Sushi Bowl

I was going to say this is easier than making sushi, but I'm not so sure about that!

Eggplant

Eggplant Stewed in Honey and Spices

Scroll down the posting for the recipe. Haven't tried it, but shall soon. Probably when Sam is out of town!

Roadrage 1

For some reason, the drivers on the east side of the 275 loop around Cincinnati are the worst I've encountered so far. They all seem to be driving half asleep. Seriously, the number of times I've seen people jerk the wheel to get back in their lane is ridiculous.

I think most of those people are on their cell phones. It's a phenomenon (I'll spell check that word later) that crosses all class/age/race boundaries: no one can drive well and talk on a cell phone at the same time. NO ONE. This means you. This also means me. I know this and try to limit it. People speed up when they suddenly become aware that they are driving to slowly. They are made aware of this when others start to pass them. Apparently their ego can't take that, so they then speed up to make sure that no one can pass them. They then drift back into that half-aware-driver state and focus back in on their phone conversation and begin slowing back down to 60 mph in the far left lane. (Often conversations with other people in the same car have the same effect, especially among the teens and baby-boomer generation, for some reason.)

Smokers also seem to be very bad drivers. This is not only when they are scrambling to find a cigarette, find a lighting source, or brush the hot ashes from their thighs. I truly believe the studies that say that cigarette smokers go through their day high. Their driving certainly proves this.

My top driving peeves:

1. Not using cruise control. People seem to think that cruise control is only for when you are on vacation, driving for hours on the flat highways of Kansas. No. It is for anytime that you want to maintain a constant speed. Except in heavy traffic, slow speeds and mountainous areas that will kill your transmission, cruise control is appropriate. Your fellow drivers will thank you for not gradually slowing down in front of them.
2. Not pressing the gas when the incline of the road dictates. (Using cruise control will prevent this.) If you keep steady pressure on the gas pedal and maintain an even speed on a flat road, you will slow down if you start going up hill. That is fine, as long as you GET OUT OF THE WAY! Move into the right lane if you want to save gas and your speed drops to 60 on a 65 mph speed limit highway. MOVE OVER!!!! Every single day there are massive backups on my way home because ONE person ignores this principle and the 50 cars stacked up behind him while his speed slows from 70...65...60...55... all in the far left passing lane.
3. Not using turn signals/indicators properly. Read the manual: turn on the signal to INDICATE that you want to change direction. Turning on the signal WHILE making a lane change or a turn really does nothing. It does not reassure the people behind you that, yes, you really did mean to do that. The purpose is to let people behind you know that you are about to change your lane/direction before you do it so that they have time to react. Yes, some people are jerks and will speed up to cut you off. However, assuming that the person you are about to pull in front of at 65 mph is a jerk and NOT giving them fair warning is unkind and unthoughtful. Signaling after you start breaking for a turn is also unkind as it will make the person behind you wonder if you are breaking for something in the road, for a turn, or are just a really bad driver.
4. Speeding up to prevent someone from changing lanes. WHY?
5. Not paying attention and then expecting everyone on the road to let you cut across 5 lanes to make a right when you were in the far left lane passing everyone (or holding up traffic), or being in the far left lane when you really needed to make a right turn (or the opposite, of course). Or using clearly marked "no u-turn" areas on the highway instead of going up to the next exit. No excuse for this. It's illegal and dangerous.

I feel much better. I guarantee this list will grow.

Think before you cook

We should have read this article in NY Times (via shelterrific) before our first "all of Sam's mom's family gets together sometime around but never on Thanksgiving day" at our place. We made a recipe for stuffing that was enough to feed all of Cincinnati's homeless. Seriously, it filled two large turkey roasting pans; you know, the big, disposable aluminum type. There were 19 people, and we didn't even eat a quarter of one pan. We froze the leftovers, thinking we'd eat it later because it was really good chorizo and cornbread stuffing. Never happened.

Why I'm not going to let the clutter build up in my house.

Because help can't get to you.

HIGH gas prices - the fault of religion?

Comedic post on a blog had this fact:

"Fun fact #3: A Washington DC church group has launched a “Pray at the Pump” campaign to implore God to lower gas prices. Since they have started the national average for unleaded has gone up about $0.43."

My caffeine addiction

I'm not alone.

