Dd's Mushroom Soup

MUSHROOM SOUP WITH SHERRY & THYME

Adapted from Fine Cooking issue #74 (Jalna’s Blog)


2 TB butter
1 TB olive oil
1 small onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 # fresh mushrooms, wiped clean, trimmed, and thinly sliced (button, oyster, cremini)

1/2 oz dried porcini mushrooms, rehydrated in *1 c boiling water, drained, chopped 

*reserved porcini liquid, strained
1 tsp. dried thyme
½-3/4 tsp salt to taste
1/2 tsp ground black pepper to taste
2 c chicken stock

2 TB milk
2 TB dry sherry

In a large stockpot over medium high heat; warm butter and oil. Sauté onions until they are browned, about 4 minutes. Add garlic, mushrooms, thyme, salt, pepper, and cook until mushrooms begin to wilt. Pour in broth and porcini liquid. Bring to a boil; reduce to a simmer. Cook 5 minutes until mushrooms are tender. Remove soup from heat. Either using a blender or an immersion blender, purée half of soup to bring to desired consistency. At this point you can refrigerate for future service. 

For service; Warm soup over medium heat. Stir in milk and sherry; cook 5-6 minutes. 

Check for seasoning. Serves 2 entrees.

Covid Thanksgiving

It took some small-kine driving, but we did it . . . pot-luck style Thanksgiving without gathering. 

This is actually my next-day leftover plate after I had already eaten the stuffing. Yummy!

Making Paint

My gum arabic arrived a few days ago! I could finally make paint with the powder that I found at the swap meet.  My plan was to use it as a binder instead of the humbug and animal-unfriendly nikawa that's normally used.  

The first step is to put some powder onto a folded sheet of paper. Then you use a brush handle like a rolling pin to crush the powder.

Next is to place the powder in a dish and add the gum arabic. You use your finger to mix.

I wish I had more colors.  I only have three. 

I discovered that using very light washes might be the best way to paint with these.

I also suspect that the paint might work better on washi-type paper instead of in my sketchbook.  I do have some of those that I found on another swap meet expedition, so I'll be trying it out on those next.  Crossing fingers! 

Wendell's Kim Chee Beef Hash

This is another Seonkyoung Longest recipe that Wendell tried. In fact, he's made it twice so far. That's how ono it was.  

• 1 large or 2 small rustic potato
• 3 tbsp cooking oil
• 1 large or 2 small leek, cut in halves lengthwise wash through each layers really well, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 6 oz ground beef
• 1 1/2 cup kimchi, chopped
• 1 tbsp Korean red pepper flakes
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 3 tbsp unsalted butter
• 4 eggs
• 1 tbsp chopped chive
• salt and pepper to season

1. Wash potato well and prick several time with a fork. Place on a microwave safe plate and microwave for 5 to 6 minutes. Half way through cooking process, flip them over. Peel potato and cut into 1-inch pieces.
2. Heat a large skillet over medium high heat, add cooking oil, leek, garlic and generous pinch of salt and pepper. Cook them until leek is soften, about 3 minutes. 
3. Add ground beef and season with generous pinch of salt and pepper. Breaking up meat with wooden spoon until brown, about 5 minutes. 
4. Stir in kimchi, red pepper flakes and soy sauce. Sauté everything together until kimchi is soften, about 5 minutes. 
5. Stir in butter and potato. Using back of wooden spoon or spatula, gently pack into skillet and cook, without stirring for 1 to 2 minutes. Flip hash with a spatula, 1 portion at a time, and lightly repack into skillet. Add additional butter if needed. Repeat flipping process every couple minutes until potatoes are browned, about 5 to 7 minutes. 
6. Reduce heat to low or turn off the heat for a moment, then make 4 shallow wells in the hash. Crack 1 egg into each well and season with salt and pepper. Cover and cook over medium low heat until whites are set and yolks runny, about 3 to 5 minutes. Sprinkle with chive and serve while it's hot.

