[what's cookin'] Frozen Spiked Lemonade

When the mercury rises here in Southern California, I like to relax on our back patio with a frosty beverage. As the temps got up to a sweltering 88 degrees Fahrenheit (no giggles from you, Arizona and Texas), I blended up a batch of yummy to cool off tonight. Want to try your own frozen Tom Collins?  Here you go:

Frozen Tom Collins/Spiked Lemonade

1/4C water

6oz quality gin 

2oz Cointreau (friends don't let friends drink triple sec)

3 lemons--peeled, halved, seeded

1/4 cup sugar

6C ice

If using a high powered blender, throw all the ingredients in and blend for a minute or so. Otherwise, add everything but the ice and blend until liquified. Add ice (in batches, if necessary) and blend. 

Pour and enjoy!

[mini-trad mysteries] Pantry, Service Porch; Can YOU help?

When it came time to buy our house, I had—like most shoppers—a very keen idea of exactly what I wanted.  

• Three + bedrooms
• One + bathrooms
• Built before 1950
• Ideally! built between 1890 and 1940
• With as many original, historic details intact as possible

We found that house, too.  But it wasn’t meant to be.

Instead of my dream house, we found a home that I’ve fallen in love with despite its faults.  It has the curb appeal of a shipping container, but has some really cute little details throughout.  (Including original tile in the kitchen and the bath!)

We mopped AFTERWARDS, oops

But our strange little mini-trad also has some odd mysteries about it.  

In our kitchen is a pink and beige/off-white linoleum flooring that is not original to the house.  The house was built in 1948 and based on some snooping I did, I found evidence that the original flooring is still there under the new-ish linoleum.

In our service porch is a recessed space that we use (and the previous owners used) as a pantry.  In the floor of this pantry are two small holes up against the east wall.  Gutting from the north wall is a strip where there is no linoleum and no original flooring, but it doesn’t open up to the crawl space.  Obviously, something was there when both the original flooring and the “updated” linoleum was installed.  But what?  A washer?  A sink?  

Note the shelf supports

When looking into this recessed space, it quickly becomes clear that it was updated to be a pantry.  The shelving is unsophisticated.  Wooden boards supported by slats of wood nailed to the west and east walls.  I suspect that the “pantry” shelving was installed before the linoleum was installed, but I cannot be clear.  If it was, then whatever left its “footprint” in the floor would have likely co-existed with the shelves.  Therefore, said appliance would have to have been on the short side as the lowest shelf is only about a foot and half off the floor.  And that doesn’t make sense.

I have no clear indication when the linoleum was installed, and no clear idea when the “pantry” was converted.  But it all does leave me scratching my head, that’s for sure!

For a bit of extra mystery... Notice how in this last photo the linoleum was installed either after the water heater was replaced/added, or that the heater was lifted to install the flooring.  Weird.

[what's cookin'] A Picnic

Yesterday was the Homestead Museum's annual Ticket to the Twenties event.  It's a free two-day tribute to the Jazz Age complete with live music, dancing, films, games, and even fashion shows.  It's the perfect event in Southern California for a twenties-style picnic.

For this year's picnic, I thought I would try my hand at a couple of Jazz Age recipes thanks to VintageRecipes.net.  I wanted picnic foods that might have been served up at an outdoor luncheon in the 1920s, so decided on a couple of sandwiches and a potato salad.  But due to a few dietary limitations and allergies, I did decide to alter the recipes a bit.  So long as they kept to the style of the foods, I was okay.

The sandwiches came out well, I thought.  I chose a mock-chicken salad sandwich on white.  I looked up several chicken salad recipes on the site and used the information to guide my mock creation.  Honestly, it really was not that different from contemporary "chicken-salad."  Some "chicken" (in my case, I used chickpeas), some mustard, salt, pepper, vinegar, and--of course--mayonnaise.  Celery was often added, too.  Yep, pretty much what most folks call chicken-salad today.

The second sandwich that I chose was a cheese sandwich.  While not using camembert specifically, I used a similar soft, rind cheese that had a wonderful bite to it.  Quite tasty, albeit a touch messy to make.  I opted to thinly slice the cheese and place the slices on the sandwich, though I did consider cutting the cheese in half horizontally and then scooping and spreading the soft cheese sans rind onto the bread.

The potato salad recipe that I used as my inspiration include cayenne and Tabasco.  My husband is allergic to both, so I opted for black pepper and HP sauce instead.  (Sure, I could've chosen another recipe as there are plenty, but by the time I was getting around to making the salad, I had to chose one for which I had on-hand most of the ingredients and that would be nice at a picnic.)  The end result had a lovely tanginess and was quite tasty.  Yet by the next afternoon (I made the salad the day before the picnic), it was much more bland.  I here I thought the flavors would marry well.  Drat.

Otherwise the picnic was lovely.  We brought out some good china on which to dine.  We sat in the shade and sipped vintage sodas and lemonade.  My friend, Tricia, brought even more to eat: deviled eggs, sandwiches, fruit salad, and a heavenly apple pie and blueberry cake!  We were stuffed!

I certainly want to picnic again, but perhaps will wait a touch longer in the year as yesterday was just a bit too warm for my tastes.  Perhaps next time I will try a few other era recipes to share.

A new (electronic) addition to our haus

Roughly two weeks ago, a damn broke.  To combat the constant presence of dog hair on our floors, I used money I’d been saving to buy a floor-cleaning robot.  (I subscribe to the "Throw Money At It" school of problem solving whenever my limited budget allows.)

