Friday, May 4, 2012
Oh-oh!!!
Hi, it's Friday afternoon and the kitchen, to all intents and purposes, IS finished.
The undercabinet lights did not get installed because the wiring did not come in, says Tomas. But basically everything else is there.
I can cook, in other words.
I am shy with the kitchen like a new bride.
We are going out to get sandwiches.
YAZZYBEL
The undercabinet lights did not get installed because the wiring did not come in, says Tomas. But basically everything else is there.
I can cook, in other words.
I am shy with the kitchen like a new bride.
We are going out to get sandwiches.
YAZZYBEL
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Caldo!!!
Good midday.
Yesterday Carlos didn't come due to the illness of his wife, but the day before that we'd spent some time discussing where to eat out to get a good dish of caldo, which is basically meat broth and other good things added to it. He suggested a place called Plazita's on Broadway near Anita, so last night we went to try it out, I being hungry for caldo.
The place is called Plaza's and it's where he said it is. And I got caldo, and it was so good.
Theo got beef tacos and I could tell they were ordinary. But the soup was not ordinary, or rather, it was --just what was wanted, an ordinary bowl of excellent beef broth, beef, and vegetables.
The size of this bowl of soup, for $6.49, was the size of the middle bowl of a set of Pyrex mixing bowls. (I brought home half.) The ingredients were: plenty (at least a half pound) of good soup meat cooked to a tee, a small red potato, 2 carrots, and half a chayote entire. And leaves of cabbage. There was a side of rice and I added that to the soup.
The classic way of serving caldo would be to make the soup and remove all the solids. On a platter you'd slice the meat, then you'd lay the cooked vegetables alongside it on the platter. When you served the dinner, the liquid broth would be in your soup plate and you'd add whatever you wanted to your bowl. My mother, when she made vegetable soup, would explain to me that that is not how the Mexicans would do it. She cut everything small (they don't) and served it all together. She also put tomatoes in her vegetable soup and there were no tomatoes in the caldo. There was the usual restaurant side table at Plaza's, with jalapeno carrots, three salsas, lots of green lime quarters, a deep bowl of chopped onions, a bowl of dried herbs, and a bowl of green herbs. You could doctor your soup with any and all and I did.
The soup was flavorful and fresh; the meat was tender and savory, the vegetables actually short-cooked, especially the cabbage leaves. But not raw; they were just right. Of course, the potato was done. It was a little master piece. Perfect for supper. YAZZYBEL
Yesterday Carlos didn't come due to the illness of his wife, but the day before that we'd spent some time discussing where to eat out to get a good dish of caldo, which is basically meat broth and other good things added to it. He suggested a place called Plazita's on Broadway near Anita, so last night we went to try it out, I being hungry for caldo.
The place is called Plaza's and it's where he said it is. And I got caldo, and it was so good.
Theo got beef tacos and I could tell they were ordinary. But the soup was not ordinary, or rather, it was --just what was wanted, an ordinary bowl of excellent beef broth, beef, and vegetables.
The size of this bowl of soup, for $6.49, was the size of the middle bowl of a set of Pyrex mixing bowls. (I brought home half.) The ingredients were: plenty (at least a half pound) of good soup meat cooked to a tee, a small red potato, 2 carrots, and half a chayote entire. And leaves of cabbage. There was a side of rice and I added that to the soup.
The classic way of serving caldo would be to make the soup and remove all the solids. On a platter you'd slice the meat, then you'd lay the cooked vegetables alongside it on the platter. When you served the dinner, the liquid broth would be in your soup plate and you'd add whatever you wanted to your bowl. My mother, when she made vegetable soup, would explain to me that that is not how the Mexicans would do it. She cut everything small (they don't) and served it all together. She also put tomatoes in her vegetable soup and there were no tomatoes in the caldo. There was the usual restaurant side table at Plaza's, with jalapeno carrots, three salsas, lots of green lime quarters, a deep bowl of chopped onions, a bowl of dried herbs, and a bowl of green herbs. You could doctor your soup with any and all and I did.
