Last Weekend

Well, here we are on the last weekend of 2013. Just seems like this year has gone by awfully fast. Some change around here this weekend.

Tomorrow is my last shift at Home Depot. I gave them two weeks notice but they decided, after I offered, to cover the 4 shifts scheduled in 2014 with someone else and make my last shift in 2013. Makes sense.

All the seed catalogs have started to arrive so I need to spend some time getting all my orders ready. First I need to inventory what I have left over and saved from last year. I also need to decide what I am going to plant....to corn or not to corn, etc.

Got to get to work in the garden and finish up my raised beds. I've been thwarted by rain over and over again for at least a month or two and now that I don't have to work I need to get hopping.

One possible glitch in the gardening plans is that I am having some pain that is very similar to that I was having before my hernia surgery in June. I'm going back to the surgeon on Monday to see if I need a tune up or if something came loose. I sure hope it is under warranty. If I have to do the surgery again it will put me a month behind for the garden which won't make me happy. Last year was such a disappointing gardening experience that I am very focused on getting it right this year. I'm actually in real danger of running out of canned tomatoes!

Heavy rains forecast for this afternoon and tonight so outside is out for today. Madam's cell phone is refusing to hold a charge and she is due for an upgrade so at least part of the afternoon will be at AT&T figuring out what sort of gouge they will do for me. It is a crime what we are paying in this country for phone services.

Happy Christmas Eve

Happy Christmas everyone. Let's hope the proper spirit of the season takes the chill off the hearts of those that are doing all the Scrooge stuff.
Quiet little Christmas Eve here abouts. I've got today and tomorrow off so I can enjoy a little downtime. Minimonk is here for most of the day to celebrate though she is going in later so that the firefighters with children can be home for the evening. She's got her new best bud Pete with her and he and Miss Zoey have been romping about.
I hope everyone has a happy holiday...lots of tasty treats and a good and rewarding visit from Santa tonight.
Madam is throwing her annual Boxing Day do for her mates so I'll have some cooking and prep to do on Christmas Day. I'll have to open the store on Boxing Day at 545a so I will miss the house full of ladies (too bad!). Madam has chosen chicken curry for her menu with all the fixin's so it should be fun.
I've got rolls rising that should be about ready for the oven and we'll have Honey Baked ham, and other goodies for our Christmas Eve festivities. I've got to finish the deviled eggs and a few other chores before we get going.

Merry Christmas everybody!

BTW my Christmas present to myself was my resignation from Home Depot so even though I have two weeks to go my spirits are already lifted.

Healthcare, Here We Go

I changed my mind about signing up for health insurance through the ACA. The more I thought about it the more it seemed like taking too big a risk for the 8 months I wouldn't have any coverage before I'm eligible for Medicare. A serious problem could wipe out the savings I intend to supplement my SS with. The only hitch is that I need to call Home Depot quits. The extra income from the part time, soul sucking work puts me almost at the limit for any tax credits to help with the insurance premiums. Without the extra income I qualify for a little over 300 bucks in monthly tax credit towards the premium which equates to nearly half of the take home. Really a no brainer. I was already thinking of giving my notice and have almost done it several times. I've really only been working so I can get a minimal amount of health insurance.

So anyway I've signed up for a silver HMO plan that will hit me for a little over $200 a month and yes the deductible is $3,500 but at least I won't have to worry about something serious wiping my nest egg out. After the deductible the insurance is much better that what I had as a part time Home Depot.

So I will give my notice when I go in at 3pm today and rest assured I won't miss opening the store at 6am and closing at 10pm.

You may remember that I had been trying since the beginning to at least find out what kind of insurance I could get on the exchange and had completed the application part way back but hadn't been able to get to the part where I select insurance.  I had to delete all that old stuff and do a new application and it went through and I had insurance in about an hour of work. Now I just wait for the insurance folks to contact me so I can pay them.

Expensive Snacks

It was an expensive weekend around here. I was inattentive and left my hearing aids on my desk in their case but I left the case open. Zoey managed to snag the left one and chew it to bits. At least she didn't swallow the battery. A couple of grand down the tubes. Fortunately, it was still under warranty and a replacement will only cost me $250. She also managed to chew one my New Balance trainers pretty well. If she wasn't so cute I would be mad.  It is somewhat amazing how cat like she can be when she is determined to explore and get into mischief. She has obviously found her way onto my desk and we've found her on the kitchen counters and table. She has also discovered that she can travel around the den completely by leaping from chair to chair and couch and never touch the floor.

