May 6, 2015 by Andrea

Life With A Geek

Shortly before we got married, Bob commented, “you know you are marrying a geek, right?” Yes, I knew. The multiple computers, multiple large monitors for said computers, the bins of parts “just in case” for computers and the dining room turned geek room gave me a clue. Bob is also one of those people who it is impossible to buy a present for because he just goes and buys it himself before you ever get the chance. I do have to say, however, he has taken this to a whole new level.

When we went up for John’s graduation, I had to warn Mom not to look too closely into Bob’s ‘office.’ He had acquired a few new toys and it seems that each new toy also requires multiple spare parts and tinkering to get it exactly as he wants it. It is getting a little … cluttered in there.

First came the drone. Right about Christmas, I started looking at the little drones to get Bob for Christmas. Before I could figure out which one to get, I came home one day to Bob tinkering with a drone. A drone? Yes, he decided to get himself a drone. There goes that Christmas present idea. (And really, I only get about one or two good present ideas a year, so this just shot the whole of 2015 … Or so I thought.)

Next came the Wink. Bob decided he wanted to make as much of the house controlled via his phone as possible. The kitchen light comes on before I get up in the morning, the living room lights come on with sunset and turn off about the time Bob goes to bed. The air conditioning and the front door are wired. It is great when it works, but when I just want to turn a light on? Well. I have to find my phone, pull up the ap, and then I can turn a light on. It has benefits, but there are definite drawbacks to this.

I thought I had the best idea for Bob’s birthday this year. I thought I figured out something that he would love, be a cool gadget and he wouldn’t get himself. I was wrong. Apparently Bob had done something on Kickstarter a while back and he now has a 3D printer. I had finally decided to buy one; I figured out which one to get and where to get it from and before I can get to my computer to order it, Bob very excitedly shows me his new toy. He got himself a 3D printer. He has been printing some interesting things for his drone with his 3D printer

including mounts and casings for the components he bought for flying the drone. … Oh, did I forget to mention the components? A camera (or 2), googles, some kind of transmitter and I don’t even know what else. I do know I almost feel the need to talk with the FBI and assure them he is just a geek and not someone plotting to take over the world or overthrow anyone. But really, they are smart and have probably figured this out already. He is having fun flying it, which is good. But I do hope the neighbors understand.

Of course, Bob did not forget me in all this.

I got a 3D printed Hello Kitty. Now if he can just make the Cinderella slipper to go with it …

So yes, I married a Geek. In all fairness, Bib married a nerd, so I suppose it all evens out. But I am thinking that his gadgets are requiring more space than my furry creatures and cooking equipment. … This means I can get more of one or the other, right? This may require some thought.

May 3, 2015 by Andrea

Celebrations

The last couple of weeks have been busy. Very busy. I meant to do separate posts for some of the events, but with long hours at work, a sick dog, and some travel, it just didn’t happen. The work stuff is ACT testing. Lots of ACT testing. But it is extra money, so I see a pedicure and new pair of shoes in my future.

Our first celebration was alluded to in the last post – Laura and Dylan’s wedding. We flew up to PA, had our adventure to Slippery Rock for lunch, then did the family wedding stuff for the weekend. The weather was perfect, which is hard to do in PA in April. Sunny, 70-ish and perfect afternoon. The wedding matched the weather and we had a great time catching up with everyone and enjoying the day. Cause really, is there much better than a good wedding?

We made sure to get a good family photo since we all were dressed up and respectable looking. Sorry, Dad. We needed a picture.

This weekend John graduated with his MBA. He now has two masters (this one is useful) so I’m starting to think its time for me to return to school. Kind of. Not really, but maybe. It was a nice ceremony as far as graduations go, but I think we may need to replay the guest speakers speech and do a drinking game for the work “innovate.” It did remind me why I’m in education and not business.
I took the pictures here with my cell phone. Bob used the new camera – an actual good quality camer we decided to get for Germany this summer – to take more. Once I figure out how to get the pictures out of there, I might take some with both cameras and do a compare post.

