Potato Crust Quiche, or An Unexpected Day Off Gives Me Extra Time to Work

Today was a cold, sunny day, and I was feeling something warm for lunch, so I pulled out some mozzarella cheese and the last of the cheddar in our cheese drawer, 2 slices of Dutch crunch bread, 2 slices of sourdough rye, and olive oil. I sliced the the mozzarella and cheddar thinnly, and dipped the bread into the olive oil, coating one side only. I then placed one piece of each bread type onto the forman grill (oil side down), layered the cheeses onto the bread, then topped it with the other bread (oil side up), and closed the grill. I took the cooking time to take a black twig apple out of the fridge and peeled and sliced it. When the cheeses had melted and the bread was browned, I took the sandwiches out of the grill to slice them and serve them. Delish!

Since my sister and Milo were feeling sick again today, and had called me in sick with themselves, I took today to catch up on some work that I have been neglecting. I cut the tulle for 6 tutus, and tied three of them during nap time. We played outside for a while as well today, taking advantage of the sun and lack of rain today to run! After an hour outside, this mama was exhausted from running around after the twins and trying to keep them from running both into the lack and into the parking lots. So inside we went for a little quite reading time and picking up of the house, specifically the toys the twins had spread out around the house.

As it was now time to start cooking dinner, I turned the oven to 350 and pulled the red potatoes (about 6 small-medium) out of the fridge and shred them into a bowl. I then pulled out the Black Butte cheese (a spring grass milk aged for at least one year cheese, that has a sharp bite but a very sweet finish) from the cheese drawer and finely shred some onto the potatoes, enough to just cover the potatoes. I added 1 good pinch of black pepper, then stirred up the potatoes in the bowl. I found my favorite small casserole dish and covered the bottom and about one inch of the sides with the potatoes, stuck the crust into the oven to bake for 20 minutes. I then shred about 1/3 cup of the cheese into the freshly cleaned bowl, grabbed 3 white satin carrots from fridge, peeled and shred them on top of the cheese. I took a medium white onion, and finely chopped it until I hit only green and added that to the bowl as well. (I saved the greens for another day.) Then I cracked and scrambled 5 large eggs, and added 3 serving spoonfuls of plain yogurt, then mixed the bowl with a large pinch of oregano, and a large pinch of himalayan pink sea salt. When the 20 minutes was up, which incidentally was exactly when I finished preparing the mix, I added the egg mix to the casserole dish and stuck it back into the oven for 35 minutes, checking to make sure the eggs had cooked all the way. This provided just enough for each of us, and everyone enjoyed it thoroughly (with the addition of some Pepper Plant for the hubs).

We try to eat at least 3 of our dinners in a week as vegetarian or fish meals, because it saves our pockets, our bodies, and our planet. Our pockets because we prefer to eat food that we know has been grown in a sustainable and ethical manner, which tends to be more expensive. Our bodies because it cuts down on the amount of dietary cholesterol we consume and increases the amount of vegetables we eat every week. And our planet because animals take more resources to raise and produce more waste than plant crops do. I am so very thankful that we have the option to eat a meat-light lifestyle. It makes me feel better about our consumption and helps me to pass on the sort of lifestyle we wish to show our children. It helps me to feel better.

And with that I wish you a very happy "Meatless Monday!" Nos Pars.

Market Sunday and Dinner with Heather, Or I Love Rainy Sundays

Market Day!! Hoooooray!!!

Sunday dawned rainy and wet, slightly dim and drip drip dripping outside my window. The twins were very happy to be up and were happy to let us know they were up! So up we got. After showering and getting dressed, we met my sister and Milo at Hobees, where we eat most Sundays before heading to the Market.

The Market was wet and fairly deserted, actually my favorite way to shop. The vendors are so very nice normally, but on rainy days at the Market, they are so much more. I sometimes wonder what the reason for this is. Is it because they aren't swamped with customers and can take the time to be more personal? Is it that they realize that we must be devotees of the Market lifestyle in order to be out in the rain shopping? Is there some sort of innate realization that comes with being seasonal that gives you a real appreciation of the rain, and therefore makes you in a better mood as a result? Perhaps it is something I haven't thought of (most likely!) that makes them more genial on days like this.

