Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Cooking Asparagus

I apologize for not posting anything in a while... I've been incredibly busy and tired these last couple of weeks. I'm trying to find a way to balance everything I want to do and have to do. I've decided that I will only really bake on Thursdays and Sundays, Wednesdays will be for prepping. I really want to get through New Moon before the movie is released in November so I'm going to try Fridays out for that. Mondays and Tuesdays will be my shopping days (groceries and miscellaneous supplies) . Saturdays are for JMK whom I have not seen much of lately even on his off days (Tuesdays and Wednesdays). Of course Sundays will also remain ironing day. I'm a weirdo, I like ironing, I find it relaxing. Don't judge me.

Whew!! I feel slightly better now. It always feels good to plan things out loud, at least for me it does. Now I feel a tinge of obligation to try and stick to this schedule. Let's talk food now, shall we?

Today is Terri's birthday and as tradition would have it, we stuffed our faces. Our potluck today consisted of: Creole spaghetti with sausage, Pasta salad, Chicken salad, Pinwheel sandwiches, Fruit salad with marshmallows and Alice's famous chocolate cake. I made this: Ham and asparagus gratin (recipe from campbellkitchen.com) .

It had flavor and was great, everyone loved it yet... I'm embarrassed to say that I goofed on cooking the asparagus. I didn't realize until after (of course, always after) that I was supposed to snap off a whole 1/3 of the stalk. I only cut off able 1/4 inches! LM tried to make me feel better by giving me her famous, "Now you know and knowing is half the battle" speech. Nice try.

And you know what else I didn't realize until after? I left my slice of chocolate cake in the fridge at work! I'm mad at myself. You people just don't understand. This cake is way better than any chocolate cake I've ever made. In the wise words of Claud, "it's orgasmic!" If you know me, you know that I; a. cannot have chocolate because it gives me phlegm and b. am not a big sweets fan, but this cake, takes the cake. Ok enough of that.

On Saturday, I made this: Baked Ziti

I got the recipe from my Cooks Illustrated magazine. Thanks to LM who got me a subscription for my birthday! The little squares are cubes of mozzarella, yeah, I know, it looks strange but it had lots of flavor and the kids liked it. Next time, I'll use shredded cheese.

Last, last Friday, JMK and I went to one of our favorite places, Mamita's. I got the Arroz a la Jardinera


He got his usual, Lomo Saltado. This picture is actually from one of our day trips, told ya we liked this place.

Last weekend was Valentine's Day. Big deal. We didn't do much. My sisters and I cleaned the house because my clean freak dad was coming back from China that night, God forbid he comes back and the place is a mess. There was some other drama rama brewing but I won't go into that. I do remember getting 4 hours of sleep Thursday night and having to deal with said drama on Friday. JMK got me this:


It was red and everything! Some days, I love him more than usual. I've made a solemn vow not to use it until I move out and have my very own kitchen to put it in.

I got him this:

It's the LG Vu, we got a good deal on it. Of course, being the spoiled brat that he is, he had to have all the bells and whistles to go along with it. He's been watching t.v. on it like he's never seen a television before in his life. As long as he likes it I guess that's all that matters.

On Sunday, we had brunch at Home, or is it No Place Like Home? Whatever.

There are two locations, one in Los Feliz and the one we went to in Silver Lake. It was a different crowd but the food was awesome and the service wasn't too bad. Restrooms (at least the ladies' one) were clean. Price was decent, maybe a buck or two more than Denny's? I got the California Omelette (with ham instead of bacon). The home fried potatoes were amazing! I'm not just saying that because I LOVE potatoes, they had good flavor and were cooked right.


We shared the Santa Fe Egg Rolls. Apparently, they make the gaucamole fresh every morning, so our waiter insisted that we take it to go. JMK eagerly obeyed.

Today, Jonathan comes and asks for my email address so that he can place orders over the weekend when I'm not at work. Lizzy said it'd be a good idea to have one specifically for the biz...
nancyslovinfromtheoven@gmail.com

Thanks for reading!

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