I had this mostly written last night, then Nik got home. We fell asleep right after dinner and didn't wake up until is extremely annoying alarm clock when off at 6:30. He shut if off and then went back to sleep...
Too Much Garlic?
There is no such thing as too much garlic. That is what I used to say until I found out that it is, in fact, quite possible to overdue garlic.
My old roommate, Danica, and I used to love roasting bulbs of garlic and then eating the cloves with crackers and brie. It is amazing. (See the previous blog entry for garlic roasting instructions.) This favorite little snack was usually accompanied with red wine. We loved drinking red wine together so much that we decided to start making red wine. Why not right?
We tossed the idea around for a while until, as if it was a sign, Groupon had a sale from Wine Experts on starter kits. We each bought a kit and on an evening we both had off of work we got started on our very first batch of wine.
My parents have been making their own wine for years. I had watched my mom do it many times and felt pretty comfortable, at first. Before we even opened the kit we were calling my mom.
After receiving careful and detailed instructions from my mom we changed into hair-dye shirts (the grape juice can stain stuff and who needs pants anyway) then serialized all the equipment and began the process. We got as far as dumping in the grape juice base out of the box before having to call my mom again. And that part was hard, the juice part that is, the calling my mom part is easy. I have her on speed dial.
It was the cap that was a little scary. It just wouldn’t budge. I grabbed a butter knife as Danica made a disapproving “um” noise. After some prying, pulling and swearing I almost removed my thumb as, finally, the cap popped off and went flying across the room.
My mom instructed us, for the third time, to add some warm water to the bag that the juice was in to rinse out any left over juices from the bag. Then she reminded us to begin stirring the liquid while we added the bentonite then keep stirring for 30 seconds. The we were supposed to top of the primary, that is what the big barrel wine is started in is called, with room temperature water. We were also supposed to keep checking the temperature of the water.
Before hanging up the phone this time my mom asked, “are you guys drinking wine while you are making wine for the first time?”
“Um, yah.” I answered as if this should have been obvious.
“You’re sure that’s a good idea?”
“We’ll be fine mom. Thanks! Love you!”
With our wine we, of course, were having garlic and brie. We were on our first two bulbs of garlic and getting into our second bottle of wine. The sterilization process brought us though most of the first bottle. We went on our way forgetting that the tap was still on warm and not taking temperatures until Danica remembered we were supposed to keeping the wine between 22-24 degrees Celsius.
We were at 29.5 degrees and only had about four liters to correct it. Woops. We turned the tap to cold to top off the primary at 23 liters. The temperature was 26.5 degrees. Both the instructions in the wine kit and my mom said “Do Not Add Yeast Unless The Wine is Between 22-24 Degrees Celsius.” My mom said it just like that with capital letters on every word but “is”. I didn’t want to call her but Danica made me.
“You dork. Do you have ice.” My mom said after I explained the hiccup.
“Um, three cubes.”
“Well open your windows and wait.” It was the beginning of October so it was fairly cool outside. “I’m going to bed. Stop drinking so much wine and don’t add that yeast until the temperature drops.”
So we had some waiting to do. It took forever! We roasted more garlic and opened another bottle. We chattered away and checked the temperature every half an hour. We had decided that with the window open that we did need pants after all, and sweaters. We had a glazed concrete floor in that apartment. Thank god, because carpet or even laminate wouldn’t have helped cool down at all.
Four hours, another bottle of wine and a total of six roasted bulbs of garlic later it had dropped to 24.5. Good enough!
We placed the primary under the kitchen table, where the wine would live for the next few weeks, and sprinkled the yeast over the top.
“Should we stir it?” Danica asked.
“No, we just let it sit on top like that.”
“You sure.”
“yup.”
“Don’t you have a date tomorrow?” Danica asked.
“Yup.”
“You stink dude. And I don’t think it is going to get any better by tomorrow night. Maybe we shouldn’t have ate so much garlic?”
“Oh shit.” I replied. Then we burst out laughing.
The next day we both stank like death. I had the worst, and I mean the worst garlic farts all night. I almost died in my sleep from lack of oxygen. I woke myself up gagging, at least three times.
The smell off of the two of us filled the whole apartment. It was like a sort-of garlic body odor. It was horrid. We drank tons of water and had hot showers, hopping that would help move the garlic through our system.
At work I asked Nicole and Bentley, “do I stink.”
“Yes!” Nicole replied. “I wasn’t going to say anything but, wow Jenn. What did you eat?”
I told them about the garlic and the wine-making shenanigans.
Bentley just laughed and said, “Don’t you have a date tonight?” and kept laughing.
“You are not going on a date smelling like that.” Said Nicole.
For the rest of the day Nicole monitored my stench until at about three-o-clock when I officially cancelled my date. I never rescheduled that date. Not because of garlic but because I met Nik right around that time as well, and we’re working on happily ever after. He doesn’t seem to mind when I’m stinky anyway. He does know the garlic story and rolls his eyes and laughs when I bring up roasting garlic.
Danica and I have implemented a 1.5 bulb per person rule as a sort-of kindness to those of you who have to stand near us the mornings after.
I'm putting a new recipe on the story about my Grandpa, "Gifts" and putting the recipe that is there here. I found some of my grandma's recipes and thought that one should go with that story.
I think, and I’m not alone on this one, that cooking for people is a way of showing them they are loved. I like to make this for people when I want them to feel special because it looks so pretty. It doesn’t really have a name. Maybe you guys can help me with that?
Nameless Yummy Thing (Contains Garlic)
Ingredients:
4-6 Beef Carpaccio (The super thin cuts of raw meat about 3-5” wide and about 8-12” long, usually from tenderloin.)
1 Tbls Vegeta (or your favorite meat seasoning)
3 Tbs olive oil
2 finely chopped pieces of garlic
Juice squeezed from ½ a lemon
Freshly ground black pepper
- Place all the above ingredients into a bowl or Tupperware marinating container and set aside for 20minutes to overnight.
Zucchini
Asparagus
Red onion
Red and/or yellow sweet pepper
Gouda (I sometimes use grated parmesan-reggiano instead)
Cut the veggies and cheese into strips about two inches longer than the width of the carpaccio. About two pieces of each veggie and one piece of cheese. Try to keep them about 1-1.5cm thick. You switch the veggies up a bit but keep them about the same thickness and length.
Preheat oven to 425F
Place 2 of each of the cut veggies widthwise on 1 piece of meat about 2- inches from and end. Place two pieces of each veggie and one piece of the cheese or grate parmesan generously over the veggies and meat. Wrap the meat around the veggies starting with the shorter end and continuing until the meat has been completely wrapped around. Place the wrap on an oven safe dish then bake for 20-30 minutes.
For a side slice a sweet potato (not a yam) into 1 mm slices and toss in salt, pepper, basil, oregano and olive oil then bake along with the meat. Take them out when they start to brown around the edges and get a little crispy.
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