Add some butter and some milk, it goes down as smooth as silk/It's ma-acaroni and cheese - Mac and cheese

It's Meatless Monday and today I was thinking of a creamy macaroni and cheese more than anything else. I also knew I had Swiss cheese so I thought I'd go with that. I made a simple bechamel and added a little nutmeg, salt, pepper and cayenne, tossed in the cheese and finally mixed in the macaroni and edamame (for a little added protein). I toasted some panko bread crumbs in some butter and garlic and topped the pasta before putting it into the oven to brown. In retrospect, I wish I would have remembered to add a little pinch of dry mustard to the bechamel to give it a bit more of a kick.

For a salad I combined baby spinach, baby red romaine, sliced carrots, Granny Smith apple chunks and walnuts with a poppyseed dressing.

(Too lazy to look up vaguely relevant lyrics) - Warm salad with egg

I thought about making this salad for dinner all day. I would use baby greens, then crisp up leftover potatoes and chunks of pork roast to put over the greens, drizzle with a mustardy dressing and top with a runny egg, French style. I envisioned making a tangy dijon vinaigrette, but when it finally rolled around to dinner time, I was too lazy and used bottled honey mustard dressing instead. I always love a runny egg, and I have grown quite fond of warm salads. It somehow feels more like a meal when it's warm. I don't know why.

If I should live to be ninety, I will never forget/The little shrimp and the song he sang as he jumped into the net - Shrimp and asparagus pasta

I didn't really feel like cooking tonight, but I did have an idea earlier, when we were at the grocery store, to make a pasta with shrimp and asparagus. So I had to finally tear myself away from the kittens (though the bold Starbuck eventually followed me in there - brave little cat!). This took about 25 minutes to make, total and by the time it was done, I was hungry. 


First I blanched the asparagus in boiling, salted water, then I heated olive oil, added the raw shrimp and three fat cloves of garlic. Once the shrimp was almost done, I added the drained asparagus, salt and pepper and cooked for a few minutes longer. Then I added the cooked fettuccini, a bunch of grated parmesan and it was done. Easy peasy. 

We're so wonderfully wonderfully wonderfully/Wonderfully pretty/Oh you know that I'd do anything for you - braised pork loin and kittens!

The last half of this week got a bit hectic so some meals have gone unrecorded. There wasn't too much of note, really, foodwise, other than this ice cream sundae we had for dessert last night - vanilla ice cream, freshly made salted caramel sauce and crumbled bacon. I had hoped a bit that it wouldn't taste that great because frankly, I don't really need an ice cream craving that is worse, calorically, than just regular ice cream. However, it really, really worked; the creamy sweet ice cream, the very slightly salty (but still very sweet) caramel and the salty, smokey bacon combined into a suprisingly complex flavor. Can't wait to have another one tonight.

There are three reasons for the hectic (in the best way) days and they are named (for now, anyway) Boomer, Apollo and Starbuck. We are fostering three six-week old kittens for Tenth Life Cat Rescue run by my friend Elizabeth Frick and her husband Adam. It's a wonderful operations, run on a shoestring, but taking in some very, very special cases in addition to kittens and cats who simply need [new] homes. I had been resisting doing foster work because I was afraid I'd get too attached and because Olive, our senior cat, generally hates other cats. Still, when presented with three adorable kittens earlier this week, I finally had to say yes. No regrets yet. These are three of the snuggliest, sweetest little things I've ever seen. Every single thing they do is cute, even pooping. For proof, here's Boomer:

And Apollo:

And Starbuck:

And yes, I was a complete nerd and named them after Battlestar Galactica characters.

Today I had to lure them into their crate with canned food and a fleece shirt of mine as bedding material so I could get some things done without them being underfoot. As it was, I was made immobile for quite some time, with kittens piled and snoozing on me. At any rate, I managed to get a pork loin, braised with red wine and potatoes and onions, into the oven. It baked at 250F for about 2.5 hours, ending up juicy and tender.

Well, she took me to the river/Where she cast a spell/And in that Southern moonlight/She sang this song so well - Soda can chicken

As usual, the sales at the grocery store today made my dinner decisions for me. Whole chickens on sale for 69 cents a pound, and nice weather could only mean beer can chicken. As far as vegetables go, my produce department 'clearance' rack obsession hit pay dirt today. I got two bunches of rapini (I LOVE rapini), two bags of a fresh green bean medley, a large package of zucchini and yellow squash, and two packages of oyster mushrooms. Gosh I love that rack! It was all plenty fresh and super cheap.

