Friday, January 17, 2025

cook: re-making leftovers into meatball marinara over polenta

I cooked shrimp ‘n grits one evening to get rid of the corn meal and then had a lot of leftover grits. Sigh. And then I happened to watch Ina Garten roast homemade meatballs of pork and veal and serve them over polenta. Eureka! Ate the leftover shrimp over leftover noodles for supper one night, and on another night added frozen meatballs made of chicken and beef and pork to leftover bolognese and marinara served over leftover grits now called polenta for dinner on another evening.                         
I put the leftover grits through my ricer (guess I won’t be getting rid of that tool just yet) in order to then simmer them in chicken broth and water and milk over medium and then low heat.
I accept that I will never make decent homemade meatballs (and am totally okay with that), but good to know that I know how to re-heat leftover polenta.                         
And there was no need to add cheese to the polenta as I had originally put a lot of grated cheddar in it. Chalk this meal prep as a win over the challenge of leftovers. But I’m re-thinking the plan to keep the ricer. That tool was a bitch to clean, and so maybe I’m good with just a potato masher in my kitchen drawer of tools.

Monday, January 13, 2025

create: carving and layering a multi-color linocut for printing, day 2

I spent the previous evening, thinking about my carving and planning what to carve out today during the workshop. I would like to make more prints on paper of favorite images (I'm thinking food and quotidian objects of every day living) and perhaps sell and gift them. I know I've already got a small brayer at home, and I've already got an online shopping cart filled with 12" x 12" battleship gray linoleum, unmounted (no need to go crazy and order beyond what I can accomplish in the near future); a baren; linocutter set; and a jar of water-soluble black block printing ink. I know I want to refine a design for a pottery stamp for Kraft paper shopping bags, and perhaps fill in negative spaces with acrylic paint by hand.

Back to class. Though first, I had to go to Gayle's Bakery. I needed a sandwich for lunch and then got Patrick his desserts. My husband had asked me to get him a Chocolate Coma Cookie, but I thought he'd also like the Brookie, a hybrid of a brownie and a Toll House chocolate chip cookie.

 
Gayle's Bakery was quite the hub of activity. I placed an order for an Italian panini (alas the bakery was out of the vegan BLT I wanted), the two cookies, and a loaf of the Capitola Sourdough, sliced. I looked longingly at a dessert I would've ordered if I thought it wouldn't melt and perish in my car.
On to Cabrillo College.

In class, Melissa demonstrated printing a multi-layer of colors. You can print two colors on the same linocut block, and create an ombre effect by rolling the brayer on the two colors.
And then rolling the coated brayer on the the block.
Yesterday Melissa showed us how to use these mat frames as the registration guide for the paper--centering the block on the paper to be printed and then measuring and penciling notes on the guidelines for centering the block on a the paper to be inked on. The blue tape keeps the registration of the prints.
And the two colors of red and yellow even overlapped a bit to create a third color of orange on the print, which is so lovely. I would love to carve palm trees and then overlay those black outlines over a blazing sun-filled sky.
And Melissa then adhered a third color on a second block--the blue background for the night time sky. Note to self: print the smaller blocks of color first before overlaying the black outlines on my own linocut blocks.
And the fireworks print looked terrific even without the black outlines of the cityscape background.
And then it was time to carve my own two blocks. The day before I transferred in black ink the first block to my second linoleum block. And then I stained the second block after outlining in black Sharpie, with a damp paper towel and a tiny bit of acrylic red paint. I then had to carve away the solid black swatches of color on the 1st block, so that the final print would just be the black outlines of the image. Next I needed to carve away the all the rest of the block except for the black swatches of color that were going to be the second layer of red color. In order to not be confused about what to cave away, I colored the swatches of color with a red grease pencil on Melissa's advice and then decided I was going to carve blocks to be the white stitch lines on the second block.
And then the moment of truth: the print. Because the ink was magenta red, Melissa had me add a bit of yellow to make a true red.
I made 5 prints and was already disappointed by the second block, and that was okay because I just wanted the practice at printing.
While on break, getting some sunshine and eating my lunch, I explored the ceramics garden and photographed my favorite tiles on a concrete bench.
I especially enjoyed the food-themed and quirky tiles.
Back in the design studio, I could tell already that the stitch lines were too fucking clumsy. But I know now how I'm going to tackle the re-do.
And here are the professional grade inks that we used. I’m now noticing after reading online a bit about printing inks that these are Caligo safe wash oil-based inks, meaning that the ink will be permanent but will dry after a few days and the safe wash means they can be washed from the brayer and plate with soap and water. Lastly I appreciated the examples from past students that Melissa shared at the beginning of class. I am inspired by this suggestion of air currents on water generated by the helicopter.  
And check out the air currents of flames from a burning house in the night. But my absolute favorite is "Early Morning" because of the play of a rising sun and the shadows it casts in the windows of a kitchen.

