So Tired!

Well I am exhausted. I still haven't quite recovered from my company being here, plus I've had some other health issues going on. But I have still found some time to cook and make up new recipes. One of the things I have been working on is meringue nests with apple filling. I was asked to make up an original and unusual apple recipe for a cook book. The books are have one item as their theme every year, and this year it is the apple. (Last year it was the pear, I believe.) I didn't want to make pie or sauce or dumplings. I love all of those, but I didn't want to put in a recipe like that when I know there are going to be a dozen each. So, I thought meringue nests with apple filling would be fun. I haven't quite worked it all out yet, but I am going to try to spice the meringue with cinnamon and nutmeg, and then brown the apples in a pan with butter, sugar, a few spices and then add some blackberry wine and flambe at the end. I think it will turn out well. When I've worked it all out I will post some pics on the blog.

Yesterday was my birthday, which was fun. I went out with my uncle for lunch, which was special. He took me to a restaurant which is now Italian, but used to be a place called the Bubble Room. It was a really fun place with somewhat decent food. LOTS of junk everywhere, but fun. And there was a train that went around the entire restaurant. My uncle happened to have a coupon for the current restaurant because he likes to save money, even on a birthday. (That is a good thing, by the way.) But what he didn't realize was that my mother used to take me there ALL the time when it was the Bubble Room. It had a lot of good memories for me of times when my mother and I had fun together. My poor mother was sick so much of the time and I was her sole caregiver. So fun did not always enter the equation. But when she could, physically and mentally, she would take me to have fun somewhere. So it was a special thing to go there. I don't think I have been there in a decade. The current restaurant serves family style Italian food. So we had to agree on a dish because we had to share. And my uncle is a vegetarian, so that wasn't easy. At least he eats cheese when he's with me. He's not a total vegan, but he borders on it. We agreed on fettucine alfredo and a salad with apples, gorgonzola, cranberries, candied walnuts, lettuce and red onions. The fettucine wasn't necessarily my favorite, though it was good compared to a lot. But the salad was great! And my uncle and I have a lot of fun talking about things and reminiscing over our family. Sadly, aside from his son, we are all that's left of our family. But we can still smile about it.

After that, I went home to spend time with John and Nath. John had arranged for Nathan to go play at a friend's house for dinner so he and I could go out. He took me to a very nice restaurant called Seasons 52. I had lamb that was perfectly cooked and a sublime martini! It was called dark moon and it had blue raspberry liquor in it. It is the best cocktail I have ever tasted. John gave me some lovely gifts, mostly skin care and make up from Estee Lauder, which I like. And then we went and picked Nathan up for dessert. Nath's gift for me was an M&M ice cream cake. It was really funny because he wanted to put the candles on and he stuck them right in the eyes of the M&M character.

All in all, it was a very pleasant day. I wasn't feeling my best, which was not as much fun as it could have been. But it was still good. Today when we woke up, Nath said "since yesterday was your birthday and we did stuff for you, can we do something that I want to do?" So I asked him what he wanted to do and he said "go to Ikea." We've been going there frequently because John and I have been fixing up our house bit by bit. It's turning out to be very cute. So Ikea has become our new favorite. Not everything there is the best, but it's so family friendly and the prices are GREAT on a lot of their merchandise. And...We can take our 4 year old there and they have a play place where he can play for an hour while we shop. He loves it and it gives us a little break to get things done faster than we could with Nath tugging at our sleeves every second. I was a little concerned at first when we saw the play area. He really wanted to go in, but I am a little obsessive about safety and I wasn't sure if leaving him there was a good idea. But they are very careful with security and so I felt mostly at ease with letting him play. Now every time we go out he asks if we're going to Ikea. I just laugh.