Full moon today and it is the Long Night Moon or the Winter Moon. If you have any magick to get done tonight is the night. Don't forget that the Winter Solstice is coming Saturday so you'll have two good chances this week to harness nature for a helping hand.

Still grinding away at the Home Depot and they are scheduling me mostly at night for the next couple of weeks. Last night I managed not to freeze in the garden center and tonight I am scheduled to supervise Self Check which is my least favorite thing. Watching stupid people do stupid things for 5 hours. I don't use the self check out ever and I can't see why people insist on it when there are live cashiers just a step or two away. They'll struggle to get the product scanned and usually wind up frustrating themselves for no reason. I'll have intervene over and over again when people have quantities of something and suddenly realize it means scanning each one or they have hardware with no barcode that can be scanned. You even have people trying to self checkout doors and appliances that they can't even lift. Major insanity.

Not For Me It Seems

A day off and Madam has planned a small dinner party for some friends moving out of state. Since it has been so cold and wintry I thought a nice stew would be a good easy meal. So I will spend the afternoon putting together a nice boeuf bourguignon and some nice  braised Brussels Sprouts glazed with a balsamic reduction. Normally you serve boiled potatoes with this stew but I am going with an egg pappardelle instead. A rustic French apple tart is going to be pudding. Going to be a nice afternoon putzing in the kitchen.

As for the title of the post....I've mentioned that I have been trying to get through the Healthcare.gov process and get some insurance to tide me over until September when I can enroll in Medicare. I still haven't been successful but with the changes to the website that kicked in 12/1 I can at least see what my options are here in Georgia. Turns out they are not so great. At my age and income I do qualify for a small subsidy but even with that I am looking at at $500 a month for a Silver plan and the plan has a $6,500 deductible. The best case scenario(I stay healthy) means a minimum out of pocket of $4,000 for the eight months and a worse case of  $10,500 if I get sick before I see any insurance. I am thinking I just have to risk not having insurance for those 8 months. I'm still stewing on it but I think that's the way I will go.

Everybody enjoy your Friday the Thirteenth and I am going to go cook. Working all weekend so it is likely quiet in these parts.

Old Fashioned Soft Molasses Cookies

Updated: Added the photo.

It's another cold and rainy day off. It has been like this for days and it is starting to wear thin. It is, however, coming the winter holiday season and I begin to think of cookies. One of my all time favorite cookies is from my mother who passed this recipe from her mother on to me and is a nice soft and spicy molasses cookie. Not really a very nuanced cookie but substantial and earthy from the molasses and some might think a little too spicy since it has a lot of ground ginger and cloves in it. Whatever, it is still one of my all time favorites and it makes a big batch so you can share.

Old Fashioned Soft Molasses Cookies

You'll need:

1/2 cup butter
1/2 vegetable shortening
1 1/2 cup granulated sugar plus a little more for rolling the cookies in
1/2 cup unsulphered molasses
2 large eggs slightly beaten
4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 1/4 tsp baking soda
2 1/4 tsp ground ginger
1 1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Process:

In a large bowl cream butter, shortening and sugar and then beat in molasses and eggs. In another large bowl mix the dry ingredients with a wire whisk then add this to the butter mixture and mix well. Roll the dough into balls about 1 to 1 1/2 inch in diameter and then roll the balls in granulated sugar to coat. Place the balls on a cookie sheet and give them room to spread as they will flatten and spread as they cook. Bake a 350F for 10 to 12 minutes. Don't overcook these or they will get too hard.

Store tightly covered and if they start to get too crisp put a slice of apple in the can with them and they will stay soft.

The above recipe is the one from my mother but I just use a cup of unsalted butter instead. I also use extra large eggs when I bake. BTW use fresh spices and not those that have been in the cupboard for a couple of years. I am a Penzey's spice guy and I  think they are consistently the best available. If your ground spices are more than a  year old, toss them and get new.

This and That

Well, I've had two days off and its rained so no gardening. Instead I have been doing pretty much nothing. I did manage to get a batch of sourdough bread baked today and yesterday I baked cheese crackers in a continuing effort to make good cheese crackers at home...a work in progress. Cheesy but not thin enough or crunchy enough. It's supposed to rain through the weekend as well and I am scheduled for the garden center which is typical though it should be pretty quiet.

