When Life Gives You Self-Rising Flour...

Dear Mouse,

Ah, spring.

"When birds do sing Hey ding a ding ding/Sweet lovers love the spring" -As You Like It

"Why should a woman cook? So a man can say, 'My wife makes a wonderful cake' ... to some hooker?" - Joan Rivers

It's April. (Freezing, freezing April.) And that can only mean three things: Home, Spring and Birthday Cake! Specifically, your birthday cake! Yes, Home is where the Hart is... and, also, the bag of self-rising flour that I shipped home from Kentucky ... and also a tub of frozen, pink, leftover Magnolia-Cupcake-Recipe-Icing that I made months ago and totally forgot about! Score.

The Magnolia Cupcake recipe, in the form of a two-layer cake, has been my go-to Birthday confection since I first made it for you a few years back. The recipe is ALL about excess--two kinds of flour (self-rising and regular), four eggs in the cake, two boxes of confectioner's sugar. Each time, try as I might to use all the frosting, there is always a significant amount left over (and you know I like me some frosting).

The bag of flour is another story. I'd had it shipped it from Kentucky along with some other baking staples, partly because shipping was free, partly because I couldn't stand to waste it, and partly because I had formed a sort of perverse sentimental attachment to it. It had been, well, meant for someone else's birthday cake. And, well, the night before I was to make it, the idea of "baking" got replaced with "throwing a jealous tantrum in the parking lot" ... and it never happened. (In my defense, it was the Spring Equinox. Also, I was provoked. My point is, no cake. I did stop short of giving him the bag of flour with a candle stuck in it as I'm pretty sure that's a fire hazard oh god it's all so embarrassing let me redeem myself with a dessert recipe.)

Here's the cake I just made for your birthday celebration tonight! Isn't it PRETTY?

OK, 'attractive'? "Striking"? Whatever, it'll taste good.

It's kind of a 'Magnolia-Light" version (HA). Since I only had enough frosting for the top of the cake (rather than the usual all-over and between-layers), I improvised with a strawberries-and-whipped-cream filling. I think the restraint makes for a more Spring-y, hopeful, romantic dessert. I can't wait to try it.

Though now I think of it, this would be perfect for that "pie in the face" comedy sketch we've been working on...

Now, of course you might say it's a bit headstrong and impatient and dare I say perhaps irrational and impulsive to post a recipe before it's been tested, and to that I say,

"WHAT THE @$&(*??? WHO THE #(%^$@ IS SHE? HOW LONG HAS THIS BEEN GOING ON?????!!"

Happy Birthday! Recipe Below.

Love,

The Boo.

The Boo's Magnolia-Style "Sweet Lovers Love the Spring" Birthday Cake

FOR CAKE:

1 1/2 Cups Self-Rising Flour

1 1/4 C Regular Flour

2 sticks (1 C) butter

2 C sugar

1 C milk

1 tsp vanilla

4 eggs

Preheat oven to 350. Mix the flours in a small bowl, set aside. Cream butter, then gradually add sugar and beat until "fluffy". Add eggs one at a time, beating after each. Add the flours in THREE parts, alternating with milk and vanilla; mix each time just enough to blend; do not overbeat. Pour it in two round greased cake pans (I used Pam baking spray; yes I did). Bake 20-25 min until a knife comes out clean. COOL - for the love of Mike - COOL them COMPLETELY before attempting to frost.

While cakes bake, make icing...

FOR ICING (I've halved the full recipe here)

1 stick (1/2 C) butter, softened

3 or 4 C (i'm gonna say 1 box) confectioner's sugar

1/4 C milk

1 tsp vanilla

Place the butter in a large mixing bowl. Add 2 C of the sugar and then the milk and vanilla.

beat until smooth and creamy, about 3 to 5 minutes. Gradually add the remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating well after each addition (about 2 minutes), until the icing is thick enough to be of good spreading consistency. To your taste; you may or may not use all the sugar (though if you like magnolia cupcake icing, you will). If desired, add a few drops of food coloring and mix thoroughly. (Use and store the icing at room temperature because icing will set if chilled.) Icing can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days. (NOte from The Boo: It CAN be frozen and then brought back to room temp before spreading).

