a surfeit of lampreys

Potatoes Gratin

2007-12-07T17:22:00.000-05:00

Perfect for winter.

Potatoes – peeled and sliced fairly thin (not sure how many – enough to fill a 12 x 8 x 2 pan, maybe 8 medium potatoes. I’ve used Yukon Gold)

One medium onion, cut in half and sliced
2 cups of cheddar cheese, shredded
2 cups milk
2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons butter (use the real thing)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Saute the onion in a little butter, over medium heat in a fry pan until soft and golden. Set aside.

To make sauce: Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat and add 2 tablespoons of flour. Stir together 1-2 minutes until combined and cooked a bit. Slowly add 2 cups of milk while stirring. If you want to speed things up, heat the milk in a separate pan first (but don’t let it come to a boil) and then add it to the butter and flour.

This is the boring part: keep stirring until the sauce thickens – 5-10 minutes. It should be creamy, and drip off the spoon slowly. Once it’s thick, reduce the heat to low and stir 1 cup of cheese into the sauce. Once the cheese is melted and the sauce is smooth, turn off the heat.

Add the onion to the sauce.

Layer the potatoes and sauce in the pan, making sure the onion is distributed throughout. Cover the top with the remaining cup of shredded cheese. Bake for about 1 hour or until top is brown and potatoes are soft.

Italy!

2007-04-20T10:51:00.000-05:00

I'm in the middle of a two-week Italy odyssey. See pics HERE.

Prague: Day Three

2007-03-20T21:13:00.000-05:00

I didn't come here for the food.

I was figuring it would be greasy goulash, lots of potatoes and even more indigestion. I've been eating light at the hotel, taking advantage of the Executive floor breakfast treats and snacks throughout the day, particularly today since it was 37 degrees and drizzly out. I've been working on Lyman Hill Farm today, as well as enjoying the pool and spa.

We weren't motivated to go out in the sleet to get some dinner, so we ate in at the hotel. I wasn't expecting much, but I was pleasantly surprised. We ate at the CzecHouse Grill & Rotisserie and the meal was really good. Geoff had cream of celeriac soup and, as usual, duck. I had Iberian ham to start and oh-so-tasty, potato and marjoram encrusted, pork tenderloin fried balls of death. They reminded me of dim sum - crispy on the outside, tender on the inside. Like a grown-up tater tot with a surprise inside. The spinach it was served with was perfect - just wilted with a tiny bit of garlic. I wish I could say as much for the wine selection, which tasted like fermented skittles. I'll drink beer next time. I read somewhere that the Czech republic consumes the most beer per capita in the world. Until tomorrow....

Prague: Day Two

2007-03-19T14:50:00.000-05:00

I am a Touron.

I went everywhere today. With map and camera in hand, gawking at the sights, tripping on cobblestones, getting blisters on the feet. View pics here.

Wondering where I've been? I'm in Prague!

2007-03-18T15:01:00.000-05:00

Check out my daily photo album here.

I brought my point and shoot because I didn't want to check any baggage, which extra camera stuff would entail. It doesn't matter, because there is something beautiful at every turn.

Cookie sushi

2007-02-18T14:58:00.000-05:00

yum? It's cookies, so hells yeah!

Bland Summit Hotel

2007-02-10T06:22:00.001-05:00

We went up to Sugarloaf for a couple of days of skiing this week. I like the area: it's remote, fairly large, and can be challenging. We stayed at the Grand Summit Hotel, which was bad from the moment we walked through the door.

The room, though a bit tatty and dated, was spacious, with a kitchen/dining/living/area downstairs and a large bedroom on the second level. But it's the little things that really count when you're on vacation, like heat.

Since it was below zero outside, I was looking forward to a nice blast of warm air as soon as I opened the door to the room but was startled to see that the thermostat read 56 degrees. That's welcoming. Not only was it like November in the room, the wall heater was blowing cold air, right next to the windows, where I could feel the wind seeping in at an alarming rate. You'd think a hotel in the frigid Carrabassett Valley would have properly installed, insulated windows. After a few minutes screwing around with the thermostat, I called downstairs to the front desk about the heat, only to be told that I had to turn the fan down. Sure, that stopped that cold air from blowing, but it didn't heat anything up. Thankfully the second floor heat was working, so we decided to deal with the problem in the morning.

