I really miss blogging....

I wish blogging was not so like 2005 and more up-to-date so that maybe at least a half dozen folks would stop by on a daily basis and see what's up. What that cuss.

PSA

I received this today by a fan and thought I better get something up here on the blog board.

"*This has been a Public Service Announcement by The Fans of Blue Page Special"

Here is what I did today:

First up: I went to the local grocery store looking for a couple of not so UNcommon vegetables such as celeriac and Belgian endive but without luck. This was the second scouting for said vegetables.

After that my lovely daughter joined Mr. Red Molly and me for an outing of shopping. The daughter needed various household items and Mr. Red Molly was looking for computer components as his scheme for the day was to build a computer.

After shopping we stopped at a nearby Mexican restaurant, LaPoopalotta, and ate lunch.

After lunch we returned home and my daughter transferred her purchases from Mr. Red Molly's car to her car. She then went home.

At that point, I chatted on line to my son who wanted to cook squab for dinner. While chatting on line I simultaneously read cookbooks the rest of the afternoon. Around dinner time Mr. Red Molly and I decided we should get some dinner and went to a local restaurant for tapas and pizza, wine and beer.

Now, I am at home about to take a bath, pour a class of wine and enjoy the rest of the evening.

Bread and Salad

I baked bread today and made a salad to go with dinner which was a pot roast with a bunch of vegetables put in the slow cooker. It was not really noteworthy and I was not inspired to make a photograph. The salad and bread was pretty good. Here is the bread recipe.

Dinners

Friday night - Pizza
Saturday night - Moules Provençale

Here is the Mussels Recipe:

1 tablespoon olive oil
1/3 cup minced shallots, minced
1 celery stalk, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
3 garlic clove, chopped
1 cup canned fire roasted chopped tomatoes
1 bay leaf
1 1/2 cups dry vermouth
1 bottle clam juice
1 tablespoons butter

salt and pepper
3 lbs. mussels, cleaned

Saute shallots, celery, carrots for about 5 minutes, add garlic, saute 2 more minutes, add tomatoes, vermouth and clam juice and bay leaf, bring to boil, reduce heat add butter and simmer about 10 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste then add mussels cook additional 10 minutes or so until mussels have opened. Serve with toasted baguette points.

Christmas 2009

Everyone here had a very nice Christmas. We all enjoyed Tad's cooking from Spanish Tapas for Christmas Eve to Lobster Bisque and Cassoulet for Christmas dinner to smoked beef brisket with homemade bbq sauce to wrap up the weekend before he returned to NYC/JC on Monday.

I am still thinking about the Lobster Bisque.

I now have more All Clad pans to cook with, an iPod touch to play with and a fly fishing rod and reel to learn to use. Retirement is going to be fun!!!!

Here are some of our Christmas photos:

Roll Over

This is the second time I have owned a car that rolled over to 100,000. I guess that is what happens when you own cars forever. The first car was an 83 Volvo and the roll over happened on a trip with the kids to Silver Springs Park in Florida just as we were turning into the entrance of the park. This time it was my 98 Honda and my husband happened to be driving my car taking his mother to the bank. He would have been in his car but our daughter borrowed his car last night because her boyfriend's car needed a repair. So much for all of the exciting car talk.

Best Little Easy Dinner Ever

FISH IN PARCHMENT PAPER

Active time 15 minutes
Cooking time 15 minutes
Clean up time 5 minutes

One serving (cooking for two then double)

about 6 ounces of fish, 3 ounces of sea bass and 3 ounces of salmon is good
drizzle fish with little olive oil and add S & P
place on top of half of 18" parchment paper
top fish with:
julienne vegetables
1 parsnip
1 carrot
about a dozen spinach leaves (julienned)
1 sliver of fresh ginger about the size of a quarter (julienned)

thinly sliced small shallot
fresh grated lemon zest

throw in some fresh herbs such as thyme and chives

drizzle with a little more olive oil
and a splash of white wine
close up parchment paper to make a little flat bag

bake in 425 degree oven for about 12 minutes let rest 3 to 5 minutes. Serve with roasted fingerlings cut in half ( start potatoes about 5 to 10 minutes before fish).

