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TUESDAY 30 OCTOBER 2001
So, I asked my mom to write down her recipe for refried beans, and this is what she said [Notes from me are in red]:
You may not want to tell people how I really do them. But anyway, soak the beans (about half of a 1 pound package works nicely) overnight. Next morning, fry up some bacon (maybe 2 pieces for the beans and extra for breakfast). [Save the pan, don't rinse it.] Put the fried bacon and a cut up onion into the beans [adding water to cover the beans by about an inch] and cook for maybe 2 -3 hours before you add any salt. Salt to taste and cook till really done. ["Really done" means that all of the beans should be very soft, even just starting to fall apart.] Then, begin scooping the beans into the frying pan that you cooked the bacon in and squishing them with a some sort of masher till they are the consistency you like. Add the rest of beans till all are squashed. I really don't drain the bacon grease, but please don't say that. [Why not? That's what makes them taste so good in the first place!] The good thing is the caramelized stuff in the bottom of the pan. Sometimes I even keep an extra pan that I have cooked bacon in in the oven until the next time I cook beans and then I have 2 caramelized pans to work with.
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MONDAY 29 OCTOBER 2001
My mom makes the best beans. (In this case, I'm talking about refried pinto beans.) About ten times as good as mine. It's because she's not afraid of fat. She puts bacon grease in when she fries and mashes them. And enough salt. And she must put bean cooking water in, too, because they're the right consistency - not too thick. My mom's beans are one of the reasons why I'll never be a vegetarian.
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SATURDAY 27 OCTOBER 2001
We had the most delicious squash for dinner last night. I got them at the market last week - they're called either Little Dumpling or Sweet Dumpling. They're about twice the size of your fist, or even a little smaller, white and green striped. I cut them in half, scooped out the seeds, and then filled the hollows with sage brown butter. They took about 45 minutes at 400º - cook them until they're soft. (The temperature doesn't matter so much. If you were roasting a chicken or something like that at 350º, you could throw the squash in at the same time; they'd just take a little longer.)
Now, I know that if you use enough butter, any vegetable will taste good. I did put a heck of a lot of butter on them, but they were delicious anyway. Sweet, with a very nice texture - soft without being stringy or mealy. Yummy!
In a completely unrelated note, but I have to tell someone: Today on the way to the market I saw a woman walkng a Golden Retriever and a goat. A GOAT. It was on a leash and stopped to examine things on the side of the road just about as often as the dog had to sniff something. Now that's not something you see every day...
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WEDNESDAY 24 OCTOBER 2001
Many of you may be in the final planning stages of Halloween parties. Here's one recipe that you should not be without - making a Meat Head. It's an especially good one for people who like to play with their food, people who like to decorate, anyone who likes theme food, or anyone who has a budding interest in forensic anthropology. Many thanks to Megan for the link - she's got lots of other Halloween suggestions, too!
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MONDAY 22 OCTOBER 2001 - FROM CATHERINE
Wow, two entries in a row! I can't believe Malika is letting me write another one, but she is. Last night she made Apple Betty. Now, I believe few things taste exactly like heaven is, Apple Betty tops that short list. I told Malika last night after she drizzled fresh organic cream on my buttery apple dessert, that it was "the shit." Please forgive my foul language, but at the instant my spoon, full of cinnamony, baked sugar, butter, apple and cream hit my mouth, more intelligent expressions escaped me. This is the perfect fall dessert. Apples are a fantastic fall treat, an autumn reminder of the sweetness of summer.
Maybe Malika will tell you how to make her version of this dish from heaven in the next issue of NOBODY'S FOOL. This my friends is a shameless attempt to get you to subscribe to her newsletter. It is really great. If you haven't downloaded the first issue. You can do it here. After you read it you will want to subscribe here. OK that is my pitch. Thanks for reading.
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SATURDAY 20 OCTOBER 2001- FROM CATHERINE
I thought I really liked eating out. Malika and I work at home and although her cooking is to die for, I like a little atmo change if you know what I mean. As Malika mentioned, we were in Palm Springs for most of the week. So, the opportunity to eat at seven different restaurants over the course of a week made me feel really quite happy. However, after about the third day, I was craving a chicken with greens and a glass of nice red table wine. For breakfast I wanted not rich French Toast slathered in salted butter (I like control over my butter's salinity thank you), but a piece of toast with ham, sauerkraut, and cheese, put in the broiler for a few minutes, a cup of loose leaf English Breakfast tea, and the Wall Street Journal.
I guess what happened is that I realized the gift of Malika. Not only am I a person that before I met her ate Spaghetti O's from the can and raw Raman noodles (too much bother to cook them), but I never have considered myself a food person, until now. She has taught me how to enjoy, appreciate and expect cooking to be simple and full of flavor. The presentation of a veal chop means nothing if it is dry, especially if it costs $35. All I could think the veal chop night was, "Mmm...over cooked and expensive, I wish we were eating a big salad with avocado and fresh tomato from the garden with BLT's in front of the T.V watching Friends." Some may think this is not a good way to live. I would say that this is the only way to live. I told Malika as soon as we drove in the driveway, "Boy, am I glad we are home so we don't ever have to eat out again."
