What a surprise...

cooking
It's snowing again.

Sigh.

It's very insulting after the weekend we had. It was sunny and warm. I took Tadpole out in her sling for a walk around town and she charmed everyone she met. Well, everyone who saw her. She mostly slept. And yesterday, she got to wear a dress without a pair of pants underneath--shocking!

But not today.

No Mommy Group today. It was very nice--we got a phone call saying it was cancelled. Which, I suppose, is a good thing--no need for Tadpole and I to head out in the nasty-yuck if there's no place to be. But I was kind of looking forward to the company. And getting the baby weighed. And the trip out.

Oh well.

We'll go out tomorrow morning--I have to get my sugars checked to make sure the diabetes is all gone. We're hoping it's gone. I mean, the baby and I have been baking up a storm (ha-ha) the past couple of weeks. So far, we've limited ourselves to brownies, cake from a mix, and chocolate chip cookies. But, as I really haven't baked anything in several years, we thought it wise to start small.

Tonight we're having cake. And chicken casserole. Hmmm. Dinner is without color this evening...it's all kind of yellow and brown. I suppose if I add mixed vegetables there will be color, right? (Note: If anyone wants the chicken casserole recipe, I can post it. It's very simple. But not very exotic. In fact, it's rather dull. But The Beloved likes it, and it's easy, so remains in the repertoire.)

The Tadpole wants to know what gives with this Daylight Saving Time nonsense. She was very cranky yesterday and today. And cranky baby leads to cranky Mommy. The two of us had a nice nap together yesterday, but that doesn't seem to be in the cards for this afternoon. Although, I found when I strapped her into her Mei Tai, she conked right out. Apparently, Tadpole may nap today but Mommy may not.

Sigh.

I'd be irritated, but it's hard to be irritated at someone so darned cute. Just check out the hat:

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Welcome to the Winter of My Discontent

cooking
More snow today. Wahoo! The weather report reported between 10 and 15 inches and we got that--easy.

So, what exactly do snow days mean when you're on maternity leave? Well, for one, they mean you don't leave the house. This is a rare treat when you're working 40+ hours per week, but when you are always in the house, it becomes a rare form of torture. No Mommy Group today, and no outings for the Tadpole and her rather ill-tempered Mother. Also, Daddy "worked from home" today, which meant he was in the house refusing to do things like watch the Tadpole so Mommy could take a shower, shovel the walkway, or move laundry around.

I'm trying to make the best of it. And, in fact, we had an OK day in spite of the house arrest. Because the weather is so miserable, I figured it was the perfect day for fish chowder which is simmering as I type. Cooking fish chowder with a baby who constantly wants to be held is a unique challenge. I suppose it would be less challenging if I was capable of letting the baby cry, but I'm not. So, prep involved much running back and forth: "Hold on, Sweetie--Mommy's here. She just needs to wash the salt pork/fish/onion off her hands." Hopefully, dinner will be worth it.

I use my mother's recipe, which is from the World War II era edition of the Hood Cookbook. It's very simple and, depending on the price of fish, is not an expensive dinner (it was really cheap for us since the fish was given to us by my parents following a deep-sea fishing adventure undertaken by my dad). Here it is (including my substitutions):

You'll need
1/4 cup salt pork, diced
1 onion, sliced
2 cups diced potatoes
2 to 2 1/2 pounds white-fleshed fish (I used cod)
2 cups boiling water
1 pint milk (I used half-and-half)
salt
cayenne (I used ground black pepper)

You'll do
Heat the diced salt pork in a large, heavy saucepan over low heat until the fat is extracted. Remove crisp pork if desired. Cook the sliced onion in the fat until slightly yellow. While the pork is heating, boil the fish in the water for 10 minutes or until the flesh can be separated from the bones (or until the fish is opaque/cooked if you're working with fish that has been deboned). Cool slightly; remove bones and skin (again, you can skip this step if your fish has been skinned and deboned); save the stock to flavor the chowder. Separate the fish into flakes or dice. Add the potatoes, fish, and fish stock to the fat and onions. Cover and cook gently until the potatoes are tender (10-15 minutes). Add the milk and seasonings; reheat to boiling. Serve chowder with pilot or Boston crackers (I skip the crackers, myself).

It's not a heart-healthy meal, though my mother has made it moderately better by cooking the onions in vegetable oil and using 2% milk. It's OK, but my thought is that comfort food best serves its purpose in its high-fat form. That's what makes it comforting. I don't make fish chowder every day--in fact, I can't remember the last time I made it (when I was pregnant, I'd go out to Newicks for the fish chowder fix as theirs is pretty close to mine and there's no cleanup involved). So, I feel no guilt about cooking with salt pork and half-and-half.

