apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

It's warming up in VA so me and the boyfriend are grilling out tonight. Steaks, chicken, baked potatoes and maybe a little spinach salad. Sweet tea. Yum.

Amber - tell us about Sweet Tea! And send in pictures, we'll post them as the kick-off to the grilling season.

Not to steal Amber's thunder, but growing up in North Carolina my mom made the best mint sweet tea. Very basic recipe:

Put the following in a mason jar (pint size I think):
4 lipton (or other cheap tea) tea bags
Handful of fresh mint

Pour boiling water over that and let steep for 5 minutes.

Get a glass pitcher and fill with a tray of ice. Pour in the jar of tea. (If it's glass, put a metal spoon in to keep it from shattering when you pour in the boiling tea) Fill pitcher with cold water and add 1 cup sugar and the juice of one lemon. (I know the sugar would dissolve better in hot liquid, but mom always did it in this order)

It may be a little sweet for people who aren't from the south. Since I have been a northerner for 8 years now, I have adapted this to 1/2 to 2/3c sugar.

yeah, proper sweet tea should make your teeth curl. :)

(i'm from tennessee. our recipe was pretty much the same, although we liked a bit more lemon.)

How about some Baked Beans? Try this;
In a casserole or glass baking dish
3-4 medium size or 2 large cans pork & beans
About:-(more or less)1 cup Ketchup
1 cup brown sugar
1 onion cut up
1/2 green pepper cut up
lay about 4 strips of bacon on top
Bake 350 degrees about 1 hour or less.
These are the best........................

I took the IMBB challenge this month (http://www.ismyblogburning.com ) and did a 30-minute meal from scratch over the weekend. I've been doing so much braising and slow cooking this winter it was a nice change.

I did fish with wine, browned butter and capers, a salad with red pepper and parmesan, and a little walnut cake with Meyer lemon syrup. Click on my name for pics.

Afternoon showers have postponed the grillout til tomorrow. But I'll take some pictures then!

Here's the best sweet tea in the world (or so my boyfriend, the sweet tea addict says).

Fill up a saucepan with water, set it to boil.
Throw in 7 Luzianne tea bags.
When it starts to boil, turn off the heat.
Get out your gallon pitcher.
Put 3/4cup sugar in.
Pour strong tea over the sugar. Mix.
Fill up the rest of the way with water, and stick it in the fridge.

faith, great pics, thanks!
Good idea to challenge yourself to make a full meal within 30 mins.! Gotta try it. I think I almost met the challenge last weekend, made pork chops with shallots & balsamic vinegar sauce, served with rice & steamed asparagus, all cook in (almost)no time & certainly less than 30 minutes. I'd just have to add a dessert to cook within that timeframe. Fun! Is that the challenge for March? only 2 days left!
Made baked beans on the weekend too (overnight soaking on Sat.) from March Gourmet recipe, except with molasses instead of maple syrup and omitting garlic.

Sweet tea sounds excellent...although it's still a little chilly in western New York state.

Any green thumbs out there with tips for starting a window box herb garden? I'm not sure if it would be best to start with seed? try to find seedlings? I'm afraid I have a black thumb but I'm determined to try to get some fresh, herb-y goodness growing in my apartment. Not exactly a cooking question, but kitchen related nonetheless.

minipanda
I've got the herbs in the window thing down pat

It's easier to get little plants if you have a black thumb
or doubts

If you also have bad light, get a grow light
You can use a good looking fixture and change the bulb
if you're not into those fishtank florescents (bleech)

what do you want to grow?

a bit of a plants primer . . .

Do you have a farmer's market nearby?
Buy plants there, or look for flats at the grocery store,
and keep them in their own pots.
Some of them mix, but I think shops do it 'cause it looks cute.

Don’t overwater. . . you stick your finger in the dirt to see if it needs water - when it's dry under the surface, you water. Some plants like a mist of water for a humid environment. But most plants like a little neglect.

If it’s not working, it might be from lack of light
I need a growlight to keep basil from getting leggy and pale, even tho I have a full afternoon of light in the kitchen.

I got a couple of pendant lamps from IKEA and put growbulbs in them

Thyme, sage, and rosemary all like to be a wee bit on the dry side. I water them every 2-4 days. But that TOTALLY depends on local conditions, so better to pay attention and touch the dirt.

Basil and rau ram (vietnamese coriander) like more water...you'll see them wilt if you are underwatering (sage too for that matter)
Mint likes a ton of water.

clay pots are great for sage/thyme etc - they absorb excess water. plastic pots (or a plastic pot inside a better looking ceramic one) are good for things like basil that need help retaining water.

I plant parsley and cilantro from seed, and they are slow to germinate. A week after you give up, they show their faces.

Wow Guido! Thanks!

I've got 3 large windows that are west facing so good afternoon light. Last summer, I purchased 3 "galvanized" metal, long rectangular planter boxes that fit well on the window sills.

I'm hoping to do a nice crop of:

-basil (maybe a couple varieties)
-mint (mojitos!)
-thyme
-rosemary
-sage
-parsley
-cilantro

pretty standard i suppose. Wegmans (my local supermarket) often has mini-pots of herbs which might be a good starter for me.

Any good soil mix suggestions?

