Zero Photos, One Rant and 1/2 a recipe

Arrrrgh! I am so angry with myself! I left my digital camera in the car that my husband took to work tonight. Arrrgh! I made omelets tonight and they were perfect. Now because of my carelessness I don't have any proof that I cooked an egg. *sigh*

One last part of this rant, how do all these photoblogs get such great light? My house was built in 1920 so it's cold and dark, while that's great in the summer, I have to go outside to take a decent picture and I can't do that because of all the rain. Don't get me started on the rain....

*if you haven't read my blog before, I can't cook eggs if my life depended on it.

For the filling of my omelet I roasted 2 shallots; cut in half. 3 tomatoes; cut into quarters and some mushrooms tossed with olive oil and salt and pepper at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Stirring a few times during roasting. After roasting, I put roasted vegetables in a food processor until roughly chopped. Add to cooking omelet with a hand full of spinach and extra sharp cheddar cheese. It was so good I might try making it again.

We Have A Winner!

Yes, we have a winner! First, I wanted to say thank you for everyone who participated in our crazy contest. I had so much fun that next Wednesday I'm having another contest and the prize will be customized for you!

Here's how I judged the contest. I asked my husband and the kids which one's they liked the best and which one sounded the most like me. Since we couldn't just pick one... We also have three honorable mentions. They will receive a $5.00 gift certificate to Starbucks. I feel like I get to announce the winner for best picture at the Academy Awards. Yes, I am well aware that I'm a nerdy, geeked out freak.

First honorable mention goes to Meg with "You. I've decided to give cannibalism a try. Who wants to be the appetizer?" I laughed so hard I nearly fell out of my chair!

Second honorable mention goes to Shell for "Pickled Snakes Hips" Who knew snakes had hips? It was perfect in it's randomness.

Third honorable mention is my husbands favorite, Mayberry Magpie for..."What makes you think Mom's in charge of dinner? Do I look like I went to college, then worked my butt off for 20 years for a despotic boss, then slaved for three more years to get a master's degree so that I could be in charge of dinner? Did I raise you to swallow ever gender stereotype perpetuated by a patriarchal society? Do you think . . ." That rant deserves to be in bold. I feel your pain.

*drum roll please... the winner is jack's utter lack of surprise with.....

"Ask your dad!"

My kids laughed and laughed. They thought it was pretty damn hysterical. I honestly thought they were going to pick Undomestic Diva's "Shit. I knew I was forgetting something." or Janelle's "Skata mi fleedes. (Phoenetic Greek spelling) Translation is Shit with Fleas." or Goop's "Whatever is marked January in the refrigerator...and take that thong back to ECM....it's not a slingshot." but "ask your dad" was their favorite. Maybe it's because I have never said that before and if I did they would be momentarily speechless or maybe it's because if I did say it the little sous chefs know there isn't going to be dinner.

Again thanks for playing along. I have found a lot of new blogs to read. Now for the winners...Meg, Shell, Magpie and Jack please can you e-mail me your names and addresses to gkrs5@aol.com so I can send off your prizes by Friday. Check in with the other blogs to see where the thong is going to next.

List of blog winners:

*undomestic diva

*evil chef mom

*the lexophile aka jack's utter lack of surprise

Update...

I'll be posting the winner of the "thong" at 10:00 am pst.

When Life Gives You Meyer Lemons....

What.................................................................................

.................................................... to do..................................................................................... with all these lemons?

You Know You Want It....

Don't you want to win a Starbucksaholic Thong? Fill in the blank....

Kids:"Hey Mom! What's for dinner?"

Evil Chef Mom:"................."

*you have until tonight 11:59pm pst.

The Thong! contest update

I have just uped the ante! This picture was taken today at 10:45 at the Miracle Mile Starbucks in Stockton, California. Yes, that's an actual employee. They had a great sense of humor about it and thought this was a great idea. If you guys at my friendly neighborhood Starbucks are reading this blog, thanks for taking the time to pose with the thong.

Contest! It's The Traveling Starbucks Thong!

So here's the deal... about two weeks ago I won a "guess the photo!" contest over at Undomestic Diva's blog. My prize was the thong you see in the photo. Dubious novelty underwear, you gotta love it! I e-mailed Megan "undomestic diva" and asked her how she felt about trying out a little chain letter, social experiment, meme, where's the thong? type deal. She said sounds fun. Here's what I'm proposing...

If the winner of our contest has a blog.

1.) Have a contest. The thong is the prize.

