Best Of: Grilling Tales

Nibbles

Later today I’ll be announcing the winner of the What’s New, Cupcake? book giveaways over at Circle of Food (hope you entered when you had the chance). Since it’s a holiday and my schedule always gets a little screwy on these long weekends I thought I’d pull this post from last year on grilling to share.

However you choose to spend the day, I hope it’s a good one. We’ll be grilling brats and hot dogs and having Mom & Molly over for dinner.

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Ah, yes, weather permitting (and even sometimes not), thousands (millions?) of grills across the country will be fired up to char something with family and friends.

My first tip for the grilling-minded is for barbecue chicken and it comes from Mom. She takes leg quarters and marinates them in Italian dressing (straight from the bottle into a large baggie and if you can let it sit overnight in the fridge, even better), to start, and then pre-cooks them a bit in the microwave. Now, don’t shriek, it’s actually an excellent idea since it’s SO tough to get the chicken to cook evenly on the grill without one part getting over cooked or it taking forty forevers. So you par-cook the legs in the microwave and THEN put them on the grill to finish cooking and get that lovely caramelized finish and a good brush with the barbecue sauce of choice.

Did you know that chicken should be cooked to an internal temperature of at least 165 degrees? Now you do. Get out those meat thermometers and make sure the fleshiest bit is up to temperature before serving yourself or your guests. Pork should also always be cooked fully (no pink!) to reduce the risk of trichinosis. Beef and lamb can be cooked anywhere from 140 (rare) to 170 (well done) without too much worry (though why you’d want well-done lamb is beyond me!).

Most recipes suggest throwing out the marinade once it’s been used but you can actually use it for a sauce IF you bring it to a boil and keep it boiling for several minutes (5 is a good number) to “cook” any of the raw meat juices that are in there.

Finally, a true tale of grilling no matter what. It was my high school graduation party and the house was pretty full of guests. The plan had been to grill but the weather was atrocious: rainy and grey. But, the show must go on so Mom changed into her swimsuit and shorts and went outside with an umbrella to tend the grill as needed. Of course, if you’ve got the grill lid in one hand and tongs in the other, how are you going to hold the umbrella? In your cleavage, of course.

So don’t let a little water dampen your party this Memorial Day weekend.

50 Shots of America–Ohio

Sips

Ohio is the 17th state admitted to the Union but it wasn’t quite so simple as it sounds. It wasn’t until 1953 that they were official declared the 17th state retroactively.

As part of the Northwest Territory, an area became eligible for statehood once it reached a population of 60,000. In 1953 the realized there had been no formal Congressional resolution to admit the state into the Union even though President Jefferson signed the act that set Ohio’s borders in February of 1803. 153 years later it would be Eisenhower who declared the date of statehood as March 1, 1803.

That’s some serious bureaucratic back-log!

Despite having a state beverage of tomato juice (at least it’s not milk!) I couldn’t ignore the more obvious theme for this state. Ohioans are considered Buckeyes and most of us have encountered–on holiday cookie swap or another–the confection of the same name. Little balls of sweetened peanut butter dipped in chocolate but leaving a bit of the filling exposed to mimic the seeds they get their name from.

Now, to my knowledge there’s not a peanut liqueur (not that that’s a bad thing, necessarily) but we do have some other nut liqueurs to work with. And since there are two drinks already with the name Buckeye (one a gin-dry vermouth martini, the other a variation on the Irish Car Bomb) I’ve decided to call this week’s drink

the Buck-Shot

3/4 oz hazelnut liqueur
3/4 oz chocolate liqueur
1/2 oz vanilla vodka
1/4 oz butterscotch schnapps

Combine over ice in a petite shaker and shake it colder than lake-effect snow. Strain into a chilled cordial glass.

While I dearly love amaretto, it tends to overpower even in small amounts in these small drinks. Frangelico turned out to be perfect for the taste and, with the addition of the Butterschnapps you can almost fool yourself that it’s a peanut butter ball and not something more akin to Nutella.

