We visit Aldi

In December, during a visit to Hudson, NY,  we visited an Aldi supermarket.  You may not know, but it is a German company, and when the owner died, he was the richest man in Germany.  Aldi has been on our shores for a number of years and actually owns Trader Joe's.  


We have a relative in Chicago who shops at Aldi, and when we found a store in Hudson we decided to check it out.  Excellent Dresdener Stoellen, a famous German Christmas bread that usually has a famously high price, but Aldi's and Trader Joe's were excellent.  We also found coffee (a pound plus) for $4.45 and it was excellent.  


We discovered there is an Aldi 22 miles from us, not exactly a hop, skip and a jump, but within driving distance.  Today, being out of coffee, we investigated the store, in Raynham.  


Aldi is not like other stores.  You pay a quarter for the shopping cart, and when you return it, your money is also returned.  This takes away the need for the cart jockey roaming thru the parking lot.  You also bring your own bags and boxes to Aldi to pack up your groceries, which you must do  yourself.  Payment is by debit card, cash or food stamps.  


Are you getting the idea?

We  grabbed the good coffee and also a dozen eggs ($1.49) and some butter cheese with dill.  Admired the beef filets wrapped in bacon.  A good deal with a fancy dan dinner at home.  Canned goods were cheap. Also, stuff like rice in bulk packages.  I didn't recognize any of the brands.  They must have their own.  Spotted an "All Natural" ice cream that looked good.  We also bought 2 lbs of carrots and a chocolate bar.  I picked up 3 scrubbing sponges for 99 cents and that was it.  The produce looked pretty good.  Someone probably from the local firehouse was buying in quantity.  


Life every other store in the country, Aldi's had lots of chips and salsa.  We think it would be a good place to shop once a month to stock up on staples.   It's not Trader Joe's (very limited selection of cheese), but the products were definitely cheaper than a regular supermarket.  Hard to compare with Walmart, because Aldi's has their own brands.  If they are as good as the coffee and the stoellen, you will want to try them.  


Speaking of chips and salsa, I happen to like bean dip.  It's an endangered species.  Just plain old Fritos Bean Dip.  Our local grocery doesn't carry it, and I have to trek to one of the big Shaw's or Stop 'n Shops.  Just moving through the store is the equivalent of a workout.  It cost $2.99.  Salsa seems to have become the dip du jour, but I do confess to liking bean dip.  


On Super Bowl Sunday, I could actually just go without, but Significant Other likes his chips and dip before the game.  The Super Bowl party we were going to was cancelled, so we're staying in with our favorite Super Bowl Sunday Menu:  Meatloaf with Marjoram,  twice baked potatoes with sour cream and chives, buttered carrots and salad.  I went all out and made a cranberry cake with a lemon glaze and a cranberry-orange compote.  It rocks.   Made it for the holidays.  Twice.  That good.  


Living in the Boston area we are naturally Patriot fans, and it will definitely be a white-knuckle stress-filled evening.  One needs comfort food, yanno?  


I'll report back on my next trip to Aldi.  We'll sample a few more products.  The cheese is good, by the way.  The world would be greatly diminished without cheese. 


On to more profound thoughts, 


The Cheeseparer

What Is It With Meatballs?

What is it about Meatballs?  ©

Let's start with the basics.  What is a meatball?

A meatball is made from an amount of ground meat rolled into a small ball, sometimes along with other ingredients, such as breadcrumbs, minced onion, spices, and possibly eggs. Meatballs are usually prepared and rolled by hand, and are cooked by frying, baking, steaming, or braising in sauce.

Meatballs are an old food.  The ancient Roman cookbook Apicius included many meatball-type recipes. Every cuisine contains meatballs, from the Afghans to the Vietnamese.  Most everyone likes meatballs. 

The word  "meatball" has even entered the language as slang.  In slang, unlike cuisine, meatballs get no respect.  Meatball" is an insult for a stupid, clumsy or dull person. Meatball is also a slur for a woman who is short and stout.  The Urban Dictionary has page after page of references to "Meatball," most of which I could not read aloud in public. 

Meatballs have invaded the movies, too.  "Meatballs" was a 1979 film; the first time Bill Murray had a starring roll.  A recent kids movie I saw with my granddaughter is  "Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs."  

The folksinger Josh White wrote a famous song called, "One Meat Ball."  It's about being poor, hungry, and ashamed.    Another song kids sing is:  On top of spaghetti, which is really about a meatball. 

What is it about meatballs? 

My first memory of meatballs was as a ten-year-old living in Lakewood, Colorado.  One day, out of the blue my mom, who hadn't an Italian bone in her body, made spaghetti and meatballs.  I thought this was the tastiest food I had ever eaten.  For years I begged her to make this dish again, but she seldom did.  It was probably too much work.  No canned sauce in those days.  Certainly no frozen or prepared meatballs.  Everything from scratch.  My mom preferred to make fancy desserts.

On my first trip to Italy, I learned spaghetti and meatballs weren't on the menu, at least not together.  I also learned pasta was eaten before the main course.  The combination of spaghetti and meatballs is actually Italian-American, served in so-called red sauce restaurants. 

