Of foodies & such!!

Howdy ho! This weather has not been conducive to productivity, unless you count the work it takes to hunt down a fluffy blankie & make a warm drink to curl up on the couch & drink while watching old movies, so I've been putting off putting up something.

I've actually accumulated 5 new cookbooks in the last 2 month period & haven't even had time to go through them all.....just so many hours in the day & it's much to easy to just fly by the seat of your pants down the slippery slope of "daily bubble n' squeak" meals. I'd have to say about 99% of my cooking is just off the top of my head. Which seems a lot less like the magical improv & more & more like the bits of splintered broomstick that attack Mikey Mouse after he hacked them to death with the axe.

Well, here are some pics anyway of the little nibbles that did inspire me. Hope they make your rumbly in your tumbly this fine freezing day.

Heh....you got me, I'm a sellout. Had me a little snackie at the good old "bucks". I've always been a sucker for cinnamon rolls.
My offspring just about turned into collective "Popeyes" after eating this sauted spinach, an ungodly amount. I dare you, put this before a spinach hating whiner & see if they don't change their mind. The secret I will share: crumbled bacon, bacon drippings mixed with melted butter to saute it in. Salt & pepper. And if you don't live with a shroom hater like I do (cough-cough) then throw in a few of those too. Turn off the heat BEFORE it's fully wilted.

This was the one recipe I DID follow. I wanted to make a Chocolate mousse for a handsome French friend of ours who broke his poor arm. I found this recipe on the blog of the master of dessert, David Lebovitz. And he took to following none other than Julia Child's recipe for French Chocolate mousse, lemmie just say.......Oh-mai-Kyaaaaaaaaa! I loved it. Wish I used even darker chocolate though. This also turned out to be my excuse of a Valentines snackie for my DH. (I'm not much for Valentines Hooplah)
Oh, Brother! Double WOW!! My DH came home with these on Valentines day. He tried to pass it off as something he got for me. (heh, that lasted for about 5 seconds) A coworker of his gave them to him. When I saw the box & the perfect little squares I had a sneaking little suspicion that I was gonna be in taste bud Nirvana.
Kyaaaaaaa! There was one person that I wanted to share this with & that would be you, Elaina!

These little matcha dust covered matcha truffles turned out to be melty, bitter & sweet chunks of cacao butter induced love! In the middle of each of these squares were some little crunchy bits of popped mugi, and a plump azuki bean. I even lost my mind & cut up one into little bits & sprinkled it onto some Lady Borden Vanilla Ice Cream dancing on my tippie toes in my imaginary twinkly slippers. DOUBLE WIN!!!


Well, that's it fellas. I'm sorry if this blog has been a little dry & pathetic of late. Hope you'll forgive me. I'm on the threshhold of sending Mr. Travster to school & on the doorstep of my 4 year old Lefty Carmichael's insatiable desire to be educated at every possible opportunity. (How do you turn away a little girl crying over not being able to complete writing the alphabet cuz' she needs your "heeeeeeelp" when you're making dinner? Or begging you to give her a sponge & cleaning supplied so she can clean the toilet)

Not to mention my 2 year old is acting up again something awful. His great desire to be a somewhat deranged "tool weilding" meanie is really too much to bear at times. Do you remember that Richard Scary Dictionary with the little kitten named "Babykins" who walks around with a wrench or hammer all day long terrorizing his family.........this is the face of he!!

Yeah.....you can just tell from looking at him that he's a total bluffing evil door. So till I get things under a bit more control........Hope I'll be seeing you around these parts!