Progress Pictures: Broken Ties

64 Arts, Projects

Now that I’ve told the story of what inspired the change from trivet to mixed media art, I thought it’d be a good idea to share some in-progress pictures for those that are interested in processes.

prepping the canvas board

Prepping the Canvas Board

First I went a little Jackson Pollock-esque on a spare piece of canvas board–always helps to have extra art supplies around. Don’t agree and hate the extras that come in packs? Email me for my address–I’ll take ’em off your hands.

Actually, even better would be to donate them to your local school system, Ronald McDonald House, nearest Children’s Hospital or Boys and Girls Clubs.

Messing it all Around

Smearing the paint splatter

Next I took a large paintbrush and spread all the splatters around. Since I didn’t need a particular look for the background–most of it ended up covered, anyway–it didn’t need to really look like anything. I added a few more drops of the red, which mostly disappeared, and swirled it with a skewer (leftover from mixing the plaster to make the heart-shaped base.

Mapping out item Placement

Mapping Out Ephemera Placement

While the canvas dried (took overnight since some of the paint was more piled on than others) I worked on the placement of some key items for the mosaic. Some things, like the earring I bought with her while on Sr Trip and the half of the friendship charm from middle school, were directly related to she and I and others were items that I found while digging out the other bits from my old jewelry box or found around the craft room.

These things I wanted in a specific spot so arranged them and then drew a rough outline in pencil to know where not to put the stones and beads and stuff. The glue that gets brushed over the entire surface is clear so you can still see your road map.

Before the Grout

Before the Grout

Again, I’m still astonished at how the grout really pulls all the disparate items together. I mean, yeah, this looks like a total hodge-podge in a what-was-I-thinking sort of way, but it gets better. Never give up, never question, just dive on in.

Great Grey Gobs of Gritty Grout

Great Grey Gobs of Gritty Grout

This is a mid-grout picture. Gorgeous, huh? This was not what I meant when I said it gets better.

Some things were too delicate to glue directly to the plaster, so after I put on the grout and worked it into all the nooks and crannies and leveled certain parts of it I then added the smaller elements to the wet grout. The idea was that they would stick in and save me extra gluing. This mostly worked, some things needed a bit of help.

All Cleaned Up and Nowhere to Go

All Cleaned Up and Nowhere to Go

After 10 minutes I could start removing the extra grout and excavating beads and glass and all. It really did feel like an archaeological dig–hey, great idea for summer projects (outside projects) for bored kids–carefully washing away the extra grout and grit. I managed to uncover almost everything that was supposed to show.

Important lesson: it helps to have things all the same depth. Not only does this lend to a smooth surface, it makes it easier to wipe away excess grout instead of having to dig for it. Tiny stuff can get glued on.

Broken Ties by "Scraps"

the Finished Piece: Broken Ties

After the grout dried I sorta stopped with the picture taking. Basically I was so caught up in the collage part of things that I was just zooming through and not thinking about the blog. But here’s what I did to finish up:

  • pulled out some pictures of her and I, tore one of the two of us at my wedding in half
  • flipped through a nearby Glamour for words and images that worked for the theme or that reminded me of us way back when
  • collaged the painted background with PVA glue (neutral pH adhesive, aka book glue) and a foam brush, diluted the remaining glue and brushed over the whole thing
  • sprinkled on some seed beads to see what would stick
  • adhered the mosaic pieces to the background with a 2-part epoxy–incredibly strong hold, incredibly strong smell; a well ventilated area is key
  • surrounded the mosaic with pearl beads attached with hot glue, added extras to corners and added a few more bits of ephemera
  • took the whole thing outside and sprayed with pink spray paint to make it all blend a little more
  • added captions and notes with silver permanent marker

I still have yet to clean off my work table 😉

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So, do you like seeing things like this–process pictures and descriptions–for a project like this or do you just want to see the finished product?

the Finished Trivet

The Finished Trivet

64 Arts

It’s always fun to finish a project, right? Well, this is no exception.

I’ll be honest: I’m great at starting things. I’d even go so far as to say I’m great at coming up with ideas and plans and researching hows and whys and all. But finishing things? Sometimes it’s tough going not to get distracted by the next fun idea. It’s like projectile-ADD… or something like that. Something that sounds less gross?

And when I decided to go in a different direction with the heart trivet and turn it into a mixed media piece? Yeah, it was almost too easy to set the normal trivet aside and get absorbed in the offshoot.

