Men in the kitchen

Mandy was off getting a haircut, Noah was with a friend and it was just Elliot and me in the house.  I've been doing some experimenting with various recipes lately, so I decided to give another one a try.  I enjoy cooking, but I don't get the chance to do it often.  I figured Mandy would be home soon and she could give it a try.

With my little helper, we made Eggplant Tricolor - roasted eggplant with a topping of cherry tomatoes, capers and yellow bell pepper that had marinated in red wine vinegar and olive oil.  Topped with buffalo mozzarella crumbles.   I thought it tasted pretty good, but I didn't get any other takers.

Elliot was excited about it right up until the time I asked him if he wanted to try it.  "Nooooo, I don't like that."  He wanted Cheez-its instead.  He did tell me I was his favorite daddy, though, so I didn't go away empty.  I asked Noah, who had come home right before we finished, but his friend came over and they made their own creations - crackers with American cheese and peanut butter.  They both declined, saying they didn't like eggplant, because it tasted like eggs.  Mandy never got a chance to try it, as her appointment went waaay long, and we ended up taking cousin Charlie out for pizza later.  

We all had fun with our recipes though, and had some good male bonding in the kitchen.

It's pretty, at least. 

My little helper. He kept wanting to flip something with that spatula.

Peanut butter and cheese crackers...

After awhile, it was like an arms race to see who could make the biggest cracker sandwich.

Post-swim lunch

Back to Saturdays at the YMCA, where we do "boot camp", then go swimming with the boys, then do lunch in the lounge afterwards.  Both boys will be ready for the pool this summer.  Noah's swimming laps in the lane pool, and Elliot's practically swimming for real - he has the stroke down, but can't move fast enough to keep his head out of the water yet.  Not that he minds going under - he's back to being fearless about dunking his own head under the water, causing a few panic-driven lunges by nearby parents to pull him back up.  He bobs up smiling and looking for a high-five.

"All my food is in my tummy now!" - he had a PB&J sandwich, a banana, a string cheese and a bag of cheez-its. The boy can put down some food when he's hungry

"I see, I see!"  It's getting hard to take pictures of E because he wants to see the picture as soon as you raise the camera.  I think that is water still draining out of his nose - he was underwater about half the time we were there.  He bonked his head on the cement climbing out on the ladder.

Raisins

Yesterday I got out some raisins for Elliot as a snack. I asked Noah if he wanted any knowing what the answer would be. Ever since he first ate yogurt covered raisins (last summer I think) he won't eat regular ones.  He said "Mom, I don't like brown raisins. I only like white raisins".  I thought I was being clever with my counter, "Well you say you don't like them, but you used to eat them all the time.  And you like Raisin Bran.  It has brown raisins in it."

"Mom.  Those raisins have salt on them.  That's different"

Thanksgiving 2010

It was our year to host Thanksgiving, but we nearly yielded it back to Mandy’s aunt and uncle. A few weeks ago, we still hadn’t gotten any commitments from my side of the family to attend. An inquiry to Uncle Steve about the Johnson Family’s attendance brought only a brief, non-committal response: “Will there be sledding?” – a reference to their last visit at New Year’s. Laurie’s husband was yet again deployed, this time to Afghanistan, and not able to assist in the cross-country travel from South Carolina. My mom’s house was in the process of being renovated, and not habitable. We finally settled on Laurie, Amelia, Olivia and my mom staying with us for the week, and Steve and Lisa made plans to arrive en masse after being assured snow was not in the forecast.

We’ve had outstanding weather for November and given the number of attendees, we were hoping for outdoor weather, and more places to seat everyone - unfortunately it was first scheduled to get below freezing on Thanksgiving Day. Despite that, all 32 of us managed to find a place to eat, and not surprisingly, no one went hungry. Laurie helped prep and cook a lot of our food, and everyone brought a ton (literally?) of other food.

Because of the chaos, we didn't manage to get pictures of everyone (or at least unflattering ones where you weren't eating), but this was pretty representative.

Mandy & I started out with an early morning date at Starbucks. Laurie and Elliot baked cranberry scones while we had a little quiet start to our day

The kids anxiously awaiting the food.

Karen, Anna and Sam eating at the kids table.

Noah and Amelia helping Aunt Laurie to make scones the night before.

Grandma Joann

Laurie and Bella talking to Uncle Rafe (from Afghanistan)

Grandma Joann, Grandpa Larry and Olivia

Noah tying something to his boat

Grandpa Rick making gravy

Uncle Steve and Katie

Beef tenderloin! We also had a 25-lb turkey and Jason brought a huge ham he smoked.

One row of sides. No one went hungry.

Just a few desserts...

Par for the course. Luci went on the lam again - Uncle Todd found her a couple blocks away near the high school.

Grandpa Rick at the "adults" table. Something wrong with this picture.

Happy Finn, eating some Thanksgiving meal.

Amelia (with evidence of Thanksgiving around her mouth)

Aunt Sam reading to Elliot

Grandma Lois learning how to use her new iPhone

The cousins playing with Noah's "marble thing" on the dinner table.

Bedtime stories with Aunt Laurie

No accounting for taste

Last night Mandy went out and left me and the boys to fend for ourselves. I was making myself a salad when Noah asked me what I was putting on it. I told him it was gorgonzola cheese, and asked if he wanted to try some. He looked at it awhile, sniffed it and then to my surprise said "Yes". After trying some, he said, "I LOVE gor-ga-zolin cheese!"

He asked me to add some to his before dinner snack of apples and ketchup. So, that is a picture of him dipping apple slices in ketchup, then in the gorgonzola crumbles, then eating it. Yum, yum, I guess. He ate the whole thing up, then had dinner.




Noah and Elliot were making each other laugh hysterically during dinner. I wish I'd caught it on video, but I just got a few snaps of Elliot laughing and beating on his high chair.

If you ever invite us over for dinner

Keep in mind that Elliot likey spaghetti

Paul does it right

This is how you are supposed to feed babies. How else will they ever learn to feed themselves if you don't let them just do it and deal with the mess? I let Noah do this all the time, but I am so bad about feeding Elliot anything that's not a finger food. I just don't want to deal with the clean up. Paul was a good Dad and just let him go to town this morning. Or maybe he was just too tired to feed him? Either way, I have got to start doing this more.

Hot & Spicy Cheez Its

Elliot's day wasn't all bad. He found a box of Hot & Spicy Cheez Its first thing this morning, emptied them all over the floor, and devoured as many as possible before I cleaned up the mess. What baby likes Tabasco flavored cheez its? I guess Elliot does!

This one is for cousin "Mimi" (Amelia)

I saw on your blog you fancy one of my own personal favorite dishes. We really are two peas in a pod! You have to give the puppy dog eyes (like this) and usually you'll get your wish. I see Grandma springs for the fancy kind (shells and cheese). My dad is cheap and usually buys the blue box at Costco. But, I do sometimes get shells and cheese too.

(This is Laurie's blog for any of my family that don't know: http://savorysolutions.blogspot.com/ )