Just a tease...

Readers,
I thought before I played catch up I would give you a little smile first. Da kid challenges me all the time, and for some particular reason I play right into it. so, when we decided to get a coconut to see which if us could actually open it. I was game on. We went to our grocery store and quickly found one. Readers, that's okay, right? It should be just fine to be able to pick up a coconut in GA in any season, right?
Well, needless to say, da kid and I could not even get a scraggly hair from the thing. I swung down a machete... or really the biggest knife I had, on this thing, and it was like a slow series of stills from a cartoon. The knife actually quivered in my hand. A scattering of coconut dust/dirt was below the perfectly intact brown ball.
We figured that if we could not make a scratch, we could have faith that da hubs would either successfully crack it open, or really hurt himself in the process. Either way we win!
After a few swipes, da hubs did not disappoint and he took it out to his tool castle!


Here is said coconut, let's call him Glenn. I bet this scene looked like an S&M torture chamber.

Glenn got sawed first, with what resembles a electric knife used for carving a turkey. That merely twisted some of the long hairs, like if you ever tried to curl your long, straight hair with a curled bristled brush because you knew that would give you those cool spiral curls of 1989, but instead just had to be cut out of your hair. Just like that. so, next the hubs decided to screw holes into Glenn.

Readers, drilling the holes was scary. Glenn is not that large and da hubs was having to hold him with one hand, while at times the screwdriver would not be tough enough and veer off its course, close to the hubs hand. I just kept telling myself, "He has insurance and this feat is in the name of science." After the first hole penetrated, da kid and I thought that some milk would come out of Glenn. It did not, but we figured maybe we had one of those special, non-milk coconuts. Once he got three holes in Glenn, da hubs started this caveman-esque endeavor of using something that looks like an enlarged flathead screwdriver and hit the butt of it with a hammer. I was fascinated that such techniques even reside in someone's head.

Oh boy, now we are getting somewhere Glenn! First, Glenn had an outer coating. Look above. I had no idea readers, did you?

Readers, we are finally getting to slice out some chunks! So exciting! Here's it comes....

WTF!? Yes readers, Glenn was rotten! How can that even happen? Whah Whah...

So, that's my smile to you before we play catch-up.

Classic City Farmer's Market

Readers, I was blown away by veggies! Let me repeat, I was blown away by veggies! I have finally ventured out to my neighborhood outdoor farmer's market this Saturday, and I thought it was surprisingly fun. I was taken aback by the elaborate displays that the vendors had of their edible wares. Just take a peek at some of these pictures:

We ran into some friends, which is fun to do at a thing like this, and I bought stuff. I did not need anything but I felt it would not be right if I walked away empty handed. I decided on eggs. The family selling them were adorable, I even ended up taking a photo of them instead of my eggs, but to clue you in... one of my eggs is green, I think it means it's lucky!!!

Now, da kid, who's main goal in life seems to be to top me at every function, of course outdid himself and decided he too wanted to buy something. He decided on a container of mixed peppers. I think he may have even tried to haggle over the price, and was met with smiles & 50cent discount for audacity (I was keeping the parental distance of a mum w/ a 10yo).

Having been uplifted from the visit, I decided to pull out the Big Red Bible and try something spicy. I ended up making something similar to Arizo con Pollo, I added in the red peppers and left out the saffron (as I had no frickin' clue what that was outside of a color & Donnovan song). What was the outcome?

The boys dug it. A LOT actually. It was too spicy for me, so I also threw in some peas, since I'm not eating those either and the fellas had a hearty, veggie-filled meal.

PS - I also cut up an entire onion, by my self!!

ROAD TRIP

Readers, the time is upon me & I am in need of your guidance and help! My fam is planning not only our first EVER family vacation, but it also happens to be a road trip. We are heading out of the Classic City heading to D.C. (for some historical site seeing & museums) to Boston (for the same-ish) to NH (for my sweet, smart-assed {smart being the operative word} cousin's graduation), and then back down.We're talking a total of around 50 hours of car time.

Now I love road trips, but I am one of the people who can read, eat, sleep, sing off key, and more in the car. Plus I love finding little mom & pop places to eat. And so now you see my conundrum, how do you pack a small car for a road trip while not dinning out?

I need suggestions for car-packed food! I head out in less than 2 weeks. I need some pre-planning.

No cheating with your sister

Or in other words, da sis & Belly Katherine came for a week long visit and I did not buy food out the entire time. This is a small feat within itself because we are both social eaters. Da sis helped me out a bit by treating us gUrls to Doc Chey's for lunch one afternoon.

Besides for these wonderful fortune cookies we are eating with chop sticks, I had Coconut chicken soup, Chicken Lo Mien (with no veggies, so think just noodles, chicken & sauce), and Thai tea. Belly Katherine had a big mound of white rice.

Da sis also got us Chick-Fil-A biscuits one morning. Belly Katherine even shared a hash brown with me!

