Ranting...

I am cranky.  I am supposed to have gone to a session this morning at The Grove on Social Media, not happening.  I am supposed to be in NYC this evening going to Gore Vidal's The Best Man, not happening.  Alternately I could be at a Toast-masters meeting this evening too...Not going to happen. 

I am cranky.  One of the worst possible things this self proclaimed "foody" has to deal with?  Diverticulitis!  Blech!  I was diagnosed with Diverticulosis about 5 years ago.  Every now and then one of those icky little pockets gets infected and I get a raging attack when the Osis becomes Itis.  It isn't fun. 

I am cranky.  I am in the midst of getting ready to try a Plum and almond rustica...not.  A batch of Port Crab Apple Jelly to accompany two lobes of fois gras that I was gifted with...not.  And the Quinoa and Wheat Berry salad experiments are on hold. Lets not even talk about the Rhubarb upside down cake I just tossed and the Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Dried Cherry cookies that will end up in the freezer. Oh the freezer...I made these alcoholic fruit filled popsicles to dip in the next batch of Sangria...HOLD.

I am cranky.  Instead of spending time in the kitchen playing (okay, without air conditioning I don't know how much would have actually gotten done....).  I did have the best of intentions to get to it. 

I am cranky.  Now my culinary escapades for the next ten days are: two days of clear liquids, another two to four days of scrambled eggs, cottage cheese and overcooked and mushy vegetables and fruits and then we can think about introducing more solid foods (Did I mention all the pretty and tasty peaches and plums I picked up at Cityseed this weekend?).  Add to this travesty that the antibiotics are gross and as often as not do not wish to stay down.  AND no alcohol while I am on said pills.  AND no pain pills. 

I am cranky. 

Obviously no recipe today, pity party instead! Cheerful upbeat Yolande will be back next week...hopefully a few pounds lighter (looking on the good side of things?).

I know, it's the wrong time of year...

...but it couldn't be helped!  Sometimes when you find something on special no matter the time of year, you can't resist and you get inspired. 

I picked up a 2# package of short ribs last week for half price.  I know, short ribs to be really good have to cook for a good long time.  I know, it was almost 100 degrees when I bought them.  I know, the last thing I am going to do when it is so damn hot is turn on the stove top or the oven.  I know, I don't have any air conditioning at the house and this is just going to make it worse.  I know!

Luckily for me the heat wave only lasted two days. 

I really do love the texture and flavor of short ribs.  When cooked properly they are so rich and decadent, it is almost indecent.  I did realize the timing was all wrong for this hearty dish, but that just made me try to think of a way to "summer?" it up?  I am stretching a bit here, but I did think about how to give it a flavor profile that wasn't my more traditional winter flavors. 

Now I can't braise a hunk (or many small hunks) of beef without my traditional French flavors (carrots, onions/leeks, celery, red wine), but what if I didn't make them the stars and I took a look at some other flavors to take over as the lead in the show.

Ginger was my answer.  Soy sauce and the brine from some preserved key limes were the substitute for the salt.  Those salts can be a little harsh so a dollop of honey and the juice from two oranges went in to round it out.  Before getting squished the rind of the two oranges went into the pot as did the skin from the last three preserved key limes to give it a little interest.  I finished it off with Harissa for a touch of heat and to replace the more traditional pepper. 

I finished putting it all together and got the pot over the perfect heat so it was "mijoting".  Americans just don't have a good word for that setting that is less than a simmer.  You are looking for just barely any movement at the surface of the liquids.  I covered everything up tight in my Creuset.  Timing was perfect because a royal migraine was mijoting its way to the fore front of my brain.  I ran upstairs took the meds and sacked out for a couple of hours. 

Lo and behold I awoke to this amazing smell permeating the entire house with a hint of ginger.  Here was the tough part, not eating it.  I had company coming in a couple of days, this dinner was going to have to wait.  That didn't mean that I couldn't dip some slightly stale bread into the sauce.  Man oh man did it come out good. 

I took the short ribs off the heat.  Transferred the meat into a baking dish, fished out the carrots, then strained the liquid back over the meat and into the fridge.  The added bonus?  Before reheating, any excess fat congealed for easy removal. 

Dinner with the guests was a hit.  Short ribs over creamy buttermilk mashed potatoes.  I normally like my short ribs over mashed potatoes with a hit of horse raddish, but there was enought of a kick in the sauce that I didn't want to compete.  Next time I think I may try Quinoa steamed with some ginger and orange.  Second added bonus?  I have left over ginger that is going to go into an attempt at homemade ginger ale I have been looking to try from Dark Side of the Fridge's recommendations. 

Happy Anniversary

Lucienne and Noel Lacan June 1996The middle of June is a busy time for my family.  June 8 would have been Lucienne and Noel's 49th wedding anniversary.  June 13th was Jacqueline and Bob's 16th wedding anniversary and June 14th marked the day, 55 years ago, when Lucienne left France to come to North America.  Lucienne was feeling nostalgic this year and called me to tell me about it, while informing Jacqueline that they were going to have a small celebratory dinner to mark the day. 

