This morning we had Andrew's swim lesson. I dropped Rachel off at the child center (she was super clingy), got changed, and then it was time to pick up Andrew from his lesson. So I got him changed, dropped him off, and finally managed to get a decent workout. I did 2 miles on the treadmill, about 10 minutes of that at a steady jog, and the rest at ( Read more... )

Mostly for my own reference later. I don't usually drink more than a glass or two at a time, so then I'm left with open bottles of wine, sitting on the counter going all vinegary. 
The Chronicle's boxed wine comparison.

A week ago I finally make Andrew some "eyeball fish" - whole baked fish, with heads still on. It was a disaster. Despite very careful extraction, there were still tiny bones hiding in the kids' food. The fish (tilapia) had only a bland, slightly muddy watter flavor, despite being stuffed full of various veggies (including lots of garlic and onions ( Read more... )

I just realized it's been a very long time since I've done a real update about what's happening in my life. This won't be much of one, but it's what I'm willing to do at nearly-11 o'clock.

Ken and I are contemplating a trip to Houston on July 4 or 5 through 8, though we'd need to be back in Austin by noon on Sunday. Nothing is decided yet, and we're ( Read more... )

Sugar cookies - fun to make, but not that exciting to eat.
Sugar cookies with lemonade icing - yummy.

Lemonade Icing
powdered sugar
zest from one lemon
juice from one lemon
Adjust juice / sugar ratio to get a spreadable glaze consistency. Spread over cooled cookies.

Adapted from a recipe that finna_upp found in a book ( Read more... )

Steak that turned out just about perfect (crust on the outside, slightly warm red center). Risotto for the first time was kind of a lot of work, but worth it. Yum ( Read more... )

Jeffrey Steingarten is often a judge on the American version of Iron Chef. He's also a food writer for Vogue, and a pretty good author. I've been reading his book "It Must've Been Something I Ate." Reading about food (not just recipes, but the stories behind the food) always makes me want to cook. So tonight we had chicken with gravy, salad, and ( Read more... )

* sashimi-grade yellowfin tuna loin, seared with a ginger-teriyaki-sugar rub and topped with a little Asian ginger vinaigrette ( Read more... )

This looked cool.