tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20361987860530807562024-03-05T08:15:33.697-08:00Blog is the New Mom JeansTorihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04477566379613234988noreply@blogger.comBlogger244125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2036198786053080756.post-79135433901211998802013-09-16T18:45:00.000-07:002013-09-16T18:45:43.466-07:00On the clockWell, I find myself in totally unfamiliar territory. Today is my due date and there is not even really a hint of any labor going on. I thought that second babies were supposed to slip out all easy-peasy early?<br />
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Marlo was obliging enough to be born at 9:32 on the morning she was expected. Quite prompt, that one. Now her little sister is unwittingly - or worse, contrarily - positioning herself as the anti-Marlo. The one with her own schedule and plan of action. This is not winning her any points in the favorite child sweepstakes, that's for sure.<br />
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I guess it's not the worst thing that could happen, getting an extra day or two. This afternoon I managed to make an extra dinner for later this week. I never quite got around to the whole batch-cooking-freezer-meals plan that I eyeballed in my eighth month, but I probably could have told you that was never going to happen even as I was saying I was going to do it and setting up the Pinterest board. That is just too far a stretch of organizational skills for me.<br />
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Hopefully the next time I see you I have a baby and raging out of control post-partum hormones.Torihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04477566379613234988noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2036198786053080756.post-82908487229078301642013-07-17T21:34:00.001-07:002013-07-17T21:34:20.806-07:00Smug never paysRemember yesterday, when I was all smug about solving my dog problem? Yeah, about that.<br />
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I knew there was something wrong the way that my husband wasn't getting out of the car. And then when he finally did get out of the car, he just paced around the driveway, still on the phone. And then I heard his mom's voice. My initial thought was that Rocco had been hit by a car, because my in-laws live on a fairly busy street and they had voiced that concern several times. But it turned out to be cancer. Apparently the poor dog is riddled with it. Something burst and they didn't expect him to make it through the night. My mother in law was apologizing to us, for some reason. They've had the dog for three weeks.<br />
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He did manage to make it through the night, and even was in full-body-wag mode when it was time to go home. The good news is that the SEVEN THOUSAND dollar surgery will not save him, and there is no expensive chemo option for us to politely and ashamedly decline. He's just going to be an old dog with cancer, until suddenly he's not anymore. My in-laws have graciously promised to provide hospice care for as long as it lasts.<br />
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Anyway, weird that I finally posted about this just yesterday as it was all going down. I went through a lot of emotions last night, mostly ones that can probably be blamed on being overly hormonal at the moment, worrying about the dog dying in cold metal veterinary cage wondering why I had abandoned him. But by the light of day, and considering that he is by all accounts acting like nothing happened, I am back to feeling like this is the best possible situation for everybody. Except I guess for my in-laws, who have to deal with the reality of my ticking time bomb cancer dog dying on them at any moment.Torihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04477566379613234988noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2036198786053080756.post-24365591640920924872013-07-16T09:15:00.001-07:002013-07-16T09:15:43.181-07:00Except I'm pretty sure Oprah hates catsWell, I solved my dog problem. We took him along when we went to visit my in-laws in New Hampshire last month and we left him there. Ta-da! No more dog and no blood on my hands. And believe me, it was coming to that. He had taken to peeing on my side of the bed at least once a week. I think it was some sort of territory/claiming me as "bitch" battle between him and one of the cats. There was no keeping him out of the bedroom. I tried locking the door and he just bloodied himself opening it. I tried locking him in the garage and he bloodied himself trying to open that door, too. We were coming home to a crime scene any time we left the house. It was really an untenable situation.<br />
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Everybody seems pretty happy about the new arrangement. Marlo has accepted as fact our story that Grammie and Grandpa were very lonely and Rocco stayed to keep them company. Grammie and Grandpa will benefit from having a dog around, and Rocco should be very happy being the sole focus of attention. Win-win-win situation, if you ask me. Of course, no sooner had we solved the dog problem than we developed a cat pee problem, so our house is not free from pet disaster. But free from dog problems, which quite frankly is good enough for me. I'm slowly beginning to accept the fact that I don't especially like dogs and am going to end up a crazy cat lady. One step closer to my true self.<br />
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Oprah would be so proud.<br />
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<br />Torihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04477566379613234988noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2036198786053080756.post-67974952778080657702013-06-04T16:16:00.000-07:002013-06-04T16:16:15.393-07:00Various confessionsI did make the cupcakes and I did fill them, and they were fantastic. Then I made three dozen more cupcakes for Marlo's second birthday party of the week. These ones I did not fill. Strange, but it turned out that three dozen was overkill for 10 children and their non-pregnant parent escorts. So now I have about six frozen unfrosted cupcakes, six frosted cupcakes in the fridge waiting to be eaten when the mood strikes me, and three unfrosted cupcakes sitting on the counter waiting to either become frozen or eaten cupcakes.<br />
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Oh, and did I also mention the strawberry roll cake, or the half of it that is left, also in the fridge?<br />
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My glucose test is a week from today.<br />
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Want to know two things about me that will make you feel like you are a better person than I am?<br />
