What drives you?

I am sitting here in the hotel with my husband. We aren't really on vacation. It is a vacation of sorts I suppose. Dig down and it is actually work travel for me.

One of the teams I manage - that I have managed for right at four years - won a national level award. It's an FLC-IPA award. Every year the FLC honors those of us who work in federal labs for successfully transfering technology for use. Our award was an IPA (Interagency Partnership Award) - only one of these awards is offered a year as compared to the Technology Transfer Awards. So what does that boil down to? Basically my team won this in collaboration with our Navy partners and we were all honored and packed onto a little stage with a bunch of lights shining on us while they said something about what we did - but I didn't hear any of that.

A few months ago I was whining to my mentor about something - I don't remember what - and she told me how important it is to find what drives your people on your team. Some people are driven by raises and promotions, some are driven by awards and recognition and some are driven by other things.

Me? I am not driven by awards. Ok, it is nice. We have enjoyed a nice expenses paid "vacation" tremendously. I have been impressed by my sister in laws ability to step up and take the reigns with the kids for a few days. AB and I have really had a nice time connecting together. We have eaten fabulous (Nola on the Square), fabulous (Salt of the Earth) food. We have gone on tours that we would never take our kids on (Fallingwater and through multiple turn of the century churches with amazing architecture).

I tend to be a bit of a nervous person. I worry about tripping when walking up to accept an award. I don't care to be in the limelight (yet I don't really mind public speaking when I can rehearse). I worry about saying stupid things. I don't care to have my name called out over a microphone. Attention? Not my thing.

Today I got a few e-mails. The first was from our media person at the lab sending notes to start setting up interviews. First up, one of our local news networks next week.

Heartburn. I procrastinated that reply while I wondered if I could get out of it. My husband reminded me how nuts I was.

I will do it, but my head might spin a bit before and I will blush horribly watching myself on the TV later that evening.

The other e-mail that I got? One of the guys I have worked with on a few projects in passing - and who is the lead design engineer for one of the biggest programs for my lab - sent me a note. He asked me if he could set up a meeting with me and some of his engineers who are trying to make some sector connections and could we collaborate on a new proposal? YES!

Elated! I sent a reply to that e-mail right on back!

What drives me?

I am a Capricorn. I like to climb. Being known in my organization, being networked with others, being the go to person for others - that's what gives me that kick. Knowing and being known on a first name basis by those across my lab and up the entire chain of my management. That's what drives me. Being known for doing good work.

Yes, my mentor was right - some people are driven by awards and external recognition (a few of my team members fit this well) - but not everyone is driven by that.

My job going forward? Being a good team leader and not ignoring the things that don't drive me. Pursue those awards. Don't ignore and avoid the media and communications people. Buck up and push it forward for the team.

Because the vacation and end results are pretty neat.

It's good we can cook...

Because dining out in this city just sucks!

We hadn't eaten out in quite awhile and I convinced AB to go out to dinner last night. He was tired from putting the floor in and I was tired of fielding the kids all day and dealing with Miss Sassy. We needed to get out of the house.

My one request was that we couldn't go to the usual haunt (Sakura) because I wasn't in the mood for sushi (amazingly enough) and I wanted something different. We stepped only slightly out of the box and headed to a Korean restaurant not far from us. One where if we were "regulars" anywhere other than Sakura, this would be #3 on the list. (#2 being a Mexican place a few blocks from the house.)

Having kids has really impacted our dining out style.

Ok, so we go to the sparsely decorated Korean restaurant that still (after 8 or so years) lacks a liquor license. That's ok.

New and very young waitstaff as usual.

Waitress: "Can I take your order?"

AB: "Yes, we will start with the combination tempura..."

Waitress: "Ok, is that all for you tonight?"

AB: "No, the kids will split a Sweet and Sour Chicken with the Sweet and Sour Sauce on the Side."

Waitress: "Ok, is that all for you tonight?"

Me: "No, I would like dinner too. I will do #54."

Waitress: "I am sorry, I don't know the menu yet, what is that?"

Me: "It's the Spicy Pork Bulgogi right here," I said pointing to the menu. AB noted he would take one as well.

A bit of time passes and she returns with the tempura that the entire family chows. Then the Sweet and Sour Chicken arrives, covered in sauce. Skadi is happy, Leif is in tears.

AB tells the waitress that he requested the sauce on the side. Yes, she remembers that but thought he meant something else. I mean really lame long rambley response about why the sauce was on the top and not on the side.

AB: "Can you just bring out a saucer of the chicken without the sauce on it."

She heads in to check. Skadi is chowing away at the sweet and sour chicken.

