4.5 year old's wonderful compliment

I just got a phone call from a very dear friend. I was in the ministry this morning with her husband and 4 year old son. We did calls so there was a lot of time in the car playing "tend" games (pretend games).

Anyway he just asked his mom if she knew Auntie Kristen. Of course the response was positive. He then told his mom I was beautiful, didn't she think so.

Out of the mouths of babes!

Things My MS Has Taught Me

I think most of you know that I have MS. It's this insidious little auto immune disease that mostly makes me tired. It means I have to be careful not to get sick, but if I am exposed to a cold (or worse), I cant't take any of those lovely immune boosters (like vitamin C or echinacea) that the media, doctors, and well meaning friends are always encouraging me to take.

Well, it finally taught me something. For some time now I have prioritizing tasks--from shopping to cleaning to cooking to the ministry and my meeting preparation. The past few days required more work than I usually tackle in a whole week. But my time management skills (and my delegation skills :-) ) paid off in a big way.

Both on Wed and Thur I was keyed up and out of bed by 7:15. Despite the fact that wonderful hubby slept till 9:00 both days. By 8:00 on Thursday, everything was done. I called Mom because I didn't know what else to do. I verbally went through my check list and she helped me tick them all off. When Josh finally awoke from his slumber, I helped him tackle his chore list. I actually sat down with a plate of food, a cup of coffee, and talked to my friends. I didn't think the hostess could ever do such a thing.

Now I have to work on saying, "That sounds nice, but I don't think I can handle that right now." But that's a lesson I'll have to learn another day!

Thanks for listening...
Kristen

Bye-bye Bookstudy Brunch--A Success!

Whew! Its over. I need a nap but it seemed to go smoothly. Recipes were requested, french toast was gone before everyone even got to try it, and except for a few pieces of my Blueberry Buttermilk Bundt cake, everything I made was consumed. Okay, I do have a smaller strata left, but plan to serve that tomorrow.

And Josh did the bulk of the clean up!


Blueberry Bundt Cake on the Stand, Kolachkes in the square basket, and crossaints on the right.


The main spread...with a few holes for items (and people) who arrived late. I was pleased though, one friend dropped off her contribution and then dropped her dog off somewhere and took something to her mom--she did return to join the party. Another (who didn't come at all) sent her contribution with another friend.


That's all folks. Have a nice weekend!

Bookstudy Brunch in the works

This has to be a brief post because I am fried. I cooked from 10-2:30 and made sundry other prep until about 5:00 when I consumed my first of 2 Manhattans. Thank goodness for whiskey.

So I made three dishes I have never made before. So unlike me. I like to know that they are delish before I toss them to 2 or 3 friends let alone 20! All recipes are available at Epicurious.com. I'm too tired to link to them.

The first one I made was Vegetable Strata. Most labor intensive, I knocked it out first. It wanted me to use a 4.5 qt baking dish, which, of course, I didn't have. I used my 3.5 qt dish and an additional 8x8 Pyrex. Let's hope they turn out

Next I made Creme Brulee French Toast. Easy Peezy Lemon Squeezy this one was. Again, I haven't tried it yet, so let's hope it turns out.

Lastly, I made a Blueberry Buttermilk Bundt Cake (It's possible I chose this strictly for its consonance). Biggest concern here is that I more than doubled the buttermilk. It did come together as a cake should and many of the reviewers added additional buttermilk as the batter was very thick. Even with the additional buttermilk, the batter still seemed thick. Maybe all will be okay.

So photos of the tables:


And yes, I did label the dishes--mine and those of others.

And as if this wasn't crazy enough, I have a talk tomorrow night (I wrote it on Saturday--woohoo for me!) and I'm having company on Friday night for dinner.

Here is a picture of my Sonny Dog in his favorite spot when the bed is unmade. I watched him try to find a spot that smelled like either one of us the other day. It was very funny.


Ciao, I'm beat. Have a good tomorrow!

K

Lovely Chicago Winter

Yesterday, around 1:00 pm
December 18, 2008


There was already some snow on the ground, but note the beautiful, blue sky.

Fast forward 18 hours or so...

Today about 8:30 am
December 19, 2008.



And it's still coming down. Woohoo!

Old news

As I was adding photos to the current post, I realized that I needed to share some photos from our trip to SC at the end of November. Can you guess who the star is? Here goes...


Allen and Papa

Paparazzi shot

Allen and Nana

and two of Allen and Momma


and here's one of the sunset we saw on the way home from Charleston.

