And Now.....All The Way From Chateau BowWow....

Before I go any further with more fun and food and start furiously posting recipes, I thought I'd take a moment and introduce you to the head-honcho, big chief, and master taste-tester (aka guinea pig) of our chateau. This way, you can blame the master taste-tester if you don't like one of the recipes I post! (Always thinking, I am.)

So, without further ado, and in the words of Ed McMahon, "Heeeeeere's Hubband"!

Let's get all the niceties out of the way. These are all true, but they make for a really sappy post. And besides he hears it all the time from me anyway! He's an amazing husband, a great dad a super-duper step-dad and the best friend a goil like me could have. We have a ton of fun together, we cry together and we laugh A LOT together. We are just plain good together. And I like him. I'll keep him thankee very much!


Ok, now. The thing ya gotta know about Hubband is this. During the day? He doesn't go to a stark, cold sterile office like the rest of us. Oh. no. He's working at home. And being Mr. Mom. And doing the laundry...yes, ladies...he does laundry. But not windows. He doesn't do windows. Hmmm...come to think of it. Neither do I! See, I told you we were good together!

BUT...by night......as the moon creeps up in the sky, he can often be found heading out to his office. His office, however, doesn't look like mine. It doesn't have an ugly desk and some beige paint on the walls and file cabinets. Nope. His office looks like this....



Yes, that's what his office often looks like. It's him at Radio City Music Hall. Can you see him? Right there...third from the left in the fourth row? See him? No?

His office can also look like this



See all of the adoring fans...those are his. They are all calling for him. But I'm ignoring them and taking his picture from the side of the stage. See him this time? He's right next to that trombone player guy. What? You still can't see him?

He also has worked at his office in Epcot....



Yes, there he is folks....Mr. Hubband....Third from the right. It really is him live from his office in sunny Florida. Or as was the case during this particular Epcot tour...Thunder and Lightening Florida.

So, usually, I am very, very jealous of his office whether its a broadway pit, a famous stage, a sunny location, or a famous stage with thousands of adoring fans. (Except when I get to work along side him as the sax player) But one thing is for sure. I am never, ever jealous of him when he has to work at this office....

Brrrrrr...I'm cold just looking at this. Baby, its cold outside!


So, now you know a little bit about Mr. Hubband aka Recipe-Tester extraordinaire, aka love of my life, aka Trumpet Player extraordinaire etc....etc..... Now we can continue on and get to the recipes. And if you don't like them, well....then I guess it will be Mr. Hubband the Recipe-Tester who lands in the dog house!

xoxoxo until the next tail

What's Keeping Me Out of the Dog House

I have always had a passion for cooking and for good food in general. I consider myself a "foodie", but not in the snobby, must spend $500 on a meal, way. I consider my passion for food and the inclusion of great ingredients an extension of my upbringing and Southern Italian cooking never has to be expensive to be good! (Nor does any other type of food, really)

I grew up surrounded by family members who were wonderful cooks and many of my favorite memories centered around the family table. My grandfather was an avid gardener and would often bring me fresh grapes and more than once "ruined" a big Sunday spaghetti dinner by arriving with a humongous steaming pot of stuffed artichokes....WE were stuffed by the time dinner was served. But it was so worth it!!! To this day, I have only found one stuffed artichoke that has ever rivaled Grandpa's. But it is also prepared differently.

My cooking, and my love for cooking has hit a fever pitch over the past couple years. I email recipes back and forth between my family and we trade tips, secrets, new food blogs and recipes that have worked, not worked etc... I read several food blogs religiously and am always coming up with the next "must-cook" dish.

So, the point is people....Its my cooking that's keeping me out of YE 'OLE dog house!!! It's my cooking!!

So I figured I would start posting about some of the good, the bad and the yummy dishes my guinea pigs...I mean... my family has experienced.

My kids all have their "favorite" recipe and my husband....well...just ask him...he won't even venture into an Italian restaurant anymore because he says I've ruined it for him. Ha!

I'm more comfortable in the realm of cooking rather than baking, but I thought I'd start off with a bang and share this amazing bread that I made several weeks ago for the first time ever.

Giving credit where credit is due....I got the recipe from my cousin and my Aunt who got it from Sullivan Street Bakery who got it from Jim Lahey the owner. Thanks Jim! Thanks Jarr, thanks Aunt Chick! I owe ya'll one!

This is the easiest bread you could ever make. In fact, they say a six-year old can do it. So don't be scared off folks, if I can bake it so can you!

Here is try number one:

Not too bad...but I didn't use the right yeast and it didn't rise enough. But try number two was RIGHT ON!!!

