Friday!

Good morning!
This is what my view out the window at work looks like right now. Beautiful isn't it. I wish I had a better camera to show you these amazing sights I see all the time. I actually think that the camera on my Iphone is better them my digital. I find that very sad. I would actually take pictures of the food I make more often if the pictures ever came out nicely. Oh well. While we are on the subject of wishes, I wish I had a dutch oven.  Have you seen those beautiful le creuset ones? I swoon every time I see one in a store. If only the price tag wasn't so big. ugg. That is my next piggy bank project. Do you have any idea how many recipes I have right now that call for one? A lot. And trust me they all look amazing. I also want a kitchenaid stand mixer. Another object I swoon over often. Some of these are on my wedding present list. Yes I know it's still 5 years out and I very well may be able to get these things myself within 5 years. I just thought I would start the list now and add and subtract as I go. Kinda like a master wish list. I can dream.

SO does anyone have any idea what this heat is about? It is crazy hot here in LA. I'm glad to be getting away for the weekend. Speaking of getting away this weekend...packing is a hassle. Needless to say I have yet to start it. I'm hoping (figures crossed) to get out a little early today, so I can go home and clean and pack. The main thing I need to pack is cooking things. I feel like I should be writing the list on my arm so I don't forget anything. I'm glad that I can leave early tomorrow so I have plenty of time to cook and mess up. I have high hopes and big plans!!

hugs+kisses
mce

Weekend Cooking

Good morning!
And it is a good morning. The sun is shining in a clear blue sky and the twins are playing in the backyard. I am sitting in the garage and listening to their laughter and music. It's that cool clear day that you know will heat up fast so you better get in a little chill while you can. As I sit here I am going through my weekend plans. They came together slowly and the next thing I knew I was planing to drive up to see my family. I can tell you that I am really excited.

Let me tell you a little back Baywood. Baywood is about 3-4 hour north of LA. I will always think of childhood when I go up there. It's quiet and calm and relaxing. There is nature everywhere and right on the bay. I love every moment I am there. This was a very last minute trip. I am driving up by myself in our new car (yay!) Saturday morning and driving home Sunday afternoon. Saturday night I am making dinner for my family Saturday night. I am excited about this. My grandmother's kitchen is always full of music and laughter and talking and love. I've only helped before never actually cooked. I've chopped and flipped and taken things out of ovens and tasted. But never actually cooked a meal. My family doesn't put any pressure on me about it but I am kinda nervous about it. It's a new kitchen to cook in and I will have family there. I think it will be amazing fun. I know no matter what my family will eat what I make, even if they spit it out later. It's like a run through for thanksgiving. I'm hoping to make something in that crazy mass of food and cooks and fun.
I'm also excited about the drive up. It's a drive I know well from years of going up there. I will be making it alone for I think the first time. I will have our new car and books to listen to. It will all be fun. I can't wait!
Of course because it's me I want to bring and make a ton of things for everyone up there. I already have dinner planed but I still have lunch and dessert to think about.

kisses+hugs
mce

Routine

Good Morning!
Today I would like to talk about routine. We all have our own little routines we go through during the day. Some of us stick more closely to these and others just have loose ideas. I never really like routines before. I hated doing the same thing every day. If I did the same thing too many days in a row I would get upset about it, and have to change it. This was before I started working. I was never good at keeping to a routine. But this job makes me love routines so much more. Now when life or circumstances change my routine I get testy and tense. With the family I work for routine is a foreign word. The only thing that is the same almost every day is the time I have to get to work. When I get off fluctuates about 3-4 hours either way. Which kids I have can change and what I need to do with them changes. Each week is different. For example today. Today is Wednesday. Supposedly my day off. Not today. I was told at hour 12 of a 13 hour work day yesterday that I needed to work today. See what I mean? This week started with a 8 hour day (it wasn't supposed to be as of that morning but by 4 the mom had picked up all the kids so I was done) yesterday was a 12.75 hour day. And who knows how long today or the rest of the week will be. With Jono's new change in schedule even life at home has changed. It makes me very outsy. I have made little routines for myself to try to keep level. I wake up and make my lunch. I let the twins watch cartoons and play in the living room  in the morning. I drink my coffee ( I bring from home) and read my blogs, check my email, and write some. I leave about an hour early to get the kids at school and the twins start their nap on the way. I listen to KCRW in the car and sit in the parking lot at the school for about a half hour to an hour while I wait for the kids to get out. Once they get out that's where everything changes. I sometimes take them to the library. I drive around for a while to get the older two to nap ( doesn't always happen) and end up back at the house somewhere between 3-5. That's the end of anything I can predict. I try to keep the mornings as much the same as I can. I feel like it gives me a fighting chance to handle the rest of the day.

