by Paula D.
on November 14, 2018 3:21 pm in Food
I want to share these kitchen hacks with you, especially if you’re a cooking newbie. These tips will make the task of cooking less overwhelming so you can focus on the fun part: cooking, experimenting and eating! And even if you’ve been over the stove for as long as you can remember, I’m hoping some of these tips will be new to you and helpful.
— Wear sunglasses while cutting onions. When you slice up an onion, microscopic cells containing enzymes turn into a volatile gas. These gases cause a chemical reaction similar to the ones in tear gas! Putting on sunglasses minimizes the tearing and burning reaction to your eyes. Keep a pair of sunglasses in your kitchen utensil draw so they’re always handy.

— If you’re cooking a large meal, keep a bowl lined with a compost bag on the counter where you’re prepping. This way you can put the veggie scraps directly into the bag, instead of making 7 trips to the compost bin under your sink or the bag in the freezer.
— Be good to yourself and buy pre-peeled garlic. It stays fresh and it’s well worth the extra 2 bucks. If you’re having a large dinner party there’s no question about it: buying pre-peeled garlic saves so
much time and there’s no mess.
— Rinsing dishes before putting them in the dishwasher is overrated and wastes time and water. Unless there is something really caked on, just scrape the dish in the pail and put it directly in. Worst case, if there’s a little schmutz on a dish after the wash, you can hand wash just that one. But most times they all come out perfectly clean.
— Some people feel it’s better to keep vegetables in the grocery bag because the produce lasts longer with some humidity but the difference is unnoticeable, am I right? Take your vegetables out of the plastic so you can actually see what you have in the refrigerator. Line the crisper draw with one dry paper towel and place the unwashed veggies there. Next time you make dinner, you won’t have to bend over the draw
and rip bags open to see what you have in.
— Speaking of the fridge, don’t put basil in it! Basil is temperature sensitive and the leaves will turn black if it’s too cold. Keep the bushel on the counter in a clear vase. Trim the ends and put it in water – like a basil bouquet! All of the other soft herbs such as parsley, cilantro, dill, tarragon and mint can go in the fridge uncovered in a glass of water. Hard herbs such as rosemary, thyme, chives, sage, and oregano should be placed in a tupperware container with a damp paper towel. This helps hold in moisture preventing them from drying out. Your herbs can last two weeks if cared for in this
way!
I have more kitchen hacks to share so I’ll be sure to write a part 2. Stay tuned.
by Paula D.
on November 6, 2018 8:09 am in Events

Glory #1: I receive a text message of a screenshot from my housemate Olga. The photo was of ME ON GOOGLE MAPS!!!! I immediately posted it to Instagram and Facebook and then sent it to my family. To be captured on Google Maps is a huge deal and everyone on social media was congratulating me. I was overjoyed! I didn’t get much work done that day. I keep refreshing my Instagram (@theglorifiedtomato) to see how many more likes were accruing. In the photo, the garden is voluptuously overgrowing and the brightly-colored beach towels adorn the porch railing. I’m dead center in front of the house holding a cocktail!

Glory #2: I got Botox! My friends Franny and Jason had a Halloween-inspired wedding at which costumes were encouraged. Franny is a huge TV buff and we both love Fran Drescher. So, I thought for the wedding I would dress as The Nanny! To pull off the costume, I needed to expose my forehead to convincingly recreate Fran’s iconic widows peak. “What better time to remove the wrinkles on my forehead?” I thought. Like my sister says, “You gotta tune up the car before it breaks down.”
Botox takes 3-7 days to kick in, with 14 days to see the full results. The first four mornings before I put on my makeup, I spent an unreasonable amount of time staring closely into the mirror, moving my eyebrows in various positions. On day five, I finally started to freeze up! Like magic, the wrinkles on my forehead, my 11 lines and baby crow’s feet just vanished. It’s an odd sensation when you can’t move the muscles on your face but you get used to it. l love modern “medicine”.

Glory #3: I ran into my friend Kurt at Pasty’s EP listening party at Rustwoods. I hugged Kurt hello and no more than five seconds later he said “So, are you having the Christmas party this year? I need to clear my calendar.” My eyes lit up like a freshly-decorated Christmas tree: it’s mid-October and people are already asking me about the Christmas Party!?!? I reassured him that the party was in fact happening and he would be the first to know the date.
Oh the glory!
PS: I LOVE CHRISTMAS!

