Of cats and dogs.

I have to make this more to the point than story-teller-ish* as I've clearly done too much office work today and my hands are bothering me.  A whole post in and of itself, but I may not go there.

First the dogs.  Per Mary's request over at Bread and Roses.

I found the previously mentioned Chicago Dog at Captain Jack's Roadside Shack, which is new little joint in Easthampton on our way to blueberry picking.  I'm not sure if they have it regularly as it's not listed on their website as one of the items, but I will be going back to find out.  I did not take a photo - I often take a photo of very delicious things - as my phone was fresh out of memory, could not hold any more photos, and I was too hungry to erase something in order to make room.

From Wikipedia:

A Chicago-style hot dog, Chicago Dog, or Chicago Red Hot is an all-beef frankfurter on A Chicago-style hot dog, Chicago Dog, or Chicago Red Hot is an all-beef frankfurter on a poppy seed bun, originating from the city of Chicago, Illinois. The hot dog is topped with yellow mustard; chopped white onions; bright green sweet pickle relish; a dill pickle spear; tomato slices or wedges; pickled sport peppers; and a dash of celery salt. The complete assembly of a Chicago hot dog is said to be "dragged through the garden" due to the many toppings. The method for cooking the hot dog itself varies depending on the respective vendor's preference. Most often they are steamed, water-simmered or grilled over charcoal, the latter of which are referred to as "char-dogs." 

The canonical recipe does not include ketchup, and there is a widely-shared, strong opinion among many Chicagoans and aficionados that ketchup is unacceptable. A number of Chicago hot dog vendors do not offer ketchup as a condiment.

I'll let you head over to Wikipedia to get the History and such.  While, as you can see, they do not typically have ketchup, I do prefer mine with as I am notoriously a Condiment Queen.    I could also take or leave the onions, and while I first learn of these spectacular dogs in Chi-Town itself, I have never actually had it on a poppy seed bun.  As there is quite a lot to do in order to get everything on there, I often take a bit of a shortcut and my home version has dill relish, tomato, sliced peperoncini, ketchup and celery salt.  Ooooh, my taste buds just water to think about it....

And now for the cats.

It turns out Stubby was doing it too.  I know that BatCat was the main culprit, but pee-puddles don't form themselves.  Turns out they really were having a Pissing Match.

So now we have two porch kitties.  I was fairly worried about Stubby for the first week as he could hardly be coaxed out from under the porch even to eat, but he seems to have settled in nicely enough.  Sure he still yowls occasionally.  And he did try to sneak back in just tonight, but he seems to be holding his own. I got them each a Kitty Cubby for the porch and their huge tree-shaped scratching post is now on the front porch.  The neighbors must think we are nuts.

In my opinion, the house still smells of cat pee.  I've had feedback that it doesn't, but I'm not sure if 1) they were just being nice, or 2) they didn't get a whiff because they weren't in the right spot.  There is heavy cleaning in our future, but once it is done then it is done.  And then we will be able to get a new rug and new couch and new chair... ok, I may be a bit wistful now... but when we can afford it, we won't have to worry about pee and fur and scratching!

*TW informs me I am no good at this as I have "been typing away furiously over there," but really, I did have a lot more to say.

Fiddle, Sticks, and Dots

It's springtime and this is the time that Fiddleheads and Asparagus are around, at least here in New England. For those not in know, fiddleheads are little baby ferns when they still curled up in spirals.  They've got a bit of a nutty flavor and I quite enjoy them steamed with butter.  After having them in this simple way several times (I'd never heard of them before I moved to Massachusetts), and because I had some leftovers from what I'd bought earlier along with some asparagus in the garden, I decided to mix them up a bit.  Neither was enough for a full dish, but together they were.  The dots are pine nuts.

Fiddle, Sticks, and Dots
1 1/2 cups fiddleheads (trimmed and washed)
1 1/2 cups asparagus (washed and cut into two-inch pieces)
2-3 Tbsp pine nuts
1 Tbsp  butter and/or olive oil (I prefer butter, but it does tend to scorch on high heat - and I've never actually measured, and I've used either and both)

• Roast pine nuts in dry pan over medium heat until golden brown and set aside.
• Melt butter and olive oil in large pan and sautee fiddleheads and asparagus until bright green. * see reasoning in comments.
• Steam asparagus and fiddleheads until bright green and tender.
• Melt butter and/or olive oil on medium high head and transfer steamed veggies to pan and sautee until fully smothered and, hopefully, bits of crisp - but before they lose too much color!
• Plate and sprinkle nuts on top.

In the photo I had mixed the nuts in before serving, but I find that the nuts are much more crunchy if you save them aside until the last - and then you can also enjoy the crunchiness for the leftovers as well.

And gluten free, even!

Good day, good evening, hello, and how are you?  I survived the week.  This is big.  I SURVIVED THE WEEK!  And, at the end of it, I have managed to have an excellent dinner with new friends and  Mme. Child. Two weeks ago, I met one of the new friends at the Y and we made a play date at jump-around-time with her family for the following week.  Mme. Child was there and so we all planned an impromptu dinner for tonight.  It was awesome!  And, I made gluten free tuile cookies!  I first found a couple recipes that I tried, that all had flour in them, and then changed a few things to make them gluten free.  And so here it is below:

Gluten Free Almond Tuile Cookies
Makes between 2-3 dozen, depending on size

3/4 cup + 1 Tbsp Almond flour
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1/2 brown sugar
1 Tbsp heavy whipping cream
1/2 tsp almond extract
pinch of salt

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix all ingredients in saucepan over low heat until it is mixed well together.  Get two cookie sheets and cover with parchment paper.  Put about a teaspoon of batter, evenly spaced on parchment paper, 6 dollops per cookie sheet.  Bake for 5-7 minutes (until browned on the outside, but still light on the inside).  Remove from oven (while you put the next sheet of dollops in the oven) and let sit for just one minute.  Use small cannoli rounds, or a wooden spoon, to form the tuile and set on cooling racks.  A couple of recipes suggested that you use a spatula to flip the cookies over so you get the lacy part on the outside - I found this to be a wastes step and just picked up the edge to lay it over the cannoli round  and move from there - they are warm, yes, but the parchment paper protects your fingers from getting burned by the cookie sheet.  You'll have to work quickly - in order to form the tuile before the they harden, so you'll have about a minute or two to spare before the next batch is  ready.  You can go ahead and use the parchment paper for all of the batter - no need to change it out.  The whole thing is rather acrobatic.  I suggest that any children be kept busy in another room or out of the house completely during this process and I nearly tripped over Mozart a couple of times - and the Wife was doing a fine job of occupying him!  I'm afraid my SD card on my phone used up the very last photo with the taking of the above photo, so I do not have a stylish photo of the grand finale served with ice cream and caramel sauce, but you get the idea!