Personal Cheesiness

Bite size baklava is so good. Except when you drop a sweet, sticky, flaky piece on the floor and you can't vacuum it up for fear of waking the sleeping baby.



As a new mom with a baby who only likes to sleep in 20 minute intervals during the day, I'm always looking for recipes for dinner which don't require a prolonged or carefully timed prep. You never know if he will sleep for 15 minutes or 3 hours, or if he will amuse himself while you cook, or if he will begin screaming halfway through your chanterelle truffle risotto. We had some small corn tortillas left over from taco night and some enchilada sauce in the freezer from the last time we made arroz con pollo. I decided to try quick chicken enchiladas, since I also had some shredded cheese, and really, what more do you need?

True to form, I scoured my books for chicken enchilada recipes and then turned to the internet. Every recipe wanted me to make the enchilada sauce from scratch, or wanted to include ingredients I didn't have. I understand being a purist - I don't believe in bottled garlic, fat free sour cream, or pre-chopped onions (and neither should you!) - but seriously, I just wanted something I could pass off as dinner. I didn't even care how "authentic" these chicken enchiladas were, I was aiming for edible. I thought I would make a salad and then I could pass the whole thing off as "balanced."

So I was pleasantly surprised again when we loved them. Again, why the dish is half eaten by the time I take the picture, I just wasn't expecting it to be that good. But when you make them yourself and can control the cheesiness (and therefore the oiliness) and everything else about them, well, I figured I had to share. It's not the traditional way of making them (this involves frying the tortillas in a little oil to soften them), but it is quick and convenient and if you have adventurous kids, is not too spicy or exotic. Store bought rotisserie chicken makes it quick and guarantees a moist chicken. For those who are exacting, I apologize, the measurements should be taken as general guidelines, as I threw this together by sense, but I'll try to approximate. The avocado salsa is optional, but lends a nice cooling contrast to the dish.

QUICK CHICKEN & GREEN CHILE ENCHILADAS

About 3 cups finely shredded chicken from a store bought rotisserie chicken
1 can (the big one, 28 oz? whatever is bigger than 14 oz) red enchilada sauce
1 sm can diced green chiles
8 small corn tortillas (we prefer white)
2 cups shredded Mexican blend cheese (or to taste)
1 or 2 fresh tomatoes
1 diced avocado
3 tbsp chopped onion
1 tbsp chopped cilantro
1 - 2 tbsp lime juice

Place the shredded chicken in a medium size bowl. Lightly drain the green chiles, some remaining liquid is okay. Add chiles to the chicken along with a handful of shredded cheese, more if you want your enchiladas cheesier. Add enchilada sauce by the spoonful until mixture is moist but not too wet.

Ladle enough enchilada sauce into the bottom of a baking pan to generously cover. My pan was approximately 8x10 and held 8 rolled enchiladas. Heat 8 tortillas on a plate in the microwave for 30 seconds, to warm and make them more pliable. Lay 1/4 - 1/2 cup of the filling in the center of each tortilla, rolling up and placing in the dish seam side down. When all enchiladas are tucked together, ladle more enchilada sauce over to cover. Don't be afraid of it seeming like a lot of sauce - the tortillas will absorb a lot of it. Be sure to cover any exposed edges of the tortillas well, unless you like the edges a little dry and cracked. Finally, sprinkle another handful or two of cheese over according to desired personal cheesiness. Bake, uncovered in a 350F oven for 15 minutes.

While the enchiladas bake, dice the tomato and combine with the diced avocado, chopped onion and chopped cilantro. Add lime juice to taste and mix well, coating the avocado with the lime juice to prevent (or at least slow) browning. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve enchiladas with avocado salsa.

We enjoyed them so much I forgot about making a salad.

When I Have Time

As a new mom, the question I am now often asked besides "How old is your baby? Is it your first?", is not whether CJ is a boy or a girl, or when I'm going back to work, or how my husband is handling new parenthood. The question I get a lot is, "How do you find time to blog?"

Here is the answer: it's 5:31am. At 4:30am, Caleb screamed at the top of his lungs. By the time I got to his room - which is the room right next to ours - he had both arms out of his swaddle and over his head and had put himself back to sleep. I figured he would be up soon and made a hot bottle so it would cool to the right temperature by the time he woke up. It has been an hour, and while he is making lots of little noises in there, he has not fully woken up, and I fully subscribe to my dear friend's philosophy of "Let a sleeping baby sleep. He's not going to starve himself."

