Taking the path of most resistance... one step at a time...

Summer is gone. And the girls are back to school. First grade for Lauren and Fifth grade for Emma... Emma seems excited and has started writing her stories again. Lauren got a "warm fuzzy" her first full week for good behavior. Go figure. We have had a couple nice days... with evening temperatures that tell me Fall will be here soon enough. It was a very hot sticky Summer and I am ready for foliage and Halloween and baking. Bella likes the cooler days too. She sprawls on the deck at dusk enjoying the cool air. Keeping all potential trespassers out of her yard... this includes cats and squirrels!


Brad's tomatoes are getting bigger and bigger,but still are green
as can be. Hopefully some nice red ones before the first frost. I had dehydrated some tomato slices about a month or so ago and we put them in garlic and olive oil and put them on a pizza. Luscious and rich, the flavor really magnified. I want to do some
more. maybe roma tomatoes.


Up to this point I do not think I have ever had "real" Korean food. I mean, sure, I know the flavors... soy, fish sauce, garlic, sesame oil, chili sauce, ginger etc... but I had never gone to a restarant. Friday Khalil, my work partner, and I went out for lunch. We chose this little Korean place around the corner and Khalill got kimchi and rice. Which I thought would be disgusting. The idea of kimchi always making me a little squeamish. It came out sizzling in a stone bowl and smelled amazing. Having flavors and textures that made me wiggle in my chair and hum as I tasted it. It was so good. When I got back to work, I called Brad to tell him how awesome it was. I must have said it several times...

Saturday I was still thinking about how surprisingly good I found kimchi and the rice that had crisped to the bottom of the stone bowl.

Sunday Brad and I were out and went into a really nice Asian market, catering to Chinese, Japanses and Korean. They had the stone bowls or "dol sots". So I bought one and we proceeded to get the ingredients needed for the dish... Dol Sot Bi Bim Bap or a stone bowl with rice and other veggies and meats.

We got Korean Black Glutinous rice... which when cooked is a gorgeous indigo. Came home and put the dol sot in the oven to get it piping hot. I made a spicy ground pork with ginger and chili sauce and soy, chopped up some kimchi, steamed some bean sprouts and julienned carrot and radish slices.



When the dol sot was hot, I put a little toasted sesame oil in the bottom and the rice... it began to sizzle immediately. Then in a circle I put the pork, the kimchi I had warmed up, the sprouts and the carrots over the rice. Topping that with a fried egg.




We at it with soy and white vinegar. And it was incredible for a first go pulling it from my head.

The rice gets crusty and caramelizes
to the bottom of the stone bowl.
Yummy and crunchy... tasting
so good with a little vinegar
and the chili garlic heat of the kimchi.
I will definitely do it again. And now
feel confident enough to
experiment a little more next time.
A very good $25 investment
in the stone bowl. I think the kids
will like it too...
Brad said over and over
how delicious he though it was.
Which made me happy.

Oh and Emma and Lauren are having a good time with their father... although Lauren says she has not eaten "enough" Irish breakfast and seemed pretty put out that people had the audacity to serve her cereal. Emma says "too much shopping" but fun!

So... since the girls are in Ireland
with their father...
who else can I focus on....

Bella...

I was worried about Bella this week since her sisters were not trapezing in and out and her days would be soooooooo long and lonely....

So I thought about it and created a barrier from the kitchen to the rest of the house using a baby gate... then placing the step stool, wine rack and vacuum (which she is terrified of) in front of that... day 1... I am in a panic at work wondering what she has done to the kitchen left to her own devices. .. as it turns out... I arrive home that evening and she did not even hear me enter the house... calling out to her... she sleepily emerges from her open crate... a day of figuring out how to empty her Kong of her "cookies" obviously mentally exhausting her....

At any rate... she has been allowed access to the kitchen every day for the last week and has done beautifully... earning herself Frosty Paws for her good behavior.... and of course Kongs filled with "cookies".

Over the weekend we brought her to Quigley's... an Irish pub and restaurant with an outdoor patio that allows dogs. I was a tense wreck... waiting for her to drag me across the patio in order to eat a "snack dog" or chastise a middle aged men (whom for some reason she has issues with)... but all in all she was pretty good...

Then of course she blew it by snarling at all those who dared think they could drink from the dog drinking fountain she was guarding by the river in downtown Naperville.... little snot!

What can I say... I adore her... in all her bitchy Rottie ways... Brad calls her "Tank"... which is really quite perfect...

The girls leave for Ireland on Friday for a little over two weeks. I know this will be the longest Lauren has been away from me. Emma, I think, spent 2 weeks at my mom's . It will be hard either way. They are very excited though. Being good Irish children they love their black and white pudding, rashers and sausage. The smoked salmon and good black tea with milk get their nods as well. The rainbows.

Nervous about them flying so far away from me, but can't wait to hear the stories and see the pictures when they return.

Bella will miss her "sisters". Particularly her Emma. I guess she will have to suffer me. And we will take some walks and curl up on the couch watching movies together. I will have to look for dog movies!! Or maybe just Animal Planet?