There Is Really No Better View Than Chickens.

An out take from Eating & Drawing @ Flying Object, & also a glimpse at our new life in Greenfield.

January 2012: Lunch At My Painting Desk With DR Watching the Chickens.

So having our chicken owning fantasy come true? It is pretty great. After all that time trying to figure out how to have chickens in our community garden plot, or in our tiny slopped front yard on busy South Street, & suffering through terrible chicken jealousy when someone did have them...wow, finding this place with its own resident hen in need of people, Lucy, a very opinionated & bossy & fabulous Plymouth Rock, was one of those moments of luck I still can't quite believe.

In another moment of craiglist brilliance, I found three Rhode Island Red pullets, Amanda Jo, Lulu, & Miranda. This was the afternoon of their second day here at Barton Heights. 

Today's words of wisdom: there is no greater gift to an indoor cat then a nice window seat with a plant & a view of an active chicken coop. 

What was lunch, you ask? As this is a food blog & all? Why homemade beef, barley, & chickpea stew, reheated on our woodstove in a cast iron enamel pot, a huge white vintage one from Denmark I inherited from my mom which is one of my favorite things. Oh yeah, did I mention the cottage came with a woodstove too? I'm really in heaven here. 

More on the soup coming up, to be continued... 

Butternut Squash #1: Stuffed, With (Homemade) Sausage & Wild Rice.

& now, back to the cooking! Sorry about all that whining the other day. I've pulled it together, i.e. the house isn't so bad, I did some laundry, I paid the bills, I had a lovely night of wine & food with a lovely friend, & I've actually done quite a bit of watercoloring at the kitchen table.
We bought a bushel of butternut squash for our wedding-you know, you are trying to feed a lot of people cheaply & you live in New England & it's fall, you end up with winter squash. Of course, because we have very helpful & food oriented families, we ended up with way too much food & didn't use the squash.
Forward to about a month after the wedding-we are kind of broke & Owen & I have been driving around with both our cars full of butternut squash for weeks. The only solution was The Great Butternut Squash Food Challenge Of 2011, where we made a new meal out of those pesky car squashes every night for roughly a week instead of buying new ingredients.

10.26.2011: Butternut Squash Week #1: 

Stuffed with our homemade spicy pork sausage, wild rice cooked in homemade duck stock, garden shallots, garlic, & rosemary, lots of butter, & raw milk Parmesan cheese.

This is one of my all-time classic recipes. That was another theme of The Butternut Squash Challenge, classic well loved recipes. Winter squash is really versatile, & lends itself to whatever you feel like cooking already. I invented this for a date, once upon a time ago, I made it at my birthday dinner party two years ago, & I made it for the lovely Melissa last night, because we STILL have stray squashes rolling around in our cars.

Obviously, this works with any squash, & I rather prefer acorns, delicata, or dumplings, but hey, the whole bushels of butternuts was cheaper & it's really pretty much the same.

Split squashes, roast with olive oil. Cook a basic wild rice blend, I like the Lundenberg Organic blend but a mix of short grain brown rice & wild works too, preferably in a poultry basic stock (I like duck stock). Meanwhile saute shallots, garlic, rosemary & herbs de provence in butter & white wine. Add sausage (for this we had some of our first ever batch of homemade sausage). Add rice & more stock. Simmer. Add to squash, cover with cheese, whatever you like, but I like parm or gruyere or swiss. Back in the oven, then eat! Fun times.

Yeah by the way, we have been making our own sausages, thanks to our wedding present Kitchen Aid stand mixer & wedding present meat grinding & sausage stuffing attachments. Just week Owen boned an entire turkey (turkeys are real cheap at Stop & Shop right now) & it became variously flavored turkey sausage. Being poor ain't so bad. 

AS long as you use what you have-i.e. turning cheap meat in awesome sausage & making stock from the bones. 

There you have it-Stuffed Squash, liz style. 

11.4.2011: dog & cat. 

Oh, & that's just a picture of my dog & cat.
For good measure.

These (Mildly) Difficult Modern Times.

It's been a rather exhausting couple of weeks here at EnD headquarters, i.e. a messy apartment in Northampton. Tons o' work stress, money stress, car stress etc. Blah. I've actually found myself absolutely too tired & cranky to even feel like cooking recently (very unlike me). I miss the garden. I hate when it gets dark at five. I'm sick of every single expense, like toilet paper & toothpaste,  for crying out loud, being a huge deal. I'm sick of not being allowed to get sick or miss any work for any reason because I earn our only income. I'm sick of doing all the cleaning because no one else cares. I don't want to get up at 6am while everyone is sleeping & still come home in the almost dark.
Whine whine whine. Not real problems, I know.
Still, sometimes I feel like maybe it would be cool to not be the one responsible for everyone's survival. I want to call out of work & go to the mall & buy fancy eyeshadow at Sephora & 20 cute dresses at Forever 21.
Sigh. Poor me, I know, I'm stupid. I have no real problems, &
I do have this.

