Los, Author at The Man, The Chef, The Dad

Author: Los

March 2, 2015

Antipasto and You!

Once upon a time, in a mystical, unforgivably hot, far away land – that you may know as Florida – lived my wife and I. It’s hard to think about it now, but we were young once. We lived recklessly and laughed in the face …Read More….

The Chef

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February 19, 2015

Family Travels: The Georgia Aquarium

A few weeks ago for the wife’s birthday we decided to take a trip. We wanted to go somewhere the kids would enjoy, but more importantly, somewhere that wouldn’t make us have to rearrange our spending habits for the next few months like Disney is …Read More….

Family Travels, The Dad

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February 14, 2015

Caprese Salad with a Balsamic Reduction

Alright, I hope everyone is ready for the best salad that has ever been created! It’s easily the simplest, tastiest, most addicting salad that you’ll probably ever try. Oh man, I sincerely hope you’ve had this before. If you haven’t, please let me know so I can unfriend you.

It’s been a long time coming, getting this on the blog. I’ve made it numerous times and had multiple opportunities to document and create a post. But there’s always one thing that stopped me… The balsamic reduction.

Not because it’s complicated, I mean truly, it has to be one of the simplest, most delicious secrets of the kitchen. I think I’ve been avoiding it because balsamic vinegar is kind of a big deal. One would think all condiments are created equal. But as it turns out, balsamic vinegar is so important, there are laws regulating what can be called traditional balsamic vinegar.

See, that’s where my struggle lies. A simple sauce deriving from a complex creation. If you’ve had it or you’re just curious, you deserve to know the truth. If you think you can go on living the rest of your life as you know it without learning how it’s done, then I’m not here to change your mind. I won’t even shove the information in your face. Why?

Because what if I told you you had a choice?

You can take the blue pill and let the simplicity of balsamic reduction reflect here, with me just telling you how simple it is to make while leaving your mind uncluttered with the details of reality…

Or you can take the red pill, and follow me down the rabbit hole that goes deep into the processes of balsamic vinegar and how it’s created, opening your eyes to a mystical wonderland that is the real world…

Blue pill

I get it, why do you need to know such details? You know balsamic vinegar is great and you just go to a store and buy it. I will not judge you based on your decision, but just know, balsamic vinegar is a big deal Not really here, but in Italy it’s treated with respect. Here, you can buy a bottle of flavored cooking wine labeled as balsamic vinegar and you think you’re getting the real deal. You’re not. Don’t be fooled by imitation stuff. Read the labels, look for grape must as the first ingredient. Make sure it’s imported from Modena or Reggio Emilia. And most of all, that it was aged. This is where balsamic vinegar gets its robust flavor. I buy a big bottle of the stuff from BJ’s for $9, so it’s not something that will break the bank. Just got to know what you’re shopping for.

Red pill

Follow me…

If you’ve been to the salad dressing aisle at the store, odds are you noticed the dozens of bottles of balsamic vinegar. Most of them fairly affordable, but 2 or 3 with a price tag you don’t see yourself paying for such a small bottle of stuff. Now, I’m not here to tell you those are the bottles you should be buying, because I sure as heck don’t, but I am here to tell you prices like that are not uncommon to bottles of balsamic vinegar.

You may have heard it somewhere else, but I know you’ve at least heard it from me – balsamic vinegar is important. It’s special. It’s not your typical, manufactured condiment. Well, here it is, for the most part. But in Modena and Reggio Emilia – two old towns in Italy – it is much, much more. They’ve been producing balsamic vinegar since the middle ages and have such a respect for the traditional ways it’s produced, people around the world will easily, and without second thought, pay upwards of $500 for a 3.5 ounce bottle.

Stuff is serious, you think I’m playing. This is why you need to know balsamic is a big deal.

While you’ll never see a bottle of that quality in your local Wal-Mart, it’s always great to know they exist. That type of traditional balsamic vinegar – or Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale as it’s called – is made in such a way that no one here would even know how to properly use it. I mean, it’s something you should sip as if it were a fine liqueur, not whisk up in your favorite vinaigrette recipe. The production process for a bottle can take up to 150 years. You may be familiar with the Solera process that is also used for whiskeys, brandys, and other alcoholic beverages. To break it down, typically, Trebbiano grapes are boiled down to a must then added to a barrel along with a mother vinegar – a starter, if you will – and is left to age. But that’s not it! There are rooms full of casks, with each cask getting progressively smaller than the first. After the completion of the aging process – which must take a minimum of 12 years and go up to 150 years – vinegar is taken from the smallest cask for use, and is then replaced with the contents of the cask before it. That cask’s contents is then replaced with vinegar from the cask before it and so on until fresh, new grape must is added to the first cask to continue the process all over again. In theory, traces of the first batch placed in the casks may be present even after 100 cycles. As if this process wasn’t enough, each cask is made of a different type of wood – mulberry, a cacia, juniper, chestnut, oak, cherry, ash – so in the end, the vinegar is packed with so many different flavors from the woods, the complexity of the end product is mind boggling.

