Culinary School

Hey guys! I'm a jerk and started a tumblr and then never posted about it here. Anyway, if you want to follow my culinary school adventure, my new blog is here:

http://erikastrada.tumblr.com/

10 weeks until my externship starts, hoping to go to Paris. Wish me luck, enjoy the photos!

Hot Garlic Pickles

It's no secret I like canning and preserving, so when I found a recipe for Hot & Spicy Garlic Pickles in this month's Better Homes and Gardens (yeah, I know), I was way too excited. Unfortch they need to sit for a week before I can see how they turned out, but I'm going to share the recipe with you anyway because they look and smell delicious already. I'm not going to get into canning instructions, so if you are new to it, the National Center for Home Food Preservation has some great information on the process.

Hot Garlic Pickles

from Better Homes and Gardens, July 2010

3 to 3 1/4 lbs small pickling cucumbers

4 cups water

4 cups cider vinegar

1/2 cup sugar

1/3 cup pickling salt

6 tbsp dill seeds

chili peppers (1 per jar)

garlic (1 to 2 cloves per jar, halved)

Some notes before we begin:

-Pickling (canning) salt is the same thing as kosher salt - free of iodine and anti-clumping agents, but a much finer grain, so you can't pack kosher salt as tightly when you measure it. I couldn't find it anywhere, so I found a couple sources that suggested putting the kosher salt in a food processor for a couple seconds to get it a bit finer and then measure it, and that totally worked!

-I found pickling cucumbers at Ralph's only because the farmer's market was yesterday and I slept through it (my dude had a late show the night before, so it's forgivable!). Not as cheap as regular old cucumbers, but they make for crunchier pickles, which you definitely want.

-The recipe I have calls for cayenne peppers, but of course the grocery stores I went to had none. I went with red Fresno peppers, which are really similar to jalapeños. I used pint jars instead of quart jars, so I figured the less intense heat was better for a smaller jar.

-I bought a canning kit last year at Target for $7 and it has saved me SO much time and trouble, so I highly suggest picking one up at Target, Walmart or ordering from Amazon to spare yourself boiling water incidents. I also saw a canner at Walmart for $18, but unfortunately I am still unemployed which means I have to stick to my stock pot and tongs method for a while longer, saaaaad. But moving on!

First things first, gather your main players.

I like to do everything assembly line style, but I also like to pretend I'm on the food network, so whatevs.

While you are preparing and sterilizing your jars, rinse the cucumbers & peppers and peel & halve the garlic cloves. Cut off a thin slice from the end of each cucumber and slice into 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick slices. In a large nonreactive pot, combine water, vinegar, sugar, and pickling salt, and bring to a boil.

Pack cucumbers loosely into hot pint canning jars, leaving a 1/2 inch headspace. Add 1 to 2 peppers, 1 to 2 garlic cloves (halved) and 1 tbsp dill seeds to each jar. Pour hot vinegar mixture into jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Discard any remaining vinegar mixture (I had none!). Wipe jar rims and top with lids.

Process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes - start the timer when the water returns to a boil. The water should cover the jars by at least 1" and the water should be a rolling boil. Remove cans from water bath and let stand for 1 week.

But seriously, how good do those look???

Breakfast

Bell Pepper Egg-in-a-Hole

1. Heat oil in frying pan over medium heat.

2. Slice bell pepper into rings.

3. Place bell peppers in frying pan, break eggs into rings.

4. Cover and cook until eggs are done.

5. Serve on toast with salt and pepper on a bed of spinach.

Pretty sure this is all I want to eat for breakfast for the rest of summer. Thanks Martha Stewart!

Home Improvement

I was looking through some old emails and blogs and stumbled upon this and it made me really happy, so I'm sharing it here.

