Grandma's Kitchen Table

Up and Coming

       The Up and Coming younger bowlers yesterday:  Alex, Steven, Jonathan, and Matt (Cousin David is usually present, but he had other things going on this year). 

      The Gerths love their bowling.  A lot of it stems from being originally from St. Louis where I think it is required that each and every resident knows how to bowl.  I did not grow up this way, so it is sort of lost on me, but my sons are both big into bowling.  From the time kids are old enough to hold a bowling ball, in the Gerth family, they bowl.   

        Thanksgiving weekend is a big weekend for bowling when everyone is together.  (Mark's brothers Brian and Phil at right.)  Each Friday after Thanksgiving at 4:00 the lanes in Elwood are home to various Gerths bowling three games before heading to Grandma and Grandpa's for a lasagna dinner.  Are they of Italian descent?  Nope...I have no idea why they have lasagna each year, but it has always been part of the tradition. 

      The bowling is as much of a tradition as the turkey dinner on Thursday.   I think a lot of it is that Mark's family is made up of six children, all very close in age, who grew up doing a lot together and still enjoy getting together and doing things together.  Bowling is a good thing to do with siblings as you have time to chat while you bowl, etc.  You might think the photo at the left is Brian and Al (another brother) engaging in some deep and thoughtful conversation over a couple of beers, but looks can be deceiving as they are actually advising Phil (in the background at the jukebox) on tunes while at the same time entertaining us all with their rendition of the Flintstone's bowling song.    

      The next photo is of Matt trying to do his best to ignore Brian's High Five after his seventh strike that game.  After awhile it just becomes discouraging to bowl against Brian...we have been trying to talk Brian into actually joining the bowling circuit as the guy is an amazing bowler, but apparently being a pharmacist and a bowler don't mix all that well.    

       And, because the Gerths don't mess with tradition, even if the Purdue game is on at the same time as the scheduled bowling outing, there is a way to combine the two. 

      This is a divided house, Al and Susan being Purdue fans as they both attended and work at Purdue, and the rest of us all Indiana fans.  Nevertheless, when the two teams aren't playing each other, SOME members of the family can work up a certain amount of enthusiasm to cheer on the black and gold.  OTHERS just tune in to enjoy watching Purdue getting beaten by their current opponent.  I am not saying which members are which, to protect the innocent and harbor the guilty, but there was both cheering and grieving when Purdue went down in overtime to Oklahoma.  It did not, however, affect the camaraderie over the dinner table, which is always a good thing.  

      Round two of the bowling continues today when the traditional Saturday's outings include "going to a movie, bowling, and to dinner."   

Upcoming High School Swim Season at GCHS

      You've all been asking...so here it is:  Opening Day of GCHS Boys High School Swimming Season! 

      Indeed...we are again a team of one.  This year, however, as Providence again played a mighty role, we are a team of one with TWO coaches. 

      Our coach from last year, seen here today with Matt at the first practice session, has been traveling between two venues with his new job in Alabama.  His home, however, is still here, and our swim practice schedule is set to accommodate both as Matt had his heart set on having Roch coach him again this year and Roch is just crazy enough to agree to this.  Meanwhile, back in the hallowed halls of GCHS resides a lovely lady who teaches English and has in her resume, a swimming past with coaching credentials for high school girls swimming, and who graciously offered to coach or be an assistant coach for Matt's swimming days at GCHS.  How does one boy get so lucky?  Providence.  Guerin is known for it, due to it's Patron Saint and all. 

      Today it was just great being back in the water with Roch at the helm and Matt trying to get started on the right track.  Photos with Mary Lynn coaching will appear a little further into the practice schedule.   

      So, there you all have it.  The Lone Eagle Swimmer will be swimming freestyle and backstroke this season and hoping to arrive at State to represent his school.  Next year, we are hoping to build the team even further...so perhaps a relay could be forthcoming in the future, but for this year, we will be swimming only individual events at invitationals again. 

      This morning at the pool, Mike's mom, Sue, informed me that GCHS was actually ranked in the state swimming polls...too funny, with our lone swimmer to be ranked pre-season.  Apparently someone thinks he is going to make a state time again this year.  The rankings for IHSAA Indiana State High School Boys Swimming are printed below...hey, not bad for GCHS since we are the only team with ONE swimmer and all.   

      Keep the good thoughts coming and let the season begin!

IHSSCA RANKED BOYS SWIM TEAMS
1	North Central	138		29	Franklin Central	16
2	Chesterton	112		30	East Central	15
3	Munster	97		31	Fishers	14
4	Carmel	66		31	Yorktown	14
5	Concord	60		33	Floyd Central	13
6	Homestead	59		33	Tri-West	13
7	Lake Central	57		35	South Adams	12
8	Hamilton SE	53		35	Southridge	12
9	Kokomo	41		37	Crawfordsville	11
9	Plainfield	41		37	Greencastle	11
11	Brebeuf	39		37	Zionsville	11
12	Northridge	35		40	Guerin Catholic	9
13	Bedford NL	32		40	New Palestine	9
13	Seymour	32		42	New Prairie	7
15	Carroll	29		42	Vincennes	7
16	Michigan City	28		42	Wawasee	7
16	Terra Haute South	28		45	Anderson Highland	6
18	Portage	26		45	Warsaw	6
19	Muncie Central	25		47	FW Dwenger	5
20	Avon	24		47	Terre Haute North	5
21	West Lafayette	23		49	Eastern Greene	3
22	Rensselaer	22		49	Marion	3
23	Maconaquah	19		49	Noblesville	3
24	Castle	18		52	Culver  Academy	2
24	Center Grove	18		52	FW Snider	2
24	Crown Point	18		52	Huntington North	2
27	Indian Creek	17		52	Richmond	2
27	SB Riley	17		56	Merrillville	1

Happy Thanksgiving!

     Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone!  Many good thoughts from us to you for great food, fun times, happy memories, and, of course, safe travel.   

