*** finding the entertainment in everyday life ***

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Burger Haikus

Found this awesome entry at Serious Eats, a food blog I like to read, on a Burger Haiku Contest. My favorite, although any vegetarians out there won't appreciate this one I'm sure, was

You once were a cow
Now you are a burger
Tasty little cow

I wish I was this creative! Since we had burgers just last night and today is National Hamburger Day (according to Serious Eats although maybe not? See below #4), I thought this was appropriate. Other Hamburger related items on my mind today...

1) I can't stand when people say Hamburg instead of ground meat or Hamburger (ie "I'd like a Hamburg pizza"). Just bugs me.

2) Can you even eat just a hamburger? If there is no cheese, there is no point.

3) Found this little nugget online: "The hamburger originated from Hamburg, Germany. People from there call themselves Hamburgers and people from Frankfurt, Germany call themselves Frankfurters." Love it.

4) Apparantly, almost every day is a "National Day" in the USA. Weird. What is the point to this again? According to this seemingly authoritative website, May is supposedly National Hamburger Month, but National Hamburger Day is July 28th. Does that make sense???? May is also home to the following food "months":

National Barbecue Month
National Chocolate Custard Month
National Egg Month
National Salad Month
National Salsa Month
National Strawberry Month

I have only had Eggs and Salad this month. Not much of a celebration on my part.

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Meal Planning wk of 5/26

Trying to cook out of the freezer over the next few weeks. It's crazy in there and I start to forget what's in there and for how long it's been waiting to be thrown into the rotation. No new recipes this week. Here's the plan...

Monday - Chicken Cutlets, Sauteed Zucchini, Linguine w/ Adobo & Parmesean (made the kids sausage w/ sweet potato fries and the linguine instead and the 1st of the season popsicles!)
Tuesday - Cheddar Burgers w/ Avocado, Sugar Snaps, leftover Linguine
Wednesday - Chicken Sausages, Grilled Asparagus, Couscous
Thursday - Salmon, Baby Bok Choy, Cousous

Still in the freezer and waiting to be rescued
1) 1/2 Lasagna
2) More ground meat (pork, chicken, turkey). Should probably make a batch of sauce for pizza and maybe some meatballs before it gets too hot out.
3) Shrimp
4) Unknown wrapped item stuffed way in the back. Scary.

Failed Baby Disco

We bought tickets a few months ago to Baby Loves Disco in Boston for this past weekend and I have been so excited to take the kids. Basically, it's day-clubbing for families. Once per month, one of the bars in downtown Boston opens for this event. There is a DJ providing music for dancing, snacks, bubble machines, tatoos/face painting, tents with books and toys, bar is open for parents(yeah!), etc. When I say both my kids like to dance, that is understating things significantly. They LOVE to sing and dance. Case in point below...Shelagh dancing like a nut and Rory holding on and doing a little tap number.


Unfortunately, Shelagh was a little "off" earlier in the day, but both kids napped early and I thought we'd be okay. Rory had a good time, but Shelagh got really hot with fever and eventually, after laying on me and completely shutting down, threw up in a bucket. I have to say, she warned me as it was coming and we made it all into the bucket perfectly! We got cleaned up in the bathroom and left and even in the car she warned me again and into the back I popped and caught the 2nd throw up in the bucket as well. It's days like this that I appreciate the mini-van. Throw-up maneuver space. Poor thing just lay on my lap and watched Cinderella after we got home while Joe brought Rory to a neighbors BBQ. We were able to trade in our tickets for the September event, so we'll try again. Most importantly, Shelagh is doing better and was able to squeeze in a couple of hours at the pool yesterday.

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Cleaning

I have a love-hate relationship with cleaning. I like it when I'm doing it and don't have distractions (which is not often). This is the Type A and extremely organized part of me. Simultaneously, I dread starting it and there are certain specific tasks that I hate, namely mopping floors and the bathtub. For a long time, I passed most of this off on a cleaning lady every 3-4 weeks, but now it's back to me. I've stuck pretty well to an every 2 weeks schedule and, thankfully, since the kids still nap I've managed to do it in 2 chunks on my weekday days off from work.

I feel like there is no good way to mop. Am I crazy or do you just move the dirt around the floor no matter what kind of mop you use? I'm only ever really happy with it when I get down on the floor and use a big sponge. Plus, in addition to having a WHITE vinyl kitchen floor (I don't know under what scenario this ever seemed like a good idea to the previous owners), my house is almost completely wood floors (dining room, living room, stairways/halls, and 3 bedrooms). We have an attic/3rd floor that has 2 rooms that I pretty much ignore unless we have guests coming - both of those rooms are wood floors also plus the additional staircase.

