.  There went my dreams of a delightful fried polenta snack.  That just meant it was time to start early on Q's present.  Tonight became a tale of two sauces:

The first was a White Chocolate Sauce with triple sec and cream.  And the second was a Dark Chocolate Sauce with coffee, cream, and triple sec and brandy pretending to be Grand Marnier.  That's right, I actually drew a line and said no to buying something for Patrick tonight!  I feel a little bad about not following the letter of the law, but it's chocolate so of course it's good anyway.

Plus, I got to put the sauces in my new (cheap) plastic squeeze bottles that I finally found at the store tonight.  Trade a not super-productive night of cooking for a great night at the store and some good prep for this weekend.

Go Navy!  Beat Georgia Southern!

Day 37: Chilled Grilled and Nothing Spilled

Ah! Finally, my blog is sort of working (if random formatting occurs, I promise it's not my fault) and I can post something about what I've been up to.

I spent most of last night with a massive ham in the oven.  I believe it's 13 lbs.  This seems like a lot for one person, and it is.  However, Patrick likes to use Virginia country ham quite a bit, so I'm confident I can get through it.  Plus, I have to build up my repertoire of recipes and ideas for the 2010 International Ham Day.  What's this?  You've never heard of Ham Day?  Well, I'll have a guest blogger on in a bit to share the history and lore of Ham Day, but go ahead and prepare yourself for this September 20th (it's a Monday) when you too can celebrate a little bit of ham in all your meals.

Tonight was another cold starter for dinner night:  Chilled Grilled Black Mission Figs with Virginia Country Ham and Lime Cream.  Now, these weren't fresh black mission figs.  I don't think I've ever even seen figs in the store, but I was able to buy some when I was in the Burgh a bit ago.  However, even things that aren't quite fresh, when sprinkled with enough cinnamon and sugar, become delicious.  The ham is too salty, and I was pretty sure that it was going to be, but I don't know that there is anything I can do about that now.  The lime cream is good (I got to whip more cream tonight), and at first I didn't pipe on enough--yeah, I got to use my new pastry bag tonight!--but I though I actually did pipe on too much for the visual effect given.    So, if I were serving this again, I think I would have to make a compromise and (shocking that I'm putting presentation over taste) probably leave just enough cream on for effect, but not overpower it for the sake of taste.  I could always have the cream on the side for a little extra flavor if folks want.  At any rate, the dish tasted okay.  I definitely think some things could be done differently, but I don't think it was by any means a failure dish...just not a huge success.

p.s.  I also just found out that tomorrow is Swervin's birthday.  I wish I had figured that out a little earlier or I could have made a birthday something for him and his family.  I'm not sure if there is anything I can whip together tonight or tomorrow.  I don't even have any pie dough made.  Blast.

Week 4: The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul

You know how Arthur Dent just couldn't get the hang of Thursdays?  Well, I'm just not really getting the hang of this week.  I passed out dead Monday evening when I got back from nothing too strenuous and woke up the next morning not even feeling that great.  Not that this is any excuse for not cooking anything much this week, or for not writing about what I have made.  Julie would be ashamed of me, Patrick would tell me the show must go on, and Julia, I think, would probably understand.

Last Thursday, after baking my oat, honey, cashew, flour, wheat germ, oil, almond mixture spread on a sesame seed pan; I set it out to cool for the night and woke up Friday morning to a deliciously sweet-smelling apartment.  I mean really, it smelled awesome.  Tremendously better than the smoky cloud that likes to develop when I make something normally.

Anyway, I covered the baking pans because I didn't have a plan to deal with them before work, then when I got back, I quickly scraped the slightly browned granola into several Tupperware and have been enjoying the nuggets for the whole week since.  I think the granola clumped together well, but it ended up a little softer than I expected.  I think I can make it crispier by leaving it in the oven a little longer, but my other panful seemed to burn a little even with the same cook-time, so I'm not exactly sure what to do differently next time to find the balance.  Maybe it's just supposed to be a little chewy.  Patrick didn't mention anything about the consistency it should be, and it's certainly good enough right now for me to keep a Tupperware on my desk at work and to not really advertise sharing it with everyone else (though the recipe did make plenty to go around...of course).

Also on Friday, I received a package from my dear, sweet mother with eight Mexican vanilla beans in it.  They will come into play in the near future.

