TANGIBLE

Forgive Me For Not Being Latin..but I warned you before about the spelling…

After getting some “personal maintenance” courtesy of Groupon… I was back in the chauffeur seat as Morgan needed a ride home from whatever random place he happened to be. This time though I texted ahead telling him I was starving and that he needed to feed his mother …ASAP.

Currently he is obsessed with Pho and the new Ramen Noodle place in South Point called Nomiya Ramen that he has been stalking for it’s Grand Opening. He’s soooo not the average 15yr old…please universe do not hook this kid up with some one who eats only chicken fingers and fries…

We started heading to the noodle house and at the last possible second turned in here.

This little hole in the wall joint off of 50th Street, right behind the MacDonald's.

Lito’s Latin Cuisine
4220 66 St

It had about 6 tables and was empty except for 3 Spanish speaking customers. We were well after the lunch rush so pretty much had the place to ourselves.

We ordered and this teeny tiny girl brought us hands down the worst chips and salsa we’ve ever had. We were so hoping for fresh tortilla chips and fresh salsa. Maybe we looked too white I dunno..but we were worried for a few minutes… then this arrived.

 

Fresh Tostadas and hands down the BEST FRICKEN TAMALE I’ve ever had. OMG! Full of chicken, potatoes, chick peas, olives etc etc. Besides the filling, the masa was soft and so full of flavor I would have eaten it by itself. We fought over it.

Morgan and I will order pretty much anything on a menu but it has an even bigger chance of being picked if we have absolutely no clue what it may be. This is a Papusa.  I have no idea what it is made out of except this must be the Latin version of a green onion cake. It was filled with cheese and refried beans and chicken and then fried. sigh….another fight…

We were so full and were high fiving each other on not having to share with those other people in our family. The reformed vegetarian with no palette and the man who eats too fast to taste anything anyway.

Next door is a Caribbean joint that has dosa’s…we vowed to try them next.

Feelin the Love

A day full of feel good love. Sarah carried on her 6th year of a tradition of bringing a full cake to school to share with all her home girls and home boys. This year was a super Red Velvet heart shaped cake I picked up at the farmers market from Andy's Cakes. He does REALLY nice baking and gives free samples...yumm!

Apparently the cake was so good that Morgan even tracked them down for a taste....They should have hid from him better.

Besides a beautiful box of chocolates.

There were flowers....

Jewelry and a new wallet...

and cupcakes....sigh sugar overload...

don't forget the pizza!

 

Pretty amazing considering the love of my life was 8 hours away! We did however use considerable restraint as by the time the cupcakes arrived...I must confess I had already eaten that whole box of chocolates. We decided to pick one cup cake and split it 3 ways. Thank goodness as I was nearly in a coma from all the carbohydrates at that point.

Sweet Sweet Sugar Love......

It came through like a Hurricane..

The scene in the kitchen mid afternoon Saturday. A whole bunch of "works in progress". No worries. No one died and all the Pioneer Women recipes worked out fabulously. I think the best part about her recipes on her blog is her pictures of the recipes. You can actually see the consistency of a batter and compare it to yours. It really gives you a feeling of whether you are on the right track or not.

One thing this weekend that I learned....

I will always from here on out put some kind of alcohol in my whipping cream....OMG SO GOOD!!

Saturday turned out to be a truly, one of a kind, seldom seen good day. There seemed to be an unspoken agreement between all our house inhabitants to keep focused on the big prize. For me, the prize was a shower at the end of my cooking day.

For him...

It was getting that little piece of paper he is holding. His "Learners Licence". How quickly time has gone by. How he ever got to this stage of growing up I will never know. I mean, I've done absolutely everything I can think of to stunt this kids growth and he seems to manage to shake off all the coffee grounds and forge ahead. Whether I am ready or not.

Welcome to my new life sitting in the passenger seat.

Remember kid....I still get to control the radio....

Let the cooking begin!

