Toluu

Not The Knowing One

Spirit of AggielandJanuary 29

Even in the cold cold north, one man shows his Aggie Spirit.

Jeffrey honors the 12th man.

Olive is suddenly grateful for her undercoat.

Lentil MoussakaJanuary 10

We’ve decided to stay up in Vermont for the winter. I know! I know! Most people fly south for the winter.  After spending 29 of my 30 years in Texas, however, I decided an actual winter was in order.  So I wake up to this every morning:

This is where Andy spends most of his winter days.

Of course, the dude can work any where he likes. I on the other hand am continuing my unemployment trend in pursuit of another life long goal.  This gives me ample time to cook and blog.  Hopefully this will end the 6 month or so long blog dry spell.  I’ve been cooking all this time, but also teaching 8th grade, so there’s been very little time to actually write about it.

The weather seems to make me want nothing but soft, warm comfort food. When I was recently asked to bring some sort of hearty vegetable dish to a family gathering, the only thought that would come into my head was Moussaka.  I love all things Greek. I love eggplant. I love feta cheese.  I certainly love béchamel.  The only thing I don’t love is the current lack of Zoe-friendly meat in my freezer.  We’re pretty much on vegetarian rations right

Hatch CornbreadSeptember 21 2009

You probably are familiar by now with my very southern obsession with corn bread.  I’ve admitted, once and for all, that I do put sugar in there.  The secret is out. Hopefully the Texas Rangers won’t throw me out of the state.  The next big secret in cornbread of course is to cook it in a cast iron skillet.  The crust that forms from that hot skillet and fat is probably the next best thing to Prozac.

My brand new cornbread trick though involves a very simple addition.  I put up about 8 quarts of roasted hatch green chiles this year.  I buy the peppers in bulk, blister them over a flame, steam them in a paper sack,  then peel off the blackened skins, and remove most of the seeds.  That all gets stuck in ziplock bags and frozen to use over the coming year.  You can have the roasting done for you in most top end groceries around the Southwest.

http://www.chileroasters.com/images/ROASTINGCHILE.jpg

1½ cup yellow corn meal
½ cup unbleached flour
2 tbs sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp kosher salt
¾ cup hot hatch green chilès, diced
1 egg, whipped
1½ cup buttermilk
2 tbs vegetable oil, melted butter, or bac

On the RoadJuly 21 2009

Miles: 2
Biscuits consumed: 1

The view from my dream house.July 7 2009

Near Oakalla Tx