Outside of that, we cooked for ourselves. We brought lunches with us when we went to the pool. We had potlucks for my peeps to meet da sis. We ate our weight in bagels. Da kids ate more than their weight in Popsicles.

One day Belly Katherine helped me make some snacks & try on my new apron! once again too beautiful for me to wipe my hands on, I was caught more than once, sticking my hands underneath the apron & simply wiping my hands on my shorts.

Readers, here is what you are really wondering... did I make my mom's secret spaghetti recipe? Did da sis actually hand it over to me!

YES!!! Readers, do I plan to share it with you?! Hell no.

If I had to wait this long, I am making someone else pay too! However, I do plan on trying to make it again soon and making some possibly drastic changes, and that I will share.

It was a wonderful trip & I could not have been more surprised how, with the simplicity of staying home (my home or the Majong Maiden's {I don't think you are a maiden anymore when you are married}), cooking with loved ones, that this may haven been the best trip we've had together. I think I may have this NYR to thank too, weird right?

Proud Mom

I am a fan of a ton of blogs, but my loyalty is really to less than 10, and I "know" all those people except one. The Hipster Mom is just wonderful & makes me happy to be a sappy, helicopter mom while still retaining my own self interests and identity. However, I wanted to write a little something about my "face." Readers, there is a mom on the sidelines of soccer games, viciously screaming and the name they say is "Face," that mom would be me. It is indeed a weird nickname, it was from the first day I got to see Seth, which was when he was 3 days old having been born with gastroschisis. I was just amazed by his little face, it stuck from that day on. Of course the hubs hates it, but has adjusted. As well there are times when I mistakenly call da sis (who is pumpkin head) by that name, and da kid does not like it (it is just because when your kids are around and you call out every name but their's, maybe even the dog's before you get to the correct one). I think my kid is amazing because he loves great music, and is even beginning to show his first signs of rebellion through music (he is kinda all about some rap to the hub's dismay). He is funny and wickedly sarcastic. He has stunning blue eyes and knows how to use them to his advantage, once in public he wanted something to which I denied him. His response, "don't make me pull out the magic weapon" and moved his hair from in front of his eyes! Like his dad, he without realizing it will play in his mom's hair when we watch movies (and I fall asleep). On most days, he is my best friend. Unfortunately, & probably because of my age, we also fight like friends. He looks totally like the hubs, but people don't see it because he and I have the same mannerisms and spazzy personalities.He & I can finish each other sentences, and can answers questions before we ask them.

Readers, on Tuesday my little Face graduated from elementary school. It was intense enough when the graduation speaker said "I was scared entering my pre-K classroom, but there I would meet the three people that would become my life long friends and graduate with me today, enter my kid's name & his 2 of his best friends." I started to lose it a little bit and had to feign yawning when my eyes misted up. For hell's sake it is a 5th grade graduation, who gets emotional about that?

Then my shaggy haired kid crosses the stage, being first up I had not even been of sane mind enough to record it. I got one faint, dark picture. Readers, after they called his name, then proceeded a laundry list of awards and medals he was awarded, everything from second place for OM for his school, Duke University TIP/MAP, Certificate for academic excellence, and Continental Math. Readers, I can tell you now what our president's signature looks like bc he was awarded the Presidential Award for Excellence! What ended up really blowing our minds is that this kid made honor roll. My kid has never gotten an A(E) in his life on a report card. I could barely hold it all in.

Readers, I could not stop talking with my hands, or gushing. I was real intense, and felt my crazy mom flag fly.

Later that afternoon, we have a graduation cook out for his friends and our families. He gets his grad gift from us.

So, Readers, what I officially have on my hands now is a middle schooler, who just got a cell phone. What comes next?

I makes some breakfastes...

I am not too sure why when I am so excited about something I do that confounded illogical grammar misuse, but I likes it!

Now that the crash of 2010 is over, Readers I am not on computer #5, I can get back to some blogging!

For Mother's Day, I made TMom a brunch that included tomato pie (which they had never had) and Picky Palate's "Egg Mcmuffins."

Readers, I did something of the culinary world that I have never ever done before! I cooked two things in the stove at the same time!!!

I also discovered that my oven has a light in it! Does your over have a light? Do all ovens have lights? Will I one day have to replace that light, or more likely the hubs will have to replace that light? These are questions I am excited to answer if you could imagine that!

I will say that these egg Mcmuffin things were pretty good, even if I was suppose to have a "Texas-sized" muffin pan, which I do not. So my compromise was to punch the ever living crap out of the sourdough english muffins until they began to mold themselves around the muffin slot (let's be honest, take it from the Saturday Night Live ladies of NPRs Delicious Dish {Schweddy Balls}, cooking sounds dirty so often that it amuses me daily. I am like a 5 year old in the kitchen.). So there were a few occasions where the weight of the egg would not keep the muffin in place (I am literally unable to type this up now without blushed-cheeked laughter), then I placed in a bacon piece and instead of making small strips, I make it into a circle like building a fort so the egg would not spill out, then covered with cheddar cheese and cooked (should I be using another word here, like baked or broiled or heated?) for 15 minutes. They were pretty good. I am pretty much sold on any breakfast food that has bread in it!

