The Sweet...Elusive...Taste of Liberty

Tonight I'm going with a friend to Restaurant Phoebe. I am so looking forward to it. Doug is graciously going to watch the girls, feed them, put them to bed (I know, he's the DAD, so of course he would, but it's a lot for one person to do. Trust me.)

I don't know if that is the actual menu on the web page, or only a sample. I suspect that isn't the exact menu. I will report back later on what we actually eat, of course.

Ellen Aim blogged about this heavenly sounding ice cream. She has eaten this, if you read her post. She lives in Texas. I live in VERMONT, home of Ben and Jerry's. So why can I not find this freaking ice cream? Every time I go to Shaw's, our regular main grocery store, which otherwise I find quite satisfactory--although it is no Whole Foods or Trader Joe's and definitely not a Central Market --I check the frozen food isle, only to be thwarted again and again! I have actually bought way more ice cream than I usually do this way. I suspect a conspiracy. After my date tonight, I am going to try a different (smaller) grocery store in my quest for the Colbert pint.

If we had broadcast TV--well, I suppose we'd have to have cable, too--I would be a dedicated viewer of the Colbert report and the Daily Show.

I Ask for So Little. Just Fear Me, Love Me, Do as I Say and I Will be Your Slave.

Doug got me this cookbook, which was sort of an impulse buy on my part. I had seen it earlier and pawed it affectionately. Later, I said, "If you ever wanted to buy book for me, buy me this". Being nice and subtle keeps our marriage strong.

Anyway, it's cute nifty little book. It does use rather a lot of half and half and cream and milk chocolate bars...it is definitely not a low fat book (although there are a couple of token soy milk recipes in there...which I have less than zero interest in). There is one simple recipe in there (well, not that any of them are *difficult* recipes, but this one is nice and elegant) of just milk chocolate and darjeeling tea. That's it. Okay, you can add milk or sugar, but I can't see how you would taste anything with more milk or more sugar. If you know me at all, you know I drink tea like (more than) water. It honestly never occured to me to add my eating chocolate to it. I forsee Earl Grey with orange dark chocolate in my future. I don't really drink a lot of hot chocolate, but I do love it, especially after being outside in the snow.

Which leads me to snowshoes! We took advantage of a big sale and bought the kids snowshoes. I would have done it much earlier this year but there was... no snow. Fiona took to it quickly (she told me she had some practice at school on a friend's) and Sophia even took a few steps in them. We had a nice little walk, but for most of it Fiona whined and whined about how tired she was and how long the trail was. I think we spent maybe half an hour outside. It was on the warm side that day as well. I am not sure if this means we don't go outside enough or what.

So addition to the copious ever-present whining on the 5 year old end, we have mounting tantrums that only seem to be increasing with intensity on the Sophia (2 years old) end. If she isn't screaming, Fiona is whining. If this were summer, we'd just go outside and run and swim it off. It is a lot harder right now because it's cold and there is frankly too much snow to go in the backyard. We sometimes go on the porch or driveway, but it's not quite the same. And nobody listens! Honestly, in a moment of exasperation with Sophia, I lamented, "Sprechen Sie Deutsch?" (Do you speak German?--probably misspelled). For some reason, that got a laugh. Sometimes neither of them seems to understand English. Maybe I am drinking too much wine. Or Godiva liqueur.

Housewife

Doug and I have been watching movies in the evening after the kids go to bed. Lately, we've been watching Full Metal Alchemist, a nice little bit of anime. We (I) like to watch the movie (and they are speaking English) with subtitles. I like to do this because it's pretty quiet and I want to make sure I hear all the words (it's quiet because we don't want to wake up the girls). With this show, what the characters are saying and what the subtitles say aren't always exactly the same. Usually, it's pretty much the same thing, said a different way, or close enough.

Last night, we saw one episode where this one woman character walks into this room full of tough guys. One guy says to her, "who the hell are you?" She says "I'm pissed!". The subtitle, however, says, "I'm a housewife!"

I have this friend, who is also a stay-at-home-mom (SAHM), who never refers to herself as a "housewife": she says she did not marry a house. This is true.

I never know what to write as my occupation on the tax returns. I think I have been mostly writing "Mother". I really want to come up with some sort of smart ass job title, but I am never creative enough.

Godiva liqueur

Smooth, chocolatey and very easy to drink. I'll be back...later.

