What a Welcome?!?!

Dear New Next Door Neighbors,

As we told you this morning, "Welcome to the neighborhood!"  That lovely house has been sitting empty for way too long and we are delighted with your arrival. We are even more thrilled to find you will be bringing the first new child onto the block in SEVEN years!!!!! There are far too few children on our block and even though your summer arrival will be a lot too late for my children to have as a playmate, they are still excited!!

Now about that first meeting with my daughter Julia this morning.......kids really do say the darnedest things!! Someday your little one will stand on my front porch and tell me something that you will try to snatch from the air as it sails from their mouth. It happens more than you could ever imagine so, I promise that if you withhold judgment on Julia's proclamations then I will do the same for your child, okay?!?!

You see, there is always a logical explanation if we only give the time needed for it to make itself known. Like today....when Julia told you that I was making you a "batch of Ugly Soup" as a gesture of welcome. We can't help ourselves sometimes! When an adorable little toddler, that you love to pieces, looks into a serving bowl at dinner one night and asks so innocently "Why is this soup so ugly Mommy?"....you just go ga-ga and the next thing you know.......

perfectly lovely 'Beer Braised Beef Stew' is known as 'Ugly Soup'!!!!(Wish I had taken pictures as I worked today because while I'm kind of tired of this recipe, others may have liked to try making this hearty winter comfort food. Just not that organized of a person, sorry!)

Had she just stopped there I'm sure you would have figured that it was just a funny name for perfectly edible food. It's the next bit that leaves me red faced and feeling the need to press the restart button on your introduction to Julia!! Because I can only imagine what you must be thinking about the follow up sentence to the Ugly Soup announcement. I'm absolutely sure you will, some day very soon, understand how much that precious child will change your life!!!!!!!!!! As a single, professional I was always 'tsk-tsking' over the ludicrous things my friends with children would stoop to and I was ever so certain that I would NEVER behave like them should I ever have children. Yeah, well there's this spell so strong as not to be resisted when a grin squishes already chubby cheeks into dimpled adorableness or big, beautiful eyes open wide and literally sparkle with joy!! You will have no idea how low you've stooped to serve those grins and sparkles until one day that living, breathing symbol of your unconditional love blurts out the line that I'm sure you heard as, "But she's not giving you any of the poo potatoes because there's not enough and you might not like them anyhow."  Please, please, please know that my children have NEVER(to my knowledge) placed any form of excrement in their mouths!!

 

It would be "Pooh Potatoes"...as in Winnie the Pooh! Besides, they aren't even potatoes...just humble rutabaga which, to a wondering toddler, looked like mashed potatoes in the color of her favorite stuffed animal. 

After you've finished painting the walls and hanging the drapes, come on over and we'll spend some quality time to have a proper introduction. We're really  nice...we promise!
Hope you enjoyed the Ugly Soup.........

Recipe of the week

After 13 years of marriage I am finding myself in a rut when it comes to meal preparations! Now with a budding chef in the house we watch an awful lot of the Food Network but it somehow does not rub off on me. Lately, a few of my blogging buddies have started posting some recipes, complete with pictures! This seems to work better. Don't know why for sure but I guess that since another 'Mom' finds it achievable I'm not so daunted...besides, I have the pictures and narrative that I can keep going back to reference unlike the T.V. shows. (Yes, we are DVR-less and no TIVO either!)

I'm going to embark on this recipe posting path in the hopes that more blogging buddies will jump on the bandwagon and create a renewed interest in meal planning! Now my first recipe is not technically a meal. More like a snack or a dessert but something I've made recently that I think others may like...and which I remembered to take pictures of as I worked!!!!
 

The recipe is called "Scones ala Agnes". This recipe is not my original but a gift to me from my sister-in-law Agnes. You remember her, the lady that pushed Patrick and I together?!?!?

 

That would be the proud new grandma on the right in this picture! Well Agnes was born and raised in County Mayo in Ireland. Needless to say, she is well versed in the Irish repertoire and scones would be her forte!!! You know that one thing that people always ask you to bring? When it comes to Agnes it's always our request that she bring a batch of her scones!! Once we moved out of the city and started the whole child centric lifestyle, it became harder and harder to get our scone fix so Agnes came one afternoon and conducted a tutorial! Turned out to be  waaaaaay easier than even I could have imagined and now it's one of the things gaining in requests in my repertoire! Give them a try...you'll see how quickly they become 'comfort food' at your home too!!!

The ingredients are as follows:

2     Eggs

1     Stick of Softened Butter/Margarine (I only ever use butter)

1     16oz tub of Sour Cream

3.5   Cups of Flour

1      Cup of Sugar

2      Teaspoons Baking Powder

1      Teaspoon Baking Soda

1      Generous Cup of Raisins/Currants/Dried Fruit of Choice

In a large bowl combine the first 3 (wet) ingredients and beat with hand mixer ONLY UNTIL blended.

