Chicken Love.

Ok so except for the whole gross salmonella thing, I love chicken. There is nothing more amenable to leftover creativity than a roast chicken. This one made many meals- some of which were balsamic artichoke and chicken pizza and chicken potpie with biscuits. An so it is no surprise that this is my favorite Julia episode....i think it's the knife waving....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ohiUbQyDhk

Snow in North Carolina + Old House = Cooking to stay warm

I don’t think I was prepared for how good the recipe was actually going to be. It had been built up like no recipe before, through blogs, written word and even movies. It had been on my list, but I hadn’t had the time.

The snow provided the time and the need to have an oven on for about 5 hours.

And so I made Julia Child’s Beouf Bourginion.

And promptly died.
Just a little.

Above are pictures of both the snow and the food.
My apologies for not having pictures of dessert: The best Coconut vanilla bean cupcakes, Linda’s fantastic contribution to the day.

A very satisfying Saturday spent hiking for ingredients, playing in the snow, talking with Cliff and, of course cooking.

Miss Lori Visits!

What a weekend.

Lori came to visit this past weekend and the course of our lives have changed. We are going to open a women's college. I shall be responsible for science and the cafeteria. Linda will take care of the English and Communications. Gina can do the Psych department. Betsy can run the nursing department and Jennifer can run the sports department. And of course, Lori will be the boss of us all.

If that fails we will write a cookbook entitled: Canoodling in the Kitchen.
Our star recipes:
12 hour spice cake
OH MY GOD i love VANILLA PUDDING!
baked kale
and of course,
Leaning tower of piza angel food cake.

I had a lovely afternoon on friday, spent amidst cook books with Lori, deciding what 12 million things we were going to bake. If I told you everything this entry would be too long. Sadly, there were only 48 hours and 3 bottles of Port. We did not get to the Creme Brulee, which may have saved us from a fat and cholestrol induced heart attack and hospital trip. 3 pints of whipping cream, 2 pints of buttermilk, one gallon of whole milk, about three sticks of butter, and 2 dozen eggs went into :butterscotch and vanilla pudding ( from scratch), buttermilk cinnamon ice cream ( with a custard base), spice cake, angel food cake ( a mild disaster) . The spice cake and puddings combined with canned pumpkin made up a lovely trifle. Which originally called for all store bought ingredients...but who likes easy?

We also spent a chunk of time on a craft item I cannot disclose here but will have to talk about later. It's a craft project that EVEN I LIKE. no. really.

It was lovely, and in the spirit of the most used phase of the weekend, "not awkward at all."
(especially not when compared to some of the things Linda said)

More Music

So. I've heard that my mother is now an Ingrid fan. So I thought i'd share some other music I've been into lately. I spend a good deal of my day with my ipod on and the following are on heavy rotation as of late. I couldn't find an image to go with all of these different artists. So i choose Lu by default. I've been following her around with the camera in the evenings and she's been very patient with me. Now- on to music.

I am thrilled. Brandi Carlile is coming to Carrboro again. Last time she came i was at Chris' graduation and had to miss out. I cannot convey how excited I am about this. Except for the fact that Linda got to see her at the intimate Arts Center, and this time she will be at Cat's Cradle (no seats and more crowded than I really like). Elton John did one of her songs with her for her new album. You may remember her from the Ford commerical that payed during the summer olympics.

Speaking of the Arts Center, over a month ago I was messing about on facebook, and the Great Lake Swimmers came up as a possible band i might like based on the music I had listed that I liked. I checked out their myspace page and #1 Fell in love with them and 2# found out they were playing the Arts Center two days later. I got tickets and we ended up having front row table seats, and it was even better than i expcted. These guys have been on heavy rotation on my ipod.

Raphael Saadiq. Makes me want to dance. Also makes me want to clean and do other sunday-like things.

Linda's tastes are often not the same as mine. She's been more than mildly in love with Erin McKeown these days. This is a case where we overlap in tastes a little, especially the new album.

Another account of overlappage is most certainly Sonya Kitchell
I did not believe Linda when she told me Sonya was 19. Shocked was more like it.

Lastly- I went a few months ago to see the bowerbirds with jean and trent. Turns out I don't like the bowerbirds so much. Rather depressing. But their opener, MegaFaun, whom I was inclined to dislike mainly based on the name- turned out to be a winner.

Sometimes really satisfying food is not Beautiful

Case in point. Beef Stew. I made the shoulder roast in the crock pot with potatoes and carrots, some olive oil, garlic, onions and red wine. It was lovely. a little overcooked, yet lovely.

I transformed it into stew the next night and while it tasted AMAZING, it looked a lot like slop.
But good slop none-the-less.

More Fair Pictures

The North Carolina State Fair

Linda and I went to the sate fair this year with Kelly, Matt, Jess and Jacob. It was lovely despite the rain at the end. I got my caramel covered apple and saw animals so I was more than happy.

The Fair boasts lots of odd and interesting foods, this year: chocolate covered bacon. We decided it was good. I'd opt for it over a fried candy bar anyday.

I've included an array of images, my favorite of which is the goat that really, really liked Jess.