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My auntie used to make this for me and Mom after we got home from school and work. As it simmers, it turns into the richest sour, salty broth with meat that falls off the bones and wilted leafy greens.

One note about ingredients: When it comes to kinds of onions, potatoes, etc. just get the good ol’ kind (yellow onion, russet potatoes, etc.). This ain’t no fancy dish. Also, sorry if all the exposition is annoying. But you can cut and paste and edit, right?

Ingredients

• 1 package beef neck (Usually three or four pieces of neck about 2 inches wide and 7 inches long. I’m guessing a pound and a half?)
• 1 or 2 tbsp. vegetable oil
• Salt and pepper
• 10 cups water
• 1 package Knorr’s Tamarind Soup Base (aka Sinigang Sa Sampalok Mix, available from Asian markets or online)
• 4 or 5 tomatoes, quartered (Or more if you like. They dissolve into the broth and make it delish.)
• 1 onion, julienned (I don’t actually vary my cutting angle, it’s just important to cut from root to tip rather than across.)
• 4 or 5 cloves of garlic, sliced (No razor blade required, 3 mm slices are fine)
• 2 inch piece of ginger, sliced
• 1 or 2 potatoes, halved the long way and then sliced into 1-inch pieces
• Fresh green beans, a large handful, trimmed. Cut into bite size if you don’t care to eat Flip style.
• Leafy greens, a bunch or as much as will fit in the pot. (Kangkong is preferred; it’s a Filipino veggie like spinach but without that dry feeling and the leaves are longer and skinnier. Some people use spinach which I haven’t tried yet – worried about that dry feeling. Lately I’ve been using sliced Chinese cabbage which works fairly well but isn’t as green as I’d like. Sliced bok choi is good, too.)

Cooking

1. Salt and pepper the beef neck all over. Heat vegetable oil over medium-high in a dutch oven or big soup pot until it starts to smoke. Brown beef necks on all sides you can, 4 to 5 minutes each side.
2. Pour the water into the pot, add soup base and stir. Add the tomatoes, onions, garlic and ginger and some more pepper. There’s more than enough salt in the soup base.
3. Turn down the heat and simmer – ideally for 3 or 4 hours. If you’re pressed for time just make sure the beef is cooked all the way and proceed to step 4.
4. 30 minutes before serving add potatoes and green beans.
5. 15 minutes before serving add leafy greens. Maybe a bit more pepper. We like this dish spicy.
6. Serve in a bowl with steamed rice on a plate.

Eating

• Spoon soup over rice and eat with fork and spoon (Flip style). This means spoon in the right hand, fork in the left. Back of fork pushes food onto spoon.
• To cut greens, meat, etc. into manageable pieces turn fork and spoon upside down. Use fork to spear while spoon pulls off yummy bits that will fit.
• Also use spoon as usual to grab extra broth and small yummies in bowl as needed.
• This keeps in Tupperware in the fridge fabulously and gets better the longer it sits. The best bowl is the last, with all the garlic and ginger chunks and pepper bits at the bottom.
• Give your doggie the bones. They’ll love you.

What a holiday-filled week it’s been! Rick and I went shopping for our Thanksgiving dinner supplies on Monday. He allowed me to take this picture of him in a Santa hat:

(I also have a picture of him in a leprechaun hat from St. Patrick’s day a few years ago. Am thinking of collecting pictures of Rick in strange hats.)

For Thanksgiving dinner, I planned to cook the turkey, stuffing and gravy from scratch and go with pre-prepared for rolls, mashed potatoes (the frozen ones from TJ’s are pretty good), sweet potatoes (microwave-in-bag), creamed corn, cranberry sauce (again, thank you TJ’s), pumpkin pie and whipped cream. The stuffing started out promising. Fresh marjoram, thyme and sage with minced and sauteed onions and celery. Sandwhich bread cut into 1/2-inch cubes and toasted in the oven. I put it in a casserole dish to bak during the last hour of turkey-cooking time. But the turkey took an extra hour to cook and I had beer and a headache and … it ended up burned. D’oh!

The gravy, which was to be made from drippings that cooked in the bottom of the pan with coarsely-chopping onions, celery and carrots, turned out fine. Even though I burned the veggies by not adding enough chicken broth in the first hour. While I napped on the couch, overwhelmed by all the burning, Rick supervised the last hour of turkey-cooking and turned out a juicy, well-roasted bird. Thank goodness. And then I burned the rolls in the toaster oven. Double d’oh!

Not too bad for a first on-our-own Thanksgiving, though. I had back-up stuffing in a box in the cupboard. And there were still rolls left over that I have managed to not-burn everytime we have leftovers.

I used the rest of the weekend to start on Christmas. Rick helped me put up LED Christmas lights from Costco:

View the rest of my Holidays 2008 pictures here.

And, I also got the jump on addressing and signing all my Christmas cards. Only have to get a few more Christmas presents and I can relax and enjoy the season. Woohoo!

