Table Talk

Just when you thought I was a blogger without a story - I'm back!  All the better for the delay to present a new topic!  Lately some new inspiration in the cooking department has prompted an upgrade in my creativity.  Marcus Samuelsson deserves most of the credit.  He and my sister who recommended I read his book, Yes Chef, that is.   Adopted from Ethiopia, raised by a Swedish family, his food experiments, descriptions and achievements are of a rather impressive variety.  Though reduced to begging for feedback from my lone victim as usual, Mr. Buell, who appears to be specializing in being mostly non-committal, (maybe it's safer that way.  After that one unforgettable failure of an eggplant recipe which I've never been brave enough to revisit?) - pronounced his approval of home-made mayonnaise.

This recipe is tried and true. It had served the purpose of extending the supply of mayonnaise just long enough for saving me a  trip to the store until another day, but that was about it.  The seal of approval hadn't gotten any further, so I hadn't made it at home on a regular basis except as a stop-gap measure.  While the task is a relatively easy one, in all of my past experiments I had assumed that lemon juice would be the better choice, so I had hesitated to experiment with one of the other options.  Since I had both lemon juice and apple cider vinegar on hand, so I decided I had nothing to lose by choosing the apple cider vinegar this time.    Most of this recent adventure has to do with the fact that we live about a five mile jaunt from town, and my short term memory frequently lets me down the moment I enter the grocery store.  Anything from one to four ingredients are fine, but beyond that we both seem to lose our edge.  What list?  The one at home on the counter?  Oh, that list!

Anyway, back to mayonnaise.  Many years ago, I had purchased a cookbook by Jean Hewitt called the NEW Natural Foods Cookbook.   I had been raising children for a very few years, like one.  My mothering instincts were kicking in and I was starting to read labels on food when I developed some major trust issues.  Various things had been tossed around as not being good for us, but mostly I eyed margarine, bread, and most boxed or packaged flour products, especially pancake flour with inordinate suspicion.   The fact that I could neither pronounce nor understand some ingredients increased my concern.  What were they adding and taking away to our bread and why would they need to add food coloring to every day items?  Preservatives?  Are those good for you?

Bacon and Egg Sandwich with Homemade Mayonnaise

 Surveying the unfamiliar contents shelved in a health food store, I hesitated to spend our few family food dollars on tiny expensive packages.  I did, however, choose a cookbook that seemed to have potential.  Concerned as I was, a young mother who didn't want to be unpleasantly surprised to later learn to our sorrow that we should not have been eating an unsafe chemical additive or feeding our kids strange concoctions, I made more and more choices to make food at home instead of using packaged items. There were exceptions to the rule.  For some reason, tortillas didn't scare me, nor did taco seasoning, which I could easily have mixed up myself.  Mom had tried homemade ketchup and it was rather ketchup-y somehow.  Very red, very thick, quite strong in flavor, and I thought we could buy our ketchup.  And cereal.  Costco had large boxes and it was one of the only treats the kids were allowed to have with any regularity.

Last week we ran out of mayonnaise and I forgot to get more.  Not just one trip to town, but three or four times.  The situation was getting serious, and one morning the lunch was demanding to be made.  Sandwiches being the menu choice, I decided to get out my recipe and make mayonnaise again, but this time, I would use apple cider vinegar.  Perhaps it would give it the tang that was more pleasing and similar to the off-the-shelf mayonnaise.  And it did.  Satisfying to see the usual and expected chemical change as the olive oil drizzled into the whirling blender, and more so when it passed the almost store-bought taste test.

