Saturday, July 18, 2009

Lately

What we've been up to lately....
I mentioned we went up to Orcas for about a week and got to hang out with Grandma and Granddad...
Jake and Granddad ran the tractor:

Abby hung out on the couch:Jacob found his wings:but don't get me wrong the whole time he was 'flying' he kept saying "My an airplane Mommy!" and making appropriate airplane noises.

We spent some time in my Mom's amazing garden...Jake loved the shovel, the wheelbarrel and the rake but mostly he loved the peas, cherries and strawberries: I finished Abby's lace hat and just had to put it on her right away. Fortunately it was a cool enough day that I was not torturing my child for the sake of seeing if it fit.
My dad went fishing and came home with several fish that he smoked. Jake got to help him make the brine and was very very excited to do so.The fish was delicious too.
We have been home for a week now and I am finally getting my butt around to posting. I finished snakes for a friend's grandsons. They turned out great except I didn't end up embroidering eyes on them. I still think they look pretty sharp with their little tounges sticking out. I am really glad I got them done before my machine decided to break. The day after I finished the snakes I finally decided to get my stuff together and make a bear for Jacob since I hadn't yet done that. He came up and 'helped' me. After we got the pattern traced and cut out we sat down to sew only to find the machine only sewing in reverse. I couldn't figure it out. I thought it was probably the same problem Alexis had. So I thought it was a loose spring on the backwards button but I couldn't get the cover off. I was doomed to have to take it in to have the shop look at it...they look at it for free...if it needs to be fixed they charge 125 bucks. I took it in and she couldn't figure it out...sait it had to be sent in (damn it, I knew it)...aske if she could just show me how to take the cover off...she said she had no clue but her co-worker could often scare any machine into behaving. Said co-worker came and sat down at the machine. 5 seconds in she had my machine working...get this it was just on the wrong stitch setting. I guess that there is some limbo on the setting that if you put it in the right spot it sews backwards. This is probably intentional in the design of the machine but still was weird to me. It made sense that it was a minor problem as Jacob had confessed to messing with the machine when asked. But in the end it all worked out and I didn't have to pay and arm and a leg...so here is his bear in all of the Curious George and Firetrucks glory: Oh and on Wednesday I made a fabulous dinner. I knew I was totally in the mood for a roast so I grabbed one and coated it in coarse kosher salt and some dried minced garlic and some pepper. I baked that at 325 for about 2 hours. I also served mashed potatoes and best part was the Ratatouille Tart from the August 2009 issue of Cuisine at Home however I made a few changes. The recipe calls for zuccinni, yellow squash, red onion and red bell pepper. I used all of those but added eggplant. I also changed using goat cheese for using parmesean since none in my household, including myself, care for goat cheese. I am not familiar with the copyrights, etc. so please pick up a copy of the magazine for the recipe. I guess it would probably be ok to see me for my version of it too since I did make changes. Pretty huh?
Anyway it was one of those things that I thought would be just ok and Brian was sure he would hate (and really wanted to also since he thought he was getting one of his favorites - fried zuccinni as a veggie) but we it turned out to be really yummy. We will make it again for sure but do a couple of things differently. First I will use more basil than called for. Second I will layer the veggies a bit more densly and third I will use more olive oil. I enjoyed this very much and it reheated GREAT! I used the leftover slices of zuccinni, yellow squash, eggplant and red bell pepper at dinner the next night with our french dips (always follows a roast night...) by eggwashing them and coating them in breadcrumb and pan frying in a little olive oil. Sooo yummy!
Well, the babies need a bath. Until next time.

2 comments:

Alexis AKA MOM said...

Love the update, the Orcas trip looks like fun as always. The tracker ride looks super fun!

The snakes turned out so cool love the 3 colors! And of course the tongues rock! I'm so sorry to hear about the machine and the reverse. That sucks big time!!!

Ok the bear is way too flipping cool!

And that dish looks scrumptious! I think I may be teh only one that likes it here though ... LOL

jeanius said...

looks delish! Is that a Vine Lace hat? I just knit one up too :) Looks great on Abby :)