Sisters Collude to Bake A Cake

Tomorrow is Miss M's birthday!

This is the vegan Strawberry Cake Daughter C baked for Miss M.

Kat was instrumental in the cake's creation. She found the recipe. She answered our initial questions.

Bless her heart. Daughter C is neither a vegan nor a baker. And as I recall, Daughter C said she called Kat thirty-seven thousand times this afternoon, while she was baking, for detailed instruction. Although not a vegan, Kat can bake.

The end result was a vegan birthday cake, baked by Daughter C,  assisted by Kat, for their sister,  Miss M.

Isn't it lovely? And it tasted good, too!

BIG Life. 

And the Hits Just Keep Comin'!

Anton D'Vorak: I am convinced that the future music of this country must be founded on what are called Negro melodies. ... These beautiful and varied themes are the product of the soil. They are the folk songs of America and your composers must turn to them.

Jerry Garcia: You have to get past the idea that music has to be one thing. To be alive in America is to hear all kinds of music constantly: radio, records, churches, cats on the street, everywhere music. And with records, the whole history of music is open to everyone who wants to hear it.

Men of Deeds

Theodore Roosevelt: Knowing what's right doesn't mean much unless you do what's right.

James Cash Penney: The men who have furnished me with my greatest inspiration have not been men of wealth, but men of deeds.

It's been a remarkable conversation!

A Good Weekend to Wrap Things Up

Although they've had a glorious time, our guests are anxious to bid each other a fond farewell and get back to the business of thinking, writing, composing, playing, acting, cooking, selling, fighting for truth & justice & freedom, and most especially, planting their gardens.

Just a few snippets of conversations remain. Here's one.

Keith Richards (miss M's Friend) said, "Good music comes out of people playing together, knowing what they want to do and going for it. You have to sweat over it and bug it to death. You can't do it by pushing buttons and watching a tv screen."

To which J.L. Austin (A.Leland) replied, "...it has long been afforded me what philosophy is so often thought, and made barren of--the fun of discovery, and the pleasures of cooperation, and the satisfaction of reaching agreement.
"

Which prompted Anton D'vorak (me) to assert, "I am convinced that the future music of this country must be founded on what are called Negro melodies. ... These beautiful and varied themes are the product of the soil. They are the folk songs of America and your composers must turn to them."

We'll see what Jerry Garcia has to say to that!

That's More Like It!

I was beginning to think April really is the cruelest month.

This is much better.

I will say, though, that neither the guy at Barrnett's Small Engines nor I will be putting out tomatoes or peppers any time soon.

By the way. I was right about the generator. It wasn't the carburetor-- as the fellows down the road had said-- it was the fuel line. The guy at Barrnett's said they'd been having a lot of problems with fuel lines lately. It's that stupid gas. Small engines do not like corn whiskey gas.

And Nice Come Back!

You'll recall that Nassim Taleb (Tony) said, "The three most harmful addictions are heroin, carbohydrates, and a monthly salary."

To which Mitch Hedberg (Miss M's Friend) replied, "I used to do drugs. I still do drugs. But I used to, too."

That's pretty funny if you don't mind being famous and dead.

From the infallible Wikipedia on Hedberg:

Death

On March 29, 2005, Hedberg was found dead in a hotel room in Livingston, New Jersey.[11] He was 37 years old. Hedberg was born with a heart defect for which he received extensive treatment as a child.[1][12] It was initially speculated that this condition may have played a part in his death. The New Jersey medical examiner's office reported "multiple drug toxicity" in the form of cocaine and heroin as the official cause of death.[1]

Hedberg's death was formally announced on April 1, 2005, leading many to believe it was an April Fool's joke, only to find out later that it was not. His funeral was held at St. Ambrose of Woodbury Church in Minnesota,[13] and he is buried at Roselawn Cemetery in St. Paul.

Hedberg was interviewed by Jonathan Davis in the December 2001 issue of Penthouse. In the interview, published three years before his death, he was asked "If you could choose, how would you end your life?" His response was "First, I'd want to get famous, and then I'd overdose. If I overdosed at this stage in my career, I would be lucky if it made the back pages."

 Just as an aside-- what the heck kind of question is that? "How would you end your life?" 

Not, "How will your life end?" to which one could reply  "in green pastures," or "surrounded by loved ones," or simply, "gracefully." 

Maybe the interviewer shouldn't have given Mitch any ideas. 

Note that Nassim Taleb is still alive. 

Any hooo... . Here's the full thread of the conversation along the Right Side of Table 2.  

Nice Set Up!

We are winding down the conversations... . 

Grace Kelly (Miss M) (who replied to John Wayne (Me)): I don't care who's right or wrong. There's got to be some better way for people to live.

