Hot Dogs & Hound Dogs.

Happy Spring!

A few random images, thoughts, meals, opinions, what have you. 

First, we fairly recently acquired a spectacularly great hound dog, Walt, a red-brown & white spotted coonhound/pointer mix. On Walt's first night here on South Street, we brillantly left a plate of Tator Tots & bacon on the counter, leftover from our nervous "are we getting a dog today?!" breakfast (we had him on hold over night at Dakin to decide. Of course we were getting him.) This moment will always be special to me, because he hadn't shown much post-shelter-experience personality yet, so Walty on his hind legs at the kitchen counter eating bacon & Tator Tots off a plate with huge enthusiasm & a giant grin, was kind of wonderful. A Limoges china plate, no less. Ah dogs. He's a food hound. Remind me to draw him with his face in a 5lb bag of sugar on the couch after being left alone for three minutes.

2.19.11: Walt's First Night. 

They were Price Rite generic Tator Tots, a brief new weakness of ours. But although the Tator Tots were trash food, Price Rite actually rules. Holier than thou co-op shoppers should really check out their produce section. Happily, we are getting really close to the season where we can grow all our own produce again, but the Chicopee Price Rite & their gorgeous & low priced jalapenos & ginger & chard has really helped me through this winter.

On that note, I have a confession. I really am kind of a food snob, in my own way. Let me explain. Although I have my weaknesses (you know, Price Rite generic Tator Tots or Cheeseburger flavored Doritos), I really am against processed food. It's not an indulgence or diet thing, not at all, because I cook everything in bacon grease or chicken fat, but I guess I just like to know my own indulgences, i. e. that chicken fat from the chicken I roasted the other night, not mystery ingredients. If I am going to eat a ton of fat, why not eat straight good slab bacon, not a McDonald's thing? I annoy the hell out of my dear partner, but I really don't like to eat fast food. I like to save money, but a fast food sandwich still costs more than the bacon scraps we sell at work, so whatever. 

However, one night last March, in the grips of New England March depression (when will the snow truly stop! Snow forecasted for this weekend!), like what's happening now, pretty much, my dear boyfriend did convince me to buy a package of hot dogs & we ate this for dinner.

3.11.2010: Hot Dogs, Mac N' Cheese, & Broccoli. 

At that point, we were still using up a case of free expired stupidly organic mac n' cheese any way we could (don't worry, we threw out the cheese packet, & made our own cream sauce. That's essential). But it was a glum March day & we were walking by the Mill River, & Owen said "Hot Dogs & Mac & Cheese for dinner!!!" & I agreed. That's love. 

I won on the broccoli though. Broccoli in a cream sauce. Always good. As good as hot dogs seemed to me when I was five? 

Ask Walt. 

Piles Of Noodles, PIles Of Opinions.

Welcome to my controversial world of noodles. Linguine, fettuccine, elbow macaroni, whatvever, noodles have also been one of my favorite things to draw. Long long long before I had a food blog I was painting piles of noodles everywhere. For example, this classic painting of mine: 

"219", Acrylic on canvas, 2005

So, visually,  I am all about the noodles. Gastronomically, they are actually not my first go to comfort food, or at the least not the classic Italian style pasta variety. I am a chickpea curry girl all the way, or spicy beef & soba. Milkshakes & onion rings, I'm all over that. I believe I have mentioned my opinion on the general American trend of paying way too much money for a large plate of crappy pasta, & eating it in a mall, probably. Why not eat cheap food with some complexity & flavor, a bowl of pho or steamed pork bun? & We all know my Grampa Diamond's strong opinions on red sauce.  I guess it's a family thing. 

That said, there is more to do with a box of fettuccine than dump some jar of sauce from the grocery store over it .  

2.10.10: Homemade Red Sauce, With Bacon, Chicken, & Veggies. 

 3.2.10: Angel Hair, In White Wine & Butter, With Summer Squash, Thyme & Mushrooms. 