What's your favorite breakfast food? Wanna send me a recipe and see how awkwardly I can make it? I will bribe you with blog shout-outs!

Good Woman & Megadeath's Birthday

Readers, I asked you how many birthday parties you had been too, I have knocked a couple out in our time apart.

The Good Woman turned what I am sure is some age that is too young for me to hang out with as I have jumped into that new double digit realm, but all the same we went for some bowling and Athens action. Kingpins Bowling & Brew offers an interesting experience of throwback proportions. Having won a special night of bowling, we got to reserve one lane for one hours, two shoe rentals and one appetizer, which I did not get a picture of because we ate them too quickly (and awkwardly, I love sliders as much as the next person but they are particular in size, aren't they?). She did wear the crown however!

We also had ice cream from Ben & Jerry's, which just to prove what a Good Woman she is, she bought, so I would not go into the reserve AMEX gift card.

For Megadeath's Bday, she had a dinner party and I made cookies, and by "I made cookies," I mean, TMom showed me how to make chocolate drop cookies and I took pictures with my phone for the blog (but now I know!).

There was even a pinata that was filled with really good, like the stuff you round back to THAT house on Halloween when they are dishing out the good stuff, candy!

I love birthdays, and this year they have been really special because I am so used to simply taking someone out to eat for their present that it has been challenging to create something different. Honestly readers, it is hard to buy presents I am finding. I think there is an intimacy in giving a good gift that comes from really knowing someone. Or getting over yourself enough to give someone something they want rather than what you want, or want them to have.

Readers, what's your staple for gift buying?

What is that light I see?

Is it life from underneath stacks of articles and student forms? Is it my neglected kitchen, family, friends or blog?
It happens to be that I have located that my oven has a light in it! But I will get to that in due time.
Readers, how are you? How have you been? How many birthday parties have you been too since we last met? Too many appears to be the only correct answer.
Here are some points to ponder that have unfolded since we last met.

• Readers, I have eaten my weight in frozen pizzas lately, we are talking about 3-4 a week.
• I have a completed draft of a literature review
• The kid is about to graduate from elementary school & has been blasting us with honors, but that another post.
• I have not only been staying in bc of my NYR, but because I have morphed into a cat and require 10 hours of sleep a day, so I do not have many fantastic tales to tell.

Here are some things to look forward too however:

• I have no classes this summer
• I have not students in my building this summer
• I have da sis coming into town soon
• I am planning a week long car trip to New Hampshire through way of DC and Boston.

I feel like the above are great reasons to tune in because I am not too sure how you travel in a car and don't eat out, and da sis is coming down to teach me our mom's spaghetti sauce recipe (which I will not be sharing but I will post pictures and maybe write a sappy mom piece again)!

Readers, it's been a long time but I am back and I think with a vengeance.

May 1st is coming

Skipping back over to our side of the pond, God Save the Queen for London Lady for filling in for me because Readers, I still have 9 more days until the end of my semester and when my projects are due. I would love to be blogging because it makes me feel happy & because my writing here is superior over the shit I am composing of a literature review & publishable article. However, I feel guilty when doing anything else but writing for those two, so I am still MIA until the May 1, which as that's a weekend may actually be May 3. If I try to romanticize it, I could say that I am Carmen San Diego, but then after the last 3 posts, I would certainly be in London. What I have to offer is some pictures about what I will be filling you in on when I am finally able to fill you in, like my Terrapin Brewery trip & what I eat while studying.

London Lady needs you to know

What up peeps,

Here is another major UK food difference, and it's so shocking that it deserves its own post.

We do have Krispy Kreme here, but they don't know about Hot Now Hot Light. Not even the KK employees know. They make the doughnuts fresh at Harrods; I can see the miniature conveyor belt thingy. But I've been there twice and asked if they had any hot doughnuts, and both times, the guys looked at me like I was crazy.

I only need to eat a KK about once a year, but it should be hot. And these people just don't know.

Kind regards/WTF,

London Lady

London Lady Returns!

Dearest Readers,

I'm sure you've all been hanging on the edge of your seats to know more about British food. So here I am, but I'm gonna tell you some secrets about eating in.

Let's start with cheese. It's different. The cheddar is mature, which means that it's GOOD. I'm gonna miss it when I move back home. It's very flavourful. (That's British for 'flavorful.')

The other things I'll miss are flapjacks. No, I'm not referring to a big pancake. It's kinda like a granola bar, but with only oats, and other additions like sultanas (golden raisins), chocolate chips, or caramel coating. Since the oats are my favorite part of a granola bar, I'm pretty much in love with them.