Waitress: "No, I am sorry we can't. I can return this plate and the chef can remake it, but we can't just bring out extra chicken without the plate being returned."

AB: "But she is eating it and I would rather not take it away,  you are just going to throw it away."

Waitress: "No, I am sorry we can't do that, we are just too busy to do that."

?!?!?!

AB: "Fine, I will order another order of Sweet and Sour Chicken with the SAUCE ON THE SIDE."

Then our meals come out. It looks a bit different, but we start eating. Our Korean side dishes don't arrive, so I flag down the waitress.

Me: "Will our Korean side dishes be coming? The Kim-Chi and such."

Waitress: "Let me go see."

She returns.

Waitress: "I am sorry, you ordered the spicy pork teriyaki, it doesn't come with Korean side dishes."

Me: "Umm no. I ordered the bulgogi and we had a conversation about you not knowing the menu and I pointed it to you."

Waitress: "Let me go see."

She returns.

Waitress: "Ok, she will remake your meals for you."

AB: "Nevermind. Can  you just bring us the Korean side dishes to go with the pork teriyaki?"

And she does.

Then she brings out a grilled chicken breast sliced up on a plate and puts it in front of Leif.

And if I didn't have a plate of hot food in front of me my head would have just dropped onto the table and maybe pounded a bit.

We all ate. The waitress avoided us.

Then she brought us our ticket charging us for EVERYTHING including $4 for the grilled chicken breast.

Sigh.

Foodie Inspirations

One of my old issues of Bon Appetit (it is an older issue as I have no time to read it anymore it seems) had a section on defining food moments. What, in your lifetime, was your defining food moment or moments? That point where food became more than just sustenance? Where food became intriguing? What helped you define yourself further from being a mere consumer?

Ok, so those last three are my spin on the question since in Bon Appetit it was posed to a bunch of chefs. And I am not a chef – but I think the question is still relevant.

I was always a horribly picky child. Horribly. I rarely tried anything new and I preferred bland food. I ate mild salsa. And I dipped my chip carefully so as to not get any chunks on my chip, then I would shake it so I didn’t get too much salsa. Seriously.

Wow have I come a long way.

I recall a few food defining moments…

The first one that pops to mind was when I started dating a guy in my freshman year of college. He had a bit of hippy to him and had worked in kitchens throughout Northern Colorado. In that nearly two years we dated, he taught me to cook. Really cook, as in not food preparation for mere sustenance. We ate at some fabulous restaurants and cooked great food and used it as an excuse to gather with friends.

When we were first starting to date he took me to El Chapultapec in downtown Denver and we ordered green chili. I was still picky, but despite my fear, I wasn’t going to let it show.

I took one bite of my steaming bowlful of green chili in front of me and I started to cry. It burned. It hit my tastebuds. It paralyzed my taste buds. I gagged. I gulped water. I cried some more.

And then I went back for more.

It was delicious and had flavors I never knew existed.

I am positive I permanently maimed my taste buds that evening. But it was a good thing.

My second food defining moment was when I was new in my job out of grad school. AB and I were invited to go have Thanksgiving dinner with one of my managers. It was one of the first times that we either weren’t traveling to Colorado to be with my family, or weren’t hosting ourselves. We felt a bit out of sorts about eating at someone else’s house for Thanksgiving, but we embraced it.

Dinner was very traditional and good. But everyone was so excited for dessert – pie! I knew I could embrace this. I love pie. Pie is my family’s way of doing dessert. I had eaten pie since I was a child and there is NO other way to finish up Thanksgiving dinner. Pie is what Thanksgiving is all about to me. I could care less about turkey usually. But pie? Yum. So when the manager told me a week in advance that pie was their centerpiece for the meal, I knew this would go over well.

Once there though, my perceptions changed. Then I was a bit horrified.

My hosts pulled out a few boxes out of the freezer and tossed frozen pies into the oven.

They pulled the pies out later and everyone ooh’d and aah’d over the pies.

I tried not to turn up my nose. I took a piece.

Then I went home and vowed to learn to make pie crust. To this point I had accepted that I was not a pie crust maker and relied on eating my mom’s pies. Only occasionally attempting pie myself and dealing with the fact that I had tough ugly crusts.

A year or so later I had mastered pie crust and resolved to never ever ever be forced to eat frozen box pies for Thanksgiving dinner ever again.

My pie crusts may not be pretty, but I can crank the pies out with ease.

Four Ingredients

to deliciousness.

When I was a little kid I loved getting the phone call from my grandma saying that they were having hamhocks and beans for dinner. Because it meant that I got to go over to their house and eat it with them.

