Happy Holidays...

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Ten years...

Sunday, September 2nd marked 10 years since I saw my dad. It was such a bittersweet day for me, full of ups and downs. It's bizarre to think of how much he's missed. My 7 year old nephew and 2 year old niece... man, he'd of loved Dylan's sense of humor and Addie would be giving him a run for his money, and that's saying something. Cesar joked on Sunday that he would probably be teasing them with a rolled up newspaper like he did my cats.

When my sister and I talked about what to do on Sunday, we joked about doing Stan things, like buying the kids a kitten to torture my brother-in-law. In the end, we had lunch at one of his favorite spots, The Roadhouse and I celebrated him with his favorite side, the sweet potato.

I wonder if I'll make it through one of these September 2nds without tears. I wonder if I'll stop feeling hurt about those closest to me not checking in or sending a kind word on that day or even this time of year. I wonder what it's like to still have your dad...

Pad Thai...

I've been on an Asian food kick lately. I've always been intimidated when I think about making any kind of Asian inspired food. But, I've found some very simple recipes that have inspired me to give it a try. I love Thai food and I'm always searching for good (to me) Pad Thai. Some of the local restaurants do okay, but some of them taste like ketchup. I have never been to Thailand, but I feel fairly confident when I say I am pretty sure that's not a real Pad Thai. I would be curious to know what constitutes a real Pad Thai.

After a Google search, I settled on this recipe (which I adapted), mostly because I was very curious about the tamarind paste (which I easily found at the local Asian market).  I don't have a wok so I used my cast iron skillet, knowing I could safely get it very hot and that worked well. I am now convinced this will be a regular dinner in the rotation. And did I mention how amazing it is as a leftover?

Prep Time: 15 minutes, Cook Time: 12 minutes, Total Time: 27 minutes Yield: Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 1 to 1 1/2 cups raw chicken breast, cut into 1 inch pieces
• Marinade for Chicken: 1 tsp. cornstarch dissolved in 3 Tbsp. soy sauce
• 13 oz. package of Thai rice noodles, linguine-width
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• Chili flakes, to taste
• vegetable oil for stir-frying
• 1/4 cup chicken stock
• 3 cups fresh bean sprouts
• wedges of lime
• 3 spring (green) onions, sliced
• 1/2 cup fresh coriander/cilantro
• 1/3 cup crushed or roughly chopped peanuts (or other nuts, such as cashews)

PAD THAI SAUCE:

• 1-1/2 Tbsp. tamarind paste (Author recommends dissolving in 1/4 cup warm water - I didn't do this, I think the sauce would be too runny)
• 4 Tbsp. fish sauce
• 1 tsp. or more dried crushed chili or cayenne, to taste
• 6 Tbsp. brown sugar

Preparation:

1. Place chicken slices in a small bowl. Stir together the marinade and pour over chicken. Stir well and set aside. I let this marinate for about 5 hours, but even 30 minutes would be good.
2. Bring a large pot of pot to a boil and remove from heat. Dunk in your rice noodles. Allow noodles to soak while you prepare the other ingredients. Note: you will be frying the noodles later, so you don't want to over-soften them now. Noodles are ready to be drained when they are soft enough to be eaten, but are still firm and a little "crunchy". This only took about 10 minutes, maybe less. Keep tasting them. Drain and rinse with cold water. Set aside.
3. Make the Pad Thai Sauce by combining the sauce ingredients together in a cup. Stir well to dissolve the tamarind paste and brown sugar. Set aside. 
4. Warm up a wok or large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add 1-2 Tbsp. oil plus garlic and chili flakes, if using. Stir-fry until fragrant (30 seconds).
5. Add chicken together with the marinade. Stir-fry 30 seconds to 1 minute. When wok/pan becomes dry, add a little chicken stock, 1-2 Tbsp. at a time, to keep the chicken frying nicely. Continue stir-frying in this way until the chicken is cooked (5-8 minutes).
6. Add the noodles, and pour the Pad Thai sauce over. Using two spatulas, wooden spoons, or other utensils, immediately stir-fry the noodles. Use a gentle "lift and turn" method (like tossing a salad) to prevent noodles from breaking. Stir-fry in this way 1-2 minutes. If you find your wok/frying pan too dry, push noodles aside and add a little more oil to the bottom (but no more broth, or the noodles will become soggy).
7. Add the bean sprouts. Continue "tossing" 1 more minute, or until noodles are cooked. Noodles are done to perfection when they are no longer "hard" or crunchy, but chewy-sticky wonderful!
8. Taste-test for seasoning, adding more fish sauce until desired flavor is reached. Toss well to incorporate.
9. Lift noodles onto a serving plate. Top with generous amounts of fresh coriander, spring onion, and crushed/chopped nuts. Add fresh lime wedges.

