the stories
the kitchen
the market
the proof (party pics!)
the food porn
the recipes
the about
the drop me a line part
the resources
the full list
jewelry alchemy

soupapalooza!

the stories
the kitchen
the market
the proof (party pics!)
the food porn
the recipes
the about
the drop me a line part
the resources
the full list
jewelry alchemy

truffletots: it's a truffle, truffle, truffletot world

Ahhh, the starchy and deliciousness that is the tater tot got an upgrade. Tot 2.0 is big, earthy and seriously truffley.

Every soupapolooza! has a standout and this last event was no exception; I made five times the following recipe (that’s about 250 truffletots or 8.3 per guest) and there was not a single tot uneaten. Not a one, no joke. That makes the effort involved, and trust me there’s some effort involved in making 250 truffletots, all worth it. Yes, staying up until 2am boiling, ricing, piping and freezing, cutting and then freezing again was not my idea of a rocking Friday night, but “Say Yes to the Dress” was in reruns and I needed something to focus on other than viscous rayon and rhinestone tiaras. So that was good. And I got in some serious one on one time with my giant ricer which is about as romantic as anything in my life lately.

I now understand why no one really makes tater tots from scratch. This is California and the deep fryer is an exotic thing to many of my healthier friends (I feel so very sorry for these people) but the pure, unexpected joy of this little truffle potato explosion made at least two or three of my surlier party guests spontaneously smile...and maybe remember the joy of eating something with their family as a child. Only a much, much tastier version.

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PostedApril 4, 2012
Authormelissa mcclure
Categoriesvegetarian, appetizers and snacks
TagsTV dinner soupapolooza!, truffle, make ahead, recipe, potato, comfort food, appetizer, side dish, deep fryer
2 CommentsPost a comment
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chicken pot pie soup: ode to the TV dinner and you can blame it on mom's dumb luck

People in my family don’t win things. OK, maybe we win spelling bees, but not stuff like cars or money and none of us has numbers in the lottery. It’s not that we see ourselves as unlucky. In fact, we’re statistically pretty advantaged in most areas. But I’ve never won anything. Even from KCRW, our local Public Radio station that every single one of my friends has managed to score free concert tickets from for DECADES (thanks again, Jihad Jenni, for taking me along to see Scissor Sisters. Those $20 beers were pretty badass). Of course I’ve always been more interested in dating the DJs than in getting free tickets because a girl has to have priorities, but that’s a different blog post all together.

There was this one year, 1981, that we McClures were on fire with both the radio giveaway and our love of the legwarmer (I’ve got awesome blackmail pictures to prove the latter). First my brother won concert tickets to see Neil Diamond (they’re coming to America! Today!), which I think excited my mom a whole lot more than him since she insisted on chaperoning. And then she turned around like a month later and won an Amana microwave on KRBE, Houston’s very own hitmaker (tm). Of course memory is an imperfect thing, and the Tiny Dancer remembers things a little differently-- that she, in fact, won BOTH the tickets and the microwave, and that it wasn’t really a microwave that she won at all, but $50 that she put towards a microwave of her choosing. So mom, it turns out, is the luckiest McClure of all. And that probably has something to do with the fact that she wasn’t born one. Marrying a McClure, maybe not so lucky, but that was her choice.

The microwave was like this magical appliance in our house. It could make POPCORN (popcorn that tasted like burnt toast). And boil water in ONE minute! But we were not allowed to stand in front of it because we might get cancer. Lots of logic in our house, a strange meditation on faith and reason or a lack of either at any given time. But still, this exotic little box that chirped like a mechanical baby bird when it was finished cooking was God in our kitchen, which is saying a lot for a kitchen full of Presbyterian appliances. 

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PostedApril 2, 2012
Authormelissa mcclure
Categoriesstocks and broths, soup
TagsTV dinner soupapolooza!, recipe, #worth it, microwaves are the enemy, comfort food, nostalgia, homemade chicken stock, pot pie, whole lotta chickenness, green peas, spring pea, spring has sprung
1 CommentPost a comment

s'mores cupcakes: inertia is a real bitch

My brother James is the “smart one” in the family (I’ll let you guess which “one” I am). This is something that all the members of our little clan--the clan McLeod!--have been acutely aware of since he was six years old, when James was sitting on a stool in a general store/ local bar for cattlemen in Neiderwald, Texas. This was the town next door to my grandparents’ ranch where we visited a couple of times a month. Serious cattle country this was and close to Lockhart where there is quite possibly the best BBQ on the planet at Black’s (this is a food blog so I’m going to try to make this somewhat relevant) and full of hard working, serious cowboys like my grandfather.

Anyway, a friend of my grandfather’s, a craggy old rancher, had asked my brother to play a game of checkers with him, thinking he would quickly kick the ass of the poor little six year old toe-headed city-kid with coke-bottle thick glasses and thereby teachin' him some hard scrabble ranch life lessons. But things didn’t pan out quite like the wrinkly old guy thought and my brother beat the bastard at quite a clip. I mean really quickly, like as in four turns or something equally embarrassing to a rough and tumble old man. Exasperated, and with the attention of everyone else in the honkey-tonk squarely on his shoulders, the old guy looked down at the board and then at my smiling, adorably lisping brother and he said, “Well, son, if yer so smart whattaya gunna be when ya grow up?”

I think he thought James would say something like “Astronaut!” or “Fireman!” or “Ballerina!” (you know those glasses were a tad emasculating, even for a six year old), but my awesome little jerk of a brother just blinked his artificially magnified eyes, looked up solidly to the old dude and said clearly, enunciating every syllable, “I am going to be a nuclear phythithitht.” (that’s a “nuclear physicist” in non-lisp). Period. And he shut down the conversation right there. And the hoots and laughter of everyone in the bar delighted and surprised James so much that even he, himself, knew right then and there that he was a powerfully smart human being. Or at least one with really good comedic timing. Which he doesn’t actually possess. Ask me about the inappropriate pedophilia joke he told at the Christmas dinner table sometime. It never fails to impress. I’m kind of convinced it’s why my mom and stepfather divorced, but I digress...

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PostedMarch 1, 2011
Authormelissa mcclure
Categoriesdesserts & sweet treats, vegetarian
TagsTexas BBQ, inertia, marshmallow fluff, ganache, cupcakes, spelling bee FAIL, comfort food, graham cracker cupcake, s'mores, campfire casual
2 CommentsPost a comment
 
 
goldsmith, sometime costume designer and badass cat owner. 

goldsmith, sometime costume designer and badass cat owner. 

  • dessert (1)
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  • stocks and broths (2)
  • vegan (5)
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  • soup (36)

Why? Because soup is cheap, delicious and easy. Kind of like me.

a weekly attempt to eat well and to savor life. or to see how much food I can get on my clothes.

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