Drew called me at work yesterday to let me know I had a package waiting for me. I thought it might be my KTS package from Natalie and I was right! Natalie totally outdid herself and I could not believe how generous she was! Let’s just say that I can’t wait until the boys are in bed tonight so I can enjoy some tea and some of the delcious treats she sent me. Let’s run it down, shall we? Continue reading What an amazing Teaswap partner
Category Archives: Food & Wine
Recipe storage
Help me here, dear readers. I’m trying to figure out recipe storage. I’ve been half-heartedly keeping my recipes online for a while, but after my laptop went kerplooey, I realized that maybe it’s better to have a binder or a box or something hard-copy that can resist spills, is easy to access, and doesn’t take up a lot of space. I’ve been searching and searching for some kind of 4×6 recipe card that you can download and type your recipe on, but the few I’ve found have really ugly cutesy country type graphics. Or else you have to print the cards out and then write on them and really, if I’m going to do that, I’d prefer to buy recipe cards that are on heavier cardstock than I have.
So what do you do? How do you organize your recipes?
Father’s Day 2007
I hope all the dads out there had a nice Father’s Day! I did my best to make Drew’s day fun and relaxing. I let him sleep in (of course, he still got up just after 6), and then let the boys give him his present. Drew has never liked using my camera. He’s found it difficult to figure out — too many features and whatnot. So, in the last few weeks I’ve noticed him picking up my old Olympus (circa 2001 — actually, it was his wedding gift to me). Now, this camera is slower than molasses, eats up batteries, and let’s not forget that the images are a whopping 2.1 MP. Wow!!! So, I decided that he deserved his own. I found a nice little Nikon point-and-shoot that I thought would suit his needs perfectly. I think I did good. He seemed very surprised and very happy!
Our day was pretty relaxing. We took a picnic lunch to the park and ate and ran around and played for a long time. Then we decided to get soft-serv ice cream cones at Del’s in Rhinebeck before heading home. We put Noah down for a nap, Drew and Jake watched The Empire Strikes Back while Jake played with his Transformers and Drew continued cleaning up my virus-infested laptop. And surprise, surprise: I fell asleep for an hour! Apparently I was seriously asleep too because Drew said Jake was poking me and giving me kisses and I was dead to the world. So clearly I am tired these days because napping is NOT something I EVER do.
After everyone woke up Drew cleaned up our little old Weber grill (somehow we managed to let the tank go empty on our big gas grill!), I watched the boys while they ran around outside, and then we fed them, bathed them, put them to bed, and started on dinner for ourselves. We made big juicy burgers and washed them down with Frei Brothers Reserve Merlot. (Good wine, lots of cherry, but a little thin, honestly. I’ve got $10 bottles that I think are equally as good. But it’s so easy to drink and it’s reliable and I’m sure that is why so many people buy it.) We watched the first episode of The Prisoner while we ate. Drew bought it on DVD and couldn’t wait to start re-watching all the episodes. (It’s one of his favorite shows ever.)
All in all, a good day!
What’s on the menu?
I am so on it this week! I’ve drafted up a meal plan not only for dinners, but for lunches too! Not sure about the end of the week because I don’t know what day I’m working yet, so something might have to be switched around, but at least I have some kind of guideline. Drew seemed happy about this too — no more calling me for ideas on the nights he is making dinner for the boys! I can’t say I got too creative this week, but since I’m just getting back into this, I wanted to plan things I could stick to. Plus, we’re going on vacation next week and I wanted to use up a lot of things we had in the fridge/freezer. So, here you go!
Lunches:
Sunday – Sandwiches (picnic at the park for Father’s Day)
Monday – Grilled kielbasa links, fruit kebobs
Tuesday – Chicken soup, sliced veggies with ranch dip (kids); leftover coq au vin (me @ work)
Wednesday – Hot dogs, fruit salad (kids); artichoke pasta salad (me); Veggie bean soup (everyone)
Thursday – Mac & cheese (kids); Black bean soup over rice with cheese (me)
Friday – Soup & salad (me); Pinwheels, carrots & cucumbers (kids)
Saturday – Leftover mac & cheese (kids); Taco salad (me)
Dinners:
Sunday – Grilled burgers, green salad, oven fries
Monday – Crock Pot Coq au Vin, mashed potatoes, green salad
Tuesday – Spaghetti & Meatballs, garlic bread, green salad (Drew & kids); Asian chicken salad (me @ work)
Wednesday – Broccoli cheese soup, rolls
Thursday – Baked chicken fingers; Angel hair with butter and parmesan; carrots
Friday – Tacos
Saturday – Leftovers
For more ideas, view the list of particpants: Menu Plan Monday.