So I made a cup of coffee and booted up the old laptop and played a few rounds of Bejeweled! on FB because honestly, I thought he would be up by now. We have a show and tell at my mom's office today around 10am (yes, he is the object of today's show and tell). I'm waiting on some soft boiled eggs to go with my coffee and I started a grocery list and thought I would check updates on the few blogs I follow, and maybe start the draft of another entry.... and then an hour went by and I thought.... damn. I could have laid back down.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is when I find time to blog. Much like college, when I had a paper due. I would think about it for days, maybe sketch an outline, but mostly just think about the topic and outline it in my head. Then the night before it was due, around 2am, after 2 hours of thinking about it some more over several rounds of Solitaire, I would sit down and shoot out a 10 page essay in 2 hours. Spell check it and turn it in, never look back. I was a B+ student, did I tell you that?

When the sun has yet to come up, you can find me at my corner of the dining table, coffee in hand, with the various accoutrements of my homemaking trade: that's Caleb's food log notebook, the grocery list (because as a new mom, its easy to forget the 4 things you needed from the store once you are there), scissors for the coupons that still need to be clipped from yesterday's paper, and the calculator to pay the bills I've been procrastinating paying. I'm thinking maybe tomorrow, since Wil is going to be home for the day, I can complete my most recent project which is going to be white peach jam - Mom gave me a case of peaches, what else to do with them?

The clock on the Mac just flipped to 5:47am. Damn, I could have laid back down....

Ventura Beach Vacay

Courtesy of the generosity of my good friend Mary Ellen, we spent a few days at her condo at the beach in Oxnard. Since Wil also isn't working, we were originally thinking to just jump into the car and head northwards, but thought with a 10 week old baby, it might not be that easy. And when your stroller takes up the entire trunk of your Prius, there isn't a lot of room left in the backseat for stuff, certainly not enough stuff to be able to say you don't know when you're coming home. Oxnard/Ventura seemed just far enough to get away, and close enough to be home in 90 minutes if necessary.

Mary Ellen has a fabulous townhouse 600ft from Hollywood Beach in Oxnard. I know it's 600ft from the beach because we tried to look at one that was up for sale, only to discover it was already in escrow, but that's a topic for another day. It's a one bedroom with a loft, bright with light, with palm trees painted in the bathroom and bedroom, and plenty of what Wil would call "indoor palmage." It's her beach house, and all her cups and glasses are plastic with palm tree motifs, as if the idea of glass is just too formal for such a place. In the cupboard, she keeps little notes about Mrs Olsen's Cafe for breakfast and coffee a block away, and the fish market across the street. She keeps them there so that every time someone new stays in the townhouse, she can set the same little notes out without rewriting them, that's how generous she is with her beach condo. It's all wicker and Tommy Bahamas, complete with hula girl lamp (make sure she's turned off, or you'll burn out her batteries) and I'm telling you all this because you will have to imagine the townhouse - I was remiss and didn't take any pictures inside. Those are the cushions on her couch behind Caleb, that's the best I've got.



We arrived on Wednesday afternoon and settled in. I had made reservations at Brooks Restaurant, one of the best in Ventura. Okay, I'm a little biased - Brooks' chef/owner is Andy Brooks, the older brother of my dear friend Alicia, and I have been lucky enough to enjoy his 5-course tasting menu (with wine, thank you very much). Wil started with the Tuna Tempura Roll and I started with the Chopped Romaine Salad, which was generous in its helping. Drinks were mixed a little strong, which I know no one except me complains about. I like a drink to taste like a drink, not a glass of alcohol with some grenadine mixed in for color.




Wil had the Slow Roasted Baby Back Ribs, which were smoky and hot with the Honey Whiskey BBQ sauce, and served with Mexican Street Corn and a Green Chile Mac 'n Cheese. The Mac 'n Cheese was good and interesting in that I didn't notice any green chiles, but there was definite heat in your mouth. As you can see from the picture, Wil hated it.  I just managed to get this shot before he cleared the plate.  I had the Blue Crab Ravioli.  It pains me to say it, but the crab - when you could taste it - was a little too "crabby" if you know what I mean. I say "when you could taste it" because the entire dish was overwhelmed by Old Bay Seasoning. It was all I could taste, and up in my nose like accidentally inhaling pepper. I like to think that maybe this particular plate came over the pass and wasn't tasted before it went out, that the rest of the diners weren't eating Old Bay Ravioli. Despite my plate, Brooks is a great restaurant; if you are ever in the Ventura area you should give it a shot. I know we'll be back. www.restaurantbrooks.com

Otherwise, we hung out at the condo and the next few days were unremarkable. The weather was perfect and mild, we checked out Ventura Harbor and walked Downtown Ventura. I'll leave you with this last picture, which is my favorite of the weekend. We were having a fish/shrimp 'n chips lunch and Andria's in the Ventura Harbor when Wil decided to tap this lemon wedge against Caleb's lips. Dad sure does like to torture his boy! Wil says he can't wait to do it with an anchovy!

