Thursday - 4.9.2009

Lunch date with Ian at McDonald's

I don't know why I bought this cheese. It was an impulse buy. I wanted Brie, but this was sitting right next to the Brie so I decided to try this instead. I should have just gotten the Brie because this stuff was inedible.

Ian killing two birds with one stone - playing outside AND eating Frito's at the same time.

Dinner - homemade mac & cheese. This is my not-so-secret recipe. What makes it special? I simmer crushed garlic in the cheese sauce and use half and half instead of milk.

I don't care for mac & cheese that has been baked in the oven. My secret is to combine warm noodles with the warm cheese sauce, top it with a little more cheese, and then throw it under the broiler for a minute.

You get the bubbly and crispy cheese on top without drying out the rest of the casserole.

Check this out! Tony cooked this all by himself... French toast.

How to Open a Can Without a Can Opener - 4.8.2009

Nothing notable happened for breakfast or lunch on Wednesday. I can't even remember what we had for breakfast or lunch, actually. Dinner was more exciting. I made white chili.

All the necessary ingredients for white chili. Do you see those small, orange peppers in the picture? Those are Habanero peppers. They are not for those who unable to tolerate extremely spicy foods. And just to add some color, I used a couple of Jalapeno peppers as well.


Dinner prep was going along well until I ran in to a major snag... I had the onions, garlic, and chicken sauteed with cumin, salt, and pepper. I then added some salsa and chicken stock. Next, I threw in the sliced hot peppers. The only ingredient left was the white beans. I opened the first can only to discover that my trusty can opener left marks on the can as if it had been opened, but it was actually still sealed shut. Connor because immediately concerned and tried to open the can again with the opener and then tried smacking the can against the counter top several times, all to no avail. He and I agreed that maybe it was a "can malfunction" and we tried to open the second can. Still no-go. FUCK. There was no way that I was going back out to the store for a can opener or even walking to a neighbor's house to borrow one. YES - I am that lazy! Instead, I found a hammer and a screwdriver and a pair of scissors and decided to use a little elbow grease. I scrubbed all three tools down with hot water and soap and then proceeded to punch as big of a hole as I could in the can. Several minutes and dozens of curse words later, I had beans!


I could smell how spicy this chili was going to be as it simmered.


The finished product! White bean chili with a side of Monteray Jack cheese. As expected, this chili was *very* spicy - even by my standards. My nose started running within the first few bites. Then my top lip started to sweat. Next, my eyes started to water. Finally, I could feel my entire face start to become flushed. And I enjoyed every single bite!

Starburst are the new "Gold Fronts" - 4.7.2009

This is by far the healthiest lunch that Connor has packed all year. Homemade popcorn, pretzel rods, a granola bar, and Crazy Feet. Unfortunately, Connor did not eat the lunch that I packed yesterday. He bought his lunch instead - nachos with cheese sauce and ground beef. He did; however, find time to eat the Crazy Feet.


Last night, we decided to hang out in our pajamas have a picnic in the living room. We ordered Papa John's Pizza and watched Yes Man on DVD. Please note that Ian is not naked, he is wearing his pajama pants. You can't see them though, because he has them covered by his favorite Spongebob Squarepants blanket that he drags with him all over the house.

Crazy Ian.


Rappers and celebrities may aspire to have "gold fronts", but Ian is more innovative than that. He was "Starburst Fronts"! Just wait... This trend will catch on eventually. (*For those of you with choking paranoia, please understand that Ian had the Starbursts positioned in his mouth for only a few seconds. Just long enough for me to take the picture. He was sitting very still at the time and not running around like a madman*)

On Top of Spaghetti, All Covered with Cheese - 4.6.2009

I'll get to the spaghetti later. Let's start with the candy. Tony quit smoking on Monday, so I stocked up on candy and snacks for him.

I also stopped by La Chatelaine for bread and a strawberry tart for Tony.

For dinner, I made homemade meatballs and red sauce. I've spent many years perfecting my red sauce recipe. What you see on my stove top are the only ingredients that you need to make a great red sauce. There's no reason to over-engineer a good sauce by adding unnecessary ingredients like oregano, thyme, bay leaves, onions, or GOD FORBID - green peppers. Tomatoes, garlic, fresh basil, olive oil, salt, and a little bit of sugar are all that you need. The same advice goes for the meatballs. All you need is ground meat (I prefer chicken, Tony likes beef), breadcrumbs, parmesan cheese, eggs, garlic, and basil.

And here's the finished product!

