Loveys

I was curious about what other moms think about loveys, comfort items, blankies, etc.    When Girl was born I made a somewhat conscious effort to avoid them if possible.  I know that doctors say things like it makes them able to cope with stuff, or offers them comfort, but the vision of Girl dragging around some raggedy blanket, or filthy toy kind of grossed me out.  Not to mention the constant fear of losing the irreplacable item.  I just figured, it would be easier all around if we just skipped that altogether. I never really had a single comfort item that I know of, and I seem fairly able to cope with hardship, so I doubt it will cause permanent harm. 

Girl never seems to mind.  She has a nice rotation of animals in her bed, something new to cuddle with every few nights.  The only constant is her blanket, which she seems fine with leaving in there.  We've gone away, and as long as I bring any one of a variety of stuffed animals, she doesn't seem to have any problem sleeping. 

I don't know, I guess I see having a lovey as kind of like sucking one's thumb.  It's a more acceptable version, since it doesn't require orthodontics, but I always worry it's like a crutch.  I know, I know, kids grow out of it (you hope... I had a friend in her teens that still needed her blankie to sleep) and I just figured if I could avoid the "ok, it's time to take this away" period, all the better. 

I did force a soother on Girl, when she was an infant, but it was gone by the time she was 6 months old (she barely noticed).  I just did that to avoid thumb sucking (which is a lot more difficult to take away). 

Am I a horrible parent?  Should I allow her to have special items, or is a nice well-rounded familiarity of loved toys enough?  Let me clarify, I haven't actually taken away toys I thought were loveys, I've just always rotated, and she has always been happy with that.   I would think it's fine.  She is well adjusted, deals with stress like any other under-2 I've ever known.  I just really don't want her to ever feel dependant on a "thing" for stress relief..  be that, a thumb, a blanket, food, etc.  

We'll see how that works out.

I want this.

So, I'm a sucker for a pretty bottle.  Sue me.

I saw this on Racheal Ray today, and considering all my oils live on the very top shelf of my cupboard (since the bottles are too tall for any lower shelf.)  I think this would be wonderful.

I could keep my oil on the counter and it would look fantastic and always be handy!  Ok, ok, I know that I could use almost any pretty bottle...  but this one is great! (and only 14.95 on her website, for all you loving fans out there!)

I figure anything that saves time in the kitchen is good by me, and since I'm very choosy about what gets prime placement on my countertop, the shape and style is worth the loss in clear counter space.

Hot Sauce

You may be asking yourself...  what sort of recipe could there be for hot sauce?  doesn't it just come out of a bottle.  Why, yes it does.  You can use it straight from the bottle, or you could make it better.  We are hot sauce afficianados over here, so you really might as well.

Start with about a tablespoon of butter.  If you're sitting there staring at the screen in outrage at the added fat, I'd like to shatter your illusions.  In a restaurant, the typical ratio of hot sauce to butter is about 1:1... meaning, half of all the sauce you eat with your deep fried wings is butter.  So, a tablespoon seems pretty good.  It really does help though, you notice a big difference in how the sauce sticks and tastes.  Melt the butter in the microwave.

Add a good squirt of ketchup.  This is where you can decide how hot you want it...  if you like it hot, don't put in too much ketchup, if you like it milder, add more.  I've also had good results with also adding hickory BBQ sauce for a mild sauce. 

Add your hot sauce, and a splash of vinegar (maybe 1 Tbsp).  My mom started doing that, and it makes it really good.   Make as much or as little as you want.  We tend to eat sauce, using our food as conduit, so we made a lot for the two of us.  (Girl hasn't reached buffalo sauce stage yet).

Once it's all in the bowl, nuke it for about a minute or so.  It'll help the ingredients blend together, and warm up the whole lot.  You don't want to put cold sauce on hot wings after all!

