Strange Fact: Life Causes Death.... now get over it

As Syrio Forel once said, "fear cuts deeper than swords." If you get that reference you are such a nerd. Like me. Congratulations. Unfortunately, a sword can slice your head or arm off, and that's pretty scary as well. I'm not sure when the world decided to make people scared of EVERYTHING but I'm pretty over the nightly news. I'm sure if "the one thing I must know before getting in my car again" was that important, it would be breaking news and not a teaser for the news that comes on in 3 hours. 

The BlackBerry thumb will kill you, followed by iPhone brain. News at 11.

 Here's the thing about living with certain fears... the end result of life, is death. Everyone will eventually die, unless you plan to live in hologram form and go on a concert tour following your personal end. (Good for you weirdo.) 

MJ's hologram reads this blog.

 I have recently come to a sad conclusion while delving into health information and worrying about what L is eating... When it comes to local news and the internet everything "causes" cancer. By "causes" we mean, contains an ingredient, mutation, or hormone that has been shown to be a carcinogen. Lunchmeat causes cancer, soda causes cancer, heated hard plastic causes cancer, water bottles cause cancer, sugar causes cancer, the sun causes cancer, and also breathing, something none of us can seemingly avoid, causes cancer in various ways. These statements are all huge reaches, but for some reason, news media in various forms is trying to scare the crap out of us. Also, this propaganda is causing young people to be fatalistic about cancer. None of that is good.

By the way, this doesn't end by me saying "eat and drink whatever you want, smoke 20 packs a day, and renew your tanning bed membership because you are going to die anyway!" It's just a point where I had a realization that released me from a lot of fear. Instead of trying to do everything in a way to be the best and most healthy, and really stressing myself out, time would be better spent making intelligent choices about what I'm putting into my body, while enjoying life enough so that if the world ended tomorrow I would be satisfied that I had lived and tasted and wined and loved and gotten high on sugar, and sunburns, and wine. This is where I realized that you just try your best, you know your limits, but you still push them when you need to, and enjoy your life. Cancer is awful, death is sometimes a scary thing to think about. Most things we don't know much about are. In the instance of the opening quote, cancer/sickness/death could be the sword. Living your life in fear of death or sickness is basically giving in to that fear of sickness and not living at all. Done preaching, now on to more light hearted fears... like the fear of kitchens and raw meat. 

When appliances attack.

 I get it. Of all the comfy rooms in your house, the kitchen is by far the scariest. It has knives, ovens, stoves, fire, sharp edges, and the air of possible cooking failure hanging in the air like early morning fog. None of that stuff ever scared me. I usually fail at cooking things daily, if not a few times a week. Overcooking eggs, undercoating pans, and most of this is because I often cook without a recipe. It's how I learn best. 

I'm a raw chicken breast, and I'm here to kill you.

When I first started to cook, the things that scared me most were raw foods. The instillation of this fear can be directly attributed to media and pr, as it was not put in me by my mother. The people hacking their antibacterial products like to play commercials with pictures of germs writhing around on your counter tops. I'm not saying you should pick up raw chicken and lick it, I'm just saying Julia Child NEVER washed her hands in the kitchen. She was a cross contaminating machine. If you don't believe me, go watch any of her cooking shows. When this fact came to light, it helped me realize that any time I touched raw chicken, I probably wasn't going to die. (Whew!) Now the only reason my kitchen is evil is because the stove is electric and from the early 90s.

Queen Julia tells salmonella to eff off.

ATTENTION: Full circle moment. Just as you should not let fear rule your life, don't let fear of failure keep you out of the kitchen. Cooking at home is the BEST way to know what you are eating. It is proven time and time again that if you want to weigh less you need to cook MORE and eat out less. Cooking at home isn't the scary sitcom fodder that it used to be. Get a subscription to a great recipe magazine like Cooking Light and follow along. Or use the internet for free recipes and cooking techniques. Spend your time in the grocery store in the produce section, at the butcher, and in dairy for your milks, yogurt & cheese. And your eggs, even though they aren't dairy. That's just where they live. Then GET OUT while you still can... Grocery stores are evil.

The candy section.... MWAHAHAHAHA.