There are so many laws regarding balsamic vinegar in Italy, one would think it silly. Like the caps and labels when it comes to aceto balsamico tradizionale, for instance, are there for reasons. If the vinegar comes from Reggio Emilia, the label colors signify how long it’s been aged. If the vinegar comes from Modena, the cap is what’s used to indicate. Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena also has to be sold in a specific bottle as per the guidelines of consortia regulations.

Of course, that leaves us with the mystery of what we buy for $5 at the store. Yes, it’s what we know as balsamic vinegar and we’re all fine with it. But when it comes down to it, is it worth it to pay the few dollars extra for the better bottle?

The answer is always yes.

Look at the label. Cheaper balsamics add things like cooking wine, brown sugar, or caramel to try and push itself off as a top-shelf vinegar. You’ll want to find one that states it’s imported from Reggio Emilia or Modena, that it has grape must as the first ingredient on the label, and most importantly, that it has been aged. The age is the important factor here as that’s how the vinegar builds its flavor.

Finding a bottle like this near home won’t break your wallet. I buy that 1 liter bottle from BJ’s for $10 and it works just fine. No complaints from me. I use it for reductions, sauces, vinaigrettes, marinades, whatever. Just be sure to look out for the cheaper ones as those are about as far from balsamic as you can get.

Follow me…

Stuff is serious, you think I’m playing. This is why you need to know balsamic is a big deal.

The answer is always yes.

Whatever path you chose, it has led you here. To you, and me… about to get our caprese on!

If there’s one thing you have to love about this salad, it has to be its simplicity. With only 5 ingredients, this is easily something you would have no problem enjoying every day. Balsamic reduction is definitely the main focus here, so it’s good to understand how it works. Just like the rest of the salad, it’s incredibly easy, despite what pricey restaurants try to tell you. Sure, the price reflects the quality and age of the vinegar, but as I said, I go with a $10 bottle at BJ’s for home use and never complain about it.

When it boils down to it (haha boils..), all you’re doing is reducing a liquid. If you didn’t know that, there’s not much more I can do to help you. You probably hear about reducing sauces and stocks all the time. It’s a very simple technique – adding a liquid to something and letting it simmer till most of what was there evaporates away, leaving you with a more concentrated product than what you started with. But you’ll be amazed how many people don’t take the time for it. It really is as simple as just letting it simmer till it reduces, yet, it’s looked at as if it’s complex.

How easy is it? Let’s see…

Caprese Salad

1 each – Tomato
1 each – Fresh Mozzarella, ball
drizzle – Extra Virgin Olive Oil
drizzle – Balsamic Reduction
to taste – Salt and Pepper

Balsamic Reduction

1 cup – Balsamic Vinegar

Notes:

One good sized tomato and one good sized ball of mozzarella is enough for the wife and I to both have 3 slices of each. Typically, that’s the serving for the salad.
You can find fresh mozzarella in the specialty cheese case at your supermarkets deli/produce area. Again, I buy mine in a 3 pack at BJ’s for $8.
I used a small handful of mixed greens on the bottom of the salad.
Rule of thumb: Reducing your amount of vinegar by half is good enough for a syrup consistency. You can go more, and it’ll be thicker and even sweeter, so it’s up to you, but by half works well for starting at 1 cup.
Basil is optional, but please include it. It’s the DJ’s bumpin’ base to the party that’s going on in your mouth.
And for the love of all that is holy, whatever you do, don’t stick your face in the vapors of the evaporating vinegar. I know, that’s like saying “don’t look down!” but at least now you can never say I didn’t warn you.

Alright, you guys ready? I know with all the ingredients it looks so complicated, I’ll go slow.

First thing to do is the reduction. Pour your vinegar in a cold pot and turn it up to med-high heat. Be mindful of where the top of the vinegar is sitting in the pot. How close it is to the screws of the handle is usually the best place to measure. Keep it in mind so you can tell how much has evaporated later.

You want it to simmer, not really boil.

If you put the heat up too high and let it sit there to reduce then.. well.. bad things happen.

Let it simmer for about 10 minutes. The vapors will be filling the air in the shape of skulls and bones, the vinegar will be dancing the dance of its people and it’ll reduce away. You’ll notice by not only seeing where the top of the vinegar sits in the pan (if you saw where it was when you first put it in), or you can tell by the coat it leaves on a spoon or even the bottom of the pan when you tilt it over.