My grandpa would mix up four ingredients and come out with my favorite dish - or one of two of my favorite dishes (the other being tuna fish casserole). One of my favorite memories is sitting there at that old metal table of theirs eating ham hocks and beans with my Pa.

My version:

Soak one bag of Great Northern beans overnight.

Brown 4-6 ham hocks on all sides in a large stock pot.
Remove ham hocks.
Cook 1 diced onion in stock pot (if need be, add a bit of canola oil so it doesn't stick).
Cook until translucent.
Add 2 quarts of chicken broth.
Add soaked Great Northern beans.
Return ham hocks to pan and bring to a boil.
Cover, reduce to a simmer and cook for 2-3 hours.
Salt as needed.
Enjoy.

I have worked the kids up to eating the ham from the soup. And the other day Leif ate a bean accidentally that stuck to the inside of the ham. And it wasn't awful! I will have them eating ham hocks and beans. It is a family tradition on my side of the family that runs as deep as Swedies on AB's side.

Anti-Cancer

A coworker of mine came back from reserve duty last week and took up residence in his brand new office across the hall from me. I enjoy having him there, he is a nice guy I get along well with and enjoy working with. We also see eye to eye on a lot of things in life - religion, family values, etc. It has been a different week with him back and there in his office... for example, I hear my name yelled spontaneously in our wing pretty regularly.

He spent some time in my office catching up earlier this week whereby we talked a fair amount about my mom's "Celebration of Life". He asked me the million dollar question then.

"Since your mom was diagnosed with this cancer at such a young age, do you worry about whether you will get it as well?"

Anyone who answers no, is lying.

It crosses my mind nearly daily. And since I am also a scientist with a wealth of journals at my fingertips, I will admit to staying on top of cancer studies and the current state of the art. When someone is diagnosed with cancer it is often a shock, a surprise and followed by a lot of time trying to understand 'what next'? And is what my doctor telling me the right course?

We had a lot of this with my mom because she was diagnosed with such a rare and often unrecognizable cancer. It wasn't until 6 months after we knew she had liver cancer did anyone dare label it with this rare name... cholangiocarcinoma. A cancer that only about 4000 people a year are diagnosed with in the US.

Yes, I think about it often. Will I get this cancer? Will my sister? Will my kids? My daughter's tummy ache the other day, is it cancer?

Present day medicine does not have a means to genetic test us to see if we will get this rare cancer. What medicine could tell us (if I understand it correctly) if we carry a gene that makes you more susceptible to cancers of this family. Taking this test? I haven't gotten there in my head yet.

What I can do, as I am learning in Anticancer, is to take steps to ensure that my body can fight cancer and make myself less susceptible to cancer. I like this book because as a scientist myself, it isn't telling a person with cancer to abandon all conventional treatment, it tells us to supplement your treatment. I believe there is merit to alternative medicine, but I also believe in scientific reasearch. As a Ph.D. chemist I "grew up" learning "better living through chemistry". And to a large degree I believe this, but I also understand that we don't know it all.

The book was recommended to my mom by a close friend who battled lymphoma successfully nearly two years ago. My mom downloaded it onto her Kindle and now I am reading it with rapt attention.

I am learning (after being only a third of the way into it) that we aren't terribly far off base in doing things to prevent cancer.

• We don't eat red meat more than 3 times a week.
• We only use olive oil or canola oil.
• We eat and push fresh fruit and vegies on our children (despite one of them having a weird aversion to fresh fruit that I do not understand - or accept - for the life of me)
• We drink red wine with dinner.
• We eat loads of blueberries.
• We all eat broccolli at least once a week.
• We eat fish and a lot of that is salmon.
• We shop local for local produce when possible.
• We make our own spaghetti sauce, thereby eliminating sugar in a routine dinner meal at our house.
• We have drank organic milk since my son started on milk.

Things I need to do better:

• Not drink so much coffee... (I gave up Pepsi two years ago and switched to coffee - and I am fully addicted to coffee now.)
• Pay better attention to use of plastic - I tend to look for BPA, but not always. I need to work on our use of Ziploc bags for everything - not only for health but also for environmental reasons. Example - when I buy meat in bulk and repackage and freeze, I need to wrap in parchment first... parchment isn't bad... is it?
• Watch the sugar. I like desserts on occasion, and that isn't going anywhere. But I have a new rule regarding fruit snacks (you know the ones in the cereal aisle), I am not buying them. If the kids want stuff like that they can come with me to the grocery store and ask. So it isn't that I am cutting them cold turkey, but I personally, am not going to enable it. If no one comes to the grocery store with me than I buy what I want. Simple as that. This is made easier by the fact that the kids are both head over heels and have been for some time for these fruit crisps. I buy them at Costco and this is lately Skadi's source of fruit (other than bananas and apples, which she will eat).
• Work towards cutting back on white flour. This is one we will work at, but frankly, I like to bake simply with white flour. I am open to alternatives, but pie crust just isn't the same.
• Get more exercise (no need to explain - I just need to get back to getting up every morning and working out - this would be greatly enabled by a daughter who slept through the night.)
• Check out "grass-fed" dairy products, this may be difficult in our small-ish town.

