time keeps on ticking

it seems the older i get, the faster time flies, and the less time there is to do things. surely i'm not the only one who notices this. if only there were a few more hours in the day. of course, i'm usually too tired to do much in the evenings anyways, so i'm not sure it would matter. too bad i don't drink caffeine. perhaps that would help. i did get a large hot chocolate the other day, and i swear that had me buzzing and jittery, so i'm not sure what a cup of coffee would do to me. anyways. onwards.

way back on monday november 3rd, we had daal for dinner. bryan added chiles, so it was a bit too spicy for oliver, but boy did we ever love it. with some sour cream, lime, and cilantro to tame the heat, and puffy pita bread, it was a delicious dinner. definitely one we'll add to the menu to keep our bellies warm on these cold winter evenings. perhaps next time we'll do one less spicy, because i have the sneaking suspicion that oliver would love lentils.

friday november 7th, bryan came up with an on the fly dinner to use up some things we had in bulk. he made a deconstructed chicken cordon bleu, using chicken breasts, fresh mozzarella, some muenster, and ham. he served that with sauteed yellow summer squash, and potatoes. a hearty and satisfying meal. oliver enjoyed some leftover ground beef and beans instead, since we ate later than he needed to.



that saturday, the 8th, i made posole. oh posole, how i love you. pork, green chiles, bryan's homemade chipotles, onions, beer, hominy, oregano, cumin, bryan's homemade chicken stock. topped with sour cream, shredded lettuce, radish, sweet golden tomatoes, and a squeeze of lime. fantastic.

that sunday, mom and dad came over for dinner. in addition to bryan's traditional aztec squash (with zucchini, yellow summer squash, tomatoes, and epazote), he made a variation on sopa seca. i wasn't able to find the rice vermicelli noodles, so we adapted and just used rice noodles. instead of smoked turkey, we used leftover shredded chicken. it was a big hit. a very satisfying, comfort meal.

the weekend itself was fairly normal - running errands and hanging out. i got a cute new hat at target, so i can be a hip urban mom.


monday the 10th, we had a scrumptious pork tenderloin with maple mustard sauce, smashed red potatoes, and bryan's carmelized brussel sprouts with toasted bread crumbs. would you believe oliver enjoys brussel sprouts?

a few cute pictures of him being a ham that day:


why, no, mom, i'm not squishing my potatoes on the back of my chair, why do you ask?

look ma, no hands!

the next day, tuesday the 11th, we had - wait for it - chicken fried rib eyes (inspired by kristi's brother). why bother to chicken fry a rib eye, you may ask? because it's out of this world delicious, that's why. definitely better than the traditional cube steak, i'm not sure we can do it any other way now. we had that with some simply blanched carrots, mac and cheese, and of course, white pan gravy.

saturday the 15th, we got around to picking up some chicken wings so we could try them with bryan's homemade super spicy hot sauce. definitely hotter than normal. bryan liked them better than wings with his normal hot sauce, and they were quite good, but i like the normal hot sauce better - with less spice, it's more flavor.

last week sunday, the 16th, we started out the day right. i made breakfast sandwiches of waffles, grilled with ham, cream cheese, and apricot jam. everyone loved them. bryan and i indulged ourselves with some mimosas. our realtor had given us a bottle of champagne when we bought the house, but as i was pregnant, we stashed it. so we celebrated making it through the first year, just a little late. oliver tried to celebrate by stealing my orange soda, but too bad for him it was empty.


here's a random cute picture of ollie napping - he crashed out for a seriously LONG afternoon nap, which he wasn't too thrilled about being woken up from.


we used the leftover champagne tuesday, with some tuna steaks we had bought at trader joe's. bryan's champagne buerre blanc was spot on, but the steaks were a little dry and could have had better flavor. now we know not to buy cryo-vac'd tuna from there again. brown rice and carmelized turnips rounded out the meal.


we introduced oliver to peanut butter and jelly this past week. he's a fan.


friday, bryan had the day off so at&t could come and install new tv/internet/phone. day care had the day off, so oliver was home as well, and i worked from home to help out. for lunch, i gave oliver a bean burrito. at no point did it occur to me that this would be messy. i'm not sure why. but, he had fun eating it, and he loves beans, so i guess it worked out in the end.

that night for dinner, i made crock pot lasagna, which was an interesting concept to me. i had decided to use the crock pot a lot this winter, and wanted to branch out beyond roasts, soups, and stews. i didn't have very high expectations (it is lasagna in a crock pot, after all), but this turned out really delicious. i used a spaghetti sauce i had already made, and froze, with ground beef and italian sausage. the ricotta fluffed up, the cheese melted and even turned golden around the edges. definitely adding this one to the permanent roster. i picked up a rosemary herbed ciabatta for garlic bread, and made one of oliver's favorites - cauliflower.


oliver has been sick. it started last weekend with a runny nose, to which a dry cough soon added itself, which has turned into more of a hacking cough. friday i was worried he had pink eye, as while we were at target shortly before bed time i noticed his eye was weepy and a little goopy. saturday morning it looked much better. he's still feeling pretty crappy, though. he wouldn't eat much for breakfast or lunch yesterday (he did much better with dinner). he went down for his afternoon nap yesterday early. i thought we would sit and cuddle in the rocking chair, read a few books, but when we sat down, he simply curled up close to me, hugged his blanket tight, and immediately started to doze off. it breaks my heart to see him feeling so terrible. we picked up some hyland's homeopathic honey cough syrup for him, which seems to be helping. hopefully today he'll continue to feel better.

many new pictures have been added to the november gallery, including some cute video of him walking around.

the plan for today is to lay low at the house. bryan and i are going to marquette university this afternoon to see a play, chekhov's the cherry orchard. mom has graciously offered us 2 tickets and her babysitting services. we're pretty excited to get out of the house and take in some culture together. tonight, mom and dad will be joining us for dinner. bryan is making souvlaki (pork kebabs with cucumber–mint yogurt sauce), one of his favorite greek dishes. we have some pita bread, beans, and i'll be making some delicata squash fries, one of our favorite sides. the pork has been marinating since yesterday. it should be absolutely delicious!

we hit up the outpost yesterday to do some of our shopping for thanksgiving. they were having a sample day, with thanksgiving foods. so there were a lot more people there than usual, which i wasn't too happy about, but i did get to delight in feeding oliver tastes of things you'd never expect a 1 year old to like - such as wild rice, and leek stuffing. that's my boy! shannon arrives in town late wednesday night, and katie and kevin are flying in that night as well. unfortunately adrianne's car broke down, so it looks like she won't be able to make it. i'm really excited for the food; i think we have a pretty good "new american" (if you'll excuse me using that silly term) menu:

Waldorf Salad, which will be prepared by shannon

Salted Roast Turkey with Herbs and Shallot-Dijon Gravy, which is bryan's project

Sauteed Brussels Sprouts with Bread Crumbs, to which we'll add some bacon (only because the brussels will carmelize better in pig fat, i swear), also to be prepared by bryan

Wild Mushroom Bread Pudding, which will be a joint effort between shannon and bryan

Green Bean Casserole, using a slightly different recipe than you usually see (no cream), which shannon will make

bryan will make his corn budin, of course (else i probably would make him sleep on the couch)

aunt debbie will be bringing a sweet potato dish of some kind

mom will of course bring her delicious yeast rolls

and for dessert: i'll be making my apple and fennel pie, debbie is bringing brownies with apples, caramel, and snickers, and shannon will be making a dessert as well

yummy, no?