Monthly Cooking Thread - February 2020

[Jamestown1630]

I’m very sorry to be late with this monthly post; I’ve lost an old, very longtime friend over the past week; am dealing with a household issue; and am temporarily out of ideas.

I’m tired of everything I cook; so I thought I’d open this February post up to the folks, to post their favorite recipe. Any – especially fresh, healthy – ideas?

We lost someone else, last month, too. Many of you will remember Phyllis Stokes, whose recipes and videos we’ve often posted/discussed here.

Phyllis passed away in late January, and her son posted this tribute and update:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJkP-eSyHbA

Here is the YouTube channel that Phyllis kept; may she rest in the peace she deserves, with her good man Mr. Bucky:

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCs9MqrsC3XI47q5uEhyS4ig

Last year, I purchased a Mountain (Appalachian) Dulcimer, and am trying to learn it. I became very interested in music again, after decades away. My only experience with stringed instruments is with very rudimentary guitar, and everyone said that the Mountain Dulcimer is the ‘easiest’ instrument to learn. But not so easy if you aspire to ever play like these:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INu3UQ35yVk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJMCpkUa6NY

In my recent musical wanderings, I also discovered another instrument: the Weissenborn Guitar. Sometimes a piece that you’ve heard many times comes alive in a very different way when played on a unique instrument:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-f9bpMpddA

(The picture at the start of this post is entitled 'Feburary', and comes from the 'Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry', an illuminated manuscript created between 1412 and 1416 by Paul Limbourg.)

-JT

[Jamestown1630]

This month: I’m busy and lazy at the same time; and very comforted by music. Please post your favorite recipes and new ideas.

-JT

[yldstrk]

I have been making a lot of artichokes

[Jamestown1630]

Does 'making' mean cooking recipes with them; preparing to grow them in the Spring; or creating them ex nihilo?

:-)

[leaning conservative]

So very sorry to hear about the passing of your friend. It is never an easy thing. ((Hugs))

[Jamestown1630]

He was very old, and very prepared to go. Thanks for the hugs :-)

[Repeal The 17th]

I have never seen or commented on your thread before.
So, I will just say something here...

I think people like to cook and eat the things they were raised on.
I don’t want or need to have “new” things added to my menu.
I am particularly fond of one-pot-meals, like stews and soups.
That is all I have to say.
I wish you a great day.

[Lurkina.n.Learnin]

I clicked on the Weissenborn Guitar one just to see WTH you were taking about. Listened to the whole thing. Amazing.

[Jamestown1630]

Different strokes.

I grew up on very plain, but delicious, Southern-style cooking. But I was amazed at the explosions in my taste buds when I discovered Italian, then Mexican, and then Chinese and Korean food.

I still love the food I grew up on; but I couldn’t do, now, without the addition of other, unique flavors and combinations.

(It’s sort of like ideas and reading; I like a lot of variety - it leads to inner growth and illumination :-)

[Jamestown1630]

I can’t believe I’d never seen that instrument until about a month ago. It’s got a big fat hollow neck, which I guess gives it that great ‘roundness’ of sound.

[txnativegop]

Give Mongolian Beef and Chicken a try. It is quite good.

[Robert DeLong]

I like the second link to Rights of Man (Pensacola Mountain Dulcimer Wildflowers) better than the first one. Pretty song.

[smvoice]

I just clicked on it too. WOW! What a hauntingly beautiful sound!

I just lost my brother in law to MS. So I’m feeling the pain, also. I think I will get my recipe for French Onion s Soup and post it. Times like this call for something comforting.

[Keyhopper]

Melt a stick of butter
Throw in some garlic
Throw in some peeled and deveined shrimp
Saute until cooked
Pour on some 4C Italian bread crumbs.
I eat it out of the pan cause I don’t like doing dishes.

[Jamestown1630]

Four Cups of bread crumbs? My brother makes shrimp like that (without the surfeit of bread crumbs) and it’s very good.

(They invented disposable paper plates a long time ago; disposable cutlery, too; and unlike surgical masks, they currently appear to be in adequate supply.)

[Jamestown1630]

I’m very sorry for your loss. My father, mother and grandmother all died in the month of January. For some reason, it seems especially painful to have a loved-one pass in the Winter.

[Jamestown1630]

I apologize. I realize now that ‘4C’ is a brand name - I’ve seen it in the store. :-)

[leaning conservative]

At kroger, like most grocery stores, have a marked down meat section. I lovingly call it the rotted meat aisle.

A few weeks ago I got 3 very large tri tip sirloin steaks for a really great price. I rolled each one tightly up in foil & froze. Yesterday I cut one in strips & marinated them in Sesame oil, soy sauce, garlic, sirracha, oyster sauce, ginger , & a little brown sugar. Took 5 MI Tues to salute & throw over rice. Delicious!

I too am cooking the same things & am bored with my food. But very grateful we have food.

[leaning conservative]

5 minutes. Geez.....

[Jamestown1630]

I like that one, too. Jessica Comeau is a very talented instrumentalist, and a good teacher, if you want to learn to play. I first discovered her because she was teaching a lesson on how to play one of my favorite old tunes, ‘The Water is Wide’:

https://fotmd.com/jessica-comeau/youtube/1514/how-to-play-the-mountain-dulcimer-part-iii-the-water-is-wide

Brett Ridgway is also a good person to learn from, on YouTube; he teaches many instruments:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01zHhHbzDCc

Something that I found very inspiring recently was this Ted Talk on ‘The First 20 hours’:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MgBikgcWnY