Refrigerators and Such

Did you know that you refrigerator, when completely empty, is really just a big box?

Well it is. Thankfully, it's also kinda cold inside it. That's important. I just spent an hour and a quarter in mine. Well not entirely in it. I pulled all shelves and drawers out to wash at the sink. (Your fridge parts are not dishwasher safe.)

Then I climbed in and scrubbed the interior. Wanna see?


You didn't think you'd see a picture of me in the fridge? Or a before picture? No way. I am way embarrassed by how filthy it was. Apparently too much of the food that I've been telling you all about had jumped ship and was hiding out in the corners of my refrigerator. I highly recommend completely emptying and thoroughly cleaning your fridge annually. It's what I'll be doing next year around X-Mas. Five years was way too long to wait.

Not that I found 5 year old food in my fridge. Gross! I clean the food out regularly. This was a fridge cleaning.

I still need to do the doors, but I needed a little break. And a shower...I'm sweating like a pig.

So, dun dun a dun! The final outcome (Josh will really appreciate this since he did see the true before.)


And the only casualty was my Magic Eraser. He was perfectly suited to this task.

Well that's all. Maybe when I get the door done I'll post a pic of it, too.

Kristen out

Date Night Recap

First--The Banana Bread Bread Pudding was a hit! Josh said he would definitely eat it again. That's good--there's a ton left.

Now, to go back to the beginning of the meal. On Sunday I made a dip for raw veggies for our Cocktail hour. We watched Rachel Ray make a dip of ricotta, sour cream, garlic and chopped green olives (I've made this before--it's delish!). Josh thought it looked tasty but he doesn't really like olives. So I made it without olives. I used chives and green onions instead (I also added a little cream cheese; it was in my fridge and it wasn't getting any younger). I think it's yummy and on Sunday when Josh was tasting it as I working it out, he liked it too. Last night, however, he told me it only had "one note"--meaning the garlic. That's okay with me...it leaves more for me to eat this week.

We had our usual cocktail--Manhattans. We didn't think that the Manhattan could be improved upon, but as our Rye and Bourbon (we like Maker's Mark) were both coming to the end of the bottles, we mixed the two (this was several months ago). Noone was more surprised than Josh to find that we liked it as well, if not a little better. Somehow it seems a little spicier. So that's what I made last night. (Josh, if you're reading this, I broke one of the glasses while I was washing them. I'm sorry.)

Dinner was a big hit. I'm very proud of myself. I made flank steak. "Big deal," you say. Last week you made a turkey breast; flank steak doesn't seem like a big deal at all. Fine.

Have I mentioned the I am one of America's Test Kitchen recipe testers? Well, I am. Sadly, they very politely asked me not to share the recipes until they show up in print. I'm pretty sure this was the first recipe I tried for them. Since I didn't print it or save the recipe at all, but made it from memory, I feel okay about sharing it with you. I mixed chopped garlic, chopped rosemary, salt, pepper, and olive oil into a paste. (I used my Kitchen Aid mini-prep to do this.) I scored both sides of my flank steak in a large, diamond pattern and then smeared the garlic/rosemary paste all over it. I sealed it in a zip-top bag for 24+ hours. Now this next step is kind of important--whether you grill the steak (I've done that before) or broil it, as I did last night you want to WIPE OFF THE GARLIC/ROSEMARY PASTE! Nobody want's to eat burnt garlic or rosemary. Not "good eats" as Alton Brown would say.

I accompanied my steak with Rachel Ray's Pepin Potatoes. She adapted this from a Jacques Pepin recipe:

Yukon Gold Potatoes: Jacques Pepin Style

Ingredients

• 3 pounds baby Yukon gold potatoes
• Salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 3 cups chicken stock
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 2 to 3 tablespoons freshly chopped parsley leaves

Directions

Place the potatoes in a deep skillet and add salt and pepper, to taste. Cover potatoes halfway with chicken stock, about 3 cups, add the butter and cover skillet with a lid. Cook the potatoes in the stock until almost tender, about 5 to 8 minutes, depending upon the size of the potatoes. Remove the lid and allow the stock to evaporate, about another 5 minutes. Once the stock has evaporated pop each potato using a ladle or large spoon, creating a small crack in each, but do not smash. Allow the potatoes to brown on each side, another 5 minutes, and re-season with salt and pepper, if necessary or desired. Remove the browned potatoes from the skillet and place onto a serving platter, garnished with the parsley.

