RoundAbout San Diego

Janet and Klaus harvested some oysters, grown in their own cages, at the Northern Neck. Look at the bucket load Klaus has.



Hamish wanted to help them but I think the water was a little too cold for him.



Klaus shucking the oysters wearing his special chainlink gloves that we bought them for Christmas.



The oysters are almost ready for cooking.



And here is the finished product - oyster stew - which I heard was very good.



I hope when we next visit I get a chance to harvest and cook some oysters.

When Alex and I eat brats the usual cooking method is to grill them and serve on buns with fried onions and a salad on the side. This time I wanted to try something different and came across this recipe from epicurious.com. We really enjoyed it with rice and green beans.

Bratwurst with Creamy Apple Compote

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 medium onion, sliced
2 Golden Delicious apples, peeled, cored, and each cut into 8 wedges
1 Turkish bay leaf or 1/2 California
8 precooked bratwurst or Weisswurst
1 cup dry white wine
2/3 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1 tablespoon packed brown sugar

Preheat broiler.

Heat butter and oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over medium-high heat until foam subsides, then cook onion and apples with bay leaf, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper, stirring once or twice, until golden brown, about 6 minutes.

Meanwhile, split bratwurst lengthwise (not all the way through) and open up. Lightly brush cut sides of bratwurst with additional oil and transfer to a shallow baking pan (split sides up).

Add wine to apple mixture, then simmer, covered, until apples are tender, 6 to 8 minutes. Remove lid and briskly simmer until liquid is reduced by one third, about 2 minutes.

While apples simmer, broil bratwurst 4 to 5 inches from heat until browned, about 6 minutes.

Stir cream, vinegar, and brown sugar into apple mixture and briskly simmer until slightly thickened, about 2 minutes. Discard bay leaf and serve apple compote over bratwurst.

Serves 4

It's been another cold and wet day so I took the opportunity to take down all the Christmas decorations. I organized everything into my new plastic storage containers which will stack nicely in the crawl space under the house.



These are the same containers that I'm storing Charlie's things in too so at the moment the crawl space is looking so much tidier than the house.

It was a slow and relaxing day and we had no big plans to go out and party to bring in the new year. We opened a bottle of champagne, lit the fire, and cooked a nice rib-eye steak dinner. I served it with roasted broccoli and these potatoes - both recipes from epicurious.com.

Two-Potato Saute with Bacon and Cream



2 pounds white-skinned potatoes, peeled, cut into 3/4-inch pieces
1 1/2 pounds red-skinned sweet potatoes (yams), peeled, cut into 3/4-inch pieces

7 bacon slices, diced
3/4 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
1/4 cup whipping cream
3 tablespoons chopped Italian parsley

Bring large pot of salted water to boil. Add white potatoes; cover partially and cook until almost tender, about 10 minutes. Using strainer, transfer potatoes to large bowl. Return water in pot to boil. Add sweet potatoes; cover partially and cook until potatoes are almost tender but still retain their shape, about 6 minutes. Drain. Transfer to bowl with white potatoes. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cool; cover and chill.)

Cook bacon in very large skillet over medium heat until almost crisp, about 10 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer bacon to paper towels and drain. Pour off all but 1/4 cup drippings from skillet. Add onion and bell pepper; cover and cook until tender, about 15 minutes. Mix in potatoes and bacon. Cover and cook 10 minutes. Add cream and cook uncovered until potatoes are tender and coated with sauce, about 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer potatoes to large bowl. Sprinkle with parsley.

Serves 8

We had so many leftovers that we fried some of them for breakfast the next morning. I first cooked a few slices of bacon and then fried the potatoes in the bacon fat until they had a nice brown crust on the bottom and flipped them to do the other side. Soooooo good!