It’s a hot liquid right now so you can’t tell exactly how syrup-like it is. But pour it in a container and put it aside for a bit and you’ll see the fruit of your labors soon. I put mine in the fridge for a few and it’s fine.

After that’s done you can start cutting your stuff.

Slice your tomato and mozzarella in uniform slices. This is ideal for presentation, so if you’re just going to be shoving this in your face then don’t worry about being uniform.

IMG_0608-MOTION — My awesome, lefty wife, helping out.

Now, Season. Next to the reduction, seasoning the tomato and cheese is probably the next most important part of the dish. I don’t know if you’ve ever had tomato or fresh mozzarella, but there is a world of difference between seasoned and unseasoned. Since it’s easier, I lay all the slices out on the cutting board and do it there in one shot.

Sprinkle the salt, grind the pepper, and try not to eat anything yet. Don’t forget to flip all the slices over and give that side some love too.

At this point, depending on the condition of your reduction, you should be ready to plate. So go ahead and get a small bed of mixed greens on a plate. On top of that, put a tomato, then some cheese, and a basil leaf. Repeat in the same order till the tower is 6 high – 3 tomato and 3 cheese.

Now, check out your balsamic reduction. Does it look like this?

If it does, then you’re a winner! If it doesn’t, it’s probably a little warm still. Let it cool down some more and you should be good.

Once your reduction is ready, you’re in the home stretch! Just drizzle some olive oil.

Then drizzle some balsamic reduction…

And next thing you know you’re the happiest person on the block.

Do you understand now, when I say “simple”? It’s just tomatoes and cheese with a little bit of oil and sauce. Yet, the combination is so fresh, so traditional, so perfect, nothing else is needed. Like, ever.

I really hope this made you realize how easy this dish is to put together. It seems like it should be a special occasion kind of salad or appetizer, and I can totally get down with that. It’s Valentine’s Day afterall so it would be a great little way to spruce up that romantic meal. But it doesn’t have to be just for special days. Fan out the slices of tomato and cheese on a plate and call it a day, no one will care, trust me. Just get it in your belly, that’s all that matters.

How are you liking the gifs? I’m still loving it! Makes the blogs come alive, I think.

I could’ve posted this weeks ago. But I figured I’d wait till now. Caprese Salad is my mom’s favorite and Valentine’s Day is her birthday. So I thought I’d post this now as a celebration of sorts. Happy birthday, mom!

The Chef

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February 13, 2015

Heart-Shaped Brownies

Heart Shaped Glasses Happy Valentine’s Day! It wouldn’t be a holiday on this blog if I didn’t cut it super close! I’ve been pretty busy and I wasn’t really planning on doing something for Valentine’s Day, but I had a pretty big reason to besides …Read More….

The Chef

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January 20, 2015

A Boy and his Blog

Remember the Name Alright! New year, new you, whatever it is people say. For a few months now, whenever I checked out the site here I saw a few things that needed updating. I couldn’t do anything, of course, because for the past few months …Read More….

The Chef, The Dad, The Man

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January 9, 2015

Happy New Year!

Haaaaaaaaaaaaapppppyyy Neeeeeeeeeew Yeeeeeeeeeear!

Hey, we’re more than a week into it, but so what?! It’s still exciting!

Wow, I’ve gone a whole year without posting something! (Haha, I love that joke. Never gets old.) Seriously, I keep going these long stints without updating this bad boy and I promise I feel really bad about it. With a new year here and all the resolution hype surrounding the first few weeks, I’d be lying if I told you I didn’t make a resolution to blog more. I know I’m so predictable, but dammit, I have a better chance at keeping that than I do the usual eat better/get fit nonsense. Which I also made a resolution for but that’s not the point!

Point is, I have this blog and I’ve hardly been using it lately. With so many unused categories and sections, I feel like this place is the Beast’s castle and all those neglected topics are in the West Wing. Things have to change!

But that’s for the near future. Right now I figured I’d get you guys up to date with things. But where to start..? I mean, there’s a buttload of stuff that’s been going on lately. Quite a few things I need to document here but that annoying time thing keeps rushing by and giving me the finger. So to get it out there and out of the way, let’s get this post going! We’re doing my favorite – “rapid fire” bullet style updates! Been a while since we’ve done a Humpday Update (was the last one really in July?! I’m such a terrible blogger) so let’s go. Note, I’m going to be starting from around Christmas time. I think there’s enough that happened between then and now to fill up a post and get my writing juices going again. Sooooooooooo here we go, in semi-chronological order:

We finally cut the cord! That’s right, no more cable/satellite/whatever you call it. It’s been a long time coming, let me tell you. That $200 bill after internet, cable, and the phone that no one uses was hurting. I’ve always been the type to actually enjoy the existence of commercials, I don’t know, they just gave me a sense of comfort, it’s weird. And the wife and I always enjoyed just turning the tv on and it just being there. But enough was enough! We knew it wasn’t worth the cost so we are now a streaming only household. To be honest, I haven’t missed it once! I’d get into the shows we’re watching, but I’ll save that for another post.

