Friday, 12/30/16

Spent the night at the Marriott down the road as a little post-Christmas treat for Carter (unfortunately he had a cold and wasn't feeling his best). We hit the hot tub, got a pizza from Athena's and watched Clerks II.

Marriott: not as fun or nice as the Porches, but cheaper and so much closer.

The pool was only slightly bigger than the hot tub

Thursday, 12/29/16

Didn't really have anything planned for dinner so I used up a lot of various things and mixed them with orzo. Poached chicken, cherry tomatoes, spinach, broccoli....finished with the reduced poaching liquid, a little butter and some parmesan. Tasted good and saved a few things from lingering in the crisper.

Wednesday, 12/28/16

Ground pork (from Cravings, only she used ground chicken and we didn't bother with lettuce cups), green beans and rice. Very flavorful; if I don't remember to copy the recipe I think the main things to remember are lots of ginger and garlic, and the addition of hoisin sauce. I can probably wing it next time. Last time I made green beans they were so tasty but somehow I didn't take note of what exactly I did to them so I just tried to remember. They weren't as good and I want to kick myself.

Tuesday, 12/27/16

We tried to duplicate some favorites from our weekend travels: roasted sweet potatoes (not as good as Jeff's: maybe his enormous CSA specimens were the reason?), potato pancakes (also not as good, probably because I carelessly pulverized some of the potatoes in the food processor. Next time I stick to the box grater), and chicken baked with a maple-mustard sauce (from Jennie and David's: mine was almost as good, but not quite. Who knows why?).
So a good, if not great meal.

ps Also some broccoli, inspired by no one, but my boy deserves the occasional green vegetable.

Monday, 12/26/16

A lot of challah in the freezer? French toast, of course! It was well-liked. I also served bacon and a zucchini gratin (repeated the Ina Garten recipe).  That was my favorite part and I think it would also be good with broccoli or cauliflower. I realized that just because I was serving breakfast dishes for dinner I didn't have to come up with some kind of "breakfast" vegetable and could make whatever I wanted. Also, those zucchini were starting to look at me reproachfully every time I opened the crisper.

Sunday, 12/25/16

Merry Christmas! Lunch at my parents. Turns out not that many people like sushi. My dad and I had to eat the bulk of it. So sad! My mom also made meatballs, little hot dogs, homemade bacon-horseradish dip, brie and raspberry jam and more. So delicious and fun. I brought two desserts but we never even ate them. It may have been just as well since I think subbing in buckwheat flour for almond flour in my brown sugar cake was a mistake. And my chocolate cream pie is only so-so. Even as I was making the filling it struck me as too much cornstarch....I am losing all my baking confidence.

Saturday, 12/24/16

Dinner with Jennie and David; since it was Christmas Eve we all sat at the table and had dinner together---it was really nice! David made some chicken with mustard and maple that Carter loved, we brought another challah (slightly stale, dammit!) and more hamantaschen (again, unloved. I knew it) and some crunchy chocolate nuts (from SK). I think the champagne was our most popular contribution.

Friday, 12/23/16

We visited Jeff and Sue in Westford; latkes, soup and salad for dinner. The potato pancakes turned out really well #norecipe); we brought a challah (very popular) and hamantaschen (unloved. they aren't very festive unless you are celebrating Purim, I guess). Tasty, fun and jolly.

Thursday, 12/22/16

Jason and I had an enormous lunch at UMass, so we were not particularly hungry for the black bean soup and homemade bread. The soup was fine (I don't think anyone gets too excited for black bean soup which makes me wonder why I keep making it? Cheap and easy, I guess), and the bread was lovely.

Wednesday, 12/21/16

Sushi bowl, with avocado, tuna and cucumber. No leftovers.

Tuesday, 12/20/16

One of my favorite foods, pasta with a creamy broccoli sauce (from SK). I use a lot more broccoli than she calls for, and added some leftover ricotta that I had on hand. So good. it just occurred to me that lemon zest would be a good addition. Also had some kielbasa for my carnivorous family members.

Monday, 12/19/15

Jason was off examining students, so Carter and I ordered in wings. I had some chard and Carter had some peas to assuage our nutritional guilt.

Sunday, 12/18/16

Dinner at Jennie and David's: Jason made onion bread, I made brownies with caramel and brought some of the pizzelle. I think the pizzelle were more popular which just reinforced my desire for a maker.
At least people at work liked the brownies.

Saturday, 12/17/16

A snowy Craft Day (aka Crap Day, aka Longest Day of the Year) at Jen's. So much making and dipping and packaging! Jen and Laurie made it all pretty; my beeswax wraps went unloved, and now I need a pizelle iron. Fun and utterly exhausting.

Maybe a quarter of the bounty?

Luckily, Jason swooped in and made a couple of pizzas. Spinach and ricotta was particularly delicious.

Friday, 12/16/16

Family Relaxation Night for what felt like the first time in a while. I made a batch of samosas (from a 2014 issue of Saveur) and two chutneys (tamarind also from Saveur, cilantro from My Bombay Kitchen) I was feeling lazy, so I baked the samosas instead of frying them and that was a great option! Tasted just as good and so much cleaner and easier. I also made a small batch of paneer and fried it up in a chile-tomato sort of sauce also from MBK. Carter didn't like it but Jason and I did. Finally some veggie pakoras from Trader Joe's which were fine.

Thursday, 12/15/16

Tried a new chicken Marsala recipe from Serious Eats, and it left me wondering, why did I try a new recipe? My old one (that is to say, no real recipe) is fine. I guess I was intrigued by the notion of adding gelatin to the stock to add body, but it was not noticeable and the recipe as written was a little thin and blah.It ended up fine though, alongside some orzo and roasted cauliflower with pomegranate seeds.

Wednesday, 12/14/16

Dinner with my mom at Bub's BBQ. I had not been there in probably over 20 years, and I was pleasantly surprised! I could have filled up on macaroni and cheese alone.

Tuesday, 12/13/16

Two part tofu: roasted, with broccoli, noodles and soy sauce for Carter (at his plaintive request), roasted, with broccoli rabe and peanut sauce for Jason and me. The bitter greens were a nice counterpoint to the rich sauce (from Cravings, again, although I fiddled with it quite a bit). Your basic weeknight tofu dinner.

Monday, 12/12/16

Jason asked (demanded?) that we have nachos for dinner because we had the ingredients languishing around. I groused a bit, but honestly being told that you HAVE to have nachos for dinner is kind of a dream come true. I mean, I had to do it! Made a little bit of guacamole and served them with roasted sweet potatoes.

Sunday, 12/11/16

Carter's choice: fried chicken (Popeye's style), plus baked potatoes (we all had different vegetables because apparently I run a diner? Broccoli for Carter, coleslaw for Jason and sweet potatoes for me).. I used boneless, brined chicken breasts and they turned out very crunchy and juicy. I also made a cream gravy from Serious Eats (I omitted the garlic this time). Not necessary, but good and peppery. No pictures because it was not a photogenic meal.

Saturday, 12/10/16

Dinner with Jennie and David. Jason made an exemplary loaf of bread, and I made another batch of the cinnamon-swirl cookies, plus another new Dorie recipe. These little chocolate waffles come together quickly, are super-cute AND tasty. The chocolate dip you make to serve with  them takes them over the top. They are a little soft after a few hours, but a couple of minutes in a toaster oven makes them crisp (although they are also good soft).

Friday, 12/9/16

Open House at Jen's beautiful little craft studio.  The traffic was nuts, and we didn't really have any dinner, had to stay late to sober up a bit....
But I did make some really good cookies, and ironically they are NOT from my new cookie book. They are from a cookbook called "Marbled, Swirled and Layered" which is kind of a dumb name. But these cinnamon swirl cookies are definitely going into my regular rotation. They aren't even particularly hard to make. My only (tiny) criticism is that the glaze wasn't that great, so I just left it off most of them.

Thursday, 12/8/16

Sweet potato and potato curry, sort of from My Bombay Kitchen. I threw this in the slow cooker before work, and it was perfectly nice (and economical), but nothing special. Roasted some cauliflower to go with it (and rice, of course). I had a little chaat powder to add at the table which added a welcome brightness.

