Poulet Vous? - Friday 4/24/2009

While working at home today I made chicken stock with the bones from a rotisserie chicken we had last night (along with a little onion, garlic and celery), then froze the stock for future use.

This will be great when I make the Chicken Martinis that are sweeping Los Angeles right now!

Meet the Doris Day - Tuesday 8/5/2008

It's quite possible that someone else has come up with this refreshing beverage and has named it something else. But since I've been on a celebrity-named beverage kick on an online community, when I was making this the name just popped into my mind.

This is a very loose recipe...

For one glass:

Cut sweet watermelon into 1/2 inch cubes (about 2/3 of a cup per glass)

Put into 6-8 ounce wineglass

Pour in enough chardonnay or Riesling to cover the watermelon

Crush some of the watermelon against the side of the glass with a fork, and add any watermelon juice that escaped onto your cutting board.

Wait about 10-15 minutes for the wine to infuse into the melon. Drink and fish out the watermelon (with a spoon or fork, please) in a way that works for you without dismaying your friends.

Best enjoyed sitting on a front porch. Back porch, patio, balcony or open window will also work.

Dodger's Helping - Thursday 7/31/2008

Hydra's on a lemonade kick. Dodger is ready to help.

I'm not sure sticking his beak in the sugar is really helpful, but it pleases him. He gets a little dish of lemonade.

Me, I've been making Arnold Palmers with the lemonade. That's half lemonade/half iced tea. YUM!

p.s. For those of you who eat at our house from time to time, I assure you that no beaks, feet or feathers are allowed in anything I offer to my friends.

Brewed Chocolate and the Wild Kingdom in my Bathroom - Saturday 5/31/2008

I heard about Cabaret Brewed Chocolate on Evan Kleinman's Good Food on KCRW. The April 19th broadcast is available on either site. (Oh, and Good Food is quickly becoming one of my favorite podcasts, right up there with This American Life and Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me.)

The makers say that this is possibly the closest experience you can have to the original way that Mayans drank cacao. Rather than shipping you ground beans, though, they concentrate a pound of cacao beans and some cane sugar down to 24 teaspoons worth of syrup. You mix one teaspoon into 4 ounces of water and it makes the muddy cup you see above.

From my first sample, I'd say that I found the lightly chocolate flavor pleasant. It finished with a hint of toasted grain.

I didn't notice any of the mood altering effects that the brew is purported to induce in some people. Energizing? Calming? I'll give it another whirl, for sure.



Here's a shot that shows off my vintage Washington, DC souvenir teacup. It has three kookie little feet on the bottom, which makes it a little perilous.

I have about three of these types of teacups. Then I came to my senses and realized a collection like this could take over my life.


WARNING: If you are squeamish about spiders and/or the brutal realities of nature, don't read any further!!



We've been letting this spider live in our master bathroom, over the seldom-used bathtub (it's separate from the oft-used shower stall) because it's been helpful in capturing the moths that sometimes flutter out of the parrot and budgie food.

Today a fly got into the house. Yeah, I admit it, I helped drive the fly into the web. It was amazing to see the spider rush over and take care of it.

There was lots of wrapping and moving and then more wrapping. The spider hung by two legs while it worked its webbing with the others.



And it's lunch time!

We left to run errands right after this little incident. I think this was a tasty and intoxicating treat for the spider.

When we got back, the spider was kind of lying face down in the fly.

"Burrrp. That was delishush."

Okay, sorry folks. But I have a little bit of a Marlon Perkins swagger on this evening.

Man, that guy was a hero of mine when I was a kid. Not least because he always managed to stay on the bank while the intrepid Jim waded into the river and wrestled the giant snake, or got bitten by a scorpion, or let a monkey rip out little tufts of his sideburns.