In My Day,

We had ONE week-long school vacation after the Christmas holiday and it was spring break. These kids--these crazy New England kids--have a "winter break" to go along with the spring one with an additional two days off the following week to accommodate "town meeting" day. Winter break is this week. That is why we've been busy bees all morning long all week long. I, as their personal secretary, tried to assemble playdates throughout the vacation. Today's play date is a bust as we all got snowed in.

I should be outside now with them with those colored ice cubes I mentioned, but, well, um, it's cold out there! I'm cold sitting here in front of the computer! I am totally weak. I also made peanut butter chocolate chunk cookies yesterday, so mock me all you want as I sit here eating them (I did share with them and they are also watching Totoro, so not only are they not getting some healthy outdoor time, they are eating cookies filled with sugar and chocolate.). Good times.

Fiona has been reading (yes, reading out loud!) to Sophia more and more and I finally got a picture of that happening. Fiona has also been leaving several notes, letters and postcards for Sophia and I that say either: "I love you Mom. Love, Fiona" or "I love Sophia. Love, Fiona" with a picture of two people holding hands (one is big, one is small).

That Thing You Do

That white stuff is back. The birdhouse we had hanging from the apple tree fell a while back and was sitting nicely on the snow, which had a hard icy surface at the time. Now it is lost. There isn't even a mound to show where it was.

My goal today is to try to keep the kitchen table clean. Ok, the kitchen table right now is this round catering-type table we got a while ago when Doug was making Chinese food feasts for the Chinese New Year. Now it's our dining room table, except it's in the kitchen because our dining room is now a play room. I have totally lost count how many times I have cleaned this thing today and it's only 12:20 PM. First there was the initial cleaning, because I didn't make the kitchen spic and span the night before. Bite me. Then there was the post-breakfast clean-up (cereal and yogurt-and-granola). Then the post-second breakfast clean-up. Then the cookie clean up (we made snickerdoodles!). Then the birdhouse painting clean-up. Then the lunch clean-up (first lunch, yogurt-and-granola...the second will be pizza). Right now, the table is covered in playdough. Itty bitty tiny pieces of bright pink playdough are everywhere. Sophia keeps trying it, but actually spits it out. It's quite salty, you know?

Right, so the snow is back and the snow cave is long gone and buried. I guess it's time to make a new one. I made lots of colored ice thingys in different plastic containers so they can play with them outside (I did this a few weeks ago, actually, ahem). Maybe we'll do that this afternoon, b/c I can't do arts and crafts all day. I can happily read for an hour this afternoon and then...

And now I must inform you all that Henry, our 1994 blue Honda Civic...is gone. All 200 million miles and rust. He had a cracked windshield and a back-out light out and...just a lot of freaking miles. I think we could have gotten a year or two more out of him, actually, but. We bought that car soon after we got engaged. Now Doug is the proud owner and driver of Harold, a blue 2007 Honda Civic...in other words, the same car I have, but in blue. Henry has been through so much with us. It's sort of odd that he's just gone now. I know, it's a car, but what a great car he was. He drove from Texas to Florida, from Florida to North Carolina, from NC to Vermont...and then from Vermont to Texas and back again! Plus all those working communter miles (we only had one car between us until we moved into the current purple house). I used to think nothing of driving an hour to work (nor Doug for that matter). He even got bumped off a Texas highway by a moving company truck (Mayflower)---minimal damage to him and none to us. Thank you, Henry!

Hen of the Wood, Again

We made it to Hen of the Wood last night, which I've referred to here and here before. We were not disappointed. The entrance way, the pathway of which was, of course, brimming with the piles of snow that we now have everywhere, had candles set into the snow. Candles make snow look even more cool, by the way. Nice touch.

We ordered some bottle of wine that was a complete unknown to us and I didn't write it down. I think Morton was the vineyard and it was a blend. I hate it when I don't write stuff down. I'm out of the habit since we go out so rarely like this now. Doug started with the crispy oysters and they were delightful. Thin crispy batter and tender oyster with a nice lemony sauce. I had the hen of the wood mushroom. I figured I had to. See, they had the pork belly again (which I talked about earlier). It was really hard to resist the pork belly. I am glad I did, though. The flavor and texture of the hen of the wood mushroom was incredible. Now, I am only very recently a consumer of the mushroom. Moving to Vermont has really helped me to appreciate the mushroom. For one thing, there is just so much more out there in mushroom-land beyond the white button. Here is such a case. Perhaps next time I would get the pork belly and the hen of the wood mushroom. The flavor and texture were both extremely satisfying. Rich, complex, herbal, and balanced. I love mushrooms now, but this may be the one time I wanted to lick my bowl. The mushroom is cultivated locally.