     

    

      As usual, I took a few photos, put down the camera, and never picked it up again for the rest of the night, what can I say?  Sometimes there is just a lot more to keep one occupied and photos go by the wayside.  Glenn, David, Alex, Matt, Steven, Jonathan, and Mark getting the littles settled with their plates.  Steven's favorite:  rolls!  And not much else!  

      The little boys have very strange eating habits at Thanksgiving.  I decided to take a photo of each of their plates as they sat down to eat because in a few years they will not believe that this was all they would eat from a large selection of offerings at Grandma and Grandpa's house each year.   Jonathan has just turkey and a half of a deviled egg.

      You will note that as they get older, the plates seem to mature also...well, with the exception of Alex, of course, who remains an enigma on all things food.  Honestly, I don't know where he gets that...LOL.   Turkey and a roll...these are the plates AFTER they have gone through the line and BEFORE they have eaten a single thing off of them.  David (left) has a bit more going on with his plate of food.  And, Matt, of course, below, makes sure all the colors are represented, and this was only his FIRST plate of food as he doesn't like to mix savories and salads on one plate.  I guess it is good they all drink lots of milk at this age.  The final photo is the ever popular Aunt Nan with Glenn, which is where I lost the camera, filled my plate with two bites each of about six or seven different selections and enjoyed the meal and conversation.  Might get some more photos later in the weekend. 

       

Whisk Wednesdays: Oeufs Mollets Florentine (Soft Boiled Eggs with Spinach and Mornay Sauce)

      The recipe prepared for this week is from Class 18,  Les Grillades et les Gratins (Grilling and Browning) and is Oeufs Mollets Florentine (Soft Boiled Eggs with Spinach and Mornay Sauce).  It can be found in the cookbook Le Cordon Bleu At Home on pages 68-70. 

      When I saw this recipe, I thought...hmmm...may have to be a rewind week for me as I can't see the guys eating runny eggs and cooked spinach.  They like eggs fine...cooked completely...and they like spinach fine...not cooked at all.  However, once again, the indefatigable Melissa, our current newbie, got on the ball Saturday and cooked up her weekly assignment, proceeding to gush all about it on the Whisk insider's email, and, before you would even imagine, I am lining up ingredients to make this dish. 

      And, how did it taste?  Wonderful!  I would do it again in a heartbeat as Mark raved about it, and it turns out, he informed me he DOES like runny eggs, he just never bothered to tell me that in 30 years because he knew I did not care for them.  What a guy! 

      Let me say that this is a recipe for which you want to line up all the ingredients, a la Shari's style, before you begin, because things go pretty quickly from that point on.   

      I did make one minor change...no one here was going to eat spinach cooked and then cooked again and then cooked again...three times cooking spinach was just not happening.  I wilted it barely in the saute pan with just a tiny bit of butter and salt and pepper.  It was perfect for us this way. 

      Pan count:  one for wilting the spinach (done the recipe way would have also resulted in another pan), one for boiling the eggs, one for making the mornay sauce (I used a double boiler as I don't trust myself with sauces right on the flame yet, and the double boiler ensures that I can wash up as I go, which I like to do, since I don't have to keep stirring that sauce non-stop for ten minutes), and then the little individual dishes I used to assemble it all before placing it under the broiler, so I guess that makes 4 or so.  The French do love their pots and pans.    

      So, while I was going to pass this week on this recipe and make a rewind instead, I'm so happy Melissa convinced me otherwise...delicious recipe...and now I can use my rewind pass in a couple weeks when we are back to VEAL again...I'm done with the veal...it's either going to be chicken or rewind that week for us.  I just can't get past those sweet little baby calf faces with veal.

      If you would like to see how the other Whisk Wednesday members fared in this class, click here, and then on the Whisk Wednesdays connect to individual bloggers, or better yet, come and join us!  Shari has the ingredients posted on her site at the click, so while we can't post the recipe instructions, you can at least look at the ingredients, and I bet you can figure out a lot of it from there. 

Upcoming schedule: 
Class 19 Pocher (Poaching)

• Class 19, Part 1 (Post on Wednesday, December 3, 2008):
Blogger choice: Saumon au Champagne (Salmon in Champagne Sauce) on page 486 OR Petite marmite Henri IV (Chicken pot-au-feu) on page 246 in Le Cordon Bleu Complete Cook Home Collection

Tuesdays with Dorie: Thanksgiving Twofer Pie

       This week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe, from the cookbook Baking:  From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, is Thanksgiving Twofer Pie, can be found on page 321, and was chosen by Vibi of La Casserole Carrée. 

      If you would like to try the recipe before buying the book, click on Vibi's site above and she will have it posted on Tuesday.  You can also brush up on your French as Vibi's blog is written in French!   

      There is a rule at TWD that you can't post your recipe until Tuesdays, and that you should post on Tuesday, but this week Laurie gave everyone permission to post later (by the 30th) if they wanted to make the pie for Thanksgiving, etc.  Since we are going to be crazy busy starting tomorrow, I figure, I can go a little the other way and post on Monday night.  It's actually either that or Wednesday, and I am seriously going to have the Whisk Wednesdays recipe up ON TIME this week, so Monday it is for TWD. 

      I can't tell you how many times I was asked, "Is the pie ready to cut yet?" as Mark and Matt are true pie lovers.   Their favorite is apple pie, so that is the request heard most often here and I am happy to make apple pies as it makes the house smell so welcoming and lovely.  After apple comes pumpkin pie and after that comes pecan pie.  Needless to say, Mark and Matt were very eager to taste a pie that was a combination of pumpkin and pecan, that being the "twofer" part of the recipe...when I first saw the recipe name, I thought we would be making two pies this week.

      I followed all the ingredients exactly, it all went together very nicely, very easy in fact.  First you make the pumpkin part of the recipe and pour it into the crust you made, then you sprinkle on the pecans, and then finally you pour on the other mixture, which was a like a pecan pie mixture.  