Twelve Years....

Since the day we walked down the aisle. On one hand, I can't believe how fast time has gone. On the other, it's hard to imagine how much we've had to endure in twelve short years. My husband has been my rock through it all and I'm so very lucky.

To celebrate, I surprised him with a night at the O'dysius in Lincoln City. It's a great hotel with wonderful views and it was nice to just get away. Instead of doing a big fancy dinner out, we had a nice lunch out and had a pizza delivered to our room and we watched some movies while listening to the pounding surf. So very relaxing and perfect for us.

Tonight, the day of our actual anniversary, we headed home and spent the afternoon running errands. We ended the day with the most amazing meal I have had in a long time, cooked by the two of us.

The Crispy Potato Roast was delicious and instead of thyme, I used rosemary. This went with the ciabatta bread I got from Costco that I baked topped with a rosemary and roasted garlic compound butter. I roasted two heads of garlic (tops cut off, drizzled with olive oil, wrapped in parchment paper) in the oven while cooking the potatoes, mixed it with finely chopped rosemary into room temperature butter.

But. The highlight of the meal was the culotte steaks Cesar grilled on the bbq to a perfect medium rare. Top this delicious cut of steak with perfectly sauteed criminis, portabello, shitake and oyster mushrooms with finely minced garlic in butter, olive oil and white wine and Oh. My. Word. Truly amazing.

This was better than any fancy restaurant could have been. A lovingly prepared meal with Cesar, enjoyed with a toast to twelve years.

Here's to the next twelve!

A text in the life...

This might explain things.

C: you know that's not right.

Me: What's not right?

C: what ever it was you were just thinking. don't try to be slick. i got your number lady.

Me: Um, I was telling Don about how the shopping list said one carrot and you bought a bag of carrots. You're right, it's not right.

C: they did not sell individual carrots. asshat.

Me: Nowhere, not in the entire store?

C: that's right. i thought it was strange too. but things change. you used to be able to buy grapes by the bunch, cherries, sprouts, etc. now they all come in packages.

Me: Back in the day?

C: yes ok gotta go. you're still not right, btw.

Me: Hmmm. I'm going to tweet this interaction.

C: theres no comedic or educational value to this. but help yourself.

Me: It keeps you honest. Or on your toes. Or something.

C: weirdo.

Me: I married you, didn't I?

Many of our conversations end this exact same way as the last two lines of this exchange. 

Also, my husband does not use capitalization in his texts. He would say it's because he doesn't have some fancy smart phone. I would say he's being text lazy. Tezy. That sounds dirty. He does use punctuation though, so there's that.

Also, also, please note that he called me names. Twice. 

Peppermint Bark...

Brace yourself. I'm about to publish the most complicated holiday recipe I have. The number of ingredients is astounding. But, I think you can do it. I have faith in you. I included pictures though, just in case.

• 3 bags dark chocolate chips (I guess you could use milk chocolate, if you like that inferior "chocolate")
• 2 bags white chocolate chips 
• Peppermint extract
• Candy canes

Melt dark chocolate chips in the microwave. I set the microwave for 1 minute and than 30 second increments until it's all melted, stirring between each round. Add a couple drops of peppermint extract (a little goes a very, very long way!).

Spread the melted dark chocolate on a cookie sheet lined with wax or parchment paper, lightly sprayed with cooking spray. Put the cookie sheet in the fridge.

