Maygra's Musings

Years ago, my mother gave me a wok as a birthday present. I used it pretty steadily for a half-dozen years, then I moved and the stove was electric and ..yeah. Under the cabinets it went. We've been doing some cleaning and culling around the house and I pulled it out. It's not particularly deep, and it's aluminum, not iron, but it's still got a nice seasoned finished to it still and after a scrub and re-seasoning, it was good to go.

I really recommend that if you don't have a wok, you get one, even if you aren't all that fond of asian food. Buy an electric one if you have to (there are decent ones for not much money) because it really is an efficient way to cook fast. I kind of adore one pot cooking and I'm incredibly impatient, but I don't want to give up flavor or texture, so yeah, wok.

At any rate, I've been putting it to good use lately and since I'm getting shit-all else done, writing-wise, cooking is my therapy...so...

( 5 Spice Pork Meatball Stir Fry )

There's about a day left for Sweet Charity bidding.

Approximately 200 Ho's, some of them willing to take on more than one clever trick, including yers truly.

We've hit the $10,000 mark, but seriously, I know some of you are waiting for just the right moment, like 10 seconds before the bidding is over.

You totally are.

I've got fiction and critiques and tea sets and bound fiction and customized recipe books up for auction. And while I'm not promising to bake cookies for you (although some people are) I'm totally willing to bribe you with cookies.

Yummy cookies. Cookies you can make and eat at your tea party. Cookies you can nibble on while reading, or tempting me with a dozen bunnies. Cookies you can share. Or you know, not....

( You want some cookies little fangirl/fanboy? I got your cookies right here, baby! )

Thank you, anonymous Jelly Bean Giver! They are lovely & yummy!

:::shares:::


And also, I adore Amy's Organic Pesto Pizza, however I am highly suspicious of how they manage to keep their tomatoes tasting fresh after freezing and then cooking. I'm sure there's flash freezing but inevitably, flash frozen sliced tomatoes tend to lose structural integrity and yet these taste like I sliced them this morning.

:::eats last slice to test theory:::

These are mutant organic, right?

And a recipe for ( Boston Brown Bread )

Eh hem.

So, today sucked mightily - despite the strenuous efforts of many kind fangirls (and yes, it did help. I had to keep refreshing since email was being someone else's bitch rather than mine.)

However, for such horrible days -- there is only one answer. ( GROCERY SHOPPING! )

I've started waking up between 4 and 4:30 again. I'm guessing it's the season. Or maybe the fact that I can't find an early mass on Sunday which is annoying as it's probably one of the few tradtions I've tried to hold onto since my mother died.

Which made me think of Christmas traditions -- which of course, made me think of food.

Did I ever mention that my Grandmother and Mother were great cooks? they were. (My grandmother was the better of the two, plus she loved it. My Mom was a good cook but she didn't like it so much.)

So, I offer, two recipes. One is a dish done elsewhere, but that Mom always made Christmas eve so she could just pop it in the oven Christmas morning. No muss, no fuss. The other is my grandmother's cornbread dressing. It's simple, not overly spiced, perfectly yummy, compliments the turkey or duck or whatever without being this whole exotic thing all by itself. (And it holds up well to gravy!)

( Skier's Delight )
( Gram's Cornbread Dressing )

Now, if I could just find my grandfather's eggnog recipe or my Dad's yeast roll recipe...I'd have the whole set.