Fresh Tart

I hope you all had/are having a great day! I certainly did, I had a blast, but uff, I ate too much. The Very Immoderate Epicurean! Man, we had an enormous amount of fantastic food, a real group effort. My mom cooked all day. Stacey's house looked gorgeous. And now her kitchen has officially, comfortably cranked out a big Meyer holiday dinner for 12 - I declare it christened!

Our menu:
Herb-Roasted Turkey and Gravy (me)
Simple Savory Stuffing with Mushrooms & Parmesan (me)
Do-Ahead Sour Cream Mashed Potatoes (me)
Spiced Cranberry Relish Mold (Mom)
Spinach-Artichoke Casserole (Stacey)
Candied Yams (Mom)
Asparagus Casserole (Mom)
Rolls (Mary)
Pumpkin Cheesecake with Caramel Sauce (Marge)
Pecan Pie with Whipped Cream (Marge)
Wine, Coffee

You see? UFF! I had some of every damn one of those delicious things...and loved every bite! I'm happy to report that the turkey turned out juicy and flavorful, with deeply browned, crispy/crunchy skin, pretty killer if I do say so myself.

Cooper was a Superstar, running around, playing, talking, and getting re-familiarized with my cousins Kim, Craig, Michael & his wife Amanda; and my aunts and uncles Mary & Bruce and Marge & Jim. He announced "Gahmma!" when my mom walked in the house, ca-yute to the max. He was busy as a "bum-bee," run, run, run.

Mary & Bruce and Michael & Amanda actually arrived last night. We had a late, tasty dinner ofgrilled lamb chops, roasted broccoli, sauteed wild mushrooms, warm bread (with Hope Creamery butter, yay!), and apple spice cake with whipped cream. Boy oh boy, when we wrapped up dinner at oh, around midnight, we were one tired group. Zzzz...

Speaking of tired...yep, 'tis bedtime. Soooo time to put this full tummy down for the night. Safe travels! Sleep well! And Happy Digesting, y'all.

Recap: Spider-Man III = Fun. Walleye = Good. Good night's sleep = Yummy. Rainy weekend = Sucks. My dad's fried quail for Sunday lunch = going to be Mighty Fine (not happening until later today). Coop hanging with my dad = Adorable.

I'd like to go for a long Sunday's walk, but...I don't want to get rained on. Like, at all. I hate getting rained on. It's a curly-haired-girl thing; me and humidity, we're not friends. Sensing humidity in the air while I sleep can cause me to wake up cranky - I'm totally serious. I'll sleepily think, gee, what am I dreading today? Do I have some nightmare meeting? A dentist appointment? An over-scheduled crazy day? And then I'll realize - it's friggin' humid outside, I can feel it in my bones, on my skin, and in my hair. Bad Hair Day. Blah. So walking in the rain - not fun, not romantic, not refreshing. Hmmm, guess it's a kettlebells day. Gotta do something to prep my body for the pending infusion of fried food, mmmm, I do love me some fried food.

Then later, supposedly another baseball game, but I don't know. Lookin' pretty wet out there. We may end up with a bowl of soup here at the hacienda instead. Oooh, Greek Egg-Lemon Soup might be in order this evening, with a big Greek salad. Yeah, baby, that sounds lovely. (Unless we're all too full from fried quail to even think about it, and in that case, perhaps a bowl of cereal will suffice!)

Happy Birthday to my aunt Mary!

Recap of the recap: My dad's fried quail for lunch = Fantastic. OMG, goooooood stuff. With Susanna's pan gravy, green beans, pommes frites (with a little cheater's Bearnaise I made out of mayo, lots of fresh lemon juice, and tarragon), fresh bread with butter, and fresh mango and blackberries with lots of black coffee for dessert. Yeah, The Kill. Nice Cote du Rhone to wash it all down. And now we DO indeed have baseball, so I'll try to stay awake in the stands with that lunch packed into my tummy. Ohhh yeeeeahhh, that's the way to spend Sunday afternoon. NICE! (BTW, the soup is going The Way of Friday Night's Walleye, as in, it ain't happening. Perhaps tomorrow, stay tuned...)

Friday Morning Coffee with Suz! It had been a few weeks again so I was very, very glad to pull it off today. Not our usual light-hearted fare, which made it even more important to get together. (Wo)manning one's way through the intracacies of life without the ear and support of good friends would be a very lonely endeavor indeed. My friends keep me energized, balanced, and grateful for the many blessings in my life. Sheesh, I just realized, my friends are like CHURCH! HA! (Isn't Suz looking every bit the Jewthran minister she never knew she was? Amen!)

