Christmas Meditation - Bathtub Edition

(As the Star Wars Galactic Heroes are floating around in the tub...)

J: What do you think we should get the Star Wars' guys for Christmas?

DW: I don't know. We'll get them something nice...

J: All except Count Dooku. He's been naughty...

DW: Maybe we can make them a nice space ship out of a shoebox.

J: Don't tell them, Mom. They'll hear you.

Christmas Dinner Menu

After our flying trip to San Francisco to see the Nutcracker with four generations from my side in tow (my mom and grandmother have been going for 45 years!), it's on to San Antonio for our annual labor of love for our fabulous Guerrero family there -- Christmas Dinner for 20-25 people.

This year's menu switches up a bit; not Italian nor "traditional" but featuring New Tastes from Texas...

• Sweet & Spicy Pecans, p. 45*
• Cocktails / Beer (tbd -- margaritas?)
• Southwestern Caesar Salad with Toasted Corn & Pepitas instead of croûtons, p. 77*
• Pozole de Cameron, p. 218
• Jerked Brisket Salpicon Tacos, p. 216*
• Sauteed Summer Squash OR Stewed Green Beans & Poblanos, depending on what looks good at the store, p. 256** Nov 2007
• Spiced Chocolate Bread Pudding, p. 38** Jan 2008

*Stephen Pyles New Tastes from Texas
**Martha Stewart Living magazine

stalling... stalling... stalling...

When I wrote about MCPPA, I really meant it. Except maybe I should have called it BRMCPPA - Blog Reading Messy Couch Potato Procrastinators Anonymous. The blog-o-sphere thing has brought a whole new level of not-doing-what-I-should-be-doing into my life. Better go finish the freakin' Powerpoint presentation for work tomorrow.

But, please, how much fun do I have checking on Sarah's stockings, Amy's wunkles, Tracey's random thoughts, Jen's bathroom - oh, wait, no, that was Tracey again - Jen's ability to translate Ben and Sam's cutest sayings AND supply us with adults only entertainment...?!

Not sure I should admit this

I guess it may be somewhat obvious from previous posts, but I am becoming a much bigger Weird Al Yankovic fan in my old age than I ever was in the early days. And yes, I was aware of Al from those first appearances on the Dr. Demento show, back when I was still in high school in the late 70s-early 80s (no comments from the peanut gallery), so I'm no Johnny(-ette) Come Lately where this accordion-playing rocker is concerned.

But it's taken my fairly recent "discovery" of YouTube to really light my fire (ok, I can handle some mild teasing on that front). The guy is a genius; the live videos remind me of Zappa. (I know it's heresy, Chuck -- but the tight musical transitions and comfort in so many styles? Come on, admit it's a little impressive at least!) And now I've found the Newgrounds Weird Al collection -- will the wonders of the intarweb never cease?

On a totally different subject, I think the Guerreros are now officially late on the whole Christmas season thing -- no tree, no lights, and at the rate we're going, thank goodness I'm taking Julian to San Francisco in a week to see the S.F. Ballet's Nutcracker, as it may be the only holiday tradition we keep this year before we hook up with the San Antonio clan on the 23rd!

And what a tradition -- my mother and my grandmother have been waiting ever so impatiently for Juj to be old enough to participate in this, the most constant holiday activity in my life (more than Grateful Dead New Year's Eve concerts, even). My mother used to go as a child with my grandmother (SFB Nut, not the Dead), I've been at least 20-30 times I would guess (and that does not count all the Nut productions I worked on for other dance companies in my previous career - Tandy Beal, Los Angeles Classical / Long Beach Ballet, Donald Byrd's Harlem Nutcracker - what a walk down memory lane Google provided on this subject!), and now, finally, the moment has arrived for the J-boy to join the ranks. Hope he doesn't fall asleep! ;-)

Belief-o-Matic

Jen finally pushed me over the edge --- see my results here. Which really only goes to show that UU is the mutt religion; they'll take anyone.

Open mouth, insert foot...

Picture if you will...

A 40-something mother of one, whose flight from a week-long business trip to Canada had landed at midnight Friday. She and her only progeny have a great time during the prearranged Saturday play date with the W kids, and in the early afternoon, return them to their rightful mother, who kindly invites all in although the shower she is hosting has not completely wound down yet.

And then only-child mom, who has never dealt with the energy and logistical challenges of three kids at once (e.g., at the mall play area, one has to go to potty, which requires herding all three upstairs to the family restroom and making sure none escape until all are done), plops on the couch between, yes, two mommies of three, at this fete for a soon-to-be mother of four, and loudly announces she would never have three kids, even were she ten years younger. How incredibly insensitive and stupid is that?

So, Tracey, Amy, and Debbie -- what I really meant to say is: What incredible superwomen you must be! And my hat is off to you all!

(Of course, the G-man said "Just tell 'em you're old, and can't be held responsible." I think that might be a bit disingenuous, 'though.)

it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas... in Canada

Road trip!

Actually, my guilt level is pretty high, as I left Gil home sick with Julian while I took off for a week of meetings. Flew to Montreal Monday, and then the boss, a colleague and I drove to Ottawa in a minor snowstorm that evening. (Luckily my boss is originally from Saskatchewan, so we let him drive. And normally it's faster to fly to Montreal -- direct -- and drive down, than to fly to Ottawa from Dallas since American makes you change planes somewhere awful like Chicago. But a lot of snow, and a very slow waitress at your dinner stop can throw a wrench in the best laid plans.)

