Tuesday, April 28, 2009

That sucks.

So I had some problems uploading pictures last night. The computer wouldn't recognize the camera and I was sort of freaking out because this is still a relatively new purchase for us and I am not looking to break the bank with the outlay for a new one. Then the wife mentions that our son had been sucking on the end of the usb cord that attaches the camera to the computer. Honestly, did anyone figure this was a technological problem they would have to contend with. I didn't. So now that it is dried out it seems to be working fine.
As for dinner this fine evening we had Oyako Don. It is kind of a chicken stir fry that is then simmered in a sweet broth. Finally an egg layer is added over top and once that firms up you are ready to serve over a bowl of rice. The over a bowl of rice is the whole Don part of the name. Any Japanese restaurant you go to, if the menu item ends in Don or starts with Don then you are getting a bowl of rice with ingrediants on top.

I really enjoyed the meal. It is one of those ones where the wife doesn't bring it out that often and that makes it that much tastier. Its special.

Later.

Monday, April 27, 2009

Dinner for Three.

Which means I was not in attendance. I had a meeting to discuss some bargaining issues about our contract. Really really fascinating stuff. At least I managed to get dinner out of the deal.

Here on the home front they ate my delicious second day chili with garlic bread and rice. I had a small bowl when I came home and it really was that second day delicious. There were no "plate" shots taken this evening so instead here is the pot and what was left of the garlic bread wn
Well its time to brush some teeth and get the bed time routine rolling. Au demain.

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Gyoza and Yoga

Well the wife got up to some hijinx today. She managed to get some yoga in this morning while I was out for a run. The picture below might have been foreshadowing as she was already stretching even before getting her breakfast this morning.While she stretched these two were still conked out in the living room where they slept last night. I just didn't have the fight in me last night when bed time came and they still hadn't watched the movie they had been promised. So I set up the living room bed (two comforters and two pillows) and by the time the movie was 30 minutes in they were both asleep and I was into the movie. Back to this morning the littlest was engaged thusly as mom and I partook of our morning meal.
Now back to the wifely activties of today. She made those gyoza that were going to be made last night. Then to kick it up a notch she whipped up some sushi rolls with the leftover sushi rice from the night before. Who is this woman? Oh not to mention the salad.As is usual with gyoza I had trouble holding back. Fortunatey I was holding the littlest so I couldn't get into the usual feeding frenzy mode. And some were leftover for lunch tomorrow so there must of been restraint all around. To top it off, a bunch got frozen for next time. Yippee.

Just so you don't think I was totally slacking I did go into work today, did the shopping for this evening with the kids in tow, and made the chili for tomorrow nights dinner.

Saturday, April 25, 2009

The International scene.

Tonight we have a two shot. A Thursday/Saturday double header, action packed with something for everyone.

Two nights ago we had te-maki sushi. The wife whipped up a whale of a weekend starter. Something to fill up your belly in any which way you pleased. There was a tangy tart tuna salad combination. There was also some natto with green onions. An aquired taste but one I have grown to love. In lower right you can see leftover turkey curry, vegetable soup, pork stir fry and mashed turnip. It was a leftover night as well as a te-maki night. Yes you could have picked from an amazing assortment of flavours. Definitely something for everyone.
Speaking of something for everyone here are the three youngsters posing down. Notice the oldest can hold the youngest. This could be good, it could be very good. Picture this, "can you go and get your brother, maybe give him a bath and feed him." Well okay that's not going to happen but the big sister thing is definitely starting to percolate.Now on Friday I totally forgot I had to referee some soccer games, so korrokke were ditched for a quick shepherd's pie. The daughter managed to get a ride along to one of her friend's older brother's birthday partys. Long story short, swimming and loot bag make daughter a happy girl. After getting my referee on again this morning I came home and spelled off the wife who finally managed to get her run in. It was supposed to be gyoza tonight but that is quite labour intensive so I offered to make pizza instead. I am not saying the wife jumped at the offer but she quite quickly gave in and we started making dough.


Now I am not saying it is anything like the pizza one might get in Roma or Napoli but we did try using the techniques demonstrated here. And our crust was excellent tonight. Light, thin and crispy with a really well risen edge. Everyone enjoyed it and it was some of the lightest crust we have ever made. The kids are pictured here with their own creations. They even got to shape their doughs. I came in with a few fixes at the end but then they did the toppings.
If you can ignore my cheesy grin. (the wife had me holding it for what seemed like ten minutes) you will notice that the pizza looks pretty darn good. They all did. I wonder what kind of zoning variance is needed to put a real wood burning stove into our kitchen. I will have to look into it.
I also made more squash and brussel sprout soup. Less veggies and more curry powder. The bowl I had was impossibly hot so I can't realy vouch for the flavour. The brussel sprouts were great though.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Nothing Special

After a 14 hour day at work I am unsure how dinner went or what happened here at the homestead today. I ate sandwiches and drank a coke at work (dang it, I have to slap myself the next time I reach out that hand, coke is just bad, no more pop... beer on the other hand) We had parent teacher interview tonight. Glad that's over. There should be a dinner post tomorrow. Fingers are crossed everywhere.

