mrsjenpeters

Oh, yeah, I have a blog

2011-11-26T21:59:00.001-06:00

Oh, wow, I can't believe it's been nearly a year since I last blogged. I could have sworn I had at least done something over the summer. Oops. I guess we have been a little busy.

I guess I can to summarize the last year in a-picture-a-month style (if you want more, 'cuz my kids are so cute, go to the gallery):

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

WHEW, that was hard. Because I have a lot of cute pictures.

Some recent events:

Oliver Starts School

Oliver started school this year. CUH-RAZY. He is in 3k, and a combined 3k/4k since he was an older 3. He goes Monday - Friday, 7:50 a.m. - 11:30 a.m., and then attends the after school "Camp" there. It's a long day, for sure, but he LOVES it and is doing well. And he is always very tired out at the end of the day (score!).

Oliver's First Field Trip

And I chaperoned! When school sent home a note asking for chaperones for the 3k/4k/5k trip to a pumpkin farm, I WANTED TO GO. I LOVE pumpkin farms, and thought this would be so awesome to attend WITH Oliver's class. Luckily, all the parents who volunteered got to go. It was so much fun! The place had a ton of different animals to pet, a hay ride, and lots of pumpkins. Although most of the kids were just over the moon about their first ride on a school bus. It was such a fun day. And tiring - almost all the kids conked out on the way back!

Rosie's First Birthday (and Oliver's Fourth)

Rosie turned 1! Oh my goodness. Where did that year go? We didn't do much to celebrate, but it was still a very special day. My baby is on her way to being a little kid. Bittersweet, for sure.

Oliver's birthday brought a little more excitement. This year, we had a party for him with 5 school friends (all girls, his pick). We chose a pirate theme - ARRRRRRR! We had pirate hats, eye patches, and swords, and a pirate themed treasure hunt (the clues on are Facebook if you are interested in reading them). The kids had a BLAST. Everything was perfect, except for the big fail on my part where I put whistles in the treat bags. 6 kids indoors + whistles = not awesome.

Rosie's First Trick or Treat

I have always enjoyed making Halloween costumes. I've done quite a few cool ones for Hannah (Cleopatra, zombie), and Oliver's robot costume was a success. Seeing, however, as I can't actually sew too well, they generally involve a lot of hot glue (it's just not Halloween if I don't burn the bajeebers out of my fingers!!). So when Oliver requested a Captain America costume this year, I have to admit I took the easy way out and bought him one. He already had the shield and the mask (but of course), so it was pretty easy.

Oliver wanted Rosie to be a witch, and I was able to find a mini witch's hat attached to a barette. Perfect, I thought, and easy. Yeah, sure, but then I got ambitious. I decided, wouldn't it be cute if I made curly witch's shoes for her to wear? And wouldn't it be even better if I made them curly witch's toes, like the wicked witch in the Wizard of Oz that had the house land on her? And then don't I need to make a house for her to be in???

She wasn't too fond of the hat, but the rest worked out rather well. A lot of people had no idea what she was (HELLO, DID YOU NOT SEE THE MOVIE?!), but those that got it thought it was wicked awesome. And it was.

And, no, I did not let her have any candy. Maybe next year.

Thanksgiving

We just finished up Thanksgiving, and everyone left happy and full, as per usual. Bryan and Shannon cooked up a storm: Spanikopita bites, 2 heritage turkeys from JenEhr Family Farm, caramelized onion gravy, cranberries with port, sweet potato spoon bread with rosemary infused maple glaze, brussel sprouts with bacon and breadcrumbs, stuffing. Mom brought yeast rolls (which were to die for) and salad, Aunt Debbie brought cheesy potatoes, and my cousin Andy's wife, Marissa, brought green beans with bacon and mushrooms. And if that weren't enough, I made a gluten free apple crumble, Mom made a pumpkin pie, and Shannon made a pumpple (a pumpkin pie baked inside a chocolate pie, on top of a vanilla cake with an apple pie baked in the middle, all covered in buttercream frosting - it was quite the architectural feat). Oliver wore himself out tearing around the house with Andy and Marissa's kids (which made me wonder how our parents handled every holiday when there were 9 of us tearing around our grandparents' house).

Christmas Crafty

I can't believe it's nearly December already. Christmas will be here before we know it, and I'm nearly done with Christmas shopping. This year, I've gotten a LOT of great Christmas craft ideas from Pinterest (do you Pinterest? You should, it is officially teh awesome.). One of the ideas I really wanted to execute on was instead of an Advent calendar, having a Christmas activity each day between December 1st and Christmas (see here and here for ideas). I ordered 24 mini canvas bags from The Oriental Trading Company, bought a few bags of felt numbers & letters from Michaels (4 bags, to be exact, in order to get enough numbers), and some ribbon. I printed out activities and placed them in the bags, along with little trinkets where necessary. Some of our activities include: play the Secret Snowman game, write a letter to Santa, do a Christmas craft with Mom, take a sled ride with Dad, make paper snowflakes, learn a Christmas joke, sing Christmas carols to a neighbor, find the hidden pickle on the Christmas tree, hang the Santa key on the front door, set the table for a fancy dinner. I can't wait to do this with Oliver - it should be a fun way to count down the days until Christmas. I hung them in the window, since there were some hooks there already, and we have no mantel nor crown moulding to use. Hopefully it holds.

I promise I will blog again before next Christmas. (If I can put down the Pinterest long enough some night to do so.)

christmas & then some

2010-12-31T09:09:00.000-06:00

our christmas isn't quite over yet, and besides our new normal of chaos, it's been going pretty well.

christmas eve, we had our traditional shrimp and grits for dinner, then opened two gifts: our new pjs, and a game for the family. oliver got thomas the train pjs, as we bought him a train table for his big gift. our game choices were limited this year, and they needed to be able to be played by a 3 year old. i got us Don't Spill The Beans, and immediately regretted it and the far too many, tiny little, individual pieces.

after ollie was asleep, i put together the train table, and put the gifts under the tree. santa showed up shortly thereafter with his gifts and treats for the stockings.

meanwhile, bryan was hard at work putting together the play kitchen we had for him. i had scored this cute wooden kitchen at Target last January on super clearance for $30, and we had been hiding it since. it was pink, so i repainted it yellow and made a new little curtain for it from some cute green fabric with white and blue mice on it. it had a million pieces, and took awhile to put together, but it's darn cute.

i was a little worried that oliver would wake up christmas morning and open all the presents before even getting us up, but he surprised me by coming upstairs to get us first. he had already seen the presents under the tree, and was very excited. he did a very good job at only opening his gifts and not being upset that not all the presents were for him.

after he made it through all his presents, he discovered his stocking - and the chocolate within. it being christmas morning, of course he had some, but not nearly as much as he would have liked!

then it was time for the big reveal. i think he was too taken aback to say much, but he didn't leave the basement much for the rest of the morning.

ollie was more than happy to help rosie open her gifts once she woke up, too.

i didn't expect him to take much of a nap, but he went down without a fight at all, amazingly. after nap, we headed to Mom and Dad's house. we decided to do presents right away since there was a nice big pile ollie was eyeing. as usual, he was totally spoiled by the fam.

after a delicious dinner and far too much chocolate, we came home and attempted to put oliver to bed. it took quite awhile but happened eventually.

the next morning, hannah arrived! which meant more presents.

a few days later, even more presents arrived from katie and kevin. see what i mean? spoiled!

and it's not over yet. in another week is Mom's family christmas party. THEN i swear we're done with christmas for the year!

more pictures here.

christmas, christmas time is near

2010-12-12T13:57:00.000-06:00

seeing as how we more than likely won't be able to have a full size tree in the next few years, as rosie will be walking and getting into all sorts of trouble (if her brother's history is to be believed), i managed to convince bryan that we should get a real christmas tree this year.

i had considered a family outing to a tree lot to choose one, but ultimately decided against it. i am sure oliver would have loved the experience, but there were just far too many opportunities for meltdowns. and in the end, all he really wants is a christmas tree. so instead, bryan picked one up at Home Depot while running errands, and got it set up and ready for decorating before oliver got home from day care.

it took him a little while to become interested in actually decorating it (he mostly just wanted to play with the ornaments), but eventually he got the hang of it and he and i had fun decorating it. once we completed the task, he stepped back and sighed, "it's beautiful!" the kid sure knows how to be cute when he wants to be.

interlude (for cuteness)

2010-12-11T16:33:00.000-06:00

trick or treat (but mostly trick)

2010-11-20T15:32:00.001-06:00

oliver understood a little more about halloween this year, but it still wasn't entirely clear to him. he remembered his robot costume from last year, and he remembered getting candy, but still couldn't quite grasp the concept.

this year, we decided he would be a cowboy. his awesome godfather Chris sent him a cowboy hat, guns, and holsters, Nana made him a cute corduroy vest and chaps, and we provided the plaid shirt, jeans, and cowboy boots. to say he looked cute in his costume is an understatement. we had wanted to do trick or treat at the zoo, but we managed to completely miss it! unfortunately, they didn't have trick or treat on halloween itself. trick or treat in our neighboorhood is from 1 - 3 p.m., which is strictly reserved for nap time, so we decided to head over to mom and dad's 'hood after nap, since they do evening trick or treat.

before trick or treating, though, oliver had to throw a royal fit over... oh, NOTHING. just being 3. he almost didn't go. but once he figured out that No Trick Or Treating = No Candy, he decided to cooperate (though he refused to wear the chaps). bryan took him through the subdivision close to my parents' block, where we knew there would be a lot of kids, and houses close together. and wouldn't you know it, after all that fussing, he actually had FUN.

the day ended well, with dinner at Nana and Grandpa's, and, of course, chocolate!

rose maureen

2010-11-19T13:55:00.001-06:00

so i've been on a bit of a hiatus, and it's because we had a baby!

little (well, not so little) rose maureen was born one day late at 10:07 a.m. on wednesday, october 27th. she weighed 8 lbs 9 oz, and was 21 inches long.

i had been desperately hoping she'd be born early, since this pregnancy, in a word, sucked. and 5 weeks before my due date, i started dilating, so i had hope. with oliver, i didn't progress one bit before i went into labor, and was in labor for 44 hours as i was hardly progressing during his labor, and he was born a week early. so i was feeling confident that little rosie would be born early too. i think she might be stubborn.

on monday, october 25th, i was dilated to about 2.5 cm. that was the most uncomfortable exam ever, and i had persistent cramping all night. by tuesday afternoon, the cramping had let up some, only occurring occasionally. but by dinnertime on tuesday, the cramping was happening every 20 minutes or so, and i began to suspect that i may be in labor. after oliver went to bed, we started timing.

by 10 p.m., i was having contractions every 5 - 7 minutes, so i called my doctor, who said it was fine to labor at home as long as i was comfortable. we called my mom, who came over to spend the night with oliver and watch him the next day. around midnight, the contractions were coming about 4 minutes apart. they weren't screaming painful yet, but with them coming that close, we figured we'd better get to the hospital.

we arrived and they hooked me up to the monitors and checked me shortly thereafter. i was excited, thinking surely as i had been dilating for weeks now and was in actual labor, i'd be dilating like crazy now! not so. i was still at 2.5 cm. my ob instructed the nurses to keep me for 2 hours and check me again.

over the next 2 hours, my contractions strengthened in intensity quite a bit. however, when they checked me again, i was still at 2.5 cm. at this point, i started crying, because i was in quite a bit of pain and was very afraid they were going to send me home. i had flashbacks to laboring FOR. EV. ER. with oliver and didn't want to do that again. however, they decided to keep me based on the level of discomfort i was in.

they got me checked in and put on an epidural almost immediately. since i had had to wait for several hours before they had given me one with oliver, i was very happy. this epidural experience was quite different, however. with oliver, i was completely dead from the waist down. i had expected a "my foot is asleep" type of feeling, but i was completely numb. couldn't, couldn't feel a thing. with rose, however, it was more like my legs were asleep. i couldn't feel the pain of the contractions, but i could move my legs, and sense them slightly. i could also, however, feel every inch of my catheter. i honestly don't know which was worse. i had been hoping to get some sleep once the epidural was in, but with the catheter driving me insane between contractions, there was no sleep to be had.

as i was still not dilating (WHAT THE HECK, BODY?!), they began giving me pitocin. with the first pitocin induced contraction, the epidural stopped working entirely on the left side of my body. it was around the same time it became clear that i was having back labor, which it turns out is the most painful thing in the entire world, i think. i think i spent most contractions sobbing and the time in between feeling like i was going to pass out. the anesthesiologist gave me another dose of the epi, which did nothing. it was shortly thereafter that i also began puking. and i still wasn't dilating. in addition to thinking, "i will never do this again" and "why did i want to do this again" i also began wondering how i was going to do it now. obviously i had no choice, but there was no way i could labor in this much pain (and more once my water broke) if i wasn't dilating. there was no end in sight.

enter my savior. the day anesthesiologist came on to his shift, and he suggested either another dose of the epi (and wait an hour) or removing my current epi and putting in a new one. i took the latter option. his method of inserting the epi was gentle, and he in general was just amazing. and it worked! the new epi took effect on both sides, AND i could no longer feel my catheter. best of both worlds.

after the 2nd epidural

my doctor then came in, and i had dilated to 5 cm. finally some progress! she decided to break my water and get the show on the road. i dilated very quickly after that, and was ready to push by 9:30 a.m. pushing was a very different experience than with oliver as well: since the epi was less numbing, while i couldn't feel the pain of the contractions, i could feel the baby when i pushed. it made pushing both easier (since i could feel where she was) and harder (it felt like it took more effort). but it was definitely an amazing experience, and i'm so glad i was able to feel everything.

as rosie was head up (explaining the back labor), it took a bit of pushing to get her out, but less than an hour later she was born. with that first cry, i started bawling, both emotionally and physically spent. at that moment, i felt our family was complete. i got to hold her right away, and i thought she looked so much like oliver when he was born, though bryan disagreed.

oliver adores his new little sister. when my mom brought him to the hospital to visit, it wasn't me he was interested in seeing. he came in the room looking right for his little sister, wanting to give her kisses and talk to her. when my dad came in, oliver said, "do you want to see my baby?" he wants to hold her, kiss her, sing to her all the time. i think he gets a little jealous when i have to feed her, but overall he couldn't love her more.

rosie is a good baby. she sleeps pretty well, she eats well, and is generally a sweetheart. let's hope that continues!

more pictures here and here and here.

oliver turns 3 (almost)

2010-10-11T13:47:00.001-05:00

we had oliver's birthday party this past weekend. since the baby is due close to his actual birthday, we decided to aim early so that he could still have the celebration he was planning on (and he was in fact planning on a celebration - his words).