Twice Baked Potatoes

Twice baked potatoes are one of those things that, once you get it, are impressive and simple at the same time.  The recipe is so basic that you can do almost anything with them...  switch out the cheeses, add spices, or roasted garlic.  I know it's hard to believe, but I have made miniature versions (using the baby red potatoes) as appetizers.

Stab all your potatoes... a bunch of times.  I almost yelled at the TV once when Paula Deen was on, because she said you were supposed to stab potatoes (just once) so they cook faster.  I'm pretty sure it's so that they don't explode.  I tend to start my potatoes in the microwave, especially since I usually make them with wings, and that way, they don't have to be in the oven much longer than the wings.  You can start them in the oven though if you want.  I do finish them in the oven so they get a nice crunchy peel.  (makes for easier scooping too).  They're usually in the microwave for about 5 minutes, more if they're all big, less if I'm only doing a few.  Then, into the oven for about 15-20 minutes to crisp them up. 

The most difficult part of making these is scooping them out.  Like I said, it does make it a lot easier if they're baked, but I have done them straight out of the microwave too.  Just cup off the top and scoop out the flesh.

Once it's all out, you can mash it, but I love my ricer.  There are never lumps when you make mashed potatoes with a ricer. 

Plus, it reminds me of my Play-doh barbershop.

Once it's all riced, simply stir in some butter, milk (start slow and add, you can always add more, but you can't take it away) and grated cheese. A bit of salt is smart too... especially if you're not going to eat them with copious amounts of hot sauce.

Mix it all together and stuff back into your empty peels.

I usually top with a bit of extra cheese, and then they go into the oven just until the cheese melts through. 

Winging it.

Chicken wings are terrible for you.  I heard somewhere that they are something like 50% fat.  I think that statistic was from a restaurant though, where they would be breaded, deep fried and served with blue cheese dip.  Understandable. I tend to prefer the boneless variety myself, but I do have a deep appreciation for buffalo sauce (let me tell you, if it was off the menu, there would be NO way I'd be doing this), and since wings are an acceptable vehicle for mass hot sauce consumption, I'll do it.

First, take your wings, and coat them in flour and lay them on a cookie sheet.  Putting some parchment paper under them is a smart bet... since it'll drastically improve cleanup. 

Lightly salt them, and pop them into an oven at 425ºF.  A note on salt... I typically skip it because as I said, we use a lot of sauce.  The salt is more important if you have a light hand with the spicy stuff. 

Baking chicken wings is easy.  Because there is so little meat, there is virtually no chance they won't be cooked through before they get a nice brown, crispy crust, so just get them brown and they'll be cooked through. 

Serve with twice baked potatoes and hot sauce.  It's 8 in the morning and this is looking good to me.

Finally finished!

I buckled down and finished "In Defense of Food".  After 150 pages of nutritionism and theory, it finally got to the suggestions for how to eat better.  One thing that I really appreciate about this book is that it doesn't give you "the easy answer".  There is no single evil nutrient (saturated fat... carbohydrates... etc) and no single good nutrient (antioxidants... omega-3... etc).  This book just prompts us to eat real food.  

Here are some of the suggestions in the coles notes version:

1.  Don't eat anything your great-great-grandmother wouldn't recognize as food.  (This means you powdered cheese and yogurt tubes)

2.  Avoid food products containing ingredients that are a) unfamiliar, b) unpronounceable, c) more than 5 in number,  or that include d) high fructore corn syrup (a giveaway that it has been highly processed)

3. Avoid products that make health claims.  ("For a food to make health claims on it's package, it must first have a package, so right off the bat it's more likely to be processed than a whole food.  Generally speaking it is only big food companies that have the wherewithal to secure FDA-approved heath claims for their products and then trumpet them to the world")

4.  Shop the peripheries of the supermarket, stay out of the middle. (Whole foods tend to be around the outside)

5.  Whenever possible, get out of the supermarket (Nice idea if you live somewhere that has produce all year long.  Even our farmer's markets are only open a few months, and I've seen bananas at mine, so I'm pretty sure all the food isn't from nice, local, organic farms)

6.  Be the kind of person who takes supplements.  (This one made me laugh, because he's not promoting supplements.  There have been studies that say that people who take supplements tend to be healthier because they tend to be more aware of their health and willing to spend money to be healthy...  he recommends just being like that, and not bothering to buy supplements.)

