Project 52 or as Many as I can Manage

Big D and my fam all chipped in for my Birthday and bought me a fancy-shmansy camera,  something I had been lusting over for the past year.  My Dad is a devout Cannon fan so they got me a Cannon Rebel T3i.  Ever since I have been playing more and more around with photography.  Reading books, taking free classes and scouring the internets for info.  I am proud to admit that I probably know what I'm doing about.....hmmm 9% of the time now.  But I'm enjoying it so much I am actually paying to take a 4 week beginners class over the next few weeks.  I'm also following along with this free online photography forum called Project 52.  And by following I mean doing the assignments and totally chickening out when it comes to posting them to flickr and getting a critique, because obviously I'm five.  I figured I would post them here since hardly anyone is reading and I know you are gentle with the criticism.

Assignment 7: One Red Balloon

These were both done in natural light. I would have submitted the bottom one because the exposure is better with the balloon and his hand in focus.  The few people I showed this to were confused as to what was in the foreground (his feet).  However, they were viewing it on my camera screen.  I really loved that it came out so soft and that there was such a pretty catch-light on the balloon.  Compared to the other images submitted this is painfully simple.  But I did pre-plan and set up the shot and I accomplished pretty close to what I had in mind. In retrospect I wish he had been barefoot.  The toes would have been sweet. 

Assignment 7: Samuel Barber CD Cover

This image is overexposed on purpose with a longer shutter speed on a overcast but bright day. I loved the little weird glare coming from the light and the flickers on the water. I also liked how the trees were stark and very cold looking. The Barber piece this would represent is very dark and moving but also ethereal and hopeful despite being painfully sad.  I thought the image was a nice combo of winter with the promise of spring and thus would work for the music.

Don't worry I'll def take a stab at some food porn photography eventually... lol


On another note Miami was wonderful.  J had a bevy of Grandma's adoring him and he hardly noticed we were gone.  Returning to everyday life has been a little rough after so much R&R. Not to mention J is getting three molars all at once.... good times!!

Nervous Nelly

Well our early St. Patty's day feast nearly went off without a hitch.  Big D's family made it here... finally.  They spent most of their first day traveling trapped in a Michigan airport trying to get on a flight to NY.  Their flight was, as you guessed, cancelled after they were already en route.... again!!! I shake my fist at ye traveling Gods and ask Why!! Why??!! I tell you!  I mean seriously, these people see their son and grandson like two times a year and every time they get the shaft.  Horrible :(  The good part is the rest of the trip was an absolute joy.

You know that part of a trip when you have people visiting and they leave and you are secretly glad to have your house back.  Not in a mean way, just in a glad the chaos and excitement is over and life is going back to normal way.  TOTALLY did not happen this time.  I was bereft. The next day the house was all empty and sad. Not to mention the one year old that has been constantly entertained every minute for 4 strait days and holey hell you better keep it up woman or I will LOSE it!!  So yeah, normal life was a little meh this week. 

The second hitch was the corned beef.  It just wasn't up to its corny goodness this year.  It was really just a classic problem of my meat being too big.  (Insert: That's what she said, joke here) It really needed another day or two in the brine.  So I left out the photos. They were unglamourous with a big grey streak in the middle of the meat where the brine didn't reach... Womp womp :(

On to my title post:
 Ever since everyone left I have been super anxious.  I mean, anyone who knows me knows I like to live it high on the anxiety scale.  Well, like is a strong word, have no choice is more like it.  Surprisingly becoming a parent has decreased a lot of these anxieties but inflamed others.  Overall, I would say I'm more relaxed now but every once in a while I get a wave of cracked out random nothing anxiety.  The worst part is that I totally know where it is coming from.  The endless energy of a family visit and running around followed by a lull.  Then next week we are going to Miami and hold on to your panties, I am leaving J with my Mom.  So I am obsessing over stupid crap that I can't control.  His reaction to my leaving, the amount of milk vs. bmilk I should have my Mom give him, planes crashing, my Mom dropping him, pretty much any random stupid thing you could possible worry about.  Oh and I have Tiiiiiiimmme to worry about it.  There is nothing to do here... arrrrrhhhhh!!!  I'm pretty rational about dealing with the brain vomit it just gets exhausting.

That said my awesome MIL brought me Delta airline biscotti and they have totally been helping me through this troubling time.  Why are these so goooood?

