Good Will

The South is riddled with Good Will EVERYWHERE! In Winston Salem where I work there are 4. Plus all the surrounding towns have a couple. I have recently started seeking out mason jars. I use mason jars for everything. Lunch and leftovers are stored in there, pantry essentials, drinking vessels and most importantly canning. Unfortunately mason jars can be pricey when you use so many. Often when I give out my culinary treats to friends and family I don’t always get the jars back.  At approximately $1.50 a jar including a new seal it can get steep pretty quick. That’s when I discovered that thrift shops are full of mason jars that people don’t realize are GOLD for canning. I’ve been able snag lots for anywhere from .25-.75 cents a jar plus some of them are older versions that have different shapes and markings on them. I can’t wait to use them this summer. Since Heather doesn’t share the same passion for thrift shop hunting I have made a new companion in crime, Nate’s Mom. She loves Good Will just as much as I do if not more so I am in good company on random weekends.

My First VT Visitor

Finally someone from VT has decided to visit. Truth is I am homesick and ready to see some friendly familiar faces besides Heather and Anthony. Matteo was working NC for a week and decided to extend his travel to Carrboro to spend less than 48 hours with the super fun Socha Sisters. We perfected the art of day drinking on a gorgeous sunny 70-degree Saturday. It happened to be St. Patty’s weekend so we go our fill of green beer and local brews in Carrboro. We then stumbled back to Heather and Anthony’s apartment to introduce our guest of honor to all of Heather’s friends. We then added more booze to our already full tanks by partaking in some of my favorite drinking games; Beer Pong and Flip Cup. All I can say is we had 3 people vs. 4 in an epic VT vs Non VT game of flip cup and WE STILL WON. YESSSSS!!!!! I love winning.  After that things got a little bit blurry.  Heather acquired some weird carrot top look alike wig, corned beef was devoured and at some point drunken phone calls were made to my BFF Katrina in VT to settle an argument Matteo and I were having. From what I hear Matt doesn’t remember much from this part of the night. Somehow he made it back to his hotel in one piece. Sorry I couldn't escort him but I was too boozed to be walking around outside. Epic Weekend.

Fermentation 101

Heather loves my Mom’s Sauerkraut. Apparently it’s easy to make and I’ve always wanted to dabble in the fine art of fermentation. Mom said all I really needed to do was massage some shredded cabbage with salt and pack it into a container till it’s juices cover it. Let it sit on the counter for a few weeks and voila you have sauerkraut.  Not as easy as she made it sound. I got it started out all right but then it started to take on a weird smell, not like sauerkraut. Funk started growing on the top and I was worried the skunge would taint the cabbage on the bottom of the jar so I tossed it. I will attempt it again in the future but I need watch someone do it first. I’m too much of a visual learner. 

I realize I have been slacking on my blog since I got a job. Now that I don’t have gobs of free time this page has suffered. I am feeling a bit more motivated to put some new stuff up here. There are tons of adventures and cooking disasters I have experienced but have been pinched for time in putting them up. Here are some of the highlights of my life since I have moved down to North Carolina. I've split it into 3 parts because there's so much stuff!

Southern Hospitality

I started my adventures in nursing and living in the bible belt of the country. People are really friendly down here but I’m realizing they’re a bit different than the people in Vermont or New England in general. Religion is everywhere, everyone goes to Church, everyone prays for you and most social activities and friends involve church based groups/parties. My roomie explained all social activities around here revolve around church. Maybe this explains why everything is closed or has limited hours on Sundays. Nope I'm not living in Spain, it’s the South where Sunday is the day of rest.   All of the girls on my unit are super nice and friendly but there seems to be a common thread in many of them. Over ½ of the nurses are in their 20’s and 30’s. Either engaged or newly weds and it seems they all can’t wait to get pregnant and become housewives. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing; I’m not trying to start drama at work I’m just usually around ladies with this desire. Strange that they worked so hard for their degrees and have such a strong desire to stay at home and be Moms. Whatever floats their boats. Another Southern thing is I find everyone refer to complete strangers as “honey, sweetie, sugar”. I’ve even found myself doing it with patients.     “Sweetie can I just grab your blood sugar for a minute.” And don’t get me started on the food down here. AMAZING. I didn’t realize I liked biscuits so much. I LOVE THEM. Okra is my new favorite veggie. I’m sure eating them deep-fried kills the nutritional benefit of eating them. BBQ is everywhere and it tastes delightful. Oh yeah, did I mention how much I love biscuits?  But I have to limit my intake or I will soon have a biscuit basket hanging out in my mid section. Even though the food is great it can be harder to find local restaurants around here because this place is swamped with fast food chain and other chain restaurants. Golden Coral, Cracker Barrel, Sage Brush, Arbys, Hardees, Taco Bell, Biscuitville (yum) and Bojangles is EVERYWHERE. I don’t know how a large majority of the women down here are well dressed, fashionable and eat this delicious food and still look so svelte. TELL ME YOUR SECRET!

