Trains, Boats and Dim Sum....

 

When it comes right down to it, I am a hypocrite... 

In my dreams, as a stay at home mom, 

I have all sorts of lovely, educational and highly creative projects, 

field trips and activities planned for my kids' summer vacation... 

In reality, as an exhausted, harried working mom, 

I leave it to the last minute 

and then thrash around the internet for ideas 

of how to entertain my kids for the day... 

It's disappointing, really....  

I want to be that fun mom, 

chock full of potato print making projects,

outings to the Blommer chocolate factory 

and impromptu home made soap making afternoons.  

So far it hasn't happened... 

On this gap week between school ending 

and the camp beginning, I have winged it to the third degree.....  

Yesterday I bribed the kids with promises of store purchases 

and even fresh peaches (it actually worked) 

to get the kids to tag along to Kohls, Walgreens, 

Costco,  Aldi and Trader Joe's...  

They walked away with peaches 

and remote control racers 

and I got my errands completed... 

Even Steven, in my book...  

But today was wide open...  

The possibilities were endless, 

not counting the fact that it was cool and cloudy 

and we had no money to blow....

Those two elements cut out the beach, pool, 

waterparks, most parks, LegoLand, 

Great America and movies....  

The kids needed to leave the house 

or else they might set fire to each other...  

They needed a diversion 

and somehow I came up with a multi-transportational 

journey to keep them busy...  

The plan was to take the Brown Line El to the city, 

and then board a water taxi... 

We would then traverse the Chicago River 

to Chinatown where we would sample 

this unique section of town 

and taste dim sum for the first time....   

This is a long day for the average grown up

who has some semblance of decorum and direction...  

It's a REALLY long day for a mom 

with two nutty kids who want to climb, touch,

pull, kick everything of interest along the way, 

as well as torment each other at every opportunity... 

Honestly, the kids were pretty good...  

Bringing snacks always tames the beasts, too... 

The boat trip was such a great way to see the city, 

the tall buildings, like the twin buildings used 

for the Bob Newhart Show..  

We sailed past my old workplace, 

General Growth Properties 

and I was a little wistful...  

Back in the day when I worked a corporate job, 

made good money 

and could spend some of it on State Street 

during lunch break...  

Back when I could have a conversation 

for five minutes straight 

without being interrupted or poked...

Arriving to Chinatown there was a beautiful pagoda 

and a playground.  

The kids had to make their mark on the monkey bars 

before setting off for lunch.  

Chinatown is pretty small and mingled with a tough part of the city, 

so I was a bit wary...

 

We were searching for "Three Happiness" restaurant 

as it was well liked on Yelp 

and dubbed "family friendly"  

This tiny restaurant is no frills 

and the old Chinese ladies working there 

did not have a good command of English...

 

They were very sweet, however 

and even tried to teach Kate how to use chopsticks...  

Jack and I loved the dumplings, 

shrimp toast and won tons.  

Kate preferred white rice...  

So much for an adventurous palate....  

The tea was floating with tea leaves, 

which spooked the kids, but Jack enjoyed it anyway...  

Dessert was cool blocks of coconut gelatin, 

which the kids devoured...  

After lunch we stopped in a souvenir shop...  

They played with the dragon puppets, 

mini Buddhas, folding fans and Japanese erasers. 

I brought home a tiny 

Buddha to grace our home.... 

 

Back on the boat, then train 

and walk home, I think I sufficiently filled the day 

and tired their little kiesters out...  

Tom brought home a client tonight from the U.K. for dinner....

I busted out a steak dinner with all the trimmings...

Dessert was so tasty...  It is from the July issue of Country Living....

Mixed Berry Crumble Ala Mode

Ingredients:

1 pint blueberries

1/2 pint raspberries

1/2 pint diced strawberries

1/4 C honey

3/4 C flour

1/2 C rolled oats

1/2 C brown sugar

1 stick butter

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  In a large bowl, mix berries. Drizzle with honey.  Sprinkle with 4 tablespoons flour and toss.  Transfer fruit to an 8x8 baking dish.  In a large bowl, mix remaining fliur, oats, brown sugar and butter with a pastry blender until mixture forms large crumbly lumps.  Sprinkle over berries.  Bake until golden brown, 45-50 minutes.  Serve with vanilla ice cream....

Camp is Monday, thank God.    

Maybe next year I'll be that organized mom from the Kraft commercials.....

Nah....

About Last Week....

 

You ever have the kind of week where so much goes on you can barely keep up?  

Drop into bed late each night...?

Wake tired and start running?  

It was the last week of school and it was nuts... 

I felt the pressure of coming up with inventive, 

useful and worthy teacher gifts for 

six (count 'em) 6 teachers... 

