Let the Countdown Begin

Fall is still 4 weeks away, but it's not to early to begin the countdown to the Circleville Pumpkin Show.

58 days from today.

That's not really the most important thing I wanted to write about, though.

I visited the website for the show: http://www.pumpkinshow.com/

They have a recipe section! Now you can make your own pumpkin doughnuts.

It's not really the same unless you stand in that line to duke it out with a flanned grandma for the last half dozen, but I'll bet they do in a pinch.

Here it is:

PUMPKIN DOUGHNUT DROPS

• Oil for deep frying


• 1 1/2 cups flour


• 1/3 cup sugar


• 2 tbsp. baking powder


• 1/2 tbsp. salt


• 1/4 tbsp. cinnamon


• 1/4 tbsp. ginger


• 1/4 tbsp. nutmeg


• 1/2 cup pumpkin


• 1/4 cup milk


• 2 tbsp. oil


• 1/2 tbsp vanilla


• 1 egg 1/2 cup sugar


• 1 tbsp. cinnamon

In deep fryer or heavy pan, heat 1 quart of oil to 375 degrees F. In large bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg. Blend well. Combine pumpkin milk oil, vanilla and egg. Stir into dry ingredients until just moistened. Drop by teaspoonfuls into hot oil 5 or 6 at a time. Fry doughnut drops 1 to 1 1/2 minutes on each side until golden brown. Drain on paper towels. Combine 1/2 cups sugar and 1 tbsp. cinnamon, roll warm doughnuts in mixture. Makes 30 -36 doughnut drops.

See more here.

Bad Start

From Food Fight (with editing by me)

1:30 am - I was awakened by Nila's wailing as Angie came into the bedroom and told me it was my turn to try and get Nila to sleep. I went into Nila's room and spent the next hour trying to work my magic.

I'm not really sure what was wrong, though. She has a cold and has had a cold for the past few days, so maybe that played some part. I told her it was time to sleep and she put herself back down and closed her eyes. I thought she was asleep and I tried to leave the room only to hear her yelling for mommy once I got into the hallway.

We did that twice. The last time, I waited an extra long time before I snuck back out. It stuck that time and she was asleep at least until I left for work.

4:30 am - After getting a couple of additional hours of sleep, my phone rang. At first, I just assumed it was my alarm, but I saw a number on the screen. I answered it.

It was a tech from California.

"Is this the Command Center?" he asked.

"No," I said. This is the sleeping center, buenos tardes.

I gave him the correct number and went back to sleep.

I have had to give my phone number to a few techs for various reasons, but this is the first time one of them has called me when I'm not on duty.

A sign of things to come.

6:30 am - I woke up 30 minutes later than I should have. I should say, I got out of bed. I'm still working on waking up.

6:50 am - After a quick shower and dressing, I tried to throw together a quick lunch and something for breakfast. I put my oatmeal and milk in a plastic bowl - I can cook it at work - and made a nice salad for lunch.

Then I dumped that salad all over the kitchen floor.

7:05 am - Lunchless, I arrived at work only 5 minutes late. Not too shabby.

What is shabby is the milk that leaked from my bag leaving a trail from my car, through the parking garage, across the bridge, up the elevator and down the hall.

I put the oatmeal in the microwave anyway. I haven't gone back for it yet.

7:30 am - I am writing this post. Next, I'm going to go get my oatmeal. Wish me luck.

Here's to a better Sunday than I've had so far!

Ramen Recipes

This one's for Kate as she moves back to Oxford to start school again.

50 Amazing Ramen Noodle Recipes from Rasmussen College:

Going to college requires a lot of your time, which doesn't allow you to cook your common four-course meal. Using the age-old college fallback, ramen noodles, you can cook yourself a tasty treat in a short amount of time without breaking the bank.

Recipes include gems such as a Ham Ramen Frittata and Chocolate Ramen as well as links to even more top Ramen recipes.

I even think I've eaten this one:

For a light ramen salad, toss 4 cups shredded lettuce, 1 grated carrot, 4
green onions sliced and cup slivered almonds, with a package of uncooked ramen
noodles. Pour over a dressing made of 2 tablespoons each of canola oil and
honey, the seasoning packet (chicken or beef are recommended) and cup each rice
vinegar and apple juice. Toss and serve.

Surviving the Recession: Bread and Water Party

I have a great idea.

Don't despair in the economic downturn; revel in it.

I submit the following idea: Bread and Water Party

The host or hostess provides the water.

The guests bring bread to share.

It's as simple as that, but, before you roll your eyes, read on.

