Halloween Ideas

Every year for Halloween, we hand out candy from the Asian grocery store. Because it's fun. And can you imagine what the parents say when the kids bring home candy with no English, or even recognizable letters on it? Plus, it's fun to try it! This year's candy was Japanese, called "Happy Turn Day". That led to the discovery of this blog on Japanese candy.
Also, about 1/3 of the trick-or-treaters demand to know what we just put in their bags! I tell them to just try it- venture out from your Reese's and Hershey's and M&M's for once!
Another cute idea I might steal from someone else- I saw tootsie pops (still with the wrapping on them) with a kleenex draped over the top, tied with an orange string at the "neck" and a scary face over the candy part, making a ghostly looking treat. Much more fun than just handing out the tootsies on their own!

Clinton Street Social Club

18 1/2 S. Clinton St., Downtown Iowa City

I was told to go to this place without the kid and to order the cheese curd appetizer. I did just that. As a bonus, I took the husband too. I got there on a Friday night at about 6:00 and although it's already upstairs, we were seated up up stairs! (3rd floor)

The atmosphere is great: brick walls, just the right lighting, a view of the Clinton/Washington intersection. We ordered a bottle of wine for $32- a Willamette Valley Pinot Noir. Having lived in the Willamette Valley, my opinion of the wine was "eh" but you pay for the atmosphere.

The cheese curds were fantastic. Other items I recommend are the root vegetables and the salmon cakes. We tried the poutine because I had never had it. My opinion of it was "eh".

The waitress wrongly estimated the wait time for the salmon cakes to be "about 15 minutes because they are really busy in the kitchen". This was getting close to 7:00. The wait time was well over 30 minutes, and because we needed to be somewhere, we had to take them to go.

The bill came to $68 plus tip. We did get a little more food than we needed, so I'd say expect to pay around $60 for two.

Next time I think I'll try something other than wine too, they have a good selection of alcoholic beverages.

In conclusion, the atmosphere is great, some of the food is pretty good and as long as you're throwing down the cash, plan to stay there awhile, especially if it's 7:00 on a Friday night.

Apple Cider Vinegar

A friend of mine just posted this link on Facebook, which I wanted to share. I have a few recipes that call for Apple Cider Vinegar, and I happen to own this very brand in 1/2 gallon jugs. I have not tried drinking it w/ water yet but I do drink a lot of coffee and wine so I'm thinking that I should start.

Cake #14: Chocolate Pound Cake

That's right, CHOCOLATE! Finally. It took 14 cakes and a year and a half but I finally made it to the CHOCOLATE section. And, fittingly enough, on my birthday! And, fittingly enough, on page 77 on 7-7! It was meant to be.

Photo taken by a very tall man.

After giving her enough crap about making me bake my own cake for my birthday, my mother made sure to help with this cake. So she did all the grunt work.
It was a pretty easy cake to make, though. The basic idea with pound cakes is that they had a pound of butter, a pound of sugar and a pound of flour. And I  can't think of any other type of cake (or anything really) that calls for 3 cups of flour AND 3 cups of sugar AND 3 sticks of butter! Actually, make that 1 stick of butter and 2 sticks of margarine. I'm not sure why you use margarine in addition to butter. Guess I shouldn't complain. That's only 3/4 of a pound of butter. Oh, and 5 eggs. I think I've said before that you should read through the recipe BEFORE starting to make it. I know this. I usually do this. But, for some reason, it wasn't until the cake was all ready to go and we were pouring it into the pan when I noticed the part that said it needs to cook for 1 1/2 hours. Oops. It was after 10:00 at night, but we managed to stay up until the timer went off. Then it wasn't done, but it had risen about an inch above the pan and it looked good! Another five minutes. Still not done. Another five minutes. Nope. So we left it in the oven and turned the oven off. That seemed to work. I made a note on the first page "long cooking time!" so that I won't make that mistake again.

That dent in front? Somehow a kitchen drawer managed to gouge the cake. Not my fault this time.

The next morning we sifted some powdered sugar over the top. At home, I would use a tea strainer. At mom's, I used some kind of sifting device that she had. It worked, although we dumped a bit more powdered sugar on it than the picture had.

My cousin brought a Chinese candle which is displayed on top, and was pretty fun to watch (and blow out).

We ate it with vanilla ice cream, which turned out to be a good thing since the consensus was that it tasted similar to ice cream sandwiches. Only better. Much better. I said it seems like ice cream sandwich chocolate comes apart more, like it's more oily. Maybe it's made with oil and this cake is made with butter, part margarine. Maybe that's why the margarine is necessary. But it was a very good cake. And also very good several days later, cold from the fridge.

Then the neighbor next door brought over an amazing Coconut Cream pie. I can officially tell you now, after extensive experimentation, that the Chocolate Pound Cake goes well both with vanilla ice cream and Coconut Cream pie!

