I am back at home, in the comfort of my own house and my own kitchen. It feels so great to have space again! No more cramped kitchen for me--well, at least until I have to go back to school, but that won't be for a while, so I'll just not think about it. I came home conveniently in time for Mother's Day, so I made lunch for my family. Boy, was it exhausting. Since it's Mother's Day, I ended up doing the work for two daughters; I did my mom's job and made lunch for her mother, my grandma, as well. My dad's out of town, and my brother's still at school, so I had very little help. Aside from how I was too tired to move after lunch, I enjoyed myself quite thoroughly.
The meal consisted of salad, string beans, potatoes, roast beef, and fruit tarts. The salad was pretty simple, and I thank Costco for it. Pre-made spring lettuce mixes are a blessing. All one had to do was serve some from the box, top with tomatoes, and drizzle with homemade balsamic dressing. Actually, I had no part in the salad; my aunt had it covered.
I quartered and steamed red potatoes, and then I covered them with butter and sprinkled chopped chives over the top. The chives came from my backyard; they are the one herb that manages to survive year after year. My family has a pitifully brown thumb, and most of the vegetables and herbs we plant either wilt or get eaten by rabbits and deer. Our chives somehow manage to thrive, however, and they've probably produced enough goods to cover all of our other failed plants as well. Probably the only other thing that's managed to grow quite abundantly is my rosemary bush, which started out as a tiny little Christmas tree substitute back when my family lived in a small condominium. After we moved to our house and planted the rosemary, it took off and now threatens to take all the space reserved for other plants. I have no problems with that though...it's not like anything else ever grows anyway.
I have never made roast beef before, but it seemed straightforward enough and simple enough. I didn't want to deal with any excessively fancy main course. It was quite simple, actually. The only issue was that it was slightly overcooked. I prefer my roast beef rather pink and soft, but it was almost all brown on the inside and fairly tough. I went over the guideline time because my thermometer kept reading a really low temperature, but I have a feeling that my thermometer might be off and needs to be re-calibrated. I guess I'll know for next time. My mom sliced the meat since she's definitely way more skilled with a knife than I am. Even so, we both wished it could have been sliced thinner. My mom's aunt, aka one of my grandmas or great aunts or whatever they're called, has a sandwich shop and a meat slicer, but trekking over there to slice meat is not really a releasable task for a Mother's Day lunch.
Dessert was fruit tarts, which I had a lot of fun making. The crust recipe came from some ancient issue of Bon Appetite magazine. The custard came from a different recipe, but also from Bon Appetite. The original custard recipe was a coffee custard, but I cut the espresso powder and the sugar and added vanilla to make a regular custard. I think the crust recipe had a typo because there was no liquid in the ingredients list. After I pulsed the butter and sugar and flour in the food processor, I noticed that it was super dry, and my aunt commented on it as well. I threw in a bit of ice water since that's what tarts normally call for, and I think they ended up just fine. They did poof up a bit in the oven though, but I think that's because I didn't poke enough holes in the bottom with the fork. I thought they tasted pretty good; nothing beats the crisp buttery texture of a freshly baked fruit tart.
All in all, I thought Mother's Day was a pretty successful day. When I think about how my mom makes dinner for our family all time, as well as does a bunch of other stuff, I am highly impressed and thankful that I have such a great mom. As a last note: I LOVE MY NEW CAMERA!!