I also plan to make a batch of cookies because my sainted neighbor (hallowed be his name) snowblowed our walkway and driveway, leaving us only our cars and steps to unearth. I cannot properly express my gratitude for this supreme kindness, so chocolate chip cookie bars will have to suffice. I will have to try and hide them from my beloved spouse, who may have served as a model for the Cookie Monster.

All in all, not a horrendous day--even if stuck inside. The good part about the snow day was that it allowed me one more day free of day care worries. I'm scheduled to return to work on April 13 and am having a hard time finding infant care for the Tadpole. Now, if I had not done anything at this point (I return in 6 weeks), I would have only myself to blame. And perhaps I really only have myself to blame for this anyway, but seriously? The baby has been waitlisted since September at my preferred place. It looks like they won't have an opening until June or July. I was in contact with another place who reported having availability when I initially contacted them (in 2008), but when I went for my tour last week, they have a waitlist of 10 (they have space for 24 infants) that they neglected to tell me about via e-mail or over the phone, and they charge $100 to even go on the wait list (Tadpole will not be going there--there are other things about the institution that did not impress me, but I'm not paying $100 when I'm not working for a school that's more of a last resort, anyway).

The Beloved has been very supportive in his own way. Basically, if I have to stay home because we can't find child care, we will be OK. And if I have to quit my job because they won't hold it while I find child care, that's what will have to happen (we're hoping we don't have to go that route). His latest idea is that his mother can come and live with us until the Tadpole can get a spot somewhere, but that plan really doesn't thrill me. I love my mother-in-law, but I have a tiny house and I have a feeling that having another adult living here will send me over the edge.

Fortunately, the Tadpole knows nothing of our grownup worries. She's just doing her thing, and doing it to the best of her ability. And she's being exceptionally cute while she does it:

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Exercising my honorary Italian status

cooking
Several weeks ago, I made lasagna for The Beloved's 40th birthday--and apparently, it was fine enough to earn me "honorary Italian status" with the In-Laws (my Mother-in-Law is half Italian). The sauce I use is my own creation, and I didn't provide the recipe at the time because, to be honest, it's a handful of this and a little of that...which can be difficult to translate--particularly since one of the joys of this spaghetti sauce is that I can practically make it in my sleep, making it a wonderful low-stress dinner.

The back story: Spaghetti was probably the first meal I learned to cook. My mother never used sauce from a jar--she always made her own. Which was fine, since it was better than most tomato-based sauces we encountered at local Italian restaurants. (I freely admit bias here--Mom's sauce was good and I'd eaten it my whole life. It seems natural that I'd prefer that to most others.) When the time came for me to start helping in the kitchen (beyond clearing the table and washing the pans), pasta was quick, easy, relatively safe, and thus, the perfect starter meal.

Unfortunately, for my mother, I took to spaghetti (and the sauce) so well that I really never bothered to cook much else. It became a huge family joke that, "Saisquoi's cooking dinner? Oh--must be spaghetti!" And it was really only funny because it was true.

While I've considerably broadened my cooking horizons since then, I still love to make spaghetti sauce. The stuff out of the jar is always a disappointment, and, with very few exceptions, so are tomato-based sauces from most restaurants. My sauce may not be the be-all-end-all of spaghetti sauces (remember, I've been eating this in one form or another for about 30 years), but even my former college roommate (who wasn't a fan of tomato-based sauces at all) digs this stuff.

The recipe is a big one--The Beloved and I certainly do not eat this much in one sitting. But it freezes well. You can also halve it quite easily, which gives proportions for the recipe I used while growing up. It will feed a family of four or five quite easily, and should also allow for leftovers. I've given measurements (because a handful of this and a pinch of that never seems to translate well, as I've learned trying to figure out some of my mother's recipes over the phone)--but consider all seasonings "to taste." I like a spicy, flavorful sauce, so I can be heavy-handed with the seasonings. If you have finicky eaters, you may want to shoot low on the seasonings because the flavors will intensify as the sauce simmers. You can always add more if you desire; it's harder to correct if you've added too much (which I've done more than once).

A final note on ingredients: With very few exceptions, I use dried. Part of this is sheer laziness--I always have them on hand. The other, though, is that "this is how my mother made it." I'd guess that the dried herbs were a) cheaper when she was trying to budget and b) readily available at any time of year in New England. I honestly don't remember seeing fresh herbs in the supermarket--particularly during the winter--when I was a little girl. With the wine--you can take it or leave it. I like it. But The Beloved and I like to drink wine, so we usually have something that I can add. If you don't have any wine in the house and you don't drink, don't worry about it. If you're picking up a bottle of red to have with your Italian dinner, use a bit of that. Do not pick up anything called "cooking wine" and put it in your food. This isn't to say you should go out and buy a $25 bottle of wine to make spaghetti sauce, but a good rule of thumb is to avoid cooking with wine you wouldn't drink. My mother used to use my great-grandmother's homemade cherry wine. My father swears that her sauce hasn't been the same since Boba (my great-grandmother) died. Apparently it was sweet enough to cut the acidity in the tomatoes without needing to add sugar, but tart enough to give a nice "kick" to the sauce. If we ever get fruit-bearing cherry trees, I may have to try my hand at wine-making, if only for the sake of my spaghetti sauce. Enough, though. Time for cooking!