If you want to eat out intelligently and maybe don't have a cook at home option, arm yourself with information and knowledge. If I had only KNOWN that my precious drumsticks had 300 calories a pop, I wouldn't have an extra 3 lbs hanging around that I now have to work and deny wine to get rid of. Knowledge is power. Pick up one of the Eat This not That books. That will fill you in with a lot of information to make healthy decisions when you eat out.

What's the Ramona Pinot calorie count? 666 per glass.

I came up with some wise words all on my own to sum this up: The only thing we have to fear is fear itself, y'all. And holograms of dead people.

Let it be,

- RT

Beer in Thailand, Vodka in Poland, all on one Sunday in Houston

Just when you think you are getting too old for a Sunday Funday, one drops right into your lap! Yesterday we had the great fortune to head out on one of Houston's culinary tours. Saveur Magazine put the premise behind these tours in much better (and more simple) terms than I could. "The visitors bureau of Houston, Texas, has hit on a great idea for food tours: round up the most passionate chefs in the city, ask them where they love to eat on their days off, and build an itinerary around that. Then invite the public." I had the pleasure of helping to set the logistics behind these tours in motion a few years ago with my former colleague who now handles all of the logistics with his new company Experience Houston.  It was a pretty fantastic day. 

So we kicked things off in the US. I had Special K for breakfast around 8am and headed to the grocery store. Once upon a time I did two of these tours back to back. The media was in town and it was during Rodeo, so in the morning we did a media tour that ended at the Rodeo Cook Off where we picked up the next media group for the afternoon tour. Eight restaurants in about eight hours. Thankfully I was working so I didn't have time to completely stuff my face. I did learn from watching others, so I tried to mentally prepare for the food marathon before me. We had 4 planned stops between 11am and 4pm. I knew I could do it. 

The tour in question was a version of the Long Point Road tour with Chef Bryan Caswell of Reef (former "Next Iron Chef" contestant) and Chef Chris Shepherd of new media darling, Underbelly. I don't mean for "media darling" to take anything away from Underbelly. We had an amazing experience dining and drinking there with friends a few months back.  And also, their PR team is working overtime. Neither of these chefs are strangers of PR. Caswell's Reef is undeniably some of the best seafood in Houston and he has had multiple James Beard nominations. This pair was also well put together. Both fun loving and ready to get things going. The bus meets up with everyone at Central Market to load up. 

Caswell's H-Town Glamour Shot

You can tell he is a chef because he has a cleaver. And also, he is wearing a chef's coat.

 We crack open some Saint Arnold Beer and head to our first destination. Vieng Thai is located in a strip center near the start of Long Point Road. There is not a functioning website to link to, but foodies are into it, so you can google it and find plenty of info. Before moving back to Houston I knew nothing about Thai Food. Houston has the third largest Vietnamese community in the United States, so spring rolls and Banh Mi abound. I am still just getting to know the true and delicious Thai selections. Vieng Thai is not to be missed. I could have stayed there the entire four hours filling my face. The items we had were as follows: E-sarn Sausage, Som Tum (green papaya salad), Massamum curry (above and beyond amazing), Plaa Pad Ped (Spicy catfish with basil, fantastic), Pat Sar-tor (shrimp with chili paste), Yum Nheam (I was afraid of this one because it was basically raw sausage, but I tried it. Then I tried it again. Then again. Fab), and lastly, the Pad See Ewe (noodle with black bean sauce, egg and pork). Everything we had was fantastic. The beer went with it perfectly. Great spices, great flavors, a few beers in and we were off!

You can tell it's good because there is neon on the outside AND the inside.

We were running ahead of schedule, so we swung by Korean Grocery Store H-Mart. Or as I have come to think of it, Costco for Asians. One of my favorite things about Asian mega grocery stores is the food court. It is always amazing and noodly (new word) and deliciousness. H-Mart did not disappoint. We picked up some ripe cherries for a dollar and some change a pound. We headed for the sake section and got a couple bottles of cold sake to share with our tour friends. Then we headed back to the bus. 

KIMCHI for one and all at H-Mart!

