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.......

Tray-O-La-Biking....

Finally the sun came out yesterday....

Memorial Day.... 

A perfect day to wash off the dusty bicycles and go for a ride... 

Kate is a training wheels kind of girl right now,

so it would have been slow and painful riding that way....

Our neighbor gave us their Trail-A Bike, aka to Kate, "Tray-O-La Bike"..... 

She was nervous at first, riding behind me with no extra wheels for insurance.... 

Soon she was so happy, she almost cried out, "Wheeeeee!!!!" 

We hit the Blue Park for some jungle gymning

and then we circled Wrigley Field to see the crowds,

smell the hot dogs

and hear the game roar....

Last  stop was for Italian Ice.... 

Hot faces cool right off with a little Superman flavor and chocolate ice....   

Now it feels like summer! 

And of course, Kate wants to Tray-O-La-Bike everywhere.....

Seven Leaks, but the Food is Good!

 

Would you go to a restaurant with that name? 

I didn't think so...  

Well, Chez Herlihy is just that, and peeling paint, um, I mean, and a bag of chips...  

I found leak #7 this morning....  

Pantry ceiling....  

Not sure if it's from the driving rain this week or our bathroom...  

Tiny drip drip drips fusing my boxes of Jello... 

Oh well, nobody liked the butterscotch flavor anyway...  

Do you live in a money pit?  I do...

in spades....   

The basement project/disaster/financial destroyer is not complete yet 

and now the roof is whining to be replaced.   

At times like this, when the Jello is ruined, 

I have run out of buckets to catch the leaks 

and Jack has just tripped his sister, causing a header on the floor, 

what would you do?  

Option one is the Death's Door Gin staring at me from across the counter... 

Good thing I don't like gin...   

Or bake!  

With three barbecues to attend, I have some serious desserts to concoct...  

What better way to take my mind off Jack's grounding and this very vintage house?  

First on the list was Trisha Yearwood's Key Lime Cake..  

Here's how to make it.....

Next I made Springtime Poke Cupcakes...

Okay, don't laugh at the title...you know who you are.... 

The only undamaged Jello was orange, 

so I went with that, 

found some sugar decorations in the spice cabinet 

and followed this recipe.....

Next on the baking tour was banana bread... 

Apparently bananas are not a hit as a post kid baseball snack... 

I had about two dozen left over and they were a lovely shade of ick this morning... 

Which is perfect for banana bread!  

I made a bunch of small loaves to give as hostess gifts this weekend...  

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

2 C sugar

1 C butter, room temperature

6 very ripe mashed bananas

4 eggs well beaten

1 T fresh orange juice

2 tsp grated orange zest

2 1/2  C cake flour

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream sugar and butter until light.  Add bananas, eggs, erange juice, and zest.  Mix well.  Sift together dry ingredients and fold into the banana mixture.  Divide into two greased 9 x 5 inch loaf pans.  Bake for 45 - 50 minutes, until firm in the middle.  Cool the loaves on wire rack for 1/2 hour before you remove them from pans.  They freeze well.... 

And finally... coconut cake... 

I have been wanting to make this recipe for a while...  

You are supposed to make it a day ahead to let the flavors mingle.  

Here is the recipe:  

We will see how it tastes...

It's cool outside and gloomy, 

but the kitchen is cozy and smells like bananas right now...

Yeah, I could still use a margarita........feel  free to stop by with one... 

I have limes......

Sleep Overs and Lemonade....

The days were counted until the sleep over....  

Highly anticipated event, it was....  

And today it came!  

Jose was staying here for a sleep over... 

For some reason, sleep overs are not old hat yet for my third grader...  

Some kids are old pros with the sleep over, but not my son... 

He is limited by dog allergies and perhaps his rambunctious behavior, but tonight he was the host.  

His buddy returned from school with us and they commenced with drum playing....

followed by a good game of cops and robbers.  

Next was basketball in the alley, then dinner and then some Wii.  

After they made their own sundaes and showered up, it was movie time.  

Let's hope they sleep all night.  

I remember marathon games of monopoly in my friend's basement...  

Sometimes we lost our game pieces in the deep red shag pile at three in the morning...

While watching "The Omen".....EEEEK! 

There is something magical about having a friend snore in your room, 

among your toys, and to share Captain Crunch with in the morning...  

It's the bridge from sharing erasers in class and playing tag at recess, to sharing your home life... 

It feels good and is fun.  

It's being a big kid now.  

It matters... 

While the boys were navigating the WWII Wii combat planes, I made two wreaths made of lemons... 

I have been wanting to make them since I saw the tutorial on Tip Junkie.  

It looked easy, but I couldn't find fake lemons that were affordable, until, 

a most serendipitous visit to JoAnn Fabrics this week...  

Oh yeah, these babies were 50% off and I was in!  

I fired up the glue gun and set to work... 

Here is the tutorial.  

I found the wreaths at the dollar store, used old ribbon and felt to cover them 

and glued the leaves and lemons as instructed.... 

It took about an hour to make two of them...

Don't they look nice against the chocolate brown front doors?  

Not so bad for home made.....  

Memorial Day weekend is here and at least my wreaths are summery... 

Still colder than a welldigger's butt outside... 

May in Chicago and not a tan in sight.....