It has been interesting seeing the reaction to Nelson Mandela's passing especially from the right. Ted Cruz made the mistake of praising Mandela on Facebook and his already crazy followers went off the deep end. Rick Santorum likened Mandela's fight against apartheid to the GOP battle against Obamacare if you can believe it.

Anyhow, back to work tomorrow. Everyone have a great weekend.

Judy Rodgers - Thanks

Unless you are a foodie like me it is likely you have never heard of the late Judy Rodgers, chef at the famous Zuni Cafe in San Francisco. I was lucky enough to eat there only once and it was memorable but more importantly it is people like Judy, who not only love food and cooking but truly cared about the food in its entirety.
The following is an excerpt from an interview done in 2004 (h/t Michael Ruhlman) that expresses how Judy considered food and cooking. It really resonates with me. Judy passed away Monday from cancer at the age of 57.

This from a 2004 conversation, before she became ill with cancer, says it all:

That’s what we’re up against, that it’s perceived as a triumph that you can get strawberries in January as opposed to a catastrophe. Not all choice is good. Even if the January strawberry tastes OK, even if you have a really good strawberry that’s organic, I still know you turned down other things for that to happen.

A lot of our culinary habits in this country developed after refrigeration and freezing and certain technologies were inexpensive, whereas most other old world countries’ culinary traditions evolved before you had all those things. And so you had dried apples—not to put in your Cheerios, you had dried apples so you had something to eat.

That’s something I can do is try to make the menu, as much as I can, reflect a lot of the natural rhythms of this part of the world and reflect that this used to be the way you would eat before you could cheat.

There are a lot of reason not to buy Chilean blueberries. Let’s do nuts or chocolate or dried fruit for dessert. Part of not getting tired of food and cooking is not having every option every day, it’s responding to your constraints.  You don’t have that much to work with, so you have to be more resourceful.  If I were in St. Louis, I’d have a different palate of flavors to play with. I’d probably be more aggressive about putting stuff up myself during the season.

And guess what?  That’s what culinary tradition is, making the harvest season last all year long. My God, the most unique holiday we have is Thanksgiving, it should be something that if you really ponder what Thanksgiving is all about, you would really understand food. But people think it’s about gluttony, as opposed to truly revering your great harvest celebration, and now put stuff up so you don’t starve over the winter. But people don’t think about it that way—here, it’s the beginning of the eating season.

Judy Rodgers, 1956–2013
NYTimes.com obituary by Eric Asimov

Still No on Healthcare.gov

Tried again this morning to get to the enrollment part of the process. All the eligibility stuff appears complete but still no plans are presented for me to evaluate. I tried the on line chat but really got nowhere with that other than a suggestion to call the 800 number. Not sure I will actually enroll but I would like to compare plans and costs just to see what it would be. I lose the minimum health plan with Home Depot on the first of January and while it was pretty crappy it was something. I will have Medicare next September and may just try the go without route for 8 months but I can't make that decision without some information on the plans available here in Georgia. I'll keep trying.

Buttermilk Pie

Here is the recipe for the Buttermilk Pie that I fixed over the Thanksgiving holiday.
Nothing complicated but it makes a very nice pie and is a nice change from the usual
fare. Rumor has it that it started with the Amish. As a note I use extra large eggs when I
am baking and I use whole buttermilk not the reduced fat.

You'll need:

1/2 cup butter melted
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 tablespoons flour
3 eggs, beaten
1 pinch salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup buttermilk
1 deep dish pie shell ( homemade or store bought)

Method:

Preheat oven to 400°F.
Beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at time and
beat until well mixed, add the vanilla and salt. Alternate adding the flour and buttermilk
while mixing and beat until smooth.
Pour into a deep dish pie shell and bake at 400F for 10 minutes, reduce heat to 350F and
bake for 50-60 additional minutes. It helps to bake pies on the lowest shelf of your oven
as it helps prevent a soggy crust. Pie should turn a nice golden brown and a knife
inserted should come out clean.

Post Black Friday and Stuff

I survived Black Friday. Actually, it was not too bad, other than the early start. Not nearly as many shoppers as I expected and most only came for the special price on the Martha Stewart Xmas tree that was advertised and they were gone pretty quick. They actually let me leave an hour early since we were heavily overstaffed. There was a lot of time when the number of orange aprons present outnumbered shoppers.

