use real butter

I had every intention of blogging yesterday, but it was one hell of a busy day with photo processing, errands, and then cooking and baking all afternoon and evening until I passed out without even the excuse of getting plastered. And just when we thought we were rightfully stepping into warmer weather, we were once again graced with snow. Wait a sec, I meant to say we were pummeled with snow. 80 mph gusts - that’s something I don’t mind leaving behind! Of course, today is melted out and sunny. [*psycho weather*] Good thing too, as we are having some buds over this evening.

While prepping all sorts of dishes yesterday (for today), I also had that pesky issue of what to make for dinner yesterday. The guy has got to eat or else he wastes away to nothing. I mean come on, how is this fair? I go on chemo for several months and have digestive issues and lose 10 pounds and he forgets to eat while at a telescope for 3 days and loses 10 pounds. WTF? But back to dinner, I wanted something quick and healthy and tasty. Turkey burgers. Bingo!

start with a medium red onion

It’s a simple thing to whip up as long as you have fire, and by fire I mean a grill. You could pan fry the burgers indoors, but what the hell season are we in now and why would you want to clean up that pan? Okay, southern hemispherers can claim it’s autumn… but I really believe that grilling should be a year-round activity.

adding minced onion to ground turkey

Ground turkey is more widely available today than it was 15 years ago when I started making turkey burgers. Better yet, ground turkey thigh meat can be found at my local Whole Paycheck Foods store. w00t!, yeah? I am a thigh girl. Love chicken thighs, love turkey thighs. My quads are tree trunks. All the better to kick ass with. You too can kick ass with moist turkey burgers made of ground turkey thigh meat, Grasshopper.

jeremy mixes it up because i jacked up my thumb

So really, you chop up an onion, mince some herbs (parsley, in this case), toss it in with ground turkey (thigh meat), garlic powder, salt, pepper, and mix it up.

form into patties, ready to grill

I like to make my patties flat and wide because the buggers will shrink to the size of the bun that way. I really don’t like biting into a lot of bun and no burger. This is a big issue for me. We grill over medium heat for 7 minutes a side. If it is your wont to add cheese as it is ours, then slap a slice onto the burger 2 minutes before you take it off the grill.

we like the swiss

My own favorite combination is to serve this on a potato roll bun with lettuce, tomato, pickles, ketchup, and a swipe of mayonnaise. Dress it up anyway you like it. Good times.

this is my burger because the guy fears tomatoes

Turkey Burgers

1 lb. ground turkey meat (prefer thigh meat)
1 medium red onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup fresh parsley, minced (or whatever fresh herbs you like)
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
cheese (optional)

Mix ingredients together and form 4-6 patties. Grill on medium heat for 7 minutes a side. 2 minutes before burgers are done, place a slice of cheese (optional) on each patty. Serve hot.

I can still spy snow on the ground across the valley, but the sun has been doing her work in these parts. We have one giant snow bank left in the shadow of our garage. The rest of the yard has thawed and dried, much to Kaweah’s exploratory delight. It’s beautiful, really. While I was feeling like hell over the weekend, Jeremy cracked a window overnight to let some cool air in. Although my taste is boned from the chemo, my sense of smell is heightened and in my delirious state, the smell of that mountain air calmed me. I love being outside, sleeping in the dirt, smelling the pine forests, walking the hills. It smelled like camping, because we always camp in the mountains - but we live here. Hell yeah.

front yard first blooms: dragon’s blood

I can tell when I’m on the rebound from a chemo when I start thinking about what to cook next without wanting to hurl. That and I can finally clean out all of the penis-enlargement spam from my in-box…

I’m ready for spring now - or perhaps you’d call it sprummer since spring is more of a concept than a season here. I’m ready! Okay, I *am* holding out for one last storm to blow through here in a week or so if the atmospheric modeler, whose blog I read and worship, is correct (usually is). Haven’t put the tele boots away just yet, but I wore shorts yesterday and dusted off my trail runners. Can’t wait for the trees in Boulder to start pushing their blossoms out. The forsythia have already begun in earnest. Love to hear the bird songs around our house and watch gem-colored hummingbirds dogfight for territory from our deck. Did I mention the wildflowers? I’ll take those understated beauties over a royal botanical garden any day. I look forward to the cleansing effect of our afternoon thunderstorms and the feel of moist ground underfoot that solidifies before sunset each day. There’s nothing so soothing as waking before dawn and having that softly lit world all to yourself… unless you were up late admiring the August night sky and the Perseids shower. I’ve got drupes, berries, herbs, greens, seafood, iced teas, fruity girl cocktails, and grilling on the brain. Oh the grilling… I may be a ski whore, but there is something to love about every season - and I do.

let’s begin with some chicken: i like thigh meat

My attitude toward grilling is pretty straightforward: make the food taste Good. There is some crazy notion that men can grill because they are men. I’ve witnessed far too many men grill as if on a mission to char every ounce of protein within a two foot radius of the fire. [Is this somehow connected to the way men feel compelled to press the call-elevator button again and again, giving me that reassuring “I’ll take care of it, Missy” grin when I’m standing there waiting patiently for the elevator I had already called?]

pour in fresh lemon juice

Of course, men who DO know how to cook/grill/bake - well… that’s about as hot as a man who can tele like silk in my book ;) Anyway, I think my southern childhood of summer barbecues with leathery, dry chicken breasts off the grill at countless gatherings has turned me off to grilling chicken breasts. I prefer chicken thigh meat and that’s what I tend to use for kebabs.