Wednesday, 12/7/16

Dinner in Whately...lots of tasty mexican foods, cornbread, taquitos, fajitas.  We brought some caramel-chocolate almonds that I frantically made in the morning.The recipe is from SK, and they are relatively easy even though I forgot to roll them in sparkly sugar before the chocolate set. That's OK, I'll make then again (maybe with mixed nuts?) next weekend. Could be fun to spice them a little, too. Although there is no need as they are terrific as is.

Tuesday, 12/6/16

A repeat of baked rice with feta and mint. I still didn't have any mint, but I did have more of the ingredients on hand than last time I made this (back in December 2015). Carter skipped the topping (pomegranate, pomegranate molasses, almonds, parsley and olives) and put soy sauce on his rice instead. His loss. I am slightly abashed to admit that I served this with fish sticks, and that I didn't have time/oven space to make a vegetable. Still, the rice was fancy and tasty.

Monday, 12/5/16

The ever popular breakfast-for-dinner. Scrambled eggs with scallions, homefries with melted cheese. Two salsas. I ate some broccoli but no one else did so I feel fairly superior, nutrition-wise.
Lately all I want to eat are things with lots of melted cheese.

Sunday, 12/5/16

We got home early from the Hot Chocolate Run and I had taken the day off so it was time to do some baking. Made a couple of loaves of challah and some biscotti. We had green chile macaroni and cheese for dinner (which I have managed not to make for a whole year!). I love it so, so much, what can I say? Threw in some broccoli so I felt healthier.

Saturday, 12/3/16

Dinner with Jennie and David. Onion bread and a butterscotch pie from Mario Batali. I had several issues with this pie: who thinks you can fully blind bake a crust in 12 minutes? Plus it didn't fully set up. There was no salt or vanilla in the recipe which maybe was meant to showcase the butterscotch taste? But would have been bland. It just felt poorly written. The final problem was my own fault because I added a bit of molasses (to bump my light brown sugar up to dark) and the flavor sort of hijacked the pie. I probably won't make this version again and my search for the best butterscotch pudding goes on.
Also, cheese wafers from the Dorie cookbook. Perfectly tasty but not revelatory. Maybe I haven't made the best choices but nothing from the book has blown me away yet.

Friday, 12/2/16

Town holiday party meant I wasn't home for dinner, but Jason made a very meaty pizza. I was still hungry when I got home so I had a slice. Dense but tasty. I also tried out another Dorie cookie recipe this week: her new iteration of chocolate chips. She adds a tiny bit of coriander and nutmeg (barely noticeable) and swaps in some whole wheat flour. Like most chocolate chip cookies, they were great right after baking, but less so as the days went on. They produce a fairly fat and chewy cookie---I think I like them a bit better on the chewy-crispy cusp.

Thursday, 12/1/16

Poached chicken and rice, from the NYT. Much, much more delicious than it sounds: the chicken is poached in a spicy, gingery-y broth, chopped and served over rice with two sauces: a sweet soy and a spicy ginger/garlic sauce. Garnished with cilantro, cucumbers, scallions and sesame oil, this was one of my favorite meals of the week. We added some broccoli but greens would also have been good.

#familyfavorite

Wednesday, 11/30/16

Just leftovers: made a quick turkey soup, finished the bread and the zucchini. Still a lot in that refrigerator, but not as bad.

Tuesday, 11/29/16

We picked up some green vegetable noodles from the market and I made tofu and greens to go with it. Regaular broccoli, chinese broccoli and scallions, plus the usual aromatics and roasted tofu. Carter thought it was too spicy and was not impressed ("can't we have normal tofu and broccoli and noodles? I would have loved that") Sorry, kid. The tofu and vegetables were great, I didn't love the flavor of the noodles but they did have a nice springy texture.

Doesn't that look healthy?

Monday, 11/28/16

At last, a meal where every element turned out! Grilled chicken sandwiches with red onion jam, spinach and tomato (Carter: these are good, Mom. (bite) Really good!), potatoes that I baked in the morning, sliced thickly and pan fried, plus whipped cauliflower with garlic and ricotta. I liked these so much that I may never go back to mashed potatoes. The cauliflower recipe came from Cravings (again), but it is an easy and versatile enough preparation that no recipe is really necessary.

Sunday, 11/27/16

Spaghetti with meat sauce, zucchini cakes (fritters?), bread and cheese. The bread (made by Jason) and cheese were wonderful, but I thought my tomato sauce wasn't tomato-y enough, and the zucchini wasn't crispy enough. Overall, less than the sum of their parts. Maybe I should have put baking powder in with the fritter batter? Or used a cast iron pan instead of ceramic?

Saturday, 11/26/18

After a trying day capped by the sudden breakdown of our washing machine, we went off to Jennie and David's for dinner. And adult beverages. Jason made his new delicious onion variation of bread, and I tried another Dorie recipe, pumpkin bars. Basically, a shortbread base, a nice pumpkin pie filling layer, and then finished with a layer of mini marshmallows that you broil. It would have been even nicer, I think, with homemade marshmallows, but I was too busy buying a new washer. Next time!

Friday, 11/25/16

Michael and Kristen and baby Mercer came over for dinner! I am happy to report that Mercer liked the lentils and rice and the naan (both from My Bombay Kitchen). He also ate his cauliflower with brown butter and pumpkin seeds, but was not a fan of flan. The most he would do was lick it. Oh well, more for us.
In other dessert news, I re-heated the soggy jam cookies and they freshened up nicely.

Thursday, 11/24/16

Thanksgiving at Jay and Jodi's. The usual stuff (still no gravy), but the grilled turkey was especially good. We brought a couple of pies (pumpkin and pecan, from trusted recipes from David Lebowitz and SK, respectively). I would have liked to do more but Jason held me back. The pecan was more popular than the pumpkin, so that is something to remember.

Wednesday, 11/23/16

Dinner with my parents. We had a fun buffet style meal of treats like chicken wings, shrimp, bread and cheese. Jason made another batch of onion bread (awesome), plus we brought some cheese and the leftover cookies. Sadly, they had lost their crispiness. I blame my lame tupperware and will try re-heating them a bit before serving them again. We played a silly new board game and had a great time, soggy cookies or not.

Tuesday, 11/22/16

Dinner with Jen and John (and Gus). I made lentil soup with lemon and tomato from the NYT, which I belately realized I had made last time we had dinner together. Embarassing. They are trying out Blue Apron, so we also had fun cauliflower and egg tostadas with a watermelon radish-orange salsa. They were really good and I am a little jealous that we don't have Blue Apron but I can just steal their ideas. I also made another batch of cookies from Dorie's Cookies, "jammers". Sable dough is baked (in muffin tins, what a pain) with a little jam (blackberry in this case) and sprinkled with streusel. These are fussy to make but quite lovely. My streusel was a little wonky but tasted fine.

Monday, 11/21/16

Jason graciously made dinner (Jason style), so we had burgers and fries. I dutifully finished the zucchini, too.

Sunday, 11/20/16

I just wasn't feeling like planning out everything this week, so tonight we had nachos for dinner, along with some zucchini. Curiously unsatisfying but that is what I get.

Saturday, 11/19/16

Dinner with Jennie and David. Jason made his usual bread but with the exciting and delicious addition of onions. I made a chocolate pudding from the NYT that was more complicated and no more delicious than my usual Smitten Kitchen recipe (so I'll stick with SK from now on). I also made some very plain vanilla cookies from my new cookbook (Dorie's Cookies) that were far tastier than you would think. The only trouble I had was that the scraps were really tricky to re-roll. I think I should have rolled them out a bit thicker, too.

Friday, 11/18/16

Jason and I actually went away for the night, just the two of us! We stayed at a cool hotel in Pittsfield, Hotel on North. It is a sister property of the Porches, and shares a lot of the sensibility. Sadly, it doesn't share a hot tub.
We picked up fancy cheese and crackers from a nearby gourmet grocery store, shared a bottle of wine, and had dinner in the room. So no cooking again.

Thursday, 11/17/16

Jason was away , so Carter and I just had leftovers. Then we went to a cookbook talk, dessert sharing cookbook give-away event at the Leverett library. I made something called Maine Bars from my new (!) cookbook, Dorie's Cookies. I over baked them, so they were a little dry. As a plain brown bar (sort of gingerbread-y) they were also a lot less sexy that some of the other desserts. But it was every fun  and I am looking forward to making more cookies from the book.

