the remaking of a kitchen

during this holiday visit, it was determined by sarah and david that siena could have her first go with solid food. she started with sweet potato....carefully mashed with a bit of breast milk to make it smooth. it seemed like she had been observing this eating thing and opened her mouth and even leaned forward toward the spoon when david offered it. yeah, i know i am prejudiced in her favor, but she didn't do the pushing food out with her tongue that i've always observed, she simply took it in and swallowed and leaned in for more! sandy and i have always said she was terribly advanced and it's obvious!
the next treat was mashed banana, but sarah was eating the real thing and siena decided she was a big girl too! too cute! sarah fixed a delicious roast chicken one day so the next trial was some pureed white chicken, again with breast milk. she ate it but with a little less enthusiasm.
today as bags were being packed and a bit of lunch enjoyed before the trip home, another trial. siena and sarah were sitting on the love seat with david who was eating some sliced apple. aha thinks siena and leans right over and opens her mouth around a slice! she was pretty excited about gumming and sucking on the slice and showed a big smile! i just noticed that one photo shows her gnawing happily on her daddy's finger.
we feel very privileged that we got to see these first tastes....it's obvious that she is going to enjoy eating solid foods a lot. she even tried to grab the spoon; so she could feed herself? who can tell....the kid is smart!! :)

Labels: apple, banana, chicken, first solids, roasted chicken, sweet potato

last monday night was edesia at barnes and noble; edesia being the roman goddess of food preparation. each month for over a year, bn has hosted this event where community cooks or chefs, cookbook authors or other food industry people discuss their fave cookbooks on a certain subject. this past one was on chicken....and the guest speaker has authored several books on this subject. but i digress.....the deal is i googled the recipe and made spanish chicken salad which was in a cooks illustrated book and was our tasting treat made by kim ode.
i decided we would have a few salads for our evening meal, and prepared sweet potato salad yesterday and the chicken salad today. i also made the dakota bread rolls, and i can tell that as i get more experienced, this bread making thing is going ever so much easier!! the bottom of the rolls do not look wrinkled and deformed.....smooth and carefully tucked in is definitely more appealing. the dough reacted better.....it was elastic and it raised much more quickly. i think i didn't mention that i purchased a LARGE amount of yeast at cosco, then wasn't sure how to store it. i called red star, and the woman suggested i put it in freezer bags and then keep it in the freezer until i wanted to use it. worked perfectly!!
the chicken salad was easy.....a little fussy on the deets, but really went together well and is tasty!!
now i have to go eat! yummmmmmm

Labels: dakota bread, salads, spanish chicken, sweet potato