Thursday Open Thread 12-28-2017
Recipes are one method to distribute of knowledge and skills to create items and events. Just mix the information: ingredients, instructions and an expected outcome. It is a matter of finding the right recipes, experimenting and perfecting.
One of my favorite Chefs Jacques Pépin thoughts on the essence of a recipe.
[video:https://youtu.be/JfWgZeDHgtY?t=24]
What is the point of a recipe? A recipe is a teaching tool, a guide, a point of departure, You have follow it exactly the first time you make the dish. When you make it again and again, you will change it, you will massage it, to fit your own taste and ascetics.
Political Recipes
Across the seas (To be honest - I have not ready them completely)
Democracy Cookbook - Ingredients
Democracy Cookbook - Recipes
Even Rush Limbaugh provided a recipe in 2009.
Household Recipes
Recipes and instructions for running a pre-modern English household of various sizes is provided by Mrs. Beeton's Household Management published first in 1861. Provides guidance for cookery in all branches : daily duties, menu making, mistress & servant, home doctor, hostess & guest, sick nursing, marketing, the nursery, trussing & carving, home lawyer.
Mrs. Beeton's Household Management date published 1907 Pictures of kitchen gadgets pg 64-78. Availability of seasonal food products for each month of the year pg 99-102. Surprised by the variety of food available and breadth of recipes.
Religious Recipes
Thoughts on Ultimate Truth and Reality by Ajahn Brahm, a Buddhist monk born in England, studied in Thailand and has lived in Australia for over 30 years. Find him easy to listen to and can focus on his message.
[video:https://youtu.be/xTtMR-KEHXw?t=174]
Farm Report
Everybody knows the winter routine.
The animals are patient. Livestock know they will be walked out to the pasture daily to graze on dried grass. Water and a hay bribe will be available when they return. When the graze is gone they will have full hay rations.
Chickens are to stay in their pens, no free range. A great horned owl was watching inside the pen from his perch on the power pole. A kestrel (I think) caught a starling by the patio door this morning.
Cats and dogs enjoying the warmth of the fireplace.
Move some hay
Cut the wood.
Enjoy the scenery (spring harrow)
Oregon Grape
Smith Rocks
Comments
Guessing Oregon grape is a holly variety?
A long-time friend put her new horse in a stall, first-time last night. She lives in central WI. They have a farmlet. So do I, but in trees, therefore a woodland. NE US is more treed than way back.
You seem to park implements in multiple back-40's. They look abandoned with light snow.
6 outside here. No wonder my dog slept cuddled on my bed. A full moon is coming; to me of poor sleep that is light incursion into my bedroom through clerestory windows.
Irony of ironies: I slept through my afternoon appointment with my PCP to complain about lack of sleep. Day-naps are more common. Anything more of sleep >2 hours is pushing my bodily functions now. Ulcer Rx? No clue.
Back to bed for another round. Still not communicating with my non-blood Trump supporter.
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.
Oregon grape
The leaves of Oregon Grape are serrated like some hollies are, but they're not related. The leaves are arranged differently on the stems.
Oregon Grape (mahonia spp) is botanically in the barberry (berberine) family. Excellent medicine, which I use a lot.
Some hollies are good medicine too, in their own right. Plants have much they can teach and give to humans, especially those of us who realize and respect our connection with the natural world.
"Don't go back to sleep ... Don't go back to sleep ... Don't go back to sleep."
~Rumi
"If you want revolution, be it."
~Caitlin Johnstone
Amazing the healing potential
in can have in our backyards. Do you self harvest? Some herbs I find it is easier to buy than harvest myself.
Still yourself, deep water can absorb many disturbances with minimal reaction.
--When the opening appears release yourself.
Lovely imagery in your post, riverlover. Thank you!
The camera can make a small acreage look huge
The back 40 comment brings to mind the size of the physical area I played as a child. It contained cities, fort outpost, broad expanses of plains bordered by forests and rivers. Areas could be mined for different rocks, soil and building material. After being immersed in the science of college and a business career it could be easily walked in less than 30 seconds without an inspiring a thought.
check for a private message.
Still yourself, deep water can absorb many disturbances with minimal reaction.
--When the opening appears release yourself.
I found a barberry in the woods and transplanted it
as a foundation planting. It gets occasional hard cuts to the ground. A Christmas fern, also transplanted, grows below. Next to a boy and girl holly. Boy holly grows below the girl. They have withstood some disease, moderate cutting for him, hard for her. I got a small berry reward this year.
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.
Pepin is a favorite of mine as well.
I use recipes as a starting point for desserts and beverages, but not for savory foods. At that, I don't usually follow them as much as use them as a list of suggested ingredients and instructions.
As far as savory dishes, odds are the dish will be enjoyable if the ingredients are good and I neither undercook nor burn anything.
Because I've always lived in cities, I so love studentofearth's essays and pics. They are a portal to a world that is very different from the one in which I dwell daily.