Then, it was off to "the Burgh" (Pittsburgh, Western PA, homeland of Mister Rogers), where I went to Coley/O'Connellize the G-8 household.  I went with G-8 Alpha to the strip district Saturday morning which was the absolute antithesis of where I am currently living and shopping.  There were grocer's markets everywhere with all kinds of fresh produce, a place to buy fresh made pastas, a great meat and fish market, and even a spice store.  A spice store!  That's all they had...just spices!  And, it wasn't even cheesily decorated to be a Persian market like I halfway expected.  Even if I didn't buy anything for myself, it was a breath of fresh air to know that there is a place in the world to have all your cooking needs taken care of, and it doesn't involve driving to four different crappy supermarkets all over SoMD.

G-8 Momma isn't a huge fan of seafood (and many other things, apparently), so I was looking for something to make that night that would appeal to all in the crowd.  It turned out that she wasn't going to be there for dinner due to a prior commitment, but I still like to make things that families will like when I visit so that maybe they'll be inspired to keep the idea in their hip-pockets for a family meal later (plug for Grace Before Meals).

All this consideration went out the window when I saw rabbit at the meat market.  I've been waiting for a moment to make Patrick's Apple-Braised Rabbit, and this was it.  We also picked up some lamb for the other carpaccio in the book.  We didn't end up making the rabbit exactly according to directions, but the apple juice (couldn't find cider this time of year) infused the rabbit loin and the bacon in the dish.  It was a nice sweetness added to the meat, and I could see braising rabbit or chicken in apple juice fairly easily in the future.  Also, bacon adds to any dish.  It's like butter in meat form.

The highlight for me, though, was our Carpaccio of Baby Lamb on Arugula with Mustard-Rosemary Sauce and Tabouli.  Wow, that's a bit of a mouthful now, but this was a very easy dish to make that turned out really well and for some reason wasn't nearly as scary as the Tuna Carpaccio.  If you want to make it yourself, cover lamb loin or rack of lamb in herbs, sear the outside, wrap in plastic, and stick in the freezer till you're ready to use.  The mustard-rosemary sauce was just another mustard-mayo combination with some rosemary-infused oil, and the tabouli was tabouli-ish.  Again, though (I know I keep saying this), the arugula pulled it all together and added the needed crunch.  That's a theme I'm going to have to keep in mind once I finally start cooking independently of the project.  A little crunch from a veggie makes a dish pop!

Day 23 (written mostly on Day 21): The Introduction

Why Julie? Why Julia?

Now, why Coley?  Why Chef O'Connell?  Why didn't he post something about all these whys to start off the project?

First, the Coley:
Recently trained lieutenant of Marines...without Marines, waiting to start flight training in Pensacola, FL.  Currently residing in a one-man apartment right down the road from NAS Patuxent River, MD.  One man with a crappy electric stove, a small refrigerator, a couple good knives, and one set of basic, Target-bought pans.

The Book:
The Inn at Little Washington Cookbook (A Consuming Passion) by Chef Patrick O'Connell--founder, proprietor, and chef of (go figure) The Inn at Little Washington in Washington, VA.
"The Inn at Little Washington is rated number one year after year in all categories of Zagat's Washington, D.C., restaurant survey...Reviewers call it the Promised Land, and its patrons are known as 'pilgrims.'"
"This book is a distillation of [Patrick's] thirty years in the kitchen...Each recipe has a story to tell and relates to the others.  Collectively, they define a style and taste that are uniquely American, though full of influences from other countries."


The Challenge:
At the beginning of this project, there were 130 days until Aviation Preflight Indoctrination starts.  There are 110 recipes in this cookbook according to the table of contents.
Learn to grocery shop, learn to cook, learn to present, create them all.

The Why:
I don't know how to cook.  I've tried a few times these past few years to learn, but I couldn't commit.  Now, I'm living in the boonies, have some time I need to fill, and have my own place where no one's going to care if I make a disaster of the kitchen.  I also went to The Inn at Little Washington earlier this summer to celebrate Clare's leaving the East Coast.  It was an unforgettable experience--the best meal of my life-- and I walked away with the newer cookbook.  Clare got me the first one, and I decided to dive in.  Why not?

Now, I'm not Julie.  I'm not risking my marriage (completely single), my job (well, maybe my job a little), or my cat's well-being (if only I could have a pet).  I just signed on for the task to see how much I can learn and how far I'll go.

So far, it's been good.  Wish me luck.

Day 23: All is Right

I'm sitting at my desk right now with my legs in pain, talking to my mother, drinking a soda, and eating some homemade caramel ice cream because I just got my MCMAP brown belt!  Life is good.  I fought a fair amount today, and I'm probably going to eat something bad for me for dinner..but never fear!  I will still prepare something tonight.