...and whipped cream filling:

strawberries, several

1 C heavy cream

1 tsp vanilla

a bit (1/2 tbsp?) powdered sugar if you have it

Beat it til it's whipped cream. Slice a bunch of strawberries, thinly.

When cakes are cool, gently remove from pans. Set first layer on the cake platter. Spread whipped cream thickly across center. Arrange strawberries in single layer. Gently place second cake layer on top the strawberries. Go to town with icing, all over top of the cake and if you wish also around bottom layer (but leave center visible; the whipped cream and berries peeking out look pretty.)

Nothing Better

Dear Boo,

Let's be honest. I like to toot my own horn for being an adventurous eater with a sophisticated palate and a few neat tricks in the kitchen. But when it comes down to it, is there really anything better than pasta with sauce and cheese? I'm gonna have to say no.

Unless, that is, it's pasta with sauce and cheese that's been baked to piping perfection, with spots of melted creamy mozzarella and bechamel swirled messily into the chunky rich tomato sauce, alternating with spots of crunchy, crispy, burnished crust of salty parmesan and bread crumbs, eaten at a table shared with good friends, alongside a delicious velvety glass of wine (or two), on a late Sunday afternoon right when those Sunday blues you've known since the age when life began to organize itself around Monday mornings and deadlines and homework, during a long, cold, gray month when apparently someone forgot to send a memo to the northeast letting us know it's actually SPRING and has been for quite some time.

Yup, nothing better.

Love,

The Mouse

Mario Batali's Ziti Al Telefono (or rigatoni, as is the case in the above photo) Makes 4 Servings (Ha. I was afraid this wouldn't be enough to feed us all, but we ended up sending some home with our guests, and eating it for days after. Don't fret.)

1 pound ziti
2 cups Basic Tomato Sauce (recipe below, or use your own)
2 cups Besciamella (recipe below)
1 pound fresh buffalo mozzarella, cut into 1/2 in cubes
1/2 cup freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano
1/2 cup fresh bread crumbs

Preheat the oven to 425. Bring 6 quarts of water to a boil in a large pot, and add 2 tablespoons salt. Cook the ziti for 2 minutes short of the package instructions; it should be too al dente to eat. Drain and rinse under cold water until cool. Drain a second time and place in a large bowl. Add the tomato sauce, besciamella, mozzarella, and Parmigiano to the ziti and stir to mix well. Place the pasta into a casserole dish (or divide into 4 individual gratin dishes as Mario would have you do) and sprinkle with the bread crumbs (I sprinkled also with a bit of parmesan and drizzled some olive oil over the top.)
Bake for about 20 minutes, until bubbling and crusty on top.
Serve with Ina Garten's Roasted Broccoli if you know what's good for you.


Basic Tomato Sauce
Makes 4 cups

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 spanish onion, cut into 1/4 in dice
4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
3 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme
1/2 medium carrot, finely shredded
2 28-oz cans whole tomatoes
salt

In a 3 qt saucepan heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook until soft, about 8-10 minutes. Add the tomatoes with their juice, and bring to a boil, stirring. Lower the heat and simmer until thick, about 30 minutes. Season with salt.


Besciamella
Makes about 3.5 cups

5 Tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup all purpose flour
3 cups whole milk
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the flour and stir until smooth. Cook, stirring, until light golden brown, 6 to 7 minutes. Meanwhile, in another medium saucepan, heat the milk to just under a boil. Add the milk to the butter mixture about 1 cup at a time, whisking constantly until very smooth, and bring to a boil, whisking. Cook, whisking, until thickened, about 10 minutes; remove from the heat. Season with the salt and nutmeg. Transfer to a bowl and let cool, then cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

Good Bye, KY, Well It's Time To Go

Dear Mouse,

Wah.

Is this ever going to get easier?

* There's a lot of pictures in this one. Kick back. Also, ponder the miracle of how I lost 6lbs while consuming everything you see here.*

the french fries at this tiny truck in Old Louisville, where there's barely enough room to order, will change your life.

Strawberry Rhubarb a la Mode at the Homemade Ice Cream and Pie Kitchen on Bardstown Road.

This guy got the chocolate cherry pie.

"You know..." said Dennis as we walked home from my reality-check final music gig in Louisville (ie; no money, no audience, no stage, and NOT part of, say, this groovy, well-publicized, beautifully run festival that has spoiled me here) "I am really depressed right now."