Wednesday, 11/16/16

Taco night at my mom's. We ate many, many wonderful tacos. I brought an angel food cake with some of my leftover hot fudge, which wasn't terribly inspired but did use up quite a few egg whites.

Tuesday, 11/15/16

Something new for me, pork chops (although these were so thin they were more like cutlets). I got the recipe from Serious Eats but in retrospect I didn't need a recipe. Just breaded with panko/parmesan and panfried. They were delicious because anything fried with panko is delicious. We also had rice pilaf with almonds and apricots, and roasted brussels sprouts. As a favor to Carter I busted out some jellied cranberry sauce and he was very pleased. Made a good accompaniment to the pork.

Monday, 11/14/16

ANOTHER recipe from "Cravings":  roasted cauliflower salad with orzo, spinach and feta. This was a great combination (it also had dried berries), although the dressing was a little bland and a little too sweet. I had to doctor it up with some vinegar and sriracha. I would skip the honey altogether next time. Overall, this cookbook it really hitting it out of the park for me.
We also had some sauteed kielbasa, for those who are fearful of not getting enough protein (Jason). In retrospect, I should have made deviled eggs.

Another terrible picture that doesn't do justice to this very pretty dish.

Sunday, 11/13/16

Pizza by Jason. I only tried the pepperoni, but it was great. Also,I have been making tomato sauce for so long that I can do it without tasting it. Although maybe it was terrible and all the pepperoni covered it up?

Saturday, 11/12/16

Dinner with Jennie and David. I was worried it would be too somber, but we drowned our sorrows and managed to be merry. I made vanilla ice cream from a NYT recipe, and hot fudge from David Lebovitz (looking back through older entries, I see that I have made hot fudge a couple of times and didn't mention where I got the recipe. What use is this to me if I don't cite my sources??). Both really good recipes and worth keeping. I also made hummus from Zahav; not sure if it was because I didn't precisely follow the recipe, but it was thick as hell, very garlicky and not "ethereally smooth" as promised. Good enough but still a work in progress.

Friday, 11/11/16

After a big lunch at Five Guys, we decided to just have leftovers for dinner. Still eating that giant eggplant casserole.

Thursday, 11/10/16

Used up some of the leftover roasted pork to make tacos, with homemade tortillas. Garnished with cotija cheese, avocado, red cabbage, cilantro and jalapenos. Very rich and there is still a lot of pork.

Wednesday, 11/9/16

Dinner with my mom: hamsteaks, scalloped potatoes, broccoli. My mother didn't think the potatoes turned out well but I thought they were delicious and and I had to have thirds. We brought a banana cake (from Food52) with penuche frosting (but only on half, as Jason categorically refused to eat frosting). I had made this before, as a layer cake, but did it as a sheet cake this time and liked it better than I remembered. Maybe because my half had double frosting?

Tuesday, 11/8/16

Another recipe from "Cravings", another version of pasta alla norma. Lots of eggplant, lots of olive oil, lots of cheese. Bakes, it turned out more like a baked ziti or lasagna. Carter did not approve "(I hate browned cheese! I like normal, cold cheese!"), and it was a bit rich. I had it for breakfast the next morning and liked it better re-heated. actually, I would like it even better without the eggplant and with italian sausage instead.

Monday, 11/7/16

Another recipe from the cookbook "Cravings": chicken with thai basil. So good! I didn't have any oyster sauce, so improvised with a mixture of fish sauce, hoisin and dark soy (thanks, internet). It was really nice and a different flavor profile for us. I was worried that I put in too much basil but I could have used even more. We also had some chinese greens made according to a recipe that I found in Milk Street Magazine (to which I will not be subscribing because I still don't care for Christopher Kimball). Steam whatever greens you have, top them with scallions, ginger and hot peppers, and then pour a little hot hot oil over them. Topped with a little rice vinegar and sesame seeds, these were tender, flavorful and a nice easy method for serving greens.
Also, rice.

Sunday, 11/6/16

Dinner at Goten with my parents and Thor. Fun as always, with two surprises: Jason ordered some sushi and it was really good! And Carter caught the flipped shrimp so that was a victory.

Just as well I didn't cook because leftovers were getting out of hand.

Saturday, 11/5/16

An old standby from Cook's Illustrated---chocolate cream pie. Nobody doesn't like this. The crust is an Oreo's highest calling. Plus Jason made some bread---I liked the inclusion of sesame seeds.

Friday, 11/4/16

Another go round with a giant pork butt and bo ssam. The pork roasted for about 6 hours and was nice and tender. I forgot to put out the kimchi, but there were still the two other sauces with it so there was no lack of flavor. Plus rice and a little leftover broccoli.

Wednesday, 11/2/16

We had to fend for ourselves since my mom was busy. But we rallied and made ricotta-lemon pancakes and grilled up some homemade breakfast sausage from the freezer. The pancake recipe was from a place called Plow that Jessica and I tried. I thought it could have been a little more lemony, and it could have used some salt, but they were nice.  I can't be positive, but I am pretty sure the boys would have been just as happy with a mix.

Thursday, 11/3/16

Carter had pizza at Ultimate, so the tofu and noodles I made was primarily for Jason and me. Nothing too innovative---sauteed with ginger, garlic, etc and lots of broccoli. It was nice, but might have been even a bit better had we not run out of soy sauce. Don't worry, I re-stocked.

Tuesday, 11/1/16

Made what is probably one of my favorite meals in a long time: ground pork, sauteed with a bunch of stuff and served with rice and butter lettuce for rolling up (we still all fail at that rolling. Either the lettuce is too soft or two crispy). This came from a random cookbook that I picked up called "Cravings", by a woman named Chrissy Teigen who is apparently a swimsuit model? Anyway, it was SO GOOD. A lot of chopping beforehand (garlic, ginger, mushrooms, red pepper and more), but it otherwise comes together quickly. The hoisin in the sauce gave a nice sweetness but not overwhelmingly so.
Also had roasted cauliflower with pumpkin seeds (how seasonal!), brown butter, lime and cilantro. This was also good and I wished I had had a lot more of it.
I may have to try more from that cookbook.

Monday, 10/31/16

Late dinner, thanks to a last minute (although not entirely unexpected) decision to go trick-or-treating after all. So I got to stay home making fried chicken, roasted potatoes and green beans quietly and at my leisure. All tasty enough, and then we went right to bed. The house still reeked of frying chicken.

Sunday, 10/30/16

Dinner with my folks, plus Thor, Sarena, and Kevin. My mom made a lovely Thanksgiving day trial meal, with roasted chicken instead of turkey. Plus ample mashed potatoes and gravy. We brought an apple cake with brown sugar icing (from the King Arthur flour website). I thought the cake was a little too crumbly, and that the frosting was the best part. I wonder why some cakes are so soft like that? Was it the apples? It wasn't dry, at least. I bet that frosting would be good on any number of cakes, although it is really more of a glaze.
What we didn't bring were pralines, which were a failure. I tried a Paula Deen recipe (since her corn fritters worked so well), and it may have been me not cooking the syrup quite long enough, but they never firmed up. They are now destined to be an ice cream topping. Oh well.

Saturday, 10/29/16

Dinner with Jennie and David: bread from Jason, another sprinkle cake from me. This time I made a cooked flour vanilla frosting instead of chocolate. I preferred it, Jason didn't. I think Jennie and David liked it, though. I also made some feta boureks that were quickly assembled using store bought puff pastry and quite nice. The recipe is from the book "Zahav", and I can't wait to try some more things from there.

Festive!

Friday, 10/28/16

The day got away with us, with shopping and whatnot. We made ricotta ravioli, with a lemon-y cream sauce and a regular tomato sauce. However, that is all we had for dinner. Oh well, tomatoes are a vegetable.

Thursday, 10/27/16

Since Jason was off giving an exam, Carter and I just had leftovers, I think. Whatever it was, I can barely remember so it was unmemorable. I did microwave a sweet potato, to no good effect.

Wednesday, 10/26/16

Dinner with my parents: really good beef barley soup, plus some vegetables that I just can't remember? We brought a lemon drizzle cake, from the NYT. Easy enough, since it is a sheet cake. I maybe overcooked it a tiny bit,  as it was nearly too dry. The crackly glaze is my favorite part. I had a dream (literally) of making this cherry instead of lemon someday.

