Friday finds: Kitchen vignettes

By in Friday Finds

This week, instead of a single delightful object, we bring you a few little clusters of wonderful, interesting* things. Appropriately, these things live in the kitchen, at least for the moment.One of the (many) things that got messed up during our renovation nightmare / crooked contractor fiasco, was the windows. And consequently the tiled backsplash and the window sills.

Instead of the window sills we wanted, we had to settle for these weird Corian blocks which look pretty awkward and out of place. When they were first installed we hated them.  We still hate them on principle, but now that our “junk” is all over the place, they’re much less noticeable.

*Why yes, that is a vagina-on-one-side-penis-on-the-other demitasse cup!

A Sunday in the life of The Steady Table

By in family

I don’t know about you, but my Sunday is a far cry from a day of rest. It’s typically a juggling act comprised of cooking, organizing, packing lunches, sweeping, laundry and breaking up fights between my kids.

Today I managed to make my overnight oats (without inadvertently adding play dough), make tomorrow’s lunches, change all of the bed sheets, sweep, make hummus, make spicy cauliflower and take the kids to Sky Zone which was closed due to a gas leak. We never got around to meal planning or finished folding the laundry. And I have no idea what’s for dinner. Here’s a little video.

xoxo

Friday find: Dodge 1935 box

By in Friday Finds

My intention was to do a Friday Finds post every Friday. So far, I have not been delivering. I was kind of wondering if it was worthwhile, if anyone is actually interested in my old junk. But then this thing happened.

I was at the neurologist getting my tri-monthly set of 67 injections to the head for migraine. My neurologist asked me what I think makes a home. This was notable, because what makes a home is something I think about every day at work and my neurologist and I have never talked in any detail about my job.

The first thing that came to mind was natural light. For me, natural light is invaluable, even more so after living in a dismal dark basement for a year.

The next thing that came to mind is whatever makes it personal. “Yes!” said my neurologist. “Who wants to live in a sterile home? I have many collections of things, maybe too many things, but it brings me joy to look at them.” You may recall hearing me say the same thing in this post.

So with that Friday Finds is back.

Today we bring you this lovely old tin that someone customized for their 1935 Dodge. This tin is priceless on so many levels, the Clean & Good girls, the sailor dresses, the aprons, the hair, the halftone screen. And inside? 4 special fertility rocks that a co-worker of my sisters gave to me when I was trying to conceive my first child. 

Back to work

By in quick

Shane went back to work this week, finally. He hasn’t worked in about 3 months because of his lousy old—and now totally new—knee. Having him back at work is going to be good for our increasingly sad little bank account, but man am I going to miss having a full-time cook.

Dutifully, Shane sat down on Saturday and planned this week’s meals, and then shopped for them. So we’re more or less in ok shape. Except for that whole thing about there not being enough hours in the day.

We’re revisiting quick, weeknight meals for the foreseeable future. Tuesday was easy, vegetarian Black Bean Soup and quesadillas. Rose pointed out that the soup is more or less the same beans we usually have, but eaten with a spoon. I’d add that the soup is quicker to prepare.

 

A good salad

By in quick, Vegetarian

Sometimes you just want a good, hearty salad. A satisfying salad. A salad, with cheese, croutons, grainy mustard dressing and maybe some tart apple chunks.

Fortunately I had these ingredients on hand last night. Shane and the kids ate meat.

OMG vegetarian shepherd’s pie

By in dishes by shane, Vegetarian

Shane had his knee replaced a couple of months ago. In the time he’s been home convalescing, there are two things he’s been doing more than anything else. He cooks and he does physical therapy.

Admittedly, I’ve found the 6 or so hours per day of PT rather tiresome. But the cooking? The cooking has been awesome. It’s been so awesome that a few folks and I have wondered if perhaps he could turn it into a small side business.

Last week, he compiled a few recipes that could theoretically be made and delivered to the homes of hungry people who don’t have time to cook.

This week, we’re testing.

Tonight’s recipe was his favorite Shepherd’s Pie from Avoca. It’s a crowd-pleasing recipe which I personally have never tried due to it’s meaty composition. To my surprise and delight, I came home to find out that tonight there was also a vegetarian Shepherd’s pie!

It’s true. It exists and it’s delicious!

It looks like Shepherd’s pie but instead of meat it’s got a base of carrots lentils, edamame and mushrooms stewed up with onion, red wine and vegetable stock. It’s topped with mashed potatoes and cheddar and is totally hearty and delicious. I might even go so far as to describe it as meaty but without the meaty flavor. Totally unexpected and perfect.

And for those die-hard meat eaters and omnivores out there, here’s the meat version which I am told was also very good.

Happy Wednesday. xoxo

 

 

Comfort food for subzero temps

By in left overs, Vegetarian

I hate the cold, I mean, utterly loathe it. And I extra-hate bitter cold days like today, where the “real feel” is -21. Minus 21 is just wrong. It’s about as wrong as having to wake up while it’s still dark out.

