The United States of Eating: Arizona

Clementine Paddleford’s The Great American Cookbook is a collection of recipes from across 1950s America. Ms. Paddleford  was one of the first women food journalists, but instead of simply focusing on restaurants, she spent equal time with women in their kitchens, recording family recipes and the stories that went along with them. She made her way across the country on plane, boat, train, even horse-drawn carriage to help tell the story of food in each and every state. This post is part of  an occasional series where I cook a recipe from each state. 

Well, we went from the coldest state in the Union to one of the hottest. Since the Arizona section of our book was so extensive (Old Clem must have enjoyed warming her bones there), we decided to cook two recipes: Albondigas and Rhubarb Meringue Pie. (I don’t know how Rhubarb Meringue Pie is Arizonian, but it sounded exciting so we went with it.)

Albondigas (literally meaning meatball in Spanish), is a meatball soup. Ours came with several different kinds of ground meat, just a bit of pepper, and a nice light broth.

The meatballs were great, but the broth a little bland. Just because Ms. Paddleford is in the Southwest, doesn’t mean she takes her food spicy, thankyouverymuch.

The United States of Eating: Alaska

Clementine Paddleford’s The Great American Cookbook is a collection of recipes from across 1950s America. Ms. Paddleford  was one of the first women food journalists, but instead of simply focusing on restaurants, she spent equal time with women in their kitchens, recording family recipes and the stories that went along with them. She made her way across the country on plane, boat, train, even horse-drawn carriage to help tell the story of food in each and every state. This post is part of  an occasional series where I cook a recipe from each state. 

Alaska is a strange place. I’m sure Ms. Paddleford thought so when she visited this newly minted state six decades ago. Combine a bunch of manly men who need lots of sustenance to do their fishing and oil rigging with a near-arctic climate, and apparently you get something no one else in the world has even considered – Salmon Mousse.

Now, all you naysayers who said, “ewwww, meat and gelatin, gross!” Well. You were right. In my head I thought it would be a bit like a pate, or a rillette – those delicious stars of the charcuterie plate. In reality, it was exactly what the name implied. Salmon (raw, no less). And gelatin. If I were on a fishing boat in the 50s, I would’ve starved, if I didn’t fall overboard first.

Luckily, K made a delicious crab and avocado terrine, so we did not starve. If you’d like to try Salmon Mousse, put some raw salmon in some jello. Enjoy.

On the menu by popular demand, the Sourdough Pancakes were much more successful. Although they take a bit of prep work (you have to start the dough 24 hours in advance) they make a TON (we halved the recipe and we still barely made a dent in the pile). You could see how a bunch of loggers could get a good start on the day with a pile of these delicious bad boys.

May Garden Update

Well, yes it is June 10. But better late than never, right?

It’s amazing what a garden can do in a short month with plenty of sun. After battling the shade all last year, I’m glad we sprung for building a raised bed on the sunny side of our house. For the most part, the plants are loving it!

I say for the most part – my Berkeley self thought it wasn’t too late to plant cool weather spring plants like spinach, peas and lettuce. Our new house gets HOT. Every day. So, some of these plants aren’t so thrilled with me. Also, the peas gotten eaten by snails. Again. But unlike last year, the snails won in the end. Ah well, at least my tomatoes and butternut squash are looking delicious already!

Without further ado, I give you – the tour!

The United States of Eating: Alabama

Along with the great outdoor furniture I got for my birthday, my husband also surprised me with Clementine Paddleford’s The Great American Cookbook. I had never heard of Clementine Paddleford, but she is apparently one of the first women food journalists. Instead of simply focusing on restaurants, though, she spent equal time with women in their kitchens, recording family recipes and the stories that went along with them. She travelled the country in the 50s and  60s, traveling on plane, boat, train, even horse-drawn carriage to help tell the story of food in each and every state. She’s quite the amazing woman, and I’m shocked that I’ve only discovered her now, with the republishing of her compilation of food from every state.

So, as a send-up of appreciation for all of Ms. Paddleford’s hard work, I’ll be doing an occasional series where I cook a recipe from each state. I figure if she could manage traveling to all of them, the least I could do is cook something from each of them! She’s grouped her cookbook into regions, but to keep things fresh, we’ll be cooking through our states alphabetically. (The song, “Fifty Nifty United States,” learned circa 1992 will be helping us out with the alphabetized list. Does anyone else catch themselves randomly singing their way through that song?)

First up? Alabama. Clementine visited plenty of home kitchens here, where the emphasis seemed to be on using every part of what you had. While the Turnip Greens and Garden Salsa looked tempting, we stuck with the basics for our first recipe and tried Corn Pone. Basic it was – it was basically a stripped down cornbread, that was more of a polenta in texture.

Hello, lovely

I know I’ve been remiss in giving timely garden updates. But suffice to say, things are going well:

Our first radish! Many more to come, shortly.

April in Pictures

It’s been a fun month full of birthdays, yoga trips, backyard relaxing and more!

Row 1: Our first foray with outdoor dining of the year at Milagros/Creative offsite for work – not a bad way to spend a Friday/Lobster Rolls from the Old Lobster Shack (next to the Great Clips, naturally)

Row 2: Blood Orange Upside Down Cake made by yours truly/The remains of our first grill out (pork chops, kale salad and sauteed Jerusalem artichokes)/Mimosas after church on Easter

Row 3: St. Michael’s Alley Easter Brunch/On the patio at St. Mike’s/Hoffman relaxing in our backyard.

Row 4: K in a post-brunch coma/Super Secret Surprise Date for K Part 1: Nopalitos/Super Secret Surprise Date for K Part 2: WULYF at the Independent

Row 5: Chambers – yum/My first birthday cake of the week – carrot cake at Chambers/Bon Iver at Bill Graham Civic Center.

Row 6: The birthday celebration continues with a fire pit/and a chaise lounge!/Terrarium making is harder than it looks

And that was April! We had fun, ate a ton of good food (maybe too much?) and generally enjoyed the spring weather that’s been making cameos more and more frequently. Of course there were unfun things in April too (mainly, taxes), but we’ll not dwell on those, will we.

What fun things did you do this month?

 

 

I am here

For the weekend. To celebrate 31 years on this amazing planet. Here’s to 31 more, at the very least