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IN MY KITCHEN
I like to think of myself as a good cook. On occasion I burn or under cook or over-season. But generally what comes out of my kitchen is a success.
Tonight however, I hit my culinary low. It started out as one of those uninspired evenings–standing in the kitchen, nothing completely defrosted, tired from three days out of town, wanting take-out but knowing the budget called for eating chez moi. It got even worse when I pulled out "The Four Ingredient Cookbook" which I received as a wedding present five years ago. Then it took an even deeper nosedive when I set that aside for the "Pillsbury: Cooking For Kids" recipe pamphlet. I dejectedly perused the pages, passing pictures of canned pear sailboats and teddy bear cinnamon biscuits until I came to this crowd pleaser: Cheeseburger Pies. (I swear that I was sober when I made the decision to press back the pages and begin creating this delectable fare.) I had all the ingredients–ground beef, shredded cheese, ketchup (yes, there’s ketchup IN the recipe), mustard (yes there’s mustard IN the recipe), flour, milk, eggs, onion. And I thought, "Who doesn’t like something in the friendly shape of a muffin?"
So I pressed on–browning the meat, mixing together the wet ingredients (milk, egg, butter, ketchup and mustard) folding these into the dry ingredients and again FOLDING in the ground beef to this. It ended up looking like something you’re forced to eat blindfolded at a fraternity hazing. But I continued, inspired by the photograph of tender little beef cakes.
I was still enthusiastic when I popped them out of the muffin tin 20 minutes later, even though the tops looked a little dark and the bottoms were black. I like crunchy things I thought to myself and it’s shaped like muffin, for pete’s sake!
I even maintained my enthusiasm as we all sat around the dinner table and I plopped a crunchy biscuit onto each plate.
But my enthusiasm quickly hit a low when I looked across the table at my husband, thoughtfully and carefully cutting his muffin into two neat halves, spreading a layer of mayonnaise, ketchup and mustard down the middle. I thought of the other times I’d seen him carry out a similar ritual, sitting down at the breakfast table with a steamy cup of coffee and a cinnamon apple muffin, carefully cutting his muffin into two neat halves, spreading a layer of silky butter down the center. And my positive attitude about my meat muffins came to a screeching halt. I succumbed to laughter and tears, barely able to get out between gasps: "These are horrible." Emma, who had been dredging hers in ketchup looked perplexed but them came to the same conclusion as her unglued mother: "These are gross."
And that was rock bottom.
Literally–they had ROCK BOTTOMS.
I like to think of myself as a good cook. On occasion I burn or under cook or over-season. But generally what comes out of my kitchen is a success.
Tonight however, I hit my culinary low. It started out as one of those uninspired evenings–standing in the kitchen, nothing completely defrosted, tired from three days out of town, wanting take-out but knowing the budget called for eating chez moi. It got even worse when I pulled out "The Four Ingredient Cookbook" which I received as a wedding present five years ago. Then it took an even deeper nosedive when I set that aside for the "Pillsbury: Cooking For Kids" recipe pamphlet. I dejectedly perused the pages, passing pictures of canned pear sailboats and teddy bear cinnamon biscuits until I came to this crowd pleaser: Cheeseburger Pies. (I swear that I was sober when I made the decision to press back the pages and begin creating this delectable fare.) I had all the ingredients–ground beef, shredded cheese, ketchup (yes, there’s ketchup IN the recipe), mustard (yes there’s mustard IN the recipe), flour, milk, eggs, onion. And I thought, "Who doesn’t like something in the friendly shape of a muffin?"
So I pressed on–browning the meat, mixing together the wet ingredients (milk, egg, butter, ketchup and mustard) folding these into the dry ingredients and again FOLDING in the ground beef to this. It ended up looking like something you’re forced to eat blindfolded at a fraternity hazing. But I continued, inspired by the photograph of tender little beef cakes.
I was still enthusiastic when I popped them out of the muffin tin 20 minutes later, even though the tops looked a little dark and the bottoms were black. I like crunchy things I thought to myself and it’s shaped like muffin, for pete’s sake!
I even maintained my enthusiasm as we all sat around the dinner table and I plopped a crunchy biscuit onto each plate.
But my enthusiasm quickly hit a low when I looked across the table at my husband, thoughtfully and carefully cutting his muffin into two neat halves, spreading a layer of mayonnaise, ketchup and mustard down the middle. I thought of the other times I’d seen him carry out a similar ritual, sitting down at the breakfast table with a steamy cup of coffee and a cinnamon apple muffin, carefully cutting his muffin into two neat halves, spreading a layer of silky butter down the center. And my positive attitude about my meat muffins came to a screeching halt. I succumbed to laughter and tears, barely able to get out between gasps: "These are horrible." Emma, who had been dredging hers in ketchup looked perplexed but them came to the same conclusion as her unglued mother: "These are gross."