Gourmet Treats from the Adirondacks
I think by now everyone knows that I love to talk about some of the great foodie-type businesses here in New York. I’ve been looking for neat little gourmet type goodies lately to round out some swap packages and gifts and I found out about Well Dressed Foods, a small company up in the Adirondacks that has some delicious sounding treats! Continue reading Gourmet Treats from the Adirondacks
Top Chef Season 3
As much as I eschew the entire genre of reality TV, I just can’t help but get sucked into Top Chef season after season. There’s always an exception to the rule, right? I believe it premiered Monday night, though it wasn’t until last night’s rerun that I caught the first episode of season three. (I’m putting the rest under a cut in case no one wants anything given away) Continue reading Top Chef Season 3
The Boring White Meat
Because of our crazy schedule, and also because it’s impossible to all sit down and eat together when you have a not-quite-two-year-old, I’ve been rotating a lot of the same dishes and getting pretty bored with them. So last night I decided to grill pork chops. Now, I have never particularly liked any kind of pork except for sausage (and occasionaly ribs). Pork roast? Bleh. Pork tenderloin? If I have to. Pork chops? Pass. However, once or twice a year something compels me to buy a pacakge of chops at the grocery store. It then sits in my freezer until I either have to make them or else throw them away — something I hate to do.
Such was my dilemma yesterday. So, I decided to thaw ’em out, season ’em up, slather on some BBQ sauce and be done with it. And I have to say — pork chops have to be the most unsatisfying dinner ever. So if you see me at the grocery store picking up a package of chops, just stop me right then and there. I probably would have been happier eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
On that note, I’m going to try to get into menu planning again. There’s a popular weekly meme called Menu Plan Monday, so I’m going to peruse some of those blogs and get some ideas and try to get on track next week. It’ll be fun to try out some new recipes, too. (As long as they’re not pork chops, of course!)
Am I taking crazy pills?
This is such a dorky thing to rant on, but I am so freaking tired of people asking for sulfite-free wines and insisting that they exist. NO! They don’t exist! All wines have sulfites. Sulfites are a naturally occuring byproduct of fermentation. There are certainly wines that do not have added sulfites (sulfur dioxide is sometimes used as a preservative), but you tell that to these people and they look at you like you have three heads.
I am so sick and tired of the sulfite misconceptions. They really are not all evil, even though people think they are. Sure, if you are allergic to sulfur, one sip and you will go into anaphylactic shock, but that’s a small percentage of the population. For everyone else, they really are not a big deal. I wrote this article on the subject last month, and there are plenty of others online. Honestly? The histamines in wine are probably more of a problem for most people. Only “histamine” doesn’t sound as dangerous as “sulfite.”
Makes. Me. Crazy.
What’s In Your Cart?
I started doing this on my food blog at the beginning of the year, but it didn’t last very long. Dana, however, has tried to get the meme going again, so this week I saved my receipt and will participate. From yesterday’s shopping trip: Continue reading What’s In Your Cart?
Point by Point
There’s lots of random stuff going on lately, but I just haven’t felt like writing, so I guess we’ll compromise with a laundry-list entry. How’s that?
- I think I ate my weight in Buffalo wings this weekend at the Ulster County Wing Fling on Sunday. But we all had a great time and found a couple new restaurants to check out.
- I am catching up on my gift knitting. In a few weeks I should have quite a few FOs to post.
- My cloths for the Dishcloth Swap are knit, yarn is bought, patterns are purchased. I just have to round out the package with some soap and a few treats and it will be on its way to my partner!
- I think on Saturday I am going to Webs. I have a couple things I am looking for specifically for me, and then I plan to finish shopping for my SP10 Pal and find something yummy for my Tea Swap partner as well. I hope I don’t pass out from the excitement of all that yarn.
- I can’t believe it’s almost Memorial Day weekend already! I also can’t believe that our 6 year wedding anniversary is coming up!
- I’m finding myself drinking a lot more coffee than tea lately. Wonder why that is?
- I’m really behind on answering e-mails, so if you’re expecting to hear from me, give me a couple more days. I promise to catch up!