Just imagine, Midge bought Larry a chicken pot pie from the grocer’s! And that was tiny and frozen!!! I never heard of such a thing.
Joe only likes them fresh, and as you know, what makes Larry (oops, Joe) happy makes me happy!
So we drove out to Uncle Henry’s farm. He was in a grumpy mood because his two best brood hens had stopped laying, then he said something about having to pay for Marge’s “hysteric tummy” or something like that, and she was old and dried up like the hens and maybe he would have to do some slaughtering, by which I think he meant the chickens, but I may have gotten some of that that mixed up.
When we got home, Joe had a couple of stiff ones, then got really angry for some reason and said “long time no roll in the hay,” which sometimes he says the funniest things and honestly, who wants to eat Crescent Rolls in the barn? But finally the red went out of his face and he told me he wanted the crust on both the top and the BOTTOM of his pie!
Well, I never! Me-Ma’s and Gran’s chicken pies never had a crust on the BOTTOM, so that was a new one on me! But, as y’all know, my best gal pal Midge is a “progressive” Yankee and her pie had crust on the bottom, and I am always eager to learn and please Larry (oops, I mean Joe of course) and I told Joe that Midge was rubbing off on me, but I guess he didn’t hear me because asked me to repeat that and then he said he was going to the bathroom and please don’t disturb him for the next 10 minutes, so I didn’t.
Well, enough chit-chat! Midge said she would come over after last Tuesday’s koffee klatch, so I started the pie crust on Monday:
Put 3/4 cup Crisco in the icebox for a few hours, then cream the Crisco with 2 C. flour and 3/4 tsp. salt:
Add enough ice water (4-8 Tbsp.) to make a soft dough:
Then pat the dough into patties, wrap them, and leave them in the icebox for a few more hours:
Midge brought this over and said I could have it! She is such a generous gal. I only had five pie pans, so now I almost have enough!
It’s bigger than my other pans, so I had to measure it:
Joe came into the kitchen to get some iced tea and said, “Yep, 8 inches, that’s about right,” which I don’t get because he’s never made a pie.
Grease the pan with butter:
Flour the counter and your rolling pin. Don’t forget to flour the dough!
I had to measure again!
I learned Midge this tip, the best way to get the crust into the pan, which she didn’t even know! First you flour the dough, then roll it up onto the rolling pin:
Then unroll it onto the pan:
Carefully arrange it in the pan, you don’t want tears or Joe will be mad at you again, then trim the edges with a knife:
What to do with the trims? When we were kids, Gran would gather up the dough into a ball, roll it out, sprinkle it with sugar and cinnamon and bake it, and just us kids got it! It was a real treat!
Personally, we don’t have any children. Joe says that’s because I am a “jean-etic disaster,” which is silly because I would never even THINK about wearing pants.
Now bake the bottom of the pie. You don’t want the bottom of the crust to bubble up and break and then Joe will get mad, so you line it with some aluminum foil and fill it with beans, and there is a funny story there about one of the Kiwanis Wives who used canned beans instead of dry, but I use a smaller pan and my favorite casserole dish. Bake at 425 for 15 minutes or until the crust is light brown.
This one got away a little bit, darn it, excuse my French!
Now make the filling. Midge brought me a bag of vegetables that were already cut up, which have to be kept in the icebox, but they were a real time-saver. Thank you Midge!
First, heat the oven to 425. Melt 1/2 stick butter in a large saucepan, then cook 1/2 C. chopped onions over medium-low heat for 3 to 4 minutes or until soft:
Add 1/3 C. flour, then stir constantly for 3 or 4 minutes, or until the flour just starts to turn brown:
Add in 1/2 tsp. salt, 1/4 tsp. pepper, and 1/2 tsp. of dried herbs (I had a jar of them and Midge brought me something she called bayzel which I had never had but it was delicious!) and 1/4 tsp. paprika, and stir it in.