It's snowing again tonight. I took a picture with my phone, but since my plan charges me for "roaming" up here, I guess I won't be sending it to myself to post until I get back to Dallas. Glad to hear on JW's blog that the weather is finally starting to act appropriately there as well.

I picked up eat pray love in the airport to read. I'm not done yet but it seems like it's going to be great. Might even help me start a spiritual quest -- I can hear Gil holding his breath with anticipation upon contemplation of such a thought.

And as for last weekend's entertainment report -- two thumbs up for Enchanted, one up (J) and one sideways (me) for Mr. Magorium... (what is that voice Dustin is doing all about?!), one thumb WAY up for Gil sitting on the J-bird while I went on a birthday shopping spree alone, and four thumbs up for running into 2/3 of clan Rad at Willow Bend -- Julian fell asleep in the car on the way home after Isaac and he ran around like the crazy men (well, boys) they are.

Thankful...

As I've said, Thanksgiving is probably my favorite holiday of the year -- good food, good friends or family, proximity to my birthday, four-day weekend, start of the holiday season, and fall being my favorite season -- this holiday has it all. And Thanksgiving 2007 was no exception: the cold (well, at least cooler) weather had blown in Wednesday afternoon, when I left work early after IM'ing my boss who replied "YES, please go home!" I cooked for most of 24 hours, because poor Gil has been fighting some ugly cough (although it didn't stop him from doing a bang-up job cleaning the house, spot shampooing the carpet, AND ironing the tablecloth before setting the table with his great grandmother's 100+ year old china -- which he washed afterwards!)

And the event itself was very relaxed, with great friends gathered together, including all the local 'uncles.' And the W's joined us for seconds and dessert and libations and conversation -- and the construction of a very large GeoTrax train complex, which Ben really loved. The big kids got bored and went off to play Hullabaloo in J's room. Juj reports that Sam actually likes his Star Wars figures now, too!

The menu? Mostly from the November 2007 Bon Appetit (BA), with a couple of family favorites thrown in for good measure:

• Cheese tray courtesy of uncle Jack - with Roquefort (a family must-have for T-day), Brie, Cranberry Cheddar, and a lovely Fig-Nut compote
• Pancetta & Sage (and Rosemary) Turkey with Pancetta Sage Gravy (BA but used the Roast Salted Turkey technique from Cook's Illustrated -- and air dried the skin in the fridge the the last 24 hours)
• Three Mushroom Dressing (BA -- deemed just OK by all -- too far from tradition, and probably needed to be assembled further in advance for better cohesion)
• Roasted Root Vegies (Adapted from the BA dressing that also included cornbread, which we did without)
• Brussels Sprouts Hash with Caramelized Shallots (BA - delicious "and not bitter!" per Gil)
• Winter Squash Medley Puree (adapted from Martha Stewart, with warm spices -- curry, cayenne, cinnamon & ginger -- toasted in butter and roasted squash seeds for garnish)
• Cottage Cheese Dill Bread (from Beard on Bread)
  
• Molded Cranberry & Apple Salad (Joy of Cooking, retooled to no sugar added - thank goodness for Splenda and sugar free Jello!)
• Pumpkin Marscapone Pie with Marscapone Whipped Cream (BA)
• Cranberry Apple Pie & Vanilla Ice Cream courtesy of Whole Foods by way of Uncle Jack

And for the rest of the weekend (besides eating a lot of leftovers -- if you're near Carrollton and hungry, stop on by), I'm hoping to hit a trio of kids flicks -- Enchanted, Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium, and Fred Claus.

Sunday-- funny how it comes 'round once a week?

Sunday supper -- which included some shared cooking duties because I ran off to a jewelry party where I made a rad pair of earrings and bracelet (thanks to Gil for house cleaning & cooking, and to Laura & Lisa for hosting the party as a HUUC PASTA event) -- was a delightful fall meal, even if the weather didn't quite feel right (oh, when is it going to cool off?!)

• America's Test Kitchen / Cook's Illustrated Slow Cooker Pot Roast
• Martha's Pureed Cauliflower (doctored with marscapone and laughing cow)
• Peas & Carrots
• Green Salad with Fennel & Avocado

I don't suppose it would come as a big surprise to anyone that I am totally looking forward to Thanksgiving, the best holiday of the year? Has all the best points of Christmas (family and food and cool weather -- usually) with none of the low points (anxiety about gifts) -- plus my birthday is always nearby, which I enjoy despite the 40-something aspect these days. Juj and I did the requisite grocery shopping today, so now it's just cleaning out the fridge and prep work over the next few days.

But I'll keep you in suspense about the menu until Thursday...

Just another week in paradise...

Quiet week -- I was in training, and Gil had two evenings of HUUC stuff. Quiet weekend -- haircuts Saturday (me and Juj), and church and dinner with Ron and Elsa this evening. Once again, thanks to Martha...

• Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Fig Chutney (brined according to Cook's Illustrated for an hour first)
  
• Roasted Cauliflower with Capers
• Sauteed Beet Greens (adapted)
  
• a nice bottle of Buehler White Zin 2005 (don't knock it 'til you've tried it)
• ice cream with fresh berries (thanks, Elsa!)
• and because I'm beginning to find he's only into poultry but not other flesh, Mac & Cheese for the J-man, along with frozen peas (yes, like little popsicles, not cooked - a taste he acquired a while ago)

And since Juj doesn't read the blog, I can admit I added a little golden beet and butternut squash purees to his Mac & Cheese, per Jessica Seinfeld's Deceptively Delicious. It made me laugh, because his comment about the food was "this is too sweet" which I was able to counteract with the addition of some grated Parmesan. I'm looking forward to hearing if my friend who bought the cookbook for me actually made the brownies with spinach this weekend -- and if they were any good!

