Grandma-time

and the livin’ is easy

Paula’s visit was great (although too short). And she came packin’ the lastest issue of Cooks Illustrated with the intent to make us blueberry scones. Being an Italian mother, P’s philosophy is “Food is love”. Well. Love is many things but it ain’t food. Food is fuel. Love is a many splendor thing. Love makes the world go round. Love will keep us together. Love will tear us apart. Love hurts. All you need is love. Modern love. Tainted love. Chains of love. Love me tender. Love potion #9. Love is in the air. Love is a battlefield. Love is like oxygen. Higher love. Endless Love. Crazy little thing called love. See? Not one word about food.

But do you want to know what I love? Those blueberry scones! Oh my god they were good. So good that it might just be worth the time and mess to make a batch myself. Especially since you can make them beforehand, toss ‘em in the freezer and then put them in the oven on a Sunday morning while the coffee is still brewing. Hmm, might be a project for tomorrow.

What else do I love? Cooks Illustrated!!* Do you know about this magazine?! It’s fantastic. Not only does it tell you what and how to do things, it also tells you what not to do. As in: don’t try doing it this way - we did and it sucked. Now that’s handy. And tips like: freeze the stick of butter and then grate it with a cheese grater. Who would have thought of that? (All Executive Chiefs are requested to keep their mouths shut!) Chris actually got the issues from ’05 and ’06 hardbound from his mom for Christmas. But it wasn’t until this week that I pulled them out and looked through them. Oh the scientific kitchen joy. Tuesday night I made their pan-roasted potatoes to have with our White Sea bass**. Again – oh my god they were good.

Tonight I made Pasta Caprese. I don’t want to keep repeating myself, so I’ll just say it was delicious. And easy! The trick? Freeze the mozzarella for 10 minutes before adding it to the pasta. No more rubbery inedible cheese. It was perfect. I’m hooked.

I would type out the recipe for you a la Bad Home Cooking, but you’ll have to leave a comment and ask for it. I’ve only got one more week of maternity leave and someone has got to save Zelda!



*I know, you told me about it first Sain’t – and you were right. It is perfect for Chris. And it turns out that it’s perfect for me too! (Chris says I have an engineer’s brain. I’m not sure how I feel about that)

** Chris has a recipe for WSB that is called Sex Sauce. And yes, it is worthy of the name. Let me know if you want that recipe too.