Cheesecake and Rolls

I called my friend Katherine to talk about what she is bringing for Thanksgiving dinner. She asked if I was making rolls. "No," I responded. "They never turn out and I only try every couple of years."

"It's good for a half hour's worth of conversation," said Katherine. "It's not too late to make them."

"I feel like I am letting down my pioneer ancestors by not being able to make rolls."

"It's not too late to make them."

"Don't worry, I have a cheesecake fail that's definitely going to use up the half hour of conversation tomorrow."

---

Because I started making the crust but couldn't find my spring-form pan.

I found two chocolate graham cracker crusts and tried to adjust my recipe to fit them -- I didn't do a good job.

I decided to pour the cheesecake mixture back into my mixer to add more cream cheese and the crust came with it. --- I know!!!!

Result -- One cheesecake in a chocolate graham cracker crust with broken up pieces of the second crust mixed in and another crust-less cheesecake with half the crust mixed into the cheese cake.

I think I have a new way to disappoint my pioneer ancestors.

Teasing Cheryl because I’m a little bit evil

I brought the bottled water for our PAC event.  Since it was out the kids asked if they could have a bottle.  I said, “No, Cheryl will get mad at me if you drink any.”  She wouldn’t but I said it anyway.

When I arrived with the water I told Cheryl what I had done.  She drew in a horrified breath and stated, “You give those kids bottled water if they want bottled water.” 

And then I laughed …. an evil laugh. (Because I’m a little bit evil or maybe I laughed because I have figured out how to tease Cheryl.)

My loveliest Birthday Card!

The card came in the mail two days before my birthday because my friend loves sending cards and notes.  I lack in the card and note giving but I assume my friends and family forgive me because I’m charming, um … witty scattered.

An excerpt reads, “I marvel at the way you’ve taken life’s challenges, swallowed hard, and done your best.”

It’s not true … but I love the sentiment.

I decided I’m an honorary Jew

As least I was today because I bought two loaves of challah AND took it to a synagogue … see, honorary Jew.  Dave’s Bar Mitzvah is Saturday and I’m trying to help Marcy as much as possible.  Helping Marcy generally means driving around with her and shopping or quickly driving to Macy’s to give her my opinion on a dress.

I am awesome.  (And available to drive around quite frequently.)

There Goes the Exercise Plan

I told Cheryl that if Will stopped by her house again when he was out for a walk and asked for a ride home, not to give him one.  She looked at me, her face equal parts aghast and concerned.

“… um, never mind.”  I said

She looked at me.  “And even if I wouldn’t my husband would.”  She stated flatly.

Sad Cat Lady

Apparently I just don’t get it. I’m sure that doesn’t surprise anyone. Marcy asked me what I was doing for my birthday. I said nothing. She said “well, at least your husband will get you a cake.”

“No, I make my own cake.”

Shocked she blurted out, “No, only sad cat ladies make their own cakes.” 

“Exchange the cat for children.” I retorted.

She baked me a cake. It’s gone now . . . and I miss it.

A lovely Adoption Story

One Friday night my friend called me just as she was starting off on a walk. I told her to wait for me and I quickly drove over and joined her. She interests me because she’s in the education field, has a daughter with special needs, and has a great sense of humor. She told me part of her daughter’s adoption story. I didn’t realize that they knew their daughter had Cerebral Palsy when they adopted her and now I have even more to admire about her.

She told me that when she was being interviewed by a social worker prior to the adoption she was asked what she would do if her daughter wanted to find her birth family when she was older. My friend responded that she would never stand in her way but she thought she might be concerned -- emotionally. The social worker responded that my friend wasn’t a mother yet so she didn’t understand how her feelings would change. She went on to explain: "By the time your daughter would possibly be interested in searching it will be years in the future and your perspective will be vastly different. Through the years, you will bond with your child, love your child, and help her to grow and mature. Along that journey, you will encounter times that your daughter has challenges both big and small, and you will try to help her to ease the pain. When you see that she has a hole or a void in her life, your natural instinct will be to help her to fill it or learn to deal with it if "filling" isn't possible. The desire to find one's birth family is often an aching void, and you will you likely will transition from the vulnerability that you predict you will feel, to finding yourself wanting to scour the planet helping your daughter to find her birth family."

My friend reports that this journey to a new perspective took less than one month. Now, eight years later, she's hoping that her daughter will eventually want seek out her birth family so that she can thank them for the wonderful gift that they so selflessly gave to her, motherhood.

I thought it was a lovely, touching antidote about motherhood.

Imitation New York: The Kids Edition (Actually, we just drove into Boston to see Lion King.)

Friday night Marcy took Dave, and I took Lizzy and Jake into Boston to see Lion King.  My husband took Bri to see it in New York and they said that the rest of us should go.  Jake barely shut his mouth for the first half.  And this was only partially because he wanted food to be placed inside it.  Almost as soon as we entered the Opera House he started asking for food.  I mentioned that he just barely eaten dinner before we came; about an hour previously.  He ignored my attempt to reason and implied I was uncaring and neglectful.  As I am a completely hardened individual, I naturally told him to stop talking.  Because I am “that kind of mother”, I added that if he had eaten more vegetables for dinner he would not be hungry now.

