summer delights

Some things about summertime are just perfect.  Fresh fruit, for one.  And Sadie's new favorite dessert is just another perfect excuse to eat berries (like you really need one). 

Pavlova--it sounds much fancier than it really is.  I made a similar version to this on Saturday using this recipe, and using a home-made custard (to use up the egg yokes, and because I didn't have whipped cream). I thought it was good, but a little too sweet.  I wanted to try it again with less sugar, and the suggested whipped cream.  Its better this way.  I cut the sugar in the recipe by half, and used barely sweetened whipped cream.  I think eventually you will run into problems with the texture of the meringue if you use too little sugar, but I'm going to just keep making this recipe whittling the sugar down in increments until it doesn't work.

It's still plenty sweet with half the sugar, and it fluffed up just fine. 

Like eating a cloud...says Sadie.

 

It's so pretty too.

Although, my amateur foodie photography doesn't really do it justice.

I don't think I'll ever run a perfect food photography show on this channel because 

1. I can't devote kitchen space to all the fun little props that make your photos really shine, and

2. I only have 30 seconds to take pictures before this happens:

 

 

Anyway... Pavlova--just do it.  You won't be sorry!

this and that

This little bean is 5 weeks old now, and while he is pretty much a good baby, he is a SUPER up-chucker.

That is not hyperbole.  It is a little alarming how much this baby pukes.  On the plus side, he probably weighs close to 14lbs now, so he is obviously keeping some of his milk down... on the downside it seems pretty miserable for him to be such a puker all the time....aaaaand he has a 3 hour bout of fussing to intense screaming in the evenings.  We like to call it Eli's happy hour around these parts.  We make some drinks and Loren and I attempt to have a conversation that goes like this: "WHAT, I can't hear you!" "Huh?" "Never mind." The other night I came out into the living room to find Loren rocking the boy with his noise-cancelling ear phones on--he says, "Man this really takes the edge off."

After lots of reading and research and trial and error I believe that his constant puking is a reaction to something in my diet, and when I eat no wheat or dairy products there seems to be an immediate improvement.  So as of a couple days ago I became a no gluten, no dairy kind of girl.  That pretty much eliminates all good things that I want to eat during the holiday season with my breastfeeding munchies.  Dang.  As far as the evening happy hour goes--I think he is just trying to shut himself down for the night.  Sadie went through a similar spell.  We are all just praying he grows out of it and in the meantime are reciting the age old parenting mantra, "this too shall pass." 

Other than that, Eli is a happy, sweet baby during the day, and a pretty good sleeper at night.  So we are fortunate.  I don't feel wrecked for sleep like I did the first time around, but between Sadie and my pregnancy with Eli I haven't had an uninterrupted night's sleep in two years, so I'm groovy with nightwakings now.  For those of you who are wondering...life with two children is even more awesome and simultaneously terrifying than life with one.  Between packing and Sadie's new favorite activity of taking everything out and putting it to some imaginary use and then leaving it in a totally different part of the house we are living in a disaster area. 

Also, I have been trying to cook good, wholesome food for our family and figure out ways to keep this gluten/dairy free thing real while providing adequate nourishment for the two-year-old.  I'm not trying to toot my own horn here, but I'm a fairly decent cook.  Regardless, some days I can't seem to get Sadie (who has always been an excellent and adventurous eater) to try anything.  And then I will catch her eating a dog biscuit. WTF?  She would be one happy girl if I just served her up a dog treat with a side of butter, because that is the other thing she is always trying to sneak out of the kitchen. Just when I'm about to lose faith, the kid surprises me, by ravenously devouring everything on her plate... like tonight:

bacon spinach salad, figs and plums and wholewheat pasta with sundried tomatos.  All gone. 
The 3 ingredient maple pumpkin souffles I made yesterday:

not so much.  Oh well.  And then there is always snacktime trauma when your banana rainbow breaks in half. 

