Requirements

I have decided that Mister and I need a scullery maid. Just one, we can put a cot up for her somewhere. But someone needs to wash our dishes and it sure isn't gonna be us!

Food of Late

So Mister and I haven't really been eating much at home (as per usual...) but what we have made has been fun!

For Superbowl Sunday, during the halftime show, we made onion strings and fried kasseri cheese using the same breading. As my one Calphalon pan started smelling and spluttering while we were heating the oil, I pulled out my wok for this one. Man it's been awhile since the wok and I were friends!

I learned today that my new favorite quesadilla is: cheddar, spinach and sour cream on the side. OMG delicious. It reminded me quite a bit of fried pierogi.

We've had thawing since last Thursday stewing venison that we got from my dad this Christmas (I love that my dad now hunts!), so venison stew needed to be made. We based it off of a sausage soup that we'd made recently, which Mister apparently based off of goulash? Any way, it involved frying onions in olive oil and bacon fat (venison is very lean, so needs fat added), browning the meat (which was prechopped to a decent size! I didn't expect that), deglazing the pan with a splash of brandy, adding beef stock, carrots, potatoes and spices: bay, salt, pepper, oregano, paprika, cumin, coriander (for those not in the US, this is the seeds, not the leaves), tarragon and cayenne. I let it cook down for about 4 hours, adding in two other batches of potatoes, so that the finished dish was quite thick from disintegrated potato but still had potato pieces. Oh it was delicious. I served it with crescent rolls from my freezer.

I also made veggie stock today! I pulled out two bags of frozen veg bits from the freezer, one was all potato peels (from Thanksgiving) and one was celery, onion, carrot, parsnips, and a handful of other things. I'm too lazy to go see what I wrote down on the bag. :-P I added that plus a quartered onion and the remains of four heads of lettuce to water and pretty much the same spices as the stew. Oh, and red pepper flakes. I let that cook for about 3 or 4 hours, strained it, and bottled it. It made about 120 oz, split between three 44 oz jars, with enough headroom to let me freeze them. This is super exciting!

Today I also cuddled starter, as she was looking sad in the fridge, and quite deflated. I fed her, and she perked right up sitting next to the simmering soups! She doubled in 4 hours like a healthy starter should, so I started up a proof with a new recipe: I used 1 c. all purpose and 2 c. white whole wheat, a bit of powdered milk, a heaping tablespoon of honey, and about 2 c. filtered water. When I work with it tomorrow morning, I'll just use all purpose flour and probably mix in some dried cranberries. Perhaps I'll also try to add in a cinnamon-sugar swirl when shaping it? I'm so excited to do something beyond a plain sourdough!

Also, for my own benefit, here are some sourdough recipes from sourdoughhome.com

Pizza Crusts
Bagels
Blueberry Muffins <-- I would have made this tonight if I had eggs
Rolls
English Muffins
Kaiser Rolls

OMG YOU GUYS

I'm pretty sure that I've found my ninja duck!

I think they're a scoter of some variety or another.


the Black or American Scoter


White Winged Scoter

Also, K, remember my theory about ducks? There are two types of ducks in the world, Mallards and not-Mallards? I'm mostly right! Apparently the majority of domestic ducks are descended from Mallards (with one, the Seneca Duck being descended from the American Black Duck and two being descended from the Moscovy Duck). Also, Mallards are in the largest family of duck-like objects, and can mate with almost any of them. Some species are in danger of being wiped out because they have too much Mallard loving. I love being vindicated about stupid shit. :-P

A Quick Post

So, we've been having problems with a neighbor. The same neighbor who's spotlight shines in our bedroom window 24/7. As I can't really talk about it until it's resolved, I won't say much. But she is harassing Mister and I and has threatened to call the cops on us.

Mister has spoken to the cops and we have some more information, and Mister will be speaking to our city's police department's law team (or whatever they're called) to get further information about how to proceed with this issue.

I'm just... a little stressed right now, and want to get a little of this out there, as blogging is a form of stress relief for me.

So please, if you actually know any of the details of this (including where I live), do not list them here as this is the public domain and nothing is settled yet. I just... wish that I didn't have to deal with this.

Victory is...

... making a quesadilla with perfectly puffed up tortillas. Because you (hopefully!) toast one side, flip it, add cheese and fold. Toast the now exposed sides. If you've perfectly heated HALFWAY through a tortilla, it puffs up like a crazy thing.

Also I still need to post pictures and a final summary of how my vegan, gluten free cream puff expedition went. :-P