What we ate: Week 2

This is harder than I thought! Not the writing it down—the remembering!! Age.


SUNDAY

lasagna
asparagus
salad

Lasagna is always a creative endeavor for me in that I rarely use a recipe and it never tastes the same twice. In this batch I used up some leftover spaghetti meat sauce and made an interesting substitution for the usual ricotta: I tossed some cottage cheese through the food processor and pureed until I almost convinced myself it was ricotta. I folded into this fresh chives, chopped fresh spinach, and a lightly beaten egg. Other layers were shredded mozzarella, parmesan reggiano, sliced cherry tomatoes, sliced kalamata olives, and those handy no-boil lasagna noodles.

MONDAY

meatloaf
buttermilk mashed potatoes
shredded sauteed zucchini
green salad

One Fabulous Mom has also been recording her meals, and I thank her for the inspiration to make one of Sophie's favorite dinners, meatloaf. I used Cook's Illustrated, which is ridiculously complicated for such a simply dish but is also ridiculously delicious. The sweet, tangy glaze on top is amazing.

TUESDAY

skewers of halibut wrapped in grape leaves, onion, and orange bell pepper
rice cooked in chicken stock
babaganoush
steamed green beans and fresh tomatoes in balsamic vinaigrette

WEDNESDAY

Sophie was on her class camping trip, Husband wemt straight to Spanish class after work, and I worked late. I had . . . I don't remember . . . breakfast cereal?

THURSDAY

Steak au Poive with tomatillo avocado sauce
Quina steamed in chicken stock, with capers and fresh mozzarella
Roasted zucchini and yellow squash
Green salad

SATURDAY

Fish tacos (pan fried wild cod)

Black beans

Cabbage salad

Guacamole (Jen makes the best)
Fresh tomato salsa
Fresh cilantro
Shredded sharp cheddar
Sliced radishes

Whew! And can you believe it's Sunday again already? The MIL is on her way over, so there are two chickens roasting in the oven (one to eat and one to send home with her). We're also having mashed potatoes and pan gravy, green beans sauteed with chantrelle mushrooms, green salad, and bread pudding with whiskey sauce for dessert.

What's cooking: Thai peanut sauce

Whew. Time to take a little break from politics, especially the slug-fest that ignited in the comments section of one of my recents posts. Suffice it to say a few cans of whoop-ass were opened. At first I saw so upset. I had spoken hastily! I had offended people! People did not see things the way I do! But, damnit, I spoke my mind; others spoke theirs. Others will probably not be back, and that's ok. But they'll miss out on some great recipes.

So moving to something I think we can all agree on: Thai peanut sauce is tasty stuff! I serve this with beef and chicken sate. It freezes well, so it's worth making a big batch. And the leftovers are a very tasty dip for . . . well, almost anything, which is why all I have to photograph is this:

First, make sure you have some of this, the magic ingredient. It's well worth scouring your Thai grocery or the internet. It is also the magic ingredient in my Thai curry, a recipe that can be adapted to almost anything you have on hand.

THAI PEANUT SAUCE

1 tablespoon canola oil
4 tablespoons Masaman curry paste (you can freeze the rest)
1 can unsweetened coconut milk
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup finely chopped peanuts (use the food processor for this)
1 tablespoon
white vinegar
1 tablespoon fish sauce

Heat oil on low, add curry paste, and cook until fragrant (about 1 minute)

Add coconut milk and sugar. Bring to boil. Cook until slightly reduced.

Remove from heat and stir in remaining ingredients. Serve at room temperature.

I hope everyone had a good weekend!

The debate: It has been revealed

Alright. Just one thing more about last night's debate and I'll return to recipes. Promise—Thai peanut sauce coming up. 

Apparently I was not imagining that Palin avoided answering many questions. (You know how you wake up in the middle of the night and wonder "Wow. Did that really happen?") It's all diagrammed here, you see.

Many thanks to the brilliant Aden Nak for figuring it all out and to the always informative Wonkette for pointing the way.

The debate: We ate,we drank, and we watched

Eating dinner while watching television: Don't say it's never happened at our house. It probably just won't happen again until November.

So we hunkered down with a good bottle of wine (our homemade 2003 Cab) and got busy with our Palin bingo sheets (our thanks to Piggy Toes for this steer).

Here's what we thought: No, she did not self-combust on stage. But neither did she answer many of the questions, even acknowledging such with responses to Gwen Ifil's questions such as "Can I talk about [me, my record, a subject on which I've been told exactly what to say]?" It was often as if she saw the debate as two-minute blocks of free air time. The question she evaded that I thought most disturbing was the one (also given to Biden) about her shortcomings or Achilles heel. Apparently, unlike Biden, she has none. Like Bush, she seems incapable of introspection and devoid of humility.

