fritatta is my love language.

many of you know my husband doesn't like eggs. to eat, I mean. BUT, I do like to eat the eggs. in yet another expression of sweetsweet marital commitment, he made me a gorgeous, fluffy fritatta the other night. plus some tasty honking sausage and leftover apple braised cabbage (which was even better the second day).



true love, people.

company ratatouille

so I've already written once about making ratatouille, which was yummy and flavorful and chunky-goulash-like. since we got a crazy amount of vegetables at the farmer's market last weekend, the pressure is on to cook and eat them all before time takes it's toll. we had such success with the last ratatouille night, yesterday I undertook Smitten Kitchen's version of rat-ta-too-ee-for-you-ee , altered to fit yoshimi's urgent need to use things she has in the 'fridge.

my ingredients:



I spent a goodly amount of time chopping vegetables. Smitten Kitchen tried to start out with vegetables that were mostly the same size so everything would look pretty and uniform in the casserole dish, but since I was using what I had on hand I just tried to work it out. it was during this activity that I saw the wisdom in husbin's desire for a mandolin slicer for Christmas. we will be updating our Amazon wish list.



I know. that's a lot of chopped up vegetable to go into one little casserole. that's what I was thinking, too. oy.

SK called for a tomato puree to go in the bottom of the casserole dish, but I had some vodka pasta sauce we needed to use so I combined that with about a quarter cup of crushed tomatoes. to that, in addition to the ingredients she listed, I added some extra vegetable bits I had after chopping (diced mushroom stems, red pepper, green onion).



I then arranged my vegetables as best I could on top of the sauce in the dish, drizzled with olive oil, and liberally sprinkled with salt, pepper, and a bit of dried thyme as I didn't have any fresh:



I cut out the parchment paper per SK's instructions, placed it in the dish to see that it totally fit, and was about to feel like a rockstar until I saw the little garlic cloves forlornly sitting there on the countertop and realized I'd forgotten to put them in. they're supposed to go into the sauce underneath all of the vegetables. my bad. so.... I chopped them up and sprinkled them on top. who's going to know the difference?



I once again applied the protective cover of parchment paper. which I did have on hand, thanks to last Christmas' challenging cookie experiment. into the oven with you, rat-ta-too-ee.



the leftover vegetables got chopped up and will most likely become a soup in the next few days... or a monster veggie fritatta...



and voila, fifty minutes later I took this out of the oven. even with mismatched vegetable sizes and non-traditional ratatouille ingredients like carrots and mushrooms, it came out looking nice and smelling awesome.




we took SK's advice and served it over rice, with a dollop of goat cheese on top. which was delish and, as far as I'm concerned, a crucial addition.



I just finished the leftovers and can vouch for it's 'next day' tastiness (especially with a bit of sriracha sauce). but the real moral to this story is... I love that there are so many recipes out there, and that they can be so fun and easy to adapt to what you've got and what you like.

tonight is Ethiopian cabbage again, by request. and spinach, because the freshness clock is ticking on those guys... brussel sprouts, okra, and green beans, I have my eye on you. and you, there, the globe-y green squash things, you're liable to be fried along with that okra if you'll just hang in there another day or two.

I've never been so full of vegetables. happily.

first day of school

our precious niece started school yesterday at a 2-day-a-week mother's day out program. we received a flipping adorable picture of her holding a picture of us and wearing her socks pulled up and the Converse we got her (classic white, yo)... the child is in her diaper, so to protect her young modesty I won't post it here, but it's one of my favorite things to look at right now. we immediately sent her back a photo of OUR converse, which we happened to be wearing, and my brother reported that he didn't even have to tell her that they were our feet. :)

here she is with her new lunchbox:




she called M yesterday to tell him she played on the playground and that she loves her 'Un-ul Mi-ul'. which, of course, made his day.


we are very, very proud of this sweet, good little girl.



p.s. her mama could probably use a little encouragement... it can be tough to see your baby growing up. we love you, L!

cuh-razy.

Sick flute beat-boxing - Watch more Funny Videos

I'll never think of flute players the same way again.


we kept miss E the other night while her parents went out on the town... behold the somewhat blurry i-phone awesomeness:







and I give you scenes from Canino's farmer's market on Airline:




so pretty. a very nice way to shop, too (especially on pretty days like this). we spent about $30 and came home with a ton of good, fresh things to eat plus a variety of great dried beans.

