the three months mark

Well. We have reached the three months mark. Baby is still alive, and is even growing and he seems quite happy, so I probably haven't done too much damage.

To commemorate the happy occasion, I started working on my PhD again. I'm telling you, it was so weired, dropping him off at his bubby L.'s place and going home to work. It's not the first time i'm leaving him with grandparents and going off to do stuff, but it's the first time i've done it in order to get some work done. I don't mind telling you I felt quite the separation anxiety.

Also, today we have the Special of the Day! quick schnitzel and noodles, which came out really good. Here goes:

marinate some flattened chicken breasts in a mixture of plum sauce, soy sauce and garlic, for about an hour. after changing baby's diaper, feeding the baby and changing him again, dip the breasts, without wiping, in flour, then in beatten egg, then in panko (extra crispy japanese bread crumbs) and fry. While all this is happening, cook some quick noodles - I have a pack of odon noodles for this occasion and see why baby is crying.
Leave baby in other room. Sit down and eat. Very good with mustard on top.

For dessert i'm having krembo. Top first. so there.


Note added:
Of course, i'm talking about dipping the chicken breasts in flour etc., not your own! Babies don't take fried food yet at this age...

Full of zest

Really, I do not know what befell me. After nearly a week of being heavy and tired, not to say sleepy and pained, today I woke up ready to conquer the world, preferably the multy-tasking way.

So what's on the agenda? Cooking and baking!
I have already put in the oven a large batch of Fairy's granola, with cranberries instead of raisins, and right after that I shall make a few personal-sized rhubarb and raspberry torts. Recipe to that will arrive after they're made, when I decide exactly how to do them.

Also, all the wonderful soup recipes from the "stirring the cauldron" venture made me feel like souping, and so I am making some underground soup - potatos, sweet potatos, onions and leeks, carrots and mushrooms, will all combine into a thick, wintery soup for tonight. Also in store: sirloin strips in fresh mushrooms and guiness gravy (I reserved some in the freezer from a previous cooking craze).


Now, I know what I promised you. Some pictures of the latest craftiness that had attacked me last week. Here it is, then:

for mom and dad's kitchen

For little niece's room

and for little Ponchik's nursery

All presents have been delivered, and were well received. The only one left to still experience all the pressies is little Ponchik, of course. He's due in about two and a half weeks, and I know he's as impatient as I am for us to meet face-to-face already.

Well, back to the kitchen. Lots to do!

Today is the day! Soup Day!

Remember this? It's joint soup day on Tufinim et al.! And what a day for winter soups! it's cold outside, grey and raining. I do believe this initiative has invoked the winter Gods from their slumber....

Today I'm going to share with you one of my ultimate winter soups - My mother's pea soup. It's hot. it's chunky. it's full of peas. And it has real-life clouds in it, just like a real winter! what else do you need in life?

Cloud Pea Soup

ingredients:

3 medium sized onions

1 pack of frozen peas (800 g)

2 eggs

some white flour

salt, pepper

preparation:

1. Chop onions thinly and fry in a pan until golden.

2. Fill a pot with water - about 2 litres. Boil, and add the fried onions with a bit of salt.

3. In a bowl, lightly whisk eggs with some salt and pepper. Add flour, a spoonful at a time, and mix well, until you get a thick consistency, like heavy cream. Then add some water - get it back down to the consistency of yogurt.

4. When the soup in the pot is boiling, lower heat and drop in 1/3 spoonfuls of the batter.

5. Cook for another 15 minutes, then add the peas. You don't have to thaw them in advance, but you can. Cook until peas are cooked, about 10 minutes more. Taste and fix the seasoning before serving.

That's it. I don't have one ready, so no mouth-watering pictures, I'm afraid. But I can see into the near future, and from here it looks soupy. And peay. And cloudy.

And don't forget, all you Hebrew readers, to go check out the other blog entries on this yummy venture, via Tufinim website....

Stirring the cauldron

Mona from Tufinim has published a venture for joint winter writing. The subject is winter soups. To all my overseas readers, we haven't actually reached winter here yet, and hopes are high that communal winter-soup writing shall bring the desired season closer to us.

So: look out for winter soups in all your favorite foodblogs, coming this november 20th!