On Monday Rick and I took the train West to the Chicago suburb of St. Charles to visit Rick’s parents. We visited and looked at boxes of pictures from Rick’s childhood. My favorite was a picture of Rick during his potty training days, sitting stark naked on the potty, grinning and covering his privates with an empty Kentucky Fried Chicken bucket on his head as a hat! Rick’s mom and dad kindly gave it to me to keep for blackmail. We all went out for a fabulous king crab dinner that night. I’ve never seen crab legs that big! So yummy.

On Tuesday, we caught a Cubs game with Rick’s dad. The scene outside Wrigley Field was like a huge party and sitting in the bleachers was even better. The weather was great and the Cubs kicked butt. Wrigley Field is amazing. Afterwards, Rick’s dad took us out for some ribs at Carson’s in downtown. The restaurant was very cool and old-school and the ribs were delicious. Wednesday, we headed back out to the suburbs to hang out with Rick’s childhood friend, his wife and son. We barbecued and shot some hoops and talked Warcraft.

On Thursday, we went to the Sears tower and had lunch with Rick’s Uncle Bill at a very cool restaurant in the lobby of a building downtown, one block South of the Sears tower. The lobby had a glass ceiling and a gorgeous fountain. It felt like an atrium. That night was a taping of Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me, one of my favorite NPR programs. They had a new panelist, Drew Carey, who was very funny. Moby was their special guest and, unlike most previous guests, showed up in person instead of calling in! Unfortunately none of my pictures turned out – the theater was too dark

On Friday we checked out the Art Institute which was AMAZING. They had a special exhibition of Edward Hopper and Winslow Homer that blew my mind. I wasn’t familiar with Hopper’s work beyond his iconic Nighthawks painting and the rest of his work really moved me. The style reminded me of Magritte’s work – although there were no surrealist elements, the style and composition made me feel that they were surrealist nonetheless. I especially loved one of his last paintings, Sun in an Empty Room. That night, Rick’s Uncle Bill took us out for ribs at Twin Anchors and they were the best ribs I’ve ever had in my life. The meat was so tender that it was difficult to eat – it just slipped off the bone!

Saturday was our day of departure and we had breakfast at Wishbone, a southern-style eatery near Oprah’s taping studio. Their salmon cakes with hollandaise blew my mind and the decor was very fun and cheerful. Afterwards, we went to O’Hare to check in where (surprise, surprise) my bag was way overweight. We had to wait half an hour to check-in with an agent because their check-in machines weren’t working for us and in the end, our flight was delayed by half an hour. I was worried we wouldn’t make our connecting flight because we landed with 10 minutes to get to the next gate. Luckily, we caught a ride on one of those electric cart things and made our flight.

In the end, I had tons of fun. Chicago is a great town (when the weather’s good) and I definitely want to go back to check out the museums we missed. However, I’m not too happy with the extra 10 pounds I brought back with me. Time to get back to my running program, eating veggies and working.

More pictures here

We left San Luis Obispo airport at 7:52am (Pacific) and got in to our vacation rental at 6:30pm (Central). The flights were uneventful and our luggage wasn’t lost, thank goodness. The condo looks just as good as the photos but smells a little funky. Turns out, it’s also super noisy in the morning if you keep the windows open. Oh well, it’s STILL better than Motel 6.

After we got in we unpacked and headed out in search of dinner. We were starving and ended up eating deep fried veggies and buffalo wings at a local bar. Pretty good. We went back to the condo to relax and make phone calls and then Rick found a cool-sounding Irish bar we could go to – The Emerald Loop. We rode the red line for a bit to get there and that was pretty exciting to a Chicago-newb like me

The Emerald Loop is a gorgeous old place in downtown. They have very pretty stained glass fixtures all over along with some very beautiful paintings. There’s one massive painting in the dining room that I couldn’t tear my eyes off of. The bar looks huge and old and gleaming. And the service was great. Our waiter, Mark, was very friendly and funny and we chatted basketball. Unfortunately we were too full to try the food (which they seem to serve as late as you like) but their Guinness draft is the best I’ve ever had – poured smooth and ice cold, like chocolate milk with a memory-foam head.

We ended the night with an Irish Car Bomb and haiiled a cab (!) to get home. That was fun.

A friend from j2 gave me this recipe about a year ago and I finally got around to trying it out. (Thanks Brent!) The prep was very easy and it tasted great. Easily my best cooking experiment so far.

Meatballs

• 2 slices white sandwich bread (crusts discarded), torn into small cubes
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 3/4 pound ground beef chuck
• 1/4 pound ground pork (to be mixed with ground chuck)
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley leaves
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1 small clove garlic, minced
• 3/4 teaspoon table salt
• Ground black pepper
• Vegetable oil for pan-frying

Simple Tomato Sauce

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh basil leaves
• Table salt and ground black pepper
• 1 pound spaghetti
• grated Parmesan cheese

