Meal Prep

I enjoy preparing and cooking food.  Slicing, chopping, peeling, etc is relaxing in a way.  I have a good set of Wusthof Classic knives and holding block that I bought from a cutlery store going out of business that was literally putting up the "Going Out Of Business" sign as I walked past.  25% of original price.

I added some individual knives later at regular price online but they weren't worth it mainly.  I find I don't really use the slightly curved "chef knives" often.  But there were 2 real gems.  The "Deli Knife" is great.  Though designed for cutting sandwiches without tearing them apart, the serrated blade and offset handle makes it easy to cut anything.
 

The Santoku knife has airpockets on the sides to reduce food sticking.

I use the Santoku for almost everything, the deli knife frequenty, and my paring knife next most. 

I use the Santoku daily, the deli knife frequently, and my 2 paring knives often (one is a mini santoku).

I have other cheaper sets, some knives of which are not bad.  And a set of Ginsu knives (they are actually decent.  Someday, I am going to built a knife block to hold them all.  The construction is not all that complicated, but it would be about 2' wide.  I would lose some counter space, but gain some drawer space.  But at least that "once in a month knife" would be easily available.

Like that "scary-as-hell-cleaver"...  I almost cut off a fingertip the first time I used it!  Sharp AND heavy with a round slippery wood handle.  What could go wrong with THAT?  I think I should reshape the handle..  It might be safe after that.  Or in case of zombies or werewolves...

But I'm not writing this about knives and prep work.  I'm writing about cooking food.  I'm not really great at it.  I forget to start the timer for simmering spaghetti while I am cutting up my salad.  Or the timer goes off and I turn of the wrong burner.  I do a lot of M/W reheating to adjust, LOL!  It all works out well enough in the end. 

I'm somewhere between the harried parent cooking boxed mac and cheese, that show "Worst Cook", and Iron chef.

Partly, I try to do too much.  When Dad was here in his last days, he said "Wow, you cook Sunday Dinner every night".  Maybe...  I got into the habit of a small amount of meat, a green veg, a red or yellow veg, sometimes a starch, and always a fancy tossed salad.  Yeah, healthy, but I like that stuff.

Dad was a "meat&potatoes guy.  I could give him a small piece of steak and a potato, and he wanted bread with it (starch city).  But he hadn't had green veggies that hadn't been boiled to death before and was a bit surprised by them.  Mom learned to cook from her Mom and she was French, so veggies were boiled within in an inch of their lives. 

The first time I ever had "Chinese Food" a whole world of veggies opened up for me.  "Chewy veggies?"  what a concept!  I learned streaming, I learned stir-frying, and later M/W all of which delivered a "crunch" to veggies.  Dad said the best meals he ever had were here.  Which did lead me to think why he hadn't learned to cook and share that duty with Mom.

But even THAT is not why I'm writing.

I'm writing because sometimes I DON'T cook.  No, not "takeout" or "delivery".  The cold plate...

This was a recent dinner when I was too tired to actually cook.  Sliced hot sausage, cubed cooked ham, cooked shrimp, chicken breast, olives, diced tomatoes, reheated potato, reheated spinach, and the small container has homemade cocktail sauce.  The glasses have Zinfandel wine and a cocktail of gin/pomegranate juice/gingerale (I call it a "Cavebear Sling").  And not a SINGLE thing I cooked that day.  LOL!



 

Knives

This why you should NEVER try to catch a dropped knife...

BTW, I also have a Chinese-style cleaver.  The first time I used it, I cut my fingertip.  And then almost chopped a finger OFF (took weeks to heal). 

It is safely stashed with a plastic edge guard on it in a drawer with some other things that are good but unused.  I may try it again soon.  But I'm AFRAID of the darn thing.

PSA for you all.  "Sharp edges and wine do not combine well"...

Various General Work

Some days are just catching up on small things. 

1.  I spent an hour pulling grass up from the new front yard island bed.  With 3" of Fall leaves topped with 3" of compost, the weeds don't have a solid grip.  But they were lots of small weeds and it took a while.  Better now than when they good good roots into the soil...

2.  The pole beans and cucumbers are up.  But there were a few spots where a seed didn't grow.  So I soaked a few replacement seeds in water for 4 hours and then planted them. 

3.  I can't BELIVE I forgot to plant a cherry tomato seedling with the regular ones.  So I planted it 3 days ago and shaded it from the direct sunlight for 2 days.  It wilted a bit the first day but is happily hydrated now. 