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1. I am dreading having to breastfeed this new baby<br />
2. I want to get rid of my 13 year old dog.<br />
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There! Enjoy judging me.<br />
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<br />Torihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04477566379613234988noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2036198786053080756.post-41199503409054863442013-05-21T10:53:00.001-07:002013-05-21T10:53:44.198-07:00browser history: sugar detoxI've reached the non-stop sugar craving portion of my pregnancy, the one I distinctly remember from last time. It's right on time - roughly a month before I have to take the blood glucose test. I remember the last time being scared to death I was going to fail the test because I had basically taken to eating my meals from a hummingbird feeder.<br />
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Last weekend I baked my grandmother's devils food cake, which is made extra-devily with the addition of Crisco based frosting. It sounds disgusting but it's the best thing possible. The other best part? You use regular sugar, so you have just the teensy-est sugar crunch to every bite. We ate the whole thing in under a week.<br />
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For my encore, Sunday morning I decided to make the lemon icebox pie from the cover of the most recent Cook's Country magazine. THAT is one delicious pie. It is Tuesday morning and we have a quarter of it left. A quarter! I gave a quarter to my sister, but other than that it's been all me. Now I'm trying to decide if I make another lemon pie when this one is finished, or if I branch out to try another type of pie. The only requirement is that it includes whipped cream and a graham cracker crust.<br />
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I've actually been experiencing a little right upper quadrant pain since last night, so maybe I blew out my gallbladder? It's entirely possible. I can honestly say I wouldn't be surprised. My diet has been very butterliscious lately.<br />
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Marlo's birthday is next Monday, and she has requested that I make cupcakes out of my grandmother's cake recipe. That is all well and good, but the success of the cake depends on cutting the layers in half and having a healthy dose of frosting throughout. This is antithetical to cupcakery. Am I going to have to try and fill them, like they are Hostess cupcakes? I think the answer is a resounding yes. This is going to be intense.Torihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04477566379613234988noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2036198786053080756.post-50180314488293078192013-04-30T16:36:00.000-07:002013-04-30T16:36:04.640-07:00Marsha, marsha, marshaIt's a girl! Another sweet baby girl. I can continue life without confronting my phobia of baby penises.<br />
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I had actually gotten myself psyched up enough to be ready for blue frosting that I had a tinge of disappointment. I had found a place where I could be excited for a boy and all the "different" that would bring. People with boys seem to like them okay, most of the time.<br />
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There are already those who tell me I can try for a boy the next time. The next time! Who suggests such a thing to a woman who is only halfway done with a pregnancy? Who is only a few weeks removed from misery on either end? Crazy people, that's who. My own husband even. I like how this baby is getting skipped over already, is not even the middle child yet but is getting treated like it. She's not even done growing toenails and we've moved on to her hypothetical baby brother. I haven't ruled it out, yet. I'm getting too old for our current childbearing pace, however, and would have to work the turnaround a little quicker next time. We'll see. I know plenty of people who declared they were going to have a million kids and then got themselves spayed and neutered after the second one was born.<br />
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I took some pictures of the big cupcake biting-into, but the light was bad and the pink didn't really show up and I haven't upgraded to Mountain Lion so my iPhoto is all screwy, etc. My super-sweet girlfriend responded to the picture I sent with the text "looks like a big pink gash," so there's a visual for you at least.Torihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04477566379613234988noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2036198786053080756.post-28953494858694680512013-04-25T16:51:00.001-07:002013-04-25T16:51:10.888-07:00At least they're not cake popsI've really enjoyed Beyonce-ing this pregnancy. It is much more fun to up and show up with a baby bump than to make a grand announcement and try to smile all demurely like the Virgin Mary or something. I guess, minus side, people tend to feel like they are inconsequential and get all hurt insides-feeling about it. I guess maybe it is my small act of rebellion against the culture of over-sharing in which I normally am an active participant. And whatever, I act like I kept quiet but I didn't, really. I still made the facebook announcement. But I sure as shit did not do so with the cutesy picture of me and a jar of spaghetti sauce. Prego has always been my least favorite word, anyways. <div>
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Let's see, what else, how else can I try to offend people who possess a genuine interest in my life. I have my big 20 week ultrasound tomorrow. We're having the gender written down and I'm having cupcakes (YEAH, I SAID CUPCAKES, LAYNE) made with the appropriate pink or blue filling. That way we can be surprised together as a family at Mo's birthday dinner tomorrow evening. He didn't want the responsibility of having an appropriate reaction cutting into a cake, so we decided to let everyone focus on their own little cake. I'm excited yet terrified it's going to be blue. But then. At least blue means I get a whole bunch of new stuff. Because what is the point of having babies besides getting stuff, right? </div>
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Speaking of gender, I have noticed an outcropping of people who feel the need to say, "we will be finding out the SEX of the baby. We will find out his or her gender when he or she identifies as one or the other." I want to make jerk-off hand motions at these people. And sometimes do. </div>