The "second" stop was Korea Garden, further down Long Point and next to a Karaoke joint. You know it's good Asian food when there is Karaoke nearby. We had actually been here before with one of S's friends from grad school who is Korean. No one spoke English at that time. They pretty much still don't. We were brought to the back room where the gas grills on the table were already burning and before they brought water they asked who wanted a beer. Two please, and a few bottles of Soju. The table was already laid out with raw meat and seafood ready to be grilled and seafood pancakes. The barbeque was followed up by bibim Nengmyun (Chilled buckwheat noodles) and Samgye Tang (chicken ginseng soup). The food is amazing and Soju is like sweeter, less alcoholic vodka that makes for great sipping. Additionally you get the fun feeling of grilling your own meat on the grill that lives in the middle of your table. Lots of soju later, we head on. 

We were cooking all on our own, but I found this professional photo by
Julie Sopher from a previous tour and it gives you a better idea of the set up.

Samgye Tang

Hite & Soju. Soju. Soju.

Stop three was Kong Ju Rice Bakery where they apparently make the best Kimchi in town. Even if you haven't been here, if you have eaten Kimchi in Houston, it was likely from Kong Ju Rice Bakery. They put on a great demo of how they make Kimchi and they dressed it up big time for us. They also had fantastic rice treats and amazing rolls with pickled veggies. And I can't tell you about the dumplings. The dumplings. Holy dough and spice and fish cakes and wow. Here are some shots: 

Neon Blue Prada pumps in the kitchen. Just another day at Kong Ju Rice Bakery.

The dumplings with the spices with the fish cakes with the.... YUM.

Pickled veggie rolls. Fantastic.

WHO WANTS DUMPLINGS?!?!?! Then he kicked his leg and posed and I LOVED IT!

Rice Bakery treats.

One large Kimchi

Somehow we ended up in Poland... or actually a block or so off of Long Point on Blalock at Polonia. We walk in and the table is set and spread with a shot of vodka at each setting and platters full of perogies. Polish heaven. Then potato pancakes, polish sausage and sauerkraut and followed up with cheese blintz drizzled in chocolate. Guys.. Oh yeah, we had more vodka. And then they brought out beer steins as big as two Popeye forearms. Then all of the sudden, four bottles of vodka were empty. Don't be too impressed. There were at least 25 people. And some of them were from New Orleans, so they had hollow legs or something. Things were getting messy. We got back on the bus and in true party form we broke out the BOTTLED WATER!!!! Effin' party animals. 

Polish Sausage

Perogies

He had a business meeting to go to...

In the words of S's email to me this morning: "Sunday Funday equals Monday nofunday." It would have been more prophetic had we thought about that yesterday. So then I came back to the US and took care of life at home and sent out happy I LOVE HOUSTON blog vibes to the world and went to bed. 


For more on the Houston Culinary Tours click here. They sell out in minutes and space is limited so if you want to jump on the bus, be quick about it. 


Tomorrow - an easy meatloaf recipe and some ladybug food. Tonight: Newsroom & bed. 


Here's to Sunday Funday (in moderation).


- RT

Mommy War (Ugh, Good God) What is it good for?

So picture this... you are 5 months preg, just dropped your 2.5 year old off at day school and you are going to take your 15 month old daughter for a late mommy and me breakfast at a local diner. You are having an amazing time (for once it's just the two of you) and she is being an angel. Then all of the sudden a woman walks up to you and says "you're disgusting" and walks away. So you are completely shocked. Because in real life, you are a hot mom who keeps her stuff together and you are side lined by this comment. Then her husband appears and says "I'm sorry, but my wife feels very strongly about children eating off of the table." Then he leaves. This actually happened to a friend of mine who is the complete opposite of disgusting. It made me so angry that on another of many occasions, moms are out there judging each other instead of supporting one another.

Judging is something that is easy to do. As a mom I pretty much constantly feel judged. No one ever looks at the way a child is acting and thinks "wow, that dad sure doesn't know how to parent." I mostly expect (and can easily brush off) judgement from non parents. Before I had kids, I was a parent judging machine. I had an answer for every parenting dilemma, especially when it came to toddlers and tantrums. (Those were always the parent's fault.) But here I am, older and wiser and I know that non parents have NO IDEA and I've been there, so really that doesn't bother me. What gets me is that moms are fighting all of these battles against each other when we are the ones who KNOW how hard it is to be a mom. I go out of my way when I see other moms to tell them their kids are precious, or ask them if they need a hand, or smile as big as a non crazy person can at them. I would love to give them a hug and tell them they are doing a great job, but that would just be creepy. 

