Haven't got time for the pain...or anything else, really...

I have a cold.  In the past month the baby has had two colds, the husband has two colds and the three-year-old has has three colds.  I am just succumbing to my first cold and I'm doing it kicking and screaming.  I don't have time to get a cold.  I was in denial for a few days and then I finally let myself cough.  The sneezes I couldn't stop.  But then sneezing doesn't mean you have a cold really.  What?  Allergy season is pretty much over?  Ok, then.  I have a cold.

So a few days back, sometime last week, I make some amazing Kalbi ribs, or Korean style short-ribs, for the first time.  This was before I had the cold, or before I admitted I had the cold.  They were amazingly easy, which I always like, and super tasty, which keeps the husband happy.  I took pics and planned to write something about them that night but the baby had other plans for me.  Her cold was in full swing and she was not happy and decided no one else should be happy either.  Needless to say, we didn't get a lot of sleep that night.  But at least I had the forethought to take the photos right?  So now, I give you my Kalbi ribs.

KALBI – KOREAN SHORT RIBS

3 lbs. sliced short ribs

2/3 C. soy sauce
1/4 C. sesame seed oil
1/3 C. water
1/2 C. sugar
3 cloves garlic

2 Tbs. crushed toasted sesame seeds
1 onion, sliced
1 bunch scallions, sliced 3 ” long sections 

I left out the onion and scallions because I was in a hurry.

Combine soy sauce, sesame seed oil, water and sugar in a large zip-lock bag.  Shake until sugar is dissolved.  Add garlic, onion and scallions and combine.  Add short ribs and make sure to coat both sides with marinade.  Refrigerate for at least 1/2 hour, but preferably a couple of hours.  After pre-heating grill , cook short ribs about 3-4 minutes per side on medium high.  If you don't have a grill, or if you ran out of propane like we did, you can broil the ribs for 3-4 minutes per side on high and they will turn out great!

When I started cooking the ribs, I took the marinade and boiled it for a few minutes and then threw in some green beans and they turned out divine.  Add a little brown rice and you've got a meal!

Has anyone seen my keys?

Me neither.  But not because I lost them, I just left them at the store.  Confused yet?  Ok, answer me this:  What does Life do when it's out of lemons?  It gives you limes.  And what do you do when Life gives you limes?  Why, make pie, of course!  And we all know Life only has standard limes, not the Key variety.

On Tuesday Lola and I had dentist appointments.  It was great, the ladies in the office passed Lucy around to keep her from crying so I could get my teeth cleaned.  Then they waited for my to nurse her so I could sit with Lola while she got her teeth cleaned.  It was Lola's first time with anything other than the dentist's fingers in her mouth and she did great!  And guess what?  No cavities!  So, to celebrate, I made a lime pie!

While perusing Foodgawker, as I so often do, I found a great little EASY recipe for lime pie at Bake at 350 called Mr. E's Not-So-Key Lime Pie.  I was in the mood for an easy pie and I was fresh out of Key limes, plus, if you get Key limes you have to hire the elves with the tiny hands to squeeze the tiny limes and it just turns into a big hassle.  But, I digress.  So I have limes, and eggs and graham crackers in my pantry and for some reason I happen to have a can of sweetened, condensed milk.  Can you believe I had all the ingredients?!  I know, I could hardly believe it myself.  So I crushed, baked, zested, mixed, and baked again.  And viola!  Exceptionally easy, yet tremendously tasty lime pie!  I even zested and juiced fresh limes instead of using pre-packaged stuff.  For those of you who know how lazy I am, that's how easy it was.  You can find the recipe here, give it a whirl!

Can't Run in the Rain

Well I can't.  I suppose technically I am physically capable of running in the rain; or just running period.  But I think my brain, and therefore my body, would draw the line if it started raining.  Everything would shut down and I would require a serious warm beverage to remedy the situation.  Last Sunday this was not the case for my sister Amy and my friends Jamie and Jason.

These poor, misguided souls did their first half marathon, the Skagit Flats Half-Marathon...in the rain.  When I call them misguided it is purely in jest.  They knew exactly what they were doing and went about the whole thing in a very planned, focused way.  And while it is something I can guarantee that I will never do, I was pretty freakin' impressed with the three of them.

The three of them have been training for months and Amy and Jason flew in from Austin, TX for the event.  Even better, the race was held on the weekend after my and Amy's birthdays so we go to celebrate those together for the first time in several years. 

