Oh, we can do this

My dear friend invited our family unit over for dinner tonight. Both having two and a half year olds and a serious picky eater among them {my kid}, I worried, she worried. We just generally wondered how it would go and it's probably the reason why we've put it off so long. We're both fairly ambitious working mothers, which contributed to our angst. We want everything to be perfect and go perfectly. The fact that we are mothers is surprising. {I'm not sure it bodes well for our children.} But we got together and lived to tell the tale. She made dinner {amazing grilled salmon with basil corn tomato relish and green beans with pancetta}. I brought dessert {chocolate peanut butter Reese's cookies and gelato}. Of course our kids didn't want to eat it {more for us}, so we heated up pizza and they gobbled that up. Success! The cookies were amazing, but a source of contention when the tots wanted more {of course}. I was amazed how well Vincent did, mainly playing off on his own with toys. I can't wait to do it again. I'm truly surprised how enjoyable it was since Jonathan and I are not that social {introverts}, but we both enjoyed the company and the kids {the wine was good too}. 

Breakfast

Breakfast is my most favorite meal of the day. It usually doesn't take long to put together and I love the flavor.

Right now I'm on a Greek yogurt and fresh fruit kick. There's nothing quite so luscious as creamy thick yogurt paired with slices of juicy fresh peach or tart raspberries. 

I also love hard boiled eggs, hormone free and all that good stuff {they taste way better, believe me}. This week I paired it with a slice of stone ground wheat bread {Nature's Harvest, super yum}, and Rainer cherries. Yum and beautiful at the same time. 

I think good food should be beautiful too. It makes it taste more amazing. Next year I'm hoping we can plant a little garden {carrots, lettuce, tomatoes, green beans--we'll see what else my inner Martha cooks up}. Lately I've not shied away from putting food on Vincent plate I'm certain he won't eat {and more certainly will play with}, but know in time he'll come to recognize, try, and some day love. It's wonderful to see him make those choices already. As long as I leave it to him and don't force him, he generally will try everything.

Highly recommend

Pumpkin curry from Williams Sonoma. I could probably easily make it. But can I just say: This stuff is sooo good. And if you can't afford to go out to a $100 dinner, then maybe you can have a dash of something special and tasty. I wouldn't mind if Santa left this in my stocking.

Down in the dumps

It happened yesterday evening. I had felt it coming all morning and afternoon. The dumps. That lonely, crazy feeling that sneaks up on you until you feel sad and blue. Maybe because it's because I have so much work to do and I. really. don't. want. to. do. it.

Yesterday, I decided that our gigantic zucchini that was hanging out our in our fridge needed eaten. So after chatting with a friend about something quick, easy, and delish that I could do with my zucc, I sliced her up. Using my food processor (This is only my second time using it, but I have a feeling that this little friend is going to make lots of dreams come true. Especially come November, when I'll have to make Jonathan's customary chocolate-chip cheesecakes. No more pounding Oreos in a bag now!), I put in fresh basil (it was a little wilted, but still tasty anyways), two garlic cloves, parmasean cheese, and olive oil. It was some very tasty pesto. Next, I dumped all my zucc slices in a bowl with the pesto to coat them. Having preheated the oven to 350 degrees, I put the slices on a cookie sheet and cooked them until the extra cheese I put on top was turning brown. Tasty, tasty.

Restaurant review: Raglan Road

I ventured out for lunch today with coworkers to Kansas City's infamous Power & Light District to enjoy Irish fare. Although the interior was spacious and impressive, that's where the pleasantries end. I ordered the very expensive fish and chips (or according to the menu: Fish &; I'm not sure if that was a typo or not. Our British waiter said the menu had gone through so many iterations to misspellings alone). Okay, so it was $14 fish and chips. I think you can expect to expect some good fish and chips for that price. Accompanying the fish and chips was a pea shot, and that's where this story takes a turn or spill for the worst: a waitress, upon delivering my fancy plate, complete with fish and chips in a wire cone, the shot glass full of pea soup dives off the plate. Or at least I think it did; I can't exactly remember because I was thinking the entire time, "Oh shit. That doesn't look stable." While most of the green goo tipped over onto the plate, the other portion landed on the table, and much to chagrin: my lap. Thank god for Tide pens and the invisible shield protecting the white T-shirt I was wearing.