Today when we went there, I bought some stainless steel pots for plants that are very smart looking. I also bought this VERY hand apple corer and a new frying pan. And I love the frying pan!! My butter doesn't burn for quite a while, even on higher heat. I also bought a few cake tins which were very reasonably priced. I am going to make some fruit cake for John. He absolutely loves it. And I know if you read this, you will think "fruit cake?? Yuck." But I make very nice fruit cake with lots of lovely dried fruits like apricots, dates, organic raisins, cranberries, etc. I also put pecans in and I use molasses, brown sugar and nutmeg. And after it's all cooked and cooled, I pour a decent amount of brandy over it. It's lovely.

As I feel a little better this week, I will be doing more cooking and posting more recipes. I have just been behind because I haven't been feeling well at all. And there has been a lot going on here. For now, I am going to go to bed. I am tired. But until next time, eat well and live well.

Back from Outer Space...

Well I haven't posted anything in quite a while because I have been in and out of town. And when I've been in town, my good friend from Oregon was here visiting with her 2 children, ages 3 and 7!! We did the whole Disney trip, etc. It was fun, but exhausting. My son was so excited about everything, and her kids were so excited, it kicked the week into hyper-drive! So I am exhausted now and haven't quite recovered. But slowly I am coming around.

It was fun to have company out. I did a good amount of cooking while they were here, which was fun for my friend. She said she hadn't had real food since we moved to Florida. She's a very pragmatic woman, who does foster parenting for a living, so dinner has to be VERY streamline and efficient. Not to put her down...But I have had rice and canned vegetables for dinner at her house. So, when she comes to see me, she wants the prime rib roast and ALL the sides. Which, I was happy to do for her. I know my family appreciates my cooking, but it's really nice to have company to cook for. Company gives you all kinds of nice comments, which sometimes get lost when you cook for the same people everyday.

We ate out the first night she arrived because their plane didn't get in until 10:00 pm. So cooking was kind of out. But, the second night, I cooked marinated steaks, steamed king crab legs, garlic-parmesan mashed potatoes, glazed carrots, crisp buttered mushrooms, sauteed green beans, and roasted corn on the cob. I love corn on the cob, but I find it hard to get the butter taste when you rub a little pad of butter over it. So my solution I came up with is steaming the corn and then lightly frying it in a pan full of salted butter. Very, very good! And everyone knows how much I love butter. I do the same thing with the green beans.

I have to buy everything down here in Swampland USA. I SO prefer Oregon, where it's possible to grow your own fruits and vegetables. I want to have a small-ish house with some nice land so I can plant my own food garden. I recently read that the term is "Grocery Gardening." It seems an appropriate term. I would grow all the things I currently have to buy...Except for meat of course. Although, I would love to have my own chickens, cows, etc. But for now, I will aim for grocery gardening.

I have been experimenting with eggless cake recipes because one of my two followers has an allergy. I think I have come up with a very decent recipe which I am going to try one more time before posting. So for today, I will post my marinade recipe. I thought it was exceptional...Far better than any of those store bought packets. Glad to be back blogging. It's fun.

Steak or Chicken Marinade

1 cup olive oil

1/4 cup aged red wine vinegar

1/4 cup GOOD soy sauce

3 tbs. dijon mustard

3 tbs. sea salt

3 large garlic cloves, minced

1/4 cup parsley, finely chopped

1 tbs. black pepper (fresh, please.)

1 tsp. fresh rosemary, finely chopped

1/2 tsp. fresh thyme

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and whisk until well blended. Seal in plastic bag with meat and refrigerate for at least an hour.

More later...

Common Scents...

