1. Date Night

    Last night’s dinner wasn’t a resounding success. It was fine–just too spicy and a bit suspect from the point of view of other family members. I made a tomato sauce in the vitamix and didn’t take into account that the spices getting pulverized would accentuate the spice level.

    Instead I will talk about date night on Tuesday night. I finally asked my love out on a date. Yes, we live together and have for over a decade. Yes, she took me on a date about two years ago. Most things we do together aren’t official “dates.” We run errands, have a meal out while doing so from time to time, but not dates. We should.

    I’ve been working on being more thoughtful toward my love. I think it is the new quilt. It started while I was finishing it up. I remembered how I felt making the first quilt in those early years. I remembered the amusement as everyone watched the grand plan. I don’t really sew well. I love well, but I don’t sew well. I remembered making her lunches of cherry tomatoes and cheese. I remembered dogs who no longer share our lives, but have hair sewn in to the last quilt. I remembered little kids, one of which was so impressed with the quilt, she wanted a dress made. I made a dress. She wore it and loved it. I remembered kids I thought were big, but weren’t. More than that I remembered all the love shown in all sorts of little ways as I worked on an insane project. I stitched the final stitches of the new quilt, thinking that the foot dragging on finishing it and foot dragging from my love on actually replacing the well-loved, worn to death quilt meant the love in the quilt wasn’t quite right. Not ready. New quilt is too big. Too bright. Was the old quilt ever this bright? She loves the old quilt.

    Then something else happened, I realized I missed those little things that I had stopped doing in years of sickness, health, moves, growing children, caregiving, and work. I could point to the big things easily and had often over the years. I knew that I still loved and was in love with the woman who shares my life. I just had stopped showing I was besotted with her, I cared, I appreciated, I wanted her. Sure, she still caught me smiling as she brushed her hair, as I watched her change, as she drove or worked. Yes, I still would look at her to-do list and try to do some of it…sometimes. I did work on thinking up gifts. I’d send her a poem when she traveled. I made the bed.

    I didn’t do the wee little things anymore. I didn’t keep the coffee pot filled. I didn’t send a poem just because I thought of her. I grumbled through meal prep and served my mother lunch without asking if my love wanted something. No flirting.

    So, I started doing the little things. A flirty note, a poem, a fresh pot of coffee, refilling her cup, a request for time with undivided attention, a kiss, a cuddle, a bed made with love and turned down properly so the quilt/sheet ratio is correct. I also asked her on a date.

    Yes, a date.

    I know you are breathless wanting to know where we went. We went to Chick-Fil-A. As midwesterners know and people of the south may not know–Chick-Fil-A is scarcer than hen’s teeth. We had one open about 12 miles from here in September. I noted it and forgot it. Then on Monday there was discussion. I looked it up. I asked her on a date. I showered and dressed up in jeans and a new sweater.  I opened doors for her. I smiled. I looked at her. Really looked at her.

    There were flowers and everything:

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    We had a lovely time.

    Category retro food | Date: January 12, 2012 | 2 Comments

  2. Meatball Casserole

    In my what now seems to be an ongoing Tarrant Makes Dinner from a myriad of random foods and it didn’t get horrible faces series, comes the latest installment.

    Meatball Casserole
    1 bag/box frozen meatballs
    1 small bag new potatoes (the really small new potatoes)
    1 can tomato paste
    1 cup sour cream
    2 cups shredded mozzarella
    1 heaping teaspoon minced garlic

    Quarter the potatoes. Spray a casserole dish with nonstick spray. (I didn’t do that part. Denise may throw away the dish.) Mix together. Bake a long time at 350–longer than the 45 minutes I originally try because the potatoes didn’t cook thoroughly for the first few people to eat dinner.

    Category retro food | Date: January 9, 2012 | No Comments

  3. Remember the Boiled Potato!

    This is one of those things my mother would say “I didn’t know there was a recipe for that!” in that voice she uses. Last time she said that, I mentioned that there were probably millions of people in the world who would come upon the U.S. obsession for posting and printing recipes for sesame noodles and say the same thing.

    I want to share the boiled red or new potato though for a reason. I forget it as an option. Pasta and rice are common starches in the house. They are so easy! They go with so many things. They don’t take long. Oh wait.

    Let’s start with the “recipe”

    Wash up some red or new potatoes–1-2 per member of your family, the whole bag, it doesn’t matter. In fact, I recommend the whole bag. I will explain in a minute.

    Quarter the potatoes or smaller chunks or even leave them whole. Don’t worry about peeling!

    Cover with cold water. Add some salt if you cook with it. Set on the stove to boil. Boil for 10-20 minutes, until the potatoes are tender but not as my kids would say “almost mashed.” (Like other things I am prone to wander off and remember something on the stove an hour later–it doesn’t bother me but it does seem to annoy kids) The size you cut them or leaving them whole changes the length of cooking time. Drain the potatoes.

    Now you have options:

    Serve with a bit of butter and parsley (parsleyed potatoes)

    Warm potato salad

    PESTO! Yes, that pesto you are putting on your pasta–works just as well on potatoes and so does sun-dried tomato pesto

    Throw them in your blender with some hot broth and cheese and make fast potato cheese soup.

    Add a bit of Greek yogurt and dill

    If you are smart and you made “too many” you have leftovers. All of the above still hold true but you also have the option of:

    Potato Salad

    Quick Home Fries: We had boiled potatoes with butter last night. Tonight I heated a tiny bit of oil in the skillet and threw some chopped onion, garlic, and the leftover potatoes in it. I heated them up. I sprinkled cheese on top! Fab, quick home fries without me errr burning the outside and leaving the inside raw. Yes, people really do enjoy eating here even if I sound inept in the kitchen.

    Sliced and warmed for a sandwich topping — think thick slices of roast beef or portobello mushroom caps, horseradish and blue cheese swiped under the broiler for a moment.

    Mixed vegetables (What’s about to die in your produce bin? What odds and ends of frozen vegetables do you have that aren’t enough for a full serving for your family? Be creative!) , sauce of your choice, leftover potatoes, perhaps some leftover meat or tempeh made into a casserole.

    Throw them into a curry!

    Some people in this house (me!) will eat them cold out of the refrigerator.
    The possibilities are actually endless and having the potatoes boiled means no waiting for the potato to cook through when you use them for leftovers or they are ready to toss into your dish if you cook them while creating that perfect sauce.

    Category retro food, Vegetables | Date: January 6, 2012 | 2 Comments

  4. Political Family Time

    I need to find out when the conventions are this year and debate schedules. Why? So that I can work out planning for time with the children. What? Yes, time with the children. The last election cycle, boy child watched speeches and debates with me. We had a fabulous time. I know. You may not get it.

    You see: we are hecklers and observers. Yes, he knows we don’t heckle in person. We also equally heckle all parties and candidates. Debates and convention speeches became an event. We analyzed the mannerisms, the behavior, the repeated phrases and whether the candidate answered the questions asked. We discussed the audience. We discussed the media analysis.

    This year I hope the 16-year-old takes an interest and the 13-year-old as well.

    Now to plot politically perfect snacks-snacks always help lure the children to important tv viewing. Hummus definitely will fit the bill if Obama continues to say the word “smash” like a verbal tic and it suits foreign policy debates and speeches as well. Pigs in a blanket for pork barrel spending? Chicken wings for a chicken in every pot? Ideas are welcome!

    The 18-year-old is old enough to vote this time around. I rather want to video record him going into the polls or take a picture as he leaves home. It’s a momentous event and to be celebrated!

    How do you involve your children in the political process?

    Category retro food | Date: January 5, 2012 | 1 Comment

Older Entries