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I had a bag of tentacles... i found something to do with it. (tomatoes and eggplant are nightshades, hence the name of this dish)

Ingredients:
3 cups assorted tentacles (squid or octopus) or (for the faint of
heart) other assorted seafood
Two large eggplants
Two cans diced tomatoes
½ cup minced garlic
1 cup curry powder of your choice
1/4 cup butter or other cooking oil
Salt to taste

Clean and chop eggplant
Add eggplant, tomato, ¼ cup of the garlic and  ¾ cup of the curry
powder to a large pot
Let simmer while you prepare the seafood
Add the remaining ingredients to a frying pan and sauté till the
seafood is nearly done.
Add to pot, stir, adjust seasoning to taste, and let simmer for around
a half hour or till the tentacles and eggplant are nice and soft
Serve over noodles or rice, or with bread

 In my reasearch of Victorian cookery, one dish stands out as the most tempting. Meat pies were the working man's dinner, the breakfast of the lords and ladies, and a street food staple.  They were the everymans food.  so, today I whipped one up.  To make one of your own, just follow along!

D-licious Meat Pie

Ingredients:
1and 1/2 pounds meat, ground or minced (the Victorians used just about anything for a meat pie, including tongue, game, and foul)
2 onions, diced
1/2 head of garlic, minced
About 2 cups vegetables, cut into bite sised bits (I used a bag of frozen mixed veggies, you can use what you like)
4 tbs. butter
1/4 cup milk
2tbs corn starch
1 top and bottom pie crust (you can get these pre-made or make it yourself)
whatever seasonings you like (I used salt, pepper, soy sauce, and more garlic)


1. Chop your garlic and onions. (Tip for you steampunks out there: This is a great opertunity to USE your goggles! Look ma! No onion tears!)
2. In a large pan, melt the butter on medium high heat.
3. When the butter is melted, add the garlic and onions, saute in the butter till they are just becoming transparent.
4. Add your meat and brown, stirring constandly till it is completely browned. Turn burner down to medium low.
5. Add milk, stir.
6. Mix corn starch with an equal amount of cold water. add bit by bit to the meat, stirring the whole time. 
7. Season to taste
8. Add vegetables, cover pan, and let cook on low till vegetables are cooked through. (or thawed if using frozen)  Turn burner to low.
9. Preheat oven according to your pie crust recipe.
10. Roll pie shell into pie pan.
11. Go back to your meat mixture, and adjust the seasoning.
12. Put filling into first pie crust, and put the top crust on, making vents for steam to escape.
13. put into oven and bake according to your crust recipe.

Ta-da! Pie! *nom nom nom ^_^ *

Has anyone here ever pondered the uses of molecular gastronomy for steampunk food?  I’ve seen plenty of Victorian food, I’ve seen food presented in steampunky shapes, but I have not seen steampunk food as mad science.    I think it has enormous potential. 

Here are some pages on it:

Articles

Restaurant review

http://ispyshanghai.com/2008/04/24…

Another Restaurant review

http://mylastbite.wordpress.com/20…

An article on some commercially available kits

http://www.caterersearch.com/Artic…

An article about one of the founding fathers

http://www.expatica.com/es/leisure…

 

Recipes

Carrot caviar

http://www.instructables.com/id/Ca…

Rum Bubble Surprise (A shot of rum suspended in Meringue)

http://www.instructables.com/id/Ru…

Carbonated strawberries

http://www.instructables.com/id/Wh…

Hydrocolloid (things that gel) recipe collection

http://blog.khymos.org/2007/08/14/…

The hungry scientist’s handbook

http://www.amazon.com/Hungry-Scien…

 

Shopping

Another fine purveyor of all ingredients molecularly gastronomic.

http://www.le-sanctuaire.com/mm5/m…

Willpowder, Suppliers to great food chemists everywhere

http://willpowder.net/products.htm…

As I look forward to the impending year, and all the challenges and joys it shall hold, I find myself seeing it as one enormous, lovely, game.  Well, like all games, it needs rules, structure to keep me from straying too far, and boundaries to force me into creative thinking.  So here they are, the terms of my bet with myself, the guidelines I must uphold to ensure the purity of my experiment:

Rule 1:  Steampunk needs historical accuracy like an airship needs a goldfish.

This is to say, that I should not fall into neo-Victorianism or pure reenactment, but ever strive to use the chosen aesthetic as a lens through which I shall create a life which is a work of art. 

 

Rule 2:  D.I.Y.  Does not mean “Dirty Inbred Yaks”.

This rule places stipulations upon how I may acquire things by putting in place a set of preferences to guide my behavior.  This is as follows from first to last choice.

 

1.       Handmade objects made from found and second-hand materials.

2.       Handmade objects made from new materials.

3.       Modified items from found and second-hand materials.

4.       Modified items from new materials.

5.       Items purchased as is second hand. 

6.       Items purchased as is from a local artisan. 

7.       Items purchased as is from a non-local artisan. 

8.       Items purchased as is from a small establishment. 

9.       Items purchased as is from a large establishment. 

 

Rule 3: Thou shalt have a design plan and follow it in all of thine endeavors. 

This requires a uniform design ethic for all of my projects, so that they will work together as a whole.  It will include selected colors of finishes for various sorts of projects, trims, embellishments, and an overall look for the whole thing. This will also allow me to know what materials I will need on a regular basis and stock up when I find them second hand (see above purchasing requirements)

 

Rule 4: Honesty is the best policy.

This rule requires that I not only disclose my triumphs to the world, but also my defeats.  Everything that happens on the journey will be shared.  This rule also forbids me to hide this part of my life from anyone; regardless of how it may change the way they see me.  If this experiment is to serve its purpose, it must be a part of my whole life, not just select parts. 

 

Rule 5: No Man is an island.
 I must strive always to use this experiment to reach out to others, and never use it as a way to separate myself from them.  Connection is at the heart of this endeavor. 

 

 

Well that’s the list! Feel free to offer advice on these rules or suggest additions! 

I have a dream. My dream is to have everything I do, wear, and use be an expression of who I am and what I value.   I also have a problem with clutter.  Herein, I have found a solution to both. 

Starting on my birthday, September 19^th, 2010, everything I own, purchase, or receive, if it does not already fit within the steampunk aesthetic I have set up for myself,  must be given away or modified to fit.  An emphasis will be placed on making things myself rather than modifying purchased goods, however. My move at the end of August will clear me out to the bare essentials as it is, so this is not nearly as daunting as it may seem.  There will also be an exception made for materials and tools needed to make or modify other things.

My wardrobe (mostly left in the move anyway) will be replaced with one made from thrift store finds, modified to fit the theme, and handmade pieces.

I will structure my time and activities in a way that blends a simpler, more Victorian, appreciation of time well spent with an eye to what truly makes me happy.

This year will be an exercise in mindful living and getting to know:

 A. How little I can get along with.

 B.  The workings of those things I cannot live without.

C.  If I can pull this off.

This project will last one year and will extend even to any food I cook, the materials I use for my schoolwork, and the way I structure and spend my days. 

The help, support, and encouragement of friends and family will be much appreciated, so wish me luck as I prepare to begin this journey into a life less common, more timeless, and delightfully anachronistic. 

Facinating stuff, filled with idea inducing images :

http://www.liverpoolconfidential.c…

I have a very plain white lampshade that  I would like to paint.  Does anyone know if there are types of paint I should or shouldn't use?

The lamp itself is one of those generic ginger jar shaped ones, also white, and I am going to spray it and a standing lamp in matching aged bronze paint.