Not one to be discouraged by not-so-great cooking results,  our Mimi once again headed to the kitchen to prepare a feast for her family.  She chose a complicated looking recipe from the food network (it was labeled “easy” but obviously that was a typo) and got to work.

On a day that our vegan girl KT wouldn’t be home for dinner, Mimi created a shopping list and off we went to get the few ingredients that we didn’t already have.  (Amazingly, this shopping excursion resulted in  an herb garden…but that’s a story for another day!).   Armed with all of her supplies, Mimi insisted that I leave her alone to create her own personal magic. 

Letting Mimi do her thing all by herself was a bit nerve wracking for me.  Especially when I’d hear a huge gasp, mutterings or worse yet, crash.  Oh, and we won’t even mention how many times the smoke alarm went off.  Yet, every time I offered my assistance, she informed me that everything was under control and that I was not to peek.  

It seemed that Mimi had barely started her meal preparation when she called us to the beautifully set table. 

Her pride and joy was the perfectly seasoned tenderloin steak topped with fresh basil, sage and parsley (from her garden) and gorgonzola cheese.  (She did allow me to look at the cheese and assure her that the mold was the good kind!)

Shaun declared it the best steak he had ever eaten that he hadn’t prepared himself.  (Such a modest man) Mimi and I quickly realized  at the first bite that we simply weren’t cut out to eat rare steak.  Back in the oven it went!

The next course was pasta tossed with oven roasted garlic and fresh basil.  Oh my…talk about heavenly. 

When KT got home, she attacked the leftover pasta. 

For dessert (as if we really had room) Mimi had prepared ice cream balls with cinnamon and chocolate sauce.  And here I thought the pasta was heavenly….

It was the perfect ending to the perfect meal.  I wish I could take credit for teaching her all  know, but I can’t.  As Mimi frequently points out, I can melt a pan while trying to cook rice.

Hey, at least I can create a child that can create a fantastic meal…that’s got to count for something!

Irish Coffeehouse wants to know about our careers- then and now

THEN: As a child day dreaming of what your future would hold for you, what did you want to be when you grew up? Did you ever pursue or achieve it?
NOW: If you could be trained and placed in any career beginning tomorrow, what would it be?

As a young girl, I had big plans for my future.  We’re talking MAJOR big plans.  I just knew that I was destined to become a member of the most elite and glamorous jobs ever.  I was going to become a Stewardess.

Stewardesses got to fly around to exotic places like Paris and Rome (I didn’t know until later that those were actually in Texas and Iowa), they wore classy uniforms and best of all, they got to wear Go Go Boots.  For all these wonderful perks, all they had to do was pass out a meal or two and something to drink.  Yep, that was my dream job.

Sadly, I never did end up working in that highly coveted field.  Well, maybe I did in a small, very grounded way as I was a server in a very touristy waterfront restaurant for a few years.    I  met people from exotic places like Paris and Rome (the ones in France and Italy) while wearing a classy uniform…and Top-Siders.

Over the years, I’ve worked at a variety of jobs including such glamorous and unusual positions as bookkeeping  (yes, me!), traveling encyclopedia salesperson and a hypnotist’s assistant.  Yet, we are asked what our career choice would be if we could start, fully trained and ready to go tomorrow.

Hmmmm…what an interesting thought.   I considered what would be most important to me.  Of course, I would need flexible hours as my number one priority is still my family.  Traveling to exotic places would be nice.  Working and helping others has always been high on my list.  It would have to be a varied position…monotony drives me nuts.  I’ve got it.

My new career would be… philanthropist!  And of course, I would wear go-go boots…

Yep, that’s my dream job.

Off topic note: Do you know anyone who has Pulmonary Haemosiderosis? I know of someone that is looking for information and a support group about this.

For this week’s Fun Monday, Dungarees Ablaze says, “Let’s hear about your favorite “Birthday”, it needn’t be your actual birthday just a “birthday” celebration. You can use one you planned, one you attended, one you crashed, just a fun time for this FUN MONDAY

Hmmm…there have been soooo many birthdays (not just mine silly!) that it’s hard to choose a favorite.  I think I’ll go with my mother’s 50th.  (I’m pretty sure that was just last year) My dad wanted to throw her a surprise birthday party.  Of course, I thought that was a great idea.  At least until I realized that what he really wanted was for me to throw the party. 

Being young and dumb, I agreed to do the simple job of all the putting the party together, while he took  the onerous task of inviting everyone.  Despite having very limited experience in party planning , I just knew that my great idea of putting up steamers, making a cake and ordering a few pizzas just wasn’t going to cut it with my parent’s crowd.  (My friends would have been happy!)