But I had a little talk with myself. It went something like, “hey, wait, before you take off those gloves and let the grout dry, it looks like you’ve got enough to do the square one, too, and that way you only have to deal with the mess once, right? Doncha think we might?”

Apparently my creative side can be swayed by reason and logic. On occasion. But let’s not make a habit of it.

At any rate, I did get it finished.

Trivet In Progress

Pre-Grouting

the Finished Trivet

Post-Grouting

What a difference some grout makes, huh? I was really shocked how much the grout toned-down the brightness of the tiles. It probably has something to do with the light not being able to bounce around them as much (what will all but one side of each blocked in).

In the future I need to work on my edges: they sort of taper in some areas and that’s not always a desired feature. Still, it was a fun learning experience, a little messy and ultimately turned into a finished, functional item.

And that’s even better than perfect.

Follow That Craving!

Nibbles

The other night Todd made a yummy supper (grilled beef roast, fluffy baked potatoes loaded with toppings and steamed asparagus) and I just wasn’t feeling it.

Temperatures are already high here and Florida and this meal, while tasty, was hot, heavy, solid and totally not what my body was wanting. I’d been craving fresh fruit, fruit juices (water just has not been getting the job done, lately) and light foods in light colors.

A few years ago I did some basic reading on Ayurveda and wondered if there wasn’t something in my cravings to be found there.

Ayurveda is a [holistic] system of medicine from India that uses a constitutional model. Its aim is to provide guidance regarding food and lifestyle so that healthy people can stay healthy and folks with health challenges can improve their health. —Ayurvedic Foundations

Now, according to the quiz over at What’s Your Dosha? I’m Vata (with a slightly more Pitta mind). Even though I don’t fit some of the physical attributes of Vata (thin with a weight-gain difficulty? Hah!), I do fit other characteristics of the type (sensitivity to cold, delicate digestion, low stamina and so not a morning person).

Vata season is November through February and that’s the prime time for heavy meals and warm spices (a time I love, by the way–I’m usually all about sturdy foods). What we’re nearing the end of is Kapha season (March through June) when light meals are de rigueur to combat the “cold and wet” of the days leading up to the heat of Pitta (July through October) when light and cooling meals will keep the heat in balance.

Balance is a big thing in Ayurveda.

Of course, as I’m babbling on about one thing, Todd’s wheels start turning and he brings up Constitutional Psychology: the idea that body types can be classified as ecto-, endo- or mesomorphic based on physical characteristics. I hadn’t heard of those types before. Apparently this is really big in the body building world since it has a lot to do with bones, muscle and fat stores but doesn’t really affect the nutritional basics.

But what about those cravings?

I remember I would periodically crave all sorts of dairy out of blue. After noticing this happen a few times I began to think that it was my body’s way of telling me my calcium was low, or something like that. Incidentally: now that I have yogurt nearly every day, I no longer have those massive cravings for milk, yogurt or cheese. Not the most scientific testing method, but observation is a part of life, right?

Keeping in mind that I’m not a doctor or even a registered dietitian (though culinary school did include some nutritional training), I think there’s three reasons giving in to our cravings can be beneficial to our health:

  1. Cravings can signal something our body needs. Dairy cravings are simple, you could need more dairy or Vitamin D. But what about craving, say, pizza? Maybe your body needs some of those great tomato antioxidants and your body is just using a language you’ll easily recognize.
  2. Cravings can keep us from being overly restrictive. Dieting is usually the culprit here. When we restrict our diets to any sort of extreme (no carbs, no snacks, no sugar, etc.) sometimes those restrictions really get to us, wear us down and lead us to totally blow a diet (or lifestyle change) with a binge. By allowing small items that would otherwise be forbidden on your diet you lessen the chance of a binge.
  3. Cravings can signal a need for comfort. Different than a dietary need, when we start to crave foods from our childhood it can signal am emotional need for comfort or consolation. Sure, there are other ways to deal with emotional needs but having a cookie or cooking a favorite meal one night in full knowledge of what you’re doing can be quite soothing.

Moderation, as always, is the key, even when dealing with cravings.

What do you think? Given in or stand firm?