Craving meatballs, I always sought out restaurants that served red sauce food. Once my husband and I and our two little boys were in Denver.  I had always heard of a good Italian restaurant there, Smaldones, reputed to be owned by the Denver mob.  We looked up the address in the phone book and drove over. Looked like a bar.  Walked in anyway.  Everyone in the place turned and looked at us.  We were obviously "foreigners."  That didn't stop the help from being exceptionally nice to our kids and us, too. We sat in a booth.  They brought a high chair for the youngest kid.  The pasta was excellent. Good Chianti. Tasty succulent meatballs.  Cheap, too.  We congratulated ourselves for being adventurous. The Smaldones are long gone, but the restaurant is still in business.

Another memorable meatball experience took place in Kendall Square.  When I began working there, the Red Line T stop was a gaping hole in the ground, and the Marriott was under construction.  A lot of cheap restaurants served MIT students and us working stiffs--the F & T Diner where the steelworkers drank Boilermakers on Friday, Alexander' s Cafeteria where the keypunch operators ate.  Remember Key Punch?  I thought not.  Where I liked to go was Vinnie's sub shop.  Meatball subs! Nirvana.  A nice Italian roll with three golf-ball sized meatballs smothered in marinara sauce with a generous topping of cheese.  Vinnie's was a typical place takeout with gruff men at the counter.  Once someone asked for mustard on his meatball sandwich.  Vinnie himself refused the request, "I'm not puttin no mustard on meatballs."  Bravo, Vinnie. 

My kids loved spaghetti and meatballs, too, and I made this more often than my mom, but not regularly.   Then I discovered the world's best meatball recipe, Sicilian meatballs.  The ingredients are simple, and everything is fresh:  parsley, garlic, grated cheese.  

Swedish meatballs are also renowned.  If you visit the IKEA cafeteria, you can eat tasty inexpensive Swedish meatballs.  Don't miss the ligonberry sauce.   I have a handout for Swedish meatball recipes, too.

Sometimes I prepare a Mexican soup called "Abondigas."   Guess what?  It has meatballs Pick up a recipe for that, too.  If you have it, use fresh mint instead of cilantro.  Albóndigas are thought to have originated as a Berber or Arab dish imported to Spain during the period of Muslim rule. Spanish albóndigas can be served as an appetizer or main course, often in a tomato sauce, while Mexican albóndigas are usually served in soup with a light broth and vegetables. 

Did you know there are even vegetarian meatballs?  A misnomer, to be sure.  Maybe we should call then food balls. I made some and brought them along today. 

So, what is it about meatballs? 

What's not to like? They're tasty, cheap, not too hard to make. When you eat meatballs, you're eating culture and history, too, not just food.
Grab a recipe or two and whip up a batch.  Your kids will love you. Let them help.  You can even make tiny meatballs and put them on pizza.  Now there's a thought.  Food for thought.

Fellow Toastmasters, I hope I've given you some insight into meatballs.

Happy Chinese New Year

Ah, the year of the dragon!  We celebrated in style.  Most years we celebrate the Chinese New Year chez Cheeseparer, a long family tradition dating back to when Nixon went to China and was served chicken and walnuts.  The Chicago Tribune printed a recipe.  So delicious we make it to this day.  Simple, too.


This year we went with Szechuan cuisine, with Gong Bao Chicken and Spicy Szechan-style eggplant. Yummers.  To cool the palate I made a salad out of iceberg lettuce and clementines, both on sale as was the chicken.  And we had rice, of course.  For dessert, something I hadn't made in years:  pineapple fritters.  Whole Foods had pineapples for $2.50 each, a great deal.  We had it in fruit salad yesterday and the fritters today and  there's enough fritter batter and pineapple for some breakfast fritters.  


Here is the recipe for the main course: Gong Bao chicken


The peanuts add lovely crunch, and the red pepper and the Sichuan peppercorns add heat, but it's not so hot you have to move the tissue box to the table.  There's enough left for a light dinner tomorrow.  My eggplant recipe was for 2 eggplants, so I cut it in half.  Both recipes called for ginger and garlic (both healthy seasonings) and I cut the garlic cloves and ginger root on the mandolin to get really thin slices. 


I always keep soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, garlic, ginger,  and scallions on hand.  Dried red chiles and Sichuan peppercorns, too.     Rice, a given.  This means that with the inexpensive staples, we can have stir fry at the drop of a hat.   Shrimp, beef, and pork are good, too.  Whatever is on sale, with whatever veggies are cheap at the market.  


You know the drill. 

Celebrate the year of the dragon with your own Asian feast.  I use cast iron skillets instead of woks.

Saturday we're having goulash soup, one of our all time faves.  A little beef or  pork go a long way in soup, and it contains onions, celery, carrots and potato.  Bell pepper, too.  Sometimes tomatoes.  It's easy to eat our veggies when we cook in other cuisines.  

What cuisine have you cooked in lately?  


The Cheeseparer

Paring Cheese

I haven't been posting, alas, but I've been trying cheap new recipes, learning even better how to produce delicious meals from what's in the pantry, and cleaning out old emails, my desk, my file and trying to come into 2012 leaner if not meaner.

