Picky kids?

Feed 'em this. If you don't want to lick the pan afterward, I don't want to talk to you anymore.

* 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1 T oil
* 3/4 teaspoon black pepper
* 4-6 garlic cloves, chopped
* 1/4 cup brown sugar
* 1/4 cup heavy cream (I use more, so I have more sauce)

Directions
1. Sprinkle the salt and pepper onto the chicken.
2. In a medium to large sized skillet (I like cast iron) heat the oil over medium-high heat until almost smoking.
3. Add the chicken breasts and garlic to the pan and brown the first side of chicken, about 5 minutes.
4. Flip the chicken and brown the other side, about 3 minutes.
5. Remove the chicken from the pan and add the brown sugar to the pan.
6. Allow the sugar to melt about half way and add the cream.
7. Bring to a bubble and add chicken back to pan
8. Simmer for 3-5 minutes and serve over butter egg noodles or rice.
9. Enjoy!

Holy crap, people

I just kicked the snot out of some spices and whipped up a fantabulous garam masala. I sauteed it with some chopped onions and butter and then threw it all into a bowl of brown basmati rice I made last night.

Oh. My god.

When the groceries come home, I'll add golden raisins and sliced almonds and a bit of salt then mix *that* all together. Oh, and peas. Gots to have peas.

Tonight I'll serve it alongside homegrown pork steaks with homemade green tomato chutney and a salad. Husband thinks we need another veg so he'll see what looks good. I'm leaning toward green beans for Szechuan beans, but I'll take what I get. Rhubarb pie and ice cream for dessert. Sort of a mish-mash, but it oughta suffice.

(This would also be really good with lamb added for a main dish. I'd pressure cook the lamb with a leetle bit of onion and garlic, then chunk it and mix with the rice.)

I used 4 c uncooked rice, so I'm prepared to feed an army. That was enough to use the entire batch of masala, though.

Garam masala (Indian spice mix)
1 T cinnamon (Penzey's Vietnamese Cassia)
1 T cardamom
1/2 t cumin
1/4 t cloves
1/4 t nutmeg
lots of ground pepper (didn't measure)
A handful of crushed Szechuan peppercorns

I probably should have added some corriander seeds too, but I ain't. Maybe next time. I think 1 t ground is probably enough. All the above were purchased ground, even though real garam masala is made with whole spices that you grind yourself.

Banner day

What does it take to warm the very cockles of my withered old heart? Peeing in the potty is a fantastic start.






TWICE!

Already doing something wrong

Dude's cool new Bumgenius 3.0 diapers came on Monday and he promptly pooped FOUR TIMES to break them in. Problem: despite prewash, wash, and extra rinse, they still smell. Sun? Another round of washing? I'm waiting on a bunch of PFs and covers, so if I need to switch to something without fleece I can do that, but I'd really like to be able to put these to good use.

Help!

Oh, and I've managed to lose two cloth wipes in a day. This is going great!

100 Item Challenge

I find this interesting. I was just saying to Husband, who brought an article about Dave Bruno home, "If we could categorize a few things, like books, I could do this." Even better, I think WE could do this. If each person were allowed 100 items, and necessities like diapers/underwear, weren't counted individually, I think it's entirely doable.


I may just give it a try.

Categories might be:
books (even this I could purge quite a bit)
cooking items (ditto)
pants (say a max of 10 pairs per person, dress and street combined)
shirts (same, but maybe 20 what with the spillage)
shoes (considered 1 item since we have such radical weather swings here)
movies (hard one; this could take up a big chunk of the list)
knitting (MUST be a category or I'm already done)

And do you consider personal items like deodorant? If we don't share, it's not a household item, right?

Does the tractor count as a household item even though I'm the only one who uses it? It contributes to our food since I mow the field to move the pig fence..

My GOD, the stuff we could get rid of! And I don't even need to sell 99% of it, just get it OUT of my house.

"No, Daddy,

you can't serious me. You're killing me."

WTF?

I'm back! And I'm biased!

Ah, summer. Hot, sticky, humid summer. It's coming and I'm about to grow Very Cranky. So I thought I'd try and figure out why it is that I'm so intolerant of intolerance, but still manage to have my own little balls of bias living in my brain.

I don't like formula feeding. That is, I don't like it for convenience. I understand that there are a few (very few) women who legitimately don't produce enough milk, and that some can't nurse because of meds they need to take. But when women just choose to do it, it really bothers me. I never, ever say anything, because it's not my place to tell people how to feed their children. And I know that puts me in the minority of lactivists, but still. It's there. Right under the surface, just hoping I get an opening to put in my two cents. Which I'm too chicken to give. Ah well.

