Overcoming Some Fears

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This weekend has been a whirlwind! We left town Thursday night for St. Louis. Dad had a conference to attend on Friday and Mr. N, Miss A and I were tagging along to enjoy a little change of scenery and visit the City Museum. The weekend wasn’t without its challenges – Miss A caught a cold, the conference hotel left a little to be desired and the wi-fi didn’t work (gasp!).  That said, we did squeak out some good times – dinner with an old friend, a visit to Union Station, lots of pillow fights, giggles and a few winery stops.

But my favorite part of the weekend, by far, was the three hours Mr. N and I spent at the City Museum. With Miss A under the weather, she and Dad stayed back at the hotel. Fortunately at 2-1/2 years old hotels are still a major novelty – elevators, fluffy bedding, escalators – it’s a virtual kids museum in its own right. As for Mr. N and I, we kept busy climbing through tunnels, shooting out slides, caving, crawling in cages suspended high above the ground, and descending 10-story slides! As a sufferer of a fear of heights and a claustrophobic, this was both a death-defying and positively exhilarating experience for me. It was a thrill to overcome some mild fears and truly explore with the wonder of a child again. Needless to say Mr. N had the time of his life, and often tried stuff first to make sure it was safe for me! So, if you ever visit St. Louis – it’s a definite must-see for children and adults alike.

So that brings us to this evening. Continue reading →

Aloha! Our Epic Cooking Journey to Hawaii

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Last week Mr. N took us to Indiana for our  mid-week stateside adventure. This week it was Miss A’s turn and she went for a more exotic destination – Hawaii! She’s been quite fascinated with the state after learning that mom, dad and Mr. N were there before she was born and that we’re trying to plan for a trip there again next year (fingers crossed!). The first choices for our dinner were obvious – a Tropical Fruit Salad and the nonalcoholic version of the Lava Flow. Mr. N and I indulged quite frequently in this delicious little drink on our last trip to the Big Island, and he was very excited to try them at home. As for our main course, after a little digging through internet recipes we decided to try the Manapua. Coincidentally the manapua recipe was brought to the Hawaiian Islands by the Chinese – so it’s a good fit for our international theme this week too.  Continue reading →

Good Fortune and Chopsticks

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Now that everyone has had a chance to select a location, it’s Mr. N’s turn again and this time he’s taking us to China. Both he and Miss A enjoy Chinese food – especially with Nana and Papa who often take them out for Chinese. So for Mr. N’s first recipe selection we’re going with Kung Pao Chicken served over jasmine rice. This promised to be a quick and tasty meal – just what we needed before heading out to a St. Baldrick’s fundraiser (excellent cause by the way).

Miss A was responsible for measuring and pouring tonight. She began with the sesame oil for the stir fry. Mr. N in the meantime got to try out the potato peeler on some fresh ginger. He seemed a bit nervous at first, but quickly got the hang of it. Dad took care of cutting the chicken and I tended to cooking the initial ingredients at the stove.  Continue reading →

Back Home Again in Indiana

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We had such a great time cooking a Californian meal last week, that we thought we’d continue our tour of the states and make it our mid-week meal plan. Tonight Mr. N is taking us to Indiana. While we’ve never really called Indiana home, most of my dad’s family hails from the Hoosier state. So on tonight’s menu – The Hoosier Pork Tenderloin Sandwich. (So much for not deep-frying again anytime soon!)

We began the meal with a little hammering. It seems we don’t own a meat mallet, so we used the next best thing – a hammer wrapped with plastic wrap. While mom and dad were a little embarrassed to post the pictures of our “meat mallet”, Mr. N and Miss A sure thought it was fun to use Dad’s hammer on food! First we butterflied the pork loin chops, then we beat them until they were about a quarter-inch thick. Meanwhile we were heating the olive oil in a skillet. Once the oil was ready we dipped the pork into milk and then into the breading mixture of flour, corn meal, salt and pepper.  Continue reading →

We win some and lose some….

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…and we sure are having fun! Tonight was our second foray with Greek cooking, and it was probably the most fun we’ve had yet. We opted for the Kotopitta me Feta (Chicken and Feta Pie) recipe using a homemade Whole Wheat Phyllo Dough. As we’re all big fans of feta and chicken, we were really looking forward to this meal.

Our adventure began early this afternoon with our phyllo. The phyllo gave us all the opportunity to do something we love – Mr. N got to make a pool of oil and water in the flour mix (he spends hours making holes and filling them with water on the beach), Miss A got to smash and flip the dough (much how she does with her play dough), Dad got to make a mess with the flour, and I just get such satisfaction out of a good a pie crust.  Continue reading →

California Dreaming on a Winter’s Day

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Earlier this week Dad left for a conference in sunny California. It’s the first time in quite sometime that we’ve been apart – and the kiddos sure are missing him. And while I’m enjoying hogging an entire bed, I  miss him too. So tonight we decided to break with protocol a bit and cook-up a weeknight meal straight out of California. The recipe idea was given to us by a good friend Beth – a great cook and former New Englander, turned Californian (even though she’s now mostly in FL). Beth threw out a few meal options and the kids liked the idea of Breakfast Burritos. Thanks Beth! So here’s to you Dad.  We hope you’re enjoying CA and can’t wait to see you!  Continue reading →