Morcilla and mussels

Last night was my night to cook so I bought one morcilla sausage at the mercado in the morning along with some fresh green beans and arborio rice for the risotto. Jack was not real keen on the morcilla idea, so he purchased some mussels to steam just in case. This was the first time I cooked morcilla so I wasn't sure how to go about it, but Google saved me once again... slice and saute, no brainer. The interior of this sausage is really soft so gentle treatment is a must. I learned there are several types of morcillo, this one was most definitely Andalucian... sort of spicy, rich and savory. I loved it! This was also the first time I made risotto without careful measurement; there are no measuring cups or spoons in this kitchen, so I just winged it. Thanks to Jamie Oliver for his no-fail risotto recipe that is my go-to. It turned out great just eye-balling the amount of rice to liquid; it accompanied the morcillo and mussels perfectly. All together, a rich meal, but that's what wine is for, right!

Birthday dinner in Seville

Today is Jack's birthday and he's cooking dinner for us in our abbreviated Sevilliano kitchen. There is a 2-burner cook top (sadly electric, not gas and no oven) on which he's making sauteed duck breast with fresh homemade plum sauce, steamed asparagus, and green salad with cabra and kiwi dressed with sherry vinaigrette. I'm just writing the post about it :), he doesn't need my help. For both of us, it's a treat to have the kitchen to ourselves to create a special meal. Since it's his birthday, I let him christen our itty, bitty kitchen with his menu of choice. Soon I will have my day and do something with a special local sausage that I remember from previous trips to Spain. It's called morcilla (blood sausage). Stay tuned!

A cook's travel essentials

We love to cook in our travel destination kitchens, especially in Europe where we have access to the fresh seafood that we can't find in Seward. The produce markets in Spain, France and Italy are highlights of every trip as are the cheese shops, gourmet emporiums and bakeries. The colors, smells and presentation are the result of the traditions and careful thought of people who really care about their craft... be it masterful cheese making or growing a beautiful tomato. Food shopping in the markets and thinking about what we may find to cook is always an adventure.

Just like many vacation rentals here in the U.S., European apartment kitchens are usually stocked with the basic cooking supplies, pots, pans, utensils, dishes, cups and glasses. The knives are often disappointing though and for that reason, we always pack our own. This trip I put together a cook's survival kit that should meet most of our needs; it's a lot more than I usually pack so it will be interesting to see if it was worth the extra effort! Here's my arsenal:

I love this tiny grater, the natural fiber sponge, and the Himalayan salt and pepper combo... finds from HomeGoods. Also, decided we needed:

A small nonstick pan
Whisk for bullet-proof coffee
Wooden spoons – one flat edge
Plastic cutting board
Knives
Silicon spatula
Mesh vege bag
Aleppo pepper
Pepper mill - whole Tellicherry Indian Black peppercorns
Zatar (sumac/thyme/sesame seed/salt blend
Basiks Blend (herbs and spices)
Sea salt – Kosher and pink Himalayan
Cinnamon
Vanilla bean
Italian seasoning
Minced dried onion
Herbs de Provence
Coconut oil



Our destination is Seville, Spain where I know saffron, paprika (sweet and smokey) and fresh garlic are readily available so no need to pack those. The new knives with blade sheaves were a gift to Jack for his birthday on the 9th... can't wait to try them out. I'll post more from the apartment when we arrive, stay tuned!

Grape Harvest 2014

Last year the birds and critters ate all of our grapes. This year they left some for us and there are still a ton on the vines. These are destined for grape jam.

