Sigh…
Not just for furniture
…and, no, I don’t mean the tasty little hamburgers. Those would be much preferred…with a side of sweet fries…but I digress.
So, this week, I ramped up this whole working out “thing”. Two 1:1 sessions plus a total body fitness class today. Methinks that I will not be too mobile tomorrow.
Anyhow, back to sliders. Yes, furniture sliders. They have a whole new use in the gym.
Get into a push-up position, slide (no pun intended) your feet under them, and, boom! you’ve got instant mountain climbers. Lie on your tummy, place some weights on them, and now you’re doing some weighted butterfly swim stroke.
Most of the fixin's...
Yeah. You KNOW exactly what I’m talking about! Those (toaster-oven) broiled hors d’oeuvres that mom made when you were young!
I had always thought this was one of my mom’s recipes that handed from friend-to-friend, until I saw a similar recipe published in my hors d’oeuvres book. (Side note: I am so glad that I have some knowledge of the French language, because spelling hors d’oeuvres now is so much easier!) They actually published another cheesy canape she made right alongside it – which she actually got from one of the SF Junior League cookbooks.
Anyhow, the holiday season came and went without these cheesy canapes. So, I took it upon myself, after an especially tough week at work, to make some last Friday.
My mom’s recipe differs slightly – she adds curry powder to the mix – which makes it all that much better. With this batch I forewent the Best Foods and substituted it with a vegenaise of some sort and it turned out just as I remembered.
These were fully enjoyed (maybe enjoyed a little too much) with a glass (or two) of Coppola Diamond Merlot.
Yum!
All ready for pancakes!
Oh man, two posts in one week – somebody better stop me before I actually maintain this blog!
Years ago, I was a bit perturbed that my Cooking with Julia blog idea was taken. Two years, too late.
Oh well. In no way am I trying to do that now with GP’s cookbook. But, I am trying to put more effort into cooking, baking and blogging more. I enjoy it so why deny myself something I enjoy? Plus, I have plenty of cookbooks to choose from and blog about.
Anyhow, this pancake recipe is named, “Bruce Paltrow’s World Famous Pancakes”. You’re pretty sure of yourself or those must be some bad-ass pancakes!
These are some bad-ass pancakes!
I’ll admit to using Bisquick and other mixes in the past – they were quick, they were easy – but so is this recipe. I’ve made them a few times already. They’re based on the basic pancake recipe in the Joy of Cooking, but with the late Mr. Paltrow’s twist.
Let me tell ya, they’re pretty damn good pancakes. My kids inhale them – I think this morning they had three pancakes, EACH. Even The Husband had a couple, even though he had a protein shake this morning.
I won’t share the recipe here but it’s in GP’s cookbook and I also saw it in an older issue of Self Magazine.
Minutes away from pancake goodness
Note: if you do make these for a small family, half the recipe, you’ll have more than enough for everyone.
This is my laptop wallpaper- a lavender field in Provence. I’ve been spending a lot of time with my laptop so far this year – and it’s only the first week of January – and the most of the last couple months of 2011. Without going into detail – work has been adequately kicking my ass and then some.
I was hoping to relax over the holiday break – but alas, Ringo brought home the stomach flu for Christmas and it slowly knocked us out, one by one. Did I tell you we also had family arriving that night? So much for an uneventful evening of gingerbread house decorating.
We all recovered just in time for Christmas and I was on a cooking & baking frenzy Christmas Eve. That evening, we had my family’s Christmas gathering, or as I remember it, when gifts threw up on my kids. Seriously. Watching them open present after present after present, I was just mortified. Where the heck are we going put all this stuff?! Ringo just had a birthday, too. Thomas the Train and Cars had literally taken over our house. Along with Barbie, Ken, horses, and Disney princesses. I was hoping for more 529 contributions, alas, there were none. Memo to family: acceptable future gifts will only be 529 contributions.
So the New Year is here and, writing out loud, here are some of my proposed goals for 2012:
1. Take better care of myself – physically, mentally, emotionally
2. Be the best wife, mother, daughter, sister, cousin, friend I can be – not too difficult, I am pretty rad already….JOKE!