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Torihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04477566379613234988noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2036198786053080756.post-41374970264090526632013-04-23T10:45:00.002-07:002013-04-23T10:48:28.871-07:00Lede safely buried I have a laurel hedge outside my kitchen window. It separates our house from the very close next door neighbor's house. I would take a picture to demonstrate the view, but I have just become aware how dirty the windows are, as tends to happen around this point in the spring every year. That, and the dog food container with the broken lid we haven't replaced since it broke several months ago is on the window sill (it's a bay window) and the wall is still not repainted from the renovations we did last August. Nothing like the idea of sharing a peek of your home with others to make you realize that your home is a disaster.<br />
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We've been thinking a lot about the disasters we ignore on a daily basis and the ways we will right them, because I've gone and gotten myself knocked up again. It actually happened quite a while ago, right around Christmas. I should have known when I woke up on New Year's Day NOT feeling like I'd been out drinking champagne all night that it was happening again. But it took me another five days before I decided to test on a whim and, <i>voila! </i>Pregnant.<br />
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I spent much of January and February trying not to die. Not literally, but it was tough. The husband had a busy travel schedule, including the part where he went back to New Zealand this year and we stayed home. That happened to be about weeks 6-9 of my pregnancy, otherwise known as the weeks in which consciousness is most painful. Marlo ate a lot of whatever the heck she wanted for dinner (mostly apples and peanut butter) and I did a lot of sleeping through <i>Sleeping Beauty</i>.<br />
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Then, toward the end of February, I caught a cold. I had this cold until, oh, about a week ago? I went to the doctor three times, got a chest x-ray, two rounds of antibiotics, you know, all the stuff that you really want to do while incubating a fetus. Finally I'm down to one coughing fit a day, and then the pollen count spikes. So now I'm back to sinus pain and general malaise, and I'm ever so happy about it.<br />
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This pregnancy has been way more uncomfortable so far than I remember the first one. I also feel like I'm about a month ahead, discomfort/largeness-wise, but I guess that's pretty common the second time around. And really, I was just checking in on my blog posts from last time and I think realistically I'm a week or two bigger. I posted at 19 weeks the last time that I needed to go shopping for maternity clothes, and this time I put on my maternity jeans for the first time last Friday, in the middle of my 18th week. It felt so good I wondered why I waited so long.<br />
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And now, you're caught up. More details forthcoming.<br />
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<br />Torihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04477566379613234988noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2036198786053080756.post-8382384205006465812012-11-29T17:33:00.001-08:002012-11-29T17:33:19.455-08:00I'm really a very happy person, promiseWell, hard to say what's wrong with me, but I didn't even like Thanksgiving this year. It's usually my favorite holiday. But this year, I felt entirely put out by having to figure out what to cook and grocery shopping and the whole lot of it. I was glad when it was over and I didn't even cook my customary at-home turkey feast the day after. I had, like, two turkey sandwiches and NO PIE, not even for breakfast. <br />
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Did I mention I'm working again? I guess more accurately I'm getting paid to work, and falling dangerously behind, but yeah, working. Very much part time. Very much in a way that is dangerous for someone with my lack of self-discipline - that is, totally unsupervised and unchecked. If my boss were anybody other than my father, I'd probably have gotten fired already. But, bonus, I totally get to play both sides in the mommy wars now. And, also bonus, when I had to pay the vet $600 to amputate one of the cats' toes, there was enough money in the bank to do that.<br />
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I found a blog today with a recipe for diet coke brownies. Basically what it sounds like. Box of brownie mix, can of diet coke. Mix, bake and enjoy. I thought that was depressing enough on its own merits, but then I read the "about me" sidebar and discovered the woman who posted this recipe is - get ready for it - head of school lunch in her kids' school district. Sometimes I don't feel like we stand a chance in this world. And then I realize I am thinking that thought while inhaling my red dye #40 soaked Christmas M&Ms, and it all feels even more hopeless. Holiday Cheer!<br />
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<br />Torihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04477566379613234988noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2036198786053080756.post-17579924322676707732012-11-01T21:28:00.002-07:002012-11-01T21:28:26.278-07:00Bring a nickel; tap your feetHas there ever been a song that had you convinced it was destined to be the soundtrack to your insanity? That's how I feel about "What I Like About You" by the Romantics. Like, someday, I'm going to snap when it's on the radio and spend the rest of my days rocking in the corner. Why don't I just turn it off? Well, if only it were that easy, right? It comes on and I get sucked into some sort of maniacal anxiety cave, and there's nothing to be done but try my best to hang on to my sanity. <div>
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Speaking of songs with weird connotations, I am deeply disturbed by the new Walgreens ads with John Corbett as the narrator and "Down on the Corner" by CCR as the jingle. Here is the reason why. That song has always conjured weird visuals of the Keebler elf factory, but in more of a sort of acid-trippy, gnome-y way (assuming that makes any sense to anyone). Couple that with the old-timey photography and the creepy John Corbett "I'm not a sex predator, I'm just a friendly dad-type who wants to make sure you are warm so why don't you just get in the shower I'll watch just to make sure you don't slip" thing and I'm beyond skeeved out. </div>
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Welcome to the disaster that is my brain. </div>
Torihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04477566379613234988noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2036198786053080756.post-2775901460725356072012-10-25T14:57:00.000-07:002012-10-25T14:57:03.422-07:00The best blogger in the history of bloggingHi. You may have noticed that I took a bit of a hiatus. Or not. I just looked at my own blog for the very first time since July. I wish I had some dramatic account of where I have been and what has kept me away from the blog. Almost. I almost wish that. But the truth is that I was bored of myself and felt like I had nothing to say, so I decided to shut up and walk away. I figured when the time was right I would come back.<br />
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Around the beginning of September when I was all "back to school" and trying to practice self-discipline, part of my plan was to get into the daily writing habit. That might have happened, but instead I got myself on a full-time MOM schedule of asinine toddler activities and spent any free time I could get trying to clear my head of nursery rhymes. Then I got a nasty little cold and spent my free time napping. Then all of a sudden it was October.<br />
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So, what's new. We're in a pretty good little groove. I can tell that we've found our groove because now it's time for us to make a serious effort at another baby. That's the way it always works, right? You find some sort of equilibrium and then you shake it all up again.<br />
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I will try to be here. I will try to think of interesting things to say. Hopefully I get myself knocked up again soon; there's a wealth of material to be had there. Best reason to have a baby, right? Blog material?Torihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04477566379613234988noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2036198786053080756.post-37597171665314942152012-07-18T09:36:00.000-07:002012-07-18T09:36:18.285-07:00There was some summer, but I missed itI've officially ignored my blog so long that it disappeared off of the "top sites" page in Safari. I haven't been doing anything that interesting, really. We spent last week in New Hampshire with Mo's parents. I gave myself permission to have as many sodas and ice cream cones as I wanted. I had three cokes (one cherry!) and one soft serve twist as big as my face. I haven't quite decided if I am proud of my restraint or disappointed that I didn't take full advantage.<br />
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I really like summer in New England, so it's a shame our time there has to be spent in my in-laws' house. "Our" bedroom is in the upstairs southeast corner and is approximately as hot as the innermost circle of hell. Did I mention the freight train that rolls past at five minutes to four every morning? Or the futon? The only way to sleep is to pass out drunk, which is not really that viable of a plan for the duration of a week's visit.<br />
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I didn't have a lobster. Not even a lobster roll. I didn't buy any cheap(er) maple syrup. I didn't pack home any New England style hot dog buns. I deserve to be fired.<br />
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Meanwhile, it's still not summer here back at the ranch. I'm staring out at overcast skies and thinking we might as well pack it in and just get on with the inevitable winter. But then I remember that Anchorage is yet to get any higher than 63 this summer and that the rest of the country is burning alive, and I think, we're good, thanks.Torihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04477566379613234988noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2036198786053080756.post-7467684537620236562012-06-19T16:18:00.000-07:002012-06-19T16:18:53.683-07:00Vancouver the LastI'm going to sum up the rest of our Vancouver trip very briefly, because it's been over a week now and nobody cares.<br />
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If you ever find yourself in Vancouver with 300 bucks to drop on a meal, I think you should drop it at <a href="http://www.cioppinosyaletown.com/">Cioppino's</a>. It's in Yaletown, which is the trendy yuppified-old-warehouses-turned-into-lofts district. But the food is amazing and they have a picture of Bill Clinton there to prove it. I'm not even sure what I mean by that. </div>
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We split two appetizers, a pasta, a main and a dessert along with a very pleasant bottle of wine the waiter recommended when he saw me wrestling with the three-inch thick wine list. The courses were fantastic, each one better than the last. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My half of the main course, perfectly medium rare lamb with curry foam<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Before we drove home on Sunday, we went for brunch. <a href="http://fraicherestaurant.ca/">Fraiche</a> is a restaurant in West Vancouver, with an absolutely amazing view back over the city. Sitting there was definitely one of those moments where I felt ridiculously lucky to be me. I had the eggs benedict, all the while thinking "hey, screw you Bourdain for trying to ruin this for me." </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Doesn't even do it justice.</td></tr>
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I'm not sure what the problem is with the formatting, but I'm too lazy to try and fix it. Good thing I am not a blogging professional. </div>Torihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04477566379613234988noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2036198786053080756.post-91449679403170891152012-06-14T16:36:00.000-07:002012-06-14T16:36:07.679-07:00Vancouver the second<br />
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We took our leave of Salt Tasting Room without a solid follow-on plan. The sun was out for probably the first time in a week (Juneuary! says the media) and we entertained the idea of a patio. But the first one we came across was way crowded, then the next one was not very well reviewed on Yelp. After walking the length of Gastown, we decided to double back and try to get in to one of the Chowhound recommended spots, <a href="http://www.pourhousevancouver.com/">The Pourhouse</a>. Open Table claimed they had no seatings available, but we figured we could at least try to get in the bar.<br />
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Best decision ever. We walked in and the hostess showed us to a couch in the bar and said she would have a table for us shortly. This place is famous for drinks, and if the table of four women horizontal in their booth was any indication, the booze pours freely (did I mention it was all of 7:30 at this point? They asked me to join them, but I declined). The bartender came over to make friends and learn more about us so that he could make us the perfect drinks, and after a brief interview he said he knew just the thing and went off to mix. He made something bourbon based for Mo that I believe was called a Red Hook, and for me, a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clover_Club_Cocktail">Clover Club cocktail</a>. Do you know how delicious a Clover Club is? Too delicious. Gin, lemon juice, raspberry liqueur and an egg white. I decided it was in my best interest to stop at one.<br />
