R-Mow is the stuffed cat that my mom made me. He's reeeally cute!!! I usually feed him fruit,vegetables,milk,or grains,but sometimes protein or fish.(he goes crazy when anything about fish comes up in your conversation) He loves it when I hug him. He's one of the three best kitties ever!
Sunday, February 21, 2010
R-Mow (mow rhymes with cow)
R-Mow is the stuffed cat that my mom made me. He's reeeally cute!!! I usually feed him fruit,vegetables,milk,or grains,but sometimes protein or fish.(he goes crazy when anything about fish comes up in your conversation) He loves it when I hug him. He's one of the three best kitties ever!
Monday, February 8, 2010
What are you doing? Medication?
Nimue, like most kids, has a way of sensing when her parents are at an energy low. In this case, Chad is out of town for work and I took a fairly substantial bike ride earlier in the day, leaving me at a substantial caloric deficit and feeling a bit creaky. Because she is a perceptive peep, Nimue saw the parental weakness and decided to be absolutely cheerfully insane at dinner tonight. Nothing too horrible -- just the high energy, motor-mouthed, fast-moving, clever, silly bantering self that she is when she decides to be. I however, just wanted to splat on the couch and read a book, which made dinner seem endless.
Just as she was clearing her dishes and escape seemed imminent, she demonstrated her patented "Crazo Karate Chop" ... with the milk cup she was clearing still in her hand. All I could do is close my eyes and sigh, at which point she asked "What are you doing? Medication?"
Those words misremembered by one letter. Kids are funny.
Just as she was clearing her dishes and escape seemed imminent, she demonstrated her patented "Crazo Karate Chop" ... with the milk cup she was clearing still in her hand. All I could do is close my eyes and sigh, at which point she asked "What are you doing? Medication?"
Those words misremembered by one letter. Kids are funny.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Where does it come from?
I'm not sure what the kitty-head militarized zone between Russia and Kazakhstan means, but this is yet another example of Nim's interesting drawings lately.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Scary Things in Ma's Kitchen
So I've noticed that there are many things in my kitchen lately that seem perfectly normal to those who reside in this house, but might seem a bit odd to outsiders. These thoughts have been fermenting in the back of my brain all week; but the straw that broke the camel's back was Nimue's choice of an anchovy fillet for dessert tonight.
Why an anchovy? For reasons now forgotten, we've had a running joke of offering up peanut butter and anchovy sandwiches when food is summarily rejected by the small for no good reason, when food is requested at odd times, or just when the mood strikes. When Nimue asked for dessert tonight, fruit was rejected and I had nothing else to offer. My normal standby of slapping leftover strawberry buttercream on graham crackers is forbidden this week. Upon investigating the fridge, we found an ancient tin of anchovies in the back. I offered one up and Nimue enthusiastically said "Yes! I don't know what they taste like." She gamely ate a bite and started to utter a positive comment about the salty oiliness of the beast until the flavor fully sank in and she sheepishly admitted that it perhaps wasn't really what she had in mind for dessert. Needless to say, the cat got the rest of it.
Scary thing #1: Months-old opened tin of Anchovies. Most useful for mashing up and putting in pasta sauces, stews, or the like to add flavor complexity.
Scary thing #2: Fresh Strawberry Buttercream leftover from Nimue's birthday in August. It's not going to go bad due to the sheer amount of sugar in it, and it still tastes like fresh berries.
Perhaps I'm primed for odd things happening in the kitchen because of Scary Thing #3: Sourdough Starter bubbling away on the counter. I finally got around to trying to make this about a week ago, and took the simple approach of leaving some flour and water out on the counter for several days (see brief instructions here). It started to bubble, then smelled a bit cheese-like, then picked up the distinct sour aroma I was hoping for, all without turning funny colors. I declare success on capturing the wild yeast!