I cannot state how much I hate cleaning the tub. There is nothing more exhausting and irritating then having to get half-naked to get in there to really scrub the grime out. That is the ONLY thing keeping me on this 2-week schedule...hoping that the grime doesn't really build up to begin with. We do have a slow drip that we haven't fixed. Fixing it will require we pull out the whole mechanism and replace it (thereby also removing the disgusting vanity that is wedged in there and a chunk of the ugly tile while covers the entire room and would have to be replaced). Our 2nd bathroom shower is out of commission so we'd have no back-up and we really want to re-do the working bathroom in some way, so this project is shelved for the foreseeable future. Therefore, I have that annoying pink water stain buildup from the drip along with a REALLY annoying drip sound that is slowly driving me insane. Plus, my shower head needs to be replaced and is not currently the kind where the head can detach to rinse out the tub which would make things easier.

Finally, I really want to move over to homemade or environmentally safe cleaning products. I feel guilty just throwing out the toxic stuff I have so I'm trying to use it up first. I did try the olive oil trick on the wood tables yesterday but am still working out the right amount. It was fine on the dining room table, but I think I used too much and left our coffee table a bit greasy. Oh well. If the cats start licking the tables I guess I've gone too far.

The TV Downturn

It's been a pretty depressing, yet somewhat liberating TV month or two or three. My season passes on the DVR have really diminished. Right now everything we watch is on Thursdays plus Top Chef on Wednesday. With finales already passed or upcoming we're really wound down to almost nothing.

I should probably take this opportunity to
1) up my reading
2) have drinks with my husband on our newly refreshed front porch (thank you dear
husband for putting down the flooring in there - it's a whole new world out there - not to
quote Princess Jasmine or anything)
3) play more scrabble and cards with my husband
etc, etc, etc

Alas, I have not and maybe will try to do so. Back to the TV though... Let's discuss what has been happening on TV lately.

Top Chef: Anyone that knows me knows that I reject all that is reality. Or, at least I say that and for the most part follow it regularly with 1 exception. Thanks to my sister forcing Top Chef on me at our beach house last summer, I'm officially hooked and LOVE this show. I don't know why I'm surprised really...I love to cook, my parents are chefs, I live and breathe food all the time. Makes sense really. I'm pleased with the results thus far (although I haven't watched last nights episode yet) and am bucking for Stephanie to win. That said, I'm pretty sure Richard will win and that's okay too. I may actually go back and try to watch the first few seasons. Can you do that with reality shows????

The Office: Couldn't have been happier with the season. They have handled the Jim/Pam thing perfectly. It's there, but it's background to the rest of the ensemble cast. Brilliant. The finale was so good...love the Jan surprise, the Kevin side-bar was great, thrilled to see Amy Ryan join the cast as Toby's replacement (although I will miss the dull and mousy Toby), and Andy was awesome as usual. There is never enough Kelly Kapoor. If you are also a Kelly fan, please see Mindy's blog which is one of my favorites.

Lost: Liking the season so far and really excited for the finale next week! You have to feel sorry for the writers of this show before they knew when the series would end. But, now that they have a finite number of episodes, I think they are doing a nice job building out the answers to questions people have had for awhile, filling in blanks, and over all seemingly writing towards the main "answer". It just feels like they are bulking up instead of constantly adding more questions and avoiding answers which used to annoy the shit out of me.

Scrubs, ER, Greys Anatomy: My other Thursday night faves. Still liking Scrubs and ER which is pretty amazing since both shows have really been on for quite awhile. Greys is getting a little less exciting, but everyone needs a good nighttime soap to look forward to watching. I'm still in.

HBO: What's going on here? I didn't get into John Adams at all after the Wire finished. I never finished In Treatment and it's off On Demand now (dammit). Shouldn't something else be starting??? Where's Entourage? Flight of the Concords? Big Love? Curb? Something new please???? This is my go-to Sunday night channel and they are not delivering right now. Update: Just read that they are filming 3 of the above 4 as of April. I guess summer or later then on the air. Bummer.