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FRIDAY 19 OCTOBER 2001
Just got back last night from a week away. Spent the weekend in Santa Barbara with Catherine's mom, and then it was down to Palm Springs for two days of work and one day of rest. Ate a lot of very traditional "Continental" cuisine: roast veal filet with Calvados sauce, duck "two ways" with orange chutney, pommes soufflés (which I've never had before - puffy fried potatoes). So funny to find such old-fashioned food in the middle of the desert - although it goes with the mid-century modern architecture that's so prevalent in the retro-chic land of the Rat Pack.
The very exciting news is that when I got back I was greeted with printed & bound copies of the new issue of NOBODY'S FOOL. The first reader responses have been very enthusiastic.
Contents? An essay about feeding the ones you love; in my case, that means my pets. How to throw a personal Greek film festival, complete with recipes & movie suggestions. And a reading list for armchair travellers. Subscribe! It comes to you in the real actual physical mail, not the electronic kind, and I'm sure you'll love it. Please email me for more information.
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TUESDAY 9 OCTOBER 2001
I tried an ice cream experiment last night. Tarragon. I'm not sure what I thought of it. Catherine thought it was good. Our friends said they liked it, but I'm not sure they knew they were allowed to be critical. (For the future knowledge of anyone who eats dinner with me: if I announce that it's an experiment and ask what you think, feedback is welcome and encouraged. It means I need help trying to figure out a new recipe.)
I think it was too strong, too licorice-y. What I can't tell is whether or not I would have liked it if it were more subtle. Thank goodness I served it with home-canned apricots. Without the acid cut of those, the tarragon would have been completely overwhelming. maybe next time I'll make tarragon-apricot, with the fruit mixed into the ice cream instead of just on top.
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MONDAY 8 OCTOBER 2001
I just ate a scrambled egg sandwich, one of my favorite breakfasts of all time. Fresh white bread (Kelly's Bakery potato bread in this case), Best Foods mayonnaise, and two eggs scrambled in butter.
Eggs and mayonnaise are a great combination. I love deviled eggs, and hardboiled eggs dipped in aïoli. The latter are especially cute (and extremely festive for fancy parties) when you buy quail eggs and put extra stuff in the sauce - capers or tarragon or chives or shallots or lemon... Holiday party-givers take note!
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SUNDAY 7 OCTOBER 2001
Such a lovely afternoon today. Drove up the coast to Pescadero to buy Halloween pumpkins, then back to Santa Cruz for the Russian Festival. It's nice to notice when you're having a perfect moment, and I had one today. Sitting on the deck under a big oak tree, having a beer and listening to Russian waltzes played on an accordion, eating a bowl of homemade borscht. It doesn't get much better than that.
Of course, the reason it's good to notice moments like that is that there are lots of people not having them right now. Came home and heard that we're bombing Afghanistan. Wish and hope and pray and work for peace, please, everyone.
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THURSDAY 4 OCTOBER 2001
Made myself a good lunch today. Red onion, a marvel striped tomato, some red leaf lettuce and a can of Flott Sicilian tuna in olive oil. It pretty much makes its own dressing. I added a little splash of red wine vinegar; that, the tuna-y olive oil, and the juice from the tomato made a very yummy salad. Ate it outside in the sun and read. The only quiet and calm fifteen minutes of my day!
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WEDNESDAY 3 OCTOBER 2001
I love how certain smells can make you remember things. I was just pouring myself a second cup of coffee and suddenly I was in college again, in my apartment at Kresge.
I used to have a Chemex coffee pot. That's the kind shaped like an hourglass. There's a whole ritual with making coffee in a Chemex. The filters are big circles that you fold in quarters to make a cone. Your pour a little boiling water in to wet the grounds, wait two minutes to let them "bloom," then pour the rest of the water in by hand. The whole process is very calming - it's always nice when you do something that you pay attention to - and the reward is the smell. The scent of coffee is so strong and smells so good. You notice it much more than you do when you make coffee in a machine.
(I think the lids on regular coffee pots hold in all the aroma. The reason I noticed the smell this morning was that I opened the lid to pour some coffee back in; I only wanted half a cup. Opening that lid let all the coffee smell out at once.)
I drank an incredible amount of coffee when I was in college. Six cups a day, and those were big cups. In fact, I think I used the same cup I'm using right now, from Hanselmann Pottery in Corrales. I hung out with the guys from the apartment next door, especially Nitin. He & I would sit on the deck - I think they had a hammock - all afternoon long drinking coffee until it was time for a Henry Weinhard's. That was the year that I failed a class because I skipped it too often. Most people do that kind of thing when they're freshmen. It took me a year to get used to being away from home; my flaky year was when I was a sophomore.
Smells and memory. Lots of things locked up in your brain; lovely when one comes out as a surprise.
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