May 11, 2011

OUTING # 3: POSTCARDS FROM VENICE


You've probably noticed it has been a LITTLE while since I have posted--ANYTHING.  It just so happens we took the fam to Italy for a few weeks via Venice, Siena and Rome.  You might be thinking...


"Wow Italy..."



"wow three weeks..."


Uhhh...That was a month and a half ago! 


 And thus we learned a very important lesson...after the vaporetto (water taxi) rides past...


beautiful things like this ...


making chalk outlines Indiana Jones style of ancient Christian monoliths...


on a Venetian island like Torcello where the people of Venice fled when Attila the Hun attacked...


After sunset walks along the Grand Canale...


walks that sometimes take you forty five minutes down unmarked streets...


until you finally find it -- DINNER (pant) PER FAVORE...the trattoria (mom and pops joint) your wonderful knight has picked out and enjoy the pleasures of Venice cuisine -- wonderfully grilled seafood and pasta black with squid ink!  


After all this-- but of course never during-- you realize that going forward probably won't be traveling to Italy on Spring break because when you come back you feel like it should be summer, but it's not and it take a month before the kids can bring themselves to practice piano or go to tutoring or before you can even face email again, let alone the computer!

CIAO CIAO!

the Good Food fairy

March 25, 2011

Bad Love Sonnet with Stomach Flu


 Oh twelfth anniversary,
a seemingly doomed twelfth, poor twelfth
with babysitter-set plans,
for an entire March afternoon's span,
without our three little elves
Just me and him, hand in hand.

 It was about three-in-the-morning 
always three...why three?
when the sound of vomiting
broke the silence of our sleep
"Is someone throwing up?"
I called out from the bed...
"It's me Mom" Soda said.

So all through the morning 
and all through the day
after rainchecking the sitter 
my knight held our little Soda as he slept 
leaning him over the barf bucket
when Soda would whimper
"Dad help..."

"It wasn't exactly as we'd planned 
not what we'd pictured," my knight said, 
but...somehow romantic
and sweet and fun.
"Kinda like our marriage,"
he said. I answered, "Yup."

The stomach flu lifted
Soda began to eat saltines
All of us much relieved
sat down on the couch and
turned on Indiana Jones number three.

What could top that??

Cheers!

The Good Food Fairy





  

March 17, 2011

BOONIE'S GUACAMOLE


What food do you think of first, when you think St. Patty's day? For Boonie, my big guy, it's  Guacamole--of course!  And here, only here, can you get his top-secret recipe and in his own words too...


Get an avocado...


then cut it in half...


I keep turning it around...


then...


crack it open!


Take the pit out.


The pit is a big seed in the avocado.


Then throw away the pit...


take the squishy part out...


put them on the cutting board...


grab a bowl and get a fork...


then squish it...


and squish it...


and squish it...


and squish it until it's all squished up.


Then add salt and pepper...just one shake.


Then add one spoonful of salsa.


Put the guac in a little bowl.


Spread it out.


Put a chip inside it.  That's it!

Well, folks, there you have it.  Easy, efficient, healthy and tasty.  What it's lacking for in Irishness it makes up for in greeness.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Enjoy,

The Good Food Fairy 
and
Boonie

March 14, 2011

OUTING # 2: FOODIES in PHOENIX



 OUTING # 2: SARA'S HOUSE
  PHOENIX, ARIZONA
--I love that I am able to stay at home to raise the boys--it only took me ten years to adjust to the role!  But I do love it, despite it's being one of the--if not the--hardest jobs in the world as my Grandpa Todd would say.  But there is no vacation time built into the gig and you are on duty 24 - 7.  So...just as you become ineffective after 100 some odd days of frontline battle (only the mother of boys would know that figure off the top of her head), a stay-at-home mother can go CRAZY without a little R&R: eating shopping, eating, walking, eating, shopping, eating...and bubble bath!  Thus, OUTING # 2 to Sara's house in the southwest...HI HO SILVER AWAY!