Here's another change to routine. I might, key word might, go see my family this weekend. I feel like a little weekend get away might help relax and calm me. It would also be better then sitting at home which is what I will do if I don't go. Since Jono works the whole weekend now I will be by myself all weekend. Doesn't sound like my ideal plan. But like I said it is all up in the air. I feel like my whole life is up in the air at the moment.

hugs+kisses

mce

Tea Cookies

Good Morning!
It is the beginning of a new path. Life isn't easy but when you have great people in your life it can be a little easier then you would think. I have great people in my life and am grateful for every single one of them. I am also realized this past weekend how much I've grown up.
This weekend I cleaned, which before I would not have done on my own. I also cooked a lot so that I have lunches for the week. Before I wouldn't bother with lunches. I never took care of my health and would rather just grab something at work then worry about eating right. I have realized that this is not a good way to deal with your health. So I made a very healthy salad. But I also made cookies.
Now let me talk about these cookies. The original recipe called for Early Gray tea. I didn't have any on hand and did want to buy a box of tea just for a little bit of tea. So I used PG tips. This is more of an English breakfast black tea. Jono likes it so we have a box of it in the house most of the time. It is a slightly darker bolder tea. You can use any tea you have on hand I would think because you don't get a very strong flavor from the tea. I find them to be really cute. I love the look and the fact that you can just bake up a few and leave the rest of the dough log in the freezer till the next time you want cookies.

Earl Grey Tea Cookies
makes 2 dozen
1 cup all purpose flour 

1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon black tea leaves (cheap works better due to the fact it's finer. I used PG tips. )
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla 

1 teaspoon water
1/2 cup unsalted butter
Preheat oven to 375°F. Pulse together all the dry ingredients in a food processor until the tea leaves are pulverized.
Add vanilla, water, and butter. Pulse together until a dough is formed. Form the dough into a log onto a piece of wax or parchment paper. Wrap the paper around and roll the log smooth. Freeze now, or chill for at least 30 minutes.
When chilled, slice the log into 1/3 inch thick pieces. Place on baking sheets and bake until the edges are just brown, about 12 minutes. Let cool on sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire racks.


I would also like to share a little shortcut recipe with you. Potatoes. I love crispy fried potatoes but normally they take forever to cook and I never have the time or the energy to cook then from raw.
ingredents
3 small potatoes ( I tend to keep small red or multi-colored potatoes on hand)
Salt and pepper
Garlic powder
Italian seasoning
olive oil

Take the potatoes stab them with a fork a few times.  Then microwave them for about 2 minutes. I check after each minute to see if they are soft by sticking the fork back in.
When they are mostly soft I take them out and slice them.
Toss them with a little garlic power, Italian seasoning, and salt/pepper.
Throw them in a pan where they can all lay flat and cook them in a little olive oil over midiun high heat.
Cook about 2 minutes per side or till they look golden brown.

Over all the whole thing takes about 10 minutes and you are crispy cooked potatoes. They go great with anything! Any time I'm making dinner and don't know what to make as a side I tend to fall back on this recipe.

Hope you all have a great day!
hugs+kisses
mce 

Changing tides

Hello all,
For those of you who have been reading the past few weeks you may have gotten the impression I was a little frantic. You would be right. I have felt that I haven't been able to get my balance lately. Between the uncertainty of my job and the whole ordeal of moving I've been feeling very off balance. At this point I don't feel as off balance, or I've just gotten used to it. But we got a big shock yesterday.
Jono's hours at the gym have been cut dramatically. He went from 5 days a week down to 2.  I will admit I did have a small panic attack when he called to tell me. This is an issue but not as big as you may initially think. So let me tell you have I have decided to think about this.
This is great. Ok great may be a bit of an over statement but it is not bad. Now there are bad things about it, like the timing. The fact that we have given 30 day notice and are leaving our apartment by November 20th. The worry of having enough money to move into a place we like. But now let me tell you why I say it's great.
As some of you know Jono's job at the gym was selling memberships. He was not aloud to train any clients there at all. For all that I love about the man, he is not a salesman. He doesn't push people and is very up front and truthful about everything even the parts that won't help the sale. This was not the job he wanted. He wants to train. That's where his heart and passion are. So his goal was always to be able to train at the gym. Now he can. Some of the provisions to his cutback was that he got a raise and he can train at the gym. This not only gives him the time to take on more clients outside of the gym but he will get paid more per hour when he trains a client at the gym then he did doing sales. So as sudden and panicking as it was at first it is actually what Jono has been working towards this whole time. It just came a lot sooner and more suddenly then we expected. It also means we will have more time together. We will be able to see each other everyday for the most part. We will be able to have nice sit down dinner together again. I think this change will make everything more stable. He will now have time to do things at the apartment that he never had time for before. I'm very excited for him. And for us.

