Parenting Lessons in the Waffle Batter
We eat a lot of chicken, and by that I mean... we eat a lot of chicken. We probably have dinners based on boneless skinless chicken breasts four nights every week at a minimum, often more than that. I try to get creative in how to prepare the chicken, but really, like most households, we end up having the same list of meals over and over again in succession. Once a week we might have steak -- but we don't even really buy ground beef except for the very exceptional Beef Taco Night. Ian and pork do not generally get along, you see, so that's largely out. Neither of us eat fish, and although we both like shrimp, about a year or two ago, the switch flipped, and all of a sudden I got rather grossed out by the concept of preparing shrimp at home. We might have it once every six months or so now.
The fact that I've gotten this far, and my entire monologue has been about types of meat (and arguably seafood, if you consider them to be different things) should tell you that we're confirmed and happy carnivores. We don't very often even consider a dinner that doesn't have meat on the menu.
Last night was one such night, however. In an attempt to Try Something Different for dinner, I decided that we'd make waffles since it was "Heroes" Night on television -- and fans of that show will recognize the tie-in of waffles with it. Personally, I adore breakfast for dinner -- I think it's even listed as one of my Interests here on LiveJournal. Trouble is that Ian and I don't care for the same breakfast foods, otherwise I'd probably make a dinner of bacon, eggs, and homefries a weekly staple (actually, as I write this, it's sounding pretty good for breakfast, too!). I'm not much for baked goods at breakfast time. Waffles we both enjoy, but they are a bit of a craft project. You gotta get the right supplies, setup the waffle iron... remember that it takes ForeverTM for the waffle iron to heat up... remember that the Williams-Sonoma fancy waffle mix which we like does much better if you let it rise... actually, that part was not difficult to remember since last time we made waffles, I took my handy-dandy kitchen Sharpie, and wrote, "LET RISE" on the waffle mix label.
I learned an important parenting lesson last night -- many things just aren't the same after you become a parent. Now, sure, in this case, I am not yet the parent of two-legged children that walk upright. Nevertheless, it applies that life simply changes after you introduce babies to a household -- particularly since my babies are indeed quite spritely on their four legs. Last night I learned that the tried and true method of letting something rise taught to me by my mother -- leaving it in the bowl with a clean dish rag over the top to let the batter get warm, and protect it from houseflies -- well, that just doesn't work when you have kittens in the house. What happens is that there you were in the living room, watching an episode of "Connections" about... oh, who can remember? But it was fascinating, to be sure! Oh yes, the Arabs and Astrology... anyway, there you were when out in the kitchen there arose such a clatter, the husband, he sprang up to see what was the matter! Well, what was the matter was that some kitten or kittens who shall remain nameless decided to walk across the dish rag covering the bowl of waffle batter, thus soaking the dish rag, but somehow rather miraculously protecting their little furry feet from becoming batter-encrusted -- or, put a different way, protecting the waffle batter from becoming fur-encrusted. Neither waffle batter nor cats were the worse for wear -- the dish rag, on the other hand, has seen better days. O dish rag, we hardly knew ye!
In the end, my husband and I enjoyed a rich feast of four waffles each (or two, depending on how you count them, really), and a few slices of bacon on the side since, as I have noted, we are carnivores, and we do so enjoy a bit of meat as our dinner.
Trace
The fact that I've gotten this far, and my entire monologue has been about types of meat (and arguably seafood, if you consider them to be different things) should tell you that we're confirmed and happy carnivores. We don't very often even consider a dinner that doesn't have meat on the menu.
Last night was one such night, however. In an attempt to Try Something Different for dinner, I decided that we'd make waffles since it was "Heroes" Night on television -- and fans of that show will recognize the tie-in of waffles with it. Personally, I adore breakfast for dinner -- I think it's even listed as one of my Interests here on LiveJournal. Trouble is that Ian and I don't care for the same breakfast foods, otherwise I'd probably make a dinner of bacon, eggs, and homefries a weekly staple (actually, as I write this, it's sounding pretty good for breakfast, too!). I'm not much for baked goods at breakfast time. Waffles we both enjoy, but they are a bit of a craft project. You gotta get the right supplies, setup the waffle iron... remember that it takes ForeverTM for the waffle iron to heat up... remember that the Williams-Sonoma fancy waffle mix which we like does much better if you let it rise... actually, that part was not difficult to remember since last time we made waffles, I took my handy-dandy kitchen Sharpie, and wrote, "LET RISE" on the waffle mix label.
I learned an important parenting lesson last night -- many things just aren't the same after you become a parent. Now, sure, in this case, I am not yet the parent of two-legged children that walk upright. Nevertheless, it applies that life simply changes after you introduce babies to a household -- particularly since my babies are indeed quite spritely on their four legs. Last night I learned that the tried and true method of letting something rise taught to me by my mother -- leaving it in the bowl with a clean dish rag over the top to let the batter get warm, and protect it from houseflies -- well, that just doesn't work when you have kittens in the house. What happens is that there you were in the living room, watching an episode of "Connections" about... oh, who can remember? But it was fascinating, to be sure! Oh yes, the Arabs and Astrology... anyway, there you were when out in the kitchen there arose such a clatter, the husband, he sprang up to see what was the matter! Well, what was the matter was that some kitten or kittens who shall remain nameless decided to walk across the dish rag covering the bowl of waffle batter, thus soaking the dish rag, but somehow rather miraculously protecting their little furry feet from becoming batter-encrusted -- or, put a different way, protecting the waffle batter from becoming fur-encrusted. Neither waffle batter nor cats were the worse for wear -- the dish rag, on the other hand, has seen better days. O dish rag, we hardly knew ye!
In the end, my husband and I enjoyed a rich feast of four waffles each (or two, depending on how you count them, really), and a few slices of bacon on the side since, as I have noted, we are carnivores, and we do so enjoy a bit of meat as our dinner.
Trace