Tag Archives: USA

Co sleeping and a product review

Welcome back to another mommy Monday! Just from the title I might have already lost a few blog followers… Why? Just saying that word “co-sleeping” out loud is so controversial in our culture. Or, perhaps you just have no desire to read my thoughts on it (that’s okay too).. Whatever the case, if I’ve still got you, thanks!

In Korea I’ve discussed co-sleeping with many newbie moms like myself, as well as the more seasoned. Co-sleeping and attached-parenting is something the Asian culture practices as the norm. The differences to the western culture are that some Korean families all sleep together in their bedroom on a heated floor with a sleep mat.

Trust me when I say, we get it. Yes, we were the couple, kidless mind you, making that judgement from the outside swearing we’d never co-sleep and have our baby in bed with us. Hahaha…. Let’s fast forward shall we?

Enter our little bumblebee into our crazy life equation. The first few nights we had her in our room, but in a bassinet near our bed. It was working out…eh…okay. There were a lot of up and downs for feeding, as expected, but also separate up and downs for comforting, soothing and rocking. There were some nights I was so exhausted that I’d feed bumblebee while I’d lay in our bed, begin to burp her and we’d both pass out. I’d awake startled to realize what I’d done, only to find her still on my chest sound asleep and peaceful as could be. We continued to have this pattern a few nights and were both waking in the morning much more rested. ((Praise the lord!))

It wasn’t until I was researching some other baby products and doing some browsing on Amazon when the light upstairs finally popped on. She’s most comforted by us holding her and feels more safe and secure in our arms. Just my luck I came across an item, Snuggle Me Co-sleeping Cushion
, that claimed to replicated that sort of secureness, among other benefits, all the while keeping your little one safe in a co-sleeping environment.

Eek… Co-sleeping…I was conflicted. However as I started to really think about the past few nights, that’s essentially just what we were doing….

I was intrigued and decided to discuss the Snuggle Me with the Mr. before hitting that handy one click ship button on Amazon. We both were in agreement to try it out and decision that this was a safer way to co-sleep.

Let’s product review the Snuggle Me co-sleeper and lounge cushion. (No specific order)

This is a product designed for little ones aged 0-6 months.

The design and shape of the cushion not only hugs and comforts, but also helps to prevent and protect your little one from turning and rolling over, keeping them safely on their backside.

The cushion is made in the USA!! When does that ever happen?! Woot-woot! We strive to do our part and support those businesses, even while living abroad!

We have a King size bed so there is plenty of room to stretch out to begin with, however even if we didn’t have a King the Snuggle Me co-sleeper doesn’t take up that much room and should be ideal for other size beds as well.

The one we specifically purchased is made from 100% organic cotton, twill and fleece with a hypoallergenic fill. Also a very important note to mention is, the products are all free of lead flame retardant latex and phthalate bpa.

The cushion comes with a muslin travel bag! How handy! It easily can fold up, bend, basically act like a pillow in your weekend or luggage bags. Check plus! We absolutely plan to use and take it with us on scuba weekend trips and any future country hopping trips.

The Snuggle Me is all the listed above versatility plus the fact that it’s great for tummy time, infant massage and helping with ideal positioning in cases of acid reflux relief.

Our bumblebee now usually falls right asleep in the evening and we concluded it’s one of her favorite places to sleep, so much so that she almost sleeps through the entire night! Need I say more?? We’re incredibly pleased with the purchase and absolutely recommend to any soon to be parents! Get it added to those babyshower lists!

What are your thoughts on co-sleeping? Did you and your family do it? Did you use anything special to make the co-sleeping situation safer and comfortable for all? Would you try the Snuggle Me co-sleeper?
Love to hear from you!

Click, Ship & treat yourself…or in this case the bébé !

Product Review: Purely Elizabeth Probiotic Granola

Good morning! Up and at em’ let’s kick it off with a product review of Purely Elizabeth’s Maple Walnut Probiotic Granola.

