I Love Food! (& My Latest Recipe Find)

I love food.  You may not be able to tell by my waistline (at least at this stage in my life) but I really love food.  And I found that I love cooking it, too. 

It's ironic because my mom really doesn't like cooking.  Neither did her mother.  My grandma's recipe submission at my bridal shower was "Take prepared meal out of the freezer.  Microwave it for the appropriate heat and time."  My dad isn't a good cook either, but his mother (who I last met when I was only 2 years old) had a catering business so maybe this comes through my Japanese blood.  Both parents have taught me some real basics about how to cook in both cultures but in the last 10 years or so cooking on my own I've really come to love preparing and eating my own meals.

But, there are conditions.  I'm lactose intolerant.  My husband has high cholesterol.  We like eating vegetarian periodically.  And with working and/or small kids I have to prepare it fast.  My last condition is that if I'm going to take the effort I want it to actually taste good & be healthy.  No hamburger helper in this house.  In my mormon.org profile I mention, "If my recipe collection was published, it would be called, 'The Half-Japanese, Working Mother, Lactose-Free, Low Cholesterol, Flexitarian, Less than an Hour, Easy Gourmet on a Budget Cookbook.'" 

I had a great afternoon this week on Beth's couch talking about all of this (among many other more important topics).  She mentioned a great recipe her husband Joe had made recently that was a really light pasta with shrimp and I think I've been craving something like that since.  Surprisingly tonight I found a recipe on the back of the plastic "Sunny Select" store brand pasta package that sounded similar and gave it a shot.  IT WAS GREAT!  It was fast, fresh, few ingredients, easy, low-cost, and super tasty.  This is going to be a new favorite.  Here it is:

ANGEL HAIR with TOMATOES, BASIL and GARLIC

1 lb Angel Hair pasta, uncooked

2 Tbl olive oil

2 cloves garlic, peeled & finely chopped or 2 tsp garlic powder

5 cups tomatoes, diced

3 Tbl fresh basil, chopped or 1 1/2 tsp dried basil

salt & pepper to taste

3/4 cup chicken broth

3/4 cup fresh grated Parmesan/Romano cheese

Cook pasta according to package directions (boil about 3 minutes), drain.  Meanwhile, heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add garlic & saute 2 minutes.  Add tomatoes, basil, salt & pepper.  Saute another 3 minutes.  Stir in broth & heat through.  Add drained pasta to skillet & toss well.  Toss with Parmesan cheese & serve immediately.

*My changes this time:
1.  I never have fresh basil.  Dried basil worked great.
2.  I buy minced garlic in a jar (like from Christopher Ranch).  This saves a bunch of time and my hands never smell like a clove.
3.  I only had 4 medium sized tomatoes so I probably only had about 3 cups worth of diced tomatoes.
4.  I sometimes don't toss the cheese throughout if I don't feel like taking Lactaid and have people add it to their own plates - or - just pull out my serving first.
5.  For broth I use Better Than Bouillon.  Instead of storing cans or cubes I can mix my own in whichever quantity I need.  Since you mix 1 tsp per 1 cup I can easily modify to half a cup or this 3/4 cup.  We like the flavor, too.


So give it a try.  It may just be a new favorite in your home, too.  And, hey, if any of you have any "'Half-Japanese, Working Mother, Lactose-Free, Low Cholesterol, Flexitarian, Less than an Hour, Easy Gourmet on a Budget" recipes let's trade!

Claire's Drawing: A Mommy & Baby Bird

Claire is also getting better and better at drawing and coloring.  Here are her two latest pieces of art.  Too bad it's on the magna doodle.  I'd probably frame it otherwise.  :) 

The amazing thing to me is that she keeps trying.  The first picture is the one with her holding it proudly.  It's a mommy bird giving a baby bird a worm.  It's stick people style. The birds have stick bodies and heads with beaks.  You can see the squiggly worm going from beak to beak.  She had to re-draw the first time because it got erased. She started to cry while trying to re-do it because it was hard, but I convinced her to keep trying and not give up.  She was able to dry her tears and finish the drawing.  She did it pretty close to what she had done the first time. 