After coffee, I whipped by Byerly's (shocker, huh?) and picked up some walleye for dinner tonight. Total whim, didn't have a plan as I walked in, other than thinking "fish," hmmmm... Not even sure how I'm going to prepare it. Of course nothing is better than walleye dredged in flour and fried in butter 'til crispy - damn, that's good stuff, and a Meyer Family tradition, so near and dear to my heart as well as tasty. However, trying to keep things on the lighter side, I think I'll just brush it with a bit of butter and run it under the broiler until lightly browned. That's pretty darn good too. With roasted asparagus, and a big salad, we'll be in good shape.

These culinary adventures are for after happy hour, however - yes, Baseball Moms tonight, it's been awhile, and the ladies are ready to get together for some beer and chat! (Anyone want to place bets on whether I really cook that walleye tonight? I can see some pizza with that beer and my cooking ambition going right out the window...stay tuned...)

Oh, some Happy Birthdays are in order! Happy Birthday John (4/18), my aunt Marge (4/19), and John's bro Tom (4/20) - all took place while we were in Napa. I know John's birthday RAWKED (our first night in Napa, dinner at Cyrus), hope Marge's and Tom's did too! And Happy Birthday today to my cousin Kelly! And a pre-Happy Birthday to my aunt Mary, on Sunday, and to Stacey Pooh, mommy of Cooper Doo (and my lovely sister!) on Tuesday the 8th. (Can you tell that Spring is as expensive as Christmas in this family?!) If I were with y'all right now I'd serve you (and me!) a big ol' piece of Suz's Fresh Lemon-Coconut cake!!

On a less upbeat note, if you love Fugaise as much as I do, check out Andrew Zimmern's blog today. We were introduced to Fugaise by Stu & Debbie (here getting their Fugaise on!) and have enjoyed several knockout meals there. I hate seeing my favorite restaurants (Auriga, I miss thee, sniff) go down - hopefully Fugaise can rally. Go Don Saunders, go!

"I don't feel tardy!" That's a line from the Van Halen classic, Hot for Teacher, which I confess I listened to three (!) times in a row this morning on my walk, cracking up the entire time. Totally bawdy and ridiculous, and yet so infectious, I think I laughed for the entire 10 minutes. (Clearly that laughing did not put color in my cheeks, my goodness what a pallor...get that girl some blush!)

Actually, I do feel tardy, I know I'm way late in posting. I was away over the weekend, Nathan and I drove out to just north of Kerkhoven, MN, to visit my aunt Mary and uncle Bruce (aka Brucyn, Brucie, Bruce B Broccoli) on their lovely farm. Nathan had a blast taking pics and riding in the combine with my cousin Michael, who is helping his dad harvest corn and soybeans. And of course Nathan played and played with dogs Shep and Cody - Nathan and dogs, yet again. He was in heaven. (Plus, he took all of these amazing pics!)

I also had a blast, getting lots of time to hang and chat with Mary and Bruce in their cozy kitchen, as well as eat delicious food - lovely wine, beef stroganoff, tortellini soup, lots of coffee, pancakes with warm apples... YUM! My uncle Jim and aunt Marge came over for dinner Saturday night, it was great to see them too. Sunday morning Mary and I got a brisk walk - I love walking out there, no one else around, golden sunshine, rolling fields. I really feel away from the city, sleeping in their completely charming 100+ year old house, in my favorite yellow bedroom, in a bed loaded with soft pillows and warm quilts. I love the creaky stairs, and all the pictures of my grandma and grandpa, and Mary's incredible antique furniture and dishes, some of which belonged to Bruce's grandparents. They have lovingly and beautifullly restored - and added on to - the house that Bruce grew up in, it's very cool to be in a home with history.

By Sunday night Nathan and I were back home, back to homework and laundry and all the real stuff. Which is good too!

Tonight I'm making chicken paillards for dinner, with a big pan of sauteed mushrooms, and roasted acorn squash. (And rice for everyone else, ha!)

I've been having lots of fun cooking different grains, as I wrote about last week. The quinoa and rolled rye, and also millet and buckwheat. All delicious. I tend to make them for breakfast, with a bit of honey and chopped nuts stirred in. Mmmm... I also bought a fabulous pumpkin butter at Whole Foods - at 25 cals per tablespoon, it totally relieves the little craving I've been having for pumpkin pie (one of my absolute, all-time favorite desserts - in a good crust, preferably prepared by my aunt Marge, heavenly). I've been spreading it on Honeycrisp apple slices for a sweet - and healthy! - treat.