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Food rainbow

I just finished watching the movie Gone Baby Gone. Don't watch it. Too depressing. It's put a damper on the last few hours of an otherwise fantastic weekend.

So, how about some happy thoughts? I took lots of food photos over the last few days and when I looked back, I noticed we ate a lot of colors.

Sushi (well, Melissa's version of sushi, very bland, very veggie, very colorful)

Black beans (not all that colorful except that they turned the wooden spoon purple). Inspired, of course, by Angry Chicken, I made my own black beans: most of a bag of dried beans, one chopped onion, a few smashed garlic cloves and about 8 cups of water. On high in the crockpot for 5 hours and the burritos were delish.

Picnic with cherries and Rhubarb Applesauce. I think this may be my best applesauce adventure yet.  One bag of apple "seconds," one small bunch of rhubarb, a few tablespooons sugar, many hours over low heat.

White (orange?) carrot cake cupcakes--Biscuit liked frosting (and eating frosting)

And, finally, very green soup.  Recipe from Orangette. Mr. H liked it (surprisingly--he's not a garlic fan)

Thanks for all the nice comments on the correspondence birthday gift yesterday :)  Really, comments totally make my day, even when I get behind and don't respond personally to each one. Sorry, I am dumb.

Happy Monday!

Pyrex--the quest for the nested bowls

It was all about pyrex today. From mixing pancakes for breakfast to searching for vintage pieces at the antique store after lunch.
 
About ten years ago a co-worker at my first "real" job gave me a nesting set of orange pyrex bowls.  They were practical and sort of neat so I kept them. Now it appears I am very hip.  I don't have the fancy turquoise pattern and my bowls are smaller than most but, hey, they were free. And now I'm including them in my (almost daily) month-o-kitchen-stuff-I-love posting series. These are great bowls if you have a 2 year old who likes to mix. They're nice and heavy so they don't tip over.

...awkward transition.....So this afternoon I spent an enjoyable few hours antiquing with my Craft Mafia pals. Thanks for hosting, Tamie!! I was going to get out of there for $0.75 but in the last 10 minutes of shopping, I...ummm....managed to spend a whole lot more than that.  I'll share the loot later this week. The other gals scored some really great pyrex!

I found the mushroom pyrex at the thrift store several months ago for $5. It's a nice big size for a salad.

I'm not sure how to end this post so why don't we close with a cute photo of my kid? Ok?

The "noculars" grandma made have been a big hit. Perfect for "looking for bugs."

Cookie therapy

Hi, welcome to the "all cookies all the time" blog. No photos today, just a note on cookies. And salt.

First, cookies. One should never underestimate the power of a warm, freshly baked, chocolate chip cookie to improve the mood.

Second, because of the first, one should always have, at the ready, a supply of ready-to-bake cookies

Therefore, next time you mix up a batch of the Contessa's cookies, bake one cookie sheet's worth (they're only worth eating right out of the oven anyway). During the 15 minute baking time, scoop the remaining dough in cookie size portions onto your other cookie sheet and put it in the freezer.  After you have enjoyed your cooked cookies, transfer the frozen dough balls to a ziploc. Don't bother to date or label--they won't last long.

If you follow this strategy exactly, you will be well prepared for an especially sucky day. Like, say, today.  You can get the kid in bed, open the wine, turn on the oven to preheat, put the required number of frozen dough balls on the cookie sheet (they'll thaw just enough during the preheat) and 25ish minutes later you'll be feeling muuuch better.

And today's best loved kitchen item: Kosher salt. The Contessa recommended it and I thought it was a scam (Mortons, so cheap; Kosher, so expensive) but I swear it makes food taste better.  Also, if a recipe calls for kosher and you don't have it, use less Mortons--table salt packs together more. I buy my kosher salt at Trader Joes.

New podcast with Emily of The Black Apple is up at Craftsanity. I can't wait to listen!

Bug hunting and lemon juicing

My camera is periodically eating photos. It's driving me crazy! So if you think, "hey, this photo could have been better," just assume my camera ate the better one.

I've got baby gifts and a long list of other items I need/want to sew. So I spent the weekend bug hunting (aka gardening). I would show you a photo of my garden but the camera ate it. :( But the bug photo is safe and sound.

Do you know this bug?

What about this juicer?

You should (know the juicer that is). Best. Juicer. Ever.

I'm kinda enjoying documenting my fav kitchen tools. Maybe that is weird. But it's fun.

Hope you had a great weekend!

very busy

camping in the backyard.



Gotta get out there for story time. But to keep the kitchen thing going, these are fab cookie sheets from William Sonoma. Don't bother with cheap cookie sheets. Trust me.

