Food!

Behold! Lamb with Mint Ragout. Brian added his to some spaghetti while I ate it straight up. Delicious!

Kirsten, Budgeting Queen!

Ever since losing my job or, more accurately, after having to quit because of my ankle injury, I have become a housewife. Also, uber-cheap shopping queen! For the longest time, I avoided store brands, not because I thought they would be worse than name brand products but because I was not familiar with the store brands here (aka Schnuck's). At home in Washington, I knew what I was getting when I bought a store brand and had become pretty comfortable with it. The change came when I realized that every cent I could save would be a massive help financially and it all started with the store-brand waffles. Half the cost of Eggos and just as tasty! As an aside what is up with the 16 pack of waffles being three times as much as the ten pack? That does not make economical sense. Usually, when one buys a larger quantity package, the price per unit would go down. Weird. Anyway, now I go out of my way to see if there is a store brand of whatever item I'm buying and I check to see if it is in fact less than the name-brand. (I did crack and buy Quaker brand oatmeal because Shcnucks didn't have Strawberries 'n Cream except in the variety pack. Poopers.) Yep. I am super cheap!

Are you bored yet? Well, how about we talk about freezing things? I like to put stuff in the freezer. Pita bread, hamburger buns, leftover meat. Not cooked meat of course, just whatever I didn't need for a recipe but couldn't buy in a smaller quantity. Currently in there: cheese ravioli, one steak, turkey breast tenders, veggie burgers (homemade), pita and burger buns, waffles and fruit pops. Also frozen berries for my smoothies. Another good trick. Giant tub of Schnucks yogurt is really cheap, add a little bit of milk and frozen fruit of your choice and you get a delicious smoothie snack which costs way less than it would if you bought it out.

Now, if only I could make myself always want to cook because there are days when I would much rather just go out and have someone else make my dinner for me. Still have to work on that, but I'm getting there.

And the Results...

Brian Boitano's Coq-Au-Vin-Guine:

Do I Talk About Food Too Much?

I think maybe I do. Perhaps it is because of this thing I'm growing in my tummy that makes me hungry all the time. Anyway. Tonight Brian and I are going to tackle a recipe from What Would Brian Boitano Make? (if you haven't watched it, you are totally missing out on some excellent ridiculousness) Check out the recipe here

August Wrap-Up

It has been an interesting month. Bookended by visits to the hospital/emergency room and in the middle lots of working and not sleeping and feeling like poop. Yup.

Now, I am unemployed. And in all honesty, I don't think I'm going to go back to [redacted] after little one is born. There was too much drama and guilt tripping going on. I'm sorry that I'm pregnant and some days I'm not functional and that means you have to change your plans or miss your day off but it is your restaurant and it is not my fault that I was the only employee you had left and you hadn't even thought about hiring anyone else. Did you think I was going to just pop the baby out and come back to work the next day? And sorry I fell down my front stars and effed up my foot (for a full account of the incident, see the husband's blog) and you had to close early one night because you had tickets to the theatre. Shit happens. And trust me, it sucked way more for me than it did for you. /end rant

I suppose it hasn't been all bad. Little one seems to be growing normally despite only having two vessels in the umbilical cord (apparently, this is pretty common, who knew?) and I don't have gestational diabetes. Whoo. I upped my dosage hopefully for the last time and, at least for the last few days, have been feeling much better.

Brian and I have been cooking a bit more in the last couple weeks. The tomato soup was not a great success, but if you dipped grilled cheese in it, it was much better. We made jambalaya courtesy of a mix from the Soulard spice shop and some delicious Andouille from the Soulard meat market. Also there is a pound of ground lamb in the freezer just waiting to be made into a fake gyro. We made some delicious chili as well. Unfortunately, Brian left it sitting out overnight and I could not have seconds. Brian, of course, decided it was fine and has been eating the leftovers all week. No signs of sickness yet. Finally, and then I promise I'll be done talking about food, we made cheese ravioli last night with a spinach-artichoke sauce. Sinfully delicious. Plus the recipe made way too much sauce for the pasta, so the leftovers are going to be used as dip for our tortilla chips.

Yesterday, we went to the baseball game cause, you know, free Adam Wainwright bobbleheads. Had to trade in our tickets for handicap seats, but they turned out to be amazing! Right on the first base foul line (or whatever you call it, I don't know all the lingo) and on the first level. Pretty freaking sweet. Oh, and we won!

