On the road with Kiki

I've been gone the past couple weekends. It was a nice change of scenery! First I went to see the cutest kids EVER and got to play with them for a weekend.
Their mom went away, so Auntie Kiki was in charge!

Hmmm what to dress them in?
They weren't so sure about that, until we started doing this

Tie dye is always fun and the Cute Nephew liked his so much, he is wearing both of the shirts he we Auntie Kiki made (with his "help"). Cute Niece made a sundress to wear if the weather ever warms up. She was considering wearing it along with her hat to "hippie day" at school.

The weekend also included a visit to the museum & nature center. We got to see old cars, all sorts of animals, including a very entertaining river otter and an exhibit by this artist. Let me tell ya, as cool as the pics are, the real thing blows them away!

And of course, we had to make ICE CREAM. Chocolate chip mint. It was very good! I also got to see the Cute Nephew play soccer. (football for you Euro types).
And a good time was had by ALL!

Next on the road trip was a weekend away with HP.

We went down to the DC area where The Boy has just completed his freshman year. Yay Boy! Friday night we stayed with Aunt Chirp & Uncle Pablo at "the Nut" where Sarah Louise was doing a weekend visit for Mom's day. It was a great chance to catch up with family and relax. Saturday morning, I got up and made these amazing pancakes. It has been a tradition for many years to eat blueberry pancakes with this family and I found this recipe the day before we left. Which says to me, it was meant to be!

In following the tradition, I added blueberries to the batter as well as using in the sauce, and pancake nirvana was achieved! I will be making these again, want to come by for some?

After breakfast and a self-indulgent trip to Trader Joe's, we went into the city to fetch some stuff from The Boy to put into storage. We called to be sure he was awake before the plan was formulated. We called to let him know we were on the way. We called to let him know we were there, his response was "I'm just getting up, give me a few minutes to shower." I think the only reason that boy lived through his teen years is because he went to boarding school and hid from his parents! After feeding him & stowing the stuff that was staying in the city for the summer (unlike The Boy who came home to work) we left him back at the dorm (so his mom could fetch him & the remainder of his stuff the next day) and set off on our own adventure. First on the plan was try to get out of town. DC was planned out like the spokes of a wheel. Except they threw small monuments, large monuments, one way streets, and random closed streets in the middle of it. We did not plan our route very well in advance, and there was some miscommunication involved between HP & I. (I know you are shocked)

(Sometime earlier this month)
HP: Honey, why don't you find a place for us to go for crabs when we go up from DC and a room for Saturday night in Newark (pronounced New-ARC, not new-werk)
Me: Umm, I'm really busy & really stressed trying to get Souper Bowl together. Plus my computer is acting all cranky and keeps shutting down.
HP: Uh huh.

(Sometime last week)
HP: Did you find a place for us to stay?
Me: No, I told you I was busy and my computer is getting worse. I'm going to try to wipe it out & start over.
HP: ok

(Sometime last weekend while I was in CT)
HP: Did you find a place for us to stay?
Me: (sigh) No, I told you I couldn't
HP: Oh. yeah. Where should we stay when we are in Newark, do you have any ideas?
Me: No, when ever I went to that area it was with friends and we didn't stay the night.
HP: Ok, I'll find something

(Friday)
HP: Did you find a place to go for crabs?
Me: No, but if we go up the Eastern Shore we should be ok. What do you think our schedule will be?
HP: Oh, we'll meet the boy around noon, feed him, stow his stuff, and go. We should be in crab area pretty early.
Me: Ok, I'll ask at the rest area.

So I asked the helpful man at the helpful desk about good places to go for crabs. We got a lovely location that was recommend (and subsequently recommended by the Relatives). We even discussed some alternatives. HP really wanted to do a side trip to Rock Hall (I'm not sure how he heard about Rock Hall, but he thought it sounded cute) and on the road we were.

(Saturday)
HP: Well, it took a lot longer than I thought to get on the road! I think I have spent a large portion of my adulthood waiting for my kids... I guess we'll do Rock Hall another trip.
(a little while later)
Me: We are about to hit Harris, do you want to stop? I'm not real hungry yet.
HP: No, me neither, lunch was late. We'll keep going.
(a little while later)
HP: Wasn't that 213? Don't we want to take that?
Me: Uh, I thought we were taking 301 up to 896, it runs straight into Newark. Since we aren't going to Rock Hall.
HP: No, I still want to go along the Chesapeake.
Me: Ok, there is a rest area up ahead, we can turn around there or figure out a new plan.
(after our rest stop)
Me: There is 405, we can take it North to 213 & be back on our way.
HP: Ok, east or west?
Me: Oh, east to the water.
HP: Honeeyy, the Bay is West. The ocean is east, we want the bay
Me: UHHH, turn around. Sorry.