Tuesday, 10/25/16

I had planned to make chicken soup: bought a rotisserie chicken, made a nice rich stock...but instead I improvised sort of noodle bowls. It was just Carter and me, so I customized them: noodles, ginger, jalapeno, spinach, mushrooms, chicken and scallions for me, no mushrooms or jalapenos for Carter. Put is all into enormous bowls and poured boiling stock over them. More novel than soup---closer to ramen. I added a bit too much soy sauce but it was still good and fun to eat.

Monday, 10/24/16

Pot roast done in the slow cooker and mashed potatoes was supposed to be a quick meal, but it somehow took a while. Even the stupid steamed broccoli took longer than I thought. The pot roast was just my own version (carrots, onions, garlic, red wine, tomato paste and beef stock) and it was fine but not awesome. Carter said my mashed potatoes were good (but then went on to say that almost all mashed potatoes are good enough for him) but that my gravy was not as good as grandma's. Sad, but he is right.
I am getting the feeling that we don't actually like slow cooked beef and I should stick to pork.

Sunday, 10/23/16

Can you believe that after all that entertaining this weekend, my mom had us over for dinner? And that all I brought was a crappy jar of (sub-par) caramel sauce? And it wasn't even homemade? Anyway, pulled pork and fancy tuna salad (I mean, really fancy: you start with fresh tuna, you make your own aioli...it was amazing and I feel sad that I sullied it by putting it on potato chips but I would do it all over again), salad...I really owe that mom of mine.
Also, my brother was there. Yay Thor!

Saturday, 10/22/16

Dinner with the peeps again, at the Blue Heron. A real treat for me, less so for Carter. He didn't approve of the housemade catsup (and really, why bother), and his gnocchi was too sweet. Too bad, since my seared tuna and mezze platter were excellent. Jason even admitted that his calamari was the best that he'd had! Or was that the scotch talking? As I could have predicted, my chocolate pot de creme was fine but no match for homemade. A super fun evening! It was sad to say goodbye to everyone.

Carter enjoying a post Blue Heron hot dog.

Friday, 10/21/16

Dinner in Whately with parents and aunts and uncles! So nice to see everyone and my mom made roast pork, green beans and mashed potatoes. Once again she proved just who is the gravy boss. We brought a couple of loaves of bread, SK cheese straws (made into cracker shapes), and two pies: pecan and pumpkin. I am so happy with those recipes that I see no need to look further, but I had crust troubles. One crust shrunk so much I had to start over! I will go back to my regular method, even if is is a little less flaky.

Thursday, 10/20/16

Chicken korma again, at Carter's request, plus some cauliflower with curry butter (NYT) and store bought naan. The chicken was as good as ever, if a bit undersalted. The cauliflower recipe has potential, but I was in a hurry and it was only fine. It needed a little more of everything. Also, it was boiled and I would roast it instead. Next time, since we have cauliflower apparently all the time.

Time did not improve the Bad Cake.

Wednesday, 10/19/16

We met my parents at Frontier for pizza (always my favorite). I had made a prune cake from PW. I have made this before with great success, but both times that I have made it for my parents, it has been awful. This time it looked TERRIBLE. I was hoping it tasted better, but no. Heavy, dense and the icing was lumpy. Disappointing AND mortifying. I will need to step up my dessert baking this weekend if I ever hope to convince people that I can bake...

Tuesday, 10/18/16

Slightly less complicated dinner of meatballs, salad, and egg noodles. I adapted the meatball stroganoff recipe from the NYT with ingredients on hand and my own preference: vermouth for sherry, and added beef stock to the sauce. I was able to do a lot ahead (and baked the meatballs instead of frying), so this came together pretty quickly. Too many mushrooms for Carter, but I would certainly make it again.
Since I can't seem to get a good food photograph, here is our lovely autumn instead:

Monday, 10/17/16

What a complicated dinner! I made japchae (saved in NYT) and kimchi pancakes (from Maanchi cookbook). The pancakes were fairly simple: just mix kimchi, flour, some of the brine and salt and fry. Serve with a quick vinegar dipping sauce. But the japchae required many, many steps and lots of chopping and lots of frying. It is essentially a beef and vegetable stir-fry with sweet potato starch noodles, but the recipe has you prepare almost every ingredient separately. Still, it was very good! Next time I will add a spicy element, maybe. Carter especially liked the chewy, spring noodles. But save it for a weekend night.

Sunday, 10/16/16

Chili, salad, fritos. Honestly, I think I just made the chili as an excuse to eat fritos. I even made some of them into frito-nachos for an extra treat.

Saturday, 10/15/16

Dinner with Jennie and David. Bread, some of the caponata, and a pumpkin pie (from David Liebowitz). The pie crust was great if shrink-y (I used a recipe from Serious Eats and think my ingredients weren't cold enough. The advice to use a glass pie plate was good, though). The pie was devoured so I will take that as a sign of success. I'll try the crust again next weekend.

Friday, 10/14/16

I was planning to make eggplant parm, but a look at my eggplants revealed that I had let them languish too long in the fridge. So, a big batch of caponata instead (from David Liebowitz). We had that with a loaf of Jason's bread, some fancy cheese (manchego and delice de bourgogne, from Big Y, which has recently stepped up their cheese game), apples and for dessert, a giant cake. The Funfetti cake recipe is from Food52, and it is not bad. I didn't want to make the American buttercream that the recipe called for, since it looked too sweet and used too much butter (even by my standards), so I made a milk chocolate frosting recipe from Cook's Illustrated instead. It is a nice, silky and easy frosting, but I thought the chocolate was too overpowering. Next time I will make a cooked flour frosting.

Another bad photo. Maybe red plates aren't my best option

Thursday, 10/13/16

Pizza by Jason: onion-pesto, pepperoni-mushroom. Delicious.

Wednesday, 10/12/16

Dinner with my parents; tortellini with chicken and mushrooms. Why do I always forget about tortellini? It's so good! Also, salad and rolls. We brought Moravian Spice cookies which are like very, very thin ginger snaps. They were a pain to roll out and not spicy enough, in my opinion. Made good ice rream sandwiches, though.

Tuesday, 10/11/16

Less ambitious, more popular: beef burritos and sauteed zucchini. A real crowd pleaser.

Monday, 10/10/16

After a delicious brunch at my Mom's (I made deviled eggs and apple muffins. The muffins were the first decent baked good I have made recently and I saved the recipe to the NYT. The only change would be to bump up the spices), nobody was very hungry. But that did not stop me from making chicken with cilantro chutney and roasted cauliflower (both from my new Indian cookbook), plus potatoes from my recipe file. I think Carter was underwhelmed (he would have preferred chicken korma again), but I liked it!
 I made a lot of spicy things this weekend: the cilantro chutney, the crazy-hot habanero jam, kimchi and salsa verde (which is actually pretty mild). Cool weather + long weekend = lots of cooking. I am starting to contemplate making croissants again...

Sunday, 10/9/16

Korean dinner, while Carter was off with his cousins. I made kimchi (hard to tell yet how it will turn out; it is from the same source as the chicken buldak: Maangchi's blog)), a punishingly spicy scotch bonnet jam (from a book called K Food) sticky rice and bulgogi beef. I had forgotten that I had made bulgogi before, and I think I used the same recipe (from the Times). I used flank steak, but the long marinade made it very, very tender. Served with some raw garlic and forgot to buy lettuce. Oh well. It was still good and Jason raved about it. The chile jam was sweet and spicy and best used judiciously. It also smelled up the whole house while cooking.

Saturday, 10/8/16

We had an enormous lunch at Bombay Royale, so dinner was just snacks.

Friday, 10/7/16

Dinner with Jen and John. I made a lentil soup from the NYT that I apparently made before. Terrific and easy both times. I also made Almost Flourless Chocolate Cake (from my recipe file) that would have been good had I not overbaked it. Dammit! I feel like I have been baking cursed lately.

Thursday, 10/6/16

Carter and I had dinner at Bertucci's. It was pretty good, but we both sort of regretted not getting Chinese instead. Next time.

Wednesday, 10/5/16

A quick but satisfying dinner of spaghetti with meat sauce and some roasted delicata squash. Not much to say about it, other that we ate everything up.

