. . . which is not to be confused with
Cock-a-doo!
Rooster photo by bagsgroove, via Flickr. Creative Commons.
Tag: Baguette
-
What Baguette Is Saying Now
Try-pair-a-ops Macmohmee cheese Play keep-ee-boo! Cock-oh-lee -
Egg Musings
- My mother hated egg whites. Scrambled eggs had to be perfectly blended. I think of her every time I scramble eggs.
- On the rare occasions that we’d have breakfast out and we’d order fried eggs, she’d take my yolks and I’d take her whites.
- I’m told she made a great lemon meringue pie, but I have no memories of her making it.
- Until quite recently, Baguette ate a lot of scrambled eggs. I would fix one for her each morning and take it to school. Last week, though, her teacher told me that she’d been throwing them away because Baguette wasn’t eating them.
- After 2015, no California hens can be kept in battery cages; Prop 2, which voters approved and Governor Schwarznegger signed, requires that the animals have enough room to stretch their wings and turn around.
- I only buy eggs from California.
- Mr. Sandwich and I like the idea of having a backyard coop, and Los Angeles allows that, but we’re not sure that our back yard is set up to let us have a coop the required distance from other structures and still have a back yard.
- The farmers market sells eggs from a farm 1-1/2 miles away. They cost twice as much as the most humane eggs I can find at the store, but it’s hard to get more local than that.
Local on the left, store on the right. 
Local on the left, store on the right. 
Local on the left, store on the right. The store egg yolks seem to break much more easily. The local egg yolk didn’t break at all. That’s store yolk you see there.
-
Fresh Week, Fresh Start
Well, last week was a bear, wasn’t it?
Over the weekend, Baguette and Mr. Sandwich went to swim class and our regular playdate with Bestie, while I went to my alumni club’s annual lunch, which raises money for scholarships. I haven’t been able to go for the past several years–it’s been too long a time to leave Baguette–but this year we made it work.
On Sunday, I took Baguette over to see Mr. Sandwich’s parents, who had been out of town, and he went for a bike ride–something he hasn’t been able to do in a couple of months. So it was a weekend full of doing things we would like to do more often, which is pretty cool.
Yesterday, our second CSA box arrived, full of fresh fruits and vegetables. What was in this week’s box from Good Life Organics?
Strawberries, potatoes, zucchini, oranges, apples, rosemary, an avocado, and chard So last night, Baguette and I started out by snacking on some strawberries. Mr. Sandwich spiced up some chicken thighs and put them in the toaster/convection oven, and I cut up and boiled some potatoes. While the potatoes (and some garlic) cooked, I sliced up a zucchini and salted it. Then I sauteed it in coconut oil with more garlic (we love our garlic), adding lemon zest and lemon juice right at the end. I mashed the potatoes with the skins on and sprinkled the zucchini with parmesan. Presto, a fresh spring dinner!
Today, Baguette and I are taking more of the strawberries to eat during our respective days–me with my yogurt and granola for breakfast, and her with her macaroni and cheese (by the way, we’re trying some other brands in the hope of reducing food dyes) for lunch.
I’m trying to decide how to use the remaining zucchini–should I make a soup with my remaining meatballs and tortellini? Or should I slice it up for zucchini chips?
And if anyone has a great, easy recipe for chard, I’m all ears!
-
Happy 3rd Birthday, Baguette!
Three years ago, a little girl entered our lives and changed our world forever.
-
Traditions: Easter Dinner
Last year was our first effort at a family Easter. This year there was no snowshoeing, but we did dye and hide eggs.
Baguette hunted them, with help from Elmer the Patchwork Elephant.
Then there were deviled eggs.
And Mr. Sandwich’s parents came over for a dinner of ham (my great-grandmother’s recipe),
roasted asparagus (shown here pre-roasting),
and beer bread (my grandmother’s recipe),
as well as mashed potatoes and root vegetables and Lawry’s creamed corn.
I may have gone a little nuts.
Dessert–because I lacked time and energy to make a pound cake–was vanilla ice cream and lemon cookies, both from the store.
Verdict? The ham, asparagus, and creamed corn are definitely keepers–although we knew that going in, because I’ve made those before (a quick shout-out to Lawry’s for sharing their recipes, BTW). The beer bread was fine, but not at the top of the food priority list for us, and the mashed potatoes and root vegetables were tasty–but when Mr. Sandwich said, “I just really like your regular mashed potatoes,” well, let’s just say that it’s tough to embrace the experiment.
This post was not sponsored by Lawry’s. I just really like Lawry’s. -
Grown-Up Day
Mr. Sandwich and I both work for a state organization, which means that we get today off in honor of Cesar Chavez Day. Baguette’s day care, on the other hand, is open.