MORE PICTURES: Filler Inners......just because

It's not that I don't want to tell you about my terribly routine days, as I'm sure you're dying to hear all about it, but as mother's (I've heard) often do, I've become inundated with everything "offspring" related. Everything from my 4 yr old's new found spiritual contemplations "Daddy, did God make himself??", to my 6 year old's increasingly alarming experimental behavior "What? I just thought if I stood on the laundry basket then hung over the edge of the balcony that I could see the kids come home from school". Not to mention I'm now juggling 4 days of kids attending school & 2 days of home-school. (Only leaving 1 day to Napoleon-ish drunken weeping regarding lost worlds & other dribble )

All that aside, the desire to hibernate has overtaken me & most of my kitchen related activity has been sparse & half-baked. I'm even drinking my coffee black now cuz' I just can't be bothered with all the extra add-on's. It's fantastic really.

Does that mean I'm packing up shop & moving on to elementary knitting? Hardly! I swear if you give me a partridge & a pear tree (or either, as you see fit) I'll spring to life again & scheme a mighty scheme to make wine poached pears & lemon, laurel & rosemary stuffed partridge baked in a parmasean bread dough crust. See.....it don't take much, I'm inspired already!

So, here are some more December pictures, in case you're bored tonight. Ciao for now! Gimmie a shout, all you silent foodie fans....I know you're hungry. Come by & bring something to add to dinner. Till then, observe more of my DECEMBER:

I spent Christmas dinner recooping. NEXT YEAR--- Elaina & Chala make dinner. So let it be written......Turkey & potato fritatta with micro-arugula & feta salad. (3nd best thing about Christmas left overs)2nd best thing about Christmas left overs: massive amounts of left over whip cream to slather on pretty much everything you come in contact with. In this case Tripple berry galette.
1st place for Christmas left over bonus. Chilli Turkey & bean soup with garlic toast fried crisp with turkey drippings for dipping.
Awww......one more shot of the turkey, if you please. If you make this for me, we may end up with a case of elopement, go ahead I dare you.

Cute turkey sanwich in potato buscuit, not a bad little lunchie-munchie. Kids love it.
about 4 gallons of brine for 2 turkeys for my pals at Noda. Cooked one in a convection oven & one in my electric oven. If you can believe it, the one in the electric was the winner of the night as far as being succlently juicy. Cracked & hauled all the kids to a breakfast buffet at Coco's. (if you didn't know already, I'm really not a fan of "tabehodais" at all)yeeeeeaah, see?
But I have to hand it to them, the crossants were fresh, flakey & buttery.

My sweetest 4 year old, gave me a wonderful break when she declared for her birthday "You know Mom, you don't have to decorate my cake with a picture, as long as it's a strawberry shortcake, it's OK" That was so great, that I'm not even slightly ashamed to say this was my very first "typical Japanese" strawberry shortcake. I could barely eat one small piece. Good God! Sorry, this is NOT the cake for me.

Not the best pic, but I totally "winged it" for Mr. McNair's birthday. He wanted a "cream-based" pie. So I made this: "White chocolate, egg-nog spiked pie, with whipped cream & caramel sauce"
I was pretty tickled with the result. The white choco doubled the creaminess of an already lush custard pie with both fresh vanilla beans & freshly grated nutmeg & cloves, the alcohol was brandy & rum, wanted to give it enough of a taste.

That's it for pics, ppl. HUGS & LOVE, eat hearty!

Christmas Day pics 2#

Happy 2010 to youes!

I've been off my computer for awhile now & been busy with "winter break" and all it entails. If you have kids you know this means that at the end of it all I can say with St. Paul the appostle, "And though I bestow all my time to go ice-skating, visiting, sleepover-ing, kite-flying, arcade gaming, stay up late making obentos & special snackies, ----- and have not done even ONE item of laundry or cleaning ------ I am nothing short of a large pile of denial.

And just for good measure I'll have you know that I have pronounced my good friend & uber-huge-footed friend Mark to be a regular "saver of my bakery"!! My DH & I had 48 hours of child free hanging out. Grabbed a hotel room in our old haunts and had a fabulous time doing as little as humanly possible.

We came home to a pristinly clean house & only one child with a self-inflicted black eye..."WHO? ME??"

Yeah, you know it.