2.) On your contest post, include links to all other previous "winners" and the rules so they will hopefully hold a contest to pass along the thong.

That's it!

Now if you don't have a blog, it's all good.

1.) Pass the thong around like a white elephant gift. Eventually it will get to someone who has a blog.

2.) And give us an update of where the thong is at, maybe even a picture!

We're just curious to see how many blogs it can reach. Now about my contest...

If you have read my blog (you'll know a little about this) and for you those who haven't, check out the random eats label at the bottom of this post. Here's some back story. My four kids are always asking me "what's for dinner". If I'm in the shower, they ask me. If I was covered in blood and my arm was on the floor they wouldn't call 911, they would ask me what's for dinner. I decided I didn't want to lose my sanity so I started giving them funny disgusting answers, like snake eyes and gopher guts or toilet water surprise.

My contest is for you to be Evil Chef Mom and fill in the blank...

Kids:"Hey Mom! What's for Dinner?"

ECM:"..........."

You can enter as many times as you want in the comments section. Whatever answer I think is the funniest and most creative wins! You have until Tuesday January 29 11:59 PM PST to enter and you, too, could be the winner of the Traveling Starbucks Thong.

*photo by undomestic diva

*if you want to keep the thong, by all means do!

*undomestic diva is also having a summer internet not-a-book club club. if you think this sounds like fun, let her know you're interested.

Really. Good. Soup.

I can't believe I haven't posted this recipe yet. It's that good. This is one of my favorite soups. With some cornbread, maybe a salad and my apple dessert and you have the perfect winter meal. You will feel all warm and a little piggish after eating it but who cares you can work off all the calories this spring! And besides after ticking off my kids this past Monday by feeding them soup out of a can and tater tots, I had to redeem myself.

Potato Soup:

6 medium red potatoes
4 cups water
2 small onions
6 tablespoons butter
6 tablespoons flour
crushed red pepper flakes
black pepper
6 cups of milk
2 cups shredded sharp cheddar chees

2 cups cubed cooked ham

Peel potatoes and cut into 1-inch cubes. Bring water to a boil in a pot. Add potatoes and cook until tender. Drain and reserve liquid. Set aside potatoes. Measure 2 cups cooking liquid, adding water if necessary; set aside. Peel and finely chop onions. Melt butter in a pot. Add onions to pot:cook, stirring frequently, until onion is translucent and tender. Add flour to pot; season with pepper flakes and black pepper to taste. Cook for 3-4 minutes. Add potatoes, 2 cups of cooking liquid and milk to the onions. Stir well. Add cheese and ham. Simmer over low heat for 30 minutes. Garnish with some chives, if you have them.

...wasting more time

Yippee! Tina Fey as Tinkerbell. My life is now complete.

*i've never been a big disney princess type of gal. as a brunette, i hated that they were all blond and needed a guy to save them, bleech. i love belle and mulan... smart, feisty, strong and always fought back. but i'm loving the new tinkerbell.

...wasting time

Find out who's your candidate for president that best represents your beliefs. glassbooth.org

Cinnamilk!

Cinnamilk: Defined by Urban Dictionary.

cinnamilk: The remaining sugary deliciousness in your bowl of cereal after the cinnamon toast crunch is gone. Essentially a suspension of milk, sucrose, and awesome.

Rather than pour more cereal into the bowl, he drank the cinnamilk.

I read. No, I don't think you get it. I read a lot. I have read 6 books since the new year. My husband says to his friends, "To keep her happy, I don't have to buy her diamonds. I just have to keep her in books and music." Wiser words were never spoken.

Last year, at my daughter's high school a book called "Stupid and Contagious." was making the rounds. I had already read it months before a bunch of uber-smart, uber-hip teenagers started reading it. Does that make me a trend-setter, a cool mom, or a mom with an arrested developmental reading disorder? Don't answer.

The author of "Stupid and Contagious" is Caprice Crane. Get this: Caprice is the daughter of Tina Louise, Ginger from Gilligan Island. Even though this isn't at all true, I'd like to believe Caprice's dad is Thurston Howell the Third. Since I have read this book, two years ago, I cannot get this image out of my head. Sick, I know.

Back to the point of this blog. The male character, Brady, has an invention for cinnamilk. (see above definition) He tries to sell it to Starbucks, hilarity ensues. (read the book)

I totally got it and wanted to try cinnamilk. So did Katie, sous chef one. If you read this blog and stuck with it, well I get the feeling you might just get the whole cinnamilk thing too. This is the closest approximate order at Starbucks, but I'm warning you it's extremely rich. I can't even finish a tall.