The next day is wicked cold, so we're in no rush to get out there. We came down for breakfast right before 10 am. We spoke to the desk clerk about the heat and the blown lightbulb in the living room, then turn to catch a bite in the dining room. The waitress is closing the doors as we're walking in. Not only closing them, but locking the doors. Ok, fine, they breakfast ends at 10 am. I get that. But it's midweek, totally dead, and it's not 10:15, or 10:30. She sees us walking toward the doors and comes back, opens the door a crack and tells us she can give us coffee. Is that gracious and accommodating? Is she a "dedicated" staffmember of American Skiing Company? No, she's a typical ASC employee: undertrained, underpaid, overworked and unloved. Why should she care about customers if nobody else does? As a Killington resident, I know the ASC staff profile very well. It's too bad that the quality of service is consistent at both areas. I guess I could look at it this way: given the poor food quality at most ASC establishments, she may have done us a favor.

We trudge back up the stairs, put on our gear, wait for the maintenance guy to fix the heater. The very nice young man said that a valve in the heater was broken, but rather than fixing it, he rigged it to stay open so we would at at least get some warm air in the room. I didn't really care if it stayed on all the time, since so much cold air was coming from the windows, the heater would struggle to keep up anyway. We retrieved our skis from the filthy inner city high school style locker room, went skiing and had a nice lunch a Geppetto's.

We come back to the room and housekeeping has tidied up. I don't mind one or two screw-ups, like the blown lightbulb. But not finding the parts to the coffee pot until I check the dishwasher; taking the dish towel and dish cloth and not replacing them; and drinking glasses with chipped rims, that's over the top. I don't want to have to think in the morning; the coffee pot should be totally intact, ready to pop in the ground coffee disk and push the button. I'm on vacation, damn it, I'm not emptying any stinkin' dishwasher.

Needless to say, there were no effusive apologies or attempts to make up for giving us a room with a broken heater. That would take extra effort and ASC apparently doesn't believe in that. Unfortunately, we're going back for a couple of days at the end of the month. It's booked and paid for, otherwise I'd stay anyplace (like sharing a cave with a bear) other than the Bland Summit again. I will try to think positively, about great skiing, sunny days, sweet potato fries at The Rack, Carrabassett Ale, and no wind.

More meat goodness

2007-02-02T16:14:00.000-05:00

Mmmm...more meat, this time it's stuffed animals (well, stuffed meat)

Pulling cake out of the dumpster

2007-01-03T15:48:00.000-05:00

I like the Fanny Farmer Cookbook. I've used many recipes from it, and never had a disappointing result - until now.

I love spice cake. It's aromatic, lighter than carrot cake, and is much more butch than white cake. It's especially good with ice cream (ok, what isn't?) and is at it's best when covered with chocolate buttercream frosting.

This weekend, I thought I'd make a nice spice cake for dessert, for a change of pace from fruit crisp and fruit cobbler. I made the cake following the recipe exactly. I pulled it out of the oven within the alloted time, cooled it, frosted it, then cut a big hunk to enjoy during a movie (I think it was Seven - ah, gluttony.) The first bite revealed a sawdust-like texture, not unlike my cat's diet kibble, only cinnamon flavored. Frugal yankee that I am, I can't throw out an entire cake, but I'm not going to eat chocolate frosted particle board. What to do?

Trifle. Whoever invented it is a crappy-cake-saving genius. I made a simple vanilla custard, hacked the cake up into 1 inch squares, then doused them in Grand Marnier. I layered the cake, some mixed berries I defrosted from the freezer, some berry preserves and the custard in a glass bowl. It could have used some whipped cream too, but I didn't have any on hand.

It was so good, I want to make it again. The cake was moist and delicious with the orange flavor, the custard was creamy, the fruit and preserves gave it some complexity.

I didn't take a picture of it because trifle is not that photogenic; it looks like a dog's breakfast - but tastes wonderful

Christmas aftermath

2006-12-29T10:30:00.000-05:00

View from the Inn at Mt Baker

I had an action-packed holiday this year; we went out to the Pacific Northwest to see some snow and visit family. Before
Christmas we drove to Mt Baker for a few days of skiing, since there's no snow to be had here in NH. Ironically, it was snowing so hard that it was hard to see - had we known the mountain better it probably wouldn't have been an issue, but get a little nervous about skiing in a white-out. While there we ate at an Italian restaurant in Glacier. The seafood and homemade pasta dish that was their specialty was beautifully prepared, but it tasted like they used that evil jarred chopped garlic. That stuff should be outlawed. Buck up and chop your own garlic.

We went back to Vancouver to lick our wounds and eat dim sum at Flamingo, sushi at En, and duck at home. Also, a wonderful prawn salad with avocado and anchovies, and Christmas Eve Mussel soup. The big day was Turkey filled - the bird was filled with an apple, sausage and chestnut stuffing, and covered with double smoked bacon. pan forte, chocolate cake and butter tarts for sweets, as well as the Byrne and Carlson chocolate that I hauled out there, all two pounds of it. We all scored some good loot and, geeks that we are, watched Lord of the Rings. Yes, the whole thing, extended editions.

Today I'm looking out the window and the grass is green. This weather trend is very disturbing.

