Brief check-in

This week has flown by! I've attempted to cram in a lot of extra work and prep before leaving tomorrow for a four day weekend in Charlotte with my best friend. I'm so excited to help her plan her wedding, but I'm definitely stressed about leaving the boys, particularly Owen, who is still nursing. I pray we both do OK and that we don't prematurely end what has been a very good arrangement.

Today's 1%: I made coffee this morning that tasted as good as Roy's first daily pot. He left before I got a cup, so I measured extra-carefully (I learned only recently that I had been overzealous with my bean-water ratio). It was mellow and warm and did exactly what it was supposed to do caffeine-wise. I think I'm ready for another cup...

Dear...

Dear male employee at Barnes and Noble,

Please don’t publicly reprimand me for riding your store’s escalator with my two small boys. I have a teeny tiny stroller that fits easily and I promise I won’t sue your store if something should go wrong. We COME to your store so we can ride the escalator, and when you yell at us my three year old feels shamed and his morning is spoiled. Also, people in the south can get away with calling somebody ma’am, but up here, especially when you bark it, it sounds rude.

Dear professional women in Starbucks,

I’m sorry I am wider than a normal human being when I am hand-holding a three year old and hip-hoisting an eleven month old. Please bear with me as I attempt to juggle them, two snacks, a handbag, and a small, hot coffee to the nearest available table. I clearly see that I am inconveniencing you and your journeys onward to important professional womanly things, but my boys are behaving beautifully and I will be out of your way as quickly as I can. And don’t look down at me like I’m a lesser human being. Just because I’m wearing jeans doesn’t mean I don’t have a masters degree and work hard at a great job on TOP of being a stay-at-home mom.

Dear professional man in Starbucks parking lot,

Please don’t honk and glare at me for nearly hitting your car. Au contraire—you almost hit ME as you came flying down the other side of the lot. I didn’t have a stop or yield sign and the intersection was closer to my vehicle. I noticed how you didn’t stop before pulling out into the crazy traffic and I hope you had a genuine emergency to be making such poor choices.

Dear to-do list,

                Why must you stare up at me, begging me to pay you attention? There are few things I’d rather do, but babies are tumbling all over and crawling up my legs and preschoolers are demanding books read and snacks and my 100% attention at all times. How DOES one get laundry downstairs when you have a baby gate to maneuver through that’s being blocked by said baby? How DOES one plan any kind of church service when said baby thinks the computer power cord is a Twizzler and the keypad is a drum set? How DOES one plan supper when you want something light and vegetarian, your three year old wants a sandwich, your baby wants canned green beans, and your husband probably expects a big meal after being gone all day?

Dear husband,

                It’s been too nice of a fall apparently, because now that you have been gone for two whole workdays in a row my rhythm and world is completely thrown off. Come hoooommmmmme. I need helllllllllp! This whole providing for your family thing…totally overrated. ;)

As a wise woman once said, “the days are long and the years are short.”

Today’s 1%: I’ve read Berenstain Bears' Too Much Junk Food at least five times to James this morning. He asked for “nourishing, crunchy carrot sticks” with his sandwich for lunch.

Life at the car wash

"I took James down to the car wash at the bottom of the hill today. He sat for a long time watching the cars go inside. I think he really liked it!" said Roy one afternoon in the fall of 2013.

Soon we sat at the exit of the wash, to see the clean cars exit. We can do this for an hour at a time, multiple times a day. Mommy and Daddy get a lot of reading done.

Ultimately we just made ourselves at home and propped up against the windows to see the interior in action. You can clearly gauge the complete captivation as George is strewn haphazardly in the middle of the alley.

As the months passed we journeyed to the car wash countless times. Visitors and special guests joined when permitted.

Then one day Mommy and Daddy said we were moving away from the car wash to a new house. They said we needed more space. Daddy took me to the car wash the night before we moved. I was so sad. There were so many changes.

But guess what? The car wash isn't TOO far away from our new house, and sometimes we can come and visit. Daddy brought me and Owen this week and I got to show him around. It was a lot of fun, so I 'm not sure why Mommy cried when she saw this picture.

Today's 1%: I have kept up with the kitchen for 28 hours.

Date Night In: Fall Comfort

The downside of having your eleven month old nap for only 30 minutes all day is probably pretty obvious. But the big upside of yesterday’s nap strike was an early, happy, easy bedtime. Unlike September’s DNI, the boys were both in bed by 7:45, with no danger of interrupting us for many hours. We eased downstairs, high fived, and I headed toward the kitchen. There were a mountain of dishes from earlier in the day and I meant to wash many of them before we sat down to eat. Roy looked at them and said, “It’s a good thing I’ll be home tomorrow morning to wash all of these.” I decided to just pop the casserole in the oven.