A major difference between England and the States is that these people are all about the tea, but do not really care about good coffee. Now, I love tea as much as the next Cockney, but what have they got against coffee? They always offer it to me at meetings, and it's always INSTANT. Horror.

Now, these people don't know what a biscuit is. Well, they think they do, but they don't. There isn't a British equivalent of a biscuit, but they do use the term to refer to a cookie. But let's clarify the cookie terminology here.

Cookie - has chunks of something in it

Biscuit - a cookie without chunks in it, such as shortbread

Cake - a cookie with a cake-like texture, which I've never seen in the States.

My most recent obsession may sound weird, but trust me on this. Olives and peanuts. Together. Take 4-5 peanuts and one (preferably green) olive, shove it all in your mouth at the same time, and enjoy. I don't know if this is a British thing per se, but I did learn it from a British person.

Now I know I referred in my other post to Ribena, but let me expound on that. Ribena is a type of squash. Not the yellow vegetable, but the concentrated fruit drink. I guess it's kinda like those cans of concentrated orange juice that my mom used to use when I was a kid, except it's not frozen. Just a bottle of thick, sugary, fruity liquid that you dilute with water. Generally, I find it repulsive. But they also sell Ribena in a ready-to-drink form in the store (in both bottles and juice boxes!) and that is wonderful.

Oh, I almost forgot! This is my FAVORITE part of eating in in London. Marks & Spencer is a fabulous department store, complete with a food store as well. Not a traditional grocery store, because you wouldn't go there to, say, buy groceries for a week or ingredients to bake cookies. But you can buy pre-prepared food and almost-prepared food. London is very good at prepared food. They have little pots of stuff like rice, lentil, and aubergine (= eggplant); cous cous with roasted vegetables; orzo pasta & roasted tomatoes; greek salad; tomato, basil, and mozzarella salad; etc; etc. And stuff like seasoned fish or meat that's super easy to just throw in a pan for a few minutes, and ready-made meals that are actually good, that are in little foil containers so you just throw them in the oven for a little while. While they are two totally different stores, I have similar feelings for M&S and Target, if that gives you any idea how great this place is. And if Katherine lived here, M&S would make her life of eating in much easier. Of course, it would also thwart her learning process and make this blog much less interesting.

If you've ever had a Pink Lady Apple, you should be able to imagine

my excitement when I found it in juice form. More than words can describe.

Kind regards,

London Lady

Guest Post from London Lady!

Dear Readers,

While Katherine is going on and on (and on) about not eating out in Georgia, I'm going to tell you about eating out in London. Now I know that the English are renowned for their bad food, but let me tell you, that is an over-simplification.

First of all, let me tell you that there is some really great ethnic food here. This is my favorite restaurant in London. Let me tell you, this is the best Indian food ever. (Coming from a girl who grew up around almost no Indian restaurants. But I have good taste, so trust me.) The saag panir is to die for. I never knew cottage cheese could be like that! There are also other really great Asian places, and obviously tons of great European food. Of course, Mexican food is a joke. It's totally standard for fajitas here to have cauliflower and carrots. As if Mexicans even know what cauliflower is. I cannot speak of the salsa, and they aren't even aware that cheese dip exists. But overall, ethnic food = good.

Now, while we have an abundant supply of curry shops and other great food, that's not what these people eat on a daily basis. Why, you ask? Hell if I know. Instead, they eat sandwiches. And chips (= fries). The sandwiches can be purchased at tons of shops, along with crisps (= chips) and a niceRibena. The thing is, these people could eat a sandwich and chips for every meal for the entirety of their lives, and they would be completely happy. Seriously. I now understand why that potato famine was such a big deal. It must've been like taking a fish out of water. The sandwiches and chips are good and very convenient, but everyday? Get some variety, people.

Also, have you ever heard of jellied eel pie? There are lots of pie shops here. Meat pies. And apparently jellied eels are quite traditional. Don't count on me ever giving you a first-hand account.

This is what I'm NOT eating.

So there is something to the food really sucking here, but there's also really great good!

Stay tuned for more British food eccentricities....

Kind regards, (that's a British saying!)

London Lady

Hopefully Not False Promises

Readers, I am bushed, possibly ill, possibly big head recovery stuff, possibly life, are all factors forcing me to take a time out. Sorry for the lack of postings, but I am just a little slammed. I have 2 weeks to get in lit review (if completeion rate were on a 1-100 scale, I am at an 8), the kid has CRCTs next week, and I just been going 90mph daily. If I eat one more frozen pizza I will morph into one. I miss blogging as theraputic writing and selfish "me" time, but I just don't have it. So, here is a picture of my pouty face missing you all.

Soon, I should have catch-ups and then daily-ish posts again when May 1 in done.

Walks & WTFs

Readers, food is invading my every thought now. You know in those movies where the guy is suppose to be celibate and so all he sees all around him are naked boobs? Or when you get a new car and then you realize just how many people have that same car? That's me and food.

