Saturday, June 9, 2012

Simple Baby Potato Salad



I found these beautiful baby potatoes at a farm stand the other day and thought I could use them for a potato salad.  I love potato salad and I have tried many potato salad recipes.  Potato salad is one of those things that can be made with almost anything.  I have made potato salads that have hard boiled eggs,  dill pickles, sweet pickles, carrots, green peas, onions, you name it.  I wanted to free myself of recipes, and also to make something light to balance off our dinner of brown sugar baked beans and dogs and those yummy dinner roles I posted the other day.

Here's what I did.  You could do this with any potatoes.

First, I boiled some water, added salt, and then cooked the potatoes, just until easily pierced with a fork.  You do not want to overcook them.  For these tiny potatoes, this only took about 10 minutes.



Drain the potatoes and then let them cool.  Cut them into bite size pieces.



Then add your ingredients.  I added some chopped cilantro, dill, and chives (all from the garden!).  I also diced some red bell pepper and red onions.  I only used a tablespoon or so of mayonnaise.  If you wanted to, you could add some mustard as well, or a hit of vinegar.  Add salt and pepper to taste, and any other spices you want (curry powder, garlic powder, paprika, you name it).


It was delicious! Very light, very fresh, a nice edition to any summer meal.  Enjoy!

-- Anya


Lupa plays, makes friends... and gets beat up

I know that all of you are constantly wondering how our animals are getting along.  Well I won't keep you waiting any longer.  Dogs are easier.  In the last couple days, Lupa and Betsi have come along way.  Here's what has gone down.

First, Lupa is curious about Betsi's butt:


(note: click the box in the lower right hand corner of the video to make it play full screen)

Lupa decides Betsi is OK.  She goes to sleep next to her.  




Lupa gets more comfortable and sleeps on Betsi's head:




So recap: Lupa loves Betsi.  Betsi is OK with being loved.  Betsi is old.  

Sasha.. well Sasha is another story... for those of you who are older siblings, you know how hard it can be to have a new baby enter the family.  Feelings of competition, adoration, curiosity, rivalry, battle inside of you. You want to love it, but you also hate it.  You grow to love it.  No question that Lupa is eager to be loved!  Sasha has stopped hissing every time the little one enters the room and she wants to play but she has no idea how to do it... or how much force to use.  It's like she is the kid who was home schooled and not quite sure how to act around other kids.  In the last 2 days she has started to try to play with Lupa but, as Brandon says, she plays like Mike Tyson.  Check this out.  It's hilarious.


But don't worry, Lupa is working on her hook, jab and cross for next time...



hehehe.

She keeps us entertained all day.  It is play, sleep, play, eat, play, sleep, play, eat, play.  Watch her attack the rocking chair in this video clip (and if you turn up your volume you can hear her chirp!):


OK that is probably enough Lupa for you for one day... more to come later.

By the way, I have started posting recipes.  This is fun for me and I hope you try some of them!  I am cooking and baking a lot during this time between jobs so I will try to post often.  You will see there is a "Recipes" tab at the top of my blog where links to all the recipes can be found.

-- Anya