At least she has a hobby

Last night I was still feeling the after-effects from Sunday's breakfast, so I just threw a bunch of vegetables on top of some baked sweet potatoes. I should note that poor Dan ordered a normal breakfast that involved plant matter yet is still subjected to my regret-cooking.

I hope he's eating a lot of meatballs and candy bars when I'm not around.

Hey, how about those black beans? They look pretty normal and black bean-ish, right? I have to tell you, I got so pumped up seeing this on the can:



That I totally didn't notice this part:



And since you know that I'm basically a food expert, it won't surprise you that my immediate thought was "Beans are already vegan, why would they make a soy version?" Yes. A plus, Science Girl. Anyway, they tasted fine and now I know that soy beans come in black. Learning is all around us, kids.

This morning we went to the playground at Central Market. I was excited to see what Anna would do now that she's walking pretty well and doesn't have to just sit and play in the dirt.





Now I know.

Maybe follow it up with a cheesecake

Our major weekend project was putting together new shelves for Anna's room. I was going to let her do it herself, but the box was pretty clear about "Adult Assembly."

Next time, kid.

In the end, Dan and I managed without her help, but just barely. I like how at 14 months old, we finally decided to give Anna a real bedroom instead of a kinda provisional "you can sleep in here until you find your own place" setup.

I guess she wore us down.

Sunday morning we decided to try out Cafe Java for a little change of pace. (If any Tacodeli employees are reading this, DON'T BE CONCERNED ABOUT OUR ABSENCE. We are fine. See you next week.) I didn't take a picture of my breakfast because I was sort of embarrassed of it, but it consisted of a bagel, egg, breakfast sausage, American cheese, and hash browns. With ketchup. It was straight Waffle House style and I loved it. Sometimes the Mansfield, Texan in me will not be denied.

The good thing about starting the day with a meal like that is that I then went to the grocery store feeling repentant and came home with four bags of fruits and vegetables. I've always interpreted the "don't shop hungry" maxim to mean "don't shop unless you've recently made a huge grease-mess of yourself." I'm no nutritionist, I'm just telling you what works for me.

Many of those vegetables found their way into Creamy Avocado & White Bean Wraps later that night. It's from the Eating Well website, which is why it consists of many healthy things and also has a nice nutritional breakdown at the end of the recipe. Oh, and this useful little tip: "Serve with tortilla chips, salsa and Tecate beer." Listen Eating Well, I really don't need your help undermining healthy meals with unhealthy add-ons, okay?

Don't tell me how to do my job.

Been too busy eating to tell you about all the eating

Hey, sorry I haven't really posted anything this week, my brother was in town and I've just been busy and --WHOA look over there! A baby with an avocado-covered English muffin on her head!

Distracto-baby.

Since I'm so behind, I'm just going to hit you with a bunch of food pictures, but first I did want to let you know how the washing machine situation was, uh, resolved. On Tuesday two guys (two! hurray!) came out and asked me the same questions I've answered about four times now and then ran a load of towels and it was fine, so the washing machine: not broken. ISN'T THAT GOOD NEWS, EVERYONE? Not broken at all. I'm pretty sure at this point they think that I'm a lonely crazy lady who lures people to her house under false appliance-related pretenses. Also, Anna's toys and stuff are everywhere, but she's always napping when the repair guys are here, so they may think that she is fictional as well. Like if they actually peeped in the crib, they would see this guy:

If you don't know what this is, congratulations--you've managed to not waste 121 hours of your life learning about monkey skull babies.

The good news is, by doing a Google image search for "lost claire monkey skull baby," I managed to come across this.

Worth it.

And now for a food parade!

Palak Daal from 101 Cookbooks.

Sweet potato, chorizo, and poblano fajitas from the Bon Appetit archive.

Something crab cakey from NXNW.

Pulled pork sandwich, NXNW.

Greek lamb burger from the Bon Appetit archive. Nathaniel pretty much made this one, but I sliced all those pretty pretty onions.

Baked eggs with bacon and spinach on English muffins. Nathaniel entirely made this one. I did leave the recipe on the counter for him.

Extremely blurry beef pasties with blue cheese and caramelized onions, BA archive. Extremely blurry cripsy potatoes by Mary Beth. Extremely blurry healthy kale salad thing by Kay.

Several pages of her baby book are devoted to Tacodeli

Dan finished up the ratatouille on Saturday and I still miss it. I open the refrigerator and look at the empty spot where it used to be and I just sigh.

How to follow up such a thing? Since veggie comfort food seemed like theme worth sticking with, I decided to try some Sweet Potato Pot Pies from 101 Cookbooks. GOOD DECISION, ME.

Ooey gooey smoky flaky.

I was actually pretty skeptical about this combination of ingredients, but it was just the perfect amount of every flavor and it was extremely satisfying. I was super pumped to have leftovers. Those two little pies temporarily filled the gap in my fridge, and in my heart.