The husband, girls and I wanted to catch the end of the race, which was taking place in Burlington, WA, so we packed into the Jeep at 9 in the morning and headed north.  They had already been running for an hour when we left.  Gluttons for punishment I tell you.  We arrived at the finish line a few minutes after Jason finished and just in time to see Jamie finish.  I was really excited that we got there in time to get settled in and get the camera out to catch Amy crossing the finish line on film.  It was a beautiful thing.  I cried a little.

Mom made the drive as well and she and Lola were Amy's personal cheering squad.  Lola even brought her pom-poms!

 I suppose I have the same determination for something other than running but it must be hidden somewhere...deep, because I can't seem to find it these days.  Not only did they train and run but they planned.  After the run we, plus several other friends and family members, met for a late lunch at Skagit River Brewery in the next town over.  It was sort of a post run-birthday-haven't seen you forever celebration and it was great.  We got to see people we don't see often, we had good food and good beer, and I made cup cakes!

Now, I'm no Cupcake Royale, but they turned out pretty good.  I have to admit I cheated a bit on the cupcakes;  I used a boxed carrot cake mix.  However, I embraced my inner Sandra Lee and fancied them up a bit.  I added a cup and a half of shredded carrots and about a cup of slivered almonds.  Oh, and I threw in a handful of raw oatmeal for good measure.  Much better.  I did make my own cream cheese frosting.  When I was shopping for the ingredients my husband said, "This can't be cost effective, why don't you just buy the frosting?".  He just doesn't understand.  I also make the frosting pink because, let's face it, somethings just taste better when they're pink.

It was an awesome day and it was great to see everyone.  I'm still impressed with the feat Amy, Jamie and Jason accomplished and I'm pretty sure I'll continue to be impressed for quite some time.  My husband says he's down for the next round.  Have fun with that.

Don't Forget to Refill

This is my inaugural post and for the occasion I baked something sweet!  Inspired by Starbucks Cranberry Bliss Bars, I decided to make Cranberry Almond Cookie Bars.  There are a few reasons I didn't actually make Cranberry Bliss Bars.  The foremost being that I like trying out things that I come up with in my head.  But that rule can easily be overridden by my tendency to be lazy.  However, laziness is the other reason I tried my own recipe.

I looked up a recipe for the Starbucks treat and discovered that they took brown sugar.  Last time I made some kind of tasty cake I used all the brown sugar and was too lazy to write it on the list.  Hence, no brown sugar for Cranberry Bliss Bars.  So after the initial laziness to write the brown sugar my general forgetfulness took over and I have yet to purchase or write brown sugar on the shopping list.  And it's not the only ingredient I'm lacking in my pantry.

I like to keep a rough mental list of what is in my pantry and what is not.  When I decided on what to put in my Cranberry Almond Bars I was pretty sure I had everything I needed.  Unfortunately, (or maybe fortunately), the list in my head was a little rougher than I thought.  I had everything I needed EXCEPT one of the title ingredients.  See, we had had a bag of Craisins in the pantry forever so I was pretty sure they were still there.  I was wrong.  Upon assembling my list of ingredients I came up short in the cranberry department.  Lucky for me I had a bag of mixed dried fruits (cherries, cranberries, raisins and plums) marketed as an Antioxidant Blend by Sunsweet.  I figured they'd work so I threw them in the pile and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised.

 

Get it:

1/2 cup salted butter
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure almond extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
*3/4 cup almond bark, rough chopped (can use white chocolate chips as substitute)
*3/4 cup Craisins (or your preference of dried fruit, chopped to 1/4 in. pieces)
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup slivered almonds
1 bottle Wilton ready to use cookie icing, white (that's right, I cheated on this part)

* if you're feeling froggy, throw in a whole cup instead


Do it:

Cream butter and sugar until fluffy.  Add eggs, one at a time, mixing after each addition.  Add almond extract and mix well.  In a separate bowl, combine flour, salt, and baking soda; stir with a whisk to combine.  Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix until you have about 1/2 cup of the dry ingredients left.  Add the almond bark and Craisins and mix until just combined.  Spread into a greased 9x13 baking dish.  Top with a thin, but complete, layer of slivered almonds  Bake at 375 degrees for 25-28 minutes, or until golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out mostly clean.  Immediately after you remove the pan from the oven, string the frosting on in a patter of your choice.  Cool completely, enjoy!