My dad emailed me yesterday. My grandpa had a stroke - he's okay now and getting better, but here is part of the email:

"I don't know how well you know my dad, but one of the things that has always stuck out is that he never ever complains. But today he talked to me about his condition and what's going to happen to him. It's the first time I've ever heard my dad sound afraid or scared. He was trying to keep from crying when he told me that all he can do is put himself in God's hands. We talked for a while, and most of the reason I called was to try to cheer him up a little, and I was clearly not succeeding. So to lighten it up a bit, I read him your blog on home improvement. My dad laughed so hard I thought he was gonna die right there... But thanks, that really did the trick for my dad today."

I have never been so touched, I got all misty reading that. Here is what I wrote that made my grandpa's day:

Home Improvement the Erika way!

I have lived in many apartments over the years, and it seems that each one gets more bland than the last. Since my surroundings usually bore me, I've spent a significant chunk of my time perfecting the art of building furniture from kits, assembling various products, and perfecting my hammering skills. I decided it would be helpful if I wrote down some tips for you, so that one day you all can become as good as me.

1. Go to the store totally unprepared. There is really no need to know how wide any of your windows are, how big your door is for moving in furniture, or how much space you have on the wall. You can do it all from memory - "60 inches? I'm 60 inches, and I'm longer than that, I'm sure it will fit!" Don't look at the website of the store you're going to to see if they have what you want, and CERTAINLY don't waste your time by calling ahead! Every store has everything in stock, all the time. Also don't worry if it fits in your car or if you can lift it, you'll be able to cram it in there with no trouble.

2. Buy it now!! Target only has half of what you need, but it's on sale - why waste time and money when you can get half now for $2 less??? You can totally live in a half finished bedroom or bathroom, no one really cares. Your guests won't notice anything, and if they do too bad it's your fucking house, so cram it.

3. Any tools you need will either be included or you have them at home, don't bother checking if you'll need anything because you'll always have everything, all the time. God, stop wasting time already and get home so you can assemble it!

4. Open the item with total disregard for where anything goes. In fact, try to take up as much space as you can with the contents. Sure, you'll be able to find all those small nails embedded in your carpet later, it's fine really. Besides, you're probably due for a tetanus shot anyway.

5. Instructions are for pussies and should only be used as a last resort. You're smart enough to figure it out by yourself, and you've probably already spilled something on them anyway.

6. Compensate! Don't have a drill? Try using a hammer. Need a Phillips head screwdriver? Try using a hammer!! Oh no, did you break something you need with the hammer?? Good use of duct tape and push pins will fix that in a second. Really, a hammer is all you should need. Oh also, make sure to store your hammer on a high shelf next to some freestanding books - it totally won't fall on you every time you open your closet door.

7. Levels are also for pussies. You can probably guess if its straight. If its not, one of your friends is probably anal retentive about that shit and will fix it for you when they come over and view your wonderful home. Also if you're hanging separate items on the same wall, don't bother marking with a pen where they will go or measuring anything. Just hammer that shit in place and if it looks wrong, just try again, who cares if its 3am?

8. Crying will definitely help you figure out where you have gone wrong. Yelling and throwing things will help too - in fact, just put a curse on the whole thing. Also make sure to call someone and yell at them - it's totally their fault you hammered the wrong pieces together. The more irrational you are, the more they will want to come over and assist you.

9. Take a break. Take as long as you want - you can break for a half hour, 12 hours, hell take 3 weeks. Make sure you don't put anything away though - just leave it right where it is, that way everyone will know that you are just taking a break and aren't lazy or anything.

10. When you are finally finished, make sure to gloat about it to everyone that comes to your house, all the time. Make sure they are aware of your extremely awesome hammering skills and the fact that you put it together yourself. You can leave out the parts about crying though, or the fact that you had to bribe someone into carrying it into your apartment for you, however you may want to mention that they probably shouldn't touch it in the event that it might fall down.

After reading this, I assure that you are now ready to go out and build your own furniture and assemble anything you can imagine!! I hope that this has helped you, and don't forget to call me rejoicing after you have successfully used my methods to achieve your own greatness!!

