Christmas 2009

Merry Christmas!! For the first time, little Rhino hosted the Rhino crew plus future rhino Josh at her roost. As mentioned previously, I prepped some homemade cranberry sauce, a fairly manipulated version of Alton Brown's baked macaroni and cheese, and an adhoc version stuffing with Whole Foods stuffing mix as a base and pecans, craisins, celery, apple, onions, sage, and thyme as add-ons.

I found the turkey to be a slippery, leaky, and obnoxious bird. I did not enjoy meddling in its innards nor did I enjoy how it strained my temporary roasting pan. Oh well, at least it turned out to be tasty and gave way to delicious leftover holiday sandwiches when it combined forces with the stuffing, cranberry sauce, gravy, and obviously bread. BEST SANDWICH EVER!!

I used the same cranberry sauce recipe that I did for Thanksgiving and found it equally delicious, the decadent mac and cheese received rave reviews, and Papa Rhino loved the stuffing. With Mama Rhino's scones, baked stuffed potatoes, and apple scotch pie, peas, and gravy it was an amazing feast. Of course, seeing all of my Rhino relatives was the best part. Happy Holidays, crew!

Snow-mageddon Boredom Leads to Baking

After being trapped in my apartment complex confines for a couple of days, I decided that I'd break the boredom by making more cookies. I don't mind making cookies, but I prefer baking cakes, brownies, and other baked goods with one solid cook time. I always burn my first batch of cookies and these cookies were no different. Little Rhino hates cashews, so I substituted Reese's Pieces that I had leftover from Mexican brownies I made for the NWL holiday party. They didn't turn out to be lookers, but that's all right.

I ate a couple and then passed the rest off to a visiting high school friend on Tuesday who seemed quite pleased with the morsels. Good for Rhino because she didn't need the temptation.

Today, I started preparing cranberry sauce, macaroni and cheese, and stuffing for the Rhino family's Thanksgiving re-do Christmas dinner. Snaps to follow in my next entry!!

In more disturbing news- Check this out!

Deviled Eggs and Heavenly Cookies

Apologies for the lack of post in the last few months. Here's quick recap of the Rhino's Fall.
Late September- Live in the moment by running the Ragnar Relay... End up injured.
October- Spend most of the month believing I have a bruised bone in my foot...Change Facebook language to pirate "ARRR".... Bone Scan on footsie and small kitchen fire that afternoon..."Bruised" bone is really stress fractured cuboid bone (rare and retarded)..Computer hard drive FAIL...Complete first major grad school paper
November- Enjoy work "vacation" in NWL (figure that out non-govvie!!)....Roboboot= conversation piece...Conquer short ribs on a rainy Veteran's Day... Is this grad school thing supposed to be easy?....Why does my right foot still feel the same as it did two months ago?
December- The stationary bike hurts my butt...Oh geez, final paper...FYI- Your teeth still suck..Finish paper draft, Is it hot in here? No, I just have a fever (SLEEP 11 hours).. Nice, only a cold.. Edit paper..FINISH GRAD CLASS!!..Downgrade to black boot...Downgrade to SNEAKERS!!...EPIC FOOT OF SNOW!!

Now that I'm finished with the grad class, my blog can live again. So, this week for my work holiday party that I will miss (oh well) I made deviled eggs and to thank the unit I've been cross-training with for the last two months at work, I made these fancy-schmancy white chocolate, cranberry, macadamia nut cookies (I swapped cranberries for the recipe's candied cherries). I'm an ace at making deviled eggs and can't wait to tote them to work in my deviled egg caddy. That's right, a deviled egg caddy! How's that for a stylin' rhino? The cookie batter tasted delicious the day before, but my oven burned a good ten of my first baking batch. I blame my less than state-of-the-art oven and Paula Deen's faulty baking directions. Oh well, we'll see what the NARA folks think of them tomorrow ( :
Here a few pics from last couple of months of baking including Aaron Sanchez Mexican brownies with Reese's Pieces to wow the cross training crew at their Halloween party, one of Jessika's super- delicious desserts, and Elizabeth's birthday cranberry-peach cobbler and frozen limeade pie (see my summer frozen lemonade pie and sub frozen lemonade for limeade). .
Stay tuned for holiday-themed food and fun featuring macaroni and cheese, cranberry sauce, and my favorite sister and future brother-in-law ( :