The soup was flavorful and fresh; the meat was tender and savory, the vegetables actually short-cooked, especially the cabbage leaves. But not raw; they were just right. Of course, the potato was done. It was a little master piece. Perfect for supper. YAZZYBEL
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
The Kitchen is Getting Finished
Good morning.
Waiting for Tomas and Carlos. This morning they have to physically remove two installed cabinets and move them to the right about one fourth inch. That's to better accomodate the refrigerator...which they did squeeze in but now realize that we'd never be able to move it out, as to clean underneath it, etc.
I hate to tell them that we'd not ever be able to move it out under any circumstances no matter what. But let them do what they will, say I. They have had their way on everything else. I do not really care. (Can that really be me?)
Today there were no eggs in our mini-refrigerator so we had peanut butter and bacon lonches for breakfast. A lonche is a sandwich en espanyol. I had to put that Y in there because for some reason my ALT codes are not working. I think it is funny that somewhere some Mexican saw an American eating his lunch (which was of course a sandwich, most lunches being without imagination) and so sandwich became lonche.
Just so this posting won't be entirely negative, here's a white cactus flower in the garden today. You know how I love white flowers, and cactus flowers are the purest:
This give me another chance for my tirade on bacon, which as cooked carefully by me this morning was thick (I told Theo not to buy the thick any more) , greasy, and when well done, leathery not crisp. Bacon as we knew it twenty years ago is no more. What have they done to the hogs? Whatever it is, I know they have shot water into the sides of bacon to increase their volume...but there is still plenty of grease to fill up the skillet when cooking. Ech...I do not like it, any of it.
Patricia is not coming today and I don't like that either. The telly is roaring away in the living room and will stay that way when she don't come. There's a lot more changes than just a kitchen that need to go on around here. YAZZYBEL
Waiting for Tomas and Carlos. This morning they have to physically remove two installed cabinets and move them to the right about one fourth inch. That's to better accomodate the refrigerator...which they did squeeze in but now realize that we'd never be able to move it out, as to clean underneath it, etc.
I hate to tell them that we'd not ever be able to move it out under any circumstances no matter what. But let them do what they will, say I. They have had their way on everything else. I do not really care. (Can that really be me?)
Today there were no eggs in our mini-refrigerator so we had peanut butter and bacon lonches for breakfast. A lonche is a sandwich en espanyol. I had to put that Y in there because for some reason my ALT codes are not working. I think it is funny that somewhere some Mexican saw an American eating his lunch (which was of course a sandwich, most lunches being without imagination) and so sandwich became lonche.
Just so this posting won't be entirely negative, here's a white cactus flower in the garden today. You know how I love white flowers, and cactus flowers are the purest:
Patricia is not coming today and I don't like that either. The telly is roaring away in the living room and will stay that way when she don't come. There's a lot more changes than just a kitchen that need to go on around here. YAZZYBEL
Monday, April 30, 2012
Catchin' Up
Good mornin'...and it is morning.
Yesterday was St George's Day and all us dragon hunters were very busy. I trust that a significant number of dragons were slain in the name of our Lord yesterday. I hunted but did not find nor slay one. However, it is every day's business after all, so shall continueon.
I did not attend the ceremony at St Paul's. Have been going for many years and have missed many. The ones in the eighties (and before) were very impressive services. A huge contingency of British folk from as far away as the consulate at Los Angeles came en masse and attended, dressed to the gills. I was impressed every time.
Most impressive of course were the pipers in their kilts and full costume. I remember how let down I felt that they did not pipe away through the full service but only led in and out at the processional and recessional sequences. They were and are still wonderful--a strange and moving music.
There are the split baby croissants from which I made my ham, butter, honey-mustard, and lettuce sandwiches. I was frustrated by n ot having a kitchen and was sorry I'd said I'd do my share. (What was I thinking of?) Those sandwiches were made outside and I was so frustrated by the process that I only made half my (self imposed) quota or less. After I finished we dashed up to St P's and I ran up and left them in the kitchen and adios.