Showtime: I'm really liking This American Life. It's only a 1/2 hour and I always liked it on NPR so great that it's on TV now. I would like to watch Season 2 of The Tudors, but I just finished Season 1 on DVR and I have to get caught up through On Demand. As with Greys Anatomy, Joe does not watch with me so it's hard to find time to squeeze in an hour-long show on my own. Not happening right now. I'm definitely looking forward to next season of Weeds and Dexter, but I bet those will be awhile.

FX: Did I just read that Rescue Me was delayed??? Bummer. It has gotten a little tiresome, but I still love Denis Leary and it's a perfect cross of heavy drama and fantastic comedy. Tough to do, so I'll be back regardless. The last season of the Shield should be coming out soon. Yeah. Although I do think they should have stuck with ending it last season or even the season before, I'll watch it again. Great show.

I should probably work now...

Monday, May 19, 2008

Shelaghs 4th Birthday Party

I swear Shelaghs birthday is a 2+ week celebration. We have a separate family party b/c Joe is 1 of 5, everyone has kids, and his 1st cousins + kids are always included as well bringing the "small family gathering" count to 33. Plus, Shelagh has 3 other cousins with birthdays all within a 2 month period so we traditionally have 1 party for the 4 girls.

It would be way too crazy to have friends included too, so we did her party for her friends at an indoor play gym. It's a small place that has a membership base along with doing outside parties. The parties are lead by 2 teachers, are completely interactive, and they do all the setup and cleanup. We just show up with the cake and the kid. The place is really clean and good for multiple ages which I think is great for the inevitable siblings that come along, including Rory.

Here is the little princess posing with her tulips from her recital with the outfit she selected for herself (I love the dress but the tights were a little crazy. I knew they would come off at the play gym though so I let that go and actually it was pretty cute with her new sneaks); eating her Tinkerbell cake; and baking with her new baking set and coordinating chef clothes she got from one of her friends yesterday.


Her actual birthday isn't until Wednesday so we still have cupcakes to send to school tomorrow and family dinner on Wednesday. The celebration that never ends...

Shelaghs 1st Dance Recital

Yes, I cried. Not only for my kid, but for all the other kids too. I choked up dropping Shelagh off beforehand. I blubbered and had a lump in my throat watching all the other numbers. I about lost my shit watching her on stage. She saw Joe waving at her when she first got out there and waved back right away. She kind of froze a few times, but she did some moves and made it off stage in one piece. At the end of the show, all the kids were on the stage with their trophies. When I went back stage to get her, she said "Mommy, whose tulips are those?". I think getting the flowers was her favorite part.

Here is Shelagh beforehand all dressed up in her costume. While applying makeup to my 4-year old was a bit disconcerting, I think she looked so beautiful in this picture. Don't worry...I won't be sneaking lip gloss and mascara onto her regularly. I thought I was pretty subtle with just a little brown eye shadow, a small amount of brown mascara (she has insanely long eyelashes too), a small bit of blush and lipstick (which looks darker in this pic than it did on her. Oh well).


And here she is giving her best "CHEEEEEEESE" while simultaneously annoyed that we insisted on taking a bunch of pictures:



I'm so proud of her!

Friday, May 16, 2008

Meal Planning wk of 5/16

Other than the brisket disaster, last weeks meals turned out pretty good. The Sesame Rice and Teriyaki chicken were so good and easy. The apricot stuffed pork tenderloin was great too...we've done that one before, but I forgot how good it was. The kids ate both with us (as long as Rory has sour cream to dip in he seems to be doing better. we'll deal with the heart attack food later...at least he's eating dinner!)

Below is what we'll be having this week...

Friday - Leftovers
Saturday - Shelaghs recital and a birthday party - take out probable
Sunday - Shelaghs 4th birthday party!
Monday - Tri-Tip Roast (Beef), Sliced/Roasted Sweet Potatoes, Broccoli
Tuesday - Patty Melts from Cooking Light - they look so good in the picture.
Wednesday - Shrimp & Snow Peas on Pasta or Basmati Rice for us and Annies Mac & Cheese with corn for the kids as it's Shelaghs 4th Birthday and that is her favorite dinner.
Thursday - Chicken Cutlets, Spinach, Pasta or Rice leftover from Wed

Family Day at the Arboretum

We went to the Arnold Arboretum this morning to stroll around and look at the flowers. The lilacs were in full bloom. You can see a good view of what they looked like on the main webpage. Yes, I forgot my camera. And, Shelagh was wearing purple and would have looked so cute surrounded by all the purple flowers. Oh well. It was a fun time until I spotted a snake. Ew. The kids, of course, thought it was cool and wanted to touch it. I, on the other hand, wanted to scream but kept myself together so they would continue not to be scared of them.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Shelagh is turning 4

I cannot believe Shelagh is turning 4 next week. I remember thinking 4 was so old when my nephew got there and thinking "Wow, (my sister) is the mom of a 4-year old!". Well, that's me now. Crazy.



