Father's Day Eve Dinner - BotRG style

Since on Father's Day this year we will be on river and getting home late I decided to "celebrate" Father's Day by cooking dinner and hanging with the family.

FolkLife 2011!

On Monday we packed up the family and took the bus over to the Seattle Center for Folklife 2011.  Here are some pictures from that fun day!

I am a classic Pacific Northwest Father - Wacky facial hair, Hawaiian Shirt, Utilikilt, and socks with sandals.

Ryan on the Bus!  Heading downtown.

Life and Times - Photo post

Sometimes all you can do is post some photos...

Babies can sap the energy from grown men.  @SuperPower

Click in to see more.....

Ryan's 5th Birthday Party!

With Ryan's B-day on March 1st, we held his party the Sunday before. Loads of fun. All junk food for eats! Gummy Bear, worms, slugs, and swedish fish! Animal crackers and frosting covered Animal Crackers with sprinkles!

Ryan requested cupcakes this year and our very good friend Charra made some amazing cupcakes, with Ryan's fav animals!

Here's a close up showing the details. Amazing!

Of Course there were many friends and family who came over too.

Once it was time, the 5 candles went the cupcake that Ryan choose and we all sang the Song!

Clyde was there and had a great time too, and even got some hands on Grandma Time.

Guest dinner! Veggie Links and Greens

My good friends came over for a visit.  Being those type of cool friends, while I offered to cook them grub, they brought some extra grub for me to use.  It was like a mystery bag of food!

Havarti cheese, Vegan links (think sausage links, but not trying to pretend to be meat, pack with protein and tasty).  I dug into the produce bin to see what I could use.

I came up with Pan Grilled Vegan Links with quick braised Red Chard and rice.

What I used:

• Left over rice, reheated with a little bit of veggie stock and S&P
• The veggies
• Red Chard - large viens removed and chopped, the greens slicked width wise
• leeks - diced
• carrots - diced
• turnips - diced
• stock
• spices - cumin, lemon juice, vinegar, oregano
• Links

How I put it together:

Into my pan goes the "tough stuff"; leeks, carrots, chard ribs, turnips.  Cook a little oil for about 8 or so minutes until slightly soft.  Now add some more stock, and heat that up to steamy, add the spices and the greens and bring medium heat and cover.  Cook for about 10 ish minutes until the greens are soft.

This is not a proper braising, but its quick!

The links, never seeing these types before, I just pan grilled, then added a little water to steam them up a bit.

I plated them and for the non-vegans I added the cheese to the links and the veggies.

The Aftermath:

I thought it was tasty.  Simply, rustic.  My friends found it better if they mixed the rice and veggies together.  I know my friends read this, it would be fun to see their comments below!

BotRG Toddy!

I made drinks for me friend and I (both our wives are both pregnant)  We have some brandy on hand, for it is that time of the year (my word, I could live off brandy eggnog if given the chance)

1oz Brandy, splash of lemon juice, a couple cloves and a cinnamon stick and grated nutmeg.  Into large snifter glass, add hot water.

It tasted much better half way through the glass, the spices came out more by that point.