Ramblings

Dinner tonight

Even though I'm so not a vegetarian, I frequently enjoy a vegetarian meal. Tonight was one of those nights.

Saturday is my Farmer's Market day. I love going there in spite of the crowds. There was a woman selling sweet corn. She said they were experimenting with a new kind. I bought a bag of 12 ears for $6. The Kona abalone people were grilling abalone so I couldn't resist trying two small grilled morsels for $5. They were delicious...I wished I had a glass of champagne to go with. I replenished my supply of salsa with spicy pickles from Andy, purchased beeyooteeful tomatoes and beets with the tops, of course.

So back to the vegetarian meal. I always have tons of food in the fridge and in the pantry. If there is a crisis, drop by and we can feed the masses. I looked for the oldest living thing and it was a half head of red cabbage. Perfect!

I sauteed the cabbage with pear vinegar and a bit of cinnamon sugar (leftover from a friend's major snicker doodle event). Then added some chopped and roasted hazelnuts. If you follow me on Facebook, you might have seen the mobile photo of our radishes. I chopped some up and added them with salt and pepper. Topped that off with crumbled goat cheese. Kris loves red cabbage so I knew he'd like this dish.

The corn on the cob was left in the husks and roasted in a 350 degree oven for thirty minutes. They were the sweetest, most tender corn kernels ever. Loved that with a little butter and chile salt. Yimmy!

Maine Food and Lifestyle magazine

I've loved visiting the coast of Maine in summer and eating an obscene quantity of lobster. Oh, I've also attended many photography workshops.

I wanted to share a link to the blog for Maine Food and Lifestyle. My friend, Jim Bazin and his partner Merrill Williams own this beautiful magazine. The magazine is full of Jim's fantastic photographs.

This is a link to one of my favorite posts. The Thomaston Cafe is a must for me. Jim and I went there one morning and had the lobster benedict. It was unbelievable!

Healthy Eating - The World's Healthiest Foods

During a wonderful sesshin in Maui, I was introduced to the most wonderful salad and way of eating.  Colorful with the variety of veggies - bok choy, sprouts, tomatoes, cucumbers, green onions, carrots and avocados.  Simple, common ingredients.  Our tenzo (temple cook) told me about a book called "The World's Healthiest Foods" by George Mateljan.  It's full of common sense with explanations on why these foods are so good for you. 

There are instructions on healthier ways of cooking:  Healthy sautéing in broth, then drizzling olive oil over the dish to reap the benefits of the beneficial oil.  Quick boiling retains the nutrients in vegetables and quick.

We've been eating this way for about a week and we've noticed increased energy and overall just feeling good. You never feel deprived.  I actually get tired of chewing all those veggies even though they are delicious.  I've been shopping at the Farmer's Market and love using all the local stuff. 

On my way to Maine - yeah!!!

Today is travel day to Maine. My route was from Honolulu to Dallas and Dallas to Boston. Then I drove from Boston to Wiscasset, Maine. Armed with knitting, flying is really painless and quite productive. I've made progress on my zendo shawl:

I-95 from Boston to Maine is quite pretty. It's lined with trees and you see very little buildings or industrial sites. I stopped at one yarn store and the market to purchase bottled water. I left home at 5:30 PM and arrived at the B&B at 7 PM. Tonight I'm staying at the Squire Tarbox Inn. I believe I may have mentioned it in the blog the last time I stayed here. Now I remember why I wanted so much to return. It's in a remote part of Maine and miles from any highway. I was welcomed by Roni de Pietro. She showed me to my room, a small room perfect for one. A place had been reserved for me in the dining room. The food is Swiss/German/Austrian/American. The roesti potatoes and spaetzel are amont my favorite things on the menu. Oh..there's red cabbage stewed in vinegar and sugar. It feels like being in someone's home, but not. Mario de Pietro is a chef extraordinaire. There's nothing frou frou about his cooking. It's traditional and it's wonderful. Tonight I ordered a crab cake with roesti potatoes and red cabbage. Pardon the appearance of the photo. I got so excited at the sight of the roesti potatoes that I dug in before taking the photo. I did my best to reconstruct the plate.

