Smith Salad Dressing

Growing up my whole life my Mom made an oil and vinegar dressing for salads (we ate green salad at almost every meal) which I loved. It was based on my Mom's Mom's (My grandmother's) salad dressing. Anyway, as years passed, my Mom made it less and less. Whenever I saw my brother Rick, I always got to enjoy it again, because he loved it and used it on many things besides salads. But he makes it with VERY HEAVY vinegar, so you have to get used to it before you can stand it.

The other day I was reading my new cook book, The Complete Robuchon, (which should elicit a new blog entry all to itself!) and he talks a lot about salads. So to surprise Jennie and the kids I made a salad and the dressing chosen was a simple Cucumber Curry. It turned out pretty good, though the kids thought it tasted a bit 'different'.

That led to Jennie making the comment, "We ought to have salads at every meal. I had salads all the time growing up." So last night I decided to make another salad with our Tandorri Chicken and what better dressing than my Mom's? Only after all these years I didn't know how to make it. Never had made it before. So after getting some advice and ideas from various people, this is what I came up with.

I put 1/4 of a cup of Extra Virgin Olive Oil in a bowl. Then I added a pack of Zesty Italian dressing. Those little packs you get at the market for making dressing. I then added a lot of dried dill, I threw in a dash or two of Cholula Hot Sauce, (if you haven't tried this stuff you have to, it's far better than Tabasco sauce if you ask me), I added some Bouquet Garni from Spice Islands (unfortunately they don't make it anymore, but I believe you can get it from other spice companies), some fresh ground pepper and salt, and some dry mustard. So I let that all sit and soak up for a long time, then after 30 minutes, I added 1/2 cup of Red Wine Vinegar, and some Dill Pickle Juice. not sure how much, maybe and 8th of a cup. Mix and... it was fantastic. It was really good. Amazing. Seriously surprising. It tasted a lot like my mom's but was a bit different. It was really close though and everyone loved it. I mean... EVERYONE. The KIDS loved it! (Though they didn't like the avocado in the salad which blows my mind, but they love the bell peppers. We also add cucumbers because they love them!)

So here is a picture of the dressing.

Battlestar Galactica

On January 3rd, we had our New Years Eve Party, and we played two games of Battlestar Galactica. Jennie had never seen the show, so we watched the first pilot, with the agreement that if she liked the first one, we could watch more, but if she didn't, I wouldn't mention it again. Well she ended up really liking it! So tonight (Sunday) we finished Season 1 with the cliffhanging ending! It was a fun show and we will probably watch another episode tonight, the first of the 2nd Season.

Elspeth Visits Our Home

On Game Day Ben and B'Andra brought their new baby daughter Elspeth! Here are some photos of her (with Boo, our baby Boston Terrier) and a video of her getting gnawed on by Boo!

Game Day!

We try to always do a game day around the first of the new year, and this year it fell on Saturday January 3rd. This year (for the first time) we did it without kids, and it was nice! Menges and Mary, Ben & B'Andra, Kelly, and Erin and Sheridan joined Jennie and I for game day! We played two games of Battlestar Galactica, the new board game from Fantasy Flight Games. Jennie and I cooked spicy Tomato soup and New Mexico Chili Enchiladas. Everyone brought lots of food and goodies! Jennie and I also played Carcassonne (she won) and later in the evening Sheridan and Erin stayed to teach us Dominion (see an earlier post). Here are some pictures of the day:



Kelly contemplates a winning move! (The Cylon Traitor!)

Gaming! Battlestar Galactica Style!

Adventures in Boo

Boo is still a delight to us, of course, and here are another selection of photos of her from this weekend.



Mook and Boo!

B'Andra and Boo!

Jennie with Boo in her coat! It's her little Joey! She carries her around like this for hours!

And finally... Boo puts her best face forward as she lounges on Churchill our new St. Bernard!

Dominion

Dominion is a game by Rio Grande Games which we just played for the first time Saturday, January 2nd, 2009 at Game Day here in Heber. Sheridan and Erin taught us the game, and we were really pleased with it. So much so that we actually ended up playing it (Asher, Jennie, and I) all day Sunday! I highly recommend this game!

New Years Day

It was a relaxing New Years Day at the Smith Household. Asher was at Grandma's, so it was just Jennie, Jason, Riley and Ame. Around noon John Ackerson (an optomotrist who lives up the road and whose daughter Julie is great friends with Ame) knocked on our door and asked if we wanted to haul firewood! There is a neighbor who broke his arm, is out of work, and needed firewood. John found some, so Riley and I geared up while Jennie took a nap, and we went out for 2 hours of heavy hauling. It was refreshing good work. At one point John said: "It's great to see Riley work so hard! It always makes me feel good to see kids work!" That comment just warmed my heart! After that we came back and planned Saturday's New Years Eve Party, and went to Smith's to get supplies. Ame and Jennie took turns being goof balls at Smith's. I have a picture of them, but I didn't download it yet so it will have to come in a later post. We came back, ate quesadilla's (did I spell that right?) and then watched Kitchen Nightmare's on TV. Then we went to sleep! What a laid back New Years Day! Unfortunatley we had to get up early because Jennie had to work! 5:00 AM! Ug!

New Years Eve Jen and James Backman came over and we all sat and talked till about 1:00 in the morning. It was fun and the kids loving seeing each other again. Ame and Jordie and Jerimiah and Riley get along so well.