Nana Cooks

Any one who cooks has their own style in the kitchen. The more you cook, the stronger the style image. Some people have an easy flow that allows others to help; some are more constrained. All move to a rhythm in their head.  It’s  the  kitchen dance. People who  cook together  learn how to “dance” around each other and avoid the other cook’s direction even before they move there. They do this in small kitchens as well as large ones. Fun to watch. They dip and sway and circle and practically do-si-do. The next time you get to watch people cook together, take a few minutes to observe. You can almost hear the caller.

My family is full of dancing cooks! Good cooks. I love to watch them prepare food. And over the years I have also noticed a  utensil/dance relationship in cooks. They can remind you of certain kitchen utensils as well as dance moves.

I’m an easy pick. With the speed I show in a kitchen I can only be described as the –Slow Cooker, or possibly the Crock-Pot!  I do not seem capable of the fast meal. A fast meal to me is a sandwich. After that it gonna’ be close to an hour.  I’m like the Stroll. [Remember that one from the '50's?] The food may be good, but it is slow coming out of the kitchen.
My daughter, Moffett–an excellent cook–is the opposite. Which gives her an easy tell–she is a Microwave! And How! That woman can get a meal–a good meal–on the table in less than 15 minutes. No kidding. She has a fabulous recipe using frozen scallops that I have not mastered. So far it is way too fast for me.  I’ll pass it along when I learn it. And yes, she uses the microwave to its best advantage and knows how to put food together quickly. One of the few times I remember Moffett ticked at me was when I forgot to use the microwave to preheat/boil the potatoes! So when you dance with her in the kitchen, you had better be ready to Foxtrot!
My son, Hartman, is the king of the HOT pan! I, of course, am certain I will burn the pan, burn the food, ruin the meal. But he turns up the heat and proceeds with speed, dexterity, and confidence. The guy likes to play with fire. He does lean toward fabulous sandwiches  with creative sides. His meals are quick, creative, and good.He has excellent ‘other cook in kitchen’ understanding. He dances fast, but as long as you don’t touch the heat controls, he can dance around several people in the cooking space.  He practically sets the pan a blaze and proceeds with a fiery Tango!
Ah, and Enslow, well, a little harder to describe. After much observation and thought, I found it –the salad spinner. I know, I know, but listen–I don’t really understand why a salad spinner works so well and does its job so successfully.  Add some water, turn it around a bunch and voila–there it is. Like Magic. I’ve seen her go into her kitchen,–a very small New York kitchen, opens some drawers, check the refrigerator, turn on the stove, check with the kids, come back to kitchen , rearrange things, go back to the kids and sing songs or quiet a sleepy child, get back to the kitchen, repeat the above ,spin around ,do some magic and and suddenly announce, “Dinners ready”! When did it happen?  When did the the magic happen? And it is a full on meal–often with desert. She is a woman who gets up and fixes great banana bread at 6 am while she –and everyone else- is getting ready for the day!? She is a Swing Dance full of energy and great moves–you’re never certain what you saw, or how she did it, but it worked and you certainly liked it!  Like a salad spinner.
And then Douglas, my son-in-law. Must tell it like it is–the man is a great cook. And his kitchen utensil– Fine China. yep. When Douglas cooks–the meal is going to be really good–and it is going to be Fancy. Get out the good stuff and light the candles. The guy can ask the right questions at the meat market, plan the menu, and fix the goodies. Did you put on a nice tablecloth? You never see a missed step. His meals are remembered for years. Like that lamb meal from a few years ago. Great meal. Great memory.  His dance–naturally, is the Waltz. Classy and Lovely.

When the Swing Dance and the Waltz cook together–there’s a lot of motion in that kitchen!

Food is not the only thing to enjoy in a kitchen. It is also where people get to show their mechanical side –and their personal dance. There are other members of my family that I’m still watching cook. Each of us has a little machine and a dance in us.

The recipe this time is really brief– not really a recipe, but a cooking tip. I got it  from Enslow. And it has a magic quality about it, but it also involves a slow cooker. If you like beets–you be grateful for this tip.

Get out the slow cooker.  Wash beets and remove greens [can save to cook separately]. Leave enough stem on beets to avoid ‘bleeding’. Put beets in crock pot. Cover with aluminium foil. Turn on low.  Leave for 10 to 12 hours.

Turn off slow cooker.  Remove beets.  They are ready to eat or to use in a  recipe.

What’s your kitchen devise?  Are you dancing?

