My Little Protégée!!!

I was at the bank recently opening a new checking account (new year, new bank, new stuff.....) and as one of the security measures the bank takes you must pick a "keysite" for the access to your online account.  It's just a picture and they are large variety to choose from.  I pick a photo of a bunch of tomatoes! I told the woman at the bank that I picked this because I like to cook.  She then asked me if I was "a good cook".  My response was that "I've been told that I am."  To which she said "then you are a good cook."  I do know this I enjoy cooking and especially cooking for others.  I gives me such great satisfaction to prepare meals for others and watch them as the devour it and hopefully are satisfied by it. 

That being said let me introduce you to someone who proudly professes to be a "good cook!"  This is Julia and she reminds me of what a great cook she is every time we are in the kitchen creating some sort of fantastic dish.  Even yesterday when we were working together to create a wonderful tuna salad for grampa for his sandwiches she reminded me as she sprinkled in the thyme "I'm a good cook." 

More on WHAT we are creating here later!!

I will say this for her - she is not afraid to get her hands dirty.  She is willing to get right in there and work at making a wonderful meal.  Now if I could just get her to try eating them!!

Do you have someone who watches and mimics you?  One of the best ways to keep ourselves in check is to remind ourselves that little eyes are watching!! And this one has eagle eyes when it comes to watching me!!

And There's More Bread!!!

The bread just doesn't seem to end.  I'm using up the bread as best I can and as quickly as I can.  I made wonderful French Toast on Sunday morning.  Bryan was thrilled.  I made a few extras for him to eat while I'm away (oh yea - I'm headed to AZ on Wednesday)!!  Not that I'm thrilled or anything - tee hee!  Sunday afternoon I took the ciabatta loaf and made one HUGE sub and cut it up for us to eat while watching football.  Here are couple pics for you to enjoy!!

Although I will admit that I should have probably made this the very day I got the bread it was still delicious.  It was loaded with black forest ham, capicola, salami, bologna and provolone and american cheeses with lettuce, tomato, onions and pickles.  It made for a wonderful meal while watching the games Sunday afternoon. 

The Organizer

There are times when I go on a wild and crazy adventure and decide to become completely organized and orderly!!  (don't laugh - it happens) These moments are few but when they happen LOOK OUT! It's like a tornado is about to hit.  Now that you've regained your senses, I will tell you that this is not one of those moments however apparently Julia it was a moment for Julia.  Apparently she is an organizer!!  One of her favorite pastimes is unloading and reloading things.  It can be a purse, a drawer, a toy box or a cabinet.  ON this particular day it was a cabinet.  See pics below!

In order to organize you must remove everything!

WHAT?

Although this make look like a disaster trust me you are wrong.  She very quietly takes everything out and then she puts everything back - not necessarily in the same order - but she is quiet!  And let's face it we all want the children to be quiet especially when we are working.  I was busy making jam which Julia started out being my helper but somewhere along the process she felt the need to "organize" the jelly cabinet.

Flour goes here.

Cake mix goes next to the flour.

Perfect - just the way I like it!

She was finally done just in time to help me wash the dishes!! That's another blog for another day!! Do you have an organizer in your home?  Goodness knows I need to be a better organizer!

Vicissitudes of Life!

Funny how when you set out to accomplish something in a day the little vicissitudes of life come along and take you in another direction. Today the deal was to try to get the kitchen back together and put the other rooms back the way they were before the remodel of kitchen. Well we almost made it. We (the hubby and I) had the opportunity to watch two of the grandchildren today for an hour or two. Of course we were thrilled!!

So Sweet Julia was here!!!




And John James!

We had so much fun and eventually their parents arrived back and our fun was over. So back to that list of accomplishments for the day!!! Ugh. Well I so wanted to get my Valentine's Day cookies made - if nothing else I wanted to get that done. Since it was a snowy blistery day anyway what better thing to do than bake!! So low and behold - tah dah!

A baker's dozen was accomplished!! Check back for the icing part! Should be interesting.

By this time hubby is wondering "What's for dinner?" Yea right!! But I had that planned too. I had marinade a wonderful london broil earlier in the day - Mesquite!!! So in true New England spirit I went outside (I think it was 25 or 30 - and with the wind chill - burrrr) and lit the grill. I cooked the steak outside on the deck with the wind and the snow blowing around! But for me there's nothing like a steak cooked on the grill!!!

See - medium rare! Yum!

All in all it was a great day. Hope you all enjoyed your day too - snow or no snow!