Tad Home = A Wild and Happy Thanksgiving Week

Last Monday night my daughter surprised me with a belated birthday gift of flying her brother home for Thanksgiving. What a treat! After all of us having a great week together he returned to NYC this morning. That boy can cook and we have decided that we are not eating again until he comes back home for Christmas. He smoked two chickens on Tuesday night after he and I went to about 8 stores to find all the components for making a smoker. On Wednesday he cooked NY strip steak (in the house) with purée of root vegetables, green beans and a spinach, blue cheese, pecan salad. Then came the Thanksgiving dinner which I was the lead on but he helped with deconstructing the turkey and all of the last minute details. Yesterday on the smoker Tad cooked pork and a package of the heirloom beans I had in the pantry and last night we again feasted on pulled pork sandwiches, smoked barbecue beans and coleslaw. What a week of good eats.

Here is the menu for Thanksgiving dinner and a recipe for the best apple pie I think I have ever had; made by Erin.

Julia’s Deconstructed Turkey
Cornbread and Sage Stuffing
Mashed Potatoes
Roasted Baby Sweet Potatoes
Creamed Onions
Fricassee of Brussels Sprouts
Giblet Gravy
Cranberry Chutney

Desserts:
Appie
Bourbon Pumpkin Pie
Crème Chantilly

Wine:
Red/Margaux
White/ Pouilly-Fumé

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pate Brisee

3 cups flour
1 teasp. salt
1/2 lb. cold butter
6 to 10 Tbls. of Ice Water

In Cuisinart with Metal Blade add flour and salt and process for 10 seconds to sift.
Add the butter and pulse on dough speed until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
Pour in water 1 tablespoon at a time and pulse on dough speed until dough JUST forms a dough.
Divide dough into 2 equal flat discs.
Refrigerate at least 30 minutes until ready to use.

Apple pie

(from The Joy of Cooking)

line 9" pie pan with pie dough

in large bowl add 1 Tbls. of Lemon juice
Pare, core and thinly slice 5 to 6 cups apples ( in this instance we used Pink Ladies, Macintosh and Granny Smiths)

Combine and sift over apples:

1/2 to 2/3 cup white or brown sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
1/16 teaspoon of nutmeg

stir gently until apples are well coated

add apples to pie and dot with
1 1/2 Tbls. of butter

grate 1/2 teas. lemon rind
add 1/2 teas. vanilla extract

Streusel

(from The Bon Appetit Cookbook)

3/4 cup all purpose flour
6 Tbls. sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoons ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teas. salt
1/3 cup toasted chopped pecans (optional)
6 Tbls. chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 cubes

Mix all ingredients except butter medium bowl to blend.
Rub in butter with fingertips until pea-size clumps form.

Top pie with streusel.

Use leftover pie dough to embellish top of pie.

Bake at 375 for approx 35-40 minutes.

Gift Buying

I guess after Christmas we will have two copies of this. My husband told me he ordered this book yesterday. Of course I just ordered it today for one of his Christmas presents. I should have ordered the hottest toy on the market. Now that's something he probably would not have bought for himself.

Sort of reminds me of a certain Christmas past and a certain sewing machine.

I'm Back....well sort of

My daughter mentioned to me today that she wanted me to start blogging again and since this is the 5th anniversary for this slowly dying blog I thought I would resurrect it and attempt to post on a somewhat regular basis. More later...

Dargai in the Basket

Montana

Most folks who visit my blog also see me over at Facebook and I know you are probably sick to death of my Montana photos but I wanted to post some here in case Facebook blows up or something.

Here are a few candid shots. Not the great scenery photos that might come later. Yes I said might come later...

Rafting

Tad in Montana: It appears these folks are having a good time. We will be in Montana in a few weeks. Not sure if I will go rafting.

The Sampler Girl

Calvin and I went out with my co-worker/friend last night and here she is sampling some beer at one of the best little drinking spots in Jax; Bold City Brewery.

Bold City Brewery is one of the greatest little places in Jax to go and have some really great beer. Nice friendly people working the bar with a real neighborhood atmosphere.

