Haikus of My Summer So Far

Crap, it's summer break
Too many kids, too much time
September please come now

Crafts, parks, bikes, splash pads
I can do this, it won't beat me
Am I Supermom?

Burgers on the grill
Ketchup, mustard, relish, bun
Cold beer, I need some

Water and sunscreen
Cheese sticks, crackers, apples, lunch
Ferries, Centreville

Summer is fleeting
Precious time with my wee kids
It all goes too fast

Buttery Rosemary Sweet Potatoes

3 sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced 1/4" thick
1/3 cup butter
2 tbsp fresh minced rosemary
sea salt and fresh pepper to taste

Boil potatoes until 3/4 cooked. Drain and set aside. On stove top, melt butter and add rosemary. Heat gently for 3-5 minutes. Toss potatoes with butter mixture and wrap in foil. Place on BBQ on medium/high heat for 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and serve immediately.

Employment

I have not been gainfully employed for some time now. I know, I know I've been doing very important work here at home. That ain't gonna buy me a new pair of shoes now is it? It's coming up to 7 years at home. What skills could I possibly have left? Well I do rock at multitasking and have excellent customer service skills. What more do I need? That should get me several high paying gigs. Oh I forgot to mention I am very good at slack-assing, dog walking, choosing fun over chores, and jumping in the car with the kids for impromptu road trips.

I wish I was one of those people who honed a skill for a decade before staying home. Then I'd at least have something to fall back on. I'll be starting from scratch. So if you know the perfect job for me, please let me know. I'd love to hear from you. And if you are hiring, please replace slack-assing with ass slapping when you read above. I don't want you to get the wrong impression of me.

Lemon Rosemary Potatoes

In this gluten free world I'm living in, I am trying to find some love for the potato. I think I've found a little here.

20 new potatoes
1/4 cup of butter (or more if you love your butter)
the juice of two lemons
2 sprigs of rosemary
sea salt and fresh pepper

Boil your potatoes until tender. While potatoes are cooking, melt your butter in a pan. Add rosemary until it softens a little. This should only take a few minutes. When potatoes are cooked, drain them and toss them in a bowl with the rosemary butter. Add salt and pepper and pour on lemon juice. Toss again and serve warm.

Shortbread

I'm back. At least mostly back. I was down and out with the flu for a week, and then the rest of the family got it. We were in isolation for almost two weeks. That does not do my soul any good. I was getting all bummed out and bored from being coop up inside. I would make an awful hermit. All the other hermits would laugh at me for trying to talk to them. No one would show up for my hermit parties. I'm in a much better mood now and just in time for Christmas.

Every year I give my neighbours a little bag of treats. I'm not sure if it's wanted or appreciated. Regardless, I still want to give them a token of appreciation. I am grateful that they all seem fairly normal and they cause me very little stress. We do our obligatory chit chat across our lawns, and don't get too personal. I'm happy to bear it all with my friends but I am a little more reserved with my immediate residents.

We started a new tradition this year. The tradition is that Jess bakes the cookies for our neighbour gifts. He may not realize that this is the new tradition but I'm going to fly with it. He's perfected his shortbread recipe. And for a girl who doesn't really like shortbread, I've sure eaten a few.

Sea Salt and Pepper Shortbread

1 part sugar
2 parts butter
3 parts flour

All ratios are by weight. Cream butter and sugar. Mix in flour. Form dough into a log, and refrigerate for 2 hours. Remove from fridge and cut log into discs. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt and pepper. Place on a greased cookie tray and bake for 10 minutes at 350 F.

Treats

I can't believe it's almost Christmas. I do realize December just arrived but it still feels as if the holidays are right on my doorstep. I guess I've fallen for all the marketing pressure. They start pumping it out right after Halloween. I try to ignore it but somehow it seeps in.

I'd love it if Christmas wasn't about the presents. Or if everyone stuck to the rule of only handmade gifts. That's a hard rule if you suck at making gifts. Not everyone wants a popsicle stick ashtray, or underwear made from macaroni.

