Sick Day

Well I stayed home today as I was under the weather. When I wasn't prone in bed sleeping or just laying there being sick I spent my time in the living room with the wife and son. Man does that boy have energy. He literally ran and ran all day. If he wasn't chasing a balloon around the house he was playing some game where he was a dog or a cat or a power ranger. It was kind of neat to see how he and his mother spend time during the week days when sis and I are at school. I am now, really looking forward to taking parental leave. Come on baby number three.

As for dinner we had a tofu veggie casserole with a rice base. This is home food and it goes down so easy. It has a nice even blend of flavours. Not overpowering. Probably just right for people under the age of 10 whose taste buds are still intact. But hey, if you want to go for it add some hot sauce or soy sauce. It was good food for a sick boy. I am feeling better. Thanks for all your well wishes. Now I gotta go get ready for work tomorrow.

Swab the decks.

Or the back of your throat to see if its Strep Throat. So here is the dilemma. The doctor has taken the swab and will call in two days to say whether it is strep or not. In the mean time the daughter is anxious to get back to school after missing a day today. I don't know if the wife can put up with having the both of them home for another week day while I am off gallivanting at work. What to do what to do?

Oh there was a different possible title for this evenings post. It was "turkey soup for the soul" we were offered up some lovely, home made (all the way) turkey soup this evening. I guess with kids that have sore throats you aren't going to make crunchy noodle stir fry or crackers and cheese. So we had turkey soup, kids had theirs with noodles. I ate mine with rice.

I too am feeling a little something starting to act up in the sinuses. Lets hope its all in my head... or not... whoa, no way out of that mess.

Getting Sick

So among other things that happened today I think the daughter has come down with Strep Throat. I tried to get a good shot of the back of her throat but it wasn't easy. I took the image into photoshop and spent about five minutes realizing I had no idea what I was doing and started uploading the raw image.So she had trouble eating all day and ended up having yogurt for dinner. Yogurt and meatballs I should say more correctly. Mom is out at some woman function and made appetizer size meatballs to take. The piggies who stayed at home had to make do with the few that could be spared from the serving platter. Of course we also had almost homemade soup and leftover chili.
I think the almost homemade soup needs explaining. When I first started cooking I used to make a green pea soup with big chunks of vegetables. I would get two cans of Campbell's Green pea soup and then add celery and carrot chunks. It was a type of value added cooking. I didn't create anything from scratch I just enhanced something someone else made. Well I was going to go for the same thing this weekend but the wife brought home butternut squash soup in a tetra pak. I browned some carrots and onions and then tossed in some frozen peas. Once everything was hot I transferred half to the blender and added some whipping cream. This was pureed. In the pot I added the box of soup and brought to a boil. Then I added back the creamy puree and voila. Almost homemade soup. The wife and I loved it (she had some on the way out the door) but the kids were both unimpressed. The loved the meatballs and tolerated the chili. That was until the daughter's sore throat forced us to go with yogurt instead.Note her pensive face trying to decide whether to keep on eating of demand something else. Her first offer was a change to ice cream. I thought about it but that would have been giving away the farm as far as I can see. Yogurt was a good compromise.

After dinner the daughter mentioned that it has been a crappy day. I was trying to say what a fun day we had when she whipped out the list.

1. Sore throat.
2. Kicked in eye by brother.
3. Poked in the same eye by brother with kiddy tent pole.
4. Squished fingers between hockey stick and skating rink.
5. Hungry but couldn't eat dinner.

I was totally shot down. That list is irrefutable if you ask me.

Saturday Stuff

Well we got busy today. There was stuff going on all over the place. Lets start with the important stuff. The wife made bread today. She got the son in on the act as you will see.

I over course being the near genius level intellect that I am forgot to take a picture of the final product. The house was a little cold today so they didn't rise quite as well as one would have hoped. However, they do look quite nice and I plan to tuck into some tomorrow for breakfast. Which is fast approaching, where does the day go? This brings me back to my theme. A busy day.

So we were supposed to have a play day today but I got totally side tracked and never made the call. I did manage to wash the car, fill it with gas, go and pick up the new tap shoes from across the line and get some school work done so I cannot be totally faulted. The daughter made up her valentines cards today. I mean its more than a week away. As a grade one boy there is no way I would have been thinking a week out on Valentines day. I am sure I need mom assistance to even remember to bring them on the day.

Post card making, the kids and mom did the shopping and then played at the elementary school play ground. It was a beautiful sunny day so that was all good. We arrived back home around the same time and after a bit of tv watching (well video on the computer but its the same thing really) I got down to making some five can chili. Can's shown below.

