It has been a while since Laura and I had lunch at Cafe Aion, so I'll try to remember all the important details.
When we walked in, the host greeted us, and we were taken aback by how snappily he was dressed. Laura thought maybe we weren't in Boulder anymore. It was a double visual fashion assault though, because someone leaving the restaurant was wearing some sort of (static) clingy satin/silk dress and fishnets. We were seated in sort of a window seat, which was nice for about 2 minutes until my core temperature rivaled that of the sun's. Fortunately, at that point the shady table next to us opened up, and we scooted over.
I already knew I was going to order the Butternut Squash Soup with wild rice, almonds and Parmesan. I had had a taste at Andrea's house, and it was so good, I wanted more. (Cafe Aion posts some of their recipes on their blog!) Also it had been a long, cold winter and I had been craving a lot of soup. I decided to ignore the fact that it was 70 degrees that day and I was wearing way too many clothes to be sitting in a window. (That doesn't sound right.) Laura got the soup too, and we split the Aion Fried Cauliflower with saffron yogurt, cumin and lemon.
I had also had the cauliflower before and I thought it was delicious. Not as delicious as the chicken wings, but I couldn't convince Laura to order chicken wings because she thinks they are disgusting. (Also - I do not see chicken wings on the Day Menu.) When the cauliflower came out, I immediately started devouring it. Fried=yummy. That's my policy. But Laura said the overall browness of the dish made it seem sort of yucky to her. She said at Cafe Aion, she had more of a "Yum, I'll try this!" attitude than if her husband served her a plate of brown cauliflower. I do have to admit, it isn't pretty, but I thought it was good. Later in the afternoon though, it made me feel sort of stomach-achy.
But on to the soup. It is so so so good. I was going to say that it is also incredibly filling, but maybe the fried cauliflower had something to do with my overall full stomach. Laura was surprised that the soup had chunks of butternut squash, since a lot of squash soups are more of a puree. Good point Laura! It is a soup with a lot of good textures, and flavors, and it came with a lot of soft yummy bread.
We were both happy with our meal, but we also had food envy from staring at some neighboring tables, so we will be back. I will just make sure to dress (fashionably) in layers.
How about the new title? Lunch Ladies, get it? Or should I go back to Ladies Who Lunch?
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Ladies Who Lunch: Dish
Today was scheduled to be the much anticipated Cafe Aion, but the forces of darkness worked against me. The first problem was that I only blocked an hour off my calendar and ended up with meetings scheduled right up to noon and starting again at 1:00. Not enough time to speed across town, park, order, eat and get back. The second force of darkness was what we in the IT field call a TOTAL NIGHTMARE. That's the technical term for when you finally get a bunch of users in your new system and everything crashes, and 50 people send you a message about it, and 49 of those messages say, "I am seeing the same problem, can you email me when it's fixed?" If Bill Gates were to do one thing for humanity, it would be do remove the Reply All button from Microsoft Outlook.
Fortunately, I used my mad troubleshooting skillz to determine that the DATA disk group wasn't mounted on RAC02, and it was operator error (not mine) and it was fixed around 12:15 (as my 11-12 meeting ended) at which point I sent an email that all was well and was shortly seen fleeing from the building.
What to do, what to do, when you have Cafe Aion on the brain and 30 minutes for lunch? Well, we just went to the next place on the illustrious list of places where Ladies want to Lunch.
Dish.
Of course, we didn't decide that on the spot, I had plan B in my back pocket all along, and I instructed Laura to study the menu and plan ahead so as not to waste time in line. But I couldn't decide what I wanted. The Piglet? Cute/horrifying name. BLAT? So predictable/delicious? Salad? Too diet friendly. I was a little amped up on caffeine and Laura suggested that maybe I needed a trip to the ladies room, but I insisted it was just stress and coffee that was making me so annoyingly jittery. I decided to get half an Italian sandwich, and made a spur of the moment decision to upgrade from chips to a side salad.
My sandwich was really good, especially the mozz and pepperoni part. The ambiance, on the other hand, was terrible. But that was probably because we went back to work and ate in the break room. Dish has a few places to sit, but we didn't have time to linger, and if we did, people waiting for their to-go lunch would have been standing right by our table talking about RAC02, and being jittery. But we enjoyed eating together even when Randy Randoms walked through the break room and bugged us. I was a little worried because with 2 bites of my half sandwich to go, I was still starving. But by the time I finished my salad, I felt like I might live. Then I ate a random muffin from the break room leftover table, so I can't say for sure if the lunch was filling enough.
Laura had the Bloody Good Salad, which looked good, if you are the type of person who likes hard boiled eggs, and an M&M cookie, which she said was gooey and had lots of sugar and almond extract, and was sooo good. I have to admit, I am sort of fantasizing about that cookie right now.
Fortunately, I used my mad troubleshooting skillz to determine that the DATA disk group wasn't mounted on RAC02, and it was operator error (not mine) and it was fixed around 12:15 (as my 11-12 meeting ended) at which point I sent an email that all was well and was shortly seen fleeing from the building.
What to do, what to do, when you have Cafe Aion on the brain and 30 minutes for lunch? Well, we just went to the next place on the illustrious list of places where Ladies want to Lunch.
Dish.