We stopped to get some lovely purple, orange and white carrots with the greens on them. Then we moved on to potatoes (purple, red, new white and golden Yukon this week!) and delicious navel oranges. At our favorite meat booth, we picked up some pork ribs and flat iron steak. Then moved on to the Narcissus and daffodil booth! I am beyond addicted to having some of these little fragrant next to my working space at my desk. Sugar beets with their greens, chard, kale, and small white onions with the tops on at the end booth. A small butternut squash, a large tomato (of unknown variety, sorry), a white onion, and a corno di torro pepper. Some black butte cheese from our favorite cheese maker, who promises that the yogurt cheese will be back in two weeks! Eggs, king trumpet and white mushrooms, and some small artichokes from Watsonville rounded out our Market stash. We didn't get any bread or milk from the market today so we stopped off at Le Boulanger and Trader Joe's to pick those up and headed home to drop off the goods.

Then we went to San Mateo to watch Milo swim the freestyle anchor of the medley, and rock it with a 19.4 split! Way to go MILO!!

This evening we had Heather over for dinner, as we haven't seen her in a while and must have an Auntie Heather fix frequently. We seasoned the flat iron steak with fleur du sel, fresh ground black pepper, thyme, and rosemary, and placed it on the forman grill. We sliced the white mushrooms and some onions and sauteed them in some olive oil, then added some balsamic to the pan. When the onions and mushrooms were soft, I poured the last glass of an old bottle of red wine into the pan and allowed it to simmer (just a little too long!), then added a touch of water back into the pan and a generous pinch of salt. We also steamed some white rice and the chard we got today. Heather thinly sliced the steak and we served it on a bed of rice with the red wine reduction over the top. It was delicious!

As we sit around the table, sipping super strong coffee, I feel renewed as another day as finished, and another week has begun. The rain is back and has washed away the grime of the world and left it feeling anew. The rain will bring more good things to the Market and feed us more wonderful food with our family and friends in the future. Let it rain! Nos Pars!

Blue Mango Thia-Sushi Dinner, or How to Hang Out in San Jose All Day

Saturday began with Ray and I taking the twins with us to the San Jose Red Cross to fulfill our every 6 weeks obligation to give blood. It is an interesting time for us, as we have to do some maneuvering to both give blood and keep the twins from going insane and driving everyone in the building up the wall! Ray runs in and gets checked in while I get the twins out of the car, taking my time and playing with them as I go. Then I go in and check in, but have them hold my file until Ray is actually done giving his blood, then he grabs the twins and I get to run the gauntlet! When I am done with my 15 minute after waiting period, we all load up in the car and go! This week, the mostly Chinese nurses in the Apherisis center came out to the waiting area to talk to the twins, give them chocolates and general lavish them with attention! My total hams were eating it up. I learned that if you write out "girl then boy" in Chinese it means "whole" in a good way, and that it is a very lucky thing to have a girl, then boy twins. Nice.

This is a shot of the twins with us in the after donation waiting room, helping me finish my cheezits and oreos. Just about the only time these kids get to eat such decadent and nutritionally void foods! They enjoyed them thoroughly!

After this we ran a few errands and then finally got Miya on the phone so we could hang out with her. We grabbed Pizza My Heart (LOVE me some salad and Primo pizza), and walked up and down Willow Street buying kids things along the way. A trip to the Glen is never without a trip to Kool Kids Couture.

Dinner was at Blue Mango in San Jose with Miya also. Starters consisted of Chicken Satay and Yam Fries, with peanut sauce and a sweet and sour sauce. We had Chicken Pad Thai, Prawn and Scallop Mango Currey, Spicy Garlic Chicken, Brown Rice and White Rice for dinner. Desert was Chocolate Soufle, Exotic Bomba (three layers of Sorbetto rolled in white chocolate and drizzled with milk chocolate), and White Chocolate-Banana Wontons with Coconut Ice Cream. To say that this meal was divine would be a real understatement. It was amazing in a way that only Thai food can be!

As I look back on this evening, I am so happy to have friends who are more like family, like Miya. She is my kids Auntie Mina, and she will always be a wonderful part of our lives. We love her and thank her for our day out in San Jose. Nos Pars.

Leftovers Burritos, or Multicultural Night Becomes a Gastric Nightmare

Today we had planned on having lunch with our good friend Auntie Carey, and going shopping for fabric and yarn at our favorite yarn and fabric shop, The Bobbins Nest in Santa Clara. We were just about to get dressed and go to Santa Clara in order to further those ends, when my phone rang. I answered to my sister Kelly sounding harried. Her son Milo had just thrown up in the hall of his school, and she had to stay at work for a few hours more in order to run off the school paper, then could come home to take care of him. So, I rushed to get the twins dressed, grabbed what we needed for the day and out the door we went.

