Saturday, September 25, 2010

Adventures in the Kitchen

It's been a whirlwind of cooking around the ol' Chez today. A lovely, rare warm day that we didn't want to waste by being productive, so we just laid around, sluglike. Wandering through the kitchen, though, I noticed some pears our friend John had brought over were at the very peak and demanding to be dealt with. What else can you do with insolent pears except poach them?


Scouring the bar only turned up the dreg ends of a bottle of white wine and one of brandy.
Further, more determined digging turned up an odd bottle of Kirschwasser (cherry brandy) and a tall skinny one of pear liqueur. How do these wind up in one's cupboards? I promise you, I never went out shopping for a bottle of pear liqueur in my life. And yet, this afternoon it certainly turned out to be handy.

I'm pretty sure there are no recipes that include the directions "Root around in your liquor cabinet until you find enough of anything to cover the pears and then go to town." Ha. A little cinnamon, a little nutmeg and voila, deliciousness.
Sloppy, but yummy plates.

We're having friends for lunch on Sunday, which is also supposed to be hot, so I've made vichyssoise, a dish I can cook, but never spell. It's just potatoes and leeks with cream, and I went a tad bit long on the leeks, but it seems to be terribly tasty.

What is it with leeks anyway? I often cook with them, but every time, I act like we have just met. "Perhaps these attractive vegetables will not be filled with grit and dirt and a quick rinse will suffice in cleaning them," I think. Fooled again. So tomorrow we will sit down to a lovely luncheon of potato and leek and cream and dirt soup.

Mmm.
Random houseboy.

13 comments:

  1. You crack me up, old bean. Love you!

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  2. Drizzle houeboy's nipples liberally with pear liqueur and serve.

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  3. Mmmm....the food too.

    Oh, and by the way, my dear Mr P,
    guess what.
    I'll be in your lovely bay area this coming weekend!
    I've never been out west at all. I'm nervous but excited. Alas, I will be at the mercy of the friends who are bringing me...so I'm not sure what's on their agenda.
    If nothing else I figure it'll be a reconnaissance mission for me for a longer trip in the future. That's what I hope.

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  4. What's not to love about an insolent pear? Except my not being one of the lucky ones there to enjoy it . . .

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  5. Miss J CRAVES that pear dessert. Trade ya some figgy stuff for some.

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  6. just passed thru again and noticed that first shot, the pears and the peeler and peelings. nicely composed.

    which old master inspired you?

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  7. A very underrated fruit is the pear. I prefer them to cox.

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  8. I was referring to Cox's Orange Pippin of course.

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  9. Darling (my fellow kitchen witch),
    thought of you this morning when I saw an article in the LA Times showing how to make Your Own Ricotta!

    Have a look:
    http://www.latimes.com/features/food/la-fo-california-cook-20100930,0,7506847.story

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  10. My, my -- that is a lovely pair. I mean pear.

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  11. I love pears with anything but booze especially! YUM!

    Now you should know better than to let those leeks languish in their own filth! haha! I find that little things like that can make or break a dish but I'm sure it will all be fine.

    And by the way, the boy IS a dish I'd love to eat! Enjoy your lunch today!

    PS: Put a shout out to you on my post today!

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