3. Actually weigh the weight that’s on my driver’s license – this keeps rolling over from year to year and has morphed from wedding day weight – which would require me to really just starve myself – to driver’s license weight
4. Uh, finish the mud run this year sans injury
5. Rethink the job situation – what this would include, I don’t know just yet. Door-to-door, I work 38 miles from home. 38! In the event of a zombie apocalypse or other disaster, I am the only one in the family down in Silly Valley. 38 miles is a long way to evade zombies and, sadly, I don’t keep a cross bow under my desk.
6. Take more photos with a real camera – not a smart phone camera. This will be challenging as I am slightly addicted to Instagram. See photo above.
7. Blog more? Well, we saw how well that went last time.
While other kids are enjoying U Toob videos of cute animals dressed up and doing whatever…mine are clearly into dance and club music-holy holiday remixes:
It was a featured video on the Boxee dashboard a few months ago and…now, I can’t listen to LMFAO without singing, “Rosh Hashanah’s in the house tonight…”
Thanks to a largely-misread e-mail and an available babysitter/grandma, The Husband + I had a last minute date night in Jordan’s Kitchen. Yay!
On the menu that night was:
*Roasted Three Beet Salad with Orange Vinaigrette
*Arancini with San Marzano Tomato Sauce
*Slow Roasted Pork with Creamy Polenta & Cherry Tomatoes
*Fig & Hazelnut Biscotti
Armed with our bottle of Cab, The Husband and I were ready to cook!
After a brief introduction and review of the dinner menu, we prepared our beet “packages” and pork shoulder for roasting and jumped right into knife skills – how to properly cut an onion. We didn’t need very much or any onion at all that night, but it’s always good to practice your knife skills with an expert nearby.
Someone didn't pay attention
Once the pig and beets were roasting away, we got started on dessert. When possible, always prepare dessert first – who wants to be cooking/baking away after all that cooking? We chopped roasted hazelnuts and dried figs and after three failed attempts, fished eggshells out of the biscotti batter. D’oh!
Working in shifts, we started the orange juice reduction for the orange vinaigrette, emulsifying the San Marzano tomato sauce, and whisked the polenta like no tomorrow.
After roasting for about an hour, the beets were peeled and cut and bathed in the orange vinaigrette. There was more knife skill practice on how to properly segment an orange while the greens were prepped. We are ready to plate and eat!
So deelish!
The class moved pretty quickly at this point. Using prepared risotto, we formed, rolled and breaded the arancini, got the oil ready for frying, and finished up the tomato sauce. While working in groups, we fried the arancini, drained it on paper towels, and plated our next dish. The tomato sauce was amazing – I could have eaten that alone!
The pork was removed from the oven as was the biscotti.
Smelling good and fall apart tender, the pork was shredded, while the biscotti were sliced.
This was my fourth class with Jordan, The Husband’s second. For some reason I keep coming back…the classes are small and extremely hands on – Jordan does very little cooking – the company is good, the instructor even better, and the food is always amazing.
Buon appetito!
I know. I even have abandoned posts. A couple from two years ago, too.
Okay, so this post is a cheat. More to come, I promise. Non-cheat posts, that is. 
**
Here’s my most “recent” post, titled “Grasping”
As spotted on a (most-likely Toyota) mini-van
The other day, I was packing up my gym bag, mindlessly throwing in clothes, until I had to search for a top to wear. I own maybe four “performance” tops, but it was a tee shirt day. (Tee shirt sweat stains are like a badge of honor for me – visible proof that I indeed, worked my ass off.) I grabbed my lavender Hello Kitty and as I was packing it into my bag, I had to wonder – am I getting too old for Hello Kitty tee shirts? Should this best be left to Peanut to sport this particular feline? I mean, I am well into my 30s, how much longer can I wear this tee shirt and not look ridiculous?
So, yes, I have been grasping on to my youth to counteract all the not-quite-coolness that comes with being a parent.
The Husband and I are now those people with a bike trailer (not for the cars, but the one that attaches to the bike to cart the kidlets).
(If you feel you’ve lost your cool-factor, you can purchase this sticker here.)
It was probably enough to end there, huh?