Tonight we're having a Mexican flavored chicken sausage (on sale and a coupon) with refried beans (in the pantry) and corn tortillas (in the freezer). I have some lettuce, and grated cheese to put on the bean tortillas. Only thing we bought was grape tomatoes which we needed anyhow. An orange salad (orange are cheap this time of year) will round out the meal. Tasty and cheap.

Repeat after me. Tasty and cheap.

Living Large In Lean Times

The New York Times today has a review of Clark Howard's book, Living Large in Lean Times.     Lots of advice to hanging on to your money, and according to the review, some good, some weird.   It's been on the best seller list for a while, so you should have no trouble finding it, and maybe you can even get it used on Amazon, a practice I resort to occasionally, because I see MY book out there for sale, especially in MA where we live.   Sauce for the goose.  If  you have intimations of "saving money" as a New Year's resolution, you might want to dip into this book. 


We returned from the grocery store with the Christmas roast, an expensive business to be sure, but no more than the organic turkey breast.  We've having broccoli, salad, potatoes and apple cake for the rest of the dinner, so only the roast is pricey.  


I'm making rice pudding from the old Betty Crocker cookbook.  No eggs, and it cooks to a  creamy, dreaminess that is so comforting without breaking the caloric bank.  Not always easy to do.  Old Time Rice Pudding


 Every week you should be saving 15-30% at the grocery store using coupons and specials.  Try to do that.  And try not to do what I did today, and buy a roll of heavy duty foil when I had just bought a new one.   Well, it was on sale and we'll use it next summer.  Cold comfort.   Do you turn the thermostat down at right?   And also if you leave the house for the day?  I hope so.    Paring cheese is  in the details.  No bargains on cheese at all in the grocery store.  Trader Joe's is the place for cheap cheese.  You may not even need to pare it.  


Happy Holidays to all.  Here is a photo of my mother-in-law with the Christmas goose, years ago, back in Germany. 

Free Food!

I once had a colleague who stated that the most beautiful words in our language were "free food."  And all the time I had been thinking those words were "cellar door."  


Whatever. We  had an  almost free meal tonight, and it's called turkey soup.  It only takes a few minutes to remove the last scraps of meat from a turkey carcass.  I froze it for later and later arrived.  I also saved the turkey fat and have been using it in my chili and various other dishes.  Almost like schmaltz, it was delicious. 
I used old scallions, an odd shallot, and some chopped onion.  Carrots leftover from last weekend.  A celery stalk purchased today.  Some baby bella mushrooms from Whole Foods.  They left you buy however many you need, not a whole box.  I cut up a small tomato and added that with some old cilantro and plenty of herbs and spices:  thyme,  oregano and paprika.  Some dried chives.  Added to cans of chicken broth, which were part of a BOGO  (buy one, get one).  I speak retail.  Salt and pepper, of course.  I cooked some small macaroni and added it when the soup was done.  This was good stuff.  Dinner for two (with seconds) and lunch for two.  Guilt free.  Lots of veggies.   I tossed in a couple of the "on the stem" Brussels sprouts from Trader Joes.  You  dare not use too many or it will taste like Brussels Sprouts soup.  '
We ate it with a salad of red leaf lettuce topped with  yellow cherry tomatoes and some "campari" tomatoes.  Both were on sale.  Good whole grain baguette. 
I am baking Christmas cookies and make some shortbread topped with mixed cocktail nuts.  You can't believe how easy this is and how fast.  I'll try to find the recipe.  Of course the nuts were on sale, too. Mixed Nut Shortbread- fast, easy and good

I saved $36. at the supermarket today. How much did you save? 

Meatless Monday

If you're like me, you view vegetarian recipes askance.  I was pleased to find one for our vegetarian guest at Thanksgiving, and lo, the good 'ol Boston Globe published another one recently.  This was a real winner.  Curried cauliflower and chick peas


It's your starch,  your protein and your veggie all in one spicy package.  I have a very hot Madras curry powder from Penzey's, so I only use 2 teapoons and it's plenty hot.  I had used my fresh ginger up earlier, so I substituted ground ginger and this was also fine.  Nothing tastes better with curry than (get ready) fried bananas.  And nothing is faster.  Allow one banana per person.  Slice in half longitudinally, and in half again if the banana wants to break.  Saute in a skillet in a little butter.  Turn once.  They cook REALLY quickly, and brown up nicely, too.  I also had a small salad, but you may not need to, depending on family preferences. 

We've had a hot appetizer recently that we've enjoyed several times.  Our supermarket sometimes has a BOGO on pork tenderloins.  This uses just one out of the package.  It could also be a main course.  Good for low-carb diets, too.  Not real spicy, but the spice combo is good.   Spanish Pork Skewers  Good for a company meal.  I have a tiny cast iron skillet that I brown the spices in.  I also have (purchased cheaply) a coffee grinder than I reserve for grinding spices.  A mortar and pestle is good for creating the garlic paste.  


Try something new today, either meatless or meaty.  Wake up your taste buds.  Don't forget to enjoy!