Monthly Archives: April 2010

Outside Dining!!!

25 April 2010
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I LOVE that it’s warm enough to eat outside.  There really is nothing like the experience of dining while feeling the warm breeze across your face, hearing the birds singing, and being serenaded by a beagle baying at a squirrel in the background (Boots found whatever rodent is living in the wheel well of Jake’s truck, and obsessed about it for literally 3 hours – he came back looking like a coal miner, and I’m sure will be hoarse in the morning!).

Dogwood look so darn cool in simple arrangements like this

Our friends Brendan and Steph spent the evening here with their little boy Eaman.  Ellie loves playing with him and they all had a wonderful time down at the lake fishing.  The dads both caught several fish each – I think mostly bass, not just crappie and sunfish.  Jake was here too, which always brightens my day.

I had been craving Greek salad – and chose to create the menu around it. There must be something about the combination of all those veggies that puts a little bubble in soul, because in the middle of chopping cucumbers, I found myself spinning and dancing around the kitchen while listening to Bobby Brown’s “Every Little Step.”  Jeffrey’s comment was that at least there wasn’t a camera on me…and my thought was, “Yeah, but at least someone would be entertained!”

By the time we sat down to dinner, I had no appetite – I think I had eaten half of the kalamata olives, half the tomatoes, and definitely more than half of the hummus…so oddly enough, I really only ate chicken!

Strawberries are a must when eating outside, so when I saw the 4 lb. flat of berries at the market, I couldn’t resist.  Dessert had some challenges to overcome (I’ll keep this my little secret), but ended up tasting damn good – and looked pretty too!

Dessert – Strawberry Cake

Of course, since Jake and I both cooked, there was enough food to feed all of Portland.  I made Greek style grilled chicken breasts, while he split a whole chicken, smoking half and bbq-ing half.  ALL the chicken was insanely delicious, but the smoked was definitely EG’s favorite!

It even looks perfect! Good Job, Jake!

Jake brought out his new video camera, and took a bunch of footage of Ellie and all the activites down by the lake.  I’ve run out of room on my computer, so he was only able to upload a couple shots…

Homemade Hummus

25 April 2010
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2 cups garbanzo beans, drained (reserve juices)
1/3 cup tahini
4 cloves garlic
1 tsp. cumin
1 tbs. olive oil
Juice of one lemon
1 tsp. salt
1. Combine  all ingredients except for the salt in a food processor or blender (an immersion blender works too).  Blend until smooth. This gets very thick, and at times my immersion blender has to work pretty hard.  If the consistency is too thick, add some liquid from the garbanzo beans, 1 tablespoon at a time, but be careful, because you don’t want it too thin!
Add salt to taste.
2. If desired, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with paprika before serving.  Serve with warm pita.
NOTE:  For variation, try adding red peppers, sun-dried tomatoes, pine nuts, roasted garlic, or crushed red pepper flakes (if you like some kick – only about a teaspoon will do)

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