It's all in the sauce

Greetings All,
I have taken over my wife's keyboard to blab on about how wonderful tonight's dinner was. Now, those of who read this blog regularly know that my wife and I take our food very seriously. Well, most of the time - some of our dinners come out of a box (Shhh! Don't tell Mom!). Well, tonight's dinner was very blog-worthy, and for those in the know - book worthy.

It all started Thursday night. I was chatting with Lana, and for some reason, Mongolian Beef came to mind. We were planning on staying in Roanoke for the weekend, so we were going ot have to cook - so we needed to know what the food plans were. Leftovers? Dining out? Throw together something? - or take it up a few notches and COOK? We didn't want to get quite as fancy as what we do for a Valentine's dinner, but didn't want to do the usual "protein and stuff with sauce" type meal. We didn't exactly plan out the menus in too much detail. Although we had a vague idea.

Friday night was going to be home-made frozen meatloaf (that was made before Grace arrived), slathered with that awesome red wine glaze of ours. Breakfast on Saturday (today) was going to waffles. Lunch? - Mac 'n Cheese with Bacon. For dinner, I mentioned wanting to finally go visit that Chinese takeout place in Vinton that we found - and then it hit me. Why couldn't we make Chinese food here? And this is where the Mongolian Beef came in. It is one of my favorite dishes when I get Chinese - and very few places do it right.

Before long, I had three recipes for Mongolian Beef, and a strong desire to do it up right. I read off the ingredients quickly and my heart sank. "We'll have to buy all of this! What's Hoisin sauce?" To which my very prepared wife said. "Hang on, I think I've got that already..." Sure enough, there was a creepy looking jar of it in the fridge. Soy sauce? "Check." Sesame Oil? "Add it to the list." Sugar? "Of course we have sugar!" Cilantro? "Nope, all out." Garlic? "You are kidding, right?" (We have a mason jar full of chopped garlic.) Meat? "Add it to the list."

I took my grocery list to Kroger the next day during my lunch break. I found everything on the list. Some of it took a few trips around the store to find, but I eventually got it all.

The Meatloaf was wonderful,
The Waffles were tasty - although one of them exploded out of the waffle-iron. Messy stuff.
The Mac 'n Cheese was a particularly good batch.

And then it was time for Dinner.

Chinese cuisine is so easy to prepare! We started the rice, because we knew it would take the longest - Roughly forty minutes. Then, I dug out my cutting board, my favorite knife, and the ingredients. I sliced up the onion and green peppers and saute'ed them in some oil. Add a little garlic, and the kitchen smelled divine!

While that cooked up, it was time to dig the meat out of the fridge. We had prepared the meat the night before in a marinade. It took all the odd stuff: The Hoisin, the sesame oil, soy sauce, et al... Just opening the container made the kitchen smell wonderful - although the marinade looked cold and slimy at that point. (Ever seen Hoisin? Ew.) But, it did the job. We sliced up the meat into slivers, and cooked it. Finally, we stir-fried everything together in one pot, and heated everything to a yummy-ness that has to be smelt to believe. It smelled good, it looked good - now, did it taste good?

The rice finished cooking a very short time later. We set the table with chop-sticks and dished the stir-fry on top of a bed of rice. We started a new episode, and dug in. And boy was the food good! I think there was enough food there to feed a couple of people, but it was so good that there are no left-overs! The meat was flavorful, tender, and juicy. The sauce was astoundingly good, and the rice was perfect. Even Lana commented on how much better it tasted than Chinese takeout.

And it was cheap! Sure, the small bottle of Sesame Oil I bought was $5.00, but we only used a tablespoon of it. Same for the Hoisin. The meat was fairly cheap too - it was on clearance. Chinese cuisine may seem intimidating to anyone who'se ever gone to a Chinese buffet, but if this dish is any indication - the guys in the kitchen of that buffet have an easy time.

To finish off this very authentic meal, Lana dug out two fortune cookies that we had. I hope they weren't too old.

