Fresh Tart

Nathan's home again today, the third day in 2 weeks, sigh. He spent the morning with Carter and then I - after finally making my Byerly's run! - swung by and picked him up. I don't think he's going to be much into eating dinner tonight, we'll have to see. I'm making one of John's favorite things in the whole world. No, not chicken and rice (that's tomorrow night, ha) but chopped steak. That's right, good old-fashioned chopped steak, his Nanny Claire used to make it for him, it's a nostalgia thing. I bought choice NY strip steaks and chopped (small dice) them myself, coarsely, added salt and pepper, and made several patties. Before I cook them tonight I'll dredge them in flour, saute them, and make a mustard/mushroom pan sauce. With roasted asparagus. Should be nice.

Suz sent me an email saying that iTunes rated our podcast explicit - holy shit! Me? Explicit? I mean, this has nothing to do with f-bombs, I don't even think I've said fuck yet on Feminine Hijinx. It's purely the content! Don't say I didn't warn you...

Mashed potatoes... Mmm... Love 'em. Which is why I don't often make them. Because no one else around here does, pretty much just me. John will eat them, especially with chopped steak and roasted asparagus, one of our favorite veggies. A heapin' helpin' (well, not too heapin') of comfort food, ahhh. I ate it alone, what with Nathan not feeling well, and John having to work late to make up for being away on vacation part of last week. But that's OK, still tasted great. Especially those damn potatoes... The key to great smashies is putting them through a potato ricer. Takes about 2 minutes and makes them perfect, and I've experimented with all the techniques. Nothing touches the ricer for fluffy mashed potatoes. Add a little butter and half-n-half to taste, little salt (I'm not a fan of pepper on mashed potatoes, to me this food is meant to be purely white) and there they are, potato heaven. Delicious with the mustard pan sauce.

There is no recipe I could post today that could top the dish featured on Planet Dan. I'm not even going to put the pic on my blog, lest someone think that I created this dish, so check it out by going to his blog. Yeah. Baby. There are definitely people weirder than I am, good to know. Because exposing my weirdness/silliness/grossness on Feminie Hijinx, for the whole world to hear, caused me to not sleep very well last night. Had the typical "vulnerable" dreams - driving in a car that wouldn't accelarate, caught in public in my underwear, the whole nine. Pretty funny. Hey, being almost-40 is all about taking risks, shaking things up, doing something new. Posting on this blog is something I never thought I would do. And I love it. And doing Feminine Hijinxis definitely something I never thought I'd do. And I love that too. That's what good friends (and husbands!) are for - to push you past your comfort zone. Consider me pushed! Eeek! (Here we are last night, the chat before the official chat, a photo I stole off Susie's blog. Apparently, I have none of my own content today. Yet. Gimme a few hours...)

I'm back! AND I made a lovely dinner, an innovation, because I did NOT go to Byerly's, yesterday or today, which I really needed to do. I love the pressure, I guess; sometimes our best dinners come from what I think is nothing. Tomorrow I'm hitting Byerly's for sure. John was away for the weekend, back tonight, and we had one of our awesome nights of just hangin', chatting, cooking, listening to music, laughing. Really nice. He listened to Feminine Hijinxfor the first time and laughed his ass off which made me feel great, I must say, he loved it. So that was cool, along with our simple tapas-inspired dish of oven-roasted potatoes, tomatoes, and onion tossed warm with a tuna salad composed of again, Genoa brand tuna packed in olive oil, chopped scallions, and minced green pepper (recipe posted below, in comments). Poured a Spanish 1991 Mas Donis with it, wow, really hit the spot (and dig those pigtails!). Although with his food John chose a SO (short for soda) instead of the lovely wine (that's an Orangina in his hand). Bus-ted! I'm telling Stu!

Nathan and I had a great night last night, but it had nothing to do with Chinese food or going to a movie! We decided it was too cold, and he was feeling rough with the start of a cold, and our timing was all messed up anyhow, so we innovated and ordered in from Davanni's (pizza for him, piece of lasagna for me) and watched Ghostbuster's on cable. Total BLAST. We were both so glad to be indoors, warm and cozy, that was half the fun.

So tonight we had scheduled the second recording of our Feminine Hijinx podcast, but poor Kim, Maven of Mischief, was terribly sick yesterday, nasty stomach virus that's knocking everyone down, so we probably won't pull it off. Hopefully she's able to rest - vomit-free, ouch - all day today! Be well, Kim!