Random November stuff

2006-11-28T11:03:00.000-05:00

Before Thanksgiving we visited with my friend Lynne in her cool old house in Tilton, then went to see the Asylum Street Spankers in Franklin. What a blast. They did play my song, the Lunch Box song (You only love me for my lunch box, baby!). We went skiing on Thanksgiving, and yes, it's pretty cool to be able to ski on Thanksgiving. However, the ghost town I was expecting on this most sacred of holidays was filled with opening day lunatics, so all the pitiful man-made snow was all scraped off by 8:30 am. What ski area has opening day on Thanksgiving? My Day, when I get the place all to myself! We lasted a whole hour and a half. But that meant more time to spend making dinner, which comprised: broiled duck breast with cranberry-orange sauce, squash with maple syrup and nutmeg, sauteed green beans with almonds (that was the best!) and stuffing, just for fun. We had blueberry apple crisp for dessert; I made too much topping (what a surprise) so I sprinkled it on top of blueberry muffins I was making. I over-filled the muffin tins so they became blueberry volcanos in the oven, the billowing smoke setting off the smoke alarm every few minutes as the lava batter overflowed and burned. The muffins were still damn tasty.

I'm heading for BC for skiing on real snow and Christmas soon; my in-laws always manage to pull my most hated holiday out of the dumpster for me, each and every year, like magic. Now that I'm an orphan, it will be particularly difficult, but I'll get through it with some movies, dim sum, sushi, panforte, and sour cherry pie. 100 inches of snow at Mt Baker doesn't hurt, either.

Chest...pains...

2006-11-09T13:51:00.000-05:00

Saw this over at Slice.

Easy to forget

2006-11-08T10:53:00.001-05:00

I went to see the Tab Benoit show in Franklin this weekend. Tab's a fabulous performer and a gracious son of Louisiana: funny, good rapport with the roudy crowd, great voice, great guitarist. Bombarded by requests, I think he managed to play almost every one. The still tragic plight of New Orleans is obviously his mission in life: he spent most of the time between sets talking to people about it, and at one point between songs he spoke about the ongoing disaster. At first I was a little miffed, as I prefer to keep politics and musical performance separate, but what he said has stuck with me since. There are still dead bodies in houses, and still large areas of wasteland, homeless people, and people who are never coming back. If you want to support New Orleans, do something, even go there for your next vacation, go out to eat, hear some music, and spend some money! Anything will help. Thanks for the reminder.

Death by Caffeine

2006-10-30T21:04:00.001-05:00

Love caffeine? Consume enough to kill a horse? Well, how much will it take to put you down? Find out here.

Roasting Coffee

2006-10-30T20:46:00.000-05:00

It's easy to roast coffee in a popcorn popper, but the roast usually finishes too soon, and batches are small. This video shows a 1/3 lb batch stretched to 14 minutes, which isn't bad. Since this video was posted this same popper is doing twice as much and looks a bit different. If you're interested in home roasting, navigate to http://sweetmarias.com and http://coffeegeek.com for good information and interaction with other coffee lovers.

Best Bean Bag

2006-10-29T12:22:00.000-05:00

I was looking for a cool camera bag that didn't scream "CAMERA!" at Crumpler Bags this morning and because the site is so freaking hilarious, I found myself looking at bean bags in the accessories section. Mind you, I'd never give one house room, but if I was to buy a bean bag, this one would surely be it. I did end up purchasing the 7 Million Dollar Home in blue.

Cider Doughnut Heartbreak

2006-10-16T19:24:00.000-05:00

Demerits for DeMerritt Hill Farm.

While I was in a Board of Auctioneers meeting today, Kirk and Matt went out for cider doughnuts - supposedly it's a New England tradition, sort of like visiting the maple syrup shack in the spring. I, a NH native and lifelong resident of New England, had never heard of a cider doughnut until Kirk told me about them. Me, a country girl whose childhood memories include roosters crowing at 5 am and hams hanging in the backyard smokehouse. I hear about cider doughnuts from a guy from New Jersey. In case you haven't figured it out, the ultimate New Englander insult is to be mistaken for, or accuse someone of being from New Jersey. Or New York.

Even though Kirk's experience today sucked, don't give up! I want to try them before the snow flies.

If you're on a cider doughnut safari, try Chowhound for a cider mill near you. That is, if you're in New England. Supposedly New York has some....

Candy Sushi?

2006-10-16T13:48:00.000-05:00

How about some candy sushi?

Posole stew with black beans

2006-09-05T15:19:00.000-05:00

Posole is a cool and healthy alternative to plain old corn - it's been treated to make it all plumped up. You can get it canned or dried, in blue or white varieties.

