Mama Friday: Week 34 - A Crusty Nose and a Blown Mind

My poor baby has a runny nose.  She firmly believes that when anyone tries to wipe her nose they are actually trying to rip her face off so we just let her sit there with a drippy, crusty nose most of the time until Mama can't stand it anymore.

She has been extremely excited about her new mobility.  This child does not sit still for more than a second and a half and it occurred to me that she's probably not going to sit still again for the next fifteen or so years.  I'm exhausted already.  Our little lumplump baby is no longer content to sit on Mama or Dada's lap for long periods of time.

She has fully mastered the So Big game, and in fact plays it by herself even when no one is looking.  It's a bit odd to turn around and see her sitting there with her arms in the air for no good reason.

Up until this point it has been easy to equate the child to a pet.  Maybe a slow moving and somewhat dull pet, but a pet nonetheless.  We'd put her down somewhere, hand her a toy, and pat her on the head.  We'd tell her, "Good girl!" when she did things we liked.  We cooed and called at her to come to us when she started crawling.  It's slowly sinking in now that very shortly she's going to start using words and signs to communicate back to us.  She's actually a little person who is going to grow up into a big person before we know it.  She's going to go to school and make friends and find a career and probably find a partner and maybe get married and maybe have a kid or two or more of her own.

THIS IS VERY OVERWHELMING.

Foodblogging: Special Occasion Veggie Shepherd's Pie

This was my first Thanksgiving where I did not eat any meat.  I ate this  shepherd's pie as a main dish -- sorta, because the sides are the real reason to be excited about Thanksgiving anyway.  My father-in-law made some crazy good sweet potatoes and I think I ate more of those than anything.

This recipe is really meant to use leftovers.  I imagine it would take forever to make from scratch start to finish in one go.  You can use whatever veggies you have in the fridge.

Special Occasion Veggie Shepherd's Pie

Veggies:
1 zucchini
2 tomatoes, seeded
1 delicata squash, seeded
2 small onions
3 Yukon Gold potatoes
1/2 lb green beans, trimmed
9 oz baby bella mushrooms
2 sweet potatoes, peeled
2 large carrots, peeled
olive oil
salt & pepper

Chop all the veggies into slightly-larger-than-bite-sized chunks.  They will shrink when roasted.  Put them all into a big bowl, drizzle with olive oil, and season with salt and pepper.  Get your hands in there and make sure the oil is coating everything.  Arrange all the veggies on as many baking sheets as it takes to get them all into a single layer (it took me two).  Roast in a 450 degree F oven for 15-20 minutes, switching the pans around and stirring after 10 minutes, until the veggies are slightly browned on the edges but not cooked through.

Potatoes:

4 medium Yukon Gold potatoes
4 medium russet potatoes
1/2 cup half & half + more if necessary
4 Tbsp butter
salt & pepper

Peel the potatoes, boil them until tender, drain them.  Mash with half & half and butter.  Season with salt and pepper.

Spinach Alfredo Sauce:

4 Tbsp butter
1/2 cup half & half
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, shredded
1 box frozen chopped spinach, defrosted and squeezed dry
1/4 tsp nutmeg
fresh ground pepper

Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat.  Whisk in the half & half and bring to a boil.  Lower heat to a simmer and whisk in the cheese a little at a time until it's all melted.  Stir in spinach and nutmeg.  Season with pepper.

Assembly:

Arrange veggies on the bottom of a dutch oven or casserole dish.  Top with Alfredo sauce until veggies are lightly sauced but not swimming.  If you have leftover sauce, mix it into the potatoes.  Top this with the mashed potatoes.  Cook in a 350 degree F oven until heated through and the potatoes are slightly browned on top.

My eye is an alien

I don't remember when it first happened this time around, but sometime this weekend I ended up with something in my eye for the second time in two weeks.  After much clawing at it, standing under the shower with my eye pried open, splashing water into it over the sink, using an eye wash cup and saline, and squirting contact lens solution under my eyelid I finally decided that whatever was in there probably wasn't in there anymore and my cornea was scratched.  My whole eye area was swollen, the eyeball itself was fire engine red, leaking like a sieve, and I could barely open it in the light.  Thus I had to wear an eye patch yesterday.  It was pretty hot, let me tell you.  Wait, no, see for yourself:

 Yeah yeah, one of these days I'll get around to plucking those eyebrows.  

Probably right after Lily's college graduation.

Today I am patch-less but not happy.  My eye is sore and feels like an alien embedded in my skull.  Being in the light is very painful.  I'm most annoyed that I can hardly read my book that I've been trying to plow through all week because of the glare coming off the white pages.  If it gets much worse I'm going to have to patch it again and at that point I will become ANGRY PIRATE.

Mama Thursday: Week 33 - Sounds, yoga, and inevitable forward motion

Lily has for the most part been a very quiet baby until this last week.  There was that (thankfully short-lived) shrieking streak she had several weeks ago, and she's always been liberal with the razzing, but now she's got all kinds of things to say like, "Uwawawawawawa."  The other night she even resumed her soft "singing" that she used to do when she was very young.

Ha!  Like she's so old now at 33 weeks.