The glacial atmosphere of a modern barn and cabin on the edge of a forest is pretty darn cool too. And I had to admire the fine details of the octopus block carved by Melissa.

 
Having learned enough, I left class an hour early to come home to cook ham and macaroni and cheese and sautéed cauliflower and cabbage for dinner.
Should I ever get the impulse to buy a slab of meat or roast of some sort, I need to squash that urge right away though I did manage to share a lot of the ham with Cecilia and Nancy. Tonight I used the rest of the steak and half an avocado to cook tacos after I quick pickled a batch of jalapenos.                     
After eating my first two tacos, I realized I forgot to add cilantro. Still hungry, I ate more tacos but remembered to add cilantro.
I love that I could re-work leftovers into a delicious meal.
Tomorrow's leftovers will be grits and leftover marinara, and so the plan is to cook meatballs in the marinara and top it on the polenta.

Saturday, January 11, 2025

create: carving and layering a multi-color linocut for printing, day 1

I’m back in Aptos, for a weekend class on linoleum block printing at Cabrillo College. My first stop was Aptos Street BBQ for two breakfast tacos: a brisket and a pulled pork. I opted for the fried egg over scrambled in both.       
I almost dug in right away, but then remembered how much I love the barbecue sauce. I started with the pulled pork--much more meat to tortilla ratio than the beef brisket--but I loved the brisket taco more and saved the best for last. Loved too that the over-easy egg had a runny yolk.
I showed pics of my breakfast to Patrick and told him we were going to have brisket breakfast tacos one of these nights for dinner. And the New York Times published a recipe for homemade flour tortillas. Onward to Cabrillo College. 

We started making after a brief lecture and demonstration, first outlining our copy of the picture we wanted to carve with a soft pencil.                                                  
And note to self: if I decide to use this method for transferring an image from paper drawing to linoleum block, then I need this level of 5B hardness. Then laying the soft pencil outlines face down on to the linoleum, I burnished the back of the copy with a hard, pointy pencil to transfer lines. 
I used blue tape to adhere and not lose the registration or to check the alignment of pencil lines to linoleum. Here's the backside of the copy.                                    
Then I used a Sharpie marker to re-draw and thicken the lines on the linoleum block and used a wet paper towel with a bit of acrylic paint to stain the linoleum block. And per Melissa, the instructor's suggestion, I surrounded the sneakers with wood-grained floorboards. I also used a white grease pencil to color the areas I wanted to carve out.
I spent a majority of Day 1 carving, and then I was ready to print and make the second linoleum block of the same drawing for a second color in addition to the black lines.      
And so in the above layout, we put a dollop of Speedball ink on the right side of the palette board to use the putty knife to soften and knead the ink first. When the ink is a sticky consistency, spread the ink to the left side of the palette board (note to self: keep the ink on the left side kind of contained in the center to not waste ink) and apply to the brayer.   
And the printing got a lot more involved. We were given a mat frame in which to inset the linoleum block and cover it with a slick and shiny paper into which the ink wouldn't seep into and then burnished the back side of the shiny paper on to the block, using the back of a metal spoon. If you look at my linoleum block on the right, there's "chatter" or raised lines and marks on the toe caps and outer sole on which I didn't carve away enough. And so I went back to the first linoleum block and carved away those raised lines that had ink on them.                                     
And the carving ain't even done on this first linoleum block. I have to carve away still the stained pink area if I want to make the sneakers a second color of red (or green or blue) in addition to the black lines. And then I have to carve out on the second block around the border and shoes and maybe include carving away the stitches detail in order to apply red (or another color besides black)ink on to my print. I told Melissa this process and mirroring of image is a total mind fuck for me, and that I'll be asking her for guidance and re-teaching tomorrow.