And that was rock bottom.
Literally–they had ROCK BOTTOMS.
art with children
Do you see the similarities–the puffy sleeves, the pleats and swirls of the skirt? Okay, maybe it’s just one of those proud mother kinds of things…One of the things I’ve been enjoying about Emma lately is how her artwork is changing. She’s adding more dimension, taking her time, and picking up on little details she hadn’t added before. Her big thing lately is adding clothing to her formerly naked stick-figure people. She’s even expanding her repetoire to things like cats and sunshines and flowers. I love it.
I am heading out to another round of pottery classes in about an hour. I can’t wait to get back in there and make some more buttons. I’m trying a new type of clay this time that should give me some different color effects, but still planning on making some more stoneware buttons. I’m looking forward to a little alone time in the studio at the art museum.
Meanwhile at home, I’m frantically working on laundry and housecleaning before we head to the Chicago suburbs tomorrow to spend some time at my brother and sister-in-law’s place. I’m looking forward to getting away after some depressing developments this week concerning Dan’s job search. More on that later.
I finally got an email out today with miniswap partners, so if you haven’t received one yet, please leave me a comment or drop me an email. (ooops! I guess it would be helpful if I sent the email to the WHOLE list of swappers, not just A-L !! That darn address book with its two pages of addresses!!)
Do you see the similarities–the puffy sleeves, the pleats and swirls of the skirt? Okay, maybe it’s just one of those proud mother kinds of things…One of the things I’ve been enjoying about Emma lately is how her artwork is changing. She’s adding more dimension, taking her time, and picking up on little details she hadn’t added before. Her big thing lately is adding clothing to her formerly naked stick-figure people. She’s even expanding her repetoire to things like cats and sunshines and flowers. I love it.
I am heading out to another round of pottery classes in about an hour. I can’t wait to get back in there and make some more buttons. I’m trying a new type of clay this time that should give me some different color effects, but still planning on making some more stoneware buttons. I’m looking forward to a little alone time in the studio at the art museum.
Meanwhile at home, I’m frantically working on laundry and housecleaning before we head to the Chicago suburbs tomorrow to spend some time at my brother and sister-in-law’s place. I’m looking forward to getting away after some depressing developments this week concerning Dan’s job search. More on that later.
I finally got an email out today with miniswap partners, so if you haven’t received one yet, please leave me a comment or drop me an email. (ooops! I guess it would be helpful if I sent the email to the WHOLE list of swappers, not just A-L !! That darn address book with its two pages of addresses!!)
sewing projects
I gave this tshirt dress another try yesterday and I think I finally got it all figured out. I am so much happier with the "flounce" of this skirt (as is Emma). I love the style of these dresses with their high waists and poofiness. It really didn’t take that long to pump one out, so I think I’ll go ahead and make one for Mary next.
As a result of this miniswap I came across this blogger, who was making a similar dress using vintage table linens for the skirt. We were able to comapare notes and it helped me get a better plan for my second try. I still have a few things I’d like to improve, especially at the point where the tshirt and skirt gathers meet. I think it will also be better to use matching thread next time, since the contrasting color shows my shaky stitching in some spots.
Emma hasn’t taken it off since it came off the ironing board for a final pressing. She even wore it to bed. But of course, at soon as she put it on the first time, she took a big swig of hot chocolate and spilled it down her front. of course. thank goodness for ‘Shout!’.
I gave this tshirt dress another try yesterday and I think I finally got it all figured out. I am so much happier with the "flounce" of this skirt (as is Emma). I love the style of these dresses with their high waists and poofiness. It really didn’t take that long to pump one out, so I think I’ll go ahead and make one for Mary next.
As a result of this miniswap I came across this blogger, who was making a similar dress using vintage table linens for the skirt. We were able to comapare notes and it helped me get a better plan for my second try. I still have a few things I’d like to improve, especially at the point where the tshirt and skirt gathers meet. I think it will also be better to use matching thread next time, since the contrasting color shows my shaky stitching in some spots.
Emma hasn’t taken it off since it came off the ironing board for a final pressing. She even wore it to bed. But of course, at soon as she put it on the first time, she took a big swig of hot chocolate and spilled it down her front. of course. thank goodness for ‘Shout!’.
