Kitchen Crush

When we got married, we got as a gift a set of knives. I also went out and bought myself a set of stainless steel knives from overstock. 2 sets of knives, although they are great knives I have literally no counter space. So two knife blocks are getting ridiculous. The solution was to get rid of one of the blocks and try to put most of the knives into one block. Not a great solution when they are all clean and put away there are always too many or the holes aren't right for the width. It's completely frustrating. Until – I was at BBB and saw the Kapoosh knife block. The model that they had in stock I wasn't into and I wanted to get the larger one. I decided to go online and see if I can find one that suits my kitchen more. I sure did, they aren't cheap but I really want to get it.

Do you have one? Do you like it? I read a comment online that the "sticks" get all bent out of shape, is that common? Looks pretty awesome, you can fit multiple types of knives from different sets and have them all corralled in one place.  Let me know what you think about these.

 

    

Upholstered Dreams

I'm constantly lurking on craigslist, and I always find something that needs to be taken home, to the dismay of my husband. 1. Since he needs to haul the item and 2. I really have no more room in my home for such purchases. I don't know what it is, I love chairs, all kinds of chairs I would put them everywhere, but that starts to look real cluttered real fast. But if I had a bigger bedroom I would totally get this chair and put it in a nice nook.  

Designer: Beth Dotolo  Photography Kevin Dotolo

Isn't this pattern gorgeous, and look how wonderfully the shapes line up with the cushion and the frame. This is not the work of an amateur, I should know. I have a book on upholstering and it looks easy but it's really not. The only thing that I have done are my kitchen chairs. I bought them with an off white microfiber on the cushion and it was from craig, so they were used. I had this leftover fabric from my couch when it was broken we had it fixed and they sent over soooooo much fabric that I decided to keep it.  Well I was able to reupholster the chairs but it's a boring fabric choice . So I'm doing it again.

I found this fabric in the discount bin, and all Im saying is its a little grellow. You know... grey and yellow.

But until I actually do them, I will show you a few of my other  upholstered benches that if I had the space or little grubby hands weren't a problem than I would totally get.  

That is if my local salvation army weren't such greedy bastards and actually sold something that wasn't an arm and a leg. I mean come on'. How is it other people can find all these gems at the salv army or thrift store and cost $15? I find a chair thats stained and the wood is nicked and they price them at $60 and up. After you factor in the fabric and the batting the chair will come out total 300 buckeroos. And if you decide to take a stab at it yourself, forgetaboutit'. 

If you see a nice chair or bench that has great curves and doesn't cost a fortune, send her my way, but leave her on my back stoop so my husband doesn't see. 

Chicken tortilla soup

When your craving something salty, crunchy, creamy, and sour at the same time this hits the spot. I know there are numerous tortilla soup recipes and a majority of them are tomato based but this one is a lighter version, plus my 2 yr old can eat this without screaming "ohh its spicy!!" every time she takes a bite.

I love this soup on a cold winter day or even on a day when you want something thats filling but not heavy.  It has the salty, crunchy texture of the tortilla, which to save calories and time I don't deep fry I coat with  tiny bit of oil and pop in the oven. The creamy of the avocado, the sour of the broth, since I squeeze in a liberal amount of lime into the bowl, and the crispness of the cilantro and spiciness of the tipatio hot sauce. Yum

This soup is based on chicken rosol that I added ingredients to in order to make this tortilla soup.

The foundation of every soup is a good stock

I love to cook and when I first started to cook I was 11 yrs old helping my mom, learning from her. I started out in the kitchen by making chicken in a pot but moved on to more serious things pretty quickly. She has thought me a lot about cooking and the fundamentals of cooking don't change. Take for instance the simple stock, its simple for what it is but at the same time adds a very complex flavor to your food; add it to risotto, stews and of course as a basis for most soups. 

In all polish homes, stock is called rosół (pron: ro souw) Rosół is a traditional Polish meat broth, that is usually made from beef/veal or chicken and sometimes turkey. The more bones that are in the stock the better the stock. Also we add a good amount of vegetables to the stock. Celery, carrots, leek, parsley and some people add garlic and onions too. There is also an element that Polish people add which is vegeta - and can be bought in most ethnic grocery stores, although not necessary. 

Adding vegeta to your rosol adds lots of flavor but I have cooked without it and it was fine except it needed more salt, lots more salt. If your on a low salt diet than leave it out. 

I wanted to post this since whenever I talk about making soup I will most likely start as a base of rosol and add to it, like when making mushroom soup, or chicken tortilla soup, or filipino arroz caldo or my favorite sinigang.  I mean sometimes its ok to have a box or can or stock in your pantry but why when you can make a pot of this and store small containers of it in your freezer for a day when you need stock. 

Ingredients:

Chicken or beef with bones or turkey necks(makes a less fattier but still flavorful version)

pot filled with water

2 stalks of celery

3 carrots peeled

half of a medium sized leek 

small bunch of parsley

vegeta

or salt if not using vegeta

You can't see too well since its a dark pot.

photo credit of Mojegotowanie.com

Directions:

Place meat (chicken, beef, veal or turkey) into pot cover with water. bring to a boil until you see the scum accumulating on top, skim off the scum it makes a cleaner stock. After skimming the scum add the vegetables and a couple of teaspoons of vegeta to the pot. You can always add more so go easy the first time. Then you let the rosol simmer on a med flame for a couple of hours. The trick to getting a clear not cloudy broth is the low simmer. After a couple of hours the rosol will be done and you can serve in a traditional way with fine noodles or potatoes. I sometimes like to shred the chicken, esp. for my daughter and add the carrots from the rosol and sprinkle a bit of parsley on top for flavor and color. 

If you made a large pot strain the vegetable and bits of vegeta that is most likely sunk to the bottom and place in smaller containers into the freezer which you can use next time you need stock.

Next up is my chicken tortilla soup.