Adventures with Heather

Since I haven’t really made a solid friends yet, Heather and I have been chillaxing and hitting up some fun activities while her husband lives in the lab on the weekends.  We went to our first UNC Chapel Hill college basketball game. I don't really get to hyped up for sports, much less college level sports but I guess around here it’s a big deal. People dress up, paint their faces, have special cheers. It’s a big deal. It was so much fun to see everyone so pumped up, watch the marching band and learn some basketball facts from Heather. I didn’t know she had so much ESPN game knowledge. Maybe it’s common sense or she actually listened to what our Gym teachers said during the basketball unit. Either way it was a blast. My favorite part was the half time show. They have a cheer team AND a dance team that supports the teams during games. They also had the special jump-roping group that did all sorts of tricks. AMAZING. I still don’t know how they managed the tricks but I LOVED IT. Teach me to double dutch, PLEASE!!!!

Canning

I have been slacking on my canning since I’m not really set up for preserving but I was able to make a quick batch of pickled asparagus and attempted my first batch of creole pickled okra. Both were delightful and I was able to show Heather a little bit about canning. I also busted out my pressure canner for a second time thus far and make turkey and chicken stock out of all the carcasses Heather has been stashing in her freezer for such an occasion. I think Anthony was getting rattled by the lack of freezer space so we had to make quick work of the bones before he threatened to toss them.  It was delightful and I think Heather has used up all her jars so far. I’ve also started freaking out looking at all of the jam and pickles I’ve got in the cupboards of NC and PA. I made all of these treats and have been squirreling them away to enjoy as special treats but now the summer is creeping upon us I need to make room for new pickles and jams. I have started eating jam and Greek yogurt everyday but I don’t know if it’s enough. Luckily it won’t be much work for me to knock off the pickles. I can easily eat a jar in a sitting. I’m currently looking for baked treats that incorporate jams and jellies that I can pass off on my co-workers to help me nosh on the last bits of jam goodness that I possess.

I’ve been running into a bit of a breakfast conundrum lately. I need to prepare breakfast for work so that I don’t pass out during dressing changes while in my plastic gown (i.e. sweat suit from hell) and I don’t have a lot of time or energy at 5:00am to cook up something hearty. I wake up with just enough time to thrown on the clothes I picked out the night before (hmmm, which blue top and bottom do I want to wear to work…so many endless fashion choices…) brush my teeth and grab my pre packed lunch from the fridge. Whatever I'm eating for breakfast needs to be ready in 5 minutes or less, preferably something I can eat in the car.  If it’s something I’m not really into I won’t eat it. I also don’t do sweet breakfast things. That eliminates cereal, pancakes, waffles, oatmeal and so many other common breakfast foods. I also want it to be healthy. SO PICKY! I was content eating oatmeal with savory toppings mixed into it like cheese, scallions and ham cubes. But I’ve been eating that for the last 3 weeks. I need something new. That’s when I thought of my Dad.

At some point in my Dad’s life, either shortly before meeting my Mom or during their first years of marriage he was a vegetarian.  I happen to love meat and will never become a vegetarian but I do enjoy eating Tofu.  I can imagine while my Dad was a bachelor his cuisine didn’t stray far from what he eats at our house when Mom doesn’t make dinner. Essentially anything that will transport cheese and onions into his gut. Cheese and onion nachos? Cheese and onion rolled into a tortilla? Onion and cheese on Triscuits? Cheese and onion sandwich? All of the above and more. And lets not forget my Dad doesn’t finely dice or chop anything. Takes too much time and effort so these “meals” have HUGE hunks of raw onion. This is one reason why we would fight over who would sit next to Dad at school functions. He was always late and reeked of onion.  As a kid Dad only made a handful of signature dishes. One of my favorites was his tofu scramble. It’s cheap, easy and pretty healthy.  Dad would make us this scramble with onions and cheese with some celery tossed in. We would then coat it in ketchup, voila! I'm pretty sure Melissa and myself still eat this but the rest of the fam has tossed this recipe to the wayside. And when I say “recipe” it’s a pretty loose one with room for additions. 

Dad’s Tofu Scramble

Firm Tofu, Drained

1 Small Onion Chopped

2-3 Stalks of Celery Chopped

Shredded Cheese

1 tsp. Cumin

In a pan on Medium heat cook up onion and celery with a tablespoon of water till them become soft and translucent. Take your block of drained tofu and crumble it in the pan. Heat through and sprinkle with cumin and cheese. Turn off heat and add lid to help melt the cheese. Done.

My variation:

I had just cooked up a couple of pieces of bacon for sandwiches so I just sautéed my onion and celery mixture in the bacon grease. My roomie comes from a family of farmers and her Dad dropped off the most amazing mushrooms I’ve ever eaten in my life. I sliced some of those and added them into my veggie mix. Once everything looked translucent I added the crumbled tofu. Seasoned with extra sharp cheddar and cumin. I like to top this dish (any everything else I eat) with hot sauce. YUMMMMMM!!!!!!


****side note****
These mushrooms are the best I've ever eaten, if this is some ploy for my roomie to kill me with poisonous shrooms, you can all start looking in my undigested stomach contents when the autopsy is performed for the cause of death.