Okra

I used to think of okra as green noses full of snot. That's because long ago I had a bad okra day. In the convent I ate canned okra. Gag.

But yesterday at the farmers' market I was buying black-eyed peas. The woman in a straw hat asked if I wanted okra too. No, thank you. The couple beside me said in unison, "You can't buy peas without okra." Can too! I said. Then everyone started telling me how to cook it: Boil the peas and rest whole okra, ends tipped, on top and cook lightly. Or cook onions and hamburger and tomatoes. Add okra. Or make gumbo. So I gave in. Last night I made their hamburger recipe, with a dash of lemon juice, a couple sprigs of thyme, and chopped green peppers, with enough water to make it soupy. I used lowest-fat hamburger and winged the amounts, except for precisely cutting the okra into 3/8" slices (I read that in the recipe for shrimp and crab okra gumbo from The New Orleans Cookbook.) Simmered for 2 hours, adding okra for the last hour. Served it over rice. It was good.

Painted shoes

For a fund-raiser, I painted a pair of white sneakers turquoise with pink dots. And glitter. You can't see the glitter, but there's plenty. The leather stays supple if you follow these steps. The shoes looked great. Last I saw, a little girl was hugging them.

Gratin Dauphinois

I made these scalloped potatoes for a potluck yesterday. It was shameful to serve them in a disposable foil pan, but they were elegant anyway, and smelled so delicious that I almost pulled over to eat some on the way. When I went to the table to retrieve my leftovers after dinner, even the pan was missing. I clipped this recipe from Vogue magazine about 40 (yes!) years ago, and it has won me friends ever since. We used to have these for Christmas on Key Biscayne, to go with Patrice's prime rib. The potatoes were as popular as the meat.

Gratin Dauphinois

2 pounds potatoes (I used a bag of baking potatoes) to make 5 to 6 cups when sliced
1 large clove garlic, crushed
2 C. milk
1 1/2 C heavy cream
3/4 t. salt
1/2 t. pepper
1 T. butter (for buttering pan)
1/2 C. grated Swiss cheese (I use Gruyere)

Peel the potatoes, then wash and dry the whole potatoes thoroughly. Slice thin. Don't put them in water now because you need to conserve the potato starch. Combine potatoes with garlic, milk, cream, salt and pepper in a large heavy saucepan. Bring to a boil on medium, stirring to prevent scorching. I use the low-heat burner because I have burned them many times.

Bring to a boil, stirring, until mixture thickens slightly.

Butter a shallow (1 1/2 inch)  baking dish (I usually use the oval copper gratin pan; yesterday it was a 9" x 13" foil pan) and pour the potatoes in. Cover with grated cheese.  I usually put the pan on a cookie sheet to catch drips. Bake at 400° for an hour or until potatoes are soft and top is browned. These are even good cold.

Marie Howe's poetry

I love the poems of Marie Howe.
Here's an interview with Terry Gross.

Making little things

Making things without thinking -- just messing around, no furrowed brow, please -- that's been my mode the past two weeks. I dressed up this little wood medicine cabinet from Goodwill with paint, poetry, shells and sparkles. Now the mirror has been slipped in, framed by imperfect shells and memories from Captiva and St. Joseph Peninsula. I glued a little quilt inside the door; it hangs in my tiny bathroom.

This is inside. Shells are from Captiva.

Gretchen made me this heart, and I copied a favorite poem.
It's hard to write inside a box!

This is the poem:

It's the dream we carry

that something wondrous will happen

that it must happen

time will open

hearts will open

doors will open

mountains will open

spring will gush forth from the ground--

that the dream itself will open

that one morning we'll quietly drift

into a harbor we didn't know was there.

          --Olaf H. Hauge

             translated from Norwegian by Robert Hardin

Art quilt group

The first meeting of our art quilt group is 11:30 a.m. this Thursday, at Envision Credit Union auditorium (third floor),  440 N Monroe Street. This video inspires me.

No-cook Sunday: Marinated vegetables

I've finally realized that no-cook Sunday is more about being organized than about having the right prepare-ahead recipes. However, I'm not an organized cook; I love to meander through different cultures and tastes and even serving bowls as they strike me. I HAVE tried. Notes from the past say things like "Monday, soup; Tuesday, fish; Wednesday, grill," etc. But I couldn't do it, not even when work and worry consumed me. Then, maybe most of all, I let myself cook as I pleased and take my time with it. Some Sundays I would cook all afternoon and early evening.

But it still seems like a good idea to have a single day with a packet of cooking time released so I can meander through other loves and creativities. Yesterday I cooked a garden-ful of vegetables (carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, all steamed or microwaved separately) and tossed them with a can of white beans, another of marinated artichokes, and a marinade. It was tempting to eat them right away, but we resisted. Today I'll add little tomatoes, which I halved last night, sliced scallions, and chopped parsley. We'll have it with garlic toast, or maybe grilled cheese. But that would be cooking.

Marinade: Mix and boil 5 minutes: 3/4 C. red wine vinegar, 1/3 C. olive oil, 1 bay leaf, 2 chopped garlic cloves. Pour while hot over vegetables. Refrigerate when cool and toss occasionally.

Paper quilt plans

We may offer a fun session on making paper quilts as part of the Capital City Quilt Show. It would be for all ages. I've made paper quilts with children in the classroom, before much was on the internet, so it was great to find these resources for anyone who'd like to try quilts without the sewing.


1. I like the YouTube above because it is quiet and  simple. It uses magazine papers.

2. I copied the materials and instructions below from this Disney family fun site.

It's simple, but assumes you are familiar with quilt designs. It uses colored paper, which makes a less interesting but more controlled piece than magazine papers. I would substitute card stock for the poster board square and make it bigger so there is some white around the finished piece. I would also cut two-inch strips instead of one-inch.

Materials

• Colored paper
• Ruler
• Scissors

• Glue stick
• Pencil
• 4-inch white poster board square

Instructions

1.  Cut the colored paper into 6- by 1-inch strips. Then cut the strips into six 1-inch squares.
2. Next, snip most of the squares in half diagonally to create triangles.
3. Now experiment with various quilting patterns by arranging the pieces on top of the poster board square. Then glue the pieces in place.

3. This site from The Stampin' Place has example quilt patterns. I would not use the directions -- too complicated!

http://www.stampin.com/tips/quilt.htm

No-cook Sunday: Greek cauliflower

Greek cauliflower

No-cook Sunday is harder than I thought. I can cook less, but it's hard to cook nothing at all -- even for just one day. Yesterday I made Greek cauliflower, put the skillet in the refrigerator overnight, and warmed it up for dinner. That's cooking, right? With it we had a roast chicken from New Leaf Market. While I was there I checked their ready-made foods: tuna salad, chicken salad, macaroni salad, quinoa salad. Guess next Saturday I have to make a salad for Sunday. This might be more about being organized than being hungry.

Greek cauliflower *

1/2 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 t. dried oregano
1/2 t. crushed fennel seed
1/4 t. cinnamon
1 medium head cauliflower, broken into florets (I think frozen would work too)
1/2 C. tomato sauce
1 T. lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste

Put olive oil in skillet and add onions, garlic, oregano, fennel, and cinnamon. Cover and cook over medium heat 3 to 4 minutes, until onions are golden.

Add the cauliflower, tomato sauce and lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, cver and reduce to medium. Cook until cauliflower is tender, about 8 minutes. Add a little water if sauce seems to be boiling away.

*I've had this recipe forever and don't remember where I got it.