America's Test Kitchen

After Christmas I gifted myself The Complete America's Test Kitchen TV Show Cookbook, which was on sale at Costco and features every recipe cooked on the TV show from 2001 to present. 

I've owned another America's Test Kitchen cookbook since about 2006 when it was gifted to me by a dear friend and these recipes turn out every single time. Without fail. They are the best. 

I've decided to try two new recipes a week from the cookbook. This week is Mexican tortilla soup and boeuf bourguignon (although I'm using the slow cooker recipe and not the "real" version so it's probably best to just call it beef burgundy.)

I made the tortilla soup yesterday and just added the cooked chicken tonight when I re-heated it. I even made the crispy tortilla strips in the oven using corn tortillas like the recipe called for. The soup base was very thin and I was nervous that my pickier eater would hate it and that it wouldn't be substantial enough for Jimmy. 

Mac ate 3 bowls full. He loved it and raved on and on about it. He even liked the baked tortilla strip. It was sort of like a Christmas miracle in January.  Jimmy and I finished off what Mac didn't eat. The recipe said it makes 6 servings which equates to 3 for hefty cinch sacks like us. 

Today after work I made the beef burgundy which is happily cooking in the crock pot overnight. Mac told me that  the smells coming from the crock pot were the most divine he'd ever smelled. (He was in a particularly great mood today after school.)  I'll refrigerate it all in the morning and finish it off tomorrow after work. Stay tuned.

In the meantime I instructed Mac to pick out one recipe for next week. He came back all excited and said he'd found the best section of the whole cookbook and he knew what he wanted to cook. I asked it it was from the Mexican section or the Italian one. 

Wrong on both fronts. 

It was the cookie section. 

Dogs and ice cream

(From 1-11-15 Washington Post)

Note to self:  don't let Leo share my ice cream. 

Or if I do, don't let him eat it from my mouth, which is apparently what this nitwit was doing to be bitten on the lip. 

1/9/15

A cold weather selfie...

And you know what I had on my feet...

(Fake) Uggs

Uggs boots are really the ugliest shoes in the world. I could not understand why anyone would ever wear them. 

Until I lived through last year's winter horribilis. 

I couldn't bring myself to pay top dollar for real Uggs to use for just two winters, so I bought a $34 knock-off pair at Sports Authority last January and let me just tell you that even the cheap ones are the best invention ever. Your toes always stay nice and toasty. 

I asked Jimmy if he thought it would be bad to wear them on the train to work (and then switch to regular shoes in the office). 

His response?  "You're just one step away from shopping at Stride Rite for adults."

(My toasty feet next to one of Jimmy's in his dress shoes, where he was probably actively getting frostbite at the time the photo was taken.)

Those who laugh last, laugh the loudest. Even as they're driving to the Stride Rite store. 

The Weather

Rio is looking better and better in general, but specifically as a dog owner. 

This morning I walked Leo in this:

If I lived in Rio right now, I could have walked him in this:

Yes, please. 

1-6-14

Leo experienced his first snowfall this morning and I don't believe he was a big fan. It was a very fast poop and pee!

(His little paw prints beating a quick retreat back to the apartment.)

Our small snowstorm ended up being a little bigger than they thought. A prediction of 1" last night turned to 1-2" by this morning and then to 4-6" by about 9:00. 

Unfortunately the school nor Uncle Sam delayed opening (based on early predictions) so we all trudged out at 7am into a lot of cold snow. Mac ended up waiting for the bus for 45 minutes because his bus slipped on the road and got stuck. According to the email from the school, there were "only" 17 children on the bus, which I guess they think is better than waiting in the 26-degree snowstorm, which is where the rest of the children were. 

I'm just bummed we didn't get a snow day from work. By this time last year, it seems like Jimmy had already had a handful of snow days. This is the fates conspiring against me because they don't want me to have any fun. 

I apologize now to all the government workers out there in the DC area as I can pretty much guarantee there will be no snow days this winter just because I'm working now.  Sorry. 

Happy New Year!