Cardamom and coconut

Mondays are like a holiday for me. Liz has started to take on the responsibilities of work for the beginning of the week and I for the end. I got up late on Monday,6:30! saw the kids off to school and then it was a free day. While Owen was getting ready Liz signaled to me that she wanted to go somewhere. I wont say that I said oh great lets go, but we did go and I was happy about it. A nice morning drive up the coast would be beautiful. When I took that first left she said, "where are you going? " "To Reny's," I said. She seemed puzzled. "didn't you spell R-E-N-Y-S". I said. "R-E-N-E-E-S" She said laughing. Renee's is a new bad breakfast place in Somersworth, NH. Reny's is a fun discount store in Wells, ME. I guess I finished her spelling for her or maybe only half listened?

We went to Reny's. We still had to have breakfast. If we do not say what we are going to do when we get in the car we are lost, we are lost. Let's try here or here oh what about there. And it is drive, drive,drive. That looks expensive, where do we park, they are crowded. So we settled on finding the parking space first then we would look.

We found ourselves in downtown Ogunquit Me. in front of Bread and Roses bakery, who,by the way, has taken some business away from me at Robert's, I was curious. I didn't really care where we went I just wanted coffee. Naturally I saw some similar items to what the Black Bean carries, but this place is nothing like the Black Bean. Coffee was excellent, Carpe Diem. We got a cinnamon roll and whoopie pie. The roll was like hard white bread rolled in cinnamon sugar and with a glaze on it. I thought it was more suited for a pretzel. The whoopie (which we ate much later) was dry,dry dry. The filling however was a nice butter cream frosting. Of course we found our breakfast destination before I could finish my coffee. All in all a waste of $7.00.

Onto breakfast at Bessies's.  Per usual this was not the best choice.  At first when we walked in something was amiss.  It was bare and lacked a sense of success.  It was as if they were going out of business or just starting.  The waiter was of no help in figuring this out.  He did not know the history of the building or story behind Bessie's.  We would have to make up our own.  


Fact:This used to be a place that we frequented when we first started to "date". It was known as Einsteins. You could always get a great breakfast, coffee , and bagel. You could not always get a seat though! Not the case now.

Story: The place was sold in the mid 90's then sold at least twice. They tried to make it into a cool gay diner. It never quite worked. They focused more on  the track lighting and pastel colors than the food. Recently a southern family of color purchased the business. They sunk everything they have into the business and don't understand that the environment the food is served in is an important ingredient in the restaurant.

The confusion of the day continued as we walked to our booth or was it a table? We walked past the carpeted dining area into the counter area with linoleum flooring. On the way there Liz noticed the unavoidable smell of a dining area with carpets I noticed the Einstiens sign on the wall. In the lunch counter room I noticed the 1940's clock with Bessie's on it (similar in style to an old Borden brand clock?)Liz noticed the fabric corner decorative{?)thing a ma jiggers. We both noticed the homemade southern looking desserts in the otherwise sparse corner behind the counter. Where is this going to go? Yes coffee! Yuk coffee! Not weak, not strong ,just bad. Then the menu. I cannot read a menu for the life of me. This was one of the worst. Home computer generated, multi colored and just plain confusing. I just wanted 2OE/Saus/toast and home fries. By the time I found it I was already planning on the scramble with sausage peppers, onions and cheese. It was the same price so I got that. Liz got her usual 2scram/toast add cheese and sub bagel.

The food was delivered quickly and hot(how review like does that sound)and looked ok. It was ok. Liz did not get what she asked for. This took a while to figure out, actually when we got the bill. Her 2 egg scramble was clearly not 2eggs but maybe 5!! The cheese was american as requested, you could easily tell because it was placed on top of the eggs after cooking. They also contained cream cheese. Tasty. My guess is that they use eggs from a pourable container to fluffy and consistent in color. Homefries were good, they did include onion which is a good thing, but they needed to be cooked more. The bagel was clearly a frozen Lenders bagel.
The only thing different in my meal than Liz's were the ingredients in the scrambled eggs and my toast. As in the home fries the veggies in the scramble needed more saute time. Toast was country kitchen white served dry and there was no butter in site. I ate it all and half of Liz's. So it wasn't all that bad.
Remembering that we chose this spot because it did not seem as fancy as the others and would probably be less expensive. To sub the bagel for toast was $1 on the menu. The waiter did not sub he added a bagel $1.50 (we did not get toast too). So Liz's $4.95 2 eggs scrambled with cheese and bagel add $1 total $5.95. With their (I say convenient) errors came to $7.45. Mine was $6.95. Add the coffee, $2.00 and tx for a total of $17.65 plus tip (small tip to make up for errors!) equals $20.00. I left full but not satisfied. How much would it have been at the Bean? With the error being the correct order, total including tax $15.65. Tip is optional, so add $2.00 total $17.65. Save $2.35 at the Bean. I think that makes me feel more satisfied. Black Bean lower price, better quality and better taste. In my opinion!!

