Hey.. Shorty!!!

Short Ribs the other day!!! Huge Success.. The Dover sole I made tonight... Fail :( Whaaa Waaaa Mostly because I thought there was some beer (or as a lovingly call it Ghetto white wine) left to deglaze a pan. But lets not dwell on our failures shall we, I'll get to those ribs later.

Big D and I were also very productive today. We went back to our old apartment in Queens to pick up the very last of our stuff. I got pretty choaked up guys.. Not that I'm not happy to be where I am now. Our new home is amazing and I have no regrets. But I was a little overwhelmed at leaving a place where so many big events happened for us. I really loved that space, it was the first home I ever shared with a person I was dating. It was where Big D proposed to me after a beautiful dinner (pork chops, funny enough STL). It was where we returned and lived for the first time as husband and wife. It was where we started our journey together and it was harder to say goodbye than I thought it would be. Not to mention that I have been a total tear machine for the last few days. Ughghggg... hormones I hate you.. hisssssss. So that didn't make it any easier.

Anywho, back to the ribs. I used the Thomas Keller recipe for boneless short ribs. However, the bone in short ribs were on sale so I went with those. Big D is also a bone knawer so I figured old Thom would be cool with it. I'm not gonna lie. This recipe was an afternoon in the making, which I was glad to spare and it was totally worth the time. The meat came out tender and delicious and the reduction from the braising liquid was quite possible the best reduced sauce I have ever made. I also have about a quart and a half of left over braising liquid to use to braise again or reduce at my leisure. Pretty much a big win.

I served the short rib with mashed turnips (one of my favs) and creamed pearl onions (Bid D's fav) For the short Rib Recipe go here. I also substituted fennel for the leeks in the recipe because I didn't have leeks but it was just fine.

Time to go back to spinning and watch Big D play "Fall Out: New Vegas."

xoxo
Fast Alice

PS. I picked up my belly today and it is amazing!! Can't wait to blog about the Salt Cure.. How am I supposed to wait until the 15th.. ARRGGGGG!!!

Ho.. Hum... and Ravioli with Duck Prociutto

So I started my two new jobs this past week and so far so good.  The health food store job is really fun.  But everyone there keeps telling me about how much better it was before the owners sold to a big investment company.  Apparently, the small chain of 6 stores was sold a few months ago to some big Canadian investment company and things have been going downhill since.  Not so much in sales but just in ease of day to day operations.  I'm sure sure most of you know the story... great place run by a family, amazing to employees taken over by evil bureaucracy with a new manager every day, nothing getting done, yaada yadda.  Just the general shittyness that ensues when it becomes all about turning a profit and everyone is expendable. 

 So despite liking it in terms of what I'm actually doing all day, it's kinda been a bummer.  I'm not sure if it's just the general moral being down but now I feel really down too.  And believe me folks I have 100% nothing to be upset about.  The biggest tragedy in my life right now is having a gloriously inconsistent e-flat above High C.  It is either totally amazing or completely non existent and I mean like.... whoa.. cry me a river over that one right.  

So in an effort to rally myself out of this totally unnecessary malaise lets talk about things that are great!!  

I found a provider of natural pork and other meats.  It is called Gaia's Breath farm and they have a stand at my local farmers market.  They have a limited variety of items at the market but you can put in an order and they will have it for you the following Saturday for pick up.  They also have a CSA that can be delivered Saturdays to my market too so I'm considering this as well.  Not only am I receiving my belly this weekend but the owner Mark is totally into charcuterie and willing to answer questions and help.  I also purchased 2lbs of pork back fat to freeze for future sausages and confit.  I'll let you know how the curing etc goes once the belly is mine!!   

My ravioli came out great the other night.  The stuffing was a little dry but other than that it was fab.  It was my first time making ravioli solo and I was pretty happy with the outcome.  I used the Thomas Keller recipe for Agnolotti dough.  It worked great.  However, I was really sceptical that it was coming out right.  The dough was REALLY dry.. I mean really.  I was convinced that my eggs, despite being large, were undersized making a less moist dough.  Perhaps I was right or perhaps it was the magic of Thomas Keller and it was totally fine the whole time. 