That's about it. Now, I'm limping around the house doing housework in ten minute bursts because that's about all the time my ankle can be stood on without pain.

Food Ambition

So. During the day, I watch a lot of Food Network. And I do mean a lot. About the only thing on daytime television (other than soap operas and court shows, which I would not watch if my life depended on it) is reruns of the Daily Show/Colbert Report and food network. And since I tend to watch the Daily Show when it first airs - unless I've already passed out from exhaustion - I watch such high quality television as Guy's Big Bite and Semi-Homemade Cooking. Although I have yet to see anything on either of those two shows that I would actually want to make, I did see something ridiculously delicious on Tyler's Ultimate the other day. Roasted Tomato Soup.

Let me just digress for a moment. During the first few months of my pregnancy, about the only food that did not make me actively nauseous was the creamy tomato soup from Bread Co. I ate it almost every day. Unfortunately, it is a "seasonal" item and it was discontinued for the summer. I don't know why; it was one of the most popular soups on the menu. So, my inside source at B. Co tells me that they are bringing it back soon but I just can't wait any longer. And I really have no desire to set foot in there ever again (despite the delicious new pastries which Desiree has been tempting me with all week).

Okay. Where was I? So this recipe was on his Ultimate Mac-n-cheese show and I just could not help myself. We're gonna make both of them this weekend. Brian and I went down to the farmer's market this morning - it is very strange to be there not on a Saturday, by the way - to get some supplies. We got the tomatoes and the onions and the garlic, but the whole reason why I wanted to go down there instead of to the grocery store was because they usually have herbs for about $1 a bunch. Unfortunately, the farm stand that has the herbs wasn't there today. Grr. Also the recipe seems a bit more complicated than we are used to making. Oh well, keeping my fingers crossed that we don't screw it up too badly. I want me some tomato soup!

Belated Thanksgiving Related Silliness

We make pie. Kirsten plays with iMovie. Here are the results.

The Joy of Being a Housewife

Is it so wrong to enjoy being a housewife?

Because of my work schedule I often work weekends which means my days off usually fall on weekdays (either Thursday/Friday or Monday/Tuesday) and since the husband suffers from a 9-5 office job I find myself at home alone on my days off. These are the days I get to play housewife and I actually kind of like it. Granted the first few months of this schedule I spent my days asleep, reading or immobile on the couch recovering but now that I've gotten a little more used to the schedule I find I have lots of energy and instead of being bored I clean. It is nice to have a clean house. A dust and cat hair free house (at least for a couple of hours). I get a certain amount of pleasure out of a freshly dusted and wood polished dining room table (which hasn't been cleared off in about three months). And I like making a shopping list and going to the grocery store in the middle of the afternoon.

Last Friday we made chicken pot pie. If I hadn't been able to go through all my cookbooks during the day and come to this decision we probaly wouldn't have made such deliciousness. We tend to wait until right before its dinner time to pick a recipe and go shopping and since this was a fairly involved recipe with lots of ingredients we probably would have passed it over. Instead we got to enjpoy individual pies full of potatoes and chicken and peas and green beans with a flaky and fantastic fillo dough crust.

Oh and I pretty much hate my job so the idea of being a housewife and not working has a definite appeal. This week for example I was reduced to tears by a coworker. A domineering bossy bitchy coworker who treats me like a complete idiot who doesn't know how to do their job. Oh and she doesn't even outrank me at all. Her rudness and her bossiness had been building a lot of resentment in me until finally I snapped over something really stupid, told the GM about it and then went into the bathroom and cried for five minutes before coming back and having to deal with customers while I was still trying to fight back tears. While I was doing this I could hear her yelling at my GM about how I was always whining and crying to him about something (which is lie since I have previously only cried at work twice before, once because she snapped at me because she thought I was being rude to her (which I wasn't) and once because the baker told me I had gotten to work too early and he wasn't going to let me in anymore even though he doesn't have the authority to tell me when I can and cannot get to work). I wanted to go back there and smack her. But I didn't. Anyway, my GM is awesome and probaly effectively told her she was being a bitch and to back off. So problem solved. Except I still have to deal with psychotic bitch queen three to four times a week at 4:30 in the morning when I'm barely awake and haven't gotten any sleep. /end rant

Other things going on:

• I started taking a spinning class at the gym. Is it normal for your crotch to hurt that much after only an hour on a bike?
• We bough Mario Kart for the Wii and its awesome
• We won a Playstation 3 in a drawing that we don't even remember entering
• I have a new musical obsession: Ludo. Seriously, check out their album You're Awful, I Love You it is truly fantastic.