Can't believe it's Thanksgiving in 11 days (and my 40-something birthday thereafter), especially because it was over 80 degrees today -- what is up with that?!

mini-Sunday Supper Club

Juj and I had a great weekend! Love that my job provides the flexibility to work at home, so I didn't go back after leaving early Thursday afternoon to pick him up from school since Dad was in Cleveland. Handled conference calls and IMs from the boss at home, planned my next business trip to the great white North, and went out for regular Friday dinner with Ron.

We had a very fun and productive Saturday -- finished reading the first Harry Potter (but no more until he's older!) and then watched the movie version; worked up a sweat mowing and trimming and raking mulch; rested and watched Star Wars Episode VI (for the umpteenth time); and then off for a whirlwind evening at NorthPark.

Whoa! this mall has GROWN since I was last there! We went because I couldn't stay away from the only Lush location in Texas any longer (woo-hoo > butterballs and bubble bars and I don't have to wait for a trip to Canada or order them online anymore), but we ended up staying for dinner and a movie -- Bee Movie, which was cute and happened to be playing at 6:45 when we walked up to the box office at 6:40 to see if there were any appropriate options. It was a fun one, engaging enough for both of us. And it looks like some fun kids movies are coming out for the holiday season, too: Mr. Magorium's Magic Emporium, Fred Claus (well, maybe not for kids), The Golden Compass (again, maybe for the older "kids" in our household only) and a couple of others which escape my mind at the moment.

Sunday was granola making, grocery shopping, a trip to Michael's, glittering up some gourds, and dinner for J, Ron, and I (thanks again to Martha for the recipes):

• Roasted Chicken with Jerusalem Artichokes
  
• Pureed Cauliflower
• Green Beans
• and last week's ice cream with dried fruits in honey sherry sauce again...

And Gil got home safely Sunday night, so all is right in the world -- we are once again Los Guerreros Tres!

I am SO in trouble...

It's Halloween week, right? And all the Guerreros Tres dressed up last Saturday. But did we get a picture? Only this one at the end of the party, when we'd been helping re-set the chairs in the sanctuary -- half dressed with no accessories except the tiara Juj won in the screaming and dying contest.


And then we decorated the house for the big day, carved us a pumpkin, J and I dressed up again, and -- are there any pictures? No, no really cute Anakin Skywalker with a little padawan braid (that we managed not to lose until almost home from our candy looting trip around the neighborhood), not even a zoftig -- that's a nice word for "big boned" right? -- lady pirate with a sword.

So I may have to stage one of the Juj this weekend, although it means making my third padawan braid of the week to attach to his head. How can I be so pathetic? (This is like the old saw about there never being any pictures of the second child, although in our case, it's just there's fewer pictures after the first year or so -- maybe concurrent with when he got mobile, oh so mobile?!)

Sunday dinnner... and much more!

Well, we did manage to have Sunday family dinner with uncles Ron and Bill as well as Tia Elsa this evening, and it was lovely. Which is good because we won't be cooking next weekend, as Gil goes out of town early Thursday morning not to return until late Sunday evening, But more about that in a minute.

In the meantime, it's been a whirlwind weekend. Saturday morning, Juj stayed with Ron as Gil facilitated his final session for the class he's been leading at the church and I had a hair appointment. I picked J up a bit after 11:30, and we finally deposited his birthday checks (sorry, grams & boppos!) in a savings account we're setting aside for him. I asked about opening one in his name, but didn't have his social security card with me to do it -- plus it's not like the old days, when you actually got a passbook where they tracked your balance for you each time -- now that was a thrill as a child!)

The off to Party City, ostensibly to get some Halloween decor for the yard and windows, but where we ended up spending something like an hour trying to get a pair of costumes for Gil and I that was in stock and had all the requisite pieces in the bag. We ended up with a pirate dude and lass, although I think our second choice is first choice for next year. Then to get the lunch. I decided to opt for Wendy's instead Schlotzky's since it was almost one o'clock (faster, right?), and once there, decided to skip the LOONNGGG line at the drive-thru to order inside (faster, right?) Well, Wendy's may have been closer, but it was the slowest fast food I've ever seen.

But all's well that ends well; we got home, ate, and decided to rest on the bed while watching Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas to get in the mood for the annual Horizon Halloween & trunk or treat party.

Julian went as Anakin, complete with light saber, cloak, training garb, and even a little padawan braid I concocted and clipped to his hair (which he did lose fairly promptly). The 'Traubs and Jeff, Laura and Gwen were there (along with many others, of course), and most of us made it through the haunted house. The cakewalk was a huge success (many cupcakes were won, including some dee-licious dark chocolate ones with dulce de leche filling -- and then Gil and I had a misunderstanding about bringing them home).

(OK, have you noticed I still haven't gotten to Sunday supper?)

To make a long story shorter, we stayed late, and Gil even helped vacuum for Sunday service set-up.

We slept in on Sunday because we had decided we couldn't make church and get to Ben's third birthday party by noon. And since Ben is as close to a little brother as J is going to get, the choice was clear! But i did need to go grocery shopping as I obviously hadn't squeezed that in Saturday, and Gil still needed to publish the weekly bulletin, so we went our separate ways, and eventually met up at the gym where the festivities were occurring, Gil with birthday present objective achieved (thank goodness for him!)

