waiting

I am waiting for a couple of things. 1. The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook 2. inspiration ...I lost my kitchen mojo this week and I'm pretty bummed about it. I know why. I haven't cooked dinner in two nights. My brother was in town this past weekend and we cooked a couple of hefty one-pot meals that provided leftovers for Monday and Tuesday. I wish cooking was like riding a bicycle. Once you learn how, you never forget. But with cooking, you take two nights off and then on Wednesday you stand around and wonder what the room was once used for. Can't I just eat my leftovers in peace? I'm going to try to ride this in-between phase out and not wail that all is lost. What better place to pick back up than with a new cookbook. I've flipped a few pages of The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook and I'm already hooked. My sister made a grapefruit olive oil cake from there -hooked again. Plus, my beloved French Lentil Dish was her adaptation of Barefoot's original recipe. I guess it was meant to be. Currently I am 163rd on the waiting list to get it from the library. I think it might be bought this week. To: Melissa. Love, Melissa. :)

spoiler alert

Farewell Sybil. Did you all tune in to Downton Abbey last night? If you haven't already watched a pirated internet version previously? It was almost a little too sad for make-believe. And if you couple that with spilling your first beverage on your newly re-upholstered couch, you go to bed on a dismal down note. I was telling my sister yesterday that while I love my new couch, I'm not really enjoying my new role as the couch police. "Naomi, no jumping! Eric, can you lean over when you break off that piece of chocolate?" I can tell you right now, it will not be the toddler trampolining or the husband's snacking, or the niece and nephew using the cushions as lily-pads, tossing them onto the floor and then jumping on them from one to the next- it will be me. It will be me carefully balancing my almost empty glass of scotch (in this case) on the cushion and then forgetting about it. However! I do recommend that and at least one row of Lindt milk chocolate with liquid raspberry filling to further enhance your next Downton viewing. :)

I don't think you can see the spot from this angle.

a new rug, a new throw, and some meatballs

So I bought the package of frozen meatballs at IKEA today. Did you know that there are only seven ingredients listed on the back? I don't think that sounds like that many. Beef. Pork. Water. Not a bad beginning. It was a fast decision, an impulse buy. IKEA targets the iron-deficient by placing a freezer full of packaged meatballs right in front of the checkout isle. They got me. You see, we don't eat a lot of meat around this parts lately. You already know about the lentils, and then there are the potatoes and the beans and rice. This is perfectly fine if you go to bed before 10pm so you are not awake when your body tells you that it needs more food. But, last night Eric and I were up watching Mindy and...The Bachelor -what a terrible, addicting show. (It's a good thing I'm married with children, because if I was still single, somebody would be trying to stop me from driving to Hollywood to find Sean.) And, there was an ad for a McDonald's Big Mac that was playing on repeat and we were starving. I had made a green curry dish with potatoes and red peppers over rice for dinner that night. It was not without flavor. And I left the table feeling full. And we even had a big piece of the the Apple-Molasses cake afterward. But we were completely starving at 10:30 with this juicy beefy Big Mac flashing before us. It was all I wanted. A bowl of cereal is what I had instead. Fast forward to IKEA and those meatballs were coming home with me. Anyway, we will see what comes of them. :)

Apple-Molasses Upside-Down Cake set aside!

I'm going to call it a success! Given that it is made, and the cake did indeed bake in a cast-iron skillet and then came out in one piece when inverted. Let me be your BA test kitchen for this recipe and tell you that if your skillet is not exactly 10" when measured across the bottom, proceed. And, if you realize that you only have 1/2 cup of molasses instead of 3/4 cup, carry on! The recipe also had lovely moments like "set aside". I love it when they tell you to melt the butter and then set aside. Wisk the dry ingredients and then set aside. This is so much more manageable than doing things "meanwhile". There are way too many meanwhiles in recipes, don't you agree?

