Cool Quote

The most remarkable thing about my mother is that for thirty years she served the family nothing but leftovers. The original meal has never been found.
~Calvin Trillin

I thought that was a funny one. I've met people who say they don't eat leftovers. It's only fresh food for them. I always tell them with a laugh then you shouldn't eat at my house. To this day hubby's cousin doesn't know if I'm joking or not.

I pretty much save all leftovers. Most everything can be used again if not the same way I originally made it then chopped up and added to something else and they'll never be the wiser.

Breakfast

I was scanning through things and I found a folder that I have with drafts of posts. It seems that I worked on some and never posted them. I will begin to do so. If they are repeats oh well, so sorry.

A while back I had breakfast at a neighborhood bakery. The novelty here was that it wasn't my neighborhood and it was on 8th street and 7th avenue in Miami near the car dealership where I took my car for service. Anyone who knows this area knows that it's in a very colorful neighborhood- Little Havana. My descriptions here won't do it justice but here goes nothing.


From the sidewalk when you look through the windows it just looks like a busy bakery selling morning pastries and coffees some for here and some to go as you hear the bells on the door jingle as it swings open letting customers come and go. The other thing you hear with the jingling which gets you going are clips of music. Music more suiting of a bar at 5:00 than a bakery at 9 in the morning. Salsa, Regeton. Fast paced, swing your hips music. I venture in. The music swallows me up and I realize that I am not just listening to the CD but to the waitresses singing. It's like I walked onto the set of a live musical but there are no props, it's all real.


There were all sorts of people sitting at the tables or at the counter eating everything from pastries and coffee, scrambled eggs and french fries to rice and beans. The 50-something year old Cuban man with his oversized beer belly, dockers that settle right under his paunch with a paisley dress shirt unbuttoned half way down to show his graying chest casually waiting for meat pastries and a cafe con leche at the counter. The couple in their 70's who were dressed in their Sunday best having obviously come from church. He held her chair to seat her and she held her pinky in the air as she drank her cortadito. The tired mom holding her head up with her hand leaning into the counter with maybe her sister or BF sitting at the counter with the 3 kids testing the spinablity of every stool. The old man nicely dressed out of style with his stately mother who walked in as if she were the Queen of Sheba. Her son actually dusted off the chair with -wait for it - his handkerchief before she sat down. The young guys coming in to get a days worth of food to put in the styrofoam cooler to go fishing and moi. I walked in with a book in my hand thinking I'd have a quite cafe con leche and read for a while. Right. There were people standing in "line" three deep at the counter and at the register. She took my order from 3 people back and told me to go ahead and sit, she'd bring it out. I found a seat at a table full of the plastic red baskets but no people so I piled them up, put them in a corner of the table and sat. The were men next to me that were arguing about sports, the stool testing kids were begging their mom for cookies, the waitresses were singing and here comes my Cafe con leche and there goes the pile of plastic baskets. The man asks me if I'm having breakfast, the "revoltillo" is the best in town. As far as I know Revoltillo is scrambled eggs, how good can it be. I smile and tell him maybe I'll try it. The waitress still singing and dancing as she comes over brings them a cafecito and he tells her I want to order food. I nod, order the scrambled eggs with bacon, potatoes and toast. Other waitress are sashaying by with pastries and coffees etc. Enter a group of teens looking like they haven't slept. Seemingly neighborhood kids that don't always pay/tip well. None of the waitress wanted to take their order and they all tried to pawn them off on each other. In comes a man with a belly like Santa and shirt 72 sizes too small and a toddler with the chubbiest face you can imagine. He sets the child down in front of the cookie display and the child begins to dance. The entire place stopped. You know those Visa checkcard commercials where everyone is busing along and then they stop cuz someone paid with a check. Well, this kid was the guy with the check. EVERYONE stopped to watch and he reveled in the spotlight. First boppin up and down then the head from side to side. When the largest of the waitresses comes out and gets on her knees and starts shimmying her shoulders towards him he does too. It was a hoot! The entire place started laughing. The song changed, people started hooting and hollering and applauding and the kids started giggling and life in the bakery resumed at its original pace. I got my order with ham not bacon, she apologized and asked if she had to change it. I told her not to bother. It was scrambled eggs with ham in it, a side of shoestring french fries a generous helping of Cuban bread slathered with butter and squashed to the thinness of my plate. The man was apparently waiting for me to try it. It was good. I told him. He smiled and left. It really was good. I asked her what they put in it. Butter. wow. I can't begin to tell you all the people that came into the place, the orders that were placed, that were gotten wrong and forgiven and eaten as it was. The kids got their cookies on the house and you could see mom was grateful as she counted out change to pay for the cafe con leche everyone had for breakfast. I paid for my breakfast and left a $20 tip for a $3.50 breakfast. The show was worth every penny. I had a blast.

