Memorable Outfit

She put this getup together all on her own! Under that thigh-length sweater are bicycle shorts and a Valentines Day t-shirt. I think the leg warmers are my fave though.

Garlicky Kale with White Beans

From "Vegetables Every Day" by Jack Bishop...

1 1/2 lbs Kale
Salt
2 Tbl extra virgin olive oil
4 medim garlic cloves, minced
2 15oz cans cannellini, drained and rinsed
2/3 cup chicken or vegetable stock

1. Bring 4 quarts o water to a boil in a large pot
2. Wash the kale in several changes of cold water, stripping off of the leafy green portion from both sides of the touch central vein. Discard the veins and tear the leafy portions into small pieces. Add the kale and and 1 tsp salt to the boiling water. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, unntil the kale is tender, about 8 minutes. Drain well.
3. Heat the oil and garlic in a large skillet set over medium heat. When the garlic is golden (this will take about 2 minutes), add the kale and cook, tossing well, until heated through and evenly flavored with the garlic; 1 to 2 minutes.
4. Add the beans and stock and simmer just u ntil the beans are heated through, about 5 minutes. Add pepper to taste. Adjust the seasonings and serve immediately.

Slow-Roasted Tomatoes

My second attempt at slow-roasting tomatoes worked out much better! This time I used a recipe I found online for Slow Roasted Tomatoes Kalyn's Way. I did 2 trays at once and it ended up taking about 8 hours. They had such a rich, deep flavor. They shrunk down to nothing and I ended up with 4 half-pint jars. I sealed them with a water bath for 85 minutes so they should last months now. Good thing they shrink down b/c I have a good 15 more huge tomatoes to preserve. I could try whole tomatoes I guess.

Beginning After 2 hrs

After 6 hrs At end after 8 hrs

Simplest Potato & Leek Braise and Leek Confit

Instead of making Potato & Leek soup, I decided to try the Simplest Potato & Leek Braise from Molly Stevens All About Braising (might be my favorite cookbook). I found this typed up in someones random cooking blog (see link). It came out WONDERFUL! Rory, Joe and I all liked it. Shelagh, not so much. Kelly through it (but that doesn't mean anything, she throws everything).

With the leftover leeks, I made Leek Confit from Molly Wizenburg who writes for Bon Appetit and writes an awesome blog, Orangette. SUPER-easy. Not sure what I'll use it for...maybe I'll take this with the Jammy tomato-onion sauce and make a bruschetta variety dish for me and Joe one night. Hmmm. I also still have lots of mushrooms duxelles (hopefully it's still good). Maybe I'll make a variety of egg dishes or pastas.

Flashback to the End of the Summer

A few end of summer pics...What a summer!

Shelagh joins the swim team, kicks ass in the pool, and learns to dive.

Rory, after a summer of insisting he can't, swims without a bubble! And, is doing a full freestyle!

What a nut. She is 1 1/2 and thinks she can swim by herself. I bet she will be by next summer. Seriously. She loves her vest and googles! She likes to hang on the side of the pool there and just dunk over and over.

Movie: The Town

Joe and I snuck out Saturday night for a quick bite and a movie. We ended up at Flemings, the steakhouse, to sit at the bar for a steak and salad. We've been eating at the bar lately when we've been out. It's nice to get served fast and hang there when you're sans kids.

The movie was very good. On the way home, though, I started to find some things that didn't sit right with me about it. Overall, I think Ben Affleck is a great storyteller as director morseo than as actor. He was pretty good in this as was Jeremy Renner (from Hurt Locker) as his best friend and accomplice. The pencil-thin moustache alone gets you. They filmed the bank robbery scene in my town, but honestly I forgot about that until after the movie was over...I don't think it would matter...the outside of the bank was filmed in Cambridge anyway so I don't think I would have recognized anything. Great Boston/Charlestown shots overall.

It's been compared to The Departed which I think is a stretch. It was action-packed but not quite so involved. I will say that none of the accents were overdone or way off base. Kobayashi from Usual Suspects played "the florist" well. Rebecca Hall was good as Ben's love interest and victim - I just looked her up and she's English - that always throws me off when you have no idea someone is not American. Blake Lively was really good as his ex-girlfriend - I've not seen her in anything else. Jon Hamm was awesome to see outside of Mad Men, but I have to say he didn't quite get there for me. Something was not 100% believable. It's going to be hard for him to shake Don Draper. He did it on 30 Rock, I thought, but in drama you are always looking for serious and hard Don.

SPOILER:
There was a lack of originality - I don't think I like that the sister/town girl gives them up, but the new girlfriend that's not from the town keeps the secret. It was a little too reminiscient of a similar scene with Ashley Judd and Val Kilmer in Heat. It was predictable in that you had a feeling that Ben Affleck would not let Jon Hamm have the last word as Jon Hamm had indicated he would. Further, you knew he'd be back for the Florist. The scene of them robbing Fenway was awesome.

Anyway, it was still good and worth seeing.

Me & Rory

I could just eat him up...I think I'll start straightening my hair again. My curls aren't working lately and it looks so nice and neat when it's straight. Plus, I don't have to wash it so much when it's straight. Bonus!