It's been a week

I'm tired. I'm still fighting this stupid cold. And, to add insult to injury, I've got my period. Yay cramps!

Okay, I'm done whining.

Dinner and Potato Ricer

Dinner last night was good. I didn't do anything unusual or even new, but Josh said it was very good. In fact he said that the appetizer and the cocktail (a Blood and Sand) worked well to "appetize" him.

Blood and Sand
3/4 oz Scotch
3/4 oz Cherry Heering--difficult to find, but key to the drink
3/4 oz Sweet Vermouth
3/4 oz Orange Juice

It may not sound so good at first, but it is ohhh so good. We first tasted this at McCormick and Shmick's for our anniversary dinner. Peter odered it.

I guess I did make a new appetizer thing. I call it Caprese Bruschetta. It's exactly what it sounds like--tomato, onion, mozzarella and basil all in a small dice. Mix and served with panettini. You could, of course, serve it with French or Italian bread, or if your really brave, crostini. (I nearly burned my kitchen down when I walked away from the oven for 90 seconds. One more thing Rachael Ray and I have in common.)

As for the rest of dinner, it was my stand-by flank steak* ("the best flank steak" Josh had ever tasted--pre-courting**), mashed potatoes (you should have seen me working my new potato ricer--a real She-Ra I was), and oven roasted broccoli (I added grated romano cheese and roasted garlic this time--yummy!).



This is my potato ricer. You load the "basket" portion of the contraption with cooked potato and the you squeeze the "plunger" portion to make the potatoes ooze out like a Play Doh hair salon toy.

Play Doh

Speaking of Play Doh, I watched my friend's 5 year old yesterday...check out what we made (by this I mean I, this poor little thing had no prior experience with Play Doh).












Okay, she did make most of the blue fish, I helped with the details. And she did decide what we would make.

Herb Garden

My herb garden seems to be doing well. My parsley even came in. Woohoo!

When I run my fingers over these teeny tiny herbs, the wonderful aroma fills the air. Especially the basil--three of the seven plants are basil. (And I have more, different varieties, for the next batch.) (These pictures will get more interesting as the plants continue to grow.)

Bookstudy Brunch Update

Things are coming together nicely. One of the "girls" offered to bring champagne flutes for the sparkling juice I bought. Evidently 3 friends got together and bought enough for the congregation. They just keep passing them around. I have pastries, sausages and juice coming in addition to last week's post. I also have the paper products.


Alright, I admit the photo doesn't do them justice. The napkins came from Joli, this awesome little gift and home shop in Beaufort SC, and the plates came from Target. The napkins have pink and white magnolia blooms on a gold ground, thus the plates are white with gold accents. Even though I forgot to bring the napkins with me to Target, I knew that it would be a perfect match.

Last Weekend

Well, we got together with our best friends and went to Josh's grocery store, aka Sam's Wines and Spirits. The boys went and filled their home bars, while the girls sat at the wine bar and enjoyed a glass of wine and solved the world's problems. Not really, we just sat and talked and enjoyed our wine and each other's company. We closed the store (it was Sunday, they close at 6), and went on to enjoy dinner at Wildfire. Maybe our favorite steakhouse. And, the special side dish was, are you ready for this, Brussel Sprouts! Yay me--good friends, good drink, good food, and BRUSSEL SPROUTS. I couldn't have been happier. Okay, I could have. I was beginning to feel the effects of this blasted cold. But you know, as I was recounting the evening here, for your benefit, I didn't remember the not feeling well. Just all the good things.

I think that's all for today. See ya next week!

Footnotes

*1/4c sugar
1/4c soy sauce
1/3c balsamic vinegar
as many shallots as you care mince (2 if they're large, 4 if they're small)

marinate for at least 4 hour and as long as 2 days

**I referred to Josh and as courting as opposed to dating to the CO and Josh called my old fashioned. JOSH called ME old fashioned. What's up with that?

Haven't Aged a Day

This is kinda freaky, really. I went to have a new passport photo taken. Josh and I are planning to do our "honeymoon" cruise again in 10/09 so a I need one with my married name. Check out my old photo with my new one:


Herbs

I've begun my second season of growing herbs in my AeroGarden. Very, very cool. Being that I don't live in a climate where I could even dream about tending an herb garden year round, this is great. A few more weeks and I'll be able to cook with fresh, home grown herbs.

I'm at the end of week 2 and all my herbs should have sprouted and should be "hatless." I took a picture at the end of week 1 and neglected to share it...so here you go.