This is why I don't own an ironing board.

Moms fight about breastfeeding I think more than anything else. Especially online. Breastfeeding is HARD. That is the truth for most women. I have some friends who took to it very naturally with their babies, I had others who had to work their asses off to make it natural, I have others who only supplemented with breast milk, and still others who knew when they were pregnant that breastfeeding was not something they wanted to do. My cousin still occasionally breast feeds her 2 year old. Guess what? All of our babies are healthy and happy because their moms made the best decision for them. GO MOMS! 

Both of these women are good moms.

 If someone asks me about breastfeeding, I level with them about my experience. One month of direct breastfeeding, and 6 months of exclusive pumping due to a latch issue. Was it tiring and awful and difficult? Yes. Do I regret doing it? No. I wanted to quit lots of times, but I had a three day rule. If I ever wanted to quit three days in a row, on the fourth day I would. I never made it past one day. Then I offer them a support system if they want it, because I think it is nearly impossible to breastfeed when you don't have one. You know what makes it harder to breastfeed? Judgement from other moms who think you aren't trying hard enough or aren't doing a good enough job. I have heard a lot from people who were turned off of breastfeeding in the hospital by an overly critical lactation consultant. In the end, as good as breast milk is for a baby, the most important thing for a baby is a healthy and happy mommy. On a side note, I was a formula baby and without formula, this blog would not be coming to you.

Now that I think about it, probably in a direct tie with breastfeeding is working moms vs stay at home moms. Some moms have to work, some moms choose to work, some moms have to stay at home, some moms choose to stay at home. Why do we have to be so angry with each other about it? As a mom who works part time, I will say that some days I am more than happy to skip off to work and not have to be on toddler watch all day. Other days I am stressed and don't have enough time in the morning to cook breakfast for me and my daughter and get out of the door on time. Then I come home and go right into dinner, bath, bed routine and miss any play time and S and I are both exhausted when it comes to thinking about cooking dinner. Some days I stay home are a dream. L and I are in synch and she is laughing and playing all day. We get chores and errands done, we start dinner early and the house is clean. Then other days she won't let me out of her sight. She doesn't want to eat what she normally eats, she is testing limits all day long and throwing tantrums, and I just want to close her bedroom door and lay on the floor while she plays around me. (that has happened many times.) It's hard to go to work AND it's hard to stay at home because it is hard to be a mom. And wherever you are during the day, you are still a mom and that is tough stuff. 

Back to the start of this post, moms are very judgmental about other children in restaurants. I am constantly nervous when I am eating out with L. We met S for lunch one day and L was making a mess on the floor and a woman was giving her the stink eye. A grown woman was giving a one year old baby side eye. But really, it was side eye at me. When someone figures out how to teach a 12 month old to eat neatly and not spill on the floor, please let me know so I can steal the information and become rich. It's already costing us more cash to eat out with L because I always leave some cash on the high chair for the poor schlub who has to clean the floor. And yes, sometimes your child eats off of the table, because when you put her food on a plate she wants to see what is under the plate, and when you put her food on a napkin, she wants to use the napkin to show you she can wipe her hands. Kids also eat dirt, so I'm pretty sure eating off of the table isn't that bad. 

Here is where there is a shift though. You cannot help your child throwing a fit in a restaurant, and you can't help that they aren't coordinated enough to get the food directly to their mouth and no where else. Where lots of parents get a bad rep is when they are sitting and enjoying their meal while their children are disrupting others. These are the times when you realize you will only have children this age for a little while, you take one for the team, and you pick up your screaming, thrashing child and walk outside so you can calm them down in a less overstimulating area. And if they don't calm down you get your food to go. Been there, done that. Know your kids and how much they can stand. 

Enjoying your meal?

