Steak on a stick

I think that's all we need to say.

No Knead Bread

Click on the title of this post for the recipe. It really is amazingly easy. The only trick is mixing the water, flour and yeast the night before you want the bread so it can rest for 12-20 hours...the other trick is having a nice heavy pot with a lid to bake it in...I use my large Pampered Chef stoneware bowl, but you could also use cast iron, or enameled cast iron.

This was the loaf I made for dinner with our neighbors on Friday night...yummmm...

I still LOOOOOVE the bread from Little T (right up the street from us), but this less expensive option does not make me feel deprived at all!

What we're eating

I've been inspired by Annie over at Sensible Living who has been sharing what she cooks, what tools she uses in her kitchen, etc. I also took a great class called "Hello Pantry, So Long Supermaket" from Lost Arts Kitchen a few weeks ago, and while I'm not ready to buy 50 lbs of flour and other grains just yet, I do want to reduce my grocery bill and trips to the store...so with that in mind I planned a month of meals, did one BIG shop at the less expensive grocery store (WinCo) at the beginning of the month, and plan to do smaller trips for produce/meats/etc. at New Seasons/Trader Joes/Limbo to supplement during the month. I'm really looking forward to the upcoming BIG farmers markets...we'll see how this changes things.

Chris at Lost Arts talked about how she cooked one type of meat each week (here's her blog), and then makes a variation of things each week - roast night, taco night, pasta night, stir fry night, you get the picture (and I couldn't find the exact post where she wrote about this, so I don't claim I remembered it exactly right...). While I would like to do that, I just crave more variety...and one thing I really liked about Chris is she said to do what works for you and your family -- there's not just one answer.

We're still eating a little more meat than I would like...and I'd also like to incorporate more fish...but it's a start. I'm hoping to put all these recipes into Google Documents and link them to the calendar at some point, but only have a few in so far (if I have it, the link to the recipes is below the meal title, you might have to copy and paste it). Or you can scroll down on the blog and get the recipe there...if there's a recipe that looks really intriguing, let me know and I'll get it done first. I had to make the calendar narrow to fit in the blog, but you can click on a recipe and it will show the whole thing.

Oh, and there are some "blank" days to make up for times that we'll just eat leftovers, or have friends over and make special dinners, or...gasp...go out to eat. Gotta have some fun and spontaneity!

The chocto-pus returns

This was the celebratory ("Because I'm reading now") cake we made with Sabine.


Vivian's been into face painting lately. No frilly designs for this little one. She says she's a wolf. And enjoy the long hair while you can, as she chopped of two nice sized chunks right in the front the other night...I think a chin-length-bob is in her future. We might have to check out the "International School of Beauty" that's around the corner from our house.


Ben and Jerry's...two ways. Vivian sure likes her chocolate icecream...everywhere.

Beauty and the beach

We decided sort of last minute to go to the coast today...at 10:45 Sabine said, "Yes, let's go" so we made a break for it and got out of the house by 11:36. We were at Seaside, OR by 1:00. It was really windy in Portland so we were a little concerned that it would be cold, cold, cold there, so had brought winter jackets and snow pants for the girls, and lots of warm stuff for us, too. Turned out it was BEAUTIFUL!





The girls played in their leotard (Sabine) and bathing suit (Vivian)...for well over an hour until they got cold. We hung out with Dave and Karmin who were attempting to gather (harvest?) clams.



We then did some kite playing...




Then general hanging out. Catalina started digging (to find a comfortable resting spot?)...and kept it going till she had made a 12' long trail in the sand...looked like some sort of strange sand snake had come in...

We then took the short drive to Cannon Beach and at clam chowder at Mo's. Yum.

Christmas dinner...

...Pacific North West style!


The girls and I went to New Seasons (the grocery store 2 blocks away) and got 3 Dungeness Crabs (it's crab season...for some reason I'm reminded of Elk Season, but I think Crab wins, hands down...). The woman at the counter, Dana, asked if I wanted her to prep them (are you kidding, free kitchen help? Hell yes!) we watched, and the girls asked lots of questions. Vivian was most concerned that the crabs would pinch her, but Dana assured her that they were indeed, dead. She even showed the girls the heart of one of them (did you know a Dungeness Crab heart is about 1" and shaped like a star? I didn't either...).


Vivian, doing her crab impression.


Sabine, preparing to dig in.


The remains...I think I'm going to try making a stock out of them. We're having crab cakes tonight as we had about 1.5 cups of leftover crab. Bret did the dirty work of getting the rest of the meat out while I watched Prince Caspian with the girls the second time that day -- he watched it the first time. It's the 2nd in the Narinia series -- just found out Disney is bailing on the 3rd movie...not enough $ to be made, apparently, so they're looking for other backers...anyone? Great movie, we've also enjoyed the first one -- read the book aloud to Sabine first, and she wanted to see the movie...thought it would be too scary, but no.

Pecan pie inspriation

Bret showed me this after the mosiac class Kristin and I took at DIY Collage.


Do you see it?


Not yet?


How about now?

Sabine helped with the pecan placement. Thanks, Baker Al, for the outstanding crust, and for teaching me the secret to pizza dough...I'll post that soon.

The cutest bananas ever

Ok, so the fruit basket got tugged on and broke, bruising almost all of the baby bananas (so they ended up in a smoothie) but really, who wouldn't want to buy these petite fruits?