Hallelujah, She is Risen! Or so Suz exclaimed upon seeing Kim at church this morning, so we are ON, woo hoo! Since the kids are off school tomorrow, they're coming too, for pizza and rolling their eyes at their goofy moms. Thank you to Wine Genius Stu Williams for helping me out with wine ideas for the podcast - one per week is the idea. We're starting with a wine Kim brought last week, but after this, Stu's recommendations, can't wait. After we have a couple of podcasts under our belts, we'll make the Feminine Hijinx website live and I'll put it here on my blog as well. Bet you're all dying to hear it, ha. The website is pretty incredible, I must say, what with Cory's photos/concept/web design/recording, Brian's art design, Susie's songwriting/performance, and my and Kim's, um, what have we contributed Kim? We're reallly good at drinking wine, uh, that's it! Cheers to the wine drinkers! (Especially those who drink wine in a Jesus Loves You cup!)

Made myself a quick and satisfying lunch, nothing but a tuna sandwich, but with packed-in-olive-oil Genoa tuna, scallions, little lemon, arugula, chopped tomato, and a toasted whole wheat roll, pretty damn delicious. Potato chips would have been incredible with it but 1) we don't have any, and 2) I hardly need those empty calories. I've been not-so-moderate these last couple of weeks, if I'm honest (as if I can hide it, what with this blog, ha), and I can tell. Tight pants. Damn! Good thing I'm having pizza and wine for dinner tonight, nothing like salt and alcohol to make you feel trim in the morning. Good Lord. Hmmm...I think I'll go grab me some exercise and a glass of water and attempt to keep it all in balance.

Wine+pizza=yummy. And get this, also had some chips, as a little snack-y beforehand, so there, got my chip fix. And Suz baked a chocolate cake, with Killer Chocolate Sauce as icing, fabulous. So properly fortified, Kim, Suz and I recorded the second Feminine Hijinx, while the kids played upstairs. Hoooeeee did we have a blast, and hooooeeee is it on the bawdy (raunchy!) side (and, a bit gross, just so you know, we open with a conversation about www.smellypoop.com, we're odd and kinda crazy, I admit it), so be warned. Because now our website is l...i...v...e - www.femininehijinx.net - check out it, have a listen, buy some merchandise (we've got it all, I'm telling you), and enjoy. Unless you're related to me, then I'm too uncomfortable with you listening. Seriously. Okay. Good night!

I love it when Siggy Roo's jowls get stuck in his teeth, it's so endearing! This weather is hard on the old guy, I can see him picking up his feet while he tries to pee - not easy when you have long, shaky legs. He pulled it off, but just barely. He's such a sweetie. Rrrrrrooo!

And speaking of sweeties, Nathan and I are having a mom/son night out tonight. Dinner and a movie, I'm really looking forward to it. Haven't decided yet where we'll eat, I'll see what he's up for. He digs Greek and Chinese particularly. And of course, the ubiquitous pizza, his true fav. He occasionally gets a bit burned out on 'za, however, so hopefully he'll be up for something a little more interesting. Maybe I can talk him into Mexican, I've had a hankering along those lines... Hmmm...

Today, a quest for productivity of some sort. Didn't achieve much yesterday, I have to confess. I just don't want to go anywhere when it's -10 degrees, funny thing. But I do have errands to run, I've got to brave it today. And of course, laundry is not very dependent on the weather, ha. No excuse there. OK, Stephanie, kick 'er into gear!

OMG, I just whipped up the most incredible lunch for myself. Wow. I should have paid closer attention to how I did it, I was just cooking a craving, basically. Talked to Nathan, he wants Chinese tonight, and I have that above-said Mexican desire, so I pulled out a can of pinto beans, made a quick chili sauce to simmer them in, cooked myself a couple of fresh tortillas (sooo easy, and sooo good, that store-bought won't much move you again), topped it all off with chopped arugula and raw onion. Even had to have a quick glass of red with it, it was so delicious. Damn! Now THAT took care of my Mexican craving, and it wasn't nearly as naughty as a big, cheesy burrito. (I'll write up what I did and post it in comments, below.)

