Double Dipping

Without the sauce. I couldn't get the blog to pick up a picture last night so here is yesterday and today. Last night we had some wicked awesome fish cakes. The Mrs. steamed the potato for mixing with the salmon and it was so good. The daughter was literally raving about them. Up top you can see some cheese buns that were whipped up while I worked. My favourite portion of the meal was the bean salad. The crispness of our beans is just crazy. Beans are my new garden food. If I forget please remind me the next time I am planting a garden. More beans. The other salad was also a garden gala. Tomatoes and cukes with a little bit of dressing. A fully satisfying Sunday supper.Below is what we were treated to this evening. The Mrs. got on it early today. She was working on the squash salad (similar to potato but with ... well you get it) as I left the house for work. I arrived home with the oldest to find meatballs in sauce sitting on the stove. After a hand off at the rink (Mondays two kids skate) I sat and froze while the pasta was boiled. Then we arrived home to this. Still hungry but I think I have had enough. Probably just need some water.
Well I'm busy busy. Lots to do before wednesday at lunch. Wish me luck.

Good Night Garden

So this is how the garden looked after I had taken all of the produce out(except the carrots). It was still on its various bushes and vines and the Mrs. took it all apart and it is now inside.
This is what the pile o' produce looked like. Without the bushy parts is was quite a lot less however it is still a pretty good end of the season hall.
And here are the carrots. I plan to leave them in the ground and just pick them as we need them. That way they can keep growing into the fall and I don't have to worry about them getting soft in storage.After taking all the different implements, fencing and edging out, I did a whole bunch of weeding and the garden now looks like this. Ahh, fall is definitely here.
We had shake and bake chicken, yam fries, cream soda, and ketchup chips for dinner. It was all eaten in stages so there is no photographic record.

Slow day yet somewhat fast.

So today was a bit of a slow day. When it comes right down to it all I really did was clean off my desk. Now that was a major piece of filing. All the bills and bank statements that accumulate under my left hand have to be put away regularly. Unfortunately some of them were dated last December. Once the pile starts it is hard to get under control. But anyways we are back in business now. And really I did also do some run training(the fast part of today, although that is really relative), helped with lunch, found a new movie for the kids and made pizza. I do still plan to get some marking done before sack time so it might still work out. This evenings meal was pretty good in a number of senses. The whole wheat infused crust continues to improve. Though it still doesn't hold sauce that well. I really need to dress the pizza's once the crust is in the oven. So that is what I did. Two kids and two grown ups. We had two different types of salami for the grown ups tonight. The garlic salami went with the last of the feta cheese (pictured at top) and the hot hungarian went with the jalapeno's (not shown here). Kids had the usual without fresh basil as the cold nights have started to make an impression on the leafy garden fare. Big plans to harvest the last of it and turn the garden over for the fall. Hopefully it happens tomorrow as we are coming into a big stretch of busy weekends. The days grow short.Look at those excited faces. Has it really been that long since I have made pizza.

Tough Times.

Well we have been off line for the last two days. Still eating well but just busy and the blog has taken a bit of a hit. First off we were dealing with this.If you go back a couple of days you can actually see the celery seeds that were used to season the chicken. It is now my belief that what we have here is an allergic reaction to celery seeds. It seems like an obvious choice because he ate a bunch of the chicken and we haven't had anything else out of the ordinary recently. He is feeling a whole lot better today and all the hives are gone. In a few more day I plan to do my own scratch test with some celery seeds to see if it was indeed the culprit.This is us enjoying dinner tonight. Kids are currently outside playing as the light slowly settles into a warm late summer dusk.This evening was barbecue pork with rice and finger food. The pork was done in a miso garlic paste and turned out very well. The salsa was made with store bought garlic so it was a little spicy. It also took up all of the lemon so the veggie dip was without. Both were noted by our oldest and it was a cause of some gustatory friction. However, with a little vinegar and some sweet talking a catastrophe was avoided and the kids are both now crunching on mint chocolate chip ice cream cones while the wife eats toblerone in the kitchen. My treat was beer.

Finally we have a little gaffer who can now play on his own. I am sure he is saying something really important. Just haven't decoded it yet.

Sorry the video never loaded. It is up on youtube however, check it out. Very cute.

A lucky Star

Or something equally fortuitous is following me around these days. How else can you explain the amazing dinners I have been getting. Either that or there is some bad news coming and I am being softened up. I won't get into my lunch because that wouldn't be fair but lets check out this evenings meal.

The pork roast that was on special was finally purchased, two to be exact. They were both cooked up as Cha-Shu which is basically the sliced pork that you would have with a really nice bowl of ramen. We had ours liberally drenched with the ginger soy broth beside a heaping bed of rice. Next to this was the spinach salad, accomapanied by some of our very own tomatoes. Up top we have a home made cream of broccoli soup. Tonights mystery seasoning was fennel seed in the soup. Yum a yum yum.

