lperry

You had to ask and make me wonder… They seem to have been a bit liberal with the use of the term, “bean”, but here goes. 1. small scarlet runner beans 2. large limas 3. green peas 4. small limas 5. little brown beans that look like tepary beans 6. black eyed peas 7. garbanzos 8. black beans 9. pinto beans 10. small red beans 11. green lentils 12. greenish beans that I think are butter beans so I’ll call them southern flageolets 13. small white beans 14. a very tiny brown bean that I think is mung 15. red kidney beans 16. medium sized white beans There may also be another type of lentil – some look brown and some look green. There are also two sizes of the brown and black beans. The tiny black and white ones look like what I see in the grocery labeled as Salvadoran beans as compared to black turtle beans and navy beans. So I may have gotten a steal. 19 beans for the price of 16.

Last night was a quick forage in the fridge that resulted in roasted fingerling potatoes in chipotle meyer lemon sauce, and a citrus jicama salad to cool the burn. Tonight I had a little more time, so the soup is simmering. Sixteen bean with kale.

Thank you for the tip! What about some sort of hot dressing that would wilt the greens? I like this with dandelions and usually use a sherry vinaigrette. Or chop up the greens and put everything in a soup.

Chocolate cake filled with peach/lemon balm preserves and frosted with chocolate buttercream that has a bit of apricot liqueur in it. Happy Super Bowl!

Last night we had margaritas with Cabo Wabo reposado and Cointreau. Tastes like summer. Now if only the weather would cooperate.

Potato, kale and feta pancakes Mixed green salad

Have you considered mulled wine or sangria?

To recover from too much lunch, we had a wheat berry waldorf salad. I found the recipe while looking for ways to use up the wheat berries I bought, and this one is really flavorful. Click. I used dried cranberries instead of raisins.

Leek and potato soup Green salad with pecans, dried cranberries, and herbed chevre 2007 Bodegas Enanzo Remonte Tempranillo

Coconut cake filled with homemade pineapple ginger preserves and covered with seven minute icing. Made for another pot luck party.

In about five minutes I'm taking a pan of Hungarian Shortbread from Baking with Julia out of the oven. It is dessert for the inauguration potluck party today. I love this recipe because you can freeze the dough in logs that will fit in the feed tube of the food processor, thus changing the annoying half hour of grating on a box grater into a few seconds. Plus, it uses up a pint of preserves from the overflowing cabinet. Today's flavor is mayhaw. Happy Inauguration Day everyone!

Black bean chili from the Greens cookbook topped with feta, tortilla chips, and cilantro. Now I need to find a lime for some margaritas.

Trader Joe's whole wheat pizza crust with roasted asparagus, baby bella mushrooms, and shallots, sun dried tomato puree for sauce and herbed chevre on top. 2001 Bodegas Riojanas Viña Albina Reserva Rioja.

Peanut M&Ms.

Mr. lperry's job sent him to many of Virginia's wineries last year, and we ended up with quite a bit of wine in the cellar. We really enjoy Barboursville's wines - we've got the Nebbiolo, Octagon (both 2005), and brut right now. Linden makes a Cabernet Franc that they bottle in splits - it's like velvet. Really lovely. I think we've got the 2005. We've also enjoyed Kluge's wines. I agree that there is a lot of Virginia wine that is overpriced, and when you shell out thirty bucks for something that is no better or even worse than two buck chuck*, you can't help but feel burned, and it becomes a difficult sell for everyone else. But there are some gems out there. *No offense meant to two buck chuck.

We had lunch at Evening Star today. The Mediterranean salad was very good with a well balanced dressing and baby arugula, and the veggie sandwich was excellent. Sprigs of thyme were tucked in along with the mushrooms, melted mozzarella, and fried veggie/tofu/herbed patty. Somehow that last bit doesn't sound very appetizing, but it was really good. When the sandwich came, the fries tasted like they had been sitting for a while, but as soon as we pointed this out to the server, we got a plate of fresh ones. Crispy and nicely spiced with Cajun seasoning. A good option for lunch in Del Ray.

The global rice crisis has come to Trader Joe's. The Italian arborio rice is now in a 500 gram package for the same price as the kilo used to cost. I wish they would just up the price to cut down on packaging. Fortunately, the dark chocolate covered ginger is still in the large tub.

^ That sounds fantastic. Tonight we're having a 2005 Barboursville Nebbiolo Reserve.

Chestnut, white bean, and kale soup. Corn stick pans are heating in the oven.

Meyer Lemon Drops with homemade Meyer limoncello and freshly squeezed juice. Not particularly sophisticated, but it really showcases the Meyer lemon complexity, and that's what I was going for. It tastes like a little piece of Florida in a glass. I'll play with the ratios a little, but I'll definitely make them again.

I'm going to add another one. I want to use my cookbooks more instead of relying on the internet so much.

Search for "recette liqueur châtaigne" and piles of sites will come up on Google. Chestnuts are sometimes "marrons" and other times "châtaignes." I have no idea why this is, but French Wikipedia says it has to do with varietal type, size and flavor. Could you please try to describe the flavor of the chestnut liqueur? My parents have several trees and I am always on the lookout for new ideas. Edited to say, there's a quick and easy way to peel the little suckers. Cut them in half and put the cut side down on a plate. Microwave for a minute, pull the plate out, wait a few seconds, and the meat inside will shrink away from the shell and that annoying as heck inner skin. If any stick, they go in again with the next batch. They will be a little bit cooked, but still at a state where you can do all sorts of things with them from roasting in a pan with butter to tossing in soup.

^Territorial is one I hadn't seen before, and I just ordered their catalog. Thanks for the tip. I like Seeds of Change, and I used to buy a lot from Shepherd's, but they went out of business. Miller's Nurseries in New York were recommended to me for berry bushes. Apparently, they take great pains to make sure the plants are virus free, so they bear for many years more than less cared for plants will. I agree about the mild winter. I still have parsley, catnip, and a couple of mints that look really good, and even ice storms can't touch the sage plant. But the Farmer's Almanac said it would be really cold, so I am waiting for it to hit. I need to do some planting beds and I think I should probably be working now while the ground is soft.

1. Landscape my yard to include a gorgeous, highly productive veggie garden and berry patch 2. Finish various renovations and projects in the house so we can have people over for dinner more often 3. Exercise more so I can eat more 4. A corollary to #3, walk to a meal instead of driving if it is 2 miles or less from home

It's early yet, but where I grew up in Florida, the tomato plants went out on Valentine's day if you were late. So planting is on my mind and I've been thumbing through seed catalogs and looking at nurseries for my berry bushes. I want to try different greens this year, and I'm eyeing things like beetberry and Tuscan kale. I'm also going to be growing fennel this year, and if I can find a source, I want some celery root. Has anyone else been inspired by the catalogs?