use real butter

Recipe: ma pu tofu

NaBloWriMo day 29.

Okay, I have caught up on answering questions in the comments. Sorry about falling behind. *pointing finger at NaBloWriMo*

The day after my grandma’s 88th birthday while I was still in California, Jeremy relayed the sad news that his own grandmother had passed away that morning. It was a shock as I cried into my aunt’s shoulder. I call my MIL, Mom. I call my FIL, Dad. I called Jeremy’s grandfather, Grandpa and I called his grandmother, Grandma. She was my grandma too.

she loved pink

Not long after Jeremy and I started dating almost 17 years ago to the day, we took a trip to New Mexico and I met his family. And then I went to Sunday dinner at Grandma and Grandpa’s house to meet all of the aunts, uncles, cousins… We paid a visit before dinner and his grandparents treated me like one of their own. It probably won’t surprise anyone to learn that these two very special people were the sweetest, most gentle souls in Jeremy’s life. He would go to their house before and after school, every day from age 6 to 16. He even kept his bike there (which Jeremy informs me is a big deal). Jeremy told me they always had the good sugary cereals in their cupboards. And of course, he spent every Sunday at his grandparents’ house – the whole clan did. They didn’t just go for Sunday dinner, they went in the morning and played cards and games. It was the hub of activity for the family.

Sunday dinners continued after Grandpa passed away twelve years ago. Whenever we were in town, we always reserved Sundays for Grandma’s house. If we weren’t staying over a Sunday, we’d make a point of visiting with Grandma. She loved chocolate, loved the color pink, loved having her grandchildren around, loved to eat out with friends. Grandma was an ace bowler, did the crossword puzzle every day, beat the pants off of everyone at Gin Rummy, won first place regularly at the state fair for her handwork… but most of all, she gave good hugs and had a smile that lit up the room. In the morning, we drive to New Mexico to be with Jeremy’s family and to say good-bye to this beautiful woman whose love nurtured three generations.

It’s been cold and snowy here. While cross country skiing yesterday, Jeremy and I silently made our way through the woods both lost in our own thoughts, both thinking about his grandmother. It only made sense that dinner tonight should be a comfort food – one that warms the body and sets the mind and heart at ease.

pork, bamboo shoots, green onions, chinese black mushrooms, chili-garlic sauce, tofu

minced black mushrooms (rehydrated), green onions, bamboo shoots

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: stir fried rice

NaBloWriMo day 16 (we’re over the hump!)

Eat on $30 day 6

Today was so wacked out. You see, we are having a dinner party on Sunday and I went into town to purchase groceries for the party. I can’t tell you how nice it was to comparison shop, but not have to worry about a decisive budget like last week! I bought a lot of very very nice seafood. Oh! and vegetables – gorgeous gorgeous vegetables and fruits and cheeses and wines (so many lovely wines). All the while, it made me a little sad because you see, I can step out of this self-imposed challenge whenever I want to. It ends Saturday and Jeremy and I can resume eating. What about people who have to stress over their food – and I mean really stress, not “Oh, what shall we serve our guests? Sancerre or Chablis?” – day after day, month after month. It never ends.

We’re coming to the last day of the challenge and while I love love love my readers for their insightful and thoughtful comments, observations, suggestions, while I love that we ARE raising awareness, I can’t help but feel a little helpless. A lot helpless. Sure, I made the $60 challenge for 2 people. We ate well. It would be folly for me to assume that because I could do it, people on food assistance can too. It’s not a level playing field. I don’t even want to begin describing the cooking equipment I have at my disposal, the culinary knowledge and experience, the desire. We are also assuming that we all love to cook and that doesn’t apply to everyone. Others doing the Eat on $30 challenge have touched on it too. There are many more factors than just money that are stacked against the hungry: time, equipment, math skills, transportation, knowledge, access. Most businesses locate where they can maximize profit, not where they can help the most people.

