Bath Time.

Well its bubble bath tonight so I have a quick second to get a blog off. The Mrs. made some nimono magic this evening and accompanied it with a caesar salad. Delish.

Last night we went and saw this show. It was decent but the real story is the son on the way home. He was way over tired and after the kids got to meet the magician and get his autograph and a hand shake, I pulled them away and we headed out the door for the car. It was 9:30 on a school night. When we got to the car we had a fifteen minute stand off. Apparently I had pulled the son away before he got to ask his question (note: he couldn't come up with his question when asked) There was no way he was getting in the car without going back to ask. I tried my best but no amount of bluffing or logic made any difference. He was not coming home. So finally I just went around and got in the drivers side, sat down and closed the door. I was just looking for somewhere warm to wait. However, this wasn't how the son interpreted my action. In a really pathetic and dejected voice he walked back towards the building in front of the car and said, "I would come in the car if you asked me." He thought I was leaving him behind. It nearly broke my heart. I jumped out of the seat and said of course I wanted him to come with us. I spent the better part of the ride home and a couple of minutes after getting home explaining how important he is to me. Even now I feel a bit misty just writing about it. So I guess I just chalk another black mark up against my name.

I now have an answer to the question, "Where does our children's innocence go?"

We steal it from them one day at a time.

Easy Party

Usually when we have people over for dinner we snow ourselves under with the entree. We make something that is time consuming and tricky and spend a lot of time after the guests arrive cooking. Last night we made the smart choice of having hot dogs and smokies as our main course. On the side we had a caesar salad, a bean salad, veggies and dip, nachos and guacamole. We accompanied our home made buns/mini loaves with some store bought buns and that definitely kept the younger set satisfied. We also barbecued some yam fries, onions and mushrooms to go with the smokies.The caesar salad was made from a recipe I picked up on the net and it was good. The bean salad with mint was great as usual. We had real sour cream in the veggie dip and that was tasty.

As well as a lovely meal we also had a great time with the people who came over. The kids played from 3:00 to 9:00 and were just awesome. They played outside and down stairs and for the most part we didn't even notice them as we chatted upstairs. Yes, other kids makes for a good time.

Here is the picture of me making hot dog buns last night. To my family I have to say, whoa. For the first time I see it. I do bear an uncanny resemblance to my father. To me it looks like someone has pasted his face onto my body.
I must be getting old.

Play then Eat

Well that was the brilliant plan that our dinner guests brought with them this evening. Usually when they come over they arrive for dinner and then the kids have plan time afterwards and everyone is pooped or full and then it gets late and everyone is a little whiney. However, arriving two hours before dinner the kids had a great play day, dinner was made at a leisurely pace and then we ate and everyone went home. Perfect.

Now I did a horrible job of managing the camera this evening and there wouldn't be a single photo were it not for the guests intervening as I was about to dig in to the last pizza. It was kind of a potluck and the guests brought, wings, chips, and a wicked awesome zuchinni chocolate cake. Of course I have pictures of none of these. We added in some pizza and a ceasar salad. It was passable pizza but it definitely wasn't inspired. I don't think I was focussed enough. I was having too much fun hanging out pre dinner to really get in the zone. Everyone else gave the impression of being satisfied so I will have to take them at their word. But I know I can do better.

I did manage to get a post feast picture of the kitchen before I did the dishes. This is of course the state that the kitchen is still in as I write this post. Procrastination is one of the major driving forces behind this blog. Just in case you didn't know.

Oh yeah, we also made bread today. This is the dough after the first rising. Apparently you need to spray it with water if it gets dried out in the rising process. I would never have known. The bread turned out pretty well but of course I didn't take a picture of that either. Having a good day here. We are hoping to make croissants tomorrow. Now that should be interesting. I hope we have enough butter.

Fundamentally sound.

This is how I would describe tonight's dinner. Let us start with the stew. Big chunks of carrot, japanese radish and other assorted root vegetables had a heavy influence and really pulled their weight. The chunks of beef were nicely seasoned and that added to the broth. I don't know if the wife used turkey stock or plain old water but the broth was great. Also our friend the mushroom found his way in as usual. The caesar salad rang with authenticity. I mean look at those croutons. Finished with a simple bowl of rice it was everything one could want on this first day back at the grind.

I planned to stay and work after school but it was the first day of skating lessons so I had to ride along to help out with the registration and what not. The daughter loved it and the son wept and wailed enough for me to buy him a chocolate bar out of guilt at not signing him up too. But for $120 bucks he can wait till next year when he might actually spend some time skating around the ice. The daughter swept effortlessly into her group and was really happy to be able to skate backwards. Not that the instructor told her anything I hadn't already. I think it is just the official setting and the pressure of everyone else doing it that lead to the breakthrough. That and the smoother ice.

Funnily enough, after shelling out for the lessons I got home to find a permission slip that needs to be signed. It turns out that her class at school is going to have five weeks of skating classes starting this week. So that is Monday and Thursday with organized skating. A couple of days at home on the weekend and I will be expecting a double axel by March. She better get on it.

Oh and a shout out to the reader from Texas, glad to see you coming back. Hope your enjoying it.

Dinner Out

So we had dinner at our friends house this evening but this getting ahead of things. The wife had her first day of work today. She is volunteering at the local organic bakery to learn the trade, get out of the house, and try something new. During the morning I was in charge of the kidlets and after doing the dishes we went to the school to drop of some stuff and pick up some stuff. The daughter rode her gear bike and she can really cook now. We raced at one point and with me pulling the trailer I actually gave up and she won. She still tips over sometimes on starting and stopping but seems to really like the big kid effect and we can make much more miles on the average trip. After we arrived back home it was time for lunch so we went out to the garden and harvested some tomatoes and peppers for salsa and pasta sauce.

I made two varieties of salsa, one hot one not. The key to the deliciousness of the salsa was that I strained off a lot of the tomato juice which made nice tomato juice and made the salsa thicker and scoopier. The pasta was served with a really simple, onion, garlic, oregano, tomato sauce. All from fresh. I added an avocado to the salsas and that was pretty much all I wanted for lunch. Now you might be wondering at the extraordinary output for lunch. Well we had dinner plans. Our friends had invited us over for dinner. This was a wonderful feast. I brought some sangria which I won as a door prize at a meeting I had to attend. The fruit and wine combination was perfect on a warm late summer evening. We had our first glass as we sat outside shucking the corn and make horrible puns. The corn on the cob was cooked to perfection, they even put out the whole bar of butter to properly get your cob covered. Definitely a nice touch. The chicken wings were done in a teriyaki sauce and perfectly complimented the home made Cesar salad, with freshly cooked turkey bacon bits. Accompanied by a side of white rice it was a great way to spend an evening with friends. We started the summer having dinner at their house and now we have put the summer to bed with them as well. The topper to this meal was the chocolate cheesecake topped with strawberries. My affection/affliction for cheesecake is well documented. I just love it. Now we should have a picture of dinner but I am waiting on the e-mail with that. When I get it you will see it.

It has arrived.