I believe in everything in moderation really. I am not necessarily looking to cut any of this out completely, and I don't think that is realistic for our family. But I will be trying to make some changes.

The best ever...

spicy food?

Name your best ever spicy food meal, please.

(Just something we were talking about today, trying to come up with best meals can be hard. So many of my favorite meals are surrounded around events and I don't necessarily remember what I ate at some.)

My best ever spicy meals...

a few come to mind.

• Green chili from El Chapultapec in LoDo... before Lower Downtown Denver was actually cool and LoDo. I ate there when I was 18 with my then boyfriend. I cried their green chili burnt my mouth so bad. But for years after I went back for more.
• My husband's green chili - modeled after El Chapultapec's but with a twist - smoked pork loin.
• My first time eating Thai food when I was 18 also. It was spicy, and a bit hot, but the flavors were a taste sensation. I had never had anything so flavorful in my entire life.
• Spicy tuna rolls from Pete's Sushi restaurant in Alaska.

Nuts

I have never been a big fan of nuts in general. As a kid I was just about the only one around who couldn’t stand peanut butter. I came around in my early 20’s when I became obsessed with peanut butter banana sandwiches. Two tastes that individually, I didn’t care about, but when put together – “It’s got like this Ba-boom Zap kind of taste!” (Thanks Remy.)

I would still plow through peanut butter and banana sandwiches if it weren’t for the stinking heartburn that pops out of nowhere ONLY when I eat these. Seriously. This is my heartburn trigger of all things.

I like peanuts, though I normally don’t eat them often. Every once in awhile I will succumb to Reese's, but it usually isn't my first go to. I got to know soy nuts (love those on salads) and sunflower seeds (though they strike as more work than they are worth). Pine nuts… mmmm… pine nuts. We went through a bit of a pistachio thing when we would drive through the California Central Valley on our way to Napa or San Francisco from Reno when I was in grad school and could pick them up at farm stands for $2 a pound.

But typically? Nuts? I avoid them.

Macademia white chocolate chip cookies? No thanks.

Brownies with walnuts? Why ruin a good brownie?

Peanut butter sandwiches for my kid? There are allergic kids around, we don’t want to be responsible for something like that.

You get the idea. Not a fan of nuts.

The other day one of the soccer parents supplied snack and to my surprise there was a Capri Sun (mainstay at soccer games like orange sections were when I was a kid… what happened to orange sections and soccer? Is it the whole home prepared food paranoia?) and a package of Trail Mix. Ok, yes, make me feel bad for sending rice krispie treats!

I know my kid well enough to know he was thrilled. Not for the Trail Mix, but there were M&Ms in there! Leif has a nut aversion like I do. Also kind of like me – an antiaversion to chocolate.

He sat in his carseat (in AB’s car, yes he has finally succumbed to the kids eating in his new car) digging through the nuts for M&Ms, while pawning off the raisins on his sister who was none the wiser to the real goal in mind.

I looked back and those nuts looked delicious!

I can’t explain it, but I held out my hand for the bag of Trail Mix, which he readily handed over to me in hopes of ease in obtaining the coveted chocolate. I poured out a handful and picked out the M&Ms and handed them over while maintaining his secret and handing the raisins to Skadi.

Then I devoured the remaining nuts.

I am still not sure what came over me. It wasn’t like I was that hungry. They just looked… delicious. And they were!

At work the other day one of my coworkers saved some German marzipan for me. I had no idea what it was, German confection? Sure thing! Then she told me it had almond paste in it. Hmmm… I wondered for a minute if I shouldn’t just resist her generosity with sharing her chocolates that she loved so much citing a nut aversion…

Naw!

It did have chocolate on it after all.

My new interest? Marzipan.

At the grocery store I was looking for something to put in my desk drawer for snacks. I was tired of the 100 calorie packs when I stumbled upon the nut section. I stood there for awhile pondering the options… then finally settled on a canister with *gasp* an assortment of nuts including macademia, Brazil and walnuts!

