Hoppin' John & Chard pictures

Last night's hoppin' john & chard pictures.  

Mike cooked the hoppin' john with sazon goya because he wanted to make it traditionally and see what it tasted like.  Never again.  Neither one of us were fans.

The greens?  Now the greens were delicious.  Young chard, so they were more sweet and tender than usual.  Unanimously, we decided that greens are our favorite vegetable when dinner is concerned. 

Single Eating Behavior

So, post number 2 and tonight I'm already committing a cardinal sin around these parts.  Since I'm flying solo and my partner's out recording music (he's a musician), I hit up the deli next to our house and brought home a tasty turkey and avocado sandwich and some edamame salad.  Coupled with some sweet potato fries and a glass of wine, I'm calling this dinner. 

Had he been here, we would have peered deep into the pantry, pulled out this and that (couscous?  chick peas?  diced tomatoes?  we can make something out this!!!) and would have whipped up a delicious meal together.  Instead, I took the convenient route and walked next door and back.

What can I say, it happens.

Here's where it gets kind of funny though...it appears that my single eating behavior (i.e. when I'm eating dinner alone) and his musician eating habits (i.e. when he's out being a rock star), while different from one another, are both equally reprehensible.  For example, I do things like get sandwiches from the deli next door, eat a grilled cheese, make waffles or a couple of bowls of cereal.  He eats pizza, chicken wings, burritos or subs. 

What's funny about it is that neither one of us eat that way when we're  with each other.  Sure, every once in a while we order a pizza or make a grilled cheese, but it's very very rare.

(Take a second and go back and look at that picture of my dinner tonight and notice the ratio of fries to edamame salad...then I wonder why my loose pants are no longer my loose pants...damn this single eating behavior!)

Perhaps because I had the premonition that this might happen tonight, I did take a picture of an example of the fantastic salads I prepare for us every day for lunch at work.  The contents of the salads always vary, but today's concoction was mixed greens, pea greens, carrots, apples, cheddar cheese, avocado, sesame seeds and pepitas.   

Hopefully the salad redeems me.

It's Feeding Time at the Eason-Mowry House!

I'm sitting on the couch, enjoying a glass of wine and listening to my partner make hoppin' john (black-eyed-peas & rice) and swiss chard from a local farm.  I hear the sounds coming from the kitchen (he likes to rap the spoon on the edge of the pot rhythmically - never randomly, always rat-ta-tat-tat like) and I can smell the onions and green peppers sauteing.  I smell garlic and spices and they smell good.

"Hey honey, what do you want me to do?  It's still a little soupy but I can scoop it out with a slotted spoon and let it rest for a few minutes...what do you want me to do?  Slotted spoon it?  Ok sweet.  Dinner will be ready in ten."

For the last few months, I have kept a flickr account with pictures of our food and other kitchen adventures.  Admittedly, I forget sometimes (I'll upload the last month or so very soon!) but ultimately I love taking the pictures and I love looking at them.  Heck, I even look at them for fun sometimes!  Here are pictures of past meals (both delicious & sometimes not so delicious).

So, today I was thinking about starting a blog.  But a blog about what?  What do I do that warrants writing about in a blog?  What could possibly be interesting enough?

And so it hits me...FEEDING TIME AT THE EASON-MOWRY HOUSE!  That will be my blog!

It's what we do best.  It's always been a joke that once you join the Mowry family, then suddenly your life is all about food.  A handful of years ago I started calling it "Feeding Time".  But guess what?  My life - our life - is ALL ABOUT FOOD.

But I feel the need to clarify.  It's not just about food as in the act of eating - it's everything that goes along with it.  In our almost nine years together, my partner and I have always made it a point to enjoy our meals together whenever possible.  And it's not just the meal itself, it's also the time leading up to the meal...the preparation, the time spent together in the kitchen, the helping hand and the talking.  Or sometimes we're flying solo when it comes to prepping and cooking, but I can at least speak for myself in saying that I enjoy that time knowing that the outcome will be time spent together over a meal.  Sure, we've gone through stages of eating it in front of the tv or with some other distraction, and sometimes that can actually be nice too (I'm recalling a few weeks ago when we both brought our laptops to the table and ate across from each other but each of us doing whatever it is we wanted to do on our laptops, it was kind of fun & lame at the same time) but whenever possible we sit down together, we "cheers" and clink our glasses, we tell each other we love each other, and we enjoy a home-cooked meal and talk.  It's just a part of who we are.

More and more in the last few years, we've become increasingly aware of what we're eating and where our food is coming from.  More and more our food has become less and less processed.  More and more we eat real food that's been prepared from scratch.  And that's something we really value.  And I want to document that.  I want to challenge myself to write, challenge my dedication to something and in return have even more fun in the kitchen while I'm at it.

So here goes.

Okay, it's been ten minutes, I'm being called to the kitchen.  It's feeding time.