You are currently browsing the monthly archive for September 2007.
several weeks ago i went to hear a favorite singer/songwriter of mine (andrew peterson) play at a church in town, and i discovered that he has a children’s album. my dad, my aunt, peter and whitney and even my grandmother all went along with me. the whole evening was great. it was a very intimate setting, which just makes you feel like you are getting to know the person playing. i have listened to his music for a long time…ever since i heard a song of his that was played as the background to a slideshow of our returning mission team’s trip to honduras in 2002. the song just kind of haunted me and when i found out who sang it, i started listening to all of his music. so it was so fun to hear a lot of the stories behind songs i’ve known for a long time, even ones i talked about here this summer.
anyway, at the concert, we discovered that andrew has a children’s album out. and so i bought it on a whim. and because, well the place wasn’t exactly packed out and i was afraid he wasn’t really going to make that much money. my kids are sort of past listening to “children’s” music. i mean let’s face it. taido’s had them singing along to rap music for quite some time now. so i wasn’t sure that they would go for my new kinder-music. but i put it in my car anyway, and it is so cute. it is not annoying at all…just fun. and hysterical. we all love it, especially ben. he’s memorized most of the songs, you know, in case he gets the opportunity to make someone laugh sometime soon. he’ll be ready. our favorite is the boy who was bored.
while in chicago last week i spent (just got my statement online), hold your breath…$550 at trader joe’s!! the good news is that i was shopping for six other families besides my own. that makes it sound a little better.
my favorite new finds:
dark chocolate almonds. $4.99 for 12 oz. they have something else going on the outside, like some coarse salt or something. they are oh, so good. (actually this one was a request on someone else’s list, but i got a taste)
pumpkin spice granola. since i am trying to eat yogurt every morning, i love to have something new to put in it. and this stuff just tastes like fall. cardamom…mmm.
i bought several items from the cleaning shelves. all green, non-toxic, etc. laundry soap. all purpose cleaner and tea tree bar soap. i really like this soap. it’s like showering in a forest or something. i even have trader joe’s toothpaste.
then the usual…lots of almonds and other nuts and dried fruits. a case of olive oil. jam. wine. several gingersnaps. breads.
i didn’t go to the grocery store the whole week before we went because i wanted to stock up on even the normal things at trader joe’s. pasta and sauce. cereals. we have joe’s O’s and joe’s honey O’s in our cupboard. you would think from the labels at my house that there was a trader joe’s a wee bit closer than chicago. there is one in st. louis, but i don’t have a sister there.
alas, my affair with joe is doomed to continue only as a long distance relationship.
we did have a good run this weekend though.
…hours in chicago. and close to 12 on the road each way. it was a whirlwind, but it is always a joy to be at my sister’s regardless of how short or long the duration. taido and i drove 5 seniors up to look at wheaton college, two of whom i have adored since the day they were born…which ps, makes me old. i can only dream that they will actually go there, to this school that i so love (i can only claim it as an alma mater vicariously, since i spent more hours in the library there than my sister while she was a student at wheaton…ok not really, but maybe). oh that these students would go to a place that is way beyond the reaches of the grasp of old south little rock, and even just minutes away from a real city. so much life to experience. so much ahead. it amazes me how sometimes the biggest decisions of our lives are made by circumstances or influences that are really rather inconsequential. taido and i both reflected on how little energy we put into to deciding where to go to college. not just a whole lot of reflection, but somehow we both found jesus and one another in the midst of those years, so clearly, there are other forces at work besides the whims of a 17 yr old. thank goodness.
anyway, amidst the rushing around and touring wheaton and (of course) shopping the magnificent mile (i had the great pleasure of introducing people who might actually care to H & M. but then on the downside, we had to skip over crate and barrel), i got to spend a few precious minutes with my sister. and mary polly with her cousins. (all the chino boys stayed behind. a gift for which i am immeasurably grateful!) ang is currently doing a lot of testing for this restaurant that is opening near her in october. so exciting. so we got the benefit of eating much yummy food, mostly sweets, especially cupcakes. 4 different varieties. and we had this amazing fish and dirty rice meal that i will be attempting as soon as i can get up the energy to go to the grocery store, which is going to be no time soon since we got in at 2am last night. when i had to stop eating and get out my food journal to confess the overindulgence, i simply filled the margins with new recipes to make me feel better. and now with the arsenal reloaded, maybe i will regain control of my eating this week. maybe. the recipe of the week, which i have already made even with the bloodshot eyes and clouded judgment, is anna’s homemade energy bars. i am so excited about these. taido is a “bar junkie” and the “healthy” kind tend to be expensive and taste like cardboard. these are so yummy and even more healthy than the store bought kind, plus you can customize them. they are basically just cereal and dried fruit, with a little sticky to hold it together. but i must confess, i spread some melted chocolate chips on half of them. because chocolate equals energy in my book any day of the week.