Crabby Casserole TND

Argh....Unfortunately, I received bad news on the foot front last week. It turns out that I stress fractured the cuboid bone in my foot. So, I'm stuck in a removable air cast for six to eight weeks. *Sigh* Apparently, since the flimsy walking boot did not completely isolate the foot, I need to start from scratch and the cuboid heals especially slowly. I also found out on Thursday that I over-pronate and my arches and my legs are uneven. It floored me to realize that for all these years I bought shoes using the wrong criteria and nobody told me about all of my foot's flaws. Obviously, I wish I knew all this information earlier so that I could have prevented this injury, but I suppose the silver lining to this whole thing is that I will be able to avoid more foot problems in the future. *Fingers crossed*

Okay, enough about my damn foot, I'll move onto the food. So, last weekend, I made cranberry-date bars for Chester's birthday. I don't usually do bars, but I gotta say, they came out pretty well. Following my bone scan on Monday morning (I don't reccomend one unless you truly need it), I set the kitchen on fire (literally) while making Taste of Home's Sea Shell Crab Casserole. Luckily, the casserole came out unscathed. I added some canned artichoke hearts, spanish olives, and a nice layer of monterey jack to the recipe (I also used real crab..oh la la).


Jessika contributed a wonderful tomato-based crab soup to Tuesday night. Wes and Ben brought lovely marinated shrimp and Andrea brought Great Harvest whole-wheat and pumpkin bread to our feast (best bread around!!). Poor Anders brought a salad, but who wants salad with so much bread and seafood?! MmMMMmMmm....It was a truly delicious and decadent Tuesday!!

Bonus pic- My smiley face cottage cheese sandwich lunch

Chowhound chicken TND and rainy day sloppy joes

Alas, still no stampeding allowed for Little Rhino. The good news is that the Sole Doctor did not see any fracture on my x-ray on Monday. The bad news is that I need to get a bone scan next Monday because it could be a Jones fracture (I'm soo peeved it's the same metatarsal I broke in 2004) which is pretty awful. Pleassssse wish me luck!! Rhino misses her running and feels rounder by the day. Arrrrr-gh!
Thankfully, I can still put together a tasty TND. This week, I made some super easy honey mustard chicken from chowhound.com and smoky chipotle cornbread (not bad..but not cornbread enough for Miss Rhino). Along with Andrea's homemade guacamole, a joint Anders and Elizabeth salad, and Wes' AMAZING coconut pie, it was a very very tasty Tuesday.
In other news, this week I started cross-training with a different division at work. Honestly, so far I've done hardly anything other than going on a field trip to view UnAmerican Activities Commission Records in the stacks and reading the NARA Guide Book on the Records on the House of Representatives. Hot stuff.

The cross-training also lets me work my own hours. So, I'm saying goodbye to NARA nights for a while (unless I'm offered OT) and I can eat dinner at home (!!). Tonight, after a cold and windy day, I cooked up a sloppy joe dinner. It probably could have fed two people, but it only fed one Rhino. Rhino may be out of the running, but her appetite is still going strong. Oh dear, my waistline better watch out!

Up next: cranberry date bars for Chester's birthday (my co-worker not my sister's dog)

Bratwurst and Butternut Squash Stew TND

This summer when I felt down, I kept telling myself that at least I still could run and cook. Well, now all I have is my cooking and the thought that I may want to be a pirate for Halloween. ARRR, MATEY!!

Anyway, since the official start of Fall, I've been itching to fit Fall foods and butternut squash in particular into a TND. I browsed many sites and finally decided that Aida Mollencamp's stew on chow.com fit my autumn comfort food criteria perfectly(with my white bean and spice add-ons). So, I chopped up veggies like crazy on Monday afternoon, cooked up a massive mound of stew that night, and then lobbed my dutch oven into my fridge for the next night.

TND, I popped that sucker on the stove, turned up the heat, and voila! Bratwurst and butternut squash stew!! Mmm..mmm.mmm...At least I can still cook!

When Life Goes Bad, I Make Roasted Vegetable Pasta and Brownies

Rhino hurt one of her hooves last week, so she's not too happy. At least, I can still cook. For TND, I made a HUGE pot of roasted vegetable pasta using five containers of tomatoes, three squash, three zucchinis, and three pounds of pasta. It was big and delicious.

