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This evening we made Chili-Spiced Grilled Halibut with Grilled-Corn Saucy Salsa which was pretty straightforward, perhaps because my mother did all the chopping and dull preparation. The recipe calls for corn on the cob which you char in a grill pan then shuck. As we couldn’t find fresh corn in the stores, we used frozen corn which I briefly defrosted by pouring boiling water on it from the kettle. I dried it on paper towels then added it to a very hot skillet with some oil. I was surprised to see that it actually charred quite nicely- I thought that it would be too soggy somehow. Anyway, The garlic, red onion, red pepper and jalapeño (ready chopped, how very convenient) were fried in a little olive oil for a few minutes with brown sugar and salt and pepper, then joined by chicken stock. A few minutes later the charred corn, the juice of two limes and some cilantro went into the pan. Meanwhile, the halibut was seasoned with a mixture of oil and chilli powder, then cooked on the grill pan for a few minutes on each side. The fish was served with the salsa on top.

Upon first taste, the lime juice seemed to overpower everything, however the more one ate of the dish, the more balanced it seemed. The ratio of brown sugar (1 tablespoon) to lime juice (the contents of two limes) seemed a little low, but the sugar definitely took the edge off the lime. The salsa was fresh and crisp and appealing, if a little acidic. The fish was beautifully cooked, firm and yet delicate. The chilli rub was an excellent simple method of preparation. We all agreed that the fish was good, yet there were differences of opinion on the salsa and the amount of lime juice. Overall though, this meal was certainly pleasant, and a good way to eat fish.

Tomorrow we will be kicking off our twelfth and final month of this cooking shenanigans with Chicken Topped with Caponata and Mozzarella.

This evening we made Sweet and Spicy Pineapple Pork which was certainly easy. The pork chops (nearer an inch thick than the 1 1/2″ thick chops called for in the recipe) were seared in a hot pan in olive oil, with salt and pepper, then put in the oven for 10 minutes to finish cooking. They rested for a while under a foil tent before serving. A little more oil was added to the pan to cook the red onion, red pepper, jalapeño and garlic. Once the vegetables had wilted, tinned pineapple chunks and chicken stock were added and simmered for a few minutes. Chopped parsley was stirred into the sauce just before serving. We served the chops and sauce with rice, rather than sweet rolls which was the other side dish option.

The food was pretty tasty, and it was colourful which is always good. The pork was very succulent and pleasant, although it seemed to be quite a hefty lump of meat. The sweet and spicy pineapple sauce was very delicate and understated, not at all like the sweet and sour dish I was expecting. I was a little disappointed in the dinner, I think because I was imagining that we were going to be eating Chinese style sweet and sour. The others really enjoyed it though, presumably because they weren’t judging the meal against an invisible ideal. Now I have an enormous craving for some good Chinese food.

Anyway tomorrow we will be dining on Chili-Spiced Grilled Halibut with Grilled-Corn Saucy Salsa. We are trying to figure out how to spend the day tomorrow- the weather forecast seems to be ruling out the zoo or any outdoor activities. I’m sure we’ll figure something out. I’m still feeling a little fuggy. I woke up at 3am in the chair in Baby N’s room, fully dressed, after falling asleep nursing her at about 10.30pm. Oops. It was a bit like being hungover, minus the fun and alcohol.

This evening’s meal, Bacon-Wrapped Meatloaf Patties with Pan Gravy and Sour Cream-Tomato Smashed Potatoes, was a little on the labour-intensive side, at least to my tired, befuddled head. We spent half the day waiting for the heating repair man to come and rescue us from our ice-block of a house. Then Baby N, my mother and I went to the Über-mall (gross area of 4.2 million sq ft. (390,000 m²), with 2.5 million sq ft. (230,000 m²) available as retail space, if you were wondering) and managed to walk up and down one stretch for the afternoon. I am having to rebuild my internal navigation system for getting round the mall to accommodate the new stroller. Where once we could go up the escalators, we now need to take elevators. Uninteresting as it is, they are located in different places, so everything changes.