ok…sooooo, definitely not just like cafe prego’s dish. i was going to go back and just delete my earlier post, but in the interest of total blog honesty, i am adding this little addendum. i think i needed like twice as much sauce and for certain some mozzarella. but the silver lining is that it was one of the first dishes i’ve ever made that a certain middle schooler that doesn’t always love my food liked. in fact, he (tony hall) even went back for seconds.
so now i just need to go back to cafe prego to do a little more research.
ok…i just have to sit down for a minute. it’s been go go go the last several days. oh the fall schedule. it always sneaks up on me. you think a week after school starts that you are starting to get it down and then every week you add one more thing into the schedule…a practice, a class, a game, a volunteer opportunity, a dinner, a playdate, a Bible study, a prayer group, a support group for people who are too busy…you know and then all of a sudden IT’S FALL and you might be a little too busy.
at least that’s how i’m feeling right now.
still, it’s mostly super fun and we are enjoying the cooler weather so much that who cares what else is going wrong…car trouble, car tag violation, whatever…bring it!
we have a wednesday night dinner that is a joy to me because i get to see people i love who serve at our church in a way that amazes me (with high school students) and i get to cook. even if i’m too busy. and i love to cook. so i had this amazing baked pasta dish at cafe prego last week that i have been wanting to try to copy. and now, the result of much recipe reading and instinct following and substituting ingredients is now in the oven. i am very excited about it. if it is a total bust, then we will eat salad and bread (and chocolate cake, of course) and taido will take baked chicken pasta for lunch for an eternity. and if it is a smashing success, it may be the last time anyone tastes it for i am not sure i can remember what all i have done at this point and i didn’t really measure anything. so here’s my attempt to remember my newly created and mostly copied recipe for baked chicken pasta. don’t write it down until i serve it tonight and let you know how it goes over, but i have a hunch that it’s going to be good. let’s hope so.
baked chicken pasta with creamy red sauce
(makes enough for 3 9×13 pans)
1 large bag chicken (mine had 11 breasts)
marinated overnight in 1 1/2 cups freshly squeezed lemon juice, 1 1/2 cups olive oil, salt and pepper
grilled and cut into chunks
3 16oz boxes fettucine, cooked a little less (9 minutes) than the package instructions, and divided into 3 9×13 pans, drizzled with olive oil
lots of parmesan cheese (probably 4-6 cups)
3/4 of a stick of butter
8 cloves garlic, minced
1 jar organic marinara sauce
about 1/2 cup flour
about 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 teaspoon herbes of provence
salt and pepper
cook and divide pasta, divide chicken among dishes, mix some parmesan into each pan of pasta and chicken.
melt butter in large cast iron skillet, add garlic and herbes of provence for about 4 minutes. turn heat to med low and add 1/4 cup flour gradually. add marinara sauce. slowly add remaining flour. let sauce thicken, stirring constantly. slowly add cream until sauce reaches desired consistency. salt and pepper to taste. pour sauce over the three dishes of pasta. mix in a little with forks. spread parmesan cheese on top. (mozzarella would probably be better here, but i seem to be out.) bake at 400 degrees for around 30 minutes.
ok…now i’m going to go and attend to my kitchen. it sort of looks like something exploded in there. either that or my sister’s been here.
notes added later:
You really need twice as much sauce for this much pasta, but this is a great dish to make ahead and freeze, or to take to someone in need of a meal, so I’m going to double the amount of creamy red sauce and continue to make three 9×13 pans of it. You can make the sauce above and just use 1 1/2 pounds of pasta if you want.
