Food Archives - Page 16 of 24

Leaky Roof Leads To Falafels

October 5, 2010 TechyDad Food

On Friday, October 1st, I woke up and went to get NHL breakfast. I was off of work for the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah. This is a fun holiday where you get to dance around in temple. I was looking forward to going with JSL, but it wasn’t to be. As I walked into the kitchen, I saw some water on the floor. “Rats,” I thought, “the dishwasher is broken.” Then I remembered that I hadn’t ran the dishwasher. I looked up and saw it.

A leak. Great. We called T, the guy who fixed our roof and burst water pipe, and he came over quickly. He checked, but couldn’t find any water in the attic directly above the kitchen. He crawled around on his hands and knees but no water. The best we were able to tell, it was coming from the area around a vent pipe. He went outside (in the pouring rain), tossed a bucket of water on the roof and then looked in the attic again. Bingo! A small trickle of water going down the pipe.

T left to get some parts. When he returned, he fixed the seal around the vent pipe. Turns out it had worn away allowing some water to flow through.

After a day like that, you can understand how we were in no mood to cook dinner. Pizza and falafels were ordered and boy were they good!

Aloha Friday: Fasting for Yom Kippur

September 17, 2010 TechyDad Aloha Friday, Food, Religion

Tonight, at sundown, I’ll begin fasting for Yom Kippur. Yom Kippur is a time for repenting. It is a time to think about all the things you did wrong over the year and plan how to do better in the coming year. There are many restrictions, such as fasting, designed to focus people on their repentance. The fast lasts from sundown on Friday night to an hour after sundown on Saturday night. In short, 25 hours. During this period, I won’t be able to eat or drink anything. No, I can’t even have a sip of water. (Some people are so religious that they won’t brush their teeth or shower during Yom Kippur. I do not belong to this group, however, and continue with basic hygene hygene.)

My Aloha Friday question for today is: What is the longest period you went without eating or drinking?

Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the MckLinky there if you are participating.

Aloha #55

Cooking With TechyDad: Slowcooker Greek Chicken

September 14, 2010 TechyDad Cooking, Food, Photos

One can be forgiven for thinking that we are vegetarian. The fact of the matter is that we usually do eat vegetarian. This isn’t because of some moral stance on not eating animals (though I respect those with that moral stance). Instead, it is because we keep Kosher in the house and the price of Kosher meat is exorbitant. So instead of paying an arm and a leg (and trotting out the meat pots, meat dishes and meat silverware), we buy soy products instead.

Just before Rosh Hashana, however, I got the call to pick up a package from B’s grandmother. She had a big bag with challah, gefilte fish, grape juice and other items. On the bottom was a package of quartered chicken. Normally, I’d toss this into the freezer to deal with at a later time, but it was already thawing. So I put it in the fridge, consulted the sacred tomes (aka my recipe books), and came up with a plan.

First, I gathered the ingredients.

For those of you who don’t want to click to enlarge the image, that’s olive oil, pepper, 2 onions, minced garlic, salt, the aforementioned chicken, oregano and potatoes.

Next, I quartered 6 small spuds and placed them in my slowcooker.

Then, being in a cutting mood, I quartered the onions and saved them for later.

Next, I skinned the chicken and put it in the slow cooker over the potatoes. This took awhile and reminded me why I love working with cutlets that have already been de-skinned and de-boned.

Remember those onions? (If not, get your memory checked.) Well, I tossed them in on top of the chicken.

Then came the equivalent of 1 clove of minced garlic into the slowcooker. (Equivalent because I was using pre-minced garlic. Less mess and doesn’t spoil as quickly.)

Now, I mixed a half cup of water with 3 teaspoons of oregano, 1 teaspoon of salt and half a teaspoon of pepper. Into the slowcooker it went.

Finally, a tablespoon of olive oil was drizzled on top of it all.

I placed the cover on, set the slowcooker to high and let it cook for about five and a half hours.

