Entries from December 2005 ↓

My neighbors now think I’m a complete whack job. One of them caught me kneeling in a frosty flowerbed taking pictures of a garden ornament. I am hoping to get a tripod for Christmas, which may or may not help me look less insane.

On an aww cute baby note, Sir Thousand Hands is being adorable. He keeps asking me to fold his blanket so it looks like a swaddled baby. He carries it around, puts it in the baby’s swing, changes its diapers, and ‘feeds it.’ My little man is going to be such a good dad when he grows up. I am very thankful my husband finds it sweet and isn’t playing the typical homophobe card. He was even supportive of my buying him a real babydoll for Christmas.

I chose a good one.

I am by no means an expert. However, I do have a two year old, so that does allow me to open my big mouth. My two year old is an anomaly. Much to my chagrin, my husband let him have about half a can of spinach the other day. I could describe scenes that would cause a spike in Trojan sales. Oh, and typically we don’t eat ‘canned’ veggies I just keep them around for a night where we are in a hurry.

Anyhow, I guess this is to the other moms who oooh and aah over how my child will sit and eat a meal. My secret is… :drumroll: we don’t snack all damn day. If he needs a snack between meals he can have one; however, it will be something healthy like an apple or a few whole grain crackers and cheese. Yes, I’m that cruel. I recently went to the Children’s Museum with a couple of women I barely know. One of them was giving her child marshmellows to keep her quiet on the walk over to lunch. Another mom, whom I love dearly, always has cereal etc for her kid. My son, of course mooches off them when we are together, because well, it’s an exciting concept to him, eating somewhere other than a table.

I know, all too well, that not everything works for every kid. However, it stands to reason that if you never allow a child to feel hungry then he or she may not have much of an appetite when meal time rolls around.

This morning, I’m raising my coffe mug in hope of a better day. Not that anything was truly heinous about yesterday, but by the evening I was ready to cry. It took over two hours to cook a meal that should have been ready in about thirty minutes. No, the world won’t stop turning and yes, I’m very aware it’s nothing in the scheme of things, but it was frustrating just the same.

I do have good news.

#1 Sir Thousand Hands is potty trained! I think the final lightbulb went on, yesterday. He came to me when he had to go, instead of my having to ask. There were no accidents and I didn’t pester him about going. Who knew I would be so flipping excited over bodily functions.

#2 The baby is sleeping through the night!

#3 My husband will be starting day shift, forever, on January 16th. I am so excited about living like a normal family.

and finally
#4 Colcannon is absolutely some of the best comfort food I’ve ever had. I made it for the first time, last night and am adding it to the keep pile. If anyone is interested (Ivy).

1 lb potatoes, unpeeled
1 lb cabbage, shredded
1 onion, chopped
~ 3oz cheddar cheese (I used more) shredded & divided
1/4 cup milk
1tbsp butter
salt/pepper to taste

Boil the potatoes in lightly salted water until tender, but not mushy. Drain, reserving the water (use a slotted spoon) and set aside. Add the cabbage and onion to the reserved water and boil for about 5 minutes. While the cabbage is cooking peel and mash the potatoes with the butter and milk. Drain the cabbage/onion and add to the potatoes, salt and pepper, add 1/3 of the cheese. Stir.

Dump the mixture into a greased baking dish, top with remaining cheese and bake until the cheese is lightly brown and bubbly. There is no particular temp, whatever your other items are cooking at, is just fine (somewhere between 350 and 425).

It’s an excellent side dish for pork.

I love to cook, not bake, cook. It’s a hobby that my friends and family get to reap the benefits of. A few enjoy it a little more than they should. However, there are times where I would appreciate a little “magically appearing food,” myself. Unfortunately, few of my friends feel as though their food is ‘up to par.’ This is patently false and I would absolutely love to have a meal over at their house. I’ll even do the dishes.

On a semi-related note, I have started a cooking group with a couple of other women. It’s turning into a lot of fun and their spouses are quite thrilled. They each bring their kids over and we let them run amok in the ajoining room. With a couple of extra hands huge batches of food are quite easy. So far, with great success, we’ve made: meatballs from 30lbs of sausage and ground beef, 25 lbs of stuffed chicken breasts, loaded potato soup, and potato skins (with the leftovers from the soup). Today we’ll be undertaking a smaller taking and just making enough chicken and dumplings for this evening’s meal. The kids pretty much entertain themselves and having company certainly helps make the work less tedious. The companionship is probably the biggest benefit.

First some background. . .

Years ago, I was a bartender. It was terrible, I worked for a complete asshat under the table. I was in a seriously tight spot because my parents had split leaving me with my youngest sister and a mortgage. So, not knowing what else to do I went to work for “Bob.” While I made good money, I was underage and scared out of my mind. I was always worried someone would find out I wasn’t 21 and hold it against me. To make things even more fun, numerous other laws were constantly being broken at any given time. My boss operated under the Clintonesque oral sex isn’t adultery and had floozies in and of there. *gag* Anyhow, one of my regulars is now a coworker of my husband.

Fast Forward to Friday night…

Tim’s company held their annual Christmas party and it was something to behold. They really know how to host an event. The party was held at http://www.scaquarium.org/ and instead of one large buffet and bar they had smaller set ups in each of the exhibits. If you wanted to dine with the sharks near the reef there was prime rib. Near the tidal creeks we found the best shrimp and grits I’ve ever had. It was incredibly fun exploring the exhibits without Sir Thousand Hands whacking the glass or just generally being two.

I ran into my old customer and was able to catch up on a lot of gossip I’d missed over the years. No one has seen hide nor hair of my old boss for three years, no big loss. Also, there was this one guy who would come in and throw money around like it was nothing. He would insist the gambling limits be shut off of the video blackjack and play past midnight on Saturday. Those were the nights I could actually feel the lining of my stomach being eaten away by ulcers. The guy scared me, he wasn’t abusive or anything, but my guard was up with him. Well… he’s now in federal prison for embezzeling millions. I was not the least bit surprised, albeit mildly amused.