I'm doing a stiry fry right now in a heavy All-Clad sautee pan because we have no true wok. I've never done wok before anyhow so it does not make a big difference. The carrots and onions are already soggy and caramelized. Somehow the rice noodles got lost in translation - literally. Immersing noodles in "hot water" for four minutes actually meant boiling water. I thought something wasn't right about that.
Bex and I did manage to make it to the Asian grocer, finally, at the corner of Bob Wallace and Jordan Lane. We picked up all the goods that you can't find at your local Public or Kroger: oyster sauce, miso, hoison, etc. And then I decided, on a whim, to pick up a pack of stringy rice noodles to make something "Vietnamesish." You probably have not heard of that word before because you probably know how to cook real Vietnamese food, or any Asian food. Well this is something that is tangentially "Vietnamesish." But so far it smells pretty delicious with its blend of oyster, chili and soy sauces along with some stir-fried shiitakes, carrots, yellow onions and chopped chicken breasts from Star Market (best meat in town anyone?).
Ahhh. The noodles are in true boiling water now.
On Sunday I resorted to some burger recipes in a set of excellent cookbooks I bought from Costco. Don't you just love Costco? They are from the America's Test Kitchen, a brand that was first introduced to me by my friend Dean Bowden, another amateur cooking extraordinaire. I like ATK because it appeals to the emboldened beginner as well as the casual and pragmatic enthusiast. Its not like buying a Mario Batali book and never wondering where to begin or where to get the ingredients. And its not like buying a simple country cookbook in plastic binder from a souvenir shop. What is the best brand of ketchup to buy? How do you properly chop an onion? How to keep burgers from fattening into balls? There are all sorts of neat tips in ATK. As for the "best of?" They poll their students, and the ingredients are widely available. There is nothing esoteric called for.
Anyhow, I cooked two sets of burgers from my ATK cookbook: a bourbon and dijon burger with chives, and a chipotle burger with chopped scallions. I am learning that you must always keep scallions on hand. I would have tossed some into tonight's dish if I had some, but Becky used the rest in a delicious fried rice dish she made last night. The burgers were incredible. What I learned from ATK is that I can make my burgers thicker than I normally do by pressing a quarter inch depression into the center of the patty. I also turned the grill (gas) up extremely high until the temperature read around 550... something I cannot do (controllably) on a charcoal grill. The burgers came off perfect: beautiful sear marks and a delicious medium rare center! We also grilled some Grow Alabama corn and we grilled some heads of romaine lettuce and splashed them with balsamic and parmesan (something we picked up from the Cotton Row restaurant).
Anyhow, I finished up the noodles. Everything was looking good up until I tossed them into the sautee pan. There were too many noodles! And they were overcooked. The noodles became soggy and stuck together. Everything tastes reasonably good, but the noodles were a big failure. It was worth a try. I'll get it better next time.
Welcome to our little space of the web.
After buying a cute little mill house in Five Points, renovating it and thinking we would never live anywhere else we decided to move. To a rancher. A pink rancher. So not us. But, it will be, with time, elbow grease and good contractors! From the first time we walked in the front door we knew we were home. The new house is right around the corner from my parent's house where I grew up. We are so excited for Matthew and Charlotte to grow up here, riding bikes, going to the pool, playing in the woods... my childhood was filled with freedom and wonder allowed by a safe neighborhood that I could explore and make my place in the world. I am thrilled we can give that to our children.
These days our blog is filled with the adventures of Mateo and Charlotte...mixed in with a few home projects and recipes. But mostly the kids take front and center. Join us on the adventure!
26.9.12
23.9.12
Paulie and Paula
I've decided to hijack my wife's blog again. In fact, I hope to subvert it more often to my desires for amateur expression. Lately I have decided to begin cooking again. A lot of my hobbies were suspended when Matthew was born. Some hobbies were lost when I got married. With so little time available during the day I have found that cooking, as a hobby, serves a second productive purpose of moving the "home" forward to the next day. There is laundry, paying bills, accounting, changing diapers, feeding Matthew, washing bottles, etc. etc. And yet we still have to eat. I noticed all of this was stretching Becky thin. In the meantime I would often selfishly play the "dumb clueless man" card and not take the initiative to do many of these unpleasant things.
I started cooking back in college mostly to impress women. Seriously. I still do. I'm just trying to impress my wife now. But cooking has other advantages besides impressing a woman and providing needed sustenance. I like being able to immerse myself in an activity, to focus on the process and render an end product. Moreover, it yields something (hopefully) delicious and satisfying that fosters bonding with family and peers. Growing up as a Roman Catholic Christian it has long stuck in my mind the comments of the pastor: that eating is holy. Jesus sealed the new covenant through his last supper with his disciples.