You must make bread salad!

I hadn't planned to do this tonight, but once again, I surprised myself.

We made panzanella, otherwise known as Italian Bread Salad tonight for a light dinner. I should have made more. The photo is skimpy because I didn't realize until I had eaten almost all of my bowl that I was going to have to write about it tonight, and I thought I should catch a picture before I finished the whole thing. Trust me, this is summer goodness, and you will make it at least once a week.

There are no real measurements, you'll have to eyeball and adjust to your own taste:

Tear apart some day old bread (French works best, a decently dense one and tearing is so much better than cubing) and toss with some olive oil, kosher salt and pepper. Spread on a baking sheet and toast in a 375F oven for about 10 minutes. While the bread toasts, cut approximately 4 garlic cloves in half or large slivers and place in medium/large bowl (you'll toss the whole salad in this bowl). When bread is ready, toss hot bread shards into bowl with garlic and mix well. Add Heirloom tomatoes cut into large 1" dice, balsamic vinegar and olive oil (I started with 3 tablespoons balsamic and about 1/4 c. olive oil, then later added more balsamic to taste). Mix well, and let sit about 10 minutes, until bread is soft but still has a little crunch. Don't be scared, it might look a little muddy due to the balsamic (okay, you can use red wine vinegar if you prefer, but I do not). While it sits, cut some seedless cucumber into 1/2" chunks (Japanese or those little pickling cukes are good for crunch) and very thinly slice a little red onion. Toss into the bowl along with a little basil chiffonade, then season to taste with salt, pepper and additional vinegar if desired. Remove and discard the raw garlic (unless you like it). I threw in a few Kalamata olives I had leftover from a Nicoise last night, and there you have it, Heirloom Tomato Bread Salad.

In the summer, don't bother to make it unless you have the Heirlooms. You can get them at Whole Foods right now for $2.99/lb (CHEAP!) or from your local farmers market.

New Bug Photos and Other Stuff

So much to do today! How is it that even with my husband at home this week, I still feel like I have so much to do and am not getting any of it done?!?!



So quickly, I wanted to post a few new photos of Caleb. He's almost two months old and I feel like he looks slightly different everyday. Last Saturday we dipped him in the pool for the first time, which seemed to confuse him since it wasn't a warm bath.











We have also begun to get clear (well, clearER) communication from this little person. He is giving us genuine smiles (not just gas or sleep smiles) and trying in earnest to mimic us, opening his mouth wide and attempting to vocalize. Every time he opens his mouth and strains up, I feel like I should drop a worm in there. His noises now include groaning and the "half-ass cry", the one designed to get your attention and see what you will do next.



He is definitely daddy's boy. There is no place he is more comfortable than nestled in the crook of dad's arm and that is where he drops off the fastest. I don't know what I'm going to do when Dad goes back to work....

One last note for mom's with babies out there - I highly encourage you to check out G Diapers at www.gdiapers.com. They are a hybrid diaper and environmentally friendly. You can flush them or toss them in the trash, even compost them (not the poopy ones) since they bio-degrade in 50-150 days. Disposable diapers - godsend though they are - sit in landfills for up to 500 years. I don't know about you, but that's disturbing to me, considering we change Caleb's diaper over 10 times a day, at least for now. I don't use them exclusively, but we use both the disposable Pampers and the gDiapers, and I'm happy with the G's. They're great for wet diapers and when you flush them, they break up better than your standard toilet paper in the bowl. One note: if your baby's BM's are runny, there is a greater chance of leakage with the gDiaper. This is why we still use the disposables (well, that and the gDiapers seem to confuse my husband) but I say if you can cut back a little on the disposables, why not? Every little bit counts. More info and video demos at www.gdiapers.com.

Rant for the day: mobiles & animal rescues

Let's start with the yummy part of today. Its too damn hot; dinner is Chicken Pasta Salad with a Citrus Dressing.