So that was how much of the trip went. We weren't at our best or most prepared. We had a false start or two getting to the crabs, but I did have plan "C" in mind for our journey and we stopped in Chesapeake City and went to the Tap Room where we ( finally) sat down for a big plate of Maryland Blue Crabs. They weren't cooked to order (maybe I should have asked for that) but they showed up quick and though they were a little scraggly, missing a claw or 2, they still tasted pretty darn good! Nothing like the Maryland Blues!

Here is where I could go into our Hotel Trauma, but I'll just give the cliff notes version.

Me: It's in Newark? The only listing I can find is Wilmington
HP: I thought it was in Newark. I left the confirmation at home let me check the crackberry. Uh, no service
Front Desk Guy: I'm sorry we are booked, and we have no reservation for you

We eventually got a room. In Wilmington. Sunday we got up and drove back to Newark (yes, we had gone there first Saturday night looking for a nonexistent hotel) and saw a performance of Squonk Opera's Newark: The Opera. We had a good time and then made our way back to our little house, where I promptly fell asleep.

And everybody lived happily ever after.

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elbow deep in tomatoes-post finished if you looked at it earlier

At the beginning of gardening season the following conversation was heard by our magnolia bush:

HP: Ya know I was thinking of signing up for the garden tour.
Me: I love our garden & I love the tour, but we really can't afford to spruce up the yard for people to come through.
HP: We can do it on the cheap, I'll plant that herb & salsa garden I promised you for your birthday last year.
Me: The birthday that you didn't even get me a card for? NOW you want to start on that? We are even more broke now than we were then and that was your excuse for not getting me anything.
HP: Umm, yeah, sorry about that. But think how much we'll save if we only spend a few dollars now on herbs instead of $2 a pop when you buy them for recipes. I'll even start with the seeds you bought for the garden last year.
Me: Ok, we'll start the herb garden, if we can do it cheap. But I don't think we can afford to do all the fluffing for the garden tour.
HP: uh huh. I hope I can grow tomatoes, I've never had any luck with them before.
Me: Umm, isn't it hard to have a salsa garden without tomatoes?
HP: What are you making for dinner? I'm hungry

So after smuggling free bricks out of York in the trunk of a convertible, a few at a time (funny how he could do it when he wanted to). HP started planning out the herb garden. It began a little like this:

Now, it is looking much more like this:

So, where he had failed in the past, he is more than making up for now. We have tomatoes, and tomatoes and tomatoes. And we are eating them. I have made something resembling this (and mostly using this recipe)
but it didn't really look that pretty. It sure tastes good though!

In a fit of too many tomato paranoia, my husband asked me to so something with the green tomatoes. So I found a soup recipe, and changed it to include fresh herbs, vegetable broth* and creamy goat cheese. The original said it was good hot or cold, but mine was kind of unexciting warm, yet rich and velvety cold, it was smooth & refreshing, and much better cold! HP thought it would be extra-tasty with a red pepper & chipotle mousse I once made, (ok it was supposed to be just red-pepper, but I didn't have enough and thought a little zip would enhance. I was right!) but not having enough time to make said mousse before packing the soup in his lunch box I did a quick chipotle crema that added just enough heat to contrast the cool. His suggestion really made that soup a stand-out!

We also had plenty of ripe tomatoes this week so I made some of my semi-famous gazpacho. It features both fresh and roasted tomatoes, peppers, garlic and onions along with fresh herbs and cucumbers and what ever else I managed to put in there.

Well along comes Sunday dinner and I was tired.
I spent the majority of my day volunteering here. Which included some demos on the wheel, some cleaning up and a kiln unloading & sale of works from the gas kiln reduction firing (as opposed to the "neutral" electric kiln we normally use. I had only a few pieces in the kiln, but I donated one to the ceramic shop (proceeds of the sale were benefiting the shop) gave a plate and bowl as a very late birthday present to my husband, gave another bowl to a friend I don't see often enough and kept a bowl for myself. I am very proud to say that the bowl I donated sold within hours of being put up for sale. WooHoo, my first sale. Even though I didn't get any of the $13.50 selling price, I was thrilled and hopefully we are on our way to more exciting toys for the ceramic shop!

Anyway, back to Sunday dinner that I was too tired to cook. (But if I don't, who will?) So I pulled out a chicken, smothered it in garlic and a little rosemary and some lemon. Shoved the old beer can up it's end and put it on the grill. That is pretty easy, but HP does not live on chicken alone. So I had to have something to go with it.
Out came the green tomato soup. Out came the chipotle crema. Out came the gazpacho. Put them all together and it looks like this:

And boy-howdy was it tasty!

