Chinese Chicken Salad with Red Chile Peanut Dressing

Courtesy of Bobby Flay

This was the pasta salad I made for tonight’s Summer Concert in the Park. It was pretty tasty and voted ‘Make Again’ by my own person food snob -- Leif!!

1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons smooth peanut butter
1 tablespoon chopped fresh ginger
2 teaspoons chipotle pepper puree
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon honey
2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
1/2 cup canola oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1/2 head Napa cabbage, shredded
1/2 head romaine lettuce, shredded
2 carrots, shredded
1/4 pound snow peas, julienned
1/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro leaves
1/4 cup thinly sliced green onion
2 cups shredded rotisserie chicken
1/2 cup chopped roasted peanuts
1/4 cup chopped fresh mint leaves
1 pkg Chinese egg noodles, cooked and drained
Chili oil, optional Grilled lime halves, for garnish

Whisk together the vinegar, peanut butter, ginger, chipotle pepper puree, soy sauce, honey, sesame oil, and canola oil in a medium bowl. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Combine cabbage, lettuce, carrots, snow peas, cilantro, noodles and green onion in a large bowl. Add the dressing and toss to combine.

Transfer to a serving platter and top with the shredded chicken, chopped peanuts, and mint. Drizzle with chili oil, if desired. Garnish with grilled lime halves

Weekend Activities

We had a nice weekend here at the Brenne house. Leif was fantastic and offered to let me have a 'day off' on Saturday and so he took both the kids to the Woodlawn Zoo. I spent my day with a grande latte, a good book and bit of shopping. It was a needed repreive for me. When I got home, Leif and both kids were napping. A day well spent!!

On Sunday we had dinner with some new friends of ours - Marcos and Palmiera - at their house. They are both from Mexico City and entertained us with some authentic Mexican dishes. Fantastic food and great company. Leif sipped on tequilla throught the evening and I had ice tea made from Hibiscus flowers (which I'm now on the quest to find in our local Mexican grocery stores as it was delicious). Needless to say, I drove home!! :-) A great evening with new friends.

Now it's Monday again... and back to our daily routine. Heading to the library this morning.

Campbelle's Posting

b rx lrkexjekjsxdlkdslkhnf6t
123456789
123456899
0-=
fi;tkditlkhet heisotintl=

ciao babies, peace out
campbelle

Trip to South Dakota and Minnesota

We are back from our two week adventure to the Midwest and had a great time visiting with family and friends back home. As always, time goes too fast and we didn't get to see and spend as much time with everyone we would have liked.

We arrived in Minneapolis very late on Thursday evening and then woke very early Friday to head to Eureka, SD. We participated in the Relay for Life event there. The small community raised nearly $40,000 for the American Cancer Society, very impressive. Unfortunately due to rain storms, the relay was cancelled at midnight; we all got a good night's sleep in warm dry beds, who knew that August nights in SD could get so cold!! The next afternoon we headed for Rapid City to visit my Grandma Hulda who is in a nursing home there. Leif has never been to the area, so we gave him the quick, driving tour of Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse and the Badlands. Next trip we will have to spend more time there. We were back to Minneapolis by Monday evening.... it had been a long weekend of driving about 5 hours in the car every day! And believe me, my kids let everyone know just how tired of driving they were!!

Then, what was suppose to be a relaxing few days at Tammy's in St. Michael, turned into a few days on vomitt and an unhappy little man! Christian got the flu bug and was feeling pretty terrible for most of the week. Luckily no one else has gotten it! (at least not yet).

We spent one morning with my old friend Kristi and her adorable kids Aidyn and Nolan. It was fun to see them and watch the kids 'play' together.

Out last day was spent at the Mall of America with Aunt Gina, Madison and Will. Campbelle loved walking around Camp Snoopy with her cousins and playing in Lego Land. She wasn't crazy about eating at the Rainforest Cafe, as she was terrified of the gorillas above us. I guess she took the waitress serious when she said to watch out because they take french fries!!

The flight home, which I did by myself as Leif flew back the week before, was great! Somedays my kids absolutly amaze me. Neither one made a peep the whole 3 1/2 hour flight! Piece of cake.

We got home with a much heavier suitcase, thanks in large part to Madison giving Campbelle all her old dress up clothes and stuff. It's nice to be home and the kids were very glad to see their pappa, as was I.

Madison, Will and Campbelle went for a hot air balloon ride at Camp Snoopy in the Mall of America.

Campbelle loved to play with all Maddi and Will's doctor stuff

Twins!

Hanging out with the neighbor kids.

Ciao babies!

Will gave Campbelle a ride in his Jeep.

Madison tried very hard to teach Campbelle how to swing herself, so she didn't have to continually give her a push. Maybe by next summer Maddi!

Christian loved to swing.

A fun day swimming

"Paging Dr. Madison, Paging Dr. Madison!"

Hainging out at Aunt Tammy and Uncle Bill's house. Poor little guy was sick with the flu for several days! :-(

Campbelle got a extra special outfit from Madison when she pooped in the potty instead of her big girl underwear!! Oh, the perils of potty training!!

Still in your PJs ?!?!?

Leif at Mt Rushmore

This is the sight I saw when I went to get Campbelle up from her nap this afternoon. "Nap time?!?! Ha ha ha," she said! I don't believe there was a toy or a drawer left unturned in that room! What can I do but laugh.