Monday, April 20, 2009

Shake and Dip

Well the shake and bake chicken came back tonight. The main seasoning ingrediants were garlic powder, basil and chili powder. I think it turned out well but I would have liked to bake it for another 15 minutes. It was getting late and everyone was hungry but 40 minutes was a little border line. Chicken still scares me. As it is, I had the thicker pieces. I may try skinning some pieces next time as the wife never gets to eat the seasoning. I don't think it will be as juicy but the flavour will be there. I smell an experiment coming. The turnip was boiled forever and just wouldn't get all mooshy. Or we have a very weak masher. Veggies and dip to round things out and it was a nice night. The dip was a lemon, yogurt, dill affair with some crumbled soft tofu thrown in for good measure. Actually it was made from a recipe the wife found somewhere. It works.

This next pic is of the latest child playing with one of those baby amusers. He can actually bat the dog around now and make the thing bark. Now whether he is batting it or it is just some random arm motion we don't know. However, as always, I am thinking genius.

Except for the cross eyed fixation on the bumble bee. That is more Jerry Lewis than Albert Einstein.

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Try tofu.

Tonight we made fried tofu and it was really so great. The kids were raving and vacuumed it down. I think you should all try it. I am sure some of you already enjoy the other non white meat but here is my recommendation.

You will need.

2 blocks of medium tofu (makes four steaks, feeds four)
4 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp vinegar
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp honey
2 tbsp fresh ground ginger (a chunk the size of your thumb should work)
1 tbsp cooking wine (white wine, japanese sake, whatever you want)
1 clove of crushed garlic. ( actually used a bunch of garlic powder but its up to you)

1. Start by pressing the tofu. In a nine by nine casserole or square pyrex cake pan lay the tofu flat side by side. Put a big dinner plate on top of them and a big can (16 oz or 800ml) on top of the plate. Let this sit for as long as you can (2 hours would be great). This squeezes out the water and helps it soak up the sauce.

2. Keeping the honey aside, put together the rest of the ingredients in a microwaveable mixing bowl. Mix it around enough for the sugar to dissolve.

3. Take the now pressed blocks out of the nine by nine dish and get rid of the water. Now with the steaks laying on a cutting board cut them as if you were slicing through the peanut butter part of a sandwich. You aren't cutting the bread. You are just moving the knife between the two pieces of bread. You want to make thinner versions of the tofu block. Same width and length. Just not as tall. I sure hope I have explained this part well.

4. Put the steaks back in the nine by nine dish. If you arrange them properly they will fit just snuggly with a little empty space in the middle.

5. Pour the sauce over the steaks and let them soak it up for about five to ten minutes.

6. Take the steaks out of the dish and fry on 6 (just over medium ) in a fry pan with a little vegetable or olive oil about 5 minutes a side. While cooking the second side I cover the dish with a lid.

7. Take the sauce remaining in the dish and put it back in the microwaveable bowl. Add the honey. Microwave it for one minute.

8. Serve the steaks with a spoonful or two of the sauce on top.

9. Add side dishes as necessary. Just don't bring the meat. It is a wonderful vegetarian main dish.

We had ours this evening with rice (left over sauce was used to flavour the rice), spinach salad leftovers and squash and brussel sprout soup. I used nutmeg and curry powder to flavour the soup along with some chicken stock cubes. I also used some "many bean soup mix". Our local gardening place imports all kinds of Indian food and I picked up the bean mix for soups. Just great. And the brussel sprouts were like little prizes in the soup. Fabulous.

On a totally different point I have found the runner's crack. Better than steriods. I went running with my daughter's Ipod and a bunch of up beat songs. I ran like the wind. It was like I was in a race but there was no one else around. At some point in the distant past I must have run with a mixed tape or Ipod before but for some reason this evening it just totally worked. I can see the whole runners Ipod fascination now. Up to this point I have been a staunch believer in using the run as time to think over the various things that go on in my life. But I have to face facts. I spend too much time thinking about stuff as it is. May just have to pick up one of those running sets for me and the mrs. We can share it and have different play lists for each of us. Yes I am loving that idea. Can't wait to run it by the wife. Get it, run it by the wife, run. Oh whatever I thought it was clever.

Have a good week everyone. Night.