This is Brooklyn. She's made several guest appearances on Mama Makes it Best. She also plays an active role in my cooking. Her duties in the kitchen include, but are not limited to: tugging on my apron while I'm cooking, climbing inside the fridge to grab anything that looks tasty, official egg-whisker, saying, "Mama, I hungeee", and "mmm, das nummmmy", and lastly taking the occasional photo of her own plate of food. Yes, it's true, the life of a food blogger can be contagious. When I'm preparing a meal that I won't be blogging about, Miss B will somehow find my camera (which I may or may not have left within her arms reach) and say, "Mama, I take pitcher uh chiken, ok?" This little one has been bitten by the bug.
The other day I sent all three kids outside to get out of my hair play. Sooner than later there was some sort of arguing which forced me outdoors to interfere. My attention was abruptly shifted to something lying in the grass. Gasp! No, it couldn't be, could it? Of course it is. Leave it to my sweet, er, mischievous Brooklyn, age 2, to take my camera outside, capture a few Kodak moments and then carelessly throw it on the ground where the lens met its fate. Needless to say I was angry. Angry at myself for leaving the camera out. Angry at Brooklyn for being naughty. Angry at the two older kids for not noticing what she was up to. Just. plain. angry. I took a deep breath and decided a timeout would be appropriate. For all of us. After a little breather, I quickly realized it wasn't the end of the world. My camera wasn't what I'd call expensive. What's done, was done. Time to move on. Lesson learned: DON'T LET CHILDREN PLAY WITH CAMERAS.
So.....this means (and if you're smart, you've already figured it out) no camera = no blogging. Boo! I've been saving my pennies though, and hope to buy one soon (or borrow my Mom's!). However, blog or no blog, a family's still gotta eat. I've been busy making some oldies but goodies. (I cringe at the old photos, so please ignore. Practice makes perfect, right?) If you haven't tried the Chicken with Mustard Cream Sauce, you need to. I made it again and, once again, we all loved it. We also enjoyed the Drip Beef Sandwiches (for dinner and lunch the next two days!!). These are sooo delicious and satisfying I think I'll put them on a monthly rotation. Quick tip: cook the meat in a crock pot instead of in the oven or on the stove since it's been so hot out lately.
I've tried a few new recipes too. I made, what I've dubbed Friday-night-jambalaya, because I crave this jambalaya all the time now! It was a recipe from Emeril and was fantastic! It will be making a debut on the blog soon because it was sooo darn good. On the sweet side I made a recipe by Dorie Greenspan for Banana Cream Pie-absolute heaven! It was a hit and I can't wait to make it again. Lastly, head on over to Liam's blog, My So-Called Knife, and try the Lemon Ricotta Cookies with Lemon Glaze. Sooo good!! Of course they satisfied my love for lemony goodness!