Thanksgiving

Kristin and I walked the 2 blocks to New Seasons and picked up our meal in the Radio Flyer.


Vivian, finally satisfied with the size of her piece of pie.


Vivian and Acacia enjoying said pie.


Sabine with her table decorations. Move over, Martha.

Holy Crepes!

I hadn't eaten a crepe since my first winter in Jackson Hole (1992, if you must ask), when the unfortunate folks who, in marketing their "Tram Car Crepery" forgot to put an expiration date on their "Free Crepe with Coupon" that was printed in the paper. I rode the bus to work every morning that winter, and newspapers typically had holes in them where the crepe coupon was printed. I must admit, I made many of those holes, hoarded more than my fair share of coupons, and ate many-a-crepe on my way to work at the Kinderschule (the Swiss-Mountain-Chalet-Inspired name for ski-daycare. Now, Jackson Hole markets itself as a Western Mountain Town...so the crepery is a thing of the past...sigh). I thought crepes were exotic, a food I never experienced growing up in the mid-west...and didn't realize how easy they are to make...

Ok, so it was Sunday morning (I had woken up at 5 am, and after tossing and turning for almost an hour, decided to go downstairs and just be awake...the crepes recipe said to let it rest an hour before cooking, so this was perfect)...the pictures aren't great, but take my word for it...crepes are both easy and yummy. For Alton Brown's recipe, see the "What we've been eating" section below right on this blog. (BTW, I still recommend the Turkey Meatball Escarole (I use chard) soup...we've had it multiple times since moving.)

I must admit, I was inspired by Amy over at Angry Chicken for the crepes...(as with many other things, but only just recently unpacked the sewing machine.)

I was feeling exceptionally lazy, so I threw some frozen blueberries, maple syrup and butter in the pan I had cooked the crepes in...and made some kind of filling...served them with full fat (why would I use any other kind?) yummy yogurt. I cooked them in a stainless steel pan, just put butter in before each crepe. They slid out beautifully. Next time, however, I would make the filling in a small sauce pan.

This one's for you, Mary!

Made bacon this morning -- the one on the right has brown sugar sprinkled on it (yummmmm). Cooked both of them at 350 for about 30 minutes (some of the thicker pieces needed a bit longer). Friends Julie and Shawn said they went to a wedding this summer where one of the appetizers was a similar type of "sweetened" bacon -- the cooked slices were served upright in a glass at the bar. Might just be my next dinner party appetizer, when are you coming up, Ms. Gold?

Busy summer updates...

Upright daddy horse...


Vivian at the bike rallly...


and Sabine at the bike rally...


More Otter Pops -- the 2nd 100 of the summer go a bit slower than the 1st 100!

Crafts, watermelon

Sabine and Vivian painting the pieces for a game we're making for the LIFE is Good Conference raffle.


This is a "birthday cake" Sabine made to have a teddybear birthday party with our neighbor kids - Atticus (aka Musky) and Oliver.


Watermelon eating...frog style.

Some things just look alike...

To an almost 6 year old girl...

This is chicken that is defrosting...



This is bread with powdered sugar on top...


Fortunately I caught Sabine before she put former in her mouth...she just thought it looked like, well, bread with powdered sugar. Who can blame her?

Dinner swap RULES!

I just got invited by my friends Jen and Polly (both mamas I know from when we did our cooperative playgroup together) to be in their dinner swap. I did a dinner swap for over a year with friends Julie and Hillary when Sabine and Vivian were very little,, and it was a godsend.

If you're unfamiliar with the concept, here's how it works. Find a willing friend (or two). It helps, but is probably not completely necessary, if you have a similar # of folks in your family, with sort of similar eating tendencies. If you're lucky enough to have 3 families involved, this is how it works:

Night 1 - family 1 cooks - family 2 picks up and delivers to family 3 (and for themselves)
Night 2 - family 2 cooks - family 3 picks up and delivers to family 1 (and for themselves)
Night 3 - family 3 cooks - family 1 picks up and delivers to family 2 (and for themselves)

So...you cook one night, you deliver one night, and one night you have totally off! Not only do you get to sample new cooking, you have fewer dishes overall (only one night to clean up from cooking), you've built community, and have more time for other things (like writing on your blog...).

Real Simple ran an article on "cooking exchanges" a while ago...check it out for some ideas. FYI, we came up with a budget of $10-$12/family/meal...i.e. for each night you cook for dinner swap, you should plan on spending $30-$36.

FYI, this week, among other things, my family and I enjoyed:

* marinated pork tenderloin, steamed/seasoned asparagus, mashed potatoes
* meat loaf (with chopped veggies), carrots/sugar peas/broccoli, potatoes
* breaded chicken with onions/red peppers/mushrooms, brown butter balsamic asparagus, couscous

WITH leftovers.

And I had time to tell you all this. :)

(Can you guess which one I cooked? I'll post one of my recipes from this week's dinner swap soon...)

Fairy cooking

The inspiration (I have to admit, some of the recipes in this book are strange...just don't taste great, but it's good for ideas!)



One tube Marzipan (which Vivian loved eating...I think I remember my grandmother Mimi loved this stuff too...)


The result (penny on plate is to show scale). Sabine said we were getting ready for Halloween, hence the pumpkins. The other objects are snakes (well, duh!). Rattlers, to be exact. She said she wished Steve Irwin was alive so he could see them.