Now, after that, it was house cleaning and dinner making. An excellent fall menu, we all agreed, courtesy of Martha Stewart Living Nov 2007 issue (but Martha -- you might be able to make this in about an hour, but I sure as heck wasn't able to do so!):

• started with some fresh marinated mozzarella I picked up at Whole Foods with what I assume is soon to be the last of the basil from our yard along with some cherry tomatoes and roasted red bell peppers
• Spiced Chickpea and Tomato Soup
  
• Grilled Chicken Apple Sausage with Pears
• Celery Endive Slaw
• Ice Cream with Sweet Sherry Sauce

But needless to say, with Gil in Ohio for the UU Christian Revival next weekend, I will not being outdoing myself on that front. Stay tuned, though, because fall and winter are my favorite seasons for many reasons, the plethora of seasonal cooking favorites being primary among them!

People with too much time on their hands...

OK, no Sunday supper club this week -- my BF from college and beyond was in town with Cirque Dreams: Jungle Fantasy, so we went over to see it at Bass Hall. Julian seemed entranced but then was a shy contrarian and didn't admit he'd enjoyed it -- or getting to go backstage, which I hadn't done in years. (Looks, ma -- real stage hands watching football after the show -- I remember that!)

But anyway, on Saturday, Julian and I had one of our celebrated "mom & Juj" days (he loves Saturdays for that reason), and I (can't say this with anything but guilty shame) allowed about 30 minutes on You Tube together. We revisited old pals -- Weird Al's song about "Yoda" to the tune of the Kinks "Lola" (you may remember that from a previous post) and Mom's Overture which had been making the rounds lately but I still love it -- and found this gem, that my brother will especially appreciate (I hope). OK, this guy definitely has too much time on his hands (he admits on the post that it took >9 months to do!), but it's even more brilliant than Weird Al's original version. Enjoy!

PASTA

Hooray to my DH for pulling off the HUUC service auction Saturday night with basically no help from me. I got to come back from my trip to Chicago, and just dress up, show up, and drink up! (Oh, and I think I bid on a few things; love my new bracelet.) A good time seemed to be had by all, and we took Sunday off to relax.

(And, just like childbirth, I've already forgotten the pain -- since it was all Gil's anyway -- and started thinking about how we could make it even better next year. Isn't that pathetic?)

So look for the Sunday Supper Club to return next Sunday...

Buying my way way out...

Well, due to the ongoing exhaustion (too much work, lots of guests for J's 5th birthday festivities), we bought our way for family Sunday dinner this week, with my parents, Elsa, and Ron:
-- Stuffed chicken breasts (cajun rice or spinach-feta -- but why no cooking structions?!)
-- Roasted beet & shallot salad on mixed greens (yum!)
-- Green beans with shallots which I reheated wiht a touch of sherry
-- A nice whole grain loaf of bread & butter
-- Leftover Mexican chocolate birthday cake form Delicious Cakes, with vanilla ice cream; and watermelon

This may be repeated in some form the next couple of weeks, until after the upcoming princess-pony-unicorn party (attending, not hosting) and PASTA are done. thank you Whole Foods!

Sunday Supper Club (oops)

Almost forgot.... did manage to pull off family dinner last Sunday while Gil's parents were here, thanks to Uncle Billy's succulent leg of lamb and prolific mint plants. Basically an improv on some recipes from Nigella Lawson's How To Eat:

• Leg of lamb roasted with garlic & rosemary
• Garlic & rosemary roasted baby Yukon Gold potatoes (sense a theme here?)
• Balsamic roasted parsnips, carrots, red peppers, and shallots
• Salad of avocado, peas, and mint
• Peaches poached in frambroise, with raspberry sauce and whipped cream (which Gil whipped by hand -- you go, boy!)

And the leftovers made splendid lamb hash for breakfast this morning.

Now I need to scoot off to make weeknight dinner - Keema Matar, Rice, and Cauliflower Roasted with Cumin & Curry. Yum!

Exhaustion has already set in...

Is it 2008 yet? Why is it that September through December are such a blur each year, overbooked beyond belief?

• one family trip down, two to go...
• one business trip down, two to go...
• too many birthdays to count, including last night's extravaganza at Planet Pizza (but at least the adults outnumbered the kids two to one)...
• one Horizon UU service auction and dinner to co-chair...
• one week of loving grandparents visiting just ended and a week with the other set just starting (really glad to see them ALL but it is part of the whole whirlwind)...
• one eight-year anniversary coming up (where does the time go -- been a couple the better part of 19 years)...
• one Lean Six Sigma Black Belt project to finish and it'd better save over $250K next year...
• Halloween and Thanksgiving plans to make (and T-day's at home this year, yippee!)
  

Don't get me wrong -- I'm not feeling sorry for myself (other than the lack of sleep) -- how lucky we are to have so many people who love us in our lives, and the resources for travel, and so many wonderful opportunities at work, and a church community that is so warm and welcoming, but geez -- could we space this out a little better throughout the year? Or maybe move to a monastery each fall?

On the upside, it's now officially my favorite season, even if the weather is not cooperating quite yet. So happy Autumn to you all, and if you have the chance, take a nap for me.

O Canada!

Now, I am as patriotic as the next U.S. citizen, but I do love Canada. I'm here in Ottawa for some meetings this week, and it's bee-yoo-tee-full fall weather, sunny and crisp in the morning, warm during the day. And the corporate campus has big grey Canadian geese, and there are fat happy black squirrels running around near my hotel, and my commute is against the traffic. So, I love Canada, although I wish I had a bit more time to spend outside -- maybe during lunch today?

