Strong Women and Whiskey

not for the delicate palate

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Location: Oxford, Pennsylvania, United States

I've found that if you speak as if with authority on nearly any topic, most people will believe you. This frightens me.

Thursday, February 09, 2006

Today's Horoscope

from MSN:

"You have always felt the need to create, dear Taurus. The simplest tasks can fulfill this need. You are even happy if you draw on a small piece of paper! Over the last thirty days, you have been finishing off a project close to your heart. Don't be afraid to show it off to your entourage. People will be thrilled by your work, and you deserve to feel proud of what you have achieved."

Today marks the first day that I don't have to get all sloppy and messy and grimey doing work on the kitchen. We put the last coat of paint on the pantry last night. The cabinets are being set up as we speak. Within a week, we'll have appliances and all kinds of goodies.

Hurrah! I guess I may have to post some pics soon, eh?

10 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Today marks the first day that I don't have to get all sloppy and messy and grimey"..

Then again:

HAGGIS.... Serves 4-6
Preparation time overnight

Cooking time over 2 hours

This is an authentic recipe from Scotland and the ingredients and methods of cooking may be unfamiliar but we hope you enjoy the results.
Ingredients
1 sheep's stomach or ox secum, cleaned and thoroughly, scalded, turned inside out and soaked overnight in cold salted water
heart and lungs of one lamb
450g/1lb beef or lamb trimmings, fat and lean
2 onions, finely chopped
225g/8oz oatmeal
1 tbsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp ground dried coriander
1 tsp mace
1 tsp nutmeg
water, enough to cook the haggis
stock from lungs and trimmings

Method
1. Wash the lungs, heart and liver (if using). Place in large pan of cold water with the meat trimmings and bring to the boil. Cook for about 2 hours.
2. When cooked, strain off the stock and set the stock aside.
3. Mince the lungs, heart and trimmings.
4. Put the minced mixture in a bowl and add the finely chopped onions, oatmeal and seasoning. Mix well and add enough stock to moisten the mixture. It should have a soft crumbly consistency.
5. Spoon the mixture into the sheep's stomach, so it's just over half full. Sew up the stomach with strong thread and prick a couple of times so it doesn't explode while cooking.
6. Put the haggis in a pan of boiling water (enough to cover it) and cook for 3 hours without a lid. Keep adding more water to keep it covered.
7. To serve, cut open the haggis and spoon out the filling. Serve with neeps (mashed swede or turnip) and tatties (mashed potatoes).


Absolutely stomach churning.

4:17 PM  
Blogger Laura said...

sair - that's a project close to my stomach! sadly, I'll be unable to complete it since sheeps stomachs are difficult to come by, much less the heart, lungs, etc.

besides, don't tell me it's not a bit intriguing to try to cook something that warns you that it might explode.... *grin*

5:31 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

One word for you, lady: *vomit*

But apparently there is 'vegetarian' haggis. I must restrain myself from sampling that..

6:16 PM  
Blogger Mommyleek said...

Which leads me to wonder, exactly what goes into a vegetarian haggis? That scares me, perhaps more than the ingredients in a true haggis. Ugh, sounds like an episode of Fear Factor. Laura, don't go ruining your kitchen with such atrocities!

8:17 PM  
Blogger Stephanie said...

Just like a lot of older 'fake' foods, it's usually a lot of grains and 'earthy' foods. I was just sorting through some recipe cards from 1973, and there were ingredients like rice polishing and wheat germ and 'crap' like that.

And I say that as a vegetarian!!!

Laura, I'm so excited for you. Getting the kitchen in shape is such a big thing...it really is the heart of the home. Can't wait to see those photos!

11:57 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Don't say 'heart'..she'll be looking for one to cook in some grisly Celtic recipe.

:D

Thank the gods I'm Welsh, we stick to sensible leek dishes like cawl cennin, or caws pobi (Welsh rarebit to the non-Welsh out there).

8:56 AM  
Blogger Stephanie said...

Well, my German Grampa (not my generation, thank you veddy much) eats pickled pigs feet...every culture has it's 'gross' foods!

1:09 PM  
Blogger Laura said...

Sair, I guess I better not also tell you about my passion for good kimchee, huh? Actually I was thinking the next remotely celtic recipe I'll do are scones in the new kitchen, if that's not too offensive.... haggis-shaped scones. :)

Stephanie, they have those things around here, I have a very tolerant gross-out factor but that is right at the limit, that and my grandmother said she used to give mom the squirrel brains when she'd cook squirrel and Mom loved 'em. *shudder*

1:13 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I can't wait to see the kitchen.

In my opinion the only thing that needs to be pickled are cucumbers. If I won't eat it before it goes into brine, I sure as heck won't eat it afterwards.

6:18 PM  
Blogger Laura said...

hey courtney, check out what I did with pickled cucumbers. *grin*

10:42 AM  

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