1. For the meatballs: Combine bread and buttermilk in small bowl, mashing occasionally with fork, until smooth paste forms, about 10 minutes.
2. Mix all meatball ingredients, including bread mixture and pepper to taste in medium bowl. Lightly form 3 tablespoons of mixture into 1 1/2-inch round meatballs; repeat with remaining mixture to form approximately 14 meatballs. (Compacting them can make the meatballs dense and hard. Can be placed on large plate, covered loosely with plastic wrap, and refrigerated for several hours.)
3. Bring 4 quarts of water to boil in large pot for cooking pasta.
4. Meanwhile, heat 1/4-inch vegetable oil over medium-high heat in 10- or 11-inch saute pan. When edge of meatball dipped in oil sizzles, add meatballs in single layer. Fry, turning several times, until nicely browned on all sides, about 10 minutes, regulating heat as needed to keep oil sizzling but not smoking. Transfer browned meatballs to paper-towel-lined plate; set aside. Repeat, if necessary, with remaining meatballs.
5. For the sauce, discard oil in pan, leaving behind any browned bits. Add olive oil along with garlic; saute, scraping up any browned bits, just until garlic is golden, about 30 seconds. Add tomatoes, bring to boil, and simmer gently until sauce thickens, about 10 minutes. Stir in basil; add salt and pepper to taste. Add meatballs and simmer, turning them occasionally, until heated through, about 5 minutes. Keep warm over low flame.
6. Meanwhile, add 1 tablespoon salt and pasta to boiling water. Cook until al dente, drain, and return to pot. Ladle several large spoonfuls of tomato sauce (without meatballs) over spaghetti and toss until noodles are well coated. Divide pasta among individual bowls and top each with a little more tomato sauce and 2 to 3 meatballs. Serve immediately with grated cheese passed separately.

On Monday, I used some leftover Indian spices from Raj’s visit to make a spicy lamb curry and tamarind rice. Frozen naan and mango chutney from Trader Joe’s rounded out the meal. It was so tasty and spicy. 2 days later the leftovers were even more delicious (and even more spicy!).

On Tuesday, I made chicken breasts with a cream mushroom pan sauce, mashed potatoes and steamed green beans. The sauce was amazing. Here’s the recipe. It makes enough sauce for 4 servings:

• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 shallots, minced
• 8 oz (1 pkg) white button mushrooms, sliced thin
• 1/3 cup sherry or dry white wine
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 2 tbsp parsley, minced
• a pinch of nutmeg or mace
• salt & pepper

1. Add oil to the skillet you browned the chicken in. Heat on medium heat until shimmering. (Don’t clean the pan out — all those brown bits have all the flavor!)
2. Add shallots, 1/4 tsp salt and cook until softened, about 2 minutes.
3. Add mushrooms and cook until brown, about 8 minutes.
4. Add sherry, scraping up any brown bits, and cook until dry, about 1 minute.
5. Stir in cream and broth. Simmer until thickened, about 8 minutes.
6. Stir in any accumulated chicken juice from the breasts you set aside.
7. Off the heat, stir in parsely and nutmeg.
8. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Thank you to The America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook Revised Edition (which I bought at Costco for $4 cheaper than Amazon, btw).

On Saturday I made (from scratch) pan-seared scallops with lemon, capers and shallots and herbed couscous as a side dish. The hour of assembling and mincing ingredients was extremely satisfying.

Tonight, I made penne pasta with broccoli, roasted red peppers and chicken. Again, all that chopping and browning and mixing felt soooo good.

What is it about cooking a healthy, hearty meal? I love it!

Rick and I woke up and headed over to Wilson’s restaurant in Paso Robles for some tasty breakfast. Usually the place is full of retired couples but today there was a kid invasion and we ate to the charming sounds of crying babies and soccer moms chatting about whatever they chat about. It was satisfying to hear the retired couple in the next booth over grumble about the ruckus. And then I worried that we were getting old and grumbly, too. Whatever. I’d rather be grumbly than deal with ruckus like that every day.

We met up with some friends at Avila Valley Barn in San Luis Obispo, a farm with lots of fresh produce, roasted corn, freshly-pressed cider, hay rides and a massive pumpkin patch. Rick and I picked up a huge (31 pounds!) oblong pumpkin (which I plan to carve in his likeness, including warts and missing teeth, heh) and a very tasty-looking pumpkin pie. I love Fall – it was sunny and breezy and not too warm and the smells in the air were delightful.

I rounded out the day with a mammoth grocery shopping trip and red beans and rice with cajun sausage and Caesar salad for dinner. Paul Newman’s refrigerated Caesar salad dressing is excellent, by the way. Am going to wait a bit to try the pumpkin pie as I am stuffed!

My friend, Jon, from Pasadena was traveling to visit his sister in Santa Cruz and stopped at my place last Thursday in time for dinner with me and Rick.

Trader Joe’s to the rescue! We had veggie samosas as an appetizer while I cooked up some chicken (for us omnivores) and cauliflower (for Jon, the vegetarian) with Marsala simmer sauce for a tasty Indian treat. Brown rice bowls, steamed broccoli and toasty Naan rounded out the menu for the night. And for dessert there was Ben and Jerry’s Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. (Tip: TJ’s sells Ben and Jerry’s by the QUART.)

We watched Survivor and then some Jon Stewart on the TiVo and then I made up the futon for Jon. (He said the innerspring mattress was quite comfy in case anyone else is interested in visiting…) Coffee in the morning and he was on his way up the coast.

Pixel did not like this visitor at all at first but by morning they were buddies. All in all, a fun little visit. I look forward to getting more LA peeps up here