Liel has always been a big meat eater, as I'm sure I've mentioned. Her daddy delights in imagining her 16 year old self impressing boys on dates by consuming a plate of sausage.
Today she and I were playing when Robert walked in eating a turkey sandwich. Always quick to notice food, especially if it involves meat, Liel hopped up and hurried over to him. "May I have some of dat, Dada?", she asked, coyly batting her eyelashes.
"Sure hon", Robert replied, holding out the sandwich to her.
Liel peered at the sandwich critically, noticed the spinach in it and crinkled her nose in disgust. "No Dada", she said, pushing it away. "Don't want leaves!"
Friday, December 7, 2007
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Hibernating
I think there's a lot to be said for hibernating. Consider my day so far, for example: Woke up while it was still dark to get ready for work. The rest of my family was sleeping in their snug beds. I could feel the chill from the windows.
Drove to work uneventfully. Parked. Got out of car, slipped. Because you see, the parking spots were de-iced, but not the lot itself. Walked carefully to the stairs leading to the Quad, swearing quietly the whole way. Stairs were de-iced. But the Quad? Not. Not at all. So slipped and cursed my way to my classroom.
Classes were OK, so fast forward to getting home. As Robert is walking out the door Zion is shouting at Liel about the blocks and Liel is purposely antagonizing Zion by playing/hovering near where he doesn't want her to go. We work that out. I go pee. Liel says she wants to pee, but declines to actually sit on the toilet. Back out the living room. I move a pillow on the couch to sit down, and dislodge a bowl someone (Robert) left on the arm, sending to crashing to the floor, where it breaks. I pick up the pieces and move them to the kitchen counter to see if I can super glue them back together. First two go, no problem. Then the super glue container sticks to my fingers when I attempt to let go and glue the next piece on. I manage to fling it off just as Liel says "Uh oh...oh no!" and I look down to see a lake of pee forming around her ankles. So I clean Liel and the kitchen floor, and return to gluing the bowl back together. Forgetting about the leaking tube I glue my fingers to the super glue container again. This time it was harder to get off and my fingers sting. Get the fourth piece glued on and discover that too much of enamel inside the bowl has chipped off for it to be usable. Sadly give up on beloved bowl, and attempt to get super glue off of fingers. Nail polish remover smells bad and isn't really working so I give up on that, too, and am typing with icky thick swaths of dried super glue on my fingers. It doesn't seem to want to peel off, either.
AND it's cold. Clearly hibernating is the only way.
Drove to work uneventfully. Parked. Got out of car, slipped. Because you see, the parking spots were de-iced, but not the lot itself. Walked carefully to the stairs leading to the Quad, swearing quietly the whole way. Stairs were de-iced. But the Quad? Not. Not at all. So slipped and cursed my way to my classroom.
Classes were OK, so fast forward to getting home. As Robert is walking out the door Zion is shouting at Liel about the blocks and Liel is purposely antagonizing Zion by playing/hovering near where he doesn't want her to go. We work that out. I go pee. Liel says she wants to pee, but declines to actually sit on the toilet. Back out the living room. I move a pillow on the couch to sit down, and dislodge a bowl someone (Robert) left on the arm, sending to crashing to the floor, where it breaks. I pick up the pieces and move them to the kitchen counter to see if I can super glue them back together. First two go, no problem. Then the super glue container sticks to my fingers when I attempt to let go and glue the next piece on. I manage to fling it off just as Liel says "Uh oh...oh no!" and I look down to see a lake of pee forming around her ankles. So I clean Liel and the kitchen floor, and return to gluing the bowl back together. Forgetting about the leaking tube I glue my fingers to the super glue container again. This time it was harder to get off and my fingers sting. Get the fourth piece glued on and discover that too much of enamel inside the bowl has chipped off for it to be usable. Sadly give up on beloved bowl, and attempt to get super glue off of fingers. Nail polish remover smells bad and isn't really working so I give up on that, too, and am typing with icky thick swaths of dried super glue on my fingers. It doesn't seem to want to peel off, either.
AND it's cold. Clearly hibernating is the only way.
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Foodie Nightmare
Sometime I worry about things that are far, far out in the future and/or unlikely to ever happen (I hope!). My current biggest yarn fear, for instance, is that my beloved Peace Fleece will stop making their fabulous yarns some day, and then what will I do?? (Thanks to Michelle in the Peace Fleece Lover's group over on Ravelry for planting this fear in my mind!)
My foodie fears are very similar to my yarn fears with two glaring exceptions: 1. They are much more likely to come true, given how often I seem to move, and 2. I can more easily do something about them by learning to cook various dishes all by ownself. Still, for some reason I don't tend to learn to cook my favorite foods from hometowns past. Some of them I just can't replicate for reasons of equipment or atmosphere. But I don't have those excuses for all of them!
