‘Save Me the Plumbs’ by Ruth Reichl was the March selection for the Left Coast Winery Culinary Book Club. It is a short book detailing the time that Ruth spent as Editor in Chief at the magazine Gourmet.
This is the second book of hers that we have read as part of the book club. The first one ‘Garlic and Sapphires’ was a great introduction to Ruth as an author and a fascinating look at a food critic in an highly competitive environment. In many ways, this book is a continuation of that story because when she left the New York Times, it was for this job at Gourmet.
Ruth is a great writer. Her books are short with quick chapters and she pulls the highlights into each one. Even though this is a good book and a quick read, I have had a hard time making time and prioritizing this given the current circumstances. It has been hard to concentrate and be normal with quarantine as the norm and ‘Family Time’ as the expectation.
The focus of luxury and high cuisine from a magazine such as Gourmet feels a bit before my time. As someone in my forties, I am just beginning to appreciate (or be able to participate) in such things. I didn’t grow up around the magazine and am not really familiar with it since it went out of business in 2009. It does seem like the kind of magazine that that I would be the editor of where the story of the food was told, not just the recipes.
I finished the book last night and the ending made me wish that I had read it faster. I will spare the complete spoiler, but I can totally relate to the situation. This is an enterprise where everything seemed like it was going great only to have extenuating circumstances ruin a good thing. In the end, a person is grateful to have the opportunity to prove success but bittersweet that it isn’t more appreciated and recognized and at least allowed to continue.
Opportunities open doors when others are closed. I suppose Ruth may still be Editor of Gourmet rather than writing books and we still wouldn’t have these great stories. I enjoyed reading this book and there are a few recipes in it, some of which I have made. I think more than food, this is a book that is about a person’s self doubt, will to succeed and humanism. I liked this book because I liked ‘Garlic and Sapphires’ first.
Sunday is a sacred cooking day. I often save the best or most complicated meals for Sunday. It goes back to my days in the 9-5 grind where preparing and eating a really nice meal was a distraction from the rapidly upcoming Monday.
My journey into Mexican food started when we lived in South Carolina. We were far removed from the familiar tastes and flavors of family and Mexican food, even though there were several Mexican markets in our small town. Sunday was dedicated to cooking out of Rick Bayless’s “Mexican Kitchen“. I would spend as much as six hours preparing Sunday dinner. My book is literally falling apart from use.
My wife recently started getting connected with different online sources of Mexican cooking, I think to stave off quarantine madness. She has started working on mastering some of the basics. We were watching this old woman cooking classic recipes in this rustic kitchen, so that is what I decided to make yesterday.
Part 1: Making the broth
I take a whole chicken, one onion, carrot bits, celery stalk, a couple bay leaves, three garlic cloves, peppercorns and some salt an put it into a pot. then I fill the pot up with water. I boiled the chicken about an hour and a half (on low). Another note on stock, you don’t need to peel or trim any of the vegetables, just make sure they are clean.
I took the chicken out and let the broth cool about two hours to make working with the parts a little easier.
Part 2: Making the Salsa
In this recipe, I used Guajillo and a few Arbol chiles. I really didn’t count the Guajillos, but I would say about thirty, but the pile next to the skillet in the picture was what I used. I used five Arbols, they are spicy, very near the cayenne range, so go easy on them.
To make the salsa, destem and remove the seeds in the chiles. Fry the chiles in oil and soak them in about four cups of broth for about thirty minutes. When done with the chiles, blacken some tomatoes for depth. Put the chiles, tomatoes, 1/4 of an onion, 3 tablespoons of oregano and salt into the blender. Add the soaking broth into the blender for liquid and blend the mixture. Put the salsa back onto the stove to reduce the liquid.
Part 3: The Filling
To make the filling, I diced carrots and potatoes. Those were fried in oil and seasoned to taste. In a separate preparation I roughly chopped one onion and combined with queso fresco (I would guess 1/2 pound?). Those were set aside when I started working on assembly.
Part 4: Assembly
Things were starting to happen fast, so I didn’t get as many pictures in this phase. Heat up a skillet of oil and the oven to 350 degF. Take a corn tortilla, dip it into the salsa. Immediately move it to the skillet and fry about 20 seconds a side. I prepare about six at a time because that is what my tray holds.
