Julia Child, Eat Your Heart Out

Earlier this week, my Dah had a foot surgery, hopefully the last one so I went home to hang out with him and make my parents dinner. Like most major decisions, we had a run around about what i was going to make them for dinner. After an hour of deliberation, I chose to make my parents a quiche reminiscent of the one we enjoyed at the Old Mill Pottery Cafe. I found the recipe online at cooks.com, but I have to say that I the cook time was not quite right. But if you are looking for an easy to make, exquisitely delicious meal, I highly recommend this bacon cheese and onion quiche.
Ingredients(Makes 6 servings)

• 6 Slices of Crisply Cooked Bacon


• 3 eggs


• 1 cup half and half


• 1/2 cup milk


• 1 1/2 cups of cheddar cheese


• 1 Tbsp. flour


• 1 small onion, chopped


• 1 9-inch pie crust, room temperature


• Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

1. Mix together the cheese and flour with your hands in a small bowl and set aside.


2. Mix together the eggs, half and half, milk, and salt in pepper in another bowl. Set aside.


3. Begin cooking the bacon in a frying pan on medium heat until the bacon is crispy. Lay out on paper towel to dry.


4. Drain some but not all of the bacon grease and sautee the chopped onions in the bacon grease.


5. While the bacon is cooking, spray the quiche dish with non-stick spray and place the pie crust in it. Using your index and middle finger as well as your ring finger, begin to pinch the crust on the edges to create a nice edge.


6. Pour the cheese mixture onto the pie crust. Sprinkle the crumpled bacon on top. Shake out the sauteed onions on top of the bacon.


7. Pour the egg mixture into the pie crust so that it evenly spreads through the cheese, bacon, and onions.


8. Bake the quiche for 15 minutes at 450 degrees. Then, reduce the heat to 350 degrees and cook for an additional 20 minutes.


9. Test the quiche for doneness by inserting a toothpick in the center. If it comes out clean, it is done. Bake for an additional 5 minutes if it is not done.


10. Cut up the quiche and serve.

Side recommendations: A light salad and grapes. Soooo good. If you are feeling daring, try out the quiche with a fruity wine like Sangria. It really complements the cheesiness of the quiche.

Kitchen Reno Update, Bench Repair, and Maddie's First Night

This morning I woke up and thought my cat had died. After Andrew decided to turn on all the lights in the condo and then in our bedroom, I woke up on my day off to look for Maddie. Since we brought her home last night, she had taken to hiding behind the couch, under the bed, table...you name it, she was hiding there. So I ended up finding her behind the couch and she was just staring up at me. She wasn't blinking and I freaked out, thinking she had somehow died behind the couch. So I moved it and she retreated back under our bed until I was able to coax her out with food and give her her medicine. She hated me all morning.

So, I got dressed and went out to get the materials to repair my mom's broken bench. It cost me about $30 to fix the thing, but it turned out beautifully.

I used 3/4" plywood, a hot glue gun, some batting for quilting and a nice fabric that I got on sale for $3.50. Want to know what ticks me off, though? I had to pay for the whole freaking piece of plywood, including the parts I didn't use. And dumbie that I am let them keep the rest of it. Bah!!! But anyways, it only took me a whole of 15 minutes to fix it so it was worth it in the end, I suppose. I now have a place to blog and do homework. :)

I was able to make some headway in my Julia Child kitchen reno this week. I painted the cabinets the color I wanted and I think they turned out quite well. I am going to wait a little while before I move on to the flooring. Mainly because I have to buy another stupid book for my Geology lab. $66.00! Darn the text book companies to hell! They are doing Satan's work, for serious. Why charge that much? Because they know they can and that's just evil. Done with that tyrade. Here is the updated kitchen.

Andrew's and My First Child

No, Ma, I am NOT pregnant! Andrew and I are adopting our first baby...kitten. Her name is Maddie. She is practically perfect in every way and will add quite a bit of cat hair to my outfits. We met her on Sunday after discovering her on petfinder.com. She is about 14 weeks old and is so freaking affectionate my other cat, Beau (not named after my best friend, just so we get that straight) pales in comparison. You hear that, Beau Kitty? Stop being so pissy! I still love you.