Although, it probably would have tasted better in this bowl...

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Kiki is out & on the grill!

Quick post for my new grill experiment.

Frites on the grill. They go with bbq things and really, grilling is much better than frying, both for health & taste.

This all started because I wanted some big wedgie type oven fries, but on the grill. I asked HubbyPoo to slice the taters. I want wedges, I said, like steak fries. Since I don't eat steak, he determined that I meant like a frite. No, I said like a big steak wedge. We went back & forth, but since he had the knife, he cut like he was sure I wanted. I pouted, but said fine these will do. But they're not what I asked for. So I made the first version & we thought, hey this is pretty good. Need to work on the overall texture & try to not burn the sides too much, but we may be on to something.

So last night, to go along with our turkey thigh (marinated in beer, soy sauce, dijon & rosemary) we decided to have the fries again.

HP: "I know what you wanted last time, the big wedges. I'll cut them that way."
Me: "No you can't, you have to cut them the way you originally did."
HP: "I don't remember what I did, can't I just cut them the way you wanted?"
Me: "No, I liked they way you did them last time, that is what I want now!"
HP: "OK, I'll try to do that. So you want them how?"

How do we ever get anything done? But he did a great job of cutting taters. After a little encouragement.

The taters:
I used fairly big redskin potatoes, because that is what I had. They were "roughly peeled" (some off, some on--like the cukes you see in salad bars)
Preheat the grill on high. A hot grill is important.
I soaked them in cold water while waiting for a pot of water to boil.
I blanched the taters in boiling water for about 10 minutes. That was a little too long--first time I did about 3-5 which wasn't quite enough. I'd say 7 minutes is probably the key. You want them to be tender, but not mushy. If they were pasta, they be al dente.
Drain & toss with olive oil & some tasty herbs. I used some herbs de provence & Porcini mushrooms and a little sea salt.
If using a gas grill, reduce heat, be sure that you are not directly above any hot spots. Try to avoid the flame. If using charcoal, set up for "indirect heat" (Push coals to sides & cook in the middle)
I put my fries on a grill tray (Like you would use for fish or small veggies).
Grill for about 10-15 minutes. Flipping & redistributing a couple times during cooking.
Way Yum!!

(The turkey was good as well, but not very inventive.)

And a good dinner was had by all!

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Spring is sprunging!

It was a lovely spring day today hooray! Yesterday's rain went away, it was cool, but warm if you were in the sun and a nice day to be outside.

Hubby Poo & I spent a few hours sitting outside. We pulled a couple weeds & tried to unearth some of the sprouting bulbs from underneath the dead leaves. A small bunch of crocus were up waiting for us to join them in the sun.

We mostly just talked about what we should be doing to the yard & garden. We are big on talk, short on cash gumption action. I was supposed to get an herb garden for my birthday. The idea was that we would plan it out & build the foundation for it so it would be ready for planting this spring. Well, we are still talking about it.

Him: "We need bricks. Where can we get some free bricks"
Me: "Look, here on craigslist. Free bricks in exchange for helping dismantle a chimney. Only about 45 minutes away."
Him: "Can you get a free truck too? How are we going to get the bricks here?"
Me: "You only asked me to find bricks. I didn't realize I was in charge of transportation also."
Him: "Well we can't put them in the convertible, not enough room and my car won't go that far with out breaking down."
Me: "hmmm. What do you want for dinner?"

And back to the drawing board we go.

So now it is the herb garden. Plus the pergola is cracking from the vines taking over and the weather attacking and so forth.

We thought about oiling the furniture. It is a cheap teak-like wood that I got from Target.

Him: "Gosh this furniture is starting to show it's age."
Me: " yeah, well, it was pretty cheap. It probably would have been happier if we brought it in for the winter"
Him: "How come we didn't do that? We were going to bring it in, sand it, oil it. Give it some TLC. Why didn't we?"
Me: "Have you cleaned a spot yet?"
Him: "Aren't you going to get started on dinner?"

And so our outdoor furniture is cracked & faded. At least we talked about doing something. And admitting your furniture has a problem is half the battle!

Dinner tonight. The World Famous, Beer Can Chicken! Woo-Hoo. I like to stick a can of beer up a chicken's posterior end! I through together a few herbs & spices , gave that chicken a massage & then sent it to the grill sauna for a little steam and voilá it's dinner. Along with hubby-poo's famous mashed potatoes (famous mostly because I can convince him to make them!) and some absolutely fantastic Guacamole also made my dearest Hubby-poo! Left over chicken will go into chicken Korma and left over mashed potatoes, well, let's just say we didn't need to worry about them. And a good dinner was had by all :)

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