My Big Field Trip - 4.5.2009

Easter is this coming Sunday and my family primarily celebrates the food and pagan aspects (plastic eggs, imaginary bunnies, baskets, etc). In preparation for entertaining dinner guests on Easter, I made a trip to Carfagna's Market on Sunday. I also loaded up on grilling foods. If you've never been to Carfagna's, you are missing out. They have the best deli, meats, and homemade pastas in the city.

A foodie's paradise, if you favor Italian foods and great quality meats. But don't confuse it with Whole Foods. Although this place is no-frills, it puts the prices and selection at Whole Foods to shame.

I arrived at Carfagna's 10 minutes after it opened on Sunday and grabbed a cart and promptly took a number at the counter. I was number 83. I waited about 15 minutes before my number was called and enjoyed every minute of my wait, mentally planning my mile long list.


And here are the goods! As I took this picture, Tony mocked me. He said "What are you going to do? Take a picture of a bunch of white packages? No one knows what's in them. Are you going to photograph every label too?" I tried to explain to Tony that white packages are fancy... Deli items and meats come wrapped in styrofoam and plastic wrap at regular grocery stores. Carfagna's wrapps everything in white paper! FYI - Here's what I came home with:

1. 1/2 of Italian proscuitto. I had a small stroke when I realized the cost, but Tony loves it so i bought it anyway.
   
2. 2 pounds of ground beef
3. 3 pounds of boneless split chicken breasts
4. 1 pound of cajun marinated boneless chicken breasts
5. 1/2 pound of homemade bratwurst
6. 2 pounds of spicy chicken brats
7. An entire beef tenderloin, cut in to filets (to grill on Easter because ham is so passe)
   
8. The best deli turkey that i have ever had. They make a lot of their deli meats on site.
   
9. Thinly sliced provolone cheese
10. Thinly sliced co-jack cheese
11. Thinly sliced Geneo Salami
12. FYI - everything tastes better when it is thinly sliced!
    
13. Nathan's Famous all beef hotdogs
14. 3 cans of 6 in 1 canned tomatoes. This tomatoes are magic! I noticed that all of the best hole-in-the wall places in NYC have their shelves lined with this brand of ground tomatoes, for a good reason.
15. 3 cans of imported crushed tomatoes
16. Some other stuff for grilling - tomatoes, buns, lettuce
17. Several kinds of pasta

Later in the day we grilled out for the first time this year - hotdogs, hamburgers, brats, and chicken. And I forgot to take a picture of the food! DAMN IT!!!

The End of the Bird Flu - 4.4.2009

I woke up on Saturday very cranky with a lot of head congestion, but I didn't feel as bad as I had the day before. Still, I firmly committed to wallowing in my own misery and feeling sorry for myself all day. And I wanted to get our taxes filed.

My friend Erin sent me a text early in the day telling me that she was in town from Atlanta and asking if I wanted to get together. Suddenly the remnants of the Bird Flu seemed to magically disappear. Erin came over around lunch time and we were going to hang out at my house; however, my screaming and hyper kids made it impossible to have a conversation. Tony was kind enough to "baby-sit" his kids while Erin and I went to El Vaquero for lunch. I was so caught up in conversation and my margarita that I forgot to take any pictures. Erin had cheese enchiladas and I had Heuvos Con Chorizo.

I have no idea what Tony and the kids ate while I was gone. When I got home, I was worn out from my excursion and took a nap.

Later in the evening we all miraculously agreed on what to have for dinner - carryout from Outback Steakhouse. As I've mentioned before, it's very rare that all four of us agree on one single dinner selection or restaurant.


Here's the carryout bag. Isn't it ginormous? Yes, yes it is.


My salad, baked potato, and grilled chicken with the broccoli that I stole from Ian's order. Ian had chicken fingers but ran off with them before I could get a picture.


Connor shocked us all and ordered a steak. Tony had a salad and a filet and a lot of butter complemented by a little bit of Pumpernickel bread.

Oh, and I did start our taxes but never finished them.

Bird Flu, Day 2 - 4.3.2009

My case of the bird flu was dramatically worse when I woke up on Friday. Severe head congestion, chills, and a low-grade fever were now present in addition to the runny nose and sore throat. Connor woke up with a bad cough and Ian woke up sneezing, so I kept them both home from school. They handle being sick much better than I do and managed to enjoy their day off of school.

In a surprising move, Connor decided to have Capt'n Crunch for breakfast instead of Frosted Flakes. That kid is just full of surprises. If memory serves me correctly, Ian had about half a dozen tubes of Gogurt and 4 pieces of toast with butter.