7.  Eat meals (no snacking) and do all your eating at a table.

8.  Cook, and if you can, plant a garden.  (Be connected to your food.)

I think the very end of the book stuck with me the most...

"as you cook in your kitchen, you enjoy an omniscience about your food that no amount of supermarket study or label reading can hope to match.  Haven retaken control of the meal from the food scientists and processors, you know exatly what is and is not in it:  There are no questions about high-fructose corn syrup, or ethoxylated diglycerides or partially hydrogenated soy oil, for the simple reason that you didn't ethoxylate or partially hydrogenate anything (Unless that is, you're the kind of cook who starts with a can of Campells cream of mushroom soup, in which care all bets are off).  To reclaim this much control over one's food, to take it back from industry and science, is no small thing; indeed, in our time cooking from scratch and growing any of your own food qualify as subversive acts.

And what these acts subvert is nutritionism: the belief that food is foremost about nutrition and nutrition is so complex that only experts and industry can possibly supply it.  When you're cooking with food as alive as this - these gorgeous and semi-gorgeous fruits and leaves and flesh - you're in no danger of mistaking it for a commodity, for a fuel, or a collection of chemical nutrients...

...The cook in the kitchen preparing a meal from plants and animals at the end of this shortest of food chains has a great many things to worry about, but "health" is simply not one of them, because it is a given"

Overall, I found this book interesting.  There are a lot of things I don't feel I can change (for example, I'm likely not going to start herding my own cows and chickens to keep them on a grass-only diet), but I can make smarter decisions (buying beef or chicken instead of pre-made hamburgers and chicken nuggets).  I'm likely not going to follow everything in this book, but overall it had a decent idea of how we should eat in an ideal world.  Unfortunately the world we live in is not ideal, so we just need to muddle through and make the best decisions we can. 

I like that there was no magic bullet.  I too have been so confused about health and diet and weight, and I've been waiting for the previously contradicted theories to come around at tell me that now, potato chips are good for you.  I feel like I can't remember if I'm supposed to eat eggs now, or not.  Food has become so complicated that I feel a sense of relief about not having to listen to the commercials that tell me which b.regularis I should be eating, or that fruit loops are healthy now because they are made with whole grains. 

I haven't looked at calories in a month.  Very little of what I buy has an ingredient chart on it.  It's liberating.

I do need to work on some things... like eating at a table...  but that will come.  As it is, Girl is plainly too messy to eat on the couch, so that's a change that will be made soon I'm sure.   

Mushroom Barley Risotto

I was flipping through a magazine lately and stumbled on a recipe for barley risotto.  I hadn't even though of doing a risotto with barley before, and though the recipe was completely different, I instantly thought of  mushroom barley soup.  This is odd, since I don't like mushrooms.  I don't think I've ever actually eaten mushroom barley soup, but I could see how people would like it.

Husband likes mushrooms though. 

I also don't like steak, so while he was eating dinner tonight, I ate leftovers.  I don't eat a big chunk of the food I make.  It's weird I know.  Husband doesn't mind being my guinea pig.

Here is the recipe I came up with.

First, fry up some mushrooms in about 1 Tbsp of butter.

I used a 200g package, but it's about 10 good sized mushrooms.  Salt and pepper to taste.

Once the mushrooms are nicely browned, remove from the pan and set aside.  In the same pan, add another tablespoon of butter (let it melt), 1/2 cup of diced onion and 1/2 cup uncooked pearl barley. 

