things that make you, well, want to gag, really

The other day, Pic and I were at the grocery store, waiting in the checkout line, when I saw an incredibly un-delectable sounding food: Sasquatch Big Sticks. (You can click on that link to see the packaging.) Basically, think of a somewhat angry-looking Harry from Harry and the Hendersons on the outside of a box of meat sticks.

Nothing about that sounds good to me.

----------------

I wish I did have something delectable to share here, but I haven't made anything exciting lately. I did eat entirely too many dark chocolate-covered peppermint Joe Joes from Trader Joe's. So good, but I was so sick. I think I'll have to wait another year before I buy more of those. (Maybe.)

home cooking

Cardo and I were lucky enough to have a date night on Friday. We didn't do much, nothing fancy, but we did actually cook at home. I keep saying that we should do that on our date nights, but we often end up eating out. Last time, we were very much less than impressed with the restaurant we chose and we won't be returning. At least at home, we don't have to worry about bad service and we're more likely to cook something healthy at home.

So, Friday, we roasted some Brussels sprouts with apples and turkey bacon. It was good. I keep thinking that I'll like Brussels sprouts more than I do, but then I have to remind myself that I've made them, like, twice. I totally believe that the more often I eat them, the more I'll like them. I think I'm right. We also cooked some pineapple (we just put in in the cast iron skillet on the rangetop) and it ended up fabulous!



Lest you imagine that's all I ate, fear not. We also baked some potatoes, but, geez, that takes forever. I suggested we put the potatoes in before the Brussels sprouts, but we needed more than just ten minutes. So, we had a two-course meal.

I also made Cardo watch Jumping Jack Flash with me. He can't get over the fact that I watched it when I was a kid.

[Not the cleanest language in this clip, just to let you know.]



"Jumpin' Jack Flash - Telephone Booth Scene"

water with various foods floating in it

Oh, doesn't that sound appealing? Unfortunately, that's about as accurate a description of the soup I made yesterday as I'm going to get. In the middle of the night, as I was cleaning the kitchen,* I decided to finally make the soup I had been thinking about. I needed to use up a bunch of spinach that was threatening to slimify (so not a word, I'm sure, but there it is). I sauteed several cloves of garlic in the bottom of the big soup pot. And, when I say saute here, I actually mean it. For once, I didn't burn the garlic. Then, I started adding spinach. I was afraid the garlic would turn on me and blacken, so I added some low-sodium vegetable broth also. I'm pretty sure I didn't let the spinach wilt enough before I added the rest of the broth. I also added a teakettle full of water and a can of black beans, a can of white beans and a can of butt peas (er, garbanzo beans, chickpeas, whatever).

That's it. Yes, I should have realized that the soup would be incredibly flavorless. Especially as I rinsed the beans. Perhaps I should have added that liquid. Hmm.

I thought I'd be extra fancy and blend some of the soup and pour it back in to thicken the soup, but it was still pretty watery. This morning, when I told Cardo, "Last night, I made soup! But, it's pretty tasteless," he responded, "Like usual?" Oy! I'd be more hurt, but he's right. I tend to seriously underflavor food, especially because I don't like a lot of salt.



I ate the soup, with some sourdough toast, for breakfast. I tried to make it better by adding a wedge of Laughing Cow garlic-something-or-other cheese as the soup was heating. As the cheese melted, it did make the soup cloudier. Overall, the soup is serviceable. I did get a decent serving of vegetables first thing today, and that's what I'm really focusing on. But, really, I'd like the food to taste more...tasty. Alluring, enticing, scrumdiddlyuptious. Something.

I shudder at the idea that I need a recipe to make soup. (Really, I just shuddered.) I feel like soup is simple and I should just be able to make it. So, what's the deal? Do I just need to be adding salt? I don't often cook with meat, so I don't have that to add, but I could try something with turkey bacon, perhaps, which I'll be using later this week anyhow.

Suggestions, please.