We were both so happy and proud!  It may have been a learning moment for her, too, that you can do hard things if you keep trying. 

And every time she gets a little better.  The next day, her stick birds got bodies and the tree had more branches. 

I think it's really a great lesson for all of us - applicable to developing new talents, acquiring skills, habits, or attributes.  And perhaps it brings God joy, too, in an even greater way than I had with my daughter.  Pretty cool lessons we get to learn in our families.

Watch Out for Anson

Twice yesterday I thought Anson was happily playing by himself with toys.  Nope! 

First I heard the banging of the toilet lid and realized he wasn't in his room any more.  I found this:

And not only that, the toilet seat and his onesie were soaked with toilet water.  Are Lysol wipes safe to use on babies?  This was one instance where I thought it was appropriate.

Attention all residents & house guests:  We have now entered the stage of closing the toilet lids and bathroom doors behind us at all times.

Then it was this:

You'll notice in the background my wallet was the first thing to come out of the purse.  The wallet is open, too.  He's already good at rifling through my purse for the most important things:  keys, credit card, and cell phone.  I have to find a new place to drop my purse...

Saying Goodbye to Banner Drive

In many ways, Christy & Keoki (Blake's parents) have been our best friends here in San Jose, and their home on Banner has been our second home.  In fact, we lived with them for a year right after college until we saved up enough to buy our condo.  But even after that we would go over to their house several times a week - never less than once a week for Sunday dinner.  We would go when our upstairs condo was too hot - for BBQ dinner and dips in the pool.  We would go sometimes just for Christy's extravagant Saturday morning breakfasts.   We would host parties and dinners - I can count on one hand the parties/dinners we have NOT held at the their home on one hand.  We'd go on walks, work on projects, music, movies, you-name-it.  Claire's room was the one with the red bed.  She called it, "my red room with the shells" (not sure where the shell thing came from).  I had a spot where I always dropped my purse & shoes & misc belongings.  I knew the kitchen as well as my own. 

Yesterday they drove away with their 24' moving truck PACKED tight.  They are retiring out-of-state.   We are really sad to be separated from our good friends, our kids' Grammy & Papa, but at the same time we know that the move is right for them and so glad that they will be with everyone else in the family, and we know that we'll be seeing them regularly.

But the house is another story.  There's going to be another family - ironically, a young family with a daughter about Claire's age and a baby boy who will have their grandparents living with them.  We won't be regulars in the house any more.  I think we're mourning the loss of the house.  And I'm just the daughter-in-law.  That's the house where Blake and his siblings were raised for 25 years.  I'm sure it's harder for him and them than me.

The night we said goodbye for now to Grammy & Papa we had been next door having a bite of dinner at 9:30 at night after packing all day and the kids were melting down.  I didn't get my last longing look at the house and I didn't get to formally explain to Claire that the move was now.  I knew the termite tent would be on by 2PM the next day so we ate lunch and ran over at 12:20 PM to say goodbye to the house.  The tent was already on.  Claire and I were pretty sad.  We parked across the street and stayed in the car.  Claire said "Goodbye house.  I hope you have a happy..." (she couldn't think of a good word here so she then said, " I hope you have a nice family living there."  Good job sweetheart.  That's a great way to look at the situation.  So in my attempt for some closure, I've gone through some pictures to post here.

Anson's 1 year old birthday party in the backyard, where we also had our wedding reception in 2002.  

Below that, both of my baby showers were there.  We've had so many friends join us so many times - Can you see Beth and Dee, Penny, Kim...?

 

 We'll miss lazy Sunday afternoons, especially while Daddy & Grammy were off talking about music for Zion or at rehearsals.

We all love playing Grammy's grand piano.  Blake.  Me.  Even Claire & Anson enjoy banging on the keys.  We'll need to find another piano to get our piano fixes.

So, Goodbye Banner Drive.  We've loved our moments, our years there.  We hope you have a nice new family, too.