Summertime Treat

I'm having one of my favorite summertime afternoon treats: an iced decaf skinny latte with a shot of sugar-free caramel syrup!

Which sounds like an old-lady drink, I know; could I get any more qualifiers in there? And, please, skinny? But the baristas MAKE me order it that way, honest.

And, regardless, it's yummy!

Mmmm, Betsy Bread

My Dad's friend Betsy makes a sourdough bread. It's fine as bread, but we all agree that it's real forte is as toast.

Dad came over last night bearing two loaves of Betsy bread, and I got one! So today's breakfast is Betsy Bread Toast, fresh fruit and coffee.

Yum!

My One Plate Wonder

OK, really two. But one of them doesn't count.

My kids are on Spring Break this week, in Florida with their Dad visiting their Grandparents. David's kids are also on Spring Break, with their Mom. David is in DC.

I was all alone for dinner.

So, I did what any self-respecting foodie does! Turned it into a challenge! OK, any self-respecting lazy foodie.

My challenge to myself was to cook myself a really nice, tasty dinner, without breaking my budget...and without dirtying my entire kitchen.

Enter the grill.

Now, grilling is not my thing. Perhaps it's the lack of a Y chromosome, perhaps it's because I had a person WITH a Y chromosome around for so long. Not sure, doesn't really matter. I am grill-challenged.

My main problem is the grill is VERY unforgiving. Turn the flame (yeah, I have a gas grill, sorry) up to high, food burns. Leave it on too long, food burns. Put it on the wrong rack, food burns.

My poor kids ate more charred dinners the past two summers as I was trying to refine my grilling skills.

Tonight, however, I got it. I went to my local Harris Teeter, and bought a zuccini, an ear of corn, and a couple of steaks (they only came in packages of two or more). Went home, lit the grill, gave Tucker a potty break, came back and got the corn on the grill, then rubbed the steaks. I let them sit for a bit while I took the trash out and prepped the zuccini, then they went on.

And here's the trick (for me, at least). SET THE FLIPPIN' TIMER!!!!!!

Yep, I need a timer to remind me to go flip/turn/look at/otherwise manipulate the food on my grill or I'll char it beyond all recognition. But I've learned this, now, and accept it about myself.

So, yeah, timer went off, steaks got flipped, zukes got put on, and timer got reset. A few minutes later, and dinner was done:

YUM

Total dirty dishes? Two plates (one to eat off of, one to bring the things in from the grill), two knives, a fork, and a wine glass.

Total cost? $6.68 (but, to be honest, I already had the wine.)

Yeah, Baby!!!!

What an odd lunch

Here's what I'm having for lunch today:

• A small mixed greens salad with broccoli, cauliflour, celery, radishes and carrots
• a small scoop of pasta salad
• a small scoop of chicken salad
• a small scoop of egg salad

Not sure WHY those were the things on Harris Teeter's salad bar that appealed to me, but they were!

Peter the Carnivore

Last night was Prime Rib night at The Carolina Club, so Kathy invited the kids and I to go after their choir rehearsal. It's a yummy dinner: a HUGE slice of prime rib, mashed potatoes, and a vegetable medley, plus either soup or salad and a glass of wine.

My kids LOVE prime rib, so rather than ordering off the kids menu, they ordered that (sans wine, of course).

So, our dinners came, and I will repeat, these were HUGE slices. Easily 3/4 of a pound, maybe more, an inch thick and bigger than half the dinner plate. Huge.

Grace ate a fair amount for an 8 year old; probably about 1/4 of the entire hunk. Kathy and I each ate about half ours, give or take.

Peter ate the entire thing.

THE. ENTIRE. THING.

Now, granted, he did not eat his veggies or potatoes (did eat his salad, though). Ang, he apparently did not eat much of his lunch -- he's been fighting a cold, so his taste buds are off, and what appealed to him in the morning while he was making his lunch just didn't do it at lunchtime.

But still.

He ate THE ENTIRE THING!

Oh, and he took a primerib sandwich for lunch today, made from my leftovers! Cause, yeah, a POUND of prime rib just isn't enough...

That's my boy -- carnivore extrordinaire!

