The Biggest Bed Ever!

Usually, parents are complaining about how they can't get a good night's sleep because their kids are always coming in their beds in the middle of the night. Well, I am the exception to that rule. My girls rarely wake up in the middle of the night, and since they've moved to their own beds when they were babies, I could probably count the number of time that they've slept with me in my bed. In fact, Leila's only done it once since she moved out. So I've actually been complaining lately about how I never get to sleep with the girls. It doesn't help that we have a queen sized bed which really isn't big enough for everybody. . . especially not without me worrying about someone falling out. So we're doing something a little different and fun tonight. . . slumber party in mom's room! And my solution to the bed being to small: bring in another bed. I actually moved Gabrielle's twin sized bed from her room to mine, which was a little bit of an ordeal. But the girls think it's awesome! Perfect for watching a movie in bed :-) It's nice to just have a little fun every once in a while.

Observation Day!

Today was observation day at Gabrielle's dance class, which are so much fun because each time I'm always so impressed by how much she's learned. Except everytime we go watch her she always looks like she's having a miserable time. . . never smiles. But she always loves going to dance class and always says she has fun. So who knows with her. . . but anyway, here's a little video from when they were having scarf dancing (which is like free time in dance class).

That's What Friends Are For

Phone calls to rant and rave, a cup of sugar, someone to watch your kids in the case of an emergency, and Amish Friendship Bread starter. . . which Jessica happened to bless me with 10 days ago. I am a big fan of AFB, so I was delighted and excited to get it. Personally, I have no problems squishing it and feeding it over the 10 day period. But this was the first time that I've gotten it since I've really gotten into cooking, and the more I thought about it the more the starter reminded me of sourdough starter. Which gave me this great idea. . . I bet I could make sourdough bread out of it. Need I say more? Results below :-) I will definately be making this again.

Turkishly Delightful!

Or rather just turkish delights. You know, those chewy candies made famous by the book and movie, "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe." C'mon, I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. . . it's what Edmund asks the White Witch to give him to eat when she picks him up in her sleigh. Then she made a bargain with him -- more turkish delights when he brings his siblings. Turkish delights are good. . . but not good enough to be a traitor for! Well I've had turkish delights on the brain. .. and I know of no place where I can buy it around here. Robert once brought me some back when he came back from deployment. He must know me and my love for chewy, gummy candies so well. For those wondering, turkish delights are the basis for the inside of jelly beans. Easy to eat. . . not so easy to make.



I found several different recipes for them. Most using the traditional combination of sugar and cornstarch. Others using gelatin. I decided to try both. Because I don't have any rosewater (the traditional flavor of turkish delights) I decided to make orange, lemon, and mint flavor. I made the orange ones using the recipe that used gelatin. And made the mint and lemon flavor with the traditional ingrediants. Well in the end the orange flavored ones ended up tasting like
candy orange slices. And as for the mint and lemon ones. . . excellent flavor, the girls thought they were yummy, but they never set properly. And they didn't ever get that chewy texture. Instead, Robert said it felt like he had just eaten a piece of flubber. . . he just said that cause it was green. Oh well. I guess the next time that I want some Turkish Delight, I will just tell myself to suck it up. But if I get a taste for orange slices. . . well then I'll whip up this recipes.

Minty Refreshment

I am sure that it has become apparent by now that I tend to be a rather spontaneous chef. I get a taste for something, or I see something that looks really good, and next thing you know (or I know) I'm making it. I especially tend to be like that when I'm in a good mood. It used to be that I would only bake when I was having a bad day. One time Robert came home to see me baking and said "Have a bad day?" "How'd you know?" I asked. His reply: "cause you're baking." Well nowadays I bake just because I want too. And usually I have to be in a good mood to do it. Anyway, today I had a taste for mints. I think I'm sorta catching the holiday spirit even though it's only November. Well I had a taste in mind, but in the end I couldn't decide what kind of mints I wanted -- so I made two different kinds. White chocolate mints with a bottom coating of crushed candy canes, and cream cheese mints that look like they got a little too much green coloring. I ended up liking them both, which is always a good thing. There's so much that I think everyone in the house needs to eat one after each meal. Maybe I'll even give Copper (our dog) a few. Goodness knows he needs em! I guess everyone will be having minty fresh breath!

Wasting away again. . .

in Margaritaville!!! A Margaritaville was recently added to the Mohegan Sun Casino near us, and Robert and I finally got the chance to go. Margaritaville is something of a tradition for us, we've been to the ones in New Orleans, Orlando, and Charleston. . . and we've collected salt shakers from each one. Anway, I had a blast!!! One could argue that I don't get out much, which is pretty much true. So I had a truly good time. The restaurant was sooo nice, with all its decorations.