Milo seemed to be feeling much better by the time we got to him, so we took him home and hung out on the couch until his mom got home. We decided to go ahead and run a few errands that needed to be done for the Multicultural night at Milo's school that night that Kelly had committed to run a Scottish table for. For mostly selfish reasons, I took the kids with us because the twins NEEDED a nap, and were refusing to lay down, sit down or even stand still in place for more than a nanosecond. As we sat in the car outside of Walgreens, with all three kids in the backseat, Milo made that face. You know that face. The "oh my goodness the world has turned upside down and my stomach is about to empty itself in spectacular fashion" look. So I grabbed the twins' car toys bucket, dumped it on the floor of the backseat, and stuck it in front of Milo just in time!

When his mother came out of the store, she saw my face and knew. So home we went again and let the kids out of the car. The twins and I fell asleep on the armchair while Kelly baked cookies and brewed tea. The fashion show was at 7, so at 6:35 I got Milo and Moose dressed in the Scot gear, and headed the kids down to the school, they walked across the stage, then Milo got that look again. So abandoning my kids with Kelly, I rushed Milo home again.




Therefore, dinner did not consist of multicultural foods from the fair, but instead steak and potato burritos made from leftovers from the dinner we made at Kelly's house the other day. We did get to eat a few of the shortbreads with lemon curd and marmalade, as well as some very very delicious tea. And now with my children giggling and wrestling on the floor, about to be dressed for bed and driven home, Milo is laying like a heap on the couch staring into space. I am so glad to have been able to help my sister out and take care of my nephew in a time of need. I am also very glad to have seen my son in a kilt. I hope to have a picture to add to this blog post to make it worthwhile. Nos Pars.

*A big thanks to Lisa Smith for providing the pictures of Milo and Moose in the fashion show!!!*

Italian Dinner Night, or Daddy Takes the Wheel

Today was a Laundro-thon, and if you've ever had to do laundry in a shared laundry room, you understand the complexities built into that sentence automatically. The by the clock drill, checking to make sure that the machine(s) has not stopped functioning, but is still continuing to count down anyway, carrying everything you need back and forth to the room. Now include in this scenario a toddler who insists on going with you to the laundry room, then running up and down the halls after you've finished, making you throw the laundry into your house, then run after said toddler like a crazy person EACH AND EVERY TIME! Now double the toddler.

Luckily I was the luckiest twin toddlers momma with shared laundry in the whole kintire world today! Mrs. Karen Giusti and Mr. S. Marcus Giusti decided that they needed to bring stuff for a certain niece of mine over today, and they offered to fold my GIANT pile of laundry. YES, this is my CLEAN clothes pile. And YES I had more laundry to do beside this! 5 loads to be exact! And YES, our closets were empty! I had done all of our laundry at both my sister's house (and dragged it home) and my house (and worked around the twins). Every time I have tried to fold with the twins awake, they "help" and unfold everything. And when they were napping, I took a shower and got ready for the day and did the other million things that go into making a house run!



So today, my husband (aka the most wonderful man, who I am lucky enough to have married and bore children) took the wheel and made dinner! This is not really unheard of, as Raymond loves to cook almost as much as I do, especially when it's one of his favorite meals on the slate!

For his meal, the man boiled some vegetable based pasta Rotini, Forman Grilled 4 spicy chicken sausages and 1 mild Italian chicken sausage, and steamed organic Kale from our favorite booth at the market. He then mixed the pasta with some handmade pasta sauce and a generous amount of parmeggian-reggiano cheese, finely grated! The kale he topped with pure olive oil and a medium sized pinch of Celtic gray sea salt. He served this amazing meal with a bottle of 2007 Benzinger Soltice Blend (grown on Sonoma Mountain), a wonderful red blend consisting of 60% cab sauvignon, 21% merlot, 11% cab franc, and 8% petit verdot. Mildly tannin-y with a rich dark flavor. I love my husband.

Now as the twins are in the bath, washing off the painstakingly applied red coating from head to toe, I am sipping the remnants of the wine and waiting for the buzzer to go off, so I can put the last load of the day into the drier, and fold and PUT AWAY the second to last load of the day. This day has been yet another truly wonderful one, and I am so very thankful for the family that I married. Nos Pars.

Dinner at My Sister's House, or Two Single-for-the-Night Mom's Make Dinner

So tonight, my hubby has a meeting and my brother-in-law Gavin is on a 10 day business trip to the East Coast and India. So my sister and I decided to pool our resources and make dinner together! I brought new potatoes, 2 corno di torro peppers, a bag full of white mushrooms, tomatoes, Anaheim pepper, a giant carrot, and a white onion. My sister provided three New York strip steaks, olive oil, Raven's seasoning, thin and light tortilla chips, lightly seasoned Brussels sprouts, Hawaiian red sea salt, and Frontier Citrus n' herb no salt seasoning.