Anyhow, before I get too deep into it, let me share what has transpired in the past three weeks where I have done the majority of the cooking. Bear in mind that I generally have no idea what I am doing. I'm learning as I go along. I'm not a trained professional like my friend, Joey McCool, chef at Canebrake, or even an exceedingly gifted amateur like my friend, Ben Wilson, competitive BBQ champ. I could never cook as well as they do. I cannot deviate far from a recipe, because that is all I know how to do: follow recipes. There are a couple of dishes that I need no recipe for because they have been passed down through memory like Filipino Chicken Adobo.
So here is the rough menu of what I am working on for the week:
1) Chicken schnitzel with sauerkraut and fried potatoes. Living in Huntsville, Alabama, there is a subtle undercurrent of German culture that has its genesis in the German rocket scientists settled at Redstone Arsenal after the war. Werner von Braun and the other rocket boys left a cultural imprint of beer-loving and kraut-eating on this town that continues to grow into a cultural hallmark of Huntsville. Coincidentally, schnitzel was one of Bex's pregnant food obsessions. I have heard of pregnant women inhaling jars of pickles. Bex became obsessed with schnitzel for a time. We would grab takeout from the Schnitzel Ranch and have date night at Hildegards. Schnitzel, for those who do not know, is a lightly breaded and fried meat such as pork or chicken. It is usually pounded thin and served with a cabbage dish. This is Becky's request for the week. Last time I cooked schnitzel I used sauerkraut from a can. Becky prefers the Boar's Head kraut in a bag, but the can was pretty delicious when I simmered it for over an hour with some Sierra Nevada pale ale and brown sugar. I'll get the Boar's Head this time and cook it the same way and see how much better it tastes.
2) Bulgogi. This is Korean beef barbecue and it is obscenely delicious. The first sit down meal I had as a married man was a Korean restaurant since vanished at Main Street South. We had bulgogi sauteed on the table-top stove. Becky has long cooked bulgogi, but its been too long. We will probably have it with a side of rice and steamed broccoli florets.
3) West Texas Asado. I was reading about Argentinian asado cooking when I stumbled on this recipe from someone's blog (The Homesick Texan). It looks amazing. It is not Argentinian obviously, but "West Texas" caught my mind. It comes almost as a stew, but seems thick enough to roll into a tortilla. The recipe calls for a ridiculous amount of ancho chiles and garlic. I'm not sure what ancho chiles are. I have not even googled them yet. I can always buzz my friend Joey to see where he would pick them up from.
That's what I have so far. The great thing is that in the past three weeks we have been stocking all sorts of non-perishable ingredients that simply allows us to cook a wide variety of dishes by just buying the meat and vegetables. Slow perishables still have to be maintained such as cream, eggs, sour cream and cheese. But we have plenty of spices, pastas, pre-made sauces, dried chiles, dried mushrooms, oils, etc. to cook some amazing things. Probably the most yummy thing I made in recent weeks is truffle and potato soup. This was a derivative of a recipe I found online that really only called for potatoes, truffle oil, garlic, onions and some other dry spices. But how can you have a mushroom soup without any actual mushrooms?
The truffle oil was bought from Costco for around $16. Unfortunately it is synthetic truffle oil. There is no true truffles in the oil. This stuff seems to have been all the rage back in the 90's even among professional chefs, but it fell out of favor and is regularly panned by foodies. Its like when the Allman Brothers experimented with synthesizers and Don Johnson's song-writing in the 80's... a period your ears would rather forget and skip right back to the 90's when they gained sense (and taste) again. I'm keeping it around, but it will always be used in conjunction with black truffle salt which I picked up at the Spice & Tea Exchange in Asheville, NC. This stuff has real flecks of truffles and boy it is musty and pungent. So this soup was sauteed with white mushrooms and dried shiitake mushrooms with truffle salt to taste before being blended up into a heavenly, creamy soup that almost recreates a similar truffle soup I have had Mezza Luna. Just incredible. And then to sop it up with some baquettes? Wooof.
I started cooking back in college mostly to impress women. Seriously. I still do. I'm just trying to impress my wife now. But cooking has other advantages besides impressing a woman and providing needed sustenance. I like being able to immerse myself in an activity, to focus on the process and render an end product. Moreover, it yields something (hopefully) delicious and satisfying that fosters bonding with family and peers. Growing up as a Roman Catholic Christian it has long stuck in my mind the comments of the pastor: that eating is holy. Jesus sealed the new covenant through his last supper with his disciples.
