Tales of excessive utensils

My mother has eight wooden spoons.  For whatever mysterious reason, she has accumulated eight wooden spoons, and they’re all kept in a drawer with a multitude of other utensils, perhaps even another wooden spoon I didn’t count.

I am amazed at the amount of kitchen utensils my mother has managed to collect over the years, and yet, she seems to have only one silicon spatula to flip over pancakes.  Since it’s all kept in a drawer, a bit of a dig is involved to find the right utensil needed–gigantic wooden chopsticks, one of a number of wooden spoons, a wooden spatula or three, a potato-masher, etc.

The new place I’ll be living at has ample drawer space for Clark and I.  I don’t have nearly the number of kitchen items my mother has, but I actually have one or two duplicates of things, if I remember rightly.  Much of my stuff is either sharing space with my parents’ stuff or in boxes, so I can’t remember exactly what I have.  However, I do have a rather excessive amount of pastry blenders, because I used to keep one at my old apartment, and another at the apartment of my former boyfriend, and this keeping of two sets went on with a few other things, like silicon spatulas and mixing bowls.  I gave some of these extras away to my friend Mike when I moved out of the apartment on Lakeview, but not the pastry blender, which then was taken to my parents’ place.  Yesterday, when I took my mother to Michael’s, I got sucked into the display they had for Wilton baking products.  When I walked away, I had a stack of items consisting of measuring cups, a liquid measuring cup, a “baker’s blade” and another damn pastry blender.

I haven’t used the “baker’s blade,” which seems to be a fancy way of saying a bench scraper, nor the new pastry blender, but I’ve used both the measuring cups and the liquid cup today for pancakes and for the failed attempt at thumbprint cookies I’ve made–failed because I squished the cookies when I shouldn’t have, and I don’t think I cooked the jam all the way through so that they’d harden properly when added to the tops of the cookies.  Bah!  In any case, I don’t think I should buy any more utensils until I’ve moved into the new duplex, so that way I can have all my things together and accounted for, and to see what I might need, if anything.  I won’t need wooden spoons, though, as I think I might relieve my mother of the army that she has.

Hamburger America: the book AND dvd!

I pestered my local library to start carrying Hamburger America, the book, and they got a copy, which I have now checked out. When I took a look at the cover, there’s a sticker the library put on that says “1 disc included.” Do you know what that disc was?

That’s right, Hamburger America, the movie!

So, you realise I have to share the film with as many people as possible, yeah? I’ve already made my parents watch it, and I thought my father was going to have a heart attack merely watching Solly’s butterburgers being made. “Oh my God, that’s BUTTER?!” he freaks while watching a woman slab on a hefty dollop of butter onto a bun before mushing it down onto a burger.

Potential food rule: Butter makes everything better. This rule may have to be tested out on a butterburger of my own with a veggie patty. Yes, I’m game enough, but I don’t know if I’d want quite as much butter as Solly’s Grille tops theirs with. Seriously, the camera zooms in on these burgers, and you can see the golden liquid dripping on the sides! The film even shows a patron sopping up some of the butter with half of his burger. It should also be mentioned Solly’s Grille is right across the street from a medical center treating heart diseases. Surprisingly, though, the owner of Solly’s Grille mentions two men in their 90s who’d been coming to Solly’s Grill for decades, and seem to be doing just fine.

Potential food theory: Butter makes you live longer.

I can imagine cardiologists cringing at the thought of a butterburger, but I’ll bet a few of those people that work at the nearby heart care center make dashes across the street to get their butterburger fixes.

Eventually, I’ll have to break down and buy this book, so I can have the book and dvd on hand for future reference and edification, as well as to share it with people who aren’t yet my friends, but someday will be (aw!). Yesterday I began reading the book, and currently I’m in the Louisiana section, where Port of Call in New Orleans is listed. There is only one place listed in Florida, Le Tub of Hollywood. In America, it seems the best states for burgers, according to George Motz, are California (9 entries), Oklahoma (7 entries), Ohio (6 entries), Connecticut (5 entries) and Texas (8 entries).