Tuesday, 10/4/16

A reprise of spicy chicken buldak, but I substituted roasted tofu for the chicken. I even bought some Korean red pepper (last time I just used crushed red pepper). Jason and Carter say they prefer the tofu version; I am not so sure. I felt the whole thing needed more spice and a bit more salt. I threw in some steamed broccoli, which I thought was a nice addition.

Monday, 10/3/16

On Saturday while I was baking sub-par dessert and crackers, I was also making a chicken and sausage gumbo, which we had tonight. I am happy to report that is delicious; Carter praised it highly even though I was worried that it was a bit spicy. No real recipe, just lots of peppers, onions, celery and a nice dark roux.

Sunday, 10/2/16

One of those recipe videos on FB caught my eye, prompting me to make something that I would never have otherwise tried:  cauliflower crust mini pizzas. I am virulently anti-paleo, so I don't know why this looked so good, but...
First off, it is more what I would call pizza flavored. The crust is nothing like dough, of course. That being said, these were tasty! Carter liked them even after hearing that they were made of cauliflower. I topped them with sauce, cheese and pepperoni, and that is what mainly came through. I would make these again; they are fairly simple and you feel quite virtuous about eating vegetables.

Saturday, 10/1/16

Dinner with Jennie and david. Two new recipes, two disappointments. A citrus-almond cake (NYT) that I found bitter, insufficiently sweet and overdone, even though I pulled it 10 minutes early. Also made some cheese crackers (SE) that I thought lacked flavor. Also, first I underbaked them, then I overbaked them, so that was my fault. They aren't bad, but I would add more salt, a sharper cheese, and maybe a bit of hot sauce or cayenne. Overall, a lot of work for only a slim return.

Friday, 9/30/16

Part of dinner was a concession to Carter and Jason: kielbasa and french fries. The rest of dinner was for my own enjoyment: a zucchini gratin (adapted from the Barefoot Contessa: I shredded the zucchini instead of slicing it and just eyeballed the flour and butter), that was crunchy and delicious. I thought there was too much panko topping, but it was not a problem. I also made a banoffee pie from a recipe by April Bloomfield. This turned out to be a bit of a production, as I had to make my own dulce de leche first (luckily, David Liebowitz has a very good and fairly easy recipe that worked perfectly), and I probably didn't chill the pie crust long enough as I was pressed for time. Next time I will use my regular pie crust as I thought this was too hard and cookie-like, and I will use more bananas, but otherwise this was a decadent and sweet mess. It would be good to make for a crowd, as it doesn't hold up too long.

Thursday, 9/29/16

It was the Middle School Open House, so we sort of cobbled together dinner in a hurry: some ravioli, meatballs from the freezer, and Jason finished the bread.

Wednesday, 9/28/16

Dinner with my mom. More re-purposed leftovers: grilled pork sandwiches, revamped mac & cheese with hamburgers, and leftover brownies.

Tuesday, 9/27/16

Jason made us our own personal loaf of bread; we had that along with some tapenade made from olives left over from the rehearsal dinner (the meal that keeps on giving), fruit, goat cheese and deviled eggs.

Monday, 9/26/16

More soup! Cream of broccoli soup that could have been creamier, but had a nice flavor. I also took some of the leftover chicken from the rehearsal dinner, heated it up with barbeque sauce, and made little chicken sandwiches with red onion.

Sunday, 9/25/16

Repeat of a curried tomato soup from the NYT, plus grilled cheese. I guess I was sad that I didn't get any of the tomato soup shooters at the wedding? Anyway, it was a great soup, especially with a little leftover cauliflower and rice thrown in.

Saturday, 9/24/16

No cooking again! But of course we were at a wedding so that is an excuse.

Friday, 9/23/16

No cooking; BJ and Bernadette's rehearsal dinner. Lots of tasty food courtesy of my Mom and Maggie; I brought brownies and caramel blondies (David Liebowitz and I am so glad I found that recipe again!)

Thursday, 9/22/16

Zac and Corrina were here for dinner. Chicken korma (another Carter request), rice, roasted cauliflower and the last of the homemade naan. Had to improvise with chicken thighs, as the boneless breast I thought I had in the freezer was a figment of my imagination. Still turned out well, and there were no leftovers, so I take that as a good sign.

Wednesday, 9/21/16

Leftover green chili. That is all.

Tuesday, 9/20/16

Ravioli with tomato sauce, at Carter's request. It's one of my favorites, too. Many a birthday request of mine was ravioli and angel food cake.  We also had a little plain broccoli.

Monday, 9/19/16

Green chile pork stew with hominy, adapted from a couple of recipes and my own preferences. I roasted together poblanos, jalapenos, tomatillos and garlic; seared the pork shoulder and then threw it all in the slow cooker, with a finish of chopped cilantro and some zucchini. The pork was perfectly done and I love hominy in there, for both the flavor and the pleasantly chewy texture. We also finished up the corn fritters.

Sunday, 9/17/16

Jason made some lovely pizzas for us. My favorite had salami AND pepperoni, hot peppers, mushrooms and provolone. Yum!

Saturday, 9/17/16

Jennie and David's. Bread and a rum cake (from King Arthur flour website). I was hesitant about this one, since it called for vanilla pudding mix (and 1 box of mix isn't quite enough for the recipe! How stupid is that! I just made do). I also don't like recipes that don't have you cream the butter; I find that the butter never fully mixes into the batter (and indeed, I could see butter bubbling out as it cooked). The finished product is very moist, dense and rum-y. If I made it again, I would cream the butter and sugar before adding other ingredients. Good flavor, though.
I also mixed up a little goat cheese with honey and jalapenos, because I had read a glowing review of a version that is sold at Trader Joe's. When I found that our TJ's doesn't have it, I realized that how hard could it be? And it was delicious.

Friday, 9/16/16

I was feeling slightly ambitious, so instead of sushi bowl,  I went for full on sushi rolls (avocado and tuna, nothing too wild). My rolling skills are not stellar, but they held together enough and we ate them all up. It was a light-ish dinner, but I had also made another pecan pie, so no one went away hungry.

Thursday, 9/15/16

A late dinner, since we stopped by the Amherst Block Party (everyone in town was there and I would have liked to linger, but homework and dinner were beckoning). I had planned on making chicken korma, but since my Mom had just made curry I adapted Ottolenghi's black pepper tofu instead, making it with chicken breast. It was spicy and delicious. Although the amount of butter is a bit shocking; even I dial it back a bit.

Wednesday, 9/14/16

Dinner with my parents; my mom made some lovely chicken curry and we brought the plum torte from the NYT (thanks to a co-worker's overly ambitious plum tree). Turns out I have made it at least twice before, and no wonder. It comes together very easily and keeps well. The plums were pleasingly tart against the sweet cake.

Tuesday, 9/13/16

Jason was off tutoring, so Carter and I had planned to go out, but the little guy wasn't feeling good so we stayed in and had leftovers (me) and ramen (boy).Then we sat around eating Pringles and watching youtube.

Monday, 9/12/16

Vegetarian chili (I just made up the recipe and it was OK, but not great. I threw in some dried chiles that made it almost too smoky), plus some more corn fritters. I used the same Paula Deen recipe, but made them more like pancake shapes this time, since I didn't feel like deep frying. Just as good, and easier. I enjoyed mine with maple and sriracha, but they would also be good with salsa or guacamole or any other number of things. Who would have thought that Paula Deen was the answer to my corn fritter prayers?

Sunday, 9/11/16

A daring dinner: Koran cheese buldak (recipe here: http://www.maangchi.com/recipe/buldak). Chicken breasts are diced up and mixed with a spicy mixture of Korean chili paste, crushed red pepper, ginger, garlic and a little soy and corn syrup (honey would also have been good). Saute it up and top with fried Korean rice cake and a LOT of mozzarella, then broil it. It was not as hot as I feared: I cut back on the chili and won't next time. It was rich, sort of funky and hard to stop eating. Carter wasn't sure if he liked it or not, but finished his. Plain steamed broccoli was a good counterpoint.

Saturday, 9/10/16

Dinner with Jennie and David: I made a pecan pie from SK and it was lovely (crispy crust; nice ratio of nuts to filling, not overly sweet). The only change I made in the recipe was to sub in maple syrup for the Lyle's Golden syrup. Served it with some maple whipped cream. Jason has requested a repeat for this week.

