To make up for my lateness I decided to push my limits and make one of these blog dinners on a week night. We are like well trained fireman during the week. Piano lessons, karate, homework, dog walking and the like all happen in a military efficient manner to prevent chaos from consuming our lives. So to attempt a blog dinner on a Tuesday night would be a "true test" of a thirty minute meal. Tonight I made Moroccan Lamb Chops, flat breads, herby couscous, stuffed sweet peppers, and pomegranate drink from page 264.
Max and Mary were practicing instruments , Scruffy Hubby was walking scruffy dog, and that left me with the VERY hungry three year old and thirty minutes to make a meal. What to do with a ravenous boy you ask...give him a job! Super Simon helped Mommy make the drink, mix the couscous and season the flat bread. Every time he was done a job he asked "what I do now mommy"? This meal was a breeze to make! Simon and I knocked it out of the park in only 29 minutes!
Scruffy hubby came back from his dog walk to the sweet sweet smells of dinner cooking. As he came through the door he announced "I pre-five this meal!" Hold on their tiger! I would like to remind everyone of a little story I call "the best chicken fingers of our lives". Cory and I were young University students not so long ago (well ok it has been 9 years) and we loved to do what young University students all love to do...cram endlessly for exams, write the exam and then head to the local campus pub to drink! When the merriment starts before lunch you work up an appetite and become shall we say in love with the world. Scruffy Hubby (who at the time was clean cut and skinny) decided he was STARVING as did I his very cool girlfriend! We ordered chicken fingers and let me tell you they belonged in the food column of the New York times! These were the BEST chicken fingers we had ever had in our lives! We raved to anyone who would listen, the chicken fingers became legendary! Well a few years later we returned to our old stomping grounds and decided to one again partake in this culinary delight only to realize that these were the makings of a frozen box of poultry made by an 18 year old kid! How drunk were we???
The moral of this story is never judge food when you are starving and/or drunk!
Scruffy Hubby stayed with his vow of a pre-five and we sat down to dinner. We called the kids to dinner and down the stairs skipped our quasi vegetarian Mary singing "LAMB, LAMB, LAMB"! Mary loves lamb. I often think of the nursery rhyme "Mary had a little lamb" The poor little lamb becomes lost and Mary cannot find her. I know where the lamb went...Mary ate the lamb and wrote a snappy little tune about looking for her lost sheep to form a plausible alibi for her actions!
My Mary ate that lamb down to the shiny white bone as did both of her brothers! Despite the meat fest that can only be likened to lions on an African safari, the scores ranged from 2 to 4 because of the other meal elements. I am happy to say that I have been reading a fantastic book called "Bringing up Bebe" by Pamela Druckerman where she describes the amazing French phenomenon of children who eat anything. Druckerman contends that the French simply have the children try everything, talk about the food and just be open to the variety and taste. We have been putting this theory to the test and I have to say it has been working! Even the little food nazi tried her roasted red pepper and said (in a polite voice) I tried it and I don't like it! Hurray for progress!
Scruffy Hubby has declared that this meal deserves it's five and has renamed it "Indian Steaks Sexy Older Sister". He is claiming to be visionary with his pre-five. I think he was starving and I might as well have made chicken fingers!
Well I will get back on track with the blog schedule this weekend! Happy reading and eating!
Trish
Tonight I was the Babe Ruth of blog dinners! It began with Trish saying "Ok, I am going to start cooking" to which I replied, "OK, I am going to take the dog out." Now before you get all judgmental, that is the deal. She said the rule was one person has to be able to do it in 30 minutes, so she cooks and I clean. OK, so I take the dog out and upon my return I step through the door to the sweet smells of Moroccan Lamb Chops, flat breads, herby couscous, stuffed sweet peppers, and pomegranate drink from page 264.
ReplyDeleteStepping onto the doormat was like Babe Ruth stepping to the plate. I tilted my head back, took a deep breath, looked into the kitchen, took a deep breath again and called the shot...it's a 5! I knew it before I sat down, I could feel it in my bones (and nostrils). I knew that the famed Indian Steak was quivering inside the cookbook, knowing it was going to have to share the spotlight. I sat down to the table, lifted my fork to my mouth and ... and ... and ... HOMERUN!!!!