catnip and coffee

I’d rather have a little India Arie stuck in my head all day:

So I had to drop off the boy at t-ball this evening and then I had to go to a meeting. I didn’t have time to go home and get dinner, nor did I even have time to buy a decent meal. But there was no way I was going to a freaking town council meeting with an empty stomach. (Don’t even ask why I was there, but I’m pretty sure me and my cohort were prominently displayed on the local cable access channel. Yikes.)

Anyway, my solution was to stop at a convenience store, grab a bag of chips and a soda, (and a powerball ticket, but shhh, don’t tell dh!) and eat it in the parking lot. Now, if I ate said chips and drank said soda WHILE reading Bon Appetit magazine, is that true irony, or is it Alanis Morissette not really irony kind of irony?

I just realized, I really hate that song. Why did I write a post with that in it? Now that’s ironic. Right?

[edited to add: HELP ME. NOW THAT FRIGGING SONG IS STUCK IN MY HEAD. and I'm very sorry if it's stuck in yours now too.]

(Yesterday I promised a little something new and fun this week! Well, here it is! My latest recipe is cross-posted over at Chop. Stir. Mix. It’s the cutest foodie site ever, and it’s a great resource for busy women. Go see for yourself!)

Back when dh and I were living in Northern Virginia we would sometimes go to Red Hot and Blue, a bbq restaurant that was just down the street from us. One of the menu items we both loved was their chicken corn chowder, which had just a hint of smoke and heat. Now that we’re back in New England I can’t get no RH&B, so I had to come up with my own version of the chowder.

Now, mine certainly isn’t the same, and it would NEVER be called gourmet, but the flavors are perfect, it’s hearty, and it’s one of the easiest meals I make. I could boil the potatoes myself and I could bake the chicken myself (and sometimes I do.) I could also milk a cow myself (hee hee), and heck I could grow the corn too (well, probably not) but some nights I just don’t have time to do anything but open cans. Do you have those nights too?

The point is, I’m giving you my easiest version of this, and you change it up however you want, k? The only super duper important things here are the roasted corn and the spices.

Lazy Man’s (or Busy Women’s) Spicy Chicken Corn Chowder

2 cans corn, one drained, one not!

2/3 bag frozen roasted corn (I had a 1 lb bag from Trader Joes)

1 package pre cooked diced chicken, or 1 cup diced baked chicken

1 can diced potatoes drained or 2-3 boiled potatoes diced

1 can cream of potato soup

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 ½ - 2 cups milk

1 cup light cream (if using skim milk use more cream and less milk)

salt and pepper to taste

cayenne pepper

chili powder

optional:

4-5 scallions or 1-2 small onions chopped fine

2 tbsp butter/margarine

(If using onions or scallions, start by lightly sautéing them in butter.)

Get a big pot and dump in all of your ingredients, all the corn, (including the can with the water), cream of potato soup, cream of chicken soup, potatoes, milk, cream. Slowly heat on Medium to a low boil (not roiling), then turn to low to simmer. If soup is too thick add extra milk or a little water, if too thin add extra cream or more corn. Add cayenne, chili powder, salt and pepper to taste, (remember the canned soup has salt already so go easy.)

Simmer for a few minutes to meld the flavors, and enjoy!

ps. Here’s a printable pdf version if you want it! spicy-chicken-corn-chowder

I’ve always wanted to try making risotto, but it sounds so intimidating doesn’t it? Well when I saw this version of it on Pioneer Woman Cooks I couldn’t help but think it was actually doable. I pretty much followed her recipe to the letter. My only changes were to run the onions and garlic in the food processor - I didn’t want chunks. I also discovered grating real parmigiano reggiano will only make your knuckles bleed - take my advice and run that through the processor too!

Apparently, the most important thing about making risotto is: you must stand at the stove and stir stir stir, every few minutes. For about 40 minutes. So if you want a make it and walk away recipe, stay away from this. BUT if you want a truly glorious food experience, go, try it right now! It is so worth the effort.

Oh and by the way, it was great this morning too, when I ate it cold for breakfast!

When the color on the box is nothing like the color it turns out on your hair.

<deep sigh>

I naturally have very (? it’s hard to remember!) dark hair, but with a few bright white bits of fishing line hairs thrown in. I typically just do highlights to distract you from blend the gray. I’ve did some crazy highlights over the winter so when I started to see roots I thought that this time I thought I’d just do an all over color, lighter than my natural shade, but slightly darker than my highlights. I also wanted it a little more red. Doesn’t “medium auburn” sound about right? It did to me. But, no. It might as well have been labeled dark blah.

