Dinner anyone?

Tavo was running some errands last night and I had settled into one of my favorite activities--a whole bunch of cooking. The plan was, he would go out with the boys and I'd have a good time cooking up food for the weekend and listening to 1690 am and dancing around the kitchen. We have a HUGE project this weekend and I knew if we didn't have plenty of food all set to eat we'd end up ordering pizza a couple times daily. Plus--I really like cooking.

Then a few friends called, I told them to come on over and wait for Tavo. Then Tavo came, and brought beer. And before we knew it, everyone was in the kitchen hanging out and the party ended up right here.

There's no beer in the freezer!!!


The Atlanta Journal Constitution had some great recipes in their food section this week--here is some Beef Stroganoff for Tavo. He gave it rave reviews, so I'm putting the recipe below.


Beef Stroganoff
(from the AJC--altered a bit. They said to use 3 cups tomato juice--I didn't have that so we used tomato paste and beer)

8 oz mushrooms (we used baby portabellos)
1 cup chopped onions
1 lb beef (used chuck steak)
egg noodles
2 T tomato paste
1 dark beer (had a couple sips)
T worcestershire sauce
1 cup sour cream
salt and pepper to taste

Cook mushrooms, onions and beef over medium heat until meat is done. Add tomato paste and beer, (if you want, you can put the noodles in here, bring to a boil, and cover for 8 minutes. We cooked the noodles separately) Lower heat, stir in sour cream, and you're in business!

I also made some Asian Slaw to go with our sandwiches tomorrow. Its my favorite cole slaw--great on bbq tofu or tempeh sandwiches.

Asian Slaw

Bag of slaw mix (I'm trying the broccoli slaw this time)
1/2 cup of mayonnaise
T. rice vinegar
T. sesame oil
1 1/2 T. honey
roasted sesame seeds

if you want, this is good with jicama cut up and added, too

mix and let sit in fridge for at least 4 hours before serving.


I also made a loaf of sandwich bread and another recipe from Atlanta Journal Constitution, "Kale Chickpeas and Leeks Braised in Olive Oil" This was TOTALLY a winner, so I'm putting the recipe below, too.
Kale, Chickpeas and Leeks braised in Olive Oil

1/4 cup olive oil
1 large leek, white and light green part only, chopped (I went ahead and used 3)
2 garlic cloves, minced (I think I threw in 5)
1 teaspoon salt
1 heaping teaspoon smoked Spanish paprika
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 bunch kale, stemmed, chopped and washed in a colander
1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas, rinsed, or 1 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas
3-4 small tomatoes (the AJC says roasted red peppers, but I had tomatoes that needed eating)

In a large, heavy-bottomed pot, such as a Dutch oven, over medium-high heat, add oil. When oil shimmers, add the leek, garlic, salt and paprika and stir until leek wilts, about 1 minute. Add kale, chickpeas and red pepper and stir to combine. Cover with a tight-fitting lid and cook over medium heat for 20 to 30 minutes, checking to make sure pan doesn't scorch. If needed, add a tablespoon of water to keep a very small amount of liquid in the pan. Once kale is tender, taste and adjust seasonings, if needed. Serve hot, at room temperature or cold after a night in the fridge. -John Kessler, AJC

Sandwich Bread

1 1/2 cups water
1 cup wheat flour
2 1/4 cups white flour
1 1/2 T. sugar
1 1/2 t. salt
2 t. fast rise yeast

Put in bread machine, set to dough cycle. Pull out and bake at 350 for 25 minutes.

Here's us tasting the goods...


yep, we had some desert, too. These are my grandma's brownies:


At first I was not going to post the recipe, because she was pretty secretive about all of her recipes. Super secretive. Wouldn't even tell my mom most of them! But I browsed online quickly to see if I could find the recipe, and it was extremely common, so I'll go ahead and post it. I think it was probably produced by the Hershey company.

Grandma's Brownies

4 eggs
1 stick oleo (I'm writing it from her recipe)
1 cup sugar
1 can chocolate syrup
1 cup + 1 T flour
1/8 t. baking soda

frosting:
1 1/2 cups sugar
6 T. milk
6 T. oleo
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Bake brownies at 350 for 22 minutes and cool. For frosting, boil first three ingredients, then add chocolate chips. Stir until melted, and frost. These are great stored in the fridge.

All right--we are now starting our project. We'll post the results--hopefully we'll finish by Sunday night!



(the white and green t-shirts were not planned!!)

feeling nostalgic for something I've never done

If I was in a movie, instead of real life, this is when that song would come on
I would stand up and start walking
all the students would stop and stare
I would pull off my blazer and let down my hair
children would appear and frolic around me
and I would dive into the Chattahoochee
with a bunch of kids
and we'd all splash each other
sometimes I wish I was in a movie

fake fried okra, jalapenos and eggplant

Fall is coming in and with that means the last of our Community Shared Agriculture vegetables. Last week, we got a whole mess of okra. I froze some for later gumbo, but decided to bake (fake fry) the rest. I've read about coating vegetables in mayonnaise, before dipping in the flour/cornmeal mixture, but hadn't tried it. I decided tonight was the perfect time to try it.


and the finished product:


Overall, it wasn't my favorite. That said, I did manage to eat all the okra and jalapenos in one sitting--hence, it wasn't THAT terrible ;) I made eggplant parmesan with the eggplant slices, and that was more forgiving. I'm thinking I should have just fried it.

we remember

blast from the not-so-distant past: Rio de Janeiro

You know, I was quite slow in posting our Brazil pictures, and we never posted Rio. I've got about 300 Rio pics, so I'm just going to post a few. Hard to believe we were there just a couple months ago! (warning to vegans--I do have some market pictures below)

Praia do Flamengo (and our silhouettes)

sunrise from our room

view from our room in the Maze, Favela Tavares Bastos

we backed up to the rainforest

Bohemia? Don't mind if I do!

gallery opening / music night at the Art Hostel

Sopa de feijão--one can never have enough beans (Look at that smile!)

market in Niteroi

Not quite as gruesome as the market in Marrakesh, Morocco--but still pretty wild

spice stands all up and down the street

this was our favorite restaurant--I think we ate here 8 times!

taken from below, this is a picture of our room. We were at the top!
(underneath the water reserve)

Cristo Redentor

studying our Portuguese aka reading the paper

yep, we hung out on the balcony a LOT

paint was on sale....oh goodness

First, the eats. There was a festival in our neighborhood this weekend, so we made some picnic food to pack. This grilled veggie sandwich is huge--we're still working on it!
Sauteed portabellos, carmelized onions, roasted green peppers, eggplant, squash, avocado, tomato, olives, and italian dressing on a moroccan olive bread.
...weight it down for the night, we'll throw it in the oven to heat and eat tomorrow.

We have been fans of the artist, Felix Berroa for more than three years now. You should check out his website, he is really quite amazing. After much deliberation and a bit of saving--we decided to purchase a painting. Its incredible.

And now the paint. Tavo worked on the porch...



and I went for the bedroom...