The flavor was great! The texture was great! Ohhh and the crunch was great too! Sweet but not too sweet, salty but not too salty, oaty… well you get the point. Everything I look for in granola I found! It was tasty just munching straight out of the bag, or getting a bit crazy like I did and throwing a serving on top with my Rice Krispy cereal, banana and Silk coconut milk this morning. MmmmmMmmm!

So why did I order THIS specific granola? I’m always on the hunt for healthy choices and this little granola claimed to foot the bill. It’s incredibly hard to find products that truly are healthier choices and not just claiming to be. You can pronounce and recognize basically all of the ingredients, again how rare is that?

For instance, instead of typical organic cane sugar, Purely Elizabeth contains organic coconut palm sugar, a considerably healthier sugar, as well as coconut oil too. I felt like the ingredients spoke volumes….take a look for yourself!

“Organic Gluten Free Oats, Organic Coconut Palm Sugar, Organic Virgin Coconut Oil, Walnuts, Organic Maple Syrup, Sunflower Seeds, Organic Puffed Amaranth, Organic Chia Seeds, Organic Quinoa Flakes, Organic Millet Flakes, Natural Flavor, Cinnamon, Sea Salt, Probiotic Cultures (Organic Inulin, Palm Oil, Bacillus ans GBI-30 6086).”

Since becoming pregnant I’m really mindful of what I’m putting into my body because I know what I’m ingesting essentially our bumblebee is too. Also, before moving to Korea, I had some serious stomach issues. All sorts of foods irritated my stomach to include some forms of dairy. I was pretty much plagued with an ongoing nightly upset stomach, sometimes even getting physically ill. Most of my issues have since gone, occasionally I do have an issue, however I really feel it was a change in my food and lifestyle. Korean food culture staples are fermented foods. Kimchi and other fermented foods have probiotic lactic acid bacteria (LAB), the good little gut fighters! So it wasn’t even a question adding a little extra help to my daily routine with my morning granola. Bring on those healthy probiotics!!

Oh…wait…did you catch that last statement? Probiotics! YES! This granola made with GanedenBC30. The site says, “It’s a Non-GMO, vegan strain of probiotics.” Why all the fuss? Well, “GanedenBC30 a strain of probiotic that survives the baking process, due to its protective spore. Once the probiotics hit your gut, where the moisture level and temperature are just right, the probiotics work their magic!” How awesome is that?!

Not keen on maple? Don’t worry! Other flavor options with probiotics are CHOCOLATE SEA SALT. I’m not really a chocolate person, (GASP), so I didn’t order. However, If you are not looking for probiotics, but just a great granola, they also have the following options available:

::GRAIN-FREE::
BANANA NUT BUTTER
ORIGINAL

::ANCIENT GRAIN GRANOLA::
ORIGINAL ANCIENT GRAIN
BLUEBERRY HEMP
PUMPKIN FIG
CRANBERRY PECAN

There were two downsides to the granola and Purely Elizabeth. One is the serving size. The bag list 1/3 cup at 130 calories as the recommended serving size. After topping off my breakfast bowl and realizing just how delicious the granola was, I wanted moreeeee! Hahaha! What can I say? Mommas gotta eat!!

The other downside was dealing direct with the company Purely Elizabeth. Typically we’re big fans of Amazon Prime because of our location, however the specific probiotic granola I was after wasn’t being sold via Amazon, just other Purely Elizabeth varieties. So I had to place an order from the company direct. I ended up having a hard time ordering because it listed my shipping state as an option initially, only to reject the order at the end. I had to send an email, as well as three follow-up emails to rectify and place the order. I’ll be fair and will mention that once I did finally get a response back and assistance to place the order, it was easy. However…I almost gave up. (Better step up your game Purely Elizabeth!)