Not being the type to just throw out the material one has to remove from the starter, I've been adding it to the other bread dough festering in the back of the fridge for this week's bread, and then I used some to make what seems to me to be a purely primal bread made purely of starter, flour, water, and a little bit of salt. The first attempt was truly dense and weapon-like (if you read Terry Pratchett, think Dwarf Bread), but the second batch provided three tasty, slightly sour mini-batards which we used as dessert last night. The aroma is definitely heading in the right direction as it ages and I may eventually add some yeast and other things to it, but for now am content to continue feeding wild yeast bread experiments to my happy household guinea pigs (aka Chad and Nim). I have a notion to add some flour to the discarded bit and make flatbreads on the stove the next time I feed the starter.
Almost knocked over Scary Thing #4: Red Wine Sludge while I was making lunch this afternoon. Red Wine Sludge is the reduced dregs of bottles not finished, deemed not very good, leftover from camping trips, or otherwise forgotten. I keep it in a jar next to the stove and add new wine whenever I run across it; if the jar gets full, the whole mess gets thrown in a pot on the stove and reduced until it does fit in the jar. A most useful substance for deglazing and adding complexity to simple pan sauces.
Scary Things #6-infinity: We've been on a major campaign to use up all the old (i.e. more than a few months) things in the freezer. Lately it's been apricot cobbler (apricots rescued from the malicious squirrels in our tree last summer), mushroom soup, turkey enchiladas, pasta, and soup (meals #7-9 from the Christmas turkey), wild blackberry pie (from berries that my mom brought down two visits ago), and many many many lunches for me made up of frozen containers of whosi-what's-it leftovers that get tossed into the freezer whenever we head out of town for a weekend.
This weekend will hopefully bring about a few new pets in the kitchen, as I have some goat milk waiting to be cheesified and Chad has the next batch of beer brewing ingredients weighing on his conscience. Good projects for us, as they only require an initial burst of cooking enthusiasm and then can happily fester away into final form on their own, leaving us free to go ride our bikes. We can come back and eat leftovers out of the freezer. Only the best leftovers, of course!
Why an anchovy? For reasons now forgotten, we've had a running joke of offering up peanut butter and anchovy sandwiches when food is summarily rejected by the small for no good reason, when food is requested at odd times, or just when the mood strikes. When Nimue asked for dessert tonight, fruit was rejected and I had nothing else to offer. My normal standby of slapping leftover strawberry buttercream on graham crackers is forbidden this week. Upon investigating the fridge, we found an ancient tin of anchovies in the back. I offered one up and Nimue enthusiastically said "Yes! I don't know what they taste like." She gamely ate a bite and started to utter a positive comment about the salty oiliness of the beast until the flavor fully sank in and she sheepishly admitted that it perhaps wasn't really what she had in mind for dessert. Needless to say, the cat got the rest of it.
Scary thing #1: Months-old opened tin of Anchovies. Most useful for mashing up and putting in pasta sauces, stews, or the like to add flavor complexity.
Scary thing #2: Fresh Strawberry Buttercream leftover from Nimue's birthday in August. It's not going to go bad due to the sheer amount of sugar in it, and it still tastes like fresh berries.
Perhaps I'm primed for odd things happening in the kitchen because of Scary Thing #3: Sourdough Starter bubbling away on the counter. I finally got around to trying to make this about a week ago, and took the simple approach of leaving some flour and water out on the counter for several days (see brief instructions here). It started to bubble, then smelled a bit cheese-like, then picked up the distinct sour aroma I was hoping for, all without turning funny colors. I declare success on capturing the wild yeast!
Not being the type to just throw out the material one has to remove from the starter, I've been adding it to the other bread dough festering in the back of the fridge for this week's bread, and then I used some to make what seems to me to be a purely primal bread made purely of starter, flour, water, and a little bit of salt. The first attempt was truly dense and weapon-like (if you read Terry Pratchett, think Dwarf Bread), but the second batch provided three tasty, slightly sour mini-batards which we used as dessert last night. The aroma is definitely heading in the right direction as it ages and I may eventually add some yeast and other things to it, but for now am content to continue feeding wild yeast bread experiments to my happy household guinea pigs (aka Chad and Nim). I have a notion to add some flour to the discarded bit and make flatbreads on the stove the next time I feed the starter.