Good morning! I intended to post last night about our delicious evening at Rudy and Ana's. I even sat down at my computer, spread out my notes (I have to take notes to keep track of all the fabulousness!), put my hands on the keyboard and thought, am I nuts? I am so full, and so tired, get your ass to bed, girl! So I did. Thus here I am this morning, refreshed instead of exhausted, with a nice cup of (decaf) coffee, ready to decipher the pretty hilarious notes I take when we all get together. Last time, I scribbled all over three of Rudy's business cards. This time, actual paper, but just imagine, I am eating, drinking, talking, laughing, and trying to write, all at the same time. For those of you who know me, enough said. For those who don't, I eat (too) fast, drink (too) fast, talk (too) fast, laugh (too) loudly - add in something as sedate as note-taking, and one of these things is not like the other... You get the picture.

So, to begin, we arrived at Rudy and Ana's way cool St. Paul loft, absolutely gorgeous. Had a lovely glass of Champagne (forgot to write that down, off to a good start), lots of pate and salmond spread, and kicked things off in fine style. Sat down to a first course of silky squash soup (yum), which Ana made (recipe in comments, below), and with which she graciously served the challah I baked for them (below). With it Rudy served a 1997 Chambolle-Musigny Les Amoureuses Burgundy.

Our next course was a big, meaty, crispy crab cake - a perfect crab cake - from gandmcrabcakes.com in Baltimore, MD. With tomatoes, avocado, and a slaw that Rudy forgot about because it was all so nice just the way it was. Anticipating the crab cakes, Stu brought a lovely and crisp 1997 Twisted & Bent, Bent & Twisted Sine Qua Non white. For dessert, a seriously decadent (whew!) slice of chocolate cake with a 1996 Vine Cliff Napa Valley Merlot, along with sips of and chat about various tasty liqueurs, the first of which was a pine-needles-in-a-bottle Zirbenz Stone Pine Liqueur of the Alps, by Josef Jofier, Steiremark. And another by the same maker, Lauria Alpensahne Alpine Cream Liqueur, described on the bottle as a "timeless union of alpine cream, Pear Williams Brandy, and regional mountain pears." It was, as Ana described, like a pear smoothie. Lastly, which we all breathed in more than actually drank, a Jose Cuervo Reserva de la Familia Tequila, with the color and fragrance of a brandy. Ahhh, sated, cozy, and buzzy, Stu, Debbie, John, and I made our way out the door into the frigid air (damn it's cold today!) and home to our warm beds. Not to post on our blogs. So thank you Rudy and Ana for a beautiful evening, we loved being in your gorgeous home and so appreciated the delicious food and wine and great company.

Oh, and a couple more things I jotted down, first of all Rudy's blog, check it out. And, I believe related to the Champagne we were drinking, we started discussing the pronunciation of Reims, in France, which all of us had assumed was said 'reem' but Rudy learned is actually said 'rance,' as in rhymes with pants. Or in this case, France. So there, next time you're chatting about Champagne, and Reims, you'll know the correct pronunciation. Which can be tricky, I've learned. For instance, after studying French (briefly, in high school) I know how to correctly pronouce chaise lounge and armoir, but you can sound like a serious asshole in some settings using correct French pronunciation. So use your better judgment. When in France...of course. When in rural Minnesota...perhaps tone it down a bit.

Oh, and yet one more thing - I sampled a Molton Brown handwash I hadn't tried before, Naran Ji, loved it, I kept smelling my hands as we wrapped up our dinner. I'm ordering some today!

Here's how to have dinner on your own: cook yourself something you love but your family doesn't and enjoy every..single..bite. Tonight I enjoyed spaetzle with browned sage butter topped with a pile of freshly grated pecorino romano, with a glass of Riesling. Early, which is when I like to eat. It was tough, but somehow I managed.

Home with Nathan again today - ugh, this time of year, everyone passing around germs at school! There are kids missing every day, it's so frustrating. But, so it goes. He's here, luckily with his backpack and work, so he's doing homework all day. He's not happy about it, at this very moment, but he will be when he's finally caught up. Who knew 4th grade was so tough? Sheesh!

On a brighter note, we're invited to Rudy Maxa and Ana Scofield's for dinner tonight - woo hoo! Stu and Debbie Williams too. A little bird tells me that we're having pate, crab cakes, slaw, and cheesecake, along with lovely wine, of course. Oh, a taste of summer! Love that menu! I'm cold and cranky sitting here and am seriously looking forward to a warm, yummy evening with friends. Can't wait.

