Monday, May 28, 2012
Happy Memorial Day!
Sunday, May 27, 2012
Antipasto pasta salad
Ok, antipasto pasta salad has always been a little pet peeve for me. You don't eat pasta salad before the pasta course, folks. But it also sucks me in every time I see it. Because it's really just that delicious.
So here's a sneak peek of my Memorial Day offering.
Antipasto Pasta Salad:
The secret to a good salad, I'm sorry to say, is salt. I learned this trick the first time I went to Italy and we ate in an off-the-beaten path restaurant where a real Italian Mama prepared her table's salad by salting it. Hello, love! Later in life, I was fortunate enough to take some cooking lessons in the south of France where I met my other salad secret, a whisk and some elbow grease. A good salad dressing has to be emulsified and you need both of these secret weapons to do it.
The Dressing:
Start with 2Tbsps of red wine vinegar (I use Chianti vinegar) in your salad bowl. Add a dash of salt (I'm trying to cut back so I go with about a teaspoon, you just need a little bit to make the oil stay blended) and some fresh ground pepper. Add 2 minced black olives and 2 minced cloves of garlic. Get that whisk in one hand and your bottle of olive oil in the other. Start whisking while drizzling in about 3Tbsps of olive oil. Beat the hell out of it. (This is what I learned in cooking school --that and use as many dishes as possible). Let it sit while you prep the rest of the salad. If you've beaten the hell out of it, it should stay nicely blended. If not, add more elbow grease.
The salad:
Boil water and make a box of fusili pasta according to the box's directions. Drain and let sit to cool.
Prep your fixings: one can of artichoke hearts (quartered), one red pepper (sliced in thin strips), red onion (thinly sliced, I use about a quarter of an onion), one can of black olives, pepperoni (sliced into thin strips), fresh mozzarella (cubed), and arugula. You could also use some banana peppers if you like.
Once your pasta has cooled, add it to your salad bowl of dressing and mix. If you are prepping this salad in advance (and you can! Letting that pasta seep in the dressing is going to make it more awesome) wait to add your toppings until right before you serve it.
There you go. Yummy and meal worthy.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
So here's a sneak peek of my Memorial Day offering.
Antipasto Pasta Salad:
The secret to a good salad, I'm sorry to say, is salt. I learned this trick the first time I went to Italy and we ate in an off-the-beaten path restaurant where a real Italian Mama prepared her table's salad by salting it. Hello, love! Later in life, I was fortunate enough to take some cooking lessons in the south of France where I met my other salad secret, a whisk and some elbow grease. A good salad dressing has to be emulsified and you need both of these secret weapons to do it.
The Dressing:
Start with 2Tbsps of red wine vinegar (I use Chianti vinegar) in your salad bowl. Add a dash of salt (I'm trying to cut back so I go with about a teaspoon, you just need a little bit to make the oil stay blended) and some fresh ground pepper. Add 2 minced black olives and 2 minced cloves of garlic. Get that whisk in one hand and your bottle of olive oil in the other. Start whisking while drizzling in about 3Tbsps of olive oil. Beat the hell out of it. (This is what I learned in cooking school --that and use as many dishes as possible). Let it sit while you prep the rest of the salad. If you've beaten the hell out of it, it should stay nicely blended. If not, add more elbow grease.
The salad:
Boil water and make a box of fusili pasta according to the box's directions. Drain and let sit to cool.
Prep your fixings: one can of artichoke hearts (quartered), one red pepper (sliced in thin strips), red onion (thinly sliced, I use about a quarter of an onion), one can of black olives, pepperoni (sliced into thin strips), fresh mozzarella (cubed), and arugula. You could also use some banana peppers if you like.
Once your pasta has cooled, add it to your salad bowl of dressing and mix. If you are prepping this salad in advance (and you can! Letting that pasta seep in the dressing is going to make it more awesome) wait to add your toppings until right before you serve it.
There you go. Yummy and meal worthy.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Friday, May 25, 2012
Cute Little Dear
Maddie has been going to sleep like a big girl for almost a week now. I'm so proud of her.
This change has illuminated the things that make her feel insecure. Last night was kind of the perfect storm. I had had to work the night before and Rob was closing last night. The change in schedules made her really clinging. She curled up after our bedtime song a little sullenly. But she didn't complain or try to get me to stay.
About half an hour later, she called out that she needed to go potty. There she was with crocodile tears, trying to hide that she had been crying.
When I asked her what was wrong, she said, "I'm crying for my kitty." (She had lost a stuffed kitty about 2-3 months ago, which she had never really had any interest in but now cries for her kitty whenever she is upset about something else.)
The poor little dear went potty then went right back to bed, snuffling softly. I felt so bad for her, I almost wanted to stay and hug her up.