      And then you bake it.   And bake it.  And bake it.  I don't know what was going on, but I had to bake it probably 30 minutes longer than the recipe suggested as it said to bake until a knife inserted in the center came out clean.  To keep it from getting too brown, I put a pie shield on the exposed crust and foil tented the filling part.  In the photo it looks browner than it actually turned out...my kitchen at night is not the best for photographing anything as the lighting is not all that great for such, so actually it turned out and looked just fine.  I'm not sure if it was the suggested temperature or my oven, but the guys were not enjoying the patience it was taking to finish off the baking.  It smelled heavenly as it was baking, no wonder they were losing patience with the long baking time.   They had forks in hand when I said it was time.  The end result was wonderful.    

        Matt and Mark both agreed that this is definitely a new favorite, so I am going to need to figure out the temperature/time thing for the next go around, which I am thinking will be Thursday morning so I can take it to Mark's parents' Thanksgiving celebration. 

       Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!  Hope you have a lovely holiday! 

      Next week's recipe was chosen by Noskos of Living the Life, is Linzer Sables, and can be found on pages 134-135.  

     

Click here and then click on individual bakers' blogs at the site if you would like to see more of this week's recipe and the various ways people interpreted their quest.  It is too late to join the online TWD baking blog, but you can always join us in spirit as the recipes for upcoming weeks are posted on the site and you can bake along in your own kitchen.  See you there!

Aging UP: Happy 16th Birthday, Alex

       The Cool Dude has hit the milestone 16th Birthday.  Actually, it was on the 17th, but things being what they are around here, sometimes it takes a few days to get us all in one place at one time to celebrate, so last night we had a little cake and ice cream, presents already having been opened as there is NO waiting on those by eager teens. 

      I would love to say I was one of those moms who bake their children's birthday cakes, spending days planning and decorating and executing the perfect cake each year, but I am not.  I really don't bake, that's why TWD is a happening thing around here this year.  If it were up to me, they would get a candle stuck in a brownie and we would gather, sing the birthday song, add a scoop of ice cream, and be on our way. 

      We usually just stop by the local bakery or market and pick up a cake...believe me, guys are not fussy about these things.  When they were younger we would have character cakes and such, but it's been several years since they wanted anything like that...growing up being what it is and all.   

      This year Mark was the one who stopped for the cake and oops...we forgot to mention that when you buy the cake, you also need to buy some candles.  Alex was a good sport about it, as we pulled out four little clown candles from supplies from years past...many, many years past as clowns, I think, were on the cakes when they were like four or so.  Anyway, we made do...4 clowns, each representing 4 years, totalling 16...and as Alex remarked, "Well, it's a lot easier to blow out four candles than sixteen!" 

      Two seconds later, they were demolishing this cake and no one was concerned about candles or dedication to cake baking.  (Sometimes I am thinking it's a good thing I am a mom to blues as I am not sure the pinks would be as patient with our fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants birthday celebrations around here.)  Usually there is a friends' party and dinner out with the grandparents, so he has that to look forward to yet.  

      So, Happy 16th Birthday, Alex!  Next year you will be 17 on the 17th! 

Uplifting

       This is Anna.  Anna is one of my favorite little pink people.  She has three sisters and three brothers, and Anna holds second in line at home. 

       Anna is just 9...just 9.  Anna loves to sing.  She has a beautiful voice.  Not only does she have a beautiful voice, it is natural and she has had no voice training, voice lessons, etc. 

       Anna gave her grandmother the gift of song, at her 75th birthday at a Mass for her recently, and someone there recorded it.  It's not a polished recording, just something done at the moment. 

       If you have three and a half minutes, I invite you to give a listen to Anna, singing the Ave Maria in Latin.  Remember, she is only just 9 and has no voice training.  Prepare to be amazed.     Download Ave Maria   You will need to maybe turn your volume up fairly far as it is just a rough recording done at Mass for her grandmother's birthday.   Kudos to Anna...what a beautiful gift!

Friday's Favorites Fare

READING:   Dante's The Divina Commedia   

LISTENING TO:   Il Divo

COOKING THROUGH:  Le Cordon Bleu at Home (Le Cordon Bleu School of Cooking); Baking:  From My Home to Yours (Dorie Greenspan)

FAV NEW FIND:  Alex's haircut...check out the photo.  Alex's hair had gotten quite long.  As in it was hard to see his eyes long.  As in if he had been of the opposite sex, he would have had the choice of braiding or upsweep long.  There had been a suggestion or two around here that perhaps the hair could be trimmed or better yet, cut, for the annual Christmas photo.  Actually, it was more than just a suggestion.  Not necessarily agreeing 100%, or anywhere near even 1%, with the parental opinions of such, a few words were given in rebuttal, and then quite a few more, until finally an agreement was reached that "options would be explored."  Apparently this is what floated his boat at the moment in way of a haircut.  Or maybe perhaps more correct, this is what floated his boat as far as thinking to shock the parents who requested merely a cut in length and access to being able to view the eyes occasionally.  Being a swimming family, we are quite used to these sorts of cuts near state and in the summer, so while it might elicit a gasp from some, my cool and calm husband just said, "Great, I love it...let's go."  I didn't say a word of I might have been thinking...merely stated, "Oh, it looks nice and I can now see your lovely eyes."  Teenage angst...from where does it come...where does it lead...and more importantly, when will it cease?  All answers and parenting advice welcome. 

FAV THING TODAY;   Snuggling under the covers this morning for an extra half hour while everyone else went off to school and work...sometimes this just feels like the most decadent thing in the world...to be able to just do this...but then I always feel a little guilty, so it never lasts very long until I am up and about the day.  I've had a lovely day...it was hard to pick just one thing. 

GOING TO:   Spend the weekend getting caught up around here!  Holiday season is rapidly approaching.

PRAYING FOR:   Safe travel for the upcoming holiday week, please join me. 