Anyhow, before I get too deep into it, let me share what has transpired in the past three weeks where I have done the majority of the cooking. Bear in mind that I generally have no idea what I am doing. I'm learning as I go along. I'm not a trained professional like my friend, Joey McCool, chef at Canebrake, or even an exceedingly gifted amateur like my friend, Ben Wilson, competitive BBQ champ. I could never cook as well as they do. I cannot deviate far from a recipe, because that is all I know how to do: follow recipes. There are a couple of dishes that I need no recipe for because they have been passed down through memory like Filipino Chicken Adobo.
So here is the rough menu of what I am working on for the week:
1) Chicken schnitzel with sauerkraut and fried potatoes. Living in Huntsville, Alabama, there is a subtle undercurrent of German culture that has its genesis in the German rocket scientists settled at Redstone Arsenal after the war. Werner von Braun and the other rocket boys left a cultural imprint of beer-loving and kraut-eating on this town that continues to grow into a cultural hallmark of Huntsville. Coincidentally, schnitzel was one of Bex's pregnant food obsessions. I have heard of pregnant women inhaling jars of pickles. Bex became obsessed with schnitzel for a time. We would grab takeout from the Schnitzel Ranch and have date night at Hildegards. Schnitzel, for those who do not know, is a lightly breaded and fried meat such as pork or chicken. It is usually pounded thin and served with a cabbage dish. This is Becky's request for the week. Last time I cooked schnitzel I used sauerkraut from a can. Becky prefers the Boar's Head kraut in a bag, but the can was pretty delicious when I simmered it for over an hour with some Sierra Nevada pale ale and brown sugar. I'll get the Boar's Head this time and cook it the same way and see how much better it tastes.
2) Bulgogi. This is Korean beef barbecue and it is obscenely delicious. The first sit down meal I had as a married man was a Korean restaurant since vanished at Main Street South. We had bulgogi sauteed on the table-top stove. Becky has long cooked bulgogi, but its been too long. We will probably have it with a side of rice and steamed broccoli florets.
3) West Texas Asado. I was reading about Argentinian asado cooking when I stumbled on this recipe from someone's blog (The Homesick Texan). It looks amazing. It is not Argentinian obviously, but "West Texas" caught my mind. It comes almost as a stew, but seems thick enough to roll into a tortilla. The recipe calls for a ridiculous amount of ancho chiles and garlic. I'm not sure what ancho chiles are. I have not even googled them yet. I can always buzz my friend Joey to see where he would pick them up from.
That's what I have so far. The great thing is that in the past three weeks we have been stocking all sorts of non-perishable ingredients that simply allows us to cook a wide variety of dishes by just buying the meat and vegetables. Slow perishables still have to be maintained such as cream, eggs, sour cream and cheese. But we have plenty of spices, pastas, pre-made sauces, dried chiles, dried mushrooms, oils, etc. to cook some amazing things. Probably the most yummy thing I made in recent weeks is truffle and potato soup. This was a derivative of a recipe I found online that really only called for potatoes, truffle oil, garlic, onions and some other dry spices. But how can you have a mushroom soup without any actual mushrooms?
The truffle oil was bought from Costco for around $16. Unfortunately it is synthetic truffle oil. There is no true truffles in the oil. This stuff seems to have been all the rage back in the 90's even among professional chefs, but it fell out of favor and is regularly panned by foodies. Its like when the Allman Brothers experimented with synthesizers and Don Johnson's song-writing in the 80's... a period your ears would rather forget and skip right back to the 90's when they gained sense (and taste) again. I'm keeping it around, but it will always be used in conjunction with black truffle salt which I picked up at the Spice & Tea Exchange in Asheville, NC. This stuff has real flecks of truffles and boy it is musty and pungent. So this soup was sauteed with white mushrooms and dried shiitake mushrooms with truffle salt to taste before being blended up into a heavenly, creamy soup that almost recreates a similar truffle soup I have had Mezza Luna. Just incredible. And then to sop it up with some baquettes? Wooof.
8.9.12
I don't color in the lines
I can't draw straight lines either. That's why I need a computer to do what I do. Yep. I am admitting it. I cannot draw. I made it through architecture school by sheer will, always embarrassed by my hand drawing (IN) abilities. Thankfully we got to use rulers and drafting bars. What makes this even more painful is that I am a perfectionist. If I had been born in any other time I never would have made it! I have always said that it is thanks to computers that I can do what I do every day.