Because we ditched it, we had to update our hardware. So we went out and bought a few 4K smart tvs!

Hahaha, yeah freaking right. I have no idea who those people are. Those curved ones I’ve seen in stores are sweet though, have you seen them? No, we didn’t get any new tvs, but we did get 2 Amazon Fire TV Sticks. It’s a pretty sweet device and recommended if you’re looking to go the same route. We bought a Chromecast on Black Friday but wound up returning it in exchange for the 2nd Fire Stick. We just enjoyed the UI and the remote more.

What? You want an unboxing with angry, upset, and crying kids in the background? Oooooook, but only since you asked! (I’ve been unboxing with the DSLR and I had no idea it was going to pick up those noises from the complete opposite side of the house like that!)

Even without cable, I still haven’t watched Guardians of the Galaxy. And it’s been on my shelf for weeks. I’m ashamed, truly I am.

A few days before Christmas, the wife and I celebrated our dating anniversary! 11 whole years together and every day still feels like the first. We’ve shared a lot together over the years and I can’t wait to continue sharing this life with her.

Especially when she gets me anniversary gifts like a new Keurig coffee maker! Hahaha.

A photo posted by Los (@the1llusiveman) on Dec 23, 2014 at 7:27pm PST

Ours decided to die a few weeks before, and it was a good 5 or 6 years old so I’m surprised it lasted that long. At first it was something we wanted to get so our Christmas guests had quick coffee at their disposal, but a few hours after the fact she said “Hey! Happy anniversary!” Ha, she’s so thoughtful, but I’m not complaining!

I really like the convenience of Keurigs. I’ve been a fan for a while, and even though I love me my simple french press, I’m a sucker for popping a k-cup in there and pressing a button. Speaking of which, these 2.0’s are freaking sweet! – touch screens, ability to make a carafe, option to brew strong – they’re worth the upgrade. Especially during a good sale like we got it.

The Christmas craziness went as fast as it came. The house is finally dechristmasfied and it feels good to put all the clutter away. I felt like I wasn’t ready for it. Too much going on. Too much at once, you know? Haha, like I didn’t know December was coming months in advance. But still! It catches you off guard. Next year I really want to tackle the holidays. I want to be ready for them so I could enjoy it without having to rush through days trying to get stuff up and ready. That means I’m going to be like retail stores and put up my tree before Halloween is over. That’s it, I decided, it’s happening.

90% of Christmas Eve was spent in the kitchen for me. And not even for food. I was making desserts! The wife and her mom took care of all the main dishes like they always do. So I took care of the dessert. I made a mocha cheesecake, my semi-famous chocolate chip cookies, and a tiramisu. Then at around 11pm – about an hour and a half before I started to wrap my gifts – I was rolling out dough for cinnamon rolls. Cinnamon rolls that didn’t even get baked till Christmas afternoon! I tried starting a tradition last year to have cinnamon rolls ready for breakfast but that didn’t happen. At least they were made so that’s good. Real good, actually. I could eat a cinnamon roll a day if I knew I wouldn’t freaking die. BTW, sorry, no pictures of anything. I chose to not be that guy and just try to enjoy what I was doing and what I was doing it for. Oh, and I was so busy I didn’t even think about it.

All that time on my feet and I was rocking these! What? I never told you I’m a sucker for toe socks? C’mon, don’t look at me like that. I’m a dude food blogger, there aren’t many more dark caves I can venture into.

I usually make a platter of like 5 different cookies for Christmas but was lucky to get one batch done. Telling you – no time.

And the tiramisu? I need to make it again to redeem myself. My goodness, please, whatever you do, remember it’s not a good idea to soak the lady fingers in coffee and liqueur then give them a second coat with a brush. It was less tiramisu and more distant step child of a custard who married a tres leches cake drunk off coffee liqueur. The wife cried for days, it was terrible. I’ll make it again and I’ll put it on here, how about that?

Oh, and I tried to make mashed potatoes. But I don’t really want to relive that.

Ok, fine. Long story short, my mashed potatoes I was making weren’t to my standards. I’m serious about my mash, son. So I started to peel a potato to make some more. And on that first potato I managed to go a little too hard and far with the peeler and sliced off a good tip of my finger (just the tip). There was blood for hours, everyone was laughing at my luck, and all I could say is they’re lucky it wasn’t the initial batch of mash (that we wound up eating with no problem, of course) because I never found the tip of my finger. You’re welcome :D.