I guess behind my ranting & raving ala Anthony Bourdain about the Olive Garden (we actually saw him do this that night) is that both these meals weren't particularly creative, didn't cost much money, hardly took any real time or effort & were delicious. Learn to cook your own food, rather than throwing away money on crappy American chain restaurants, please. Seriously, learn to cook, y'all, at least enough to cook some veggies in butter & olive oil, chop some garlic & onions, & boil water.
This is the lesson in the noodles.
(It is still very much winter, although it is March, I am therefore apparently still cranky). 

Tegan & Sara, & Noodles & Cake & Friends.

A little more than a year ago, two out of the ordinary events occurred on one winter night in Northampton: Tegan & Sara played at the Calvin Theatre, & someone besides Owen made me dinner.

Yes, last February, Melissa, Ashley, & I had tickets to see Tegan & Sara, & Melissa made Ashley & I dinner (Penne, Red Sauce), I brought the wine (of course) & Ashley brought a chocolatey thing from Woodstar.

The first Tegan & Sara album I owned, The Con, I bought on itunes immediately after my hand surgery in late November 2008, & I have very vivid memories of listening to it in an intense sort of way, tucked in bed with the laptop, vaguely pleasantly high on oxycodone & watching the snow out the window. Staying in bed after surgery gives one plenty of alone time to think, & all the details of those memories are really clear. Made for an interesting show, I guess.

2.12.10: Noodles, Wine & Cake at Melissa's, Tegan & Sara at the Calvin.

This blog did use to be a lot more about rock music, I guess I used to go out more. Back when it was just me & the cat, before we decided (mutually) to add a boyfriend & a dog into the family. It's still about rock music in the sense that it is very difficult for me to paint or write without music, but maybe I should see go see more shows.

Owen & I saw the Corin Tucker Band at the Iron Horse back in the fall, if I can remember what we ate first I'll try to draw that one, because that show was amazing. Sleater-Kinney! Rules!

(Ashley is from Oregon, so somehow this train of thought makes sense?)

Don't worry though, Owen, Ali, Katie & I have tickets for Loretta Lynn this Saturday, & that's sure to be an art piece. Hopefully that show begins with a lovely meal with lovely people like this one did.

Winter 2010, In Random Dinners.

I'm still in a similar mental place to my last post, still feeling archivey, still hiding out in our room, still digging around in the old sketchbooks & rediscovering memories through drawings. Winter is still totally kicking my ass, so my motivation for complicated projects & exciting new recipes is low.

What has been keeping me going throughout these last (hopefully) weeks of horrible snowy icy slushy winter (spring! gardens! soon!) has been just the appreciation of our everyday life here, that we make time to cook & eat dinner together even when it's complicated, even when we hate each other, that we collect objects we like & live in a space that however cluttered & messy looks like us, that we have sweet sweet animals, good kitchen stuff & a cozy home.

Last winter was our first few months of really living together, so these pages of my sketchbook are especially sweet to me.

It is really feeling right now that Winter 2011 is never ever going to end, so to give us hope, some moments from Winter 2010, which did end eventually, becoming this.

1.11.10: Black Bean Chicken Chili.

1.13.2010: Scallops & Noodles.

1.19.10: Sausages & Peppers & Spinach & Whiskey Shots.

1.12.2010: Thyme & Shallot Salmon Fillet, With Broccoli & Cheese.

3.7.10: Weird Curry Stir-Fry.

Sometimes I just want to leave the pictures here by themselves, because to me, the specific details alone mean so much.

We ate this on this date, & it looked like this. That comforts me, when life seems bizarre & overwhelming, I guess just like actually cooking food does.

Would anyone care about that? Does anyone care anyway? When I was in art school I kept a very specific food I ate journal in my sketchbook, maybe I should just start posting those.