If you want to know more about Hamburger America or George Motz, the brainchild behind the projects, go to the website: HamburgerAmerica.com. Motz has a blog where you can catch up on what’s current–at the moment, the most recent entry is on the book tour he’s doing. If you live in Orange County in Florida, you’ll be happy to know that the Orange County Library System has two copies of Hamburger America, both of which are currently checked out–one by yours truly. Don’t worry, I’ll be returning mine shortly once I’ve finished reading it and have made a few of my friends watch the dvd. If you can’t wait, though, you can buy it online through Shop OCLS, with Amazon.com, or get a used copy with Abebooks.

Norman Rockwell exhibit

Lacking anything else to do, and having seen a gigantihuge poster for the event on the side of the building, I went to the Orlando Museum of Art today and had a look at the Norman Rockwell Exhibit they currently have going on. Officially titled American Chronicles: The Art of Norman Rockwell, the exhibit features some of Rockwell’s original paintings, in addition to a large collection of magazine covers from The Saturday Evening Post, with whom he was an illustrator with for over forty years. There’s also a brief documentary on Norman Rockwell at the beginning of the exhibit, which I’d encourage attendees to watch, because I found it quite informative, especially when it discussed and showed Rockwell’s technique in creating his works. I didn’t realise it, but he employed actual people to pose for his paintings, and when the camera became more widespread, he would use photographs of people with costumes and props, including himself.

Americans are more familiar with his Post illustrations, but I was surprised to learn late in his career Rockwell focused on more of the tumultuous contemporary issues that characterised the 1960s. One of the works on exhibit at OMA that exemplifies this is Murder in Mississippi, a powerful painting depicting the murder of three civil rights workers in Mississippi. The little picture on this page is nothing in comparison to seeing the work in person, which is just steps away from another Rockwell piece I remember from my history books entitled The Problem We All Live With. Work such as this show that Norman Rockwell was not only an ingenious illustrator, but a true American artist.

The Norman Rockwell exhibit will be continuing until the 26th of this month, and the Orlando Museum of Art will be open extended hours until then: 10 am to 5 pm Monday through Saturday, and on Sunday from 11 am until 5 pm. If you have a college student ID, admission is $9. Otherwise, it’s $12 for the regular adult admission.

I was feeling particularly peppy and sprung for the college student year membership for $30. Hey, as long as I’m still paying loans, I should still be eligible for a student discount, right? It’s not like they took my student ID from me when they mailed me my diploma. Besides, I want to see the upcoming exhibition, The World of William Joyce, which begins on the 18th of this month. William Joyce is the guy who did Rolie Polie Olie, as well as other children’s books. Sometime last year, I missed out on an exhibit at the OMA featuring children’s book illustration, but I won’t miss out on this one, thanks to my spankin’ new membership. It’ll be going on until August 31st this year, so I won’t have an excuse, especially since I will be moving into a new place not too far from the museum starting in June!

Damn you, tiny print!

So, I don’t have the best vision in the world.  I grew up as the girl with the thick glasses, which were passed around in class from kid to kid during free time.  The kid would put my glasses on, and inevitably exclaim something along the lines of “Whoa!  You’re really BLIND!!” as they struggle to make out the laughing face of the next kid who wanted to try the lenses on.

By the time I had gotten into high school, I had begged to get contacts, and, at 14, I started wearing them, thinking that ditching the glasses would mean a one-way ticket to Cool Town.  Well, it didn’t, but I still wear contacts for the most part, and most people wouldn’t have really considered me to have a glasses-wearing past unless I tell them, “Yeah, past a couple of inches beyond my face–can’t see a thing.”

And lately, I’ve been concerned my vision is taking a turn for the worst.  My main culprit for the decline in my vision is the fact I stare at a computer screen for two or more hours pretty much consecutively at a time for work.  While driving and looking for street names, my companion in the seat next to me seems to point out the signs before I do.  Unless it’s Clark without his glasses, and for a moment, I feel a bit better about myself, until I put it into perspective: He’s not wearing contacts, but I am.

*sigh*

Just now, in an effort to make a new recipe called “Chocolate Spice Cookies,” I was at a point where something didn’t seem right.  Sure enough, taking a squintier look at the book, I realise the minuscule fraction next to the “1″ and before the word “cups” was not, as I had thought, 1/2, but 1/4.