I always wonder what my body is telling me when I crave a food. I do believe that your body tells you what it needs. But I am not really craving nuts… just enjoying them. I have gone through a few taste bud changes in my lifetime (when I lost my taste for shrimp was a milestone one and then gaining it back recently was another). Maybe that is what this is.

Let's see if you can figure it out...

Me: "What's your favorite thing for breakfast?"

Leif: "You know, it's round and has fruit inside."

Me: (Perplexed) "Sweedies?"

Leif: "No."

Me: "Blueberry pancakes?"

Leif: "No."

Me: "Muffins?"

Leif: (Increasingly more annoyed.) "NO!"

Me: "Round and has fruit inside, like pie?"

Leif: "NO!"

Me: "Ok, help me out, do I cook it?"

Leif: "Well umm, yeah, you make it."

Me: (Totally perplexed.) "Can you tell me more about it?"

Leif: "It is round, has fruit inside, it has salt on top and seeds inside."

Me: (Totally totally perplexed.) "Round, has fruit inside, salt on top and seeds inside... a bagel?"

Leif: "NO! You know this mom."

Me: "I am sorry honey, I don't. What kind of fruit?"

Leif: "Triangle fruit. The fruit is in triangles."

Me: "Leif I have no idea whatsoever. We eat this thing for breakfast?"

Leif: "Yes, all the time!"

(Thankfully the phone rang about this time... it is AB.)

Me: "What do we eat for breakfast that is round, has triangle shaped fruit inside, salt on top and seeds inside."

AB: "What? Round and triangle fruit for breakfast?"

Me: "Yes, round, triangle fruit, salt on top, seeds inside."

AB: "I have absolutely no idea."

----

I know what it is now that Leif showed me, but can you figure it out?

Beefing Up

I don’t think we had really paid attention to the fact that beef has been dwindling in our diets until last night. I cook a lot of fish and chicken during the weeknight. However, beef, aside from one or two standby dishes each month (mainly tacos), is mysteriously absent.

Part of it is the fact that I do most of the weeknight cooking and aside from browning up ground beef on occasion I don’t tend to buy or cook beef often. It isn’t that I don’t like beef – I actually love beef, far more than chicken, which given complete power over my family would probably also become a rarity on our plates. But AB likes chicken breasts and the kids will eat chicken. So I cook chicken.

My husband tends to be a touch obsessive about how meat is cooked. By meat, I mean beef in general, large cuts of pork, chicken breasts (only ever grilled) and fish (though I can get away with searing tuna and halibut inside on my grill pan lately). Not only should most meat be cooked over hot charcoal according to AB, but it should also be of a certain quality and have a yet indescribable appearance to it - an appearance that I will likely never understand. I have only a touch more success picking out beef at the grocery store then I do fish.

Anyways, getting a meal on the table that came from a charcoal BBQ takes time – and my kids don’t like to wait for dinner on weeknights. I don’t like them to wait for dinner either because then I find myself being forced to say “No” repeatedly. “No you may not have fruit snacks”, “No you may not have cookies”, “No you may not fix soup or eggs”. Etc.

Last night I was making a quick jambalaya (Zatarains) for AB and I. My kids are wusses and cry when they eat anything hot. So tonight was a night when they got to pick their dinner. I asked Leif what he wanted.

“I want rice, corn, two crackers and a steak,” he declared.

I nearly stopped in my tracks. So just to confirm, I asked him:

“You want steak?” I asked.

See Leif is not a protein kid at all. He has never cared for meat and in the past couple years we have resorted to holding his dessert (i.e., his before bed snack intended to get food in his tummy so he doesn’t wake up at 2am hungry) hostage until he has eaten his meat. It is a battle every single night.

“Yes, I need steak,” he declared.

I picked up the cell phone knowing AB was on his way to Albertsons to get Andouille sausage.

“Hey, would you also pick up a small steak we can panfry for Leif, he says he wants steak,” I relay to AB.

“NOT a SMALL steak,” a voice came from the back seat of the car, “a BIG steak, I need a BIG steak.”

“Ok,” I tell AB, “you heard him, he wants a big steak.”

My kid was asking for a food he normally won’t eat well, I was going to indulge him.

AB also apparently decided that HE was going to indulge Leif as well. He brought home a 0.8 lb Ribeye. A big steak. And not only that, but a good steak. I tell you, AB has standards.

We then spent the next 20 minutes debating on how to cook the steak for Leif – seasonings and method, because we weren’t starting charcoal for the BBQ’er.

