Potato Head

Hello out there, it's just me, hailing you from lady of leisure land.

Today, I've fearlessly attacked the 10 pound bag of potatoes that are beginning to turn into potato spider/crabs as they begin to sprout. There's just something so bizarre about a potato that begins to sprout...I remember when I was a teenage bride, defiantly ignorant of the ways of the kitchen and how once I opened a cupboard door where some neglected potatoes were kept...and I screamed...I literally thought there were some sort of bugs in there. Now the potato monsters got nothin' on me. I just sneak up on 'em with my peeler, and that's the end of it...

The freezer now has two large containers of garlic mashed potatoes, and some packages of frozen diced. Everyone loves potatoes, but no one likes to stand over a sink, peeling. So I just bite the bullet and make HUGE batches and then I feel like I can just wiggle my nose and mashed potatoes are *presto* ready for any busy day. God, who talks like that? I sound like I belong in some sort of instant potato flake commercial...circa 1962. *Sigh*, I am a very lonely woman, born into a very wrong time.

Also made some homemade pizzas, using nothing more than a basic pizza crust recipe, some tomato sauce, some crushed garlic, Italian spices, some mozzarella/cheddar cheese, and a crumpled package of pepperoni languishing in the back of the fridge.
Cranking up the This American Life webcasts http://www.thisamericanlife.org makes washing up all the sticky mashed potato gook far more enjoyable. There's just something so enjoyable about listening to the radio while I pound away with the potato masher.

Here is the last batch of diced potatoes ready to flash-freeze. Now, supposedly they say that potatoes don't freeze well, but I am finding contradictions to this traditional household lore. According to one article I found, it's all about the cooking...so these have been boiled for 10 minutes on low as whole potatoes, similar to what I'd do for potato salad. They have been sliced and diced while they are still a bit on the hard side, yet you can stick a fork in them. Hopefully, they won't turn into mush when I decide to bake them. We shall see....

AND CHECK OUT MY NEW JELLO MOLDS!! Well, new to me, anyway. Lately, the Universe has seen fit to shower me with many a retro treasure, perhaps because the Universe knows that I will take super-duper care of them. These molds were free from a secondhand store, because I had a coupon for a return I'd made long ago. Yep, I know what you're going to ask. Yes indeedy, I fully intend to break open the boxes of horse-hoof, fruit flavored and sugar compounds and create my own wiggly confections. And wouldn't the ring one make lovely mounds of rice! More to come on that!

I've also been blessed with a 1962 Better Homes and Gardens 'New' Cook Book that not only was half price of a copy I had lusted after in a ritzy antique store in my home town, but this one is actually CRAMMED with magazine recipes and ads from the time. On top of this, my copy was proudly signed by a Mrs. David E. Hoover. Looking at the flourishing capitals of her signature, you just know she was a lady of the club, who actually wore hats with netting on a REGULAR basis. I really, really like/admire Mrs. David E. Hoover, and wish I could have spent a day in her kitchen. Somehow, I think I would have had more in common with her than I do with most of the women I know today.
Well, at least I can carefully comb through her cookbook. I feel like I should be wearing white gloves when I go through these slightly flour-dusted pages, partly because that's how museum curators protect relics, and partly because a well-dressed friend of Mrs. David E. Hoover would most certainly have worn white gloves.

Off to take off my apron and put on some lipstick.