We got home. I had two errands to run and then we would just hang and watch a movie. One errand brought me to Mr. Lucky's for coconut and cardamom. Oddly enough Mr. Lucky is next door to Renee's, full circle. The movie was RUNNING WITH SCISSORS. We booth enjoyed it. Of course there was one thing said in the movie that struck us both. It had something to do with having a mom that would make hamburger helper for dinner. This was a good thing for both of us. Naturally we had hamburger helper for dinner. The kid's loved it we both added to it to make it seem more real (riccotta and tomato sauce). For dessert we had to have our favorite cupcake...Coconut and Cardamom.

It was an awesome day!









Recipe from Vanilla Garlic blog!!
Apple Cardamom Cupcakes
Makes 22 cupcakes / 350F oven

What You'll Need...
4 cups chopped apples (varieties that are good for baking - i.e. granny smith, gravenstein, Fuji)
2/3 cups vegetable oil
2 cups of sugar
4 egg whites
3 cups of all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons of cardamom
1/2 teaspoon of ginger

What You'll Do...
1) Chop the apples and combine them with the sugar and let them macerate for one hour. Next add the oil and stir.

2) Preheat over to 350 degrees F (165 C).

3) Slightly beat egg whites just until a light foam appears. Combine them with the oil and apple mixture.

4) Sift the flour, salt, baking soda, and spices together. Stir into the apple mixture, and then place into cupcake papers about 3/4ths full.

5) Bake for 15 minutes undisturbed, then rotate the pan and cook for another 3-7 minutes, testing with a toothpick for doneness. Careful, as if the toothpick goes into an apple it will not come out clean, but cupcake may be done.

Salted Caramel
What You'll Need...
6 tablespoons of butter
3/4 cup of sugar or vanilla sugar
1 cup of heavy cream
1 1/4 teaspoon of kosher salt

What You'll Do...
1) Melt the butter in a large, deep heavy-duty saucepan. Stir in the sugar and and stir until golden brown.

2) Take off the heat and pour in half the cream and whisk like a crazy person until the caramel is smooth. Whisk in the rest of the cream and the salt. Strain into a bowl and then spoon over cupcakes. (The caramel will thicken if you let it sit in the fridge, which is also yummy.)

Variations
Feel free to switch out the cardamom for cinnamon, or apples for pears. The recipe is flexible and forgiving. Freshly whipped cream is also an ideal pairing.

Oh boy. I don't know why it takes me so long to actually sit down and write this thing. Probably the same reason I don't jump out of bed in the morning, I am a procrastinator.
I have to say I think the happy thoughts thing works. I do seem a bit more up and the things that bug me were a little easier to take last week. Someone also gave me a really happy website. I do not mean to say that it is like just full of sunshine and so over the top with positive stuff that you would think it to be a joke. Here is the location. She just seems to have a healthy outlook on life. I am told that the health bars are great and easy!! Also a few years back Liz and I tried our hands at making cheese and it is nice to find others who do those things maybe it will inspire us.

A blog or two ago I wrote about a dream I had. Someone left a comment. I thought it was hysterical. It was left by brusselsprout? This sounded familiar, but I could not place the person. So I did a search on brusselsprout. All I could find was a conspiracy theorist in West Bend Ind. It was not so funny any more. Was it for real?
Turns out it was my big brother John (B)Russell(sprout) Hughes.

That was very funny. I am glad the mystery is over. I started this post weeks ago. I cannot think of what the purpose of this was so I will end it and start another.

