Honors Day (and Night)

School wrapped up this week, and Ben and Daniel were both recognized at their schools for being the sup-a-stahs they are.

Ben's school had 6th Grade Honors Night on Tuesday Night. Ben was recognized for making the honor roll every nine weeks this year. We had crap seats, so I didn't get any decent pictures during the program (unless you count the numerous shots of the heads of the people sitting in front of us.) And Ben was late for a ball game, so he wasn't interested in sticking around after for me to get pictures of him and his teachers, him and his locker, him and the water fountain, etc. So the only picture I got was very much after the fact:

Daniel's 4th Grade Honors program was Thursday morning. Daniel racked up the awards: Perfect Attendance, Academic Excellence (Straight A's), Accelerated Reader (335 points) and Creative Writing. He was also chosen by his classmates as the Outstanding Male Student of the Year (based on conduct and character). AND....we got pictures:

DP and Mrs. C - the greatest 4th grade teacher of all time.

DP and Dad - the greatest dad of all time.

Field Day!

Even though everyone else in the country was off today, Daniel had school. He had to make up a snow day, and the school opted to come in on Memorial Day rather than a Saturday. Knowing that most of the student population wouldn't show up, they decided to have Field Day today (pretty smart thinking, if you ask me). Since I was off today, I decided to help out and spend the day with my favorite fourth grader.

Another Lost Post (Sorry, I can't let it go)

I know, I know. Most of you don't watch Lost. But if you did, you'd know why I'm compelled to talk about it all the time.

And for them that do.....

Mark and I re-watched the pilot last night for the umpteenth time. We noticed something that didn't really register before, but was way cool in light of the revelations made in the season five finale.

Locke is on the beach talking to Walt about backgammon. He says "it's the oldest game in the world." He explains how they found backgammon sets when they excavated ancient Mesopotamia, some five thousand years old.

Then he says: "There are two sides. One is light, one is dark."

Oooooohhhhhhh.

What I'm Reading Now

Mindless Eating, by Brian Wansink.

Mark got me this for Mother's Day. It reminded us both of a book we read a few years back called Why We Buy by Paco Underhill. WWB shares the findings of a consulting firm that is hired to come into stores, study the shoppers, and make recommendations that will increase sales. It was fascinating.

Mindless Eating is very similar and equally fascinating. The author studies the eating habits of Americans in many, many different scenarios. They do things like go into movie theaters and give all ticket holders a free tub of popcorn just to see if they will eat it, and how much of it they eat. The catch? The popcorn is five days old and about as tasty as cardboard. But guess what? Everyone ate it. They acknowledged that it sucked, but they still ate it.

Most interesting to me is the studies done in a place called The Spice Box. Billed as a prix fix restaurant that is used for recipe testing, this place is actually an extension of the University of Illinois's food science department. They bring people in twice a week and feed them meals. The diners think they are tasting new recipes, but the powers that be are actually studying their eating habits.

On one evening, they give everyone the same brand of cheap, two-dollar wine. Half of the restaurant is told that it is a new label from California. The other half is told that it is a new label from North Dakota. Same wine, but the California people enjoyed their meal much more than the North Dakota people did, and the North Dakota people left early. On another evening, they have waiters describe the specials to half of the diners, and the other half simply reads the specials from their own menus. Then they determine who ate more and why. Stuff like this fascinates me.

The basic finding of the author is that people, by and large, can eat 20% more than they need to, or even want to, without even knowing it (hence the name, Mindless Eating). If people can eat 20% more without noticing, it stands to reason that they can eat 20% less without noticing. They key is figuring out why we eat more than we need to, and using that knowledge to our advantage.

So far, very, VERY interesting read.

The Rice Cooker Cometh

The Incident

It’s taken me a few days to come down from the Lost season finale. It was all I hoped it would be and more. I have no idea what is actually going on, but I have some thoughts….

I think Jacob and Anti-Jacob (for lack of a better name for the guy in the black shirt who found the loophole) are mythological brothers/enemies/forces/gods/something who are somehow experimenting with humanity on the island. They obviously have some sort of Yin-Yang thing going, and Jacob is obviously trying to make something happen by bringing people to the island.

I think the Anti-Jacob is controlled by Jacob or by the island, and was confined to the cabin somehow. I think when Ben took Locke to the cabin in season four, the voice Locke heard saying “help me” was not Jacob but the Anti-Jacob and he has somehow used Ben and Locke to carry out his evil doing. The cabin was surrounded by the ashes each time we saw it before, and Illana seemed really surprised that the ash line was broken and that whoever she was looking for was not there. The ash line might also tie the Anti-Jacob to the smoke monster, who knows.

I now think all of my earlier season five theories are wrong. BUT…..I do still think the spiders will come into play somehow and I think Daniel is really Charlotte’s father. Of course, these theories may well turn out to be wrong too. I suspect next season will begin with our survivors boarding flight 815 again and we won’t know if it’s a flashback, or if it’s happening now, or….well, you know what I mean.

And don’t forget that Ben is a big fat liar and could very possibly be playing the players.

