My Favorite Spice

I have a serious affection for cayenne pepper.  I like it on everything.  I coat fish and chicken in it and my favorite snack is a homemade bagel with fromage blanc spread on top with a pinch of kosher salt and a dusting of cayenne.  This afternoon I sprinkled cayenne pepper on my mashed potatoes and it was great!

Is this weird?

By the way homemade bagels are really easy and about 5,000 times better that the best bakery bagel you have tried (I am speaking to us regular folks who don't live in New York of course.)


I get my recipe from the book Artisan Bread in 5 minutes a day which I have mentioned before.

Highly recommended with fromage blanc, Kosher salt and cayenne pepper.

Crock Pot Blues

It is Early Rotation for our ward at church this year.

I really don't do well with early rotation.  It requires more planning beforehand including making sure the kids get bathed on Saturday evening which leads to crazy bed styled hairdos on all 3 of my children.  I can't realize that the boys don't have clean shirts last minute and stuff them in the wash while I make the dutch puff.  Speaking of dutch puff, we have had fun with our dutch puff Sunday brunches this year, now it will have to be dutch puff lunch at 1:00.  Not the same at all.

Sleep is also a problem.  I don't get up early and neither do my kids.  When I was expecting and on early rotation years I think I could have been classified as semi-inactive with all the days I was late, missed sacrament meeting or slept through the whole block altogether.  Happily (or unhappily) I have been getting up earlier for the last 6 months with classes and babysitting, so, while being at church at 9 am will be difficult it won't be a Herculean task this year. But wait, I can't just arrive at 9 am because our chapel is not big enough for our ward and if you aren't there 30 minutes early you don't get a pew.  I NEED a pew, I can not contain my children unless we are in a box with only one exit.

Some of the bright spots of early church are that Sunday afternoon naps can be in the afternoon and not in the early evening, much more effective.  We can go on family walks when the weather is fine.

There is also the crock pot.  I know it makes more sense to use the crock pot  when you get home from church at 4:00 pm  but that isn't how I roll. I want to use it for when I get up from my nap. It makes sense to me so go with it.

The trouble is my family doesn't like crock pot food.  They (including Moose) object to food being mushed up together in a stew type fashion.  I find this really weird because food where the flavors all cook together is my favorite thing.  I know you can just cook sauces and pour them on other foods but that is NOT my reason for crock pot use.  My goal is to throw all the food into the pot, turn a switch, open it hours later, take that same, SINGLE pot to the table and serve from it .  ONE DISH, savvy?  Besides, if I was going to prepare noodles, rice, meat or what have you separately, why wouldn't I just open a can of sauce which is simpler and faster?

I suppose we could do something else for Sunday dinners.  For a while  (back when were renters and our family numbered only 3 three) we made homemade pizzas on Sundays, but that is too much work and too messy, the opposite of crock pot meals.  I also tried Soup Sundays but the peasants rebelled, apparently, I am the only one who likes soup.

I guess you can say that I am looking for ideas, I want something easy, really  easy, sinfully easy, single dirty dish easy. Savvy?  Frozen lasagna easy but not lasagna because I am the only member of the family that likes lasagna (foods mushed up in layers are still mushed up together) and I have very limited freezer space.

Thankfulness

A coldfront blew in this past weekend.  Coincidentally, the furnace went out the night before, we called furnace folks in spades but no one would return our call for 3 days.  On Monday there was a snowday for the public school kids but no snow. Our furnace was also fixed that day; it wasn't broken, just a sensor that needed to be reset, it cost us $90 to learn that.

Snow on our shingles, I just think they are so pretty, It was our first snow at Starlings which was a blessing even if we were freezing at the time.

On Wednesday, I found that the pipes to the washing machine in the garage  were frozen so I filled up the washer with hot water by the bucketful from the laundry sink.  Eventually the washing machine defrosted (with the help of a space heater) but later that evening and maybe or maybe not related to this event the downstairs water heater broke and leaked all over the basement.  Inspection of the almond colored appliance revealed that it was made in 1980.  Obviously replacement not repair will be the order of the day. Of course, this happened at 5 pm the night before Thanksgiving.

We won't be having hot water until Monday at best. Happily the upstairs bathroom has a separate water heater so we can have warm showers, but no dishwasher of washing machine on Thanksgiving Eve!

I had the fun task of cleaning all the dishes and the kitchen before Thanksgiving food was made, during and after by boiling water in the tea kettle.

This wasn't to be a complaining post, I just wanted to illustrate why we chose a snowflake theme for Thanksgiving decorations.
 

