Announcing a new Ben’s Day Wednesday Feature! We always post what Ben is cooking, and sometimes what he is ordering for carry out. But, if you know Ben, you know that his love of food knows no bounds. We’ve decided to start posting what he most enjoyed for the week (if it isn’t already included…
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…
Halushki
This week, we were inspired to make halushki, by a recipe Kristie Lee shared. While the term was new to us, it is similar to something served at Odyssey of the Mind tournaments held in Berwick, PA, an event very familiar to our family. Cabbage, noodles and onion seem to be the heart of this…
New-Haul
Since we moved Sophia to Virginia last summer, Ben has been obsessed with U-Hauls, or “New-Hauls,” as he calls them. He has asked about the plans for moving her from Virginia back to Pennsylvania approximately one million, four hundred twenty-eight thousand, five hundred sixty-two times over the course of the summer. I feel like I…
And Now For Something Completely Different… (Just kidding. It’s chicken again.)
When Ben was but a wee tad (maybe 4?) and he was just starting to put words together, we went out for a nice dinner on my birthday. Ben correctly deduced from the Old Corner’s elegant ambience and cloth napkins, that this was fine dining, and he wanted to order without my help (I sometimes…