But Kristie's Kitchen Isn't!

....closed, that is. 

And someday I will post my musings about aprons.

Kristie hosted our friend, Julie's, 50th birthday party last night.

It was just a chick thing. 

The ten of us who head up to Wisconsin once a year

to spend a long weekend together. I have many things to say

about this amazingly random (but not) group of women but

I think I really want to talk about last night. 

Kristie was kind enough to ask for my input for last night's menu.

I threw out some suggestions and she decided on a fabulous

Chicken in Mushroom and Wine Sauce dish (one of her specialties), 

wild rice, and the Tomato Goat Cheese Tarts I made a

 couple of weeks ago. I offered to bring the tarts

but seeing as how I was short one kitchen at the moment, asked if I 

could just come there to cook. Kristie liked that idea so much that

she invited Val and Carol to join us.

 It was the party before the party!

I chopped all the onions and discovered that we each

have our own intuitive way of prepping ingredients, and they 

aren't all the same. Kristie was very gracious about what 

I have to believe she saw as "oddly cut" onions, but I don't

 believe they harmed the finish product (?) 

Val helped with the mushrooms. 

Carol stirred stuff. 

Nice plate, huh?

Val made a chocolate cheese cake and a  rolled pumpkin cake. 

I can't believe I didn't get a picture of that! 

What was way cool, though, was watching her unroll the cake,

 lay the filling on it and then roll it back up.

It sounds so intimidating but not so much any more having

witnessed it firsthand. And now I know Val can make one of those

puppies for me anytime I want :o)

It was so much fun to be able to be part of the preparations

and enjoy the time together. 

It made me think about the chopping party before Michael's

wedding and the salad making day before Court's.

We may gather around the table but I think it's the food that

gathers US together. 

And, I love girlfriends. 

That is all. 

The Kitchen is Closed

But we can still make coffee!

Notice the lovely shade of country blue where the stove sits.

The kitchen was the very first thing I painted when we 

moved into this house. Like the first week!

You can tell how desperate I was for that blue to be gone, 

I didn't even wait for Mike to get home from work to move the stove.

"I'll just paint around it!"

I think I'll leave the blue there. It feels like an archeological dig when

you redecorate and find traces of what went before.

Our last house had two layers of wall paper on almost every wall. 

You could absolutely date the era of each previous remodel.

The living room had one of those forest murals. That was fun!

!!!70's!!!

At my mom's town house someone had let the kids

"sign" the walls before they papered. Cute.

When I take old furniture pieces and paint them I will quite

often leave the underside alone. You can see bits and flecks

of previous colors and finishes. I think it adds to the piece's

character, it's personality.

Hmm, now my mind wanders to my face. 

I suppose all these lines that are showing up on it are just part

of my character, gives me personality.

Hmmmm, not buying it yet.

Pass the Botox!

Chocolate Waffles and a Doll

Oh, yes, you can!

My family has been making chocolate waffles since I can't

remember when.

Mike and I started adding a layer of frosting about a 

year ago and have found Nirvana. 

It's simply a box cake mix that you make according to the directions.

You just cook it in a waffle iron! 

My Great-Aunt Olive used to make waffles for my sister and I guess

she used a round waffle iron. Gaye decided the only good waffle

is a round waffle and our whole family has subscribed to that 

theory ever since. Hmm, I don't remember

 Aunt Olive ever making waffles for me.

 I do remember going with her to the Doll Hospital to have

 her childhood doll repaired. Her sister had an identical doll 

and when Aunt Grace died, Aunt Olive had her doll buried with her. 

Some doll museum had approached Aunt Olive to have her doll

displayed there. Aunt Olive wouldn't hear of it. To put her

beloved doll behind glass. Nobody talking to her. 

Don't ask me why it was OK to bury Aunt Grace's doll. 

That's another whole psych study.

For some reason we did not do the same with Aunt Olive's doll.

So, here she sits. 

Gaye got waffles, I got a doll.

I try to say Hi to her once in a while. 

I think if you didn't know Aunt Olive and her love

for this doll, she might have that kind of creepy Chuckie look.

I know she had a name, but I don't remember it.

Her little dress is absolutely disintegrating. 

Aunt Olive was a special lady.

I don't think I can give her doll away. 

Shanna is four generations removed.

I think I'll let her figure it out.

Later. 

If you know what I mean ;o)

A Little Treat From the Summer

This is Aggie's Black Bean Grilled Burrito. 

Except she calls them Skillet Grilled Burritos. 

Fine. 

Semantics aside, it's a great little dish.

I did not put spinach in mine because Mike is pretty sure that

 he doesn't like it. Kinda like he's pretty sure he doesn't

 like Chinese food, but that's another whole can o'worms. 