  I've never been more relaxed at a restaurant than on Mother's Day when we had brunch at one of our favorite places Haven. It was a mother's day brunch and every single table had a baby or a toddler. Moms were happy, the champagne was flowing, and if a child cried, we all got it. Life should be like mother's day brunch.

Here's to mother's day! Let's do it once a month.

 As much as you hate to see someone get on the plane with a baby, I'm willing to bet the person with the baby feels worse. They know that everyone is looking at them thinking "please don't sit near me" and then they inevitably sit next to one of the people who was thinking that. Planes are hard. There's pressure and strange sounds and noises and strange people. Moms needs support on planes. I really want to hug moms on planes. I've been there. The first time Landon flew it was just the two of us. Shout out to the fine people at Delta and the makers of the iPad for making that flight a dream. A crying baby on a plane can sometimes just not be helped. It's not like the parent is sitting there pinching their child. What can be helped? Older kids on planes. If a child on a plane is kicking the seat in front of them and the parent is doing nothing, then yes, feel free to judge that parent. Or just be like my friend H and turn around and say "no, no, little boy. Kicking seats is not polite." I like to picture this happening in my head because I wish I was there. 

iPad airplane magic can also be had with the Kindle Fire and a portable DVD player.

Here is the long awaited conclusion... moms need other moms. It's hard to be a parent and you get pressure from everyone to have perfect angel children. But that just isn't life. What we need to realize is that we all take shortcuts so that we can stay sane. Maybe you put your kid on a leash, maybe I bought my baby an iPad so I would feel better about traveling with her. When you see a mom at the store who might be a little too harsh with her child, maybe she is having a horrible day. You never know what someone else is going through. Maybe I'm not going to race across the room when L picks a cheerio up off of the floor and eats it. It's just a cheerio and it's just the floor. 

We are all doing what we need to do and we are all doing the best that we can. We are making the decisions that we have to make for ourselves and our families. So really, next time you see a mom out with her kids, give her some support. Smile, help her out if she needs it, or be extra strange and give her a high five. At the very least, if you can't say anything nice (I'm looking at you the "you're disgusting" lady) just keep it to yourself and don't say anything at all. 

So here's to moms of all shapes and sizes, raising children who are theirs by blood or not, and awesome dads too. Let's all give each other a break and then give each other a hand and then give each other a cocktail.

-RT

Gettin' Lucky in Kentucky and a Trip to the Emergency Room

The title of this post is overly dramatic, but what else is new? We were in Kentucky over the weekend for a friend's wedding (in case you didn't read about the dress debacle here). We had a great trip. Spent lots of time cutting loose and catching up. Please enjoy the following sights and bites of Louisville, Kentucky.

Thursday when we arrived it was sweltering. I basically left the heat and humidity of Houston for the heat, humidity and overall steaminess of Louisville in the midst of a heat wave. It felt like 110 at midnight. This kind of weather obviously called for an arrival cocktail, so we headed to the Old Seelbach Bar for some drinks. If there is one thing I love, it's a bar that has old carved wood and is about 100 years old. Also, did you know that F. Scott Fitzgerald stayed at the Seelbach and it was the backdrop for Tom and Daisy Buchanan's wedding in The Great Gatsby. This is 100% my kind of thing. So way to go Michael the bartender with the very groomed mustache, best Pimm's Cup I have ever had. 

Pimm's Cup with Muddled Cucumber and mint. Perfect for 110 degrees.

The signature Seelbach Cocktail kind of tastes like bourbon flavored champagne with a citrus twist. Really it's much more complicated than that. If you want to attempt it, here is the recipe. S and I both agreed that these are deceptively strong. After having one later that night at 11, I can actually attest to it. Another amazing thing, the bar menu (that we snacked on) is delicious and insanely cheap. You could literally get an extra value meal at a fast food joint for $7.50 or you could get the roasted beet salad with fresh arugula for $8. The cheese plate was HUGE and only $9. Insane.

What was left of the Seelbach Cocktail when I decided to take a photo.