i have been catching up around my house from my four day birthday celebration. it is one of the joys of my life that my birthday falls on the same day as my sister-in-law’s and two days before my mother’s. the string of birthdays makes for a celebration every year that is super fun and not a little exhausting. my house and children were beginning to show signs of neglect yesterday, so the party had to finally come to an end. still, all that birthday love was good stuff.
and just so i won’t get too depressed that the party is over, i’ve already figured out what we should do for our birthdays next year! start saving girls.
taido and i love cafe prego, so he suggested we go there on my birthday. we don’t go out that often, so when we do, we choose with care. we’ve only been a couple of other times, but the atmosphere is just right for visiting. cozy. sometimes crowded. you have to wiggle sideways to get through to the bathroom. especially if you are well endowed in the rear. so he handled the booking and the calling and we were all set to go sans enfants to cafe prego friday night.
now this place is small. picture smaller than you’re picturing. weensy. when we arrived just before our reservation, the outside was teeming with people, city people all dressed in black baby doll dresses. (all of sudden, these baby doll dresses are everywhere. i never understand how all of sudden everyone has the same thing. did i miss the handout? the email? must get a baby doll dress before this friday or you will feel left out.) so the owner, a sleek lady with jet black hair and bejeweled belt and little bitty jeans, was more than a little stressed out. apparently, the restaurant received a favorable review this week so lots of people showed up to try some prego cuisine. well, our reservation held, but she tried to talk us into an outside table because there were several of us. the cafe has a cute outdoor seating area but it is still muggy and about to rain in little rock so taido held his ground to be indoors. as she’s seating us, she was still saying, you know i’d rather have you outdoors, don’t you? taido replied, oh yes. and he thanked her for our table. which was for eight. but there were only six of us there. also a sticking point. you do have two more people coming. oh yes. they would be here any minute. we all nodded. so our waiter came and tried to get our drink orders. but we didn’t have a wine list. or even menus. he somewhat reluctantly brought the wine list. we selected drinks. we asked for menus. he brought drinks. we asked for menus. well, actually everyone needs to be here before she gives you the menus. we knew to whom he was referring. but he brought us menus anyway. i promised we’d hold them in our laps. sneaky like. again, she came back. where are your two more people??? at this point in the evening, one of our friends told us about how the last time she came here, she was cussed out by this same lady and swore she’d never come back. something over the bill. but of course she had to come back when taido called and said her best friend’s birthday dinner was happening tonight…at cafe prego. great, we’ll be there. so we call our late friends. they are literally coming up the street. right now. really.
we did not get kicked out. or cussed out. we had wonderful food and wine and laughs. and we sat at our table long after the plates were scraped clean. visiting and getting sleepy. we watched many tables around us empty out. when we finally left, the same lady who had been extremely frustrated by the challenge of seating us bid us good evening, warm and friendly as can be. and here’s what i neglected to mention earlier about the owners of this restaurant. they are french. and in france, at a restaurant, the customer is not always right. the proprietor, the chef…the owner is running the show. as well they should be. this operation would fall apart if he or she succumbed to every little whim of every little stupid baby doll dress wearing gal that walked through the door. order must be maintained. it is a privilege to eat at cafe prego, she says without speaking. one that can be revoked, is the underlying tone. restaurants are serious business in france. and in italy. have you seen big night? (i so adore the chef in that movie. explaining risotto. passionately. i feel him.) but just because the owner is a little touchy when you arrive, or when you ask for a menu, that doesn’t mean she doesn’t want you to enjoy your meal. because she can assure you it is going to be good. really good. and you can linger at your table if you want. and please come on back. we hope you enjoyed your evening. thank you, we did. it was wonderful. and we will be back.
in the meantime, i am attempting desperately to copy their chicken prego. it was so good i’ve been dreaming about it. creamy fresh pasta baked in a little dish with moist chicken, red sauce and cheese…mmm. it reminds me of the first time i went to cafe prego and the special was vegetarian lasagna. i tried two or three times to mimic that dish before giving up. i’ll just have to wait for it to circle back around. and i’ll go visit my new hero, a restaurateur who can run a place with an attitude and keep it filling up because the food is just that good.
as i threw the swimsuits and beach towels in the washing machine last night, i thought, this is really it. the summer is officially over. the first two weeks of school are just practice i guess. now that labor day weekend has come and gone we are seriously into fall. and the summer heat in arkansas is finally giving up her fight. no more hundred degree days, hopefully. it might even rain. and no more swimming, probably.