Friday, 9/9/16

Homemade pasta (SE), and a very heavy sauce made from eggplant and tomatoes, plus a little ricotta. I didn't love the sauce with the noodles, but Jason liked it. There were a few too many pieces of eggplant that weren't cooked enough for me.

Thursday, 9/8/16

Yeasted waffles, bacon, tomato-mozz salad (with grilled zucchini! So that is like a whole different dish, right?). The waffle recipe is at SK, and it was good as always. A very thin batter, and the waffles are also quite flat, but they are crispy and tasty, even plain.

Wednesday, 9/7/16

Dinner at my parents (Wings). Brought a flan. Who doesn't like a flan? Maybe my dad.

Tuesday, 9/6/16

Jason's night to cook: burgers and french fries. I contributed (another) tomato-mozzarella salad.

Monday. 9/5/16

Happy Labor Day! I took advantage of the day off to make ribs again (saved the recipe @ NYT); they turned out better this time; I liked the spice rub and the meat was super-tender. I also made baked beans (only meh. I fear I wasn't heavy handed enough with the sweeteners). Plus, a tomato-mozzarella salad.

Sunday, 9/4/16

Chicken curry, cauliflower fritters (a blend of two recipes; SK and one from Ottolenghi. I used SK's method and proportions, and Ottolenghi's seasoning), homemade naan (from Made in India). The curry was a little disappointing: I just winged it and I thought the meat was a little stringy and the flavors one dimensional. The fritters were wonderful, and the naan turned out really well. They were fairly simple to make; you just need time for rising. For dessert I made some caramel filled snickerdoodles (recipe saved to the NYT); I can't stop eating them even though I think they are only OK. Weird.

Saturday, 9/3/16

Carter was at a friend's, so Jason and I had a kind of makeshift dinner: guacamole, some spring rolls from the freezer (not my own, Aldi's. Not bad), bread and cheese. Sometimes that is our favorite kind of dinner.

Friday, 9/2/16

Dinner with Jennie and David. I made an apple bourbon cake (from the NYT). The cake has a nice texture, but needs a little more flavor. Maybe up the spices and make more glaze. I served it with a maple whipped cream. Hard to say if people liked it.

Thursday, 9/1/16

The refrigerator had an absurd amount of food in it, so it was leftovers all around. Barely made a dent.

Wednesday, 8/31/16

To celebrate Carter's first (successful!) day at middle school, we had his favorite fried chicken (I am seeing a fried theme for his favorites). We also had boiled new potatoes, broccoli and tomatoes. The chicken was great, everything else was fine.

Tuesday, 8/30/16

One of Carter's favorite meals for the last night of summer vacation: eggplant parm, plus spaghetti. Luckily, it is a favorite for me and Jason, too.

Monday, 8/29/16

Big breakfast at the Inn meant light lunch of fried mushrooms and an ice cream sundae. Then for dinner we had a picnic from home: bread and cheese, pasta-chicken salad with pesto, spicy pickles, and a chick pea, feta and cucumber salad. Plus leftover cake.

Coffee milkshake and hot fudge/peanut butter sundae!

I finally got to see the Natural Bridge Park

Sunday, 8/28/16

After an enormous lunch at Bombay Royale, we headed up to the Porches for a couple of nights. So we weren't really hungry for dinner, but we shared a perfectly acceptable pizza (from Christo's; maybe we should try Village Pizza next time? The crust at Christo's was really a weak point).

The pool loving boys.

Saturday, 8/27/16

First, one of the best lunches of the summer! Tomato and mozzarella salad, and (FINALLY), corn fritters just the way I envisioned them. I adapted a Paula Deen recipe (really, Paula, who north of the Mason-Dixon has self rising corn meal?? Besides my mom, apparently): lowered the sugar and butter a bit, and added a teaspoon of baking powder. They were crunchy and corn-y, almost like a hush puppy. Perfect!

Dinner was Chinese take-out at my parents, along with bialys and a S'Mores Cake (from SK). Both were a bit of a day-long project. I used the bialy recipe from Hot Bread Kitchen: I should have added a bit more flour, and oiled the plastic wrap (the sticking after rising #2 was brutal). They were good, but....I was hoping for something chewier? Might try again, though, because they were pretty easy, if time consuming. The cake was just right, though. My only complaint is that 7 Minute Icing really doesn't hold up and deflates on the
cake. Good flavors, though, and the texture of the cake is nice and light and moist.

Friday, 8/26/16

Spaghetti with a quick raw tomato sauce (I threw chopped tomatoes into the food processer, drained some of the liquid, and let it sit for a while with red wine vinegar, garlic, olive oil and a little basil and rosemary). Jason also had some sausage, but I thought the pasta was filling enough.

Thursday, 8/25/16

Repeat of the Smitten Kitchen zucchini focaccia, plus a tomato-mozzarella salad. The focaccia was a tiny bit soggy on the bottom, plus I should have oiled the pan a bit more, but the flavors are amazing. I used sharp cheddar instead of gruyere, and it was just as good. Heated up for lunch the next day was even better, as the bottom got nice and crispy. I wouldn't have thought that the breadcrumbs on top were needed, but they really do add a lovely crunch.

Wednesday, 8/24/16

Dinner with my parents (korean grilled beef, rice, kim chee and corn and green beans, all wonderful of course). I am a little embarrassed to admit that I brought brownies from a mix. But it was a fancy mix! And they really are quite good. First the pancakes, now this. So lazy.

Tuesday, 8/23/16

Good old american style crunchy tacos, with beans, hamburger, cheese and sour cream. I love making my own tortillas, salsa and carnitas, but you can't beat these for speed and tastiness.

Monday, 8/22/16

Roasted tofu (some of the leftovers made it into my salad the next day), spicy cabbage and onions, rice. Still loving the rice cooker.

Sunday 8/21/16

Dinner with Jennie and David. Bread (of course), butterscotch budino (from Nancy Silverton; not flavorful enough), oatmeal cookies (SK) that are super-tasty. Sad fact about the cookies: I had made the dough to bring on vacation and then forgot. We were sadly dessert deficient.

Saturday, 8/20/16

First night home, Jason made pancakes and bacon. A couple of fun facts: boxed pancake mix is delicious (but only the kind where you add eggs and oil), and really brown bananas are excellent in pancakes: they caramelize and their mushiness isn't noticeable. It was nice to be in our own kitchen again (although the rest of the house isn't up to our vacation home standards).

Friday, 8/19/16

Sad last-night-of-vacation leftovers. I did drag Jason and Carter out to see the sunset and check out low tide, so the evening was still pleasant.

Thursday, 8/18/16

Dinner in Newburyport with Jen, John and Gus.  It was at a place called the Poynt; all the adult food was great (fish and chips, polenta with goat cheese, fried chicken, poke, beet salad), but the boys did not love their pizza. Walked around downtown for a little while, checking out the classic car show and the scene. We were all super sad to see our guests go. Lunch, by the way, was more tomato-mozz and nachos and beer.

Reminded me simultaneously of my Dad and Harold and Maude

Wednesday, 8/17/16

The fabulous Freyingers came out for a visit, so we had a raucous dinner with hamburgers, corn, tomato-mozzarella salad, tater tots and peach shortcake for dessert. We also managed to catch the sunset and the full moon. What a night!

Tuesday, 8/16/16

Another winner from the freezer: pierogies, plus cabbage and onions, and grilled sausage.

Monday 8/15/15

In a repeat of last year's vacation, we had blintzes. They had been languishing in our freezer, waiting to re-appear at the beach.

We must have had something else. Salad, maybe?

Sunday, 8/14/16

Sandwiches for lunch, spaghetti with meat sauce, bread and leftover salad for dinner. This was remarkably easy, since the sauce and bread were made back at home.

Saturday, 8/13/16

First night of vacation, at last. We had marinated grilled chicken (my favorite Melissa Clark fish sauce/lime recipe), rice and salad, plus some cookies. The kitchen here is remarkably well furnished in some ways: good knives, good pans, a silpat, but then oddly lacking: almost no bowls at all (serving, eating or mixing), no pot holders? No complaints, though!

