Decadence equals Baked Rigatoni with Bechamel Sauce

Yeah, yeah . . . I'm still working on my New Year's resolutions and all but when a friend posted this recipe on Facebook a week ago, my mouth watered and I told myself I had to make it . . . and soon.

I'm happy to say that so far I've lost a couple of pounds and three inches since I started my workout and clean eating regime Jan. 3rd. However, if I keep eating like this, I will quickly reverse that trend.

I seized the opportunity tonight when Curt said he was having some friends over to watch football. Yay! I can try out this dish AND share it. Eureka!! Another hit. And the best part is that the platter was licked clean so there are no lefto's taunting me.

It's back to carrots celery sticks tomorrow. But for tonight, this was amazing!

It's the perfect cold winter night dinner. Enjoy!

Ingredients

Bechamel sauce:

• 1 stick unsalted butter (4 ounces)
• 1/2 cup and 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 quart whole milk, at room temperature
• Pinch fresh nutmeg
• Sea salt and white pepper
• 1 cup grated fontina
• 1/2 pound thinly sliced prosciutto, julienned
• 1 pound dry rigatoni
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, diced

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Bechamel sauce:

In a 2 quart saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the flour and whisk until smooth, about 2 minutes. Always stirring, gradually add the milk and continue to whisk until the sauce is smooth and creamy. Simmer until it is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. This will take approximately 10 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in nutmeg, 1/2 cup fontina, prosciutto and season with salt and white pepper. Set aside.

In a large pot, bring to a boil 6 quarts of salted water. Add the rigatoni and cook for about 5 minutes. Since you will be cooking thepasta a second time in the oven, you want to make sure the inside is still hard. Drain in a colander. Return pasta to the pot and pour in bechamel sauce. Using a wooden spoon, mix well until all the pasta is coated with the sauce.

Into a greased 13 by 9-inch baking dish, pour the pasta with cream sauce. Smooth out top and sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup fontina. Dot the top with diced butter and bake in oven for 25 minutes or until bubbling and the top is golden brown.

The national dish of Switzerland

It's January. It's cold. The snow is falling.

Those conditions often make me yearn for a good fondue.

I first tasted this concoction in 1988. It was January and I was living in Biel, Switzerland at the time. (Officially renamed Biel/Bienne in 2005, I just discovered, because of it's bilingual nature. Cool.)

There were many hole-in-the-wall fondue restaurants in Biel and we found our favorites. I don't recall their names but I will never forget the taste of the Kirsch-laden cheesy pot and crusty, rustic bread. I was in love.

When I returned to the states, I found a fondue pot much like the ones used in the restaurants in Switzerland. I'm still making fondue out of that same pot. More love.

The picture I scanned is the front page of a brochure that includes the recipe I follow religiously. This brochure traveled home with me from Switzerland and I've held onto it ever since. I'm a purist when it comes to fondue. Although instead of just bread chunks, I do add some blanched vegetables now for variety and a little balance.

The following recipe serves 4 people as a main course -- basically about a quarter pound of cheese per person. Adjust the amounts depending on how many people you're serving.

Classic Fondue

1 clove garlic (plus more)

1-1/2 cups dry white Swiss wine

1/2 lb Emmentaler cheese

1/2 lb Gruyere

Kirsch

cornstarch

Rub inside of pot with cut garlic clove. Place pot on stove. Pour wine into pot. Heat over medium flame until wine is hot but not boiling. Add handfuls of cheese (cut up in chunks or shredded), stirring constantly with wooden spoon until cheese is melted and the cheese-wine mixture has the appearance of a light creamy sauce. In a separate bowl, stir in 3 tablespoons of Kirsch mixed with 1 tablespoon corn starch. Pour that mixture into the fondue and allow to boil for approximately 15 seconds.

Remove the pot and place on a lighted burner on top of the table.

I also throw in some garlic cloves while the cheese is half-way melted. And the meal isn't complete without cornichons!

In Switzerland, many people like to have a shot of Kirsch at each place-setting so you can dip your bread into the Kirsch before dipping into the cheese. THAT makes for a crazy night!

For some great pictures, check out this blog.

The BEST part is that crust of cheese that forms at the bottom of the pot. YUM!