The party idea is inspired by Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream. At the shop in Grandview (and probably the others, too. I haven't paid too much attention), they offer free water. Not just plain water, mind you, but cucumber-infused free water.

That got me thinking about all the ways one can flavor water with fruit and veg. Boom. Idea.

The host/ess of the party should serve flavored water. Here are some recipes.

Cucumber Water:
Get a pitcher
Put ice in the pitcher
Fill the pitcher with tap water
Slice a cucumber
Add cucumber slices to the pitcher
Serve and enjoy

Lemon Water:
Get a pitcher
Put ice in the pitcher
Fill the pitcher with tap water
Slice a lemon
Add lemon slices to the pitcher
Serve and enjoy

Lime Water:
Get a pitcher
Put ice in the pitcher
Fill the pitcher with tap water
Slice a lime
Add lime slices to the pitcher
Serve and enjoy

Watermelon Water:
Get a pitcher
Put ice in the pitcher
Fill the pitcher with tap water
Slice a watermelon
Add watermelon slices to the pitcher (just use a few. Eat the rest)
Serve and enjoy

General Melon Water:
Get a pitcher
Put ice in the pitcher
Fill the pitcher with tap water
Slice a melon
Add melon slices to the pitcher
Serve and enjoy

Mint Water:
Get a pitcher
Put ice in the pitcher
Fill the pitcher with tap water
Add mint to the pitcher
Serve and enjoy

That's just the beginning. You could add anything you wanted, but, in my opinion, once you start adding sugar, kool aid, tea packets, etc. it ceases to be a water party.

Now for the bread.

I don't recommend guests just bring a bag of Wonder. Why not bring a nice sour dough? Or banana bread, or challah, or even monkey bread.

Now, go have a Brad and Water Party with your friends and family! Let me know how your party goes in the comments!

Hummus

I made two new foods this week: yogurt and hummus.

You can see my yogurt recipe at 7 Simple Things.

Last week I made hummus with this recipe:

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of cooked chickpeas
• juice from 1/2 lemon
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

• mix it all in a blender

This week I made some more hummus and I changed things up.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of cooked chickpeas
• juice from 1/2 lemon
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup of fresh homemade yogurt!
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• Salt and pepper to taste (heavy on the pepper)

Directions:

• mix it all in a blender

The second recipe is far superior to the first.

Exciting Weekend

I just found out that I have to work on both Saturday and Sunday this week, but I won't let that put a damper on the greatness that will be this weekend.

As I was thinking about this weekend, one of the things I was most looking forward to was not working. I've worked the past two weekends and will have to work the next three or four in a row.

BUT, the true excitment of this weekend is Saturday at 1:30 and work can't stop it!

It's Columbus Taco Truck Tour 2009!

I will be there and I hope to see you there, too. If you are interested in carpooling, let me know.

In addition it will be above 80 degress for the first time in a long time.

Taco Truck Tour

I had no idea there was a blog devoted to the taco trucks in Columbus. There is.

Taco Trucks in Columbus, Ohio

On April 25 @ 1:30 pm, they're hosting a tour of 4 trucks on the westside. Westside 4 eva.

Who's in?

Cincinnati Review

Today, Angie, Nila and I went to Cincinnati for the day. We just wanted a change of pace, and Cinci's close.

We visited five Cincinnati landmarks.*

McAlister's

Angie drools over McAlister's. It's a chain of restaurants apparently popular in the south. The only Ohio joints are in the Queen City. I had the club sandwich. It was good. Angie had a barrel of sweet tea.

Findlay Market

This is an indoor/outdoor market in the heart of Cincinnati. I thought it was small and crowded inside, and I enjoyed the outdoor areas much more. It was packed with people and they day was beautiful, so it was a good stop.

The problem with the Findlay Market was that Google gave us some terrible directions. You know how sometimes Google will use every name a street has? Well, our directions told us to exit on US 29/34/782/09898/149/Hopple St., or something like that - and I'm only sort of exaggerating it.

We did this, but then we had to turn right immediately onto US 34/09898/Hopple St and then left onto US 29/782/149/Hopple St and then a left and a short turn towards the sun. But first we had to sing a sea chantey and answer three riddles.

We failed at this and drove in a circle, but then we found our starting point and tried again. This time, we made a left turn into oncoming traffic and almost met our ends. We did not; we made it safely through the intersection only a little thankful for our lives.

We sang about the Edmund Fitzgerald and answered our three riddles, but we must have answered wrong because we ended up on the UC campus and I gave up on the Google.

