~wholeheartedly agrees~

Beauty, sensuality, et al, are most emphatically -not- about waifish, starving supermodels.

Most beautiful people I know are right here, dammit, and you're one of 'em. So :P!

And if it's a one-time thing... 's his loss. :) Y'r fabulous, babe. Make sure he knows it ;)

had convo with cute plumber...it may not be a one-time thing, but it won't be as regular as i'd like it. *snickers* and he told me he enjoyed himself muchly, and i returned the compliment. heh...as for my size/looks..i know, i know! *reads sig* *reads it again* however, a lifetime of feeling marginal does not go away in less than 2 years. *nods*

at least me and the cute plumber got to have a good conversation, and i think he'll be back a few more times. *wink* plus, he said my...adventuresomeness wasn't a turn-off or an intimidating thing, as i'd feared. in fact, we had to change the subject *blush* cuz he has to get up early tomorrow. or he may have wound up in my living room..he said it was a turn-on for him to ponder. *cheesy grin*

*is happy dragon despite her hideous ex-jarhead boss*

More on the usual topic...  *snuggles the dragonlady*  I'm glad you're having fun.

*snuggles back*
my pal dipika and i had a chat the other day...i said, i think i'm getting some good karma for a change. she agreed. *grin* please don't think for a second that i'm not very aware how lucky i've been. i've got to work hard and keep up what i've been doing right...and i think i'll be okay.

and have fun along the way; supposedly my neighbor julye and i are going to take the cute plumber with us when we go out on saturday nite(i'm not sure we're still going-depends on lots of stuff). *evil grin* we keep teasing him we're going to draw straws to see who gets him...well, she said that. i said or we could share him. *snicker* i don't know if she heard that or not..he did. i saw his eyes glance at me, and he kinda grinned. eh, we've all been friends now for a little over a year...we joke around all the time. *smile*

It's amazing what a decent haircut will do for one's ego, even for a day or two.

I got mine trimmed a few weeks ago (before the show), but the guy half-assed the buzz underneath and used scissors instead of an electric razor, so I need to get it redone soon.

I just watched Bill Moyers' acceptance speech for the Campaign for the Future's Lifetime Achievment award.  Two great quotes (from fairly close to each other, near the end of the speech):

The rich have the right to buy more cars than anyone else, more homes, vacations, gadgets and gizmos, but they do not have the right to buy more democracy.

...

Civilization happens because we don't leave things to other people.  What's right and good doesn't come naturally. You have to stand up and fight for it as if the cause depends on you, because it does. Allow yourself the conceit to believe that the flame of democracy will never go out, as long as there is one candle in your hand.

You can get a transcript or see it on video, at the site I linked above.

[ July 05, 2003: Message edited by: Auros ]

i don't have very thick hair, and what i do have is fine as well. *sigh* but i fear i may not have the kind of hair that is strong enough to be that long. i may grow it a little longer than what it is now, but i may not grow it to my waist again. *sigh* but it's a really nice color now, thanks to my red henna shampoo. it's just a bare tinge more auburn-y red now, and very shiny.

Good grief, Firs managed to bring back Auros!

Awesome! (Welcome back -- you don't know me, I was a dedicated lurker when you were active)

Auros! Wow... Firsfron really got something going!! Never met on the boards, but we met at one of the WFC once, or maybe twice!

Auros wrote:

Yeah, I was at the WFC in San Jose, and the WorldCon in LA, and I think I rememer you.  I think the SJ con was kinda Poe-themed for the year, maybe?  And I'm pretty sure that was the con during which DD and Miiru were both crashing at the Ivory Tower, my place in Palo Alto that I had for ~4 years before I moved in with my then-gf / now-spouse Xta...  History gets fuzzy once it's more than a year or two into the past. :-/

(I could swear I even was looking at some photos of that con recently, maybe liked to by Shads or DD or somebody.)

Yep was the WFC in San Jose.... Cyan made us victorian gowns to walk around in!!

A recipe for the frittata, as requested.  I'm trying to write this to be accessible to anyone at even the most basic level of cooking skill.  Unfortunately, I don't really tend to measure or time things.  I cook often enough that a lot of this stuff I just kind of have a feel for, at this point.  I'm putting in my best guesses.  Also, I'm describing the large version of this, which makes something like 6-8 servings.  Normally I make something about a third this size, as dinner for just the two of us.


-=( Frittata Spagnola )=-


EQUIPMENT

* You'll need a large (12") skillet.  I confess I mostly use non-stick, because eggs stick to things like anodized aluminum and stainless steel.  Cast iron would probably work well, but properly seasoning, cleaning, and maintaining cast iron is kind of a pain.  (Also, I'm not sure how cast iron would like the stage of this where you pour in vinegar and then steam the contents of the pan; iron is not friends with either moisture or acid.)  Probably the non-stick stuff will give me cancer someday, but it gets the job done.

