A FRIDGE FULL OF FOOD...

Knitting for the NICU: Happy 4th of July

  

 27 little hats for little Little patriotic heads....

Kansas City Weekend: Michael Buble Concert: The friendliest section in the House

The reason for the trip to Kansas City last weekend was to see Michael Buble. James suggested it, Lynn got the tickets, and Gene found the rooms.  A joint effort that turned out to be so much fun we didn't want to come home.  Had it not been for the St. Jude telethon James had to work at the tv station, we might still be in KC.

Love the pic. I'm like the vampire boob queen or something. :-) Nice pic of Lynn and James though.  Serves me right for not taking a real camera along.

Buble puts on a great show, wonderful music interspersed with entertaining patter, and his opening act was no yawner either.  An acapella group who literally become singers with a band (all the instruments are performed vocally), Naturally 7 was so good I'd love to see THEM in concert someday.  They're putting out a new album in the next few weeks that I'll be looking for.

Besides the great show itself, we were fortunately placed in the absolute BEST section of the house.  Halfway up the first tier with a straight on view, we were surrounded by people who were anything but straight.  Wonderfully warped would be a better desciption.  Apparently there is a sense of humor section at the Sprint Center. With the exception of one mis-seated man who kept glaring at us all who were whooping and laughing and carrying on during intermission, a great time was had by all.  Too bad for that one humorless guy.  Remember what the Divine Miss M used to say "F*** 'em if they can't take a joke!"  Motto of my life.

 

Directly behind us were seated nine of my new TGF's,  token gay friends, they called themselves.  The.  Life. of. the. Party!  I turned around to take these pics and one of them said something like "Good Lord, look at that rack!"  and someone else said "Jesus, take the wheel!"   Thank you, Gentlemen, from the bottom of my self-esteem. I appreciated the stranger love.  (That sounded bad.)  I also appreciated the entertaiment along with the entertainment: the tales of "adult" lemonade in the "hospitality suite" of your hotel, circumventing the hostess at the restaurant you chose for dinner, and your love for "Bubbles!"

You all were as much fun as the concert, adding your own suggestions for what Michael could be doing next in the show.   May we all meet up again sometime!  Btw, the floor was sticky when I got up to leave....nevermind...I don't really want to know.  :-)  

In the first pic above, notice the two ladies in the row behind them who are also having a great time.  See? I'm telling you..the whole section rocked.

We were seated on the aisle. To our left were two awesome ladies who joined in the fun with us.  One of them took the pic of Lynn, James, and me (not her fault my vampireness came out--somebody needs to get a tan!)  that I emailed from the phone to Aunti Miranda at home just for fun so she could be there vicariously with us.  To those ladies' left was a couple who....okay...how do I say this nicely?  Why bother buying expensive show tickets if all you're going to do is go back and forth for beer and the restroom.  (Hope none of my blog addy cards got passed to them since I'm being catty.)  Greatest line of the evening:  After about their third pass in front of us, the lady to my left turned to me and whispered "They get up one more time and I'm putting a catheter in 'em."  Yes!  Foley's for everyone who can't stay in their seat!  I think they should be passed out at the ticket gate.

Sigh. Great Night. I will ALWAYS think of that concert and smile.  The show was fantastic but the folks who shared those few hours of my life were even better. Thank you all for being in that place at that time.

For Gene: Quick Rhubarb Cobbler

Every year I try to make at least one rhubarb cobbler for Gene.  Not strawberry/rhubarb, just the 'barb itself which is his preference. This year's was tasty (made a couple of changes) and even looked pretty, although the pie crust discs I cut out look like biscuits in the picture. Hmmm...didn't think about that at the time.  Oh well.  Either way, this is one of Gene's all time favorite pies.

Julie's Disney World Food Adventures

Julie may kill me but I love love love this pic of her. She was just clowning around but it's so her, her personality.  Just love the joy and fun it shows!

So the fam when to Orlando on vacation and somewhere inbetween fun and hotels and swimming and rides and all the other stuff, they managed to eat fantastic food! And not only that, but Julie managed to take lots of pics to share with her favorite food blogger and her favorit food blogger's readers.

Check all these great pics out. I'm so totally jealous of the food alone, forget all the other fun! 

Night Shift Birthday Bash June '10

Brownie Bites to complement Build-Your-Own- Ice Cream Sundaes. 

The maraschino cherries were just for Sam! It was a joke. I ranted on here one time that maraschino cherries are disgusting because they're bleached and dyed and fake.  So then later at work I said something about them, don't remember what, and Sam nailed me with it. "I thought you said you didn't eat those things!?"  Aha! Someone who actually reads me! Thanks Sam and Happy Birthday.