So, without further ado:

Here's what you'll need:
  • 1/2-1 TBS olive oil
  • 2 cloves garlic (I used fresh, but you can also use the minced kind that comes in a jar. I've even used garlic powder if that's all I've got on hand.)
  • 1 sweet onion (Again--this is what I had on hand because The Beloved prefers sweet onion. You can also use a large yellow onion, or a white onion, or whatever you like.)
  • 2 lbs ground meat (I used 1 lb ground beef and 1 lb bulk Italian sweet sausage. You can use whatever you and your family like: beef, pork, turkey, whatever makes you happy.)
  • 2 28 oz. cans of tomato (I use crushed or ground--just be sure you're getting canned tomatoes and not tomato sauce.)
  • 1/2 can of water (approx. 14 oz.)
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 1/2 tsp. black pepper (fresh ground--to taste)
  • 1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
  • 1/2 TBS dried parsley flakes
  • 1-2 TBS dried oregano
  • 1-2 TBS dried basil
  • 1/4-1/3 C. red wine
  • 2 tsp. sugar
  • 2 dried bay leaves
Here's what you'll do:
  • Chop garlic and onion. Saute in olive oil in a large saucepan or stockpot until translucent or lightly browned. Remove from pan.
  • Brown meat in the same pan. I brown in 1 lb batches due to the size of my pan--but you can brown everything together if you have a larger pan if you prefer. Basically, though, you want to make sure you're browning the meat and not boiling it in oil and water. When the meat is browned, drain the fat, and then combine your browned meat and onions and garlic back in the pan.
  • Add canned tomatoes and mix well. Your mixture will be very thick. Using one of the now-empty tomato cans, add about 1/2 can of cold water. You can use more or less depending on what sort of consistency you want from your sauce. Mix well. Heat on low flame.
  • Add salt, black pepper and red pepper. Mix well.
  • Add parsley, oregano and basil. Mix well.
  • Add red wine and sugar. Mix well.
  • Toss in bay leaves and give one last stir. Have a taste of the sauce to see what you think. Remember, the flavor of the dried herbs will intensify as the sauce simmers--but if it's too bland for you, add more spices until you're happy with the result.
  • Cover and simmer. The longer you can simmer, the deeper and richer the flavor will be. However, for some of us, Time really is a magazine--if you can let it simmer for at least a half-hour, you should be OK.
And there you have it! Serve with spaghetti or your favorite pasta (I'm a huge fan of cheese ravioli), garlic bread, salad...whatever.

If you want a meatless sauce, just leave the meat out! Sometimes I like to add the red and black pepper flakes to the onions and garlic at the beginning. The toasted red pepper gives a slightly different flavor. I generally don't like to add salt until the tomatoes have gone in, as the kind I buy has some salt in there already. Read your labels--if you're using unsalted tomatoes, you can go ahead and add a little more salt. My family has some high blood pressure issues, so we tend to be a little careful regarding the amount of salt that goes into our food.

In any event, I hope that you and your family enjoy this as much as me and mine do. Buono appetit!

Smorgasboard

books
It's been my cooking philosophy this week as I desperately try to use up leftover party food before it spoils, so why not reflect the same principle in my blogging style? OK--I've been too scattered lately to put together a coherent...well...anything... so here's a little sampling of everything instead.

Cooking

I did a lot of it last weekend. The good part? I haven't had to cook all week. We've been reheating leftovers like it's going out of style. It's been great, because, honestly--it's been the week from hell.

I made a lasagna on Sunday that was to die for. My Italian Mother-in-Law has granted me honorary Italian status. I'd post the recipe--which is my own--if I bothered to remember to take measurements. Whoops. I've been making my own pasta sauce for years now, and so I make it by taste. It's a handful of this and some of that and then you taste it and see what it needs. If anyone is interested, I'll take notes the next time I make one, which will likely be soon since I've got an extra tub of ricotta in my refrigerator that needs using.

On Monday, we ate Mediterranean-style stuff. I made Souvlaki, Tzatziki, and a Greek Caponata. I can give you recipes for those...