4.  I have a 2'x8' framed bed against the southern side of the house.  Hottest part of the yard.  I planted 2 blocks of bico9lor corn there today.  One matures 2 weeks before the other, so I'll have a staggerred harvest.  And I'll plant 2 more blocks in 2 weeks, for more staggerred harvest.

5.  The Meadow bed is full of several dozen large bright yellow flowers, some dozen multiple flowers in reds/pinks.white, some white daisies, and some small blue flowers.  The plants are listed on the packet; I will look them up so I know what they are called.

6.  The Hummer/Bee/Butterfly bed is too new to have flowers.  BUT, on a whim, I scatterred old veggie seeds in there too.  I am harvesting the best sweetest radishes ever!  And there are a few corn plants coming up.  It is going to be a weird bed this year.

7.  I've been growing bok choy to harvest young for stir fries.  Some are old even to flower.  I just discovered that the pre-flowering heads are like brocoli, only sweeter.  I coukld grow them just for THAT!  But I also like picking the young leaves for the stir-fries...

8.  Got one major project done I meant to do last year and waited too long.  And almost waited too long this year.  The Spring Bulb bed has daffodils, tulips, and hyacinths.  The Tulips and Hyacinths are in wire cages to protect them from the voles.  But there is unused space between the wire cages and I want to plant daffodils to fill the bed (except for the tulip and hyacinth cages).

So I had to mark the spots of the tulips and hyacinths.   It was a close call.  The tulip leaves were still just barely visible.   I thought because the tulips bloomed after the daffodils; the leaves would last longer.  Nope.  I had to to some careful searching to find the spots.  I did. 

Which led me to how to mark the spots.  Well, first, I found the cardboard cutouts I used to make the cages.  12'x14".  Then I had to find cardboard to cut to size to place on top of the cages (so I wouldn't auger in to them in the Fall while planting daffodils around them.

An aside...  I keep things the are of similar size because they seem useful that way.  A dozen liter juice bottles, a dozen plastic jars that hold mixed nuts, etc.  Well, I buy the same wine by the case and I had a dozen of them stacked up in the basement (thinking they would be good for storing stuff fitting together perfectly in tight spaces).

Well, guess what exact size they were with a wide side and flap?  The size of my tulip and hyacinth cages!  And I have a weird curved linoleum cutter my Dad made.  It sliced right down the corners of the boxes perfectly. 

And guess what I also had?  Fifty 10" tent stakes!  Perfect for holding the cardboard down.  I cut them to size, put the debris in the recycle bin, poked a hole through opposite corners with an awl, and carried them all outside.

It was hard to find the remnants of the tulip leaves, but I had pictures of the bed from 2 directions from the blooms last year.  Between the few leaves and the pictures, I set down the cardboard covers and stuck the tent stakes in the holes to keep them in place.

Then I weed-whacked the whole area.   Why?  So that I can cover the entire area with black plastic to kill all the weeds.  The bulbs won't care; they don't like rain while they are dormant.  When the weeds are dead, I'll uncover them in Summer so the bulbs won't overheat (they are shaded all day now).

9.  All this work has been awkward.  I like to keep my kitchen knives sharp.  Stele them once a week to straighten the edges (they curl with use), and sharpen them every few months.  You know that test about tossing a ripe tomato at a sharp knife and it cuts the tomato in half?  Mine do that.

It does that to fingertips too.  I'm careful.  I have brushes to keep my fingers away from the sharp edges while I clean them.  But OOPS!  I cut my fingertip badly a week ago.  I hadn't seen that much blood in 30 years.  It was 15 minutes before enough pressure even stopped the bleeding.  Fortunately, I coagulate fast.

Anyway, I finally managed to get enough coagulation to put a bandage on it.  I have some of that triple antibiotic ointment on it first, then a large bandaid, then some adhesive cloth bandage along my finger to hold the bandaid in place. 

It HAD to be the index finger of my right hand of course.  The MOST inconcenient finger for a right-handed person.  Makes even putting on my velcro-strap watch difficult, never mind tying shoes.

But I may be a bit lucky there.  I think I was a natural lefty, taught to be right-handed in the 1950s (a common practice in the US, then).  I still do some things with my left hand naturally and deliberately do some things left-handed for practice.

It has certainly helped. 

10.  Making progress on the compost bin.  Nothing to show, as I was just collecting boards and posts for cutting and assembly tomorrow.  I looked at the boards and posts I already had and adjusted my design slightly to account for those.  Might as well use up what I have rather than buy new boards!  I'm always flexible about designs.