Apples? Really?

That was my reaction when this came home in the backpack the day before Thanksgiving. I don't know what was discussed earlier in the day to plant this seed, but our kindergartner claimed - and now has recorded for all time - he was thankful for apples. This is how the conversation went after I read this:
Me: Robbie, what does this say?
Robbie: It says, "I am thankful for apples."
M: Do you like apples?
R: Yes.
M: I have apples in the fridge right now. Would you like one?
R: No.
I had apples because in addition to pumpkin pie, I was going to make an apple crisp. It's one of Noel's favorite treats and it just sounded yummy. My version? Not so good as those restaurant versions he orders and I finish off. I tweaked a good part of the recipe on a whim and among other things, was a little heavy-handed with the spices. Too much cinnamon is NOT a good thing, especially when combined with too much nutmeg and ginger. Next time I'm Googling "apple crisp restaurant knock-off" and going with what pops up. No more audibles!

Farmer's Market find: Negi

Today I am cooking one of my favorite "what to do with leftovers" dishes: Onion, leek, and potato soup. I like it because if you have extra mashed potatoes (and unless you're lucky enough to unload them on guests on the way out the door, then you do!), it's really simple. Slice onions, leeks, and garlic very thin. Sauté in oil until caramelized, pour in stock, bring to a boil, and then add mashed potatoes and stir. Let boil and/or simmer as you wish and that's it.
I didn't buy leeks earlier in the week, but this morning I was lucky to find negi, a long (long!) Japanese green onion-like vegetable. The white parts you see in the picture were about 10-12 inches long and there were an additional 12-18+ inches of the green parts. Carrying them away from the vendor's table, I felt like I was carrying spears. The guy who sold them to me said not to use the green parts, so I didn't.
It wasn't a leek, but close enough, and local from the farmer's market, so I had to give it a try in the soup. It's still simmering on the stove, and so far it looks and tastes good. I didn't have low-sodium stock so it's bordering on too salty. Other than that, I have high hopes.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope you are sharing the holiday with good food and loved ones today. Here's some kindergarten artwork that came home in the backpack this week. I think I've spotted a trend...preschoolers have full-sized paper plate art, kindergartners use pupu plates.
Enjoy the day!

Countdown to turkey...maybe not

Cranberry sauce chilling, pumpkin pie baked and ready for the big day...tonight I'll chop some veggies and then call it a day. Lots to do, but tonight I'm beat after a couple late nights/early mornings in a row. Here's the menu I've been working on for a week. (Cub wanted to help "highlight" items for me.) A few things have been cut from the starting line-up, including the turkey (gasp!). I couldn't find one small enough. Just three turkey eaters at the table tomorrow, so a big bird would just be a waste. Another year I don't cook a turkey...and another year I don't mind at all. :)

Carnival fun

Somehow despite all of us being sick for at some point during the last half of October and well into November, we pulled ourselves together and managed to get out and have a good time here and there. One Sunday after dinner we went to a weekend carnival in Kapolei. Last year we missed it, but Robbie spoke often about the Ferris wheel. When it started going up a few weeks ago (the bus drove by the lot every afternoon after school) this time he was going! The only time Robbie seemed a bit apprehensive was the first jolt to start the wheel turning. After that, the ride was smooth sailing and he loved it, not concerned at all with the movement or being so high up. Who knew? I was very happy that he did not seem at all interested in going on the mini-roller coaster. As we walked by, I heard a little girl say to her parent, "Look! The roller coaster is fixed now. Can I go?" Broken ride at a traveling weekend carnival? I'll pass!
That big, white glare ruining my picture is a ticket booth. They make a TON on these rides. It's about $3 each person, on average, for one ride, and no young kids free on anything. A sign at the front read that the rides were all "discounted" from 3 to 2 tickets (would have saved us about a dollar per ride) because it was the last night of the carnival, but word didn't get around to the ride operators, who were still charging full price. Boo!

View from the top

Here is the dusty ground below Robbie and I as we went around and around on the Ferris wheel. Noel got an out because he doesn't like heights. Cub may or may not have been too small (we couldn't really tell from the signs), so we opted to leave him on the ground and prevent the tantrum-drama of waiting in line only to be told he couldn't go just as Robbie and I were boarding. But the drama was unavoidable. In the picture, all looked calm as Noel and Cub waited and watched as we rotated by. Noel would say later, "Don't mind the straw all over Cub. When he realized he wasn't coming along, he threw himself on the ground and rolled in some nearby hay." By the time I snapped this, it was looking like nothing happened. Glad I didn't see him getting upset, it would have only made me sad. Next year!

