Thanksgiving

Pumpkin Mufflette. Just made that up on a challenge from Joe. It's a mini pumpkin pie made in a muffin tin. 1 can pumpkin, 2/3 cup soymilk thickened on the stove with 2 tsp cornstarch, 1/2 cup sugar, 2 eggs, the usual spices. 1 premade pie crust. 400 degrees, then 350 til set.
We had a turkey breast instead of the whole bird. I was pleased with the results, even though supposed turkey popper never popped (because there wasn't one). But this bird was actually tender and juicy. We used the left over bones for soup.
Our meal included turkey (me), spinach salad (mom tilsch), homemade dinner rolls (mom parrino), zuchinni casserole (mom tilsch), green beans (mom parrino), roasted veggies (mom parrino), baked sweet potato mash with apple sauce (mom tilsch), cranberry sauce (can), dairy-free pumpkin pie (me)and apple pie (dad tilsch, from the tree in their backyard)
Everyone's so enamored with Munchie that there's always eager volunteers waiting to change his daiper. *Sigh*, must this alternate universe come to an end?

Who eats whom?

Just a little series of Stephen v. plush lion from Bill and Kaye Munday.

Lovable laughter

This one has sound, so get your headphones ready.
In case you're wondering, I had to jump up and down and flail my arms like a muppet to get this footage.

Belated 3 months

I've been so busy with the freelance project for the New Era that I failed to commemorate Stephen's three-month birthday yesterday :-(

I only took one photo of him... so this is what's going up.
Some milestones in the last few weeks:
1. discovering and sucking on his fists
2. Full-out laughter
3. Lots and lots of cooing, to himself
4. scooching out of his crib bumpers up to the corner of his crib
5. Learning how to take naps *gasp* in the daytime!!!

A video of the adorable giggler is forthcoming.

Panettone

It's the Italian's version of fruit cake, but way better :-) So says my friend Kai, and I agree.

Though it looks like it'd be a dense cake, Panettone reminds both Joe and I of the spongy sweet bread sold at Chinese bakeries. It's like the angel food cake of the yeast bread world. And the raisins and orange peel are much yummier than you'd expect.

Hananoki or Hanoiko?

Joe and I celebrated our unofficial anniversary yesterday. We left the munchie with our neighbors, Beau and Rachel, who are expecting their own baby girl :-) Then headed to Clarksville's Hananoki restaurant for sushi. Joe ordered these flowers as a special surprise for me... alas, they didn't make it to the restaurant until our meal was finished. I suspect that the butchering of the name of the restaurant on the tag might have had something to do with it? Joe and I joked that Hanoiko would be a Greek-Japanese place serving teriyaki moussaka or tempura in titziki... Well. The flowers were lovely. Hydrangeas are my favorite flowers and I really like the little inchworm-green mums and what girl doesn't like red roses. Also the square vase with marbled stones is very classy, don't you think? When the flowers die, I want to put some guppies or a beta in the vase. Haven't had pet fish in a long time.
OK, shifting gears. Let's eat fish. We shared a spider roll, "spring" roll with seaweed salad and dabs of sriracha on top and the volcano roll with spicey imitation crab shreds with torched edges. After dinner with perused Books-A-Million and bought another Leo Lionni book --Swimmy--for the Munch. I've been trying to collect them because Stephen really seems to gawk at the illustrations whenever I read them to him.

Quesadillas, cake mix cookies and anniversary

After having the chicken quesadilla at Coffee And... the other day, I decided to make my own with shredded chicken breast (baked in the toaster over in olive oil and lemon juice) and diced red bell pepper, tossed with salsa and sprinkled with cheddar.
And I've been craving both chocolate and cookies lately with the weather starting to act like it should in November. These are uber easy... inspired by Kai, who first turned me on to cake mix cookies. Just dump a chocolate cake mix in a bowl (on sale at Kroger for $1!) add two eggs, 1/2 cup oil and mix. Then plunk heaping spoonfuls onto a cookie sheet and bakeuntil the tops look set at 350 degrees. I ate three of these soft giants before Joe got home from work to take me out to dinner for our unofficial anniversary.

Canelini Bean Soup

Got this out of my 3 and 4 ingredient cookbook that I bought to read while I was in labor (and didn't read while I was in labor)

Simmer:
4 cans diced tomatoes with herbs
4 can canelini beans
small head savoy cabbage
olive oil for drizzling
salt and pepper to taste.

Add the beans last so they don't fall apart too much.
It was pretty tasty and very healthful. I ate it for breakfast before toting it in a crockpot to church.

Coffee And... Stephen

Stephen had another checkup today. He weighs 10 pounds, 2 ounces! He gained more than 2 lbs in a month. Woo hoo! and is 22 1/2 inches long.

I've been doing a little freelance work for the New Era this week. So after his check up we went downtown to scope out some gift ideas for the New Era gift guide. Stephen eventually got hungry for lunch, so I fed him at "Coffee And..." Then I fed myself :-) Chicken Quesadilla, hold most of the cheese. The tortilla was really delicate and packed with tender chicken, tomato and a little green bell pepper. Really yummy.

I also found a copy of Leo Lionni's Fredrick at Books On Main. Since Stephen is starting to seem like he enjoys me reading to him, I decided to buy it. He loves looking at my other 2 Leo Lionni books.

All in all, a nice morning for us.

