01.31.06

menu

Posted in Recipes at 5:43 pm by Anne

So today was a little on the massively hectic side. After the gym I went to my sister’s house to feed the dog, take a few rose cuttings (my the third time to try…more later), take out the trash, and go thru her fridge. she has 6 half-gallons of two percent milk! HELP! What can one possibly do with so much 2% milk? Ice cream? pudding? If it were whole milk I could make some very fine ricotta cheese but I am at a slight loss here. any ideas are very welcome.

Now I am preparing dinner for 9 people. Once again it was proven to me the benefits of eating lunch, especially after working out because I nearly lost it and went apeshit over my girls when Lily woke Emma up from her scant 5 minute nap. Then there was cleaning the house, scrubbing the nasty toilets, and laundry. Finally I can chill a while with my cosmo before stepping into the shower. The dinner is on a step by step plan. Chicken is in the oven. Then I’ll add the potatoes. And when I throw in the rolls, I’ll steam the spinach. Salad done. Dessert done.

Which reminds me…

MENU:
Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic

Weir shares this classic dish with tour participants to teach them about French comfort food at its simple and satisfying best. One of the basic tenets of French cuisine is making full use of ingredients–hence, whole chickens in this recipe. In a pinch, you can substitute six pounds of chicken pieces. The garlic softens in flavor as it roasts and is easy to spread over the baguette slices. Serve with steamed asparagus.

2 (3-pound) whole chickens (I used bone in chicken breasts)
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon extravirgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper (I also used some spice blend) instead40 garlic cloves, peeled
1 1/4 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1 cup vermouth
24 (1/4-inch-thick) slices diagonally cut French bread baguette
Chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley (optional)

Remove and discard giblets and neck from chickens. Rinse chickens with cold water; pat dry. Trim excess fat; remove skin. Cut each chicken into 8 pieces. Combine butter and oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle salt and pepper evenly over chicken. Add half of chicken pieces to pan; cook 2 minutes on each side or until golden. Remove chicken from pan; keep warm. Repeat procedure with remaining chicken.
Reduce heat to medium. Add garlic; cook 1 minute or until garlic begins to brown, stirring frequently. Arrange chicken on top of garlic. Add broth and wine; cover and cook 25 minutes or until chicken is done.

Remove chicken from pan; keep warm. Increase heat to medium-high; cook 10 minutes or until liquid is reduced to about 1 cup. Serve sauce and garlic with chicken and bread. Garnish with chopped parsley, if desired.

Yield: 8 servings (serving size: about 4 ounces chicken, 2 tablespoons sauce, 5 garlic cloves, and 3 bread slices)

NUTRITION PER SERVING
CALORIES 343(36% from fat); FAT 13.7g (sat 3.6g,mono 4.9g,poly 3.4g); PROTEIN 29.6g; CHOLESTEROL 111mg; CALCIUM 58mg; SODIUM 468mg; FIBER 2g; IRON 2.3mg; CARBOHYDRATE 24.2g

scalloped potatoes (I had to add in a few sweet potatoes)
steamed spinach
carrot salad
whole wheat rolls

and for dessert, my favorite ancho-chocolate creme brulee

And with everyone here in an hour, I must now leave you peeps.

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the great flood

Posted in Uncategorized at 9:04 am by Anne

Over the weekend Lily was standing on the little stool in the bathroom, diligently washing her hands when she exclaimed:

She: Mommy! What is this for?
ME: That is the drain plug. you can fill up the sink when it is down.
She: Oh wow, I love it!

Then she tossed in a number of bath toys and played for a little while before going out to the garage and helping her Dad. I puttered around with a needy Emma, trying to clean up and put whatever I could away with a 30 pound baby clinging to my neck. Eventually I worked my way over the bathroom and saw some water on the floor. WTF?

I opened the door and discovered the sink water running, albeit very lightly, the drain plugged, toys spiraling around the sink, and water all over the floor, from one side to the other, under cabinets, under baseboards. After turning the water off, I followed the pool of water out the door. It snaked down the hall into a guest room where water covered almost 75% of the floor.

It was awesome.

Then, because Emma was so fussy, I had to get Shan. He stopped whatever he was working on and spent the next hour with the shop vac, pulling up every last bit of water. the three year old had no clue and as such any kind of punishement would have been useless. So we both explained to her the problem with leaving the water running and she apologised and smiled and promptly walked into the master bathroom where she pee’d all over the floor.

It was a good day.

Now we are just waiting to see if the affected baseboard will need to be replaced.

zzzZZZZZzzzz.

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01.30.06

thinned cervix

Posted in Uncategorized at 1:45 pm by Anne

So my sister was admitted to the hospital this morning following an appt. with the neonatals. Her cervix is thinned sufficiently from the opposite end (the twin baby side) that she is now on complete bedrest. At least for the next three weeks. Then she wil be transferred to a different hospital or else let home, assuming she is stabilized by then. I am hoping she can make it to 36 weeks but who the hell knows? What a little jerk, she has been doing this kind of shit her whole life!!

It was funny. When I heard the news, my reaction was ‘oh goodness, the babies are going to be here soon! and ’she is going to be so bored at the hospital.’ While my husband’s first thought was ‘oh dammit. now we are going to have to take care of her dog, cat, and bills.’

perspective.

It’s just life after all.

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01.28.06

a litle irony

Posted in Uncategorized at 12:45 pm by Anne

Emma has had zero interest in any of the electrical outlets in this house. It’s a good thing. After the burn incident tho and in an attempt to childproof everything and thereby redeem myself, I ordered a number of latches and electrical plugs. The other day, my order of these came in and suddenly, Emma has too much interest in the outlets and their new plug covers.

nice.