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Once seated, we had a seared tuna and artichoke salad that didn't work as well as I had hoped it might. Mo's entree was steelhead trout with sage and brown butter gnocchi, which was great. But it was completely overshadowed by my meal. I had braised beef, served on pureed celery root with some mushrooms, spinach and roasted tomatoes. But the kicker was the dollop of horseradish creme fraiche on top. That I have never thought of such a thing before is a travesty. It sounds like too much, right? Rich on richer? But it was amazing. I damn near licked that plate clean.<br />
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There were so many intriguing options on that menu that we had a hard time choosing, but we were both very satisfied with our choices. It's only too bad we weren't there in a larger group so that we might have been able to taste more. Of course, it would have only been sad to be there in a larger group that didn't believe in sharing. I am sure we'll go back next time we're in town, but it will be a challenge not to order that beef again.<br />
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Next time: Our Saturday night meal.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcY-R7y2FRHfUDw-y_TMedmne2LKUcCkpcHL7bIR2Af3SDisYPPbsCvq510qd1Kq59mHQZY0-197p6SvrIOTDjPSJs3VeYa9NtCs0RpqG9e5plodNQNRIK4Yrv4VIRzWodvf1ZSrYeaKY/s1600/Image+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcY-R7y2FRHfUDw-y_TMedmne2LKUcCkpcHL7bIR2Af3SDisYPPbsCvq510qd1Kq59mHQZY0-197p6SvrIOTDjPSJs3VeYa9NtCs0RpqG9e5plodNQNRIK4Yrv4VIRzWodvf1ZSrYeaKY/s320/Image+1.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me enjoying the view of my husband enjoying the view</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Torihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04477566379613234988noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2036198786053080756.post-19464432211446973882012-06-12T16:52:00.001-07:002012-06-12T16:52:48.561-07:00Vancouver, part oneIs a post about travel still interesting if there aren't any pictures? Let's find out. The hubs and I got sprung from lockup for the weekend and went on a romantic little getaway to Vancouver, BC. It was Mo's first time there, and the first time I had been since I turned 21 and no longer needed to go to Canada to drink in bars.<br />
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Since I had no idea where to go for grown-up activities, we based all of our dining decisions on the recommendations of the Chowhound boards. I find the postings there obnoxiously self-aggrandizing and repulsive 99% of the time, but I'm glad that I held my nose and went in, because we ate at four great restaurants over our three days there.<br />
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First up was <a href="http://www.salttastingroom.com/">Salt Tasting Room</a>. It's a tiny little hole in the wall on Blood Alley in the Gastown section of town, which is not altogether as rough and tumble as it sounds (although we did see a real live meth head smoking her pipe on our way out - but then a Bentley drove by, so you see what I mean).<br />
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The concept at Salt is that you order three meats and cheeses off of a big chalkboard, and pair it with a wine flight if you want. Boy, did we want. So we ordered two flights and one plate. We were overwhelmed by choice (neither of us is a great decision maker) so we let them choose.<br />
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We ended up with a Pt. Reyes blue, a <strike>Leicester I think</strike> Lancashire and some locally made corned beef. Oh, the corned beef. It was so delicious - sliced so thin you could see through it - I wanted to have them load up my purse so I could snack on it the rest of the night. It came with a condiment called <i>mostarda </i>which I had never heard of before, but which apparently is quite trendy. It was overkill for the beef but was very good for covering up the socks taste of the Lancashire cheese. The wine flights were unremarkable, but well paired.<br />
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If I went back, I would be piggish about it and order two plates so I could sample more meats and cheeses. We were being conservative because we did not have a solid dinner plan and wanted to keep our options open. We were just underwhelmed enough with our first plate that we wanted to move on rather than order another plate, although this is not to say we didn't enjoy it. We just weren't in love enough to stay, having not played the field at all.<br />
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I'm going to drag this out, so that I have stuff to post about! Next up, our meal at The Pourhouse!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Oh look, I do have a picture!</td></tr>
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<br />Torihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04477566379613234988noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2036198786053080756.post-4561396745585698982012-06-05T15:40:00.000-07:002012-06-05T15:40:27.010-07:00Firstworld problemsI think that twitter is breaking my brain. No, I know that twitter is breaking my brain because the first time I wrote that, I wrote "brian." I'm totally obsessed and I get all pissed off and frustrated if the people I follow don't tweet enough. I'm all like HOW CAN IT BE POSSIBLE THAT NOT ONE OF THE 133 PEOPLE I FOLLOW HAS HAD SOMETHING TO SAY IN THE LAST TWO MINUTES?!?!?! I NEED TO FOLLOW MORE PEOPLE TO MAKE THE FLOW OF USELESS INFORMATION MORE CONSISTENT. It's really pretty sad and proves that the end is nigh, at least for intelligent thought.<br />
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I'm blaming twitter for my lack of blog posts. Twitter and a two-year old child. One for ruining my attention span and the other for driving me to drink away my free time. It's so much nicer to find a comfortable spot to pin blame rather than to confront myself over my total lack of self-discipline.<br />
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So welcome to my blog, where the only consistent theme seems to be the inconsistency of my posts. Now appearing biannually!<br />
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I just googled "biannually" to make sure that's what I meant.<br />