Thanksgiving dinner was nice and even though it was just for four I think everyone enjoyed it. As usual I fixed enough for 12 and there are a lot of leftovers and out guests went home with plenty as well. I was especially proud of the fact that everything, with the exception of the turkey, wine, and a few ingredients came from the garden. Steamed fresh broccoli, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, succotash to mention some and everything else was made from scratch. The surprise hit was the Buttermilk pie which was a last minute whim. If anyone would like to try, let me know and I'll post the recipe.

Working again this afternoon but only for 5 hours and again tomorrow for a full shift. No weekends around here very often.

Day Ahead Butterry Dinner Rolls

Here is a recipe for nice dinner rolls that you can do most of the work the day ahead and that make a very necessary addition to the Thanksgiving feast. The overnight rest in the fridge actually improves the flavor of the bread and saves a lot of mess on the big day. This makes about 2 dozen rolls so there are usually plenty left over for turkey and cranberry sliders.

You need:

1 1/4 cups milk ( whole or two percent or even buttermilk)
2 TBLSP sugar
1 packet or 1 1/4 tsp rapid rise yeast
1 large egg beaten
4 - 4 1/2 cups of all purpose unbleached flour (20 to 21 1/4 oz) I use King Arthur
1 1/2 TSP kosher salt
8 TBLSP softened unsalted butter divided into 8 pieces and 6 TBLSP
6 TBLSP of  softened salted butter for forming, brushing pre and post baking.
Process:

Warm the milk and sugar in the microwave until it is about 100 degrees F
In the bowl of a stand mixer put the warmed milk and sugar and add the yeast letting it stand for 5 or 10 minutes or until you see yeast begin to foam. Add the beaten egg and 4 cups of the flour and mix until it just comes together with the dough hook. Let this stand for 20-30 minutes to let the flour hydrate. Add the salt and knead on medium with the dough hook for 6 minutes. After 6 minutes and the  8 TBLSP of butter one TBLSP at a time, letting each mix in well before adding the next. After all the butter is incorporated your dough should be coming away from the sides of the bowl but if not add additional flour 1 TBLSP at a time until it does. Dump the dough onto a floured work surface and knead by had for 1 or two minutes. Put the dough into a large buttered bowl, cover and refridgerate overnight. It should rise slowly overnight until it doubles in size. Remove the dough to the counter a couple of hours before you are ready to bake and let the dough come to room temperature.

 Cut the dough into 24 pieces and with well buttered hands form them into balls by pulling the dough and pinching to form a smooth surface. Put on a large baking pan (half sheet pan) cover and let rise until they double. Baste lightly with melted salted butter and bake in a preheated 375F oven on the middle rack until golden, about 20 minutes. Lightly brush again with melted salted butter and serve.

Instead of making round buns you can roll the dough out until it is about a 1/2 inch thick and cut out circles with a biscuit cutter, brush with butter and fold half then let rise until doubled. Your choice.

Enjoy.

Wintry Day and Gravy To Boot

A little dusting of snow around this morning in the Northern burbs of Atlanta though the temp is just slightly north of freezing and a lot of gusty wind. Should be clearing by the afternoon but it makes a great day for staying inside and getting all the prep done for the "foodalypse" or "turkeylypse" or whatever.

Going to get the cornbread baked for the dressing and all the onions and celery chopped and chilled. Get the pie crusts done and the dough for the rolls made up and in the fridge. While it will save me time tomorrow it actually makes for a better bread if the dough ferments slowly overnight which produces a much fuller flavor. Not much else to do ahead but it will make throwing the dinner tomorrow much less hectic. Oh, and I'll make the broth for the gravy today as well. You can make gravy with just boxed broth but making your own broth with a mirepoix and a foundation of boxed broth makes for a much better product. I'll share my method below.

Minimonk has cancelled and decided just to stay home and chill but it doesn't change the plan but it does mean more leftovers(and more pumpkin pie for me).
Everybody have a safe holiday and enjoy your time off. If you are traveling on the East coast be careful. If you are flying...woe is you.

For all you folks a little wary of making your own gravy and resort to the packets or jars give the following a try and you won't go back. Good gravy can save the day and this gravy is not restricted to just turkey. Yeah, it takes a bit of work but you can do the stock days ahead and even freeze it weeks ahead. The final assembly takes just minutes. Try it, you'll like it.

