Browse Category: yum

Rainy Day Cookin’

What is it about lazy rainy Sundays that make me crave soup? After an unsuccessful attempt at going to Target this morning (apparently closed on Easter), I came home and threw two bags of chicken bones and giblets into a big pot of water.  With a few additions and little time on the stove, the house was filled with the aroma of chicken, coriander, and garlic…mmmm.

In the afternoon, we took a nice stroll in the rain with the dog and stopped at Safeway for some ingredients for dinner. I ended up making a big pot of rice, mapo tofu (out of the package, of course) with ground turkey, and pork-stuffed cucumber soup with the stock I made earlier. I even added a bit of my homemade garlic oil to the soup to finish it off.

When I tasted it, the flavor was close enough to give me a nostalgic feeling and Jes was saying it was almost as good as my Mommy’s soup. Phew!  Just last week he said that my Thai Chicken Curry was surprisingly tasty (and spicy) too.  I think I’m on a roll here, people!  I guess some of Mommy’s recipes are getting easier for me to remember now and it’s nice to know that a bit of the Magical House’s pixie dust has finally rubbed off onto me.  Thank goodness ‘cuz I’ve got a picky eater in my house.

Look who had too much ice cream…

Last night Jes made pot roast and the Sokol-Juns came over to eat with us.  When it was plated, Jack said “Cupcake?!”  Ryan corrected him by saying “No, it’s meat cake!”  So for the rest of the night, we ate our meat cake and Jack did too.

After dinner, Ryan turned on the YouTube clip that Jack has been watching over and over again at home.  He’s watched so much that he sings, plays his guitar, and follows along with gestures and clapping.  Michelle made some chocolate chip cookies for dessert and we all enjoyed them with some vanilla ice cream.  Jack loved it so much that he asked for more and we gave it to him.

As a result, we got a little performance from the little guy and I got a long clip of the action.  By the way, the spoon is a guitar and the bar stool is a microphone and the dog is playing back-up. Make sure to turn on your sound for the singing and narration in the background.  You can probably hear me laughing in the background too.  If it’s not funny, I guess you had to be there.

Free Food Friday

Friday was filled with free food for me.  At work, we had some catered food that was left over from clinic so I got a free lunch!  Patty also had an extra order of Pad Thai from her dinner the night before and brought that in to share too.  Score!  For dinner, Jes and I went to Public House, which is the new sports bar that replaces Acme.

It’s in the same location in the ballpark and shares the space with Mijita, which is also owned by Chef Des Jardins (who was seated at the table right next to ours). She’s the one in the background with her hands clasped.  I had a better photo of her but SOMEONE deleted it from my phone.  *tsk tsk*

Anyway, back to the free food… Last week I got a call from Public House asking for my email address.  They were going to have a preview night a couple weeks prior to opening day and I was going to get an invite!  Woot!  So, we went for our 6:30 invitation and received menus, a survey, and $75-worth of fake money to spend.  We pigged out on deviled eggs, a BLT, sausage and peppers sammich, and German potato salad.  We also had quite a few drinks including my #24 that was made with bourbon, sugar, and some other tasty stuff.

For dessert, we had Secret Breakfast!!!  Yes, it’s the same stuff they sell at Humphrey Slocombe.  Tasty.  It was certainly a good day for my wallet and my tummy.

Hot Pot Sunday

We had Sunday Supper at the Bangs’ for Chinese New Year and it was super tasty.  Vyl (as usual) went all out with the thinly sliced beef and pork, fish and beef balls, tons of different mushrooms, and everything else you can think of. I made almond jello and boxed brownies for dessert.

Jack had his Superman outfit on and boy has he started talking!  At one point in the car on the ride over, Jes said “When did you get so noisy?”  Jack can identify the different people in the room now and he has an Uncle Bang AND and Uncle Bong (Phuong).  Hilarious.  Thanks again for all the prep you did, Vyl!

McWineFest

Last night the PediRehab girls and I had an evening of Chicken McNuggets and wine on the roof of my building.  It was a calm evening in the break of two rainstorms so it was perfect for our plans.

Ordering food for the 5 of us and Jesse was ridiculous.  We ordered 30 McNuggets, 2 McWraps, 3 large fries, a McChicken sandwich.  On top of that, Jes warmed up Patty’s tofu nuggets in our oven since she had given up meat for Lent.

To make things more interesting, we ate by the light of a mini MagLight.  Everyone brought a bottle of wine, Patty brought the cups, and rooftop Happy Hour was complete!  Jes actually joined us for the first time and then a husband and a boyfriend showed up a little later.

To top off the night, we played McNugget Buddies Bingo – yep, you read it…McNugget Buddies Bingo does exist.  I happened to open the cabinet in one of our smaller treatment rooms at the hospital the other day and found this awesome awesome game.

It was a gorgeous night in the city and we had a lot of good laughs and a happy happy time.

Happy Everything!

This weekend was ridiculous. It’s Valentine’s Day, the beginning of the Lunar New Year, AND President’s weekend! Whoa. Yesterday Jes and I took a walk to the Ferry Plaza for some spicy noodle soup after a lazy morning in our jammies.  I guess you could say that this was our Lunar New Year’s Eve meal.

Early this morning, I took the dog for a run in the fog. It was so thick that you couldn’t see the bridge and the fog horns from the container ships were going off every few seconds. For breakfast, I made some mini pancakes and Jes made some breakfast sausage.

The dog joined us at the coffee table and got a taste of sausage and a pancake for himself. Lucky dog.

The rest of the day was spent watching the Olympics and getting the house cleaned up for the new lunar year. In the evening, we took a walk and I got a shot of this really pretty sunset. Jes made me one of the best rib eyes I’ve ever had. Seriously. There was something extra tasty about it…savory but a little sweet. Yep, sweet. It was an organic piece of beef that we bought from the deli at the Ferry Plaza and it was magical.

For dessert, I made a skillet apple pie and I think I’ve found the perfect crust recipe. Surprisingly it was really easy too!  Perhaps with a little more practice, I’ll have a winning pie by November.  Heh heh.

Tomorrow I’m going to work while most of you have the day off.  Thankfully I’ll get paid time and half.  Gotta makes me the moneys!