Dinner by Alphabet – In Memory

Did you miss my regular post?  Nah!  I didn’t either.  We’re done.  But I thought I would share a little trivia question and see if you can guess what I served to honor our 26-week cooking adventure.

Here’s the clue:

FOXY GRAM QUICKLY JUMPED OVER HER BROWN LAZY-BOY TO SEE WHAT WAS FOR DINNER.

What did I serve?

This whole adventure reminded me of one of my favorite books to read:  Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn.  I was doing some volunteer gift-wrapping at a bookstore in 2001.  The gift-wrapping table was set up near a shelf that had the bookstore employees’ picks for favorite reads.  Ella Minnow Ea had just come out that October and it was among the selections of favs.  I bought it and giggled all the way through it.

Mark Dunn cleverly manipulates the English language in this fable, told completely through letters (like the more recent The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer in 2008).  I won’t divulge too much of the plot, but something happens on fictional island that causes the governing council to ban the use of each letter of the alphabet one by one.  I thought Dunn’s way of handling the fictional dilemma cleverly poked fun at language, but it might also vaguely remind you of sum uv r currnt txting habts. 

Anyway, leave me a comment with your guess for this week’s dinner.  And let me know if you’ve read what is one of my favorite books.

 

Dinner by Alphabet – Z

I could have made things much easier for ‘Z‘ night had I decided to do so.  I gave a moment’s consideration to fasting and serving up a three course feast of zero, zip and zilch, but that would have actually been contrary to the original goal of my New Year’s resolution.  So Goodnight and I put our heads together for our last night of Dinner by Alphabet.

That girl is so GREAT at being a kid.  Do you know that she named two dessert possibilities in heartbeat?  Yup!  Hostess makes Zingers and Little Debbie makes Zebra Cakes.  She has got to spend more time in the produce aisle with me!

What we decided to do was actually challenge ourselves to include one particular ‘z‘ food in each course we prepared: the zucchini.  Hey, why not?  They are plentiful at the farmer’s markets tis time of year, so it gave us another chance to buy local.

To tell you the truth, there is a kid’s song that was the inspiration for our ‘Z’ night.  Goodnight has grown out of the need to sing it regularly, but once in a while we find a combination of words that fits the song perfectly, so we end up singing it together.  Such was the case as ‘Z’ night approached.

The song goes like this:

I like to eat, eat, eat apples and bananas.
I like to eat, eat, eat apples and bananas.

After singing it normally the first time, it is sung five more times, each time replacing the words ‘eat’, ‘apples’, and ‘bananas’, with the long vowel sounds of A, E, I, O, and U consecutively.

Thus:

I like to ate, ate, ate ay-ples and ba-nay-nays.
I like to ate, ate, ate ay-ples and ba-nay-nays.

I like to eat, eat, eat ee-ples and ba-nee-nees.
I like to eat, eat, eat ee-ples and ba-nee-nees.

And so forth.

So what was the word combo that fit the song?  Ziti and Zucchini!  We’re still singing it!!!  It’s not that easy to switch out the vowel sounds, but it’s great for laughs (and soup)!

It was pretty hot here yesterday so when I turned on the oven for Goodnight’s baking project, I wanted to go back to the zero, zip, zilch menu.  To add to the heat, I had a pot simmering for a while . . . .

Dinner by Alphabet - Z

 

Appetizer Course

Zucchini Nut Balls with Sweet/Sour Dipping Sauce – I found this recipe in my Tofu cookbook.  It was fun to make and I got to use some of the coriander seeds I harvested and dried from my garden last summer.

Main Course

Zucchini and Ziti Soup – This recipe came from my Encyclopedia of Soup.  I know making soup isn’t rocket science, but it’s really worth it to follow a recipe from time to time.

Zweiback Toast with a Zucchini/Zinfandel Cheese spread.  Quite delicious with a hint of cayenne.  This was my own derivation of Rosalynn Carter’s Plains Cheese Mold.  I’m not sure where it was originally published, but our local newspaper had permission to print it years ago and I clipped it out and saved it.

Dessert Course

Zucchini Chocolate Chip Cookies – This recipe came from Barbara Kingsolver’s book: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle.  If you own that book, you know we were right on track with the growing cycle for buying local.  Goodnight baked them . . . perfectly!

Beverage

Zinger tea – there are several flavors: orange, lemon, wild berry, etc.

