Cooking is always more enjoyable with others...



Pretty table setting

When I was down in California for work JoAnne had a little luncheon with her close friends that took a recent trip with her and Ray. She wanted to cook an assortment of recipes of things they had as a closing to the trip.

It's always more enjoyable cooking with others than by yourself although I do like cooking for parties or holidays for people (other than my kids) because seeing people enjoy my cooking gives me pleaseure. My kids either pass or fail my cooking on if Auntie Kelly or Grandpa John makes it better than me... "It's good but Auntie Kelly's is better."... whatever :-)

We made Sea Bass (totally nummy, sorry no photo was too busy cooking), a potato gratin dish in individual ramekin dishes (again no photo), green beans with toasted pine nuts (no photo.. yeah I suck)... BUT I did get photos of the tomato & watermelon salad & a roasted beet with tzatziki sauce appetizer...

The Summer Salad with Tomato & Watermelon was delicious! It was surprising to find the combination of watermelon and tomato but it was light and refreshing.

Roasted beets, topped with tzatziki sauce, sprinkled with toasted walnuts and drizzled with fine olive oil. Can you say nummy?

Anyway, try the salad... I think you'll like it as much as we did and it's safer than eating mayo based potato or macaroni salad that's sat out on some picnic table in the sun for too long.

1-26-10 - Is There Anything Better Than Memory Foam?

Today I actually was on top of getting dinner cooked and on the table. I had a chicken thawed out in the fridge that needed to be eaten so I popped that into the oven and we had Roast Chicken & Broccoli.

Boyce, the rented neighbor child, set the table. We are still working with him to put the forks on the left side where they belong but he was the only one to step up to the plate (so to speak) and get it done so he gets points for that.

One of these days I'll get all the children at the table to look good in the photo at one time. For now they are taking turns of who looks the best in each frame.

I'm now planted on my bed with my laptop... I'm in heaven to tell you honestly. I sat at my table all day working today so to be horizontal on my memory foam feels so good.

Is there really anything better than memory foam in the world? I have my doubts...

~Jamie

1-24-10-Part 1- I Love It When I Don't Have To Cook

This morning Hunter cooked breakfast of Pancakes & Eggs. I wish I would have been able to record the sounds coming out of my kitchen for all of you but alas I didn't. I wasn't totally sure I wanted to even eat it but overall it turned out ok. Actually it's probably a good thing I didn't record it because I would have had to use the BEEP editor way too much. The pancakes were sticking on him and he was all frustrated. (It was funny to listen to though... )

His Papa John would have been proud because Hunter can make a pancake be about as black as his.... My dad's motto is "When it's smokin' its cookin'... When it's black it's done." All my friends remember my dad's pancakes with a can of corn added... they are legendary (not quite sure it's in a good way).

I also realized that I need to teach him how to use seasonings when cooking but that will come over time.

Madeleine set the table, I got off the phone, took the picture and then we ate (No Miss Molly did not eat at the table with us.. Hunter just wanted her in the picture).

1-21-10 Early Preparation Leads to Success

Around 4pm I all of a sudden realized I was absolutely starving so I went down into my deep freezer and found some ground beef & some veggie pasta mix stuff from Schwans.

I started dinner cooking early and when Maddie & Dakota, plus two rented neighbor children got here after school they quickly set the table and we sat down to eat (Hunter was at wrestling practice.)

This will be a short boring post tonight because I'm not really in the mood tonight to be funny or anything.

1/16/10 - Day 2 Part 1 - Lake Coeur D'Alene Trip

So on this morning I woke up early and headed out to the market to do some grocery shopping that we didn't have time for the day before. The girls were still fast asleep from staying up so late the night before.

Albertson's had Dungeness Crab on sale cheaper than hamburger so I picked up some to have later today along with ingredients to make "JoAnne's To Die for Macaroni & Cheese" that I posted the recipe for.

By the time I got back the girls had already been to the pool and back so they unloaded the vehicle and I asked Megan if she wanted Crab or the Mac N Cheese for lunch. She chose Crab so we set the table, melted the butter, sat down and gave Megan her first lesson on how to properly break into a Crab.

She struggled a bit so I ended up doing a bunch for her but she did do some by herself and was sufficiently full by the time we got done so she didn't starve trying to break into her meal.

Still trying to hide some...

Also at one point the girls had started to put together a few gingerbread houses I picked up after Christmas... Madeleine's was having trauma while we were eating.

Another successful meal for the books... So far a very fun trip...

~Jamie

1/5/10- Grandma & Grandpa to the Rescue

Grandma Jeannie calls me about 4:30 or 5:00 pm and asks me what's for dinner. My answer was "Whatever my children find to fend for themselves." They were on their way back from Spokane and had a meeting in town that evening. Instead of driving all the way out to their house just to turn around and come back into town they wanted to come visit with us... Dang good thing, I say, or this day would have been a fail for the score...

