Two car family…

November 5, 2009 in Rambling | by piday | 3 comments


For almost the last 4 years, we have been a one car family. My husband always took the bus to work and so when our lease was up on our second car we decided to be nice to the enviroment and just go with one car.

At first we lived close enough to the park and ride that he would just walk to it (unless it was super rainy). This got my husband exercise each day, which was a nice side benefit.

But then we bought a home. It was near a park and ride…sorta. But to get to it he would have to walk down a super busy road. And so, I got up every morning to take him and went every evening to pick him up. Amazingly enough, there were only a few times in those years that we really needed two cars. We just made it work.

But last Monday my husband started a new job. He left the juggernaut that is Microsoft to go to a smaller company. No, he wasn’t laid off (thank goodness), it was all of his own free will. It became quite apparent though that taking the bus was no longer going to be working out.

So off to buy a new car we went. We already owned a Ford Focus and it has been a great little car for us. And so we decided to get another one. This one is quite different than our first car. That one doesn’t even have power locks or windows. Our new car has Sync, which takes some getting used to but is kind of nice. It plays my Ipod. We have Sirius (which I big puffy heart). It has bluetooth and just knows when someone is calling, which is needed since we aren’t suppose to use our phones in the car in the state of Washington. No one seems to follow that law, but at least I can now. ;)

Yes, I get the drive the new car while he commutes with the older car. :P   Though I must say that between learning all the new stuff that the car does and all the new stuff that my phone does my brain is ready to explode. I must say I am doing better with the car than the phone. The phone does far too many things.

 

In unrelated to car news, my desire to bake and photograph is out the window right now. I had a paying gig last week and am now tired of taking photos. Hopefully this will pass quickly so that I can you know, run my blog.

So not Pacific Northwest…

October 25, 2009 in northwest nosh | by piday | 13 comments

So before moving to the Pacific Northwest, we lived in the Southwest. I am not a fan of Southwest cuisine to put it mildly. But I did take the time to learn how to make a lot of it and to learn how the flavors went together since everyone else seemed to be a fan of it. This soup is a product of that.

I sometimes throw roasted corn into this soup as well, but sadly, good corn season has come and gone, so I passed this time around. I made this soup for my progressive dinner club this weekend (in case you haven’t figured it out, we had the soup course). Poblano’s are pretty mild chilies so most people can handle them, even the wimps. They add nice flavor depth and a little kick to heat you up on those chilly Fall nights. ;)

Roasted Poblano and Chicken Chowder

1 ½ pounds chicken breast, cooked, diced into bite size pieces
2 TBSP olive oil
1 cup carrots, peeled, small dice
½ cup celery, small dice
1 cup yellow onion, small dice
1 ½ TBSP minced garlic
2 large roasted Poblano chilies, seeded, small dice
¼ tsp dried thyme
1 ½ tsp ground white pepper
2 tsp ground cumin
9 cups chicken stock
1 TSBO hot sauce (like Tabasco)
½ cup unsalted butter
¾ cup all-purpose flour
3 cups heavy whipping cream

In a large stock pot heat oil and add carrots, celery, chilies, and onions. Saute for approximately 5-6 minutes. Until the onions start to become a little translucent.

Add garlic, thyme, cumin, and white pepper. You wont need salt for this soup because of all the chicken stock. If you are using low sodium chicken stock, you may want to add salt as well. Saute for another 3 minutes.

Pour in chicken stock and add hot sauce. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Simmer for about 12-14  minutes.

In a small saucepan, melt the butter over low heat. Once butter has melted, sprinkle the flour into the butter. Stir with a wooden spoon continually for 3 minutes. You are not looking to make a brown roux, but you do want to cook the flour taste out before adding to the stock.

Whisk roux into the soup and let cook until thickened, about 5-7 minutes.

Add the prepared chicken to the soup, as well as the cream. Cook until every thing is heated through. Serve hot. Top with cheese. Onion. More chilies. Bacon. Whatever you want basically.

Technology…

October 20, 2009 in Uncategorized | by piday | 2 comments

So my little pink phone was refusing to hold a charge and so I decided I would branch out into the world touch screen phones. I got a HTC Hero. http://www.htc.com/www/product/hero/overview.html 

Ideally I would have loved an Iphone. People that have them love them. But we are with Sprint and I have to go with what options they have. This phone is far past my tiny brain capacity. I haven’t decided if I like it yet. I mean, I like the phone. It’s cool. It does cool things. I’m pretty sure if there is probably an app that will have the phone go the bathroom for me. Though I really want to find the app that will clean my house (if you know where this is let me know ;) ).

