Day 1: MBC to Silent Hill, OH

The Mister picked me up from the office Wednesday evening. We did not pass go.We did not collect $200. We did visit Michigan Brewing Company, however.

MBC is the second largest beer distributor in Michigan, after Bells. MBC’s beer is better, too. Sure, it tacked an hour onto the trip, but since we were splitting the drive into two days, we had some time to enjoy the journey. It also gave me a chance to pick up gifts for the friends we were visiting and try a riff on the sea breeze called a Summer Breeze. It’s made with house-distilled Valentine Vodka, fresh squeezed citrus juice, and a bit of Badass Beer.


Yes, that's Kid Rock's beer. Although it's not bad, it's not quite Badass either. ("It's a canoe beer," says The Mister.)

Our hearts were warm, our bellies were full, and we were feeling fine as we entered the Ohio Turnpike.

“Do we have change?” I asked, fumbling around the center console.

“I’m sure they take credit,” The Mister slowed down and reached into his pocket for his wallet. Before he could grab it, the tollbooth light flashed green and the gate raised.

It turns out that our Illinois I-Pass, which we got for visiting my folks, works on other tollways too! I checked it out, and you can use the I-Pass/E-ZPass in 20 states in the Midwest and New England, including Ohio and Pennsylvania.

If you do any driving in that area, get an I-Pass. It saves you at least an hour from tollbooth slowdowns and you won’t have to scrounge for change.

It had rained most of the drive. The Mister doesn't love to drive at night, or in the rain, but he was a trooper and pulled the entire shift himself. It was about 11 PM when we reached the exit for our hotel just East of Cleveland. The rain had become a fine mist and fog had started to rise from the ground. We saw a nearly-deserted strip mall, windows sealed with plywood, one lone Dollar Store the last tenant. It was depressing, and more than a little creepy to see the same setup repeated just a few miles down the road, then a few miles after that. I started to second-guess our decision to listen to “Dead Beat” in the car.

We eventually found our hotel, which was clean, if not comfortable, and got on the road bright and early the next day. Thus ended our side trip to Silent Hill and the least interesting part of the trip.

It gets better from here kids, I promise.

Carrie P’s Excellent PA Adventure (Also Starring The Mister)

The Mister and I just got back from a trip to Philadelphia, PA on Monday. We wanted to blog the trip, but decided to wait until after the trip to write about it.

Strictly speaking, the trip is not 100% food-related. But we did make an effort to do the Road Food thing while driving, and a highlight of the trip was dining at a Very Good Restaurant. So, I think it fits for the most part.

I'll be posting every day or so, starting today. Entries will be mostly, but not exclusively, chronological.

For now, Be Excellent to Each Other, and Party On, Dudes!

Love, CarrieP and The Mister

The Chard

If you're ever looking for a good idea for a Hollywood Horror story, I humbly submit the following:

It's pre-dawn. A young woman walks into her backyard, tentatively. She goes to a small, fenced in area. She carefully steps over the knee-length chicken wire, and digs her hands into the dirt.

She grasps the head of a green, leafy thing, and pulls. The object emits a sickening crunch. she does this again, and again. But no matter how much she pulls, she cannot eliminate...

The Chard.

Greens are great, because they are easy to grow, hard to kill, and produce like the dickens. But greens can also be a nuisance because they are easy to grow, hard to kill, and produce like the dickens. They can end up much like weeds if a gardener plants too many of them, and harvests too infrequently.

The best defense against attack of the smothering greens--once you pick them--is to cook them down. A bushel of chard melts down to a fraction of its size once you toss it with some fat and heat in a pan.

To this end, I plucked some chard this week and made Swiss Chard pies. This recipe is adapted from a Martha Stewart Everyday Food recipe, which can be found here.

I cooked the chard longer than the recipe stated--I prefer my chard nice and soft--and used the dough to make individual calzones instead of one big pie. I added a bit of wheat flour to the dough to add nutrition and give it a little more chew.

The original recipe called for assembling the pie, then freezing it dough, then baking it frozen. Since my calzones were smaller, I cooked them first, then froze them. In theory I should be able to warm them up in the microwave much like a Hot Pocket, but healthier and tastier.

For 1 1/2 pounds of chard, I made 8 pocket-sized calzones. I tried one right out of the oven, and it was pretty tasty. The dough was more like a pizza crust, rather than a flaky or tender crust, but it had a nice chew and a great flavor from the olive oil. The filling was spicy, savory, tender and filling.

Swiss Chard Calzones
Adapted from Martha Stewart Everyday Food Swiss Chard Pie


Follow the recipe for Swiss Chard Pie (Use the largest pan you have)with the following changes:

Cook the stems and the leaves separately until the volume has reduced significantly, then put them back together in the same pan and cook them for another 10 minutes, until the chard stems are pretty soft.

Make the following changes to the dough:
Replace half a cup of the flour with whole wheat flour.
When ready to roll, divide the dough into four quarters.
Shape each quarter into a flat disk, then roll out into a large, thin, circle. Cut the circle in half.
Lay out a 1/4 cup of filling in each half-circle. Press edges together, wetting seams with a finger dipped in water if needed.
Oil a large baking sheet. Brush calzones with egg yolk as directed in recipe.
Bake at 400 for 20-30 minutes, checking after 20 minutes. Pull when crust turns golden brown.

Eat at once, or let cool and freeze on a flat baking sheet. To reheat, microwave 2-3 minutes, checking doneness after 2 minutes.

The Steak Anniversary

Is the sixth anniversary the steak annversary?