When I meandered over to the beer aisle to find a cheap six-pack for the chicken, I was surprised to find no 12 oz. six-packs. There were plenty of 12-packs and a few six-packs of tall boys. Weird. I didn't want to buy a 12-pack of beer that I wouldn't drink and the Boy wouldn't like, so I spotted the section of flavored sodas and settled on a pineapple orange one. I've never really noticed the taste of the beer in a beer can chicken so I figured it would work.

Since I was using pineapple orange soda, I thought teriyaki flavors would work. To prepare the chicken for those flavors, I rubbed it with salt, pepper and garlic and sprinkled the cavity with salt. I poured out half of the soda and then added garlic powder, onion powder and a lot of black pepper before propping the chicken up on the can. Midway through cooking, I glazed it with a teriyaki glaze mixed with a bit of orange juice and some lime juice.

Here's the little darling, about two-thirds of the way towards done. Yeah, I gave her a smiling face and a hat.

And here is the end result, with brown rice and sauteed squash.

Lil' Thrift

I had a thrifting feeling today and experienced thrifters know that when you have the feeling you must answer the call. My feeling specifically was about St. Vincent dePaul and I did all right. I think what karma wanted me to find was  the bright pinkish red vintage Scottish mohair throw that the lady in front of me bought for $3. Damn damn damn. I don't think she even really knew what she had. I missed it by a matter of minutes. At any rate, here's what I got today.

Since this is flameproof, I think it will be perfect for heating up syrup.

The Boy loves nothing more than catering to my very specific requests about eating utensils. When I get a new (well, vintage) fork/spoon/knife I insist on only using it/them and he can never remember which one I want. Well, with five new forks, it should be a little easier on him.

I actually took a little time to look at books today and found some interesting ones. I wonder if that "Waiting for the End" one is famous/notorious?

And because Mr. Porter has been a topic of conversation lately and this sheet music book was so pretty, I had to have it.

After St. Vincent's I ran over to Big Lots and found a padded laptop case for only $10. Score!

Just dragonflies/Flying to the side/No one gets hurt/You're doing nothing wrong - Bacon-wrapped cod and peanut noodles

It was a splendidly gorgeous day today in St. Louis. The sun was shining, a gentle breeze blew and it was just north of 80F. Pretty much perfect as far as weather goes.

Discussion came up, on Facebook, of peanut noodles*. As I've been having peanut butter cravings lately, they seemed like an excellent idea. Alongside some bacon-wrapped cod cooked on the grill in the waning minutes of daylight, we had dinner. Sadly, the cod looks better than it tasted. I spread the filets with sweet chili sauce, rolled them around asparagus, then wrapped it up in bacon. You would have thought there'd be more flavor, but it was a little bland; not terrible, but not great. Lesson learned!

*Peanut butter, seasoned rice vinegar, chili sauce, soy sauce, sesame oil, hot water. Mix, pour over cooked, rinsed noodles along with sliced green onions.

Thrift store and more on a gorgeous Sunday, the first day of Spring...

We haven't been to the Fenton Value Village for weeks and weeks and since it was a perfect day for a nice drive, that's where our thrifting nose took us today. And we were not disappointed. Steve got a pile of books I didn't bother photographing and I got some great stuff. We even spent $40 which is outrageous in the Pick world of thrifting. But nothing was really a splurge; there was just a lot of good stuff.

This hat, for example:

 

 And this clear Lucite ice bucket - so mod!

Someone went to the Virgin Islands and all someone else got was these [lousy? no way!] trays:

Spice rack, bought mainly for the jars and because it cost less than $2!

I cannot resist a vintage gold purse, so I didn't. And a new silver makeup case and a Chanel-ish belt to wear around the hips.

I don't know how they function, but the form of these salad tongs is pretty amazing. Hopefully you can see that they are gold glitter Lucite!

My friend Elizabeth requested that I find her something ridiculously catty. This planter appeared early in the trip.

Three little bowls to match the pattern I've painted on the refrigerator!

Someone had stuffed this muumuu (or what my Grandma Brockmire would have called a housedress) into the middle of the winter coats, but the fabric was so incredible that it caught my eye and I snatched it up. The muumuu itself isn't in particularly good shape, but the fabric is fine, in more ways than one.

For the penultimate find, a full-sized gorgeously coral-y pink chenille bedspread. I cannot turn down vintage linens, reasonably priced.

And last but certainly not least, an oh so alluring (to me, anyway - I couldn't look away!) GE Versatron Bake-Broil-Toast oven. It's so beautiful in its utilitarian way with the turquoise, coral and light orange labels. And I love the metal, wood-grained top. And it was less than $4! And it works!

What more can you ask for on the first day of Spring?