Would I order the granola again? While I’m not sure if go directly to the company website and deal with that again…. I’d absolutely go the Amazon route! I’m thinking blueberry hemp and possibly the banana one are calling my name next.

Did you hear that noise in your kitchen? That’s the sound of your breakfast spoon clinking against your soon to be tasty breakfast bowl after you place your order on Amazon Purely Elizabeth Ancient Grain Granola Variety 3 Pack Original + Cranberry Pecan + Blueberry Hemp
, or take a gamble and deal with the site directly here. Stateside folks also can pop into a local Whole Foods store, or select Target and grab some up too (lucky ducks).

What are your favorite granola brands? Do you have any crazy concoctions you’d like to share with us?

What’s cooking?

Continuing on with our new year quest for meal prepping and planning, consuming better foods and striving for less food waste, we’re glad you found your way back into our kitchen and home again for our food recap.

There’s just something very meditative about weekly food preparation, perhaps it’s my OCD coming out? Seriously…coming home after a long week of work and preparing/ menu planning for next weeks round of breakfast, lunches and dinners has a calming and relaxing end result when you really let yourself enjoy it. It also helps that the Mr. supports and recognizes the importance of it too. (I have express and give my pure gratitude to this man too! Feeling under the weather this week, he cooked almost all of the deliciousness for us shown below).

^Homemade buttermilk scones served with a nice cuppa vanilla honey rooibos tea.

^ Homemade oven baked chicken kiev, with a side of crispy curried carrots and sun-dried tomato and feta spread served on top of homemade rye bread.

^ No bake 5 minute brownie from Minimalist baker. Slowly trying to curb my crazy sweet tooth, plus I’ve been itching to use up my cacao powder Healthworks Raw Certified Organic Cacao Powder, 1 lb This was very different texture wise, not terrible, but filled the temporary void, left out the espresso the recipe called for.

^ Spicy Japchae, jabchae, chapchae, chop chae, or chap chae (Korean: 잡채) (glass noodles, peppers, sesame seeds, onions and veggie-meat) and Maneul Jangajji (chili paste and pickled garlic scapes). Served with a side of korean purple rice.

Lots of pickling, preserving and burning our mouths this past week! Mr. B Made some garlic scapes Korean style. If you don’t know, garlic scapes are the green parts of the garlic, do NOT throw these away, instead make Maneul Jangajji!

Maneul Jangajji

12 hrs total (11.5 soaking)

Directions:
Pepper mixture:
1 cup dried pepper flakes (ideally Korean peppers)
1 cup Gochujang (Korean red pepper paste)
3 Tbs white vinegar
2 Tbs fish sauce (or to taste)
6 garlic cloves minced
3 Tbs brown sugar
1/2 cup hot water (may have to add slightly more if scapes are very well-drained)

The intent is to have a thick paste with a consistency of cream spreadable peanut butter or very slightly watered down.

Scapes:
cut off whiter tougher parts of scapes and trim to 3″. Boiled salted water. Pour over scapes in an insulated bowl (glass/ceramic etc) and leave sit (make sure to cover with a plate) for 11-12 hours or longer until they start to yellow. Drain and cover with pepper mixture (easiest to do with gloved hands).

These can be eaten immediately or saved if packed in the mixture for several months in fridge.

(Best compliment ever was when Our Korean foodie friend was over eating dinner with us and said that this was better than her moms! Mr. B’s Korea cook level awesomeness was achieved!)

^ Spaghetti and our homemade meatballs! You know.. Plenty of garlic and basil, you know, a nice dose of nerve-steadying herbs.

^ Shared a meal with our dear friend over our ground beef patties seasoned with our own special blend of spices. The burgers had oyster mushrooms, red onions with torched sharp cheddar cheese, fried egg and foie gras flavored with homemade BBQ sauce and horseradish mayo. The buns were coated with foie gras oil and toasted in the pan for finishing. Annie’s White cheddar Mac and cheese and salads on the side (you know, keeping it classy).

