Shenanigans

Chris' brother Greg visited us a couple of weekends ago. I got the pictures up on Facebook right away, but I haven't put together a slideshow until now. So here it finally is! And a quick run-down of what we did while he was here:

We went to the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. It was very, very cool! I was a little hesitant to drive the new car to the city; I'd like to put off that first door ding as long as possible, thank you very much. Anyway, the Academy has a very cool Rain Forest Sphere you walk around and around, up and up, through the different rain forest levels. Below the sphere is an awesome aquarium. There's also a natural history section focusing on Africa, with penguins; a planetarium which we didn't have enough time to visit, and more. Our favorite was the aquarium.

Then we went down to Fisherman's Wharf / Pier 39. We spent a long time watching the sea lions, walked around, and had lunch at Bubba Gumps, always a fun place. We had to head home after that, since Ayla and Greg's dog Willy had been home alone the entire day by this point. We hung out at home, played with some remote control helicopters my parents had gotten us at Christmas, and had a good time.

The next day we spent locally. After a quick stop at Best Buy for camera lens shopping, we went up to Blackhawk Plaza. We walked around the shopping center, taking pictures of the ducks, geese, and swans; had lunch at Prickly Pear Cantina; and admired the Porsches outside the Auto Museum. Then we took the dogs up the hill at home to play, where we brought out the helicopters again. They don't do well in the wind, but we didn't lose them! For dinner we went to Pyramid Brewery, figuring Greg would enjoy the beer tasting.

Greg had to head home the next day, after this jam-packed weekend. But we all had a great time, and there's lots more we'd like to do with Greg and Willy, so come on back out again soon!

On with the pictures!

Merry Christmas!

Someone must have been a very good girl this year.

Happy Holidays!

Muddy

I had to work a weekend recently, so I brought Ayla in with me for the day for company. She did really well too: she ran around the office in the morning, then hung out in my office. At lunch we took a hike on the Fire Trail, and then she came back and slept the rest of the afternoon. I'm very lucky to have a job where I can bring my dog in with me on occasion, though I'm very careful not to abuse that privilege. Here's a few shots from the day...

 Babushka Ayla - her neckerchief fits well over her head.

 A forest of fungi

On the Fire Trail - it was a beautiful, slightly foggy day

We went on a walk this afternoon and passed this tree or bush I've been admiring for a while. It looks so interesting without its leaves, all bare white branches.

That's it for now. Time to get ready for Christmas!

Biscuits and Gravy: Deconstructed

Call me bandwagon jumper, and I won't disagree. The fact is, I'm a little late to this party already.

"Deconstructing" took the food world by storm perhaps four or five years ago, and Tom Colicchio of Bravo's Top Chef explains the phenomenon succinctly as "... an approach to a plating style, as well as a way of personalizing a dish and making it one’s own." Its about taking the different elements of a dish and putting them together in a different fashion. Its basically another way of playing with your food.

Technically, my biscuits and gravy aren't really deconstructed. I separated the dish into three components: the biscuit, the gravy, and the sausage (since I always remember it being a sausage gravy). Then I plated it all on one of my favorite leaf-shaped plates and we ate - tearing off bits of biscuit and dipping them in the gravy, spearing slices of sausage and biscuit to dip together, eating the gravy on its on, and doing whatever else sounded good. I didn't really put the components back together in a new way, but eating the dish this way allowed us to pay more attention to the various components themselves, which might have gotten lost in a big ol' pile of biscuits smothered in gravy. Not that there's anything wrong with that either!

And of course I slightly altered the individual components. I just can't leave well enough alone, so I made cheddar garlic biscuits, a creamy mushroom gravy with a good splash of wine (a lovely Bowers Harbor Vineyards Gewurztraminer, from a wonderful friend in Michigan, because its what I was drinking that night!), and vegetarian Italian sausages (I like Lightlife's Smart Sausages and Morningstar Farms Italian Sausages best).

The sausages aren't the only shortcut I took. The biscuits are Bisquick! We always had this around when I was growing up, and keeping a box handy makes pancakes, waffles, biscuits, and more even easier when you just can't be bothered to do anything harder. I used the recipe on the back of a box of Heart Smart Bisquick and threw in about a cup of grated cheddar, three cloves of minced garlic, and a pinch of Herbes de Provence.

I did, however, make the gravy...

 Hearty, Creamy Mushroom Gravy

• 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 6 ounces mushrooms, sliced
• Salt
• Black pepper
• 1 1/2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
• 1 Tbsp. white wine
• 1 c. vegetable broth
• 1/2 tsp. thyme
• 1/4 c. heavy cream

Melt the butter in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally,for about 8 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add the flour and stir until lightly browned, about 1 minute. Add the wine and broth and bring to a boil, cooking until thickened, about 2 minutes. Add the cream and thyme, and season with salt and pepper.

Its easy-peasy, and very tasty! Now get on out there and play with your food!

Related Recipes:

Simple Mushroom Stew

Boozy Mushrooms and Fresh Pasta

Wine Sauteed Mushrooms

Fetch Fiend

I've been playing a lot of fetch with Ayla lately. It gets dark so early now that there's not much time to do much else after work. She loves it, though I do have to use treats to get her to drop the ball. I brought the camera out this afternoon and snapped a few shots.

Ayla's ears flip inside out when she runs. They're her Princess Leia buns.

She is very intent when we're playing and can barely stand still, just look at those eyes. She also gets drooly in her excitement and looks kinda rabid.

I threw the ball up in the air for this one, though she's pretty much useless at catching. But you can see just how big of a dog she really is. Standing up like this she's only a few inches shorter than I am.

We also saw some deer on the hill right behind our condo complex. This was a young male with cute little horns. He didn't like Ayla much and took off when he spotted us.

And a few does. I don't think I've ever seen deer on this hill, just coyotes, rabbits, turkeys, and pheasant; I wonder where they came from?

Happy Halloween

Or would that be Howl-oween?

Three in One

"Meat"loaf base, topped with a layer of creamed spinach souffle, and finished with a generous helping of garlic Parmesan mashed potatoes. What do you call this? Meatloaf terrine? A take on Shepard's pie? Casserole? I don't know, but I call it tasty!

I don't have exact recipes, since this is really just layering three yummy dishes. Make your favorite meatloaf recipe (I used faux ground beef and the usual meatloaf suspects - bread crumbs, egg, seasonings).If you use a big pan you can make one big dish, but I liked the idea of smaller terrines so I used large ramekins.

For the spinach, I sauteed garlic and onions in butter, then added baby spinach and cooked until wilted and bright green. Next add heavy cream and a little cornstarch and cook until slightly thickened. Whiz together in a food processor with an egg or two until combined and the spinach is chopped. Return to the pan and cook, stirring frequently so the eggs don't scramble, until thick. Then put a layer of this spinach mixture on top of the meatloaf mixture.

Mashed potatoes are simple. I like to put garlic, butter, cream, and Parmesan in mine, and use my food processor to whip them. Some people don't like the consistency of using a food processor as it makes them a little gluey, so feel free to mash them with a standard potato masher. I like the gluey consistency and the ease of using the food processor. Mound the mashed potatoes over the spinach, and top with more Parmesan, then bake at 350F for 30 minutes or until the meatloaf at the bottom is cooked through.

This was a great dinner for the first rainy day of fall: hearty, homey, and warming. I think the next time I make this I want to get some small springform pans and see if I can remove it completely after cooking. The spinach would probably have to be less creamy, and I'd most likely have to use less mashed potatoes, but it would look great on a plate.