I can't shake the feeling that today has been such a great day; but I think I missed it! I got up, got the kids ready and out the door all by 7:00 am. The Dood and Smelly ended up in my bed sometime around 4 am and I didn't have energy to move them back; so we all woke up together after the religious 2 snooze rule. They were so hilarious today, Smelly doing her little dance for whatever reason (remember this kid dances to her own drum and base beets in her life). Dood was as snugly as ever, and wouldn't let me go. I was totally getting irked because if I don’t get out of the house in time then Momma doesn't get a coffee - if Momma doesn't get a coffee before work it does end quite different.
"Stuart!" "Yes momma" "what does momma say about coffee in the morning?"
Anyhow, so I do the drop off, the caffeine injection and am at my desk by 7:56 am and start my day. In an instant it's 5:30 pm and I have to literally race to pick up the critters and get home...? Where does the day go?" I ask myself. I actually take 3 minutes to ponder what would life be like without this constant balancing act....pretty freakin dull if you ask me!
The moment I affirm this with myself I want to do something with the kids....BAKE!!!!!! I always love to bake with the critters, because nothing melts the day away like a glass of wine...yikes! I mean, like kids laughter and the smell of chocolate chip cookies ... (and wine).
So my mission is to not only get dinner ready in 25mins but also conjure up a way to get cookies baked and in the oven so that at the very moment that we are done stuffing our faces we can all celebrate that we can continue to do so again!
Project: D I n n e r a n d C o o k I e s
Subjects: Critters 1 2 3 and me
Time: 25-30 mins
Can she do it??? YES SHE CAN! Didn't Obama win with that one?
Dinner tonight is actually a little treat. Dan is gout ridden so he can't enjoy too much red wine (so I compensate) or red meat (unless we are @ Le Flip casa) so tonight's masterpiece is
Pan Seared Striploin Smothered with Drunken Portobello, Shitake and Button Mushrooms avec le fromage Bleu
I take our 2 ny strips and get the skillet ready. All I use on steak is Butter (again, no claim to calorific diet stuff here) and Salt and Peppa. I grease on both sides and add the accessories to them and they are off! In a separate skillet I like to get the olive oil heated, sweat out the garlic so the house is ridden of Vampires ---aside from Edward and then add the fungi!
***TIP OF THE DAY The trick with fungi is DONT CROWD THEM...they will never get golden if there are too many on top of each other...
So we get the smushrooms all golden and delicious and then it`s time to break me off a piece of 'dat cheese. Tonight we are finishing up on the delicious and wonderful creamy blu that we got at Sam and Sons Cheese at the Burlington Farmer`s Market. Blu del Moncenisio, is a great Italian cow`s milk cheese from the Piedmont region in Northern Italy. I use this because like the steak that I am going to shove into my gap, it`s got a great peppery and luscious flavour. It`ll go great with the steak and make the mushies velvety and sinful! Right about now is when I am flipping the cow`s ass onto its other side. We like to be pretty red neck and eat our steak Medium rare - medium depending on who`s cooking...so it doesn`t take too long to get ready. I take the blu and break it in pieces with my hands and literally drop the hunks into the skillet. I also like to turn the heat down on the skillet so I don’t burn the cheese. When the bulk of the wedge is done melting, I add a dash more of S&P and take it off the heat. The cow`s ass is off the heat too and is sitting for a few.
The critters are now mixing the wet with dry on the cookies...So has flour all over her face and I have to tell you if I could figure out bloggy world any sooner, I would post the pic of her that I took. She was squinting her face all up because she was eating a lemon (she does that) and we floured her...she looks like a little old lady with natural wrinkles...totally friggen adorable! Anyhow, Smelly is trying to mix the dough and the dood is sitting back watchin the girls do all the work. Really, for a 2 year old, he`s just so relaxed and happy. His conversation runs from Bella don`t eat that to Momma; get me cookies NOW and that is it. Totally content just observing - I think he has a weird phobia of having sticky shit on his hands...I mean - who really likes that, right?
