Grandma's Kitchen Table

Grad Parties 2011 and Last IYC Performance

      Not a lot of cooking/baking going on over here this weekend due to the first of the high school grad parties...kids (really, kids no more but I still call them the kids) looking forward to seeing some photos, so here are a few (I was surprisingly forgetful with the camera this weekend, will try to do better in the coming weeks).
Harrison and Matt at Harry's party...Harrison heading to Princeton in the fall and will swim for them with Daniel hoping to be back in the water there as well.
Sarah and Katie.  Sarah heading out to Boston University in the fall with Nik already there and Ali going as well.  Katie heading down to IU and rooming with Devon in the fall.
Fun at Reyn's party. Jonathan and Matt in the back. Elizabeth, Rhiannon, Kiernan, Devon, and Reyn in the front.
Matt and Reyn at Reyn's party.  So much fun to meet so many of Reyn's friends, etc.  One thing was very clear:  Reyn is much loved by all who know her...including us!
Rhiannon and Carly at Carly's party...both are Pudue bound, despite our best efforts to encourage the Cream and Crimson path...will enjoy watching them swim for the Black and Gold the next four years.
Our Goddaughter Molly and her cousin and best buddy, Alyssa, at their joint party.  IU bound...Cindy and I will think of lots of reasons to go to Bloomington for lunch next year!
Through the years we have hundreds of photos of Molly and Matt who have grown up together, Molly is our Goddaughter and Molly's parents are Matt's Godparents.  In all the confusion at the party, Matt left to go to another party before we got a photo of the two of them, so Molly posed with her arm around a "pretend Matt who is so much taller" and told me to photoshop him in...I have no clue how to do that but it was a cute photo of Molly covering for the both of them.  They will both be down at IU next year, let the fun continue!
Matt and Lauren at Lauren's party...both swimming for IU next year so this won't be the last we all see of Lauren by a long shot.
The very last IYC performance was today.  Matt's very last performance, after 12 years.  Lots of goodbyes, some tears, some fond memories, some we will see again, some we won't...a lot of lasts this year.  (Matt is the fourth from the left in the top row.)
And the very last time we take a photo of Matt and Ali after a choir performance wearing their choir togs.  No, Ali hasn't suddenly gotten much taller, she's standing on a higher stairstep and enjoying being almost as tall as Matt.  This is a hard one...seeing Ali and Matt singing together for the last time after all these years.  She's headed to Boston University in the fall and there are no plans to lose touch with Ali and her family.  Hopefully plans to go to Boston to see Nik, Ali, and Sarah! 

French Fridays with Dorie: Bacon and Eggs and Asparagus Salad

      The twenty-fifth recipe I made for French Fridays with Dorie, from Dorie Greenspan's Around My French Table cookbook, was  Bacon and Eggs and Asparagus Salad found on pages 130-132. 

      All the ingredients in this recipe are things that I knew the guys would enjoy eating, so I made the recipe as written, except for one small change:  I knew there was not a way in the world these guys would eat a runny egg yolk so I boiled the eggs longer than the recipe calls for, resulting in solid yolks, not runny ones.  Sometimes one just has to do what one has to do to make things fly around here. 

      Such a great salad, I know I will make this one every now and again.   It's easy and quick to make, the ingredients can be varied if you so desire, but absolutely wonderful as written (well, except for the runny yolk bit and all).  Definitely a repeat.

      Ingredient list:  salad greens, eggs, asparagus, walnuts, bacon, Dijon mustard, sherry vinegar, extra-virgin olive oil, walnut oil, salt, and pepper. 

     

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Tuesdays with Dorie: Maple Cornmeal Biscuits

      Thanks to Lindsay, from A Little Something...Sweet, for her pick of Maple Cornmeal Biscuits, found on page 24 of Dorie Greenspan's Baking from My Home to Yours cookbook.  Click here for the recipe. 

      You have heard it time and again here that we aren't really all that fond of biscuits.  Apparently there are two kinds of biscuits (maybe more) but Caitlin informed me that there are flaky biscuits and drop biscuits. 

      These are drop biscuits which means they are a whole lot easier to make.  Seriously, five minutes of mixing, plopping onto the baking tray, and into the oven for a short stint.
      At the end of the baking time, wonderfully delicious biscuits which Mark loaded up with butter and which I ate plain.  So good.  Okay, maybe we can be biscuit people once in awhile. 

