All Grown Up

My cousin Johnny and I have not always gotten along.  Ok, we have always been each other's counterpoint since we were young.  It's hard to understand why, since these days, we seem to see eye to eye on most things, and have great conversations, especially with a little wine.

Baby Love

I'm a lucky girl.  I have two moms holding down the fort for me.  Joe's mom is responsible for taking care of Jayden and my mom is responsible for taking care of me.  The moms are so sweet and they are doing all the heavy lifting, as I recover from my c-section.  I've been able to get two nights of full sleep during the baby's first week!  I don't know how I could survive early motherhood without them.  Joe's mom took three weeks off from work to help out and I've been blown away by her generosity.  Jayden wants grandma to be his Valentine!

Babies help you realize how lucky you are to have family and how much they have sacrificed to raise you.  You can only hope you can be as good of parents as they were to you.

I love how babies bring the family together.  My parents have gotten to know Joe's parents better during family dinners.  This is the crew that is needed to take care of baby and mommy.  We've also gotten a lot of visitors and that has been really fun.

To eat or not to eat...

Typical extended family dinner spread

The answer to that question for me has always been - duh, eat it!  Joe is the love of my life, but food has always been my first love.  Everyone in my family loves to eat, and we grew up on large extended family dinners on Friday nights, and large food fests for birthdays. We would also have a fresh set of dishes for dinner EVERY night.  My mom sacrificed her free time after work so that we would always have 2 kinds of meat, fish, and at least 2 vegetables dishes for dinner, along with a pot of soup that my grandfather would start at 4pm.

Because I grew up understanding that love = food, food began to = good feelings, happiness, etc as I got older.  Food and I always got along, especially if food = soup.  Slowly, as I wandered farther from home, food began to come in tastier/sugary forms, and more convenient forms - frozen dinners, animal cookies, chips, cheesecakes, etc.  What I wasn't noticing was that the food I was eating was containing more and more empty calories, and less nutrition. 

We were able to realize this only after going on the South Beach Diet.  It has been a life changer and it has helped convert my taste buds to like "healthy" foods.  Going two weeks without processed foods, carbs, and sugars have helped me eliminate my addiction to those types of foods.

It's hard to believe, but once you go without these foods, your body will adjust and you actually won't miss it!  I'm shocked as anybody because I used to be so addicted to junk food!  And after two weeks of not eating carbs (well, you can cheat once in a while), even cardboard will taste good and thus, at this point, you can introduce brown carbs back into your life. 

Here's a quick summary of how I choose to eat these days:

• eliminate all junk food, processed food
• eat "brown" carbs only - whole wheat bread, rice, whole wheat pasta, egg noodles made with wheat. 
• start the day with omelet and steel cut oatmeal (instant oatmeal is actually not good for you!)
• snack 2x a day - nuts/yogurt/cheese
• replace white potatoes with sweet potatoes
• load up on lentils, beans (you could never get bored, there are so many kinds!)
• okay to have a "cheat" meal if you follow up with a meal of less meat/more veggies/legumes 

I know that my healthier eating habits will sometimes disqualify me from being an "eater," a title that I have worked hard to earn.  I still love delicious food, and I love variety, but just the quantity that satisfies me has gone down.  Perhaps other eaters will want to eat with me, because now I'll actually be willing to share!  :)

Good South Beach diet website

Kalyn's Kitchen - I love her recipes - she makes healthy eating taste great!  For those who want to skip the most restrictive phase (phase #1), just look up recipes for Phase #2 (brown carbs, healthy eating phase)

Success or flop?

As a good hubby who is encouraging his wife to cook more, Joe has been very generous with his praise.  So sometimes it's hard to figure out if the dish is really good.  The true test for me is how long the dish lasts in the fridge - if it is gone within a day or two, I know it was a hit!

The only thing that Joe has requested so far is lettuce wraps.  He is really open to what I cook, but sometimes I run into something he can't stand, like eggplant (which I love!)

So I like to think of cooking for Joe as similar to feeding a stray cat - he likes to eat randomly throughout the day and I like having different containers of food available for when he gets hungry and meanders into the kitchen for some food.

It runs in the family..

 Robert:  "My prime rib came out great, let's cut it so the family can dig in."

 Lissa:  "Can I sample I mean, help you with anything?"

Lissa: "Yummy.. this is so good, let me get another piece"
Robert:  "Glad I got the bigger one.."

Lissa:  "Glad I got to this prime rib before anyone else..will camp out here until I'm noticed!"