Dinner was Zesty and maybe a little Zany!

Well . . . we did it!  From anchovies to zucchini, we had twenty-six Monday night dinners with a theme that featured each letter of the alphabet.  Lots more possibilities than what we could use in a meal.  But it was just a meal, one night a week, nothing more. 

It was my New Year’s Resolution to think outside the box and have fun in the process.  It was also my goal to get Goodnight some comfort in the kitchen.

I make New Year’s resolutions.  I keep the ones I make.  I try to make myself a better person somehow through them.  Part of the person I am is ‘Gram’ and as much as I would like to spoil her rotten and then let her mother deal with the aftermath, it has fallen in my lap to play a more responsible role.  I wanted to let Goodnight spread her wings in the kitchen.  At the same time, though, we were working together toward a common goal.  Who knows?  She may remember this down the road and take her own granddaughter on a similar adventure.

Dinner by Alphabet – Y

Hello everyone!  Welcome to the penultimate dinner following the sequence of our 26 standard English graphemes that represent their respective phonemes.

Sorry, that’s the linguist in me shining through!  I was influenced by one of the Open Course Work classes I am taking this summer: Linguistics from MIT. 

Early in the week, Goodnight thought it would be a great idea to have a full meal of ‘yellow’ foods.  I agreed, but I knew that she wouldn’t be so happy after I cooked some of them.  So we held out for a different menu.  In the end, I think she was satisfied.

We went grocery shopping together as is our usual routine.  She had her dessert assignment and I hit the produce aisle.

The store manager (SM) was bustling about when we walked into the store, but when we got to the check-out counter, he walked over to bag our groceries.  I spotted him eyeing the items as they rolled towards him.  I knew he was trying to figure out the menu based on what he saw.

SM: You gonna write a book about this?

Gram: Nah.  You think I should?

SM:  Yeah!  That would be great!

Gram:  I dunno.  It was just my New Year’s Resolution and I’ve kept it – well nearly kept it.  I have one more week to go.

SM:  I suppose.

Gram: Could you make sure you have a hearty supply of zucchini on hand next week?  I have a feeling we’re going to need some. 

SM:  I’ll bet!  What time is dinner.

Gram:  This week or next week? 

It’s a small neighborhood grocery store and the folks have always been great there.

If you know the last line to the children’s song “Bah, Bah Black Sheep”, you know how many bags of groceries we took home with us for our dinner prep.  “Yes sir.  Yes sir.  Three bags full.” 

We had to shop early in the day because the feast we had in mind took A-L-L afternoon to prepare.

Goodnight was tired from her morning of volleyball, so I let her crash on the couch while I worked.  Her dessert responsibility didn’t require any baking this week, so she was off the hook anyway.

But I, on the other hand, seared, chopped, diced, boiled, cooked, puréed, roasted AND baked. 

  

Dinner by Alphabet – Y

  

Soup Course

Yuca (yucca) Soup – a chilled, soup made from a Cuban recipe.  Goodnight and I purchased the yucca at the Mercado on one of our Field Trip Friday adventures.

 

 

Main Course

Yankee Pot Roast served with Yukon Gold Potatoes

 

 

Dessert Course

Yam Pie served with a dollop of frozen Yogurt – I cooked and mashed the yams myself!

 

 

Beverage

Yellow Birds – nonalcoholic version

 

Yummy!

GN: Gram?  What was the worst part of the dinner?

Gram: The dishes . . . .

GN: No, I meant the food.

Gram: None, honey.  Did you have a worst part?

GN: The ‘yucky’ soup.

Gram: That’s Yucca (yuca) honey.

GN: No, Gram . . . . . it’s yucky!

Gram: Well, I won’t make it again, but could we agree that maybe it’s not yucky?  Maybe you’re just not used to something that someone in a different part of the world eats.  Besides, you’ve never eaten a chilled soup before.  Maybe it would taste good to you if it was heated. Ok?

GN: Yeah, Gram.  I think so.  Ok.

25 Dinners by Alphabet down. . . . 1 to go.

Dinner by Alphabet – X

I’m writing this post after dinner, after the deed was done.  But let’s get nerdy for a moment.  X is the 24^th letter of the English alphabet.  I own an unabridged dictionary and even in that nearly four-inch thick book, there are less than two full pages of ‘X‘ words and their definitions – and not a single one having to do with food! 

X:  something having the shape of an X, a representation of the letter.

