Another Day...ANOTHER COOKING AWARD!!

Jing Xia won FIRST PRIZE today in the Savory Category of the Squash Competition at the Athens Farmers Market. That's THE very Squash Competition of Athens, mind you. VERY big deal, LOTS of intrigue and backstory. Reporters and cameras. Pictures to come. Jing Xia made fried springrolls stuffed with mushroom, pork, and shredded zucchini, and a bit of wine. They were delicious, and the presentation (Steven and I) was impeccable of course. We went and shopped for our vegetables and fruits for the week while the 30 minutes or so of judging happened, but LAIYEE stayed there at the cafe tent the WHOLE time!! Good for us, she took all the pictures below. She could not tear herself away from the intrigue for a second!

(*Oh my Carole only got THIRD place?? A pizza placed?? Oh that lemoney zucchini pie is to die for!! OMG that soup is out of this world!! You mean to tell me they submitted a dish WITHOUT supplying the required recipe before the Wednesday deadline?!*)

The whole town was there. Well, at least the people of OUR town!

FIRST PRIZE!!

Zhuhe Jing Xia!













Here she is, frying up the winning Birdsnest Springrolls on the outside cooker.









Girl Friday, arranging JingXia's creation and prepping the presentation, and trying to help Steven.









Steven preparing his Birds Nest Noodles. The judges--
apparently--did not like his dish at all. Whatever. I loved it.









The completed Bird's Nest Noodle dish and Birds Nest Springrolls, with fireworks of purple basil going to seed at center. And a little chopped parsley. Both dishes' presentations were inspired by the debut the previous evening of the stunning Bird's Nest in Beijing.

















VERY careful transport. Notice we didn't even bother with film.





The spread. In all, we think there were a couple dozen dishes. Three prizes for savory. Three for sweet.









Quiet! The judges are busy concentrating!






Posing. Shopping. It was a drop dead GORGEOUS day Saturday. It hasn't been really hot and humid here alot this summer, which makes moi tres tres tres heureux.









The announcement! Notice the surgical glove backup singers, accent on hygiene, ready to serve Athens!


The WINNER! Notice her creation in the lower foreground, all scissored up for consumption by the masses.









The masses waiting to consume.









The prize winner with her booty!









Prize winner's son, cleverly stealing the booty!

Just Another Wednesday...

but a few things to report. First, as this is JingXia's last week here, she is apparently feeling compelled to cook enough to last us through the winter. Here is a little Chinese Sandwich *sweet rice cake* i'm eating for a light supper. She's made 3,747 more of these and putting them in the freezer. For us. Because, you know, we both hate to cook and all. We're thinking of buying a factory for her next year.



In other news, my manscaping project is coming along, dunno how nicely though. I've decided for this winter, i will keep my head SHAVED, while letting my beard grow into a big Grizzly Adams Bear Affair. Just for a change of pace. It is itchy.



Steven gets to go to Taliesin West on Friday, after he wraps up his week in Phoenix. I hope he takes lots of very, very detailed pictures.

I am deep into watery eyes, drippy throat, coughing, mouth-breathing right now. Taking nyquil for night #2 now. I hope it ends tomorrow; keep your fingers crossed for me!

What else? OH! We had 4" of snow today! Happy happy, joy joy.

Four Tomatos Make a Bunch and So Do Many More

Tra la la, la la la la
Tra la la, la la la la

One tomato, two tomato, three tomato, four
Four tomatos make a bunch and so do many more.
Over hill and highway the tomato buggies go
Comin' to bring you the Tomato Split show
Makin' up a mess of fun, makin' up a mess of fun
Lots of fun for everyone

Makin up a mess of fun
Makin up a mess of fun
Happiness for ev'ryone
Tra la la, la la la la
Tra la la, la la la la
Tra la la, la la la la

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Ah memories. That little bit of nonsense will mean nothing to many of you. But a select few of you will know right away what other fruit i cancelled to make way for that special little ditty bout all our tomatos. We have as many more as this that are within a day or two of needing to be picked. We went to our local Tractor Supply Store, and could not get mason jars... I figured if any place would have canning supplies, it'd be the trusty Tractor Supply. So, once again i'm reduced to ordering from Amazon.com... Oh well, at least i realize my tax dollars are really going there too anyway.

Do any of you have any canning / jarring advice for us? None of us (JingXia included) have ever properly canned. Jingxia pickles vegetables in crap she pulls out of our recycle bin, but there's no proper sterilization or vacuum sealing going on.

UNTIL NOW that is. Debbie will be glad to know that our household is no longer putting the entire midwest at risk for a botulism outbreak.

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Oh and by the way, I know THOUSANDS of you have been wondering about the mystery of the corn silk. Alas, I have no answer for you. Alack, the mister said it looked disgusting and threw it in the trash. Not even the compost, but the trash mind you. Oh, the humanity.

You Have No Idea

Everyday I come home and find new mysteries in the fridge like this. A ziploc bag full of corn silk. Sheesh. I hope she is going to boil it for stock or something, and we won't be eating it for a side dish tomorrow night. Tonight, we had a side of sauteed squash leaves. They were wierd. Very wierd. Steven says she put some red pepper sauce on it that made it even wierder.

We think--now that we have a nearly $30,000 kitchen--that JingXia is learning, after 3 half years with us, that we like to cook too. She's being a good sport about asking before she cooks, especially on the weekend (when we both, she thinks, like most to cook). And she has pared her preferred 8-12 dishes per meal down to 4 or 5 now.

I miss coming home and cooking a thirty minute (non Rachel Ray) meal. There is something about cooking everyday that I really need somehow. It's not about creativity, really. More like memory and ritual, being in touch with the earth, and rememberance of things passed. It's indoor gardening, really, and somehow it cultivates the mind. Going through the days events while chopping or deglazing or washing.

Chatting while cooking too, that's a nice thing. I suppose if we could talk to one another she would let me do some of it, but that's not going to happen. When Steven works from home during the week, he can if he has time. But usually, I don't think she really lets him ever help either.

We all have dishes we prepare that remind us of that time or that visit or that party. A way of marking time? 3,589 Oatmeal Cookies so far! 342 Roast Chickens! A Brazillion grains of Rice! The last time we had xx was when xx and xx came over.

In the first year, i was relegated to just being the desert cook, since neither JingXia--nor any Chinese grandma for that matter--would cook a desert. Not even with a ten foot spoon.

I think back often to the day--more than 2 years ago now--when Debbie said "You're such a good son-in-law, Sam!" I am trying.

Getting my therapy on?

Are blogs like therapy? I know they are like exhibitionism, narcissism, and voyeurism all rolled into one big yeasty mess--but that's another post for another day. But I suppose if blogs help you get things off your chest, they are definitely therapeutic. This lady is JingXia, Steven's Mom, who has been living with us for nine months now. I love her to death, but I can't communicate with her (she doesn't speak English), and right now she is cooking like crazy. I love her cooking, but it is a bit heavy too often, and right now while i'm painting the house, it is killing me to share my new paint smell with her Chinese/fried/stew smells. Well, her heart is in the right place...and she really only seems to be here to serve, doing our laundry, all the cooking, sweeping the driveway everyday, all kinds of things to take care of us. But goddamn i wish i could communicate with her. We can't seem to get through to her that we'll never sell this house if it always smells like a chinese restaurant in here. People like to go out for that, not live in it. Well, I have to remember that most of all, I'm glad she is at a point in her life that she can spend time with her son, Steven--it really is a gift. I have to just keep telling myself that this house WILL sell and that sometime soon we WILL have a fabulous VIKING range with an INDUSTRIAL ventilator above, to suck all my petty feelings away.