Collegiate things

We have been getting mailings from 18s college all summer. It's been a mish mosh of things from computer info, registering for classes, workout schedule for the football team, sign up for Orientation, the tuition bill (we are NOT discussing that today!) and my favorite item so far has been from the dinning and meal planning department.

They are actually asking for home recipes! Is that cool or what. They want people to send in their kids favorite food items. They will attempt to recreate them to help remind them of home. If your recipe gets used, your child is advised what dinning area will feature it and what day. They will also post credit of the dish for all the students to learn were it came from. At the end of the year they sell a cookbook with a compilation of these recipes.

I thought this was the neatest thing and even better was when my son jumped ALL over it. Telling me to send this in and that in and this in etc. He was all like they could make a whole cookbook out of just your recipes. I thought that was so sweet of him.

So, what am I going to send well: a link to the Cuban cooking blog, along with Flan, jambalaya and brownies for starters. This is my project for next week because first we have to student loan shop to deal with that other thing they sent in the mail that I am NOT discussing today.

Menu planning

I'm not good at menu planning. I realize that I am the mom and that in many cultures I am supposed to be good at this but I'm not - Deal with it.

Actually, I think I used to be better at it. I like experimenting. I think that's my problem. When I hit the mom years of having to have dinner on the table in 30/40 minutes after an 8 hour workday and 2 hour commute all of your, at least my, creative juices were dried up. We started eating the same ol' same ol' over and over again. Add to that 2 picky eaters (hubby and 15) and I think I just gave up and when I found 10 meals that all four of us ate they just became the staple menu items.

Sure once in a while I would get bored and break out and make something exotic like a stuffed shells or jambalaya but only half of us would enjoy it. The other half usually ended up filling themselves with a bowl of cereal after dinner. I have tons of cookbooks. I heart cookbooks! and then there's the internet which has limitless amounts of recipes. I read through them and think -they won't eat that and get frustrated. That explains why I experiment so much when company is coming or when I have to take a dish to someone else's house.

Hilda loaned me one of The Barefoot Contessa's cookbooks the other day. It has some very basic recipes in there. I will of course eat any and all of them. It makes me want to make something new. So, I handed the book to hubby and told him to find something he'd eat. He found 2 whole recipes in the whole friggin book! and neither of them is new! One is for chicken wings and the other is for a breaded boneless chicken breast one of the coatings is Parmesan cheese - I've done that before. So, yeah fine, I didn't use her precise combination of spices for the chicken wings but they are basically BBQ wings which I've done both fried and in the oven. I guess I'll make them again soon just to change things up cuz it has been a while.

I wonder do most people plan menus for the week?

Check it out!

I made that card! It's the first card I've ever made and I actually entered it in a contest. I don't expect to win but it was fun and it motivated me and inspired me to make the card. I will be making more, that is for sure.

OK, this has nothing to do with the food theme. Oh, yes it does! The ladies are having an ice cream! Work with me people.

Cool Quote

If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one.

-Mother Teresa

Simple and to the point. It reminds us that one makes a difference and I believe that. How we treat one person at any time has an everlasting effect, like the ripples caused by a pebble thrown in the water.

It remind me of Mitch Albom's book "The Five People You Meet In Heaven". Some of the people he meets he barely remembers because they played a minor role in his life yet his action played a major role in theirs and he never knew it. It's the same lesson as in the Mother Teresa quote; every action no matter how small matters. It's not easy to live our lives that way but I think it's a good to be reminded.

Positively fabulous

That title is my lame attempt at thinking positive and creating positive energy fro today. I woke up with the same back ache that I went to sleep with. I barely slept because every time I moved a spear was stabbed into my lower back and I winced in pain. Grinning and bearing my back I was up at 5:30 am to take 15 to the park for his cross country practice. After all that morning glory, I went to the dentist for a deep cleaning. Yipee! My gums are so sore that my entire face and head are hurting right now. Once I was back home I bathed Max, our dog. He has a growth on this back that he's scratched at and is now an open wound. 18 and I are convinced that he scratches at it because it bothers him in the heat. The other day 18 cut away at the hair around it and we have been spraying it with Bactine. Yes, we could take him to the vet but years ago when he had a similar growth sans the open wound, it cost a few thousand dollars to have it removed and I don't have that kinds money for the dog right now. So, a bottle of Bactine, a bath with Selsun Blue to help the skin irritation, a topical cortisone cream for the itching and he can stay inside to be more comfortable and not fuss with it is going to have to do.l So sorry Max. That brings us to dinner. I am making boliche and right now I'm not sure I will be able to chew it. I better not over cook it and it better be super soft. Going to take some meds now so that my mouth can get ready for dinner. Wish me luck cuz I'm hungry!

