Lasagna for 'the house'

What house? The White House? The Frat House?.......oh yeah, our house! Here in the Blue Grass!
Spring Break comes early for the schools in the north, and we had a wonderful week with our bearded-baby. He insisted on cooking for us one night, his specialty!! Scaled down for a family of 3, not a Frat House of 80 dudes!



I must say, our trip to the new favorite store Meijer in Hamburg netted some good items. I did influence my son (insisted) that he try some Italian Sausage to his mix. He relented! Other than that he did follow the 'house' recipe.

I also had some 1-step lasagna sheets on hand that I thought we should use up. I must say, the conoction had some great tastes! He raided my spice cabinet for many of my powders and salts and added some fresh garlic to his sauce.

We were delighted with his results, and are enjoying another serving (plus some for the freezer) tonight. The
'bearded-baby' is back 'up North' and Max is a little depressed right now. As all parents will join me in this thought.......we can't wait till the next visit home!

Mom!!!!! What happened to the pie?

Spring Break......and I start to get into my recipes that please a 21 year old. Pie....who doesn't like pie??
Chocolate cream pie, did you say? Whipped cream, choco shavings?

Everybody likes pie, like I said......even black and white dogs. Seems like, while I was on Skype with my bearded-baby, a black and white dog helped himself to some pie.

This caused great rushing around and phone calls to the vet, but Max was ok and I lopped off half the pie and all was well and good! yes, we ate the rest of the pie!

Great flaky butter crust, made with Plugra, the equivalent to my precious French butter!

By the goodness of Grace

As I hang on to the coat tails of Technology, trying to keep up with my son, every once in a while I find a gadget that is easy to use and wonder why it took so long for me to find this thing.
It is called the Grace WI-FI Internet Radio. and it is awesome!

Of course I can't really take the credit for finding this gem of a tool......it was my 'bearded baby' who said that he just found an 'app' for his I-Phone, he said he was streaming some old radio stations that we used to listen to in France.
That got me to thinking that I can stream from my computer! Next was a little internet search of a gadget that might let me carry my music from room to room. You'll find several radio's like Squeezebox, but I needed to economize and found Grace! As you can see, CNET gave it a great little review. The 'bearded baby' gave it his blessing and off to Best Buy I did go.

Easy to set-up, easy to use....and now I'm streaming my favorite jazz stations like FIP-FM and TSF. Oh-La-La!

FIP's programming is an eclectic mix of musical genres: chanson, rock, world music, classical music, film music, jazz and more, but connected with a theme. FIP is one of the few stations with this type of programming in the world.
TSF Jazz has a wonderful selection of all jazz, classics from the 30's & 40's. Both stations have disk jockeys who speak slow enough for my poor French! That way I'll always know the weather and the next National Strike date! Oh.....those were the days!

A few nights with........Phil

I feel like I've been invited to a secret society! He is a local cult figure! You open a newspaper and his name pops up, you read a local magazine and there his name is again. Phil is his name! I fortunately, was added to his eMail list and got to come to some classes. They are held in a lovely 'home' that has been turned into a fantastic showroom. He cooks on an AGA that has been produced for the American market. A roaring gas stove-top is at his command. Then he bakes in a dreamy Wolf oven. Yes, one can dream!

One of the things I really enjoy about Phil's classes are that you come away learning a lot! Yep, I've been to quite a few classes in my years, but his recipes are delicious and pretty easy to prepare.....in other words, they are perfect weeknight fare! BUT, also perfect for stress free entertaining!

I've been to his Egg class, he had so many tricks and tips. A Casserole class netted some real keepers, I even sent that batch of recipes up to 'the bearded baby' when he cooks for his Frat House! We have had a Tapas night and I brought 'the old man' along for this latest class of Brisket (2 ways)!
I did bring my son along to a class during his holiday break and Phil could not have been more generous! The 'bearded baby' mentioned that he cooks for his Frat House from time to time and Phil promised some recipes to cook for a crowd!

You pretty much can't walk away from the class, you are rolling down I-75 towards home! The food and drink flow and you usually get a take-home plate for the loved one who had to stay home!

Phil is a joy to watch and you can tell that he has run his own kitchen! His knife skills are awesome......and the guy can muli-task like no one else! He is a pro. He is also very down to earth. I have learned where to shop here in Lexington for good products! You'll be surprised to learn where he frequents and even where he purchases some of his equipment.

I really shouldn't brag too much about him or his next session of classes could be full!

Popovers!

Did I ever tell you the story about my Thanksgiving Popovers? No?
Let me make this short and sweet. I usually like to do a 'fresh' bread or roll along side of my 'bird'. Got to thinking about Popovers and thought I could make a batch and bake them off in a muffin tin. Well, those babies did NOT 'pop'! They could have been used as lethal weapons to get rid of any Kentucky critter or evil doer that was passing by. They didn't even make good bird food and our birds eat everything! The birdies turned up their beaks at my offering!

A recent trip to Williams Sonoma, I came home with yet another new baking pan. The mighty popover pan! There are some times when I like living back in the U.S.
Searching through the internet, the worlds biggest cookbook,......I found a recipe that looked pretty good. Sometimes tho, when I look for a recipe I have to find one that fits the ingredients that I have on hand. This recipe called for 2 eggs and I had 3! There ya' go! It also called for some Gruyère cheese, had it in the fridge, I can find a decent one in my Kroger store. Everything was looking good so far.

Looking at the photos above, you can see they rose mighty high and were darned tasty! I'm happy with my purchase and just need to find a place to stash my new piece of cooking equipment!