we invited mom, dad, shannon, gram & gramps, aunt mo & family, and uncle larry & aunt debbie over for brunch. we did make-your-own breakfast burritos - eggs, pinto beans, cheese (cheddar and pepper jack), arugula, cilantro, onions, tomatoes, roasted yellow peppers, pico de gallo, tomatillo salsa, sour cream. i had also made a spicy sweet potato chili, but with all the good fixins for the burritos, no one had much room for chili.

oliver had requested a white cake with white candles and chocolate ice cream, so i had a pretty easy order to fill there. i made a basic yellow butter cake (because cake with extra butter is way better than a plain white cake), and fluffy vanilla frosting. this is my new favorite frosting recipe, because it actually worked. (my history with making frostings isn't a good one.) we found a spiderman / green goblin action figure pack at target for the cake toppers.

i think i hit the mark.

he was able to blow out the candles all on his own. is it strange that this impressed me? i consider him a "big boy" and yet i am always surprised by the things he can do.

after cake and ice cream came presents, which is always exciting. he scored some pretty awesome stuff and barely knew what to play with first. lucky kid!

with all the excitement, we weren't too hopeful that he would take a nap, but he conked out in seconds without so much as a peep. which was good, because we had evening activities planned as well.

bryan's company had organized an outing to Apple Holler. we drove down a little early so we could check out all the kids' stuff. oliver had a blast, but i'm not sure i'd ever go again - what a racket. $5/person to get into the kids' area (playsets, mazes, animals, etc.), and then any rides and games cost extra (we skipped those). they do have a real apple orchard, but at $15/person to go picking, we did not partake in that activity. we did venture into the pumpkin patch, where oliver had a BLAST running bryan ragged in order to find the perfect pumpkin. so while oliver loved it, it's just not our kind of place - too touristy, packed FULL of people (i'm not a fan of people), and i'm not convinced they make anything on site. there's a "country store" (which bryan confirmed just contains a bunch of crap), and their cider donuts come in boxes labeled "Pre-Fried Frozen Donuts - Ready To Eat." we know actual farmers and can visit actual farms, so this was totally not our style. but, it was still worth the $16 we spent ($10 to get in + $6 for the pumpkin) to watch oliver run around.

the one part that got me was watching oliver run around the giant "big kids" sized playground. he was running around, climbing, and flying down the slides right alongside the older kids. he didn't need my help, and i didn't feel the need to stand right behind him and make sure he wasn't going to fall (though that will never stop me from telling him to be careful!). it really dawned on me that he is a kid, and not really a toddler anymore. when did that happen? it's crazy. i can't believe he is turning 3 and becoming so much less dependent... bittersweet for sure.

the pumpkin patch was a blast. not sure if it's the actual field where they grow the pumpkins (didn't look like it), but there was a pretty big area where already cut pumpkins were spread out. bryan chased oliver all over, as oliver felt it necessary to run through every stand, small and little, of timothy grass in search of the perfect pumpkin. the weather could not have been more beautiful for it. and while this was what i would consider a fake farm, the scenery was gorgeous nonetheless.

after nearly 2 hours of this running around, we met up with the other IBM'ers for the hay ride to our bonfire. it was a small group, and everyone had kids in the same range (ages 2 - 5). the hayride (which didn't actually have any hay) was right at sunset, which made for a very lovely ride.

our hay ride ended at the back of the property, a wooded area with lots of bonfire spaces. our fire was already going, which the kids thought was pretty cool. our organizer brought out the food, and everyone proceeded to roast hot dogs over the fire. oliver knew that there were marshmallows for dessert, but as i had told him he had to eat dinner before he could have any, he was more than ready to eat. that, and all the running around, i think, made him pretty hungry - he ate 2 hot dogs!

once we had eaten, he kept reminding me that he ate TWO hot dogs, and could he please have his smarshmallow now? i told him to wait until everyone was done eating, and asked him to sing me campfire songs in the meantime. he told me, "i will sing campfire songs after i have my smarshmallow." the little bugger is catching on.

once it got dark, they lit a bit stack of pallets on fire to create a very large bonfire. all the kids (and let's face it, the men) thought that was pretty darn wicked.

we got a hay ride back to the gate, and were on our way shortly before 9. i made a smart parenting move and brought pjs to change oliver into for the drive home (hey, sometimes i think i'm actually catching on to this mom thing!), and sure enough, he fell right asleep in the car. another sign he's turning into a kid. with all his terrible sleeping as a baby and even a toddler, i never thought we'd be planning activities past bed time, and relying on him to fall asleep in the car - and it actually happening. and yet here we are! (not that i'm willing to make a habit out of it, because i'm not so stupid as to tempt fate regularly!)

all in all, a pretty awesome birthday for the boy.

more pictures in the gallery.

$1000 cloth diaper giveaway!

2010-09-23T14:57:00.001-05:00

http://www.clothdiaperblog.com/cloth-diaper-blog-super-stash-giveaway/

$230 diaper giveaway!

2010-09-22T20:43:00.002-05:00

check out Snaps and Snails $230 diaper giveaway!

The Eco Table

2010-08-12T08:51:00.000-05:00

announcing - The Eco Table - my new food blog. i figured it was high time to separate my food writings from everything else here, so i can concentrate on some particular projects, ideas, and what have you, in the food world. there's not much there yet, but i'm working on it. enjoy!

happy birthday, america

2010-07-07T05:47:00.032-05:00

we were all excited to have a 3 day weekend for the fourth of july. other than having a cook out with mom and dad, and perhaps attending a parade and some fireworks, we had no plans. i was looking forward to spending the majority of the 3 days relaxing.

you know what they say about the best laid plans, right?

saturday morning, oliver and i visited the outpost to restock our ravaged fridge. now that fruit is coming in and i'm in full canning mode this summer, i picked up obscene amounts of nectarines, cherries, and peaches. between the room the fruit took up and everything else we needed, out cart was literally overflowing (hey, milk takes up a lot of room too!). the ladies at the checkout kept asking questions like, "how many people is this for?" "are you having a big party?" "do you have a juicer or something?"

having all the fruit meant i spent the afternoon canning cherries, spiced peaches, and peach preserves, as well as making a gluten free cherry crumble for our fourth of july cook out. that was a lot of standing over a hot stove in hot weather.

which necessitated a trip to the pool after oliver woke up from his nap. while a little tentative at first, he LOVED it. he ending up in the "deep" end of the wading pool, swimming on his stomach, head just barely above water. i only wish i had worn my suit so i could have lounged around in the cool water as well.

since it was supposed to rain all sunday afternoon, we decided to have our cook out for lunch. that morning, i finished prepping for lunch by making a dairy free "buttermilk" potato salad. i accomplished this by mixing some lemon juice into mayo, which was surprisingly effective in imitating a buttermilk flavor. some red potatoes along with parsley, beauty heart radishes, red onion, and garlic scapes completed the mix rather nicely (with everything except the potatoes and red onion supplied via our CSA share from JenEhr farms). we packed everything up, made a quick stop at culver's for some vanilla ice cream to go with the crisp (i had wanted to make my own, but i didn't get around to it, and would have preferred oscar's, but had a 2 year old with me so the temptation of the drive through was too much, so sue me), and headed over to mom and dad's house.

to oliver's disappointment, no one wanted to play outside in the crazy heat with him, so he had to settle for watching the lion king while everyone busied themselves with other projects. i got some ears of corn soaking in salt water, and made a salad with some lettuce, tomatoes, scallions, and sweet peas. i had made a honey balsamic dill vinaigrette to go with the salad (which complemented the sweet peas amazingly). the corn went on the grill, closely followed by some brats from our friendly butchers at the outpost (regular, jalapeno cheddar, and beer onion, yum).

to say lunch was good was a bit of an understatement. so many fresh flavors -
intensely satisfying. there weren't a whole lot of complaints from around the table (perhaps just oliver due to his dislike of mayonnaise - but i think that was evened out by the entire brat he devoured).

we reminisced about our european ancestors' hostile takeover of this country, imaging it went something like this:
europeans: "hmmm, we'll take that island over there."
indians: "but that is our land."
europeans: "we'll give you these 20 beads for it. they're really nice."
indians: "beads? alright!"
europeans: "faaaaaaabulous. now, go west a bit. uhhhh, and leave that corn, too."

let freedom ring.

nobody grumbled about dessert either. to make a gluten free topping, i used a Bob's Red Mill GF biscuit and baking mix i had. true to form, it was a little gritty (GF mixes always seem a little sandy to me), but with the cherries and the ice cream, it wasn't too bad.

lucky pants oliver even got his first taste of soda (i know, i know - i'm a bad mom!). sprecher's new seasonal summer flavor is strawberry, which has long been a favorite of mine, and which hannah figured she'd like as well (she was right). it may have been the good food or perhaps the heat had gone to my head, but i let oliver have a tiny bit as well. he enjoyed it, can you imagine?

after lunch, dad pulled out an ancient sprinkler from his childhood, which still works perfectly (they just don't make things like they used to!), and the kids proceeded to have way more fun than seems imaginable.

playing in the sprinkler soon degenerated into, "hey, let's just spray each other with the hose!"

the kids were having so much fun that time slipped away from us, and before we knew it, it was waaaaaaaaaaaay past nap time. i collected up my sopping wet son, and we headed home for a much needed nap. with so much sun and fun, he crashed pretty hard.

we had completely forgotten about the West Allis 4th of july parade, so monday morning we did the Wauwatosa parade instead. we drove over around 7am to put our chairs along the route, came home and got ready, then were back before 9am for the parade itself.

predictably, the parade started about 15 minutes late, but luckily, there was more than enough stuff in the parade itself to make up for it (seriously - it's nearly a 2 hour parade). hannah came to the realization that she may be growing up, as the parade wasn't nearly as excited as in past years. oliver, on the other hand, loved every minute of it, especially the fire trucks, clown, tubas (apparently his favorite instrument), and the marching bands in general. watching him jump, dance, march, clap, and generally be extremely happy kept hannah and i pretty entertained.

"look mom, it's from chitty chitty bang bang!"

oh yes, and then there was the candy. this surprised and pleased oliver to no end. i caught on pretty quickly and only let him have half or less of each tootsie roll, but since he was still getting candy, he was more than happy to share. he listened very well and only picked up one piece at a time upon my instruction. though after each collection, he would ask, "they are going to throw more candy, right, mom?"

** on a side note, oliver wore big boy underpants and stayed dry the whole time. i knew i was taking a risk, since we'd be out there for awhile without bathrooms, but he did SO GOOD. i am SO PROUD!

we spent the rest of our monday playing outside and getting even more tired. by nap time monday, i couldn't believe the 3 day weekend was almost over and that i was far more tired than after a normal 2 day weekend (didn't stop me from driving out to trader joe's during nap, though). bryan and hannah hit up the fireworks late monday night, and i was more than happy to stay home with oliver and get into bed at a decent time. still, while the weekend was far busier with all our running around than we had hoped, it was a pretty good weekend.

more pictures in the gallery.

agretti spaghetti

2010-06-25T12:10:00.000-05:00

just for our beloved miss kay: agretti spaghetti.

this meal was based on a recipe for Spaghetti with Arugula and Ricotta from the Local Flavors cookbook. we didn't have arugula, but we did have agretti, so we substituted that instead. we also added some toasted breadcrumbs to the top, in lieu of the walnuts the recipe calls for.

delicious.

and even better - hannah made it!

Agretti

2010-06-19T15:18:00.000-05:00

the farm began growing Agretti, a rather unique green, and we have taken quite a shine to it.

from Wikipedia:

Salsola soda, more commonly known in English as Opposite Leaved Saltwort, Oppositeleaf Russian Thistle, or Barilla Plant, is a small (to 0.7 m tall), annual, succulent shrub that is native to the Mediterranean Basin.^[1] It is a halophyte (a salt-tolerant plant) that typically grows in coastal regions and can be irrigated with salt water.

The plant has great historical importance as a source of soda ash, which was extracted from the ashes of Salsola soda and other saltwort plants.^[2] Soda ash is one of the alkali substances that are crucial in glassmaking and soapmaking. The famed clarity of 16th century cristallo glass from Murano and Venice depended upon the purity of "Levantine soda ash,"^[3] and the nature of this ingredient was kept secret. Spain had an enormous 18th century industry that produced soda ash from the saltworts (barrilla in Spanish).^[4] Soda ash is now known to be predominantly sodium carbonate. In 1807, Sir Humphry Davy isolated a metallic element from caustic soda; he named the new element "sodium" to indicate its relationship to "soda." Before soda was synonymous (in U.S. English) with soft drinks, the word referred to Salsola soda and other saltwort plants, and to "sodas" derived from soda ash.

While the era of farming for soda ash is long past, Salsola soda is still cultivated as a vegetable that enjoys considerable popularity in Italy and with gourmets around the world. Its common names in Italian include Barba di Frate, Agretti, and Liscari sativa. Of its culinary value, Frances Mayes has written that "Spinach is the closest taste, but while agretti has the mineral sharpness of spinach, it tastes livelier, full of the energy of spring."^[5]

oh, i know, it's all quite fascinating (well, it is to me at least). which brave soul decided this could be eaten we'll never know, but i'm glad they did. much more tender and mild than your typical green, the plant has an almost pasta like quality to it. to me, once cooked it tastes very much like pasta tossed with olive oil and salt. to say it's become a favorite in our house would be an understatement. even oliver loves this new "green spaghetti."

while at the market, bryan learned of a new way to serve it: sauteed with hot peppers and italian sausage. the idea was so tempting we decided to try it out post haste.

unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately), my late night trip to the outpost yielded no sausage, since the meat counter was closed. but this did provide me the incentive to make my own sausage, which i've done in the past. i hauled out 4 or 5 pounds of ground pork (from our pig), and doused the meat liberally with red wine. i added fennel seeds and various herbs (thyme, marjoram, rosemary, plenty of oregano), along with some garlic, salt, and pepper. and then i added some more wine, for good measure. i let this cure in the fridge for 24 hours before using it (should have been longer, but providence being what it was, we needed to use it). i made small meatballs since i don't have sausage casings.

i sauteed sliced onions, garlic, and sweet peppers in olive oil. the original recipe idea calls for hot peppers, but since we had little mouths dining with us, i decided to use sweet in the main recipe with some hot on the side for bryan and me (i fire roasted a few jalapenos, skinned them, and chopped them up for us). i tossed in the agretti, covered it for a few minutes, then uncovered to let the water cook off and the agretti saute.

i followed Lidia Bastianich's recipe for polenta (since i can never remember the ratios on my own), and just added some grated parm once on our plates.

the resulting dish was delicious, and other than some polenta, no leftovers remain.

if you get a chance to get your hands on some agretti, i highly recommend it!

some more information on and recipes for agretti can be found here.