Oops

Here's a fun story for you. I have both my ears double pierced, but only one pierced three times. It's been a while since there has been an earring in there and I couldn't remember if it was the right or the left ear, so I tried both. Um... earrings went into both ears.

Pretty sure I just pierced one of my ears last night. Oops...

King John's Christmas

I was listening to Mark and Brian on the radio this morning and they asked "What tradition makes it really feel like Christmas to you?" I thought a lot about Christmases as a kid, and there isn't really one particular thing that made it, it was all of them. Christmas was always the best time of year when I was growing up - there was something magical about it that made us all get along.

Christmas 1989 with Evan and Lizzie (sorry Ellyn).

The days leading up to were filled with baking cookies and buckeyes with mom, dancing to Christmas music, playing in the snow, counting the presents under the tree (because love is counted in presents according to Lizzie) and anxiously awaiting the arrival of all our visitors. By Christmas Eve we had a full house, people sleeping in the basement, on pull out couches, on air mattresses on the floor. This made getting ready for church next to impossible - when there are 14 people in line for the shower it is important to be first before the hot water is gone, especially in December in Ohio.

I was never a big fan of church, but Christmas Eve is a different story. The way a Catholic church smells during Christmas Eve mass is one of my favorite smells in the world. I was also not a big fan of singing loud enough for anyone else to hear me, but we would all sing the Christmas hymns extra loud, in particular "Away in a Manger" because it always made my youngest sister Ellyn weep uncontrollably saying, "it's too sad!!" We all wanted to be extra good, and sometimes we even listened to the homily instead of scouting out who we were and were not going to shake hands with during the peace offering.

After church on Christmas Eve is perhaps my favorite tradition. My mom would set out an enormous spread of cheese and crackers, sugar cookies, fudge, buckeyes, and eggnog while my dad lit a fire for us to sit by. My mom would read us the Polar Express followed by King John's Christmas, a poem by A.A. Milne, which I took over reading some time in high school. At some point Waltz of the Flowers would come on and my mom and I would dance together laughing about whatever absurdities occurred in that year's Nutcracker performance, and later about how much we missed it. After we were sent to bed, there were always excuses as to why we needed to be up because who could sleep with all that excitement? We could hear our parents and aunts and uncles still carrying on downstairs and none of us could stand to be left out. Lizzie and I shared a room so we would stay up as late as we could stand speculating about what Santa would leave us in the morning, playing games and making pillow forts.

The rule was we could get our stockings left outside our door at 6:30am. We could enjoy them in our rooms for a half hour, and then at 7 we were allowed to wake our parents and we would all go downstairs together. That last half hour was just torture as kids "Daaad why do you need to shower noooow?" Finally after what seemed like an eternity we were allowed to go downstairs and see what Santa had left us. There are two things I remember very clearly - one, the Elephant Slide which was used first as a rocking chair when tipped on it's back, then as a bar when on it's side. The second was PJ Sparkles. I wanted that doll so bad when I was six it practically killed me, and discovering Santa had brought it for me was probably the happiest he ever made me (especially since I found out he was not real the next year, confirming my suspicions).

Then came the long awaited opening of the presents. My sisters and I passed them out to everyone, and we took turns opening them one at a time, youngest to oldest and making sure to show everyone what you received. You knew it was almost over when you started getting your presents out of The Bag. The Bags were sent to each of the children by Grandma Peterson and were usually filled with thoughtful but useless crap, bless her heart. Post it notes, stickers, rubber stamps Christmas themed pencils, and one year even a pair of Keds adorned with bows, buttons, lace, doilies, you name it, it was sewn on them.

Once all the presents were opened, we were sent upstairs to get ready for breakfast. This involved trying on every new article of clothing, eating handfuls of chocolate from our stockings in our bedrooms with the door closed, and fighting over who got to wear one of the matching shirts Lizzie and I had no doubt received. We both got these Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle sweaters one year, but looks like I won that day, forever documenting the misspelling of Donatello.

