My Year of Meaningful (2011)

I am sooooo freakin excited about Valentine's weekend.... our first trip out of the country since July.  I am busy (when I'm not busy being busy) trying to find el supremo luxury hotel in the right location with the right amenities (can someone say babysitting service?) and the right sheets.  Then I need to make THE MASTER LIST of what we need to bring/do, since this will include bringing along the Youngling, and all of her affairs. 

My main objectives are going to be:
eating seafood
eating fusion food
eating sushi
eating seafood
drinking champagne
running on the beach
sleeping

heaven.

So the weekend was fine.  Nondescript, kind of. It's freakin HOT, I do know that.  I'm actually kinda looking forward to winter, as bizarre as that may sound.  I've been sleeping like CRAP lately and I'm sick of all these summer factors like "if you don't put the sun screen up in the car while you're in the shop, you'll die", or "water the garden twice or day or your spinach will die", and "don't even bother trying to cuddle your hubby lest you suffocate".  Also I kind of miss red wine & red port.  Copious amounts of white wines and white port have been great but I'm ready for crock pot dinners and fire in the fireplace, I think.

The 75th b-day party for Frau Meister was pretty decent.  We got there and there were like 20 some odd people there (mainly her young students & their parents) and a makeshift "recital" ensued.  Thank God she didn't make me play anything.  And that would be just like her too - "Oh wayward one, please come up and play something you haven't practiced".  There was punch.  There was potluck.  There was.... Paganini on videotape.  We left before 8.   Tony & his Mrs. were there so we talked to them for awhile.  My heart goes out to FM - she is so frail.  I know she has a health condition but I don't know what it is because I havent asked.  But her violin looks bigger than she does... put it that way.

We also finally got around to watching "Angels and Deamons" this wknd.   It made me realize how badly I kept up with 2009's movies.  The Oscar season always reminds me of that.   I don't recognize the names of half the movies that are out, out there at the moment.  Uh-oh.  I hate that.  And it doesnt help that our video store SUCKS ASS...  nothing current and everything semi-current is OUT.  ALL THE TIME.   But I will try.  I'm chasing their ONE copy of "The Hangover" right now...

OMG I am a kitchen GENIUS.  Yesterday I took 2 fillets of butterfish, & a few beetroots (fresh from my garden) and NO recipes... and orchestrated what could certainly be considered the dinner of the century.  Pardon me while I write this down for posterity:

Butterfish in Muscadel sauce  (by ME):
Make sauce first, as follows....
1. Sautee onions, a minced chilli pepper, & garlic in butter & oil
2. Reduce down a good cup or so of White Muscadel (white port)
3. Add 1/2 cup or so of brown sugar
4. Add herbs of choice (I used fresh basil, parsely, sage & mint)
5. Add sliced mushrooms
6. Add tomato-based something or other to taste (I used homemade salsa - no more than a 1/2 Cup - it's just to balance the sweetness with something acidic, and to turn the sauce reddish)
7. Keep reducing, let thicken as much as possible
8. When all is mixed & reduced, add a dollop of sour cream & about 1T of butter, and then the secret ingredient: a dash of maple syrup.  Mix and set aside (keeping warm).
9. Pan-fry butterfish fillets in butter (with some oil to keep butter from burning) and lemon juice, season with salt and pepper.
10. Top fish with sauce & serve!   YUMMMM- MEEE.

Now, for my new invention:
Beetroot salad with feta...
1. Boil, peel, & dice beetroot (I used about 4 small ones)
2. Sautee onions about 1/2way (not too soft) & mix in with beets
3. Toss all in some olive oil and the brine/juice from a jar of sweet & sour pickles
4. Add a complementary amount of roasted/salted cashews
5. Add a couple diced pickles (from out of the same jar you used the juice from)
6. Add some diced up pickled peppers (or pickled anything, really)
7. Garnish with fresh dill & coriander  - or toss together
8. Lastly, throw in cubes of feta cheese but don't toss because it'll all go pink from the beets and it looks nicer when it's white.

If I had to do it over again (which I will) I'll probably find a nice green veg to throw in as well, for extra color. I'm thinking maybe just some plain old cold green peas would do.

I gotta get creative with these beets because they were the most plentiful item I got out of my garden this year and when I say plentiful I mean a shitload.

So now, back to planning for the big trip.  Only 9 days left.  Lots to do.  For one, we are busy working on "how to sit still for a long time in one place" since the trip will include one flight from here to JNB, then another flight from JNB to CT.  And back.  All on little tiny planes with no baby beds.  Good times!  Good times!  She is currently happy to oblige, today we managed a successful 45 minutes on her blanket & another 30 on her chair with her stuffed cow and a post-it note... but that was when she was fresh & rested and I gotta be figuring in that her schedule will be completely thrown off by spending oh, several hours in transit, without a venue for napping, I'm trying to cover all my bases.  Thus we've also been rehearsing "how to fall asleep in the sling-thing instead of your bed @ naptime", because that's a practical thing that we can manage as carry on & in the airport, etc.  It's been working well at home, but I gotta take this routine out in public this weekend to test it out in a foreign environment to see how it goes.... because I promise you, a baby without a nap is like, one mother of a liability!!!

Labels: food, trip planning