the peters family camps

2010-06-06T07:31:00.038-05:00

for our first peters family summer outing, we decided to camp, and were able to get into Devil's Lake State Park. with 3 separate campgrounds providing over 500 camp sites, miles and miles of hiking trails, sandy beaches along the lake, and awesome rock formations, it's one of wisconsin's most popular camping destinations.

located in Baraboo, WI, Devil's Lake is close to the Wisconsin Dells, so our plan was to include a day outing to the Dells for shopping and eating.

there is a 2 night minimum on reserving a camp site. we figured if oliver only made it 1 day, we could always come home early, but were hoping for a full weekend in the woods. i booked site 301 on the Ice Age Campground, which was close to the bathrooms (a must with children and a pregnant lady). the site turned out to be pretty open, but wasn't too bad for our purposes.

i took friday off, and after some errands and a quick visit to work to show off the kids, we got packed up and were ready to be off. the plan was for oliver to nap in the car, and he did fall asleep, but only slept for an hour or so. we made it to the park around 4pm, and got set up while hannah and oliver had fun running around and exploring.

we made taco Pudgy Pies for dinner, which everyone loved, and s'mores for dessert. oliver really just wanted the chocolate, and couldn't be bothered with graham crackers or marshmallows (though he was more than happy to eat my toasted marshmallow instead). oliver just loved sitting around the campfire, which he was very respectful of.

shortly thereafter, i realized it doesn't get dark until well after oliver's bedtime, so putting him to bed might be a bit of a challenge. he stayed up a little late, then it was off to bed, which he wasn't too thrilled about. he wasn't throwing a fit, he just didn't want to go to bed. and since he can undo the zipper door and get himself out of the tent, it was a bit of a challenge to keep him in there. he taught himself to do somersaults, and proceeded to somersault around the tent until 10:30pm or so. eventually, with the aid of a flashlight, he conked out.

but his sleep was not long lived. he woke up sometime (i am guessing) between 12am - 1am, FREAKED OUT that we were in a tent. i eventually got him settled on the queen size air mattress, where he took up half the mattress while bryan and i shared the other half. oliver continued to wake up and call out for me, grab my hand, and go back to sleep. then he was up for the day at 5:30am (damn summer sun rise). so we didn't get a lot of sleep. amazingly, hannah slept through all of it, tossing, turning, screaming, and all.

the first thing oliver said to me was, "i want to go home, mama." bryan and i really wanted to stay another night, but we decided with ollie's short nap the day before, little sleep that night, and his fear of sleeping in the tent, there was no way we'd be able to get him down for a nap and bedtime without some pretty major meltdowns. so we decided to hang around the park, head into the dells, then get home.

Devil's Lake has a lot of hiking trails, and bryan selected the East Bluff Woods trail for us, which ends in a lookout on a bluff. took us a minute to realize, but when hiking to a bluff, you hike straight uphill. oliver ran most of the way up! we were all wondering where he got the energy for that. we walked for a good while before i asked how far we were going - 1.3 miles each way. um, no thanks, my back can't handle that. as we turned around, i checked the map, and we had actually ended up on the 3.4 mile EACH WAY trail. thank goodness we turned around! oliver decided he was tired (and it just took a mile run uphill to do it), and bryan carried him the whole way down - and he SLEPT! it was pretty funny, walking through the woods with a sleeping toddler on bryan's shoulder. he definitely needed a little nap to re-energize him, though, so it was a good thing.

oliver, hannah, and i went to one of the small playgrounds while bryan packed up camp and the car. after a little while, hannah headed back to help him, and after another little while, ollie and i went back too. we stopped in a small tunnel to yell "ECHO!" for a bit, since that is one of the funnest things we do around here.

with the car packed up, it was time to head into the dells for a short shopping excursion and some lunch before hitting the road for home. this should have been a 20 - 30 minute drive along county roads. but at one point, the road split into three: 1) the way we should have continued to go, 2) to the highway west (and towards the dells), and 3) to the highway east (back to milwaukee). guess which one we ended up on? if you guessed the wrong one, give yourself a prize. and sadly there was 13 miles until the next exit, which would give us a 45 minute detour. we decided to cancel plans and just head home, but ollie fell asleep immediately so we figured we could give him a bit of a nap and head there anyway. took us awhile, but we made it to the dells.

our first stop was Parson's Indian Trading Post. established in 1914, this store has become a dells tradition. one room is actually filled with real indian things, and the other half of the store is touristy crap (but we love it nonetheless!). i picked up some beads for a labor beads project my online mom's group is doing, and a polished stone with a dinosaur etching on it for ollie.

then it was off to lunch at the Cheese Factory, an amazing little vegetarian restaurant, and i daresay one of the only places in all the dells that serves actual food. we discovered them a few years ago on a trip to the dells, and we even risked insane tired toddler melt down to go there (luckily, the 45 minute nap in the car and some food in his belly did wonders to mitigate any potential insanity). rachel ray may like their grilled cheese, it's the rest of the menu that gets my heart going. all fresh and homemade, it's hard to go wrong here. i had the chimichanga (Chicken flavored tofu, rice, Jack cheese, Romesco Sauce prepared from roasted red peppers, garlic and smoked almonds; grilled onions, and green chilies wrapped in a deep fried flour tortilla. Served with fresh greens, salsa and sour cream). bryan, hannah, and ollie all had grilled cheese, and hannah and ollie even enjoyed some shakes with their meals (hey, it was vacation, right?). they have an honest to goodness soda fountain, including homemade phosphates. i cannot resist a homemade phosphate (i had strawberry). unfortunately, we were all too full for dessert.

our last stop before leaving town was Market Square Cheese, another dells tradition for us. more than just a cheese store, you can get jams and jellies, fudge, saltwater taffy, and of course every touristy tchochke known to man. bryan got a limburger (which he will eat alone under penalty of death), i picked up a port wine cheese spread (which is just disappointing after having made my own), and we also got some saltwater taffy and fudge (peanut butter, and turtle). i didn't pick up any of their super aged cheddar, since it was only sold in blocks over a pound, and being the only one who would eat anything that sharp, there's no way i found finish it before it went bad. and at $25/block (for the old stuff), i couldn't let that happen.

then it was time to go. we had hoped oliver would nap on the way home, but that didn't happen right away. an hour or so into the ride, we heard an occasional banging, shaking noise in the front wheel well. we stopped to take a look, as bryan thought it was the alignment, but it looked ok, so we kept going. oliver finally fell asleep about an hour from home. we were almost there when we learned the true reason for the noise - threadbare tires - as the front right tire literally blew up in a smoking ball of rubber and fibers (and whatever else is in a tire). seriously, that thing was in shreds. i should have taken a picture. luckily, we were driving fairly slow in the right hand lane, so were able to safely pull off to the side. also as luck would have it, we were right by the exit to mom and dad's house, so dad came to pick hannah, oliver, and i up while bryan dealt with the car. oliver was not happy about being woken up and transferred to another car (oh yeah, he totally slept through that whole episode), but he fell back asleep immediately once in dad's car. bryan got the spare tire on the jeep, then took it to get all new tires. better safe than sorry (she says a few days too late).

additional pictures aquí.

we were happy to be home at last. i do enjoy camping and i hope one day oliver can learn to like sleeping in a tent (or a camper as the future highly suggests), but being home is pretty darn nice, too. bryan and hannah headed out to see Prince of Persia, which i had no interest in seeing (does anyone else really dislike Jake Gyllenhaal, or is it just me? and the thought of him trying to act all sexy with those muscles - GAG. you're never gonna be sexy, dude.). anyway. oliver and i enjoyed a quiet evening at home, then i got him off to bed early (and boy did he pass out).

all in all, misadventures aside, a fun half a weekend of camping. in the end, it's nice to have today to relax some at home.

after i bake a rhubarb pie, of course.

new widgets: learn & revolt

2010-05-25T21:19:00.000-05:00

i added 2 new widgets to the right hand panel: learn, & revolt.

in the learn section, i will post links to articles and other sources to learn about food, farming, and other health related items. the current list is pretty incomplete, but i'll post more as i have time.

in the revolt section, i will post links to action alerts, which give YOU the ability to tell our elected officials what you want when it comes to our health.

enjoy!

oh, the joy

2010-03-30T13:02:00.005-05:00

the joy of a good meal cannot be overrated.

we had one such meal this past sunday, for lunch. oliver and i went to the winter market on saturday (they had a mediocre chef's breakfast), and immediately noticed that bolzano meats had a few new offerings. bryan and i talked excitedly with scott, the proprietor, and realized we could put together a nice lunch with items from the market.

while the lardo called my name loudly (and i promise i will get you next time, my sweet), we ultimately decided on the black pepper tenderloin and paletilla húngara (dry cured shoulder).

we wandered over to the wonderful bakers fromwaterhouse foods, where i immediately zeroed in on the garlic and sea salt sourdough bread.

the next stop was saxon creamery, where i selected a respectable chunk of their delicious cheese. i think it was big eds. (they also began bringing their fresh cheese curds and - oh my lord - ne'er have you tasted a fresher curd, my friends.)

i had wanted to find a relish of some kind to accompany our lunch, but nothing at the market struck me. i picked up a spinach and artichoke spread at the outpost instead.

and bryan bought home some amazing little micro greens (sprouts) - radish, mustard, and watercress, from jenehr family farms (i heart you guys). (the radish was my favorite.)

the result was easily one of the best meals i've ever had.

my only mistake was making oliver a separate lunch, thinking he would not like what we were having. and i even placed the sprouts nearest him, so he wouldn't go after the cheese. you'd think i'd know by now. my first clue (were i to ignore history) was all the guanciale he was stealing from the sample plate at the bolzano table on saturday. i kept telling him to stop, that we had to share, but scott was laughing in surprise. i mean, what 2 year old likes cured pork cheek?? um, mine. so when i set the table for our lunch sunday, he quickly abandoned his mac and cheese, and began gobbling up mustard sprouts, dry cured pork, sourdough bread, and cheese. that's'a my boy.

sing it loud, sing it proud

2010-03-24T20:41:00.004-05:00

just a quick note on how we do st. patrick's day.

homemade corned beef.

soda bread.

smashed fingerling potatoes with butter.

cabbage.

oh, and apple tart.

good food, and family. no better way to spend st. patrick's day.

why i cook

2010-02-25T14:33:00.002-06:00

over at the burp blog, prompted by a challenge from michael ruhlman, lori recently explored the reasons why she and paul cook, and it got me thinking as well.

this is an easy question, but not one with a single, uncomplicated answer.

when i was young, my parents had a huge, organic garden. it took a lot of work from everyone in the family to maintain it; something that my sisters and i resented often while pulling weeds in the hot sun. but we were always thrilled with such close access to perfect fruits and veggies. in the summer, we could walk down to the garden, pick a vegetable, and seconds later, be eating it for dinner. everyone has had that wonderfully sweet, perfectly ripe ear of corn from the farmer's market in august (or at least, i hope so), but it seems like much sweeter when it's eaten within 10 minutes of being picked. the hard work that goes into growing that ear of corn probably has something to do with it, too. eating sweet peas directly off the vine, still warm with sun; carrots nothing like what you'd get in the supermarket, too sweet and tender to believe (probably the reason shannon has such a deep love for carrots); gobbling green plums one after the other; peaches sweeter than candy; raspberries for dessert, eaten straight from the bush. sure, we hated the work, but we definitely appreciated the bounty.

and with that fresh food, cooking was just what we did. mom didn't often serve us frozen or pre-packaged food. so we, too, learned how to cook. i recall my first cooking revelation: making a fresh tomato sauce for pasta using tomatoes, onions, garlic, and basil from our garden. fresh, easy, and something i created.

once i moved out of the house, it wasn't until bryan and i started dating that i really started cooking again. bryan always cooked; having been a chef, it was something he continued to enjoy to do at home. he wooed me with fajita nights every thursday. once we moved in together, we began shopping at the dekalb farmer's market, spending obscene amounts of money on our groceries (hey, we lived with roomates and had cheap rent! and i like wine!). i entered a phase where i wanted to prepare the most complex meals i could, because it was fun, and delicious. i think bryan mostly humored me, knowing i would come around eventually.

and i did. the longer we cooked together, the more i learned (courtesy of bryan). i began to be able to appreciate ingredients for what they were. we were often asked why we cooked so much, and in addition to saying we enjoyed it, my response was, "we all have to eat, so it might as well be good."

i knew all along that it was healthier to prepare meals at home using fresh foods, and always leaned towards the natural/organic foods, but it wasn't really until a few years ago that i began researching more about how our agricultural system produces food. and what i learned scared me. the way produce is grown is NOT healthy. the way our meat is raised is NOT healthy. the way processed foods are produced is NOT healthy. all of this impacts the environment negatively, which in turn impacts our health. and this food, this industrial food, is BAD for us. all of it. a carrot is no longer just a carrot, folks. if more people did the research and learned what they were putting in their bodies, more people would revolt (and that's exactly what we need, but not what this post is about). having a small child and knowing that i did not want to put crap into his body absolutely affected the decision as well. it became imperative that we eat FOOD, only FOOD; food that is raised responsibly, with minimal impact to the environment. and food that is raised locally whenever possible. we radically changed our eating from there, by changing what we buy and who we buy it from. we made these commitments, and they became the driving force behind what and how we cooked.

we joined the c.s.a. with JenEhr farms; we joined a co-op for the rest of our grocery shopping. we got serious about our own garden. last year, we bought a pig and half a cow from Solar Harvest Farm. bryan began working weekends for the farm, and through the farmer's market, we began networking with local farmers (much to my squealy, giggling, schoolgirl delight).

food, cooking, eating has become a cause to me. and not a cause i am alone in, but one in which we need everyone to become educated on. i feel by buying the way we do, and eating what we eat, and supporting local farms in doing so, we are trying to save our world, literally. i am attempting to stave off some of the irrevocable changes industrial farming has on the environment, and the grave and undeniable impact to our health. make no mistake, it is critical. vote with your fork.

and in returning to the land, and locally so, i have again returned to the ingredients of my youth - fresh, simple, perfect foods that need nothing much to speak for themselves. and that became another goal: prepare these wonderful foods in simple ways that honor them. simple doesn't necessarily mean fast, either. simple can be time consuming. simple means with minimal handling, or with traditional handling; in a method which lets the food shine through. it is hard to take a bite of something so wonderful and not wish everyone was here eating what you were eating, because then, you just know, they could understand, and instead i end up feeling just a little sorry they are not. if i could find a way to stay home and cook all day, i would.

the honoring of the ingredients also takes on a slightly spiritual meaning for me, as well. food is my religion, that is also why i cook. and i challenge you to think of that as not blasphemous in any way! whatever god you do (or don't) believe in, i hope we can all agree that if this earth is our gift, if life is a gift, what better way can we honor that and be the protectors we're asked to be, than by taking care of the earth and ourselves? the best way we are care for the earth is to not poison it. first and foremost, we must not destroy it. industrial agriculture is doing just that, and it's a simple change to help make that stop. i'll say it again: vote with your fork. 3 times a day. our health, our happiness, everything else will come from this. i am not kidding when i call for revolt. only our growing voices will change the tide.

