Detergent Under the Sink

I have always struggled with hand-washable clothing.  I have a special hamper for those items that need to be hand-washed, and I normally have TONS to clean.

But now I just keep a bottle of detergent under the sink, and instead of throwing the hand-washable item into a hamper, I throw it into the sink. And wash it. Right away. And hang it up.

I realize I may have to revisit this plan when Elijah starts crawling and opening cabinets, but I have at least another 4 months of clean clothing before that time comes.

Kind of amazing.

Introducing: Elijah!

So some of you Greek reading friends *might* have noticed that there was a Greek word hidden in our Greek alphabet...

But actually, it's the Greek version of the Hebrew name: Elijah!  He finalllly came at 41 weeks pregnant (whew!)

He is already 2 months old!

Many things to say about labor, motherhood, adjusting to life with this tiny beautiful boy who has consumed my life... but I'm also trying to protect the little one's privacy, so don't hold your breath.  There won't be a diary of every day of his life.  Well - there is.  But it won't be posted publicly on the internet.  You'll have to just settle for more of the domestic diva type posts. :)

Chicken Pesto

My amazing brother in law taught me this one...

First buy a pre-cooked chicken. Ours was $9 at our local grocery store.  Jake and I ate that for dinner 2 nights in a row.

When we were done, I pulled all the left over chicken off.  Do you realize how much chicken there is left when you're "done" eating?

The 3rd meal is easy. Leftover chicken bits, pesto, and noodles. Mmmm.  So very tasty.

Quick Dinner Recipe

When evaluating dinners, I have a pretty concrete system.

How good is this meal is answered with: How frequently would you like to eat this? So Jake says "Once a month" or "Every once in a while".

How easy is this meal to make is answered with "How many minutes standing up does it take me to make this meal after a long day at work when I'm starving." So something that I can prep in 10 minutes and put in the oven for an hour ranks higher than a dish I have to actively watch on the stove for 45 minutes.

But I might have a new way to evaluate meals.  "Would a woman who is 41 weeks pregnant be willing and able to make this?"

Well, with these Meditteranean Chicken Wraps, the answer is yes!  http://www.emilybites.com/2012/04/mediterranean-chicken-wraps.html

My friend Ruth Ann sent me this recipe this morning and it was SO easy and SO delicious.  If you eat hummus and feta and chicken, you need to try this.  I cannot believe I cooked something at 41 weeks pregnant! I deserve a medal!

And the answer to the first question, by the way... Jacob said this is an "Every day" meal.

Introducing: Abimelech!

Some of you know that my husband is a biblical scholar (If you're interested, read his blog here: http://jacobcerone.com/), and the running joke since we announced we were pregnant was what sort of terrible Greek or Hebrew name would Jacob name our poor baby?

Some of his suggestions:
Loami - meaning "Not my people"
Chesed - meaning "loved"
and Abimelech - meaning "My father is the king".

Abimelech won among our friends, and my poor baby has been referred to as Abimelech and "Bimmy".

So no one panic, we didn't have the baby yet and we didn't name him Bimmy.  We bought the baby a fish.

A few months ago, Jake and I discovered this amazing company called Back To The Roots, which has designed this really awesome aquafarm.  Which we purchased for the nursery.  We were informed at Petco today that this is apparently "a thing"... but here is our lovely new family member: Abimelech the Betta Fish in his aquafarm, all ready to meet our new little man and to help us grow some basil, lettuce and wheat grass. :) (We transplanted some basil from the yard... but there are 5 little pots up there.)


Setting up the tank:

Abimelech in the Nursery:

Take Out Menus

I'm running out of things to nest.  Seriously.

As of the writing of this post (to be published later), I am on Day 12 of False Labor.  I have contractions. They wrap around my back.  They are uncomfortable (although painful is probably too strong...)  I am nauseous.  Sometimes they are painful enough to wake me up. They last for hours, although they aren't regular.  And then. They. Stop.

It's emotionally exhausting.

So I've been trying to distract myself.   Here's my latest project.  Take out menus!