A tall hill to climb when broke....  

So I came up with making book plates (DIY here)  for each instructor, 

combined with Barnes and Noble gift cards. 

Now that I have baked goodies for the rest of the school staff 

on a periodic basis, I felt compelled to send them off to summer 

with a table full of treats.  

Martha Stewart Living, June Issue, 

had some great recipes for a 

Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake and Chocolate Chip Cupcakes.  

 I found the cake recipe here:

For a little color pop, I made cinnamon cake pops to look like apples.  

It was an 8 hour bake - O - thon....  

but worth the happy faces... 

School was out 

and the kids headed to a park 

for a last whoop it up party.  

Had to make potato salad for that potluck picnic... 

In the midst of his most awesomest water fight ever, 

I had to drag Jack home to see the Yankees play the Cubs...  

Clearly I am the meanest mom ever....  

What mother would deprive her child 

of a good old fashioned water fight 

and make her son see 

one of the most successful baseball clubs 

play in the Friendly Confines?!  

Call DCFS....  

That weekend, Jack had two baseball games of his own 

with the Sunday game ending in their first W 

(Jack got the game ball, too) 

and a family potluck (more potato salad and baked beans)... 

And then the cold hit....  

My petri dish daughter shared her precious germs with me 

and this summer cold is peaking just about now....  

There's nothing like a cocktail of Sudaphed and Nyquil....mmmmmmmm    

So in my sedated stupor, 

I seemed to have blocked out the realization 

that the kid's camp starts NEXT week and not this past Monday... 

What in the world was I going to do with them for the whole week?  

If I didn't have to work, then I could think of a million fun things to do...

Beach, Art Institute, mini golf....re-turfing the front yard....oh yes...I could keep them verrry busy!  

But NO, I needed child care and quick!  

My dear, patient, loving parents came to the rescue,

knowing that keeping my two monkeys busy is no easy 

and  is a slightly unpleasant task....  

As we left the house yesterday morning, 

my son noticed that there were people in our front yard...  

I stepped out the back and some kid 

who resembled Eddie Munster 

walked by me with a shovel... 

I walked around the corner 

and this scarey looking guy,

with more hair than teeth, glared at me...  

I said, "Um, Hello...I'm the homeowner..."  

He growled, "I know, I seen you before.  

They said I can't cover the cement with dirt 

and I gotta get it out.  

I done walked four miles to get here

'cuz my van broke down!"  

 

Then I noticed the woman smoking a cigarette,

who appeared to be pregnant, 

wearing a fanny pack.  

I started to sweat...  

I felt surrounded by carnies... 

At this point I barricaded myself in the house 

and contacted the contractor to find out 

where the candid cameras were, 

as surely these people weren't sent here 

to perform work on my house.  

Apparently the joke WAS on me...they were!  

And then they disappeared 

and no one else has showed up since...  

I may get my AARP card before this project is finished...

Tomorrow is Thursday...

this wild week is almost through 

and then the kids start camp on Monday...

Thank you, Holy Father!!!  I'll drink to that.....

 

What in the WHAT WHAT?!

Sometimes a confluence of events leaves you speechless...  

Like this newborn deer that has been hanging around 

my parent's neighborhood....

Starting with Friday... 

We took our little White Sox kids to see the big White Sox play at The Cell... 

Since it was Welles Park Baseball Night, 

we got to round the bases via the warning track before the game...  

Yep, that's my ugly mug on the Jumbo Tron...  

Our seats were upper deck, 

same section as my sister in law's season tickets at Wrigley...  

As lucky coincidence would have it, 

the same beer vendors work The Cell, too...  

Tom felt like the big man on campus calling out "Les!" or "Steve!" for a beer.  

Too bad it was Miller instead of Bud... 

You can't have everything...    

Saturday we went for a walk with the kids 

and stopped by our favorite corner liquor store to say hi to the owner, Joe.  

Tom is like Norm from Cheers, buying his regular 12 pack of Bud...

The kids were angling for a free lollipop, 

but I just wanted to greet Joe's cockatoo, Sasha... 

Standing a respectful three feet or so from this large white bird 

perched on top of the cage, I cooed a sweet hello...  

Out of nowhere, Sasha took flight and landed on my shoulder...  

Keeping calm, I kept speaking softly, but Sasha was apparently excited to see me

and began to whistle, speak and then squawk 

at a volume surely heard in the Aleutian Islands.  

Joe was agast and said Sasha has never flown to anyone, nor acted like this...  

Jeez, who am I, Dr. Doolittle?  

While I appreciated Sasha's warmth and attention, 

I was soon to be deaf from her amorous caws.....  