so i cook for a multitude of reasons. there is no one reason. and it's more than just eating, to me. it is part of everything, the very fabric of our earth, our health, our purpose on this earth. and i don't believe we're meant to lead joyless lives. i don't believe we're not meant to fully enjoy, in a carefree and thorough way, everything that is around us. but we have to do so in a responsible manner. responsibility and happiness are not mutually exclusive. they can coexist very happily. just come to my house for dinner, and i will show you.

good use of leftovers: Pea and Slow Cooked Ham Tarts

2010-02-17T19:14:00.004-06:00

i found this recipe for Pea and Slow Cooked Ham Tarts, had a ham in the freezer that i had been wanting to use (one that we had brined and smoked ourselves), and decided to adapt the recipe for winter in wisconsin.

the recipe calls for fresh peas, but i used frozen. the downside to this was extra water content, which made the filling wetter than i think it should have been. i probably could have combated this a bit more by blending the filling more; emulsifying the fat in the cream would have done the trick. but it wasn't awful, and the custard still set.

i added some parmesan to the custard because, you know, it was the right thing to do.

the shortcut pastry dough is hands down the best pastry recipe i have ever made. most basic ingredients, minimal handling - and it puffed in the oven beautifully, and was gorgeously buttery. perfect, perfect, perfect. i've been thinking of all sorts of wonderful applications for this. napoleons? pot pies? fruit pies? yes, yes, and yes.

though i wasn't a huge fan of the recommended method for pre-baking the pastry cups: the author if the recipe has you fold them over the backs of muffin tins. maybe i just needed to cut the pastry rounds a little bigger, but they weren't very deep.

i oven roasted some delicata squash "fries" to go with them, and it was a filling and delicious dinner, indeed. as if the ongoing winter here wasn't enough to make me wishing for warm weather, this recipe certainly has me thinking of june peas, which i can eat raw by the pound at their peak freshness (bryan thinks this is a problem and will confiscate the 3 pound bags i buy at the farmer's market and proceed to attempt to devour).

that's it. a simple and delicious dinner i had to share.

valentine's day en double

2010-02-15T15:47:00.005-06:00

impressed with my french skills, no?

anyways.

bryan and i aren't generally huge on the whole valentine's day thing. i get flowers, we eat a fab dinner at home, and that's about it.

this year, we both had great ideas for dinners, so we decided to do them both.

saturday, we had my pick: steak frites (using the hangar steak from our cow) with sauce gascon (essentially a pan sauce with white wine, demi glace, and mustard), homemade garlic aioli for the frites, and roasted beets with creamy horseradish vinaigrette over winter micro greens. and red wine. for dessert, we had heart cookies oliver made at day care, so of course they tasted perfect and full of love. delicious and filling. i heart homemade frites.

sunday, we had braised pork belly with sunchoke puree and grilled radicchio with balsamic vinegar. oh yea, YUM. i had to banish myself from the kitchen once the belly came out of the braising liquid lest i EAT IT ALL. it was very good, though not a whole lot different tasting than a pork roast, albeit a very, very nice one. still, no complaining. we washed it all down with some fat squirrel ale from new glarus brewing company. for dessert i made chocolate cake, with strawberry filling. i wasn't very happy with the cake. it was no where near as chocolatey as i as expecting, and the frosting didn't come out. i had never attempted that kind before and doubt i ever will again. for the strawberry filling, i used some frozen berries we had from last summer's u-pick. in the end, while it didn't look very pretty and wasn't as chocolatey as i was looking for, it certainly didn't suck. oliver in particular wasn't upset, as it's hard to cut a small piece of 3 layer cake, so he got a relatively good helping.

we ended the day by watching couples retreat, which was funnier than i expected. for once, vince vaughn didn't annoy the crap out of me; he talked non stop, but his character's view on marriage was endearing.

all in all, a very lovely valentine's day, happily spent with my two favorites boys.

new widget: meal plans

2010-02-09T12:00:00.008-06:00

you may notice i added a new widget to the blog, on the bottom right (i may move it up if it generates any formal interest). it's our meal plan for the upcoming weeks. i usually meal plan for two weeks at a time, based on what we have, what's going to be on sale, and what is currently striking our fancy. more often than not, we use recipes as guides and inspiration, knowing we can do better (not to be conceited or anything... just truthful). i've noted where the recipe is a loose inspiration - in these cases our finished dish will probably vary wildly from the given recipe, but be similar in concept. and just because i haven't noted a vegetable or starch in all of them means we'll be skipping them - it just means we'll make whatever sounds good that day, whatever we have on hand. it's important to note that while some things look more involved than one would necessarily tackle during the week, we occasionally do some prep beforehand (like cooking a giant batch of tomato sauce and freezing it to use in the months to come^*, or roasting a whole chicken on sunday so we can use the meat during the week, or cooking a braised dish the night before since they're so much better after a day anyways), and there are certain things we've already made and keep on hand (especially canned items like homemade pickles, cranberries with port, pickled red onions, and escabeche). that's just the way we roll around here.

i do this because i've had requests in the past for access to my meal plans, so hopefully this helps satisfy some curious folks. and i figured, we used to document nearly all new meals we did with pictures, recipes, and reviews, and i've dropped that business like a hot potato due to a complete and utter lack of time. it's hardly a complete view into how i menu plan, and won't reflect any of my cherished tips to menu planning and food shopping in general (such as buying seasonably, and planning based on sales, which i cannot possibly predict outside of the stores we actually shop at, and some of the prep and storage i mention above). if anything, i hope it provides inspiration, and a few rumblies in the tumblies.

now let's just see if i can keep up with it.

^{* um, yes, god may actually strike me down if i were to buy jarred tomato sauce. seriously. what is wrong with you people?}

christmas: food & family

2010-01-31T14:39:00.012-06:00

we're finally settling down after the holidays (that, and i figured i ought to get my christmas post in before february), which were wonderful. oliver understood the concept quite a bit more this year, which made it all the more fun and special; hannah spent a week with us; and of course, we ate a ton of food.

christmas eve, i made our traditional meal of shrimp and grits. (oliver had fish sticks, since he's not a big fan of shrimp yet, but he gobbled up the grits without a problem.)

oliver and i also made gingerbread cookies. he gets quite a kick out of helping me bake, and he always offers to lick the beaters. instead of gingerbread men, we made gingerbread robots (bryan's idea; i had picked up the cookie cutter at williams-sonoma the day before). i think it will become a new tradition!

after dinner, bryan and oliver played guitar hero. i'm not much for video games, but this was pretty darn cute.

before bed, we opened 1 present each - our new pajamas.

then it was christmas morning! bryan and i relaxed with some coffee and baileys while oliver thoroughly enjoyed ripping open all his presents (and then going after ours).

oliver got right down to business playing with some of his favorites:

an r2d2 playdoh set -

a wooden crocodile, paint-your-own-style (his first experience with paints, which he very much enjoyed) -

and a little wooden monkey bowling set -

after nap, we headed over to mom and dad's house for more presents, and christmas dinner.

adrianne made oliver the coolest gift ever - an r2d2 quilt. she cut every piece separately from fabric and sewed them all on with varying colors of thread. she poured tons of work and love into it, and it's obvious - it is amazing. oliver loves it (he sleeps on it every night now). when he saw it, he gasped, ran up to it, and hugged it. adrianne said it made all her hard work worth it!

our contribution to dinner was appetizers. i went retro, with shrimp cocktail (i used fresh horseradish in the sauce and WOW that stuff packs a kick!) and stuffed celery (inspired by this recipe, but i prefer smoked cheddar to the blue cheese, and i don't bother blending it).

for dinner, mom prepared a pancetta wrapped beef tenderlion (the pancetta purchased from bolzano meats) with a red wine mushroom sauce, roasted potatoes, roasted root vegetables, a salad, and homemade crescent rolls.

the following day, hannah arrived! which meant more present opening. this time, oliver couldn't understand why most of the presents weren't for him. we had saved him a few to open that day, but apparently, it wasn't enough.

that night for dinner, i made a traditional style spaghetti alla carbonara using the guanciale we bought from bolzano meats.

let's get a close up of that, shall we?

almost too pretty to eat.

i've been rather intrigued and charmed by cream sauces that contain no cream. awhile back, we first made original fettuccine alfredo recipe, which uses only butter, cheese, and some pasta water to make the creamy sauce. it not only worked, but was better than all other roux/cream based alfredos i had in the past. so when i stumbled across the carbonara recipe, which uses only eggs and cheese for the sauce, i knew i had to try it. and i finally - FINALLY! - had access to real guanciale.

the result was pretty close to perfection. i loved it. this cream-less cream sauce thing is my new favorite.

mom, dad, shannon, dirk, and adrianne joined us.

which meant more presents.

and triple the silliness. i blame hannah.

we decided to go sledding sunday, so that we could get it in while we had snow and before we got too busy. we headed out to currie golf course, where hannah was confronted with the biggest sledding hill she's ever seen. i thought oliver would be too afraid - the hill is truly huge, and with all the cold weather, very frozen, meaning very slick and fast. we were flying down the hill!! but he loved it! after awhile, he wasn't too thrilled with the snow flying up in his face, and hannah didn't last too long in the cold either (and i believe she was a little bit afraid of the super fast hill, too!).

that night, i could have almost messed up dinner, but instead i made an awesome dinner. i had planned korean braised short ribs (galbi jim), but instead of defrosting short ribs, i defrosted spare ribs. oops. bryan assured me they would work, with a slightly different cooking time. i began by following the recipe as written - same marinade, and i simmered the ribs. after 2 hours, i checked on them, and decided that the marinade lacked the flavor i was looking for. so, i made up another batch of marinade, similar to the first, but with a few changes - sugar, soy sauce, mirin, garlic, sesame seeds, honey, ginger, and molasses. my goal was a sticky, sweet and savory sauce. would you believe it worked? i cooked the ribs for another 2 hours with the new marinade added to the sauce; the various sugars caramelized and helped to thicken the sauce. the final dish was exactly the flavor i was looking for.

from there, we moved into the week. it was good to have the whole family together again!

monday, bryan and hannah headed up to the farm. bryan helped them out with some computer problems, and hannah went skiing with kay and her daughter, sarah. hannah had never been skiing before, but had been asking about it, so she was thrilled!

while they were gone, i tried some new things for dinner - crockpot rotisserie chicken and stovetop mac n cheese. the chicken seems like it shouldn't work, but i kept reading good things about the method, so i decided to give it a try. i made a seasoned salt using lemon salt (which mom made us for christmas), black pepper, garlic, thyme, paprika, and marjoram. i rubbed the bird with olive oil, then the salt mix. at the bottom of the crockpot, i put 5 loose balls of foil, plopped the bird in, and that was that. i let the skin crisp under the broiler for a few minutes before we sat down to eat. i thought it worked out rather well. the meat was moist, the skin was crisp and tasty with the salt like that - very similar to a rotisserie chicken. the mac and cheese was another roux-less experiment. instead of roux or cream, the recipe calls for butter and evaporated milk. it came out very, very creamy. and it's definitely an easier and quicker method than a roux. oliver wasn't complaining, either.

luckily for hannah, this year we actually had a good bit of snow for her to play in. it seems most years the big snowfalls seem to miss her visits. she tried to teach oliver to make a snowman, but the snow was too powdery for packing, and oliver was more interested in tossing it in the air and yelling "SNOWBALL!" anyway.

wednesday, we braved the obvious perils of a road trip with a toddler, and drove to chicago for the day. oliver did amazingly well on the ride down; so well, in fact, that as soon as we arrived and i realized how lucky we were, i began to wonder what the catch was and experience a profound sense of dread. luckily, the problem was that being cooped up in his car seat for 2 hours meant lots of unspent energy that he wanted to release; but unfortunately, our first stop (the shedd aquarium) was such a zoo that we couldn't possibly let him run free.

we arrived around 9:30 a.m., which was shortly after the aquarium opened. we parked down the block (the avoid the $15 parking fee - WTH, CHICAGO?!), and decided to leave the stroller in the car, since that's usually what we do at the museums here. ha ha, joke was on us. the place was PACKED. woe is the parent of a toddler who forgets that all kids are out of school during christmas vacation. i only had to wait in line for 15 minutes or so for tickets, but there were already a TON of people there - wall to wall (though, it's a good thing we got there when we did, since when we left, all lines in the lobby were full, out the door, down the steps, and going around the block - those people must have waited a good 2 hours in the snow). so mostly we had to resort to bryan carrying oliver on his shoulders, which incited quite a few not so quiet riots. between oliver and the crowds, we didn't get to stroll around so much as we had hoped. he and hannah had fun anyways, though next time we'd probably skip the masses (and the $70 it cost us to get in) and do something else.

after we wrapped things up at the aquarium, we headed to lou malnati's for lunch. i know, i know - a chain. not our original plan. actually, our original plan had been hot doug's, but they were closed for the holidays (something i fortuitously thought to check before we went). as we were eating later than intended, and already encroaching on oliver's nap time, and both kids voted pizza, we found the closest place we could. next time, we'll hopefully plan a little better.

after lunch, we drove over to the museum of science and industry. sadly, we needed to get on the road and get oliver napping, so we didn't get to spend much time here. i forgot how huge that place is! we did get to see the u-505 sub, which is pretty darn cool. we plan on heading back in the summer and making that a full day destination.

the next day was new year's eve. for breakfast, i made pineapple pancakes with mango cream. shannon had sent me a recipe for pineapple upside down pancakes, which i modified a bit. i didn't have kashi cereal, so i used cornflakes; instead of buttermilk, i used regular lactaid milk; i opted to skip the maple syrup; and i didn't let them sit in the fridge more than 15 minutes or so. instead of syrup, i whipped up some heavy cream with cubed mango and a little sugar.

bryan had promised me tamales for dinner (YES!), and as we normally have the family over for NYE dinner, shannon came over to lend a hand.

they made quite a few, of a few different varieties - roast pork, bean, and corn.

we served them with homemade caesar salad, guacamole, pinto beans, and homemade queso freso.

i don't get tamales very often, but they are definitely worth the wait.

shannon made a flourless chocolate torte for dessert, with chocolate and chile for a little kick. it wasn't very spicy, so oliver and hannah had no problems eating their slices.

new years day, we celebrated the new year with food. are you starting to notice a pattern here?

hannah had requested a french toast casserole, which i thought would be perfect to have the morning of the 1st. last year, we tried a paula deen recipe, but this year when i came across one that involved cream cheese, i was happy to make the switch. that along with a little bacon was more than enough to fill us up for the morning.