I drove what I assumed was south and figured I'd hit the river eventually. I remembered that the market was downtown from the map I had seen yesterday - I should note we only brought the written directions, nothing pictorial.

It paid off. My spidey-sense found the market and Angie bought some homemade soap. Who doesn't need soap some lady made in her bathtub?

Ault Park

When we decided to go to Cincinnati, I did a quick online search for things to do. I didn't want to have to tell people I just went to Ikea and a grocery store...

I found information about the Hyde Park area of the city and it looked pretty nice, and I figured we could spend some time kicking around in the park.

Hyde Park was fantastic. The homes in and around the area were stunning. We drove through without checking out any of the small shops and boutiques in the town center, opting instead to find the park.

I had not mapped directions for the park; it was more of an afterthought, but I found it because I am awesome.

The park was really nice. Nila walked around the garden and refused to smell the flowers.

She was tired and cranky after about 30 minutes, so we fought her into her car seat and she took a little cat nap on the way to Ikea.

Ikea

I hate shopping at Ikea. I love Ikea, but the shoppers there are insane. It's like they've never shopped before. There's so much wide-eyed meandering that a person can't browse in peace without knocking into a small Indian family or falling over the feet of some guy from Kentucky who isn't quite sure what he's doing there.

I would prefer that all of these people either stay home or learn how to follow the arrows helpfully painted on the floor and KEEP MOVING OR PULL OFF TO THE SIDE!

Aisles are for walking, carpeted areas are for standing and figuring out whether or no the Oogglesfjord bookshelves go with your Ulxwesty carpet and Huvershorb dog bed.

FYI, it doesn't.

We picked up a few small things. It was more of a reconnaissance mission this time. Angie goes into more detail about our purchases here. (We did buy a tray for our soap, don't worry.)

Jungle Jim's

I am a big fan of Mr. Jim. But, alas, it was the one-too-many on our list of things to do. I was cranky, Angie was cranky and Nila was hungry. We were all hungry.

I got the bare essentials; all-natural hummus, curry powder, garam masala, blood orange juice, Double Decker bars.

The trip to JJ's was short, but we only had the one argument about subs and we left the store on good terms.

We ate dinner at that other famous Cincinnati landmark; Wendy's.


*admittedly, some are not landmarks.

**While we did take some pictures, we didn't take any of these. Click on the picture to see where they came from.

New Year's Warning

I am looking for meaningful activities for New Year's. I don't know exactly what I mean, but I figure I'll know it when I see it. Something along the lines of making a list of next year's goals, but fun.

If you can think of anything, please leave a comment.

In my Internet searching, I came across a list of New Year's superstitions at Snopes.com. Here's the most important part:

Other "lucky" foods are lentil soup (because lentils supposedly look like coins), pork (because poultry scratches backwards, a cow stands still, but a pig roots forward, ergo those who dine upon pork will be moving forward in the new year), and sauerkraut (probably because it goes so well with pork).

Another oft-repeated belief holds that one must not eat chicken or turkey on the first day of the year lest, like the birds in question, diners fate themselves to scratch in the dirt all year for their dinner (that is, bring poverty upon themselves)

Gasp!

I eat chicken EVERY New Year's Day. That certainly explains a lot.

I'm not superstitious, but you won't find me eating any birds on Thursday.



**Programming Note: Christmas pictures can be found at everybodylovesnila.blogspot.com**

A Recipe to Share

Today, Angie and I went to the grocery. We found packages of about five small pork cutlets on sale - buy one get one free. We picked them up and i had to find something to make with it.

I found this recipe and modified it. As it turns out, it's modified from this recipe.

Here's what I made.

Wilted Spinach Salad with Sauteed Pork, Apples and Feta Cheese
Serves: Me and Angie, but could feed more.

3 Tbs. balsamic vinegar
2 tsp. mustard
1/2 cup plus 3 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil
1/8 of a yellow onion, finely diced
salt and black pepper
6 oz. spinach, washed and dried
1 Gala apple
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
4 pieces of pork
1 Tbs. butter (I used margarine because I had it)
1 cup of feta cheese

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the vinegar and mustard. Slowly whisk in 1/2 cup of the oil. Stir in the onion and season with salt and pepper to taste. Put the spinach aside in a large bowl.
2. Core the apple and cut it into matchsticks.
3. Season the pork liberally with salt and pepper and dredge in the flour. Set a heavy 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Add the remaining 3 Tbs. oil and the butter. When the butter melts and begins to lightly brown, cook the pork, flipping after 2 min., until it’s just cooked through, about 3 min. total. Transfer to a large plate.
4. Discard any fat in the skillet and set over low heat.
5. Add the balsamic-Dijon vinaigrette and cook, stirring to pick up any browned bits on the bottom of the pan, until the sauce is warm, about 1 min. Pour the vinaigrette back into its bowl and whisk to recombine.
6. Put spinach into warm pan to wilt; pour 3/4 of the vinaigrette on top and gently combine with spinach. Add apple slices at the last minute and toss with spinach to coat.
7. Arrange the spinach and apples on four plates. Top with the pork and feta cheese, and drizzle with the remaining vinaigrette.

