Helping Grannie make Jello.
Category Archives: Food & Cooking
Three times this week!
Because sushi three times in a week is perfectly acceptable. 🙂
(The other two sushi meals bookended our Florida vacation!)
Potty picture!
Me and my good friends Nancy and Sheryl taking a potty break before dinner… 🙂
Friendly Sushi
Our first meal of vacation was dinner with friends at Saki Room Sushi Lounge in Miami.
Oh. My.
We stuffed ourselves silly on appetizers, dinner, and dessert…all family style so we could try a bunch of things. Mmmmmm.
Eddy snapped this pic (and blinded us in the process):
Happy 4th Birthday, Owen!
Fun with leftover Lego parts!
Balloon fight with Grannie Lin!
Posing with his presents—and in his birthday shirt—for another birthday picture!
Katie in her new party dress…with Grannie (and a gift from Grannie):
And trying to peek around me to watch TV like Owen does:
Owen’s finished (lame) Lego cakes:
The appetizer set up:
Attempting to Skype with Gramma Jean/Grandpa David and Grandma Marsha/Uncle Rob (it didn’t work too well—our network couldn’t handle it):
Most of the attendees:
Singing Happy Birthday:
Really excited about his new Xbox Sesame Street game from Grandma Marsha and Uncle Rob:
And the guitar I found on clearance for $3 (and took the batteries out ahead of time!):
He did pretty well opening presents…except he really loved the first things he opened (Lego Cars and a Ninja Lego) so he wanted to stop right then and play but we made him keep going. 🙂 We did stop about halfway through, though, because he was losing interest and really wanted to play. Which was just fine.
One last attempt at a good Katie pic:
Our attempted family photo:
And just for comparison…last year’s photo:
What I did all day.
It took me about five hours to bake four double layer cakes for Owen’s birthday cake.
Why so many?
Well, for starters, the theme was Legos, so I wanted to make a bunch of Lego blocks (squares and rectangles) and I knew one cake certainly wouldn’t be enough so planned on two from the start. Then as I was making the second cake, I realized I left out an egg…so called dad and Lin who were at the store and had them pick up two more, just in case the minus-one-egg cake didn’t turn out plus an extra in case I had a kitchen catastrophe. 🙂
I was exhausted by this time (about 5pm) but still had to make the frosting and get the first layer on. What a mess—and I was being careful!
Facebook post, 4:49pm: Someone slap me if I decide to make Owen’s birthday cake next year. I’m 5 hours in and not even close to done. And the *hard* part is next.
Unfortunately, it was a nightmare. I didn’t love the taste of the frosting (made with Crisco and powdered sugar) and it was an absolute mess to work with. And I can’t frost a cake to save my life— which I already kinda knew but thought I could certainly do some square cakes—so that didn’t help. And trying to frost the marshmallows (what was suggested for the Lego pieces) was the absolute worst. THE WORST. Betty Crocker can kiss my ass (though, to be fair, I didn’t use their pre-made frosting). But I still don’t think it would have helped.
Facebook post, 8:55p: WHY DO I EVEN TRY? Ugh. I can NOT frost a cake. These look nothing like Legos. And there’s no red. It’s dark pink. And I don’t think I like the Crisco frosting. Too much work and frustration. /cry
Yeah, I so didn’t get the true, vibrant Lego colors I had wanted—even with my special purchase of gel food dyes. (No, I don’t even have pictures of those monstrosities.) At that point, I was tempted to just toss everything in the trash and go buy a cake. Seriously. But then I was more logical and thought since I already had HOURS and MONEY and TIME invested, we’d eat these cakes.
And the kicker is that I know Owen won’t care at all so I really shouldn’t be putting myself through the stress of it…but I honestly thought making a Lego cake would be, well, a piece of cake.
LESSON LEARNED? From now on…I will never make a birthday cake for Katie or Owen again unless it’s a 9×13 in the pan or possibly a layer cake. Nothing fancy. No designs. No themes. Ever. EVER.
Yum.
Tom and I tried a new-to-us sushi place tonight.
It. Was. Delish.
Appropriate Shirt Night
After a trying hour of appliance shopping/negotiating/waiting at Sears…
Chip fail.
I tried to make sweet potato chips today…but apparently there is a very thin line between not-quite-done and blackened/smoke alarm going off.
Deep-fried turkey dinner party!