Now that I've polished off the last of the leftover popovers (had two for breakfast, warm, with blueberries and syrup, fab; one for lunch at room temp, little Hope Creamery butter, also fab), I'd better get back to helping my little Nate with his homework... And honestly, just because he's feeling under-the-weather doesn't mean that I can't do some exercise. Right.

A fix-er up day for me. Or as my mother-in-law Dot calls it, maintenance (I love that term!). Haircut, highlights and blowout (right), pedicure (left), manicure (although the manicure was just a buff, I've pretty much given up on polished fingernails, just too high maintenance, and a short, buffed nail is quite elegant, thank goodness). At Spalon Montage, where Nisa has done my hair, and LJ my nails, for years now. Love those girls! It's been awhile so feels g.o.o.d, I'm all spiffy. Just in time to cook dinner and monitor homework, ha. That's OK, I had my night out last night and it sure was fun. And as a little bonus, my friend Kathie was getting her hair cut, also by Nisa, right after me! Just a coincidence, but a nice one, I always love to see her. Everyone loves to see Kathie, that's just how she is. Purely awesome.

Tonight I'm making a Salad Nicoise, I've had a craving for it since Bowen was talking on Sunday about how he often carries one out from Barbette. Barbette does a killer Nicoise, but I decided to make tonight's version myself. Romaine, tuna, onion, hard-cooked egg, tomato, potatoes, green beans, all with a mustard-y, garlicky vinaigrette. With popovers. Mmmm...love it. For the kids, a plainer version of the same salad, the popovers of course, and soup (canned) if they like. Easy enough!

Salad Nicoise hit the spot, as did popovers, those naughty, tempting, crispy puffs of eggy heaven. Why, oh why, do I make them? I LOVE them (with a little Hope Creamery butter, couldn't resist, prrrr...). With a tasty St. Innocent Pinot Noir. Nice dinner (recipes for popovers and Salad Nicoise in comments, below). Except for Nathan, who said he didn't feel well, and fell asleep, on his own, at 6:00 p.m. Again, just like a couple of weeks ago. So here we go again, poor little cutie. His friend Vivian, Susie's daughter, was home sick today too, it's going around their school. Damn, I hate when he's sick, I don't like to see him uncomfortable...

Happy VD! I'm very grateful to have a valentine on Valentine's Day. I hated VD in college when I was broken-hearted over some dude, seeing couples walking arm-and-arm around the campus, blech. I've been hooked up pretty much solidly since then, ha, maybe it had more of an impact on me than I've realized! Being single can be crazy-fun, no doubt, and marriage can be hard as hell - again, no doubt - but I do enjoy being married. Most of the time. Hi John! I mean all of the time (except when you use my computer, I hate that)! You're an awesome husband and I'm so glad we're together! Happy Valentine's Day to you all, single or married or something in-between.

I'm stealing this pic from Susie's blog of our first recording session of Feminine Hijinx - how comfy cozy do we look, hanging in Suz and Cory's basement, sipping wine and gabbing? The only sign that it's a recording session is the microphones (no, I'm not eating mine, ha).

John forgot to take his cake to work today - uh oh! So far OK, not in a cake mood. I have my eye on leftover Bucatini all'Amatriciana for lunch, perhaps a little salad as well. Nice. So a VD lunch alone, then later I'll pick up Nathan from school and get the scoop on his class party - a Hawaiian luau, cute idea, lots of fruit and summer clothes. Then time to get ready for our dinner out with Susie and Cory, Brian and Kim, woo hoo! The grownups go out for VD, it's an event!

Our valentines (!), John, Cory, and Brian - woo hoo for great husbands! We had a blast at Wildire Grill, ate lots of yummy steak (I had a truly delicious and beefy NY Strip - when I announced, I'm having the NY Strip, Suz said, of course you are! Ha!), knocked off a few bottles of a lovely Australian Shiraz that I forgot to write down (too busy talking, of course), and laughed our asses off, as usual. Best VD I've had in years. Definitely had to chat about Feminine Hijinx, since Cory's responsible for damn near the entire thing - recording, website, photos; and Brian has designed an incredibly cool logo. I'm so lucky to know these talented people, it pretty much blows me away. Wow. I'm taking a little moment here in my gratitude. Great friends are a real gift.