Simple fare

Tonight dinner will be simple but tasty. Hubby and 16 are in Tallahassee so it's just 18 and I. I am making a rice dish with the kitchen sink in it. Think Jambalaya/Dirty rice with all kinds of stuff in it. Of course this is something that the other 2 wouldn't eat because of all the stuff.

I've got lots of yummy things to put in it: chorizo, ham, shrimp, carrots, yellow squash, mushrooms, grape tomatoes and who knows what else. So the rice and a salad will be plenty.

Simple and yummy. Good for a Friday.

Rice Krispy Treats

15 doesn't eat well, or I should just say that he's a picky eater. The list of what he doesn't eat is longer than the one of what he does eat. I hope he falls in love with a girl who teaches him to eat but I digress.

One of his favorite snacks is Rice Krispy Treats. I have been making it a lot this summer. The recipe is on the side of the box but here it goes.

Melt 3 Tbsp of butter in a pot, melt 1 bag of marshmallows, remove from heat and add 6 cups of rice krispies. Mix thoroughly. Pour and press into a cake pan. Allow to cool and cut them up. Of course, we love to eat one warn and gooey. So, we don't wait for it to cool to dig in.
Obviously, you can make them as thick or thin as you want depending on the pan that you use.
Tip: I save the butter wrapper and use that to press the mixture into the pan. Since it's 'greased' the mix doesn't stick to it and keeps my fingers clean.

This one one of my mom's specialties, cooking was never her forte, so this one takes me back to happy memories.

Let's do lunch

If you are a regular reader then both of you know that not that long ago I took 18 out to dinner to the Melting Pot. It was very nice to have one on one time with him and a nice meal that we can't really afford to do all 4 of us. That, plus the fact that the other 2 members of the foursome wouldn't like fondue. Anyway, I suggested to hubby that he take 18 to lunch to Christy’s. Again, it's pricey so not a place we'd go with the kids. But they were having a Sneak Peek Miami Spice Menu and it was really a deal. Dinner was I think $35 and lunch was $22 per person. So, on his Friday off hubby and 18 went to lunch at Christy's. They had a great time. Hubby shared his favorite Miami restaurant with him and they chatted about all sorts of things and spent some good quality one on one time before 18 takes off for college. I'm glad they took advantage of the opportunity.

spork...knork

You've heard of and learned to hate the spork. That plastic spoon with mini fork tines at the end that makes this adult feel like she's 3 again! But what about a knork? How cool are they!? They would have really come in handy on the 4th of July. A combination of the fork and knife. Now THAT's handy.
http://www.knork.net/

I just have one stinking question. Why can't I think of something like that?

Failed Flan

I like to experiment and I often do so when company is coming over. I don't know why. Anyway, I have made flan numerous times but never in my pressure cooker. I was told that I could do this with one of THESE. It was given to me specifically for that reason. I was told that it could be done in the pressure cooker for 20 minutes vs. 45 minutes in the oven. That sounded good to me. Who wants to have the oven on in the summer?! So, I ventured to make my tried and true flan recipe in the pressure cooker. Now I need to ask the giver of the mold, 'How the heck and I supposed to get the mold out of the pressure cooker when it's done?" It's hot, it's a tight fit. Hubby and I tried we really did. We pulled out numerous utensils (and I have a lot) and tried to hook them under the top somehow and pull it up. All to no avail. Then we thought why don't we add more water and it will float up. HMmm. OK, of course as we do this the mold is wobbling back and forth and we both say out loud almost simultaneously, "Do you think the top will keep the water out? I guess we'll find out. " We kept trying to pull it out and finally we did. I popped the top off and the flan was flooded. We laughed. So, I dumped the water and flipped the flan anyway because I wanted to cut into and check the consistency in the middle and see if the 20 minutes was enough. I was a perfect consistency. So, the guests didn't get flan for dessert instead they got a story about it and some left over pound cake and ice cream. I'll get it right eventually with enough patience.

Sunday Dinner

It's Sunday and if you show up at my house for dinner 9.99 times out of 10 you will have Sunday Chicken for dinner. There's really nothing fancy about it. It's just baked chicken breast with some veggies and white rice. It turned into Sunday Chicken because since we used to get home so late during the week with all of the kid's activities there was never enough time to make it for a weekday dinner and so we would have it on Sundays.