Almost knocked over Scary Thing #4: Red Wine Sludge while I was making lunch this afternoon. Red Wine Sludge is the reduced dregs of bottles not finished, deemed not very good, leftover from camping trips, or otherwise forgotten. I keep it in a jar next to the stove and add new wine whenever I run across it; if the jar gets full, the whole mess gets thrown in a pot on the stove and reduced until it does fit in the jar. A most useful substance for deglazing and adding complexity to simple pan sauces.
Scary Things #6-infinity: We've been on a major campaign to use up all the old (i.e. more than a few months) things in the freezer. Lately it's been apricot cobbler (apricots rescued from the malicious squirrels in our tree last summer), mushroom soup, turkey enchiladas, pasta, and soup (meals #7-9 from the Christmas turkey), wild blackberry pie (from berries that my mom brought down two visits ago), and many many many lunches for me made up of frozen containers of whosi-what's-it leftovers that get tossed into the freezer whenever we head out of town for a weekend.
This weekend will hopefully bring about a few new pets in the kitchen, as I have some goat milk waiting to be cheesified and Chad has the next batch of beer brewing ingredients weighing on his conscience. Good projects for us, as they only require an initial burst of cooking enthusiasm and then can happily fester away into final form on their own, leaving us free to go ride our bikes. We can come back and eat leftovers out of the freezer. Only the best leftovers, of course!
Monday, February 1, 2010
Tell someone you love them
New post over on my other blog... If you're reading this: I love you. Happy Monday!
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Chad does an interview
I posted the details over on the other blog, but in summary: I did a fun podcast interview with the folks from DIY Drones.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
But Mom, this is my new smile!
Nimue has decided that her tongue should be sticking out for all photos. This is not my fault.
If you want to see more pictures from the recent ski trip to Utah, take a look at the Picasa web album below.
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| Utah skiing 2009 |
It won't stay up forever, so grab what you want. Not to many pictures, as our focus was on enjoying the company and the snow. Nimue continued to improve her skiing and had fun with her cousins; we enjoyed the chance to get out and ski somewhere new as well. I'm finally skiing hard enough to be putting holes and scrapes on the bottom of my skis again, for whatever that is worth.
Friday, January 8, 2010
10 mph isn't that fast...
...unless it's the rate at which one's tired kid is careening down a stretch of muddy singletrack on her bike. Her head swivels toward a rustling sound in the bushes as she joyously cries "Bunny!". Miraculously the bike does not follow. Nor does she overcorrect and go headlong off the trail down the steep slope on the other side. Not only that, but she gracefully stops, smiles, and pulls over to the side when surprised by an equestrian coming around the next corner.
I must resist the advancing symptoms of mom disease and not quash all the fun, as the kid has once again demonstrated remarkable control even when it seems like she's not paying attention.
I must resist the advancing symptoms of mom disease and not quash all the fun, as the kid has once again demonstrated remarkable control even when it seems like she's not paying attention.
Monday, January 4, 2010
Paper Chad
Chad, n., Scraps or bits of paper...
I got a fantastic gift for Christmas from my amazing wife: a complete set of bike kit from one of my favorite bike-blogs, Red Kite Prayer. Said kit was not, however, ready in time for Christmas, so my ever-creative spouse constructed a Chad-facsimile paper doll, complete with an appropriate outfit.
Our kitty was most appreciative, seeing as (a) she rather likes to chew on me, and (b) likes to attack bits of paper even more. Thus, combining the two must have been just irresistible!
I got a fantastic gift for Christmas from my amazing wife: a complete set of bike kit from one of my favorite bike-blogs, Red Kite Prayer. Said kit was not, however, ready in time for Christmas, so my ever-creative spouse constructed a Chad-facsimile paper doll, complete with an appropriate outfit.
Our kitty was most appreciative, seeing as (a) she rather likes to chew on me, and (b) likes to attack bits of paper even more. Thus, combining the two must have been just irresistible!
Oh no, Mr. Chad!
Hm, I appear to be nekked.
Aieeee! Cruel beast!
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