Cooking, Spinach, Interwebs, and Honey
Apr. 13th, 2011 06:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bluesgardenI ended up all impatient over the slow growing spinach in the greenhouse and bought a container of organic baby spinach at the store the other day. I've really only eaten it a handful of times in my life, truth be told, so then I froze up and couldn't decide how I wanted to use it. I kept thinking salad but I'm not a big salad eater and ye olde standby dressing of my youth - French - doesn't appeal any more, but I can't say that I've ever actually made a vinaigrette either, so I was a bit stymied. Google presented me with 30 million versions of vinaigrette, but never did help me out with what the basic oil to vinegar ratio might be or how one might incorporate a bit of cherry syrup or black raspberry juice/jam for a fruit vinaigrette.
Tonight, though, I just searched for spinach recipes and things are looking far more promising. Apparently, salad is the advanced class for me. I'll probably just end up sauteing it lightly and possibly add some of the bacon bits I have to hand this time, maybe even top with an over medium egg, but I ran across a lot of options that I'm keeping in mind. I've watched enough cooking shows and read enough cookbooks/cooking blogs to have seen these things before, but I needed reminding: Spinach phyllo rolls, spinach lasagna, spinach quiche...
What's more interesting is that, in the course of my wanderings, I came across a link that included the title "Barefoot and Cooking". Yeah, I had to click on that one. It turned out to be the cooking blog of a woman in the D.C. area that's pretty newly married (since last August) and keeps a strictly kosher household. Her writing is a lot of fun to read and makes me laugh as I recognize similiarities between us even if, superficially, we're more different than alike. Whether you're Jewish or not, as long as you like a good cooking blog, it's worth a look! (As a bonus, I'm learning more about a strictly kosher Passover, or Pesach.)
In the middle of this, I discovered something else totally unrelated to the other bits: I've turned into a honey snob! Last fall through the beginning of winter, I was using local honey that I had stored up. I'm not sure what came next, but then I couldn't find the regular honey at Krogers (it was with the peanut butter and jelly which should have been particularly obvious but I swear I looked there at least three times and didn't see it) and ended up grabbing a 2 pound jar of Blackberry Honey from the organic section.
I've always been of the opinion that I couldn't taste a lot difference between honeys, that I just didn't have the palate for it. And organic honey? Isn't honey organic by definition? I suppose the plants nearby and any chemicals used could make a difference, but it still amused me. Then, last week, as I was nearing the bottom of that jar, I picked up a bottle of generic, store brand honey (since I could actually find it). Tonight, I set aside the old jar, intending to drain the last bit in the bottom into a smaller, honey 'leftovers' jar, and cracked open the new one.
It was horrible. Almost undrinkable horrible. I was shocked! I made a fresh cup and managed to get another teaspoon of honey out of the old jar and, yes, it really was the new honey! So now I need to buy a new jar of honey for my tea (which I actually drink more of than coffee, usually decaf) and gift my mother-in-law with the other container. :P
[Another food blog recommendation that I discovered tonight via TasteSpotting: i nom things. The food looks fascinating, the writing is entertaining, and the doodles definitely add to it. <3]
Tonight, though, I just searched for spinach recipes and things are looking far more promising. Apparently, salad is the advanced class for me. I'll probably just end up sauteing it lightly and possibly add some of the bacon bits I have to hand this time, maybe even top with an over medium egg, but I ran across a lot of options that I'm keeping in mind. I've watched enough cooking shows and read enough cookbooks/cooking blogs to have seen these things before, but I needed reminding: Spinach phyllo rolls, spinach lasagna, spinach quiche...
What's more interesting is that, in the course of my wanderings, I came across a link that included the title "Barefoot and Cooking". Yeah, I had to click on that one. It turned out to be the cooking blog of a woman in the D.C. area that's pretty newly married (since last August) and keeps a strictly kosher household. Her writing is a lot of fun to read and makes me laugh as I recognize similiarities between us even if, superficially, we're more different than alike. Whether you're Jewish or not, as long as you like a good cooking blog, it's worth a look! (As a bonus, I'm learning more about a strictly kosher Passover, or Pesach.)
In the middle of this, I discovered something else totally unrelated to the other bits: I've turned into a honey snob! Last fall through the beginning of winter, I was using local honey that I had stored up. I'm not sure what came next, but then I couldn't find the regular honey at Krogers (it was with the peanut butter and jelly which should have been particularly obvious but I swear I looked there at least three times and didn't see it) and ended up grabbing a 2 pound jar of Blackberry Honey from the organic section.
I've always been of the opinion that I couldn't taste a lot difference between honeys, that I just didn't have the palate for it. And organic honey? Isn't honey organic by definition? I suppose the plants nearby and any chemicals used could make a difference, but it still amused me. Then, last week, as I was nearing the bottom of that jar, I picked up a bottle of generic, store brand honey (since I could actually find it). Tonight, I set aside the old jar, intending to drain the last bit in the bottom into a smaller, honey 'leftovers' jar, and cracked open the new one.
It was horrible. Almost undrinkable horrible. I was shocked! I made a fresh cup and managed to get another teaspoon of honey out of the old jar and, yes, it really was the new honey! So now I need to buy a new jar of honey for my tea (which I actually drink more of than coffee, usually decaf) and gift my mother-in-law with the other container. :P
[Another food blog recommendation that I discovered tonight via TasteSpotting: i nom things. The food looks fascinating, the writing is entertaining, and the doodles definitely add to it. <3]