Here it is:

It's PURTY! And is just the most delicious artisan bread. The best part? It's a NO-KNEAD bread and its so simple. You'll never want to buy bread again. I guarantee it! Here's the recipe from Sullivan Street Bakery.

Formula and process created byJim Lahey, owner of Sullivan St Bakery.

formula

3 cups (430g) flour

1½ cups (345g or 12oz) water

¼ teaspoon (1g) yeast

1¼ teaspoon (8g) salt

olive oil (for coating)extra flour, wheat bran, or cornmeal (for dusting)

equipment

Two medium mixing bowls6 to 8 quart pot with lid (Pyrex glass, Le Creuset cast iron, or ceramic)Wooden Spoon or spatula (optional)Plastic wrapTwo or three cotton dish towels (not terrycloth)

process

Mix all of the dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Add water and incorporate by hand or with a wooden spoon or spatula for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Lightly coat the inside of a second medium bowl with olive oil and place the dough in the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough rest 12 hours at room temperature (approx. 65-72°F). Remove the dough from the bowl and fold once or twice. Let the dough rest 15 minutes in the bowl or on the work surface. next, shape the dough into ball. Generously coat a cotton towel with flour, wheat bran, or cornmeal; place the dough seam side down on the towel and dust with flour. Cover the dough with a cotton towel and let rise 1-2 hours at room temperature, until more than doubled in size. Preheat oven to 450-500°F. Place the pot in the oven at least 30 minutes prior to baking to preheat. Once the dough has more than doubled in volume, remove the pot from the oven and place the dough in the pot seam side up. Cover with the lid and bake 30 minutes Then remove the lid and bake 15-30 minutes uncovered, until the loaf is nicely browned.

Simple!!! So, give this bread a whirl (even if you never thought you could bake good bread) you will be sure to astound your fam and your friends with it and ..... you are sure to stay out of the dog house yourself with a loaf or two of this around.

xoxo

Until the next tail.......

They Call It Puppy Love

Winnie The Pooch is loved. She is loved by four boys, a mom, a dad and even by the ganster cat, Mr. Peaches, who I will detail in a future post. But Winnie, she was the first dog of the family and we all love her... but there is a boy...who loves her most of all. They've got that love thang going on.

This....is Winnie.

This is Winnie and the boy.

More Winnie and the boy......

Can you feel the love?

xoxoxox...until the next tail

Spring Has Sprung

It was a very exciting moment yesterday when I found these in the front yard! It was a sign that there will be an end to this VERY long and VERY difficult March. It is also very symbolic of colorful life returning to our home. Tomorrow is not only the first day of Spring, but it is also when Mr. Hubband comes home from a month-long tour in Florida. (He's a musician - these things happen) This was a rough one for me. Not only did we have a foot of snow on the day he was supposed to come back for a visit making it so he could not return home to the Northland at all....but any time he is away from home we are all without someone very special to us. We love him so and can't wait for the Spring to be back in our step!
We love you punkin'!! And we all can't wait till you walk through that door. xoxox until the next tail...

My Holiday Wish List

There is way too much evil in this world. I am convinced of that. There is also too much ill-will and anger toward other people as far as I'm concerned.

If you have a TV, computer or read the newspaper, you know this. If you walk through the halls of an animal shelter, you know this. If you are a child of a nation that is home to a war, you know this. And as middle-class Americans, if you walk down the street or drive in your car, you know this.

You may not actively think of it each time you experience it, perhaps you are inured to it. Perhaps we are so accepting of meanness and cruelty that we only choose to be upset at the most vile and inhumane examples of evil. Its a sad statement of our society. But its reality.

In light of an incident that I witnessed today of someone I know personally being outwardly cruel toward a friend, a friend who has given much to this other individual. A "friend" who is going through a very difficult time right now - I am writing my wish list for this holiday season. This wish list does not include diamonds or pearls or a new car. (I would include a new puppy in the list - but then I'd end up in the dog house!)

This wish list is not for me specifically, but it is MY wish list for the world - for everyone to strive for. For making a better home for my children and for their children. And while it may not be clever, new, or even an exhaustive list, while it may be sugary or sappy to some, these are my holiday wishes for those of us who inhabit planet earth.

1. Kindness in times of trouble, in times of hatred and hardship. Kindness when it seems most difficult to be kind.

2. Compassion for those that are less fortunate in any way.

3. Generosity. In friendship, in love, in spirit, in time, in humor and when you can, in money.

4. Love - for people in general. Differences, disagreements, arguments, nationalities, colors- how can we not love that we are all one thing, one category, ...HUMAN!

