Random Ramblings

I've had a few people mention lately that I haven't been posting, mostly due to the fact that I haven't been cooking very much.  I haven't even been keeping up with my Food & Wine or Wine Spectator subscriptions.  They've just been piling up.  None of this is good.  My life is certainly fuller when I have food, friends and writing in it.  I have a feeling that the coming of winter will have me back to my usual cooking and entertaining ways.

In the meantime, I couldn't sleep tonight, so I thought I'd post a random smattering of food-related thoughts.  They shall be numbered, in true engineering fashion...

1)  I discovered tonight that Dante loves popcorn.  "Loves" is probably an inappropriate description.  He's obsessed with it.  Most people have a default craving for sweets.  I, on the other hand, invariably crave salty, crunchy snacks.  Apparently my cat has similar cravings.  Tonight, while scouring my bare pantry (bare, as in, full of stuff I didn't feel like eating), I found some packets of "lite" microwave popcorn that had expired in August.  Clearly popcorn has a decent safety factor for the expiration date, considering it's simply dried corn and salt.  Come to think of it, I'm pretty sure such a combination would last nearly indefinitely, but I probably won't try to test that theory.  At any rate, I doctored up the horribly bland popcorn with some fake butter and seasoned salt and headed back to my bedroom to read up on 3 months of Food & Wine.  Dante immediately turned into Stealth Kitty, came sneaking up to the bowl and quickly swiped a few kernels.  He scarfed them down before I could grab them from him.  I'm guessing popcorn is not a cat-safe food, but he did everything in his little four-pawed power to get more popcorn.  I had to go dump the rest so he'd leave me alone.  I grabbed this photo while he was still celebrating his little victory.  It's pretty low quality, even for an iPhone shot, but it will do for tonight...

2)  I had a brunch date today.  It was relatively awkward and unenjoyable.  The highlight was when this poor fellow asked me what saffron could be used for.  I'm pretty enthusiastic about saffron, as can be seen by previous posts.  I leapt at the opportunity to fill the void in the conversation with a rambling monologue about this precious spice.  I'd like to say that he was impressed, but I think he probably just felt a bit overwhelmed.  When I told him I usually make paella when I need to use up a lot of saffron, he said, "ah, I've heard of that before..."  *Sigh*  This might need to be a weed-out question for future dates.  "Do you know what paella is and can you spell/pronounce it?  How about tomatillos?"  I then suggested Risotto Milanese and got a blank stare, at which point I diverted the majority of my attention to the Cowboys/Texans game on the nearby TV.  I realize how elitist this sounds, but I just don't see how I could connect with someone that doesn't have at least a curiosity about food.  I mentioned to him that I was going to try to make saffron ice cream at some point soon and he replied, "Ah, that sounds interesting..."  Ironically, when I opened my September issue of Food & Wine tonight, there was an entire article on spices, centered around a spice trader called the Saffron King.  One of the recipes was for a coconut cake with saffron cream.  Now I know what I'll be using for the base of the saffron ice cream.  I almost considered emailing this poor date guy with some of the saffron recipes in the issue, but decided that would send unnecessary mixed messages.

3)  I bought a grill a few weeks ago.  It's a dual gas/charcoal grill.  I'm pretty excited about all the possibilities, especially since it opens up the opportunity to cook all this fish I have in my freezer.  I never want to bake fish because that generally makes it unsuitable for human consumption.  Pan-frying it makes the house smell like a cat food can.  Grilling it is pretty much my only acceptable method.  I blame my previous lack of grill as the main reason for my continuing accumulation of frozen fish.  I baptized it with a Labor Day cookout, feeding about 25 people.  It was a great time.  When I bought it, people commented about it being the end of the summer and that I wouldn't get much use out of it.  I'm not entirely sure why the winter would keep me from using the grill, I don't think the charcoal or gas really cares what temperature it is, but I guess we'll see how motivated I am come the single digit temperatures.

And that shall conclude my insomnia-inspired ramblings.

More to follow in the near future...