Souvlaki
You'll need:
  • 1 lb. lamb shoulder meat
  • 1/4 cup olive oil (preferably Greek olive oil)2 T fresh squeezed lemon juice
  • 1 tsp. dried Greek oregano
  • 1 tsp. minced garlic or garlic puree
What you'll do:
  • Cut the lamb into cubes approx. 1 inch in size.
  • Combine other ingredients to form a marinade.
  • Put lamb and marinade into a ziploc bag and shake well.
  • Put bag in refrigerator and let marinate for approximately 4 hours. You don't really want to let this marinate all day, because the lamb is already pretty tender and you don't want the marinade to overpower the flavor of the meat.
  • Start up the grill. While grill is heating up, thread lamb onto skewers.
  • When grill is nice and toasty, pop skewers on and grill away! Mine cooked for about 8-10 minutes/side or 16-20 minutes total. You don't want to over cook them.
  • Serve hot with Tzatziki Sauce.
Tzatziki Sauce
You'll need:
  • 3 cups Greek Yogurt
  • Juice of one lemon (about 3 T)
  • 1 garlic clove, chopped
  • 2 medium cucumbers, seeded and diced (or 1 large European cucumber with very few seeds)
  • About 1 T kosher salt for salting cucumbers
  • 1 T finely chopped fresh dill
  • Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
What you'll do:
  • Peel cucumbers, then cut in half lengthwise and take a small spoon and scrape out seeds. Discard seeds. (If you use the small seedless or European cucumbers with few seeds, you can skip this step.)
  • Dice cucumbers, then put in a colander, sprinkle on 1 T salt, and let stand for 30 minutes to draw out water.
  • Drain well and wipe dry with paper towel.
  • In food processor with steel blade, add cucumbers, garlic, lemon juice, dill, and a few grinds of black pepper. Process until well blended, then stir this mixture into the yogurt.
  • Taste before adding any extra salt, then salt if needed. (I didn't need any more salt)
  • Place in refrigerator for at least two hours before serving so flavors can blend. (This resting time is very important.)
The Greek Caponata was something I saw Giada De Laurentiis make on the Food Network a few weeks ago and sparked idea for the Mediterranean theme. You can find the recipe for that right here, and I highly recommend it, particularly if you find yourself in possession of massive amounts of summer squash, zucchini and tomatoes. It's very easy and very tasty. It also reheats nicely if you're like me and make way too much of it.

Reading

Yeah. I've started doing this again. You know, it's kind of fun! I'm currently reading Fluke by Christopher Moore, which is funny and good reading, but is not grabbing me the way You Suck or The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove did. It still has interesting chapter titles (Heinous Fuckery Most Foul is my favorite thus far) and phrases (I don't think I've ever read another book that mentions "poop chute technology"). Perhaps I'll have to order it for work. Christopher Moore was on the cover of Writer's Digest or something like that earlier this year....

I'm also reading 1215: The Year of Magna Carta by Danny Danziger and John Gillingham. It's interesting, but very different from the Christopher Moore book.

Cats

(Warning: This is a TMI sort of post. If you don't want to read about cat urinary health, move along to the next heading. Don't say I didn't warn you.)

Polly has been sick of late. She seems to have some urinary tract unhealthiness going on. The poor baby was a little under the weather at the end of last week and into the weekend. By Monday, she was miserable. Unfortunately, it was a) Labor Day and b) The Beloved's surprise party. So, we kept an eye on her, cleaned up the puddles that appeared around the house, and hoped for the best. When everyone left, I called the vet's office thinking she had kitty diarrhea again--the puddles were watery, oily, and brown...what was I supposed to think? Anyway. They couldn't see her that night, but made an appointment for the next morning at 8:00. So, we kept an eye on her and then found some obviously bloody puddles on the floor. I called the Emergency Vet Clinic, they suggested I bring her in, and an X-Ray and $200 later, they determined she probably had a bladder infection. So they sent us home with some antibiotics and the X-Rays and told us to check in with our regular vet. Which we did the next morning at 8:00.

The regular vet was grouchy because they couldn't get an accurate urine sample since I had started her on an antibiotic. But then they couldn't find her heartbeat because Polly decided to start purring and wouldn't stop. Not for running water. Not when the vet tech held a piece of gauze saturated in alcohol under her nose. So, they took her back and took some blood and tried for some urine. They apparently couldn't find her bladder, either. Even with an ultrasound. The vet did, however, express concern about a lump on Polly's shoulder. Now, I asked about the lump six months ago when we last came to the vet (same clinic, btw), and the vet we saw then--the director of the clinic--told us not to worry about it. Apparently, I should have been worrying. They took samples and have sent them out to be analyzed. Then, they decided to put her on a different antibiotic than the one prescribed at the EVC. So, $400 later, we went home.