Also, while I'm thinking about it: I was lamenting to Cardo this morning that eating well is difficult. I totally get why we can so easily overindulge on salty and fatty foods -- they've got flavor! I have to make a conscious effort to give my body much-deserved healthy foods, especially fruits and especially especially vegetables. About one second after I finished moaning over my breakfast, Pic walks out of the back of the condo and cheerfully says, "It's easy to be healthy! I'm eating a pear!" Oh, to be six and to not have funky food issues.

Related: I'd like to write about things I really shouldn't write about here. For now, though, I'll say that I'm tired of hearing things along the lines of "People are overweight/obese/fat/whathaveyou because they are lazy/they don't like to exercise/they don't eat well/they deserve it." I'm obviously paraphrasing here.

I don't eat as well as I should and I probably don't exercise in the most effective manner (but, damnit, I do exercise daily, even if that only means I've walked), and I still have a lot of excess me that I'm not always (or ever) comfortable with. I'm making small changes that I hope will help in the long run, because I am thinking "long run" here, but I've long since grown weary of the assumptions. I'd like to write more on this, and solicit kindly-phrased advice, later, but the topic is on my mind right now, so I thought I'd bring it up.

For now, I'm considering my ever-evolving relationship with my body to be an important part of my own life learning. I'm working on improving myself and I'm trying to patiently see what changes result. I know there are easier solutions, but I'm trying to do what is right for me and quick fixes and I don't get along in the long run.

I feel like I should end with some upbeat affirmation: I'm bettering myself every day in every way. Or something. I'm trying here, but, geez, can it be lonely.

-------------

* Oh, cleaning the kitchen. There's an argument right there for never eating at home. It's kind of like cleaning laundry: an argument for going bare.

-------------

I'm thinking this post has been brought to you by the punctuation mark the comma.

-------------

Finally!: send along soup recipes please! Heavy on the vegetables, light on the meat. Grazie mille.

please allow me to introduce babs

A bit ago, I finally made a purchase I've been thinking about for over a year. That's how I shop: I think about buying something, I read around a bit, I think some more, I share my thoughts with others, then I sometimes actually make the purchase. I even actually saved for this purchase.

So, meet Babs:



Yes, I named my blender. We haven't had a working blender in a very long time. Since we got this blender, we've been deep into the smoothies again. This evening, Pic and I had the above (juice, apple, pear, spinach, ice).



I thought I could handle pear in the smoothie, but I could still feel that weird beadiness. As soon as I use up these pears, I might skip them in my smoothies. Or, I'll try to get used to it. Who knows.

We have not come anywhere close to doing all we can with the blender. I look forward to making my way through the cookbook that came with it. (Yes, I like to read through cookbooks and mark recipes for future use. I know I'm not alone, but I still feel kind of strange admitting that.)

We've also made sorbets and ice cream. Behold some very tasty strawberry ice cream:



Mmm.

n'mores and other minutiae

I have actually seen recipes for no-bake (and, therefore seemingly absolutely nasty) s'mores. Think, instead of toasted marshmallows, regular old marshmallows (which I don't really like). Or, marshmallow fluff. Think, instead of melty (dark) chocolate, chocolate frosting. Or, chocolate syrup.

Seriously: ugh!

-----------------

In other La Casa B stuff:

I just realized that I can watch full episodes of 30 Rock instantly on Netflix. Commence me catching up and not sleeping for the next, oh, so many hours. (Hulu is insisting that I subscribe to something-or-other, which I'm unwilling to do, but I really want to catch up. So, yea for randomly surfing Netflix Instant!)

New make-up has been purchased. I am wondering if there is good, safe kid make-up and when Pic will start insisting on it. She was in awe at Ulta yesterday. However, we left with the usual: mineral powder for very pale people. That's the only facial make-up I currently own. (We have a somewhat large and growing collection of non-formaldehyde, non-phthalate nail polish.) Sooner or, well, sooner, this will not be enough for Pic. She's so interested in so many things traditionally feminine and I can't provide her with very much knowledge in these areas.