A Kissing Custom

If when dunking her bread into the Fondue, a lady loses her grip and lets the bread slide off the fork into the pot, she must turn to the man on her right and give him a kiss. She loses, he wins! If a man loses his bread when Fondue-ing in a restaurant, it's up to him to buy the next round of drinks. At home, he consoles himself by kissing his hostess!

Happy birthday Baby!!

I recieved this photo from my mother-in-law by email this morning.

A large group of folks attended Vivian's 4th birthday party at Xtreme Bounce Zone yesterday!

It was a sweaty, red-faced event filled with theater friends, pre-school friends and family.

Vivian has been asking for a "jumping party" since her 3rd birthday, I think. Anyway, it was a long time coming - that's for sure.

More photos are on the way. I just haven't had a chance to download the camera yet. I'm especially excited to take a look at Vivian's live-action shots from inside one of the bounce houses. I'm sure it's a blurry mess.

Today is her official birthday. We'll be making our traditional trip to Red Robin for birthday dinner and an ice-cream sundae.

I can't belive my baby is four!

Happy birthday sweet Vivian!

All is a blur

The holidays are zipping by and I want to get a few pics posted of Halloween before the snow flies.

Oops. I think I'm already too late for that deadline.

Anyway, as usual, a gathering was held at 201 N. Wallace on October 31st to celebrate the tricking and treating for all the little ones. We were blessed with pretty nice weather and a wonderful backdrop of yellow leaves in our backyard for some photo opps.

The gang hangs out on the play structure waiting for "go" time!

BFFs!!

Parents trying to get a group shot!

What a mess.

Getting ready to hit the streets.

Ursula stops by!

Halloween Chili (aka Crock Pot Chili)

As long as I've lived in my house in Ypsilanti, Halloween has been a celebration. Right after I bought the house (over 17 years ago. gulp.) I immediately hosted a Halloween party. Perhaps it has something to do with the close proximity to my birthday . . . it becomes an early birthday party of sorts.

Before we had kids, a ton of our friends would come over and "help" us pass out candy to the treaters because . . . well, our neighborhood is just that cool at Halloween.

Of course now all of our collective kids are in full-blown Halloween mode these days so our house has become the meeting point for a bunch of them. This year we had the GREAT pleasure of having Halloween on a Saturday. And even though I had time to cook (although not really thanks to Saturday dance classes and such) I decided I would take it easy and make a crock-pot style chili. I found this recipe and it turned out so fabulous that I wanted to post it here for posterity's sake.

I doubled the recipe below and although it barely fit in my enormous crock pot, it was the PERFECT amount for our crowd. There was only a small amount remaining for leftovers. Sniff.

Crock Pot Chili

Ingredients:
2 lbs. ground chuck
1 cup chopped onion
1 green pepper, chopped
2 to 3 ribs celery, chopped
1 large (28 oz.) can crushed tomatoes
1 (8 oz.) can tomato sauce
2 cans kidney or pinto beans, drained
1 tsp. pepper
3 tsp. chili powder
hot pepper, to taste, cayenne
1 tsp. garlic salt

Preparation:
In a large skillet, brown the ground beef. Drain well. Combine all ingredients in a slow cooker; cover and cook for 7 to 8 hours on LOW, or until done.

[About half-way through the day, Curt turned up the heat by throwing in some extra cayenne and spices. It worked. I hope he remembers what he did for next year.]

I can say that I did it!

I would be hugely remiss if I didn't blog about an overnight field trip I went on with Audrey and the entire CCC summer camp crew.

Last Wednesday, we loaded up in numerous cars and drove to Muskegon to visit the Great Lakes Naval and Memorial Museum. My small caravan of three cars arrived an hour later than everyone else due to a few (cough) detours, but I digress. Let me just say that I was not leading the pack.

The point of this 3-hour trip was not merely to visit Lake Michigan and take a tour on a boat. Oh no. This overnight trip involved sleeping on a submarine. Yes, that's right. We spent the night on the USS Silversides.

With 40 kids.

Oh joy.

We had only one casualty - a nine year old boy, Teddie, just couldn't hack it so Laurie had to sleep with him in her van. My favorite memory from the trip was during our initial tour of the sub. We worked our way down the teeny-tiny opening and the teeny-tiny staircase into the sub and landed in the first sleeping quarters (of which there are three - plus a few of private cabins). I looked around, breathed a sigh of relief and said, "well, this isn't as bad as I thought it was going to be." However, on the other side of the room (not even an arms length away) one of the mothers bemoaned, "this is much worse than I thought it was going to be."

