cooking

These flowers and a sweet note were waiting for me Easter morning a few years ago. They were freshly cut from our yard. I don’t expect the same this year due to an unfortunate hail storm that destroyed our lilies. That and one of our cats has taken to eating flowers, which in turn makes him barf everywhere. So no live flowers in our house.

Here’s our yard five hours after the hail fell.

I have never seen hail this size. When it was falling it sounded like our windows were going to crash in. Thankfully, nothing but the flowers were damaged.

Now, getting back to Easter–this lent season has been really weird for me. First, Eric has grown this really gnarly beard. He is almost unrecognizable. Second, Eric has been battling a mysterious illness and I worry. I worry that the chemo drug he is on isn’t working. For now, there is only one other drug option–then bone marrow transplant.

At his most recent oncologist’s visit we learned some really good news. They don’t think the illness is necessarily related to his chemo. At any rate, anyone who has received the level of remission Eric has on his current drug, hasn’t relapse.

NO ONE!

Also, two new drugs are currently in clinical trials. This news is beyond comforting to me. I am looking forward to Easter with a renewed sense of anticipation and joy. I’m certain it is mostly selfish, though. For during the season of Lent, I lose my husband. His workload increases threefold. After Easter, a lot of his obligations cease or significantly slow down. It is a time of much celebration and fun for us. To celebrate, I am hosting an Easter dinner for six of us. Here’s my working menu.

• Grilled Salmon with mustard and herbs or Grilled Salmon with avocado salsa or some kind of grilled fish
• Tri Tip
• Spring Salad a la Eric’s aunt (avocado, lettuce, cilantro, strawberries, etc. with breaded and toasted goat cheese balls)
• Brussel sprouts
• Grilled corn with cilantro butter
• Green bean salad with fried almonds
• Fresh berries (possibly with angel food cake or cream)

Yum. Nothing better than a long, lazy meal spent with people you love. Do you host a special Easter meal?

We’ve been in California two and a half years and it is starting to show. I’ve been enjoying lots of beverages that look like this lately.

I’ll admit they are a bit odd looking. This one is full of pear, spinach, and carrot. Another version included tomato, celery, carrot, and spinah. I’ve also tried clementines, carrots, and spinach. I must say they are growing on me. I’m not really dieting per se, just trying out different things.

Last week I attempted mac and cheese with nutritional yeast and spaghetti squash. I liked it okay, but it made Eric nauseous. Poor guy. What have you been cooking lately?

Peace,

^-^

I never really thought about making shortbread until I was at a party where someone had made honey shortbread. The combination of sweet and salty blew my socks off. I improvised with the cooking utensils I have–lining a cookie sheet in tin foil instead of using a tart pan and everything worked out beautifully.

The quantity above is a double batch. I used this recipe from Fine Cooking. Easy peasy and tasty to boot.

Enjoy!

^_^

Yum. The best thing about mashed potatoes is saving them for potato cakes.

Here they are before the flip. Please disregard the stovetop–it took a few days to get it cleaned after the Thanksgiving festivities–sorry Mom, I know that grosses you out.

So potato cakes are simply mashed potatoes, a little milk, a bit of flour, and an egg. I used soy milk in the potato cakes so I could drink the rest of the cow’s milk myself. We don’t buy cow’smilk generally, but  some  of the turkey day recipes had it. Eric scrunches up his nose and says, “Eww!!” when referring to cow’s milk. Silly boy.

Then you plop the potato mixture in a hot skillet with a bit of oil or cooking spray or whatever you want and brown each side. I’ve heard of cooking them in bacon grease–but that sounds a bit much to me.

Pop them on a plate and enjoy. For some reason potato cakes are a breakfast food in my book. I’m sure they are enjoyable anytime of day, though.

Peace,

^_^

I love French Macaroons. Here’s an article with recipes from the San Francisco Chronicle. Enjoy and let me know if you have luck with the recipes. We haven’t yet made a successful batch.

If you are in Redwood City, I do recommend Pamplemousse.

Peace!