“In My Kitchen” October 2018 Recipe
“In My Kitchen” October 2018 By Eliot, on October 7th, 2018 Wine is here! Check this out. We Okies can now buy wine in the grocery store!!!!!
October 1, 2018. Oklahoma and the 21st century.
Yep, Oklahoma’s bizarre laws finally addressed this issue and on October 1, 2018, we can now pick up a bottle of Malbec right along with salad ingredients and those steaks that we are planning on grilling. It is amazing!
“In My Kitchen” this month finds some grocery store-bought wine, kitchen towels for November 1, Food Huggers, Eataly items, and cookbooks.
For the last few years, I have become somewhat obsessed with Día de Muertos. I can probably trace my fascination with this holiday and its traditions back to the very first time I visited New Mexico in October. Of course, sugar skull imagery is culturally hip at the moment so you can find these sort of images everywhere.
I recently found these kitchen towels at TJ Maxx and had to have them for the upcoming holiday.
Forgive me. I’ve come late to the party regarding avocado toasts. Just because I had a lot of sourdough bread on hand recently and just because I had an almost over-the-hill avocado, I made us some toasts for a weekend lunch. I just added salt, pepper and a bit of lemon juice, mashed it up, and topped the toasts with a bit of home grown tomato. Delicious! Where have I been and why did I not make these sooner?!?!?!?!
Because I wanted to enjoy this new found love often, I ordered some Food huggers that I had seen in a magazine. Genius!
Comes in a set of two for small and giant avocados.
We traveled to Boston over the Labor Day weekend. We met my sister, one nephew and one of my sister’s friends there. We had a marvelous time. And, we were staying just steps away from Eataly Boston.
The skinny “Eataly” stamped spatula is a jar scraper. I have wanted Bee’s Wrap for some time since I saw some in Canada on another trip.
My PB&J wrapped up for lunch on my desk.
The measuring spoons are all silicon except for the tablespoon; it’s wooden. I love that design.
Like I need more cookbooks, but I stumbled into a quaint bookstore recently and found a couple of gems: Party Potpourri a day-glo , Pucci looking cookbook from the Junior League of Memphis (1971) and Dinner a l’ Art, a 1981 cookbook by the The Oklahoma Art Center (the precursor to the Oklahoma City Museum of Art).
I am sure there will be some posts to highlight these two retro books at some point here.
And, again, like I need more cookbooks….
As I was sitting for a pedicure (probably my last of the sandal-wearing season), I received an email alerting me that I could purchase the Kindle version of My Pantry by Alice Waters for only $2.99. I jumped at it. This is a slim volume (I’m assuming) because I read it and skimmed the recipes in that setting. I will revisit this book again and again if simply for the spice section with recipes for Za’atar, Cumin Salt, Chile-Lime Salt, and Niloufer’s Masala. I can’t wait to try Fanny’s Superfood Granola (included in the whole grain section) which combines buckwheat groats, red quinoa, nuts, sesame seeds, chia seeds, sunflower seeds along with warming spices and honey.
I loved that Waters has a 10-liter oak barrel in her kitchen that she makes wine vinegar in. She dumps in all the leftover wine, no matter what color or region. She even dumps in sparkling wine. (For some reason, I had assumed that someone of Waters culinary prowess would have separate vessels for separate wine vinegars, one for champagne vinegar, one for sherry vinegar, etc. Nope, she just dumps it all in!) She also includes directions on making your own apple cider vinegar with peels and apple cores.
Other sections in My Pantry include “Nuts,” “Beans and Other Legumes,” “Savory Preserves,” “Preserved Fish and Meats,” “Cheese,” and “Sweet Preserves.” I do have to say that I found some of her preserving instructions a bit suspect. I’m not sure I would actually can anything from this book but I would certainly make some to store in the refrigerator.
Because of this short cookbook review, I am also linking up with Foodies Read.
From September 12-October 12, Simona at briciole (a CTB Co-Host) is presenting Novel Food. Link up to this event with all your culinary reads as well.
That’s the hodgepodge for this edition of “In My Kitchen” this month.
IMK is hosted by Sherry at Sherry’s Pickings.
Let me leave you with another nature photo….I recently counted six monarchs on our meager plot of milkweed. Cookbook Review, What we're growing, eating, and doing. Alice Waters, cookbooks, Foodies Reads, In My Kitchen, Novel Food