I have gone through EVERY RESTAURANT within a 10 mile radius and printed out their menus from their websites and written down their hours.  I made a list of all the fast food places nearby.  I even found out there is a service that goes to a lot of the restaurants in the area and will deliver to your house.  

So now, when we're sleep deprived, hungry, and grumpy, we don't have to say "What do you want? I don't know, what do you want? I don't know what do you want?"  We can just flip through the binder until we find something that sounds good.  Then it's just deciding who has to pick it up.

"You go get it. No you. No you. I'll give you a 5 minute back massage if you go. Make it 10 minutes."

Products I recommend: Gordon's Fish!

It's time for another rousing edition of "Products Domestic Diva Likes (but didn't get paid to tell you about)!"

This time: Gordon's Simply Bake Fish

I love fish.  I am also terrible at cooking it.  And my husband HATES it.  This does not really give me a lot of incentive to get better at fish cooking.  When tilapia was cheap, when I first got married (sometimes cheaper than chicken!) I got pretty good at this recipe that involved lime juice and peach salsa, but now that it's expensive, it's too depressing to pay for it and then risk ruining it.

Enter: Gordon's Simply Bake fish!  You just... preheat your oven, pop the little pouch in, and wait 20-35 minutes.

I've tried the tilapia and the salmon so far and both are delicious!

And the house doesn't totally smell like fish afterwards, so my husband isn't too annoyed with me.  :)

Lately this has been great for "Fend for Yourself" nights when Jake is willing to eat leftover pizza, AGAIN, and I just cannot do it.  :)

So there you have it. Easy, not too expensive, delicious fish.

Framing a Rug

One of the alphabets we got for the nursery is this beautiful hieroglyphic rug from our friends Scott and Erika.  The only problem... I have no idea how to hang a rug.

Internetz to the rescue!

After reading a few different posts about options, I decided on the following process:

Step 1: Velcro the fringe
I bought some sticky velcro and stuck it to the back of the top of the rug fringe. (I also read about options of sewing this top section, but velcro seemed the easiest and least likely to end up with me in tears or the rug in tatters.)

Step 2: Pin the Rug
I also got a shadow box, which came with backing and pins.  I would note, I also stuck the sticky side of the velcro tape to the backing of the shadow box as well.

Step 3: Frame
When the shadow box was all assembled, only moments later, I was quite pleased with the results.

And that is the very last thing we needed to do in the nursery.  (Cough cough, hint hint, baby.)

Nursery Tour: Part 3 (The Alphabets)

This is the final installment of the Nursery Tour: The Alphabets!

Jake and I agreed pretty quickly that we wanted to do alphabets as a theme in the nursery.  It just sorta fits Jake and I thought it was an awesome idea!

The first alphabet we got was a Hebrew Alphabet from Jake's parents.  They had actually picked this up for us when they were in Israel way before we got pregnant. We were pretty excited!

(The ABCs above are from my baby shower and my friend Gretchen who used them on a really cool diaper cake)

Next, my parents gave us these Greek Alphabet blocks, which I think are so cool!

The third alphabet we got was this hieroglypic alphabet from our friends Scott and Erika (still need to figure out how to hang this one)

And the fourth alphabet was an English alphabet also from my mom.  This is the sampler I crossstitched in the 8th grade. Mom had been saving it all these years to frame for a future nursery.  It turned out pretty incredible.  It also makes up for all the screaming and crying over how long this thing took way back when.

With that being said, I am soooo excited to meet this little guy and show him his room! :)  Officially the due date is July 4th.

The Nursery Tour: Part 2 (The Colors)

Before I was pregnant, I always knew I wanted a yellow or green nursery.  Don't get me wrong, pink and blue are fantastic! But I feel like a neutral nursery is sooo beautiful, and allows for re-use with future children!

I ended up finding this gorgeous crib set at Target.

Then, my sister Katie helped me coordinate the cubes.... (Kids have SOOOO much stuff, you hafta get cubes! Or a thousand drawers!)

And then I found the changing pad cover at Buy Buy Baby.  Ahh... beautifully coordinated. :)

Up Next: The Alphabets

The Nursery Tour: Part 1 (The Furniture)

So here it is, folks. The long awaited nursery tour.