Moral of the story is and many of you can attest to this - if you see me or any of my cousins approaching you in the kitchen, don't expect help.  We are really there to sample.  :)

My dad, the hot pot nazi

He is also an beer nazi, but that we will save that for another post.  My dad has certain ideas of how things should be and nowhere is he more opinionated than when it comes to food.  While we tend to butt heads a lot, I know that the best dishes that he and I make together are when we work together and LISTEN to each other's ideas.  Oh, this isn't a counseling post, so I digress.  :) 

Anyway, to qualify for his title, my dad not only dictates the order of the food that is to be dunked into the hot pot, but get this, he also mixes the dipping sauce for you - yes, that's right folks, he prepares a big batch of his special sauce.  While I take on my usual "I can't believe my dad does this and what happened to individuality" stance, Joe, on the other hand, is a big fan of my dad's philosophy in this area and has become a lieutenant in my dad's one man contingent.

The perfect bite and this is my self made sauce.  :)

King Crab

I'm not the biggest fan of the casino, but the Snoqualmie Casino buffet is hard to beat - on sundays, they serve King Crab and prime rib.  It's usually $30/person, but people, it's all you can eat King Crab.  If you can pack it in, it's worth it.  The line is super long, so you should get there around 5.  I can only hope that this becomes a family tradition because I know that my cousins and I are definitely getting addicted to it.

Chipotles

Another family similarity - our love for Chipotles - at least for most of the girl cousins, we love their burrito bowls - some like chicken, some like steak.  We went at least 2-3 times in a week and loved every meal!

Braised Short Ribs

My cousin made short ribs for us and demonstrated her mad cooking skillz.  She first browned the short ribs on both sides, and then sauteed the vegetables in the oil.

Red wine, rosemary, bay leaf, peppercorn, beef stock and tomato paste were added to the vegetables.

The finished product - the bones fell off without effort and the juices were reduced by half to make the sauce.

Here's the recipe, per my cousin's friend.

Short ribs

Season short ribs w. salt and pepper

Brown short ribs on high head until brown (don’t need to cook).

 Remove and set aside.

Toss in: garlic (cloves), onions, celery, carrots (not for eating..although you may).
Sauté lightly. (5-7 min)

Stir in 2tbs of tomato paste and a bit of flour.

Keep stirring.

Add some sprigs of rosemary & thyme, black peppercorns. 2 bay leaf.

Pour in 1.5-2 cups of red wine. (port?)

Let wine reduce by ½ or 1/3

Pour beef stock in, enough to cover short ribs.

Cover and put into oven at 375

Cook for about 2 hours?

Set ribs aside.

Strain the broth into a pan. Reduce liquid by a half (thick enough to coat the back of a spoon)

Put ribs back to warm them up.

Serve with potatoes and veges.

Strawberry Shortcake

The best part about family is when you discover similarities.  My cousin had researched this strawberry shortcut recipe endlessly, to recreate a cake that she had at her favorite bakery.  I was so proud of her efforts and so excited to enjoy this cake.  The recipe requires quite a bit of eggs and it turned out to be a family project.  Everyone got into the fun!

Here's the link to the recipe.  Mascarpone cheese was hard to find at Safeways, best bet is Central Market.  http://hecooksshebakes.blogspot.com/2009/11/strawberry-shortcake.html 

The hardest working guy that I know..

Don't let his laid back nature fool you, this guy has a serious work ethic!  He doesn't feel like he has worked a day in his life - he's just having fun, enjoying every minute of working with technology.  He feels his best when his computer and coffee are nearby.

Ginger oil dipping sauce

I was trying to explain to my mom, how I saw my grandmother making this a couple of years ago when I had visited her in new york, when my dad chimed in and explained the process.  First, mince ginger, scallions, and cilantro.  Then toast salt for a few minutes and add to the mixture.  And finally, heat oil in the wok until it sizzles to top off the mixture. 

Apparently, this was a recipe that my dad had recalled from when he was young, when my grandmother had made it for him.  It was such a moment for me it was so nice to have a very random, but shared memory of my grandmother with my dad.

I have much to practice in terms of making this dipping sauce like my grandmother's - she chopped everything so finely and it will take much time for me to create the exact taste.  But every time I make it, I will think of her.

Jamie and her grandparents

This is a happy reunion of my parents and their granddaughter, in the end of 2008, on one of our trips to new york. She was ecstatic to see us, just as we were of her. I was lucky to catch this picture because I'm usually too excited to remember to take pictures when I am around my niece. She is such a joy in our lives.