Blog Food Network

So if you have half a day to kill and a taste for Asian cooking, give it a try.

About ten days ago or so the city of Fort Collins began spraying for mosquitoes as we already had several reported cases of West Nile Virus in town. The city web page advised closing all windows and shutting off AC if you had it. They also said to cover your garden. Well, we can’t cover the plum or apple tree so I went out and pulled the largest and softest plums. I only got a little bit picked before we heard the truck on our street. But by the end of last week the plums we hadn’t just eaten were nearing over-ripeness. Luckily it coincided with a slight reprieve in the heat so I cooked up a batch of plum butter.

I bake on stainless steel baking sheets, bake my bread in stainless steel pans or in stoneware and do my oven and stove-top cooking in cast iron, glass, enamel or stainless steel. Everything turns out just fine. Today I want to address the dangers of non-stick coatings on pans. I can hear the dreaded cries now - it is so CONVENIENT! It is so easy to clean up …..I know, I know….but what I want to ask you is this….IS IT WORTH IT?

Well, I have gotten better and my latest tool to help me is something interesting. It’s called a pressure cooker and I know my Mom and a couple of the “older” generation have some experience with it around here. While it may have been used before, I was probably to young to care. Now I have one, and the concept of pressure cooking was intriguing and mind-boggling at the same time.

But one the other side, I get to pay cheap rent, eat good cooking and at the end of it, get to buy a flat, no more Mr Landlord for me, I hope.

We’re having a house-full of company tomorrow for PM’s baptism. She asked for Kalua Pig and Settler’s Beans, both of which are cooking or ready in the fridge as I type. Of course, we had to clean house. We had to get groceries. We ran so long today that I never had a cup of coffee at home. I did get a white chocolate latte (skim milk) tonight, but that’s it. I also made a batch of fudge and a pretzel/Rolo thing That Man heard about at work. Tomorrow, I’ll make peanut brittle and possibly Bon Bons for my Dad.