It’s been forever and a day since we’ve deep-fried a turkey (we used to do at least 3-4 a year but haven’t done one since probably 2007-2008) so we decided to have a pre-holiday meal with our best friends! It was DEElicious and we had a great time!
Delish dish!
10# potatoes, 3 sticks butter, 1 cup of half and half, 1 cup of sour cream, garlic salt, and pepper, with a sprinkle of cheddar cheese and bacon.
New drink carrier
We were headed over to our friend’s house to watch the MSU game and Tom needed to put his drinks somewhere.
My favorite season: Honeycrisp!
Okay, it’s really fall, but one of the best parts of fall is Honeycrisp apples. Mmmmm. And is it just me, or does your mouth also anticipate a caramel apple with every bite?
Owen’s great behavior!
We just got complemented on Owen’s great behavior at a restaurant. Yay, us! Yay, Owen!
This might be THE cake!
http://tastykitchen.com/r…ream-poke-cake/
OMG. I think this is the cake I fell in love with in 2001 at a military get together at the General’s house. I will be making this ASAP to see if it’s what I remember!!
Happy 11th Anniversary
Eleven years. Wow. It just kinda sneaks up on you every year (and even moreso this year since we’ve been a little busy with Katie).
We didn’t even try to get a sitter to do anything this year, though I’m sure our friends would have obliged. Instead, we made a family trip to Wilmington to go to Costco…and have our traditional Chinese meal (we did lunch instead of dinner, though).
Katie was a complete gem, sleeping the entire hour ride down, our entire hour in Costco, and about 75% of our lunch…then took a bottle and slept the entire way home. Of course, Owen was just as awesome, sitting in the cart with stuff piled all around him, not even noticing really because he was having fun with daddy’s phone. 🙂
We had a slight brush with fame at Costco…we saw Keith from Top Chef Texas fame (we’ve eaten at his restaurant, Catch, before). That’s as close to famous as I’m likely to get living here. And he said hi to me in passing, likely because I was staring at him. 🙂
Our lunch was really, really good. I picked a place off Yelp pretty much at random…just going by reviews and proximity to Costco…and we couldn’t have been more thrilled. Everything on the menu at Double Happiness was tempting, but I ended up with the Dry Wok Chicken and Tom got the Coconut Shrimp with Candied Walnut (and we got a Double Steamer dim sum basket). And surprisingly good Hot & Sour soup—as close to mine as we’ve ever had. We definitely want to go back there to try more of the menu!
All in all we had a really good day. How can we not when we have such a great little family?! 😀 (The only downside is that I forgot to take a picture of us to celebrate the day!)
Triple batch!
I have basil coming out of my ears, so I’m making pesto like a madwoman. (If you come to visit, you might get some sent home with you out of the freezer!) This was the triple batch I made today…soooo pretty!
And I don’t even use a recipe anymore. I just toss in some garlic. Roast some pecans and toss some in. Fill the food processor with basil. Add salt and pepper and olive oil. Voilá! Since I’m freezing it, I don’t add the parmesan until it comes out and I’m ready to serve it.
Facebook Status Updates
- There’s nothing quite as disheartening as losing weight, going to buy new pants, and NOTHING fits—even in your old bigger size. WTF?!
- I’m ready to call it quits already today. Everything is driving me insane and I want to scream. It’s a good thing these days are rare…
- I just watched Brokeback Mountain. Welcome to 2005.
- I finally finished a book at Shutterfly only to realize upon final edit that I had two empty pages in the middle. #firstworldproblems
- One thing I miss about Michigan? Not being able to easily get my favorite Traverse City wines.
- How long would 25# of rice last in your house? Our last bag was about three years. Recipes, anyone? #samsclub
- Oh my gawd. 21 Jump Street was freakin hilarious.
- It wouldn’t be a normal night at our house if we didn’t have to go in and get Katie at least four times after we put her to bed. I don’t know HOW she can store burps like she does…
- I never imagined the most productive hours of my day would be from 6:30–9:30am.
- Where do all the pacifiers disappear to?! We started with four and are down to two. In two weeks.
The farmer’s market is open!
I also got radishes, lettuce, green onions (which were the size of shallots), and basil to plant!
A great food day!
