Text 1298, 147 rader
Skriven 2010-09-08 16:17:36 av Ruth Haffly (1:396/45.28)
   Kommentar till text 1204 av Janis Kracht (1:261/38)
Ärende: Herbs and such                                           [2]
====================================================================
Hi Janis,

>> > Sure seems that way. Never thought a can of tomato paste, a few
>> herbs & > water could make a good sauce but it's the base for most of
>> my sauces > now.

 JK> There are a few Italian sauces (tomato, I mean) that I make that don't
 JK> use tomato paste.. like Chicken Cacciatore.  One normally would not
 JK> want that sauce thick like normal tomato marinara or meat sauce.

I use a thinner version of my basic marinara for that.  And, in reading
Giada DiLaurentis's "Everyday Italian", I saw that I don't make a true
marinara.  Mine is basically tomato paste, 3 cans of water, garlic,
parsley, oregano, basil & black pepper.  Anything else is optional;
sometimes I add a can of diced tomatoes, meatballs fairly often, today's
just has some browned sausage crumbles.  My basic is the recipe my MIL
gave me when Steve & I got married--he was raised with it.


 JK> > Suppose you could add a can of stewed tomatoes too.

 JK> Sure.. it would be great.  You might just skip the tomato paste in
 JK> that case.. stewed tomatoes cooked covered as above would make great
 JK> tomato soup.  I'd probably not put in the water above, and still use 2
 JK> cups beef broth and the rest up the recipe above, though to get the
 JK> flavor I wanted.

As with all other cooking, tweaks are the cook's discretion. (G)


>> Yes, that's so true.. Have you heard any more regarding Stephen's Mom?
>> Hope she's doing ok.

 JK> > She's improving, in rehab now.  She might get discharged as early as
 JK> the > end of the week.

 JK> I've been slow getting to echomail the last week or so.. hope she's
 JK> been discharged and is continuing to do better.

She's been home about 10 days now.  Next Tuesday they will fly back to
Florida, with Steve's younger sister who's an RN.  She will stay a week,
helping with medical appointments and so on--making sure Mom is all set
in that regard, and Dad is able to do what needs doing on his part.

 JK> > Somebody (possibly one of my BILs) would drive their car down & fly
 JK> back > to NY.

 JK> Sounds good.  It's a bit of a drive to Tampa.. when we were younger,
 JK> we make trips like that in a day.. ouch.. not these days (vbg).

No, not fun.  We did the drive up this time in one day, drove back in
another.  Got stuck in a huge traffic jam on I-95 south of the Beltway
from a major accident, slowed us down a good couple of hours.


 JK> > It may take some time; I'm going to use up a lot of the pre dones in
 JK> the > freezer.

 JK> We did that essentially recently.  Found some interesting things like
 JK> that huge bag of basil burried there :) Generally I don't 'precook' so
 JK> much though.. rather, if I'm making a leg of lamb, I'll cut off half
 JK> and freeze it, that sort of thing.. or buy several fresh chickens, cut
 JK> them up and freeze the parts individually.

I go on fits and spurts with pre dones.  I made a lot before my
radiation treatments started, but ended up cooking thru most of it.  Pre
dones were used more toward the end and after, when the fatigue set in
big time.  I've done some here, so we've got something quick and easy on
nights we both have class (not this semester) or other "got to get out
of the house for (church, meetings, etc)" times.

 JK> Oh speaking of 'premades'.. this was terrible (g).  I made about 90
 JK> raviolis the other night, figuring we'd eat about 20-30 and have
 JK> leftovers for lunch the next day.. Figured I'd freeze the other 60..
 JK> just for those days I don't feel like fussing etc.. After I finished
 JK> making them I sat down in the other room for few minutes before I made
 JK> marina sauce and cooked the ones I wanted to have for dinner...You
 JK> won't believe what my idiot puppy (Indy, the bigger of the two) did..
 JK> he jumped up on the cat tower, from there on to the top of my small
 JK> center island that I have against the wall with the macaroni machine,
 JK> and polished off 50 some raviolis, and squashed a pile more :(  I'd
 JK> blocked the island so 'no one' (cats or pups) would bother the
 JK> ravioli, but obviously NOT enough.. and both Ron and I forgot that the
 JK> silly cat tower was just a little ways away :( You'd think the dog
 JK> would have gotten incredible agita from that raw dough and ricotta
 JK> cheese/eggs, etc.. he didn't though, and just carried on as usual
 JK> afterwards.. signs of labrador retriever stomach :) :) Nothing bothers
 JK> their guts.


Indy was in the dog house, big time there!  I know, it was a lot of work
but eventually you will be able to laugh about it.  Can't say he wasn't
well fed that night tho I'm surprised there were no repercussions.


 JK> > Always something special, I'm sure.

 JK> Yes, beautiful things.. I remember lots of silk :)

Nice!


 JK> >I remember my mom getting a doll
 JK> > from Japan that sat on one of the dressers in the bedroom I shared
 JK> with > my sisters.  Why, how she got it, I've no idea.

 JK> Perhaps a memento from someone who served there.. :)

I've half an inkling it came from a Japanese war bride who's husband
worked with my dad.  Could be wrong there but that seems to be stuck in
a corner of my memory.

>> interesting.  Maine, CT, Mass., PA.,  born in NJ (bg)..  At one point,
>> we did some work for a company in Passaic NJ, and the people in the
>> office I talked with thought it was cool that I was born in that city
>> (g).  I've never gotten as far west as CA though.. Ohio, Ill., KY.
>> though :)

Until Steve joined the Army, the furthest west I'd been was Ohio.  That
changed with his language school assignment out of Basic--he was sent to
San Francisco.  When they saw he was married, he was asked if he wanted
his wife (and family) to join him. No brainer answer to that so he was
transferred to Monterey & the girls and I joined him a couple of months
later (couldn't right away for several reasons).


 JK> > I've visited or gone thru quite a few states; lived (longer than a
 JK> > month) in NC, NY, CA, TX, GA, HI, & AZ.

 JK> I imagine HI would be so neat to visit.. I'd love to do that someday
 JK> :)

It would be neat to visit but having lived there, I could suggest
several "off the usual tourist places" to visit.  Tourists usually get a
very limited picture of the state; there's a lot you learn when you live
there that isn't put out on public display.

---
Catch you later,
Ruth
rchaffly{at}earthlink{dot}net  FIDO 1:396/45.28


... Myth #1: The computer only does what you tell it to do.

--- PPoint 3.01
 * Origin: Sew! That's My Point (1:396/45.28)