French Onion Soup

French Onion Soup is one of the easiest soups anyone can make. Few ingredients, few steps, and a major return on investment when it comes to taste and the presentation of the final product. This is hands-down one of my favorite soups in the winter. It's too bad I have such a massive cold that taste and smell are virtually gone for me. But the feeling of eating a rich onion soup was all there. Go make this!!

Caution: Bird Lime Ahead

We mothers are saints. I’ve always suspected this but at no time is this more apparent than when we are sentenced to a week at home, sucking up to a cranky, peevish, ailing child.

Every once in a while, the bad-luck bird flies by and drops some whitewash on you (usually when you’ve got a rigid, NASA-worthy and meticulously-laid out weekly agenda), and you my friend are now one of thousands of saints waiting hand and foot on their irksome, capricious offspring.

The last few days were my turn in the crosshairs. Here’s how the week, henceforth known as Dante’s Tenth Circle of Hell, went down.

Slow Cooker Brisket with BBQ Sauce and Sweet & Sour Baked Beans

The Dude was gone for a few days and knowing that there are a handful of things in this world that make The Dude truly happy, I set about to make him a welcome home meal that would knock his socks off.

I recently acquired a slow cooker, after my friends dragged me into it, kicking and screaming. The first time I used it I made Cuisine At Home's Slow-Cooker Macaroni and Cheese. That came out divine and deadly. My second meal was Cooks Illustrated's Pulled Pork. This will have been the third time I'm cooking in the thing and I turned to CI again. There is an inherent trust with Cooks Illustrated. Whatever I make, I am 99% of the time successful.

Classic Homemade BBQ Sauce

Start with the BBQ because while it simmers and thickens, you can make the rub and apply to the brisket. Remember to gather your ingredients and do your "mise en place" (basically measure out as many of your ingredients as possible) so it all comes together uneventfully and you're not running around doing the explode-a-kitchen as things start to happen.

Slow-Cooked Beef Brisket

While your BBQ Sauce simmers and thickens, gather the ingredients for the brisket. A flat cut brisket (vs. a cut where it looks knobby) is best and ideally you want a brisket with nice fat layer. This is sometimes difficult to determine, as briskets are sold with the fat layer facing down, and the pretty red muscle facing the consumer. But if it's a flat cut you should be fine. Use a 4 - 5 lb brisket here.

Sweet and Sour Baked Beans

You will need a really large saute pan for this dish. While the kale will reduce significantly before the dish goes in the oven, you are going to want room to work with, considering it's 8 cups of the greens and two cans of kidney beans.

That Facebook Thing...

I swear I keep wanting to put down my thoughts about the virtues of Facebook, but keep holding back because really, what else is there to add? It’s all been written, whether by Time Magazine or the Times of Mumbai.

Plus, we are reminded on a daily basis that only losers and pedophiles and the psychologically damaged actually have relationships that thrive in the eerie glow of a screen. So why would I want to extol the virtues of some website when I am not a member of the aforementioned group of outcasts? (A piece of website that has racked up a bazillion users, mind you, but that’s a business school article that I’d enjoy writing about as much as I’d enjoy waterboarding...)

I am a Diva after all, and a damn good mom, wife and cook yet I feel it is up to me to defend the reputation of the social and cultural paradox that is Facebook–after all, it’s neither a face nor a book…Talk amongst yourselves…