Even more job musings, plus some culinary experiments

[bookwoman72]

Unless I get a university job offer that includes a salary higher than my current one, I will probably stick with the provincial office of education. The textbooks will be changing next year, so even if I am assigned the same grades and even the same schools, I won't be teaching the same lessons. Staying with the public schools, while neither

Comments

[panacea1]

I've grown rather fond of Yankee Boiled Dinner since moving to Maine:

Serves 12 normal people or 5 of my in-laws

Take a 5# hunk of salt meat (ham, pork shoulder, corned beef brisket, etc). Place in largest stockpot in the house with enough water to cover plus an inch or so, leaving plenty of freeboard in the kettle. Bring to boil, then lower heat, cover and cook for an hour to hour and a half.

Meanwhile, prepare the following in the quantities that will be eaten:
Small to medium boiling potatoes - scrubbed or peeled
Small to medium onions - peeled and roots removed
Carrots - peeled and cut into chunks
Rutabaga - peeled and cut into chunks
Cabbage - quartered

If the meat is very salty, you may want to change out 1/2 to 2/3 of the water before adding the veg to the stockpot. Cover again and cook on low heat until everything is disintegrating.

Feed an army, or eat all month.

I'm sure it scales down to normal portion sizes. It's a very loose recipe.

boiled dinners

[bookwoman72]

Hmm. I haven't seen rutabagas here. Might try using one of those big white and green asian radishes instead. They taste vaguely turnippy, but not so bitter. I like to leave potato skins on, since they add texture (and probably fiber and vitamins).

The whole colcannon idea came about because at a belated Thanksgiving dinner Saturday night at the home of some ex-pat friends, I'd described the bacon-and-greens dish, and one of them said, "That's bubble-and-squeak." So of course, I looked up B and S, which led to colcannon and similar UK dinners involving cabbage, meat, and potatoes.

I also plan on buying a mixer/grinder so I can make things like black sesame porridge. The Konglish word for mixer, btw, is "mix-aw-gee". (The 'g' is hard. 기 (gee) means "machine". )