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<br />Torihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04477566379613234988noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2036198786053080756.post-152994525820077292012-05-22T15:02:00.000-07:002012-05-22T15:02:13.015-07:00Bought meat like I said I wouldThe last ten days or so have been a total blur of parties and contractors and disputes in parking lots. I took the day off yesterday, with Marlo at her grandparents' house, and watched movies in bed. It was delightful. Today I feel like I've come home after an extended absence, and nothing is the way I left if or want it to be, so I'm overwhelmed all over again. Add to that the long weekend for which to prepare, and I feel stuck square behind the eight ball.<br />
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Let's see. Hearken way back to the day I was going to barbecue the pizza. I did, in fact, barbecue the pizza, and I remembered why it was I had a faint memory of there being some difficulty about barbecuing the pizza. It's because it tends to set the barbecue on fire. At least, it does if you use the pizza stone, which I do, because it is just silly difficult to put raw pizza dough directly on the grill. The pizza stone gets it all extra wicked-hot in there, and then any crud you have let accumulate catches on fire and you peer out the window to discover your grill has become a fireball and you are about to become That Idiot Who Burned The House Down With The Barbecue.<br />
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Bonus: After you get the fire under control and it burns itself out, you have a shiny clean grill!<br />
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Then we went to an auction and because apparently I think I am Mrs. Johnny Big-Shot, we bought a trip to Africa. It is a decision that seems slightly less wise without the complimentary white wine in me, but they auctioned off as many trips as there were buyers in the room for 1/2 off the list price. It seemed like too good a deal to pass up. It was Groupon psychology that a whole bunch of people fell for, including my sister and her husband, so at least we can all go together maybe. Wrench in plan: the trip has to be used within two years, and I was planning on getting knocked up in the Fall. Whoopsie! Looks like my second child will not be appearing on the cover of Time Magazine attached to my breast in May 2018.<br />
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Then it was Mother's Day and I got two cases of wine, one from my husband and one from my parents. I took a couple long looks in the mirror but mostly I'm fine with that. Giddy about that, in fact.<br />
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See, now this post is way long and I have only caught up to a week ago. Suffice to say I spent all last week running around getting ready for Marlo's second birthday party, which I was real smart about and only invited, oh, 12 of her little friends and their parents. I bought meat for that, in the form of a six month-old baby sized pork shoulder and some chicken. I really did think about trying to cobble together some party food out of the remainder of stuff in our freezers, but then my party hosting vanity won out and I bought the food to go with the theme. We have plenty of meat left. We are not going to finish it all before the month is out. I think that might say something awful about me. Time for more long looks in the mirror, I guess.Torihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04477566379613234988noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2036198786053080756.post-13364514760553557162012-05-11T10:45:00.000-07:002012-05-11T10:45:25.194-07:00Eight, nine, ten, I'm losing countThis was much simpler when I updated on a daily basis.<br />
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I can't for the life of me remember what we ate on Tuesday. Does that ever happen to you? It was three dinners ago, and I have no idea. Oh wait, that was the night that I went to spin class and came home around eight and then we got sucked into a baseball game and ate chips and salsa in lieu of spending time cooking anything. So I guess I can remember, it just took a while.<br />
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Wednesday night was the frozen salmon's big debut. I made my favorite salmon <a href="http://www.marthastewart.com/337394/roasted-salmon-with-lentils">recipe</a>, which is a Martha Stewart recipe. I don't think I have any other Martha recipes amongst my favorites, so this is not blind Martha devotion. The recipe is for salmon with lentils and mustard vinaigrette, because I need my salmon mixed with lentils and coated in zingy mustard sauce before I consider it palatable. I may be a Pacific-Northwesterner and of almost purely Scottish and Norwegian descent, but I don't jump out of bed in the morning looking to get my mouth on some salmon. Also: Took me five attempts to spell "Norwegian" right.<br />
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Last night was another spin class and another failure to plan any sort of dinner in advance. So I finished off the leftover taco meat-ish and the leftover quinoa in a sort of burrito and Husband ate a couple of tamales from the freezer that some nice church lady friend of one of his coworkers made at least a year ago.<br />
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Tonight is pizza night! The most exciting night of the week. I'm thinking about attempting it on the grill this time, but pizza on the grill is always a high-adrenaline proposition. It seems seconds from total disaster every step of the way. We shall see how confident I feel about it when the time comes slash how emboldened by liquor.<br />
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<br />Torihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04477566379613234988noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2036198786053080756.post-66278565182990143272012-05-07T22:05:00.000-07:002012-05-07T22:05:59.382-07:00Days four, five, six and sevenDay four, Friday night, was pizza night. I've been wanting to do Friday Family Pizza Night for years, ever since I read some blog post about happy Friday nights in the kitchen drinking wine and listening to jazz while the children happily top their own pizzas. Well, I like the wine part, anyway. I made the pizza dough and sauce recipes from <i>Make the Bread, Buy the Butter</i>, and both were perfect. The mystery freezer sausage turned out to be of the Italian variety, which was fortuitous, and quite tasty despite extensive freezer burn. In addition to the sausage we used olives, mushrooms, and fresh mozzarella, and the whole thing was so delicious I burned the ever-lovin' crap out of my mouth because there was no waiting for it to cool down.<br />
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Saturday we ate out - first I had a little fried chicken at a Kentucky Derby party, and then a hot dog at a baseball game.<br />
