Surf'n Turf

There is no sincerer love than the love of food.  ~ George Bernard Shaw

We had friends over tonight to try out some new recipes.  It was something like surf and turf...ghetto style.  They brought steak marinated and skewered.  We had this as an appetizer with a nice Zinfandel.  He made three FABULOUS sauces...one was a bloody mary sauce, the second was a replica of a bloomin' onion sauce and the third was a bloody mary sauce mixed with blue cheese.  I'm not typically (ever) a blue cheese fan but this was awesome.  I couldn't decide which dipping sauce I liked best.

Then I made a basil butter stuffed grilled salmon.  Oddly enough, I am not a fan of cooked salmon.  I saw Tyler Florence do this on his Ultimate cooking show and thought...I think I could eat it this way.  Of course, you always make a recipe your own.  His was baked with bread crumbs...I made it on the grill, no panko.  I laid mine on a bed of lemon slices to start with.  And I held back some basil butter to top with salmon with and it was FABULOUS.  I served it with diced fingerling oven baked potatoes and roasted asparagus with an orange ginger cilantro butter (another new recipe that was TDF).  We ate dinner with a nice Pinot Grigio.

For dessert, I made a peach pie.  It was OK.  You can only do so much with peaches in MN.  Finding 10 nicely ripe peaches takes some doing.

Here's the kicker...another fish recipe the children ALL ate.

And to Mr Shaw, I say...AMEN!

A Bragging Moment

If you done it, it ain't bragging. ~ Walt Whitman

I didn't do it.  But I'm going to brag about it.  Anyone have a child who plays in-house softball?  My middle daughter ended up in in house softball and I have to say, it was a LONG.SEASON.  The first half of the season consisted of games where the pitchers pretty much walked in 5 runs (mercy rule) for the first 2 innings.  Maybe by the 3rd (and typically last) inning one of the players would hit the ball and the rest of the team would get an opportunity to actually play.  As a parent, it was painful to watch.

Mid season, the pitchers accuracy started to increase and more of the girls were hitting the ball.  We ended the season 6-1-1 (one game was a rainout).  They were the top seed for the playoffs.

Monday's first game was good but they ended with a far enough lead by the bottom of the 5th inning (last inning) that they didn't have to take their last ups (home team), moving them to the championship game tonight.

The first inning didn't look good.  The other team (home team) played some really good defense, preventing us from scoring in the first inning, and they then scored 3 runs at the bottom of the inning.  The second inning they managed to score 2 runs and kicked up their defense preventing the other team from scoring with my daughter, playing 3rd, making an awesome unassisted double play.  Down by 1, they kicked up their offense the next inning and went ahead  7-3, scoring 5 runs (enforcing the mercy rule).  Again they held the opposing team to 3 and at  the top of the 4th they went ahead, 10-4.  The other team had a chance if they could score at the bottom of the fourth.  They didn't.  They went ahead and played the 5th inning again scoring 5 runs.  There was no way the other team could win but they played out the inning with my daughter catching a pop foul ball as a first baseman to end the game.  Final score 15-6

She needs a little work on her hitting.  She made it to base once on a 3rd strike rule, once on a walk, and once with a line drive behind the pitcher.

But she played well enough that her team gave her the game ball.

It was the perfect end to a season that began with a rocky start.  I say by virtue of having given birth to her, I have bragging rights.

A Pampered Pause

No word was ever as effective as a rightly timed pause.
 ~ Mark Twain

My older girls spent the night with their cousins, leaving Beanie at home.  Alone.  Normally this isn't a big deal but earlier this weekend, the 4 of them had set up a make-over salon, in my living room.  I wasn't bothered by the salon, what bothered me was that she wasn't part of the manicure/pedicure makeovers.  

So, today I took a rightly timed pause from my standard "no" to indulge my baby in her first pedicure, since it gave me an excuse to indulge myself in a (well needed) pedicure as well.  Very spur of the moment.