Besides just having every conversation turn into cooking or recipes or healthy eating (errr), I have even found a need for my apron, my big measuring cup, and my recipe organizer, and need not an excuse to use them to make others happy. My exercise weights are not as heavy as the Bittman book, you're damn right I need a cook book holder!

Case in point, after a rough morning, the hubs took me to the Botanical Gardens, because he's never been and he thinks I look hot in yellow(POLLEN). We walked around, we brought a cross work puzzle, we found trees we want to put in our yard (is that not fucking ridiculous? I still can't believe that). He may have spent some time chatting up little girls, but it was a nice excursion.

Then we go walking into the section with the crane fountain, with the yellow, wonderful smelling flowers that grow like vines up the white cabana, which were my favorite so of course unnamed at the park. The I spot it and have to do a double take....

the Fried Egg Daffodil. Really? It was not even yellow that I could tell. I seriously did a double take on this one. It's started... food is going to begin to interrupt my every essence of my being. Well, I'm ready for ya, and I came to play!

Remember me?

It's been a while and I have lots of stuff to tell you guys about, but Readers, I just don't have the time to write each separately, like I had been planning, so here comes as much as I can recall and all the pictures I can give you, which is not too many. Buckle In!

Last Saturday, My student (with me as the students, not my student group as in my social workers, which I tend to deem as "my students" as they belong to me) group, UGALLA met, as I have recently become the secretary for the group (who made that executive decision, 'll never know) for a pow-wow session at my place, and we had a breakfast potluck deal. Readers, I made popovers!! My new favorite quick thing to make. My first batch looked like this...

and they were very tasty and mixed with Kiki2krash's rhubarb jam, it was heaven. I wish I had pictures of the rest of the food, while the kid just wishes there was an ever abundant supply of the cinnamon roles that were there.

MONDAY: It was Mrs. Weezy's birthday surprise dinner, which once again was breakfast themed because she and the Freudian Slippers would be coming from their triumphant win in their indoor soccer competition. I made more popovers, a coffee cake with pecans, there were blueberry muffins, and fruit. Boatshoes made 2 amazing quiches, one with tofu (no, I did not try it) and one with sausage (which I had a hearty helping of). Fivel's moms & VA & her hubs imbibed us with mimosas!

TUESDAY: My fav blogger http://katymcarter.com/ was in town from Indy & I got to not only see her and listen to her tales of transfer, but readers, she bought me a beer! Our book club gathered at Trapeze, a bar with a beer list that looks like a novella. Why is it that you realize how much you really like and enjoy people's company after they move? I wish I had eaten with Mrs. Carter or asked her more about books and stuff like that when she resided in Athens. At least I get to stalk her through blogging!

WEDNESDAY: Awards lunch at my job, in a time of financial crisis for education systems, should we be having an awards lunch? Of course not, did that stop me from going, of course not either. I deserve my free meal and moreso, I got to award the third annual Mary Jane Coberth Memorial Award to one of my MSW students, for whom it was well deserved! The MJC award was started... (are you ready for this readers?) when I was an Amazing Student for my Univ and a guy I know through Dance Marathon (who if Seth possessed half the manners he has, I will consider myself a champion mother) showed his mother, who was a former MSW grad, she made a donation to the School (of Social work) in my name. WOW, right? I had never heard of such a thing. She finds out that I plan to use the money for suicide awareness & prevention, and she ends up adding to her contribution so that I could create the MJC Award for 5 years! Insanity, right? The MJC is for MSW student who are looking to work in the area of suicide awareness & prevention & mental health. And... I am pretty proud of it. It makes me feel like I am a little more like Ms. Waltman, who made the donation, because if I could possess her gumption and character, I would consider myself a class act.

See readers, I told you that would be intense. For the awards lunch, we had tortellini, green beans, ham & peach cobbler. It was not much to write about. I get a picture of the MJC award winner up her soon as I get the picture!

THURSDAY: This day was a day of amazing women. First, I had a tasty biscuit when I was invited to go to breakfast with some people who are talking about preparing for their Haiti educational relief trip. Mary, she's cool enough to get to keep her own name, has been going to Haiti for tens of years. She is a nurse, preacher, philantrophist, and smooth talker all balled up into one incredible Southern women. She's got a mouth on her that I love and she had the ability to put two very distinguished faculty in their places... real quick. I wonder how I can make her my new bff?

Next was Dorothy, she gets to keep her name too & there is a building named after her, so it's already well known, who was kind enough to let me tag along on her Meals on Wheels route. She had been on this route for almost a quarter of a century. She knows all her clients/recipients/vistees and dutifully and selflessly inquires about each one. I learned about slumlords and hospice and got good advice from a good mom. She was humble in that she played herself so cool, but I felt like she had a great deal of power inside her like a thunderstorm brewing. I think that may be even more true, because the dark clouds we had all morning did not break & rain until we were finished and pulling back into the agency, as if she was threaten the heavens that they better not rain on our delivery morning!