Pretty nice right!!  They were filled with chestnuts, garlic, parsley, Romano, home made ricotta, salt and pepper.

The finished dish: Chestnut Ravioli with a sauce of duck prociutto, carrots, cherries, and white wine over Khale.

It was pretty tasty, next time I need to get two quarts of milk to make my Ricotta though.  If I had a little more cheese the filling would have had a better texture.  Tonight I'm making the braised short ribs out of the Ad Hoc cookbook.  I'll keep you posted if it comes out great :)

xoxo

Fast Alice

TailSpin

Thus far I have been very true to my word about projects.  The duck was cured and it was time to begin spinning.  I had been reading the book I bought about spinning.  In fact I read it twice just to be sure I knew what the hell I was doing.  I also watched a few videos on how to spin on  Youtube, check out my fav here.  I was pretty nervous about starting.  

Just as a reminder my Aunt was kind enough to give me a beautiful bunch of wool roving made from the sheep she raises on our family farm.  She told me that it was Shetland wool and was prized among spinners as a great wool to work with.  I didn't want to waist a single fiber I was so honored that she gave me some!!  It takes almost a year to get the wool processed and it costs extra to get back the same wool you put in (think of it like a wool bank but it's cheaper to put in wool and just get back equal weight).  The bag she gave me even has a Ewe number so we know exactly which sheep it came from.  

So I read took notes and decided exactly what I was going to make.  I wanted a thick warm soft yarn to make something cozy.  I chose to make a Woolen double plied (two strands spun together after you spin two singles) with an S twist.  Choosing a plied yarn required more spinning.  First the singles then spinning the two singles together.  Although it is harder I figured it would give me more practice of the mechanics of spinning.  That way even if the outcome wasn't too fantastic I would have felt I truly took advantage of having such great material to work with.  And behold!!!!!.....  I give you... Yarn!

Not bad for a first try right??!!

It isn't totally even, but it did come out better than I expected.  And the Color!!! Who could think of dying this wool it is just soooo pretty.  I love the grey and it has little black fibers too.  

So I was feeling pretty confident folks.. pretty confident indeed.  My Duck came out beautiful, my spinning was great and then I moved on the the pork belly.. and low and behold!!! It is like impossible to get it around here... Whaaaaa Wahhh.  I found one butcher who could get it but I would have to buy the whole belly.  Aprox 20lbs, plus what they wanted per pound just did not make it feasible on our budget.  I went to our local farmer's market today and I may have some success there but I have to wait for the owners to respond to my email.  And I need pancetta right now!!!!  Well, maybe need is a strong word.  I have everything ready to go, salts, juniper berries, deli slicer, but no pork. But I do have a back up plan... Guancialle.  If I can't get or afford a belly I will go with cheek.. So There Universe!! Hah!  You shall not thwart my curing!!  I could also have Big D get one from the meat market in NYC.  But I'm trying so hard to go all natural peeps, so hard.  And it is even more important with a really fatty cut of meat to have good quality.  So if I have to do cheeks, I'll do'em... Sigh.

Now on to home made Chestnut Ravioli.  My Saturday project :)

xoxo

Fast Alice

Pasta Maven

Glorious success my friends in the pasta department!! OMG.. I had waayy to much fun and my first fettuccini (tear) came out just great. I can't lie I had a couple of practice runs with supervision so I felt pretty confident going solo. Big D was pretty impressed. Although we differ slightly in our idea of ideal doneness in pasta. I like mine very aldente so it has some bite. He prefers more well done. I got my way since I made the meal and it was complete pasta heaven.

My lovely pasta strained and ready for sauce.

I will leave the blogging of this recipe to STL. But all I will say is that is was soooooo good when she made it for us that I had to make it again the next night... Yeah.. that good. Making my own pasta was totally a pretense.

Oh and pork bellies beware.. I am ready for you!! Muahahahahahahaaaa

xoxo
Fast Alice

My Foot is tapping...

So the festivities of yesterday evening have ended and I'm stuck home with Big D feeling that kind of feeling you get when the run of a show is over.  Not that I have had even the slightest feeling of malaise since we moved here but having my Besties over did make me realize how far away they are :(  But I just remind myself that although there are many more miles between us,  in actual commuting time they are only an extra 20 minutes further on the train than when we lived in Queens.  This idea picked me up enough to gets to house cleaning.  