I apologize for the "jaunty" angle at which the photograph is showing. I took it in the direction in which I wanted it to appear. Apparently blog spot assumes that all photos should be vertical. Additionally, while I took a "week 2" photo, I'm having difficulty getting the computer to give me access to any way I can feed the pictures from my computer/card to the computer. Hopefully by the time I need to share week 3 pics, this will all be sorted out. You would notice, if the week 2 photo were here, that my parsley plant isn't doing anything. I'll give it another week before I completely give up.

Date Night--Sort of

On to new and different things...

Date night on Wednesday, didn't turn out exactly as I had planned, but it was lovely nonetheless. Again, I have a photo which I'm unable to include. I'll describe instead. I set out cheese and crackers for our hors d'oevres. I made Manhattans. I had the fire going and I lit candles. (All of this made for a lovely photo. *#%@ computer!)

Sadly, as Josh came up the stairs I was lighting the candles instead of handing him his drink. Maybe that's where things went wrong. He'd had a rough day, he wasn't in a cheesy kinda place (don't say it, I will--he's ALWAYS in a cheesy kinda place...I know, I know) although he ate enough cheese and crackers that he asked me to wait until 6:00 to even begin cooking dinner.

Which leads me to dinner. Chicken Parm from BOB. Very good. But I didn't make pasta. Josh says chicken parm should have pasta. Strike 2 for Kristen. I used the fettuccine that I had earlier with meatballs that I made.

Meatballs

That leads me to my next topic. I made meatballs for dinner on Tuesday (CO--no BS at home, okay to make "smelly" food). These were good meatballs. I'll share the recipe (this is a Giada recipe):

• 1 small (6-ounce) onion, grated
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, plus 1/4 cup
• 2/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus 1/4 cup
• 1/3 cup Italian-style bread crumbs
• 1 large egg
• 2 tablespoons ketchup
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more for seasoning
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more for seasoning
• 8 ounces ground beef
• 8 ounces ground veal
• 2 ounces smoked mozzarella cheese, cut into 16 (1/2-inch) cubes
• 1 pound bucatini or other long pasta

For the meatballs: Position an oven rack in the lower 1/3 of the oven. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, combine the onion, 1/2 cup parsley, 2/3 cup Parmesan, bread crumbs, egg, ketchup, garlic, red pepper flakes, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Add the beef and veal. Using your hands, combine all ingredients gently but thoroughly. Shape the meat mixture into 16 (1 1/2-inch-diameter) meatballs and place on the prepared baking sheet. Make a hole in the center of each meatball and place a cube of mozzarella inside. Reform the meatball so that the mozzarella is completely covered with the meat mixture. Bake the meatballs for 15 minutes until cooked through.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 8 to 10 minutes. Drain and place in a large serving bowl. Add the meatballs and sauce. Toss gently and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Sprinkle with the remaining parsley and Parmesan.

Okay, changes I had to make: no veal, no parsley, I diced my onion instead of grating it, and regular mozzarella. Still very, very yummy. Giada also had a recipe for a tomato sauce with the meatballs, but I used my own to which I added some pancetta.

Roasted Veggies

One more cooking topic...Pretty much any vegetable can be roasted following the directions which I posted previously. Green beans with tomatoes are oh so yummy. Asparagus is great, too. And cauliflower takes on a "beefy" taste according to Josh.

Oh, and roast for 25-30 mins.

Bleach

Completely different topic here. I have a girlfriend who swears by bleach. She buys bottles and bottles of the stuff and uses it to clean everything! Well, I'm a convert. I used bleach to clean my entire bathroom earlier this week, and it has never been cleaner. I even scrubbed the floor (on my hands and knees--boy did I feel that for several days) and wiped down the baseboards. I'm on to do my hall bath as soon as I finish here (that may explain the great length of this entry, huh?)

Best Compliment Ever

Given by the best mom ever. I told my mom this morning that I wanted to be Ina Garten (of Barefoot Contessa fame). She told me she thought I was already there. I'm certain I'm years away, but boy did it make me feel good.

Given by the best Bible student ever. My li'l sister Bible student, said from the stage, the day she was baptized, that I was her "inspiration." My goodness!

If I'm not careful, my head will swell.

I guess that's all that's fit to print.

Toodles!

Bookstudy Brunch

Okay friends, I need your help. We decided that rather than the old fashioned "treat night" after the last book study, we were going to have a brunch commemorating the end of an era. After all, we all (or almost all) have Thursday of that week off.

