Thursday,
February 6, 2020
When you live alone, you need to cook. I started cooking for myself six years
ago, but have was limited to about six different things. I make split pea soup, chili, Chicken
fettuccini, Amish casserole, spaghetti, a dish full of beans, chorizo sausage,
vegetables and quinoa, French toast, grilled cheese, salmon, and some frozen
dinners. I tend to make quantities
enough to feed about eight and then eat them for several days in a row.
I can do those things pretty well and that would get me
through, but I was missing all the Rolf family traditional dinners Holly had
made for the forty years of our marriage.
That was until about two weeks ago.
I asked Holly to write down the recipe for things
like kiniflies, gravy, chicken and beef stew, and baked chicken. I looked up my father-in-laws’ recipes
for chicken paprikash and decided I’d tackle that, as well. Many of the family recipes include the
spaetzel noodle – something we refer to as a ‘kiniflie’ noodle or dumpling, and is simply
eggs, flour, and a little water. I
called Holly via ‘face time’ when I tried to make them for the first time.
“How do the noodles look?” I asked, pointing the
phone into the mixing bowl and stirring for her to see.
“They’re too runny,” she said and watched as I
added flour and continued to stir.
It took several more additions before she finally said I had the
consistency I wanted. Sometimes
technology is a blessing.
I was making the dish we refer to as ‘kiniflies’,
which is the noodle topped with fried bread crumbs and onions and topped with
catsup. It’s an acquired taste,
though I only had to have them once to be forever in love with them.
As I began to cut in the raw dough into the
boiling, salted water, I stirred the bread crumbs which I’d made by drying out
and cubing the fantastic bread I get from Panera’s. They were sautéing in
Crisco and butter along with the onions.
There is a knack to cutting just the right amount of dough with each
stroke of the knife, as that determines the size of the dumpling noodle and how
it cooks. It was a knack I didn’t
possess. The dough was sticking to
the knife and wouldn’t release and I was getting frustrated until I remembered
watching Holly dip the knife into the boiling water as she cut the noodles. I tried it and suddenly I was rolling
along.
John was over for dinner and had eaten kiniflies
many times over the years at our dinner table. I figured he would serve as the test dummy.
“These are great – just the way I remember them,” he
said. I tasted them and agreed,
high-fiving him for my own success.
“I sure can cook,” I bragged, very pleased with
myself.
Later, I would make chicken paprikash and put it
over kiniflie noodles, getting a similar reaction from Miggie. “Wow John, this is really, really good!”
She is an amazing cook and from her it was a
compliment that meant something.
John would eat the sole of my shoe if I slathered it in butter.
All this new found cooking talent and enjoyment has
me concerned about caloric consumption and exercise. I will definitely have to up the ante and I have a plan for
that starting tomorrow with a trip to the Cuyahoga Falls Recreation
Center. I’ve heard they have an
excellent Natatorium and complete and modern workout facilities and although I
don’t like to work out indoors, do want a place to swim and may avail myself of
the other facilities throughout the winter months. I’ll report on my findings next.
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