as accorded by tradition, we usually have corned beef, black eyes peas, and greens or cabbage for dinner on the 1st. however, we forgot about corning a brisket until it was too late (don't worry, we will remember for st. patrick's day). i didn't want bryan to go totally without so we had corned beef sandwiches for lunch. when i asked the deli lady for shaved corned beef, she asked if i really meant shaved, or did i just mean really thin. um, no, i meant shaved. which is why i said it. it's rare that i misspeak about my food, woman.

that evening, shannon, hannah, and i went roller skating. there is a friday "roller party" at a rink way the heck out in cedarburg that was recommended to us, so we decided to give it a go. we had a blast! it took us a little while to feel stable on the skates (somehow, ice skating is easier), but we had fun. they had tons of games, a music request list (so i could remember my younger days at the roller rink by skating to some guns'n'roses), and some interesting people to watch. i don't think we'd drive 40 minutes to go to the same one again (there's a rink about 5 minutes from our house), but it was a fun night out.

that saturday was hannah's last full day with us. i decided we'd start the day with cardamom caramel rolls. the recipe calls for ground cardamom. we have cardamom pods. have you ever had to shell and grind cardamom? it's not exactly like shelling peanuts. i decided to do extra, since it's such a royal pain. it took me 40 minutes or so. oh, the things i will do for baked goods.

the rolls turned out pretty good. my only complaint was that in order to have them in the morning, i had to make them the night before (yeast being what it is and all), which meant the caramel sugar mix on the bottom was cold, and even the hour or so i let them rise before baking wasn't enough to come to temperature so that the caramel got gooey and sticky when baking. if doing these overnight, it might be better to leave the caramel mix at room temp, and switch the rolls from a tray in the fridge (without caramel) to a room temp tray (with the caramel). still, the rolls didn't suck. the cardamom lent a different but not unwelcome flavor.

that evening, mom, dad, and shannon joined us for dinner. hannah had requested macaroni pie, and i was inspired by this recipe for tacaroni (taco-ish flavored mac n cheese). i made taco flavored meat, with chile powder, garlic, onions, oregano, and cumin, and some tomatoes. plenty of cheese later (and some evaporated milk for creaminess), it went into a baking dish. instead of the traditional bread crumbs on top, i smashed some tortilla chips on top, and sprinkled them with lemon salt and chile powder. baked until happy. everyone really loved this. i made a gluten/dairy free version for dad (using quinoa pasta and soymilk), and he requested it from mom while we were eating it.

for dessert, i made chocolate cream pie, because i am just that great of a wife/mom/stepmom/daughter/sister. (except in the case of dad, since this was most definitely not dairy free, though i briefly considered trying to make it so, then decided to not even try to pretend it could be anywhere near as good if i did, and instead just bought him dairy free chocolate ice cream.) in any case, everyone loved me just a little bit more after that dinner.

it was a good final night to hannah's visit.

more pictures online, of course.

i'd like to say we're looking forward to relaxing some, but knowing us, it'll never happen. i'm trying to plan a trip to atlanta for oliver and i, hannah will be coming to spend her spring break with us, and before we know it, summer will be upon us - at least, that's what i'm hoping. i am ready for spring weather!

just say no

2010-01-27T08:30:00.002-06:00

i know i am beyond passionate about this topic, but the importance of this particular subject cannot be downplayed. this is critical. we need to take control of our food supply NOW, before it is too late. even if you do not buy organic and have no plans to, you must understand the legislature that is threatening to take away that choice, and to force unresearched and harmful un-foods upon us.

i don't expect everyone to become a champion of local, organic, and beyond organic farming. but i cannot stand ignorance. it is the irresponsibility of ignorance that allows monsanto and others to foist this poison on our population. EDUCATE YOURSELF!

please watch this video.

then please TAKE ACTION and contact your congressmen and senators.

more information on GMOs and their harmful effects:

Monsanto's GMO Corn Linked To Organ Failure

Failure to Yield: their investigation into the biotechnology industry's claims that GM will produce higher yields

GM Corn Varieties on Mammalian Health

GMOs are killing the Bees

Gone to Seed: investigation into contamination of traditional seeds by Genetically Engineered crops

Patent for a Pig

Killing off our farmers

Union Of Concerned Scientists have some excellent reports and resources

maxie's southern comfort: take two

2010-01-24T07:37:00.003-06:00

last night, after bryan and i went to the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Bible: Ancient Artifacts, Timeless Treasures exhibit at the Milwaukee Public Museum (which we highly recommend seeing, by the way), we headed over to Maxie's Southern Comfort for dinner and a drink. sadly, our experience was not as good as my last one.

as before, the service was great. the staff is quick, attentive, and knowledgeable about the menu. the hostess (or is she the manager?) knows her job is to make everyone feel like they know you there, and she does her job very, very well (and none of it seems forced). she absolutely adds extra points to the whole experience.

we sat in the upstairs lounge for a few minutes while we waited for a table, and ordered drinks. i ordered the maker's mark mint julep, and bryan ordered the bloody mary. my julep had a lot of mint in it, but it wasn't muddled at all, so it didn't taste at all minty. but i really didn't mind much, since i love bourbon. god, i really love bourbon. it's just so dang yummy. anyways. bryan enjoyed his bloody mary quite a bit as well.

when we got to our table, we immediately were presented with corn bread and whipped butter (which has a hint of... orange?... in it). not shabby, but mine is better. mine is pretty rockin', though, so it's kind of an unfair comparison. (bryan says the only place to get better cornbread than mine is daddy d'z, and they have a secret recipe, and we're pretty sure they don't bake their bread, but rather somehow cook it just near the smoker through, perhaps, magic. that stuff is like candy, at least in my memory.)

one of the appetizer specials that evening was chicken chips - fried chicken skin, as made famous by Top Chef contestant Kevin Gillespie. when bryan saw kevin do it, he immediately wanted to try it. his version didn't come out quite right, but we later found the recipe, though we haven't tried recreating it at home again yet. so when we had the opportunity to try it last night, of course we had to. yummy. not quite as good as rendered pork fat, but really, what is? they served the chicken chips with some kind of sweet, thick vinaigrette-y type of sauce, which didn't do much for me. bryan was on cloud 9 though. (and on the way out, the hostess was joking that the chicken chips were good for you, and don't worry about the fat... she obviously doesn't know us. we have no problems with fat, thank you very much. i'll hide pork fat from my dinner guests and eat it myself, i'm that possessive and mean.)

sadly, our entrees were far less delicious. they weren't bad, they were just... not fully there.

bryan had the Pulled Pork Plate: eastern north carolina-style, creamy slaw, bbq beans. while the pork was very tender and nicely smokey, they either forgot to put the vinegar sauce on, or aren't too clear on how to make a vinegar sauce. there was no sweet, no hot, no vinegar tang. the pork was, well, watery. like it had been sitting in a steam tray full of water. which, it probably was, and we understand why, but... there's a better way to serve that. the creamy slaw wasn't very good either. the sauce just lacked flavor, completely. and the cabbage tasted a little old. i understand it's january in wisconsin, it's probably cold storage cabbage, but then, come up with a better option to dress it. bryan did enjoy the beans, however. he also ordered a side of their maple collard greens. if you've ever seen a raw collard green leaf, you know those suckers have to be cooked a looooong time. they are tough. i'm pretty sure you cold thatch a roof with raw collards. unfortunately, these were not cooked long enough, and were still a little too tough. and the the maple, though seemingly a good idea, didn't work, bryan said.

i ordered the Blackened Catfish Po'Boy w/ tartar sauce. it came with cajun fries (seasoned waffle fries). blackened fish is usually coated in a heavy seasoning - the spices are what blacken. while there was blackened something on the fish, i'm not sure it was spices. the fish just completely lacked flavor. it was tender, it was moist - but it was flavorless. as was the tartar sauce (mayo mixed with pickle, red pepper, and capers) - all you could taste was mayo. i'd much rather have a traditional remoulade. there were tomatoes on the sandwich, which is a traditional addition, but really - tomatoes, in wisconsin in january? just leave them off. we won't miss them. the fries were good - very nicely seasoned, which just highlighted the lack of flavor in the sandwich. i didn't eat 2/3 of the sandwich. there was just no point. i like to think i make a mean po'boy, so maybe i was over critical, but i don't think i was (bryan validated that the fish just had zero flavor - which is just so odd for anything blackened!).

we got everything wrapped up to go, hoping we may be able to salvage the leftovers at home.

i'm not ready to give up on this place yet. the beef brisket was really good last time, and i'm willing to try a few more things on the menu. i'm fully willing to admit that maybe i just want to like this place. maybe i just want a place that reminds me of atlanta. maybe i just want more of that beef brisket. if anything, i can at least count on getting a nice glass of bourbon there.

anthony bourdain: LIVE

2010-01-23T14:40:00.004-06:00

when bryan and i learned tony bourdain would be coming to milwaukee, we knew we had to see him. we've been fans since a cook's tour, we watch no reservations, count his les halles cookbook among our favorites (steak frites and pork roast in milk, need i say more?), and of course own kitchen confidential, a cook's tour, and the nasty bits. in our house, he is referred to simply as "tony". (much in the way julia child is simply "julia". shut up, we're totally on a first name basis with our idols cum imagined mentors). this is all to say - we're big fans.

so last night we took ourselves downtown to the riverside theater to see him. i've been to a good number of shows in my time, to see people i consider myself a die hard fan of. but there are very few people who have given me chills and taken my breath away to see walk out on stage (eddie izzard is one; probably the first time i saw ani difranco, and absolutely nick cave). i wasn't expecting it with tony bourdain, but it happened. he is someone i greatly respect for his cooking, for how this travels shape a unique and inspiring world view, and for his writing, the tool with which he inspires.

we had some initial sound problems, but 3 or 4 microphones later, we were well on our way into a good show. he spoke about traveling, about eating, about family. he made fun of rachel ray, the food network, and sandra lee. he is a very entertaining speaker, and it is obvious that he regards his success with no small amount of humility and thankfulness.

he did speak very briefly about organics/sustainable farming. he has said in the past, in writing, that he doesn't care where it comes from or how it was grown - as long as it tastes good, he'll be eating it. and he still believes that to a certain degree. but he did say that in the past few years, he has learned more about the way our food is grown and raised, and that he no longer feels one can responsibly ignore what is happening with the food supply in our country. i got the impression he felt it was less important to eat local/organic, as it is incredulous that our food supply may be making us sick. his point was that he should be able to walk into a grocery store and not be afraid to buy anything. that what we are sold as food should only be food. and that it should be affordable. so i think we have the same end goal, perhaps slightly different paths. though he did freely admit that his daughter eats nothing but organic.

after his talk, he took some questions from the audience, the majority of which were wasted on really lame questions (about 5 girls asked if he would go out drinking with them after the show).

after the show, bryan and i stopped in john hawks pub for some extremely disappointing cocktails. we ducked in there since it was next to the theater, and bryan had previously enjoyed a nice lunch there. it's a rather depressing pub - bright fluorescent lights, no ambiance. bryan had a watered down martini, and i had an overly sweet and altogether terrible bourbon old fashioned. that's what we get for being lame and not knowing any good dive bars downtown.

restaurant review: Maxie's Southern Comfort

2009-12-21T13:48:00.002-06:00

dad took me to Maxie's Southern Comfort for my birthday dinner. this is another place bryan and i have been wanting to try, but never got around to.

the first thing to know about this place is that they don't accept reservations for parties under 8 people. they do, however, have a "wait list" - you can call up to 30 minutes in advance to put your name in. if you're old like me, that's not a problem when eating dinner before 6:30pm, though. i had called around 6 and arrived shortly before 6:30 and were seated immediately. most tables were empty. it did fill up by the time we left around 8pm, however.

dad and i both had the bbq beef brisket special. smoked beef brisket with bbq sauce; french fries (which i dipped in cajun mayo); baked beans (which i sub'd out for their white cheddar mac n cheese); and a winter greens salad with fresh corn, tomatoes, and red onions. holy lord. i don't know if the brisket was just that good, or if i just miss Rolling Bones that much, but i almost cried with that first bite of brisket. tender, smokey, covered in sauce as tangy as i like it - it was perfect. i subsequently ate way too much of it. the fries were great too - quite obviously real potatoes, and so nice dipped into the spicy cajun mayo. the mac n cheese was probably the only disappointing part of the meal. i like my cheddar to have a bit of a bite, and this had none. the sauce was a little gloppy as well - a bit too heavy on the roux. the salad was fine; nothing special, and it felt a little disconnected from the meal flavor wise. for dessert i had the marquis cake, which is chocolate cake with chocolate mousse layers and chocolate ganache frosting. sadly, it sounds a lot better than it was - in reality, it was pretty flavorless.

bryan was lucky enough that i had *plenty* of leftovers, even after stuffing myself silly. i can't wait to go back here with bryan.

restaurant review: Ristorante Bartolotta

2009-12-21T13:32:00.002-06:00

bryan took me to Ristorante Bartolotta for my birthday. we had been wanting to go for some time, so we were thrilled to finally do so. we've been to Bartolotta's Lake Park Bistro in the past, so we had high expectations. for the most part, they did not disappoint.

we started with the Carpaccio di Manzo alla Veneta (Hand-sliced beef tenderloin with arugula, shaved red onion,curls of Grana Padano, capers and Venetian aioli). since it is raw beef, i had a few moments where i had a hard time with the texture, but the flavors were great, and the beef was very tender.

i then had the Misticanza di Campo salad (Chef mix of bitter sweet field greens and seasonal vegetables with a light drizzle of vinegar, olive oil and Sicilian sea salt from Trapani), which was simple but a nice salad.

we shared an order of the Ravioli di Magro al Burro Nociola Tartufato (House made ravioli filled with truffled-ricotta and spinach, topped with Grana and brown butter). this was absolutely the star of the meal for me. so good in every way. i want more.

bryan had the Grigliata Mista di Mare (A seaside style assortment of grilled seafood; shrimp, scallops, baby octopus, mussels and our fish of the day, with spinach, lemon and olive oil). it was a massive amount of seafood! bryan liked it very much.

i had the Braciola di Maiale al Marsala (Grilled bone-in pork chop with sauteed mushrooms, roasted potatoes and Marsala wine pan sauce). i was a little disappointed in this. the sauce was over salted, so was unpleasant because of the saltiness, but it also over powered the mushrooms because of it. i think the pork chop could have been a little more rare for me, but it wasn't bad. the potatoes were a little underdone for my tastes. not horrible overall, but disappointing to me.

we managed to squeeze in tiramisu for dessert before heading over to Cafe Hollander for some belgian beers.

of course, the service was excellent.

we'll definitely be back. i'd like to try another meal before passing final judgment on the place. i'd like to take hannah in the summer for a pasta course. i think she'd very much enjoy that.

