Bring on the Buckets....

Tommy announced he lost 6 pounds the last few days.... 

Jeez, just when I was feeling a little slimmer in my mom jeans, 

he makes a statement like that....  

If he weighs less than I do, 

I will just have to slog down a pan of brownies in protest.  

PS: luckily, he weighs 10 pounds more than I do....

Whew!  

The reason why he dropped so many lb's 

is the powerful flu virus that wracked his body 

from Saturday to today....  

Usually, it appears that when most of the male species 

gets a hang nail, you would think a limb was hanging by a tendon...  

But this time, he was REALLY sick....  

He and the biffy became super close... 

I heard unearthly noises that even married couples should not share...

I know, TMI, but it was something....

Neither of us got much sleep for two nights running...

Poor guy couldn't keep water down for at least a day...  

So, I had to cut him some slack 

while I was dealing with kids, 

dozens of loads of laundry, 

a spotty internet, 

the repairman fixing the dishwasher in the apartment unit, 

carpool with 6 boys to and from CCD, 

flu shots for the kids 

Kate falling face first on the school playground

and the torrential rains over the last four days... 

I now hate rain....  

Our roof resembles swiss cheese these days... 

I am running out of buckets...  

Rain is drip, drip, dripping

through recessed lights in the hall, 

 the kids' bathroom light, 

 the back stairwell, 

Kate's room and the pantry...  

Why don't they have essay contests to win new roofs?  

Or could we collect Campbell Soup labels and cash them in for a roof?  

We would be eating chicken and stars, all three meals, ad infinitum.....    

It's only Wednesday of this ratty week... 

My mom would joke my biorhythms were off, 

but I think it's more widespread than that...  

Friends and Facebook friends 

are all ranting that this week has stunk, so who knows... 

Maybe there are solar flares or something...

We are even out of vodka AND wine...  

Now that's bad....  

I might have to drink some of that awful pinky white Zin 

we got as a shower gift years ago...  

It probably tastes like apple cider vinegar by now....  

The good news is that tomorrow is pay day 

and the wine fridge/cupboards will be replenished...  

A little shopping/wine therapy goes a long way...  

More good news is that Kate's face is healing nicely..  

And Jack took his Hep A vaccine like a man tonight...

Six pounds lost.... 

I knew I should have licked his drinking glass while I had the chance....

Fall

Last Friday was the first day of Fall...  

It would have been great to signal the change of seasons 

with an apple picking excursion

or a day of making hearty soups...  

Instead, it was a no school day 

and I hosted two play dates 

while trying to get some housework done...  

It's like pushing a rope uphill, 

tidying the house, 

when four kids are doing their best to crap it up...  

I gave up when I saw the boys 

whittling faces in some potatoes, 

peels a-flyin' all over the kitchen floor.... 

Fall sort of arrived earlier when Lee, 

 the Wood Guy, dropped by... 

He and Tom have some sort of ESP thing going...  

Just as Tom mentions that it's time for Lee 

to cruise the neighborhood in his truck laden with wood, 

less than five minutes later Lee calls....  

It's weird...  

But there he is, stacking the cord of wood 

and we are all set for winter...  

Earlier last week, I found the Fall bin at the factory...  

We blew the half inch or so of factory dust off the lid 

and Kate helped me change the house from summer to fall...  

Same old decorations each year....

I feel like the 60 year old teacher 

who puts up the same pictures on the bulletin boards 

and they have 400 push pin holes in them...  

Moline friends...that was Betty Roseberg!  

 

Anyway, maybe when the fall sales hit this year, 

I will head over to Pier One 

to freshen up the fall decor a bit...  

I kind of like mixing the fall things around... 

Helps keep it fresh, I guess...  

Tonight I made one fall-ish dish...

Squash Casserole, courtesy of Trisha Yearwood 

and her awesome cookbook, 

"Home Cooking by Trisha Yearwood"...  

Honest, the kids even liked it...  

We also had Flat Roasted Chicken, 

a fave recipe from Lucinda Scala Quinn's 

go to cookbook,

"Mad Hungry, Feeding Men and Boys"...  

So fall is here and there will be time to cook 

many comforting dishes...  

I am looking forward to raking the leaves 

and watching the kids pile into them.  

Wish we could burn the leaves, too....  

I love that smell...  

The maple tree down the street is just starting to turn color...  

I do love this season...

Creamy Squash Casserole

2 pounds yellow summer squash, trimmed and sliced 1 inch thick

Small sweet onion, such as Vidalia, peeled and diced

1 cup water

1 teaspoon salt, divided use

1 large egg

1 cup mayonnaise

1 cup grated cheddar cheese (about 2 ounces)

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 cup butter crackers, such as Ritz, crushed (about 12 crackers)

Difficulty level: Easy

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 2-quart casserole dish.