I'm out. oh, and p.s. ms. frank, I just finished off my chocolatey leftovers from last night. ALL OF IT. we had fun with you guys. :)

-m.y.

because I can't leave well enough alone... politics ahead, if you'd like to detour now

here's an article in the Chronicle about President Obama addressing school children about the importance of education and working hard. the fallout is, of course, polarizing. there is clear precedent for presidents to do such things, such as when President Bush sent out a nationally televised message to kids about drugs. holy moly, when I was in second grade we 'voted' in a mock election... I remember voting for Jimmy Carter. that was back when I heard that the Republican party was for business and rich people and Democrats were for the working man. thanks, mom and dad, for not making a big hubub at my school about that stuff, and for not imagining that it would somehow permanently define me.

Quoting the article, "One parent told her the president's speech “obligates the youngest children in our public school system to agree with Obama's initiatives or be ostracized by their teachers and classmates,” and does not allow for healthy debate."

what? it obligates them to agree with the initiative of getting a good education? you want them to debate the merits of education?? look, you may not like his stance on healthcare or the way our government is spending itself into oblivion, but to hear a pro-education message from a very intelligent, democratically elected, African American president is a good thing no matter how you slice it. I realize that it's a parent's job to protect their children and figuring out what to filter out for them must be daunting... I guess most movies and television shows don't make the grade, either... but be careful when bleeding your politics all over your kids, stop making them wear hate message t-shirts to school and proudly teaching them that that's acceptable, intelligent communication of one's beliefs (photo above), and if you're so concerned about a healthy debate try starting one at home. teach your kids to be critical thinkers who can hear opposing views and respond thoughtfully without showing up at a rally with their gun and running to pundits for talking points. making a quiet choice for your child is one thing, but please don't vociferously bully your local school because of your politics... it's not cool, nor does it remotely model Christianity. this might be an opportunity to partner with your child and his/her class to actually have something positive happen (not the least of which is reiterating that we should be respectful of local educational administrators and the office of the president, no matter how disgusted we might be with current goings-on). but no. President Obama cannot address the children about the importance of showing up to school and working hard to become something, because then the kids will surely want a handout, cash for their clunker, and socialized health care. or worse... they may think the guy on tv is just a nice man or something.

I feel this quote from the article: “I wish our elected leaders were responsible enough to denounce this kind of wild-eyed paranoia,” Miller said. “But the problem is too many of them are actually feeding this kind of nonsense — like when the governor flirts with secessionists and State Board of Education members say the president sympathizes with terrorists.”

I didn't even vote for him. I hate that we're in Afghanistan, am completely horrified at our current fiscal policy, and shudder to think what our tax situation will be in ten years (I hold the last few administrations at fault for a lot of this mess, too, though, through their own action, inaction, and choices based on reasons other than the good of the American people they serve). but the furor and attacks, the fear-mongering and spin-the-soundbyte half-truths, the planned and planted shoutings-down in the recent town hall meetings, bad and shallow stadium journalism on both sides... it's all pushing me further and further toward seeking out alternative media and regarding everyone with a critical eye and deep suspicion.


*edit*

Governor Perry weighs in:

"I think it's disturbing when you get this message, that you will have your kids, in a forum where the president of the United States is, obviously he's got a message there. Nobody seems to know what he's going to be talking about ... why didn't he spend more time talking to the local districts, superintendents?"

pretty sure the 'message there' is about EDUCATION, Governor. that seems to be 'what he's going to be talking about'... I knew that, not sure how you and others are so seemingly in the dark and distressed about it all. and maybe he didn't spend more time talking to the local districts and superintendents because he's the President of the United States and is doing things on his own timetable.

ugh. will the politicking never end? let the dude talk about education. if the teachers request it, let the kids write a paper about how they will try to be better citizens and 'help President Obama' (which is the obvious intent, not a Marxist agenda of creating Obama followers. please. is your youth minister creating mindless followers by saying, 'okay kids, write down some ways that you could help me/the church/your parents?... or a YMCA coach saying 'I want you guys to think about ways you can help make this season the best ever.'). the far right is losing a lot of us in the middle.

outing myself

I'm sorry... but America's Funniest Home Videos has been known to swoop in occasionally and make my day better. it's true. a good montage of people falling down and hapless dads getting accidentally hit in the privates makes me cackle.

after glancing at the news, wrestling to open the garage door (to no avail), making my to-do list, and wondering how to get all of the sticky sap off of the gate and my car, I've decided that today definitely needs more cats freaking themselves out.

