My Cooking Heaven and Cheesy Creamed Corn

Have I mentioned that throughout spring and into late summer Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights involve live music in town? Most often, it comes from behind our building at the Contented Cow pub. On those nights, we are most likely dozing off to some sweet and sometimes not-so-sweet sounds.

Depending on the band, it makes me want to dance. Who am I kidding? I’ll dance no matter what the genre/beat/quality of the music.

Last week, we ran into one of our neighbors who shared his opinion of the singer from the night before…awful. We feel for him because he’s in the back of the building and can’t escape the music. He said that he was drastically trying to cover his ears for the hour or so she was on the stage. Come to think of it, he wasn’t even sure if it was a woman or a man. Greg and I missed most of “her” vocals since we were actually out on the town but I think it was a female. Ouch.

We’re both lucky that the music lightly, but still at a decent audible level, reaches our windows. It’s not overwhelming and obnoxious when we don’t want to hear it. If it’s really good, we want it louder though. We’ve been known to stand in the tenant parking lot or sit on the path along the river to listen so we don’t have to purchase anything to get into the pub. It’s really lovely to stand on the bridge overlooking the Cannon River and the waterfall with a good band doing their thing in the background under the night sky.

However, the bedroom can be a different story. We’re on the corner by the alley and sleep with the windows open so that we can put off setting up the AC in the apartment until summer. It’s been comfortable thus far into the season. The alley combined with the window along the alley can make for a tough time falling asleep after we’ve enjoyed what we want of the sounds.

It’s not necessarily the music that aggravates us-it’s the patrons on the sidewalk, conversing loudly below. We usually take into consideration that it’s the weekend but when it goes past midnight, we tend to get cranky, especially since the music doesn’t normally go past that time. You don’t have to go home but you can’t stay here is my notion. Sidewalk parties don’t sound very fun to me.

Sometimes the music flows into our space while I’m cooking and that is a version of my heaven (with Greg right beside me enjoying it too). Do you cook with music playing? What’s your cooking heaven?

I bring this up because I remember listening to a local classic rock (think along the lines of Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Doobie Brothers) station while preparing this quick side dish with some shrimp over the weekend. Otherwise, it’s on the alternative station or one of my playlists. Greg and I loved this one from Gourmet. I didn’t think I was a creamed corn fan until I had this…I don’t think I will eat the stuff from a can though. Shivers. Grab some fresh corn on the cob, crank up the music and get to it.

Cheesy Creamed Corn from Gourmet
Serves 6

Ingredients:
3 tbsp butter
1 ½ cups scallions, chopped (about 6 large)
12 ears of corn, cut from the cob
2/3 cup heavy cream
2 tsp cornstarch
1 clove of garlic
1 jalapeno, seeded and diced (I added this)-optional
6 oz. queso fresco or feta, crumbled (I used feta)
1 cup cilantro sprigs-optional
salt/pepper

Heat the butter in a skillet over medium/high heat until foam subsides. Keep an eye on this-it turns quickly. Cook the scallions until softened, 5 minutes or so. Add the corn, salt/pepper, cook for about 5 minutes.

In a small bowl, mix cream and cornstarch together, add to the corn. Simmer, stirring until thickened, for about 3 minutes. Remove 1 ½ cups of the corn mixture to a blender or food processor with the garlic and puree until smooth. Return to the skillet, add the diced jalapeno (optional) and cook until heated through. Transfer to a serving dish and sprinkle the cheese over the top or mix in, top with cilantro and serve.