Order a cinnamon dolce cream base frappuccino. Yummy cinnamilk!

What's For Dinner?

Kids:"Hey Mom! What's for dinner?"

ECM:"Toilet Water Surprise."

Dirty Little Secrets and Dirty Little Lies...

I love my husband, dearly, even after I out his dirty little secret on the Internet. My husband doesn't cook very often, hell he doesn't even come into the kitchen when I'm in there. It could be because one time I called him "my bitch" while he was helping me prep something. If I reflect back on this I wouldn't want to come in my kitchen either. When he watches cooking shows he says,"Mmmm, that looks good. You should make that tonight." But mind you it's 6 in the evening and I've already started dinner. After one time too many of hearing that, I snapped back saying something like, "You need to learn how to cook." He took me seriously. He started watching Tyler's Ultimate and wait for it because here's the secret... Rachel Ray's 30 minute meals. Now you don't have to like Rachel Ray but I'd rather eat her food than Sandra Dee, Nee, Lee or whatever the hell her name is. But that's not the point, the point is my husband on occasion cooks for me and that's a refreshing change of pace. So here is what we had for dinner and it's quite good.

Knocks: (Rachel Ray 30 Minute Meals) adapted by my husband

1 (16-ounce) package (4 links) knockwurst
1 tablespoon butter
1 pound sauerkraut, rinsed and drained
1 teaspoon caraway seeds
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon whole peppercorns
1 cup dark German beer
Spicy mustard

Pierce the casings of knockwurst and arrange in medium skillet. Add 1 inch of water, bring to a simmer and warm wursts through. Remove from the pan. Drain the skillet and add butter. Melt butter over medium heat. Cut each knockwurst into 1/3 and add back to the pan to crisp casings. Add sauerkraut to the pan, sprinkle in caraway, add bay leaf and peppercorns. Pour the beer into the skillet. When the beer comes to a bubble reduce heat to simmer.

Parsley-Dill Red Potatoes: (Rachel Ray's 30 Minute Meals)

2 1/2 pounds medium to large red potatoes
3 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup chopped parsley leaves
1/4 cup chopped dill
Salt and pepper

Using a peeler or a paring knife, peel a 1/2-inch strip around the circumference of each potato. Fill a large saucepan with cold water. Add the potatoes and place them over high heat. Boil potatoes until fork tender, about 15 to 20 minutes. Drain and place the potatoes back into the pan on the burner for 30 seconds to dry them out. Add the butter and toss in the herbs. Season the potatoes with salt and pepper.

*here's the dirty little lie... I implied he cooked this tonight for me and that's not true. He's working tonight and I cooked dinner.

"It's Perfect!" The Critic Exclaimed

I made dessert. Yeah, yeah, yeah... big deal, you're thinking. It's a big deal when the critics say it's perfect.

ECM's Perfect Baked Apple Dessert: (serves 2)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2 Granny Smith Apples, peeled, cored and cut into big chunks
juice of 1/2 a lemon, it doesn't have to be squeezed dry just give it a squirt
1 1/2 teaspoons flour
1/3 cup of brown sugar
salt, cinnamon and freshly ground nutmeg to taste
2 tablespoons of butter

Mix everything, except the butter, together in a bowl. When thoroughly mixed, divide and place into two ramekins. *My ramekins are 2 1/2 inches deep by 4 inches wide. Place a tablespoon of butter on the top of each apple filling.

For the topping:

1/3 cup of flour
1/3 cup of brown sugar
in-between 1/4 to 1/3 cup of room temp butter

Place all flour, sugar and butter into a bowl. Blend with a fork until the butter is in little pea size bits. Divide and place topping on the apple filling, pushing the topping down onto the filling. Bake for 30 minutes on the center rack at 350 degrees.

Serve with a cold glass of milk, of course. Some vanilla ice cream would be good as well. I served the dessert with some barely sweetened, barely whipped cream.

It was all gone. Except some of the melted brown sugar you see in the picture, it wasn't really caramel per se, but it was damn close. When I discussing what could be done to make it better. Katie sous chef numero uno said,"DO. NOT. TOUCH. IT. IT'S PERFECT!"

Wow....

You Can Never Win

That picture right there sums up my children at the moment. Because we had soup and tots last tonight. They complain when you make something fancy, they complain when you make soup out of a can. Oh well, you can never win.

*to redeem myself, I'm going to half to make some homemade soup. Real Soon. Like Today.