So I was in Boulder all day Thursday and I had $1.69 burning a hole in my pocket. I wandered into another grocery store, Sunflower. I forgot about them during my aggregation of groceries for this week’s challenge. I also got tired thinking of visiting a fifth store to price things out (at some point, you just scream “stop!”). But Sunflower has a great bulk section and I wandered about looking for some sweet treats to nibble on in the evenings. Can I just bitch for a(nother) moment? Why can’t I find a scale in the bulk section of Whole Foods? Apparently, they don’t want me weighing what I decided not to buy… Sunflower did have a scale – a crappy analog scale. When buying quantities on the order of a couple of ounces (remember, the $1.69 budget) those analogs are useless. I wound up purchasing the cheapest (on sale) item: gummy bears. I got about 20 of those colorful, sugar-filled, deliciously fruity little guys at $1.99 a pound.

psst! see fred passed out over there? too many appletinis…

I figured I could also get a few banana chips – less than a handful at $2.49 a pound. The whole bean coffee was $6.99 for any type of coffee. I know nearly nothing about coffee but decided to get some. You see, a few days after our challenge began, Tami said she had the worst headache ever because she didn’t have coffee in her budget. If you will recall, Jeremy opted out of coffee because I couldn’t find any decent coffee (he’s a picky one) at Safeway (running something like $11.99 a pound for the whole bean coffee). When he came home Tuesday, I said, “Tami said she’s got a horrible headache because she hasn’t had any coffee.” He looked at me and pointed at his left eye, “I feel like there is a needle behind this eye. It’s been like that all day.” I asked if it was because of the lack of coffee and he nodded. I should also point out that Jeremy has been getting up at 3 am and observing on the telescope for several hours each morning and then going to work for a full day, then coming home and working all night – all without Precious Coffee. I felt so bad about that. You can just imagine when I saw the $6.99 per pound sign I scooped what I thought was about an ounce of beans into a bag as a surprise for my guy. A reward for his good efforts in the last few days of the challenge.

1.92 ounces of coffee beans!

I wound up paying $.28 for the gummy bears, $.20 for the banana chips, and $.84 for the coffee! Then I got a $.10 refund for my shopping bag. My total: $1.27. I have $.42 left! When I walked to the register to pay for my snacks, I spied the free coffee station with those cute little 3 oz. cups. I was about to pick Jeremy up from campus to go home, so I filled a little cup with their organic dark roast as an extra bonus for him. As soon as he got in the car I handed him the little cup. You should have seen the smile on his face! He had some interesting observations on his reaction to the coffee:

I am convinced that I get an anticipatory high from the caffeine before I taste it much less digest it. I smell the coffee and hold a warm vessel in my hands and my personal internal pharmacy injects some goodies to give me a warm glow, positive outlook, and energy boost. ~Jeremy

Here’s what we had today (day 6): oatmeal for brekkie (Jeremy), bagel for brekkie (jen), beef stew for lunch (jeremy), soy sauce egg for lunch (jen), the remaining soy sauce chicken noodle soup for dinner, apple turnovers for dessert (which we ate BEFORE dinner), the last of the gummy bears and all of the banana chips. Jeremy has been enjoying coffee in his French press for the past day.

The fried rice we had on Thursday was a combination of leftovers. That’s why I love fried rice, you can put anything in it. I used a third of the rice to eat plain with the beef stew, and the remaining two thirds to make fried rice with a whole yellow onion, a third of the beef kielbasa sausage, four eggs, and four stalks of celery.

ready to cook

hard scramble the eggs

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: chinese cellophane noodle soup

NaBloWriMo day #10.

Before we get to Colorado pictures and the recipe…

You’re probably noticing a theme here with the Quaker Oats-Good Bite promo to fight hunger, my participation in Eat on $30 starting Sunday to raise hunger awareness, and now… Macy’s has launched a massive campaign called Come Together to Fight Hunger. Their goal is to raise awareness, raise money, and feed 10 million people suffering from hunger by involving the public in local events and matching individual donations dollar for dollar. The donations go to Feeding America.

