Thinking out loud

This morning I got up a little late and a little sore from Judo, but it was the good "I did something" soreness. Beautiful, if cold, Spring morning outside. Wobbled into the bathroom and started waking up, until I walk around some on cold mornings my achilles tendons are like steel cables. Find out from my darling wife that she is going to take the little one to daycare since she is off work and they can all sleep in. Take a nice hot shower, mosey around the bathroom getting dressed and brushing my teeth. Look in the mirror and remark to myself that I'm looking pretty sharp today. Say good bye to my wife, walk through the game room where the futon is filled with three teenaged girls like puppies in a cardboard box. Get myself a bowl of cereal, grab a glass of Mountain Dew, remark to myself how much cleaner the glasses are getting since we changed dish soap. Grab my book, 30 pages till the end of the series, I can knock this out and head on into work. Go to sit in my readi...

Through my step daughters' comments and the comments of their friends I have started to realize something that seems weird. My wife and I are odd because we cook more often than we don't, and as a rule the family eats together at the table. About a two years ago I answered a survey about eating habits, and at that time we were eating about 18 meals a week not at a restaurant, and at least 12 meals a week as a family. I believe that the smallest category was 1-2 meals a week at home, and no meals together at the table. I can't imagine that. My 13 year old step daughter seems to have no friends who's mothers cook that she's mentioned. They can take something out of a box and cook it, but that's it. So, it's not the fact that we make our own yogurt, or can, or pickle, or have a garden that makes us freaky, it's the fact that we cook and eat meals together! We don't have huge conversations about every one's day at dinner, with two teenage girls w...

This month's challenge almost caused me to drop out of the challenge.  Believe it or not, I have NEVER used Cardamom!  Really!  I have looked at many recipes that call for it and almost bought it for a recipe one of my girls wanted to take to school but the cost prevented me from taking that leap.  Enter the Spice Rack Challenge!  Do I buy something that is really not in my budget for one recipe and maybe never use it again?  I checked my local grocer and only found it in the prepackaged spice jars for about $10 so thought I might pass.  My one chance was if we had enough time to stop by Whole Foods today.  Surely they would have it in their bulk section.  Not only did we have time but they had it in pod form which was my preference.  I grabbed a few pods and after wandering around the store and picking up a number of items we didn't need but wanted, we proceeded to checkout.  The weight of my pods were too small to register so the ...

I don't know that this recipe even has a name and it contains such unlikely ingredients for it to be a favorite of mine but favorite it is.  This salad is a recent addition to my culinary adventures but was served it by one of my favorite cooks recently and loved it.  Salad with Citrus Salad Greens (romaine is a good choice) Fennel (the bulb not the seed) Orange (peeled and segmented) Olives (the red ones - I have a dislike for all things olive but in this salad - they were really good) Olive Oil Lemon Juice Lemon Zest This is one of those recipes with no measurements.  Salad greens, how much do you need?  How hungry are you?  I suppose for those who have to use measurements use about three cups, slice the fennel (if you don't have fennel you can use celery but really try to find fennel) maybe about 1/2 to 1 cup, one orange, 1/4 cup of olives.  Toss all this together in a bowl.  Use about 2 tablespoons of olive oil and whisk in about 2 tabl...

Anyone remember the commercial where the woman makes an entire dinner out of boxes and then fluffs flour on her face and spritzes herself with water to look tired as she carries the food out to the family? I hate that commercial. A totally amazing dinner, especially one for an occasion, should be presented as if it was totally effortless to produce. I don't want people focusing on how hard I worked on it. I want them focusing on how damn awesome the food is! I think it ruins part of the enjoyment if people think you worked like a one armed carpenter to make them happy. If it's a group cooking effort I think different rules apply, but one or two cooks and several guests? They should be oblivious. I don't want my guests feeling like they owe it to me to like the food because I worked so hard to make it. If it sucks, I want to know. I'll know as soon as I take a bite anyway, so why not tell me? Now; just after dinner (or at least the first round of eating), or the n...

Ok, last night was Judo. About 10 minutes into class I kicked someone's ankle and I'm pretty confident that I broke a toe. Finished class after hopping around and whining some, my wife has no pity I swear. About 2/3rds of the way through class I felt a lot better when someone broke their nose. Nothing like a fountain of blood to make you feel better about a wittle bwoken toesy. On the way out to the van I covered my foot with snow, which felt really nice. And proceeded to get beat on by my wife and step-daughter about what a wuss I am. I have a very low tolerance for pain, it is true, but I think I can operate under extreme levels of pain fairly well. Hang nail, broken toe, slight fever? Where is the nurse? Hernia, Appendicitis, 102 degree fever? I'm ok, I just need to get this done first. Besides, I live in a house full of women, you'd think I could get someone besides the dog to feel sorry for me. I'll see if I can remember to do a pic tonight; this mornin...

Block of goat cheese (3"x3" square) 8 cloves of Garlic 3 TB fresh Rosemary 1/2 Cup Olive Oil Crusty Bread or Crackers Mince the Garlic; Finely chop the rosemary and add both to the olive oil. Pour this mixture over the cheese and let set for 15 minutes. Serve over crusty bread or crackers. Update:  Thanks to Woodman for posting for me.  I was out of town and had limited access to the computer.  I knew this would be a tough week to complete the Spice Rack Challenge on time.  The original recipe is above, for the Spice Rack Challenge I tried this with dried rosemary, it is MUCH better with fresh, same for fresh garlic, I used the garlic already chopped and it was not as good.  That said, this is a great recipe either way, I could eat this spread on crackers all day!