The Lisa Life

Easter Dinner

I'm such a slacker.  I am taking the completely easy way out for Easter dinner.  I had a gift certificate for Honey Baked Ham that I've had since Christmas.  The nearest Honey Baked Ham store is in Ann Arbor and I'm not a huge fan of ham.  My father-in-law had a doctor's appointment in Ann Arbor so I gave him the gift certificate to pick up the ham.

I don't have to glaze a ham, cook it, slice it or anything.   I just have to slap it on a plate and call it good.  It smells wonderful.

I'm also making potatoes au gratin (using the handy dandy Ore-Ida hash browns) and the inevitable green bean casserole, which is something of a family joke since I make it every holiday.  I have some bust open the can biscuits and the raspberry creme brulee is chilling as I type.  (NOTE: Creme Brulee is a very impressive dessert and it's SO EASY to make.  The recipe is posted elsewhere on the blog, look under the Food & Drink category.)

All I have left to do is vacuum the living room and shower.

Mia was thrilled with her Easter basket which contained two books (Lady And The Tramp and Thomas The Train), a pair of sandals and a stuffed tie-dyed Easter Bunnie with a carrot embroidered on his left foot.  Bad mommy, no candy.  Gran and Paw Paw have plenty in their Easter basket for her.

As a side note, we totally forgot my mother in law's birthday.  Since she is starting to suffer from Old Timer's, we are somewhat off the hook, as it is highly likely she forgot as well.

Happy Easter, everyone!

Bloody Mary Blogging

I am enjoying a Bloody Mary right now.  You know what the secret to an outstanding Bloody Mary is?  Steak sauce and freshly ground pepper. 

Today is the traditional Sunday dinner with the in-laws.  We're having stuffed shells and although my shells are ready, I do need to make the gravy.  We're also having the mandarin orange/Gorgonzola cheese salad with balsamic vinaigrette dressing that I make all the time and Pillsbury French Loaf.  I love that Pillsbury loaf, freshly baked bread hot from the oven.  All you have to do is bust open the can.

I'm so boring and predictable sometimes.

In other news, the local prosecutor's office (our local PA is an asshat, by the way) is holding a press conference tomorrow regarding Jessica Fear's murder.  I hope this means that an arrest is close.  I have my theories on this, we'll see how those tie in to what the authorities have to say.

I'm reading Ann Rule's Green River Running Red right now and I can only read a few pages at a time because it is so disturbing.  I generally enjoy Ms. Rule's books overall, she's had a couple dogs in the pack but considering how prolific she is, she's a very good writer.  Her care in portraying the victims of the Green River Killer is incredible.  Yes, they were prostitutes but they were also living breathing humans whose lives had taken bad turns.  And so young, oh my, all so very young.  They were never given an opportunity to turn their lives around.  Gary Ridgeway is a monster.

My friend Ellen drunk dialed me on New Year's Eve this year (a long tradition of ours that we missed for a while) and reminded me that I'm turning 40 this year.  I keep thinking of this lately and I really like what Teri Hatcher said, about 40 being the new 30.  I remember being in my 20s and thinking 40 was like, ancient and people that age only listened to the Oldies and excitement for them was reviewing their stock portfolio while sipping decaf.

Now, with some perspective, I know so many wonderful accomplished women who've hit that milestone in  stride and it doesn't seem old to me at all.  Besides, I've already gotten past the nasty menopause thing so I won't even have to deal with that.

One of the reasons I am enjoying The Sopranos?  Nearly all of the female characters look like real women.  Yeah, Carmella has a big butt.  Dr. Melfi has thick legs.  Janice is Rubenesque.  They look like real people, not Hollywood's definition of what a woman should look like.  Not everyone should be a size two, you know.

I think I need another Bloody Mary.

Orange Beef And Rice

The first night we moved into our new place, we had no Internet access and no cable.  I had of course forgotten to grab the book I was currently reading, so I asked my mother-in-law if she had any magazines she was done with that I could amuse myself with.  She gave me three copies of Family Circle, not my favorite, but I was desperate. 

Some good did come out of it, as I found a really tasty recipe I of course completely bastardized.

