Introducing Our New Little Arrivals: The Twins.

I know, I didn't tell anyone we were "expecting," but with adoptions, sometimes it just happens one day. Meet Dory & Rex
Dory is our golden child, and loves the spotlight. Rex, with his regal purple, is a little more subdued, but likes to sit back & stir things up.
Can you believe that Dory loves to flash people. I'm trying to get her to stop, but she's incorrigible!

Dory likes to stir up trouble when ever she can. She was enjoying this mix of ginger, garlic and onion.
But once the spices were added, Rex jumped right in, with Dory watching carefully over him. She is a big fan of the turmeric, garam masala, cumin, cayenne, coriander and other curry spices thrown in. Rex, was a little surprised at having his picture taken and tried to hide the next time I grabbed the camera When I added the Salmon, they both went running for the hills I guess they aren't fish fans like HP & I. (Recipe inspired by October Food & Wine's Creamy Indian-Spiced Halibut Curry)

Both the twins loved bath time
Though I did have to wait for Rex to come up from the bubbles!

While the twins were keeping me busy, HP was cookin' up some trouble of his own. Actually, he wasn't really cooking, he was mostly slicing and tearing and really, it wasn't trouble he was making, he was making the most of some organic heirloom tomatoes that someone had given me. Layered with fresh mozzarella & basil from our garden then drizzled with basalmic vinegar & olive oil with a sprinkle of black pepper, these were the best tomatoes of the season!

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As promised

After hours of trying to convince flickr to upload my pictures. (pretty please with garlic on top? no, how about bananas on top? sugar on top?)
I am back with the photo version of dinner.
The big bag of banana leaves.


They are long too!

The achiote paste was made with achiote (annatto) seeds, cumin, cinnamon, pepper, cloves, and allspice (maybe some more things, I don't remember) then mixed with OJ, lime juice, garlic,a bay leaf and maybe some other things (and no, it isn't real "pasty").





The fish then marinated for an hour before being wrapped in the banana leaf, sprinkled with fresh herbs and put on the grill.




























I grilled some onions in lime and cumin for the side









While HP made some salsa









Doesn't this look good?
With a little lime and tomato on top, it really was a tasty adventure!

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Playing with Food-Literally!

Fun stuff, found on

Love Carrots and Other Vegetables

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Kiki, out of her mind!

Another weekend has disappeared incredibly quickly here in Kikiville. I don't really know where it went.

I know there was some time in the garden. Mostly HP in the garden. I went out to help (after the inevitable grocery trip), but was pulling the violets to meanly or not in the right place or something. Then when asked about a good home for the verigated Hosta. Every answer I gave was wrong. too shady, too crowded, too sunny, too not-the-answer-I-was-looking-for *sigh* it's a good thing that the garden is looking great! He has planted the herb garden. Taking a photo is still on my list of things to do. But then breathing is currently on my list of things to get around to.

I am continuing to pound my head against the wall work on trying to get the lovely folks at(name your foundation) to give money to the arts organization that is paying me to ask people to give money. So far it is just work & no results, it takes a while to know if you are successful.

Begging for money has kept me busy. We are also trying to give the house a deep clean. It is past due & the Father-in-Law is coming this weekend for The Boy's graduation. The Boy is officially done with high school & off to college (with a hefty scholarship I might add). Yay Boy!

So we've cleaned & dusted & still have 3 1/2 floors to go. I swear we made some progress. But throw in a couple hours of hauling The Girl around & helping her mother. We just didn't get as much done as we hoped.

But I did make a yummy dinner last night. Sea Bass with a chile & spice rub. I don't remember what was in it besides chili & cumin & oregano & salt & pepper. That is probably most of it, but it was good. Along with some steamed broccoli & cheese sauce. Yum. A good diner was had by all!

We have begun planning the menu for the F-I-L. He is only in town a short time, and we are running around for a lot of it, so I had to come up with simple, take-it or leave-it type things. The menu as it currently stands:
For the late arrival Friday night. IF they (F-I-L is bringing a companion) are hungry, we will have some herbed goat cheese, some focaccia made with left over home-made pizza dough some bruchetta and some marinated artichokes. A simple late-night snack. Saturday is up & out for Baccalaureate at 9:30 & they are staying at a B&B so I don't have to worry about breakfast. Luncheon follows the graduation ceremony, another meal off the list, then off to a party given by friends of The Boy. Not sure we are going to have to deal with dinner at all, but again I might. So we are planning, a light dinner of Carrot-Ginger Soup and some crusty bread. So the meal to plan for is Sunday brunch. After all that running around all weeekend? yep. Sunday brunch. It is looking like I'm going to whip up a quiche with shrimp & caramelized onions and serve that with some grilled asparagus and perhaps some breakfast sausage. We can toast up what ever bread is left from the night before and call it a meal. Wheew! It sounds simple enough, but really? we'll have to see.

Oh, neglected in that menu planning is the Thursday night choir concert. The Girl is in the school choir and so we have thought we would be nice and feed everyone prior. Everyone being The Girl, her mother (TheEx) and Her mother (TheExM-I-L). Really, can some one just pound my head with a hammer now? I don't have enough going on & I agreed to throw that in the mix? Dear Internets, wish me luck!

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