Your beer, Mr. President

I was in Cary tonight, and went to Tyler's Taproom, one of the Triangle's best places for beer. They have an excellent beer list; tons of interesting microbrews, frequently on draft.

My first choice was a Big Boss (local brewery) beer, but they were out. So, I went with the Ale 2009 from Ommegang Brewery in NY -- one of my favorite breweries, in general, and this beer sounded tasty.

Plus, it was brewed in celebration of Barak Obama's innauguration, and It's working name was Obamagang!

And, yes, for the record, it WAS tasty!

So, Mr. President, your beer:

Nom, nom, nom

Most days I try to pack my lunch. It's cheaper and healthier, both good things.

Some days I don't, but I know EXACTLY what I want for lunch. Not sure how it happens, but around 11:30 or so, the exact meal just pops into my head and announces itself. This is usually followed by an IM to Kathy along the lines of "Oooooh, I want Thai for lunch. Wanna go?"

And, yes then there are the times that I'm hungry, but don't know what I want, and just grab some random thing to eat. Usually OK, but nothing exciting.

Then there are days like today; didn't know what I wanted, but went to the grocery store, and somehow decide on a Peanut Butter, Banana and Honey sammich. With carrots on the side, and some milk.

A very Elementary school kinda lunch, but somehow, it was EXACTLY what I wanted! It was SO good, and I'm now very happy. Plus I still have carrots to nibble on this afternoon!

Nom, nom, nom....

Oh, you mean FOLLOW the directions

Tonight I had what I thought was a pretty good dinner menu, all things considered: My kids were staying with me (snow days, icy roads, etc, so their Dad and I did a reworking of this weekand swapped nights), I hadn't been to the store, etc. I decided we'd have Brats, a random veggie, and for a new trick, potato dumplings.

Now, the recipe for potato dumplings was pretty simple, and it allowed me to use my new favorite kitchen gadget, a potato ricer (Christmas present from A). Ricers are COOL! They're like the old Playdough Barber Shop kits that I coveted as a kid but never got. (Har humph).

The only tricky part of the recipe was that the dumplings wanted to be chilled before being cooked. Now, this was a spur of the minute dinner, and I didn't really have time to chill things. Plus, I've cooked enough to know that recipes are more like....guidelines. So I ignored that bit of the instructions, and popped the dumplings into the water.

And, when the rest of the dinner was done and I went to get the dumplings, I had a lovely pot of gruel!

Um, yeah. Apparently they DO mean follow all the directions!

Yay A!

Adrianne and I are both totally addicted to the Cake Wrecks website. Love it.

I've never yet gotten the nerve up to send in a potential wreck, but Adrianne has.

And today, she made Cake Wrecks!!!

To be fair, it wasn't a wreck; every Sunday Jen does Sunday Sweets where she shows examples of truly beautiful cakes; of late she's taken to asking her Wreckporters to send in pictures of truly beautiful cakes that adhere to a certain them. The pic A sent in was for a Fairies and Castles theme.

What fun! Perhaps I'll actually have to TAKE a picture of the various Harris Teeter wrecks I see, rather than just thinking about it....

Ouch!

I took a sick day today because Grace was sick (mild fever, headache, tummy ache, seems to be better now, but we'll check the temp in the morning).

Anyway, you'd think I'd've gotten a lot done. But mainly I played games and watched TV all day, until suddenly it was 5:30 and I had to get Peter to choir. And then, of course, I sat around some MORE because I couldn't think of what I wanted for dinner, till suddenly it was time to pick Peter UP from choir, and still no dinner made.

When Grace and I got out of the car to pick up Peter, suddenly I could smell pancakes, so after a quick trip to the store to get some supplies, I came home and made blueberry pancakes.

The pancakes were yummy, but there are times when I'm amazed that I've actually lived on my own, cooking for myself and others at least part of the time, for about 20 years now. I periodically seem to lack some basic cooking safety knowledge.

Like, if you're wiping out a pan that has hot oil in it, and some hot oil drips from the paper towel onto your hand, DON'T grab the paper towel, sodden with burning hot oil, with your other hand.

Dang, oil burns!