Of course, we didn't decide that on the spot, I had plan B in my back pocket all along, and I instructed Laura to study the menu and plan ahead so as not to waste time in line. But I couldn't decide what I wanted. The Piglet? Cute/horrifying name. BLAT? So predictable/delicious? Salad? Too diet friendly. I was a little amped up on caffeine and Laura suggested that maybe I needed a trip to the ladies room, but I insisted it was just stress and coffee that was making me so annoyingly jittery. I decided to get half an Italian sandwich, and made a spur of the moment decision to upgrade from chips to a side salad.
My sandwich was really good, especially the mozz and pepperoni part. The ambiance, on the other hand, was terrible. But that was probably because we went back to work and ate in the break room. Dish has a few places to sit, but we didn't have time to linger, and if we did, people waiting for their to-go lunch would have been standing right by our table talking about RAC02, and being jittery. But we enjoyed eating together even when Randy Randoms walked through the break room and bugged us. I was a little worried because with 2 bites of my half sandwich to go, I was still starving. But by the time I finished my salad, I felt like I might live. Then I ate a random muffin from the break room leftover table, so I can't say for sure if the lunch was filling enough.
Laura had the Bloody Good Salad, which looked good, if you are the type of person who likes hard boiled eggs, and an M&M cookie, which she said was gooey and had lots of sugar and almond extract, and was sooo good. I have to admit, I am sort of fantasizing about that cookie right now.
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Weekly Photo
I made hot pretzels a few weeks ago, and they were fantastic. (Maybe I will not put Jack in charge of the salt next time.) I used the leftover dough to make bagels another night and those were also amazing. The recipe is from Artisan Bread in (significantly more than) Five Minutes a Day.
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| From Blog pix |
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Ladies Who Lunch
A looong time ago, Dave and I went out to lunch at The Kitchen and it was fantastic. I was observing two old biddies at lunch a few tables away and imagining that it would be me and my friend Laura in five 30 years. Then a light bulb went off. Start going out to lunch now!
Of course at the time, Laura was busy eating a bag of microwaved frozen veggies for lunch every day and she couldn't be persuaded to go out. Not even the frequent and repeated gagging sounds I made every time she described her lunch could change her mind. She says, "Who doesn't like something hot for lunch?" I was almost won over by microwaved frozen veggies, when suddenly, Laura had a change of heart. Cue tears of joy.
I've been trying to think of some regular features to have here at MetaMegan since I haven't been able to write about iworkallthetimepottytrainingistheworstseriouslytheywantmetocancelmyvacationsoIcanwork-moremydogisagrumpygrowlerwahwahwah or "poop" for short.
All I had come up with prior to my restaurant reviews, was a weekly picture from my phone, so WOAH! all of a sudden I have a couple ideas for a few posts per week. YEA!
The best part is that my idea for the lunch reviews is two fold. The first part is where I am ecstatic that I left work, and I had a glass of wine and delightful conversation at lunch. All the praise is glowing, I am full and happy. The second part will be called, In retrospect, and that's when I will eat leftovers and think about what was wrong with my meal.
Nutshell version to get caught up...
Ladies Who Lunch:
The dough/crust at Pizzeria Basta is amazing. The prix fixe lunch ($10.00 for soup or salad, pizza or calzone) was a good amount of food for the price. Half glass of wine for $3.00! I had the soup (roasted red pepper/tomato) and the margarita pizza. I had so much fun, and I forgot all my troubles.
In Retrospect:
I'm on a diet, so I could drink a jar of tomato sauce and think it was delicious. And that is sort of how I felt about the soup. And by jar, I mean can, because it tasted a little metallic. It was really good though. But a little metallic. And I really want to be the type of person who thinks cheese is not that important on a pizza, and for my diet, the small circle of cheese on each slice was probably the best for my calorie count, but I was surprised at how little cheese there was on my pizza. I felt myself looking longingly at Laura's calzone, which looked like it had more to it. Also, the menu used colons in very bizarre ways that made it really hard to read. They need a proofreader for their menu for sure. (The online menu does not seem as confusing.)
Lastly, this is not the fault of Pizzeria Basta, but I was telling Laura about a facebook friend who seems to rarely be at work, and spends all his/her time at the beach or on vacation. I was speculating that he/she made it big in the dot com era or something and she said, maybe he/she is just someone who rarely works. Or someone who has days off, like a waiter. And I said, "Yes! That explains everything! He/She is just a waiter!!!" And of course I said that just as the waiter came to our table, and then I felt like an ass.
In short - I would go back for the wine, and to try a different pizza to see it was cheesier, because it was a nice lunch and 1000 times better than being at work, and I have heard great reviews from other people, but not before I cross a bunch of other places off my list.
Coming soon... Cafe Aion!
P.S. Ladies Who Lunch is a work in progress title. When Dave found out this was going to be a weekly thing he wasn't pleased. And he wanted in on some of the lunch action. So sometimes it might be Ladies Who Lunch + Dave. Or something. I thought he was objecting on grounds that it was too expensive a habit, but then I told him if he comes with us, it's just that much more expensive.
Of course at the time, Laura was busy eating a bag of microwaved frozen veggies for lunch every day and she couldn't be persuaded to go out. Not even the frequent and repeated gagging sounds I made every time she described her lunch could change her mind. She says, "Who doesn't like something hot for lunch?" I was almost won over by microwaved frozen veggies, when suddenly, Laura had a change of heart. Cue tears of joy.