So, following the advice of Fred (my personal grill guru), I assigned certain things to my friends. As a result, I have a ham coming. Fresh fruit is also in the works, as is a ham and cheese quiche, banana bread/muffins, perogis (I didn't actually assign that one, but my Polish friend wanted to make that her contribution--Josh is psyched).

As for my contributions--I have spent the last 45 mins scouring Epicurious. I really want to be able to do all the messy cooking on Wednesday so Josh can clean my kitchen and I can sleep well knowing that all I have to do on Thursday is put things in the oven and make coffee. So here is what I came up with--"Creme Brulee French Toast", "Vegetable and Cheese Strata", and "Blueberry-Buttermilk Bundt Cake." Of course, I'll have coffee.

I have 2 or maybe three friends left to talk to, and figure I could ask them to bring juices (I intend to have sparkling juices). Anything else that you think I need to have? Mom suggested bacon or sausage, but I don't want to have a house that smells of bacon, nor can I use my oven that way as it will have french toast and strata in it. One of my friends left to cooridinate a contribution might be able to bring sausages. What to you all think?

If you have a "to die for" coffee cake type thing recipe, please share. Same for the strata.

All right. I have to run. Bathroom to clean and other domestic chores to conquer.


This is just a random photo of my Sonny-dog.

By special request

This is for Aunt Kate, although the rest of you can enjoy it too. She requested that I share my oven roasted broccoli recipe with her. So here goes...

First things first, it's not really MY recipe. This is how my mom has been making it for some time now, so I want to give credit where credit is due. I did, however, make this all summer long in an aluminum foil pouch on my grill.

preheat oven to 425 (I just made this, following a different recipe, that called for a 475 degree oven. I didn't like the results as well as the way my mom makes it.)

1 (or 2 or 3 or 12...you chose the quantity, adjust the other ingredients accordingly) broccoli crown
1 clove of garlic, chopped or minced
salt
pepper
2 T olive oil

Depending on your mood, taste and other parts of the meal you could add lemons, lemon zest, hot pepper flakes, chopped tomato--if you think it sounds good, go for it.

Happy Cooking!
Kissy H.

Bob

"Who is Bob?" you're asking. "What about Bob?" you'd like to know. Well, I can show you who Bob is not...

Not Bob, but my wonderful husband Josh.


Also not Bob, but my "hot momma," sexy cowgirl sister Allegra.

Definitely not Bob. This is Allen. In Nana's sunglasses. At Sticky Fingers BBQ in Charleston where he fed himself most of his mac n cheese.

So who, or what is Bob? Bob is Rachel Ray's newest cook book. She calls it her Big Orange Book or BOB for short. Well, I like Bob. A lot. I haven't finished reading it yet (yes, you can read a cook book) and I've only prepared one meal from it (sorta...it had Kissy written all over it), but it's good. A big thank you to Allegra for cluing Mom into my desire for the book and thanks Mom for listening and obtaining it. It's very good.

So the one meal I've made thus far is Sausage and Mushroom Ragu and Rigatoni. Very tasty. Made it for Wednesday's date night. No photos, sorry. The recipe called for 1.5 lbs of hot or sweet Italian sausage. My attitude is why choose just one. So I headed back to my meat counter with the intention of getting 3/4 lb of each. But noooo. Dominick's has started to carry additional flavors of sausage. Like onion and bell pepper. And garlic and cheese. So I came home with all the varieties. Mmmm. Did it make a tasty Ragu. If you can still call it that, as I used some of the gravy that I made earlier in the day instead of the sauce outlined in the recipe.

I'm not gonna post Bob's recipe as it involves more typing than I care to do now and since I know that 1/2 of my loyal readers already has the book. I will share my gravy recipe though (for my future needs and yours as well). This the best one so far:

3 big cans crushed tomatoes
2 cans diced fire roasted tomatoes with garlic
1 can diced tomatoes with garlic and onion
1 can stewed tomatoes
1 biggish can tomato paste
1c good red wine
4 bay leaves
1 tsp allspice
1 tsp dried oregano

I think it was the combo of the fire roasted tomatoes, the allspice and the good red wine that mad the difference. Although it's also the first time I used stewed tomatoes which yielded a chunkier sauce, which we like. Go figure. It was good!

Tonight's dinner plans involve a garlic marinated beef tenderloin (no preparation on my part, just open the package and cook), roasted broccoli and cauliflower with lemon and garlic (Dec issue of everyday FOOD) and a version of Rachael Ray's oven roasted fries that's not included in BOB and will by further modified by me.

I have other things to share, but that will be for another post.

TTFN,
Kissy