use real butter

This evening when I got home, I wanted to try some skillet roasted potatoes I had read about in the latest issue of Fine Cooking on my busride. It calls for – none other than – yukon golds, which I have touted before as the finest cooking potatoes I have ever met. Turns out they were developed in Canada (hence the name, Yukon) and a cross between a white American potato and a fleshy yellow South American potato. What we end up with is a most versatile, flavorful, and reliable tuber. But I digress…

delicious crunchy outside, soft and fluffy inside

As I fried up these beauts in the skillet, I had to refill my industrial salt shaker. I reached for the salt can and discovered the weight to be on the light side. Oh shit. You know what this means?!? Need to buy more salt. You know what the problem with that is?!!? Chinese New Year is January 29th. You aren’t supposed to buy salt the month before or the month after the Chinese New Year. Why? Because the translation “yien” for salt also means to “be idle”. Chinese interpret the “be idle” to mean unemployment. And even if I thought I could possibly get away with it… my grandmother told me the one year my late uncle went to buy salt during The Wrong Time of Year, he was laid off by GM that same year (seems as if a lot of folks went and bought salt lately who work for GM, eh?). I called my mom and she helped me remember that I did have enough salt in the house – in the dining table shaker, and in the little salt/pepper disposable shakers we bought when we moved into the house before our stuff arrived. Okay, I think I can make it to March. Then my mom said, “Just cook a lot of chinese food that uses soy sauce instead.” Indeed, Mother. Indeed.

Yesterday morning my cousin looked at the thermometer on our deck and said, “It’s 20 degrees” and my reply was, “wow – it’s pretty warm out!”. We bid farewell to my aunt’s family at 8 am. As they pulled out of the drive to head home, we loaded the car with our skis and set off for the hill. Mixed conditions included glazed to fluffy and high winds. It wasn’t terrible, but we didn’t stay beyond morning – that’s the luxury of the local bump. I managed to piece together all of my quilt squares, clean up the house and return it to normal, and make dessert to take to Fiona’s place in the remainder of the day. It snowed all day long with the sun shining the whole time (winds).

**Jump for more butter**