artichokes, sauce and a Bear

Bear, as we call our daughter Anna is a bundle of energy and usually behaves like her bouncy yorkie puppy Snoopy in the kitchen. While we are saving our party for SB Sunday we did have to eat tonight so doing a crock pot take on poached chicken I did decided to get bit adventurous and try artichokes and for the first time hollendaise sauce. No powdered mixes for me, oh no (self directed sarcasm) I must be a purist and do it from scratch. Only my Bear was at all excited about trying artichokes but she really wanted to help make 'holiday' sauce. Don't bother arguing with a six year old about phonetics, especially my six year old so I a traditional french sauce much touted by America's French Chef as well as Denny's everyware became holiday sauce and a novel idea in our meatloaf and mashed taters kitchen. I however, am not so masochistic that I hand beat the sauce, blender thank you very much. What a mess, you have to blend it on high with the lid off while slowly adding the hot butter in a slow steady stream. The reason I though this blog worthy? Well, because my kitchen got spattered with salted egg yoke and butter foam so liberaly that our dogs were trying to lick the air. And one very bouncy AnnaBear knocked my fresh bowl of 'holiday' sauce off the counter. She was bouncing on the footstool slipped and my baby, my sauce and the bowl of tepid water it was set in crashing to the hardwood floor. No I didn't weep over the smashed sauce or bowl but as my girl was scraped and bruised I tried real hard not to laugh at her spattered from head to toe in perfect frothy yellow sauce. If you didn't know, cause I sure didn't before tonight hollindase sauce is egg yokes mixed with an entire stick of butter and lemon juice. she was a mess, a pitiful, sobbing slighly banged up mess. After checking for cuts and broken bones I started a shower for her while trying to reassure her I wasn't mad she smashed the holiday sauce. Let my Bear to steam clean in the shower and went back to make another batch of sauce. One plus to dog ownership? you almost never have to wipe up spilled food. What the pups missed my Andy boy (my husband and our son share the name Andy) and I mopped up along with the tepid now cold water. Ok, Daddy helped Bear by fetching clean jammies and towels while I whipped up more sauce. the chicken was tender enough to have to scoop it out with a large slotted spoon after the first breast disinigrated when I tried to pick it up with tongs. Chicken, check, parsley boiled potatoes, check now forest green artichokes, check, fresh batch of sauce double check. Ok, Anna squeaky clean and no longer sobbing table set, food severed, grace said and dig in. ARTICHOKES ARE AWFUL! I could have boiled pine cones and they might have tasted better and free. Up side? Holiday sauce goes great on poached chicken. Spuds rocked and not one of us liked artichokes. Now the dishwasher is done washing, kids are tucked in and I got to go gear up for tomorrow. I have go do battle with cookie dough and crossiants for fruit and veggie pizzas respectively. I think I might just mince the veggies tonight too! By the by, my Andy boy gamely tried twice to choke down artichoke, he deserves a purple heart. Yes, pun indended goodnight!