My New Favorite Things

The kitchen sink pork marinade was a success, but I've simplified the base. The recipe I posted tasted great, and the pork was moist, but the maple syrup really came through--not a bad thing at all, just depends on your sides. Tonight I had pork steak/tenderloins, so I did salt/pepper/21 Seasoning with soy sauce, crushed garlic, course Dijon, lime juice and ginger dressing. This time it was the garlic/mustard that rose to the palate.

Today we saw The Secret World of Arietty, the new Studio Ghibli film. It's based on the Borrowers, which I haven't read in ages. In true Miyazaki form, it's charming, gorgeous, and girl-friendly. My #1 son was a trooper and saw it with me--and the theater was filled with lots of families and lots of girls. We've raised him on Studio Ghibli movies though, so he wanted to see it, too. All the other boys on line were off to see Star Wars, The Phantom Menace. To be fair, we saw that already, on opening night. He's become the 3D movie snob, but he's also become my movie buddy, which is really nice.

Oh yeah, and I would love a pair of boots like Arietty. 

I started using the phrase "My New Favorite Thing" as a monthly wrap-up or a backup when I did the shopping column for the Dig, probably in 2002. It's not so original that I don't think to claim any kind of dibs on it, but it tickled me to see a FB posting by my favorite author the other day using the phrase. (I haven't watched the video yet, so I can't vouch for it. This is a screen shot, so the links won't work, either.) 

Back in 1999 I actually got to meet Neil Himself, and it was wonderful. He did a reading at Waterstone's books in Boston (which is now a school) promoting Stardust and Neverwhere. He signed my advance copy of Stardust that my friend liberated from the bookstore he was working in, and a couple of other things. I'm excited and curious about American Gods as a live action series, but so glad it'll be on HBO. 

Yes, that is my natural hair color, too.

This is my 200th post, and on Twitter I have 200 tweets. It's a 200 kind of day! 

Marinade experiment

Marinade for pork: Salt, ground pepper, 21 Seasoning Salute, crushed garlic paste, applesauce, fig spread, ginger dressing, whole grain Dijon mustard, Tonkatsu sauce, soy sauce, lemon juice, maple syrup, leftover peanut sauce from takeout. Wish me luck!

It's 3am, do you know where your brownies are?

I love my husband. And because I usually fall asleep at 9 before I can actually do the things I need to, he picks up the slack, which is awesome. But sometimes he does things in a way I wouldn't.

Take these Betty Crocker low-fat fudge brownies, for instance. He, being a good husband & father FTW, baked them for a school event that is now technically tonight. Before he came to bed, he told me that he forgot to grease the pan--the nice silicone 9x9 pan so they would be extra thick. (Note: for school events, more is better. A 9x9 pan is usually only 16 brownies, while a 13x9 pan can be 25 brownies.) OK, I failed at the first bake, so I can't complain. When I woke up and got out of bed at 2ish to cut and wrap them, they totally broke apart, but in a sticky way. Useless for bringing to a school event, but it's not like they'll go to waste.

Hence, batch 2 of regular fat brownies are now in the oven, in a greased and tin-foil lined 13x9 pan. I just hope our neighbors don't wake up too hungry.

delicious

Last week I finally started up with del.icio.us and love it. Thanks to Rob, I found Cooking with Rockstars, and maybe someone will find and enjoy Best Parent Ever, a.k.a. Stuff White Parents Like.

I was in an odd mood last night, and so I made banana bread using my mother's recipe. As I was getting underway, I realized that I ran out of crushed walnuts. Luckily it still tastes good, but walnuts definitely add an extra level of texture and fragrance.

My crazy work project is finally over, and it's so weird not to be going constantly. I can shamelessly laugh out loud to LOL cats.

surfacing

So I'm finally almost coming out of my work insanity. January has flown. We've looked at and registered for public schools. We find out in March. We're starting to look at Catholic schools.

I've also got back to cooking. After two weeks of having lunch brought in (very nice lunch), it was good to have lighter fare & be in the kitchen. I made steak tips with my homemade marinade: salt & TJ's 21 Seasoning Salute rub, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, red wine, sesame oil, lemon juice. With whole wheat orzo to beef up the rice pilaf. Tonight Tak made apple chicken sausage with squash I'd saved from the farmer's market in November (it was still good!).

Owen has discovered "rocking out." One of his train videos features Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody, which he really likes. On our ride in the car the other day we had our own little Wayne's World moment.

when turkeys fly

Last week at my parents' house, we came in there was a 20-25lb male turkey standing outside, just walking for at least 5-10 minutes. I pulled out my camera to try & take a picture, and I think the movement scared him off. The even cooler thing was that he flew into up the tall trees, where they roost at night--which was an amazing to see.

Thanks to the Best Buy pre-sale, I was able to get Police tickets--for November. The band had better be good.

Right now I am making cupcakes for Owen's birthday party at school tomorrow and watching Borat. What a frickin' crazy movie. The cupcakes came out OK. Note to self: if you have a choice between using spray-on oil, flour, or both--just go with the spray-on oil. These cupcakes came out the easiest. I had to frost the cupcakes with a dusting of oil & flour or just flour on the muffin pan upside-down. All because I didn't have cupcake liners!