Yum. Just Yum.

My belly is full. The dishes are clean. Rei is in their room chatting with friends. I have some random fashion reality show on the screen. And there’s still some wine in my glass (and the bottle).

It’s a work in progress.

I put two cookbooks in the car and picked Rei up from school after co-working with my bestie Jacqueline. In the car in front of the market, we decided on the menu, put together our list, grabbed our bags, and walked to the protein aisle.

We’d decided on a lamb chop but we weren’t happy with the selection so we went with a NY steak that the butcher recommended. He also recommended peanut butter cookies and I was sorely tempted but we ended up picking up some peanut butter fudge ice cream instead. Not complaining; I love peanut butter :P

I found a recipe for a savory Dutch baby and decided that we had to give it a try. It worked with the lamb and the steak so we were good to go. Plus it was super easy! Well, we don’t know if it would have worked with the lamb (it probably would have been delicious though).

Rei wandered into the cheese aisle and picked up some d’Affinois (for another time) and some mozzarella. While we were in the produce aisle, Rei picked up some tomatoes and some basil. I didn’t have the heart to tell Rei that it wasn’t summer and the tomatoes were going to be lousy. (Spoiler: they were tasteless but fortunately we discovered flaky sea salt which fixes EVERYTHING.) Yes, I knew full well the tomatoes were going to be shitty, but I didn’t care because flaky sea salt and mozzarella are hard to fuck up. The tomatoes were just there as carriers.

Final menu? Roasted carrots with garlic and thyme (from the garden), savory Dutch baby (who knew this existed!), and a NY steak cooked Julia style with Rei’s Hollandaise sauce. Paired with a Hess family cab for me!

While it might look ambitious, this was a great #midweekmeal. One hour active cooking time.

I got the carrots going by cutting off the stems (and feeding the leafy goodies to the chickens), putting them on a baking tray with some olive oil, thyme from the garden, some garlic, and some salt. I popped them into the oven WAY too early at 400 degrees. You probably should have waited another hour or so lol

Rei had homework and it was 4:30 when we got started so after a bit, we dropped the oven temp to 300 to let them bake slowly. At 5:45 we got back to work and we were sitting at the table by 6:45. The carrots were not overdone (they were nicely caramelized), but the poor garlic cloves were entirely beyond salvation. rip.

I chopped a shallot and set aside while Rei chopped the mushrooms into small bits. Next time, we will slice them. The small bits were unwieldy and not very appetizing to look at. For once, we followed the recipe when we shouldn’t have…next time, we’ll stick with our guts.

Rei sauteed the mushrooms and shallots in some butter while I got batter for the Dutch baby ready. Fuck yeah! Mushrooms and shallots and butter! I could eat this by the spoonful (fun story: I have).

The ingredients are simple: eggs, flour, milk, salt and pepper. Next time, we will add some herbs.

The mushrooms required a splash of white vermouth and some whipping cream.

Really, who can go wrong with butter, shallots, mushrooms, white vermouth, and cream. Once this was simmering, Rei put it into a bowl to be applied after the Dutch baby was cooked. Yum.

The Dutch baby recipe came from Deb Perelman’s smitten kitchen EVERY DAY cookbook. It called for Parmesan cheese which we chose not to use (I am not a fan). The dish didn’t need it.

I set the table for the two of us. Usually we eat at the counter unless we have other people joining us. We will be cooking for some of my business associates twice a month to help us stay motivated. We love cooking for guests! All we ask is that our guests bring some fun bubbly or sparkling wine! And cheese for me. I love cheese…

As we waited for the oven to heat up for the Dutch baby, Rei got started on the Hollandaise sauce.

The eggs were huge! Our girls aren’t producing right now due to the shortened days so we are having to buy eggs. Sad face. Rei pulled out Mastering the Art of French Cooking to make the classic sauce. We’ve tried Julia’s hollandaise before, but haven’t had much luck. This time, though, everything went smoothly (pun intended — the sauce was incredibly creamy).

Once the pan with the butter got hot and sizzly in the oven, I poured in the batter and popped it back into the over for 15 minutes. I can’t believe how quickly this came together.

Rei continued to work on the Hollandaise with a one-hand assist from yours truly. You can’t see the glass of wine I have in my other hand! If you had wine in one hand and the pan in the other, how did you take the picture??? Did you grow another arm and I didn’t notice until now? Did you develop telekinetic powers overnight? Share your secrets with me, O Magical One…

Once the sauce was done, I removed the carrots from the oven. They went a bit too long but, honestly, they were delicious. They were sweet and crunchy. The garlic tasted like garlicky charcoal but who could pass up on a carcinogenic teeth whitener? I did, thank you very much.

We got the pan heated for the steak and added some butter. Once melted, we put the steak on.

Meanwhile, back in the oven, the Dutch baby went crazy! It’s gorgeous! Rei and I were wondering what the difference is between Dutch baby and Yorkshire pudding. They must come from the same food family. Anyone? No idea, man.

I plated the carrots and left room for the steak.

Rei finished the steak and we put it on the platter with the carrots. The Dutch baby collapsed but it left room for the mushroom sauce.

This looks kind of weird so next time, with sliced mushrooms, we will cover it more completely. We followed the recipe instructions and really wish we hadn’t.

We put the sauce into a small pitcher and sat down to dinner.

It was delicious.

I think I am pre-menstrual so I needed something really filling. We had vegetarian the last two nights (tomato soup with tartines) and we did shellfish and fish the two nights prior. This was our one beef night for the week with additional juicy goodness.

There’s Ben and Jerry’s in the freezer for later.

Rei? Are you done with your chat time with friends? Would you mind wrapping this up? I am assuming you have time since we are playing hooky tomorrow to hit some museums in SF. Relax, it’s educational!

No, I’m not done facetiming my friends (they’re in my earbuds as I write this and are complaining about how loudly I’m typing because I’m a very aggressive typist). Alison says she wants ice cream now because I just mentioned that we have some for dessert. (Too bad I’ve had wine otherwise I would bring her some. ~Terri)

Dinner tonight was tasty and easy — the best combination! I found the Dutch baby to be a bit doughy when we doused it with the mushroom sauce (like Yorkshire pudding, in fact, and I’ve never really loved Yorkshire pudding if I’m being completely honest).

The carrots were super easy (carrots, olive oil, salt, pepper, and herbs → oven for a while), the Dutch baby took like 25 minutes total and most of that was waiting for the pan to get hot or the thing to bake, and the steak was also super quick and easy. The hardest part was the Hollandaise, which was more attention-consuming than actually difficult.

The ice cream in the freezer has my name on it, so I’m going to wrap this sucker up now.

TL;DR: Food is a lot easier to make than you think it is, we stan Ben and Jerry’s, and the combination of my mom’s loud keyboard and my aggressive typing is deadly to everyone in the vicinity’s ears.

Thank you for coming to my TEDtalk.

Until next time, ciao, and have a lonksufurondist day!

Rei and Terri :)