Tom and I decided to go to Wilmington for an overnight trip…with plans to go out to eat, of course. Well, on the way there, we decided to stop at Jebby’s on 17 (that I spotted on Yelp)—a bar that was really REALLY good. I had She Crab soup, a fried oyster po’boy, and breaded fries (yes, breaded fries—they’re as decadent as they sound); Tom had the oyster stew, a fried egg/bacon/cheeseburger, and onion rings. All fresh and hand made (even the dressings and dips). We will definitely be back.
Then we got to Wilmington and decided to see if our friends were up for dinner—which they were, so we told them to pick the place. And we ended up at manna which was absolutely AMAZING. It was one of those menus that you didn’t know what half the items were but you knew they’d be delicious. And they soooooo were. I’d go back in a minute. Here’s what we ordered (don’t you love the names?):
- Bread & Butter—house-made bread with home churned manna butter
- (Me) Beet Box Salad—roasted beet & goat cheese terrine, field greens, orange supremes, pistachios, red wine, and ginger vinaigrette
- (Me) Iron Chef: Bobby Filet—seared filet of beef, housemade chorizo, confit of root vegetables, shaved brussels sprouts, sauce of porcini
- (Tom) Duck, Duck, Roots—confit of root vegetables, candied duck, olive oil, balsamic cardamom reduction, truffled cream, preserved lemon, spiced walnuts
- (Tom) The Porkshank Redemption—braised & smoked pork shank with chilies, cocoa, ras al hanout, almond & cilantro barlotto
Plus we all got to try each other’s dishes, so I got to try two other apps/salads (including a cheese & local charcuterie course) and three main courses (including lamb and grouper). Plus we all split a chocolate cake dessert.
Total food coma. But soooo worth it. SO WORTH IT.
The bonus? Our friends surprised us and picked up the check…so when we do it next (when both husbands are home from their months away), it will be our treat.
I can finally make sausage gravy!
I originally saw the basic recipe on Buns In My Oven and then added onion and garlic to make it more me. But all credit for this recipe goes to Buns—including being the impetus for making my first ever from scratch sausage gravy. Delish! And so easy! I cant believe it took me this long!
Yeah yeah yeah, my Aunt Marge has told me for YEARS how easy it was but I just never believed her. I even searched recipes but for some reason they just seemed like too many steps. But now that I can make regular gravy from pan drippings—and I happened to run across this very simple recipe—I figured it was time to try. And I’m so glad I did! YUM!
The so-simple recipe? 1# sausage, 1/2 cup onion, 1/4 cup flour, 2 cups milk, spices to taste (S&P, garlic). Of course I cheated on the biscuits and used frozen Pillsbury buttermilk biscuits but let’s just take things one step at a time! :p
Texas Roadhouse Insanity
Dear Texas Roadhouse:
We were looking forward to dining with you tonight because 1) it was Tuesday which means free kids meal, 2) we had a free appetizer coupon for my birthday, and 3) we lucked out in getting there before 6 to take advantage of your early dinner specials. Unfortunately, however, we couldn’t take advantage of all three of those at the same time, which I find very disappointing.
At first we were told we couldn’t use both the free app coupon and the free kids meal—I guess because it falls under the coupon policy of “not good with any other deal” but I think that’s crazy—your in-store all-the-time deal of kids eat free shouldn’t be counted as a deal or special. But, fine, whatever.
Then we got our bill and noticed that only one of our before-6-special-price meals rang up correctly. Come to find out, we were told NEITHER should have rung up with the special price…due to the free app coupon being used. Wait, what? Again, ridiculous in my opinion. We did talk to a manager who took the bill back and after 10 minutes finagled it with two separate $1 line item credits to make my dinner the correct price and she did give us a coupon for a free appetizer for the trouble… but honestly, I’m not sure I’ll even bother using it. We always eat with our son on Tuesdays and we usually take advantage of the early dinner meal deal, so heaven forbid I try to use a free app coupon again and face the same insanity.
We love your restaurant and go at least twice a month (partially because we love the food but partially because of the great deals you offer), and I find it hard to believe that you have such strict rules on using coupons with in-house offers. I can see not allowing two free app coupons on the same ticket (or even at the same table), but not allowing ANY other specials because you used a coupon? I’d like you to reconsider your process of handling this issue. I felt ridiculous complaining about a small amount of money, but it was more the principle of the thing.