we gave our last weekend and even our last evening of summer our best shot…you know, without going to colorado for the weekend. taido was preaching, so we had to remain in the general vicinity. taido let the kids pick out chinese takeout for dinner and one last movie. i bought a lime pound cake, because i have been dying to make my favorite lemon pound cake from the barefoot contessa, but i just couldn’t squeeze all those fresh lemons and then have to write in my food journal,
1 half of 1 slice of the best lemon pound cake ever.
but still, i am craving it. and i really like to bake. i mean i really. like. to. bake. but i just didn’t think i would put the right amount of love into the cake knowing how little of it i would eat. i mean if i were less selfish, maybe i could think…i am just going to enjoy how much my sweet family will love this cake. they will be so excited when they smell it and that will be enough for me. i don’t have to eat half a pound cake to be satisfied. really. but not really. and i firmly believe that food doesn’t taste right when you don’t make it with love. i know this to be true because i made some very mediocre cookies last week sans passion because i was aware that i would not be eating any of them.
so when i saw this little lime pound cake, i thought…if i buy a good pound cake then i won’t feel like i’ve slaved over it and i won’t have poured my heart into it and i can just eat a little wee sliver of it and give the rest to the herd of pigs with whom i inhabit this house. (i mean that in the most endearing way…those chinos can flat eat.) so i snatched it up. i ate my little portioned out dinner, without even whining inside that i wanted more because i had cake waiting. and even a decaf latte to go with my little sliver. i gave the kids their cake. they gobbled it up. more more more. no more, i say. more tomorrow, maybe. i take my little after dinner treasures and get all snuggled up on the couch (after the baby has gone down…this is key…sleeping babies make all things better), and i take a little bite of my lime pound cake. and, oh. no. no lime juice oozing from the cake. my lips don’t even pucker from the tart. because there is none. i’ll wager not one fresh lime was squeezed for this imposter. so sad. come on fresh market. you are upscale. quality ingredients. superior food. but this pound cake. alas, it was just a pound cake. a good one. with a very far away hint of citrus. but nothing like the WOW and the TANG of the barefoot contessa’s lemon pound cake. it just didn’t compare. such a disappointment. i just wanted to throw my plate.
it is possible that the somewhat drastic response to this less than worthy cake is revealing other problems, other issues in my life. perhaps i am frustrated over this whole food journal bit. of course i would have given it up by now if someone else wasn’t writing their food down as well and we weren’t trading notebooks weekly. or maybe i just felt sad that the summer was over, but it was still hot. and it had not rained (yet). taido said to me, as graciously as possible. you seem very discouraged. is there something going on besides just food here?
perhaps. i will have to think about that later. because right now, i have a lemon pound cake in the oven.
and should you find yourself in the sad position of not coming to my house tomorrow because you are not a leader for the 9th-12th grades at fellowship north, then you can make one too. here’s the recipe.
Ina Garten’s Lemon Pound Cake
INGREDIENTS
½ pound unsalted butter
2 ½ cups granulated sugar
4 extra-large eggs (at room temperature)
1/3 cup grated lemon zest (6 to 8 large lemons)
3 cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
¾ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
¾ cup buttermilk at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
3 ½ tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Grease two 8 ½ x 4 ½ x 2 ½ -inch loaf pans. Cream the butter and 2 cups granulated sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment for about 5 minutes or until light and fluffy. With the mixer on medium speed, add the eggs, one at a time, and the lemon zest.
Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl. In another bowl, combine ¼ cup lemon juice, the buttermilk and vanilla. Add the flour and buttermilk mixtures alternately to the batter, beginning and ending with the flour. Divide the batter evenly between the pans, smooth the tops, and bake for 45 minutes to an hour, until a cake tester comes out clean.
Combine ½ cup granulated sugar with ½ cup lemon juice in a small saucepan and cook over low heat until the sugar dissolves and makes a syrup. When the cakes are done, let them cool for 10 minutes, then invert them onto a rack set over a tray, and spoon the lemon syrup over the cakes. Allow the cakes to cool completely.
For the glaze, combine the confectioners’ sugar and lemon juice in a bowl, mixing with a wire whisk until smooth. Pour over the top of the cakes and allow the glaze to drizzle down the sides.
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