Classic Herbed Gravy

You'll need:

For the stock:
    2 tablespoons olive oil
    2 stalks of celery chopped into 1/4 inch dice
    2 carrots chopped into 1/4 inch dice
    1 onion, coarsely chopped
    2 garlic cloves, crushed
    4 cups water
    4 cups low sodium chicken broth
    1 bay leaf
    2 teaspoons whole black peppercorns
For the final gravy:
    3 tablespoons  unsalted butter
    1 teaspoon each finely chopped fresh thyme, rosemary, and sage (you can use a tablespoon of dried poulty seasoning here)
    2 tablespoons unsalted butter for the final finish
    1/4 cup all-purpose flour
    salt and pepper to taste
   
Make the stock:
Heat oil in a large saucepan over moderately high heat and add celery, carrots, onion and garlic, stirring occasionally, until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Add water, broth, bay leaf and peppercorns and bring to a boil.
Simmer uncovered, until reduced to 6 cups, about 1 hour. Strain through a fine sieve and skin off any excess fat. Set aside. You can do this a day or two ahead or freeze for weeks. You'll just have to warm it before final assembly.

For the gravy:
Heat the 3 TBLSP butter in a large saucepan over moderate heat, When the butter begins to foam whisk in the flour and cook until golden brown, about 4-5  minutes. Add the fresh herbs and then whisk in the hot stock in a slow stream whisking constantly, until smooth. Simmer until thickened and reduced to about 4 1/2 cups, maybe 20 minutes but maybe longer...don't worry it will thicken when it boils. Finish by stirring in the final two tablespoons of butter. Adjust the seasoning. This is the last minute part but you can do it while the turkey is resting, just make sure to keep it warm.

Note: If you want to use turkey fat from your roasting pan instead of the butter for the gravy part go right ahead and the same applies for any roasting juice instead of the stock. Just make sure all of the fat is separated from the roasting juice and add your stock to the juices to make the 6 cups you need for the gravy. That is all.

Monday This and That

Gonna freeze my butt off this afternoon. Still below freezing here at 1030 in morning and I am scheduled to be the garden cashier this afternoon 1 until close at 9p. Normally the store doesn't open the garden registers when it is this cold but the tree lot is now open so the dead trees must be sold. I'll layer up but after a few hours in the cold and wind nothing stops the cold from seeping down to the bones. The big storm is supposed to move in later this afternoon as well so I may get the added bonus of rain, sleet and freezing rain. Can't wait.

The store is gearing up for Black Friday and it is really depressing. The shelves are always lines with Chinese made garbage dump fodder but with the big shopping holiday approaching the aisles are getting filled with even more. Virtually every box is prominently labeled with CHINA and there are mountains of worthless, cheaply made crap for the suckers to buy. I for one have made it a personal goal not to buy anything from anyone on Thursday or Friday...it just encourages them. Just remember that every dollar you spend is a vote for the world you want to live in. Consider joining me in not shopping Thanksgiving or on Black Friday. There is absolutely nothing you can't live without out there and for Goddess' sake don't patronize Wally World or any other retailer that is opening on Thanksgiving. Trust me....you don't need what they are selling.

It was going to be a quiet holiday around here but Madam has invited some friends who are in the process of moving over for the Thanksgiving Day. I don't mind and I at least have some warning. I do have Wednesday and Thursday off so I will have time to put it all together. The Depot did give us all a frozen turkey so there is that. I am still trying not to think about having to be there at  445am on Friday...Goddess that is going to suck.

All the idiots that hoorayed the Iraq debacle are pshawing the Iran agreements..whoda thunk? In my view anything that doesn't involve bullets and bombs is a good thing. It's not 'world peace' by a long shot but it is a step in the right direction.

Now that the Senate has the opportunity to actually become a functioning part of government I expect something to actually happen. I'm getting a little impatient.

I'm thinking pumpkin, pecan and buttermilk pies for Thanksgiving. Does anyone have any other requests? Apple maybe? How about lemon meringue?

The menu is lining up as pretty standard fare:
Dry brined turkey
Cornbread dressing
Gravy
Mashed Spuds (homegrown)
Candied Sweet potatoes (homegrown)
Succotash (homegrown)
green vege - undecided
cranberry-orange relish
Assorted pickles (beets, okra, cukes, etc.)
Fresh yeast rolls

Above mentioned pies and whatever else strikes me. Any of your favorites I should add?

New Cholesterol and Statin Guidelines

You may have read that there are new guidelines out for cholesterol and statins that basically say that virtually everyone should be taking statins.

What you should know is that these guidelines are driven by the drug companies that stand to make a profit from selling more drugs and there are a lot of clinicians who don't agree.

Marion Nestle has taken a look and summarized what you should know and do.