My wonderful StepMom gave Big D and I the Shark Steam Mop as a house warming gift.  Invariably despite my excitement it has managed to sit in the closet since we moved in until today.  After a grueling hunt for distilled water I was able to use it and the results were very nice!!!  It was light, easy to use, and has washable pads that clean the floor.  We have been really trying to go Green here at Fort Fraley.  The steam kills the bacteria without cleaner and left the floor looking pretty awesome.  My only complaint if I had to make one would be that it was a little more difficult to push than I anticipated.  Not heavy, just the resistance of the floor made it a little tough.  Even writing this I feel like a weenie, I know someone is going.... Um... isn't she a personal trainer... and Yeah!! I AM.. SO WHAT!!  My arms get tired too sometimes.. especially when you are hopelessly right handed.  If I could have switched to my left I wouldn't feel so pooped.  Also, the whole downstairs of the house got cleaned today which is no small feet trust me.  But it only took me maybe 45 minutes, including vacuuming time prior to mopping so not bad.  If you are looking to Green up your house I say go for it.  Now if only I could cure my HORRIBLE addiction to paper towels.  I'm trying people I am!! 

My curing salts don't come in until Tuesday and I really can't stand the wait.  I'm just sooooo eager to get started.  However, I did purchase a food scale at Costco so now I can check weights instead of using a crystal ball to tell when meats are done.  My deli slicer should be coming this week too.  My plan is to kill the anticipation by trying to make home made pasta tonight.... SOLO.  I was lucky enough to have The Boss supervising me the last two times.  But I feel ready.  I'll let you know how it goes.  

Time to go back to the fire and finish reading Emma :)

xoxo

Fast Alice

Charcutepalooza January!!

Duck Prosciutto

So as I mentioned before I am taking part in Charcutepalooza: The Year of Meat. The first challenge was of course Duck Prosciutto which I have posted on previously.  But the duck... she is a done!!!  I unveiled our pretty duck boobies yesterday afternoon and much to my great excitement they seem to have come out just great.  I was a little concerned that our temporary loss of heat may have affected the outcome so I let them sit in our heated porch (which I left at 50deg)  about 2 extra days.  In all honesty I think they could have perhaps used one more day.  I also don't have a scale so I didn't do any of that useful weighing stuff that may have saved me some anxiety.  I pretty much just went by a.. does it still feel squishy?... methodology.   Hopefully I won't end up with crazy food poisoning.  But who is a real adventurous chef without a little food poisoning....  Another thing was my (duck) breasts were HUGE.  I was wondering why they were so expensive at the Butcher.  

This is a regular size cutting board and you can see they easily take up most of the width... Crazy.  A few things about the outcome.  I was really surprised by how tasty the fat was.  I mean, of course fat usually makes things taste good.  But I'm really much more of a lean meat person.  I get totally turned off by blubbery chewy fat.  It is just not a texture I enjoy.  I was concerned that this recipe would yield a product with a lot of chewy fat and that I wouldn't like it.  However, I was pleasantly surprised that curing the fat made it firm, velvety and delicious.  Not at all what I expected.  Plus, I love that this will keep in my fridge for a few weeks.  This is totally a rich treat and I can't imagine having to gobble it up without sharing with company.  I also have to put it out there that the duck didn't really make me think of eating prosciutto.  It has such a deep minerally taste it really reminded me more of a red meat rather than pork.  Almost like venison.  If you want to get all technical game birds and wild animals usually have more endurance based muscle fibers to help them keep alive in the wild, hence the darker meat with a deeper taste... BAM!!! Personal trainer knowledge!!  

Anywho.. next week is the Salt Cure and I already have my Pink salt and juniper berries on the way. As well as my new meat slicer.  I am just writhing with excitement people.  I just can't wait to make some pancetta, which Big D and friends lovingly call Super-bacon.  Happy Curing and I can't wait to give you more job news soon :)  

xoxo

Fast Alice

SNOoooooooowww!!

