Kick it up in the kitchen

Let's start this off by saying SEASON YOUR FOOD. 

Now that that's out of the way...I am not a spicy food person, but I do like a little kick now and then. It changes things up from my usual array of spices and my taste buds appreciate it. If you are also leery of food being too spicy, there are ways to add flavor and a little kick without burning your mouth off. And ways to season your food without overdoing it.

Check your Pantry

What spices do you have in your pantry? I hope you at least have a solid selection to season your food with, including some that are going to kick it up a notch to borrow an Emeril saying. Think about which spices you would prefer, and make sure you have them easily to hand as you cook. Chef  Curl Ardee is Black-woman owned spice company and her mild seasoning is kicky AF. I love Penzey's, of course - their Fox Point and Roasted Garlic are two of my favorite seasonings of all time.. I am also hugely into the McCormick blends, which I didn't even know existed until I started following Tabitha Brown on Instagram. 

Slow your Roll

When seasoning food, start slow, especially if it's spice you're adding. You can always add more but you can't subtract. Keep that in mind, because it can be all too easy for the spice to overpower the actual taste of the dish, and that is not what you want. Subtle and delicious is the goal. 

Understand How Spices Work Together

Spend some time considering how different spices work together. This will help you know something of equal importance - which ones simply don’t go together at all. Once you are clear on this, it'll be easier to create delicious meals that appeal to your palate. I promise you will look forward to vegetables more when they are seasoned well. 

Being Basic is Cool

A lot of cooking comes down to having the right sauce for the dish, which is why it’s important to be able to cook some of the most basic essential sauces out there, including ones you can add a spice to, like an aioli. MFD does like spicy food, and a sauce like this is a good way both of us can enjoy it - I can make it and split it and MFD can add more. This is a great, super simple recipe to make sriracha aioli from scratch. That can then be used as a side to so many dishes, or as a dip. Aioli is king, but it's a straightforward and easy thing to put together. If you add a feather to your cooking cap this year, let this be it. A nice sauce elevates boring old baked chicken breasts or pork loin, you know? Once you master this, move on to hot mustard - I'm going to try the one from Dwardcooks this year.

What new cooking ways are you trying this year?

 

Running down into the spring that's coming

So I said I'm a snowball running, running down into the spring that's coming all this love 

Melting under blue skies 

Belting out sunlight 

Shimmering love

Welcome, spring. I can't wait for the scenes to unfold like those pictured above from previous springs.

Happy birthday to my uncle Jack today!

 Lyrics: Counting Crows Accidentally in Love

Waiting for the spring that won't ever come

All day yesterday I was singing that  - waiting for the spring that won't ever come even though the actual lyric is "waiting for the trains that just never come" from High Life by the Counting Crows. I think in song lyrics, and sometimes the ones I fuck up become blog post titles.

It's been calendar spring for two weeks and felt like spring on like two occasions for five minutes each. Everything is brown, skies are mostly gray, and it's a gamble to leave your winter coat at home. Except for today, when it's supposed to be 68. Tomorrow highs back in the 40s. Monday morning, snow. Snow in the weekend forecast too.

Between today and tomorrow I'm going to shave my legs, get my hair done, give myself a pedicure,wear bright colors, and apply self tanner in an effort to lure spring out for good.

You should do your version of the same. It's going to take all of us to pull spring away out from under the winter stranglehold this year. Let's lure it out with love and wooing words and beauty and preparation.

I have chosen to wear a spring dress with leggings today. It's the first time it's ever seen the light of day, and I did not realize the detail that I thought was gray is actually green until I got into the full light of my office so my charcoal gray leggings are a little off. Sorry about it.

Let me know what you'll be doing to add to the cause.

Grinch List

Let me preface this by saying that I enjoy the Christmas season. I like to deck my halls, share good cheer with those dear to me, send and receive cards, sing Fairytale of New York at the top of my lungs, marvel over ugly Christmas sweaters, sit on the couch and admire the glow of our tree, put reindeer antlers on my dogs, donate toys for tots, bake Christmas cookies, watch Christmas Vacation and A Christmas Story, see everyone's tree and Santa pics, the whole nine.

But there are things I don't like too, and I'm probably not the only one. We rarely mention the stressful dark side of the holiday season for fear of being branded a Scrooge. Even though this is a season cloaked in magic, there is a reality to it, like there is to everything. Not loving everything about the holiday season doesn't make me or you Scrooge. This year my gift to myself is acknowledging that.

So what don't I like?

Doing the Christmas tree. I like it when it's up, but putting it up? No. Thankfully I'm married to MFD W. Griswold and he does it start to finish. And he does it very well - he clips it lovingly with scissors, he places each ornament carefully. He has an eye for symmetry and our tree is always beautiful. I usually have to take it down, which I also hate, but I'll take it. And, pine needles. Insidious vacuum hose ruiners.

Christmas music 24/7. Or that Christmas Shoes song, ever.

The attempt to cram a year of cheer into one month. By 12/26, I'm tired.

Seeing Christmas decor in stores at Halloween (I'm looking at you, Kohl's), really irks me. It takes away some of the rush. I remember when nothing was up in stores until after Thanksgiving, and it seemed like magic happened overnight. Now it's the sales that happen overnight. It puts me in a bad mood. I feel like greed and consumerism take over a lot of the season.

Expecting shiny happy kumbaya love circles because it's the holidays. Not everyone gets along or likes everyone else, and that's okay. That's life. Pretending for December is awkward.

Scheduling Christmas Day. Have I timed it right? Are we spending enough time everywhere? Someone is invariably disappointed and I am always anxious about it in advance. Why is it harder to keep in mind during the holidays that if you try to please everyone, you end up pleasing no one?

The holiday season tests my desire to keep a good life balance. I want to do everything and be everywhere and see everyone. I have to remember that I can't do it all without getting totally run down, rendering me useless like Randy in A Christmas Story.

This concludes the airing of the grievances and holiday whining.

Next up: feats of strength and holiday posts about pooping candy cane scented sunshine.

Linking up with Helene, Emily and Kathleen for Tell Me About it Tuesday.