Thursday, August 30, 2007

the way i roll

did i mention how wonderfully my queso fresco turned out last friday? when i started, i was worried it wouldn't work, but figured my back up would work fine. then it came together rather suddenly (one moment i was stirring hot milk, the next it had separated into curds and whey). it was a big hit with everyone and all of it was eaten.

the sabayon turned out beautifully as well. i was very happy with the finished product - creamy, light and airy, with a balanced and slightly complex flavor. it is a very rich dessert, and the warm pineapple helped to counter that heaviness. there was some left over, so on saturday morning i picked up some homemade bread from the amish bakers at the new berlin farmer's market and made french toast with cognac sabayon sunday morning. it was delicious and rather rich on fried bread. not that that stopped us. :)


last night for dinner i threw together some chile rellenos. i had gotten some poblanos at the west allis farmer's market the previous week with the intention of stuffing them with something. i roasted the peppers over an open flame, and browned some ground beef with onions, garlic, cumin, corriander, ancho chile powder, tomato powder, and beef stock. i had some muenster on hand to add as well (my backup cheese from friday night). i was worried about the peppers' structural integrity, however, since they were small, and broke while i was cleaning them. but, i managed to roll the meat and cheese into them fairly well. i coated them in a light dusting of flour, then rolled them in egg batter (egg whites beaten stiff, then beaten with a pinch of salt and egg yolks). they went into hot oil, and the batter managed to help hold everything in (even the ooey gooey melting cheese). i served that with fresh white corn that i had gotten at the market. it was delish. not bad for throwing dinner together with what we had on hand.

we're meeting tonight with a child care provider. she watches a very small group of children out of her home. we've been communicating via email, and she sounds very good; her policy furthers this confidence. so we're excited to meet with her and see the space. child care is so expensive it is crazy, so we're exploring all our options to see where we can get the most bang for our buck. obviously, we're willing to spend a reasonable amount to ensure his proper care and development, but would really like it not not take a giant bite out of our budget. :) we had been looking at places like kindercare, but having a nanny-type would really be nice. a smaller group, more individualized attention, a better personal relationship - there are lots of pros. she is an elementary teacher with 2 small children of her own, and is located a few miles from our house. we had been discussing having him close to my work place, so i could drop in at lunch and such, but decided closer to home would work better. this will allow bryan to drop off/pick up in case i have to work late, or am out of town on business. we're pretty excited so i am hoping this interview goes well. it would be one less thing to worry about!

i can't believe it's about september already! shannon leaves for school this weekend. :( we are puppysitting belle while mom and dad drive her and her mountain of stuff to her new apartment in minneapolis. i even promised to check in on the cats.

it promises to be a busy weekend; nothing critical but lots of running around as usual. saturday is errand day. farmer's market in the morning, and we're going to go out to the super amigo grocer in waukesha to check out some hispanic produce and meats. they don't charge $12.99/lb for flank steak like the white grocers do. it's more like $3.99/lb. see, if you tell white people it's chic, they'll pay anything. ;) there will be a trip to target somewhere in there, and picture hanging around the house. my uncle frank and aunt linda are having a get together sunday afternoon, and dad and bryan plan on smoking some giant cut of meat monday for labor day. i'm going to push for brisket. we'll see what the super amigo has. there should also be a nap or two, and hopefully maggie and i can meet up for a lunch/dinner/movie date. in short, i plan on shopping and eating a lot. pretty much all the things i like to do!

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