Almond cookies for the lunar new year: the celebrations will continue. Try to make them ones of thankfulness, not busy-ness.
Day 3: 2012
Family and friends have departed. In their place, the Christmas bills. Fridge piled high with curling bits of leftovers; oh, goodie, faavorite chore, cleaning the fridge. (If heaven were about retribution, I’d call a meeting of all the kitchen appliance designers and get them to tell me why they designed things the way they did.) Christmas decorations to banish into the storage space. Back to work. The memory of so many losses this year and another imminent in my family.
You may have detected a certain whiny tone from this underpaid, underemployed person. Me. But I’ve decided to start the New Year in thankfulness.
No cold cuts, gotta give my husband peanut butter and jelly. Or tuna (every person in my generation or older who grew up in Hawaii always has a stash of Coral brand that would see us through another world war). One dollar in my wallet and we need bread. Can’t afford to test recipes, one of my greatest pleasures. Kitty litter box shows the signs of two days of benign neglect (second not favorite chore) while Husband and I actually rested; napped, read, watched movies .
Whine, whine, whine. At least I have something to put in those sandwiches. At least we have a loaf of unsliced country bread. Recipe testing with reimbursement behind it will come. At least our landlady allows cats. At least I had piles of stuff collected cheaply over the year, and from previous years of plenty, to give as Christmas presents. At least I’ve got a working computer and this blog, and e-friends to read it.
Have I forgotten when my mother was the sole support of a household of five, with our non-working father golfing and buying things we couldn’t afford for her to pay off? When we drank powdered milk because we couldn’t afford dairy, ate margarine because butter was too expensive, when an after-school snack was if you could snag a guava or papaya free? Have I forgotten that some people have no backup, can’t afford food, a house, a refrigerator, a pet properly cared for? I see them every day in their camps alongside the streets and the park edges. Have I already forgotten the miracle God worked to get the money for me and my grand-neice to see my sister and her grandmother on Maui for what will likely be the last time?
Yes, and shame on me. This year, I will be grateful for what I have. I will share my blessings even when it hurts. I will look for a job with new fervor. And I have been given a plan to help others who might be losing theirs to figure out what’s in store and how to get through the loss.
No recipes today, but, coming up: hekka, by special request; pumpkin pasta for that bit of leftover pureed pumpkin in the fridge; my best almond cookie ever. Stay with me, and if I whinge (as the English say), slap me electronically upside the head, would you?
Happy New Year to you as you return to your “normal” life.
Wands, After reading your pumpkin pasta article, I went to the kitchen and made jook! I swear I saw that word “jook” somewhere in your essay, but I had to re-read it twice to find it. I always keep cooked brown rice in the refrigerator (I know!! I know how you feel about refrigerated rice!) but I like to make fried rice, jook, and to add rice to the many soups I make. I also reheat rice in the microwave after adding a drop of water (or sometimes gravy) and covering with plastic wrap — it always taste fine to us. You just have to heat it until it steams, then let it sit a minute or two.
Making the jook got me thinking: what are your favorite additions to jook? Today, mine was really plain. I felt lazy and my shoulder is bothering me a bit and I didn’t feel like washing the green onions, so I chopped up a small Spanish onion, added it to lots of chicken broth, the brown rice, and threw in some dried chives and fresh-ground black pepper. Then I let it boil for awhile, then simmered it even longer. Topped it with a little sesame oil – the last of the bottle (put that on the grocery list for when I get some money). I kept thinking, “Should I put in some of that frozen Costco shrimp, or a little canned tuna, or maybe that small piece of chicken-fried steak from last night’s dinner? How about some ginger, or a little fresh garlic? Naugh, too much trouble.” Don’t like eggs, so that was out. I must say my brown rice jook was très délicieux just as it was, but I’ll bet you have some special touches: what do you put in your favorite jook?
Back to your pumpkin recipe: this morning, I had just sat down at my computer to look for a recipe to use a little sweet pumpkin I had bought (on clearance) last week, when I saw your current post on my Google Reader, and decided to read Wanda first. Voila! Your pumpkin recipe! Sunday I had washed the pumpkin, poked it 4 times with a really sharp knife and baked it in my little toaster-convection oven (1963 Tappan oven still not working). The rind peeled right off after it cooled. It looks like a mini orange bundt cake sitting there in the frig covered with plastic wrap. Don’t have any cream around — dairy allergy — and my mimic-creme went bad — so I am going to use chicken broth instead and see how that turns out.
Times are lean here, too, Wanda, and I have been taking stock of my pantry and freezer, just like you, and wondering how long we can go without buying any more groceries. Lots of rice and beans, both canned and dried, a good bit of canned and frozen veggies should see us through Feb. at least. Thankful for that.
May all good things come your way.
Vadalia
Vadalia,
You sound as busy a little kitchen bee as I am.
In jook, I do like ginger; peeled, cut into slices and just boiled along with the rice and broth. Fish them out or leave them in and warn people. And, vital, star anise (just one per pot is enough). Once, a chef I knew swirled just a touch toasted sesame oil on top of his jook and I was hooked. You can add any white meats you like; if they’re already cooked, wait until the jook is near done. Char siu (red Chinese pork) or Chinese plain roast pork, cut into shreds, is a treat. Green onions, yes. I don’t use round onions. If you like heat, a few shakes of La Yu chili oil on top is good. Beyond that, I wouldn’t mess with it much. I have never tried brown rice but I’ve got some really good quality short-grain brown rice and some homemade chicken broth and I’m going to try a smallish batch for my lunch, maybe tomorrow.
Ps: Tell me how the pumpkin thing came out. I’ve decided how I’m going to do it next time: I’m going to brown butter and use it instead of olive oil to give it more of the ravioli flavor I like.