On a different note - I have something fun coming up later this week! Here’s a hint.

So we notice a little stain on the ceiling in the foyer, just under one of the upstairs bathroom sinks. Well, technically not we. The boy noticed it a couple of days ago and I mentally filed it away to mention to dh. Apparently I put it in my mental circular file. Luckily dh noticed it himself yesterday and decided to do something about it first this this morning. Me? I would have remembered it about the time the ceiling caved in and we were all asthmatic from mold exposure.

So yeah, the drywall was more than a little damp as he cut into it. And so the hole got bigger and bigger, looking for the dry edges. Out came damp insulation, yuck. Out also came some some strange radiant heat tiles that hadn’t been used in years. We didn’t even know the system was in there. It didn’t take dh long to find the leak - since it’s still dripping - just a small pinhole in the copper fitting on the cold water pipe. Unfortunately, it will need to be replaced. As will the ceiling:

Wicked classy eh?

Perhaps I should have titled this “I wished I played the lottery this week.”

I’ve finally taken a photo of my namesake. (Or am I its namesake? Or does it work both ways? I could Google it but I don’t really care.)

Anyway, The catnip is up and looking quite healthy and lovely:

George doesn’t get particularly excited about the catnip until it’s dried. He’s so weird.

Yeah, whatever George, you are too.

I also took new photo of my forsythia which is FINALLY blooming. (I will be sure to back up all of my images this time.)

Isn’t it pretty! It’s just so freaking cheerful!

I couldn’t decide which image I liked best so here’s another view:

Now click on it the image to make it bigger and then look in the upper left corner. Do you see something? That’s the boy’s tree house. (The tree house we have not yet let him go up into yet. I’m paranoid, what can I say, he’s only five, and it’s really high up.)

Back to the photo. I didn’t know when I snapped the picture that the tree house would be visible but now that I see I just like how it gives some secret dimension to it, like an I Spy book or a Bev Doolittle painting. Or am I just weird too? (Don’t answer that!!)

Okay. Here’s a gratuitous pansy shot:

I don’t usually spend much money on annuals, but I was seriously pining for some color in my front yard last week. Spring in New England is tough on a blogger - I look at all these other blogs from all over the country that have had Full! Blooming! Gardens! for weeks now. It’s not freaking fair! So my pansies made me happy. Look at it, don’t you just want to slurp that big refreshing drop of water right off it?! No? Really? hmm, nevermind….

Moving on. Now that we’ve had some nice rain over the last few days I also have a small leaf purple rhododendron in full bloom. I just love this bush tree. Someone knew what they were doing when they picked out this one. It’s about seven feet tall, I can see it out my front picture window, and it’s just gorgeous. The blossoms are so delicate and smell glorious. Thanks previous homeowners!

Before I moved here, I’d never seen a Rhododendron quite like it. It’s not a typical one, that has the larger leaves and big flowers, nor is it quite an azalea with the tiny leaves. It’s weird. Like me George.

I have a secret.

Well, it’s not really secret, but I only learned it a few years or so ago, and I’m going to share it with you.

For awhile now, every time I bake something, most notably brownies, I get rave reviews, and requests for more. Frankly, I don’t think I’m that much of a baker. I find a recipe I like and I stick to it. My chocolate chip cookies are always tollhouse. My oatmeal cookies are off the quaker oats container top, my cakes are always box mixes.

My brownie recipe is taken from the back of the box of unsweetened hersey’s baking chocolate. (Which I might add I’m having trouble finding in my local grocery stores lately so I’m glad I photocopied it long ago. Do they not make it anymore?) Anyway, the only difference between mine and the printed recipe are that I underbake them a bit, I sometimes add chocolate chips too, and I use REAL VANILLA.

Real, homemade, vanilla.

Did you know you can make your own vanilla? and if you do it will completely change your baked goods forever. For the better.

Here’s what you do. You go to a health food store and you buy whole vanilla beans (maybe three or so.) Second you go to the liquor store and you buy some vodka. (Maybe a quart? Doesn’t really matter. If I made a whole gallon I’d probably put in 10 beans.) You take them home and swig a shot you take a sharp knife and cut a slit all the way down each vanilla bean. You put your beans in the bottle of vodka. You DATE THE BOTTLE with a marker. Put it in some high cupboard for a few months and forget about it. I like to wait at least six months, but some people say you can start using it within a few weeks. I beg to differ.

