Influenza Update December 2011

The local influenza activity has been very low (so far). Of note is that there is a new - as in novel - flu virus that's reared it's ugly head in the US.

From August to December the CDC reports that there have been 12 human infections with influenza A (H3N2)v with the M gene from the A(H1N1)pdm09 virus. This is significant because this is a new mix of swine virus. 11 of the 12 cases are in children and 6 had no exposure to swine. The good news is that all have recovered fully.
Surveillance for swine influenza is overseen by USDA that started in 2009. So far they've found 150 isolates, of these 30 have this A(H3N2) and 8 of these have the M gene from flu A(H1N1).
Human infections with influenza circulating in swine are very rare. Swine make perfect mixing vessels of all types of influenza virus. Because this is a newly identified combination of genes it's hard to tell where this is going. Hopefully nowhere.

Updated information and guidance documents related to A(H3N2)v viruses are available online from CDC at http://www.cdc.gov/flu/swineflu/influenza-variant-viruses.htm.

Slow food....S-L-O-W. But REALLY good food!

OK, I guess I have to admit it....I'm part of the slow food movement. Not intentionally though.

It's not like I went out and said, "Think I'll do slow food". I think it started when we finally bought a really good stove/range about 24 months ago. It's got an induction top and a convection oven and I totally love it. It induced us (get it?) to remodel our 20 year old, Formica counter top, old wood cabinets (really blahhhhh) into something a joy to cook in. It's colorful, open, easy to clean, with lots of counter space and I can spend the whole day cooking or baking or making cheese or pasta or yogurt or stew or soup or bread or etc, etc. We did it all ourselves and it's like living inside an art gallery and it's our art on the walls. I simply do not understand why people farm out the design and then the work to have something that's really NOT their vision. I know time is limited, but come on....it's your HOUSE and your KITCHEN. No one else can do that for you. I don't think anyone works more than we do and we did it. Of course, we had to live with it during the transformation. OK, that's part of the discovery process. The estimate for the kitchen re-do was $25,000. Seriously! What did we spend? Less than $4,000. Did we know how to do all of this when we started? NO. Did we learn? YES.

Back to the slow food: While raising 3 boys, we DID occasionally go out for fast food - between games for instance - come on...we were normal. But we never did go out to eat that much. With a family of 5, it was way way too costly. So I learned to cook good, nutritious food that was easy to make and satisfy 3 growing, always hungry boys.

Now that the pressure of just putting FOOD ON THE TABLE (yes, in caps.....3 hungry teenagers is a scary thing to face), is over...I can concentrate on enjoying the cooking process and boy, have I done it....in spades.

yogurt - the REAL stuff

I started making cheese about 4 years ago and haven't done much since until recently. Cheese is all about slow. It's like bread...only slower. Unless you're talking yogurt (and not that sickly sweet stuff you get at the store) or cottage or mozzarella....that's pretty fast.

Mozzarella

Citric acid...also found in lemons

adding rennet to milk

Home made mozzarella is a wonder to behold. Get this....you can add cream.....soooooo goood! Of course you need a few extra ingredients that most people don't have at home. Some of them are citric acid and rennet. The good news...it's all available on line. One of the best sites for cheese making supplies is The New England Cheesemaking Supply Company.
They've been around a long time and have a bunch of recipes on line and all the supplies your little heart desires. They even have a mozzarella kit with every thing you need to make 30 batches! What a deal! I can tell you, once you've made your own...you'll never buy it from a store again.

Cheese making, like wine making is like magic! I often feel like Dr. Frankenstein in the movies when he's just brought the monster to life and yells....."It's ALIVE!" Cheese, bread, wine, beer is ALIVE and you can witness it yourself in your own kitchen. Amazing!

Christmas Cooking and Baking

Today was spent cooking and getting ready for the next 2 days. I did a prime rib...with the ribs for Wayne and I and Tom who came down for dinner. Holy Cow! Prime rib is such a splurge but sooooo good when it's done! Put a crust/rub of chili spice and pepper on it then sweated it with plastic wrap for about 10 hours. Then into a 500 degree oven for 20 min then dropped it to 350. (that's Fahrenheit for my EU friends and family) for about an hour. Will post the pic. Then roasted red potatoes with garlic and also butternut squash. mmmmmm! We didn't even get to dessert...too much food.
Tomorrow...time with Joe and Sarah and her family and then the trip to visit Jan, Tammy and Andy. I've made a savory pesto pastry and my own creame cheese for brunch and then an awesome apple pie for Christmas dessert. Travel time....many miles on the MINI but a lot of family time with some great food!
Wishing one and all a fabulous Holiday season and the upcoming Happy New Year~!

Squid ink pasta

Yep, going to try it! I ordered it on line because I could NOT find it anywhere locally. It came all the way from Spain. I ordered four packages. Each package contained four little packets.
It's said that squid ink pasta "tastes of the sea" and that it needs only olive oil and garlic with a sprinkling of parmesan.
I tasted just a bit, it REALLY DOES taste a bit salty and of the sea. I used two little packets per batch. I've mixed two batches of dough and am letting them rest. More to come. See the pics. The last pic is the pasta rolled and cut to linguini size. Smells wonderful! This is just the first batch. I need to let they dry before starting the next batch.

Squid ink packets. I'm holding them so you can see how small they are

The dough. Needs to rest in plastic wrap for at least 30 min

The pasta, drying on the rack

Squid ink pasta ready for freezing or dinner tonight

pottery tools

OK, I'm hooked. All I need is the angler to set the hook and reel me in. Clay, lots of clay. I have dreams of pottery and pottery wheels and kilns. Craigslist is my friend. I have a studio space, I just need the "Tools of Pottery" to put in it and then to use. I had a sneaking suspicion this might happen. Years ago I did a bit of pottery. Loved it but haven't done anything for many years. The tiles are turning out wonderfully! I'm going to do some glazing tomorrow at the Open Arts Studio in Tacoma. My 6 week class is done and I put money down to use the studio on my own ($100). Until I set my own studio up, I'll be using their tools to figure out what I need and want. In the mean time...I've gone to Seattle Pottery Supply and spent all of $10.00 on small hand building tools. I was fun to look and not spend, just to plan.
Things I've looked at:
1. a throwing wheel---