Category: Life With Ben
Dutch Baby and Cowboy Hash
All of these words make sense on their own, but when placed together, they become a culinary puzzle to unravel. If you are not familiar with the Dutch Baby, it is in the pancake genre, but is thick, custardy, and baked in a cast iron skillet. Our breakfast-for-dinner side dish was hash. Why cowboy hash?…
Triumph! Our Last Open-Air Road Trip of the Season
What a great time we have had in the last six months, stretching convertible season on either end. I suppose most people who tell children to put their coats on for a living wouldn’t go for the brisk rides we’ve been taking, but Ben asked “Alexa” about the weather for Saturday, and when we heard…
The Kids Are Alright
Nobody’s day looks like it did a year ago, but around here, we take comfort in routine. Ben is going to school 4 days a week, and is home with a care provider on the fifth day. He wears a mask, and seems to be pretty happy to be back at school. Of course, we…
Labor Day Park Crawl
When the kids were young enough to take direction (do my bidding) but old enough to ride bikes, we started a tradition of biking from park to park on Labor Day, ending at Brandon Park at noon, where Phil would walk over for a picnic with us. Lycoming College always has classes on Labor Day…
A Night (School Year?) at the Improv
My day to cook with Ben this week coincided with my first in-service day of the year, so the theme of the evening was improvisation. We briefly entertained the notion of Chicken Florentine, but to keep things as normal as possible, we made the familiar Quick Chicken Cordon Bleu. (Though it should be noted that…
Ooh La La!
Chef Ben chose a French dish this week: Savory Pain Perdu (like French toast, but with cheese instead of sugar) and greens with a poached egg. Of course, steak is the perfect accompaniment to…um…everything, according to Ben, so that’s what we did. We all loved the delicious contrast of what amounts to giant, warm, custardy…
Head for the Hills!
Summer has come and gone. Since a vacation was not in the cards this year, we have tried to take advantage of sunny weekend mornings by exploring the hills, valleys, and forests of the area in Phil’s ’65 Triumph Vitesse. I wouldn’t exactly characterize us as convertible people – rather as quirky, affordable, vintage British…
These Crab Cakes are Poptacular!
This week, after careful perusal of all deep fried items pictured in his cookbooks, Ben settled on crab cakes. While they looked awfully good, I told him we would bake them instead of frying. He repeatedly expressed his skepticism about this approach, but in the end he declared them “poptacular.” Though he refuses to be…
Bacon Corn Chowder and Spinach Artichoke Melts
This week, we tried to make good use of summer’s bounty without working too hard. Ben loves these easy, open-faced toasted sandwiches. While soup appears to conflict with his belief system these days, bacon is his weakness, so he consented to the chowder. We fiddled a bit with Hope Helmuth’s recipe from Hope’s Table, and…