What I learned (well, I knew it but now I can prove it) from this article:

1. Caffeine "slips effortlessly across the blood-brain barrier" and blocks "the adenosine telling us to go to sleep because we’re tired". However, small amounts throughout the day don't seem to impare sleep.
2. Caffeine produces a high similar to cocaine, and like cocaine "the brain develops a tolerance to all of these drugs, ever-increasing quantities are required to achieve the same high." The good news is that caffeine has a "built-in restraining mechanism. Technically called caffeinism, it’s the state in which an overcaffeinated user hits the drug’s “dysphoric” range and is overcome by the shakes, anxiety, tension, and nausea... Too much cocaine makes you feel invincible; too much coffee makes you think you’re having a nervous breakdown." Oh, and I have been there! (With caffeine; no idea about the other.)
3. Drinking coffee before breakfast is bad. "A study released in late May found that drinking coffee before breakfast could cause blood-glucose levels to rise sharply, which can be dangerous for people with type 2 diabetes. " Plus it gives me a stomach ache and my muscles get tense.

Breakfast advice

Not from me. I am a breakfast eater, and according to this study, I am eating the best breakfast of all!

Excerpt from last paragraph:

"So what, then, to eat? The path of bread crumbs—or cereal flakes—through the thicket of breakfast suggestions is this: Breakfast is not dessert. Most muffins and bagels are out, as are those breakfast bars with the creepy strip of ersatz milk, and the many cereals that claim to be “whole grain” but are in fact sugary and fiberless. Out too are my beloved toaster waffles, unless I find a version containing the recommended five grams of fiber per serving. What remains are the foods that we probably should have been eating all along: unprocessed, low-GI, fiber-rich foods like fruits, vegetables (in omelettes if nowhere else), oatmeal (slow-cooking or steel-cut rather than instant), whole-grain breads and cereals (that are also high in fiber and low in sugar), protein in the form of low-fat dairy, and eggs in moderation. "

Provençal Chicken

We roast whole chickens all the time, but this sounds like it would be an extra kick. It's so hard to find easy, healthy recipes!

Pas de Margarita

Try a Paloma.

Baby bok choy

Gettin' Asian with it.

Brunch food

Baked Eggs and Asparagus with Lemon Bechamel

Good produce

I don't know about anyplace else, but lately produce at the grocery store has been really bad. I'd like to start shopping at the local farmers markets. Find one in your area.

Ooooh!

Inspiration!! Or, What I'd like our house to look like.

Middle Eastern Chicken Recipe

So yummy. We made this one night, and then made the marinade/rub again to use on turkey sausage. (via shelterrific)

A life I'm glad I don't live

This post, while truly hilarious, makes me glad I'm not involved in this in any way.

First recipe

Cucumber salad

Yummm

First post

Post 1. No particular topic. I read a lot of blogs. I like to share stuff I find interesting with others I know. This is easier than sending tons of emails. Yep, I'm lazy. No, really I just like you and don't want to clog your email inbox. I plan to post links to individual blog posts that I like (usually because they make me laugh), not entire blogs.

Ta da.

Stevenisms: 1-20-03b

driving along. baby is babbling. steven tries to make sense of it. "parker said, "daddy" and "typhoon.""

proud mommy says, "how many eight-year-olds know what a typhoon is?" :o)

hmm. maybe he doesn't know the exact definition.
better check. "steven, what is a typhoon?"

"something that hits things."

uh. close. next try is closer:
"hits the earth?"

sort of.
gotta call mom with the latest stevenism. after i tell mom the first answer, steven is offended that i didn't give him proper credit. "i said it hits the earth! i know what a typhoon is!" i think i may be planting the seeds for what will later be known as steven's "issues." i don't think i'm setting him up for a very ordinary existence. maybe i should bake him some cookies. could i borrow 6 cups of sugar? 

Stevenisms: 1-20-03

if you didn't know intuitively, bedtime with steven is no picnic. when we got home tonight we told him to go upstairs and brush his teeth. twenty minutes later i went up to brush my teeth and found him playing in the bathroom. big surprise. not.

so i told him to start brushing. he applied the toothpaste. and continued to dwaddle. i asked, "what are you waiting for?! a written invitation?" "no. christmas." ooooh. that was quick for one so small! mom get back in the game with, "merry christmas. ho, ho, ho. brush your teeth or i break your nose."