I finely chopped the tomatoes, onion, and Anaheim pepper, mixed it with a generous pinch of Hawaiian red sea salt, and served it with the chips for starts, so everyone would stop yelling! : ) Milo and the twins were running around and yelling and it was very destructive. However, Moose decided that the chips were much better thrown on the ground and stomped on than being eaten. We disagreed. He lost privileges of holding the bowl.

I then cut the new potatoes into small cubes (quarter inch approximately), tossed them with olive oil and the citrus n' herb no salt seasoning and baked them at 350 for about a half an hour. I peeled the carrot and chopped it into about 1/2 inch cubes and placed them with the preseasoned (olive oil, garlic, and black pepper) Brussels sprouts into the steamer. I then turned the steamer on for about 15 minutes. We preheated the cast iron skillet in the oven with some olive oil. When the potatoes were done, we covered the bottom of the skillet with Raven's seasoning, put the steaks into the pan and covered them with more of the seasoning. We then put the sliced Corno di Torro pepper and mushrooms into the pan, turned the oven to broil and put the pan on the highest rack.

Desert tonight consisted of a Apple Crustodo from Molly Stones, because we were both too dang tired to even think about trying to cook desert as well!

We always have the best time at Auntie Kelly's house, and the twins look to Milo as their older brother, and he to them as his younger siblings. I am so glad that they will get to grow up with cousins as we did, with my cousins Tony and Sorelle. These two grew up literally around the corner from them, making our family so close. It makes me think about the crazy amount of stuff I've bought for Sorelle's baby and how excited I am to have another niece. Yes, she is Auntie Sorelle to my kids and her daughter will be my niece. Isn't that awesome???

So anyway, my nephew and my children are cuddling/playing on the couch and my sister is cleaning the floors after my children have literally destroyed them with the random debris of the day! So I will put them in jammies, and get out of her way for another night!

As another great day comes to a close, I am so grateful to have my family to share these meals with! Nos Pars!

Michelle Rebecca Joined Us for Dinner, or How Crazy a Food Blog Can Be After a Long Day

As I'm sipping a cup of homemade Caramel Chai Tea Latte (organic cream, handmade caramel, organic free-trade chai tea. totally not the healthiest, but totally what I need right now!), I'm thinking back on how this night went not at all how I had planned, but how lovely it was instead! I apologize for any long winded-ness and the lack of memory of exactly where things were from. I did know, but as I started this blog after Market Day, I simply didn't file the info away in my brain well enough to give you direct info! I promise that after this Sunday Market Day, I will be better at telling you just where everything is from, and much more about what pricisely the varietals are.

Our food day began with homemade applesauce, yogurt from cows in Modesto with Gramma made strawberry jam, and toast from La Boulanger (they make it fresh, and since I haven't had a chance to start a starter, handmade is good enough!). First lunch had cheese curds (lovely lady that I can't remember where she has her cows!), ham (from whole foods), and apple slices (from a local vendor... somewhere here in Silicon Valley... just can't remember where!). Second lunch had more applesauce, and peanut butter (organic from whole foods) sandwiches. Dinner for tonight was Bar-b-que Chicken, Skillet Cornbread, and Steamed Broccoli. Desert was a No-Bake Blood Orange-Caramel Cheesecake.

I began the meal by taking Free-Range chicken breasts and slicing them into strips 1/2 inch thick by 1 inch wide. Then I took some ground Mesquite, 3 cups of tomato sauce (home made), 1/2 cup vinegar, 1 tablespoon of hawaiian red sea salt, 1 teaspoon of organic garlic powder (both of these from Frontier coop), and 1/4 cup brown sugar, mixed well, and slathered all but 1/4 cup of this sauce onto the chicken strips and allowing them to sit in the fridge for the rest of the day. Next I mixed 1 1/2 cups of finely ground turbinado sugar and 1/4 cup of water into a sauce pan, over medium heat until the sugar dissolved completely. Then I turned the heat up to high and allowed the sugar to carmelize. While the sugar was cooking, I took the three blood oranges, cut them in half and juiced them. As soon as the caramel had turned chestnut brown, I mixed two tablespoons of the blood orange juice with 1 1/4 cups of heavy cream, then slowly added this mixture to the caramel. I turned off the heat and stirred for another 2 minutes.

Then I went about my day as usual... doing laundry, dishes, picking up toys, putting twins down for nap, getting them up for nap, two meals, and what-have-you!

