Every Thursday, here at Like Mother, Like Daughter!
I don't know how new wives manage to get things together when they and their husbands have to both rush back to work… being a housewife is keeping me busy! I can't help but feel behind on tasks like furniture hunting (more on this topic later), name-changing paperwork, thank you note writing, etc…
{I'm afraid that my photos won't be up to the standards that you're used to seeing here at LMLD, but the Artist and I don't have the skillz and equipment that Mom and Rosie do.}
As faithful readers know, we spent our honeymoon in Paris, a trip generously sponsored by my father-in-law as his wedding gift to us. We were there for the better part of three weeks, and we only left the city once, to go to Versailles. {To some people, this seems like a crazy amount of time to spend in one place; but it really was perfect. We absorbed the city and truly lived in it during that time, and when you have a pad of paper and paints with you, Paris could never get old!)}
Versailles |
On this trip to Versailles, we decided to bypass the standard bistros and take a chance on an out-of-the-way, teensy Mom-and-Pop type place for dinner. It turned out to be a rewarding, if somewhat questionable, choice. There were a grand total of maybe six tables in the place and we were served by the owner himself, a man of Vietnamese descent who favored New Orleans jazz (how would we know? Why, because he regaled us with his guitar as we ate, of course!).
The downside to the experience was hearing about some of his personal story which might have been better left untold (with me doing my best to translate for my ever-patient husband), as well as watching the only other couple in the restaurant scamper away in politely disguised fear and disgust when they noticed a “cockroach” in their chips (it wasn't really a cockroach, but it was a big enough bug to make me lose my appetite nonetheless).
Anyway, one of the better parts of the evening was that this curious character threw in a free appetizer for us, which was something resembling this:
My attempt to bring some French cooking to The Corner Pocket |
We enjoyed it so much that I did my best to recreate it when we were home. Basically just a pie crust spread with a mustard-type spread (I would tell you more, except that I forget what I did exactly) and then baked with some olive oil, tomatoes, herbs, and Gorgonzola. This earned me many points with my husband.
In other cooking adventures, I've been doing my best to master the roast chicken. However, I struggle with cooking times. One of the things I hate the most is overcooked, dry chicken, so I have a perennial fear that I will cook mine too long.
The first time I attempted this whole-bird approach, I misread the recipe: you know how, after a certain time passes, you're supposed to take the chicken out and assess whether it has reached the proper internal temperature of 170 degrees?
Well, as I was distracted at the time, I interpreted this to mean that the oven should be adjusted to that temperature for the remainder of the cooking. I couldn't figure out WHY it was taking so darned long for the dumb thing to get cooked!! The Artist finally pointed out that it struck him that the oven seemed to be on really low….
Well, the next time I didn't make that same, silly mistake! I kept the oven nice and hot for the whole time! I was so proud of myself and of my chicken that we took several pictures. Of course, the light wasn't cooperating and we were having some issues, so this is the best I can give you:
This photo doctored for effect. It reminds me of an 80's Betty Crocker cookbook illustration, or something. |
Of course, since I have a problem with just letting meat cook, I hadn't spaced out my food prep time very well and by now it was getting late and we were quite hungry. The Artist was so very patient as we took these pictures, so you can imagine my dismay when we finally sat down and actually took a good look at the slice we were taking out of it…
… and had to put it back into the oven.
So what you see pictured here is an undercooked chicken! Sigh.
I had John take some “before” pictures of our apartment so that, later, when we'd purchased furniture and decorated and made everything lovely and homey, we could look back and laugh about how extremely pathetic and drab it looked the day after we moved in.
Pretty darn drab, am I right? |
But this Daughter shall not be daunted by drab! Pretty soon I'll show you some pictures of how homey it's looking, already (despite linoleum and faux-wood cabinets, over which I have no control)!
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