Because it really is personal…

NOAA shows them lining up like mid-day traffic at Hartsfield Airport.

I wonder if Hannah will be kept pushed to the east by Gustav (damn ye!), and hit us along the east coast. It’s been a while, I guess we’re due.

Here’s my plan: Pack up, head west to my parent’s. They have plenty of room, I can bring the dogs and the cat, and I’ll fill the cooler full of food. I’m glad we have a truck now. 2 of them even, if you count #3 and the Green Bean.

“Always prepare for the worst, then if it happens, you’re ready, and if it doesn’t, you’re pleasantly surprised.” Who said that? I did. I’ts my philosophy, how I live my life. Not quite abject paranoia, but y’know, it never hurts to have a plan.

It sure looks like hurricane season is going to be a whopper.

New Orleans is telling everyone to GET THE HELL OUT NOW! and THERE WILL BE NO SHELTERS! and IF YOU STAY YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN! I don’t blame them, they still haven’t recovered from Katrina, how on earth could they be expected to managed another punch to the gut like that.

Well. Good people of Louisiana, I can’t do much for you except pray, and that I am.

Last night saw me fixin’ a Rachel Ray 30 Minute Meal. Oh man, it was good. Yes indeed, and made plenty of leftovers for eating on this weekend.

Did I take pictures? No, of course not. I was so caught up in the fun of it all I just forgot.

Anyway, the meat part was a pan seared tilapia with a brown butter-basalmic vinegar sauce. And that’s all it was. Toss the fish in some flour, pan sear it with a dab of oil, and made brown butter and a reduction of balsamic vinegar. 4 ingredients. How simple is that?

The Star Attraction (the fish was delicious, but the pasta that went with it caused rolling of eyes and groans of a near-sexual nature)

Cook a box of bowtie pasta. While the water is heating up and all, cut up a handful of bacon and fry it (in a great big skillet)until it’s almost completely crispy but not quite. Add a chopped up sweet onion (Vidalia) and 4 or 5 big cloves of garlic, chopped fine. Then chop up 2 large tomatoes, or maybe 6 or 7 Romas, and add those (Ms Ray used canned tomatoes, fine, I suppose, but I refuse to used canned when fresh is on hand). Slice a 1/2 pound of fresh mushrooms and add that.Turn it down to low and let it simmer. While it simmers, cook the fish like I said up there.
Plate the fish and cover with foil, then melt 3/4 stick real butter and let it get toasty brown. Add 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar (it spatters, be careful) and turn the heat down, to let it reduce to about 1/2.

Now is the fun part. Take an 8 oz block of cream cheese (I used the lowfat stuff and it worked fine) and soften it in the microwave- 30 seconds or so. Stir it into the tomato mushroom sauce, and add salt and pepper to taste. Ms Ray said use marscapone cheese, but I’d have to drive 50 miles to get that. Cream cheese worked fine. Just make sure you soften it up a bit first.
Get a great big bowl, and stir the pasta and sauce together.

Oh y’all. It’s good. Ms Ray knocked it out of the park with this one.

Put a couple bits of fish on your plate, drizzle with a couple tablespoons of the butter reduction stuff, and pile some pasta. The balsamic sauce will kinda run into the pasta and the flavors together are marvelous.

I mean, think about it. It’s a pasta dish, with cream cheese and bacon. And garlic. Does it get any better than that?

*EDIT*
I can’t believe I forgot this part. After you simmer the tomato sauce for a bit, and before you add the cream cheese, stir in a cup or so of frozen green peas. It’s important I how I forgot that part, I can’t imagine.

Call him a parasite.

I mean, really. They’re like 2 yr olds with a stronger sense of entitlement. They think they’re all grown up and ought to be allowed to make all their own (very bad) decisions then they get pissy with you when said decisions have dire consequences.

No specifics, today. I’m just not feeling terribly charitable toward a certain member of the household.

I dunno what I’m going to cook today. #3 requested Chicken Parmesan, so I am considering it. I think whether or not I fix it depends on whether or not he’s in my good graces. Right now, at 6:48am, he’s not. Not really. He’s being a bit bossy with this younger brother, chasing him out of the gameroom with shouts when #4 just wanted to get his copy of Ivanhoe to read until the bus came. #3 also TURNED ON THE AIR CONDITIONER!!! in the game room, whilst neglecting to close the window. (It’s only, like 85 outside, with about 176% humidity)Gadzooks, as if power wasn’t expensive enough already. As if there wasn’t a big note ductaped to the A/C controls threatening all sorts of bodily harm to anyone (other than me, of course)who touched the buttons. So no, I am not feeling kindly disposed towards him right now. The butthead. Maybe if he comes home and voluntarily blows the pinestraw off the driveway, I’ll reconsider. Yeah right. He never volunteers to do anything. Why should I fix a moderately complicated and salt/fat-laden meal for him just because he wants it?

