Better late than never?

[sraun]

I was on vacation last week - so why am I writing it up on the Friday of my work-week after the vacation?



The weekend ending the vacation was a lot of fun - I'd found out that Joel H (WINOLJ) was coming for the weekend a week earlier (after my vacation had started!), and so I'd arranged to extend the vacation a day. That meant dinner Friday with Joel, iraunink, Don & Margo B, KJ, & Julie J (WANOLJ) at Jun Bo - Don & Julie had entrees, the rest of us had dim sum. It had been too long since I'd had dim sum - between the company and the food, it was great! Saturday was gaming (a post-apocalyptic SF campaign) followed by dd_b & pameladean's 25th Wedding Anniversary Party. Both were a lot of fun. Sunday six of us - me, Joel, davidwilford, bernesemntdog, Don B, & Jonathan A (WINOLJ) - got together to play Advanced Civilization - we actually got started about 1PM, and finished about 10PM. davidwilford won, I came in second, IIRC Don came in third. (It's been a long week - I was up way past my bed-time for being up at 5AM on Monday to go to work, and I haven't caught up yet!)

The rest of the vacation was quiet time at home - I was making up for having three days off between December 30th and January 16th! Typical household chores - grocery shopping, laundry, cooking, etc. The 22nd iraunink & I ran up the Hinckley for lunch with my mother - it was our somewhat delayed Christmas get-together with her. We got the expected Chanhassen Dinner Theater gift certificate, she got the most recent new-this-year CD of Garrison Keillor monologues. iraunink was not feeling well, so there was a doctor trip and much quiet time - we missed the Minn-StF Meeting on the 19th because of it.

We had a visiting dog from Pets Are Inn - he was a first time dog with Pets Are Inn, and the owner was sufficiently happy with us that he's coming back for a total of 2-3 weeks between now and early March.

Two dinners and two lunches included roasted veggies - iraunink and I have decided this is wonderful way for us to get more veggies! Cut up assorted veggies (so far we've done onions, peppers, squash, turnips, parsnips, and beets) to about bite size, toss with olive oil and spices (so far just salt & pepper), pop into a 500-550 degrees F oven until done, about 15-20 minutes. The lunches were left-overs - they get a little limp after they're refrigerated and microwaved, but they're still really tasty!

Comments

[gerisullivan.livejournal.com]

Your roasted vegetable recipe is similar to the Cooking for Engineers roasted asparagus spears (http://www.cookingforengineers.com/recipe/101/Roasted-Asparagus-Spears) recipe I've been using to roast asparagus and yellow squash for the last couple of years. Flavored olive oil works well, as do herbes de provence, garlic salt, or italian seasoning blends. I've also been happy with summer savory, rosemary, or whatever struck my fancy from my spice cabinet.

The more delicate veggies I've been using roast well at the lower temperatures. Thanks to your report, I'll try branching out at higher heat.

[sraun]

IIRC, I got the basic idea from Rachel Ray, and she did either broccolini or asparagus spears in a 'screaming hot' oven, for more like ten minutes.

Enjoy!

[harimad.livejournal.com]

Roasted Broccoli is really good too. Toss generously with olive oil, salt and italian spices OR lots soy sauce, some rice vinegar and sesame oil. Roast on preheated pan at 450-500F till its as done as you like it, maybe 10 min. I like the Asian version for its lack of fat.