southern cookin*

*since we don't say the g on -ing words around these parts.*

"Mexican food" means different things to different people. Depending on which part of Mexico is closest, the style of real authentic food varies. I'm sure Southern food is the same way. That said, I've started to pick up on a few food items I didn't see growing up.

There are the usual things that you'd expect: fried green tomatoes, fried okra, sauteed greens, ribs, pulled pork, biscuits and gravy, etc. They are all delicious.

Then, there are things I didn't know to expect: field peas, fried pickles (nope, not kidding! They taste like little discs of salt, which is certainly not a bad thing), corn casserole, cucumbers and onions, Rotel everything, Milky Way cake...also all delicious. Did I mention that BBQ sauce practically has its own aisle? The first time I went to buy some, I stared for awhile looking for Original or some other regular type. Instead, they are all Texas, Memphis, Tennessee style etc. So for your reading pleasure, here are some recipes and thoughts about the good eats around here.

Biscuits: AB is a Southern boy. This is the best recipe I've found (and trust me, I've tried at least 15). What finally sealed it for me was that instead of circles, I use my dough scraper to chop the dough into squares. That seems to do the trick of sealing the edges well enough that they rise beautifully.

Cucumbers and onions: Apparently, Josh grew up eating these. That was news to me. This was the recipe I used, but I added 1 T. of salt and 1 tsp. pepper and cut the sugar down to 1/4 c. We're still looking for the perfect recipe for him, but this was great for me. (He claims it was too sweet. He's crazy.)

Corn dip: Good stuff. Try it. Serve it at your next party...assuming they sell Rotel elsewhere. They do, right? I'm not sure, but it has over 1/2 the tomato shelf space hereabouts. Also, this recipe claims it's Mexican corn dip. How have I never tried it before? Either way, it's popular (and delicious) here.

our little artist

Jonah is naturally quite artistic, even more so than Josh or me (or us put together). I feel like we have the chance to teach him to explore and love his natural interest if we do it right. I don't know that he has a long-term future in art (maybe?) but I'd hate to limit his ability just because it's not my natural go-to activity. Baking? Literature? General lay around and drink hot cocoa? Those are my natural interests.

Anyway, I've started introducing him to some favorite male songs from musicals. There are lovely female songs, too, but I feel like he might need a little more introduction to great strong male leads. I don't want him to think only girls can or should sing. We've already started singing "Mr. Cellophane" from Chicago (ok, not a strong male lead, but it's catchy) and "If I Were a Rich Man" from Fiddler on the Roof. What else am I missing?

Also, I recently found this. I am going to test out the "How To"s tomorrow with Jonah to see if they're simple enough for either of us.

Grammar nerd friends: Did I punctuate "How To"s correctly there? How Tos? And most importantly, when will he be old enough to appreciate the joys of grammatical minutia? That's where I will really shine as a parent.

Tarzan and such

Yesterday, the high was over 80 degrees. Today, it's supposed to be 60 at best. It's strange to look at pictures of us outside in shorts while I'm shivering through my hot chocolate. These were yesterday? Jonah has gone outside 3 times to eat an apple and come back in claiming it's too cold on his hands. He just took the apple outside for the fourth time with an optimistic, "It's probably not too cold anymore." But then Facebook tells me many of my friends had snow this week, so we'll take 60. Anyway, here are the kids this week:


Caroline has perfected the Tarzan crawl for crunchy grass (she also crawls like this over the air conditioner grate in the living room floor):

I finally got a picture of her closed-mouth smile. She's a funny kid:

 
Jonah sporting his houndstooth fedora. He doesn't go out without it.

picasso in residence

Is there anything quite as wonderful as a kid's drawings? I don't think so. Here is a sample of Jonah's most recent handiwork:

From left to right (starting on the top): "the curtains, Caroline in her crib waking me up, me in my bed, the floor of my room."

This is a self portrait. "ILU" is for "I love you" (we're still working on the other letters), and you may not see it, but his name is on the paper too. A backwards J, O, and N are on the bottom-right, an A is above that, and then the H is to the left of the A. Not bad for a doodle on my phone.

when we're helping, we're happy

Jonah talks all day long. Sometimes (more often than I'd like to admit), I desperately wish for some silence. That said, he has some great words of wisdom. Today, after spending at least 5 minutes describing how strong he is, he said:

"It sure is nice when one daddy, 28, is carrying the bench all by himself with no one helping and one four-year-old helps his daddy. That's a good job."

Did I mention he's also busy folding bath towels right now? He really is a good kid.