In the end it was seasoned with Alder smoked salt and pepper and then pan fried in my grill pan (which AB balked big time when I bought it from IKEA, but we actually use pretty regularly) with a little olive oil for about 1 minute on each side and finished in the oven for a nice medium rare finish.

And it was tasty! I almost wished I was eating steak instead of jambalaya.

Ok, I did wish I was eating steak instead of jambalaya.

Leif chowed his slices eating probably about a third of the steak. Another third AB and I nibbled at and we tossed the last part into the fridge. We talked briefly last night wondering if Leif was craving steak because he needed it, was he maybe anemic? We have fought anemia with Skadi for the last year. Maybe we just need to eat more red meat?

This morning when we got up I asked Leif what he wanted for breakfast today.

“Steak, eggs and a banana,” he answered.

So he had steak, eggs and a banana.

Weekend Wrap Up

AB and I enjoyed four full days off. The poor kids only got three days off, but both were ready to get back by last night. I asked Skadi if she wanted to go to school this morning and she nodded her head wildly. Let's just hope her teacher isn't about ready to boot her by the end of the day - she is trying to push through her last two teeth (as opposed to molars - she still has four of those left to go for a full mouthful) and is a little bear. Her nights have been misery and AB and I have resigned ourselves to one of us just jumping in the extra queen sized bed (currently residing in her nursery) with her to get her back to bed. Sucky habit I know, but we all (including Leif) get more sleep that way. Oh and she IS a cuddler.

After four days off, AB and I were both ready to get back to work. AB started a new position within his same company today. He passed his EIT/FE exam awhile back, his manager braggardly opened his mouth to some of the other managers and shortly after AB was invited to float around a few other groups and find a place where he is happy (not that he isn't) and feels like he will fit long, long term. His manager is the meantime left regretting having bragged about him passing his exam.

Me? I am ready to have a day at work where I don't have 24 lbs hanging around my neck that screams wildly when put down. It's no wonder when I jump on my treadmill to run lately I surprise myself how far I can go before panting and dropping to the ground. She really has been giving me a workout.

So the big news of the weekend is finishing my Master Bath off. For the most part at least. Little details remain like recaulking the shower, sticking the trim back on, figuring out how awful my spray paint job on the shelves went and whether or not I am going to put them back on the wall or not (AB votes for not) and buying new rugs. My bathroom rugs are old and I want some pretty ones, but AB suggests that I wait until we are ready to list the house since my son's aim is pitiful.

I am starting to look towards my Master bedroom planning out my attack. Storage, I need lots of it. Ideally I want to sell our two dressers and put the money towards a new bedroom set. Realistically I need to purge the dresser contents, replace the hardware that has fallen off and deal with it until we move. The walls will need to be painted. It shouldn't (in theory) be a big job. Now October when I hit the kitchen? THAT will be a big job. Maybe I should save the money that would go towards a bedroom set for a new kitchen floor instead.

AB and I started our fall ritual of dealing with food. Leif and AB put what seemed like hundreds of tomatoes through our food mill (it was horribly entertaining for a four year old) and then AB cooked down the purree to about 3 gallons. Then froze it so we can tackle spaghetti sauce another weekend.

I cooked down our Merlot grapes to about 2 gallons of ridiculously sweet juice. Cabernet grapes will be in a few weeks - and I am scared. I took a look at the vine last night and I estimate that I have at least two to three times as many Cab grapes than I did Merlot. AB asked me what I am going to do with the juice other than take up valuable freezer space. Jelly maybe? Sorbet? Sherbet? Maybe all three. My MIL, however, was disappointed to hear that I have no plans to make wine. I don't know... maybe I should try? Maybe it would be a good experiment and a quick way to use up all the juice. Though I am with Andy on this one... why should I make wine when I have the stuff the pros make in my backyard?

I made a big double batch of pumpkin, chocolate chip bread. Recipe courtesy of VG... (who I really wish would start blogging again... she cracks me up and I could use the athletic motivation). Anyways, I ended up with two large loaves and four minis. Though it was good I got it into the freezer (yes another thing in the freezer) quickly. Both my kids will devour the stuff. (I am blaming them 100%, they aren't here to defend themselves or point fingers.)

I had every intention of making and freezing a few nectarine pies - but our freezer is full of grape and tomato stuff. And the kids were starting to look a little pale and neglected like they had seen one too many movie. So instead we jumped in the car with the dog and headed to the park for a play and a short hike in the foothills. It was good for us all as opposed to nectarine pie that only tastes really good.