You may remember from my previous post our menu:

Spiced Cider Toddy

Brussels Sprouts Slaw with Grapes and Feta

White Bean and Pumpkin Gratin with Crispy Shallot Crumbs

Grandma’s Apple Cake with Maple Cream

You may also remember that we had already consumed half the apple cake with Martha. The cake was OK. I didn’t not like it, but I’ve had some incredible apple pie the past two weeks and this just didn’t keep up. I was also mad at it for breaking into three pieces when I tried to take it out of the pan. With this in mind, I asked Roy if we could save the toddy for after dinner, since it would be hot and sweet and perhaps give us a better, lingering ending. He agreed.

I had prepped the slaw and gratin in the afternoon, so all I had to do was finish baking the gratin and toss the dressing with the slaw. We were eating, on the couch with warm blankets, (this is Fall Comfort after all), by 8PM. My kind of date night…

The salad was good! The bitter Brussels sprouts were tempered with sweet, cool grapes and creamy, salty sheep’s milk feta. I’m not a huge fan of normal feta, but this was much smoother and richer. Thumbs up. Ashley recommended concord grapes, but we already had normal green in the house. Visually, it could have used the pop of a darker grape, but the flavors were complex and altogether pleasant.

How did I not like Brussels sprouts as a child?

The gratin tasted like Thanksgiving. It seriously tasted like green bean casserole, but better, and without green beans.

We don't have any more green beans anyway, because this kid eats them, literally, by the can. Don't worry folks, I buy sodium-free!

We used butternut squash instead of pumpkin and I wrestled with an unroasted squash to get the small chunks called for. In the future I think I could get away with gently roasting it FIRST to make the cubing easier. I liked how it remained pretty chunky in the gratin though, so I would be careful not to over-roast. The panko crumbs on top and GRUYERE CHEESE made the dish though—we fought hard to not go back and consume the other half.

This is the gratin.

This is our dessert from last month's DNI. I can see how you'd be confused.

It was a smaller dinner than the first Date Night In, and that was OK. I dished up some more apple cake and cream before warming the cider toddy.

Stupid apple cake. Look at those little rivers of cream soaking through though. Hellllllloooo!

The toddy was the best part for me. The spices and the local cider were excellent, and the whiskey (yup…) paired so well with the fresh ginger. They stayed hot for a long time and we sipped and chatted and enjoyed the luxury of all the warmth soaking through us.

One for you and one for me. Do you taste all the whi-skey?

It wasn’t one of those starry-eyed date nights. It was a comfortable evening, when we had filling, familiar-tasting food to enjoy together and chat about anything and everything. That’s my favorite kind of date night actually, and I think we usually do it quite well.

I don’t remember exactly how I asked or what I said, but basically it was, “How do you do it”
And I meant, “By what miracle or magic powers do you maintain a growing relationship for so long, still have things to talk about, and still like and desire and want to be around each other?”

“Commitment,” he quickly replied. “It’s what gets you through the bumps.”…There is comfort in our commitment but not complacency. It’s not “I’m stuck with him”; it’s “How can we love each other better because you’re my person and I’m yours?” The commitment keeps us bound together in the times when we are tempted to quit. Because of commitment we are able to come out on the other side to experience how incredible it is when you are completely known and still loved.”

-Ashley Rodriguez, Date Night In, p. 199

So, two down, twenty three to go (that's date nights in, not number of children). And, for those of you attending Canadian Thanksgiving next week, you may end up trying one of these recipes…

Today’s 1%: I set up the baby gate in the kitchen, blocking me from the little boys after breakfast. This enabled me to clean up quickly and efficiently, and prevented Owen from tipping over the kitchen trash, opening the door to the basement and falling down the stairs, eating the crumbs under the cabinets, and/or climbing into the dishwasher. (They were both standing at the gate whining at me the whole time though.)

October Date Night In: Preparations

Date Night In! Date Night In! Time for the second Date Night In!

<repeat chant marching around kitchen, keeping time with large spoon for added emphasis>

Roy and I have chosen “Fall Comfort” for our first autumn DNI. It looks relatively simple, but is full of our favorite fall flavors. We chose this date night two weeks ago and, I must admit, we’ve enjoyed a lot of those flavors in other forms quite a bit already, but I think we can handle a little more.

The menu, which we will enjoy tomorrow evening:

Spiced Cider Toddy

Brussels Sprouts Slaw with Grapes and Feta

White Bean and Pumpkin Gratin with Crispy Shallot Crumbs

Grandma’s Apple Cake with Maple Cream

There wasn’t anything particularly gripping about any of these dishes, but as a whole they sounded aromatic and warm and comforting. So today I sat down and made a list of the ingredients we’d need especially for this DNI. Here’s my grocery list, which does include a few extra staples:

4 oz Brussels sprouts

1 leek

1 lemon

2 Granny Smith apples

2 oz sheep’s milk feta

2 oz Gruyere

Panko

Champagne vinegar

Whole cloves

…

Potatoes

Eggs

Canned green beans

Buttermilk

Bananas

I packed the boys up and we headed to Wegmans. Once arrived I fished around, multiple times, in my purse to locate the post-it pad that had my list. Nothing. I scoured my pockets. Nothing.