galveston + depeche mode = happy bells

we had a weekend filled to overflowing with good times. we scored a deal on tickets to Schlitterbahn Galveston a few months ago and had been looking forward to stealing away to check it out. thanks to my frequent Super 8 hotel stays in the metroplex I'd accumulated a free night at any hotels.com participating hotel, so we decided to make it an overnighter and got online to book a room at the historic Hotel Galvez. it was really nice and a lot of fun (and even nicer to have gotten such a sweet deal). when we got there Friday afternoon, we took a little tour around the place and then crashed on the luxurious bed and turned off our brains for awhile. we had dinner reservations at Guido's Seafood Restaurant, which was wonderful, and then went back to the hotel to relax in their outdoor hot tub and watch lightning periodically light up the coastal sky. special thanks to the Bells for generously keeping our animals so we could go away and play this weekend.






that last shot somehow came out all hazy and dreamy like that... I like the old-fashioned vibe of it.


on Saturday, we headed over to Schlitterbahn. there's still so much of Galveston to be healed/re-built/developed, but I have to say when we drive around I can't help but notice all of the wonderful older houses and how much it reminds me of New Orleans... I hope what's there is able to be renovated and preserved, rather than torn down. the water park was super fun... a great size, plus it wasn't too hot or crowded. we liked a lot of the slides, tube, and raft attractions, but our favorite thing might have been the Torrent River. like the Lazy River, except not so Lazy. they smartly built the park so that there's a heated indoor season through December and then picking up again in March, and we'd definitely like to go back with friends/family.






we were back for church Sunday morning, then, last night, we drove up to the Woodlands to see Depeche Mode. my husband loves this band, and spent the afternoon eagerly preparing for and anticipating this long-awaited show. observe:





I offered him contributing writer space here to share a bit of his feelings about DM, so we'll see if that pans out. he didn't actually wear the above ensemble to the concert.

I can say that I enjoyed the show a lot - we staked out a central green space on the hill and Peter Bjorn & John opened. Depeche Mode had a sincerely awesome technical show... no joke, it was so flipping cool and really made the concert a totally different, visual experience. the best part, though, was seeing my husband completely enjoying himself. that's his good friend S.C. in the photos... this was their fourth or fifth DM show together. and I'm wearing an old DM concert t-shirt that Michael got from some chick back in the day. :)







here are some fun video snippets, to give you an idea of how cool the screens were. RAD. you can probably hear my husband happily singing along in the background.













that dude waving the cig was very nice, but I confess to gagging a little on his second-hand smoke.


since videos take awhile to upload, I wandered into the kitchen to figure out what we're going to eat tonight. we're not 'out' of food, but the vittles are thinned out enough that, outside of opening a can of soup or popping the last of my frozen waffles in the toaster, putting things together requires a bit more imagination and effort. at times like these, I tend to gravitate toward one of my favorite concoctions: the 'kitchen sink' soup. i.e., soup made of everything but the kitchen sink, or whatever it is you have on hand that needs to be eaten. today's version contains olive oil, a frozen onion/carrot/celery soup starter, an extra half an onion, two zucchini, one small red potato, 2 big cloves of garlic, half a head of cabbage, and chicken broth. it looks mostly green, pretty, and sort of Asian - aside from the little bits of potato - so along with salt and pepper I threw in some chili oil and a dash of soy sauce. I do love to make soup.

oooh, while I'm on the subject of cabbage and potatoes, I made this recipe for Ethiopian cabbage last week. it was incredibly easy and very tasty - the husband gave it his stamp of approval and went back for seconds. the ingredients are all common except for the spice 'turmeric', which I bought and vowed to use in other dishes (we've all been there, haven't we?). I didn't have any carrots in the house and was hoping to find a local option at the store (since I'm on that kick and the internet says carrots are 'in season' year-round in Texas), but all of the pretty carrots I saw were native Californians. so, I left and was resigned to substituting one of the garnet sweet potatoes we already had at the house. on the way home, I happened to think to stop by Kim Hung, a Chinese market on St. Emmanuel over here in the East End, and sure enough there were squat, fat local carrots. not nearly as pretty as the ones from California - I've been told that in this area they'll go bad if you leave them in the ground to grow long - but totally worthy of our Ethiopian cabbage dish. I bought two of them for 42 cents and felt really good about it.

I need to go stir the soup, remove the Nascar coffee cup from my hand (don't like Nascar, love this coffee cup), and clean some house. I'm dragging butt today. we got in a little after midnight from the concert and I boneheadedly stayed up way too late watching 'Dance School: Juilliard'. the cat had to be at the vet for her (hopefully) last checkup/sutures removed/etc. this morning, so I'm operating on less-than optimal energy. but whatever. it was a great weekend and I'm glad for today.

- m.y.

*edit* I'm sorry, but I'm loving this product so much I logged in just to say it.



EO Rose Geranium & Citrus hand soap. thanks, Marshall's, for letting me purchase it in a most cost-effective manner.