As has been previously established, the Crows are major fans of Le Creuset. How could you not be? It’s so pretty (and functional!). Check out the link here for cookware porn and ideas for displaying your gorgeous pieces.
Archive for the ‘Domestic Tips’ Category
Le Creuset On Display.
Tuesday, May 25th, 2010Baby Garden
Monday, May 17th, 2010I’m super jealous of my sister’s creativity.
For Mother’s Day, my sister Erin turned a vintage baby carriage into a planter. She decoupaged the outside with images of nature and filled the inside with soil, some flowers and a little ceramic watering stake shaped as a mushroom.
Cute!!
Backyard Gardening, Renter Style.
Sunday, May 2nd, 2010
This year I have been bitten by the gardening bug. Probably as a reaction to last year’s failure (in which I burnt all my potted herb plants by frying them in the hot sunlight on my roof), this year I am determined. Inspired by Holly, the true green thumb of the Crows, I committed to having a little green spot of my own, to eat some food I grew myself, and a find chance to play in the dirt everyday.
However, there are a few obsitcles in my way. First of all, I rent, and on the third floor of the three unit, so it’s not exactly the backyard is my domain. Despite the fact that, thanks to my landlord, it frequently looks a like a junkyard, I feel it would be a little presumpous to just sart digging up grass and planting. My landlord would probably consent if asked, but the yard is mostly shaded, and there is only a small portion that would really work for gardening anyway. Unfortunately, this section is right in the middle of the yard and next to the house- there is no way I could ever reasonably dig a garden there without upsetting someone. Plus, setting up a garden can be pricy, and investing into a place you won’t be living for more than a few years seems a little waseful.
So! Soulution! A potted garden/weed-bed takover. A garden that is 75% mobile makes big use out of small spaces. It’s a combo between a tabletop pot garden and a pre-existing raised bed garden that was full of weeds and old leaves. For the table I used an old wooden coffee table found in the junkyard of my landlord’s and when combined with the large variety of pots I had lying around I think it has a nice esthetic.
Raiding Home Depot with the man crow was a lot of fu! I scored all the seedlings either there or at the Curley Plant Sale in JP on Saturday morning. I also bought planting soil and four pots for this operation- the rest I had already from last year’s debacle. On the table I am growing:
-Herbs: basil, italian parsley, thyme, oregano and rosemary.
- Two varietys of tomatoes
-Green Pepper
I can’t wait to mow on some fresh herbs!
Herbs!
Its going to smell so good when they get growing too! Now the true inspiration here is the side-of-house garden. This raised bed has alsway been there, but you would barely have noticed it because it was so overgrown with weeds. They took mere minutes to remove, and then I repaced them with a layer of soil I had leftover from potting. Here, I have planted:
-2 more tomato plants
-green lettuce
-green beans
Side of the house, raised bed garden.
Please try to ignore the cable wire. This will be really my first experiment in growing from seed, so I’m excited! Of course there is a lot more I would have liked to try, but I think this is a good start. Also check out my gardening supply bucket:
How can this not be a success? Expect frequent updates as the summer moves on on!
Cravings of Summer
Monday, March 22nd, 2010Man, I’ve been craving some cheeseburger for a long time. Tonight, thanks to Trader Joes $1.99 ground meat special- I’ll be tasting the sweet joys of summer.
I’m not up for getting the charcoal ready, though, so I’ll be attempting the cast-iron indoor burger.
Some green garlic + cheese stuffed burgers, are just around the corner!
This is a fun article to get you in the mood!
Herb Saver
Friday, February 5th, 2010It happens every year, the cold weather hits, I bring my potted herbs inside, and then they die. I can’t blame it on abundance or lack of sun because I have tried all windows in two different apartments. I even tried watering them frequently and infrequently; tending to them daily and leaving them alone for a week. I finally gave up on having a windowsill herb garden year round and looked into other options.
Although I always prefer fresh herbs I bump up my dried use in the winter months such as thyme, oregano and rosemary. I tend to stay away from dried basil or parsley, they don’t have any aromatics so if a recipe calls for it just use the real thing. If you have the option of buying in bulk it’s usually cheaper and you get to use your own spice jars, but if not a brand that always treats me well is simply organic.
I got this herb saver as a present from my brother and it works like a charm. The shelf life is amazing, fresh rosemary and thyme have lasted up to three weeks and the leafier herbs such as basil and sage will last around a week and a half. The herb saver alleviates the guilt I often faced from throwing away a pack of herbs before I got a chance to use them all, something that brings a tear to the eyes of all crows and foodies alike.
Dining out in New Bedford
Saturday, January 30th, 2010If you want to try authentic Portuguese cuisine, New Bedford is the place to go. Last weekend my Aunt and Uncle treated me to a delicious meal at Anotonio’s located in the North End of the city. I wasn’t familiar with many of the Portuguese dishes listed on the menu but luckily my Uncle had already picked out what I had to try: Carne a Ribatajana. It’s very similar to Carne de Porco a Alentejana except the pork is not fried, but slow cooked so it shreds easily off the bone. I split this dish with my Man Crow and when it arrived at the table I quickly realized it was enough to feed 4, maybe even 5 hungry adults.
I should have taken Anthony Bourdain’s advice and skip the bread and potatoes and focus right in on the meat but i couldn’t deny my love for carbs, especially dipped in delicious meat juices. We ate ourselves into a food coma and ended up leaving Anotonio’s with an ungodly portion of pork. We ended our New Bedford experience with a trip to Lydia’s Bakery for some much needed coffee and sweets.
The next morning i had a revelation on what I should do with my leftover mountain of pork: make one of my favorite sandwiches, the Cubano. I waited a day, then shredded up the pork, chopped my lettuce, tomato, onion and pickles and created an assembly line.
