Party Time

This Peanut Butter Toffee Cheesecake was one of the desserts at tonight's graduation party for two old friends from the internationals.  I will definitely do it again some time, but will try some alterations so that the cake part turns out better (mine was pretty gummy).  The flavor was good (as long as you like toffee and peanut butter...which *I* do).

Something Fishy

Tonight's experiment was Halibut with Coconut-Red Curry Sauce.  It was a nice change of pace, but we probably won't repeat it.  The sauce is good (if you like sweeter sauces), the fish is simple, and it's pretty easy to make (although if you don't normally cook this kind of stuff you'll find yourself hunting for foreign ingredients that you may or may not ever use again).  I served it with fresh wilted spinach and rice.

Taco Skillet

Tonight's dinner was a surprising winner.  It would benefit from a little spice (something hot), but overall very good.  I served it with CSA salad and my mom's fruit salad (apples, bananas, grapes, homemade mayonnaise, and mini marshmallows) which the kids really like.  Everyone liked it except Katherine...who tends to be my picky eater.

I used corn tortilla's, instead of flour, simply because I like them better.  Much of the taste comes from the soup and the salsa so choose your salsa wisely.  It's not a from-scratch dinner, but on nights when dinner needs to be fast, it works.  After a week of illness, and coming straight from music lesson, this easy-to-make dinner hit the spot.

Gourmet Dinner (sort of)

Shrimp Tetrazzini was on the menu tonight.  It turned out nice and creamy - like the picture - but the flavor kind of fell flat.  It wasn't a complete flop, but it probably won't be gracing our dinner table again.

 

Girls' Night In

Tonight, Katherine and I enjoyed a girls' night in.  Joerg and Patrick, and Patrick's friend Calvin, went to the movies to see World War Z (a zombie flick of little interested to us girls).  So, while the boys were hanging out at the theater, the girls stayed home and enjoyed a yummy dinner theater of their own.

We enjoyed a juicy steak, creamed corn, and Katherine had some rice leftover from another dinner.  And our little dinner theater feature was Hotel Transylvania (for the eighth or ninth time).



 

Casserole Night

I've been out of town for the past week with the kids.  We took a road trip, with grandparents, from Vermont to Michigan so that Patrick could attend a fly fishing convention.  He had a great time and looks forward to going again.

Now that we're back and getting settled into a new summer vacation "normal", I'm back on chef duty.  Tonight's dinner consisted of a lettuce salad (my last grocery store greenery for a few months as my summer CSA is in full swing) and this casserole.  It was very good and the kids both ate it, although Patrick picked out the sun-dried tomatoes and Katherine picked out some of the artichokes.  Truth be told, I did NOT include the kalamata olives, otherwise *I* would have been picking those out...the kids probably would have also. It's easy to prepare, and would be a great prepare-ahead-of-time dish.

I used two small rotisserie chickens, a one pound box of small penne pasta, and 12 ounces of feta (a little more of each than the recipe called for) and had enough leftover to freeze for a future family lunch or dinner for two.

Experimenting With The Medium

I have taken two classes, added some supplies, found some stones, and now there's only one (technically two) thing left...practice and experimentation.  So that's what I did this evening after the kids went to bed.

This is tonight's experiment.  I used cheap craft wire from my inventory with no more marking than "Made in Taiwan" and "24 gauge".  I have no idea what it is made of (clearly not sterling silver or it would be badly tarnished by now) or what its hardness grade is, but it was sufficient for a practice piece.  I learned a couple of things (like how to twist the wire so that the twist is consistent and even) and may pull it apart and try again with good silver the next time.  I'd like to experiment with black wire as well.  That could be fun.

But for now, this is what I came up with.

Say Cheese!

Tonight's dinner included broccoli and I wanted to, in Emeril's words, "kick it up a notch".  So I added a cheese sauce.  This one is simple (short list of ingredients) and easy to make (only takes a few minutes), and the flavor is great; a real keeper.

Wire Wrap Class #2

At the end of May I attended a beginner wire wrapping class at my local bead store.  It was a prerequisite class for tonight's class, Advanced Wire Wrapping.  I learned some new tricks which will be helpful, and I learned some new techniques that will allow me to expand my wire wrapping repertoire.

I also learned that I don't really like to work with 22 gauge gold filled half hard wire.  When I first learned wire wrapping, the woman who taught me had me use 20 gauge sterling silver dead soft.  Perhaps it's partly a matter of what one gets "used to", but I found tonight's wire to be very difficult to work with.  It easily broke, and when I wanted to make free hand loops I got angular bends instead of soft rounds.  I like the techniques I learned, so I'm curious to try again using a different wire.

Here's what I took home from class. (The cabochon was mine.  It's Dragon Blood Jasper.)