The Oleo Wars Post

One of my favorite things to do other than visit blogs in general, is to search out new food blogs and follow up on old favorites. Though I haven't cooked much at all lately, I love finding new recipes (in the belief that I will return to cooking soon) as well as discovering new techniques.

There are so many new cookbooks and blogs as well as a resurgence of methods and dishes that were popular while I was growing up. It's simply never-ending! So last week in my malaise, I found myself looking for comfort in food and recipes.

One of the blogs I enjoy is The Soup Addict. Don't think I mentioned this in the past, but I love soup as well as making it. As we exit the season of root vegetables, a recipe for French Spring Soup on her blog caught my eye. Her topics run the gamut of soup, gardening and other interesting topics including butter making, so I bookmarked the butter post and of course promptly forgot about it. Running across her soup recipe suddenly jogged my memory and I recalled the bookmarked post.

Her article on how to make cultured butter is very thorough and informative. And when I say butter, we're talking the stuff found in Europe, not the U.S., land of ultra-pasturization.

I'd noticed for quite some time that she had a photo and link (upper right hand corner of the home page,  that she changes periodically) to a kitchen technique. The one that was bookmarked back in January, was on "Ingredients:  Cultured Butter".

I'm in heaven...I love butter. Being raised in the Midwest for the first 25 years of my life, it was an integral part of the culture. I bet you could hear my arteries slamming shut as I said that! Interestingly, back in the mid-60's and earlier, butter was king in the Midwest and you couldn't get margarine (it was cheaper) in the state where I lived.

Margarine as I recall it back then, looked like uncolored fat (sort of like chicken fat without any pink) in a plastic pouch with a pocket of dark orange dye in it's center. The idea was to knead the colored into the ghastly fat so it "looked" like butter. I'd give anything for a photo (color) of the gross object just to share with you! So far, no luck.

I did find a few interesting links you should check out just for the photos and crazy history! After much searching I finally found two old ads showing the bag of fat with the dark orange dye plug in the center:

Is this not gross or what?

Photo Source for both images.

My mom tried it once at the urging of a relative. We all wanted to taste test it. The result. We never want that "thing" in our home again! To this day, margarine strikes me as fake butter. IMHO if I'm going to consume any calories (and margarine does have them) then I want to make them worth it and enjoy the real taste...so give me butter!

Same applies to cheese, chocolate and so on. Give me the real thing or I'll just skip it.

Now, just for your enjoyment, I found a few more pertinent links. First, this article on the "Oleo Wars" which is hysterical but totally true! Here's yet another Oleo War Saga. And this last one has the following quote from reader, Paula:  "When we went on school bus trips with my Catholic grammar school from Milwaukee to Chicago, we were “armed” with neighborhood orders for oleo (ala Girl Scout cookies). The bus always stopped at Fosslands on the way back. Our teachers (nuns, no less) would work Mr. Fossland for an excellent price. They then upmarked the oleo for us to deliver back in Milwaukee. We sat with our knees in our faces the rest of the way back, since the bus floor was covered with cases of oleo. I was doing God’s work." Can you stand it?!

Fast forward a decade or so and on my trip to Europe (and all subsequent ones), I went to the next level of heaven (if there can be one) and discovered cultured butter. I won't go into the differences here since Karen's article is excellent, other than to say there's nothing better!

I read the article and then went on to read her first article concerning basic butter making. Must say, please read them in the correct order (unlike me):  basic butter first and then cultured butter. If you even remotely like the taste of real butter vs. "gag" margarine, you must check these posts out! OMGoodness! The minute my current project in the kitchen is done, out comes the mixer and I'll be off churning!!

Corn Post

Was just checking in on the blog Orangette this morning and she mentioned how the Pacific Northwest's corn pales to that of Ohio (she was just there). It suddenly dawned on me that in my non-cooking state, I have not had one ear of corn this summer! This is something, heretofore, unheard of.

I love corn, especially the white kind which you can actually eat raw. This is a serious breach of summer etiquette! Lol! But seriously, I'm going to have to buy an ear or two before I've missed the season all together.

Googling "fresh corn recipes" or "corn on the cob" will give you lots of links. These are just a few of them, they all received good reviews:
Crock pot Corn Risotto
Sweet Pepper and Corn Relish (third recipe down)
P.J.'s Fresh Corn Salad
Summer Corn Salad
Corn Off the Cob Salad
Summer Corn Salad with Asparagus
Grilled Corn on the Cob in Its Husk

Photo courtesy of U of W-Madison Archives-1960 (note use of corn husks,with lots of napkins, in right hand as "handle")

After more searching, my mind went numb and drifted back to my childhood in Wisconsin and the yearly State Fair. I loved the State Fairs in the Midwest back then. Fresh brats on an open grill pit and  corn on the cob in its full glory. The ears were soaked in pails of water for at least half an hour if they were lucky, depending on the crowd's demands, then the husks were skillfully pulled back and silks removed. They replaced the husks around the corn. After that they were thrown on the fire pit. The grill master always knew when they were just perfectly done. Once you ordered, your ear was removed from the grill, the husks pulled all the way back and bundled like a handle. It was then plunged into another pail, this one was piping hot farm* butter.

