Family Bites

My Gatherings Journal

When it comes to the things that make me happy, I would say my list is reasonably succinct: I love diving into a good book, binge watching TV shows, and going to the movies. I also enjoy a big cup of tea with steamed milk, ice cream, cheese, and wine. I like going for walks – preferably at night. I also love cooking, but probably prefer baking just a tiny bit more, and nothing makes me happier than placing something I’ve made by hand before a table full of people I like and feeding them a meal I know they’ll enjoy.

It’s no secret that I’m passionate about gathering with people over good food, and I truly believe that there are few things in life that are as enjoyable as eating with the people you care about, which is why we do it so often. In fact, it’s such a frequent occurrence in our house that I keep a journal of our many get-togethers.

At first I thought the purpose of the journal was to keep a record of the dinners and parties we've hosted, the guests who attended, and the food and drinks that we served in order to avoid duplicating dishes for our family and friends. However, after a few entries I quickly realized my obsessive note taking was really more about documenting the details of the meals and moments that are special to us in order to preserve them. 

Here’s my gatherings journal. I started it in January of this year, and each time someone has come to eat I’ve jotted down the following information on the lined pages of my simple blue notebook: date, occasion, guests' names, appetizer, main course, dessert, and drinks. Because of this I know my friend Shannon came over in February to discuss her upcoming wedding plans. We ate cake and drank cinnamon tea lattes as we poured over pictures of dresses, centrepieces, and place cards.

I also know that we celebrated Ben’s fourteenth birthday on a Saturday in April, and the menu that day was pulled pork on buns, maple-bourbon baked beans, coleslaw, homemade pickles, and kettle chips. For dessert, we made a tiered cake out of donuts and I served pink lemonade to the cousins who were here. My hope is that in ten to fifteen years we’ll enjoy reminiscing over the parties of the past, as we plan new ones for the future.

Do you keep a journal? What do you record in yours? Also, how do you make sure you don’t repeat the same dish or menu when feeding your friends and family?

Chicken Tikka Masala Kebabs

I’m not sad to see summer go. I’m a fall girl through and through, and while I like barbecues, picnics, road trips and vacations, I also like routine, order, meal plans, and cooler weather. I think my kids crave that stuff, too, which is why everyone marched out the door with great enthusiasm this morning as they made their way to separate schools for the first time.

Ben is walking ten minutes west to high school this year, while Jackson heads seven minutes east to their elementary school. They have different start times, come home times, and won’t see each other throughout the day. Despite the vast differences in their personalities they are incredibly close, and I think family dinner will become even more important this year as it will be their time to connect with each other, as much as it is our time to chat with both of them. 

Rob and I refinished our dining room table last month, a project that took us two weeks too long. We’re quite thrilled with the results, and although the hunt for chairs has been more challenging then expected, we definitely like our new place for dinner. While we were without a table, we ate outside, on the floor, and near the sofa, and when we finally found our way back to the dining room, everyone ignored what was being served and commented on how nice it was to have a regular family meal again. That’s when it really hit home that having dinner together each night means as much to them as it does to me, and if we’ve done anything right in the past fourteen years, I think it just might be that.

Last night, we resumed our regular dinner routine, which includes one kid clearing and cleaning the table while the other sweeps the floor and assists with loading the dishwasher, and it was a mostly silent task as everyone was full from devouring the dinner you see above. I took a classic chicken tikka masala dish and turned it into a grill-friendly meal to be served alongside golden, turmeric rice, homemade naan, and chili lime corn on the cob. It was the perfect way to bridge the gap between summer and fall, making use of seasonal ingredients and cooking methods, while using warm flavours generally reserved for hearty dishes typically synonymous with autumn.

The kids lapped up their meal, pouring sauce over everything on their plate, corn included. The leftovers even found their way into Jackson’s lunchbox sandwich this morning, as he smeared the remaining sauce over slices of baguette before topping them with chicken and cheese (I’m not convinced the cheese belonged there with the Indian spices but who am I to judge – he was making his own lunch!!). 

While the recipe may not seem weeknight dinner friendly, it really is. The meat can be plopped into the marinade the night before it’s needed, and the sauce can be made on the weekend and stored in the fridge until served. Those two make-ahead steps definitely deems this suitable for those weeknights that seems a little hurried, which, when it’s fall, is pretty much every night of the week. 