Makes me kinda wonder how essential they are if they only serve to draw more attention to themselves.

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01.27.06

Bun in the Oven

Posted in Uncategorized at 10:15 pm by Anne

I am sorry but Battlestar Galactica is the only show on TV that I love. In fact I love it so incredibly much that I forgot to list it as one of my favorite shows on that meme(everyone is calling them memes even tho Cess and Wikipedia disagree but I am referring to the meme so that you know what I am talking about.) Anyway, as I was saying, the reason I didn’t count BG is because it is such an integral part of my being, like eating, like breathing, that I plum forgot to mention it.

Then, after the show, when I began feeling sadness that it was ending (at least for this week), I saw the great news! Something wonderful is happening January 31st. Oh sweet heavenly goodness, my crotchety old heart is all aflutter.

Please pay no matter to the fact that it is friday night and I am at home typing away while both girls sleep and my husband works in the office. I’m thinking about getting a little crazy and baking cookies or something. I know, I know, take it easy. Don’t burn from both ends. blahblahblah…zzzzZZZZzzzzz

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Mischief Managed

Posted in Uncategorized at 5:29 pm by Anne

Found it. The tiny dried log was laying behind my closet door. I’m just glad no one stepped in it, like my husband. That would have been a paddlin’.

not.

And look at the time! It’s half past cocktail hour! Happy Friday night….wheeeee

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We’re going on a poo hunt.

Posted in Uncategorized at 4:04 pm by Anne

Yeah, it’s bad. After bathing the two gils this afternoon, I let them wander thru the house naked for awhile…just long enough to send out an email to an old friend up in NY. Really, it didn’t take that long. Afterwards I went upstairs to dress them and discovered Emma had a pellet clinging to her bottom. It would have been impossible for her to have doodoo there in the bath itself, what with the beautiful chemistry of bubbles and water, micelles, not to mention all that scrubbing. So here I am, after patrolling the entire downstairs, fruitlessly empty-handed, as it were. I can neither see, nor smell, baby poo anywhere. It is uncanny and very very frightening.

Could the dog have eaten it?

Now I wonder if I need to take a look upstairs. Where we actually have carpet. ergh.

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the look

Posted in Uncategorized at 1:22 pm by Anne

Glad ya’ll are liking the refurbished site. Naturally Cecily made it all happen in no time because she rocks my world. Sometime today I’ll get to re-adjusting my links bar to you bloggers.

The pic that Cess put up was taken by her when I was recently pregnant with Lily. Bad glasses and bad morning hair, what’s not to love?!

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01.26.06

Motherpussbucket!!!!

Posted in Uncategorized at 4:48 pm by Anne

So I just finished a few errands, picked up my preggo sister, and was heading to the grocery store to buy chicken breast for to compile a very tasty crusted parmesan dinner, when I saw the man. Standing by his motorcycle. I slowed down. But what was the speed limit? I thought 40 mph was safe and drove past all the while checking in my rear mirror. The man got on his motorcycle and came after me. Quickly. and with blinking lights.

I guess the speedlimit was not 40.

So I hand him my drivers license and insurance.
COP: “Ma’am, do you still live at @#$#@#%#@% piece of !@$$#@ in buttfreaking egypt?”
Me: um, now, in fact we just moved.
COP: When did you move? More than a month ago? Because you have 30 days to change your license.
zzzZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzz…these particulars had never even crossed my mind two months ago when we moved. Sheezus.
COP: Did you tell the insurance company you moved?
Me: (weak and feebly) I really don’t know who was told what. To be honest, my husband always handles the stickers that go on the windshield.

Then he walked off, scribbled some things down, and handed me TWO citations.

Damnnation. At least I wasn’t speeding I guess.

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tagged

Posted in Uncategorized at 11:58 am by Anne

I just found this cool personand she tagged me. Which reminds me I HAVE to get my links thing working again. (ahem) CECILY ARE YOU OUT THERE?!! (tap tap tap) Reading your blogs through my stats tracker is a real pain in the caboose. keee-rist.

Four by Four Meme

Four jobs you�ve had in your life:

telemarketer
sandwich maker
telecom recruiter
aerobiologist

Four movies you could watch over and over:

The Princess Bride
The X-men (I don’t know why)
Dune
Any of the Harry Potters

Four places you�ve lived:

Austin, Texas
Colorado Springs, CO
Erie, PA
Pocatello, ID

Four TV shows you love to watch:

Lost
Poirot (I may be the only person in the US)
Grey’s Anatomy
M*A*S*H

Four places you�ve been on vacation:

Belize (I am counting archaeological field school as a vacation just because I never go on vacation)
Vancouver, Canada
Guatemala (that is the place for fried plantains, Kiki!)
San Francisco, CA (good times, good times)

Four websites you visit daily:

Google
Food Network
Lucianne
and all of you freaks, at least i try to.

Four of your favorite foods:

raspberries
pasta with basil marinara or alfredo w/ chicken
peach pie
fresh baked bread (i am a slave to my sourdough starter)

Four places you�d rather be:

Swimming in the ocean, or snorkeling with the fishes
Watching a movie at the theatre with Shan (it happens so infrequently)
At a bar with my good friends until the wee hours of the night, just a talkin and a laughin.
Finally alone (with a sewing instructor) and all the time to sew and make a little ribbon pouch. (It’s a long story but I have this new craft book and never any time to make anything. What gives!)

Four albums you can�t live without:

Frank Sinatra’s greatest hits
Anything by Steely Dan
Raindogs by Tom Waits
On and On by http://www.jackjohnsonmusic.com/

Four Bloggers Tagged To Play Along: I know you love me.

TJsMommy
R*Belle
JC
Sleepypie

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