OK, this isn't diner, but I am setting the scene.

Thursday, 8/11/16

Couscous, turkey/scallion meatballs, broccoli. The meatball recipe (light and flavorful) is from the NYT;  the only change I made was to add a bit of panko. The glaze with it needed a little tinkering (as I noted last time I made these). It wasn't quick, but it was quite good.

Friday, 8/12/16

Dinner with Jennie and David: Jason made bread, I made flan. It was a particularly nice flan, if I do say so myself.

Wednesday, 8/10/16

No Carter for dinner. Jason and I did a ton of grocery shopping, then he made pizza for dinner:

Tuesday, 8/9/16

Another dinner success! Home fries that were basically just potato nachos (from the NYT), deviled eggs, and some grapes. Carter's quote: "these potatoes are so effing good". That is enough of an endorsement for me. Although maybe the fact that dinner wasn't served until 7 pm was a factor?

Overexposed, and the grapes look awful in that bowl.

Monday, 8/8/16

Made chicken korma and spicy cauliflower, both from my trusty recipe binder. The chicken is pretty easy, but time consuming (especially picking out the 4 whole cloves and 9 cardamom pods before I serve it, so no one will bite into them), so I was gratified by how much Carter enjoyed it. The cauliflower was meant to be made in a skillet, but for the sake of convenience, I oven roasted it (with jalapenos, raw rice, cumin and garam masala).  No pictures because it was more tasty than attractive.

Sunday, 8/7/16

Tristan's birthday party meant dinner at his house. Michael repeated the bo ssam from last summer, and it was once again outstanding. There was also the option of pulled pork sandwiches with BBQ sauce and a vegetable slaw. I tried that too, to be polite. In fact, I was so polite that I had thirds. We brought a salad, which was fine, but in Homer Simpson's immortal words: "You don't make friends with salad". Even if you put chick peas on it.

Saturday, 8/6/16

Dessert fail at Jennie and David's. Despite my careful, careful mixing, my poundcake turned out dry. So embarrassing. The strawberry whipped cream (from SE) that so intrigued me (process freeze dried fruit with sugar, add cream for a dense, fruity whipped cream with a better shelf life) was no better than fine. Disappointing.

Friday, 8/5/16

Carter was at a friends for dinner, so it was just Jason and me home for zucchini focaccia/pizza (from SK). This was so, so good. The dough was incredibly easy; the only hard part is remembering to start it the previous day. Grated zucchini is tossed with gruyere (although I bet a sharp cheddar would also be good) and baked right on top of the dough, along with some crushed red pepper and breadcrumbs. It was also filling enough to be a whole meal. You could add a salad, but honestly, that is a lot of zucchini right there.

Before

.

After

Thursday, 8/4/16

Another iteration of pasta with corn and bacon (NYT). This version had you puree most of the corn kernels, making a nice creamy sauce. The bacon was my own addition, but why not? It was like a pasta version of corn chowder. The only thing I would change is more scallions, maybe.

Wednesday, 8/3/16

Dinner in Whately (an enormous stir-fry, plus sesame noodles! And my mom bravely ate some tofu). As always, a treat for all of the Stevens/Stokes'.  I tried to make some chinese style almond cookies, and only partially succeeded. They tasted basically fine, but I was hoping for crunchier and almond-ier. I would try another recipe that didn't use almond flour (and up the almond extract).

Tuesday, 8/2/16

Last night of SULA! I got up this morning and made pan bagnat sandwiches, with tuna, olive vinaigrette, tomatoes and hard boiled eggs. They were then ready to go before Ultimate, so no coming home and cooking at 8pm. The sandwiches were fine, although I thought they needed more flavor. Maybe more dressing, and something spicy, too. Still, nice to have dinner made already.

Post-season ice cream

Monday, 8/1/16

We left Jennie and David's with some marinated steak tips that no one felt comfortable cooking, so I sliced them up and stir-fried them with green peppers, bamboo shoots, water chestnuts and ginger, then made a quick sauce (soy, sesame oil, srirachi, lemon). Served over rice (I love our new rice cooker) and also with a salad made from grilled zucchini, cherry tomatoes and a roasted red pepper dressing. The salad looked absolutely lovely but it was half-eaten and less appetizing by the time I thought to take a picture. Also, it would be MUCH better with good tomatoes. The stir-fry was inauthentic and enjoyable.

Sunday, 7/31/16

Spent the better part of the afternoon cooking and prepping for the week. Grilled a bunch of vegetables and made a vinaigrette with some of them (from Food52)---saved the rest for lunches; roasted red peppers and made a dressing for Monday's vegetable, slow roasted a big old rack of pork ribs. Luckily, it was a cool day as this meant about 6 hours in a low oven.
Served the ribs with homemade BBQ sauce, cheddar-scallion mashed potatoes, and a salad with the grilled vegetable vinaigrette. I had some complaints: I didn't care for the spice rub on the ribs; the potatoes were TOO cheesy, and I just wasn't loving the salad. Maybe I just craved some complete other dinner?

Saturday, 7/30/16

So, the cake. It was a 9 layer butterscotch cake(from Leite's Culinaria). Yes, you actually bake 9 individual slender layers of cake, and pour a little, rum-tinged butterscotch sauce in between every layer. I think it goes without saying that mine did not really resemble the lovely discrete layers in the photo, but it was delicious nonetheless. Not sure it wouldn't be easier to just make three cakes and split them? Or wait until a cooler day to bake so much cake, at least,
Jason also made a lovely loaf of flax seed bread, and I made some spinach dip that seemed to go over well.

Friday, 7/29/16

Carter requested french toast for dinner, and since I had no other ideas, that is what we did. I spent most of the evening concocting a cake for Jennie and David's, so Jason helped out with the french toasting and sausage-ing. I also made an Indian style rice pudding out of some leftover rice. It turned out pretty well, although I wouldn't choose brown rice.

Thursday, 7/28/16

A repeat of a pasta that I tried back in April; I didn't have the called-for Calabrian chile paste then but I do now. Also had tomatoes, parm and lemon zest, plus I threw in a bit of leftover ricotta. Only pretty good. It was a bit too salty, and I think my tomatoes were just so-so. Served with corn and chicken-chipotle sausage.

Wednesday, 7/27/16

Picnic dinner and a concert behind the Whately Library with my folks. All we brought was brownies (a new recipe from the Times that was no real improvement on my regular recipe. No need to repeat it), but my Mom made a lovely pesto chicken and pasta salad, plus pretzels, grapes, pickles and crackers. We enjoyed the view and some cowboy music.

Tuesday, 7/26/16

Penultimate night of SULA....Carter had a friend come over after and Jason made a quick pizza for everyone. Basic and tasty. It was kind of nice to have a pizza with no leftovers for once.

Monday, 7/25/16

I have been enjoying reading "A Super Upsetting Cookbook About Sandwiches", and finally got around to making one of the creations tonight. This sandwich involved a few sub-recipes: avocado-ricotta (and a sub-sub recipe, making the ricotta), fried shallots, spicy cucumber pickles, but the assembly was quick. Jason made a loaf of bread and we melted good cheddar on the slices, and then topped each slice with the ricotta, pickles and shallots. I loved the flavor combination, Carter said it was "fine". I would make it again, but maybe just pick up some fried shallots from Mom's. Will use the pickle brine for other stuff, though. And the avocado-ricotta mixture was really lush and creamy.

Even with a new phone, this does not do justice. I need to read up on food photography.

Sunday, 7/24/16

A repeat of the fried chicken tenders, at the request (demand?) of Jason and Carter. I was worried they wouldn't be as good, because I'm really just winging the brine, but they both seemed happy. There was also salad, and some croutons that I found too crunchy. Oh, and watermelon.

Saturday, 7/23/16

Slow cooker pulled pork tacos, with homemade flour tortillas and a corn-avocado salsa, plus some corn off-the-cob. Making pork shoulder in the slow cooker is remarkably easy and delicious, and produces plenty of leftovers. An all-around win.

Friday, 7/22/16

Dinner at Jennie and David's: Jason brought his latest bread iteration (now with flax!) and I made a pie of my own invention: Nilla wafer crust, pastry cream and lots of fresh (uncooked) blueberries. it was pretty good! But I wish I could have put even more blueberries on top.