I served these with sour cream, bacon, chives, and green onions. Not all on the potatoes, silly...on the table so we could dress them as we pleased. They were good plain, as well.

Additionally, I steamed some broccoli. Josh liked all to the potato toppings on his veggies, too.

Now, to get back to dessert. Mmmmm. I served it with a dollop of whipped cream and Irish (decaf) coffee. Whoever it was who thought to put whiskey in coffee is to be commended. Hat's off to you sir!

Irish coffee led to science fiction. (Makes so much sense, doen't it?) One of Josh's favorite sci-fi authors is a gent named Larry Niven (his other favorite is Jerry Pournelle). Larry Niven has a thing for Irish Coffee. He is often pressed into service at Sci-Fi Conventions to open an Irish Coffee Bar. If you'd like to read a little about his love affair with Irish Coffee and sample a bit of his writing, you can do it here. Keep in mind that Josh read this to me at the table while we ate our bread pudding and drank our coffee. He continued to read to me as the evening progressed. It was very comfy and cozy.

So that's all for last night's date night.

My questions to you are these: What do you think I should try for my next Date Night? What would be your ideal at-home-date-night? (Many people tell me a movie and pizza.)

Okay, Kristen out

Challenge: Banana

Do you watch Iron Chef? This show pits chefs against each other for their creative (and tasty) use of a secret ingredient. The shows are often titled by that ingredient. Last night's episode was titled Challenge: Sugar.

Thus the title of today's blog. Allegra asked me for a banana bread recipe. I shared this one with her. I, myself, made it on Friday. The recipe says you'll have batter enough for 2 loaves. Alas, I only had one loaf pan. I did, however, have a muffin tin and a "disher." Thus I made muffins for immediate consumption and sharing with a FS group and saved the bread for today, Monday, Date Night. The following is how I plan to utilize it:

Banana Bread-Bread Pudding Recipe

By elle
This bread pudding is made with banana bread instead of plain bread, and it's very decadent and comforting at the same time. I had an extra loaf of banana bread that I needed to freeze or do something with, and along with the help of a few friends, came up with this recipe.

Ingredients

1 loaf banana bread (approximately 9 x 5 or 8 x 4 inches, or about 6 cups total cubed banana bread)
1 cup half-and-half
2 cups milk
4 eggs
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 banana, chopped or sliced (you may need 2 if they're small)

Directions

Heat the oven to 350°; grease an 8 inch square baking dish.
Slice the banana bread into 1 inch slices, place the slices on a baking sheet, and toast in the oven, about 8-10 minutes, then cut into cubes.
Layer half the cubes, then the banana, then the rest of the bread cubes, all in the baking dish.
Whisk the half and half, milk, eggs, sugar and vanilla in a bowl, and pour over the banana bread cubes in the baking dish.
Let it sit for about 5 minutes before putting it in the oven.
Bake for one hour--a knife inserted in the center will look wet, but mostly clean.
Let it set for 5-10 minutes, and scoop out and serve with whipped cream or ice cream.

The only changes I intend to make are these: I will use brown sugar as that is what I used in the bread itself. And I think I'll add a little rum. Okay, and I have to fudge on the 1/2 and 1/2 as I bought whipping cream by mistake.

As for the rest of date night? You'll have to wait. In the meantime though, I have a question for you--How do you like to eat your bananas?

KHM out

First Snow

Well, we are in the midst of our first major snow of the year. It's supposed to snow through Thursday morning. Woohoo!


I'll keep you posted on the progress. I watched the weather on three different stations at noon and got three different snow totals...from 3" to 14". Anyone care to make a guess?

So what have I been doing? I made a turkey breast and all the trimmings for date night last night. Now I'm making turkey stock with the carcass. Boy does my house smell yummy. Garlic and onion and herbs. Mmmm.

What has Sonny been doing? Let me show you...


I think Sonny has the right idea.

Grumble, grumble

I just scoured my entries from last Dec leading up to our bookstudy farewell brunch. I needed the recipes and was sure I had blogged them for you. But alas, I hadn't. So I'll have to stare over. I did blog the recipe names, though which should make finding them a bit easier.

"Why do I need them?" you wonder. Well since New Year's falls on a Friday this year, it seemed like the perfect time to do another brunch. I'm just sad that I can't have all the people that I'd like. Little house means little guest list. There will be more opportunities, I'm sure.