Photo courtesy of U of W-Madison Archives-1960 (note the enthusiasm...mmm...I'm right there chomping in)

Salt shakers and napkins were on a bench nearby. It was just this side of heaven and to this day, I don't think there's a better way to eat fresh corn. So if I can still find some ears with bright green husks (this is important, as dried up husks are useless no matter how much water they soak in), I'll be firing up the grill, filling the kitchen sink with water. Grilling will only take 10 to 15 minutes at the most, maybe less,  on a preheated grill. Since today's corn is so sweet, I'll omit the butter (or maybe not), then I'll be rippin' back the husks and revisiting that little slice of nirvana. Glorious!

* I don't care how many commercial/grocery store versions of butter you try...nothing beats that straight off the farm.

Monday Music Post

In order to help start your week off right (as well as mine), I decided to offer a few musical selections that I hope you enjoy. These will be links to music that I've loved for ages. Plus they're mostly "feel good" music and I need that! What I'd like is for you to post links to music favorites of yours in the comments section. At some point during the week I'll gather all the links and post them for everyone's enjoyment. Keep in mind that I'm not a music reviewer and my comments are just my own little observations.

1. Eric Clapton  Layla / Tears in Heaven / Wonderful Tonight oh my, the guitar work!

2. Pretty Woman by Roy Orbison (ignore the commercial at the beginning) is another great one. This is a very early music video from 1964. There's also this later version which is quite good (again, ignore the initial ad). What's great about this one is that if you look carefully, you'll see quite a number of well known musicians playing with Roy O. The guitar work by towards the end is wonderful. I love the gritty black and white filming.

3. Great Balls of Fire with Jerry Lee Lewis and Bruce Springsteen from 1995. It also has A Whole Lotta Shaking on this video.

4. Pink Cadillac by Bruce Springsteen is a hard music video to find since there are no official videos. This was the best I could locate. If you can find Aretha Franklin singing this, you're in for a real treat.

5. Aerosmith's I Don't Want to Miss a Thing is another great piece. Steven Tyler delivers a performance that isn't sugar-coated like so many other versions.

6. Mony Mony by Billy Idol is another great song for getting your energy pumped.

7. ZZ Top's Legs is still a great rock out piece. This video is so 80's that it's hysterical, but it kind of fits the music. This version is a great tribute to all the TV and film greats with hot legs, fun to watch. Brings back quite a few memories.

8. I'll end this list with Fat Bottomed Girls by Queen. I think it rounds this little list out nicely.

I hope you enjoy the music.

Yummy Post

As promised, here's my Mom's Tuna Noodle Salad recipe. She made this for as long as I can remember so it's at least 50 years old. Whenever I make it, the taste and aroma take me back to my childhood. I made the non-macaroni version two weeks ago. It's what my mom used to make to put on sandwiches for lunch on Fridays when I went to Catholic grade school. It's also very good but doesn't stretch as far as the noodle version. There are two secrets to this recipe depending on what's available in your area.

When I lived in the Midwest, I used to add Henri's Tas-tee salad dressing to it and cut the mayo in half or sometimes eliminate it. This added a more complex taste than just straight mayo. The thing I liked about using Henri's is that it's made with celery seed and onions so if you're making this for someone who dislikes onions, this solved the problem...just enough onion taste so you could delete the diced onion.

Once I moved to the West coast however, I couldn't locate Henri's anywhere and so, I would take celery seed and grind it up with a mortar and pestle to add to the salad. Pretty good until, totally by accident, I stumbled upon celery salt. It's a perfect substitute for Henri's. I've been using this for about 15 years now. It's what I attribute the pot luck popularity of this dish to; ust the right amount of flavor without being overpowering. It rises above being just another mayonnaise based noodle salad.

These curved little babies hold a great deal of hidden water, so I've learned that after cooking, draining and rinsing in cold water, the best thing is to line a large container or bowl with two or three layers of paper towels, dump the drained noodles in and place in the fridge for a few hours. I never cover them (unless I'm leaving them for more than 3 hours) since I want the extra moisture to evaporate. If you don't do this, in a day or so, the salad is rather watered down, if that makes any sense. Then, I transfer them to another large bowl without paper towels and begin assembly. In the interim, while macaroni is draining, I dice the celery and onions, drain the peas and tuna. Time-wise it works just fine and all comes together quite conveniently. If you use the whole pound of macaroni, this serves 12 to 15 people depending on the level of gluttony. Lol!