Now #3 is going out to wait on the bus, which has come as early as 6:30 and as late as 7:20 and I’ve received 2 notes from the Transportation Dept, one promising to pick him up at 6:35 and another at 6:55. I’m going to watch and see when they come today, and if it’s 7:20 like it’s been Monday and Tuesday, I’m calling to gripe. I mean, I don’t *mind* them coming at 7:20, as long as they do it every day. I just don’t like getting him up at 5:30, thinking the bus comes at 6:30 and it doesn’t show ’til 7:20. He could get in a solid extra 50 minutes sleep, y’know. We could all use that. Anyway, I’m going out to sit on the front porch and wait with him and Hank the Cowdog (terrific kids books, if you haven’t ever read one).

I’m thinkin’ maybe a big sissy green salad for supper. With homemade vinagrette and estrogen filled edemame in place of meat. If #3 doesn’t like it he can have ramen noodles.

Today’s culinary adventure involves a tiny South American grain called red quinoa. I recommend it highly, as it’s quick and easy (well, relatively quick- cooks in about 15 minutes) and a fine foundation for any sort of savory additives. I’m cooking mine with onions, garlic, bell pepper, cumin, paprika and dried chipotle. I’m also mixing in a couple of cans of black beans. I’ll take some pictures of the finished product later, but here’s the deconstructed version, in my attempt to be all artsy and stuff with it.

I’m also grilling a flat iron steak and have made a chimmichurri sauce to go with it. The sauce has some of the same ingredients as the quinoa (garlic, cilantro) and I like to overlap flavors a little bit. I’ve never grilled a flat iron steak before, so we’ll see how it goes. Rumor is, it’s a tender cut and all the rage at pseudo-fern bars like TGIFridays and Ruby Tuesdays and you know the kind of place.

Here is a picture of the deconstructed sauce:

and here’s a closeup of the herbs, thanks to my herb garden (except for the cilantro, that came from the grocery store)

They are, from left to right, tarragon, rosemary thyme, oregano, and cilantro. Mmm the kitchen smells nice when those are whizzing up in the food processor.

I’ll put some pictures up of the finished products sometime later. Probaby tomorrow.

Ok, it’s later.

Here’s the red quinoa with black beans. Credit for the recipe goes to Epicurious, tho I did fiddle a little bit with it, because I am constitutionally unable to refrain from fiddling. I know, it could be mistaken for barf-in-a-bowl, but it tasted good and had an interesting chewy texture.

and this is the flat iron steak with chimmichurri sauce, recipe also from Epicurious, and also fiddled with a bit.

I have to say that my family, never picky eaters anyway, absolutely loved both dishes. Even the 9 yr old, who would live off chicken fingers and popsicles if he could, asked for seconds on the chimmichurri. #3 (17) announced that he would request to have this meal for his birthday when he turns 18. That I should go ahead and plan on it.

#3 wondered earlier today, as he watched me humming happily in the kitchen, what was the genesis of all this culinary tomfoolery. It’s simple, really. I am a creative personality. I love to try new things, especially in the kitchen. If I can find new things to try that are ridiculously cheap, I’m so much the happier. When we went to Brighter Day last Saturday, I loaded up on stuff I’ve never tried before. Hence the Israeli couscous, red quinoa, and there’s a bag of sweet brown rice waiting to tested. I wonder if it’s as sticky as sweet white rice, and if so, could I make some sort of Vegetarian’s Wet Dream of a sushi roll with it?

mmm sushi. That’s something else I need to make. I wonder if the local sushi shop would sell me a nice Ahi steak, all fresh and stuff. Mmmm. They make this thing called a GSU roll that’s ahi tuna (raw, of course), avocado, and cucumber and rolled in toasted sesame seeds. yum. I have a brand new unopened pack of nori. I could do it, if the rice is right (haw! *snort*).

No wonder I’m so…hm…zaftig. If food didn’t taste so darn good, and come in so many delicious varieties, I’d be…y’know…not-so-Rubenesque.

But, I am unwilling to compromise my appetite for the sake of something so silly as vanity.

Today, I roasted a chicken. I have a picture of the pre-roasted chicken, but once it came out of the oven the Horde descended upon it and made it look like a a pile of bones, therefore I do not have a picture of the finished product.

I toasted some Israeli couscous, carmelized onions and garlic, and stirred in some peas. the final product saw the couscous cooked in chicken broth and the pan dripping from the roasted chicken, and the onions/peas mix stirred in. It met with hearty approval from The Horde.

Yum. Tomorrow’s culinary adventure: red quinoa