Happy Friday! We’re about a month away from Easter, can you believe it? I don’t even know if I mean it’s that soon, or that far away. Either way, it feels unreasonable.
A few months ago, I was having a spell of OH I HAVE RUINED MY CHILDREN’s LIVES, WHY HAVE I BEEN SUCH A WORTHLESS MOTHER ALL MY DAYS, so when an ad for the circus came across my feed, obviously I bought a bunch of tickets. So that is what we did on Saturday, rather than go shopping.
SATURDAY
Pizza
We arrived in the city early and I took this photo which is just begging to be made into a meme. Feel free to use it if you need it!
We had some yummy pizza at Caesario’s, where the pizza is delightfully garlicky, and positively gloppy with stretchy cheese. Then we went to the arena where the circus was, and IT WAS LOUD.
It was, to be honest, kind of incoherent — I mean, even for a circus. I been to circuses before, and they generally have some kind of loose theme, even if the various acts could be anything at all. This particular circus was, I guess, 90’s pep rally style, and they had a singing ringleader, a DJ who did absolutely nothing, a sassy robot dog, and a breakdancing red dragon. I dunno. The kids liked it, so that’s what matters!
Some of the acts were truly thrilling and amazing, but there was also a ton of filler, and some of the acts were actually a little dull, and the clowns were actually terrible. And this was Ringling Bros, not some rinky dink outfit! But as I said, the kids liked it, and we all had a good time.
Got a kind of cool shot of the night sky as we went back to the car.
And it was a fine way to wrap up February vacation.
SUNDAY
Oven fried chicken, biscuits, glazed carrots
Sunday I ran out to the store and grabbed a bunch of miscellaneous things that seemed like they were reasonably priced, and I figured I would work out a menu later. I used the drumsticks I got to make oven fried chicken
Jump to Recipeand biscuits. After I made the biscuits, I was pretty low on butter, so the chicken was cooked in mostly oil with a little butter, rather than my usual half-and-half. I mean 50% of each, not that I cook it in half-and-half.
I used Recipe Tin Eats recipe for the glazed carrots, except, again, all olive oil rather than some oil and some butter. I made them early in the oven and then warmed them up later on the stovetop, because I knew the oven was gonna be busy.
Then I went to make the biscuits
Jump to Recipeand I’ll be durned, I was also out of white sugar. So I used brown sugar. I halved the recipe and made it into eight large biscuits.
Meal turned out great. The chicken was gorgeously crispy, and I seasoned it nicely.
And that was that. I think that was the last recipe I used all week.
MONDAY
Aldi pizza
Monday I had a lady check-up and a mammogram. I made the face you’re supposed to make when you get a mammogram
but actually I have never found them to be terrible. I think if you have very small breasts, it’s pinchy, but that is not a problem I myself have encountered. I did ask the tech if I could see the images, which is something I do every time I get something imaged, and it was cool! With all the ducts lit up, they look like Power Boobs. I do like seeing the inside of my body, as long as it’s on a screen.
I think it may actually have been Monday that I went shopping, because I remember we had Aldi pizza. I dunno. Anyway we had pizza. I think I probably spent Sunday filling out forms. I have gotten . . . a little behind on my forms, and I’m going through a season in my life when filling out forms is the main thing I do. I hate it and it sucks, but I got that mofo done.
TUESDAY
Carnitas, beans and rice
Tuesday I had this giant pork shoulder and no real plan, but I did have the ingredients for carnitas, so that was settled. Oh, I guess I did use a recipe for that
Jump to Recipealthough I pretty much wing it. Hack up pork, salt pepper and oregano, brown it, then simmer it with cinnamon sticks, orange chunks, bay leaves, oil, and Coke.
You cook it way, way down and then take the meat out, shred it, and brown it up
While it was cooking, I made some okayish beans and rice. Just rice, kidney beans, diced jalapenos, diced tomatoes and juice, I guess probably garlic and onion, and I imagine cumin, salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper. We were out of chili powder, sadly.
Served on tortillas with sour cream and cilantro.
I have spoiled my family by usually making guacamole with this, so there was a little muttering, but oh well. I thought they were yummy.
I think it was also Tuesday we got a call from the school saying that a certain child had insisted on being goalie and then, when child got hit with a soccer ball, flew into a rage and spent kind of a long time muttering about what fate the person who had kicked the ball deserved. This is not the first time we have gotten a call from a school, informing us that a child has engaged in muttering. I guess I’m glad they’re paying attention? But also, their father is Irish and their mother is Ashkenazi Jew. Fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly, Fishers gotta mutter about who’s gonna die. It’s our patrimony. Just let it go.
