Bread and Butter Pickles

I got Juice!

I've always been a fan of carrot juice and fresh fruit\veggie juices. We had a 19th century cider press growing up and so I know fresh squeezed when I taste it. At one point I sort of looked at juicers because I thought it would be sort of fun and had the potential to produce some wicked cocktails (note: not how you are supposed to think about your juicer) but good ones are $200 and my old kitchen had a grand total of 2.5 square feet of counter space so I lost interest.

Then yesterday I found a secondhand Waring Pro for $20. Which is perfect. I am exactly $20 worth of interested in juicing. Especially now that I have expansive counter space in my life. The juicer has one of those nice solid motors that you feel will outlive you and a terrifying spinning blade. So, in other words it is hella effective. I've made some carrot ginger juice which was awesome and some pear juice which was lushy.

After fiddling around I also did some internet browsing for juicer recipes. I am glad that I did not spend $200 for my juicer because this would make me a Serious Juicer. And my web searching taught me that Serious Juicers are FREAKS.

Cuke Soup

It's hot and sticky here in Chicago but I have the summer off for the first time since oh...1992 (teaching RAWKS) so I've been thinking about what's for Lunch in different ways as of late. This week, in particular, I've been moderately obsessed with chilled cucumber soup with yogurt. After a couple of experiments I have decided that Kefir is the way forward. It gives a nice sour\tart flavor but avoids the feeling that one is simply slurping down a bowl of taziki which is what happens when you start mucking around with Greek yogurt and milk. Cucumbers used were either traditional or lemon cukes featured in the photo.


Current working recipe:
One large shallot
One clove garlic
Juice of one large lemon
1 tsp sugar
Salt and pepper
Small handful of fresh dill
4 lemon cukes or 1 and half traditional cukes
1 quart plain kefir

Finely, finely dice shallot and garlic. Sprinkle with sugar and cover with lemon juice. Let sit for a least an hour. Chop up cuke and place in a large bowl. Sprinkle with salt and put in fridge. Go do something else for awhile.

In the large bowl throw in the shallot\lemon\garlic mix which should have mellowed the sharp, weepy sulfur business by now. Grind in a bunch of pepper, throw in the dill and pour the kefir over the lot. (A bit of fresh mint is okay here as well, mostly this is because the mint on the porch is Ginormous and I need an outlet.) Immersion blender, throw in the fridge and you're done. (Part DCCCXCI why immersion blenders are essential equipement).

Chicken Candy?

On Valentine's Day the 8th graders were all enraptured by teddy bears and roses while the little ones buzzed away on sugar highs.

As a third grade class left my room a little girl said "Happy Valentine's Day Ms. Mann" and pressed a piece of candy into my palm. I said "Thank You" while I thought to myself "That's an awfully lumpy lollypop."

As a resource teacher, I thought that the lumpiness was probably due to my low status with the third graders. Clearly, your peers are going to get the choice items followed by your regular teacher followed by the likes of me. So, I thought I'd just gotten a broken or melted and reformed piece of candy.

But no. I pulled it out of my pocket and what to my wondering eyes should appear but picture of a roasted chicken and the word "pollito."

Pollito? Ah, si little chicken.

The cause of the lumpiness was not my low status but instead the chicken form of the candy. This was clearly not what I was expecting.

I'm terrified to sample it. The ingredient list includes high fructose corn syrup AND chili. But I can stop from imagining that the experience would be like sucking on a bullion cube.