Creature Comfort

Right now I'm enjoying day 2 of being snowed in. How often does it happen in adulthood that snow shuts down one-and-a-half days of work? (That should give you a hint as to how bad the snow is here in Omaha.)

My boss woke me up this morning at 7:45 a.m. I thought it was my alarm and hung up on him. He forgave me and told me not to brave the cold or the unplowed streets. I was jumping around like a kid while Meg took a shower and got ready to dig out her car. We made a solid effort at getting her out, but her wheels spun and spun. Hours later, the neighborhood still isn't plowed, and neither is most of our driveway. So methinks I shall stay bundled up under a fleece blanket, writing more, reading more, and perhaps watching Little Women.

This pasta would be the perfect lunch if only I had any bacon left: It's homey, salty, crunchy. Everything you need when the windchill is -18 and the snow in the driveway passes the one-foot mark.

Macaroni with bacon, parm and butter: from Orangette

Boil some salted water to make the pasta (cook until pasta is tender but crisp to the bite). Cook your bacon. Drain your pasta. Melt a small knob of butter with the macaroni and season with salt and pepper. Crumble the bacon on top and sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Serve.

Le Quiche

The new kitchen has been officially christened. Christened with le quiche, finalmente (best if read with a hoity toity French accent). I finally get back to what I love. It may be boring and predictable, but give me time to cook after work, a short run and the television at least one night a week. I must have it, it's for my sanity. And it's best with bacon--fatty, greasy bacon--but throw in some tomatoes for good measure. Except I sat there eating, staring across the table at Megan. Both of us too stressed to cheer each other up. She about planning a wedding in the spring (!), and me about boys. I'm like what do I do, and she's like what do I do. And we're still both too tired and bogged down to cheer each other up. The house has this heaviness, I think because we're both scared. So we turn to Friends, real friends and Rachel-Joey-Chandler-etc. Friends. I watched all the seasons that Megan owns last summer, and we're going through them again. Last night was Thanksgiving Triffle--"custard good, jam good, meat good." And then Katy came over and did distract us. We downed a bottle of white wine between the three of us and chomped on quiche intermittently. And we laughed. And it'll get easier, one bottle of wine at a time, one episode at a time, one quiche at a time. BLT Quiche Pate Brisee Crust: from Martha Stewart Living 2 1/2 cups flour 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon sugar 1 cup butter (very cold, straight from the fridge) 1/4 to 1/2 cup cold water Le Quiche: 4 eggs 6 slices of bacon, already cooked 1 Roma tomato, chopped grated cheddar cheese milk salt pepper For the crust: In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, salt and sugar. Then cut butter into 1/2-inches chunks and mix into flour with a pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add 1/4 cup of cold water to mixture. Incorporate using your hands by kneading the dough. Add more water if it's still too crumbly. If you overdo it, you can always add a bit more flour. Once dough is solid and maleable, wrap in Siran and place in the freezer. Here's a good time for a run. Come back from your run, remove dough from freezer even though it's supposed to be frozen for an hour. This recipe will make two crusts for a pie, quiche or tart or one crust and top for a fancy pie. I sort of messed up here and, long story short, my crust was too thick so definitely follow these directions. Using your hands for this type of crust, place your dough in the middle of a tart pan. Spread out the dough with your fingers to an even thickness. Preheat oven to 425. On to the quiche part. In a small bowl, combine eggs, tomatoes, bacon, cheese, salt, pepper and milk. Whisk until eggs are beaten smooth. Pour egg mixture into crust. Pop it in the oven and bake it for 25 to 30 minutes, until the edges of the crust are browned as is the top of the quiche.

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

A couple weeks ago my mom and little sister Emily went to Philadelphia to visit my Aunt Michelle and four cousins, Lucy, Caleb, Brigham and Charlie. It was their consolation prize for missing out on Africa. They saw the Liberty Bell, went to the Jersey shore, saw Harry Potter and visited "the best farmer's market I've ever seen" (according to my mother). The market is within walking distance of my aunt's house in Wayne, Pa., something which makes my mom incredibly jealous. But what Michelle doesn't know is that my mom's house is within smelling distance of a bread factory--take that! The best buy from their trip to the market was 1 pound of Amish bacon. My mom has been bragging about her stash since she got back. She's been hording it in the freezer until the moment when her tomatoes turn from green to juicy red so she can make big ol' BLTs.

What I take from the photos is that this farmer's market sells the home crafted foods and knick-knacks that touristy stores in towns sell in stores with fake wood floors--except here it's for real and people actually need and use this stuff. Grumpy Greek men don't sell cartons of marinated olives at Cracker Barrel.

