Future Ideas

An idea I've fostered for a long time, is for the Loving sister committee to consider a possible future endeavor of creating a soda shop/bar/deli/neighborhood grocery store/antique boutique, called the Loving Cup. My concept is fairly modeled after Grant Street Grocery to tell you the truth but.. cleaner. Probably won't have a pile of old shoes in the bathroom. Fresh & local foods with supplies and other items that we support. haha is this the retired man's american dream? Of course, I do understand that a shop of this form is actually a really big output of energy and exertion. Failure rate also a possibility. Just an idea. 

Great Meal

Ginger Curry Chicken with Lentils and Leeks

Here is the source. Big fan of BHG recipes.

ingredients

3 pounds meaty chicken pieces = I used 2 lbs, almost 1 kg. 

2 tablespoons curry powder (thanks care package) 

1/2 teaspoon sea salt or salt

2 tablespoons cooking oil

1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger = I used powder, 1/2 tsp. (thanks care package) 

2 large leeks, halved lengthwise, rinsed, and sliced

1 small orange, cut in wedges = Nectarine instead

1 cup French lentils, rinsed and drained

1 14 ounce can reduced-sodium chicken broth

1 cup dry white wine (optional)

1 - 2 heads baby bok choy, separated into individual leaves = Used regular cabbage

directions

1. Skin chicken, if desired. Sprinkle chicken with 1 tablespoon curry powder and salt. Brown chicken pieces, half at a time if necessary, in 4-quart Dutch oven in hot oil over medium-high heat. Remove from pan. Add ginger, leeks, orange wedges, and remaining curry powder. Cook and stir 2 to 3 minutes or until leeks are tender.

2. Stir in lentils, broth, and wine. Return chicken pieces to pan. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Cook, covered, for 55 to 60 minutes or until chicken is tender and no longer pink (170 degrees F).

3. Remove chicken; stir bok choy into lentil mixture. Use slotted spoon to serve. Makes 4 to 6 servings.

Also had a regular salad with Italian dressing (thank you care package) and made a form of tortillas/naan. Which was simply 1/2 tsp baking powder (thanks care package), 1 tsp salt, and 2 cups flour. Mixed with 2 tbsp oil and 3/4 cup milk. Kneaded, rested for 20 min, separated until 8 pieces, rested under damp cloth 8 min, rolled out, and quickly cooked on each side about 30 sec on a hot burner. 

Perogies & A Duel

Perogies are not a Christmas tradition for the Loving family but two of the guests I hosted were of Polish decent and thought our menu not quite complete without them. Having never had a perogi this was an interesting endeavor. However, a simple search, a lot of supplies, and we got them down to quite a system. Pictured to the left is Ryan doing his part, oh ya btw familia, ky është dashur tim. translate.google.com. (Note the translation over embellishes.)

The kind I made were filled with bacon, onion, mashed potatoes, and then I had half the batch with a can of American special delivery processed cheddar cheese (thank you site mate Lesley Wallace) and the other half with gouda. Now this may seem lame, like really what banal selection and combination of things. However, the amount of time and preparation that goes into an Albanian/American/Polish meal must be.. elaborated upon. To gather two of these supplies- gouda and bacon- it required a 3 hour trip and that doesn't even include the walking that goes on between the three different buses it was necessary for him to take to get to Ksamil (just sayin').

I made the dough ahead of time and then Ryan and I set down to the mission of rolling, cutting, filling, closing, and storing away the perogies. Easily was about 3 hours time to do so but kind of fun to do something that we had never done before. The recipe is a pretty basic one I found online. They're not really that hard, it's just a long process.

This process was further elongated when faced with the power outage that took place halfway through preparation. Power outages during cooking,  always seem to happen to me..

Once regaining control, we boiled the perogis then quickly fried them up in butter. This all being done while making green beans with bacon and onion (can of green beans leftover from Thanksgiving feast, see previous posts) and roasting a chicken with stuffing. The fruit salad provided by a friend attending. We also had lovely peanut brittle which was a huge hit of course, special double chocolate brownies (thank you care package from Kara), cookies from another attendee, and ample amounts of Albanian wine. 

Some may enquire as to the full reason behind this lengthy post. Well for one I finally have internet and am sick and bored. But more importantly, I know that my creations are not to the exquisite level of wheat raviolis with lobster filling or cedar plank salmon, but nor are many of these supplies available here. I have heard tell volunteers going as far as traveling to 8 hours by bus to the capital to gather supplies or even crossing borders and heading to Greece to find cheeses! 

Living in Albania and cooking is a challenge to the say the least. Just thinking ahead, I know if I want to have green beans again in the next year and a half (yes, our most coveted Loving vegetable); I will need to send away a request for seeds, negotiate with my Albanian friend, work the land, and hope that the zone yields me a plentiful crop.

The small innuendos carefully laced within this blog may not as be apparent to my nonfamily members so let me explicate. Camille, my dear, you may be making great food but yours merely requires a drive down the block to a store that has everything you need and you have a temperature controlled house to create it in. I do not say that you are not talented. I am merely saying that I am a bit bored and would love to.. offer a competition to keep myself a bit more entertained. You can make your delicacies but I'm planning on growing, creating all the basics, searching the entire country for necessaries, shop within a $100 budget a month, and wait for packages to challenge you Ms. (it's Ms. now like Mz not Miss, right?) Loving to a cook off. How will this be measured? I don't know. Will this be measured? Meh, I don't know.

What say you?