Yes, cooking is such a good life skill and it surprises me that many people don’t have it or value it.
My dad and grandpa could fix just about anything mechanical–something that came to them naturally. I always admired that about them. I’m not so mechanically inclined, and when my dad once asked me why I wasn’t interested in learning to repair something on the car, I came back with a smarty-pants answer. Why aren’t you interested in learning to make a pot roast?
He looked at me and smiled. Dad took care of whatever spark plug thingy that needed to be repaired, and I made a lovely dinner. He may have had a fancy red machine that could go 760 horsepower, but my fancy red machine can knead bread dough and make cookies.
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BarneyGrubble
(Aficionado of Beethoven, and Latina singers)
122
Pita bread is rising, and double batch of brownies is in the oven. Half the brownies will go to a school event, and the other half I’ll probably freeze to make the Dubai chocolate brownies at some point.
I realize I have no inborn mechanical ability. A long time ago, I was able to follow the directions and put together a barbecue grill. My apartment neighbor saw mine; he’d bought the same grill but was having trouble putting it together.
I went to help, did a few steps, then noticed he was missing one bolt so he had to return it for another one.
I accept that I can’t be great at EVERYTHING.
By the way, have you tried the New Zealand butter from Costco? It’s salted and delicious.
No, I switched my membership from Costco to BJ last year. The lines at our local Costco are insane.
But I’m always up for a good butter… if my sister goes to Costco soon I will ask her to see if they have it. She has the patience for lines that I just don’t LOL
I can’t quite review the exact preparation, since I did the pitas separately today, but we loved the kofta in turkey form, so I’m sure it’d be even better with what is recommended in the recipe (beef or lamb, can’t remember!). As with most NYT recipes, I went heavy on the spices. I rebroiled them tonight briefly and served them on top of the homemade pita and with homemade tzatziki. I can see myself making a big batch of these and freezing some. Hope you like the recipe too!
Mom made a big pot of the ol’ Pennsylvania Dutch chestnut, “ham and string beans.” Excellent cold-weather food.
This is a giant smoked ham hock cooked in water for a while, then green beans are added. When those are going for a while, potatoes are added. When the potatoes are done, the veg are removed, and the meat is taken out and taken off the bone.
Duck legs, roasted squash and parsnips, leftover red cabbage from Xmas that was frozen, spaetzle with mushrooms and onions sautéed in duck fat, some vermouth and sour cream.
My brother lives in Somerville. The cost of having his walk shoveled was staggering. Apparently Somerville fines you for failing to clear your snow. Ouch.
So does our little town. Gotta clear the sidewalks of any snow and ice or you get a ticket. There’s also a limit to how high our grass is allowed to grow.
NO PLACE to put the snow there. Roads are tight enough with parking often on both sides of the side streets. And yeah, sidewalks are the responsibility of the homeowner or renter. While your portion of the sidewalk might be relatively small vs. out in the 'burbs, it will have piled up from plows depending on which side of the street parking was allowed.
Yep…common in cities. And when I lived in the historic district in Annapolis, not only did we have to keep the brick walks in front of our houses shoveled and cleared, but the streets were too narrow to plow. I suggested that perhaps all the hot air from the State House could somehow be channeled and used as a melting device, but alas no.
Really?!? Does someone actually come around with a tape measure to measure these things?
When I first moved to Ottawa I worked with someone who bought a house in an area that was a new development at the time. She always wanted a clothes line so she could hang her laundry out to dry but there was a bylaw in her neighbourhood that didn’t allow for clothes lines. One would think they would allow it being more environmentally friendly and all. Sometimes I wonder what these people are thinking…