^ Homemade almond biscotti from America’s Test Kitchen (Household favorite!)

^ A delicious mediterranean steak salad!

And last but not least…. freezer meal prep for the unknown weeks that are to come. Chuck steaks ground, seasoned and formed into 1/2 lb burgers. Not pictured, because someone fell asleep on the job, vegetable beef stew and slow cooker pork BBQ with homemade BBQ sauce.

Click, Ship & treat yourself

<br />

What’s cooking?

Welcome back to our kitchen! Pull up a chair at our kitchen island and get comfy. Outside of our mini Mardi Gras feast and unbeetable Valentine cake, we’re sharing the recap of what we whipped up in our kitchen over the past week. We’ve got some exciting nostalgic dishes we’ve made a bit more modern to share with you!

Drumroll please..we tested out four more family recipes from Mr. B’s grandparents handwritten cookbook that dates back to 1949! It’s so special thinking about and picturing Howard and Rose cooking these very recipes together back then in their kitchen, perhaps doing the same exact things were doing in the present day.

^
This super crunchy coconut granola! It’s been perking up our morning Greek yogurt and fruit routine. Try it! Next time I’m thinking I’ll use coconut extract instead of vanilla.

^
Chicken Marsala with homemade garlic bread and garden salads.

^
Seared tuna, a fairly regular staple at our table, was served as the main dish alongside of diced oven roasted rutabaga.

^
The first family recipe tested was parsley curried corn. Originally we prepared as directed straight from the recipe, but in the end slightly altered it to more of our taste. SPICE! Yeah, we had to kick it up a notch and make it a bit more modern with the addition of hot madras curry powder. This dish was absolutely delicious and is a new favorite for sure.

^
The second B family recipe tested was, pork tenderloin in cream sauce. Again, after preparing as originally directed, we modernized and altered by seasoning to our taste, it just didn’t have the pizazz we were after. We ended up adding green peppercorns and chopped onions.

^
We paired the pork tenderloin with garden sweet peas, sautéed mushrooms in a pepper sauce and puréed sweet potatoes seasoned with maple, butter, pepper. D-licious!

^
Oven roasted eggplant halves stuffed with zucchini, yellow squash, spicy Italian sausage, onion, and gorgonzola cheese. Like spaghetti, these were even better served as leftover for lunch, the flavors just popped even more!

^
The stuffed eggplants were served with a side of roasted garlic butter mushrooms sprinkled liberally with salt and cracked black pepper. These little guys were like a vegetarian alternative to Escargot! The mushrooms gave the texture and the butter, garlic, salt and cracked black pepper brought the taste. Plus who doesn’t like the fact that the caps hold in all that buttery goodness? It’s all about those vehicles for butter 😉

The third family recipe tested was “Boston Baked Beans” and “BBQed Chicken”.

^
The Boston baked beans used dried beans and minimal ingredients which consisted of molasses, sugar, salt and a bit of pepper and home cured bacon. The Flavor was fantastic!

^
The BBQed chicken was a chicken quartered and the sauce was from scratch. The sauce simmered away for quite a bit of time on the stove, then it covered the chicken and was baked. This recipe was delicious with a delightful blend we were not accustomed to. Oh! the chicken came out super moist too!

^
Then there was a quick last-minute dessert created. Inspired by our recent trip to Manimal in Itaewon, Mr. B halved bananas and drizzled them with homemade caramel and then topped it all off with fresh vanilla whipped cream. Boom! Front runner to the Bananimal!

Alright folks, we will meet you back in our kitchen again soon!

Charlie’s Wok

Typically I brown bag it everyday at work, however a building mate asked me if I’d like to join him for lunch nearby at a friends restaurant. Although my peanut-butter, banana, topped off with local honey on whole wheat sounded very satisfying, lol, I said sure!

So we went to Charlie’s Wok, an American Chinese restaurant, where I was introduced the main man himself, Charlie.

