spring fever

Spring Valley

I'm curiously envious of your comic book volunteer work, Suzy. Just my kind of thing (I imagine, but then I could be curating my own comic collection, and I don't do that). Anyway, it sounds fun and interesting.

I commiserate with your cuisinart problems. It's a terrible thing to have not working! I replaced the bowl only on my previous one and it worked fine. I fear that cuis. is updating too often now. I am now worried that my mandoline has been updated (I see a new model in Chef's Catalogue) and I won't be able to get the julienne blades. Not that I need them very often, but just last week I made something (which I don't remember, of course) that needed julienned carrots and leeks.

I enjoyed your crossword puzzle comments, Suzy, since I'd done the same ones. I had more trouble with Wednesday last week. I was doing it in Mom's optometrist's office, and was distracted by the endless big-screen TV drivel about various eye problems and surgery -- I was sitting under the screen so I wouldn't have to look, but God! You'd think that you'd use a beautiful wide-screen TV to entertain, rather than instruct, those waiting in your office. Why not some nice Wallace and Gromit? Anyway, it was fun to follow along. Welcome any time.

It's fun seeing the Saalfelden letters, Mom, particularly because I am familiar with the cast of characters and the setting. I loved that cemetery. Remember that Glenn talked of being buried there! In 1984 I had a hard time convincing him to sign my absentee ballot, since he did not consider himself to be a resident of the U.S.

Speaking of Spring, we have finally seen our first robin at our house (Charlie saw one on Monday in River Falls). Normally they are here right on March 15, but something detained them this year. Cardinals are singing their spring song, and the sparrows have moved into the woodshed and are yelling their heads off. Red-wing blackbirds appeared earlier in the week, and the goldfinches are almost completely gold again. They turn olive green in winter then (the males) turn gold in the spring. We had a furious argument with Ted about this once, who insisted they'd been gone all winter and had just come back. I don't know if we ever convinced him. It was the kind of maddening argument that I once had with Julia, who (at the age of ten or eleven) was convinced that eleventh grade was the last year of high school. She got pretty huffy about it; "Well, maybe when YOU were in school there were four years of high school, but now there are only three." I had to give up. Several months later she conceded that I had been right.

Another sign of spring: some huge blasts of thunder and lightning just as we were going to bed last night. Very nice.

Ah, yes, now you understand my grief when Kowalski's ceased to have The Olives. I first found them in a fish shop in Eau Claire, and thought I was insane for spending $10 for a jar of olives. When they turned out to be so good, I used to go back there for them, but sometimes they were expired (and the expiration date is hidden by the cute little snood they put on them). I was thrilled when Kowalski's started having them, at only about $6.50, and then, like your store, they started having just the other two kinds. Twice I discussed this with the people behind the desk there, and twice they wrote it down. Nothing happened, and about six months later the other two kinds disappeared from the shelves. At least I was able to find them on the 'net, but at $10 a jar again (including shipping), I ration them.

Your salmon sounds good. I sometimes make the little citrus relish from FC #79 (Q & D section), and that's good too. We get fresh wild Alaskan sockeye from Kowalski's, which is quite good (and the only salmon Charlie will eat).

You got my slicer email, I hope, Suzy. For the record, it's Chef's Choice model VariTilt Model 632. It came from Williams-Sonoma about a year and a half ago.

I'm multitasking this morning. Doing laundry, doing this, helping Charlie work on the kitchen when he needs me. We're putting up light boxes that run east and west across the ceiling. Very hard to imagine (I haven't understood them until today), so I'll take a photo or two when we're done. He's also run trim boards around the dropped ceiling part and has enclosed the pipe over the vent hood. These are huge steps forward, all in preparation for, finally, the kitchen floor! We have now purchased both the tile and wood, and they'll go down in May, when the tiler finally has time. We've been saving up for this floor for quite some time. I am most pleased that it's finally going to happen. A major step! Mom remembers how this goes when one is building slowly; each bit of progress is thrilling.

In the new FC there is a wonderful dishwasher/sink combo. Now I long for that on the east side of the kitchen to do my prep dishes. Many other things will come first, though! The sink/stove combo is intriguing, too. What will they think of next? I haven't made anything out of the new FC yet, but I just got it yesterday. Ruth and Dave Wood just subscribed to it (at Christmas), so for Dave's birthday I bought them issues #40 and #79, my two favorites. I have all issues from about #23 on; the others are not available from Taunton. I should check eBay some time.

Speaking of which, I made my first purchase there last week. I got "Volcano Valley," a Gladstone reprint. Beautiful condition, and under five dollars, including shipping. It's one of the first comics I remember. I was five (Ben's age, think of that) when it came out. Actually a pretty grim and grisly tale, but entertaining anyway.

I shall have to look for Will in the World. I've finished all of Jane Austen now, except for the fragments, and I guess I won't read them now. I'd skipped P&P, having read it so many times, but when I'd finished the other five, I had to go back to it; they're all great fun, but P&P is by far the best. Poor Jane; I just discovered that she never even went to London, and for sure there was no Darcy in her life. The mysteries are strangely redemptive in this way. I've got to get my hands on a biography of her. Don't know what I'm reading next. Ruth lent me some books a couple of days ago, so I'll look into them.

Food. Here's a recipe that I make fairly often (had it this last Sunday noon).

Chicken Thighs Baked with Lemon, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme (Hey! might make a good song!) This is cut down from the original recipe (FC 46). NOTE: start early; the chicken wants to marinate for a couple of hours.

2 cloves garlic
a good-sized pinch of kosher salt
2 TB extra virgin olive oil
4 skin-on bone-on chicken thighs or two skin-on bone-in half breasts (I use breasts)
1 lemon, with four 1/4 inch rounds cut from it
4 two-inch pieces of fresh rosemary
8 two-inch pieces of fresh thyme
4 big sage leaves
freshly ground black pepper

Cut up the garlic, then smash it with the pinch of salt. This can be done with a mortar and pestle, the side of a knife, or the garlic could go through a press and be mixed with the salt. Add the oil. This is supposed to become a creamy mayonnaise-like substance, but I never achieve that, and I don't care. Just mix it up well.

Put the chicken in a bowl. Rub the garlic-oil mixture all over it, including under the skin. Cover and refrigerate for at least two hours and up to overnight (I guess you should have it for breakfast? This is an instruction I never get!).

Heat the oven to 425 and set an oven rack in the middle of the oven. Arrange the lemon slices in one layer in your little braising pan (or if you're serving company, too, use a larger flat pan). Top each slice with a piece of rosemary, two of thyme and a sage leaf. Set one thigh on each piece of lemon (or, if using breasts, put one breast on two slices of lemon), and sprinkle lightly with salt and generously with pepper. Bake until the skin is golden and the juices are clear, 45 minutes to one hour (less time for breasts - 35-40 minutes, but check with a thermometer to see if they are done -- temp should be about 170).

Sometimes the lemons and chicken (partic if it's thighs) produce a lot of juices. In that case, transfer the chicken, herbs and lemons to a plate and cover quite loosely with foil (the skin is very crisp, and you don't want to sog it up). Tilt the pan, spoon off what fat you can, add a little chicken stock, and boil it up, scraping up anything stuck to the pan. (I don't usually do this, since breasts don't give out much juice, and I tend to have a burned bunch of lemon in the bottom of the pan.)

Anyway, this is an easy recipe, very good, and the skin is amazingly crisp and delicious.

Well, I must draw this to a close, since I leave for Elk Mound in about 20 minutes to visit a school.

(I tried to add some images, but so far the new blogger doesn't like my formats, though it says it wants jpeg.)