But there it is, I don't support formula feeding unless it's medically necessary. And I'm guessing that my idea of medically necessary is a lot different than most people.

I also find myself discounting people who are very vocal about their religion. Mostly that ends up being Christians (and when did that become a denomination?). I have a few friends who are very religious but it's just part of who they are, not something they use like a hammer to wear others down. When someone says, "What *we* believe," or "In *our* family, we do X," I have no problem with that. When someone says, "What *you* should do," or "The bible says you should do X," I shut down. I can't help it. Part of it is that I just don't seem to have the faith gene that others have. And I'm okay with that. I really am. A lot of people are not okay with that, though, and they don't mind telling me so. THAT I have a problem with.

I understand the command to go out and spread the gospel. But I think it should be shared with people who want to hear it and not forced on people who don't.

But again, I keep it to myself. I don't complain when people talk about their faith, though I think I'll start telling them I don't need to be saved, thanks.

It didn't even occur to me that I had these biases until I was ranting about intolerant people and it suddenly clicked that, hey! I have a couple tender spots myself. I like to think that I don't force them on people or make them feel bad for their choices/beliefs, but it's really, really hard for me to let go of my opinions. And maybe that's okay.

In other news:

• We have 6 new piglets and ohmigawd are they cute
  
• Perp and Dude went to daycamp this month and luuuurved it
• Perp starts 4-K in September. Big girl school!
• Dude has the vocabulary of a 3-4 year old and it's bizarre
• My mom had a great book review for her new kids' book
• We're switching to DirecTV because hey, we have this HD tv that we really can't put to its full use with Dish Network. But DTV doesn't work with TiVo, so we have to use their suck-ass DVR. I'm sure I'll get over it, but I'm not all that happy about it. On the plus: more channels of Absolutely Nothing!
  
• The goats are gone. They went to live on a farm. No, really! They'll be in the county fair this fall and we're going to go visit. But we don't miss them, not even a little.
  
• I'm turning into a fruit bat; I eat at least a pound of cherries a week, plus a pint of raspberries, lots of oranges, and peaches. How I love summer.
  

Hurry up and wait

Last night I had my first clinical. Mostly it was orientation, and *yawn*. We also worked in the "feeder dining room" and fed residents who needed help with it. I helped a lovely but somewhat confused resident. Unfortunately, between my apparently fading hearing and her low voice, it was a bit of a farce. But she got a fairly good meal down and we watched the birds in the aviary. Nice.

Now I'm in the interminable job wait. I've applied for a number. I'm quite excited about one: Hospice home health aide. The more I think about it, the more I think Hospice is where I want to end up (short-term, people, I'm talking work). I think it's such incredibly important work, people there don't seem to fall into the politics and backstabbing - and if I'm wrong, please don't write to me about it, I need my little dream.

I wonder, though, since I'm still techincally in class, if they'll disregard my applications. One spot has been open since December. I hope they're hot to fill it. To get to be a voyeur in someone's house and support them through death? Too cool for words. I know that's slightly twisted but what can I say. I have my foibles.

Tonight we work 1:1 or 2:1 with residents. Everyone is nervous but me. I figure I've been training for this job for the last 4 years, right? Feeding people who don't want to eat? Changing wet/dirty diapers? Making endless beds? No problemo.

What I *am* nervous about is the general load of work for the hours of the shift. Seriously, there were probably 10-12 residents in the feeder room and there would only have been THREE CNAs to help them. I just think that's nuts. A normal pt load is 8-10. That's 8-10 people who can't do most things for themselves. Dressing, feeding, walking (I canNOT say "ambulate"), cleaning, toileting, feeding, toileting, meds... it's a wonder anything gets done at all. I am afraid I'll be paralyzed by a crisis of indecision. Wha-? Who? When??

I know a lot of it is just figuring out your own routine, but that's so not something I'm good at, the routine. I'm not routine-y. Now martini, that's another story.

Bang

I am a: Glock Model 22 in 40 cal

What kind of handgun are YOU?

Unofficially official

Dude has celiac disease. I do not know this for a fact, as evidenced by blood tests, biopsies, or genetic testing. But I do know that when he eats foods with gluten, he develops eczema, stops gaining weight, and becomes a clingy, cranky, borderline-desperate boy.