Anyway, for some reason today I seem to have hit a wall of fugginess in the brain, as if the months of toilet-trips through the night when pregnant plus the night time feedings of the last 6 weeks have just caught up on me. I feel like I am swimming underwater in a vat of custard. The custard of sleep deprivation. I can’t remember what I’ve written about or when, sometimes I can’t remember my new daughter’s name. Quite frankly I can barely remember my own name, which is not much of a problem since I seem to be unable to communicate it to anyone. But, a woman in a department store today told us that Baby N had a peaceful soul though, so that’s one less thing to worry about.

Anyway, we made meatloaf patties with ground beef, Worcestershire sauce, an egg, breadcrumbs, milk, grill seasoning, tomato paste, onions and allspice. They were wrapped in a little bacon shawl and fried. Once they were out of the pan, we were supposed to add butter to the pan to scrape up the drippings and begin the pan gravy. There was no much bacon fat that we skipped the butter and went straight to onions, then flour, chicken stock, mustard and Worcestershire sauce. I have to admit I forgot the parsley until just now, oops. The potatoes were little red ones, mashed with sour cream, milk and butter and mixed with de-seeded, skinned, chopped tomatoes (My mum did the preparation, I’m not so sure we’d have gone to so much trouble). We served asparagus on the side and had a veritable mountain of food.

Dinner looked a little Old Country Buffet, but the meal was pretty tasty. Wrapping anything in bacon is a win-win situation, so the patties were good. I’m not sure that they were what I was expecting- they seemed a little more burger-esque than meatloaf. Maybe we ate burgloaf. Or meaters. They could have done with a little more spice or seasoning, but essentially they were pretty substantial and tasty. Mashed potatoes are another perennial favourite. I’m not sure how essential the tomatoes were, but they did offer a splash of colour I guess. All in all, this was certainly a solid meal, very hefty on a winter’s night.

Tomorrow we will be eating Sweet and Spicy Pineapple Pork, which sounds tasty. I’d hoped for a stir fry but I think we have to buy 1 1/2″ thick pork chops which seems very meat-centric. Yesterday, amongst the pile of presents for the granddaughters, I received the new Nigella Lawson book, Nigella Express. It’s a beautiful looking book with delicious photographs. Maybe next year we should cook our way through that. Instead of five chicken dishes in a row, we’d have so very many cakes. Yummo.

This evening we made Rosemary Lemon-Pepper Pork Tenderloin with Creamy Lemon-Parmigiano Dressed Greens and Garlic Croutons. When I say we made it, what I really mean is that L did a bit, I did a bit, but predominantly my mother made it while I read the instructions. Which was nice. The pork tenderloin was coated in a garlic, rosemary, black pepper, olive oil, lemon zest and lemon juice mixture, then roasted in a hot oven for 20-25 minutes. The salad was dressed in a mayonnaise, lemon juice, olive oil, Parmigiano, salt and pepper concoction and tossed with delicious garlic croutons. They were made by frying cubes of bread in olive oil with garlic and salt and pepper. Yummy.

The meat was succulent with a good flavour from the rosemary and lemon. The salad was tasty, particularly the home made croutons. All in all, a very good meal. This post is very short as we have a visitor who hasn’t been here for about a year. The Grannie visitation is going well, Little A is much less shy than we anticipated, and she will be so tremendously excited when she sees the enormous pile of presents that she is in for. She’s a lucky wee girl. Anyway, Baby N is fussy, L is off to bed and we have to get some sleep so we have shopping energy for tomorrow. The heating was off last night, the repairman came this afternoon and for 4 whole hours the temperature in the house was pleasant. Now, the temperature is swiftly plummeting once more. A jinx in this house? Who’d suggest such a thing. Tomorrow we will be having some good old fashioned comfort food with Bacon-Wrapped Meatloaf Patties with Pan Gravy and Sour Cream-Tomato Smashed Potatoes.

This evening we made French Onion Sliced Steak Croissant Sandwich, which was a fantastically good sandwich. The flank steak was marinated for ten minutes in olive oil, red wine vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, thyme, salt and pepper, then cooked over a high heat. Once cooked, it was left to stand for five minutes then sliced thinly. The onions were sliced and cooked in olive oil until golden. Chicken stock was poured over the top and left to bubble away until the onions were just slightly damp. Croissants were split and placed on a cookie sheet. A dollop of onions were placed on the croissant base, followed by the sliced steak. More onions and a slice of Emmental cheese topped the sandwich, which was grilled until the cheese melted and the croissant lids browned. The sandwich was served with a green salad.