shout out: booze and chocolate from the burp blog

2009-12-20T08:02:00.006-06:00

big thanks to the fredrichs for the delicious brandy soaked chocolate covered cherries. angels sang and time stopped, so they were a perfect interlude to a lovely saturday afternoon! bryan will bring you some special treats at the next market on the 9th. :)

food project: homemade marshmallows

2009-12-18T21:08:00.001-06:00

one thing bryan and i like to do each year is food gifts for christmas, so i decided to make marshmallows. hannah and i had made some last year, and they were freakin' phenomenal - rich, creamy, fluffy - 10,000x better than store bought.

this year, i used this recipe (and for those of you without a candy thermometer, look at the 2nd recipe on the page, near the bottom, on the right).

the basic concept is unflavored gelatin and water:

mixed with a cooked mixture of sugar, corn syrup, and water:

and beaten until hugely fluffy (my only real advice to you during this process is do not smell the mixture until it is white and fluffy. trust me.). you can add vanilla (i upped the amount called for in the recipe to 2 1/2 tsp). spread it in a prepared pan (lined with oiled foil or plastic wrap).

once they've had a few hours to set, dump them out onto powdered sugar and cut; roll each one in powdered sugar. this is very sticky business (literally - these things are insanely sticky). my recommendation is to use kitchen shears to snip them into strips, then roll the strips in powdered sugar, then cut them into cubes. it took me about 90 minutes of painfully tedious cutting before i figured out rolling the whole strips in the sugar made things go way faster.

i also made peppermint ones, with peppermint extract (i used 1 tsp vanilla and 1 - 1/2 tsp peppermint). oh yeah, i know that sounds good in hot chocolate, right?! i wanted them to not be plain white like the others, so i mixed red food coloring into a small bit of the marshmallows, then swirled that into the white.

and that's it! it's really simple. and so delicious. so all you lucky folks out there who are receiving a package in the mail from us - open it, quickly. there are marshmallows in there!

she's crafty

2009-12-11T11:59:00.005-06:00

my super friend danielle found this super cool menu magnet project, and me being me, said, "oooo, crafts AND food? awesome!" and of course, me being me, decided to make it way more complex than the original.

the gist of the project is to print out meal/food names and stick them onto magnets, so you can do a menu on your fridge. i thought to myself, wouldn't this be a perfect opportunity to create a learning tool for oliver? and thus decided to add pictures of each food item. and since our family cooks many and varied offerings, i had to print out roughly 200 different things. which meant buying magnets (instead of using extra ones, like the original project suggests). and i thought, well, printed paper glued onto craft paper won't possibly be strong enough to hold up... i better glue it onto foam board and then exacto knife all 200 pieces out.

yea, what was i thinking?!

it took me roughly forever to complete the project. but it turned out really cute, and oliver is pretty intrigued. mom had suggested she let me laminate my print outs, and while i initially thought they still wouldn't be strong enough, in retrospect, it probably would have been perfect. yet another lesson that one should always listen to their mothers. if you do this project, skip my steps 6, 7, & 8 and get thee to a laminating machine!

so here's what i did:
1) made a table in Word and typed out a bajillion food items
2) added pictures from the interwebz
3) printed and cut them out
4) glued them onto scrapbook paper
5) cut them out
6) glued them to foam board
7) cut them out, a la exacto knife
8) covered them in contact paper
9) glued a magnet on the back
10) had a beer

the result? a big mess of cute little food cards.

yea, i really wasn't exaggerating when i said 200. this basket is about 8" deep.

i also made a cute "what's for dinner?" header and the days of the week, so that you can organize and display on your fridge like so:

cute, right? now i just have to find the time to change them up every week. hmmm, i'm starting to think i didn't think this project through completely.

and to be completely honest, i'm still not 100% done. i have about 5 more cards i need to get onto foam board, but i ran out. and i also bought some neat white board paper, so i want to make some large magnets with that, so we can write our actual menus on them. but i'm going to take this time to revel in completing this much of the project, and it being actually usable.

the $84 turkey (or: peters family thanksgiving)

2009-12-09T10:56:00.011-06:00

nope, that is not a typo. this year, i got my american bronze heritage turkey, from the always wonderful JenEhr Family Farm. i had wanted one last year, which bryan quickly vetoed. this year i hadn't even asked before he told me no. but one magical saturday, kay spoke to him at the market and somehow managed to convince bryan that we just had to have one. have i mentioned that kay is my hero?

so, i got my turkey. and no, they're not cheap. but it's definitely worth it, for a multitude of reasons - helping to preserve a heritage breed, protecting the environment, and our health, and supporting a local farm. not to mention it has actual flavor. today, commercial turkeys are bred for their breasts - their legs are tiny, and their breasts are huge (and neither tastes like much). their breasts are so huge, in fact, that they can't fly - and real turkeys can actually fly. our 24 lb bird was a sight to behold - huge legs and a proportionate breast.

our initial plan had been to wrap the bird in the caul fat from our pig (think of a bacon wrapped bird... minus the bacon meat), which we had specifically ordered. the butcher that did our pig, however, was less than wonderful, and after defrosting two giant bags of fat, we were incredibly disappointed to find that there was no caul fat. bryan was, in his words, devastated. he spent the sunday before thanksgiving calling around town trying to find replacement caul fat. he was able to locate some, but at $60, i said no. maybe next year.

instead, bryan brined the bird, and rubbed a compound butter beneath the skin. he roasted it, and that was it. what resulted was a gorgeous bird.

dad carved the turkey, which we then served with gravy (which bryan of course made using the pan drippings), cranberries with port, roasted squash, stuffing with homemade sausage, bryan's corn budin, aunt debbie's mashed potatoes, mom's whole wheat rolls as well as rosemary garlic knots (which were promptly scarfed up by all in attendance), and marissa's green beans almondine.

the meal was all sorts of delicious. it was hard to stop eating and save room for pie, of which there were two, both made by me:

apple & fennel pie -

and a gluten free pecan pie -

bryan and i both agreed dinner was a complete success. i was very happy to have planned a much simpler menu than last year. we had plenty of time and oven space to make everything, and were even able to keep up with the dishes (a first, i'm pretty sure).

in a moment of clarity, i realized that the kids (oliver and my cousin's two kids) would pull out every single toy to make the biggest mess possible. since the toys currently live in our living room, i figured it would be better to put them all in oliver's room instead. i was very glad i did, as it turns out i was fairly clairvoyant about the course of events.

all of my sisters were in town, so of course we had way too much fun seeing them. oliver loved having a new audience to perform for and charm. he especially made a new friend in uncle kevin, who not only was a boy and thus automatically cool, but also always had m's (m&m's) on his personage, and didn't mind sharing.

more pictures from the week here and here.

a very happy turkey day indeed. and a great weekend filled with family, all of whom i am so incredibly thankful for.

food project: ham

2009-11-23T09:14:00.017-06:00

so here i am changing the rules yet again. what? it's my blog.

as has been in evidence, um, all year, i don't get much time to come here and post much. something about having a crazy job and a crazy two year old. so i'm going back to something bryan and i used to do in our early days - food projects.

when bryan and i were first dating, i was far more meek in my food choices. i had grown up with a huge organic garden, so i was already familiar with and a champion of that whole concept. mom cooked home cooked meals every night, made killer baked goods (and still does), and i enjoyed cooking and baking as well. but i had never been exposed to the professional side of cooking, or anything necessarily gourmet. bryan changed that, a change i rather welcomed.

however, that also meant stepping out of my comfort zone some, trying new things. so to keep from overwhelming me, we'd select a food project, something particular for me to tackle, be it eggplant or tofu. this worked very well. now that i'm past most of my food phobias, we've gone on to do food projects together - experimenting with intermediate and advanced techniques. i'm modifying my format here to do that with you, dear reader.

so here's your first food project: wet cured ham, 2 varieties: baked, and smoked.

the first step in making your own ham it to get your hands on a fresh ham steak. a real butcher will have this. you could also cure a whole shoulder. again, this is something a butcher will have. it is possible you can ask for it at your super market as well; if they carry any large cut of meat and have an actual bandsaw in the back (something you'd expect but is a lot less likely than you'd think), they'll have it. i used 3 fresh ham steaks, about 2 inches thick, and roughly 7 or 8 inches long by 4 or 5 inches wide. so, not your normal giant christmas ham, but with a family of 3, i don't want to have huge hams that take a week for us to finish.

next, find a brine recipe you'd like to use. i used a very simple one from Michael Ruhlman's book Charcuterie, which can also be found online, here. in the past, i've also done hams in a brine with garlic, juniper berries, allspice, cloves, and bay leaves. a brine is essentially water and salt, and usually sugar. the recipe i used also called for pink salt (not hawaiian pink salt, but a specialty curing salt), which i didn't have, so i omitted it and added a small amount of potassium nitrate (also known as saltpeter) instead, which i have on hand for curing corned beef.

submerge the fresh pork in the brine. i have some cambro food storage bins i like to use (you can get them at a restaurant supply store). i did also have to use my giant roasting pan since i needed more space than i had (which is ok - since the brine didn't contain acid of any sort, it's safe to use metal pans). it's important to fully submerge the meat, which generally means weighing it down. i covered the containers with plastic wrap, then put bowls on top of the hams with cans inside of them. the containers then go into a fridge. the recipe suggests 1 day per 2 pounds of ham in terms of curing time - about a week for a large ham. i left my hams in for a day short of 2 weeks, knowing it wouldn't hurt anyone.

after 2 weeks, we smoked 2 of them, and baked 1 of them. the plan was to eat the baked one for dinner, but we ended up having one of the smoked ones. and it was so good. rich, salty, caramelized sweetness. mom and dad joined us, and we ate nearly the entire ham. dad loves ham, and i think this made him a convert.

baked ham

smoked ham

we sliced off some of the baked ham for croque monsiuers, and froze the rest of the baked ham and the remaining whole smoked ham for later use.

so there you have it! a big success. i urge you to try this. it's really simple - make the brine, put in the meat, and forget about it. even if you don't have a smoker, you can bake it, so you have no excuse not to. and it's far, far superior to supermarket ham, which is one dimensional flavorless meat that tastes of salt and not much else. home cured ham has a depth you can't match elsewhere. and you get to impress your family and friends, who'll think you're a magical genius with super powers. go forth and CURE!

2 years and counting

2009-11-20T08:29:00.011-06:00

oliver turned 2 on october 31st (yes, i know that was nearly a month ago; i'm a horrid mom, k?!). hard to believe he is 2 already!

we started off the day with chocolate chip pancakes and presents. he finally got a boots to go with his dora, a mailbox (just ask him to wail about mail), a robot, paint with water, and his very own dora toothbrush with toothpaste (very exciting).

after all that, we geared up and headed to the zoo for trick or treat. i had made oliver his costume - a robot! i used a box, cut out the bottom as well as holes for his head and arms, covered in silver fabric, some old computer parts, and fun things ollie and i found at home depot (including a switch on the back!). it was so cute!! i was worried he wouldn't want to wear it, but he loved it. he was chilly so i bundled him up in long underwear and a fleece sweatsuit, a knit hat (which i had attached an antenna to), and gloves, and he was perfectly fine. everyone at the zoo loved his costume. too bad we didn't do the costume contest, because i'm pretty confident he would have won by a mile. we only saw one other homemade costume there, and ours was definitely the best regardless. it was his first trick or treat experience, and it took him longer to catch on to the candy part than i thought it would (probably a good thing).

after lunch, shannon and i took him to a few houses in the neighborhood, more so that the folks we know could see him in his costume. it was then he started to catch on to the candy thing. he helped hand out candy once we got home, and was very good at it, except he thought he deserved a piece every time he gave some out.

mom, dad, and shannon came over for birthday dinner and cake. we had tacos, one of oliver's favorites, and peanut butter cupcakes with chocolate fudge frosting and dirt (crumbled chocolate fudge cookies) and (gummi) worms. he got to open some more presents and play. all in all, i think he had a pretty awesome day.

more pictures from the day in the gallery.

my 2 year old is a wonder and a challenge. it is amazing to watch him learn, and grow. he is truly a little person now. his unique and charming personality in still firmly in place, and he now has the ability to communicate with more words. he's speaking in sentences, something i love and am still getting used to. he's incredibly silly. he's a pretty typical 2 year old - throwing tantrums and testing his limits. but he's incredibly intelligent (of course!), sweet, and fun. he brings joy to our every day.

i love you super oliver!

by popular demand

2009-11-08T14:07:00.005-06:00

whilst in atlanta, i had a number of people request i post links to the food i talk about in my facebook statuses. today's list is too long for a facebook status, so - egads! - i'm updating my blog. and i completely admit i am taking the easy way out by only posting in regards to today's projects, entirely ignoring the past 2 months of food, events, and the atlanta trip. deal with it.

bryan started the day by making one of his lovely chicken stocks. for those not in the know, we almost exclusively use homemade chicken stock. because it is so easy. after we have a roast chicken, we toss the carcass in a freezer bag, along with vegetable scraps - the ends of onions, carrots, celery, whatever. after we have a few carcasses, we make stock. which consists of peeling the frozen hunks of chicken and veg bits out of their bags, covering with water, and slowly simmering for a few hours. once the mix has reduced nicely, we cool, strain, and freeze off in 1, 2, and 4 cup measurements. couldn't be easier. and it tastes roughly 400 million times better than store bought. cooking all day, leaching the bones of all nutrients leads to an incredibly rich stock - at room temperature, it is solid, like jelly. i call it chicken jello. appetizing, no?

i finally decided to tackle some of the giant cuts of pork we have in our freezer from our whole pig. i started with the easy route - wet curing 3 huge ham steaks. after a week or 2 in the brine, i will bake one as is, and slow smoke the other 2. i was reading my Charcuterie book, which started getting me very, very excited for doing more. i plan on doing a dry cured (salted and hung) ham, as well as a blackstrap molasses country ham. this excites me. it's practically naughty.

i also prepared a sirloin tip roast for roast beef with yorkshire pudding, which we'll have monday or tuesday. i seasoned the roast with salt and pepper, and rubbed it with olive oil, garlic, rosemary, and thyme. it smelled heavenly. i am planning rocky road bars for dessert, because only chocolate and red wine can follow beef like that.

bryan is working on a potato and leek soup for consumption and freezing sometime this week.

and we're not even eating any of that today.

tonight we're having chicken fried steak and celery root and squash gratin with walnut-thyme streusel, a dish which sounds fancy and time consuming, but is a breeze to make.

enjoy!

robot corn

2009-10-21T13:55:00.003-05:00

Greenpeace protests genetically modified corn in Mexico

"Mexico saw the first public protests this weekend over the government's decision to allow cultivation of the first genetically modified corn, which environmentalists and others say could ruin the nation's native crop."

i'll admit, i am at once thrilled, jealous, perplexed, amused, and saddened by this article.

i am thrilled that someone, somewhere cares to this extent, even if it's not here in the u.s. and i'm jealous for the same reason. i desperately wish we had this level of education, passion, and involvement regarding these issues here in our country.

i'm perplexed, amused, and saddened as well. the u.s. has been using genetically engineered corn for nearly 20 years. no where does this article mention this, however. and we haven't heard this kind of outcry yet here.

this is especially bad for mexico, where the majority of the diet is based on unrefined corn (we beat them in the consumption of refined corn products, however, but that's an entirely different debate), and where there are, essentially, heirloom varieties of corn that have been around for centuries, if not longer. replacing these varieties with genetically engineered ones impact not only the environment and the health of mexico's people, but also erases an important part of their culture.

read more:
http://www.organicconsumers.org/corn/index.cfm
http://www.gmfoodnews.com/gmwrong.html
http://www.csa.com/discoveryguides/gmfood/overview.php

eat food. not too much. mostly plants.