On Da Desk

I copied one of YouTuber Ikuko's drawings a few days ago.  Top left is the video, on the top right is a screenshot of a stilled portion of the video and on the bottom is my drawing.

I  have the same mechanical pencils that she used so I used them too.

This was the funnest part done with my .2 Pentel Orenz pencil.

Here is Ikuko's video:

She also paints the drawing.

Wendell's Shrimp and Bacon Corn Chowder

Wendell made this last night, and it was really, really good.  It had a little kick to it which was kinda surprising.  The recipe is from the Creme De La Crumb site. 

 

Ingredients

• 4 slices bacon, chopped
• 3 teaspoons minced garlic
• 1 pound large shelled shrimp
• 1 15-ounce can corn, drained
• 1/2 cup sliced carrots
• 2 ribs celery, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1 pound baby red potatoes, quartered
• 3 cups chicken or vegetable broth
• 1 cup heavy cream or half and half

Instructions

• 1.  Add bacon to a large pot and cook over medium-high heat for 4-8 minutes until crisp. Transfer to a towel-lined plate and set aside.

  2. Add garlic and shrimp to pot and cook over medium heat for 3-4 minutes until garlic is fragrant and begins to brown and shrimp turns opaque.

  3. Add corn, carrots, celery, onion powder, paprika, salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, potatoes, and chicken/vegetable broth and stir to combine. Bring to a boil, then pour in heavy cream. Simmer for 10-12 minutes until potatoes are tender. Stir in bacon and cook another 2-3 minutes.

  4. Garnish with chopped parsley or thyme and cracked black pepper, and serve.

Suikan Paint

I found several YouTube videos on that paint powder that I found at the swap meet.  Here's one.  It's in Japanese, but I think I got it.

I ordered Gum Arabic to use as a binder.  Can't wait to fuss around with it!

Pigment Powder

Guess where I got these from. Swap meet!  Yup, me and the sistahs braved it and went today. The last time we went was on March 15.  We were the only ones wearing masks back then. At that time the CDC was still advising us to not wear masks. Hard for believe, yah. 

Anyway, I got these pigment powder for $1.  You use it to make paint . . . although I'm not really sure how to yet. 

I felt pretty safe there.  Everybody was wearing a mask and it wasn't crowded. 

The aisles were marked with one-way signs, but nobody was really adhering to that.  It was kinda hard to. 

It was HOT.  But fun.  It was nice to get together again after such a long time. 

Anada Tip

A few months ago I mentioned a sorta tip about freezing hamburger meat . . . flattening them to store easily in the freezer. 

Well, since then I had anada "brilliant" idea. 

Instead of proportioning them into 1- and 2-pound bags, now I put them in 2-pound portions and I pinch them into two sections of 1 pound each. When I need only a 1-pound portion, I can easily separate it.

Also, for my ground pork, I'll go even further and pinch them into fourths. Ho!

Leaves

Yesterday, I decided to surprise Wendell and rake up the leaves in the backyard while he was at softball practice.  

10:05:47 a.m. (choke leaves)

11:00:19 a.m. (Hoo Hoo)

1:45:13 p.m. (WTH)

On Da Desk

Dug the sewing machine outta da closet and started sewing masks again . . . origami style this time. 

Hello Peoples!

It's been a month's break. Made me really lazy to blog. But I'll be back once in awhile at least . . . with stupid, worthless stuff as usual. 

You can't tell by Wendell's shadow, but he's been really upbeat since the election results.  Sometimes he'll bust out in a dance.  The newest thing for me is my bucket hat that I bought to hide my hideous hair. Found it on Amazon where I've been Christmas shopping a lot lately.  Most items are returnable until the end of January, and Amazon makes returns so easy, so I've been going for it. 

Online shopping has been my savior. I still haven't been back to Ross since around February-ish.  I did go to Fisher and Asian Market a few days ago. Unfortunately, my intense self isolation has made me so inept. I'm unsure of the stores' protocols and this has added to my insecurities about being out and about. 

But slowly, I'm hoping to overcome all that and be like a regular person again.

Thanks for your patience, peoples!