Remember Happy thoughts!!

sunshine

Do we all have a correct view of who we are? I think of myself as very objective even when it comes to me. Although this past two weeks I am questioning my abilty to look at myself the way others may see me.

This started from many things. The biggest being that it suddenly occured to me that a few people in my life do not see in themselves what I (and I assume the rest of the world) see in them. For example someone who is offering advice on health, yet they do not realize that they are always having health issues. Or someone who talks about serenity and keeping centered and they come across as anything but centered and calm. Naturally for me I started to think what is wrong with everyone? Am I the only clear person out there. Then I remembered one of those wise offerings from an elder in my life many years ago, "what seems to bother you in others is what is bothering you.". Could it be true? Am I not what I think?

I started to pay closer attention to myself and what I got back from others. It is true I am not the happy go lucky person I think I am. The person who nothing bothers,the one who sees the positive in things nor am I always as clear as believe myself to be.

So I am going to try and correct the problem. I could take the easy way out, and just accept my perceived persona. The problem is that I do not think that I am really that negative and I do not want to be a down sort of person, although I do get off on complaining and whining!! As of now a more positive and up person I will show to the world.


To kick off my new attitude I would like to happily share an old family recipe for corn bread. We call it Spider Cornbread.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1/2 cup flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 cups white or yellow cornmeal
2 Tbs. sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
3 cups buttermilk or soured milk preferred or regular milk
Turn this recipe into a puzzle! [click]



Directions:

Combine flour, cornmeal, sugar, salt and baking powder and mix well. Melt butter in a 12 inch black cast iron skillet with oven proof handle in a preheated 400F. Beat eggs well and beat in 2 cups buttermilk. Then combine with dry mixture to moisten well. Remove skillet from oven, tilt pan to evenly coat the butter in the pan. Pour in the cornmeal batter and immediately pour on the remaining cup of buttermilk. Do not mix in. Return to oven and bake about 30 minutes or until top is pale golden and tester inserted comes out clean. Don't overbake. Serve hot, cut or scooped from the pan with additional butter. Note: stone ground cornmeal will have a different texture than other types of cornmeal. If you don't have a cast iron skillet, cornbread may be baked in a 9 x 13 pan. The name "spider" refers to the type of pan, an old cast iron pan with "feet"



Spider Cornbread serves/makes 6

Enjoy yourselves!!! I'll write again soon!
Phil

I had a dream last night. There was this party in the basement of a building. It was dark and to get in you needed to know someone. Everyone was standing around eating Whoopie pies, french fries, fried chicken and twinkies. Everyone was laughing and having a ball. But there was a feeling of unease. Then it happened the police came barging through the door, it was a raid!!. We were all brought down to the station and booked for eating the Bad Fats!! We were given government issued pamphlets on healthy eating and released on personal recognisance.

This dream was based on the recent ban on use of trans fats in California. The ban itself is not what was nagging at me it is the Government deciding what we can and can not eat. I for the most part am and always have been opposed to the use of hydrogenated oil and other trans fatty acids. Back in the day those who did not use Crisco or margarine were food snobs. After all it was a cheaper alternative to "natural" fats. I guess now the healthy people are running things in CA. And we all better shape up.

Again my gripe not with the use of trans fats, but in making laws that tell us what is right. Why must congress bail out the banks? I for one do not understand the whole money game. It would seem to me that the right thing to do if millions of people are not able to make their monthly payments and the banks are failing that maybe we could meet in the middle. Are lower profits better than no profits? Is allowing Joe to pay 7% on his loan and keeping his home better than taking his home and selling at a loss?

I don't know if I am just paranoid or what, but are we being controlled by our government or some other force. Could it be mind control by big business? Does big business own government? It is kinda weird when the little things that come into our heads through education and daily life. Is school just another big ad. So many things run through my mind in the course of a day. This trans fat thing, gas prices, the banking issue, the election, right and wrong....

It is all the same. How can we make more money to buy more things or control more things. I am worried that natural and organic will soon lose their meaning once big business gets involved and everything will be natural and organic hence everything will cost more and natural may mean the use of something that is not all that good but still falls under the government guidelines thus tricking us once again then a law will be made to say what exactly it all means and.... Do you get my point? Do I get my point?