She's quite the squirmy wormy lately too.  She doesn't just sit still and play with her toys anymore.  She's always moving, changing position, sitting up, rolling over, squirming around on her belly, kneeling by the table, and scooting backwards.  She also gets herself into the downward dog yoga position like she wants to stand up but she just ends up rolling over or landing back on her butt.  She tried to crawl forward but she could only ever get her hands and one of her knees working.  Her other leg would be stuck under her and she'd sit there and wonder why she wasn't going anywhere.

...Until today when she just up and crawled.  And not just a few crawling movements and then she's down again, she's crawling clear across the room.  And she's fast.  My MIL sent us a video to prove it.

Tonight = turbo babyproofing.

Foodie Tuesday: meal plan and Brasa Rotisserie

First off, my meal plan for this week.  It's a work in progress.  I was going to try and plan out two weeks at a time.

Next, we went to Brasa Rotisserie in Northeast last night.  No, I have not resumed eating bird and mammal.  They have a pretty decent selection of stuff for us non-omnivores.  I think the best bang for your buck thing on the menu is actually the plate of 3 sides.

I got the cheese grits, which were delightful; the creamed spinach, which was chock full of jalapeno (I added some sour cream at home to be able to eat them); the fried sweet plantains, which are amazing; and I went with the masa corn and cheese cake, which was puzzling but good.  I'm still not sure what the spicy stuff on top of it was.

Husband got the pulled pork.  He said it was good, but he was confused by the fact that when you order the meat, all you get is meat.  Just a pile of meat.  It's an a la carte menu, yes, but it's still a bit strange.  Also, it seems a bit excessive to charge $4.25 for a little cup of grits with some shredded cheese on top.

We were there with friends and the baby.  I didn't feel bad about bringing the baby because it was a Monday night and if people don't want to eat in restaurants with kids they can just wait until the weekend, damnit.  Brasa is actually surprisingly kid-friendly, as evidenced by the big stack of high chairs.  It was a little interesting wedging the high chair in the tiny open space by our table.  The place is tiny.  Not Colossal Cafe tiny, but it's tight in there.  The staff was almost supernaturally nice.  All in all I would go back but maybe do everything family style.

All I'm saying is that I'm not a robot

• Everyone's got someone at work who's "Entitlement Guy."  Entitlement Guy might even be a woman.  Oh Entitlement Guy, if only you would realize that IT and office services people are human beings just like yourself.  Entitlement Guy, did your parents never teach you the value of "please" and "thank you?"  Have you never heard of the Golden Rule?  Entitlement Guy, if only you knew of the things we do behind the scenes to get back at you.
  

• I am working on a real and proper Mama Thursday post.
  

• I will also be sharing this week's meal plan tomorrow for Foodie Tuesday and will have a review of Brasa Rotisserie.
  

• It's official, I'm a Crackberry addict.  I left it plugged in to synch this morning and almost broke out into a cold sweat when I got into the bathroom without it.  You mean I'm just supposed to STARE AT THE WALLS while I pee?
  

• Let me just say that getting your groceries delivered to your door is just about the greatest thing ever.  I'll happily fork over the $5 delivery fee so I don't have to deal with people's fat, dumb asses at the grocery store.  And those people who bring the entire extended family with them to Cub Foods.  And the stores that have their employees stocking shelves from giant pallets in the MIDDLE OF THE AISLE during the busiest times of day.  Seriously, you're open 24 hours.  Do that shit at 3 AM.  Between that, the family reunion, and Wendy Wideass and her boyfriend, Bill Buttflopski, it's enough to cause social anxiety in the most outgoing of extroverts.
  

• But to the Coborn's Delivers driver who inexplicably dumped two ice packs on my patio yesterday, WTF?
  

• Bonus: the best part of the grocery delivery is the dry ice.  Wheee!

Foodie Tuesday on Wednesday: Meal Plan Cop Out (and some bonus juvenile marital banter)

I have actually been cooking.  Here's the meal plan I'm still working on.

• Spaghetti, salad 
• Borscht, pierogies
• Fish Tacos, rice with cilantro and lime
• Szechwan Tofu Triangles in Triple Pepper Sauce
  
• Chili, cornbread
• Fried rice, eggrolls
• Pizza

The highlight has definitely been the borscht.  But wow, does it ever make a ton.  I had to give away a bunch of it and there's still some in the fridge that needs to get thrown.  I made the chili last night and it also made a ton -- it filled my 3-qt pot right up to the top.  It's a good base recipe but definitely needs more spice.  I would add a chopped jalapeno next time.  I like the bulgur but Husband complained about the lack of meat.  Um, hi, remember me?  Your wife?  The one who doesn't eat bird or mammal? 

He thought it needed more fat so I put some olive oil in his lunch container of chili leftovers.  "There's your mouthfeel," I said. 

"I'll give you mouthfeel," he replied.   It only got sillier from there.

I'm not sure what's going on the pizza yet.  It might be Choose Your Own Pizza Adventure Pizza.

I've only got one thing to say today

MINIMUM WAAAGE... HYAH!

(Saw TMBG last night.  Very tired.)