X:  the Roman numeral for 10.

X:  the mathematical unknown quantity or a variable

Lots of possibilities for fun given the above dictionary entries: an X-shaped pizza or criss-crossed submarine sandwiches.

Maybe X-bean soup, as in 10-bean soup, would taste delicious.

Or I could just fake it, prepare absolutely anything and not tell you at all, leaving it a mystery as ‘x’ always is at the outset of a math problem.

Scratch the dictionary, head to the cookbooks.  There is an American entrée called Xavier Steak.  It’s easy and delicious, but I opted away from that cut of meat for our meal.  There is Xavier Soup, which is Italian.  There is an Indian dish called Xacuti, which actually looks delicious but I won’t be able to make it until I take Goodnight on one of our Friday Field Trips.  Yum!

It was a television ad that sparked my imagination for the side dish of our main course, and a trip to my African cookbook that led me to the entrée for Dinner by Alphabet – X.

I didn’t think we were going to actually need dessert, but that’s Goodnight’s favorite part of the deal and she offered a suggestion.  I took her up on it.  She’s great a being a kid and that deserves its own attention.  No baking for her again this week.

I, on the other hand, had another sweltering late afternoon in the kitchen.  Whew!  Not too much shopping involved either: just the vegetable and the um . . . cooking liquid.  

Goodnight lazily read in her rocking chair while I butterflied, sliced, cubed, sautéed, simmered, dredged, whipped and (sipped) my way through prep.  Could a summer evening be any more laid back?  Nah!  It was great!

Dinner by Alphabet – X

 

Main Course

Xerem de Fiesta – a dish from Cape Verde, Africa.  I’m familiar with a few versions, but the dish I made for dinner amounted to a chicken/broccoli stew with a coffee-honey sauce.  It was simple and wonderful!  It’s supposed to be served over rice, but I called in a pinch-hitter for the side dish.  I had an aunt and uncle who owned potato wareouse in Idaho, so I naturally tend to gravitate toward spuds!  I served the Xerem de Fiesta over beer-battered potato shingles and the beer batter was made from Dos Equis. (Spanish for two Xs).  Can you guess that’s the commercial I saw on TV?  Brilliant, eh?

 

Beverage

I hated for the Dos Equis to go to waste . . . The beer batter only required 2/3 cup so – well you know.  Skol! 

 

Dessert a la Goodnight

DQ has a Blizzard called Chocolate Xtreme – close enough, right?  Yah, I thought so too.

If Goodnight hadn’t stepped up to the plate with her idea, I had dessert covered . . . Hershey’s Kisses . . . be-cause . . . how do we represent kisses in print?  You got it!  XXXXXXX

X-L-ent!  And I have xtras!

Dinner by Alphabet – W

 

Oh!  The possibilities for ‘W’ night were endless . . . especially if one subscribes to the notion that ‘Whatever We Want’ would qualify for our Dinner by Alphabet theme.  But I didn’t sink so low as to qualify Food for ‘F’ night, Groceries for ‘G’ night, or Vittles last week for ‘V’ night, so I wasn’t about to take easy street this week either.

We decided to have breakfast for dinner.  There wasn’t much we needed from the store, but Check-out Angel is home from college and getting in some hours at the store, so I wanted Goodnight to run in and say hello to her.

We only needed two things from the store for our dinner.  Everything else was on hand at home.  One thing we needed was VERY LARGE and the other thing Goodnight picked was very fun to squirt . . . . .

Goodnight didn’t have to bake any dessert for our dinner, so she practiced the piano for the test I was going give her after we ate.  (It was still Music Monday and the piano lessons have continued.  She’s been progressing nicely but I introduced her to the metronome last week and her test involved playing the piece I selected at five different, progressively faster tempos, until she arrived at the fifth tempo: the one required for the piece.)

While Goodnight practiced, I tackled the heat in the kitchen.

There is a diner near the University that serves what we were having for dinner.  I’ve only been to that diner twice, but I ate the same thing both times because I wanted to watch the cook prepare it.  It’s a funky diner with great food and the he was poetry in motion!  Tough to orchestrate with high heat, some smoke and . . . . . cast iron.

Dinner by Alphabet – W

Salad Course

Waldorf Salad

Main Course

Whole-Wheat Walnut Waffles with Whipped Cream (I know ‘whipped’ is an adjective, but it’s not if you just call it Whip like they do in the diner.)  Goodnight picked the whipping cream from the can.  That’s the squirty thing we got at the store.