11.4.2011: Dog Cat Husband.

So I guess that although we are pretty broke, my job is pushing me to the limit of reasonable tolerance right now, & the house is really dirty, I get to have this sweet family. & last night I made a really basic chicken & potato curry & felt a little more like myself. Cooking heals many wounds. Note to self: when depressed, purchase some inexpensive but still luxury cooking item (in this case, short grain brown rice & chicken thighs). Then cook dinner. Possibly listen to the Mountain Goats even though my husband hates them. Repeat.
I look forward to Thanksgiving. & I've seen some mad crazy gorgeous sunsets en route to work lately, so I guess that's also something.

Blogging With The Windows Open, & Green Times Three.

We had our first 75+ day here in Western Massachusetts, & it was pretty sweet. There's is just something about being actually hot...outside in the early evening walking a hound dog beside a river with a breeze promising warm rain, wearing a t-shirt & a skirt, bare legs, bare arms (but cowboy boots of course). The water expectant with future swimming, the air carrying smells of grilled meat & green things growing. I can't help it, I love hot weather. Living in New Orleans totally ruined me, I like sweating. 

Having the windows open after all these months of winter is a joyful experience. I slept in bliss last night because there was a constant breeze through the open window. & tonight, sitting in the kitchen after having fed the animals, drawing at the kitchen table with a glass of chilled white wine, hearing the random music from the Community Music Center next door, various conversations on the street, smells, & the feel on my skin of that warm, soft breeze. I love air. The worst part of winter is all that time inside.

Oh & the lack of fresh food possibly grown or gathered by oneself! Hey fresh food, you are almost here! Ramps, lettuces, fiddleheads, morels, oh yes! 

& now it has begun to rain. Perfect. One of life's great pleasures=the sound & smell of warm rain with the windows open.

In a spring mood, although the garden is just beginning & the farmers markets haven't started & fiddleheads will be a while yet, I give you three green moments of early spring anticipation.

Green #1. Spring Sunday Dinner (we love Spring Dinners & Sunday Dinners!)(& dogs & cats): 

4.3.11: Cilantro/Almond Pesto with Hot Italian Sausage & Peperoncini over Pappardelle.

I really love Cilantro Pesto. Very spring tasting, even if it's too early to grow it yet. So what, at least the bundle I used cost a dollar at the Asian Market. But Cilantro Pesto, check it out, made just like any Pesto, use any nuts, any cheese, olive oil, garlic, salt & pepper, a bunch of cilantro, you're there. & like Arugula Pesto, this is a good one to make spicy & add peppers or hot sauce. I wouldn't make it for my Grampa though. 

Green #2: Recently buried in the back of the fridge I found several large Mason Jars of Spicy Green Tomato Pickles we pickled last fall at the end of our huge garden tomato crop. I guess they got forgotten back there in the fridge, but wow I just found them the other night & they are delicious.

We just mostly pickled them like they were cucumbers: sliced green (unripe green, not green heirloom) Mason Jar, allspice, mustard seed, garlic, coriander, cumin, whatever, salt, pepper & vinegar, & added some habaneros we also had in excess from the garden. These guys are really pretty great, also coming in handy for my new project, Bento Box Lunches For Work, inspired by this fabulous blog. (stay tuned).

September 2010-April 2011: Spicy Green Tomato Pickles From Last Year's Garden. 

& finally, Green #3: 

April 2011: A Sketch of Our Future 2011 Garden.

We have an additional plot there this year, so if all goes well, twice the food (If only we could somehow fit in chickens & a goat, maybe a sheep, maybe a cow, we could realize our dream of not buying food). We have tiny radishes, beets, & cabbages growing there. Chard & carrot seeds are planted (Bright Lights for the chard & Purple Haze & Atomic Red for the carrots). A gentle spring rain is falling on them right now. 

We will be eating radish & lettuce salads from the garden before we know it. & drawing them, & swimming. & sleeping with the windows open all the time. 

The Moussaka Story: 2009-2011 aka Lamb Part Four.