(and with apologies to my Canadian colleagues, I do find this Weird Al parody too funny - a good comment ont he U.S. to me!)

P.S.
You know you're a mommy when...
You find a plastic "Lightning McQueen" novelty ring in your purse. How (and when, given that I haven't used this purse in ages) did that get there?

Son of "We've been tagged..."

Rules: (Frak it. read the previous post for the frakking rules...)

We got team-tagged, and I got the short straw, so I get the last 4 from Team G. I think the buck stops here, since our cache of blogging friends is quite small.

Oh, yeah, the tagging:

5.0 • I went to the same school for 13 years (Kindergarten through 12th grade) and graduated in a class size of 12. A more interesting bunch of amazing intellects (and more than a few rich entitled jerks) I'll never know...

6.0 • The greatest compliment ever paid me was by a Japanese theme park designer who told another co-worker that the G-man "...is a good person; he speaks the truth."

7.0.1 • I've never said that my delicate flower of a wife swore like a sailor in childbirth, or at any other time. My delicate flower swore like a stevedore on the night she undertook her entirely drug free delivery of the Pharaoh Jujinus. Actually, she swears like a stevedore reasonably regularly...

7.0.2 • When my wife screamed me awake from across the house, to indicate that the delivery of the Pharaoh Jujinus was nigh, the adrenaline shot to my system was like going from Zero - 100 in 3.4 seconds. Now I know why all those crazy Hollywood shows have the husband driving off without the mother! (Ricky Ricardo, I feel your pain, brother!) I had to run in place for 5 minutes to burn it off... Okay, 7 minutes... I do remember cleaning red stuff off my shoes...

8.0 • I still cry when Lupus catches the damn ball in that last game against those no-good pricks, the Yankees, in The Bad News Bears. And for tearjerker C&W songs...

The G-Man abides...

We've been tagged...

Rules: post the rules before you give the facts. post eight random facts about yourself. at the end of your blog post, you need to tag eight people and list their names. leave the people you tagged a comment on their blog, letting them know that they've been tagged.

Except... like Saint Richard, I think the madness may stop with us because I think everyone else's blog that we read has already been tagged. And since it was a joint tagging, I think I'll go for four items and let Gil do four -- who says cheaters never prosper?

1. I moved between the East and West Coasts five times by the time I was five years old (and for one of those, I went by plane but my parents drove so they could stop at Woodstock).
2. I should be working on my Lean Six Sigma project for work right now, or I will never make it from a Black Belt in training (BBit) to a certified (or is that certifiable?) BB.
3. My favorite color is blue.
4. My husband says I swore like a sailor during my entirely drug-free labor, but all I remember is throwing up the red jello cake I had at Luby's after my water broke, flashes of the seemingly interminable ride from the house to the birth center, and the delicious French Toast he brought me from Cafe Brazil once the whole thing was over and Julian was sleeping next to me. (The upcoming birthday celebrations made me think of this one.)
   

OK, G-man, over to you...

Who knew?

Day One - Sun 09/02/07: The Fry-a-lator Arts

Okay, I like fried food as much as the next guy.

Okay... I like fried food more than the next guy. What can I say: I'm a Southern Gentleman.

So we're blasting down the highway at a jaunty rate of speed. The Chuckster has indicated that he'll be avoiding any of that mediocre chain food, thank you very much. And we're beginning to get a bit peckish.

"Breaker-19 let's pull off and eat, how about that joint? "

The Depot (I believe officially known as the Medicine Mound Depot Restaurant of Quanah, TX. Population: 2,686)

So we sashay in. It's after 12, so my Christian brothers have got the joint pretty full. We wait... We got nothing better to do: only drive another 422 freakin' miles today...

Seated. "Sweet tea, stat, my good woman..."

Menu is printed up as fake newspaper. Cute. What shall we have... The Texans at the table order the obvious: chicken fried steak (Solidarity, Jen!) It's early enough: if it sucks, we've got plenty of hours of digestion to try to assimilate the beast.

Shall we have a little pre-lunch gnosh? Hmmm. Appetizers...

Weeellll, how about a little fried appetizer assortment? Fried corn fritters, fried broccoli cheese fritters, and fried pickles.

Pickles?

Cucumis Sativus. The common cucumber. Add dill. Add vinegar. Add salt. Add fryer?

Now this little Mexican boy has been avoiding some of the more questionable fry-a-lated foods that my gringo brothers have dreamt up. I know you can fry anything that you can dump into a vat of boiling oil, I just don't think you should be allowed to dump just any old thing in there. There ain't no good reason to take a perfectly good avocado, and drop it's cool, rich lusciousness in boiling oil. Sorry, gabachos. You missed the boat on that one. I like a hot dog as much as the next guy: but there's no need to drop it in boiling oil. Steam it. Boil it. Broil it with cheese and a bacon wrap (doesn't that sing comfort?) Just don't fry it!

Now apparently in Quanah, they know a thing or three about the fryalator. We got an amazing plate of delightful not greasy (okay, a bit dense) little bites. Terrific balls of corn kernels in corn batter. Cute little drumettes of batter, cheese, and chopped broccoli.

The wake up call was on the pickles.

Now I don't know what you think a fried pickle should be. Maybe you had 'em in your crib. But these pretty much floored me. Crunchy little rounds of dilly goodness. A perfect balance of inner fleshy dilly warmth to crunchy exterior. Great one or two (dainty) bite size. Definitely would not have been the same if they had just dumped a big ol' fat pickle in there and called it a day. A terrific concoction. I had my share...