Full Circle

Hi There!!! I'm back for my semi-annual post!  How have you been? Have a good year?  Oh meeeee toooooooo.  Here's to hoping I can muster more than three posts this year!!! 

 Little Man is just over a year old.  His first birthday was memorable and exciting.  I imagine you think I scoured pintrest to make decorations and vegan gluten free birthday cake topped with hand dipped candles made from my own earwax.... WROOOOOOOng.  How I wish I had the time to do these things. Well, maybe not the earwax part.  Decorations were courtesy of Party city, in all their Elmo glory.  Food was Pizza from the cheapest pizza place I could find and the cake was amazing but made by my awesome Step-Mom with completely conventional ingredients.  Cake was delish and I hardly felt bad about giving J food coloring considering I didn't have to stress over making a cake :) SCORE!  I did make a pretty bangin' fruit punch that tasted great mixed with Champagne, so big pat on my own back. 

 It really was an awesome day.  Nemo came that weekend and prevented Big D's family from joining us which was a total bummer but they are coming this weekend to make up for it. Hence my current post!! I am curing!!! Or more specifically corning my own beef for Saturday dinner.  I did this last year and the results were insane.  I also was given brisket fever by Sainttigerlily during our visit this weekend.  Please put that braised cabbage recipe up for the world girlfriend, Internet chefs everywhere will thank you.

Disclaimer: this corned beef was from last year.  I'll make sure I have a photo shoot of the new one :)
Also, enjoy the birthday cuteness....

Bouncing Back

So it's been a while... indeed!! I fantasize that my readers (all maybe 1 of them if I'm lucky) remain on the edge of their seat until I post. In reality I'm just filling my day with something other than changing diapers, breast feeding, and maybe cleaning something. But I'm here!! HuzZZAaah!! And I am genuinely excited to have a moment to blog :)

So yeah!! Not so pregnant anymore... Thank God! Baby J is just about the most amazing thing I ever have or ever will cook up. And what a recipe it was, just a dash of self sacrifice here a little overwhelming pain there, some constant nausea and taDAAAAAA a baby. Being a Mom is amazing and feels sooooo much more organic then the process through which he arrived.

Lets talk briefly about the birth. Well, it didn't pan out the way I expected. Big D and I changed mid pregnancy to a practice of Mid-wives in hopes of a totally natural birth. No drugs, very little intervention. What we ended up with was every possible intervention in the book and 36 hours of Labor that ended in a c-section anyway. At the end of the day I'm still glad I went with the mid-wives. They let me try every possible tool to try and get the baby out the good old fashioned way. But Baby J despite being almost 9 1/2 lbs he just wouldn't drop into a deliverable position. I never even had the option to push, never dilated, nada, zilch despite all the contractions. Luckily this isn't the 1800's so I didn't you know.... die or anything. The recovery is really hard from surgery, harder than labor but thankfully easier than the pain I was experiencing during the pregnancy. And the outcome??? Amazing little baby monster to call my own!!! And now you are all like, "post a picture bitch!!" Ok! Ok... here you go...

Shortbread and Babyland

So you may have noticed my conspicuous amount of absent time. A roughly 9 month absence. Without fail as soon as you indulge yourself by venting in a public space about personal problems life will invariably prove you wrong. Not that I'm complaining btw!!! So yes after all that tear jerking and terribleness I got pregnant. Scott free, no drugs involved, totally pregnant; News that I was waiting originally to share with you after the alls safe yet totally arbitrary 12 week mark. What I did not expect was to be slammed with the pregnancy stick so hard. I was sick people... nausea like I have never experienced in my life. It was intense. So week after week went by not posting, not cooking, not even standing vertical so much and I just lost my blogging mojo. Which is a theme if you haven't noticed.

So now I'm about a week away from my due date, as big as a blimp, and more uncomfortable than I ever imagined possible. FYI I was not one of those graceful pregnant people. Those people that make it look so goddamn easy.. "Hi I'm growing an eight pound person off of my uterus and I'm going to run the NY marathon." By about 5 months pregnant I was having intense pelvic pain which has pretty much been the theme for the past 4 months. I would have loved to keep working until the end of the pregnancy. Mostly just to keep my mind from turning into total mush by watching nothing but Bravo and E all day. But it's kinda hard to help people find a good vitamin for themselves when all you can do is lean over a little rolling cart and moan.