Doug and I both had the venison with chestnut spaetzle and red wine braised cabbage. Perfectly cooked, gratifying to eat, and so nice in the middle of February. I am a softie for spaetzle, though, I have to admit, and that is what made me decide. I was torn between this and the roasted pumpkin risotto.

For dessert we had coffee (With caffeine! How luxurious!) and Meyer lemon creme brulee with blood orange granita and a biscotti (Cherry and almond? Damn, I need to write things down!). We inhaled this, but I have to come out of the Meyer lemon closet here. I don't get it. I have bought Meyer lemons and have tried them in other restaurants but I don't really see the appeal. I understand they are supposed to be more floral and subtle than the "regular" lemon. I find them just slightly bitter and faintly lemony. I don't see the excitement. I proposed to Doug that maybe you have to be in California to really appreciate them. Perhaps they just don't travel well. Aside from the un-lemony, slightly bitter custard (which, again, not a hardship here in terms of eating it), the consistency of the custard, the thin bitter crackle of the brulee crust, the flavor and consistency of the bitter orange granita, the length of the biscotti (How I love a long biscotti! Sure, it's not all about length---it's really flavor that counts, but a long biscotti is a beautiful sight) were all spot on.

The girls enjoyed Sobo's company and the evening was a success. Hooray!

The Snow Cave

The missing grill after a night of more snow and wind.



The Snow Cave, one view.



Snow Cave with inhabitant, second view. It's not done yet, actually. The side isn't finished and I need more food coloring and spray bottles. They love the homemade snow spray. It's sort of toddler/preschool graffiti, I admit, but oh so fun.

The doctor's office was closed because they had no heat (!), however, the practice has other pediatricians at the hospital. The nurse on the phone said we could come in any time, but after hearing her symptoms, just called in a prescription to the pharmacy down the street, who filled it as soon as they opened and got the message (at 9 AM). The nurse said she could go to school tomorrow (barring new symptoms) and even tonight she looks and feels much better. Hooray!

Oh For Frack's Sake

Now Fiona has pink eye. She'll probably miss not only Valentine's Day at school tomorrow, but the school's art show, which is also tomorrow (and the parents can even come into the school---gasp!). I am so bummed about this. Hopefully, she won't be. Those things are tomorrow, though, so if we can see the doctor this morning and score antibiotic drops right away...just maybe it will work out. I will play it safe, though. Pink eye is so contagious (and I hope we don't all get it now). Today's school was cancelled...I think just to keep people off the streets so they can finish plowing. It's also supposed to be hella cold today.

It's Still Snowing

The compost bin is on the left (the lump of snow) and our trash bin is on the right. I can see them from my kitchen window and that served as a gauge for how much snow we got today...at least on that side of the house. Below that is Sweety Tweety and Pippi! At long last!



Our side porch. Darn flash and snow. It was sort of dark, so I didn't turn off the flash. I was also getting really wet from the snow. Brrr.



Fiona's birdhouse.



Doug shoveling the snow off of our front porch. This is not going to sound very feminist of me, but hooray for husbands! We got more snow on that side of the house. It was amazingly deep--he said over two feet.



The view down our driveway from the garage.



The grill in the backyard.

When it Snows,

We're the really dark purple part. The 12 inches or more area.

The schools closed yesterday in anticipation of today.

If you go to weather.com, it seems that our heavy snow warning has turned into a blizzard warning. Snow accumulation of a foot or more. I guess you know it's bad when the grocery store actually has lines. This would be more exciting in a fun way if Doug didn't have to go to work today.

I guess we won't be going out for dinner tonight! Hopefully on Saturday. Sobo leaves next Tuesday and I have no idea what we're going to do without her. Hopefully, we won't be sending her back with a cold or flu!

Yesterday, Doug and I visited the public school, and you know what? It was really cute. It was very safe. It seems like a really creative, fun environment. We liked the principal. I don't know what I was expecting, but we were really happy with what we saw.

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So The Lord of the Dance song comes on via the ol' iPod (hooked up through an old boombox) and Fiona asks to dance with me (I'm cooking at the moment). I say sure. She starts flitting around the room very gracefully and I say, "you dance so well". To which she replies, "Yes, especially with long hair".

