Foodmomiac

Flight from hell

DSC_0102
Originally uploaded by Foodmomiac

Last night, I was on the worst flight I've ever experienced. I was literally terrified for nearly the entire flight. It was a tiny plane (one and three), and we were en route from Nashville to Chicago.

I was sitting across the aisle from my colleague Erica, and when we weren't gripping our arm rests with white knuckles and scrinching our eyes shut in terror, we were asking each other if we recalled a time that a plane had actually just broken apart in mid-air due to turbulence. Yes, it was THAT bad. Not only were we diving up and down (literally like a roller coaster, and NO, I do NOT LIKE roller coasters), but the plane was just SHAKING.

What made me most crazy was the commentary (or lack thereof) from the captain and the flight attendant. First of all, the captain's microphone was malfunctioning, so everytime she tried to fill us in, she just sounded kind of crackly and incomprehensible.

So, we were forced to deal with updates from the overly perky attendant. At one point, the plane suddenly took a huge drop, and she piped up with, "That's why we keep seat belt sign on, boys and girls!" Boys and girls? Seriously?

How about.... "Hey folks, we know this is incredibly unpleasant and unsettling, but there is no danger. The plane will not break in half."

American Airlines did not impress me last night. I made it back to my house at about 8:30 pm, and promptly poured myself two fingers of Bourbon. That's my new thing, by the way. Bourbon on the rocks. But, only small-batch, single-barrel bourbon. Luckily, my sister-in-law Megen lives in Louisville and keeps us stocked.

Bye Bye Blue

Swingin'
Originally uploaded by Foodmomiac

I have a LOT going on right now that I'm not quite ready to blog about, but promise to do so as soon as it's all resolved. In the meantime, I had to share a momentous moment that we just had with Mr. Max.

Max's security blanket has always been this blue blanket that my mom knit for him when he was born. It is just a simple blue blanket, but he LOVES it. It doesn't accompany him to school, or anything, but it has always been a must-have for naps, bedtime, and anytime he feels under the weather or sad.

Unfortunately, Blue (that's its name) hasn't done very well. This is not my mom's fault. It was knitted very well. But, Max used to chew on it (when he was teething), and he also has this weird thing where he lays on it and rubs around (don't ask, and yes he will kill me one day when he's a teenager), and the blanket just kept getting shreddier and shreddier. It actually turned into a bit of a hazard, because with all of the loops of yarn hanging, he could easily get it caught around his neck (it has gotten caught on his wrist and foot a couple of times).

When we were in NY last week, we were all sitting around chatting about Blue, and my stepsister Jen had a great idea. She suggested cutting off one of the intact pieces of Blue and sewing it to a piece of fleece. And, that's just what we did!

On Sunday, we went to JoAnn Fabric and Max picked out a fleece pattern (blue with cars and motorcycles). As we drove home, I explained to him what my plan was. He thought about it for a moment, and then proceeded to FREAK OUT. "Mom! Why are you doing that to ME?!" I told him we didn't have to do anything right away, and that we'd wait until he was ready.

When we got home, he took his nap with the old, shreddy Blue, but the moment he woke up, he asked me to make his new Blue. And, that's just what we did! I took a 1/2 yard piece of fleece and cut fringe on two sides. i knotted the bottom of each fringe just to make it fancy (fleece doesn't need to be hemmed, because it doesn't fray). Then came the tricky part of the operation.

I cut off the one 8x8 square of Blue that was relatively intact and began sewing it on the fleece with some blue yarn and a yarn needle. Max stood over and watched me the whole time. He was fascinated. When it was done, he grabbed it immediately, and went to bed with it no problem.

I left the other piece(s) of Blue sitting on the windowsill until today. Today, I picked it up and asked Max if he thought it was OK to throw it out. He said yes, so we both hugged it, said, "I love you Blue!" and then he took it from me, and put it in the garbage! I almost started crying, but I held it together.

