Cookbook Series!

First: a visual representation of why I barely get to write here anymore:

Every time I sit down to write – or, well, do anything – my little friend sprawls his limbs across my full length and displaces my book/laptop/sewing/whatever. These years are fleeting, so I let him, but that means creativity sprouts, flowers, and dies all in my head. This very moment I am typing with one hand while simultaneously shooting a laser tag gun at a little boy peeking his head around the couch cushion.

Well. So it goes.

As you can somewhat see in the above photo, we recently had some work done on the house, in the great room downstairs that forms the kitchen, dining room, and family room. We had a gas fireplace put in, with herringbone tilework done to mirror the backsplash above the kitchen counter.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Fireplace tile (left) vs. kitchen tile (right) – fireplace has more blue and larger tiles, but they tie together nicely I think.

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This was my idea sketch – although the colors are different, it came out somewhat similar. We did not have it go to the roof as we wanted to leave the window in place, so the rough-hewn cedar shelves are meant to carry the eye to the roof. We planned for two on each side, but ultimately decided just one was sufficient. They also mirror the rough reclaimed 12 foot pantry door and antique-washed reclaimed support column in the kitchen.

We also had a mini beverage fridge put in under a bar tucked in the corner of the dining room. The bartop and shelves did exist previously, but underneath were some fairly useless wonky shelves that we think were technically a wine-rack. Our contractor knocked out the pantry wall to be able to fit the bar fridge in there, and made deeper more useful shelves alongside. Then the Prof put wallpaper behind the shelves.

BEFORE (best I could find – see in the back there, the V shaped shelves?):

AFTER:

This took well over a year to plan and execute (contractors kept bailing), but it was finally finished the week after Mardi Gras – and in an unanticipated bonus, the slow pace of the project allowed us to pay for it all without having to take out credit. It’s been a quite chilly here deep into spring, and we flip on the fire often.

Some time last year we received several boxes of cookbooks from the Prof’s grandmother’s collection. They have been boxed up in our storage unit, waiting for this project to be completed, and last weekend the Prof fetched them back to the house and we placed them on the shelves.

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Some of these have laughably horrible recipes – fried cucumbers? Jellied noodle mold? But there’s some good stuff too, and as I adventure through some of them, I’ll share here.

First up, a Tex Mex cookbook by Kansas native (and professional cook) Jane Butel. This was published in 1980, and she is my exact age in this picture.

I chose a recipe that calls for cubed pork, because that is not an ingredient I ever think to use in a Tex Mex dinner. I made the red chile sauce from scratch, as this calls for, and I used vegetable oil instead of lard. I also tossed the cubed pork in flour, salt, and pepper before doing the initial browning (rather than put them in afterwards as it calls for). I used homemade vegetable stock for the red chile sauce (really just a basic enchilada sauce). I served it with a side of rice and black beans, all topped with shredded cheese and sour cream. And it was truly quite wonderful! I am not a food photographer and don’t plan to become one, but here’s a picture of the final product. It was sort of a chunky pork thin chili, poured over beans and rice.

Stay tuned for more!