Cooking and Cats

We have had a lot of time at home this last month. Right now we are in the midst of our 6th snow day, which is maybe a little excessive. During that time we have had lots of time for cooking and we feel lazy if we don't cook. I have been working my way through the Dunham family cookbook while Cali has been moving along through a cookie cookbook (which is a great combination). I have made everything from Coffee Cake to Beef Con Queso. Cashew Chicken, submitted by Leah was one of our favorites. It was a big mess and not particularly healthy, but a fun meal. The sauce especially was good and not too sweet, which is a necessity in our house. We also had a good time with the Beef Burgundy (pictured left). This I have been wanting to try ever since we got our new dutch oven. This was a great way to use some round steak if you have three hours to kill. Many of these recipes were ones that Cali grew up with so they reminded her of being a kid. Some of them she wasn't even sure if she would like if she met them as an adult, but memories of food can change the way we feel about it. We both enjoyed the Hungarian kraut although like many of these recipes we had to freeze 2/3 of it.

While waiting for food to heat up, we have enjoyed sitting in the living room with our fireplace and cats watching a BBC show called Doc Martin. I have been using up some of the wood sitting in our back yard that looks like it has been there for years. A lot of it burns quickly, but every couple hours or so I throw in one of the huge logs that seems to burn for hours. Worf is fascinated with the fire which makes us a little nervous, but he looks pretty cute when he is lounging on the rug in front of it. I couldn't get a good picture of it, but I did catch him hanging out on the footstool. Mali didn't get quite as close and mostly hung out on the futon.