So, off to bed for me, and John and Nathan. Hope you had a nice Valentine's Day too.

Yes, up too late again, goofing around with Suz and Kim (as you can tell in pic, whew). Our photo shoot and first recording session for Feminine Hijinx went very well, at least from our perspective! Little on the bawdy side (no!), but only a little, just enough to keep us laughing the entire time. I'll have to watch my f-bombs so we don't end up with an explicit rating! And Susie and Kim, they'll have to watch everything else, they will say anything. Love that about them. Love my girls!

Today and tonight, keepin' it pretty real, ha. Very exciting things like getting gas, a car wash, candy for Nathan's class valentines (damn near forgot about VDay, oops), folding laundry, getting some sort of exercise, etc... Everymom's day. We're in tonight, I'm thinking a simple pasta, perhaps all'Amatriciana, from Michael Chiarello's Casual Cooking, basically pasta with tomatoes and onion, bit of bacon, few pepper flakes for some heat. It's absolutely one of my favorites. (Recipe posted in comments, below.) Need to rest up for tomorrow...

...when we'll be out for Valentine's Day with Susie and Cory, Kim and Brian. Woo hoo! Nice, casual dinner at Wildfire Grill, we girls will attempt to keep the shrieking to a minimum. I think.

Spaghetti - or in this case, bucatini - all'Amatriciana was delicious. Served it with a simple salad, romaine and arugula tossed very lightly with good olive oil and a dash of red wine vinegar with sea salt and pepper. I baked John a chocolate cake for VD - I'm such a good wife! He's eating it right now talking to himself about how fucking awesome it is so there you go, it must be pretty darn tasty. I'm actually abstaining, I'm full enough from pasta and salad and shockingly don't really need it! And then I'm getting it out of here by sending it with John to work tomorrow - I'm more likely to eat sweets mid-afternoon than after dinner. So, fare thee well, VD chocolate cake. You belong on someone else's lips, not mine...

Beautiful, sunny Sunday, wow. And more cuteness this morning, Nikko and Addison waking up here and having a little brunch with us. They're so good about eating, they happily had poached scrambled eggs with scallions, sausage, and streusel muffins. Two brunches in a row, not my usual, but hey, I'll take it! The original plan was to meet up with Baby Boom Boom's dad Bowen at Hell's Kitchen downtown, but Bowen's not feeling well, and Nathan ended up having breakfast after church with his dad's family, so it worked better to just whip up something here. So we've been busy so far today! I even had to blow out my hair, which I only do on special occasions (it takes forever and I hate doing it), because Susie, Kim, and I are going to take our first shot at recording our soon-to-be podcast tonight, Feminine Hijinx, and Cory's going to snap some pics of us for the FH website. No makeup-less Sunday for me!

So in a bit here we're heading over to Stacey's pad to check out Boom Boom's nursery, it's all ready to go, all we need is his birth! Soon, soon... Then back here for some homework and chillin', gotta get in the right frame of mind for shrieking into a microphone with the girls.

Back now, the nursery is cozy and adorable, very Stacey, and totally baby ready! Stacey and Bowen have done an amazing job of picking out furniture, carseat, bouncy seat, stroller, crib, decorations - the whole nine. This little boy is going to have one s-weet set up. Everyone's wondering how Kitty Co - Stacey's shockingly charming and friendly cat - is going to do, but he is so adaptable, I think he'll be just fine. Co tried out the Baby Bjorn carrier today and thought it was terrific. He also yawned through a visit by the two neighbor dogs, as well as us. Snuggled up with Nathan (who has bigger eyes, Nathan or Co?), did all his silly tricks, he's a cutie. We hung out chatting at Stace's for a little too long, which was a blast, but sort of messed up our dinner plan. Basically, we now don't have one, we're winging it here, which is fine, with all the food we still have. (I say that it's fine, but I confess I got a little bitchy about it on the way home, sorry John and Nathan, although I've recovered now...)

So, another weekend of fun and food, kids, dogs, cat, diapers, brunch(es), now all behind us, darn. I like busy weekends. Nikko calls me Snephanie and it's just about the cutest thing I've ever heard. Time for Snephanie to wind down a bit and, as Suz says, get my Podcast Pants on, I'm on to the next endeavor...