  

 

In smaller bowl or large measuring cup combine the next 4 (dry) ingredients. No need to sift the flour but just take care not to pack it either!!

Then add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix by hand! (The electric mixer tends to over work the dough making for a tougher scone!!!) You just 

want a fairly coarse mix.

Then add the fruit of your choice. No need to rehydrate as the moisture in the dough will steam the fruit as it bakes resulting in perfectly plumped fruit!!!

 

Now most of the time I use raisins. This is only because they are usually on hand but we prefer currants as they are just as sweet but smaller resulting in more per scone...and I'm also veeeery heavy handed with the fruit measurement as well (:  You can use can use any dried fruit you like or as my girls prefer....chocolate chips!!

The finished dough will be just ever so slightly wetter than drop cookie dough. If it seems too wet then add a pinch more flour. Too dry then add a drop of milk!

 

Drop in generous spoonfuls onto aluminum foil lined cookie sheets. No need to 'shape' as the whole idea of the scone is a simple quick bread!! Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until they are golden brown on top. Cool on wire racks if you can keep the scone snatchers at bay long enough...the smell of them baking usually draws a crowd though.

 

Not only are they delicious fresh baked but if stored in a ziploc bag they can be brought out later and a quick 10-15 seconds in the microwave will bring them back to their fresh baked goodness. No surprise but in this house they are usually accompanied by a generous amount of butter and washed down with a strong mug of tea.

Celebrating Mardi Gras

Chicagoland and Carnival are not usually associated! There are no parades with elaborate floats nor bead throwing...you'd freeze the unmentionables if you sat out on our curbsides at this time of the year!!!!!!!!!! There are no days off of school to recover from the late nights of partying...not really many parties even! We do try our best to bring on the holiday though.The Paczki (poonch-key) are bought from the local Polish bakery and waiting to be served for dessert. We have a favorite decadent dinner planned. The girls have been debating their Lenten sacrifices...Julia's seems possible as she plans to give up pop/soda but Mari has set a very high bar by declaring that she intends to stop 'back sassing' her parents! We even did up special shirts for school this year!! So here is Julia all beaded up and heading off to let the good times roll....well not so much....since it's just a normal school day. Hey, it's the thought that counts, isn't it?

A different Valentine's Day love story

Close family and friends know (and are frequently exasperated by the fact) that Patrick and I are not really big into giving each other gifts nor celebrating special days with big displays of romanticism. We are 'matter of fact' kind of people who see our daily life and love as gifts enough! Auntie Peggy has logged several anniversary moments when it was she that reminded us of the importance of the day. She is very humorous in her telling of how she spent a whole hour on the phone with me on my anniversary several years ago without me mentioning the fact. So she baked some cookies and invited the girls over for a play date where they decorated the cookies to say Happy Anniversary. Patrick and I had not even remembered when the girls arrived with big shouts of "Congratulations!!" I guess the best way I can describe it is...we consider EVERY day of our marriage to be an anniversary and we have so much that what could the other possibly buy that would be any more special?!?!? Valentine's Day would be no different...except that it is a special day for another reason. Today is a day filled with an extra hug or two and while it is to affirm the love in our family it is not because of the romantic holiday. Valentine's Day in our home is a day in which we remember love lost.....and the reason to embrace the love still held tight. February 14, 1982....the day that Patrick's mother, Bridget O'Mahony of County Kerry, Ireland died. Her loss is beyond measure for a son who admired her every trait and magnified by the thousands of miles that separated them on that day. So as you admire the boxes of chocolates, the golden bangles, and the flowery verse on the Hallmark card you received today, please remember those whose love you once held so literally in your hand that is now only held in your heart and memory. Even better, pick up that phone and call someone whom you love as there may not be another chance to tell them in person!