So crazy CRAZY snow out there people. I have to admit things could be worse though. Being snowed in with my Hubby and crazy kitty are pretty awesome. As was our annual trip to Vermont this past weekend. Holy Hell was that just about the best time ever. Nothing compares with the food, friends and skiing we were privledged enough to enjoy. Big D and I look forward to it all year long and it did not disappoint. Some highlights? Skiing on fresh powder, playing with STL's beautiful baby boy, making pasta with The Boss, and playing a kick ass new version of trivial pursuit. What is not to love.

Not the best time ever was our furnace failing to start yesterday evening when we arrived home from work. Thank God we have a fireplace and had just arrived home with some wood. Also, the heating company was pretty great about getting here and fixing the damn thing. Ahhh Platinum service.. how glad I was to have paid for you. It still doesn't seem to be running totally right but they are coming back in February to clean it out. All things you never knew about as a renter. Along with paying for garbage service, water pumps, septic systems, and how insane taxes really are. Not that I am complaining.. AT ALL. To be honest if we had any idea about all this stuff we would have been totally overwhelmed. Being thrown in the deep end and forced to swim is in my opinion sometimes waaaay better than the alternative. I guess for me the terror of dealing with an new and scary situation is better than the anxiety of knowing and feeling the weight of impending responsibility upon you.. but I digress.

In the world of crazy arts and meat crafts things are going well. The Duck Prociutto seems to be well on its way. Technically it was supposed to be done tonight but the lack of heat I fear may have stunted the drying process a tad. Just to be safe I'm going to give them another 24-36 hours. I'm pretty sure they are close to done though from the texture of the meat. I also ordered a deli meat slicer with a gift card from the wedding as well as other meat curing supplies in anticipation of future pancetta. Mmm.... pancetta. Fingers crossed that it is next on the Charcutapalooza list :) I also read about half of the book on hand spinning today. I managed to totally ignore the laundry and dishes despite the snow and being home all day but whose judging.

I start my first new job on Friday. I'm very excited.. a little too excited. I keep wanting to go in and wander around the store and check things out. But I don't want to seem stalkerish before I even start. I also am dyyyying to know what kind of discount we get on stuff there. The other job, maybe next week. We shall see. I just hope they are fun and low stress. I can't tell you what being out of the city has done for my stress level. Sheesh I feel like a different person. I don't know how I tolerated living at such an excellerated pace for so long. Don't get me wrong there are things I love about NYC. But the little knot of anxiety it put in the center stomach 99% of the time was not one of them.

It's pretty hard to be stressed with this little guy on your lap. Or cold for that matter :)

xoxo,
Fast Alice

Oh Yee of Little faith

So didn't think I'd be back did you!! Well HA!! Here I am blogging and making good on all my ideas for Fort Fraley.  

First news of the day.  I got a job!  Hoooraaay!  And not one job but two.. my goodness!  I was hired at the personal training place.  It seems great and the hours are of course flexible.  The health food store also hired me to work in there vitamin isle and do some part time cashiering.  Not very glam but $ is $ and a discount on health food is a big eff-Yeah for me so it will be a good gig.  

Now I have to tell my old job I'm leaving :(  I feel pretty sad about it.  I've really enjoyed working at the Health Club I'm at right now.  I've made some great friends and love LOVE my clients.  It will be very sad for me to leave.  But it will be for the best, one of us needs to be near the house.  It is just easier that way.  I also have to find another day to see my amazing voice teacher Deb.  I have been singing up a storm these last few months and I have a list of competitions I want to do this year, so for you city dwellers I will be around at least one day a week still.

On to the projects.  Spin your own yarn you say??  Really.. Well Yeah and I have the book to prove it.

That's right!! I should have taken a picture of the beautiful wool I got from my Aunt but alas I forgot.

And now my Spindle of awesomeness... I don't know how to use it yet.  But I will friends.. I will.

Curing meats, my new hobby as outlined by this amazing book.  I can't tell you how I nerded out when I opened this.  Home made sauerkraut people!! and sausage!!

The duck prosciutto I already started.  Hanging in the hallway next to the garage.  I'm a little worried about it being too chilly in there but we shall see.