I've been trying to think of some regular features to have here at MetaMegan since I haven't been able to write about iworkallthetimepottytrainingistheworstseriouslytheywantmetocancelmyvacationsoIcanwork-moremydogisagrumpygrowlerwahwahwah or "poop" for short.
All I had come up with prior to my restaurant reviews, was a weekly picture from my phone, so WOAH! all of a sudden I have a couple ideas for a few posts per week. YEA!
The best part is that my idea for the lunch reviews is two fold. The first part is where I am ecstatic that I left work, and I had a glass of wine and delightful conversation at lunch. All the praise is glowing, I am full and happy. The second part will be called, In retrospect, and that's when I will eat leftovers and think about what was wrong with my meal.
Nutshell version to get caught up...
Ladies Who Lunch:
The dough/crust at Pizzeria Basta is amazing. The prix fixe lunch ($10.00 for soup or salad, pizza or calzone) was a good amount of food for the price. Half glass of wine for $3.00! I had the soup (roasted red pepper/tomato) and the margarita pizza. I had so much fun, and I forgot all my troubles.
In Retrospect:
I'm on a diet, so I could drink a jar of tomato sauce and think it was delicious. And that is sort of how I felt about the soup. And by jar, I mean can, because it tasted a little metallic. It was really good though. But a little metallic. And I really want to be the type of person who thinks cheese is not that important on a pizza, and for my diet, the small circle of cheese on each slice was probably the best for my calorie count, but I was surprised at how little cheese there was on my pizza. I felt myself looking longingly at Laura's calzone, which looked like it had more to it. Also, the menu used colons in very bizarre ways that made it really hard to read. They need a proofreader for their menu for sure. (The online menu does not seem as confusing.)
Lastly, this is not the fault of Pizzeria Basta, but I was telling Laura about a facebook friend who seems to rarely be at work, and spends all his/her time at the beach or on vacation. I was speculating that he/she made it big in the dot com era or something and she said, maybe he/she is just someone who rarely works. Or someone who has days off, like a waiter. And I said, "Yes! That explains everything! He/She is just a waiter!!!" And of course I said that just as the waiter came to our table, and then I felt like an ass.
In short - I would go back for the wine, and to try a different pizza to see it was cheesier, because it was a nice lunch and 1000 times better than being at work, and I have heard great reviews from other people, but not before I cross a bunch of other places off my list.
Coming soon... Cafe Aion!
P.S. Ladies Who Lunch is a work in progress title. When Dave found out this was going to be a weekly thing he wasn't pleased. And he wanted in on some of the lunch action. So sometimes it might be Ladies Who Lunch + Dave. Or something. I thought he was objecting on grounds that it was too expensive a habit, but then I told him if he comes with us, it's just that much more expensive.
Thursday, December 9, 2010
A Little Story About A Christmas Project
Last December, I had a thought that I should get a frame with several spots for 5x7 pictures and at Christmastime I could use the frame to display a series of my kids on Santa's lap. Then I thought, "Hey, it's sort of a busy time of year, this is something I could do in January when everything settles down." Fast forward one month. I can't remember last January, but I must have been occasionally shopping for frames. I think at some point I thought, "I could just waut and do this next year at Christmastime." Fast forward one year. The kids had their picture taken with Santa (story for another post), and by my calculations, I should have a total of 6 pictures floating around that need to be in a frame. Frames with 3 spots for 5x7 pictures were buy one get one free. Hello! Time to cross a year old project off the to do list.
I got home from Micheal's with a 12 pack of food coloring and two picture frames and I was very happy. I opened the filing cabinet to my folder marked "pictures" and I found... 1 picture of the kids on Santa's lap circa 2008. That's it. That's how organized I am. I put something on my to do list, and it stays there for a year, and when I finally complete the 20 minute chore of purchasing a frame, the pictures are lost.
The pictures weren't in the baby books either. Because yeah, I'm not really keeping the baby books up to date, but I thought to check there.
Finally I thought to look in my nightstand. And what did I find? My old "to do list" folder. See, last March, I randomly thought I was going to quit my job, and I cleaned almost everyone out of my desk at work and chucked it into my nightstand drawer. What was I working on last March? Apparently shopping for a frame for Santa pictures, since the pictures were in there. I was also working on a bunch of other stuff that now doesn't seem quite so important.
BUT - the pictures are in the frame and the kids had a really good time looking at them today. So it was worth it. A year of thinking about doing something, 30 minutes doing it.
In other news: I have sugar cookie, chewy chocolate gingerbread, star wars sugar cookie, and peanut butter surprise cookie dough made. Tomorrow I hope to start baking.
I got home from Micheal's with a 12 pack of food coloring and two picture frames and I was very happy. I opened the filing cabinet to my folder marked "pictures" and I found... 1 picture of the kids on Santa's lap circa 2008. That's it. That's how organized I am. I put something on my to do list, and it stays there for a year, and when I finally complete the 20 minute chore of purchasing a frame, the pictures are lost.
The pictures weren't in the baby books either. Because yeah, I'm not really keeping the baby books up to date, but I thought to check there.
Finally I thought to look in my nightstand. And what did I find? My old "to do list" folder. See, last March, I randomly thought I was going to quit my job, and I cleaned almost everyone out of my desk at work and chucked it into my nightstand drawer. What was I working on last March? Apparently shopping for a frame for Santa pictures, since the pictures were in there. I was also working on a bunch of other stuff that now doesn't seem quite so important.