Such a big boy.

Remembering Miss Sullivan

One of the highlights of my time in high school was my participation in choir. I LOVED choir. I loved choir so much that I missed lunch to take choir.

The reason I loved choir certainly had a lot to do with the fact that I enjoy singing, but it had way more to do with the fact that my teacher was Miss Sullivan. Miss Sullivan was brand new to teaching and just nine years older than me. She was exciting and cool and incredibly beautiful. She was also down to earth and goofy which made her that much more amazing.

I have so many memories surrounding my time in choir. I remember the field trips we took to sing in choral competitions. I remember the feeling of singing the Hallelujah Chorus. I remember the time Miss Sullivan spent working with me to record a demo tape for my Vassar application. She even convinced me to put on my rendition of "These Boots are Made for Walking," a song I sang solo in front of the whole school at a performance. I was pretty awkward back then, but Miss Sullivan gave me confidence. She encouraged me to be who I was, and she made school fun.

One of the best things about Miss Sullivan was the way she could create choral arrangements for pop songs. I think of her every time I hear "Fantasy." When my friend Mara and I were graduating seniors, she surprised us with an arrangement of one of our favorite Erasure songs, which we then got to perform in concert. I will never forget how special that made me feel.

This morning on Facebook, I got a notification that I was tagged in a photo. I clicked through to check it out and saw the above picture, taken during our choir trip to Boston. In the comments of that photo, I mentioned that I wondered where Miss Sullivan was now. About 10 minutes later, I got a message from a former classmate, informing me that Miss Sullivan passed away four years ago at the age of 40. Here's to you, Kate. You will not be forgotten.

More on Being Frugal

Today marks the commencement of week four with no house boy. And, we are doing well! My big fear was that with David gone, all of his duties would fall to me. But, Michael has stepped up to the plate and is doing laundry and straightening. Very nice.

I'm very happy that we were able to save that money each month, but with the economic news getting worse and worse, I've been thinking about other things we can do to watch our budget. Here's the list I came up with:

• Make lunches for the adults every day.
  
  • Potential savings = $70/week, $3,640/year
• No more Starbucks in the morning. We have an espresso machine at home, so this is a no-brainer.
  • Potential savings = $25/week, $1300/year
• Meal planning to avoid last-minute take out or restaurant visits
  • Potential savings = $60/week, $3,120/year
• Occasionally choose BYOB restaurants on Saturday nights
  • Potential savings = If we do this twice a month, it could save us probably $100/month, so $1,200/year

What changes are you guys looking to make?

Welcome to my family

Conversation with my mom tonight (we are going to NY tomorrow to visit for Yom Kippur, my cousin's wedding and general family togetherness):

Me: "So, are you fasting?"

Mom: "Yeah, kind of."

Me: "Kind of?"

Mom: "Until I put out wine and appetizers in the afternoon."

Me: "Cool."

The Best Holiday of Them All

Glee
Originally uploaded by Foodmomiac

Halloween is just three days after my birthday, so I've had a love affair with the holiday all my life. Our neighborhood in Toledo kind of sucked as far as Halloween went, so we usually carted the kids to one of my in-laws for the trick or treating.

In Chicago, though, we live in an AMAZING Halloween neighborhood. Nearly every house is covered in decorations, and the trick or treating can last for hours. There are also special Halloween parades on each of the commercial streets where kids march up and down in their costumes and stores hand out candy. SO MUCH FUN.

Last year, I dressed Max in an Elmo costume that he found at Target. He didn't really have much interest in the whole dressing up thing, though. This year, on the other hand, is a whole other story.

A few weeks ago, Max announced that he wanted to be Dora for Halloween. "Dora?" we asked incredulously?

"Yes, want be Dora."

Hmmmm. My very liberal self was TECHNICALLY OK with this development, but Michael thought it might be a good idea to guide Max towards another choice. "How about Diego?"

"No, Dora."

"Boots?"

"Dora."