I'm happy to report there were fewer bloody puddles around the house this morning and that Polly is at least trying to use her litterbox. Unfortunately, she still isn't really eliminating properly. I called the vet this morning to reschedule a follow-up appointment and asked when I should start to worry. The vet says, "Do you want to bring her in?" Uh...not really...we're already going to be eating Kraft dinner for the next month since I spent all my money on the previous bill.... So, we're keeping our fingers crossed that she's doing even better (ie: peeing) by the time I get home from work today. I'm hopeful. She was eating and drinking last night and this morning and seemed a bit perkier than yesterday morning. And, if she's not doing better I'll suck it up and take her to the vet. I wonder if The Beloved will notice if I pawn my engagement ring.

And she needed a haircut.

PollyBall.JPG


Poor baby.

Hair

About a month ago I decided to try the no-shampoo lifestyle. This does not mean I've stopped bathing and/or grown dreads. What happened was this: I read Wendy's post about her "poo-free" lifestyle and was intrigued. Unfortunately, the WEN products are a little too rich for my blood. I'd probably have to give up knitting in order to wash my hair with the cleansing conditioner, and that would be absolutely unacceptable. But, like I said, I was intrigued by the idea of shampoo free. So, I put my librarian skills to work and did some research to see if there was an acceptable (less expensive) alternative. And I discovered sites about people washing their hair with baking soda and apple cider vinegar. After I got over the, ew, yuck, that's weird factor, I decided to give it a go. And I am pleased to report that my hair looks and feels great. I wash it every three days now (as opposed to every day with traditional shampoo) with a solution of 1 T baking soda to 8 oz. water. And I use a rinse of 2 T lemon juice mixed with 8 oz. water. My hair is shiny and soft, it has a bit of curl (who knew?!), my scalp feels great (no more dandruff or icky waxy nastiness) and I'm putting fewer chemicals on my body and into the environment. The only things I miss about traditional shampoo are the bubbles and the detangling agent--my hair is on the long side, and combing it out after a wash can be a bit trying.

Even in this crappy picture, my hair still looks fabulous!

If the Baking Soda and Apple Cider Vinegar route is pressing your buttons, check out this site. It was very helpful for me starting out.

Knitting

Yes, I still knit. I even knit socks. But the Angel's Rest socks still aren't finished. Sigh. I'm working on the foot. But I got distracted. I need more dishcloths for a housewarming party later this month and I was possessed by the overwhelming desire to knit this:

This is Luigi. The Beloved has named him. I actually made him for a friend (well, for the small child of a friend), but since The Beloved has named the damned thing, I don't know that I can give it up. Well, that, and it's a really pathetic excuse for a stuffed toy. I'm not good at seaming and I'll need to practice sewing arms and legs on to make it better next time. Because I'm sure there will be a next time. I used the Knitted Cuddlies pattern that's available free if you're registered with Knitting Daily. It was really easy to do, and though I'll probably make a few modifications next time--including finding a better way to sew the limbs onto the body--the end product is cute enough that I think I'll probably be making several of these. Best of all? I don't have to worry about lead paint from China when I give these to small children or to their parents!

That about sums it up for now. This weekend will be busy--that saying about no rest for the wicked is really starting to ring true. I'm going to Belmont for Godly Play reaccreditation training. I know you're all jealous. It should be fine, and possibly even fun, but I am just so darned tired that the prospect of a day-and-a-half-long storytelling workshop really isn't working for me. Maybe if they had beer...or at least naptime to break up the storytelling...

Sights of Summer

cooking
My Grandfather fancied himself a gardener. I, however, have not inherited these proclivities. Digging in the dirt is fun--don't get me wrong--but the resultant sunburn and thousands of insect bites really are not to my liking. I'm trying to (sort of) maintain what we inherited--meaning, mostly, that I'm trying to keep the fruit trees and bushes alive. We've lost the battle with some of the peach trees, and they will be coming down in the near future so as to keep us warm during the winter. But some of the others are actually faring quite well. Look at what I saw yesterday during my shower! (Yes--we have a window in the shower. The Beloved hates it. Fortunately, we have a big backyard and you really can't see in unless the window is wide open.)

That, my friends, is a fine looking peach. While I knew we had peach trees, I was under the impression that they weren't bearing fruit. Well, until the end of last summer when The Beloved was griping that they had all fallen off the trees and were mouldering on the ground making it near impossible for him to mow the lawn. This summer I'm hoping to be better prepared and to get some of them picked. I'm not sure of the quality--we don't spray with anything, so I don't know if they're wormy or infested with other vermin. But I'm hoping to pick some just the same and cut them up (so as to see the state of the fruit) and perhaps make some preserves or at least a homemade peach cobbler.