Good night...I'm beat...

Quiche by Cindy Adams-Vining

I got to meet Brent's wonderful mom, Alva and three wonderful sister, Cindy, Toni, and Sheryl. One afternoon, Cindy made a version of a quiche...delicious and oh, so easy to make. I've made it several times, each time a little different. Here's the basic recipe. The most important thing is to have the right consistency - that of a thick batter. Quantities are not precise at all. Preheat an oven to 350 degrees. Onion - 1/2 chopped finely Vegetables (raw or cooked) - chopped (suggest broccoli, mushrooms, spinach) Flavorful meat - sausage, bacon - chopped (Optional) To this add flour to coat Then add Cheese - grated and/or crumbled and a little bit of olive oil or butter Then add eggs. Cindy scrambled them, but I found that just tossing them in whole works fine. That way you can keep adding eggs until you get the right consistency. Oil a baking pan liberally (otherwise it may stick to the pan). Pour the mixture into the pan. Bake until firm. Start at 40 minutes and keep checking it. Everyone loves it!

Hawaiian Style Cafe - Waimea

On Saturday I had a morning free in Kona.  I've been wanting to check out the Waimea Farmer's Market.  It opens at 6 AM and I got a fairly early start.  When I got there it was drizzling and cold - partly because I wasn't dressed for the weather.  After taking a quick look around, I purchased Big Island goat cheese that was very fresh and some Hawaiian ear drop remedy.  My Latte has chronic ear problems and I'm always looking for a treatment that will work.

I headed off to the Hawaiian Style Cafe to warm up and fill up.  Service is really....really slow there.  In fact, when you are given your menu, ask for coffee right away.  That way you can get some before withdrawal fully kicks in.  The portions are gigantic there.  They have three egg omelettes that are huge.  I'm not sure what kind of eggs they use as chicken eggs never produce that much quantity.  I like to order the real local offerings...the stuff you can't get unless you cook it yourself at home.  Here, they have stew luau on the menu...a huge bowl for $7.50.  Stew luau consists of the leaves of the taro plant stewed for hours with chunks of beef.  A little chili pepper water in it makes it perfect for a cool morning in Waimea.  Yum!

Winter Well-Being

This is from the Food Network website for the  New Year:

	Eat your fruit and veggies. Beta-carotene, an anti- oxidant found in yellow and orange produce like winter squash, carrots and mangoes helps your body repel infection-causing germs.
	Include a daily dose of raw garlic in your diet to boost immunity. Try crushing and swallowing it like a vitamin pill, or chop it and add it to salad dressing. If you find the taste too strong, keep in mind that cooked garlic has benefits too.
	Eat yogurt to get a daily dose of probiotics, good bacteria that guard against gastrointestinal infec- tions. Look for containers of yogurt, acidophilus milk and kefir that are labeled as including L-acidophilus.
	Get at least eight hours of sleep per night. Studies show that a good night's sleep increases your resistance to colds and flu.
	Keep exercising. Physically active people catch fewer colds and respiratory infections. Just be sure to dress warmly and look out for ice!
	If a cold or flu does get past your immune system, enjoy a delicious steaming bowl of homemade chicken soup. Studies show that "Grandma's peni- cillin" eases cold symptoms by thinning nasal secretions and clearing congestion.

Belated St. Patrick's Day

Since we were both out of town for St. Pat's, we celebrated last night with corned beef and cabbage.  In one of my Julia Child cookbooks, there is a recipe for baked corned beef.  Since reading that I've been baking my corned beef.  Baking at a low temperature intensifies the flavor.

I first simmer the corned beef with the pickling spice it usually comes with.  I wrap the spices in cheesecloth.  Then I dump the water out and save the spices.  The corned beef is baked in a 300 degree oven until tender.  I add water with the spices to boil the cabbage for a couple of minutes.  This time I boiled some potatoes and put them in the pan with the corned beef to brown.  It was quite yummy.

Here's Julia's cookbook...