Back to Maddie. We are getting her tonight and Andrew, I do believe, is more excited than me about her arrival. While I was at work on Monday he went out shopping for Maddie and brought back a few toys and after getting me to close my eyes, surprised me with something cold and small in the palm of my hand. It was a silver tag with Maddie's name on it. I never knew I could get so choked up over a stupid piece of metal before Monday. It was cute and I bought a pink collar to go with it...don't judge me. So, here are a few pictures of our new baby. I will try so hard not to make her the central figure in my blogs, but my God she is sooo freaking cute!

Julia Child-ing My Kitchen

I first want to begin by acknowledging the fact that I do believe that I am an old woman living in a 21-year old's body. That being said, I should also say that enjoy my good times as well, so I am "not dead yet." If you have seen Julie and Julia, you know exactly how freaking awesome Julia Child's kitchen looks. Maybe some of you even had the chance to see some Julia Child episodes where she filmed in her kitchen. For the rest of you, here's a snapshot.

Gorgeous, right? My kitchen will probably never look like this, however, it will look pretty darn good. There are several phases of my kitchen makeover. Phase One, repainting the cabinets to the sage and light blue has been completed. I put a twist on the paint job, though. I painted all the bottom cabinets and backs sage while I just painted the upper cabinets with a blue. I will post pictures later.

Phase Two will consist of adding a new floor, since our old floor has been torn by the previous owner and we need to replace it anyway.

Phase Three will probably be my favorite part of the reno. I will put in a pantry and a pegboard wall to hang up my pots and pans...with the characteristic Julia outlines so that I won't forget where everything goes...neurotic I know...

Phase Four I will put in the final touches like the magnetic knife rack and spice racks.

The key to renovating the kitchen is to make it more efficient, something that my kitchen is currently lacking in. It is frustrating not knowing where anything is. If you guys have any tips on kitchen organization, please send them my way. And one more thing...Bon Appetit!

The Miracle of Family

Yesterday, my family and I attended my Papa's funeral. Tuesday, as you probably know, was one of the worst days ever. My mom asked me Wednesday night to sing at his funeral and I was able to figure out the perfect song to perform. If you have ever heard "I'll Be Seeing You," you know how beautiful of a song it is. It emboddied my Papa and Nana's love for one another and now that they are finally in Heaven together, I know Papa is happier than ever. So I set to rehearsing the song.

I seriously thought that I was going to be able to get through the song yesterday. After beautiful things said from my cousin John, and my uncles Hoyt and Randy, my mom went up and talked about Papa. I asked Mel and Mom to stay up there with me as I sang. The song started out fine.

There is a zone that every experienced performer is able to go into. They are focused, able to keep their eye on the goal through this focusing technique. The key is to keep your eyes focused on one thing. My focal point was the clock at the back of the sanctuary. The song began and I thought for a split second that I was actually going to get through it.

Then I made a huge mistake. My eyes-and thoughts-shifted and then came the tears. I couldn't stop and I choked. But Mom was there to help me sing the song. And then someone in the congregation began to hum and then a few more voices began to sing. The sound grew louder and it got me through to the end, when I was able to make a comeback and finish the song. It was beautiful. And I was just so grateful, because my family is so different from any other family. The way we have grown together is something other people marvel at. And I know that matter what happens, my family will always be there for me to help me when I am choking up and can't go any further. I love my family.

