Less is More

Cooking with less energy, both inside and outside

Garlic Shrimp on Fresh Corn Cuban Polenta required some effort and heat, but many hands made light work.

Recovery from surgery took more energy than I anticipated. And our house didn’t cooperate; the heat pump went down as the temperature went up. What to do? As little as possible.

But we had guests in from Ireland, our good pals Olivia and Trevor, who have hosted us royally in Donegal and Sligo, so we rallied with simple menus. John did all the legwork so I could rest up, and we managed a fine dinner the evening they arrived in State College despite the temps outside.

Everyone likes to be involved in food prep, in my opinion, and Trevor mashed avocado for guacamole while Olivia juiced limes. Margaritas and ice-cold shrimp cocktail took the edge off while John sautéed strips of seasoned chicken and we assembled an array of taco fillings for our impromptu Taco Bar. We moved out to the cool of the deck and caught up on the intervening years. Olivia works as a labor and delivery nurse and dismissed me from the table when she deemed I should go to bed.

Olivia and Trevor from Donegal helped prep the pop-up Taco Bar for dinner. The Tres Amigos made Margaritas easy--and the mix made a tasty N/A drink for me with fresh lime juice, orange juice, and sparkling water.

The next morning we had delicious English muffins (from the Bellefonte Baker) and assorted jams—including the orange marmalade that Liz brought from England—and they made haste to get out and stroll through campus, down Memory Lane. Trevor went to Penn State 30 years ago and played on the soccer team, so they power-walked to Jeffrey Field from the HUB and went into as many of his old buildings as they could wander or talk their way into. When they returned midafternoon, they had logged 17,000 steps but were still raring to go.

Young, fit and fair!

John took them to the Boalsburg Farmers Market to pick up some tofu from Yasoda Mensah at Trifolia Botanicals, my latest CDT topic. Yasoda’s tofu, made the day before, is nothing short of amazing. Neither Trevor nor Olivia had ever had tofu, so it was a good place to start. We put together a grill menu with miso-marinated tofu kebabs and wine-marinated steak kebabs with onions and peppers. John cooked both to perfection over oak kindling in the Weber grill. I had made a raw broccoli salad with a lemony vinaigrette earlier in the day, and it was a great cold side with dried cherries and almonds. And we still had shrimp, even colder.

Tofu and Steak Kebabs, supermarket corn that wasn't good, bruschetta with a great farmers market tomato, and cold shrimp. Yogurt parfaits, fruit and rhubarb bread for breakfast. John made the coffee and I enjoyed my "fakeaccino", steamed and frothed milk with honey and Juan Valdez instant decaf from Columbia. (Sc'Eric, if you are reading this your eyes are rolling.)

Our breakfast the next morning was Musser Dairy yogurt parfaits with blueberries and my sister Mary’s seashore gift of salted caramel granola. We said goodbye to our friends who were headed to Seaside Heights with their son Aaron and his Jersey-girl wife Jackie to soak up some more sun before heading back to Ireland. Unfortunately, they also soaked up a fair bit of rain on the flooded coast before flying hom

Late lunch/early dinner on our own used the remaining shrimp and microwaved nachos.

Our early dinner later that hot day was a breeze. Time to 86 those shrimp, so I chopped them up with some avocados, tomatoes, cilantro, and the remaining lime juice and made a little salsa/salad to serve with the remaining tortilla chips that were getting soggy by the second. A little grated cheese and 15 seconds in the microwave revived them—and us.

Meanwhile, we were receiving camping photos from the feral Wyoming kiddos having fun at Preston Ranch, with s’mores and alfresco bathing. It’s the holiday weekend! It’s Rose and Stephen’s 8^th anniversary, and they revisited the site of their wedding with friends, now parents as well. Six adults, six children, seven and under = Fun.

Kids rule at Preston Ranch in Bedford, Wyoming.

The Fourth of July weekend was a drawn out affair this year. Lots of festivities and a couple of chances to meet new humans. Our friend Kirstin was in from NYC with her husband Charlie and daughter Lucia and I had never met the 2 ½ year old so I left my sequester to visit the family. Kirstin now resembles her mom Gina so much that they look like twins, and Lucia takes after her English dad. So interesting to see family resemblances! Gina’s Amaretti Torte sweetened the visit.

Lucia (pronounced, Lu-chee-a), Kirstin, and Gina and Gina's delicious torte.

On the Fourth I ventured out again to an annual 4^th party to meet Sylvia from Alaska, Kyle and Sarah’s 4-month-old baby. How interesting to see this next generation of humans and their keepers. Good luck!

Sylvia with dad Kyle and Uncle Brendyn.

There was lots of good food at Brendyn’s 4^th of July party, but the dominant factor was the World Cup, which played to a crowded living room.

Our next visitors were Carolyn and Jeff from the Berkshires/NYC and they arrived wanting to take us out to dinner, but that seemed like more effort than making dinner at home. So make we did—because that’s what we do.

I had purchased beautiful corn that Tuesday morning from Stephen’s Amish stand and wanted to do the Cuban fresh polenta recipe from the Paladares cookbook. (It’s a stunning cookbook, and if you want to add it to your collection, check out a used version on “other buying options” on Amazon and get one for under $10.) Instead of pork, I used shrimp from the freezer to top it off, cooking it with lots of garlic, parsley, and lime juice at the end. It was delicious. The eggplant recipe was also from the book; super simple and meltingly good. I also made fried plantain but cooked it improperly. (I’m not 100% yet. More like about 75%). When you cook plantain that isn’t completely black on the outside, you need to fry it once in oil, remove the slices to paper towels to drain, and then smash each slice and refry. I did know that. I taught it in the Foods Lab. Our fried plantain was tough.

Carolyn admires the Shrimp and Polenta on two of her own platters from her previous life as a ceramic artist. The Bad plantains.

The next day we did go out for breakfast, to the Waffle Shop, and it was exactly as it always is—excellent. I resisted the S3 special, which both John and Jeff ordered, and tried their central PA version of Avocado Toast, swapping a poached egg for the standard bacon. It was very good, and the fruit was a nice bonus.

The S3 and Avocado Toast at the Waffle Shop.

That evening, Carolyn and Jeff went to their friend Letty’s birthday party and John and I had a simple cold dinner on the deck. Because Less (work) is More (healing) and I need to be up and running next week.

Cold supper of tomato and cottage cheese drizzled with Carolyn's gift of Hudson Valley Balsamic reduction, melon and proscuitto, and British cheese from our local Weis, a gift from Nina. I get by with a little help from my friends...

PS--We got the news on Thursday morning that our niece Brooke’s fiancée, Jon, got the call that there was a liver for him. He has been on the transplant list for a year, and the 40-year-old was in dire straits. Johns Hopkins called him at 1:30 am and he and Brooke drove to Baltimore from Southern Maryland and found out at 5:30 that the organ was viable. The transplant surgery took 6 hours, and Jon was smiling and making jokes the next day. My kidney issue looks like nothing next to that, so I am ready to get over myself and move on. I will visit Jon and Brooke next Friday when I meet Dr. Rai to have the stent removed, and I will put this chapter behind me and welcome Jon back to vitality.

PPS—Sc’Eric came out of his coma and is eating food and ready to move to a rehab hospital. If you are reading this, Sc’Eric, you are one more medical miracle in the making!