For dinner tonight:



I tried roasting tomato slices. Apparently I don't know how to do this very well. Perhaps I'll look up some techniques. Slices topped with plain breadcrumbs and freshly-grated parmesan cheese.

Very green smoothie. It was somewhat visually unappealing. It was good, though. Quarter cup whole milk, one banana, lots of spinach, about a cup of strawberries, half an avocado, ice. Not exactly low-cal or anything, but I'm more focused on getting plenty of vegetable matter into my body. Possibly more on that later.

tea obsession: mint and honey green tea

As part of my do-it-myself movement, I have been trying to replicate a beloved thing or two at home. This tea is one of those things:



I went scouting around this here interweb looking for recipes for this, but I was not happy with what I found. The best recipe I found called for both sugar and honey. My response to that was, "Sugar! and honey! What?" I thought about how crazy that was for a bit before I actually got around to looking at the label on the bottle. As printed: filtered water, organic cane sugar, organic green tea, organic honey, organic spearmint extract, ascorbic acid (vitamin c), citric acid, and natural flavors*. Oh, oops, there are both sugar and honey in the tea.

Anyhow, I never got around to using the recipe because I figured out something on my own.

A technique, with not-all-that-helpful pictures:



I put a small bunch of mint leaves into six cups of water and bring that to a boil. (I've been buying organic mint from the store. I am also growing mint, but my plant is tiny with leaves about a twentieth the size of these. She's still alive, though, which is fabulous to see each morning when I water her and talk to her.)



As soon as the water boils, I throw in six bags of green tea and remove the pan from the heat. I add four tablespoons of honey and stir it all up. After a bit, I place a tea strainer over my pitcher and empty the contents of the pan into the strainer. (My pitcher is thick glass, I should probably mention. I doubt pouring the incredibly hot tea into a plastic pitcher would be a great idea.) If there's any space at the top of the pitcher, I just pour in a bit of water. I let the tea cool and then place it in the refrigerator.

(And, yes, those are the only pictures I took. Oy. Well, it has taken me somewhere around six months to finally post this, so this is about right for how I'm currently operating.)

When I'm ready for some tea, I do half tea and half water with ice. I guess I'm just so used to watering my tea down (why did I start that?), it's normal for me. I suppose you could just drink the tea as is, if you felt so inclined.

I recently bought some of the Sweet Leaf tea (which, until this very moment, I was convinced had "Grandma's" in it's name) and found it way incredibly exceedingly too sweet for me. I've been watering that down, too.**

I have to say that I'm feeling pretty good about being able to make this at home. There was a time I figured you couldn't do most things at home (because I was incredibly delusional, I guess?). I'll be working on tea lattes at home in the coming cold months. I tried this last year and even before that, I think, but I wasn't loving the results. Part of it was that I was using premade vanilla syrup (for Earl Grey tea lattes) and it was just kind of gross. I have better tea now and I'll be attempting to make my own syrup.

-----------------------

* Every time I see "natural flavors" on an ingredients label, I automatically think, "I wonder if it's bugs." Every freaking time.

** How is it that a bottle of this tea is too sweet for me, but an entire pint of Ben and Jerry's ice cream isn't? Hmm? Really, I'd like to know.

food stuffs

Okay, now, it's October. It's time to get serious about this blogging stuff. I've had all these plans for blogging more regularly for months now, but, oh the rhythm. There has been no rhythm sweeping me up...in any part of my life. I would say it's time for me to create my own rhythm, but I'm one of those totally uncoordinated people who has to count aloud to dance to music. Ah, well.

Seriously, though. I'm putting my fingers to the keyboard and forcing myself to make this a frequent habit. (Does that phrase even make sense? Frequent habit?)

I haven't regularly posted about food in forever. That's certainly not because I haven't been eating. I have a complicated relationship with food. I overthink it. Then, I get all bogged down in thinking what a luxury it is for me to have the problems I do with food. Then, I realize I've gotten so wrapped up in my own head that if I don't distract myself quickly, I'll never get out.

