Saw another awesome thing today. I checked my hits on my blog to discover a hit from Germany. This is not too unusual, because my cake posts get a lot of hits from other countries. What was unusual is that not only did it not have a referring link to my page, but the web page viewed did not begin with my blog address. Instead, it started with "translate". Having never seen a link like this before, I decided to click on it. And what did I find? Apparently someone had entered my blog into Google's translation site for German. When I clicked on the link, there it was, at least part of my blog translated into the German language. It was really kind of cool, being that I speak no other languages, (though I understand a large majority of Spanish). It looked as if I was fluent in German. LOL!
I did also find it amusing that there are some things that apparently do not translate. I had to laugh as I skimmed down the blog taking in all of these strange looking words that I wouldn't even know how to begin to try and type on a keyboard, and all of a sudden there was "Hey! That's me!", "On a side note" and "FIX IT NOW" (though I wonder if the last was because I used all caps. Hmmmm....) Also, "LOL" does not translate I guess. :-) I am wondering how good the translation is, though, because I noticed as I went a long that there seemed to be a lot of words just randomly not translated. As if they were missed (or were extra not needed in German.) And some of them were words that were translated elsewhere. I also noticed that only one of the titles was translated, and that the translation stopped part way through the last post on the page. Don't know why that is either, but regardless, I'm kind of excited that someone in another country actually wanted to read my blog, as opposed to looking at the pictures. Guten Tag, Deutschland! Willkommen! (That's about the extent of my German without a translator. At least I didn't have to find that upside exclamation point they use in Spanish.)
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Christmas Toys
I find in the weeks following Christmas that I am spending a lot of time playing with Christmas toys. I don't mean that I am putting together the toys Sweetpea got for Christmas, (though that's part of it, too) or even "playing" with the "toys" (e.g. wooden teapot and teacup puzzle) I got for Christmas. No, what I mean is we've had this phenomenon happening the last few weeks that seems to always result in more involvement from me than from Sweetpea by the time it's all said and done. The scenario usually goes something like this:
"Mom, can I play with (insert new toy/craft here) tonight/today/tomorrow?" "Well, I don't know, honey, I still have to put it together and I'm not sure how it works." "Well, will you read the destructions (i.e. instructions) then?" "Yes, just give me a few minutes to finish what I'm doing." Thirty seconds later: "Mom, are you ready to read the destructions yet?" "No, dear, I haven't finished what I'm doing. Please give me a few minutes." Fifteen seconds later: "Mom, I'm still waiting for you to read the destructions so I can play with my (insert new toy/craft here)." "Sweetpea, I'm aware that you are still waiting, it hasn't even been a whole minute yet. Let me finish what I'm doing, please." Forty-five seconds later: "Mooooooommmmm, are you dooooooooonnnnnnnneee yeeeeetttt?" "Oh for crying out loud! If I get it put together and tell you how it works, will you leave me ALONE?!?" "Yes, Mama." So, I drop what I'm doing - because, you know, making dinner so we can eat before midnight or moving a wet load of laundry that's been sitting in the washer to the dryer so it doesn't sour, or cleaning up a flood in the laundry room cannot possibly be more important than putting together Sweetpea's toys - to put the toy together or get out all the pieces of the craft and tell her how it works, or what she needs to do to make the craft. The time it takes to complete this depends on the toy/craft. If it's a stupid Polly Pocket something or other, you can bank on the fact that while the pieces may fit together, they don't stay together, and I will be there at least10 years forty-five minutes trying to make the damn thing work. If it's a craft, I can usually count on the fact that explaining it to Sweetpea one time will simply not do. It's not that she can't/doesn't understand. It's that she usually hears step 1 and doesn't pay attention to steps 2 - 105. On top of that, if she doesn't like how they tell her to do step 1, she'll do it the way she thinks it should be done. Anyone who has ever followed any directions done a craft should be able to see the difficulty with such an attitude. After I'm relatively sure she probably understands, I go to finally try and finish whatever task I left undone to silence my demanding child. After about two minutes of working on my task, I will hear the following: "Mooooooommmmm! This isn't working right/I can't do this! Can you come help me?" "Sweetpea, you are old enough to be able to figure that out on your own. Why can't you do it yourself?" "This is booorrring! I can't do it." Side note: Sweetpea only kind of understands the meaning of boring. While she seems to understand the definition is "not fun, or uninteresting", she uses boring when she does not want to do something, or something is frustrating her. "It is not boring, you're just not trying very hard. Try again." Ten seconds later: "I still can't do it! Will you help me?" "*sigh* You can too do it. You just don't want to. Why did I put this together/get this out for you? Try again." Five seconds later:
*sound of crashing materials/toy pieces having been thrown across the table/room* "I'm no good at this!" Picture pouty lower lip and whiny 5-year-old voice. "Ok, that's enough. If it's that big a problem, maybe we'd better just take it back to the store." "NOOOOO! Maybe we could just do it together?" Translation: mommy, this is not turning out perfectly/the way I want it. Please do it for me. "*double sigh* Fine." So I once again drop whatever task I am currently (still) up to my armpits in, so my demanding child will stop whining. I go to try to help her do whatever it is she's trying to do. This will work for a little while, since I will once again show her how to do it correctly, (or put the stupid Polly Pockets something back together again) and still make her do it herself. This will have the effect of keeping Sweetpea occupied for about 15 minutes, maybe half an hour - if I'm lucky. Then what happens, you ask? Then she does get bored with what she's doing, and either stops trying to do it their way (i.e. the right way) and does it her own way, or she stops doing it at all. Which then leaves me to fix what she's done, or to do it by myself. Some examples? She got Melty Beads in her stocking this year. Do you remember Melty Beads? I loved these things as a kid. These are beads that you set on a peg board in a patterns to make a shape, then put a piece of waxed paper over them and iron the paper. The beads "melt" together and stick, permanently forming the shape. I'm not really sure what you're supposed to do with them after that. They may have some of the same uses as Pixos. Anyway, Sweetpea got about 3/4 of the way through the first shape, and accidentally knocked some of the beads off the peg board. Then came the "I can't do this" and so on. She and I fixed the upset beads and finished the shape together. I asked her if she wanted to do another, and she said she did. So, I carefully carried the peg board upstairs and set it down on the ironing board, and turned on the iron to heat up - thinking we could put the second shape together and I could iron them both at once. When I got back down stairs, Sweetpea had the second package open, and had emptied the bead packet into our bead bowl. But as soon as I sat down, she didn't want to do it anymore. There was something she was more interested in on t.v. And, of course, she didn't want to clean up the mess, either. So I ended up putting together the second shape myself. That's right. I put together the Melty Beads without my daughter. And then ironed them both, which took 10 times longer than it should have, since I couldn't seem to get them to melt evenly, regardless of the fact that I WAS using even pressure as I ironed, as directed... Next, she received do-it-yourself suncatchers from her Aunt for Christmas. These are made by Elmer's (that's right, as in glue.) The suncatchers themselves are already made. You just have to use the paint pens provided, and fill in the colors. When the paint dries, it dries with a look of stained glass, so the sun can shine through. The difficulty with these is that there are some tight corners that the pens don't exactly fit into, and squeezing the pens too tightly results in the overflow of paint over the black dividing lines that make the design of the suncatchers. With the first overflow I heard, "I'm just no good at this." The result? Instead of getting to paint my own suncatcher, as was originally Sweetpea's plan, I got to go behind her and "fix" all of the overflows on her suncatchers. I was actually still doing this long after Sweetpea had gone to bed. And guess what? The suncatchers are still not finished. And I don't think you even want me to get started on the stupid Polly Pocket race track that I spent nearlya million years 2 hours trying to get put together, only to find that it falls apart the minute you try to race a car on it. Needless to say, Polly Pocket playsets that require assembly have now joined Bratz in permanent banishment from our house. Let me tell you how very much I'm eagerly anticipating getting out the Candy Jewelry Maker. So far the attempts to start that little project have been successfully thwarted, but I feel my time is quickly running out...
"Mom, can I play with (insert new toy/craft here) tonight/today/tomorrow?" "Well, I don't know, honey, I still have to put it together and I'm not sure how it works." "Well, will you read the destructions (i.e. instructions) then?" "Yes, just give me a few minutes to finish what I'm doing." Thirty seconds later: "Mom, are you ready to read the destructions yet?" "No, dear, I haven't finished what I'm doing. Please give me a few minutes." Fifteen seconds later: "Mom, I'm still waiting for you to read the destructions so I can play with my (insert new toy/craft here)." "Sweetpea, I'm aware that you are still waiting, it hasn't even been a whole minute yet. Let me finish what I'm doing, please." Forty-five seconds later: "Mooooooommmmm, are you dooooooooonnnnnnnneee yeeeeetttt?" "Oh for crying out loud! If I get it put together and tell you how it works, will you leave me ALONE?!?" "Yes, Mama." So, I drop what I'm doing - because, you know, making dinner so we can eat before midnight or moving a wet load of laundry that's been sitting in the washer to the dryer so it doesn't sour, or cleaning up a flood in the laundry room cannot possibly be more important than putting together Sweetpea's toys - to put the toy together or get out all the pieces of the craft and tell her how it works, or what she needs to do to make the craft. The time it takes to complete this depends on the toy/craft. If it's a stupid Polly Pocket something or other, you can bank on the fact that while the pieces may fit together, they don't stay together, and I will be there at least
*sound of crashing materials/toy pieces having been thrown across the table/room* "I'm no good at this!" Picture pouty lower lip and whiny 5-year-old voice. "Ok, that's enough. If it's that big a problem, maybe we'd better just take it back to the store." "NOOOOO! Maybe we could just do it together?" Translation: mommy, this is not turning out perfectly/the way I want it. Please do it for me. "*double sigh* Fine." So I once again drop whatever task I am currently (still) up to my armpits in, so my demanding child will stop whining. I go to try to help her do whatever it is she's trying to do. This will work for a little while, since I will once again show her how to do it correctly, (or put the stupid Polly Pockets something back together again) and still make her do it herself. This will have the effect of keeping Sweetpea occupied for about 15 minutes, maybe half an hour - if I'm lucky. Then what happens, you ask? Then she does get bored with what she's doing, and either stops trying to do it their way (i.e. the right way) and does it her own way, or she stops doing it at all. Which then leaves me to fix what she's done, or to do it by myself. Some examples? She got Melty Beads in her stocking this year. Do you remember Melty Beads? I loved these things as a kid. These are beads that you set on a peg board in a patterns to make a shape, then put a piece of waxed paper over them and iron the paper. The beads "melt" together and stick, permanently forming the shape. I'm not really sure what you're supposed to do with them after