Place the sliced squash and the onion in a medium saucepan with about a cup of water and teaspoon of the salt. Cover and cook over medium heat until the squash is tender, about 15 minutes. Drain thoroughly and cool.

Put the squash into a bowl and beat with an electric mixer; the mixture should remain kind of chunky. Add the egg, mayonnaise, cheese, remaining teaspoon salt and the pepper and mix until combined. Pour the squash mixture into the prepared dish, top with the crumbs, and bake for 30 minutes.

Makes 12 servings. 

Flat Roast Chicken
For a speedy way to make roast chicken, cut the backbone out and lay the whole bird flat. The technique will allow you to cook it in under an hour.

From the book "Mad Hungry," by Lucinda Scala Quinn (Artisan Books).

Serving size: Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients:
• 1 whole (3- to 4-pound) chicken
• Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red-pepper flakes
• 2 cloves garlic, smashed and peeled

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Using kitchen shears, cut along both sides of the backbone to remove; discard or reserve for broth, if desired. Open the chicken's legs and spread the bird down flat, skin side up. Press down firmly on the breastbone to flatten. Pat dry with paper towels; season generously with salt and pepper.
2. Heat a large ovenproof skillet, preferably cast-iron, over high heat. Add 1 tablespoon olive oil and 1 tablespoon butter. Add chicken, skin-side down, to skillet. Let brown without moving, about 3 minutes. Turn chicken, taking care not to break the skin; transfer skillet to oven.
3. Roast chicken until golden brown and cooked through or until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part reaches 165 degrees. Transfer chicken to a cutting board and let stand 10 minutes.
4. Add 1 tablespoon lemon juice and remaining tablespoon butter to pan, swirling to combine; set aside. In a small bowl, whisk together remaining 3 tablespoons olive oil, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, red-pepper flakes, garlic, and pinch of salt. Cut chicken into pieces and serve immediately drizzled with olive oil mixture and pan sauce.

Wiped out....

 

It's Saturday night and I am in my jammies at 7:30 pm....  

Yeah, no clubbin' for this sister...

Just too wiped out to even fake energy for "Saturday Night Live"...  

I have had one of those weeks...  

You know, the kind where your kids 

have endless back to back activities after school,  

where your husband is out for meetings/entertaining clients/

getting smashed at Oktoberfest for several nights this week, 

and you, yourself have appointments, house projects 

 and kid diarrhea thrown in for good measure....  

The computer sits above the beverage fridge 

and I'm too tired to reach down for a beer...  

However, if wine would happen to be in the regular fridge to my right....

Sadly we are out of white...

Outside, 20 kids are running and screaming to 

"Ghosts in the Graveyard", way past dark... 

Jack pawed at the door like a dog in heat

until Tom agreed to go outside 

with him to supervise the chaos... 

All that energy is wasted on the young...  

So, it's been a week...  

It started off with HEAT Armor winning a much needed contract.... 

The lights will stay on a bit longer, thank goodness....  

And we celebrated.... 

A little too much....

Ouchie....  

The  next night, Tom took a client 

to the last Cubs night game...  

Can you say blithering idiot at 2am?  

Yesterday was a no school day (already)...

So we had a double playdate....

Each kid had a buddy over so they wouldn't kill each other...

It was good, but a little hectic...

Next night was our next door neighbor's progressive party....  

It was to benefit their grammar school....

Her house was the second stop 

in the "Tour of Europe"...

Spain...  

She went all out with flowers, 

Name tags in Spanish, 

Spanish music, 

even Flamenco dancers on the mantle...  

The food was deelish and the ambiance was festive....  

I'd say her house was the best of the three....  

Even if I am a little biased....  

While I was enjoying prosecco with blueberry infusion, 

good conversation and house envy, 

my darling husband was fulfulling 

his annual volunteer commitment 

at St. Alphonsus Church's Oktoberfest...  

Dubbed one of the ten best Oktoberfests 

in the US, it's a great party, no doubt....  

Tom definitely adds to and enjoys the festivities, 

to the point, that I can pinpoint his drunken arrival at home 

to the minute... 

This year, I bet it would be 3 am...  

I was off by six minutes...

Now, how does one recover

in the morning to tackle a project 

such as rebuilding our front entrance?  

To be continued....

A Spark of Creativity....

Don't you love when you see little wheels turn?  

I mostly do, 

except when my son gets some bright idea 

just when we are headed out the door to school...  

His timing is generally off and can be quite tiresome...  

But sometimes, I force myself to turn off my clean house directive 

and let things run its course... 

Saturday, I planned to take the kids to the Garfield Park Conservatory 

to while away some hours 

since Tom had to work... 

The park was having its annual "County Fair" 

and I thought it might be a fun thing to do... 

The best part was that it was free... 

That twenty dollar membership was well worth it, 

just for the free admission...  

