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Sundae in the Park

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Everything posted by Sundae in the Park

  1. Sundae in the Park
    I agree! This is a great idea since I've been looking for more white bean recipes. Thanks for linking! Last night we also made pizza - white sauce with mushrooms and red sauce with salami. The first couple came out great but our stupid oven loses heat really fast so the last couple are sort of wan.
  2. Sundae in the Park
    OK, I'll work on them! What to get if I don't like clams and enjoy cheese (so don't want the tomato pie)?
  3. Sundae in the Park
    Curried red lentils and some slices of sauteed beef (normal asian quick marinade - soy sauce, pepper, cornstarch, rice wine) over rice. Red lentils aren't for sale at any of the normal stores so I went a little crazy at the bulk food market and we'll probably be having this meal rather often for the next few months.
  4. Sundae in the Park
    We'll be in downtown Hartford in a few weeks, probably staying at the Marriot. Anybody have any suggestions? Pizza, maybe? I see that there is a Pepe's within driving distance (getting my coworkers into a car might be an issue, with all the "perfectly good" chains within walking distance) - would that be worth it?
  5. Sundae in the Park
    We called those turkey patties at our house growing up and they were a favorite before, after, and for Thanksgiving, when there is an abundance of turkey available at the store. I will probably make some soon!!!
  6. Sundae in the Park
    Grilled chicken with a Vietnamese fish sauce marinade cucumbers pickled carrots broken rice Made a big batch of curried chicken salad the other day and have been eating leftovers with cucumbers or by itself for lunches.
  7. Sundae in the Park
    I've been making a lot of this baked apple cherry oatmeal recipe lately. Because I don't like regular rolled oats, this is a nice way to get some whole grains and fruits in the morning without added fat or sugar. The baby loves it and always demands his fair share. It doesn't really need it, but tastes nice with a dab of maple syrup.
  8. Sundae in the Park
    Ah, adding cheese quesadillas takes the white chili from acceptable to NOMNOM for my husband. Good to know and great use of our giant block of Monterey Jack.
  9. Sundae in the Park
    White bean chicken chili, just in time to lose our cool weather streak ;-) Used Kenji's recipe (love the pepper skin-infused broth technique) more or less, with the addition of a few tomatillos.
  10. Sundae in the Park
    I've been eying the 19-piece pyrex snapware that is on sale this month, but the reviews on the Costco site are mixed (though the reviews on Amazon for seemingly the same product are excellent). Anybody have any experience with this set, particularly with regard to the robustness of the lids? Thanks!
  11. Sundae in the Park
    Just in case others are ignorami like myself, you can use debit cards at Costco! I'd been hoarding cash for every trip, since I don't have an Amex. Much worse for disciplined shopping, but much less annoyance that I can't pick up a one-time treasure that wasn't on The List! Also, Costco.com has free shipping for some of its items and takes regular credit cards, plus you can renew your membership online with a credit card. So now I check to make sure the bulky stuff/sale items aren't available online for free shipping before I head out to the store. It's so much nicer when giant boxes of diapers come to my doorstep!
  12. Sundae in the Park
    We've been eating crock pot cuban pork for a few days now, and are just finishing up the black beans, rice, sauteed corn and peppers, and mojo sauce. The guac and tortilla chips were gone the first day. We'll still have a quart or so of shredded meat left in the freezer for later meals. Pork shoulder goes far!!! I made Smitten Kitchen's zuchinni and rice gratin over the weekend and it was delicious, but overly fussy in the preparation. I think I'll just sautee the shredded zuchinni with the same fixings sans rice next time and see how well that tastes.