That night I ate dinner with the other wives and went to Proof on Main on the recommendation of my friend E who is from KY but currently lives in Austin. Proof seems to be an extension of the 21C contemporary art museum, but is its own entity. They focus on sourcing fresh food from local farms and they feature contemporary art throughout the restaurant. Like the installation of flying seagulls above us, with a chosen few in mid explosion from an apparent alkaseltzer/cracker mishap. Very appetizing. Also, upon arrival we were greeted by a giant golden statue of David. Obviously I took a photo for you to enjoy the view from behind. 

Think 5 stories high. The other side would have gotten me flagged as a porno blog.

We started with a bottle of champagne and an order of the Charred Octopus on the recommendation of a different Seelbach bartender. GREAT recommendation. It was a dream. 

Charred Octopus, bagna cauda, lime, & toast

We switched to the Alchemist 2009 Pinot Noir for dinner. It is an Oregon wine from the Willamette Valley. I have had it before and it was just as good as I remembered. For more on that, go here. Everyone was very happy with their entrees. I ordered the salmon and the two ladies I was with both had the scallops. 

Pan Roasted Scallops, Creamed Summer Corn, benton's ham, broccoli, spicy pecans

Seared wild caught Sockeye Salmon, Giant White Beans, Chorizo, Herbs and Kale

To answer your question, Yes, I did feel like one of those strange people you see at restaurants who take pictures of their food. But I had had enough wine to want to share and to not care. We had dessert back at the Old Seelbach bar in liquid form... remember that 11pm Seelbach cocktail? Then went out for a few more. The weekend was wonderful, lots of wedding festivities started after that, and on a final note, if you enjoy a good dive bar and you are visiting Louisville, you need to visit the 3rd Street Dive Bar. Worth the trip and our bar tab for 2 kettle one and sodas and a miller high life was $9. That is unheard of. Louisville is an inexpensive town.

Third Street Dive

My plan after you Louisville update was to give you some good toddler food updates. **Warning, things are about to get kind of gross** Instead we got home, relaxed, and were about 15 minutes from toddler dinner when L lost her newly acquired footing and what we think happened is that she hit her chin on the coffee table so hard that her two top teeth came down on her two bottom teeth knocking them out of place. I think the movie "There Will Be Blood" was written about this moment. Because there was. A lot of it. Seriously, look away now... I am including a tee shirt shot.

And this was just her shirt. S's shirt was about five times worse.

The good news is while we were rushing to the emergency clinic (technically our first "trip") her dr called and said we could reevaluate in the morning. Then she perked up and ate dinner and let me brush her teeth a little and went to bed like a champ. Hopefully she won't be too sore tomorrow. Above is my excuse for lack of recipe content. Below is a closing photo of a very easy spinach salad. 

Really could eat this salad every night.

We used fresh spinach, chopped the ends and washed and dried in the salad spinner (love that guy). Chopped cherry tomatoes, crumbled feta cheese, and crushed garlic on top. The dressing is underneath and is made up of balsamic vinegar reduction, ev olive oil, sriracha (just a bit), and some fresh squeezed lime juice. It was a really delicious salad.  We ate it with some grilled chicken thighs last Monday night before our 4th of July travel marathon began. The entire thing took about 15 minutes.

My next major decision of the day is as follows: Does an almost trip to the ER with your child call for a glass of wine or a few ice cream drumsticks? Hmmmmm

-RT

Baby Road Trips & Salmon for Ladybugs

I tried to post remotely while on a short trip to San Antonio. It started out like this: "This is my first experience blogging from my iPhone. Depending on how it goes it also might be my last." Well obviously you see how it went. I think the remote blogger is great if you don't post photos, but I do, and I can't see where my photos are going, I can't caption them, and I can't preview the post to make sure it looks normal. So for now, no more blogging on the go unless it's a single amazing photo that I want to share.

In other ways, Friday was pretty productive. I started a Facebook page for Raising Texas (click on that link and like it so we can still be Internet friends) and I got a regular domain name so you might be coming to www.raisingtexasblog.com instead of the blogspot address. I also have some really fun things to come in the way of guest blogs from my gifted and talented friends. I seriously couldn't keep it together without them and I want to share them with you.

We headed to San Antonio for approximately 20 hours for a family event and to see some of our great friends that live there. It was our first long car trip with the Ladybug (long being over 1.5 hours) and to say I was dreading it would be an understatement. 85% of the time L HATES car trips. I like plans, so we made one.