Now, it's time to take out your frustrations on innocent candy canes. I find a ziplock bag and a meat tenderizer really do a great job. You basically want candy cane pieces and dust.

By now, your dark chocolate should be hardened. It's time to melt the white chocolate in the same way you melted the dark.

Add some of your candy cane pieces & dust to the white chocolate and stir to combine.

Spread the white chocolate on top of the dark chocolate in an even layer. Add additional candy cane pieces and dust to the top, using the back of the wooden spoon to press it lightly into the white chocolate. Back into the fridge until white chocolate is hardened.



Break the peppermint bark into pieces and enjoy all of the swooning and compliments you received. Make sure you mention how very challenging the recipe is.

Happy holidays to you and yours!

A plethora of recipes...

Yesterday I baked. And I cooked. And I prepped.

I baked:


Healthified Ginger-Pear Muffins, but used apples instead of pears.
Healthified Fresh Apple Cake
Healthified Raspberry Bars, but used Strawberry preserves instead of Raspberry


I completely prepped (so all we had to do was turn the crockpot on)

Steak Fajitas with Tomato Corn Relish, and added jalapenos to the relish

and I cooked

Healthified Mediterranean Chicken Panini for last night's dinner/lunch leftovers.

The fajitas were delicious, although they weren't really fajitas. The bars were delicious, would definitely make again. The muffins were good and the panini was ok, but those thin, sandwich rounds could not hold up. We haven't tasted the cake yet.

My feet really hurt last night.

Italian Eggs Benedict....

I've been wanting to make this for a while now. I actually read about it years ago in a men's magazine, they claimed it was a great "morning after" meal. :-) I've taken to calling it "Italian Eggs Benedict."

I actually bought everything to make this for dinner a couple weeks ago. But, I used the basil for something else and the baguette became so hard it was only good as a baseball bat. But, I picked up a loaf of Salem Sourdough from Cascade Baking Co on Saturday, knowing Sunday would be a great day to make this.While the recipe above looks great, it was early and we were trying to diagnose an overheating problem in the car (fan relay failed, if you are interested) so I wanted something even quicker.

1 jar of your favorite marinara
Eggs (you can easily cook 6 - I cooked 4 and had a lot of sauce left over)
Prosciutto
Crusty Bread
Parmesan Cheese (the real stuff, none of that powdered crap)

Heat the entire jar of marinara in a large skillet.

Reduce heat to medium-low. Add marinara and adjust heat to maintain a simmer. Crack an egg into a small bowl, taking care not to break the yolk. Make a well in the sauce roughly large enough to hold the egg and slip it in so that the yolk and most of the white is contained (some white may spread out). Repeat with the remaining eggs, evenly spacing them around the pan.

Cover and cook for 6-8 minutes or until desired poached done-ness.

Toast slices of bread.

Serve toasted bread with slice prosciutto with egg and sauce on top. Sprinkle with Parmesan.


Next time, I probably will use pancetta instead of the prosciutto, just because it's less delicate.

Sit back and enjoy, delighting in the fact that you made such an wonderful, delicious meal with only 5 ingredients and hardly any energy.

Stan the Welder Man...

For as long as I can remember, we had Volkswagens. When I was in elementary school, my dad drove a metallic Blue Bug with bubble windows to work every morning. I learned to drive on a Red Rabbit that was missing first gear as well as reverse. When that one died, I drove a Blue Rabbit - when the starter went out instead replacing it, my dad installed an on-off switch under the dashboard to start my car. The Christmas before I turned 17, he worked in secret with his best friend to rebuild a motor for a 1974 Volkswagen Bug for me. While the other kids at my high school were driving their parents' fancy cars, I was driving the best car around with a super sweet engine. I loved that car.

During all those years, we spent A LOT of time at the VW shop. Autocraft was our home away from home. My dad would take my sister and I on a Saturday and we would be there for what felt like hours. I went in a couple weeks ago to get my brother-in-law a gift certificate for his birthday and I asked how long they had been open. 35 years. I told the owner I had been coming in for 31 of those years, with my dad, Stan. His reply? "Stan the welder man, he was a good guy." I wonder how many hours my dad stood there bullshitting with him? Probably more hours than I can ever imagine.

