Saturday, October 13, 2007

Saturday Brunch



I slept late. Moved slow. the rhythm of a fall arriving late, the sweet confusion of the day abloom ablaze and warm
where afternoon quickly cools, darkens moody. A day for brunch, brunching, grazing.


Last night I baked the plantains that took two weeks to ripen nto fragrance. I munched one for a foody desert.
I heated the other in the frying pan after frying a beautiful egg.

Why are the brown eggs so much more... flavorfull and shimmering than the white ones? The difference is like that of summer tomatoes vs. shipped from wherever tomatoes. I used to think I needed a juimbo egg to feel satiated. one of these samll brown eggs fills me, teaching again the lesson that it is not size it is quality and intensity of the experience that counts.

I boiled quatered red potatoes last night, using the fresh basil stems and less prstine leaves in the water, along with sea salt, and parsley. I seldom use plai water for anything.

Boiling is an opportunity to introduce and infuse flavor. These potatoes were so delicious that I munched a couple of quarters while I made my cheap and delicious coffee. I amend Bustelo with cinnamon. The result is not cinnamon flaovered coffeee but a smoothening and warming. I mix the cinnamon in the the fine grounds and pour boiling water over the grounds in the filter--- for a real but "ionnstant" coffee.

This I sipped black for a bit and then addedd a dash of very vanilla soy milk. Sweet yum without sugar.

So what else? The whole grain cinnamon rais bread, heated in the oven, layered with apple butter, and the prebaked palntain, warmed in the fying pan after the fried egg.

Great, Saturday, brunch.

Friday, October 12, 2007

Low Gourmet






Wherein I celebrate good cheap tastes as I concoct and discover them. Low vs High on the hog. Champagne
tastes on the water budget. It came to me today with the sublime open faced sandwich which comprised dinner.

Tandoori Nan
Goat Cheese crumbles
Grape tomatoes room temperature
Fresh Basil
Anchovies
Drizzle of Artichoke Hearts


I warmed the nan to just before crisping in a 400 degree oven. I removed it and then placed a few fresh basil leaves on it and then sprinkled goat cheese crumbles, and shredded several anchovies to tiny bits. I put it back in the
oven and then dropped the tiniest of the room temperature grape tomatoes on it. I drizzled a bit of the artichoke heart juice on it, and made sure most bites had a bit of tomato and a tiny spark of anchovie.

This was delectable!

The fresh basil was part of the weekly give away, cast away from the gorcery store.
It was whiel regarding the Caponata and having a fabulous conversation about it with a woman with an italian accent!!!! a beauttiful moment in the grocery store where she shared her recipe and comeenet on each ingredient in the jar!... Anyway I saw the goy artichoke hearts in a jar and was moved to buy it mainly because it was far less expensive than the caponata!

The artichoke hearts didn't last the afternoon I bought them but the liquid in the jar seemed delicious and
I mixed it with the oil of the anchovies.

I considered making pesto of the basil and still may, but i wasn't motivated to pull out the blender