He didn't mean my gig (oh, I also had to follow a guy doing magic tricks). He meant the fact that Humana is drawing to a close. We're in the middle of the big final Industry Weekend, which is very exciting, and then we close tomorrow, which is kinda hard to believe. Only one more performance of this epic, beautiful, challenging play, and the end of a life-changing, messy, exhausting, highly rewarding, two months.

"Vintage Bourbon". That's the name. $75 a bottle. Tastes like butter on fire.

There is always, I suppose, going to be after-show crash, but this one I can already tell has the potential of being a larger black hole than most. Last night we were all out at a regular spot, the Old Seelbach Bar of the Hilton, to mark the first night of Industry Weekend 2. Amid the buzz and celebration, we settled into our first round, smiled at the wave of colleagues pouring in ... and then one of our number actually put his head down on the table and wailed,

"I dont wanna go back to New York!!!!!"

R to L, The Mother! and friend CM, at Lynne's Paradise Cafe, where you should go for brunch and parking lot shenanigans like this.

That is, if you can't get into TOAST on Market.

Yep. How did we get here? I never thought I'd say it, but I'm really gonna miss Kentucky for several reasons. One is, of course, this gig... but there are others. The QUIET. The SPACE - !! Even the most casual restaurant takes up, like, a whole building. You can stretch your arms out on the sidewalk and not hit anyone. The Victorian houses in Old Louisville.

The 'Pink Palace' is haunted.

Porches! Porch Swings! Magnolia trees! The private "Womens Gym" at the Y where I never have to wait for a treadmill. The $3.50 glass of Maker's Mark at Freddie's Bar around the corner. People who say hello in the elevator and chat with you at the grocery store. Servers in restaurants who cheerfully offer- offer!! - to split your party's check nine ways, every time! I've actually started saying "Yes, Mam" and "No Sir" while making eye contact. I've grown used to standing on my balcony every morning, coffee in hand, while listening to music and gazing out over the city to the Ohio River.

And of course the theatre. The enthusiasm and support and professionalism and multiple venues and dressing rooms and light plot and staff and fog machines and trap room I could go on but let's get to...

...the really important things about Louisville, such as:

I have now been to this delicious, Brooklyn-style teahouse restaurant three times in one week.

It is NOT to be missed. AND rumor has it it's actually coming to Brooklyn.

for bourbon bread pudding...

or "roadkill stew", featuring venison.

'corn pone' and incredible braised greens with bacon on the side.

and, of course, delicious, beautifully presented tea, which i normally dont give two s*ts about. Not pictured but also tried: the "smokey chai" served in a glass jar with a handle.

Behold: the Maple Frosted Bacon Donuts at Nord's Bakery. I walked FOUR miles round trip before an industry matinee to get these. Reserve the day before because they sell out by 7AM.

Next door at Sunergos' Coffeeshop, the cute hippie barista recommended the Costa Rican. I was in no way prepared for how FREAKING DELICIOUS this coffee was. Smooth, nutty, mellow, but, like, for real, and not like when people usually use these words to describe coffee and it just tastes like coffee. Amazing. Drink this coffee.

Hm. Am I forgetting anything?

Pulled Pork Tacos at Doc Crow's on Main, where you should go before or after a show at ATL. O'Shea's next door: also not too shabby. Great bar, good bison burger.

OK I think that's it for now. Was it all rosy? No. Do I have any cautionary notes? Yes. Don't get pizza in Kentucky, and under no circumstances should you ever, EVER drink this:

... which was presented to me as "whiskey", which it surely is not.

As I was starting this blog post at 2AM, Dennis sent me this email, which I think says it all (and which I think might also be haiku):

Write something in ur blog
About the kentucky fried sadness I feel

I hope I've done so. Goodbye, KY ... But first, one more party and one more show. Moon ON.

