Gratitude Friday...

Getting out of Dodge edition...

Grateful for...

:: 6 days in Brussels with le mari starting demain!!!

:: My (wonderful) parents for watching my little muffins....(gros bisous!)

:: My sister & Luke for watching my furry muffin (gros bisous à vous aussi!)

:: Le mari for making it all possible!

I'll be back next week with pictures and a very stories from my adventure!

Bon voyage à moi!!!

à faire...

I'm getting ready to start packing...my first step is always to make a list so I don't forget anything. I'm curious ...

What is your MUST pack item?

Le ménu de la semaine

All this talk of cooking and I neglected to post my menu! It is craziness for us right now....my head is in a million places!

Lundi-
Spaghetti & meatballs
caesar salad
(Can you guess what that means???)

Mardi-
Swiss dinner-
Rosti potatoes, with fried egg & gruyère cheese
carrot salad

Mercredi-
lemon-kale lasagna
left over carrot salad
lemon-sorbet in proseco! (yummmm!)
(all from the new Martha Stewart Living--I have a love/hate relationship with Martha, but I've never disliked a recipe from her mag...and I'm craving lemons like crazy!)

Jeudi-
I have class :-(

Vendredi-
Easy-peasy since Tom & I will be packing for our BIG trip!!!!!

et toi?????

J'aime cuisiner!

I think you all know I love to cook....the best part of my day is sipping a glass of wine and chopping and prepping. My husband benefits from my toils in the kitchen and in the long run I believe my children will benefit as well. My motto seems to be: Eat well, live well, love well. And while Benji & Mia don't LOVE everything I put in front of them, they are being exposed to a myriad of flavors at a young age. The dinner table is about teaching them not only good eating habits, but also about conviviality, togetherness and respect for your family & body. I'm sharing with you today the Cooking Manifesto by Mireille Guiliano (author of French Women Don't Get Fat)

Enjoy!

Cooking Manifesto

---

Cooking is conversation, as a meal gathers values, tastes, rituals, and words that are passed on for generations and play an extremely important social role not only over holiday seasons.
Cooking is conviviality and sharing, especially when cooking with others—a spouse, a friend, or children.
Cooking is education and eating at the table is a good way to teach kids about respecting food, learning to be responsible for their own bodies, and teaching them the art of conversation, manners, and pleasure.
Cooking is fun, from picking the produce to preparing the dishes to serving the final preparation, and sharing the results with others.
Cooking is healthy.
Cooking is humor—let us not take ourselves seriously and make dishes with thirty ingredients, a batterie de cuisine with two days of preparation. If a chicken falls off the counter, pick it up; if the cake cracks, frost it.
Cooking is improvisational; recipes are a guide not a formula for intimidation. Make do with what you have and how you like it.
Cooking is le goût or taste, a heightening awareness and refinement of the senses in conflict, in harmony, and in combination and celebration with one another.
Cooking is memory, as it links to a person’s culture and values. Whenever we eat something, the taste and memory of all the times we have eaten that dish live in the present.
Cooking is nourishment of the body and soul.

Gratitude Friday...

So much to be grateful for at the end of a bit of a grumpy week...

:: spring like weather...it may be fleeting, but I love this little reminder of what's to come!

:: perrier in glass bottles...only at Shaw's so I have to make a special trip....but it just feels so decadent and perfect!

:: a snuggly (and tired out) pup curled up on the ottoman under my feet as I type...I do so love that furry fellow.

:: an exciting trip in about a week!

:: skype...so I can see my kids everyday while away!

et toi? What are you feeling grateful for on this warm friday afternoon?

Thanks Giada...

I actually do not watch or follow celebrity chefs (with the big exception of Julia, Jacques Pepin and Ina Garten) For the most part, I find them gimmicky (watch me and I'll make dinner for $2 in 10 minutes!---bleck). The other weekend I was seriously cleaning my room. This involved much much much clothes sorting. I put on the tv to pass the time and found myself watching Giada at Home on the food network. She was making citrus cornish game hens that looked fabulous....I just had to put it on my menu last week! Of course, I made a few edits, and cooked a whole chicken....but it was very yummy and flavorful and I'll probably make it again. Here is her recipe.

~the chicken all ready to go in~

~bon appétit!~

The last photo makes it almost look undercooked....I assure you, it was cooked to a very moist perfection. I served it with broccoli in a lemon brown butter sauce and mashed sweet potatoes. I paired it with a fruity and flavorful beaujolais to balance the acidic citrus flavors. I also used Port instead of Marsala in the recipe....try it yourself....delish!

Party time!

Over the weekend, my parents threw my sister & her fiancé an engagement party. It was so fun...here are some highlights...

~bride sandwich....Kelsey, Kaitlyn, Brooke~

~My love & me~

~ganging up on the groom~

~Me, Mimi, Marcia ~

~dancing to Maggie May (preview to the reception!)~

Happy engagement Kaitlyn & Luke!

Baby it's Cold Outside...

What the fashionable Wire Foxy is wearing this winter for his walks....

~Most Handsome boy!~

He is so proud of himself! Good boy Charlie!

le ménu de la Semaine

Another crazy week Chez Lynch means I'm not in the kitchen nearly enough... I am cooking Monday & Wednesday (and maybe Friday) though...

Lundi-

A warm & cozy Valentine's Dinner--

French Onion Soup

Salade verte

Brownie sundaes...