The dreaded - or loved - tuna fish casserole

One of the only meals my mom would make as a kid and be assured I would clean my plate was tuna fish casserole. Easy... boil some noodles and drain. Add a can of tuna, a can of cream style corn, and a can of cream of mushroom soup. Season with Morton's Natures Seasoning (yes, it HAS to be this... I bought Morton's simply to have for my tuna casserole). Pop it in a dish, top with shredded cheddar and bake. Easy.

And delicious. I used to eat it all the time.

Emphasis on "used".

See my husband hates it. Hates it. Hates it. Hates it.

He is a lost cause I have given up on.

My son though, I always thought I could mold into a tuna fish casserole lover.

Tonight when I got home AB said to me, "did you remember I was going to the pub tonight with work people?"

No, I didn't remember since he hadn't reminded me over the last week. But I shoo'd him out the door after a quick visit with the neighbors. These rare occasions that AB goes out are my opportunity to mold my young son's mind.

I quickly pulled the ingredients off the shelves and got to work.

I came up with a plan while cooking. I called it "macaroni and cheese with corn". Afterall it was topped with cheese. And he likes corn.

I served Leif up making sure he got a good amount of cheese on his.

I sat on pins and needles as I chowed the yummy goodness, savoring every morsel.

"What is this?" he asks skeptically.

"It's macaroni and cheese with corn," I said. It sorta is.

"It isn't Spiderman macaroni and cheese," he says. (Thanks to N for forever hooking Leif on Spiderman mac and cheese - we can't just have regular mac and cheese anymore.)

"No, it's homemade, I made it," I said.

He picked up a bite and ate it. I noted he got a cheesy bite. He drank a drink of juice.

One bite down! Optimism was setting in!

He picked up another more "saucy" bite.

His face turned, the shell was spewed across the table and the whining ensued, "I don't like this!"

How many times exactly are you supposed to try a new food before declaring a dislike?

Meanwhile, my daughter has aligned with me. She ate all of hers. I knew she was the good one.

Getting the true sense of the word?

The other night sitting at the table Leif suddenly stated, "I am a vegetarian."

He routinely says things, using "big words" and sometimes understands their meaning, sometimes not.

"Oh you are?" I ask him. I wasn't overly surprised given the lack of meat he will willingly eat lately. He has never been a big meat kid, but we are seeing the meat he will eat drop off the radar alarmingly quick. Quick enough that it has sent AB and I scrambling to define the "rules" of dinnertime. Something I had hoped to avoid with my "no fail" approach to not make a big deal out of food at all.

"What does that mean?" I asked him.

"It means I don't like meat," Leif tells me.

So he does get what vegetarian means - basically at least. I started wondering where he picked up the word (and the meaning) since we aren't vegetarians.

The next morning at daycare I asked if there was a child who was vegetarian or if it has been a topic of conversation. Nope, no children are vegetarians and she asked if he meant "veterinarian" as some of the older kids have been talking about wanting to be veterinarians.

I explained that he told us it means he doesn't like meat. His teacher was nearly as perplexed as I was. AB picked him up later that day only to report that Leif did declare his vegetarian status to the teachers as well - that he still ate his dino nuggets.

I am actually quite sure this is some sort of evil Karma thing going on.

You see when I was in grad school I met Vegan. Actually, that wasn't her name, but her name rhymed with Vegan (substitute the first letter for a "T"). We started grad school the same year and for our first semester or so we hung out together. We became friends mostly because we were not associated with a research group yet, we were taking all our classes together and being that we were a few of the only English speaking females - we could talk to each other.

I found her to be one of the oddest people I had ever met. She took "stubborn" to new heights. She was 4'10", vocal and more set in her ways then most senior citizens. After the first semester, once we all had offices and were associated with research groups, our frienship waned. Honestly, she drove me nuts.

She drove a lot of people nuts except for one guy - Bill. Bill was a really good looking Masters student. The guy that you don't even bother flirting with because there is just no shot. Oh and the fact that I was already dating someone, but anyways. Bill and I actually became friends and would occasionally eat lunch together, and we would all get together routinely to cook, hang out or go skiing. He and AB hit it off.

He told me one day, "I have to confess something. I really like Vegan for some reason, I am drawn to her, she intrigues me."

My jaw dropped open. Food may have fallen out.

Anyways, he never did date Vegan, and one day we met his new girlfriend, Jen. She was perfect for him; sweet, kind, active. I hope they married.

Eventually Vegan just drove us all insane and ended up leaving the university on bad terms with nearly everyone, including her advisor - though the university did award her a Masters degree for her time in. We all wondered who her family bought.

Ok, so back to my story...