Siiiiiiiiiiigh. Do I drive back and get the list and drive back? Should I just go for it? But there’s a 99% chance I won’t remember everything…

Ultimately I went for it. I sat down and recreated the list as best as I could, thinking through each dish of the menu as I went. We headed in and I found everything I could remember, except for leeks, which I’m pretty sure just weren’t there. I saw a labeled area that was devoid of leeks. I opted for scallions instead. We did the obligatories, including the free cookie, watching a few laps of the overhead train, oohing and aahing over a giant inflatable spider, and deflecting requests for a helium balloon. (“It’s the United STATES Mommy!!!”)

We got home and, I’ll admit, I headed immediately to the kitchen table to find my list. It wasn’t there. WHERE WAS THAT FLINGING FLANGING LIST?!? I looked more carefully and saw the pad of post-its on the table, which meant I had peeled the list off. With dread, I slowly inserted my hand into my pocket once more. Sure enough, nestled into a tiny corner was a tiny folded post-it note. That bugger had experienced the sights and sounds of Wegmans just as much as any of the rest of us. I unfolded it and scanned the list…

Sheep’s milk feta, apples, vinegar, lemon, … … NO. WAY. I remembered EVERYTHING!!!!

<Insert major fist pump and exclaiming of one’s accomplishment. James was unimpressed, which is ironic, as he is 50% of why it was so impressive The other 50% was already heading toward the staircase to test the baby gate.>

So we have everything. I made the apple cake already, with special permission from Roy. We are hosting Martha for dinner and I didn’t want to make two consecutive fall-ish desserts (Well, I did, but my waistline didn’t.). The cake tastes great. Want to know how I know that already? Because I let it cool for 10 minutes, PER INSTRUCTIONS, and then flipped it out of the pan onto a rack, PER INSTRUCTIONS. And it broke into three crumbly chunks. Roy immediately shouted, “Lemme get my camera for Date Night In!” And I shushed him, but I’ll probably take a picture anyway, because this isn’t about being perfect.

<repeat chant marching around kitchen, keeping time with large spoon for added emphasis>

Sigh.

I also made spiced cider for the toddy. Thank you Lucas and Melissa for leaving wonderful local cider with us yesterday—you saved me another item on my list for purchase today. The spiced cider, so far, hasn’t experienced any catastrophe, but we won’t drink it until tomorrow.

Today’s 1%: I think this whole entry was about that. I REMEMBERED. Here’s to being 30, having two boys, and still occasionally being semi-sharp.

Brief hello

Today’s 1%:

The downstairs of my house is clean on a Saturday night. This NEVER HAPPENS. Since I work on Saturday evenings and first thing Sunday mornings, usually I get home at 7PM on Saturday, get the boys to bed, grab something simple to eat, and collapse. Tonight I took a little time while Roy was out picking up date night pizza to straighten and finish the dishes. I think I’ll sleep better tonight because of it.

Except that Owen has been crying on the hour every hour…

A review

I've fallen out of like with TV, which I largely consider an excellent thing. I watched The Good Wife through a certain pivotal moment in season 5 but then found a lot of the juicy tension had evaporated. I keep saying I'm saving the past season for nights when Roy is at concerts, but that hasn't really happened. I dunno if it's going to.

We gave up Netflix a year ago to try Amazon Prime. It's more than paid for itself in shipping and handling, and we've had some new and different shows and movies to watch. But we haven't really used that part of Prime very much. I find the selection lacking, to be honest. I miss Netflix. 

So when I was poking around the reality TV section of Prime and stumbled across The Great British Baking Show I was pretty skeptical. But...Great British and Baking are powerful persuasives, so after a long hunt presenting nothing more alluring, I watched the first episode.

It's a scream.

I've enjoyed MasterChef marathons with Kylie in the past, but sometimes the dramatic music and obviously-scripted dialogue gets annoying. (That being said, the apple pie episode with Christine still makes me cry just thinking about it...) TGBBS is all of the good stuff of MasterChef--the amazing challenges, cooking tips, judging, and beautiful results--without the overdramatized sound effects and cattiness of the contestants. Maybe Brits are just nicer people--or maybe their accents cover up a lot of the classlessness? Anyway, I'm loving it. Roy even peeks now and then and said "this show is a riot." That's about as golden of a recommendation as you'll ever get from him.

So watch. "Awwwwww" over the sweet little old lady judge. Tolerate the two comedienne hosts, who are obnoxious, but only have brief screen time. (The way the one yells "ready, setBAKE!!!!" sounds exactly like a chicken.) Drool over the pies, sponges, breads, and candies. Savor the fact that it's all done in a tent outside on a beautiful piece of British countryside. And everybody is using THESE!

Today's 1%: I let Roy drag me outside in the 48 degree weather to run a few miles. I didn't want to at ALL, but I'm semi-determined (hah, that's a semi-oxymoron) to keep the endorphins flowing. I never would have made it out there on my own, but his insistence, plus the purchase of a double stroller this summer gets my butt out there on days when I'd rather eat bread and sip a chai latte under a warm blanket. Sigh. It's going to be a long winter.