A Couple of Things Minor

First, my new favorite dried fruit is a date. But not just one date --I said A date because the grammar was easier- what I mean is lots of dates. I know you were just on the edge of your seat waiting for that little piece of news, but stay with me. I was reintroduced to them by a friend who brought them as an app wrapped in bacon. We then gladly recreated the dish several times over the holidays (I think I might have mentioned this already). Then soon after, my tres hip Swiss neighbors brought them as an app, not wrapped in bacon. And I said to myself, huh. So, instead of returning the extra pack of fancy large dates to Trader Joes we ate them, plain, no bacon added, popping them in one after another. And they were great, really and truly. Now "I haven't looked back" as they say. A funny thing to say about dates. I think we all have those certain foods that we've walked right by in the isle for years without even so much as a glance. But, I'm so happy the dates and I are on speaking terms now. Grab a pack next time you're grocery shopping and let's start a trend. Actually, I'm sure there already is a date-trend well on its way. They will be on the cover of Bon Appetit for February no doubt. I always find myself on a food trend without meaning to. It's the same phenomenon with baby names. We all start liking these super-creative names that just come to us, only to find out they are sweeping the nation. But, back to Bon Appetit... I think there is an apple-molasses upside-down cake in my future. The recipe is in January's Bon Appetit magazine. The picture of it looks delicious, brown and crisp --a far cry from the pineapple upside-down cake that we all stay away from. And you bake it in a cast-iron skillet. Done and done. Well, not quite yet.

the aging process

I'm on borrowed time right now..rustlings from both bedrooms can be heard. But I had to check in just to say that the Great Depression lentils went over much better than I expected them to -especially with a healthy dose of hot sauce to liven them up a bit. Even Naomi wanted a small drop on her portion. And, it ended up being doublely okay that I used the whole bag because we've have them for lunch and they've gotten better with time. I have to give a shout out to the Whole Foods 365 brand chicken broth which I used to anchor the dish -I think a lot of credit can go there. And when you have leftover birthday cake to look forward to, how bad can it be? I've been eating it (the cake) for days now. I told myself I would throw it out after the birthday weekend. It is now Wednesday and the cake and I live on. It's becoming pretty hilarious actually. How long will it hold out? But, like the lentils it has aged very well and a little sliver after lunch and then during nap-time and then after dinner has helped keep the post-birthday blues at bay just a little bit. But, seriously I'm joining the cleanse craze after this cake goes away.

Survival meal

I'm not loving this balmy feel-good weather. It does not go with my mood, or the lentil soup that sits on my stove. And they aren't french lentils either. These are brown and look like they belong in a film of how to survive the Great Depression. They will provide sustenance for dinner tonight, and that is about it. It's too bad because the bag of french lentils that I was telling you about last week went over remarkably well. It was delicious even if they were "stewed". When Barefoot Contessa messes with lentils you know it is going to be good. I made it once, then i made it again and then i made it a third time to share with neighbors who just had a baby. No word back from them yet, but I thought it was tasty. And, then I had to go and do this. It was a throw-it-together-during-nap-time meal. Dinner is done and I guess I still have that, but how I long for a throw-it-together meal that is exciting and delicious. I would hold my head up a little higher had a used a dainty 1 cup measure of these brown lentils. But no, I had to dump the whole bag of them into the broth. And of course I never have enough broth in the pot for the whole bag, so I have to add more water. It never goes up from that point. I do have a baguette to serve with it at least. And there is still some red wine in the box on our counter. Not a complete loss. But, I have to make a promise to myself and to you that I will take a break from the lentils.

A new year, a new lentil

Happy New Year Everyone! Did you all eat your black-eyed peas for good luck? I didn't, but I always aspire to and my grandmother does each year. I'm glad January is here. The holiday season for me is always mostly wonderful and very complicated. I'm still figuring out how to best enjoy and savor the holidays. This year I had so many good intentions and made many good mental notes, but had such little follow-through. I never got my daughters a new ornament in order to mark each year of their childhood. And I never did throw that super-low key and super-amazing Christmas party. I did however make an oyster stew for Christmas eve. That was pretty much the highlight of what happened in my kitchen -that, and the fact that Naomi and I survived several rounds of cookie baking together. If you ever need to work on your patience and perseverance, bake something with a two-year old. But, hurrah for January! I've given up trying to stop shopping at Whole Foods Market. And instead I just try to make tiny little trips, buying merely bananas and french lentils and superior olive oil at half price, for example. That is what I got today and I'm so excited. If there is anything that will get me back in the kitchen it is this.