Noodling...
Oct. 10th, 2006 04:38 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stitchwhichIt's the middle of the night (well, actually, early morning) and I'm awake. As normal. :) I had gone to bed and even slept but then woke up around 2am thinking, "My prescriptions need to be refilled". It is a sign of my grogginess that such a thing seemed to be important enough to get me out of bed. Luckily, my pharmacy does online refills. So then I sat in my quiet house and noodled around. I have one medallion on the bottom of Cindy's gown completed and need to get the other seven transferred to the fabric so I can finish that. I made two new little knitted bags for 12thNight and thereby used up yet more of the wool that I dislike. I've set myself the task of using it all up before I start on the stuff I prefer. Otherwise, I know what will happen.
Chicken is boiling on the stove top - I'm making gumbo again. It was fun to make some for Tory & Co. at Pennsic and even more amusing to be able to tell where in the South he was from just by what he wanted to add to the gumbo (Boys from LA, especially SW louisianna, need Cayenne sauce in their gumbo. And in their beans, soups, grits...) I'm still very sensitive about my gumbo-making. A comment made to me during Pennsic, "I'm making *real* gumbo for _____" cut deep but that wasn't anything the speaker meant to happen. I just have been rasped one too many times with the 'Your gumbo isn't real". I can't imagine any other dish that elicites so many disparaging remarks to a cook - no one I know would say, "Your spaghetti/pot roast/chick & dumplings/whatever isn't REAL spaghetti/pot roast/..." but I swear, there's been very few folks who haven't exclaimed loudly and superiourly that what my Grandmother taught me to make isn't, somehow, real. It was a true balm to have a neighbor come wandering into my kitchen this spring, sniff the air and say, "You're making gumbo! MY kind of gumbo!" Seems he's from the same area as where my Great-grandparents owned land and hired their nannies. It's fun to make his eyes light up when I offer to cater his and Shawn's gaming sessions. Heck, even their oh-so-Northern gaming buddy likes my gumbo. So I try to concentrate on that rather than the memory of dirision.
So... the question is... do I cook up some of that 3 pound package of thick-sliced bacon in order to get fresh drippings for the roux, or do I use what I've saved and leave the package sealed? On one hand, it would be nice to fry it up and have it for snacking/packing for lunch for this weekend's event, on the other hand - that's a LOT of bacon!
It's rather nice to only need to make such little decisions.
Chicken is boiling on the stove top - I'm making gumbo again. It was fun to make some for Tory & Co. at Pennsic and even more amusing to be able to tell where in the South he was from just by what he wanted to add to the gumbo (Boys from LA, especially SW louisianna, need Cayenne sauce in their gumbo. And in their beans, soups, grits...) I'm still very sensitive about my gumbo-making. A comment made to me during Pennsic, "I'm making *real* gumbo for _____" cut deep but that wasn't anything the speaker meant to happen. I just have been rasped one too many times with the 'Your gumbo isn't real". I can't imagine any other dish that elicites so many disparaging remarks to a cook - no one I know would say, "Your spaghetti/pot roast/chick & dumplings/whatever isn't REAL spaghetti/pot roast/..." but I swear, there's been very few folks who haven't exclaimed loudly and superiourly that what my Grandmother taught me to make isn't, somehow, real. It was a true balm to have a neighbor come wandering into my kitchen this spring, sniff the air and say, "You're making gumbo! MY kind of gumbo!" Seems he's from the same area as where my Great-grandparents owned land and hired their nannies. It's fun to make his eyes light up when I offer to cater his and Shawn's gaming sessions. Heck, even their oh-so-Northern gaming buddy likes my gumbo. So I try to concentrate on that rather than the memory of dirision.
So... the question is... do I cook up some of that 3 pound package of thick-sliced bacon in order to get fresh drippings for the roux, or do I use what I've saved and leave the package sealed? On one hand, it would be nice to fry it up and have it for snacking/packing for lunch for this weekend's event, on the other hand - that's a LOT of bacon!
It's rather nice to only need to make such little decisions.
