What a Cook Wants, 1

Dear readers. I am sorry for the lack of posting; these are dark days. Betty Lou and Tiina Fey are gone and I shall not be married much longer. I've been too sad to write about the joy of eating, but fear not: I am determined to bring glad tidings of great food once again. My heart may be crushed, but my palate still works. Thank God.
If ever there were cause to enjoy a cocktail, this is it. This first gift idea is apropos.

ÍS Vodka


The cook in your life needs to kick back, relax~ heck, just sit down for a minute. This vodka- pronounced "ice"- is made from melted Icelandic glacier water [harvested in an eco-friendly way] and non-GMO English wheat. They distill it seven times. Artisanal water is pretty hot these days, why not make booze with it?
The bottle is tall and dramatic with nearly Ionic columns and a curvy lady on its crest. I found the stopper hard to remove and replace, but that's what we'd call a quality problem.
The spirit itself is incredibly smooth and clean, no jagged edges. There's a brief hit of clove at the very end of the sip and that's it. It's great in a cocktail and perfect for sipping, if that's your thing.
ÍS Vodka, about $40 for a 750mL bottle.

Perhaps if I drink enough of it, I will be spirited away to Iceland for some quiet peace here:

The Ice Chest Cometh

I have a confession, dear reader: my freezer froze shut, and it made my life unmanagable! Oh sure, I was in denial for a while (who needs ice cubes? it's not summer), but then last week my friend LeeAnn called in a crisis: the compressor in her fridge had blown, could she borrow some fridge and freezer space until tomorrow? Alas, I had only fridge space to share, there was no getting into the icebox. How humiliating.
Though shame is usually an obstacle to growth, in this situation I found it very motivating. Yesterday I attacked that sucker, finally!, and though it took forever and ever and ever (good thing this is a slow week, jeez), I'm delighted to report I enjoyed some very cold ice cubes in my drink last night. I also discovered a gorgeous dorado filet my friend Brendan brought back from a fishing expedition. There are rewards to cleaning up.
Here is the freezer at its worst:

Thank goodness I still have my hairdryer from 1989.

The first time I defrosted this ridiculous appliance, I noticed instructions on the inside of the freezer door, "Never Use Sharp-Pointed Instruments To Remove Frost." Wait, you mean like a knife? I bet that would work really well...

Hey look! I own corn!

Wow, it was mostly frost and ice in there. Looks kind of foreboding (don't worry, this doesn't end with anyone's pinky emerging from the ice, though it would be more exciting. If only I were a Soprano.)


Only in L.A. do many apt.s not come with a fridge. I think it's due to the general food phobia (Oh my god, will that make me fat?), and the competitive nature of housing here. When I moved in, my landlords informed me that the fridge came with the place, but when it died I would have to replace it. sigh. I'm trying to make it last a little longer. We'll see. I think it's older than my dad.
Anyway, I read that putting in a pot of boiling water speeds the process...


When did I buy popsicles?



And if 1 pot works well, I bet 2 would be twice as nice.

Ohh! That speeds things up! Can you see the steam? Cool.

Who has unexpressed rage?


So many chunks of frost


Ewww, this is all the dirty melted ice water


And finally, here is the finished space! Look, there's lots of food!


I celebrated by buying a frozen pizza to store in there, but that didn't work out so well because I ate it.