I promised Moussaka (many many times) & so Moussaka you shall have. This recipe came from the original Saveur Lamb special issue that prompted the Lamb Week 2009 in the first place. This was intended to be the signature dish of the entire series, but hey late is better than never, that's our slogan on this blog, so here we are, February 2011, & I present: Moussaka.
A Moussaka is basically a Greek version of eggplant parmesan, more spicy, with lamb. You begin with a ground lamb based spiced red sauce, by sauting lamb, onions, & peppers in olive oil, adding nutmeg, ginger, & cayenne, then simmering with tomatoes. Meanwhile, fry thin slices of potato & eggplant, & create a bechamel sauce. Layer the fried potato & eggplant slices, cover in each layer in red sauce, then cover the whole thing in the bechamel sauce, bake for about an hour, then serve, anyway you like, as you will see below, Moussaka is extremely versatile (& delicious).

12.9.09. The making of a Moussaka.

I made this first as part of my lamb series back in 2009, & more recently, early January of this year, my Mum was coming to visit & as she is a fantastic cook & usually cooks totally fantastic meals for us every second when we are on the Cape, I wanted to make her something special. During a pre-visit phone call with Mum discussing Lebanese food, breads, spices, etc. (as phone calls tend to run in my family), my brain started traveling through various food & taste channels, & I remembered this recipe, rather time & labor intensive for a week night dinner, perfect for an evening of relaxed talking & cooking time with your family in your kitchen.

MOUSSAKA 2009 & 2011

(2011 featuring Mum's white huge Danish cast iron enamel pan we just inherited).

Back in 2009, I actually did make this on a whim on a weeknight, & it turned out Owen had to work super late, then like a sensible man went out for a drink after, maybe I didn't mention to him that I was making something that takes several hours for dinner? Nope, I sure didn't. Pretty good 1am post bar snack though, served over Israeli couscous, because I was into Israeli couscous & lamb back then.

Late Night Dinners: Owen Eats Moussaka At 1am.

Moussaka was good over Israeli couscous that night (I did eat myself, obviously, but it was much earlier, because who could seriously resist those smells, so I got to draw Owen eating). But it's also mindblowing over lots of things, because it's is a spicy, meaty, creamy, saucy thing, & hence the leftovers are excellent, so the next night we ate them over a green salad with avocado slices (I love love love super heavy things with salad + avocados with warm food).

Leftovers: Moussaka & Salad.

Which brings us back to the present, Moussaka 2011 version (because contrary to the above drawing, that was not the conclusion to Lamb Week, not even close. It's gonna be a really long week). Created in our kitchen in Northampton with Mum & Ali & DustyRose, eaten at our kitchen table with homemade parathas (our new thing, to be covered in it's own post), then the all important leftovers enjoyed by Mum & Ali in Turner's Falls in Ali's apartment the next day & simultaneously enjoyed by Jed & I at the kitchen table here on South Street on a snowy night, over linguine, with grated cheese & a bottle of wine.

2011 Moussaka: With Mum & Parathas, With Jed & Noodles.

There you have it, the story of one humble Moussaka. Just look at the cast of characters who eventually showed up in this simple food story, all those memories now attached to every future bite.
& We are not in fact done with lamb, I just realized that I have made a lamb curry about once a week this winter (how else to survive horrible constant snow & ice winter 2011?) & yet not drawn one. Fortunately one was served at Owen's 26th Birthday Dinner Party just the other night, so I will get right on that (in like a year or two, you know, something like that).
Stay warm & ice free & eat some lamb! xoxo Eating & Drawing

Origin Recipes, Part One: Tuna Casserole.

The cover of this month's Bon Appetit advertises tuna casserole, eggplant parmesan, & chicken curry, which happen to be the first three important things that I learned to cook, & that taught me to love to cook. Looking at the cover, I started thinking, y'know, in the vein of food memories...& why Bon Appetit knows me so well, & what it all means...

To start, we go way back, way way back, to like me at ten or eleven, playing with the kitchen, with...Tuna Casserole...

Begin with a classic roux, butter & flour, then add 1/2 & 1/2 & white wine for a cream sauce. I also add chopped garlic at this stage.

(yes, you made already have noticed this is definitely a different version then the white trash classic, but's that why this is so good, do with it what you like).

To the sauce, add grated emmenthaler swiss cheese (my preference), frozen peas, chopped roma tomatoes, & a can of solid white tuna. Do that cool thing with melted butter & some crushed saltines or ritz crackers (the best way to go). Drain noodles (I generally choice elbows or shells but this time it was pappardelle).