Ingredients:
1 lb. box of small elbow macaroni (you can use the whole box or just three quarters of it depending on how far you want to extend the quantity of salad)

1-12 oz. can drained and flaked Chicken of the Sea tuna in oil (I prefer the oil, despite the extra calories because it seems to blend in better than the tuna packed in water)

1/2 to 1 c. of Best Foods mayonnaise depending on quantity of noodles used and taste (on the Eastern half of the U.S. it's called Hellman's...who knows why?)

1-15 oz. can drained Le Seuer Very Young Small Early Peas

4 -6 stalks diced celery (depends on how your preferences, it's about 3/4 to 1 1/4 c. 

1 small or 1/2 large, diced red onion (again, depend on your taste-buds)

1/2 to 1 1/2 t. celery salt (my favorite is Lawry's which I can't find anymore...start small, mix in, let sit, mix again, taste and then adjust)

Directions:  Bring water to a boil in a 5-6 qt. pot (mine came with a colander that fits inside the pot which is perfect for this task). Add macaroni and bring to a boil again. I suggest stirring several times or you wind up with a large noodle patty. Once boiling, reduce heat to a simmer or light boil and set timer for 10 minutes. When time's up, fish a noodle out, cool and test for doneness. You want a firm not mushy noodle. Drain in colander and run under cold water or set colander into bowl of cold running water. Once cool enough to touch, let sit as noted in the third paragraph above.

Dice up the onion and celery. Drain the tuna and peas. When noodles are drained, put into large bowl, adding celery, onions, tuna, mayo and celery salt. Mix thoroughly. Gently fold in peas as the last ingredient. Taste. Cover and refrigerate for about 2 hours for flavors to blend and celery salt to bloom. Stir and adjust to taste. Enjoy!

P.S. I would have taken a photo of my finished product, but since I'm still pretty sick, I haven't been to the store and have no lettuce or tomatoes. Something this dish really needs if you want a decent pic of it. Maybe next time.

Unexpected Post

As always, I try not to talk religion or politics on this blog since I believe "to each their own". But it's interesting how the universe/god can tell when you're losing it. I know I've been rather negative in the last few posts and I apologize for it. Today, I unexpectedly received a pep talk/praying over from a friend via the phone. Since that talk, I have felt so much better. Seems I've found that I am able to separate with a  number of things, vintage and antique. Suddenly they're not so "dear" and I can let go.

I think knowing the final divorce papers were filed with the court today, has also hit me...it's almost over, finally. I can lift a load off and get on with my life. This divorce has reduced me to a totally frozen state where I'm incapable of anything other than breaking out in psoriasis and itching like a crazy woman.

I've decided to start photographing the the items I can part with and put them up for sale on this blog since I'm still working on an Etsy site.  It's going to be quite an array of things, from crafting supplies to vintage and antique pieces. As soon as I figure out how to add a Paypal button to the blog, I'll begin. I've also started to do some jewelry work again, so that will be showing up as well. I'm hoping to make a little money so that I can continue to have a roof over my head and not end up living in my car.

I want to thank everyone who takes a bit of their time to read this little blog. Again, sorry for being such a negative grump lately. May the bluebird of happiness land on your shoulder and whisper joy to you.

Really Easy

Just the other day I commented on someone's blog who was having a lot of problems with Blogger and spacing, that I (knock on wood) had been quite lucky. Twice with spacing between paragraphs and once with captions causing photos to move and paragraphs vanish. Does Blogger have a secret bug that allows it to monitor comments about it? If they're the least bit negative, it then launches an attack of problems on that blog. Just kidding (I hope). But it came to mind since the next time I went to do something in Blogger (yesterday), I was greeted with a very slow and uncooperative program.

The above has nothing to do with what I wanted to let you know about today, it was just one of those random thoughts that float into one's brain. A while back I shared with you a site that showed how to construct a light box for photographing smallish things, like you'd use on Etsy. Well, over at Under a Blue Moon, Andrea Paulin listed a site in her Friday Favorites. This is just as inexpensive and maybe even easier. It's written by a professional photographer in NYC. Having worked as an art director in advertising for 18 years in LA, I know all the things that the photographer uses in product shots and he's taken all the elements needed, making a super easy "how to" including pictures.

Friday Favorites from Andrea Paulin's blog "Under a Blue Moon"

While you're visiting Andrea's blog, be sure to go back and check other Friday Favorites...love the reds and neutrals in this one! And I just checked in on her blog today and though she normally doesn't post on Saturdays, she showed off the cutest Easter treats for her nieces and nephews! They're just adorable and so easy! Very vintage looking too!

Thanks Andrea, for letting me use your images and links! I hope everyone will check out your blog. Well, I'm off now, time to hard-boil some eggs. No, probably won't color them, but I love hard-boiled eggs (heck, I love eggs of any sort, much to the dismay of my cholesterol numbers) and Easter's a perfect excuse! Happy Bunny Day!!