Of course the waitress was extremely apologetic and had it cleaned up from my plate in no time, mopped up with cloth napkins. Had I been the waitress, I think I would have immediately returned the plate. Instead, she just gave me a new order of a pea shot after wiping my plate clean.

The fish and chips were, well, I get more excited about my cooking than what I ate. Granted, I'm learning I'm a fairly descent cook, so maybe it's not hard to surpass restaurant fare anymore. The fish, while hot, was very bland. I was dipping my bites heavily in the tarter sauce, which was the only good thing on my plate. The chips, or fries, were the thick, chunky kind. Not quite steak fries. They were mushy in the middle—not how a fry is supposed to be at all.

And what about that pea shot? It seriously was a pea shot, complete with the shot glass. I've never had pea soup, and when I had it spilled on me, I smelled the very distinct hint of mint. Not a good sign. I decided that, because the shot had been the cause of so much trouble, I should at least sample it. One tiny sip revealed that it was indeed infused with mint. So I passed it on to Rick, one of my coworkers, who said he absolutely loved pea soup. He downed it, shot-style. At least someone enjoyed it.

After all that, I thought, "Okay, well, that wasn't worth my excitement, but maybe they won't have charged me the full price of the meal after the pea soup fiasco." Wrong. $19 later and a new stain to my skirt, I was ready to leave Raglan Road.

Ambiance: B+
The place is very cavernous, so it was easy to hear my lunch party; I've heard it can get pretty loud in the evenings though. The place is outfitted with heavy wood and leather. I also liked the design treatment of both the coasters and the menu.
Waitstaff: C
In hindsight, the waitress/server, I felt, made a grievous mistake in just mopping up my plate in front of me. I also felt that the price of my food, which landing in my lap, should have been deducted, at least by a few dollars.
Food: C-
The food didn't really promise on an Irish gastronomy experience. Rather, I felt I had gone to a quaint pub with overpriced fare with clever Irish names. In the KansasCity.com review of the restaurant, Lauren Chapin summed it up best: Everything needed a bit of salt.

Mmm, food.

I could never be bulimic. I love food, but not enough to see it in reverse. Today, I stayed home from work and so did Jonathan to see if the Stomach would accept some food, and to make sure he wouldn't need to take me to the doctor...or worse, the hospital. So we tested slowly:

Plain toast, check. Another piece of plain toast, still feeling fine. Granola bar stolen right from Jonathan's hand, oh that was yummy. At this point, I was rummaging in the refrigerator like a dog. Oh, tortillas! I'll take two of those. Damn, those Mexicans know bread. Downed one bottle of orange Gatorade, so refreshing. What's that you're having dear, a BLT? Hmm, I better test that for you. Couple bites of that.

Oh, and shower. Something I hadn't felt like doing since Saturday. Hmmm, I'm feeling very...tired.

So I zonked out for a while, until I bolted straight awake (eek! room spun a little), and just had to check work email. For some reason, I always feel so guilty when I'm not in the barracks and my comrades are. Ahh, things are being handled just fine without me. Hmm, maybe I need another tortilla and another glass of gatorade.

To end the day of reintroducing my system to food: a much-awaited BLT (tomatoes bought from the little street vendor farmer up the road) and grilled sweet corn on the cob (from the street vendor).

So far, so good, and I'm so freaking happy. I was in tears yesterday with all the upchucking (seriously, why does the body need to upchuck it's on stomach acid?) I guess my body just needed to cleanse itself, or some other curious mystery of Jessaca's body. I seriously could write a book: The Many Mysteries and Unfortunate Events of Jessaca's Body. Next up: a CT scan of the sinuses just to see if there's anything to see, and a possible reason why every time I have drainage, I end up with an ear infection. I wonder if I could get a job as a consultant? Having an MRI? Have questions? Having your ear whacked off, rebuilt, and reattached? Have concerns? Have a kidney stone? In pain?

In case you're wondering, I'm am not a hypochondriac.

Happy 4th!

Ugh. So glad for that half day from work and having tomorrow off. Between new lesions that showed up on my MRI—that most likely account for my inability to move very fast and feeling tired, dizzy, and nauseous—and this antibiotic (it's some strong stuff) I'm taking for my ear infection, I'm one helpless basket case. Got home in time to throw up. I hate throwing up. So on the couch I went for the rest of this evening. I did finish Barefoot (read my review post here).