 

The Gardners and the Warrs heeded my pleas to come to Starlings for dinner and we had a lovely evening.  All the important foods were here, hummus included.  The sweet potatoes were divine and the heritage pastured turkey from Kookoolan Farms (thanks to Kristin's mad bartering skillz and generosity) was the best turkey ever known to mankind.  Even Moose thinks it is the best turkey ever.  We will have to keep inviting Kristin to Thanksgiving forever because we could probably never afford such a turkey on our own.  **Flash to the scene from A Christmas Carol where Scrooge buys the enormous goose***

 

Here is a photo of Moose carving the turkey, he was the only person  man enough for the task (it must be all that working out on his birthday weight bench.)

I-Shuan made an absolutely darling "Welcome to Starlings" sign as a housewarming gift on her new "Silhouette" machine, so perfect and thoughtful.

And the greatest blessing of all, we have wonderful, fantastic, amazing renters in our old house.  A giant weight has been lifted from our shoulders.  Thank YOU!  Amen.

Eating From the Bunker: Day 2

Yesterday is kind of a blur for me as I spent to morning driving to the other side of the moon (the east side of town) to pick up some commissions and the afternoon was spent in a daze of numbness followed by pain. I went to the dentist to get a temporary crown and I needed 4 shots of anesthetic before I was numb. That much juice takes a while to wear off and then my jaw was sore and the actual tooth in question was so sore. I didn't think I was going to make it.

My poor family.

I'll let you in on a little secret, I am REALLY testy when my mouth hurts. Actually, it isn't much of a secret, many of you may have known me back when I used to get canker sores ALL THE TIME (thank YOU sodium laurel sulfates/sulfides) or when my wisdom teeth were grating off the insides of my cheeks. Lately however, the pain has been only when I am actually eating so my crankiness has been replaced with longing looks and sadness at the treats I dare not eat.

The good news is that in 2 weeks I should be able to eat again and be 90% mercury free. Also, this morning, I woke up with no mouth pain.

But back to the Food Storage Challenge.

I did dig into my homeopathic kit (which is part of my storage) to get some arnica for my sore jaw.

From what I can remember of yesterday we had homemade bread made into toast with peanut butter for breakfast as well as cereal with rice milk. Lunch was left overs and Organic Creamy Tomato Soup from Trader Joe's, and for dinner the remains of a bag of popcorn chicken (which I never buy but when one moves house convenience moves up the priority line) homemade ranch dip, and leftovers.

For dessert I needed something to take me to chocolate heaven but I also needed to be able to eat without chewing so it was Chocolate bread pudding again. I love that stuff.

I also made another loaf of bread for today's snacking. This doesn't fall into the challenge, but on Saturday, we made home made butter and it was delicious!

Frankly, I think that this 6 day challenge will be the easy part. What I am more concerned about is long term situation where I won't be able to rely on what was already in my fridge when the disaster struck. My friend Debbie has challenged her family to a month of eating from the bunker a few times, I think that is the real challenge.

Lucia Day

This year we decided to add some Christmas traditions from the countries of our ancestors. While discovering our Swedish heritage, we decided to adopt Lucia Day because Nutmeg is so very blonde and would make a great Lucia Maiden.It is also a tradition that involves breakfast in bed. I am looking forward to next year when Lucia Day is on a Monday and it won't have to be so early!
Our Lucia served us Kaloche which are Czech though we are not but they were so yummy!

Notes to Self (and Moose)

Do not take the kids out to eat.

Do not take the kids out to eat at Newport Bay.

Newport Bay is much more expensive than you remember.

Newport Bay has cut down on their portion sizes, 5 slices of seared Ahi Tuna for $22 is not a good value.

Order the Salmon.

Nutmeg will NOT eat her burger - just order fries.

Newport Bay DOES take reservations - waiting 35 minutes is not fun.

Your cell phone has a cool game to play while waiting.

It is amazing how Newport Bay can take an inch of apple and slice it to look like 3 kid's servings of apples.

The $15 off card you get in the mail will pay for the tip or you could look at it as they pay for 2 kid's meals which your kids will not eat. This is NOT a bargain.

The next time Samurai Mom is too depressed to cook dinner she should make a run to Sushi Town and pick up a box of corn dogs on the way home.

Even though $14.99 a lb at the market seems dreadfully expensive it is a bargain compared to eating at Newport Bay. It is OK to buy $3o worth of salmon at the grocery store.

We will be eating off of the food storage this next week to make up for the bill at Newport Bay.

Print out this note and refer to it the next time you are tempted to eat out.

Night Time is the Right Time

Monday, after grocery shopping I decided to head over to Sushi Town for some craving fulfilling. I walked in 1/2 hour before they closed. I figured I would be the last person to arrive. No, the door kept opening. Each arrival was one person just like me. They were all women.

Maybe it is something about late night and Sushi. I found it curious.

A Holiday Drink

I like to watch Martha on TV. I have noticed that she REALLY likes the parts when they make grown up beverages. She seems . . . extra animated. Even when a guest asks a question about an alcoholic beverage her eyes light up. Methinks Martha likes to hit the sauce from time to time.

