Writing Slash, Raising Kids.

Most people are familiar, when it comes to bacon based sandwiches with the "BLT". That it what normal people who like tomatoes (and usually mayo, ew) and bacon sandwiches eat.

My son... well, NSM.

He eats "BBC".

Bacon, butter, and cheese.

All I can say is... rowing.

He doesn't have weight issues, and probably won't even if he wants to row as a lightweight, but that is SO not healthy.

Shudder.

I posted this a few months back: Seekh Kabobs. It was a bit soft to actually grill, but we all liked the taste.

I had frozen some of the leftover (raw) meat, and made it tonight with some mods:

Sauté an onion until softened
Sauté the meat with the onion

Remove 3/4 of the meat, set aside.

Add 1.5 cups rice, saut&ecute for a few minutes, add 3 cups water and a blob of BtB Chicken.

Cook until rice is done, about 20 minutes, put meat back in.

Cook a bag of spinach, drain slightly, add the spinach into the rice/meat mixture.

Twas delicious. I think one could also add the spinach at the last minute, as the rice was cooking, but I forgot until the rice was done, so I just cooked it separately. I'd also add more spinach but one bag is all I had on hand.

ETA: it clearly smelled good. I took leftovers to school with me, and three of my fellow grad students were sniffing and wanting the recipe. :-)

50 invited. I expect 30-40. The one request I'm making is if people want to bring anything, that they bring fruit, which is a last minute PITA to cut up.

Brunch isn't until 10 and I have two ovens.

Muffins: done in advance.

Grapefruit quickbread (Smitten Kitchen, loooove that recipe): done in advance.

Bacon, maybe sausages: done in advance.

Sourdough bread: done (by Perry) that morning, he'll sign up for oven time. Bread will proof in the fridge overnight.

Cheese platter: done in advance.

Fake food but everyone loooove them caramel delights: prep overnight, oven time in morning.

Scones: mix and bake in the morning. Flour/levening will be premixed, so no thought necessary.

Starbucks Travelers for the coffee, I can handle the tea.

The big last minute is scrambled eggs, but I have two pans, and Perry will help.

I'm still figuring out paper/plastic vs renting plates and silverware, and I'll "hire" Anne-Chloe and the teenager next door as unskilled labour (note that Perry is skilled labour on this one!).

One important thing: AC's espresso machine will be PUT AWAY. I do not want to get into the espresso drinks for everyone mode, THAT would be a pain!

I just hope my deck is done by then. :)

I have had a herd of 69 blue hippos on my dining room table. I started this yesterday but didn't finish til today.

This morning, they were eyeless (note: I will NOT make any jokes about the "eyeless" gene, which is the master regulator of eye formation in Drosophila, though my spouse, who I guess has been listening to me chatter this quarter, did. Heh.) hippos.

See?



But now, they have eyes! They're too cute, imo!



Got all the baking done, the boxes are all ready, Perry should have distributed his, AC is not doing anythign this year (because her school decided to start finals a day earlier than in previous years, so she's got finals and won't be seeing her teachers. I hate her school.)

Here's this year's panorama shot!



Notice that there is one hippo who faces a different way! She got cut when I distractedly used the wrong side of the cookie cutter! Ooops.

Since I didn't find out that I didn't have to do AC's teachers until after I'd started baking, there are a few extra cookies of one or two types.

For the record, for 20 boxes, because I will look at these next year to figure how many I need to bake!

-- Chocolate: 2, have leftovers
-- Walnut-caramel bars: 2
-- Cranberry bars: 3
-- Brown butter oatmeal: 4, have leftovers
-- Gooey lemon: 2, have one batch in the freezers, but should have done more
-- Pecan sandies: 3 have leftovers
-- Gingerbread: 3.5 and I do have a few hippos left!

If anyone wants it, I'll post the gingerbread recipe. I upped the spices, but it's a wonderful cut cookie recipe. Tastes pretty good, was easy to roll, didn't sit, we had zero breakage etc.

Done. I have some leftover pecans, and I bought some almonds and when I have a few minutes, I'm going to make some chai-spiced nuts... The recipe is for almonds, but I think it'll work for pecans as well. I have loads of leftover walnuts, I'll freeze those.

I also have to make and steam a Christmas pudding.