There she is, the USS Silversides.

Tanya, Becky and Lainey discussing how crazy we all are. Lainey is the one that found things much worse than I did.

USS Silversides saw lots of action in WWII.

Looking down a torpedo shoot

The engine room.

Here's most of the group!

Our sleeping quarters.

Of course, Audrey had no interest in sleeping in the private cabins - she wanted to be where all the action was. And she wanted me to sleep right next to her.

I have my limits. I opted for a top bunk at least. We were right next to the engine room. My sleeping bag still smells like diesel.

My bunk is on the upper right. Audrey's foot is the lower left.

Audrey and Nina.

Thankfully, Nina was happy to take my place and sleep right next to Audrey.

A view down the hall.

The other direction, plus a piece of the teeny-tiny mess hall.

Audrey "posing" in front of the sub the next morning.

Another pose by Lake Michigan. She doesn't take a normal picture these days.

The next day, we all went to the beach for a few hours of play and lunch before making the trip back to Ann Arbor.

A group of us walking back from the lighthouse

It was too cold to swim for some of the kids.

Summer is flyin' by!

Our family unit attended the last day of Summer Festival on Sunday. I can't believe it was the last day! It feels like our summer is already zipping past us.


This was a record-year for us to attend Top of the Park festivities. It has always been one of our favorite summer-time activities but for some reason, we made the most of it this year. We ran into more people and learned more about our daughters while attending TOP. For one thing, Audrey needs to get into violin lessons pretty soon. And Vivian is quite the dancer! She moved her hips to the live music way more than Audrey did.


While Audrey's favorite activity was whatever was going on in the kid tent, Vivian spent most of her time running to the lawn area behind the sound booth just so she could dance in an open space.


She and Curt were also spotted by an Ann Arbor News reporter in this article.


Our wedding band, George Bedard and the Kingpins, was the closing night band as they have been for years. The final event of the season was a sing-along of the film "The Sound of Music." I coaxed my family into staying for a bit over some vanilla ice cream and a Nutella crepe (they were out of bananas at 10pm. Boo.) We stayed until 11pm and got to hear "Doe a Deer" which has now been resurrected in Audrey's memory so she's singing it again.


We picked up our blanket and our space was immediately taken over by a group of teenagers who had been crunched in behind us on the lawn. I read later that the generator broke and the movie ended at 11:30 -- just halfway through.

So the question is, NOW what are we going to do the rest of the summer?

I'm sure we'll find something.

Quinn, Lucy and Ellie hanging out on our blanket.

Vivian hanging out with Adriana and Tanya.

Sophie and Audrey in the face-painting line (in the kid tent).

Vivian and Daddy

The girls!

233rd Independence Day

We traveled to Ohio to celebrate the 4th of July holiday with my family. My niece and her husband live on a farm not too far from where the fireworks are held.

I should add that the fireworks are supplied by the Only Believe Ministries cult er . . . church (or "OBM" as their affectionately called.)

Anyhoo, a party at Chuck and Heather's is always fun for everyone. Perhaps mostly for the kids.

Our host, Heather, with my Mom sitting near her.

The kids are taking a peek outside of the bounce house
when a neighbor shot off some fireworks

Vivian in the bounce house. She lived in there most of the night.

Curt loaded up the kids for his first fateful ride out in the surroundings. Everyone joked to shut their cell phones off as he pulled away. And within 10 minutes he called to say that he had a flat tire.

They they go (before the flat). He was rescued by Chuck, however. Somehow, Curt decided to give it another go although I have no photographic evidence of it. He got yet ANOTHER flat -- this time on the wagon.

Partying and hanging out.

Curt and Gary having a grand old time near the bonfire. This was shortly before dusk and the fireworks.

The bonfire was a huge tree trunk!

The next day we headed to Jason and Angie's house to shoot clay birds. I didn't take a ton of pics that day, unfortunately.

Vivian and her first experience blowing on a dead dandelion.

Rick and Josh are shooting in this pic. Curt is "pulling" the clay birds.

The ride home.

Ahhhhhh . . . .

Things I Love Thursday

(almost in no particular order)

• my multi-talented/multi-faceted husband


• my gorgeous and funny daughters


• my family members. truly. I'll keep all of them.


