The Damsel in Dis Dress
Posted in cooking on Oct 5th, 2009
Cast iron pans are definitely old school. But in spite of all the “improvements” in cookware like Teflon, etc. there’s really nothing quite as good. Cast iron heats evenly, acquires its own nonstickiness over time, and is practically indestructable. Plus it even adds iron to your food. They’re reasonable in price, too, compared to nice [...]
The Damsel wonders what percentage of people prefer Ranch dressing over other types. She thinks it might be 99%, and she likes it quite a lot herself, even though she hates to be a lemming. The Damsel just conducted a scientific poll, which consisted of asking her #3 sprog, who is a waitress, what percentage [...]
Posted in cooking on Sep 7th, 2009
There are a few ways to make gravy. This method is just one, and it works best for Old School pot roast because of the amount of water you have to work with. Now that the meat and vegetables have cooked for several hours in the liquid, you’ve got a nice beef broth. All you [...]
Posted in cooking on Sep 4th, 2009
The Damsel grew up on this–the family’s favorite special-occasion/Sunday-after-church meal. She can never get tired of the yummy stuff. To make pot roast, you need time. Lots of time. Pot roast needs moist heat over a long period to get tender. Some people use a crockpot, some people the oven…this particular method is done on [...]
Posted in cooking on Aug 6th, 2009
The Damsel looked through some recipes and saw one for chicken rice soup that looked delicious. Then she looked at the directions. You were supposed to cook it in the crockpot for an hour on high, then eight to nine hours on low, then another hour on high. Ha! ha! That means the Damsel would [...]
Posted in cooking on Jul 27th, 2009
The Damsel has heard DisDress calls from a few people who have had trouble making mayonnaise, as taught in this lesson. Failed mayo is a disappointingly runny mess, so the Damsel decided to apply the scientific method to the problem. Please understand that in real life the Damsel is a piano teacher, so her “scientific” [...]
Posted in cooking, preserving on Jul 10th, 2009
The raspberries in the Damsel’s garden are going gangbusters, and she’s in heaven. Her arms are scratched but it’s oh so worth it. Raspberries—yum. Freezer jam is nice because it preserves more of the natural, fresh flavor of the fruit you’re using. Plus, it’s great that you don’t have to cook it, and when it’s [...]
Some things are better the newfangled way. For example, flush toilets. But some things are better the old-fashioned way. The Damsel is here to tell you that after using up many a Costco bag of Krusteaz pancake mix, she has seen the light. Don’t misunderstand. The pancake mix-type pancake is not “awful.” Those pancakes are [...]
The Damsel was making a dish that called for fresh basil, and although she’s loaded with mint, cilantro and sage, that didn’t help her situation. She went to the market and despaired. You know how much they charge for these eeny teeny packages of fresh herbs? $2.99. She went to the local nursery and bought [...]
The Damsel hopes you will forgive her if she confesses she has tried to make yogurt many times. It worked occasionally, but most of the time, it turned out pretty runny. She tried to convince the husband it was “drinking yogurt” like he had when he lived in Denmark but he had a crush on [...]
