We know spring is near when hundreds of birds arrive in our yard for a few days on their way back north. This is just a small portion of the birds in our yard today.
Monthly Archive for February, 2008
The family was ready as soon as I walked in the door to rock. It is supposed to be stormy weather all weekend. I’m sure we won’t mind.
Two pictures today, because I couldn’t decide.
This has been sold out for the past few months. We were all so excited when we walked by the electronics section and saw a big pile of them.
For now, the vocal and drums are by far the most fun.
Allison has been trying to win her arguments lately with the following statement. “You do realize you’re arguing with a four year old don’t you?”. I’m not sure if she thinks this is a great statement because in her mind, four year olds are always right, or because she knows it is just silly to argue with someone so young.
For the past two weeks, Greg and Allison have been having a battle of wills. Every day, she tells Greg about a show called Johnny Test. Greg will try to correct her. “It’s Johnny Quest, not Test”.
“No Dad, It’s Test!”.
Eventually, each one throws up their hands. Neither admitting they are wrong and the other is correct. Both wait another day and try to convince the other the of the proper name. Today, Greg sent me this, “I thought it was Johnny Quest, without having seen it. I was presumptuous, I was confident. Silly little four year old just can’t hear the TV properly.”
It turns out that Allison was, in fact, correct. That’s what you get for arguing with a four year old.
Zoey didn’t want to give Valentine cards this year. Instead, she thought that she would fold some flowers for everyone in her class (and some ninja stars for the boys). She decided on this at 8:30. We all pitched in and had family origami night.
I am a fan of Gordon Ramsay. The British version of Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares is so much better than the over-dramatized American version. So, back on subject. When I was watching his show, The F Word, on BBCA sometime last year, I thought that this recipe looked so delicious. The only thing that kept me from making it was that I didn’t want to buy the prepackaged filet mignon (with the bacon already wrapped around it). Only one of the grocery stores had a butcher shop that could cut me enough tenderloin for all five of us. In case you didn’t already know, it is also super expensive. If I had them cut one, it would have been about $8 per pound. That would have been about 40 dollars just in meat, for one meal that we weren’t even sure we would like. I couldn’t justify it.
If you were paying attention, you noticed that two weeks ago, I put it on our weekly meal plan. I found a tenderloin roast on sale. Perfect. I adapted Gordon Ramsay’s recipe for a larger cut of meat. His called for 1 lb of meat and would have served 2 people. My cut was about 5 lbs.
The recipe is simple and delicious. Everyone loved it, even Nathan (although he scraped off the mushrooms). As easy and as tasty as it was to make, I will probably not make it again, at least not for a while. You know how when you get sick, sometimes your body automatically becomes repulsed by what you happened to eat? The night I made this I came down with a 24 hour stomach bug. Don’t let that hold you off from making it though. It really was good.
Ingredients
1 Tender Roast (5-6 lbs)
2 lbs (about two containers of fresh) Flat mushrooms*
8 slices Parma ham (prosciutto is what it is called in our deli)
English mustard for brushing meat
1 box puff pastry – thawed (two packages per box)
2 Egg yolks
Approx 8 Charlotte/New potatoes
1 Clove garlic, crushed
1 Sprig thyme
2 large baby gem lettuce
Salt and pepper
Olive oil
Mustard vinaigrette, optional
1. Pre-heat the oven to 200c (about 400f).
2. Heat some oil in a large pan and quickly fry the seasoned beef all over until it’s brown. Remove and allow to cool. The point of this is simply to sear the beef and seal all those juices in, you don’t want to cook the meat at this stage. Allow to cool and brush generously with the mustard.
3. Roughly chop the mushrooms and blend in a food processor to form a puree**. Scrape the mixture into a hot, dry pan and allow the water to evaporate. When sufficiently dry (the mixture should be sticking together easily), set aside and cool.
4. Roll out a generous length of cling film, lay out the slices of Parma ham, each one slightly overlapping the last. With a pallet knife spread the mushroom mixture evenly over the ham.
5. Place the beef in the middle and keeping a tight hold of the cling film from the outside edge, neatly roll the parma ham and mushrooms over the beef into a tight barrel shape. Twist the ends to secure the cling film. Refrigerate for 10 -15 minutes, this allows the Wellington to set and helps keep the shape. [It can also be longer if you want to do this part ahead of time.]
6. Roll out the pastry quite thinly to a size which will cover your beef. Unwrap the meat from the cling film. Egg wash the edge of the pastry and place the beef in the middle. Roll up the pastry, cut any excess
off the ends and fold neatly to the ‘underside’. Turnover and egg wash over the top. Chill again to let the pastry cool, approximately 5 minutes. Egg wash again before baking at 400f for 40 – 45 minutes. Rest
8 -10 minutes before slicing.
7. Par boil the potatoes in salted water. Quarter them and leave the skin on. Sauté in olive oil and butter with the garlic and thyme, until browned and cooked through. Season. Remove the thyme and garlic before
serving.
8. Separate the outside leaves of the baby gem (leaving the smaller inner ones for salads) and very quickly sauté them in a pan of olive oil with a little salt and pepper – just enough to wilt them.
9. Serve hearty slices of the Wellington alongside the sautéed potatoes and wilted baby gems. A classic mustard vinaigrette makes a great dressing.
* Flat mushrooms just means that they are fully developed and the cap has spread out.
** After I pureed the mushrooms, I made the kids taste them and guess what they thought it was. Nathan didn’t know what it was, but knew he didn’t like the taste. Zoey liked it, but thought it was chopped black olives. Allison was watching, so knew it was mushrooms already.
It’s obvious that I am not a photographer of foods. They never quite look appetizing to me when I look at the pictures.
Alli – can I play on the computer?
Greg – no, the computer’s not set up.
Alli – Oh… when will it be set up? (starting to get disappointed)
Greg – in a couple of days.
Alli – (fully disappointed) ooooh… a couples a LOT to a four year old 
While snuggling down into (my) bed for the night, Allison told me that we were like puzzle pieces. We fit together just right.
She is 100% correct.
Ever since Conan came back after the writer’s strike break, I have been Tivo-ing his show. I guess it didn’t occur to me to set it up before, since he’s on so late (yes, I’m old now, what of it?). He is pretty clever. The only problem is, I wait until bedtime to start watching. I usually end up falling asleep right after his monologue and have to catch the rest of the show the next day.
In an unrelated to Conan observation. Our super old TV happens to be the same brand as our TIVO recorder.
The grass is starting to bloom. It’s getting close to spring!
Well stocked and in its place. No they don’t all have to be facing “labels out“, but it sure makes it easier to find stuff when you need it.