They had men walking around on stilts making balloon hats for everyone! I had to flag the man down because I was not going to be happy unless I got a hat!!! And of course, Robert had to get one too. After all, we couldn't come home with just one balloon hat. His is a shark fin.I couldn't resist ordering up some conch fritters. Especially after the fiasco that I had with them (see Bad Cooking Day). I finally got my taste satiated. The first thing I said when they brought them out: "Mine weren't burnt after all!" This was how mine looked too, but I was sure they were burnt because that is awful dark. Anyway, Margaritaville's fritters were a whole lot tastier (and spicier) than mine were.And then it turned out that the pretty, whirly, tornado looking thing on the ceiling was for more than just decoration. It was their "nor'eastern." At the top of the hour, a big nor'eastern comes, making it light up green and smoke.But the best part is what comes out of the Nor'eastern cloud! Yep, it's raining tequila into a giant shaker glass! After all this is Margaritaville!
I had such a blast! We'll definately have to come again. Maybe next time, we'll bring the girls. . . I bet they'd love all the things that were going on. Hey! It's not like they KNOW what's in a margarita.

Yep! Robert Cooks Too!

And he also has a flair for the unusual and non-traditional. He decided to make dinner tonight which I was very appreciate of because I was busy writing a term paper. (That's what I get for procrastinating.) Well Robert made something pretty traditional -- it's something of a staple in our house, Basil Chicken. But he decided to spice things up a little bit and try something very different. When dinner was served, I noticed that the rice was yellow, had craisins in it, and smelled like cinnamon! Yep, his version of saffron rice with currants. (Yes it's strange but we did just happen to have saffron in our cupboard.) It like a kid friendly, easy, and very aromatic version. I loved it! And so did the kids! The cinnamon was very subtle, but definately added something to it. So while the basil chicken was good, the saffron rice definately took center stage. And it is nice to be able to eat some good cooking. . . not cooked by me. :-)

Not Fried Rice!

Like many others, when I am sick and not feeling well, all I want to eat are comfort foods. For me, that would be chinese food. Foods that when I eat them I can say "this reminds me of my childhood." Unfortunately, I am not referring to the type of chinese food that you order from the take-out down the street. I want the authentic stuff, like my grandma used to make, which is considerably harder to come by. Lucky for me, the last time my mom was up she brought me one of her VERY old chinese cookbooks. That thing is older than me! Even better is that it's in both Chinese and English, meaning that it's an authentic cookbook with recipes that I want in a language I can read. I've been sporadically making some of the noodle recipes (like yesterday) because the girls love noodles. Today I had made the decision that I wasn't making dinner. But with a lack of a better alternative, I reconsidered and ended up looking through this book that my mom gave me. I found a recipe for Rainbow Rice, which I had all the ingrediants for and looked pretty yummy! Although it looks like fried rice, it's actually steamed. The vegetables are first stir-fried and seasoned and then the rice and water is added. Steaming everything together gives the rice a very aromatic and subtle flavor. I thought it was delicious. . . and may never go back to fried rice again!

Chopsticks for Children

Ha ha ha. . . sounds like some sort of exchange program. But really they're just trainer chopsticks. For dinner today I made chinese noodles/soup because I was sick. . . and cold. . . and hungry. . . and Gabrielle requested noodles yesterday. To make them even more appetizing, Robert let the girls use their little chopsticks. They actually did surprisingly well with them. . . I was surprised. Food was actually getting from their bowls to their mouths, which is a big accomplishment for chopstick wielding kids. I'm pretty sure I didn't learn how to use those things myself until I was 5 or 6, and even now I'd much rather have a fork. Unfortunately there's no good picture of Gabrielle, but trust me, she was like an old pro. :-)

Logistically Speaking

Like with every other parent in the world, my kids often do things that surprise me. It's often hard for me to remember that they learn more and more everyday and I'm often surprised at the amount of knowledge they have. Today though I was surprised with not what they know, but how they figure things out. Deductive reasoning at its prime. While driving by the river today Gabrielle asked how a buoy floats. Since I am no engineer and Robert is, I happily deferred the question to Robert who's answer was "the same way a boat does." Wow, that was helpful cause every four year old knows how a boat floats. Well then Gabrielle says "Is it because of it's hump?" We were confused. Then she elaborated. Boats have a hump or hill on the bottom, and she wanted to know if that was how it floats. When we answered that it was, then she said "well then the buoy must have a little hump on it too." By this time I was in shock. My four year old had amazingly enough related the form of the boat to it's function, and then she had deduced the form of the buoy based on it's function. Who does that???? I'm a grown woman and truth be told, I've never thought about how the shape of the bottom of a boat helps it float. Well in the end she'd pretty much answered her own question with an answer that made more sense then her dad's. As for me, well I'm just in shock. And know I know how a boat floats.

Not to be outdone, Leila later showed that she too has great deductive reasoning abilities. She had been wanting a snack, and kept asking us for one even though we kept saying 'no.' Finally she asked if she could go wash her hands. I said "sure, of course you can." After all, I'm all for good hygiene. Well she proceeded to the bathroom where she washed her hands, dried them off, turned off the light to the bathroom, closed the door and made her way to the table where she got up in her seat and said once more "snack please." What???? Well we gathered that her thinking was "we always make her go wash her hands when it's time to eat, so if she washes her hands then it will be time to eat." There's logic for ya.