Thursday, 7/21/16

Fun dinner with Jen, John and Dave. Tried a new pasta from SK: corn, bacon and parmesan. I added more corn and more bacon to the recipe; I wish I had added more scallions and basil, too. Still, it was very flavorful (and rich). I also made a blueberry cake and I am sad? proud? ashamed? to say that we ate the whole thing. Then again, there really wasn't that much pasta to go around.

Wednesday, 7/20/16

Another great meal from my mom (sorry we were late, Mom!). Pork tenderloin with fresh apricots, roasted potatoes and a spinach salad with pistachios and a very sprightly vinaigrette. Carter said he wasn't hungry but had thirds on the potatoes, and Jason and I pretty much devoured everything. I made toffee squares (NYT). Kind of like a chocolate chip cookie shortbread baked in a skillet? I would omit the chocolate chips next time (maybe add some pecans, though) and bake it in my bigger skillet so that they are thinner.
I didn't get any pictures of that amazing meal, but it was so good that I had to take a walk when I got home:

Tuesday, 7/19/16

This madness of cooking dinner after SULA must end. we didn't eat until 9pm! Sure, it was delicious pasta, but we were so hungry/tired by then that anything probably would have done the job. Still, if was a very good dish. Zucchini-ricotta pasta from the NYT that I apparently made about a year ago. That time I made a few changes, but I stuck pretty closely to the recipe this time and think it was better. The recipe uses a lot of basil that gives it a nice, creamy pesto flavor. Would probably also be good with other green vegetables. Didn't bother with any side dishes because it was so late.

Monday, 7/18/16

Tried a new tofu cooking method, from Leite's Culinaria. I marinated slices of tofu all day in a mixture of honey, soy, ginger, garlic , jalapeno and some sambal oelek. Then semi-braised them in the marinade in my new ceramic pan. I liked the chewy texture and the sweet-spiciness, but Jason said nothing was going to be as good as the chicken from the night before. Can't decide if that is annoying or flattering? We also had rice and roasted broccoli.  Carter said the tofu was "good". I liked it but would make more marinade next time, and cut the slices a little thinner.

Turns out Jason isn't much better at these pictures than I am. Maybe our kitchen isn't photogenic?

Sunday, 7/17/16

 Simple (albeit messy dinner): fried chicken tenders, salad, flaxseed bread (from Jason). The bread was really nice; the seeds were a nutty-tasting addition. The chicken turned out particularly well. I brined it all day, and then used a method I saw on Serious Eats to bread them: I seasoned my flour with lots of cayenne and black pepper (plus a little MSG) and then mixed in a little bit of the brine into the flour  to create a sort of shaggy texture. This cooked up into crunchy and flavorful chicken. Carter and Jason seemed to really love it.

Saturday, 7/16/16

Summertime dinner! Our first corn purchase was highly successful and there were no leftovers. We also had a (so-so) tomato, bread and cheese, and another blueberry crisp for dessert.

Friday, 7/15/16

Dinner at Jennie and David's. Jason made bread (it turned out beautifully: we think King Arthur flour may be the secret) and I made blueberry crisp. I got the recipe from the Food Network, of all places, and I am going to write it out here (with the tweaks I made) because it turned out so well:

6 cups blueberries
1 T cornstarch
.25 c. sugar
lemon juice
pinch of salt

toss together and pour into casserole dish

1 cup quick oats
1 cup flour
.5 cup brown sugar (hefty)
.5 cup white sugar (scant)
.5 t cinnamon
nutmeg
stick butter
salt

Pour over berries and bake ~30 minutes at 375 degrees. Eat. I served it with whipped cream, but ice cream would be good and plain would also be fine. There were no leftovers.

Thursday, 7/14/16

Carter was out mini-golfing with his cousins, so it was just me and Jason for dinner. He made a really lovely loaf of bread, and so I had bread and cheese, he had my new creation: the grilled kim chee-se (patent pending) and we had some roasted vegetables for the sake of decorum.

Wednesday, 7/13/16

Pizza by Jason! He tried to re-create the Frontier Special (and succeeded):

He was pretty pleased with himself and we all enjoyed a tasty meal. There was also a cheese pizza for the purists.

Tuesday, 7/12/16

Late dinner after SULA. Carter was at a friend's, so it was just Jason and I eating nachos. Used up some of the leftover corn tortillas from the enchiladas, plus the leftover chicken. Tasty, if not exactly light.

Monday, 7/11/16

Dinner at my Mom and Dad's (so STILL no cooking)! My mom made us another feast: fried chicken, two kinds of beans, fresh corn off the cob, sweet potatoes and watermelon. I didn't have time to bake anything so I am really feeling like a slacker.

Sunday, 7/10/16

We stopped in Stamford on the way home from NJ, so there was Hope Pizza for dinner. Cheese for Carter and me, spinach/feta for Jason.
That is some damn fine pizza.

Saturday, 7/9/16

Spent the weekend in NJ, visiting Donna and company. So much fun! And what a meal: ribs, chicken, steak, corn, baked stuffed eggplant....And that was after appetizers! Including a spinach dip that I am absolutely going to make. I (lamely) forgot to make anything on Friday, but we did throw together some peanut butter/chocolate no-bake cookies that were only  OK.

Friday,7/8/16

Broke in the new rice cooker! Turns out you can't really make sushi rice without using actual sushi rice (Jason, I told you so), so we just had sushi bowl instead, with tuna, avocado and yellow pepper. Not as fun as rolls, still delicious. And the rice cooker did a great job.

Thursday, 7/7/16

A repeat dinner: ground pork and noodles with ginger from NYT. I made the recipe exactly as written except for using regular old spaghetti instead of rice noodles. We all liked it quite a bit, even though we gobbled down dinner in order to go to the pool.

Wednesday, 7/6/16

Chicken enchiladas, from the NYT. Well, I finally found another meal that Carter just doesn't like. He finished his, but asked me to never make them for him again. I thought they were OK, and fairly easy to put together with chicken that I had cooked the day before. I also subbed in a can of green enchilada sauce instead of making my own. Homemade would probably been better but there was no denying that this was faster. Also had zucchini and summer squash.

Tuesday, 7/5/16

Late dinner after SULA. We had eggs scrambled with scallions, ricotta and a little cheddar, plus Jason made a loaf of bread. There was also zucchini and summer squash, sauteed with garlic, yellow peppers and onion.

Monday, 7/4/15

Dinner with Jennie and David. We brought a strawberry chiffon cake (SK) that turned out particularly well:

Too tall for the cake carrier.

It was a beautiful summer evening:

Sunday, 7/3/16

Panini style sandwiches made in the waffle iron. I can't believe I waited this long to use the waffle iron this way! I have had it for probably over 20 years. Anyway, some had ham and swiss, and some had leftover homemade ricotta, kale, and roasted red peppers. They came out with beautiful golden crusts and nice melty cheese. Not surprisingly, there was also a salad.

Saturday, 7/2/16

Dinner at Jen and John's. We brought homemade ricotta that turned out particularly well (I didn't over-strain it); roasted red peppers and chick pea fries. The recipe for those came from the back of a local magazine and didn't really work for me. Maybe I shouldn't have doubled the recipe, but it seemed like way too much water and the mixture had to cook forever (I think that was why they were a bit salty). The subsequent fries were very difficult to fry and fragile. Tasty, though. Jen and John supplied bread and cheese (and booze). Dessert was ice cream sundaes with hot fudge and caramel sauces.

Food coma and American Ninja Warrior

Friday, 7/1/16

Carter had requested sloppy joes several weeks ago and I finally got around to making them. I (loosely) used a recipe from Pioneer Woman, but I should have omitted the brown sugar. Otherwise, they tasted pretty much like my (long ago) memory of a sloppy joe. We also had salad yet again, and Jason fried up some french fries.

Thursday, 6/30/16

I actually cooked dinner! Since Carter was out, I made a pasta with mushrooms, lemon, garlic and scallions, from Nigella Larsen. The mushrooms and garlic are thinly sliced and tossed with the lemon and olive oil and left to sit. This "cooks' the mushrooms a bit and then the whole is tossed with hot pasta and parmesan cheese. I didn't have the thyme that the recipe called for, but it was still nice and flavorful. I also served some grilled bratwurst and mustard. Strawberry pie for dessert.