I don't want to sound like I'm complaining. I am totally trilled and feel so lucky to be having a healthy pregnancy. We had no major complications, our little guy seems healthy and other than discomfort I haven't had any problems medically. I just can't get over how different this experience has been from what I envisioned. I guess I had some pipe dream of what an organicgranolaearthmother journey pregnancy would be. That since it is such a natural process that it would feel natural. But honestly it has seemed like freakshowalienland right from the get go. Just the whole metamorphosis from normal to extremely pregnant has felt sooooo weird. I just hope the transition from woman/wife to mother feels a little less jarring.

At some point I may post about all the pregnancy craziness. The things that happen to your body, the loss of autonomy, general pregnancy ickyness that people don't talk about. But I have a sneaking suspicion that once I meet this little guy he will be waaaaaaay more interesting than revisiting all the good times of the last few months. In the mean time I'm making shortbread on a snowy day and waiting for baby...

Simple Shortbread

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour

Blend sugar and salt in processor. Cut in butter using on/off turns until blended and smooth. Blend in vanilla. Add flour and process until blended but still slightly crumbly, occasionally scraping down sides of bowl. Gather dough into ball; flatten into disk. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate 30 minutes.
Position rack in top third of oven and preheat to 250°F. Divide dough in half. Press each half onto bottom of 8-inch-diameter cake pan or 9-inch-diameter pie dish. Bake shortbread 30 minutes. Rotate pans and continue baking until cooked through and very pale golden, about 30 minutes longer. Cool in pans on racks 10 minutes. Cut each warm shortbread while still in pan into 12 wedges. Cool completely. Using thin spatula, carefully transfer wedges to platter. (Shortbread can be prepared up to 4 days ahead. Store in airtight container at room temperature.)

Yeah... Hi, it's me

Sorry for the blatant absenteeism. I didn't have any intention of disappearing this last month but disappear I did. I'm not going into gory details but I'm going through some serious shit. Life shit, sucky shit, shit that I don't want to share on this blog. I even did my Charcutapalooza challenge this month, which despite being an epic fail, would have made a great story. But I just didn't have the heart to write about it. I didn't want to disappear into the ether without an explanation. And if your one of the two people who read this blog I'm sorry to the one of you who doesn't know what is going on. Maybe someday I'll feel like sharing openly about this experience but I can't make any promises. I will promise to be back to posting as soon as I feel OK enough. I love this space and writing about my adventures.

xoxo
Fast Alice

Curry in a not so Hurry...

At first when I was craving crazy varieties of food I though it was due to the bland restaurant scape here. Now with the tease of warm weather, I'm thinking it may just be spring that is making me want crazy spicy food. I LOVE Indian food people.... LOVE!! Yes, with many exclamations. And I always wanted to know how to cook it. But with cheap Indian right off our old subway stop it was hard to get motivated to learn. So now is the time. I had never attempted to make this kind of food before and although it came out great it took my like aaaaalllll day to make everything. However, I did make the paneer and Nann from scratch and the bread takes 4hours to rise...

As I scoured the Internet for recipes I found the most adorable woman on youtube named Manjula. She has a ton of amazing videos and I totally imagine her to be my Indian Grandmother or Great Aunt or something. We laugh and make Nann bread and she teaches me all about reincarnation and where to buy the best Hing. Or at least that is what I pretend when I'm alone in my kitchen puttering around on Saturday. Seriously people... I need to make some friends here and not like the kind you find on youtube and make friends with in your brain.

The first dish I made was Palek Paneer. I made the paneer myself and it came out amazing. Here is a tip to all you amateur cheese makers out there. I bought pasteurised grass fed milk at the health food store and it worked great!! I have had some terrible experiences making cheese from regular pasteurised (Not UHT) milk that failed to make a curd do to heat damage and what not. This milk made the BEST curd. It was very firm and I can't WAIT to make Mozzarella out of it.


The next dish I made was Chicken Tikka Masala. But Ooooooppss I only had one breast of chicken. So I improvised and use the remainder of my paneer and some string beans to fill out the meal. It was actually really tasty. I might make it this way next time weather I have the chicken or not.


The next and last thing was the Naan. Which I had started of course, many MANY hours before. I of course did a garlic Naan which Big D loves. The naan proofed up more than I expected and I'm sure I didn't roll it out thin enough. But by then we were about to to faint with hunger so I just threw it in the oven. Still tasted great.

