A tiny glimpse...

Thanksgiving...with the best turkey I have ever cooked

 

Ok, so I have finally purchsed my own computer, a work splurge, so I do not have to rock - paper - scissor my children to get some pc time.  I feel a bit guilty sometimes that we are all so dependent on the computer, so we do limit the time we spend on them.  It just seems that we all look to using them at the same time!  Anyway, my point is that I am now trying to get back into blogging about some of the cool things that I have been working on.  So I have not been able to get back into the habit of having my camera and taking pictures that is something that ihave never been very good at, but will hopefully be getting better since I love seeing pictures on other blogs that show what people are explaining. 

This ThanksgivingI wanted to brine my turkey...I haven't been able to brine a turkey since 2002 when I brined a turkey while in the throes of extreme morning (all day) sickness.  Unfortunately the smell of the brine leaked into my brain and I smelled it everywhere, until I made my husband help me wipe down all of the surfaces in the kitchen with bleach and remove everything from the refrigerator to wipe it down inside and out along with all drawers and shelves.  It was the only way to make peace with that smell.

 I found the perfect resolution thisyear when I came across this article about dry brine from Russ Parson at FOOD 52, the Judy Bird.  This turkey was so easy to prepare and I didnot need a vat of liquid or a separate fridge to be able to hold it all.  It also allows for you to put the salt mixture on the bird while it is still thawing in the fridge, which works for me.  Thaw and brine at the same time!  It had a great flavor with the right texture and was super moist.  The skin was beautiful crispy brown and the drippings make a great gravy. I will definately be making this again not on a holiday.  Happy Eating!!

Picture from FOOD 52

Minecraft Birthday...

So I will say to begin with...I do not play Minecraft, but I know a lot of 4th graders that do, so was not surprised when my son decided he wanted a Minecraft birthday party.  Although, like many of the other theme parties we have had over the last 9 years somehow we seem to always be ahead of the mass marketed party supplies and end up doing a lot of our own work.  Luckily I found a couple other great minecraft lovers out there that have paved the way for me. 

 

We found this great drawing at ShinyEevee, if a Nyan cat getting a creeper, to use for the front of our invite and there were many ideas at the mama and this great video from youtube...

 

We had a Minecraft cake, crafting table, treasure hunt, creeper pinata and of course giant wearable Steve heads!  What more could you want...real diamonds...*sigh*

We had only 4 boys total for the party that included a sleepover and a great time was had by all!  Not sure what we will be into next year, but I have 12 months to think about it!

K

You Pinterest...are a master in the art of time suckage...

"What has happened to the past few hours ?"

I find myself asking this question more and more often...and the answer is...Pinterest!  I have a definite love/hate realtionship with that amazing site.  I love love love that I now have a place to mark all of the things I see on the internet, that inspires me to do things big and small, with a picture of the idea and a direct link to where I found it!  I can't even begin to tell you hao many times I have bookmarked something that later begs the question "What the hell was I looking at here?"   I also love that it allows me to see what my girl friends are finding on the internet that we never have time to talk about when we are together because we are covering so many other topics during that time.  And holy recipe index Batman...that feature there is worth the gold at the end of the rainbow.   A greatly appreciates my decreased amount of printed off recipes that lay all over the kitchen just waiting to be tried!

I hate that I do not have the copious amounts of free time that I would like.  I want to be able to do all the things I see and research all the other ideas that are generated.  I have quite a few things to try out for this summer and will be looking forward to a (hopefully) more relaxed schedule for the kids and some extra income from a potential second job opportunity working with someone I respect greatly that has been a spectacular mentor and friend for over 10 years.  Now  if I could only figure out how to increase my income while working less, things would be spot on!!  Hmmmmmmmm....is that on Pinterest?

k

Back in the game?!?

Well there has been a lot happening in the past year - birthdays, losses, surprises, change...and I am finally feeling like things might be getting a little bit back to a new normal for me.  I have lost about 40 lbs since the birth of our daughter almost three years ago and kept it off for about a year, now I need to keep it going and our new lifestyle changes have helped out a lot. 