I wondered whether this would be the sort of meal that would be more trouble than it was worth, but actually the two pans, two bowls and a cookie sheet which need to be washed up are a small price to pay for the meal itself. The steak was like butter; so very moist, tender and succulent. The croissants were oozing butter, which is always nice. The onions and cheese were just good; tangy and chewy and delicious- and I don’t even particularly like Swiss cheese. Very excellent all round.

This morning I felt like I had lived a hundred lives before 9am. Juggling the very different demands of a newborn and a toddler, whilst trying to maintain a basic level of personal hygiene and a barely acceptable level of appearance, is something that I need to work on. Fortunately, I’m sure I have plenty of opportunity for practice and improvement. Once we managed to leave the house, the day was actually pretty good. For the most part I enjoyed myself and the company of the girls, although it does feel a little like tightrope walking, blindfolded, with one leg tied behind your back. If Baby N had woken up hungry at different times- like bath time- the day could have been an unmitigated disaster. As it was, we all survived with only minor injuries. We went out to a friends house for play and lunch, where I had a most unfortunate incident. I fed Baby N then lifted her to face over my shoulder for a much-needed burp. I had completely failed to register the breakfast bar counter behind me, the very counter upon which I managed to bang her poor little noggin against. The baby screamed, the toddler wailed, I may have shed a stressful little guilt-ridden hormonal tear, but we all recovered and lived to tell the tale. Baby N barely has a mark on her forehead, although she’ll probably develop an enormous bruise just as I go to pick up my mum from the airport tomorrow. On the way home from our playdate, I had to take Little A to the clinic for a flu shot. She was very excited to go, obviously not having the faintest idea what she was in for when she asked for her “flu shot, pease”. The sight of the needle prompted a swift downward turn in her mood, but she was consoled slightly by a sparkly plaster and not one but two piggy stickers. The stickers which she is now sleeping with, after refusing to part with them.

Tomorrow we have to tidy and clean as much as possible before heading out to the airport. It seems a little self-defeating to clean when we have workmen in the house and cardboard taped to the floors to protect the wood. L is still painting the never-ending woodwork so we have dust sheets and paint pots around. It just seems so hard to get on top of house stuff at the moment, what with the 84 loads of washing a day and the endless nappy changes. We’ll get there eventually, maybe. Or we won’t. Either way you won’t get your money back. It’ll be interesting to see how this house accommodates visitors. The bedrooms are very much on top of each other and the walls are paper thin. There’s no room for privacy. But hopefully there will be much grannie/ grandchildren bonding and an opportunity for the little things in life like getting a haircut. My roots are so bad that I have taken to wearing a hat. All the time. I am so grateful that it’s cold enough that I don’t look like a complete idiot. Or maybe I do but at least no one can see my terrible grey hair stripe. Tomorrow we kick off Mother Visit ‘07 with Rosemary Lemon-Pepper Pork Tenderloin with Creamy Lemon-Parmigiano Dressed Greens and Garlic Croutons. I think everyone is pleased that the upcoming run of five (FIVE) versions of polenta lasagne is post-visit. Our families already think we’re crazy doing this project- in as much as every now and then we’ll be asked “are you still doing that food thing?” with a touch of disbelief/ disdain. There’s no reason to vividly illustrate the crazy with five versions of the same meal. Otherwise we’d be hard pressed to answer the inevitable “why are you doing this?” question.

This evening we made Ham and Spinach Hash with Fried Eggs [recipe] which was another meal which can be eaten for B,L or D- breakfast, lunch or dinner. We were sceptical, I have to admit, but this one was a good one. The potato, spinach, red onion and ham hash also featured red pepper flakes, thyme, basil and a lot of salt and pepper. It was topped with parmigiano cheese, chopped tomatoes and a fried egg. As we have said so very many times this year, we are no egg lovers, so an egg meal is never a cause for celebration. L had a plate of the hash, I tried it with the egg. In an attempt to push my boundaries and see if I really still hate fried egg as an adult, after years of believing this to be true, I ate some fried egg, including the yolk this time. The belief persists, it was based in reality; I really don’t like fried egg. That aside, this is a good meal. The hash is sturdy and tasty and well balanced, although we did end up using a lot of salt and pepper to taste. That may have been necessary because I added only a very small amount of the red pepper flakes, in a concession to nursing. Tomorrow we will be eating French Onion Sliced Steak Croissant Sandwich, provided the croissants don’t get eaten before then.