I couldn't really get a good picture of the whole room (bad angles) so I've decided to break it up into a series of auto-posting posts. So come back tomorrow for the next installment!

Firstly of all, this is the recliner.

When we got to the nursery, I knew a regular old rocking chair was not going to cut it.  We needed a recliner.  A comfy, I can sleep in it, Jake can work from it, recliner.  And so we began scouring Craigslist.  After having slept many a night in this chair, as the pregnancy gets more and more uncomfortable, I can say, this was a good purchase!

Then there's the crib, of course.  This was a hand-me-down from our dear friends Amy, Fletcher and Jayne.  So aside from being a beautiful color and a great financial help, it's also a reminder of them, since they just moved away (and we miss them already!)

The changing table was an interesting adventure.  I found the one I wanted at Target, but my Target didn't carry it. (They did have a floor model though, for some reason.)  Jake, sweetly, called around the next day for me and was told that a nearby Target had it, but it was on sale so they couldn't hold it.  He immediately drove over and picked it up... and ended up getting it for 1/3 of the original cost!!  I was so excited!

The cubes and the bookcase were a big thing too.  Katie my sister helped pick out the cubes, and Jake and I picked out the bookcase.  I originally thought I was going to have a mismatched nursery, because I didn't think I could coordinate all the pieces, but it really came together nicely!

Up next: The Colors!

Guest Post: A Letter from a Mother's Heart

A few months ago I reached out to some of my mom friends and asked if any of them would care to guest post on this blog about my impending motherhood.  Here's the first guest post.

Cynthia is a lovely sweet mother from my church.  She and I actually grew up together, but have reconnected within the last year.  She wrote me this sweet letter as a guest post.  I will confess, and maybe it's just the pregnancy hormones (but I doubt it), I cried when I read this.  She has a beautiful way with words.  She's such an encouragement, and I'm so excited to share this with you.

As I'm counting down these last few weeks (Officially: 3 1/2 left), I find myself a lot less afraid and a lot more ready for the crazy whirlwind that is coming next.

Mary Beth, my clock reads 4:08am and I should be tucked in bed fast asleep. But something changed about two years ago when I gave birth to my daughter: sleep is impossible when someone I love is in labor. And my sister just called, breathing shallow gasps between contractions. It is time. 

My heart filled with prayer that won’t stop because I’ve been there. It is awesome. And terrifying. The most incredible experience I’ve ever had. And the hardest. Jesus can meet you in your weakness or it can be filled with terror. I didn’t get that before. Now as I storm the throne room with passionate prayer I realize I’m a part of something so much bigger than myself. I have been inserted in another woman’s story. Her life story. The stuff that matters.

As I pace the living room and ask God to fill her with peace and to bring this baby safely and quickly, I am fueled by memories and love. I’m part of a community I hadn’t realized existed. Because while anyone can pray and hope for great things for my sister, those who have been through it pray with a fervency and passion that is unique. We breath deeper as if breathing for her. As if by intense focus we can will her through this journey, lending her our strength. It’s why I cry every time a baby is born in a TV show or movie. Because even my tear ducts remember that incredible moment and I’m so full of joy for their moment of birth. Yes, even though it’s a fictional birth. That’s how powerful the bond of motherhood is. 

So as I pause my pacing I’ve been thinking about you, Mary Beth, and this precious little boy you carry inside you. I smile when I see you because of the excitement and the little bit of apprehension on your face when you talk about motherhood. Everything is so new and exciting. And it is scary. A smile comes to my face because I’m confident that you are going to love this whole motherhood thing. Because on the other side of the birth experience I find there are still lots of new things, and plenty that scares me. What I wasn’t expecting was the joy that would flood and cover it all. Who knew my heart could hold it’s breath when my daughter smiles or laughs? Who knew I would sometimes cry in sheer gratefulness for her being here, walking around the living room trailing toilet paper she’s carefully pulling off the tube? 