WEDNESDAY
Pork quesadillas, chips and salsa, raw veggies
Wednesday it got WARM. Well, warmer. The ducks wandered off their beaten path for the first time in many months, and found it confusing.
They find everything confusing.
On Wednesdays we get home around 5:00, so I was glad to have a quick meal to make. I heated up the leftover beans and rice, cut up a bunch of raw vegetables, and made quesadillas with the leftover carnitas. I also served tortilla chips and salsa.
Most of the kids opted for just plain cheese, but I had mine with meat, and I thought they were fab. I also shocked myself by opting for vegetables instead of chips.
THURSDAY
Cumin chicken, tomato salad, fries
Thursday we got our first duck egg of the season! This looks like an Annie (black swedish) egg to me. Usually they have started laying much earlier by now (it’s the amount of light that affects them, not the temperature), but you really can’t make a duck do anything. I was pretty glad to see this egg.
This year, we are going to hatch a bunch of them and sell the ducklings, probably. I saw a gal on Facebook showing how she was incubating eggs in her crock pot, and to my delight, all the comments were interested and encouraging. Not a single person berated her for torturing a defenseless animal by refusing to use a certified Hen Bum Simulator with a bluetooth-enabled hygrometer. So that was nice.
For supper, I looked at my freezer and rapidly cycled through several possibilities before landing on a vaguely middle-eastern meal. I started the chicken thighs marinating in Greek yogurt with lemon juice, lots of cumin, and a little water; and then I made a tomato salad.
It was supposed to be a Jerusalem salad, but the cucumbers had somehow both frozen and rotted since Sunday. So this salad was tomatoes, leftover feta cheese, leftover cilantro, olive oil, salt, and pepper, and a little red wine vinegar.
I was planning to make pita, but realized we had fries in the freezer, so that was settled. I cooked the chicken for about an hour at 425 and they came out nice.
Although there was some muttering from certain dogs who had, despite the best legal advice, convinced themself that mom was making an entire platter of chicken just for them.
I put hot sauce on my fries, rather than ketchup, hoping the combination would make the whole plate reminiscent of gyros.
Truth be told, everything was a tiny bit bland. Not a terrible meal for no plan, though. But everything except the fries needed salt.
I had to stop at Market Basket on Thursday to get cheesecake ingredients, and they sometimes sell these packages of cheese ends at the deli — just miscellaneous cheese that was too small to cut or too misshapen to sell. You never know what you’ll get, and it’s like $2 a pound, so obviously I got some.
Mine turned out to be mostly Swiss and provolone, which is A-OK with me.
I also picked up some Passover stuff, which was mysteriously cheap ($4.99 for one of those five-pack cartons of matzoh??). We once again planned to separate Passover and Easter, but the calendar once again put them together, so I’m starting to amass my seder food.
FRIDAY
Pierogies, spinach quiche
Friday morning I made a quiche. Here’s my pie crust recipe
Jump to Recipeand this was more than enough for a deep, 11-inch bottom crust. I used my new pie weights and my new dough crimper that I got for Christmas! I was flaking out a bit when I rolled it out, though, and next time I’ll put the crimper to better use. It’s fine, it just looks a little weird.
We did get another egg this morning, but rather than incubate it or put it in the quiche, I opted to put it in my pocket and then forget it was in my pocket. And yes, I muttered about this a bit.
For the quiche, I think I used six eggs and 1.5 cups of half and half, and some salt and pepper and a bit of nutmeg, and I put in provolone, steamed spinach, and some leftover tomatoes. I did blind bake the crust, and then baked the quiche at 350 for, I don’t know, 35 minutes? It looks promising
although I wish I had used more eggs. Kinda low in the dish, oh well. Although probably I’m the only one who’s gonna eat it anyway, mutter mutter.
I also have a big sack of frozen pierogies in the freezer which I intend to fry up, and I’ll probably serve the rest of the spinach as a salad. I’m really trying to get more vegetables on the table!