Even now I'm looking at these pictures and hoping I did Auntie Manjula proud... Sigh.. Hopefully I will meet some real people soon even if they can't cook.

xoxo
Fast Alice

On the table...

So it occurs to me that I have been doing a lot of cooking and not a lot of blog posting.  I feel guilty about eating all this amazing food and not sharing it with others.  One of the things I loved about the city was the diversity of the food.  Feel like Greek.. No Problem!! Indian?  Just one stop away on the N. Thai?  Order from Thai Elephant anytime until mid-night.  

Up here in the sticks we just don't have as many options.  There is a pretty good Pizza place, a cute Italian restaurant in town that makes great fish dishes and we just discovered "The Horse and Hound Inn & Pub."  Which is the closest to our house and made hands down the best fried oyster sandwich I have ever had... and I've been to New Orleans people, a few times so that is saying a LOT!!  The oysters were perfectly fried with a corn meal crust and they literally would squirt briny delicious oystery heaven in your mouth when you bit one.  A little too much info but it was just as orgasmic as it sounds.  Big D and I have dreams of taking the canoe across the lake in the summer and walking to get beers and oyster sandwiches which is needless to say... Awesome. 

What was I saying?? Oh yeah.. Despite the good eats.  There is a distinct lack of diversity up here.  At least in our limited wanderings from Fort Fraley.  I totally admit perhaps all the Indian, Thai, Chinese, and Greek places are here but yet to be discovered.  So in lieu of fast food I pulled together this dish with satisfied my craving for Thai and ramen at the same time a big win in my book....

Fast Alice's Thai Soba Soup

Please note that each bowl is made individually to taste like a taco or something.  Feel free to add or subtract what you will.  Some nice additions would be shitake mushrooms which I totally forgot to buy that night.  I also wanted to put some chili paste in for a little more heat but the store didn't have it. 

Needed:

4 soft boiled eggs

1lb box of soba noodles

1 small onion

5 leaves lacinatto Khale

2 cloves garlic minced

Hot Sesame Chili oil

Sesame oil

Sesame Seeds

1 bunch scallions

1 bunch Cilantro

1 lime

1tsp red pepper flakes

fish sauce

tamari

1 container miso paste

6-8 cups boiled water

Chop the Khale and onions and saute over med/high heat in sesame oil.  Once the onions start to brown add the garlic.  When the garlic is brown turn off the heat and let pan sit on the warm burner.  Boil off the soba as per the directions on the box and toss gently with a little sesame oil to keep from sticking.  Take a teaspoon of miso and put in a soup bowl.  Add a little of the boiled water (make sure that the water is no longer boiling to preserve the cultures in the miso).  Mix until the miso is dissolved then add 1-2 cups of water to taste, depending on how strong you would like the broth.  Add 1Tbs of tamari and 1tsp of fish sauce (taste and make sure it is salty enough for you).  Put a heaping pile of soba noodles in the center of the bowl.  Add the sauteed greens to one side of the noodles and the soft boiled egg.  Sprinkle chopped scallions, cilantro, and crushed red pepper over the top.  Finish with a drizzle of the hot chili sesame oil and a squeeze of fresh lime. 

Enjoy guys!! On to making Indian food :)

xoxo

Fast Alice

I am the GREAT Cornholio!!! Charcutapalooza 3!

I had to wait all month just to use that title... Whfeewwww. Glad to get that out of my system. So the Ides of March has finally arrived. Which means two things, it is my parents aniversary today and I can blog about insane corn beefy goodness. I have a nasty habit of doing my Charcutapalooza projects waaaaaay ahead of schedule and the corn beef was no exception. The corn beef was made and consumed in its entirtly like three weeks ago.. whooops!! But it was soooo good people there was no way it was gonna last until St. Patty's day. The good news is with the corned beef out of the way I don't feel guilty making shepheard's pie and soda bread on St. Patrick's day. I also had ample time to experiment with different corn beef masterpieces. But back to the BEEF!!
This was hands down the easiest cure yet. Five days in a fridge brine... no problem. I have a confession to make however. I did not make my own pickling spice... GASP!!! I know.. I know. I REALLY wanted to people. But it was a question of economy. I could either buy all natural Beef for $40, from happy cows not pumped full of hormones or spend $40 on the spices I lacked from my shelf to make the pickling spice. I couldn't afford both that week. So the beef won for humanitarian reasons and I chose a pickling spice made by Ancona's Market, a family run grocery store down here. It was totally satisfactory and I got a HUGE container of it for 1/2 the price of the McCormick spices. The outcome was divine, as you can see above. Big D and I could hardly wait and we started nibbling on the beef as soon as it was done simmering...
Later that evening we had a splendid meal of Corn beef and cabbage. Although the cabbage was a little camera shy in this photo. I assure you it was fabulous. I will never buy a corned beef from the store again. The meat was juicy and delicious, perfectly seasoned. Didn't have any of that rubbery bloated quality that some corned beef has.