Add the carrot/potato filling and add about half of that in cheese/onion mix. Roll the enchiladas and repeat until you run out of ingredient or tray space or time or tortillas or whatever is your limitation. I dumped probably one cup of salsa over the top of the rolled enchiladas and put the tray into the oven while I finished the dish.
Part 5: Finishing
I broke down the chicken into the eight basic parts, wings, breast, drumsticks and thighs. Then I put those into the skillet to heat up and crisp. On top of chicken I added about half a cup of salsa while cooking. Once that was done, I took the enchiladas out of the oven and plated.
Three enchiladas, some shredded lettuce, topped with sour crème and pickled serranos is the basic plating. The chicken is served to the side.
This was a bit of work, but excellent flavor. I hope that you will try this as well.
When I was seventeen, I landed a super gig. I got to work for my grandfather for the summer. He was no slave driver, he paid us for eight hours and we usually only worked for six. He bought lunch and the experience was invaluable. At the time, this was a man that I barely knew. We were not nearly as close as my other grandparents so I was a little nervous at first.
I had worked for his son (my uncle Ed) before and it seemed like I was always too slow for him. I wasn’t working hard enough, constantly enough, he said that I was a slug. Looking back now, I feel like I wasn’t unusually slow, just a week, early teenager with no experience. I see it in my kids today. They don’t know their limits and don’t know how to push themselves physically.
At the time my grandfather told me that what he was going to teach me was going to be more valuable than what I got paid. The beauty of that experiance is that money is what I needed at the time, but I am still getting paid today. I learned so much that I cant really put a value on that summer. In one short summer, we painted several houses, built an addition, fixed plumbing problems, built a masonry wall, we did metal roofing and three tab roofing. I learned how to research properties at the county court house, get a loan from a bank, file an eviction (FED in legalese) and how to back a trailer.
One thing that was always constant was going to the dump. My grandfather told me that years ago, he got into a dispute with the garbage company over a multi-unit that he owned. From that day on, we were responsible for the weekly pick-up and disposal. Don’t get me wrong, it was a disgusting job. Summertime trash comes with smells and sights that are burned into my memory bank.
But, going to the dump was fun. We didn’t have a dump per se, it was a transfer station because the county ran an incinerator. The transfer station was a big, covered concrete pit. I would pick up a half jar of mayonnaise and throw it into the pit to watch it shatter and splotch all over the place. It was a game to anticipate the destruction of a console TV as it hit the concrete twenty feet below.
Today, I wrestle with the wastefulness of people. I really try to separate electronics from typical waste. I try to recycle as much as possible and ‘recycle’ wood to the fire pit for secondary usage rather than throw stuff away. That unfortunately takes a lot of time. I am in a situation now, where I need to get my little house cleaned out so I can get to work on rehab.
My load to the dump
It seems like in today’s culture clothes, food and even furniture is disposable. Some of that stuff that I threw out were things that were like new when I put them into the house, but they didn’t fit into my wife’s newest décor. When I looked at them two years later, they looked like it came from a homeless camp, dirty and broken down. Watching the parade of vehicles come into the dump, I saw either furniture or construction debris as the primary payload.
I hope that when I get older, I can have the patience and respect to teach my kids or grandkids the way that I learned. Believe you me that a lot of my work was substandard, but from the ability to make mistakes came the ability to do much better work. I respect that my grandfather also saw the value in his methods. He knew how to do things properly, but he let me struggle to learn to get it right. He was there to fix things if they went too far off of the rails.
My other uncle (Tyko) turned out to be a great builder. He took some of the great characteristics of my grandfather like thriftiness and thinking beyond the box and put them into unique and attractive houses. Some of his early work looked a lot like mine. It takes time and practice.
One of the many noteworthy phrases my grandfather had was ‘putty close’. Meaning that the job was good enough that we can smooth out the gaps. I am forever grateful that I got that summer to build a relationship that I probably never would have without doing that work. The money was spent thirty years ago but I am still using that knowledge today.
There are several ways to spend time with firearms in during this quarantine. I am going to mention some ideas and focus on one in today’s post.