Last night, when I was preparing this delicious caramel cream concoction, I was worried about its success.  The only time I have ever made ice cream was in my Aunt Mary's basement in Kansas.  That was more than ten years ago, so I don't remember most of it, and even then I was in the cranking ranks, so I didn't know too much about what went on before I went to work.

In this ice cream operation, it was just me and my $5 bargain ice cream maker from the thrift store up the road...and the directions that came with it, so when Patrick said "freeze according to manufacturers instructions", I actually could and didn't just have to make it up myself.

My big worry about caramel ice cream is the caramel part.  I tried to caramelize some onions last week for the miniature caramelized onion tartlets, but it didn't work too well (though the onions were still good), and I had to caramelize some sugar earlier this week for something that I'm not remembering too well, so I didn't have much faith in myself or my pans.  But, I kept the sugar-water on the stove beyond where I thought it would caramelize, putting my faith in Patrick once again.  Lo and behold, it worked!  The liquid did "begin to turn a golden amber color" and when I added the cream and whisked in the butter, I ended up with caramel.

Next was making the ice cream.  Not normally a problem for someone with a stainless steel bowl or a double boiler.  I have neither.  However, one time in the past, I needed a double boiler to melt chocolate for a German chocolate cake, didn't have one, so just held a pan over bubbling water.  It worked, it just took a careful balance.  It worked again last night.

Then, after combining the ice cream (which used the rest of my eggs) and caramel (and cooling everything off thoroughly), I put in Silkwood, set a towel down, hammered out some ice and water filter salt (it was the only thing I could find in the store) and got to cranking.  Sure enough, that tin can in a wood barrel made ice cream!  I poured it into a couple tupperwares (way more than I can eat on my own), and set it in the freezer.  Now it is creamy, caramely deliciousness.

I just have to figure out what to do with it and what to do when I make the rest of these ice cream recipes.

Day 21: The Sleepies

I brought my apple-walnut roses in to work today, and I think everyone liked them. There was one slight scare when I gave one to a pilot about to go out on a flight and he commented, "these are pretty good, is there alcohol in it?" My mouth dropped open a bit before I realized the dark rum that I baked the apples in was okay (unlike, I'm convinced, the Virginia Riesling wine that was in the Peach Puree I had a couple weeks ago).

Then, I got back after MCMAP, showered up, read my book a bit, and fell fast asleep for a bit. After that, I went to get some more cream from the store, came back and decided you know what? I'm just going to make some Campbell's soup (chicken and dumplings...delicious), clean up the apartment a little, and go back to sleep early tonight.

So, I'm hitting the rack/futon and saving the granola, caramel ice cream, and if we're lucky, the spicy pecans for tomorrow evening. Hopefully a brown-belt celebration!

Day 19 (Part 2): Filet O' Fish

I have never filleted a fish before. I have never filleted anything before. And I certainly don't have a fillet knife. So, I'm glad that I had four fillets to work on tonight. That meant I could almost completely destroy the first one, merely maim the second one, do okay on the third, and make a beauty (if I do say so myself) out of the fourth. I sliced the potatoes thinly with the

wonderful Santoku knife that my mom got me for my birthday (that thing is great!) and laid them carefully in a fish scale pattern on the fillets.

Then, I fried them in the same order I cut them. This also ended up being a good decision with the last set of potatoes having just the right amount of crispiness and the fish cooked just perfectly. The other fillets weren't bad (as evidenced by their rapid disappearance from my kitchen), but I definitely improved even within this one meal. I wish I had bought a few more fillets so I could have kept a couple for breakfast. Hopefully, this week I'll get some granola made to make my breakfasts more interesting.

Rainbow Trout in a Potato Crust is the easiest meal I've made so far, and probably one of the most striking when made right. I think I may end up making this again even within the project because of how quick and easy it is (especially if you don't have to take apart the trout yourself).

Oh, and another note before I forget. I almost titled this post 'He's on fire!' If I had a gas stove in this apartment like I did in Springfield, I would probably not be typing this right now. Hot oil over a stove is a dangerous thing to be splashing fish and potatoes around in. Fortunately, God protects me from my own stupidity and clumsiness when even Patrick's warnings don't do the trick.

"Gently lift each fillet by sliding one hand underneath the waxed paper and carefully flipping the fillet over into the pan (potato side down), being careful not to splash the hot oil."