mulberryshoots

"Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?" ~ Mary Oliver

Month: September, 2016

old fashioned spaghetti and meatballs . . .

spaghetti and meatballs

2 patties of leftover Angus grass-fed hamburger patties, sourdough bread in milk, egg, onion. . .

2 patties of leftover Angus grass-fed hamburger patties, sourdough bread in milk, egg, onion. . .

We’ve been trying out grass-fed angus ground beef lately. The other day, we had hamburgers with all the fixin’s and found the beef tasty but the texture a little dry. I’ve been thinking about using the leftover beef to make meatballs and find that cooking mid-morning for all the ‘sous-chef” prep steps makes dinner easy to put on the table when the time comes.

Today, I thought I’d mix the leftover beef patties with some sourdough bread soaked in milk, minced onions browned in the skillet, an egg, Lawry’s garlic salt, cracked pepper and salt. In other words, my classic recipe for making meatballs. The softened bread crumbs make the meatballs tender and extend their volume at the same time.spaghetti post 2

I think I’ll make the meatballs a tad smaller than usual so that there will be more of them and they’ll be easier to eat. After they’re browned, I’ll drain off the grease, clean out the pan and then add the meatballs back to a jar of ready made spaghetti sauce for about forty-five minutes to warm and meld the flavors of the beef and tomato sauce right before we’re ready to sit down at the table. (Yep, I’m not fussy about making the tomato sauce myself and have found various brands of sauce that do just fine.)

Sixteen medium sized meatballs from 2 hamburger patties . . .

Sixteen medium sized meatballs from 2 hamburger patties . . .

I’ll cook up some thin spaghetti to go with the meatballs – a little bit more bite than angel hair which we also like. And plenty of hand-grated parmesan cheese (not boxed) to add on top if we feel like it. A simple lettuce salad (boston and red leaf) with some chopped scallions dressed with a sharp Marukan seasoned vinegar and olive oil with crushed garlic and a dab of Poupon mustard dressing will round out the meal. Skip the garlic bread of old – too much carb & gluten!

Happy Sunday everybody!

“mise en scene” . . .

plantings on our back deck. . .

plantings on our back deck. . .

 

 

 

 

A quiet Sunday morning on Labor Day Weekend.

Here are a few photos I took which show our tranquil home – which, in retrospect, seems to be the only thing I’ve ever wanted. We are lucky to have each other doing what makes sense to us and sharing our adventures together.

favorite cup of coffee. . .

favorite cup of coffee. . .

Thanks to the Helpers & the Sage!

leaves and shoots today . . .

leaves and shoots today . . .

 

a favorite pottery teapot made by Warren McKenzie on the soapstone countertop. . .

a favorite pottery teapot made by Warren McKenzie on the soapstone countertop. . .

 

‘reward’ dinner notes . . .

reward dinner photo 1

This morning (Saturday of Labor Day weekend,) I made good progress in the living area. I hauled out all of the piles of things sitting around the room and grouped ‘like to like’: magazines, writing drafts, books, bills to be paid, etc. I consolidated the trash and moved the bins closer to the table. Cleared off all the extra stuff on our handsome pride-of-place soapstone countertop. Had a little more of a challenge figuring out where to put all the stuff that was being cleared away but that’s the way it always seems to be. And I don’t want to give it away either!

Second, I did two rounds of 30 minutes each and took a five minute break in between. Then, I decided to write checks, pay bills and prepare a package for mailing. Went to the post office, looked at a few things at TJ Maxx but decided to order online at Amazon instead. And finally wound my way back up to the fish market. The first piece a girl behind the counter cut for me was not big enough and still had the thick black skin of the tuna weighing it down. The second piece she cut for me was gorgeous. That’s the only word for it. tuna sashimi

On the way home, I thought the piece of yellowfin tuna was so fresh that I debated about whether to ‘dress it up’ and make one of the recipes for “Hawaiian Poke” (pronounced po-kay) with two kinds of onions (sweet and scallions), sesame seeds, nori and wakame seaweed, soy, sesame and a little honey for dressing. . . or serve it up straight and unadorned as a modest tuna sashimi with rice and cucumber salad on the side. I think I’ll let George be the arbiter of this difficult decision!

So, here’s the verdict and a photo of our meal: we both preferred to have the tuna sashimi-style with Ohsawha organic soy sauce and wasabi paste.

I cooked a pot of short-grain and brown rice in some dashi broth with a little soy added. (A teaspoon of instant dashi, a teaspoon of soy stirred into a cup of mixed rice (shortgrain white, sweet rice and shortgrain brown rice) with a cup and a half spring water in a rice cooker.)

cucumber wakame saladThis is what we have gotten used to eating and I call it “sticky rice” because of the sweet rice that’s included with the other rice. On the side, I’ll slice some English cucumber thinly and toss with some Japanese seasoned gourmet vinegar, soy, sesame and some wakame seaweed and a dab of sweetener. Yum!

Tomorrow, I’m going to tackle one of the bedroom areas and the plant room where the birds used to reside but are much happier being closer to us in the living room where they warble away every night around 7:10 p.m. right after the evening news. Go figure!

 

Labor Day Weekend Plans . . .

our living room cleaned up a few years ago . . .

our living room cleaned up a few years ago . . .

 

I guess some people have getaway plans for the long Labor Day Weekend that we just started. Looking around me at the various areas in our living space and because George is out on piano moving appointments in the mornings today, tomorrow and Monday, I’ve decided to clean up the house. To truly make a dent on what I’ve been procrastinating about all summer.
Yep, even watched an online video to de-clutter and organize your house in ONE WEEKEND.
Here are helpful suggestions:
1. The most important axiom is to “find a home for each item you want to keep.”
2) DAY ONE & TWO: “Sort “like” with “like things.” This is an important guideline – rather than just willy-nilly going around trying to re-sort things to make the room look better. So, consolidate plants with plants, books with books, magazines with magazines, clothing, bathroom stuff, etc. etc. Just sorting things will make a big difference I think. And it’s easy to do while getting one’s spirit in gear to do a lot of de-cluttering in one-go this weekend.
3) “Decide what to give away.” This is usually the hardest step for me because I like what I have and usually feel like I’m going to use or read something again. . . later. And there’s usually more than I need and not enough space to put it all, never mind finding a ‘home’ for each thingie. Hmmmmmm.
4) DAY THREE: “Organize what you’re keeping.” Instead of buying storage containers before you do these steps, buy them after you see/decide what you’re really going to keep.
5. “Work in half hour increments taking a 5 minute break up to 3 hours at a time.” This is helpful because you can wear yourself out going gangbusters for an hour and then give up completely for the rest of the weekend.
I would add an additional caveat – which is to:
6.  “Reward yourself for a day’s work well done.”What I have in mind for today’s efforts is to go to the fish market this afternoon for some sashimi-grade yellow-fin tuna to make a marinated raw tuna salad called “po-kay” or “poke” in Hawaii. I saw a feature about making it on a cooking show late last night and it looked cooling and delicious served with rice for dinner.
proposed dinner "reward" for cleaning out the house this weekend!

proposed dinner “reward” for cleaning out the house this weekend!

So that’s the plan on this early Saturday morning for this Labor Day weekend! More to come, hopefully!

mother nature . . .

East or West, Mother Nature knows best! . . .  A yellow goldfinch on a maroon echinacea flower.

photo taken by JEvans. . .

photo taken by JEvans. . .