I have been telling Lucienne's story in bits and pieces over the last year.  So if you missed her childhood or her trip to North America, catch up!

Got it?  Good.  Now lets continue. 

Noel had arrived first into New Orleans in 1960.  His green card had finally come through and his company had an assignment for him at the Royal Orleans.  Great Hotel by the way.  Andre was next, then came Jacques and finally Marcel, all of whom would work together along the way. 

When Marcel got his green card Lucienne accompanied him to New Orleans to see what there was to see...and to visit with the gang(some more than others).  I think she and Noel may have already been an Item by this point.  I can never seem to get the whole story. 

She liked it.  She went back to work in Canada and awaited her green card.  It came!  It was 1961 and she was moving to America.  She made a bee-line to New Orleans and as always, quickly found a job.  Again, one must stop and scratch one's head.  Her job was working in a German Deli...in New Orleans.  Every time I repeat that I have to double check my facts.  What is a French woman, who has spent the last 4 years barely learning English, in Canada, now doing working in the most French city in America...in a German Deli?  I am sorry but the dots just don't seem to connect for me.  But connect for her they did. She also quickly found a room to rent.  She fell in with the old gang and life went on.  As I mentioned in another post...they had a wild time.

Okay if she reads this she will kill me, because she hates when I repeat this part.  I, on the other hand just find it charming, and rather incredible that I was ever born, that she said "yes".

Side Bar:  You have to understand that as kids Jacqueline and I would constantly have our friends say they "loved Papa".  His secretary's would go on ad-nausea when we called for something, on how "lovely" he was.  Even the waitresses at the Inn, who got yelled at by him more than once, were all in love with him.  He was suave, charming, funny, charismatic...and he had an accent, a French accent.  He could do romance really well.  He was an old world gentleman who opened doors, held your chair, commented on a new dress.  Again, he knew how to do romance. 

Lucienne had been in New Orleans for a couple of years.  Then one day Lucienne was at Noel's little house on Lake Pontchartrain when he announced that the company wanted to move him to Annaheim.  They either needed to get married or he was going to head out to California.  That's about it.  The sum total of his proposal to her.  The romantic guy that I just told you about.  That's it.  I get disappointed just repeating it.  Talk about anti-climatic. 

I keep hoping that someone is going to call me out and tell me that I got the story wrong.  I mean this a couple who met on her first day in Quebec and his last, and had a date.  By fluke they meet again 3 months later.  Then, they criss-cross two countries keeping in touch, really do date...and...and...and....

She said "yes".  Still a little disappointed here.

Then they tried to get married.  And tried, and tried and tried.  You see it was 1963 in Louisiana.  French birth certificates do not have one critical little piece of information on them that was required by the state of Louisiana in 1963...race.  You see in 1963 in Louisiana it was against the law to marry someone not of the same race.  They couldn't get anyone to marry them without that information.  So they wrote to the French government and asked for new birth certificates with their race designated on the paper.  Three times they wrote to the French government, and three times they got copies of their birth certificates...without the race designated. 

They finally found a justice of the peace in Chalmette (the then, not so right side of the tracks) who would marry them.  They went with Andre and his current girl friend as witnesses.  They didn't tell anyone what they were doing.  Meanwhile they had invited their friends to Noel's little house on the Lake for a Bon Voyage party (they were going to France).  The guests arrived and found food, drink and no host.  The Bride, Groom and Witnesses arrived back to a full house. 

When everyone asked what happened they announced they had just gotten married and their trip home was really a honeymoon and an announcement to the families at the same time.  They wanted their friends to be the first to find out, but there would be a more formal celebration when they returned from France.  I have been told it was a great party. 

No recipe tonight but a few pictures.  Jacqueline got married aboard ship with very few guests.  One week later the party was at my parents and Papa, Maman, and I (when I finally got there from Key West)did all the food.  The Bride wore the gown (minus the train and the beautiful but annoying hat), and the Groom was a little more casual, as were the rest of us.  The menu:  canapés, patés maison, sliced tenderloin, mini reubens, prosciutto and melon, escargot, feuillete Savoyard.  The dessert table had the Lacan famous rum balls, individual fruit tarts, an American Wedding cake topped by a Croque en Bouche made by Papa (the veil on the croque en bouche did not survive the Florida humidity).  The whole...Chef Lacan classics. 

Jacqueline's wedding reception with NoelThe wedding buffetJacqueline's American and French wedding cake

'Scape love...

In 2001 Maman and I went to China.  The trip was 1 1/2 years in the planning and delayed by 6 months at one point but it happened and it was a great experience for so many reasons.  Hell, 42 meals back to back on bread and butter plates with chop sticks.  Suffice it to say that I am very adept with chop sticks.  China was never on my top 10 list of places I had to see while I was alive...but never-the-less, I am glad I went. 