But I really love my blue hippos!

The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook by Deb Perelman.

I know I've linked to recipes on Deb's blog before, and they're all pretty damn good.

I got the book from the library. I'm pretty picky about my cookbooks at this point, but I will be buying this one.

I figured I'd like the food in the book, and indeed I do. It's both adventurous and pretty tame at the same time, new twists on old favourite.... like the brown butter rice krispie treats. Genius. Because of her kitchen "philosophy" nothing requires weird implements, or bizarre equipment that you will use once a year at most.

The recipes have all been good. One of the problems I've had with a few recipes from her blog have been cooking times, but in the book, it's been more consistent. I'm looking forward to trying her sweet bread doughs, once of my lacks as a baker, as well as comparing her pizza dough to the fabulous one I have now.

Like on the blog, the photography is very good, and what you get at home is either not far off, of you can easily see how you could make yours look as nice, if you wanted. I like this.

Also, just a word of warning, this is NOT a diet friendly cookbook in the slightest. Which is perfectly fine, and leaves the flexibility to make it a bit better if you want. It's also not cheese heavy, which is what allows that flexibility.

Note to the publisher: the provided summary says: "The long-awaited cookbook from the food-blogging phenom Deb Perelman", bolding mine. PHENOM? Really? Yech. One of my pet peeve I DETEST that word things, perhpas, but Really? I mean, REALLY? Ugh. Go away, publisher summary! I wish I hadn't read you!

Now the one.... well, it's not really a gripe, it's more of a.... dunno... impression maybe?

This book speaks autumn to me. Oh yeah, there are quite a few recipes that showcase the ingredients of summer, but overall, it feels like a good solid fall book. I love that, even if it was not intended, and while I'm trying recipes now, I'll probably buy the book in the autumn, when so many of the recipes fit seamlessly into the shorter and cooler days.

[eta] The recipes I've tried, with a word or two on 'em. Forgot this earlier.

Harvest roast chicken with grapes, olives, and rosemary. Delish. That was what I made last night, so the sauce wasn't as expected, dh just plunked it on the table while I held ice packs on my hand, yet it was still so good. She's right, the olives and grapes are perfect together, and the rosemary (which dh initially forgot) was a perfect last second addition. Will be on my repeat list with one modification: she suggests leaving skin on the chicken to brown it, but since there is a rather moist even cooking phase, the skin might be brown, but it's a bit soggy, and ew. I'll remove it next time.

Sesame-spiced turkey meatballs and smashed chickpea salad. Another major hit at my house. Think, as she mentions, felafel, only with turkey instead of veg. The smashed chickpea salad was wonderful, nice flavour balance, the kids all liked it (MIL did not, she's picky). One small change for me would be to pop the skins off the canned chickpeas, but it's not essential. I bought a spice for the recipe (sumac), but it's been one I've been meaning to for a while.

Buttered popcorn cookies. Totally bizarre. Think chocolate chip cookie with popcorn instead of chocolate chips. I didn't salt the popcorn enough, I think, and they were really good when just cooled, less after they'd gotten a bit softer, but again, a very interesting pairing, that Perry's 7th grade class really liked.

Salted brown butter crispy rice treats OMG-wonderful! Seriously, if you like rice krispie treats at all (I do, even though I wish they were less sweet), these do take them to a new level. The brown butter flavour comes through nicely.

Chocolate peanut butter cookies. The peanut butter cookie itself is pretty good, turning it into a chocolate-and-peanut butter sandwich cookies makes it even better.

Grapefruit olive oil pound cake. This will probably become my go-to cake of this type. I like plain, dense poundcake, this is less like that, but more like... a velvety-citrussy cake. The texture was really nice, and the grapefruit a nice departure from more traditional lemon flavoured. I'll certainly make this one again and again and...

Blueberry cornmeal butter cake. I love cornmeal and/or semolina in cakes, they avoid the floury pancake texture that some cakes get, and give the cake more... dense-ness, I guess. Anyhow, this one was great, the strudel with cornmeal was crispy, and the buttery-blueberry cake was well balanced, with, again, a nice texture, and a good blueberry to cake ratio. Another one which will become a summer classic in my repertoire, I think!

Lots of sweets, but I had several school (kids, mine) events to bake for, as well as two dinners with guests.