Whisk Wednesdays: Gratin Dauphinois (Potato Gratin with Garlic and Cream)

       The recipe prepared for this week is from Class 18,  Les Grillades et les Gratins (Grilling and Browning) and is Gratin Dauphinois (Potato Gratin with Garlic and Cream).  It can be found in the cookbook Le Cordon Bleu At Home on page 498.  

      OMW...you cannot believe how good this dish is.  If I were a different type of blogger, I might even put a very descriptive word in front of the word "good" as it is THAT good.   

      These are the BEST potatoes I have ever had in my entire life.  Hands down.  Get over here quick before I eat more than two bites...two VERY BIG BITES...so you can finish this off before it gets out of control. 

      We have a little question and answer connect as Whisk Wednesday members that Shari set up for us so we could post amongst ourselves if we were having difficulties with a recipe or whatnot.  Early in the week, newbie Melissa, all excited to get going on her first assignment, started in on the recipe, leaving the rest of us in the dust and making us feel slightly guilty for being such slackers on a fairly regular basis, cooking things at the last minute and all (that would be primarily me), and posted and gushed that these were the best things going and that we should definitely NOT cut the batch in half as we would want the whole recipe, telling us it warms up well, etc.   

      I thought, "Yeah, okay...potatoes with garlic, cream, and cheese...been there, done that..." and made plans to make half a batch.  Well, that and the fact that my guys will NOT eat leftovers.  I know, I know, I have aided and abetted this crime for so many years that there is no changing it now...there is no sense in me making something that will not get eaten at one sitting because they will not eat it warmed up, reheated, made into something else, carefully disguised...they have radar like you would not believe on leftovers.   

      Melissa was right...these are so good, I think I might have been able to get by with warming these back up and serving them again, especially because the guys will eat anything sounding like it has a potato in it (except probably rice pudding with potato...they really did not like this week's TWD recipe). 

      So, what's in this potato dish?  Potatoes, milk, garlic, cream, bouquet garni, nutmeg, salt, pepper, and a little cheese grated on top.    

      The pan count was one for milk and potatoes, etc., one for boiling cream, and one gratin dish for baking it in...just THREE!  Directions were very easy, boil the potatoes and such in milk, drain the milk, boil the cream, layer the potatoes in the gratin dish, pour the cream over the potatoes, top with the freshly grated cheese, bake 40 minutes. 

      Same as all the other recipes pretty much, but NOT the same at all.  There is something about the way the French layer ingredients that gives it a depth of flavor, the way they cook things separately and then bring them together...it's what gives a dish that "OMW" wow.  I halved the recipe, but otherwise followed it exactly.   

      At the end of the boiling potatoes, it instructed us to drain and toss out the milk...and I did not do that...I strained it into another container because it was absolutely gorgeous and thick from the potato starch.  I saved it so I could make cream of broccoli soup with it tomorrow.  When the cookbook says to toss things, I figure that sometimes that just means it isn't needed for that recipe any more, but toss it completely...no way...it was perfectly good boiled milk nicely seasoned and thickened and just begging for broccoli and cheese. 

      I am so making this again...might be finding its way onto the Thanksgiving table.  Yep, just might.   

      If you would like to see how the other Whisk Wednesday members fared in this class, click here, and then on the Whisk Wednesdays connect to individual bloggers, or better yet, come and join us!  Shari has the ingredients posted on her site at the click, so while we can't post the recipe instructions, you can at least look at the ingredients, and I bet you can figure out a lot of it from there.  Upcoming schedule: 

• Class 18, Part 3 (Post on Wednesday, November 26, 2008):
Oeufs Mollets Florentine (Soft-boiled Eggs with Spinach and Mornay Sauce) pages 69-70

Tuesdays with Dorie: Arborio Rice Pudding, White, Black (or Both)

       This week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe, from the cookbook Baking:  From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, is Arborio Rice Pudding, White, Black (or Both), can be found on pages 412-413, and was chosen by Isabelle of Les Gourmandises d'Isa.  If you would like to try the recipe before buying the book, click on Isabelle's site above and she will have it posted today. 

      "Rice Pudding...really, rice pudding?  I think I am passing on being any sort of taste tester for rice pudding..." so went the conversation with one-half of the taste testers around here, i.e. the husband.  The Kid's views you shall see in the photos. 

      First let me say, that just because this recipe was NOT a hit around here, does not mean it is not a great recipe...it simply means that this is not a household of rice-loving occupants.  We like rice with chicken and fish and then you can pretty much call it a day on the rice.  Sweet rice?  Not so much.  Actually, not at all.  It's still sitting in the frig if you want some.  I've been trying to give it away, but no one seems to care enough for rice pudding...I have had several requests for the apple pie I made as a sort of sot for the guys' disappointment with the not having a weekly dessert, however. 

      It made 8 little bowls...very cute and all, but not a happening snack here.   I did increase the rice measurement from 1/4 to 1/2 cup as the TWD site mentioned that was probably more correctly the portion than the one in the book...all it did was add more rice, so that wasn't necessarily a good thing.  It looked like it was supposed to look...I even made both versions, half vanilla and half chocolate.  I figured they would eat anything around here that had chocolate as an ingredient.  Not so.  They won't eat rice pudding even with chocolate in it. 

      Not much else to say, so I will leave you with the some photos that pretty much shows the willing taste tester as he progresses through his tasting photo shoot...sorry, Dorie, really this has nothing to do with your wonderful recipe...we just don't happen to like sweetened rice.  

   

 

  You can see with the last photo that the bowl was set aside, all tasting being abandoned.  The comment was "Well, Mom, this is the only thing we haven't liked in all these recipes, so you have done pretty good to get this far without any failures.  How about you make us one of your apple pies until next week instead?"  When a 16 year swimmer sets something aside without eating it, I know it's history around here.  I tried the vanilla one...I didn't care for it either...we are just not sweetened rice fans...and when we get to the bread pudding week, I am thinking that's probably not happening either, mushy bread doesn't sound even remotely appealing. 