Mine read: "It is better to have a hen tomorrow, than an egg today." True, but it doesn't really go well with the "In bed" fortune cookie joke.
Lana's read: "Find release from your cares, have a good time." Ahh, much better.

Anyway, Grace is now looking forward to sharing in the Mongolian Beef. Soon enough, I'm sure.

Now, what are we eating tomorrow? I don't think we ever decided....

Later,
-M

Milestones

Two pretty big milestones happened for us today.

Let me start with the lesser of the two:
I went running today, and for the first time since about 4 months into my pregnancy I ran a whole mile without walking. Granted I had to stop a few times and replace the pacifier that had been spit out, but I just stopped...I did not walk! That made me feel so good. It also makes me think that I might be on the right track to getting into a few more of my pre-pregnancy clothes.

Now the big milestone:
Grace rolled over today!
Ok, here is the story. We were up in the nursery. I was putting some of her clothes away so I got out the activity mat and put it on the floor, and placed her on top of it (on her tummy). She liked it for about 2 minutes then she started to fuss. I finished with the clothes and went to pick her up to calm her down but as I was just a few inches away from her she must have gotten really mad because she pushed, and she pushed hard enough that she went from her tummy to her back. It shocked her for a bit, then she went back to crying. I was very happy and clapping for her...but she did not care. I rolled her back to her tummy and she did it again just like the first time. We tried for a third, but she would not have it.

So I think that it was more by accident than anything, but she did roll from tummy to back....TWICE! I am so very happy. I do not know when it will happen again, but I will be happy about this till then.

Dear Grace

Since Grace was born I wanted to keep track of what is going on in her life (and ours). But I did not know how or if I would keep up with a scrapbook or a journal as I should. So in thinking about this I found a beautiful little journal that some of my friends gave me right before I went to Ukraine so that I could write about my experiences there. Obviously I did not use it.....so.....

I decided to write Grace a one page letter each Monday. The pages are small the book is probably about 5x7 or maybe a little larger, but it is a small book. The letter ranges from accomplishments that she made that week, the weather (ex: it snowed....again!), to things that happen in the family (ex: your dad went to your Great Grandmother's funeral). It is nothing really big, and it is not really time consuming since I only do it once a week and I do not expect to write a lot.

In between writings, if she does something that I would like to remember for her letter and I am a few days from Monday. I take a post-it note and write it on there and stick it in, because otherwise I know that I will forget what I wanted to write or when something happened.

I do not know how long I will keep this up but it has been working great so far, and I hope that she enjoys reading this when she is older.

Valentine's Day 2010 (Saturday)

Woke up after "sleeping in" as much as you can with a two month old (which is not much at all...but still) and actually got a shower! It was one of the best Valentine's day presents that Matt could have given me. But the day did not end there.

I got downstairs to find:
The red plate waiting for me (I got it because Matt said I was his Valentine so I was special)
A very cute Valentine's Day card on top of the red plate
A Gerber Daisy (yellow) sitting in front of my breakfast spot :)
And finally a plate full of homemade waffles
What a way to start of a wonderful day!
After a wonderful and filling breakfast we gathered all of the recipes that we have finally decided on, and made a shopping list. After checking our shopping list to the items we already had in the kitchen (and crossing off half of the very long ingredients list) we headed out for a big grocery shopping trip.

Matt dropped Grace and I off at the house as he went to yet another store to get the last ingredient that was not located at the grocery store that we shopped at. We in the meantime started the cake for dinner.
About a half an hour later, Matt comes back home and we start cooking.
We had:

BEEF BORDELAISE

WILD MUSHROOM BARLEY RISOTTO

GREEK SALAD
CAULIFLOWER GRATIN
(thanks Stephanie for that recipe)
SWARTZWALDER KIRSHTORTE
(Black Forest Cherry Cake)

Mix all of that wonderful food with wonderful company (Matt and Grace) and add a touch of Bones (a new favorite TV show for us) and you get a wonderful Valentine's Day celebration.