The Grandparents come over and Grandma Jeannie threw together a pasta dinner with the kids (and one rented neighbor child) help as I jumped into the shower to warm up...

All I have to say is you just gotta love grandparents!!!

12/27/09 - Final Test Run - Meatloaf

So this was the final test run.

I made meatloaf and had some of that really good bread left over. We had a rented neighbor children, Boyce & Savannah, with us.

Maddie & Boyce set the table this time around.

Here's the photos:

Don't they all look so thrilled in the last photo??? 

~  Jamie

Test run #2 (Christmas Morning) - Breakfast & a Trip to Canada

Our test run number two was Christmas breakfast with Grandma & Grandpa. Dakota & Maddie set the table and got it right this time. We had scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage patties & waffles.

Here's a photo Grandma just posted up on Facebook:


(In photo viewing left to right as seen in the picture- Hunter, Dakota, Jamie, Grandma Jeannie, Madeleine, Papa Earl)

After we ate we opened presents and ate candy from the stockings while two of the three cats were lounging around.

(Miss Molly)

(Kasey Kahne)

And here's more photos that Grandma took with her remote controlled camera:

(Hunter & Dakota)
(Hunter, Dakota & Grandma Jeannie)
(Dakota & Grandma Jeannie)
(Dakota & his Aircraft Carrier)
(Group Shot)
(Another Group Shot)
(Maddie & Grandma Jeannie)
(Another shot of Maddie & Grandma Jeannie)
(Maddie & Papa Earl)

Now my favorite picture... Grandma Jeannie & Papa Earl gave me the Red Lantern lights for my birthday... SO VERY COOL!!! Can you tell I really like them?

Here's a better shot of one:

After Grandma & Grandpa left I got a bug up my rear and decided that I wanted to drive to Canada so I could say I was in another country for Christmas. Hunter drove with me on a nice & sunny (but colder) Idaho afternoon. I dropped him off at the Porthill Mercantile to wait for me since he doesn't have a passport.

The Canadian border patrol agent thought it was humorous. When she asked what the purpose of my visit was and how long I would be in Canada, I said "I'll be here for no more than 15 mintues. I want to go up and turn around so I can post on Facebook that I was in another country for Christmas."



The U.S. agent didn't find it as funny coming back. It's not like the border was busy, there was only one car in front of me and no one behind me. They were so slow that she asked me to turn off my motor and pop my hood so the two guys standing outside of the little booth could check under my hood. Isn't it sweet & nice that they check your oil for you? They did the same thing for the car in front of me... but this lady was kinda grumpy. Maybe I was interupting a good book she was reading or do you think they train them not to smile or something?



On the drive up and drive back home we saw some amazing views. Isn't North Idaho just beautiful? Just in case I haven't mentioned it lately... I LOVE IT HERE!










Once we got home I started two batches of the No-Knead Bread recipe below. Here's a photo of the dough mixed up and ready to sit around for 12-18 hours. I'll be actually baking them tomorrow for us to have with dinner.



So far it has been a nice & relaxing Christmas Day which is exactly what I wanted. Tonight's dinner will be Ribs but I'm not sure if we are going to do a sit down dinner or just a free for all... It may, or may not be, test run #3 but if it is I'll post up later.

Here's some shots of Hunter helping me make the ribs.



Merry Christmas everyone. I hope you all have a blessed day.

~Jamie

Test run #1 (Christmas Eve) - King Crab

So today Hunter and I were at Costco and they had a great deal on Red King Crab. We decided that would be a good thing to eat tonight for dinner and make it our first test run.

We called Madeleine and asked her to set the table. She did a lovely job overall. She had a few errors that I coached her about for next time but she did try hard. I think she did a great job trying to make the table really special and even going as far as getting out the linen napkins & our place cards we had from Thanksgiving.



After we fixed the table and heated up the crab & butter we sat down to eat.


(Hunter, Madeleine & Dakota)

Hunter was with me all day long getting a Christmas gift for his girly friend so I asked Madeleine and Dakota what they did today. Madeleine watched all 3 episodes of Santa Clause...

Now let me tell you it is a dang good thing that TLC was having a whole day full of Deadliest Catch re-runs for Dakota to watch... He proceeded to inform us all about the food we were eating from Dutch Harbor, Alaska. Did you guys know that when King Crabs get too cold they shed all their legs and they look like "hockey pucks"?

After dinner Dakota cleared off the table while the rest of us put lights on our Christmas tree. Grandma Jeannie lent us some lights some of which were these really cool red lantern type... since I can't find all my lights or fireman ornaments at least my tree has something that's "fireman" themed so that makes me really happy.


Aren't the lanterns cute? :-)

Overall test run #1 was a success and it was a nice dinner with just the four of us.

I hope everyone has a blessed Christmas tomorrow.

Take Care,
Jamie