      Next week's recipe was chosen by Vibi of Le Casserole Carree, is Thanksgiving Twofer Pie, and can be found on pages 321.

 

      Click here and then click on individual bakers' blogs at the site if you would like to see more of this week's recipe and the various ways people interpreted their quest.  It is too late to join the online TWD baking blog, but you can always join us in spirit as the recipes for upcoming weeks are posted on the site and you can bake along in your own kitchen.  See you there!

Friday's Favorites Fare

READING:  Dante's Divina Commedia (Divine Comedy)...re-reading actually, as I first read it in college

LISTENING TO:  CCR

COOKING THROUGH:  Le Cordon Bleu at Home (Le Cordon Bleu School of Cooking); Baking:  From My Home to Yours (Dorie Greenspan)

FAV NEW FIND:  Cinnamon chips!  Like chocolate chips only cinnamon...wow! 

FAV THING TODAY:   Getting caught up with Renee. 

GOING TO:   Finish getting the outside and yard ready for winter; get the house in order for the holidays; cook up my TWD and Whisk recipes for next week as next week is very busy around here; choir rehearsal; a couple of parties; GCHS Open House; try not to think about how badly the Hoos (at Penn State) are going to get beaten on the football field this weekend, and hope the Hawks can win at Purdue.

PRAYING FOR:   Success for all those trying to make fresh starts, please join me.

Whisk Wednesdays: Entrecôte Lyonnaise (Steak, Lyonnaise style)

      The recipe prepared for this week is from Class 18,  Les Grillades et les Gratins (Grilling and Browning) and is Entrecôte Lyonnaise (Steak, Lyonnaise style).   It can be found in the cookbook Le Cordon Bleu At Home on pages 158-159.  

      Steak and onions and potatoes, oh my!  Big hit here with my guys.  Definitely guy food.  I did, however, enjoy it also. 

      This was not fussy French cooking this week...this was more like bistro food, very down home and maybe fewer pans than we are accustomed to:  two for onion batches, one for steak, one for potatoes, and one for the broccoli (that was my own take on it as there wasn't quite enough green food going on with just the steak, potatoes, and onions with a bit of watercress tossed into the mix).  5 pans.  We've had worse weeks, believe me.   

      Everything came together simply and per the recipe directions.  I cut down on the butter and oil a bit as the French seem to have a very carefree attitude toward butter and oil. 

      Instead of decorating the plate with a few sprigs of watercress, I made the salad from it, some cucumber, oil and lemon juice, salt and pepper sprinkled over the top sparingly...very good.    

     

      The potatoes were boiled first (oh, that makes 6 pans, I forgot about that part in the pan count) and then cooled, peeled, and sliced before frying in butter.  The guys love these kinds of potatoes...they will eat anything that begins or ends with the word potato around here. 

      The onions for the steak had a sauce that made them absolutely delicious...a little wine, a little vinegar, a little stock...it doesn't sound like much, but it is what the French do best:  add depth of flavor.  I always have things out at restaurants and wonder what it is they do to get depth of flavor to the simplest of dishes...this is, after all, why I am doing this class with Shari, et al., to learn the secrets of those little mysteries.  It is amazing what just a simple little ingredient will do.  You know what?  You should come and join us!  You won't be disappointed.  And, when you serve these things from your own kitchen, it's your choice...you can either tell your guests the secrets, or NOT.  Let them wonder! 

      If you would like to see how the other Whisk Wednesday members fared in this class, click here, and then on the Whisk Wednesdays connect to individual bloggers, or better yet, come and join us!  Shari has the ingredients posted on her site at the click, so while we can't post the recipe instructions, you can at least look at the ingredients, and I bet you can figure out a lot of it from there. 

 

Upcoming schedule: 

• Class 18, Part 2 (Post on Wednesday, November 19, 2008):
Gratin Dauphinois (Potato Gratin with Garlic and Cream) page 498

Tuesdays with Dorie: Kugelhopf

       This week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe, from the cookbook Baking:  From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, is Kugelhopf, can be found on pages 61-63, and was chosen by Yolanda of The All-Purpose Girl.   If you would like to try the recipe before buying the book, click on Yolanda's site above and she will have it posted today.  

       Oh, yeah, this was one fine recipe.  It took two days to assemble it, but it was really worth it as it was a big hit here at the house.  A very fine use of flour, eggs, milk, yeast, butter, and sugar!  

      I had intended to give some of it away, but it never made it that far.  It's GONE with the request that the recipe make a reappearance soon.  (Pictured below is Mark enjoying it fresh and warm from the oven, declaring it "Excellent!")  

      Most of the two-day prep time was for the rising of the dough.  Numerous bits of fiddling with dough...several rises and punch downs and waiting around (well, you didn't actually have to stand around while it was rising, but you did have to keep thinking about the time frames for each time which is a tad distracting). 

      I baked it in a bundt pan as I already had one of those and the Kugelhopf pan was over $30...not like me to buy a special pan if I know I am only going to use it once, so I didn't splurge as I wasn't certain how well this was going to be received.  It turned out lovely in the bundt pan, so I am thinking that is the way I will go from now on.  (If it looks a little lopsided, that's because I dropped the silly thing on the way to the oven, but it didn't drop far, and it landed right side up, although I think one side deflated a bit...didn't hurt the taste one single bit.) 

      The instructions were to baste it a bit with melted butter and sprinkle it with sugar, then add powdered sugar right before serving.  I figured one kind of sugar was quite enough (and it was), so I skipped sprinkling on the powdered sugar at the end. 

      Asked what Kugelhopf was, I had to respond, "I don't know," so I just said it was sort of like bread and sort of like cake.  It's actually difficult to describe...but very delicious.  It isn't very sweet, like a cake would be, except for the crunchy bits on the outside where the sugar and butter worked a little magic. 

      I used golden raisins as frankly I was getting a little tired of everything looking like chocolate or like it had chocolate chips in it, so I decided this week, I would go with the golden raisins instead of the dark raisins.  Great choice...they looked very pretty and tasted delicious. 