Chicken Tikka Masala Kebabs

For the marinade:

• 1 cup Greek-style yogurt
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon garam masala
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
• 1 teaspoon fresh minced ginger
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 6 3-5oz. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1" chunks

For the sauce:

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons paprika
• 2 teaspoons garam masala
• 1 cup tomato sauce
• 1 cup heavy cream
• Salt

To serve:

• 1/4 cup fresh chopped cilantro

To make the marinade, combine yogurt, lemon juice, oil, cumin, garam masala, cayenne, salt, pepper, ginger, and garlic. Whisk well, stir in chicken, cover, and refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight, if desired.

When ready to cook, prepare your grill for high heat. Thread the chicken onto soaked wooden or metal skewers and discard the marinade. Grill until cooked through, about 5 minutes per side. 

To make the sauce, melt the butter in a saucepan set over medium-high heat. Saute the garlic for 30 seconds. Season with cumin, paprika and garam masala. Add the tomato sauce and cream, reduce the heat to low, partially cover the pot, and simmer until thickened, about 20 minutes. Check seasonings and add salt, if desired. 

Place the cooked kebabs on a platter and garnish with fresh cilantro. Serve with warm sauce on the side, or alternatively, spoon the sauce over the kebabs just before serving. 

Adapted from All Recipes 

25 Rules for Road Trips

 

1. Take at least one long road trip with your family before your children leave home.

2. A two-hour drive doesn’t count as a road trip.

3. Whatever electronic rules are in place at home go out the window the minute you step into the car.

4. Seasons of TV shows are far better bang-for-your-buck then movies. In other words, 572 minutes or entertainment versus 90 minutes for almost the same price.

5. Favourite TV shows for teens: Boy Meets World, The Brady Bunch, The Cosby Show, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Friends, The Big Bang Theory, Home Improvement, Smallville, Malcolm in the Middle. Also, will somebody please release The Wonder Years on DVD, already?

6. If you don’t have a built-in DVD player in your car – we don’t – a laptop works just as well, and the screen is actually bigger.

7. A dual charger keeps everyone happy and powered up when travelling by car.

8. Road maps are essential. Even if you have a GPS.

9. Program all potential stops and destinations into your GPS before leaving home.

10. It’s crucial to have a good selection of music available for the car. Inevitably, you will run into stretches of highway where not a single station tunes in properly.

11. Make a family road trip CD. Ask each person to choose five songs of their liking and burn them all to one disc. Label the album with the destination and year of your vacation (“South Carolina, 2014”) and keep them as a memento of your travels.

12. Play games! Road trip bingo, travel versions of popular board games, Would You Rather, etc.

13. Read, read, and read. Comic books are ideal and sometimes easier than something huge like Harry Potter.

14. Keep a pack of wet wipes in the car, no matter how old your kids are.

15. The same goes for napkins and garbage bags.

16. For young kids, fill small bins with toys, books, activities, games, etc. Swap them out every two hours and replace with a new bin to keep things interesting.

17. Pack plenty of snacks. More than you think you will need. And treats! After all, you are on vacation.

18. Another note about snacks: no food on sticks or skewers allowed. You don't want to give the kids tools to use for poking each other, and you know just as well as I do that when you're packing for a big trip you don't have time to make the food look cutesy.

19. If you have the space, fill a cooler with ice and drinks. It’s so much better/easier than buying them on the road.

20. However, do buy some snacks or a meal on the road. That’s part of the fun.

21. Keep your camera handy.

22. Insist the kids where sandals. They will always want to take their shoes off and the smell of sweaty sneakers isn’t conducive to spending 15 hours in the car. Plus, when you stop it’s easier to slip them back on the feet.

23. Plan at least one surprise. It could be an unexpected movie/TV show to watch, snack, or pit stop.

24. Ten hours is pretty much the longest amount of time anyone should spend in a car. If you trek is longer than that, break it up into two smaller drives.