Mercredi-

a new recipe:

chicken, lemon artichoke pasta

caesar salad

That's it this week....yikes! My poor family!

Next week should be back to "normal"... bon appétit mes amis!

Happy Valentine's Day

Mia working hard on her Valentines for school!

l'amour

Oh Tom! What a fun time we've been having all these years! Here's a little trip down memory lane for you my love, my funny valentine, my partner in crime....

~releasing butterflies on our wedding day, 2004~

~hanging out in Paris, 2006~

~In a pub in Dublin, Ireland, 2006~

~hamming it up on the porch after dinner, 2009~

~kayaking at Loch Lyme, 2010~

Cheers to many more travels, experiences and laughs together! Je t'aime.

Gratitude Friday...

Gratitude Friday:: Photo edition

On this friday, I decided to show you (not just tell you) what I am most grateful for...

:: My love...

~august 7, 2004~

It is a grainy old photo, but I love it. We are dancing at our wedding, my touch so gently, his stare so intent. We were so young! We are (still) so in love. *ain't love grand?*

:: My little loves...

~playing after dinner earlier this week~

My kids are so sweet & cute. They keep us laughing and never fail to make you smile.

:: My furry love...

~patiently waiting his dinner earlier this week!~

Having a puppy is not easy. But, Charlie is so special to us....he is our constant companion, source of laughs, shoe fetcher, toy chewer and side-kick. I have not regretted for one moment having him join our family. He is my handsome furry guy. (now just pee outside Charlie!)

I have a lot to be grateful for....et toi? What are feeling grateful for this Friday?

Winter Eatings!

Last week during (another) snow storm, we invited snow-loving friends over and I cooked a big, yummy, wintery feast! We started with a wilted spinach salad. I make this often...sautée a little garlic in olive oil, add craisins, add spinach, add splash of balsamic. Serve with chopped nuts and a few slivers of parmesan. Yummmmmmmmo! The dish is so elegant as a first course and quite good for you too. We then had "Porc Prince Orloff" Pork loin, stuffed with ham, gruyère and a nice garlicky-herb paste I made. Baked on a bed of garlic and tomatoes, that I puréed after to make a sauce....Ummm, yummmmmo! I served it with steamed carrots and a potato gatêau.

~about to go in the oven--all tied up!~

~out of the oven~

~hardly any left!~

My new trick for a quick chill on a bottle of white? The handy, snowy, wine chiller-deck!

Or if you can't wait that long (hee hee) and run out of ice cubes (hee hee) why not use an icicle? Stir & chill all at once!
I just love homey winter meals with good friends and family! Cheers!

Sunny Day Dreams

Sometimes when the snow never seems to stop...I take a vacation in my mind...

To the South of France... for a sunny Mediterranean vacation...

Where I eat yummy foods...

~salade niçoise, s'il vous plaît~

And drink tropical drinks...

~umbrella mandatory!~

And I go incognito with big dark shades...

~currently craving: Ray-Bans!~

And stroll about in flowery maxi dresses!

~Can I pull it off? Or am I too short?~

And lounge about in a spot like this......

*Le grand sigh.* Mediterranean dreaming on such a winter's day! Care to join?

Encyclopedia of Me :: K

K...

K is for Kim! That's me!

K is for Keller....my maternal family name

K is for Knitting...so tactile and practical

K is for Kaitlyn, ma soeur, que j'adore!

K is for kiddos...Mia & Benji

K is a popular letter for me!

Le ménu de la Semaine

Another busy week is shaping up Chez Lynch...

Lundi-
kale, white bean & sausage soup

baguette

Mardi-
I was cleaning my room and I clicked on Giada for a minute and she was making something that looked yummy, so I'm recreating with a more Frenchie flair (port for marsala etc)...
citrus and shallot herb baked cornish hen
mashed sweet potatoes
brocolli
(if it is yummy, I'll share the recipe here!)

Mercredi-
chicken tetrazzini
caesar salad

Jeudi-
Tom cooks...

Vendredi-
Omelette
salade verte
baguette

Samedi-
Fête pour ma soeur et son fiancé!!!

Dimanche-
Comme toujours, on dîne chez mes parents

And you....cooking up anything fun?

Wire Fox + snow =

snow dog!

Charlie loves to play in the snow....he loves to stick his face in it....unfortunately, he gets all snowed up and can't see! We manually unpack his little face and then when he gets home, it is straight into a nice warm tub! He is still the most handsome little guy....even as the abominable snow dog!!!!

Gratitude Friday

Well, friday sure crept up this week...early release, snow day...mother nature has been pounding New England...

Feeling grateful today for...

:: an honest life

:: my healthy relationship to food & my body (now)....I read a few "pro-anorexia" blogs recently, it is sooo disturbing. If you know someone with disordered eating, getting them help is being a good friend.

:: good friends...loving husband...cute kids....trifecta of goodness!

:: hot chocolate....with a shot of godiva...Mmmmmmmmm! Perfect during a snow storm!

And you dear readers? What are you grateful for today?

Connaissez-vous Inès?

I have always admired le style d'Inès de la Fressange...her style as she has gotten to be older has only become more and more chic and quintessentially française! French women know how to age gracefully and become sexier as they get older! Carole over at Paris Breakfasts alerted her readers to her little segments on Roger Vivier and I had to tell you about it too! Shop Paris on a snow day with Inès as your guide? What could be plus chic? Moi, je ne sais pas!

Image from the Sartoralist