71/365: Asparagus for Dinner

I tried my hand at roasted asparagus for tonight's dinner and thought the slender stalks would make a nice picture.



For the roasted asparagus, I tossed with olive oil, a little bit of lemon pepper and season salt. Roasted in a 430 degree oven for about 15 minutes. Sprinkle some Romano cheese on top. Sorry, not finished dish picture, but they were delicious!

Read more...

67/365: House Favorites - Gone Already!

My taste for Girl Scout cookies is not shared by the rest of my family (just means more cookies for me). Peanut Butter Patties hold the top spot among the other members of my family. Which results in a very short shelf life for those cookies:

Now I have to listen the whining - "What do you mean they're all gone? We just got them yesterday!" and "Can you buy more?".

Hmmmm, we already spent $70 on cookies. They'll have to settle for the Thin Mints (Somehow, I don't think they'll complain).

Read more...

66/365: Favorite Girl Scout Cookies

My first order of Girl Scout cookies was hand delivered to my office bright and early this morning, around 8:30. I resisted temptation for an hour before I opened up the box of Lemonades, my favorite. I left that box at work, and opened up the 2nd box at home.



Yet another reason to love March!

Read more...

52/365: Headless Brian and Some Cookies

This is what the kids resort to when Mom pulls out the camera:

Scott made Black and White cookies for tomorrow's work potluck.


I made my classic Chinese BBQ pork. I think my co-workers would revolt if I didn't bring it in. Maybe I'll take a picture of it tomorrow.

Read more...

37/365: My Favorite Tea

It's another cold day on the Prairie, complete with single digit temperatures, fresh snow, blowing winds and icy roads. So the Tea might seem fitting on a day like today, except I enjoy my favorite Tea iced, in the summer. I look forward to that warm summer day when I can brew up some Mango Iced Tea. Today, I just have to wrap myself up in a blanket.

Read more...

34/365: Rum Cake

Arrggghh Matey's! Time to make some Rum Cake, because we are having a Super Bowl Shin-Dig tomorrow and what better to serve than a sweet, buttery, tipsy cake? I even bought a Bundt Cake pan today for one of the cakes.



You see that Captain Morgan's Spiced rum bottle? Well, after making two of these things, the bottle is empty (and no, I didn't make myself a nice mixed drink while I was baking. In reality, just licking the batter off the mixer beater was enough to give me a little buzz).

The other cake:


And I can't post stuff like this without providing a link to the recipe:
Bacardi Rum Cake Recipe - you know you want to make one now!

Read more...

28/365: New Year's Dumplings

Tomorrow, we ring in the Chinese New Year. As with many holidays, we celebrate with special foods, and for New Year, this means dumplings and noodles. Normally, I buy frozen dumplings, but with help from Erica and Brian, we enjoyed homemade ones.



More pictures are on my personal blog.

Thanks for all of your kind comments, and Happy Chinese New Year!

Read more...

26/365: Tea Time

I am hosting our ladies' book club discussion tonight, and since Chinese New Year is just around the corner, I am serving tea in my cute Chinese tea set. I figure the tea will be a nice compliment to the decadent Rum cake I made yesterday.



I love the cute koi painted on the cups - they were the reason I purchased this particular set. The sad thing? I purchased the set in China 2 1/2 years ago, and tonight will be its first use. I guess we need to take more time out to steep tea and enjoy it with our friends and family.

Read more...

24/365: Kitchen Technology

This week's Project 365 theme at 2peas is Technology, so I decided to take pictures of the technology used in the kitchen.

Brian is now old enough to procure and even prepare his own food. He was getting some milk out of the fridge when I snapped this. He was happy because I didn't take a picture of his face (he tends to blink anyways).



Brian can use this modern marvel of kitchen technology, the microwave. I recently tried to recall how we used to re-heat leftovers before the microwave. I think we put everything in the oven! I do remember our first microwave - we received it as a "gift" for renovating the kitchen back in the early 80's. What a boat it was, and not very effective. I didn't think it was very "high tech" back then, but I can't imagine a kitchen without one now.


I know the picture is blurry, but that was the best I could do without dragging out the tripod!

Read more...