MIL thinks I should have him tested but all the evidence I can find says that kids are hard to pin down, and that positive results from an elimination diet are good enough. I suppose some day it'll be worth doing, but not until he can understand what's going on and why we're feeding him food that makes him feel like shit. Yeah, you have to load up on gluten before hand in order for your intestines to start reacting, otherwise the biopsy won't show definitive results. Fun!

I've been kind of tooling along with a gluten-free diet for him, basically not feeding him any but not being too careful about the kitchen environment. Turns out a lot of people with CD have terrible problems with cross contamination. Like, separate toasters, pans, knives, peanut butter problems. And since he's having yet another eczema flare despite my efforts to keep gluten out of his diet, I think we have a problem, Houston.

It *may* be that the Quaker rice cakes that Perp shares with him every night (oh so cute) are the culprits, so they're the first thing we're cutting out. But if a few days of that doesn't do it, then I think we may need to just be a gluten-free household. It's too much work to keep everything separate the way it needs to be. I'm starting to understand how kosher households operate.

So. If you have any advice, recipes, product recomendations, hugs... I'll take 'em!

I will tell you this: I've found a cookbook that has let me make stellar brownies. I mean, wheat, no wheat, whatever, these are as good as scratch in the old days. So there's that. And? Chocolate chip cookies. Assuming the chips are GF. Oy. Gluten-free Baking Classics by Annalise G Roberts. Go. Get it. And order some superfine brown rice flour while you're at it. You won't believe the difference that extra grind makes.

Dudie-versary

He's TWO! I honestly have no idea how that happened.

Still here

really. Just not feeling the posty love. But I'll be back TODAY with something. Husband is at a CLE, so it's just me and the ankle biters from last night to tomorrow morning. So far so good, though Perp woke up with a bug up her ass. Then she had a giant poo and felt much better. Amazing what a dump can do for your outlook, no?

We have high plans for running a few errands but I may just leave it until tomorrow when I go and get my knit on. Saturdays are Daddy Day at Moot Point; I hit the ground staggering, go to a local-ish bagel shop where I can't eat anything, and study. Then I go to the knitting house when they open and spend the day on whatever WIP I have going on. Tomorrow it's finishing Perp's Einstein jacket, then I start Husband's Christmas present. Yes. It's February March. I don't want to talk about it. I also have to get a BSJ out for friends who are having a girl in May. As many times as I've started that damn thing, I should have about seven of them done.

Anyway. More later when if the kids nap.

Choppy weather

The day before we left to visit SIL and BIL in Germy, Breakfast and Brunch went to meet their maker. Lucky us, our butcher's brother does on-site slaughtering, so we were able--for a ridiculous price*--to have the girls dispatched on their own turf with very little, if any, stress.

Two days after we drove, nay, staggered home from the airport, I went to the butcher to pick the girls up. Nothing like leaving 400 lb of pig (Breakfast) and coming home to 200 lb of neatly wrapped piles of meat. Well, hanging weight wasn't that high, but he guessed she ran about that big. Hanging weight was 237 lb for Breakfast and I think 162 lb for Brunch.

The breakdown:
88 chops (in pairs)
4 steaks (not sure if they're in pairs or not)
8 packs of ribs
9 shoulder roasts
4 loin roasts
*37* packs of bacon (I figure ~1 lb minimum, some clearly more like 3 lb)
1 roast (what kind? I don't know)
4 shoulder steaks
9 hams (picnic and big ones)
1 fresh picnic ham (for my dad)

We have 148# of bacon and hams! There's also 14 lb of sausage coming, but it's not ready yet.

The smoking was an extra charge of $111.00, and the butchering fees were $57 (Brunch) and $82 (not Brunch). So we have several hundred pounds of pork for $288 (not including feed costs and the cost of the pig). Not too shabby. Even if I dropped $200 for feed, that's still a great price per pound (Under $2!). Plus? We're not contributing to factory farming and astonishingly inhumane "living" and work conditions. I feel really good about that. Really good.

We're already planning on raising a few more this year. Several friends have asked if we'd raise one for them, and I figure it's just as easy to do 2 (or 4) as it is to do one, and they do prefer to be in groups, so... This time around I think it's safe to figure the pigs would have a hanging weight of 120-160 lb. We sure won't let them get as big as Breakfast did (6 hams off of her, because they were so big!). We figure to buy the pigs in early spring and schedule a slaughter date for mid-late September, which should lead to them being in the preferred slaughter range of 200-250 lbs.