 

Dessert Course

Watermelon Wedges – That’s the BIG thing we got at the store.  Big ones were the same price as the small ones and they were all cheap.  So I bought a BIG one and decided to make my Christmas pickles out of the rind.  I only have to make a batch every couple of years or so: a few jars of red pickles and a jars of green pickles.  I use my mother’s recipe.

Wonderful!

Stay tuned for X next week! 

p.s. Goodnight passed her piano test.

Dinner by Alphabet – V

If you’ve been afraid that the end of the alphabet seems to provide slim pickings for dinner – no worries (so far).  ‘V‘ night was fun!

Goodnight made a bee line to the aisle where she knew she’d find her dessert.  I didn’t need to pick up much either.  I had nearly everything I needed at home to prepare what we had in mind.

Goodnight’s prep took her only about 30 seconds to complete.  She practiced her piano lesson while I worked out my portion of dinner – which really only took a few minutes in the kitchen.

Dinner by Alphabet – V

 

Main Course

Vermicelli Verdure -  The version I’m familiar with is simply pasta boiled with your favorite greens, Verde means green, afterall, then tossed with some sautéed garlic and olive oil.  I happened to have spinach at home so we use that.  Goodnight and I like chard, too, but mine isn’t ready to pick yet.

Vienna sausages. – Yup!  I caved in for a potted meat.  I really wanted veal with the verdure, but Goodnight thought veal makes her sick.  Don’t know where she got that idea into her head, but I left the veal for another time.  So, I sliced those little tubes of meat and sautéed with the garlic before tossing everything together.

Dessert Course

Vanilla pudding – instant takes 30 seconds of shaking in a tightly covered container.

Beverage

V-8 – though Goodnight asked me if I liked vodka

Vivid colors, versatile pasta dish, a very hearty viaticum – which means provisions for a journey.  (Yes, I know how the catholics use the word, too.  No disrespect intended.)

Dinner by Alphabet – U

We arrived at what I thought to be the most challenging meal in our Dinner by Alphabet adventure.  I mulled over our options and was resigned to have the ghost of Marley visit us last night by serving the “underdone potatoes” that Scrooge blamed for his unsettling ‘hallucination’ in Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. 

I took a look back at our Dinners by Alphabet so far and decided not to give up so easily.  I took a fist full of my cook books off the shelf and started browsing.

My daughter was a chef and the staple text-book for her culinary program was/is Professional Cooking by Wayne Gisslen.  I have her copy and checked the index. 

As I feared – we were having Utensils for dinner!  Sounded like a swell party, and I have plenty, but I wasn’t sure if I was to boil them, roast them, or . . . . . . . maybe check my other cook books. 

The indices of one cook book after another went from ‘T’ straight to ‘V’.  Maybe the message was that we were to go ‘ungry. 

Nah!  We didn’t – thanks to the Italians, the Japanese and Betty Crocker.  And the only things we had to shop for were the things Goodnight needed to bake dessert, and some tomatoes for my part of the dinner.  The rest of the ingredients were at home. 

Goodnight has blossomed in the kitchen over these last 21 weeks.  She started with baking mixes under a lot of supervision then moved to following recipes with a lot of supervision.  Last night, she got to combine both a mix and a recipe for dessert.  Her only confusion was right at the start – before she read the directions. (of course) 

GN: So, Gram, I follow the recipe but I use the mix instead? 

Gram: Read the recipe first, honey.  What does it say? 

GN: Um . . . . oh! 

After that, I was left to my translucent onions, and fresh basil snipped from my herb pot. 

 

Dinner by Alphabet – U 

 

Main Course

Uova al piatto con pomodori (ends up being a very easy dish, with eggs baked on top of a tomato-basil-onion sauce.

Udon noodles  (I served the Uova al piatto con pomodori over the noodles.)

 

Dessert Course

Upside-down Brownies 

 

Beverage

Unsweetened Tea 

 

Unique, yet utterly basic, unhurried, and unbelievably delicious!!!!

When I walked into the grocery store, one of the managers was up front.  He had lost track of what letter we were on and wanted to catch up.

He asked me what I planned to do when we finished with our Dinner by Alphabet project.  I answered with as straight a face as a gram could muster.  “I hate to take my business elsewhere, but I might start a similar project and shop . . . . next door.”

