It must skip a generation

A friend was lamenting the old "what to make for dinner" question on Facebook today.
Boy can I relate.  My children eat about six thing a piece, and not the same six, so dinner can be a real hair ripper.
Add in all of Mark's finickiness and his allergies and sensitivities and you really find yourself running a short order cafe. People, usually the ones without kids, will say "you control what they eat", these people have never had their evening spoiled by a fight with a five year old over dinner.
Maxwell could sometimes be successfully bullied into eating what I demanded he eat, but Freyja would rather die than give in, so you may as well just save your breath and our patience and make her a grilled cheese, not even a grilled cheese, no that would be too mixed up for the Princess and the Pea girl.
She would require cheese on a tiny plate, and a slice of bread, dry, on another.
Oddly enough she will chow down on some hardcore stinky cheese, just as long as it's plain.
Maxwell is a much more adventurous eater than Freyja,  but he has the annoying habit of changing his likes and dislikes with an irrational frequency.
Freyja is rather steadfast in her opinions on food.
My father hates vegetables, or so he says.  He and his sister have both lambasted my poor Grandma Betty's cooking more than once.
I, on the other hand have only the most fond memories of her cooking, and would forgo most restaurant meals for some of her dumplings, or stewed tomatoes, or even green salad, there was just something really nice about the way she put a salad together, that I rarely find anymore.
Growing up, I hated my mother's cooking, which I realize now was more a result of poverty and lack of time, than anything else.
She had a terrible habit of making soup, by putting in way too many things that in my opinion do not go together.  I hate soup as a rule to this day.
If it has corn in it, I will not be eating it, no matter what.  I even offended a co-worker recently by stating innocently enough, that hominy is the ONE, the one thing I will never eat, only to learn that she had chosen the posole for lunch. Rolf once bought be one of those industrial cans of hominy as a joke, and it sits, mocking me in our cupboard, a memory of too much nasty soup.
She also tries to sneak old lettuce in. catsup
You really have to watch her.
She was so pleased when she first went to Belgium, to find that putting lettuce in soup and pureeing it was perfectly normal.
She tried to pass off some old lettuce soup to me just last week.
My mother's mother was also guilty of tying to camouflage old left-overs, but she typically did it with meatloaf, which is somehow less disgusting than limp soup.
My uncle has a revulsion of gravy, for the same reason I hate soup, it is just a stretched out liquid reminder to him that you don't have enough money for a proper meal.  I personally love gravy, but I respect his boundary, despite the fact that he puts ketchup on eggs, which is just wrong.

Porkchops with mushrooms and tomato, polenta in the yellow dish

Roasted veggies

I impose my healthful food on the family fairly often, but every once in a while they win; tonight Mark requested porkchops, with polenta and I obliged with the caveat that a pan of roasted mix vegetables go along side.  I find polenta cumbersome to cook, when stirring it for ever on the stovetop, so I opt for the quick and easy method of baking in the oven (2 cups polenta, 8 cups water, salt, seasoning, and half a stick of butter of fake butter of your preference. Bake in a preheated oven <350> for about an hour, stir once mid way through).  If you are really lazy, you can throw raw veggies in and let it all cook together.  If you really dig the rubbery texture, let this polenta cool over night, then cut into squares and saute in olive oil the next day.  For the chops, I seared them, then braised with chopped tomatoes, shallots, mushrooms, basil, oregano, garlic, olives.

Memorial Day weekend

I had this vision of homemade mayonnaise, with lemon and herbs, for asparagus.

So Rolf helped me with the beating.  My hands are so wimpy these days, I can't do a lot of whipping or beating.

My special asparagus strainer, that fits inside the asparagus pan which is tall and skinny, and makes it easy not to over cook the tips.

the finished product, going onto some coleslaw. I almost always make cabbage salads with a vinaigrette, rather than mayo, but in this case, it seemed like the right thing to do. after all the work of beating the mayo up.

I also had a vision of roasting ears, so I wrapped all the corn on the cob up and put it on the grill, rather than just boiling it, which would have been easier. 

Maxwell fell asleep before dinner, having spent the night before at a friend's house.  He looked like he was still alseep at the table.  Rolf brought Mexican sodas so the kids thought they were in hog heaven, just drinking a big old bottle of pop right in front of me, like it was the most natural thing in the world.

Rolf making his pear ice cream, which he had been thinking of for months.

Freyja having "pie and ice cream, with no pie, but sprinkles on the ice cream part".

Rolf's girlfriend brought an apple pie, which is my favorite.

 

She also brought this fellow, which normally wouldn't be my favorite, but he is very well behaved and super cute.

My poppy never produces more than two flowers. They were really lovely, though.