Before I wander off in endless stories about my child I wanted to mention a couple of the most important thoughts I can pass on. These are things I’ve thought about a lot, because you are probably overwhelmed with advice right now:

1. Every woman has her own story. Her labor story, her birth story, her experiences with an infant, toddler, preschooler and on it goes. And while hearing all those stories might be helpful I highly recommend you tuck them into that place labeled “random storage” in your head and focus as much attention as possible on your own story. Because you won’t experience this pregnancy with this baby again and you never know what wonderful memories you will make by being fully present. Now ignore what I just said so I can share more of my experience!
2. You are stronger than you know. Birth might be scary and full of unknowns but I have all confidence that when you reach that point you will be amazed to see your own inner strength emerging. Nothing can match the ferocious determination of a woman bringing her child into the world.
3. Hormones are your friends. I’ll take a lot of flak for saying this, but really, the craziness of hormones the months after birth have the potential to be that constant reminder to take care of yourself in a way you probably wouldn’t with all the distractions of having a newborn. They can remind you that a nap really is more important than the laundry, that some quiet time with Jesus and a latte can solve a bucket of tears. If you are willing to listen, they will let you know when you should simplify life. 

The future is full of good things for you, Mary Beth, and I feel so lucky to have a front row seat to see you experience it!

Yup, she's nesting

4 weeks and some change til my due date and I can't seem to help but nest.

My latest project: these throw pillows.

When we first got married our bedding set was rust colored and we had a few throw pillows. When the comforter fell apart at the seams, we kept the pillows, which I always intended to cover.

Now with a baby coming, who will not sit on a couch by himself for years and will never notice that I have beautiful throw pillows, I decided that the pillows MUST be covered now.

The first pattern I made up myself and it resembles and envelope on the back... one I had to hand stitch so that the pillow inside is preserved.

For the second pillowcase though, I looked online (mostly pinterest) and found a better design. I had to modify the sizes based on my pillow and the pieces of scraps I had, but the basic design is here:
http://cleverbetty.blogspot.com/2013/03/beginner-sewing-tutorial-simple-pillow.html

Like last time, I'm relearning the importance of ironing and pinning. And also, my messy first pillow and awesome second pillow look exactly the same from the front.

Pinterest Fail!

Having made quite a few of my own domestic blunders (many of which are accounted on this blog) I was quite pleased to discover PinterestFail.com

I highly recommend it for anyone frustrated with their own pinterest results. You are not alone!

Also, I think a lot of these disasters are learning opportunities. I *still* cannot bake a layered cake to save my life, but not everything I do ends up in the trash these days, or with me in tears.

Chalk failures up to learning, and keep trying!

The New Domesticity

I heard a fascinating interview on WUNC's The State of Things today at lunch about the new Domesticity with Emily Matchar, the author of "Homeward Bound".

Why do you care?

1. Emily is going to be at FlyLeaf books tonight, if you're interested.
2. You should listen to/read the interview.  There's great insight about why Middle Class Gen Y'ers are embracing crafts and diy lifestyle.  We are growing our own veggies, canning, and forming our own internet knitting circles (like on ravelry.com)
3. You might want to buy the book too! She was very interesting to listen to.

My new very favorite lunch

Some of you know, I have a lunch problem.  Well, more specifically I have a microwave problem that leads to a lunch problem.  And now, being pregnant, and supposed to avoid deli meat, my lunches got downright hopeless.

But the other day I was at Panera, craving a sandwich like you wouldn't believe, and I ordered their Mediterranean Sandwich.

After devouring it, I thought... I could make this!  And so I did. Over and over again.

Step One: The Bread!
Tomato Bread from Panera is pretty much my very favorite part. I order all sandwiches on this bread, even if they're not supposed to come with that bread.  So, you can buy some tomato bread from Panera. OR, my CSA (PapaSpuds) offers a Sun-dried Tomato Loaf most weeks from The Bread Shop.  Bread acquired? Let's move on to:

Step Two: The Vegetarian Proteins!
Feta Cheese. (1/2 square inch, or a half a serving, crumbled)
Hummus. (1 tbsp)
Guacamole. (1 tbsp)
If you don't eat these things, leave now, as you will probably hate this sandwich.

