I think I am back faithful readers

Hi Everyone,
Things are hard right now. Not that everyones life is not hard, but I am really struggling with the death of Fred our beloved little doxie. I miss him so much. I thought I was doing great at the beginning of the month and continued on with blogging and then I started to space the day and not blog and missing event after event even though I had cooked the food and taken pictures. Things have been hard. I am sorry I have left ya'll to read other blogs but hey there are some great ones out there.

Hopefully I will be able to put myself together this weekend and cook up some great things to share with ya'll.

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Weekend Dog Blog: A new little one

We don't bring her home till March, but there are other pups at Sweetnicks

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Weekend Cookbook Challenge #12: Stew

I really got into a stew with this Weekend’s Cookbook Challenge hosted by Shaun at Winter Skies, Kitchen Aglow. My problem is that soup and stew seem so much alike to me. They are brothy concoctions that don’t satisfy with their little substance.

I think I could stand stew if it were redefined as a hearty meal that can be eaten with a fork. So that’s my intent. I got this clam chowder recipe from Everyday Food. Here’s how it went.

I tried to convince my husband that for the New Year’s weekend we should go razor claming. Two issues put a damper on this activity. First we went out of town for the weekend. Secondly our tight budget didn’t allow for us to buy licenses and clam guns, etc. Maybe another time we can hunt down these little diggers. We’ll bring our little digger dog, Frankie, and let her go to town. She loves the beach and can now run wild without Fred screaming at her like she’s going to be swept away by the next wave. I suppose that from the dachshund perspective the waves are much more treacherous, but I digress.

As a knitter I stash yarn. In fact I have a full closet that is mostly yarn. I secretly stash food also. Some of my stash is needy – like the squash. The clams are not. A proud crustacean is brought into the kitchen alive. Its protective covering gives it a fighting chance to avoid the hot water that will open it up. These clams have been beaten into a can and made to suffer the complete humiliation of other sea creatures such as tuna and crabs.

Despite the intrigue of whether a clam will be a good one, the can is convenient. This recipe is a real winner also. It is delicious and creamy. Sorry if you’re a Manhattan chowder lover.

The recipe is from an older Everyday Food. If you have not noticed, I am really into Everyday Food. I do have to laugh occasionally. I was reading one of the issues from the first year and noticed in the Reader’s Recipe section an interesting looking recipe and out of curiosity looked at what part of the country it came from. It was from Martha Stewart herself. Too odd. Martha certainly does some good things, but I’m amused that she touts herself so much and thinks so highly of herself. The crafts and home improvements that she presents are obviously more than she could produce by herself. So thanks goes to the Martha Stewart people for this recipe – not necessarily Martha herself.

Yumminess. Follows

Creamy Clam Chowder

Everyday Food November 2003

• 12 cherrystone clams (1 ½ lbs), scrubbed well – I used 1 can 6oz
• 2 slices bacon, finally chopped
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 1 large stalk of celery, finely chopped
• 1 t chopped fresh thyme ( or ¼ t dried)
• 1 lb new potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 ½ in chunks
• ¾ c heavy cream
• dash of hot sauce (always Ring of Fire here at EoT)
• coarse salt and pepper

1. In a large skillet, bring clams and 1 cup water to a boil. Cover; cook until clams have opened, 3-5 min (discard any that don’t open). Transfer clams to a bowl. Strain liquid into a measuring cup; add water to yield 1 cup. Remove clam meat from shells; coarsely chop. (I instead opened the can, drained the liquid into a measuring cup, added water to create 1 cup of clam juice and proceeded to step 2.)
2. In a large saucepan, cook bacon over med-low heat until crisp 8-10 min. Pour off all but 1 T fat. Add onion and celery; cook until soft, about 5 min. Add thyme, potatoes, cooking liquid, and 1 more cup of water. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer until potatoes are tender, about 20 min.
3. Puree about 1 c mixture in a blender until smooth. Stir puree back into soup; add cream. Simmer over low heat until warm through, about 5 min. Add clams and hot sauce; season with salt

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Happy New Year!

The New Year is bringing some new happenings here at the EoT. I’m still hurting from the loss of my dog, Fred, and took comfort in knitting and reading lately instead of blogging. I really miss my little alarm clock/lap heater/worrier/entertainer. In a way Fred was here to help me get ready to be a mom and I treated him like my little boy. I trained him from 2 months old when he was a wee pup. I saw him overcome fears and be adventurous. He kept up with us in so many things. Even though Fred annoyed our bigger dog Frankie, I see that she misses him. She sleeps all day now and does not care to be outside. She used to go outside just to avoid him. Bad winter weather meant this ploy worked - otherwise he was glued to her side.

A happier note follows
My New Year’s ponderings were a chance to look over this blog and make some resolutions. Here are my thoughts and resolutions.

• I only started blogging in the last half of the year and didn’t contribute enough to enter the 2006 Top Food Blog Awards. I feel more confident about my blog now.
  
• My goals this year are to blog twice a week. Participate in one event other than WHB each week. I also would like to write two longer articles each month. One piece will be on a local producer of some sort and the second piece will be on a in season produce with several recipes rather than just one. The seasonal produce article might resemble what I wrote up for the entire month of November’s WHB.
  
• December was not so consistent but I chalk that up to being the holidays and memo’s cancer – we were told the day after Christmas that the only option left is hospice.
  
• I went to art school to study Fibers – which incorporates surface design, weaving and much more. I started a Fiber blog called Pursuit of Fiber. NO it doesn’t tout the crunchy stuff that fills you up and helps your New Year’s diet resolution. My first post kind of lets you know what kinds of stuff I do. This blog is still under construction and may not stay on blogger.

I have been making a few things. I thought I would share this morning’s fare. I made scones last night for breakfast. I was motivated by Tummy Treasure’s post on The Bread Bible.

I have had this book since my final year in Art School. Despite my crazy schedule I cooked from it all the time. I would work on my projects all night and have bread rising in the kitchen. I did it all by hand because I did not have anything else and I liked the feel. This book creates amazing breads, but they take forever. I used to hit myself in the head when I was making sourdough because it would take me 3 days to make 2 loaves of artisan bread. I still stick with this book because I made the best focaccia ever – even if it took me 14 hours when I should have been sewing on my Thesis.

So the scones I made took a little longer than ones you would find in the King Arthur’s Flour Baking Companion. So yummy so flaky and so gingery. These were absolutely amazing. I would give you the recipe but it takes up three pages in the book so I will leave you with a picture to droll over.

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