I was reminded of this painful truth about myself last weekend when I decided to paint our dining room.
A few things went wrong. I discovered, as I started painting, that the walls had been wall papered at one point and then painted over. I decided I didn't care. I had everything I needed and forged ahead hoping for the best. Well, the paint just doesn't stick to the walls the same as prepped drywall. There was a lot of dripping and pooling. I would come back and find these massive slides of paint down the wall. It took several coats to cover it and I haven't even mentioned the trim. What a disaster! I made an absolute mess with the trim.
My only saving grace is that there is a lot of furniture up against it and once you get artwork and curtains up you don't notice too much. I also decided to ignore the carpet color completely when I designed the color scheme. So if you come over for dinner, have a glass of wine, and don't look too closely!
We still have to replace the light fixture but overall I am thrilled with how it turned out. The pink is finally on its way out. This is the only room in the house that actually FEELS like us. The dining table, buffet and curio case on the side wall were from Granny B's house. The chairs were given to us from Paul's mom a while back. Now I have to unpack all of her dishes and figure out where to put them all!
What is pretty comical is that just beyond this oasis of nice interior design is absolute chaos. We'll get there. One room at a time!
A few things went wrong. I discovered, as I started painting, that the walls had been wall papered at one point and then painted over. I decided I didn't care. I had everything I needed and forged ahead hoping for the best. Well, the paint just doesn't stick to the walls the same as prepped drywall. There was a lot of dripping and pooling. I would come back and find these massive slides of paint down the wall. It took several coats to cover it and I haven't even mentioned the trim. What a disaster! I made an absolute mess with the trim.
My only saving grace is that there is a lot of furniture up against it and once you get artwork and curtains up you don't notice too much. I also decided to ignore the carpet color completely when I designed the color scheme. So if you come over for dinner, have a glass of wine, and don't look too closely!
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| before, previous owners |
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| after |
This was a complete accident. I didn't even consider the fabric on these chairs. The two shades of green match perfectly!
We still have to replace the light fixture but overall I am thrilled with how it turned out. The pink is finally on its way out. This is the only room in the house that actually FEELS like us. The dining table, buffet and curio case on the side wall were from Granny B's house. The chairs were given to us from Paul's mom a while back. Now I have to unpack all of her dishes and figure out where to put them all!
What is pretty comical is that just beyond this oasis of nice interior design is absolute chaos. We'll get there. One room at a time!
31.8.12
Pearson Scott Norris
I cannot believe it has taken me this long to get to this post!
On June 26th Pearson Scott Norris was born! You see, Pearson and Matty (as Beth calls our sweet baby boy) are best friends. They really have no choice in the matter as their mothers have determined that it will be so!
You see, I met Beth back in 2002. Her friendship has had an incredible impact on my life. She introduced me to Paul, helped me get my career off the ground when I moved home and most importantly has been a wonderful and amazing friend to walk through life together over the years. Our new house is around the corner from the Norris' and we are sure the boys will figure out a way to traipse through the woods to go back and forth. I am so excited for these two boys to grow up together!
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On June 26th Pearson Scott Norris was born! You see, Pearson and Matty (as Beth calls our sweet baby boy) are best friends. They really have no choice in the matter as their mothers have determined that it will be so!
You see, I met Beth back in 2002. Her friendship has had an incredible impact on my life. She introduced me to Paul, helped me get my career off the ground when I moved home and most importantly has been a wonderful and amazing friend to walk through life together over the years. Our new house is around the corner from the Norris' and we are sure the boys will figure out a way to traipse through the woods to go back and forth. I am so excited for these two boys to grow up together!
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Insane week
Thank goodness this week is over and followed by a three day weekend. I need it!
Paul decided last week that he was going to start cooking! This happened to coincide with an insane deadline at work. It has been wonderful to come home and not worry about what's for dinner. I can get all of the chores done and let Paul do his thing in the kitchen. We have been able to eat around 8pm and have some downtime before it's time to go to bed. Wonderful!
Paul decided last week that he was going to start cooking! This happened to coincide with an insane deadline at work. It has been wonderful to come home and not worry about what's for dinner. I can get all of the chores done and let Paul do his thing in the kitchen. We have been able to eat around 8pm and have some downtime before it's time to go to bed. Wonderful!