Finals will be here before we know it, so if I forget to post for a while, that is why. I’ll try to get the kale pesto pasta post up, but no promises. Thankfully Jessie is feeling better, so I should get some sleep this week which makes everything better.

March 1, 2015 by Andrea

Spoiled

In general I think I’m pretty lucky. I’m pretty smart, have a good job that lets me support myself, have a nice home complete with the wonderful husband and adorable furry creatures. I have an amazing family, from parents to sister to extended family and in-laws. I kind of hit the jackpot in all of it. So while I don’t take first class vacations or fly on private jets, I wouldn’t trade what I do have for that lifestyle.

With all of this in mind, I do have to say I was spoiled for my birthday. I’m not a huge celebrate my birthday person and use it more of an excuse for a nice dinner out but this year everyone went out of their way to make turning 40 special.

We decided to head up to Disney with the thought of wandering around Epcot then doing dinner at Ohana. We are slowly working our way through all the restaurants in the hotels at Disney And Ohana is one of the last we need to do. We changed the wandering plans when I learned that the carriage from the Cinderella movie was at Hollywood Studios. Bob braved the rain with me so I could see it in person. It was incredible. We couldn’t go inside it because of the rain, but we were able to get some good views and pictures of it without and one around. One definite advantage to the rain.

We decided to eat lunch in Hollywood Stuidos since dinner wasn’t until late we found a great Italain place inside the park. Bob had pasta and I had a great pesto flatbread.

I also got to see an extended preview of Cinderella. It looks fun. And true to the original story, so I’m excited about it. After the preview we headed back to the hotel to thaw before dinner.

Val and Bill drove up to have dinner with us . It was so great to see them. Val even made me Hello Kitty rice crispie treats and Ed and Erin sent along the cutest cake .

This was my second birthday cake since the girls at work did up a cake for me the day before .

Yes, it is well known that I love Cinderella.

So I was able to go away for the weekend because Mom watched the pets and Bob indulged my six year old self. I work with awesome people and have the best family and friends out there. I am truest spoiled. … Oh and Dad, thank you for the flowers they are one of my favorites.

February 15, 2015 by Andrea

Stuffing

I’ve been having issues with my app for posting lately. I can’t get some pictures to upload and the whole thing freezes/crashes after I hit publish, so I’m not sure if anything gets posted. It’s been frustrating, in large part, because I never remember my password so I have to reset it after ever crash. Sigh. Hopefully this can get fixed soon.

My rosemary bush has taken over the garden. It has just about half the garden space now and it has successfully moved out the oregano and almost killed the sage. I’ve been searching for recipes to use the rosemary, but most involve chicken or lamb, so not things I’m in a hurry to cook. But I did find a a stuffing recipe that looked interesting, filling and tasty. It also happened to use rosemary and since Florida has felt like winter the last few weeks (yes, heat on, sweater weather cold in the mornings and at night) I decided to go for it.

We had our cheese box yesterday so I had Bob cut up the rest of the bread and let it sit out over night. I had a combination of French bread and some homemade beer bread. I liked the idea if mixing the breads.

I cut up a good amount of Brussels sprouts and butternut squash. I chopped an apple and added that to the mix. Coat it all in a little oil, salt and pepper and into the 400 degree oven it went.

Next was three ribs of celery and half a very large onion, both chopped. I cooked them down a little in oil then added the stale bread. Coat everything and let it crisp up. Pour in vegetable broth and let it sit while the vegetables finish roasting.

Mix everything together, add some pecans and dried cranberries and Todd back into the oven (set lower at this point) for about twenty minutes. The results were good. Really, really good. A make again good. And despite stuffing usually served as a side, this worked as a main dish. Lots of flavor, different textures and enough character that neither of us felt like we were missing anything. It also paired very well with a cider we picked up last week.

