Don't Pee on the Bee

Kiwi, Ovaltine Yogurt and Wheat Thins

What do those three things have in common?  Me, my couch and last night!  Instead of watching TV, I sat on the couch, enjoyed the open windows and a blankie in my lap (of course!), and read KIWI magazine.  I didn't really eat that much dinner, so the more I saw the food ads in the mag, and started reading recipes, I decided I needed something to eat.  So I got up and made myself some vanilla yogurt with some Ovaltine mixed in--which was delish!  But then I needed something salty, hence, the wheat thins.  Sounds kind of gross now, but it made me happy last night!

This latest issue of KIWI (September 2011) is a good one!  But I will focus on food items for now (since I just finished eating my lunch!)  Sarah is having a heck of a time with food these days, so I am always looking for something that might interest her.  How about PB & Blue?  Mash about 1/4 cup of blueberries with a little bit of sugar and then spread on toast or bread with some pb or almond butter.  I think she might actually go for that, so I'm going to give it a whirl.  Of course, we're out of blueberries, so I'll have to get some before we can try it!

There was also a yummy sounding recipe for "duffins."  No, that is not a typo.  They call it "healthier than a donut and more fun than a muffin."  Works for me--especially when I am eating Ovaltine yogurt!  It looks like a jam-filled muffin but supposedly tastes like a donut and is a little bit healthier!  I'm game!  I think we'll try making these over the weekend.  Unfortunately, I checked out their website, and no link to duffins there yet!  Guess you'll have to buy the magazine to check it out--or wait for my review!

They also had this neat little "Pick-a-Lunch" chart which I know was designed for kids, but let me tell you, (as I've told you before!), I hate making myself lunch!  So I may use this little chart for me when I need some good ideas!

Any else out their food-trippin' today???  Maybe you made yourself an amazing lunch that you want to share! 

Hasta La Proxima, Mary

Wow.  There is so much going on with me right now, and it never ceases to amaze me when a particular topic or issues will start appearing in really unusual ways.  I've definitely got some anger issues popping up right now.  And then poetry starts popping up as a theme too.  And then angry poetry starts showing up.  And then messages about light and being the Light of the world start appearing.  It's really rather fascinating.  So I could go on and on about some of these things, but I think  I'll refrain until I can put some coherent thoughts to these themes.

But I should continue on with the few Mary stories that I have left.  I think this will lift my spirits today!

So after seeing her in several locations in Tomales Bay that weekend that J.R. and I were gone, I saw Mary that next Monday in a very unusual place!  And I have witnesses to back me up on this one.

That Monday morning after getting back from our weekend away, I was up at 4:15 a.m. and out of my house by 5:15 a.m. to pick up coffee and meet my dad and my brother for a 6-hour drive to a funeral.  And I will say, that although it was sad to be heading to a funeral, the car ride was rather funny at times, and I wouldn't trade that time with them for anything in the world!

But we arrived in Eureka a bit early and wanted to get out of the car and get a quick bite to eat and maybe a tad bit more coffee!  So we started driving through Eureka to see what we could see.  And all that we could see, (la la), and all that we could see (la la), was not the other side of the mountain, but the sea!  And so since I was driving, we headed down towards the water and Old Downtown Eureka.  And just as my brother said a bagel sounded good, we saw this on the corner in front of us.

 
Photo courtesy of David H. from Yelp

Bagels!  So I flipped a u-ey (does anyone know how that is spelled correctly???), found a parking place and parked.  We all shuffled over there rather slowly, working those kinks out of our knees and our backs after those hours in the car, but once we were in the door, heaven!!!

Now mind you, none of us were really paying attention to anything other than 1) we had found a bagel store, and 2) well, that we had found a bagel store!  As we walked up, the door was covered with signs about Purim, so no reason to think anything out of the ordinary as we walked in.  But holy moly when we walked in!  I looked to the right at the wall, and it was covered with very cool shopping bags.  But not just any kind of shopping bags!  And not even Jewish bagel bags!  The wall had bags with the Virgen de Guadalupe on them!