Orange Beef And Rice

1 Tablespoon Oil

1 Pound Stir Fry Beef (I used the very thinly sliced top round and cut it into bite size pieces)

1 Small White onion, diced

2 Cloves Garlic, diced

1 Cup Shredded Carrots

1 Package Wild And White Rice Mix (I used Uncle Ben's)

1 Cup Orange Juice

1 Cup Beef Broth

Red Pepper Flakes

Briefly heat oil in large, deep pot over medium-high heat.  Add beef and onion.  Cook, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes.  Add garlic, red pepper flakes and carrots.  Cook for another 5 minutes.  Add rice pilaf mix (including seasoning packet), orange juice and beef broth.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 20 minutes or until liquid has been absorbed.

If you want to get all fancy when serving, add some orange slices.

Dinner At The In-Laws

My father-in-law Peter is one of my favorite people on earth.  He is fun, well read, and I'm his eye apple.  Since he had the quadruple bypass, the only vice he has left is food.  And he sure enjoys eating.  He watches all the cooking shows and loves to read cookbooks and cooking magazines.  In fact, he renewed my Food & Wine subscription for me. 

Not that Peter actually cooks much.  It's more like he watches and reads these things and picks things out for me to cook that he wants to eat.  It's rather charming.  I'm generally very happy to cook whatever he chooses while he keeps me company in the kitchen.  He doesn't help me cook, he generally sits at the table and I bring him Buckler's non-alcoholic beer in a frosted glass and we chat while I cook.  I enjoy this time with him tremendously.

A couple of days ago, Peter stopped by for a cuppa because my mother-in-law was getting on his last nerve. The residual joys of retirement, too much togetherness and my mother-in-law, while I love her to death, is a fusser.  She must always be doing something.  She doesn't understand the concept of relaxing whatsoever. 

Anyway.

Peter stopped over and I made a pot of tea and we chatted for a bit.  Somehow, we got on the subject of chicken and dumplings.  I do love chicken and dumplings and this is really sad, but the ones I liked best were the ones we used to get at the caf at Lehigh.  And they were really chicken and biscuits.  With that awful neon yellow chicken gravy.  But it was so good. 

This afternoon, Peter and Margaret stopped by and asked us over for dinner.  Peter was making chicken and dumplings.  Real dumplings.  Big soft doughy lumps with a thick chicken stew with lots of thick broth, carrots and peas and potatoes.

It was wonderful.  Apple and mince pie with ice cream for dessert. 

After dinner, Martin and I went downstairs to the "smoking area" and Peter joined us and it occurred to me that I need to spend some quality time with my father-in-law, who is like a father to me, not only because my father is gone.  We have a lot of common interests outside of cooking and eating, one of which is art.  He's a fairly good artist and we both appreciate color and texture and like decorating rooms. 

I am so lucky that I have in-laws I can not only tolerate, but that I actually love and enjoy spending time with.  They aren't going to be around forever, so I think I need to make more of an effort to spend quality time with them.

Gourmet Gardens

Martin and Sam and I went out to dinner tonight at Gourmet Gardens in Brighton.  Miss Mia is spending the night at Gran's and Grandpa's so we threw all caution to the wind and had an adult evening.  We sat in the smoking section and smoked and Sam and I shared a Scorpion drink.

We also had some great food.  Martin had the orange beef, which I sampled.

I had the Honeymooner's dinner special, shrimp in chili sacue and pork in black bean sauce.  It was spicy and filled with different textures and it was wonderful.

Sam had the beef and broccoli and I had some bites of it and it was wonderful, as well.

Martin really enjoyed the saki.  Personally, I hate saki.  It smells like dead sweat socks to me. 

That scorpion was so good.  And so was the food.  Oh my. 

Dinner

We went out to dinner tonight with our friends Tom and Kelly.  We went to Bennegins.  It wasn't great and I am reminded of why I hate chain restaurants. 

Their menu is a freaking book.  They have no focus.  And the faux Irish thing is really irritating.  I'm Italian, trust me, there is no Irish in chicken alfredo. 

It was nice to see Tom and Kelly and we had some nice conversations.  We also figured out that all of us are way too dependent on Netflix and watch far too many movies.