My dearest son, whom I love with all my heart, went to the lake with me the other day. He brought his back pack with him, which I really didn't think much of at the time. He loves to collect shells and rocks, etc., which is as far as I thought his "collecting" skills reached. But NO. It wasn't until this evening when I walked in the house from getting my mail, that I smelled it. It was foul. It was nauseating. It was unimaginably awful. And what was it?? I searched high and low, looked through everything in the kitchen, thinking that maybe my potatoes went off or I had dropped an old piece of meat somewhere and it was rotting. But the smell seemed to be coming from my son's room. So, I went it and started searching. I finally tracked the smell to his back pack. I opened it up and, much to my horror, found a nice little dead FISH. Yes, a fish. A FISH! Glassy-eyed and dead. In my son's backpack. Ugh! And it was there long enough to turn our little apartment into a fish hatchery gone wrong. Now, I don't keep Glade or any other such chemical potpourri in my home because I don't think it's much better than the smell of whatever you're trying to cover up. But, today I was sorry.

I quickly and efficiently discarded the dead fish and opened every door and window. But that wasn't helping. So I went into my kitchen (where I spend most of my time.) and looked through my cupboard. I threw a pot of water on the stove to boil and began to add whatever I could find to it. I threw in cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, ginger, star anise and anise seed. We fled the house as if it were on fire, and came back an hour later.

Much to our surprise, when we walked in, the house smelled like a pie was baking. There was the underlying fish smell, but mostly it smelled like pie. And we didn't mask it with chemicals. We just simmered some everyday spices and it was great. So I wonder, why do we insist in buying all these "products" when we could really simplify our lives? I'm not saying we should live in the woods and go barefoot. I love the modern conveniences. It's just the basic things that I think we could do ourselves. I blame the marketing myopia for pushing products that over simplify our lives. It's just more money to spend on something our children could swallow. The warning on the bottles is enough to make you never buy it. Now, make it your self and the worst that could happen is a mouth full of spice. So, I have resolved to do more things like that on my own. I'm sure there are a bunch of different scent combinations one could come up with using just basic food and spice items.

And speaking of things I want to do on my own, I plan to make some syrups for soda pop. I will just buy sparkling water and add my own flavoring. I was at the grocery store the other day and I saw their big push on "Throw Back Pepsi." I picked one up to see what all the hype was about and it said "made with all natural sugar." "As opposed to what?", should be the question. But nowadays they use high fructose corn syrup in pop. Sugar is much healthier. And making your own syrup has it's perks...You can control the flavor and sweetness. And at least you don't have to go to bio-chem to figure out what's in it! Not to bash corn syrup TOO much. I do use it for pecan pie and divinity. But I don't really want it in my pop.

So, I guess if I could, I would like my life on a small farm so I could mix the modern conveniences with the more rural lifestyle. For now though, we will enjoy our apartment as much as we can. And much more now that it doesn't smell like a dead fish!

Make it Yourself!

Well I am in a much better mood than I was a few days ago. So now I don't have to depress anyone with my sour Sally blogging. I have decided to write about cream sauce. I love cream sauce. But there is nothing more vile than canned or adulterated cream sauce. For instance, I went to a restaurant where they had "fettuncine alfredo" on the menu. So I ordered it because I love pasta and alfredo sauce. But what they brought out was a train wreck of monumental proportions. I am certain that they used canned alfredo sauce. And really, why?? It's not that much cheaper, I don't imagine, to buy a can of cream sauce and throw it on pasta than to just take some butter, heavy cream and parmesan cheese. I really couldn't even eat it. My companion tasted it and said that it was "terribly unappetizing." So, I decided to make my own fettucine alfredo the next day.

The 16 hours that passed between the awful alfredo and the plan to make my own caused me to get really ambitious. I decided to make my own pasta as well. I bought the semolina and extra eggs and even borrowed a pasta press from my neighbor. I cleared my counter, put my flour down and made the little well, separated my eggs and put in the yolks. I used 6 egg yolks, as my standard recipe suggested. But that wasn't NEARLY enough. It was so dry, and I used the standard 1 3/4 cups of flour. But it was just really dry. I ended up using nearly 10 egg yolks for the recipe by the time I was done. Not to mention adding a little milk and olive oil because the eggs were just not working. However, when it was finished, it was awesome! (My companion hates the word awesome, but I wanted to use it just this once. Couldn't think of a better word.) I was really happy with it and would do it again.