This was my actual first plan, but it was swiftly rejected by S.

The real plan involved doing her night time routine but then after her pjs were put on, we put her in the car seat instead of the bed. Then in phase two of the plan, she came to the realization that it was bed time and slept the entire way to San Antonio. Here's another snippet of the blog I tried to write on the road: "It's now an hour and a half past bed time and she is in the back seat making some of the strangest noises I have ever heard." So you can see that the plan didn't really work out. In better news, she really just sat back there and entertained herself the entire way. She got a little fussy when we were 20 minutes away and I just reached back and gave her my hand to play with. We got in around 9:15 and after thirty minutes of playing with the W's dogs, went to bed. As a bonus gift to our thwarted plan, even though she went to bed about three hours after her normal bed time, she still woke up at seven a.m. 

We didn't get to do everything or see everyone we wanted to, but we had a great weekend and Landon got to play with two of my best friends little guys. One of these friends and her little guy are currently featured on the Raising Texas Facebook page (did I mention there's a facebook page?). She is shooting skeet while 38 weeks pregnant. One of the many reasons why I love her. My other dear friend, who we spent nap time with, works full time, has a personal side business, and promises to guest blog about her 20 - 30 minute cook at home family dinners. See, what's not to love about my friends?

The road trip wrap up is that Landon was amazing even though she didn't sleep AT ALL in the car, our friends really took care of us, and big shout out to Sesame Street, DJ Lance Rock, and the makers of the iPad.

Here's my boy DJ Lance. He is happiness and light and toddler travel magic.
In the corner is angry Brad Pitt dressed as DJ Lance with a creepy goatee that Ange probably made him grow.

So I'm supposed to be talking about food... right. L loves salmon. Out of all of her proteins I would say salmon is second only to fried eggs, her breakfast of choice. I often will pick up a small portion of salmon from the butcher for a few of her weekly meals. I think it's easier to cook than most meat and poultry. Also, here's a big tip, ask your butcher or fish monger to pull out and bones for you before they wrap it up. Make life easier. Here is where we will start:

Pan, small salmon filet (already rubbed), and olive oil to coat the pan while cooking.

Pretty basic. The salmon is rubbed with olive oil and finely chopped dill and sprinkled with fine sea salt. You'll want to heat up your pan over medium for about 5 minutes and coat with about a teaspoon of ev olive oil. I am using a small pan, so depending on the size, just use enough to coat the bottom and the sides. Once your pan is hot and the oil is coated evenly, add the salmon skin down.

Skin down.

 Then cover your pan and give the salmon some time to cook over medium heat. Here's a side note: I HATE our cook tops. They are like little electric hot plates and we didn't pick them and they are AWFUL to cook on. So sometimes they cause me to have issues when cooking and as such, I tend to check on food more than needed. I gave this small filet about four minutes before I lifted the lid to check on it.  Here is what it looked like four minutes in:

Four minutes of covered cooking over medium heat.

You might notice the white stuff on my salmon. I think I saw on Top Chef one time that it means you are cooking your salmon over too high of heat or something like that. I have tried to cook without getting it and I can't figure it out unless I am poaching the salmon. It doesn't taste like anything, so I usually just ignore it. When I have this small amount of uncooked salmon in the middle, my quick way to finish things up overrules putting the cover back on and letting it cook the rest of the way. I flip it to speed things along.

I flip my salmon back n forth.

Then I covered it and gave it about a minute more. I like my salmon medium, so I still wanted some pink in the middle. 

Finished filet.

 Also, so you know this can be done, L is going through a bit of a clingy phase, so while I was cooking the salmon, all I had to do was look down to see this:

Toddler shackles.

 Don't worry, I know how careful you have to be when you are cooking hot things with a baby in the house. Common sense... she shackled me from behind while I was actively cooking. The final ladybug dinner ended up being a piece of the salmon filet, chopped spinach (from the freezer) and diced butternut squash (from the freezer). A pretty easy and non time consuming meal.

Ladybug food followed by some sliced mango for dessert.

 Happy Sunday! Here's to early bed times and lots of HBO. 

-RT