Some other highlights –

The Juliet scene at the end – Sun got the great acting-chops scene at the end of last season and Juliet got it this time around. Very well done. (Although I do find it hard to swallow that a bomb could drop all that way and not detonate, but some half-dead woman can hit it a few times and make it explode.)

Rose saying “It’s always something with you people.”

Miles and his “Have you stopped to think that maybe doing this will cause the incident and not prevent it? Oh – glad to know you’ve thought this through.”

The scene where Jacob was on the park bench and Locke’s body splattered behind him.

And my favorite scene of all….. my favorite scene from all five seasons….the happiest I’ve been watching this show….Jack getting kicked in the balls. Man I hate Jack.

Juliet was the perfect woman. Smart, pretty, zingy one-liners - she kept the house, delivered babies, and lubed up the van down at the motor pool. What a shame.

When this guy first appeared, I thought it was House. Then I thought "oh, he'll have this whole thing figured out in a half hour."

Help me out here - does this guy have four - and only four - toes?

Applesauce

Tonight I took the new food mill out for a spin and made homemade applesauce. I started with seven pink lady (Cripp's Pink) apples, the greatest apples known to man.



I chopped five and realized the pot was getting pretty full, so I left two back. I added the juice of one lemon, enough water to cover the bottom of the pan, and three tablespoons of sugar.



I brought that to a boil, then let it simmer for twenty minutes with the pot covered. Then I removed the lid and let it simmer for another twenty (when the water was gone). Then I dumped the apples in my brand-spankin' new food mill.



I milled and milled and milled, and ended up with this:

Since Daniel is the chief applesauce eater in our house, I let him choose the spices. We added a quarter teaspoon of cinnamon and a vanilla bean.

I have to say, I have never had applesauce this good. I probably could have left out the sugar altogether. It is delicious. Delicious! And after my work out with the food mill, I'll be putting on a gun show later. It's a win-win!

What's For Dinner?

Southwestern Soup in the crock pot. Much like Chicken Tortilla Soup, only this has pork and we ate it with cornbread instead of chips. Two very enthusiastic thumbs up. AND it has two superfoods (I used red pepper instead of green).

Salmon 101

Did I mention I take requests?

Caryn left a comment on my Mother’s Day post asking how to smoke a salmon. (And no, you don’t roll it up and sneak into the basement with it.) Rather than leave a response, I thought I would do all my readers a solid by sharing with them my favorite ways to cook salmon. I am currently eating salmon three to four times a week for two reasons. One, it’s a superfood. And two, it rocks. Plain and simple. I LOVE salmon. I order it in restaurants. I bring leftovers for lunch. I look forward to eating it. I love, love, LOVE it.

So here we go:

First things first. Let’s buy some. You want to buy wild caught whenever possible. I know it’s more expensive, but it’s also nutritionally better for you and better for the whole sustainability thing. I have yet to find a frozen version that I like – I think they come out way too dry – but I know people who do buy frozen with great results (my mom for one). And unless you live very near the source (like Caryn), frozen is better nutritionally because all the goodness gets locked in as soon as it’s frozen. A lot of the “fresh” you buy in the store has already been frozen and thawed, so if you do buy “fresh”, eat it – don’t freeze it. The recipes that follow are made using “fresh” salmon. If you have to do any thawing, follow the directions on the package.

My simplest, healthiest way to cook salmon is as follows: Put some salmon fillets in a prepared baking dish. Squeeze the juice of one lemon (two if it’s a stingy lemon) over all fillets and sprinkle with dried or fresh dill. Cook for 20-25 minutes on 425, depending on how big your fillets are and how well done you like them. Salmon fillets are notorious for being really thin in some places and really thick in others, so it can be tricky to cook the thick part through without drying out the thin parts. Let it rest for 10 minutes or so before serving.

Another option is the same as above, but lose the lemon and dill and brush on some of your favorite sauce before cooking. I have successfully used BBQ sauce as well as a very thick tomato sauce. You want something that won’t run all over place – it needs to stick to the surface of the fish. If it’s a runny sauce, I would heat it up separately and top the salmon with it when it’s done. Or serve it on the side.

If you liked grilled salmon, try this Barefoot Contessa recipe. I let the fillets soak in the marinade for about twenty minutes before putting them on a hot grill pan and letting them cook for 7-10 minutes per side. The kitchen will smell awesome, but make sure you have your vent going, and you might want to open a window. It gets really smoky.

Finally, the much-ballyhooed smoked salmon. The first step is to acquire a smoker and someone who liked to play with charcoal and fire. (This is usually a man, but it doesn’t have to be.) We put plain salmon fillets on tin foil with a few holes poked here and there before putting them on the grill rack. They should smoke for about an hour, but again, this will depend on the size of the fillets, and how much heat you have going in your smoker.