What's For Dinner?

Kids:"Hey Mom! What's for dinner?"

ECM:" Pickled Frog Brains and Moldy Leaves."

Lazy Sunday

It was a lazy (boring, if you ask my kids) Sunday around here. So boring in fact, that they started taking pictures with flowers in Katie's wellies. It did make a good picture, though.

I did find out that my husband loves me more than his TV only when I'm around. Ahh, the power of HD and football, there's no way I can compete! I should put my wedding ring on the remote and be done with it.

Yesterday was football and it didn't matter to my husband that his team was out of a playoff berth like 3 games into the regular season. Rich's game plan was "We were going to watch football all day and eat nachos. I'll even go get the stuff AND I'll even help you make them." Cool beans!

So we made nachos. Ground beef, refried beans, homemade guacamole (holy guacamole! 1 Haas avocado costs a $1.49), homemade salsa, sour cream, green onion, olives, tortilla chips and Velveeta cheese. Yup, Velveeta cheese. There I said it... Velveeta cheese. Yuck, I hate pretty much all pasteurized cheese products and especially Velveeta but it seems to be a must have for nachos. The trade off for the Velveeta cheese is having Rich in the kitchen. I actually taught him how to make salsa. He didn't understand why his wasn't as good as mine. I tried to explain that it's all in the tomatoes. Red, fresh, ripe, farmers market summer tomatoes will always taste better than pinky-green, winter greenhouse ones shipped to the grocery store. He didn't buy it, he thought I said it to make him feel better.

I also made brownies for dessert. After I made the batter, I melted 1 cup of Hershey's Special Dark Chocolate Chips and 1 cup of Skippy Creamy Peanut Butter together and mixed it into the batter. Then baked as normal. It made an incredible dense, rich, almost fudge like brownie.

Brownies

1 2/3 cups of sugar

3/4 cup of butter, melted

2 tablespoons water

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cocoa

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

Stir together sugar, butter and water in a large bowl. Stir in eggs and vanilla extract. Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl; stir into sugar mixture. Spread into greased 13x9 baking pan.

Bake into a preheated 350 degree oven for 18 to 25 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out slightly sticky. Cool Completely in pan.(Don't eat right away because you'll burn the roof of your mouth! I do this every single time without fail and irritate my daughter to no end. Evil Chef Mom strikes again!)

Everybody Clap Your Hands!

This commercial makes me happy every single time I see it. I'll just ignore the fact that it's a McDonald's ad.

leftovers....

I really wish it was spring.

Krysta's Cliff Notes

Finally, I finished! Normally it only takes me 2-5 days to finish a book but not this one. Nope, this one almost took me two weeks. Maybe because I had a mission to build, a family to take care of, a lowly blog to write or maybe because he writes so densely!(if you have read his books you hopefully know what I mean) I'm not sure I want to give you a review or a synopsis or whatever. I think you should have to go through the pain and the scariness yourself.

After I read The Omnivore's Dilemma, I really started thinking critically about the food me and my family ate. I had always thought about it but didn't give it that under the microscope, CSI treatment. Even though we still have fast food, instead of maybe once every couple weeks, it's now once every couple of months. And I still feel guilty, Thanks a lot, Mr. Pollan.

Why start reading another horror novel? Seriously, Barnes and Noble need to put his books under the horror genre, the self help genre and of course the food genre. Why do I need to get scared straight? I already cook 99% of my family's meals and I know I don't use high fructose corn syrup or a ton of processed food. Well good news, apparently I'm doing the right thing there.

The first half of In Defense of Food, Michael Pollen writes about how nutrients won out over food in the eyes of the FDA and the Senate Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs. This little committee in 1977 issued a little report about the Dietary Goals for the United States stating that Americans should cut down on their consumption of red meat and dairy products because they had noticed that the rates of coronary heart disease had soared since World War II. Well, I'm sure you can guess what happened next. The meat and dairy industries got involved and all hell broke loose. The report was rewritten with the motto, "Speak no more of food, only nutrients." Now the foods aren't the problem, the nutrients are the problem. Which is why the FDA can approve cloned meat as safe for consumption, as long as the nutrients are the same as the real beef, there's no problem.

Pollan also goes into about omega-6 and 3's, corn and soy, processing of whole foods to fortified foods (it's bad, it's bad, it's really, really bad!) and the calories we eat. Four crops account for 2/3 of the calories we eat. Corn: 554 calories. Soy:257. Wheat:768. Rice:91. He breaks this down like this; we historically consumed 80,000 edible species, and 3,000 have been in widespread use. We need in between 50-100 different chemical compounds and elements to be healthy. We are getting by on mostly four different processed products and that can't be good.