I'm not usually one to take pictures of my crying kid... I was actually trying to snap a picture of Sadie because she looked so pretty with the sun coming through the window with the Christmas cactus blooming, but then this happened. Yep.  So that's us right now, in a state of beautiful upheaval and continual chaos, but happy, and thankful for family and a break in the weather, and two healthy kids, and our wonderful CSA box that is full of fresh goodness every week--and excited, so excited for our big move and a new home to settle into.  I think it was NOFX who sang that "life is like chinese food...it's sweet and sour..."  but mostly sweet, and I'll have mine without MSG, or gluten, or dairy. please.

its for the kids.

sesame duck

I love me some subsistence foods, but I won't lie, duck is not my fave.  That being said, my fella sure does like the waterfowl hunting, so in spite of my best efforts to persuade him otherwise, our freezer is very full of quackers. I am a firm believer in making the best of what you have, and not letting anything go to waste, so I am always looking for new and tasty ways to cook duck.  This one is good.  It is a recipe designed for chicken--but it was very delish with waterfowl.  Let's just say there were no leftovers.

Sesame Duck- Adapted from Doreen P's Perfect Sesame Chicken:

perfect beer-battered fish

It's summer--or close enough, and here in the greatland that means that it's time to use up the old fish in the freezer to make room in anticipation for the new.  One well loved method of using up said fish is ye ole beer batter and fry.  I have been searching high and low for a beer batter recipe that sticks to the fish and fries up that lovely golden brown color, and stays crisp even if you have to hold it in a warm oven while you fry up a giant batch, you know what I mean?

Well...I found it.  

This is really, really good beer batter.  

And it's really easy.

So easy, in fact that it only contains 2 ingredients
(well, 3 if you count salt)

Mix together: 

approximately 3 cups of flour

20 oz beer

(that's like a beer and a half. You can polish off the other half as you cook)

Use a good, flavorful beer.  I used AK amber.

add a dash of salt.

leave it on the counter covered with a tea towel for a few hours before cooking your fish.

I think this is what makes the batter thick and wonderfully sticky to adhere to the fish.

Season your fish with the delicious spices of your choice before dipping in the beer batter and frying.

plain old salt'n'peppa works fine, but feel free to get fancy if the spirit moves.

fry. 

(we always fry in peanut oil because it is stable at high temps--

coconut oil would be good too--but expensive)

don't burn. 

keep warm in a 200 degree oven until all the fish is done.

use up the extra batter to make some amazing onion rings. 

soooooooo good.

serve with the dipping condiment of your choice. 

You might want to schedule some time to go for a hike after you eat this... 

but you won't be sorry you tried it.

eat your colors.

They say you should eat a rainbow in fruits and vegetables everyday.  Sometimes that is hard for us to do on Wednesdays because we are usually down to the dregs of our CSA box--and of course there isn't a piece of fruit to be found in the house.  By some happy accident today we had some lovely colorful produce leftover, so I made a bastardized Nome version of the Malaysian dish "Gado-Gado."

Ours featured a bed of hearty brown rice topped with

lightly steamed purple cabbage

& green snow peas

fresh orange carrots,

green spinach

& red tomatoes
and a hard-boiled egg.
To add an extra element of delicious we topped the whole thing with a creamy home-made peanut sauce.
mmmmm.....sooooo good.  I extra love that Sadie will totally chow this kind of food, especially if there is sauce involved-- Girl loves her some sauce!

And just to counteract this marvelous healthy dinner I am totally baking a real-deal New York Cheesecake as I type this.  I got the recipe over at the Smitten Kitchen. I figured since she is a New-Yorker that should give her some kitchen cred in the cheesecake department, plus, every recipe I have tried off of that blog has been awesome so far.

So I guess the moral of the story is... eat your rainbow, and then you can have a slice of cheesecake ;)

bread+chocolate= love.

 

Back in my traveling days, Pain au Chocolat was one my favorite indulgences from the tiny bakery cafes in Europe.  To sit and enjoy this with a cup of strong espresso and a good book or my journal to keep me company... 

sigh. It was lovely.

Usually, it comes in the form of a croissant with a big hunk of chocolate baked in.  I don't know about you, but I don't have time to bake croissants. ever. 

Loren & I did rediscover this treat last summer on a trip to Homer where we had the Two Sister's Bakery version of this treat, which is made with a heartier bread dough and sprinkled liberally with cinnamon sugar.  They were wonderful. 

And maybe it's the cold, cold, weather, 

but lately I have been in a bread baking mood.

Here is the recipe, so you can try them out yourself, 

if the spirit moves you.

I think they would make a perfect Valentines treat.