My husband A has been really health concious for a while now and been reading a lot about  paleo living and eating - love lots of meat, fruits and vegies!!  We have also had to adopt a stricter budget due to a forced job change for myself which lowered our monthly income, and really would still like to support CSAs and eat the way we want to.  We have finished a new section of the basement which allows for us to have a hobby room where we can all enjoy ourselves - gave up cable, i-phones, and a land line.  There has been a lot of adjusting to our new lifestyle!  The kids have done really well with all the changes I think I have taken it the hardest!  I am hoping to be able to get back in the groove of sewing, crafting, cooking and playing as I get better at juggling my career, family and house. 

I never thought I would say this, but I actually am looking forward to a day when I might be able to quit full time work and work part time at some sewing or cooking store...that would be awesome...*sigh*...someday!  Until then I hope to be able to use this space as an outlet for all the things I have in my head.  Not sure what that will bring and pretty sure I need to put that stuff somewhere!  Hahahahahha!!  Not sure anyone cares, but not worried about that either it's just a place that is all about me for once!

k

I can't eat for how long???!!

So yesterday was my first foray into the world of Intermittent Fasting (IF).  I am trying to loose weight that has somehow appeared onto my body over the past 15 years out of nowhere!!  Well, maybe not out of nowhere - 2 babies, less activity, and a deeper love of cooking and baking!  I have done pretty well since Christmas losing about 25 pounds so far.  Unfortunately I have hit a sort of plateau recently and my husband suggested that I participate in a 24 hour fast that he and some friends were doing.  I thought it sounded crazy and impossible - I mean how do you go without eating all day I have never done that before!  I was hesitant to say the least and decided to just wait and see how it goes.  I ate dinner with the family on Tuesday and then went to bed at the normal time.  In the morning I had my coffee and started to see how long I could go.  I did pack a lunch and had it at work with me, but before I knew it it was three o'clock and I still hadn't eaten!!  I had some ice tea and water during the day and just kept going.  I was actually surprised by the  fact that I made it and it wasn't that bad.  Nothing blew up in the lab and everyone is still talking to me so apparently I was not a raging loon and I didn't black out!  Now I am hopefull that this will jump start my body into losing some more weight and gear me up for the next time!  Oh yes, there will be a next time! 

New Job.....New Outlook

I have to say we were very lucky to have weathered the economic crisis for as long as we did, but unfortunately it caught up with us last fall.  My company had to go through the downsizing procedure and I got swept into the flow.  It was horrible and I feel for all those who have also lost their jobs in these hard times.  I can't say I saw it coming, and even though I knew that it was always a possibility to be laid off I didn't think it would really happen to me.  Imagine my surprise that after 9 years of service with exceptional reviews I  was told they did not have a spot for me.  I have to say I felt very betrayed, stupid, shocked and hurt just to name a few of the emotions from that day.  I always thought that I had found my dream job and was in a group of people who had been working together for 17 or more years, so I was still considered a newbie!  I feel like there was so much I still hadn't learned and so much potential I hadn't yet reached.  It has been very difficult to handle all of the emotions that have come with the loss of that job.  I was very fortunate to find a new gig that is almost as fantabulous as the old one.  The only thing that could make it any better is if I could do the work I am doing now with my old co-workers.  I miss sharing and seeing the people I have seen everyday for the past nine years....the people who shared the birth of my children, the purchasing of my first and second home, the stories about our families and lots of talk about food!!!  I know that the friendships will continue and I still have the ability to ask them questions about my new work and to ask advice for new endeavors and I will make it!!  I made it through this far and I can make it even farther.  I will create relationships with new co-workers and will e more diligent in driving my own career.  Now if I can just get the kid's through college so I can relax!!!!