That was my food week. My only non-food effecting me stuff was that I will have to postpone my comps and prospective class due to the big head stuff, it just gives me more time to make it quality & something I can be proud of. And... that I currently am again without a camera. Wah wah. I have a busted camera chip reader & I have to get a new one, which can be more money than I will have for this month. Yeah for first mortgage payment ever!

Easter & Butter

Regardless of my personal spiritual background, I really adore cultural and religious ceremonies of all kinds. Previously my favorite Easter event was The Chapel's downtown egg hunt, which started at 11pm and all the prizes in the eggs were free drinks at the bar. One grand egg, and yes, yours truly found it, was redeemable for a grand basket with a crown in it! However this tradition below may have me moving to Poland right now!

The Baranek Wielkanocny, or Easter Butter Lamb is a hunk of butter shaped into a woolly lamb to celebrate Easter in Poland. You might find one in your Easter basket or use it as a centerpiece for the holiday feast. If the local priest is blessing baskets of Easter foods before they are laid out for the meal, the Butter Lamb is always included. They are sold in delis around the holiday or you can make your own at home.

Housewarming!

I can say that in the last days leading up to the HW party that the hubs and I began to get a little nervous and I would even be honest enough to say a little regretful about the housewarming. First, we have the capacity to be little socially awkward, not so much me, but I am not one of those people who are able to negotiate multiple friend groups. Readers, you know how you have different sects of friends, and they may not know each other, or your typical themes of conversation may not be the same, maybe if you are like me, YOU may not even be the same person around each of your different friend groups. Well,, I struggle with that. The hubs struggles with all aspects of sociability and resorted to the porch & early drinks.

However, the party was a hit. The hub's fam stayed on the couches, the kids played upstairs, my lot hit the backyard. My secret weapon of masterful brilliance of social director-ness, somewhere Weezy is smiling upon his lady.

Readers, as you know one can not have a HW party without some food, and so Tmom and I devised the prefect mid-day snacks for folks to munch on.

I even made and ate two different types of salads! Okay, you got me, they were fruit salad and tomato & bacon pasta salad, but I still made them!

Readers, I can also tell that I am getting a reputation, whether warranted or not, towards cooking as I got some great loot for my kitchen! Including the measuring cup you see above that I have used every day since, even if one of those days it was just to water the lily from Fievel's moms.

I did not even know those two things above existed. They are a cookbook holder (Teece) and a recipe journal (with some pre-loaded recipes from The Good Woman). I just felt very lucky, not to just have this amazing house, but to also have all these people to fill it with. We even lucked out and had Mr. Hulk come in from Boston to spend the weekend with us. I was so excited to see him, that I am pretty sure that my initial hug seemed like a drunken one. Readers, if you have ever received one of those, you just how utterly intense it is, if you have not, it is something to look forward to in the future!

New Toys

What a great Housewarming gift from Tmom & Tdad... a big honking grill. I don't know what it is capable of or its power, or how it even functions, but I do know that When it is on, that means the hubs is cooking!!!

We kicked off our new gift, yes, the hubs does have to come up with a name for him (he is so a him), but while he was thinking he made some grilled chicken with all kinds of ...stuff/seasoning on it.

Readers, don't walk away thinking I did not contribute too. I made mashed potatoes. I can actually make some decent mashed potatoes, even when like that night I did not have any milk, or sour cream or whipping cream. I did have butter (of course!) and white Vermont cheddar, which I decided to shred and put half the block in. They were a cheesy bit of heaven. Readers, yes, that is a masher, and that is how I make MP, I think that is very cool of me!

The meal was really good and more importantly, not pasta, which I have been feeling is all I make and my dinner about 5-6 times a week.

UGA Baseball 2010

I really enjoy going to the UGA baseball games, the team has had two amazing last seasons, there are tons of fun giveaways, and best of all, it's free for me and the fam to go (student and dependent cards!!!). Last night, we went and watched UGA v. Furman (with Boatshoes, who was sporting his purple, as a Furman alum, for the evening) and the game started at 5pm. This meant that there was not really dinner prior to the game and I would estimate that each game is about 3 hours long. I packed my purse with raisins and sunflower seeds and we were off.

The game was taking on the unfortunate habit of the other games we have attended this season, and by the 6th inning, the score was 10-3 Furman. The boys were ready to go and I believe that you should... oh, I don't know... stick around for games and be a FAN! My mouth rots with acridity when I see a stadium empty mid-game when things look like they are going south. So, instead my viscous boys went to the concession stand, and I thought they would be coming back with hot dogs. Readers, they came back with nachos! WTF? I love nachos!

