Happy Mother's Day!

What a very nice morning so far. It’s Sunday, about sevenish. I am in my bedroom, showered, hair shampooed and conditioned with clean jammies on. I put a new scent in my Scentsy light, fed the cat then let her out, then snuck into Ella’s room to grab the laptop. A pot a strong coffee freshly brews in the kitchen. The kids are still sound asleep and my husband is snoring on the couch. Aaaahhhh, this morning is bliss. Did I mention that it is Mother’s Day? Interesting concept; Mother’s Day. This sacred day to celebrate all moms was adapted from religious origin like so many of the holidays that we celebrate today. It dates all the way back to ancient Greece, honoring Rhea, the mother of the Gods. Sounds like a big deal. Then in the 1600’s in England, they claimed it as their own Christian celebration. You know, the Virgin Mother. Oddly enough, this festive observance disappeared for a time until just after the Civil War. A while later it was declared a national holiday in 1914. Seems tumultuous for a holiday that celebrates something as significant as the people that fed us, changed our dirty diapers, listened to us cry, oh and went through hours of agonizing pain to give us life. I suppose all that matters is that we honor moms for an entire day. I plan on enjoying my mother’s day reading the paper, watching “It’s Complicated” which I rented yesterday for this very occasion, visiting my Nana and my own mother for a while with my girls, then coming home to enjoy a great dinner that my kids and husband put together (I will be cooking the Filet Roast myself). I will enjoy one of my favorite cocktails while they will clean up the kitchen, run the dish washer then Jeff and I will watch our favorite Sunday shows; Treme and the Tudors. Then, tomorrow, I will wake up, still a mother, to do laundry, make a lunch for Ella, empty the dishwasher, return phone calls, vacuum and clean the bathrooms. I will not be sitting around in jammies most of the morning, reading the paper, drinking coffee or watching movies, later eating food that has been prepared for me. Business as usual. And that’s not bad either. Being a mom is the thing that I do best and all that that implies.

Ladies Luncheon

Yesterday I had the pleasure of welcoming my mom, two of my aunts and my grandmother (affectionately known as Nana) to my house for lunch to celebrate my Aunt Rhita’s birthday. We had a great time. No drama, no complaints. Those of you who have a family such as mine will appreciate this dynamic that can sometimes be a rare albeit welcome scarcity in a family get together. It was very casual and light. I believe I wore my slippers the whole time actually. My kinda luncheon.
I strived (and I do mean that I had to work) at keeping it very simple and uncomplicated. Those of you who know me well will apprecriate that I admit to having gone a bit over board in the past. Yes, Sherry, just a “bit”. Though this time I held back. Not too much food, no over whelming appetizers but we did have two splendid desserts; Panna Cotta with a Balsamic Berry Cabernet Sauce and a Dark Chocolate Walnut Tart.
There were merely five in attendance, permitting us to sit at the dining room table. I set the table with a white tablecloth, white plates, white napkins and a small vibrant spring green bouquet of flowers in a low vase in the center. Tasteful. We had the Green Apple Chicken Salad (a previous post), a bowl of sliced ripe cantaloupe and a savory Aebleskiver. This was an experiment to say the least. But who better to test new recipes on than family? The one epic risk that I took, reflecting on this bold move, was to try out the most quintessential Danish food that I can think of, prepare it as far from tradition as imaginable and serve it to my Danish Grandmother. Audacious, but worth the gamble. They were very tasty and a monumental success. I made them in the morning, testing them out on Aunt Rhita and Uncle Ted. Sold. After that a sauce to be named later was born as an accompaniment. Another big hit. I love it when a wager pays off, thus giving me the courage to try another dicey culinary speculation down the road. It’s a good thing I have a large and at times, tolerant, family.

"The sharper the knife..."

