All right. Those of you who know me well (actually if you know me at all this will come as no surprise) know that cooking is definitely not my strong suit. In fact, I really don’t like it much at all.
Yes, I can follow a recipe and make a perfectly edible, if not even downright tasty, meal, but I just don’t like doing it. It’s time-consuming, I don’t know how to cook without a recipe or substitute measurements or ingredients in my head, and I always say if you want to torture me, make me chop something. Plus, if you can keep a secret, I’m actually kinda lazy. There, now you know.
As an adult, Valentine’s Day has never been one of my favorites.
To me, it’s much more of a made-up “Hallmark holiday”, created mainly to inflate prices of roses, candy, and paper goods.
Plus I never had a boyfriend over Valentine’s Day until I met R, so I usually didn’t have a reason to make it a big deal.
Sure I enjoy getting a card or an extra “I love you” every February 14, but I don’t really hold it in high regard or eagerly anticipate it each year.
It was great as a kid, though. Who doesn’t love a mug covered in pictures of candy hearts and brimming with said sugary confection waiting for you on the kitchen table first thing in the morning?
But as an adult, I can pretty much take it or leave it. Plus we had to send valentines to daycare for D’s party today.
Dumb.
I mean, it’s cute that they’re having a party, but dumb that parents send a dozen valentines for a group of 18-24 month olds who have zero idea the meaning of the day. Ah well, I guess it’s a small sacrifice for a classroom of cuties.
However, I am quite excited for our heart-shaped pizza from Papa Murphy’s that R’s mom gets us each Valentine’s Day. It has become our Valentine’s Day dinner tradition, usually paired with our favorite tv show at the time. A few years ago it was Lost. Tonight we might check out the new show The River, since I’ve heard it’s very Lost-esque. Anyone catch its debut last week?
We usually see R’s family each year the weekend before Valentine’s Day for one of our nephew’s birthday party, and that is how we always get the heart-shaped pizzas. Some may laugh, but I love it!
Plus, look at this adorable shot of D playing in a bounce house with her cousins at the party this past weekend. That’s my little valentine!
So Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone, however you like to celebrate (or not)!
So here it is, FINALLY. My Thanksgiving recap post. In pictures. Exactly 2 weeks late. Ahem. It was awesome.
The table all nicely set and ready for food
R proudly displaying his poultry
Mmm, turkey
Mommy & D, enjoying the feast
Oo, this dish is tasty
My spoon - hilarious!
Wait, they're gone?
CRANBERRIES!!
Straight into the tub
Happy Thanksgiving!
We had enough food for a family of 10 and proceeded to eat leftovers until this week. R said we should really have taken some to a shelter, to which I agreed, but unfortunately they have pretty strict rules about donated food and its preparation/handling. So we are still finishing up the pumpkin torte. It was a wonderful day at home, just the 3 of us – our little family. And yes, that is a mini Packers jersey D is wearing. R wouldn’t even let me put a cute little holiday outfit on her. Hmpf.
And since I made you wait so long for some pictures, here are a few bonus shots. Because no day is complete without an abundance of D.
D helping Mommy put her ornament on 1st
She's now ADDICTED to her chocolate advent calendars
I hope you all have a wonderful holiday, wherever and however you may celebrate it. Eat, drink, be merry, relax, watch some football, and take time to really enjoy everything for which you have to be thankful. And then eat some more. For if you’re like me, the subsequent Thanksgiving meals are just as good as the original. Turkey and stuffing and probably more pie at 9pm? Why thanks!
There are far too many who will not be happy this Thanksgiving, so please let our thoughts be with them as well. If you are so inclined, maybe volunteer an hour or two at a local food pantry or donate to your city’s rescue mission or maybe even take some leftovers to a family you know who needs them. I’m sure they would be eternally grateful.
I’ll be taking a break to spend the long weekend with family and friends, so I’ll see you next week. Happy Thanksgiving!
p.s. You might want to check back sometime on Sunday, though. I may or may not have a special treat in store for you...
I just love long weekends, don’t you? This past one was no exception, it being the Labor Day holiday and all.
