A little food talk
Tonight I finally made this cucumber-pomegranate sald, which I've been meaning to make for a year and a half. I originally found it when I was looking for recipes for last year's paellafest, but summer isn't pomegranate season, nor are winter and spring, and then when it was pomegranate season I was always missing an ingredient or didn't have time to seed the pomegranates or *something*. Tonight I finally had everything on hand and ready, so I went for it.
I changed it slightly for my tastes, adding some salt and pepper and using a little garlic powder instead of fresh garlic (uncooked alliums make my tummy discontent). It is really, really good. I know it might seem an odd combination, but everything works, though I note that the basil and the sherry vinegar (as opposed to any other type) are critical to the flavor. It's really fresh and light-tasting, but the garbanzos add a lot of substance, and a nice chewy/starchy quality that plays against the sweetness and crunch of the cucumber and pomegranate seeds. It would in fact be lovely with paella, to contrast against all the richness and overload of ingredients, or with mussels and chorizo, or a spicy fritatta--basically anything with strong spices and rich flavors. And it seems like a nice holiday-time dish, too, with the pretty red and green and pale gold colors.
Now I am having mulled apple juice with calvados out of a Fiesta snowflake mug, which is perfect for holiday time.
I'm behind on my holiday food projects and will have to scramble a bit tomorrow to be ready for Xmas-eve dinner with my family. The butterscotch bars are done but need to be cut. The meringues got done this afternoon. The gingerbread cutouts are baked and the icing is made (although I messed up the red and had to split the uncolored version so I wouldn't have to make more), and will get decorated tomorrow. The dough for the blue cheese shortbread is made and chilled; I'll bake it up tomorrow. I also have to make scones. (Some might note that this list differs somewhat from the leaders in the poll a couple of weeks ago. I did mostly follow the poll when making things for various social events. My family has Expectations about what I'll make for them, though, so I have to stick with certain items. When I failed to make scones for them a couple of years ago and made muffins instead, it was quite the scandal. I can add new things to what I bring for them, but I can't substitute.) And I have to roast broccoli and tomatoes as my contribution to dinner proper. I can probably get all this done, but it will require diligence and nonstop action, two things I'm not always good at. None of this is all that different from years past, I just wish I'd been a little more diligent when I had more time. (I also still need to wrap things, though fortunately not for dinner tomorrow. That will likely be done in the wee hours of Xmas morning while watching A Christmas Story, which became a de facto tradition due to my difficulties with diligence.)
Finally, this is not food, but it's (kind of) seasonal:
A Weeping Angel treetopper.
This is the sort of thing that I really wish I'd thought of myself.
Happy holidays to those who celebrate it. Happy end-of-week to those who don't. Much good cheer and fondness to all of you in my corner of LJ.
I changed it slightly for my tastes, adding some salt and pepper and using a little garlic powder instead of fresh garlic (uncooked alliums make my tummy discontent). It is really, really good. I know it might seem an odd combination, but everything works, though I note that the basil and the sherry vinegar (as opposed to any other type) are critical to the flavor. It's really fresh and light-tasting, but the garbanzos add a lot of substance, and a nice chewy/starchy quality that plays against the sweetness and crunch of the cucumber and pomegranate seeds. It would in fact be lovely with paella, to contrast against all the richness and overload of ingredients, or with mussels and chorizo, or a spicy fritatta--basically anything with strong spices and rich flavors. And it seems like a nice holiday-time dish, too, with the pretty red and green and pale gold colors.
Now I am having mulled apple juice with calvados out of a Fiesta snowflake mug, which is perfect for holiday time.
I'm behind on my holiday food projects and will have to scramble a bit tomorrow to be ready for Xmas-eve dinner with my family. The butterscotch bars are done but need to be cut. The meringues got done this afternoon. The gingerbread cutouts are baked and the icing is made (although I messed up the red and had to split the uncolored version so I wouldn't have to make more), and will get decorated tomorrow. The dough for the blue cheese shortbread is made and chilled; I'll bake it up tomorrow. I also have to make scones. (Some might note that this list differs somewhat from the leaders in the poll a couple of weeks ago. I did mostly follow the poll when making things for various social events. My family has Expectations about what I'll make for them, though, so I have to stick with certain items. When I failed to make scones for them a couple of years ago and made muffins instead, it was quite the scandal. I can add new things to what I bring for them, but I can't substitute.) And I have to roast broccoli and tomatoes as my contribution to dinner proper. I can probably get all this done, but it will require diligence and nonstop action, two things I'm not always good at. None of this is all that different from years past, I just wish I'd been a little more diligent when I had more time. (I also still need to wrap things, though fortunately not for dinner tomorrow. That will likely be done in the wee hours of Xmas morning while watching A Christmas Story, which became a de facto tradition due to my difficulties with diligence.)
Finally, this is not food, but it's (kind of) seasonal:
A Weeping Angel treetopper.
This is the sort of thing that I really wish I'd thought of myself.
Happy holidays to those who celebrate it. Happy end-of-week to those who don't. Much good cheer and fondness to all of you in my corner of LJ.