Now I have read a number of blogs recently that decry the hideous addition of beans to chili. These purists use meat and sauce and everything else be damned. Well I'm sorry but my chili is all about the beans. I mean sometimes (including today) I don't even use meat. Maybe I should give in and call this multi bean, spicy, tomato stew. Not quite the same ring as chili but it'll do. I mean does anyone out there make a meat no bean chili. I have a buddy who always cringes when I mention beans but good fibre and good taste. What could be wrong with that. Check out the bowl don't it look good.See we're all on the same side here. After dinner we went to the family fun skate at the arena. Our good friends who just bought their kids skates were there as well and it was an awesome night. The son raced around with one of the sliding bar thingys but also had some quality no bar skating time as well. The daughter and I did some pairish figure skating and we both really enjoyed it. My skating has improved enough that I could be the rabbit for my daughter and a few of her friends to chase. I didn't even crash into or hurt anyone. I thought that was pretty impressive. And now I have to get back outside to lay down another layer of ice on the back yard rink. It is pretty crunchy and chopped up but with three layers added tonight it may be skateable tomorrow. I have already done the first two. I am just worried about smoothness for tomorrow.

Uninvited Guests

Yeah strange night. First I arrive home to this colourful snowman standing in my kitchen. I was like, "hey, I don't even know you what are you doing in my kitchen?" And the snowman was like, "its me dad." And I am like, "Neither I nor my wife have ever been part of any birth that involved a snow person of any size or gender or lack of gender." And the snowman said, "its me" and proceeded to rip its face off. Of course imagine my surprise when my daughter was behind the whole charade. It turns out she had made this snowman mask at school. Is this the Julliard School of Mask making. I mean come on. Its Thursday afternoon. Give a guy a break.
Next up was the wife who started off with a, "sorry this is all there is for dinner." Then she broke into some story about how she had tried this lentil, tomato dish at the family centre near here and had decided to whip some up for dinner. This on top of the homemade humus and garlic bread made from a lovely baguette (most likely whole wheat) from the local bakery where she used to work. To top this off she made some more of her impossibly delicious coleslaw. I got the low down on the slaw this evening. She uses organic cabbage, which couldn't even spell bitter. Not that cabbages are noted for their spelling chops. Actually she admitted all the veggies were from the grocery store with the nice local and interesting organic vegetables section. She also admitted to a little mayonnaise which of course bumps up the creaminess. Best bite of the night: bread slathered with humus and then piled with coleslaw. Wicked, wicked awesome. And vegetarian, meaning tomorrow will be an even better day. Something about the day after eating vegetarian. Everything just seems better. There may be something to this. Time will tell.

Weird day though. All these people telling me strange things. "I'm not a snowman" , "Sorry about dinner". A guy could get confused, Jeesh.

Meryl

I have to ask, is there any movie that Meryl Streep is in that she doesn't make. I mean I love Out of Africa, one of my all time faves. I really enjoyed the French Lieutenant's Woman. She was great in Silkwood. Okay our recent viewing of Mamma Mia left me slightly underwhelmed but she can sing. Lets face it practically everything she is in is gold (death becomes her wasn't that ba... okay lets leave that one out too).

Tonight I watched Sophie's Choice for the first time and I once again fell in love with Meryl Streep. What a brilliant movie. Now I have to find, and read, the book. As I started watching I noticed it runs 150 min. I worried that it might be a little slow but I found it riveting. Awesome characters. Great script both for dialogue and pacing. Amazing flash back pieces. Totally heart wrenching moments. And Meryl Streep. She is just so convincing an actress. The camera just loves her. I don't know how one learns to act like that but it is an amazing skill.

After going to her IMDB page I noticed that she actually hasn't been in that many movies (forgot to mention Kramer vs Kramer and Heartburn, oh that disasterous perm) but the list is just amazing.

Late Dinner

Well it was a pretty busy day. Ups and down, twists and turns and now I am here. Ready to spill.

Lets start with dinner. It doesn't work chronologically but it will keep my occupied while I organize my thoughts. I arrived late for dinner. Everyone else was reading a book in bed. The haru-maki (literal translation "spring (the season) roll") were home made and quite scrumptious. Ground beef and assorted veggies seasoned nicely. When I went into the kids room and asked if they had had rice with dinner I was given a resounding yes. Followed by, "but they ate it all." So I had left over banana curry as my side dish. The curry was even better because it had aged for a day. And the banana is really misleading. It is curry with a hint of banana. Just a hint. You cannot see the bowl of miso soup that is burbling away in the microwave while I scarfed down this plate of food. What you can see is the rest of the bottle of white wine we opened on the weekend for a guest. It was nice.
So the rest of the day was pretty hectic. I had to referee two basketball games after school and the first was sort of a nightmare. A super aggressive team that expected to win but didn't. Some coaches who wanted to question every call we made. I didn't feel on top of my game because I don't ref enough if there is even the slightest crack in a ref's confidence then, at least to me, the whole thing collapses like a house of cards and you spend the rest of the game being second guessed, and second guessing yourself, on every call. "They need refs. I am doing a good thing. It is a service to the community". Everyone needs a mantra. Really I just need to prepare a little more myself and then it all works out.

After the stressful afternoon which turned into evening, and following the awesome meal, I sat down to watch a movie with the wife. We watched a definite chick flick. The Jane Austen Book Club. I really enjoyed it. Had a great conversation afterwards about life and us. Sometimes I just over think things. But its kind of endearing. I hope.