DIY, Growing Food in Winter
These are lettuce and pea seeds I put in last week. They are growing in my back yard, in a plastic container that held spinach. Yes, it is cold. And it freezes and sleets and ices up, still. But this is winter gardening and people do it even in colder climates than northern Virginia.
You just wash a plastic container that has a lid, punch some holes in the top and bottom, put in some soil (I use a seeding mix) and sprinkle in seeds. Water, close the container, label it with a permanent marker. Place it outside in a sunny area. Now you have a greenhouse environment for your seeds to grow. I may need to transplant these into a larger container before it gets warm enough to plant in the garden.
I also have some flowers and pampas grass sprouting.
Your seeds really want to grow, even in harsh conditions. Like us, they are animated by the life force.
Beans and Cornbread
Seeing as how we were talking about cornbread . . .
and we’ve been talking about cornbread for over a year now . . .
Louis Jordan and His Tympany Five serve you up some “Beans and Cornbread.”
It makes no difference
What you think about me
But it makes a whole lotta difference
What I think about you
from the comments
Miss Nell would start her cooking shows with, “Now as everyone knows I hate to cook so let’s get started and get out of this kitchen.”
Manhattan Clam Chowder: For Deron Bauman, New York Giants Fan
Though it’s not nearly as famous, there is a non-New-England kind of clam chowder out there. Instead of the heavy cream or milk, this one is laced with tomatoes and a healthy abundance of other vegetables.
It makes for a lighter chowder, but still a comforting one, especially during frightful weather. This Manhattan clam chowder recipe from Martha Stewart hits all the right notes. There is the porky base, the chunky vegetables, and of course the all-important clams.
Nasty Doritos
Super Bowl Party Checklist
Michael Smith: Meatless chili (some ground meat substitute, beer, espresso, broth, spices, peppers, tofu, onion, and garlic).
Deron Bauman: Gluten-free vegan nachos.
Sheila Ryan: Refreshing lemon dessert.
Or: New England vs. Manhattan clam chowder.
El Wingador
Errol Morris interviewed competitive eater El Wingador:
El Wingador is a man truly committed to a certain kind of excellence — or at least, a certain kind of excess. Sure, I could have picked a different eating champion, but I guess I have an affinity for chicken. It is evident that chicken is his favorite competition food — particularly chicken wings. I asked him, “Why not hot dogs?” The simple and compelling answer: “Hey, my name is ‘El Wingador,’ not ‘El Hotdogador.’”
from the comments
When I was a little kid and we lived in South Haven, Michigan for a while, the house my family rented had one of those old electric ranges with the built-in deep fat fryer. Please remember this was back before unhealthy fried food was invented.
My mom would buy pre-made doughnut dough, the kind in a tube (like biscuits or crescent rolls). She’d pop ‘em open and separate the flat die-cut doughnut parts and fry them. The doughnut holes, fresh out and almost too hot to eat, were golden heaven. We’d sprinkle powdered sugar on them sometimes. Is there anything better than fresh, homemade doughnuts? No.
I don’t remember what we did with the doughnut parts outside the cut circles. Maybe we cooked and ate those too, never speaking about it or looking at each other.
All the Different Doughnuts
At Serious Eats, we care about the big questions. “What’s the difference between Sicilian-style pizza and grandma pizza?” “What’s the difference between a slider and a mini-hamburger?” And, more recently, “What are all the different styles of doughnut?”
Because there are cake and yeasted and crullers and fritters, cider and potato and sour cream, malasadas and beignets and churros—wait, do we count churros? We’ll get to that later.
Come meet all the different doughnuts in this great land.
The Everything Challenge
dueling banjos
Drank a half bottle of wine tonight that cost $28 (for the carafe) and tasted EXACTLY like Kool-Aid dosed with brandy. Yes; I’m back in NYC.
— Tim Carmody (@tcarmody) January 29, 2012
Spent too much money tonight on books, booze, and pizza. In other words, happiest guy in the world.