The restaurant is located off the Main Street and tucked away in an alley near the Bosan subway station and US Army installation Camp Casey. When we pulled up to park, I quickly realized why I had never seen the restaurant before, it was because of the discreet location.

Don’t let the unassuming exterior and location fool you, once we stepped inside my nose immediately told my belly that I was in for a treat. I learned that the food is always freshly made after you order, so be prepared for a bit of wait. You do have the option to place a take out order, as well as call ahead to place your order to eat dine in. If Charlie isn’t available, the restaurant does not open, it is a one man wok show. You see the pride Charlie takes in his food quality, the prices are very reasonable and you are served generous portions.

^
I ordered a 2 entrée combo meal because I couldn’t decide between the beef with broccoli, and General Tso’s chicken. With the combo you also decide if you’d like fried rice, or chow mien. I ordered chow mien based off of recommendation. The recommendation was spot on!

^Building mate’s garlic chicken and General Tso’s chicken

Overall, I was pleasantly pleased with my order. The menu offers a small variety of standard Chinese American staple choices and price points. Sure, this isn’t a gourmet 5 star restaurant, but it definitely is a great little neighborhood find!

Enjoy!

Give Charlie a call! 031-866-8656

Gather. Eat. Drink. Repeat

Friends, we certainly missed you at our table over the weekend!

We gathered, ate, drank and repeated all evening. Nothing better in our book!

These friends are friends that have cooked a special birthday meal for us and have given us such wonderful gifts, we’re very blessed to have met them all, so we certainly wanted to return the favor with a special treat for them!

The menu was French themed and featured the following:

^L’Apéritif (Drinks): Assorted beer, cocktails, homemade mulled wine

^L’Entrée (Appetizer): Pan seared foie gras served on homemade whole-wheat toast

^Le Plat Principal (The Main Dish):
Sous vide duck breast, served with fresh steamed broccoli, and pommes frites (french-fries)

^La Salade et le Fromage (Salad and Cheese):
Seasonal dinner salad and assorted cheese plate (served on my favorite Pennsylvania board)

^Le Dessert (Dessert): Vanilla-bean crème brûlée with local strawberries

Le Café (Coffee) : Coffee & tea

Bon weekending!

Spiciness with age

I wasn’t raised on very spicy foods…actually, I’d really label my childhood as pretty “vanilla” when it came to any sort of spiciness. But hey! That’s okay, because my very favorite ice-cream flavor just so happens to be vanilla! Ha-ha! I’m wild, I know!

Most know this little factoid, however some readers do not, my husband and I were both born and raised right in the same area of Central Pennsylvania. So a lot of our childhood experiences with, places, family traditions, and local foods, are very similar and easy to reminisce about together. (The Sub Shop, Knoebels Grove, ham loaves, growing up with grandparents that we’re practically parents, experiencing 4 seasons!)

So that brings me back to us chatting about if he too experienced a similar spice-less existence? Outside of childhood candy like warheads and cinnamon balls, he too was rather “vanilla”. Ha-ha! Womp-womp.

Fast forward to our adventures in Korea and you’d think we were two totally different people! Our taste have done some sort of crazy flip-flop and we crave and cannot get enough spice! We’re always testing our limits ordering more spice, telling the Korean restaurants, “The spicier the better”. Yes, quite the duo we are, what a spectacle when we’re eating spicy squid together.

The spicy thing is just one thing that’s boggling my mind lately when I really sit back and think about it. It sounds so elementary and simple, like, ohhh wow! You are adults your taste have changed.. WOW…

No! They really, really have! Our tastebuds have aged, as we have.

Here’s another fun giggle for you.. We thought we were really “cooking” when we first got married and purchased our first home. We’d take a weekend trip North to SAMs Club and pick up frozen individual breaded eggplants. We’d bake them in the oven and top them off with spaghetti sauce and shredded mozzarella. Boom! We were so proud! (In our defense, they were/are pretty tasty.)