2009-10-03T20:58:00.002-05:00

thursday before last, i traveled to madison to see michael pollan speak. he was giving a lecture as part of uw-madison's go big read program, for which they are doing in defense of food this year.

i've read that book, and others of his, and of course the topic is a passionate one for me, so i was really excited to see him speak. i thought his lecture was very good, and his response during the q&a very thoughtful.

there were others there, though, who are not as enamored with pollan as i am. there was some controversy, and even some protesters there (very peaceful though). the protesters were farmers, and were speaking to people about how their animals/crops are raised, and even invited people to come see their farms.

the point i think they miss is not that pollan believes all farmers are irresponsible, but that the great number of them supplying the main food supply are. and he is not against these farmers - he is for them. he wants them to sell directly to the consumers, thus earning 100% of their profits (as opposed to the 10% they get now).

and i think the invitation to visit the farms is hollow proof - corn raised with fertilizer and pesticides, and cows raised with antibiotics, hormones, and indigestible corn don't look sickly, or evil. they look like corn, and cows. but that doesn't mean they're good for us, or the earth.

overall, i was very pleased i had the opportunity to hear him speak, and i hope the 7000 other people there were as well. i strongly recommend picking up one of his books and learning more.

down on the farm

2009-09-19T13:57:00.013-05:00

today was the day: we drove out to solar harvest farm and picked up our whole pig and half cow.

after overshooting our destination some (what is it with wisconsin and not properly marking street names?!), we made it. we parked in a field near the house and barn, and the first thing we saw were the chickens grazing in the pasture. oh, the joy and happiness of things done right. bryan went to check in and pay and get things figured out while oliver and i waded through the grass to check out the chickens.

of course, he wanted to pet them, but being the nervous city girl i am (not to mention mean mommy), i wouldn't let him. we watched them peck happily for a bit, then made our way back across the pasture to see how daddy was doing. i noticed there were pigs penned by the barn, so we asked if we could look at them, and the farmers told us "of course!"

as we were approaching the barn, 5 tiny, tiny kittens came running up! the look of sheer joy on oliver's face was priceless. one ran right up to him and without a moment's hesitation, he scooped it up in his arms! absolutely precious. except he was holding it upside down. though the cat didn't seem to mind, i asked him to put it down, thinking, of course, that he would set it on the ground. silly me. he opened his arms and let it fall - but the cat proved the old adage to be true, and landed gracefully on it's feet.

oliver was telling me he wanted to touch the pigs, though when we got close enough, i think he was a little too scared (they were rather large). he did enjoy standing about 18 inches from their pen and just gazing at them in awe, though the kittens were far more entertaining. oliver had fun chasing the kittens around and petting them nicely until bryan came to round us up.

the jeep was neatly packed with meat (and bones, fat, and organs). i was surprised at how compact it all was - though it was neatly packed into boxes, so that made sense. we jetted home, all the while discussing our freezer organization ideas.

once home, bryan unloaded the truck, and began loading up the freezers while i took an inventory. at the end, bryan remarked how it seemed like we got more pig than cow, which was odd, considering there should have been about 60 more pounds cow than pig. we had 3 boxes of pork and 2 of cow. then we realized we were missing cow parts we had been expecting: cheeks, sweet breads, liver, heart, tongue, oxtail, rib steaks, sirloin tip, cube steaks, and tenderloin. the cut sheet had also marked that there should be been 3 boxes. i went to call the farm, and they had already left me a message, having realized the mistake. they have promised to deliver the missing box, which is great! good thing we have roughly a BILLION pounds of meat to get us through until it arrives.

more pictures in the gallery.

tonight, in honor of the delicious livestock, we'll be having steak au poivre. i'm not 100% sure what we'll be serving with it; i can't seem to think past the delicious, freshly cut steaks.

tomorrow's plan was tongue tacos, but as the tongue is in the missing box, i'm not confident that will happen. perhaps we'll have one of the 24 or so pork steaks we have.

i'm really quite interested to sort through the bags of pork fat to find the caul fat, which i'll be using to wrap around our american bronze heritage turkey for thanksgiving this year. me thinks with that kind of application on that fine a turkey, and the bird will need little else. i plan on keeping the rest of the menu rather simplistic as well: diana kennedy's corn budin (a fixure on our thanksgivings, no matter what), a traditional stuffing (more than likely with sausage i will make using the new pork), green beans (with garlic?), baked sweet potatoes, my apple & fennel pie (using an antique variety of apple from weston's apples). maybe some tart cranberry bread (and seeing that cranberries are native to wisconsin, i wonder if i can find some nice local ones??). mom's yeast rolls, of course. maybe shannon will do her gluten free pecan pie again. i do owe bryan homemade ice cream, so i'll do my vanilla bean ice cream to go with dessert.

dinner's at 6.

featured recipe: dirty rice

2009-08-27T08:10:00.009-05:00

so this is new: the featured recipe. this will allow me to go into a little more detail on a meal, without overwhelming you, dear reader, with the many details of all our fabulous meals. in the future, i'd like to include multiple pictures of the meal prep, but for this one, you are lucky to be left with only the finished product. bet you didn't know i could make a short post?

why do this now? bryan and i saw julie & julia last week (cute movie!), and i've found myself reading the original julie/julia blog. besides making me want to eat things in butter and cream and wondering if i've been using far too little vermouth all my life, it's made me want to cook from our cookbooks more, and share it. no one may care, but i'll have fun.

i haven't quite decided on the rules of engagement yet. i'm not sure how often a featured recipe will appear here. but i do know that i am going to strive to only cook from our massive collection of cookbooks. oh, and while i'm at it, i suppose i should give a little review/note on the book itself. we've made quite an investment in them, and i usually find myself using recipes online. not that that's a bad thing - there are plenty good ones out there - and i'm sure i'll use some occasionally, when i come across one too good to pass up. oh, and i'll probably allow recipes from our magazine subscriptions (saveur and martha stewart living). but i'm going to try really hard to actually use all those books. there is something very satisfying to me about poring through the pages of a pile of cookbooks.

today's featured recipe is dirty rice, a cajun delight whose name derives from the dirty look the chicken livers give the rice (shannon, you did know you were eating chicken liver, right??).

the recipe i decided to use is one from marvin wood's cookbook The New Low-Country Cooking: 125 Recipes for Coastal Southern Cooking with Innovative Style, of which we own an autographed copy (he gave a cooking demonstration at a festival in decatur one year). the recipe itself is very simple, and i made a few liberal changes, namely including andouille and shrimp.

we've found this cookbook to be rather basic. which isn't all bad - if you've never cooked cajun before or don't plan to a lot, this is a great book for you. it is a little simple for us, but, as evidenced below, gives us a good base to build on. we'd like to pick up a more thorough, involved cajun cookbook at some point, so this isn't our end all, be all, but it doesn't suck either.

the andouille is where the recipe started. while shopping at the outpost, we asked our super awesome butcher (i think i'm going to get him a christmas gift, is that weird?) what was fresh and good. he offered up the andouille he had just made. oh hello, dirty rice with andouille.

below is the recipe from the cookbook, annotated with my changes in italics.

Dirty Rice

2 1/2 cups water
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups long-grain white rice - i used medium grain, as that's what we had
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup finely chopped red onion - i used yellow onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups chicken or turkey livers - i used closer to 1 cup, finely chopped
1 tablespoon Marv Spice (see below)
2 1/4 cups Chicken Stock
1 bay leaf
2 small green bell peppers, chopped (the original recipe didn't call for bell peppers - but i'm smart and know this is part of the cajun trinity so made a trip out to our garden to 'fix' the recipe)
2 andouille sausage, diced
1/2 pound shrimp, cleaned and deveined
4 tablespoons butter
4 - 5 cloves garlic, crushed

Marv Spice
1 tablespoon ground nutmeg
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper - i omitted this in order to make it toddler friendly
1 tablespoon celery salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
i also added some crushed dried thyme

In a large saucepan, combine the water, salt, and rice and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer until the rice is tender, 10 - 12 minutes. Drain and rinse under hot running water to remove the excess starch. Place the rice back in the pan, off the heat, and cover to keep warm.

here, i deviated from the recipe by cooking the sausage in a large saute pan. i removed the sausage, leaving the rendered fat in the pan, and added a small amount of vegetable oil before proceeding.

Heat oil in a large heavy-bottom skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and bell pepper and cook, stirring continuously, until softened but not colored, about 5 minutes. Add the chicken livers and Marv Spice, and cook, stirring frequently, until the livers turn brown, about 8 minutes.

Pour the stock over the rice, set the pan over medium heat, and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and stir in the chicken liver mixture and bay leaf. here, i returned the sausage to the pan as well. Cook over low heat, stirring continuously, until the rice is soft and tender, 10 to 15 minutes.

for the shrimp, i slow melted butter in a sauce pan, and added 4 or 5 crushed garlic cloves, and just let that sit over very low heat until i was ready to use it (30 minutes or so). the result was an intensely garlicky butter that i very nearly just sopped up with bread and ate right then. instead, selfless as i am, i turned up the heat a little and popped in the shrimps, turning once, until just done, and served them on top of the rice.

the finished product?

it was quite good. i should have served it with a little louisiana hot sauce, though the anouille had a little spice to it. the shrimp had sucked in that garlic flavor, and were good enough shannon had one and didn't hate it, and she hates shrimp. the rice could have been a little less sticky (i think this was mostly due to using medium grain instead of long grain rice), but tasted very good.

i hope it would have made my new orleans friend mandy proud!

you asked for it

2009-08-26T19:45:00.021-05:00

so, i do have to finally do this post, which i have been dreading, due to the sheer volume of STUFF to write about. no one to blame but myself, though.

we've had a very busy summer, as usual. it has been going well, albeit cold. once again, wisconsin missed the memo about the change in weather, so we haven't had a lot of summery days. lots of gorgeous autumn days, but not much summer heat. which, surprisingly, has been very disappointing to me. i generally am not a lover of the heat, but i guess my 8 or so years in atlanta tempered me some. and, really, the summer is all of 2 1/2 months here, then after a brief and usually perfectly gorgeous fall, it's back to 7 straight months of cold. so i can handle a month or so of heat. the sad part is, part of me is still really, really excited for fall. i LOVE fall - the gorgeous weather, the turning of the trees, the smell of the air. and, while i'm not sick of fresh vegetables, i am also looking forward to the change of pace in cooking - braised dishes, stewed meats, squashes and red wines and ciders. and i hate that, because we hardly had a summer - but i just love fall so much.

we've had father's day, hannah's visit, the 4th of july, family and friends visiting, bryan's birthday, a family reunion, and, of course, running all over town to see the sights. so let's just dive in, shall we?

betty brinn children's museum
we became members of the betty brinn children's museum, an absolute wonderland of music, science, and imagination. oliver loves it there. they have tons of hands on activities for kids of all ages. it's a great place to bring oliver and let him expend some energy and exercise his mind. it's right down on the lakefront, and i keep wanting to stay downtown for awhile to walk along the lake, but it just doesn't seem to work out with our schedule. i guess that's what happens when you're a total nazi about naps.

hannah's visit

hannah arrived at the end of june, and stayed through the end of july. we had a blast, as usual, and though we tried to take it relatively easy, it was still a very tiring month. some highlights:

oliver appropriated hannah's gameboy the moment she arrived. it ended up being quite useful, though now we're not sure where it is. (6/26/09)

my dad built a playset in his backyard, complete with climbing wall, tire swing, and bumpy slide. hannah and oliver had a blast playing there every time we went! (6/27/09)

greek fest (6/28/09)
greek fest is held at the state fair park by our house. it's always been one of our favorites, and the weather was beautiful, so we headed out.
the spit roasted chickens were a sight to behold, but between the food lines and the $$$, we decided in the end to skip eating there.
instead, we hit up the rides. bryan and hannah braved the zipper, which seems to be bryan's favorite ride, and hannah's worst nightmare - but every time we're at a festival, she rides it with him. will the girl ever learn? oliver was desperate to join them. being the mean mommy that i am, i would not let him, and so he cried. he actually kept pointing to all the rides and saying "THAT!" but i didn't let him go on any of the big kid ones, much to his (loud) disatisfaction.
after bryan and hannah survived flying and flipping through the air on that contraption, hannah talked me into riding some flying ride with her. it wasn't scary, and could even be considered fun, but being strapped into a mock hang glider was not exactly comfortable.
oliver finally got his turn, and i took him on the kiddie train, which apparently was exciting enough that he forgot all about the other rides. he does love trains, so i guess that's why. he was pretty upset when the train stopped, though (gosh, i just love being that mother with the full on yelling/crying child!). i guess we owe him a train ride at the zoo.

after the rides, we decided to get the heck outta dodge. hannah would have been content to ride rides all day, but unless she was paying, the fun was over.

fourth of july parade (7/2/09)
i presume west allis has problems getting people to come to their 4th of july parade on a weekend, so instead they have it on a thursday evening. bryan was out with his friend dirk, so hannah, oliver, and i were on our own.
holy cow, we had a good time.
to start, the weather was fantastic. a perfect evening - not too warm, not too cool. we were able to park close to the block the parade was on, so didn't have far to walk. we sat in front of city hall, so hannah and oliver ran around while we waited for the parade to begin. and oliver only fell once.
before the parade started, there were lots of interesting characters walking around.

one group (i don't even recall who; i think maybe a church?) was walking around giving out free ice pops. i don't usually allow oliver to have sweets, but since it was a special occasion and i wanted him to sit nicely in his stroller for a bit, i let him have one. oh boy, that was one happy kid. "popsicle" is now a permanent part of his lexicon (though, at home, i make homemade popsicles with just blended fruit - so he only thinks he's getting a treat, when in reality he's getting a serving of fruit! score 1 for mom!).
one of the first things in the parade was a firetruck, which delighted oliver beyond words. the kid loves trucks! i thought perhaps the siren and horn would be too loud for him, but he didn't have any problem with it (nor with any other loud noise, including a pack of harley davidsons).
oliver also loved the marching bands - he was dancing to every single one of them, having hannah and i in stitches watching him.
hannah managed to amass a good collection of candy from the floats, and we worked hard to keep it hidden from oliver (though i did let him have a sucker, i'm such a softie!).
we had *such* a great time - i couldn't have asked for better weather, or better behaved kids. and we were even home in time for bedtime.