So anyway, great times. But now I'm getting back into the game! And if you must know, I'm checking out my newly acquired massivonious of an ass the size of a small prefecture and alarmed -- not at the size of it.....but the fact that I'm instead focusing on the fact that there must be people who find big butts attractive.......right? Sadly the only thing that ever motivated me to exercise in life has been the proscpect of grunting forth spawn otherwise I counted upon my alien-like metabolism to take care of the rest. Gotta get some answers!

Well, lets do those pics already, Huh? Can't promise when I'll actually get around to posting about food again. So love & hugs to you till next time. Ciao!

Notice I was not invited to the party of pretty ladies pictures. I was excommed for my habitual foolish faces to the kitchen forever!
Now that's a Purrty Mama!

Waitin' for prezzies after one too many tootsie rolls for one child apparently.
Girls getting a typing game from Auntie Nina!
Ban IS the man!
Pictionary is SERIOUS business and the persons you want on your team are Nina & Mas!
Ah, yes I did some cooking too!

GG & Papa's Visit

Sorry it's been so long. I did not indeed drown in a vat of my own caramel sauce as you may have suspected. Instead I've been busy with Birthday & visiting season. My Grandparents came from Arizona & somehow survived flying in during Typhoon 20 whereupon 3 passengers on their plane were hospitalized due to injuries sustained on the way into Narita. We watched it on the news not realizing it was their flight.

We had the pleasure of having them visit us and the kids just loved having their GG (Great-Grandma) and Papa (Great-Grandpa) come & stay.

Highlights for me would be:

- My Grandma complimenting me on my gravy. You have NO idea how good of a compliment. I am audacious enough to tell other people (like a preening idiot) "My grandma said I make good gravy", I can't help it! She also saw me slip in some of my very own home made "consume". I swear it's the secret ingr.

- Watching my kids play games and hang out with my very easy going & fantastic G'parents

- The hilarity of my Grandma telling my dad when it was time to go, "Let's blow this joint!" Classic!

Here are a few pics I pulled. Enjoy


GG & Ashley with her birthday present. She was dying to show off her unicycle skills.

The blue eyes of the family

Sorry Chala, this was classic. Ready to eat. Dinner was: cream of celery & cauliflower soup, rosemary roast chicken, mashed potatoes & gravy, salad with creamy Gorgonzola/pesto dressing & caramel pumpkin pie with ice cream. (recipe forthcoming)
Boys working on their psychedelic masterpiece. Can you guess what 70's influenced Grandpa helped them conceive of this art form?

GG playing with the little guys. Hunter loved her dearly!

Here are the 4 generations. Ban would not be persuaded to take off my sunglasses.



That's it for now, more ACTUAL cooking soon. But with the prospect of my oldest 3 soon starting school next week things are busier than normal. (Is it possible? YES!!)

Opening Birthday Season.....

This handsome firstborn son turned 8 and we are happy to ring in "birthday season" as it's become known. Unfortunately we weren't as prepared as we should've been. (eg. only 1 candle for the cake) other minor hickups in our otherwise "spotless" birthday record. (eye rolls)but it wasn't a bad cake. Simple cheesecake using no recipe in particular & adding little extras & my own midnight spins (after all no one really likes baking at midnight when they should be asleep) This is a good old fashioned "Cheese Monkey" picture from us two Cheese Monkeys...with our cheese cake, no less. I'm not sure why Ryan wanted cheesecake but he sure was happy with the outcome, glory be!As you can see we're really "big" on birthday hats here. (Don't ask me why) Someone felt compassion for the poor little guy who couldn't make his own & (literally) slapped one together for him before the final crucial "cake-bringing-out-song-singing" moment when all who are not wearing birthday hats will be banished forever from the party. I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but this man is REALLY big on food.

Maybe you can tell now. This is after we tried to hide the left over cake. Someone needs to learn how to take rejection.


That's it for now.