I am also certain that the kid made every attempt possible to sit right on top of me while he was eating them, and at one point after constant questions of "hey mom, want a bite (snicker, snicker)?" That little imp gave me a smooch and had (gasp!) nacho cheese on his lips.

Readers, it's enough to say he is grounded for life, but he is not, instead his is a first glimpse at the kid, literally getting every particle of cheese with his finger after the chips had been devoured.

The moral is however, that they had there snack and in the bottom of the 9th inning, UGA played the best ball I have seen them play all season, made 6 (on my feet the entire inning screaming) runs in the last minutes of the game to almost catch up with Furman. Final score 10-9 Furman, but what a game! Go Dawgs!

Meals On Wheels

This morning was a good example of why I made specifications on my eating habits for the NYR, because today was the “Mayor on Meals” breakfast on the Athens Area Counseling on Aging, helping to bring awareness that there are older adults in our communities that are going without food. Today I found out that there are 93 older people on a waitlist in Clarke and Barrow counties to receive food from the Meals On Wheels program. I was shocked and a little ashamed when I heard that number, and I am still not too sure why that came as such a surprise. So, on April 1, look for a posting about me doing my first Meals on Wheels ride-along. Today’s event which was re-instituted and implemented by a woman, that I would GIVE a MSW to this minute (and plan to heavily recruit into the MSW Program), with such passion and engagement that the ability to not be infected by her excitement was unimaginable. With Pride in her, and current MSW Starfoot (okay, it’s a cool nickname bc my kid reads these cat Warrior books and they all have names like that and he thinks it’s the living end) Carter, it turns out that today’s event and the signatures that have been collected for http://www.mowaa.org/Page.aspx?pid=480 were the most collected in the US, and by our little city! The event was well planned, well attended, and Readers, it was well catered!
This is my plate, and Readers, I did not take any Chick-Fil-A biscuits that were available because today is also National Meat Out Day (http://www.meatout.org/)and I thought I would give it a row. (BTW, which was successful, as I had fruit salad from a phd student for lunch and noodles in vodka sauce for dinner). I also did not hit up the pastry table, though I grabbed one powder donut hole. We know I am a fan of some biscuits and Mama’s Boy is not too shabby in the biscuit department, even when they are small because they forgot until the last minute about today’s event, but seeing as they pulled off one might good spread, you’re not hearing complaints from me.
Readers, I forgot about eggs, I just forgot about them. I love eggs (okay, not the powdered vegan ones that were there) and whoever made the egg casserole, egg mushroom pie and vat o’ eggs… well, they just stuck their foot right up in there, because it was all so delicious.
Readers, I do see the irony in a post about eating such a varied and abundant meal when people are going hungry around me. So, I made a meek donation and will be participating in a ride along, but I am also encouraging you to get involved too. Next year the first of the baby boomers will be hitting the “official” age of retirement, the face of aging (and the understanding of it) will change in our lifetimes, we should be armed with information and as much passion for our older adults as the 2 mentioned above to prepare for it. Maybe we could throw a few dimes at it too, and if you would like to do so, here is the website for https://athensacca.ejoinme.org/MyPages/DonationPage/tabid/1672/Default.aspx
Thanks you guys!

The Meals on Wheels program run through the Athens Community Council on
Aging will host a “Mayor for Meals” event Wednesday, in which current and former
mayors are invited to deliver meals with a regular volunteer.
The council
also will host a “March for Meals” event, in which local restaurants will donate
10 percent of their proceeds on specified dates to benefit Meals on
Wheels.
In addition, the council will host a volunteer appreciation
breakfast, followed by meal routes to be led by Athens-Clarke Mayor Heidi
Davison and Winder Mayor Chip Thompson.

Guilty (& possibly gross) Pleasures

This is a brief timeout to let you in on a secret. I love bad food, and you know what I mean. I have already confessed my adoration of sour cream and how I know if you have two rotisserie chickens that one of them is simply for eating the skin off of. Now, I just need you to know that I have not simply been cooking with more butter because of how incredible it seems to make everything, but also because… I sneak a bite every time! It’s just soooo good. Yes readers, that means that I take a bite of the butter, or slice myself off a tab of it. In fact, when I was trying to take this picture of myself eating some butter, I had to slice a second piece because I just could not get the picture I wanted, and just like most things in life that I attempt to make decisions upon, I used the very first picture I took.

What are your guilty food indulgences?

End of Year Dinners

Prior to moving I was having dinner at my house for one or two people once a week. This gave me the opportunity to attempt to make food, while still sharing in the social activities that I thought mainly came from dinning out. Now in my new house (yeah, I'm still gloating, you would too & I would appreciate and respect you for that), and with graduation looming in a few weeks, I have decided to give it a shot again and have a meal once a week, open to whomever can come. readers, you how when you do the first one (or last) event, they tend to be the largest, people trickle out from there. I invited about 10 people, had a strong showing of 6 (not counting my fam of 3), and yet I made a VAT OF SPAGHETTI. I just did not know how to gauge it, so I made 2 pounds of pasta with 2.5 pounds of meat in it. What was amazing is that I do not possess a pot large enough to make 2 pounds of pasta, and so I was constantly turning it over when the top of the noodles were hovering over the water's rim. I also did not have the strength to strain the pasta and so that was a close call to the burn clinic for yours truly, as I decided to leverage the weight of a boiling pot against my forearm.