Here she is with me and with Joe before her family birthday party (she has 2 cousins that also turned/will turn 4 a month before and after her - we do 1 big family party with her other cousin who is older). She let me give her "Magic Porridge Pot" hair which is my favorite on her. It's basically just 2 buns up high. There is an old Russian/German (Brothers Grimm) folktale (have seen it referenced both ways) we read to the kids and listen to in the car on CD called The Magic Porridge Pot in a beautiful book of stories called The Story Tree from Barefoot Books. If you haven't seen any of the Barefoot Books, go here and check out what they have for books, books w/ CDs included, CDs and puzzles. They are beautifully illustrated and make awesome gifts.

Monday, May 12, 2008

The Horror that was the Brisket from Top Chef

This is too bad to let pass by...I attempted the slow-cooked Brisket Richard made from Top Chef last week and it is a MISERABLE FAILURE! In hindsight, I should have known that the brisket that I got from the store was much smaller than the mammoth hunk of beef he used on the show and adjusted the cooking time accordingly. Alas, I did not and at 10 hours, the shoe that was my brisket came out of the oven and the "off", sort of burnt, sort of mustardy smell wafted throughout my house. Dry, bland, overcooked, no sauce, but it did shred nicely. I do have to say that the recipe is written terribly...you'd think they'd work a little harder at that seeing that this is a competition for CHEFS! I digress. I have to try this again...next time, in the slow cooker instead of the oven, more salt and spice to start with, browned on the grill instead of in a pan, a little fattier, and MUCH less time (say 7 hours on low?). My poor family will have to have this again next week as now I am determined to get a juicy, melt-in-your-mouth brisket. I know I can just go to my moms recipe, but I want to get this one right somehow!



It's a good thing I have a sense of humor...look at what happened to my roasting pan from the brown sugar???

Mothers Day Picnic at the Beach

I had a wonderful Mothers Day yesterday. Joe got up with the kids to make pancakes while I slept in (glory!). Then, I woke up to my homemade cards from the kids (from Shelagh "Mommy, I worked very hard on it for you so you'd like it"), a beautiful letter from my husband, and a surprise picnic! After breakfast we head up to Salisbury Beach and Park on the border of MA and NH. It was a beautiful, sunny morning with slightly crispy air. We hit the playground first and played for awhile on the great climbing structures.


Then we hit the beach with our blankets and picnic basket. It was kind of windy, but strong sun and snuggly kids made it okay. There were people riding horses and flying kites and my brave children and husband hiked up their pants and splashed around in the water a bit. They were so happy to be at the beach and despite some detailed explaining about how it wasn't warm enough to swim yet but that we could still play and have fun at the beach, they were perfectly okay with just dipping feet and throwing a ball around.
From Rory..."Mommy, I just want to lay down and not talk. I lookin at the ocean. Will you lay with me?". What a perfect Mothers Day heart-melter!

Nothing like fresh ocean air to wipe out a toddler...


We finished the day off at Annas Taqueria and then JP Licks for ice cream cones with rainbow sprinkles. Perfect. I couldn't have had a better day. I am so lucky to have such a wonderful family - everyone is healthy and happy and being together outside in the beautiful weather with the breathtaking scenery just filled my heart today. Thank you, my most thoughtful husband :)

Friday, May 9, 2008

Meal Planning wk of 5/12

Long grocery store trip today which started off with a HUGE Rory tantrum. They are few and far between, but when they hit they are really ridiculous and loud and crazy. This one was triggered by the type of car shopping cart that Shelagh selected. Apparantly it wasn't up to snuff. I strapped him in after trying to console him and he just wailed, started to sweat and turned bright red. Two old ladies came up and tried to find out if he was okay separately. I must have looked like a totally careless mom as I just ignored him and continued to shop. Even though his tantrums are pretty outlandish, he only lasts about 5 minutes and then just stops on his own so I usually just let him get it out and wrap it up on his own. Finally, he agreed to have a cheese from the deli which seemed to calm him down. Then, he leaned over onto Shelagh and said "Let's dream about the water park". She put her arm around him and said "Okay, buddy". It was pretty cute and a relief that the tantrum was over.

