Hospitals, soup and home remodeling.
I was so happy that I had cleaned up my "office" space and rearranged furniture and so on. But I was itching to redo the Room of Requirement. If you aren't a Harry Potter fan, that is interpreted as junk room. It is actually a closet that my grandpa had put in industrial metal shelves two deep and fastened in to withstand a nuclear bomb. It has stood just that way since 1968. My grandmother had it packed tighter than a nose bleed.
Now the contents of the closet are strewn throughout the house. Want a huge 50 pound dictionary? I have it. Want photos that date back as far as photos go? I have them. VHS tapes? Chipped Fenton? Dried up paint from the last living room painting circa 1980? Yep, I have it all. Now my entire apartment looks like the Room of Requirement, including the dead body of Crabbe I have no doubt.
I love old cook books, and the older the better. I have an old one that tells how to render lard in the front yard. I probably won't be doing that. Of course I put my own twist on things. Sometimes I substitute because I don't have an ingredient, or I don't have a cast iron kettle in the fireplace (or even a fireplace).
Anyway, I made a delicious soup this week, with barely any left over. I did appropriate the original recipe from a book called FARM JOURNAL'S BEST-EVER VEGETABLE RECIPES. It was 1984 so not really even vintage. So, I think I get to name it what I want. So I am going to name it after my great Grandma, Bertie Whitt Rowe 18 Jan 1881 to 18 August 1971. Cousins on Mom's side - this is Granny's mother.
BERTIE'S CHEESY CORN CHOWDER
Shopping list:
1/4 pound salt pork, 2 onions, 3 potatoes, 1 package frozen corn flour, milk shredded cheese, S&P, nutmeg.
In the pan you are making the soup - at least a 3 quart pan, get your salt pork cooking. Stir the onions around in that good stuff until the onions are tender, but not caramelized. Add the peeled diced potatoes and 1/2 cup of water and bring to a boil. Reduce and simmer until the potatoes are tender. Stir it every now and again.
Stir in the corn cover and simmer and stir once in a while. Then add the 3 Tbs of flour and blend it real good. Gradually stir in 3 cups of milk, but I used part cream to make it rich. S&P to taste, however it is salty enough with the salt pork, I recommend just using pepper. You can stir in 2 cups of cheese at this point, however I just let each diner add as they chose as some do not care for cheese. Sprinkle nutmeg on top of your soup and there you go.
My New Year did not start out fabulous. I had been cranky for a couple of days, but by New Years Eve, I felt downright evil. Then I became dizzy, nauseated, high blood pressure, and so on. I ended up at the VA ER in Huntington - cause I wouldn't take a hamster to Thomas.
I had fabulous care. I was in the ER for about two hours and then admitted. I was there about 24 hours and had three CT scans and two MRI's, and a spinal tap. They were so on the ball that the only complaint I can make is the food. I wouldn't suggest dining there. I felt too bad to care that it was New Year's Eve or day. I wish I could say I am OK now but some tests are still pending.
Today I am making potato leek soup. I will have to let you know how that turns out.
Now the contents of the closet are strewn throughout the house. Want a huge 50 pound dictionary? I have it. Want photos that date back as far as photos go? I have them. VHS tapes? Chipped Fenton? Dried up paint from the last living room painting circa 1980? Yep, I have it all. Now my entire apartment looks like the Room of Requirement, including the dead body of Crabbe I have no doubt.
I love old cook books, and the older the better. I have an old one that tells how to render lard in the front yard. I probably won't be doing that. Of course I put my own twist on things. Sometimes I substitute because I don't have an ingredient, or I don't have a cast iron kettle in the fireplace (or even a fireplace).
Anyway, I made a delicious soup this week, with barely any left over. I did appropriate the original recipe from a book called FARM JOURNAL'S BEST-EVER VEGETABLE RECIPES. It was 1984 so not really even vintage. So, I think I get to name it what I want. So I am going to name it after my great Grandma, Bertie Whitt Rowe 18 Jan 1881 to 18 August 1971. Cousins on Mom's side - this is Granny's mother.
BERTIE'S CHEESY CORN CHOWDER
Shopping list:
1/4 pound salt pork, 2 onions, 3 potatoes, 1 package frozen corn flour, milk shredded cheese, S&P, nutmeg.
In the pan you are making the soup - at least a 3 quart pan, get your salt pork cooking. Stir the onions around in that good stuff until the onions are tender, but not caramelized. Add the peeled diced potatoes and 1/2 cup of water and bring to a boil. Reduce and simmer until the potatoes are tender. Stir it every now and again.
Stir in the corn cover and simmer and stir once in a while. Then add the 3 Tbs of flour and blend it real good. Gradually stir in 3 cups of milk, but I used part cream to make it rich. S&P to taste, however it is salty enough with the salt pork, I recommend just using pepper. You can stir in 2 cups of cheese at this point, however I just let each diner add as they chose as some do not care for cheese. Sprinkle nutmeg on top of your soup and there you go.
My New Year did not start out fabulous. I had been cranky for a couple of days, but by New Years Eve, I felt downright evil. Then I became dizzy, nauseated, high blood pressure, and so on. I ended up at the VA ER in Huntington - cause I wouldn't take a hamster to Thomas.
I had fabulous care. I was in the ER for about two hours and then admitted. I was there about 24 hours and had three CT scans and two MRI's, and a spinal tap. They were so on the ball that the only complaint I can make is the food. I wouldn't suggest dining there. I felt too bad to care that it was New Year's Eve or day. I wish I could say I am OK now but some tests are still pending.
Today I am making potato leek soup. I will have to let you know how that turns out.
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