The ideal costume for the day.. Can you hear the banjo's playing?  Hello Country!  I'm here to stay!

Next on the agenda, pack for Vermont.  Oh Man... soooooo excited.

My Breasts are Salted...

Alright, well, my duck breasts are salted.  As we discussed earlier curing  meats was on my to do list of new house fantasies and thanks to STL my first project is on the way!!  I am proudly taking part in Charcutapalooza.  In fact I was so excited about Charcutapalooza that I started this project without the book I actually ordered from Amazon to be part of the fun.  It will be here on Thursday, approximately three days into my cure.  What am I making you ask???? Duck Prosciutto.. only the most delicious sounding thing ever!!

This was only a teeny tiny portion of my day however.  I somehow managed to job hunt applying at three different places.  A new age book store, a health food store, and a personal training facility.  All three looked awesome and I have an interview Wednesday about the personal training job, which is cool.  I also did laundry, made some stock, went to the post office...  

A note on the post office.  Our post office is like something in a Norman Rockwell painting.  It is run by one guy named Charlie who remembers every ones name and address.  He is always slightly red faced and smiling with all those little boxy thingies behind him.  The first time I went in to inquire as to why we don't have a mail box (something I will discuss along with a ton of other things you don't know until you live in a house) I almost fell over with amazement and joy.  Especially since the last post office I was in was on 42nd and 8th and a postwoman was walking through the place screaming "We ARe Closing, get all your Christmas shit filled out Now because we will NOT wait for you."  A more apparent contrast between city and country I have yet to see.

Anywho.. it was a very productive day.  Aaaaaaand I blogged.  Sweet... check that one off the list and now I only have to make tacos :)

xoxo

Fast Alice

Once in a Lifetime...

I'm BAAAAAaaaaaack!!! 
 You know I debated with myself about writing that.  I figured I was truly in some way jinxing myself.  I know...super classy to have two posts in a row, over a year apart hailing my glorious return.  Hopefully, this one will be for reals.  Well, it is at least my intention and I feel like I have tons of stuff to talk about!! Yay!

So I'm almost certain at this point I have only 1 reader left.  STL.. here's looking at you kid. Aaaaad you already know every detail of my life right now.  But lets just overlook this as an exercise in futility and chock it up to blogging practice.
Ok.. for beginners lets start where I left off.  The fairy tale goes something like this..
On October 22, 2009 a mere 2 months after my last post Big D, distracted me long enough from my domestic bliss to propose to me.  I of course in a moment of lady like glory accepted while using the F word approximately 37 times.  Truly a story to tell the grand kids.. AWESOME!

Then in great haste we began to plan our wedding.  In such haste in fact that along with becoming a personal trainer prob killed the little blogging time I had. We had lots of good times planing with exciting things like our wedding venue cancelling on us two months before the wedding... Awesome!! But it was truly all for the best as the venue we ended up using was just perfect.  And on May 30, 2010 we began our journey as married peeps.

AWwwwwwwww :)

We then spent 10 days in Costa Rica which was just about the most amazing thing ever...
I will post our honeymoon video for your enjoyment at a later date..  Don't worry. Nothing expicit.. sheeesh.  Although, I don't blame you for thinking so with my history.

And about six months into our married life we were afforded a most amazing opportunity to be home owners. To which we said... um.. Hell Yeah!!!! And we moved up to Westchester into our beautiful new home.

Fort Fraley under the snow.

So that pretty much catches you up.  We moved in on the 22 of December and have just started to get ourselves acclimated.  Which pretty much means that we are occasionally able to stop ourselves from walking around the house blubbering with amazement long enough to make a coherent sentence.
Let me  just tell you peeps.  I have plans... BIG plans for Fort Fraley.  In my imagination I envision a world of green living, planting, harvesting, curing meats, raising chickens, spinning yarn, making stock, entertaining, singing, needle working and much much more.  How far along I get on these projects is yet to be seen but I honestly have started doing all of these things.  Well at least the first steps to doing these things... and while I'm looking for a new job up here in the burbs I will have time to work on projects.  That is provided I am able to stop smoking the new house crack long enough to get anything done...  

I will post again!!!

xoxo

Fast Alice