that. They may have some of the same uses as Pixos. Anyway, Sweetpea got about 3/4 of the way through the first shape, and accidentally knocked some of the beads off the peg board. Then came the "I can't do this" and so on. She and I fixed the upset beads and finished the shape together. I asked her if she wanted to do another, and she said she did. So, I carefully carried the peg board upstairs and set it down on the ironing board, and turned on the iron to heat up - thinking we could put the second shape together and I could iron them both at once. When I got back down stairs, Sweetpea had the second package open, and had emptied the bead packet into our bead bowl. But as soon as I sat down, she didn't want to do it anymore. There was something she was more interested in on t.v. And, of course, she didn't want to clean up the mess, either. So I ended up putting together the second shape myself. That's right. I put together the Melty Beads without my daughter. And then ironed them both, which took 10 times longer than it should have, since I couldn't seem to get them to melt evenly, regardless of the fact that I WAS using even pressure as I ironed, as directed... Next, she received do-it-yourself suncatchers from her Aunt for Christmas. These are made by Elmer's (that's right, as in glue.) The suncatchers themselves are already made. You just have to use the paint pens provided, and fill in the colors. When the paint dries, it dries with a look of stained glass, so the sun can shine through. The difficulty with these is that there are some tight corners that the pens don't exactly fit into, and squeezing the pens too tightly results in the overflow of paint over the black dividing lines that make the design of the suncatchers. With the first overflow I heard, "I'm just no good at this." The result? Instead of getting to paint my own suncatcher, as was originally Sweetpea's plan, I got to go behind her and "fix" all of the overflows on her suncatchers. I was actually still doing this long after Sweetpea had gone to bed. And guess what? The suncatchers are still not finished. And I don't think you even want me to get started on the stupid Polly Pocket race track that I spent nearly
Monday, December 28, 2009
Bad Year for Pets
I am extremely saddened today to announce the passing of a true and loyal companion, a beautiful soul inside and out, a friend to the end. RIP GILLbert Grape.
That's right, friends, I came into my office today to find that my gorgeous purple beta fish had passed away. I don't know the cause of his demise, though I had noticed that he had spent several days acting rather sluggish and even a little depressed. (Must have been pretty defined for me to notice anything different than the normal, lazy beta attitude.) That and he had not been waiting for me at the glass wall of his bowl as I walked to my chair like he usually did, begging to be fed. In fact, he hardly touched his food when I fed him. Maybe he missed all of the doting that my co-workers at my last office showered on him. Maybe he didn't care for his new spot near the window with a grand view of the neighborhood behind my office complex. I suppose he might have had a fear of heights, being a fish and all. Maybe the people whose house my office looks down on made too much noise for him. They do have a tendency to play music awfully loud, and sit in their trucks revving the engines for ridiculously long periods of time. And water does amplify sound (doesn't it?). Maybe he was just old.
Whatever his ailment, I guess it's safe to say he was probably on his way out. Not that I am really complaining too much. I did have him for nearly three years, which is pretty impressive for a beta. He had a good, long, pampered, spoiled run of it. I will miss him, though. It's nice to know there is someone, (or something), loyal to you no matter what happens in this crazy world of ours. Even if he was only loyal because I was the one who fed him. But I won't go down that negative road. No, I think I will just be happy I had his company for a while, and hope he has an even more pampered, spoiled time in fishy heaven.
Man, this has not been a good year for my pets, has it?
That's right, friends, I came into my office today to find that my gorgeous purple beta fish had passed away. I don't know the cause of his demise, though I had noticed that he had spent several days acting rather sluggish and even a little depressed. (Must have been pretty defined for me to notice anything different than the normal, lazy beta attitude.) That and he had not been waiting for me at the glass wall of his bowl as I walked to my chair like he usually did, begging to be fed. In fact, he hardly touched his food when I fed him. Maybe he missed all of the doting that my co-workers at my last office showered on him. Maybe he didn't care for his new spot near the window with a grand view of the neighborhood behind my office complex. I suppose he might have had a fear of heights, being a fish and all. Maybe the people whose house my office looks down on made too much noise for him. They do have a tendency to play music awfully loud, and sit in their trucks revving the engines for ridiculously long periods of time. And water does amplify sound (doesn't it?). Maybe he was just old.
Whatever his ailment, I guess it's safe to say he was probably on his way out. Not that I am really complaining too much. I did have him for nearly three years, which is pretty impressive for a beta. He had a good, long, pampered, spoiled run of it. I will miss him, though. It's nice to know there is someone, (or something), loyal to you no matter what happens in this crazy world of ours. Even if he was only loyal because I was the one who fed him. But I won't go down that negative road. No, I think I will just be happy I had his company for a while, and hope he has an even more pampered, spoiled time in fishy heaven.
Man, this has not been a good year for my pets, has it?
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Merry Christmas Now
Based upon the fact that I heard soooooo much about my Christmas greeting being posted in February last year, I thought I would beat the criticism and post today. I thought one day late was better than 2 months. Be forewarned, though, I have about 6 months worth of drafts started, and until those are caught up you will have to scroll backwards through my blog to see the "new" posts. Sorry, that is just how things have gone this last year.