The Mister and I are planning our anniversary dinner. Last year, we vacationed in Chicago. I'm normally the one who picks restaurants, but that time, I completely bombed on picking our place to dine. Not only did the place not sell wine (BYO is popular in the city), I got food poisioning from my sea scallops. Considering we could have eaten at Alinea, one of the best restaurants in the US, it was an Epic Fail.

So, when a friend started gushing about Bourbon Steak, my ears perked up. Best steak he ever had, he said, and his wife was going on and on about the mac & cheese. The food is American Steakhouse, but very expensive, and apparently very delicious.

As in, their steaks average about $50, and everything else is a la carte. Their most expensive steak is $70.

I really want to do a good anniversary dinner this year, and this place seems to fit the bill. But I'm just not sure if I can bring myself to pay that much for a steak. There are other things we could spend our money on. On the other hand, I don't want to go someplace mediocre, again, for our anniversary.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on the matter.

It isn't easy eating greens

So, My summer CSA is in full force. I'm splitting the share with some foodie friends.

But I simply cannot keep up with all the greens they are throwing at me.

I know, I know, the early Summer is all greens. Nothing farm-fresh is ripe yet, locally, here in the Great Lakes region. But if they try to give me yet another variation of spinach, cabbage, and leaf lettuce, I'm going to scream!

To top it all off, I planted a dozen bunches of chard in my own garden. I have greens coming out the wazoo.

In a desparate attempt to get most off my greens off my plate (heh) before an upcoming 4th of July vacation, I pulled out all the stops last night. I made:

* Spinach & Garlic Scape Pesto
* Bok Choy and komatsuna (aka Japanese bitter spinach) stems sauteed in bacon fat and pesto.
* Roasted Kale chips (toss kale with oil to coat, splash of vinegar, salt. Roast at 250 for 10-20 minutes. Stir frequently, check every couple minutes after 10 to make sure they don't burn).
* Shrimp and coconut soup with bok choy and komatsuna leaves.

And in the morning:
* Chard braised in oil and wine, finished with Parmesan.

The kohlrabi will hold, but I'm not so sure about the baby beets and greens. The leaf lettuce may be a lost cause, but I'll toss it when I return.

If any thieves come while we're away, and steal some of my vegetable garden, I'll probably be grateful.

Food groove

Planned some party food for a coed (clothed) bachelor party shindig this weekend.

We also did a late dinner at a fantastic local joint, but I wanted to make sure there were snacks for before and after.

Other than making waay too much food, it was a terrific success. Used lots of local produce from my CSA share, prepped almost everything 2 days in advance, and got a sweet deal on some pork butt.

Here's a rundown of the party menu plus some shorthand recipes.

Strained yogurt dip
1 tub plain yogurt
2-3 tablespoons fresh herbs, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
scant teaspoon lemon juice
salt & pepper to taste
Mix all ingredients. Strain using cheesecloth and a colander (or, in a pinch, coffee filters and a colander) overnight. Unwrap, taste, adjust for seasoning, put in pretty bowl. Serve with assorted crackers and veggies.

Potted cheese

Spinach artichoke dip
fresh spinach
2 boxes cream cheese
2 jars artichokes, drained and roughly chopped
1 cup parmesan, shredded
1/2 cup mozzarella
1/2 cup mayo
1-2 cups leftover garlic scape pesto

Chop and boil the spinach briefly, drain and squeeze out water.
Microwave cream cheese for a minute or two until it's mixable.
Toss everything else in, mixing well. Pack it into a big oven-safe dish.
Refrigerate for a day or two, cook at 350 for a half hour until top is lightly browned and dip is rocket-hot.

Sweet Satan's Seed (aka sweet and spicy roasted nuts)

Pulled pork
6 pounds bone-in pork butt
assorted herbs, 1-2 Tablespoons, including fresh cillantro
1 Tablespoon grated orange peel
1 tablespoon crystalized tamarind
couple shakes of soy and worchestershire
1 tablespoon lemon juice
good handful of salt
2-3 crushed garlic cloves
1 teaspoon coriander seeds, crushed
1 teaspoon black peppercorns, lightly crushed

mix into a paste. Rub all over pork. Let sit overnight if you have time.
Next day, toss the pork in a Crock-Pot and cover with
12 oz red wine
12 oz mountain dew
1 tomato, roughly chopped (or a can of tomatoes)
water or chicken broth as needed to bring liquid level 2/3 of the way up the roast.

Set on low for at least 8 hours, up to 12.
Drain liquid, let pork cool. Shred, mix with whatever BBQ sauce you like, or leave unsauced. Serve on good quality buns like yeast buns.

Chocolate Chipotle brownies
Box brownie mix plus ingredients to make the brownies (eggs and oil usually)
1 can raspberries in syrup
1-2 tablespoons dried chipotle powder
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips.

Drain raspberries, reserve liquid.
Make brownie mix to package directions, using raspberry juice in place of any water that the recipe calls for. Mix in chocolate chips. Pour into pan, spread drained rasperries on top, swirling into batter with a knife.

Line a baking pan with oiled parchment paper. Bake according to package directions. You may need to bake a bit longer because of the additional liquid from the rasperries. These will never get completely dry because of all the liquid, so it's OK if they stay a bit squidgy. Remove from oven and let cool. Slice with a pizza cutter.

I did it again!

Late Thursday night, while searching for a treat to make for my boss's birthday, I realized I had all the ingredients for this. So, in under 2 hours, and to the chagrin of all those chefs that swear by mise-en-place, I literally threw together a pineapple upside-down cornbread cake.

And it was awesome. A coarse, but sweet, crumb, and a sumptuous, sweet sugar glaze on top.

Maybe that's my calling, to show people how to throw together tasty meals with whatever's on hand. A cookbook of sorts. I'm not sure, though, can you write a cookbook if you have no formal training? Well, of course you can, but will anyone read it?