BUT - the pictures are in the frame and the kids had a really good time looking at them today. So it was worth it. A year of thinking about doing something, 30 minutes doing it.
In other news: I have sugar cookie, chewy chocolate gingerbread, star wars sugar cookie, and peanut butter surprise cookie dough made. Tomorrow I hope to start baking.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Dodgeball 2
I was never a team sport person, so it took my completely by surprise when I had so much fun playing dodge ball last week. Luke's team won their game, and we went 2-0. It was really, really fun. I wondered if maybe I should join a dodge ball league. Luke wished there was a NDL or MLD.
It was a lot of running, and dodging, and sweating and laughing, and I felt like I got a work out in 20 minutes. I finally understood why people like to play sports. It's been very interesting. On the other hand, it is sort of detrimental to my workout routine. How I can I go back to the treadmill after the excitement of dodge ball? I recently finished a 6 week challenge on the wii (EA Sports Active: More Workouts) and it was pretty good. I felt like my abs and my legs were getting in pretty good shape. For the arms part, it uses a resistance band, and I couldn't get quite enough resistance to feel like it was working. I do have a resistance band that is tighter, but I can't hold it and the wiimotes at the same time so the trainer just keeps telling me I am doing it wrong. But after the 6 week challenge I thought, "Hmmm. I could probably do all these moves with weights instead of the band, and without the pretty wii scenery in a shorter amount of time..." So once I got up and sort of worked out without the wii. That was about 3 weeks ago. For some annoying reason, the wii seems to be the best motivator for me. I can do it at home, I don't like the program to remind me that I have missed a workout, so I don't miss workouts, and I seem to get sort of in shape. The problem is that once I finish a program on one of the wii games, I don't want to do it again. And now we have the added challenge of finding something as fun as dodge ball. I've been researching yoga studios, dance studios, cross fit gyms, the Y, regular gyms, and workout videos. And when I am not doing that, I am resting on the couch from the exertion of dodge ball until I can get up and gather the strength to start preparing for COOKIE EXTRAVAGANZA 2010.
So far I have the sugar cookie dough rolled out and in the freezer, along with the dough for chewy chocolate gingerbread. The problem is deciding what to do next:
1.) The dough that comes with the star wars cookie cutters?
2.) Chocolate peanut butter surprise?
3.) Pecan Cookies?
4.) Spritz?
5.) Ice box cookies?
And so on. 1 and 4 are definitely going to happen, just need to find the time. Then I am torn about the rest. I plan to get the dough all done this week if I can. Then I can bake on Saturday and maybe just relax and decorate Sunday.
As for dodge ball, it turns out that it's more fun when you win. I had hoped I would never know the loss of a dodge ball game, but last night did us in.
We have one more game Wednesday, and then may or may not go on to the finals. So it's still all dodge ball and cookie dough all the time at Casa de MetaMegan.
It was a lot of running, and dodging, and sweating and laughing, and I felt like I got a work out in 20 minutes. I finally understood why people like to play sports. It's been very interesting. On the other hand, it is sort of detrimental to my workout routine. How I can I go back to the treadmill after the excitement of dodge ball? I recently finished a 6 week challenge on the wii (EA Sports Active: More Workouts) and it was pretty good. I felt like my abs and my legs were getting in pretty good shape. For the arms part, it uses a resistance band, and I couldn't get quite enough resistance to feel like it was working. I do have a resistance band that is tighter, but I can't hold it and the wiimotes at the same time so the trainer just keeps telling me I am doing it wrong. But after the 6 week challenge I thought, "Hmmm. I could probably do all these moves with weights instead of the band, and without the pretty wii scenery in a shorter amount of time..." So once I got up and sort of worked out without the wii. That was about 3 weeks ago. For some annoying reason, the wii seems to be the best motivator for me. I can do it at home, I don't like the program to remind me that I have missed a workout, so I don't miss workouts, and I seem to get sort of in shape. The problem is that once I finish a program on one of the wii games, I don't want to do it again. And now we have the added challenge of finding something as fun as dodge ball. I've been researching yoga studios, dance studios, cross fit gyms, the Y, regular gyms, and workout videos. And when I am not doing that, I am resting on the couch from the exertion of dodge ball until I can get up and gather the strength to start preparing for COOKIE EXTRAVAGANZA 2010.
So far I have the sugar cookie dough rolled out and in the freezer, along with the dough for chewy chocolate gingerbread. The problem is deciding what to do next:
1.) The dough that comes with the star wars cookie cutters?
2.) Chocolate peanut butter surprise?
3.) Pecan Cookies?
4.) Spritz?
5.) Ice box cookies?
And so on. 1 and 4 are definitely going to happen, just need to find the time. Then I am torn about the rest. I plan to get the dough all done this week if I can. Then I can bake on Saturday and maybe just relax and decorate Sunday.
As for dodge ball, it turns out that it's more fun when you win. I had hoped I would never know the loss of a dodge ball game, but last night did us in.
We have one more game Wednesday, and then may or may not go on to the finals. So it's still all dodge ball and cookie dough all the time at Casa de MetaMegan.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Nuts!
Last year I sustained second degree burns in a tragic Thanksgiving Day nut caramelizing incident. This year, I decided to avoid that by
1.) Caramelizing the sugar for the caramelized nuts before Thanksgiving Day, and not while a vomitous child wants to be held.
