My favorite tools

Erin, over at A Dress a Day (see sidebar), had a recent post about appreciating your tools. Whilst making Swedish Meatballs this evening, I realized that I had chosen my favorite kitchen tools. I love this fish spatula because it allows me to get beneath even the most stubborn things. Pancakes? No problem. Meatballs? Easy. Fish? Uh, what's that? Oh, that sea meat you make about once a month? Is that what I'm intended for? I had no idea! What a concept!

The tongs, oh the tongs. Now, my mother tends to reach for these tiny plastic tongs that I think she got with a take-out meal sometime in the past. Those have melted edges. She teases me about how I always choose the largest implement possible to do whatever job I need done. (My dad, on the other hand, chooses the smallest. Seeing him stirring a pot with a teaspoon -the type you eat with, not measure with- is NOT an uncommon sight.) I think I'm about the only person who regularly grabs these tongs. Everyone else seems to hate them because they claim they pinch. I suppose when you don't understand that you should grip the tongs about halfway up instead of at the pivot, that's your punishment. :)

My mother used to have one of those wooden rolling pins with the handles. You know the type? That makes a slight rattling noise as you flatten something (or in this case, crush some crackers into powder)? I loved that! But I also love this rolling pin. It's fabulous.

The timer (ticking type in the mid-ground, not the digital one in the background). My mom has always used these, and like most people, I feel what's good for mom is good for me. I love the sound of this thing slowly clocking how long my meal has been cooking. We use the digital one when the times exceed one hour. It's good, but I check it constantly to make sure it's still counting down the time. No reassuring ticking there.

A while back I posted about a broccoli dish and in the photo of the beautiful vegetable was my favorite knife. A butcher's knife. I love that thing. Again, biggest possible instrument for the job. I'll probably end up married to a really big guy, but love him to death for all the things he can do for me with such vast capabilities compared to all those tiny men! (And there are a LOT of them around, aren't there? I'm not a huge woman, but I am slightly tall and not small boned or fleshed and it makes finding a guy really difficult. I would love to let go of inhibitions and be one of those big women with a small man, but it's just not in me. I can't help but imagine squashing him like a bug between my fingers.)

Perhaps I've had one glass of wine too many tonight....

Comfort Food pt.1

One thing I'm hoping to explore with this blog is the concept of comfort food. Anyone who has lived in another culture for some time will understand how one starts to crave certain meals from home that are unavailable. When I was living in China a coworker took a trip home and was kind enough to bring some herbs back to China for me. These herbs helped me make some decent (but by no means fantastic) meals for other expats. These meals were received with rave reviews mostly because it had been so long since any of them had had a home-cooked home meal. (I really must work on my vocabulary.) I find the close relationship between culinary culture and identity intriguing and I would like to work toward collecting comfort food recipes from a wide range of people, along with their best attempt to explain why that meal is comfort food for them and their family.
In my family, meatloaf is a standard in the area of comfort food. Typically we serve meatloaf with mashed potatoes (or simply boiled ones) and carrots. As you can see from the background, my father also adds ketchup, but he is the king of sauces. No meal is complete without extra sauce in his book. Meatloaf is a winter comfort food. It's something that my mom would make regularly when we were children. As kids, we were rather unadventurous eaters. (For example, our idea of vegetables included carrots, corn and peas, on occasion. Green beans were okay too.) The smell of meatloaf baking has a way of warming me up. It makes me think of chilly or downright cold weather and the satisfaction of a hot and substantial meal filling me up. Now, my mom, to make the meat fill more bellies, told me to add a whole stack of saltine crackers. Apparently she now only adds 1/2 to 3/4 of a stack of crackers, which she told me with a "duh, I've been doing that forever" tone.
I can't complain, because a lot of times they will ask what recipe I used to make such-and-such meal and I inevitably forget to add that I also doubled the herbs and spices or halved this, or added this for more flavor, and "didn't you realize that when you looked at the recipe??" I think the secret of a good cook and the reason nobody can get a meal to taste exactly like mom's is because she told you which recipe, but to know how she ACTUALLY makes it. You have to watch her make it. Otherwise you'll not do something that she's always done and forgotten to tell you about. Most likely it's been so long since she's actually looked at the recipe that she will assume that her embellishments are on the card.

Meatloaf

1 lb ground beef
1/2 to 1 stack saltines
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 egg
8 oz can tomato sauce
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Place the ground beef in a bowl.
Using a rolling pin, crush the saltines into a fine meal.
Add saltines, onion, egg, a dash of tomato sauce, and salt and pepper to the beef.
Mix thoroughly (the best method is using your hands).
Pour about 1/2 of the remaining tomato sauce into the middle of a cast iron pan (either dutch oven or one with a lid).
Gather the meat mixture into a ball and toss gently between your hands to make a large meatball.
Shape into a football shape and place in the tomato sauce.
Pour the remaining tomato sauce over the meatloaf.
Cover and cook until done (about 1 hour).
Serve with boiled potatoes (or mashed) and cooked carrots.
If there are leftovers, meatloaf sandwiches are difficult to beat. Two slices of homemade white bread, slices of chilled meatloaf, salt and pepper (butter if you're really looking for decadence).