Cioppino Night

The third Friday of each month, Kestrel hosts "Simple Supper." It is a family style meal and everyone sits at big tables (sometimes with people you don't know) and eats the same thing. February's theme was Cioppino Night and a few of us with small children decided to go together and enjoy some wine and great food. There were 7 kids between 4 couples and it was good fun!

Bitty, Baby Andrew, and his mama Elaine

This is Ann & Ed (the parents to little Eddie of the Goodnight Kiss post a while back). Ann is the wine club manager for the winery and I am her trusty sidekick!

Eric took this picture... note that the wine is in focus, we know where his priorities are, huh? :)

Emily, Clara, & Ray

Farmer's Pasta

The other day I was inspired by this recipe... Farmer's Pasta. Which turns out is fancy pants mac'n'cheese; very, very delicious and a total pain in the derriere to prepare!

This recipe serves 8-10. In fact, it made so much that I divided it between two dishes and put one in the freezer for some evening I don't feel like cooking. It is even better the next day as leftovers.

FARMER'S PASTA

2 T olive oil

6 oz pancetta, chopped (I used bacon; much cheaper and easier to find)

4 t minced garlic

1/3 c flour

7 c whole milk

8 oz Fontina, grated (honestly, keep in mind that cheese melts the same sliced which is a 1/4 of the work of grated)

4 oz Mozzarella, grated

3/4 c Parmesan, grated

6 oz Provolone, grated

1 lb rigatoni pasta

3 T chopped fresh Italian parsley

3 T chopped fresh basil

4 chopped green onions

Kosher Salt and fresh ground black pepper

2 c bread crumbs (coarse if you can get them... I make them homemade)

Saute up pancetta (bacon) until crisp. Using a slotted spoon remove pancetta (bacon) to a small bowl, set aside. Pour off all drippings but 1/4 cup (if necessary add olive oil to make 1/4 c total). Reduce heat to medium, add 3 t garlic and saute for 30 seconds or until fragrant. Add flour and whisk for 2 minutes. Gradually whisk in milk (TIP: Gradual addition is important, as is the temperature of the milk, cold milk added too quickly often results in curdling of your bechamel which is GROSS - I microwave the milk until lukewarm)

Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, reduce heat to medium and simmer until the sauce thickens a bit, whisking often, about 8 minutes. Gradually whisk in the cheeses. Add pepper to taste.

Meanwhile, bring large pot of salted water to a boil and cook pasta until almost al dente.

Drain pasta and add directly to sauce. Stir.

Add parsley, basil, pancetta (bacon), and green onion. Mix to coat. Pour into a casserole dish.

Heat 1 T olive oil and add remaining garlic and saute until fragrant. Remove from heat and toss bread crumbs to coat. Sprinkle crumb mixture over pasta.

Bake in a 375 F oven for 20 minutes or until bread crumbs are golden and sauce bubbles.

I did not get a picture of the gooey, creamy finished product as the family was hungry and mutiny was hanging in the balance if they were not fed immediately. :) Make this, you'll love it... enjoy!

President's Day Wknd Activities

McKENNA, BROOKE, & BITTY

We spent the weekend in Shoreline at Eric's best pal's home! Rob, Alix, and their two girls, were our hosts with the most.

Everybody loves bathtime...

Have you ever tried to get three small children to cooperate and look at the camera while you attempt to keep them from drowning one another in the bathtub?

On Saturday we went to the Woodland Park Zoo. It was cold, rainy, and a total blast! We saw all sorts of animals, a lot of whom were snuggled together and snoozing - to avoid the weather I imagine.

Brooke & McKenna had matching Valentine's outfits... too cute!

Sunday, we had a Daytona 500 party. As most of you know, Eric is an auto-racing nut and Rob is his auto-racing nut soulmate. I have no photos b/c Eric and Rob had too much beer & whiskey to man a camera and Alix & I were either watching children or the race... oops. It was A LOT of fun. Thanks to the Anderson's for having us! :)

Babybook

Honestly, what would we do without Aunty Staci? Certainly, life would be so very much duller! Stace came 'round for a visit Wednesday and Thursday. The intention of her visit was to assist her hopelessly lost & terminally uncreative sister finish AddyLouHoo's baby book.

AddyLouHoo loves Aunty Staci.

I was able to unleash my culinary talents and prepared Angelhair with Clam & Crab Marinara and fresh baked Pugliese Sponge Bread, followed by Coconut flan. On Thursday, Staci was present for the midwife's February visit and I made VeggieHead Black Bean Sloppy Joes on homemade BBQ buns and a mixed greens & herb salad. You should have seen Staci's reaction to some of the conversation... she is so not ready for the miracle of pregnancy and childbirth, although I wish she would hurry up - I can't wait for her and Boss to have a TinyBoss. Can you imagine how blond, blue eyed, and pale complected that kid will be?

This is the face Bitty makes when she "rocks out." Otherwise recognizable as singing and dancing.

She wanted to help...

... but wasn't very helpful and all we could say was no, no, Nooooo, no-no-no-no-no. Needless to say, she was incredibly frustrated with scrapbooking.

We went out for Chukar cherries and stopped at Linda's handbag store, Get A Grip! Sweet outfit, huh?

Shala & Caleb

You cannot deny this little man's charm! He is so very handsome.

Nice hair Adelaide.

Caleb & his mama, Shala, came for a visit today and we had a lovely lunch, quiet chat, and took a stroll to the park. The sun was shining and the park was filled with little girls... Caleb was the only boy in sight. Which was slightly odd, but then again what's normal, eh? It was a really nice afternoon. Here's to good friends!

Pigtails

She's not a baby anymore... she talks, she walks (runs), and has hair long enough for "piggies" as she calls them. This stage of parenting has lots of challenges, but is the most fun yet!

This was snapped during a mischievous giggle fit... her face is awful adorable. I just want to squish it and kiss it all the time!

Havin' a baby.

We've been attending birthing class... a la midwives. If you did not already know, we are happily using a midwife instead of an OB this go round. As a closing to the class, we invited our midwives and the other couple taking the class to dinner.

Robin (due March 3), her daughter Kimberly, me, Lori (midwife), Alex (Kristin's son), Kristin (midwife).

Here's Robin relaxing after we gorged ourselves on Porterhouse steaks and apple pie! She and her husband are from middle of nowhere, northwestern Montana. They are a great couple and this is their second child and second midwife & homebirth baby. We really like them.

Here we are showing off the belly... I am only 21 weeks along (gestation is 40 weeks, for those of you wondering) and it is very obvious that I will once again sport a HUGEMONGOUS belly before this over. (If you need a reference go back and find the "Bitty's 6 months" post from last February). I have been surprised by how different this pregnancy has been, however in the belly bigness category it appears there will be little difference - certainly I couldn't get any larger than last time!