Vicky Learns to Cook

The martial arts class I am in is continuing using Zoom. So because of that we are doing more discussions and we have homework instead of doing sword swinging in our living rooms. One of the homework assignments we have been assigned is to write out what you do for one of the short forms called a Kata. And I'm finding something out. I've done it so many times, it's kind of like someone asking you to explain how to walk. How much detail do you give? It could be infinity deep-complex if you wanted it to.  (I dare you to try to write down how to walk, and put it in the comments!) Today's meal was almost another disappointment. I made garlic shrimp, risotto, and spinach pie (to use up the leftover phyllo plus spinach was the only vegetable left). Somehow the risotto wasn't salty enough, added salt, wasn't salty enough, added salt, and then TOO SALTY!!!!! How does this even happen? I swear my taste buds get this sort of salt tolerance and then it tastes fine,...

Getting inventive with my vegs and fruits from Imperfect Foods. I had a red cabbage, with no idea what to do with it. Taste of Home site has been a good source of recipes for me, so looked up a recipe. I found this one, and since I had a bunch of apples, this would kill two birds with one stone. German Red Cabbage and Apples It turned dark purple, and could still use some cooking time, but it was pretty good. Even though you see sugar and apples in there, there is also onion and apple cider vinegar. The kiwi were the next thing that had to be eaten, so I made a fruit salad with 4 kiwi, 2 blood oranges, and 2 bananas. It had a sweet tart kind of flavor. Yum! Kiwi, Blood Orange, Banana fruit salad.  The meatloaf (sorry we ate it before I got a picture) was probably the best I ever had. I looked into making a better meatloaf, since mine is always ugly but tasty.  The texture was off, too, Kind of lumpy? It needed help. So the key was to first add milk to t...

It's been the Easter that you make of it. Folks I know are getting by with videos instead of hugs from relatives and friends. (Including me! Was good to see mom and dad's faces and hear their voices!) Meals are made at each house instead of together in a large crowd. Church services are online with each person at their own house, through the magic of technology, we hear the voices together. We are resourceful. I pray for all of us. That we all get through this and get to some kind of new normal. That we can feel comfortable again. In our house, we had a Lebanese feast, with lamb stuffed grape leaves, lentils and rice, holiday braid (egg bread with poppy seeds), and pita bread. And baklava for dessert. grape leaves lentils and rice, holiday bread, pita bread baklava What are you going to do differently when we go back to the new normal? I know for one I will be working a couple days from home. I've found over the weeks here that I handle things b...

Easter preparation has begun. We were close to being out of eggs, so hubby went and got me eggs, and he also got me this: I was shocked! And so happy! He doesn't know this but I was staring at my garden this morning wishing I had planted more flowers. These are going to be planted right in front of the house :) The first part of the meal is going to be Holiday bread.  Typically it's in a braid, but as the bread expanded, it popped some seams. Do you all see a dancing pig (if you turn your head to the right) kinda? I also got some figs, which came in a package all squashed together and kind of dry. I looked it up, you can soak them in boiling water and they soften right up. So I did that. Then I read you can soak them in fruit or even alcohol. Oh dang. Next time.                                                     I'm thawing the la...

Did you know you can can milk? You need a pressure canner, but yea it's even shelf stable after that! I didn't know. Here's a link to learn how. It says the milk might turn a little yellow since there is milk sugar in there and the cream will rise to the top. You just shake it. https://hoeggerfarmyard.com/canning-milk/?fbclid=IwAR16ITMysULeFWJGlOBMvxHBcw_nf2qJbv81pRKiYcDQfL96_IsTVyFFKY0 Apparently you can also can meat, seafood, venison, poultry! https://food.unl.edu/canning-meats-poultry-and-seafood I've only ever canned tomatoes and Jam because I don't have a pressure canner. So all my projects have to be hot water bath only. But I thought that was pretty amazing. On the dinner front: It just wasn't a good day. The idea was to make fish and chips. The russet potatoes were all used up so I cut up some redskins, oiled, salt and peppered and baked them. They didnt get done in time for dinner. No one ate them. The fish batter didnt stick to part of o...

Watching Finding Dory. How bad is it that I don't remember the first half of this movie? I looked it up and Dory is a pacific blue tang fish. But did you know that they aren't always blue? At night they can be white with purple touches. They can be aggressive to other fish and grow to almost a foot long. blue tang Even still, they are so cool that many people want one. But the way they are captured isnt so great. Fishermen capture them by squirting the marine environment or the fish itself with cyanide, killing many of them, damaging reefs, polluting water. Even after the fact, half the living things that come in contact with cyanide will die immediately. It's not Pixar/Disney's fault, but unless we parents look into things like this we can think that it would be great to get a clownfish and a blue tang for the kids, without realizing what it takes to get them and that one might beat up the other! On the dinner front: Dinner was Chicken, Rice a Roni...

Do you know what day it is? Is your "bedtime" sliding into the wee hours of the next morning? What about weekends, are they somehow different than weekdays? What about Easter? Here is an article I found that talks about how not being structured (as many are now at least partially less structured) affects us as humans.  https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20200402-how-lockdown-redefines-our-weekends Today is Wednesday Are you a planner or a spontaneous person? I think I am a planner with a rebellious streak. So I will plan out my whole day and then devise ways to get around the rules. What I have to do to get around the rebel is to do what I call Plan and Flex. Plan out what I'm going to do, to appease the planner in me. But then be flexible in moving that stuff around to appease the rebel in me. Plan to eat oatmeal 3x a week? Write it out as Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. And then be flexible when on Tuesday you really want oatmeal. Be ...