Time must be different for everyone. I think scientist “proved” that we all see colour slightly differently. Certainly we see and remember events from our own perspective, so why not time? This comes to mind each week as I prepare for writing my post. I get busy with something else and time goes Away. Because I am all but retired from my paying job, my mind is assured that I have lots of time. So I make the list of to do’s. I’ve learned to make it shorter. But I work very slowly–at every thing I do. It’s madding. How can someone who could fly plod so heavily? Ah, but I think I am missing my own point! I do have lots to do! It does take me longer to do these things! I actually have more to do than I can get done! This might call for a “Hallelujah!” Life is good.

Beginning in April and still continuing on, I have been putting in my garden. As with many things in life , “garden” is also a relative word. I have tomatoes in large buckets, various herbs in pots, bell peppers in containers and a few annuals just put in the ground. Shrubs are blooming, the mock orange is lovely, and the peach tree thinks it is in line for a promotion from DelMonte. My yard is starting to look as if I cared. And I do care. I  really care about that small, but healthy looking frog that somehow found our very small plastic pond. The pond contains about eight goldfish of varying length–some as big as four inches. We put them there . But where did the frog come from? Yeah, I know about tadpoles, but there were none, so did he just find the time to hop up the hill to this garden spot? I hope he is happy. I hope he stays a long time. I am honoured that he picked my pond. Maybe he will be content and stay.

In the mist of all this nature explosion, Bruce and I went to New York to be part of the birthday celebration for  Blake, who is now a joyful one year old.!
As part of the celebration, our hosts, Enslow and Douglas treated both sets of grandparents to a dinner in New York. Yea! I love eating in restaurants in New York. We went to Klee. The info on it said it had Austrian leanings.  No wait, was that Alsatian?  As with many restaurants in the City, it was small–I think “intimate” is a word they use. It was great. I do not remember all the dishes ordered but I remember I loved mine! I had a whole fish–which they very nicely showed me and the whisked it back to the kitchen to remove the head.  Thank you very much.  The fish was quite good, but the lovely surprise was the vegetables.  They were so good I asked how they were prepared, and the answer was ’sous vide’. I did not remember how to  pronounce it, had to write my daughter and son-in-law for help with spelling and pronouncing–but I knew it was good! Sous vide is a very old method of slow cooking with low temperature and a vacuum.  The end result is incredible.  The equipment to cook this way is quite expensive, so I’m looking for a variation on a theme.  I’ll let you know how close I come. I mean, I had parsnips and carrots that were the hit of my meal.  And of course there was that chocolate bread pudding with a sauce to die for. I love to eat out in New York. : ) Thank you Enslow and Douglas

But good food is everywhere!  Even is my own kitchen.  I am trying to teach myself  –and allow myself –to expand my cooking menu.  I am afraid of cooking fish.  So I make myself buy the  fish that is on special each week and then find a way to cook that fish.  It is a plan that works fairly well.  This past week the sale of the day was cod.  Ok , cod it is.  I fixed in in foil with onion and spices and then it was put on the grill.  I realize that fish is foil can be cooked in an oven, but the recipe called for a grill.  It was good, and I had two pieces left over.  And there is my second challenge!  Use the leftover so it becomes a plan-over!  I ended up using it in a soup–much to my delight!  Bruce really liked this soup also.

I’m putting down the simple recipe as a guide for future ideas.  Soup is sooo forgiving, it is difficult to go wrong if you are using good ingredients. And if this recipe sounds familiar, it should.  The beginning is just like the potato soup I set down for St. Patrick’s Day. 

 I think the fish should be cooked for dinner one night and some saved for the soup. Broiled, grilled , or steamed–but not fried. Remember, you are using planned-over fish.

If you like to have all your ingredients at the ready, do so.  If you like to go directly from cutting to cooking that works too…  have a large pot ready and add to it as you cut.

My Fish Soup

` 3/4 cup celery finely chopped

` 1 cup carrots finely chopped

` 1 cup onions finely chopped

`2 potatoes-diced

` water–enough to cover vegetables

` 2 pieces of cooked fish [I used cod]

` 1 large can of diced tomatoes

` salt and pepper to taste

Have pan hot and melt butter; add first 3 vegetables and cook about 5 minutes- stirring often.  Add potatoes and cover with water. Cook until potatoes are done. Add tomatoes and seasonings. Heat. It’s done. Serve alone, with crackers, with a sandwich, as an appetizer.  It is good. You can certainly vary the amounts of anything in this soup. It is a good soup.

Cooking the fish and then turning it into a soup was a big step for me. But I love to cook.  It is one of many things that I love. I hope you have many loves.