Ad hoc at home

Hands down best cook book ever. Only a took a few random pictures of things I've used/made..

Little munchkin

Holiday Party

Holiday party was a good excuse for a kind of late house warming/meet and greet puppy/see everyone before we go to Colorado and Miami for the holiday break. 

Charlie was a great little greeter and had a lot of fun with a little Yorkie friend.  She had so much fun she pooped out halfway through the festivities. 

Pictures aren't crazy detailed but I just snapped them real fast before people came by. I love "entertaining" so to speak, but always feels like a high stress situation right beforehand.

Has anyone in this family ever even seen a chicken?

I always avoided the raw whole chickens at the grocery store. It made no sense why a raw chicken was >$10 and a rotisserie chicken was $7. 

Nonetheless, I felt compelled to buy one after seeing this recipe and make the most use of out the bird. Plus Ina is always raving about the benefits of making one's own chicken stock. 

It was surprisingly easy to deconstruct the chicken. I was hindered by a terrible knife and am no anatomy expert but I was able to break apart all the bits in less than 10 mins. There was something organic feeling about being able to cut out your own chicken bits compared to buying the unnatural slightly dried out lumps of pink meat heavily Saran wrapped in the grocery store. The chicken in the dish was incredibly juicy, not sure if it was just the awesome recipe but keeping the skin and bone on is a bonus I reckon. I served it with a handful of basil and over cous cous.  Plus we have leftovers. Yay

The stock was incredibly easy. I haven't tried it yet but I've had my first cold in about 3 years now so maybe I'll make myself chicken noodle soup with it. 

Overall, it was a lot of fun. Obviously fastidious hand washing is necessary but way worth it.  

Hash a go go

Breakfast is Will's favorite meal. Even if it is 2pm, he insists on having breakfast as the first meal of the day. This is what we did one lazy Sunday. We slept in, took the pup for playtime in the park and I made a big breakfast. 

This was inspired by a Giada Spanish food episode. I tried to make it a little healthier by adding leeks and using turkey bacon instead. Definitely couldn't eat this every day but occasionally making fanfare out of cooking breakfast is a lot of fun. 

French Onion Soup

Such an indulgent soup. 
I've always wanted to make it properly but did not have the bowls. 
I finally got the bowls and splurged on all the classic ingredients although Gruyere actually was surprisingly affordable at TJs. Also instead of a bay leaf I used saffron.

Yellows of fall

Some DIY

This is a hutch we keep wanting to throw out but I decided it was a really useful piece just the wrong color.

Before..(after some sanding, hence the scratched up surface)

After..I still have yet to put the gold trimming on that rightmost door because I decided it wasn't worth the effort (for now)..

Magazine rack that now hides video games.