      The texture is like a very light and airy bread (even lighter than brioche). 

      Would I spend two days making this again?  In a heartbeat.  My swimmer says, "Again, Mom, Make it Again, Please?  It is so great and I can just slice it up and take it with me for breakfast before swimming."  How can a mother say "no" to that?  If the boy is willing to wake up at 4:30 a.m. each morning to go to swim practice, I certainly can make it a little more worth his while.  Ulrike has me thinking along the lines of lemon and almonds to accompany those little golden raisins, and I am so going there with that in next one I make.  Definitely a hit around here...I made the recipe exactly as in the book (well, except for the dropping part which was my own special touch, hopefully not to be repeated), and baked it for the time specified. 

     

      Next week's recipe was chosen by Isabelle of Les Gourmandises d'Isa, is Arborio Rice Pudding, White, Black (or Both), and can be found on pages 412-413.

      Click here and then click on individual bakers' blogs at the site if you would like to see more of this week's recipe and the various ways people interpreted their quest.  It is too late to join the online TWD baking blog, but you can always join us in spirit as the recipes for upcoming weeks are posted on the site and you can bake along in your own kitchen.  See you there!

Weekend Updates of Threesomes

      The three amigos at the meet this weekend:  Daniel, Mike, and Matt.  Three nicer guys you will never meet.  Seriously. 

      We are thinking that perhaps three concerts, three rehearsals, a three-day swim meet, and three days of finals (last Friday, this Monday and Tuesday) all sort of collided in a Bermuda Triangle of Disappointing Swim Times over the weekend.   

      I am just saying...there was way too much going on for one single sixteen year old this weekend.   

   

      The Boy swam the 200 Butterfly at the meet...not the ideal swim for someone with rotator cuff problems at the moment, but he gave it a try...said it was a big mistake, that the shoulders just gave out before the first hundred. 

      The concerts were great.  (Photo is of Matt at the last of the three...the Brahms' Requiem with the GCHS choir.) 

      The finals we don't know about yet, but we will assume those are going fine as he is doing well in school. 

      The swimming times...let's just say there was a lot of room for improvement over the weekend.  A. Lot. Of. Room.

      Here are some fun photos from the meet...not too many, just a few of some of the guys enjoying their chances to compete at the first meet of the season.  The middle photo is of Matt and Mike getting ready to swim the 200 Backstroke.  They don't often swim side-by-side, so it was nice to get this photo of the two of them. 

Up on the Rooftops at the New Mall

      Matt and Ali at the IYC concert on Friday...no, not dating, just very good friends. 

      Friday night was a lot of fun.  I was at the mall.  Bet you never thought you would see those two sentences side by side, did you? 

      Actually, I was sort of tricked into the venue location.  Matt's IYC choir was performing an early Christmas concert.   Since the weekend was busy, i.e. filled with swim meet, choir concerts, etc., I didn't pay close attention to the "who, what, where, and whys" of any of it beyond where and when, figuring I would just show up and go with the flow of whatever it was I was supposed to be doing. 

      So, Friday Matt had indicated there was an IYC concert and Mark and I decided we would include that in date night. 

      Off we went, Mark instructing me to just "take 146th Street east until you can't go anymore."  I knew what was out there...cows and fields, or at least I had known for the past 33 years what was out there.  "Where are they performing?"  Mark:  "Oh, a mall."  Me:  "A MALL???  We are going to a mall?"      (Photo:  About three-fourths of Matt's IYC choir turned up to sing for the Grand Opening.  Matt is still the tallest one in the choir, so he is easy to spot in the back row, green sweater, white shirt, red tie, right arm in the air.) 

      Turns out, not only were we going to a mall, we were going to the Grand Opening of a MAJOR mall with approximately 5,000 other people.   

      As we came over the little rise in the road and I saw hundreds and hundreds of lights...I said, "WHAT IS THAT???"  Mark just grinned and said, "Why, I think it must be the mall!"   Good golly...no parking, I kid you not. 

      Word had circled quickly:  "Grand Opening and Santa!"  OMW...I should have gotten way more information about this gig beforehand.

      As luck would have it, we had gotten the time wrong by an hour, and when we arrived, there was a nice empty park bench right beside the big stage they had erected for the choir and Santa...so, I sat happily chatting with various choir moms, etc.  It was rather enjoyable.  And, I didn't have to shop.  As matter of fact, I did no shopping whatsoever.  The choir was really good, singing Christmas carols, having fun together, and gearing up the little ones for Santa's arrival.   

      Santa arrived to streamers, some lightening bolts, fireworks, and what was supposed to be a gentle puff of smoke...as you can see from the photo, that part didn't go off quite as expected as there was a whole lotta smoke, but the choir kids rolled with it and the choir director danced with Santa (this last photo) to the cheers of everyone...a fun time.   

      It was great...I had a wonderful time at the mall...who knew? 

      (Oh, and for those of you trying to find Ali in the photo:  she is behind Santa, so not visible in either of these shots.)

Friday's Favorites Fare

 

READING:  Catching up on bits and pieces around here.  Have Dante set aside, so will start that when I finish the bits and pieces.  It's good to read Dante every now and again as you take different things from it wherever you are in life.

LISTENING TO:  ZZ Top

COOKING THROUGH:  Le Cordon Bleu at Home (Le Cordon Bleu School of Cooking); Baking:  From My Home to Yours (Dorie Greenspan)

FAV NEW FIND:  I can't think of anything this week...send me yours!  Then I can find some new favorites from yours.

FAV THING TODAY:   The beautiful fall weather and foliage. 

GOING TO:   Choir Rehearsals, GCHS Concerts, IYC Concert, Swim Meet, and various places between.

PRAYING FOR:   Troubled teens, please join me.

What's Up With This Weather?

       What's up with this weather?  Wow...we have had a fantastic fall.  Here it is November already and our trees are still beautifully bright. 