Lizzy was entranced with the show.  However, when she started asking me plot questions I realized that she’d probably never seen the movie.  That’s what happens when you are the youngest and everyone else has moved on from Disney movies.  Instead of Disney princesses you watch Hannah Montana or other miscellaneous, crappy Disney or Nickelodeon shows.  And I am not about to start renting Disney movies for her.  She prefers Scooby Do anyway, and keeps her stash of DVDs hidden from William in her underwear drawer.

The costumes and puppets were fabulous!  I loved the animals and the brightly, colored African clothing.  The elephants, giraffes, and rhinoceros were very cool.  The musical was visually stunning. 

And on our way back to the car – Marcy scored the kids bottled water from a limo driver because that’s the way she rolls!

TAD

My friend Marcy emailed me her status for the week. Numbers 2 and 3 on her list involved tadpole sitting. Apparently Tad made a break for it and almost escaped from his aquarium at 11:00pm. (He would have made it too, if he'd only waited a little longer. But since Marcy has a dog -- he may not have liked it for long!) All I can do is publically apologise. Sorry! And I will call Pet's Mart and yell at them for lying to me!

However, being in the dog house affected the next favor I was going to ask her for. She mentioned that she had and I quote "A. Lot. Of. Vegetables." Since she was picking up my share of veggies from the CSA; my dad had suggested I ask her to can or bottle some of the veggies for me. Now after the frog trama I imagine she'll say no. Great. There goes that idea.

During that same conversation with my dad he mentioned he'd sent me a recipe for collard greens and asked if I wanted a recipe for chittlins.

Dad. I can not imagine any concievable future in which I would ever WANT a recipe for chittlins. But I'll take the recipe for the greens. (And it might come in handy for Marcy this week.)

Awesome Collard Greens Recipe
Ingredients:
2 - 3 medium smoked ham hocks or 2 pounds smoked pork neck bones
5 pounds of collards or several large bunches (If you can't get them fresh, frozen will do.
2 teaspoon of salt

My favorite way to cook collard greens is very simple. I take 2 or 3 smoked ham hocks and put them in a large (6 quart) pot of water. Bring the water to a rolling boil and let it boil for about 1 1/2 hours. Add more water as it boils down. The idea is to boil the ham hocks until they begin to fall apart. You should always cook pork very thoroughly and use proper food handling techniques. You want the ham hocks to be falling apart before you add the collard greens.Take the collard greens and separate the leaves (if fresh) . Now rinse each leaf individually under cold running water. After you rinse the collard greens thoroughly, stack several leaves on top of each other. Roll these leaves together. Then slice the leaves into thin strips using a cutting board and large knife. Rolling them together speeds up the process as you are slicking through several leaves at once.

Next, add your collard greens to the pot. Since this is a lot of collards, you will need to add them until the pot is full. Then allow them to wilt as they cook - then add more. Add you salt, cover and cook for thirty minutes on medium heat. Stir every few minutes to distribute the smoked meat taste evenly. Taste to confirm they are the tenderness you prefer. Serve with your favorite meat dish such as chitterlings. Eat the ham hocks or neck bones right along with the collards.People in my neck of the woods usually sprinkle lots of hot sauce on their collards. I like them that way. Give it a try.Since this is a large pot full, just save the extras in the refrigerator. They should keep for a long time and actually get better as the juices settle in.

Marcy, Marcy, Marcy!

Apparently, I’ve mentioned Marcy too much on my blog because my dad told me he was thinking about adopting her – I said yes anyways. I’m a very simple creature. I like food, listening to music, reading, being on the computer, my family, my friends, triceps exercises and Marcy. I used to like shopping before autism got in the way (but now that I have kid-free time I’m starting to like it again), and cooking (before years of complains from my children drove any desire to cook from me). I obsess about politics, ethics, couches and maybe Marcy.

I guess there’s only one question left to ask – Marcy, how about it? Do you want to be my sister? You can share with Bri because she has a big room.

Transfering the Blame

Friday afternoon, Marcy and I took an exercise ball class at the Y. It may have initially been my idea but since I knew I would be late getting there and Marcy made me come anyway I believe that I am able to transfer the blame to Marcy. Blame because my butt still hurts from that class!

Saturday night I was complaining to Bri about how much my butt hurt when I decided that I needed to go to the source – Marcy. I called her up. And before I could even start describing the agony I was experiencing she asked, “Does your butt hurt? Mine woke me up in the middle of the night.”

Gutenberg! The Musical.

On Saturday night Marcy and I went to see Gutenberg! The Musical. I’m not really sure how to describe it in an appropriate way for my family to read about. Parts of it were hilarious while many other parts were a little lewd.

My favorite line of the night (and the most ironic) was when Bud was explaining the musical. He called it historical fiction, which he explained was “. . . fiction that's true!"

But I was pretty disappointed in the conclusion! Sadly poor, lovesick Helvetica destroyed Gutenberg’s printing press and that the townspeople killed Gutenberg before he could build another; which led to the general illiteracy that still plagues the America today.

Lesson learned? Well, yes, next time I’m going to choose the play!

He just smiles and nods

Ever since vacation week when I moved into my friend Marcy’s place, her husband has been slightly confused. He went away for a month for work and when he returned everything was slightly off. I had taken over their lives. He finds giant orange sacks filled with laundry and extra recycling bins put out by his mailbox. He wonders how far this will go. He’s testing the water. He returned my bins on Monday at MyGym. But underlying everything is fear. Fear that one day he’ll come home and I will have taken over the spare bedroom or worse that I’d dropped off all the kids and disappeared.