Sardines with mustard

This was lunch today... sardines with mustard and Jack's freshly made finishing salt. Really good sardines, not so great food photography, awesome salt.
There are many good choices for sardines... these are from Trader Joe's but my all time favorites are Matiz Gallego from Spain, of course... available via Amazon and other online sources. Here is the finishing salt recipe:
1/2 cup coarse sea salt
1/4 cup packed rosemary leaves
1/4 cup packed lemon thyme leaves
1 cup fine sea salt
Put the first 3 ingredients into a food processor and chop until fine. (The reason you want to use coarse sea salt for this part is to help breakdown the herbs and release their oils.) When the mixture is fine, add 1 cup of fine sea salt and pulse until thoroughly incorporated. Pour the mixture onto a rimmed cookie sheet and allow to dry for several hours before storing in small jars... wonderful sprinkled on nearly anything at the table. Enjoy!

Books on my nightstand

To the reader, this stack may appear mighty ambitious... but to those who know me, that's just how I roll. There are stacks of reading material all over the house. I like to read several books at once and magazine articles too. I know alot of people who don't enjoy this approach to reading... they prefer to read from beginning to end even if they're not enjoying the book! Maybe it has something to do with closure or just finishing what you start... a concept that's eluded me all my life, gratefully, without any serious consequences of which I'm aware.

Stacks of books are like cable tv… if you’re not in the mood for one channel, you can easily switch to another. That’s how I am with books. How, you may wonder, do I ever finish one book if I have so many to choose from? Well, because I generally read for inspiration and not so much for entertainment… inspiration being entertainment for me. Though novels are entertaining and a really good one can keep me engrossed to the very last page, inspirational books offer something different; sometimes an insight or just a new way of looking at a problem and sometimes a life-changing idea. I’m an information junky so I often read to learn and understand. Some of the books in this stack will never be read to the end by me even though within their pages I may have found some nugget of wisdom I can store away in my heart or my brain for later.

Let’s begin at the top: Take My Heart Oh God is a lovely book of daily devotions, a Christmas gift from daughter, Lori.  I like to just open it up randomly and read the message that shows up instead of following along by the date… reminding me of God’s presence in my life every day.

I Could Pee on This is a hilarious collection of poems written by cats… a loan from friend, Jeanne. I read it to the end giggling all the way.

The Old Farmer’s Almanac was another Christmas gift, this one from Jack. He knows I love to garden (by the moon) so this will be helpful as soon as I begin planning my Spring garden.

The next book, Quite Days in Clichy is one I began reading but haven’t yet finished. Henry Miller wrote this in Paris when he was penniless and unknown. It’s a celebration of love, art and the Bohemian life at a time when the world was simpler and slower. Those days are gone, of course, as well as the ability to survive in Paris without money. I’m not sure I like Henry Miller so much but it was a small book that I thought would slip easily into my luggage. We were in Paris, at the Shakespeare & Company Bookshop and I wanted a remembrance of that book mecca which is just so intriguing and wonderful for a book nut like me (I could spend days there). They even stamp the fly page with their company logo if you ask.

Everybody Was So Young is another book about life in Paris during the 20s. I really got hooked on that era after reading The Paris Wife. This one focuses on the Murphy’s, a wealthy couple and friends of Hemingway, who helped him get his start. It’s a bittersweet tale of young people, unencumbered by want, who party, befriend artists, endure personal tragedies, and unknowingly shape the artistic scene of the 1920s. Not unlike tuning into a tv soap opera except these were real people with genuine legacies that made historical difference in art and culture.

Ayurveda and the Mind made it to the stack because I’ve been researching the effects of herbs on consciousness. Sounds pretty new agey: energetic psychology… I think there’s really something there, especially with turmeric.

 Seth Godin’s The Icarus Deception is the first book I’ve read by this author… I was enrolled after reading Amazon’s summary, yet so far I’m a bit turned off. The structure is erratic; most of the time I’m not sure where he’s going with his ideas. I’ve gotten one take away though:  he introduces the concept of “participating in your life -- if you’re not failing at things regularly (he writes), then you’re not really living.”  Sticky note to monitor.