Well, it's probably not any surprise to anyone that I have had a very difficult time finding the Christmas Spirit this year. Selfish, maybe, but so much has happened in my life this last year that I have found it hard to really feel the meaning of the season. I do realize that I have been pretty self-absorbed recently, and that realization didn't really help matters much. Aside from that, all the stress that seems to go along with being an adult at Christmas time makes finding that spirit more difficult. (I don't know about you, but I don't remember Christmas being this much work as a kid. I know, it's because it wasn't. Sometimes I think I would like to go back to the wonder and excitement that came with Christmas, without all the work!) And it didn't help any that I offered to host Christmas dinner this year. Our first Christmas dinner at our house. Of course I had to go all out. We got out our china and crystal. The stuff we got for our wedding over 12 years ago and have never, ever, used. Imagine my surprise (and frustration) to find that though I was SURE we had service for 12, we only had service for 10. And our china pattern has been discontinued. Not to mention that we found two of our crystal water goblets are chipped. If I'm not mistaken, that crystal pattern has also been discontinued. And that was just the beginning of the day.
I really won't go into all of that, because that was not really the reason for my post. By the time I FINALLY went to bed last night, I was thankful for the day. Even for the frustrations and the clashes, the disappointments and the failings, the crying children and the screaming adults. Because in the end, I know that there are people out there who aren't nearly as lucky as I am, who don't have anything but the clothes on their backs, who don't have friends and family to help them and care for them, who don't have anything at all to eat and no prospect for the next meal. I am vastly fortunate, I am thankful for all that I have, and thankful for the opportunity to spend the day surrounded by friends and family, even if remembering the reason for such a day was difficult. I went to bed last night happy.
And I hope for you. I hope that you, too, were able to find your Christmas Spirit, to slice through all the fluff, the nonsense, the stress and difficulties, and be thankful for what you have when so many others have so little. I hope that you were able to remember the reason for the season, and hope you had a very Merry Christmas.
Well, it's probably not any surprise to anyone that I have had a very difficult time finding the Christmas Spirit this year. Selfish, maybe, but so much has happened in my life this last year that I have found it hard to really feel the meaning of the season. I do realize that I have been pretty self-absorbed recently, and that realization didn't really help matters much. Aside from that, all the stress that seems to go along with being an adult at Christmas time makes finding that spirit more difficult. (I don't know about you, but I don't remember Christmas being this much work as a kid. I know, it's because it wasn't. Sometimes I think I would like to go back to the wonder and excitement that came with Christmas, without all the work!) And it didn't help any that I offered to host Christmas dinner this year. Our first Christmas dinner at our house. Of course I had to go all out. We got out our china and crystal. The stuff we got for our wedding over 12 years ago and have never, ever, used. Imagine my surprise (and frustration) to find that though I was SURE we had service for 12, we only had service for 10. And our china pattern has been discontinued. Not to mention that we found two of our crystal water goblets are chipped. If I'm not mistaken, that crystal pattern has also been discontinued. And that was just the beginning of the day.
I really won't go into all of that, because that was not really the reason for my post. By the time I FINALLY went to bed last night, I was thankful for the day. Even for the frustrations and the clashes, the disappointments and the failings, the crying children and the screaming adults. Because in the end, I know that there are people out there who aren't nearly as lucky as I am, who don't have anything but the clothes on their backs, who don't have friends and family to help them and care for them, who don't have anything at all to eat and no prospect for the next meal. I am vastly fortunate, I am thankful for all that I have, and thankful for the opportunity to spend the day surrounded by friends and family, even if remembering the reason for such a day was difficult. I went to bed last night happy.
And I hope for you. I hope that you, too, were able to find your Christmas Spirit, to slice through all the fluff, the nonsense, the stress and difficulties, and be thankful for what you have when so many others have so little. I hope that you were able to remember the reason for the season, and hope you had a very Merry Christmas.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
My LittleOne
Today our family lost our wonderful kitty of 12 years. We found out in July that she was suffering from a condition that would most likely cause her kidneys to shut down, if they hadn't already. While there were several options to attempt to treat the condition, all of them came with side-effects that could make matters worse, and none of them had a more than 20% chance of actually resolving the problem. In fact, two of the options would require expensive medicines and treatments that would be needed for the rest of her life, really only prolonging the inevitable, and most of the treatments were not recommended for a "senior" cat - which equates to 7 years old or older. Ours would have been 13 in December. In the end, we opted to do nothing, to enjoy the time we had left with her and hope that she went peacefully. Here is a picture of her just a few days after the diagnosis:
She had already lost a great deal of weight at this point, and we didn't expect she would last much longer. Slowly she stopped eating, and was seldom drinking anything. Soon, she was spending all of her time hiding under our bed, and we only saw her when we checked to make sure she was still doing ok. At those times she would come out, purring like mad, and wobble her way into my lap, loving the attention even though I'm sure she had no idea where she was. She became nothing but a skeleton, and it finally became apparent this week that it was time. My husband took her to the vet - I couldn't handle it. He called to tell me she went peacefully, and that he was with her, holding and petting her. She purred her way into kitty heaven. We will miss her so.