Friday night we saw the Tedeschi Trucks Band in concert at the Riverside Theater downtown (side note: if you ever have the chance to see live music at either the riverside or pabst theaters in milwaukee, do! they are the most awesome, intimate venues). They were amazing!! Susan Tedeschi is an excellent bluesy/jazzy singer, and man, can she play a mean guitar, too. Her husband, Derek Trucks, is also the guitarist for the Allman Brothers. So, duh, you know he’s good. But the best part? Susan wore blue strappy stilettos on stage for the entire show! That’s my girl.
Saturday morning I got my hair trimmed and colored (sayonara grays!), then we went up to the Sheboygan County Fair that afternoon. If there’s a Hot Wisconsin Cheese stand within 100 miles you know we have to get our fix. Fortunately the rain held off for us up there, because it poured here for the better part of the day. Pushing D around in her stroller in mud and barn slop would not have been pleasant.
Sunday and Monday were a continuation of the culinary adventures that always occur on our holiday weekends, and this time we nommed on 2 rounds of surf ‘n turf. Yumola! Sunday night we had our good friends A and S over, which is always a blast. They are expecting their first baby, a boy, due in January, so I always love catching up with S and seeing how things are going. And of course D had to show off her walking and running skills, along with all her toys. Monday night was round 2 of our meaty delicacies, for just me and R. Who says you can’t enjoy this stuff just cuz?
The weather has taken a decidedly cooler turn, too. Yesterday was quite brisk in the breeze, and the nights are downright chilly. I do love Fall, but this year I’m just especially sad to see Summer go. I love being outside in the sun and warmth. Maybe we’ll get some wonderful Indian Summer days to stretch the season out just a little bit longer…
One of my friends from grade school (talk about the magic of facebook!) has a pretty kick-ass blog that I recently discovered and began following. They review and discuss restaurants in various cities in which they have lived around the world – Brooklyn, London, Hong Kong, and soon Seoul. Not only do they review, but they give you a taste of the local flare, something which I love since Brooklyn is the only one of those places to which I’ve ever been. Jen also posts some of her recipes, which look pretty wickedly awesome. Too bad we all know the extent of my culinary prowess ends with PB&Js or else I might actually give some of them a shot. Maybe I’ll get R to test them out…
One word: sous-vide (or 2 words, depending on if you use the hyphen or not)
Say what? Sous-vide – it’s R’s new culinary experiment, and it was a screaming success. He’s been wanting to test out this cooking method for weeks now, and last night was the debut. Basically you vacuum seal food in plastic bags then cook it in a water bath to your desired temperature. I’ve mainly heard him talk about it for steaks, but I’m pretty sure you can cook other foods this way too. (for reference: sous-vide)
He’s spent a lot of time buying parts to make the temperature control for the water, figuring out which vessel would work best to maintain the water temperature once reached with little variation, and finding the right heating element. I was so happy that this worked, because I know how much effort he’s put into it and would have hated to see it fail and ruin the steaks. Yesterday he got a ribeye and NY strip for himself and 2 filets for me, and last night was our first round of steak sous-vide (part 2 coming on Sunday). Unfortunately I don’t have a picture of the setup to show you what this process looks like, but here you can see the amazeballs final result:
Sous-vide = perfection
The steaks turned out spectacularly! Every single millimeter of meat was done to exactly medium rare – how often does that happen? It was tender, it was juicy, it was like tasting rainbows bite-by-bite. Apparently the magic of this system is that you can cook the steaks hours and hours ahead of time, and the water bath will keep them exactly at the doneness that you want. Then when it’s time to eat, you take them out of their bags, flash sear them on each side, and voila! Soup’s on! For a side he made twice baked potatoes with more of his homemade lardons on top. Yes please, and thank you very much.
And don’t forget the wine. We paired one of our old go-to favorites with this meal, Bogle Cabernet Sauvignon.
Bogle Cab
I have totally dumbed-down the explanation of this fine art, mainly because I’m dumb and need simple explanations to figure most things out, especially in the kitchen. But that’s the jist of it, and the final products are outstanding. I’m sure R could expound on the intricacies and whys and hows of it for you, but alas, you’re stuck with me. Keep an eye on TinySausage, though – I’m sure this one will make for a new post soon.
And of course, TGIF!!! We’re meeting up with friends for happy hour today at a new bar downtown, and I, for one, am stoked! This has been a week, and mama needs a cocktail. Have a great weekend, and a very Happy Father’s Day to all you dads out there!