----

Cut to three minutes later when I kicked him outside because he was running around the room screaming and yelling about not having any feet or something. 

signs you move often

I recently read these 18 signs that you move often. I agree with many (numbers 2, 3, 4, 9, 11, 14, and 18 especially) and would add the following:

1. All hidden space (under couches and beds, for example) is full of collapsed boxes.
2. Book boxes are worth 3 of any regular kind.
3. Buying anything decorative seems like a waste..thus the hodge podge collection we've got on the walls.

if you are what you eat

Josh is a bottle of Tabasco
I am a chocolate chip cookie
Jonah is a grapefruit and a peanut butter sandwich
Caroline is a banana and Cheerios


In my unofficial study, the children appear to be the healthy ones in this family.

important things

Jonah prays for the important things:

-Mommy's back to feel better
-Daddy to be safe at school
-Caroline to learn to not cry at night and wake me up
-Me to help Caroline learn to sit down
-Dixie to be productive

Yeah, Dixie. Get to work!

when I run the world (or at least the debates)

Dear Commission on Presidential Debates,

I am nominating myself to moderate the next Presidential debate. Yes, yes, you likely have another moderator already. But if I can't do it myself, please consider the following annoyances from an audience member's perspective (and pass along the suggestions if necessary):

It is annoying when candidates only talk about each other.
There may have been an election sometime somewhere when a candidate does not feel that the public is aware of his or her opponent's weaknesses. This is not that election. Anyone with a radio, television, or internet connection (not to mention the misfortune of living in a swing state) is well aware of what they think of each other. The next time you ask "What do you plan to do about ....?", perhaps you can help the candidates by starting their responses for them. A proper reply should begin with "My plan is...". We're smart enough to see the difference between them if they both present their own ideas. If we're not, the country is in more trouble than one political party or another can fix.

It is annoying when candidates do not answer the question.
On a similar vein, please encourage the candidates to actually answer the question. If they go off topic, I suggest a Taboo buzzer. Or maybe a spray bottle to the face. 

It is annoying when candidates go over on time.
From your own website:

"Properly timing the opening/closing statements, answers, and rebuttals is important, especially in a broadcast debate. It is not a job to give to the moderator, who will be occupied with many other responsibilities. Select a responsible person to keep time and establish an easy system to let the moderator and the participants know when their time is up. The presidential debates use a series of traffic lights within clear view of the candidates to inform them of how much time they have left. Remember that mistakes in timing can lead to claims of unfairness - the last thing a sponsor needs after the debate."

While timing mistakes would cause a problem, I don't think the candidates have any problem seeing the clock. The problem is that there is no real consequence for going over. Coming from someone with kids (and a dog), let me encourage you to deal swift and consistent punishment. After much consideration, I've come up with the perfect solution: turn off the microphone at the end of the allotted time. It would only take once before the candidates actually start watching the clock. If that doesn't work (though I imagine it would), please see the suggestions above. I was implying that you spray water in their faces, but throwing an actual spray bottle might work if none of the others prove effective.

Sincerely,
A Concerned Citizen
 

pancakes, again

I love pancakes. My love for them could be deduced (if anyone was so inclined) by a quick count of the number of times I've mentioned them on this blog. If the search feature weren't broken, it'd be a bit easier to do said search. Anyway. I know I've written about at least two different recipes of pancakes and one children's book on the subject. Here goes another.

We had these pancakes and syrup this morning (Thanks, Megan!). They were tasty. We needed something Dad could eat (so not whole wheat), and the pancakes were alright. The syrup, however, has me dreaming of eating it on something a bit hardier, like these oatmeal pancakes that only I like. Noel suggests it on pumpkin pancakes, which would be great if I could ever use pumpkin for anything other than pumpkin bread. And when I say "I", I mean "Josh--because he won't let me make the bread anymore after he once saw how nonchalantly I mixed it". And when I say "pumpkin bread" I mean "pumpkin cake baked in bread pans".

It's not quite Kneaders syrup (corn syrup, brown sugar, butter in case anyone was wondering), but it's a nice change from maple.

my depressing blog obsession

Over the years, I've accumulated addictions to a few depressing blogs. After the birth of each child and after the tornado, I've had to stop reading them. The emotional roller coaster proved too much for my mental health...not because they are so sad, but because they are so full of hope. What is generally uplifting left me feeling guilty and pitiful.

Caroline is 9 1/2 months old now, so we're back to these stories being uplifting (good bye crazy hormones), and I decided to check in with a few of my favorites (like this one and this one). One is a blog about a brave family dealing with CF and lung transplants and a premature baby and now transplant rejection. The blog wouldn't load at first tonight, and I admit I was terrified it was because she had died.

End of confession.

Dad's in charge... watch out!

WARNING: This is a post by Josh, so don't get too excited.