What I don’t like is the idea now that I really don’t have much of an excuse not to get back to people, other than that whole didn’t have time thing. I mean I’ve got email access now. I’ve can check my blogs. I can check Facebook. I could Twitter if I could figure that app out. So at any given moment, someone hypothetically could get ahold of me. And I am pretty sure I am anit that idea. ;)

Pumpkin Picking…

October 11, 2009 in Rambling | by piday | 7 comments

So today was the annual trek to the Pumpkin Patch.  Though we are Burb people, we are lucky enough to be surrounded by local farms. So we have lots of options. This year we decided to go to the one that is down the street from our house. It was nice and low key. They don’t have as much stuff as the other people, but that is fine by us, because all we want are some pumpkins.

Normally I drag my poor husband through the majority of the patch because I am looking for obscure colored pumpkins. Last years prize was finding this bright, almost neon yellow pumpkin.

But this year for some reason I wanted to stick with traditional orange. We also got a large pumpkin, which never do either. My husband was less than appreciative of that idea. But at least this year we were smart enough to get a wheel barrow. ;)

This is the turkey that I made very, very angry. I think I dredged up bad feelings when I commented that I wouldn’t be eating him tomorrow. For though tomorrow is Thanksgiving, my husband is not big on turkey, so we go the chicken route. Speaking of Canadian Thanksgiving, I hope those of you who celebrate it have a nice one. Be sure to watch the Flames game. :)

They had Apple Cider Slushies. Even though it was cold out, I really needed one of those. So my hands got frozen and so did my brain, but it was worth it. Super duper tasty.

And here the pumpkins are safe at home. Although I am not sure how safe, as two of our pumpkins were taken last year.  But this year we are home for Halloween, last year we were at hockey, so hopefully  my pumpkins wont go bye-bye!

 

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Candy Gram…

October 8, 2009 in General, Rambling | by piday | 9 comments


I think Halloween is the only time of year when my dog wishes we had children.

Here she is modeling her lovely Land Shark costume. I couldn’t help it. Dressing her up amuses me. She actually doesn’t mind just the shark part, but she if highly anti the hat.

Besides the costume, I bought lots of candy, though this year I got stuff I don’t want to eat. :) That wont stop me from eating it, but the intent was there. And really, isn’t that what counts? :P

All mine…

October 4, 2009 in northwest nosh | by piday | 10 comments

So it is no secret that my husband is a picky eater. And more than that we pretty much have different tastes. Completely. So many a night I end up make separate items for dinner. His meal usually involves ground beef, and mine is usually vegetarian.

I love quiche but fear having a whole giant one to myself. So I started awhile back making them in individual dishes. I love these quiche dishes that I one over at Joelen’s Culinary Adventures. I had a couple of options to chose from but went with the quiche dishes, so glad I did. They have really come in handy. Plus, I think they are great for luncheons.

This quiche originated quite a while ago. I had made some pear, walnut, and blue cheese foccacia bread and had leftovers. I decided, what the heck and threw it into a quiche. And loved it. Have been making it ever since. I thought I had blue cheese in the house and did not, so this time around I used goat cheese. It goes nicely, but I love goat cheese as much as blue. Either version is lovely and is a nice change to the standard vegetarian quiche.

Pear, Walnut, and Goat Cheese Quiche for Two

cream cheese pie crust recipe (follows)
custard filling recipe (follows)
1 pear, your choice what kind, cut into sections with skin on
1/3 cup goat cheese crumbles (or more if you really like cheese)
1/3 cup walnuts, toasted and roughly chopped

Cream Cheese Pie Crust

½ cup all-purpose flour
3 TBSP unsalted butter, chilled and cut into 12 cubes
4 TBSP cream cheese, at room temperature
1 tsp apple cider
2 tsp honey

Preheat oven to 350F.

Using a food processor, add together all the ingredients. Pulse until it comes together in a ball.

Divide into two discs. Wrap into plastic wrap and place in fridge for 30  minutes.

Remove from fridge and roll out one disc on lightly floured surface to 1/8 of an inch. Lay and shape into either individual quiche dish or mini pie dish. Cut off excess dough. Repeat with second disc.

Top the crust with parchment paper and fill with dried beans or pie weights.

Bake for 10 minutes.

Remove from oven and let cool.

Custard mixture:
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
pinch of fresh nutmeg
salt and pepper to taste

In a small bowl, whisk together all the ingredients.