Thomas Homer-Dixon (Tony): Scale-free networks are particularly vulnerable to intentional attack: if someone wants to wreck the whole network, he simply needs to identify and destroy some of its hubs.

Nassim Taleb (Tony): The three most harmful addictions are heroin, carbohydrates, and a monthly salary.

Mitch Hedberg (Miss M's Friend) will reply to Nassim Taleb.

Ahem to That!

This is Kat's final contribution to the Dinner Party Conversation. In response to Neal Stephenson  (Kat), Theodore Roosevelt (Kat) says:

Knowing what's right doesn't mean much unless you do what's right.

Preach it Brother!

If this is true, maybe I should monetize the blog.

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What I Learned at Football Practice

As I mentioned, Mr. Big Food and I went to a Dawgs practice late yesterday afternoon. It was educational.

This is the new artificial turf practice field. I learned that the team should practice on the same field type as their Away opponents. (Truth be told, I know this already but I did learn what artificial turf feels like.)

I learned there are port-a-potties on the practice field.

Recipe: Diner Tomato Sauce

“We owe the all-American tomato sauce to Italian immigrants of the late 19th and early 20th century. Try it as a base for spaghetti sauce, or serve with eggs or meat loaf. For convenience, spoon the sauce into small containers or lock-top plastic bags, and store in your freezer.”—Diane Rossen Worthington, Diner: The Best of Causal American Cooking (1995)

DINER TOMATO SAUCE
Makes about 2 ½ quarts

3 Tbsp olive oil
1 yellow onion, chopped fine
1 carrot, peeled, chopped fine
1 stalk celery, chopped fine
2 large cloves garlic, minced
56 oz (7 C) diced stewed tomatoes, drained (preferably homemade—see recipes in this and Canning … sections)
28 oz (3 ½ C) crushed tomatoes
3 Tbsp fresh parsley, chopped fine
½ bay leaf
1 tsp dried oregano, crumbled
2 tsp dried basil, crumbled
1 ½ C water
1 tsp salt
½ tsp freshly ground pepper

Recipe: Green Beans with Tomato Sauce

Prepared with Diner Tomato Sauce.

GREEN BEANS WITH TOMATO SAUCE 

For 8

1 medium onion, minced

3 Tbsp fat

3 ½ C Cooked Green Beans (see recipes in this section, can use canned)

¾ C Tomato Sauce (preferably homemade—see recipes in Basics, Canning …, and Casseroles … sections)

½ tsp sugar

1 tsp salt

2 tsp lemon juice

1/8 tsp pepper

Cook onions in fat until tender, 3 to 4 minutes. Add beans, Tomato Sauce, sugar, salt, lemon juice, and pepper, and heat thoroughly, stirring occasionally.

Recipe: Baked Mexican Chicken

BAKED MEXICAN CHICKEN

Large frying chicken, cooked and cut into serving pieces

Large bag tortilla chips

Large can evaporated milk

2 cans cream of chicken soup

1 C good salsa (preferably homemade—see recipes in Appetizers … section)

Shredded cheese (any variety), for topping

Preheat oven to 350^o. Line deep baking dish with tortilla chips. Put chicken pieces over chips. Mix together milk, soups, and salsa. Pour over chicken. Top with shredded cheese. Bake uncovered 30 minutes.

Recipe: Texas Bean Barbecue

To veganize, omit bacon and use oil.

“A zesty addition to any barbecue lineup”

TEXAS BEAN BARBECUE
Serves 10

8 slices bacon, chopped
1 C chopped onion2 
16 oz cans yellow hominy, drained
2 15 oz cans chili beans or Ranch-style beans
1 can Ro*tel
2 Tbsp vinegar
1 Tbsp Jalapeno relish (preferably homemade—see recipes in Canning … section)
1 tsp salt
2 tsp prepared mustard (preferably homemade—see recipes in Basics section)

Preheat oven to 350o. Cook bacon until almost crisp and drain, reserving 2 Tbsp drippings in skillet. Cook onion in reserved drippings until tender but not browned. Combine onion, bacon, drained hominy, beans, Ro*tel, vinegar, Jalapeno relish, salt, and mustard, turn mixture into a lightly greased 2 ½ quart casserole, and bake covered for 1 ½ hours.

The Dawgs are Practicing

And, you know, practice makes perfect! Truth be told, if practice makes a winning season next year, we'd be happy.

I took many photos.

I am not a photographer.

I am not a sports photographer.

It's going to take a cup of coffee and a piece of pound cake for me to sort through my photos and edit them. I'll be using GIMP-- better than Photoshop (TM) and free-- and I'll just be trying to make the photos reflect (haha) what we saw. [Photo above definitely not edited in GIMP. Gimp & I can do better.]