Here's the plan for the next week...I'll try to take some pictures this week.
Friday - Rotisserie Chicken, linguini w/ oil & adobo, frozen broccoli (feeling lazy today and a little sore from a workout, plus cleaning for tomorrows party and just don't feel like doing much).
Saturday - Shelaghs family bday party so we're having bringing food in
Sunday - Happy Mothers Day - no clue but not cooking !
Monday - Brisket, egg noodles, broccoli - I'm going to try the brisket that Richard made from Top Chef this week. I think I'm going to have to get up super early to start it and then just leave it all day. I'm dying for it though! It looked so good.
Tuesday - leftovers
Wednesday - Teriyaki Chicken w/ Roasted Scallions and Sesame Lime Rice from Everyday Food this month. Kids: Chicken w/ peas on the side instead of scallions.
Thursday - Apricot stuffed Pork tenderloin with potatoes and Brussel sprouts from Everyday Food in November of 2007.

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Playground Morning

Kids are napping and I just can't put off the weeding any longer...Great morning at the playground. Here are a few pics.

The only shots I got of the kids together...It's tough to get Rory to slow down at the playground enough to get a brother-sister photo.

Some of Rory swinging, relaxing on the play structure looking out at the cars and trucks driving by with his nose running the entire time:


Some of Shelagh going down the pole by herself for the 1st time, picking flowers, and generally just posing for me so kindly:

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

the Dance Recital Dress Rehearsal

Shelagh has her 1st dance recital coming up in a couple of weeks. The dress rehearsal was last night and I have to say that I am so excited! Despite some rushing to get there early on a work night and have her dressed, hair done, and ready (with Rory falling all over the place and being as much of a pain as possible) we made it with time to spare and got to sit with her friends from class and watch some of the other classes go ahead of her. The vision of the 3 girls standing amongst the chairs in their costumes mimicking each other, bouncing around to the music playing, and staring up at the stage was priceless.

Shelagh is in 1 of the 3 recitals her dance school puts on and there are 35 numbers for her recital, which is supposed to be the shortest one (seriously). We walked her over to the backstage area when her class was called and then sat down in the auditorium to watch. I fully expected her, or at least a few of the girls in her class, to freeze when they got onto the stage and looked out at all the seats and people. Didn't happen. She is obviously only just shy of 4 and I wasn't expecting a perfect little dance or anything. But they did a pretty great job I thought! They got the general moves down and kept things moving.

I was so overwhelmed with emotion at that moment watching Shelagh having a good time, smiling, and shaking herself all around up there and tapping away. She didn't seem scared or hesitant. She did her dance just like she does every Saturday at class. It made me think about how much I loved my dance classes and how exciting it was performing in the recital. I can't believe my little girl is turning 4 this month. I swear I love her more and more every day.

Friday, May 2, 2008

Meal Planning wk of 5/2

Here's the plan for the next week...

Friday - Pasta w/ Wild Mushrooms (let's hope the mushrooms have made it! didn't end up making this last week) & Salad; Kids - Chicken or Turkey cutlets, snow peas maybe, some of our pasta. Family movie night!
Saturday - out at Family party
Sunday - out for MILs Bday and M Day early (it's terrible going to a restaurant on a holiday)
Monday - Shelagh has recital practice fever starting Monday...during dinner time of course so we'll probably stop for pizza or something on the way home.
Tuesday - Pork Chops w/ Cherry Sauce (from Real Simple), broccolini, jasmine rice maybe? Cherry season is coming up soon and I was in the mood for something with cherries when I found this recipe!
Wednesday - Beef Tenderloin w/ Shiitake Mushroom Sauce (from Cooking Light); mashed potatoes, ? veg
Thursday - Gnocchi w/ Sausage, Red Peppers & Fennel (from Cooking Light); Kids - Mac & Cheese night

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Little Sick Man Playin' w Cars

Poor little Rory is sick again. Nothing too bad...sporadic fever and mild strep. He came into bed with us last night and was kind of weak and lethargic this morning. He's so snuggly when he doesn't feel well (is it bad that i love that? not the sick part, the snuggly part). He's bounced back pretty well today...here he is giving all his Cars cars a stroll around the kitchen..."Bye guys, I goin' to nap now".