I usually cook three to four fillets at a time, and serve two of us from one fillet. That means we eat four servings right away and then have two to four servings of leftovers. I keep the leftovers in the fridge and heat them up for lunch – it only takes about a minute. I like to eat them over baby spinach tossed in a mustard or balsamic vinaigrette. (The heat from the salmon wilts the spinach just enough but not too much.) I’ve also shredded the leftovers and tossed them with lettuce or pasta, or used the leftovers in a wrap. Cooking more than you plan to eat means you only cook salmon once a week, but get your two to three servings by eating the leftovers for lunch.

And before anyone asks, no, it doesn’t stink up my house. Or maybe it does, and I’m just not sensitive to the smell. But I’ve never had a problem with stinky fish smell. I have with other fish, but not salmon.

So there it is. These are my Salmon’s Greatest Hits. And most of these can use any firm white fish just as easily.

Eat up!

Happy Mother's Day To Me!

As I'm sure you are aware (at least, I hope for your mom's sake you are aware,) today is Mother's Day. In keeping with tradition, my three guys treated me like a queen.

First off, they showered me with gifts:




Daniel got me a food mill, which I have been wanting for a long time. Both the Barefoot Contessa and Anne Burrell (the female version of Guy Fieri) claim it as their favorite piece of kitchen equipment. I'm pretty jazzed about using it for mashed potatoes and apple sauce. Daniel and I experimented today using the smallest setting: we threw in three strawberries, hull and all. It smashed them all to pieces, letting none of the green through the mill and only allowing a few seeds. We got a very delicious, very thick kind of strawberry juice. Rock and roll.

Ben got me The Food You Crave by my new BFF on Facebook, Ellie Krieger. I put it on a list of gift ideas for me, only to be told that Ben had already suggested it as a gift. He knows me so well. I'm pretty jazzed about this one too.

Not pictured, Mark got me a rice cooker. He couldn't find the size that I wanted, and rather than get the wrong thing, he opted to get the late thing and he ordered it from Amazon. I'll post pictures when it gets here.

Also shown, I got several cool kitchen additions - a wooden spatula, a ginormous pancake turner, a can colander, and a tiny grater for grating tiny things. Mark also got me a book about the psychology behind how food is marketed to make us buy and eat too much of it. It's called Mindless Eating, and if the first chapter is a good gauge, it will be a very interesting read.

After the gift giving, they made me a delicious breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast with jam. Yummo.

Next up, a matinee of the new Star Trek movie. I hope to put a more detailed review out there in a future post, but for now, I'll just say that it rocked. Out loud. Literally.

For dinner, Mark smoked some salmon. I can't tell you how good it is. I won't even try. Just know that I eat a lot of salmon, and this is the best I've ever had. The best Jerry. The best.


For dessert, Ben baked cupcakes. All by himself. No help from anyone, except that I had to tell him where the cupcake papers were. He even got inspired and added chocolate chips to the batter. Did I mention he knows me well? Daniel came in from the bull pen and added the frosting. I showed him the technique on the first one, and he frosted the rest. The picture was taken after we had consumed two thirds of them. (They were baked last night - cut us some slack.)

And there you have it. Another Mother's Day in the books. This was the first Mother's Day ever that I didn't actually speak to my own mom. She's treating herself to a solo trip to the Big Apple and is unavailable for comment. I did text her though, so I got the "Happy Mother's Day" out there.

And Happy Mother's Day to all my mom friends out there. I hope you were honored in whatever way makes you happiest. I know I was.

Thank you Mark, Ben, and Daniel - you guys are the best!!

Biscotti!

I have a new favorite recipe: Ellie Krieger's Chocolate Cherry Almond Biscotti. It's delicious with a cup of hot joe, and it's not all that bad for you. It's got chocolate, dried cherries, and almonds (obviously), and it's made with whole wheat flour (I use white whole wheat) and olive oil. It's crunchy, but not too crunchy, and sweet, but not too sweet. I made a batch this afternoon, and am about to enjoy one with a cup of decaf before calling it a night. Perfect end to the day!!

Farmer's Market Finds

I have been waiting patiently for our local farmer's market to open, and today was the day! I had not been before, but since reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle last year, I've learned a lot about the local food movement, and have wanted to start supporting local growers (and eating locally grown food!)

We have several farmer's markets in our general area, but I checked out the one in downtown Johnson City this morning - Daniel had soccer games at 9:00 and at 11:00, so it was something easy to do between games.

There were about ten stalls - and lots of good stuff. I didn't need a lot of produce, but I now know where to get onions, tomatoes, and zucchini - they all looked awesome! I did need corn and sweet potatoes, and they had the most awesome looking garlic I've ever seen. I also picked up a loaf of wheatberry bread and a jar of strawberry-rhubarb jam. (I had some of both for lunch - delish!)

All in all, a solid first trip. I'd like to check out the markets in Bristol and Abingdon as well. The owners of my favorite restaurant, The Troutdale Dining Room, have opened a bistro which buys from the Abingdon market almost exclusively.

Farmer's markets are opening all over the place this month - go check one out in your area. The food is better, and cheaper, and greener (in more ways than one). Eat local!

(In other local food news, my herb garden is dead. Next time, I think I'll try to start one from container plants instead of growing from seeds.)