I use Athenos feta cheese (it's pasteurized so I'm allowed!)  And Sabra or Tribe Garlic Hummus and Wholly Guacamole.  Sometimes I make hummus (fave recipe) and guacamole (fave recipe), but buying is easier.

Step Three: The Veggies!
You need a cucumber. (3 slices)
An onion. (a few strips)
A tomato. (one slice, halved)

Step Four: The Assembly!
Since this is usually a lunch thing (and I have been eating 5-6 smaller meals to help deal with the heartburn), I usually only eat a half sandwich for lunch.

• First cut one delicious piece of tomato bread in half.
• Then spread 1 tbsp of hummus on one half and 1 tbsp of guacamole on the other half.
• On the hummus bread, carefully crumble a 1/2 serving of feta cheese onto the bread.
• Now, on top of the feta, add 3 cucumber slices, a couple slices of onion, and 2 half tomato slices.
• Now put the guacamole bread on top to close the sandwich.

The Nutrition!

If you are curious, I've calculated this delicious half sandwich to be:

250 calories; 33 carbs; 9g fat; 9g protein; 3g sugar

Blight in the Garden

This blog started as a post about our first garden, so as we start prepping garden number 4, I thought it was time for an update.

For the last 2 years, we have struggled with blight in the garden.  As in, it has ruined everything. 

I have read a few methods of dealing with this.... Fire is one, but the garden is a weeeeeee bit too close to the house for me to light it on fire.  Another is to use a chemical that kills everything for a period of 1 year. We didn't want to miss out on a whole gardening year if we could help it though.  The last was to basically hot compost the garden til it reached a hot enough temperature to kill the blight, so we are trying that.

We bought some "construction grade plastic wrap" on amazon and covered the garden, leaving a little extra wrap to hang over the edges.  Yesterday, I soaked the garden down and rolled the plastic out. Then Jake came and helped me line the edges with wood to hold it down and hold the heat in.

The interwebs said that this process would take 1 week in summer, but 4-6 weeks in spring...

So in about a month, we will pull it up and plant. I think we're going to purchase plants instead of seed starting this year, and I hope this will take care of the blight!!

Pantry Project

Oh the glorious pantry project.

Some background. Jacob is a very handy man.  Pretty much, when stuff breaks, Jake fixes it.  Or sometimes, he calls his dad or my dad and then he fixes it.  And when we moved into this house, our initial hope was actually to find a fixer-upper.  Unfortunately, we either had enough money to buy a small move-in-ready house, or a large fixer-upper... and no money to do the fixing-upping.  So we bought our move-in-ready house. (which we love!)

But it doesn't have a pantry. (or a fireplace.) Those were pretty much my only two compromises.  So sometime, over 2 years ago, Jake decided to turn our shallow under the stairs coat closet into a large pantry/closet.  And he took a sledgehammar to the wall.  (I helped!)

Some of you remember, that a little while after that, our house got hit by a tornado.  And more importantly, with help from friends and family, Jacob repaired the house.  Understandably, pantry renovation comes lower on the priority list than "My shingles are missing and there is a tarp keeping water out".

And then school and work happened.  And then I found out I was pregnant.  And since the pantry is currently living in the room that is going to be the nursery, The Nesting Diva got.... impatient.

So, Jacob, being totally drowned in school, had to call in some professionals to help finish up the pantry.

He and my dad wired the pantry for electricity and installed outlets and switches and lights.
Then he drywalled and mudded it himself. (I wish I had a picture of when it was just a coat closet. See that carpet? That's where the closet used to end.)

Then the pros came. They smoothed some mudding, installed the floor, painted, and installed shelving.
After Day 1:

After (a rainy) Day 2:

Finished after Day 3! (and I ADORE it!)

So you know what this means!!  Next: Nursery pics! ;)  (Don't hold your breath though... it's going to take me awhile!)

