'tis the season for lost arts

i like to give homemade gifts at christmas. i think this is due partly to the fact that i am broke but also because making something from scratch and giving something delicious to a person you love is the bees knees.

over the last few years i have crafted a select trio of the perfect christmas gifts. number one on the list is jam. growing up my maternal grandmother used to have the BEST strawberry jam. i loved it. loved, loved, loved it. she kept it in little plastic containers in the freezer. at some point i asked my grandma how she made such amazing strawberry jam. "sure-gel. the recipe is right on the box." what?! i couldn't believe it was so easy.

a few years later my paternal grandmother offered me her water bath canner and i snapped up the offer. then i made jam and i have made jam every christmas since.

i don't make the freezer kind like my grandma used to. i like to actually cook and can it. i do this so it last longer but also cuz it is fun and little mason jars are cute.

this year i made two batches of strawberry and one batch of triple berry (strawberry, raspberry and blackberry) - about 20 jars or so. now, i love giving people jam. i LOVE it cuz it really does taste awesome and it is a fantastic homemade gift. but i'll tell ya' it is a real labor of love. canning is a lost art probably for good reason. it is time consuming. very time consuming. but spreading homemade jam on toast or on one of kp's biscuits is just so kick ass that i sweated and toiled all day sunday in order to deliver.

i've also started canning pasta sauce. i used my trusted and true recipe of crushed tomatoes, olive oil, garlic (lots of garlic), salt, red pepper flakes (lots of read pepper flakes) and lemon zest. i canned the sauce is cute lil' pint jars. they are just darling......and delicious!!

so jam and pasta are the canned duo of my trifecta of perfect homemade gifts. the third of course is cookies. this year i am doing two. another trusted and true recipe - oatmeal, dried cranberries or cherries and chopped pecans. mmmm. mmmm. mmmm. i think i'm going to do some sugar cookies as well.

you better keep your fingers crossed that you're lucky enough to get one of my holiday delights!

and check this out. kp found this gem for me. she's definitely getting some christmas delights!

slow cooked cheap hunks of meat. mmmm.

hello again. still here. and tonight i finally discovered what the hell everyone has been talking about when it comes to short ribs. i've had 'em before. here. my friend gentle ben and i decided to check it out some time ago after reading about it in the free times. oh hey - it's even on beer advocate's website.

the short ribs were the special - braised with carrots, tomatoes and those lil' onions and it was spooned over mashed potatoes. i was just getting into magic hat then and it was one of the only places i knew with no. 9 on tap besides the lizard. huh - guess that was a while ago.

anyways - they kicked ass. soooooo good. and then i was inspired by this kid and i decided to try my hand at braised short ribs.

he braised his short ribs in beer but i opted for wine. (beer braise next time). it was a lil' like the faux osso bucco. i seasoned two short ribs with salt and pepper and browned them in my dutch oven in some oil on all sides. i took out the short ribs and browned some chopped onions, carrots and celery. i added about 1 1/2 cups of red wine and really reduced it. then i put the short ribs back in and added some beef stock just to cover them. i brought it to a boil and then put 'em in the oven for 2 1/2 hours.

while those were braising i decided to make some cookies. i was inspired earlier by some dried cherries i picked up at the peanut shoppe. i've also been wanting to try out pioneer woman's pecan crispies so i thought i'd combine 'em. i made the dough and chilled it in the fridge while the short ribs continued to braise.

i made some mashed potatoes and topped 'em with one of the short ribs. then i spooned the yummy reduced sauce over everything. oh man oh man. soooooo good. the meat just pulled apart with my fork and taking a big bite of all the different things was sooooo good!!

then i started baking the cookies. these are pretty damn good but i think next time i'll use butter instead of crisco. like with these cookies. butter is just so much better. and i think i'll use more pecans next time too.

so yea. tonight was pretty delicious.

pork! pork! pork!

so yea....no new updates. no camera still has me unmotivated. i'm still cooking of course. i mean, i have to eat. like tonight. tonight i baked some chicken and made some twice baked potatoes for my friends kp and mk and we watched, "mr. smith goes to washington." fabulous movie. i love jimmy stewart. so cute. so honest. so genuine. sigh....... they don't make 'em like they used to.

so the chicken. i picked up some boneless, skinless chicken breasts and thighs and pounded them out. then i marinated them for about 1 1/2 hours in fresh squeezed lemon juice and minced garlic. i melted some butter and olive oil in a small pan and then let it cool. i brushed the chicken with the butter/olive oil and then dredged it in a mix of breadcrumbs, fresh thyme (from my garden! the herbs are still kickin'!), salt and pepper. then i baked the chicken on a cookie sheet for about 25 minutes.