25. However, when faced with the choice of stopping overnight on the drive home, or pushing through to get it over and done with, opt for the latter. You’ll thank yourself for the extra day at home before you have to get back to reality.

image source 

Build-Your-Own Bloody Caesar Bar

Our Canada Day barbecue was a smashing success. The adults relaxed in the backyard, drinks in hand, while the kids ran around soaking each other with water balloons and spray guns, stopping only for the occasional nibble at the appetizer table.

I usually try to come up with a different menu for each July 1^st celebration, but last year’s fully loaded burger and hot dog bar was such a hit, I opted to repeat the idea again this year – a very good move on my part. When adventurous adult eaters and ravenous teenagers combine with the picky palates of the younger guests in attendance, a DIY anything is always a popular option, and this was certainly no exception.  

I always plan something fun for the kids to keep them entertained, and this year I included a special treat just for the adults: a build-your-own bloody Caesar bar. For my American friends, Caesars are a classic Canadian cocktail similar to a bloody Mary, only instead of filling up the glass with traditional tomato juice we use Clamato, a unique combination of tomato and clam juices. 

This particular set-up encouraged everyone to create their own concoctions, allowing them to add as much vodka and heat as desired, and to adorn their Mason jar glasses with the customary leafy celery stalk and/or a heartier edible like the antipasto skewers I added to the table. Cubes of Canadian aged cheddar were wrapped in salami and threaded onto a short bamboo skewers, along with a stuffed olive, cherry tomato, and baby dill pickle. Some people plopped them directly into their drink, and others consumed them appetizer-style while sipping on their beverage. Regardless of how they were devoured, the small bites disappeared quickly, indicating they were a definitely a huge hit for all. 

Here's what I included in my build-your-own bar:

• Clamato juice
• Vodka
• Ice
• Lime wedges
• Celery salt rimmer
• Worcestershire sauce
• Horseradish
• Tobasco
• Celery stalks
• Antipasto garnish
• Mason jars for drinking glasses

Are you a fan of Caesars? Is there anything else you would add to this build-your-own bar?

The Great Canadian Quiz

Back in 2004, we decided to host a Canada Day barbecue for our extended family. We had just moved to the suburbs and thought it would be a great way to get everyone out to our place for dinner. The boys were just two and a half and four at the time, and there were no other kids on either side of our family. My sister and mom drove out for the day, as did Rob's parents, his two brothers and their ladyloves, and a couple of single friends we've known for years. 

We served up a typical Canadian backyard cookout with burgers, hot dogs, and an assortment of salads. I remember thinking it might be fun to play a game, and while no one else could match my enthusiasm for the activity, they participated in what would eventually become one of the most anticipated events of our Canada Day gatherings. 

Today is the 10th anniversary of this annual patriotic party (we skipped 2008). The same people keep coming, only now they bring along the small people who live with them, which has added an additional 8 - almost 9 - people to our yearly bash. I always try to incorporate something fun for the kids, like water balloon fights, backyard Jenga, or marshmallow roasting, and we always, always play Canada Day trivia. We divide into two teams, boys against girls, and compete for the title of The Great Canadian Quiz Champions. The teams range in age from 2 - 76, and I'm proud to say that the girls have held the title for three years running. 

I can't share this year's quiz questions as I don't want to tempt any family members to make use of the Google machine in search of answers  - we take our championship title pretty seriously. But! I've created a link to last year's quiz should you be interested in a little friendly competition with your own family this Canada Day. I'll update this post on Wednesday with the answers  - I don't want to tempt anyone to peek before they have the chance to play along. 

Happy, happy Canada Day! Head here to complete the quiz! 

Backyard Jenga

Yesterday, we kicked off our summer entertaining season with a backyard barbecue to celebrate both Father’s Day and Ben’s eighth grade graduation. My menu consisted of yogurt-marinated grilled chicken with assorted aiolis, watermelon and feta salad, orzo and vegetable salad, warm potato salad, classic Caesar salad, and a few seasonal desserts, including an icebox cake and cherry slab pie. And sangria, of course. 

It was a mostly make-ahead meal, with elements that pleased everyone in attendance, including the little kids who were delighted with the basket of dinner rolls set out on the buffet table. Eating isn't really their forte, and when my small nieces and nephews are here they’ve never very interested in the meal (except the breads and butter and desserts) because they’re usually too busy amusing themselves with the games and activities we set-up.