My injury didn’t stop the kids from having an awesome Christmas though. And that they did! With gifts coming from multiple relatives and then the ones from us and of course Santa, I think they’re both set for a while.

I’m set too! The wife got me an awesome looking cross that shares a chain with a dog tag that has all the important dates in my life engraved on it. Absolutely love it, especially since it replaced an old one that was on its last leg.

Then a few days after Christmas, my mom got me a new laptop! No more 6 year old hunk of machinery that couldn’t be opened past a certain point and burned my thighs from overheating after 5 minutes of use!

I got this spiffy and sexy 13 inch HP Pavilion x360! A 2-in-1 hybrid that’s a laptop and a tablet!

The screen rotates all the way back and it is freaking SWEET!

This is tent mode. Tablet mode goes completely back. Anything besides laptop mode disables the keyboard. I’m in love, can you tell?

I don’t know what’s so bad about Windows 8.1 that everyone keeps complaining, but I don’t have any issues with it! Maybe it’s me coming from Windows Vista, but still, I’m loving the touch controls and loving the functionality of it all. Can’t wait to put it to use!

One thing I totally and utterly regret about all of Christmas time, is that aside from the Fire Stick which was before the chaos, I didn’t unbox a single thing! The Keurig, the laptop, Seb’s insane stack of Skylanders and Disney Infinity figures. Not. One. Unboxing. And that sucks! Those are a lot of memories that can’t be relived. If only the wife agreed to holding the camera instead of looking at me like I was speaking Russian whenever I asked her to.

Between Christmas day which was a Thursday, and Sunday the 28th, we had a total of 16 people in our house at any given time. Parents, siblings, cousins, it was a madhouse! Kids going crazy, shoes covering the entire floor of the foyer, the wife in a corner breathing into a paper bag, it was good times. But the main reason for the gathering wasn’t the holiday, it was Lucas’ Christening!

That Saturday, we decided to not wait till he was 3 like we did with Seb, and we had Lucas baptized. Apparently, there’s no middle ground with age because Lucas was quite the character in church. Let’s just say everyone who attended knew his name by the end of it. The Priest was good hearted and didn’t seem to get annoyed, which was great. But if the whole reason for going wasn’t to get Lucas baptized then we would’ve left like 5 minutes into it. He was being so Lucas, making noises and getting mad because he had shoes on and couldn’t walk around. Which made it all the more hilarious when he finally got the water poured on him and mysteriously became quiet and tolerable. Like the evil was flushed out of him, it was great. Anyway, we’re glad we were able to get it done. It’s an important milestone in this family.

For lunch that day, my mom took care of the food. She was adamant on having a Fiesta and getting Chipotle to cater. It turned out to be an amazing idea because it was all pretty awesome! Chipotle does not hold anything back when they cater for you.

We had everything we would ever need as far as utensils and stuff, and there was soooooo much food! Tacos, tortillas, rice, pork, steak, condiments. And chips. Chips eeeeeeeeeverywhere for daaaaaaays!

It was an awesome set up and a great time having everyone there enjoying a meal on an already memorable day.

I feel bad for my wife’s mom though who had to drive back to Florida earlier that day because she started getting the kid flu the previous night and didn’t want to drive with it worse the next day. Which it did get worse, as the kid flu does.

It’s a shame too. She missed me saving Lucas’ life and in the process, shattering my knee. Ooooh, I didn’t mention that? Well, allow me.. a bunch of us were upstairs in the loft playing board games and video games, chatting and whatnot. And Seb decides he wants to show one of his cousins something downstairs. So he opens the gate and starts to go down. All of a sudden Lucas decides he wants to try and go downstairs too…. I had my back turned and heard screaming from the wife. It was a scary moment, especially when I realized I was the closest one to the stairs. They said I moved so quick it was like I apparated! In my head though it was all in slow motion. He was right on the edge of the step looking down and I was doing the action hero shot – running in slow motion, with my arm extended, my lips mouthing the word “Noooooooooooo” really slow and dramatic like – It was a tense moment. So at the last possible second I did a sitting baseball slide. I wrapped my arm around Lucas and he was safe! But.. At the same time, my knee rammed into the corner of the wall.