hugs+kisses
mce

Midweek day off

Good Morning!
The sun is out again in LA. It rained here yesterday. Through the rain we trekked up to the westside for more apartment hunting. We looked at 3 different places. One if them we loved the other 2 not so much. But I have to admit it was all a little stressful for me. Looking at so many places is mandatory if you want to be sure you have found a good place, but god does it take a long time. After a while all the rooms run together in my mind and I can't remember exactly how big this room or that was. It's all a lot of stress that I wasn't sure I even wanted to deal with. But then we had dinner.

Last night we had Oktoberfest at Jono's family's house. First let me clarify something. Jono as 2 families kind of. There is his biological family (his mom and brother) and then he has his other family. This is the Kecks. They live about 4 houses away from his mom and are pretty much family. So when I talk about doing things with Jono's family most times it's the Kecks.  The Kecks have welcomed me more then I could have hoped for. They invite us over for holidays and are very supportive of us. I am more grateful then I can say to have them in our lives.

So back to dinner. We had been invited by Jono's brother (not the real one) at the last minute. Last minute as in I didn't have time to make anything. And we were given no information other then someone was cooking. no location till an hour before. So when we could no longer get a hold of his brother we just went over to his family's house. They had not been told we were coming but quickly put more chairs at the table and set out extra plates. That's the kind of people they are. Dinner was great. The food was amazing (as always at their house) and they are all really fun to hangout with. It really reminded me why we are doing all this searching. They were all excited that we will be moving back up near them so we can come over more often. To be able to go see them more often would be great. It makes all this running around and looking a lot easier when I remember what we will be able to do when we move. To see the people who are important to us more often would be great.

So I am once again excited to look and find the perfect place for us to live.
hugs+kisses
mce

Apartment hunting

Good morning!
Did you all have a good weekend? I hope you all got enough sleep. It never feels like it on Monday morning though. I took naps both Saturday and Sunday and I am still tired Monday morning. I'll never win. Oh well though. I did very little cooking this weekend. But I ate well. So lets talk food!

Saturday was date night for Jono and I. after going to look at an apartment (more about that later) we had no idea where to go. We have a few places that we always seem to go to. We wanted somewhere we haven't been. So we ended up at a Japanese restaurant Jono used to go to when he was little. It was amazing. I have never had eel as good as it was there. It was perfect.
Sunday was my little outing with Jane. The show was a little odd. Ok very odd. DIY and wigs and makeup. With lots of alcohol tastings.  Very strange. But then Jane showed me a great little Peruvian place. It was amazing!!! I would go back today if it wasn't all the way in downtown. It did inspire me though.
Now back to the apartment. It was great. We both fell in love with it. It is a two story town home with a  big patio in the back and a small one in the front. It has 2 bedrooms and 1 1/2 baths. We would have to cut back on some furniture since there isn't a lot of room but It is in Palms and within waling distance to downtown culver city. We still have to get approved for it but I really hope we do and can stop looking. 
The one thing I did cook this weekend was a stew of a sort. I learned a Peruvian beef stew recipe from my Aunt when we went on our road trip this summer. After that great lunch yesterday what I really wanted was that stew or something close. Alas I had no stew meat. But I did have boneless/skinless chicken breasts in the freezer. So I modified the recipe to match what I had on hand. Here is the modified version

Peruvian Stew

4 boneless/skinless Chicken breasts
1 onion ( I used half white and half sweet)
3 Tomatoes (depending on size you may only need 2 I had small ones. they also get smaller while they cook)
5 small potatoes
2 TS olive oil
1 TS aji Pepper powder (you may need to go to a Mexican or South American market to find this. it's a very perticular Peruvian Pepper)
1 tsp  nutmeg
2 tsp garlic powder


Cut the chicken into bite sized chunks. Marinate with Vinegar and salt and pepper. Leave for about an hour.
Cut up tomatoes and onions. heat oil in big pan and add spices. add the onions and tomatoes to pan.
In a seproate pan cook the chicken just till it begins to brown.
Once the tomatoes and onions start to break up and brown add the chicken.
Stir a few times then cover and turn to low. Cook for an hour.
While this is cooking cut up potatoes onto thick strips and cook in a pan till browned on all sides. Add them to the rest of the stew and continue to cook.
After an hour turn off heat and stir a few more times to make sure the spices cover everything. 
Serve over rice or pasta or just plain!

Stews like this are great the day after and I could eat it for weeks. I will have to post the original recipe for you one of these days.