Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Home Again!

First...neurology appointment went well. I think I am still a favorite "story" if not actual patient. He made me tell the story to his current med student, and then sent her away because I'm too "normal" (his word, not mine...are you kidding? me--normal).

Next on to our city activities. We had to go see the new "modern" wing at the Art Institute. Not really our cup o' tea, so we spent an hour with the impressionists cleansing. And then I found this and stood before it for a good 10 minutes. It soothes my soul.


I asked Josh to buy me the original, but he said he didn't think it was for sale. So he bought me an unframed print, instead. I just love it

That was Saturday.

Sunday we did the Chicago Architecture Foundation's River Cruise. Also very cool. Well actually, it was pretty hot and we got a little sunburned.

All our meals were top notch.

The culinary highlight for me was the roasted beet and goat cheese ravioli from Trattoria No 10. The beets weren't a part of the stuffing, they were the "envelope" that held the goat cheese. It was so, so good.

The social highlight was having dinner with our close friends at Lawry's The Prime Rib, where, surprise...we all had prime rib. Not a whole lot of tasting among friends...we all had the same thing. We did sip each other's wines. I liked mine best...which is good, because it was mine already. I had a Petit Syrah.

I took no food pictures. I did take a lot of pictures on the river cruise, but I haven't been through them yet, so no pics from the weekend.

It's nice to be home in our own bed (the party in the room beside us, cranked up around midnight all three nights...finally on Sunday night, I called Security).

That's it, coffee and banana bread beckon.

-k

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Well, it's Tuesday

Not usually a date night. And, big surprise, it's not this week either. Family Worship and the TMS to prepare...and a few other "girl" things in the way.

But I do think that I have an interesting and yummy meal planned. Paninnis! Roast Beef and provolone for Josh and Italian meats, mozzarella and tomato for me. Are you salivating yet? It will be accompanied by french fries and a tomato/cucumber salad. Josh will balk at all the veggies, but he'll eat them up anyway.

Tomorrow I will do a date night meal. Because we are spending the weekend in the city and it will be one huge date, I told Josh I wasn't going to do date night this week.

But then I went to the market. And the filet mignon looked really good. So I bought two. My plan is, rather than cook them in butter and oil on the stove (as I have done before), I will rub them with olive oil, rosemary and garlic and grill them.

I will make mashed potatoes and broccoli (which I will prepare on the grill beside the steaks--the broccoli, not the potatoes). I think I will make banana bread for dessert. I know it's an unusual choice, but it's what I have the stuff for and its really yummy toasted and drizzled with honey.

So on to our weekend in the city. Monday is my annual neurology appointment. And since Josh has to take the day off anyway to get me there and driving down the morning of and in rush hour traffic means we have to leave insanely early (like 8 for a 10:30 apt) we like to spend the night before in the city. This year, since we haven't had a weekend in the city since my neuro apt. last year, we decided to make a weekend of it.

So what will we do, you ask? I'll let you know when we have done it. The only things I know for sure is where and when we are eating. Oh, and where we are staying. We got an insanely good deal on a very nice hotel--The Palmer House Hilton. $82 a night at a 4.5 star hotel that usually runs about $225 a night. Hotwire it so cool. Friday night we are eating in the hotel's restaurant, Saturday at an Italian place called Trattoria No. 10, and on Sunday the Johnsons are picking us up and we are eating at Lawry's--the Prime Rib. Sunday late morning we are having brunch at a place called The Gage and Monday after my drs apt. we are eating at the Chicago Firehouse--a very specific tradition it seems. (I think this the 3 year in a row that we have done this.)

If I take any photos of dinners (both at home and out) I will post them.

Till later, mes amis,
Kissy H

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Clapton...you sexy devil

So we saw Eric Clapton last night. With Steve Winwood. And Buddy Guy.

Very, very cool show. Clapton and Winwood clearly enjoyed themselves...and each other. Many smiles, a few smirks, and even some on stage laughter.

Here are a few highlights:

Forever Man

Sweet Home Chicago

That last one is a little long...but so worth it!

They performed many (if not all) of their Blind Faith songs, Split Decision by Winwood, and a handful of Clapton tunes. When they returned for the encore, they brought Buddy Guy with them. What a surprise. And they performed Sweet Home Chicago. Everybody was on their feet.

But now I am very tired. Late night by anyone's standards...but for a girl who is usually in bed and asleep by 10:00, (I'm making progress...a year ago it was 8:30) 12:30 is much too late.

So I think I'll go take a nap.

Kristen out.

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Well it's Wednesday...and you know what that means

Date night! Woohoo!


I think I've made the best dessert ever!

The brownie recipe came from this baking blog that I've been following--Cake on the Brain. I, however modified it a bit (imagine that?!). Josh is a huge chocolate freak...I mean fan. I bet you didn't know that about him. His favorite candy is chocolate orange peels. So, having this brownie recipe in mind, I decided to find out how to candy orange peels. I did that yesterday. I thought I was being all sneaky with the orange peels. I hid them in plain sight, figuring Josh wouldn't notice. He did. He asked if I was "spicing cheese." At least I think that's what he asked...it had something to do with cheese.

So today I made the brownies. I diced about half of the orange peels and added them in the place of the nuts. I used the orange scented sugar from the orange peels, and replaced the vanilla with orange extract. Yum!



The result? A deeply chocolate brownie with surprising bites of orange peel throughout.



I know, I start with dessert first. We eat it last. I swear.

So when I asked Josh wanted he wanted for date night dinner, he said Filet. No surprise. With a horseradish crust. I have to say I was expecting that. Since he likes my parm crust, I knew it wouldn't be too long before he was requesting other crusts.