But I love those pages, when I look back, even as I laugh at how pretentious I was. Sometimes I can feel the specific moment, smell it, taste it, just from reading those lists.

Damn this blog is getting verbal!

I'll try to dig myself out of this hole soon, the potential of this sort of meal will help, but I have a few more of these style posts planned for the next month or so, then it's garden time.

Steak & Broccoli, With Cheese Or Noodles, Old School Or Spicy.

We are adrift in classics over here lately. Sometimes I want this to be a cooking blog where I tell you all about fancy menus, sometimes I just get into the charm of the details of everyday life, i.e. what did I eat for dinner back on that particular day in January? Along these lines, I notice certain themes, such as steak & broccoli, for example. What better to follow up the poetry of chicken?
A thing we do here is to purchase large cheap cuts of steak, chop them up (Owen loves his meat cleaver), & keep them in the freezer. Frequently this meat is crappy, 'cause, y'know, we are bargain shoppers, so sometimes we really have to get creative with it. Which brings us to cheap steak's good grocery store cousin broccoli, my good old friend: an excellent winter vegetable, it keeps forever in the fridge, can be really inexpensive if you forgo the organic (which guess what, we do), is pretty high up there in the nutrient department, is a nice, substantial satisfying thing to eat for a vegetable, & is delicious. & it looks like little trees! Yay broccoli, you really save my life in winter when we can't grow our own vegetables & most of the stuff in the grocery store is overpriced & tasteless.

1.10.10: A Big Ol' Sunday Night Steak, Drenched in Cheese Sauce, Covered In Broccoli. 2.20.11: Noodly Steak & Broccoli With Ginger, Lemongrass, Lime & Chilis.

Two meals, about one year apart, same kitchen, same people & cat (Only now we have a dog-stay tuned for details!). Basic cheese & meat Americana, or improvised Vietnamese-eqsue with lots of flavor & spice. Both just ordinary nights at home, no special ingredients, nothing special really except for being good meals eaten at home with love.I guess this takes me back to the beginning. Sometimes I think the pages of my sketchbook where I just drew some random unremarkable dinner we had are so pointless, & yet sometimes I look back through them & I remember.
Ah, the beauty of the details.

Winter.

Drunk & Full Of Love: DnD.

Premium Homewrecker. 

Other Nuts? 

Broken Home/Love Boat/Meat & Potatoes. 

What Do Your Friends Know About Your Sex Life?

A Nod To The Humble Chicken.

It's not all duck & lamb on this blog. I have a great fondness for that humble protein, the chicken. A grocery store classic, a childhood memory, an ionic kitchen image, a barnyard pet, what's not to like? It's cheap, it's always on sale Buy 1 Get 2 Free at the Big Y, it's versatile, & if our future goes according to our long term plan, we'll be able to eat our own someday & really see where our meat comes from. Visually pleasing yard creatures who bring us eggs, have crazy feathers, & can become stew? Wow.
As we are still enjoying archive month here, I present some chicken meals we ate about a year ago, just random things we through together creatively on work nights, mostly.

1.2.10: With Hot Sauce & Blue Cheese, & Collards & Bacon.

2.24.10: Snow Day, Roasted With Rutabagas & Thyme.

2.26.10: Leftover Stir-Fry With Broccoli & Brussels Sprouts, Over Rice Or Udon Noodles.

3.10.10: With Apple Sage Stuffed Delicata Squash & Melted Gorgonzola & Olives.

3.9.10: Buffalo Style & Blue Cheese Dipping Sauce.

As Owen as says, we are well on our way to being a ceramic chicken museum at our house, well well on our way. As I type this, I can see a truly impressive selection of chicken imagery. I guess I like those delicious birds.
So thank you, chickens, the more exotic proteins are lovely, but as one of our major themes here is living well yet cheaply, we appreciate you. You bring us many dinners, & warm dinners are truly a miracle during a Massachusetts winter. The garden veggies can't start soon enough...