Anyway, since the bookstudy brunch menu was such a success, I figured there was no reason to reinvent the wheel. Hopefully this one will turn out as well.

Kristen out

Mexican Date Night Recap

It was a resounding success!

Highlights--quesadillas. Very easy, very tasty.

Also the Mexican coffee. It's a shame that it's inadvisable to drink coffee with booze in it for breakfast. It was really, really good.

And I don't think I will ever bake brownies without adding cinnamon to the party. What a difference that made. The cherry chipotle whipped cream was, well, I found it a little odd, but Josh liked it. He did not think, as I did, that the adobo sauce (which is what was added to the cream) tasted like burning tires. To each his own, I guess.

As to the reminders that I still owe you 2 more vacation entries...I don't want to. When I get to Venice, my vacation is over. I don't want it to be over. I don't want to be home. I do have pictures that I want to share with you all, so I imagine that I'll get there...eventually. On my own time...so stop hounding me.

That's all folks...Kristen out!

Date Night...in Mexico

Okay, so it's really just here in good ol' Lindenhurst, but with a Mexican theme.

Since I had a personal request to have more date night postings (thanks...you know who you are) and since I'm feeling really up about my blog, (a friend who is not a follower told me how much she enjoys my blog. J, if you are reading this why aren't you a follower?) I thought I'd give the details of this evening's plans.

I'll even do it in order of consumption. Just for kicks, you know. I do kinda like to start with dessert, but we'll get to that at the end...like with dinner.

We'll start with Tequila gimlets. Like a Margarita but half the work. Just tequila and Roses Lime Juice.

I will be serving Quesadillas with the cocktails. My plan for these came from several recipes on Epicurious. I just want plain, cheese quesadillas but I did like the stove top method for preparing them. Basically, I'll brush the pan with a little (tsp?) oil, heat it on med-high heat, and add a tortilla covered with cheese. I'll top that with another tortilla and flip after 2 minutes. After another 2 minutes the cheese should be melty and they will be ready to cut up and serve. Since it's just the 2 of us, I'll make just one small one for us to share. I can serve it with the salsa, sour cream, and guacamole that I'll have for the fajita salad main course.

Okay, so I just told you what the main course is. Josh loves the way fajitas taste, but doesn't really like the mess of associated with assembling and eating them in tortilla. Thus, fajita salads are popular in this Saxe household. Again, this recipe came from Epicurious.

Skirt Steak Fajitas

• 2 skirt steaks (about 1 1/2 pounds each)
• 1/2 cup fresh lime juice (about 4 limes)
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 2 teaspoons minced jalapeño pepper
• 2 teaspoons finely minced garlic
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Preparation

1. Cut the steak crosswise into 2 to 4 pieces and place in a bowl. In a separate bowl, combine the remaining ingredients; pour over the steak, turning it to coat well. Marinate overnight, covered, in the refrigerator, turning once or twice. Remove from the refrigerator 30 minutes before cooking.

2. Preheat the broiler. Remove the steak from the marinade, scrape off any bits and place on a baking sheet. Broil 4 inches from heat source for 3 minutes per side for medium-rare meat. Let rest 10 to 15 minutes. Slice the meat thinly. (For easy eating, the steak strips should be 1/4- to 1/2-inch thick.).

So, adjustments I'll have to make: I didn't find the recipe until this morning, so the steak won't marinate for as long as the recipe calls says. And I only have 1 1.17-lb steak, so I'll adjust accordingly. I also marinate in a gallon sized zip-top bag. Less to wash.

Now, on to dessert. I'm making brownies. From a box. I know, I know. My MIL would whip me for this. But wait until you see how I'm going to serve them. First, I'm going to add some cinnamon to the mix. I looked up Mexican Brownies on, you guessed it, Epicurious, and both recipes called for cinnamon...anywhere from 1/2 tsp to 1 T. So, I'll just add "some." Then I'm going to serve it with this:

Chipotle-Cherry Whipped Cream

• 1 cup chilled heavy whipping cream
• 1/4 cup chopped cherry preserves
• 1/4 teaspoon canned chipotle adobo sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon almond extract
• Purchased brownies

Preparation

In a large bowl, whisk heavy whipping cream with chopped cherry preserves, chipotle adobo sauce, vanilla extract, and almond extract until peaks form. Serve with brownies.