Maybe if we took just these four things and utilized them more often...well...maybe the world wouldn't have some much anger, evil, meanness, cruelty and war. 'Cause how the heck can you be cruel to someone if your busy working on being compassionate and kind to them? DUH!

Welp, until the next sappy tail from Le Chateau.....

When the going gets tough....the tough go home

Its everywhere you look and everywhere you listen lately. Its unavoidable and for most people I know, its reality. Its the.....economy. Its life right now and to be perfectly frank (no, my name's not frank...but think of me as frank right now) it really sucks lemons.

There are people that have it worse than we do. I have friends and relatives who have been hit hard, loss of jobs, loss of savings, house values going down and a general difficulty making ends meet. Everywhere you turn, you are faced with the difficulty that is and that is to come for some time. I do truly believe that its going to get much worse before it gets better.

But the question for the day is - what can we learn from this? What can we take away from this difficult time and utilize for the future? How can we turn this into something that we can use to teach our children so that their future is bright instead of just the after-effects of what we left for them? How can we turn around our legacy to the future generations?

First off, we can learn to buy only what we can really afford. We can also place less emphasis on the material good. We can make sure that big financial companies are accountable for their actions, sure. But every time I look at my kids lately and think that this is the mess we are leaving them. Every time I'm sad because there is something that they want and that we have to pick and choose what we can get them. I think...there is something bigger that we can all learn from this. There really truly is. There must be.

Take it or leave it.....but to me...I've found that something. I know what that something is and I will work hard to teach my children this....That when the going gets tough...the tough go home. They embrace their loved-ones, their little ones, their friends and their puppies and kitties. They turn to their family for support and they turn around and lend even more support to those that need them.

It won't fix the economy, but it may just fix something much more important than that.

Family Meeting (aka you're ALL in the doghouse)!

The Family Meeting. In parent speak, we know this really means....you are all in big trouble and we will mask it as a democratic gathering of the minds but by the time we are finished with all you rotten kids...you'll be seeing things OUR WAY for a change. Or the Family Meeting can also be known as "The. Last. Straw."

Anyway, Mr. Hubband and I are blessed in the fact that together we have four handsome, nice, smart and funny children that have blended very easily into a big ole family. They all have their own tastes, their own personalities, their own likes and dislikes. But they have one thing in common....they are all GREAT KIDS. I know. It sounds too good to be true. But its not. They truly are wonderful boys.

EXCEPT. Except when the wind changes, the heavens collide, there is a full moon, their skin turns green, the bat symbol goes up in the sky and they become.... TEENAGERS. It doesn't happen all the time thank GAWD, but when it happens...oh it happens.

And this past weekend? It. Happened. Oh boy did it happen. It triple dipple dog Happened.

I can't speak for everyone. But for me I know that there are those times that we see or hear someone elses child doing something bad at some stage of development (IE. terrible twos) and we think...."If I parent right, MY child will never throw a tantrum." "If I parent well, MY teenager will never be a total self-centered snot bag." "If I am a good parent, MY grown son or daughter will call me with regularity and tell me what's going on in their life and to see how I'm doing."

All right. Pick yourself up off the floor from laughing so hard. I know that at the same time I was thinking these things - there was also the voice of reason trying to break through and speak the truth. This is not reality. But we still hope. And we pray. And we speak to the gods of that far away land of Teenager and hope that they just. don't. talk. back.

But they do. And we blame ourselves. We blame their friends. The Internet. The TV. Then we curse the gods of Teenager and wag our fists at the heavens.

Then when we are done with all the cursing and the blaming and ranting and raving, the light bulb goes on and we know what to do! We have an idea!

Behold. The birth of the Family Meeting. Or the bane of every teen's existence. We get to talk to them! And they have to listen! Oh Boy. Do they HATE That! But we just know it will work. It has to, right? Isn't it what all good parents do? (blech...kidding here folks) What we do know for sure is that the Family Meeting is parent speak for sovereign rule under the guise of democracy.

But this was different. This meeting was good.

Last night's family meeting on the state of the union of our teenagers' 'tudes, well, it was so. well received. They actually got it. Truly got it! And I mean its as if while speaking to these boys that the heaven's above their heads opened up, the sun shone through and a chorus of angels sang in harmony " We get it and we will always be sweet, nice and respectful boys to our wonderful parents".

And then that voice of reality spoke again (I'm not sure if its my mother's voice or not...but sometimes it does sound a lot like her) and she said...." For Now."

Until the next tail......