What-What?! Week of February 7th

So the past couple of weeks have been exciting.  The husband's last day at his job was Friday, and I'll be starting my new job on Wednesday.  With us parents switching roles, things will be very exciting, at least for a while.

So, uh... I dunno if I'll be posting next week or not.  Might just be a short blurb, because I don't know if I'll have the time or energy to do anything other than go to work and commute.  My expectations at this point are pretty low. :P

TV Shows:  Mad Style

No one cares about Mad Men anymore, because they've all seen it already.  Except I haven't, because I don't want to watch anything that depressing right now (I assume everyone dies at the end, like a Greek tragedy.  So I keep watching Top Gear instead).

But the fashion is fricken' awesome.  I love it.  I love each character's fashions, how they change through the seasons while maintaining their own individual styles, the silly hats, the dainty gloves, the three-piece suits, all of it.

So when I found this series of articles that looks at each character's fashions, I was quite excited.  There are a million of them (five pages worth!), so I have yet to read them all.  But believe me, I will.  Right now, my favorites are the articles on Trudy Campbell, as she's a character who I don't always like, but I feel like I understand her more than other characters.

Cooking: Roasted Garlic

I had been wanting to try this out for forever, and just never got around to it until recently.  Roasted garlic is the simplest recipe, but so transformational.  Roasting removes any hint of bitterness and brings out a lovely nutty flavor in the garlic.  I've used my roasted garlic to make garlic bread, and it was to die for.  I look forward to making it again, possibly doing several at a time and freezing them for convenience.

Ingredients:

• Head(s) of garlic
• Oil -- olive, vegetable, peanut, whatever you have.
• Aluminum foil

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Cut off the top of the garlic, maybe an inch or so down -- you want to expose the tops of each clove.  Don't worry about the paper or how you're going to get the cloves out.  Place the garlic on a sheet of foil that's large enough to wrap the whole thing.   Drizzle the garlic with oil, then wrap it up.  Bake for about 45minutes to an hour, then let cool.  To get the cloves out, simply squeeze from the bottom of the garlic, and they will pop out.  Use however you would regular garlic.

I like to make mine while I have something else going in the oven, because that's efficient.

What-What?! Week of January 10th

This week has been busy.  We took the kids to the dentist, and that went well; no need for fillings or anything.  Poor Oz was sad and unhappy about getting his teeth checked, but he had a good time with their toys anyway.  The kids have also been sick.  Corwin caught some sort of virus, and it's slowly made its way around the house.  Corwin was sick for about two days with a fever, then a few days went by and Saffron was sick with a fever for about two days, and now Osric is sick, but not with a fever.  So we've stayed home all weekend.

On the other hand, it's been a very productive weekend so far.  I spotted a good deal on metal shelving at Home Depot, so we bought two shelves and put them up in the garage.  Then we rearranged the kitchen, moved some stuff to the garage, and generally organized things.  The husband also took the Christmas tree to a recycling event, so our living room is significantly less cluttered now, too.

Apple Brown Sugar Dutch Baby

(No picture -- ate it too fast)
Earlier in the week, I wanted something sweet for dinner.  I normally make a dutch baby with cherries or cranberries, but I found myself without either.  Apples made a great substitute, and the brown sugar caramelizes while the dish is cooking, which really kicks it up a notch.  Some toasted almonds or pecans would be lovely addition for next time.

Ingredients

• 6 Eggs
• 2 tablespoons granulated Sugar
• 1.5 cups Flour
• 1.5 cups Milk
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
• Pinch of salt
• 6 tablespoons Butter
• 2 cups chopped Apple
• 1/2 cup Brown sugar

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Whisk the eggs, granulated sugar, flour, milk, vanilla extract and salt until well combined but still lumpy.  Put aside.  In a 12-inch ovenproof skillet, melt butter, then add apples and brown sugar.  Let this cook on medium until the apples are soft and the brown sugar has started to caramelize, about five minutes.  Give the batter one more mix, then carefully pour over the apples, making sure to cover them completely.  Put the skillet in the oven and bake for 18-23 minutes, until the dutch baby is browned and puffy.  Enjoy!

What-What?! Week of November 30th

Warning:  This week's post is all about food.  If you don't want to read about food, then I suggest reading about how to make knots, or maybe just stare at pretty colors.

Edit: It snowed!  And now the snow has partially melted, and turned into ice!  Yay, ice skating!
(Yay, right?  ...Right?)

We survived Thanksgiving, yay!  The husband had a short week at work, which was absolutely marvelous.

The Dinner was pretty simple this year; turkey, cornbread stuffing, homemade cranberry sauce, roasted sweet potatoes, and gravy (of course).  Dessert was Kentucky Pegasus pie and pumpkin pie.

We did some minor shopping on Black Friday, mostly online.  I grabbed Saffron an inexpensive winter coat from Goodwill -- it's bright, shiny purple and she loves it.  Also bought two more turkeys from Target, because the price per pound was unbeatable.  No more space in the freezer now, and we'll be eating turkey for a month... oops, I guess? :P

Kentucky Pegasus Pie via Food.com

I've made this pie before, but it's been quite a while.  It's akin to eating a cookie that is also a pie, and it is delicious.  Because it'd been about a year since I last baked it, I followed the recipe closely, only adding a bit of salt.  Next time, I think I'm going to use half brown sugar and half granulated sugar, and add more pecans... a lot more pecans.

(The history of the Pegasus pie is also pretty interesting, if you're into reading about food history).