Love,

The Boo

The Return of Dessert

Dear Boo,

I had an embarrassing moment recently when a friend of mine told me she had been searching through our blog looking for desserts and that she was disappointed to see we have but a paltry number of sweet recipes. Now, I'm admittedly someone who lost her sweet tooth somewhere around 2002 after a stint working at City Bakery over the summer. I can't say whether it was a direct result of all the frozen hot chocolate and butter-drenched cookies, but somehow I found myself, previously unable to reach a satisfying finish to a meal without at least a couple of bites of cake/cookies/tart/ice cream, suddenly with only a passing interest in dessert. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a bite of dark chocolate, or a good milkshake, and I've recently rediscovered the pleasure of an early morning cheese danish, thanks to our mother, but it's just not where my cooking or eating passion lies. I'd much rather spend my time standing over a steaming pot on the stove, tasting and seasoning, sauteeing and deglazing, tasting, and tasting again, than coaxing egg whites to stiffen into peaks just so, checking that a toothpick yields perfectly moist crumbs, and measuring, measuring, forever measuring.

But the importance of dessert cannot be overlooked. When planning a dinner like the one I had recently, a belated birthday meal for the Mother on a semi-historic occasion in which she met, for the first time, the soon-to-be-father-in-law who was visiting from Florida, whether or not one will make a dessert is not really a question up for debate. It just wouldn't be dinner without it.

And so it is with great pleasure that I see your chocolate chip soda bread (can you please fedex me some?), and raise you one Tarte Tatin, a dessert for all those non-bakers out there (and those combing our archives in vain for something sweet). There's barely any measuring, no dough making, no electric beaters to clean, and since you're baking in a cast-iron skillet, you might even be able to trick yourself into thinking you're throwing together some hash-browns. Now that's my kind of dessert.

Love,
The Mouse

What's lurking under that golden crust? Not a chicken pot pie, I can tell you that much.

Tarte Tatin
courtesy of Gourmet, RIP

frozen puff pastry sheet (from a 17 1/4-ounce package)
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
7 to 9 Gala apples (3 to 4 pounds), peeled, quartered lengthwise, and cored

Special equipment: a well-seasoned 10-inch cast-iron skillet

Preheat oven to 425°F.

Defrost pastry so you can work with it. Roll pastry sheet into a 101/2-inch square on a floured work surface with a floured rolling pin. Brush off excess flour and cut out a 10-inch round with a sharp knife, using a plate as a guide. Transfer round to a baking sheet and chill.

Spread butter thickly on bottom and side of skillet and pour sugar evenly over bottom. Arrange as many apples as will fit vertically on sugar, packing them tightly in concentric circles. Apples will stick up above rim of skillet. (for a visual on how to do this, check out this tip)

Cook apples over moderately high heat, undisturbed, until juices are deep golden and bubbling, 18 to 25 minutes. (Don't worry if juices color unevenly.)

Put skillet in middle of oven over a piece of foil to catch any drips. Bake 20 minutes (apples will settle slightly), then remove from oven and lay pastry round over apples.

Bake tart until pastry is browned, 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer skillet to a rack and cool at least 10 minutes.

Before serving, invert a platter with lip over skillet and, using potholders to hold skillet and plate tightly together, invert tart onto platter. Be careful not to lose any of the caramel--some of mine poured out when I did the flip. Replace any apples that stick to skillet. (Don't worry if there are black spots; they won't affect the flavor of the tart.)

Brush any excess caramel from skillet over apples. Serve with cream, whipped cream, or ice cream.

Cooks' note: ·Tart can cool in skillet up to 30 minutes. It can also stand, uncovered, up to 5 hours, then be heated over moderately low heat 1 to 2 minutes to loosen caramel. Shake skillet gently to loosen tart before inverting.

American Soda Bread (Patty's Day '11)

Dear Mouse,

Am I really about to say this? Let's see:

"That was the most delicious thing I've baked".

To set this up: Happy Purim AND St. Patty's Day! Is it always like that and I just never noticed? Both of our ethnicities, on the same DAY, celebrating past religion-related triumphs with drunken frivolity and silly costumes? Wow.

R: Corned beef and cabbage at Cunningham's, a restaurant on 4th St. in Louisville, where you probably shouldn't order the corned beef and cabbage.

Of course, we never celebrated Purim growing up, and were trained from an early age to loathe St. Patrick's Day as inauthentic and un-Irish in the extreme. Having spent a considerable amount of time on the aul sod I can tell you that Patty's Day, though acknowledged over there, is kind of not that big a deal. I think mainly because in Ireland a day where you see green everywhere, sing raucous songs, and drink til closing is ... well, say ... Tuesday.