Then slowly add 2 C. milk, whisking all the time:
Now add 1 cup of cooked chicken, 2C. of vegetables, 1-1/2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce, and 1 C. shredded Cheddar cheese:
Roll out the top crust, then put the filling into the bottom:
See my earlier tip to see how to do it!
You can just trim off the extra, but Joe likes them a bit fancy, so that’s what I do. Trim the crust to about 1/2″:
Then roll the extra under:
And use the handle of a fork to make it look just like Joe likes it:
This is VERY important. Use some strips of aluminum foil to cover the edges of the crust where you scalloped it or it will burn there!
1
, and make some cuts in the top of the pie so the gas can escape. Joe asked why the cuts and I told him and then he said something I won’t repeat here, sometimes he says things I don’t like. Cook it in a 425 oven for 35-40 minutes, or until the crust is browned and the filling is bubbly.
After the pie cooled a bit I cut it, half for Larry and half for Joe, and Midge said something about “maybe we should swap partners” which is a queer way to put it, and I said no, both halves are the same size!
I only told Midge this, but honestly, she is a big gossip, so I can tell y’alls too! LarppJoe said the pie was very good, and blew me a kiss as he went to his bedroom with the new National Geographic magazine! I will have to make it again with two crusts!
In one way, my neighborhood is odd. A block and a half north of my house is Lee Highway, which runs east to west. South of Lee Highway it’s all residential, almost all Cape Cods that were built just after WWII. To the north is National Memorial Park/National Funeral Home/King David Memorial Gardens/The Cremation Center of NoVa. (“National” in name only, since it’s a private concern.) It stretches for several blocks to the east and west and farther north. A lot of it is standard cemetery, but its 200 acres encompass everything from a King David Memorial to Buddhist temples, interesting/odd architecture and sculpture, and although much of it is well-maintained, there are pockets that are ramshackle and tumbledown.
Here are some pictures:
(yes, that’s my car in the background — sorry!)
(that’s a sculpture by Carl Milles, who will be the subject of another blog post)
In the middle of the park, on top of the highest hill, is this odd tower thingy, which reminds of some sort of a space-related monument in a Soviet bloc country from the 1960’s (sort of). There’s no attribution so I don’t know who’s responsible……. I think it’s kind of great.
. . . eight months ago. Normally you wouldn’t even think of cracking a Romano open before a year, but a month or two into its aging, the rind developed cracks, which were soon colonized by blue cheese spores:
It turns out my “reference” hygrometer was off by about 8%, so rather than being kept at the correct 92% relative humidity, it was much lower, so I think that’s why it cracked. Plus, I’ve learned that the long-aged cheeses enjoy a monthly rubbing with olive oil (honestly, who wouldn’t?), and that helps to prevent cracking as well.
Anyway, no point to waiting for another four months, since it will never be a “proper” Romano.
So you can see that the blue wasn’t content with the cracks.
But, you ask, how did it taste?
Not bad. The blue parts tasted unsurprisingly pretty blue, but the parts where the little buggers didn’t get to didn’t taste of blue at all, rather more like a mild Romano.
I’m still learning about how blues develop during the affinage. It’s less the blue color (from the spores) and more due to the mycelium (which breaks down the proteins and fats) that the “blue” taste comes from, but based on this cheese, that may only apply to moister cheeses, like gorgonzola. In this case, maybe because the paste is much dryer, the mycelium didn’t grow through all the cheese, so it doesn’t taste blue.
It looks pretty crumbly:
. . . but was surprisingly grate-able:
Spaghetti Carbonara
Ingredients: (I made half, because it doesn’t keep well)
1 lb. spaghetti
2 Tbsp. olive oil
4 oz. prosciutto or bacon, chopped small
4 garlic cloves, chopped small
2 eggs, beaten
1 C. grated Parmesan or Romano, plus more for garnish
Black pepper
Some leafy green thingy to make it pretty
Method:
Cook the spaghetti and drain, reserving 1/2 C. of the cooking liquid:
Heat the olive oil and fry the bacon over medium heat until crispy, 2 – 3 minutes. Turn down the heat, add the garlic and stir for another minute, or until it’s fragrant.