My man crow and I each made two Cubano’s each- one for dinner and one for lunch the following day at work. Since we both have different preferences, mine being extra pickles and mustard- hold the mayo, and his being extra pork and
mayo- hold the mustard, we decided to construct our own. My kitchen lacks a panini press so i had to brainstorm an alternative. This is how you construct a make shift panini press: heat olive oil in a large skillet, add the Cubanos, spray the top of the sandwiches with extra virgin olive oil spray, place a layer of aluminum foil over them then top that with a smaller skillet. To weigh it all down and achieve the “press” put a tea kettle full of water on the top skillet. The set up is not visually appealing but it does the job!
Finished Product served w/ a simple slaw
I love you, Real Simple.
Friday, January 29th, 2010
Its true. I love Real Simple Magazine. Sure, there are a little to many articals that reference having children. And sure, it promotes almost every heteronormative stereotypes under the sun, but I don’t care. Who knew that you can clean a keyboard with stickynotes? Or what brand of curl smoother works best? Or which brand of pickles has the best crunch? Real Simple will teach you all this and more. It rocks. Plus, they have awesome, easy, inexpensive recipes.
I made this super yummy Potato Leek and Feta Tart from their September issue the other nice and it was so savory and comforting, and super, super easy. Try it out!
Sprout Success!
Wednesday, January 20th, 2010After 5 days of rinsing my sprouts they have matured into eating status!
I tried to rinse twice a day but a couple mornings I was too busy getting ready for work to carry this out but the sprouts didn’t seem to be affected by it.
The mung beans took an additional couple of days to fully mature and they were successfully used in a stir fry Mo and I whipped up last night.
My alfalfa and clover supply is already running low so I started another batch. I am so amazed by the notion that it takes only two tablespoons of seeds to fill a large mason jar to the brim!
In preparation of my mission to grow sprouts I started saving cherry tomato containers to store my finished product in and they work quite well!
New Winter Project
Sunday, January 10th, 2010My new project for this winter is to grow my own sprouts. Hopefully this will fill my gardening void and will supply fresh green items to my dishes for the long winter months.
The idea for growing sprouts arose on my last visit back to Maine when I found out interesting news that my Pops was an avid sprout grower when my brother and I were younger. I must have been too young to remember but my two responses to him after discovering this exciting news was 1) Why did you stop and 2) What do I need to start this project up in my own kitchen. Apparently all I need was some sprouting seeds, water and a jar that had a lid with holes poked through to act as a strainer. I was sure that I would be able to find the jar and special lid at a health food store, but a recent snow storm kept me off the streets and straight to the web to search for this item. It didn’t take me long before i found these sprouting lids and at a reasonable price. They fit securely on any large mason jar, which I found were also inexpensive at the hardware store so now all I needed were some sprout seeds.
For my experimental batch I went with Chinese Mung Beans (love them in stir frys) and a spring salad mix of Clover, Alfalfa and Pea Sprouts to add to salads and sandwiches. The directions are very simple:
- Place two TBS of seeds into a jar and soak in cool water overnight
- Next morning tip the jar upside down so water drains out of the lid
- Continue to rinse the sprouts with water twice a day and make sure all excess water is out of the jar
- Keep sprout jar on its side and continue the rinsing process for 5-6 days then harvest the sprouts dry and keep refrigerated
I am day two into my adventure and things are still going smooth. I can’ wait to share the finished product! Also let me know if anyone has interesting sprout uses and recipes!
post holidayness
Tuesday, January 5th, 2010All these holiday posts- I had to chime in!
I confess that, with the exception of a slighly over-salted eggplant parm on Christmas Eve, I did very little cooking this holiday season- especially when compared to Ms. Emily. I spent most of my holiday out of the kitchen and at the table, with varying degrees of success. However, this Christmas I made of with a haul of kitchen gadgets so amazing that I almost believe in Santa again. The past week with no job and tons of snow I’ve had nothing to do but try all of these handy gadgets out. It has been f*ing awesome. Here are the highlights:
Le Creuset French Oven: Like Mo, I was also gifted one of the Holy Grails of stovetop cooking equiptment- the Le Creuset French Oven. Mind was a beyond lovely surprise from my Man Crow. I am in love. I have so far cooked: Black Bean Soup and Lentil Soup in it, but am still searching for a recipe to do it justice- something meat-free (fish ok!) that involves browning and then simmering in a sauce. Suggestions welcome.
The Cuiseart Food Processor: I think I connected with Tim the Toolman Taylor on a deep level the moment I pressed start on this bad boy. Ho ho Ho. This baby gets and A+ for raw, untamed power and I feel like such a spoiled girl everytime I look in my pantry and see that gorgeous stainless steal staring back at me. It even has a setting for dough. A gift from my Ma. Have made: pesto, black bean soup, broccoli and mashed potatoes.
Cast Iron Frying Pan: From Holly. Amazing. I <3 it, seasoned it, use it for everything. No more explanation needed.
Pasta Maker: Yay! Love making pasta, and now it is super easy, way more uniform, and awesome. Aunt Shirley, I hope you are reading this and know that I love the pasta maker. I squealed the first time it pushed out a perfect sheet. It sits next to my food processor and they tell each other constantly how shinny and gorgeous they each look. They make my mixer and George Forman jealous. I made linguini to go with that pesto the other night and every strand was eaten. Next mission: ravioli.
Apple Pealer: From my Man Crow’s Mom for useing when I am feeling particularly domestic and need to bake an apple pie. It took me an embarrassing amount of time to figure out how to use, and as a result I had to eat a LOT of apples before they went brown. It is super cool though, and apparently skins potatoes as well. Plus, it is a shiny red. I see lots of pies in my future….