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Sunday we had burgers, because the sun was out. It's like a knee-jerk reaction. In the Spring and Summer we probably do burgers on the grill once a week. Now I am going to be sad with no burgers left for the rest of the month, unless I get wild and grind up one of those ribeyes, which is a distinct possibility. I also made a little roasted corn and tomato quinoa salad with a simple lemon juice and olive oil dressing, which used up some frozen corn and three Roma tomatoes I had slowly rotting on the counter.<br />
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Which leads us to Monday, day seven of this little experiment. We had taco leftovers. And here I am at the beginning of another week with no meal plan in place, no grocery shopping done. I even missed the cut-off for modifying my CSA box, and now I have to figure out what to do with radishes. What in the world am I going to do with radishes? Does anybody actually like radishes? I thought they just made easy seeds for kindergarteners to grow.<br />
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As far as the freezer clean out goes, you may have noticed none of those salmon fillets have been used yet. That may have to change this week. The dill in my little herb garden could stand to be taken down a notch. I'm also planning on collecting all the little half bags of nuts from the freezer and making granola. The one thing in the freezer I can't decide if I should try to eat or not? The cake from my baby shower. That baby shower having happened almost exactly two years ago.Torihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04477566379613234988noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2036198786053080756.post-42495296037868488162012-05-04T15:50:00.000-07:002012-05-04T15:50:25.858-07:00Day three<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Looks like meat, right?</td></tr>
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If I were going to pick one genre of food to eat the rest of my life, it would be Mexican. And it would be nothing to do with Rick Bayless, either. It would be plain-cheese-on-flour-tortilla quesadillas and crunchy tacos. Sorry. But it's the truth. American style crunchy tacos are are my favorite food, ever.</div>
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Why am I telling you this? Because we had tacos last night. I had about a half a pound of ground turkey left over from Monday night, when I still thought I needed to ration our meat. But half a pound of turkey was not going to get us very far - did I mention I love tacos? I thought about mixing in beans, and then I thought of mixing in quinoa. I got so far as actually cooking the quinoa when I remembered the cooked pearl barley in the freezer. </div>
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Maybe there are already a million blog posts out there about making pearl barley into taco meat, but I haven't read them. It worked perfectly. I had about 2 and a half cups, and I gave it a quick couple of pulses in the food processor to give it more of a ground meat-y texture. I threw it in the pot once the turkey was cooked through, and then added the spice mixture and tomato sauce. The barley soaked up all the flavor of the spice mixture, and in the end you couldn't *really* tell what was turkey and what was barley. It was all delicious. The texture may have been slightly softer than all-meat, but it was more pleasant than the texture of tofu tacos, which are really sort of gross. </div>
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I use ground turkey in most recipes that call for ground beef, because I feel like using ground beef is usually a waste of beef. Especially in tacos, where what you really want to taste is the spicy taco flavor. I would much rather use barley, or maybe a barley-wheat berry-even quinoa combination, if all things are equal. It just seems like a good place to eliminate meat, if you're into that sort of thing.</div>
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Tonight: Mystery Freezer Sausage Pizza. </div>
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<br /></div>Torihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04477566379613234988noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2036198786053080756.post-19944421956832305572012-05-02T22:12:00.000-07:002012-05-02T22:12:46.479-07:00Day twoTonight we had chili from November. I forgot to take a picture of it, but hey, it was leftover chili. It was served over a bag of Trader Joe's frozen brown rice, which I am probably going to regret later on when I reeeeaally don't feel like dragging out the rice cooker, as opposed to tonight when I only sort of didn't feel like it.<br />
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I went to the store and spent an insane amount of money, considering it was two bags of non-meat groceries. I blame it on the twenty dollar jug of maple syrup and the vanilla extract, which I had to buy because I have yet to order my vanilla beans and make my own damn vanilla extract, already. Maybe also the three dollar-twenty-nine apiece lemons I bought because I forgot that I ordered lemons in my CSA box. I told you guys I suck at this stuff.<br />
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<br />Torihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04477566379613234988noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2036198786053080756.post-56046408867284137672012-05-01T21:56:00.000-07:002012-05-01T21:56:36.318-07:00"Meatless" May, day oneTurns out that I'm a total a-hole! Remember how I was all like, "it's not like we have a chest freezer full of beef" or whatever? Yeah, I inventoried one freezer and came up with 16 meat items. And one of those items was a bag of eight salmon fillets. There is enough meat in this house for us to eat meat three meals a day, all month. Which begs the question, what the hell have I been doing spending a hundred dollars at the grocery store every week? I guess the only explanation is that I am actually a food hoarder. Well, and maybe a little bit that I suck at meal planning and often go running out to the store for the chicken I didn't defrost the night before.<br />
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Since I'm so meat rich, the plan has morphed again slightly. Now it is more of a "clean out the freezer and the pantry" sort of event. I'm aiming for bare cupboards and desolate arctic tundra in the freezers. It's the same spirit as the meatless thing, though - I am trying to be more aware of what we're eating and where it comes from, and I am reducing our carbon footprint by not requiring as much new food be generated. It just seems silly to call it "meatless" when we're probably going to end up eating more meat than we would usually.<br />