Are you hiding underneath your blankets, yet? Yeah, so was I but I continued reading and here's where the common sense stuff kicked in. The last half of the book goes into what and how you should eat. It is surprisingly funny and not preachy. I won't go into all of them.

1. Don't eat anything your great grandmother wouldn't recognize as food. Such as Go-Gurt. Is it a tube of toothpaste? and how in the world did yogurt get so complicated? Is it a whole food or a food product?

2. Avoid foods that make health claims.

3. Buy foods that you have ingredients you can pronounce or have less than 5 ingredients.

4. Get out of the supermarket because you won't find any high fructose corn syrup at the farmers market.

5. Regard nontraditional foods with skepticism.

6. Don't look for the magic bullet in the traditional diet.

7. Eat meals.

8. Do all your eating at a table.

9. Try not to eat alone.

10. Don't get your fuel from the same place your car does. Did you know U.S. gas stations make more money selling food and cigarettes than gasoline. And apart from milk and water it's all highly processes nonperishable snacks.

11. Cook your own food.

12. If you can, plant a garden.

The book wasn't so scary, after all. I would rather read a Michael Ruhlman or Anthony Bourdain book about food but I'm sure those are highly processed books and In Defense of Food definitely wasn't that.

*side note: Speaking of Michael Ruhlman. Ruhlman is writing a cookbook with Michael Symon, of Lola and Iron Chef America Fame.

I Actually Won Something

Over at Undomestic Diva, she held a Guess The Photo contest. Well, I received an email saying I won. I am now the dubious owner of *drum roll, please* a Starbucks thong! Go check out her site. Anybody who will give away a Starbucks thong has to have a good sense of humor and questionable taste, right? That kind of blog is right up my alley.

*photo is from undomestic diva.

The Dinner With No Name or The Breakfast Thingy

"Hey Mom. What are we having for dinner?" I can't remember who asked the question because after awhile all the sous chefs voices blend into one massive off-key chorus.

"I was thinking about making my breakfast dish." I said.

"YES!" one of the kids yelled while screaming through the house,"Mom's making that breakfast thingy."

I'm not sure how this dish even began. It doesn't even have a name to go by except for the breakfast thingy. You would think that with four pretty funny and clever kids it could get a better name like, "Mom's Totally Kick-Ass Breakfast Tostadas" but nooooooo it's called the breakfast thingy. And anyways they are not allowed to say ass, so there goes that name. Maybe it should be called the dish of many components. If you make it, feel free to call the dish whatever you want.

The Breakfast Thingy:

Warning: To make this dish you really need two people. One to cook the eggs and one to assemble and plate. Don't say I didn't warn you!

corn tortillas

refried beans (canned or make your own)

eggs

red enchilada sauce

cheddar cheese and queso cojito (grated)

black olives, finely chopped

green onion, chopped

pico de gallo

avocado, thinly sliced

crema fresca or sour cream

cilantro, finely chopped for garnish

For the corn tortillas: fry in hot oil until crispy and golden brown. I have fried them in the enchilada sauce but that's way too much of a mess. Let drain on a paper towel. Warm enchilada sauce and pour into a shallow baking dish.

For the refried beans: either open a can or make your own just keep on low heat until ready to serve.

Pico de Gallo: 5 ripe tomatoes, chopped

1 medium sized white onion, finely chopped

1 handful of cilantro, finely chopped

lime juice, to taste

salt and pepper to taste

Mix and put aside.

Cook the eggs over easy and serve over the tortillas.

How to assemble. Dip one corn tortilla into enchilada sauce. Shake off excess. Put on plate and smear a good layer of refried beans on tortilla. Add both cheeses. Repeat once more. Then put the cooked eggs on top of the tortillas and beans. Add salsa, green onions, olives, avocados. Sprinkle a little bit of queso cojito on top. Add a drizzle of crema fresca and some cilantro for garnish.

Whew! See what I mean about having two people making this dish. It wore me out just typing out the recipe. If you have a good mise-en-place, it's actually really simple. Just a lot of components. I would think it would make a great Sunday brunch dish. Sunday is coming up two days from now, I'm just saying. Hint, Hint.

Ugh!

Parents, please help your child build a California mission. No kits!

Can you guess what I have been doing the last couple of days? Meanwhile, my little chef is going to get all the credit and I get all the frustration. HELP, yeah right, it's more like DO for your child.