So today I am taking the bull by the horns (it's a metaphor for the way I live my life, see? But it also really happened. Small bulls, I grant you, but bulls nonetheless. I'll try to find the pics to post later.) and trying my hand at ropa vieja. It's a preemptive strike, since the Puerto Rican joint down the road makes excellent ropa vieja. But. They only serve it on Mondays and Thursdays and I can't tell you how many Wednesdays and Fridays I've found myself craving it. I looked at some recipes and found I have most of what is required (I'll be using fire roasted red and yellow peppers instead of fresh, but otherwise we're golden), so I have a pot simmering on the stove right now. It smells pretty good, so hopefully when I go to sleep tonight it'll be with visions of ropa vieja fairies dancing in my head. Will keep you posted...
My foodie fears are very similar to my yarn fears with two glaring exceptions: 1. They are much more likely to come true, given how often I seem to move, and 2. I can more easily do something about them by learning to cook various dishes all by ownself. Still, for some reason I don't tend to learn to cook my favorite foods from hometowns past. Some of them I just can't replicate for reasons of equipment or atmosphere. But I don't have those excuses for all of them!
So today I am taking the bull by the horns (it's a metaphor for the way I live my life, see? But it also really happened. Small bulls, I grant you, but bulls nonetheless. I'll try to find the pics to post later.) and trying my hand at ropa vieja. It's a preemptive strike, since the Puerto Rican joint down the road makes excellent ropa vieja. But. They only serve it on Mondays and Thursdays and I can't tell you how many Wednesdays and Fridays I've found myself craving it. I looked at some recipes and found I have most of what is required (I'll be using fire roasted red and yellow peppers instead of fresh, but otherwise we're golden), so I have a pot simmering on the stove right now. It smells pretty good, so hopefully when I go to sleep tonight it'll be with visions of ropa vieja fairies dancing in my head. Will keep you posted...
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Race
I'm really, really trying to get my holiday knitting done. And then today I had to tink back 3 rows on my grandmother's capelet. ARGH! It took me several hours to work up to actually knitting back, and now I'm waiting to work up to re-knitting. I seem to be a bit easily discouraged right now!
In other news, the first night of Hanukkah was tonight! Zion was super excited about it and has been eagerly anticipating it for days. This is the first year he's cared, and it's really cute and fun :) From the moment I got up today he was talking about needing to clean the melted wax off of our menorahs, "because we do not want dirty menorahs for Hanukkah!" So true, so true.
This afternoon he and I made latkes while Robert and Liel ran some errands downtown. When they came home we lit the menorah, had some latkes (and gelt- oh how the children wanted that chocolate!) and opened a gift. It was very pleasant. I think that Saturday will be our best Hanukkah day, just because Uncle Kenn and Aunt Giselle will be here, thus making the holiday what holidays are really all about.
They're about knitting, right?
In other news, the first night of Hanukkah was tonight! Zion was super excited about it and has been eagerly anticipating it for days. This is the first year he's cared, and it's really cute and fun :) From the moment I got up today he was talking about needing to clean the melted wax off of our menorahs, "because we do not want dirty menorahs for Hanukkah!" So true, so true.
This afternoon he and I made latkes while Robert and Liel ran some errands downtown. When they came home we lit the menorah, had some latkes (and gelt- oh how the children wanted that chocolate!) and opened a gift. It was very pleasant. I think that Saturday will be our best Hanukkah day, just because Uncle Kenn and Aunt Giselle will be here, thus making the holiday what holidays are really all about.
They're about knitting, right?
Monday, December 3, 2007
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Joe-Joe's: Better than Thin Mints
This post goes out to all y'all that love Thin Mints and have a Trader Joe's near you (or have a good friend with a Trader Joe's nearby!).
Every year during the holidays Trader Joe's sells Candy Cane Joe-Joe's (Joe-Joe's are Trader Joe's version of Oreos)- two chocolate cookies smooshed around candy-cane studded creme. This year, I bought my first box.
Not to sound like a paid advertisement or anything (oh, how I wish I were!), but these suckers ROCK. They're like Thin Mints, but without the nasty partially hydrogenated oils, AKA trans fats. We all know how evil those are. *shudder* Oh, and you know what else? They're less expensive than Thin Mints, too (approx $2.50/box vs approx $4/box)! So, buy buy buy buy buy! I mean, c'mon, they're practically health food!
Every year during the holidays Trader Joe's sells Candy Cane Joe-Joe's (Joe-Joe's are Trader Joe's version of Oreos)- two chocolate cookies smooshed around candy-cane studded creme. This year, I bought my first box.
Not to sound like a paid advertisement or anything (oh, how I wish I were!), but these suckers ROCK. They're like Thin Mints, but without the nasty partially hydrogenated oils, AKA trans fats. We all know how evil those are. *shudder* Oh, and you know what else? They're less expensive than Thin Mints, too (approx $2.50/box vs approx $4/box)! So, buy buy buy buy buy! I mean, c'mon, they're practically health food!