The next morning we wanted more!!! I had used two, 2 and 1/2 lb pieces of brisket for our beef so I took the remainder of one piece and made the most amazing hash. See the recipe below which includes my secret trick :) You would think we had had enough of eating the same thing meal after meal but NOPE.. later that night we broke out the Reubens.

To make the Reubens we decided to use the slicer to cut the beef.. and holy Hell it was probably the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. The meat was very cold when I sliced it which kept it together. My only regret was that this was the last of it and I couldn't fry up just one or two more slices for breakfast the next day. But with a tear in my eye I continued on with sandwich making.

Big D prefers a more traditional open faced Reuben. All the better to cram more meat and cheese on my dear. This was also made with our homemade saurkraut. Which I helped along with a little vineger (if you saw my earlier post).

This is my personal idea of perfection. With tosty crunch on both sides. If I died and this sandwich floated up to meet me I would be completely confident that I was headed directly to heaven and a world of white truffels, pancetta, risotto, and more crispy sandwiches.

This months challenge was awesome and it gave us enough food for days. For people who are non-pigs I'm sure these goodies would have fed you for at least a week instead of (errr.. two days). With a minimum of effort to boot. Can't wait to see what is next!!

xoxo
Fast Alice


Easy Corned Beef Hash

After making the corned beef reserve about 2 cups worth of the potatoes that have been boiled with the beef. (This recipe if specifically for people who like the dogfoody goodness of canned hash. Not appealing, I know, but lets not lie it totally looks and smells like that.) Mince a small onion and add to a skillet over med heat. Once slightly brown add about 2 cups minced corned beef and brown with the onions. Now the secret.... rough chop the already boiled potatoes. Add a tiny bit more oil to the skillet then add the potatoes. Use a wooden spoon to smush up the potatoes and mix in the meat and onions. Continue to fry until you start to see little brown bits on the potatoes. (It was basically start to look like the outside of a potato pancake). Once it is brown enough to your taste season with pepper (salt too if you like) and serve with a fried or poached egg on top.

Burrrrrrrrrr Blanc...

So winter seems to have finally let up on us and instead of massive amounts of snow it is now drenching us in rain. So much rain in fact that there has been a ton of flooding up here in the country. Not to mention that the ground is so soggy the trees have little to hold on too and are toppling over... good times. Especially when they topple over on.. um... your house!!! Don't worry folks everything is just fine. The tree wasn't one of the huge ones in our yard thank GOD.. just one of the skinny yet extremely tall ones right next to the house and power lines. Big D, using his superhuman strength, managed to get it off the house without hitting the power lines, fence, or himself. I wish I had taken a picture but I was off to work in a hurry and he had it down before I got back. So we have muddled through another trial of home ownership relatively unscathed (we have a bent gutter but hey..)

In honor of the season passing I wanted to celebrate with a farewell to winter meal. I was in the middle of reading "My Life in France," the Julia Child memoir and Beurre Blanc sounded like just the ticket.

Poached Tilapia with Beurre Blanc and Sauteed Green Beans

Click here for the Beurre Blanc recipe. I modified it a little bit. I added capers in addition to the shallots in the recipe. I also only used 1 1/2 sticks of butter. I like very tart butter sauces, Beurre Blanc or Hollandaise, and also prefer to keep my girlish figure so I add just enough butter to satisfy. In terms of keeping the sauce from separating I basically held the sauce pan above the gas heat. Despite being on super-Super low if I left the pan on the stove itself I could tell it would be too hot. The Tilapia, I simply poached in simmering water with 1/4 cup vinegar, a few pepper corns, and bay leaves for 7 minutes until cooked through. The beans are sauteed in olive oil with garlic and fresh frozen basil. Overall a very tasty meal.

xoxo
Fast Alice

Not so Krauty Kraut...

