ramdomly delicious

i'm into the "urban grocer" lately. some people in austrailia write this foodie blog and i "found" it on facebook through a friend. don't you want to spray paint your veggies with edible paint? i do!!! isn't that crazy?

jackers's 3rd birthday!

jack had a fabulous 3rd birthday party june 5th. i made him his "gween spaceship" cake with aliens. he requested that! he got a lot of lovely gifts, including leather cowboy boots from my parents. God has truly blessed us with our spunky little jack anders. i don't know what i'd do without him!

"the omnivore's dilemma" by michael pollan

this book is amazing. i think it is going to be life changing. i love it! it's energized me. well, it's enlightened me. we'll see how energetically i put into motion all that i've learned. local meat markets/farmers here i come. i think that historically this book will be right up there with the greats. you just watch! i'm only half-way through the book. i'll write more when i've got the whole picture. to be continued!

danish aebelskiver

made danish aebelskiver with jack last week. danish apple pancake balls are delish. and almost as good as a doughnut in a pinch.;) jack was watching an episode of curious george where george orders 100 dozen doughnuts. (how dumb was that donut shop lady?) when the show ended, jack turned to me, grabbed his gut, and said, "my (i'm) hungwy for doughnuts.".

i was thinking donuts sounded awesome, too. but i didn't want to drive anywhere to get them. then i remembered my danish aebelskiver pan that i don't think i have ever used. jack and i had a great time making these. jack's job was to roll them in the cinnamon and sugar. truth be told... he didn't do such a great job. he kept pulverizing them. oops. oh well, the "ugly" ones i ate.:)

another cool thing about these balls is that i got to use a knitting needle to make them. yes, i said knitting needle. i used a needle to flip the balls over. it amused me.

"chee-bur! fren-fries!"

jack loves cheeseburgers and french fries. if you pull up to a drive-thru window with him, he will lean forward in his car seat and yell out his order. "chee-bur! fren-fries!" mind you, you may be at the coffee shop or the bank.

waffle breakfast sandwich... i love you.

i created the greatest sandwich yesterday!!! i decided to use some of the leftover waffles from breakfast for lunch. bread gets boring sometimes, you know? (at least, the cheap generic bread i usually buy. homemade/specialty breads are endlessly amusing i suppose.) i built my sandwich with 2 waffles, slight bit of syrup, maple ham, american and mozzarella cheese, and a nice creamy fried egg (not too fried, not too wet). delicious! beautiful, too.

homemade bread/indian food

i made some homemade bread the other day. i turned out beautiful...but the crust was SO TOUGH. sigh.

i bought some "chicken tikka masala" from Wal-Mart again the other day. it was just as good as the first time! yum! i am so shocked. i took it out of the plastic dish to make a prettier photo.:) look! do you see the grill marks on the chicken, the peas, the carrots, the big hunk of potato? this is some seriously yummy fakey indian food.:)

"my life in france"

france. i love it. i, possibly, will never get there. BUT!, i borrowed "my life in france", by julia child, from the library last night. bon! it is sooo good. it's all about the few years that she and her husband lived in paris around the end of the 40's and the early 50's. yum. detailed accounts of restauants, meals, markets, etc. i can't put it down. it is in my lap as i type this.:) (slow dial-up gives me gaps of time in which to multi-task.) this morning while i read i laughed aloud. that's the joy of cooking.;) anyway, i had a croissant today. maybe tomorrow i'll knit myself a beret.

pop cornin'

bought a hot air popcorn popper from my cousin-in-law when we did our combined garage sale last summer. didn't try it out until i partially melted the microwave. oops. well (for about a quarter!) we now have lovely fresh popcorn frequently. i must admit i love pouring butter over it and shaking out the salt.:) but, it's got to be healthier than microwave popcorn with all the chemicals and preservatives, right? that's what i tell myself. hush. jack and i like to watch the popcorn rise. how exciting!

valentine banquet '10

dan and i went to the loveliest valentine banquet at Deerwood Baptist Church again this year. romantic ambiance, delicious food, precious friends, beautiful music, and hilarious entertainment. i look forward to it for weeks before! sigh, and now it's over.:) but, spring will be here soon. the meal was catered by Maucieri's. there were appetizers and desserts, too, made by jen and served by young tweens and teens from the church. arnie played the harp and sarah b. played her cello. devon did a hilarious "ole and lena go to the opera show" poem he composed for the occasion, with arnie on harp accompaniment. then jen sang a beautiful song. then arnie and devon played a "classical piano" number.:) arnie was dressed as his character "julio", a mexican who likes soup -- specifically lizard soup his mama makes for him. crazy! anyway, it was absolutely wonderful and i can't wait to see what jen will do next year!!!

wal-mart chicken tikka masala

yes. i got a good chicken tikka masala at wal-mart. it was up in the deli-section. it's one of the offerings of a bunch of semi-tempting looking dishes called "marketside". i was sceptical, but seriously, there are no ethnic restaurants around in a good 1 1/2 hour radius. i dared to try. i haven't had much curry, so i am not an expert. maybe you'll try this and tell me what you think? i loved it! not too spicey, but my stomache is now experiencing a slow burn.:)

