Ho Hum.

We've been having good but not new or exciting or even remotely spectacular food this week, so I haven't felt particularly inspired to post.

Monday we had takeout--Subway sandwiches for the boys and Thai salad rolls for me (Subway and Tara Thai are conveniently located right across the street from each other, less than a mile from our house).

Tuesday we had beef stew. It wasn't really a stew-y day, since it was in the upper 70s and GORGEOUS, but I had thawed beef chuck left over from the chili that had to get used up. I browned the beef (cut into cubes, of course) and some thinly-sliced onion. Then I sprinkled about 1/2 C of flour over it and sauteed for 30 seconds or so, then did the same with a squirt of tomato paste (LOVE that stuff in the tube!). If I'd had some nice red wine, here's where I would have added it. But I didn't, so I didn't. Then I added water to cover, some salt and pepper, and simmered for a couple of hours. A little less than an hour before we wanted to eat it, I added 2 lbs of buttercream potatoes and about four peeled-and-chunked carrots. Just before serving I stirred in the frozen peas and a little balsamic vinegar. We had it with a nice loaf of brown-and-serve Pugliese from Marsee Baking, and the boys devoured it.

Wednesday we had pasta carbonara, which Number One Son adores (we even had it for his first birthday dinner, lo these many years ago now) and Number Two Son does not (yet). Heat a large oven-safe bowl at 200 degrees. Boil a pound of pasta (spaghetti is traditional, but mini penne are easier for the kids to eat) in nicely salted water. Saute a half-pound of chopped bacon with a little olive oil until crispy, then drain off most of the fat. Whisk three eggs with two medium cloves garlic, pressed, and stir into them 3 oz. grated parmesan. Add about 1/2 C white wine (which I didn't have last night--time to buy another bottle) to the bacon, and reduce by about half. When the pasta is done, dump 1 1/2 C (about) frozen petite peas into its pot, wait 30 seconds or so, then dump it all into a colander in the sink and then quickly back into its pot, so it retains some of its water. Pull bowl out of oven and put pasta/peas into it, then dump egg/cheese mixture over the top with 1/2 t kosher salt. Stir/toss until well mixed, and you can see that the egg is clinging to the pasta and not looking liquid/raw any more. Stir in bacon/wine and freshly ground black pepper. If it doesn't seem completely cooked (or if you're particularly paranoid about possibly consuming a tiny bit of raw egg), pop the whole thing into the still-warm oven while you're getting everyone to the table.

Tonight we had veggie risotto with carrots, asparagus and peas, which I could have sworn I had posted about before here. Apparently I did it as a comment somewhere else, dangit, and I don't feel like typing it all in at the moment. We used to have veggie risotto quite frequently, as Number Two loves it, most ingredients are usually in the pantry, and it works with whatever veggies we happen to have around.

My sister squeezed out her fourth child today, a boy. He's fat and adorable (she says, but I'll take her word for it), and by some miracle the lucky mommy got to do all her birthing during the daylight hours. I'm headed their way soon, and I'm looking forward to meeting the little piker!

I'll see if I can work up the oomph tomorrow to post about two things that kind of dominated my week last week: Leslie Bennetts and her book The Feminine Mistake, and the PBS documentary The Mormons.