Fortunately there are warm, cheesy, baked and fried foods to eat while we stay indoors. Tonight Shane made warm, crispy, cheesy leftover risotto arancini*. And I made roasted broccoli with lots of lemon, and my grandma’s favorite recipe Company Carrots which are baked with horseradish and mayo and topped with crunchy panko.

The Christmas tree is on the fire escape and the recycle is piled up by the door. I see no reason they can’t stay there for a while longer… unless someone else is willing to take them out.

Stay warm. xoxoxo

*Shane made the arancini really big today, so big that he had to do a kind of vertical fry to get the sides nice and brown. This made me chuckle. See below.

 

Wild, wonderful Christmas

By in family, holidays, parties, uncategorized

Christmas at our house is elaborate, to say the least. Starting with dinner for 27.

This year’s menu featured 22lbs of porcetta, homemade gnocchi with sage butter, marinated carrot salad with cilantro, stuffed mini bell peppers, orange, olive & fennel salad, bread sticks and cheese bread with pepper spread and for dessert a glorious bouche de noel, kourabiethes cookies & fruit. Simple, right?

Image captions above tell the story.

The magic of a big age gap

By in family 3 Comments

My kids are 6 years apart. I don’t meet a lot of people who have a big age gap like that, and I have to say it’s real mixed bag. But I’m sure there are pros and cons to any age difference.

For example, my friend’s kids are 16 months apart and she said every time she’d finally get the newborn to latch on, the 16 month old would do something like throw himself into the fireplace (with a fire in it).

The way it worked for us was that Rose was finally at the relatively low-maintenance age of 6, and then—like the totally nutty folks we are—we went and threw a newborn in the mix.

And now I’m 46 and have a rambunctious, energetic preschooler who wakes me up in the middle of the night. And I’m tired. So tired. All. The. Time.

But there are also times when it’s totally magical. Like when Sid is having a tantrum and we’re at our wits end, and Rose implores us to try to remember what it’s like to be a little kid, and then somehow soothes him out of his rage.

And like today, when they decided to make cookies for Santa, on their own with no adult supervision. I listened to them from upstairs:

“Sid, if you eat too much batter you’ll get a stomach ache.” “And then I’ll DIE and go back to the EARTH!!!” “No Sid, you won’t die from a stomach ache, but you will die someday, everybody does. But you don’t have to worry about that for a long, long time. OK?”

So for today, I’ll say I wouldn’t have it any other way. And now I have to go and bake the rest of those cookies because apparently 4 & 10 year olds only have enough attention span for one batch.

Pasta con asparagi

By in quick, Vegetarian

It was my turn to cook tonight. This meant dinner would be on the fly, because you know, work, kid pick-up, walking home with a four year old takes forever, Christmas-is-a-coming etc.

I looked in the fridge and found asparagus. I looked on food52 and found the recipe for Pasta con Asparagi for which I had all of the ingredients except the fresh herbs. This qualifies as a miracle in my book so I got to cooking.

(Don’t shame me about the fresh herbs.)

As I read through the recipe I thought to myself “I’m pretty sure I’ve always wanted to make this dish.” Then, at dinner things started to feel kinda deja-vu-ish.

Fortunately, I’ve got the blog to pick up where my memory leaves off. It turns out, I have made Pasta con Asparagi before. It’s quick, easy and my family has enjoyed it twice. I call that an endorsement.

• Pasta con Asparagi •
from Craig Claiborne via food52
Serves 4-6

1 1/2 pounds fresh asparagus
3 tablespoons butter
Salt and freshly ground pepper
2 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic
2 cups canned Italian plum tomatoes, put through a sieve or grated coarsely
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh parsley
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh basil
3/4 pound penne, rigatoni, or other tubular pasta
2 eggs, plus one yolk, beaten well with a fork
1/2 cup grated parmesan

Have all the ingredients for this recipe prepared and ready to cook before beginning. Bring about 3 quarts of water to a boil and have it ready for the pasta. Cut the asparagus into lengths about 2 inches long. If the stalks are thick, cut them in half or quarter them. Leave the tips in tact.

Heat the butter in a large, deep skillet and add the asparagus pieces, salt, and pepper to taste. Cook for 4 to 5 minutes, or until crisp-tender and lightly browned. Transfer the asparagus to a plate and reserve.

In the same pan, add the oil and garlic. Cook until lightly browned and remove and discard garlic. Add the tomatoes, parsley, basil, salt and pepper to taste. Cook, stirring, for about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, add the pasta and salt to the water and, when it returns to a boil, cook for about 7 minutes or until tender. Do not overcook.

Just before the pasta is done, turn off the heat under the tomatoes and add the beaten eggs, stirring vigorously so that they blend without curdling. Do not boil the sauce after the eggs are added. (If you are nervous about curdling the eggs, you may temper them in, by stirring a ladleful of the hot tomato sauce into the eggs, then whisking the mixture back into the pan.) Add the asparagus to the tomato sauce and stir to blend.

Drain the pasta immediately. Add the tomato sauce and asparagus, and toss with half the cheese. Serve piping hot with the remaining cheese on the side.

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