When it’s ready you can start using it the exact same way you would store bought vanilla. But I warn you, make enough that you don’t ever have to use the artificial stuff again, because you will disappoint everyone in your life if you give them brownies any other way, ever. When you start getting low, just make another quart gallon. Right now would be a great time to start a batch that you can later re-bottle in something cute and give away as presents for the holidays. Just be sure when you put some in a fresh, smaller bottle, at least one of the beans goes with it.

ps. I learned all this from my mom! I’m pretty sure her first batch was made in a 30 year old bottle of vodka they had hanging around the house. It was awesome.

pps. I’ve started a batch in a small bottle of clear rum instead. I can’t wait to see how it turns out!

I promised myself I wouldn’t blog today until I was showered, the boy was fed and dressed, and the kitchen was actually clean. Done. (Well, really I promised that to myself yesterday. Did you notice I didn’t post yesterday??)

I’ve been working this thing over in my mind last few days, and now I think it’s time to spew it up before it festers. You know how that is, right? I know you do, some of you have admitted it before!

So I went to a bridal shower for a cousin on Sunday. I sat at a table with a few other cousins and one of my sisters. These are cousins I only see at weddings and showers and anniversary parties, but when we do get together we always have lots of laughs. This occasion was no different.

However. I committed two of the worst sins of mommyhood.

Do you know what those are? Don’t we all?

First, I asked a married, childless woman when she’s gonna have a baby. <<hides in shame>> Oh, yes I did.

Second, I regaled a poor pregnant woman with horrors of childbirth. <<blushing furiously>> Yes, I did that too.

Well, okay, to defend myself about the first. I’ve had the baby conversation with that particular cousin before, and not always of my doing. (I think?) I just shouldn’t have said anything in front of the rest of the table. No wait. I shouldn’t have said it at all! I did take my opportunity to apologize later, in the car, and we had a long discussion about that sort of thing. (We went to the event together.) She was genuinely sweet about it, and we had a great time otherwise, and discovered a mutual love of gardening. But dang, it’s still just hanging over my head.

The thing is, I was married for seven years before we had a baby. People asked me the “when” question quite often for all those years. I was never really offended, but my reason for at least the first 5 years - we will when we have a house - was always countered with “if you wait until your financially ready, you’ll never do it.” That’s what always annoyed me, because I didn’t believe it was true. I felt like it was irresponsible of me to have a baby when I was young and in debt. If we had had an accidental baby, that would have been one thing, we would have dealt with it and we would have been okay. But to plan on a child, when I knew I could not afford it, just didn’t seem right. Not only that, but since I’ve had one child, there have been multitudes of queries about when I’ll have another. Um. Never. Someday I’ll tell you about that.

I’m digressing, as usual. My point is, everyone has their own reasons for not having a baby, and I am well aware of that - yet I asked anyway! It was one of those time when my mouth worked before my brain had a chance to stop it. Foot in mouth disease. Today I resolve to never try to never do that again.

In defense of faux pas #2, <sigh> all I can say is, I wasn’t the only one, and I didn’t start it. Hmm, not a great excuse huh? This dumbass totally jumped on the bandwagon! That poor thing. She was a little pale at one point, so I did try to stop it, but she kept saying “It’s okay, I need to know these things!”

Actually, we didn’t say anything horrific, really, I swear. I kept back the really bad stuff! Heh. I only tried to impart my only good advice to any new mom to-be, however she becomes a mom: nothing ever goes as planned, so better not to plan too much and you won’t be disappointed. I learned that the hard way myself. Read my birth story and you’ll know what I mean.

In any case, I did apologize to her later as well, knowing we had gone too far. I now resolve to find a chance, before September, to have another conversation with her about all the good things about being a mom!

Phew. I feel better. Thanks for letting me get that out. So, you do have any etiquette blunder regrets you need to get out? Sing it sisters!

It’s more than a little irritating when you wake up at 3:30 am from a nice “snuggling with the kitty” kind of sleep because said kitty has just forcefully thrown himself off the bed and has begun horking up something on your bedroom carpet.

Then when you come back with paper towels to clean it up, you first, step in the hork dribbles in the hall, second, realize there’s no way you can clean it properly in the middle of the night and third, you cannot possibly go back to bed with the hork remnants 2 feet away. Gag.

Not only do you have to go in search of a new place to sleep but now so does dh after you’ve awakened him, blinded him with the light, and made him aware of the smell. Heh. I just can’t suffer alone now can I?

So should I be grateful to dear George that he didn’t puke on the bed, or annoyed at him for eating mice and grass and all those things that make him vomitous in the first place? Both I think.

But could you stay mad at this face?