What was a greater feat of bravery, in my and probably her opinion also, was that Mrs. Weezy cut up a whole rotisserie chicken, in fact two of them, with precision and very little talking to herself. This was after being berated by framed prom photos. It also reminded me that I have to get more of these chickens in the future, they are just too good to not have only once or twice a year. (I also ate more skin than chicken! MMmmmm)

We sat around the smallest table in my house, I don't know how that happened, and talked, which is why I eat so I can talk. No judgement about elbows on the table or mouths full of food from me. Just be at my table and talk, and you and I will be best friends forever and ever!

Bootshoes = Tasty Reubens!

Just to start off, I am not even too sure where I have been this last week. I can catch you up with a little tale of a fella named Boatshoes. Boatshoes is a gentle giant, who reminds my kid to use his inside voice, when I can never recall that quaint phrase and yell for him to shut his freaking trap! Boatshoes also happens to be a good cook and someone who, unlike myself still, actually seems to enjoy it. Last Thursday, Boatshoes made us dinner, and what I thought would be more of a simple prep, as he was making reubens, really shocked the sin out of me.

Readers, he made the reuben meat, like it was a hunk of meat which he had made. I thought reuben meat came from the deli, foods like hummus or potato salad which simply exists because it is behind a counter waiting for me to pick it up. Now this picture above is not a good indicator of the magnitude of these reubens, because I don't eat anything, and so if I had a picture of Boatshoes or the hubs' reubens, they would also have the sour kraut, spicy mustard, dark rye bread, Swiss cheese, and whatever else I am forgetting accompanying their plate as well. oh, and of course.... a salad... la tee da, I am getting so sick of the salad thing, I either have to learn to eat them or I am going to start every meal with a squeeze tube of hot fudge which I will just hold over my head and squirt into my mouth while others are eating their salad. Take that! The meal was fantastic and it was great to listen to Boatshoes' stories. I will mention that Boatshoes also provided me with a side dish that I am keeping on the downlow because I plan on stealing it and making it my own. And it is such a cheat that I can not stand to uncover it, plus it could really gross out my foodie friends.

10 minute meals

I am a fan of these. Quite honestly, they only feed about two of us, so when the kid and I have to fend for ourselves for dinner, and I am still not in the swing of actually making it everyday, but alas can not eat out, we Bertolli it up. There is not a single Bertolli bag meal I do not like (though I do pre-pick out some of the vegetables). I bought one of every "flavor/style" when Publix had them on sale for $3.50 a bag (they are usually around $7-8). They have been the biggest help since I have not been cooking my own meals up lately. Two night ago (last night I simply ate Blue Box mac n' cheese because we played board games until 8pm without noticing), we tried the Chianti Braised Beef and Rigatoni. I was so impressed, did I pick out the yellow peppers? Yes, some of them.

I also like all the chicken styles, and where the boys can not eat them everyday (probably because they can not eat Italian food everyday either), I could/can/do. I KNOW this is not cheating but sometimes it does seem like I am doing this cooking thing wrong. I really only know about 5 meals to make for regular dinners. Those are as follows:

• Sheppard's Pie
• Spagetti with meat
• Chicken baked in barbq sauce
• White bowl (which no one else eats but me)
• ... that might be it.

Yes, I have recieved recipe books but they can be daunting. With new recipes, I am trying to stick with trying them out on the weekends. So, besides for continuously loving on these Bertolli meals, Readers, what is your staple quick fix dinner, say for a family of 3?

Guess what I got!

It has arrived! It’s black and white, cut like my old swing dance dresses, has two pockets and I will really try to get it dirty.
Its my apron from da sis. Look how cute it is! Readers, there must be something taking control of my mind from this NYR because when I got my new apron, my first thought was, “this is so sexy”! Oh help me, I used to think food was sexy, rare steaks, ice cream in porcelain single size bowls, Jagerbombs. What? Are you sure? Okay, the hubs says that Jagerbombs are not sexy, its more that I think everything is sexy after a few of them. Thanks for clearing that up and reading over my shoulder. Is this NYR turning me into a domestic goddess?
I wonder if I can wear my apron when I am just heating things in the microwave. Oh, I wonder if I should name her. I name everything. My old car was Fiona Greenapple, my new car is Napoleon Bonacar, my elliptical is named Pacey, and the new house is named Lucille (though the security system is named Karen, which the kid named after the electronic wife of a SpongeBob character). What do you name an apron? Ok, readers, I need some feedback. What should I name this sassy lady of an apron?