Here are a few cute pictures of her from the last few years:
This was taken not long after I brought her home, with Yellow Kitty. Now you see why we called her LittleOne instead of her real name. And this was after she had grown a bit! She was so tiny! When she purred, she sounded like a VW Bug - the old style. My husband thought we should have named her Bug.
My two babies. Taken shortly after we brought Sweetpea home. She was so very curious about Sweetpea. How little did she understand how Sweetpea would torture her later in life!
This was taken just a few months ago. I just happen to walk into the family room and see this nap session. Of course, then it was "Get the camera! Quick! Where is it?? Before they move! SHHHHH, you'll wake them!!" Luckily they didn't move before I was able to snap the picture. Do you think it was a comfortable position? :)
Pets are such a big part of our lives, and owning them makes them part of the family. I'm sad that we lost our friend, but I'm thankful we had her in our lives. Rest in peace, sweet LittleOne. We love and miss you already!
She had already lost a great deal of weight at this point, and we didn't expect she would last much longer. Slowly she stopped eating, and was seldom drinking anything. Soon, she was spending all of her time hiding under our bed, and we only saw her when we checked to make sure she was still doing ok. At those times she would come out, purring like mad, and wobble her way into my lap, loving the attention even though I'm sure she had no idea where she was. She became nothing but a skeleton, and it finally became apparent this week that it was time. My husband took her to the vet - I couldn't handle it. He called to tell me she went peacefully, and that he was with her, holding and petting her. She purred her way into kitty heaven. We will miss her so.Here are a few cute pictures of her from the last few years:
This was taken not long after I brought her home, with Yellow Kitty. Now you see why we called her LittleOne instead of her real name. And this was after she had grown a bit! She was so tiny! When she purred, she sounded like a VW Bug - the old style. My husband thought we should have named her Bug.
My two babies. Taken shortly after we brought Sweetpea home. She was so very curious about Sweetpea. How little did she understand how Sweetpea would torture her later in life!
This was taken just a few months ago. I just happen to walk into the family room and see this nap session. Of course, then it was "Get the camera! Quick! Where is it?? Before they move! SHHHHH, you'll wake them!!" Luckily they didn't move before I was able to snap the picture. Do you think it was a comfortable position? :)Pets are such a big part of our lives, and owning them makes them part of the family. I'm sad that we lost our friend, but I'm thankful we had her in our lives. Rest in peace, sweet LittleOne. We love and miss you already!
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Kitchen Ballet
So the other night my poor husband had a small mishap in the kitchen. Admittedly, this little accident was partially my fault, though I refuse to take full blame for the incident. After all, I did warn him. Ok, wait. Let me back up and tell the story properly.
We decided we would have Orange Honey Mustard chicken for dinner - a quite yummy dish well liked by everyone I've ever served it to - except my 5-year-old. (If anyone wants the recipe, let me know. I'd be glad to send it your way.) Unfortunately, this particular recipe calls for baking the chicken on a cookie sheet with sides. This is only unfortunate because right now I don't have a cookie sheet with sides on it. I threw out the last one because it was a beat up piece of crap (and it wasn't more than a couple of years old.) So now I'm left with the two Airbake (or something like that) cookie sheets we got for a wedding gift over 12 years ago. Have you seen these? They appear to be two sheets of steel welded together, the top sheet having the traditional smooth surface you would expect to find on a cookie sheet. The second sheet (aka bottom of the pan) has these large round indentations in it. I really have no idea why. I think maybe they intended for air to be "trapped" in the indentations which would somehow prevent your cookies from burning. All I know is, they suck for baking cookies on. They take FOR-EVER (picture Squints in "The Sandlot") to bake all the way through. I've had more than one batch come out raw in the middle. And the sheets have no sides whatsoever, except maybe if you count a sort of bent up lip at the back, which I assume is there for easy retrieval from the oven. But they certainly last forever. I'll give them that. We really need a new set of cookie sheets. With sides on them. But being that I'd like to have a really nice set that will last another 12+ years. I have not been willing to break down and give my favorite store to hate, Wal-Mart, more of my money for a cheapo set. So, we make due with sideless.
Anyway, what's really the bad part about making this recipe on sideless pans is, the chicken produces a lot of juice/grease as it bakes (as does all types of baking chicken) that ends up dripping off of the pan either when you move it or before, and starts burning. This creates smoke. Lots and lots of smoke. And/or when you remove the pan from the oven, the juice splashes all over the stove top or counter top where you place it. Or on the floor. Which is what happened in this instance. (You can see this coming, can't you?)
In this particular preparation I decided to try to build sides onto the pan with tinfoil. An inspired plan - had it actually worked. The recipe calls for covering the pan with tinfoil anyway, though I'm not sure why. It does nothing to keep the pan clean, as the tinfoil is not wide enough to cover any pan fully. Even if you overlap the layers of tinfoil deeply, the grease still manages to seep in between the layers and soil your pan. But, whatever the reason, the recipe calls for it, and you know me and following the directions. So I covered the pan. I simply made the tinfoil wider than necessary, and formed short walls on three sides of the pan. Brilliant. Or so I thought.