Snowy Day
Today we were planning to go to Upper Manhattan and meet Ysette, Brian, Abby, and Kevin at Dinosaur BBQ. Abs and Kevin are in just for the weekend for a wedding, and since they insist on living in California we don't get to see them much.
Anyway, when I woke up this morning it was snowing! Not a lot of snow- just an inch, inch and a half. But my poor, Californian brain instantly went, "Oh crap. How are we going to see everyone? We can't drive in the snow!" Luckily Robert, despite being a Texan, is a very good winter driver (he learned to drive in Chicagoland, you see), so it all worked out. Of course, Brian wanted Ysette to call and see if we'd be able to make it in the snow. Nice that I'm not the only one with no confidence in my ability to get around in inclimate weather! ;)
We had a lovely lunch (sorry, no pics, we left the camera in the car!), and Abby even wore her riding boots, going strong at 17 years old. Dinosaur BBQ isn't the best BBQ ever or anything like that, but it's perfectly decent, especially for NYC. The braggart in me also wants to point out that we put Brian and Ysette's meat eating skills to shame today (whether or not this is actually something of which to be proud remains to be seen, I suppose). The kids were great, too, even though it was nap time when we were there. Robert and Kevin got to geek out with the Scrabble talk in person (they play daily on Facebook), Ysette and I got to admire Abby's engagement ring (square cut natural yellow diamond bezel set in yellow gold- very unique and beautiful) and a good time was had by all.
It wasn't snowing anymore by the time we were driving home, but of course the roads were still wet and slushy and salty and our windshield was quickly coated in grime. As it steadily worsened over several minutes and Robert made no movement towards the windshield wipers I finally asked if he was going to clean it off? "Nah", he replied, shrugging. "I can see."
"You have windshield wipers, you know", I helpfully pointed out.
"Fine", he sighed, and turned them on. They smeared salt and grimy water all over the windshield. Unperturbed, Robert drove on.
"You know", I began, when it became apparent that he wasn't going to do anything else, "there's wiper fluid, too."
"Eh. It's just water on there...I wiped it off."
"Water and salt. The wiper fluid would help".
"It's fine", he assured me.
"You can do it with the little button right there", I said, gesturing. "It's not like I'm suggesting you stop the car and get out or something!"
Robert sighed. "Alright", he said. And he used the wipers and the fluid and behold! A normal person could see out of our windshield again.
Just as I was typing this Robert said, "What are you doing?"
"Blogging."
"Oh. About lunch?"
"Yes. And the windshield."
"I see. Did you notice that I did it several more times after that, all by myself? I'm such a good husband", he said.
"I noticed", I assured him. And I had.
Anyway, when I woke up this morning it was snowing! Not a lot of snow- just an inch, inch and a half. But my poor, Californian brain instantly went, "Oh crap. How are we going to see everyone? We can't drive in the snow!" Luckily Robert, despite being a Texan, is a very good winter driver (he learned to drive in Chicagoland, you see), so it all worked out. Of course, Brian wanted Ysette to call and see if we'd be able to make it in the snow. Nice that I'm not the only one with no confidence in my ability to get around in inclimate weather! ;)
We had a lovely lunch (sorry, no pics, we left the camera in the car!), and Abby even wore her riding boots, going strong at 17 years old. Dinosaur BBQ isn't the best BBQ ever or anything like that, but it's perfectly decent, especially for NYC. The braggart in me also wants to point out that we put Brian and Ysette's meat eating skills to shame today (whether or not this is actually something of which to be proud remains to be seen, I suppose). The kids were great, too, even though it was nap time when we were there. Robert and Kevin got to geek out with the Scrabble talk in person (they play daily on Facebook), Ysette and I got to admire Abby's engagement ring (square cut natural yellow diamond bezel set in yellow gold- very unique and beautiful) and a good time was had by all.
It wasn't snowing anymore by the time we were driving home, but of course the roads were still wet and slushy and salty and our windshield was quickly coated in grime. As it steadily worsened over several minutes and Robert made no movement towards the windshield wipers I finally asked if he was going to clean it off? "Nah", he replied, shrugging. "I can see."
"You have windshield wipers, you know", I helpfully pointed out.
"Fine", he sighed, and turned them on. They smeared salt and grimy water all over the windshield. Unperturbed, Robert drove on.
"You know", I began, when it became apparent that he wasn't going to do anything else, "there's wiper fluid, too."
"Eh. It's just water on there...I wiped it off."
"Water and salt. The wiper fluid would help".
"It's fine", he assured me.
"You can do it with the little button right there", I said, gesturing. "It's not like I'm suggesting you stop the car and get out or something!"
Robert sighed. "Alright", he said. And he used the wipers and the fluid and behold! A normal person could see out of our windshield again.
Just as I was typing this Robert said, "What are you doing?"
"Blogging."
"Oh. About lunch?"
"Yes. And the windshield."
"I see. Did you notice that I did it several more times after that, all by myself? I'm such a good husband", he said.
"I noticed", I assured him. And I had.
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