There’s nothing overly interesting to report here, the day was very pleasant and highly uneventful. We went to the zoo for a change (highlight: a small fish stuck inside a shell) and this afternoon we returned something to Ikea and ended up spending way more than anticipated. But we now have a feather duster and miniature dustpan and brush so we can finally put Little A to work cleaning the house. Let’s hope she learns fast because my mother arrives in two days and the house is a dump. Tomorrow I am taking the girls out to visit a friend, then we have to see if it is possible for Little A to take a nap with workmen upstairs banging and crashing, I’m thinking not, but we will certainly give it a try. If not, who knows? So far I can only mentally plan far enough ahead to hope that the three of us will be dressed before the workmen arrive. Baby steps, indeed.

Today we hit a small crisis in our parenting development. We have never really had to discuss discipline as we have both been on the same page with regards to trying to attempt to be consistently consistent. We aim for positive not punitive discipline with appropriate actions, without yelling or resorting to tantrums ourselves. In theory. However, a two year old who is very, very much testing the boundaries of her actions and our responses plus a baby who has an innate ability to wake up screaming just as stress levels are rising, plus a whole host of missing sleep means that things can tend to go a bit haywire. We ended up having a naptime crisis discussion and agreed that we both have to find the same page and stay there, no matter how hard it may seem. Also, we need to chill the f* out.

So this afternoon in Target, L ended up finishing the grocery shopping with Baby N, while I took Little A out to the car to cool down. This may have backfired spectacularly, as she seemed to find the whole experience highly amusing. Nor did she seem upset to not be in the shop standing in an enormous line at the check-out. Instead, she entertained herself singing and counting and generally being quite endearing. She kept telling me “I saw the croco’ile at the mall, mummy. I saw the lion at the zoo. Noo-noo ate Christmas, mummy. Look mummy, there’s the moon. I see the moon. I saw the croco’ile at the mall, mummy.” Obviously she was suffering great mental anguish at being taken away from the site of her shopping trolley climbing, food dropping crimes against parental sanity. I had to try really hard not to laugh within sight or sound of the little tyke.

Anyway, this evening we made Pasta with Mushroom Cream Sauce after the tyrant toddler went to bed, rather than before as we had planned. At the end of the day, sometimes you simply need a ginormous glass bucket of gin, but pasta will have to suffice. This meal was again very easy, it was the same preparation method as for the soup yesterday, but with less liquid. Mushrooms, onion, garlic, thyme, salt and pepper were sautéed, the liquid came from cognac, stock and cream, texture was provided by the blender, and substance from fettucine. The pasta and sauce were tossed together (messy) served in bowls and garnished with parmesan and parsley. The camera battery died after I took one photo and I wasn’t in the mood to wait for it to recharge, so what you see is what you get.

The pasta dish was very successful, the sauce was rich and tasty and very decadent. My only comment would be that perhaps some of the mushroom/ onion/ garlic mixture could have been either left out of the blender, or only very slightly blended so that there was a little variety in the texture. And colour. But other than that, the sauce is very good. Although having said that, a little prosciutto or bacon would have been pleasant. But really, we would use this recipe again, certainly as a starting point. It was good. Maybe a little bland, but really very good. Tomorrow we are making Ham and Spinach Hash with Fried Eggs. Provided we have a less eventful day, hopefully we can feed this to Little A who doesn’t share our egg prejudice.

Our plans to go zoo-ward today were thwarted by the lure of a visit from the heating repair man to fix the thermostat. Last night it was freezing in the house, and the heating simply wouldn’t come on. Today it was boiling as the heating wouldn’t switch off. This evening, however we have a new thermostat and the temperature is very pleasant, thanks very much. So we were in the house for most of the day, which involved many fun activities such as making Lego towers and monitoring crayon application. The highlight of the day was when Little A and I made some fantastic cranberry and white chocolate cookies. We’re making up for our lack of feasting yesterday in a big way. They certainly are good cookies.