For my alfredo sauce, I used butter, cream, parmesan and salt. You could do pepper, but I don't really like it. I didn't use garlic either, which I would normally do. But I wanted the pure flavors of the cream, butter and cheese. I served it to my son and companion, and my 4 year old said "this rocks, mom!" Great and humorous praise from a 4 year old!

So, I go back to my most frequently repeated statement...Why not do it yourself?? It's so much better for you. You know what's going into it. You can control the ingredients. I mean, have you ever read the ingredients on bottled alfredo? What the hell IS all that stuff? And why would I want it in my pasta sauce. And once you try to preserve cream sauce, it loses the purity in the flavor. So, MAKE IT YOURSELF! I will include my pasta and alfredo recipe.

Fettucine Alfredo:

For the pasta:

1 3/4 cup flour (semolina and all purpose work)

6 egg yolks...plus another possible 4!

1 tbs milk

1 1/2 tsps olive oil

Mound the flour on your very clean counter and make a well in the center. Make sure it's big enough to hold all the egg yolks. Pour the egg yolks, oil and milk into the well. Use your fingers to break the eggs up. Still using your fingers, begin turning the eggs in a circular motion, keeping them within the well, not letting them to spill over the sides. This circular motion allows the eggs to gradually pull in flour from the sides of the well; it is important that the flour is not incorporated too quickly, or dough will be lumpy. Keep moving the eggs while slowly incorporating the flour. Using a pastry scraper if you have one, occasionally push the flour toward the eggs; the flour should be moved only enough to maintain the gradual incorporation of the flour, and the eggs should continue to be contained within the well. The mixture will thicken and eventually get too tight to keep turning with your fingers.

At that point, incorporate the remaining flour. Begin to knead the dough like you would knead bread. Knead it until all the flour is incorporated. Then let it rest for 10 minutes while you clean up the incredible mess on your counter.

Then, lightly flour your counter and knead the dough for 10-12 minutes until it's completely smooth. And when you've kneaded it for 10-12 minutes, let it rest 5 and then knead it another 10 minutes. You can't knead it enough! Then wrap it in plastic wrap and let it rest for 30 minutes before putting it through the pasta press. You can store it overnight in the fridge, but you have to let it warm back to room temp. before you use it. Then put it through the press until it's your desired thickness. It only needs to be cooked for 2 minutes or so.

For the cream sauce:

1 cup REAL butter

2-3 cups heavy whipping cream

1 cup fresh parmesan cheese

Salt to taste

Pepper to taste

Just melt the butter in the pan until it isn't foamy anymore. Add the cream and stir. Let the mixture begin to simmer and then add the cheese. Salt it according to what you like. I like a lot of salt. A LOT of salt. I believe salt is the base for flavor. You can put herbs in until you're blue in the face, but if you haven't put salt in, it won't sing.

It's really nice if you grill chicken with rosemary and top this off with sliced chicken breast. But sometimes I like it plain because it's really comforting after a long day.

Life Should Be Fair!

Life is not fair. I know this. But it STILL pisses me off. I do not like the way money controls EVERYTHING in our lives. I think it's grossly unfair. Why do some people get to live in multi-million dollar mansions while others live on the street or are forced to stay with family? And don't tell me that it's because every rich person in the world has worked hard for it. Some of the wealthiest people in the world are crooks who have either stolen the money somehow, or fallen into an oil field. But then there are the other people who HAVE worked hard and are still getting beaten with a stick.

Case in point:

My uncle (who was really my adopted uncle.) from back home was in the Air Force for his entire life. Then he retired into the postal service and delivered mail for a few years. And one day on the job, he was in a head-on collision with a school bus and he was paralyzed from the neck down. BANG-Instant quadriplegia and a chance for the Federal Government to exercise their wonderful care of their war heroes. Mind you, this was a man who was in two wars and received the Distinguished Flying Cross, among other awards. And what do they do for him? They leave him to ROT. His wife, my aunt, couldn't work because she has her own set of health issues. And no one did anything.

