Month: February 2013

February Food Swap

/ Shane / 2 Comments

Time again for a Chicago Food Swap wrap up! (You can see previous food swap posts here.)

In exchange for:

We received:

  • 2 Blue Moon Cupcakes
  • Cranberry Pepper Jelly
  • Cinnamon Pecan Butter
  • Salsa Verde
  • Blood Orange Marmalade
  • Macadamia Nut Caramel Corn
  • Meyer Lemon Marmalade
  • Cranberry Curd
  • Homemade Granola
  • Cherry Pie Filling
  • Pumpkin Butter

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This month’s swap was at Katherine Anne Confections, so in addition to the above, we also tried 3 delicious varieties of fancy-schmancy caramels : rosemary sea-salt, chocolate walnut, and vanilla. Believe me, they didn’t last long. I was very suspicious about the rosemary sea-salt, because sweet and salty is *not* my thing. But actually, it wasn’t bad. I would probably choose one of the other ones personally, but after trying it I can definitely say I would choose eating a rosemary sea-salt caramel over not eating caramel any day of the week.

This time around, Sara went in targeting marmalade, and ended up with not one, but two of them! I call that success We haven’t tried any yet. Sara said the salsa verde was the best thing she tried at the swap, but I haven’t tried that yet either (Soon, my sweet salsa verde. Soon.)

There were a lot of baked goods this time, which isn’t bad, but it’s not really what we’re in the market for. We make lots of baked goods at home, so they’re just not as exciting. Canned jams, however, seems to be what we are in the market for. Right now we have something like 8 different open jars of spreads in the fridge, with a dozen or so more in the pantry. And they are all wonderful.

I should also mention that both of our jams were delicious and interesting too. I almost didn’t want Sara to trade them! Sara bought the Chinese 5 spice powder from the last food swap, and I hadn’t been super fond of it. It’s very anise-y, and it kind of takes over whatever it is in. But something about this jam really was the perfect use for it. The flavor combination was awesome. The mimosa jelly is really good too, although I’m not sure the champagne really made much of a difference (other than being able to say it’s mimosa jelly instead of just regular old “orange”, which is non-trivial).

Sara reports that after her 3rd swap, she’s starting to recognize people and just generally feel like she’s not the new kid on the block anymore, (Look, it was a phrase before the band came around, that’s why they used that as their name! No judging.) but more like she’s one of the grizzled veterans.

The kids and I are definitely still excited about getting all of the delicious food, that’s for sure!

Nala Update

/ Shane / 4 Comments

As some of you were quite concerned about Nala after my last post, despite my assurances that she’s an awful nuisance, I just wanted to give you an update.

We did take Nala to see the vet, which is the most *amazing fun thing in the world* if you’re a child, but not so much if you’re a cat. She had basically a clean bill of health, other than some fairly significant weight loss, but they took some blood for some testing.

Survey says? Hyperthyroidism!

This is apparently quite common in cats of a certain age, and Nala happens to be of a certain age, so there you go. Hyperthyroidism is associated with a number of things, including behavioral changes. However, the vet was skeptical that it could explain the refusal to drink from her bowl (if anything, hyperthyroidism should cause more drinking, not turning your nose up at the stuff) or constantly biting Sara. But, she allowed, every cat is different, so maybe it was related after all.

We were presented with 4 choices:

  1. Be referred to a specialist and treat Nala with radioactive iodine therapy
  2. Give Nala a pill every day
  3. Rub a cream into Nala’s ears twice a day
  4. Buy special food

My reactions were:

  1. Do what now? We’re still talking about the cat, right?
  2. Okay, I’ve had to give Nala pills before, and it is a nightmare. Practically impossible. She can isolate the pill and eat whatever’s around it, saving only the pill in her mouth for an hour before discretely spitting it behind a house plant. And now I have to do this every day??
  3. I guess that’s better than giving her a pill, but sheesh.
  4. Wait, one of the options was to do everything the same except give her different food? And you saved that option until last?

So, yeah, we’re getting her special food now.

Hopefully it will make a difference. Sara pointed out that in the long run it’s probably actually cheaper to give her radioactive iodine therapy, even though it seems expensive. But it just seems….wrong somehow. On the other hand, giving her special food has practically *no chance* of turning her into a giant, super-cat with magical powers. Then again, let me take a look at that ingredient list…

The Evie Restaurant Experience

/ Shane / 1 Comment

The other day, Evie decided to make a “restaurant” for Sara and I to attend. We don’t go out to eat all that often, so I was surprised at the attention to detail she included. Most importantly, she made a menu (translations below the pictures if you can’t decipher her phonetic spelling).