But as it turns out, in spite of myself I had a very celebratory St. Purim's Day here in Louisville. We had a day off from the show so all I had to do was have a breakfast meeting about the upcoming workshop of my play at this festival, go to the gym, and attend a "meet the artists" function where no one showed up and we just stood around drinking free cocktails! Also, the SUN finally came out! So this morning found me standing on my little balcony in my PJs, waiting for my meeting to start. I gazed out over Louisville in the bright light, coffee cup in hand, soaking up the Vitamin D and basking in the delicious fragrance coming from my oven.

What did I make? Soda bread, of course. But in the spirit of the holiday itself, it is a deliciously inauthentic version that features chocolate chips!! instead of traditional raisins and a fluffy, sugar-crusted texture rather than the traditional granite rock-face-type affair. It is so easy, so fast, and so delicious I had to share it with you here. It is the PERFECT thing to make when you want to be that person who just "whipped something up" for your friend who is coming over in 15 minutes. With the exception of the buttermilk, all the ingredients are probably in your pantry anyway. It's almost harder NOT to make this bread than to make it. There is practically no labor. I got this into the oven between waking up at 920 and welcoming my friend at 1020. I've made two loaves now and it's a big hit on the 15th floor.

Here goes. From MEMORY, that's how easy it is.

The Boo's American Chocolate Chip Soda Bread

via Epicurious

Preheat oven to 300. *** I LIED IT's 375, I hope no one has tried to make this yet SORRY**

2 C flour

1 .5 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp baking soda

4 tbsp sugar (i made the second loaf with 4 tsp by accident, still great)

1 tsp salt.

Mix/Whisk/Move these guys around in a bowl.

3tbsp butter, chilled and cut into pieces. Crumble in with your hands until the mixture is coarse and mealy.

Make a 'well' in the middle of the dry mixture for reasons I don't understand.

Pour 1C buttermilk into the well.

Mix that around (I like a wooden spoon) til it's a soft sticky dough.

Mix in 1/2 C chocolate chips.

With floured hands, form a ball of sticky dough. Place on sprayed baking sheet or parchment paper*. Flatten the ball somewhat with palm of hand, just let it spread out a bit.

Sprinkle with 1 tbsp sugar.

Bake for 40 min at 300 or until a knife comes out clean.

That's it.

* My new obsession, parchment paper is your answer if you find yourself, like me, short of resources and stuck with disposable pans. You can use them multiple times and there's no greasing of anything. Sooo easy and neat.

Long live breakfast. Erin Go Bragh.

Love,

The Boo

Tornado Cookies

Tom: "Jesus Christ, calm down, will you? Just calm down, nothing's happening."

Dennis: "Then what's that sound? WHAT'S THAT SOUND?"

-A Devil at Noon

Dear Mouse,

I'm writing to you at the end of my day off after our first performance, cookies in the oven, looking out at the sun setting golden and lovely over the urban sprawl of downtown Louisville, reflecting on how good it is to know I'm safe, sound, and alive. It's particularly good at this moment because, about 14 hours ago, there was some question in my mind on this matter.

Apparently, I'm reading now in the local rag, there was some kind of technical glitch last night with the local emergency broadcast radio system. The glitch caused the civil defense sirens, which are supposed to go off in cases of tornado activity, to, like, not go off this morning, when there was, like, a tornado here in Louisville.

The fact that none of us knew it was coming I can only blame on a cocktail of nerves and distraction on our part as last night was both our first preview!! of the show and, well, Oscar night (congrats to cast mate Dennis for his appearance in God of Love!). We were in rehearsal all day, spent the dinner break face down in a plate of collard greens and bbq salmon (yes, BBQ SALMON -more on this later), and then straight back into the theatre to stage our wild and woolly science fiction thrill ride for our first audience. It wasn't even raining, and the weather was the last thing on our minds. Nobody mentioned a storm.

The show went well. Of course, as our director reminded us afterwards, Act I needs work, but I'm pretty proud of it. The story is thrilling and out-there, the dialogue is witty and juicy and delicious, the cast is HOT and I get to make a very spectacular entrance at one point that I won't ruin here yet by describing. (Two words: Trap. Lift.)