As I watched the chicken bake, it looked like my plan was working. I couldn't see any grease dripping down in the oven, and there was no smoke. All was looking good. When it was time to take the chicken out of the oven, I made my first mistake. I thought I could move the pan with less caution than I usually used, because my tinfoil fortress seemed to be working. So, I picked up the pan and closed the oven door. As I turned to my right to put the pan on the counter top, I moved just a bit too quickly. Chicken juice flew out of the corner of the pan, apparently from under the tinfoil corner, in a centrifugal wave that sparkled ever so slightly in the air as the kitchen lights struck it, before coating the floor in a greasy, slippery puddle that stretched in an arc from in front of the oven, across the walkway between the island and the refrigerator and in front of the island. The beauty of such a splash was only spoiled by the immediate explosion of every swear word in the book from my mouth, which caused Sweetpea to come running to find out what was wrong. She thought it was pretty funny that it was mom who made a mess instead of her.
At that point I simply did not want to get the mop out, since by the time I was finished cleaning up the mess, our dinner that had just been made would have gotten cold. Instead, I just simply took a dishcloth and, using hot water and several trips to the sink to wash the grease out of the dishcloth, wiped up the mess. I knew I was not getting all of the grease off of the floor, so I warned Sweetpea that she must step over this area when walking through the kitchen, or not come through the kitchen at all. I thought I would just mop up the floor after dinner.
When my husband came in from the back yard, I warned him that he should be careful, as I had spilled chicken juice/grease on the floor. I told him I had wiped it up, but it was probably still slippery. I know he heard me, and I know he tried to avoid the mess. But somehow in the moving about in the kitchen necessary to get the rest of dinner with all the trimmings on the table, he managed to step right in the worst part of the mess - right in front of the oven. Regardless of the fact that he had shoes on (which may have hurt him more than helped), his foot slipped right out from under him, and suddenly he was doing a ballet move that belonged in Swan Lake. Luckily he did not fall down, and he did not drop anything that he was holding in his hands at the time. What he did do is nearly a full split, while still managing to stay on his feet. Ouch. It even made me cringe, so I can't imagine how much it hurt him. What was worse was that he was essentially stuck there. His feet were spread so far apart that he could not put enough weight on either one to bring himself back up into a full standing position, without them slipping the rest of the way out from under him. And because of the things in his hands, he could not reach out and grab the counter top for the stability needed to stand up. Likewise, he was afraid to move to reach out and put the items in his hands on the counter top, so that he could grab it to stabilize himself. He couldn't move.
After I managed to get over the initial shock at his position, I took the things from his hands and helped him to stand up, being careful not to slip myself. As he stood there, trying to recover enough from the pain of his position, Sweetpea decided she needed to correct her father's behavior. Out of the silence came her little chiding voice saying "Dad, it's really better if you step over these things, not in them. You could get hurt!" It was all I could do not to laugh out loud as I stood there supporting my poor husband, who looked as if he wanted to cry and laugh all at the same time. I guess in the future we'll just buy tickets to the real ballet, instead of staging our own.
We decided we would have Orange Honey Mustard chicken for dinner - a quite yummy dish well liked by everyone I've ever served it to - except my 5-year-old. (If anyone wants the recipe, let me know. I'd be glad to send it your way.) Unfortunately, this particular recipe calls for baking the chicken on a cookie sheet with sides. This is only unfortunate because right now I don't have a cookie sheet with sides on it. I threw out the last one because it was a beat up piece of crap (and it wasn't more than a couple of years old.) So now I'm left with the two Airbake (or something like that) cookie sheets we got for a wedding gift over 12 years ago. Have you seen these? They appear to be two sheets of steel welded together, the top sheet having the traditional smooth surface you would expect to find on a cookie sheet. The second sheet (aka bottom of the pan) has these large round indentations in it. I really have no idea why. I think maybe they intended for air to be "trapped" in the indentations which would somehow prevent your cookies from burning. All I know is, they suck for baking cookies on. They take FOR-EVER (picture Squints in "The Sandlot") to bake all the way through. I've had more than one batch come out raw in the middle. And the sheets have no sides whatsoever, except maybe if you count a sort of bent up lip at the back, which I assume is there for easy retrieval from the oven. But they certainly last forever. I'll give them that. We really need a new set of cookie sheets. With sides on them. But being that I'd like to have a really nice set that will last another 12+ years. I have not been willing to break down and give my favorite store to hate, Wal-Mart, more of my money for a cheapo set. So, we make due with sideless.
Anyway, what's really the bad part about making this recipe on sideless pans is, the chicken produces a lot of juice/grease as it bakes (as does all types of baking chicken) that ends up dripping off of the pan either when you move it or before, and starts burning. This creates smoke. Lots and lots of smoke. And/or when you remove the pan from the oven, the juice splashes all over the stove top or counter top where you place it. Or on the floor. Which is what happened in this instance. (You can see this coming, can't you?)
In this particular preparation I decided to try to build sides onto the pan with tinfoil. An inspired plan - had it actually worked. The recipe calls for covering the pan with tinfoil anyway, though I'm not sure why. It does nothing to keep the pan clean, as the tinfoil is not wide enough to cover any pan fully. Even if you overlap the layers of tinfoil deeply, the grease still manages to seep in between the layers and soil your pan. But, whatever the reason, the recipe calls for it, and you know me and following the directions. So I covered the pan. I simply made the tinfoil wider than necessary, and formed short walls on three sides of the pan. Brilliant. Or so I thought.