First and foremost, most indoor ranges are closed. Mine happens to have both an indoor and (mostly) outdoor component. The pro shop is closed, but as long as you stick to your personal space rules, you can shoot at the rifle range, shotgun range or one of the numerous private bays.
Then, there is dry fire practice. That is pulling the trigger on an empty firearm (please make sure it is unloaded!). There are a number of drills that you can do to practice trigger control. I have heard that professional shooters spend as much time dry firing as they do actually shooting. Try using your offhand, I bet you can use some strength training.
Something I like to do is reload ammunition. Unfortunately, I have loaded all of my spare brass. I will do a future post about this. So not to much more today. With kids, decorate paper plates to be later used as targets. You can make them up and put them away to be shot at later. They can keep them when they are done too. Clean your guns or inventory model and serial numbers for insurance are some other ideas.
Finally, I wanted to talk about air gun shooting. I suppose that you could also do Airsoft (I don’t have any) as well. Be mindful that in a lot of jurisdictions it is illegal to discharge an air rifle. In my mind, if you do this with some degree of discretion, it can be done safely and under the radar.
Air rifle with pellet trap
This trap I built during the summer. It holds two bags of rubber mulch and is constructed of 3/4″ plywood. Shooting pellets, I was shooting straight through 3/8″ plywood and BB’s were tearing up the rest of it. This rifle can kill a 20lb animal. My point is just because it is an air rifle doesn’t mean that you don’t have to wear safety glasses or treat this tool seriously.
My intent was to set this up and fire 10 shots or so a day. That hasn’t turned into reality, but my son and I occasionally set it up and fire a few shots. I think that I would like to eventually buy a better rifle because pumping 6-8 times gets to be a drag as well.
When my brother and I were young, we liked to setup catalogs along the fence line and shoot at them. Then we would thumb through them and be silly about how each shot would hit the different pages incidentally. We also liked to shoot at reactive targets (filled with water, etc) but that can get a little messy if you are doing this inside.
I was going to write about something completely different today. I didn’t even realize that it was going to be April Fools Day or Census Day yesterday. After my son kept me up half the night with pranks, I figure it is best to take the one day in ten years to discuss it’s significance. So today I will compare and contrast the Census vs. April Fools Day.
The Census is one of the few activities that our federal government activates that is actually prescribed in the Constitution. I am not sure what exactly the data is used for with the exception of counting for distribution of Representatives in the US House. History of the Census execution can be read from this link.
From Wikipedia: April Fools’ Day or April Fool’s Day (sometimes called All Fools’ Day) is an annual custom on April 1 consisting of practical jokes and hoaxes. Jokesters often expose their actions by shouting “April fools” at the recipient. Mass media can be involved in these pranks, which may be revealed as such the following day. The day is not a public holiday in any country except Odessa in Ukraine, where the first of April is an official city holiday.[1] The custom of setting aside a day for playing harmless pranks upon one’s neighbor has been relatively common in the world historically.[2]
And now, back to the Census. Several years ago there was some controversy. There was to be a question about whether you were a citizen or not. I just filled out the form today and I can say that particular question was not present. There were very few questions… who lived at my address, what was their names and birthdates and what was the ethnic background.
The first race question was whether you identified as ‘Latino’ or not. Which I do not, but my wife and kids yes. Then the follow-up question is what particular country/tribe/etc do you identify. I chose French because that is my largest contributor. But for my wife and kids, they also needed to answer that question before I move on. I really don’t understand… the previous question identified as a Latin American Latino (Not Puerto Rican, not Spanish, not South American).
Back to April Fools day. There is a lot of pranking going on at my house. Waking up to ‘Fart Bombs’, my wife is waiting to pull a bathroom prank on the kids right now. I like a good laugh, but I really am not into pranks of this nature. I think that it is just kind of wasteful energy.
Back to the Census. Speaking of wasteful energy, how many ways do we need to count people? Isn’t everyone supposed to fill out a tax return? Names and birthdays are included. I am relatively sure that the very few people that do not fill out a return or are claimed on a return are really on the margin, are these the people that are going to fill out a census form?
Back to April Fools Day. Still waiting for the prank to happen. I have been enlisted to act surprised.