Vegan told us one of the first days we all met at grad school orientation that she was a vegan and had been since she was three, despite the fact that she grew up on a farm and her parents were omnivores. So the story goes, when she was three years old she asked where meat came from and when she found out it was from animals, she swore off meat. And it never crossed her lips after that.

The thing about Vegan was that most of us didn't really take her seriously. Three years old? You swear off meat? Get real! (None of us had kids.)

Oh and not to mention the food she did eat? Ding dongs, twinkies, Burger King French Fries. Vegans and vegetarians - at least in my mind - are always relatively healthy. Though she declared herself vegan, she chose to remain ignorant of the fact that eggs are used in A LOT of things she was eating. We (myself and fellow grad students) didn't fail to point this out to her very regularly.

When Leif announced his new vegetarian status the other day, images of little Vegan sitting at my table crossed my mind.

Noooooo! I wanted to scream. Someone is so messing with me right now given the amount of teasing we doled out towards Vegan that year.

Actually though, should Leif decide he wants to be a vegetarian, I have no real problem with this - though AB might buck a little. I was a vegetarian in college for a few years and I understand the dietary requirements and alternate sources of protein.

But it may come as a shocker to Leif that turkey pepperoni... the stuff he sneaks to the fridge to grab and hide so he can snack on it at will? (I have found the turkey pepperoni packages hidden in many different locales in the house.) Turkey pepperoni is not part of a vegetarian diet.

Neither is his new declared favorite from last night... king crab. He put away a serious amount of king crab last night.

Ok, so there are fish eating vegetarians out there... I could let that slide. But picking and choosing the favored meats in the name of being a vegetarian? Not so sure about that.

My favorite things

Taking a cue from Jo (who needs to finish her list still - ahem!)... who took her cue from Oprah... these are 20 of my favorite things in no particular order:


1. Citrus Spice Herbal Tea


2. Thanks to my MIL for this addiction, Enstrom's English Toffee


3. Classic Coach purses


4. My great grandmother's sugar cookie recipe


5. Fleece pajama pants


6. Professional pictures of my kids


7. Sunset magazine


8. Washington Red blends - Fidelitas Optu, Canon de Sol, DeLille's D2 and even though I have only had it once Col Solare rocked my world.


9. My mom's pies.


10. Comfort foods, hamhock and bean soup, chili, Homemade chicken/turkey pot pies and V's Tortierre.


11. My bookshelf that AB built me for Valentine's Day 2003. (Laughing at how sparse it looks... oh the days.)



12. My gold and platinum diamond solitaire engagement ring.


13. Aveda Rosemary Mint Shampoo and Conditioner... so I can smell like a baby lamb... roasting (according to AB).


14. Books, my favorites - The Time Traveler's Wife, The Life of Pi, books by Jon Krakauer (Into the Wild, Into Thin Air, Under the Banner of Heaven)...


15. Volkl skis... should I ever move beyond demoing again someday.


16. Origins Ginger Float bath creme


17. My collection of unique wine stoppers... especially my Medusa, kind of like this one, but mine is frosted clear, it is better (and apparently now rare!).


18. Dankso shoes


19. Satsuma mandarins


20. Blue Moon Belgian White Ale

The best tea ever

At Christmas last year in Colorado I managed to make it to P.F. Changs. Ok, I managed to make it there twice. Love that place. Word is (well word was the morning that Skadi was born and we were watching the news while I was in labor) that a P.F. Changes is coming here. I fear this was a cruel rumor to the laboring woman as I haven't heard much more about it.

While there I tried their Citrus Spice Herbal tea. Loved it - and I am not normally an herbal tea person, but I love black tea. That might have been the single reason I went back the second time. Ok, no, it was the Szechuan Scallops. But the tea was another good follow up reason.

After getting home the tea was still on my brain. I e-mailed P.F. Changs and they found it online for me (after a few e-mails internally since evidently not all the same teas are served at each restaurant). I was forever indebted and being that I was a pregnant woman at the time, I ordered about three boxes, knowing I wouldn't be able to get enough. Then I ordered another three boxes when my stash started running low.

Little AB was on a Jell-O rampage this afternoon. He found some molds and asked me what they were, when I told him that they were not indeed muffin molds as he was hoping, but instead Jell-O molds, he insisted we use them. I found the Jell-O in the pantry, and also uncovered my nearly forgotten stash of Citrus Spice Herbal tea.

I know... hot tea in the summer? How could I? But the string of sickness is still ongoing in our house. I have a nasty sour throat, runny nose and the starts of bronchitis.

But my tea has made all better. Well nearly. (And with memories of the most delicious scallops in the recent past.)