by Paula D.
on October 29, 2018 5:55 pm in Recipes

It’s mid October and I still have tomatoes on the vine but they’re not turning red. I’ve noticed a few critters getting to some so I decided to take ’em as is and make fried green tomatoes!
It was my first time frying up green tomatoes. The combination of soft, tart tomato with the fried crunchy cornmeal coating was delicious. And when you add in a creamy creole dipping sauce you end up with the perfect comfort food. And the perfect snack to eat while watched the classic… Fried Green Tomatoes movie, which is exactly what I did. In fact, up until the movie came out in the 90s, I’d never heard of this southern staple. While looking for a traditional recipe online, I came across an article that mentioned this classic southern dish may not be originally southern at all:
According to Robert F. Moss, author of The Fried Green Tomato Swindle and Other Southern Culinary Adventures, fried green tomatoes first appear in 19th century Northeastern and Midwestern cookbooks such as the 1877 Buckeye Cookbook and the 1873 Presbyterian Cookbook. Recipes can also be found in Jewish cookbooks from the early 20th century: The 1919 International Jewish Cookbook by Florence Kreisler Greenbaum. The only Southern mention of the recipe that Moss could dig up was from a 1944 Alabama newspaper, which printed a recipe as part of an article mocking the USDA’s dietary recommendations during wartime.*
So fried green tomatoes were actually a Dutch or a Jewish dish?! I love discovering new tidbits on food history. Up north they made them a bit differently. 365 Luncheon Dishes, published in 1902 in Philadelphia describe dish #15 – Slice green tomatoes in thin slices, roll in flour. Heat and butter the griddle, fry the slices on it and when cooked sprinkle with powdered sugar. Serve with fish. I’ll have to try that one next time.
And this makes total sense actually. Up north, tomatoes would produce late season unripe fruit, where in the south you’d have no problem producing the juicy reds late into the season. But the south fries everything, so its no wonder the recipe spread throughout the United States finding a perfect home in southern cuisine.

Fried Green Tomatoes
INGREDIENTS
3 medium, firm green tomatoes
Salt
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp Cajun seasoning
1/2 cup milk or buttermilk
1 egg
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup fine dry bread crumbs
1/4 cup vegetable oil
DIRECTIONS:
1. Cut tomatoes into 1/2 inch slices. Sprinkle with salt. Let the tomato slices stand for 5 minutes.
2 Place in separate bowls mix: the flour and Cajun seasoning, buttermilk and egg, and breadcrumbs and cornmeal.
3. Dip the green tomato slices in the flour-seasoning mixture, then the buttermilk-egg mixture, then the cornmeal-breadcrumb mix.
4. Heat the oil in a skillet on medium. Fry the green tomatoes for 3-5 minutes on each side or until brown. Set on a paper towels to on drain. Server immediately, freshly fried is always best.
I found a classic french remoulade recipe simplyrecipes.com.
DIRECTIONS:
1 1/4 cups mayonnaise
1/4 cup mustard (Creole mustard if possible)
1 Tbsp sweet paprika
1-2 teaspoons Cajun or Creole seasoning
2 teaspoons prepared horseradish
1 teaspoon pickle juice
1 teaspoon hot sauce (preferably Tabasco)
1 large clove garlic, minced and smashed
DIRECTIONS: Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. Let it sit for at least an hour so the flavors fuse.
*bonappetit.com
by Paula D.
on October 29, 2018 5:32 pm in Memories

I have happy memories of Halloween as a child. My mother always helped my sisters and I with imaginative costumes, hand-making them to encourage our creativity. She would only buy an accessory if it was too hard to construct or we ran out of time! I remember I was Miss Piggy one year in grammar school. I had a beautiful shimmery pink dress on and I was allowed to wear a full face of makeup to school. I borrowed my grandmother’s faux pearls but the rabbit fur stole she lent me was real! I didn’t even care that I was wearing a pig nose on my face, I felt like a movie star! One year my sisters were dice (my mom loves gambling). She made the costumes out of cardboard boxes and felt material. Also, there was a big punk rocker phase we went through in the 90’s. I have a blurry memory of choking on hairspray in the bathroom, having to run out, while my older sisters continued sculpting their hair.
The freedom to be someone you’re not, just for one day a year, is what makes Halloween so alluring. I felt it as a kid and I still feel the magic now.
In October of 2014, I realized it would be my inaugural Halloween as a homeowner. I couldn’t wait to receive trick-or-treaters at the front door. Well, actually we didn’t have a front door, it was boarded up with plywood. The house was under construction and looked like a real haunted house – siding stripped down to clapboard; there was caution tape where the porch banisters should’ve been; the facade was in shambles. People would pay for that kind of authenticity! I sat on my rickety porch with a big bowl of candy in one hand and a big glass of wine in the other – waiting to scare the wits out of those little rugrats. One kid even asked me if I was a real witch! That was a year to remember!
Speaking of trick-or-treaters, have you seen the episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm (Season 2, Ep. 3) when Larry refuses to give candy to teenagers because the weren’t dressed in costume?? He argues with Cheryl (obviously) the next morning when they step outside to see the house covered in toilet paper and their door spray painted with “BALD *#SHOLE”. Omg, it’s so hilarious, you just have to watch it!
It’s pretty amazing that in some form we’re still participating in an ancient Celtic tradition. Samhain is the Gaelic festival that marks the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter, the “darker half” of the year. During the seasonal change it was known to be a time where the boundaries between this world and the Otherworld could more easily be crossed. People would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off ghosts. To pacify their pagan deities villagers gave offering of food and drink, leaving them outside their doors.
I’ll be ready with a big bowl of “offerings” this Halloween and I’ll be dressed from head to toe warding off the spirits of the Otherworld. I hope the magic of this tradition finds you, this Halloween!
Previously published in The Wave.