The Blog Formerly Known as An Orange County Sitcom

Lessons from my daughter

GWH and Thing 2 have been on a hunting trip for the last few days.  So Thing 1 and I have been shopping, eating, and watching bad Errol Flynn movies.

We've been eating pretty well.  Caprese salad, yum.  (sliced tomatoes seasoned with pepper and freshly ground garlic salt, layered with fresh mozzarella, sprinkled with dried oregano and fresh basil chiffonade, and drizzled with olive oil).  Chips and dip (dinner of champions).  Of course, fresh baked cookies.  But the piece de resistance was the pumpkin cheesecake we made yesterday:

I guess I cut the pieces a little too big.  Because by the time I got to the last 3 bites or so, I was feeling a little queasy.  But I persevered.  "must...finish...the...cheesecake" was my mantra as I slowly ate the last few bites.  After I got up and cleared my place, I looked over at Thing 1 who still had a few bites to go on her piece.  She looked at me apologetically and told me it was "too rich" and she couldn't finish it. 

"What???  It made me nauseous but I still finished my piece!"  I told her.

"Mom.  If you feel sick you should stop eating."

"Oh."  That never occurred to me. 

Well, live and learn.

And here are the cookies

They are very yummy.  We thought they spread just a bit too much, so we'll try them again next week with parchment paper instead of greasing the pan.

Here's the recipe we used:

Thick & Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies (we made a variation with 1/2 & 1/2 white & dark choc chips, and we added pecans).

(thing 1 always wants credit for the photography)

At least she's honest

Found this blog today, subtitled "Eating my way through Ohio one day at a time".  The blog owner describes herself as a "thirtysomething fat married chick who loves to eat locally and try new things."  Her honesty is so refreshing! 

I think I need to lose a few pounds, but I'm not classified as "overweight" yet by clinical standards.  According to Dr. Laura, I will be soon.  She said recently that at the current increasing rate of overweight & obesity in America, in 40 years 100% of Americans will be overweight or obese.  Her comment seemed tongue-in-cheek - but the statistics *are* pretty shocking.  I heard on the news not long ago that children born in America today are the first generation recorded whose life expectancy is lower than their parents'.

All that to say - gotta run - Thing 1 is in the kitchen making Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Sign of the times

We've been having some work done on our new house.  One day last week we were not at home when the workmen were here, and we wanted to keep the dog locked up and out of the way.  So GWH helpfully posted this sign on the laundry room door:

I think it means don't let the dog out.  But I'm not really sure.

I'm operating under the "Don't ask, don't tell" policy with all the workers here at the house.  Let's just assume all of them are documented.  On 3 occasions I've been so happy that GWH is fluent in Spanish.  I smile and nod at the worker who is valiantly trying to tell me something *very* important.  Then I hand him the phone, with GWH on the other end of the line.  The workman is obviously visibly relieved as he discusses the problem with GWH, then he hands the phone back to me and hubby explains what the worker was trying to communicate.   Often there's a foreman who speaks English.  Yesterday I told Thing 2, "Go outside and tell the one who speaks English that he can turn the breaker off now."  I'm not sure how Thing 2 figured out which one spoke English, but it all worked out OK.

What's for dinner?

I've been trying a lot of new recipes lately.  Here's what the Things and I had for lunch:

You can find the recipe for this rarebit here.  We used an expensive cheese but cheap bread - wish I'd had a good loaf of crusty white bread around for this lunch.

Last night we had this:
(I was looking for something with Greek flavor - this had feta, lemon, & dill with the spinach). The recipe is here.

And for brunch on Saturday we had this:
This recipe needs a little work...the flavors were great but the textures were strange.  I don't like baked strawberries; not sure why I didn't remember that before making the recipe.

(I think Thing 1 took all the pix...but I help stage them, adding garnishes, etc.)

I thought my life was bad

Really, really bad.

Then I watched Rambo 4 and decided my life was good.

Really, really good.

Then I ate lemon cake and decided it was fantastic!

This is from Cook's Illustrated...you can find the recipe here (you have to register to see recipes at their site...but it's free).

Proud to be an American

 

Photographs by Thing 1.