I know a family who does secret Santa every year. Ya, I know, big deal. What they do differently is that they pull for names the day after Christmas so they have a whole year to make something great. That's the catch, they have to make their gifts. You can perfect a lots of false starts when you have 365 days to work with. I'm making Jess a scarf since the one I made for myself is fabulous. This is only my second knitting project so who knows how it will turn out. Unfortunately, Jess will be getting it for Christmas whether it works out or not since I won't have time to knit another one. If I had the whole year to knit I'd be able to crank out several crappy scarves before I hit the jackpot.

To buck consumerism, I try to think of inexpensive gifts for my girls since I think they have enough stuff. Reya is getting some yarn and knitting needles, and I am going to teach her how to knit. Wini wants to bake a cake, so she is getting a new cake pan, the dry ingredients in a jar and a recipe. Ruby may get a lump of coal since she is still young enough to be convinced that that is a great gift. And I can say I made it myself.

Happy holidays everyone.

Butter Tarts

Pastry
2 cup white flour
1 cup shortening
1 tsp salt
1 egg
1 tbsp vinegar
2 tbsp cold water

Filling
1/2 cup of raisins
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 brown sugar
1 cup corn syrup
2 eggs lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla
1tsp lemon juice

Blend shortening and flour with a pastry cutter until crumbly. In separate bowl combine salt egg, vinegar and cold water. Add to flour and shortening and mix until just combined and no more. The key to dough is to handle it as little as possible. Form dough into a ball and wrap in cellophane. Place in freezer for 10 minutes. Roll dough out on a floured surface to about 1/8" thick. Cut out circles and press into a greased muffin tin.

Preheat oven to 375 F. Pour boiling water over raisins and let sit for 5 minutes and then drain. Stir together butter and sugar. Blend in corn syrup, eggs, vanilla, and lemon juice. Stir in drained raisins but don't stir so much that the mixture bubbles. Fill pastry 2/3 full. Bake 15-20 or until pastry is golden.

a hot, buttery bath.

I went to a friend's house this past weekend to enjoy a rare afternoon's gossip and glass (or two) of wine, unfettered by the requirements of my family (who were, all three of them, safely ensconced at our house just across the street). I had a marvelous time, greedily making my way through several truffled olives and more than my share of a luscious cheese fondue; and when I got home, I made a thrilling discovery:

Dairy does not seem to be the problem it once was for my nursing baby.

I was, besides being thrilled, also a little relieved - had things gone the other direction, and my reckless cheese-eating resulted in hours of pain (for the baby) and misery (for the rest of us), I'd be too busy feeling like a terrible mother to blithely blog about it.

But as I was also very, very grateful for the opportunity to start eating butter again, I cooked this simple dish almost immediately. The broccoli component is enough to make you (well, me anyway) feel okay about the rest of the ingredients; eaten with brown rice, it could almost be considered virtuous.

Broccoli Bagna Cauda

2 small heads organic broccoli, separated into florets
4 tbsp olive oil, divided
salt and pepper
1/4 c unsalted butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 anchovy fillets, minced
a large splash of white wine
a generous squeeze of lemon juice
1/3 c toasted pine nuts
scant 1/4 c freshly grated parmesan

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Toss broccoli florets with 2 tbsp olive oil and the salt and pepper, and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Roast about 20 minutes, until broccoli is quite tender and beginning to brown.
In a large skillet, melt remaining 2 tbsp olive oil and butter over medium heat. Add garlic and anchovies and saute until garlic is colouring slightly, about 2-3 minutes; add wine and lemon juice and simmer a few minutes.
Transfer broccoli to the skillet and cook a few more minutes, tossing the broccoli and letting the sauce reduce a little. Add pine nuts.
Sprinkle parmesan over top and serve.

Serves 2 as a main course (with rice), or 4 as a side dish.