Thursday, January 25, 2007

The Burp Bowl

Although I am no longer in the Super Bowl Spirit after the soul-crushing Patriots loss last week, the only thing that make me want to have the annual Super Bowl party is this : the food. We have a contest at the party each year and the categories are:
1. Best football reference (something shaped like footballs, fields, helmets, etc.)
2. Tastiest
3. Most likely to cause gas

that last one has been kind of easy to win in the last few years, so I'm going to try and take down #2. Any suggestions from the wider web?

The Oprah Strikes Back?

I heard on the radio today that Oprah-protege Rachael Ray was overheard at an LA restaurant talking smack about her patron. This leads me not to a discussion about Rachael Ray (which apparently is a whole other blog), but rather a question about Oprah: Can you bite the lucrative hand that feeds you, or are you finished without the gravy-train of constant promotion? Does Oprah's Death-Star like Empire control the universe, or can you cross her and still live to cook another meal on Tatooine? What happened to that James Frey guy, anyway?

Monday, January 22, 2007

For the Love of Three Oranges

My sister-in-law has a dwarf orange tree that her bro gave her as a gift a couple years ago. Despite Cape Cod winters, it occasionally makes fruit, and recently produced three cute little oranges. What to do with all this (tiny) fruit? She made cocktails with it. Now that's a nice homespun winter touch- "Oh, this? I made this from my fruit trees".

I suggested take the next bounty and cook it down with equal parts sugar and water for a simple syrup. That way, more people can enjoy the "harvest". Who says winter is dull and lifeless? Not with baby orange cocktails, friends.

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

The very basics, part 2

Wow. How have we gotten so far away from good food that people are eating M&M's for dinner? (I'm not a huge fan, so that doesn't sound so good). Reclaim the domestic arts, women of the world.

my vote for the top things to have around:

1. bread
2. cheese
3. eggs
4. lettuce of some type
5. pasta

That's all you need. Really. Let's see: grilled cheese, egg sandwich, croutons for a salad, a salad with a poached egg, a savory bread pudding, deviled eggs, toad-in-a-hole, egg salad sandwich, pasta carbonara, pasta with oil and cheese, cooked pasta fried with scrambled eggs, omlette with salad on top, crepes, mac and cheese, etc. etc.

quick and healthy. Besides, low-carb is so 2006.

Monday, January 15, 2007

The Very Basics

I'm working on a project with several women who are intelligent, great-looking, hold down excellent jobs...and they eat everything out of either a microwave or off a menu. "Can you cook?" one of them asked me last night, when we were working late and calling the thai place, again. "I just can't get into it. I can't make anything and I just end up eating all the M&Ms at work."

Help me save these women from themselves. Not everyone has to be a foodie, or a gourmet. I don't qualify for either of those categories, but I can make something good and satisfying if I feel like it. Because of basic kitchen competency, I can eat better, healthier, and cheaper.

So, what are the five or ten things everyone should know how to make? The 101 of food?

Here are some of my picks:

1) Scrambled eggs or, as we called them as kids "Scrambies."
2) Roast chicken
3) Cold appetizer platter (yes, you can cheat and use deli stuff here.)
4) Soup that can last a week
5) Grilled fish
6) Rice & Beans
7) Inventive salads
8) A cheese plate
9) Crock Pot standby
10) Oven-roasted vegetables

What do you think?

Who is Homespun Urban?

So who are we? Two sisters from the frozen reaches of Northern New York , but now living in the urban jungles of Atlanta and Boston. We are two country girls gone urban: one ran screaming, one just gravitated. One of us is more like the colorfully cussing cooks in the back of the kitchen, the other is at the front of the house, hostessing, small-talking, and stealing sips from her 'iced tea.'

You guess who's who.

Saturday, January 13, 2007

Super Scam

Ah, the Super Bowl -the most American of eating holidays. What better time to celebrate the US of A's culinary contributions- cheese dip, burgers, dogs, and of course, chicken wings? I LOVE the Super Bowl. I love the game, I love the food, I love the fact that the Sunday coupons start in January with Slim Fast and rice cakes, and in two short weeks are running jalapeno poppers and queso dip.
So wouldn't you think that prices for this type of thing would go down? Specials, the equivelent of the 29 cents-a-pound turkey at Thanksgiving, that sort of thing? Guess again. A caterer recently informed my sister that around Super Bowl time, the price of chicken wings triples. I realize that chicken wings aren't that expensive to begin with, but come on! This smacks of Halliburton-level corruption. Can't even the Super Bowl stay pure?

Turkey's Never Ending Story

If you're like me, the best part of Thanksgiving is not the meal, but the week of leftovers after the fact. You know that sad, worried feeling you get when you try to get one more sandwich out of the leftovers, but realize that a week after the meal might be pushing it? (Turkey sandwich or food poisoning....turkey sandwich or food poisoning.....)Never fear. After grossly over-estimating the amount of turkey needed this year, I was faced with more turkey meat that I could ever whip into the leftover permutations in my repertoire, so I froze a whole bag of it. I wasn't sure how cooked turkey froze, but guess what? It's just fine. Turkey and rice soup in January's cold takes you back to the warmer fun of Thanksgiving. In the words of Limahl, it's a 'Never Ending Story'.

Welcome to Homespun Urban

Welcome to the Homespun Urban Blog- an accompaniment to the upcoming Homespun Urban book. (publishing in 2007). What is Homespun Urban?

Think the goodness of country life (fresh and healthy food, community camaraderie, the ability to be constantly entertained and produce cool crafty things at the drop of a pitchfork) can only be found far from the city lights – or attained through hours of kitchen wenching? Not anymore.
You hold in your hands the manual for knowing how to:
•Infuse special occasion magic into the most boring Tuesday
•Make your home bar the best hotspot in the city
•Make your weekend guests feel they've been upgraded to the concierge floor
•Bring your friends together for gatherings people can't stop talking about
•Whip up easy dishes that will make the person of your choice swoon
•Throw a bridal or baby shower that doesn't make you want to throw up
•Use an age-old technique to find modern love – and have a killer pantry at the same time
•Gain new sense of pride in yourself and your own inventive genius!

Welcome to the spin.