The Lodge dutch oven is here!

As I was working at my desk today, I heard the familiar rumble of the UPS truck starting up and pulling away. (I didn't hear him pull up, but I was pretty engrossed in my work.) I knew what that sound meant, though - a package was here, and sure enough, it was my new Lodge dutch oven, in what can only be described as R E A L L Y (really) G R E E N. I think it's the most gorgeous piece of cookware I've ever seen.

So what to try for her "maiden voyage" into the oven? I know I'm not ready to delve into Coq au Vin or Boeuf Bourguinon, but maybe a humble pork roast or even ribs and sauerkraut...

And of course, there's always the no-knead bread recipe that needs a dutch oven to bake. This could be a very good week for bread, as cold as it is. Cold and snowy. A front is moving through, dropping a snowfall on us tonight. It was coming down hard enough that I didn't feel comfortable driving across town to Bible Bowl, so we stayed in and I whipped up a hearty sausage/rice bean dish, along with coleslaw and fresh fruit on the side. After dinner, DD and DH made a dash outside to make a snowman. Of course, he has to wear a UT scarf ;o)

This week's menu is going to necessitate some reshuffling from last week, since we wound up out on the town Friday night - the Grand Ole Opry was too much fun. Everyone should go at least once - twice if Josh Turner is there. That boy can sing. This week includes another treat: DH made reservations for dinner at The Acorn on Saturday - an early Valentine's Day dinner. (Yes, I'm totally spoiled.)

Serendipitous success!

Occasionally I stumble on a new recipe that is a hit. Today was one such moment. I spotted this recipe for slow cooker pulled pork; it was on the back of a box of Lipton's mushroom/onion soup mix (don't tell) and decided to try it. It was actually quite tasty (just be sure to de-fat the sauce before mixing back in the shredded meat. My Oxo fat separator is awesome for such occasions.

I made a side of Pickled Okra Salsa I picked up from a recent Southern Living magazine. It was interesting...almost like tabouleh. Normally I would have made a coleslaw to top the sandwiches, but I've got coleslaw coming up as a side dish later this week, so the salsa made for an interesting side and - in this case - sandwich topping.

Listening to early morning radio during carpool duty, I ran across a dip recipe for Greek yogurt + capers + diced shallot. Mix together, serve with shrimp. Sounds healthy, but maybe a little bland? Then again, perhaps the original recipe gets its zing from grilling the shrimp (err, prawns.) I found some Greek yogurt today, so we'll give it a shot. If it's good, it'd be a great Super Bowl dip for those of us snacking our way through the game and trying to be somewhat health-minded. Who knows, maybe it will be another sweet moment of success.

I'm now on day 5 of feeding the sourdough starter - just a couple more days until it's ready to be considered true starter. Even better: tomorrow night is date night with my husband at the Grand Ol' Opry, listening to Josh Turner - woohoo!

Happy groundhog day to me

I have always shared my birth day with Phil. (You know, the Yankee rodent from Punxsuatawny, Pennsylvania, who almost always sees his shadow.) Yesterday was so predictable - Phil saw his shadow, of course. I on the other hand, did not. At least not until much later in the day. So I am sorry that Pennsylvania is going to have six more weeks of winter, but I'm staking my claim on an early spring here in middle Tennessee.

To celebrate the day, my family took me to Maggiano's Little Italy on West End (or as Tom-Tom insists on spelling it as "W End Ave" and won't even help you find it if you don't. How do you pronounce that, anyway?) where they have, among other things, awesome bread. Maggiano's food is good, their bread is awesome. Balsamic vinegar and olive oil to dip it in, divine.

Giftwise, I scored big. The final Dutch oven choice was a 4-quart Lodge L-series in apple green. And two tickets to see Josh Turner at the Grand Ol' Opry. (We've lived her too long to keep saying "we really should go check out the Opry one of these days...")

I'm still feeding my sourdough starter, faithfully each day, using bottled water since ours is heavily chlorinated. Once the starter is ready (and my Dutch oven has landed), I will start a series of bread-baking tests, comparing 4 techniques:

1. classic sourdough
2. 5-minutes-a-day-Artisan Bread
3. NYT no-knead bread recipe
4. My mom's "Simple Crusty White Bread" recipe, which involves creating a starter early in the day or the night before.

If I get really ambitious, I'll take pictures of each, as well as notes on what I did, what we liked about each, and what adjustments I might make in future batches (except my mom's, because hers is already perfect ;o)