KELLY JOHNSTON

comfort food

Still getting back on track.

Made this for dinner last night:

It was good. Goes great with a chilly night and a warm fire.

(Cottage Pie from November 2010 Everyday Food)

another day of firsts

George had his first day of school on Tuesday and it went great!

And I thoroughly enjoyed my hour and a half of free time while both kids were in school! Breakfast with a friend (and fellow preschool & kindergarten mom) at Easy Street – I don’t think either of us had been there for breakfast since before kids. It was good. Greasy and good :)

august 24

 

august 10

Yo! George is 2!

 

 
George turned two years old yesterday and we celebrated with a Yo Gabba Gabba party this past Sunday. George is OBSESSED with Yo Gabba Gabba right now so the party theme was a no-brainer. I tried to con Scott into dressing up in this DJ Lance Rock costume for the party, but sadly that was a no-go . . .

I made the invites on my computer thanks to this awesome and FREE printable invitation – thank you Jen! 

And there are countless party ideas on this website. Apparently Yo Gabba Gabba birthday parties are where it’s at for two-year-olds!

 

 
George had a great time and thoroughly enjoyed his favorite part, which was the eating of the cupcake - or as he said every time we mentioned his upcoming birthday party, “CAKE!” Here he is attempting to use both a fork and a spoon! 

 
Happy Birthday my sweet boy!

pinkalicious

Today is Jane’s 5^th birthday! She had a pinkalicious party yesterday afternoon (Pinkalicious is a fun children’s book where a girl eats too many pink cupcakes and turns pink and then has to eat green foods to turn back to normal) and to quote Steel Magnolias, our house “looked like it’d been hosed down with Pepto Bismol”. There were pink balloons, pink streamers, pink flowers, pink wands, pink cream cheese on the bagels, pink M&Ms, pink lemonade, pink cupcakes, a pink piñata . . . you get the idea.

 

 

It was a great party despite the rain happening outside which meant the piñata happened inside with 15 four and five year olds diving for candy in our living room. Amazingly no one got hurt and I think a good time was had by all! 

Although clearly too much of a good time was had by one – here’s a nice shot of George post party :)

just because

I baked an apple pie for Scott last night. It had been a rough couple days and well, apple pie = happy goodness, so despite being tired, I went for it. So glad I did – totally worth all that peeling and quartering and coring and slicing and rolling and waiting.

I used the deep-dish apple pie recipe from the Barefoot Contessa Family Style cookbook with a few modifications: I used 3 pounds of Pink Lady apples instead of 4 1/2 pounds of Granny Smith because that’s what I had on hand. And the zest of one lemon and 2 ½ tablespoons of lemon juice. I omitted the orange (zest and juice) because A: I didn’t have an orange and B: I made this recipe once before with the orange and I thought it was way too overpowering. Oh and I didn't use her crust recipe either. I used my grandma's pate brisee recipe - which is the easiest thing ever by the way - it involves a Cuisinart and all of about 5 minutes.

This pie turned out great – on the tart/lemony side, but I like it that way.

And on a completely different note, I can’t get over how much these peeled apples remind me of the painter Euan Uglow’s work. 

 

 

 

I really need to start painting again. It kind of makes me twitch to look at the faceted sides of these apples . . .

toffee

I made this toffee yesterday to take with us to a party. It’s surprisingly easy and fairly quick. I’ve made it a few times over the years and it always turns out so well. You can find the recipe here. (The version I have leaves out the ½ cup of coarsely chopped almonds or pecans at the beginning and increases the chocolate chips to 1 cup)

The pan I use is a bit smaller than 13 x 9 and I think it would work best with about an 8 x 10 pan if that exists – the toffee gets too thin if you spread it out to the edges.

It’s sooooo good and it makes a lot. It would be perfect to box up and gift. Or you could just keep it all for yourself :)

eggs: hardboiled and photographed

I’ve been playing around with my camera a little bit more lately. Learning through trial and error. Spending more time on Flickr. And thinking that a photography class keeps sounding better and better.

 

 

 

And if you now have a desire to make hardboiled eggs for some reason :) here is my foolproof method - I found it in a magazine years ago and it works like a charm:

1. Gently prick the wide end of each egg with a pin. Prick just through the shell without piercing the membrane.

2. Place the eggs in a single layer in a saucepan. Add enough water to submerge the eggs 1 inch, then bring the pot, uncovered, to a boil. As soon as the water boils, remove the pot from the heat, place the lid on top, and let the eggs sit for 10 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, fill a bowl with ice water. Once the 10 minutes have passed, use a slotted spoon to transfer the eggs to the water.

4. When the eggs are cool enough to handle (after about 5 minutes) they are ready to eat.

grapes

That’s all I’m eating for the rest of the afternoon.

We’re going to Red Robin for dinner with Scott’s parents tonight and I can tell you with 100% certainty that I will be having this for dinner:

 The Banzai Burger. Heaven on a bun.