I am back at my aunt’s, helping her get ready to move into a retirement community.  Very busy, but I’m so glad she’s going someplace nice where people will keep an eye on her.

Posting will continue to be light for the next couple weeks, so thank you for your patience!

My washer blew up.  Then my dishwasher died on Friday.  And now, this.  There goes my 3 4 year subscription.

Unless you act now. Meet Congress’s latest nightmare.

If you don’t think this will apply to your small backyard garden (Factcheck.org is dead wrong on this issue), then check out this provision in the bill:

Here is how this bill defines who is included in “Food Production”:

(14) FOOD PRODUCTION FACILITY- The term ‘food production facility’ means any farm, ranch, orchard, vineyard, aquaculture facility, or confined animal-feeding operation.

The summer roadside vegetable stand appears to be both a Category 3 and 5 “food establishment” since it sells “fresh produce in ready-to-eat raw form” and “stores, holds, or transports food products prior to delivery for retail sale”. The explicit exclusions in Section 3 (13)(B) do not exclude roadside vegetable stands.

Think it stops there?  Another bill, provides for the creation of the National Animal Identification System:

The USDA’s proposed National Animal Identification System (NAIS) was originally designed to give the big beef producers help in getting export markets which required disease controls. The idea is that every single livestock animal in the United States will be identified and tagged. All livestock animal movements will be tracked, logged and reported to the government. The benefit is to the big factory farms who probably do need this type of regulation. They get to do single ID’s for large groups of animals. Small farmers, pet owners and homesteaders will have to tag and track every single animal.

There are no exceptions – even small farms that sell direct to local consumers will be required to pay the fees and file all the paper work on all their animals. Even horse, llama and other pet owners will be required to participate in NAIS. Homesteaders who raise their own meat and grandma with her one egg hen will also have to register their homes as ‘farm premises’ and obtain a Premise ID, tag all their animals and submit all the paperwork and fees. Absurd? Yes – There are no exceptions under the current NAIS plan. The USDA has slipped this plan in the back door without any legislation. This is going to be very expensive and guess who is going to pay for it in higher food prices… You!

Get on the phone.  Check out this link and this link for other ways to stop this legislation.  Time is of the essence. Email your senators and congressmen.   BLOG ABOUT IT.  The right to grown our own food is one of the few rights we have left.

Just got back from a trip, and have a combination of a head cold and allergy.  Oh, and my new refrigerator is leaking water.  Stay tuned!

Everything is here, installed, and seems to be running fine.  I like my toaster oven, but it’s tough to rely on it all the time!

*** Update**** 2/11/09 Well, not so fast.  They installed my new refrigerator, but the range was the wrong voltage – 220 instead of 110.  Of course, now I have to return to the store and pick out something else, and a microwave that more or less matches the range.  Sigh.  Don’t know when I’ll be baking again, but I hope it’s soon.  I’m going through withdrawals.  But come back next week, because I’ll be posting a giveaway!  I’m going out of town this coming weekend – New York city – so hopefully I’ll have some culinary photos to post.

Master Chow, my honorable husband, and I picked out new appliances this past weekend.  They get delivered tomorrow.  In the next week, I’ll have a big post on what I learned about picking appliances, and I’ll also have a giveaway, so come on back!  In the meantime, please go see how all the other TWD bakers faired with this week’s pick, Floating Islands, courtesy of  Shari from Whisk:  A Food Blog.

Demised.  It is an ex-range.  It is not pining for the fjords.  (My apologies to Monty Python and the Dead Parrot).  It’s enough to drive one to drink, but I prefer chocolate.  Thus, no TWD this week.  Rats.

The good news is that I’m going to be shopping for a new range, refrigerator, and microwave.  The bad news is that I’m going to have to pay for them, since I have yet to win the lotto.

So . . . do you folks have any brands that you can recommend?  And don’t tell me to get a GE Spacesaver microwave, or a Maytag range or refrigerator.  That’s what I have!

For the past couple years, every time Master Chow and I have vowed to make no big purchases, things have gone strangely wrong.  As in our computers, printer, thermostat, and A/C having to be replaced.  Our microwave and refrigerator have been acting up for years, but we’ve been making do.  So guess what happened recently?  My stove/oven, a Maytag only three years old, has gone to that great bakery in the sky.  So, while you’ll be seeing posts coming up, they won’t involve the use of . . . heat, until I get a new stove.  Which will be very, very soon.  And while I’m at it, a microwave and a refrigerator.  ARGH!

On another front, please be aware of the PEANUT BUTTER RECALL.  It is expanding, and now includes CLIF bars, NutriSystems products, ice cream, and other well known popular brands.  See here, and check for updates here.  The recall list includes pet treats, so don’t forget your furry friends.

Tonight we’re going to order pizza.  On Superbowl Sunday.  Wish me luck.

Master Chow loves prime rib, and I had never made it, so this past New Year’s Day I decided to cook up a three-rib roast for him, and learn a few things in the process.

First, I found the meat on sale (at Whole Foods, no less!), and aged it for a week in the refrigerator.  Basically, that involved simply wrapping the roast in cheesecloth, and changing the wrapping a couple times.  To prevent the cheese cloth from sticking to the rib, unwrap and rewrap the cheese cloth after the first day. Before applying any seasoning, cut off the discolored exterior fat and meat of the roast.

Master Chow likes to be able to taste the meat he eats, so I decided on a Prime Rib Au Poivre recipe in the December 1998 issue of Bon Appétit.  He tells me that this is the best meal I’ve ever made for him, and he sat there chewing with his eyes closed, and occasionally murmuring that it was “soooo good.”  If you read the comments that accompany the recipe on the Bon Appetit web site, you will see that a lot of people feel the same way.

The one thing I did after I pulled the roast out of the oven was to pick off all of pepper coating – it seemed really, really strong, and looked a bit burned.  The bottom line, though, is that the flavor had permeated the meat, and Master Chow thought it was wonderful.  I served it with really sticky rice, and iceberg lettuce wedges, which is the only way to go according to my husband, because it’s really good at sopping up the gravy.  And the gravy was good, too!

This is my submission for Yvonne’s Magazine Mondays, so be sure to go over to her blog and see what she and others cooked up from their stack of food magazines!  Recipe after the jump.

continue reading "Prime Rib Au Poivre for New Year’s Dinner"

Later today, I’ll (finally) be posting my Daring Bakers Yule Log, and one of two Recipes to Rival appetizers (I hope; if not, I’ll have both appetizers up tomorrow).

Thanks to all of you fellow food bloggers out there, who keep me inspired and motivated to push that culinary envelope – my cooking has improved thanks to you!  May the New Year be happy, healthy, prosperous, and peaceful for all of you.