There is an ad out there with the tag line that has something to do with Do the right thing. I think it is for State Farm Insurance. Now these people are not dumb. If they can get people to do the right thing they will pay less in claims. If the ads are so catchy that we are to believe that State Farm is doing the right thing then they will become our insurance company. But what is insurance? Paying money to some entity in case something goes wrong. It seems to me that things cost a little more to fix when an insurance company is involved. And aren't many of the wealthiest people connected to the insurance industry. Of course that just happens and they wouldn't take more than they should because that wouldn't be the right things.

Ok I am rambling now. I will stop, but one last thing. When you ride your bike do you wear a helmet? Did you 20 or 30 years ago? How many lives have been saved with helmet use? Who makes all the money from helmet sales? Would we save more lives if we wore helmets when in a car? Could that be the next law, helmets must be worn when in a moving vehicle!!???

Whoopie Pie recipe submitted from Carol Roberts
1/2 cup shortening, 1 cup sugar, 2cups flour,1tsp baking powder,1tsp baking soda,1tsp salt 6TBL cocoa, 1cup milk, 2 egg yolks, 1tsp vanilla

Mix all. Scoop onto cookie sheet into equal "blobs"
bake 375 for 10 - 15 minutes

Filling
1/2 cup shortening, 2cups powdered sugar 2 egg whites (Beat till stiff) Add 1 tsp vanilla. Beat together until white and smooth.
Enjoy, behind closed doors?

Les Moore

I cannot believe that it has been a 2 months since I have written on my weekly blog. It is hard to think of what has gone on in the past month, or what will be going on for that matter. I will just start with my recent thoughts.
One would think that leading a simple life would be easier than living a complicated life. I don't think this is true. There are numerous venues devoted to teaching us how to live simply, magazines, television, books and radio. Simple living is big business. I have always tried to keep it all simple in my life. It is getting to me!!
I left work the other day and saw a bumper sticker that said Less is More. That brought me back to my youth. The time when I was forming who I was to become. My goal was not to have the big house, money and vacations. It was to have what I had as a child...nothing!!!
That is how I felt then. We did not have a large new house, a beautiful car, I can remember only 2 family vacations and many of my clothes were hand me downs with some strangers name on the waistband. I did have 8 brothers and sisters, grandparents and aunts and uncles who lived down the street, a bike, a paper route and most of all a sense of community. This is what I wanted for my family. As the years went on I worked at this. My brothers would say that it was a cop out. That I believed in these things because it was an excuse for my financial failure. Maybe it was. I didn't know how to make a decent living and have a family, without having someone that was not a family member raise the children.
I have been at it for over 25 years now. Life has been lived simply. And I am not having fun anymore!!! That is not exactly true. I do have fun and enjoy much of my life. But how do I enjoy it more with less? It is BS. I know that money can't buy happiness, but how do you buy freedom. Whether it is being busy with my business or working for someone else there is always an obligation to be fulfilled.
Maybe the key is to slowly go into the simple life. It is strange that when you are in a certain kind of space related "things" show up everywhere. For example when you are interested in a new car all of the sudden they are everywhere. Or you hear of a "new" food and then it is on every menu all the magazines and TV shows. The truth is these things are always there and when we focus on ourselves we see that we are not alone. That others are like us. This sometimes gives us a sense of security other times it is proof of the brainwashing of all of us by big brother and you know that all of the conspiracy theories out there are probably true. Ok ok I know where am I going?
Last week Liz had a friend staying with us. I am struggling with the "How do I make this life work" thing. Simple, but how. I go to bed and in the bathroom is an old book on the window sill. Living the Good Life by Helen and Scott Nearing. Oh yeah I thought that was the answer 15 years ago. Back to the land. Live off of what you produce. I love this thought and have always wanted to do it. But aren't there bears in the outdoors, would I need to use a gun? Could I really cut myself of from it all. Some would say that I have cut myself off from the rest of the world. I think that I do live off what I produce. Wholly cow without even knowing I am on my way to living the Good Life.
I am running out of time so I am just sort of closing this. But I will offer a quick and simple recipe for life. The Half and Half. Fill a large glass (16oz)with ice pour 3/4 full with lemonade and ice tea till full. Add a wedge of lemon,a sprig of mint and sit back and enjoy the good life.Phil