To make the quiches:

Divide the pear, walnut and goat cheese in half. Layer ½ the pear slices in one crust, and ½ in the other. Sprinkle ½ of the walnuts over the pears and do the same with the other one. Sprinkle ½ of the goat cheese crumbles over the pears and walnuts and do the same with the other one.

Pour half of the custard over the pears, walnuts, and goat cheese filling. Pour the remaining half into the other crust. You should have just enough.

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the middle doesn’t giggle anymore. Serve with a nice salad.

Smile for the camera…

September 19, 2009 in Uncategorized | by piday | 6 comments


So this past Friday I attended FoodSnap. A photography conference just for people who like to take pictures of food. The speaker of the day was Lou Manna who wrote a food photography book I owned. The morning part was especially helpful, yet a little hard to swallow. We had to load a few photos Flickr and Lou rip them to shreds reviewed them infront of everyone. Mine got ripped, though at least all of mine were in focus, many were not. But you need a little shredding from time to time in order to grow!

The first photo from the conference is of Kathy Casey (whom I love her cookbooks) Gelee cocktail shots. I think this one was pomegrante and that is edible silver on top.
We also took pictures of things that weren’t food. Not really sure why, but I went with it. ;)

I love this flower. I have no idea what it is. If you know what it is, can you tell me?

This was some interesting bottle they had out.

Bad Hair Day…

September 11, 2009 in Rambling | by piday | 6 comments

Even Crazy Cocker Spaniel has a bad hair day. Here she is pictured with Little Fuzzy Bunny, who is none to happy to be posing for pictures. Which is why there are always more puppy than bunny pictures.

The front yard is done. Here is a little bit of it. If you are saying what changed, there used to only be those three large bushes. We tried to add some color to the yard. And more importantly, colorful plants that are hearty. The hubs and I have black thumbs. Here’s hoping they make it. ;)

The In-Laws have left and life is sort of getting back to normal. There is large amounts of laundry to ignore  do. Fun stuff like that.

I am however working on winning the lottery so I can buy this dress. Swoon. I keep telling myself it would look horrible on me.

http://www.anthropologie.com/anthro/catalog/productdetail.jsp?id=933155&parentid=CLOTHES-DRESSES&pushId=CLOTHES-DRESSES&popId=CLOTHES&sortProperties=&navCount=270&navAction=top&fromCategoryPage=true&selectedProductSize=&selectedProductSize1=&color=001&colorName=BLACK&isSubcategory=true

As always though, if you are looking for something to satisfy your sweet tooth, you know where to go.

Into the dirt…

September 7, 2009 in Uncategorized | by piday | 5 comments


So the In Laws are here, they have been since Friday, which is why you proabably haven’t seen me around. We’ve been having a pretty laxed trip, but today my awesome Father-In Law helped my husband plant plants and dig out dead bushes that had been there awhile.
Tomorrow they are doing the exciting job of adding bark/multch to the flowerbeds.

They did work. My Mother-In Law and I shopped. ;)
Look at my new cute Welcome Mat that I found for Fall. We got the last one in the store…took it from their display.

My Mother-In Law and Father-In Law had never had brioche. Oh my! I had to fix that as quick as possible. I made them some Pumpkin Brioche Snails. If you are wanting to make some yourself, you know where to go.

Where’s the beef…

September 4, 2009 in northwest nosh | by piday | 3 comments


This is a nice little appetizer to serve for the holiday weekend. Every thing can be made ahead of time so it is super easy. Vegetarians can enjoy these as well…just leave off the roast beef part. :)

Artichoke Crostini with Roast Beef

10 ounces marinated artichoke hearts
1 garlic clove
3 TBSP white wine vinegar
1/3 cup olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

4 ounces Parmesan cheese, thinly sliced
1 ½ pounds thinly sliced roast beef
2 thin baguettes

Drain the artichoke hearts. Discard the liquid (unless you want to drink it or something). Place the artichoke hearts into a blender or food processor.

Add garlic, oil, vinegar, salt and pepper. Puree. Set aside.

Cut the baguettes into thin slices, getting about 32-38 slices depending on how you cut. If you cut uneven and badly like me then you need room to recover. ;)

Toast bread in oven under broiler for a few minutes until light golden brown. Watch to see that they don’t burn.

Spread each slice of bread with artichoke puree. Place a slice of Parmesan cheese followed by roast beef.

Hope everyone has a wonderful three day weekend!