Well I don't drink, and I don't think you should either so here is a fun and festive non alcoholic drink for you.

Take one pomegranate, roll it around on the counter squishing all the little seeds inside. Be careful not to split the skin. If you do split the skin just use that spot for the straw. Cut a hole for a straw, insert it into the pomegranate and enjoy fresh pomegranate juice. The end.

Cheating

I love hasbrowns. I really love them. My mom always made them from scratch, so imagine my surprise when I learned the hard way that you don't just grate a potato into a pan and cook (read grey gooey mess). Then I learned about frozen hashbrowns and while I felt very guilty using them (because they are so much more pricey than a plain old potato) they were so easy.

The other day I tasted these at Costco
Dried hashbrowns. I know it goes against all my food principles. They aren't even organic and everyone knows potatoes are the #2 thing to make sure you buy organic (#1 is strawberries). But they looked so easy and tasted so yummy. So I bought a carton and am making them now. YUM.

Turkey Review

Thanksgiving went off well, the only hiccups were when Nutmeg knocked my computer desk over, (incredibly, my ancient laptop continued playing You Tube Christmas carols without a blip) and when the Arizona wing of the family found that their turkey had not defrosted. You might wonder why this was our problem, well Mr. Moss had the fantastic idea of hooking up the webcams and having dinner together. 3 siblings in Arizona and our family and Grandma and Grandpa in Oregon. The younger siblings were in Montana because they couldn't come to Oregon.
This is the Arizona part of our Family, oddly the girl on the screen is not a member of the family, but a friend. It was so fun to see everyone preparing dinner together.
This is the Oregon wing of the family just before digging in.
And Moose finishing off a bottle of Sparkling Apple Juice.
The food was great, we tried sausage in the stuffing this year and decided it was OK but we won't do it again. My yams were great. Pies tasted fine.
It hardly felt like work, my mom kept everything so organized and I feel like I hardly did any work. I am so glad someone else made the rolls. I don't ever want to do Thanksgiving alone again.Dad spent the whole week fixing up little things in my house like sticky doors, crossed hot and cold water lines and my broken FAUCET! I think my parents should come visit more often! We miss them already. The first think Nutmeg said this morning was "I want Grandma." The kids are counting down to the drive to Montana for our Cool Yule.

A Motley Crew and a Terrifying Tale

These are our Thanksgiving pies, a sad display, I know. We were a sight to behold, Moose strumming on the guitar, Boss Moss teasing Nutmeg, Commander C stirring the lemon Pudding at the stove, Boba Fett stirring the pecan pie, Grandma Whitehouse making the meringue and Samurai Mom getting ingredients for two pies at once. Mom put the crusts in the pans so they looked much nicer than when I do it and I thought that was an auspicious start. But alas it was not to be.
The pumpkin had this funny bubble in it that split and then sunk, the lemon meringue has questionable pudding and a flat split meringue. And the Chocolate pecan, well it boiled over in the oven making the pie look very sad indeed and in smoking up the kitchen right now and the corn syrup burn on the bottom of the oven as the turkey roasts.

Let us hope that they taste good and that the smoke alarm does not go off.

Before I tell the terrifying tale I will mention that I made a Chocolate Pecan for the ward pie contest this year and I was robbed. First, I looked at my pie after the judging and there is NO WAY 3 judges tasted the pie, there was a half teaspoon sized bite taken out, that is all. Secondly, the judges were all men and the winners were all fruit pies, obviously they were not qualified to judge a chocolate pie. I had sufficient praise from others however. Now, on to my tale.

It was Thanksgiving 1997, London.
Our abroad program was an American school, with American students and British instructors.
Happily, the director of the program arranged a Thanksgiving day feast at a small French restaurant. We all convened and while the dinner was not quite a traditional feast the basics were there and it was acceptable. Then it was time for desert. The servers went around the room taking orders apple or pumpkin pie. Some ordered the apple but most drooled at the prospect of some pumpkin pie and ordered that in their southern drawl (most of the girls at Hollins abroad were from the south.) The instructors did likewise on our recommendation. The pies arrived and those who had ordered pumpkin were a bit perplexed. The pumpkin was not a custard pie but a pie like an apple pie, with little slices of pumpkin in a syrupy filling! I am not joking people! We were appalled but tasted the pie with trepidation followed by disappointment, it was gross. No rich velvety delight for us. We vehemently declared to our British Instructors that THIS was not pumpkin pie and tried to explain it though none of us knew enough about baking one to do it accurately.
Ironic that in England we could not get a custard pie.

(Proof I was there at the infamous Thanksgiving feast, I have no idea who these people are, but the woman in the center was our Shakespeare instructor and the man sitting was her partner. I thought that was SO shocking and metropolitan.)