I have been doing other cooking too, but mostly for Anna and nothing flashy. I figured since she generally only wants to eat crunchy things, I would make her crunchy things, so I tried out cheddar crackers and graham crackers from the cookbook that spawned the ill-fated omelet. She likes them both! I also like them both. Crunchy things for the win.

They look like this.

Saturday was pretty exciting, as it marked the first time we've ever ordered something specifically for Anna. Her very own egg and cheese breakfast taco!

And bacon, but Dan picked that out and ate it. Except the one piece he left. She ate that. So she's had bacon now. We're good parents.

Saturday night we partied at Kevin and Mary Beth's. Check out the super sweet spread:





I even threw in some caramel corn. With, um, bacon in it.

I swear we didn't let Anna eat any of this one.

There were plenty of things there to make Little Bug happy.

Like I said, party.

PARTY.

Plenty of things to make me happy, too.



Mary Beth claimed that some of the pigs in a blanket had cheese in them, but I'm pretty sure she was just messing with me to see how many I would eat in search of a cheesy one. Joke's on her though, because "as many as I possibly can" was going to be the answer either way.

Sometimes things are sad before they are funny, Part Two

Didn't I used to cook stuff and then post pictures of it on this blog? I have a vague recollection of such things. Well, okay, I did a bit of cooking on Wednesday. At first blush, it will have a tragic bent.

It had been very rainy, and I had been quite a while without a decent cooking project, so I thought maybe I would tackle something on the intimidating side. Francis Lam claims to have the secret to weapons-grade ratatouille....hmm, vegetables sound good, and so does a nice long commitment to the stove. Sold.

There is a bit of disagreement in the comments as to the "authenticity" of this particular recipe, but it took me about five hours to cook down, so if there's a more authentic way I'm probably going to skip it. Anyway, I won't say that I "slaved" over the hot stove, but I did spend the better part of my day chopping, stirring, testing, stirring, seasoning, and stirring. Low and slow cooking frequently results in deliciousness, so I was determined to do it correctly. I even tried to make the extra elements special.

Some lovely brie to accompany, perhaps?

Some nice decanted Frenchy wine, some Edith Piaf ready to go...this was 100% positively going to be one of those times where extreme effort is worthwhile and everything is amazing.

At some point in the stirring, seasoning, stirring phase, Anna went down for a late nap. Not her usual schedule, but not unheard of. Stir on!

And then there it was, a big pot of vegetables cooked down to their beautiful, primal essence. A thick, bubbly spread of sweet and salty tomatoey smushiness.

It's like olive oil and tomatoes had a baby, then fed it a bunch of eggplants, then cooked it down for five hours.

Something turned out the way it was supposed to! Kind of weird that Anna's still asleep now that it's almost dinner time. Oh well, no mind. This is more of a grown up meal anyway. And here comes my other grown up, and it's not even 7 pm! Uh oh.

No, Dan did not come home ready to enjoy a symphony of French vegetable delights, nor creamy cheeses, nor crusty breads, nor tragic singers. He had an affliction of the "I need you to check WebMD for me right now" variety. These are not good. I don't know if you've ever entered "blurry vision" and "headache" into the symptom checker over there, but I wouldn't say it narrows things down, exactly.

Full of the knowledge that his sickness was on a scale somewhere between major stroke and tension headache, Dan had about one bite of the ratatouille and retired to his chambers. He did suggest that the one bite was perhaps on the salty side, but I have chosen to credit that critique to the Mystery Illness with which he was, at the time, ravaged.

So with my husband thus stricken and my daughter uncharacteristically dozing, I was left utterly alone with my five-hour-not-counting-cleanup meal.

It may look nice, but it tasted like solitude. Interesting bit of trivia--Edith Piaf sang several songs about this exact situation.

It was crying tears of extra virgin olive oil.

So I must confess that I joylessly ate a few lonesome bites and then packed up the whole circus. I was very, very sad. I know! I know that it looks bleak right now, mes amis. But what a difference a day makes!

Sometime mid-Thursday morning I curiously dipped a cracker into the cold quart of tomatolove. Oh, dear. Oh, my. That is very good. I'll just go back to my day....maybe one more cracker. Yes, that is delightful. Good to know. Have things to do, and I....oh, I see the refrigerator over there and that makes me remember what's inside it and I'll just give it one more cracker and then we'll be right back on track. Two more.

Three minutes and two dozen cracker scoops later, I had a thought.

I have a notoriously picky eater of a child and a supply of this...insane foodstuff. Dare I?

It started out in the usual manner.

"No Cheerios, but there...might be some carpet fuzz in there. Okay."

"URghaGGUUHfllll this amazing food has sent me into a trance state."

"Losing....recently acquired...fine motor skills..."

"Why? Why can't I stop putting it in my mouth?"

"I am at peace with this. It is a food, and it is delicious. I EAT FOOD NOW."