So, the week of no rice! So far, we're good.

I'm not eating most of this. After yesterday's traumatic 4lb weight gain, I'm doing a two day veggies and chicken breast only plan. I won't stay on it long, but I desperately need to see some of that weight come off quickly. I had just -last week- gotten down to where I was last November, and those four pounds could take me 6 months to lose. Cannot. I thought about a short fast, but I know that I tend to go overboard on those: I feel so wonderful! and free! and light! that I go longer than I should. Since I loathe chicken breast and steamed veggies (BORING!) I know I won't want to do it long term. Anyhow.


Monday: Frozen pizza (it was a HECTIC day. I had scrambled eggs with mushrooms.)


Tuesday: Chicken stew with carrots and mashed potatoes


Wednesday: Tacos


Thursday: Roasted buttermilk chicken, green beans, pasta.


Friday: Chili, with carrots and bread


Saturday: Chicken vindaloo with potatoes and naan, roasted cauliflower


Sunday: Grilled chicken sausages with mashed potatoes and green beans

So I've whined about my kids and carbs before.

Namely, as a group, they don't like rice, pasta, potatoes, gnocci, polenta, or couscous (which I know is a pasta).

AC claims not to like rice "unless it's cooked in a rice cooker" or fat is added and it's a long process to make, ie risotto.

However, I can usually get rice or bread on the table without too much whining.

BTW, they're not too fond of meat or veggies either.

They do eat, mostly, the carbs I serve. Potatoes, unless roasted in olive oil or fried (which I never do at home and is a rare treat out), aren't well liked. Pasta is tolerated, some shapes better than others. They do all like bread. Perry detests polenta, AC refused gnocci. Linnea, for all, it depends on the day.

So, basically, we eat a lot of rice.

A lot of rice.

At least two or three times a week, closer to three. And since there are usually rice leftovers, again on leftover night.

Dh is sick of rice, and of complaints about everything else, and has decreed a no rice week next week. Hee.

The kids are already protesting. They're each putting in their "no this!" and "no that!" requests. Someone is going to be unhappy every night next week.

My challenge is going to be coming up with a week of meals without rice! I've gotten so used to it as a starch, and it's so easy, that I find myself thinking things like 'chicken vindaloo with... oh wait, not. OK, what about jambalaya, no, rice, what about...' Heh. It will probably end up being a much more boring and bland week than usual.

I wish I were as awesome as the gal who makes these.

I wish.

Cinco de Mayo piñata cookies Seriously, check this out. She has step by step instructions on how to make them. I could so see making rooster or piggie cookies. Linnea would love piggie ones.

I had a few meals pre-planned this week, so I didn't sit down to finish this up until this morning. It's a relatively uninspired week, but I'm using some stuff from the pantry/freezer, and I guess that's good.

Perry is going to have a snit fit, since he detests polenta, but I just want something different. None of the kids really like any starches except bread, so there are bitter complaints about everything AC: hates rice, except risotto, pasta, and potatoes except fried, eats polenta, tolerates gnocci. Perry: loves all rices, some pasta, depends on the shape, not fond of potatoes except fries, detests polenta and tolerates gnocci. Linnea: likes pasta, love friestolerates everything else, though she insists on eating any carb separate from whatever it's served with, and with ketchup. All of these preferences can changes on a day to day basis, and I'm never sure when I put a carb out on the table which children are going to be complaining. And no, they don't get fries at all. I make roasted potatoes from time to time, and they all like those. Sometimes. But I don't fry anything.

Anyhow.

Monday: Caramel chickenw with rice and steamed broccoli


Tuesday: Leftovers


Wednesday: Beef stew with bread and some veg


Thursday: Polenta with sautéed spinach and fried egg


Friday: Pulled pork (leftover) and baked beans with carrots


Saturday: Chili with cornbread and broccoli


Sunday: Grilled tandori-spiced chicken with rice and roasted cauliflower

I don't think I will ever understand how coriander, a wonderful, perfumed spice, can come from the same plant that produces the soapy-vomit flavoured leaves that are cilantro.

I just make chicken vindaloo. It's in the fridge, Sunday I'll dump in in the crockpot. Damn but it smells good. In part thanks to the coriander.