      The weather has been fantastic, each day with sunny skies and lovely temperatures.  What's not to love about Fall 2008? 

      Mark likes to buy tree saplings from various Presidential homes to plant in our yard.  They claim that the saplings come from the seeds of original trees alive during that President's time on their estate.  With our love of history, it seems like a fun thing to have going on here. 

      This little bitty oak, only about 30 inches tall so far, is from The Hermitage in Nashville, Tennessee, from the Andrew Jackson estate.   It's been with us for about three years, and this is the first fall it has shown any desire to be a part of the color around here.  Very cute. 

 

Whisk Wednesdays: Pavés de Rumsteak au Poivre Vert (Sirloin Steaks with Green Peppercorns)

       As promised, here is the second, and final post for Whisk Wednesdays this week. 

      The recipe prepared for this week is from Class 17, Part 4 and is Pavés de Rumsteak au Poivre Vert (Sirloin Steaks with Green Peppercorns).  It can be found in the cookbook Le Cordon Bleu At Home on pages 127-128.  The recipe for the potatoes is also found in the book on page 130.   

      The recipe is simple, straightforward, and delicious.  All votes were highly in favor of repeating this on a semi-regular basis.  The only thing I changed was that I did not use veal stock in the sauce.  You already know my thoughts on veal, so I won't repeat that now, but I did have beef stock and chicken stock on hand, and since veal stock is lighter than beef stock, I combined the two stocks I had 50/50 to come up with a nice sort of pseudo-veal stock.  It was very tasty actually, so I might use this little technique in some other things I make around here. 

      We like our steaks rare, so the pinkish bit on the plate in the photo would be steak juices and not sauce juices, which were a creamy tan in color.  I had some mushrooms on hand, so I sauteed those and tossed them in the sauce also at the last moment. 

      The green peppercorns were a new experience.  I have the blended peppercorn mix (red, green, white, black, pink) on hand and use it most often, but I have never had the green peppercorns on their own like this in a sauce.  Wonderful.  Absolutely wonderful...they don't have the bitterness of the black peppercorns, and they have a more gentle punch of pepper.  Very nice. 

      A cute little side here about the peppercorn sauce:  Matt said, "What are these little green things in this sauce?"  I responded and he said, "Well, that explains it!  I thought they were little bitty green peas and when I bit into one, it was clearly not a little bitty green pea!"  Gotta love a teen who is willing to go with the flow of being an agreeable taste tester for new cooking forays, don't you?  Once he figured out the taste difference, he was perfectly happy to eat any and all the sauce on his plate and enjoyed the green peppercorns immensely.  (Permission granted to post this little aside, btw.)

      The recipe in the book was accompanied by the potatoes you see on the plate, basically sauteed potato slices, so I made those as well as my guys are big fans of these types of potatoes.  Mark grilled some asparagus for us to complete the dish.

       The only other change I would make would be in portion size as 6 ounces of steak is way more than we need...Matt and I were happy with 4 ounces and Pippin and Vash were delighted to have the other two ounces from each of ours for their dinner last evening.  You hear that, Remy?  The boys got LCB steak last night! 

      And, because Buddy likes to refer to this as "Whiskey Wednesdays," there was, in the sauce besides the stock, a little cream, and the peppercorns, a small amount of cognac to add a bit of depth of flavor...try not to leave it out as it makes a big difference, not to mention that it is so much fun to light things in pans on fire!

  

       

If you would like to see how the other Whisk Wednesday members fared in this class, click here, and then on the Whisk Wednesdays connect to individual bloggers, or better yet, come and join us!  Shari has the ingredients posted on her site at the click, so while we can't post the recipe instructions, you can at least look at the ingredients, and I bet you can figure out a lot of it from there.

 

      Upcoming schedule:

 

Class 18 Les Grillades et les gratins (Grilling and browning)

• Class 18, Part 1 (Post on Wednesday, November 12, 2008):
Entrecôte Lyonnaise (Steak, Lyonnaise style) pages 158-159

Whisk Wednesdays: Beignets de Langoustines, Sauce Tartare (Langoustine Fritters with Tartar Sauce)

       I am posting two weeks' worth of Whisk Wednesdays recipes today at some point, so here is the first. 

      This recipe is from Class 17 (last week), Part 3 and is Beignets de Langoustines, Sauce Tartare (Langoustine Fritters with Tartar Sauce).  It can be found in the cookbookLe Cordon Bleu At Home on pages 162-163.  {We could substitute shrimp if we wanted to do that.} 

      I didn't want to just skip this recipe as I need practice frying things.  I do not fry things as a general rule.  We eat very few fried foods, mostly the guys score them on the streets at restaurants as I don't really care to fry things in the house.  For one thing it always smells for way longer than the meal lasts...no matter how many candles I light, I can still smell it the next morning.  The guys think I exaggerate, but I think not.  I also don't really like eating fried foods, so I see no real reason to prepare them at home when restaurants are perfectly willing to smell up their premises on our behalf. 

      That said, everyone was very enthusiastic about this recipe, so I gave it a go.  Wow.  This does not taste like most fried food...it is clean and light and very tasty.   

      I used shrimp as langoustines are a tad difficult to come by here in Indiana.  It only took about two minutes for them to fry until they were completely done, tender, moist, and since I am not very good at frying, some of the batter came off, which means that it saved a bunch of calories and looked fairly interesting with the shrimp peaking out.  I'm now a fan.  If I can stick to this degree of incompetency in frying, I think I might do this again. 

      The tarter sauce was absolutely out of this world good.  Homemade mayo makes a big difference.  A. Big. Difference.  The other ingredients were hard-boiled egg yolk, gerkins, capers, chives, parsley, onion, and for a little extra zing, I tossed in a teaspoon more of freshly squeezed lemon juice because in this house one can never have too much lemon flavor.  Wow.  The tartar sauce to end all tartar sauces. 

      We can't post the recipes on our blogs due to copyright laws, so really, just buy the book and have a go at this recipe.  Very very good...even if you are incompetent at frying. 