During naptime, I took 1 carton of cream cheese out of the fridge. I also took 1 pint of heavy cream and 1/4 cup of finely ground turbinado sugar. I whipped the cream and sugar until it was light and fluffy. I then took the cream cheese, and began to beat it with a little of the extra cream i had on hand until it began to be fluffy, then slowly added the whipped cream into the mix. As soon as the filling was thoroughly mixed I very slowly added the remaining blood orange juice to the mix, then poured the filling into the premade (I know, SHOCK! but I couldn't find the snap cookies!!) pie crust, then immediately put the pie into the fridge. About an hour later, I poured about half of the caramel sauce onto the top of the pie, and stuck it back into the fridge to solidify more.

When the time came for dinner preparation to begin again, I pulled the chicken out of the fridge, the broccoli (organic and locally grown!) out of the crisper, and the pans out of the cupboard! I turned on the heat under the grill and set the steamer up and put the broccoli in to wait for the time to start steaming it!

Then I got a phone call stating that Ray had an emergency at work and would not be able to make it to dinner. Talk about disappointing and frustrating! I had left dishes and laundry to finish because he could help me! ACK! Well, what else is a girl to do but complain to your sister and your BFiF (best internet only friend), and move along!

When the grill was hot, I started placing the chicken onto the grill, ensuring that each piece was covered with sauce before going on. Now is the moment that I remember that the cornbread actually takes the longest and should have been on first! Turning the oven to 350, I took 1 cup corn meal, 1 cup corn flour (both from Frontier coop), 1 egg (local free range hens), 1/4 cup of milk, 3/4 cup of olive oil (extra virgin from a grower in the Seirra foothills), and mix them all together. I poured half the mixture into my cast iron skillet. Then I dug the cheddar (from a lady locally who also makes cheese curds, yuuum!) out of the cheese drawer and quickly shredded some onto the top of the mix, enough to cover the top. Then I poured the rest of the mix onto the top of the cheese, and slipped the pan into the oven, setting the timer to 30 minutes. As the first round of chicken is finished cooking, I placed the strips into the microwave to stay warm and stuck the rest of the chicken onto the grill to cook. Then I turned on the broccoli.

As everything finished, I got 2 phone calls: Michelle was just leaving and Ray was done and could come join us! So I fixed the Twins their meals and let them eat while I listened to the State of the Union address on KCBS, enjoying the "play by play" of the commentators (they tell you when people stand up, who is clapping, and who is picking their nose!)

Dinner was slightly cold, because it took another 25 minutes for everyone to get here, but it was pretty good! The broccoli was overdone, and the cornbread fell apart when I took it out of the skillet. Next time I make that pie, I will treat it as I do pudding pies, and FREEZE it! I served it in bowls because I thought it would be "floppy", but it was just a mess! We put the pie server away and spooned it out of the dish!

All in all the food was great and the company was better! : ) And as the twins went down to sleep without a hitch tonight again, as will I. Good night my friends and family. I hope that you better meals and happy families. Nos Pars.

A New Frontier

For a while now, my husband and I have been striving to eat better. Better for our pocket book, better for our bodies, better in taste, and better for our world. This pursuit has given me immense joy and has led me here. To the blogosphere.

I have always enjoyed food. Eating. Smelling. Cooking. Sharing. The way food brings everyone to the same table. The immense joy that can be shared over (and sometimes because) of it. And having grown up in a predominately agricultural area, I have a very good grasp of what goes into bringing food to your plate. Knowing this, and understanding that the natural flow of seasons with its differing plants and stages of an animals life, it has been my passion to find local, organic, seasonal produce as well as meat and dairy obtained in a sustainable fashion. I wish to pass on a love of food, ourselves, and our planet to my children, and I strive to do it daily. With this in mind, my husband, our children and I hit our local Farmer's Market ritually on Sunday morning. We plan our meals based not on what we feel like we would like to eat this week, but based on what we find and what will help to make these treasures shine as only fresh seasonal foods can.

This blog will be a simple way for me to share our passion with our family and friends when they cannot join us at our table. I plan to update this blog daily with our meals, the end stage of our pursuit and the culmination countless hours of growing, tending, harvesting/butchering. However, on Sundays when the magic begins again weekly, I will be more extensive in my accounts, from offerings, picking and choosing, to deciding the menu for the week. Come with us as we learn about new varieties of our favorite plants, pick the best of the booths, taste the wonders of our region, and create meals that nourish us mind, body, and soul. Welcome and enjoy.