I moved in with them and helped where I could and they helped me back. (My mom died during that time.) So we scraped by barely, and managed to raise two kids we inherited from the state. They offered to pay my war hero uncle a sum of money for the entire loss of his body, including the ability to breathe on his own. Then of course, they only gave him half of it.

Skip ahead a few years:

They NEVER paid him all they were supposed to from Worker's Comp. They NEVER paid my aunt what they were meant to pay her. Instead, they left her penniless and without the ability to get assistance. Thank you very much. She lost her house, her car, her things and is now living with her youngest daughter in one room. And she's still taking care of her 9 year old grandson who is also living the room with her at her daughter's house. And to add insult to injury, she is having to pay rent and her daughter isn't all that nice.

I have gone to Florida, which is probably my LEAST favorite place in the world, and I am barely managing here. There is money that is due for both my aunt and myself, and not a dime has been paid. So, I sit here trying to cook lovely food for my son and my companion, and I am wondering how we are going to stretch the money so that we have enough of what we need.

The job market COMPLETELY sucks, so there goes the idea of getting a good job. And my remaining uncle who raised me is trying to make up the difference we have lost. And I just have to wonder WHY? Why is this fair? Why are the wealthy people in the government and the department of labor and the banks, etc. allowed to sit in their mansions while we all come close to starving? I think it is so wrong and SO negligent on the part of the government.

The primary concerns of the government should be the citizens of this nation, OUR nation, HERE in the United States. Not the impoverished countries around the world. Mind you, I'm all for charity and helping others. But how can we help others when we can't even help ourselves?? If we are spending billions of dollars on food for other countries, why don't we try and spend that on all the people in our country who are also starving? I can't tell you how many people I have fed who are hungry, or brought meals to who are in need. And now, when we are in need. Nothing. And so it makes me FURIOUS because we shouldn't even be in this situation.

Hopefully soon we will be able to have a little financial restoration. Then I want a house with some land because I am going to plant all of my own food and have some chickens, etc. The more self-sufficient we are, the better it will be. God knows we can depend on NO ONE. Who is going to save us? The government? The banks? The financial lenders? If you get in an accident today, can YOU count on Worker's Comp doing right by you? I would just have to give a big, resounding NO.

So, my point is that today, not even cooking is cheering me up. It might if I had more to cook. And I would have more to cook if I had the money that I am supposed to have. So I will be a sour sally with my blog and depress everyone. But I think I am just saying that we are going to have to take care of ourselves. No one is going to do it for us.

I want to go back home to Oregon. The people are nicer. I actually have friends there. We've all tried to help each other. Which is more than you can expect from most people. Oh well...That's life.

I have managed to stretch my paltry amount of food and have come up with some very creative meals. My son thinks they're great. And John is always impressed that I can make something out of nothing. I guess they're good skills to have. I just wish I didn't have to use them.

More later.

Second Chance Chocolate Pie

My son and my companion, John, wanted a chocolate cream pie. Fine, I thought to myself. I like chocolate cream pie and I don't mind the extra work. We were having oven roasted chicken for dinner with mashed potatoes, gravy, broccoli and glazed carrots. So I figured I would put a pie together while cooking all the rest of those things.

I had bought stand up mixer with a glass bowl when I first moved into this apartment. It was inexpensive, but it seemed efficient. The mixer is detachable and the stand in plastic and easy to wash. The bowl was a pretty decent size as well. It was NO Kitchenaid, but it was what I could afford at the time. The directions said "do not place glass bowl directly on burner. Bowl maybe used on top of double boiler." So I put the chocolate, flour, sugar, salt, milk and cream in the bowl. I placed it on the top of my simmering water and started to stir. About 5 minutes in, the bowl popped and the bottom fell into the simmering water along with the chocolate.

