the menu: week of september 28
the menu: week of september 28

My husband picked out this week's offerings with a two minute peruse of one of my pin boards. Like menu planning is no big deal, we’ll just have this. I may have found my new method to planning dinner. Here, Honey. Take the ipad. Rob also made dinner last night using a recipe that he picked because he couldn’t find the one that we had originally planned to use. I'm pretty sure that I had made it once before, but it was delicious. I highly recommend a trip over to Williams-Sonoma’s blog, Taste, for some inspiration if you are in a rut.

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a case of food ennui
a case of food ennui

Last month, when I was in Los Angeles, I walked over 50 blocks roundtrip for an ice cream sandwich. I’m sure you are thinking that is completely ridiculous. But you probably also have a million questions about my ice cream sandwich. What flavor was it? Were the cookies homemade? Was it the best ice cream sandwich ever and you just had to have one? Why didn’t you take the car? Or a bike? I mean, you were in Los Angeles. Nobody walks there.

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the review: (fancy) italian night
the review: (fancy) italian night

So you know how it goes. The kids go back to school and maybe you are feeling a little guilty about the fact that you are SO EXCITED that they are back in school or maybe you are just an over achiever and you decide that you want their first day to finish with an amazingly tasty meal. You start early. You prep, you sauté, you cook. You show up to the table with a beautiful meal and everyone is all smiles. Does this sound familiar to you? Yep. Me neither.

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the review: slow-cooker chicken with fall vegetables
the review: slow-cooker chicken with fall vegetables

We have had several meals lately that I swore I was going to review and now I can’t even remember what they were. If you recall, one of the reasons for starting this blog in the first place was to remind myself what recipes we have tried and liked and which failed or needed modification. It helps to actually use the blog for its purpose, you know. No matter. I’ll probably make whatever they were again and hopefully remember what I was supposed to say next time.

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the menu: week of september 7
the menu: week of september 7

I hope you will bear with me while I slowly try to get back on the horse. We've had some family schedule changes and the start of school for everyone which has just made it slightly more difficult to be a planner. You know I like to force a square peg into a round whole as much as the next gal, but even I give up from time to time. Anyway, for now, I'll be posting our menu plan for Monday through Friday only and I'm not going to be making that handy dandy pinnable menu because nobody pins it anyway. I will continue to pin what we are eating here. Shall we see how that works? Fantasitc.

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the menu: week of august 17
the menu: week of august 17

Have you ever seen the movie “What about Bob?” I think I’ve watched it at least fifty times. Anyway, what I really need is a vacation. Now, as any stay at home mom knows, it is really difficult to take a vacation from your problems when you stay at home with them every day or have to bring them with you on vacation. Do I need to spell this one out for you? As much as I love my children, sometimes, I dream of not having to be anywhere at a certain time, not having to cook dinner, not having to be finished with whatever it is that I’ve started by a certain time. Baby steps.

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the review: beetroot tarte tatin
the review: beetroot tarte tatin

Ok, so we rocked the picnic last night. Let’s start with dessert. Apparently, it was National S’mores Day. Who makes this stuff up? Is it bloggers? The marshmallow council? Kraft? Anyway, it just so happened that as I was grocery shopping, I spotted a jar of mini marshmallows on the top shelf of the baking aisle. I don’t mean the usual mini marshmallows, I mean the kind you find in packets of hot cocoa – the really tiny, crunchy marshmallows. This, my friends, is why Pinterest is so awesome. I remembered at that moment this pin from almost a year ago. And I MADE IT. I can tell you that my kids were the most popular at the symphony last night, hands down. Treats make great friends.

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the menu: week of august 10 updated
the menu: week of august 10 updated

People. I have a lot of fruit in my house right now. A lot. My husband picked up our basket from the co-op yesterday. We have a melon, a pineapple, seven yellow plums, six pears, a huge bag of grapes, and a bunch of bananas. We also ordered a box (nineteen pounds!) of peaches and a box (12 8-ounce containers) of black mission figs. Oh, and the veggies. We have a head of butter lettuce, two bunches celery, a fennel bulb, and two heads of cabbage. Plus, Sam was in charge of groceries yesterday so we have a plethora of white mushrooms. I’m pretty sure that my husband used a bunch of produce from the basket last night to make dinner but I missed what he used because he had already started cooking when I got home from family day at the symphony. Bless him. (If you are curious, we had Moroccan fish tagine from the Mayo Clinic cookbook. Pretty good.)

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the review: burgers, salads, and cake - oh my!
the review: burgers, salads, and cake - oh my!

Ok, so we didn’t eat honey-ginger chicken with lime last night. Nor did we eat shrimp and grits on Sunday. Is this a recipe review blog or what? Maybe not. Maybe it will be again, but for now, let’s call it like it is. I am in perpetual catch-up mode. It could be that I’m also in mid-life crisis mode. My youngest children want to trade in our disguised mini-van (a.k.a. Acadia) for a convertible beetle. I’m actually considering it. Why not? Like I said, possible mid-life crisis. More on this later, I’m sure.

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the menu: week of august 3
the menu: week of august 3

Back to reality. We’ve had a pretty good week without getting too excited in the kitchen. After several days of not really cooking, Gus decided that we needed to have chicken pot pies for dinner last night. Yep. He helped with the vegetables and covered the pies with crust. Not surprisingly, the kids are more vegetables in one sitting last night than they have all week because they “made” dinner. Must remember to schedule one night per week as kids’ choice.

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the review: cuban pork chops with herb rice and black beans
the review: cuban pork chops with herb rice and black beans

Let’s talk about what is really important first. Our second oldest daughter is back from a three week trip to India. She’s tired and trying to readjust to life as usual around here but she is full of cool ideas and beautiful images and new words and concepts. She told us last night that she understands that she won’t learn big things if she stays in her comfort zone. She is excited to be an explorer of the world. She is excited to share that perspective with her brothers and sisters. It is great to have her home.

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the review: grilled steak with toasted spice vinaigrette
the review: grilled steak with toasted spice vinaigrette

Last night’s dinner was good. It wasn’t great, but it was good. It was so easy to prepare that the preparation more than made up for the less than mind blowing final product. Like any grilled steak, this one needed just the right amount of seasoning before grilling and I may have under-seasoned it a bit. But it was grilled perfectly (thank you, Rob) and the combination of the heirloom tomatoes and toasted spice vinaigrette made for an excellent summer meal.

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