Late Night Reading

My reading usually tends towards mind candy like mysteries or the occasional science fiction and the occasional smattering of how to books and cookbooks. I also enjoy magazines, but I've stopped buying or subscribing because once I get them in the house I can't seem to get rid of them.

Lately I've been reading a couple of biographies; Paul Shaffer's "We'll Be Here For the Rest of Our Lives" and Craig Ferguson's "American On Purpose: The Improbable Adventures Of An Unlikely Patriot". Both of these books are written by late night personalities. While both are naturalized American citizens and stars in their own right; the similarity pretty much ends there.

Paul Shaffer's book is quite entertaining. It's full of anecdotes and stories of his youth and his career. I hadn't realized the extent of his involvement with Saturday Night Live and how his career was so entwined the likes of Martin Short, Eugene Levy and other show biz Canadians. Shaffer's life started comfortably middle class and he's really never seemed struggle on his journey. The book is sweet little bites that can be enjoyed chapter by short chapter. While there are no earth shaking revelations; it's a worthwhile read.

Craig Ferguson's story is quite a bit grittier. He grew up in government housing and seemingly always made the wrong choices. His bawdy sense of humor is apparent from the start and his ironic tales make me laugh out loud. While Shaffer's tale is light and airy, Ferguson's book is darker and much more intense. I usually need to read a bit of something else afterward for a change. Don't get me wrong the book is funny, just dark and stormy as he describes his alcoholism and failed relationships. I'm only about a quarter of the way into the book, but it's a much more compelling read than Shaffer's book. I may have to start watching Ferguson's show again. I've found his humor a bit repetitive in the past, but I may appreciate and understand it more after reading this book.

On a cold winter evening, with the fire in the woodstove dying out, a mug of hot chocolate with a wee dram of demerara rum is just the ticket to accompany your late night read and it just might even be good for you!

Spiked Cocoa

• 6 oz of hot milk - I heat mine up in the microwave in a microwave save mug
• Housemade Chocolate Syrup to taste - Recipe follows
  
• 1 oz of Lemonhart 151 Rum - stir this in after you've heated the milk and mixed in the chocolate syrup

Housemade Chocolate Syrup

Ingredients:

• 1 cup water
• 1 1/2 cups organic evaporated cane sugar - this can be purchased at Trader Joe's or Costco
• 2/3 cup premium cocoa powder - I used Dagoba
• 1 tsp. real vanilla extract

Method:

1. Bring sugar and water to a boil in a two quart sauce pan - this stuff want to foam up so use a larger pan rather than smaller.
2. Add the cocoa and stir continuously for 3 or 4 minutes - you'll need to turn the temperature down a bit, but keep it boiling. I use a flat whisk the reaches the corners of the pan.
   
3. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla
4. Let it cool a bit and pour it into a clean glass jar.
5. You can't get all the syrup out of the pan, so pour in a bit of milk and return the pan to the heat and stir to mix and make your first cup of cocoa with the pan drippings!
   

Makes a generous two cups. Refrigerate

A Day's Labors

A day's labors.....hah! I haven't done much all weekend! Practicing what it will be like to be retired.

Labor Day has noble origins. People risked their lives for a nine hour work day and a six day work week. Sheesh, I struggle to make it through a 40 hour work week these days.

I've been making use of an abundance of local produce from my patch and the bounty of friends.

My tomatoes are all splitting from the rain this weekend. I picked about 15 pounds of splitting tomatoes from my vines. I put a small X on the bottom of each tomato and an popped it in boiling water until the skins started to curl back from the X - about 30 to 60 seconds depending on how ripe the tomatoes were. I cut them in half through the circumference (stem end on top/blossom end on the bottom) and squeezed out the seeds. I diced them up and froze most of them in zip lock bags with a bit of Maldon Salt.

Garden Bounty Stewed Vegetables

One Large Zuchinni or Patty Pan Squash sliced - seeded and peeled if needed
A cup or two of peeled and seeded tomatoes
A Japanese eggplant sliced
4 or 5 cloves of garlic peeled and sliced thinly
Optional - a quarter of a preserved lemon diced
A tablespoon of olive oil

Saute' the garlic until it's fragrant, but not browned.

Dump in the tomatoes and stir for a couple of minutes until they're juicing

Put in the rest of the ingredients and a generous pinch of salt and a big grind of pepper.

Cook over medium low heat until the vegetables are very tender. You don't need to add any liquid - the vegetables will release a lot of liquid.

While I was stewing up some vegetables for my lunch today I came across the following recipe.

John Mariani's Diaquiri Recipe

The diaquiri is a classic Puerto Rican rum creation, perfect for hot summer days.

Here's the recipe from the back of restaurant critic John Mariani's business card. The italics are his.

Recipe

Ingredients
1 freshly squeezed lime
1 teaspoon sugar
2 ounces gold rum

Do this
Shake with ice, strain into Martini glass

I didn't have any gold rum - so here's my take

Calamityville Daquiri

Fill a martini glass or glasses with water and ice to chill

1 1/2 oz white rum - I used Cruzan

1/2 oz demerara rum - I used Lemon Hart 80 proof Demerara Rum is the

1 oz fresh squeezed lime juice (the juice of one lime)

1 teaspoon of Agave syrup - I really like the slightly caramel flavor of agave syrup and it mixes easily.

Shake in a Cocktail Shaker until the outside is frosty and you can't stand to hold the shaker any longer.

Strain in to the chilled glass and enjoy a couple of these!

Note: Demerara Rum is made from mollasses and is the rummiest tasting rum going.