A really empty nest

This was definitely not what I had in mind when I said Mom and I have been enjoying the extra free time from having an empty nest. There is nothing so empty as a house that used to have a dog in it. While you all are often doing your own things even when you’re home, Mystic was always here: here in the morning waiting patiently for her walk, here in the afternoon to greet us after work, and here to keep us company when no one else was around.

Mystic hid her pain well from us until the very end, as dogs are trained by evolution to do, one of the vets told Mom. But maybe it explains why she slept on a blanket right beside Mom’s bed the past few weeks. Fortunately, we were able to get Mystic home, where a very kind and gentle hospice-care vet assured us it was the right time to let Mystic go. Mystic went to sleep one last time, happily licking gobfuls of peanut butter from Mom’s hand.

I found a nice spot for Mystic’s grave, under a tree about 15 feet from where Aldo is buried. Mary Alice and Mr. Graham—Mystic’s two favorite people outside our extended family—came over to help dig, mercifully, as we had to remove two huge rocks from the spot I picked. But we used the rocks to mark and protect her grave.

                     A dog can never tell you what she knows from the
                     smells of the world, but you know, watching her, that you know
                     almost nothing.

                          From "Her Grave" by Mary Oliver (New and Selected Poems (1992))

Mystic

January 26, 2005 — October 31, 2018

The past tense of shit

We've been playing a lot of Boggle Master (5x5 grid, with our house rule of only 5-letter words or better) this week. I used to be good at it, but age has apparently eaten away at the Boggle part of my brain. Now I'm better at the crossword, where I can work out the answers at my own pace instead of dealing with the time pressure of Boggle. It doesn't help that Dylan likes to let everyone know when he has a high-scoring word, as part of his intimidation game strategy.

We all make up realistic-sounding, but mostly nonsensical, words for Dylan to look up in an online dictionary to see if they'll fly. Cassie tried for "reshat" last night, which wasn't a word, but did lead to a productive discussion of what is the past tense of shit. Mom went for shat, but Dylan insisted that shit is used for both the present and the past tense (and he is something of an expert on the subject). I threw out shitted just for the sake of completeness. Dylan looked it up, and it turns out the OED* lists all three—shit, shat, and shitted. So, for example, all three of the following usages, based on an actual occurrence, are correct:

I walked Mystic this morning, and she shit in Mom's garden.

I walked Mystic this morning, and she shat in Mom's garden.

I walked Mystic this morning, and she shitted in Mom's garden.

Don't say you never learned anything useful in our house.

*********

The good folks at America's Test Kitchen bill this recipe as a useful way to turn tough and dull out-of-season supermarket green beans into something more tender and flavorful. And they've succeeded, judging by the way we scarfed them up twice already this week.

*The Oxford English Dictionary. According to the Oxford Dictionaries blog, the writings of David Foster Wallace are cited in almost 80 entries in the OED.

Roasted Sesame Green Beans

Adapted from the Cook’s Illustrated Cookbook (2011)

These beans are a good side dish to serve with Salmon with Asian Barbecue Glaze.

Beans
1 pound green beans, stem ends trimmed
~1 tablespoon olive oil
½ teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt

Glaze 2 teaspoons (14 grams) honey
1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger (I grate it on a Microplane)
½ teaspoon toasted sesame oil
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
3 medium garlic cloves, pureed (preferably) or very finely minced or pressed (~1 tablespoon)

1 tablespoon (9 grams) sesame seeds, lightly toasted in a dry skillet

    1. Place a rack in the center of the oven, and heat to 450 degrees. Line a 13-by-18-inch baking sheet with aluminum foil. Place the beans on the foil. Drizzle with oil and toss to coat, using tongs. Sprinkle with the salt, and toss again. Spread evenly across the foil. Roast for 10 minutes.
    2. Meanwhile, combine the honey, ginger, sesame oil, pepper flakes, and garlic in a small bowl. Using the tongs, toss the beans with the glaze. Spread evenly across the foil again. Roast until the beans start to shrivel and are dark brown in spots, about 10 to 12 more minutes.
    3. Taste for seasoning. Transfer to a serving platter. Sprinkle with the sesame seeds. Serve promptly. Serves 4 as a side dish.

Mystic pulls a fast one

The last few days, I've given Mom a break from walking Mystic in the morning, or at least I thought I did. Thursday morning, I left a note on the fridge whiteboard saying that I'd walked and fed Mystic. Yesterday, I thought Mom heard us moving around, so I didn't bother. Then I went out for a hike in Biscuit Run. Half an hour later, Mystic was in by Mom's bed, whining and scratching at the side of the bed like she was desperate to go. Mom had slept through the racket when I walked and fed Mystic earlier, and was sure she hadn't been out yet. So Mom walked her, too, though it was soon apparent, when Mystic didn't have to pee or poop in the middle of the road, as is her wont lately, that she'd already been out. Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks? Tricksy dog!

*********

Mystic's least favorite dinner

Mystic used to be such a well-adjusted little dog. Then came the big earthquake of 2011 centered over Mineral, Virginia, about 30 miles from Charlottesville. It didn't do much damage here, but we certainly felt it, and it did cause one picture to fall off the wall in our house. Mystic was terrified, and has never been the same when it comes to things like thunderstorms, which never used to bother her but she now rides out huddled in our closet.