I have a cobbler recipe that I like, but have a feeling that The Beloved may appreciate some diversity. If anyone has any recipes featuring peaches or recipes with which I can use peaches (eg: cobblers, coffee cakes, pies, etc), send them down! You can e-mail them to me, or post them in the comments section. And, to make this fun, perhaps I'll include prizes :)

Yes. I think prizes will be good. I'll have The Beloved taste test the creations and his favorite will get either a jar of preserves or a skein of my handspun--winner may choose.

And if this goes well, you all may be pressed into duty again in a few more weeks when the blackberries ripen. While we'll have a fair amount of peaches (I think we have three or four still-living trees), we'll have an unholy amount of blackberries. The bushes span about half of our backyard. They are thirty paces, end to end. And the berries, they are a-growing.


When I was a little girl, my grandparents used to let me pick berries for my grandmother's amazing blackberry jam, cobbler, pie, etc. And as many berries ended up in my tummy as in the bucket. Which would, of course, lead to my being dreadfully sick--but never resulted in changes to my picking habits. They are really that good.

Late last summer I went out and picked berries most afternoons once they began to ripen. You'll be pleased to know that my picking habits still have not changed. But I began to run short of recipes, and while I can freeze the blackberries, they are oh-so-much better when fresh. So, put your thinking caps on for berry season... I know I'll be doing the same.


You should know that I ate this ripe one immediately after taking the picture. It's quality control. I had to make sure they were going to be as good as last summer. They're coming along nicely.

As is my new sock. Click here if you'd like to take a peek. Here's another shot. I'll start posting, maybe, next week. Or when I complete one. It's that surprise thing again. I'm generally horrible about giving things away, and so I'm trying really, really hard to be good.

Easter fun

baby things
Well, we survived. Cheese tray, deviled eggs, 10 pounds of ham, 10 pounds of mashed potatoes, asparagus, corn, green bean casserole, salad, bread, and pie. Oh, and lots of wine. And, can I forget the nineteen people who somehow fit into my teeny-tiny house? It was great fun. My cousin's little son, B, was the family photographer. They are supposed to send me pictures later this week. Until then, you'll have to deal with my inferior snapshots taken in between hostess and cooking duties...

These delectable little babies were courtesy of my mother-in-law. They didn't last very long.

This handsome young man is my baby brother. He is not the sibling in residence--he's a college boy, but he comes home on the weekends to do his laundry and eat some non-institutional cooking. My family is big on this--every Sunday we have dinner as an extended family. Location rotates between my mother's house and my aunt's house and generally involves about 10 guests, but can get as large as 17. Easter was bigger because it included my in-laws. Woo-hoo!

My mother and my auntie. Excellent genes in my family. I'm hoping that mine kick in eventually :)

Amazingly, there were very few leftovers. We've got a fair amount of ham, but nearly everything else was consumed. So, this is what I did with about 10-12 oz. of leftovers tonight: Macaroni & Cheese with Ham. Yes, exciting, I know. But this recipe is a little different and a little more grown-up than the garden variety mac & cheese.

Here's what you need:
  • 8 oz macaroni (I used penne), cooked and drained
  • 10 oz. ham cut into strips oz ham cut into strips
  • 3 eggs
  • 2 c. half & half
  • salt & pepper
  • 3/4 c. grated cheese (I used a blend of mozzarella and cheddar, I think--and I probably used more than the recommended amount)
  • 4 grated parmesan (I used a blend of parmesan, romano and asiago)
Here's what I did:
  • Butter a casserole dish.
  • Layer pasta and ham and pasta and ham, etc. in the dish.
  • Whisk eggs, half & half and salt & pepper together. Pour over pasta and ham.
  • Top with grated cheese.
  • Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until liquid has become custard-like.
Yum.

Oh! And I did some knitting! Not much--it's hard to knit and eat at the same time, you know. But I finished the mystery object, which I unfortunately forgot to photograph. Damn. Anyhow--I knit this little bag. It was cute, but it definitely needs to be lined, which the instructions don't tell you. Should I make this bag again--which is distinctly possible because it really was cute--I'll definitely line it.

I also cast off the baby cardi. Tomorrow it gets washed and blocked and then hopefully I'll have it together enough to finish it on Wednesday after work. If not Wednesday, I've got Thursday "off" from choir rehearsal, and so it might get finished then. So far, it's very cute--I mean, as far as off-white cardigans for infants go. Particularly when they're in multiple pieces on the coffee table. No pictures tonight--perhaps some "action" shots of blocked pieces tomorrow....