It seems that the universe is trying to tell me something. Can you hear it? “Stop Blogging” I think it’s saying. One week ago, on an exceptionally rainy, grey day, I decided to procrastinate typing up a stack of new recipes that have been accumulating in my notebook by making yet another recipe to add to my pile, thus adding to my blog. Soup. A perfect day for soup. Potato Beer Cheese Soup. My intent was to have this soup with turkey and spinach Panini’s. (Yes, I actually have a Panini maker.) I cut the onions. Set them aside. Peeling potatoes, then cubing them and immersing the cut cubes in cold water until I was ready for the soup kettle. A major mishap on the last potato. I cut open my pinky finger, epically. First I went to the sink. Then grabbed a towel. Made it to the bathroom to get a different towel that hadn’t been used to wipe up food in the kitchen. That might have been a mistake. What to do next? Call my doctor’s office that is just down the street to have them take a look at it. To no avail. Three doctors short that day. Looks like I’m going to Urgent Care at River Bend. My main concern with this idea was bleeding on the tan interior of my car. I tighten up the towel, grab my purse and phone. On my way, I call Ella’s school. She is due home in an hour. “Please get a message to Ella that I am okay, I have cut my finger and on my way to get it stitched up. Don’t worry, I’m fine, but it looks like the set of CSI at home.” A couple of hours, a tetanus shot ,a few vicodin and six stitches later, I am home and in pain. We ordered pizza. So, I am on the mend, stitches removed, gingerly typing this post. Let’s see if I can get some of these recipes posted in the next couple of days. You will not be seeing “Potato Beer Cheese Soup”. Perhaps the universe is actually just telling me to stop procrastinating. Thanks for bearing with me.

Making life a little easier

This weekend I was having a conversation with some friends about how some people tend to make things harder for themselves. I think that we all do it from time to time. I really don’t need to know WHY. That’s a couch session for another day. I would rather explore how NOT to. Is it necessary to clean the shower today when I really don’t have time, just because it’s on my list? I can shut the shower doors until I have time to do it within the next couple of days. What impact will it actually have on my life if I do not leave the house to run any errands? Do I need to plan dinner every night? Well, we do need to eat every night but there is nothing wrong with leftovers, ordering pizza or a meal makeover. I have found that if I actually sit down and plan some meals for the week it inspires new ideas and frees up time for me personally in the long run. These are all fabulous ideas so let’s put it to the test. My goal is to do a bit more prep and a lot more relaxing.I like to do a lot of cooking on Sundays to get a jump start on the week ahead. This last sunday I roasted a bunch of chicken breasts and made blueberry muffins (yes, from a box!) I also made a version fo a Caprise Salad that we all like to munch on. I like having this on hand so that I can stick to my diet without much effort. I eat it on a green salad with a few whole wheat, salt and pepper Pita Chips and that’s a great lunch. I cooked a pound of pasta and put it in the fridge so that we could mix it with the Mozerella Tomato Salad or eat it hot with the left over Spinach Pesto from the week before. I bought uncooked pizza dough at Winco (I buy this at Trader Joe’s as well) so that we could have bbq chicken pizza one night. And look! My chicken is already made! I think that one night this week we will do burger night. I buy Potato Buns for the girls (Jeff & I aren’t doing much bread these days), ground beef for Ella, take a turkey burger patty out of the freezer for Page & thaw two Salmon Patties from Trader Joe’s for Jeff & I. Everyone’s happy. Cook some regular fries and some sweet potato fries and put out the burger fixins so that everyone get’s their burger how they like it and that’s dinner. What else? How about some shrimp? Already cooked prawns to eat in a shrimp cocktail or on a salad. Cold Ramen Salad? Sauteed Scallops with yellow rice and asparagus? Pulled Pork? Get some ideas down on paper and get to work. Set aside a couple of hours to make some things ahead of time in the kitchen for the week ahead. Let’s make life a little easier. In our own kitchens at least.

Happy to be back!

