V is for f*cking AWESOME!

So this weekend largely consisted of me mooning around the house reading whack ass books by accident (the whackness, not the reading. That was on purpose)
HN and I had both scored at the Book Thing a couple of weeks ago, and one of his treasures was lying around. He's gone (oh I, oh I, I'd pay the devil to replace him (anyone??)), so I have time on my hands and since I was nursing a minor hangover from the Big Gay Anniversary ExtravaGANZA! and a dog with a bleeding penis (I don't want to talk about it, you don't want to hear about it) I decided a little house schlubbing was in order.

I picked up a little ditty called The Steel Remains, by some fairly popular Sci Fi dude -at least I'd heard his name before and since I'm not really well versed in things like that I took it to mean he was at least semi well known. It's a pretty good book, but there is some serious gay sex going on in there. After the first very surprising sword fight of the friendly kind, I looked up the reviews on Amazon and it seems there's plenty more to come. It's like reading an Anne Rice book, but with actual literal swordfights peppered in as well as the metaphorical kind. Overall not a bad read, but it was *really* unexpected.

The Steel Remains indeed.

Anyhoo, to backtrack and get to my point, HN and I had done a little yard saling Sat morning. It's that time of year, which is my FAVORITE time of year because I love cheap stuff that I would otherwise happily pay a lot for. The first yard sale we hit was totally my victory for the day. It's the kind of yard sale that's so good you think your mojo is working and you're motivated to keep going for the morning, but you know really you couldn't top what just happened. Anyhoo, this was a bunch of old ladies cleaning out their basements and kitchen stuffs and it was like they saw me coming and put out the good stuff. As a not completely irrelvant aside, I love old kitchen stuff. I love the idea of cooking with/using something and wondering who was doing what with it 40 years ago. I've got a very few things of my grandmother's and a couple of things of HN's grandmother's and I don't know if I'm getting maudlin in my old age or what but I just totally dig the history. I think this is a sign of aging, but anyhow that's where I'm at.

SO. Back to my story. I got a bunch of little weird things (because you always do at yard sales don't you) but here are the big 3, in reverse order of awesome.

1)Creme Brulee set, WITH TORCH!
That's right. I now own a blowtorch. I don't care if it's 4 inches tall, it counts. I had been reading Mimi Smartypants friday and she mentioned it, and I've sort of been on a Flan kick lately due to the copious amounts of eggs in the fridge, but then when she brought this up I was all "Oooh, Creme Brulee. mmm, tap, tap, tap, crackle" and I happen to have a bunch of cream leftover from a dessert I made last week, so I spent a good part of Friday looking up Creme Brulee recipes and being sad I didn't have a torch and trying to self justify needing one. I have ramekins that would do enough but they're not made for the purpose. They aren't fluted, it's not the same. Still I would have made do without, but when I walked up Sat morning and this was the first thing I saw I knew my time had come. Bargain price 1 AMERICAN DOLLAR! You can't beat that with a stick.

2) Oster food processor: If we've talked lately and your name is Becky, you probably know I'm on the hunt for a food processor. I have a blender, a stick blender and a magic bullet, so I thought I had it all for the longest while. Then lately I've been making shredded salads, and a few puree soups and I've come to realize the shortcomings of my current tool set and the value of the food proc. so I've been looking around trying to decide what to do. I'm totally not above dropping 1-2 large bills on the right machine if it's going to last me 20 years, but the problem with doing so at this time in my life is that I am food processor ignorant. I have pretty much 0 experience with them, so I don't even know what features I consider a must have and what I can live without. So I've been trolling CL and goodwill looking for a starter machine to get me acquainted with the big deal and help me refine my needs. FOUND!
This thing is old, but it works, it's been maintained and it has all blades and accessories. I am so on my way to knowing it all. I can't wait. Price unmarked, but I didn't care. I bundled it up in my arms and yelled "OH MY GOD it's like they're in my head" while HN shook his head and lamented my total lack of a game face. (Bargaining is an art form in his family and they take it very seriously. His mother once tried to bargain for fabric with the counter girl at JoAnns. I have no skills in this realm, and in Latin and South America I am not even allowed to talk to a salesperson. Truth. ) Anyway, HN was trying to explain that if you yell things like "OH MY GOD I've always wanted one of these" they pretty much know they have you and there goes the power, when I spotted the coup de gras of yard sale finds and ran off yelling even louder. I was across the yard and needed to make sure I got it so I was hoping that if I made enough of a specatacle the old lady nearby would freeze in her tracks long enough for me to swoop in. It didn't work but she totally wasn't interested in it anyway so it's a moot point.

drum roll please.....

3) a KICK ASS old school Schlemmertopf Clay Baker. When I say Old School, I means it. This fucking thing says West Germany on the bottom. All of their delicious skills with heavy cream aside, the krauts know something about cooking, and specifically about clay bakers. For this type of thing, German is the way to go, and I'll tell you how I know that. I've been looking into them on and off since having an in depth discussion on the subject with my dad a few years ago. He wanted a Romertopf for xmas or something, and my dad being like me but older took to the web to do copious amounts of research on the subject and we talked about the various models . A lot. Recipes were researched, reviewed and discussed (and it was then that I realized we truly do mock what we are to become) and he settled on the fully unglazed Romertopf. At the time I was still not big into the braising thing, having just figured out where the on button for the oven was, but since I've started cooking a nice clay baker is one of the things that's been on my "I will own you someday" list. I've picked up a couple of the smaller sized ones at goodwill, good for veggie sides or the single lady's chicken breast but in my head the need persisted for a big honking gorgeous coq au vin for 6-8 sized job. Well now I can cross that off the list. Behold:

Price if bought new: 50 bucks. Price at yard sale: $2 Awesome old detail of 2 roosters about to throw down on the dome: Priceless.

Coq Au Vain rouge, coming right up. I know it will be rouge over blanc because as a result of the Big Gay Anniversary ExtravaGANZA!! held this weekend I am now proud recipient of 2 giant ass bottles of red wine. Seems someone got excited and optimistic and corked 14 BIG bottles of wine, 8 of which were drank. That leaves 6 opened bottles and not even my powerhouse neighbor thought she could pull that off without having a one go to vinegar so she brought 2 over to me yesterday. Tragic, FULL and opened. Only not so bad, because as I know from leaving a few wounded soldiers around myself, you can freeze wine for use later in cooking. I froze 2 ice cube trays worth for the little jobs, and busted the rest up into 2-3 cup ziplocs and froze em up fordelicacies as yet undiscovered. (lying flat, for easier storing once solid)

Beef bourguignon and coq au vin recipe reviews to follow. And probably also some bolognese sauce too. And also maybe a review about drinking thawed wine and whether I think you should try it.

And although it's not a tagine (another item on the list) I fully believe I can make the long heralded Moroccan Chicken with preserved lemons and capers in there and it will do. I also believe if I channel my positive thoughts and go yard saling again next weekend that I will find a legit tagine. Ikea has one, as do several of the major players in the cookware game at this point, but from my extensive research the clay makes all the difference. According to Alton Brown you can just use a clay pot and saucer like for plants until you get a real one, but that makes me feel funny so I'm doing more research.

This is the week I discover clay pot cooking, and you all can come with me!