Again, fast-forward and change countries, now we frequent our local vegetable stand weekly, try to stay away from most processed foods, and haven’t purchased an actual loaf of bread in 6 months? We bake our own loaf about bi-weekly. Pantry staples are now giant jars of jalapeños, Coleman’s English mustard, and a plethora of spices to take our foods up another heat notch and flavor (outside of being the chronic black-pepper food coater that I am.)

Perhaps all of the reasons and then some are why we make such a big deal about being together in our kitchen cooking and creating? Whatever the reasons, we’re certainly blessed with this time, the resources, and really hope to continue to encourage our friends, family and readers to get into their kitchen and menu plan, create some foodie-magic too!

I now present to you, a little hodgepodge of our past week spicy meals. Enjoy!

^Homemade spicy chorizo sausage soup with kale pesto and homemade whole-wheat bread.

^Homemade spicy salsa Mexican rice, homemade guacamole and chicken fajitas.

^From scratch gyro meat (ground beef and lamb spiced accordingly), grilled asparagus with an oyster sauce glaze, tomato basil salad and homemade pitas.

^Homemade whole wheat banana muffins from my gal-pal Jenny’s blog. VISIT HER NOW! You will fall head over heels with her style and bluntness!

Weekending and Côte Jardin

Over the weekend we had some appointments are errands to run in Seoul, so we made an entire day of it and met up with some of our very good friends.

We took them to a small cozy French café and bistro, Côte Jardin, located off and away from the main street in Itaewon.

This was the second time we have dined at the bistro and what brought us back was the romantic yet casual vibe, the very attentive staff (each visit the management has struck up a conversation with us and you can just feel their passion for their customers and business) and of course the delicious French cuisine!

On this trip, Ms. B ordered the burger for the second time, not a typical move on her part. The rest of the table was so convinced with her past experience, wouldn’t you know that they too followed suit. (Eek! Pressure was on!)

Yes, we DO realize that not many people would associate the French cuisine with a “burger”, but to us, this bistro certainly trophied the burger points on the scorecard for the French! They made their country proud!

So the burger… It was a bit different from the first time we had visited, however the basis of the burger, a mixture of lamb and beef combination, still shone through with its distinctive taste.

The first burger featured mushrooms, beet root, and bechamel cheese very creatively. (Photo on Instagram)

This time the burger was a bit more traditional with a nice cut of bacon, fresh lettuce, tomato, onion, topped with ground mustard sauce, and cheese. Délicieux!

This was the second time that we ordered the French onion soup as well. Mmmmmm… One can never go wrong on a very cold day with slowly cooked, caramelised onions that are both mellow and sweet in the perfect broth, topped off with a crusty bread and thick melted cheese.

Côte Jardin is the quintessential combination of offering a fantastic menu, paired with excellent wines, a caring staff, affordable prices and a personal, inviting, charming environment.

Address: 131-23 Itaewon Yongsan-gu, Seoul
Phone: 02-793-507
Website: Here

What’s cooking?

We find ourselves together back here again at the end of the week. Can I get a Fri-YAY!?

While I know we observed MLK day and we had a shorten week compared to most, it just seemed to sort of drag on and on…what do you think? Perhaps it was the REALLY cold temperatures we’ve been experiencing as of late? Whatever the case, let’s get throw in another Fri-YAY! 😉

So what’s been cooking in your kitchen? Do share, we’d love to hear! In the meantime we will share just what’s been going on in ours…

Mr. B made a recipe from his grandparents cookbook dating back to 1949! Beef porcupines. Don’t worry there were no porcupines harmed in the making of the recipe haha! These little guys get their name from the way the rice pops out of the beef when they are done cooking.
Oh Lordy were they absolutely delicious! I know Mr. B made his grandpa proud that night!

^Google them!