My Goodness, this woman could take over the world!

I've blogged before about one of my favorite sites: Cake Wrecks. Great site, very funny, and full of cautionary photos for those of us who get a little creative with their kids' birthday cakes. It's written by a woman named Jen (no last name), who is, without a doubt, one of the funniest people I've ever read.

And, apparently, has enough of a following she could take over the WORLD (please read in your best Brain impersonation).

Yesterday she posted about being a finalist for a 2008 Weblog Award for Best Food Blog. At the time, 1,520 total votes had been cast, and Jen was in second place with 383.

Today, when I voted? 12,116 votes cast, and Jen's in first place with 10,172 votes.

Dang! Barak should've hired THIS woman to run his campaign!

(BTW: go here and vote for Jen!)

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Overstuffed

I love office pot-lucks, but now I'm terribly overstuffed, and need a nap like you wouldn't believe!

Oddest breakfast experience ever...

Or, at least in a really long time.

So, I (sadly) woke up about 7 this morning; David and his crew didn't get rolling till later; not really sure when, other than they didn't call me saying they were ready for breakfast till 10 or so.

We'd gotten a recommendation for a place near the hotel that had good pancakes, crepes, etc, so headed there, not even thinking that they might be closed.

But, of course, they were.

Had we been thinking, we'd've gone across the street to the Whole Foods, but sadly, we weren't. We did, though, see and interesting place just a few stores down; the sign said Maria's Cafe and Bakery. But it also had some Chinese characters on the storefront. We immediately christened it "The Chinese Italian Cafe and Bakery"; we went over, and they were indeed open, so we went in.

There was, without a doubt, the most GORGEOUS array of pastries I've ever seen in the display cases. We considered getting an assortment and calling THAT breakfast, but they also had table service, so we sat down.

They had a very, um, eclectic menu; some french toast, some sandwiches, lo mein, omelets, noodle soups...And for some reason, all the omelets had peas in them.

So we ordered; I got a ham, onion, mushroom and pea omelet. It came with fries (I'm not sure I've ever had fries for breakfast, but I suppose it's not THAT much different than home fries). The french toast was deep fried, rather than grilled. The omelet was fine (hard to screw up an omelet, and I kinda liked the peas).

But I'm kinda thinking we should've just gotten the pastries....

The real reason telecommuting is a bad idea

When you telecommute and you have a craving for a big bag of candy corn and succumb to said craving, you wind up eating it all yourself.

When you work in an office and buy a big bag of candy corn (and a cute little Halloween themed bowl to put it in!), your colleagues help you eat it, and it's gone in a day or two!

World's most expensive pizza

We have a new Wednesday night routine: Grace goes to To Shin Do from 5 to 5:45, while she's there Peter and I go to Amante's pizza and eat dinner, and then get her something to go. When she's done, we head to church so I can do bells at 6:15, but by the time we're home, everyone is all fed and happy!

So, tonight Peter and I ordered; Peter usually gets a build your own pizza. The total was more than I expected, but I didn't really think about it.

Until we sat down, and Peter told me what he got: a small pizza with bacon, ham, meatballs, black olives, green olives and kalamata olives.

Yep, that's six toppings. Six.

The pizza itself is only $5.25. The toppings are a buck each. Yep, his toppings cost more than his pizza!!!!

Here's a picture of the monstrosity...

C is for Cookie!

That's good enough for me!

Yep, it's that time again. At least twice a year, I make Oatmeal Scotchies. When I was a kid, these were my favorite cookies, and my Nana used to make them for me all the time.

Sadly, not being retired, I can't make them all the time (plus I'd be big as a house if I did!). I've always made them occasionally, though, and one year when I made them, Peter simply had a fit. He LOVED them.

At that point, they became the official School Birthday Celebration cookie, so now, at least twice a year, I make up a batch of Oatmeal Scotchies and take 'em to school.

So, today was Grace's turn. She helped make them last night, and took the birthday kid's perogative of having the first taste. Last April Peter added a new twist to the birthday shenanigans; he requested a Wendy's lunch, so Grace of course wanted one today (kids cheeseburger and fries and chocolate milk)

The kids in her class loved the cookies, and now they're in my office, tempting me!