It is VERY simple. Cut up whatever vegetables you like and are in season. I always put garlic cloves, onions cut in half and then whatever I have carrots, sweet potato, turnips etc. Lay the chicken breasts skin side up on the veggies. Season with salt, pepper, garlic powder, oregano, basil sometimes I switch it up and add red pepper flakes or paprika. I put a half a stick of butter on each chicken breast and bake it at 400 for 1/2 hour. Then I add lemon juice and some white wine or vermouth or whatever cooking wine you use. I pour it them over the chicken breasts and it enough to keep the veggies moist and not cook all out so that I have a sauce. I cook for another 1/2 or until the skin is crispy. I serve it with white rice and salad.
That's our Sunday chicken and it's what I'm serving up today to some friends today for dinner. I hope they like it.

Post-4th

It feels like Sunday but it's only Saturday. I love it!
We ate so many yummy things on the 4th at the BBQ. We had burger (of course), bratwursts - 2 different kinds; I think smoked and not smoked, homemade empanadas - 2 kinds, one stuffed with chicken the other beef, chorizo made on the grill that was sooo good, my pasta salad, lovely wines, a baked cheese ziti, and the appetizers were chips of course, a cheddar cheese ball, a cream cheese, spam concoction that had something else on top I don't remember what. Then for dessert was the Red Velvet Cake and mini cupcakes. I had one of everything but I had no chips and no bread. I ate all of my meats without bread. I was very proud of myself.

I commented that we are getting old because the get-togethers are now more adults than kids. We used to be out numbered. Now the kids are moving on and the adults are left to only fend for themselves. There were a handful of kids there compared to what we used to have basically because half of those kids are 18 now and living their own lives as they should. The kids that were there did set off their own fireworks in front of the house. I watched the TV specials and saw fireworks in DC and Boston. They were really nice. A good evening and I still have the weekend ahead of me. Nice.

4th of July

So what's going on for the 4th. My dad's in Marco Island, some of hubby's family is in the Keys, 18 went to Bimini with some friends. This evening I am going to some friends house to BBQ and hang out and 15 and his friends will throw some firecrackers. My food contribution is an orzo pasta salad and a red velvet cake. The cake is at hubby's request. He really loves it and I haven't made it in maybe a year. The salad was super easy. Anyone can make it. I watch a lot of Food Network and quite a few pasta salads were made in the past few days. The one I made was inspired by both Sandra Lee and Paula Deen. Paula for the veggies that I chose to put in it plus the idea of using orzo instead of a rotini and Sandra for the dressing.

Easy Orzo Pasta Salad
Boil a box of orzo. Don't forget to salt and oil the water. While that drained, I tossed in 2 bags of frozen vegetable medleys (carrots, snap peas, broccoli and water chestnut) to the same water salting again and let that cook up for a few minutes. I chopped 1/2 can of water chestnuts and tossed it into a bowl. Added the orzo. When the veggies were done I drained and tossed them in too. I picked out the large pieces of broccoli and carrots and cut them up into smaller pieces. I poured 1/2 a bottle of creamy Caesar salad dressing (I like Newman's) and mixed it all up. I added a little more dressing to get it to the wetness that I like and put it in the fridge to chill. It's that simple.

You can pick whatever pasta you like and whatever veggies you like and I have done it in the past with an Italian vinaigrette dressing and that's yummy too.

The Red Velvet Cake recipe is adapted from the Wall Street Journal back in Feb 2007 and they adapted it from "The Confetti Cakes Cookbook" and the icing was adapted from "The Waldorf Astoria Cookbook".

It's a 3 layer cake so butter and flour 3 round cake pans and preheat the oven to 350.

Ingredients:
31/2 cups flour (I used all purpose, they say cake flour)
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa (not Dutch process, I used Ghiradelli)
1 1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups oil (I used veg., they say canola)
2 1/4 cups sugar
3 large eggs
6 tbsp. (3 oz.) red food coloring (it comes out to one little bottle)
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla (I used 1 heaping tsp of Dbl strength Madagascar vanilla cuz it's strong stuff)
1 1/4 cup buttermilk
2 tsp. baking soda
2 1/2 tsp. white vinegar

Whisk flour, cocoa and salt in a bowl & set aside. Place oil & sugar in bowl & beat at med speed until well blended. Beat in eggs one at a time. With machine on low, very slowly add food coloring (be careful, it may splatter). Add vanilla. Add flour mixture and buttermilk alternating in 2 batches. Scrape down bowl and continue to beat just long enough to blend. (over mixing makes for a tougher batter). Place baking soda in a small dish & stir in vinegar add to batter with machine running. Beat for 10 seconds to incorporate. Divide batter into 3 pans and bake for 40/45 minutes until tester comes out clean. Cool in pan for 20 minutes, flip and cool completely before icing.