Let this cook for a few minutes, and then you can start adding liquid.  To make a risotto, you need to add liquid lowly, letting each bath absorb into the barley before adding more, while stirring regularly.  It's best to have your liquid (stock) being kept warm in a small pot nearby, you'll need about 3-4 cups.

Once the barley has toasted with the onions, add 1/2 cup red wine, this will also help you deglaze the pan...  all that gunk stuck on there is flavour, get it all up into the liquid.

Once the wine has been absorbed start adding beef stock (really, any stock will do in a pinch).  Add it one ladleful at a time, stirring until it has been completely absorbed.  Risotto requires patience.  Luckily, Husband was covering the steak on the BBQ.  Add salt and pepper and 2 cloves of crushed garlic too.

Once the barley has plumped up and is nice and soft and creamy, add the mushrooms back in for just long enough for the flavours to blend

There you have it.  Dee-lish! (or so I was told... granted, I'm pretty sure Husband didn't say "Dee-lish")

I think I can now make it through the year.

I have a confession to make.  I have never once, in my life, made a brownie from scratch.  I love love love the Betty Crocker Chocolate Chunk mix, and always figured, "why mess with perfection?"

So there I was... brownie-less.  Women should not be brownie-less.

Without any form of reference, other than a mix, I decided to try my hand at making a recipe to suit.  Luckily I was successful (though, I would have eaten all failures).

1 cup flour

1/2 cup cocoa

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups sugar

2-3 oz semisweet baking chocolate, chopped roughly

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

2 tsp vanilla

Mix all the dry ingredients (including chocolate chunks), then add wet ones.  The batter will be quite thick, but try not to overmix.  Pour into a greased 9 inch pan, and spread evenly.  Bake at 350ºF for 30-35 minutes. 

I may not need to buy a mix again.

Girl + Stairs = ?

Girl is now about 20 months old, and she is very proficient on the stairs.  She hasn't had any trouble going up, but it's not going up that I worry about.  You see, she never really got into the habit of going down the stairs backwards, so she goes down on her feet (with one hand on the wall). 

I tend to make a habit of going down backwards a few steps ahead of her, just in case, but sometimes... she's sneaky. 

A few days ago, I went to the washroom and left her watching cartoons.  I came back to find her in the exact same spot, but with a notable difference.  She was now holding the banket from her bed. 

I know that for the most part, she doesn't need help with the stairs, but I also know that she walked into a door frame yesterday because she figured she could see in the dark.  She's a kid, she's clumsy.  It doesn't take much distraction to have a slip on the stairs, but the consequences are much steeper.  

I want Girl to be comfortable using the stairs, especially since her bedroom and ours are on different levels, and she won't be in a crib forever, but I don't know what to do.  I'm all for the "learn from our mistakes"  kind of teaching, but at what point can I decide that she is proficient enough on her own not to come running every time she wants to play in her room?

Back to the hard work.

After a brief hiatus, letting my brain recover from the first six chapters, I have returned to "In Defense of Food" by Michael Pollan. 

There is a lot in the book, that while, is interesting to know, won't really change the way I eat in any kind of substantive way.  However, there are brief excerpts that make me think about what I eat in ways I have never thought before.

This is one:

"Store food is food that is designed to be stored and transported over long distances, and the surest way to make food more stable and less vulnerable to pests is to remove the nutrients from it.  In general, calories are much easier to transport - in the form of refined grain or sugar - than nutrients, which are liable to deteriorate or attract the attention of bacteria, insects and rodents, all keenly interested in nutrients (more so, apparently, than we are).  Price concluded that modern civilization has sacrificed much of it's quality of food in the interests of quantity and shelf life."

I have never considered myself to be the kind of person who ate a lot of processed foods.  I cooked a lot from scratch, though, I did also eat all sorts of other packaged foods.  Reading this makes me wonder if I'll want to go back.  As much as I enjoy pre-made foods, I really wonder what nutrients I'm getting now that I was formerly missing out on. 

