tinyblonde's Profile

I live alone, and I'm obsessed with cooking with fresh herbs. The issue: I can't always use them before they go bad! I'd love to see more info on creative herb dishes (beyond the typical pestos, and freezing in olive oil).

For knives, professional sharpening plus a daily hone with the steel should keep them sharp enough. I get mine sharpened at the farmer's market once a year or so.

I rarely use recipes; most of my meals are just thrown together. I focus on techniques, so I find it fairly easy to improvise with ingredients. Everything from simple roast chicken (usually with lemon herb stuffing and in-season vegetables) to more complicated things like boeuf bourguignon and coq au vin are made from memory. I usually only have to make something from a recipe once or twice, then it's easy to remember.

For baking, I was pretty happy when I realized that I can make a great pie crust with no recipe. I make lots of tarts, quiches, and meat pies, so it's pretty useful. I usually refer to a cookbook for other baked goods, since I don't bake all that often.

For my celebration, I planning on making some petites croques monsieur. Pretty much, slice up a baguette, toast and butter each slice, then put some ham on each slice. Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a saucepan over low heat, sauté some minced garlic and shallots, add a splash of sherry, then throw in 3 tablespoons of flour. Cook just until the raw flour taste goes away, stirring constantly. Then, add a bit over a cup of milk, and allow to thicken. Finally, melt in some grated gruyere cheese. Spoon the sauce over the ham, top with more gruyere, and put under the broiler until they get all toasty. I've made these into croques madame by frying up some quail eggs and adding to the top of each mini sandwich, which is delicious.

I also made an onion tart, with some crème fraiche and chives on top. Yum!

I guess this is what happens when you tell your decorator that you want your place to look "nice." The only picture I like is the last one, it's the only bit with personality.

My major pet peeves are as follows:

-Shelves full of unread books. I know someone who constantly acquires books and never reads them. I don't know if people believe having books on display makes them look well read, but it does kill the conversation when you ask them what they thought of a book they have on display and they have not read it, and seem to have no desire to do so.

-Art on the walls just to have something up there. Art should be emotive, should jump out at you, make you feel something. It's okay if other people don't like it, but the person who owns it should feel like they absolutely can't live without it.

-Blinds. I like the sumptuousness of textiles on the windows.

-Too much kitschy hipster stuff. I'd hate living in a place that could be the set of a film set in the 50's (but I guess that's just me.)

-Hello Kitty, stuffed animals, and other such things that make the place look like the Sanrio store threw up on it.

Of course, I do some things people dislike (my furniture is relatively matchy, I display a bunch of photos, and I'm relatively OCD about color coordination). To each his own, I guess.