      I have been baking my way through this book for three years now and have acquired many new baking friends along the way.  My blog is sometimes about food and sometimes about family.  This past weekend my family and my food blogging friends met up in North Carolina.  Caitlin came over from Chapel Hill, Nancy and Jenni came up from Atlanta, and my son Matt came from Indiana to compete in the Grand Prix Series of USA swimming...a fancy pants swim meet he qualified for with the likes of this guy and this guy and this guy, etc.  

      I wasn't able to go to the meet so the three of them went and spent Saturday cheering Matt and his teammates on.  Photo below:  Jenni, Nancy, Matt, and Caitlin at the pool for the swim meet.
      Not only did they cheer, they brought them food...three kinds of homemade cookies that Caitlin whipped up in her kitchen the night before while tweeting with us all, and a big bag of homemade seasoned nuts from Nancy and Jenni using those great Georgia pecans that Nancy has at her disposal quite often.  After the meet, the three girls spent a bit of time roaming around Charlotte and stopping for a bite to eat.  Can you even believe they went all that way and watched Matt swim?  TWD has brought together the most amazing people!  Lucky me.

        Next week:  Patricia from Life with a Whisk has chosen Oatmeal Nutmeg Scones, found on page 39. TWD blogroll found here.

Thirty Minute Thursdays: Minestrina per i Bambini (Children's Pasta Soup)

      This week for Thirty Minute Thursdays, cooking our way through Giuliano Hazan's Thirty Minute Pasta book with Glennis and whoever else wants to join us, I made Minestrina per i Bambini (Children's Pasta Soup), on page 39. 

      I've been on a "clean out the pantry" kick lately and trying to use up things I already have, some of them partial boxes and bags of things, like a small partial bag of alphabet pasta.  Soup is always one of my favorite lunches, so I went back to the soup section of this book and there was a recipe that called for alphabet pasta, just the recipe I needed.  I am hoping to make all 100 recipes in this book, so no time like the present to make this one. 

      The ingredient list:  Italian meat broth or bouillon cube (I used the meat broth I had on hand), alphabet pasta, butter, and freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano. 

      The whole process is very easy and fast, and although in the photo it doesn't look like much, it was tasty and accompanied my small salad nicely.  (It also managed to use up the little amount of alphabet pasta I had.)  Not necessarily a recipe this week to wow all your guests, but a nice homey recipe that rose to the occasion of a quick lunch on a cold and overcast day like today.  (And I got to use the Winnie the Pooh kids' bowl which was rather fun.)   

      If you like the looks and sounds of it, buy the book as I am a believer in encouraging people to support the authors who put together these fabulous books by buying a copy, so you won't find the recipes posted from this book here.  (Buy it, the recipes are easy, the ingredients are easy to locate, it's not pricey, and there are photos of almost all the recipes.)

CEiMB: Whole Grain Spaghetti with Roasted Tomato and Almond Pesto

      The recipe chosen this week for CEiMB, was Whole Grain Spaghetti with Roasted Tomato and Almond Pesto, chosen by Ellie Krieger herself for our group, how cool is that?  It's a brand new Ellie recipe and she gifted it to us to give it a try.  It's really good. 

      I don't usually post recipes here, only internet links provided by the cookbook authors, but Ellie put the recipe on our CEiMB site where anyone can view it, so I am including this one for you here.

      I followed the recipe as written, she gives the option of using ripe plum tomatoes or a can of fire-roasted tomatoes, I chose to do the can of fire-roasted as plum tomatoes in the markets right now are not all that great and the fire-roasted tomatoes in the can are wonderful.  Other than that, I used all the same ingredients and all the same measurements and the result was delicious. 

Whole Grain Spaghetti with Roasted Tomato and Almond Pesto

Olive oil cooking spray
1 1/3 pounds ripe plum tomatoes, cored, seeded and quartered (about 6 medium) or 1 15 ounce can fire-roasted tomatoes, drained
1/3 cup blanched sliced almonds
1 medium clove of garlic
1/3 cup lightly packed fresh basil leaves, plus more for garnish
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
¼ teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
1 pound Whole Grain Spaghetti (note: I like Barilla)

If using fresh tomtatoes, Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Spray a baking tray with cooking spray. Place the tomatoes on the tray and roast in the oven for 30 minutes, until they are soft and slightly charred. When the tomatoes are nearly done, bring a large pot of water to a boil.

In a medium dry skillet, toast the almonds over a medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until they are golden and fragrant, 3-4 minutes.

