WW: Erin's Introduction to Nutella

Vegetable Garden

We planted a small veggie garden in the back yard. We have tons of space back there, but I've only had the energy/imagination to plant a small corner of it.

Yet we are already getting a bounty!

The first harvest was a pile of fava beans and a couple handfuls of sugar snap peas:

The next day a few zucchini were ready.  Erin got to pick the first one:

Which she then eagerly sliced up.  I cooked it up in some oil and a dash of salt.

You know how they're always saying to encourage kids to try new foods by letting them be a part of it?  Well, Erin planted, watered, harvested, and chopped (with a grown-up knife).  Did she take a taste?  Absolutely not.  Good thing we have all summer.

Robin wanted to show off the one she harvested:

Still coming along: lettuces, tomatoes, peppers, garlic.  I think it's time to plant some more too!

Busted!

I had just starting a bath for the girls when I notice Robin is being quiet. Very quiet.  I come into the kitchen and she's trying to scurry away, and is making her "I'm being sneaky" face. 

There's brown all around her mouth, and there's a wad of something brown and gooey in her mouth. 

Me: Robin, what do you have in your mouth? 

R: Nufin (mumbled through the crumbs of chocolate cake)

Me: Well, you're chewing something and you have brown all around your mouth.

R: (gulping down the last of the bite.  And by gulping down, I mean choking it down her throat. And opens her mouth to show me) See!  Nufin. 

Me: Mmmm hmmm. I see. 

Note to self: chocolate cake must be stored in a place higher than the reach of a child on top of the kitchen counter. 

Johnny's

Possibly the best doughnuts on Earth.

Especially when still warm from the fryer.

So the deal is the Dads bring the Kids in on Sat. mornings.  The few times I've brought the girls in, Chang the owner asks, "Where's daddy? What is he doing?"  We usually bring back a raised glazed or old fashioned.  

Not opened on Sundays.  Often closed on holidays, including a week or two at Christmas, Spring break, and during the summer. Hey, it's a family business!

Sushi Party Tradition

Today was my birthday!  Woot.  We had many adventures during the day (stay tuned for that post) but tonight was the traditional "roll your own" sushi party.  We actually kept it pretty minimal and only did nigiri, with 3 types of fish. My folks came, and my wonderful Sister in law Dawn brought her two beautiful boys, C and K. 

Me slicing the tuna:

New this year, and going on regular rotation at Casa de McMiller was spring rolls.  You know, those yummy, fresh-tasting, tasty appetizer-ey things you get at Thai places?  We made peanut dipping sauce too.  These were (a) easy and (b) da bomb!  Really.  And very, very easy to make. OK, some are not so pretty but our mouths didn't notice. 

We got the cake at the bakery section of the Asian grocery store.  Chestnut.  Mmmmmm.  It was really light and tasty, sweet but not cloying. 

So, smart readers. How old am I?

Of course, the girls helped me blow out the candles. 

A great start to the new year, a great start to my new year. 

Christmas Eve 2012

We hosted dinner this year.  My parents, brothers, sister in law, two nephews, Brian's parents and his grandmother.  A good crowd.

 

 I didn't get ANY pictures that night. But here is the menu!
 Cara Cara and Blood Orange Salad topped with Fried Rosemary and Kalamata olives.

Pork Tenderloin stuffed with dried fruit and chestnuts
         White wine and dijon pan sauce
Roasted Sweet Potatoes, Japanese Sweet Potatoes, and New Potatoes with Sage
Shaved Brussels Sprouts with Pecans and Crisp Shallots.

 Dessert was Tiramisu and Pumpkin Pie. Everyone left stuffed.

Spice Therapy

It's been a rough day all around, so decided to take myself to a local chinese food place for lunch.

This place is kind of known for the "extras".  Last time we ordered take-out we got a beer, some fried appetizers and a couple pieces of baklava.  For free.

So it was no surprise then when the waiter walked by each table, and set down a huge bag of organic greens, gratis.  Because nothing goes better with spicy eggplant chicken than 2 pounds of uncooked greens.

And the spicy peppers did really elevate my mood.  Now back to the Holiday Madness. 

http://www.yelp.com/biz/asia-palace-restaurant-moraga

Salted Caramel Sauce

 I was in need of a quick hostess gift, so I made a batch of salted caramel sauce.

An hour later, with about 5 minutes work, I had two jars of tasty, sweet, rich delightfulness.  

Add a pretty lid cover made from a fabric scrap and a stamp, fake mod-podge on a label, and now I have two lovely little pots to give away.  Sweet. 

WW: Cooking with Dad

Mama's first batch

I started my first batch of beer last night - a Holiday Ale. I got everything spot on, except I added the spice packet to the wort rather than with the hops, but hopefully no one will notice. It was a steamy, malty mess. The only really stressful point was the rubber bung was too tight and couldn't form an air-tight seal, so I "modified" it with a serrated knife. I'm crossing my fingers the seal holds. 1 week or so till bottling, 2 weeks or so till the first tasting. Care to join me?