Oh...afterthought. I tiny little speckle in my brain is contemplating the idea of putting up some cooking videos. Not as glorious as SBJ but....it's a thought, -- we'll let it simmer for a bit.

Alive & kicking one leg

Hey stranger! In case you thought that I've taken the long walk off the short blogging pier, sadly you're mistaken. This certain actor came to my house to stay.

Along with most of my siblings & parents. (actually all of my parents --that I know of came) And with a whirlwind of positive energy & lots of silly games we managed to have a ballistic time of fun & foolishness. I've learned some handy new skills such as essential lavender oil sniffing & h0w to make whole wheat & rye bread a weapon of mass destruction.

Once I get some time I shall bombard you with unwanted & irrelevant pics of our time together because that is what I must do.

As always a majority of my time was spent in the kitchen doing deeds of kindness like sorting through the trash because I never bothered labeling them & everyone kept mixing them up or keeping the coffee bar open so various persons could get their fix of disserono laced cappuccinos.

Ooooh, I did a lot of firsts actually. Because who better to experament on than members of your immediate family:
- I finally got to pull off my big lebanese dinner (you'd be so proud Ves) falafels, tabuleh, kebabs, hummus, labne & flat bread. I was genuinely loving it.
- crushed mint/lemon/green tea
- non sugar & whole wheat applesauce cake
- Fattoush with my own pita

Being the sheer genius that I am I of course did not take any actual photographic evidence of any of these events but hopefully something will turn up soon from some of the other cameras. And I will also try to post some links to some of my new found & favorite recipes.

But for now I shall bask in the glow of my newly developed beer belly & try to appease my greedy sleep debt which seems to be taking over my last marble of sanity.

-- Ciao!

At Home with Nature & other nonsence.

Chocolate Mousse Pie: a belated act of love for my DH. Dark bitter chocolate bomb of happiness & indulgence.
The Muncher concurs! (note the glisten of a tear after he begged for just one more bite, I gave in, hence the smile)
This not so little buggie made it's way into our home so we fed him melon & he became Hunter's new pet & he walked around all evening with the container. (though he wouldn't dare touch it).

I was actually not expecting him to burst into tears the way he did when we had to let the poor thing go. Here he's explaining the torture of letting his "buggy" go.

Mr 4#. AKA: The Travster has gotten on a writing kick. He took the liberty of labeling our "Curious George" video cassette. (Yes, some people still use those)

And in case there's any question on who should be the one to record Curious George on Saturday mornings, just a little clarification.

Another puzzling sample of his handywork. Apparently this is a menu of dinner. It (supposedly) reads, "Lettuce/Salad/buscuits/ketchup". Gotta work on that spelling. But anyone who knows Trav will testify that this is a massive step of litterary progress.

We've been spying on a birds nest outside our window. The wary parents seem to fly away no matter how stealthily we try to peek out the window. Of course to get a good shot I get to hang out the window like a lunatic mother doing a flying arabesque to her doom with a camera in one hand & pulling back branches with the other.

I try to warn the kids about peeking in on them too often but the mother in me can't seem to help checking on how things are going. Are birds psychic? Everytime I even get close to the window even if it's closed & the curtains drawn I see the mom's eye looking at me & she flies a second later. Then just this morning....

They hatched! Trav spotted an open mouth. Must be brand spankin' new cuz' they don't even cry aloud yet. I had to hold a broom out the window to pull the branches back & put each kid in positon one at a time to take a look. I'm hating the cornyness but I must admit I'm terribly happy & proud of our little babies.

The other two sibs hatched somewhere between lunch & naptime & don't they just look like a perfect little pile of blind bald & nekid birdies?
Sweet Lil' Baby Jesus! That has to be one of the cutest things EVER!!! And I'm sure my sista Elaina will concur. :) Unfortunately my 3 yr old doesn't think so. She just walked in here, "Eww, that's just so yuck. They're just hugging their naked little bodies till they're stuck together, isn't that just so gross?"


More later. Ciao, my roasty toasty friends!