Here is my baby in the chair...

And getting her toes painted.  I think she picked a color that is called..."I'm 9 and I love neon pink"...

And the finished product...

I think the flowers are pretty!

The smile on her face said it all!

I love that I was the one who put it there.

Who Says?

Who says you can't go back?
Been all around the world and as a matter of fact
There's only one place left, I want to go
Who says you can't go home?

~Jon Bon Jovi

Yesterday, we took the girls and two of their cousins out on the boat tubing.  The weather was iffy but we decided it was worth the effort given how often the forecast is right.  We hooked up with some friends who live on the lake and  just enjoyed the beautiful (see...forecast WRONG) day.  The girls each got a shot at tubing before we parked the boat and from there they swam, using the tube to play king of the hill.

Around 4pm my BIL called thinking to come get his girls and instead we invited him to join us.  We drove over and picked him up at the launch.  The girls decided they wanted to tube again so we took off, with all 4 of the girls riding a 2 person tube. 

As we listened to the screams of delight as the girls struggled to stay on the tube while laughing hysterically, my BIL turned to us and said..."I am SO glad you guys moved back."  Both my husband and I got a little choked up.

So you understand, we moved back to Minnesota almost 14 years ago, in August of 1996, so two of the four girls on that tube weren't even a gleam in our eye.  And we moved for a variety of reasons.  We were living in Maryland and after our oldest daughter was born, we realized that we didn't want to raise our children away from family.  We also didn't care for the  "pace"  of the east coast.  While I would have been happier moving closer to my parents, the likelihood of finding jobs in such a small town (upstate NY) was slim.  So, back (for my husband) to Minnesota we moved.  And have never regretted that decision (OK...maybe the odd day in January, when winter looks to be never ending and  the temps are in the sub zeros...).

How do you regret your children being exposed to an uncle who is willing to do this?

Or idyllic summer days doing this?

Home...an interesting word.  As I wrote this post, it occurred to me, I have lived in Minnesota longer than I have lived anywhere in my life (yes...I have been all around the world).  So, I think it's fair to say that Minnesota is home.  Who says?  Who indeed.

Yum

Part of the secret of a success in life is to eat what you like and let the food fight it out inside.  ~ Mark Twain

I hit upon a winner tonight and wanted to share.  Last time I was at TJ, I picked up a couple packages of frozen (fresh frozen) mahi mahi, sure I could find something to do with them.  Also, the husband and I have talked about trying to incorporate fish into our menu at least once/week.  Tonight was our "once/week".

I pulled the mahi mahi out of the freezer, wondering what to do with it.  Last time I encrusted it in a mixture of panko and macadamia nuts and sauteed it in butter and it was just OK.  I really thought it would be a winner.  So I went in search of a winner.

I found it at allrecipes.com.  I made ginger glazed mahi mahi.  I think next time I make it I might spice it up a bit with some red pepper flakes and some sherry but this was really good.  I did grill it vs pan frying and was happy I did.  I served it with coconut rice (jasmine rice cooked in coconut milk) and summer squash and zucchini kabobs (brushed lightly with olive oil, seasoned and grilled)...oh and fresh cut cantaloupe.   Oh, and garlic bread.  The husband and I also indulged in a bottle of Napa River Chardonnay (another TJ find).  Here's the kicker.  ALL.MY.KIDS.ATE.IT.

Whoo-hoo!!!  I love it when a plan comes together.

An Apple a Day

Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.  ~ Martin Luther

My husband gave me an itouch for our anniversary last October and I LOVE it.  Oh, it's a bit of a pain having to carry around two separate devices since I can't stand brick phones (the iphone would probably have been my choice if I could), but my main point in having it was to keep track of the kids' activities via the calendar (or so I told my husband).  And I DO use it in that capacity.

But Apple and I have a love-hate relationship.  Over the past 5 years or so, I have owned 3 ipods and have had battery issues with each one.  Battery issues that seem to happen one day after the one year warranty is up.  My kids have had better luck so I thought it might be operator error...ahem...like me not locking or turning off the unit when not in use.  More elaborate instructions would have alleviated the problem...but I digress.