Transfer the nuts to a food processor, add the garlic and process until they are finely ground. Add the roasted or canned tomatoes, basil, vinegar and pepper flakes to the processor. As the processor is running, drizzle in the olive oil in a steady stream. Add the parmesan cheese and ¼ teaspoon salt and pulse to combine.

Add the pasta to the water and cook according to the directions on the package. Drain and return the pasta to the pasta pot or to a serving bowl. Add the sauce and toss to combine. Season with additional salt to taste. Serve garnished with whole basil leaves.

Makes 6 servings
Serving size: 1 ¼ cups

Prep time: 12 minutes
Cooking time: 36 minutes

      I hope you give it a try because it is easy, healthy, and very very good.  We all enjoyed it and it will be making the regular rotation around here in the future.  This was such fun to have a new recipe from the author.  Thank you, Ellie! 

      Next week's assignment is Muesli Parfaits, chosen by Sarah of Sarah's Kitchen Adventures, on page 36 of Ellie's book So Easy.  You can find the CEiMB blogroll here.

Tuesdays with Dorie: Basic Marbled Loaf

      Thanks to Carol, from The Bake More, for her pick of Basic Marbled Loaf, found on pages 230-231 of Dorie Greenspan's Baking from My Home to Yours cookbook.  Click here for the recipe. 

      I know you were all expecting chocolate because the ones in the book were all for things chocolate.  Oh, well.  Usually I stick to the recipe and make it each week as close to Dorie's rendition as I can because I am always interested in seeing what the recipe author intends before I start tinkering around with it, after all, Dorie is who Dorie is for a reason, so I should study and learn from her experience and knowledge. 

      This week, however, Dorie herself encourages us to fiddle around with the recipe and come up with our own version, so I did.  I chose to make the Peppermint Marble Loaf variation and used white chocolate instead of brown chocolate.  To get the swirl, I added a little red food color to that half of the batter.  I went with the peppermint flavoring, in the cake, in the frosting drizzle, and with the peppermint chips scattered on top.  It was a fine thing to do, we all enjoyed it and it is definitely something I would repeat.

        Oh, and for those of you in the know...yep, that was made in The Nancy Pan!  It made slices of a perfectly wonderful size of this delicious loaf.  The Nancy Pan (10-1/4"x3-5/8"x2-5/8") has quite the story, as Nancy came upon a box of these vintage pans and bought the lot.  Not sure what she was going to do with all of them, she started gifting them around to friends and if you read many of the TWD blogs, you will undoubtedly come upon more than a few of this week's recipe made in The Nancy Pan. 

        Next week:  Peggy from Pantry Revisited has chosen Brown Sugar Bundt Cake, found on page 179. TWD blogroll found here.

CSC Annual Awards Banquet

      Each year our swim club has an awards banquet this time of year.  All the families are invited and the swimmers all get a chance to win awards and be recognized for various accomplishments throughout the year, both long course and short course seasons. 

      This was our last banquet...after 12 years, our very last one.  I only cried a little.  I had big plans to get all sorts of photos of everyone and wanted to make sure to capture the moments one last time.  "Had" being the operative word as one of us left the camera on all night, did not notice it until we got to the banquet and had a mere whisper of battery life left so I only have a few photos and I will need to go begging for photos other parents took today.  Here's what I do have...our yearly photo of Matt and Ali:
Our yearly photo of Buddy, Ali, and Laurie...Ali is heading out to Boston University for college next year so Buddy is going to need to head down to IU to watch Matt swim if he wants to continue to cheer for the other half of his favorite swimmers, i.e. Ali is not going to swim in college.
I tried to round up as many of the seniors as I could, but still missed a few key ones...the ones I managed to snag:  Lauren (going to IU next year), Kiernan (going to Xavier next year), Elizabeth (going to Dennison next year), Matt (going to IU next year), Rhiannon (going to Purdue next year), Devon (going to IU next year but not swimming in college), and John (going to the Naval Academy next year).
And, before the battery died, one quick shot of Matt on the podium giving an inspirational talk to the club about all that swimming has meant to him over the years...the bottom line:  "Was it all worth it?  Oh, yeah, it was definitely all worth it!"  We agree, we have gotten way more out of swimming than we ever dreamed possible.  That first year my thoughts were running something like this:  "Great, we have an activity that will allow them to be safe around water, gives them a nice little practice/workout, and they are clean afterward!" It's turned out to be a whole lot more, yes, it has.