I'll have a post this evening with hopefully a recipe

leftovers...

I'm trying to read In Defense Of Food. Note that I said trying. But in defense of me, it's a Michael Pollen book. Like The Omnivore's Dilemma, the set-up of this book is the first 50 or so pages are all about the science and history of food, the FDA, and nutritionism and not very entertaining science and history at that! And anyways (now I'm being defensive) he lays out his whole book in the first sentence, Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

Duh! I paid money for you to tell me that?

*Ignore me, I'm cranky. He makes some good points but still...Grrr! Also does anyone have an opinion about the FDA and not labeling cloned meat when it starts to sell in stores?

What's For Dinner?

Kids:"Hey Mom! What's for dinner?"

ECM:"Gutter sludge and tossed with toenail clipping."

...and one last thing

Because I'm feeling all cranky and bitchy. I'm going to disguise this rant as my question of the week. I've been craving bagels since Saturday. So when I finally got my lazy ass to the bagel place that shall not be named but they have the words bagel and express in their name. Why do they mix my savory bagels with my sweet or plain bagels? I don't want my jalapeno-cheese bagel tasting like blueberry. AND NEITHER DOES ANYONE ELSE!

What's your food pet-peeve? Because I think I've made it pretty clear what mine is.

Yam Fries

A few days ago when I was reading The Lexophile's blog, she mentioned she had made homemade sesame/cornmeal chicken strips. I asked her for the recipe and she said it was chicken breasts pounded thin. The coating was equal parts: flour, cornmeal and sesame seeds. Dip them in egg wash and then the chicken should be pan-fried so the sesame seeds get toasted. It really was that easy. She also recommended sweet potato fries.

While I was peeling the yams I decided to make beer batter yam fries like the ones served at my favorite restaurant, Valley Brew.

Krysta's Yam Fries

4 yams, peeled and cut into french fries

2 beers, preferably a pale lager

3 eggs, beaten

approximately 1 cup flour

salt, nutmeg and paprika

Place cut yams into water and bring water to a boil then cook for about 10 minutes. While the yams are cooking, beat eggs and beer together in a bowl. In a separate bowl; mix flour salt, nutmeg and paprika together. When yams are done, drain well. Place yams in the beer and egg mixture, coat well. Then place yams in flour mixture, again make sure to coat well. The coating will make the potatoes gummy, but don't worry that's how they're suppose to be. Fry those babies up it won't take too long. When the fries are a nice golden color take them out and drain.

I served the chicken strips and yams with Iron Chef's Orange Sauce Glaze with Ginger.

*Lexophile, thanks for the recipe and I hope I've represented you, your blog and your recipe in a good light. Folks, any errors in the recipe are mine and mine alone.

Psst....

"Psst...Hey You! Yeah you, we're breaking out tonight.Tell your friends." Is the only thing I thought of when I took this picture

*i'll be posting late tonight but i should have a recipe! pass it on.

My Last Post About Surfing

Maverick's is done. Greg Long won. What's cool is the five finalists agreed to evenly split the total package prize of 70,000 dollars. So each surfer will get 11,700 dollars.

*The you tube video I posted today is of Ugly Tuesday, December 4th, 2007. Probably the biggest waves surfed at Mavericks.

Finally, A Post About Food

Hey. Look at that, would ya. ECM has finally decided to blog about food again. It's about time.

I thought maybe this would be good for Sunday brunch.

Pecan French Toast (courtesy of Mrs. Fellin)

4 large eggs

1 cup of milk

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 tsp. vanilla

1/4 tsp of nutmeg or cinnamon

1 loaf of 8 oz. french bread cut into 1" slices

1/2 cup chopped pecans

2 tbs. melted butter

Place bread slices in a single layer in baking dish. In a bowl whisk eggs, milk, sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon or nutmeg in a bowl. After they are thoroughly mixed pour over bread slices. Turn once then cover baking dish with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator overnight.

Next morning, preheat oven to 425 degrees. Melt the 2 tablespoons of butter and drizzle over the bread slices and add pecans. Bake for 20-25 minutes until bread puffs up and pecans are deep brown. Serve warm with syrup.

*That's the recipe as Mrs. Fellin gave to me. Now here's what I would do... First of I all would double it, that's a given. Then I would add both the cinnamon and nutmeg, the juice of half an orange and the zest. For bread if you have a Trader Joe's around get their Cinnamon Swirl Bread without raisins, you won't be disappointed.