  13. Sundae in the Park
    Eh, we do the best we can with what we know at the time. Stricter views on childhood nutrition and gourmet/handmade everything is a lot more in vogue these days than in the past. And time/convenience is NOT an inconsiderable factor in just getting through the week. Everyone making it through alive is the most important thing!!! There are always things we can do better in hindsight. I am very lucky in that I've had no trouble breastfeeding and I work from home. I recognize the incredible good fortune we've had in both of those things and try to be grateful every day (even with the biting! ahhh!). We did wait until he was sitting up and snatching and yowling about being excluded from mealtimes (around 6ish months), but I know and have read about lots of people who started quite early with watery solids (from 4 months!) and the kids seem to be fine (there doesn't seem to be a ton of hard scientific evidence on this topic either way because it's hard to do controlled experiments on babies, and different books vary on the best starting time for solids!). Making food for him also just happens to fall very easily into our routine, since I've been batch cooking weekend meals to last through the week for years, so adding a few vegetables and porridges into the prep mix is no trouble. It is getting easier as he eats more of what we're having, especially since he really kicks up a fuss at having different food. Turns out he does like curried lentils, which opens up a whole new slew of foods that we can eat with us, as we eat a LOT of curried things. I do not expect him to keep his wide palate through the toddler years, but it's nice for now and if he's picky for a while hopefully it will return when he's older. We're currently debating when to start peanuts. Our pediatrician advice (though it varies widely depending on which doctor you ask!!!) is to wait, but a good new paper (by good I mean randomized experiment on hundreds of children and published in a great journal) and older observational papers are advocating for early exposure to potential allergens, especially peanuts. We don't have any food allergies, but have lots of other allergies and eczema (hence our dr.'s stance for the baby) and we're already out of the early exposure window from the paper. We gave him whole eggs and he is fine, and accidentally fed him foods with almonds, so he is fine with tree nuts. Plus my husband eats a ton of peanut butter, so we've probably already had cross contamination and secondary exposure. Hmmmm, yeah, we're probably going to try formal exposure in the next week or so.
  14. Sundae in the Park
    Oh good, I'm glad you have them as well! We also get waaaaay more cookies than necessary whenever we pop in. The butter almond thins and Speculoos cookies never last long at our house!
  15. Sundae in the Park
    Ran out of gas so instead of grilling last night, we made up a small pan of eggplant parm. Earlier in the week we used up a bunch of odds and ends and baked a couple of pot pies. Can you tell I am willing it to be fall? Tonight we will make the last of our frozen potstickers (make a big batch whenever you're taking the time! They freeze beautifully and steam-fry straight from the freezer just about as well as when fresh!) and watch the zoodebate. Soon my freezer will be empty enough that I can justify filling it again!
  16. Sundae in the Park
    Newbury Park (more or less in Thousand Oaks) Sesame Inn - From looking around at the other tables, I think they do American Chinese food quite well, but we go for the non-secret Szechuan menu (they pass them out with the regular menus). There's a master fryer in the back and we love the chili chicken (like popcorn chicken with red chiles) and the salt and pepper fish (served with jalapenos). The three delight is a wonderful vegetable dish "“ like A&J's cold mustard greens and bamboo shoots dish, but served hot and sautéed with pork bits. The chili cabbage is pretty good as well. We were so so so so happy to find this place, as this is the first decent Chinese we had in the area (without driving down to the Valley). Red Wok - We went to try the XLB but they aren't very good "“ thin but broken skins, perfect decently fillings, but nothing exciting. HOWEVER, their pan-fried dumplings taste like they are made in-house "“ plump, chewy skins, sizzling bottoms, balanced and tasty meat filling, and very juicy. We've been back several times for these dumplings alone. The rest of the American Chinese menu looks bleh (from spying other tables). Szechuan Place - This place has my favorite fish dish since China Star's (or other Chef Chang places) scallion fish. The crispy chili fried fish fillets have tons of flavor and are expertly fried. The dan dan mien is pretty good (fiery!) but I didn't care for the beef noodle soup "“ too hot and not enough depth of flavor. The eggplant casserole isn't spicy enough (or at all, really). For several months we were getting double orders of the chili fish every week until our bellies couldn't take it anymore, taking a break, then starting the cycle over again. Ali Baba's Cafe - Solid, simple, Mediterranean food. Great, crackling fresh falafel, perfectly decent schwarma and good kabobs. Pita is store-bought in a bag, but served warm. They have an interesting stewy dish - ful medames - of sauteed garlic and fava beans. We keep getting the family meal so can only speak to that set but it is a great deal. Service is always warm and friendly, even when you bring in a baby ;-) Mama's Hummus - Fast-casual Mediterranean food with flavorful, juicy kabobs served over fluffy, seasoned rice. The hummus and eggplant dips are quite good, but the falafel isn't really my cup of tea (just tastes of salt and the fryer never quite gets it just right). Pita is store-bought in a bag, but they have nice baklava "“ flaky, nutty, and sweet, which makes my husband happy.