I used Aldi's "Fit and Active"Multi Grain Wraps. 

I took Aggie's good advice and used some shredded 

rotisserie chicken just to make life easier. 

There's a yummy Creamy Cilantro-Jalapeno sauce it

all gets mixed with. Aggie notes where she has swapped

out ingredients. Some people may call it "substituted"

but that just implies you fell short and didn't have 

what was deemed necessary. 

I rather to think of swapping out some odd ingredient for something 

else I must prefer because I have it in my kitchen. 

It's all in how you look at things. 

http://aggieskitchen.com/2009/01/20/welcome-home-fiesta-real-margaritas-and-skillet-grilled-burritos/

http://aggieskitchen.com/2010/11/04/adventures-in-napa/

Right now I'm trying to figure out how to look at this and not 

be consumed with envy. 

I'm so happy for Aggie. 

Really I am. 

And actually, the post is going to be very useful when 

Mike plans our trip to Napa.

Someday. 

Really. 

The Power of Pie

This is quite possibly the most expensive piece of pie you are likely to ever see.

My husband and son like apple pie.

They LOVE Ann Erickson's apple pie.

My aunt likes to support her church's bake sales.

She LOVES Mike and Michael. 

Can you see where this is going?

 Ever since she figured out how much my guys love

 this pie she has made it her mission to be 

certain nobody else in that church gets their grubby mitts

on her guys' pie. She calls Ann as soon as she knows there

is a bake sale in the offing and she puts her money down.

I don't have an exact dollar amount but it has been intimated that

it is considerable. Ann then calls us and arranges the drop. She 

is always very certain to remind Mike to thank his Aunt for it. 

I think we forgot once or twice. oops. 

Big Mary was lamenting one day that she just doesn't get

to see Michael and Michelle very much since they got married.

I suggested she hold the apple pies "ransom". 

You know, have Ann deliver them to her and then she 

could call the guys and tell them to come and get some. 

I felt it was genius. 

She's too sweet for that. 

So, here's the pie. 

Sitting at my house. 

I'm not so sweet.

I believe Michael will be stopping by tomorrow. 

Tomato & Goat Cheese Tarts

I love Ina Garten. 

And I'm pretty fond of Val.

She gave me Ina's cookbook, "Back to Basics"

for my birthday. 

Actually, I love Val and am pretty fond of Ina.

Val is a quiet woman but is very passionate about things. 

It's kinda cool if you think about it.

 Someone who feels very strongly about many things and 

those around her know it, but somehow she 

is able to make us aware of those things without pounding us 

over the head with her views. You have to respect that. 

It cracks me up that my posts will start out being about one thing

 and then inevitably turn and wind up being about the 

people in my life. God has blessed me with

 amazing people in my path. 

But back to the food. 

How cool is this picture?

I really am not good at the photo side of this blog thing

but I think this one catches all the components of the tart.

Ina's recipe was for four 6 inch tarts with one

large slice of tomato in the middle.

I wanted to feed 6 people dinner and felt the tarts would

need accompaniments. So, I switched to mini tarts and

 bought a pint of small mixed heirloom tomatoes. 

Making 18 mini tarts was a bit labor intensive but was totally 

worth the effort. 

Then I got a vision of how I wanted the plate to look. 

I cooked mini farfalle, dressed it with some Rosso Pesto

(that I picked up at Aldi) some toasted pine nuts, fresh basil and a little

shaved parm on top. Then a little green salad with 

thinly sliced apples, craisins and walnuts tossed 

with a raspberry walnut vinaigrette. 

Once again my photographic abilities leave a bit to be desired

but you get the idea. 

And just to come full circle and end with a people thing, 

I love that Ina eats her cooking.

Just saying, you can't really trust a skinny chef.....

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/tomato-and-goat-cheese-tarts-recipe/index.html

Cookie Stuffed Brownies

I was talking with a gal the other evening and was telling her 

about cookie stuffed cupcakes. She told me about basically the

same thing but with brownies!

YUM!

I toyed with the idea of making the brownies in cupcake

form but decided to go the easy way and just make a pan.

I used a "family" size brownie mix that I am not

convinced is any bigger than a regular mix. I think they put those

words on the box to make me want them more.

Whatever. 

As you can see "family" size was not so generous that

the cookie dough was able to sink down in. 

Don't get me wrong, it did not diminish the delicious factor,

just the aesthetic factor. 

YUM. 

But I said that already, didn't I?

So, next time I believe I will get two of the "family"

sized bad boys and make a layer of brownie batter,

plop down the cookie dough, 

and then another layer of brownie batter on top

then bake. 

They will probably need a longer bake time but how 

much fun to have the cookie inside to be a 

surprise!