Moving on to the milder of today's peeves: mobiles. Not the trailer park type, but the cutesy type that hangs over one corner of your baby's crib, that you wind and that spins and plays Rock-a-Bye Baby. Ours is dark brown and lime green, with four elephants. The one that hangs over the pack 'n play has brown bears. My son loves the mobile. He is fascinated, his big blue gray eyes riveted, his mouth slightly slack in awe and turned up in the corners. He can't take his eyes off it. He stops struggling against his swaddle, rapturously held by the slow turning of the elephants.

So riddle me this Batman - why do neither one of these things play/turn for more than a minute?!?! They are clearly designed by childless people. What contraption that soothes your child requires you to return to it every 90 seconds to wind it again? You tiptoe back into the room, only to find your child, eyes half open, still struggling to stare at the mobile, willing it to move again. Your baby is almost to the Land of Nod and you quietly begin to wind the mobile, only to startle him awake with the click-click-clicking as you wind it. Are we not technologically advanced enough to eliminate the clicking?!?! Awake now, you finish winding the damn thing and gently stroke your sons forehead, willing him to drop off so you can take a shower/wash some dishes/brush your teeth/eat something before your pass out/just sit down without something in your arms, and just as his eyes begin to droop.... the f-ing mobile stops. I'd like to know who designs these things and what corporate entity has decided it costs too much to make them parent-friendly.

Today's big peeve however, is pet rescues. Wil had a conversation with another shelter today about a dog we saw on line. This is the THIRD rescue we have contacted and three strikes and we are out.


Last September we lost our beloved Blu. He had been with us, a long time, and it was torturous and heartbreaking to have to let him go, tempered only by the fact that two days after we did, we found out we were pregnant. About 5 months ago, Wil was casually checking out rescue dogs on Petfinder.com. Eric had recently gotten Oscar from the Boxer Rescue and we were really keen on rescuing a dog if we were going to get one (we were still in discussions, considering the pregnancy). We were interested in Wiley and saw that he would be at a pet store on Saturday in Hollywood. Wil filled out the application online and we went to check him out.

While Wil took him for a short-lived walk down the block (as he discovered, Wiley was not the dog for us), the woman running the adoptions sat me down and reviewed our application on her iphone. While she was kind in a back-handed bitch kind of way, she asked how far along I was and when the baby was due. Then she asked how we were going to handle a baby and a dog if my husband was working 15 hours a day as a grip. I explained that I was taking the rest of the year off and that since Wil is a rigger, he doesn't work 15 hour days and our schedules worked out so that he was home by the mid afternoon. And did I mention that I was taking the next 6 months off? Or that we have been responsible dog owners for, oh, I don't know, OUR WHOLE LIVES? Then she told me in a patronizing tone that we shouldn't get a dog now, because I would not be able to handle a baby and a dog, honey, she should know, she did it. I should wait at least two years and then see how I felt about it. Then she blew me off.

We wouldn't have taken the dog just because of her and the way she represented the adoption shelter. This was our second rescue experience. The first was an English Bulldog named Nora we drove to Covina to see. This woman volunteered for the shelter; she actually owned 3 English bulldogs and was fostering two others (I'm glad we didn't smell the inside of her house). We loved Nora, but this woman never called us back after promising to arrange a home visit. She never called us back, even after I called Bulldog Rescue to complain and see what could be done. Then Bulldog Rescue never returned any of my calls after promising to look into the status of our application and find out why the woman had never contacted us again.

Today, when Wil called about Cleo (a pitbull/English bulldog mix) he was told that they had received our online application but that there was "a great deal of interest" around this particular dog, and right now, they were taking appointments to see Cleo starting "on or around August 5th." Are you kidding me? We're not trying to get in to see the governor. I'm not trying to get a donor kidney, or make a reservation at the French Laundry. I need to line up to see a dog two weeks from now, so I can primp and prance for YOU and PROVE how much I DESERVE this dog? Are you f-ing kidding me? Does this animal need rescued right now or not?!?!

So sad to say, but it seems the major obstacle in our rescuing a dog is the rescue itself. There are thousands of dogs in need of good homes, but we don't feel the need to jump through 20 hoops to prove to someone that we deserve to rescue a dog when we could walk into a pet store or call a breeder and purchase the dog of our choosing. We were trying to choose something else. The obnoxious, holier-than-thou attitude we get from these rescues is enough to turn us off to the entire prospect, which is a lose-lose situation all around. But really, I have a roof over my head and food on my table and a lot of love to give. Who loses more here?

Kaffir Lime Leaves & Lemongrass

Last night, I made a soup so good, I had to write about it.

I have made this soup before. Its Tom Kah Gai - Thai Coconut Soup with Chicken - and it is my husband's favorite, so we actually make it quite often. The ingredients are all simple and fairly readily at hand, with the exception of fresh lemon grass, and maybe the Thai red chile paste, depending on where you are.