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I did go ahead and make a meatless dinner for night one of my so-called Meatless May. Nothing exotic, nothing that will convert the masses to vegetarianism, but it did use up things that needed using.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Food photography is not my forte</td></tr>
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There you have it. Broccoli cheddar soup, adapted from <a href="http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/broccoli_cheese_chowder.html">this recipe</a> from Eating Well magazine. I thickened it with a can of navy beans that had been in my cupboard for probably three years instead of a potato, which I would have had to buy. It wasn't exactly sexy, but it got the job done. The bread was a Boudin bakery sourdough boule that Husband brought home from one of his trips to San Francisco, but not the last one or the one before that I don't think. Regardless of how long it had been in the freezer, it made an excellent butter delivery system.Torihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04477566379613234988noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2036198786053080756.post-84553129846279342542012-04-30T22:32:00.000-07:002012-04-30T22:32:34.915-07:00Last call for that triple cheeseburgerBecause I like springing things on myself, I decided, oh, yesterday to participate in the Meatless May challenge. And then I spent four or five hours today trying to meal plan and being frozen by the enormity of the prospect. I started hedging. I decided first that maybe we would have meat on weekends, or that it would be meatless dinners only, or that maybe I would just skip the whole thing altogether. But I didn't want to skip it, especially since I only just decided to try it! Such conflict in my heart.<br />
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I finally came up with the perfect solution: The only meat we will eat this month will be meat that is already in the house. I won't be buying any until June. This makes me happy because a) I don't have to reinvent the wheel completely where it comes to dinner; and b) I need to clean out the freezers anyway.<br />
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Yes, I said freezerS. In the interest of full disclosure, we have two. But they are not chest freezers stocked with entire sides of beef, just regular old freezer compartments. Off the top of my head, the only meat I know to be in there is a ribeye, a package of two chicken breasts, and a bag of salmon fillets. Maybe a couple of hamburger patties? Oh, those will be hoarded and treasured like gold.<br />
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More disclosure - I have not decided exactly what we're doing for food for Marlo's birthday party, but I will not be subjecting my friends to my experiment. If I buy meat for that, it will be the exception. Also, I will obviously eat any meat served to me when I am a guest in someone's home. And I will eat the steak that has been pre-ordered for me at an event next weekend <i>con mucho gusto</i>.<br />
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Does it sound like my May is not going to be all that meatless? Perhaps. But I like my plan and I will tell you why. I have said a bazillion times here that I don't have any intention of giving up meat. But this will force me to eat it quite mindfully, and use it sparingly, and increase my meatless-entree repertoire. It will also force me to use food I might have otherwise wasted. In fact, this version of the plan was hatched because we have a half package of bacon sitting in the fridge. I feel like eating that bacon is more in line with the ideals of Meatless May, as opposed to throwing it out just because the calendar changed.<br />
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I'm planning on sharing my meals here. Even the super meaty cheater ones.<br />
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<br />Torihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04477566379613234988noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2036198786053080756.post-4027160204373360612012-04-25T14:29:00.000-07:002012-04-26T15:38:49.135-07:00Finally, a sane person on the internetStop what you're doing and read <a href="http://grist.org/sustainable-food/lets-put-an-end-to-dietary-tribalism/">this</a>.<br />
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I found it at just the right time, when my frustration with the Food Wars had reached critical mass and I was thinking about swearing off reading/watching/listening to anything diet and nutrition related ever, ever again. The <a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/andybellatti">author</a> is local (for me anyway) and now in danger of being stalked.<br />
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By the way, it was <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/04/17/is-veganism-good-for-everyone/a-choice-with-definite-risks">this</a> piece (and the subsequent comments) that drove me to the edge.<br />
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UPDATE: Turns out that the my hero the author just relocated to Las Vegas. It's just as well.Torihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04477566379613234988noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2036198786053080756.post-72475192058582642272012-04-19T15:18:00.001-07:002012-04-19T15:18:41.363-07:00Only she didn't say fudgeI've basically got the Mother of the Year award for 2012 locked down already, sorry to disappoint those of you in contention yourselves. Not only did Marlo fall off her kitchen step stool and lose the ability to walk for 24 hours, she also said the F word. It's been a banner week of motherhood. She's walking again, although with a bit of a limp, and so far no more obscenities have been uttered.<br />
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If you're thinking, "oh Tori, you're being silly, surely she was saying truck or luck or duck," well, you are sweet but wrong. She was filling in the blank for me. I was attempting to fill out a long and involved online form when the page crashed. I said the first part, the "argh, what the" part, and she filled in the rest. Then repeated it. Then turned around and looked at her father and said it again, just so he could be sure that I had, in fact, successfully taught his daughter the correct usage of the word. I don't know why she had to sell me out like that. I think we did a pretty good job of not reacting, which is What They Say to do in that situation, but it definitely proves she is 100% paying attention. All the time. Frankly, I'm surprised this didn't happen sooner.<br />
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It might be time for a swear jar.Torihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04477566379613234988noreply@blogger.com5