* Potholders / heat-safe gloves, because when the pan comes out of the oven the handle is going to be blazing hot.  I have made the mistake of leaving the pan sitting on the stovetop, coming back a minute later to cut a slice out of it, and forgetting to put on a glove to hold the handle.  I don't recommend the experience.

* If you're using a nonstick skillet, you'll need a spatula or spoon that's not going to scar it.  I recommend heat-resistant silicone.  Wood is OK too, but given the intense red from the paprika in this, you're going to stain it.

* A whisk for beating the eggs.  I personally prefer a flat whisk, though a lot of people seem to like the basket style.

* Bowls of various sizes, so you can stage all the ingredients as a mise en place.  You'll need to prep all the ingredients before you start cooking, unless you have a partner-in-crime who can prep things fast enough to keep up with the cooking process; usually when Christa and I cook, we cut up all the veggies before I start cooking, but then she'll do the eggs and cheese after I've started, and then mix a drink while I'm finishing up, and we can have our pre-dinner drink while the pan is in the oven.  All very civilized.  If it weren't for the fact that we tend to change out of our nice work clothes as soon as we get home (and into ratty t-shirts), and the fact that our sense of humor tends more towards bad puns and double entendres than witty repartée, we could pull off some kind of Nick-and-Nora thing.

* Plates for serving. :-)


INGREDIENTS

* One and a half large (or two medium) onions, chopped.  (Red or yellow are preferred, but white is OK in a pinch.  If you stick a folded paper towel against the cut side of a half-onion and stash it in a sealed ziploc, and then slice off the thin dried-out layer before chopping it later, you can leave it in the fridge for several days and it'll be perfectly fine.)

* One large-ish sweet pepper, chopped.

* One chili pepper, chopped finely.  (I used a jalapeño for the moot, but really just about any type of chili will do, and you can pick something with more or less heat as suits your taste.)

* One large (or two small) yellow summer squash, or one medium zucchini, chopped.

* Roughly four small potatoes,  chopped. (I love Purple Peruvians, but regardless of exactly what you use, make sure it's a low-to-medium starch / waxy variety. You want the pieces to hold their shape after cooking, rather than dissolving into mush.)

* 1-3 cloves of garlic (depending on how big they are, and how much you like garlic), minced finely.

* ~6 ounces of cured Spanish chorizo, preferably cut into chunks rather than thin disks.  (Usually I start with a whole sausage, quarter it lengthwise, and then chop those up into pieces that would be cubic if the sausage was square rather than round.)

* Sherry vinegar, maybe a tablespoon, or even a bit more if you really like vinegar (which personally I do).  You could also mix up to a teaspoon of sugar or brown sugar in with the vinegar, if you like a really caramelized flavor and/or a kind of agrodolce / gastrique effect.  (I also do a cider vinegar / brown sugar thing with a Jamaican jerk spice mix on a fairly regular basis.)

* Smoked paprika, ~2 tablespoons

* Ground dried fennel fronds and/or bulb, about a tablespoon.  Note that if you're using ground fennel seed you can probably cut this down to half, or even a third, because the seeds are much more intensely flavored; if you don't have fennel, anise works too, but again, you'll want to use only a teaspoon of that rather than a tablespoon.

* Cayenne pepper to taste -- I did just a tiny bit, maybe a quarter teaspoon, when I was making this for a big group, but if you enjoy some serious heat, feel free to go with a whole teaspoon.  (Alternately, you could add hot sauce at the table.)

* 2-3 cups of grated Iberico, Manchego, or other good Spanish semi-hard cheese. (For a harder, more strongly-flavored cheese, use a bit less.)

* 8 eggs, plus a splash of milk (maybe half a cup?), whisked until thoroughly mixed, and showing a few bubbles on top.

"Chopped" means chopped into pieces that are maybe a centimeter or a little more on a side.  "Chopped finely" means, you know, a lot smaller than that.  For a chili pepper, I typically cut it into lengthwise quarters or sixths, and then mince those pieces down with cuts that are maybe a couple millimeters apart, so I end up with thin strips.  For the squash and potatoes, I like pieces that are maybe 1 to 1.5 centimeters in two dimensions, but less than half a centimeter in the last dimension, so they cook through.


PROCEDURE

* Kind of an optional step: If you're working with a sausage that is particularly fatty, it may be good to render some of that fat out, to use as part of your cooking oil.  With a classic Spanish chorizo, which is a fully cured, fairly lean sausage, this won't really work -- you won't get much fat, and you may end up burning the meat.  But if you're working with something like pepperoni (which can be up to 40% fat by weight, which is why it gets all that lovely grease on top of your pizza) you almost certainly do want to do this.  Bacon, also, will render some great cooking fat.  You don't want to fully cook it at this stage -- don't make it crispy -- because it's going to go back into the heat later.  But getting some fat out at the beginning means it doesn't render it when you already have put in enough oil for all the veggies, thus turning the dish into a giant greaseball.