Sara's Appetizer: roasted red peppers and herbed ricotta on grilled bagette slices

DAY 1: ARRIVAL
Itinerary: 
--Lunch at The Parlor : the Porchetta Pizza--Red Wine Braised Berkshire Pork / Broccolini / Shropshire Cheese / Red Wine Glaze
--Shopping / Talking / Shopping for curtains with 8-month-old cutie pie Matthew
--Dinner chez Sara's.  Sara with her Mississippi roots is an EXCELLENT hostess.  What does it mean to be an excellent hostess?? Well, not only does she have a beautiful, comfortable house, knows exactly where to take you out for shopping for a pair of shoes that would be perfect for you, has a gift for you, and makes you feel comfortable in your own skin, but she is also an excellent cook!  So, after her husband whisked the baby off to bath and bed, she whipped up the appetizer above to tide us over while she made an excellent bucatini with all'Amatriciana.  Bucatini is a very thick spaghetti with a tiny hole in the center and all'Amatriciana is a spicy tomato sauce.  Excellent!  

Moon through the mesquite trees.

DAY 2: GIRL TIME
Itinerary:
--Breakfast: I woke up to home-made bran muffins, freshly squeezed orange juice (from oranges off her own tree) and blackberries.
--Shopping.
--Lunch: the Zinc Bistro where I savored a crispy duck confit sandwich with house fries and...creme brule.  It is a French restaurant afterall.  It would be a sin to pass up dessert.
--Afternoon lounging around the pool and then we made a grocery list for I had brought Mario Batali's Grill Italian.  And as Sara is a grill aficionado we decided to do four recipes from Mr. Batali's cookbook...they were (drum roll please)...


Anitpasto: ASPARAGUS WRAPPED IN PANCETTA WITH CITRONETTE
(*translation: Appetizer: Asparagus wrapped in italian bacon with an orange juice vinaigrette)


Primo: WARM SHRIMP SALAD WITH GREEN BEANS AND CHILES


Secondo: T-BONE FIORENTINA WITH SAUTEED SPINACH
(second platter: T-bone steak of Florence with sauteed spinach)
And our one bummer dish...


Another antipasto: GRILLED POLENTA WITH ROBIOLA AND SCALLIONS
No matter what I did, those polenta triangles (made with cornmeal) did not want to come off the grill.  Sara thinks our polenta didn't set up right.  And the scallions were too chewy, making it hard to eat.  So here are our notes...


Sara readying the gas grill.  Mr. Batali says gas or charcoal grills will work just fine.


Snap off the ends of the asparagus and wrap with thin slices of pancetta and refrigerate.


Place them on the grill...



Ooh La La!  Just look at the pancetta crisp up so beautifully basting and steaming the asparagus inside.  I'm inside whipping up the citrus vinaigrette.


Yeah...This dish was the hit of the night.


Shrimp went on next...


I got the toasted hazelnuts and red onions prepped and green beans parboiled (or boiled for about five minutes to bring them into fork-tender range.  The shrimp dish...


is beautiful and very fresh...a good potluck contribution.  Flavors could have sat together longer to mingle...and last, but certainly not least was the...


T-bone steak.  They like their meat medium-rare...I chose an end piece that was just a bit more medium and so fabulous!  Wow.  Sara says she sears it 3-4 minutes on each side then turns the meat 180 degrees to get the cross grill marks (3-4 minutes each way).  I think there's a little magic in there, too.

All four recipes here are gluten-free as well.  


Day 3: GOOD SHOPPING and GOODBYES
itinerary
--Breakfast: Homemade french toast (using panettone bread) & home-made orange juice
--Lunch: Short rib soft tacos...can't remember the name of the restaurant I was comatose by then...it's amazing I made it onto the plane...
--Shopping: 2 pairs of shoes (loafers and heels) both on some amazing 75% sale at Macy's or Nordstrom's or wherever we were...
--GOODBYE and PLANE FLIGHT and...


It was back to business as usual and I was ready for it!

Happy Trails!

the Good Food Fairy