in the meantime i baked two potatoes in the microwave. then i scooped 'em out and put the hollowed out skins back in the oven to crisp up. while those were crisping (and the chicken was bakin') i smashed together the scooped out potato, some chopped green onions, sharp cheddar cheese, salt, pepper and some sour cream. i re-stuffed the skins and then put 'em back in the oven. mmmmmm....it smelled good in my kitchen. when everything was done i topped the potatoes with a lil' more cheese and some chopped chives (also from the garden!).

kp, mk and myself enjoyed this dinner with some red wine (me) and some cider and rum (kp and mk) while we watched jimmy stewart as a young idealistic junior senator take washington by storm!

oh! and last night i was feeling like i could accomplish things so i finally set up the printer/scanner/copier that my aj and uncle stu-hoo gave me months ago. and since i can scan now i scanned the following photo:



i took this photo months - maybe years - ago up at the west side market. man, i love that place. and i love pig. next time kp, mk and i get together to watch an old timey film i'm cookin' up a pork dish!

nothin' you haven't seen before

i am still without a digital camera. this sucks so badly. i think i'm going to try to finagle one outta my parents for either christmas or my birthday. my friend gentle ben offered to sell me his for $30 but at that price i'm not so sure. is it busted? does it suck? i think i'm just gonna go ahead and shoot for a new one.

last night i made myself a fine meal but it's nothing new to you. i acquired a ton of collard greens last week and i've been keeping 'em fresh in a bowl of water in my fridge. i also had the other key ingredient handy - bacon. i've taken to freezing it now so i almost always have some on hand. i whipped up some greens and a yummy half of an acorn squash.

i ate this delightful dinner while drinking a few guinness and watching some like it hot.

i guess this movie is a classic. i liked marilyn monroe cuz she is nice to look at and she had a great line, "i'm not a drunk. i can quit drinking any time i want to. i just don't want to." ha! however i decided that i don't really like tony curtis. he just isn't very good looking or much of a leading man. and the ending of this movie.....gimme a break. at least i was comforted by collard greens and squash.

bad news on the blog front

last weekend the shitetarian and i headed out to the beautiful beaches of delaware. bethany beach to be exact and it was
fucking awesome.

the seafood feasts we cooked in our tiny condo kitchen were remarkable. outta this world. i'm talking mind blowing, buzz inducing seafood feasts (or was that the vodka......)

the bad news in this otherwise heartwarming tale of good eats, good friends and good booze is that my digital camera bit the dust while we were out there!

i captured day one's dinner (grilled shrimp two ways [a chipotle, lime marinade and a simple olive oil, red pepper flakes, salt mix], steamed clams in white wine and garlic, and steamed hard shell crabs with melted butter) but that was it. i attempted to capture the remaining dinners with my 35mm but who knows if those photos will end up being blog quality or not (that might have something to do with the vodka......)

so yea. i can't get the few digital pics i was able to take off of my camera and i am flat broke (from the seafood....and maybe the vodka....) so i can't afford to develop my film, let alone pick up a new digital camera.

it is a sad, sad miserable time for the erratic epicurean (so sad in fact i am talking in the third person. christ. maybe that was caused by the debate beers - MY FRIENDS, my friends, mY fRiEnDs - the viper knows what i'm talking about). so yea. no digital camera. it makes blogging much less fun.

what do you care if i made a kick ass pot roast with carrots and onions and mashed potatoes and pan gravy tonight?
you can't see it.

man, this totally blows.

northeast ohio tomatoes. yummmmmm......

so the other day i came across this recipe for tomato soup. it sounded so delightful i couldn't resit. i had an onion and peppers and i decided to hit szalay's after work for a couple of big, homegrown tomatoes.

i cut up some tomatoes, a red pepper, an onion and a couple of yellow peppers. the recipe called for NO yellow peppers but it did call for three yellow onions. hmmmm. well, i only had one onion and i picked some peppers just cuz they were yellow and spicy and i threw in a few extra garlic cloves to make up for the lost onions.



i poured olive oil over everything and then sprinkled it with some salt. i left the garlic in the peel cuz the recipe told me too and also because roasted garlic is one of the best things ever.

i roasted the veggies in the oven for about an hour.



once they were brown and tasty looking i took 'em out of the oven and started scooping them into my food processor. when garlic is roasted just right you can just squeeze ir right outta the peel. mmmmmmm. squeeze this out on to some triscuits - that shit is tops!!



