I will preface this entry by saying that I love Asian flavors.
While I like your typical roasted chicken seasoned with sage, thyme, bay and the like, I occasionally like to kick it up a notch. 2 nights ago I made a chicken in my handy, dandy dutch oven (mainly because that sucker was too big to fit into a crockpot) and seasoned it with Chinese 5 Spice and Kosher Salt. Nothing too fancy but oh-so-delicious. CiBaby even gobbled it up! She eats everything you say? Almost...it's hard to get meat in her, it's a texture thing.
Today, from our unconventional chicken I made unconventional chicken soup and boy-oh-boy was it DELISH! Like any stock making I covered the bones with the rest of a can of chicken broth and then water to finish it off. Then to the broth I added 1 onion, about 1/4 cup soy sauce, a couple tablespoons Mirin and a 2-inch chunk fresh ginger (sliced). I let it simmer for about an hour. Cool and strain.
Added to the broth was chunks of golden beets (T-Daddy asked if it was pineapple...hmmm, no), parsnips, and carrots. Let those simmer until tender, remove from heat then added chicken (of course), sliced mushrooms, 2 cubes of Trader Joe's cilantro (from the freezer section - this is a great product!!!) and about 1 tablespoon sesame oil (have I mentioned that this is one of my favorite condiments???). I made some noodles separately which I added to each bowl, so they don't get mushy.
Paired with some hot bread it was mmmm mmmm mmmmmm mmm Good! All I have to say is Campbell's has nothin' on me.
Tomorrow's adventure in this frozen tundra is to make some homemade spaghetti sauce, no Asian flavors here.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Bustin' Out
After a fun filled evening (a whole 30 minutes) of swimming last night I dressed CiBaby for bed in the most adorable lavender fleece with embroidery sleeper. We found it when we were on a quest for warm sleepers, not those flimsy ones they have most places (they're great for Spring and Fall, but not winter on the Tundra), as CiBaby can't stand to have covers on most of the time. Oh sure we could crank up the heat a bit, but then T-Daddy and I sweat buckets and my "moms" would get soggy. But I digress.
She fell asleep on the car ride back from the pool wearing her sleeper and her space suit all while being strapped into her astronaut chair. The night was going to be a breeze, or so I thought, compared to the last few when the 3, yes you read that correctly, teeth popped through those sore little gums.
Around 11:30 PM CiBaby awoke and stood up in her bed next to me, she wanted in. I nestle her in but she was reliving her need to "kick, kick, kick" like at swimming. While she was kick kick kicking the snaps on her getting-too-small sleeper were going "POP POP POP." Yes, that's right...her legs were BUSTIN' OUT! No more would they be confined to the soft warmth of those sleeper legs, I want to be FREE! Oh wait, do I have a blanket on me??? KICK KICK KICK some more! Oh for heavens sake.
So, this morning, at 2:30 AM I had to redress CiBaby in pjs that fit but I forgot socks. Oh lordy, you'd think she was in a dancing contest for the rest of the night...Free at last, free at last, Thank God Almighty, I'm free at last!
The moral(s) of the story...you may have to do an extra load of laundry so you're not left with the sleeper that's on the verge of being a wardrobe malfunction AND don't buy a sleeper with snaps, no matter how cute it is!
She fell asleep on the car ride back from the pool wearing her sleeper and her space suit all while being strapped into her astronaut chair. The night was going to be a breeze, or so I thought, compared to the last few when the 3, yes you read that correctly, teeth popped through those sore little gums.
Around 11:30 PM CiBaby awoke and stood up in her bed next to me, she wanted in. I nestle her in but she was reliving her need to "kick, kick, kick" like at swimming. While she was kick kick kicking the snaps on her getting-too-small sleeper were going "POP POP POP." Yes, that's right...her legs were BUSTIN' OUT! No more would they be confined to the soft warmth of those sleeper legs, I want to be FREE! Oh wait, do I have a blanket on me??? KICK KICK KICK some more! Oh for heavens sake.