I managed to stop by Archiver's before leaving the city. I signed up for an acrylic album workshop (Chance would be so proud) and bought some fabulous paper for which I hope to have enough energy to make some cards with this weekend. Also to do this weekend: bake some cookies and research about my new lesions.

Sex & the City, the movie

Went to see Sex & the City this afternoon with my dear friends Lucy and Amanda. The movie delivered, even if it was all very predictable—down to the part where Charlotte craps her pants. It was fun to watch the movie with other Sex watchers, instead of Jonathan, who would have moaned and complained the entire time. This movie definitely tied everything up, where as you felt things were left a little undone in the TV series, probably for the very reason of leaving the conclusion open to a movie spinoff. All in all, very good.

Afterward, we went to the Sushi House for lunch where I decided I'd be a little adventurous, especially because I wasn't feeling like sushi—amazing, I know. So I decided to try a buckwheat soba noodle bowl. Yeah, too adventurous. Not only was it hard to eat (it's basically spaghetti-like noodles in broth with meat; I chose beef), I didn't like the buckwheat noodles. Oh well. I least I can say that I tried it, and if I come across any recipes that call for buckwheat soba noodles, I can just move on without inflicting any test pain on Jonathan. So far, I've only had one incidence of test kitchen gone bad: turkey burgers stuffed with zucchini, squash, and carrots. Turkey burgers, good. Zucchini, squash, and carrots, good. Paired, bad idea.

When work takes over, have a picnic

We didn't get anywhere near our plans of going to the arboretum yesterday. I was stuck on the computer much of the day proofing PDFs of the latest issue of Urban Times. But by the end of the day, I was needing to get out. Must. get. out.

It was too late to go to the movies, unless we wanted to go to the really late one, where teeny boppers rule the roost and annoy the heck out of you. It was also too late to go to the bookstore and browse if we wanted to go grocery shopping as well. So after I put together our menu for the week, looking over cookbooks and checking out the Chicken Chicken Mole and Mexican Red Rice (we watched Simply Delicioso's Ingrid Hoffman earlier that day) for our Memorial Day feast, we headed to Super Target to get our weekly shopping done and grant me a little get-out-of-the-house sanity and give my eyes a rest.

We also decided that this weekend should be really fun when I wasn't working. And one of the things we wanted to do was a wine, fancy cheese, strawberries, grapes, bread, pound cake, and melted chocolate for dipping smorgasbord. After returning from our shopping trip, I laid out a blanket on our living room floor and we had an indoor picnic. It was so fun! We talked about work (bleh, I know!) and what kind parents we would be. It was great just to have that time with the TV off, the computer powered down, and just enjoy each other's company—and yum yum food.

Here's what made up our indoor picnic:

Havarti cheese (This is a wonderful soft cheese to eat with fruit. It's really rich, so I recommend a lighter fare cheese to go with it.)

Gouda cheese (This one paired nicely with the Havarti, but I'm sure there's a better match out there.)

A French baguette (Crusty bread cut into .5in-thick slices—perfect size for the cheese slices.)

Hershey's Bliss chocolate pieces melted fondue-style. I normally use Dove chocolates, but they're hard to find when it's not a holiday. These were just the same. Good find. (We didn't break out the big fondue pot just for a few pieces of chocolate, instead we used our little Fondue au chocolat pot that heats with a tea light. Thanks Sis for getting that for us. You're right, it's very useful.)

Strawberries and green grapes

Blackberry Mead from the Pirtle Winery in Weston, Mo.

One blanket

Candles (make it romantic!)

A flight from work

Last night after work, Amanda and I met up with our former coworker, Andrea, at JP Wine Bar. I really needed to go out after weeks of working to the bone. After reading about JP in Urban Times, I thought it might be a great place to go downtown.

I liked the atmosphere. The crowd was older, the music was soft, if you could hear it over the rather loud din of voices. I chose the Northern Lights wine flight ($10.50). The cool thing about the flight is you can sample flavors in a group and find a wine you really like. Northern Lights was right-on. Light and not too sweet. I little pricey considering that the flight constituted a full glass of wine. For fuel, I ate the Parmesan Gnocchi small plate. Small plate it was, but with a $13 price tag of what would be a big plate of food somewhere else. It was good, but I'd rather spend my money on actual dinner. In all: A good place to go with group for a glass of wine after having a fulfilling meal elsewhere.