Well my computer decided to die on me yesterday. I got a message saying that Microsoft found an error on my hard drive so I had to run some things on it to see what was going on. Looks like my hard drive is going out, again! So I am just going to use my computer until it no longer works unfortunately. It’s really annoying and upsetting. I can’t afford a new hard drive let alone a new computer so hopefully its a trooper and lasts for awhile. I doubt it though. I just got another pop-up saying it detected another error. Sweet.
Anyway, yesterday I made a warm lettuce salad. I didn’t make the greens obviously, but I made the dressing which was a vinegar based dressing. If you like vinegar dressings, you have to try this recipe! It’s super easy. All you do is get a head of lettuce for the salad portion. Then you cook up some diced bacon. Once that’s cooked, add some onion and cook til the onion is soft. Then add some vinegar and boil until reduced by half. After it’s been reduced, you pour it over the top of the greens. I mixed all of it in and tossed the salad. But I am sure you can set it aside and just drizzle over the top of your greens.
I’m realizing that these first couple weeks I haven’t really had a system of making sure that I cook from each category in the book. I’ve been sticking to the 1800′s like I planned but I want to make sure I don’t just make a ton of salad or potato based recipes. I want to make sure I try out everything. I picked this recipe because it was a “real” salad. I didn’t realize I was making a dressing until I finished reading the directions! But it dawned on me like, duh! of course you’re making a dressing. What is really nice about this recipe is it’s quick and easy. There is nothing hard about it. And the best part is which Frankie and I were discussing is that it would be an awesome potluck salad to make just because it took maybe 15 minutes to prepare and it’s good! I will be honest though, I was a little shocked at how the vinegar burned my nose as it was boiling! It was worse than the eye-watering sting you get from cutting onions. The vinegar taste though on the salad is very prominent. It’s a good type of vinegar taste however. And you could probably use any type of vinegar you want. The recipe called for either cider or red wine vinegar. I used cider but I keep seeing like sherry vinegar also in recipes. I want to be able to try a different vinegar later on so I need to remember that! haha.
So I have been flipping through the recipes I am going to try to make next. I have made a real effort this time to choose ones from every category from the book. She splits the book into sections like drinks, vegetables, potatoes, beef, chicken, candy, etc. I actually only have on more poultry for the 1800′s so that’s sad. But I may embark on cooking quail this coming week and a cake and CANDY! I forgot about the chocolates I bought ingredients for so those are definitely going to be made soon. Well wish me luck. Hope you guys are having a good day today!
– Michelle
Daily Fact: 1800 - Felix Archimede Pouchet was born. A French naturalist, he was one of those who believed that life was created from nonliving matter in processes such as fermentation and putrification. Those flies and maggots, fungi, yeast and bacteria just appeared from nowhere. (He was wrong.)