In a heavy pan, brown 2 chicken thighs, diced, in 3 T oil, remove then:
Saute 2 medium onions, chopped until golden
Add 1 smoked ham hock and the browned chicken thighs
1 T Mexican oregano
1 T cumin
2 t coriander
3 chipotles, dried or canned
1 ancho chile
Juice of 1 lime
1 1/2 cups dried posole (from a latin market, health food or specialty store)
1 bottle of fume blanc or sauvignon blanc
6 cans of chicken broth or equivalent home made if you're ambitious

Bring it to a boil and simmer for 2 hours. Remove the ham hock and retrieve the bit of ham under all that fat - shred the meat and add back into the stew - it's worth the effort. Add 2 cans of black beans (if using dried beans, soak overnight and add those with the posole) and simmer another 1/2 hour.

It's done when the posole is al dente - firm but yielding, and the chicken is completely shredded.

Can one eat healthy outside of the home?

2006-09-04T15:20:00.000-05:00

This site helps answer that question. Search for restaurants in your area that offer healthier choices.

Francesco in Miami

2006-09-04T15:16:00.000-05:00

On the way down to Chile we took an early flight to Miami and rented a car so we could bomb around and eat a decent meal before the grueling overnight flight to Santiago. The semi-squalid Latin American that we go to was shut down, so we had to figure out where we could get a decent meal in an unpretentious setting. Geoff did a little homework and came up with Francesco at 325 Alcazar Avenue in Coral Gables. It's a small place with fantastic Peruvian-Italian cuisine. We split the Ceviche 3-sauce sampler; I'm not sure which three sauces we got, but they had Francesco style sauce, mild aji amarillo sauce and spicy rocoto sauce, and traditional Peruvian Style sauce. Geoff got the Riso Nero Con Fruitti Di Mare: rice,scallops and shrimp with squid ink sauce. I got the Corvina Con Pulpo A La Piedra: grilled corvina (sea bass, but not what we think of as "Chilean" sea bass) filled with sauteed octopus topped with sesame-oyster sauce, with potato souffle. We ate very early, so service was good - it got a little slower as the place filled up, but they were always gracious. All the desserts looked really good, but I picked the Suspiro de Limeña (A Lima Sigh), a dessert that I enjoyed in Chile several times as well. I found this recipe at Peru Mucho Gusto and it looks pretty close, but I haven't tried it out - I'll let you know, or you can try it:

As in every art of love, a sigh will be got by he who knows how to prepare a Lima Sigh, sweet and tempting. A yoke of cooked sweetened and condensed milk is covered with a mixture of meringue, port wine, and a touch of cinnamon.

Suspiro a la Limeña (serves 4 people)

Ingredients:
1 can of sweetened, condensed milk
1 can of evaporated milk
3 egg yokes
3 egg whites
¼ cup of Port wine
¾ cup of sugar
Cinnamon powder
Vanilla

Preparations:
Make manjarblanco (caramelized milk paste) with the two types of milk constantly stirring them until it reaches the desired consistency. Then, remove from the heat. Next, add the yokes and stir to avoiding curdling. Then, add the vanilla. Make syrup with the sugar and the Port wine. Make a meringue by beating the egg whites until they are stiff. Then, pour a very thin stream of the hot syrup into the egg whites. Beat until it is cool. Serve the manjarblanco with a covering of meringue in a dessert bowl. Sprinkle with cinnamon powder.

View of Iglesia de San Francisco from the hotel

2006-09-03T20:25:00.000-05:00

Santiago, an old, beautiful city with great food, magnificent sights, wine and danger around every corner. I almost prefer avalanches. Can't wait to go back.

Food gives me the Blues

2006-09-03T19:21:00.000-05:00

Howard and the White Boys played up in Franklin last night, and it was a fabulous, fabulous performance. Fantastic, outstanding guitars. One of their songs, Booty and Barbecue is going on my food song playlist as soon as I track it down. If Franklin (north of Concord) isn't too much of a haul for you, and you love good blues, check out the schedule at House Rockin Productions; major acts in a small venue - it's not advertised, and the club is very small - there were about 100+/- people there last night. It was a blast. The Asylum Street Spankers are playing up there November 18th, another cool band with a food song on my playlist, Hot Lunch. Their recent most recent cd, Mommy Says No! features the song You Only Love Me for My Lunchbox. I can relate. They do a cover of Nine Inch Nails' Closer that I'd like to hear.

Recipes for Lamers

2006-09-02T21:58:00.000-05:00

If you're lame at cooking like I am, and recipe cards and books don't cut the mustard, this is the site for you. It's visual recipes, photos taken step by step. It's chef show & tell.

Termas de Chillan at Dusk

2006-08-24T18:05:00.000-05:00

My last night here - taking the train to Santiago tomorrrow morning.