Meanwhile, for those inclined to shut their kids up by gagging them with an iSomething, may I suggest Fresh Air, Exercise, and Sunshine?

Recipe: Basic Pound Cake and Variations

I did not take a photo of this delightful Easter pound cake. As it's name implies, it's a pound cake, so envision pound cake. For Easter, we served it with leftover homemade plum brandy ice cream-- did I post that recipe?-- and it induced a food coma the likes of which... . Well, it's sort of hard to explain. The closest I can come to describing it is that I thought I was being "resurrected to Heaven."

This humble basic pound cake-- we made the 7-UP variation-- is also excellent with coffee or tea for your morning and afternoon snack. 

BASIC POUND CAKE AND VARIATIONS

4 sticks butter, softened

5 eggs 

¼ tsp salt 

1 ½ tsp baking powder

1 tsp vanilla 

3 C sugar 

3 C flour, sifted 3 times

¾ C milk 

Cream butter and sugar together well, and add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Add salt, baking powder, vanilla, sifted flour, and milk, and beat batter for 5 minutes. Pour batter into a greased and floured bundt pan. Place cake in cold oven, heat oven temperature to 325^o, and bake 1 hour 30 minutes. Slice cake when cool.

VARIATIONS

Recipe: French Dressing and Variations III

Mr. Big Food used this dressing on the Macaroni Salad and Variations rather than mayonnaise-- to veganize it!

“Shake French dressing well and serve it in a bowl which matches your salad plates.”—The Encyclopedia of Cooking Complete in 24 Volumes, Volume 7: 500 Delicious Salad Recipes (1953) 

FRENCH DRESSING AND VARIATIONS III 
Makes 1 ¼ C

1 C olive oil or salad oil
¼ C vinegar
½ tsp salt
Few grains cayenne
¼ tsp white pepper
2 Tbsp chopped parsley

Combine, and beat or shake thoroughly before using. 

VARIATIONS
Using 1 C French Dressing as a foundation:
ANCHOVY—Add 2 Tbsp anchovy paste or mashed anchovies and 1 Tbsp pearl onions
CAPER—Add 1/3 C minced capers
CHIFFONADE—Add 1 Tbsp chopped beets, 1 Tbsp chopped chives, and 1 Tbsp chopped hard-cooked egg

And a Big salad bowl more below the fold!

Recipe: Macaroni Vegetable Salad and Serving Variations

Mr. Big Food veganized this recipe by using a French dressing (recipe here), rather than mayonnaise. 

MACARONI VEGETABLE SALAD AND SERVING VARIATIONS 
Serves 4-6

1 Tbsp salt
3 quarts boiling water
2 C elbow macaroni
½ C diced celery
½ C diced bell pepper
½ C carrots, peeled and shredded
¼ C onion, chopped fine
2/3 C mayonnaise (preferably homemade—see recipes in Basics section)
1 Tbsp lemon juice
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
¼ tsp dry mustard

Add salt to rapidly boiling water, gradually add macaroni so that water continues to boil, and cook uncovered, stirring occasionally, until macaroni is tender. Drain macaroni in a colander, rinse with cold water, and drain again. Combine macaroni with remaining ingredients, toss lightly, and chill.

FOR A PICNIC
Turn mixture into a chilled wide-mouth vacuum jug.

TO SERVE AT HOME
Serve salad on crisp salad greens garnished with additional shredded carrot.

What do July 28, 2012 & March 30, 2013 have in common?

OUTDOOR BURGERS!

Mr. Big Food sent me the recipes for some recent menu items, among them, Outdoor Burgers which we had last Saturday evening when Daughter C, Our Librarian Friend, Bruno, and Mr. Bow Tie joined us at the Farm. I didn't take a photo, but when I opened up the Word Doc recipe-- Lo & Behold!-- there's a photo. 

As it turns out, I've already posted this recipe. It is a burger to be enjoyed more than once!

Served this year with Macaroni Vegetable Salad and Serving Variations.

I was doing some research--

well, if you can call skimming through a crappy old book, "doing research"-- and I happened upon a photo I thought Plykers especially might be interested in seeing.

Remember John von Neumann, one of Tony's Guests at the Dinner Party Conversation Game? John said, "Young man, in mathematics you don't understand things. You just get used to them."

Humph. What's the dog's name, I wonder?

Four pages later there's this:

"The twelve disciples from the granite cross at Moore, County Kildare, Eire."

Both photos are from The Ascent of Man by J. Bronowski, Little Brown and Comapny, Boston, 1973 (pages 409 and 413, respectively).

I was prompted to pick up that crappy old book because I read today that some of mankind has become "civilizationally illiterate." If you'd like to read what led to that wonderful turn of phrase, go to:

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/344469/ascent-man-mark-steyn