So, having owned the itouch for about 4 months I noticed that the unit would start up songs part way through the next song.  At first I thought (again) operator error but it would happen if I was just standing still so I discounted that theory (whew).  I made an appt and took it in and they reformatted my itouch and I reloaded it at home.  Only to have the issue still happen.  Then, all of the sudden, it stopped.  Songs are now starting at the beginning of the song.  I called it a fluke.

THEN, the voice control device on the head phones stopped operating.  I couldn't get the double beep indicating that it was in voice control mode (maybe it had an aversion to my voice???  It needs to have a chat with my husband then).  That didn't bother me too much as the headphones themselves still worked.  This weekend as I pulled out my itouch to do the 4.3 mile walk around the lake, I was in my own little world of (mostly) Rob Thomas when I made it back to the cabin, took out one ear bud only to find that the speaker on the unit was in play.  I could hear through the ear bud but it also was playing through the speaker and I couldn't figure out how to play music JUST through the headphones.  I did a reset to original settings without success.

Today, I had to be in the vicinity of an apple store so I went in and explained the issue.  They IMMEDIATELY took my unit, tested my headphones, concurred the headphones were faulty, opened a new pair, handed them to me and I was on my way.  A little stunned...but a happy stunned.

So, customer service is STILL alive and well...and living at your local Apple store.

Wild and Wacky Weekend

A happy family is but an earlier heaven. ~ George Bernard Shaw

We spent the holiday weekend at my in-laws cabin 90 miles away.  And what a wonderful weekend it was.  Full of fun, laughter, adventure, laughter, food, laughter, Bud Lime, laughter, fishing, laughter...and when we were all abed, attempting to unknot the side stitch from laughing, there was still more laughter.

Some snippets of the weekend:

My FIL has a 'little car'.  You're looking at it.  He has had it for probably 50 years.  It hasn't worked well for the past couple years so my son has never had the opportunity to drive it.  Until this year.  Good thing he just finished his behind the wheel, eh?

This is half of the 10 grandchildren present...and usually the very first thing they all do when they arrive at the cabin.  3 of the 4 families represented by children present:

The 14 year olds??? They spent the afternoon taking pictures of themselves.  Faces only a mother could love:

Or the occasional 14 year old boy...:

We had some tubing action happening.  The kids are fearless:

The boat, of course, is optional:

Then there was the fishing.  Normally the pontoon is taken out to the middle of the lake where one would assume the fishing is best.  But Beanie started fishing UNDER the pontoon and started pulling up some nice sized sunnies.  I warned her that if she was going to fish, she was going to remove said fish from the hook herself:

Her cousin joined in the fishing and before we knew it Grandpa and Jacob were cleaning a mess of fish (ok...mess might be a little exaggerated...perhaps a fine appetizer plate of sunnies):

And what is a Fourth of July without the prerequisite fireworks.  We have sparklers to start:

Then all 18 of us loaded onto the pontoon (still on the lift) to watch the fireworks display over the water:

And the finale:

If only the fun had ended there.  No...Grandma needs to do a bed check on such nights.  First, she attempted to spoon snuggle with my 16 year old son.  Do you know anything of 16 year old boys?  His plaintive wail..."Dad...please take your mother away" put us into fits of laughter.  Then came the suggestion that I join my BIL so she could snuggle with her oldest son.  Gently  declining her request, she moved onto her younger son who had fallen asleep earlier and was now sporting lovely bright pink nail polish on what was left of his finger and toe nails courtesy of his younger sister.

Benjamin Franklin once said "He that raises a large family does, indeed, while he lives to observe them, stand a broader mark for sorrow; but then he stands a broader mark for pleasure too."  I count myself fortunate to be living in the circle of a large family, for the pleasure will always outweigh the sorrow.