I may (nay, I WILL) serve dessert with Mexican coffee (decaf, of course or I'll be awake till Thursday). Of course, this means I have to whip 2 kinds of whipped cream. I think I'm up to it though. After all date night only happens once a week. We can eat leftovers and frozen pizzas for the rest of the week, right?

Mexican coffee

• 3/4 cup (4 jiggers) coffee-flavored liqueur
• 4 teaspoons firmly packed dark brown sugar, or to taste
• 3 cups freshly brewed strong coffee
• Lightly sweetened whipped cream to taste
• Cinnamon for garnish

Preparation

In each of four 8-ounce mugs, combine 3 tablespoons (1 jigger) of the liqueur and 1 teaspoon of the brown sugar, divide the coffee, heated if necessary, among the mugs, and stir the drinks until the sugar is dissolved. Top each drink with a dollop of the whipped cream and sprinkle the whipped cream with the cinnamon.

This concludes the menu for this week's Mexican Date Night. Tune in next week for what may be Turkey in December. We'll see.

I'm a little sad

I spent the weekend here with my whole family. We worshiped, we ate, we shopped, we cooked together and then ate some more. All 10 of us...Saxes included too.

The boys watched football together yesterday while we girls shopped. Josh laid on the floor to watch the games, and Allen, who has taken to napping on the floor, made himself comfortable on Uncle Josh.

I didn't take photos. Of anything. Okay, I took one of Allen as he was waking up from a floor nap at our SAD. And I took one of Allen under Sonny's table with him this morning.


Josh had the Experiences at the SAD...thus the extra family visiting. He did an outstanding job! Several teenage brothers found him at the end of the day to tell him how much they liked his part. I love that he's reaching the youth in our circuit.

So my family is in the air now and I miss them horribly. But I had an incredible weekend with them.

Dad did hang lots of artwork for me and Brian and Allegra gave us this amazing, HUGE picture frame for our fifth anniversary.


Mom and Allegra used that quote on my bridal shower invitations.

These are watercolors that we bought in Venice from the artist at his booth on the piazza.


This water color we bought in San Giminagno from the artist.


And this the Monet that soothes my soul. If I was having Italian things framed, why not do this too.

I know, I have two more days of cruise to post about. And tonight is date night. But those posts will have to wait for another day.

xoxo,
K

Istanbul

Now, maybe you'll recall that our Istanbul excursion was supposed to be over 2 days. Remember "Best of Istanbul without lunch over two days." It was supposed to be 4.5 hours. We couldn't figure out whether that was 4.5 hours total or 4.5 hours each day. Nobody on ship could answer our question either. As it turns out, Day 1 we met about 2:00 in one of the lounges to board our coach. We returned about 6:30...too late for dinner in the dining room. We were instructed to be on the bus again the next morning at 7:00. On the bus! That meant a 5:30 wake up and a 6:30 room departure! And we weren't to return until 3:00! Does that sound like 4.5 hours or even 9 hours!?! We weren't about to get up at 5:30 to see more of Turkey.

Can you tell that I'm still a little miffed about this? But there were good things about our stop in Istanbul. First, we experienced the best perk of being Captain's Club members. We were invited to a private cocktail party, on the ships heli-pad, as we sailed through the Bosporus. "What is the Bosporus?", you ask. (I don't really know exactly...ask Josh next time you see him.) Istanbul sits on 2 continents...Europe and Asia. The Bosporus is the channel of water that you sail through to get to Istanbul. So from our vantage point on the heli-pad, we could see Europe and Asia. While sipping champagne. Free champagne. How frikin' cool is that?

So would you like to see pics?

I thought so.




Beautiful man.


Beautiful man with li'l ol' me.


We could see the bridge from our viewing place on the helipad.



Beautiful man.







Beautiful mosaics,





Care to guess? You got it...the Blue Mosque. Wonder where they got that name?



Beautiful tile work in the ceiling.


Worshipers in the Blue Mosque.



This last pic is just because Josh was tickled by their crosswalk sign. See, the man is wearing suit and a hat.

Corinth

We saw just a few dogs on this trip. This was one of them. He seemed totally at ease with the tourists milling about. He was asleep just a moment before he posed for this picture.




Crazy hang-glider.





Spooky! Wonder who he was and what kind of life he lived.



There were many other body parts on display here. Think about the parts you notice are missing when you see statues in museums and such. Yeah, even "those" parts were on display.







So this was our day in Corinth.

More days to come. We haven't been to Turkey or Croatia yet, not to mention Venice.

Kristen out!