Hopefully a few of you have noticed that I haven’t blogged in nearly three weeks. I feel a bit lost. Under Dr.’s advice I have stayed off the computer, almost completely, due to some unexplained migraines that were visiting me all too frequently. I have had eyes checked and blood work analyzed and I am healthy. Thankfully cleared of any major eye problems, or neurological issues, I can start blogging again. Whew. I have missed you and have been journaling in a notebook about some of the recipes that I have l played around with and meals we’ve shared. I am usually not one to have health concerns so these last few weeks have been frustrating yet eye opening. The reality is that I have spent far too much time thinking about all of the things that I wasn’t able to really indulge in. Even though I am new to blogging, I was enjoying it. I usually read a lot. I mean a lot, and I had to scale that down. I love television, I love movies. Is there anything that I love to do that doesn’t require some intensity from my eyes? Yes. Cook. So, get ready, I have been cooking a lot. Recently, I have even taken to making some soft foods that taste great, and not like baby food, for my Nana while she was having some ongoing dental issues. Spinach Pesto Mashed Potatoes, Roasted Carrot, Garlic and Fresh Thyme Soup and a Panna Cotta with a Berry & Lemon Sauce for a special Easter Dessert. Pretty good stuff. The Pesto Mashed Potatoes were really yummy, those of us with a proper set of teeth had them with Cajun Turkey Meatloaf.

the Luck of the Scottish?

I actually thought about making Corn Beef and Cabbage today but I think that my family would believe I was trying to poison them. Plus, I am Scottish and Danish, not a drop of Irish in me. So in lieu of fixing something from my combined heritage, for example Haggis & Aebleskiver. (If you don’t what a Haggis is you should Google it. If you don’t know what an Aebleskiver is then you should know me better or attend the Scandi-Fest in Junction City once in a while.) So, I hesitate with the Corned Beef and settle on the most trouble-free baked Taquitos, avocado, tomato, olive salad and chips & salsa. For this salsa I roasted some roma tomatoes (cut in half), halved onions, a whole bulb of garlic (I only use about half of the roasted cloves and save the rest for something else) and a pasilla pepper. Rub some olive oil and salt on all the veggies before commiting them to a 400f oven for about 25 minutes. Let everything cool down a bit and throw them in the food processor, pulsed a few times and mixed it up in a bowl with lime juice, salt & pepper, and fresh cilantro. Apparently this family will be celebrating a different Saint on this day. St. Joseph perhaps? Typically people celebrate this Mexican Patron Saint on March 19th, so I’m not too far off the mark. Conversely, just because I don’t want Corned Beef & Cabbage doesn’t mean that I can’t search for some green food coloring to color my lite-beer. Is there anything more American than that? I think not.

Where's the Beef?

I would like to talk beef. I feel actual affection towards a great steak. I am a steak snob. My husband and I have been spoiled by my parents who generously send us various cuts of what I deem as some of the best beef in the county for Christmas each year from the Kansas City Steak Co. Rib Eye & Filet Mignon. Does it get any better than that? If it does, I don’t want to know about it. One year this outstanding gift came with frozen sirloin burger patties. Anxious to express thanks to our gift givers , I phoned my dad. He proceeded to tell me about his mistake of grilling them without removing the cardboard in between the two patties. Sadly, he failed to discover this error until they were eating said burgers on buns, fully dressed with all of the fixings. I would say that this is a new and improved source of fiber. So these beefy delights are such a hot commodity that Jeff and I have taken to “sneaking” our at home steak dinner when the girls are gone because we simply do not want to share. The thirteen year old can easily eat an entire 2 ½ inch thick Filet accompanied by garlic mashed potatoes and a couple of butter drenched asparagus spears. Thus the devious dinner for two strategy.
I am a steak purist. I believe it is an absolute disgrace to eat your steak anything but rare. Actually, medium rare will not send me into a complete frenzy however A-1 or any other “steak sauce” will. Alas, my husband likes the aforementioned “sauce”. In a good marriage I truly believe that there must be give and take. Compromise. I learned to deal with it. But back to the finished product; here is how to tell the doneness of your meat without cutting into it, letting the vital juices run away.
The Touch Test: let your hand hang loose. With the index finger of your right hand, press down firmly on the area between left thumb and forefinger to gauge the softness; that is how a blood-rare steak feels if you press just as hard. Now make a loose fist with your hand, and press the same area again. The slightly increased resistance is how a medium-rare steak feels to the touch. Make a tight fist, press again, and you will feel the spring back of a well-done steak. Much like a trampoline! Case in point.