Stir the drained spaghetti into all that delicious fat for a couple of minutes until it’s well coated.
Stir together the beaten egg and the cheese, then bung it into the pan along with the reserved cooking water and a couple of twists of black pepper, and stir it again for a few minutes until well-coated.
Bowl it up, then add a bit more cheese, more black pepper, if you like (I do), and the prettifying greens:
Amongst the oddities in National Memorial Park, just a block and a half from my house, this is the oddest. It’s a work by Swedish sculptor Carl Milles (1875-1955). He has one other work, “The Sunsinger,” in the NMP. I withhold general comments, except to say that what was probably considered inspiring and uplifting in 1952 might be taken differently in 2014.
“In these sculptured figures of the Fountain of Faith Carl Milles, the great Swedish sculptor has captured the warmth and tenderness, the joy and strength of supreme love in all human relationships.”
They ran the water briefly last year, and I’m hoping they’ll do so again this year so I can get some pics.
Even as you approach, it’s apparent that something has gone wrong, and it’s not just the lack of water in the fountain, although that contributes to the weirdness:
Why is that man sideways?
If you enjoy penises (of any size), there’s something for you:
Or maybe you don’t swing that way. The individual figures aren’t named, but I call this one “Always be careful when using SuperGlue.”
Also . . .
This one isn’t in the NMP, but has to be my fave Carl Milles sculpture:
4AD’s 7(!)-disc vinyl re-release of the Breeders’ “Last Splash.” First reaction: This thing is heavy!
What shows up as green in my pics (including the front, back, and interior of the box) is in fact flocked velvet (as in Hammer?). I wonder how that will work out in the CD version.
The inside of the top of the box shows very good attention to detail 🙂
The three albums: the original release, the live “Stockholm Syndrome” (where was that recorded?) available “for the first time in its entirety,” and a third album of BBC sessions and demos.
But wait, there’s more!
I heart digital downloads cards:
Also included are 10″ vinyl versions of the four EPs that were released in conjunction with the album.
All of the artwork is remixes of the originals.
So….4AD are known for their packaging, but surely this is one of their best efforts.
Now I guess I should go listen to it 🙂
-R
(Update: all of the discs have die-cut heavy paper inner sleeves, silver in color and with surprisingly readable white text, with a pattern of raised bumps every 1cm, which makes a nice tactile contrast with the velvety smoothness of the outer packaging.
I’m a wee bit disappointed with the records’ sleeves, most of which seem designed by the following algorithm: (1) take the original release’s artwork (2) mix it up with some other Breeders artwork (3) stop.
One grumpiness: Why don’t these records sound better? Vinyl can sound as good as, if different from, CD…witness late releases by Django Django, !!!, and Death Grips. All of the records in this release seem to be pressed on 180g vinyl, but on some they’re overly-trebly, and one of the EPs has scuffing. Also, they’re all dirty….by which I mean there’s a lot of gunk apparently left over from pressing/assembling, so they really need a good cleaning before listening. The packaging is an A+ and the pressing is at best a B.
From the booklet: From Josephine’s Tour Diary June 3, 1993 – Dayton: “4AD Art Director Vaughan Oliver has sent a fax with sketches for the design of the ‘Cannonball’ single. His latest idea, as he describes it, is a photograph of a ‘man’s testicle alone (pushed through a piece of card to ensure its loneliness).’ He says he has tried it that very morning and ‘It looks super.'” He doesn’t mention how it feels.
My two favorite images from the booklet, sweaty/lickable Jim and frozen Kim:
In 2000, and for several years after, the only way to get “Eraserhead,” not to mention his short films, on DVD was from davidlynch.com. Here’s the packaging:
