Gifts that Keep on Giving (Giving Me Pain)

We pride ourselves on not buying many toys for our kids--they get 1 toy on their birthday and 3-4 at Christmas time. That's it. The rest they get from relatives with good intentions. Now, I'm not going to name these relatives (but they are fellow bloggers so you can guess who they are) nor will I get into the reasons why I think they give such destructive gifts to my children, and believe me, I have theories about these saboteurs. I will simply point out the current gifts that are giving me grief. You be the judge whether these toys are evil gifts.

1. Musical Sit and Spin: Yes, the vomit vortex is back from my childhood. Only this time it is updated with the ability to play horrific music whenever you so much as tap the toy with your foot when walking by. It plays awful music trying to impersonate rock, hip-hop, and country. We have deemed it an upstairs only toy. This rule is broken all the time.

2. Water Sprayer Duck (seen in photo next to Water Spraying Darth Vader which never worked). The water spraying duck caused me havoc just today. When you attach the hose to the duck, it sprays water all crazy-like through the snorkel. Cute right? Wrong, the girls opened the back door while the water duck was doing it’s thing and water was quickly sprayed all over the wood floors in the dining area. This led me to mopping and swearing at the same time.

3. Manicure Kits: Who are the ad wizards who thought giving small girls permanent oil based paints in the form of nail polish was a good idea? I don’t really need to explain this any further, do I? It simply fuels the fire behind every small child’s desire to be a grafitti artist. That also goes for the 3-D Glue Bonanza. That "washable" label is a joke meant to frighten mothers all around the world.

4. Paint Sprayer: Our kids have received this gift twice now! Creative and crafty right? Wrong! My kids have turned on the sprayer before without the shield on thus spinning hot pink paint (not washable) around the room and landing on my white slipcovered furniture. Come to my house and I’ll show these stains that occurred at least 3 years ago. I didn’t have a personal photo of this toy because I have thrown it away.

5. Doodle Bear: (Seen at top of blog.) In theory this is a good idea. Give a child a special marker for her special bear. Child can scribble away to her heart’s content and then mother can wash bear all nice and clean. Child can repeat process. Wrong! This only teaches the child that scribbling is ok--especially on her own body. She will then scribble on walls in her bedroom, French doors, supporting beams on front porch, etc. Evil toy.

Please, I am begging the offending gift givers out there. Just give my kids what they really want—cardboard boxes, loads of Scotch tape, and plain white copy paper.

Ode to Summer

Summer has finally come, rejoice with song!
I’ve been dreaming of you for oh so long
Warmer days make me elated
'Cause winter made me mean and jaded

All of a sudden life seems carefree
My kids stay in the pool away from me
Windows open, breezes blowing
I was beginning to wonder if you were coming.

Give me the heat oh any day,
Snow is evil please stay away
So here’s to sandals and shorts, this is my plan
Poolside days and soon dark tans

I love the heat so much it’s true
I rarely run my A/C cooler
For when summer is here
I want to fry like Sizzle-lean
May it last long and fill my happiness canteen

Synopsis of YW Camp

Lots of snow and mud….40 degrees by day, 20 degrees by night……all day campfires to stay warm….all day smoke inhalation of said campfire burns lungs and eyes day in and day out…wind galore chaps face…..went through 2 tubes of chap stick….extreme cold keeps me in three layers of clothing at a time….backpacked and hiked in snow….stuffed foot warmers in shoes after hike to thaw out feet…..peed on a rock in the wilderness like an animal…..getting a sore throat…..sore ankles the next day from sinking in snow while hiking…..sore between my knees from ‘chattering’ with the cold….one of my campers got very sick…..life threatening…..life flight….helicopter finally landed due to our prayers to calm the winds…..drank more hot chocolate this week than entire life combined….learned more crazy camp songs like ‘mormon boy’ and ‘wienie man’ that will surely come to haunt me on my deathbed in a state of delirium……realized sore throat turned into bad cold with constant coughing and nose blowing….had a great time getting to know the girls better….hoped I helped them increase their testimonies of Jesus Christ….great testimony meeting…..came home and took hot shower for 45 minutes….slept…..ate Café Rio for dinner….slept through the night in my warm bed without a ski hat on…..nursed my cold with cough medicine....happy I went.

Missing My Parents

I'm a big girl, but even big girls need their parents once in a while. I haven't lived near my parents ever since I was 18 and moved out of their home. (Paul's parents live in Chicago so they're even farther and we see them even less.!) I'm pretty independent but every once in a while I miss my parents so much it hurts. Now that I am a parent and my kids are getting older, I seem to be missing them even more. Here are the top 10 reasons I wish I lived closer to my parents:

1. All kids should get to hang out at their grandparents home eating homemade cookies from Grandma and flying model airplanes with Grandpa.

2. All daughters need a break from cooking dinner once in a while. Nothing makes me more jealous than to know that my sister and brother go to my parents house every Sunday night and eat fabulous enchiladas or gorditas. Aye, yo me gusto comida preparada de mi Mama. I'm sure I said that wrong. Sometimes I just want to cry on Sunday nights when I hear about my friends who are heading to parents/grandparents for Sunday dinner. Sigh. What would it be like to have someone cook for me? I can't really fathom that.

3. My dad is a great handyman. He's taught me how to put up crown moulding, change my spark plugs, and use a compound miter saw. If he lived here I would be learning even more from my amazing Dad.

4. My mom is good at doing hair and nails. She is a cosmetologist. If she lived closer, my girls would have cuter hair. Hallie refused to let anyone cut her hair for 6 months insisting that only Abuelita could touch her hair. Also, she gives the best manicures.

5. Lunches with my mom. Sometimes when I am starved for adult conversation during the day I beg Paul to meet me somewhere for lunch. If my mom lived here, Paul would get more work done because I would bug her and not him.

6. Great conversations--my dad is a great conversationalist. Luckily this one isn't too much of an issue because we chat on the phone--lately during his L.A. commutes home at night. We talk about McCain, Obama, racism, the price of gas, etc.

7. Shopping. I hate to shop, but my mom seems to find bargains wherever she goes. If she lived here, I would go shopping with her--as my good luck charm.

8. I still need to learn how to make Carne Machaca and Chile Rellenos (not the healthy ones, the fried ones) from my mom.

9. My Dad could help Nathan win the pine wood derby. Ok, so I don't really care about this one, but Nathan does. He's always saying, "Grandpa can fix anything!"

10. Kindness--my mom is so kind to me. I'm sure I would be a kinder mom if she were here to rub off on me.

I feel a trip coming on to California.....

I Thought I Lived in A Desert?

As a Young Women leader in my church, I get to/have to/am privileged too/am forced to go to Young Women's camp. And aren't we lucky? This is my third year in a row going to camp, but the first year I am going in June. We are the first stake/congregation going--well, technically we are the second stake to go to camp this summer--there was one other stake going the week before us (this week) but it was cancelled due to the all the snow. I got word Sunday that we are definitely going to camp next week--even though it has been snowing for two days in the mountains. Camp Mia Shalom is located up Fairview Canyon and the elevation is over 8,000ft. These pictures were taken just a few days ago.

Now, if you know me, you know that the only thing worse than being hungry for me is being cold. As I sit here typing this on my laptop (in my warm kitchen) I am wearing a light coat because it is only in the 50s today--and I'm only at 4,500ft! Dang this cold spring! So wish me luck, wherever you are in the world, during June 10-14, as you eat a popsicle and wear shorts. I'll be wearing mud-caked shoes and a heavy coat. I know, wah wah, where's that tiny violin when I need it?

Cha-Ching!

Dear Wal-Mart,

A few months ago I would've cursed your store for having so many self-checkout stands and cutting way back on your oh-so-friendly employees thus forcing them to go to the other friendliest place in America--the DMV. But life is all about turning lemons into lemonade, so instead of clenching my germ-filled shopping cart handle when I can't find any checkers with lines shorter than Disneyland, I now let the kids have a blast at the check out stands.

So thank you Wal-Mart for letting my kids play cash register in real life. The three of them have a whole assembly line system each time we go to your dreaded store. One physically scans the items, one is quality control to make sure the item was actually charged, and the youngest child is the bagger--a true division of labor. They are very good at it. I just stand by now and read a trashy magazine while the child labor is being performed. Now that's progress.

Sincerely,

Cynthia

Mother Extraordinaire

Memorial Day, Thanks Dad!

Thanks Dad for serving our country during the Vietnam War. I love to hear your stories and read your blog from those days gone by--this one is my favorite. Recently you told me that you were exposed to Agent Orange during the war as it was your job to load it onto the planes you serviced. That probably explains some of your recent health problems--at least our government agrees with that much. So thanks Dad for giving so much to serve this great land of ours.

Front Page News

I was featured on the front page of etsy.com last Saturday. The front page features items for sale, usually with a theme, and it rotates every 30-60 minutes from what I can tell. It brought a lot of traffic to my shop. Out of 178,054 sellers on etsy, I feel pretty special. Sweet deal! (Zoom in to see mine better)

Feeding My Son's Star Wars Addiction

Am I a cool mom or what? Nathan wore this shirt again today. He gets compliments from teachers and students alike. Feed the ego, oh yea.

Chain Reaction of Chores

Cleaning house is evil. That's why I avoid it so much lately. How come when I set out to do something simple like mop my 1,000 square feet of wood floors (ha, ha) it turns into a 2 hour cleaning escapade? Case in point--I needed to mop yesterday. But to mop I need to pick up all the garbage the little creatures who live in this home leave scattered all over the place.....then I have to move all 10 chairs and barstools to the area rug in the family room.....then I have to vacuum sweep my floors.....then I can finally mop. It's a chain reaction of chores just to get to the task at hand. I know, whine whine whine. (Marcia, marcia marcia!)

Not too long ago, I was talking to my mom on the phone:

Me: Ugh, I need to mop these floors mom. The sticky spots have now been covered by dust so they are hard mud-caked black spots now.

Mom: Oh Cynthia, don't be so hard on yourself. Spend time with your kids, don't worry so much about cleaning. They grow up so fast. (This is always my mom's pep talk to me when I complain about all my chores.)

Me: Mom, it's bad. I haven't mopped in 2 months.

Mom: Oh...welll...hmmm....now that is bad. (chuckle, chuckle) Go mop.

See? My mom is a kind soul and really chooses to think the best of me as a homemaker until I flat out tell her how dirty I let my floors get before I mop. You'd think I told her I took up smoking. Maybe I would mop more often if it didn't take 2 hours. Nah, maybe not.

(Yea, I know if you zoom in on the photo you can see my roman shade are all falling apart. You know the phrase--the cobbler's children don't have any shoes.)

Fun Find

I found the cutest vinyl decals from a seller's shop just called "holly" on etsy.com. Does this describe me or what? She's local too--just up the I-15 in South Jordan. It sure adds a little life to my red van. Too cute!

The Search For Perfect Waffles

I’m very picky about my waffles. (Ok, so I’m very picky about most of my cooking.) For years I scoured through cookbooks trying to find the ultimate waffle recipe. I knew they had to be light and crispy with lots of flavor. I tried the recipes in all my favorite cookbooks: Favorite Comfort Food by Martha Stewart (by the way, her book has the best pancake recipe ever), How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman, The Joy of Cooking, The New Best Recipe, and several recipes on the food network website including Alton Brown’s recipe. All produced good, but not the best waffles. The hunt continued.

Then I bought CookSmart by Pam Anderson a few years ago and fell in love with her waffle recipe. This was it. The perfect waffle. Sometimes I buy cookbooks and find a winner of a recipe and think, "Even if this was the only good recipe inthis book, it was worth the money." That's how much I love this recipe. I modified the recipe just a touch (I didn’t see much difference for whipping the egg whites separately and then folding them into the batter.) The only drawback is that they are high in fat, but I guess that’s what makes them so crispy and good. I think the high oil content and using cornstarch is the secret. This recipe makes a lot but I love leftovers heated in the toaster the next day. (Makes 13 round waffles or 20ish square ones.)

Best Waffles Ever
2 ¼ cups flour
¾ cup cornstarch
1 ½ tsp salt
1 ½ tsp baking powder
¾ tsp baking soda
3 tablespoons sugar
2 ½-3 cups buttermilk
¾ cup vegetable oil
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Whisk the dry ingredients, whisk the wet ingredients. Stir them all together. If your waffle iron (like mine) has different settings, Set the iron to a high setting for crispy waffles. As waffles cook, place them in the oven on the rack, in a single layer for 5 minutes. Do not skip this step or your waffles will steam and get soggy on your plate.

It's Illegal to Kill Seagulls

At the end of dinner is when we read our nightly verses/chapter from the Book of Mormon. So last night we were reading Alma 1—you know the chapter all you LDS types out there—it’s all about Nehor and how he is executed because he murdered Gideon. Our kids love anything murder and gore. (Don’t all kids?) This of course led to all sorts of questions—

Nathan: So why was Nehor killed?

Paul: Because he murdered Gideon. It’s wrong to murder, so he paid with his life.

Nathan: Does that happen today--you're killed if you kill?

Paul: In some states yes, including Utah.

Ilene: Is it wrong to kill animals?

Paul: Do you think it’s kind to go around killing animals? (Mind you we are eating chicken at the time. Hee hee. We ain’t no vegetarians!)

Ilene: Is it illegal to kill the state bird of Utah?

Me: (laughing out right) Ilene, where is this coming from, have you seen someone recently killing a seagull?

Ilene: No, I just want to know if you’d go to jail or be executed if you killed the state bird.

Paul: (exasperated and ready to end this weird conversation) Yes, you’d sure get in trouble with the law, maybe not jail, but there’d be trouble.

(Ergh...am I the only one who can't get spacing right on blogs? Frustrating!!)

The Feminist In Me Was Dying

I love it when the kids watch old movies. Why? Because I can actually stand to be in the room when they watch the movie. I love old movies and hate all the new kid movies. I’ve never seen Shrek and definitely not a single animated Disney movie since The Little Mermaid. They all drive me nuts. But my kids are getting old enough that they can appreciate a little bit more than talking cars and blue genies in bottles.

So....last weekend we watched the old Freaky Friday with Jodie Foster. I remember watching this movie as a kid and liking it. But I also remember I couldn’t tell if Jodie Foster was a boy or girl. Anyway, as I watched it with my kids I realized some sexist comments that made me cringe. The mom is trying to give her husband some pointers on a speech or something to which he adds: “Ah, don’t worry about that honey. You don’t need to say anything. You just show up and look beautiful as usual.” Gasp!! Women are seen and not heard? I wanted to stop the movie and explain to my kids what an ignorant fool the dad was, but that line seemed to slip past them so I let it go.

Then just on Saturday night we watched “Yours, Mine and Ours.” I love Lucille Ball and Henry Fonda and have fond memories of this movie. What I didn’t remember about this movie is that Lucille Ball is 55 in this movie but she has a newborn baby. Shah, right. That was way before in vitro fertilization baby. But I digress. What made the feminist in me cry out and turn to Paul audibly groaning was when Lucille Ball is writing a letter to her hubby who is overseas and relates to him that "our daughter has finally stopped eating because she noticed a boy. What us girls won’t do for our men. As you can see by the enclosed photo, she still has a few pounds to go before her date Friday night.” Gasp again!! Worse, they show a picture of a normal sized girl!! Once again, I thought I should stop the movie and explain the cruelty and injustice of what just happened, but I didn’t. Both of these movies were rated G, or not rated at all, but I swear I’d rather have swearing than sexism in movies anyday. Serenity now!

Make A Statement

I've avoided blogging about such a very frivolous topic, but I can no longer avoid it. I bought a new sewing machine (or as the Bernina company now calls it) a sewing computer. It's the Bernina Aurora 435. It's an embroidery machine along with the smartest sewing machine I've ever used. (It can go from 0 to 5 buttonholes in 2.3 minutes.) It's kind of embarrassing at how much it costs, so I have refused to even mention here as of late that I got a new machine. (It makes me feel better that I bought the low-end model as far as embroidery machines go. It was sure tempting to buy the $6,000 model, shah right.)

But I'm taking the cat out of the bag because I must share with you all the new creative outlet I have now discovered due to this new sewing computer. Wise, witty, sharp, whatever you want to call them sayings are new being embroidered on aprons and such. Oh sure, the ladies down at the Bernina shop are all into embroidering gorgeous landscapes and their grandkids names (I'm the youngest in my classes by at least 20 years) but I'm most excited about embroidering my sarcasm onto cloth.

So if you have anything sharp and witty that would be great embroidered on an apron, pillow, t-shirt, toaster cozy, doggy sweater, whatever then send it my way. I'm achin' to embroider it. My next aprons I embroider (once I get rid of the virus that ate my lap top) will say "If you don't like it, starve" and "Because I Said So". And possibly a pillow that says, "Don't drool on me." A subliminal message t-shirt for my son that says "I love to play the piano" and a t-shirt for Ilene that says, "I Love to Clean My Room!" It's not cheaper than therapy, but it's a whole lot funner.

Sewing Room Makeover

My friends think I am good at decorating, but really, I'm just good at copying others good ideas. I saw this photo online at Heather Bailey's website and decided to model my sewing room after it.

So I painted the walls pink, bought a shelf for my fabrics, covered my cork boards with Heather Bailey designer fabrics, and now I just need to paint my sewing table that gorgeous distressed turquiose color. If it ever gets warm enough to haul it outside and paint it, it will happen. I thought of cleaning my sewing room before I photographed it, but hey, this is how it looks on a daily basis. (Yes, a new house is being built on the *&^% flag lot behind us. Don't ask me how I feel about that.) I need to do something about having a black chair in this very feminine-looking room. I need to figure out if I can take the chair apart and re-upholster it. It's comfy!

This cutting table has saved my life. I can't believe I sewed all those years without it! My little Ikea shelf would look gret if I would keep my fabric organized into colors, but that's too much work.

I bought this chair at Ikea so that Paul can visit me when I am working. He likes to prop himself down there with the latest copy of Fortune Magazine. We're a good team. Need to recover the chair in cute pastel fabric too. Ah, the never ending projects.

I buy my fabric stash wholesale now and avoid the retail prices. I had no idea retail was marked up 100% until I started buying wholesale!

My shelving unit is loaded with Ikea stainless boxes. All my containers are critical to keeping me 'semi-organized'. This unit holds my patterns, baskets of serger thread, zippers and buttons, sewing book references, etc. (The gallon of distilled water on the floor is to refill my iron.)

My iPod is my best friend. I have it loaded with heathen music that I love and LDS General Conference reports. See my Pullitzer-Prize winning Shuffle Me Righteous Blog for more info about my quirkiness with music and conference mixes. I hang Hallie's artwork behind the iPod on the bulletin board.

We complete your 360 degree tour of my sewing room studio with a view of my college diploma on the wall. I've always hung my diploma in my sewing room since the day I got it 12 years ago. It's the most expensive piece of paper I own and it took me another 5 years after college to pay off that piece of paper. Ah, but it was worth it. Look wear I am now? Working in a pink studio with sewing machines worth more than our 1993 Nissan Sentra.

It's Not Black!

I started going gray in my early twentites. So did all of my siblings. We blame it all on our mother. She has the early-gray-hair gene. (We also inherited the high-cholesterol gene and diabetes gene. Aren't we lucky?) Having the gray-hair gene is at least manageable. So I've been coloring my hair since I was 25. I usually keep it my normal dark brown, but two weeks ago I let my stylist convince me to go dark. Like one shade lighter than black on the color wheel thing. It's always a bit bizarre when they pull out the cardstock loaded with plastic 'hair' dyed certain colors. I choose the color as if I'm looking at the menu, "Mmmm.....I'll take brown 3b today." Well, it pretty much turned out really dark, practically black. And I know because my 4 year old (not pictured cause she was having a tempter tantrum off screen) told me so.

Hallie: Mom, now your hair is black like Nathan's and Ilene's.
(Now what you need to know is that I have never had black hair before. In fact, it's always my pet peeve when people tell me I have black hair. Ummm, are you color blind? It's clearly brown!!)

Me: Nathan and Ilene don't have black hair. And besides, it's not black, it's just really dark brown.

Hallie: Mom, I think you need to look in the mirror. Because guess what, it's black.

Rascal.

P.S. Do you like how I HAVE to comb her hair now to cover the entire left side of baldness?!!

It Didn’t Die!!

I believe in miracles. But maybe what you consider a miracle and what I consider a miracle are two different things. Having grown up in California where not too much goes dormant in the winter, I am always surprised living here in Utah when spring comes and things come to life again. Particularly in my own yard. I don’t have a green thumb, but I try. I’m a sucker for loading my yard with perennials that bloom at different times of the year so that I have color all year long. (Bottom picture is of my last home. But the new owners hated it so they ripped all flowers, perennials, and shrubs.) But for some reason I kill certain plants long before their time. I kill zucchini and squash plants most every year. And sometimes our trees just never come out of dormancy. Like last year our red maple just never came back to life in the spring. So you must know how amazed I am this

year to see my trees in bloom. Here is my Yoshiro Flowering Cherry in bloom. Honestly, with me as the gardener it’s a miracle it’s made it close to two years in my yard. But my Patmore Ash is still dormant……or is it dead? I don't see any buds on it yet. I do believe in miracles, I do, I do, I do.

Butcher Cuts

Hallie got hold of the scissors yesterday and cut off all the hair on the side of her head. Zoom in to start crying. I sure cried. When she went to bed she prayed and asked Heavenly Father to help her hair grow back. Maybe she should pray to avoid sharp instruments instead.

Spring Tunics

I've been on a sewing spree lately making tunics. I've been dying to have one for myself but seeing as I am a lazy sewer when it comes to sewing for me, I hunted high and low for a tunic pattern I could make in less than two hours. Qualifiations? No facings, no buttons or zippers. I wanted to just pull it over my head. This is the tunic I came up with for myself. (I modifed an out of print McCall's pattern.)

And here are the easy-peasy tunics for Ilene. Her pattern is from McCall's 5458 (the red shirt). I think these turned out adorable! (Although the first picture is from a horrid pattern I will never use again.) It feels good to once again (occasionally when weather permits) get out of sweaters and into lightweight cotton shirts.

Ignore My Last Post

I went ahead and bought myself a new camera. (Hey, it's a business write off.) I went with the Nikon D40 at my Dad's suggestions. He's been using Nikons since the 1960s so I figure that's a good sign. Here's what I've shot so far. Keep in mind I know NOTHING about photography. Still, I'm happy so far. (I bought the bracelet from this shop on etsy.com. Love it!)

Picture Perfect

I have no desire to be a photographer--the last thing I need is one more expensive hobby. (Right honey?) But this week my sister Carolyn and my Dad have been in town and have been helping me re-photograph items for my etsy store. I thought the pictures would turn out great, but I had no idea just how much better my items would look photographed with a real camera. My hubby hates it that I say our camera (only 6 months old) is Mickey-Mouse, but I don't think he can deny it any longer. Guess I'm gonna have to hire me a photographer--do you think I can find one around here who would want to swap photos for pillows? Or aprons? Or Tote Bags? Anyone?

The Real Veggie Tales

I have a very smart friend Allison. Actually, I have lots of smart friends, but Allison is who I am talking about at this moment. A couple of years ago Allison and another friend started a food cooperative in our neighborhood. 36 families belong to this produce co-op. Here's how it works. A truckload of produce is purchased every-other week, sorted into laundry baskets, and the picked up by us 36 folks. It's a great way to get a good variety of produce at great prices. (Yes, Costco is a great deal, but you don't always want to have to buy 5 pounds of broccoli to get a good deal.) We also get cool and exotic stuff like daikon radishes and fresh basil. And this week we were able to buy strawberries in bulk at about $1 a pound!! So I bought 16 pounds. I made jam, ate strawberry shortcake three days in a row, waffles with strawberries, etc. Anyway, here's a picture of what I picked up this last Thursday. The downside of the co-op is finding room in my refirgerator for all this produce! Not too bad of a problem. Thanks Allison! As she says, "Saving the neighborhood from twinkies and soda one family at a time." Amen sista!

What's For Dinner? The Never Ending Struggle

I am always curious as to what others have for dinner. Are you? Do my friends and neighbors cook actual meals every night? Take out? Restaurants? Frozen meals? Cereal? I figure in the thirteen years I have spent married I have spent 1,423 hours cooking dinner. That’s just 30 minutes a night—a fair calculation I figure given the fact that many nights dinner actually takes about an hour to cook. Also, the fact that we eat out 1-3 nights a month. I’m not sure what to think about those 1,423 hours cooking. I mean, I do love to cook, but wow, that’s a lot of time spent on something that I can literally see no results from. Once eaten I’m just left with dirty dishes. (However, I will not calculate how many hours a day I spend doing dishes. That could make me cry.)

I keep a list in my giant cooking notebook of dinners we have. That way, when I just can’t seem to figure out what to have, I open my notebook and look at what we’ve had in the past. That usually jogs the creative juices and then I can figure something out. So here goes—all the dinners we’ve had in the last 30 days. (I'm sure you'll be able to figure out a lot by our eating habits. i.e., we love spicy food--I've been on a Thai kick, eating lots of Mexican as always, don't eat much red meat, etc.)

*Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup and Roast Beef Hoagies
*Thai Coconut Chicken Soup with Red Hot Curry
*Asian Broiled Salmon with Stir-Fried Snow Peas
*Chicken Piccata with Rice Pilaf and Fruit Salad (See previous post)

*Roasted Rosemary Chicken and Green Beans (Easter)
*Thai Ruby Restaurant
*Black Bean Chicken Stir Fry
*Chicken Tacos with Pickled Onions, Guacamole, and Queso Fresco
*Taquitos (frozen), Guacamole, Refried Beans
*Red Enchiladas with Sauteed Asparagus (Don’t tell my mom I used canned enchilada sauce)
*Grilled Tilapia
*Oatmeal and Eggs
*Pastrami Hoagies
*Turkey Burgers and Oven Fries
*Pasta with Red Peppers and Asparagus
*Curried Lentils and Rice
*Cub Scout Blue and Gold Dinner (Don’t ask)
*Grilled Hogi Sandwiches
*Roasted Lemon chicken
*Chicken Noodle Soup
*Leftovers
*Pizza Margharita (Paul’s pizza skills come in handy)

*Thai Green Chicken Curry
*Cream of Broccoli Soup with fresh bread
*Grilled Hot dogs and asparagus (I think the veggie cancels out the evil hot dog, no?)
*Pepper Seak with Egg Noodles and Green Salad
*Sloppy Joes and Carrot Sticks
*Chili

*Pad Thai
*Carl’s Jr (I had the Santa Fe Chicken Sandwich..mmm Anaheim Chiles) *Cornmeal Crusted Taco Pie

*Chicken with Pasta, Normandy Vegetables, and Alfredo Sauce

Meals on Wheels (Sort Of)

Four years ago when Hallie was born my friend Kelly brought me Chicken Piccata. It became an instant hit with our family—chicken cutlets in a creamy lemon sauce. Mmm..good. (Then again, if you read my Lemon Love Affair blog you know I’m a sucker for anything lemon.) Since then I make it all the time—for company, for Food 101 with my sister Carolyn, and tonight I made it for a friend of mine (Carly) who just had a baby of her own. I don’t think I’m ultra talented at too much, but I can cook and sew. So whenever sign-ups go around in my LDS ward to take a meal to a new mom or someone who is having surgery, I almost always sign up. I’d rather take someone dinner than weed their yard or babysit their kids anyday! Hey, it’s how I help! The last time I took a meal to someone was in January and it was Creamy Mushroom Chicken with Linguine. Don’t you wish you were sick now? Maybe in 4 years Carly will return the favor to someone else and take a new mom Chicken Piccata. Yup, I’m changing the world, one good recipe at a time.

Chicken Piccata
2 large lemons
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 1 1/2 pounds), sliced crosswise into cutlets
Table salt and ground black pepper
1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 small shallot , minced (about 2 tablespoons) or 1 small garlic clove, minced (about 1 teaspoon)
1 cup chicken stock or canned low-sodium chicken broth
2 tablespoons small capers, drained
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley leaves

1. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position, set large heatproof plate on rack, and heat oven to 200 degrees.

2. Halve one lemon pole to pole. Trim ends from one half and cut crosswise into slices 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick; set aside. Juice remaining half and whole lemon to obtain 1/4 cup juice; reserve.

3. Sprinkle both sides of cutlets generously with salt and pepper. Measure flour into pie tin or shallow baking dish. Working one cutlet at a time, coat with flour, and shake to remove excess.

4. Heat heavy-bottomed 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat until hot, about 2 minutes; add 2 tablespoons oil and swirl pan to coat. Lay half of chicken pieces in skillet. Sauté cutlets, without moving them, until lightly browned on first side, 2 to 2 1/2 minutes. Turn cutlets and cook until second side is lightly browned, 2 to 2 1/2 minutes longer. Remove pan from heat and transfer cutlets to plate in oven. Add remaining 2 tablespoons oil to now-empty skillet and heat until shimmering. Add remaining chicken pieces and repeat.

5. Add shallot or garlic to now-empty skillet and return skillet to medium heat. Sauté until fragrant, about 30 seconds for shallot or 10 seconds for garlic. Add stock and lemon slices, increase heat to high, and scrape skillet bottom with wooden spoon or spatula to loosen browned bits. Simmer until liquid reduces to about 1/3 cup, about 4 minutes. Add lemon juice and capers and simmer until sauce reduces again to 1/3 cup, about 1 minute. Remove pan from heat and swirl in butter until butter melts and thickens sauce; swirl in parsley. Spoon sauce over chicken and serve immediately.

ABC Tag

My friend Laurie tagged me, and I always do what I'm told. Here goes:

A- Attached or Single? attached
B- Best Friend? Paul, Kelly, Robyn, Liz, Allison, Laurie, and now Paige
C- Cake or pie? Pie--lemon meringue or peach
D- Day of choice? Friday--bye bye housework!
E- Essential Item? my flat iron
F- Favorite Color? lime green
G- Gummy Bears or Worms? hate 'em both
H- Hometown? Chino, CA
I- Favorite Indulgence? eating pastries
J- January or July? July, preferably poolside
K- Kids? Three of the little monsters
L- Life isn't complete without? Paul's leg rubs
M- Marriage date? December 29, 1994
N- Number of brothers and sisters? 2 blue, 2 pink
O- Oranges or Apples? Oranges
P- Phobia and fears? Losing all my teeth, becoming diabetic,
Q- Quote? "Beauty Fades, Dumb is Forever" (Title of a book by Judge Judy)
R- Reason to smile? my new sewing machine
S- Season of choice? Summer.....always summer.....always
T- Tag three people? Ilene, Paul, Carolyn
U- Unknown fact about me? I blog, there is nothing left unknown at this point
V- Vegetable? right now asparagus cuz of spring in the summer? garden grown tomatoes
W- Worst habit? Not always washing my face at night, consuming heavy cream
X-Ray or Ultrasound? for what?
Y- Your favorite food? Mom's mexican food; or Mexican food from Las Tarascas in Provo; or chicken curma from Bombay house
Z- Zodiac sign? Capricorn. lame question.

Lemon Love Affair

Updated post to include cake photos from 2015

Paul is the best juicer of the lemons

I love anything with citrus, particularly lemons—lemon meringue pie, Chicken Picatta, lemon pudding, lemon pound cake, lemon vinaigrette, and of course lemonade. Growing up in California, we of course had a lemon tree in our back yard. As kids we would cut lemons in half, dip them in sugar, and suck away all the sweet floral goodness. My parents still live in my childhood home, thankfully, otherwise I would think that a lemon tastes like the ones you buy in the store. The difference between the Meyer lemons on my parents’ tree and the ones you can buy in the store is the difference between a homegrown tomato and a store bought one. So each time I head to California I pick as many lemons as we can (as seen by Hallie in top photo) juice ’em (as demonstrated by Paul), and freeze ‘em for the next year. I keep a good 200 or so whole lemons in my cold garage to last me through the winter as well. I’m getting down to just a few left now.

Yesterday I revisted my love affair with lemon zest as I made my favorite lemon cake. Of course it’s from cooksillustrated.com. You really should get a $20 membership to that site if you haven’t already. It will wake up your taste buds. I’ve played around with the recipe and have made a few adjustments for living at high altitude (to prevent the cake from sinking and being too 'wet'.) Enjoy!


Lemon Bundt Cake (Serves 12 to 14)

You will need between five and six tablespoons of lemon juice for this recipe. Because the amount of juice can vary from lemon to lemon, we suggest you first measure the juice from the three lemons you have zested, then juice a fourth lemon if necessary. Serve this cake as is or dress it up with lightly sweetened berries. The cake has a light, fluffy texture when eaten the day it is baked, but if well wrapped and held at room temperature overnight its texture becomes more dense -- like that of pound cake -- the following day.

3 lemons , zest grated and saved, then juiced for 3 tablespoons juice (see note above) 3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (15 ounces) (16 oz. in high altitude)
1 teaspoon baking powder (minus 1/8 tsp. for high altitude)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon table salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup low-fat buttermilk (preferably)
3 large eggs , at room temperature
1 large egg yolk , at room temperature
18 tablespoons unsalted butter (2 1/4 sticks), at room temperature (only 2 sticks at high altitude)
2 cups sugar (14 ounces)

Glaze
2–3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (see note above)
1 tablespoon buttermilk
2 cups confectioners' sugar (8 ounces)

1. FOR THE CAKE: Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position; heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 12-cup Bundt pan with nonstick baking spray with flour (alternatively, brush pan with mixture of 1 tablespoon flour and 1 tablespoon melted butter). Mince lemon zest to fine paste (you should have about 2 tablespoons). Combine zest and lemon juice in small bowl; set aside to soften, 10 to 15 minutes.

2. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in large bowl. Combine lemon juice mixture, vanilla, and buttermilk in medium bowl. In small bowl, gently whisk eggs and yolk to combine. In standing mixer fitted with flat beater, cream butter and sugar at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes; scrape down sides of bowl with rubber spatula. Reduce to medium speed and add half of eggs, mixing until incorporated, about 15 seconds. Repeat with remaining eggs; scrape down bowl again. Reduce to low speed; add about one-third of flour mixture, followed by half of buttermilk mixture, mixing until just incorporated after each addition (about 5 seconds). Repeat using half of remaining flour mixture and all of remaining buttermilk mixture. Scrape bowl and add remaining flour mixture; mix at medium-low speed until batter is thoroughly combined, about 15 seconds. Remove bowl from mixer and fold batter once or twice with rubber spatula to incorporate any remaining flour. Scrape into prepared pan.

3. Bake until top is golden brown and wooden skewer or toothpick inserted into center comes out with no crumbs attached, 45 to 50 minutes.

4. FOR THE GLAZE: While cake is baking, whisk 2 tablespoons lemon juice, buttermilk, and confectioners' sugar until smooth, adding more lemon juice gradually as needed until glaze is thick but still pourable (mixture should leave faint trail across bottom of mixing bowl when drizzled from whisk). Cool cake in pan on wire rack set over baking sheet for 10 minutes, then invert cake directly onto rack. Pour half of glaze over warm cake and let cool for 1 hour; pour remaining glaze evenly over top of cake and continue to cool to room temperature, at least 2 hours. Cut into slices and serve.

Free at Last......Free at Last!

I’m entering a new phase of parenthood. My children can do more physically for themselves and thus I am now able to do less. That’s my goal in life: to teach them to be self-sufficient so that I can become a total leech on the back of society, or at least the backs of my children.

Nathan can cook pancakes. (We still have to help with the measuring though.) Ilene can wipe down the table. Hallie can make her own toast and butter it with 1/2 the tub of margarine. Nathan can scrub the toilet, clean the sink with Ajax, and clean the mirror with Windex. Ilene can clean the bathroom too. (Next, we’ll tackle the tub.) The older two can change their own sheets, take their own showers and unload the dishwasher. (Yup, they are too old for ‘baths’ now.) All three can pour their own cereals with milk, although if the milk gallon is too full they lose a bit to the floor. They can dust (and love to dust!) with the greatest invention of all, the Swiffer, or those cool micro-fiber dust mits. (As seen in photo.) They vacuum, comb their own hair, weed the garden, sweep the floor, and vacuum the stairs. Next stop? The teenage years where all this hard teaching of mine will seem to become unlearned as they become leeches on the back of society. That's karma I suppose.

(Hallie making coconut macaroons)