This was sweeter than I usually go for, but it was also a rounder and fuller cider than normal. It had enough character to pair with the stuffing without getting overshadowed, but it was subtle enough to blend with, not mask, the dish.

I also made french toast this morning. Beet bread french toast to be exact. Left over beer bread it good for so many things.

Lent us coming up this week and I thought about giving up coffee for lent this year. Bob asked me not to. He is pretty sure it would be bad all around if I did, hence why I think it would be good. But I’m going with chocolate instead. No mochas at work, no chocolate granola bars or trail mix with chocolate in them and no brownies. Still not as much of a sacrifice as coffee, but it will do.

February 8, 2015 by Andrea

A Week In Review

I have to say, I’m not sure where the last two weeks went. I had every intention of cooking up something new and different (and hopefully fabulous) and posting it, but that didn’t happen. That isn’t to say I didn’t cook, but I stuck with old favorites and quick meals.

Super Bowl Sunday is, theoretically, the least attended day at Disney/The Magic Kingdom. Given this and my lack of enthusiasm for the game recently, Bob and I decided to go up Sunday and make a day of it. We didn’t rush, but we got there early enough to do a few things we had not fine before. Or at least that I had not done before. Somehow, in all the times we have been to Disney in the last few years, I have managed to skip Tom Sawyer’s Island and the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. How? Not sure, but we corrected this. The island was ok. I am not a fan of tight enclosed spaces, so we did have to skip the ‘cool’ parts of the island, but it was pretty and quiet and a slower pace than the rest of the park. … Which does bring me back to Super Bowl Sunday. No difference. None. If anything, it felt more crowded than most days we go. It wasn’t holiday rush time, but there were not any fewer people either.

We did have dinner with John while we were there. Sanna proved another great experience that almost rivals the California Grill. I loved watching the animals wander around outside, but I have to admit, the castle is still my favorite view.

As for the rest of the week … My Bougainville is blooming. A lot. But it has lost almost all of the leaves on one side. I’m not sure if this is due to the cold nights or my forgetting to water it on a regular basis. But it is still pretty and alive so hopefully it will bounce back.

Bob was in Miami for work this past week and he sent me the above picture followed by this next one while he was there.

That is a pork, kale and fried tomato sandwich. I know Bob got it for the pork, but I’m impressed with the amount of kale on it. This is also much more impressive than the dinner he had at home the following night.

Cheddar and chive buttermilk biscuits. I made scrambled eggs to go with them, and they were good, but I think his sandwich was way more interesting.

The cats have been cute. Really cute. Although I think Leia and Tigger had a little too much togetherness. Leia wanted to play; Tigger, not so much. The only saving grace here is that Leia gives it as good as Tigger does so they do end up playing and then he walk away. Unlike with Gracie who he just pounces on.

Nothing much exciting on the horizon. I am trying to figure out what to do with all of the rosemary that has taken over. I know I could go chicken or pork, but I’m still not that into meat these days so I’m trying to find a good vegetarian dish to use it in. If I find it, that will definitely be a post.

January 3, 2015 by Andrea

At Home Vacation

I really should not be allowed two weeks at home with no project. I really, really should not be allowed at home for two weeks with no project and two colds. Not feeling up to leaving the house combined with the verge of boredom means I have lots of time to peruse cookbooks, blogs and websites for cooking/baking inspiration. I end up wanting comfort food, but not a lot of it, and sweets even though my stomach will rebel. So far I’ve managed:
Brownies
Coffee Cake Muffins
Coffee Chiffon Cake (with mocha icing)
Beer Bread Muffins
Caramel Corn (aka crack corn)

This does not include the actual food experiments.

Sobs noodles with a Kung Pow sauce. I also managed the butternut squash and noodles in the Buerre Blanc sauce and an Asian tofu dish I was desperate to try.

My cookbook calls it Mapo Doufu. I call it tasty looking so I had to try it. This did require acquiring Szechuan Peppercorns which look a lot like regular pepper, but taste nothing like pepper. Apparently they are a staple in Chinese cooking and related to citrus. Or so says my cookbook.