Sincerely,
A Regular Customer for Many Years,
I wonder if I will hear anything back from them…
The Balsamic Incident
That was a new unopened bottle of balsamic vinegar. I couldn’t bend fast enough to catch it (I tried, which of course made my back worse). I had no idea how to even BEGIN cleaning it up—I was right in the middle of making Owen’s breakfast and he was already in his high chair—and with my back, I could barely move.
Ugh.
I stepped out carefully, put shoes on, put shoes on Owen, threw some towels down to start sopping up the mess, and made Owen’s PB&J.
And let me just say that while the smell of a little bit of balsamic is nice, the smell of an entire bottle all over your kitchen floor is completely gag-inducing.
Ugh.
I popped a pain pill and got to work. Down on my hands and knees picking up glass pieces, sopping up the mess with towels and paper towels, using a squeegee to try and move the pools towards the towels and corral the teeny shards of glass that were all over (the grout was the worst, because the squeegee didn’t work on that and the glass liked to hide there). I hung the floor mats on the deck. I Swiffered the floor three times then realized I still needed to sop up more with paper towels. And then I realized the balsamic was also IN the pantry, so then I was on my hands and knees INSIDE the tiny pantry trying to clean. And trying to shove paper towels against the floorboards because it was behind there, too.
Ugh.
It took me a good 25 minutes to clean it all up, during which Owen finished his breakfast and just played with some toys that were on the table. I swear, he can be a rock star when he wants to be.
Happy 10th Anniversary Us!
Before our date night—Chinese (of course!) and the last Harry Potter movie!
Yelp ROTD–The Big Salad
Yelp ROTD–Peacock’s Poultry Farm
Yelp ROTD–Roast
My very first potato soup!
So I made mashed potatoes the other day and since I had a ton of spices in the water (onion, garlic, salt, pepper, chicken bouillon) I thought I’d better keep it for soup…because, well, it’s what my mom would do and she’d be proud of me (if I actually ended up using it for soup, that is). :meh:
So there it sat in the refrigerator. Taunting me. While I racked my brain trying to come up with something. Then I decided to check my soup cookbook—but I couldn’t find it. Then I decided to check Food Network—but I didn’t have most of the ingredients they required. Then I emailed my mom—but she was obviously away from her computer.
What to do, what to do? :??:
So I decided to wing it.
I fried some onion and garlic and spices in butter and bacon grease, because what soup doesn’t start out that way. Right?
Then I added the potato water and simmered with potato cubes until they were soft. I knew it needed to be thickened—and I thought corn might be good in it—so I tossed in a can of creamed corn. I had originally envisioned the soup with the potato chunks in it, but really didn’t care that much and knew it would be a good thickener…so I buzzed it with the immersion blender.
But it still wasn’t thick enough, so I added some [dried] chicken gravy mix. Better. Oooh, then I thought cream but we didn’t have that so I added some whole milk—but that counteracted my thickening agents. GRRR. So I added more gravy mix and then some sharp cheddar.
And it’s not too bad. It’s not great, but it’s definitely edible! I’d love ham or potato chunks in it, but we don’t have ham and I don’t want to cook more potatoes, so it will suffice this batch.
YAY ME!
Reubens!
Why is it that, when I decide I want reubens, I always forget ONE ingredient?
Yes, I always remember the corned beef, but sometimes it’s the sauerkraut, sometimes the cheese, sometimes the Thousand Island…and today? The bread. And I even prided myself at the store for remembering the cheese/sauerkraut/dressing! But bread didn’t even enter my mind, even as I was thinking about the delicious-smelling bread they were putting in cases.
:**:
Happy 9th anniversary to us!
I actually didn’t even think about our upcoming anniversary until I saw the notice on Facebook. Yeah, embarrassing. 😮 I blame it on thinking about my mom’s birthday (the 15th) instead.
Anyway, through a few back-and-forth emails, we decided where to go out for dinner. On the way there, Tom says “Are you sure you don’t want to get Chinese?” I looked at him and said “OMIGOD! Of course we have to get Chinese! I can’t believe I forgot! Why didn’t you say anything when we were emailing?!” He thought I was just dead set on using a coupon we had.
For those of you who have been following along all these years, you may remember that we ALWAYS have Chinese on our anniversary. The first few years were complete accidents, so then we made it a tradition.
And I forgot. :meh:
So Tom actually saved the day…
/swoon
And that’s why I :heart: him.