Pizza night!

making of the sauce.  The herbs are from our deck garden

Freyja adding fresh mozzarella, but making sure Mark keeps the onion and olive on his side!

Cheers!

Maxwell is away at a sleep over, so Freyja, Mark and I decided to make something special for dinner.  She chose pizza.  I chose to make it whole wheat.  Win, win.

Going, going, GONE!

 I donated a gift certificate for cupcakes to an auction a couple years ago, and the family asked me to make them this weekend. I have not baked or even cooked very much lately and it felt like an enormous burden, but once I got going it was no big deal.  I had left over batter, so I made a tiny bunt cake for my family.

another Saturday night

I decided to make Cuban inspired food for Saturday night.  It was my friend Don's birthday, and he didn't have any special plans, being the single dad of a toddler, special plans are somewhat hard to come by, so we had him and another musician friend of his, that used to send his daughter to our apartment in NW for music lessons 20 years ago, when Don and I lived there and he taught lessons out of our guestroom.  The daughter has a newborn baby these days.  Man, we are getting OLD. The were coming from a gig in Hillsboro  and I think Don was happy to have a dinner, rather than Pizza Oasis pizza, which is where they were headed, before I phoned.

 

I was afraid to put hot stuff on the new buffet top.

Rolf and I made ice cream in last weekend, but I really like this photo, even though my hands looks sort of oldladyish.  The pin that holds the handle on the crank snapped off, so cranking was hard.  Our friend Mark Murphy came by and Rolf tried to claim that the salt had eroded the metal, but Mark said "Rolf, I bet that thing rusted because you left it outside for the past 15 years!" and I had to support that thesis.  Rolf plays pretty fast and loose with caring for stuff.  The ice cream wasn't that great.  We used all cream, which made it too creamy and rich, and we didn't have enough cherries to give good flavor, and it wasn't cranked quite long enough.

Freyja built this Eiffel tower out of unit blocks that are meant for doing fractions.  She is obsessed with France.

The dinner went over pretty well.  I made enough food for about 20 people, though!

Maxwell is pretty cool, huh?

yams!

Cake

Meyerlemon cupcakes VEGAN for a work holiday party.  A friend sent me a giant box of lemons and I made lemoncake. 

Vegan devil's food bunt cake for the work party too.  I have one employee that likes this cake a lot, so I try to butter him up with it at least once a year, the least I can do, for a job well done.

Yule log roll, for Mark's family Christmas party today.  I am not fancy enough to make the meringue mushrooms the way you are supposed to, I just made some out of marzipan, like a lazybone. 

the anatomy of an apple pie, and decorating for fall

driven batty

 The finished product, vegan, organic and pretty damn good, if I say so myself.  The bat picks aren't too shabby either, I may have to go back to the Decorette shop for more.
Truth be told, unless you want to make a replica of those really trashy grocery store sheet cakes, the Decorette Shop isn't that hot, it is the the height of kitsch, so if you enjoy that sort of thing it is a like a little slice of heaven right on SE Foster!
And every now and again you can find something really cool like these bats.
I also picked up some owl, acorns and leaves sculpted out of sugar and some Arthur Rackhamesque owl picks, which I was too selfish to put on these cupcakes, which I am sending along with Freyja to a Fairy club meeting.
Those fairy loving girls just wouldn't get how special those owls are.
I need a really good, special occasion to bust them out.

muffins and cupcakes are almost the same things

Vegan  Ginger, pear, applesauce muffins
2 cups flour
1 cup applesauce
1/2 cup oil
1 teaspoon soda
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 molasas
1 cup chopped ripe pair
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 chopped candied ginger
top with chopped nuts
bake at 325 until done- 35 minutes ish

 Cat not necessary for good outcome, but it may help

Vegan chocolate, pumpkin cupcakes with chocolate icing
makes 14
2 cups flour
1 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 cocopowder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 molasas
1/2 cup oil
bake in muffin tin for 35 minutes or until done

ice with frosting of your choice

Mexican cookery

Freyja chopping nuts (I scored this old fashioned nut chopper, just like the one my Grandma Betty used to have, at Goodwill!) for the mole, first thing in the morning.  Moles are kind of a pain in the ass to make, but you get that smug sense of satisfaction from all the work, so I suppose it is worth it.

I soaked these beans the night before, so they only took about an hour to cook, again with the smug satisfaction, if you don't crave that kind of attention, use canned.  I marinated them with lime and oil, onion and peppers.

Spinach enchiladas with verde sauce (more chopping and blending and mixing),  Salty Mexican cheese on top. 

my go to raw salsa

mashed yams with chile and lime

jicama salad,  black beans, salsa chickpea salad

candlelight in the rain, under our covered deck.