Another Post That Isn't About Food

I've talked about Mavericks before. The contest starts Saturday with waves expected to be 25-30 feet high. If you have any interest at all, you can watch it on myspace. Remember it's freezing water, jagged rocks, sharks, and 50 foot + waves.

I'm Not Sharing!

I don't want to share... my books, my cameras, my IPOD or my kitchen equipment. Let me explain...

Let's start with books, shall we? My daughter is reading Canterbury Tales. Well, let's just say she is having some technical difficulties with it. To help her out I bought my own copy, so I can read it and maybe, just quite possibly, help her out. She likes my copy better than hers because it's a better translation. There goes my book! I like her translation better so it's an even trade. But as a parent you should know that's not the point!

* Thank You E! Katie said "Your comments helped out a lot and it's nice to know there are smart people in the blogging world."

I have two cameras a Minolta film camera and a Olympus digital camera. I'd like to use them, except every time I pick either one up all I hear is, "Hey Mom, let me take a picture, let me take a picture!"

I won't get into the computer or the IPOD stuff but I am going to talk about the kitchen equipment. My kids have decided to argue about what they are going to get when I die! WHAT! I'M 33, HEALTHY AND NOT EVEN CLOSE TO DYING!!!! No, you can't have my Le Creuset or my mandolin! Get your filthy paws of my pig (molcajete). I think when I die I'm going to have my ashes stored in my Le Creuset to teach them a lesson.

leftovers...

Anthony Bourdain has an really lengthy interview on The Av Club ,you might learn something new. Or not.

Will Not Work For Food

I don't even know how to begin this post.

I'm someone who will try anything once, even Jones Salmon Pate Soda. Sometimes after thirteen years of marriage I look at my husband with puzzlement and wonder why the hell he married me or to be more accurate why did I marry him. My husband has one quirk or maybe one rule about his food which I do not understand and that is he "will not work for his food". That's a direct quote. Things like crab, artichokes and ribs are foods he will not eat because there is "too much effort for too little results." Ugh!

Last night, we had artichokes and needless to say he wasn't a happy camper. But if we followed his rules everyone would be attached to an IV and that is a fate worse than death.

... and now for something completely different

Because I have other interests than food. This is a clip of a solar eclipse seen by NASA's STEREO spacecraft. Check out Bad Astronomy to see some beautiful pictures from space.

Question of the Week

Let's pretend you are home and have a clean house and a full pantry.

*Ding-Dong* Did you hear that? It's your doorbell. You answer the door and there is your candidate of choice standing there. ( Hillary, McCain, Obama, Romney, Huckabee, Ron Paul. I don't care. It's your candidate!)

Well, don't be rude, invite them in.

"Hi, Mr or Mrs. *insert name here*. Would you like to stay for dinner?"

Okay the pressure is on.

What are you cooking?

I Just Found Out I'm Married To Anthony Bourdain

Guess what? I'm secretly married to Anthony Bourdain. Not really, but let me explain. While watching last night's new No Reservations:Singapore, Tony (I can call him that now because you know I'm secretly married to him!) went to a reflexologist Master Soon. After he was done he said that his lower back felt better, that's my husband, Rich. Then Tony said his rotator cuff injury felt better, now wait a second, Rich blew out his rotator cuff playing baseball. Then Tony said the ultimate... "I'm a one nostril kinda guy." And now he could breathe better after he was done with his visit, then he inhaled through his nose. Rich can only breathe through one nostril too.

Holy Shit! Anthony Bourdain is my husband!

Who Knew?

*they even have the same toes.

Curse You Polenta! *and you too Chaucer and also the computer printer

It probably isn't very nice to curse the polenta. After all it's more than likely the chef's (meaning me) fault.

A few weeks ago I was watching Lidia Bastianich on PBS. She was making Baked Polenta Layered with Long Cooked Sauces or Polenta Pasticiatta. "Okay, I can do that. You know what, I'm hungry" I thought and went off to the kitchen to make myself a sandwich. I can get a little distracted by my stomach sometimes. Do doctors have a diagnosis for ADD of the stomach?

Flash forward a couple weeks. I'm in the kitchen, I have all the ingredients for dinner, Ipod is on the dock and the music is all cued up. If your wondering what I was listening to I remember some Foo Fighter's were playing. I'm getting ready to tie my apron when I hear...

"Hey Mom, my mission report is done. Can you proof it for me?" Yes. After dinner.

"Hey Mom, the printer's running low on ink." I know.