Healing Day

Hello all. It has been an extremely long day. Yesterday, my worst nightmare happened: my Papa(grandpa) died. How or when I do not know. All I know is that he is gone, and I was the last grandkid to talk to him before he went. It wasn't a remarkable conversation. We talked about Gatlinburg, Julie and Julia, and Doctor Who. I told him I loved him. I'm glad I got to do that. Mom tricked me into coming back home by saying that I had left something at the office. Her voice sounded even and fine, so I came back, curious about what I could have forgotten. No matter how much I wracked my brain, I just couldn't think...until I saw Mom's office door open and all her coworkers standing around her.
There is a moment of recognition, the putting of two and two together when you know you are about to get bad news. It was when I saw my mom's face. She was trying so hard to figure out how to tell me. I didn't want her to. I already knew and at the same time I didn't want it to be true. I didn't cry; I couldn't. I couldn't believe what she was telling me. I simply hugged her and my eyes were so wide with disbelief, I probably didn't blink for several minutes. I let her cry and take me back to her office, where Mel and Ray were. Mel was crying. I held her, but I still couldn't cry. Dad came to the office, saw Mom and Mel crying and he began to cry. I hugged him, but I still couldn't cry.
I just couldn't believe that the thing that kept me up at night so often had finally happened. It wasn't until I got to my car and called Andrew that I began to sob. It was painful and I felt like I was going to die myself. And so it goes. I don't know how much I have cried; a lot less than mom and mel. I feel like I can't cry in front of them because I can't bear to see them in pain. I uploaded pictures today from our Gatlinburg trip just a few minutes ago, and I can't help but wonder if my family will ever be this happy again. I don't know if we will. All of our holidays will be sadder, whenever a kid is screaming in a restaurant he won't be there to applaud the parents when they finally take the brat out, and I won't be expecting that Saturday morning phone call from him to see how my week went.
It hurts. I miss him. And it's going to be a long time until I get to see him again. But I am grateful for two things: that he is in Heaven with Nana and that i got to spend the time with him that I did. I haven't told too many people, because I don't want the empty I'm sorries. But I feel like I need to write about it and send it out there in the world.
My Papa was a fantastic man, and I love him so much. I wish he could have been there for Mel's and my graduation, for my wedding day, for the births of my kids. It's like Mom said "I thought he would live forever." I did too. I thought there was so much more time left with him. And now he's gone and I won't see him again in this life. But I have the faith that I will see him again.
I have been doing better since the news came yesterday. I am eating, going about my day, laughing and trying not to dwell on it. When I do feel sad, I cry. I talk to him and Nana...and Julia Child. I think they are having a great meal and chat with her as we speak.
Today it rained when the sun was shining brightly, something that hasn't happened in quite a long time, and I remembered what Papa used to tell me: The devil is beating his wife. But I think that Papa was just letting me know that he's still here and he is now with the woman he loves. Papa, if you are listening, if they have blogs in Heaven: I love you.

Cooking Together

Having spent a week apart due to my last family vacation to Gatlinburg, Andrew and I practically spent the entire weekend together. Yesterday, at Andrew's insistence, we snuck a few cheeseburgers into Julie and Julia after church and had the most wonderful date in quite a while. The movie was fantatsic, by the way, and everyone should go see it. Julie Powell reminded me so much of myself in that she starts all these crazy projects and never finishes them. And she is with this wonderful, nice guy. :) And, as soon as she began writing her blog, I realized how much I have been denying my own blog. I just didn't realize how much...over a month?! Geez where did the time go? So, taking a page from Ms. Powell's book(which I am now reading, by the way), we decided to cook together on Andrew's two nights off and I am now blogging about it.

Dinner last night was magnificent and simple. If you ever get a chance to go to Gatlinburg, go down to All Sauced Up and the Old Mill Pottery Kitchen. There, you will find culinary masterpieces in a bag, and all you have to do is add liquid. Don't have to tell anyone your secret. We began our meal with pita bread dipped in spices with olive oil. Sooooo good....Then we made spaghetti and Andrew did that great thing where he throws the noodle against the wall to make sure it's done...I wonder if it's still up there...And we topped it off with this wonderful Mountain Valley Red Wine from this great winery my family found in Pigeon Forge. Besides feeding each other pita bread after, it was fun cooking together. And cooking is a great, sensual activity if you are looking for a date night in. In fact, once I am finally comfy with Andrew taking the lead every now and then in the kitchen, we will probably be cooking together every Sunday and Monday night. Below are the links to the fantastic culinary stores!

http://www.allsaucedup.com/

http://www.old-mill.com/

www.mountainvalleywinery.com