**
The next abandoned post was written two years ago – Peanut was about 3 years old when this happened. This is titled, “As Relayed to Me”
A bit late posting this, but lately Peanut is getting a lot better about talking on the phone. Yes. Talking on the phone.
She also wears pink nail polish on her toes.
She’s become such the little girl – sigh.
On Labor Day, The Husband & Peanut took Lucie for a quick run at Glen Canyon. (I was at home prepping food for the potluck pool party we were headed to later…)
[To preface, Peanut left the house wearing her necklaces (mardi gras beads) and carrying her little pink purse (old cell phone and other accoutrements were inside)].
I imagine, in a rush to get Peanut to leave Glen Canyon, The Husband told her that they needed to leave because Mommy & Grandma were going to leave for the swimming pool without her. Mads then pulled out her “cell phone”, made The Husband carry the little pink purse (while holding Lucie on leash) and proceeded to “call” Mommy and Grandma.
Mads: Hi Mommy…mmm…yes. Wait for me for the swimming pool…Hi Grandma…yes…okay…wait for me…okay…bye.
She did this in front of everyone at the park – imagine a 3yo, talking on her “cell”, while her “butler” follows behind, holding the dog and the precious little pink purse. A riot!
**
This last one was a book “review” when I was using Goodreads like a madwoman.
The World Treasury of Children’s Literature : Book 1 by Clifton Fadiman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Apparently, my mom had bought volumes 1 & 2 for me when I was younger. When word got out that we were expecting all my children’s books were all of a sudden at our house. I quickly shelved this one, not bothering to look through it. Mistake. I could have saved money knowing that a lot of children’s classics (or at least my faves growing up) have been reprinted in this handy collection: Curious George, Babar, Make Way for Ducklings, The Little House, A Kiss for Little Bear, even Goodnight Moon!
The weekends seem to get busier and busier these days. As if the work week isn’t hectic enough.
De Young
We kicked off last weekend with Peanut’s first exhibit at the DeYoung museum. Yes, that DeYoung museum. How’s that for a resume entry: 1st art exhibit on display at the DeYoung museum at the age of 4.
Peanut's Artwork on Display
But really, Peanut’s class art project was chosen among numerous city-wide entries to be on display for the Young @ Art exhibit – “a citywide celebration of student creativity”.
So Friday after school, the family headed to the DeYoung as they were going to have a ceremony of sorts with music, dance performances, and so on.
We met up with Peanut’s classmates and teacher at the museum, took pictures, looked at the other exhibits and before you knew it was almost 7p – way past dinner time for my kidlets.
What the event organizers don’t know is that 7p is the witching hour for preschoolers and their younger siblings. Did they really think that we’d have time to grab dinner before the 5.30p event? Did the hoighty-toighty people at the museum really think that a bunch of 4-5 year olds were going to sit still when there was just so much going on?
The Complete Installation
“Couples”/Zeppelin
Okay, so I’m extending the three word weekend to four this time…
As you may know from my spammish RunKeeper posts on Facebook, I’ve been working out a lot. A lot a lot. I’d been hoping that I could lead by example and get The Husband moving. A little, but not a lot.
So, two weeks ago, I managed to convince The Husband to join me for a training session with my trainer, CG. I had a slight advantage because I had been training with CG for 12 weeks, if not more, but The Husband managed to survive the session. He came out a bit sore, even with all the stretching.
After some discussion, we decided to move ahead with our “couples” training and kicked off our sessions last weekend.
Though we are working out together, I have a couple of modifications to my exercises. Where The Husband would just be doing back lunges with a reach, I’d be doing back lunges with a reach while holding the 8lb dumbbell. The Husband would be doing quick steps on the bosu and I’d be doing the quick steps on the bosu while holding up the 10lb medicine ball. Then we started some exercises on the TRX.
My trainer, by the way, is a walking Wikipedia of fitness – which is a good thing because the workouts are never the same and it keeps things fresh.
So how do The Husband and I celebrate me finishing up 12 weeks of personal training and kicking off sessions together? A dinner at the House of Prime Rib, of course!