As a comparison: Erin called us on Thursday and invited Calvin and me to meet her and Craig and her co-worker at the Twisted Martini at the Landing on Thursday because she had a slew of gift certificates to use up. We of course accepted the invitation. I rarely go to the landing and after Thursday night's visit I now know why that is the case. The Jacksonville Landing is a cheesy, greasy dive. If it was not for the Hooter's girls there would be no draw for the place at all. And certainly no reason to go there unless you have gift certificates for free drinks. Thanks Erin for inviting us. I know this does not sound like a gracious thank you but even though the event sucked the company was awesome.

A Tale of Two Vespas: Roman Holiday!Jersey Holiday

A Great Wedding

We all had a great time last night at the wedding. Some of us probably partied too much.

Chelsea

I am enjoying a nice day off from work. Did a little kitchen cleaning this morning and relaxing the rest of the day. Tad is back in town tonight and we will all be attending my niece's wedding tomorrow night. Congrats to Chelsea and Matt!!

In the photo is my niece and Tad when there were young kids attending another family wedding. Click on the photo to enlarge and you will see Chelsea enjoying the reflection of her facial gestures and Tad is well I guess you could say he looks somewhat stressed...probably hadn't had enough beers when photo was taken.

Lame Excuse

I have been over at Facebook lately and that has kept me from posting here. It is a lame excuse as I have suddenly realized. Just a quick note to say that Mr. Red Molly, Erin, Tad and myself will be in Montana for a bit this summer. Going to the Sun Road again. Yippee!!!!

Road Trip and Wild Wild Week

Beginning a week ago Thursday my daughter and I took a road trip to Kentucky for my aunt' surprise 80th birthday party. We stopped in Atlanta both up and down. I haven't taken a road trip that long in a while and as bad as I hate to fly have decided that is the way to go. We returned home on Monday to my son being home.

He lost his job a couple of weeks ago and is now on unemployment which he calls the government cheese. We decided to fly him home for a week and take care of him. He does have a job lined up starting June 1 back in Montana where he worked last year at the restaurant. He will stay there until mid August and return back to NJ/NY to finish school.

He arrived on Sunday and had a nice time hanging out with his dad and grandmother. When I got home and Monday the party started. That evening my son made us fancy tacos with a fancy taco name that I can't remember. On Tuesday, he and I cooked gourmet pizzas on the stoptop grill. We invited my daughter and her boyfriend and a friend of mine from work. (A hot 30 year old woman, unmarried and unattached ...no we were not trying to match-make).

On Wednesday Mr. RM, my son and I drove up the coast to Amelia Island and Fernandina Beach and had a disgusting lunch at an oceanside dive. On Thursday evening we all, along with a friend that Mr. RM works with and her daughter (a hot 25 year old women, unmarried and unattached [I think]...no we are not trying to match-make), went out to a new local brewery and later moved the party to our house and about that time a friend of my son's dropped in. My son cooked burgers and potato salad for all. We laid low on Friday during the day and that evening me, my son, my daughter and her boyfriend went to a restaurant in my daughter's neighborhood for happy hour. A while later, Mr. RM met us back in our neighborhood for Thai food. Mr. RM was pulling an all-nighter at work doing some kind of BS payroll software implementation. They let him out of the asylum long enough to have dinner. After dinner the young folks went to local young folks' hangout places and I went home to bed. On Saturday morning I drove my son to the airport. Whew!!!!

While my son was here and during our drinking moments we were reciting lines from the Big Lebowski.

This is for Tad. STAY OUT OF MALIBU!!!!

Sea Scallops and Salad

Dinner last night:

Sea Scallops with Basil-Parsley Gremolata and Ginger Lemon Beurre Blanc Sauce

Smashed Potatoes and Carrots

Heirloom Lettuce and Strawberry Salad with a Lemon Vinaigrette dressing

Served with a bottle of Domaine La Hitaire Hors Saison Sauvignon Semillon from the Gascony region of France. I recently read A Summer in Gascony: Discovering the Other South of France and that inspired me to look for wine from Gascony. This white wine was delicious and paired with the dinner perfectly.

Here is how it turned out:




Dinner tonight: Grilling:
Grilled Quail with Mascarpone Cheese Grits
Grilled Green Tomatoes with a drizzle of Balsamic Glaze
Grilled Fresh Corn on the Cob

Dinner the rest of the week - beans and weenies...