Spanish Rice

baby things
It's Monday and I was the first one home from work, which means dinner duty. Because the OCD was in high gear today, I knew I was going to be home first and so called The Beloved at work to ask what he wanted to eat. Shrimp and chorizo and yellow rice. Since I had never actually made this dish before, I got to make it up as I went along. It was actually quite tasty, extremely easy, involved very little cleanup and has left us with plenty of leftovers, so I won't have to cook tomorrow night, either--unless Resident Sibling clears us out before then.

Here's what you need:
  • Chorizo (I used one package containing two sausage)
  • 1 onion
  • 1 bell pepper (I used red, only because the green ones looked icky at the supermarket today)
  • 2 packages Vigo Yellow Rice (really, if there are only two of you, one package would probably be sufficient, but The Beloved has always made Spanish rice dishes with the "family sized" package, or 2 regular-sized packages)
  • 2 servings of shrimp--cleaned, deveined, etc. (I used 10 large ready-to-use frozen shrimp)
  • Decorative peas
Here's what you'll do:

Chop up the chorizo, onion and bell pepper. Saute in a frying pan until the onions are soft and mostly translucent.

In the same pan, prepare the rice according to instructions on package. I boiled the water in a kettle while I was sauteing the other ingredients so that I didn't have to boil my vegetables along with the water. After adding the boiling water to the stuff in the pan, I added the 2 packages of rice, allowed everything to boil for a minute or two, covered the mixture and turned the heat down to "simmer." I allowed it to simmer for about 10 minutes and then threw the shrimp in. The mixture simmered for another 15 minutes or so, until the rice was ready and the shrimp was no longer frozen.

Serve up and use decorative peas as necessary.

This is nice with a tossed salad and some red wine--however, in my opinion most meals are enhanced by a nice bottle of red.

I love dishes like this because they use only one pan. Clean-up is a snap, which leaves more time for knitting.

Unfortunately, I had to spend a lot of time picking up before I could sit down and knit. The baby cardigan is still languishing:

But I'm now ready to add another ball of yarn, which makes me feel moderately accomplished. I hope to finish knitting and blocking the mystery project tonight and do the finishing work on it tomorrow. We'll see.... I went to buy notions for it today and it was like the search for the Holy Grail. I could not find matching ribbon to save my life--in complementary or contrasting colors. Nothing looked good. I'm pretty sure the ribbon I ended up with will work OK, but, man--I was ready to try and make my own out of fabric scraps!

And yarn porn as promised:

Isn't it great? Are you drooling? This is the yarn for my cardigan--50% Alpaca and 50% Silk equals 100% Yummy. The color is "Ginger," but it may actually be closer to a "Lemongrass;" it's a darker gold with some greeny undertones. It's a sportweight yarn and so the sweater will be knit on US 4 needles--I should be finished with it sometime before I die. But I'm not going to let myself finish it until the Baby Cardigan and the Mystery Project are finished. The Beloved's afghan will be worked on sporadically until it's done and the afghan for my friend is, well, I'm afraid it's a Cursed Project. Again--I will finish it someday, but I'm really not happy with it. I need to solicit second and third opinions on what I'm doing wrong to see if there's any hope or if I should just throw in the towel and start over...

To leave you all on a happier note, ask yourself if life gets any better than this:

Doesn't she look cozy? I want to come back as a cat owned by people like The Beloved and me. Now, somebody please take my camera away before I hurt someone...

Fifteen is my limit on schnitzengruben...

Confessions
I thought I'd stick with the "comfort food" theme this week. Tonight I decided to make one of my all-time favorite meals: Kielbasa with Red Cabbage. My mother would make this in the winter when I was growing up, and though it is officially spring (including spring-like weather today), we had kielbasa in the freezer.

Here's what you need:

1/4 c. light brown sugar, firmly packed
1 tbsp. grated orange peel
1 clove garlic
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/8 tsp. ground cloves
2 lb. head cabbage, shredded (about 12 c.)
3 medium onions, sliced (I used sweet onion)
3 medium cooking apples, pared, cored and sliced (I used granny smith)
1 lg. red pepper, cut in thin strips
1/2 c. orange juice
1/2 cup wine vinegar
1 (2 lb.) ring kielbasa (It's better if you can find a fresh sausage--trust me. But if you can't find one, a Hillshire Farms or other pre-packaged, pre-cooked kielbasa will work just fine.)

Here's what you do:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl, combine brown sugar, orange peel, garlic, salt, nutmeg, pepper, and cloves.
An aside: Grating orange peel is not fun. It always takes me forever and the peel always ends up stuck in the grater. If any of you have come up with a great way of completing this task, please let me know. Overall, prep took me much longer than usual because I can't find the magic piece of my Cuisinart that allows for the slicing of things. So, I did it all by hand. All of it. Note to self: Ask The Beloved where that piece is and make him swear never to hide it again under penalty of death. I've proved today I can handle a kitchen knife, thank you.