The core of great cooking
being able to identify quality ingredients.
The next stage is making mediocre ingredients taste as good.
The final stage (a work in progress) consistently creating the taste, texture and experience one wants. Including recreating the oops events that were surprisingly great and recognizing unique events as they are happening.
Still yourself, deep water can absorb many disturbances with minimal reaction.
--When the opening appears release yourself.
Hi! Recipe for the dying biosphere:
A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.
Am hopeful as the US government steps down from climate
issues - the rest of the world and individual citizens steps up to the task, It is too easy to expect a "leader" or technology so solve the problem and then take no personal action.
Thanks for the link
edited for spellling
Still yourself, deep water can absorb many disturbances with minimal reaction.
--When the opening appears release yourself.
good point
more ammo for the population to take matters into our hands. More evidence the corp/gov are doing nothing for the 99%. It is up to us for changing the world better.
Jaques Pépin and Julia Childs
Corroborated on a cook book I just returned to the library yesterday. Interesting to see how each chef approached the same dish in different ways. We have a monthly gathering at the local library in which a different cook book is available each month. We then choose one of the recipes from the book and each participant brings in their creation to share with the group. It is fun to compare notes and have several tastes. I chose Jaques garlic and rosemary focaccia for next Wednesday's affair. The recipe actually calls for a home made sausage embedded, but I skipped that part.
I share HenryAWallace's approach to use the recipe more as a guide with proportions and techniques, usually printing out several versions from different sources to form a unique dish. Made my first dough yesterday for practice. Came out great!
Thanks for the open thread studentofearth!
Fresh garlic and rosemary focaccia
the fragrance in the library is going to be torture for those not in your tasting group
Still yourself, deep water can absorb many disturbances with minimal reaction.
--When the opening appears release yourself.
We are all in for it at that later hour
we always provide for others. Only the really good ones disappear. Left are leftovers. Returning into the kitchens of origin. Yeah, smells are wonderful!
Winter has arrived in the deep South
They're calling for single digits next week. Once several years ago we had a week of freezing weather, and the waterfalls froze into hexagonal columns like basalt. Don't know if that will be the case next week, but if it does I'm taking pictures this time as many seem in disbelief.
We'll harvest all the lettuce Saturday before the big freeze, and cover with a row cover, shade cloth, and a layer of straw...the plants might survive...or might not.
Do you have a spin lettuce washer? They are great! Here's a review of several if you're thinking of buying one. http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/cooking-tools/salad-spinner-reviews/ We'll wash the lettuce and pack the leaves flat wrapped in a moist paper towel and placed in a plastic bag. It will keep a few weeks like that in the crisper drawer.
Even the collards and other greens will have to be covered to survive next weeks weather.
I know those temps are nothing for most of you, but it is quite cold for this area. Someone said this is the coldest weather we've had in 20 years...I don't know or remember, but it is chilly.
I came across this video about follow the leader grazing with goats, pigs, and chickens that sounded really interesting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEvBpaB_oE4 (10 min)
Y'all stay warm and have a great day.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Using animals in land managment is tool modern
agriculture is relearning. Would not be able to manage my property without them. The interactive noise and physical action of the animals demonstrated their lack of fear due to good animal husbandry techniques. Going to watch more of his videos - nice find.
Good luck on getting the perennial and trees through the cold snap. Don't remember if there is a layer of snow for extra insulation.
Use the pour through salad spinner to rinse small batches of wool and silk scarves when dyeing. Also keep one for salad greens.
Still yourself, deep water can absorb many disturbances with minimal reaction.
--When the opening appears release yourself.
Good morning all. Thanks for the OT and info, SOE.
Slept in and now getting up to speed. I have tons of clipped and saved recipes, some I do often, and most of them untried. It is time to test and purge. However I find myself more and more using the net to locate multiple versions of a recipe and then so some mix and match. This is especially true regarding baking times and temps. OTOH, we both have stuff we just throw together, and not from long experience with the dish, but just from experience cooking. That is especially productive of soups and such and stir-frys. sort of a "which of this stuff can go together?" approach.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
I don't often get to the Open Threads until it's too late
But I have some free time today, and now see what I'm missing!
I was never a cook ... until a celiac diagnosis, and lots of trouble with restaurant and prepared meals, forced me to learn. Now, it's one of my favorite past-times: I find so much of it to be a Zen experience, and the rewards are great. (The one exception being cooking under pressure, like for a dinner party!).
As I gained experience, I moved away from following recipes to a "t," to a similar approach you take: I mix and match from online options (Epicurious is one of my go-tos), and/or use recipes for inspiration, then just make something up out of what I have on hand. Now that I have two years of backyard gardening under my belt, it's even more fun: what can I do with *this* combination of herbs and *those* veggies that are exploding this week!