After picking up a jar at the local spice store on the one day that I didn’t feel sick, I started the dish. Into a hot pan (with sesame oil) went leek and scallion – the white parts of each – with garlic and ginger. Cook until soft then add tofu cut into chunks that has been marinating in soy sauce, garlic and ginger.

I cheated here and bought the diced tofu instead of the regular block. Same amount, same cost, less work for me. To this I added a teaspoon of the peppercorns, ground with a mortar and pestle and strained so as not to get the hard casing.

Stiff and let cook a few seconds then add one cup vegetable broth, one teaspoon chili garlic sauce and two teaspoons of black bean sauce. (The last two ingredients are in the Ethnic aisle of most grocery stores.) I let that cook for about ten minutes, letting the sauce reduce and thicken just a little.

I played that over rice and topped it with some peanut and the green parts of the scallions. It was a pretty dish, a tad spicy and really good. Bob liked it – didn’t mind it was tofu – and we put it on the make again list since it was fairly quick and easy.

Recipe
12 ounces tofu, diced
2 tablespoons soy sauce (for the marinade)
3 scallions – keep white and green parts separate
2 cloves garlic, diced and divided – half for tofu, half for tofu, half for sauce
1 inch chunk ginger, diced fund and divided – half for tofu, half for sauce
1 leek, white parts only
1 teaspoon Szechuan peppercorns, ground fine
1 cup vegetable broth
2 teaspoons black bean sauce
1 teaspoon chili garlic sauce
Sesame oil
Peanuts
Rice for serving

December 27, 2014 by Andrea

Coffee Cake Muffins

I wanted cinnamon rolls. That was the plan this morning. Coffee, walk Jessie, make cinnamon rolls. I wanted the spice of the cinnamon, the sweet of the brown sugar and the goo-y tooling that make them so decadent. After three days of a horribly sore throat thanks to the strep infection I picked up at work and *nothing* sounding good, I finally felt better and finally wanted something. Cinnamon rolls.

Yes, I know that is not a picture of cinnamon rolls. I wanted cinnamon rolls but I forgot one thing – my rolling pin broke a few months back and I haven’t found a replacement beyond a wine bottle. Today I didn’t feel like fussing with the wine bottle (and the dough sticking to the labels) so I improvised. I found a recipe for coffee cake muffins. It had all the markings of a good cinnamon roll. Pecans, cinnamon, sweet topping. This could work. No rolling dough, no waiting patiently for said dough to rise (twice if you are really going to do them right) and I could almost have cinnamon rolls. They would just be without the roll.

So I mixed up the topping and mixed up the batter then began assembling. Batter, filling, batter, topping. Layered like a cake, cinnamon goodness between cake like dough. Quick, easy and in no time I had muffins going into the oven.

And then coming out of the oven to be topped with the glaze. I need to work on the glaze just a bit. Make it a little thicker so it stays more on the muffin. It might also help if I water more than thirty seconds to top them and begin eating, but that is a whole different discussion.

They were almost perfect. The dough isn’t the yeasty dough of a good cinnamon roll, but that’s ok. They filled the void and took care of the craving. They even filled me up until dinner when I managed to put together a Kung Pow Soba noodle dish for dinner (Bob’s request).

And just because I think it is adorably cute …

That is Ms. Leia in her usual sleeping on Bob’s lap, using his arm as a pillow as he tries to play on the computer. He even commented that he’s gotten so use to this that it feels strange when she *isn’t* there. The second picture is all three of the trouble makers. An unusual sight to have them all together like that. Taken yesterday as I recuperated on the couch.

November 27, 2014 by Andrea

Thank you, Alton Brown

I decided a while back I wanted to host Thanksgiving this year. I had it in my head that I wanted to cook for days, see everyone and still be at home. What I forgot was that A) I don’t particularly like turkey and B) I’ve never cooked a turkey. I’ve cooked chicken and duck (twice … It’s too tricky) but never turkey. I was going to get around this by doing chicken, but everyone except me wanted turkey. So turkey it was. The big question … How the heck does one cook a turkey? A bird known for being easy to mess up and that is notorious for having one part dry out before the other part is cooked. Alton Brown to the rescue.