Maybe the balance comes from the older boy having a rash/hives/pox turn up all over his body. Even managed to get some swollen lips. He is itchy but no fever, eating well and feeling good. At the hospital they said bring him back if anything changes but I have a feeling this will be another mystery virus. Either that or he has brought back fleas and they only want to bite him. But that would be weird.

Family Function

Sunday dinner. Sitting down and bringing the weekend to a close is such a nice tradition. Girding up for the week to come, yet still enjoying the last parts of rest and relaxation. We had roast chicken with potatoes, yams, carrots, onion and garlic. Fantabulous. A good use of celery seeds, not a seasoning I am familiar with but definitely on the mark tonight. The wife just mentioned that it is almost time to turn on the furnace again. Summer has drawn to a close. Sigh.

The salad is a perfect metaphor for the fullness of summer. The tomatoes and cucumbers are both drawing to a close, but what a spectacular close it is. Even the lovely organics I got for my salsa cannot compare to the varieties and flavours that we have in the backyard. Pulled in some more peppers and zucchini as well but that will have to wait for tomorrow night.

Below is the Mrs. trying to enjoy her meal. While totting the toddler she can get a lot done and the little one can even get in a nap once in a while.

Full day of Work.

That is what 8 hours of salsa making is. We are now 24 more litres of salsa to the good. Which should put us at 35 if I have done the math right. The first batch was a kids batch. Used one whole clove of garlic and a bunch of plums we got from a neighbour last month. No hot peppers but I did once again use fresh basil. The kidlets had some with their dinner and enjoyed it. This bodes well. The second batch was a classic hot batch. If I can get away with calling anything I do classic. Two apples, a zucchini, half a pound of jalapenos, 10 pounds of tomatoes and 7 pounds of sweet peppers. I also used two tablespoons of salt and six tablespoons of vinegar. This is how I usually make my salsa.

For the last batch I did not add zucchini or apples. I did however add in two habanero peppers. This really intensifies the heat. Right at the end I chickened out and added in two tablespoons of our applesauce to each litre jar. It tastes pretty good now so it should be real real good in a couple of months. I am of the opinion that salsa ages like wine. The flavours blend and spread if you give them enough time.

Had an interesting conversation with the daughter. We were talking about having a garage sale and she said we should sell salsa. So I said our salsa was too expensive. Then I told her it actually cost us about $1.50 a jar. But to sell it I figured it was worth about $20.00 a jar. Because we made it there are only 40 something jars of it in the world. We can give it to friends or eat it ourselves but selling it doesn't really make sense. She didn't seem to understand how profound I was trying to be. She just thought we could make some bucks selling sweet salsa on one side of the stand and hot salsa on the other. Tuck that lesson away for another day I guess. (Her lesson to me or mine to her, I can't decide.)

We had burgers for dinner. No picture as I was right in the middle of the second batch and what with barbecuing and slicing, dicing, boiling and spicing I just didn't get to it. However, the Mrs. pointed out, and I noticed too, that the quality of the ground beef we got was really good. Overwaitea up here definitely has the best meat. The beef actually tasted like beef. Best burgers we have made in a while. Also they were served on our home made bread so esthetics aside an alround delicious meal.

Finger Food.

Well we have made it through another week. How about coming home to this. The daughter who stayed home sick (dubious sore throat) mentioned that she had added some love to the bean dish. Apparently she didn't want to make chili as last night they had had curry (I got it for lunch as I had a union meeting last night, sandwiches). So they made this interesting dish with brown beans and veggies. It was served over rice and thought i had brought out the hot sauce I didn't end up using any. Seeing as there was some searing hot fresh salsa right next door it seemed both like overkill and a waste. I didn't pick out the fresh basil flavour of the beans until my last few bites but in retrospect it was there the whole time.
I had whipped up the fresh salsa. September may just be my favourite food month. I can have fresh home grown salsa almost every day. I did head out and pick up my organic produce for another salsa session this weekend. Still need to wrangle up some onions and a few more coloured peppers. But things are looking real good. Hoping to bring home about 20 liters this weekend. That is 3 really full pots of salsa. I am figuring one kids, one medium and one crazy. Need more habaneros.

Below is the what happened today while I was at work. So nice dunked in a glass of milk. The wife ran out of some stuff so she used real butter. Wow!! Yes love is a worried that is often bandied about but I have to say. I had feelings of the four letter persuasion.

Soup and Noodles

Just not together.We had a nice squash and pea soup to start this evening. The peas were of the dried variety and though they had received a good soaking and boiling there were still a tad crisp. The rest of the soup was awesome and a little pea crunchiness couldn't keep it down.