Much food,
Much dancing,
Much laughing,
Much love!
Happy Valentine's Day

Grace's Entertainment

While Matt and I cooked for Valentine's Day (more on that in the next post), Grace kept herself entertained...

HMMMM......Now where is that pacifier?


I remember! It is on my head :)
I challenge anyone to come and try to remove this pacifier from my head. Come on, you know you want to try...I will use my kiddie karate that I have been working on. Hi-ya! Watch those hands fly...

These people are so easy to beat, I even have time to sit here and make funny faces as they are just starting to realize that they lost because they did not get the pacifier.
Success! The pacifier is MINE!!!
Stay tuned for the next Ultimate Pacifier Challenge, same kiddie time, same kiddie channel.

Littlest Valentine

Good things come in small packages.
And this year Matt's Valentine is in a very small package :)
This sweet picture was taken just after church on Valentine's Day. She is dressed in her "daddy's girl" dress.

What better Valentine could any ever hope for?

New Experiment

After watching the movie Julie and Julia Matt wondered if we could do an experiment like that. As he was saying that I think that I kind of glared at him (sorry Matt) because I was thinking of the challenging recipes, expensive ingredients, and time that it would take (that is non-existent with Grace) to go through Mastering the Art of French Cooking like Julie did in the movie.

However what really stopped me in my tracks was, why would I go out and buy the recipe book of Mastering the Art of French Cooking when I have about 15+ recipe books that I do not use as much as I should. Most of my cookbooks I have about 5 recipes that I love out of them, but the rest I do not touch. So I brought up that concern about our new experiment. He agreed with me that we need to go through the books that we have.

I liked the idea of working through the recipes that we already have, but where to start? Matt, in his wisdom, decided that I should not be too overwhelmed and also clean up the most frustrating part of our recipe area-the loose leaf recipe folder. Over the years we have gathered, copied, and written down many random recipes and just shoved them in this folder...never to be seen again! Till now...

So yesterday was the start of this experiment and I made "Easy Layered Enchilada Pie" (which came from the home of Steve and Sue...Thanks!). This was one of the first meals that I have actually made since Grace was born thanks to meals from friends at church and also the cooking marathon that happened in October. The meal was a success and has earned a place of honor in our family cookbook. The idea is that with each recipe we would choose...is it good enough to make again and be placed in the family cookbook, or do we avoid it from now on? This one was good :) A good way to start off an experiment!

The hope is that I will try to have an experimental meal about twice a week. I think it will be fun and also help us go through these random recipes that we probably would not see otherwise.

A Good Kick In The Behind

Last night when Matt came home we frantically got dinner ready and eaten so that he could run off to handbell practice at church. About 15 minutes later I heard the garage door open and the fit return to it's parking spot. He walks in and said that there was no handbells practice that night (we had gotten the information, but it had slipped by both of us that night).

So with it being about 6:30, no real plans for the evening, a dirty house, and a new vacuum....Matt gave me the kick in the behind that I needed. In my previous blog I mentioned that I wanted to give this house a good cleaning, Grace has successfully kept me from completing that. So Matt began what he loves to call "scorched earth" cleaning.

EVERYTHING, and I mean everything (except for the entertainment system) in our living room was moved either away from the walls or completely out of the room so that we could vacuum, do edging, and yes...I even dusted! We did the same for the dining room. And to top it all off, we managed to clean up some dark spots in the carpet.

During this time of moving everything, we threw away enough trash to fill up a 13 gallon trash bag. We also placed many items in our "to go to yard sale" box. Not all items are back where they belong in the two rooms, but I must say that the living room and the dining room look amazing! I just have to wonder how long they will stay like this.

And we learned one lesson that we already knew but it was taught to us again:
EVERYTHING TAKES LONGER WITH A BABY

photoshoot

With the snow piling up outside, and us going a little stir crazy...

We began to take pictures :) To all of the grandparents, you are welcome!

This one is my personal favorite. Her all snuggled up and sleeping on the couch.


Sue, you said that you wanted to see the "Daddy's Girl" dress. This is the other onesie dress that I got from Chris and Katie.

