Zucchini Fritters

I take pictures of food way more often than I write about it. Sometimes the food (or the pictures) does not turn out as well as I planned. Sometimes I take the pictures for other reasons, such as wanting to brag to my mother. Most of the time I just don't get around to writing. Life is too distracting.

I was exploring my old picture files and found this one of zucchini fritters.

It isn't the most appetizing. And it looks like I was using way more butter/oil than I actually was because my stovetop wasn't level. But, zucchini fritters are still delicious, and now it's zucchini season again.

I'm not really into most vegetables. I like them in theory. I like reading about them, looking at pictures of them, imagining a future where I grow them. But in reality I am not a fan. So, it's good for me to find a recipe which disguises super-cheap (often free in the case of zucchini, once the season gets going) vegetables as something delicious. Of course, it's not hard when the solution involves bacon, garlic, and cheese.

Zucchini Fritters
4 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
1 medium zucchini fritters, shredded
1 1/2 cup shredded cheese (I've used cheddar, but experimentation is in the future)
2 garlic scapes or 1 clove garlic, minced
2 eggs, seperated
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup masa or cornmeal
2 Tbs sour cream
dash cayenne pepper & salt

--mix all ingredients except egg whites
--whip egg whites and fold into batter
--drop by the 1/4 cup onto medium-heat greased skillet and fry until golden
--suggested serving: with tomato, avocado and sour cream

Derby!

Now, you might think that the Kentucky Derby is an event celebrated only by those in the South, those interested in horses or gambling, or those with TVs who can actually watch the event. But you would be wrong! Derby Day can and should be celebrated by anyone with a love of goofy hats or delicious minty cocktails.

To the left you will see an example of an acceptable hat for Derby Day celebrations.

Now, when Pirogi and I do celebrations, we generally have to go all out--make a day of it. We also needed to clean out my fridge, which had an inordinate amount of meat in it. Normally, I buy/eat meat once or twice a week. In my fridge, I had chicken, kielbasa, steak, and bacon. The bacon and steak were both from farms near where Pirogi's parents live and pretty delicious.

So, Derby Day began with a proper breakfast.

French toast with strawberries, bacon, pineapple, coffee. I have never succeeded at making french toast before, so this was super exciting.

Dinner was barbecue chicken,
asparagus, onion, and biscuits. But, of course, the highlight of the evening, the entire reason for Derby Day (besides the horses, I suppose) was the mint juleps.

First step: minty syrup (my job)
1 cup white sugar
1 cup water
1/4 cup chopped mint

Boil until sugar is completely dissolved, then remove from heat and let steep for 1 hour. Strain and cool.

Second step (Pirogi's job)
bourbon
mint syrup
Mix and serve over crushed ice with mint sprig garnish.

20 Mule Team Borax

Sanna Sanna Ho

Easter Eve (Holy Saturday?) dinner:
Breakfast (consumed noonish): Lemon Rolls with Cream Cheese Glaze from the kitchn


Dinner: Eggs Benedict and asparagus


I made the hollandaise sauce using Alton Brown's method. It was super easy, but attention-needing so I was glad that Pirogi was taking care of the other egg-related preparations. I don't have a double-boiler or a metal bowl, so I had to balance a corel bowl in my saucepan.

Curry Chicken Salad

Pierogi and I just finished playing The Tales of Monkey Island. While in the midst of a particularly intense session of puzzle-solving misadventure, we realized that we absolutely needed to eat something for dinner that night. We settled on curry chicken salad as an easy, delicious and acceptably thematic choice (alright, curry doesn't really make sense in the Caribbean, but at least it is tropical).

While at the grocery store, we encountered a mysterious fruit that our monkey-addled brains could only assume was....

el Limón Grande!!













Actually, it was a pomelo.







Of course, we had to buy it even after we realized that it was not in fact a voodoo-enhanced lemon with mystical disease-curing powers.

We came to the conclusion that it was worth trying once, but not buying again. The flavor was reminiscent of grapefruit, but milder and nothing to write home again.

Still, it was exciting. The thickness of it's pith made it seem like some sort of ancestral grapefruit--not as altered by artificial selection for easy peeling.



Curry Chicken Salad (I have no picture of this, but I swear it is tasty)
1 1/2 lb poached chicken, chopped or shredded
1/2 cup mayo
1/3 cup plain yogurt
2 Tablespoons curry powder
2 teaspoons honey
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
squeeze of fresh lime or lemon juice
1 apple, skin on, chopped

Mix all together. It's best if you give the sauce 10-15 minutes for the flavors to meld before you serve, but not necessary. Other things to add might include scallions, purple onion, mango, sliced almonds, or cranberries.

Chester P. Greenwood and Milk Punch

Yesterday was a day of celebration in Farmington, ME: Chester P. Greenwood Day, celebrated yearly on the first Saturday of December. This year, C.P.G. Day also happens to fall on Chester's birthday (born in December 4, 1858).

Chester famously invented earmuffs while breaking in a new pair of ice skates. He got sick of his ears freezing in the bitter wind, and after little success with wrapping a scarf around his head he had his grandmother sew some wool to ear-sized wire loops.

Greenwood's Champion Ear Protectors were worn by U.S. soldiers in World War I, making them Chester's most famous invention, but he also patented a whistling tea kettle, a steel-toothed leaf rake, an advertising matchbox, and a machine for making wooden thread spools.

The most important aspect of the Chester Greenwood Day celebrations is always the parade. Everyone wears earmuffs, what could be better? A few highlights from this year's parade, in order of appearance:

Butternut Squash Pie

I love the Southern Heritage Cookbooks. I have several. They have great recipes and bits of food trivia interspersed with vintage labels, photographs, advertisements, and postcards.
(I recently saw the whole set at a used cookbook website listed at $400.00!)

Mine are interspersed with smudges of butter and crumbs, and cocoa here and there.

Most recently I have made

- to wide acclaim -

Butternut Squash Pie

1 C. (or more) butternut squash, pureed

3/4 C . half and half

1/3 C. white sugar

1/3 C. brown sugar

2 eggs

1 t. cinnamon

1/8 t. nutmeg

1 t. ginger

1/4 t. cloves

dash of salt

2 T. bourbon ( or rum or optional)

1 unbaked pie crust

3/4 C. chopped pecans

1/2 C. brown sugar

1/4 C. softened butter

Combine, squash, half and half, sugar, 1/3 c. brown sugar, eggs, spices, salt, and bourbon. Mix well .Pour into pie shell. Bake @ 375 20 minutes. Combine pecans brown sugar, and butter. Remove pie from oven and sprinkle pecan mixture over the top. Return it to the oven for 25 minutes.

(about 10 minutes into the second baking, I noticed that the crust was getting real brownish, so I made 3 aluminum foil protectors and set them on the crust.)