i scooped in the roasted veggies and i slowly added some vegetable broth. i seasoned it with some salt and red pepper flakes and i just pulsed away.



mmmmm. it smelled so good in my apartment. those roasting veggies - yum!

soup's on. here it is. roasted tomato soup.



i picked up a really yummy lil' block of parmesan cheese up at the market last week. you know you have the good stuff when it just crumbles between your fingers. so i crumbled some into my soup. i paired this soup with a tasty mojito cuz i had all the fixin's and they just taste so damn good. roasted ohio tomato soup and mojitos with my own garden mint. yum. yum. yum.

a marathon weekend of eating and drinking

whew. what a weekend it has been. saturday was the annual road runner akron marathon - one of my favorite days of the year!

three of my friends were in the race. gentle ben did the half marathon and the martini and the the viper ran the whole damn thing. in order to celebrate their athleticism we gathered for brunch and boozing along the route at a friend's - mile 23 or thereabouts i believe.

for this year's brunch i opted for two dishes - cinnamon rolls and skillet cornbread.

i created my cinnamon rolls by snagging elements from both the pioneer woman and margaux sky.

i made the dough thursday night and used the first half for a loaf of cinnamon raisin bread. eh. this was ok. it was much too much dough for my teeny tiny loaf pan and it created one helluva mess in my oven but i digress.

friday evening i used the second half of the dough for the cinnamon rolls. i rolled it out thin and then shmeared it with a mix of melted butter, brown sugar and chopped pecans.



i rolled the shmeared dough away from me - rolling in the edges as i went. then i cut the rolls.



now, the pioneer woman puts her rolls in a round pie pan and margaux recommended muffin tins.
i tried both to see what works best.



i let these rise for about an hour and then baked them for like 40ish minutes or so.



of course i had to try 'em out to see if they would be acceptable to serve to friends. they were.



i will also say that i preferred the muffin tin method and will use that from here on out.

saturday - race day - i woke up early and attempted a frosting for the cinnamon rolls. it did not turn out so well so i opted to serve them sans frosting.

i do not have a photo of the skillet cornbread for some reason (it was early) but i will say it turned out pretty damn good. to go with the cornbread i made some sweet butter. i let a stick of butter soften up to room temp and then whipped it with a splash of vanilla and about a 1/4 cup of honey. man oh man. that was good. real good.

we watched the race for hours clapping and cheering for runners of all shapes, sizes and abilities. we saw both the martini and the viper and i distributed booze to both of them. it was a moment of real pride for me. boozing while running 26 miles.
that takes gumption.

we hung out all day and snacked and snacked on delicious brunch items and drank and drank a variety of drinks. finally as evening approached our bellies were growling for more. what better way to finish off the day than some fried chicken?



delightful. wonderful. exquisite. i fucking love the marathon!

oh, and i love this photo.



this is the viper - post race.

the marathon eating continued sunday afternoon as it was browns tailgating at my place. my neighbors put a tv in the bed of a truck and we all gathered outside to cheer our brownies to victory!

my menu was a good one. perfect for football watching. pulled pork, roasted rosemary red potatoes, roasted veggies, polenta and carrot cake.

i picked up a sweet 8 pound bone-in pork shoulder up at west side market from my favorite pork guys over at d.w. whitaker.

i rubbed it down friday night with a mixture of garlic powder, brown sugar, cayenne pepper and paprika.



i wrapped it up tightly with plastic wrap and stuck it in the fridge till tailgating day. sunday morning i set my alarm for 6:00 am so i could get that baby in the oven. (then i crawled back into bed until about 8:30ish.) i cooked it in a 300 degree oven for about 4 1/2 hours. once it was done i took it out and let it rest covered in foil while i worked on the sauce.

you'll remember the sauce from the yard sale blowout chicken. it is the best bbq sauce. i fucking love it.



for that lil' something extra i deglazed the pan of pork drippings and reduced it by about half.



then i poured it into the bbq sauce. yum.......
i simmered the sauce for just a few more minutes before attacking the pork roast.

some people chop it. some people use two forks. i decided my own two hands worked the best.



i paired this pulling with a labatts and some clutch. elephant riders to be exact. kick ass album. especially while pulling pork.

once it was all pulled i put it into a big bowl and dumped in the sauce. i stirred it all up and then put it into a crock pot on low while i worked on the rest of my menu.



and this is where the photos end. people started showing up and the browns started playing and i just had too much on my hands to be fucking with my digital camera.

it was a helluva weekend though. eating and drinking killer eats with some of my favorite people on the planet! here's to the marathons and the camaraderie and good times they bring!!