So I got to work picking the brains of my mother’s friends on the best way to put this party together without my mom finding out.  (This was before Google was invented, how did we manage without it?) Armed with good advise and lots of enthusiasm, I managed to get everything ready in time for the Big Day. 

When that day arrived, Dad did the other half of his huge assignment by taking Mom away for a few hours.  We quickly snuck in and got to work decorating and greeting guests in order to create a beautiful  party for my mom.  Somehow, we managed to pull it off.  Mom didn’t have a clue and was overwhelmed with everyone that cared so much about her.

In my quest to be the Hostess with the Mostest,  I announced that I had one more surprise and ran off to get it.  Much to the amazement of both my parents, I came back out with my brother and his new wife.  We had arranged for them to fly out from the East Coast to be with us on that special day. 

I still haven’t decided if it was more fun to surprise my Mom for her birthday or to surprise both of them with my baby brother.  Either way, it’s a birthday celebration that I will never forget….

Ever since Mimi was a wee little thing, she has been fascinated by the art of cooking.  She was the only four year old that I knew who would rather have watched a cooking show instead of a cartoon. 

I can’t help but wonder if the love of cooking is a genetic thing.  Mimi’s grandfather was a well known and highly sought after chef in New Mexico and of course her father is a wonderful cook as well. (We simply aren’t going to talk about her maternal side now, are we?)  Mimi’s latest obsession has been with cake decorating.  If she had her way, she would watch the cake challenges on the Food Network constantly. 

So when I called home from work last week, I wasn’t too surprised when she asked me to bring home some marshmallows and  powdered sugar.  Apparently she had decided to bake a cake and had planned on covering it with rolled fondant.  (The marshmallow version tastes better than the traditional.  Personally, I think they are both nasty even if they do look pretty)

Immediately after I got home and handed over the requested supplies, Mimi got to work.   When I offered my assistance, my budding pastry chef merely shooed me away with a stern warning not to peek at her artwork. (Could she possibly have forgotten who she was talking to???) 

An hour or two later, Mimi happily presented her completed work of art.  She explained that she had intended on making some sort of alien.

See the scary alien eyes?

But then somehow it morphed into…something else.

Interestingly…it tasted about the same as it looks.  (How on earth does one mess up a box of cake mix???) 

When I came home from work today, I found that Mimi had once again put on her toque and had baked some yummy carbon-flavored chocolate chip cookies.

Obviously, she gets her baking skills from her father’s side as well.  I wonder if I can convince her to wait until the cooler days of fall before I teach her how to bake.  Sigh…

 For this week’s Fun Monday, Olive has asked us to tell about a whopper of a fish story.  I signed up knowing that I’m pretty good at coming up with quite the story from just a little kernel of truth.  (Just ask my family…it drives them nuts when I use my Creative License to liven up a tale.  Only once or twice of course…)

Despite having a week to come up with a great story…I’ve got nothing.  See, you have to have at least that kernel of truth in there.  I’ve only been fishing twice in my life, and neither was a good experience for me.

The first time I went fishing was in the Pacific when I was a kid.  All I really remember is that the grown ups drank a lot and that I caught a sand shark.  Somehow that shark got twisted up in my mind with a movie that I had watched. (I think I’m scarred for life.)

The next time was on a Co-Op preschool field trip to the Trout Pond.  The pond was really a shallow cement pool with nasty looking water in it. We helped our children drop a pre-baited hook into the water and waited about ten seconds until one of the many starving trout attacked it.  Then a “fisherman” that worked there took it off the hook and wrapped it up for us. 

I tried really hard not to show my horror at such cruelty to my daughter who was beaming with pride.  Then I suggested that we give that very special fish to friends of ours.  Thankfully she agreed. (There was no way I was going to clean and eat that poor fish.)

Of course that reminds me of the time my dad brought home a monster sized fish from somewhere and insisted that I clean it for him.  That poor dead fish and I looked each other in the eye and I lost it.  It was the first of many times that I became a vegetarian. 

I’m sure a better person than me could write a heck of a story about any of those…but I’m still waaaay too traumatized.  

Poor me…

Shaun: I love being out in nature

KT: Yeah…so you can run over it!

Don’t worry, he’s very good at staying on designated trails and not tearing up the unsullied nature that we really do love. 

I’ve been messing with my template, trying to make a new and improved version. 

I somehow forgot that my brain never made it into the future…I’m still back in the stone age.  In my brain, I’m still using a typewriter (at least I’ve trained myself not to keep trying to hit the carriage return!) 

So…I’ve lost my tulips, I’ve misplaced my original lemon banner that Shaun created for me, and I can’t even remember the original WP template that I loved so much.  It could take me while to struggle my way toward the Computer Age, so don’t be too alarmed if my blog looks different every time you visit it…Fortunatly I live with kids and a computer nerd, so maybe they’ll help me!