American Cheese

On the way home from work this morning I stopped at my favorite spot, The Black Bean Cafe, and got a breakfast sandwich. It was delicious. When I worked in Exeter I would stop at the Great Bay Campground Citgo and get one. They epitomize breakfast. There are so many ways to have them too. The classic is sausage. egg and cheese, bacon and egg, egg no meat, scramble the egg, over hard,over med,over easy (not to be eaten while driving!)..... For the daily E/A (short for egg amuffin sandwich)it should be on an english muffin and always the cheese has to be American.

The reason for the american cheese is the melt. It is like having a cheese sauce on your sandwich. Many people disagree with the american cheese thing. The thinking is that american cheese is not real cheese. I want to make it clear that that statement is not always true. There seems to be a muddled explanation of american cheese. Cheese food, cheese product, processed cheese, cheese spread, and Kraft. I think that the use of all of these words is what makes it difficult to figure out. While the first american cheese came from the combination of cheddar and other cheeses to produce a creamy textured and smooth melt today it is hard to find an american cheese that is american cheese. I believe that the desire to make everything the same is the reason for this confusion. When Kraft started promoting their cheese products it was rare that we would question what this was. We just knew it was easy to work with to get the desired results. Now adays we seem to be a little more aware of what we eat. The big companies went after money at the expense of taste, slowly changing the original product to something unrecognizable, yet we love it. For an interesting "discussion" on the subject go to Accidental Hedonist.

In any case The Black Bean uses the deli american cheese. It is white and usually Hoffman's sharp. The salespeople say it is cheddar. It is not the cheddar I know, but I like to believe it is cheddar. I do try to watch what I eat, from a natural perspective and more recently how much and often!!. Slowly I am leaning to organic products, but cost still gets into the way of always choosing. I also think that it is becoming such big business we have to watch out for what is and isn't even if labeled so. Perhaps slowly we will not know what labeled organic, natural or pesticide free means. Similar to how no one seems to really know what american cheese is.

When I began to write about the attributes of the breakfast sandwich I felt the importance of the american cheese to its greatness. I still believe that it is the ingredient that holds this sandwich together. I have tried cheddar, provolone and swiss. They do not work. Nancy has tried to take it to another level and made them with veggie sausage, whole wheat english and soy cheese and her eggs, of course. The results, cardboard between cardboard. This sandwich was meant for real american cheese. I will make them with cheddar for others, but will still have them the right way myself.

PS What about cheddarella?

I don't know where to begin. Since the last time I blogged there have been a few things happening. The biggest of which is that Liz has decided to stop Friday night dinners. This makes her very sad, but it was getting to be to much for her. I am certainly glad that I will not have the worry any longer. They were a great thing and a lot of fun for her to do, but not enough payback for all the effort. Her thought now is to do them on a monthly basis. We will see.

We had our second open mic of the season. It went really well. I would say even better than the first. There is a lot of talent in our schools as well as in the neighborhood. I guess this one went on a little longer than some expected. I left just before the end of the first go round. They didn't wrap things up till after 11:00!! Sorry to all the parents that did not get a call from their offspring to let them know what was going on. Sarah says that she is planning another for June, sometime after graduation.

Speaking of graduation. Marshwood's is June 14th. Sarah will be graduating and going to UNH in the fall. UNH's graduation is May 24th. My daughter Kate will be graduating with honors then. Oh yeah I better put up a sign that we will be closed on Saturday for this!!! Unless you would like to cook breakfast? two through college and two to go. Megan will be home for the graduation and we all look forward to seeing her and catching up with what is going on in NYC.

I have not written lately because I have been getting caught up in just reading other blogs. One that I have enjoyed is Vanilla Garlic and from there he has other places to go.

It is weird to read or even just peek in on strangers lives. I wish that everyone would write where they're blogs originate from. The personal blogspots are the most boring though. I suppose if you are family you would be interested in know what your grandkids are up to (unless you are my parents!). But knowing that little Betty said "Sky go boom" is not all that interesting. Unlike reading about Garret's cat Mace getting lost for 5 minutes?



I think that will do it for now. Till next time.