Back to the Census. The way I read the instructions, I was to claim that my exchange student lived at this house, as of April 1. He is defined as non-related resident. Why is this counted?
The Census hired a bunch of people that can no longer do what they were supposed to do, because of quarantine. What were they supposed to do anyway? The form is online. I was mailed multiple notifications that it was required that I participate. The only option I saw was to login to a website. I get that not everyone has online access. But, now what?
My rash of car issues seems to be continuing. Last weekend when I was pulling bushes out of the yard, the battery light came on the pickup. I wasn’t sure whether it was the battery, alternator, ground or some other electrical issue. The pick-up gets light duty these days, even though I have been driving it more due to recent other car problems. It is the other vehicle that we have that can carry us all at one time.
Since we are not going anywhere these days, I waited for more definitive signs of the problem. When I was moving brush on Sunday and it was clear that the battery was not going to make it. The voltage gauge was almost visibly going down. As it turned out, I got all out of the charge that I could and the pickup died at my friends property.
My friend charged it up for twenty minutes and the battery seemed to respond well. I barely made it the mile home, bucking and stuttering into the driveway. Sunday night, I gave the battery a full charge and started to diagnose the problem on Monday. I couldn’t really reach all of the terminals and test points on the alternator due to positioning, but I was reasonably sure the problem was in the alternator.
Suspect alternator
The last alternator I replaced was around $50 for a rebuilt unit. That was my expectation going into sourcing this one. I started seeing prices in the $150 range plus a $40 core charge and I reconsidered my approach. I wasn’t completely sure the alternator was the problem, I didn’t want to wait (or pay for speedy delivery) from RockAuto and I didn’t want to pay AutoZone $200. Maybe the junkyard was the answer?
It has been a while since I bought anything at a junkyard. In fact there are two here in this town and about 10 more locally. Part of my hesitation is I really don’t like to buy electrical components used, they are somewhat of a wear part and junkyards often don’t guarantee the viability of electrical components. Also, it is one of the businesses that get a fair amount of tire kickers, looky-loos and how to questions. My experience with the counter people have not been overly pleasant.
I found one locally, that I could have today. I got it for $30 and he gave me thirty days warranty with it. When I went to pick it up, he said “I’ve got brand new batteries for $40. You need to come back.” I thought, I do need to come back. My son’s Cougar needs a lot of things like a stereo, speakers, battery, etc. The counter guy talked my ear off for thirty minutes before fortunately another customer showed up and I was able to escape.
I wont claim that I made an inside connection. That takes time and consistency as a customer. But, it renewed my willingness to use junkyards as a resource. It also got me thinking about putting them higher on the list of places to check if I need something quickly. I got the alternator replaced on the pickup in about two hours and it was putting out 14.6V while running. A job complete with a happy ending.
By the way, I took the voltage regulator off and one of the contacts was completely worn out. I could have bought a new one for about $40, but I still would have had to take the alternator out to do it. The alternator I replaced looks to me like it was a rebuild or aftermarket because it wasn’t embossed as Motorcraft. I expect to get a few more years out of this repair.
Have you ever moved into someplace brand-new, or even had a new car? Everything is pristine. Fast forward three years and when is the last time you dusted the baseboard? You know the spot in the shower that is not easy to clean the mildew off without removing the shower door? The blinds are dirty, the light fixtures are dust collectors.
This is the one thing about being a landlord that I really don’t like. Tenants never return the place in the pristine clean condition that it was received. And there really isn’t anything you can do about it. So, it is the one chore that has to be done on each transition. It’s also the kind of clean that you really cant pay someone for.
Getting ready for the bathroom
I am suggesting that part of this quarantine time can be used for a really deep cleaning. Think about windows, cabinet fronts, light fixtures and walls as well. It takes a lot of effort and nobody really wants to spend their time doing it. But when it is done, you feel a lot better about the space that is now clean.
We took this week to have a stay-cation being that it was supposed to be Spring Break. Our plans were to meet up with another family and spend the week on the coast for some rest and relaxation. That changed first with them coming down with suspected Covid-19 and then the state lockdown.
Next week, we are instituting a much more rigid schedule that will include personal development (self paced learning, reading, art/music, etc.) time, earlier bedtimes and wakeup times. This will be in place until we get word that life will be returning to normal – hopefully April 28.
