cooking with ga*
What a weekend! I returned Sunday from my busiest weekend in a while. I flew out of DC on Thursday night (after typical but manageable travel issues including 2 hours on the runway and a guy behind me who seemed thrilled to have a captive audience to listen to his opining on EVERYthing. The two-second pauses between songs on my ipod were more than enough to get the gist of everything he was saying. And, he was saying a lot, including that he was SERIOUSLY considering sending his college student daughter's fantastic transcripts to colleges that rejected her).**
Got in at a decent hour and had an entertaining shuttle ride in to the city courtesy of the shuttle driver***, put my stuff down and headed downstairs to get a salad. Spent the next few hours with the salad, a beer, and a large TV for the tournament. Good stuff. Friday morning, my mom met me downtown bright and early for a hug and a hello, and then I headed down to my grandma’s for the day of cooking! She was very excited, as was I.
We got to work right away, making bread for hamburger buns so it would have time to rise. Her stand mixer is a bit different than mine, but it worked fine, and the bread ended up looking (and tasting) very good. We then started on a yeast coffee cake – Ga was very excited about it. Because you have to refrigerate the dough overnight, she had taken my cousin Lolly’s suggestion and made a batch of dough the night before so we could get to work on the cake right away. So we made another batch of dough and tucked that away in the fridge. The coffeecake was easy from there – you roll out thr dough, fill it with meringue, raisins, and pecans,**** and then roll it up and put it either on a flat pan or in a ring mold. We tried both, and I think the ring mold would have worked out the best, but we had a little issue. I’ll just say, that it tasted wonderful even though it wasn’t the prettiest.
We then made creamed spinach for lunch, that was pretty good, and can be healthier than I imagined, and we made the garlic paste hamburgers that I had served earlier this month.
Ga then told me I was going to learn how to section a grapefruit. Mind you, I don’t like grapefruit. But Ga told me that sectioning a grapefruit is a life skill, and everyone should know how to do it. I obliged – what harm could it do. I was, surprising to Ga, a very quick study, and got it right my first try. I then sectioned an orange, and, surprising to me, I like oranges! I didn’t know I did, but it turns out I just don’t like the seeds and white membranes, and I no longer have to deal with them! When I went grocery shopping Monday, I bought 2 oranges, and sectioned them right away. AND, eventually ate them.
Then, the piece de resistance, I received the keys to the kingdom. Ga’s brownie recipe. It is filled with all sorts of horrible stuff, but my goodness, I could eat them forever and when you freeze them, they taste like FUDGE.
Ga seemed happy with the day, and I had a really nice time. She’s already planning our next cooking date. I need to make time for that. I learned some good tricks in the kitchen, but more importantly, of course, spent some serious QT with Ga. Maybe next time we’ll cook for the family.
Friday night I watched basketball and ate Chinese food with my cousin Holly and her husband Ben. They both fell asleep by 9:15. I was jealous, but had to stay awake. I think when you're single, people expect you to be more exciting. Also, they knew me in college, when, ig I do say so myself, I was at times, exciting.
Saturday, in between bachelorette activities, I had a few hours to teach my dad how to make the rugalach. I think he just wanted them to be fresh, having just finished a batch I sent him like a month ago, but as long as he was there and has been in to cooking, my mom and I thought he should be learning the tricks of the trade. He appeared to zone out while I taught him how to make the dough, but maybe he’ll try it on his own.***** He did fill the cookies a lot more than I did, so hopefully he enjoyed them! Looked like he did.
In all, a successful weekend, and I can cross #12 off the list!
*Contact me for recipes!
** Because, you know, they would TOTALLY care, and issue her either an apology or honorary degree.
*** He *actually* said “I’m Dan the Man and I’m the best.” He got me home pretty quickly, I guess I can’t complain.
**** Or, you know, whatever.
***** UPDATE [05/07] He DID make them on his own! And he liked them, and served them to company! I feel as though I've taught a man to fish...
Got in at a decent hour and had an entertaining shuttle ride in to the city courtesy of the shuttle driver***, put my stuff down and headed downstairs to get a salad. Spent the next few hours with the salad, a beer, and a large TV for the tournament. Good stuff. Friday morning, my mom met me downtown bright and early for a hug and a hello, and then I headed down to my grandma’s for the day of cooking! She was very excited, as was I.
We got to work right away, making bread for hamburger buns so it would have time to rise. Her stand mixer is a bit different than mine, but it worked fine, and the bread ended up looking (and tasting) very good. We then started on a yeast coffee cake – Ga was very excited about it. Because you have to refrigerate the dough overnight, she had taken my cousin Lolly’s suggestion and made a batch of dough the night before so we could get to work on the cake right away. So we made another batch of dough and tucked that away in the fridge. The coffeecake was easy from there – you roll out thr dough, fill it with meringue, raisins, and pecans,**** and then roll it up and put it either on a flat pan or in a ring mold. We tried both, and I think the ring mold would have worked out the best, but we had a little issue. I’ll just say, that it tasted wonderful even though it wasn’t the prettiest.
We then made creamed spinach for lunch, that was pretty good, and can be healthier than I imagined, and we made the garlic paste hamburgers that I had served earlier this month.
Ga then told me I was going to learn how to section a grapefruit. Mind you, I don’t like grapefruit. But Ga told me that sectioning a grapefruit is a life skill, and everyone should know how to do it. I obliged – what harm could it do. I was, surprising to Ga, a very quick study, and got it right my first try. I then sectioned an orange, and, surprising to me, I like oranges! I didn’t know I did, but it turns out I just don’t like the seeds and white membranes, and I no longer have to deal with them! When I went grocery shopping Monday, I bought 2 oranges, and sectioned them right away. AND, eventually ate them.
Then, the piece de resistance, I received the keys to the kingdom. Ga’s brownie recipe. It is filled with all sorts of horrible stuff, but my goodness, I could eat them forever and when you freeze them, they taste like FUDGE.
Ga seemed happy with the day, and I had a really nice time. She’s already planning our next cooking date. I need to make time for that. I learned some good tricks in the kitchen, but more importantly, of course, spent some serious QT with Ga. Maybe next time we’ll cook for the family.
Friday night I watched basketball and ate Chinese food with my cousin Holly and her husband Ben. They both fell asleep by 9:15. I was jealous, but had to stay awake. I think when you're single, people expect you to be more exciting. Also, they knew me in college, when, ig I do say so myself, I was at times, exciting.
Saturday, in between bachelorette activities, I had a few hours to teach my dad how to make the rugalach. I think he just wanted them to be fresh, having just finished a batch I sent him like a month ago, but as long as he was there and has been in to cooking, my mom and I thought he should be learning the tricks of the trade. He appeared to zone out while I taught him how to make the dough, but maybe he’ll try it on his own.***** He did fill the cookies a lot more than I did, so hopefully he enjoyed them! Looked like he did.
In all, a successful weekend, and I can cross #12 off the list!
*Contact me for recipes!
** Because, you know, they would TOTALLY care, and issue her either an apology or honorary degree.
*** He *actually* said “I’m Dan the Man and I’m the best.” He got me home pretty quickly, I guess I can’t complain.
**** Or, you know, whatever.
***** UPDATE [05/07] He DID make them on his own! And he liked them, and served them to company! I feel as though I've taught a man to fish...
posted by becky at
21.3.06
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