Rain Valley: November 2005

Culinary Confessions

An idea from Cooking with Amy blog.... What are my Culinary Confessions?

I buy a lot of great food items at Big Lots...
I bought my beloved Le Creuset at a storge unit auction..
I have 3 pasta makers (one electric) and haven't used any of them in 3 years...
I can dirty 22 cooking utensils heating leftovers...
I hate keeping butter in the fridge...

I think the coffee press was a divine invention...

I can cook almost anything in a toaster oven (I don't have a stove)...
I often spend more time washing dishes than it took to produce the meal...
I'll drink coffee that is more than 10 hours old....
I won't order steak in a restaurant anymore because it's never better than mine...
I love bowls - little ones, big ones and especially odd ones...
None of my silverware or dishes match (though the dishes are all white)...
I've had 3 kitchen fires - croutons, steak and a rustic pear tart (blogged about here)
I know that grits and polenta are the same thing...
I am addicted to kitchen gadgets but rarely use them...
There is no such thing as margarine in my universe...
I make the strongest coffee of anyone I know...
oh yeah and I often swear profusely when cooking...

Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy. - HL Mencken

Halloween

We've been so busy off doing things that I haven't had the time... or energy to say much about it here. But we've had a lovely summer and now that the chilly weather has come I imagine I'll have more time to write about the things we've seen and done. But for now I'll start with recent events...... Last night we decided to have a little Halloween fun of our own! Here in the Bible Belt it's not much of a holiday so instead of trying to find a party... in Augusta (?)... we decided to just have one at home. This was a last minute decision (as in 6 am Halloween morning...) so I had to do some scrounging but the results were pretty darn good if I do say so myself. The result... one Pirate King and one Spanish Equestrianne.....pictures below.
Our fine time was only slightly marred by having to go to the much hated Wren's Ingles grocery store to get a sterno can for the fondue...while in costume. I sure wish those folks would remove the stick from up their collective fat asses....but we still had fun....and I'm quite sure they don't know how...so too bad for them!! And whoohoo for us :)
For dinner we had Muffalatta sandwiches, Tomato Soup (recipe below... an inspiration that was SO good!) chocolate fondue for dessert finished out with good french press coffee..... We just had a grand time...! David does such a wonderful job of helping me remember how nice it is to just have fun....!

Quickest Tomato & Basil Soup ever!

1 jar Bertolli Roasted Red Pepper & Tomato Sauce
1 can Vegetable Broth
Chopped fresh Basil

Easiest thing ever.... Mix the tomato sauce & broth.... heat until simmering. Pour into bowls & garnish with a bunch of fresh basil. YUMMY! It tastes like the expensive gourmet tomato & basil soups.... really I'm not kidding!