leder legends

A cake for Nathan's 50th.  a valiant effort by mom ...I was in a hurry !  ( taste is more important, right?) enjoyed by all! Hard to believe it's been 50 years. Born in Trenton, Ontario.  13months old trip to Massachusetts,  Michigan, Edmonton,  Vancouver and San Jose, Costa Rica. Lived in Costa Rica for 15 months. Traveled by car through Latin America,  Mexico,  Texas to Florida.  Moved to San Juan, Puerto Rico. 1986 one year in Michigan and went to Kindergarten at Westside Christian School. Back to Puerto Rico until 1985. Moved to Toronto (Dad in Grad school) 1987 Moved to Grand Rapids. Michigan  Oakdale Christian school and GR Christian High. Calvin College Solo trip to Europe.  GVSU Toppers Pizza and much more in between  Texas  roadhouse His (older) twin sister went to celebrate in Mexico with a friend.  If she lived in Grand Rapids I would have made her a cake as well!

 Just so I don’t forget. This all started with the latest edition of the Cooks Illustrated magazine. It’s a new format and seems to have a new focus.  I found myself wanting to prepare a lot of the recipes but I did not have all the ingredients required so I shopped first. Today I stared with Guinness Chocolate Cake. I ended up making two so I could use the entire can of Guinness!  One will go in the freezer for a birthday. It was pretty dense.  The thick layer of good cream cheese frosting helped.   Then I made a small batch of cookies- one bowl, one pan, 12 decent-sized Coffee Toffee cookies! ( Arie really likes them but I am not a fan -  not enough coffee).  Then on to the sauces and dip for oven-fried chicken wings. ( I was going to make these for Saturday night but I have since discovered that my DIL and grandson only eat the nuggets and my dear son gave me a long argument about fried versus oven-fried chicken. He says oven fried ...

  Bagels!  I used to love them! Chewy and fresh from the bagel shop and topped with butter and cheese or lox and cream cheese…. Maybe even a strawberry cream cheese! Then came the packaged ones…  They were okay and I certainly bought and consumed my share but they were never very satisfying. Back in the day, my dad (and all 3 brothers) baked bread … really good bread. Wonderful taste and texture and like all of the best bakery bread it had to be eaten fresh to really enjoy it properly!  We used to talk about Wonder bread and call it glue. It was soft as promised in the ads, it lasted on the counter for a long time so it was popular.  It also stuck to the roof of your mouth like glue!  Nasty stuff for the baker and his family. It killed the local bakery shops! It was easily available in the grocery store and it was cheaper to buy.  ( I fail to understand that in economic terms because I remember selling 1 lb loaves at 3 for $1.) Then came the large groc...

Sunday lunch at Texas Roadhouse! Such a treat!  We don’t usually go out to eat on Sunday but the food is down to the very basics in this house so we decided to indulge! Texas Roadhouse has such good steaks and the sides aren’t bad either ! (Please excuse the sideways pictures!) Ribeye cooked just right with Caesar salad and sweet potato! Filet - medium rare with fries and veggie mix!

Lunch was at Applebee’s this week.  We had not been there for a very long time.  The food was only ok so it will probably be a long time before we go back! The lunch special was a good deal! A shared appetizer and 2 entrees for $25. There were a limited list of things to choose from but it appealed to us both. Appetizers- spinach artichoke dip.  Tasty but too much!! Fiesta-Lime chicken and rice Crispy Chicken Tenders salad! Sizzlin’ Butter Pecan Blondie The dessert was not part of the special but we shared and it was worth it !   Any further description of the food would not be very charitable LOL I went back to look at the official menu so that I could identify the dishes accurately and I noticed that each dish had the amount of calories listed.   I was surprised that my salad had only 60 fewer calories than the chicken and rice! It must have been all that breading on the crispy tenders!  I should have taken 1/2 hom...

  Meatloaf used to be a staple in our house especially when I was teaching and there were children at home. One meatloaf for one meal! When there was only one child left, I was more inclined to make meatballs or a stroganoff.  I was definitely lacking inspiration on a very cold winter day.  What is it about the cold that makes us want to just curl up by the fire with a good book and a hot drink? A package of ground beef was thawing on the counter and just staring at me all day.  I tried to ignore it and I suppose it could have been put back in the fridge but I felt obliged to cook … something! I am not sure why.  It’s funny how the mind works! Perhaps I was feeling a bit guilty for my general lack of effort this past week even though I had made an effort the day before.  We had fried brats, the last of the potatoes and some Brussels sprouts and the hubby thought it was delicious!   We even had a restaurant worthy appetizer! A couple of bags...