That's Just The Type Of Girl I Am

Tomorrow is my dear friend and co-worker Michelle's birthday.  (TRIVIA: Two Beatles songs, Michelle and Birthday, now if only the Beatles did country, Michelle would be over the moon.)

Anyways.

I have oatmeal cookies with dried cranberries and white chocolate chips in the oven right now as I type.  I asked her if she wanted a cake or cookies and she said cookies and who am I to say no?  I love these cookies.  They are oatmeal cookies for grown-ups.   My 12 year old son won't eat dried cranberries in cookies no matter how bad he's jonesing for a sugar buzz.  He thinks dried cranberries are completely gross and reacts as if I told him to harvest some boogars cause mom was making cookies.

Okay, so I guess that ruins the birthday aspect, talking about harvesting boogars in the same post (NOTE: Harvesting boogars is not a family pastime here, really.) and Michelle only reads my blog when I make her.  She doesn't really need to, since we sit five feet apart from each other for 8 plus hours every day. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MICHELLE!  YOU'RE LOOKING GREAT FOR 29 AGAIN!

NOTE TO SELF: Must hide cookies from coworkers until Michelle gets in at 8:30 or she will be left with crumbs. Again.

The Lazy Cook

Tonight, I was lazy.  Although I get done with work fairly early, I had a bunch of work -related errands to run after work because sometimes I am just too busy at work and I work too far out of town to leave in the middle of the day and accomplish these things.  I had to go to the bank and the post office, which doesn't sound like a big whoop, but they are at opposite ends of a traffic saturated town and add in the fact that it was 70 degrees today and everyone was too busy being sun struck and choosing exactly the right song on the radio today and well, traffic sucked.

Anyway. 

I finally ended up at Kroger to find something for dinner.  At that point it was after 5 and the Princess must eat at 6 p.m., right after her "I just got home from Gram's and darn does that car make me tired" power nap.

So I got the preroasted chicken Kroger offers for a mere $5.99 with my Kroger Plus card.  I also got some premade stick it in the microwave County Crock rice side dish thing and some biscuits, which did require me to turn on the oven and pop open the can.

The chicken is quite respectable.  It's BBQ, which wouldn't be my first choice but the only other choice was lemon and pepper, which I wasn't too sure Mia would like.  Not a bad dinner at all.

The thing that ticks me off, though, is that when I buy a roasting chicken, the bird itself is generally at least 6 bucks and I probably use at least another 4 bucks worth of herbs and seasonings.

Doesn't give me a lot of incentive to cook from scratch.

The B-Line Bar

Martin and I took Mia to the B-Line Bar for pizza tonight.

The B-Line has the best pizza in Livingston County.

It is also run by a guy I went to high school with, who indeed, was in my biology class and sat at  the table next to me.  Hi Mike!  Do you still play hockey?  It was great to see you.

The B-Line is not fancy but they have great food and everyone there, both employees and patrons, are nice and friendly and fun.   Not pretentious.  I went in a rather ratty (favorite) sweatshirt and really old jeans and I didn't look out of place.

Kids are fine.  I mentioned to Mike, "Bring the baby to the bar, eh?"  And his daughter was there.  It's that sort of place, the neighborhood hangout type of place.

Really nice to see Mike again and we will be back for more of the best pizza in Livingston County.

Mardi Gras Dinner

Okay, let's preface this by saying A) I'm not French nor Cajun nor Creole and B) I'm not Catholic anymore.

I do know all about the history and theories behind Lent, having been raised Catholic until I was about 10 or 12.

In honor of Mardi Gras in my house, we are having andouille sausage and jambalaya for dinner.  We have a nearby grocery store that is locally owned (read: not a chain) that has an actual real live butcher and makes their own andouille sausage, among other things.  So we purchased some andouille and along with some Zatarain's jambalaya with cheese, we have a tasty New Orleans style Mardi Gras dinner. 

Of  course, being the cheese and seasoning whore I am, I add extra Creole seasoning and some extra shredded sharp cheddar cheese.

Great with fresh baked Pillsbury French loaf.

NOTE: I was going to blog about paczki, but Ann Arbor Lisa beat me to it.  Be sure to check out her NPR link.  I actually heard this today on WDET.