I have one of his cookbooks, but I have to admit, I use it very infrequently. I do, however, love a number of his recipes including the basic lemon meringue pie (I alter the recipe slightly but it works) and the magic polenta. So I checked the book (a week ago when I finally admitted it was going to be turkey for Thanksgiving) and thought, “sure, I can try that.” First step, brine the turkey overnight. I used an old styrofoam cooler I had and the requisite brine ingredients. Add lots of ice and put it somewhere Gracie can’t get it.

Then to cook the thing. Problem one came when I couldn’t tell which way to place the bird. Neither way look right so I did what made sense to me. I asked Bob and Val. (Val by text since she was at her place for Thanksgiving.)

Then came what to do since the bird, about an hour into cooking looked very brown. So, I covered it. We started with the wings early on, then the breast (that part per instructions) then the whole thing. It didn’t take nearly as long to cook as I thought it would, which just meant dinner a little early. But it came out looking ok.

(It really did look better in person – more even looking)

Since I can’t go with straight traditional fare, we did a few twists. Rather than sweet potatoes or yams, I went with butternut squash parsnip soup. Instead of typical green beans, I did pan roasted green beans with candied pecans. Instead of mashed potatoes, we had the potato tart. I also did an herb stuffed tomato for another vegetable since I really wanted to try the recipe. Mom did make her stuffing and I made gravy from the pan juices, so we had some elements of a traditional meal.

For desserts I went with one favorite, one soon to be favorite and a complete experiment. Lemon meringue pie, applesauce spice cake with caramel glaze and a maple-honey-walnut pie.

The nut pie was not pretty, so no pictures.

All in all it was a really nice day, and everything came out rather well. The turkey was … well, according the everyone who likes turkey, it was great. I thought it was fine, but it’s turkey. Apparently I didn’t mess it up. The light and dark meat were both well cooked and moist (without the gravy) and it did have flavor. So thank you, Alton Brown for saving my turkey this Thanksgiving.

I know I missed a few weeks posting here. Nothing wrong, just got a bit busy and a little tired. All is well. Bob and I even did another Disney tour on Monday to start the holiday season. Backstage Safari was a really good look at the workings of Animal Kingdom. It wasn’t as surprising or “wowing” as the Keys to the Kingdom tour was, but it was interesting. And honestly, to see a black rhino about five feet from you … Incredible. But I still want a meerkat family for the backyard. Have to figure out how to make that happen.

Happy start to the holiday season everyone.

November 2, 2014 by Andrea

Experiments

I haven’t been playing in the kitchen as much lately. Not that I don’t want to, I just haven’t really gotten around to doing much other than the usual dishes for a few weeks. I am, however, making up for lost time this weekend.

Beer bread has to be the simplest bread to make. Three cups of flour, sifted, 1/4 cup sugar, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 3 teaspoons baking powder and one bottle of beer. I also tend to add a tablespoon of melted butter to the top right before baking. It takes two minutes to put together and an hour (at 375) to bake. I’ve experimented with versions of beer bread – yeast varieties, non yeast varieties, different beers – and I keep coming back to the same recipe. And the same beer.

A white wheat beer is also good, but Yuengling always comes out the best. It has a really nice nutty character that I haven’t gotten with other lagers. It’s also subtle, unlike a stout. And for pairing with cheese, it’s pretty perfect.

Speaking of cheese, yes, we are still getting our cheese boxes each month, I just keep forgetting to post them. This week we did a cheese tasting – Europe vs. America.

Six pairs of cheese, each pair in the same style but one from Europe and one American. This was a blind tasting in a sense because we did not know which was which when we tasted. I can’t say I found any pattern, and I definitely could not easily tell which was American and which was European, but it was fun. And we picked up some cheese to go with the beer bread for a nice, light dinner.