Sunday

I have heard people say that they do not like Sundays due to the fact that the next day is Monday. How do you dislike a whole day just because of the day that comes after? I love Sundays. I would have to say it’s my favorite day of the week. Typically, I am the first to wake , I make coffee and grab the newspaper from the front porch. The remainder of the day unfolds slowly, leisurely, undemanding. I read the paper, possibly some of whatever book I am reading at the time , feed the cat, write, all before anyone else’s eyes open. There are always things to be done at my house, i.e. laundry, bathrooms, floors and the like but on this particular day I get things done early (or don’t do them at all) so that I can get to one of my preferred components of this sacred day; food. I suppose, carrying over from my childhood, Sundays still seem to me more of a family day than any other. More often than not the four of us eat together on this day. I like to prepare not only dinner but a few things that we can eat throughout the week. Maybe some egg salad, some fried rice or a pasta salad, extra mashed potatoes so that we can have potato pancakes on another day and lot's of veggies cut up for future salads. This day is for making stocks and soups, pesto and rubs for chicken or meat and roasting vegetables. So for me, this marvelous day that ends our week is spent relaxing, cooking, watching movies, reading and sometimes doing utterly nothing. I am roasting a chicken, and did I mention that I am still in my pajamas?

Exhale

If you followed my mild neurosis yesterday you can rejoice with my daughter and me on the “B” that she got on her Psych final. We are thrilled considering the usual presence of test anxiety and self-doubt. She prevailed and got 80%. I am not only proud, I am relieved. So, in turn we had our “Celebration Dinner” consisting of Pad Thai (which I ended up making from scratch) , some garlic Ginger Prawns , opening this southeast Asian meal with one of my aunt Rhita’s sushi recipes. Remarkably tasty when there is a shortage of sushi grade fish available. It’s an adaptation of the California Roll, with the surprise addition of mango! Even my friend Karen might be able to sample this variety. So, studying into the late evening the previous night paid it’s due with an exhale of comfort and fulfillment.

Mild to Moderate Anxiety

Last evening into the night I spent a few good hours helping my daughter study for a Psychology Final that she is going to be taking at the god awful hour of 8 o’clock this morning. We covered the definitions, traits and treatments of so many maladies of the mind that I now fear I have about 6 of them. (heart racing ). I made her a smoothie at 6:30 and sent her on her smart and confident way toward campus. Notes and flash cards in hand to study on the bus. (hard to swallow, feelings of abandonment)
After she leaves, I contemplate what I could make for dinner tonight that would be one of her favorites. A “congrats meal” or a “gosh you tried so hard meal”. Anything Asian…Pad Thai is her most beloved dish. I could order in from Monalos (yes they deliver all the way out here) however , that gets costly for a family of four. I could attempt to make it myself. This has not proven worth the effort in the past. (anxious, unfocused ). I will let you know where this takes me. (mild paranoia)

a newborn

I am a newborn to blogging. “Challenged” at all things computer. My kids would be first in line to testify to this. I do not have a MySpace, a Face Book, and I share a laptop with a thirteen year girl. I need help with a digital camera, let alone my new microwave.
I was Day Drinking with some girlfriends last Saturday and inquired about my friend Sherry’s most recent endeavor in blogging. A fabulous idea about a group of women that partake in a “Girl’s Night Out” once a month, patronizing different bars and taverns here in our local community. Sherry’s blog is aptly titled, Bar Bitches. Is that not fantastic? So, of course, with all things fantastic, I stole her idea, and decided to blog myself.
Hmmmm. What to talk about? Is anyone going to want to read anything that I have to say? Then it dawned on me. Food. I am certainly not the best cook in the world yet I am far from the worst. I have passion for great food and for feeding my family and friends. A great portion of my daily existence is thinking of food, shopping for it, and preparing it. Then of course, I get to eat too. Well, most of the time. I have been dieting since January and have limits to what I allow myself to eat, however, the accolades from others, sometimes come close to consuming something decadent and highly caloric. Who am I kidding? That was a lie. I’m starving.
Let's just see where this takes us shall we?