Fall

There are many things that I like about Fall, but I think the best part is changing over from our summer supper menu to our wintry menu!!  I really love to cook and try new recipes.  This year I have seen so many new recipes for soups and stews!!  Can't wait to get cooking and now since the weather has started to turn colder it is time. 

I started our fall cooking festivities with the cooking of our pumpkin seeds after we carved our pumpkins for Halloween.  I usually just pull off most of the chunks and cook them in the oven with some butter and salt, but this year I was looking for other pumpkin recipes and found that there is another step.  There was a thread that suggested boiling the seeds in some salted water for about 10 minutes before toasting in the oven which would allow the salty flavor to infuse into the seed some.  I tried this with our seeds this year and was pleasantly surprised with the outcome.  The rest of the family thought they were excellent too and they were not around long!  So here's to starting off a fall of new culinary adventures.....I think we should have roasted chicken tonight!

Happy valentines day!

    Well, I am just going to ignore that I have not posted since June.  I think I may have even been abducted by aliens at some point and taken to a different galaxy which would explain my lack of knowledge about how much time has passed.  Although I only know of a few people who would actually let me get away with that kid of story. 
    My main issue happened to be my birthday this year.  I have never had much trouble with getting older it never seemed to really matter that much and a lot of times I have to think about how old Iam when people ask.  This year was different and hit me pretty hard.  I think that I had a lot of expectations of where I was going to be at that point and of course things were not as I had planned. 
     We are now preparing to get everything ready for an additional family member to arrive in April.  It is turning out to be a bigger job than we thought.  I guess the first one was easy to get ready for because he was all we had to focus on, but this second one we keep randomly remembering things that you will need and having those "Doh" moments about once a day.  I will post some pictures as we get things going and keep up with posting as best I can!

Welcome to Boston, MA

Sorry it has been a little while since my last post.  I spent last week getting ready for my conference trip and kept running out of time.  I thought I was doing really well getting ready until A told me that Thursday night was a two hour season finale of Lost and I had no idea so I didn't get anything done until late Friday to leave Saturday morning.  We had a class on Sunday so traveled Saturday and took the red eye since it was the only direct flight that day.  It worked out fine though we got to do some sight seeing by walking on the freedom trail.
    Union Oyster House: the oldest continuously running restaurant in the U.S.!

    Paul Revere statue and the Old North Church

Yesterday I was in a class all day and then we went to the opening reception.  Very good talks way to many people in one area at one time!

This morning there wasn't really any sessions I was too interested in so I took the Wharf Ferry to Charlestown to see the Charlestown Navy Yard, the USS Constitution and the USS Cassin Young.   The Constitution was closed, but they had a little museum that you could go through that basically told all the history part and the Cassin Young has tours led by the National Park Service.  It was very informative and very cool.  More sessions tomorrow, but hopefully I will get a few hours before I leave to see the famous "Houses of the Back Bay" and the houses on Beacon Hill (which includes Acorn street the most photographed street in the city). 
    The USS Constitution first launched on October 21, 1797.

    The USS Cassin Young a Naval Fletcher Destroyer - saw battle in Asian waters during WWII and was in service to the Navy until the 1960's.

Concrete leaves

My mother-in-law came across this article in one of her magazines to make concrete leaves for the garden.  The one pictured above is a lotus leaf and can be used like a bird bath.  Well, I have been wanting to learn how to do it since.  I think it is a really cool idea and well who knows what new things that knowledge could inspire!!  She called on Saturday to tell me she had gotten some rhubarb leaves from a local lady and would be making some if I wanted to learn.  Ummmm yes!!!  It is not a very complicated process, but it does take patience.  You have to have patience to grow the plants to provide the leaves (or make some very "green thumb" friends), patience to mold the leaf and then form the concrete and patience to wait for the concrete to harden.  The hardening part is by far the most trying - it is so tempting to touch them while they are drying and to check on them and to pick them up!! Thank goodness they are at her house so I am not tempted.  I can't wait to see the ones I made and with the left-over concrete C made a stepping stone for Daddy!