You know how sometimes you get hurt, but you don’t feel it because the adrenalin running through your body doesn’t let you feel pain? Well yeah, none of that shit happened here. My brain said, “pfft! Adrenalin? What was.. oh yeah! I’m supposed to be pumping you full of that stuff, huh? MY BAD!” So my knee hit the wall and I felt it immediately. All I could do was hold on to Lucas as I fell back completely, and in the process, banged my head on the book shelf. As if I wasn’t in enough pain, right?! As I lay there – semi-unconscious, pain coursing through my knee swearing it’s broken in 5 places, Lucas in my arm smacking the back of my head, and a room full of my closest family can do nothing but laugh hysterically along with my wife who was trying her hardest to not pee herself – I block it all out and think that’s it, I’m done. My dreams of becoming a professional swing dancer once the kids move out are over. On the bright side though, I can finally have a reason for walking around with a limp and a cane and acting like Dr. House. After a few minutes of wallowing and cursing like a sailor I sit up and look at the huge bruise and my swollen knee. The wife gets me an ice pack, my older sister takes pictures of me while she’s still laughing as if I’m some road side attraction, my younger sister sits beside me and pats me on the back like twice, and all I can do is lay there. I’m eventually forced to move and walk it off, and after a few days it gets better, but I still can’t kneel without it hurting. So if you’re keeping tally, I almost sliced off my finger and crippled my knee all in one weekend. I almost asked “what’s next?!” but I didn’t want to tempt whoever I obviously pissed off. At least Lucas is ok! That’s really what matters.

So the weekend came to an end and everyone went to their homes. With the wife still on vacation for a few more days we decided to do what we’ve been wanting to do for months now – go to Disney! What?! It’s been a while. We do it for the kids, really, so don’t blame us.

I chose to make the drive on New Year’s day. So we spent New Year’s eve the same way we always do – in our bed watching the ball drop in Times Square. We’re simple folk over here. Not the partying, drinking, horn blowing type. We like to sit back, relax, and wonder who in the hell are all these celebrities and pop artists that are big now. Seriously, freaking kids today have no idea how cheated they are these days compared to us. But I digress. We went to bed a little after 12 to wake up at 3am to drive down to Florida. As long as I got music to sing to and snacks to chew on I am good to go.

Disney is still Disney. I’ll say it a million times – the only thing I miss about living in Florida is the ability to go to the theme parks at a moment’s notice. Those were the days, let me tell ya. “Want to go to Disney for a few hours? …. Sure!”

Maybe one day we’ll go back for good. But for now, we have to make that drive. Of course, Seb is excited and couldn’t contain himself, and Lucas was happy to jump behind the wheel again.

We wanted to spend the whole day there but they closed at 1am like the psychos they are and we were crazy tired.

So we lasted till night broke and I was able to take some pictures of the castle all lit up. They started taking the lights down off the back so I’m glad we caught it before they were all taken down.

Speaking of pictures, guess who forgot his DSLR in North Carolina. YUP! This guy! And it was funny because I totally forgot to bring the camera to Lucas’ baptism too. And by funny, I mean the complete and total opposite of funny. Oh man, I was so mad.

It hit me when we were close to South Carolina. So from there to about Jacksonville I was kicking myself in the ass. I was lucky my mom just bought herself the same exact camera on Black Friday, so I was able to borrow hers for the day. But still though, so freaking mad. You don’t forget your camera to 2 big family events! It’s like I’m not even trying.

Anyway, when I got to the spiffy new laptop and popped the memory card in it – because you know, it has a memory card reader built in and I don’t have to carry around a stupid dongle anymore – I discovered something.

I must have clicked something different when I was setting up my Google account, because thanks to the awesomeness that is Google+’s Photos back-up feature, whatever pictures I put on my hard drive get auto awesomed!

So instead of regular ol’ pictures, I get sweet, motion filled gifs! And seriously, who doesn’t love gifs?!

You guys are in trouble now, let me tell you! Because now that I know how to get these gifs on my posts, you’re going to be seeing a lot more of them in the future!

No lie, the discovery kind of bummed me out. It reminded me of G+ and how heavy I used to be into it. If you didn’t know, I used to be the biggest advocate of G+ among my friends, but I just didn’t have time to keep up with it. Way too many people to follow and it became a job. I still say it’s the best social network out there, and one day I know I’ll go back to it. Just not now.

Ahhh, anyway. We spent the day in Disney with my sister and her Hawaiian boyfriend, Walter!

This is Hector…

Well, Walter. I call him Hector. Why? Because when I first learned his name I had forgotten it shortly after and accidentally called him Hector when talking to my wife. And from there it just stuck. Makes sense too because sometimes he’s being serious and other times he’s being.. Hector. So it’s like Walter is his serious side and Hector is his crazier personality. I’m proud to say I had the whole family calling him Hector by the time Christmas weekend was over. It’s an accomplishment, what can I say? Haha! He’s a cool cat, though. Funny, charming, Hawaiian.. Did I mention he’s Hawaiian? I’ve never known anyone from Hawaii so I asked him some stupid questions like if they use gasoline over there, which led to the next question that was if they even have cars. His response? “No, a lot of people don’t know this, but we actually have dragons. They sleep in the volcanoes.” Hahaha, freaking Hector, I’m telling ya! Dude’s a trip.