As I watched the chicken bake, it looked like my plan was working. I couldn't see any grease dripping down in the oven, and there was no smoke. All was looking good. When it was time to take the chicken out of the oven, I made my first mistake. I thought I could move the pan with less caution than I usually used, because my tinfoil fortress seemed to be working. So, I picked up the pan and closed the oven door. As I turned to my right to put the pan on the counter top, I moved just a bit too quickly. Chicken juice flew out of the corner of the pan, apparently from under the tinfoil corner, in a centrifugal wave that sparkled ever so slightly in the air as the kitchen lights struck it, before coating the floor in a greasy, slippery puddle that stretched in an arc from in front of the oven, across the walkway between the island and the refrigerator and in front of the island. The beauty of such a splash was only spoiled by the immediate explosion of every swear word in the book from my mouth, which caused Sweetpea to come running to find out what was wrong. She thought it was pretty funny that it was mom who made a mess instead of her.
At that point I simply did not want to get the mop out, since by the time I was finished cleaning up the mess, our dinner that had just been made would have gotten cold. Instead, I just simply took a dishcloth and, using hot water and several trips to the sink to wash the grease out of the dishcloth, wiped up the mess. I knew I was not getting all of the grease off of the floor, so I warned Sweetpea that she must step over this area when walking through the kitchen, or not come through the kitchen at all. I thought I would just mop up the floor after dinner.
When my husband came in from the back yard, I warned him that he should be careful, as I had spilled chicken juice/grease on the floor. I told him I had wiped it up, but it was probably still slippery. I know he heard me, and I know he tried to avoid the mess. But somehow in the moving about in the kitchen necessary to get the rest of dinner with all the trimmings on the table, he managed to step right in the worst part of the mess - right in front of the oven. Regardless of the fact that he had shoes on (which may have hurt him more than helped), his foot slipped right out from under him, and suddenly he was doing a ballet move that belonged in Swan Lake. Luckily he did not fall down, and he did not drop anything that he was holding in his hands at the time. What he did do is nearly a full split, while still managing to stay on his feet. Ouch. It even made me cringe, so I can't imagine how much it hurt him. What was worse was that he was essentially stuck there. His feet were spread so far apart that he could not put enough weight on either one to bring himself back up into a full standing position, without them slipping the rest of the way out from under him. And because of the things in his hands, he could not reach out and grab the counter top for the stability needed to stand up. Likewise, he was afraid to move to reach out and put the items in his hands on the counter top, so that he could grab it to stabilize himself. He couldn't move.
After I managed to get over the initial shock at his position, I took the things from his hands and helped him to stand up, being careful not to slip myself. As he stood there, trying to recover enough from the pain of his position, Sweetpea decided she needed to correct her father's behavior. Out of the silence came her little chiding voice saying "Dad, it's really better if you step over these things, not in them. You could get hurt!" It was all I could do not to laugh out loud as I stood there supporting my poor husband, who looked as if he wanted to cry and laugh all at the same time. I guess in the future we'll just buy tickets to the real ballet, instead of staging our own.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Two Birthdays
Yesterday we celebrated not only the birthday of our wonderful nation, but the birthday of a friend's son as well. Ok, so we didn't really celebrate with them, since we had a prior commitment at my bil's house. I just helped them celebrate with a cake. Let me give a little background here. My husband recently made friends with a man who was in the process of relocating his family here from New York. He works for the LDS Church, and was transferred here. The only problem with that is he and his wife owned a house in New York. Unfortunately, due to the economic situation in our country right now, real estate is not selling. Or, not selling well, that is. So even though they put their house on the market immediately, it took a ridiculous amount of time to sell. The result was that he had to move here alone to start the new job, and leave his wife and their three children in New York to complete the school year and the sale of the house. Finally, after much waiting, and price reducing, and, of course, fighting (you can imagine the strain that would put on a marriage), the house sold.
So then, after struggling with the moving company for several weeks to get everything boxed up, packed up and moved out, he flew to New York to drive his family across the country to their new home. My understanding is they made the trip in three days. Yikes. Three days in the car, all day, every day. With three kids, the oldest of which is 11. I’m still wondering how they survived that trip. Because it’s not like they were on vacation and had fun, interesting stops along the way. Like Cousin Eddie's house. I’m reminded of National Lampoon’s Vacation….
Not too terribly bad for such short notice, huh? Ok, so yeah, I see the mistakes too. And I realize the pictures aren't so great. But hey, at least the kid didn’t have to have a cake from some grocery store bakery that probably has been sitting in the display case for so long it is older than he is, or been featured multiple times on cakewrecks.com. And, he got the kind of cake he wanted. White cake with strawberry cheesecake filling. My first attempt at a cheesecake filling, and of course I made too much. What's the downside, you ask? Not a damn thing. The extra is currently in a tupperware in my fridge. Where's that spoon I just had a second ago?
*ahem* Anyway, I didn't really think that anything at all could be learned from a cake that was researched, designed, planned, made, decorated and delivered in such a short amount of time. I was most definitely mistaken:
1. There is such a thing as too much filling in a cake. Really. I'm so not kidding. It's true! Ok, so I didn't believe it either. Then I made this cake. As you can see from the pictures, too much filling results in the eventual squishing out (professional-sounding, isn't it?) of the filling from between the layers, as the weight of the cake settles down upon itself. Note to self:use less filling or a lighter cake. Additional note to self: less cheesecake filling in the cake means more on the spoon...