And for Matthew, another cold. He came home from daycare on Wednesday with an awful sounding cough. I wasn't terribly concerned. But Paul was very concerned. So on Thursday, Paul took Matthew to the pediatrician and it turns out he has some sort of bronchial inflammation caused by a virus. I am so glad Paul had the mental space to focus and take him to the doctor. Looking back I should have recognized his cough. It's the same cough my mom has when her asthma is acting up. I wasn't there, so I initially freaked out thinking he was diagnosed with asthma. In further discussion with Paul and our family doctor, it is way to early to diagnose him with asthma but the message was clear that it could be. We are praying that this is just a one time deal and NOT asthma!
He is getting breathing treatments several times a day right now and we are being very vigilant. But, as usual, he is his happy go lucky self. To get him (and us) used to the breathing treatments he stayed home from daycare both Thursday and Friday. I hated being away from him, but Matthew and Paul had big adventures!
He is getting breathing treatments several times a day right now and we are being very vigilant. But, as usual, he is his happy go lucky self. To get him (and us) used to the breathing treatments he stayed home from daycare both Thursday and Friday. I hated being away from him, but Matthew and Paul had big adventures!
Here are a few of the pictures I received.
Wednesday morning. He clearly is not feeling well. Meltdowns in the morning are rare.
Thursday, playing with the toys at Dr. Horton's office
Morning routine with Daddy!
Lola came over both Thursday and Friday so that Paul could work from home. Mateo loves his Lola!
Peaches everywhere! He looks just like Whit in this one!
On Friday, they went to Early Works, a local children's museum of Alabama History.
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| Is this not the cutest kid you have ever seen??!!! |
Learning to shop
I LOVE Peas!!!
Maybe he can help me in the garden next year?
The deadline has come and gone and I am so thankful for Paul stepping up and taking care of us all. I am looking forward to a nice long holiday weekend with my boys!
18.8.12
Still Cooking!
I love everything about sharing a meal with loved ones. Planning the meal. Shopping for the best ingredients for the meal. Preparing the meal. Even growing herbs and vegetables for them meal.
ALL of this went out the window when I got pregnant. I couldn't stand to be in the kitchen cooking. Exhaustion. Overwhelming smells. Nausea. Ughhh.
Thankfully, once Matthew started sleeping through the night and I was able to get some sleep myself my love for cooking and gardening has returned in full force. I am starting to get the hang of it again with all of the added chores of taking care of a baby.
My weekends are usually filled with lots of chores and making food for the week to try and get ahead so that meals can come together easier during the week. I also wanted to try something new: Petit Fours!
My dear friend Heather made the most beautiful petit fours for my baby shower and I wanted to make a batch with her for Matthew's teachers at Ms. Marcia's. We had a fun day of baking and glazing and decorating, but most importantly friendship.
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| There was sugar and glaze EVERYWHERE! |
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| I bought 5, yes F.I.V.E. LARGE bags of powdered sugar. We used all of them. |
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| Heather brought all of her cake decorating supplies! |
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| yum yum yum |
An interesting side not and lesson learned. It is so important to know what goes in our food. Blindly eating whatever is put in front of us, whether it's the chicken nuggets at McDonald's or the gourmet meal at the upscale restaurant. Knowing what is in our food gives us the power to make better decisions and live healthier lives and this will result in changes in our food industry as more and more people demand healthy food. As a result of SEEING how much sugar goes into these things, I only ate a few of them. They were amazing, but clearly to be enjoyed in moderation as opposed to the mass quantities I consumed when pregnant!
17.8.12
7 Months Old!
How do I have a 7 month old baby??? Well, he's not really a baby any more. Every day, he is more and more little boy. And he is ALL BOY. I am in for it!
He eats really well. He LOVES the new foods and tastes we have introduced him to. We have tried everything from squash to broccoli to pears. We are mainly on pureed fruits and vegetables right now and will start introducing yogurts next and soft meats as soon as he can chew a little better. The few times I have tried giving him food with a little texture he balks so I go back to a smooth puree.
His teeth have started coming in. He has one lower tooth and an upper is on its way to emerging.
As for mobility, he hasn't quite figured out how to crawl yet but it could be any day now. And he loves to stand! If you hold his hands and wrists he'll pull up easily to a standing position. I can tell he is just DYING to be on the move but just hasn't put it all together yet. I am sure I will be wishing for these easy times of sitting up but no mobility soon enough.
We love to laugh together. All I have to do is flirt a little with him and I get rewarded with the sweetest giggle!
Thank you Aunt Erin for the seersucker jacket! Isn't he just precious!
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