 
As I went slightly nuts, my dad and brother had no idea what was going on.  My mom?  She knew.  She reads my blog.  So after ordering and, of course, buying a bag, my brother asked what was up.  I said, "Well, I've been having this . . ." to which my mom piped in " . . . Mary thing."  (This was before I had found the new name for my Mary thing!)  So I said, "Yes. I've been having this Mary thing. She just seems to be showing up in kind of strange places."  And so I told them a bit about Tomales Bay.  I don't think that either of them were that impressed, but I was absolutely loving it!  Mary?  In little ol' Eureka?  In a bagel shop?  Too cool!  Of course, as I looked around a bit more, I realized that this was no ordinary bagel shop.  If we had paid more attention as we walked into Los Bagels, we would have seen on the sign that it is a multicultural bagel bakery and cafe! 

And just one more slightly lame but sort of funny thing . . . When I was leaving the house that morning, my husband asked me, "Are you going to take the camera?"  I turned to him and answered a wee bit haughtily, "No!  Why would I take a camera to a funeral?"  In my head, my petty little self is thinking, "Du-uh!"  (Two syllables needed for extra haughty emphasis!)  But I tell you what, there was more than once during the trip that I uttered the words, "Damn! I wish I had my camera!"  Which is why there is no picture of the cool wall of Virgen de Guadalupes and Frida Kahlos and anyone else who was up there!

 

493 Apples

OK, another exaggerated number.  But wait until you see what we did this past weekend!

 

First, we washed all the apples that we bought at the Farmers' Market.

 

Then we cut them up, added water and cinnamon and made applesauce.  Is it boiling yet?

 

Here the little apprentice helps her brother make apple juice! 

When we had been talking about making applesauce, JJ asked about making apple juice.  I told him that we couldn't do that because we didn't have a juicer.  He said that his teacher had one because they had used it in class one day.  Apparently he went to school the next day and asked her if we could borrow her juicer.  When I went in to volunteer a few days later, she said, "My car is unlocked, and the juicer is in the backseat."   Huh?  It didn't compute for a moment until I realized that JJ had actually asked her to borrow it!  I was surprised that he had done so, but it made it crystal clear to me how badly he wanted to do this.  The verdict on the homemade applesauce and apple juice?  Delish!

Spinach to Cinnamon to Pumpkin and Back

Seems like it's feast or famine some days, both with food and blogging!  I completely forgot to tell you that I made the pumpkin bread pudding recipe from Family Fun.  And man oh man, was it gooooood!  But before I tell you how good it was, I have to tell you that early last week, I decided to make my "famous" spinach feta calzones.  I've been thinking about them a lot lately and decided to make them since one of my friends was coming over to play for a bit.  While I was making them, another friend called, and when I told her what I was making, she said, "Well, you'd better tell her (the other friend) how lucky she is!  She doesn't know what she's getting!"  I assured Shellie that I would make sure that Sara was understanding of just how lucky she was and got off the phone.  I had rolling to do!

So while the dough for the calzones was rising, I looked around at the mess I had already made and thought What the heck! Might as well make some more mess!  From there, it was a quick trip to the recipe books, look under Bread, find Cinnamon Raisin Bread.  So I started a loaf of that mid-stream of the calzones.  It all worked out quite well, and yes, my friend Sara was duly impressed and very full when she left my house!

But what does this have to do with pumpkin bread pudding?  Well, my mom arrived lastThursday night and had read the post with the recipe.  She definitely was up for taste-testing, so we decided to make it.  I was a little short on the bread, but lo and behold, there sat the end of the cinnamon bread!  So in it went!  Now I can't say if it was my bread that made it so amazing, or if the recipe truly is fantastic, but I will tell you that the dessert rocked!  And before I could even get a picture of it, it had been tasted and approved for future dessert-making!  You'll have to just imagine it in your minds!

And today I felt the need for spinach again, so Sarah (my daughter, not my friend!) and I whipped up a new batch.  She was so cute rolling out the dough, brushing the tops with olive oil and sprinkling the sesame seeds on top.  She told my dad step-by-step how she made them when he unexpectedly arrived at lunch time!  I had literally just pulled them out of the oven when I saw him pulling into the driveway.  He must have known!  I used to make these years ago at his house when I first moved up to the area.  So needless to say, he and his stomach were pleasantly surprised today!

And I actually remembered to take a picture . . .  although I think I need a "food photo" class!  (But isn't the rosemary a nice touch???)