My sister wanted to eat in a restaurant in Disney called Be Our Guest. It’s fairly new since it’s in the new Fantasyland that was recently added to the Magic Kingdom. There was a 45 minute wait to get in for lunch. I’m sorry, I don’t think you heard me. I said there was a 45 minute wait for lunch. It’s seriously not a big deal because that place gets PACKED and we probably got off lucky with the wait.

Like I did, you’re probably wondering what’s the big deal. Well, like everything else Disney does, this place caters to your childhood memories.

Those giant windows? You can’t see it, but they’re looking out into a snowy forest. Snow flakes are falling via Disney magic and everything. Amazing touch.

The theme, of course, is Beauty & the Beast. So you’re in the Beast’s castle where you can choose to eat in the 2 story Grand Ballroom (pictured above), the Rose Gallery, or where we chose, the West Wing!

IMG_0203-MOTION — Yes, it was that dark in there.

If you’re a fan of the film, I would highly recommend checking it out. As you can probably tell from the menu, lunch is a lot more laid back. You order yourself via touchscreen kiosks when you walk in, and they bring your food to your table that you also have to find yourself. The wife and I split the turkey and roast beef sandwiches, and let me tell you, they were both pretty freaking good.

I thought you go to a place like this in the theme park and pay for the atmosphere. But those sandwiches were good enough to make me forget that thought. I can only imagine how crazy dinner gets with the food and service. My sister told me it’s totally different than lunch in a bunch of ways, so yeah, I would not mind going back to try it out. Especially the grey stuff! They have it there and I heard it’s delicious!

Writing all that up about that restaurant kinda made me wish I lived in Orlando again so I could drag the family to all these decked out theme park restaurants and review them. Because I totally would.

Lastly (finally, I know!), remember I said the only thing I miss about Florida are the theme parks? If there was one thing that I will never miss about Florida, it’s the damn heat. January. It’s freaking January, and this is the day’s forecast.

Florida weather and I have never gotten along. And it’s mainly because the state doesn’t believe in this mystical time frame the rest of the country calls winter. If Florida had an actual winter and not just 2-3 weeks out of the year where the temps get all the way down to the 40’s when the sun wasn’t out, then I’d totally be able to stand the sweltering hell-like heat of the summer.

But nope. No such thing as winter in Florida. Just light summer, actual summer, leave-the-house-only-if-you-like-turning-into-dust summer, and kinda-sorta fall.

And that be that! I know, I talk like a teenage girl the week before prom but it’s not my fault! It’s been a long time since I had a proper update like this. Not to mention it’s just after the busiest few weeks I remember having for a long time. I had a lot to say and you know what? I don’t feel bad about saying it all! I think it’s because there’ll probably be like 3 people who actually make it this far in the post. But if you did.. Thanks!!

It’s a new year. Here’s to hoping it’s better than last year for everyone. Thanks for all the support I received in 2014!! There is a good handful of you who are always here checking out what I post and commenting and just being all around cool people. You know who you are and I hope you all know it’s greatly appreciated. I hope I’m able to make 2015 even better around these parts.

But until then… HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Family Travels, The Dad

6 Comments

December 18, 2014

Jamberry Santa Suit Cookies

Jacks Obsession The day has finally come! I feel like I’ve been holding this secret in forever. A few weeks ago, the Wilton Treat Team was asked if we’d like to do a Secret Santa cookie swap amongst each other. With me never taking part …Read More….

The Chef

14 Comments

December 10, 2014

Candy Cane and Pretzel Holiday Bark

What’s This It’s Christmas time!! Kris my Kringles, where the heck has the year gone?! I know, I’m pretty bad with this blog thing during the holidays. So many great blogs out there with so many holiday posts coming out of their yule logs. Christmas …Read More….

The Chef

3 Comments

October 29, 2014

Pumpkin Spiced Pumpkin Seeds

I Put a Spell on You

Alright, so If you’re doing Halloween remotely right, there are very good odds you have already, or will be carving up a pumpkin very soon. And when you’re in there, getting elbow deep in pumpkin guts, you may or may not know about the treasure hidden inside these orange globes of fall goodness. So allow me to shed some light.

It was 2 whole years ago (yikes) when we not only carved our first pumpkin, but I roasted seeds for the first time. If you go back and read that post by clicking here – which you should since it’s a great recipe and has more info on roasting – you’ll see I attempted and failed miserably (I’ll never forget that heartache) to make the seeds I’m sharing with you today. So it was good to read that again and feel like I won a battle I’ve lost in the past. Show me a mountain now and I shall climb it!