fourth of july
then there was the actual 4th of july! the weather turned out to be kind of horrible - not quite 80 degrees, and overcast most of the day. JULY, WISCONSIN, IT WAS JULY. my aunt and uncle had a pool party. they cranked the heat up on the pool to about 89 degrees, so we were actually able to swim a little bit.
hannah is a fish, so of course loved it, and oliver did as well, though it took him a minute to get comfortable in the water and feel safe. then he proceeded to run up
the ladder and launch himself off the deck to jump into the water, always with me waiting to catch him (though, a few times, it was close, as he was so excited he'd run right from the top of the ladder over the edge of the pool and there was barely enough time for me to get from the ladder to the side of the pool!).

the zoo (7/5/09)
of course, we dragged hannah and oliver to the zoo. actually, it's more like we went, and dragged oliver out of the zoo - he really loves the zoo. we let him pet the goats for the first time, and after the initial shock of being so close to the animals wore off, he was chasing them all around, just like the dogs at home.
we also ran around the playgrounds for awhile, something i think hannah is finding less enjoyable the older she gets (stop growing up, hannah).

camping (7/10/09 - 7/11/09)
we had unanimously decided that our family summer vacation this year would be camping. i was feeling nostalgic for the camping trips of my childhood. bryan used to camp often, as well. and hannah had never been camping, so was completely excited to go. oliver had no say, but i figured a weekend in the woods with dirt and bugs? score! mom and dad sold their camper, and gave us a bunch of their gear, and we borrowed some more. we bought a tent, sleeping bags, and a few other essentials. i settled on a campground at richard bong recreation area, as it had wooded sites, kids' activities (including a nature center, guided nature hikes, playgrounds, and the like), swimming, AND flush toilets and showers. our plans had us driving out on a friday after oliver's nap, and returning sunday morning before naptime. with the car packed to the gills, we picked oliver up from day care and hit the road. we made it there just fine, and before we even got out of the car, the death squad of mosquitoes attached us. lesson # 1: pack the bug spray within easy reach. in fact, don't pack it at all - have it in the car console, ready for action. hannah and
bryan got the tent set up, while oliver helped me unpack the car, and i chased him around. he had a blast. it took him a few hours, but he finally figured out we were outside to stay, and there was no need to rush around like a madman, and that he could touch all the trees he wanted without having to ask. he then happily played in the dirt with one of his trucks and some rocks.
hannah posted a lovely sign she made at the entrance to our campsite.
sadly, the mosquitoes were ungodly - even coated in bug spray, they were trying to attack us. trying to sweep them away with your hand earned you a handful of bugs. ew. oliver and i used an organic, deet free bug spray, while hannah and bryan opted for the strong stuff (deep woods off). the bugs didn't seem to be bothering oliver too badly, but maybe that was because they were all on me. the campfire helped a little, but not much.

luckily, oliver went to sleep without as much of a fuss as i was expecting. after he fell asleep, hannah, bryan, and i relaxed around the fire (much to hannah's disappointment, that's all you do at camp at night!). we had a small scare with a rather courageous racoon, but after locking up the trash and flashing lights in his eyes multiple times, he went away.

shortly after we went to bed, oliver woke up and was more than a little freaked out - i think he had no idea where he was. after some time, a few songs, and a cup of milk, he managed to calm down - but then wasn't all that tired. and he was convinced there was a monkey outside of our tent. i spent about 20 minutes convincing there there was NO monkey outside the tent. then he happily conked out between bryan and i (coincidentally taking up most of my mat).

not too long after that, a major thunderstorm moved through. oliver managed to sleep through that, but it scared hannah pretty good. being outside during a thunderstorm can be pretty crazy - the wind and rain shaking the tent, the thunder and lightening RIGHT THERE. that finally ended, and i was finally able to get a few hours of sleep before oliver woke up.

of course, due to the rain, our campsite was a right mud pit the next morning, and the mosquitoes multiplied 10 fold. oliver and i stepped outside of the tent to begin on breakfast, and quickly changed our minds. bryan and i briefly debated sticking it out, and leaving camp until, hopefully, things dried out and the mosquitoes died down, but decided it wasn't worth it, at least not with an un-deet-able toddler in tow, and our only other options being finding the lake (mosquitoes), the playground by the lake (mosquitoes), or hiking (more mosquitoes). we did our best to pack up camp as quickly as possible, attempting to placate oliver with a pop tart and promises of fun at home, and tore the heck outta there.

we made it one night, so that was something, at least. bryan and i may attempt another night yet this year. i'd like to get oliver broken in to the idea of camping.

i think hannah was most disappointed that we didn't get to go hiking or have pudgy pies for dinner, so on sunday we went out to minooka park to hike (where i still feel like i could run a 5k with my eyes shut), and cooked pudgy pies for dinner at mom and dads.

camping trip COMPLETE.

the park
of course we spent lots of time playing at the park while hannah was here. have i mentioned how much i love having a park around the corner?

the big bike ride (7/14/09)

cat & the kids come to visit (7/15/09 - 7/18/09)
our friend cat from atlanta, and her two kids, tyler and madison, came to visit us for a few days. we hadn't seen them since our spring trip to atlanta last year, so we were very excited to finally see them again! sadly, the weather sucked (coldest july on record), but we managed to have fun anyways.

hannah and madison made us
breakfast - bacon, eggs, and toast. this put them into a cooking mood, and they made us some really awesome homemade soft pretzels to snack on as well.

they were so good, hannah had to make more a few days later.

we took them to the betty brinn children's museum, where even the mature kids (hannah and madison, in case you didn't know), had fun.

we also took them to the zoo, cold weather be damned.

hannah and oliver were NOT impressed with the smell in the bird house. oliver did want to run around and chase the birds, though.

cat and i took the kids (minus oliver) to sprecher brewery for their tour. sprecher makes both beer and soda, including hannah's most favorite root beer of all time, so she was pretty excited about the tour. tyler took an immediate liking to our tour guide (i think he was mostly happy about the male companionship, after being trapped in our house with lots of girls for a few days). the tour was fun, and the tasting was even more fun.

hannah sitting atop a pallet of root beer.

the "cold room" was no joke.

cute girls drinking beer!

the bartenders told our little soda tasters that some kids like to mix all the sodas together at once. you can imagine how that turned out.

we of course hit up the domes. although this place is oh so old and hasn't been updated much since it was built (except for the lobby, which has had quite a makeover; sadly the fountain is gone), everyone loved it. and oliver even got to run around willy nilly without a stroller, which is one of his favorite things to do.

hannah took some really cool, artsy photos while we were there. this one is my favorite.

and with that, their visit was over. they headed up to the dells, waterpark capital of the world, where sadly it was too cold to actually swim. we had a great time with them, and can't wait to see them again!

the boys get mohawks (7/19/09)
bryan had been after me to let him and oliver get matching mohawks, so finally we went to have it done. we settled on faux hawks, since there was no way i was taking oliver in weekly to have his head shaved. when his stylist was finishing up, and putting junk in his hair to make it stand up, he got the HUGEST grin - he loves the hawk!

bryan's 40th birthday!
(zomg, he's old, i know, right?!)
bryan's dad flew in to spend bryan's birthday weekend with us, and hannah and i planned a birthday luau. since there were various other extended family activities that weekend, we decided to have his party on a friday. fridays being days i generally work. i woke up that morning, and thought to myself, "self, what the HECK were you thinking?!" i did go into work, which i immediately regretted. i left early, swung home to pick up hannah, and away we went to find luau party supplies. first we hit up the dollar store and - score! - got a bunch of stuff for $12. we were very impressed with ourselves. we headed over to factory card outlet, and spend $45 on more stuff. we were a lot less impressed with ourselves at this point. a quick run through the grocery store for soda and beer, and it was back home to decorate. meanwhile, the poor birthday boy was slaving over dinner: guava glazed ribs, a jicama slaw, and corn on the cob. i made cornbread, and mom brought fruit salad. hannah made a pineapple cake with cream cheese frosting, which was supposed to be a carrot pineapple cake with pineapple orange cream cheese frosting, but neither she nor bryan looked at my email, and thus plans changed. but pineapple still went with the theme, of course, and the cake was good, so all was forgiven.

among the supplies purchased by hannah and i were party poppers - those thingys that make noise and shoot ribbons of paper around. the kids had a blast playing with those! oliver desperately wanted to do one on his own, but alas, did not have the strength. he had to settle with pretending.

madison farmer's market
hannah, bryan, and bill made a trip out to the madison farmer's market on capitol square. oliver and i stayed home, because i'm not crazy. i love the market, but trying to keep a near two year old who wants nothing more than to run and explore happy in his stroller instead while trying to navigate a sea of people AND enjoy looking at the booths is not exactly high on my list. but the trip afforded hannah a chance to see the capitol, which she found rather impressive. and they brought me delicious veggies.

instead, oliver and i hit up toys r us, as i decided he needed some new toys. he's a growing boy, after all. he was fairly overwhelmed with joy that i would let him run around the store. he was actually very well behaved - presumably because no matter where i told him to go, there were toys.

the final days
the last few days of hannah's visit, we mainly stayed close to home. shannon and david were in town, so we met out for a sunday breakfast at the original pancake house. my spinach crepes left plenty to be desired, but the dutch babies were SPOT ON.

we made one final family outing to the park, and aside from a bumped flight (for bill), our july came to a breathless close.

state fair

hannah missed the state fair by a mere day, but bryan, oliver, and i attended and had a blast! due to very poor set up at the ticket counters, it took some doing to get in, but once we were in, our little wide eyed munchkin was swinging his head from side to side as fast as he could, trying to take it all in.

our first item on the agenda was finding food. bryan had been talking about corn dogs for days, so we got one for him and another for oliver. then we stopped at the lion's club for my favorite - roasted corn. i almost didn't get oliver his own, but man am i glad he did - he gobbled it right up!! everyone thought he was just the cutest thing in the world eating that ear of corn (and who would we be to argue?).

next on the list were the cows, one of oliver's very favorite animals. rows upon rows of cows, much to oliver's delight.

oliver also had the opportunity to pet a rabbit, and pet and feed a horse. i thought he'd just about die from pure happiness.

he also got to see ducks, geese, pigs, sheep, a crocodile, a snake, and a robot up close - but he didn't get to pet any of them. it was a lot of fun, and i can't wait to take oliver again next year. then again, i'll probably need to take out a small loan to feed him - he ate: 1 whole corn dog, 1 whole ear of corn, some beef jerky, a fruit snack... and then when we got home, he was also eating MY pasta dinner. apparently we brought a little piggie home with us.

cream city music fest
the first annual cream city music festival was this month. i had really wanted to catch sam roberts band, but alas we did not. still, we had fun. the fest was downtown in the 3rd ward at a little park. oliver had a blast running all over the place and flirting with everyone. we only caught one band before bryan and i were tired out from chasing oliver around, but it was a nice afternoon distraction.

date night
yes, bryan and i went on an actual date. point brewery hosts fish fry & a flick downtown on the waterfront at discovery world. we headed down, got our fish fry from paul bartolotta's catering, and found a perfect (if uncomfortable) spot on the wooden bleacher type area, to watch pulp fiction. it was a late night (the movie didn't even start until almost 9pm and let's face it - that's my bedtime), but man, it was fun! absolutely the kind of thing we love to do. the food, sadly, left something to be desired. but, now we know to bring a picnic next time. we plan on returning for night of the living dead - IN 3-D.

the zoo train experience
weekend before last (see, i'm almost caught up!), we took oliver to the zoo and hit up the zoo train. he hasn't been on the train in quite some time, and loves trains, so this was tantamount to mecca for him. he would get all excited, and settle himself into the "ready" position - hands in lap and all. then, about 2 seconds later, unable to contain his excitement, he'd start flapping his hands, looking out the window, and telling us all about the train. every time they would blow the whistle or the steam, he would freak out. it was just about the cutest thing we've ever seen.

hot weather, hallelujah!
the weather FINALLY got hot for a bit this month. we swam in the pool in the backyard some, and hit up the wading pool over at the park too, which oliver LOVES. he was a little unsure of the water the first time, but in shortly he was running straight into the "deep" end (which comes about up to his waist), laying and "swimming", jumping off the ledge into the water, and even dipping his face some. talk about cheap entertainment!

we also set up the sprinkler in the yard one evening, and hilarity ensued. once he got over the wetness in the face, he was running, jumping, and drinking.

holy crap, i *think* that's all we did.

a special shout out to carrie - thanks for the roller skates! oliver loves them, just as you predicted. the kid wouldn't take them off his feet. (i have since gotten them off, and they are now hidden.) i am sure they will bring much fun in the years to come! hilarious video of oliver in skates: HERE (warning - may not play in i.e.).

and, of course, there's my cute children

like father, like son (6/7/09)

eating green strawberries off my plant (6/7/09)

um, why can't i play with the hose, mom? (6/7/09)

reading bedtime stories (6/20/09)

superstah! (6/28/09)

laugh all you want, but this is probably the best picture i have of oliver and hannah together from this summer. he's actually sitting relatively still. all the others are hannah smiling beautifully while oliver attempts to escape her death grip. i still have no idea what he saw to be making a face like that. (6/30/09)

oliver *loves* corn (7/3/09)

watermelon/strawberry popsicles as a pre-walk snack (7/3/09)

oliver enjoying pancakes with strawberry sauce for breakfast (and wishing i'd get out of the way of the darn t.v.!) (7/5/09)

oliver thoroughly enjoys bbq (7/10/09)

biker boy (7/11/09)

chapless cowboy (7/17/09)

a new meaning to ride 'em cowboy! (7/18/09)

enjoying some peanut butter (7/25/09)

happiness is... a homemade pretzel, a helium balloon, and sitting on the couch with dad (7/25/09)

i swear i won't fall, ma (7/25/09)

look what i did! (8/1/09)

helping mama make doughnuts (8/2/09)

bond, james bond (8/2/09)

blowing wishies at the park with mom (8/2/09)

rockin' out with grandpa and nana! (8/2/09)

right click on 'my computer' . . . (8/20/09)

playing hide & seek (8/20/09)

protection from the alien mind meld (8/21/09)

do i leave you wanting more? (i'm sure you're asking me to please stop posting at this point.) lots more pictures be be found in the june, july, and august galleries. there's also the video gallery. be sure to check out this one of oliver giving his monkey a piggy back ride!