NOTE: like any great recipe, this one lends itself perfectly to variations. Add whatever the hell cheese, veggies, crackers...etc, that you like. Don't even add tuna. See if I care. But be warned, my mom once added chopped canned clams instead of tuna, & at least to an eight year old, that shit is GROSS.
This is a messy fun kind of dinner. Pour yourself a glass of that cheap white wine you were cooking with & let your cat enjoy what's left in the can of tuna.
Combine sauce with noodles, cover with crushed cracker mixture, & more grated chesse, & baked for about an hour, uncovered for the last ten minutes so you get a nice crunchy top.
BEST LEFTOVERS EVER, especially with sriracha in your room late night with your kitten after dancing.

this is memory food,

Mum cooking this in our apartment on Orchard Street in New Bedford when I was little, me starting cooking as a teenager on Seamans Lane in Brewster, cooking this for myself in my first apartment on Medway Street in Providence at seventeen, Burns cooking me the Mississipi version with chips & sour cream on the night George W. Bush was (sort of) elected the first time in 1999, cooking this on Burns' last night in San Francisco on Cabrillo Street at twenty-two, & then eating the leftovers cold myself & wondering how I was gonna survive alone, at twenty-three on Burgundy Street in New Orleans that first winter when it finally got sort of chilly, at twenty-seven in the Prospect Street apartment in Noho when I started eating meat/fish again, & most recently for Owen in our house on South Street, at thirty-one, 11.23.2009.

Oh Yeah, this meal is a deal breaker with me. You are a vegetarian or think canned tuna is gross, I probably won't fall in love with you. Just sayin'.

Next Up: Eggplant Parmesan.

So It Begins. Thanksgiving Part One.

In which the turkey breast goes into the oven. & during its first hour in the oven, I've done this. Live Blogging Thanksgiving, only here on EnD.

Stuffed with rosemary & sage (brought home fresh from Mum's garden, Brewster, Cape Cod, & dried by me in my kitchen) & drenched in butter, olive oil & salt & pepper.

DR was offered a can of turkey wellness formula, & promptly turned that shit down. (good kitty).

You cannot believe how good my kitchen smells right now. Off to make the stuffing. See you soon, right here, with stuffing drawings.

An Old Classic Revisited, Part One.

Yup, I apparently now do Sequels & Conclusions on this blog. (& the Shawmut Diner Part Two will happen, DO NOT FREAK OUT, all you readers dying for that conclusion). FOOD WITH SUSPENSE!!!!!! Come on, you love it! I'm not sure if it's busyness, laziness, or the fact that the blog posts I conceive of in my head lately get ever more intricate & involved & difficult to actually complete in one sitting, & I like to put something up occasionally, so yeah. Here's another Part One. This one references a post I did long ago on this blog: i.e. the Classic New Boyfriend Dinner. I was pretty depressed when I wrote the original post.HOWEVER (seriously ladies, if you cook at all pay attention to this shit) Part One will actually tell you nothing. Part Two. Pay attention to that. This is just about stuff. THE FOOD STUFF.

Ingredients spilled across my kitchen table.

New yellow potatoes & brussel sprouts.

A reasonable but not expensive piece of steak & shallots (very important) & garlic & cheap red wine & butter (also important but not as much)

& then you let your cat sit on the table because she is oh so adorable.

& now there's a baguette!

& then you actually cook this shit. Details coming soon.

"Dinners for Boys You Like," also a new category on Eating & Drawing, also coming soon.

(that's what she said)

I Can Has The Eggplantz? & The Broccolizzz?

This is what happens when you stop living your whole life at the bar.
(not that there's anything wrong with that)

Apparently you become a crazy cat lady obsessed with drawing your gorgeous vegetables acquired at the Noho farmer's market that morning.

This equals: more DnDLOLCATZ.

dustyrose would not get off the table...

while I was creating this drawing of my vegetables from "farmer's marketing" (yes, I just invented a verb) this morning:
baby bok choi, various hot peppers, patty pan squash, broccoli, tiny japanese eggplants, & aged seven months Caprino goat cheese from Hillman Farm.
(I'm eating many of these delicious things right now),

What I did last night after work instead of Cirque du Coq.
But at least the late night meals thing persists.
Where I was drawing rather than out with the rest of DnD.
Sounds like it was fun, but hey, my midnight dinner was pretty delicious, & Dusty Rose is pretty adorable.

& I felt this should be included,
since this is a
"hey what we can all agree on if nothing else at the very least is that we all love kittens"
post. what wade folded my rent rent check into this month.

I WISHES I hazd A Cheeszburger right now. Or ten moressss kittenzzzzz.
(DnD truth #36789: when things are sad, we get silly & laugh anyway.
FUCK YOU, BAD THINGS. KITTENZZZZZZ).

LOLCATZ, DnD Style.

Because Kittens Make Everyone Feel Better.

When there were three.
(watching twin peaks with the roommates).

introducing Josue...

...melissa's gorgeous new cat...

...who likes to pose for the camera.
(or pen)
(quick, take a drawing)

& the current situation in my kitchen.

Expect more of this.
The small feline ladies of 133 are just that awesome.