Thank goodness for cake in the breakroom!

I had a doctor's appointment this afternoon, so packed myself a theoretically yummy lunch to eat at my desk; a Morrocan vegetarian stew (frozen dinner, packaged under the Moosewood name), yogurt, corn and black bean chips, and a Coke Zero.

When I got in, I pretty quickly went to the breakroom to put my lunch away and heat up my breakfast oatmeal.

Then, an hour or so later, I walked by the breakroom and saw what looked to be a real, homemade chocolate cake (note: Like a good Southerner, I consider chocolate cake to be yellow cake with chocolate icing. Chocolate cake and chocolate icing is Devil's Food Cake. Sadly, I've not managed to pass this along to my children).

Now, it was only about 9:30 am when I saw the cake; way too early in my world for chocolate. But, even BAD food tends to disappear from our breakroom quickly; good food is gone in seconds. And there wasn't much cake left.

So, I cut myself a small slice to have later, and took it back to my desk.

Lunchtime came around, and I went to the breakroom (cake was LONG since gone), got my Morrocan veggie stew out of the freezer, and zapped it, then went back to my desk. Sadly, the stew was very, very watery, but I had some individual servings of brown rice in my desk, so I went BACK to the breakroom to zap one of those.

Rice in hand, I came back to my desk, mixed it with the stew, sat down to eat, and suddenly realized that I hadn't gotten the rest of my lunch.

So, I went BACK to the break room (3rd time), opened the fridge ....

And no lunch!

I opened the other fridge. No lunch there, either.

Now, lunches have been known to disappear from work fridges before, but lets be honest; all that was in this one was a Coke Zero, a bag of corn chips, and a raspberry yogurt. Not exciting, plus I work with nice folks; I really didn't think someone would take it.

But it wasn't there!

Finally, I looked on the counter NEXT to the fridges. Yep, there it was. The Coke and chips were fine, but after sitting out for 4 hours I didn't think I'd better risk the yogurt. Which, had it not been for the cake I'd picked up earlier, would've meant no dessert to my lunch!

Thank goodness for found cake!

Well, that was yummy!

Peter had a friend sleep over last night. Because Grace is incapable of remembering to turn off her alarm, the oh-so-lovely strains of High School Musical II woke 3 of the 4 of us up at 6:30 am (yeah, not only does she not turn her alarm off, she also doesn't wake up to it when it does go off...).

Anyway, the boys apparently were bright-eyed and bushy-tailed; I could hear them talking (once I turned of the blaring high schoolers), so I promptly shut my door and ignored them. I periodically heard my door open as Peter peeked in to see if I was awake, finally at 8 I took pity on them and got up!

The boys wanted pancakes for breakfast, so I made up a batch, and cooked a bunch for them (with chocolate chips, of course). The rest of the batch I made plain; I love chocolate, but not for breakfast.

I didn't just want plain old maple syrup, though.

I had a bunch of bananas that were getting a little ripe, so I took one of those, sauteed it with some butter, cinnamon, vanilla and nutmeg, plus a healthy dollop of whiskey (yes, I see the contradiction in not wanting chocolate, but being just fine with whiskey for breakfast!). The bananas got all nice and soft and warm and yummy! I dumped them over my pancakes, and poof! A yummy breakfast!

I can hear Kathy cringing now, though....

Can I cry over spilled sauerkruat?

I had a yummy lunch today. Kielbasa, sauerkraut, German potato salad, and green beans.

It was supposed to be my lunch yesterday, but I got a better offer and went out to lunch. But I was really looking forward to it today; I'd kinda like to leave early, so eating at my desk is a good thing. Plus, it was yummy!

So, I had to run some errands, and on my way back in stopped by the breakroom and heated up my lunch. I saw my Grand-Boss there, and he asked me to do something, so I was scooting back to my desk, lunch in hand, mind on my task....

When something totally bizarre happened and I dropped my yummy lunch! Sauerkraut EVERYWHERE!!!!

And now I have no lunch. :-(

Lunch Of Champions

Cheese Nips and a Propel....Yummmmmmm