There were the requisite booths about saving the planet, 

one compost bin at a time,

but the big attraction were the pony rides...  

Luckily for me, we were early enough to not wait in line...  

Jack showed uncharacteristic generosity 

in offering to walk Kate in the pony circle for five minutes...  

Next the petting zoo, in its parasitic glory, 

provided the next ten minutes of kid enjoyment... 

As the parents frantically shoved quarters into the grain dispensers, 

to provide handfuls for their children,

the kids partied with goats, ducks, 

potbellied pigs, bunnies, geese and hens... 

Nothing tingles the old immunity response 

like a good, long session in the petting zoo... 

Wipes, anyone?  

Off in the distance were the expected inflatable jungle gyms...  

It's like a keg at a college party...

If it's not there, the event is somehow naked...  

The kids dashed off to slide, jump and flip with abandon 

while I scanned the premises for the next plan of action...  

I thought perhaps a snack might be in order

until I realized there was only one food stand, 

with a line that snaked into oblivion...  

Food: NOT....  

Ok, what else? 

On the other side of the trees 

was the folksy band and some interesting tables, 

humming with activities...  

We wandered over to discover a whole world of naturific things to do...

There were two guys teaching wood working, 

tables for weaving, three year old style, 

and all sorts of things one could create with corn husks...

  

We made corn husk crowns, 

corn husk dolls,

and we even made a clothing collection for Miss Corn Husk...

 

Jack made a cider sachet, but we missed the origami hut... 

Last on the path, was an open area 

where there were logs, sticks, palm fronds, 

giant leaves and other debris piled up...  

Here the kids looked busiest; 

using sticks as weapons 

(boys, of course), 

using sticks as swords, 

(again, boys) 

and making piles or structures 

with all available materials...

 

Jack set about making a hut of some sort 

and in a rare flash of cooperative spirit, 

Kate helped... 

Some boys took offense to Jack's gathering of wood, 

having claimed the whole area to themselves... 

It had a Lord of the Flies aura to it, 

so I stood back and watched dispassionately 

as they worked things out and set to construction...  

As soon as Kate tried out the stick teepee, 

it collapsed and I saw my opportunity to head home...  

Driving home, I ruminated about the whole wood working thing...  

My brilliant cousin, who lives in Brooklyn, 

considered starting a wood shop franchise for kids a while back...  

I love the idea of teaching wood working skills to kids... 

It's a lost art...  

My parents' generation is so handy; 

they can fix anything, 

but I challenge you to find many thirty to forty-somethings

who willingly knows how to fix things, 

work with wood, or cook, for that matter... 

If circumstances tossed us in the middle of the Yukon 

with nothing but a hook, penknife 

and a sheet, most of us would be SOL...  

Anyway, I would love to enroll Jack in a wood working class... 

If any of you know of one in Chicago, please let me know....  

So we came home, good and tired from a busy day outside... 

I was expecting the kids to veg in front of the TV 

while I prepared dinner, which Kate did...  

Jack, however, headed outside 

and I swear, it took him no more than 15 minutes 

to strip branches off of every reachable tree, 

snag two of the blankets 

and create his own luxury sapling condo in our front yard...  

I was waiting for the phone to ring from angry neighbors, 

but luckily no one cared... 

 After about an hour of him playing Robinson Crusoe, 

I made Jack clean up the shrubbery mess, 

which caused him to then pull out his pup tent...  

You would have thought he also blew a dog whistle, 

because about ten kids showed up from parts unknown 

to party in the tent...  

It was like a clown car... 

The tent tossed around in the yard like it was alive...  

Passers-by were either amused or aghast at the commotion...  

It was amazing no one got an elbow in the face... 

If they did, no one cried...  

Jack had so many great ideas and he put them to use...  

I love seeing a kid brain at work, 

even if the idea is messy and slightly destructive...  

One day, they will be at college 

and my yard will be perfect...  

I am in no rush for that quiet day.....  

 

And while my monkeys were tearing up the front yard, 

I put Cordelia's Roast Beef in the oven...  

This week is an ode to Ms. Trisha Yearwood 

and her awesome cookbook, 

Home Cooking with Trisha Yearwood.  

I'll share more of her goodness this week...

but here's her yummy roast beef as a starter.....

CORDELIA'S ROAST BEEF
 
 Serves 8.

INGREDIENTS
2 tablespoons salt
1 3-pound eye of round beef roast
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 10-ounce cans French onion soup
1 10-ounce can golden mushroom soup

Rub the salt into the meat very well. Coat the meat with flour.
In a large cast-iron Dutch oven, heat the vegetable oil. Sear the roast on all sides. Transfer the seared roast to a platter and scrape the pan to loosen the drippings. Add the soups and 3 soup cans of water to the pan. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer, return the roast and its juices to the pan, cover, and cook for 3 hours, or until the meat is tender.
Slice and serve with the pan gravy.