The Yaki Soba was fried up with some lovely pork and the vegetables normally associated with Yaki soba. Onions and carrot spears. The sauce was quite lovely but then my daughter mentioned I could have it with hot sauce. So I did. There was some fresh salsa for dessert but it didn't make it into any picks. I made some for the kidlets and then some spicy stuff for me.

Had a big discussion about why I like spicy food. The gist of it was that I was sort of denied it as a kid and thus grew a craving for it. I remember eating it inspite of the burning mouth and runny nose. My mom had said I wouldn't like it. And now it is what I usually crave. Here is to hoping that my kids turn the corner some day, some day soon would be even better.

Home and Home.

So it was home cooking again today. To start with we did make bread today, honest. Only I didn't take any pictures of it. The first rise was pretty long and the second rise was also long. It was a warm day. Yet the bread just wouldn't get that big. However, it is going to be great slathered with my topping of choice or under a fried egg with melted cheese on top. Yes, we like bread.On a different note I made some lasagna for dinner this evening. The ever strong zucchini made it's presence felt as the bottom layer. Overall it was pretty good but could have used another can of tomatoes. Not as saucy as I like it. The garlic bread was pretty good, even if it wasn't our bread. The green salad was really tasty and we are still enjoying the thai sesame ginger dressing. The daughter wanted to know if it is sold here in town. I replied of course. She wanted proof. Was I sure? Had I seen it? I answered in the affirmative but I don't know if she really bought it.

Home Cooking fo Sho.

Well we got our home cooking on this evening. The only really unfortunate part was I started to late and everyone had to snack before the main course.

So after the afternoon nap I got up to the idea of having steak fajitas wrapped in home made tortillas (the wife was egging me on). I tried to get the Mrs. to go for steak but she was not in the mood and told me to take out a can of beans instead. I'll give her this, at least she made the rice. I was in salsa mode as we had been to the local produce farm and had u-picked a bunch of tomatoes and peppers. So I started in making a batch of kids salsa (no hot peppers allowed) and then got to work kneading up some tortilla balls. These were then rolled and fried on the pan. One got way over done and surprisingly turned into Nan. Who knew. The other tortillas were nice. I whipped up some fried onions, pepper, zucchini and garlic to round out our wraps and voila.Wrap glory ala us. There is a little kids salsa and a few shots of hot sauce on there too. Very very nice.

With the wraps under wraps I started ladling kids salsa into jars and then it was into the water bath for them. And into the bath for the kids. Once all the bath times were over I got into adult salsa mode. Sultry and hot. Two giant jalapenos and four big chiles really added some punch. Then I put in one Habanero. As I was chopping it with some tomatoes in the food processor I actually had a moment where it was tough to breath. Man those are hot. So yeah this first batch of adult salsa should be pretty kick ass. Especially two or three months from now when the heat has seeped into every corner of the jar.Although I have already got two jars accounted for as I have to pay back some friends for some pretty good favours this summer. Damn friendly people liking salsa. Just once I want some favour doer to say, "no I don't like spicy food." Either that or I should start offering something else.

Curri-tastic.

Well it is official, the wife makes a darn good curry. It was the chickpea vegetarian version and with a little hot sauce it even had some kick. The kids gobbled it up so that was a double happiness. The meal was accompanied by a green salad with the Thai sesame dressing. We also had some foccacia bread to round out the meal.

It turns out the actual date for the show (in which the daughter has a stunning 6 lines) is Thursday the 26th of November. We can put you up Thursday night if you want. I know its tough but think about it. In anycase the show will probably be video taped for posterity.

Seeking Corporate Sponsorship

So with photos like these we must be eligible for some kind of kickback of government graft program. I mean, come on.
Well we were all pretty happy this evening, as you can tell in the previous pictures. We had all just enjoyed amazing feed, a'la wife. Tonight we started with some chips and the last bit of last years batch of salsa. So good. We definitely need to get on that this weekend.After the chips and salsa the Mrs. set us up with a shepherd's pie type casserole (sliced not mashed potatoes) some rice and a fabulous, home garden sponsored, Greek salad. Everyone cleaned their plate (or had the green peppers and red onion cleaned for them) and left the table satisfied. This didn't preclude some whining for dessert (not on a school night) however it was short lived and not too painful. I was only hit with one "boo" as the battle settled.

Good news, the daughter has managed to secure a small role in the local kids production of "Annie." I was late getting her enrolled but the director happened to make an extra role so there was a spot left over. Another cheque going out tomorrow. Show will happen in late November ( 24th or there abouts) if anyone is interested. Hopefully a Saturday night but I will have more details at a later date. TTFN.

Kickin it up a Notch.

Well the Mrs. surely went for the gold tonight. Lets start with the tonkatsu. It was pounded, battered and fried to perfection. On top of this she whipped up another batch of Ratatouille, served on a fluffy bed of white rice. Next to this was a carrot and feta pasta salad. For extra pleasure she threw in a quinoa salad infused with mint. Can she really be that happy to have me back at work? Anything is possible.

