Foodmomiac

Do-It-All Mom

Have you heard of Sketch-It? For $1, they will sketch anything you request. Here is mine. I love it, but I think I look fat. :-)
I love that Dylie looks so maniacal, and that Max is the same size that she is - like a giant roly-poly baby of love. And look at my muscles!! I guess the illustrator heard about all those Group Power classes I've been taking.

More Positive Thoughts Please!

We have a showing today from 12 noon - 1pm eastern.

I'd love a positive shout out to the universe if you have a spare moment during that time frame.

Thanks!

Update: As soon as I finished cleaning, I got a phone call that the showing will need to be rescheduled. Oh well, never hurts to live in a clean home I guess.

Flashback

Remember what it was like when you first started using the Internet? I first started surfing in 1995. I would sit at my desk in my little college townhouse with a book in my lap. I'd type in a URL and then read a bit of my book. The page would slowly download. I'd then click a link, and continue on with my book. Fun times.

And, guess what?? I got to re-live those good 'ol days ALL DAY TODAY!!! The slowness of my DSL connection was beyond comprehension. I finally got help from a tech support worker named Paige. She had the cutest accent and was so helpful and sincere. She was truly sorry for my plight! She understood that a slow connection was a PLIGHT. She felt my pain. We did this really cool thing called a speed test, and it showed that my connection speed was SLOWER THAN DIAL-UP. It showed that it would take 19 minutes to download an MP3!!! While I was dismayed by these results, I felt strangely triumphant. I was vindicated. Paige was horrified! She felt terrible! She immediately pinged "the maintenance team."

And, just a short 20 minutes later, my connection is zooming, my flashback has ended, and all is well in the world.

The good part of all this? I actually read a book for a while. I miss doing that. I also waxed my own legs. It's amazing the activities one comes up with when faced with no Internet. Amazing, I say.

So grateful for family and friends

  I love ribs! 
  Originally uploaded by Foodmomiac.

I have food poisoning and was in bed all day long (when I wasn't bowing to the porcelain god).

Thank goodness we have a great friend like Stephanie (our babysitter). She came over at 1:30 and helped out with the kids all day long. She even bathed them. This woman is amazing. And she's going to live with us for six weeks this summer - yay!!

Anyway, while she chilled with the wild ones, Michael went out and bought a crapload of flowers for the outside of the house - already potted in beautiful arrangments, and then made some of our famous ribs.

Of course, I was in no position to make the sauce (I'm having a hard enough time just writing it without losing my cookies), so he took over sauce duties. My father-in-law reported that it wasn't as good as mine, but it was pretty damn tasty regardless. Dylan had no complaints, as you can see.

Recipe:

Danielle's Mom's BBQ sauce (with a twist)

12 ounces chili sauce (preferably Heinz)
12 ounces ketchup (preferably Heinz)
6 tablespoons canola oil
6 tablespoons cider vinegar
3 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons liquid aminos (you can use Worcestershire sauce if you like)
3 tablespoons Sriracha hot sauce
5-6 tablespoons molasses
6 cloves fresh minced garlic

Combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl. When using on ribs or chicken, first season the meat with salt and pepper. Cook the meat until it is nearly done and THEN add the sauce for the last bit - anywhere from 10 to 60 minutes. You want to cook the meat low and slow, and NEVER over direct heat. Our ribs were on the grill for over three hours. If you put the sauce on too soon, it will burn due to the high sugar content of the molasses.

Grandma Ana

Grandma Ana
Originally uploaded by Foodmomiac.

This is my Grandma Ana. I don't know that I've mentioned her before, but she and I are kindred spirits. I am so like her in personality (disagreeable, opinionated, well-read) and share so many of the same interests. She is the reason I love food. She is the reason I love travel. My first trip to Paris was with my grandma. I was 15.

We stayed at a little hotel on the right bank called the Duminy Vendome. Every morning we'd wake up (late, of course - she and I like to sleep in), and order in room service. You see, Grandma Ana refuses to face the world without first having her cup of coffee. And back then she needed her first cigarette too. I inherited that coffee thing. Just ask Dylan.