Homemade Cranberry Sauce

Usually, I follow The Pioneer Woman's cranberry sauce recipe, which is good, but a bit too fluid.  Wanting a thicker sauce, I used this recipe from the Food Network, and adjusted it so:

Ingredients:

• 1 - 12oz package cranberries
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• Pinch of salt

Put all ingredients into a large pot (larger than you think you'll need --my cranberry sauce always splatters).  Bring to a simmer over medium heat, and let cook for about 10 minutes.  Let cool, and enjoy.

EZ Squeezees Reusable Baby Food Pouch Product Review and Recipe

I like buying the individual pouches of baby food and applesauce for my kids, because they are incredibly convenient, and best of all, not messy.  It's something I can hand to my littlest, and not have to worry about the mess he'll make while I take care of the big kids (or even eat my own lunch!).  There are two problems with these pouches, though; they are expensive, and they are terrible for the environment.  To give you a cost comparison, the Plum Organics brand Morning Mash-Ups that I like to buy cost $1 to $1.25 per pouch; over the course of a month, this can add up to as much as $37.50. Granted, that's not a lot, but considering that's only feeding my baby one pouch of bananas and oatmeal a day, two very cheap foods, the markup is significant.

With this in mind, I went looking for alternatives; looking on Amazon, there were many options for reusable baby pouches. The majority of them have great reviews, though the poor reviews are telling; the options that zip closed on the bottom tend to leak, the ones that zip closed on the top can be difficult for some babies to eat out of. Top and bottom opening ones both were reviewed as difficult to fill. After doing a few hours of research, I picked the EZ Squeezees Refillable Food Pouches because of the side-opening feature, as well as the gusset side allowing it to hold more; these were also some of the larger pouches, holding over 6 ounces, and only cost about $10 for 3 pouches, much less than the $4-5 that other brands cost.

Overall, I have been very pleased with these; the size allows for a full meal for my baby, and the zipper stays closed, and they are easily washable. Filling them is still somewhat of a challenge (I shudder to think how hard it'd be with a bottom loading pouch), but I discovered a great trick for that: Use a canning funnel! As you can see, a canning funnel fits perfectly in the opening on the pouch, making it much easier to fill. If you don't have a canning funnel, look online or at your local grocery store.

Recipe: Banana Oatmeal Yogurt Baby Food

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup oats (rolled or instant)
• 1 cup water
• 1 ripe banana, mashed
• 1/3 cup yogurt of choice (I prefer a full fat Greek-style yogurt)
• Pinch of salt
• Sugar or maple syrup (to taste)

Boil water in a saucepan, and stir the oatmeal, banana and salt. Stir constantly until the oats are cooked, then remove from heat and let cool. Once cooled, stir in yogurt and sweetener (if desired). Makes approximately three 6-ounce servings. Enjoy!

(Please note that this is an older article, originally posted via Yahoo! Voices.  Yahoo recently shut down Voices! and removed the content, so I am reposting my old articles onto this blog).

What-What?! Week of August 11th

This week, I actually started writing several posts, but they all turned into topics that were more suitable for stand-alone articles than for blogging.  Incidentally, I forgot to mention that I had two articles published last week, this time by Yahoo! Voices:  In Defense of New Grads, and Three Reasons Why the Job Market is Better than You Think – And One Reason it Isn’t.  I have another article that is currently going through the editing process, but should be published within the week, and another article that I’m still developing (featuring Jeremy Clarkson, of all people).

In other news, Netflix is no longer offering Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares (UK); I watch that show for both cooking and business inspiration, which it really has in buckets.  I am terribly disappointed, and now I have to go find something else to watch.

Disney Planes Travel Posters via BuzzFeed

As part of the promotions for Planes, Disney developed these brilliant travel posters – however, I believe that the one labeled Japan is actually for China.  Otherwise, these are very visually striking posters.  Click the link above for the other five.

Food:  Cowboy Casserole

In searching for this recipe, I read it described as looking “like dog food”, and another that described it as a lazy man’s shepherd’s pie (which is pretty close, actually).

Overall, this was a winner.  This recipe would be great for large families or groups, as it makes a full 9 x 13 pan of food, and it is quite filling.  One could not mistake it for a healthy meal, however, so a side salad is a must.  The combination of the creamy meat with the crispy potatoes and cheese was delicious, though using two cans of “cream of” soup was too much fake-creaminess, so I would cut it down to one (or even none, and use a basic béchamel sauce instead).  My husband suggested added some chopped mushrooms next time, which I think we’ll definitely try.

News:  5 Reasons Every Job Seeker Should Blog via Careerealism

This is kind of a funny article; when I started this blog, I never did so with the intention of improving my chances of getting a job.  However, I’ve had several interviews where the interviewer commented about it; generally, the reaction has been quite good.  One of the things that this article brings up at the beginning is blogging missteps, like inconsistent timing, walls of text, and inside jokes – I think that a lot of people get grandiose ideas about blogging, but when it comes to actually doing it, it just doesn’t happen.  Blogging is a lot of work, requiring planning, research, writing, and editing.  When I started this blog in January, I decided to post once a week, because I knew, even when I was in the middle of finishing my senior project, it would be manageable.

(Note: That the “5” in the title of that post should actually be written “Five”.  I have a whole handout from one of my classes devoted to the rules of when you should write out the word for a number or the number itself; I don’t believe that many people are formally taught this, though.)

Until next week!