In a Dutch oven, arrange in layers: half of cabbage, half of onions and half of apples. Sprinkle with half of brown sugar mixture. Top with half of pepper strips. Repeat. Pour orange juice and vinegar over top. Bake covered for one hour.
An aside: I can't find my Dutch oven so I used my little roaster. What you want, basically is something large enough to hold all the ingredients, has a cover, and can safely sit in the oven. This doesn't mean I'm not begging The Beloved for Le Creuset's French Oven.

Make 1/4 inch deep slashes at 2 inch intervals in kielbasa. Place in Dutch oven, pressing down to partially cover kielbasa with pan juices. Bake covered for 30 minutes longer.

I love the different colors present in this dish before it goes in the oven--the purple of the cabbage, the white onions, the creamy color of the apples, the red peppers. It's aesthetically pleasing. And it smells great while it's cooking. After it's cooked, everything takes on the purple hue of the cabbage, but it's still pretty. And a confession: I love dishes like this because they are very self-contained. I don't need to think up anything to "go with" my main course. It's all there! The Beloved and I will enjoy this:

and this:


I know--it's hard to see. This is a Columbia Crest Gewurztraminer. It's a nice, light, sweet wine with apple notes. We're drinking wine because The Beloved prefers wine to beer. His reaction to beer is similar to his reaction to my wearing perfume. One could easily serve this with a nice ale or bitter--which is what I generally do.

One final note on this dinner: The longer you're able to let this cook and sit and stew, the better. The Beloved got home from work at about 6:20, and I had a rehearsal at 7:00. This meant I ate enough to keep my stomach from growling along as we sang and planned to eat a little bit more when I got home. What I ate at 6:30 was good. What I ate at 8:30 was divine. I left the covered pan in the oven at 170-ish degrees (the WARM setting) for the duration of my rehearsal. When I got home, the kielbasa was absolutely perfect--it melted in my mouth--and the other flavors had a little more time to meld adding to the delightfulness of this dish. Like many a stew, this only gets better on Day 2, so I'm hoping I can hide enough from Resident Sibling to have for lunch at work tomorrow.

Good night and Bon Appetit!

Meh...

blankets
Yep. This about sums it up for me today. I'm moody and morose and not even knitting seems to help. So, it seems I have only a few choices left to me. I chose this one: comfort food. Now. For some people, comfort food consists of things like macaroni and cheese or ravioli from a can. (This is, in fact, what I resort to when in the absolute depths of despair. Thankfully, I'm not there yet.) I tried to be a bit more epicurean--particularly since I had to feed The Beloved and Resident Sibling (who had the audacity not to show up for dinner). The results of my labors?

Yessiree, I roasted me a chicken. My sainted mother once told me a very important secret about cooking that I will share with all of you now: The meals people like best are frequently the simplest to prepare. And it's true. It doesn't get much easier than roasting a chicken. Here's what I did. I poured some salt inside the body cavity and rubbed it down. I basted the chicken with butter (you could use olive oil if you wanted to cut out some of the saturated fat, but I'm moping--butter was necessary) and rubbed the outside with some poultry seasoning and Adobo (sin pimenta--the blue cap). I cooked it upside down for 20 minutes at 450; flipped it right side up and cooked it for another 20 minutes at 450; basted it again; turned the heat down to 375 and left it until the little timer popped. Based on The Beloved's reaction, you'd think I attended Le Cordon Bleu.

We had some mediocre bread stuffing and some broccoli to accompany the chicken. I'm not much of a bread stuffing girl myself--but The Beloved likes it. Next time, I think I'll go all out and make my mother's rice dressing (which I love and toward which The Beloved is ambivalent).

Unfortunately, I had to scarf dinner and run off to a meeting. We discussed the Millennium Development Goals. In all fairness, they discussed MDG and I knit on The Beloved's Blankie. Considering I haven't picked it up in several weeks, it's coming along nicely. I got a few rows done, so the evening wasn't a complete loss. Regrettably, the picture does not do it justice. Not that the blankie is all that and a bag of chips, mind you--it's a relatively simple feather and fan sort of thing made of the finest Red Heart Acrylic. But the color looks very washed out here. It's actually Claret in color--a lovely deep red/maroon. I think it looks very manly--well, for a blankie, that is.

And, even though it wasn't chilled when I partook of the fruit of my cooking labors, The Beloved picked up a bottle of vino on his way home from work. The upside: It was absolutely perfect by the time I returned home from the meeting. So, whatever the cooking and knitting didn't cure, I hope to fix with this and a nice bath. Cheers to you all!

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