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

It's pumpkin season!!!

This time of year I get so excited by the absolutely delicious canned pumpkin on the shelves at Trader Joes. I learned my lesson from last year and stocked up - those suckers fly off the shelves and when they're gone, that's it until next year.

I've already done a pumpkin bread, the spiced pumpkin scones from yesteryear, pumpkin muffins, pass on the pumpkin pancakes since no one liked them.

New this year is Pumpkin Milk Bread, a pin, and it was delicious!!!!  Light, slight pumpkin flavor but not overpowering, really tender.  It made two loafs:

this one was threatening to go stale, so I had to think fast.  What better goes with pumpkin than .... pumpkin!!!  And so was born the pumpkin bread pumpkin bread pudding.  The bread pudding recipe was here, and I used the whole pumpkin loaf here.  That's a lot of pumpkin in one bowl, my friends.  Since it was basically a mix and dump recipe (not a fan of that term, but it is what it is), the girls cut the bread cubes and mixed the pumpkin custard.  

It was all I love about pumpkin pie (the ooey gooey spice, pumpkin flavor, warm silky goodness) and nothing that I don't like (chewy, dry, soggy, or otherwise questionable pie crust).

Soooooo delicious!!!  Next time, if I have more time in advance, I'll make a salted caramel sauce with maybe some candied pecans or walnuts to go on top.

Bacon Hearts - Pin Fail

I saw this on Pnterest and thought it would be a cute way to start the morning.

Bacon "hearts" before baking:

And after:

You be the judge. After looking back at the original inspiration, I only now noticed the cook cut the bacon pieces in half, and folded each in a "c" shape to create the hearts.  Worth another try.  At least they tasted good - Brian noted they are now "one bite" bacon slices.  Not sure if that's good or bad. 

Robin's Recipe

Mama, I want some cold ice water.

 With ice.

 And water.

 In a glass.

 Please.

Mama's got a new hobby!

Can you guess what it is???

Who wants to be a brewing buddy?

Volcano Roll

I love sushi. I really love sushi. And there's a really good sushi place nearby. Here is some deliciousness from them: the volcano roll.

 

It's white tuna with tempura kind of chopped/mushed in. So there's the sweet/salty of the fish, the little crunch of tempura, the slight slipperiness of the oil, and of course the heat from the wasabi. Perfect!

Project: Manatee Lollipop

I got these sweet candy molds today. I know it's hard to see what they will be but stick with me. I thought they would be metal or something a bit more durable than a sheet of plastic and that I'd be able to make some hard-candy lollipops.  But chocolate lollipops are just as delicious, no? 

I put the lollipop sticks in (got a huge pack for a few dollars at Michael's)

I also got some melting chocolate wafers there.  They come in just about every color of the rainbow!  Purple seemed nice.

I poured the melted chocolate into the molds.  And kinda sloppily smooshed/smoothed the top.  Have to work on that technique.

Let it harden for a few hours, and voila!  A mama and baby manatee lollipop.  OK, it's not super pretty yet.  But a few more attempts and they'll be lovely! 

Sweeeeeet. 

Erin Makes Meatballs

This was big.  In the world of Erin's cooking she's pretty adventurous, but the territory of raw meat has always been kinda off-limits, sorta sacred, and full of body warping germs. But today she got to do something dangerous.

Touch ground beef.

That's right, Erin made our meatballs tonight.

In an ongoing effort to expand Erin's acceptable menu, I encourage her to help make the food we're to eat.  The meatballs consisted of two of her favorite foods: beef (sometimes, and especially when prepared by Uncle Jim) and salt.  She mashed, she pulled, she rolled.  She ate 2 of 3.  So this was successful. 

But honestly, she ate the second one only because Brian pointed out they looked like asteroids and meteors.  Those were much more interesting to eat than plain old meatballs. 

Awesome parenting trick #8

Popsicles for breakfast! 

Made with banana, peach, orange juice.  She thinks it's a secret treat.  She's really getting 2 servings of fruit.  Don't I sound like one of those annoying commercials? But I do love these popsicle molds we got from Rite Aid - 4 2 oz popsicles made with whatever ingredients you choose.  And since Erin choses well, we get to have them for breakfast! 

Mmmmmm Ube!

Robin's favorite ice cream flavor?  Ube.  Why?  Because it's a very unnatural shade of purple.  Natural for flowers, or for tropical fish, but not for food.

It's actually really delicious.  It has a denser texture than most ice creams.  I suppose if you called it "sweet potato ice cream" rather than "ube" it would not taste as good.

Lost crop

Our tomato plants are large, but we're getting very few tomatoes.  I was thrilled to see a few starting to blush red.  Then I went outside to water this morning and found this:

One or two large hunks chewed out of each. Really, little rat or mouse or whatever is eating my tomatoes, can't you just eat one and leave us the rest?  Sheesh!