Mr. Pea does the cookin’, and thoughts on pantry staples

I am a very lucky kid. Mr. Pea has begun to shoulder a fair amount of the cooking here as I started my new job this week; he even did so while sick with a cold. He’s a heck of a guy. He made us some shepherd’s pie the other night, and we worked together on a simple pasta with pesto and sauteed chicken last night. He’s become a much better cook than when we first moved in together many years ago. I have too, for that matter–it used to be lots of jarred this and boxed that, but not so much anymore.

This week we’ve begun to run out of pantry staples. Running out of those–especially all at once–drives me nuts. It feels so expensive to replace everything! We needed sugar, olive oil, and both plain and wheat flour this week! So far we’ve grabbed two of the four, but we are now down to our last slice of bread and no flour in sight. It’ll just have to wait.

This makes me curious–what do you keep as pantry staples? Ours are pretty plain–the above, plus lots of dried spices (I’ve been the lucky recipient of a Penzey’s gift box and now live near one of their shops), lots of dried pasta, various dried beans/legumes, and usually a can or two of tomatoes. There are also plenty of vinegars and extracts, and baking supplies such as baking powder and soda. I like to have enough stuff to toss together last-minute meals, plus bake whenever the mood strikes me. That said I always feel like I’m running out for something–chocolate chips, for example, or a can of pumpkin. What about you? What do you keep around?

The tomato that made it, happily

When we moved, I packed up the plants I’d potted earlier in the summer into the car with me and the cat. Now my highway driving experience was, shall we say, minimal since 2001, when we moved to the city and I no longer needed to drive. Now I’d be on the highway for a good hour and a half, minimum. And the cat, well, he associates the car with the vet and hates any change to his routine. He was not a happy camper and yowled for a good hour, terrified and panting, and I was sure he was going to have a heart attack.

The tomatoes, however, were ok.

My lettuce didn’t make it, and all my beloved irises and lilies in the yard were destined to stay there. But the tomatoes, oh! They were so big, all three fruit, and I had been eagerly awaiting their ripening for a long while. They were pokey.

When we got here I put my pots on the porch. They got a little less sun than they were used to and seemed to hibernate. Then I found one on the sidewalk with a huge bite in it; evidently a raccoon or some other fiend decided to give it a taste, hated it, and left it where I could see it. I was displeased. But then what was left did, in fact, ripen, and Mr. Pea picked this little beauty yesterday afternoon. Isn’t she lovely? She’s almost too pretty to eat. There are a couple of tiny new tomatoes on the branches now but it’s kind of a race against time to see if they’ll actually grow and ripen. I’m not holding my breath, but after all the hassle of getting that plant here, I’d be more than happy if they made it.

Crafting Time

So in the few weeks that we’ve lived in our new state, before the semester begins, I’ve gotten some crafting for Christmas done. Knowing that my good pals don’t check this out at all (ahem), I figured there was no harm in showing you guys what I’ve been up to. These are Tanglewood bags, made from a pattern Alicia over at Posie Gets Cozy made. They weren’t hard, necessarily, but were really involved. First you have to cut all the little squares; sew them into patchwork; press seams; place bag pattern and cut; then cut the rest of the bag. I used, on the pink-trimmed bag, a print that’s also on the front for the lining and then just a solid dark brown for the back. The other has a bright red lining and back. They have leather loops for the buttons. If you’re an intermediate-level sewer, I highly recommend you give these a go; if not, try out some simpler stuff first before moving on!

I broke one.

And it makes me a little sad. I love my cherry glasses, or what remains of them. Same way I have loved many of the other ones that are now departed.

I broke it not because it slipped in my fingers while I washed it–that’s happened before. Um, no, this one broke because I think I’m tall. Or so Mr. Pea tells me. I am not tall. For those of you who haven’t met me, which is most of you, I’m just a hair under 5′. An the cabinet I was reaching was well over 5′. I wanted the old bottle of soy sauce, see, and it was behind a bunch of stuff. So I reached over the dishrack and…….

well, I didn’t get the soy sauce, and Madam Cherry here fell into the sink and shattered. It went to the glasses graveyard with so many others we’ve had over the years.

And Mr. Pea told me I have a stool for reaching things like the old bottle of soy sauce, and should use it. I also have a stool next to our tub–it’s a clawfoot number that’s kind of hard to climb over. Now you have embarrassing details about me and my smallness.

I plan on scouring ebay regularly for a replacement, though it looks like I might have to buy several, rather than one; I guess that will provide a nice buffer for the sad results of my overreaching.

Tasty Quiche.

Hi! For whatever few readers may be left here (you all likely have abandonment issues, I’m very bad about leaving for long periods of time), I’m finally back and I swear I’m going to post regularly again. The move to a new state was rough, and settling in, well, goes. Sure we’re unpacked, but it just doesn’t feel like it fits so far. Hopefully it will, but after six years in our old place, well, it’s just hard.

So anyway, dear Mr. Pea and I have been balancing eating out (known as “reconnaissance missions” to get to know our new area) and eating in. Mr. Pea is a saint–he came with me, knowing he’d have to find a new job. He uses some of this downtime to write his own blog–you should check it out! It’s called Observations of a Trailing Spouse and it’s full of quirky things he’s either noticed here in town or elsewhere.At any rate, we cook together a lot more now and just the other night we made quiche. We’re not huge quiche eaters but this one totally hit the spot. It’s a spinach quiche with bacon, onions, and cheeses.I started by making the crust. It’s a butter crust, taken from the Land O’ Lakes website. But you can use any old pie crust you like.Heat the oven to 450. Cover crust with a double-layer of foil and bake 8 minutes. Remove foil, bake 4 more.

The filling begins with chopping a half cup of onion and five or six slices of bacon. Toss the bacon into a skillet over med-high heat and add the onion after a minute or so. Cook until onion is soft and bacon is a little crispy, five or six minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon to a plate.

As I did that, Mr. Pea whisked together 5 whole, large eggs and 1 cup of milk. To that he added salt, pepper, and about 1/4 t of nutmeg. I grated in about a 1″ cube of mozzarella and 1/2 c or so of grated cheddar.

We thawed out some frozen spinach (1 ten-ounce box), drained it by wringing it in a towel, and chopped it. This, along with onions and bacon, was added to the egg mixture.Pour into crust. Turn oven down to 325 and bake for 40-50 minutes. Let rest 10 minutes before serving.

I live!

Hi there! I have moved from one state to another, and am now ensconced in our new digs. This is our kitchen. It’s spacious, gets a lot of afternoon sun, and has a gas stove, but also has some sorta nutty wallpaper. I’m just not usually a wallpaper girl. It’s growing on me, though.

The cooking has only recently picked up for us; the first several days involved a lot of takeout and recipes we didn’t have to think about. But it’s getting better. The other day I made some zucchini pancakes which were actually pretty good. I didn’t photograph them, naturally, but it was already 8 pm when we ate them. The long and short of it is that things are coming together here, and I should be turning up a little more often than I have of late!