* Put the pan over high heat (if you have an electric with a 10-point scale, around 8 is probably good).  Put enough oil into the pan to fully coat the bottom.  Dump in the onions, and sprinkle a little salt over them to help draw out moisture.  Sauté for 5-10 minutes, stirring every minute or so, until they start to look a bit translucent.

* Stir in the peppers and potatoes, continue sautéing for another 5 minutes or so.

* Around this time, you probably want to turn on the oven to start it pre-heating to 375˚F (190˚C).

* If it ever looks like there's not enough oil to keep everything nicely coated, add some, a little at a time (you don't want to be deep frying).  If things look like they're getting burned, you may want to turn the heat down a little (though you do want to hear things sizzling) and stir more often.

* Once the peppers and potatoes have started looking a little softened, stir in the squash, garlic, and sausage, then sprinkle over the spices, pour in the vinegar, and slap on the lid to trap the resulting steam.  Let everything steam for 5 minutes or so, kind of shaking/swirling the pan occasionally to encourage water on the lid to drip back down into it, and to keep things moving / stirred / unburned in the bottom of the pan.

* Remove the lid, and stir for a minute or two to allow the excess water to steam off.

* When it seems like there's not a lot of moisture in the bottom of the pan any more, sprinkle over the cheese.

* Immediately after getting the cheese on, pour over the eggs.  You may want to shake/swirl the pan a little bit to encourage the eggs to seep down into all the crevices, but you don't want to agitate things too much; you're not making a scramble.  Not that there's anything wrong with that, if you want to. :-)

* Bake at 375F (190C) for about ten minutes, until it starts to look set and slightly browned on top.

* Crank the oven up to broil (preferably "low broil", if that's a setting you have), and watch it like a hawk; you want to brown the top, but not burn it, and on broil it can go from "beautifully browned" to "hideously blackened" in a matter of about 60 seconds.  (Also, this level of heat is not great for your non-stick pan -- in fact, the user guide that came with it will almost certainly tell you not to do this.  As long as you get it out within a couple minutes, before the temperature in there rises past 475 or so, it's probably fine.)

* PUT ON HEAT-RESISTANT GLOVES!

* Remove the pan from the oven, and set it either back on the stovetop (if there's a cool/safe spot for that) or on potholders on the counter.  Allow to cool for 5-10 minutes.

* Serve using an appropriate spatula.  (Or, if you have a big cutting board / plate / tray, and want to get fancy, you can place that over the pan, and flip it over, to turn out the frittata, and then cut it into slices with a knife.  If you're not careful/quick, or if it didn't solidify well, you may end up with food all over the floor.  We did this at Tad's place, but it was a two-person job; I had to have Xta help me with the flip.)


You can swap out almost any of the ingredients here for other things -- try cauliflower florets, or eggplant, or sweet potatoes, or greens.  Try different meats or cheeses, different spice mixes.  Skip the potatoes (so you have less starch in the dish) and serve with some nice crusty bread or some kind of rice.  Maybe do some culturally themed stuff.  We did a Greek version of this a month or so back, with feta cheese, a bit of lemon juice in place of the vinegar, chopped Castelvetrano olives, and oregano, mint, and coriander.

You kinda have to learn from experience how long different things take to cook, and toss them in at the appropriate time so that everything is done all at once.  A lot of this is pretty intuitive.  Some things (e.g. avocado) don't really need to be "cooked" at all, just tossed in right before the last few steps; others (like eggplant, or root veggies like carrots) are obviously hard / tough, and need quite a bit of cooking time; some stuff may even go in right at the beginning along with the onions.

If you add ~3 cups of half and half to the eggs (instead of the smaller amount of milk), dump the veggies into pie crust (you'd probably need two 9" crusts) rather than leaving them in the pan, and then put the cheese and eggs over that and bake at 350 for ~50 minutes, you will get quiche instead of frittata.

Last edited by Auros (2013-04-04 14:06:41)

Magpie wrote:

You're making me wish I had more patience for cooking... but who knows, in summer, when I have more fresh, homegrown veggies - it's something to keep in mind!

I've found that the whole process of cooking is, for me, very calming and centering, and I really love being able to produce food that's significantly better than many restaurants, at a fraction of the price (even at Whole Foods prices for produce).  Also, cooking with my sweetie gives us some time at the end of a hectic work day to just be together.  It's one of the fundamentals of maintaining our relationship. :-)

Magpie wrote:

on the whole, I think I prefer growing my food to cooking it. ;)

Xta is pretty good at gardening -- she raises a lot of our herbs -- but I have a black thumb.  I'm good with animals, but can't take care of plants to save my life.