Homemade cutting boards

The month-o-my favorite kitchen stuff continues (the loyal readers sigh in dismay)

(the loyal blogger perseveres)

So, cutting boards.  I made the one on top in college as a wedding gift for a high school friend. Then I lost touch with the friend during the "one-year-after-the-wedding-to-give-a-gift grace period." I may be a terrible person I've enjoyed the cutting board ever since. I use it for cutting but also for setting out cheese trays at parties.

The (larger) cutting board on the bottom is made my Mr. H and the bottom is engraved for me. So sweet.

The knife on top is gooey from last night's minor bread disaster. I underbaked my first artisan loaf. Then, today, discovered the errata. Hmm, wrong amount of yeast? That might make a difference!  Also, if it's really brown on top don't assume it's done; let it bake those last 8 minutes. Even if you're in a hurry. 

One of the (many) projects that has been running around in my head for months is making natural edge cutting boards out of olive wood. They would be SO pretty for cutting and/or cheese platters.  But have you seen the price of natural edge olive wood? (probably not. trust me, expensive) Let me know if you'll be cutting down an olive tree in the Sacramento region. I'll be right over ;)

Le Creuset

When Mr. H and I got married we'd been living in our own (separate) apartments for several years so our marriage began with two couches, two beds, two toasters and two full sets of pots and pans.  Mr. H is a Calphalon man. My heart belongs to Le Creuset. I got a full set of the blue secondhand (but still new) from a co-worker of my mom's who offloaded it for about $200.  Felt like way too much money at the time but it was a great investment.

This is my favorite pot. Tonight--risotto.

I've been enjoying hearing about your fav kitchen items, thanks for all the comments. But I've been super bad at email this week so my response rate has been pathetic. I'm sorry! Trust that comments make me happy!

Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day--assuming you have flour in the house

I went on a 5 minute Amazon spending spree last week. Yesterday my blogland recommended books arrived on my porch.  Amanda Soule's new book, of course, and Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day as recommended by Angry Chicken.

At about 9:45 tonight I decided to make bread.  I cracked the eggs and heated the milk for an oatmeal bread and then discovered I have SESAME seeds not SUNFLOWER seeds in the pantry. Scratch that--milk back in the fridge, eggs in a container to scramble tomorrow. I switched to the basic loaf. Water, yeast, salt and...hmm....flour.  Only about 2 cups of flour in the house.  A third trip to the store (this evening) and the bread was mixed in less than 5 minutes.  I'll report back on final results.

A few weeks ago I mentioned to my friend that I wanted to post every day for a month about my favorite kitchen gadgets. Not sure it will last but let's start with my beloved Kitchen Aid. A gift from Mr. H for my birthday in 2000, about 2 weeks before he proposed with a diamond ring. That was an expensive month.  Eight years later this is the first time I've used the dough hook.

I almost killed her mixing homemade marshmallows this Christmas but Ms. Kitchen Aid is a workhorse and still performing admirably.  Go Kitchen Aid!

Dinner with friends

Favorite "go-to" cookbooks

Ina Garten, Mollie Katzen and Susan Branch--all excellent!

Trying a new recipe from a new cookbook

Honey Cake from Apples for Jam (unusual combo but tasty)

An old favorite from a well-stained cookbook
'
Vegetable Pot Pie from Barefoot Contessa Parties

I love a Friday off.  Time to hang out with Biscuit and still cook dinner for friends.  And the weather was even nice. TGIF

Cookies at midnight

Late last night I was the only person awake in the house and I had a sudden hankering for cookies.

At 11:08 the oven was preheating and the cookies were waiting on my new, red cookie sheet (thanks, mom)

By 11:20 they were in the oven and at 11:40 I was enjoying warm, gooey, crispy on the outside chocolate chip cookies with lots of walnuts. The Barefoot Contessa recipe I love most.

I don't know why the concept of freezing my own cookie dough was such a revelation (Otis Spunkmeyer has been doing it for ages) but I never thought to do my own.  This is great, and so easy. I originally made this batch of frozen cookies as a gift for my mom (but I never quite managed to get them to her house).

Since then, I made my non-cooking, city living, vegetarian sister several frozen entrees and packaged them up with a rice cooker for a birthday gift I think she actually liked. Genius I tell ya.

So the cookies were a great boost at 11:40 but I didn't get to bed until well after midnight. It's been one of those weeks. Sorry I've been completely lame at responding to comments but I SO appreciate you taking the survey. Really, so appreciate it. I'll draw the winner on Friday night so if you didn't take it, there's still time. And I'll report back on how we do in the competition. I also appreciated your feedback on tutorials. I think I have a good idea on that--maybe this weekend--when I'm recovered from staying up too late all week.

Happy Thursday!