I was gutted! It was a long day today anyway...But the added problem of the broken bowl and loss of chocolate put me over the edge and I had a fit. I real fit. And...I cried, which I almost never do. But I just couldn't deal with it today. John came in and tried to help. He told me it was okay and that he was glad I was not hurt by the glass. But I told him that it was not alright and that I was not happy because it was all the chocolate I had left and I just wanted to make a chocolate pie. I felt like my 4 year old. I fell just short of kicking and screaming like a spoiled brat. And what was worse was that we now had to clean up the glass and chocolate.

John got some paper bags together along with the slotted spoon and fished all the glass out of the chocolate. Then he took the pot all the way down our 3 flights of stairs and dumped the chocolate mixture behind the bushes. (We're not supposed to, but we reached the "we don't give a damn" stage.) Then we cleaned the kitchen. The mess was pretty well contained, so it wasn't too bad. Still, I was upset about the chocolate.

I continued cooking the dinner after that and then my uncle called. And being the wonderful man he is, he took me back to the store so I could get more chocolate. I was very pleased because my family really wanted the pie.

When I got back from the store, I set out the dinner which was ready. We ate, and then I thought I would give the pie another go. I had an expensive double boiler loaned to me for the evening, which made all the difference.

HOWEVER....It seemed to take 50 times longer to make the filling than normal, probably because I was now exhausted and just wanted to sleep. And in the background, my son was on the computer playing Nick Jr. games with the volume turned up as LOUD as possible. It was fine through the first part, but then he decided to play all the theme songs from all the shows he likes on Nick Jr. I think it was the 10th go around of the Max and Ruby theme song that really started to piss me off. I watch all these shows with him again and again. And I don't like Max and Ruby even at the best of times. But when I'm already irritated, I don't want to hear cartoons, I just want to destroy the TV or computer. John came in while Max and Ruby was blasting and my chocolate pie wasn't thickening and said "are you okay, dear?" "NO!!! My filling won't thicken, my feet hurt and Ruby is a narcissistic little bitch!" And with that, he shook his head and offered a cup of tea. I know he had no idea what I was talking about, at least with Ruby. But somehow I felt better after that.

Finally, after 50 minutes of whisking my filling...(And no, that's not a nasty reference.)...I was finally finished with it. And it was delicious! I filled my homemade graham cracker crust and put it in the fridge to set. Hallelujah!

Now I am tired and want to lie down. I just wanted to blog about my long, hard day to gain sympathy from my many readers....Haha. Anyway, I will include my triumphant second chance chocolate pie recipe below.

My 9 Yolk Amazing Chocolate Cream Pie:

12 ounces good quality chocolate, cut into small pieces

1 cup milk

2/3 cup heavy whipping cream

3/4 cup sugar

3 Tbs. flour

9 egg yolks

pinch salt

1 graham cracker crust

Whipped cream to top

On top of a double boiler (one that won't crack!), combine the chocolate, milk, cream, sugar, flour and salt. Whisk constantly until all ingredients are incorporated. After that, you can let it sit for 1-2 minutes without whisking. Continue to whisk every 2 minutes until hot. In a small bowl, whisk egg yolks slightly. SLOWLY ladle about 1 1/2 cups of the hot chocolate into the egg yolk to temper them, whisking them all the time. After combined, pour the egg yolk mixture into the remaining chocolate mixture on top of the DB. Whisk for about 60 seconds. Then whisk every 2 minutes until thick, about 45 minutes! When mixture coats a spoon without dripping off, it's done. Pour into pie shell and cover with plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming. Place in refrigerator until set, at least 4 hours.

For the graham cracker crust

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 (one stick) melted butter

pinch salt

Combine the sugar, salt and graham cracker crumbs. Pour the melted butter into the mix and stir. Pour the mixture into a pie plate and press up the sides. (I use my hands, but a glass would work.) Then bake in a 350 degree oven for 10 minutes.

