This year I finally did it--I got to the apple tree before the squirrels did. Last week, Z and I picked a mess of tart little green apples. I'd been promising him an apple pie making adventure, but I didn't care to repeat my last experience of spending countless hours peeling, coring, and slicing a bazillion little green apples, so today we went ( Read more... )

Why don't the 12 Labors of Hercules include trying to get ready for a road trip while keeping a toddler entertained? Killing the Hydra would have been a piece of cake by comparison. And it wasn't made any easier by the snowballing lemons.

See, our not-local-nor-really-very-regional-but-nevertheless organic fruit box had lemons in it this week. ( Read more... )

On our third day of Snowpocalypse 2011, cabin fever is starting to set in, especially with the littlest Lanterman. I'm trying to have various projects planned for us to do together each day, lest I completely give in to the temptation to put him down in front of the Blues Clues Marathon and sleep all day. (There's been plenty of B's Cs as it is, ( Read more... )

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Z and I have just made Pfeffernusse. He was a little uncertain about the electric mixer, but I talked him into holding the handle to "help mommy," and that made the noise tolerable. He really enjoyed rolling the dough into balls--although his look a little more like random lumps than balls ( Read more... )

Z just helped me make corn bread. After measuring out each ingredient, I let him dump them in the bowl. Then I lifted him up so he could press the buttons to set the oven. He helped me put away the ingredients, and cleaned the counter. I am so proud of my little sous-chef!

I'm becoming a more adventurous cook--rather than following recipes slavishly, I now understand what flavors go together well enough to use the recipe as a framework, and say, "hm, what do I have the house that will go with this?"

So tonight I started out with my Weightwatchers Peking Chicken recipe, but instead of just mixing in the cut up ( Read more... )

( Chicken Breast with Honey-Balsamic Glaze )

Lobster tails were on sale at Publix, so I picked up a pair of them for dinner. Then, of course, I had to figure out what to *do* with lobster tails (prior to eating them, that is). Luckily, the internet knows all and sees all. I brushed them with a little olive oil and sprinkled them with lemon juice and baked them for 10 minutes at 400 degrees ( Read more... )

You know the lethargy of midwinter is setting in hard when you're too sluggish to post New Year's resolutions. That's sort of the ultimate in procrastination.

In past years, I haven't so much set New Year's resolutions, as reviewed the past year and noted my Old Year's Resolutions. Last year I broke with that tradition and actually set goals for ( Read more... )