Talk to your doctor.
Eat more vegetables.
Get more exercise.

Illusion of Choice

If you venture off the outer perimeter of your grocery store and shop the inner isles (and we all do) and then try to make conscious decisions about which brands to buy then you are suffering from an illusion of choice. Virtually all the brands on grocery shelves are controlled by 10 Mega companies. If you pick the Kashi cereal over other brands because you are impressed by its claims then know that you are actually buying Kellogg cereal. That's just one example that strikes home for me since I like Kashi.

The reality is that the following 10 companies control most all of your food that is not fresh or homegrown and in many cases even the fresh food in the grocery is from some them.


Proctor and Gamble, Nestle, Kraft, Coca-Cola, Pepsico, General Foods, Kellogg's, Mars, Unilever and Johnson&Johnson.

Here is a nifty map that shows the relationships of most of the food companies and their corporate owners.

You can get the full size view of the map here.

As you can see there isn't much on the grocery store shelves that doesn't have one of the big ten food companies fingerprints all over it. All in all it is pretty depressing. That is all.

hat tip to Marion Nestle for the heads up

Rainy Friday This and That

Supposed to work 9 to 6 today but after 45 minutes they decided they didn't need as many folk and sent me home. Not unusual when it's a rainy day so here I am. The new schedule is out today as well and it seems I have the "privilege" of working on Black Friday from the open until 2p. Gonna be ugly as we open at 5am and I have to be there at 445a...aaargh!

Since it is such a crappy day I'll cook something and since I am scheduled off for tomorrow as well I can start a batch of sourdough bread too. Looks like it will be a pot roast since Madam bought a nice sirloin tip yesterday which will braise nicely and it is a good day for a nice comforting dinner. I might even go all out and make a couple of focaccia to soak up the gravy. I get real content when there are roasting beast smells mingled with baking bread smells in the house.

Miss Zoey had a run in with what was most likely a yellow jacket yesterday afternoon. Had a severe enough allergic reaction that we took her to the vet. A benadryl iv and some subcut fluids got her back to normal pretty quickly but she is a bit sleepy today and apparently none the worse for wear.

Back At It

Well I've been off for two days but I am back at it hard today. Scheduled for two full days of returns...Not going to be fun. Got the garden and greenhouse all ready for the cold weather which came as predicted but it is supposed to warm a bit before the weekend. Spent a lot of time cuddling with little Miss Zoey who seems perfectly content to just be in your lap. She has settled in nicely and seems to have accepted this as her new home. She hasn't quite realized that she is not a cat because nothing is safe if there is a way for her to get to it. So far she has retrieved items from the kitchen table and dining room table and actually walk across the table between the two chairs in the den when she wants to change laps.
Off we go.

To All That Served

Regardless of whether it is called Veteran's Day, Remembrance Day or Armistice Day we should all take a moment today and acknowledge the sacrifices of so many that have served nobly over the years. You must remember that some point these brave men and women turned to their nation, families and fellow countrymen and said I will defend you with all my ability even if it means giving up my life. It is no small sacrifice and commitment as truly deserves to be honored on this day and all days.

I salute my fellow veterans and wish with all my spirit that at some point we will have created a world when such sacrifices are no longer needed and instead we can focus our energies toward the common good.

Happy Friday

It's Friday and I have the day off...hooray! Pretty quiet around these parts. Little Zoey seems to be settling in and getting her two servants properly trained. Actually got a bit of a frost last night which I believe is the first for this fall. I'll probably spend some time today cleaning up in the garden and putting away hoses and that kind of stuff.

Happy 10th blogging anniversary to Bobby Cramer at BBWW.

I don't know about you but I am a big fan of porridge (oatmeal), especially in the fall and winter. I especially like steel cut oats even though they take much longer to cook than the regular rolled oats you normally find here in the U.S. I stumbled upon a simple new way to cook porridge from April Bloomfield that is now my go to method. You get the best of both worlds when it comes to oatmeal.

1 1/2 cups water
1 1/2 cups of milk
heavy pinch of salt
1/2 cup rolled oats (not the quick cooking kind)
1/2 cup steel cut oats sometimes called Irish oats

Bring the milk, water and salt to a simmer and stir in the two different oats. Cook slowly uncovered for about twenty minutes. You get the creaminess of the rolled oats and the nice bite from  the steel cut oats. I serve it with a bit of honey, and additional milk but brown sugar or maple syrup is nice as well. Well worth a try.

Everyone enjoy your Friday and weekend.