Saturday, January 24, 2009

Cold weather cooking

There's just something about extreme cold weather that gets me to turn the oven on. I just frosted a crazy cake and have Oatmeal cookies in the works. My crazy cakelooks pretty good now that it is frosted. It didn't look so hot when I tried to remove it from the oven though. I got bad recipe for the length of time to bake it, and then I also used salad vinegar because i had no white. I didn't know the time was wrong and when I went to pull the cake from the oven, the entire center glooped to the side. Thankfully the cake came out okay with about double the baking. Butter cream chocolate frosting managed to hide the intersting mishapen top. Cho0colate is chocolate though, and it's YUMMY.

Tomo0rrow is Chili, Stew, and escalloped potatoes. I may also do a easy clam chowder. I hate the mess cooking makes, so I tend to do it all at once and then freeze portions. Tomorrow should set me up for a few weeks. The day starts with blackberry pancakes and then we'll see where it goes from there. I really need a woman that don't mind doing dishes and loves to eat.

13 comments:

OrbsCorbs said...

I envy people who cook. I can make a meatloaf, a stew in the slow cooker, fry up some eggs, etc., but I'm not a real cook. If I'm making it, I'll opt for convenience almost every time. Lots of sandwiches.

SER said...

I can relate to making a mess. I can make a mess cooking a hot dog.

And recently, I have been told I talk to myself, which I never knew.

Huck Finn said...

Dear old Mom. I was I think in the third grade when she grabbed me to help her cook. All of us kids had chores. My sisters had to wash dishes every night. I shoveled snow, trimmed hedges, cut grass, took out the garbage, took out the burning barrel trash, raked the leaves, grass, and by the fifth grade I was changing the storm windows to screens on the first floor. By seventh, I was on the extension ladder doing the second floor windows. One thing I didn't have to do was wash dishes.

My sister's hated the kitchen so getting them to learn how to cook was like pulling teeth for my Mom. Me on the other hand, heck, it was as good as the chemistry set. Anyway, in the third grade she asked for help baking cookies for our family vacation. We tended to vacation on the cheap. So there I was scooping dough and using the oven.

The next year Mom had me mix the ingredients for cookies under her watchful eye. Did I say my sister's had to was the dishes I messed? By 10th grade, Mom was determined to go back to work. Dad wasn't too happy about it as he was the "bread winner" and felt a woman's place was in the home. LOL Mom gets her way when she gets determined...

To meet the deadline of having supper ready when dad expected it, it was my job to put the roast (or whatever) in the oven at the proper time and get the spuds on the boil. Yes dad was an asshole, no argument there. When I finally left home (escaped the old man) I knew how to follow a cookbook pretty well, but there are some Mom dishes that I didn't know how she made them. When I was on leave the one time, I asked her how she made one of the family favorite dishes and she exclaimed she didn't really know how to explain it. She measured nothing...

So Mom took her hand and cupped it. she poured a little in and says "this is a pinch." (1/8tp) Then a different amount, "This is a dash." (1/4tp) She worked up through teaspoon and tablespoon in cupped palm measure and that is how I tend to cook ever since except for baking.

Speaking of Mom, she turns 81 in May. Last Saturday she swung by and dropped off a loaf of home baked bread. Not the bread machine kind but the knead it and let it rise kind. We tend to drop dishes off to each other so we can keep each other from cooking too much and mom has started getting thin and needs the extra calories I give her.

Now if I could just talk my sister's into coming over here and doing my dishes.

kkdither said...

Now c'mon... women are good for more things than washing dishes????

I'm a clean as you go cook. I don't make too big of a mess. I hate doing dishes after my belly is full. It is sort of like paying the bill at the end of a meal in a restaurant... Seinfeld said, "why am I buying all this food? I'm not hungry!"

I love to eat. I think I am an ok cook. The only problem with cooking is then there is good stuff laying around tempting you to eat.

Lizardmom said...

hmm, maybe the one of our outing should be at Huck's house!! :) Sounds yummy!!
I am not a fan of dishes either, much more fun to cook but in the winter, it IS a good way to get your hands warm :)

Anonymous said...

Dish washer Ladies!................ Huch you're a good son. I only hope my little guy turns out to be half the man you are. Your sisters sound like my daughter. Don't like to do anything. My son loves to help mom with anything and will probally be the one to get all of my cooking tips (passes on from an Italian Grandma)................so Huch I'm making my moms b-day cake this morning And I'd like to do a butter cream frosting. My mom just uses butter and powdered sugar and a pinch of vanilla ..beats it til she likes its thickness. Do you have a better recipie for this? I don't measure either................... God bless your mom Huck.

OrbsCorbs said...

My mom doesn't measure, either.

drewzepmeister said...

I cook when I have to or inspired to. When my son is over,I cook. Last night I made some country fried pork chops. When I'm alone,it's sandwiches. Why make a mess when it's just me?

My son likes to cook-mostly fried eggs and spam and he makes a huge mess of it. Getting him to clean anything is like pulling teeth.

But,I do miss my mom's home cooking.

Beejay said...

Me, I am a decent cook, but I also now load the dishwasher as I go...off the countertop at least!

Beejay said...

Hey, whatever happened to Swedish Chef??? I haven't seen her around in a long, long time.

Lizardmom said...

Beejay, I just checked and it doesn't look like Swedish Chef ever came over, is she still blogging at the old site or missing completely?

kkdither said...

I did send her a personal invitation.... I sent many of the regulars an invitation. She never came over. On the rare occasion that I peek in over there, I don't see many of the old regulars blogging anymore.

OrbsCorbs said...

She had yummy blogs.