Most of the time, if work is closed, so is day care. So that means that today is the only day when it’s just the two of us.
Grown-Up Day!
I woke up slightly later than usual, but still got Baguette to day care on time. And then I came back and slept until 9:30. Because I could.
Mr. Sandwich did some much-needed car repair, changing the brakes on one of our cars. I filed our taxes, although as usual I had trouble finding one document. (Irony? It was right in front of me the whole time, behind some related paperwork in a folder. It was like it was The Purloined Tax Document.)
I’m straightening up the kitchen in preparation for Easter dinner with Mr. Sandwich’s parents–there’s cooking to be done–and the hard-cooked eggs are ready for coloring (that, too, will be us, since Baguette’s not quite ready for that). We’re folding a lot of laundry.
And we get to watch TV that we can’t watch with Baguette.
I’m already looking forward to picking her up.
-
3 A.M. Wakeup Call
From Baguette, naturally. So this is how I feel today.
Photo by beccafrog, via Flickr. Creative Commons.
-
What’s In a Meme?
I got this from The Harried Mom. Read. Write your own post. Pass it on.
1. What were you doing 10 years ago?
2003. Really? That was 10 years ago? I guess so, because Mr. Sandwich and I were well into our long-distance dating relationship, but not yet engaged (that came later in 2003–July 4th, to be exact). This time that year, my dad and I were preparing for a railroad trip through the Canadian Rockies. Awesome trip, BTW.
2. What 5 things are on your to-do list?
- Get our passports.
- Take boxing lessons.
- Organize our home office.
- Declutter the house.
- Take Spanish lessons. Again.
3. What are 5 snacks you enjoy?
Macadamia nuts, honey wheat pretzels, shortbread cookies, ice cream, chocolate chip cookies
4. Name some things you would do if you were a millionaire.
Pay off our mortgage; save for Baguette’s education; work part-time and shorten Baguette’s time in day care; pay off my brother’s mortgage (I’m assuming more than $1 million here–is that okay?); buy a vacation home in Kauai; hire a cleaning service
5. Name some places you have lived:
Maryland, California, Texas, Virginia, New Jersey. Several of them more than once.
6. Name some bad habits you have:
Bad housekeeping, too easily distracted by the computer. Mr. Sandwich would add “stealing the covers.”
7. Name some jobs you have had:
Door-to-door doughnut sales, newspaper delivery, editing, project management, social media manager, marketing
So, what about you?
-
Persistence Cooking
Baguette has a cold, which makes her both snuggly and querulous, sometimes in the same moment. Which means that it’s not necessarily easy to cook. But since I’m making an effort to use what I have, I’m soldiering on (not right now–clearly I’m typing right now, and also we’re curled up together in front of Sesame Street).
Sick weekend aside, I am managing to cook. Last night I made tortellini soup, and this morning I made multi-grain blueberry pancakes. I know, I’m fancy–but not really, because I used a mix. However, that means that in addition to today’s breakfast, Baguette will have pancakes to go with her eggs on school days. I just made small pancakes and packaged them into Baguette-sized servings for freezing.
My own breakfast is in the slow-cooker; I’m making more oatmeal, this time with regular milk instead of almond or coconut. Why? Because that’s what I had.
It’s not that I’m refusing to buy food until I’ve used everything up. That’s just crazy talk. Also, I need more Parmesan cheese. So we’ll probably be going to the store later this afternoon.
Oscars? What Oscars?
-
More Random Thoughts: Insomniac Edition
I’ve been crazy busy for the last couple of weeks, which means that I haven’t had time to think enough to develop a real blog post. It doesn’t help that Baguette has had several bad nights of sleep.
Apparently tonight it’s my turn. Sigh. So here are some things that are running through my head.
- Remember how Idiocracy was so controversial just before it came out, and there were stories about how it was being borderline banned? I’ve always felt that it had a point, and some funny bits, but the real problem is that it’s just not a very good movie.
- In related news, I used to think that Luke Wilson was the good-looking one and Owen Wilson was the smart one, but now I think I might have had it backward. Except that I don’t think Owen Wilson is that good-looking.
- I know that I saw a recipe for hash brown breakfast casserole that had the hash browns on top, instead of what looks like way too much cheese. But now I cannot find that recipe anywhere. Maybe it was in a magazine and not online. This is much more frustrating than it ought to be.
- I really need to start making meal plans, and I should base them on what’s in the freezer. This makes sense, right? Particularly since we have a totally full chest freezer in the garage?
- Somehow I wound up with an Orvis catalog. Not even the models look happy to be wearing the clothing.
Okay, thanks for letting me get that off my chest. I think I might be able to sleep now. Whew!
Apropos of nothing, here’s a picture of Baguette playing with some gravel.