Speaking of kitchens, our kitchen proceeds apace. There is Carlos, working this morning. He's proceeded to putting on the handles of the cabinets.
Kitchen looks kind of ordinary, doesn't it? It will look a little less so when it's finished, I hope.
I conclude with the best part of the transformation so far: the location of my coffee station on the back patio. It makes my early mornings so nice.YAZZYBEL
Yesterday was St George's Day and all us dragon hunters were very busy. I trust that a significant number of dragons were slain in the name of our Lord yesterday. I hunted but did not find nor slay one. However, it is every day's business after all, so shall continueon.
I did not attend the ceremony at St Paul's. Have been going for many years and have missed many. The ones in the eighties (and before) were very impressive services. A huge contingency of British folk from as far away as the consulate at Los Angeles came en masse and attended, dressed to the gills. I was impressed every time.
Most impressive of course were the pipers in their kilts and full costume. I remember how let down I felt that they did not pipe away through the full service but only led in and out at the processional and recessional sequences. They were and are still wonderful--a strange and moving music.
There are the split baby croissants from which I made my ham, butter, honey-mustard, and lettuce sandwiches. I was frustrated by n ot having a kitchen and was sorry I'd said I'd do my share. (What was I thinking of?) Those sandwiches were made outside and I was so frustrated by the process that I only made half my (self imposed) quota or less. After I finished we dashed up to St P's and I ran up and left them in the kitchen and adios.
Kitchen looks kind of ordinary, doesn't it? It will look a little less so when it's finished, I hope.
I conclude with the best part of the transformation so far: the location of my coffee station on the back patio. It makes my early mornings so nice.YAZZYBEL
Friday, April 27, 2012
Three Things on my Shopping List
Good afternoon!
What, only three things? Yes, on my permanent shopping list there are three things that I will buy whenever and wherever I find them. However, I almost never do any more.
The first thing is a 1970 or earlier Mirado No. ONE yellow pencil. What a wonderful pencil that was. It wrote black. Very black. And it was wonderfully crafted in that, though soft and black, it held up for sharpening very well.
Did you know that Mirado pencils started out as Mikado pencils? When World War Two concentrated the national anxiety and hate upon the Japanese, the name of the pencil was changed to Mirado. I had always loved the Japanese Mikado (don't know why...reincarnation, I guess) and I remember that at age ten or eleven it was hard to adjust to a new image for my favorite pencil.
It blows my mind to think that, as late as the eighties, I could stroll into the Savon Drugs on Point Loma and buy one, ten, or a whole box of Mirado No. 1 pencils. Made in the USA, of course. And oh, how I wish I had bought ten boxes. I miss them. No, they aren't the same any more.
The next thing on my shopping list is the homely dime store scrapbook. These unappreciated items were large bulky and rather unattractive things with fillers of coarse brown or black paper, and they were meant for pasting things into. Where did they go? When "scrapbooking" became a national art instead of the refuge of the lonely widder or spinster or bed-bound child with a pair of scissors, the scrapbook became an expensive cumbersome holder for artistic activity instead of the receptor of items jaggedly cut out from a newpaper or magazine and glued in with school-room paste, a procedure which could take hours of pleasurable time. I want some tacky old fashioned scrapbooks for all the junk I am uprooting from boxes and bags in my old age. If my grandchildren don't want these scrapbooks, I can imagine that there are plenty of other people in the world who'd enjoy looking at the detritus of my life.
And the third item is the one you should all be looking for yourselves, folks--it's the utensils for kitchen use manufactured in the USA from 1900, say, to 1990, say. If it is steel, was made here, has USA on it, it is going to be worth a lot of money in twenty years in the future. Spatulas, kitchen forks, runcible spoons, knives...sifters, strainers, pots, pans, they'll all be here in a thousand years if we take care of them, and they will be worth a lot of money by folks who don't fancy using klutzy stuff from other lands who are posing as steelmakers.