Sometimes things are sad before they are funny

I realize it's been so long since my brief stint as an old-timey laundress that you have probably been operating on the assumption that our washing machine has long since been repaired. Well, I thank you for your above-average interest in the state of my appliances, keeping them in your thoughts and such, but it pains me to tell you that the almost month-long saga drags on yet. Let's take a look at the timeline:

Friday, August 13th: The washing machine decides that it will not be cleaning this large load of diapers today, thank you very much.

Monday, August 16th: I have an adventure with the bathtub and the now long-dirty diapers. This situation is still sort of funny.

Monday, August 16th-Friday, August 27th: Home Depot refers us to the warranty company. The warranty company has no record of our purchase. Dan calls with our receipt number. No dice. Dan physically takes the receipt to Home Depot. "Oh yeah, I totally sold you this thing," agrees the dude. The warranty company re-enters our information. It's still not ready. No, not ready yet. Sorry, the information isn't coming up. Okay, we'll send someone out on Friday.

Friday, August 27th: HOLY COW, A REPAIRMAN. It runs a full cycle for him. Of course it does. But he thinks something is jammed. It's a two man job. They'll have to come back Tuesday, September 7th with more people. "The 7th?" I double check, thinking there's no way it will be another week and a half. "Tuesday, September 7th."

Tuesday, August 31st: We get four packages from UPS full of washing machine parts. One of the boxes is a three foot cube. This seems bad.

Friday, September 3rd: We get a call confirming our appointment for Saturday, September 4th. We're going to be out of town on Saturday, September 4th, and also our appointment was supposed to be for the 7th. We reschedule for the 10th.

Friday, September 10th: Our appointment is from 8:00 to 12:00. At 1:15 the repairman shows up. One repairman. "Um, this is a two man job. We'll have to reschedule and come back with two." Before he leaves he expresses some surprise at the parts the other guy ordered. "Hardly ever have to do that with LGs," he says. The situation has come back around to funny to me.

Our laborious weekend

Okay, I did this picture thing the hard way because I gave up on my computer ever working properly, so all of the energy that might generally go into commentary has been spent. Basically you are getting pictures from our trip up to Mansfield over Labor Day. You can fill things in. I know you can.

Mostly, a lot of good things happened, such as more awesome pizza.







Took home a major poker game.

I'll count it for you: FOUR smackers.

Okay, well, Dan won the game, but. Community property.

Only because he bets erratically and has ridiculous luck, like hitting a straight flush for crying out loud.

THIS.

It's an actual outdoor temperature, in degrees Fahrenheit.

If you ever hear my dad say that he's going to "burn some chicken," my advice to you is to cancel whatever plans you have and show up.



Also, my mom seems to have invented an avocado-cheese-ham-butter sandwich.

This was categorized as a "light lunch." Because of the apples.

Some bad things happened, too. Namely, Anna was forced to ponder what having me for a mother really means, in terms of hairstyling.

I wish I were kidding, but it's my genuine best effort.

Technical difficulties

I know I've been a short hitter on posting lately, but I'm having a lot of trouble uploading pictures to Blogger. Also, it is very rainy and that makes me even lazier than normal.

Anyway, ever start the day in a generally bad mood and then VERY NEARLY rear-end a police car and suddenly you're in sort of a good mood because, hey, this day could have been way, way worse? Me too! ("Erica, why so cheery?" "Haven't smashed any cops today!")

The return of Gamblor

Bunko time has again come and gone, and my glorious cycle of 20 bad months to 1 good month begins anew. As you all know, I am now powerless to resist its call. I have a visual for you this time of my typical success at this game. Keep in mind that the idea is to have either a lot of wins or a lot of losses.

Still Life with Bunko Failure.

I figure as long as people keep not-infrequently feeding me pizza, though, my life is probably not terrible.

Thank you for all the free pizza, life.

I did manage about ten minutes of glory by rolling a Bunko (three sixes) and getting to wear the pink boa. (It's a grown-up game, for grown-ups.) It's kind of sad how genuinely satisfied with myself I am in this picture.

Dripping with achievement.

Thank heavens I went to the optometrist recently

No food pictures from my end, but here's Anna aaaaalmost mastering her snack cup:

It's not that she doesn't understand how it works, she just believes that chewing through plastic is the easiest solution.

Yesterday I made an off-hand comment about how long it's been since I went to the dentist and this morning I woke up with a ridiculously swollen section of my gums. I'm concerned that it's psychosomatic. Like maybe my brain decided, "Hey, yeah, the dentist, LET'S MAKE THAT HAPPEN." At any rate, now I'm terrified to think about anything else that could use some general maintenance. For example, I just realized that I haven't had a proper overall physical since 9th grade basketball try-outs, so by tomorrow morning my internal organs will probably be liquifying, Ebola-style.

This morning we went to story time at Barnes and Noble, but Anna chose to spend most of the time in self-directed study. (Paleontology.)

That's Greek for "the piling of dinosaurs."