Grandma Ana will be 94 this August. And this week, she moved into a nursing home. She is devastated, but it was clearly time. After a scary bout with dehydration (did you know that dehydration can look like a stroke?), we realized that part time care in her apartment just wasn't sufficient.

Grandma Ana has been living in the same, tiny studio apartment on the Upper West Side for my whole life. It is filled with plants and photos and books. Literally filled. The thing she was most upset about was leaving all of her things, especially her books. My mom, my cousins, my brother and I are going to be going through all of her stuff this summer and figuring out who gets what. It's kind of nice to do this now, while she is alive. I can't imagine the pain of sorting through her possessions while dealing with the devastation of losing her. This way, she knows who is getting what, and she can share stories about the items. My Grandma Ana is filled with stories.

My brother and I live farther away than any of the other family members, so it is going to be hardest for us. Luckily for me, my grandma has already decided that I will be getting the cookbooks. She asked that I think about the other items she has and let her know what else I want. What a hard task. All week I've been thinking about my grandma, and her apartment, and about the items that have filled it all these years. Which possessions are most evocative of my grandma? Which do I want to take into MY home and share with Dylie and Max?

Designed to Sell - Yeah RIGHT.

My realtor pissed me the hell off yesterday. We were talking about the benefits of staging, and she started giving me some feedback on the state of my house.  Apparently, my "shoe corner" is the scourge of the earth and must go away. My shoe corner! It's just a corner! With shoes! We enter our house through the side door, and remove our shoes right away. They go into the shoe corner. Don't diss the shoe corner.

She also commented on my cluttered kitchen counters. Now, let me state that the last time she visited the house, I was making calzones. This involved a food processor, homemade dough, lots of flour, sausage in the saute pan, a bowl of ricotta, etc. etc. etc. OF COURSE MY COUNTERTOP WAS CLUTTERED!!! I know that my house needs to be clutter-free and sterile when people come to see it. I know this! This is why 130 of my 150 cookbooks have been packed away for over 18 months. This is why none of my photos are displayed on my mantel. Do I really need to stop cooking too? Can't I just clean up the kitchen before a showing? What the hell?  And can I just say, this isn't TV. I'm not going to declutter my countertop one day and then sell the house the next. Am I really supposed to keep packing my life away with no promise of when it will be returned to me?

Technorati Tags: HGTV, Staging, Real Estate

Ingredient of the Week - Purple Artichoke

  Purple Artichoke 
  Originally uploaded by Foodmomiac.

More artichokes!

This gorgeous speciman is a purple artichoke. Not only are they gorgeous, but apparently they have a higher nutritional value than the standard green artichoke. Love that!

I found these at Rhodes, my favorite local produce joint. It's a small, family owned store, but they always have the very best local fruits and vegetables. They also carry some more unique items including tamarind, fiddlehead ferns, sugarcane and... purple artichokes!

I am a huge proponent of roasting vegetables. Give me a head of cauliflower, a bunch of asparagus or some juicy turnips, and into the roasting pan they go. But, for some reason, I had never considered roasting artichokes! I always steamed them, an annoying proposition that never seemed worth the effort. This past month, though, I began seeing a lot a bunch of recipes that called for roasted artichokes. How novel!!

As soon as I saw these gorgeous purple thistles at Rhode's, I knew that they were bound for my oven. I trimmed the stems, cut them in half, scooped out the hairy choke and rubbed both sides with extra virgin olive oil. I then seasoned them generously with salt and freshly ground pepper and popped them into the oven at 400 degrees. After about 20 minutes, I lowered the temperature to 350 degrees and cooked them for 15 minutes more.

These were a revelation. The flavor was nutty and rich. The texture was perfect. I cut out the hearts and used half of them in a Spinach Artichoke Dip. (The other half was eaten standing up at my kitchen counter.) My father-in-law and I devoured the leaves at the dinner table. They would have been lovely dipped in a tangy aioli, but, honestly, they didn't need it. The flavor of the roasted leaves was good enough on its own.

I will be back at Rhode's this coming weekend. I hope these are still around!