Breakfast on Christmas morning was second only to breakfast on Easter Sunday. My mom would make Some Kinda Eggs, bacon, sausage, and cinnamon rolls from scratch. Breakfast was followed by a day of assembling new toys, excessive intake of candy, arguing about who got more candy canes and why, and board games (we still are not allowed to play the game of Life after an argument between a 4 year old Lizzie and 30 year old uncle Steve). At Christmas dinner, we would all discuss which was our favorite present we got that year. As we got older, the question turned into what was our favorite gift ever, and my sisters and I will still agree after all these years that the Elephant Slide was for sure a winner.

I hope to continue these traditions and that one day my children will look back on Christmas as fondly as I do.

Happy Holidays to you and yours <3

King John's Christmas, by A.A. Milne

King John was not a good man –
He had his little ways.
And sometimes no one spoke to him
For days and days and days.
And men who came across him,
When walking in the town,
Gave him a supercilious stare,
Or passed with noses in the air –
And bad King John stood dumbly there,
Blushing beneath his crown.

King John was not a good man,
And no good friends had he.
He stayed in every afternoon…
But no one came to tea.
And, round about December,
The cards upon his shelf
Which wished him lots of Christmas cheer,
And fortune in the coming year,
Were never from his near and dear,
But only from himself.

King John was not a good man,
Yet had his hopes and fears.
They’d given him no present now
For years and years and years.
But every year at Christmas,
While minstrels stood about,
Collecting tribute from the young
For all the songs they might have sung,
He stole away upstairs and hung
A hopeful stocking out.

King John was not a good man,
He lived his live aloof;
Alone he thought a message out
While climbing up the roof.
He wrote it down and propped it
Against the chimney stack:
“TO ALL AND SUNDRY - NEAR AND FAR -
F. Christmas in particular.”
And signed it not “Johannes R.”
But very humbly, “Jack.”

“I want some crackers,
And I want some candy;
I think a box of chocolates
Would come in handy;
I don’t mind oranges,
I do like nuts!
And I SHOULD like a pocket-knife
That really cuts.
And, oh! Father Christmas, if you love me at all,
Bring me a big, red, india-rubber ball!”

King John was not a good man –
He wrote this message out,
And gat him to this room again,
Descending by the spout.
And all that night he lay there,
A prey to hopes and fears.
“I think that’s him a-coming now!”
(Anxiety bedewed his brow.)
“He’ll bring one present, anyhow –
The first I had for years.”

“Forget about the crackers,
And forget the candy;
I’m sure a box of chocolates
Would never come in handy;
I don’t like oranges,
I don’t want nuts,
And I HAVE got a pocket-knife
That almost cuts.
But, oh! Father christmas, if you love me at all,
Bring me a big, red, india-rubber ball!”

King John was not a good man,
Next morning when the sun
Rose up to tell a waiting world
That Christmas had begun,
And people seized their stockings,
And opened them with glee,
And crackers, toys and games appeared,
And lips with sticky sweets were smeared,
King John said grimly: “As I feared,
Nothing again for me!”

“I did want crackers,
And I did want candy;
I know a box of chocolates
Would come in handy;
I do love oranges,
I did want nuts!
I haven’t got a pocket-knife —
Not one that cuts.
And, oh! if Father Christmas, had loved me at all,
He would have brought a big, red,
india-rubber ball!”

King John stood by the window,
And frowned to see below
The happy bands of boys and girls
All playing in the snow.
A while he stood there watching,
And envying them all …
When through the window big and red
There hurtled by his royal head,
And bounced and fell upon the bed,
An india-rubber ball!

And oh Father Christmas,
My blessings on you fall
For bringing him a big, red,
India-rubber ball!

circa 1910

circa 1910
Originally uploaded by organ splitter

John and I taking a cruise through Old Timey Town, taken by Chloe. This is one of my favorite pictures of us ever.