add salt and freshly ground pepper

My first true introduction to Middle Eastern food was at Wahib’s… Wahib’s Middle East Restaurant in Alhambra, California. It got the seal of approval from NASA officials and Jordanian nationals alike (i.e. my old boss). I can’t even list all of the foods I fell in love with there, but when we departed for the East Coast to start grad school, I knew I’d have to find my own way without Wahib.

onto the skewers they go

The recipe is uber simple, which is good because I equate grilling with simple. Chicken, garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Dump it in a bag or bowl and marinate. Skewer those babies and grill.

baste and turn

The chicken is great served with a traditional side like saffron rice, but it’s also fantastic with grilled vegetables, salads, whatever floats your boat. That’s the beauty of the grill… it’s all good - just like the seasons.

serve immediately off the grill

Chicken Kebabs
modified from Middle Eastern Cooking by Christine Osborne

6 tbsp olive oil
6 tbsp lemon juice
2 cloves garlic, crushed
salt
pepper
2 lbs chicken, cut into good-sized cubes (I prefer thigh meat)
saffron or 1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tbsp butter, melted

Combine chicken, oil, lemon, garlic, salt, and pepper in a ziploc bag and let marinate for several hours (I go 24). Dissolve saffron or turmeric in melted butter. Thread the chicken pieces onto the skewers. Cook over high heat and baste with butter mixture, turning frequently for about 15 minutes or until chicken is done. Serve with saffron rice.

I am spazzing out just like I always do the night before chemo. I started my steroids today, which make me hyper. I drank a cola tonight (I rarely do, but caffeine helps to reduce this crazy swelling I get right about now) and that makes me hyper too. Last time this happened I just rattled on and on all night while lying in bed. My mouth was running 100 mph at poor Jeremy who was trying desperately to catch some shut eye, but he’s too kind to tell me to shut it… or maybe he just knows it’s pointless. There I was, “bluhluhluhlubluhluhluhluhbluhluhluhbluh…” until I finally got up and turned on the computer and eventually went to sleep out of boredom.

Luckily, I took advantage of my spike in energy and made a shit ton of food tonight after dinner. I had an ungodly amount of egg yolks leftover from the petits fours, so I made a quart of matcha green tea ice cream and another quart of coffee ice cream - all for Jeremy. The man loves his caffeine. He drinks two large mugs of dark roast coffee and can fall asleep within the hour. That’s crazy. I wash a coffee mug and I don’t shut up all night. I also cooked up a batch of laab for the guy. It’s always a little frenzied right before chemo. Because Jeremy spends the next 4 days working, cleaning, taking care of me, taking care of the dog, I feel it’s the least I can do to prepare a bunch of food for him ahead of time. He’s got a lovely red curry waiting for him in the fridge too.

Another regularly scheduled event either the day before or day of chemo: big dump snow day. Why? It could just be some periodicity in the parade of troughs that march across the continental US this time of year. Or it could be Mother Nature flipping me the bird. Either way, it’s one more thing I’ve had to just suck up and accept. We had 4 inches on our deck when we grilled dinner this evening (yeah, great planning on my part), and the forecast is for another 8-12 inches tonight. $%#^&@*~!

j-man does his thang

marinated beef skirt steak kebabs

The kebabs were fabulous. If you see kebab meat in the grocery store - don’t buy it. They use some crap chuck cut. What you should seek out is the skirt steak. In beef, tenderness is inversely proportional to flavor. The most tender cuts like filet mignon have okay flavor. The toughest cuts like shoulder, rump - great flavor as long as you slow cook the hell out of them. Skirt and flank are a happy medium for grilling, particularly with a marinade. I cut up a pound of skirt steak and sealed it in a ziploc with the juice of 1 lemon, 3 tbsp of olive oil, salt, pepper, and some oregano. 24 hours later… skewer those lovelies and grill on high to rare (okay, rare for me - you do what you want). That is some happy carnivore fare.

But back to our bipolar weather. Yesterday was hot in our town. Like 60F. The good thing about the warm spell was that we could finally give Miss Stinky a bath. Yes, Kaweah has been sporting a serious stink lately. No longer! Now she’s soft, fluffy, and smells of lavender (Buddy Wash and Buddy Rinse are teh best dog shampoo/conditioner).

she hates the baths

don’t feel too sorry for her

Okay, and back to dinner tonight. [Can you tell I’m spastic right now?!] I had an extra lemon chiffon cake from making petits fours, because you can’t make THAT many petits fours without becoming a little homicidal. What better way to use it up than to make some faux strawberry shortcake. I don’t think I’ve ever made real strawberry shortcake, I just take extra cake I have lying around, macerated sliced strawberries, and freshly whipped cream (add a little vanilla and almond extract for that “oh!”)…

oh, how can i NOT plate it?

top with more cake, more cream, and a garnish

I confess, I took a nibble. I’m supposed to avoid strawberries, but I couldn’t help it… just like the time I ordered a salad because if I didn’t get some raw greens I was going to run outside and gnaw on the hedge. Strawberries taste of warm weather - like the time we had just gone backpacking in Kings Canyon NP and were driving back to Pasadena on the 99 through California’s San Joaquin Valley on Memorial Day some 14 years ago. We (Jeremy, myself, and this other fellow who is what you’d call a human Golden Retriever) stopped at a roadside stand and bought a flat of strawberries for $7. FOR $7!! These were the kind that bled juicy goodness at the slightest touch, they were so ripe. We ate them all while crawling through the Grapevine with the rest of Los Angeles. It looked like murder. Then we got stomach aches. But it was worth it… and so was this.

Well kids, that’s all I got and that’s all you’ll get for a few days. Be good.