• my friends. Yay for them!


• lunch hours


• soy lattes . . . iced in the summer, hot in the winter


• my Blackberry


• my new car


• Facebook


• Twitter


• email


• Google Reader


• potato chips with french onion dip or french fries with ranch dressing


• Vacations . . . to anywhere. preferably Europe or a beach resort. but a weekend camping works too!


• back yard parties


• wine . . . white in the summer, red in the winter (I like my wine the way I like my lattes)


• ABC's Bavarian Bliss


• watching Audrey dance in the living room


• Vivian's beautiful blond curls


• a bite of dark chocolate after dinner


• experiencing the seasons as they change (although summer can come back to stay. enough already)


• singing and dancing on stage (but it simultaneously scares the hell out of me sometimes . . . it's the adrenaline rush, I guess)


• top of the park


• Curt's homemade lattes on Saturday and Sunday mornings


• finding "lost" money in a coat pocket


• fresh baked cookies and warm brownies


• smoke free restaurants


• that (rare) feeling of being organized


• massages


• rollercoasters . . . and it has been too long!


• sleeping in (also never happens)


• that feeling after a great workout or run


• being married to someone you like to hang out with


• date nights (see above)

Ann Arbor Civic Theatre Presents KISS ME KATE!

Ann Arbor Civic Theatre Presents KISS ME KATE!

One of American Theater’s most beloved musical comedies, Kiss Me Kate is the raucous and romantic story behind the scenes of a production of The Taming of the Shrew. Real-life exes spar and sputter as they attempt to portray the Bard’s famous warring characters, Kate and Petruchio.

Ann Arbor Civic Theatre's production of Kiss Me Kate runs June 11-14 at Mendelssohn Theatre .

For more information on the show or to buy tickets online please go to:
http://a2ct.org/files/show/kissmekate.htm
or call (734) 971-2228

Featuring Minnita Daniel-Cox as Lilli Vanessi and Steve Grudzien as Fred Graham

Kathy Waugh as Lois Lane (as Bianca)

Two Gangsters (Rob Roy and Matt Steward) pay Fred Graham (Steve Grudzien) a visit.

The beginning of the end . . .

Sorry readers (all two of you). I am woefully behind in my blog updates. But I guess you already knew that.

I sound like a broken record lately but life has been pretty busy. My tiny bits of free time are eaten up with laundry and playing "I Spy" with my girls -- their current favorite mommy activity. It's actually a nice game. We can play it anywhere and both girls are equally matched. I mean, a 3 yr old can spot something red just as well as a 7 yr old. Good times.

My busy life is going to slow down soon. I can feel it. I'm gearing up for a lazy summer (HA! We'll see.)

This week is Audrey's last week of school. I nudged Audrey awake this morning by telling her that this was her LAST Monday as a first grader. She popped right up! I think I'll be doing that every morning this week.

And that also means that come this Friday, it's officially summer for our family.

This weekend is our neighborhood garage sale which I stupidly decided to do again. I've got some baby things to unload and so do some of our friends so it seemed like a good idea at the time. However, the sale comes just one week before my show opening and I've got a sitzprobe that day and absolutely NO time to gather and label garage sale items this week because we're running the show every night. Ugh. However, we've got a WAY too many couches in our living room right now, so if we just sell that old couch, it just might be worth it.

And then next week is production week for Kiss Me Kate. It means a lot of long nights but it also means it's the beginning of the end. The show runs June 11-14. Things are going well and I adore the cast members so all of that has been a very positive experience. But I'm ready to be done. I just want to be a normal wife and mom again. You know . . . until the next shiny thing attracts my attention.

I still have lots of things to blog about. While I was away from here, Audrey lost TWO teeth, Vivian started soccer, Audrey finished her twirling class, Curt and I sang my cousin's wedding in Ohio, Audrey had a blowout at her field day at school (requiring many band aids . . . and she was WINNING the race at the time), the girls went to two birthday parties, I went on the 1st grade field trip to the zoo, we all attended Audrey's dance recital and I sang at the Taste of Ann Arbor festival (well, that just happened yesterday so I'm not so far behind on that one).

I'll be back for more. With photos. That might be all I have time to do.

Until then, enjoy this photo of Vivian force-feeding Owen (Noah, Nowen) some plastic food.