I can always tell when I am officially over some illness by the need I feel to get back into the kitchen. When I am sick; toast, soup and the occasional scrambled egg is about all I have energy for. The kids are the ones who really suffer..or do they..hmm. If my parents were part of the meat and potato generation, I am of the soup and sandwich. Home made soups are made bi weekly and my veggie sandwich with avocado is well...legendary. The kids and I could live off those sandwiches for the rest of our lives.

So good.

Today I walked through Safeway and knew in an instant I was over being sick. All I could see were cooking possibilities. Totally random things hit the basket and we all know it doesn't help one flying fig that I was hungry too boot. Safeway annoys me though. Finding canned pumpkin annoyed me..One till open at 9 am annoyed me. (Diane would tell you I was cranky when I left work.) I really like Wal Mart Super Center for  groceries and the selection. You can hiss and boo me all you want but I bet I could of found at least 6 varieties of canned pumpkin there..sigh.

Once home from my short work day and grocery stop, all I could obsess about was the 40+ tomatoes I had in a bowl on my counter. Tomatoes from our plants that were pulled a week ago before the snow hit. Even more tomatoes were discovered in the veggie crisper. Red, yellow, purple and in all shapes and sizes all courtesy of patient with a massive green thumb. So out came my big stock pot and they were all introduced to some garlic, onions, celery and assorted good smelling spices.

Nothing and I do mean nothing makes my family happier than as they walk down the blocks toward our house and the cooking smells get stronger and stronger the closer they get to home. You would think they never get fed by the reaction when they finally open the front door.

Today was a happy day for them. Morgan correctly identified the smell as tomato sauce and started making dinner requests. A portion of red sauce was very efficiently turned into pizza sauce. Dough was made, toppings sliced and Friday night pizza night was reborn.

The results were amazing and now we have left overs for lunch tomorrow. I plan to be cooking most of the weekend as I am feeling inspired by Pioneer Women. Pumpkin Cake with Whiskey Whipped Cream and  Fresh Corn with Wild rice are on the agenda along with, by request, Stuffin Muffins. Not to mention I am hoping to gift a special Italian with some goodies.

If you have a special to die for- OMG Laurie has got to try this recipe!! I would so love to hear about it as I am totally in the zone!

Happy Cooking!

and it all ends with Julia..

Ok..so I don't ooze productivity..I get it. I like to make vast plans and lists. I even love to tell as many people as I can what those plans are, just in the hope that it will help me with the follow through.  Best Laid plans.

So yesterday was a semi productive day. Got up super early. Made fantastic  Blueberry Zucchini muffins complete with some mini's just for me to snack on. Huge pot of coffee was consumed...and then I went into the studio..ugh..

When did it get so dark down there? Why is everything looking so yellow? Are these 100 watt bulbs in the lights?

Thank goodness I had planned ahead and invited a friend for a play date. It at least got me focused on the doing. After figuring out where to start or should I say ..where I left off in January...I was finally able to organize my brain enough to get 4 pages done in about 5 hours.

Big Whoop.

I have an art to do list as long as my arm! Not to mention a house to paint..ya...that's right...an ENTIRE HOUSE! But we all know I've said that before too..focus Laurie...

As my art guests were walking out the front door, Morgan and I were running out the back. Last ditch effort to get to Sherwood Park for their cheap Tuesday movie special. Again, why move onto #2 on the list when you can stop everything to go see a movie?

and it was an EXCELLENT movie!

Julie & Julia

My 14 yr old man/child actually wanted to see it with me. He truly understands the "Gourmand" that still lurks inside me. By the way..he thought it was an excellent movie as well. So excellent, that a when we do "art night" Friday night, we will be making a tried and true Julia Child recipe.

Beef Bourguignon

In preparation we will be going to the Farmers Market tonight to purchase supplies..and perhaps supper for tonight. Sherwood Park. Festival Place 5pm -8pm. It truly is just as good as Strathcona but I find easier to work into my schedule being mid week. The boy will no doubt be coming home with Kettle Corn.