Tag Archives: bedroom
Breakfast in Bed – Scalloped Tomatoes
Post by Alison Hein.
If you’re a fan of the grilled cheese sandwich / tomato soup combo, you will love this old-fashioned treat straight out of the annals of Grandma’s recipe book. As children, my sister and I were amazed by the first bite of shockingly sweet pudding-like tomato bread, followed by the verge to savory with a finish of glorious melted cheese. Our grandma would make us each an individual dish, which we would gobble down for breakfast, lunch, dinner or anytime in between.
Merriam-Webster has this to say about the transitive verb “scallop”:
[from the use of a scallop shell as a baking dish] : to bake in a sauce usually covered with seasoned bread or cracker crumbs <scalloped potatoes>
I like to make my own croutons for this recipe. Make extra for salads or stuffing. Drop the herbs and garlic for a more puddingly sweet version, or skip the sugar for an old-fashioned breakfast in bed even Grandma would approve.
Ingredients
2 thick slices of stale crusty bread (about 1 cup)
¼ cup olive oil
½ teaspoon dried basil
½ teaspoon dried oregano
½ teaspoon dried parsley
Cooking spray
2 large tomatoes (about 1½ – 2 cups, or 1 14.4-ounce can diced or stewed tomatoes)
1 clove garlic, chopped (optional)
1 tablespoon sugar
Salt and pepper, to taste
½ cup grated mozzarella (or other) cheese
Fresh chives, for garnish
Preparation
To make croutons, preheat oven to 350°. Cut bread into ½-inch cubes. Toss with 3 tablespoons olive oil and stir in basil, oregano and parsley. Spread out on a baking sheet and bake until crisped, stirring occasionally, about 20 minutes. Spray 2 small ramekins or baking dishes and set aside.
Fill a heavy pot with enough water to cover tomatoes and bring to a boil. Blanch tomatoes for less than one minute. Remove tomatoes from water, cool, and peel off skins. Chop tomatoes into small cubes, and allow to drain, reserving tomato juice.
Heat remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil in heavy saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic and sauté until golden, 1 to 2 minutes. Add tomato, sugar, salt and pepper. Cook until lightly bubbling, then reduce heat and simmer for 25 to 30 minutes, adding reserved tomato juice if sauce becomes too thick. Remove from heat.
Toss croutons into tomato mixture, stir in cheese, then scoop into prepared ramekins. Bake in the oven until hot and bubbling, about 30 minutes. Garnish with fresh chives and serve hot.
Makes 2 servings.
Bedtime Stories: Relishing Immaturity
The Encyclopedia of Immaturity by Klutz.
I have an aunt who always made an impression on me by her ability to be utterly silly, to make ridiculous jokes, and have fun at everyone’s (including her own) expense. Now that I have my own child, I was both delighted and horrified when she presented him with The Encyclopedia of Immaturity. Brought to you by the editors of the Klutz books, this is the reference books for every child. This book is chock full of pranks, jokes, tricks, and neat little illusions.
Need to learn how to pretend to bonk your head loudly on a table? Do the old “removing your thumb” trick? This is the book for you! If you want to get in a lot of trouble, you can try the old “shaving cream in your napping dad’s hand” trick. Or how to explode a paper bag in a most disruptive fashion.
Upon receiving this book, my son was at first nonplussed. Little did he know the secrets buried within. rest assured, the “DO NOT ENTER LABORATORY” and “CAUTION NUCLEAR WASTE” signs are plastered on his bedroom door! He’s still working on the subtle art of trickery (he is only six, after all) but it has never stopped him from continuing to trick me!
I can’t say I recommend you buy this for your child. But for your nephew, niece, neighbor’s kid, absolutely. Just be sure to look over your shoulder if you find yourself alone with the kid.
Movies in Bed: The World’s End
Post by Mark T. Locker.
If you are not a fan of Nick Frost and Simon Pegg, the words “Cornetto Trilogy” will probably mean nothing to you. Which is a shame. These are three fun, ridiculous, hilarious, and action-packed movies that fans of zombies, cops, and satire are sure to enjoy. The first installment, Shaun of the Dead, came out in 2004 and is a brilliantly hilarious zombie apocalypse movie. Three years later, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost released Hot Fuzz about an uptight cop being transferred to a sleepy rural village. Their third installment came out in 2013 and is called The World’s End. Simon Pegg plays Gary King, a washed-out 40-something-year-old who realizes his greatest failure occured on the evening of his and his friends’ failed pub crawl in their hometown of Newton Haven twenty years earlier. Before reaching the last pub in the Golden Mile, The Word’s End, things fell apart. In order to recapture the possibilities lost that evening, Gary goes out and brings everyone back together, albeit reluctantly. Unlike Gary, everyone else has grown up and moved on. But they give in.
