So, to start, I love being in the kitchen. I feel quite at home there, and honestly think that cooking for 12 is a hell of a lot easier than cooking for one. As a matter of fact, cooking for two should be easier than cooking for one, but not if the other person doesn't eat anything that you do. I live in a sweltering apartment in a big city, (it's pretty much 90 in the winter because of the steam heat and 90 in the summer with no AC). My aspirations for lacto-fermenting things are pretty much on hold until we have a place with a cool area year-round. That is unless I can get my dad to rig my old igloo refrigerator cooler to become a friendly bacteria incubator at 72 degrees. Sourheads (fermented cabbages, that is) here I come!
Now for the nitty gritty, inventory. In my cupboard right now I believe I have a few pints of fig/lavender conserve, 3 jars of peach orange blossom jelly, one pint of sage, rosemary and thyme jelly, 2 quarts of dilly spears and two jars of seriously spicy Asian plum conserve. The hardest part for me is figuring out what to do with all this stuff.
As I type this, I want to consider something else. My refrigerator. What do I actually use and what for? I love pickled jalapenos. Definitely a couple of pints of those for me. No Mexican feast is complete without them in my mind, and though they only cost a few bucks in the supermarket, I might as well make my own. My dilly spears won first place in the county fair a few years ago, and I think that was my crowning glory, (well, except for winning a blue ribbon for my wedding dress...) but since I still have two big quarts of them, I'll have to sit on it for a bit. Salsa is a tough one. I definitely use it and want to make it from scratch, but I still haven't found a home canning recipe that I'd like to dip my tortillas in. Maybe I'll work on that for the fair this year. Gherkins are something I'd like to have a can or two lying around for those weird moments I crave liverwurst and rye, but I'll have to see if I can find them at the supermarket. Red cabbage with apples is a favorite, as are pickled beets, so I think I'm putting them on my list, too. Mustard, too. I almost created an apocalypse the other night when I realized there was no mustard for my weiners. At least 2 different kinds. And what do you know, here's a Jack Daniel's recipe that looks enticing. Tomato sauce. Here'a a big one. I would love to make some sauce, about 20 quarts if I can muster up the will-power. We'll see how that goes. And barbeque sauce. We definitely use that here.
It seems I have rambled on a bit, which is completely normal for me. It's nice to be here on my new blog about cooking and I'm sure I'll have lots to say tomorrow :)