Help! Those Long Red Nails are TERRIFYING!

  Scared by Susan from Sesame Street 
  Originally uploaded by Foodmomiac.

This is me at the age of three with Susan from Sesame Street. As you can see, I was quite enamored terrified.

I was reminded of this photo last week, when Mary of MomWrites wrote about her a conference call she sat in on with Maria of Sesame Street. Maria (a.k.a. Sonia Manzano) is involved in a great program that helps distribute books to kids, and is an author herself. Check out Mary's post when you have a moment.

Oh, and if you're in the mood to click some more, check out this photo as well. You can see why Dylan will go so much farther in life than I will. She is afraid of nothing. If that were me at the age of four with Scooby Doo? I would be hovering in the corner in the fetal position. I was always afraid of characters. Dylan runs up to them with arms wide open.

Jarred Artichokes - What to do?

Dear Foodmomiac,

As a hostess gift we got a big basket of Italian food goodies, and
now I don't know what to do with some of them. For example, I have a jar of grilled artichokes that which sounds wonderful, but I don't know how to use them. Any suggestions?

Lauren

Hi Lauren,

They would be awesome tossed with pasta. I'd do an olive oil/garlic sauce - maybe add a few capers? Garlic and oil sauces are quite simple. Slice garlic thinly, and cook in extra virgin olive oil over VERY low heat until it JUST begins to brown. Toss with pasta and artichokes and you are all set! (My mom adds chopped parsley - a nice touch.)

Bruschetta/Crostini type hors d'oeuvres - toast slices of baguette, rub with raw garlic, spray or brush with a touch of olive oil, put chokes on top, maybe a slice of fresh mozzerella or a healthy shave of parmigiano reggiano - put under broiler till bubbly.

Omelettes or fritatta or quiche - artichoke goes great with gruyere or comte or any other nutty cheese.

Homemade pizza - I like a white pizza with ricotta, mozzerella, pine nuts, garlic, olive oil and artichokes - also nice with some carmelized onions. You absolutely do NOT need to make the crust yourself. I often pick up a shell at our local Italian market. A Boboli would work fine.

As an antipasto - with some nice chunks of Italian cheese, salami and olives. Roasted red pepper would round this out nicely.

Good luck!

I'm STILL stressed.

Yesterday was one of those days that makes me want to be a stay-at-home mom.

Last night was Dylan's recital. So, of course, it would be the day that I need to travel to Indianapolis to give a presentation to my client. Of course!!

Luckily, we were able to take a little private plane. (I say luckily, because that saves time. However, little planes scare the fuck out of me and make me car sick - errr plane sick - , so in some senses, it wasn't so lucky.) Anyway, I had to leave my house at 6:30, and let our babysitter get both kids off to school/daycare. I was very organized, for once, and tied Dylan's dance bag, complete with shoes, tights, outfit and makeup to her backpack. I told the sitter about the importance of the bag, and explained that it was to go with Dylan in the carpool people's car and travel with her to school. Michael was scheduled to pick Dylan up at 5pm, grab her some chicken nuggets, and high tail it to the theatre to get her dressed and made up in time for her 6:30 recital. The school is 20 minutes from the theatre.

At 5:10, I was seatbelted in the co-pilot seat of the plane (best place to be to avoid yuking all over my boss), and the nose had started to lift off the ground. I receive a text message:
WHERE IS DYLAN'S OUTFIT?
The plane lifts into the air. I lose reception.

Long story shortish: the bag was in the car of the carpool family. Michael raced home (20 minutes, wrong direction), looked through our house - no bag. Raced to carpool house (I know, I am very impressed that he thought of this), rang bell. Boys answer door. Won't open it due to stranger danger. Dad comes to door, buckling pants, disoriented, 10 minutes later. "I'm sure the bag went to school with Dylan." "No, no bag at school." Sure enough, bag is in car.

Race to recital, get Dylan ready with 10 minutes to spare. WHEW!!

I arrived at 6:25 and fell into my seat. Michael and I are both still freaked out, with sore backs and stiff necks.

Oh, our dinner last night? Wendy's at 9pm.

AWESOME.