Curry, grandkids and Easter

Authentic? Who knows. But decent curry.

Yes, it’s one of those disparate posts. Deal with it.

The above may well not be, as the recipe contends it is, “Authentic” Thai Massaman curry, but it was good. And it’s entirely doable in the Instant Pot, which is always a recommendation.

The recipe is here. How it was, was, like this. I had some beef “fajita strips” in the freezer, and I was looking for a recipe that would accommodate ’em. Indian’s out. I didn’t want anything European, read conventional, nor did I want, well, fajitas. Thai leapt to the forefront. So I Googled “Thai beef.”

And came up with a plentitude of recipes, including this one, which drew my eye, first because it was Instant Pot-able, and second because the fajita strips, which had been in my way every time I’d looked for something in the freezer in the last two weeks, had suddenly become impossible to find.

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Back in the kitchen, after a non-cooking week

AGCs and hospitals will play hell with your cooking. There were no exceptional meals, though he thought the grilled cheese and fries were just fine.

We are cooking today. We had not cooked much at all this week, being that we were in Little Rock with AGC2, who had surgery on his ear to, we hope, correct the recurring infections. Came home Thursday, was so exhausted I did little but sit around Friday, had soup kitchen Saturday, and sprang forward today, which pretty much did me in for going to church. Plus, it’s a rainy, yucky day. Not a good excuse for skipping church, I know, but it’s the one I’m using.

In any event, I got up in a notion to cook. So far I have put on a batch of yogurt; made a quiche with tasso ham and grated gruyere; have a loaf of date nut bread in the oven, and just put a fig-blueberry crisp in the oven.

That’s a balanced meal, right?

I wanted to put smoked duck in my quiche, but I’m damned if I can find the duck I smoked and stuck in the freezer. I did clean out a few things from the freezer that were old enough to vote, not to mention have freezer burn on them. The quiche looks lovely; I’m waiting for it to cool down enough to be ready to eat.

Look out, shrimps!

OK, I’m underwhelmed with the wallpaper, but I think I can cook in this kitchen.

The Keyboard clan is going to descend on the beach this summer. Yes, your intrepid bloggess herownself, along with children A, B and C, sons-in-law 1 and 3, and AGCs 1, 2 and 3 are all going to pack up and go to the Redneck Riviera in July!

No shrimp within 100 miles of Fort Morgan, Alabama is safe. Nor is any slab of grouper. I reserved the house yesterday, and I swear, I couldn’t go to sleep last night for thinking about what I needed to take in the way of spices and cooking equipment. By the time we’re ready to leave, I’ll have a box of kitchen supplies and equipment packed, an ice chest full of food, and and extensive grocery list to purchase once we get there. I may even make up and freeze some cinnamon rolls for breakfasts. I will have to have pancake mix, as the littles love “panna-cakes” for breakfast. We can have sandwiches and salads for lunches, and lots and lots of seafood for dinner.

Now. Back to the kitchen

French toast, with sourdough bread from the Farmers’ Market.

It’s sure quiet in my house this morning.

For the first time in more than a week, I have no children here. Well, I do, but they’re of the grown variety, and thus are sleeping soundly. All the campers from Camp KayKay have gone home, or in any event to other grandparents’ homes. There are no toys in my living room floor.

It’s kinda lonesome.

But I have a lot to do today — two work projects which didn’t get done last week, because I was chasing tiny tornadoes hither and yon, plus figs that need to be washed, jam made from them, and canned, purple hulled peas (a half-bushel of them) that need to be shelled and stashed in the freezer. The half-bushel of peaches can wait until a little later in the week, which is also filled with lots of things I  need to do, which I hope will involve significant cooking.

Because there sure wasn’t any last week.

The above photo is one of the three times my stove was turned on last week. The other two were to boil eggs for AGC3, and to make a grilled cheese sandwich for AGC1. I did make potato skins one night after everyone had gone to bed and it occured to me I’d forgotten to eat. And while there was plenty of fast/junk food, there were also two good meals out, both Mexican in nature, at Colorado Grill in Hot Springs and at the old faithful Ark-Mex standard, Pancho’s, in West Memphis.

The Resurrection, the rabbit, and Easter dinner

Head start on Easter: Lemon icebox pies.

And why is ham traditional in the South for Easter dinner, anyway?

(Answer: Because it’s about the time of year that traditionally, hams which were from pigs slaughtered in the fall and cured over the winter were ready to eat. And now you know.)

I have commenced Easter dinner cookery. Easter is another one of those “all about tradition” holidays. There is not a lot of room for maneuvering in the Chez Keyboard kitchen when it comes to Easter dinner. One MUST have:

• Ham. In my case, sliced, pre-cooked but warmed nicely with a glaze, Honey Baked ham, because that’s just damn good ham, and will serve me nicely for ham sandwiches for a good while.
• Deviled eggs. Because, Easter. Eggs. Et cetera.
• Green peas. Because they’re springy. I’ve bounced among several preps, and just tend toward the simple: steamed, buttered, tarragon.
• Asparagus. Because it’s the first local fresh green vegetable you can get. Because it’s wonderful. Because Children A and C, who’ll be partaking of Easter dinner, and I can eat our weight in it. I will either roast it, or wrap it in proscuitto and then roast it. And there will be hollandaise.
• Corn casserole. Frozen corn from last summer, Jiffy cornbread mix, eggs, sour cream, melted butter. Ain’t nothin’ no better.
• Mac and cheese. Because the carb-loading children require it.
• Rolls. Specifically, Ms. Mary Lloyd’s rolls. Because it’s a holiday. Because a leftover roll, split, toasted, and filled with ham, is one of the finest leftovers on the face of the planet.
• Lemon icebox pie. There is some wiggle room on dessert, but I was in the notion for lemon icebox pie, so that’s what we’re having. Because I made them today.

Christmas dinner and leftovers!

We had a fine, fine Christmas dinner. There is not a single picture of it, because, well, Christmas and all its attendant chaos. Six adults, three kids, two spastic dogs, small house. You get the idea.

The best part of Christmas! AGCs, from left, 1, 3 and 2.

There is, however, this picture, the single moment during the day when we got a kindergartener and two preschoolers to stand still. And snapped quick. And they’re what it’s all about, anyway.

Dinner prep kinda got away from me, as I had to take a chunk of time out of the morning to roast the turkey I was taking to a local group home for a Christmas meal. And that wouldn’t have been so bad but for the fact I had to run hot water over the turkey, which had been sitting in the bottom of the fridge for three full days, but had barely thawed the least little bit.

Those damn stealth holidays

Eeeekk! Thanksgiving is next week!

I’m not sure why it snuck up on me so badly this year. It may possibly be because we’re still having temps in the 70s and have had no more than a light frost so far this fall, or what passes for fall. Normally by this time I would have my menu all planned, and maybe even some early grocery shopping and prep work done.

There will be a few changes this year. We’re moving Thanksgiving dinner to Friday, as Child B and family will be able to come, for the first time in ages, so I’ll have everybody here. (Double eeeekkk. Got to houseclean this weekend!) Also hoping the girls’ godmother can come over. I think dinner will be late afternoon/early evening, which is good.