121

Food / Easy Chicken Salad

« on: April 19, 2016, 02:17:00 AM »

Easy Chicken Salad

Ingredients

1 c. diced, cooked chicken
1 c. diced celery
1 tbsp. mayonnaise
1 tbsp. finely chopped pickles
1 c. chopped hard-boiled egg

Directions

Mix well and serve. You may also use tuna fish or ham in place of the chicken.

122

Food / Re: Veal Marsala with Egg Fettuccini

« on: April 19, 2016, 02:09:52 AM »

I'm sorry, it never occurs to me that someone might not be familiar with these words. Most of them are fairly common to Italian cookery and anyone who does such dishes from time to time would know them.  Being from another culture, I have no idea what would and would not be common place as far as terms go.

I don't mean to be rude. It is through lack of knowledge rather than intentional.

123

Food / Re: Cookware topic

« on: April 19, 2016, 02:02:17 AM »

I use pizza pans that have holes in them for a crisper crust. Something like what is shown shown here but with larger holes.

124

Food / Baked Eggplants with Tomatoes and Mozzarella

« on: April 18, 2016, 01:13:57 AM »

Baked Eggplants with Tomatoes and Mozzarella

Ingredients

2-1/4 lb large eggplants
olive oil for cooking
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
2-1/4 lb ripe tomatoes, preferably plum, peeled and chopped (see note)
10 oz mozzarella cheese
2-3 oz Parmesan cheese, grated
3 or 4 large fresh basil leaves, finely sliced
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Cut the eggplants into thick slices. Sprinkle with salt and leave in a colander. preferably overnight, to draw out the excess water. Rinse and pat dry with paper towels. Heat enough light olive oil for shallow-frying in a pan over medium-high heat and add the eggplant slices in a single layer. Shallow-fry on both sides for a few minutes until the slices start to brown slightly. Make sure that the oil is hot before adding the eggplants to the pan. so that they do not absorb too much oil. Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Make a tomato sauce by heating a little oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook until soft and transparent, before adding the tomatoes and basil. Season with salt and black pepper. Cook for 10 minutes until the tomatoes have broken up and reduced into a pulpy sauce.

As soon as the sauce is ready, arrange alternate layers of eggplant, tomato sauce, slices of mozzarella, and Parmesan in a greased baking dish. Make sure that you press down the ingredients well, so that you end up with compacted layers. Finish off with a layer of sauce and a sprinkling of Parmesan. Bake in the preheated oven for about 40 minutes. Let stand for a few minutes to allow the ingredients to set slightly, then cut into individual portions while still in the dish. Carefully slide out onto serving plates using a spatula, and serve hot.

Note: Peeling tomatoes It is not such an onerous task, peeling fresh tomatoes. Simply score the skin slightly with a sharp knife, blanch in boiling water for 10 seconds or so until the skin starts to soften and split, then refresh in cold water. This makes it far easier to use a sharp knife to peel away the skin.

125

Food / Re: Food from my kitchen

« on: April 18, 2016, 01:10:13 AM »

Some recipes call for 'corn milk'. The way you get it, is after the corn cob is cleaned of kernels, you take the back of a knife and scrape the cobs. You get a milky liquid, which is the corn milk. It' adds corn flavor to a recipe.

126

Other topics / Re: What are you doing right now?

« on: April 18, 2016, 01:04:40 AM »

I grew up with animals all the time. Always had horses, at one time 22 head of donkeys, 20 some hunting dogs, momma raised papered and purebred Chihuahua dogs, even had a monkey one time, not to mention a squirrel.

Taking care of critters was just something you had to do and as a kid it was my chores to do. 

127

Other topics / Re: The Natchez Trace

« on: April 18, 2016, 12:59:51 AM »

I'm glad that everything around it's GREEN.

You'll see a lot of green then. Many won't be shown but it is pretty much green everywhere.

In  the following images you will see the insides of the Mount Locus museum and it's representative collection of period pieces of the time.

This first image is what you would see at the time of a child's room. Notice the beds have a rope frame to hold the mattress. This place would be considered someone well to do with wooden plank floors.

Here you have an adult's room, most likely for the husband/wife.

This is the dining area, where one of the few rooms that has enough room to put a spinning wheel for making wool thread from sheep fleece.

In the background of this image you see what was known as a secretary. The desk with the drop down table for writing that could be folded back up out of the way when not in use.

This would be the typical pantry. Where kitchen utensils, gardening tools, baskets for toting vegetables in from the garden, and a general storage area out of the weather. It would be accessible from inside living areas.

128

Other topics / Re: What are you doing right now?

« on: April 18, 2016, 12:33:15 AM »

I don't have a fence completely around my yard. It would be expensive to do so as the basic ground is sand. Goats are well known to attempt escape any way they can which presents it's own problems when you find out the goat in town has wandered into someone's tasty garden.

Sheep have the problem of needing to be shorn of fleece. With out a herd, it's not worth it because you really have way to market your fleece. You wind up with an extra cost of shearing and then paying someone to remove it.

Then there is the cost of feed once they run out of grass, vet bills, etc. On the whole, mechanical in my case is just cheaper.

129

Other topics / Re: The Natchez Trace

« on: April 16, 2016, 03:21:06 AM »

In the foreground of the first image you see what is called a split rail fence. Basically, a tree is felled, it's split into the sizes you see and then laid out as seen. It was an easy way to build a fence without digging posts or making gates. Gates were made in a different manner which allowed someone to walk through with their hands full but the animals couldn't. The gates sort of looked like this -----> >------- with the spacing between them closer. A person could just turn sideways and slip between the >'s but the cows and horses could not make the turn to go through.