Last Supper

Well with the school year starting tomorrow we whipped up a farewell to summer feast to be proud of. The Mrs. made a fish nimono. The critters in question were little white fish of some description. Frozen on the counter they definitely left something to be desired. However, after the wife worked her magic they were transformed into the lovely protein portion of this evenings meal. Her magic soup has fresh ginger, soy sauce, sake and sugar. The bok choy and fish were then simmered until totally immersed in the flavour.
I was in charge of the vegetable portion of this evenings meal and went with a stuffed zucchini ala net. Mushrooms, onions, eggplant, and garlic were sauteed with salt, pepper and thyme. The big zuccs were boiled for ten, sliced in half and then had their guts scooped out. The guts were mashed and strained for water content and then they were fried where the other ingredients had been. The sauteed goods were returned after a bit and then it was all transferred to a bowl to add in some grated cheese. This was then spooned into the empty shells, some more cheese was sprinkled over the top and it was baked at about 450 for 15 minutes, grilled for about two and then it was served. It must be Armageddon because the daughter had three helpings. Of zucchini, can you believe it.

Well the party is over now. But on the bright side I will start getting paid again.

Pass da Pasta

Well we all didn't have pasta tonight. Some of us had mashed yam. Some of us were very happy about having mashed yam. Later we were unhappy about not having pasta and sauce but I think the happy side definitely won the day.The rest of us had pasta with meat sauce. Sauteed onions, followed by ground beef. The oil was drained then I added: crushed garlic, a can of diced toms, a can of brown beans in tomato sauce, zucchini chunks, and green pepper chunks. The garlic zuch and green peps were from the garden. I almost managed to get a greek salad going but I was too hungry and no one else seemed all that worried. The garlic bread was baked open faced. Topped off with some Kraft Parmesan Cheese style topping it worked like a wonder. For the kids it was an unusually poor eating night. No one complained they just didn't eat that much. I am sure it will have a resounding come back for lunch tomorrow.

Mmmm Steak.

Tofu steak that is. Once again the peanut sauce variety. I didn't get around to pressing it tonight and that really did make a huge difference. Didn't fry up anywhere near as nicely. So yeah, not pressing out the moisture made for more of a steamed and less of a fried feel. Still very good but not quite the same. The wife fried up the other eggplant I received and we had some nice white rice. This plate is missing the fried zucchini and onions that I was too hungry to wait for. They were well sauteed and dipped in the peanut sauce were, if not other worldly, then at least stratospheric.

In other news we are thinking about enrolling the daughter in the local kids theatre program. This year they are doing Annie so we are going to watch the movie. The daughter is figuring herself as the lead. Seeing as the age range is from 7 to high school I am trying to say maybe a nice spot in the chorus. Time will tell.

Good Day

It was one of those recruiting commercial type days here. You know, we do more by six am than most people do all day. Truth be told I was still happily dozing at six am but I did get up soon there after and go for a run. The two trips to the dump that have been waiting got done. Car washed and vacuumed. Made pizza for dinner and went for the last cheapo Thursday night swim of the summer. So yeah I am feeling pretty accomplished today.

Looking more closely at the pizza the adults had eggplant on theirs. It was a really cool pink and white marbled eggplant that my gardening guru gave me. I have one growing in my garden but I am trying to hold off on picking it.The Mrs. picked up some spicy genoa salami for the adults pie and it was great. Mushrooms, home grown green and banana peppers along with some red onion rounded out the toppings. I went with two cups of unbleached and one cup of whole wheat flour for the dough. I mixed things up and didn't let the yeast sit in the warm water as long as usual. I also added more olive oil than usual. As I kneaded the dough I added about half a cup of unbleached but I ended up with a really nice dough.
Unfortunately the kids were pretty disappointed with their ham, pineapple and basil pizza. Just look at those forlorn little faces. Breaks your heart don't it.

Recipe Wonders

Well the Mrs. has found the true glory of recipes. Inspiration.Tonight we had a chicken and barley curry. Page 12. The curry factor was very low for the kids but the yum factor was still high. There was quite a bit of lentils in it too. In a shocking turn of events the daughter ate a salad with some raw zucchini spears in it. This fact has yet to be verified by any scientific method but we are pretty sure of our results.In other news the youngest did a pretty good job of eating solid food. More than three quarters of the bowl was in his mouth at one point or another. Of that a great majority was swallowed. Bring on the stinky poops.

Still eating.

Yes we are still eating. However, I am back at work and life is getting busy. With no snaps there really is no story. We had these awesome bean tortillas and the running buddies brought chicken and beer. Last night was bbq pork chops and I had a dinner meeting. It is just go go go these days.

I promise to work on it.