Why We Cook by Lindsay Gardner - Question #3

What is your most treasured kitchen object? 

Sorry no pictures as everything is packed up waiting for my move. 

I had to think about this. Picking something I treasure because I know I can never replace it? Something that invokes a strong emotion or memory?  I can only pick one thing so here's my list of candidates. 

My vintage (well it's vintage now) green Tupperware stacking measuring cups. I cried when I found them, thinking they got sold off  during the big purge when I got divorced. They're avocado green, so you know how old they are. 

Another vintage item, my little rice cooker. It's over 40 years old and it's a no frilly. Cooks Japanese rice super fast. Really makes me feel at home when I use it. I just love the load click when it's done. If you have one you know what I mean. :)

My Grandmother gave me a dinner set over 45 years ago. Always reminds me of her. I've never seen another set in all my years of thrifting. I only have the dinner plates now and have no idea where the other pieces went. 

I think I will go with the measuring cups. My mom was all in with the avocado green when we moved into the suburbs from the farm. Always makes me think of her kitchen and what a good cook she was. 

Why We Cook - Overcoming Creative Rut in Cooking

Second question from "Why We Cook" How do you overcome creative ruts? 

For me it's trying something new. When I go grocery shopping I always try and pick up something I haven't tried before. I usually do this at Costco because I've tried almost everything at Trader Joe's. :)

I don't have the taste buds of alcohol but I do like the fancy glasses that are sometimes used. I do have two huge bottles of vodka I picked at an estate sale. They legally can't sell any food products, so they just give it away. I have plans to make vanilla extract again so this was the only reason I picked up the bottles. I looked up what to do with vodka other than making extract. I came across Moscow Mule, vodka, ginger beer & lime. I know you're suppose to serve it in copper mugs but I never knew why, another rabbit hole. The copper is suppose to enhance the drink while keeping it cold but I still think it's marketing thing.  Ginger beer isn't a "beer" which lead me down yet another rabbit hole to find out what is was. All of its ingredients are things I like so I picked up a box at Costco. I'm currently staying at a friend's house that has a very nice lime tree and copper mugs. The cooking stars were all in line! I have all the parts to make a MM. Then I thought since I don't like alcohol, I would leave that part out and make it a mocktail. The word is still out if the copper mug makes any difference.  

So how do you overcome a creative rut?

What do you cook when you're exhausted? What do you when your enegized?

Alton Brown Grilled Pork Tenderloin

My go to "I'm too tired to cook" is gluten free fusilli pasta with bacon, garlic, onions, mushrooms and cheese. While the pasta is cooking (gluten free pasta takes longer) I sauté up everything and top with freshly grated cheese. 

When I have a lot of energy I'll tackle one of the many recipes I have flagged in my cookbooks. I'll also make a dessert.  :)

Tonight I'm making Alton Brown's marinated grilled pork tenderloin. It takes 24 hours to marinate so it's something that has to be planned ahead. Another one of my go to dishes is lasagna. I freeze most of it for a quick meal when I'm not up cooking. 

Why We Cook by Lindsay Gardner & Tasting History by Max Miller

If you follow my blog you know I like to read cookbooks. I watched a few Youtube videos by Max Miller which are interesting. I thought I would check out his cookbook, Tasting History at the library. 

On the same shelf was the book by Lindsay Gardner, "Why We Cook Women On Food, Identity & Connection".  What caught my eye was the homey for lack of a better term watercolor illustrations. Since it was raining and not wanting to lug a ton of books out to the car, I went to the quiet room to see if any of the books were worth the effort. 

Tasting History was just OK, rather boring. His videos are much better.  Why We Cook on the other hand was written in a style I really like. It flows easily and a book you could open to any page and find something interesting to read. It's has questions they asked the chefs and it makes you wonder how you would answer those questions. I think while I have a wifi connection for the next few weeks, I'll post my answer to one of those questions everyday. 

What kitchen tools do you love most? A good knife and my cast iron pan are my essentials.  I use my Nutribullet blender everyday and my pour over coffee set up but it's more a "like" than a must have. What's yours? 

 

Truck load of fabric

The store doesn't get a lot of crafting stuff in but when we do, it's always a truck load. This donation was from a quilter who can no longer quilt. She donated all and I mean all of her fabric. Most are fat quarters and done quilt tops. She was very organized and had all the boxes label by theme and color. There are more boxes on the floor that aren't in the picture. I took the picture so the volunteer who is in charge of fabric could decide when and how  she was going to process it all. She came in and took everything home to price while watching the Super Bowl game. 

Ripple water feature

Now that I don't have wifi at home, I can't post as often. I'm at the store a lot but usually too busy to sit down with my laptop. 

While I was down in Carmel I just love to walk the beach during low tide. I especially like when the ocean does this around the rocks. I my fantasy garden I would love to have a water feature that makes this ripple effect. It's it too cool?

 

Raspberry Muffin - Sweet Rhea

When I was at the Carmel house I stopped by Sweet Rhea cookie shop. I found out they only do gluten free cookies on Friday. :( So I went for a raspberry muffin, which was really good. $3.50. I also tried the Mexican chocolate cookie which was also very good. It had a hint of cinnamon which was a nice touch. On another day they had coconut, macadamia and pineapple muffin but I'm not a fan of coconut flakes so I passed. :(   One thing I like about the shop is they change up their specialty cookies / muffins everyday. Their muffin base is very good so no matter what they add it will be good.  I just don't like the texture of coconut flakes.