2.) Doing 2 batches at once, so I can make the cake again before Christmas without going through the trouble twice
So I caramelized the nuts, and i even made some long strings of sugar for the kids to eat, and everything was wonderful and magical. Then I started to clean up, and the sugar was really sharp. I now have about 4 cuts on each fingertip. So here is what I am thinking. From now on: no nuts.
I've blogged about this cake before. Here, here, here, and here. Oh, and here. Each time there is some wacky thing that goes wrong, so I am glad I haven't broken the trend. Some might wonder why I keep making this cake. Easy, it's AWESOME, and if I stopped cooking/baking things that caused bodily harm, or wacky adventures, or involved gross miscalculations, then my family would starve.
Hmm, this may not be the pep talk I needed to give myself the day before Thanksgiving! On the bright side, I should have a lot of good material on Monday when I am back to blogging again. I have a crazy plan to take 4 days off from the computer, so I have scheduled posts for the next four days.
Happy Thanksgiving!
1.) Caramelizing the sugar for the caramelized nuts before Thanksgiving Day, and not while a vomitous child wants to be held.
2.) Doing 2 batches at once, so I can make the cake again before Christmas without going through the trouble twice
So I caramelized the nuts, and i even made some long strings of sugar for the kids to eat, and everything was wonderful and magical. Then I started to clean up, and the sugar was really sharp. I now have about 4 cuts on each fingertip. So here is what I am thinking. From now on: no nuts.
I've blogged about this cake before. Here, here, here, and here. Oh, and here. Each time there is some wacky thing that goes wrong, so I am glad I haven't broken the trend. Some might wonder why I keep making this cake. Easy, it's AWESOME, and if I stopped cooking/baking things that caused bodily harm, or wacky adventures, or involved gross miscalculations, then my family would starve.
Hmm, this may not be the pep talk I needed to give myself the day before Thanksgiving! On the bright side, I should have a lot of good material on Monday when I am back to blogging again. I have a crazy plan to take 4 days off from the computer, so I have scheduled posts for the next four days.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Centro
I got to sleep in today and it was glorious. Then we biked to Centro for brunch, and I needed a spicy breakfast since it was 28 degrees when we left the house. We bundled up pretty well, but Luke and I wished we had scarves or ski masks because our faces were freezing. But Centro was the best. I wish I could say I branched out and ordered something different, but I just got the same thing I always get: Huevos Rancheros. The. Best. Breakfast. In. Boulder. And I LOVE Lucille's, I really do. But Centro is so exactly what I want. Perfect amount of spice and sweet, perfect portions. I swear I am not saying this because the Bloody Marys are also really good.
Dave had the special, Jack had the coconut fried bananas with vanilla anglaise, and Luke had a burnt grapefruit and a quesadilla.
After brunch, we biked to the Buffs game, which the won, yea! Then biked home just before 4, when the sun was already down behind the mountain. Short days, and cold. But my huevos rancheros sustained me until we got home and I made hot cocoa.
Dave had the special, Jack had the coconut fried bananas with vanilla anglaise, and Luke had a burnt grapefruit and a quesadilla.
After brunch, we biked to the Buffs game, which the won, yea! Then biked home just before 4, when the sun was already down behind the mountain. Short days, and cold. But my huevos rancheros sustained me until we got home and I made hot cocoa.
Friday, November 19, 2010
Thanksgiving Stuffing Bummer
I am busily making my menu for Thanksgiving, and I want to make the same stuffing I made last year. See, two years ago, this stuffing had major potential, but the chestnuts got overcooked. Last year, I think I solved the chestnut problem and I was so happy that all I had to do was turn to my blog to find out exactly what the solution was. Sadly, all there is is a list of things I really need to get around to blogging about, like my stuffing solution. GAH! So I guess I have to solve that problem again this year.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Aaaand one more Jack's Birthday Post
I love how Lucy's tail starts wagging at the end. And about the cake... It was dry. I decreased the baking powder (3 teaspoons instead of 3,5) and the sugar (buy 1/4 cup out of 3 cups or something), but I didn't increase the liquid. Maybe that was the problem. I was pretty sad about it, but it didn't stop my from having cake for breakfast the day after Jack's birthday.
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Signs of the Apocolypse Part 2
Thursday, September 9, 2010
I'll Miss The Peaches... Oh, and you
Dave and I drove across a part of the South together on our first vacation about 16 years ago. We stopped at a roadside stand and bought a peach that I can't really describe. I mean, I could, but what I am going to do? Use a bunch of adjectives like sweet, juicy, sticky? Isn't it enough to say that I remember a specific peach from the summer of 1994?
That we both remember it.
Speaking of things that are really sweet, you can thank me for not going off on a "peach as metaphor for young love" tangent here. Instead, I will say that I could write a book about that trip, or a screen play for a road trip movie starring Ellen Page as the young MetaMegan and James Franco as Dave. (I know... I let Dave cast his character.) So the fact that we both remember that peach, ok, you get the point.
And the point is, we stopped in Palisade on our way home from our vacation and bought a half bushel of peaches. I had spent the entire vacation reading The Blah with the Dragon Blah and Little Bee so the magazines that I had been hoarding to read on vacation were untouched. On the drive home, I ripped out all the peach related recipes and we found some winners.
The first order of business was Roasted Pork Chops and Peaches from Real Simple. Yum.
