Thursday, September 17, 2009

Simple Pleasures

Watching Pedro grow. He goes home for the weekend and comes back bigger every darn time!

A surprise of 2 dozen home grown eggs delivered by Chris's mom.

A bag packed for a weekend away with friends at the Cabin at Bass Lake.
A wish list of swimming, floating, hiking, reading, grilling, sleeping, and S'mores soon to be fulfilled.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Sick Fix

My husband came home yesterday miserably ill with a sinus infection, per the Doc, and 24 hours later is still ickily sick. He somehow thought this morning that he would go to work..... right. 1 1/2 hours of sleep, hacking, coughing, and blowing your nose all night, and looking like you have been hit with a mack truck, and you're going to go to work? And your customers will be seeing you this way???

We live 1 block from Walgreen's so I finally told him that, no I would not be going to get him daytime cold remedies (with all those stimulants) and if he wanted to go to work so bad he would need to walk there himself to get them (tough love). He looked at me and blinked a couple of times then decided he would be taking the day off. I suppose he reasoned that if he couldn't manage to drag himself across the street and up one very, very short block, he couldn't really go to work after all.

After plenty of fluids and some sleep today he is looking a little tiny bit better. I decided that I would make him a chicken stock soup of some kind and started scheming. I was inspired by a wonderful soup that I have had at El Cid in Oakhurst, CA. It's very much a gringofied 'Mexican' restaurant, but has an amazing vegetable and meatball soup (Albondigas) on it's menu which I thought would fit the bill. I made a few adaptions from what I think the recipe at the restaurant is and came up with my own recipe:

Sick-Fix Sausage Albondigas Soup:

6 cups regular chicken stock, warmed
1 good drizzle olive oil
1 Lb uncooked sausage of choice (I used Trader Joe's Chicken Asiago Cheese Sausage.. Heaven)
2 large yellow onions, rough chop
5 medium carrots, peeled and chunked
3 medium zucchini, cut in half lengthwise and chunked
1 Lb small baby potatoes, halved (or just pierced with a knife if small)
1/2 large head of green cabbage, rough chop
1 large pinch red pepper flakes
1 large pinch dried oregano
salt and pepper to taste

Start with a large stock pot on medium heat. Warm up the pot and add a generous drizzle of olive oil inside. Pinch sausage out of the casings (like in this recipe) into small meatballs and directly into the pot. Brown the 'meatballs' on all sides in the pot while warming the stock in another pot or microwave and chopping up all the vegetables. Once meatballs are nicely browned add in the chunked onion, add some salt, and cook until the onions are slightly translucent. Add the potatoes, carrots, zucchini, and cabbage, stir. Pour the warmed chicken stock into the pot until the veggies and meatballs are mostly covered. Add the red pepper flakes (to taste), the oregano, and salt and pepper to taste, and stir again. Let simmer, covered until the onions are transparent and the carrots and potatoes are easily pierced by a spoon (~ 1 hour). Spoon into a big bowl, add some cheese on top if you like (we used Parmesan, yum), a hunk of toasted bread with butter on the side, and enjoy.

We settled down quite happily to bowls of this soup in front of the TV this evening and it sent Chris off to bed at 8:30 quite drowsy, full, and hopefully on-the-mend. The Albondigas adaptation was so good (high praise coming from me as I usually am not so impressed by my own cooking) and I know it will be a frequent repeat in my kitchen in the coming fall and winter months.

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Crazy Busy


Acckkkk!! What a busy few weeks here. Time just seems to go zipping by when you are running from one thing to the next in work, play, and everyday life. To quickly catch up, here are a few of the Play items I / We have been doing lately:

- Playing tour guide to Chris's family + two 16 year old foreign exchange students over the long weekend. In less than 24 hours we.... stood in line for an hour at the Powell street trolley turn around, rode said trolley to the Wharf, walked to Pier 39, stared at 100s of sea lions, went to Coit Tower where we took in murals and an incredible 360 degree view, walked Little Italy and China Town, shopped 'till we dropped at Union Square, and drove over the Golden Gate Bridge (2x).

-Discovering 'Movies on the Square' in Redwood city and enjoying both Casablanca and The Sound of Music with my Husband and friends in the beautiful CA evening weather.

- Going to about a half dozen Picnics and BBQ's for birthdays, holidays, reunions, and just becauses in wonderful parks and backyards, with tons of old and new friends.

- Taking in Hitchcock movies at the historic and fully restored Stanford Movie Theater, which has someone actually play the organ in between shows.

- Heading out to Half Moon Bay with friends to hang out on the beach, watch the waves come in, the sun set, and to enjoy a good bottle of wine.

- Heading out for simple dates with my husband like Pizza by the Slice and strolls.

- Hiking at Rancho San Antonio Park after work with friends (and lots of bugs, ick).

- After one year of moving, pinching myself and realizing that yes, this really is my life.