#123 - Traditions, A rose by any other name and Family Fun

(But first - Sunday Brunch by the Sea)
It's tradition that on my last Sunday at home, we have brunch down by the ocean.  One of the big draws is the omelette station in which, as per my request, Chef S always squishes my omelette so that it isn't runny anywhere.  About a year ago he was promoted to a different service so I was very happy to see him.  Even better, he remembered both my omelette and me (it's so nice to be appreciated!).  Another member of the staff was kind enough to have refilled the fried rice tray because he saw I was getting ready to fill my plate.  How did I know?  Because he told me so when he saw that I had already started to fill my plate - so of course I had to add some of the fresh fried rice to my very full plate, so that his efforts were fully appreciated.  (It's so nice to be missed and even nicer to be spoiled - a girl could get used to this in a hurry!)  So although this was originally intended to be Round 1, unfortunately I was defeated by the enormous omelette topped with house salsa, fried rice, crispy bacon, sauteed mahimahi with tartare sauce (not one of my usual choices) and lots and lots of coffee.  Thanks Chef S & D!  By the way, that's a dinner plate, in case you can't tell by scale.

Porn is porn is porn (aka Is porn, porn?  In which some names sound much more exciting than the actuality)
Kind of like the Sex Party in Australia (apparently not the fun kind, but I couldn't tell you what they are - no one could tell me when I was at the voting place last year either).

The other day our dinner plans went a little awry.  How, you may ask, when all we needed was some chicken breast.  I'm not sure how it happened, but at Safeway, the chicken was still frozen - as in, I could see the ice crystals (really, how good will the meat taste?) so I went to the second store which didn't have anything free-range / organic / something which didn't sound like it was full of hormones.  So you think it's no worries, there's another one down the road.  No chicken breasts at all, frozen or otherwise!  1.5 hours after leaving home and buying everything except the chicken, we gave up on that idea and had to come up with a quick last minute dinner idea.  The result:  ginger, garlic and green onion (spring onion to my Aussie / UK friends), salt and a little oil.  On everything.  And it appears my niece has a good palate - she wanted a bit more salt on everything (my Mom said it was too salty)...oh dear.  You win some, you lose some.  A friend said that I am a "food porn producer.  Or culinary porn."  Another friend calls it "gastroporn"  - which makes me wonder a little at the whole "...I can't define what is pornography.]  "But I know it when I see it."  - Potter Stewart, opinion in Jacobellis v Ohio (1964) [NB:  I got this reference from Wikipedia - aka I don't really care what the answer is, but I cared that teeny bit enough to look it up.]

Then later that night, my niece asked me in her little voice if I could "please cook for me".  I asked my sister if she had asked my niece to ask me to cook for them - as Lil Sis said, "I didn't, but it's something I would do."  Well yes, that's why I asked...

Comfort food / family fun in the kitchen
Today was cold and rainy - and since we had a couple of hours until dinner time and no one felt like doing anything elaborate, we settled on meatloaf.  I've been meaning to try the bacon wrapped meatloaf for over a year now so we tried it today.  Lil Sis likes meatloaf because it's a good way to hide lots of vegetables although I haven't noticed that her children need much encouragement to eat their veggies.

Even better, my niece and nephew each like to help in the kitchen and they love to wash - I heartily encourage it!  So they washed the vegetables and did the all important taste test once the mixture was done and a little bit cooked off (shades of LCB cuisine classes...)  I have a feeling that each of their first memory of me will be the sight of me standing by the stove - and all I can say is, there could be worse first memories so I have no objection to this one.

Superbowl is coming up and although we haven't managed to settle on a party plan yet (will there be one for commercials?  That has yet to be determined) the bacon experiment was also a trial run for any sort of party:  meatloaf cooked in a muffin tin lined with bacon.

One of my classmates from LCB will be leaving (has left?) Dome restaurant and of course I had presentation envy so we dolled up the meatloaf.  Previous failures at finding baby / micro-greens notwithstanding, I have seen them in several places the last couple of days so I of course they made it onto the plate.  You think that they would be a complete waste by my niece actually wanted some of the little plants for her plate (of course she didn't eat them - but she did eat her other veggies...)

The thing with presentation is that you already have to have an idea in your head.  Since I couldn't decide (and falling back on my "why choose if you don't have to" philosophy) I did a couple of different variations.

Of course the large meatloaf took a lot longer to cook - the bacon lattice didn't turn out quite the way I had envisioned it but that may have something to do with the really large chunks of fat that I removed from the packet of bacon.  My recommendation if you like to trim off the excess fat from the bacon like I do:  buy two packs of bacon so that you have some back-ups for the lattice.  This one went into the fridge for tomorrow so we'll let you know how it turns out.  For the English / UK / Aussies, this will be burnt and unfit to eat.  For (most) Americans that I know, this is about right since we like our bacon crispy - maybe not this crispy?  Only a tasting will tell.

On the agenda for tomorrow - more fun in the kitchen involving lots of butter (testing different types, naturally, all in the name of research), cheese and all the things doctors, nutritionists and dieticians tell you are bad for you.

Until next time, may you have happy family hang-outs and fun bonding time!