But for now, I’ve got to go doctor up my World Famous Beans to take to the “Exploding Fireworks” party we are going to. 

Have a great (and very safe!) Fourth!

Shaun woke me up bright and early this weekend and asked me if I was ready to go.  (Hello? Sound asleep and no coffee?) I realized that I was dreaming and rolled over to go back to sleep.  Yet the persistent voice that was my husband wouldn’t stop until I climbed out of bed snarling.  (I don’t make a very good morning person)

Somehow I found myself dressed and in his Jeep clutching my coffee cup and being driven down the road before it occurred to me to wonder where the heck it was that we were going.  When I asked him,  Shaun casually replied that we were going out to breakfast, just as though we do this every weekend.

Now it’s true that we frequently talk about going out to breakfast on the weekends, but we very seldom follow through on that.  It’s kinda hard to wake up early when our entire family reverts to the life of night owls in the summer months.  (OK, Shaun is always a night owl, but I revert back to my natural state when school is out.)

Lulled by a pleasant drive and a wonderful meal at one of my favorite little restaurants,  I lazily agreed when my Beloved asked if I wanted to go for a little ride. 

My first inkling that I had made a grave mistake was when we came across a small glacier.  (Technically it was just snowpack that hadn’t quite melted yet…at the end of June, in the middle of a heat wave…but let’s not bother with those minor details)

Although, there was a lot of melting ice going on.  And all that icy water has to go somewhere.  In this case, it all flowed into a treacherous waterfall.

Then of course there was that fallen tree blocking the road.  A normal person would know that nature was telling him to turn back…but not my Shaun.  He simply drove right over that pesky tree.

The trees made another attempt at turning Shaun back from the road.   They attacked the Jeep! It was a struggle, but we managed to prevail.

Finally, we managed to reach the lake which was our ultimate goal.  It felt so good to soak my tootsies in the icy cool water.  (Boy do I need a pedicure!)

Then I realized that I was soaking my feet alone.  Shaun was impatiently waiting for me to get back in the Jeep so we could head out for more adventures. 

He’s already talking about getting up early and going out for Breakfast again next weekend.  Sigh…

For this weeks Fun Monday, Lisa wants to know what some of our quirks are.  She defines a quirk as “a peculiarity of action, behavior, or personality; mannerism. We are all unique individuals, having quirks that help make us who we are”. 

Now, have to admit that I has a really hard time with coming up with something to write about as I’m about as normal as they come.   That is until I asked my family if they could possibly think of any quirks I might have. 

Shaun started off by mentioning that my toes wiggle when I’m angry.  (What’s odd about that? All that anger has to go somewhere if you don’t want a stroke) Then KT piped up about how I hated to be hot.  (Hello? We’ve been getting weather advisories because of our heat wave here in Seattle…it got all the way up into the 90’s this weekend. Of course I’m miserable!)

That was just the tip of the ice burg.  They went on to point out that I frequently got my words mixed up when I’m trying to say something. How slugs and worms gross me out, but spiders don’t bother me.  That boogers really gross me out.  How I have a peanut bladder and use every single restroom that we come across.  How I hate to be too cold, that a wrinkle in my sheets will keep me awake, how I wake up and prowl the house in the middle of the night, how…

Mimi grabbed her opportunity to speak when the other two paused for a breath.  She told me that she thought I was perfect and couldn’t think of a single quirk that I had.

Mimi always was my favorite…

I’ve just realized that this is my sixth post for the entire month of June.  For some reason, that just horrifies me.  (No wonder my friends and family that spy on me via the blog think that I’ve fallen off the planet!)  Then I realized that in May I had only posted seven times.  April only had five…

I used to be such a faithful blogger, posting nearly every day.  After all, there is always something noteworthy happening around here.  (And if there isn’t, I really don’t have any qualms about making it up!)  I’m thinking back through all that that’s happened in the last few months.  Everything form the big things to the silly little things that Our Mimi says…and nothing is recorded. (BAD Susan!) I’m not quite sure what has happened, but I’ve fallen out of the habit.  In fact, it’s slowly been dawning on me that I have become…a Lame Blogger.

That, my friends, needs to change. I hereby resolve to post hourly three times a day daily at least three times a week. Possibly more, but I have to be realistic, these aren’t New Year’s Resolutions, they are the far more serious Blog Resolutions, which simply have to be kept, lest the Blog Police come after me. (Please note that I’m not disciplined enough to actually say which days I’ll be posting…I think it should be enough to simply get back in the habit again

Soooo…..expect to see me around a lot me.  I’ve got lots of old stories as well as new ones to share.  Heck, maybe I’ll really get on the ball and jazz the place up a little. 

Eh…let’s not get too carried away…