What nobody expects is that the town of Newton Haven has been overtaken by weird robot look-alikes of everyone they used to know. What to do? Well, naturally they need to finish the pub crawl. No matter what. You can imagine things get pretty hairy and pretty silly from there. This is not the greatest movie in the trilogy; there is great debate over whether that honor belongs to Hot Fuzz or Shaun of the Dead. (There’s no debate for me: it’s clearly Shaun of the Dead.) Nevertheless, this is a fun and action-packed movie that is great to watch on a weekend evening.
Breakfast in Bed – Iva’s Albanian Breakfast
Post by: Alison Hein
In Iva’s native Albania, this satisfying, savory breakfast is known simply as “bread and eggs”. Well, give this recipe a whirl and you’ll find out it’s anything but simple. Thick slices of Italian bread or French baguette are cut on a jaunty diagonal, then saturated in pure beaten egg. Iva likes to sometimes add a little zing with some fresh or dried oregano. The egg-soaked bread slices are then fried to a golden crisp in rich extra virgin olive oil, and served with a generous scoop of tangy, brined feta cheese.
Iva advises serving “bread and eggs” with a sweet melon salad. “You must also add grapes,” she says. “The sweet fruit is a wonderful balance to the rich, savory bread and zesty feta.”
Thank you for the wonderful idea, Iva!
Now I’m off to make myself a savory treat and my first ever Albanian breakfast in bed!
Savory French Toast
4 eggs
Dash of salt
1 teaspoon fresh (or ¼ teaspoon dried) oregano (optional)
8 slices fresh or day old Italian or French bread, cut on the diagonal
2 to 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
½ to 1 cup feta cheese
Preparation
In large, shallow dish, whisk eggs until thick. Add salt and mix well. Stir in oregano, if using. Dip bread slices into the egg mixture, turning once to completely saturate. Don’t over soak or the soft bread will fall apart.
Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a heavy skillet. Add bread slices and cook over medium to medium-low heat, turning once, until golden and cooked through, about 5 to 7 minutes. Add more olive oil as needed. Remove from pan and serve warm with feta cheese and melon salad.
Makes 4 servings.
Melon Salad
1 cup red seedless grapes
1 cup chopped cantaloupe
1 cup chopped honeydew melon
¼ cup fresh mint leaves
Drizzle of honey
Preparation
Wash and chop all fruit. Use a melon baller, if you like, for a nice presentation. Add all fruit to a large bowl. Toss with mint leaves. Drizzle with a bit of honey, if you like.
Makes 4 servings.
Bedtime Stories: Sabriel Day!
Post by Mark T. Locker.
Happy May 11! Today has been “officially” dubbed as Sabriel Day by Garth Nix, author of the wonderful young adult fantasy series. Twenty years ago today, Sabriel was published. I was wrapping up high school. I didn’t discover Sabriel, and the companion books in the trilogy, Lirael and Abhorsen, for many more years but they have stayed with me ever since. I have read the whole series (including his most recent companion, Clariel at least twice, and I’ve also listened to them all on audio, the first three read by the unparalleled Tim Curry!
The story of Sabriel is wonderfully unique and yet familiar. She is a young woman, still in school, south of the Wall, where magic has no grip. Her father lives north of the Wall, in the Old Kingdom. He is the Abhorsen, a necromancer whose job is to keep the dead dead and to walk them through past the Ninth Gate into death. You know how it goes. So when Sabriel receives a messenger from Death, carrying her father’s sword and necromancer’s bells, she knows there is trouble. Thus begins her journey learning about herself, about who her father is, and about life in the Old Kingdom where magic and monsters are part of everyday life.
This series has topped my list of favorite YA novels since I first picked it up. It’s fantasy that doesn’t feel like fantasy. There are no clearly made up magical names, no elves and goblins, and blessedly, no dragons. I don’t know why, but dragons is where I draw the line. If you’ve never read this series, this, the 20th anniversary, is the perfect time to pick it up. Celebrate Sabriel Day and see what you’ve been missing out on!