So last month I couldn't contain myself and I went ahead and made some Sauerkraut out of the Charcuterie book.  Then Low and behold this month was brining!!! So I saved this post like a little treasure until now..  Sadly my Kraut didn't come out as well as I had hoped.  It was still really REALLY good but not quite Sauer enough for my taste.  I'm positive that this had to to with our house being Effing freezing all the time.  We didn't even come close to that 70 degree mark you have to watch out for to prevent the bad BAC.  In retrospect next time I will leave the cabbage to Kraut in the kitchen or just let it sit longer.  It was still amazing on our hot dogs one night and it will make an appearance later this month on a Reuben or two.    

xoxo

Fast Alice

Sick and Sour.... :(

As you may have guessed it.... I'm sick. Not like have a cold sick but like sucky on the couch sleeping all day coughing my brains out until I puke sick. Good times!! And I am the first to admit that I am a GIANT baby when I am sick. I want blankets and tissues and white instant rice with just a tiny TINY bit of butter please.... and oh can I have some water?? I need an ice pop!! Baby.. I feel so sick... Whaaaaaaaa!! Grummble Grumble grouch GROUCH!!

The good news is I am almost never sick. Thank God! I don't think my poor hubby could take more than a few days of this kind of thing a year. Actually the last time I was sick was in early May 2010. Even this cold I was pretty stubborn succumbing to. I have my arsenal of vitamins and homeopathic remidies to repel you evil one!! You may have won this time but I will triumph in due time... Muahahahahahhhhh. I even managed to squeek out a new recipe last night (at which point I was certain it was just a head cold and needed a little soup, boy was I wrong).

This recipe is courtesy of Krazy for Kazu's, which is a Japanese sauce company. I bought their wares at Gosset's.. Surpise Surprise. And if you are reading Mr. Kazu man forgive me because at first I was just trying your free samples to be nice (and because I can't resist free samples). But after tasting the Ginger dressing and Ponzu Magic sauce, Big D and I realized.. Good God man you are bottling JOY and selling it for $7 a bottle. I was wrong and this recipe made with the Ponzu Magic is Oh.... so right. Enjoy!


Krazy for Kazu's Hot & Sour Soup
(I doubled this recipe to have left overs for lunches)
.5lt water
1 chicken thigh ( I used breast it was what I had handy, it was fine)
1tbsp corn starch (to coat chicken) I added a touch of garlic and chili powder to this for zip
2 large shiitake mushroom (thinly sliced)
2 oz onion (thinly sliced)
2 oz carrot (julienned)
3 oz tofu (bite-sized pieces)
1tsp red pepper
2 oz American Ponzu Magic
1 egg (beat breifly)
1tbsp corn starch (mixed with 1 oz water)
1tsp sesame oil
Any leafy green veggie (I used dried nori)
Scallion

Clean and cut chicken, cut veggies and tofu.
Put water in a pot, bring to boil. Coat chicken with corn starch, place chicken in boiling water. When the chicken is done (floating), put in mushroom, onion, carrot, tofu, red pepper and adjust heat to a simmer.
Add ponzu, egg, corn starch w/water, sesame oil, green veggie and scallion. Once veggies are tender it is ready to serve.

It didn't cure my cold but it cleared my sinuses for a few minutes. Two things the recipe above is pretty mild. Fell free to add more red pepper to taste. I also like mine really sour so I threw a little white wine vinegar in mine with a touch of soy sauce to top it off.

xoxo
Fast Alice

Ode to Gaia's Breath Farms....

Oh Gaia's breath farm... how do I love thee, let me count the ways. Every time I take a bite of my salty porky delicious pancetta I think of you and your black piggies... I imagine them happily rolling in fields of mud and foraging for acorns in the forest, every minute becoming fatter and sweeter. This vision makes me feel sligtly like the Witch in Hansel and Gretel as all the while I'm imagining eating those same cute happy little piggies... but hey, it is good stuff and if you tasted this pancetta you would we rubbing your hands together and squeezing piggie fingers in your mind to see if they are fat enough too.