I am sure everyone that is enduring this period seriously is finding aspects of the quarantine challenging. I am a person that treasures my alone time and personal space, that has been hard to find. But I am also a person that thinks family time is valuable. Here are some of the ways that we have been enjoying the time together.
Puzzles an games for hours
Puzzles – This 1000 piece puzzle pictured above took us three solid days to complete. This is a staple activity for our vacation time. It allows everyone to participate and interact for long periods of time
Games – I went back in the waaaay back machine to dig out old role playing games (from the 1980s!), build characters and adventure. We also have played Monopoly, poker and Mind Trap.
Family movies at night – We have been working our way through the Twilight Series and in honor of Kenny Rogers we watched ‘The Gambler’ the other night.
Swap Day – The kids were the parents and the parents were the kids. They planned and executed all of the meals as well as led the entertainment decisions for the day.
Cooking- We have been making comfort foods. We have been doing the activity with different family members and involving them in different aspects. A lot more baking and deserts have been made recently.
Create parody video – We wrote, acted, filmed and edited a video that was a lot of laughs. We are still in the editing phase, but should be up on YouTube shortly.
Make-over time – Not really, but my wife has been bugging me to shave my head for years. So I did, to see what it would look like.
I have to say that a lot of these things I would normally not want to spend time doing. But it seems as though forcing the issue has made something like Monopoly enjoyable. As we head into next week, hopefully it will be an empowering time teaching the kids that they don’t need school to learn and find interest in pursuing their personal projects.
This may not work for everyone, depending on your climate. I know that mine is pretty iffy on nice days in March. I suppose die hards could get-r-done in the wet and cold, but if you pick and choose your timing, a soft wet ground is to your benefit for digging and shrub removal. A caveat to these post is that this applies to my USDA zone.
I mentioned in January that it was time to think about pruning. Well now it is time to think about wrapping most of that up. I still have a week or so, but almost everything is budding or about to bud. Some flowering plants like the Camelias that set buds for next year would be better to wait until after they bloom or in some cases, the fall.
If you hate weeds and like chemicals, get your pre-emergents out because the weeds have yet to take hold. This is a good time to overseed grass and do you soil adjustments if you participate. Don’t forget that grass is starting to wake up from the winter slumber and mowing can almost be done twice a week.
I know several people that have built fire pits in the last week. I built mine about five years ago using landscape pavers from Home Depot. Forty-two pavers, three rows of 14 make a nice looking fire pit about three feet in diameter. That cost me about $75 compared o the $300 and up kits that are sold. Make sure it is level to start and use a bead of construction adhesive to hold the courses together.
The Fire Pit
Tool maintenance anyone? Clean and sharpen your clippers and cutting tools using a file, stones and grinder. Knock the rust off steel with a wire brush and oil with a lubricant like WD-40. Oil your wood handles with linseed oil or other suitable wood protective. Change the oil and tune up your gas powered equipment with spark plugs and filter changes. Mind you I would recommend doing this in the fall before your store everything, but hey we are fighting cabin fever here.
This is a great time to start working on the wood pile if you use firewood. Wet (green) wood takes one full summer to season (dry) properly. It is also a good thing to do when thinking about pruning and tree removal. I find splitting is easier when the wood is green as well. So, clean up and remove trees before they leaf out and create a much bigger mess with leaves and needles.
This last weekend, we removed a whole bunch shrubs that we were just tired of. They were flowering dogwoods that had been haphazardly shaped over the years and just out grew their space. They also did very little other than flower for a few weeks a year.
Brush removal carnage
There is still time to plant summer bulbs. Landscaping plants can still be put into the ground or moved. More permanent irrigation can be designed and installed even though it is not necessary at this time.
So many things in the yard – from junk removal to planting and this is the prime time to do a lot of this, in the next couple of weeks. It is a good family activity as well providing 1) something to do 2) physical activity 3) exposure to the outdoors 4) learning opportunities and skill building.
If you are new to this, then there is a lot more than just putting seeds in the ground. I am going to approach this from a very basic level in case you need those details. If not, skip this and get started.