Pizza night! Combination pizzas made with Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Pizza Crust, 16-Ounce. Have you ever used any of the Bob’s Red Mill mixes? We’ve dabbled in quite a few and always end up pretty pleased.

We topped the pizza with mozzarella, tons of roasted veggies eggplant, yellow peppers, red peppers, red onions, mushrooms, homemade meatballs, cheese filled jalapeños and cracked an egg in the center because we’re crazy like that! Oh and a side of roasted jalapeños filled with melted cheese.

We even ventured into the land of homemade vegetable hummus too! (Hey it’s all about getting those veggies in, right?) Yeah…Green pea hummus to be exact. Pretty outstanding and will make many future appearances in this house. You can thank us for sharing later.

We whipped up vegetarian BBQ. It’s sort of old school family BBQ recipe we have from Ms. B’s grandmother, but with a modern twist of using veggie crumbles.

And of course we mentioned Iowa Girl Eats blog meal on our last post, grilled chicken with a barley-corn salad. Think of the taste of a BIG bread-less BLT (YUM!).

Alright folks, we will meet you back in our kitchen again soon!

Winter berries and the past

There are certain times throughout the year that I get very nostalgic about my childhood. So much so, I find myself shortly afterwards in our kitchen baking or making it simply to have a taste of the past. Make no mistakes, I enjoy adulthood and eagerly look forward to the future, but you know those days or moments when they hit you…

Today for me it’s homemade strawberry shortcake. Oh yes, a delicious family recipe that I covet, passed down generation to generation, butter, Crisco and all. No sharsies with this one folks. I know what you are thinking… Mmmm isn’t it sort of out of season to be longing for shortcake? Yes and no. I guess the great and not so great fact about the US is that at any time of the year you can get your hands on imported fruits and vegetables. I try not to be that gal, strive to purchase as much locally, plus we’re currently located in South Korea where local strawberries are divided into two growing seasons, summer and winter.

If you recall on a past blog post in the summer-ish we visited a nearby greenhouse and picked our own. With our winter berries we weren’t as adventures, we simply visit our local vegetable stand and purchase one or two containers a week. (They are that good!)

I enjoy learning more and more about anything that surrounds the topic of food. I found it very interesting when chatting up some Korean friends and locals that, the winter berries grown here are Maeyang strawberries, a cross and byproduct of two other strains of strawberries. I am told that these winter beauties yield a higher sugar content, because they are said to breath less at night, so unlike its sister summer berry, it loses far less nutrition, thus losing less of their precious sugar. I can absolutely attest to that! No need to sprinkle a dash of sugar on these little sweeties. Oh and the smell of the berries, imagine the best perfume in all the world!

During my childhood summers we’d always enjoy a nice size slice of shortcake topped with fresh local strawberries, sometimes cool-whip topping, but almost always soaked in a bowl of milk. This cake would accompany a bowl of parsley potatoes. That was it. Nothing more, nothing less. Recently Skyping with my grandparents we had a good laugh because Mr. B couldn’t wrap this mind around the fact that there wasn’t any protein, and the fact that was the entire meal. Hahaha! I suppose it might sound odd to those out there reading this post too, but I confess those dinners as simple as they were, were the very best. My great-grandmother coined the statement that you had to have the salty with the sweet. The saltiness of the parsley potatoes and the sweetness of the strawberries. This was a grandmother that knew her foodie stuff, she’d rather enjoy her dessert served before any meal. I certainly belong to the correct bloodline.

While we didn’t serve parsley potatoes tonight with our strawberry shortcake (party-pooper Mr. B), we did enjoy an outstanding marinated grilled chicken with corn barley salad from Iowa girl eats. The link is here and we didn’t change a thing. We used our fresh corn on the cob that we shucked and froze when it was available. We know you’ll enjoy this hearty easy dish during the weeknight too!

So now it’s your turn to share your childhood meal nostalgia with us. Do you re-visit the past with any sorts of odd meals? We’d love to hear!