If you recall from last summer, rule #5 in my list of secrets to simple summer entertaining states the importance of planning something fun for this kids, and this year we broke out backyard Jenga for a little family-friendly competition. My pregnant sister and I kicked things off with a rousing game, showing the kids how to strategically remove the pieces of wood from within the stacked pile and return them to the top of the tower without causing the structure to collapse. They were enthralled and jumped in to play their own game (or three) when we were finished.

While we certainly aren’t the first family to make this game for our backyard, we have yet to meet anyone else with a set they’ve built for themselves. If you’re interested in having this at your own home or cottage, here’s how to make it:

You’ll Need:

• 7 pieces of wood – 2 x 4 x 8
• Mitre saw
• Power sander
• Sandpaper

Directions:

Cut pieces of wood into 10.5-inch lengths (we ended up with 54 pieces). Using a hand-held electric sander (this is a great job for the older kids - my boys worked on ours), sand the individual pieces all over to make them smooth and safe for hands – especially if you’ll be playing this with small children.

To play, stack the blocks in rows of three placed next to each other along their long sides, at a right angle to the previous level. Once the tower is built, the person who stacked it plays first. On each turn, remove one block from any level of the tower (except the one directly below an incomplete top level) and place it on the topmost level in order to complete it.

The game ends when the tower falls. The loser is the person who made it collapse (or whose turn it was when the towel fell).  Traditional Jenga rules state that players may only use on hand a time. This is a challenge with the bigger blocks of wood, but not impossible. Feel free to decide how to deal with that rule on your own, however just state it before the game begins so all players are aware of what is acceptable when playing.

A New Trick for Turning Simple Food into Something Special

Our New Year's Eve celebration was very low-key last week (was it really only a week ago?). Rob was flattened with flu, or so it seemed, and my adorable little nieces were here with us for the night, making it difficult to put on a feast fit for the occasion. I made lists of possible menu ideas, which included a few dishes that would keep me in the kitchen most of the day, and by noon I tossed all of my ideas to the curb along with the undecorated Christmas tree, and simplified everything by opting for some store-bought appetizers and easily made munchies I could put together with four wild kids in the house. 

To make the very simple menu seems slightly more fun, I rolled out one new appetizer every hour over the course of the night, surprising everyone with each new dish that arrived on the table. We started with a light serving of veggies and dip and continued until midnight when we greeted the new year with profiteroles and prosecco.

We bypassed the dining table completely and crowded the coffee table with our grub, making it the perfect height for my 16-month-old niece to grab at the food and eat until her heart was content (it took awhile). That child packs it back like no other toddler I’ve seen, and the spicy beef taquitos with guacamole dip were hands-down her favourite food of the night.

Tell me, what's your trick for turning simple food into something extraordinary?

Instagram photo taken with an iPhone4S

Gatherings: A Simple Birthday Party

We finally finished birthday month around here. Seventy-five percent of our four person family celebrates turning another year old in the weeks after Christmas, so we move from one type of celebration to another pretty quickly. This past weekend our extended family came over for Jackson's birthday celebration. He's eleven now, and if you can't tell from the photo above I'm thinking it's probably going to be a very silly year.

Let me pause here before getting into the cheesy details of making lasagna for 20, to use this as a segue way to introduce a fun new series my friend Julie and I have been scheming. Although there is no shortage of recipes or party ideas available at the click of our fingertips, what we love most about food is its ability to bring people together; not just families at mealtimes, but extended families - relatives and friends and neighbours and strangers connecting around food, for special celebrations, impromptu gatherings, and lots of memory making. Food is social, it's comforting, and it connects us. The concept of "entertaining", though, makes gathering friends around your dinner table seem daunting. The good news is, it doesn't have to be. 

So. This year Julie and I are bringing back the casual gathering - which means taking the pressure off! - and having as many dinner parties and other gatherings as possible. On the last Wednesday of each month we'll post about one or more of them here, which will allow us to get a running start on a new blog - called Gatherings - where we'll share recipes, ideas, techniques and tools that we hope will inspire (and help!) anyone putting together a party, or just looking for new ways to bring friends together around the table. Gatherings will (hopefully!) launch on April 1, and we're even in talks about turning it into a book... although those details haven't been figured out yet. For now, we'll start here.