Thanks for the OT -- lovely reading.
yeah, this fun
jealous of your ability to use home grown. I've only just started a couple springs ago. Worth it! With multitude sources for recipes, get turned off from the ones that pop-up with offers, etc. Do like the Pioneering Woman as she rattles out more than recipes (which are good) including humor in heaping servings. Time to start dinner...
Ok to add a comment at anytime
if your schedule doesn't fit an am schedule. I am often visiting after 11 pm pacific standard time.
Thanks for the Epicurious idea.
Still yourself, deep water can absorb many disturbances with minimal reaction.
--When the opening appears release yourself.
Thanks, SoE!
Glad you checked out Epicurious. I often search by ingredient, or ingredient combos, there when I have random things in the fridge that I don't know what to do with and don't want to waste.
I also find the recipe reviews helpful; they often give me courage to ad-lib a recipe when I don't have everything it calls for (if that makes sense?)
Our gardening success varies wildly from season to season
and plant to plant, but it is indeed a wonderful feeling to just go bag something from the yard or garden and use it in a meal, even if it is only an herb. We often add an extraneoous touch of something green, like kale, chard, cabbage, etc. to red sauces, soups, stews and egg dishes - just enough that you're not sure if you notice it or not. We cn pick away at some of the "greens" type plants all year long since we never take too much from any plant at one time and they just keep on growing.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
I hear you!
My first year of gardening, I had great success -- which I attributed to true beginner's luck. I just threw a bunch of stuff in the ground to see what would stick, and it all did! That was a particularly sunny summer here in VT with what seemed to be a good weekly soaking rain.
Last year, for a variety of reasons, I got everything in really late, so my yields were smaller and some never really flourished. I'm trying, as best I know how, to follow organic practices but haven't mastered crop rotation or ground covers yet. But it's all a learning experience!
And yes, there really is nothing more satisfying than plucking something from your own yard.
Better come in my kitchen
Cause it might be freezing outside
burning lots of logs -- minus temps with stout winds
vacuuming up dog hairs from our Noel guest.
Cheers all!
Bitcoin mania finally peaked?
do you have to bite the coin
to have a bit coin?
Maybe a Bitcoin peak but state sponsored cryptocurrencies
have not got started yet. US financial sanctions are encouraging other countries to develope alternatives to the petrodollar.
Venezuela backed by oil reserves.
Russia backed by oil and additional currency exchanges.
The BRICS countries (five major emerging national economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.) are discussing a cryptocurrency with the EEU (Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia).
Interesting times, the rest of the world may be working on isolating the United states and the United Kingdom. By encouraging the remaining of the British Empire (Commonwealth of Nations) to act in their own sovereign interest.
Still yourself, deep water can absorb many disturbances with minimal reaction.
--When the opening appears release yourself.
Loved the OT and comments . . .
Been really busy this past week with family events and cooking. On the recipe end . . . brought in collards, rosemary, parsley from the garden to add to leftovers from the holiday meals for soup. Yes!
Now I am sitting with my feet up trying to recover from it all. Thanks for the wonderful OT and comments!
Marilyn
"Make dirt, not war." eyo
SoE, delightful read at the end of my day...
thank you.
Should i say "Now we are cooking?" i'll be late through the winter as i'm working catching up to OT's and all; hope everyone does look at the comments under "My Account" to see belated conversations.
Love to cook, always have, bake bread by feel, now, for many years, the simple pleasures...
As i've said before, your weekly posts vicariously take me back to growing up barefooted on the self-sustaining farm and memories of Huckleberry.
Cheers!
I'm reading this OT
at the end of my day as well. It's a nice read and lovely pictures, thanks.
We're expecting freezing temps by Sunday. Cold weather brings out my cooking impulses so I expect to spend a good part of next week in the kitchen. Soup stock and soup is on the agenda as are chilies, stews, and casseroles. I'm looking forward to it.
Thank you SoE,
Are you in the Bend/Redmond area? I'm over the hill, in Eug/Spfld.
I've only listened to the first 15min or so of the Ajahn Brahm talk, but I'm enjoying so far. Thanks for that; simple truths and Words of wisdom are always appreciated.
And, Jacques Pépin is an alltime favorite of mine as well. His point on "what is a recipe" is so true in my experience. For an opposite example, I have my MIL's "recipe" for Holiday diamond cookies. They are a kind of shortbread/walnut crisp thing that are..addictive. It took us 4 tries following the recipe as written to kind of approximate her cookies. Our flour was wrong, she uses (we think) an all-purpose with a little leavening added to the flour, we think she uses salted butter, and she has a decrepit old tin cookie sheet that gives them a nice crust...the list goes on. I love the puzzle of it all. Love eating shortbread outside in the cold too.
Thanks SoE, and all of you here.
Hi Neighbor
Moved back to the dry side of Oregon in '86. Hwy 126 (clear Lake Cut Off is one of my favorite drives when the vine maple has changed colors. Glad you are found the video enjoyable.
Still yourself, deep water can absorb many disturbances with minimal reaction.
--When the opening appears release yourself.