Simple Delicious Food

When it comes to cooking I tend not to be too creative on my own. I like recipes. However, the other night the husband and I got crazy in the kitchen. Okay, he got crazy and I just watched television. The result: Grilled Turkey Pita. Want to know how to make it? I guess I can tell you.

Take some boneless/skinless turkey breast and season with some poultry rub (we're fancy so we used some from Harry & David). Then grill it along with some slices of zucchini. Take some whole wheat pita, add some soft spreadable cheese (Laughing Cow) and your grilled turkey and zucchini and then dip in some ranch. Deliciousness.

Now I'm hungry.

Movies, Movies and More Movies

It seems like all I've down the last week has been watch movies (and television shows, but we'll get to that in a minute). The husband and I went to the Chase last week and indulged in some good natured fun in the form of Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day. The plot is basically this: Miss Pettigrew is dimissed from her governess job and desperate to find a new one she intercepts an employment offer but it turns out its for a social secretary not a governess. Silliness and sappiness ensue. It was a pretty cute movie, all feel-good and everything, plus Amy Adams is extremely charming. I recommend it for a good laugh but if you are not feeling like spending a bunch of money to go to the theater definitely worth a rent when it comes out on DVD.

This past Sunday, a friend of mine came over and having made some really delicious dinner (burgers with cheddar cheese inside it and horseradish and also some delicious red velvet cookies), we rented a couple of movies. Yes, rented. Went to Blockbuster and rented. I think its been about a year since I've actually been in a video store. We watched The Ten, a very ridiculous and sometimes midly disturbing movie. Then Monday morning I remained immobile for most of the morning watching Across the Universe. Now, I've heard that people either love this movie or hate it but I'm actually pretty indifferent. It was a visually very pretty and I do love the Beatles and the versions of the songs (at least I thought) were actually quite well done. Maybe I should watch it again and see if I like more the second time around.

But I have to take it back to the store so, hmm...Anywho...

Went to the movies again tonight and saw The Other Boleyn Girl. Not great but not bad, a little intense at some points. And as my friend and I were saying, there's just something about a man with big puffy sleeves. Sigh.

Finally. Finally. Been watching this television show that I remember watching when I was in high school. I'm not going to tell what it is because its a little embarassing but I'm enjoying myself and the really bad acting and so ridiculously overdramaticness of it all, so there.

Welcome Aboard / Thoughts on Rachael Ray

Debut Post! This blog doesn't really have much of a point so don't expect a whole lot of deep posts about the meaning of life (or the meaning of my life). For the most part I just started this as sort of a dump for random thoughts on things I'm interested in like cooking, books, movies, music, etc. So please enjoy today's topic: Rachael Ray...

Okay. Now I know most (a lot) of people I know cannot stand her for reasons ranging from her use of cutsey phrases (like EVOO and Yum-O) to just her voice. Very few of the complaints actually stem from her recipes because (shocker) they are good.

So let us first talk about her wonderful cutsey phrases. Personally, I find that there is nothing wrong with them. Just because she talks that way does not mean that she wants everyone else in the world to talk that way to. And its not like everyone is devoid of verbal ticks. I say "actually" and "no big deal" and many other embarassing phrases that fortunately I have managed to only say around Brian but let's jsut say that if anyone else heard them they would probably want to vomit. So there you go. And sometimes I find myself thinking EVOO in my head (begin the mocking now). As for her voice, who cares.

And finally we come to the food. I have only made two recipes of hers so far that I have not liked. The first was this salad that probably would have been pretty good except the dressing part of the recipe was inedible (in fact her dressings are always a little weird but this one was actually full on disgusting). The other recipe was for Green Goddess Dip that might not have been so bad if it hadn't actually been green and if I wasn't already obsessed with the Melting Pot's version of the dip which tastes almost nothing like this one did. But I digress. What I was really going to say was that for people who aren't, you know, aspiring gourmet chefs her recipes are easy and tasty. And (huzzah) only take about 45 minutes (30 minutes, my ass like I'm that fast at chopping stuff) to make which for people who can't figure out what they want to eat until it's actually time to cook dinner, very helpful. Plus a lot of her recipes include the side dishes so you don't even have to think about that. Whole meals in one recipe including when you should start working on the side = awesome! Anywho for dinner last night we made Spanish Style Chicken with Mushroom-Chorizo Sauce and Butter-Herb Potatoes. Delicious. See visual proof.