And my son's share...

And I think I had some of Samantha's share...

Who knew? Can you get these babies at Costco?

Gil-bob says: "Check it out."

The Road Trip

these are the placeholders - details and pictures coming soon...

• Day One - All the way to Santa Fe! (walkie-talkies, chicken fried steak, and Cadillac Ranch)
• Day Two - On to the cabin (morning in Santa Fe - Zia Grill & The Spanish Table, Echo Amphitheater, Colorado mountains, lanterns and stars)
• Day Three - Durango (Mercy Hospital ER, motel with all the modern conveniences, dinner at Cypress Cafe)
• Day Four - Silverton adventure (cliff hanger, train, museum and cemetery)
• Day Five - Grants NM (via Four Corners & Shiprock; requisite green chili burger)
• Day Six - push to Amarillo (Acoma Pueblo, the luxury suite, "i'm hungry", one more swim)
• Day Seven - home again, home again, jiggity jig (our bed, our bed!) -- and we're all still friends, hurrah!!

Day One - Cadillac Ranch

Day Four - Silverton Train Ride

Day Five & Six - Shiprock and Rainbow's End

AMS* anyone?

Well, we are only three days into our long-awaited road trip, and there's already been a visit to the Emergency Room. Got into Santa Fe late Sunday night, after a whistle stop at the famed Cadillac Ranch, and then piddled around the Plaza and stopped at a cool Spanish food & cooking store before hitting the road for a leisurely drive to Durango and the cabin. Along the way, we almost missed Echo Amphitheatre (the park service had one little sign along the side of the road, which necessitated a turn-around further down the highway), which would have been too bad because it was really cool.

The "net-net" (as one of the sales leaders at work would say) was that although we got settled into our rustic (i.e., no electricity, no indoor toilet) cabin at 9,300 feet before dark, I was pretty much unable to sleep last night. By five AM, my discomfort was so severe that I woke Gil up and made him drive me back down to Durango, elevation 6,000 something as the sun was rising. I ended up in Durango Mercy Hospital ER (nice place, pretty quiet at 7:30 AM on a Tuesday!), diagnosis:

*Acute Mountain Sickness

I don't know why they call it "acute" - it seemed like "an ugly" mountain sickness as I had to vomit half dozen times on the ~25 mile drive from the cabin to the hospital. So tonight we are in a hotel, and after a painful anti-nausea inoculation in my hip, a lot of water, a nap, and a swim and some "hot tubbing", I am almost feeling back to normal. So, hi ho Silverton tomorrow!

Danger, Will Robinson....!

I made a pleasant discovery the other night, but one that is not going help my ongoing poor sleeping habits -- my Pocket PC (phone/camera/PDA with web browser thingy) is perfect for reading blogs in bed at night, with the lights out so I'm not disturbing anyone else (except when someone's post makes me laugh out loud!) The little PPC was already getting a lot of late night Solitaire and Bubble Breaker play, but now this... Luckily, I can't seem to make new posts from it, so that might keep me from going completely nuts with it.

Stay tuned for the road trip madness -- we take off on our week-long road trip with Clan W tomorrow morning...

Ride 'em cowboy!

I haven't retrieved the pictures of our trip to Fort Worth to the museums from my phone just yet, but I do have this cool Quick Time movie:


We went to see the Star Wars exhibit, but it was really crowded, so we had plenty of time to hit the planetarium and the National Cowgirl Museum / Hall of Fame (which is where the movie came from - pretty cool, eh?) before our ticketed time slot to view the exhibit.

What's for dinner? (the return of the Sunday Supper Club)

It feels like for forever since we last did this, but I made dinner for the extended family this evening ("uncles" Ron and Bill plus the three of us; Tia Elsa was busy). We had a feast from Ruth Law's Indian Light Cooking:

• tandoori chicken
• green beans with coconut
• rice and green pea pilaf
• cucumber raita
• red AND yellow watermelons and leftover jello cake for dessert

(the jello cake was lovely as well as delicious, but I forgot to take a picture of it - white cake, from a mix, baked in a bundt pan and soaked in raspberry and cherry jello)

It was actually a pretty eventful weekend overall, as Saturday was spent in Fort Worth at the Museum of Science and History and the National Cowgirl Museum (more on those later in the week), and Sunday was water service at the church -- traditionally at the end of the summer, we bring back water from our travels to blend into our common water. We also had "splash day" for the kids, with water balloons, slip-n-slides, and a big bouncy inflatable water slide.

And the grand adventure starts next weekend, when the weintraubs and guerreros put their friendship to the test on a road trip with 4 adults, 3 kids, and a destination cabin without the conveniences of electricity and indoor pottys.

The Great Religious Questions Series I

J: Why do we have to go to the Church?

G: Church is where we learn about being in the World, about how to be around each other and love one another, and about our relationship with God.

J: I like to help people.

G: Helping each other is one of the most important things that we can do in the world, and we try to teach people that at the Church.

J: God should be pretty happy with me...

G: Why?

J: Because I help people all the time at school.

G: I'm sure He is, I'm sure He is....

G-Man: Our Survey Says...