Hey! The Daily News thing on Maxwell sez that Sara Kate has "one in the oven"! What a happy, well-fed kid that's gonna be, hunh?

get a bag of miracle grow potting soil
(it has fertilizer pellets already mixed in)

you might want to use the galzanized as a cache pot -- put plastic and/or clay inside. the deeper the better for the pots that actually hold the plants)

give the mint - spearmint, not peppermint for mojitos - its own window box. It likes lots of water, and spreads like a demon. Flood it, and bury the runners that it sends out.

don't crowd the other herbs -- the more room you give them to grow (and the deeper the pot) - the better they will do.

anchor outdoor window boxes!
whether it's a bungee cord or metal brackets,
don't rely on the weight of the planter to
keep it on the sill.
There's always that one day where hurricane winds come through, even in Brooklyn, and you don't want to kill people at random.
Or if you do, do it some other way!

p.s.
galvinized holds water,
so punch or drill a drainage hole or two

if water builds up in them it gets brackish
and smells of sulfer

I made a great discovery last night! I made broccoli, using a tip I saw on the Everyday Food show on PBS. I roughly chopped broccoli, stems and all, and drop in into a skillet with about 2 tablespoons of hot olive oil. I added a 2 teaspoons or so of anchovy paste and some red pepper flakes. After flipping the broccoli around in the hot oil for a few minutes, I added some water to finish off until it was cooked well but still crunchy.

The anchovy did a great job of just underlining the broccoli taste, without any real fishy or salty taste. Has anyone else tried this?

Chris that sounds great. I'm going to have to give it a try. I'm only just getting into liking broccoli and am looking for interesting ways to fix it. I love to just toss it in olive oil and roast it in the oven.

I was recently trying to make up a recipe that uses the roasted broccoli, steamed brown rice and cremini mushrooms carmelized with garlic, thyme, lemon juice and white wine. I tossed everything with some olive oil and some sherry vinegar and while I loved all the elements independent of one another, when combined, something wasn't quite right. It seemed like something was missing but I'm not sure what. Does anyone have any ideas?

parmesan cheese? :)

Sorry to interrupt. Passover is coming up and I like to make potato kugel but whenever I grate the potatoes they turn gray. The dish tastes good but it looks awful. Does anyone have any tricks to prevent that?

Grant
miniscule amount of anchovy?
or adding the lemon once it's out of the pan . . . ?
or a couple of raisins plumped up in water
and chopped into the stirfry - like that great pignoli/raisin/spinach Spanish dish someone put up here.
The chewy and sweet balance with the nutty etc

I make shitakes and spinach stir fried all the time
and sesame seeds/shiso/nori flakes is what
pulls it together

grant
my thought is that the roasting of the broc might have been at fault
did you roast them in the oven?
i've found that while cauliflower takes well to a bit of oven caramelizing, broccoli tends to get burnt and acrid in flavor
also, i think your acids might have clashed? you've got a lot going on what with the citrus, wine and vinegar
try it again, changing just one element, and see how it comes together... sometimes less is more!

I agree with Ann on the roasting. I love califlower and brussel sprouts roasted, it hasn't worked for me with broccoli. In fact, when I made this anchony nad hot pepper spicy broccoli, I walked away from the pan a few minutes too long and some of it carmelized. To me, the browned broccoli had an off flavour.

Guido-
I like the idea of anchovy and I was actually wondering if the raisins might be a nice addition or maybe some sort of nut. I don't know. Do you use a wok when you do your stir-fry?

Ann-
I did roast the broccoli in the oven and it's really nice on it's own but maybe there is too much going on. I wonder if instead of carmelizing the mushrooms I should just roast them as well as the broccoli and then toss everything with a sort of sherry vinaigrette or something.

I use a fake wok - made of circulon.

And I don't know anything about broccoli since I roast anything but! My girlfriend has to order it from chinese takeout since I hate it...

but roasting changed my thoughts about brussel sprouts so I thought I might try it . . . love cauliflower and the rest of it . . .

anyone ever heard of tomato vinegar?

oh man, i dunno, caramelized onions from the stove top are next to godliness

guido, even though i am the queen of condiments, i have never heard of tomato vinegar

tomato water and mushroom ketchup yes, but never tomato vinegar!

okay, I looked it up
it's made from tomatoes only
and sounds totally cool
I like to sit fresh tomato in my salad dressing to leech out the juice, so this sounds like a revelation to me

my Cheese Man told me to go taste it, but
I didn't have the time

lesson of the day:
Listen To The Cheese Man

and I'm with ann, queen of condiments
on the carmelizing of onions and mushrooms on the stovetop

ann,
just scanned yer blog
and am feeling five kinds of fellowship with you
we have similar knives, and I like the St Chinian wines
you are my new go-to person on condiments and
new kinds of gin!

oh guido, thanks so much!
its a little known fact, but my blog was actually inspired by a Kitchen open thread (and an AT regular...)
sometime over the winter Curtis posted asking for advice about how to cook with a store bought roasted chicken, and i posted a few hints and i believe i used the phrase "now this is a topic i could talk about forever!"
the next day, i thought back, and was like, you know, i really could... and thus my silly blog was born :-)
if anyone actually knows Curtis, let him know and thank him for me for the inspiration!!

I'm sure Curtis will be very pleased
I just emailed him your comments

if you ever want to rename,
"ann, queen of condiments"
is pretty catchy . . .

Hey Ann!

Curtis here! I'm pleased as punch that something I asked kicked you into such a thing as your own blog! How cool! I still haven't done much experimenting with said chickens, but since my brain is slowly going in that direction, my 3-D kitchen life will eventually do so. I did have a couple of friends over a few weeks ago and steamed some asparagus as a side dish and I did do some pasta and pesto. Actually they BOTH sort of guided me through it and it came out well. I really didn't even remember I had a little metal steamer basket until one of them pointed it out! Ha!

Thanks, leeds! 30 minute cooking is a good exercise, sometimes.
Also, thanks for all the tips, Guido... I second the warnings about mint. It almost took over my mom's yard...