  17. Sundae in the Park
    We make small batches of the purees in the Magic Bullet and whiz larger batches with the immersion blender. I was reminded this week that this step: All foods were frozen in cubes and stored in gallon-freezer bags for easy access. is key. For some reason (sleep deprivation!), it didn't occur to us for a couple weeks to take all the cubes out of the freezer tray at once, so we were wrestling with the darn thing (and its extremely tight-fitting lid) several times a day to pull out one cube at a time. That approach is...not recommended. Kiddo also likes slightly smashed pot pie filling (I'm sure he'd eat the crust as well but we're holding back the buttery stuff for the moment) and oatmeal baked with fruit. My niece pretty much lived on the inside pieces of fried chicken (my sister removed the skin and pulled the inner meat for her by hand - yes, chicken prepared any other way was completely unacceptable) for years. Copying her play, we gave the baby the flaky inner pieces from our favorite restaurant salt and pepper fish and he is a BIG fan. We just started with yogurt, but it is surprisingly difficult to find small cartons of whole-fat, unflavored yogurt around here (Southern CA). Oodles of flavored and low- or no-fat yogurts, but nothing like a single-serve Stonyfield that I know I can get back on the East coast. I suppose I could go back to making my own, but that is much better in large batches and I certainly don't need whole-fat yogurt!
  18. Sundae in the Park
    Thousand Oaks Mouthful Eatery is a bright and bustling (read: loud) fast-casual spot specializing in Peruvian-inspired, overfilled sandwiches. Our favorites are the lomo saltado and the pork shoulder (especially when they have pork on special that day). The sandwiches are $10+, which reflects the "handcrafted" tagline of the business, but the ingredients are fresh and thoughtfully combined, and portions are generous enough to share. There are several tasty sides and they have pretty salads that I've never tried. The fried artichokes with aoli are heavy but slightly addictive, and the same goes for the mac and cheese. I like the cucumber mint lemonade and the alfajores cookies are good but pricey - $3 for 4 small cookies. FWIW, this place made Yelp's top 100 in the nation this year. I think it helped business, because the last time I went they had expanded next door and now have a lot more seating. Umami Burger - there's a location down the street from Mouthful in a plaza full of other chains. I've only tried it once as it's too rich (taste and $) for me but my husband goes occasionally. They do have interesting sauce and topping choices: truffled seemingly everything, including aoli, housemade ketchup, parmesan crisp, hatch chiles, kimchee, etc.
  19. Sundae in the Park
    Do you guys have the newish purple-packaged naan on the East Coast? Out in California it's a paneer masala flavor and I eat it as a snack all the time (toaster oven, baby!). I think it showed up about a year ago? We now get all three flavors of naan whenever we hit a TJ's (heh, if they are all available) - plain for eating with curries, garlic-flavored as the base for making emergency pizzas (also in the toaster oven), and these new ones for anytime. Sometimes we get weird looks but we really like their naan
  20. Sundae in the Park
    Note: we started out making our own brown rice cereal, but switched (on doctor advice) to the commercial fortified kinds because he needed the iron.