Riad: Still Lukewarm

Tried to try out Riad on Republic Road just East of National last week but it didn't work out so well. 

http://afridgefulloffood.typepad.com/my_weblog/2010/06/riad-on-republic-road-have-no-clue.html#tp

Decided to give them another shot tonight with Auntie Miranda after we picked up our Millsap Farms CSA.  Loving Greek food we were both excited about giving them another shot and I talked myself into believing that my last visit there was just a miscommunication fluke with the bartender/server from my first experience.

I wish I could give rave reviews but I have to be honest. The food was good but the service was average at best, so it's not that I'll avoid it but I won't go out of my way to go back. Don't get me wrong. Nothing was specifically wrong but nothing was specifically right either.  Neither Aunti nor I felt welcomed or greeted. Accommodated, but not welcomed. The waiter wasn't rude, just apathetic. There was no "Hi. Welcome to Riad. Have you been here before? Do you have any questions about the menu?" None of that. He handed us menus and  said "What can I get you to drink?"  After he placed the drinks on the table it was  "What can I get you?"  Neither of us even remember him smiling until I whipped out my phone and started taking pictures of the food and then we both noticed he suddenly got a little friendlier for the rest of our meal. It's one of those subtle things that can make or break a dining experience, especially in a smaller family-owned business.

Brighter Chicken Chow Mein

 As a kid this was always the dinner I requested for my birthdays. I've always loved the crunch of the water chestnuts, the rich comfort of the chicken/oyster sauce base, the bite of the siracha sauce, and the seeing all the vegetables in there together.

The last time I made it, though, I noticed that other than the green onion tops garnish it doesn't ahve as much color as I would like and think it should.  It's basically all vegetables, shouldn't it be bright and colorful?

So on this go 'round, I still used my mother's recipe but I changed out a couple of the vegetables:

http://afridgefulloffood.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/12/needed-a-little-food-timeout-karens-chicken-chow-mein.html#tp

I replaced the bamboo shoots, which have never been my favorite, with 8 oz. fresh sugar snap peas.  Instead of just green bell pepper, I julienned a half each of green and red pepper. Then I chopped up few carrot coins just for fun.

Same great taste, same great wealth of veggies, just more colors and it pleases my eye now as much as it pleases my palate to munch on those peas and carrots and red pepper.
 

Why Should NICU Have All the Fun?

Designer hats for Pediatrics!  Big babies need cute hats too for when they're sick.
 

LuLu's Bakery Came Home with the Campbells.

 

The Campbells brought home treats from their Man vs Food food tour (really it was a family trip to attend a graduation) of San Antonio.  I thought Corbin was joking when he said they brought us back one of the LuLu's bakery cinnamon rolls but he wasn't.  It's hilariously huge!  The package above is ONE cinnamon roll, weighing in at 3 1/2 lbs.   See the black bowl behind it? That's the insert to my crockpot!

It's wider than the circumference of the crockpot.

Slicing into it, it's basically a huge cinnamon roll made into a loaf of bread, supposedly the biggest cinnamon rolls made in the US, or at least in the state of Texas.

   

Gene and I sliced off from the middle, since we were told most of the good stuff was in the middle and I was curious to see how the pastry had been put together and rolled up. It was good, a nice challah type bread, very sweet, with lots of cinnamon and sugar in the middle with a powdered sugar glaze.  No fancy ingredients, just the normal sweet cinnamony bready goodness from the microwave you'd expect.  Corbin and Jenn and Gene and I had originally talked about microwaving the whole thing (cinn rolls are always better warm) since they serve them hot at the bakery but when we got home it made sense to me to slice it and heat it as we eat it. Worked perfectly.

For those who would like to test drive one without going to Texas....they do mail these babies:

http://www.luluscafeinsa.com/

Thanks Corbin and Jenn!

Blueberry & Olive Oil Cake: Good for You Snacking

I'm falling in love with this Olive Oil Cake recipe.  Originally I made it with the 50/50 whole wheat/all purpose flour mix and Cutie's clementines. Since then I've tried a few different variations for mixed results.  For one, I have found that I need a 2:1 or 1:1 mix of whole wheat and all purpose flour or it comes out much heavier than I like or the opposite is true too. I made it for friends using all all-purpose flour and didn't care for that texture either.  One cup of whole white wheat flour and 1/2 cup of all-purpose flour seems to make for a moist, rich fruited cake without being overwhelmed by the fruit or too heavy.  The blueberries, fresh and local from ourCSA are a wonderful additon ot the mixand the sweetness allows the honey to be decreased to 1/3 cup.  

I love the rich taste, the weighty texture, and the purpley stain the berries leave on the napkin and my fingers (who can take time to get a plate down when you have something this delicious sitting there on the cabinet wanting you?)