Little House

So, one thing that was on the truck my parents brought out east was the story of the family that goes out west to the prairie.  The Laura Ingalls Wilder series was a big part of my childhood.  I remember acting out having to travel and set up a new life with my barbies.  I loved Oregon Trail (who didn't?).  And my maman still watches Little House On The Prairie when she can catch it.  

So in choosing a book to read yesterday I started the series with Little House In The Big Woods.  I finished that while waiting for G at a doctor's appt. and moved onto Little House On The Prarie.  For certain these books seem to have one effect on me so far:  I suddenly feel lazy doing nothing.  So I rushed around yesterday afternoon, picking up a legal pad holder, making lists of things, making plans.  Then I came home, made a double batch of homemade brown sugar (sugar mixed with molasses).  It's divine, but we prefer to use it after it's sat for a couple months, and so to prepare for Christmas time I'm actually going to be making a ton of it.  I made it with a little over 2 cups sugar yesterday and it smells like warm times in the kitchen.  

Then I began my evening.  I made a double batch of my pie dough and set that in the fridge to chill.  Then I made a double batch of salmon croquettes (notice a pattern), frying them all up quickly.  I make them thin as pancakes (because I'm terrified of them not cooking through) and as they used up the oil I realized that since mine were a little more "wet" than my grandmama would have done, they really didn't need oil, so I cooked them without.  The juice of the salmon has enough natural oil that it cooked them gorgeously.  We have plenty for G's lunches this week (he loves them and was excited I was making so many).  Then I moved on, preparing the equivalent to 10 large tomatoes.  I blanched, peeled, cored and sliced.  (next time I will be removing the seeds, it was too watery, but as it was from The French Kitchen I wanted to follow it exact....except I used my own crust)  I put that together and threw it in the oven.  Lastly I began working on a plum galette.  I sliced tiny little walnut sized plums in half, tossed them with a bit of our homemade cranberry vodka, and let them sit to marinate.  Then I moved on to pre-baking the crust and making the custard.  It turned out lovely and I finished all that up while G chatted with his older brother.  I was lovingly told to "get in the kitchen and cook something."  Ha!  

I used red tomatoes, then layered our farmer's market orange and green tomatoes (the ripe kind) on top.  Next time I need to slice paper thin.

I feel productive, since I also cleaned as I went.  And though my kitchen is not sparkling (the stove and the oven are my arch nemesis constantly getting dirty), it is pretty picked up, with nearly all the dishes either clean, or currently running in the dishwasher.  Today I am going to surprise G and clean quite a bit while he's away.  Because we have so much unpacking to do, we've been cleaning together more often.  My best friend is coming in a few months and I need an organized home before then.  So I'm reading a bit more of my book, hoping to be shamed into motivation again!  (God, they really did do so much, didn't they?!?)