In the second image you see one of the park rangers who is station here at the Locust House Museum. He acts as a sort of guide as well as to keep an eye on things that they remain where they are.

Tomorrow I will show you the images of the inside and it will give you a clue as to the 'modern conveniences' of the time.  Blacksmithing was required to make nails. So much of the building you see was put together with very few nails and mostly joints were cut to help the wood stay in place.

130

Philosophy / Re: Words of wisdom, wise quotes, inspiring words...

« on: April 16, 2016, 02:46:08 AM »

She was what we used to call a suicide blond - dyed by her own hand.  ~ Saul Bellow

In Paris they simply stared when I spoke to them in French; I never did succeed in making those idiots understand their language. ~ Mark Twain

You can't say that civilization don't advance, however, for in every war they kill you in a new way. ~ Will Rogers, The New York Times (23 December 1929)

I had a rose named after me and I was very flattered. But I was not pleased to read the description in the catalogue: 'No good in a bed, but fine against a wall.' ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

The only thing that stops God from sending another flood is that the first one was useless. ~ Nicholas Chamfort

“Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough.” ~ Oprah Winfrey

"Any man who thinks he can be happy and prosperous by letting the American Government take care of him; better take a closer look at the American Indian." ~ Henry Ford

131

Other topics / Re: What are you doing right now?

« on: April 16, 2016, 02:40:26 AM »

Ran out of weed eating string on the weed eater and had to cut and wrap new string on it. Mixed up new gas for the two cycle one and been cleaning up in the yard where the mower can't make it in. I have a heavy duty 4 cycle weed eater but right now it's getting a carburetor soak.

I go through one set of strings on both weed eaters about every year. The big one only takes two strings rather than a twin spool like the light weight one does. I try to buy enough string so that it is years before I have to go look again.

132

Food / Re: Food from my kitchen

« on: April 16, 2016, 02:33:15 AM »

Looks fantastic!

133

Food / Champagne Jelly

« on: April 16, 2016, 02:31:57 AM »

Champagne Jelly

Ingredients

3 cups granulated sugar
1 3/4 cups champagne or rose wine
1/2 bottle liquid fruit pectin

Directions

Stir together sugar and champagne (or rose wine) in 3-quart glass casserole dish. Cover with lid or plastic wrap and microwave on HIGH for 4 minutes. Remove the cover. Stir mixture, replace cover and cook another 4 minutes.

When mixture comes to a boil, stir again, and microwave 1 more minute. Remove from microwave and remove cover.

Slowly add 1/2 bottle liquid fruit pectin while vigorously stirring until pectin is completely dissolved. Place one spoon in each wine glass to help disperse the heat and protect container. Ladle mixture over the spoon and into each glass. Cover with plastic wrap and store in refrigerator. Fills 3 large wine glasses.

If jelly will be kept for an extended period of time, seal the top with paraffin.

134

Food / Veal Marsala with Egg Fettuccini

« on: April 15, 2016, 07:37:43 AM »

Veal Marsala with Egg Fettuccine

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds veal cutlets for scaloppini, from the butcher counter
Salt and pepper
1/2 cup flour, a couple of scoops
4 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, 4 turns of the pan total
1 large or 2 small shallots, chopped
24 crimini (baby portobello) mushrooms, thinly sliced
1 cup Marsala
1/2 cup beef stock, from canned soups aisle
1 box, 12 to 14 ounces, egg fettuccini, cooked to al dente
Finely chopped flat leaf parsley, for garnish

Directions

Season veal with salt and pepper. Place a large piece of plastic food wrap on a cutting board or work surface. Arrange veal between cutlets on the plastic wrap. Cover veal with additional plastic wrap and a sheet of waxed paper. Gently pound out veal with meat mallet or a small, heavy frying pan. Fold veal up in its plastic and waxed paper wrapper and set aside.

Preheat a large skillet over medium high heat. Build an assembly line between the veal and the hot pan: veal, shallow dish with flour, butter and olive oil, pile of shallots and sliced mushrooms, Marsala and beef stock. Place a large platter over low heat on the burner adjacent to your veal pan. Warm it, then turn off the heat.

Begin cooking the veal Marsala just before your egg fettucini goes into cooking water; the veal will take 12 minutes, the pasta 7 or 8. If you are serving the suggested side dishes or a salad, these dishes should be assembled before the veal.

Dredge the veal lightly in flour. Saute cutlets in a single layer 2 minutes on each side. For each batch of veal, use 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, 1 turn of the pan, and 1 tablespoon butter. Transfer cooked cutlets to the warm serving platter. If you have a 12 to 14-inch skillet, you should be able to make just 2 batches. Add another tablespoon extra-virgin oil and 1 tablespoon butter to the skillet. Add half of the chopped shallots and all of the sliced mushrooms to the pan and season with salt and pepper. Saute the shallots and mushrooms for 5 minutes. Add Marsala to the pan and bring up pan drippings. Add 1/4 cup beef stock and when it bubbles, add 1 tablespoon butter to the pan to gloss your sauce. Spoon mushrooms and Marsala down over the veal. Return the pan to the stove. Add remaining extra-virgin oil, butter and remaining shallots to the skillet. Cook shallots 1 to 2 minutes. Add remaining 1/4 cup beef stock to the shallots and add the egg fettucini to the pan. Toss fettuccini with broth and butter and season with salt and chopped parsley. Transfer pasta to a serving dish and serve with warm veal Marsala.

135

Other topics / Re: The Natchez Trace

« on: April 15, 2016, 07:27:45 AM »

I've so many images of Mount Locust that I am only going to show a few of them unless more are requested. This will have to be a multi post over at least two if not three posts. Many I have not shown you of the signs but I thought I would cover some of the signs first and then in the next post actually show you the images of the place.