After that foray with wildlife, I was ready for a glass 

of something fizzy and not available to minors....  

The sitter barely saw the back of my jacket 

as we dashed for the door and into a cab, headed downtown...  

While riding along Michigan Avenue, enjoying the company of my dear husband, 

we heard hooting and hollering from outside....

Looking across the street we spied hundreds of naked people on bikes, 

riding north...  

Let me tell you, all they wore on this chilly night were their Nikes and the rest swung free....

or bounced or jiggled....you get the idea.... 

We couldn't stop laughing and the Jamaican cab driver was appalled....  

It was awesome... 

Wish I could have gotten a good photo...

You can sort of make out cycling nakedness....

At Pops For Champagne, we enjoyed some tasty champagne 

while watching scores of bachelorette parties stagger down the street

or whoop it up inside the bar....  

Not so sure the veil and fuschia boas are so cool anymore.... 

Maybe I am old and jaded, but class it up a bit, will ya?  

  

Sunday I decided to try my hand at bread baking...  

Yeast is not my friend, but I have a cookbook, My Bread, by Jim Lahey,  and wanted to try his 

 famous "No Knead" bread...

My mom found the cast iron pot for me and away I went.  

The bread looked ugly and burnt, but dang if it wasn't tasty...  

I'll be baking more now that I have a greater yeast confidence.  

The bread was a cast member for  Lucinda's roast chicken and Everyday food's green bean salad... 

Tonight was pork tacos, and the kids and I made Sopapillas for dessert.  

Jack felt extra saucy and threw on the chef hat for authenticity....  

It's quick, easy and the kids snarfed them down...  

Cut flour tortillas into quarters.  

Heat 1/2 inch vegetable oil to 350 degrees.  

Fry the tortilla quarters until brown.  

It's super quick, like 5 seconds.  

Drain on brown paper bags.  

Dust with sugar and drizzle chocolate sauce.  

It's fun, but messy....

in fact, 

you might want to make them naked....

or maybe not with the hot oil and all.....  

Let's just leave it to those bicyclists......

Hotter than the Hinges of Hades...

Hot enough for ya?  

Anything of yours break down in the heat?  

Car, air conditioning, self control?

Our A/C unit did, for the third year in a row....

Like anyone, I do love a visit from the repairman...

You know, the one who looks like felonies are a fun hobby 

and who considers you to be some dumb chick 

who can barely set the thermostat, 

much less understand the intricate workings of an air handler system....  

To that, I say, perhaps I do understand 

and if you mention air tonnage, evaporator coils, condensing units 

and the total HVAC package, 

then YES, Mister, throw it at me....  

Thank you, General Growth Properties 

and your 10 years of education in all things air...

  

I am not as dumb as I look....  

Soooo, it's hot and it makes me a little slow 

and I might be as dumb as I look.... 

Today is Wednesday and my calendar after school was blank...  

So I wondered, what could I do with the kids 

for fun on this rare, uncluttered day?  

DQ, of course! 

We broke out the Tray-O-La-Bike 

and set off for the land of Dairy and Queens.  

As we enjoyed our treats, something kept bugging me...

I was missing something....  

Just as the watch struck 3:45, it came to me....

Kate's Little Gym final performance at 4pm!  

Yikes!  

We rode like kids after an ice cream truck back home, 

jumped in the car 

and made it there with three minutes to spare...  

Kate was unflustered as she did her rolls, cartwheels and balance beam tricks.  

I sat sweating in the sidelines and Jack smelled like a monkey's uncle.    

Sorry for the sideways video...  

I am not schooled in the phone video feature I guess....  

Afterward, we came home, played in the sprinkler and had a little dinner.  

This recipe is perfect for the beastly hot day 

because you can make the chicken patties in the am 

and just heat them up in the microwave before serving... 

 It's a tasty meal with no fuss... 

Chicken Koftas with Cucumber and Yogurt

from Everyday Food

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 1/4 pounds ground chicken or turkey

1/2 white onion, diced small 

1/3 C chopped fresh parsley leaves 

Coarse salt and ground pepper

1/2 cucumber, diced large

1/2 C plain Greek yogurt

2 T vegetable oil

2 medium tomatoes, sliced

4 pitas

1/2 C fresh mint leaves for serving

In a large bowl, combine chicken, onion and parsley; season with salt and pepper.  Using your hands mix until well combined.  Form mixture into 8 oval patties.
 

In a medium bowl, toss together cucumber and yogurt; season with salt and pepper.  Ina large skillet, heat oil over medium-high.  Cook patties until browned on all sides and cooked through, 12 minutes.  Divide patties and tomatoes among pitas.  Top with cucumber-yogurt sauce and mint.  Fold to enclose and serve.

Kids loved it, too...  