From Wikipedia: “Victory gardens, also called war gardens or food gardens for defense, were vegetable, fruit, and herb gardens planted at private residences and public parks in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and Germany[1][2] during World War I and World War II. In the war time governments encouraged people to plant victory gardens not only to supplement their rations but also to boost morale.[3]George Washington Carver wrote an agricultural tract and promoted the idea of what he called a “Victory Garden”.[4] They were used along with Rationing Stamps and Cards to reduce pressure on the public food supply. Besides indirectly aiding the war effort, these gardens were also considered a civil “morale booster” in that gardeners could feel empowered by their contribution of labor and rewarded by the produce grown. This made victory gardens a part of daily life on the home front.”
Location: Use the space that you have available. If you live in an apartment, you can still grow in a pot or a window-sill. I have even planted along the landscape buffer next to the house because I have really good south and west exposure. I also grow some things in the front yard because we rarely use that space.
If it is outside, it needs to be in a location that you are going to frequent maybe not every time you leave the house, but you need to be able to see it. Ideally, you are going to have sunlight at least 12 hours a day from mid-spring to late summer, the prime growing season. You should also have access water for irrigation. I know the temptation to do it tomorrow is strong and tomorrow turns into a week.
Conditions: The experts would say that the ideal soil is 1/3 clay, 1/3 sand and 1/3 organic material. I would wager that there is no place on earth with this combination. So, start where you are at. Maybe not every plant will work, but this is how we learn.
I probably cannot help here if you live on a sandy beach or gravel bar, but even there some things will grow. As an alternative, I have seen elevated planters that you fill with potting soil, raised beds are an option to mitigate poor native soil.
It is helpful to add compost to the place that you are going to garden if you have access or the ability to do so. Add as much as practical or possible because it breaks down over time and plants will grow in nearly straight compost. My first year, the beds were 85% and every couple of years I refresh them.
Plant/Seed Selection: Not everything is going to do well everywhere. Things that are considered easy are things that grow to harvest quickly like greens, radishes and summer squash like zucchini.
Even those things can suffer from pest and disease so be prepared to roll with the punches. Chemical treatments can be helpful if you know what you are doing, have access and are willing to use them. I typically do not.
Some items are best to start in the ground directly and others you need a head start. Check your average annual frost dates, read your seeds average date to maturity and back calculate to today’s date to determine whether you should plant seed in the ground or make starts.
My seed starting operation
My average annual frost date is mid-April so I am starting some things by seed namely tomatoes and peppers. You can get a head start on more frost hearty crops like cabbage if you like too.
If you lack the facilities or equipment to start seeds, you may be able to buy starts at a nursery or box store, if you can get out or your stores are open. You are going to pay between $1-$4 per plant vs. the same cost per seed packet. Seed packets will yield thirty to 100 plants and are sold by weight.
If you cant and only have seeds just do that. Your enemy may be time but try anyway. If you don’t have seeds, maybe you can get some from somebody locally; ask on Nextdoor or Facebook. You can also order them by mail order.
Heirloom vs Hybrid: Practically speaking, heirloom means that the seeds of that plant will grow true to type. Hybrid may or may not, it is a gamble. Starting from store bought stock should yield no appreciable difference in taste, disease resistance, vigor etc. However, if you save seeds from plants year over year, you can conceivable achieve a significant yield improvement by taking seeds from plants that display traits that you are most interested in and adapted to your specific garden.
Plan for yield, prepare for failure: When I am planting things, I am thinking about what happens if it does really well. Meaning if I put in 20 cabbages, can I handle that. Will I be able to use it or give it away? There is nothing worse than putting in hundreds of hours to see it go to waste.
I usually start 50% more seeds than I want. I try to give away the starts after I plant what I want. If I cant, I might stick them in the ground or I might just toss them depending on the response.
I really hope that this is not your only hope for survival, unless you already know how to do all of this. This is meant to teach and develop a skill. You learn what does well based on climate, conditions and location of the garden. Year over year, you plant more of what you like and prospers and then you try more experiments and techniques to improve your failures.
Harvest Time: Learn to cook and preserve. I enjoy the challenge of trying to handle bounty. Also take time to document the season and develop plans for next season. Hopefully, you will learn to do something good for you and enjoy it as well as a way to eliminate cabin fever.
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