Later, inspired by my determination to revisit a favorite meal, hamburgers, but for all intents and purposes avoiding the buns, I recalled the creative kick I had experienced while reading Yes, Chef, and set to work.  We love the Treager Grill, so of course I planned to cook the burgers outside over wood pellets.  Adding some sliced onions on the side which were tossed with a little olive oil, salt and garlic powder was an easy choice.  Next, I had picked up some luscious avocados that had gotten a little on the ripe side.  Cutting away a touch of brown here and there, I scooped the soft avocado into a cheap but pretty glass bowl with my spoon and added a generous dollop of juice squeezed from a couple of little key limes we had picked up out of curiosity.  Combining these ingredients with a generous pinch of coarse sea salt, I mashed them gently with my fork.    Tomatoes and leaf lettuce with a few sliced cucumbers would be rounding out our meal.

When I served the hamburgers, there was a choice of ketchup and home-made mayonnaise, which I mixed together. To serve, I placed the burgers on top of a lettuce leaf and a large round slice of tomato.  A heaping scoop of the mashed avocado mixture went on top of the burgers, followed by the grilled onions and peppers.  The mixture of ketchup and mayonnaise was served as a dip.  When I served it all again a few days later, the ketchup turned out to be a crutch we didn't need.  Home-made mayonnaise and avocado lemon mash do a nice job together with the grilled onions on a burger.  It was a to-go gourmet dish the second day, served on the deck at the rental in the late evening.  

Paprika on the onions.  He liked it!

Agreeing that it was a good meal seemed to come just a little easier the second time.  Maybe it was making him wait for supper until 8 p.m. or maybe it was my happy confidence - I decided I like it, and was quite joyful.  It doesn't always follow that Mr. Buell will also like my creations and due to the eggplant saga, I know he has reason to be hesitant.  Hence my excitement when he does enjoy my cooking.  He rarely complains and my experiments usually are limited to recipes, so I think  he mostly does enjoy my cooking, and is especially happy with a variety, like spaghetti and meat loaf and simple family recipes.  I just like responses and will ask for them if necessary.  It's like getting your hands on a sparkler on the Fourth of July.  I went for every last twinkle and fizz of approval and I'm still dancing for joy.  It's the little things.

HOMEMADE MAYONNAISE

1 Egg
1 Teaspoon mustard seed, ground with mortar and pestle
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
3 Tablespoons Apple Cider, Vinegar or Lemon Juice
1 Cup Sunflower or Safflower Oil. (I used Olive Oil, and it worked fine)

Put the egg, mustard, salt, vinegar and 1/2 of the oil in the blender.  Blend until smooth.  While continuing to blend, add the remaining oil very slowly in a steady stream into the center of the egg mixture.  Use a small rubber spatula to scrap the mayonnaise into a jar.  Store covered in the refrigerator.

I have never had it curdle, but if it does the instructions say to process one egg in the container of a clean blender and gradually pour the curdled mayonnaise back in while blending or processing at high speed.

And now, since it's summer, how about some more flowers?

This has batik fabric print possibilities, I think.

Sunset on McCullough Peaks

Men make counterfeit money; in many more cases, money makes counterfeit men.

Sydney J. Harris

Late Blooming Iris in the Shadows

Banks have a new image. Now you have 'a friend,' your friendly banker. If the banks are so friendly, how come they chain down the pens?

Alan King

Peony in Evening Sunlight

Siberian Iris

A wise man should have money in his head, but not in his heart.

Jonathan Swift

Peony 

He that is of the opinion money will do everything may well 

be suspected of doing everything for money.

Benjamin Franklin

Rainy Afternoon Blues

Don't stay in bed, unless you can make money in bed.

George Burns

Begonia 

Contrary Garden

All men should strive

to learn before they die

what they are running from, 

and to, and why.

~James Thurber

There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged

 to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.  ~Nelson Mandela

The difficult part in an argument is not to defend

 one's opinion but rather to know it.  ~André Maurois

Quality begins on the inside... and then works its way out.  ~Bob Moawad

That's the way things come clear. 

All of a sudden.  

And then you realize how obvious they've been all along. 

~Madeleine L'Engle

Basically we are all looking for someone who knows who we are and will break it to us gently.  

Robert Brault

What a gloomy thing, not to know the address of one's soul. 

Victor Hugo