This evening we made Mushroom Bisque which is not the sort of food that I would normally associate with 30 Minute Meals. This is not to say that it was not fast or easy or tasty, it was all of those good things. It was more that the soup just tasted so ridiculously refined and sophisticated, like real restaurant food. The sort of food you order and are sure is very good, but maybe you don’t entirely love it. The mushrooms were sautéed in olive oil and butter, seasoned with salt, pepper and thyme, then joined by garlic and onions. A splash of cognac and some chicken stock were added before the contents of the pan were puréed until smooth. Back in the pan, the blended mushroom mixture was extended with more chicken stock and some heavy cream. A few drops of hot sauce finished the soup. Croutons were made by toasting sandwich bread until it was quite dark, then spreading butter on the toast and cutting it into small squares. The bisque was served in bowls, topped with the croutons and garnished with chopped parsley.

The soup was smooth, rich and earthy with a decent crunch and salt hit provided by the croutons. We both enjoyed it, and we would definitely consider making it again. I’m not sure that I would make it as a main course, but it would certainly be an excellent starter if you were hoping to impress. I did feel after eating it that I was ready for my real food, because it was so light. However, looking on the bright side this just meant there was room for another cookie with a nice cup of tea. If only Baby N had gone to sleep, this evening could even have been a little relaxing. Tomorrow, the mushrooms return with the excellent sounding Pasta with Mushroom Cream Sauce.

I just spent the last hour trying to create a soothing evening routine for Baby N in an attempt to preempt the night time cry-fest. Alas, it seems it didn’t work tremendously well as she’s crying anyway, although quite quietly for now. It’s difficult to remember if we went through this with Little A when she was wee. The general consensus is that we had some major troubles getting her to learn to go to sleep on her own between about three and five months, but when she was this small she’d just fall asleep wherever she lay. You know since I wrote this paragraph (I am a slow typer) it has been very quiet up there, perhaps L is working some sort of miracle. Or the swing has become our saviour. We bought the swing when Little A was maybe three months old, so that she’d be entertained while we worked in the studio. It so much didn’t work, she was anything but entertained. As our precious first born we never even thought about putting her in a swing during the normal course of a day. Baby N should make peace with the swing now, it’ll save everyone a lot of upheaval in the long run.

We had a very quiet Thanksgiving, with not a turkey or celebration in sight. Little A has a whole host of new winter clothing that we had to wrestle her into this morning- gloves, snow pants, boots, jacket, hat- it took a while but she was certainly a vision in pink. After many attempts to replace her hat from last year, which is tiny, and find an intermediate hat before her noggin is big enough to fit the age 4-5 year model that we mysteriously bought last year, we were finally successful. She vetoed every hat that we saw when we were looking, but L and I hit gold with a Target hat. The hat is in fact so popular that it now joins Daddy Lion (plastic lion figure) and “creamy” (trial size bottle of baby lotion) in sharing the place of honour on A’s pillow when she goes to sleep. Kids are weird. Anyway, we braved the cold and the snow to take the girls to the zoo, where we did our usual tour of Daddy Lion and Mummy Lion and the ostrich and the zebra and the giraffe and so on. Little A was mostly concerned with looking for mice in the monkey enclosures. Baby N slept through the entire outing. Pretty exciting stuff. This afternoon we mainly battled with the thermostat on our heating system; why must the heating work perfectly when it’s not even a little cool outside, yet go entirely on the blink as soon as it gets cold? And why does toast always land butter side down? And is there a proper reason why my glass is always half empty, when other people’s glasses are half full?

This evening we made Simple and Delicious Chicken with Potatoes and Asparagus, which was certainly simple, and if not categorically delicious, it was at least pretty tasty and good. It was very similar to the meal we had yesterday, minus the cream, bread and cheese, and with the addition of potatoes. The chicken was browned and removed from the pan. The potatoes were sliced and fried with onions added. The stock, wine and mustard went in the pan with the asparagus and everything was served in a bowl. Seasonings were provided by salt, pepper and thyme. We felt that between this meal and the version yesterday, we could have had an almost perfect dinner. Had the potatoes been added to the creamy version, and the toast/ cheese element dropped, it would have been a perfect meal. And the following day you could have leftovers on toast with cheese on top, and you’d have two good meals for the price of one. The meal today was certainly tasty, but without the cream it was not as rich, satisfying or decadent-tasting. This meal was good but not excellent. We may well make it again, but we’d probably add a splash of half and half.

