Chompers

You can just barely see his two little bottom teeth poking through here. They are much easier to see in person, but this was as still as I could get him this morning.

Freshly Pressed Fabric

There are certain things that just seem to evoke warm happy feelings when present... Gooey chocolate chip cookies being pulled out of the oven, a clean kitchen countertop covered with pretty mixing bowls and fresh ingredients before beginning to cook, and brand new fabric, washed, dried, and freshly pressed! Oh the possibilities. These fabrics are destined for a few specific sewing projects, which I will be slowly tackling over the next few weeks... in 30 minute increments to be exact, per instructions from my chiropractor. You will definitely be seeing these fabrics again in their final form sometime soon. Stay tuned...

Update on Life

Well, in case you haven't heard, I threw my back out last Monday... we're talking down on the floor, can't get up, finally managed to belly crawl into my studio to get my phone, lying on the floor trying to get a hold of someone to come help, while Patrick sits in his seat (seen above) staring at Mommy in bewilderment and crying because it's past his naptime, until he finally just spreads both arms out in front of him, flops his head down and falls asleep sitting up. Oh my. I laugh now, but my poor back is still recovering. I finally went to see a chiropractor last week, and I have been back a few times since then. Things are looking up, though I feel like a robot moving stiffly about, as I have been instructed not to bend, twist, or any variation thereof.

Anyways... this is the reason I have been absent for a couple weeks, but I am hoping to start getting back to somewhat of a normal life. We may still have to hold off a while on Recipe of the Week. We shall see...

I just thought I'd ease my way back into blogging with a few photos from the last week or so. Above, Patrick is getting music lessons from my dad. He really does seem to enjoy listening to music. He will be frantically bouncing around, swatting at his toys, and then when the music starts, he stops and seems to almost sway back and forth with the rhythm of the music. At the very least, it definitely seems to calm him.

Here he is sporting his Jungle PJ's with little rhinoceros footies.

Get it?... Charging rhinos...? Haha, well, I thought it was funny.

This just absolutely cracked me up. I usually try not to have the television on when Patrick is up, but due to the fact that I did nothing but lie on the couch with an ice pack last week, it was on a little more than usual. Well, Patrick was absolutely enthralled. He sat like this for at least 5 minutes and probably would have stayed that way for the duration of the show if I hadn't moved him. I think I'm going to email this one to Dr. Phil.

It's Not DiGiorno

I think we missed a week in there somewhere on the new recipe exploration with being gone so much, but last night we tried two new recipes... so I think we're back on track :)

We had pizza from scratch, which I have actually made before, so I'm not sure it qualifies as a totally new recipe, although the recipe for the crust was different, so I'm counting it. It is Bianco's Pizza Dough, the recipe of pizzaiolo Chris Bianco, whose pizzeria happens to be here in Phoenix. How I have never been there is a mystery to me but soon to be remedied. You can find this recipe in Martha Stewart's May '09 issue or on her website. I have to say that this recipe really made an enormous difference in the texture of the crust. My old recipe is going out with the garbage, because this can't be beat. And, I am excited to try it again sometime when I have more time to devote to it. It was pretty late when I started dinner and our tummies were grumbling, so I cut quite a few corners and didn't let it rise for nearly as long as I was supposed to. It still came out delicious though, and I'm sure if I followed the recipe to a T, it would just be heavenly. I topped it off with our usual toppings. I'm a die-hard fan of Classico's Tomato and Basil pasta sauce. I also used fresh mozzarella, which let me say, after buying the cheapest one, you really can taste the difference. I didn't think it would matter, but the texture was much more rubbery with this generic one than with the more expensive one I usually buy. For a rare occasion, it is worth it to spend a little extra to get the quality, especially if you're going to all the trouble to make good pizza dough. I then just topped off the pizza with sliced tomatoes, fresh basil leaves, dried oregano and rosemary. So delicious!

As a starter, while we were waiting for the pizza to bake, we had fried zucchini, which was actually the inspiration for the dinner theme last night. At church yesterday morning, I was chatting with the lovely Miss Madison, who was so kind as to share in great detail how she made fried zucchini with her grandmother. Let me tell you that this is one little lady who is on her way to being a great chef when she grows up. Thanks for the recipe missy! It was delicious.

El Paso

Welcome to Texas! Although, when you're in El Paso, it's easy to forget at times that you're still in the U.S. I'm sorry to say that my Spanish is pretty much non-existent, which makes communicating with family very difficult. Luke and I both decided during this trip that we need to learn. I promised my grandma that the next time we came back, my Spanish would be much better, to which she responded, "Okay! I will be checking up on you." Guess I've got some work to do.

Here is Patrick with his great grandmother (my dad's mom).

And with Tía Elva (Grandma Irene's sister).

Here he is with Rema, my uncle Alvaro's wife, who I also met for the first time this weekend, since we weren't able to make it to the wedding. (Oh, and Fanny).

With Alvaro and Rema.

Meeting another little furry friend, Rose. I think she was actually a little bit smaller than Patrick.

Mom and Dad even got to go on a double date with Al and Rema while Patrick stayed back with my Grandma. We drove along the old Mission Trail and stopped in at these missions. This one is San Elizario.

Ysleta.

And Socorro.

Attack of the Killer Cookies

Ok, so I have this recurring problem when I make cookies of overestimating the amount of dough it takes to make one cookie. Somehow, I always end up with a lot fewer cookies than the recipe is supposed to yield; instead of 30 small cookies, I get about 15 huge ones. I must work on this.

So, today I decided to make these chocolate sandwich cookies, and ended up with GIGANTIC oreos. If anyone happened to be walking by my kitchen window as I was frosting them, they probably thought I was crazy, because I was standing at the counter, laughing hysterically to myself at the ridiculousness of these gargantuan cookies. Needless to say, they are more than big enough to share, though delicious enough to get a whole one down alone. These were supposed to be traveling goodies for tomorrow's road trip; I hope my grandma has friends nearby because I'm gonna need to pawn some of these off to lighten the load for the ride home.

Tilapia and Roasted Carrots

Tonight's dish is tilapia filets with a lime sauce and roasted carrots and shallots. The carrots are sliced and tossed in olive oil with minced shallots and roasted in the oven for about 35 minutes. The fish filets are seasoned with salt, pepper, and cajun seasoning, then sautéed in olive oil. The sauce is simply 1/4 cup lime juice and 1/4 cup water added to the pan after fish is removed and simmered down.

More Squash

Zucchini and yellow squash are in season, so I've been doing quite a bit of cooking with them. I made this veggie dish to take to the ladies' potluck at church tonight. It's a very simple recipe. Just sauté the thinly sliced veggies for a few minutes in a pan with olive oil, minced garlic, chopped fresh oregano, and balsamic vinaigrette until veggies are browned and tender, waiting until the end to add the vinaigrette. Garnish with a couple sprigs of fresh oregano.