  21. Sundae in the Park
    My 11(!)-month old really likes eating our table food. He's smart enough to know when his portion doesn't look like ours and is seriously indignant when he doesn't get his fair share of the good stuff. I've taken to setting aside a portion of anything he can eat before the final salting/sugaring. We were introducing one food/ingredient at a time, but this approach went out the window last month when we fed him Singapore noodles to avoid a meltdown at a restaurant and he loooooooved it. *Shrug*, I guess my kid likes tasty food. The most successful dishes so far have been: congee, oatmeal, fried/scrambled eggs, sauteed greens, carrot soup, cornbread, pancakes, and tamales (with red chile sauce). Soft tacos are still too dry. Next up will be a lentil curry. Previously I'd been making purees and mashes of peas, broccoli, spinach, peppers, corn, beets, green and wax beans, carrots, and sweet potatoes, thinned with homemade vegetable stock. Prepared fruits were stewed prunes, mashed blueberries, melon, cherries, and raspberries. Bananas and avocados are great because they don't require any prep and you can mash as you go. In fact, we fed him bananas for his first solid food. I was making applesauce but it is SO much easier to just feed him regular applesauce bought in big jars (not the individual baby food jars). All foods were frozen in cubes and stored in gallon-freezer bags for easy access. So far he eats every kind of cheese - mozz, Babybels (life-saving while out of the house!), feta, cheddar, and smoked gouda. He still eats his vegetable and fruit mashes, but shows a noticeable preference for pretty much everything else. Particularly, whatever the nearest big person is eating. Not bad for a kid just starting to sprout teeth!
  22. Sundae in the Park
    When we first saw this movie, at home but not long after it came out, we thought it was funny but quite terrible. Almost a decade later, we are still regularly quoting it (and will be doing more so in the future, I imagine, as we approach the potential election of a President Camacho), so...
  23. Sundae in the Park
    Agreed! We actually thought the plot was kind of thin and the wedding completely unnecessary, but the execution of almost all the food-related (so therefore most of the) scenes were great! The scene near the end with all the food trucks - we've eaten at most of those trucks so were super excited to see them!!! We're sad that we won't be able to try the El Jefe truck. Note: ever since our visit to Miami and eating a bunch of Cuban food, my husband and I have always wondered why it isn't more popular in the US. The food is delicious and not terribly challenging, with mostly some flavor tweaks on food that should be familiar to the average American diner. So we thought the creation of a Cuban food truck was genius and long overdue! Also, if you are in the LA area, it is why the raging success of the Cuban bakery Porto's makes so much sense!
  24. Sundae in the Park
    You guys are the greatest! I can still give restaurant recommendations to my coworkers from almost 3,000 miles away. My husband will be so sad to hear that decent hush puppies have come to town and he can't have them, but it's nice to know that our friends will get to eat them!
  25. Sundae in the Park
    Haven't watched season 7 yet because we've been baby-busy for a while, but for the years before that P&R was the only appointment TV we still watched live. The first season (best forgotten!) notwithstanding, it's the best show that has been on TV for many years. Probably our favorite since the heyday (oh seasons 2 and 3!) of the West Wing. Yes, our government/wonky side probably shows in our TV taste, but we love this story in particular because: 1) It's funny because it's true! Over the top, yes, but anyone who has participated even peripherally in local government and smallish-town life can recognize so many familiar moments throughout the various plotlines. 1a) These people are real. No one is a Mary Sue, everyone has character strengths and flaws, and the people in the audience can always relate to somebody's point of view. 2) These people are good. Snarky and wacky so as to be not boring, but fundamentally nice and caring, with tons of funny thrown in. Cynicism can be fun and interesting but is eventually...wearing. These are people you end up caring about and laughing both at and with them. You usually feel better after an episode ends, and sometimes even exhilarated because the characters are just so. damn. awesome (usually when Leslie pulls off some gift-giving coup. How about Ron in Scotland??!!). 2a) These people are friends. Women friends, men friends, women-men friends. It's hard to find good portrayals of any of these in TV and film, let alone all three. See #2 about this making us care about them. 3) Strong women characters who are not battle axes or sex fiends/Madonnas or other stereotypes. Archetypes, yes, but with other sides of their characters filled in. No cardboard cutouts here! 4) The writers manage to stay on top of pop culture, so it still feels fresh and of the moment. Anyway, thanks for the reminder, Don. Must sneak in Season 7 while the baby sleeps!
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