Jasmine's Spay

 Found this blog post as a draft from last March.  I had actually forgotten a lot of these details, so I thought I'd go ahead and publish it. :)

It was the day I had be dreading since last September. The day our darling Jack Russell Terrier gets spayed.

The night before I hadn't slept at all. I had been up between the thunder and a especially nagging defect I couldn't solve at work, plus worrying about all the things that could go wrong with Jasmine the next day...

On Wednesday morning, I got up to take Jazz to the vet. But before I could get there, I dropped my cell phone (again) and destroyed it. No longer little cracks in the glass, but full out hardware failure.

We went to a different vet - the one through the dog adoption agency, since the cost spay was included in our adoption costs. She had a nervous breakdown. She barked, she flailed. They finally came and took her away just so I could finish filling out the paperwork. Which of course made me more upset. And, I had to give them Jake's number since I wasn't going to be able to be contacted.
I was pretty stressed all day. At one point, I was giving Jacob a "at the top of my lungs" lecture about 4g networks (and that it's a marketing term not a technology term.). Let's just say, I probably wasn't very pleasant, being so stressed and sleep deprived.

But Jazz came home and she was incredibly groggy and sore, but fine. And sneaky. I ended up having to gate her away from all furniture, because if i turned my back for 1 minute (to write an email, to get a glass of water, to do my job) she had jumped on the couch or the bed. Sneaky little thing.

She also attempted to jump several feet in the air to eat a bumble bee. Yeah.

But she and I had a great time hanging out for 4 days. And since I wouldn't let her play with her big brother, she has learned a new trick. She jumps up into my lap and tries to put her toy in my mouth. Delightful. (Ok, it's hilarious... but it makes it extremely hard to read a book...)

And she's healing up quickly.  Should be 100% and allowed to fight brother pretty soon here.

Making Frozen Pizza Yummy

In my house, we call this process "loaded pizza".

Lemme explain. :)

When I was in college, my mom got me a few cookbooks for starting out.  "The College Cookbook" and "The Little Black Apron".  The College Cookbook is recipes submitted from college kids and one of the recipes is this loaded pizza.  You take a boring ole cardboard-y CHEAP frozen pizza, and you just put stuff all over it.

Extra cheese is a MUST, as well as herbs (italian spices, usually).  We also put basically whatever leftover veggies we have that could possibly taste good on a pizza. 

It's quick, easy, and turns a boring ole pizza, and your left over half a tomato into something delicious!  It's a Diva household favorite!

Chick-Fil-A at home!

Several months ago, I saw an article about making your own Chick-Fil-A copycat sandwiches.  

http://www.seriouseats.com/2012/07/the-food-lab-how-to-make-a-chick-fil-a-sandwich-at-home.html

Whether for political reasons, financial reasons, or because there just isn't a Chick-Fil-A in your part of the country, this is a tasty copy cat.  And really really close to the real deal.

Jake generally has to help me with all deep frying and I did leave out the MSG.  All in all, I say if you want ChickFilA and you're willing to put in a little effort, this is not unattainable. 

Bonus, since you're cooking at home, you can make delicious homemade fries! (Jake's fries are the best on the planet. Seriously. Even better than ChickFilA.)

Don't Walk Away from the Bacon

For my second foray into French cooking, I decided to make a beef stew.  Mostly because I had beef stew meat.  (Yes, that's what it said on the package...)


It's not Beef Bourguignon, it was a couple pages after that one.  I won't bore you with all the french details.  Basically, this was tender tender beef chunks that fell apart when touched with a fork, and melted in your mouth, cooked with carrots, onions, tomatoes, and mushrooms, and in a gravy like sauce.

Oh man it was delicious.

Julia gives a nice description about the differences between stews and other similar dishes. I didn't quite grasp it. The important part is that after several days of prepping ingredients, 6 hours of marinading, and 3 hours in the oven, I had something amazing!  The picture doesn't begin to do it justice.

Key points learned this time:
1. Making beef stock is a little more involved than originally anticipated. Hopefully I'll have a post about that soon, but for now, Julia's estimated 3-4 hours turned into...... 10?
2. Making beef stock is DELICIOUS.
3. If, say, you are trying to rush to finally assemble a dish at 7am while simultaneously getting ready for work, because your husband has to stick this thing in the oven at 3pm so you can eat at a reasonable hour, and say, you hypothetically forgot to boil the bacon (Something I had never done before), probably don't walk away from the bacon.