Yesterday the lemon grass was the problem. The Ralph's at the bottom of our hill is the only place nearby that I know always carries it, and yesterday they had non. Jayson and Brook were coming for dinner so I had stopped at the Korean grocery store in Glendale (HK Market on Pacific) for pre-marinated Kalbi. They had lemongrass, but as seems to be more prevalent in the Asian grocery stores these days, it was pre-packaged in plastic. Which meant that while I only needed a stalk or two, I would have to spend $2.99 on a package of roughly 14. Not that its not worth it to spend the $3.00, but I have a thing about waste and couldn't bring myself to buy it.

Wil wanted me to simply leave the lemongrass out, but it is such an integral part of the soup, I decided to try another resource. I belong to a fabulous co-op in my neighborhood. We are a group of gardeners, foodies, locavores, and eco-minded, modern modified hippies who exchange excess produce from our gardens, along with ideas, resources, recipes, and general advice. I posted a notice that I was looking for fresh lemongrass and within minutes, got several responses (you guys are so fabulous!). Gail in Arcadia not only had lemongrass, but also kaffir lime leaves, limes and oregano. I drove to her house where she had left me the lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves in a bag on her porch, and left a pot of drunken fig jam in trade.


I'm embarrassed to admit, as big a foodie as I am, I had never used kaffir lime leaves before. I know what they are, but it's another one of those ingredients that I wouldn't use on a daily or regular basis, and I had yet to find a recipe tempting enough to make me go out of my way to find it. The recipe didn't call for it, but since I had it, I broke a few leaves into the soup towards the end, and was astounded at the results. The final soup was more fragrant and flavorful than any other time I had made it. It was smoother, and somehow this time, I had gotten the heat just right. Even my husband said it was better than usual.

Since I feel compelled to share, here is the recipe. A few notes: Kaffir lime leaves and lemongrass stalks can be found at most Asian markets and some specialty food stores. For those who have never worked with either, both lend incredible flavor that can't be substituted, but both are also inedible; you'll want to pull them out of your bowl. You really want to try to find Thai Red Curry Paste. No hot sauce (i.e. garlic sauce, Sirracha) will substitute. Strangely enough, I have always been able to find it at Cost Plus World Market in their grocery section. We like to add a scoop of rice to our soup, making it a little porridge-like. Add a salad of mixed greens tossed with a little miso dressing and you have a complete and balanced meal.

While this recipe contains my changes and modifications, the original base recipe came from "Soups & Stews" from the editors of Cook's Illustrated magazine (one of my favorite mags).

THAI CHICKEN AND COCONUT SOUP
Serves 4
Leftovers can be refrigerated for a few days, but the coconut milk will separate. Reheat slowly, not boiling the liquid, to prevent the milk from curdling. If you're having rice with this, refrigerate the rice in a separate container.

1 teaspoon canola oil
1 stalk lemon grass, outer sheath removed, bottom 3 inches trimmed and quartered lengthwise into julienne strips
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
1 large garlic clove, minced
2 teaspoons Thai red curry paste
3 cups chicken stock or canned low-sodium broth
1/2 cup water
1 1/2 tablespoons fish sauce
1/2 tablespoon sugar
1 (14-ounce) can unsweetened coconut milk
8 oz boneless, skinless chicken breast cut into 1 by 1/4-inch strips
1/2 (15-oz) can straw mushrooms, drained and rinsed
2 tablespoons lime juice
6 kaffir lime leaves
Salt
1/4 cup loosely packed whole fresh cilantro leaves
1 scallion, greens only, sliced thin on an angle (optional)

Heat the oil in a large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the lemon grass, ginger and garlic and cook, stirring constantly until aromatic, about 30 to 60 seconds. Add the curry paste and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds.

Add 1/2 cup chicken stock to the pot and stir to dissolve the curry paste. Add the remaining stock, fish sauce, and sugar and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat, partially cover and simmer to blend flavors, about 20 minutes.

Stir in the coconut milk, chicken, mushrooms and lime juice. Break/bend kaffir lime leaves in half to release oils and add to the pot (they are prettier added whole, but I like to release their essence). Bring back to a simmer and cook until the stock is hot and chicken is no longer pink, about 5 minutes. Taste for seasoning and add salt as desired. Serve, garnishing with cilantro leaves and scallions.

To make Tom Kah Shrimp, substitute 1/2 small shrimp for the chicken, and use vegetable broth instead of chicken broth.