Hey! That was my idea!

I'm not a food blogger, but if I were, maybe I would have posted this last year. Trying to think of a new twist to go with the classic pumpkin pie custard (no need to mess with the recipe on the Libby's can for me!), I thought about making a pumpkin pie for last year's Thanksgiving dinner with a ginger snap crust. I got the idea from Martha Stewart's Everyday Food magazine. She had another pie in last year's Thanksgiving issue with a crust using ginger snaps, some sort of nut, and melted butter, all processed until smooth and then baked to make a pie crust shell. Ah ha! I was going to try it. Yadda...yadda...yadda...(Yes, I'm yadda-ing out the part where I called the Martha Stewart satellite radio show with a question. It was funny.) I ended up making it with macadamia nuts and it was a hit. At least for me - I loved it. I thought it instantly upgraded the classic pumpkin pie to coffee or pastry shop good. I'm going to make this pie for many years to come.
So imagine how surprised I was to be watching Rachael Ray yesterday (she's been doing recipes all week and I'm menu planning) and her guest used MY pie crust for a pumpkin pie. Except her guest did a no-bake pie. It was still labor intensive. You have to stir a mixture over the stove top for 10 minutes straight. I don't get it. You can make a pie ahead of time, why cut corners? Just go for the classic custard if you're making one this year.
(I thought I had a picture of last year's pie in my camera roll, but I can't find it. Placeholder pumpkin above, made for Robbie with a free Paint-like iPhone app a few weeks ago.)

Farmer's Market find: Pomelo

I don't know why it works this way for me, but when I'm really sick I don't feel like eating right and I really don't feel like cooking at all. It drives me mad. If there's any time when I should be eating really well, it should be then, but it's not. I get by and get food on the table, but there's no fun in it. One day I told myself, "Enough!" I dug through the fridge and found a cantaloupe to cut into. I sliced and carved it...then got tired, lost my brief appetite for fruit, and put it all back in the fridge. A couple of days later I tried again, this time with a pomelo.
I got really excited when I saw a new-to-me vendor at the farmer's market selling these. I first tried one back when I was working here, before Cub came along. My boss had one and she said I had to try it. It was really large, fresh and ripe, and she shared a huge wedge with me. I loved it! Sweet, juicy, not too tart, seemed to me mostly like a sweeter grapefruit, crossed with a little bit orange. I've looked for them since, but no luck until a few weeks ago.
The ones I found were much smaller than the one I first tried. I didn't think much about it, but after I cut into it and realized it wasn't very good, maybe size matters! The fruit inside was dry and a little sour. Picked too early, perhaps? Strike 2 for me and fruit that week.
I hope they keep bringing them to the market, but at the same time, I hope they can keep them on the trees a little longer, too.

Let's re-do this month already

This is what the Halloween cupcakes looked like 24 hours later (left covered on the counter at room temperature). Sadly, it was a sign of what was to come! Crazy week-plus we've had. We have all been sick in some way or another, missed school and work, overall we are just dragging ourselves along. Noel and I tried to put the funk behind us and left the boys with the grandparents last Saturday for dinner and a movie. After the so-so film (I KNEW we'd already seen all the good parts in the trailers, but I wanted to see it anyway), we headed to dinner. At 9:00 PM, it was warmer outside than inside due to the air conditioning, so we opted for the lanai. We were served the worst soup I've ever tasted, they burned an entree then charged us twice for it on the bill after we asked the kitchen to re-do it, and service was really slow. While waiting, I saw a rat scurry across the lanai and go under a wall we think lead to the kitchen. We won't be going back there anytime soon!
Earlier in the week I had preschooler drop-off duty one morning. As the teacher tried to take Cub away, he tried to hold on to me with his feet. His shoe stuck to my shirt and pulled the front of my top down, nearly to my waist. So I flashed a group of preschoolers, their instructors, and a dad who was there having breakfast with his child. Highlight or low-light of the week? I'm still undecided.