No Bull

Three posts in one day...oh yeah! Things are grinding on all cylinders today and my production tallies for the day are near record breaking. Of course, by actually putting that in writing I'm probably jinxing tomorrow but it feels too good not to celebrate!!! Besides, I don't have to go to work tomorrow so I have a much lower bar to reach. So. where were we? Oh yeah, Julia had just opened her box of horses. After a couple hours of racing them all around my living room where I discovered my wing back chairs were actually 'mountains' and the carpet was 'the valley floor', I had to drag the girl off to the dreaded tub. You see we had big plans for the night!!! She had to 'dude' up to properly prepare for the festivities. Dressed the part and with binoculars in hand Julia was off to our SECOND annual professional bull riding championship!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now this was not the OFFICIAL PBR but none the less we saw 30 cowboys try to stay on those bucking beasts for 8 seconds. Julia was not alone. Three of the 1997 cousins (we had a big crop that year in our family!) were allowed to come too. Okay, so technically one of the 1997 crop is a sister but Julia wouldn't mind at all if she went to live with one of the other relatives (: But of course the BFF/Cousin was in attendance too!!! Deirdre is always the first person on Julia's guest list, no matter the occasion. While the tweeners sat up in their seats and chatted/texted the pre-show time away, these two got right into the spirit of the night. They wanted to check out the entertainment up close and personal! They got to see real bulls waiting in the pens 'backstage' and tried to guess which one would inflict the most pain later in the night! They got to see real cowboys getting ready for the night's action! It was surprising how close the arena security and the event organizers let them get to these guys!! Like this close!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! His name was "Caleb something or another" as Julia told me as we scanned through Auntie Peggy's pictures....oh, you surely don't think I have this kind of luck with a camera do you?!?!? Our resident photographer MUST come to all important events if we are to ever have any recorded memories of the event!!(Though the blurred border was my doing...didn't realize that once I selected it on Shutterfly that it stayed that way!!) Caleb was loudly cheered on by his new fans and he was in the lead until the finals...when on his last bull he was thrown in less than TWO seconds...bummer ): This time the Rodeo Clown wore a microphone and was quite humorous...even after a most unfortunate slip on that barrel in which one leg went in the center and one leg went outside resulting in a man's worst nightmare! Poor guy hobbled for the next 10-15 minutes after the slip. Adorable routine with a toddler dressed as 'mini-me' which he referred to as his son but since there was no program sold we can't verify the relationship. The child was really good as he pantomimed along with the routine!!! Intermission was followed with 15 barrel racers and we've decided that they need to change the penalty time for knocking over a barrel!!!! A 5 second penalty when everyone was within a second and a half range seemed very steep to us...but then again we are just pavement pounders and not cowboys! Saw more wild rides than we could have expected based on last year's experience. One of the clowns was taken off by medics due to a bull landing on his legs and several of the cowboys wisely wore the full helmet! Like this cowboy is wearing!!! I just have to wonder how much testosterone is in play with the ones that decide to wear their cowboy hats instead???? I mean I know it's like going to a hockey game where you expect to see some violence but who really wants to see some one's brains spilling out onto to the arena floor? Lucky for us it didn't get that bad this night! Yep, no testosterone with this group! Andrew was scheduled to come but a hockey tournament ran longer than planned so it was a 'girls night out' in the end. So until next year when the THIRD annual bull riding outing is convened, we just want to wish "Happy trails to you"! P.S.-Vanessa, the Monster Trucks will be at the same arena in March!! We're thinking on it....

Horsin' Around ....AGAIN!

I told you this was going to be a quick series of posts. I might even have the time to get another one in before the night's over!! As you are probably well aware, Julia is a tad smitten by all things equine. Well her horse sense really got a boost this weekend! You see, she had a great time playing with her toy horses....NEW toy horses that is!!! Mom had a chance at a win/win situation in which Julia could expand her herd while helping out a friend who is trying to raise funds for her adoption account! Julia had known that I had entered into the arrangement but I never told her HOW many horses would be joining the herd. Her eyes nearly popped when she saw the postman carrying up such a big box (: Leah and Maya included a sweet note which I made her read before I let her start rummaging in the box! Then she dove in and with each 'find' she kept saying, "This really makes me smile!". The smile was in the grin category once the box was emptied!!!!! Her herd tripled in size all at once! By the way, the wildcat did not come in the box. That was in her hand as the doorbell rang and just mixed right into the imaginary play as her new kicking pony seemed an ideal opponent. Now I have the whole herd as my front window 'decor'....going on almost a week now! She just wants to be able to "see my buddies as I get home from school" (:

Fish Tales

So here's the first in a quick series of posts to catch up with our past week...brace yourself!! Gardenia needs to pay up!! Nacho was NOT the first fish to die... see, it was Justin Bieber that 'sank' first!! Nacho waited another 12 hours before he too succumbed! So I guess we'll call it a tie and let all those who bet on Nacho off the hook (: Now I had promised to try and make this a serious attempt at pet ownership so we took ourselves off to a smaller, family run pet store to hopefully get some 'training' and some replacement fish. So I'd like to introduce you to Ditto (on the left) and Bruiser (Due to his markings !) They are much more vigorous from the get go and very fond of eating..unlike their predecessors. Here's hoping they last longer than the first duo!!!!! By the way, JB lasted 5 days and Nacho 6. Oh, and the new duo are 'officially' both Julia's this time... because Mari opted to go back to the Beta, since her last one had lasted two years!! This would be a very poor quality shot of Salsa. Should Ditto and Bruiser be as short lived as Nacho and JB, then be sure that Julia's next 'pet' will probably be Salsa's cousin!