There are three ways to be a part of this effort:

1) You can host a dinner party and request that instead of host(ess) gifts, your guests make a donation to Feeding America. Go to Macy’s Come Together page for more deets.

2) You can donate $1 directly at any Macy’s register. One dollar can feed dinner to SEVEN people.

3) You can shop for the cause at any Macy’s and get special in-store savings on October 17 (Saturday). A portion of the $5 in-store ticket sales will help Feeding America. [Why not all $5? I don’t know – I encourage you to ask.]

Oddly enough, I went to the Macy’s in Boulder a few days before BlogHer Food 09 and picked up a hoochie mama leopard-spotted shirt (it’s not THAT hoochie mama, but it’s comfy and I can photograph people, dance, and hold a white Russian in my hand while wearing it) which you can see on Susan’s post. I figured my typical Patagonia attire in the sticks was not going to cut it in San Francisco. While purchasing the shirt, I also bought a $5 ticket for a special event in the store next Saturday, October 17. I hate shopping, but someone in the house (not I nor Kaweah) is in need of a wardrobe update and because part of the $5 ticket went to Feeding America, I figured it was a good thing. I had actually forgotten about the sale until Tami mentioned Macy’s Come Together campaign to me.

But there is one more minor detail.

********* GIVEAWAY *********

Because I’m spreading the word about this on urb, I have received TWO (2) $25 Macy’s gift cards to give away to two (2) of my readers! The rules are as follows: Tell me the name of your favorite food charity or the name of a local food bank or local organization that feeds the hungry (even if you don’t know of one, it’s easy to google). Leave one comment on this post before midnight (MST) Friday, October 16. If you leave multiple comments you will disqualify yourself from the drawing. I will select two winners using some scientifically approved random and ridiculous method – most likely involving The Dog. I know I have several international readers, but Macy’s does not ship internationally nor do they have stores outside of the US. However, the cards can be used by anyone. If you live outside of the US, you can still use the cards as long as your purchases are shipped to a US address (good time to get chummy with your stateside pals). Good luck!

Our deck was reading in the low teens this morning and there was an inch of fluffy, light, dry snow. Friends in Boulder were tweeting that they had 2-3 inches on the ground. UPSLOPE! Typically, our weather comes from the west, over the Continental Divide. It usually rides on a hellish wind too. But on the occasions when we have an upslope, the weather comes from the east and sometimes Boulder gets more snow than we do. Jeremy and I can always tell when it’s going to snow in Boulder – it’s when you can smell Greeley (to the northeast) on the air. What does Greeley smell like? Cow shit.

wanna go for a walk?

It was the perfect morning for a walk with Kaweah. There wasn’t any ice on the ground, just lovely, powdery snow. The sun hopped in and out from behind the clouds and snow continued to rain down in that friendly, gentle way that reminds you of the holidays. It’s only October and I am getting very excited about the holidays in no small part because of this glorious weather.

the aspens are done

ducks were swimming about in the distance

happiness is…

It is officially soup weather! I love soup of any kind, the hearty soups, the noodle soups, the puréed soups, the bean soups, the thin soups, the broths, the borderline soup-stews, the heady soups. They’re all great in this weather which will last up to and sometimes into May for us. My favorite soups are the ones that remind me of my mom’s cooking. My mom worked a full time job, raised two daughters, cleaned the house herself (kept it like a museum it was so spotless!), and cooked dinner every night after she got home from work. Mom made homemade chicken broth so that I still cringe when I taste canned chicken broth to this day (some chicken broths are better than others). When I met Jeremy, he was Mr. Picky Eater. Made me crazy. These days, his eyes light up when I tell him I’m making this soup for dinner. Progress.

making pork meatballs

boil them in water to cook (and save the broth!)

**Jump for more butter**