Next up, Grilled Cornmeal Flatbread with Peaches, Serrano Ham (I used prosciutto) and Spicy Greens. So good. So so good. I may even start using the flatbread recipe as my go to pizza crust. I'll report back on that.
Then I also froze and "canned" some peaches, but that's a story for another post. What I wanted to share was that Luke and Jack were supposed to go to the RV with Grandmom and Grandad in the middle of this peachy time, and they were acting reluctant, and I was encouraging Dave to just go with them and leave me all alone. Dave thought about it for a full minute before he sighed and said, "I can't go. I'd miss the peaches."
That we both remember it.
Speaking of things that are really sweet, you can thank me for not going off on a "peach as metaphor for young love" tangent here. Instead, I will say that I could write a book about that trip, or a screen play for a road trip movie starring Ellen Page as the young MetaMegan and James Franco as Dave. (I know... I let Dave cast his character.) So the fact that we both remember that peach, ok, you get the point.
And the point is, we stopped in Palisade on our way home from our vacation and bought a half bushel of peaches. I had spent the entire vacation reading The Blah with the Dragon Blah and Little Bee so the magazines that I had been hoarding to read on vacation were untouched. On the drive home, I ripped out all the peach related recipes and we found some winners.
The first order of business was Roasted Pork Chops and Peaches from Real Simple. Yum.
Next up, Grilled Cornmeal Flatbread with Peaches, Serrano Ham (I used prosciutto) and Spicy Greens. So good. So so good. I may even start using the flatbread recipe as my go to pizza crust. I'll report back on that.
Then I also froze and "canned" some peaches, but that's a story for another post. What I wanted to share was that Luke and Jack were supposed to go to the RV with Grandmom and Grandad in the middle of this peachy time, and they were acting reluctant, and I was encouraging Dave to just go with them and leave me all alone. Dave thought about it for a full minute before he sighed and said, "I can't go. I'd miss the peaches."
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
What the Hail?
A miracle happened today: my camera, memory card, battery and laptop where all in the same place at the same time. Also, I felt like blogging. This has been a crazy year, and it's been difficult for me to be hilarious. I do, however, have a lot of material for my tragic memoir, which by the time I write it, will be tragically hilarious. But MetaMegan has been suffering, as I am sure dedicated readers have noticed.
Enter MetaMegan 2.0. I have a lot of exciting things planned for the rest of the year. I am sure many of them will turn out to disastrously, which will make for some good blogging.
Take our impromptu Saturday night dinner party! The pizza was in the oven when lightening struck and the power went out. It came back on right away and I said to our guests, "I hope we don't have a crazy hail storm like we did that other time you guys were here. Ha ha ha ha ha."
After I watched the hail for a really long time, I said, "THE PIZZA!"
The pizza wasn't burned because when the power went out the oven turned off. Sigh. I turned the oven back on and thought, "I'll just switch the bottom pizza with the top pizza while the oven heats back up. Except the bottom pizza (barbecue chicken) had sort of expanded beyond the pan, and grew around the oven rack. So when I pulled it out, half the pizza stayed in the oven. AAAHH! Pizza Disaster! I threw the pan on the counter to try to get the rest of the pizza out and in the process knocked over my wine glass, spilling wine across the counter and down the other side. My guest took off running, I assumed to laugh in the other room so as not to be rude, but actually it was to start cleaning wine off the wall across the room.
Since the oven was so cool by now, it was easy to get the rest of the pizza out and reassemble everything with delicious results. I'm on the come back trail here!
Enter MetaMegan 2.0. I have a lot of exciting things planned for the rest of the year. I am sure many of them will turn out to disastrously, which will make for some good blogging.
Take our impromptu Saturday night dinner party! The pizza was in the oven when lightening struck and the power went out. It came back on right away and I said to our guests, "I hope we don't have a crazy hail storm like we did that other time you guys were here. Ha ha ha ha ha."
After I watched the hail for a really long time, I said, "THE PIZZA!"
The pizza wasn't burned because when the power went out the oven turned off. Sigh. I turned the oven back on and thought, "I'll just switch the bottom pizza with the top pizza while the oven heats back up. Except the bottom pizza (barbecue chicken) had sort of expanded beyond the pan, and grew around the oven rack. So when I pulled it out, half the pizza stayed in the oven. AAAHH! Pizza Disaster! I threw the pan on the counter to try to get the rest of the pizza out and in the process knocked over my wine glass, spilling wine across the counter and down the other side. My guest took off running, I assumed to laugh in the other room so as not to be rude, but actually it was to start cleaning wine off the wall across the room.
Since the oven was so cool by now, it was easy to get the rest of the pizza out and reassemble everything with delicious results. I'm on the come back trail here!
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Things I'd Rather Think About When I Should Be Thinking about RMAN
I should be thinking about Oracle's Backup and Recovery Manager. But what I really want to know is...
Would I get more use out of Star Wars Pancake Molds? Or Cookie Cutters?
And when is my mixer going to fix itself so I can get back to baking?
Would I get more use out of Star Wars Pancake Molds? Or Cookie Cutters?
And when is my mixer going to fix itself so I can get back to baking?