With Jackson's menu. He chose a quirky assortment of foods that nicely tallied up to an American-Italian feast. There was piggies in a blanket, veggies and dip, meat lasagna, garlickly garlic bread, Caesar salad, ice cream sodas, and a Kit Kat Candy cake. He was thrilled, the food quickly disappeared, and it was the perfect menu for feeding a crowd. 

I always like to include a little festive décor at my gatherings, but nothing too over the top or costly. I found a red and white checked shower curtain on sale at Ikea for $8, and took some pinking shears to them to make a sqaure topper for my standard white linen. It was much cheaper than purchasing something cloth, and the material means it's washable and reusable - an essential for the kids. The centrepieces were made by carefully washing my tins of tomatoes, filling them with dried pasta and sticking in a few balloons I found in my basement storage. 

Freezer Paper Stenciled T-Shirt

I'm certainly not the first person to ever do this with my kids, but using freezer paper to stencil and customize clothing is a popular activity in our house.

I've made t-shirts for my kids and my niece, and last night Jackson and I worked on a new Spiderman top for him, seeing as his wardrobe was lacking the appropriate attire needed to emulate summer's most popular superhero (that is until the new Batman movie comes out later this week). He fashioned some Peter Parker-esque glasses from leftover movie theater 3D ones, and they become the accessory du jour on Saturday for both boys. 

To make your own t-shirts you'll need the following items:

• printed image
• pencil
• freezer paper
• an x-acto knife
• an iron
• a piece of cardboard
• fabric paint
• foam paint brush

 Here's the how-to:

• Find an online image that you like and print it off. Tape the piece of paper to a table, and tape a piece of freezer paper over top of that. Using the pencil, trace the image onto the freezer paper, and cut the image out using the x-acto knife.
• Heat an iron and fuse the freezer paper stencil to the t-shirt (shiny side down) taking care to place it where you would like it to go. Lay a small piece of cardboard between the front and back of the t-shirt (so the paint doesn't seep through to the back of the shirt) and fill in the stencil with the fabric paint. A foam bruch works well for this application.
• Let the paint dry and apply a second coat to the shirt. If you happen to have very impatient children working with you on this project, you can speed up the drying process by using a blowdryer. 
• Peel the freezer paper away from the shirt and toss it in the dryer for 20 minutes to set the paint. 

Happy Hour

Without intending to, Rob and I have a summer thing when it comes to watching TV; we pick a show we've never watched before, and devour however many seasons exist by consuming several episodes at a time, while lounging around lazily once the kids settle for the night.

In the summer of 2010 we made it through five complete seasons of Friday Night Lights. Texas wasn't even on my radar then, and high school football was far away from my idea of fun, but now I want to know more about both. To this day, I think it's probably the best show I've ever watched, and I'd be lying if I didn't admit to feeling verklempt when the fifth season ended. Oh, and when I grow up I totally want to be Tami Taylor.

Last summer it was all about How I Met Your Mother. I have no idea how we chose that show, but it was so darn good we plowed through a whopping six seasons in two months, staying up far too late in order to watch "just one more episode" when it was well past our bedtime.

This year, we're finally embracing Mad Men. A few years back, we watched the first three episodes of the first season three times each (say that five times over!), and just couldn't get into the show. It seemed so uninteresting and slow, and I couldn't see the appeal. When we recently decided to cancel our cable, we connected Netflix, where the first four seasons of the show are free for the watching. I refused to see those same three episodes yet again, so we started with the fourth one, and in less than three weeks we're now smack in the middle of the third season. 

Which brings me around to happy hour. With no evening activities on our calendar for the next two months we're taking a cue from the 1960s, and sharing finger foods and drinks Chez Scott semi-regularly around 5:30pm. The food is nothing fancy as you can see. Last night we shared sangria and cold beer paired with tiny toasts and pistachios. But next week I'm going to up the ante, and chanel my inner Betty Draper, by setting out cold chicken salad on Ritz crackers. Oooh, this is going to be fun.