Photo Drop, 3/17

First tooth gone! Literally. It fell out sometime between Saturday night and Sunday after church. James had no idea when or where, and didn't seem particularly troubled by it. The Tooth Fairy was still gracious enough to make a visit.

"Take a picture of my teef DOO!"

Checking out the Harley Davidson exhibit at the Strong Museum.

Biggest wind storm in Rochester in 75 years. Gusts up to 80 mph! We were extremely fortunate not to lose power (or shingles) but most of Rochester was without electricity for several days--up to a week. The boys are watching a parade of power trucks that were sent from New Jersey to help get the city warm again.

Sometimes he's so silently handsome I can't help but snap a picture. It never does him complete justice.

This kid is never silently handsome. But handsome nonetheless.

http://cookieandkate.com/2017/roasted-mushrooms-with-herbed-quinoa/ My newest food blog to explore and experiment with. Healthy vegetarian recipes that require minimal "special" ingredients.

OK. Maybe occasionally silently handsome. This is after he threw up all over the couch and was forced to migrate to his "very own island" on the floor lest he spew again. Poor little fella. I suspect a flax allergy.

When you need to wrap a present for a girl and you only have boys.

I'm forever screenshot-ing recipes that pop up so I won't forget to give them a go or try to pick up a missing ingredient.

Waiting for Daddy to finish looking at suit jackets in the mall. The boys were happy to make "wishes" in the fountain and I was happy that they stayed dry.

My 12 year old slippers were held together by rubber bands and had started giving me splinters. Got these bad boys and anticipate they will last into my 40s. (Which is only a testament to the quality of the footwear...) It's like wearing a fluffy warm cloud around the house.

I love my Fitbit so much. But the pink plastic band that I use hasn't retained its color, even after a bath in the dishwasher. Maybe leather will last longer? #wishlist

My 5 year old came crying into the kitchen, accusing his brother of whacking him on the hand with wooden train track pieces. Said younger brother then came tailing behind like this. In case you ever wonder why it's hard to get upset at this kid. 

Date Night In: All Over the Mediterranean

So we have 18 inches of snow…at least. With another 6ish due today, plus 40MPH winds all day. Rochester is shut down for yet another day after a hurricane-like wind storm last week and now the biggest snow storm of the year. Everybody’s been stuck at home, either by governmental decree or by necessity. (Who wants to go out and drive in 18 inches of snow? I can barely get out the garage door just to start shoveling my driveway.) Everybody, in this instance, means everybody but my husband, who is currently driving to a certain neighboring city which refused to cancel their educational concert this morning, despite the fact that all the schools are CLOSED. Don’t even get me started…

Today I *melted* and we’ve got Cars on as the snow blows. The boys are content for a big chunk of time and I can work on the DNI blog. They both assured me they wouldn’t be talking in Mater voices for the rest of the day, so we’ll see how that goes…

Is there anything cozier than Date Night In during a blizzard? I can’t think of many things that would top an evening in with your husband, kids bedded, with wonderful food to enjoy together. Last night only confirmed our suspicions.

This was Greek night. I told Roy we needed to listen to My Big Fat Greek Wedding soundtrack while we ate. We forgot in our hunger and haste, but it most definitely had the feel and flavors of a Greek feast. And it was entirely vegetarian as we had lamb! ;)

Menu:

Gordon’s Cup with Caraway

Fresh Carrot Salad

Mediterranean Lamb Tostadas

Stewed Apricots with Cardamom Yogurt and Marcona Almonds

We skipped the cocktail once again. I by necessity, Roy by choice. We plan on going back through some of the missed drinks after this pregnancy is over. But I’ll be honest and say I’m a little skeptical of gin with caraway syrup. Ashley’s surprised me many times, but herbs in drinks isn’t my preferred combo.

Roy had actually made the carrot salad before, using a few substitutions. Last night we had it exactly as written, with jalapeno and cilantro. I wasn’t overly impressed after I initially mixed it together, but it improved dramatically with a four hour rest between prep and dinner. It still wasn’t my favorite salad ever, but it was tasty and it definitely complemented the star of the show, the tostadas.

 

Can there ever be too much cilantro?

So it was kind of like eating a Greek taco? Nachos? We had toasted pita topped with seasoned lamb, all kinds of fresh veggies and herbs, and topped with feta and homemade Tzatziki. This date night in felt substantially healthier than any other so far. Way less salt, way more fresh veggies. (We calculated that we had 5 servings of fruits and veggies apiece just from dinner.) And zero heavy cream. Gotta be a first.

 

There are a lot of goodies buried under all the Tzatziki and lettuce too.

Which was OK, because we ate our weight in Greek yogurt instead. Between the Tzatziki and dessert we met our dairy quota no problem-o. :p

 

You can pick out mint, lamb, tomatoes, feta, and parsley a little more clearly here.