Tomorrow we will be making Mushroom Bisque and trying to entertain ourselves for the day without going anywhere near a shopping emporium. For five of the six years that we’ve lived here, we have inexplicably found ourselves at the Mall on Black Friday, without having any clue as to what is going on or why we can’t find a parking space. We will not be making that mistake this year, despite the lure of the robot on sale.

PS I big pink puffy heart the swing. I mean I lurve the swing.

This evening we made Creamy Chicken and Asparagus on Toast while both of our babes were in bed. Now Baby N is awake again, but there was a nice 40 minute glimpse into how life may be when the girls are both old enough to go to bed at a reasonable hour, leaving evenings to ourselves once more. Baby N is only five weeks old, but it does feel like she’s been with us for ever. Every now and then I try and force myself to pay real attention to how little she is, knowing that the obvious- that she will never be so small again- is almost too profound to process. Already she has changed so much, she can hold her head up pretty well and she has been smiling alot the last few days. She has also started making some obnoxiously cute noises, cooing and the like. I am not mentioning the other noises she makes which are less than cute. She does have a bit of a nasty rash on her face which gets more angry-looking at certain times of the day, like just after she has eaten. I mentioned it to the pharmacist today, and she really had no clue, but she said if it was an allergy to my clothing, I should try feeding her (the baby that is) with no clothing between us. That is an interesting plan of attack for when we are out and about. I’ll just strip off next time N’s hungry, and tell anyone who complains that it is for medical reasons. (Shudder).

The chicken and asparagus is extremely tasty and satisfying. Onions and garlic were browned in olive oil, seasoned with salt and pepper and thyme, then removed from the pan. The chicken was added to the pan, with some butter and more olive oil, when it was browned the onion joined it in the pan, and flour was sprinkled over the mixture. A minute later, stock, half and half and white wine were whisked in and the mixture brought to a simmer. The chopped asparagus was added to the pan, followed by the parsley and chopped ham. Meanwhile, the French baguette was split lengthwise, lightly browned in the oven, topped with melted butter (we used a little olive oil spray rather than the 5 tablespoons of butter the recipe dictates) parsley, salt and pepper. The chicken and asparagus mixture was spooned onto the baguette, and a cheese/ breadcrumb mixture liberally sprinkled on top. The baguettes were put under the broiler until the cheese was melted, and we managed to catch them just before they started to burn.

As I mentioned, the chicken and asparagus mixture was extremely good. It was rich and hearty and would have been equally at home with rice or potatoes. On top of a baguette with a cheese topping, this meal felt like leftovers. With a relatively elaborate dish on top of toast- albeit toast with parsley butter and a fancy topping- it seemed a little like hangover food; when you are too tired to make a side dish so you just eat yesterdays meal on toast. That is not to say that this wasn’t a pleasant dinner, after all bread is always good in my book, but it was a fair amount of trouble to go to for a sandwich. Although, having said that, there is no real reason why it would seem to be more trouble when the end result is served on toast, than it would have been if the end result had been on rice. Just another case of double standards I suppose.

Tomorrow we will be having Simple and Delicious Chicken with Potatoes and Asparagus. I suppose this isn’t too far away from a traditional Thanksgiving Dinner, in as much as it features poultry and vegetables. Fortunately we don’t celebrate Thanksgiving so we won’t be feeling short changed. This won’t be the case at Christmas however, where i believe we’ll be eating Fresh Tomato and Basil Chicken over Super Creamy Polenta for Danish Christmas on December 24th, followed by Roast Crispy Mushrooms and Grilled Tenderloin Steaks with Green Onions on the 25th for UK Christmas. Then we’ll either be feeling very hard done by or very, very full depending on how many meals we decide to cook and eat. Potentially we could be having chicken and duck one day followed by steak and turkey the next. Maybe in 2008 we’ll be doing a year of detoxing.