The Nana Second

Since my son, Bradley, informed me during the Christmas holidays that he was “disappointed” that I had not been blogging, I thought that I would take advantage of this wet, frigid, January day to catch up and to get back in his good graces…

The last few months have flown by and I seem to have had little time to do anything but “keep up”.  My children think that I sit around all day painting my nails or having lunch or goodness knows what they must think – since I don’t have a “real” job.  But I AM involved in a number of different organizations and activities.  I won’t go into all of them, but suffice it to say that I stay busy and am enjoying these involvements.

But…the last few days have found me “holed up” in our toasty warm house here in Chappell Hill.  Our nice, big fireplace not only contributed to a warm house, but to the ambiance (don’t you just love that word?) and has served as our source of energy for cooking.  When we bought the house, I was so excited to see that the fireplace had a swinging arm While in New Orleans, I had volunteered at the Hermann-Grima house in their outdoor kitchen.  Once a month, I volunteered to be part of a team doing “down hearth cooking”.  This was just so much fun.  I was amazed at the meal we could prepare using down hearth cooking methods, a Dutch oven and a few other special tools.  The best part was that we got to take home the meal we had prepared that day.  Hermann-Grima has one of the only beehive ovens in the city.  So we also occasionally made homemade bread - delicious. 

So….since we had had a fire going in the (yes…I am married to a firebug!) since Sunday afternoon, which is also the last time I set foot outside the door, I decided that I would just have a little fun.  My sister, Essie, had given me a very large Dutch oven a couple of years ago. I had seasoned it, but not used it.  This is not a “real” Dutch oven, which has the little feet on the bottom and the inverted lid, but a more modern one.  It works well to hang on the swinging arm, but would not do well for baking a cake, which we used to do on occasion at Hermann-Grima.  Here is what I made – Baked Potato Soup.  I have to say that it was really wonderful and warmed us nicely for lunch.  Then, I decided to try something else for dinner – no pictures…too busy cooking – so I grilled a fabulous tenderloin steak in a fish basket used on a grill and sauteed some mushrooms in a black iron skillet with a pie plate lid on top.  I agreed with Owen that it was about the best steak we have ever had — anywhere!  The flavor was incredible!   Now on to today…it’s Wednesday…

I got up this morning not intending to cook anything, but when I saw that Owen had built a really nice fire, I started browsing the pantry for some inspiration.  I came across some split peas and after getting Owen’s “go-ahead” (didn’t take much since he loves this!), I got the pot on the fire.  Here it is…Dutch Erwtensoup, better known as Split Pea soup here in the USA.  You can go to any restaurant, large or small, in The Netherlands summer or winter and get this wonderful, thick pea soup.  They usually put leeks, potatoes and carrots in theirs.  I had large bulb onions and carrots, but used all of my potatoes in the potato soup – so will have to do without that. Just had the  for lunch and it was yummy!  Just to entertain myself, I am trying to decide what I can grill for dinner – not that I don’t have other things to do – but I’m just taking advantage of the fire…

Sooooo…what’s on your menu today?