Anyhow, so the cookies are mixing, the steak is totally consuming my thoughts and the smushies are almost perfect. I realize at this moment, I DONT HAVE VEGETABLES ready...I think I could live with that, but as a mom, you really want to give the kids a balanced meal - not only that, I totally don’t want the kids to tell their friends parents that momma doesn`t give us vegetables...because school moms freak my freak!
Onward we go! I forge a salad of grape tomatoes, red pepper, and cucumber and left over blu cheese and add oil and vinegar with ...you guessed it...S&P and we are good to go!
For those that actually have read my blog-a-maroo you may be thinking, is the insatiable host not consuming wine, can this be so..What is going on...?
(stage direction: enter Wayne and Garth `diddly doo diddly doo diddly doo`)
What I neglected to start with was just how great today would be washed down with something...do I want wine or something else...beer??..perhaps...AH HA!!! Wait, do you know what would wash away the day that I didn`t really enter....
GIN
It’s the answer to my prayers; if I could have been baptised with it, yes I would have!
gin, gin, gin, gin, gin....
I run...almost float to the cupboard where behind those doors angels have wept tears of joy at the sight. I eagerly pull open the double doors and am blinded by the rays gleaming off of the bottle.BOMBAY SAPHIRE...where on earth have you been??!!! I instantly transform into bartender mode getting everything in order
Shaker: check
Ice: check
Vermouth: check
Olives: check
Martini glass: check
Strainer: shit...where the hell is the strain...oh good. Got it
Strainer: check
Now all I need is 1 minute...I get the ice in the shaker, pour a splash of vermouth; get 4 oz (free pour) into it and hear the ice cubes crack with excitement. Apparently my ice cubes are functional GIN Freaks also...whew, it’s not just me! And hold off on the judgment you silly drunks; the 4 oz is for 2 martinis, not one!!
My heart starts to accelerate. It`s now beating at the same pace as the shaker...sha sha sha shake-a shake-a shhht shhht sssht. My heart is doing the friggen flamenco dance and it`s going to literally jump out of my skin! And just at the part where you see the male stomp his foot and clap his hand in the Paso Doble, the martini is ready. I have confirmed that there is a little sheet of ice on the shaker, I hear the ice cubes have calmed down and I also can just FEEL that it`s ready. Next, martini glass out of freezer.
After I get my thumb unstuck from the stem it`s time!!!! ooh nelly. this one`s gonna be a good one..I get my olive juice in the glass, give it a swirl and pour the chilled salvation in. I love watching the pour. I guess it’s what the Irish love about a perfect pint of Guinness...I have the same admiration of watching a martini in action. I am now drooling - at that moment in time and now. I can smell and taste the juniper. I am mildly excited and grinning at just how great that martini was! (pats on the back to me; I am Momma Martini!)
Back to the food....
...the kids are now putting the cookies on the sheet and have literally covered the entire table (that seats 7) with dough, chocolate chip, flour and more...but it`s time. The oven is preheated and the food is all ready to be consumed...enter cookies; plate the food; clear the table; gulp the martini...
my life is complete....per the usual tone for dinner the giggles, bites and out-right belly laughs are heard. There is one thing missing at the table tonight....no, it’s not the wine; although, now that you mention it that is tearing me up; but Dan`s at work... I love that he is able to be home for at least one dinner a week with us all, but you know sometimes when you put your favourite heels on, but can`t find the bag that goes with them to totally pull the outfit together This is how I feel sometimes when he is at work.
I`ll get over it, but it`ll make this Sunday`s dinner even better!!! We have already decided - Homemade Mac and Cheese. Sharp cheddar, gouda and Moz melted in with Armonich Rigatoni pasta with essence of white truffle...if you are NY foodie; this is inspired by the ever-so sexy Waverly Inn. I haven`t ever been there, and I don’t think it’s in my future; however, it`s one thing that I love to make and can`t get enough of. Sunday will effin RoCk!!!