He paused a second to mull it over, and then broke out in the best grin!  His response, “That might be more fun . . .  for you.”  He knows that next door to the grocery store is a liquor store!!!! 

This morning, during my daily phone visit with Gr8, I ran my new plan by her and she laughed.  Her only response was, “How will you use up the left-overs in time for the next week?”

Cheers, all!  Here’s to ‘U‘ and whatever you do with your . . . . Alphabet!!!!

Dinner by Alphabet – T

Goodnight and I had to make a minor modification to our Dinner by Alphabet schedule yesterday.  She had to go to a pizza party last night, so we bumped our dinner to mid-day.  Actually, that worked well for me, because we got the dishes done earlier in the day than when we eat dinner in the evening.

Goodnight was on deck for a baking assignment so she flitted around the kitchen as she mixed, stirred, combined wet and dry ingredients, made a mess . . . .  I love her confidence and willingness to try.

 

Dinner by Alphabet – T

Salad Course

Tomato slices with Thyme vinaigrette

 

Main Course

Tater-tot hot dish with Turkey (LOL!!! Spell-check didn’t like tater-tot and offered water-rat as the suggested spellng.  I’ll have to keep that in mind for ‘W’ week.)

Turnips (Root vegetables are our friends.)

 

Dessert Course

Thunder Cake topped with Tapioca instead of frosting  (The recipe for this came from a children’s story, Thunder Cake by Patricia Polacco, 1990.)

 

Beverage

Tea, of course!

 

Totally Tasty!  Terrific Too!

Six weeks left of this project.  Can you believe it?

 

Dinner by Alphabet – S

We weighed the possibilities

That S‘s could provide.

Just thinking ’bout the choices

Made it so hard to decide.

 

We thought about a Smorgesbord

of tasty S‘s galore.

But . . . then the sun poked through the clouds,

so we headed to the shore.

 

We stuffed our S‘s in a sack,

Then doffed our shoes and socks.

I drew happy faces in the sand.

Goodnight tried skipping rocks.

 

 

I placed a fabric table-cloth

On a table near a tree.

The radio was playing music

While Goodnight climbed a tree.

 

 

 

No stove, no dirty dishes,

And not a thing to bake.

But still we ate our S‘s

in the sunshine, by the lake.

 

‘Twas lazy!  We were lazy!

We watched the waves, the foam.

We slowed our breathing, smiled a lot,

Then had dessert . . . . . . . at home.

 

Dinner by Alphabet – S

Salad Course

Strawberries

 

Main Course

Submarine Sammies stuffed with Spinach, Salami, Swiss, and sauces.

 

Beverage

Soda

 

Dessert

S‘mores

 

Dinner by Alphabet – S was Simple, Substantial, Soothing.  It was timely, too because the weather report looks like rains for most of the week and upcoming weekend.

I Didn’t Know Trees Could Sing!

Goodnight’s 6th grade class put on a play.  It was called “Earth Kids” and it was about saving the planet, going green, ecology, conservation, etc.

Goodnight kept practicing her lines – over and over.  I thought that was diligent of her, but I didn’t interfere.

She told me she needed to wear something green because she was a tree in the forest.  So we took care of that.  Most of the kids were just wearing colored t-shirts, so she found something suitable.

The entire student population got to attend and so did the families of the 6th graders.  Good thing I’m on my retirement internship!  I had the time to fit her into my schedule.

What Goodnight neglected to tell me was that trees sometimes sing . . . solo!

It wasn’t a huge, long solo, but she did a great job.  I applaud the teacher for making sure that all the kids had a part.  Many of the children got to speak, sing, or be featured somehow.  That’s what the families love to see.

Goodnight has a sweet voice.  The music teacher also let other children sing who were more nervous, or maybe couldn’t carry the tune.  At least they all tried and that says a lot for their character.  They can’t overcome stage fright if they are never given the chance.  Confidence in themselves is more difficult to develop if they are always assigned to the background.

The play lasted about an hour.  Then the children had to get back to classes and most of the parents made a mad dash back to work. 

Me?  I’m heavy into sauntering and lollygagging lately, so I made my way back home . . . via the lake . . . . and then the park . . . . and then the coffee shop . . . . and then the bookstore . . . . . and then the yarn shop.      

T-shirt Color Code:

Green – forest

Brown – animals

White – air

Blue - water

Black – fossil fuels