All Over the Place

As the title of this post indicates, it will be all over the place. As you know, if you're one of a few people who follow my blog, I have had a major blog draught. The soil is cracking, everything is brown, flora and fauna sit idle in the beating sun, and any other metaphor that is appropriate. I can blame it on a lot of things but I won't; let's just get on with it. Okay? 

The last entry was on March, 27 so I've got nearly 8 months to catch you up on. As you can see my Sadie-bug is taking over this once food-centric tiny little niche of the inter-web. Well, Sadie, I'm taking it back. Your oppressive six-tooth smile and manipulative munchkin voice will not persuade me otherwise. Bold talk I know, we'll see if I can keep the entries a little more food oriented with a sprinkle of Sadie here and there. The reason is that I need to find inspiration and motivation to be creative in the kitchen. Don't get me wrong; I'm a whirlwind in the kitchen nearly daily. It's just that my labor and the fruits of it have a more domestic tone these days. For instance, healthy and easy pancakes to batch and freeze for Sadie's breakfast and lunch. While some of you may want to know about that, I have to say, "damnit no!" I'm proud of my Martha Stewart sensibilities but I want this blog to make you drool and crave and be inspired. Before that though let's take a look at my water-bug.

Nothing better than riding my bike after some water play!

Bozzy is very tolerant. At first we weren't sure if he'd get the big brother role but he has done great. He's not perfect, with a growl here and there, but I think that's reasonable and a good chance to teach Sadie about reading doggy warning signs.

When Sadie isn't playing in the water or torturing her big bro, she likes to play with her best friend Maya. There is usually a lot of playing, screaming, playing, and kissing when they get together.

There was some Jewish holiday for which I made this braised brisket, though I can't remember which one. I'm sure my ancestors are pissed that I don't know but they should look on the brown side (brown for beef), I made brisket!

Grandma and Grandpa Stucky came out to visit for the, I think third, summer in a row. It is so great when they visit; seriously, best in-laws ever and they're seasoned grandparents; Sadie is their fifth grandchild.

Sadie is eager to take a bath some nights. Look at those cheeks!

Here we have a butterflied leg of lab that spent a day in a rosemary, garlic, and wine bath before meeting the grill. This fed us for a week and went in to a ravioli with goat cheese and caramelized shallots (sorry no picture) for it's grand finale.

More kissing.

Come on! Such a frigin' cutie!

We went to Carlsbad around the fourth of July to see some good friends. Two more cuties!

I adore this woman!

There was camping in there sometime after that with other good friends and my sexy cousins below. Oh yeah, and Bosley.

There's that cutie Maya again.

So one day my parents wanted to come over after buying 30 pounds of Hatch Chile Peppers and wanted to make chiles rellenos. I made queso fresco and this is what happened.

There was another day when Shelese and I got a red meat craving and I grilled us up some ribeye and COC (corn on the cob). There is a cilantro lime compound butter there if you look closely... it made everything a little better. If I remember correctly, Sadie liked the beef.

Those are the pancakes I mentioned earlier. I have to acknowledge that this picture is kind of drool-worthy. The cakes are half whole-grain mix and half buttermilk mix. I put in fresh organic blueberries, toasted flax seed, psyllium husk, and agave nectar. They were cooked in coconut oil which gave them an excellent subtle richness and so did the dab of butter each cake got. I freeze them and toast them before sending them to daycare with Sadie.

Sometimes bug gets pretty silly and stuff like this happens.

Sadie's first friend sleepover was a great success!

Oh weekly organic produce box how I love thee. Those maters where, as they say, bomb. The pomegranates and apples went in to a ginger, lime, and cinnamon crumble cake and I'm pretty sure the potatoes went into spinach Parmesan gnocchi.

The bug throne!

That's about it. I will attempt to post again before eight months passes but no promises. Much love and thanks for reading. Just so's you know's, we're moving to a home with a backyard and I have acquired a smoker... that is all.