Later in the week, I doctored up some Betty Crocker brownie mix with semi-sweet and milk chocolate chips and heath bar chunks for a co-worker's birthday. They went so fast the next day that I never got to try them and I never told people about the "help" I got in the kitchen ( ;

Chili and Super Chunk Cookies FTW

Apologies for my lack of foodie entries of late. In lieu of a TND post, last weekend, when nothing seemed to be going Rhino's way, I made Ellie Krieger's Confetti Chili as seen on the Today Show. The first night, it was okay but rather bland, so I doctored it up with more cumin, chili powder, garam marsala, and various other spices. BETTER even if my weekend still sucked.

Luckily, this past weekend ROCKED!! I conquered the Ragnar Relay with my 11 teammates (and ate lots of pb and j along the way as well as a much appreciated spaghetti dinner). Over three legs, I ran 22.9 miles (9.2 miles, 4.8 miles, and 8.9 miles) and kicked ass with my awesome RagNarwhal Team!! When I got home on Saturday night, I slept for 13 hours. WORD.

The next afternoon, I got to see Sar Sar!!! She loves cookies, so we made Super Chunky Cookies courtesy of my Taste of Home baking book. SOOO rich and sweet and Sara loved them! Mmm, it's good to be back in the kitchen ( :

Up next: Roasted Vegetable Pasta!!

Poultry Comfort TND

I prepped TND's poppy seed chicken on Sunday, so I could just stick it in the oven on Tuesday and it was warm and bubbly in about thirty minutes. I try to prep in advance just for convenience sake, but after a sad and disappointing Tuesday afternoon, having the chicken ready to go felt especially good.

Taste of Home recipes can be rather hit or miss, I definitely liked this one though. It took a minimal amount of time to put together and tasted like pure poultry comfort food (my guests thoroughly agreed as well judging from the measly leftovers). The dinner could not completely counteract the rest of the day, but at least it softened the blow.

Labor of Love Chowder TND

I enjoyed a very busy and fun weekend yet again! On Friday night post-work, Elizabeth and I drove down to Yorktown (her home turf). On Saturday we picked up our race packets, beached, and consumed many carbs (yum!). Then, Sunday morning, we ran the Virginia Beach Rock 'N' Roll Half-Marathon. WOOOOHOOO!!! Sooooo much fun and I shocked myself with my speed (not crazy fast, but fast for Miss Rhino). Elizabeth and I agreed that finishing on a beach boardwalk beats a parking lot finish anytime.. especially when rocket pops, P.F. Chang's, and an obscene amount of swag line the beach's post-finish area ( ; We also agreed that 64W traffic jams bite (freakin' fires in tunnels) particularly when you're tired, hungry, and stinky after running 13.1 miles. Thankfully, after a Sonic lunch (thank you Elizabeth's mom and grandma!), a refreshing shower (ah!), and a pit stop @ Carl's in Fredericksburg on our way back to NOVA, I forgot my earlier hunger... for a few hours. Awesome trip!!

Monday, after a quick visit with parents Rhino, I set about plotting out and preparing TND. First, I chopped up many, many different vegetables for my andouille sausage, corn, and shrimp chowder and prepped the soup up to its final cream and shrimp blend in point. Then I made Food Network Magazine's cheddar biscuit recipe only leaving the garlic butter step for Tuesday. So much cooking and baking, so I just had a quick tuna sandwich for dinner.. and some leftover Cosi chips (mmmm).

Though only seven people came to TND, only two biscuits and less than half a serving of chowder remained at night's end ( :

In other foodie developments, I've discovered another delicious "dinner" option for my late days at work. Baked potato delights!! Wednesday, I popped a surplus chowder potato poked up, oiled, and salted into a 400 degree oven. Post-run (and coming home to a tasty-smelling apartment), I covered it a Rhino-made black bean mixture, packed up a single serving cottage cheese, and some salsa, and voila! DINNER (really even easier than its description). Miss Rhino thinks this may become a new long run day ritual...Maybe just a fall lazy "dinner" option. Screw Potato Valley Cafe's half-ass hours!


Bonus food photo of the week: Jessika's mint chocolate pudding Oreo dessert.