And the winks? 

Did ya just wanna slap er?

Tonight's debate: Let's get ready!

Pencils out, please! When was the last time you diagrammed a sentence? Been a while, no? It's often a useful way to figure out what someone is saying and see if it makes sense. And who among us has not been a little concerned about what's been coming out of Sarah Palin's pie hole lately? You know if SNL can use quotes with hardly any modification, you're in deep water.

The helpful people over at Slate have given us a hand at getting going. As they demonstrate, some sentences are fairly straightforward (it's all relative, you know). Take, for example, Palin on her foreign policy experience:

It's very important when you consider even national security issues with Russia as Putin rears his head and comes into the air space of the United States of America, where—where do they go?

Still here? Don't go away.

I know that John McCain will do that and I, as his vice president, families we are blessed with that vote of the American people and are elected to serve and are sworn in on January 20, that will be our top priority is to defend the American people.

Man, the wheels are coming off the cart there. Families! Blessed! Defend! Serve! Yeah!! It's all there!

But if that's too mentally taxing, relax and turn up the sound to see how my absolute favorite Palin impersonator shows us preparations for this evening's entertainment. 

I know they've got her locked up at McCain's ranch madly dumping talking points into her head, but I'm with those who say "Just let Palin be Palin." Because people really need to see what is there—or rather, what's not. 

I've instructed Husband to go down to the wine cellar (otherwise known as our basement) and bring up a bottle of something good. It's going to be quite an evening. 

Sophie has something to report

So admittedly, this post is mostly for Sophie's grandparents. But it's also for me. She is gone on her class's annual camping trip. Unlike last year's class trip (all classes at her school go camping), this is less of a family trip. The kids planned the menus, will prepare and clean up the food, will set up tents, and—as the teacher has specified—engage in decision making and problem solving. The teacher requested only a small number of parents accompany them. Fine, I thought. Three days that I don't take off work to go camping are three days I can take off later to go skiing. Sophie agreed this made a lot of sense. Besides, it made her feel all big and puffed up to be going without a parent.


A picture and report have been sent to me by a parent on the trip, so I know she's having a good time. But I am sad. Our house is quiet, and not in a good way. In the meantime, I promised her I would do a post about her first report, which she turned in on Tuesday.


It was on whales.

Here is her illustration (she used pastels).

The text (miraculously free of hillbilly spelling!) . . .


the bibliography . . .

and the proud student.

Is this any indication of the mess I'll be when she leaves for college?

What's cooking: Baba ganoush

So my last post confirmed what I have long suspected: Not everyone who reads my blog shares my political views. And, yes, I admit to being pretty extreme in some of them. As I clarified in my comments, I do not think Bush was involved in some kind of 9/11 conspiracy, but I do claim my right to blame him for everything I'm unhappy about, including the weather.

But even if we don't all agree, I'm happy to have you here. If you lived next door to me, I'd share my pie crust recipe with you. In the meantime, in response to an earlier commenter's request, I will share my baba ganoush recipe. I made it again last night, but we slurped it up so fast, I didn't get a picture. Suffice it to say though that it looks like a big glop of grey mush, nothing like the lovely vegetable it contains. Recipes I have tried in the past include yogurt; this one doesn't, and I think it helps the smoky taste of the grilled eggplant come through better. Menus at our house that include this often also include tzatziki, so there's your yogurt.

BABA GANOUSH

2 medium-sized eggplants
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, or more to taste
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 tablespoons tahini (this will keep indefinitely in the fridge)
1 tablespoon olive oil
optional: a few pinches smoked paprika (I'm putting this in everything these days)

Stab the eggplants a few times with a fork so they don't blow up. Set gas grill to high and grill eggplants, turning every 5 minutes or so until skin is blacked and a fork will stick through easily (about 30 minutes). Lift off with tongs and place in bowl to cool slightly. When cool enough to handle, slice of top and bottom and scoop pulp from the skin into a colander placed in the sink. Seeds are ok. Let drain for a few minutes.

Place in food processor with other ingredients and blend. Season with salt, pepper, and more lemon juice to taste.

This is best served at room temperature, so make this before whatever else you are preparing. You can always grill the eggplants in advance and keep in the fridge.

I served this last night with skewers of halibut wrapped in grape leaves, rice, and green beans and tomatoes. The baba ganoush was good on the fish, but I also like to stir it into rice. I also sometimes serve this as an appetizer, of course, with pita slices or cracker,  olives, feta, and whatever fresh vegetables I have. 

There. Do you feel better? I do.