Happy in the morning

This is for you, Mom.

spinach pies

Inspired by the yummy snacks at a middle eastern bakery on the west side of Cleveland. Recipe and words to come.

Stevercize

When I came home from the grocery store this morning, this is what I found.

Smiley guy

Some of you are probably a lot more interested in the exploits of the little munchie than those of the moody foodie. Stephen has been smiling a lot more lately. Today I even got him to giggle just after this photo was taken.

Stocking the fridge

I've been in a cooking frenzy the last couple of days... Last week I made a pumpkin pie without using condensed milk... or tofu (which some vegan recipes call for). The dessert was thrown together between baby duties so the crust is very messy.. just 1 1/2 cup flour, 1/4 cup canola oil, 1/4 tsp salt mixed and sprinkled with water and pressed into the bottom of a pie plate. (Stephen was crying at this point, so I didn't try to make it look pretty.) The filling: about 1 can pumpkin, 2/3 cup soy milk, 2/3 cup sugar and random shakes of cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon and allspice. Oh and two eggs. That's it. Pour it in and bake at 350 until a knife came out clean.

I also filled my fridge with buttercup squash, nuked in 1/2 inch water per the sticker on the outside of the vegetable and mashed with butter and salt. A psuedo lasagna with spinach, mushrooms, chicken meatballs, prego and rotini with parmesan and mozzerella on top. Chicken fajitas using the sweet red bell peppers on sale at kroger for 68 cents. Turkey meatloaf with cauliflower and red bell peppers and oats. And an odd chicken potpie with zucchini, carrot, onion and spiced with curry and tandoori masala... with biscuits on top since i'm not so good at making pie crust!

Stephen's 2-month party with Wongs and Tilsches

On Saturday, the day before Stephen's two-month birthday, we had a Chinese-style baby party at Smiling Buddha off of Golf Road. My parents have been ordering dishes not on the menu and eating their popular sizzling rice soup and chatting it up with the owner Mu-i for ... well... decades.
Stephen was well behaved as he made his rounds. My Aunt Susie and my cousin Christina are seen here.
sizzling rice soup, post-sizzle
Fish fillet with baby bok choy, peppercorn shrimp with pickled cabbage... We also had a soft tofu and beef dish, beef atop an oversized nest of fried mee fun noodles, beef chow fun (cantonese for wide rice noodles, not fried rice as it would be in mandarin), cashew chicken and lots of hot Chinese tea (not me of course, I avoid caffinating my already over-active son).
We had bakery goods from Chiu Quon bakery (on Argyle st. in Chicago) for dessert-- seen here are mini custard pies, flaky apple pies, red bean moon cakes. We also had coconut tarts and those chewy rice balls that are coated in sesame seeds, filled with red bean and deep fried. Mu-i also brought out "American dessert" of fortune and almond cookies.
Stephen enjoyed his pacifier.
Me, my aunt Susie's sister-in-law Sue Yee, my cousin John Tilsch, my grandma Marjorl Tilsch, my dad, mom, cousin Jonathan Wong, Uncle John Wong, Aunt Susie Wong, cousin Christina Wong,Cousin Richard Wong. My uncle Doug Tilsch and his gal Nilda met us at our house after the late lunch.
My cousin John Tilsch is a natural with Stephen... here they share a cute moment :-)

Chi-town chow

My mom made sure I got to eat my favorite meals while we visited my side of the family the last three days.Thai Garden on Golf Road has been the subject of a previous post. I love their panang with vegetables and tofu, "Popeye" chicken (served in sweet peanut sauce over wilted spinach) and shrimp pad thai. This was our meal with Nan on Wed night when we first got into town. So good that I even ate leftovers for breakfast one morning.
Lou Malnati's Salad (mushrooms, tomatoes, black olives, proscuitto crunchies and gorgonzola over spring mix tossed in a sweet vinaigrette) and big fat rings of calamari so tender I wondered if it was fully cooked.
Joe and I also managed a casual lunch date at the Corner Bakery attached to Maggianos. I had the California style panini with artichoke, zuch and other veggies. Joe had caprese on a baguette. Thanks to Chappelears for the Maggianno's gift card for Joe's birthday.

Meeting "Great-Nan-Ma" Tilsch

My grandma, who goes by "Nan," flew in from Green Valley Ariz. to meet her first great-grandchild. Stephen slept through their very first introduction.

But he made up for it later :-)

Wild Mango

On Tuesday night, Joe and I got all gussied up and went on an honest to goodness date. Wild Mango is a newer restaurant at Great Northern Mall in North Olmsted, a west Cleveland suburb.
I had the Salmon Duo... perfectly cooked salmon cinched together with a scallion and nestled in whipped garlic potatoes with a teriyaki glaze, a mango and cucumber relish and pesto topped salmon on a block of sushi rice with a gingery sauce drizzled at the bottom.
We split a vietnamese spring mix salad with prawns, peanuts, soft rice noodles drenched in sauce at the bottom and fried rice noodles mounded on top. There were also delicate sweet potato spring rolls in the mix. YUM!

Joe ordered the duck, which came with sweet potatoes and an eggplant salad. In true Tilsch style, he let me sample all of his food before wolfing it down :-)
After our hot date, we went to best buy and got a flip cam then Target to pick up another pack of diapers. Don't we know how to be romantic!

Meeting the Parrinos and Giammos

Grandma G and Auntie Barbie try to entertain the little guy.

Fall foliage portraits