Lunch with the girls

I took the girls to BJ's today to do some grocery/household shopping. Kevin stayed home with his new XBox 360. The girls had a hard time picking one cheese to bring home. Since they were trying really hard to get along and decide on a cheese together, I let them get both. They also went to the Fresh Market yesterday with grandma and unbeknownst to me they had brought cheese home from that trip. We got home about 1:00 and Kevin had eaten already, so I let the girls figure out lunch for the 3 of us (the Wife is working). This is what they came up with:
Clockwise from the top: Irish Cheddar (nutty), American Gouda (mild, but good), Polly-O string cheese (pretty well flavorless in comparison), Kaukauna party cake spreadable (well-liked to my surprise), Cabot's 3 year old extra sharp Cheddar (hands-down favorite), Helluvagood Cheddar (smooth),. There were sesame, wheat, and buttercrisp crackers (Keebler Toasteds) and some salami in the middle. It was quite a lunch!

Peppered Salmon with Leeks

I thought maybe I'd try adding cooking (a hobby I haven't been indulging much lately) to the blog. I need to work on my indoor photography for this stuff, though.

This is date night food. Or at least "after the kids go to bed" food.

Serves 2.


2 portions skinless Salmon filet (my portions are probably on the large side- just under 1/2lb. each)
2 leeks (try to find leeks with a lot of white on them- that's the part you'll eat)
2Tbs. butter
1/4 cup white wine (we like Riesling, but anything fruity is nice)
1Tbs. flour
2Tbs. cream
salt (I use Kosher because it dissolves nicely)
pepper (freshly ground is critical)


Liberally coat the salmon with pepper and sprinkle with a pinch of salt.

Preheat oven to 350F.

Melt the butter in an oven proof skillet (I use a 10" stainless skillet with a stainless handle- no meltable handles!) over medium heat.

Slice leeks thinly and add to butter along with a pinch of salt. Cook until softened, similar to cooking onions.

When leeks are soft, add flour and cook for 1 minute.

After cooking flour, add wine and bring to a boil.

Place slamon filets on top of the mixture and place in the oven.

Cook for 6 minutes, remove skillet from the oven and flip the salmon.

This is the tricky part! Put the skillet back in the oven. Don't forget that the skillet is HOT. I almost always grab the hot handle at this stage and then say things the kids shouldn't hear.

This is a silicone santa potholder/trivet:

Cook for 6 more minutes.Remove from oven. Plate the salmon, but leave the other stuff in the skillet.

Drizzle and whisk the cream into the now thickened wine/leek sauce. Once nicely combined, pour over the salmon and serve with either the wine you opened to cook with or a good Pilsener works well, too.

Another forgotten photo

For those who don't know, our Lauren declared at the age of 6 that she wanted to be a pastry chef and now that she's 13 she has never once changed her mind. She made this pan of brownies:

Independence Day

We had a good ol' time, thanks to Ernesto and Pam's invitation. We met them out at South Lido Park where they had a great spot back off the nature trail.

I guess our food smelled pretty good. This little lady tried to pry the lid off Pam's baked beans dish while nobody was looking. (Credit to Misty for getting this photo)

Must have smelled really good! Look at all the boats that came in:

Ribs:

Self-portrait:

Lauren, left and Devin, right:

Kevin, having trouble with his goggles:

Devin's grapes:

Sea grapes:

I must have had my camera set to video by accident. I inteded to do a little macro shot of the sea grapes, but caught what appears to be an ant chasing off a fly.

Thanks, guys!

Mac 'n Cheese

edit: 25 September 2008- This picture has gotten me more hits through google's image search than anything else in my blog! Could one of you who comes across it please explain this to me?!
I'm glad y'all like my photography, but is this some kind of internet scavenger hunt or something? I just can't figure it out. Please leave a comment. Thanks!

Lasagne

Last Sunday's dinner.