Icing
2 cups heavy cream
12 oz. cream cheese, at room temp.
12 oz. mascarpone
1/2 tsp. vanilla (I use less of the dbl strength stuff)
1 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar, sifted

Whip cream, cover in bowl and refrigerate. Blend cream cheese & mascarpone until smooth. Add vanilla and add sugar. Blend well. Fold in whipped cream and refrigerate until needed.

This is a very traditional old southern cake that recently became popular again. It's quite yummy. I hope you try it.

Hope that everyone has a safe 4th of July.

Harold and Kumar go to White Castle

I saw this over the weekend. Why did I like this movie? I have no idea but I thought it was funny. I actually laughed out loud! Fine. The 2 of you who know me are thinking that's not hard she'll laugh at anything. But see I don't laugh at these types of things. I don't but I did. Let's try this again. You know all those dumb TV shows out there like....I survived a Japanese game show. I can't handle that stuff. A few years back I commented to my family that if I owned a TV station I'd call it IBS for Idiot Broadcasting System and it would show all those dumb 'reality' shows. Remember Anna Nicole's show, I couldn't run that prime time because of content but it would certainly be a money maker. So the running joke when we see a commercial for one of these programs and I repeated get stunned that this makes for TV programming, they simply say "prime time for IBS!" I can't laugh at it. I just think it's too stupid. Anyway, the Harold & Kumar movie would for sure be a regular movie of the weekon IBS but the thing is I laughed. A Lot. I thought parts of it were downright hysterical. I mean come on when Doogie Howser steals the car, I was in tears laughing. And when Kumar shocks the Dean who's interviewing him with the phone conversation he's overhearing. I'm telling you, it's a hoot. Now I totally didn't get Napoleon Dynamite but Harold and Kumar are my kinds so stupid its funny.
What does this all have to do with food? Well, White Castle of course. I've never had a White Castle burger. Have you?

Cuban Cooking

As you know I have been getting together about monthly to learn how to make Cuban dishes. This past Sunday I learned to make Frijoles Colorados . YUM!

It's one of my favorites and I was taught by my MIL and its one of her best dishes. It's really not that complicated. It's just a long process even with the pressure cooker. We had a wonderful time. Be sure to click on the link there and check out the recipe.

Of course, I took some home for 18. He loves them and is very pleased to hear that I "know" how to make them now. Of course, I will give it a try soon and we'll see how they come out when I make them.

NoBloPoMo July

The theme is FOOD. I can't resist. I have to give it a try.

So, let's see if I can post 31 days in a row about food. I will link to other's recipes, write out some of my own, tell you about my tried and true and my new adventures in food. It's part of every day so theoretically there should be enough to write about. We shall see. Wish me luck.

I need to work on getting a button up for it or something. Hmmm...that technical stuff ALWAYS gets in the way.

Tonight and ...

Tonight is football scrapnight. A group of women gather at my house and we scrap 30 identical pages for the boys. Much cutting, gluing, wine drinking and fun are had by all. Of course, I have spent 3 nights laying out the pages that we will work on today and tomorrow so for me every night is football scrapnight. It has pretty much consumed me and all my white space right now.

I did manage to see the movie Pan's Labyrinth over the weekend. I will venture to say that you have to be in the mood for this movie and I don't think I was in the right frame of mind. I started it and was a little EWWWwed by it, stopped it made myself some popcorn, snuggled on the sofa under a blanket and started it again. It was good. Visually- wow! How creative! The creatures, the tasks. I loved the way he positions the two opposites the fantasy world and the harsh reality of Franco's Spain and the rebels. Really well done. Balance was key in this movie and I think he got it. I don't think that it was overdone either way. The fantasy was as fantastical (I think I made that up) as his reality was real. Not for little kids but good movie for everyone else.

Are you ready for NaBloPoMO?

It's coming! I did it last year. I still don't know how since I had just started blogging and didn't have a clue what I was doing. No that I have become skilled at this blogging stuff since then. But I eventually realized there is no right or wrong, it's my blog, I can write what I want- so there.

Anyway, last week I tried to sign-up and for whatever reason I couldn't. I don't even remember know what I couldn't get to work. But this weekend my friend and blog mentor over from The Mind Wobbles came over and helped me register and get the button that you see on the side there. She also taught me a couple of other tricks that I will use in the very near future. Plus she showed me how to Bold and Italicize something at the same time. So bring on those memes with those complicated instructions. I can handle it now. See? Cool! I actually remembered and it worked! Yeah for me! and THANKS Hilda!

Tune in daily starting on Thursday!