Today marks nine years since I saw my dad's face, held his hand, heard his voice. It was good to talk to someone else who remembers him too. Sometimes it feels like only my sister and I remember. 

Baked Zucchini and Potato Chips

After making this wonderful tian, I had plenty of leftover slices of zucchini and red potato. We love fried zucchini and who doesn't love potato chips, but we a) prefer it healthier and b) don't like the mess of frying at home. So, to the oven I went for these super easy recipes.

Unfried Zucchini
I threw the slices into a bowl of egg substitute.  I then put each slice in a pan of panko bread crumbs (LOVE the texture), kicked up with salt, pepper and some parmesan cheese and made sure both sides had plenty of breadcrumbs. I laid them out in a single layer on a baking sheet covered in foil (no mess!) that I had sprayed with cooking spray. Let them cook at 350 until they are golden brown, maybe 20 minutes? or so. I let mine go a little long so they were nice a crispy. We ate them with ranch dressing I made from a packet of ranch, low fat sour cream, milk and a small dollop of light mayo (I would have preferred greek yogurt, but we were out).

Potato Chips
Spray foiled line baking sheet with cooking spray and lay out potato slices in single layer. Spray potatoes with cooking spray and salt. Back at 350 until desired doneness. We like them crispy, which maybe took about 20 minutes.

Sorry for the lack of photos. They went way to quickly to document! But just posting this makes me want to go home and make more of both tonight.

Coconut Milk Chicken with Spicy Pineapple Sauce

A twitter friend mentioned this Polynesian Chicken Wrap recipe he had made the night before. It sounded so delicious, I decided to give it a try and adapt it for us. We loved it. It was unlike anything I have made before. It was a touch sweet and the chicken was so tender. Will definitely make again!

Ingredients

• Brown rice, cooked according to package
• 2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cut into 1 inch chunks
• 1 (14 ounce) can coconut milk
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tablespoons curry powder
• 1 tablespoon garlic salt
• 2 tablespoons oil
• Shredded coconut
• 1 (20 ounce) can crushed pineapple in heavy syrup, drained with syrup reserved
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 2 -3 teaspoon ground ginger
• 3/4 cup orange juice
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup
• Red Pepper Flakes

Directions

1. Place the chicken and coconut milk (reserve about 1/3 cup of coconut milk for sauce) in a bowl, and marinate in the refrigerator 4 hours.
2. Toast coconut in a dry pan over medium heat, stiring constantly.
3.  In a medium bowl, mix the crushed pineapple, 1/3 cup coconut milk, cornstarch and ground ginger. Gradually stir in enough of the reserved pineapple juice to make the mixture smooth. Add red pepper flakes to your liking. 
   
4. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, blend orange juice and maple syrup. Cook and stir 5 minutes, until clear and thickened. Mix in the pineapple mixture. Continue to cook and stir until well blended and thick, about 15 minutes.
5. In a small bowl, mix the flour, curry powder, and garlic salt. Drain the chicken, and discard marinade. Dredge chicken in the flour mixture to coat.
6. Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat, and cook the coated chicken strips 5 minutes per side, or until golden brown and juices run clear.
7. Serve chicken and sauce over brown rice.

Helping Me.....

Or not.

I love...

Librarians!! Salem-Keizer School District is about to cut all of the librarians that serve kindergarten through eighth grade. These librarians do more than shelve books and direct kids to the right area. They teach technology, they teach kids how to research, they teach kids how to use resources, they teach kids so much more. Classroom teachers can not do it all!



Join the cause at http://www.facebook.com/pages/I-heart-Public-School-Libraries/140518699350053 and support your school librarians!

Spice Rack...

A long, long time ago in a neighborhood not very far away, the charming writer of Desperately Seeking Salem, Emily, blogged about the spice rack her husband made for her.  I was inspired by this and decided to give it a go.  I knew my sister needed a spice rack and thought this would be the perfect Christmas gift for her.  I asked her to start keeping my niece's baby food jars and hand them over (Yes, she gave me the supplies for her own Christmas gift) and started formulating a plan.