2. Red icing in a tube from the store works great in a pinch for "red glare"- and doesn't taste all that bad either! It's most definitely better than trying to match the color to red fondant, and when all you're using it for is a single border, well, the drawbacks certainly fade in the memory. Remind me, why don't I like that stuff again?
3. Pearl luster dust works really well for that "star-spangled" pizazz. Unfortunately it just doesn't show well in photography. Well, my photography anyway. Have I mentioned how much I love this stuff? Maybe it's come up a time or two.
4. Blue luster dust works relatively well for making that "blue-blooded" American cake shine. Again, not so great in photography. But then, when you are using toothpick sparklers for rockets' red glare, the chances of seeing the shine are pretty slim anyway.
5. Toothpick sparklers work great in a pinch for fireworks. Or "rockets' red glare", whichever your preference. Well, yeah, they're kind of cheesy. But the cake would've looked pretty dang empty without them, don't you think?
As it turns out, I guess I only had time to learn five things with this one. Hmmmm. Note to self: truncated timetable = truncated learning scale. And I needed that information. I'm sure I did...
So then, after struggling with the moving company for several weeks to get everything boxed up, packed up and moved out, he flew to New York to drive his family across the country to their new home. My understanding is they made the trip in three days. Yikes. Three days in the car, all day, every day. With three kids, the oldest of which is 11. I’m still wondering how they survived that trip. Because it’s not like they were on vacation and had fun, interesting stops along the way. Like Cousin Eddie's house. I’m reminded of National Lampoon’s Vacation….
Anyway, we saw them the evening they arrived here, before they’d even been to their new house, which is only about five minutes from our house. They stopped to pick up some things we stored for them while they were away. I swear I have never seen two people look more beat-down tired and utterly worn out than those two did. And with good cause. I’m still wondering how they were even on their feet after a journey like that. We made plans to meet for dinner later that week, which ended up being Friday night.
Let me just throw in here, that she is a fellow on-the-side cake decorator. I keep hearing wonderful things about the Halo cake she made for her oldest son's birthday last year, though I have yet to see a picture. So, at dinner we found out that their youngest son, the middle child, had a birthday on July 4th. Because all her tools and pans were packed up, and because of lack of time, she was just planning on buying him a cake from the store rather than making one. Oh the horror!!! I could NOT let her do that, so I volunteered to make him a cake. That’s right, I volunteered to make and decorate a cake in less than 24 hours. Yes, I realize I’m crazy. This is just one more affirmation of that fact. And as further affirmation, they did not want me to do it. They kept saying there was no need to go out of my way like that, that a store-bought cake would be perfectly acceptable. But, being so repulsed by the idea of this poor child having to suffer with a store-bought cake on his birthday, I insisted I could manage it without as much effort as they thought it would be. Right. So, this is what I came up with:
Not too terribly bad for such short notice, huh? Ok, so yeah, I see the mistakes too. And I realize the pictures aren't so great. But hey, at least the kid didn’t have to have a cake from some grocery store bakery that probably has been sitting in the display case for so long it is older than he is, or been featured multiple times on cakewrecks.com. And, he got the kind of cake he wanted. White cake with strawberry cheesecake filling. My first attempt at a cheesecake filling, and of course I made too much. What's the downside, you ask? Not a damn thing. The extra is currently in a tupperware in my fridge. Where's that spoon I just had a second ago?*ahem* Anyway, I didn't really think that anything at all could be learned from a cake that was researched, designed, planned, made, decorated and delivered in such a short amount of time. I was most definitely mistaken:
1. There is such a thing as too much filling in a cake. Really. I'm so not kidding. It's true! Ok, so I didn't believe it either. Then I made this cake. As you can see from the pictures, too much filling results in the eventual squishing out (professional-sounding, isn't it?) of the filling from between the layers, as the weight of the cake settles down upon itself. Note to self:use less filling or a lighter cake. Additional note to self: less cheesecake filling in the cake means more on the spoon...
2. Red icing in a tube from the store works great in a pinch for "red glare"- and doesn't taste all that bad either! It's most definitely better than trying to match the color to red fondant, and when all you're using it for is a single border, well, the drawbacks certainly fade in the memory. Remind me, why don't I like that stuff again?
3. Pearl luster dust works really well for that "star-spangled" pizazz. Unfortunately it just doesn't show well in photography. Well, my photography anyway. Have I mentioned how much I love this stuff? Maybe it's come up a time or two.
4. Blue luster dust works relatively well for making that "blue-blooded" American cake shine. Again, not so great in photography. But then, when you are using toothpick sparklers for rockets' red glare, the chances of seeing the shine are pretty slim anyway.
5. Toothpick sparklers work great in a pinch for fireworks. Or "rockets' red glare", whichever your preference. Well, yeah, they're kind of cheesy. But the cake would've looked pretty dang empty without them, don't you think?
As it turns out, I guess I only had time to learn five things with this one. Hmmmm. Note to self: truncated timetable = truncated learning scale. And I needed that information. I'm sure I did...
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