Here are the cousins enjoying a not-completely-uneventful day at the beach in Cape May, N.J.

Broccoli Raisin Salad

Broccoli and I have never got on very well. It was the vegetable that caused many a long night sitting at the dinner table after everyone else had finished. I can recall hiding the limp vegetable under my plate once--it was, of course, discovered. I even tried to slip some to our cocker spaniel--she didn't eat it.

Nowadays, it's another thing on my list that I've grown to enjoy--though I suspect my stomach disagrees. I'd say the conversion took place when I stopped eating any sort of frozen vegetable.

I've had this salad before at Christmas or Easter. I decided to make it for a pot luck at work. There are some folks at work trying to lose weight, and I figured this could be a nice alternative to all the fried chicken, meatballs, chips, dips and cookies that would be making up the majority of the buffet. I'm sure it would have been, had I remembered to take it out of the refrigerator that morning. I even made it using turkey bacon to boost the salads health factor--mistake. Turkey bacon is horrible. Never use it. It's suspiciously pink and turned out tough and flavorless.

Broccoli Raisin Salad: 1 head of broccoli 1/2 cup raisins 1-2 ounces bacon optional: sunflower seeds For dressing: 1/2 cup mayonnaise 2 tablespoons vinegar 1 tablespoon sugar pinch of salt and pepper Trim broccoli florets and place in bowl. Toss with raisins. Mix dressing ingredients in a separate bowl and toss with broccoli. Marinate overnight. Add crisp, fatty bacon.

Cinnamon Rolls

Now it's back to work after what I declare to be one of the best Christmases ever. I'm not exactly sure what made it so spectacular. The gifts were great (my mom made me an apron out of two dish towels from Anthropologie!), but they're always good. I think it may have more to do with maturity on my part. It seemed like for the first time Christmas was really all about relaxing and being with friends and family. These awesome cinnamon rolls didn't hurt though.

It's a Seyler family tradition to have cinnamon rolls for breakfast on Christmas morning, post present destruction. My mom has a bread machine that she probably uses once or twice a year, but one of those times is to toss flour, yeast, butter, etc. into the machine, turn it on, go back to bed whilst the bread wizard mixes the dough. She lets the rolls rise in the laundry room as we labor over opening gifts. Rough morning eh? This year the cinnamon rolls turned out (by miracle) robust and savory. And look at the above photo: White Christmas.

Dad even got in on the action. Blog readers may not be surprised that he was assigned the task to fry the bacon. I usually shy away from eating bacon, but dad makes it right. The first one I tried was so well-done and crispy it disintigrated in my mouth. I even snapped a photo of my dad ... in an apron, looking annoyed. "Lainey, it's just bacon."

Some family friends came over for breakfast (as their kitchen is under renovation). They supplied a ridiculous amount of farm fresh eggs. And Emily went to town on them. Her trick is to add fresh, chopped or minced garlic to scrambled eggs. Don't be alarmed by her wrist brace--it's just jammed (not broken) and has been for like two months now (I tease). Cinnamon Rolls: Dough: 1 cup water 2 eggs 1/4 cup butter 4 cups flour 2 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup sugar 3 tablespoons skim milk powder ( it’s amazing the volume you have to buy) 2 teaspoons quick-rise or bread machine yeast Filling: 3 tablespoons butter 2/3 cup brown sugar 2 teaspoons cinnamon optional: 1/3 cup raisins or chopped pecans (my family hates nuts in things, minus my mom and me Icing: 1/2 stick butter 1 teaspoon vanilla 2 or 3 tablespoons milk 2 cups powdered sugar (or until you reach desired consistency) (I believe my mom adapted this recipe for those of us who may not own a bread machine.) Add dough ingredients in the order listed. Mix together, knead and allow to rise in a warm place for 60 min. Then roll out into a rectangle (see photo 3). For filling, melt 3 tablespoons butter and brush over dough. Mix together brown sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and sprinkle over dough. Roll up and pinch edges together (see top photo). Cut into 12 slices and place in greased dish or in muffin cups. Cover and let rise a second time for 30-40 minutes. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes. The recipe says you can freeze 1/2 of the dough to use at a later time. I have never tried that. Why not just eat it all? Here comes the part of the recipe I took care, and thus didn't measure anything, crap.) For the icing, in a medium mixing bowl add softened butter, milk and vanilla and mix together. Add the powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time and mix until smooth. Continue adding powdered sugar until the icing is at your preferred consistency.