Anyhow, I'm trying to change my relationship with food. Maybe we've grown too comfortable with one another and need to spice things up? (Except, of course, I'm a pretty big fan of very bland food.)

After all this lead up, you might be thinking that I'm going to post some spectacularly fabulous dish today, but, well, I'm not. In fact, I'm posting something I need to work on. At the same time, I'm posting something that shows me trying to widen my palate (which I just spelled "palette" and had to look up to figure out what was wrong because I knew something was off*).

So, without further spewing of words, I present to you The Breakfast of Champions:



Or, y'know, Breakfast of Those Who Like Heart-Unhealthy Foods in Very Small Quantities. Actually, this is my bowl waiting for its grits. I'm sure I've had grits before -- I even think I've made them -- but the recollection is murky. I made them according to the box, but, wow!, were they salty. I added salt to the water, as recommended and there's salt in cheese, no? My butter is unsalted, so I know it wasn't from that. The next time I prepare grits, I'm skipping the salt in the water. We'll see if that makes them any better. I certainly hope so, because I have an entire box of the things to consume.

-------------------

In other food-related bits: My child is quickly developing all of my cooking skills (or, should I say 'skillz'?). She proudly proclaimed to me the other morning that she prepared her own breakfast. When I got up, she told me, "I made breakfast for myself. I made cold toast!"

-------------------

Please note my note about ice cream on my last post. I'm still feeling the effects. I have not slept, but I have caught up on two blogs I've was so behind on! How can I finally convince myself that that much ice cream just isn't good for me (for any living creature, really)? You'd think the sleeplessness and anxiety that follows would do it, but apparently not.

-------------------

* This (it's not until 2:12, sorry) is what is now stuck in my head:


"Tommy Boy (1995) Theatrical Trailer"

this weekend in five acts: food edition

* mushroom-bean burger at 5th St.

* chocolate-chip-cookie s'more

* roasted marshmallows

* grilled pineapple (!)

* sincronizadas

plans for the weekend

* eat 9,000 blackened marshmallows...and nothing else (oh, buddy, am I going to be sick)

* work on puzzle-book puzzles (because, yes, I am a nerd)

* take the dog to the carwash that has a dog-cleaning station (phew, she stinks!)

* read and write (no arithmetic...I don't think)

butterscotch brownies

everything's ready to go

Last month, we went on a bit of a butterscotch brownie kick. I wanted to make Catherine Newman's recipe, but I was making the brownies for others and I'm never sure if other people will enjoy fruit and/or nuts in their sweets. Also, I had been really wanting to use the butterscotch chips in the freezer. So, I nixed the cherries and pecans and threw in the chips, which eventually sunk to the bottom and formed a kind of base layer. Cardo totally dug them, although they were a bit too sweet for me to eat more than a few bites at a time. Next time, I'd like to do butterscotch chips in one pan and the cherries and nuts in another pan. I also have some cinnamon chips I might try. What else sounds good?

giant brownies!

nearly wordless wednesday*

I break an egg, clean it up, turn around...


Pic breaks an egg.

Seriously, we're very professional bakers.

-----------------

* I've said this before, and I'm saying it again: "Nearly Headless Nick" is what's stuck in my head right now.

nourishment

It the beginning of last month, Grandma J turned 88! I made a simple dinner, and we headed over to her house. I was also going to make dessert, but we were at least one ingredient short for every recipe I wanted to make. And, I was running out of time. And, I was starting to melt down.



I am thinking, as I've thought many times before, that giving food for birthdays and any other special days is the way to go. I'm not big on giving stuff, as there's just so much stuff everywhere we turn. But, food? Food that I've made myself. That takes (so, so much) time and effort and is really, no matter how simple it seems in the end, how I'm showing you, on a plate, bowl or pan, that I really do care about you.

(And, all this babbling makes me realize that I need to make something for Uncle A's birthday, which was yesterday. What to make? What to make?)

Also, it's National Blueberry Month! Happy baking!