Those are three things I am always looking for. You used to find the kitchen stuff (American made) routinely in thrift shops...try to find them there now. Pencils? Forget it--except at garage sales where there are still homes where the old folks hoarded American made pencils for years...buy the lot, buy the lot. And scrapbooks? I am told that they are still around in stores, that I just haven't found the store. In the long long ago people cut pages out of brown kraft paper and sewed them together to make their scrapbooks. Get out your garage sale scissors and get to work, as long as we can still buy craft paper. YAZZYBEL
What, only three things? Yes, on my permanent shopping list there are three things that I will buy whenever and wherever I find them. However, I almost never do any more.
The first thing is a 1970 or earlier Mirado No. ONE yellow pencil. What a wonderful pencil that was. It wrote black. Very black. And it was wonderfully crafted in that, though soft and black, it held up for sharpening very well.
Did you know that Mirado pencils started out as Mikado pencils? When World War Two concentrated the national anxiety and hate upon the Japanese, the name of the pencil was changed to Mirado. I had always loved the Japanese Mikado (don't know why...reincarnation, I guess) and I remember that at age ten or eleven it was hard to adjust to a new image for my favorite pencil.
It blows my mind to think that, as late as the eighties, I could stroll into the Savon Drugs on Point Loma and buy one, ten, or a whole box of Mirado No. 1 pencils. Made in the USA, of course. And oh, how I wish I had bought ten boxes. I miss them. No, they aren't the same any more.
The next thing on my shopping list is the homely dime store scrapbook. These unappreciated items were large bulky and rather unattractive things with fillers of coarse brown or black paper, and they were meant for pasting things into. Where did they go? When "scrapbooking" became a national art instead of the refuge of the lonely widder or spinster or bed-bound child with a pair of scissors, the scrapbook became an expensive cumbersome holder for artistic activity instead of the receptor of items jaggedly cut out from a newpaper or magazine and glued in with school-room paste, a procedure which could take hours of pleasurable time. I want some tacky old fashioned scrapbooks for all the junk I am uprooting from boxes and bags in my old age. If my grandchildren don't want these scrapbooks, I can imagine that there are plenty of other people in the world who'd enjoy looking at the detritus of my life.
And the third item is the one you should all be looking for yourselves, folks--it's the utensils for kitchen use manufactured in the USA from 1900, say, to 1990, say. If it is steel, was made here, has USA on it, it is going to be worth a lot of money in twenty years in the future. Spatulas, kitchen forks, runcible spoons, knives...sifters, strainers, pots, pans, they'll all be here in a thousand years if we take care of them, and they will be worth a lot of money by folks who don't fancy using klutzy stuff from other lands who are posing as steelmakers.
Those are three things I am always looking for. You used to find the kitchen stuff (American made) routinely in thrift shops...try to find them there now. Pencils? Forget it--except at garage sales where there are still homes where the old folks hoarded American made pencils for years...buy the lot, buy the lot. And scrapbooks? I am told that they are still around in stores, that I just haven't found the store. In the long long ago people cut pages out of brown kraft paper and sewed them together to make their scrapbooks. Get out your garage sale scissors and get to work, as long as we can still buy craft paper. YAZZYBEL
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Chaos Reigns
Good morning. The MOW has not come yet so it's still morning.
I am putting on a picture or two of the kitchen. There were a couple of later photos yesterday but they wont download for some reason. So I'll choose from what's available.
Those are pictures of our existence right now--couldn't call it a life--but they're not complete because you can't hear the sound effects. We only thought we were deaf before.
Just to show you that there is order somewhere in our universe, I'll show you a beautiful salvia that pulled itself together, tossed off its dead appearance, and came forth with beauty and joy.
Just to show you that there is order somewhere in our universe, I'll show you a beautiful salvia that pulled itself together, tossed off its dead appearance, and came forth with beauty and joy.
I love its wonderful color, the size of the blossoms (huge), and the furriness of the leaves and stems which gives the plant a shimmering silvery effect. LOVELY!!
Hasta manana--YAZZYBEL
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