Ah yes. The Bacon.

So, to me, this was the strangest, most complicated, almost disaster causing part of the recipe.  You were supposed to boil 1 inch bacon pieces in water, then line the bottom of the pan with them when assembling and top it off with the rest.

Boiled bacon tastes... kinda like I thought I would. Which is to say, not that crispy.

But also. I almost burned my house down, and I scared my poor dogs half to death.

Since the beef stock took me several days longer than originally anticipated, I had sorta been dragging my feet on finishing this recipe.  But Wednesday morning I KNEW I had to get this thing assembled and leave instructions for Jake or we were not going to get to eat it.

So while getting dressed in the other room, I started boiling the bacon.  Yeah. It boiled over. And the grease caught on fire. And the smoke poured out of the kitchen. And stopping the minor grease fire was pretty easy, but I couldn't get the smoke to leave the house or the smoke detectors to stop screaming.

After what seemed like an ETERNITY, everything stopped making loud noises and the smoke had mostly dissipated, I ran to check on the dogs. I knew Tolpel is TERRIFIED of smoke. And as it turns out, Jazz is even more terrified of loud smoke detectors. I had to pry her out from underneath the bed and hold her for a good 20 minutes before she stopped shaking and crying.

So, general cooking rule. Don't walk away from bacon.  This is probably a good rule for life, actually.


Anyway, dinner was delicious.  Lest you think everything just turns out though, my risotto was just... pathetic.  Ah well. Something to strive for in the future. ;)

Mastering the Art of French Cooking

Maybe it's being finally able to keep down something other than french fries.  Maybe it's feeling like this baby is going to change my life in ways I can't even imagine. Maybe it's those lofty dreams from watching Julia and Julia. Maybe it's pure insanity.  But whatever the reason... I picked up a copy of Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking at the library this week.  And tonight, I went for it.

Well, actually, there was a considerable amount of planning.  Monday night, after dumping some cans into a crockpot to make soup (a variation on Catherine's Spicy Chicken Soup using... whatever similar ingredients I have in the house...) I prepped for my first ever big french meal.

Parsley was washed and chopped.
Fresh lemons were squeezed.
Green beans were trimmed.
Butter was clarified.

Butter was clarified!?!!? For the record, I had NO idea what this meant until 2 nights ago.  Lucky for me, this Mastering the Art of French Cooking book is serious business... and she tells you step by step how to do these crazy things. Like clarifying butter.

Tonight was when the truly crazy parts happened.  I made... eh hem... *pinches nose* Suprêmes de Volaille a Brun avec Beurre Noisette et Haricots Verts à la Maître d'Hôtel.

So yeah. In English (and yes, the cookbook translates all of these crazy french foods for you...) I made Chicken Breasts Sauteed in Butter with Brown Butter Sauce and Buttered Green Beans with Lemon Juice and Parsley.

This actually went much better than I expected.  Things I learned.  

• Make sure you actually remember to thaw the chicken. Or else have a wonderful husband who can make last minute trips to the grocery store. (Thanks Jake, you're the best!)
• How to blanch green beans. (Another thing the book taught me.)
• Read all of your recipes all the way through before you start.  This is the only reason I wasn't drowning in a buttered grease fire... both recipes were pretty simple, but I needed the general idea in my head before I started.
• Have high heat utensils. This has been a major problem in the past, but those awesome new red utensils were a Christmas gift from my sister in law. They can stand up to 600 degrees F. Thanks Melissa!
• When Julia Child says, "cook chicken breast for 3 minutes, then flip, then 2 minutes..." her chicken must've been smaller than mine.  Because it took much much much longer.
• If you're going to eat french, you MUST take a french after dinner walk. To clear out the arteries.  From the stick of butter you just ate. No really. I think there was a whole stick of butter in my half of this meal.

But it was so delicious.