But how do I make a horseradish crust? My initial thought was to use cream cheese instead of butter. And I think I will still do that. A quick search on epicurious, yielded, repeatedly, the use of bread crumbs. Check. I can do that. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Josh likes Caesar salad. I'll make him one of those. Not sure what kind of salad I'll have. Maybe tomato, mango, shallot and basil. (That is the recipe.) Or may be a tomato-cucumber deal.

I will blanch some green beans and toss them with garlic, tomatoes and balsamic glaze for a nice chilled veggie.

And I will make mashed potatoes.

For the cocktail portion of the meal, we will enjoy Manhattans. I have an herbed brie that I will serve with crackers and sliced apple.

Dessert will include coffee and possibly an after dinner drink.

That is the plan for the evening.

Monday, June 1, 2009

energy and Spoons

Having spent three wonderful days at the District Convention, I am worn out.

I am also taking part in and MS fatigue management teleconference. It just began this past Thursday and will continue each Thursday through the First week in July.

I have already learned some good skills. But the first weeks topic reminded me of this story that I read online several years ago. I want to be able to share it with my new friends and also with my old friends. I figured the best way to do that would be to link to it here.

So here goes: this is the Spoon Story.

I hope you follow the link, enjoy the story, and understand a little bit more about life with MS and, really, most other autoimmune diseases.

out of hiding

Okay. I'm here. I'm back from SC, am almost unpacked, and have been to what is probably the best District Convention ever. But that's all I'll say about the DC...I don't want to give any spoilers.

Instead I'll tell you what's been going on with me. I'll work backwards.

I made a really, really good strawberry ice box pie last week. I'd like to share a picture, but I didn't take one. Sorry. The recipe came from the latest issue of Martha Stewart's Everyday Food. I read the recipe and thought it looked good and like something I'd want to make and eat. I went to the market and the strawberries looked great. So I bought a 2 lb box. I came home and pulled out the magazine. Alas, I had not gotten the called for sugar free cranberry juice. What was I to do? I had orange juice? V8? lemon or lime juice? None of those seemed right.

Then I remembered how much we like balsamic and strawberries. So instead of a 1/4 c of cranberry juice, I used 2 T each of water and balsamic. It was to die for good! Mom thinks I should email the Martha Stewart satellite radio station. She's says the read letters like this all the time. I don't know.

The pie had a graham cracker crust, and a homemade whipped cream topping. I baked it in this beautiful cobalt blue ceramic pie pan that a certain aunt bought me. Thanks!

Now on to things that I can document with photo graphs.

The reason for this trip to SC was to be there for my Allen-boy's first day of school. It was Wed 5/20. Why did I go on the 15th? Because Dad was in town that weekend. I couldn't miss that could I? (On a related Dad note...the PA house has sold. Mom is there now packing up and organizing Dad's move. They will be in SC together in 3 weeks! Whoohoo for Mom and Dad!) Back to my trip.

On Sunday, after the meeting, we went to this really good pizza/sandwich place in Beaufort. I was sitting at the end of the table, across from Allegra and beside Allen when Allen begins to sing.



He is such a riot. But this was on his mind at that time.

Monday was his first Dentist appointment. I arrived in time to take pictures.



He was a very brave boy. The dentist's wife/assistant/office manager had put a "prize" away for him (a ball) but then misplaced it. She asked Allegra if he would like a flashlight. "Of course! He would love that," Allegra says, thinking that it's small pen light. Not exactly. This was s full blown large (and heavy) flash light. It's as if the child doesn't have a toy store's amount of toys at home and Nana's.

So on his actual first day of school, I was commissioned to bake a teddy bear cake.


Mom had gotten this pan at William Sonoma in Charleston in November when we were there. She had these grandiose ideas that she and Allen would be bake the cake together. You see, you're supposed to be able to ice the two halves together to make one tall cake.


So far so good. I have 2 teddy bear halves with full formed ears, noses, and arms. After the cooling time, I put one half back in the pan, and slathered it with buttercream icing (homemade, just like that cakes) and then placed the other teddy bear half on top. (At this point I think one of the heads fell off and had to reattached with icing.) There was more chilling to happen in the fridge, and then, like magic, you have a beautiful, tall teddy bear cake to glaze and ice.

Yeah right!





So the other head fell off and the body wouldn't come out of the pan. So I glazed a head and the intact half (which I'm pretty sure was the one with the surgically reattached head). I made rolled fondant icing (allrecipes.com) and made the blue eyes (because Allen's eyes are blue), the turtleneck, the bow tie, and the sneaker. The brown color came from a dark chocolate glaze that I brushed over the cakes, and the "fuzziness" came from Demerara sugar.

It was very tasty. I was very tired. And Allen really just wanted to eat the eyes.

We also had presents for the kid. Without birthdays and holidays, Allen was truly lacking in gifts. NOT! But we made it a party complete with gifts. His Mom and Dad, and separately his Aunt Kristen and Uncle Josh gave him books. Nana gave him a school bus complete with magnetic children, driver, and dog. Didn't your school bus have a dog on it?

Allegra's photos of the gifts are better, so I'll bump you there: http://peanut-cookie.blogspot.com/2009/05/first-day-of-school-celebration.html

I think I'm done for now. I have more that I could say, but I have to go make french fries. When I asked Josh yesterday if we could go to Shaw's Crab House for dinner, he said yes...if I made him French Fries and Hot Dogs for dinner tonight. What a deal--I got eat crab and he get's hot dogs. He's a prince!