The dessert was sweet and spicy and justifiably healthy enough that I had the leftovers for breakfast this morning. ½ c of Greek yogurt mixed with ground cardamom and a drizzle of honey, topped with stewed apricots (broken down in white wine, vanilla, cinnamon, and honey). We forgot about the almonds, but they would definitely add a textural complexity and a bit of extra protein.

 

This photo probably doesn't do a whole lot for you, but that tiny bit of creamy yogurt peeking through makes me ready to create it all over again immediately.

It was nice to go to bed not as worried about getting up three times to guzzle water. (Although it feels like I’m up that many times to pee at this point anyway.) And I had no indigestion, even though we ate a LOT in volume. This was a pregnancy DNI win-win! I’ll definitely make the tostadas again and consider adding it into our normal routine of meals. It requires a decent bit of prep with chopping fresh veggies, but it’s tasty and healthy enough that it doesn’t feel so much like an indulgence. I suspect swapping ground turkey or beef for lamb and using similar seasonings would yield a less pricey, but everyday-acceptable protein as well.

Mediterranean food is not my favorite cuisine. It's probably not even in my top 5. (Here's looking at you French, Italian, Mexican, and anything from Asia.) That being said, this date night in menu was, in a word, refreshing. It lacked the carbs and cream and hit us instead with fresh herbs and aromatic spices. I didn't mind eating a cold salad in March during a blizzard. Not sure I can lavish more praise on it than that.

(That being said, we're rapidly approaching night 3 of this storm, which began late on Monday and is still blowing fiercely outside. So I made the chocolat chaud from last month for us to sip on tonight under blankets.)

Adventures in Baking: French Macarons

Today I embarked on a journey long-awaited. Melissa came over and we gave the dreaded French macaron a swing. Known as the toughest cookie to get right, macarons are not to be confused with the coconutty-condensed milk lumps our husbands love. No, this delicate monstrosity combines egg whites, almond meal, and powdered sugar in a very finicky process to create light, meringue-y, beautifully colored discs. You take two of them and pipe some kind of delicious filling and make what kind of looks like a pastel hamburger.

French macarons have a terrible reputation for going awry. I read a bunch of different articles and blog posts and was warned about sifting, weighing, stabilizers, egg-freshness, egg temperature, baking sheet covers, even humidity levels in the atmosphere. Quite honestly, it looked intimidating.

But, quite honestly, it wasn’t nearly as scary in real life! Melissa brought her wealth of baking knowledge, as well as piping bags and tips. I brought…well, two noisy small boys. Melissa also brought Uncle Lucas, who quickly held them in rapt attention with Hide and Seek and paper airplanes. (Let’s hope I make macarons better than I do paper airplanes…)

We had enough batter that we were able to play around a bit with variables, such as drying and baking times. Here is what we learned:

1.       Don’t sift almond meal in this.

Use a proper sifter. Melissa “sifted” for 15 minutes and it was just painful to watch grain by grain of almond meal fall through.

2.       Do weigh your ingredients. I’m not sure that macarons are as precise a science as it would seem, but we both know enough about baking to be aware that weighing ingredients leads to dramatically improved, consistent results.

3.       Do line your baking pans with silicone mats or parchment paper. We used both in different batches, and both were great for peeling off the baked macarons.

4.       It’s probably better to overwhip your egg whites than under. That being said, our batter was a little too thick. You can see from this picture that we don’t have the shiny flat tops we were aiming for. We suspect this is because the egg whites were too stiff. We wonder as well if we could have tempered this by stirring the batter a little bit more to take out a little extra air.

5.       Do use a decent amount of food coloring. I think we were aiming for a bit of a brighter pink, which we had in the batter, but the oven dulled. Add a drop or two beyond what you want and I think you’ll have it just about right.

6.       Do dry your discs before baking. Our rested for between 35-55 minutes, depending on the batch. It didn’t really matter in the outcome of the bakes.

7.       Don’t underbake your macarons. You want them dried out and firm. They won’t come off the sheet otherwise. We baked the first batch for 20 minutes at 300 degrees. The next two went in for 19 minutes. It didn’t make a noticeable difference. They’ll be super crisp initially, but once you add the filling they soften and get a little chew back again.

8.       Let your filling temper the sweetness of the cookie. The cookie itself has no flour, but lots of powdered sugar. It’s very, very sweet. We opted for a lemon curd/whipped cream filling, hoping the tang of the lemon would balance the sugar. It mostly worked!

We had a great time working on this project and I think I can speak for her that we will try again, either together or individually. And I can speak for myself and state categorically that I’ve consumed enough sugar for the entire weekend.