— Frank Chimero (@fchimero) January 29, 2012
Fat Man’s Misery
“I’d like a Fat Man’s Misery, easy on the mayo, and a glass of buttermilk. The little lady here will have the Ruins of Karnak and a cup of Postum.”
From the menu of the Mammoth Cave Hotel. (NYPL Restaurant Menu Collection.)
headline of the day
tweet of the day
You can’t abbreviate lasagna.
— Mary Jeys (@maryjeys) January 26, 2012
Comfort Food
You want two thick slices of meat loaf or three thin ones. Put mashed potatoes on the plate. Spoon some pan gravy on top. Butter two pieces of bread. Skip the green beans if you wish. Everything except the bread needs to be piping hot for this to work.
Unload the washer and transfer all of the clothes into the dryer. Medium heat for ninety minutes. Press the start button. Take that dog-eared poly-cotton blanket and make a little nest on the floor in front of the dryer. Sit on the blanket, with your back against the dryer door. Eat your supper.
tweet of the day
Whenever I see a picture of Newton Leroy Gingrich, I imagine there’s a half-eaten bowl of applesauce just out of frame.
— Aaron Winslow (@adwinslow) January 19, 2012
headline of the day
Woman offered sexual favors for Chicken McNuggets, police say
Cooking Up Change
They looked so young, the four college students who sat down and ordered coffee at the Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro, N.C., on Feb. 1, 1960.
Legal challenges and demonstrations were cracking the foundations of segregation, but a black person still couldn’t sit down and eat a hamburger or a piece of pie in a store that was all too willing to take his money for a tube of toothpaste.
Those four freshmen at North Carolina A&T College — Joseph McNeil, Franklin McCain, Ezell Blair Jr. and David Richmond — sat until the store closed, but they still didn’t get their coffee.
But that day helped spark other sit-in protests — led by young people like themselves — that spread throughout the South in 1960, energizing the civil rights movement. And the Greensboro Woolworth desegregated its lunch counter later that year.
It wasn’t the first time that food, or the lack thereof, figured large in the movement.
There’s really one reason,
and one reason only, that I put this photo here on clusterflock.
Joel, I love you, man, but that photo out of context was beginning to make my tummy sad every time I stopped by.
Besides, I know you love Culver’s.
¡Cuidado! Hay empanadas.
Each empanada is unique in the way that it is shaped and the way that the dough is crimped and folded. I got a bit confused when I tried to differentiate between all of them. Many places offer a helpful empanada key, showing the shapes for each individual one. And now I think that the verdura is actually the caprese: mozz, basil, tomatoes, and olives. It seems that I’m missing more than just the tuna. Hmm. Maybe my español isn’t as foolproof as I thought.
One day, while the kitchen door was open, I spied a counter full of circles of dough and little heaps of filling in their centers. So rest assured, these are all handmade by real Argentines. And fresh!
As my friend Charlie titled his maldita lengua post, My Life in Empanadas.
Enjoy every empanada.
dear clusterflock
White chocolate?
Cake Camouflage
Wild Cakes certainly lives up to its name with this sweet take on spaghetti and meatballs made with buttercream pasta, strawberry jam pasta sauce, Ferrero Rocher meatballs and shaved white chocolate parmesan.
More here from mental_floss. (Via @nypl_menus.)
not all bad news
Hostess filed for bankruptcy protection today. But don’t worry, you should still be able to get deep fried Twinkies at the state fair:
The company said that it does not anticipate any disruptions in the making of or delivery of its breads or cake products and reassured that its popular brands, which also include Drake’s, Ding Dongs and Ho Hos, will still be available.
Winter Citrus, Revisited
This is a story about winter citrus. More specifically, it’s a story about finding a day to play in a photo studio, complete with beautiful props and gorgeous styling. It’s a story dedicated to free form (there are no recipes here!), to abundant light, to taking it slow and easy during the new year, but mostly it’s a story about bright happy little fruit that inspires me.
Warning: Article includes several images of citrus desserts that may not be suitable for Deron and other sensitive viewers.
headline of the day, II
Organizers of The World’s Premier Bacon Festival No Longer Hoarding Bacon