Friday, April 30, 2010
Grandma's Graham Cracker Toffee Cookies
This month's Martha Stewart Everyday foods had a recipe for a doctored up graham cracker that reminded me of cookies my grandma used to make. I think I had the recipe once, but I was horrified by how much butter the recipe called for, so I never made them. Or maybe I am thinking of her pita chips. Mmmmm. My grandma made me a bag of both of those treats to take in the car when I moved with Dave to Colorado almost 15 years ago, and that was the last time I ever ate them. I think they may have made it as far is Iowa, but probably not.
I wish I could link to the Martha recipe, because I am feeling too lazy to type it up, but I don't see it on her page yet. My grandma's recipe was butter and sugar baked into graham crackers, with chocolate chips spread over the top when they come out of the oven. Martha's had toffee chips too, and almonds, and sea salt. I screwed up the recipe by using heath chips instead of toffee, and chocolate chips separately, but they were still really good. I am thinking of making them again, but just trying to recreate my grandma's version. It's going to be hard to skip the salt at the end though, I have been loving sweet desserts with a little salt lately.
I wish I could link to the Martha recipe, because I am feeling too lazy to type it up, but I don't see it on her page yet. My grandma's recipe was butter and sugar baked into graham crackers, with chocolate chips spread over the top when they come out of the oven. Martha's had toffee chips too, and almonds, and sea salt. I screwed up the recipe by using heath chips instead of toffee, and chocolate chips separately, but they were still really good. I am thinking of making them again, but just trying to recreate my grandma's version. It's going to be hard to skip the salt at the end though, I have been loving sweet desserts with a little salt lately.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
7
Luke's birthday celebration began a few weeks ago at the Monster Truck Jam. And if you ask him about it, make sure not to call it a Monster Truck Extravaganza, or a Monster Truck Rally. It's a MONSTER TRUCK JAM!!!
On the actual day of Luke's birth, we started off at Lucille's
for a beignets, followed by granola:
Then poor Luke had to begin the extremely long process of waiting for his presents to be wrapped. (Note to people who send unwrapped gifts and then ask me to wrap them... I don't do the best job sometimes.)
It took a really long time, and Jack had a major meltdown when he found out he wasn't going to be opening anything. So I had to wrap a box of hot chocolate so he'd have something to open. Luke got very tired of waiting. Lucy tried to make off with a gift.
There were lots of awesome presents.
After that, Luke pretty much played with his presents for the rest of the day while I was in a baking frenzy. I baked a cake for his birthday dessert, cupcakes for his school party and pizzas for dinner.
More about the triple layer fudge cake later - but do I look like the mother of a 7 year old? No, I didn't think so.
And the cupcakes were "orange cream soda with chocolate straws."
He had a pretty good day, I think. I told him now that he is 7, I am just going to start calling him "Seven". You see, John Elway was under consideration as a name for Luke when I was pregnant, and we were going to use 7 as a nickname. If you know Luke, you will know that he did not find that story amusing at all.
 |
| From 2010February |
On the actual day of Luke's birth, we started off at Lucille's
 |
| From 2010February |
for a beignets, followed by granola:
 |
| From 2010February |
 |
| From 2010February |
Then poor Luke had to begin the extremely long process of waiting for his presents to be wrapped. (Note to people who send unwrapped gifts and then ask me to wrap them... I don't do the best job sometimes.)
 |
| From 2010February |
It took a really long time, and Jack had a major meltdown when he found out he wasn't going to be opening anything. So I had to wrap a box of hot chocolate so he'd have something to open. Luke got very tired of waiting. Lucy tried to make off with a gift.
 |
| From 2010February |
There were lots of awesome presents.
 |
| From 2010February |
After that, Luke pretty much played with his presents for the rest of the day while I was in a baking frenzy. I baked a cake for his birthday dessert, cupcakes for his school party and pizzas for dinner.
 |
| From 2010February |
More about the triple layer fudge cake later - but do I look like the mother of a 7 year old? No, I didn't think so.
And the cupcakes were "orange cream soda with chocolate straws."
He had a pretty good day, I think. I told him now that he is 7, I am just going to start calling him "Seven". You see, John Elway was under consideration as a name for Luke when I was pregnant, and we were going to use 7 as a nickname. If you know Luke, you will know that he did not find that story amusing at all.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
The Times They Are a Changin'
Possibly inappropriate to misappropriate Senior Dylan's music to discuss changes to my blog. But that song is in my head, so there is no other title forthcoming.
So! I backed up MetaMegan, removed the Jack Stats (not updated in the past year) removed the Longest Stretch of Sleep for Mommy section (it was that or start updating it with how long Lucy is sleeping, and that is just depressing.)
I also changed the background, and added a Followers section on the bottom right. Lastly, I am now not allowing anonymous comments any more (sorry Dad and Ellie) because I started getting spam in the comments. Boo! I hate that word verification, it makes me feel like I don't know my letters because I pretty much always get it wrong the first time. But what else can I do? Allow spammers? Nooooo!
OH! And I added a search button, for all those times when you think, what was that bon mot/recipe/anecdote that was so wonderful that I sort of forgot it? No? OK, well I will use it, I am sure. For when I finally get around to writing up my Thanksgiving dressing recipe. Next Thanksgiving, I won't have to search and search through November and December 2009 wondering where it is and how I cooked the chestnuts. I'll just use the search and find it right here in February! (Ok... probably March.)
And now for the super bowl menu:
Honey Barbecue Wings
Hot Wings
Spaghetti Sauce with Whole Wheat noodles
Homemade Bread
Guacamole and Chips
Brie and Crackers
Chex Mix (Dave's recipe)
Veggie tray.