I wanted the jars to be magnetic, I planned on mounting a piece of metal flashing under the lip of the cabinet. I also wanted to use chalkboard paint on the front in order to use chalk to label each jar.  So that's what I did.



I taped off a rectangle on each jar and painted chalkboard paint within (3 coats).  I let them dry for several days between coats and removed the tape after the last coat had a couple more days to dry.

Using a high shine, black spray paint, I sprayed the outsides of the baby food jar lids. They needed two coats.  Once dried (again, several days later), I used a permanent glue to secure the magnets to the lids.




I bought my spice packets at Cost Plus and gave my sister a set of 18 spice jars, about 10 of them I pre-filled with spices and one of the jars to hold the chalk.

I also used the chalkboard paint on large glass storage jars that I bought at Ikea.  She can use these for pasta, flour, sugar, etc.

Drawback? They probably need to be handwashed.




Too bad the niece is done with baby food.  I really want a set for myself.  Might need to just buy the baby food to get the jars.

Homemade Crackers...

Inspired by the (I think) homemade crackers that David serves with his chicken salad at La Capitale, I decided to try my hand at making crackers. I had a thyme cheese ball recipe I wanted to use them with.  I did a quick search on the Food Network's web site, and decided to go with Ina Garten's Parmesan and Thyme Crackers. I made a batch with fresh thyme and a batch with fresh rosemary and they were both delicious and so very easy.  These crackers are very much like a savory shortbread.  In fact, they were so good, and so addicting, I just ate the plain.  No need for the cheese at all!

Ingredients

nocoupons

• 1/4 pound (1 stick) unsalted butter
• 3 ounces grated Parmesan
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions

• Place the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix until creamy.
• Add the Parmesan, flour, salt, thyme and pepper and combine (I added about 1/4 cup of water after everything was mixed in order to get everything to combine).
• Dump the dough on a lightly floured board and roll into a 13-inch long log. Wrap the log in plastic wrap and place in the freezer for 30 minutes to harden.
• Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Cut the log crosswise into 1/4 to 1/2-inch thick slices. Place the slices on a sheet pan and bake for 22 minutes.

Karma...

I'm a big believer in karma. I also believe there are a couple of different kinds of karma. Some people experience big karma, where all their dirty deeds add together and karma repays in a huge way. Then there's the other kind, the kind I experience. Instant karma, cause and effect seen within a short time span, where all the little things you do are instantly awarded with karma.

For example, I once stole a pen from a restaurant. I have a thing for good pens. I must have stuck it in my pocket upon stealing it and promptly forgot about it. Fast forward to laundry day. Upon removing almost my entire professional wardrobe from the dryer, I found blue ink on almost every item of clothing. Nothing would get that ink out and I had to go spend several hundred dollars to replace that wardrobe. I've never stolen a pen since.

Certain events in my own life have made me wonder about karma. I see people who appear to be continuously rewarded for bad behavior. Is the big karma going to get them? Is little karma already effecting them? Will I ever know? Is it for me to know? These are the thoughts running through my brain.

Infusions....

I never though I would be one to have a bartender, but I do.  Rob of La Capitale has a way of making his customers feel like they are his only customer.  He knows their names, greets them by name each and every time, and knows their favorite drinks (mine is the Hot and Cold Margarita).

As my husband said, Rob is like a mad scientist, mixing and concocting into perfection.  His specialty is infusing different kinds of alcohol with things like fruits, veggies and herbs.  That margarita I love so much?  Made from Citrus and Serrano infused Tequila. 

So I sent Rob a tweet several months ago, asking if he had considered doing an infusions class, that his loyal devoted followers would surely want to learn from his wisdom.  And, in September, I had the honor of being one of the lucky 20 to attend @robdrinkenstein's infusion class at La Capitale.

After mixing us drinks (no pre-made mixers here, only fresh ingredients), class began.  And for two and a half hours, I learned how to infuse.  I also drank and ate.  All around great evening spent with friends.