Which makes me think about all the people in the grocery store who have carts filled with boxes. 

Pan-fried pickerel

Once upon a time, pickerel used to appear in my freezer, frozen in water-filled milk cartons.  That doesn't happen anymore, so I had to fork out the cash to buy some (which, considering Husband went fishing a few weeks ago and caught a bunch, and didn't bring any home, was very depressing).  No free lunches.

I know a lot of people like to batter and deep fry pickerel, but I'm more of a fan of a simple pan-fry.

Take your pickerel, and dredge it in flour.  That's fancy "cook speak" for coat the outside with flour.  If it sticks it stays!

Then sprinkle with seasoning salt and you're ready to go.

Heat your pan with equal portions of butter and oil.  (about 1 generous tablespoon of each) You can do this with one or the other, but I like the flavour of the butter, and since butter burns more easily, adding oil to it keeps that from happening.

It only takes about 3 minutes per side (depending on the thickness of your filet.).  With whitefish like these, you just need to wait until it's opaque and flaky all the way through.  All in, this took me about 10 minutes, start to finish. 

Serve with seafood sauce, or tartar sauce, a salad and some creamy parmesan noodles, and you have my exact meal tonight.  It might get creepy if this happens often, but I won't mind this time if you copy me exactly.

Creamy Parmesan Noodles

Growing up, whenever we'd eat fish, we always had creamy parmesan pasta (usually with shell noodles), so, since we can't use the packaged kind, I had to improvise.

The easiest way to start is to doa white sauce, or a Béchamel.  It's easy and if you have it in your repetoire, it can be used for a variety of things. 

Basic sauce recipe:

2 Tbsp butter

2 Tbsp flour

2 cups milk

Melt butter in a pot over medium heat.

 
Once it is fully melted, add the flour.  Wisk like crazy to get any lumps out.

Now you have a "roux" (REW).  You can use this to thicken many sauces including gravies. The key to a good béchamel, is to cook the roux for a minute or two so the flour loses it's floury taste.

Then add the milk and stir to combine.  Bring to a simmer and as the sauce heats it will thicken.  You can wait until the sauce thickens to add spices, but why bother?  You have a few minutes, might as well add them now.  As I said before, you can do ANYHING with this sauce...  cheeses, spices, have fun, be creative!

I added

1/2 tsp dried basil

1/4 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp garlic

1/4 tsp onion powder

1 tsp salt

and a few grinds of fresh black pepper

Once it thickened, I took it off the heat and added

2 Tbsp grated parmesan cheese.

This recipe makes enough sauce to cover about 3 cups of dry pasta (cooked).  I wasn't sure when I was making it, so I only used 2 cups, so it was extra creamy... not that it was a bad thing.

Tartar sauce

This is the first time I'm making something where the only ingredients are other things I've made and blogged about.  It's exciting.  I bought pickerel this week and decided I needed a nice tartar sauce.  My personal favourite tartar sauce is simple... 

2 parts mayonnaise

1 part sweet green relish

Mix together and serve.

It's been a few hours and no one has gotten sick yet, so I guess my fears about the mayo can be dismissed.  Yum! 

Bag washer.

I never thought I would be one of those people.  I rolled my eyes at them and always thought they were a little bit crazy.  We all know people like them...  the people who wash ziploc bags.

Now, don't get me wrong, there is a definite distinction as to WHICH ziploc bags I will wash.  I will always throw away anything that had meat in it, or other foods that harbour mass amounts of bacteria.  Plastic is porous after all, and I'm not taking chances.  I do however, wash the bags that I put bread into.  I found that making 1-2 loaves a week, they keep best in plastic, but it seems a waste to throw the bags away every week.  So, I'll wash them.

Mayonnaise

I've been waffling on the idea of making homemade mayonnaise, mainly because it seems like a bit of a waste.  I know it's really easy to do, but the idea of making a batch of stuff that will only last 2-3 days (because of the raw eggs) seemed annoying to me.  While the ability to make chicken salad, egg salad and tuna salad sandwiches appealed to me (since deli meat is all but off the menu), I was too worried about killing us. 