Now if only we can get this house under 80 degrees....

Tattoos and Shopping Carts...

The carpet guys just showed up late, of course, to clean the tenant bedrooms below us...  

I wonder, after having a couple of estimates, 

if copious tattoos and earlobe holes so large I could push a pencil through 

them are the required  dress code for such a profession...  

They were nice in an Eddie Haskell kind of way, so I can't complain... 

If you don't know who Eddie Haskell was, 

then you are too young to read this old bird's blog....  

As I wait for them to finish cleaning, 

here's a few things that have come to mind lately:

I stepped on fake barbed wire yesterday... 

What does G.I. Joe need barbed wire for?  

It hurt, but not as much as the real stuff would... 

Lego's hurt more....  

They are compact little pieces of indestructable pain generators...  

They always find the most tender spot of your instep 

as you jam your foot on them, in the dark, at 10pm....  

You just know the evil inventors of Legos 

are coming up with a micro version 

that not only will implant themselves into your feet like splinters

but will have some sort of chip that by remote control, 

will inflict pain at your child's choosing.....

"Ah Ha Ha, MOMMY!!!

Take THAT for denying me one more Ho Ho!!!"

Shopping carts are mobile jungle gyms... 

From the age upon when your tender little baby rides shotgun in the cart,

(now massively protected from those AWFUL STORE GERMS, 

in puffy fabric covers (rolling eyes here)) 

to the age when they have a drivers license 

and should be pushing the cart for you, kids want to climb/ride all over them...  

Have you tried to steer a cart past the tower of cans 

with one riding in the cart and one hanging off the side? 

I feel for you moms with more than 2  kids...  

Children give no attention to the fact that 

 A:  food goes INTO the cart, 

B:  We are here to shop for food/plants/contraband 

and NOT for Silly Putty or candy at the checkout, and 

C: I will not endure the humiliation of having the store manager 

break out the SawsAll 

to get your 5 foot tall body out of the seat portion of the cart... 

And this is why we moms go to great lengths to shop without kids...  

I forgot all that and took them to Home Depot yesterday.  

Cue the vodka...

Do you remember Eldon from the show, "Murphy Brown"?  

He was her house painter who was there for, I think, the whole series..  

He just never finished...  

Yep, that is what's under our house...  

We took a photo inventory of what's left yesterday...  

My landscaping still looks like Larry the Cable guy did it, plywood and all...  

He forgot the 1972 rusted Pinto Hatchback for the front yard, 

but maybe we will scout out a couch from an alley to place there instead...  

I just want to finish the front and back yards 

and can't until these bozos "Git Er Done"...  

I may have to threaten to leave my kids in their construction office 

until it's completed...     

OOOOH....Now that's a good idea!

In the Red....

 It seems I am surrounded by red of late....  

There is the perpetual redness of our finances...  

I love the query from T$, "How little can you live on until a week from tomorrow?"  

Always a fun question in the face of impending birthdays, Father's Day, groceries and the mortgage....  

This redness persists like rosacea.... puffy and unattractive, 

but usually covered up with a little beer, I mean makeup.....  

The recent red that burst on the scene yesterday was my hair...  

In the name of prudent spending I decided to color my hair 

instead of trusting my locks to a professional...

Mistake Number One...   

Not only did I not choose wisely in the color department, 

but I failed to purchase enough goo to cover all the hair... 

So, after the color, rinse, conditioning and blow dry, 

I realized I looked like Brenda Starr after a really good fight.

  

My tresses are so red you might think I used canned cherry pie filling as the colorant...  

Then of course, when the wind blows, you see my old brown strands underneath....

yep...it was a first class job I did.....  

Now, the first reaction would be to dash to Walgreens for Nice & Easy 

in some bland color like "Walnut" or "Mouse is Me",

but I am too afraid I will end up looking like Lady Gaga 

when she channels the Wicked Witch of the West....  

A professional fix plus a much needed haircut will land me about $150.00, tip extra... 

These days, that's a week of groceries, 

so I am stuck looking like Carrot Top's mom 

until the next payday..... 

Lesson learned:  Leave the hair to the ones who are trained to style it.....

Dork.

Red also came in the form of a booking for the little one... 

She dressed as Little Red Riding Hood for August's catalog One Step Ahead, Halloween issue.

  

Such a cute costume...

 

Look for the red Jawa hiding behind the stump 

while the stylists act like "Grandma" and the "Wolf"...

 

Such a long commute home....  

Not sure the 2 1/2 hour drive was worth the fee....  

Don't  you just love the Eisenhower Expressway at 5pm?

  

As you can see, neither do my fiery locks or I......    

Hoping to be in the black soon, 

just not my hair.......