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Appetizers
Bread
or
Chips
or
Sandwiches

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By Evie
Drinks
Milk! and
Water!
Food
Pancakes and
Maple Syrup

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Dessert
Chocolate
Cake
or
Chocolate
Chip Cookies

Of course, the whole thing was finished off with a bill for $2.55. Not too bad for some excellent service!

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(And the best part? A 5 year old doesn’t know about leaving a tip. Score!)

Quote Monday’s speaking my language

/ Shane / Leave a comment

Oliver, doing the normal excited two year old talking to a stranger stutter: “One…One…One…One…”
Man: “I think he’s trying to speak to me in binary.”

Ollie: “You and Mama were coughing and coughing.”
Me: “Oh yeah? When was this?”
Ollie: “It was on April, 2nd.”

Me: “…and when we get home we can all take a nap.”
Evie: “You can’t take a nap, daddy!”
Me: “Why not?”
Evie: “There’s dishes probably.”

Evie: “I want to see how much I weigh. Four ten.”
Me: “Four hundred and ten pounds? You weigh more than me!”
Evie: “Well, I am wearing my clothes…”

Pimentón Roasted Chicken, Carrots and Potatoes

/ Shane / Leave a comment

The first Friday of the month is reserved for recipes. You can see additional First Friday Food posts here.

The Reason:

The reason for this recipe is sort of round-about. Sara likes to make chicken stock, but it’s kind of a pain. In order to maximize the efficiency of this activity, it helps to have a recipe involving TWO ENTIRE CHICKENS, so you can do all the chicken stock in one go. So yeah, the big plus of this recipe is that it outputs two chicken corpses.

The Journey:

Okay, all that being said, stumbling upon this recipe was sort of a happy accident, because the chickens really are good. The first time we made this, we didn’t quite have enough potatoes, so Sara added some carrots. This ended up being another happy accident, and we’ve made it that way ever since.

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Sara and I both agreed that the chicken sometimes looks like a dead baby, especially when you lift it by the legs. If that wasn’t enough, the goopy red rub makes you look like you just murdered said baby. Said tasty, tasty baby.

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The Verdict:

Honestly, I’m not really a fan of whole babies chickens, but the carrots and potatoes are TO. DIE. FOR. And of all the whole chicken recipes I have ever had, this one is the best.

But seriously, the carrots and potatoes.

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The Recipe:

Recipe adapted from Bon Appetit.

[Edited to include Sara’s modifications to the original recipe]

For chickens:

  • 8 garlic cloves, finely grated
  •  2 teaspoons kosher salt
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2.5 tablespoons smoked paprika
  • 1 teaspoon cayenne
  • 1 teaspoon dried thyme
  • 2 3 1/2–4-pound whole chickens

For veggies:

  • 2-3 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, unpeeled
  • 1 sweet onion, sliced
  • ~3 medium carrots, cut in similar size to potatoes
  • Kosher salt, freshly ground pepper
  • 1-2 tablespoons olive oil
  • Smoked paprika (for dusting)
  1. Mix garlic, salt, oil, and paprika, cayenne, and thyme in a small bowl; mix to blend well. Using your hands, smear paste all over outside of chickens, rubbing to coat the skin. It will be clumpy, don’t worry.
  2. Let chickens stand at room temperature for 1 hour.  Cut each potato in half lengthwise, then lengthwise into 4 thick wedges (steak-fry style). Place in a large bowl; season generously with salt and pepper. Drizzle in oil and toss well to coat. Spread potatoes in a single layer in a large roasting pan or on a large rimmed baking sheet.
  3. Preheat oven to 500°F. Place chickens side by side atop potatoes in roasting pan.
  4. Roast chickens and potatoes for 30 minutes. Remove from oven; turn potatoes, rearranging chickens if needed. Reduce oven heat to 425°F. Continue roasting chickens and potatoes until an instant-read thermometer inserted into thickest part of the thighs registers 165° F, 20-35 minutes longer. Let rest for 15 minutes before carving chicken. Keep potatoes warm in oven until chicken is carved and ready to be served.
  5. Transfer potatoes to 1–2 platters. Arrange chickens on top of potatoes. Dust lightly with smoked paprika.