Lo and behold, the internet came through again.  I found a method of making mayo that supposedly will last a few weeks.  A few weeks is good enough for me.  The added ingredient is whey.  Apparently the good bacteria in whey helps to preserve it.  Don't ask me how, because I have no idea.  Since I recently made cheese, I had a surplus of whey that I froze into 1Tbsp amounts (knowing this was on the horizon).  If you need whey, the easiest way to get it is to drain some plain yogurt through cheesecloth.  The liquid that comes out is whey.

Here is my version of the recipe.  Tip, use the freshest eggs you can get.

one egg plus one egg yolk (at room temperature)

1 tsp prepared hot mustard

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 Tbsp lemon juice

1 Tbsp whey

put into a blender and blend.  Once it is well mixed, drizzle in your oil.

As far as oil goes, there are a variety of different ones you can use.  Basically you want a mild flavoured oil.  Traditional olive oil tends to be too strong, but canola, sunflower, safflower etc would work nicely.  While in the grocery store this week, I did stumble on "Light in flavour" olive oil...  So I decided to go with that.

You want to drizzle as slow as possible.  Apparently some blenders have attachments that do this for you...  mine, does not, so I just poured it as slowly as possible from a measuring cup.

3/4 cup oil

It does get messy, spots start to splatter out of the top, but I just stuck my hand over top as I drizzled to minimize the cleanup.

Once the whole batch has emulsified (gotten thick and white), pour into a clean mason jar and close the lid tightly.  This is the part where it gets scary.  Leave it on the counter for 7 hours. 

Here is a hint... don't start this at 6pm.  I didn't read the whole recipe before starting, so I was up till after midnight waiting to put it in the fridge. *YAWN*

Apparently this stuff will last a good 2-3 weeks in the fridge.

Buttermilk Bread

Part of this journey, has for me, been the quest for perfect bread.  I had made bread on a few occasions in the past, but have never had luck.  It always turned out kind of bland, boring, with an odd texture (likely since I am trained to like bakery bread).  So far, I have had a few disasters, a few "alrights" and this one.  So far, this is the best of the bread I have made.  It's a really nice plain white bread.  It doesn't have a hard crust, (which is nice for those among us who have yet to have all their teeth come in) and is fluffy and soft and full of flavour.

3/4 cup warm water (think baby bathwater)

2 1/2 tsp active dry yeast

pinch of sugar

stir together in a bowl and let proof until frothy (about 10 minutes)

In the bowl of a mixer (ideally with bread hook attachment) mix together

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

1/2 cup sour cream or plain yogurt
(if you don't have either, use an additional half cup of buttermilk)

1/3 cup butter, melted

2 tbsp liqid honey

1 egg, lightly beaten

3 cups bread flour

Mix together until smooth.  You can do this in a food processor too.  Continue adding flour half a cup at a time until the mixture starts to stick together until you get to an additional

2 1/2 cups flour

Reserve an additional half cup for kneading.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 8 minutes.

Set the timer.  I never seem to knead long enough, and no matter how long I need to do it for, I always find I think I'm done well before I actually am.  The dough will get smoother, but will still be a bit sticky when you're done.  If it's sticky like post-its, you're fine, if it's getting stuck to everything and not releasing cleanly, add a bit more flour.

Put into a bowl (lightly coated in oil), cover with a clean tea towel or plastic wrap and let rise for one to one-and-a-half hours.

Once it has doubled in bulk, form 2 loaves and put them into greased loaf pans. Cover again and let rise again for one to one-and-a-half hours.  The dough will be starting to stick out of the top of the pan.

Brush the top with milk

and with a sharp knife cut a few slashes in the top (about 3/4 inch deep).
 