After class, I checked into a hotel in Capitola, chilled and planned for dinner and breakfast. My meal after a day of tracing, transferring, and carving needed to be yummy. Instead of going to a fancier seafood restaurant, I opted for fast, casual, fry-to-order dining.                 
Yeah I would've enjoyed fresh, shucked oysters from Hog Island and a Sole Meuniere (I'll go to Pete's Fish House next time). But the Oyster Po'boy, sides of Smoked Andouille, Shrimp and Chicken Jambalaya, and coleslaw (always gotta have a salad or raw vegetable of some sort) were freakin' delicious. And I'm so looking forward to Gayle's Bakery tomorrow morning to choose a sandwich for my lunch and a Brookie and Chocolate Coma cookies for Patrick. I'm torn between an Italiano Ficelle (salami, ham, provolone, pepperoncini, vinaigrette & mayo) and the Green Goddess Veggie Club (dill havarti, cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomato, alfalfa sprouts, cucumber, green goddess mayo on toasted Muesli). However, I'd rather omit the ham and have more provolone in the Italian or sub out the cheddar cheese for avocado in the vegetarian sandwich. And so I'll likely get the Vegan BLT with Avocado that has smokey tempeh, heirloom tomato, avocado, butter lettuce, & vegenaise on grilled Joe's bread. And that's one of the major things I like about Santa Cruz--not just the beaches and the redwood forests though surrounding nature is so fucking awesome, but also the farm fresh vegetarian food that abounds.

cook: chili for chilly evenings

Chili is one of those dishes, for which I don’t need a recipe. Sauté onions and peppers (Patrick had just harvested the last of our Pasilla and jalapeños, of which I removed seeds and inside membranes because he can’t handle spice, ground beef, soaked and boiled pinto beans, garlic in bacon grease reserved from a night of shrimp 'n grits. Add chipotles in adobo sauce or the dried spice and a dash of cumin and some tomato sauce or diced tomatoes with a bit of water to deglaze the pan and let it simmer and thicken into a delicious stew. Don’t forget to taste and salt as needed—not too much as you can’t subtract and be mindful that it will taste saltier as the chili steams away.                  

I mentioned in a previous blog that I didn’t know what to do with the polenta or corn grits left in my pantry. Well I figured out I could use the corn meal in jalapeno cheddar scallion muffins to accompany the chili. I combined a 1/2 cup of polenta along with 1/2 cup all-purpose flour, 2 tablespoons sugar, 2/3 teaspoons baking powder, 1/3 teaspoon salt, and then added an egg, 1/2 cup milk, and 2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons (so really 3 tablespoons for me) melted butter to the dry mixture, which I then spooned into a muffin top pan. I topped each cup of the wet batter with shredded cheese, chopped scallions, and chopped jalapeño.                   
I then baked the muffins in a 400 degree oven for 15 to 18 minutes until the edges were browned to our liking. And dinner was so easy.
Chili is definitely one of my husband's favorite meals.    
Thank God it was an easy Friday evening, for I’ve an exciting weekend of a linocut printing class and was glad to leave one good leftover dish for Patrick to eat in my absence.

Friday, January 10, 2025

celebrate: lunar new year planning and decor

Some years ago, I threw a girls' night of dumpling making, a hybrid celebration of Galentine's Day because we were all women and the Chinese New Year because we were filling the dumplings with pork and scallions and water chestnuts seasoned with soy sauce. That party activity was so much fun that I’d like to host something similar again. But this time, I’m going to host the feast in the condo clubhouse instead of my small dining table and expand the guest list. I still want to have the event centered around the making of a meal, but keep the party simple too. And instead of making dumplings, we'll be making or rather pulling noodles AND then a potluck of toppings for what we've made into a noodle bar. I've already made a guest list and texted invitations.                  
I even found an image that I could blow-up and paint with acrylic to simulate sumi ink for a party banner.    
I found Chinese calligraphy for the Year of the Snake and used the copier to print out the larger text and broke out the tempera and acrylic paint.      
I'm pleased with the outcome, and the banner is rolled and ready to hang for the day of the party. I've also ordered red napkins embossed in gold and scratch-off fortune telling cards from Oriental Trading Company. I plan on getting almond cookies and white rabbit candy from World Market and collecting disposable chopsticks during the month. I'll stop at the Diddams Party store and see what other red decorations or Chinese new year goods can be had.