Creative Cooking for 1

When you are living thirty minutes from a grocery store and only have to cook for 1, food gets . . . creative!

I had some leftover black bean mush from making burgers the other night so I threw it in a pan and made a hash. I topped that with a couple bits of leftover bacon, two farm-fresh friend eggs over easy, a couple slices of local tomato and avocado still sitting around from sandwich making, and a handful of oyster mushrooms sauteed in sesame oil.

For dinner I sliced up one local yellow squash and sauteed it with a dash of Lawry's. Bundled some asparagus and steamed it with lemon pepper, and threw some leftover grilled pork tenderloin medallions in a sauce pan with a mix of (real) maple syrup and dijon mustard until it was heated through and the sauce thickened. I was really impressed with the presentation. Not to mention the flavors.

For those times when you run out of leftovers, but are not yet brave enough to make the trip all the way into the store. I am officially obsessed with Tazo Organic Chai tea. It is prefect.

More at the Lake

Predawn at the ski course. Five mornings a week begin here.

Just making our way back home for breakfast as the sun comes up. We had a short ski session because I pulled my shoulder and was driver only for my Papa.

We lost (misplaced) yet another credit card over the weekend. Mom was less than thrilled. Photo evidence that the card by some miracle washed up on our beach (instead of being found in my sweatshirt pocket). This also doubled as a test as to whether or not you should cancel a credit card that has fallen out of your pocket in a lake. Don't bother, they sink very quickly.

RibberFest

Down in Madison, IN they have the annual RibberFest each summer. There is a professional and amature BBQ cook off. Chefs cook everything from poultry to pig and there is even a game category. We enjoyed some award winning dinner while listening to live blues musicians.

Once the sun was down they also have a balloon glow on the banks of the Ohio River. This is to build excitement for the big balloon race the following day.

Sasha wanders through the vendor stalls sampling their goods.

Miss Piggy has some good looking BBQ pork chops.

Meanwhile

Sasha has been working on a mutant vehicle. This is a whole new breed of land yacht:



This vehicle was, at one point, a boring old 24' long 1993 U-haul Box truck. It now appears to be a totally awesome urban assault vehicle, thanks to the efforts of many, many people.






However, looks can be deceiving. The truck is not designed for violence, in fact it is wired to party! The primary weapon is sound, and lots of it: 3,000 watts of music. And the interior is as stylish as can be:



Yes, that is a detail of the interior of this box truck. Imagine us sitting inside sipping snifters of brandy around the fire. If you want to see more, you'll have to go to Burning Man.

Diving Board Picture!!

While home visiting family in Indiana my cousin and new wife flew in from Barcelona and had a wedding reception for all the local family and friends. In attendance was the Laughlin-Chaille family and as tradition goes... the kids were forced into the "diving board" line-up. (long story which used to include an acutal diving board) This year we were missing 2 people - which brought our cousin count down to 25 in all.

First Adventure with Baby Food

I've only read the reviews on the Beaba Babycook and now that I've finally had a chance to use one I approve! My sister has a little boy who is almost 6 months old. She and her husband are just starting to introduce real foods to his diet and they want to do it right. Megan and I spent an afternoon whipping up some healthy (freezable) options.

We used a brownie bite pan to make individual portions of broccoli, green beans, and melon. The most fantastic part of this home-made food is that each type took about fifteen minutes to prepare and everything tastes like it should!

Gardening on LI

Back in the U.S. of A.

I am working on a top-secret project. Tara is too. We will keep you posted as soon as we can, and we will also post some pictures from our recent summer travels as well.

ttfn,

sasha