i called in reinforcements. step parents are good back-up. he quickly got steven in bed and lights out. almost smooth. scott soon joined me downstairs complaining, "i think that kid manufactures his own flashlights. he must have fifty!" they have an ongoing flashlight battle. scott takes away a flashlight. goes back a few minutes later and confiscates another. and another. scott stashes the flashlights. mommy finds them and gives them back to her beloved baby. for some reason, it is difficult to get steven up for school. i can't understand it.

mommy's other baby has his own battles with mean, old scott. teeny guy gets a stuffy nose. daddy goes for the "nose bulb." for those who are not familiar with the "nose bulb," it is a torture device developped by hitler to extract mucous from infant noses. "nose bulbs" produce much screaming. mommies learn quickly to avoid use of the "nose bulb." having a higher tolerance for baby screams, daddy battles the sick, shreaking snot nose. but today, daddy left the bulb within baby reach. little parker spends his days performing highly scientific experiments. (remember yesterday's hyothesis: mommies are too big to stuff in the drawer.) so parker starts to stick the bulb in his nose as he has seen daddy do. but this is no ordinary baby. his quick little baby brain decides it would be a better idea to stick the buld up daddy's nose. BABY POWER! oh, yeah! get that big bad daddy with the bulb torture!

earlier that same day:

mommy sleeps in. first mistake. wakes up and starts down the stairs. peels a soggy cookie from the carpet. enters the kitchen and puts the cookie in the trash can that parker believes is his toy box (for those of you who didn't figure that one out from yesterday's e-mail). mommy steps into the living room and sees the next soggy cookie mess mashed into her favorite cashmere sweater. hard to believe mommy was so naive that she believed her sweater was safe in the presence of mini monsters. removes some cookie remains from the sweater and deposits it in a delicate woolite bath. second attempt to enter living room. the tiny artist has been busy this morning. today's mmasterpiece is a post modernist soggy cookie and oyster cracker collage on cream carpet. various other items are added for texture. but mommy is not a fan of parker's work because she spent all day saturday viewing parker's work (and cleaning it up). mommy gives up and returns to bed. daddy emerges from his couch coccoon and utters, "don't worry, honey. i'll clean it up." right! i'm not holding my breath. daddy issues the order for steven to clean up his room in hopes that he can coax mommy out of bed. steven, of course, accomplishes this with the usual super steven speed.

an hour passes. steven is lying on the floor with his feet on the bed busily straightening his game boy. enter scott. "i told you to pick up your toys!" "but i'm playing with them all!" mercury rising, "PUT THE TOYS AWAY!" admittedly, this was not a clever line for an eight-year-old. but give him credit! he has been using it for six years now.

rewind:

even earlier than when mommy got first got up:

steven is once again playing chessmaster 9000.

fast forward:

steven is talking to his dad on mommy's cell phone since he is a deprived child and does not have his own.

"i can only win at chessmaster if i play against myself." i can't recount the next few minutes' conversation because it involved a bunch of 'bishop, d2. queen, h6.' etc. as steven rattled off all of the moves in the chess match. persistently proud mommy whispers to daddy, "he may not be able to beat the monkey on chessmaster, but he can rattle off all the moves in the match. see, he is a genius!"

the conversation illuminated me on why he is losing. he is not using pawns. he is using "ponds." all that water is shorting out the computer. better get that kid some pawns before he drowns.

steven pulled a loose tooth while he played chessmaster. fast forward to dinner at the olive garden. he pulls another loose tooth. the waitress comes by. standard line "can i get you anything else?" steven replies, "do i get free dessert for pulling my tooth during dinner." doesn't stop there: "my mommy told me to say that." waitress laughs and returns to the kitchen. steven asks, "can i see parker's toy?" "NO! and if you ever tell anyone i told you to something again, i will take away all of YOUR toys!"

back up:

waiting approximately 25 minutes for our table in the olive garden lobby. some kid who looks to be about 5 is being held by his daddy. aaaawwww. how cute. except for that the kid continuously punches daddy in the throat. daddy is apparently accustomed to this behavior because he only winces from the pain and does not tell the kid to stop! after watching for a few minutes, tactful katy decides to speak up. "you don't have to worry about anyone kidnapping him, do ya?!" geez!

i don't exactly have kidnappers lining up for me either. scott dropped me at the door to put our name in with the hostess while he parked the car. i studied the dessert tray while awaiting my family. steven walks up and i show him the tiramisu since i know he loves it. to demonstrate proper adult behavior, i shove his face in it. heee heee heee.

IT'S PLASTIC! hee hee hee.

aaaaaaaaaaa! the tiny one is calling me.