*Don't make this recipe unless you have lots of patience!

So that's my second chance chocolate pie. Everything turned out okay, except that I'm really tired now. I guess I'll go to sleep.

Herbs I can't get enough of and Herbs that are too much before I even use them.

So I made steak & chips the other night for my British companion, John, because he's been nagging me for them for the past week. I blanched the potato slices while heating the oil for frying them. I like to fry on the back burner because it's safer. I drained the potatoes and fearlessly dumped them into the oil. I don't know why I was so cavalier about it...I am usually so careful. But the oil was too hot and splattered all over my walls and stove and anything else in it's way. Now, I'm usually very good in medical emergencies, but there's something about environmental emergencies that makes me draw a blank. So I just stood there screaming for John. It was really embarrassing because I'm not the helpless type. But he was really good about it, and by the time he got to the kitchen. everything was fine. So, I resumed my cooking. (He did laugh at my high pitched screaming a little bit, but was ultimately nice to me.)

I put the steak under the broiler (we don't have a grill here at the apartment.) and started on my Bruschetta. I wanted something fresh to go with the meat and the chips that almost caused a house fire. I had stopped by the health food store on the way home and saw these tomatoes on sale. They had a pint of "heirloom and exotic" tomatoes on sale for $2.99, marked down from, get this, $4.99! A tiny little pint of tomatoes! (I find that to be highway robbery because my aunt back home grows a garden full of them, which are so fresh and tasty. I don't think she's ever charged anyone $4.99!) But I bought them for the sale price because I really wanted my bruschetta to be colorful and different. I also bought some fresh herbs to go in it.

I had a leftover baguette, which I drizzled with olive oil and then browned in the oven. (I salted them too.) And then I took apart my little pint of purple, green, yellow and red tomatoes. I chopped them up and put them into a bowl. I bought some really beautiful looking basil and carefully chopped it and added it. Now, I love basil. I can't get enough basil. I think basil adds so much and has such a refreshing flavor. But then there's oregano, which usually goes in Italian cooking. I had some fresh oregano that I wanted to add to my bruschetta. I slid the little leaves off of the stems and started to chop them. But the smell overwhelmed me before I even got it into the bowl. I just can't quite manage oregano. It seems to take over whatever I am cooking. Pretty soon it's all I can smell, which isn't really my favorite scent.

I realize that I have trouble with certain herbs. Oregano makes the top of my list. Next is marjoram, then thyme and lemon grass. I just can't use the recommended amount of any of them. They're overpowering to me. Cilantro starts to get that way, but I can manage it better than any of the other herbs I listed above.

Then there are the good herbs. Basil, rosemary, sage, parsley, Italian parsley, chives, etc. I love them. I love cooking with them. I think dishes are complete with at least one. Basil is so fresh and livens up any dish. And rosemary is rich and adds depth. Parsley is pretty standard, but it adds to the look and flavor. I love chives because you can mix them into creams and spreads. There are more, but those come to mind right now...

I canned the oregano idea because I just couldn't stomach it. So I added extra basil to the bruschetta mixture, along with garlic, olive oil, sea salt, freshly ground pepper and a little bit of Italian parsley. I tasted it and it was SO good!! But the heirloom tomatoes have a really low acidic content, so they don't have that punch that I wanted. So I decided to add just a touch of redwine vinegar.

I plated my different dishes...John's steak and chips, the bruschetta, and the homemade pizza that I made for my son and myself, and put everything on the table. We all started eating, and my 4 year old son, Nathan, said that the tomatoes were "super, extra good!" And John loved them, which he normally doesn't. And we ate the eight large slices of bread and bruschetta in under 5 minutes!

All in all, it was a satisfying dinner. And I was very pleased that disaster was avoided with the oil.

I will include the recipe for the bruschetta later today, although I'm sure you get the idea already.