"Hey Mom, do you know what a franklin is?" A hundred dollar bill?

"No, it's from Chaucer." Well then look it up or google it.

"I did and I can't find anything on it. I emailed my teacher but she hasn't responded. And why don't they fully translate this stuff anyways? Either do a full Old English Translation or a full modern translation. I'm confused when they do both. Also, why...."

"MOM! The printer isn't working." Shit.

All of that was in 30 seconds from 2 different kids. So instead of the layered polenta, dinner became regular polenta with a red sauce over the top, a mixed greens salad with a blood orange vinaigrette, and some bread. Italian comfort food, right. Well, it would've been if I cooked polenta on a regular basis.

Basic Polenta (Lidia Bastianich)

Servings: Serves 6

Ingredients:

4 cups water (1/2 milk, 1/2 water could be used for a richer taste)

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1 bay leaf

2 tablespoons coarse salt

1 1/2 cup coarse yellow cornmeal

Directions: In a medium cast-iron saucepan or other heavy pot, bring all ingredients except the cornmeal to simmer over medium heat.Very slowly, begin to sift the cornmeal into the pan through the fingers of one hand, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon or whisk. Gradually sift all the meal into the pan, continue to stir and reduce the heat to medium low.Continue to stir constantly until the polenta is smooth and thick and pulls away from the sides of the pan as it is stirred, about 30 minutes.Discard the bay leaf, pour the polenta into a serving bowl or onto a wooden board, and allow it to rest 10 minutes.To serve from the bowl, dip a large spoon into a hot water and scoop the polenta onto individual dishes, dipping the spoon in the water between scoops.To serve from the board, cut the polenta into segments with a thin, taut string or a knife and transfer to plates with spatula or cake server.

I thought than the polenta wasn't creamy enough and a little heavy. I have heard that when you eat polenta it is suppose to be this transcendent experience. That might be true but it didn't happen for me. I'm not sure if I made it right or if it is texture thing for me. My biggest critics loved it. Even my sister Robin, who is a picky eater but getting a lot better, said it was better than what she expected.

*If you have ever made polenta or know what a franklin is, help me out here.

There's A Break In The Storm

"There is going to be a break in the storm on Sunday. What do you want to do?" Rich asks me. I know he's asking me this because both of us don't want to deal with all the storm damage at our house. Nothing too bad mind you, just a blown down fence and a lot of fallen branches in the backyard. Or maybe he's asking me because the kids are driving us NUTS! It's a little stir-crazy in our house.

"Let's go to my mission!" Nancy said. Nancy is a fourth grade student, so in California that means a mission report. Nancy googled all the missions in California, then made a list of which ones she wanted to do. She's always like this. Everything done ahead of time, super prepared, always fretting if her school work could be better and if she doesn't get 100% on a test, heaven forbid! She gets the look and worries for days, no matter what Rich and I say.

To make sure everyone doesn't pick the same mission, Nancy's teacher picks names out of a hat then that student gets to pick his or her mission. Nancy was picked 10th in her class and by a combination of luck and preparedness she got what she wanted, Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo. The Carmel Mission in Carmel-By-The-Sea, just about a three hour drive away.

"I guess we know where we're going."

Mission San Carlos

The Carmel Mission is the second oldest mission in California built in 1771. What's interesting about this mission is there is a neighborhood built around it, so you walk right from the sidewalk into the mission's courtyard.

Mass was going on inside the church but out in the courtyard you could hear the choir singing "Noel". Because of the storms not many people were in Carmel or at the mission.

Father Junipero Serra, founder of the Carmel Mission.

A statue of a monk and the infant Jesus at the gates of the mission.

Bell tower

Altar. Wow is all I could say. Then I sat down and stared for a long while. I've seen a lot of churches but there is something about this one. It still leaves me speechless.

Another view of the mission from the outlying neighborhood. Can you imagine waking up every morning to see this from your front window?

Burial Grounds

This is the entrance to the burial grounds located on the mission.

Here's some 1874 graffiti. On the actual mission itself above a tombstone. Carrie from Iowa is a bad, bad girl.

Mary is praying for you!

Road Trip Part II

After the mission we had to hit the beach.

I guess that surfer didn't read the sign!

Road Trip Part II

"Hey Mom! Jellyfish! Wait, they look like breast implants!" Katie yelled.

"Ha Ha! Will, Katie said breast implants!"

"Shut Up, Drew! That's gross."

This Is Me... In the Kitchen

Goop World even has this in a apron, how appropriate!