So it was off home to watch the pre-recorded Oscars, then fall into bed around 2AM. And, in the end, I guess who needs a civil defense siren when you can be woken at 430AM by your own apartment, which is rattling around on its 15th floor hinges; floors shaking, doors banging, wind shrieking, the whole nine yards. The sky was opaque orange on my side of the building and a sickly greenish black on the other, as observed through hallmate Tom's window. I grabbed my cell phone and blearily read a text from Dennis, an hour earlier: "This weather is crazy!" I opened my front door and found him standing there in street clothes, surrounded by bags of dried fruit and cacao beans. "Should we go to the basement?" he asked. From my position on the carpet in the hallway (where I'd laid down when my legs gave out) I conducted a consultation with Dennis and Tom (who, from the South, was across the hall dancing around on his balcony going "Isn't this exciting?" while we died inside.) We discussed the 'morally right thing to do': knock on everyone's doors and wake them? Leave them alone? In the end we somehow decided to send the others text messages (TEXT MESSAGES?! in the face of death??) and fled to the basement where we holed up in Tom's car, checking the weather updates and speculating on which part of the building would go first and who would need to be eaten.

In the end, nothing happened. To us, anyway. The tornado passed over, knocked down a few houses in nearby Eminence, and let us get to bed. We slept from 7AM to noon, and then went to Whole Foods, which restored a measure of balance to my universe and also provided me with the ingredients to bake the following taste treats:

The Boo's Tornado Cookies

...which are basically good ol' Nestle Toll House chocolate chip cookies with some significant upgrades: namely 1 cup organic bittersweet chocolate morsels, 1 cup dried cherries, and 1 cup of crushed 'maple cinnamon roasted organic walnuts', courtesy of Dennis' Survival Stash.

Unflattering kitchen light... sigh.

Can't wait to see what happens opening night.

Love,

The Boo

Curry in a Hurry

Dear Boo,

I'm coming up for air briefly before our opening night tonight of a show which has in essence swallowed my life whole for the past few weeks, with constant rewrites, reworking, and harrowing moments of waking life actors nightmares, all culminating--as making live theater often infuriatingly does--in a complete, intact, and rather good production. My days of late have been a blur of work, class, and theater, with a few stolen moments here and there for sleep, eating, and even a teensy bit of cooking.


This soup was born out of the need for something cheap, as spending your time doing (virtually) free theater, combined with the propensity for nightly post-show drinks, can do a serious number on your wallet, and the need for something quick and comforting. I woke up from an accidental nap the other day (face down on my script) with a craving for curry soup, and was pleasantly surprised to find a recipe for just such a thing that could be made and ready to eat in under 30 minutes.

It was intensely satisfying. Even if I had to slurp it down while running lines, moments before dashing out the door. I highly recommend this for fast and easy meals (oh no, I sound like Rachael Ray) when you just can't eat (or afford) another dinner of late night beer and chicken wings.

Off to the theater!

Love,

The Mouse

Thai Red Curry Soup with Chicken and Vegetables
Adapted from Bon Appetit

The great thing about this recipe is how easily you can substitute other ingredients and still have a fast, easy, and tasty soup. Switch out other veggies, add shrimp instead of chicken, throw in some rice noodles, or cook down to a thicker sauce and serve over rice, use green curry paste, the options are almost endless. And with the short list of ingredients it's probably cheaper and healthier than take-out.

2 tablespoons corn or vegetable oil
2-3 tablespoons Thai red curry paste
12 ounces skinless boneless chicken breast halves, cut crosswise into 1/2-inch-wide strips
4 ounces green beans, cut into 1-inch lengths
2 small Japanese eggplants, cut into 1-inch pieces
3 cups canned low-salt chicken broth
3 cups canned unsweetened lite coconut milk
2 tablespoons fish sauce (nam pla)
Fresh lime juice
1 jalapeno or thai chile
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil

Heat oil in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add curry paste; stir until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add chicken; stir 2 minutes. Add green beans and eggplant pieces; stir 1 minute. Add broth, coconut milk and fish sauce; bring to boil. Reduce heat; simmer until vegetables are tender, about 12 minutes. During last few minutes of cooking, add thinly sliced chiles. Season with salt and pepper. Squeeze fresh lime juice to taste. Stir in basil and serve.

