Category: cooking

And A Very Different Dinner

The last time I was at ODS, I spoke with one of the staff, N, who always supports my efforts to make a difference and loves my cooking, especially baked salmon. We agreed to try to make a baked salmon dinner when I am back from the conference. Although I am “not supposed” to communicate with staff directly, with the absence of a coordinator, it was my only option.

Everything worked great, and it turned out that no matter how infrequently I come to the ODS these days, everyone remembers baked salmon :). All ingredients were purchased, except that I asked to buy eight lemons, and there were only two (although big ones :))

In addition to making baked salmon and mashed potatoes (which are also an all-time hit), I brought half of the apple cake, which I baked on Sunday, and the amount of praise and the number of “thank you”-s was way above average.

That’s all I need. I am happy that I made other people happy 🙂 and received so much good vibes!

Baked Apple Pancake

Baked Apple Pancake

Post-Thanksgiving Question

How is it possible?!

My fridge on Thursday morning
My fridge after – after having eleven people for Thanksgiving, having Anna’s family Wed- Fri, and giving away four large bags of leftovers?!

Just One Sentence To Describe Today’s Day…

… my fridge can’t hold all of the Thanksgiving supplies for the party of ten!

Salmon Soup Recipe – One More Time

After we returned back from California, I made the salmon soup at home. I wanted Boris to try it and compare with the “real” salmon soup. Also, I wanted to give the soup to all my neighbors to try.

I made the same amount of soup as I did in ODS, that is – this recipe times four. Everybody loved it! I hope that my friends will try to make it – it’s not difficult at all, humans can do it!

Actually, since there was plenty, I froze some of it – we’ll see how it will taste after I defrost it.

The Recipe

Since it looks like I can’t delay the recipe until I will be ready with the proper colorful post, here is the link https://theviewfromgreatisland.com/finnish-salmon-soup-lohikeitto-recipe/

The Salmon Soup Triumph.

When I was at ODS last time, we talked briefly about “doing something new, ” and I had two ideas about what it could be. One of these ideas was Finnish salmon soup, and that’s what we decided to try today.

Now, as much as I love salmon soup, I never tried to reproduce it at home, although I had a recipe from my friend Natasha. The task seemed a little bit challenging, especially because I had to multiply the recipe by four (for 16 people instead of 4).

It was a smashing success! Several folks helped me, and when I looked at the pot, I knew that everything came together perfectly.

Everybody praised the soup endlessly, and everybody was coming for seconds and thirds. The youth asked to make the same soup again next time, promising they will never get tired of it 🙂

Baked Pumpkin With Mushrooms

I have a long list of recipes that I saw in various cooking blogs I follow and didn’t try yet. Sometimes, I try a new recipe right away, but sometimes it might take months! I still keep these “not-tried-yey” recipes in a notes file with the hope to try them at some point.

This recipe waited for its turn since October :). On Sunday, I finally cut the last pumpkin from my CSA fall delivery:

I used a half of it to make pumpkin puree and then make a baked cheesecake, and pumpkin muffins, and then I used another half for this recipe,. It was so good, I can’t even describe! I could not imagine such a “simple” thing can taste so great!

The best part is, that a giant mushroom and a red onion were from CSA deliveries as well!

CSA

I haven’t participated in the CSA for two years in a row. First, my CSA in Palatine stopped home deliveries, and I knew it would be difficult for me to commit to Saturdays’ pickups for the whole season. And this year, I already knew I would be moving. 

Through summer, I bought fresh produce from several vendors at different farmer’s markets and asked everybody whether they were doing CSA. Several of them had a fall/winter CSA. I asked around and decided to try two. One of them, Nichol’s Orchard, had a short fall season with just seven weeks of deliveries, and another one, Urban Canopy, allowed to sign-up for a half-share (every other week, the total of four weeks. I think that this will help me to decide which one I will be doing next summer.

On Thursday, I had the first delivery from Nochol’s Orchard. I do not have a picture of the box because I had to be in the office on that day, and I asked Igor to wait for the box. Future deliveries will be documented :). 

Anyway, the box is here:). And what I love about CSA is that I am exposed to a variety of vegetables previously unknown to me, and I need to learn how to cook them. This delivery included spaghetti squash, which I know how to cook, but only because of the CSA:). The new vegetable for me was sunchoke, and I loved it! I made it roasted, and it was delicious! I gave some to Igor, and I ate the rest before I even noticed!

There was also some kohlrabi in this delivery; I always liked it, but this time I wanted to look up new recipes, and I found a salad with raw kohlrabi and apples, and it was great!

I can’t wait for the next one, and I am so happy that yet another piece of my life is back, or rather I found a new version of it 🙂

Nasturtium Salad

I didn’t make this salad for six years! But when I was shopping for my herbs, I saw nasturtiums, and I immediately knew I want them. All the childhood memories which I mentioned in this six-year-old post came to life:). Now that I had them for almost a month, I finally got a chance to harvest some and make a salad precisely like the one I mentioned in that old post. Just added almonds – I do not remember why I didn’t have any nuts in it six years ago, it’s not like me 🙂