Lutz Budget Update

I have a Fresh Direct order coming tonight: $34 worth.  There's two loaves of their parbaked bread (seriously, this is a working parent's DREAM), some Ronnybrook milk, some Red Jacket Orchards apple juice, Apple & Eve juice boxes for the kiddo's lunch, seltzer water, and some Method cleaning products.

Argh!  Guys!  This brings my total for this week to $151.00 (so far)!

Not Good.  Not Good at All.

Eat, drink, and substitute water for the Kiddo's juice boxes.

Jamie Oliver's ice cream with olive oil and fleur de sel

As if I needed another cookbook! Nevertheless, I bought Jamie Oliver's Jamie's Italy this past weekend. First, it made me long desperately to travel. Second, it inspired me to take my cooking to the next level.

However, I unintentionally ended up making an odd choice for my first go at his recipes: vanilla ice cream with olive oil and fleur de sel. Imagining the flavor combinations, I was immediately intrigued. Salty and sweet are one of my favorite flavor combos (caramel corn, sweet and sour pork, chocolate-covered pretzels, Ina Garten's 40 cloves of garlic recipe). Not to mention that I loathe baking and fancy dessert-making so this is the ideal choice for me.

Jamie recommended using the best olive oil and ice cream possible, and I had both on hand (Ronnybrook's vanilla ice cream is silky and divine). And I sprinkled gray salt on top. Here are the results:





That's right - I don't have a fancy ice cream scoop, hence the odd shaved shape made by my big spoon. But that matters little. The flavor was just amazing - so unexpected and unusual, yet so obvious and complimentary. This will be a standard for me when guests are here - no muss, no fuss...yet there is absolutely no skimping on the pleasure and flavor. Sounds perfect, right? Then give this a go tonight.

Eat, drink, and enjoy simple desserts

YAY! The NYT Dining Section round-up on time!

God, is anyone else utterly mired in the doldrums of winter? I’ve had it. Truly. I want tomatoes, I want corn, I want cherries, I want a PEACH. I want basil that hasn’t been sitting in my freezer for three months. If I eat another apple or another bite of winter squash or parsnips, I’ll freak out. Don’t test me on this. I really will freak out.

So I felt like I had a bit of a respite when I bought the NYT yesterday. Right there on the Dining section front page was a large, bright photo of fresh milk, butter, ice cream, and yogurt. Aaaah. Thank goodness there are so many small dairies in the NY area! As it is, I already get nearly all our dairy products from Ronnybrook. Nevertheless, I hope to try some of the others listed soon.

There was a small article about medlar preserves from France – the medlar is a small fruit that only softens when it gets frostbite or when in storage. It has a pearlike flavor with a hint of cinnamon, apparently. Which sounds awfully cold-weather-esque to me right now and you all know how I’m hating on winter. Nevertheless, I might be up for trying some of this in the fall.

There has been a lot of press lately about Kim Sunée’s book, Trail of Crumbs: Hunger, Love, and the Search for Home, and the NYT has an interview with her this week. I actually received the ARC of this book from my marketing friend at Hachette, but I haven’t gotten more than 20 pages deep. I found Sunée to be a very detached narrator, as if she was constantly holding something back, as if she constantly had her guard up. But I’ll have to give it another try after reading the article. (Note: since I wasn’t into it, I passed the ARC on to my mother-in-law. Last I checked, she was also having trouble really connecting with the book.)

That was about it. Winter is yucky and I’m tired of my neverending cold. Blah.