Damn it.

So, to fix, or at least lessen, my error, I added a bit more butter, more honey (though the recipe called for maple syrup–I cheated) and more cocoa.  The recipe says to “refrigerate until firm,” but I’m impatient.  Also, I’ve already not followed the directions, so I likely won’t be rolling the dough out, as it wants me to, onto floured plastic sheets or plastic wrap.  My parents are out of plastic wrap, by the way.

This whole event goes to show that: 1) I will likely need a stronger prescription for my next set of contacts; and, 2) I really oughtn’t bake in someone else’s kitchen, like my parents’ kitchen, unless I know I have everything I need, not just what’s on the list of ingredients.

I guess now it’s time to plop this dough on a sheet, bake it, and see what happens.

Where’s your Publix?

I was at a dinner party on Friday evening, and the conversation turned to my current search for a place to rent in the downtown area.  I had mentioned that my future roommate and I were considering locations based on the proximity to a Publix we liked.

“College Park’s out, because we both hate the College Park Publix,” I explained, “and Clark doesn’t like Gay Asian Publix that much, so we’re looking at North Colonialtown so we can go to the Publix on 17-92 near the Krispy Kreme.”

This sparked a flurry of discussion as to where the best Publixes were, which was interesting.  Clark would be happy to know that he isn’t the only one who doesn’t like Gay Asian Publix–his dislike, by the way, is best summed up in a trip to that Publix and discovered they were out of waxed dental floss.  “They’re always out of everything!” he attests, and at least a couple of last night’s dinner attendees would agree.  I personally have been unable to locate GoodSense’s dried cranberries and apples there on repeated trips.  Interestingly, when I went with my mother to the Publix in Oviedo this evening, they had the elusive bag of dried fruit.

Sarah and Robert recently moved to a new area, and at the moment, there isn’t a Publix that’s terribly convenient for them to go to aside from the despised Shine Publix (aka Gay Asian or, with some, “Gaysian”).  They recently joined the unfortunately-named BJ’s, which is a bulk goods store that also sells groceries, so they tend to go there, with occasional trips to the larger Publix on Orange and Michigan, south of Downtown.  I used to shop at that Publix frequently when I used to live with my ex-boyfriend Brent and our roommate, Shawn, on Briercliff.  When I moved to South Colonialtown, I bitched about Gay Asian Publix, but after a while, I loved it, because it didn’t have some things I tended to waste money on, but yet it had all the essentials I needed.

Then I moved to the fringes of College Park and became perpetually aghast at the lack of certain staples.  I recall one event when my friend Mike and I went into the Publix, since he needed to pick up some things, and we walked right back out because that particular Publix didn’t carry Worthington Loma Linda Vegan Big Franks, a staple for the vegan who doesn’t like vegetables, like Mike.

By the way, the Oviedo Publix doesn’t carry, from what I could tell, the Loma Linda Big Franks, as I was looking for them this evening.  Oviedo Publix: +1 for the Goodsense Cranberries & Apples, -1 for no Big Franks.

As the conversation yesterday wore on, Alexis revealed a “dark horse” Publix that wasn’t even considered by either Clark or myself in our rental hunt: the Baldwin Park Publix.  “Ohhh,” we collectively pondered as we thought about the Baldwin Park Publix.  “It’s great!  It’s never crowded, it has everything!” Alexis evangelised.  I believe Erin countered with, “I can never figure out how to get into that Publix!” but no one else had gone to the Baldwin Park Publix, mostly because it’s in Baldwin Park, and no one really goes into Baldwin Park unless they live in Baldwin Park, at least no one I know.  I began to ponder what other secrets Baldwin Park might hold… I hear there’s a Mexican restaurant in there somewhere.

