Food – Page 26 – no counterspace

food list

I need to make room in my freezer, so this’ll be a more long term food list than usual.

Also, I need to use up more food in the next couple months because I have a gift certificate to the local grocery store, but I have to use it all in one go and I’ve gotten used to a lot of little trips instead of one big one.

Food I have
Produce
~~2 onions~~
~~3 lbs russet potatoes~~
~~no garlic!~~
~~1 bunch broccoli rabe~~
~~1 bunch (3) beets w/ greens~~
ginger
~~1/3 bag baby carrots~~
~~1 white coconut~~
1 pt coconut water from another coconut (so half the total)

Meat – fridge
a lot (2 1/2 lbs?) of ham
chicken stock
1/4 pound of bacon

Meat – freezer
stock (in cubes)
gravy (in cubes)
8-ish chicken breasts (frozen in packets of 1 or 2)
2 thick pork chops
1 hamburger patty made from ground turkey
bag of small turkey meatballs
~~bag of mini italian-flavored turkey meatballs~~
several links of turkey sausage
1/2 pkg kosher hot dogs (and possibly another whole one buried in the depths)
1 mystery steak (beef? pork? It was hard to tell with the last one I cooked)
cubed raw pork
cubes of pork roast
1 beef roast (saving for Roman cooking workshop)
2-3 pork tenderloin roasts
1-3 packages of meat (beef? pork?) cut thin for stir fry
1 bag of chicken parts for stock – enough for 1 batch

Dairy
qt whole milk
a little bit of heavy cream
~~scallion cream cheese~~
single-serve flavored yogurts
parmesan
2 packages of cheddar cheese

starch – in fridge
rice (plain white, basmati, sticky)
flour (bread, wheat, rye)
~~1 pie crust~~
2 packages tortillas

Miscellaneous things in freezer
pecan halves
2 cubes of mom’s vegetable soup
vodka
phyllo dough
package of rolls that would make a good stuffing or soup ingredient
cubes of elderberry concentrate with wine and stuff
bag of onion peels and things for stock
bagels
rolls of stuffed cabbage (from mother)
~~bag of blackberries~~

turning that into food
Meals
Tuesday, March 18
~~potatoes, ham, onion, beets~~

Wednesday, March 19
~~start a potato & ham soup – 3/24/08~~
~~eat: broccoli rabe sauteed with mini meatballs with pasta sauce over spaghetti~~

Thursday, March 20
buy crusty bread – eat soup

Friday, March 21
soup again.
pull out a pork roast to thaw

Saturday, March 22
@ parents’ – give mom any soup that’s left

Sunday, March 23
Do something with the coconut! (Thai soup? African stew?)
roast pork

Week of March 24-28
~~alternate between soup and sandwiches made from the roast pork or the ham leftovers~~

Fondue for you?

So yesterday, someone mentioned that the Melting Pot, a chain restaurant specializing in fondue, was having a spring special and that there would be a $20 prixe fixe on March 20th.

I can neither confirm nor deny this special on the internet.

But – I did end up with a coupon for a free chocolate fondue should I purchase dinner for two or any four course feature… and I think I’ll need some help for that.

Where: 13th & Filbert

Of course both discounts wouldn’t apply, but either way I think it has been too long since I’ve had fondue.

Anyone interested in trying to schedule this?

ETA: I called the Philadelphia location, and they do not have a special for March 20th. They do have a Girls Night Out special on March 26th – $30 per person: cheese course, salad course, entree course (with tenderloin, chicken breast, something seafood, and ravioli), and a $5 wine and martini special. But that was it.

ETAA: The King of Prussia location also denies all knowledge of a spring special.