You Are An INFP

The Idealist You are creative with a great imagination, living in your own inner world. Open minded and accepting, you strive for harmony in your important relationships. It takes a long time for people to get to know you. You are hesitant to let people get close. But once you care for someone, you do everything you can to help them grow and develop. In love, you tend to have high (and often unrealistic) standards. You are very sensitive. You tend to have intense feelings. At work, you need to do something that expresses your personal values. You would make an excellent writer, psychologist, or artist. How you see yourself: Unselfish, empathetic, and spiritual/ When other people don't get you, they see you as: Unrealistic, naive, and weak

What's Your Personality Type?

You drive us wild, we'll drive you crazy...

I realize that if the air conditioner is going to go out, it's going to be in the summer, but why is it always on Saturday, when they can't get the parts to fix it until Monday -- or later, like the time it gave out over Labor Day or Memorial Day (don't remember which, just that it was a long weekend)?

Luckily, the little window unit we bought that fateful three-day weekend a couple of summers ago saved our hash once more, with all three of us camping out in the guest room for tolerable nighttime sleeping temperatures (and thank goodness for that king-size bed we put in there, while we're at it!)

Anyway, after the guy finally showed up with the parts this morning (late!), it was NOT cooler after work this evening. And when the repair man called us back two hours after we put a call in about that, he said "oh, it takes a couple of days to stabilize." So for the third night in a row, we are blessing the little window unit -- although I will admit, the main A/C seems to be having a cooling effect now, so we hopefully will be back to normal soon.

Ah, well; as Gil says, it's all part of life's rich pageant...

P.S. Apparently the heat is getting to everyone -- Gil was putting Julian to bed, the conversation:

G: Julian, stop messing around and go to sleep.

J: I'll never go to sleep...

G: Why not?

J: I want to rock and roll all night.

And, presumably, party every day...

SHOULD do
...balance checkbook, clean cat boxes, laundry, Pilates, straighten up, wash dishes, make granola, take out the compost and the trash and the recycling, show Gil "u" charts in Minitab (the Guerreros sure know how to have some great fun with statistical analysis - can you say "control charts"?), get on the elliptical trainer...

probably WILL do
...super-short post, Divine Design or Nigella Feasts or maybe The Minor Accomplishments of Jackie Woodman, go to sleep...

Is there Messy Couch Potato Procrastinators Anonymous (MCPP-A)?

Wein-rerro Dinner: The original

OK, for all those waiting impatiently (=none!), here's the menu and recipe links from our FIASCO dinner on Saturday night -- I pulled pictures from Jen's blog (and you'll see why she's a professional photographer!) and I'll be back with the details of the wonderful wines that Chuck paired with these later...

Spicy Glazed Shrimp
Summer Squash Tart with Kalamata Olives
Salt Crust Fish (our variation was halibut scented with lemon and fennel)
Shaved Fennel & Mushroom Salad (from Julia Child’s Cooking with Master Chefs)
Toasted Almond Panna Cotta with Saba (from Judy Rodger’s The Zuni Cookbook)

Jen's pix... The table



the tart

the salad


the fish...

random thoughts...
OK, we're cooking away this morning in preparation for our co-dinner tonight and to keep Julian amused, we're listening to XM Kids. And Weird Al came on, singing "Sling Us a Web, Mr. Spiderman" (to the tune of Billy Joel's "Piano Man"), which made us go out and find this:

That guy can really rock!!! (especially like the scat-Indian-doo-wap bridge towards the end...)

I am an INTJ -- still!

The Scientist You have a head for ideas - and you are good at improving systems. Logical and strategic, you prefer for everything in your life to be organized. You tend to be a bit skeptical. You're both critical of yourself and of others. Independent and stubborn, you tend to only befriend those who are a lot like you. In love, you are always striving to improve your relationship. You have strong ideas of what love should be like. At work, you excel in figuring out difficult tasks. People think of you as "the brain." You would make an excellent scientist, engineer, or programmer. How you see yourself: Reasonable, knowledgeable, and competent When other people don't get you, they see you as: Aloof, controlling, and insensitive

What's Your Personality Type?

Not much new on the home front this week. The Dallas weather is getting semi-normal for summer; the big boss in the corner office at work wryly observed that we'd made it to five o'clock without an afternoon rain shower the other day. (If I wanted to live in Florida, I would live in Florida!)

We're starting to plan our end-of-summer vacation to Colorado: a road trip with good friends and their kids -- seven of us together in one vehicle, and three of the seven under five years old. We'll either be super-bonded or ready to kill each other at the end (or perhaps a bit of both).

But before that, six more days of Lean Six Sigma training (still a long way from "Black Belt in training" a.k.a. BBit, to "certified" Black Belt, but the formal classroom training is almost done) AND another FIASCO dinner to co-host. Dog days of summer, here we come!

We had a casual, family Sunday Supper Club this week, just Elsa and Ron, and an improv menu:

• fresh artichoke hearts sauteed with onions, garlic, thyme and red pepper flakes
• sauteed spinach with balsamic vinegar
• Italian sausages (chicken) sauteed with red peppers and onions
  
• roasted cauliflower with capers
• fried mushroom polenta patties
• watermelon and blackberries with mint and basil
• prosecco

A nice time was had by all, and Julian did some interpretive dancing to Sandra Boynton's "Dog Train" album to entertain afterwards...

A post at Julian's request --
Mom, write this down tonight so that I will remember it:
Gwen came Saurday and we had fun. We stayed up really late.

They played a lot, and then watched Sleeping Beauty. My idea of a great date, too! He didn't fall asleep until ten. Plus she ate shrimp and salad... and for a minute, I thought the peer pressure would be enough to get him to try salad too, but alas, it was not to be. Maybe next time.

