Bagels are a lovely thing. Made well, they are chewy, lightly browned, with a lovely light texture. Poorly made, they are so tough your jaw may just wear out before you finish eating them. Now, I do not claim to be a bagel connoisseur, I have not had the famed H&H bagels or anything like that, but I do know that I do not want to wear my jaw out on food that is supposed to be tasty. On top of all that, store bought bagels, the ones that are usually the worst offenders of the toughness issue, are much too expensive per bagel for me to justify buying regularly.
Read moreRatatouille.
This is NOT a traditional ratatouille recipe. If you think I could get eggplant in any form past my guys, you don't know us very well. :) Still, this is a delicious sauce-like creation to serve over pasta, that changes it just enough that I'm not bored, and is similar enough to other pasta dishes that my guys will still eat it. Jonathan even agreed to eat one of the tomatoes! (After which he promptly declared he still doesn't like tomatoes.)
Read moreCoconut Whipped Cream.
This isn't so much of a recipe as a suggestion. If you like coconut, and want to try it in a completely different way, try this. You must start with full fat coconut milk, the light has too many additives that interfere with this process.
Read moreMerry Christmas!
My senior year of high school, I convinced my dad that, despite having never owned one previously, I would prefer an apple laptop for college instead of a dell. The iBook I received then held up quite well through most of college until a shirley temple was spilled on it accidentally my junior year. After that, while it still worked, thanks to the quick rescue made by my husband, (then fiancé), it had a weird faded stripe running down the center of the screen. It was also noticably slower than it had previously been, partly due to the spill, and partly due to software updates that quickly outstripped its hardware. These issues combined with a fraying power cord inspired the purchase of an iMac, which has since served me well.
Lately, though, my iMac has been having, well, "issues". Nothing too concrete, save a few hard drive hiccups, increasing slowness, and a mic that has not worked well for as long as I can remember. It is showing its age though, and my husband and I have been considering replacing it for some time. This Christmas, he surprised me with an early christmas present of a MacBook Air! I love it, and I no longer have to worry about my computer dying on me unexpectedly.
What does this all mean for you, my lovely readers? Well, anyone who has been around here for awhile has probably noticed that I'm rather inconsistent about posting. The fact is, I'm rarely in the office with a quiet bit of time to type up a post. Most of the time I chase our lively toddler around the apartment, and when he's sleeping I'm likely doing clean-up, damage control, preparation for the following day's whirlwind, or simply unwinding. Now, with a laptop again, I hope to be able to be more consistent sharing here. Here's to hoping!
Peanutty Chicken and Pasta.
Lately on my son's and my regular date to the library, I pick up a couple cookbooks to browse though. Usually I find one, maybe two recipes I'm truly interested in making, and I usually don't get around to making those. This cookbook, though, the Southern Living Kids Cookbook, has so many post-its sticking out of it now I hardly know where to begin. Jonathan even helped me choose which recipes to make, though I suspect he was just having fun sticking on the post-its to as many pages as possible. I know for a fact he wouldn't eat the chicken salad he picked out.
Read moreCornmeal Breakfast Pudding.
Soon after I got married, my mom called me and said she'd found a couple of my grandma's cookbooks, and did I want them? I, who nostalgically cherishes almost anything that has belonged to my ancestors, and would collect cookbooks until my shelves were full of them if I could, of course said Yes! As soon as they were in my possession, I scoured them for recipes I could easily create. This recipe was one I made almost as soon as I saw it. (I believe I found the recipe and had it made within that hour.)
Read moreThe Art of Eating In.
This is the tale of how the heroine, Cathy Erway, gave up eating out in New York for two years. She goes through all the different varieties of not eating out, from simply cooking at home, to supper clubs, to foraging and dumpster diving. Along the way she shares other details of her life: romance and heartache, new jobs and boredom, failures and discoveries. It's inspiring and demonstrates that anyone, anyone, can cook at home if they only have the desire and tenacity to do so.
There are recipes included throughout, most that are more adventurous than I would normally make, and some that are extremely appealing to try right away. There are asian influences in many of the dishes, which makes sense as Cathy is half Chinese, and comes from a family in which experience and community are shared over delicious food of many varieties.
As I generally try to cook at home, the concepts in this book weren't earth-shattering to me, but rather commiseratingly wonderful. I enjoyed following along with her cooking adventures, and was intrigued by the foraging chapter especially. Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone with even a mild interest in either learning to cook or eating in more often. Great read.
Facelift.
I love using Squarespace to host my site. Their service is impeccable, and they make it ridiculously easy for me to customize and play with my site. Today Squarespace released a bevy of new site templates, and I found three that I loved for this site. What you see is what won out in the end. (The other two may be cycled through at various times throughout the year, maybe...) Anyway, hope you enjoy the redesign as much as I do!
The Black Echo.
My Dad gave me a most of a series that he's been reading for me to read as well. The difference between my Dad and me is that I have to read the series in order, and he doesn't. This book was not included in the bundle, as he'd borrowed it from another library while on vacation, and so I got it from my local library.
This book is definitely an adult selection. Were this book to have a warning label, it would be labeled for violence, language, and mature content. The star of the book, and of the series (this is book one), is Harry Bosch. He is a vietnam war veteran and a homicide detective in the Hollywood division of LAPD. He is a very complex and well-crafted character, as are all the characters in the novel, including the victims. He is not the perfect hero as he has significant failings, flaws, and vices. The reader is asked to overlook these, with the commendation that he is extremely good at his job, and indeed it is easy to overlook them.
In this novel, Harry finds an old acquaintance from Vietnam dead in a tunnel. At first glance it looks like an overdose, but Harry suspects more is at stake. He digs in, despite resistance, and uncovers, well, many interesting things. I can't say much more without revealing the good stuff, but I can say that if you like detective novels, this is a great read. While it's not a slow read, there are many seemingly inconsequential points that don't pull together until the final quarter of the mystery.
Broccoli with Toasted Garlic.
Lately I've been trying to incorporate more vegetables into my family's diet. I'm slowly expanding the palates of my husband and son in this area, my latest acheivement being that my husband now eats carrots. :) One standby though, if I know its not a day to press my luck in the vegetable department, is broccoli. Chris and Jonathan love their broccoli. Consequently, this recipe was an instant hit. I usually add an extra clove or two of garlic, as we love garlic here, but the recipe as is is delicious.
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