Happy Superbowl!
So! I backed up MetaMegan, removed the Jack Stats (not updated in the past year) removed the Longest Stretch of Sleep for Mommy section (it was that or start updating it with how long Lucy is sleeping, and that is just depressing.)
I also changed the background, and added a Followers section on the bottom right. Lastly, I am now not allowing anonymous comments any more (sorry Dad and Ellie) because I started getting spam in the comments. Boo! I hate that word verification, it makes me feel like I don't know my letters because I pretty much always get it wrong the first time. But what else can I do? Allow spammers? Nooooo!
OH! And I added a search button, for all those times when you think, what was that bon mot/recipe/anecdote that was so wonderful that I sort of forgot it? No? OK, well I will use it, I am sure. For when I finally get around to writing up my Thanksgiving dressing recipe. Next Thanksgiving, I won't have to search and search through November and December 2009 wondering where it is and how I cooked the chestnuts. I'll just use the search and find it right here in February! (Ok... probably March.)
And now for the super bowl menu:
Honey Barbecue Wings
Hot Wings
Spaghetti Sauce with Whole Wheat noodles
Homemade Bread
Guacamole and Chips
Brie and Crackers
Chex Mix (Dave's recipe)
Veggie tray.
Happy Superbowl!
Thursday, January 21, 2010
The Secret is in the Egg
I think I could do at least a whole week of cooking posts, so maybe I will. But for now I wanted to share our New Year's Day recipe. This was a yummy soup that I made to use up a bunch of collard greens that we got from our CSA this summer. With the ham (symbolizing forward motion), black eyed peas (luck), and greens (prosperity) it seemed like a perfect dish for New Year's Day.
I needed some help from one of my junior cooks, because I wasn't feeling 100% on New Years Day. It's weird, because it seems like a night that starts with a nice glass of eggnog, progresses to wine with (and by with I mean, before during and after) dinner, and ends with a to go cup of Irish cream would make for a great start to the new year. (I think I just put my finger on the holiday weight gain. Note to self: Make a belated new years resolution to steer clear of egg based drinks.)
Anyway, Jack was glad to oblige. He tore up the kale.
He sampled some carrots, and he stirred.
And when I wasn't looking, he put Luke's egg full of silly putty in the crock pot. I noticed it hours later. The silly putty was sort of melty but completely contained in the egg. So I just threw it away and didn't tell anyone. Then, to be thorough, I threw Jack's silly putty away too. The soup was delicious though! I plan to defrost some of the leftovers for dinner next week with cornbread.
Recipe - basically this. But I used dried beans instead of canned. And instead of a piece of ham I used a giant ham hock. And I did it in the crockpot instead of on the stove. Note to self - high temp next time. And I added carrots and celery. I used collard greens the first time I made it and kale the second time. It works either way. Don't forget the silly putty.
I needed some help from one of my junior cooks, because I wasn't feeling 100% on New Years Day. It's weird, because it seems like a night that starts with a nice glass of eggnog, progresses to wine with (and by with I mean, before during and after) dinner, and ends with a to go cup of Irish cream would make for a great start to the new year. (I think I just put my finger on the holiday weight gain. Note to self: Make a belated new years resolution to steer clear of egg based drinks.)
Anyway, Jack was glad to oblige. He tore up the kale.
 |
| From 2010January |
He sampled some carrots, and he stirred.
 |
| From 2010January |
And when I wasn't looking, he put Luke's egg full of silly putty in the crock pot. I noticed it hours later. The silly putty was sort of melty but completely contained in the egg. So I just threw it away and didn't tell anyone. Then, to be thorough, I threw Jack's silly putty away too. The soup was delicious though! I plan to defrost some of the leftovers for dinner next week with cornbread.
Recipe - basically this. But I used dried beans instead of canned. And instead of a piece of ham I used a giant ham hock. And I did it in the crockpot instead of on the stove. Note to self - high temp next time. And I added carrots and celery. I used collard greens the first time I made it and kale the second time. It works either way. Don't forget the silly putty.
Monday, November 16, 2009
First: The Cake
I was changing Jack's diaper the other day and discussing, sort of over his head, that he may be susceptible to bribery in exchange for some potty training. Possible M&M's. Possibly. As Dave ad I discussed it a light-bulb went off over Jack's head. He grabbed his stomach and started writhing around and shouting, "I hungry! Choklat! I hungry, choklat!"
And hence, the idea to make a chocolate cake for Jack's birthday was born. I went to my fave food blog and looked up chocolate cake, and I came up with two contenders. One was too complicated and the other had coffee in it. I went complicated. Mmmm. Complicated: Chocolate cake with peanut butter icing underneath another layer of chocolate and peanut butter.
Due to the snow, I knew my favorite peanut-o-phile wasn't going to brave highway 93 to join us so I sent her pictures of the cake throughout the day to torture her. Good thing, because I can't find the card reader today so we have to rely on the phone picture. My phone takes some good pictures!
OK, I know everyone wants the recipe. So here you go. High altitude readers: I subtracted one tablespoon of flour, and I used one 1.75 teaspoons baking soda. However, I have also made another cake from Sky High before, and I didn't adjust it at all.
For the record, blogging about the recipes I make from a food blog that I read, is sort of meta.
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