My kitchen musings!

Last week was a crazy and fun week. My best friend, Amee, (who I’ve known since the 6th grade) and my cousin, Nancy, and her son, tony, came for a visit. It was all rather coincidental that they came to visit in the same week, which made it a bit overwhelming but an absolute blast!

Cooking for a crowd can be daunting but I’ve hit an old standby that I just love making: arroz con pollo (chicken with rice). There’s nothing fancy to this dish but it’s very hearty and feeds a group of 3 men and two ladies. And it’s also comforting: I remember my mother making it and so it always brings back memories of her.

So the whole group was together Tuesday so we headed to El Platanal for dinner. Yum! The food was simply prepared so the natural flavors of the beef, seafood, and plantains (of course we had to get some mofungo) shined. Aside from the great food it was just nice to have everyone together at the dinner table. Did I mention the mojitos were amazing!!

So we spent a few days galavanting around checking out the beaches. We started out at playa Sardinia, headed over to crash boat, and finished off with one surfing at Jobos Beach. We haven’t been here long but we’ve seen the beaches on various occasions and it still awes me how incredibly beautiful it is. The different colors of the water; the various swells and crashes of the waves; and the scenery that surrounds the water. Our guests also enjoyed the simple splendor of it all.

The week was called off by some homemade pernil. I love love love making this recipe, a variation of this Sunny Anderson recipe. Because we were going to be gone for the day beachside, I decided to start off the pork in the slow cooker abs then finish it off in the oven. I could have just left it in the slow cooker and be done with it, but you HAVE to have the crispy skin, or chicharron, to go along with it. So off into the oven it went for about another hour and so and the skin came out golden and crispy. Such an easy dish that yields not only a huge amount of food but also is oh so good! I paired the pernil with arroz con habichuelas, and tostones. Everyone gobbled it up.

The house is quiet now. The extra beds are out away and everything has been cleaned up and I smile because it truly was great having my people come for a visit. It’s one thing for a friend to say, yea- I’ll come visit but when they actually do, it truly is a testament to the friendship and I couldn’t be more touched that Amee, Nancy, and Tony took time from their uber busy schedules to come see our new life and to also meet baby Gabriela. It really made me realize how precious my friendships are. So go call up that friend that you’ve been meaning to, share a hug, or it back and remember fond memories that you may have. You’ll see how it can revitalize your soul!

So I am notorious for purchasing lots of pounds of things from our local farmer’s market. Last summer is when it all started. My husband met a guy at work who knew where to get really cheap corn. I was thinking a few ears or kernals already shucked— in other words I had no idea what we were getting in to. We crossed over into Georgia and pulled up to a huge farm that sat on hundreds of acres of land. Come to find out this particular “farm” supplied corn to a good many supermarkets in the neighboring states. We ended up buying a bushel of corn, not really knowing what a bushel looks like. It ended up being about 75-80 ears of corn. Fresh, sweet. buttery, corn! This was my initial introduction to cooking on a grand scale in order to wittle down the corn! I sorta felt like Bubba in _Forest Gump_: I made corn chowder, corn fritters, corn with other veggies, cornbread, etc etc. It was pretty freakin awesome!

And that is how my obsession with large quantities of produce began. This summer began with 20 lbs of tomatoes. TWICE. Then on to Blueberries. We actually went to the farm and picked our own and boy were those good! Then came the strawberries, figs, and peaches. And I was thinking that maybe that would do it for the year. But nnnooooo…satsumas came into season. 2 weeks ago I bought 20 pounds and yesterday I bought 10 more pounds AND about 15 Meyer lemons. Yep. Obsessed.

I bet you’re wondering what I do with this plethora of fruit? I became a jam maker. And tomato sauce maker. And roasted tomatoes confit maker. And just roasted tomatoes (because I couldn’t figure out what to do with the last few pounds. Which make for an excellent pizza topping!) So that’s what I did. Some of the jams came out fantastic: great texture and most definitely tasted great! Others came out runny, but still pretty yummy. I’m looking over at my “pantry” (which is just a huge wire shelving unit) and I think I’ve got about 40+ jars of different jams. I just smiled.

The crazy thing about all of this (other than buying in 20 lb increments) is that I thoroughly enjoy the whole canning process. I can sit in the kitchen all afternoon stirring, mixing, peeling, slicing, boiling jars, etc and I am at utter peace. Grant it my back is usually a bit mad at me, but as far as my peace of mind, it is relaxing! It’s the same way when I do a Julia recipe: as complex and lengthy as some of her recipes are, I relish the time it takes to prepare each item. And I ALWAYS look forward to making Thanksgiving dinner. From scratch. All of it. We’ll be in St. Louis this year for Thanksgiving so I’m thinking of doing a post-thanksgiving dinner once we get back. Thanksgiving dinner is my ‘piece de resistance’ of the year. And I LOVE IT!

Crab legs and steamed clams for dinner tonight and flank steak marinated in a mojo sauce made with some of those yummy satsuma’s and meyer lemons…YUM!

Just a small sampling of the fruits and veggies.