Strawberry & Spinach Salad

We didn't make it to our regular Tuesday night concerts in the park this evening, because Campbelle is still not feeling the best (which with all her strange things happening to her, could/should be a separate entry on it's own). I still made the salad that I planned to take to the picnic and wanted to share it all with you. It was fantastic... definately on our 'Do Again' list. Give it a try.

Strawberry & Spinach Salad with Walla Walla Sweet Onions and Poppy Seed Ginger Vinaigrette

Salad
3 cups strawberries, slices
2 bunches spinach (8-10 cups)
1/2 cup thinly sliced Walla Walla onion
1/2 cup sliced almonds, toasted

Vinaigrette
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1 tbl finely minced fresh ginger (I used powder instead)
2 tbls Dijon mustard
3 tbls honey
2 tbls sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/3 cup olive oil
2 tsp poppy seeds

Whisk the dressing and pour over the salad just before serving. Makes 6-8 servings when used as a starter salad.

Yummy... I love left over Thai!

Campbelle's Sick Day

Well the past 24 hours (and counting) have not been too much fun at our house. Campbelle woke yesterday from her afternoon nap with some type of stomach bug. She has fooled us several times into thinking she is over it and then...... uuugggghhh..... we become very aware that she does indeed still have some ailment!

We've made what we call a 'Sickie Boat' on the living room floor and that has become her home base.... in between random vomitts, she ventures off to exercise on the treadmill, eat toast and play board games with her pappa. Strange bug?!? But hopefully this time, it's truley over.

Sick Day :-(

Book Club

Last night was book club night... it was a small group, only 4 of us, but we had a fun evening or margarittas, delicious chicken enchiladas and creme brulee that was amazing!! Kudos Kerry!!

We read the book 'My Sister's Keeper' by Jodi Piccoult and it was a very moving book. It is ab out the difficult choices a family must make when a child is diagnosed with a serious disease. The overal theme of the book is about genetic planning, the prospect of creating babies for health purposes and the ethical and moral fallout that results. Kate Fitzgerald has a rare form of leukemia. Her sister, Anna, was conceived to provide a donor match for procedures that become increasingly invasive. At 13, Anna hires a lawyer so that she can sue her parents for the right to make her own decisions about how her body is used when a kidney transplant is planned. Meanwhile, Jesse, the neglected oldest child of the family, is out setting fires, which his firefighter father, Brian, inevitably puts out. Each chapter is written in another characters point of view to reveal their intentions and observations.

It was a gut wrenching book as I cried nearly the entire way through. It must be every mother's worst nightmare to think of their child with a serious illness. Leif, needless to say, was glad when had finished the book, so I wasn't such a basketcase of emtions, and I hugged my kidos a little bit tighter and watched them peacefully sleep a little bit longer each night - thankful that we are all healthy today!

Next month's selection 'Reading Lolita in Tehran' by Azar Nafisi

Ahhh Bliss!!

It was Mom's night out last night! Gotta love those nights. Wine, food, intellegient converstaion that doesn't include any comments like "stop putting grass in your brothers mouth!", and 5 other great mom friends that are all going through the same trials, tribulations and joys or parenting. But instead of once a month.... perhaps we could try to do it ... say ... every other night?!?! :-)

Concert / Picnic in the Park

Tuesday nights in the summer are Concerts in the park here in Issaquah, and it's a great time for us to meet up with several other friends and enjoy some good music, tasty food, fine wine and great converstation. We've made a ritual of it every Tuesday night for the past two summers...between 8-12 of our friends each make a salad dish to share and a few bottles of wine ... makes for a great pacific northwest evening.

For tonights picnic I made a really good plum tart dessert. (We had been to Costco and bought a container of plums big enough to feed the town of Eureka and then realized that we can't possibly eat them all between the 4 of us). Here is the recipe:

Plum Tart
2 lbs plum or Italian prunes (which are a bit smaller) pitted and quartered
2 cups flour
3/4 cup finely chopped walnuts
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 1/2 sticks melted butter
1 egg yolk

Mix flour, walnuts, sugar, butter and egg until crumbly. Press into springform pan or tart pan (reserve 1/2 cup for topping). Arrange the plums, cut side down, in a flower type pattern starting along the outside and working inward. Sprinkle remaining crumbs evenly on top.

Bake at 400 degrees for 40-50 minutes until the plum juices are bubbly.

It really was good. Would have been even better with a bit of vanila ice cream, but really, ice cream makes anything better!

Monday

We went on a playdate at our friends house - Kirsty and her kids David (Campbelle's age) and Scout (Christian's age). David and Campbelle had fun with all his toys - especially his bike and a Home Depot work bench. (Do we see construction in her future??) Kirsty is from Ireland and her husband is from Scotland, so Campbelle watched a cute little kids video from Scotland. We should really look into a DVD with multiple regional functionality as it would be great for the kids to watch Norwegian videos.

Leif worked late tonight so the kids and I went to McDonald's playland... Campbelle loves to climb on all the structures and follow the mazes - I wish she had a bit more fear in her somedays. Christian ate his first french fry :-( sorta by accident as his little fingers are quicker than mine. Seemed to enjoy it though. Evening bath/bed time always goes smoother when their are equal number kids and adults, but I tackled the project solo this evening and it went relatively smooth. After their simulateous bath, which Campbelle was put in charge of cleaning Christian's toes, I sent Campbelle to her room to read books while I fed Christian's bottle. Amazingly it worked. I did hear Campbelle yell out the window at some kids in the courtyard (kids about 10 years old) "Hey Kids, Campbelle can't play right now, I have to read my books" -- I'm sure these 10 year olds had no intetion of inviting her to play anyway. Tomorrow the library!