Cat Creek Gardens

Food

06/02/08
An On Again/Off Again Favorite
I've been going to China Buffet since I arrived in Austin in 1990. It has gone through several incarnations of good/mediochre/bad over the years. After a break of several years (The last visit being horrible) we decided to give it a try. At first, pulling up in the parking lot, we were a bit worred because there weren't many cars. We ventured bravely forth, to the interor, which still had the same furniture from my first visit. There were few ppl, and the cashier told us where to sit, and a waitperson came and took our drink order, then we were off to the buffet. The selection was good, and after trying a bite of sesame chicken, we was pleased to find that the food was back to being good. Not great, but this is a buffet. The flavors were standard Asian, good and solid. The garlic shrimp were outstanding, excellent seasoning and very fresh. We wondered about the price, since we didn't bother to check before we sat down. Approaching the cashier, we braced ourselves for sticker shock, and was relieved to find out that it was still only $7.95, a far cry from the last buffet we were at, which charged over ten. All in all, an inexpensive place to get a good meal.

05/29/08
The Sour Milk Experiment
OK, so that's not a real appealing title, but that's exactly what yougurt is! I have been looking at the rising food costs, and since I've got the time, decided to give yougurt making a try.

I purused Amazon.com, reading all about the different yogurt makers, and how well they worked. There were some really cool gadgets, some worked, and some didn't, according to the reviews. I hemmed and hawed, and couldn't decide if it would be worth the effort and cost of the machine. Then food prices took a huge jump, and the cost of organic yogurt doubled, with locally produced stuff outrageous. At that point, I knew I was ready to do it, but how? I didn't want another machine cluttering up my kitchen (and didn't want to repeat the bread machine fiasco), and sure didn't want another item that used electricity.

My kitchen is 40+ years old, being the same one the builder put in, except for the faucet. The oven doesn't bake evenly, the ventahood stopped working years ago when the ex fiddled with some wires in the living room ceiling. The cooktop has pilot lights that can't be turned off. After thinking some more about home made yogurt, it occured to me that yogurt has been made for thousands of years, and why did I need a fancy piece of plastic to make it? So I researched online even more, finding clever ways to keep the fermenting mass at the proper temps. Heating pads were suggested, but they use electricity, and anyway mine is new, and has an automatic shutoff. Next was using a cooler filled with hot water. Do-able, but not real practical, since I didn't want a cooler sitting out around my small house all the time.

Then all of a sudden, ding! The lightbulb came on, and I looked at my cooktop sitting there wasting fuel and making my kitchen warm all year around. Could I harness that for heat? Let's give it a try. Next came the actual making of the yogurt. Again, websites suggested fancy pots, candy thermometers (mine got broken a couple of years ago), all kinds of esoteric purchased bacterias, other things like powdered milk to make it "more like store-bought". Again, I thought to myself that none of this was around at the dawn of yogurt making. So I read up on the basic basics; heat the milk, let it cool, put in starter and keep warm for 10-24 hours.

I looked around the kitchen and assembled 4 pint canning jars, a pot, some milk, some heavy whipping cream (because I really like the flavor of Brown Cow's Cream Top) and the last of the previous purchase of store bought yogurt. I used a canning jar to measure the milk and cream, poured it into the pot and scalded it, which is heating it to almost boiling. I let it cool until I could stick a finger in and not yell, stirred in 2 heaping tablespoons of the store bought stuff. I then put the jars on a heavy cookie sheet, wrapped them in towels, and left it on top of the pilot light overnight.

The next morning, I unwrapped the jars, opened one up, and there was the most beautiful congealed milk I've ever seen. It was smooth, thick, creamy and slightly sour. (Supposedly the longer you let it ferment, the more sour it becomes.) After a week of eating home-made fruit compote with the yogurt, my 11 yr old son announced that he preferred it over store bought, and would I make more please? My husband and I were hooked from the first bite.

Four batches later, and we still love it. Mixed with fruit compote, fresh fruit, or even plain with a little honey, it is wonderful. It would hard for us to go back to store bought after eating 'real' yogurt.

05/26/08
Welcome
Welcome to my food blog! This is where you can find my thoughts, opinions and experiments about all things food related. Enjoy!