Monday, March 24, 2008

listy updates mmmm....

I'm back from my trip and I enjoyed an Easter weekend full of church, 19 inches of snow, and my first cup of coffee in six weeks!! Now I have some updates to attend to...

#15 - Last night I started organizing INKYTNMO stuff for the big scrapbook! I could stand to go to town on this thing with fun little popouts and booklets and stuff, so I'm real stoked!!

#49 - Two new recipes:
1. I made mashed cauliflower which rocked my world. Seriously a REAL good alternative to mashed tatos. You just boil them in chicken stock until they're mashable, then add S&P and cheese...it's just that easy!

2. For our Easter Brunch, I literally made up a recipe. So in my mind, I had this idea for a "root hash"...hashbrowns, but made with regular shredded tatos, but also shredded sweet tatos, parsnips, and turnips. (I wanted rutabagas, but apparently Metro Market doesn't have rutabagas right now...blah) Anyway, in my mind, I imagined these hashbrowns with some sort of gravy or au jus just like on the east coast where you have "wet fries" or fries with gravy. So you'd get the crispiness of the hash, but some moisture with the gravy/au jus. Well it was quite an endeavor, but the recipe was a relative success!! I added some rosemary to the hashbrowns, as well as sauteed onions of course. And the sauce did turn out to be more of a gravy than au jus (beef stock, Worchester, and a little apple cider vinegar added to a roux)...but it was good. It was SOOOO much more flavorful than the typical hashbrowns you get. Much more depth because of the different root veggies. And the onions made it sweet! I think I'm going to experiment a bit with it...make the hashbrowns even more crispy (you really gotta stop those starches from exploding all over the place!), and try to make more of an au jus. In any case, the entire Easter Brunch as a whole was amazing. My mom made a spinach soufflé that was absolutely delicious. I don't know if I could make a soufflé! My sister made corn bread muffins from scratch (!) with maple butter...as well as a quick fruit salad (bananas, mango, honeydew). And of course brunch isn't brunch without bacon :) Later in the afternoon we had this outstanding orange cake my mom made for my grandpa for his birthday. It's got triple sec in it I think? Totally soaked in it!! Just to die for...I think I want to start requesting it for MY birthday ;)

#50 - See #49, I switched 'er up to the Turnip which I, of course, added to the hash. Yum stuff!

#54 - I have to make an appt...my hair is getting way too long!

#64 - I made it to the Grand Canyon YIPPIE!!!!!! I will post some AZ pix tomorrow if I get some time :) as well as a nice discussion...

#69 - Well, I completely forgot to donate blood during winter. I was supposed to on Dec 27th but that got pushed back. Then I got the flu and didn't want to endanger anyone? Well, I feel like if I at least get the donation in before March ends, that's fair enough, so I'm donating tonight. Hopefully my arm doesn't suck and I succeed!

#95 - On a Pale Horse is reading real quick! I love it!

Alright more tomorrow...

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