In all seriousness I was really overwhelmed with how amazing this product was. It rang in at $8 a pound but I was able to order exactly the poundage I needed without the skin. If you remember, at the regular butcher it was going to be $4 a pound for regular pork but I had to buy the whole belly with skin approx 20lbs!!! Stupid!! So my total cost for 5lbs natural pork belly was $40. In addition to the lower price tag overall I had the most wonderful interactions with Mark, who runs Gaia's Breath. He got back to me super quickly asked what I was making, offered advice, then sent me the most amazingly perfect pretrimmed belly for pancetta. I was left with virtually no waste. When I tied up the pancetta itself I trimmed two small pieces from each end, purely for asthetics and devoured them quickly with my husband for brecky. Mark also answered my many questions about different products, even the price for a whole pig head. Which was very reasonable needless to say, I can't imagine many people ask for it these days. The belly was delivered to Gosset's Farm Market where I picked it up at their booth.

I was so pleased with the results I went back to the Market and had Tara, who runs the Gaia's booth, help me pick out an amazing 60 day aged Jack cheese to make my Saltimbocca recipe with. I can't say enough about my experience with this company!! I def plan to do their farm share. So exciting :)

Mark!!! If you are out there... You must get a booth down in NYC so my friends can try your products. They are too wonderful to miss. Wait... no!! Don't go to NYC.. stay here.. only here... Yes.. so that they have to come and visit me whilst picking up their pork and cheese. Ahhh.. much better.. lol.

xoxo
Fast Alice

A Belly to Rub... Charcutapalooza: Challenge 2

Recently, Kim at The Yummy Mummy asked us Charcutapalooza peeps to get deep and make our blogs our memoirs... to tell our ever growing blog community why we have embarked on this challenge and what we are learning.

I debated with myself for a long time about writing this post. Most of the time I bill myself as an extremely open person. In fact I often have a penchant for discussing things that most people would find inappropriate. However, I don't usually care to talk about my problems or things that are going on in my life that worry, scare, or intimidate me. Those topics, I tend only to discuss with a very VERY select few. Mostly people who would love me or have to love me no matter what. That said, despite the effortlessly witty blog title that sprung to my mind for this post, I was and still am apprehensive about talking about this on my blog. But I'm going to take our "To the Meat!!.." saying to heart, and make this post about what is really at the center of Charcutapalooza for me.

Not too long ago Big D and I adventured into baby making land.... Blindly, with the notion that in moments we would be blessed with a little Fraley to call our own. But as many of you know getting pregnant sometimes takes a little (or a LOT) longer than you could have expected. True to form, I immediately threw myself into every activity, job, craft, cure, etc in a desperate attempt to keep my mind off this process. A process which is supposed to be fun but at a certain point invariable becomes something stressful instead of joyful.

I didn't want to talk about this for a number of reasons. Um fear.. yeah, that's a big one. Fear about something being wrong with me, that is probably the #1 fear. Which is totally unfounded at this point. But every month that ticks by closer to that one year "Hey You're Infertile :)" mark... the anxiety starts to rise. Fear about other people judging or feeling bad for me, or giving the old "just stop trying advice." Ughghhh, I hate that and at this point if I try any less we will just stop having sex all together. I seriously almost cried when a former client of mine referenced our baby making as "Our little problem." Another fear, and I know it's a stupid one, but I'm sure some of you out there would understand.. is that Big D and I have been blessed, I mean amazingly blessed with material abundance beyond our wildest dreams. My worst fear is that there is some sort of cap on happiness. That of all the things I have been most fortunate to receive in this life I will have to be denied at least one thing. And this is the last thing people... the one little bundle between me and my dream life. It's a big fear.. A gnawing never ending fear in my heart that no amount of prosciutto is going to fix despite my best efforts.

So Charcutapalooza is an escape for me. Something constructive to do with my hands, where I can see results and feel good about a project that is entirely unrelated to baby making at all. In fact it revels in not being pregnant, as cured meats become a "no-no."

I don't know what I expect from writing this. I thought maybe it would help just to get it out of my head. And this pancetta is undoubtedly the most beautiful kitchen creation I have ever mustered. But despite it's beauty the more you try not to think about something the more it pops up... so here is my recipe...