FIASCO Dinner #2: L.A. (Food) Story

Gil got back from DBLE on Friday afternoon, and we went ahead with our FIASCO (HUUC service auction) dinner as planned on Sautrday. Had four and a half folks from Horizon -- Julian set up the kids' table for himself and our youngest guest -- plus Grammy and us.

The menu featured food from our Los Angeles days:

• Prosciutto & Parsley Pizzas
• Killer Shrimp with sourdough bread
• Wolfgang Puck's Chino Chopped Salad
• Chilled Lemon "Souffle"

A lovely time was had by all, with much flapping of gums and belts loosened all around...

exhaustion ... sets ... in ...
J has a little cold, so he stayed home today, and probably tuckered out Grammy. I'm feeling the midweek training blues, tired in mind and body. And Gil said DBLE is wearing him out too.

On the up side, I've got the Saturday FIASCO dinner planning done and will shop on Friday. And I've cooked (although wonderful Gram has cleaned) every night and done laundry two out of three (although again, Gram has come to the rescue on the folding). Early to bed tonight, and then it's all downhill...

I have the utmost respect for anyone who parents single-handedly for any reason. For me, it certianly does take a village!

We Did It!

Everything went pretty smoothly today; made it to school at eight, and on to my class only a few minutes late -- and the instructor's computer was broken, so we didn't started on time anyway. Came home this evening, everyone was here, afternoon snacks had been had, and I made a quick dinner and did a couple of loads of laundry after J went to sleep. Thanks to Grammy for doing the dishes and folding a mountain of laundry, so I'll be going to bed on time as well!

Now if I could only get J to stop jumping on the couch between bites at dinnertime...

Grammy got here just fine. Everyone is settled in bed, and I'm heading that way myself. The pool was lovely, and only moderately crowded. I wish that someday I will understand why Juj has such a hard time switching activities, but a squirt of cold water (literally!) after the "we can't leave the pool to pick up Gram" temper tantrum distracted him in just the right way (he smiled!), and we made it through the rest of the day relattively unscathed.

Tomorrow morning will be the true test; if I make it to MY class on time, we will have "rung the bell" in my book.

Just a quickie - no Sunday supper club this week, as I will be picking up Grammy at the airport (and then feeding her the really good Alaskan King Crab cakes I tasted at Whole Foods today - who cares if their CEO is a bit of an idiot?)

But Ron did join us for a Rachel Ray meal tonight. (I know but it's like Martha: the food is actually pretty darn good -- and not TOO labor intensive in RR's case.) We had grilled cod, with homemade tartar sauce, oven fries with spicy catsup, and a fennel-red cabbage slaw. Plus fresh organic Rainer cherries in ice water, which is a great way to serve whole fresh fruit such as cherries and peaches.

Wish me luck - the adventure starts tomorrow. I'm planning on a long visit to the pool to while away the afternoon before picking up Gram.

I prepare for my most dangerous assignment of all next week -- a week with Julian... ALONE!

Well, not exactly alone; Gil is going off to UU leadership camp - um, I mean, training - Sunday through Friday, but my grandmother is coming to spend the week with us to entertain (or be entertained by) J in the late afternoons and "Uncle" Bill has volunteered to pick the wee one up from summer school each day so Grammy doesn't have to drive...

But it will still be interesting, because I have to be at the office by 8:30 each morning as I am also in training (fourth week of Lean Six Sigma Black Belt training -- more about that another time). I'm not sure Julian has ever been out the door before eight AM in his whole albeit somewhat short career of Montessori, and we'll need to leave between 7:30 and 7:45 to get him dropped off and me to the office in time.

Should really make me appreciate dear hub by the time he returns!

Aha - have I mastered the picture thing now? (Just because you CAN add pictures, does that mean you SHOULD?)

This one is from the now legendary trip to Southern California this March (beach, Disneyland, Legoland - shown here, and as many of our favorites restaurants as we could hit...)

What's for dinner?

So, when we started our online presence, it was all about sharing photos of our precious bundle of joy with our far-flung friends and family. But then the bundle got bigger and much more active, we got busier, and less photos went up. (I think if you check, they are from when he was three at the most and he's almost five now).

So then, we got asked to publish the menus of the "Sunday supper club" which is just us feeding whatever number of our family and friends happen to be available most weeks. It hearkens back to Sunday dinners at our grandmothers' houses, which Gil and I both remember fondly.

And here we go again...

This Sunday, it was percatelli bolognese (adapted from the Tyler Florence recipe on Food TV), quick-braised rapini, a Caesar salad with Giadi DeLaurentis' dressing and polenta croutons (more Food TV -- yum! was the consensus), and the aforementioned German chocolate cake, with the lily gilded by having dark chocolate buttercream frosting as well as the requisite gooey coconut-pecan filling.

I should have gotten a picture of Julian after we finished baking the cakes in the morning. He gave new meaning to the phrases "naked chef" by cooking in nothing but Buzz Lightyear underwear and a San Francisco Ballet Nutcracker apron, and then had chocolate batter from his forehead to his belly button and over to his elbow from licking the beater.

Cooking with Julian

Today we are going to make a German Chocolate Cake for Gil's birthday dinner. Julian really wanted to surprise Dad, but I think I have him convinced that it's OK not to do that. I won't live up to the beauty of Delicious Cakes but it should be good because it's from Cook's Illustrated.

Third time's a charm..

Well, we've had two other blogs, but only Gil knows how to update them, so now it's my turn to try. This looks pretty easy. And the rain has finally stopped, so that has to be a good sign.