As far as I know, everyone I know shops at Publix unless it’s late in the evening and Albertson’s is the closest and/or only choice, or they go to a bulk goods place, like BJ’s or Costco.  So, when we talked about which Publixes we liked and found ourselves going to, and which ones we felt “never have anything,” it not only showed which neighbourhoods we roamed in, but also indicated what we individually felt were essential for a Publix to have.  Like Mike’s Loma Linda Vegan Big Franks, I have my own necessities that I feel every Publix, or at least the ones I go to, should carry.  Here’s a sample of some of my essentials:

1. bagged salad greens, Earthbound Farms or Greenwise brand
2. big bags of organic flour (all Publixes seem to no longer carry the larger bags of the Gold Medal Organic flour many of them were carrying, so I go to Whole Foods now for this)
3. organic bananas
4. organic lemon juice
5. a good selection of Wolfgang Puck soup, my favourites being Corn Chowder, Old-Fashioned Potato and Tortilla
6. Martin’s Famous potato bread in its various forms
7. Almond Breeze almond milk
8. Ghirardelli chocolate chips
9. Apple & Eve juices
10. Florida Crystals natural sugars

This list might not be complete, as I’m trying to envision what I used to buy when I used to do more grocery shopping, so I’m a bit forgetful.  Living with my parents, I don’t do much cooking here, so I don’t spend much on groceries.

If Clark and I move in the North Colonialtown area, we can try out the Baldwin Park Publix to see if it’s to our tastes.  If not, there’s always the Krispy Kreme Publix that carries Sioux City Birch Beer and has their Greenwise section right up front, which I absolutely love, or Gay Asian for quick runs for goods… but apparently not waxed dental floss.

South Colonialtown also has Gay Asian Publix, but also the Michigan/Orange Publix, aka the Delaney Park Publix, since that’s where you shop if you live in Delaney Park.  Apparently, the Delaney Park Publix has put in an olive bar near the deli area, which is awesome providing the bar is too high for dirty-fingered children to poke around in, although there are some dirty-fingered adults to consider as well.  Also, there’s going to be another Publix that will eventually open right in Downtown on Central, which should prove interesting.  I’m a little afraid that the Publix may try to cater to a perception of “downtown clientele,” like the now-defunct Central City Market did.  Central City Market generally carried swank wines and cheeses, as well as accompanying crackers, some pasta ingredients, beer and bottled water.  Not much else.  Eventually it turned into more of a restaurant that happened to have a few deli and grocery items… and now it’s a seafood restaurant.  Hopefully this Publix won’t try to be some hip urban Publix, but a functioning one that stays open until 10 pm and can handle what will surely be an insane crowd around lunchtime for sub sandwiches.

In the meantime, Clark and I have to stake our claim for a duplex or apartment, which will then determine our Publix options, among other things.

Organic Options for Orlando

Those of us in Orlando are generally familiar with the organic options in the Publix Greenwise section and at Whole Foods, though some of us may not know of two other ways to get organic produce in this little city.

I’ve been a customer of Orlando Organics off and on, and on the whole, I’m pretty satisfied with their service.  Providing that you live in their vast delivery area, you can get organic produce delivered to your door weekly or every other week, depending on how you have your account set up.  Some leafy produce, like spinach, may not come in its own bag, so be aware that you may need to provide your own resealable bags for some goods you may want to have separated in your crisper drawer.  The service is good if you don’t mind surprises (you can compose a list of produce you absolutely don’t want), and it saves you the trouble of going to the store for some basic ingredients like carrots, onions, potatoes, etc.  You can also order extra produce should you want a bit more, say, apples or oranges once you find out what the delivery will be around Sunday evening or so.

My first account with Orlando Organics enabled me to eat parsnips for the first time.  It was awesome.

If you prefer to only get exactly what you want or need, then perhaps Homegrown, from the Florida School of Holistic Living, is more to your tastes.  It’s a food co-op that you can join and order food from, but instead of home delivery, you pick up the food on Thursdays from 2-7 pm in the downtown area.  This would suit people who live and/or work downtown a bit better, since I don’t see too many people living in Sanford making the trek for the time being.  However, if it is convenient for you, this week’s listing features many locally-grown veggies, herbs and fruits, including tasty daikon!  An individual membership is $35, and there is a requirement to work with the co-op a minimum of three times a year, which really doesn’t sound like much.

If there are more organic options in terms of products and produce in Orlando, I’d love to hear about them.  For now, I’m waiting to resume my Orlando Organics deliveries in the beginning of June–I don’t have time to cook at the moment with my current commute.