Sprinkle a handful of sesame seeds on top and bake in a 325º oven for 45-55 minutes, or until the bread is golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom. 
 

Remove from pans and let cool.

 

Look fear in the eye...

Last year sometime, Husband stumbled on quite a find.  A brand-new-still-in-it's-shipping-crate-oven from 1953.   It was being stored in a barn somewhere and he picked it up for a great price, considering what a collector might pay for it.

This past weekend he brought it into the house.

Now I am terrified.

The idea is that I'm going to test it out, see if it cooks and bakes better (or at least as well as) the 1980's models we currently own, and if so, potentially change around the kitchen to fit it in.  If not, we'll sell it at a grand profit to some crazy collector.

My problem?

Look at these elements.  They are perfect, unmarred, and spotless. 

This is what my cooktop currently looks like...

Obviously it's in need of a scrub (it doesn't always look like that), but this is the product of cooking.   I don't necessarily want to have to fret over the stove when a pot of spaghetti sauce is bubbling away.  You see...  I cook.  A lot.   It's not that I purposely dump food on the stove, it just happens when you cook.  

It is so beautiful...  and no matter how cool it would be to pull off a turkey dinner in that baby...  I feel a little ill just thinking about the potatoes bubbling over.

Virtually indestinguishable.

Ice cream.  So delicious, so simple.  If, of course, you have an ice cream maker.

My mom brought a brownie over one day, so what else could I do, but whip up some delicious homemade vanilla ice cream?

Start with

2 eggs

Beat them until they look light and fluffy (a hand wisk is fine for this...  you're not making a meringue or anything)

then add...

3/4 cup sugar, wisking continuously until it's all well blended.

Wisk in...

2 cups whipping cream

1 cup milk

2 tsp vanilla

and then pour the whole mixture into your ice cream maker, following it's directions.

Apparently my SIL has been looking for her ice cream maker recently.  Julie... any similarities between it and this one are purely coincidental.  (*wink*)

Ta Da! Ice cream!

After trying some Husband said "This is virtually indestinguishable from ice cream".

It's a good thing I love you honey... because it is ice cream.

Don't let it die... part deux.

I've been thinking about this whole thing all day, and I have come to some conclusions about why our generation is moving away from some of these traditional things.

Some people may say it's difficult.  I beg to differ.  I could go and try to explain to a 95-year-old how the words I'm writing right now will be instantly visible to everyone in the entire world.  That would be difficult.  We have a weird perception of "difficult".  Everything that takes time becomes hard.  Not because it's complicated, but because we're already so overbooked that FINDING time is what is difficult.  I'm pretty sure if we told our grandparents that making pickles is hard, they would be confused.  What part of "sticking cucumbers in a jar, pouring brine over it, and sticking it in a jacuzzi for a bit" is hard?

I remember stories my grandmother used to tell me.  She grew up in a world where they had significantly less money.  What they did have...  was time.  They planted gardens, and stored the food for the winter because it was cheaper than paying someone to do it for you.  They fixed their own clothes because it was cheaper than buying new ones.

Reality has shifted.   We work all the time to make money to pay for things we have already bought.   It's not that we have much more money, we've just made conscious choices to buy what we need (to save us time), and therefore need more money, so we work harder, leaving us even less time.  It's a vicious cycle. 

Yes, doing things for yourself takes time, but I prefer to make the time.  We aren't rich, but we have what we need, and while Husband works, I will work just as hard to make the dollars he brings home stretch as far as they can.  And in the meantime, I'll look at my cupboard full of preserves, and my freezer full of food (that are all going to taste better than their store-bought counterparts) and be satisfied. 

Don't let it die.

A friend of mine told me about a series on Hot 103, where they were talking about not letting things die...  things that our parents can do, but we don't, things that will likely disappear with their generation.  I have stumbled onto numerous conversations about this in the past, and have always been amazed.  Why on earth should we enjoy tortes while we still have them?  I personally am planning on just taking over the reigns.  I wonder why our generation is so fearful of those things?  I love making pickles, and jam, and every year I worry that I won't be able to find new jars or lids anymore, as it gets less and less popular.

