A while back, David and I were discussing what are the kitchen tools we can't live without, and what are the minimum kitchen tools/gadgets we would choose if we have limited budget and space. What we didn't realize, we actually get to live by minimum this past week.
We moved from Champaign to Miami. It is a long way. This time, we have mover do the moving. The only inconvenience is, they are not going to get here when we arrived. So I planned ahead. When we packed, we set aside a set of cooking tools, so we can still do some cooking before the moving truck gets here. It turns out, a very good idea. Due to some complication, the mover was supposed to be here three days ago, they called to say that they are not going to arrive until next Monday. That put our selection into test for the entire week.
We have a small car. Since we have a few things we have to bring alone, enough clothes for the whole week, two little hamsters occupied two big cages, my African violets and live herbs, David's books for preparing for teaching, computers, valuables, and David's bassoon and my flute, and enough bedding stuffs so we can sleep on the floor. We don't really have much space for the cooking stuff. We used the blue recycle bin as our size limit for the tools we were going to bring along. Here is what we end up with. Our big frying pan with lid, one wooden spatula, one silicon spatula, one set measuring cups, one sharp santoku knife, a set of thermal pots, a set of hand blender/mixer/processor, two bowls, two medium plates, two big plates, a balloon whisk, two pair of chopsticks, can opener, and the pasta cutter just because we don't want to lose it. Food/seasoning wise, we brought olive oil, vinegar, salt, sugar, pepper grinder, a big container of rice and a big container of granola. And some last minute dug out potatoes.
As it turns out, it was a good plan to keep the things limited. At the very last minute we had to fit much more things into the car. Our friend, Brett, took my offer to add our grapes into the apple wine he was making. He gave us a five gallon bucket of the fermenting wine which is too good to leave behind. And at the end, the only room available in the car for it is the front passenger's leg space. It was fine for me to sit with the five gallon bucket there. It was hard for David.
So how did we do this past week? Other than the time we were outside, we manage to cook every meal in this kitchen. No take out pizza. At the first, we cook mostly the things we brought with us. We went to the first grocery store and came back almost empty handed. Only got onion there because we planed to make risotto. The rest of produces are so bad that I don't even want to touch it. I guess, moving from the fresh pick veggies from the garden to the not-so-fresh-at-all produce aisle is a big shock to get adjust to. The very next day, I asked every person I met where you can get fresh produce, and when and where is the farmer's market. As the result of one week's search, the so call organic shop means sell things across the country twice the price we used to pay at the farmer's market. The farmer's market in Miami is a big disappointment as well. The produces are still in their shipping box with the label on, just like the one you see at the organic aisle in the store. I research the possibility of CSA, unfortunately the program are not going to start until November. I can understand that the veggies are not doing well here in the summer heat of southern Florida. But I can't believe there is no where to find local produce avocado, longan, eggs, or milk. This is not midwest winter. I can't believe there is nothing this land can offer at this season.
On top of disappointment about fresh produces here, we also had trouble finding our tools. The very first day, David got himself a bottle of wine from the store. When he wanted to get some wine to drink, the core screw was nowhere to find. We don't have much things with us, it was not hard to search everything around. We both remember vividly that core screw and can opener were put aside for taking with us, but where would they be? I had to go to the neighbor to ask for borrowing the core screw, using this chance to meet the neighbor at the first day was a bit strange. Not until yesterday it come to my mind that I pack some small things into the hand blender's box that the core screw was included.
The other thing we realized in the week of living with minimum is that you can never think of everything. Like we have the ingredient to make the tiramisu. We thought we have enough stuffs and tools to make it. But then we forgot that we don't have any container that we can put the whole thing in, nor the mixing bowl to use to beat the eggs in. That haven't include the espresso, since there is always the option to go to the coffee shop to get some.
But we did cook with what we have.
I made a beef stew that David claim is the best he had. Well, I used the Chinese stew concept to cook with western flavor since I don't have any of the Chinese seasoning, soy sauce and Chinese vinegar. It turned out quite well. We went to watch "Julie & Julia", in the movie, we realized that I accidentally made a variation of Julia's beef stew.
Beef Stew
Beef, cut in cubes (I think the one I used is chuck eye)
Onion cut into big pieces
Potato, Carrots any kind of root vegetable, cut in chucks
Fresh herbs (I used lemon thyme and oregano, because that's what I have in the pot.)
Red wine
Oil for frying
Salt and ground pepper to taste
Started by browning the beef in a pot with high heat. Only put enough beef to cover the bottom of the pot. You might need to do this a few times. When every side is browned, set aside.
After done with the beef, cook the onion with the leftover oil from browning the beef. Use median heat. Put in a little bit salt to season the onion. When the onion is soft, put in the rest of vegetable. Brown the vegetable a little bit. Add oil if needed. Add enough salt to season the vegetable.
Pure about a cup and half of wine into the pot. Yes, you get to drink the rest of it. Add the beef back to the pot.
Add enough water to cover everything. Add more salt to season. Add herbs. Crank up the heat to get it boil.
After it boil for 10 min, I put the pot into the thermal cooker. Which is a big thermos that can fit a pot, and keeps the pot hot for a long time. Then we wait for 2~3 hours before we have the tasty beef.
If you don't have the thermal cooker, you can still cook at slow heat on the stove or use the slow cooker, cook it for 2~3 hours.
The truth is we never wait for the 2 hours. I didn't start it until it was too late, that we start eating when the beef is cooked through. But it doesn't matter, with the potato from our garden, the nice wine we got that day, the stew turn out beautifully. A little bit chewy, no body minds.
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