Brian would've preferred
this model

Now that two weeks have passed, I can say with certainty that it was among one of the best, albeit costliest, gadget purchases we’ve ever made.  Not only does it keep our floors looking good, it amuses the heck out of Declan and myself.  As it navigates the floors, I think it resembles a drunk stumbling its way through a crowded party as it bumps, turns, bumps, rumbles along, et cetera.  I can almost hear it muttering, "'Scuse me... pardon me... whoops..." as it makes its way from place to place.

Most users would probably only run the robot once or twice a day.  Declan, however, likes to push the button on it, so our “Rocket,” as Declan calls our yet-unnamed Roomba, get’s quite the workout.  But as our floors have really never looked better, I certainly don’t mind.

Now if we could just figure out what to call ours...

[what's cookin'] Family Movie Night means POPCORN FOR DINNER!

Leftovers, anyone? How about a beer?

When my eldest was younger, we often designated Friday evenings as “Family Movie Night.”  Now that Declan is getting older, I have brought back our movie-watching nights.  He is still a touch too young for it, not usually sitting through the entire film (though animated or “puppeted/Muppeted” features fare better), but it gives all a night to come together and have fun.  

Taylor, my eldest, is always invited, of course, but being a young woman with different priorities, she is absent from the festivities from time to time.  (I could write a whole post on how watching children become highly independent adults is both heartbreaking and wonderful.  I miss that kid like crazy, but she needs to have the freedom to make her own choices about how she spends her free time.  But I digress.)

Recently, I heard about the idea of Popcorn-for-Dinner.  I think that it’s a great idea for Family Movie Nights.  Everyone can forage for leftovers, or make their own quick meal.  I whip up a few batches of my famous (and addicting) popcorn.  And we all graze while snuggled on the couch watching a movie.  It’s pretty perfect, actually.  (And Declan WILL sit for a long period of time if the popcorn bowl is in his lap.  He is a fiend for popcorn.)

Here’s my recipe for amazingly good popcorn at home.  I do not usually measure the ingredients, choosing to season to taste, but these measurements are a good starting point.  Obviously feel free to adjust proportions to your tastes.  Enjoy!

Lily’s Omnom-popcorn

6 cups of prepared quality popcorn*

2-3 tablespoons of olive oil (I use an oil sprayer)

2-3 tablespoons of nutritional yeast (Bob’s Red Mill brand is widely available, not to be confused with brewer’s yeast)

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Garlic powder, optional

*I use an old-fashioned, crank operated, stove-top oil popper.  I provides the tastiest popcorn I’ve ever enjoyed.  I pop mine with about two tablespoons of Earth Balance spread or high-quality butter.  If i’m feeling particularly fancy, I add a splash of truffle oil.

In a large bowl, toss popcorn with olive oil.  I use a sprayer and spray the top, toss the popcorn, spray the top, toss the popcorn, repeat until the popcorn has a light coating of oil.  Sprinkle nutritional yeast and toss until evenly distributed through the bowl.  Add salt and, if desired, a shake or two of garlic powder.  Eat immediately for best flavor.

Do you have any weekly/monthly family traditions?  

[in stitches] A Casual Shirt for My Fella

New shirt!

A few weeks ago it was so uncomfortably warm that the idea of cooking dinner brought on fears of combusting from the heat.  Our solution was to dine out at an air conditioned restaurant.  The second time that went out, I noticed my husband was wearing the same shirt as before.

"It's the only nice, comfortably shirt that I have," he explained.

He does have a few nicer-looking button-up shirts, but they're mostly polyester.  The shirt he was wearing was 100% linen, the perfect choice for a hot day.

In-progress

When we returned home after dinner, I began to look up possible shirt patterns for him.  I wanted a short-sleeve, button-front shirt with a collar, preferably with a yoke, too.  Vogue had exactly what I needed!

The next day, I headed to my local fabric store.  My husband wanted linen (which I can get inexpensively at LA's fabric district), but I thought I'd see what was available nearby.  I found two good 100% cotton options; a tiki print in blues and browns, and a red plaid.  I bought both.

The pattern recommended no obvious diagonals, so I purchased more of the tiki print than recommended.  Really the only issues were the yoke and collar, but the extra fabric allowed me to cut them on the cross grain to keep the pattern upright.

His "catalog" pose

The pattern and instructions were pretty straight-forward.  The project worked up quickly and easily. I was able to do everything by machine, too; including the buttons.

My husband loves the new shirt and claims it to be very comfortable.



While I've started the red plaid shirt, I haven't found time yet to finish it.  

[what's cookin'] I think I can?

I have had moderate success with refrigerator pickling.  But I’ve yet to really dive into full on canning.  My new favorite blog, though, has me wanting to give it a try.  I’ve got a few glass jars. I’ve got a few canning tools. I can boil water.  So, what’s holding me back?

Well, for starters, I’m not a big jam-eater.  I confess, I have a mild repulsion to hot fruit.  Okay, more accurately to hot berries.  Apples, pears, peaches are all perfectly fine for pies, but for the love of all that is pure and good--berries should never be heated.  They become a slimy ichor of yuck.  I shudder just thinking about it.  Granted, I am touch more forgiving of jams are they are usually enjoyed fresh from the ‘fridge, but our haus seems to be quite fine without stocking any spreadable fruit.

Okay, so maybe I shouldn’t can jams.  But I’ve yet to encounter any other canned food that leaves me salivating.  (Not that I’ve been looking too hard, mind you.)

So, do you can?  What are some of your favorite recipes?  Are any of the beginner-friendly?