Homemade chicken noodle soup. This did nothing to improve my condition.

The crazy thing about kids is that they want to be fed - several times a day. By the time dinner rolled around, there was no way in hell that I was going to cook. I didn't even want to pick up the phone and order food, so I ordered Papa John's on-line. Connor, Ian, and I love Papa John's and the arrival of our food brightened everyone's evening. Tony, for reasons that I will never understand, "hates" Papa John's pizza. It's a good thing that he was out on a date with his BFF, Don, and he didn't have to be subjected to the horrors of Papa John's pizza, breadsticks, and cheesesticks. Tony and Don enjoyed an intimate dinner at a Greek restaurant.

The Onset of Bird Flu - Thursday 4.2.2009

I had a suspicion Wednesday night that I may have been getting sick. I wanted to believe that it was just an allergy attack but I secretly knew that it wasn't. I woke up feeling like shit on Thursday with a running nose and a sore throat.

I tried to feed my cold with the only thing that sounded good - Arby's Potato Cakes. At this point, I could still taste food and my heavily salted Potato Cakes were delicious with a heaping pile of ketchup on the side.

Connor asked for Skyline when I picked him up from school. My defenses were weak and we live very close to a Skyline, so I agreed. He had a regular 3 Way and two hotdog buns with just cheese.


Later in the evening, I decided that some vitamin C would be in order. I ate a tangerine and had a screwdriver. Unfortunately, this wasn't the magic cure-all that I had hope that it would be.


I made one last ditch effort to feed my cold with Brussels sprouts, popcorn shrimp, and a baked potato. This did not improve matters either.

Wednesday - 4.1.2009

Welcome to April. I picked Ian up from school yesterday and he spent the rest of the day playing April Fool's Day jokes on everyone. He told me at least 20 times that my shoes were untied, immediately followed by "You aren't even wearing shoes! April Fool's!"... "Mommy, your car died! You won't be able to start it! April Fool's!"... He even asked me to text my mom that her shoes were untied, with a follow up text that read "HAHAHHAHAHHA April Fool's!" He's quite the comedian. Right before falling asleep for the night, Ian got very serious and told me that he was so sad because April Fool's Day was almost over. Awwwwww...

I didn't take many food pictures yesterday because we didn't really eat much that was new or exciting.

We live in a very small subdivision that consists of two streets, a court, and 19 homes. You can't really even see our neighborhood from the main road. You would never even know that it existed unless you had a reason to drive back here. As a result, the ice cream truck almost never comes down our street in the warm months. It's torture for the kids because they can often hear the ice cream truck, but never actually see it or get to buy anything from it. We got lucky last night because the truck actually came down our street. Connor got a Spongebob ice cream and Ian got a Spider-Man ice cream. Ian ran off and ate his while playing upstairs in my office. He told me that he ate everything except the gumball "eyes". When I asked what he did with the "eyes", he repeatedly told me that he couldn't remember where he left the gumballs. I am sure that I will discover them where and when I least expect it.


Dinner - homemade deep dish pizza.

Tuesday - 3.31.2009

Here's breakfast... Like an Egg McMuffin, only better. I used smoked ham, sharp cheddar cheese, one egg, and a whole grain english muffin to make this sandwich. It was tasty!

Here is Ian enjoying lunch with his recently collected Happy Meal toys. He has 8 chicken nuggets, a small order of fries, B.O.B., Ginormica, and The Missing Link on his plate.


My cousin Olivia has been helping me out this week by picking the kids up from school and baby-sitting them while I work. Here is Ian in her car, waiting for Connor to get out of school. He managed to find the one toy in her car, a rubber ducky. Of course he proceeded to grab her water bottle and drown the duck in it. That's just how his mind works.


Shadow loves to go for car rides and always goes with me (or in this case, Olivia) to pick up the kids from school. He's a happy, and spoiled, dog.


Judging by last week's posts, it would appear that I almost never cook at all. That's actually far from the truth. A lot of nights I end up cooking not one, but two meals. I don't like red meat and Tony won't eat anything even remotely spicy, so that rules out us ever having the same chili recipe for dinner. Connor and Tony had chili for dinner on Tuesday.


I love spicy food, as does Olivia. She stayed for dinner on Tuesday and I made homemade Chinese Hot Pepper Chicken. I used 10 jalapeno peppers, a lot of crushed red pepper, garlic, onions, and scallions to make this. It was yummy.