Ingredients: basmati rice, water, chicken tenders, potato, plain yogurt, onion, heavy whipping cream, tomato paste, oil blend, carrots, green peas, green beans, cultured dextrose, sea salt, garam masala spice blend, tandoori mix (spices, paprika, dehydrated onion and garlic, sea salt, tumeric), garlic, modified corn starch, cilantro, stabilizer (starch, carrageenan, potassium chloride, magnesium carbonate, sugar0, red curry paste (dried chili, garlic, lemongrass, salt, shallot, galangal, shrimp paste, kaffir lime peel, pepper), curry powder, chili powder, paprika, stabilizer (xanthan gum, guar gum), ginger, coriander, annatto, cloves, cinnamon

crazy! what lovely ingredients!!! 3 - 1 cup servings. per serving: 160 calories, 5 grams fat, 25% of your daily allowance of sodium (YIKES!), and 2 grams dietary fiber. very healthy, except for the sodium. i don't remember how much it cost. i will be buying it again. and again.

what's hot/not

HOT
- "emma" on pbs. and "emma" reruns once (or twice!) a day. holding on until the big conclusion on sunday! then what will i do with my life?:p
- knitting. it's really interesting watching things take shape. but...
- dinner monday night:) baked fish, sundried tomato/basil/mozzarella quiche, garlic mashed red potatoes, beans from my garden. VERY HOT!
- pottytraining. jack is having a lot of accidents. but we had triumphs #1 and #2, literally!!!:)

NOT
- unraveling my sweater. how, HOW, did i get all those can-can ruffles on the bottom? bizarre.
- opening what i thought was pizza sauce last night and discovering it was salsa. (thankfully i had spaghetti sauce to substitute for the pizza sauce! it was very good.)

homemade bread

it's cold outside! i finally feel like heating up my kitchen with loaves of hot, fresh bread. the loaves crackle when you set them on the cooling rack! jack and i love to eat it hot from the oven with honey. sigh............

Christmas begins...

Christmas begins with decorating the tree. Little bits of Christmas every day with a Christmas Advent Calendar. Other ways to sprinkle a little Christmas magic every day is to listen to as much Bing/Sinatra/Perry Como/Rosemary Clooney/Dean Martin/Nat King Cole Christmas tunes as you possibly can. Then there's the cookie making. And then there's the present wrapping. And, every day there seems to be a new present that i am knitting. Christmas begins... and lingers all December long!

caught brown handed!

jack helped himself to some cupcakes the other day.:) naughty! but, so cute. he pushed a chair over to the counter. i didn't think he really knew the cupcakes were in that container. i guess i underestimated him! he unwrapped 4 of them, and licked the frosting off of about 5. there's also one with a bite out from the previous day. what a scamp!:) was he repentant? NO! you have never seen anyone so pleased with himself.

apples and feet

jack LOVES apples. earlier this year we were able to pick a bunch of apples from the 4 apple trees that came with the Church's new parsonage house. (we have since gobbled them up and i miss those sweet little apples.) jack has been a great influence on me to EAT MORE APPLES!!! i have been letting jack go to the fridge and help himself whenever he wants. most of the time i ask him to get me one, too!

OKTOBERFEST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and i don't even drink.:) i love oktoberfest at ruttger's bay lake lodge in bay lake, mn. it is soooooo fun. craft show, jo jo the balloon guy, juggler, face painter, teddy bear band, and lots of german bands and dancers. oh, and food.:) that's all i bought this year! is that lame?:) don't care. i almost immediately bought this huge caramel apple. then, my mom-in-law bought me a hamburger. then later i bought a double mocha and a huge rice crispy bar. no beer. :) and yet... weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee ping! i am so buzzed right now you wouldn't want to come near me.:) i promise to post more photos of super awesome people in leiderhosen and troll-like costumes soon. maybe after i knit off this caffeine high. :) and :)!!

raspberry blueberry lemon buttermilk scones

yum. yum. yum. the really special ingredients in these scones are the lemon zest in them, and the "sugar in the raw" on top of them. jack and i adore them and are really glad that andy and dan won't have anything to do with them!:) crazy guys! more for us! weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! oh, and more for sharing.

wild grapes

i'm in love with wild grapes.:) never knew that there were so many wild grapes around here -- ripe for the taking! i am very excited. when i was a young girl i remember driving around with my mom, sis, aunt and cousin getting grapevines for wreaths. why didn't we go for the grapes?! thursday night my little family went for a swim and saw a bunch of wild grapes. i was amazed at how big and how abundant. saturday dan, jack and i went picking. yesterday i borrowed my gramps's old amazing juicer and juiced grapes. to be continued...

bbq @ horn's (w/bonfire)

my sis-in-law's place is fab. situated high on a hill overlooking a very pristine lake. very retro cabin. my niece invited us to a bbq and bonfire one weekend. good food, good fire, good family.