     

If you would like to see how the other Whisk Wednesday members fared in this class, click here, and then on the Whisk Wednesdays connect to individual bloggers, or better yet, come and join us! 

      Upcoming schedule:

• Class 17, Part 4 (Post on Wednesday, November 5, 2008):
Pavés de Rumsteak au Poivre Vert (Sirloin Steaks with Green Peppercorns) pages 127-128 of Le Cordon Bleu At Home

Tuesdays with Dorie: Rugelach

       No photo of the guys this week, but this is one of my Great-Grandmother's plates, which I am very fortunate to have in my possession.  Her name was Florence Ohl, she was my Grandfather's mother.  She died in 1963, when I was 8, but I remember her well, the plates always bringing back lovely memories of her.  After she died, the dishes all went to her daughter Peggy, my Godmother, and from there they came to me.  So, I inherited her dishes which have beautiful flowers on them, and more importantly, her green eyes, as very few of us got the green eyes!

      This week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe, from the cookbook Baking:  From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, is Rugelach, can be found on pages 150-152, and was chosen by Grace of Piggy's Cooking Journal.

      If you would like to try the recipe before buying the book, click on Grace's site above and she will have it posted today.   

      I joined this group so I could learn how to bake.  I cook, but I don't bake.  This is supposed to prove that you CAN teach an old dog new tricks. 

      I have, however, made Rugelach before as it is one of my favorite cookies.  I was very excited to see it on the list, immediately thinking, "Okay...a week without chocolate! Yeah!"  Ha!  As I was examining the recipe, checking for ingredients for which I might need a run to the market, I came upon it...yep...CHOCOLATE!  Chocolate in Rugelach???  Not in my house, not on my watch anyway. 

      I thought about just telling you that I had accidentally left out one of the ingredients, but I figured you would be on to me in a second and that would never fly, so I won't even bother.  I left it out.  On purpose.  I usually try to be a player here with the chocolate and all, but I was really thinking maybe I deserved a Rugelach this week.  It's one of those filling cookies that you can just have one and feel like you are satisfied.  Okay, I have never actually tried this, but I am thinking it might be.  A portion of two is really quite appropriate, and manageable if you quickly load the rest up on the guys' plates and leave the kitchen without looking back.  They are that good.   

      My altered recipe features peach preserves because Mark is not a big fan of raspberry (yes, I know, I considered divorce over this many years ago, but the guy has so many other wonderful qualities that I have just let that slide over the years), with walnuts, and those little tiny baking raisins.  The recipe was wonderful, and the only thing I really questioned was heating the jam to spread it...even after letting it cool a bit (I am not long on patience in this department and figured if I let it cool completely to cold, what was the purpose of heating it in the first place?), it made the dough a little soggy, and I would not do that again...I would do my standard way of just spooning on the jam and spreading it a bit like that. 

      I also made only 12 cookies out of each of the circles as at 16 cookies, they just seemed too small, and while that might work for Dorie, I have GUYS over here and even at 12, these are considered "a one-bite cookie" at best by them.  Raising boys says a lot about husbands...it is much easier to be patient with husbands when you have raised boys and see where these things actually originate.  If you have a husband, and not a son, I recommend you get a son as soon as possible.  Like I said, it explains a WHOLE lot.  

      Thumbs up on Dorie's recipe, definitely a keeper.  Next week's recipe was chosen by Yolanda of The All-Purpose Girl, is Kuglehopf, and can be found on pages 61-63.

       Click here and then click on individual bakers' blogs at the site if you would like to see more of this week's recipe and the various ways people interpreted their quest.  It is too late to join the online TWD baking blog, but you can always join us in spirit as the recipes for upcoming weeks are posted on the site and you can bake along in your own kitchen.  See you there!

Up, Up, and Away

       Just a beautiful day here today...the temperatures were nice, the skies lovely, the leaves just gorgeous...a perfect day for a drive...or a balloon ride.  There's always something a little exciting seeing a balloon floating by.  Never been up in one, have you?  Was it magical?  It always looks like it would be magical viewing the world from up there.  We saw this one while we were out on a little drive enjoying the day.  

      The guys returned after having a great weekend camping, noting it was a little chilly the first evening overnight, but the days were gorgeous.  Matt and David toured for hours on their bikes.  Mark spent the weekend relaxing fireside, reading, chatting, and just enjoying the down time.  The raccoons, once again, proved they are smarter than Brian...it's a contest each year and the raccoons are way ahead in the scoring of his camping food while Brian sleeps at night. 

      We are really fortunate with the weather this fall.  How much longer can it last?  I am hoping right through Thanksgiving!  Have a great week.

Re-cruiting Up-Coming Freshmen

       Two years ago we were anticipating high school and wondering exactly where that adventure would lead us. 

       This week at Guerin, it was wonderfully fun watching the 8th Grade students from various schools shadowing the Guerin students with the same anticipation and excitement as they now have the opportunity to determine where their own high school adventure will lead.  

       Without a doubt, my favorite Upcoming Freshman shadowing this week was Sydney, pictured here with her Guerin name tag in place and looking ready for a full day of exploration at a school where she already has many experiences and loyalties:  big sis Samantha is a senior this year, and Mom works there as well. 

       She looks ready...this past year she seems taller, looks more like a girl on her way to high school, and is definitely able to handle any challenges ahead. 

       When the time comes to see Samantha vacating the halls to pursue her college dreams, it is lovely to think that maybe, just maybe, I will get to see Sydney realizing hers in high school at Guerin.  I am so looking forward to it. 

       As further note, if your path includes Guerin, plan to get your applications in early as the available spaces are filling up quickly!  If you aren't certain yet of your high school choice, attend the Guerin Catholic High School Open House on Sunday, November 16th from 6:00-8:30 p.m. and find a home with Guerin...it's absolutely lovely there.  Prayers for all parents and children as they discern the paths of their futures, please join me.  And, seriously, think about becoming a Golden Eagle!