Living in Process: Basic Truths to Living the Path of the Soul was written by the same author who wrote Meditations For Women Who Do Too Much. This book offers an alternative to life as “product” as Schaef describes our modern culture, to a more mindful participation in life as “process” which she explains, means embracing a “way of doing” instead of “what is done”… “being” instead of “doing” instead of the results-oriented model our culture demands. Not ground-breaking thought I’m afraid; she seems to be using different words to describe concepts already explored by others. On page 4 she shares her conclusion that “all human problems are ultimately spiritual”. I agreed with that sentiment the first time I heard it over 30 years ago when Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh said it… and probably someone before him as well. It just may be true that there really isn’t anything new anymore.

Perhaps the best of the bunch and last on the stack, Smitten Kitchen by Deb Perelman, an award-winning food, cooking and ingredient-obsessed blogger in New York City. I love her and have been following her blog for many years. Because she’s both a photographer and a great cook, the photos on her blog are some of the best. Her recipes too… down-to-earth doable by anyone. ‘Have to try her Almond Date Breakfast Bars. All goodness.

Next post I’m promising myself that I’ll only stack books on my nightstand that I’m loving and would absolutely recommend! Till then!

Wintertime

Winter in Nebraska is no slice of heaven. In my opinion, you need to go further south or west if it’s heaven you’re seeking. The snow is beautiful; it makes everything look sleepy and peaceful. And when the sun shines, you’d swear you were some place extraordinary, like Vail or Aspen except there are no mountains here. But never mind that, winter is about more than gorgeous scenery and lower temps. It’s a cozy season of slowing down, reflecting and contemplating. I think God made winter for this very purpose so I’m grateful I live in a place where I can take full advantage of it. 

Over several days of sub-freezing weather and a flu-stricken husband, I left the house only to feed the birds and fetch the mail. Today he’s better, so I’m heading into town to Walmart and the library. I’m careful driving down our snow- and ice-packed lane as I pass the large snow angel our neighbor made with her brand new car earlier in the day. Some husbands would pitch a fit over a little thing like that, but I think her's was secretly delighted for the opportunity to use his vintage John Deer tractor to rescue her.

The road to town is clear and nearly dry even while piles of dirtying snow stand watch on either side. My thoughts wander back to just 2 months ago when I was sipping sangria in an outdoor café in southern Spain. We explored seaside towns, delighted in the flavors of Mediterranean cuisine and eagerly anticipated the next day's adventure. And now… I’m going to Walmart and the library in a small mid-western town in the frigid fly-over state of Nebraska. This is a slice of my life… a study in contrasts, a “moveable feast” (I like those words together, thank you E.H.).

Which is why I’m headed to the library; I need a little more of Spain today. I just finished reading The Paris Wife which is, of course, about Paris but also about Spain. It's the story of Ernest Hemingway’s first wife with whom he spent his early years in Paris and their travels to Spain before he became famous. I loved the book, but as with most of the women surrounding Hemingway, the story of Hadley Richardson very quickly becomes about Ernest. And though the author, Paula McClain, did a masterful job crafting Hadley’s personality and her life with Ernest in Paris, I only wanted to know more about him when the book ended. I realized I’d not read any of his work… not in high school nor college. So off I went in search of The Sun Also Rises which is about his travels in Spain and considered to be his best work. 

Next stop Walmart for a few necessities and a light bulb that Jack needs for his shop. Everything seems to be on sale today and many shelves that just a few weeks ago were packed with Christmas decorations, lights and ornaments now stand empty… all the sparkle and color of Christmas is gone. But wait! what’s that down at the end of the aisle so colorful and bright? Seed packets and seed starting kits?

Even though I’ve already received about a dozen seed catalogs in the mail, I wasn’t really inspired until I saw these signs of Spring at Walmart on this freezing cold winter day. Driving home I start planning my Spring garden in my mind and tonight I’ll settle into my comfy chair by the fire, browse the seed catalogs and imagine Spring with the most grateful heart I can muster. And maybe read some Hemingway.