Tonight is pinto bean soup and lemon bars. The bars are from The Village Baker's Wife and I used to make them all the time at a previous job. They are divine.

Tomorrow we're playing hooky from school to go meet a friend at the Monshire Museum of Science. It will probably be necessary to go to King Arthur Flour as well. Ah, well. I do what I must.

Sigh

No date tonight. Doug is sick as well as Fiona. So far Sobo and I are well. I hate winter.

If You're Going to Spew, Spew Into This.

I have a deep sense of foreboading.

Sophia barfed Tuesday night and Wednesday night. She is fine now. She was sick last week with some cold---very congested, total hell for a 2 year old and her parents.

Fiona just spewed all over the bed. Poor thing is sleeping now. Incidentally, most of it went in the Barf Bowl--a yellow bowl which I and both my sisters spent our childhoods spewing into. Quaint, no?

I have a date tomorrow night with Doug at Hen of the Wood (which I've reviewed in an earlier post). I guess we will see. I am washing the hands like a crazed woman.

Unicorn Mother

It is common for me to be buckling Sophia in her carseat and then she will exclaim "Baby Unicorn!" She wants to take Baby Unicorn with her everywhere. Baby Unicorn has been wrapped up in a too-big purple fleece blanket until now. Sobo suggested the toy sling and Sophia has found it much easier to tote Baby Unicorn around. The previous blanket always had to be folded just right or Sophia would wail "Help! Help!" every 3.23 minutes. Hooray once again for the fabulous life-saving sling!

Baby Unicorn is a duplicate of one Fiona has. I bought it for her one Christmas--I think for her second one, actually. She was not impressed. It has lain in Toy Storage until her interest in unicorns came out with a view of The Last Unicorn (until very recently, sans the harpy scene and the Red Bull scenes). I brought it out when I found it again during a toy organizing binge and it is now a beloved toy. Since Sophia covets all of Fiona's "special things", Fiona bought a small one (they didn't have the bigger ones) for Sophia for Christmas. They are both purple--Fiona's favorite color at two was most definitely purple. We have many, many 2T size pieces of clothing in purple. Even Fiona's snow boots were purple. So not only do they have matching unicorn costumes (Fiona can barely put hers on now because she had a huge growth spurt---all of the sudden most of her pants are too short!), they also have matching unicorns.

Dandelion Hair

The trampoline (from Auntie Alex on Christmas)was a big hit. I love how it makes their hair round like mature dandelions. Note the unicorn. Sophia is very much a "mini-me" Fiona right now, down to the "HMPH!" while pouting and bending her arms while putting her hands on her hips. She is also quite clear in announcing, when she doesn't get her way, that, "It's not fair!". Having a 5 year old say this repeatedly is quite tiresome. Add a 2 year old saying it and one has to laugh (or scream into a pillow). Sophia is definitely a fast learner.

Fiona's Unicorn Birthday Party

This was the first present Fiona opened at the party. As soon as she opened it, she exclaimed, "I'm putting this on right now". She did. She tore off her clothes and put the costume on and resumed with the opening of the presents.

Where Do Unicorns Go?

Ideas for posts usually come to me in really inappropriate places: the bathroom, soothing a child at 2 a.m., driving to school. I say inappropriate because in these cases I can't exactly dash to the computer or even write something down (well, maybe in the bathroom case...).

Here is the unicorn cake. It was made from a cake mold I got at a party store (where I got unicorn plates, cups, balloons, party favors, etc). It was in a plastic pan, which I have never seen before. Apparently, as long as you don't go above 375F, it is fine. A friend reassured me that she had used one for her son's birthday. It worked. The pan was about 5 bucks. It says it isn't meant to last forever, but ours may as I doubt I will use it more than one more time, if that. It was fun to make, though! I usually make less colorful cakes. It held exactly one recipe for a two layer cake. There were two pieces left after the party, which Sophia and Fiona made quick work of, washed down with the punch I made (pineapple, limeade, pureed frozen raspberries, and seltzer water).

The mold actually had the unicorn wearing a harness. As you can see, I left that out. What unicorn would wear a harness? I gave her a star around her horn. I have to remember to always say "she" when refering to unicorns because Fiona will remind me--loudly--that all unicorns are girls. Apparently, there are no boy unicorns. I have asked why, but apparently, that is just the way things are. Baby unicorns just have two mommies.

