WAR ON CHRISTMAS

Happy Holiday's KDP fans (Mom, did I send you a card?)
I'm having a war on Christmas this year.
I'm working a lot and taking latkes (and drinking driedel) to an Orphan Christmas Party and avoiding all work parties like the plague. I believe that this is an acceptable response to not going home or being with family this year.
I'll see a movie (let's be honest, I'm seeing Les Miz ("The Mopes" in English), eat some Chinese food and sleep until January 2nd.

Only someone who either loved or eternally hated Christmas could do what Sufjan Steven's has done with his SECOND epic 5 volume Christmas box set.

And it is a fine line between love and hate. A very very fine line.

My latest cooking devotion has been to this book, An Everlasting Meal by Tamar Adler, who believes that the ends of meals inspire and feed the next one and that we don't make mistakes in the kitchen, we create an experiment. The book is about cooking with grace, trust and economically. Below are some of the pictures I've taken while following this principal.

The basic premise is that you should be using everything when cooking- the ends of bread, the rinds of cheese, the stems of kale and in a mixture of life advice and recipes, Tamar Adler seeks a world where people pay attention to what they eat, why they are eating and how their food is prepared.

I did this for like a week.

It was a good week though, a very full fridge week. 

The idea is that you buy all of your greens and fruit at the farmers market and cook it the day of, so that you have things to play with throughout the week that are already prepared. You spend a few hours slaving over a hot stove and in return, can take beet sandwiches to work! It's a fantastic idea and I wish I had more time to do this.

I came away from that week with stem/core pesto, roasted beets, the best omelet I've ever made, bean soup stock, roasted pine nuts, an appreciation for red wine vinegar and more awareness around how to love and care for the food we use to fuel ourselves. 

Plus, An Everlasting Meal has entire chapters devoted to how to treat your eggs (the ones from chickens), how to boil water, how to set a table, ideas for sauces, vinegars and the trust that you'll be okay, no matter what you do. 

Also, I made Hot Sauce!

Take 1 lb of stemmed fresh chilies and 2 Tbsp kosher salt. 

Mix in a food processor until it's a puree. 

Put in a glass jar and let ferment for about 12 hours at room temp. Make sure that the top of the jar isn't tightly screwed on. 

Add in 1 1/2 c distilled white vinegar, loosely screw on the top. 

Let sit for at least 1 day and at most 2 weeks. Try it along the way to see if it's to your liking. 

Put the mixture in the food processor and blend until smooth. 

Strain it through a sieve and store in the fridge for up to 4 months. 

Well Spotify, you've done it again. You know more about the music that I'll like than I do. I'm continually in debt to your musical algorithm that introduces me to artists like Justin Townes Earle

The son of Steve Earle, he's embraced the soul in bluegrass and putting blues back in country music. Wrapped up in the sound are heartfelt and wrenching stories. I crave to hear him live,at a dive bar, preferably with a dance partner.
Only goal for the new year is to do just that.

Maybe the holidays away from Juneau makes me just a tad homesick (if you couldn't tell...), but I've been devouring bluegrass/Americana/blues music like it's my job. There are no problems with this, it's perfect Sunday listening.

Plus he kind of sounds like Elvis (if he "kicked a gospel choir in the butt" in this one and that makes me all a-twitter.