And it's not just the really loud things like thunder and firecrackers that she's become neurotic about. A few times when I've made something that sizzles on the stovetop, it has set off the smoke alarm, which gets Mystic off her sofa and running for our bedroom. One or two of those and now she makes a break for it anytime the sizzling starts in the kitchen (anytime I'm cooking now, almost). And this recipe is the ultimate sizzler and smoker. You may want to open up your windows and cover up the smoke alarm before starting on this one (don't forget to uncover the alarm when you're done!). But they are some dang tasty cheeseburgers, and well worth a little smoke. To me anyway; for Mystic, not so much.

Stovetop Cheeseburgers

Adapted from J. Kenji López-Alt via Serious Eats

The original recipe calls for fatty ground chuck to keep the burgers moist, but I use "ground beef" from my market purveyors and it works fine even though it's leaner.

4 high-quality hamburger rolls (such as Martin's Potato Rolls or Trader Joe's Classic Hamburger Buns), toasted
Condiments and toppings such as ketchup, lettuce leaves, onion rings, tomato rings, and/or pickles
1 pound grass-fed beef, divided into eight 2-ounce balls (use your scale for this one)
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 slices American cheese, such as Kraft Singles or Trader Joe's Organic American Slices

    1. The burgers have to be prepared one at a time, but they cook in about a minute, so have everything ready to go as each burger comes off the pan. Place the toasted buns on 2–4 plates (depending on how many people you're feeding), with whatever toppings you're using already laid out on the bottom buns.
    2. Heat a 12-inch stainless steel skillet or straight-sided sauté pan over medium-high heat for a few minutes. Place 2 balls of beef centered on either side of the pan. Press down hard on each ball with a heavy metal spatula (skip the cookie spatula for this job). The smashed patties should be very thin and a wee bit wider than the bun.
    3. Season each patty generously with salt and pepper, and cook until the bottoms are well-browned and the tops are starting to turn pale pink/gray in spots, about a minute. Use the spatula to carefully scrape the patties up from the pan, getting as much of the browned bits as you can.
    4. Flip the patties, then place a slice of cheese over one patty and stack the second patty on top of the first. Transfer to the waiting bun, and serve immediately. Repeat with the remaining burgers. Serves 2–4 (Dylan and I easily went through two of these each).

The other Mystic

As the City Market winds down for the year, I am loading up on acorn squash, which your Mom loves to eat when we have pasta, and whatever other winter vegetables are left. Despite Cassie's transgressions, I am still buying plenty of potatoes, which are her favorite.

Last winter we were looking for a new kind of soup to make and we found this one, which combines potatoes with another one of Cassie's favorite things—cheese. Of course she loved it and after that hardly a week went by when Cassie didn't request potato-cheese soup for dinner (along with potato pasta).

Here is the soup served in one of a pair of artisan-made bowls your Mom and I picked up during one of our two trips to Mystic, Connecticut, in November 1990 and November 1991, to run the Tarzan Brown Run, a 5.5 mile race along the Mystic River. We really enjoyed our trips to Mystic, which are some of the best memories I have of our three years in Connecticut. And the town was a harbinger of good things to come when we adopted our own Mystic many years later.

Potato-Cheese Soup

Adapted from Food and Wine

Time: ~45 minutes

I've left the ingredients from the original recipe intact. Most of the flavor comes from cooking the onion in bacon fat and then sprinkling the crispy fried bacon bits over the soup when serving. Without the bacon it's pretty bland, so to make this vegetarian you have to come up with another way to infuse some extra flavor in the cooking liquid. I've done it by putting a teaspoon of Better Than Bouillon Vegetable Base or two cubes of Edward & Sons Low Sodium Not-Chick'n Natural Bouillon Cubes in with the potatoes and water. It's salty though, so adjust the seasoning accordingly.

¼ pound sliced bacon, sliced in half lengthwise, then crosswise into ½-inch pieces (see note)
Olive oil, if needed
1 large onion, diced
3 pounds baking potatoes (such as russets), peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
4½ cups (1,036 grams) water
1 teaspoon kosher salt (see note)
6 ounces high-quality cheddar cheese, grated on the large holes of a box grater (about 1½ cups grated); for the richest color, use a yellow cheese
2 tablespoons snipped chives, or scallion tops sliced on the bias

  1. In a large stockpot over medium heat, fry the bacon until it's crisp. Use a slotted spoon to remove the pieces to a paper-towel-lined plate. Pour off all but 2 tablespoons of the yummy bacon fat. If you don't have 2 tablespoons, add enough olive oil to make up the difference. If you're making this without bacon, just use 2 tablespoons of olive oil.
    2. Place the pot back over medium-low heat. Add the diced onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are translucent, 6 or 7 minutes. You want the onions to be soft, but not browned at all.
    3. Stir in the potatoes, water, and salt (add your other flavoring now if you're making this vegetarian), and bring to a boil. Cover the pot and reduce the heat to maintain a steady simmer. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the potatoes are tender, 15 to 20 minutes. The potatoes are tender when the tip of a paring knife goes through the potato easily without any resistance in the middle. Don't cook them to mush, though. You want some chunks that hold together in the final soup.
    4. Reduce the heat to low. Puree half of the soup. This is most easily done right in the pot with an immersion blender or a potato masher. You can also remove half the soup from the pot and puree it (carefully) in a blender or food processor, then return it to the pot. For a chunkier soup, you can just break up some of the potatoes with the back of a wooden spoon.
    5.  Add the cheese and stir until it's melted smooth. Taste and adjust for salt. Serve promptly topped with the bacon bits and chives or scallions. Serves 4 to 6.