Happy Birthday to the Cutest Groundhog

I apologize for the lack of posting around here, but hopefully, that is going to change. Let us blunder away through the rest of the winter! I have my eyes set on spring, months away (May). Well, maybe April. Spring is a real tease.

Fiona turned 5 on the second and we had a fabulous party on the Sunday after that. I have party pictures to load and hopefully receive from friends at the party. Fiona invited four friends and they all came. She had a wonderful time. I made a unicorn cake, made with copious amounts of colored buttercream and edible glitter. We had the trampoline up and balloons. Doug made a nice spread of food (cut up cheese, sandwich fixins, fruit) to which I added homemade foccacia and fruit punch (how I love punch).

Oh, I had a birthday the weekend before and now I am the grand age of 34. Hooray!

Mom (aka "Sobo") is here which is wonderful and such a big help--especially since Sophia has been sick for most of her visit so far (oh well). We found Sobo some snow boots and proper gloves even though it is late in the year for such things. It is so maddening and amusing to see summer shoes for sale when the high outside is 18 F. Fiona and I are trying to learn knitting from Sobo (or rather, "re-learn" in my case).

We've decided to not re-enroll Fiona into the Montessori school for next year. That's a post for another time. Hopefully, Doug and I will get to tour the public school tomorrow. If that is dismal, I am not sure what the next step is. I have heard good things about the Kindergarten teachers, though.

Happy New Year

Well, after a lovely vacation with both Doug and Fiona at home all week (and Doug home in the afternoons the week before), Doug is back to work and Fiona is back to school. Back to routine!

Sophia is walking around the house saying, "Na na? Na na?" (Fiona?) Her latest sayings are "Please sit down" and "Fe-na-na, come here" and "C'mon, Fe-na-na!"

Christmas was a good one at the purple house. I love the first moment when they come down the stairs and see the tinseled tree, the presents, the stockings. Fiona dug in for the first time this year, previously having us help her open the presents and then playing with each one. Presents took a long time. Sophia is like this right now (I think it was at least half an hour before she even opened one). Fiona opened everything very quickly, and then we let her "help" Sophia open the sister presents. We bought an inflatable trampoline with the help of auntie Alex and that is what Sophia was first drawn to, with a breathless "What's THAT?"



That is what they spent the entire day in, Sophia loving to sit in it while slowly brushing her new My Little Pony's hair. They both love these things. They were a gift from Sobo. They play with them together. I won't mention every present they got here, but everything is well loved. Everything is being played with. Oh, well, Fiona sort of tossed the bed sheets I bought for her to the side. She isn't sleeping in her bed again and the sheets didn't lure her back there. Apparently, she is a high thread count type of gal because her new pillowcase is "too scratchy".

We also had a lovely incident with the gingerbread house. We had moved it to the top of the wood stove (you can already see where I am going with this, can't you?) because we weren't using the oven at the time. The gingerbread house was on a plastic cutting board wrapped in foil. Well, since we were all home and cozy and not going anywhere, it was the perfect time to start a fire in the wood stove. I forget why the house was there...to have the dining room table free or perhaps that is when we turned the dining room into a play room (just for the winter) to accommodate this trampoline. We weren't seeing it anymore. It was right in front of our eyes, but we didn't see it. So a fire is started with the house sitting on top of the wood stove. To make it very clear, the wood stove gets really hot. You could cook things on it. It's nice to have in case the electricity goes out, too. The fire goes for a while and then I sit in front of it with the girls to do...something. I can't remember what. This happened a few weeks ago now. I look at it and then I see it. I say to Doug, hey, this isn't a good idea (that will be my official understatement for the year). The cutting board is already melting, so we get a piece of cardboard from an unwanted package (boy, that is a whole other post...we've been busy little bees) to put on the bottom to keep plastic from dripping everywhere. Doug whisks it outside. The house is still standing, but the stained glass windows are melting (not to mention the royal icing and candies). The house is filled with fumes. So I take the girls in the car out into the night for Christmas light gazing. Doug turns on all our fans and opens all the doors and windows (brrr!). When we come back, the house is fine and the stove is fine. Everything is fine.
Well, the cutting board is totally warped and the gingerbread house became food for the squirrels. We got off easy.



Our wood stove is sort of like this, only it's in front of our fireplace and it's all black. We were very lucky! So, new rule. Nothing goes on the wood stove top. Unless we are desperate to cook stew in an ice storm or something. I thought I had pictures of Very Big Furry Grey Squirrel eating the gingerbread house like he couldn't believe his luck, but it must be on video.