Kitchen Cred: Five recipes I am trying to master

This morning I made a traditional breakfast for my family of blueberry pancakes, bacon, and scrambled eggs. I must admit, cooking a meal that is well received always boosts my confidence in my credentials as a wife and mother. As I watched my five year old eat his second helping of pancakes, I came up with a list of five recipes that I would like to perfect to secure my place in the minds of my husband and children as a true master of home cooking.

1) Pancakes.  Still working on the recipe- my goal is to figure out what IHOP does and copy that.  My pancakes still tend to be too heavy and doughy for my taste.  I want them to be light, slightly sweet and delicious.  I might as well work on waffles while I'm at it.

2) Turkey and the fixins.  I have only prepared one turkey in my life.  It was dry and only slightly flavorful.  This one will require practice during the off season (times other than Thanksgiving) to perfect.  I also need to settle on a recipe for Greens, Macaroni and Cheese, and potato salad.  The cool thing about side dishes is that every family has their own tastes, so I just have to perfect them for the taste buds of my household. 

3) Chocolate Chip cookies.  I feel pretty confident with my current recipe and it already wins rave reviews from my family members. My next goal is to memorize it and be able to throw it together at will.

4) Pound cake/ birthday cake.  Cake has never been my strong suit in any form.  My mom makes the best pound cake, but I have never been able to duplicate her recipe.  I will continue to practice.  I'd also like to be able to make a delicious yellow or chocolate flavored cake for birthdays without relying on Duncan Hines or Betty Crocker.

5)  Baked pork chops or chicken breasts.  Every time I make a baked piece of boneless meat, there is at least a 50% chance that I will overcook it until it's dry.  When a pork chop is baked right, it's delicious and succulent.  When it's cooked wrong, it's like seasoned rawhide.  This one is just a matter of technique- I am confident that I will figure it out.

Let me know if you have any recipes you are currently trying to perfect.  What recipes do you remember most fondly from your mother's kitchen?  I love my mom's Oven fried chicken, pound cake and macaroni and cheese.  I also love the way she makes fried eggs:)

Thanksgiving Weekend

All good things must (usually) come to an end and so goes Thanksgiving weekend.  Four days of fried turkey, red velvet cake, banana pudding, and no work in the morning.  Ahhhh....I haven't posted in over a week and I have so much to share.  I hope you had a blessed Thanksgiving 2010. I had the wonderful pleasure of spending Thanksgiving with dear friends who treated our family like royalty for two days and blessed us with delicious food and heartfelt hospitality.  Awesome.  We put up the Christmas Tree and stockings today and our home is already filled with holiday cheer.

Sorry I've been gone for so long. This time off has given me a great deal to think about and much more to say. Hope to share deeper thoughts very soon.

Some Election Results That You Probably Haven't Seen

Now that the "shellacking" of the Democrats is old news, I thought you might enjoy a few recent election results that you probably didn't hear about or either MSNBC or FOX.  Black politicians are still making history around the globe and right here in the U.S. Here are a few notable results:

Look Mom, There ARE Black Republicans...
The Republican wave in Congress swept in two new black congressmen, Tim Scott of South Carolina, and Allen West of Florida.   Both men will be the first black Republicans to serve in Congress since J.C. Watts retired in 2003. Both men also made history as the first black Republicans elected to Congress from their states in over 100 years.  Both men also ran with the blessing of the Tea Party and Sarah Palin.  They joined a wave of black Republicans on the ballot this year. According to ABC news, this year 42 blacks ran for the Republican nomination for House seats, and 14 of them won the nomination. For an interesting story on the recent surge in black Republican candidates, click here.   For a look at all of the black Republican candidates who ran this year click here.

Allen West

Tim Scott

Allen West is a decorated army veteran who will serve Florida's 22nd District in the Boca Raton area. Tim Scott is a business man who won in the 1st congressional district where white voters outnumber blacks 3 to 1.  For a comparison of these two candidates, click here.

Around the Globe...

In July 2010, Russia elected its first black politician (at any level), Jean Gregoire Sagbo. 

Russian Councilor Jean Gregoire Sagbo

 
A native of the West African Country of Benin, Sagbo migrated to the Soviet Union in 1982.  He was elected as one of 10 Municipal Councilors in the town of Novozavidovo.   Sagbo's election is particularly remarkable given Russia's notorious culture of racism. See video of Mr. Sagbo below.





In October 2010, the country of Slovenia elected Europe's first black mayor, Peter Bossman, a Ghanian physician.

Mayor Peter Bossman

According to Bossman, "I think that people don't see me as a black man. They see me as a good man, as a doctor and the racial question really didn't came into play here."

Congrats to all the winners.

Say What?

The first time I saw this commercial I turned the channel and immediately informed my children that this kind of behavior is completely unacceptable.  This child has the nerve to call his parents lame!  I went to the Toyota channel on youtube  to find out how to complain and saw that most of the comments posted there had the same sentiment.  I also saw that this ad is only one of several offensive commercials featuring this character.  In each commercial he obnoxiously refers to his parents as "dorks" or "lame" and sarcastically ridicules them. How dare Toyota portray a child showing such disrespect for his parents in a commercial for a product aimed at families!! Not cute.

I also submitted a formal complaint on Toyota's main website in the customer help/contact us section.  Click this link if you would like to submit your own complaint. It will take about five minutes to set up an account and then you can leave your complaint.  I selected "website" as my area of concern and also pointed out that I am a current owner.  I'll get back to you if Toyota bothers to respond.