With the kids at Grandma’s, The Husband and I were able to enjoy a nice evening out. Now, for me, the HOPR is a special occasion type place, so I was a bit disappointed that people were not as dressed up as I thought they would be. It’s been 10+ years since I was last there, but still.
The goodness that was the HOPR salad, the baked potato overloaded with fixin’s, the creamed spinach, Yorkshire pudding, and of course the beef from the zeppelin of meat itself was worth the wait. Unfortunately, portion control did not cross my mind as I ate dinner. I’d like to say that I need the calories, but I pretty much ate everything. I passed on dessert, if that counts for anything.
Bring it! The King Henry cut
The overloaded spud
Boss
Finally, it’s Sunday and we are taking the kidlets to their first ever SF Giants game! Ringo is wearing his Lincecum tee shirt and Peanut, well, Peanut is dressed in pink and we’re all excited!
We make our way to the ballpark, looking at all the boats in the bay. Peanut is quick to point out that people are having parties on the boats and that when she’s older she wants to have a party like that on a boat. As I look at the drunk women on the boat, dancing, I tell her, “Um, yeahrightno.”
Even with bleacher seats, near the coke bottle slide and “kids” area, kettle corn, pizza, and fries – they weren’t having any of it. Sudden outbursts of cheers from the crowd startled Ringo a few times and Peanut only wanted to go on the slide. (She ended up not going down at all because she didn’t want to go by herself, so she and The Husband waited in line for nothing.)
We did get to enjoy a few innings and scored runs by the Giants – thanks to Cody Ross (Ross is Boss!). But, we left after the 6th inning, which is unfortunate, since it turned out to be a great game that the Giants won and I guess they opened the field up to the kids so that they could run the bases once the game was over. Oh well.
Lessons learned: baseball games are for mommy and daddy…for now. Also, beer always, always tastes better at the ballpark.
Enjoying the game - sort of
6.30a – Alarm goes off. Like most mornings, I push snooze, once, twice…
7.00a – Crap! Finally drag my lazy ass outta bed, rush into the shower, and get dressed before the kidlets realize I’m awake.
7.30-7.50a – Prep lunch bags for myself & Peanut. Get Ringo outta bed and dressed. Yes, this really can take 20 minutes. He does not like diaper changes and fidgets like you wouldn’t believe. At the same time, I am haggling with Peanut on what she can and cannot wear to school. Oh, and I make sure her hair is brushed before I leave.
7.55a – Ringo & I kiss everyone good-bye for the day. I put Ringo in the car and then pack the car. Reminder that I am a pack mule when I leave the house/get to work: laptop bag, gym bag, and purse. (I’ve started to stuff my lunch bag into my laptop bag, just so that it’s one less bag to carry.)
8.00a – Drop Ringo off at day care.
8.10a – Make a detour to drop off dry cleaning and against better judgment (read: long ass line), grab brekkies at Starbucks.
8.25a – In the car, en route to work.
9.30a – Arrive at work, feeling pumped up for the week after listening to Nikka Costa’s Everybody Got Their Something. Work, work, work.
11.30a – Head out for a pathetic run in the gorgeous PA weather.
12 noon – Attend the 30 minute abs class at the gym. Since it’s my trainer teaching the class, he uses me as the example for the “advanced moves” – flattered and embarrassed at the same time. This is the 2nd time attending the class.
12.45p – back at desk, work, work, work…
5.40p – pick up Ringo at Day Care, usually with the comments “He’s so terrible! Pushing the other children…but he’s so cute! Like Peanut when she was younger.”
6.30p – leftovers are served! Getting Ringo to eat is an uphill battle. Unless it’s pasta – he’ll eat pasta. Ringo decides he doesn’t want dinner, so yogurt it is.
7.15 – 8.30p – I typically clean up the kitchen while The Husband deals with the baths & showers for the kidlets. (Believe me, cleaning up is the hard part. The path of destruction that Ringo leaves behind at the table is amazing. Sigh.)
8.50p – After a quick laundry folding session, I get ready for bed. Against better judgment, I catch up on the latest Grey’s Anatomy episode – the one with singing – in no way was I prepared to cry as much as I did. To further the bad judgment, I watch the Valentine’s Day episode of Glee that I missed.
10.30p-ish – Night night