Scotchy Scotch

So I am trying to encourage a friend to host a scotch tasting party, so I have put together a list of scotch I (well, my mother) could contribute:

Shareable?	Name	Variety	Age	Region	How much left
Y	Balvenie	Doublewood	12	speyside	3/4
Y	Bruichladdich		10	northern islay	almost full
Y	Bunnahabhain		12	northern islay	3/4
IFF	Caol Ila		12	islay	1
IFF	Dalmore		21	northern highland	1
N	Dalwhinnie		15	Speyside/Highland	1/2
Y	Glen Keith		10	speyside	1
IFF	Glendronach		15	eastern highlands	1
Y	Glenmorangie	mediera wood	12	northern highlands	1 + 2/3
IFF	Glenfarclas		17	speyside	1
IFF	Glenfarclas	cask strength 105	?	speyside	1
just opened 1	Highland Park		18	northern highlands	1/2 (+ 1)
Y	Laphroaig		10	southern islay	1
Y	Laphroaig		15	southern islay	1/2
Y	Lismore	BLEND!	n/a	highland	almost full
N	Longmorn		15	Speyside	2 + 7/8
N	Macallan		18	Speyside	1
N	Macallan		25	Speyside	almost empty
just opened 1	Macallan	Cask Strength	10?	Speyside	1/2 (+ 3)
N	Macallan	Elegancia 1990	12	Speyside	>3/4
Y	Strathisla		12	speyside	almost empty
Y	Talisker		10	Skye – western highlands	1

IFF = iff and only if my mother ends up willing to go to the tasting, which I think is totally fair of her
Most of the regional info from here

Cream cheese and Coconut. Though not together. But that’s an idea

But where has all the cream cheese gone?
I am out of cream cheese. And almost out of cheddar cheese. But I refuse to pay more than $1 for 8oz of cream cheese or $2 for 8oz of cheddar cheese, and they haven’t been on sale lately.

I might go into withdrawal soon.

~*~

my tale of woe with the time change
So there I was Sunday morning, having a leisurely breakfast of bacon, mexican hot chocolate, and amazing fresh coconut (I’ll tell you about that soon), with a charming person who had spent the night, with plenty of time until my 11:20 massage appointment… when I remembered the time change.

We packed up quickly (with him leaving behind his grocery sack with fun ethnic yummies from my grocery store across the street) and barely made it across Broad Street and the surprise marching band parade (for St. Patrick’s Day, apparently) to get there 20 minutes late. Woecakes!

So they only docked my half the price of the session for not showing without notice (and the session was only $35, so not bad. That’ll just make the fee for the next one about on par for professional prices) and I rescheduled for the same time this next Sunday.

~*~

White Coconut
So a couple weeks ago, my grocery store started carrying white coconuts. I more or less ignored them because I figured they’d be just like the brown ones, which I tried doing once from scratch and it just wasn’t worth the trouble. Luckily, I was convinced to experiment this weekend. WOW!

So white coconut – apparently it’s softer and tastier and has more water inside. Once you pull out the meat with a fork, instead of having to gnaw on it for a bit, it was completely chewable and tasty without any processing. I’m going to get another one to take to my mother this coming weekend because it’ll be a dream to shred over cake.

What do you mean when you say it’s a squash?

So I am preparing another workshop on Roman cooking, and I’m trying to include more of the vegetable dishes.

But I have a translation problem.
Book III (The Gardener): Section IV Cucurbitas

See – that is the genus name for squash (summer & winter). But I’m pretty sure that squash was native to the western hemisphere.

So what would the Romans have been talking about?

~*~

Okay, so I was ashamed to post this without a proper googling, first.

This page explains that what I’m really looking for is called a calabash, and I think I am reading it correctly that the easiest substitution would be a zucchini, right?

ETA: Here is a picture of the calabash split open. I am dubious.

~*~

Okay, so when the calabash is less mature and in Italy, it is known as a cucuzza. Here is a good guide on picking and cooking one. Actually, this vegetable (straight, not bulgy, about 1 foot long) is frequently available at my produce truck. SCORE!

Here agrees that the calabash and the cacuzza are the same gourd.

~*~

ETA: 9/9/08 : Looks like someone has already done this research