Kimberly has been having a lot of back pain lately and, as a result, her sleep has been less-than-wonderful in both quality and quantity. Today, when I got home she begged for me to take over so she could take a nap. I, being the most amazing husband and father, granted her that request (and no, it had nothing to do with the fact that Jonah and I secretly watch videos at dinner when she isn't around). She quickly ate dinner and went to the bedroom to bury herself under a pile of pillows while I put on an apron and got to work. The following is a pictorial account of my adventure:

Jonah immediately refused to eat dinner and instead he ran off to play quietly by himself. Too quietly. Child #1 taken care of for the night at 5:30. Wow, that was easy... I'm off to a great start!

The little one loves to feed herself WAY more than being fed. Beans and bread seemed like a great finger-food option.

Caroline is my scientific prodigy child. She is currently researching how to absorb nutrients through hair follicles, forehead pores, eyeball ducts, and her nasal cavity. I'm so proud.

Part of her experiment: massaging nutrients into the forehead with electric massagy-toothbrush. We used Kimberly's toothbrush.

Outcome of the evening

Kimberly gets good long nap: Check.

Children fed: One of two... so sorta-check.

Children asleep: 2 of 2 at 5:52PM. Boo-yah.

And... 

Since Kimberly has been slacking on putting up pictures of the Color Run, here are the ones from my phone.

simple math

Every six months, I pull out our 72-hour kit and make sure the clothes fit and the food is still good. Recently, this has become something of a celebration because the house is suddenly full of snacks we don't generally keep around. This time we found granola bars, Nutella, vanilla pudding, chocolate milk, and dried mangoes that need to be eaten before April. We also found some vermin had moved in to a soggy pack of gum. Have I mentioned recently that the humidity renders gum soggy and inedible in just a few weeks?

Nutella > disgust at cleaning up bugs?

I'm not sure yet. Ask me again after we've eaten it all.

flying high

When Jonah was a baby, we took him flying.

Yesterday, we took Caroline.

Color Run tomorrow. Will it be the most fun 5k on the planet? Or will the crowds suffocate us and kill the fun? We'll see.

Moo, Baa, La, La, La (and Jonah whistles)

For a slice of what life is like at our house, here's Jonah reading Caroline a book. The best part of the video (in my eyes) is Caroline's expression. We sure love those faces she makes.



Also, we've been meaning to get video proof of Jonah's whistle for a while now. A year ago now (May 2011), Jonah started "whistling" by screeching with his fingers up to his mouth. It's his way of copying Grandpa Mays's whistle for Princess. Somehow, that's translated to Mommy's whistle--he whistles when he wants me to come see what he's done or needs help with something. I'll be sad when my own personal whistle goes away (even if whistles are for dogs and cats and other animals).

favorite songs

We're having a rough afternoon. I turned on Pandora for some pick-us-up music and my Jack Johnson played two songs that don't really belong on the station. Still, they are two of my favorites, so I'm feeling much better. (Ok, so they aren't pick me up sorts of songs at all, but I needed more calm than frantic anyway.)


Why is Easy Silence horses? I can guess, but the point is the song itself. Although riding off on a horse doesn't sound so bad at the moment either.

I'm calling from the BYU Annual Fund...

My very first real job was working at the BYU Telefund. Because I'd never held another job, I didn't realize what a good job it was until many years later. At the time, I just needed a paycheck. While calling strangers to ask for money is not anything I'm good at, I've really come to appreciate my time at the Telefund.

• I made some really great friends. These people are seriously fabulous. Our boss did his best to hire only people he felt would be a good fit for the job, and that somehow translated to kind, smart, funny, and loyal friends.
• I learned a lot about BYU. I learned more about how the University worked than I would have otherwise.
• I got to meet Ira Fulton! A few years ago a saleswoman for Fulton Homes tried to tell me about Ira and I wanted to say, "Yeah, I know him." He is a huge donor to BYU. (Fulton School of Engineering and Mary Lou the super computer, anyone?) Imagine my surprise when we moved home to AZ and discovered that the engineering and teaching schools at ASU are also named after the Fultons. When the U started slipping off the mountain and an outside donor matched all donations to the Save the U fund, I was not at all surprised to find out it was Ira Fulton. 
• I learned how to work for someone, how to give and receive criticism, how to set goals in an employment setting, and the thrill of getting a paycheck.
• It was a great work environment. Without anything to compare it to, I didn't realize at the time how positive the whole experience was. There was very little gossip, negativity, or pettiness. Dave did his best to keep the office an uplifting and productive place.
• Snacks? Games? Pizza parties? Thank you calls? Leadership trips to Tucano's? Yes.
• I am much kinder to people who call. We may not want to take the survey or buy the product or give a donation, but the poor kid on the end of the line doesn't need my grump. Does that mean I feel the need to stay on the line during dinner? No. But I can say, "Hey, we're eating dinner. Please call me later!" in a happy voice. It might just make someone's day.
• I got really good at crossword puzzles.
• I made some great friends. Did I mention that one yet?