My first infusion was inspired by Rob's chocolate martini, made with vanilla rum.  I hunted down the vanilla bean, I sliced it open and added it and the scraped out beans along with the rum to my new infuser, one of the gifts from the class.  After letting it sit for 8 hours (and tasting after 4 and 6 hours), I added the required amount of sugar and was ready to make my chocolate martini.  Which turned out pretty darn good.  But not quite as good as Rob's!

Rob's going to continue to offer classes.  He's talked of doing a Holiday Cocktail class, where he teaches you how to make Christmas cocktails.  I would highly recommend it.  Rob's a fantastic teacher and a great guy!  I just might see you there!

The Dining Scene...

I have recently been called a "foodie."  According to Wikipedia, a Foodie is an informal term for a particular class of aficionado of food and drink.  Wikipedia also claims it was coined in 1981.  I guess me hooting and hollering when we drove by Salem's new food pod (3905 Silverton Rd, 1/2 block west of Lancaster)  is proof enough that I am, indeed, a foodie.

A few years ago, I would have said it was very hard to be a foodie in Salem, home of the fast food joints and chain restaurants.  Recently, Salem has started to grow up and we've got a number of good and diverse local restaurants.  We've decided to not eat at non-local restaurants, that if we're going out to eat, we want our money to stay in our community (Confession: We make exceptions for our occasional fast food visit and I do frequent Starbucks on occasion).

As happy as all of the new development makes me, I wonder about something.  It seems like many of the new restaurants opening are more of the fine dining type, with dinners generally costing $15 and up.  Like most Americans today, we are saving more of our pennies, certainly being more careful with them. This limits the opportunity we have to visit these establishments.  For us, they become "special occasion" restaurants.  I do appreciate how a few of these restaurants like La Capitale, has a separate bar menu from their finer dining menu, offering a greater range in prices.

I wonder how many of these fine dining restaurants Salem can support.  I would love to see more local, modest priced restaurants that offer a variety of dining choices.  While Salem pretty much has the Mexican and Chinese restaurant scene covered, a good hometown deli that is open for dinner too or more bistro style restaurants, like Word of Mouth would be a great addition. And if they were opened in West Salem, I certainly would not complain.

So Salem, what kind of food do you want to see in Salem?

Salem Beer and Cider Festival...

While I am not a beer drinker, I do love cider and I love supporting local businesses.  This all lead to me attending the first ever Salem Beer and Cider Festival, which was created by Gilgamesh and Wandering Aengus Cider. The cherry cider from Wandering Aengus is delicious and I even found a beer that I didn't mind. 

Mission Mill is a fabulous location and it was nice to not worry about the weather, however it did get mighty warm on the 3rd floor on such an unseasonably warm day.

It wasn't too crowded, but I assumed this was due to it being the first ever Salem Beer and Cider Festival and maybe because both the Beavers and the Ducks playing.  And while I appreciated having live music, my suggestion would be to lower the sound.  When we arrive it was so unbearably loud, I couldn't hear the person who was yelling in my ear.  I enjoy background music at events like this, but it should be quiet enough that you can have a conversation with the person sitting next to you without yelling. 

It's great for Salem to have their own beer/cider festival and it would be great to see more wines included next year. I could definitely see this becoming one of our annual festivals.

Finding Inspiration...

Last night, I had the pleasure of finally meeting Mrs. Emily Grosvenor of Desperately Seeking Salem fame.  I'm not really sure when I started following Emily's blog, it was shortly after she started it, but have thoroughly enjoyed her take on Salem as a newbie.

While attending Emily's blogging class at Clockworks last night, one of the things that stood out to me was the need to have a blogging direction.  My current blog direction has been more of the personal nature and will continue to include some of that.  And of course there will be cats - if I can't get away from them neither can you.  But, I've also tried to keep it local, with photos of our city.  This is the area I want to expand, including thoughts, opinions and reviews of what is going on in my city.  I've lived in Salem since I was four.  I'm not going to do the math, but that's 30 years.  Wait, I said no math.  Grr. Anyway, I've got a lot of thoughts on where we've been and where we are going.  Stay tuned...