Among the many cultural experiences, and in my case, food experiences there were several that were memorable.  The street markets were amazing. The dumplings, divine. 

chinese market dumplings Beijing 2001did you want duck or chicken tonight for dinner?The spice/medicine market was jaw dropping.  I mean really, jaw dropping.  Dried tiger and deer and dog penises are all the rage?!?  Or maybe a dried cobra skin to pulverize for your next potion instead of eye of newt???

medicine market Beijing 2001 snake skin

medicine market Beijing 2001 A little odd.  The varieties of fruit I had never heard of, delish.  The sheep's lung a little chewy.  AND if anyone ever offers you Yak butter tea...or Yak butter anything...JUST SAY NO.  Politely of course, but take my word for it, not something you should ever have a need to try. 

Among the new and interesting things to taste was something that had the same shape as pencil asparagus without the speared top.  It had a delicate crunch to it.  It was solid, like asparagus, with green outer ring and much lighter inner body.  It had a slightly sweet yet slightly oniony/garlicy flavor to it.  After finding it in several stir-fry, I had to know more about it.  Our guide called it a garlic chive, huh?  I tried to have him point it out in its raw state at the market, with no success. 

Jump to 2009.  I make my way through my first City Seed farmers markets in New Haven and there are these curly things that are the 2 feet long or so.  What is that?  A garlic scape.  A what? 

A garlic scape.  Garlic Scapes can come straight or with a big loop in them, both forms can come with or without a thistle like flower at the top.  The scape is the green stem that comes out of the garlic bulb, early in the growing season.  The scape needs to be cut off so that the energy goes into growing the bulb and not the pretty greenery and flowers on top.  In the looped variety the scape should be cut just after passing the first full loop.  (A farmer told me that).  I didn't realize there was a straight kind till this week...when I bought the first scapes of the season, the straight ones. 

THESE ARE THEM!!!  These are the vegetable I had in China.  I bought one bunch this past Sunday, about a pound.  They cost me $2.00.  I pulled out three of them to put into a not so successful wild mushroom risotto. 

I sliced the scapes on the bias, as if I was cutting scallions.  I sauteed them and then added the rice, then continued with a regular risotto cooking method.  I snagged a few to taste before adding the rice.  THIS IS IT! This is that wonderful light fresh flavor that I remember.  I should have removed the scapes then added the rice, cooked then added the scapes back when I added the mushrooms at the end.  They were good, but they could have been much better, they ended up over cooked this way. 

The rest of them I turned into what every blogger out there tells you to do with scapes...make scape pesto.  Today I tried the pesto on Pasta.  Okay, I am joining all the other bloggers out there.  Your first batch of scapes need to go into pesto.  More on that at the right. 

My next batch of scapes are going either into the oven or onto the grill.  I want more.  Soon.  I will keep you posted on the results.

Spring

white lilacs

About a year ago I wrote about the first farmers market of the season and my score of ramps, rhubarb, and lilacs.  This year I added duck eggs to that score, nice treat. 

But Spring is Spring and the basics of what comes out of the ground is the same year after year.  There is something good about that cycle (think circle of life for green stuff).  It is wonderful that you can get tomatoes, or grapes, or lettuces or whatever 52 weeks of the year at your local supermarket.  BUT there is nothing like the first tomatoes of the season...no matter where you live and what season that is. 

Likewise there is something to be said about treats that only come once a year and only stay around for a few weeks, and aren't readily found anywhere else. 

I could go off on a tangent here and talk about the rarely heard about way of preserving those flavors for tasty treats to pull out of the pantry on a grey day.  But I am not a great canner and I just met this amazing lady who blogs about it and has just had her book published.  If you are interested go check her out, Marisa. Thanks for the jam refresher Marisa and good luck with the book!

But back to those treats that you have to wait for.  So the past couple of weeks it has been Ramps and Rhubarb with a quick season of duck eggs.  A quick bunch of Dandelion greens, they went into a salad but I might try to get another batch to mix into a batch of Carbonara type of pasta.  The first icicle radishes of the season, greens into pasta or soup and radishes the French way: raw with a baguette, good butter and grey salt.  Simple and awesome.

As the season progresses I can't wait to try to find sour cherries, and currants, and garlic scapes and so many others.  But for right now I am having too much fun with rhubarb, and a couple of recipes are headed your way.

On a final note tonight, I was depressed all anew this season when I couldn't seem to talk myself into going out with a pair of clippers (under cover of dark all dressed in black) to go steal someone else's lilacs.  Growing up, quite frankly sucks!  Responsibility, yuck.  It was compounded by not finding any lilacs to buy at the market this year, bummer.  And then I went out my back door two days ago (in a house I have only been in since Dec, thus everything coming out of the ground is a surprise) to see that the pretty little bush was actually a variety of a white lilac.  With the rain we have been getting non stop, at night if I open the upstairs office window while I type this...I can smell the blooms.  Redemption for not being a thief in the night???  You tell me.

white lilacs