There Will Be Meat TND/ Happy Birthday Ben Edition

For Ben's birthday TND of choice, he demanded MEAT. After I offered him a menu of carnivorous choices, he picked Swedish meatballs (courtesy of Tyler Florence) and a coconut lime gateau recipe that I found in my British cookbook, The Cook's Companion by Carole Clements. Ben may have his faults, but the boy does have good taste.

I tried to lessen my load by dividing and conquering the dinner's different components. On Sunday pre- Julie and Julia/crepes, I mixed up the pork/beef, spice, herb, etc. meatball mixture. Post- brunchfest, I rolled them into shaped and cooked four pounds of meatballs up. It was a full three pan affair. Mmmm.


Monday morning, I whipped up the coconut lime gateau and christened by newly acquired star pan (thank you Wes!). After surviving pre-grad class spazzing and snarfing down a sizable meal back at my roost, I concocted some coconut butter cream frosting and decorated the cake. Better still, the frosting stayed together!

With nearly all the prep done, I simply put together a quick sauce Tuesday night, added the meatballs, and let it all warm through. The result: Savory Swedish meatball success (great leftovers too) and a much-loved cake (not bad looking either).

So far, next TND remains undecided, but with a long weekend ahead, I'm hoping to make something extra-exciting ( :

Cupcake update: I rewarded myself with Lavender Moon's peanut butter devil's food cupcake after my first grad class. Mmm.. lots of peanut butter frosting, moist chocolate cake, I liked it best of the bunch. I still want to try their lemon curd filled vanilla bean though....

French Foodie Weekend

Bonjour, mes amis! Aujourd'hui, Mme. Rhino a mange tres bien!! (Translation: Good day, my friends! Today, Miss Rhino ate very well). After a morning of blending together meat, herbs, and spices for TND's Swedish meatballs, I met up with Jessika and Elizabeth to see Julie and Julia.

First off, if you like cooking or eating, watch out!! Nora Ephron loaded some major food porn in J and J. I am currently jonesing to roast a chicken, simmer some boeuf bourguignon, whip up a raspberry Charlotte dessert, and bake one hell of a cake. Seriously, I'm nominating this film for foodie flick of the year. As for the film's content, I found the film cute and funny, but I have to agree with the critics, I liked the Julia Child sections more than the Powell parts. I read Powell's book and found her situation extremely relatable and her writing very humorous. I just don't think it translated as well to movie form. Anyway, very glad that I finally caught J and J.


Taunted with all the delicious food on-screen, Jessika, Elizabeth, and I left the theatre super-hungry and headed to Fontaine Creperie and Caffe in Old Town for brunch (gotta love theme get-togethers). Unfortunately for our grumbling stomachs, the service there bit ass. We waited about 20 minutes after being seated to even see our waitress (really before any beverages at all or water) and later for drink refills. Once we caught her, we did not hasten to order coffee, cider-ish wine, crepes, and more crepes. I dug into the Parsienne (filled with ratatouille, roast chicken, and brie), Jessika dined on the Norwegian, and Elizabeth feasted on breakfast bruscetta (toast topped with tomatoes, eggs, and pesto aoli). For dessert, Jessika ordered the Lemon Drop (filled with lemon cream). Meanwhile, Elizabeth and I shared Very Peachy (filled with caramelized peaches, vanilla ice cream, almonds, and doused with some peach liquor). Yum yum yum.

As if that weren't enough food for one day, we then crossed the street and ordered some cupcakes to go from Lavender Moon Cupcakery for later. Afterwards, I went home and cooked up a mother load of Swedish meatballs for TND. More pics of that to come..

My later for the cupcakes came about later that night. I sampled my lemon blackberry thyme cupcake and hummingbird cupcake as I watched my new tv on dvd addiction, Entourage. I couldn't decide which I liked better. I wanted more thyme out of the first cupcake but appreciated the blackberry frosting whereas I liked the hummingbird cake better but prefer thicker cream cheese frosting than what Lavender Moon offered. Tomorrow, after my first Grad School class (EEEK!!), I'll reward myself with my peanut butter and chocolate devil's food cupcake. I may need to investigate their vanilla bean, s'mores, and peach pie cupcakes at a later date...

The plan tomorrow: making coconut lime cake for Ben's b-day TND, healthier eating (hopefully), FIRST GRAD CLASS and, if I feel especially ambitious, Swedish meatball sauce making or apartment cleaning.