Doing all of these things is simple, and I wonder whose fault their disappearance is.  Is it our lack of intrest?  Or is it our parents failure to instill those skills in us?  I know in some families, the parents are reluctant to pass the torch, "It's what I do", and they will cook the turkey dinner until the day they die.  When that happens, either someone will have to jump in to be the designated dinner-maker, or they will be ordering pizza.

I have also seen a big lack of interest.  We take for granted that someone will always be there to do these things for us.  When I lost my grandmother (at 75) and Dad (at 50) in the same year, I realized this is not the case.  If I want traditions to be part of my family, I am the one who has to do it.  My 52 year old mother is our family matriarch.  There are no 4 or 5-generation pictures for us to take. 

I will sew, I will pickle, and I will bake.  I will teach those skills to Girl (and Husband can teach her how to change the oil in her car), and we won't let it die.

Eat! bistro

We tried out Eat! bistro last night.  I had emailed the owner who assured me that while they don't have free-range chickens running around the back, "virtually everything at EAT! is made in-house".  I figured that was good enough for me.  Now, I don't know if to them, "whole ingredients" include things like mayonnaise, but whatever.  If a restaurant promotes itself as making things from scratch, I'm not about to trek into the kitchen to look at ingredients.

The ambience in Eat! was fun, ecclectic and there was a lot to look at.  I'm not sure what they'd do if it was really busy though, because at our table (four adults and 2-under-2), the backs of our chairs were rubbing against the next tables. 

Our food was enjoyable.  I ordered the taco salad.  Sitting among the rest of the entrees, it seemed a bit like the "thing to put on the menu for people who don't eat everything else."  It was tasty, but a bit uninspired.  There was nothing new and interesting about it, and I personally would have preferred if the meat was hot.

A note about the entrees, They are SMALL.  For an average man like Husband, get two.  Husband ended up eating his (the crabcakes) and then ordering some more (a really tasty pulled-pork flatbread pizza).  The crabcakes were good, but after talking to Husband, he found them "not very crabby" (I guess he's used to me).  He said it could have been virtually any seafood.  He would have liked to see big hunks of crab in there. 

I really enjoyed the fries.  for $5 you get this massive pile plus one of their 15 or so dipping sauces (each additional  dipping sauce is $1...  which concerned me slightly, since ketchup and vinegar were listed separately).  We went with the chipotle mayonnaise and the tzatziki.  I think of the two, the chipotle mayo was my favourite.  The tzatziki was ok, but nothing special.  The fries are huge and well cooked.

The rest of us finished our meal a little hungry (after each having our own entree and sharing the fries) so, in addition to Husbands extra pizza, we also ordered the chicken dippers.  I'm not sure what planet that chicken came from but it was extremely light and tender.  It had a nice light, crunchy breading, and for $7 for four pieces, I'd say it's worth it (just get the fries or a salad too, if you want it to be a meal).

Overall, I found the food enjoyable.  The prices were ok, average for an "expensive-bistro", but that was mainly due to the size of the entree.  It ran us just under $20 per adult plus tip for 6 entrees plus a side of fries (no alcohol, just coffee and lemonade... which was very sweet).

The desserts, which apparently were supposed to be amazing, fell a little flat.  Looking at the website, (no, I don't know what's wrong with it...  you have to scroll down to see anything) I was excited to see the desserts, as the pictures looked stunning.  In reality, there were some small pies, some sad-looking brownies a cake and some cupcakes.  Nothing that tempted us away from the brownie and homemade ice cream I had at home. 

Eat! is a great spot, good for lunch downtowners, and I'd go there again.  Though, I'd like them to put the Mexican Wontons back on the menu, I saw them on the website and wanted to order them, but they were crossed out.