Honestly, no one who knew either of us a few years ago could have predicted we'd be doing this. Hell, we wouldn't have predicted it.

What I love about this is that not only do we get truly fantastic meat, but our pasture is going to be all the better for it. As we move them around our field, I'll go in after and reseed to rebuild the soil and upgrade the pasture. Right now it's in pretty poor shape, and the rooting, pooping, peeing, and weed eating is just what we need to start off on the right foot. If I can figure out a good shelter for them, I'll also put some chickens out in with the pigs, to spread the manure and take care of flies and worms. While the pigs are young, I may also put the goats in with them, but the girls got pretty aggressive and I think that I'd prefer not to find out if pigs eat goat.

* how much would you charge for killing, skinning, and cleaning two pigs in 21-degree weather? Figure 2-3 hours of work, here. It probably wouldn't be $36, would it? How do they make a living at that price? That's where the extra few bucks came from in the price breakdown, btw. Thirty-six. When he got the bill, Husband said, "Thirty-six ..... dollars?" and butcher's brother said, "Yeah. It's cheap."

Together, we can fill a landfill

*squirt*
"Dude, was that you?"
"Yeah!"
"Did you poop?"
"Yeah!" Arms up in air. Grin. "Big!"

Somehow I knew it

Which Discworld Character are you like (with pics) created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as The Librarian You're the Librarian! Once a wizard, now an Orang-utan (due to an unfortunate magical accident), you refuse to be turned back for a few reasons: In this form, it's easier to reach the shelves and hold more books; having the strength of five men makes people return their books on time; life's great philosophical questions boil down to "when do I get my next banana?" You say "ook" but are usually understood well enough. The Librarian 88% Death 81% Esmerelda (Granny) Weatherwax 63% Carrot Ironfounderson 63% Gytha (Nanny) Ogg 63% Greebo 56% Commander Samuel Vimes 50% Cohen The Barbarian 44% Lord Havelock Vetinari 38% Rincewind 38%

Perpo and the Man

"Mama, Daddy took me to the bathroom and he used his junk himself!"

In the puking time

First struck down was Perp on Monday night with three bouts of violent vomiting and sheet/blanket changes. Tuesday everything seemed clear. Wednesday she puked on my mom's floor. Wednesday night Dude succumbed: FIVE bedding changes. Last night, I got the call in the form of a vague, semi-scary wakeup at 11:30. You know the feeling: "Uh oh. Something Is Up. Maybe if I just lie here..." bolt to bathroom. I ended up sitting on the tub for half an hour before the first round, so that's nice.

Note to self: when Husband's popcorn makes you want to hurl, prepare yourself for the worst.

Top it all off with (three) raging cases of near-cholera diarrhea and you have yourself a very merrry Christmas.

Here's something you may not have known: dehydration can make you so dizzy as to nearly pass out. Slumping to the floor with your head between your knees works wonders for that.

Also: my mother-in-law rocks the freaking UNIVERSE, and I'm not afraid to say so. She came over (despite having had this yesterday, which I didn't know at the time), and wrangled the kinder while I sprawled on my death bed. Then? THEN? She CLEANED! Okay, tidied, the place was actually pretty clean but we have chronic clutter problem. AND? She took the Perp home for the night. If you can think of a nice gift for her to thank her, drop me a line. I don't think she's a massage/mani/pedi person. I should really know this by now, shouldn't I? I suck.

(C)Happy (C)Ha(n)u(k)ka(h)

I was going to post earlier to allow for my European friends but I'm lazy. Or I forgot. Whatever, have a latke on me!

Pork roasty goodness

Oh sweet mother of god:

pork shoulder roast (bone-in good)
kosher salt, maybe 1/2 - 3/4 c
handful of fresh sage leaves, chopped
2-3 garlic cloves, smashed
mashed up szechuan peppercorns (from penzeys) <---- this is my particular favorite. You may not love them as much as I do but if you don't I can't speak to you anymore.

Mix everything in a bowl and rub onto pork. Let it sit for at least 2 hours.

Cook at 450. Use a thermometer for to not overcook. Good lord. I think mine went about an hour and a half. If you tossed in some spuds at about an hour? OMG.

Overheard

Perp reading The Little Engine that Could: Once upon a time there was a little choo-choo. "I like to do lots of things. I can go up hills. I wish I could pee."

Urologist-to-be?