Chicken Impregnated with Pancetta

or

Chicken Saltimbocca with home cured Pancetta

Needed:
Two chicken breasts cut in half the long way. ( I press my palm into the top of the breast and cut evenly down the center with a sharp knife. Risky business, so be careful, but it comes out really even that way.)
2 cups shredded stinky cheese (I used a 60 day aged Jack cheese from Gaia's breath farms. But in the past I have used Asiago cheese. Anything stinky and melty will work)
4 large sage leaves
8 thin cut Pancetta slices
1/2 Cup white Wine
1/2 lemon
1/2 cup chicken stock
1 cup flour seasoned with Salt, Garlic Powder, Pepper and Chili powder.
4 toothpicks

Preheat oven to 350 deg:

After slicing the breast in half pound them out until they are very thin. ( I do this between pieces of plastic wrap until the chicken is slightly translucent). Set them aside so they can get to room temp. In a frying pan over med heat cook the pancetta until crisp and put on paper towel to drain. Remove pan from heat but keep bacon fat for frying the Chicken later. Take a piece of chicken (lay it the long way)lay one sage leaf at the narrow end with 2 pieces pancetta on top . Take 1/4 of the grated cheese and place on top of the pancetta (I squeeze it in my palm into a rough log shape so it doesn't escape as much during frying). Roll tightly all the way up and secure with a toothpick. Continue with the other four pieces of chicken. Put the frying pan with the bacon grease back over med heat. Dredge all four Chicken rolls in the seasoned flour then add to the pan when hot. Sear the chicken on all sides then place in the heated oven on a baking sheet. Take the white wine and deglaze the pan making sure to get up all the tasty chicken and bacon bits off the surface. Reduce 2/3 then add the chicken stock. Reduce again by 1/2 and squeeze in the 1/2 lemon. Cook sauce until it thickens. Remove the chicken from the oven and return to the frying pan. Toss gently with the sauce then serve over anything ( I chose Swiss chard and teeny potatoes roasted with shallot)... it will taste awesome :)


xoxo
Fast Alice

Lil' Bitty Bacon!!

I went to the Gossets Famer's Market on Saturday (as I do most Saturdays) and purchased the most beautiful Cheddar-Chili biscuits. They were just begging for an egg and some duck prosciutto bacon. They came out just sooooooo cute. Itty bitty baby bacon slices... almost too cute to eat. I stress almost because after a snapshot and a sigh this meal was devoured by Big D and I in no time flat.

Also..... our pancetta.. is done!!! I seriously can't wait until the 15th to blog about this. I don't think I have ever made anything I was quite so proud of. Making bacon comes with a satisfaction I just can't describe. I encourage you all to try it for yourself if you haven't already.

Valentine's day is just around the corner. Made up holidays always make me feel weird. Part of me wants to indulge and take advantage of any excuse to celebrate in February. The other part says.... Gross comercialism=lame. But at the end of the day I'm a sucker for those Russell-Stoffer chocolates (all dark if you are taking notes). I usually buy them for myself the day after Valentine's Day so I can get one of those HUGE boxes and eat them in bed and whisper.. I love you.. to myself in the mirror...lol. Only half of that is true buy it made me laugh thinking about it.

Happy Valentine's!!

xoxo
Fast Alice

Duck Prosciutto Take Two :)

Sorry for the radio silence this weekend.  But we had a lot going on here at the ol' Fort.  It was our housewarming party this weekend.  Complete with In-Laws and City friends galore.  Seriously it was awesome... A lot of work.  But awesome.   For the party I decided to revisit the Duck prosciutto for our cheese plate.  This time I did a few things differently.  I did two different seasonings.  One breast was cracked pepper encrusted the other Herbs de Provence.  I used a scale to ensure that the breasts lost between 20-30% weight.  They were much more firm this time and more cured through the center.  I also used our new deli slicer to shave off super thin slices.  Which worked AMAZINGLY well.  We got our slicer at target online for $99 dollars and it was worth every penny.  I already sliced meats for the party which would have cost easily $50 to buy at the deli so it already half paid for itself. 

The prosciutto is hanging in our sun room.  Gently veiled like a bride in cheesecloth. (I was worried it would leave a greasy stain on the wall...lol).  I'm not gonna lie we sampled a little of the prosciutto that I trimmed when I was rolling/tying it... and it was CRACK.  It is taking all my power to keep from running outside and licking it right now... Sigh.  Seven days!!! Arrrghghghhh (shakes fist at the sky).  

But I have this to console myself with..

Hello Lover...

 (Duck Prosciutto and pear)

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