Kind of an odd picture, she looks like she is not sure what to think. However, I think that it is cute and it shows off a little of her legs (you are welcome mom). Look at that red hair!

Ok, so that is enough for now. I hope that you enjoyed the pictures.

New Purchase

I am so excited....I have a new vacuum!

This might sound like a strange comment (especially coming from me, since vacuuming is not one of my favorite chores to do) however, I have been singing that statement for the past few days...since we bought it on Thursday.

Matt brought his old vacuum to the marriage. It was a wonderful vacuum and put in a great tour of duty for 12 years. It was a hard worker and we had no disciplinary issues with it, until it picked up a smoking habit. We do not like smoking in our house....especially from the appliances.

Four weeks ago my sister, Carol, tried to vacuum our upstairs carpets and we thought nothing of it, till all of the upstairs smoke detectors went off. The culprit? Yes, you got it...The Vacuum that took to smoking. Matt and I decided that our idea of buying a new vacuum eventually would have to be bumped up to buying a new vacuum soon.

So with the snow storm coming I decided that this might be a good time to buy it and not be cooped up in a house with very dirty carpets for a week or so. So....we bought a new vacuum, well not just a vacuum, we bought a...

DYSON!

I have been wanting this kind of vacuum for the past couple of years but I thought it was far out of reach. Matt told me of his desire to also own a Dyson, so we started to price them. We found some a Target that we wanted and began to save up for it.

Fast forward about two or three months and here we are with a beautiful yellow and gray machine sitting in my living room just waiting for the next huge project that I have for it. And that it will get, I am planning on moving all of the furniture and giving this house a GOOD cleaning finally :)

A Good Cat

As I open the door I expect to hear a frantic "Meow" as a beautiful dark, striped cat walks quickly across the road to greet me and look for some affection.

As I walk to the trash can I expect to hear a quiet "Meow" as I am startled by the same pretty cat "hiding out" in our bushes or next to our garage.

As I open the garage door on a very cold or rainy day I half expect to see a dark figure zoom into our garage to find new shelter from the elements. (one night we accidentally left the garage door open and we could hear "Meow" at the door that led from the kitchen to the garage. I am sure that he was having a great time protecting our garage and staying out of the elements in a new location)

As I look across the street I expect to see a cat sitting royally by our neighbor's front door, as if he owned this area and everything around it.

But I am sad to say that my expectations will never happen again, Scooter died this past week. Scooter was a wonderful cat that adopted us a while back, loved to say hello, and we think that he even took it upon himself to protect us from the other animals in the neighborhood.

Grace was able to meet/get sniffed by Scooter twice, I am very sad that she will not have the chance to play/chase Scooter as she grows up.

Scooter (or Tooter, as my nephew called him) will be greatly missed.

Suggestions?

In accordance to our tradition of celebrating Valentine's day we are planning on making a "fancy" meal. Usually we go through our Food and Wine magazines that I had gotten one year. We are coming up very close to Valentine's day and Matt and I have not come up with a menu yet, in fact we have not really even discussed options for the meal.

So I was wondering if anyone had a suggestion for an "elaborate", "special occasion" recipe that we could consider. Usually we have a main course, two sides, maybe a bread, and a dessert.

So if you have a recipe that you have always wanted to try but it is too labor or skill intensive, or if you have a recipe that you love to make but you don't because it just takes too much time and energy...that is the kind of thing we are looking for.

What do you think? Can you help?

Good News!

Grace has finally passed her birth weight!

She was born at 7lb 1oz then dropped down to 6lb 1oz.
Today at the doctor office she weighed in at 7lb 12oz.

She was a slow starter on gaining weight (as the doctor commented) but she is doing much better now.

Since her birth we have had one or two doctor visits or blood labs done each week. So the other big news is that she has no more doctor visits this week, and none for next week :)
And the only reason that she has to go for the following week is for her 2 month well baby visit.

I am so happy she is gaining, and that all involved can take a deep sigh of relief.