 

Mommy Deconstructionists

One of my TV pleasures is Top Chef.  I'm not into reality shows as a whole, but this one I like because of the cooking.  I am definitely not a chef, and I don't really have any desire to try any of the recipes they make, but I do love to sit there and watch them sweat as they make these amazing-looking dishes.  And I usually learn something too.  That makes me feel less guilty about watching TV!

One of the tasks that is often given to the chefs is to "deconstruct" a dish.  So if it is lasagna, say, they are supposed to use all of the ingredients--but somehow separately--but still make the dish taste like lasagna.  As I've watched this show for the past two seasons, I've always thought Ooooh.  How do they do that?  What talent!  What brilliance!  And then last night I realized something somewhat astounding.  Uh du-uh.  Isn't that something that most moms do on a nightly basis?  Deconstruct?  Here are your noodles, here is some sauce, here are your veggies.  All on a separate section of the plate because heaven forbid that any of those things touch!  You know what I'm talking about.  So pat yourself on the back and tell yourself, your husband and your friends that you, my friend, are a potential Top Chef challenger!

The Non-Glamour Shots!

Wait until you see these pictures!  Need a good laugh?  You're going to get one!  Luckily for me, I really don't care how these pictures turned out because I had a fabulous time!

Saturday afternoon my mom and I and some assorted relatives went to the Impressionist exhibit (freshly imported from the Musee d'Orsay in Paris) at the DeYoung Museum in San Francisco.  I love Impressionism, and this was truly a wonderful exhibit, not only for the paintings but for the historical context that was given throughout the exhibit.  I felt so much smarter when I left the museum!  And I also felt like an adult!  No one asked me to wipe their nose (or worse!)  No one needed me to give them a snack.  No one danced circles around me until I wanted to scream.  It was perfect!  (In case I wasn't clear, my children were more than 100 miles away from me.)

After the museum, my mom and I headed to The Cliff House in San Francisco for a drink and dinner.  (On a side note, it is not nearly as charming as it used to be prior to their renovation a number of years ago.  But it is still worth a visit!  Check out the link for some really cool old photographs of the history of the place.)

So here I am, getting wasted on only one glass of wine!  And eating an amazing baked halibut with Italian bread crumbs, yummy potatoes and veggies in a Balsamic glaze.  Yum!  (Definitely not one of my finer photo moments, but you get the idea!)

And since I'm willing to sacrifice my pride for your ability to laugh, check out the dessert picture!  Imagine a wine glass where the water glass is!

When we got back to my mom's that night, I asked her if she wanted me to close the curtains in the livingroom.  She said, "No. We can do it when we're ready to go to bed."  (It was about 8:00.)  I looked at her and said, "I'm going to bed now!  I need to be horizontal."  She laughed as I walked downstairs.  I'm not kidding when I said I was wasted after one glass of wine!  I'm such a lightweight now!!!  All those years of being sober while trying to get pregnant and nursing have taken their toll on my partying ability!  I had a great night's sleep!

Not-So-Pretty Brownies

Looks like it might be "Food Week" on Don't Pee on the Bee!  Remember the Global Brownies post from a month or so ago?  The recipe came from Kiwi magazine and listed several "swaps" where you could change the flavor of the brownies.  Well, I tried the Middle Eastern ones yesterday.  Funny how it came about . . .

My 8x8 square baking dish had come out of the dishwasher and hadn't been put away, so it was sitting on my stovetop.  My mom was visiting and was going to drive home later that afternoon and had been talking about having some chocolate to keep her awake on the drive home.  I was in a totally emotional food-eating place, and one by one, the pieces fell into place.  The kids jumped up and down when they asked what I was doing and I replied, "Making brownies."  They ran to tell Oma what was happening in the kitchen.

So brown sugar instead of turbinado sugar.  Vegetable oil instead of canola or peanut oil.  The apricot jam swap for the applesauce.  Bittersweet chocolate instead of unsweetened baking chocolate.  Cinnamon swapped for the cayenne.  Ooops.  I know now why the brownies didn't turn out--which was the original topic of this post!  I just realized that I did not add the whole wheat flour--which easily leads me to believe that THAT is why the brownies were essentially chocolate goo--although very delicious chocolate goo!

Guess I'll have to try again and let you know!