"Swiper? Tico? Benny?" Michael pulled out the name of every male character on Dora. I was surprised he didn't suggest Big Red Chicken or that weird Octopus who hands out ice cream.

Max still insisted on Dora, until the next day when he switched to "Motorcycle Dude."

But, then, a Dora episode called, "Boo!" showed up on our On Demand menu. Max has watched this Halloween episode approximately 86 times since last Friday, and he now has made his final Halloween costume decision. In a clever plot twist to the Dora costume, he has decided to instead wear what SHE wears. Max is going to be a very cute black cat. The costume has been bid upon on eBay, and plans are underway for a little black nose and some whiskers.

(Dylan has decided to pander to her vampire - obsessed mother and dress as a vampire princess.)

What are your kids wearing this year?

Trying to get my life in order

Organization weekend
Originally uploaded by Foodmomiac

The theme of this past weekend was "organization." I am not, by nature, an organized person. I am not dirty (there are no dirty plates in my bedroom, dishes are done right away, etc.), but I am very cluttered and messy.

We've had a dog walker/house helper since last winter, and he was a huge help in this regard. He walked the dogs, did our laundry, made our bed every day, and kept the kitchen somewhat straightened. It was a wonderful luxury. BUT, when we decided to take a close look at our budget and our financial goals, having a "house boy" just didn't fit in with our plans. We want to take vacations, and wear nice clothing and eat out at great restaurants (not to mention send Max to a great preschool, pay our mortgage, etc.). It became very obvious that we had to cut out the house boy and take care of our own damn selves, so this weekend I decided I'd "get things in order" to make it easier for us to maintain.

On a scale of 1-10, I think I scored about a 6 in my quest to get everything together. The laundry for the week is ALMOST complete, I made a ton of food yesterday (more on that tomorrow), and I have almost completed CLOTHING ORGANIZATION QUEST 2008.

While David (the house boy) did indeed get our laundry done, his putting away methods were a little wacky. Like, sometimes I'd find a nice shirt folded with my pajamas. Or my leggings would be in my underwear drawer. I do blame myself a bit. My clothing is located in four separate areas in my bedroom for some reason, so it can be really hard to figure out where anything goes. This weekend I attempted to remedy that, and I am almost done. I think it will be a much better situation, and I'm hoping that the organization will encourage me (and my messy family) to live more neatly. And if they don't? I'm calling in Niecy.

Winging it (Chorizo Kale Pasta)

Chorizo Kale Pasta
Originally uploaded by Foodmomiac

We were away all last weekend in Toledo, which was a lot of fun, but we didn't get home until late Sunday night. This translates to no groceries in the house. I DID get our au pair a Trader Joe's gift card, so that she could pick things up for the house while we're at work, but that seems to have translated from English to German into, "Hey, go buy as much mochi as you can find! Hurry! Fill the freezer with mochi!!" So... lots of Japanese ice cream. But, in terms of other food? Not so much. I take full blame for this. Sending an 18-year-old to the grocery store with no list is just not smart. So, anyway... we don't have much food.

Luckily, we did have some fun ingredients left over from last week's trip to the Farmer's Market, including kale and lamb chorizo. I decided to create a pasta dish. I minced one small onion and sauteed it in a tablespoon or two of extra virgin olive oil. Then, I sliced up two links of the chorizo and added those, cooking them until they were nice and brown. I then added a couple of tablespoons of flour to create a roux. I poured in a box of chicken broth, added the cleaned and chopped kale, and covered the pan until the kale was steamed to perfection and the sauce was slightly thickened. (I stirred occasionally to help things along). While I made the sauce, I cooked the pasta. Once it was done, I drained it, added it to the sauce, and tossed the whole concoction with a handful of grated Parmigiano Reggiano.

Yum - it was really good!

P.S. How is everyone doing with the shred? I've missed a few days, but I'm up to Level 3. Was not a huge fan of Level 2.