A Pre-Emptive Steak

"Chet writes science fiction. His book is going well but his life has jumped the outline in this engrossing exploration of the addiction, power and danger of dwelling in the imagination." - Humana Festival blurb for Anne Washburn's " A Devil at Noon"

Dear Mouse,

Hello from Louisville KY! I am here for two months, embarking on a journey of science-fiction romance with witty dialogue, interdimensional travel, and mime sequences.

Speaking of the dangers of dwelling in the imagination, I'm having deja vu for more reasons than one. One, I'm doing this play again, though it's an actual production!! for the first time. Two, this is the first repeat of my travels (I blogged from here in 2009). Three, if the bed weren't different I would swear this is the EXACT same apartment I had last time, complete with giant-armoire-enclosed-tv, wall to wall yellow carpet, yellow walls, plastic plants, and a small balcony (!!) with a really impressive, twinkly view of the whole night city. (Maybe it's just a new bed.) And, Four, I can already feel an apology coming on - a Blogpology? - about not having enough to write about for a while. Rehearsal begins at 9AM tomorrow! and fills our days thereafter til we open on Feb 27. And I hope/imagine many evenings will be filled with new people and new plays. I am so excited. Also, at 9PM, I'm already ready for bed, which concerns me. (Well, it was a travel day.) The volunteers who picked us up at the airport took us to the grocery store where I bought all the ingredients for your Fiance's Picadillo, thinking that'd be an exciting, and easy, first night dinner.

... 20 minutes later I had microwaved a Lean Cuisine pizza, steamed some broccoli, and unwrapped an "Almond Dream: 'Little Dreamers' " frozen nondairy dessert sandwich. My point is that this does not bode well for exciting culinary adventures.

In my (pre-emptive) defense, however, I'd like to show the court what I am working with here:

Exhibit A:

Not a bad kitchen, right? Ooh, look at all these cabinets! Can you guess what's in them?

Did you say "Nothing"? You're right!

Well that's not fair. There's a pot and a pan. A knife. All the basics. I'm just pointing out my handicaps (no baking/roasting pan, measuring cup/spoon... )But last time I did blog about rolling out pie crust with a beer bottle, so ... this might be good, actually.

Exhibit B:

Have you ever seen the like of this before?

No, this is not Ground Control. Or, well, it is. Of the stove.

So to get ahead of the game, I want to make sure to share this recipe I just learned. I made it for myself the night before I left town, and it could. not. be. easier.

The Mother, concerned for some reason that I didn't have enough food in the house (when I was about to leave town for two months), had dropped by with chicken sausage, turkey chili, bean soup, and two individually wrapped shell steaks, pleading indecision. I explained I only had one meal left to make and thanked her, keeping one of the shell steaks.

This is great for a busy or late weeknight when chopping one shallot already seems like enough of a challenge (that's as hard as it gets).

The Boo's Steak for One

(yes, lifted from Sarah Leah Chase's "Cold Weather Cooking", which is just what this is)

1 shell steak, 1-in thick (mine was. you can adjust time in the pan of course if thinner)

kosher salt

1 shallot, minced

1/2 C balsamic vinegar

1-2 tbsp butter

That's It.

Sprinkle kosher salt generously* over the bottom of a skillet with the heat on high.

(*Maybe it's because I was using the large-crystal rock salt type, but I would like to offer a caution to not be TOO generous with salt here. It's going to form a crust on the meat, which is Uh-MAZing, but also has the potential to, well, kind of kill you with salt.)

When the salt crystals begin to jump up off the pan (!), throw the steak in.

Sear on one side about 4 min for med rare. Bottom will be brown and crusted.

Flip it over and sear another 4 min.

Take it out of the pan and keep it warm on a plate.

Minced shallot into the pan for 30 sec.

Pour balsamic into the pan. It will steam up - maybe shield your eyes here.

Boil until reduced to around 2 tbsp balsamic syrupy reduction.

Turn off heat, swirl in butter til melted.

Pour it over your steak. Eat.

I ate this with steamed broccoli on the side (also fabulous with the sauce), and grated parmesan on top. I think it'd also be great over a bed of arugula.

I'll leave you with another pre-emptive measure, good for this kind of travel -

The Pill-Dispenser-Turned-Spice-Rack. Fits neatly in the suitcase. A brilliant idea from Mrs. Poet. (Left to Right: cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, red pepper, cayenne, thyme, italian herb mix).

There may be hope for this kitchen yet.

Love,

The Boo