It was easy and very good.

It's not as good as Leslie's famous dancing salad, but it's probably healthier - no sugar and less oil.

Kurdish Lesson 09 - Food

Kurdish food can vary by region and even by family, so what I present below is a snapshot of the foods I enjoyed first in San Diego and later in Iraq. The families with whom we lived in California were from the Sulemania and Halabja areas which is also where I lived in Iraq. I don’t know much about Hewleri or Dohuki food let alone Kurdish food in Turkey or Iran.

Kurdish food is a blend of regional dishes with local ingredients. The dishes are often similar to what one might find in a Turkish, Lebanese or even Indian restaurant, but in Kurdistan, the dishes have their own unique flavors.

I, for one, have never had falafel better than the falafel I had in Sulemania. The same goes for Briyani.

Below, I will spell the names of the dishes and foods with latini. Remember to click here for a refresher on pronunciation.

Breakfast: A typical Kurdish breakfast is fairly light.

Kurdish	English
Mast	Yoghurt
Hangwîn	Honey
Nan	Bread
Moz	Bananas
Ḧelke Ron	Fried Egg
Ça	Tea
Penîr	Cheese

An everyday breakfast would just be nan u mast, but the others mix in as well. Of course, no breakfast is complete without Ça.

My favorite breakfast was to mix my mast with date syrup. It was great, but I have no idea what the Kurdish word for date syrup is. Sorry.

Lunch and Dinner: Lunch and dinner foods are usually the same. We often ate lunch at the office where we had a cook. She made some really great things! (Although, some of my co-workers complained about the excessive amounts of oil!)

Kurdish	English
Birinc	Rice
Zalate	Salad
Fasulîe	Beans
Kube	Ground meat wrapped in rice
Brîanî	Spiced rice with anything and everything in it
Kufte	Ground meat wrapped in wheat served in a tomato soup
Tepsî	Eggplant, zucchini, onions and potato fried with spices
Yapraẍ/ Dolme	Ground meat wrapped in grape leaves or stuffed in various vegetables
Şile	Tomato-based stew with one of many vegetables
Şufte	Little spiced-meat patties (My personal favorite!)

Miscellaneous Food Names: There are many other words you’ll need to cook and eat in Kurdistan. I have tried to include those below. I have also included separate tables for fruits and vegetables.

Kurdish	English
Goşt	Meat
Qȋme	Ground meat
Mirişik	Chicken
Qal	Turkey
Masȋ	Fish
Samun	Bread loaves or buns
Ron	Oil
Şekir	Sugar
Ard	Flour
Mast Aw	Yogurt and water drink
Do	Like Mast Aw, but when made traditionally, it’s semi-fermented in an animal stomach
Gȋpe	Meat cooked in a cow's stomach
Sȇr u Pȇ	Head and feet. Sheep’s brains and feet
Kabab	Meat patty on a skewer
Tike	Meat chunks on a skewer
Gwȇs	Nuts
Xwȇ	Salt

Fruits and Vegetables: The secret to Kurdish culture is this: when you are invited to dinner or visit someone, they will eventually serve you fruit. The fruit is your sign that it’s time to go.

Kurdish	English
Sȇw	Apple
Pirtikal	Orange
Hunir	Pomegranate
Tirȇ	Grape
Moz	Banana
Kişmiş	Raisin
Qeȋsȋ	Apricot

I don’t like vegetables all that much, so my vocabulary is slim. Sorry.

Kurdish	English
Pȋaz	Onion
Tomate	Tomato
Potate	Potato
Baȋinjan	Eggplant
Zȇtun	Olives
Bamȇ	Okra

This certainly isn’t an exhaustive list, but it’s a good start.

If you have recipes for any of these foods, please post them in the comments. I can only make rice and şile.

A view of our neighborhood store. The lady on the right makes the world's best Kube and Şufte.

A small store like this is called a dukan.