-------------

This all has a somewhat upbeat tone, but Grandma J isn't doing so well. For those of you who can spare a positive thought or two, please send some her way. I thank you.

solstice-morning baking

So, what to do on solstice morning, when I was up around six and had a wee guest in the house? Among other things (deep clean the cat pan, wash dishes, take out the recyclables, sweep, put away some books and puzzles), I did this:



Moosewood's Vegan Chocolate Cake, which is super simple to make and wonderfully moist and nice with a bit of powdered sugar sifted on top.

(And, can I now say that every time I sift powdered sugar onto a dessert, I think of that scene in Flowers in the Attic (movie version) when the grandmother is sifting rat poison (or something) onto the cookies before serving them to her grandchildren? Yes. Also, at one point, my mom stopped letting me watch that movie because I was so freaked out by the mother and grandmother in that family. For me, there was that same idea of people stopping to stare at a car accident.)

Anyhow...Happy Summer, all!

crumble, as promised

So, we are down to the dregs of the crumble. Really, there wouldn't be any left if it were up to me. I was trying to be fair and leave a piece for Cardo, but he's letting it go to waste! (Actually, I think we can safely say that he let it go to waste, already.)

I made this crumble exactly once last year, no matter that it's just incredibly simple and tasty. Last year, I made it according to the recipe, with cherry and apricot. This time, we only had nectarines, peaches and apricots. And, we were lucky to have these thanks to the fabulous generosity of our dearly beloved Auntie C.

Pic actually stuck with me for the entire making of this.

Why yes, the small one does use sharp knives.

Sliced, sugared and floured.

Meanwhile, as the crumble bakes...Pic takes over the camera. So, what's going on in the living room?

A little Dolly...



...with some dollies. (Actually, Pic is very specific with her labels and she does not call plush non-humans "dollies.")



As Pic had the camera, I asked her to snap a quick shot of the crumble. And, a quick shot she took. (You've got to capture that crumble before it scampers away!)

One pan for us and one pan for Auntie C, Uncle A and Baby H.

All plated up and ready for me to eat. So wonderfully tasty: the fruit a bit tart and the topping nice and crunchy and sweet, but definitely not too sweet. Perfect for breakfast, lunch, dinner and/or dessert.

musical monday: you can snuggle up to your cash register...

...it's a little lumpy, but it rings!


"'So Long Dearie' from Hello, Dolly!"

Pic and I were making a crumble today and listening to show tunes. A different song from Hello, Dolly! came on, but this is the one I want to share right now. I love the incredibly dramatic 'good bye!' she starts off with.

Okay, I'm off to eat some of said crumble right now (smells so pungently, fruitily good). I'll post my somewhat dubious pictures of that experience later.

gingerfolk!

In a fit of midnight madness, Pic and I made gingerbread cookie dough about a month ago, I guess. Cardo had been asleep on the couch for a while and I was finishing up some gifty-stuff (perhaps it was more than a month ago...) and I decided that if I didn't make the dough right then (two a.m. to be more exact) I wouldn't get to it. So, Pic and I started up the project because who needs sleep really? This dough needs refrigeration, but we were heading out of town later that day, so I stashed the dough in the freezer.

Several weeks later.... We finally got some more cold weather. I actually saw snowflakes a few days ago. (Where are they now? Chissa.) I transferred the dough to the refrigerator and the day after, Pic and I went at it. The recipe is from The Ultimate Cookie Book (this link has no real information, but there's the cover anyhow). A few notes: the dough was seriously sticky, we added plenty more flour to coat our surface and the dough, I ended up popping the dough back in the freezer for fifteen minutes which helped incredibly, and apparently gingerbread cookie dough puffs up (after I had assured Pic that would could place the cookies close to one another because they wouldn't bake into one another).

So, ten points for anyone who can distinguish the cats from the moons from the hearts.



Oh, and there's Pic's gingerlady and my bell-bottom-clad gingerguy, too. I swear.