Now I have a cheesecake about to come out of the oven, and then I gotta clean that egg out of my pocket, and then, let’s face it, I’ll probably eat some cheese ends. We had a two-hour delay for school today because there was basically ice falling out of the sky all night, but it’s melting now. I’m always ready for spring, but this year, BOY am I ready for spring.
my life is so romantic
capricious and corybantic
and i m toujours gai toujours gai
i know that i am bound
for a journey down the sound
in the midst of a refuse mound
but wotthehell wotthehell
oh i should worry and fret
death and i will coquette
there s a dance in the old dame yet
mutter mutter
Oven-fried chicken
so much easier than pan frying, and you still get that crisp skin and juicy meat
Ingredients
- chicken parts (wings, drumsticks, thighs)
- milk (enough to cover the chicken at least halfway up)
- eggs (two eggs per cup of milk)
- flour
- your choice of seasonings (I usually use salt, pepper, garlic powder, cumin, paprika, and chili powder)
- oil and butter for cooking
Instructions
-
At least three hours before you start to cook, make an egg and milk mixture and salt it heavily, using two eggs per cup of milk, so there's enough to soak the chicken at least halfway up. Beat the eggs, add the milk, stir in salt, and let the chicken soak in this. This helps to make the chicken moist and tender.
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About 40 minutes before dinner, turn the oven to 425, and put a pan with sides into the oven. I use a 15"x21" sheet pan and I put about a cup of oil and one or two sticks of butter. Let the pan and the butter and oil heat up.
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While it is heating up, put a lot of flour in a bowl and add all your seasonings. Use more than you think is reasonable! Take the chicken parts out of the milk mixture and roll them around in the flour until they are coated on all sides.
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Lay the floured chicken in the hot pan, skin side down. Let it cook for 25 minutes.
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Flip the chicken over and cook for another 20 minutes.
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Check for doneness and serve immediately. It's also great cold.
moron biscuits
Because I've been trying all my life to make nice biscuits and I was too much of a moron, until I discovered this recipe. It has egg and cream of tartar, which is weird, but they come out great every time. Flaky little crust, lovely, lofty insides, rich, buttery taste.
Ingredients
- 6 cups flour
- 6 Tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 Tbsp + 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp cream of tartar
- 1-1/2 cups (3 sticks) butter, chilled
- 2 eggs
- 2 cups milk
Instructions
-
Preheat oven to 450.
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In a bowl, combine the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and cream of tartar.
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Grate the chilled butter with a box grater into the dry ingredients.
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Stir in the milk and egg and mix until just combined. Don't overwork it. It's fine to see little bits of butter.
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On a floured surface, knead the dough 10-15 times. If it's very sticky, add a little flour.
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With your hands, press the dough out until it's about an inch thick. Cut biscuits. Depending on the size, you can probably get 20 medium-sized biscuits with this recipe.
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Grease a pan and bake for 10-15 minutes or until tops are golden brown.
Carnitas (very slightly altered from John Herreid's recipe)
Ingredients
- large hunk pork (butt or shoulder, but can get away with loin)
- 2 oranges, quartered
- 2-3 cinnamon sticks
- 4-5 bay leaves
- salt, pepper, oregano
- 1 cup oil
- 1 can Coke
Instructions
-
Cut the pork into chunks and season them heavily with salt, pepper, and oregano.
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Put them in a heavy pot with the cup of oil, the Coke, the quartered orange, cinnamon sticks, and bay leaves
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Simmer, uncovered, for at least two hours
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Remove the orange peels, cinnamon sticks, and bay leaves
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Turn up the heat and continue cooking the meat until it darkens and becomes very tender and crisp on the outside
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Remove the meat and shred it. Serve on tortillas.
Basic pie crust
Ingredients
- 2-1/2 cups flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1-1/2 sticks butter, FROZEN
- 1/4 cup water, with an ice cube
Instructions
-
Freeze the butter for at least 20 minutes, then shred it on a box grater. Set aside.
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Put the water in a cup and throw an ice cube in it. Set aside.
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In a bowl, combine the flour and salt. Then add the shredded butter and combine with a butter knife or your fingers until there are no piles of loose, dry flour. Try not to work it too hard. It's fine if there are still visible nuggets of butter.
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Sprinkle the dough ball with a little iced water at a time until the dough starts to become pliable but not sticky. Use the water to incorporate any remaining dry flour.
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If you're ready to roll out the dough, flour a surface, place the dough in the middle, flour a rolling pin, and roll it out from the center.
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If you're going to use it later, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap. You can keep it in the fridge for several days or in the freezer for several months, if you wrap it with enough layers. Let it return to room temperature before attempting to roll it out!
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If the crust is too crumbly, you can add extra water, but make sure it's at room temp. Sometimes perfect dough is crumbly just because it's too cold, so give it time to warm up.
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You can easily patch cracked dough by rolling out a patch and attaching it to the cracked part with a little water. Pinch it together.