Ok, that’s pushing it. But still! Show me pumpkin seeds and I will roast them!

But… Before we get into the roasting, allow me to dump some pumpkin patch pictures on you.

For the first time, despite my wife not being crazy about Halloween, we ventured out an hour and a half to a farm where you can pick pumpkins, get lost in a corn maze, and take a hayride.

We only did the patch because we weren’t planning on making it a day long event. And it’s a good thing too because if everything else was anything like the pumpkin patch, we would’ve been even more disappointed than we already were.

There were 7 acres I think of pumpkins to pick, but there were only about 4 or 5 good clusters of pumpkins to choose from. And even those had all dented backs or cracks in the bottom.

I know, the back is the back. But I get all Clark Griswold when I choose a pumpkin so I wasn’t having any imperfections. The Perez Family Pumpkin should be the greatest pumpkin you’ve ever seen!

This is Lucas claiming his pumpkin and pushing his brother away, not wanting him to touch it.

Ha, no, unfortunately, we did not buy a pumpkin so big we needed to strap it to the roof of the van.

In fact, after combing the patch and not being happy with anything, we chalked it up as a loss and headed back home.

We stopped at one of those roadside pumpkin places by the wife’s job similar to the Christmas Tree corner emporiums. Turns out they had a bunch of great pumpkins and they were priced so well we got 2!

Brought them home, cracked one open, and here we are! Seeds!

Pumpkin Spiced Pumpkin Seeds

2 cups – Pumpkin Seeds, cleaned and dry
2 tablespoons – Butter, melted
3/4 teaspoon – Pumpkin Pie Spice
1/4 teaspoon – Cinnamon
1 tablespoon – Brown Sugar
pinch – Salt

1 tablespoon – Butter, melted
1 tablespoon – Sugar
1/2 teaspoon – Pumpkin Pie Spice

1 tablespoon – Sugar
1/2 teaspoon – Pumpkin Pie Spice
little less than 1/4 teaspoon – Nutmeg, freshly grated

Notes:

Woooooo, looks complicated, huh? Looks like a lot? Well, it’s a hell of a lot more than the last seed recipe which was only olive oil and salt (simple is the freaking best). But even though it doesn’t look it, this is fairly simple and just a little time consuming.
I have 3 separate batches of sugar and spices there, each one should be added at the designated time. Think those logs Doc threw into the train’s firebox to get the fire hot enough to get the train up to 88mph.
Go ahead, ask me what I’m talking about and see how fast I unfriend you.
Judging by my overall success with this recipe, I wonder what happened the first time I failed at it. I think it was just throwing everything in there and baking at a high temp. Roasting pumpkin seeds is like driving a ’59 Impala: Low n’ slow.
If you’re not a fan of Pumpkin Pie Spice, first off, who the hell are you?! And second, you can replace it with more cinnamon which I’m sure will be great.
If you’re not a fan cinnamon, then what the heck are you even doing here?!

Alright, let’s roast some seeds!

Set the oven to 325. Assuming you already extracted the seeds from the pumpkin, and separated them from the guts, it’s time to clean them. So put them in a big bowl of water and stir them up and swoosh them around. You’ll see the seeds float to the top and the stuff you don’t want sink to the bottom.

Next, get a baking sheet and line it with parchment and give it a spray with non-stick. Put the seeds on an even layer and put them in the oven for 10 minutes, while taking them out halfway to stir them up. While they’re in there, melt your butter.

You’re drying them out here and making it easier for whatever you’re going to put on them to stay on them.

Once they’re out put them in a bowl, and on top, pour the melted butter, and sprinkle the first round of seasonings. Give it a good stir.

Spray the parchment with non-stick again (I wasn’t playing this time, I took no chances), and put the seeds in a single layer.

In the oven they go for 7 minutes.

Take them out and put them in the same bowl you used before. Give them round 2 of the butter, sugar and spice. Stir it up. Spray the parchment again (yeah, again!) and put the seeds back in a single layer and pop them in for another 7 minutes.

Notice the change in color!

When they come out this time, you’ll probably have to give the parchment a wipe down thanks to the insane amount of non-stick I’m telling you to dose it with. Sorry, I’m traumatized, give me a break. Get the seeds back in the bowl and give them the last round of spices and sugar. Stir them up and back on the parchment they go. Same routine, but this time go for 12-14 minutes while stirring them halfway.

Use your instincts though. If you need to take them out sooner, you gotta do what you gotta do. But this awesome color is what you’re looking for.

And that’s it. You should have some nicely spiced up pumpkin seeds! Don’t get me wrong, there’s still something about the salt and oil ones that make them just perfect, but these liven up the party just as good.