I ate some of these, although I was thinking I might not like gingerbread cookies when I pulled them out of the oven. Why was I thinking this? I'm not sure. But they are tasty and warmly spicy.

At the moment, I'm contemplating how many brownies I can eat before I'm disgustingly sick. More on the brownies later.

foodstuffs, glorious foodstuffs

So, before I ran out of steam this past end-of-the-year, I decided to make a treat or two for distributing to various friends. Here was (most of) the line-up:


The most popular treat were the caramel crumb bars (which, here, is just one giant caramel crumb rectangle). I figured they'd be pretty easy to make, and they were. There are very few ingredients. (Okay, so I just looked at the recipe again and it seems there were more ingredients than I remember.) I wouldn't say they were quick to put together, as Judy of No Fear Entertaining says they are, but I am pretty incapable of making anything quickly.

There is one odd thing about these, though: several people, including Cardo, thought they had fruit in them. Huh.

Next up, fudge.


I haven't made fudge, I guess, since Poke and I made army-man fudge in high school. I had forgotten how much butter goes into fudge. Fudge is okay, I guess. I always think I'm going to like it more than I do. I was in a weird mood, though, and thought I should make some.

Finally (kind of):


Peppermint patties. That was surreal. I had often wondered what was in the middle of the peppermint patties I've bought on occasion. It turns out it's powdered sugar. The process was a bit messy, but not horrible. As you can see, I wasn't exactly going for a really professional look here. I was kind of in a rush so we could go visit a friend.

I'm not sure how I feel about peppermint patties now. If I do make these again, though, I'll try to get the dough much flatter. (How weird is it to call the inside of the patty "dough"?)

Cardo and I also made some maple rosemary popcorn together, but not only did I not get a picture of it, I didn't get a taste of it either, as we gave it all away. (I did manage to utterly and completely burn the crap out of the first batch of pecan pieces, though. Why couldn't I have ruined something less expensive?) We need to acquire some more rosemary and make this again, because I really want some. We've been out of town off and on and we've also been a bit sick around these parts, but we're starting to feel normal again. I think we need to get around to making this popcorn before the following weekend is out. And, perhaps, some caramel corn. (And, perhaps, some bigger pants.)

------------

So, wow, I can't believe I actually went back and posted on a topic I meant to get to. Maybe this means I'll get around to posting about our October unschooling adventures? Hmm, we'll see.

foodstuffs...almost

I haven't posted about food since...when? The year aughty-aught? It certainly seems like it.

I've had a trying few days. I've been trying to get over myself and my doubts and gripes. I've been trying to deal with a certain five-year-old who has been especially clingy lately. Anyhow...

There was some food-making going on last month. I'm not quite ready yet to post about all of it (see above: I'm tired), but here are a couple of sneak peeks:



And, a close-up?



(The recipe called for all semi-sweet chocolate, but I couldn't possibly make it without some dark chocolate.)



What could I possibly have made with this ball of dough?

self-medicating

I thought I was just about over being sick, but, alas, no. I woke up this morning to a pounding head and a windpipe that felt like it was contemplating shutting up altogether. So, I shot off a somewhat coherent (I hope) text and went back to sleep until well after morning was over. Pic, who seems to be fully recovered, hibernated with me most of the day. I'm feeling a bit better now (I just knocked wood) and I hope to be back to myself domani. (Cardo, however, has sunk under the weather now, also.)

To help speed my recovery, I've relied on the following:

* reading

* preliminary research

* note-taking

* dreaming (both waking and sleeping)

* chocolate

* hot tea, hot tea, hot tea (repeat another several times)

* vitamin c

this is my dance space

Watching this clip* just now, I finally realized Baby's mom is Emily Gilmore (Kelly Bishop).

And, yet, again, I wish I could dance.

Also, I should go to bed. We're entering a tough week of getting up extra early to accomodate Cardo's schedule. But, we do have a Blueberry Apple Crumble pie from 5th St. Bakehouse to look forward to, so that's something.

----------------

* Embedding has been disabled.