I need a vacation from my staycation.

Child labor FTW, again!
Shredding radish for the slaw.

You know how it is, right? You go on vacation. You rest, relax, sight see, what not and end up still being tired at the end of it all once you get back home. I feel that way today, trouble is, I didn't go anywhere last week! Just spending a week running around town with my sister, niece and most times my brother in law on top of cooking dinner a few nights for the army of folks coming by to visit did me in. By Friday, I was done, with the cooking portion at least. We went to our local aquarium and then out to both lunch and dinner.

A pixie and her hummus.

This is Eva:

Child labor to clean lemons!

She's one of my little nieces. Eva, her mom and dad (my sister and brother in law) arrived from Oregon for a visit on Saturday. She just got a haircut yesterday, she wanted to have a pixie cut to skip that pesky hair brushing step in the morning.  Eva was super excited to be cooking with Auntie yesterday, we started with a dig-that-earth-day-hummus.

Bigger than what you might expect.

I pulled together a new side dish for dinner the other night using one of the many grains in my pantry. I have some cool stuff in there; quinoa, amaranth, barley, wheat and the star of this side: Israeli couscous. I've recently learned it is also called Ptitim. There you go, a new factoid to file away.

We ate what was described as "grass clippings."

While at Costco today to pick up various needed things, I decided meat was in order for dinner. I picked up some New York steaks (my personal favorite) and realized I could try and hack one of my favorite steak house sides, creamed spinach.

Just beets.

You know it's a good basalmic when it
 comes to you corked.

As I have gotten older, been on my own, furthered my cooking abilities and skills, I've found myself going back to foods I once considered yucky.

Yes, that's a very mature word I used there. Yucky. I will be 32 in a few months and I still find the word appropriate in many circumstances.

Take beets for example. They weren't something my mom cooked much at home when I was younger, so my run ins with them involved cold, slimy specimens at salad bars. In that state of existence they taste like cold, oddly textured dirt. Not very appetizing. I'd skip over them and their staining capabilities for something safer like blueberry muffins.

Now though, at a much more mature age, I've found (via my CSA) that beets aren't always yucky. Fresh and prepared in a different way, beets can be sweet and not taste like a mouthful of dirt.

Slowly easing back into normal life.

Today was my first days in a few weeks where I wasn't cooking for the holidays, entertaining family for the holidays, traveling for the holidays, eating for the holidays or otherwise dealing with the holidays. Despite the fact my Christmas decorations need to be on their way into boxes for storage until next winter and that my house could use a good straightening up and linens and what not washed from house guests; I took today to sit on my butt, on the couch, with my laptop, my TV and my kittens.

It was nice to do nothing.

Days of Christmas: Christmas Dinner

So, this will be a shockingly picture free post...for now. My big Christmas present from my husband this year was a Canon 10D digital SLR camera. The body is an older one, but the kit that came was way worth the price he was able to get it for and I finally have what I call my big girl camera. Yay!

Crash hot.

I know she didn't start it, but that Pioneer Woman certainly added to the internet love for crash hot potatoes. Google puts her right at the top if you do a search for a recipe. Ever since she posted her crash hot potatoes, I've seen recipes for them on many blogs.

And for some reason I resisted. It isn't as though I don't love potatoes, and I've succumbed to internet potato crazes before with excellent results. I just didn't feel the need to try and make potatoes that required a double cooking process. Why boil and then roast? Why not just boil and then mash or just roast them to start with? What could possibly be so special about this damn recipe?

Another try at Sweet Potatoes.

When it comes to side dishes that should be on the table on Thanksgiving, in my family, sweet potatoes/yams are one that will only get eaten by 3 people; me, my Mom and my Grandma. My Mom has tried many different incarnations of recipes, sweet, savory, spicy, none of them have gone over as a huge success.

This year, I am trying again to get the rest of the family on board with sweet potatoes. Instead of mashing them, topping with strudel or marshmallows, I am making dumplings. Gnocchi to be exact.

Succotash doesn't have to suck.

Ok, so I know that when I say succotash, most people say ew. Especially if you go to that Wikipedia link and see the picture of succotash made with kidney beans. It doesn't look too tasty.

But stay with me, I promise this is good. And colorful.

Garlic and chops.

Oh, how I love simple, flavorful meals. In all honesty, I can be damn lazy. On those days, a simple meal is always best, otherwise we head out for dinner. Most likely for Pho from our favorite place that happens to be only a few minutes from our house. And is next door to the frozen yogurt place we frequent. We actually stopped at both last night after I came home from a hellacious day at work. I believe my husband remarked at one point we spend more money at these two places then we do on our mortgage, but I couldn't hear him clearly. Too busy slurping noodles.

But I digress.

For dinner tonight

Japanese eggplant, yellow zucchini and crimini mushrooms tossed with salt, fresh ground pepper and minced rosemary. Roasted at 425 for about 20 minutes. Eggplant and zucchini straight out of my garden.

Tomorrow I take my Midwifery Board exam. I have two recipes to be posted after all is said and done, including one with farm fresh Oregon produce.

A few things I've learned recently.

1. The dogs haven't been interested in digging in the garden, they were trying to clue my husband and I in to the fact something was paying us a visit.

2. Skunks like green tomatoes. And leaving scat on our driveway.

3. Skunks don't seem to like cayenne pepper, so the internet didn't lie to me.

4. I need more cayenne pepper.

5. My garden is otherwise doing fine: