Meanderings
I yearn to travel. Super N and I watched a travel blurb on Peru and he suggested we go. I was really excited about the blurb and agreed right away. It's not do-able right now, but one day in the future I believe Super N and I will be tromping around the world. Unless he gets hormones, grows up and finds others to travel with. Then I'll be tromping on my own or luring a friend along. Anyway, time to dig out the Italian language CDs again - I want to be ready just in case I get some unexpected opportunity to drop everything and go. You never know.
I'm annoyed by the invasion of Girl Scout Cookie pushers. I hate they way they stake out grocery stores and try to use their little girl charm to wheedle me into buying cookies. Normally I avoid them because cookies are my special crack. I don't even want friends bringing the forms in my house if I'm having a social occasion. Having been borderline diabetic, I normally respond to the freckled imps with, "I'm diabetic, no thanks." Does that discourage them? nooooo... The nearby mom often suggests I can buy them for a friend. And now they call me at home because Miss E has friends of the appropriate age. I am always polite when I decline, but deep inside I'm grinding my teeth in annoyance.
However, in a fit of rebellion against all the people who have pushy tactics, I found out that one of my good friends at work has a cookie sheet posted in her cube because I was visiting her cube neighbor. While ranting about the bad tactics of others, some wild streak in me prompted me to reward the "non-pushy" friend by signing up for a few token boxes.
Slap forehead. I hate cookie season. The friend only confirmed how cool and non-pushy she is by calling me to thank me for making a purchase and then joked that she and others have decided that "Thin Mints" ought to be renamed "make my butt fat-mints".
I love to take one of my weekend days and cook. I have the time to do it at leisure without juggling homework or racing the kids bed-time. Yesterday my mom(-i-law) and brother were over and they were fabulous company while I worked on dinner. I put the brother to work zesting oranges for the custard while Mom entertained me with her observations of how I've come a long way in the kitchen over the last 9 years. We joked about the burn mark in my kitchen floor, the number of times I've gone racing through the house to toss a smoking pot out a window or door before the fire-alarm gets triggered, the time I hand ground chocolate (I didn't think you could buy it that way), etc. I still have periodic fail, but it's less frequent. The site of me prepping ingredients, browning chicken, and juggling 3 dishes at once gave her a tickle. With the house filling with savory smells, it felt warm and homey.
Yesterdays dinner was inspired by the Spanish Table. I made paella and I'm really pleased with how it turned out. I went for a traditional dish with a few twists; no saffron, mushrooms or white wine. Saffron is not in my budget this week and F! and Uncle can't have wine or mushrooms because of gout. I winged some replacements; I will need to make a special trip for Valencia rice next time but I used Asian sweet rice, I didn't find pimenton, and I didn't find the right kind of peppers. The pepper selection at both the Asian market and Safeway did not include the type in the recipe, so I used sweet chili peppers assuming "peppers" were essential for flavor but also trying to avoid something that would cause me (personally) to burn my mouth. The verdict later on by the Portuguese family was that it was flavorful, but hardly hot at all. I was at the border of my "spicy" comfort zone and I can think of 3 Irish friends off the top of my head who would have thought it too hot to eat. I also added some mixed seafood (clams, squid, crab, calamari). Turns out mom is afraid of the squids and we'd all yell, "found a tentacle" while eating so we could see her do her "oooh! icky" wiggle. LOL. Bad kids!
But I have to add, I'm really yearning for a paella pan. I forsee more like this in the future.
The paella was joined by a loaf of French bread split down the middle and baked with basil, cheese, and chopped roasted-salted pistachios. I also did a roasted albino asparagus dish with onions, tossed with oil/balsamic and then topped with chopped nuts and Feta cheese. After dinner we were supposed to have orange gelato, but that didn't quite work out to plan.
I make my gelato from a custard. Miss E was bugging me to help in the kitchen and since my mom had always banished us from the kitchen, I try to let the kids help when they show an interest. But between juggling her in the kitchen (she had to go wash her hands 3 x, take a potty break, fuss with her apron, etc), I forgot to turn down the heat under the custard and the eggs separated and went lumpy. Grr.... Later I had an idea and tossed it in the blender, ran it on the highest setting for a few minutes and then it turned all frothy and smooth. Yay! Technology! But it was too late to turn it into gelato because it has to cool for a few hours before going into the ice-cream maker. So it because the topping on vanilla bean ice cream. It was tasty even if it wasn't what I had in mind.
Today is "SCIENCE!" Day. I have a book of science projects for kids and we flipped through it. The kids each picked something to do for science fair and then we charted out 4-5 more projects we are going to do "just for us". The upstairs bathroom is about to become a mad-science lab. heh.
Super N is doing great in school. His performance reports are pretty awesome. I'm grateful to the teacher for doing this, so I think we'll send a little thank you gift this week.
Projects: This weekend I started to mentally move forward with my to-do list; excitement is building. Felicia (head needle schemer in the WKN-Guild) contacted me last fall and booked me to do something that she needed by 3/1, which would have been perfect over the last few weeks. Lolling around with "embroidery by numbers" (i.e. doing a project per someone else's design) would have fit in well with my post-12th Night project recovery. But it never came, I got no word, and that window has closed (meaning there isn't enough time between now and 3/1 for me to complete the scope of work she described). In my world silence means, "I changed my mind, don't worry about it and carry on as you were." So I've mentally moved on. My race is in a week, so between now and then I'm looking over my lists and staging stuff. But it's very exciting and it keeps me my mental gears occupied while I'm running.
Running:
Uncle went running with me yesterday. His base speed is faster than mine, but his endurance has taken a hit because he had a foot injury (he had gout in his foot and the pain was so extreme he couldn't wear a shoe for days!!!) and he hasn't run in a bit over a month. Plus before that he'd been running sporadically. Yesterday he could do speedy intervals until his lungs protested and then he'd walk. I was the steady little engine chugging along at my 10-min mile. My problem was that everytime I stopped to walk with him, my calves screamed during my restart and just as my muscles got to the warm, comfortable zone again he'd walk. We did that for about 45 minutes or so and determined that we are not compatible running buddies for the race (I don't mind being his pace-car during a weekend run, but that's going to kill me in a 13.1 mile run). The plan for next Sunday is that we will race our own races and not worry about staying together. His strategy will be to run for 10 minutes and walk 3-5 minutes and even if he doesn't feel tired at the 10 minute mark, he's going to walk. That will hopefully keep him from red-lining at the end of the race. And in his own words, if he has to walk to the finish, so be it. My strategy is to use the 3 of the 5 water stations as "walking zones"; run my pace to the water station, drink and walk the length of the water station, and then run again.
Oh - my new running mantra:
If I'm worried about how my butt looks in those tight "Nike Fit" running capris, then I'm not running hard enough or focusing enough on my form. LOL
I'm annoyed by the invasion of Girl Scout Cookie pushers. I hate they way they stake out grocery stores and try to use their little girl charm to wheedle me into buying cookies. Normally I avoid them because cookies are my special crack. I don't even want friends bringing the forms in my house if I'm having a social occasion. Having been borderline diabetic, I normally respond to the freckled imps with, "I'm diabetic, no thanks." Does that discourage them? nooooo... The nearby mom often suggests I can buy them for a friend. And now they call me at home because Miss E has friends of the appropriate age. I am always polite when I decline, but deep inside I'm grinding my teeth in annoyance.
However, in a fit of rebellion against all the people who have pushy tactics, I found out that one of my good friends at work has a cookie sheet posted in her cube because I was visiting her cube neighbor. While ranting about the bad tactics of others, some wild streak in me prompted me to reward the "non-pushy" friend by signing up for a few token boxes.
Slap forehead. I hate cookie season. The friend only confirmed how cool and non-pushy she is by calling me to thank me for making a purchase and then joked that she and others have decided that "Thin Mints" ought to be renamed "make my butt fat-mints".
I love to take one of my weekend days and cook. I have the time to do it at leisure without juggling homework or racing the kids bed-time. Yesterday my mom(-i-law) and brother were over and they were fabulous company while I worked on dinner. I put the brother to work zesting oranges for the custard while Mom entertained me with her observations of how I've come a long way in the kitchen over the last 9 years. We joked about the burn mark in my kitchen floor, the number of times I've gone racing through the house to toss a smoking pot out a window or door before the fire-alarm gets triggered, the time I hand ground chocolate (I didn't think you could buy it that way), etc. I still have periodic fail, but it's less frequent. The site of me prepping ingredients, browning chicken, and juggling 3 dishes at once gave her a tickle. With the house filling with savory smells, it felt warm and homey.
Yesterdays dinner was inspired by the Spanish Table. I made paella and I'm really pleased with how it turned out. I went for a traditional dish with a few twists; no saffron, mushrooms or white wine. Saffron is not in my budget this week and F! and Uncle can't have wine or mushrooms because of gout. I winged some replacements; I will need to make a special trip for Valencia rice next time but I used Asian sweet rice, I didn't find pimenton, and I didn't find the right kind of peppers. The pepper selection at both the Asian market and Safeway did not include the type in the recipe, so I used sweet chili peppers assuming "peppers" were essential for flavor but also trying to avoid something that would cause me (personally) to burn my mouth. The verdict later on by the Portuguese family was that it was flavorful, but hardly hot at all. I was at the border of my "spicy" comfort zone and I can think of 3 Irish friends off the top of my head who would have thought it too hot to eat. I also added some mixed seafood (clams, squid, crab, calamari). Turns out mom is afraid of the squids and we'd all yell, "found a tentacle" while eating so we could see her do her "oooh! icky" wiggle. LOL. Bad kids!
But I have to add, I'm really yearning for a paella pan. I forsee more like this in the future.
The paella was joined by a loaf of French bread split down the middle and baked with basil, cheese, and chopped roasted-salted pistachios. I also did a roasted albino asparagus dish with onions, tossed with oil/balsamic and then topped with chopped nuts and Feta cheese. After dinner we were supposed to have orange gelato, but that didn't quite work out to plan.
I make my gelato from a custard. Miss E was bugging me to help in the kitchen and since my mom had always banished us from the kitchen, I try to let the kids help when they show an interest. But between juggling her in the kitchen (she had to go wash her hands 3 x, take a potty break, fuss with her apron, etc), I forgot to turn down the heat under the custard and the eggs separated and went lumpy. Grr.... Later I had an idea and tossed it in the blender, ran it on the highest setting for a few minutes and then it turned all frothy and smooth. Yay! Technology! But it was too late to turn it into gelato because it has to cool for a few hours before going into the ice-cream maker. So it because the topping on vanilla bean ice cream. It was tasty even if it wasn't what I had in mind.
Today is "SCIENCE!" Day. I have a book of science projects for kids and we flipped through it. The kids each picked something to do for science fair and then we charted out 4-5 more projects we are going to do "just for us". The upstairs bathroom is about to become a mad-science lab. heh.
Super N is doing great in school. His performance reports are pretty awesome. I'm grateful to the teacher for doing this, so I think we'll send a little thank you gift this week.
Projects: This weekend I started to mentally move forward with my to-do list; excitement is building. Felicia (head needle schemer in the WKN-Guild) contacted me last fall and booked me to do something that she needed by 3/1, which would have been perfect over the last few weeks. Lolling around with "embroidery by numbers" (i.e. doing a project per someone else's design) would have fit in well with my post-12th Night project recovery. But it never came, I got no word, and that window has closed (meaning there isn't enough time between now and 3/1 for me to complete the scope of work she described). In my world silence means, "I changed my mind, don't worry about it and carry on as you were." So I've mentally moved on. My race is in a week, so between now and then I'm looking over my lists and staging stuff. But it's very exciting and it keeps me my mental gears occupied while I'm running.
Running:
Uncle went running with me yesterday. His base speed is faster than mine, but his endurance has taken a hit because he had a foot injury (he had gout in his foot and the pain was so extreme he couldn't wear a shoe for days!!!) and he hasn't run in a bit over a month. Plus before that he'd been running sporadically. Yesterday he could do speedy intervals until his lungs protested and then he'd walk. I was the steady little engine chugging along at my 10-min mile. My problem was that everytime I stopped to walk with him, my calves screamed during my restart and just as my muscles got to the warm, comfortable zone again he'd walk. We did that for about 45 minutes or so and determined that we are not compatible running buddies for the race (I don't mind being his pace-car during a weekend run, but that's going to kill me in a 13.1 mile run). The plan for next Sunday is that we will race our own races and not worry about staying together. His strategy will be to run for 10 minutes and walk 3-5 minutes and even if he doesn't feel tired at the 10 minute mark, he's going to walk. That will hopefully keep him from red-lining at the end of the race. And in his own words, if he has to walk to the finish, so be it. My strategy is to use the 3 of the 5 water stations as "walking zones"; run my pace to the water station, drink and walk the length of the water station, and then run again.
Oh - my new running mantra:
If I'm worried about how my butt looks in those tight "Nike Fit" running capris, then I'm not running hard enough or focusing enough on my form. LOL