Dyed Deviled Eggs

I have been trying for years to find decent ways to dye eggs naturally. If you are dying the shells, the flavor doesn't matter. But I like to dye the part you eat and make funky looking deviled eggs. This year, I tried for yellow on the egg white part. I read in a magazine to use carrot tops, which I cut up and brought to a boil in some water, then let cool and added vinegar before adding the eggs. I let them sit in the fridge for several hours. The result? Slightly off-white eggs. So I pulled out the old stand-by, and so far the only way I've found to dye eggs naturally: a chopped beet in hot water with a little vinegar. The longer you let the whites soak, the darker the color.
The photo here, taken this morning after the carrot failure, shows eggs that soaked in beet water for about 30 minutes. They are very hot pink and really don't look like anything natural at all, which is why they are fun to take to parties! I would have mixed some avocado in with the yellow mash, but my avocado went bad.

The Recipe Box

I have this recipe box. I've been adding to it over the past decade. Sometimes I'll come up with a new recipe, or alter one I find in a cookbook, but mostly it's filled with recipe cards that others have given me. Mostly from family members. Several from the oldest generation of family members. There's something about moving in with a guy, getting married, buying a house, traveling along life's path- that inspires the elders to bless you with their treasured creations of edible love, in the form of hand-written ingredients and instructions on a small piece of cardstock.

I've never removed any recipes from the recipe box. I also haven't made very many of them. The ones I invented went into the box and sort of fell into oblivion. Some of the ones given by the elders just seem outright disgusting to me. And the ones I remember and look for are usually impossible to find. I think of myself as a pretty organized person, but my organizational skills stop at the box. For example, if I'm looking for the recipe for "Bill's Potato Soup", it could be under "B", "P", "S", or any letter next to those. It's laughable, really, if you happen to be in a good mood while searching.

So, in one of those laughable moments, my husband gave me the dangerous idea of making everything in the recipe box and blogging about it. I thought about that, and decided this might actually be a good way to toss out the recipes I will never make, despite the thoughtfulness of loved ones gifting their treasured recipes to us; and I might re-discover those recipes I created and then forgot about immediately after creating them.

This also might work well with "The Meal Plan". I'm sure you've heard of this idea, maybe you've even tried- and failed- at it! The idea is to write down all the recipes you want to make in the week, then make a grocery list of what you need to make these recipes, then buy them all in one successful trip to the store, and spend every night with a home cooked meal! It sounds like a fabulous idea, and I admit- if I know what we are planning to have for dinner, we are a lot more likely to actually make the effort to cook it (especially if it doesn't involve a quick run to the grocery store between 5-6 pm when everyone else is doing the same thing!) BUT- realistically, The Meal Plan works for about a week, usually more like 2-3 days and then it tends to fail for various reasons. At least, in my experience. But- now I have a new idea! This week for dinner- things from the S section of the recipe box! What do you want for dinner? Salmon, squash, scallops, salad or a recipe from my friend Shay? (remember? organizational skills+recipe box=zero)

Some rules:
I do not have a deadline for this. That would be ridiculous.
I am not going in order. For example, I am starting with "S" because we are in winter squash season. And I will post each letter as a separate blog (maybe some in two parts, there are an awful lot of things in the "C" category).
I am allowed to alter the recipes as I make them. I thought about this for awhile, and I decided that normally I would totally change recipes to make them more likely to be used again. Also, I don't even know how to find stuff like oleo in the store.
And finally, I will only keep it in the box if there is a remote chance that I will make it again. This will allow me more space for future creations!

Thai Spice

1210 S. Gilbert St.
Iowa City

I went to this place for my 30th birthday and it's been a couple of years since I've been back. I now realize I made a mistake. The food is great, the service is great, and the prices are reasonable.
I got #7, under the "stir fry" section of the menu, but I didn't try to remember the title of it. It came w/ rice noodles, broccoli, fresh basil, onions and you can choose chicken, pork, or (probably) beef. I asked if I could get tofu, and they said yes. That was an excellent request, the tofu was fabulous! And the spiciness was just right. I had a small amount of leftovers, which were just as good reheated.
Hubby got something under the "curry" section of the menu that came in a clay pot. Translation: it's going to come scalding hot and not be cool enough to eat until your partner is almost done with her meal. Translation: you will probably eat half of your partner's meal while you wait for yours to cool causing her to only have a small amount of leftovers. His meal came with rice, lots of veggies and chicken, plus 3 shrimp. I think it was those 3 shrimp that made it more expensive. $12.75 for him, $9.75 for me. His was good, but we both agreed mine was much better.
We also got a-cho for an appetizer. No, it didn't make me sneeze. It was an egg roll stuffed with veggies, and it was scalding hot. If we get it again, we will tear each in half and let the steam evaporate from them before beginning to eat them. Which is not an easy thing to do when you are sitting there starving.
Hubby got tea which we were not charged for, bonus!
The women's bathroom is nice & neat, no complaints. The restaurant has a great atmosphere, and a room where you can sit on pillows (you have to reserve it). The tables are like the ones at Masala, colorful table cloths with glass on top.
Environmentally: cloth napkins, reusable plates, but styrofoam to go containers.