Search Results for ‘(“C’
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Search Results
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Which of these game birds is the lightest (dressed weight)?
[See the full post at: Daily Quiz for August 8, 2019]
Topic: Kitchens and Cooks
I recently came across two articles that discuss what I'd call the cultural philosophy of the kitchen. (If you can come up with a more precise term, go ahead.) The first was included as a link in Deb Perelman's last Smitten Kitchen blog post. It has TMI on a show that I don't watch and am glad that I don't, but the first part of the article, with its picture of the 1950s revolutionary kitchen is interesting:
https://www.curbed.com/2019/8/1/20747174/big-little-lies-houses-set-design
The second one is by Ruth Reichl, in which she discusses what, for her, makes for the essence of a kitchen:
https://www.realsimple.com/home-organizing/organizing/organizing-kitchen/ruth-reichl
BTW, the Reichl article has one right after it about kitchen organization--and some of the ideas, IMHO, appear to be for people with WAY TOO MUCH TIME on their hands, and who don't do that much real cooking in their kitchens.
I find these discussions interesting because I often think about how kitchens have changed from the room closed off from everything else to open concept--the latter requiring a degree of tidiness that I personally don't associate with kitchens. Our now remodeled kitchen is open concept, in part because that is how the long narrow house is built, and people mostly come in the back door (front door is on lake side), which means they walk through the kitchen, although there is another side door that lets entrants bypass the kitchen.
My husband did not want me to have canisters, etc. on the counter of our new kitchen, but that's not how I work. Given the moderate storage capacity of our new kitchen, I don't expect to hear complaints once we are settled about various jars of beans, pasta, etc. However, I am trying to organize on the counters, so that it won't be cluttered, and I am keeping the unrefrigerated flours and sugar in the big utility pantries.
So, I'm curious: What would you say is the cultural philosophy of your kitchen?
Chocomouse--We live on a bluff that has a steep hill down to the lake. We think that the cottage owners in the 1930s may have put in the terrace because a nearby neighbor remembers the woman's flowers from when she was a child. That woman's initials, A.M. (Anna Minas) are carved in the cement of the top of the concrete steps, so they certainly did the steps. The walls are stone, but may have been changed around by the people who bought the place in the 1950s. The terraces' original purpose may have been erosion control. (I've been researching the owners of the house and its history. It might make a good writing project.) When we moved in, there were a lot of an ancient reed plant on the various levels, some flowers, and two large trees. The black oak is still there, but we had to have the sassafras removed because it had heart rot, and had it come down in a hard blow it would have hit the neighbor's house.
My husband wants the terraces to be a natural landscape, which makes us stand out with the "suburbites" here. He has planted various native wildflowers and plants, as well as a couple more trees. He introduced the black raspberries and the blackberries, and now the blueberries. We actually got more black raspberries on the other side this time, so we shall see what happens in the future. I am allowed to pull a couple of kinds of weeds, but mostly I leave it alone, as once I pulled out a plant he wanted. Oops. My husband has been carting gravel out of each level, as well as plastic that was put down under the gravel by the 1950s-2004 residents to deter weeds. (It didn't work.)
It's a bit on the wild side, and once the house is complete, my husband will have more time to devote to it. We have columbine in the spring, black-eyed Susans, some day lilies, and other plants that attract butterflies, bees, and even hummingbirds.
I would like to start composting, both for the terrace and for our garden in the back. Once we are more settled, I plan to learn about how to do it.
Thank you, Italian Cook. There is, alas, no Miracle Whip in the house, only low-fat Kraft mayonnaise. I wonder what that chemical reaction was. (Is there a quiz question here?) If Miracle Whip is essential, the slaw would need to wait until we do another grocery run to the town north of us. I'd also need to use low-fat. (I never use nonfat--that stuff is yucky.)
That makes sense that the cole slaw would need to sit for a day. I find the same is true of my potato salad.
Because Mike posted that the ingredients in a recipe aren't copyrighted, I'm going to give BakerAunt the ingredients for Cole Slaw from my favorite cookbook: Cook-Ahead Cookery.
2 pound head green cabbage
2 carrots
1 green pepper
3 tablespoons vinegar(NOTE: my mom always used apple-cider vinegar in her cole slaw.)
1/3 cup sugar
1-1/2 cups Miracle WhipBakerAunt, my mom always used Miracle Whip in her cole slaw, instead of mayonnaise. There are flavors in Miracle Whip not present in mayonnaise. She also used Miracle Whip in her Kidney Bean Salad. Once I made the bean salad with mayonnaise and had a terrible chemical reaction that changed the color! The note for the vinegar is from my mom. My mom never served cole slaw on the same day she made it. She always made it the day before serving. I don't know if that's really necessary.
