I have an addendum to the stupidly simple fruit salad recipe that has stood me in good stead for many years. This variant version of the recipe is… even tastier, but it depends on one thing being available that seems to be seasonal.
Prepare your taste buds and follow me. … Read more
Me and the boy made what I think we’ll wind up calling Boys’ Night Lasagna tonight. We started with what seemed like a perfectly reasonable recipe. I realized I’d have to make Ingenious Substitutions for some ingredients. We also decided along the way that it needed the kitchen sink and more cowbell, and that we were going to take the wrong turn at Albuquerque.
His mother’s either going to love us or she’s going to kill us both in our sleep. Either way, we’ve gotta heap of homemade lasagna.… Read more
Yes, I said several pounds of fruit salad. This is what it looks like:
In a nutshell – or, at least, in a very large plastic container that’s standing in for a very large nutshell – it’s two pounds of strawberries, a pound and a half of grapes, two pounds of kiwi fruit, three pounds of cherries, half a pound of peaches, a little over half a pound of pineapple, a smattering of oranges, all sliced. Given that the kiwis and oranges had to be peeled, the strawberries had to be capped, not all of the grapes looked ready for prime time, and bits of the pineapple had to be lopped off, I’ll allow for maybe the loss of one pound of material from the total. Which brings us to… nine pounds, maybe? Yes, let’s call it nine pounds.
Now, here’s what you do with nine pounds of fruit salad as the summer approaches. … Read more
I’ve got some fish in the oven with some seasoning that I whipped up with a recipe as a starting point and just a little bit of “I don’t have that ingredient, so let’s throw in a bunch of other stuff” improvisation. I wrote down the mixture in case it works out well. If it doesn’t work out well and is borderline inedible… well… five cats. You work it out for yourself.
Anyway, Little E was asking me about what I was preparing for dinner, and the following conversation took place:
E: What kind of fish is that?
ME: It’s called swai.
E: Why is it called that?
ME: I don’t know. Maybe because it’s gonna be really tasty, that swai! [“that’s why!”]
Even the Mrs. laughed from across the house. Little E decided he wanted hot dogs instead. *shrug* MORE NOMS FOR MOM!
Cooking and comedy while you wait. Now, it remains to be seen if I could go pro at either one, so probably best if I contain this deadly combination to the safe confines of my house. Pity my wife and child. (And, if the seasoning mix isn’t particularly sound, my cats.)… Read more
Little E helped me with this batch by peeling oranges while I peeled and sliced up apples and kiwis. He and I both taste-tested the ingredients every step of the way. I mean, we can’t ask anyone to eat our fruit salad if we wouldn’t eat it ourselves.
You know, ever since I took up the task of teaching myself how to fry stuff, that volunteer fire department membership has practically paid for itself.… Read more
My wife is in such a rush in the mornings, I have to leave reminders for her to take all the goodies I’d whipped up for her the night before.
If she neglects to take them, they are likely to be eaten by a grue.… Read more
Dinner tonight is steak. Big steaks! I have Rather Substantial Steaks cooking right now.
Or R.S.S. for short.
Which means, of course, that tonight’s dinner constitutes an R.S.S. feed.
Now just wait until you hear what’s for dessert.… Read more
I’ve got some yum for everyone else’s tum too – we don’t just feed babies here you know. For dinner I’ve whipped up some fishy ricey buttery garlicy lemony mushroomy goodness, and for dessert (or for diiner, if you don’t care for fishy ricey buttery garlicy lemony mushroomy goodness, I suppose), sugar-free chocolate brownie muffin things with decidedly not-so-sugar-free frosting. (I suppose that’s on the same order of logic that sees some people ordering a diet Coke with their two Big Macs for lunch, but cut me a break, it’s the only frosting I had on hand.)
I’m getting kinda handy with this sort of thing, if one doesn’t count the china plate that I broke today while working on v1.0 of the rice dish. 😯 That sent a nice big piece of ostrich steak into the floor, and from there it magically traveled to Xena’s bowl outside, instantaneously transforming her into the happiest dog in the county.
Yum. (Don’t worry, this’ll all be gone by the time anyone reading this blog reaches the house.)… Read more
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