************************************************************************************
Dinner was fantabulous and now it`s time to award the critters for being so great tonight. We get our cookies out of the oven, and head to the freezer. Vanilla Ice Cream, 1 banana, 1 cup of chocolate sauce and whipped cream.
I love to have fun with dessert, and I am NOT a pastry chef at all, but I do like to make fun things with the kids. This is simple.
Funky Monkey Chocolate Chip Cookies.
What you need:
2 cookies (fresh out of the oven)
half scoop of vanilla ice cream
4-5 slices of banana
melted chocolate
Take the 2 cookies and fill them with the ice cream. Drop bananas all over it; drip the chocolate all over that and cover in whipped cream!! And there you go (chh!chh!)
Just as soon as I get everyone their plate, I get a call from one of my gal pals LeFlip. We start ranting on about our days, our kids and the general Whud up! It’s always a hoot to talk to her. I feel that if there is anyone out there who may `get me`...Le Flip could possibly have the jest. Continually my husbands pms schedule rotates my own, so it`s a comic delight to go on about the girly stuff and the romantic stuff and the stuff that the girlys talk about and vice versa. I love that she is creative and innovative and loves wine also! I hate that we don’t get to play as much anymore; but when we do, it`s a grand 'ole time ((da bean!))
So we`re talking and I actually got my first live feedback about the blogadoo! She read it! I mean, I would hope that my friends would read it, and strangers, blogcreepers, Ellen DeGeneres and Oprah too! I mean, these are the reasonable milestones that I hope for this diatribe!! But LeFlip read it and actually liked it. Ok, so she thought YouHadMeAtMerlot was a little seductive...and maybe it was...but whatever...she read it. I also value her opinion a lot as she is also a writer and journalism major. I think that having someone who comes from there "get” what I think I am trying to do is great. The funny thing is, we have known each other for like 11 years...that`s a long time.. and she says 'this is one thing that I didn`t know about you Mrs. P!"...why LeFlip??? Have I really hidden the real me away for so long that not only did I not know myself, but my friends also lost sight of me?? Was I really just a cup of warm milk??? NO LONGER THAT I AM...I want to be the sassy Martini; the sexy glass of wine and really live each day with the full intent to outdo the last!
I tell her the truth. I have been so wound up for the past whatever years that I really have forgotten myself. I don’t know who I am anymore...I had forgotten how to have fun -how to laugh at myself and just to be me. Not the me who is dreading each day; who can`t get up the energy to smile or acknowledge that "hey I’m alive today...and that`s pretty fantastic!!" no...it was a while that I turned into the "whacked out mother just trying to make it through a day one cup of joe at a time". I think that my mother gave me great advice...she said
I know that things can get pretty crazy and it`s hard to make the right decision. what you have to do is sit down and write out what you want from life. what you think you want. who do you want to be? what do you want to do...everything? Set goals for yourself and try to identify with whatever list makes you complete. If you don’t know, keep writing; keep checking things off, move them to a different list and one day all the answers will be in front of you.
My momma is one smart chick and this is what I tell LeFlip...well most of it.I continued these thoughts after the phone call was done. The dood was falling asleep in my arms, So was getting cranky and Smelly was asleep....
As I am sitting her, summarizing my day, I am so glad that the moments I decided to pay attention to were these last ones. Dan is now home; I have laughed my ass off with my friends and I also got to let out just a little more insanity that lives in my head! I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings!!
- The Insatiable Host
- I feel its about time that I shed a layer of skin and emerg as an experienced blogger and literary goddess...if you already hold that title...meet me at the play ground at 3 pm. For those of you readers who haven't left me -THANK YOU...for those that did...THANK YOU for making me realize I need to get back at this. Anyhow, Im a mom, caffene junkie, inward domestic goddess who is stuck in a larger version of herself. Through this I hope to lose myself, take control of the insanity while making you laugh so hard that you spit your wine out.
0 comments:
Post a Comment