The best part? No need for side dishes. It forms a whole meal all by itself!

YUM!

#BlogHer10 Memories Part 3 – Welcome To BlogHer!

August 12, 2010 TechyDad BlogHer, Food, Photos

We woke up to BlogHer 2010 Day 1 ready for the day ahead. Luckily, our previous fears of being eaten alive by bedbugs didn’t come true. We showered, got dressed and headed downstairs way too early. We could see tables full of delicious food in the final stages of being set up. We waited patiently and then got a table so we could take turns getting food/watching our stuff.

When it was my turn, I actually let people skip ahead of me. Being a photo geek, I was stopping to take photos of everything before serving myself the food. I didn’t want to slow anybody down, so I would step aside for them to pass/get their food and then would proceed taking photos. » Read more

#BlogHer10 Memories Part 2 – The First Night – Party at #RalphLauren

August 10, 2010 TechyDad BlogHer, Food, Photos

After we got checked in and settled in, it was time to get ready for the night’s events. B had a Toy Industry Association event and CutestKidEver was going to the BlogHer 2010 parties. I meanwhile, had a Ralph Lauren event to attend, but for dinner I was on my own. I wandered around the streets taking photos and looking for a good place to eat.

I finally settled on The Great American Health Bar. As I walked in, I noticed a mezuzah on the wall. Was this place Kosher, I wondered? Yes, yes it was! (Not that that mattered, but it was a nice surprise.)

I sat down, looked at the menu and decided to order the Tuna Burger. This was canned tuna fish mixed with mashed potatoes, veggies and beans, fried in a patty, covered with cheese, placed on a bun and served with a side salad. It was delicious and I will definitely be replicating this!

After eating, I headed back to my room and killed time before getting ready to go to the Ralph Lauren event. I headed down and wound up being the first person to arrive. I waited as more people came and then we headed out. On the way, I connected with some other bloggers and we chatted for a bit. Here, I must apologize. I am horrible with faces and names. Since I can’t remember everyone’s name (though I still have all of your business cards, I’m not going to name the names of anyone I met – with one exception coming up later.

We were served some hors d’oeuvres, drinks and mini-cupcakes. David Lauren (Ralph Lauren’s son) came out and gave a speech about his father. We were told about how Ralph began (selling homemade ties from a drawer at the Empire State Building) and about their newest initiative. This takes the form of a children’s story book and video titled “RL Gang.”

Before seeing the video, though, a group of kids came out dressed in the RL Gang clothing line. They were incredibly cute and posed for a few photos before sitting down to watch the video. The video itself involved a group of kids, similar to the kids who were with us that night, attending a very special class and a magical trip to help a tree. I won’t spoil the ending, but it was very cute. I could definitely see my kids enjoying a series of these videos.

While there, I got to meet (and here’s the one name exception): dadarocks aka Adam Cohen. We’ve worked together for the past few months on DadRevolution.com, but we had never met in person. We talked quite a bit and in fact were the last ones to leave. We were sort of kicked out (but in a nice way) when the Ralph Lauren staff realized that they needed to close up for the night and that we were still there.

Before leaving, we each got a small bag of swag. Mine contained the RL Gang book, a USB drive (with product shots and a promo for the video which I’ll post as soon as I locate that drive) and some cologne. In addition, dadarocks handed me a Dora’s Big Birthday DVD and a car set. (I don’t have the exact name of the latter on hand… it was sort of a lego-type build-it-yourself product.)

When we got back to the hotel, dadarocks and I talked for a bit both to each other and to some other folks in the hotel lobby. Eventually, B texted me that she was going to get dropped off by the Sheraton and would like to walk back with me. I dropped my stuff off in the room, noticed we had gotten a room drop (including a Mr. Potato Head) and then headed over to the Sheraton. We walked back to our room and settled in, ready for the BlogHer excitement to officially begin the following day.

« 1 … 14 15 16 17 18 … 24 »