Before she went to sleep I told her I'd see her in the morning and she told me, "You keep Daddy here, ok?" (In other words, don't let Daddy go to work!)
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
This change has illuminated the things that make her feel insecure. Last night was kind of the perfect storm. I had had to work the night before and Rob was closing last night. The change in schedules made her really clinging. She curled up after our bedtime song a little sullenly. But she didn't complain or try to get me to stay.
About half an hour later, she called out that she needed to go potty. There she was with crocodile tears, trying to hide that she had been crying.
When I asked her what was wrong, she said, "I'm crying for my kitty." (She had lost a stuffed kitty about 2-3 months ago, which she had never really had any interest in but now cries for her kitty whenever she is upset about something else.)
The poor little dear went potty then went right back to bed, snuffling softly. I felt so bad for her, I almost wanted to stay and hug her up.
Before she went to sleep I told her I'd see her in the morning and she told me, "You keep Daddy here, ok?" (In other words, don't let Daddy go to work!)
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
To sleep, perchance to dream...
Sleep is not an unpopular topic around this blog. I'm sure you've noticed that. I recently had a friend who put a question out to the void asking, "When will my 8-month-old sleep??" and I remember that feeling so strongly. It made me want to share all kinds of things that I know now that I didn't know then. I often think, if I only knew back at the beginning.
But last night marked a new moment in this currently fuss-free family. That's right, we took a huge leap and it didn't even feel like it was that big of a deal. Maddie went to bed all by herself.
A little background for those who are not on the up and up of Maddie sleeping. For the past three years (well, two years and fifty weeks), I have rocked Maddie to sleep. Every single night, but a handful of work or date nights. Sometimes we would rock for a half hour, sometimes as much as two hours. After potty training it was getting bad, because Maddie knew she had a new distraction -- going to the potty 50 million times.
I've always placed a lot of the blame on me; I just always liked to hold her and rock her. There was also a lot of anxiety involved. Maddie would hyperventilate from crying which obviously only exasperated attempts to sleep train.
We've made leaps and bounds over the past year. She gradually got better at falling asleep on her own at naptime and would fall asleep sometimes in her own "big kid bed." When she woke up at night she would fall back to sleep after crying for just a few minutes. Potty training mixed us up a little bit on the nighttime wakings, but we usually only had those two or three times a month. This month, if Maddie had to go potty during the night, she would get back in bed and I would give her a quick peck on the cheek and sneak out... and she would go back to sleep.
So the time was right and Maddie was ready! Last night, I told her that she was such a big kid that now she got to stay up a little later. I tucked her in, read her some stories, sang her one song and held my breath. Then I told her she was such a big kid that now she gets to go to sleep like a big kid, too. She told me she was still a baby and that I had to sit down because otherwise she couldn't see me. I persisted. I told her all the things that babies can't do like eat chocolate chippies, or color, or buy princess books. Then I told her it was too bad she was still a baby because she'd have to give up all of those things.
It's amazing that it took me this long to realize that princesses trump anything.
Maddie kissed me goodnight and was out like a light. Not a single sound.
Probably dreamt of princesses.
But last night marked a new moment in this currently fuss-free family. That's right, we took a huge leap and it didn't even feel like it was that big of a deal. Maddie went to bed all by herself.
A little background for those who are not on the up and up of Maddie sleeping. For the past three years (well, two years and fifty weeks), I have rocked Maddie to sleep. Every single night, but a handful of work or date nights. Sometimes we would rock for a half hour, sometimes as much as two hours. After potty training it was getting bad, because Maddie knew she had a new distraction -- going to the potty 50 million times.
I've always placed a lot of the blame on me; I just always liked to hold her and rock her. There was also a lot of anxiety involved. Maddie would hyperventilate from crying which obviously only exasperated attempts to sleep train.
We've made leaps and bounds over the past year. She gradually got better at falling asleep on her own at naptime and would fall asleep sometimes in her own "big kid bed." When she woke up at night she would fall back to sleep after crying for just a few minutes. Potty training mixed us up a little bit on the nighttime wakings, but we usually only had those two or three times a month. This month, if Maddie had to go potty during the night, she would get back in bed and I would give her a quick peck on the cheek and sneak out... and she would go back to sleep.
So the time was right and Maddie was ready! Last night, I told her that she was such a big kid that now she got to stay up a little later. I tucked her in, read her some stories, sang her one song and held my breath. Then I told her she was such a big kid that now she gets to go to sleep like a big kid, too. She told me she was still a baby and that I had to sit down because otherwise she couldn't see me. I persisted. I told her all the things that babies can't do like eat chocolate chippies, or color, or buy princess books. Then I told her it was too bad she was still a baby because she'd have to give up all of those things.
It's amazing that it took me this long to realize that princesses trump anything.
Maddie kissed me goodnight and was out like a light. Not a single sound.
Probably dreamt of princesses.
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