We also picked up a new kitchen toy this weekend.

That is all the pieces of a new blender/food processor. I’ve been contemplating one for soups and curry and Bob has been wanting the smoothies Val got him craving last time we were out there. I didn’t really want the expense (and storage issue) of another kitchen appliance, but we went ahead and got it. It’s a behemoth, but it works great. So far I’ve made smoothies. (banana peanut butter for Bob and pineapple-strawberry-ginger for me)

I may have forgotten to take a picture until I was half way done my smoothie this morning. Oh well.

I also made soup. A roasted butternut squash and parsnip soup. I took inspiration from a recipe I found but I didn’t have an apple and really love the flavor of roasted root vegetables so, I went for it. One small butternut squash, two good size parsnips, half a large onion and about four cloves of garlic.

I cut everything into medium cubes, tossed in oil salt and pepper and roasted at 375 for about 40 minutes, stirring occasionally. I could have roasted at 400, but my oven runs hot, so 375 works well. After they were cooked and cooled, I blended them with three cups of vegetable broth. After blended I added cumin, coriander and more salt and pepper. The result?

Soup. Flavorful, bright, sweet-ish butternut squash soup. And I was amazed at how smooth the soup is – thirty seconds in the blender did what a strainer and food processor could not do in thirty minutes.

I also tried one more fish today – eggplant tahini. In its simplest form, this is a dip or sauce, but I added tomato and cucumber to make it a salad. It doesn’t look pretty, but holy cow the flavor!

Hopefully I will have a few more experiments soon. You can bet there will be soup involved. Or curry. Still need to figure out the curry.

September 23, 2014 by Andrea

Curry Attempt #?

What a week. I can’t say for certain that I’ve been really busy and I’m certainly not stressed out, but it has been a little while since I’ve posted. I have done some experimenting in the kitchen which is generally a good thing.

I love a good curry. That creamy, rich gravy/sauce that has layers and layers of flavors. I’ve tried making curry before and … well … The results were less than spectacular. Part of me wants to place a standing order with our local Indian restaurant to be delivered once a week, but another part really, really wants to conquer making curry.

In my quest to make good, homemade curry, I came across a blog that had what looked like a reasonable korma recipe. I’ve read and re-read this recipe for months (no exaggeration), copied down the shopping list and plotted and planned exactly how to do this. I want good, homemade curry, darn it.

I started on Saturday with making a curry base that just seemed ingenious. Curries all do have a similar starting point, so why not? The answer to that same as Bob and I chopped ten (yes, ten) onions Saturday afternoon. But we chopped the onions, I gathered all my spices, made my mixture and got to work. It takes time to cook down ten chopped onions.

And yes, I had to use two pots. I made the base, and I think it went ok. I definitely need a good blender. I just have a food processor (which I adore) but it doesn’t make things smooth and creamy. But I made do and after a few more steps and a lot of time, I had a curry base that seemed like I was on the right track.

Sunday came and it was time to try for a Korma. Vegetable Korma to be exact. I broke out the recipe, gathered my ingredients and went to work. It seemed easy enough and it looked like a korma.

It smelled like korma and it even kind of tasted like korma … But it was missing something. The texture was definitely off but I blame most of that on the missing blender. It was also just missing something else. The deep flavor, the rich, creamy almost heavy sauce. It wasn’t bad, it was far better than my prior attempts at curry, but it just wasn’t the korma of the local Indian restaurant.

Somehow I have to convince Bob that he wants Indian this weekend (or just meet up with one of the girls and go for it) or buy a fancy blender and thicker coconut milk. While experimenting and tweaking the recipe sounds like a ton of fun, I might just go for the real stuff. Thankfully, they deliver.

I can also place part of the blame on Gracie. She is super cute, but she does tend to get underfoot when I’m cooking.

Sixteen Paws

The random adventures of Andi, Bob, and four furry creatures

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