So, this morning, at 2:30 AM I had to redress CiBaby in pjs that fit but I forgot socks. Oh lordy, you'd think she was in a dancing contest for the rest of the night...Free at last, free at last, Thank God Almighty, I'm free at last!
The moral(s) of the story...you may have to do an extra load of laundry so you're not left with the sleeper that's on the verge of being a wardrobe malfunction AND don't buy a sleeper with snaps, no matter how cute it is!
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Garden "Moms"
Have you ever seen the elusive Garden Mom? Now, I'm an avid gardener, and a Master Gardener at that, and I have yet to encounter the Garden Mom. Little did I know, but this is a Garden Mom...
And here, all along I have been calling them Garden Gnomes! I was informed by CiBaby that they are "Moms." We have this discussion in the morning while we're waking up in bed. She points to my pjs that have garden gnomes on them and asks "Wha dat?" I tell her it's a Gnome and she says "mom," over and over and over.
Just another day in the life of a toddler learning words.
And here, all along I have been calling them Garden Gnomes! I was informed by CiBaby that they are "Moms." We have this discussion in the morning while we're waking up in bed. She points to my pjs that have garden gnomes on them and asks "Wha dat?" I tell her it's a Gnome and she says "mom," over and over and over.
Just another day in the life of a toddler learning words.
Monday, January 14, 2008
Kix
Kid-Tested, Mother-Approved...sort of!
Did you know that Kix are so much more than only cereal? They are:
1. Little mine-fields - if you've ever stepped on a Kix you know what I mean. Crunch! What was that? The good china??? No, just another Kix in a powdery heap of death (insert eye-roll).
2. Cat toys - need I say more?
3. Dog treats - crunch crunch snort crunch
4. Fuel for a Playskool car
Did you know you could do more than just eat a Kix (like a "normal" person)? You can:
1. Dump them out in a pile in the corner and come back to CzaMama with an empty bowl, pointing for more...you can never have too many.
2. Have them rain down, one by one, on the cat when she walks by.
3. Put them between your little front teeth crunching them in a perfect half!
Who knew so much fun could be rolled into a corn puff the size of a pea???
Did you know that Kix are so much more than only cereal? They are:
1. Little mine-fields - if you've ever stepped on a Kix you know what I mean. Crunch! What was that? The good china??? No, just another Kix in a powdery heap of death (insert eye-roll).
2. Cat toys - need I say more?
3. Dog treats - crunch crunch snort crunch
4. Fuel for a Playskool car
Did you know you could do more than just eat a Kix (like a "normal" person)? You can:
1. Dump them out in a pile in the corner and come back to CzaMama with an empty bowl, pointing for more...you can never have too many.
2. Have them rain down, one by one, on the cat when she walks by.
3. Put them between your little front teeth crunching them in a perfect half!
Who knew so much fun could be rolled into a corn puff the size of a pea???
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Fear of the White Coat
After a fun morning of roaming about, CiBaby had to go see the Nice Doctor and Sweet Nurse for a couple of shots. We did great waiting our turn, playing with some fun little girls and coloring. Then it was our turn. Sweet Nurse came out to get us and CiBaby did okay, we went into the room and the look of fear started to take her over. Then Nice Doctor poked her head in...the tears started flowing and nothing had happened yet! The site of Nice Doctor and Sweet Nurse gloving-up threw her over the edge...and I can't say I blame her! How does the fear of doctors start and how can I nip this in the bud? I don't want her to turn out like CzaMama! Just another thing to mull over.
Friday, January 4, 2008
What's in the Freezer delight
One of my resolutions is to use my library of cookbooks more. I have so many beautiful and wonderful cookbooks but tend to "throw" things together for dinner. Something I've been drooling over for years was a gift under the tree this year...a dutch oven. Technically the lid was wrapped and under the tree, literally, the rest was put away as those things are HEAVY! If you don't have one, save that coupon money and get thee one (they have very reasonable dutch ovens at TJMaxx/Marshalls).
Last night I found some pork country-style ribs in the freezer that were just begging to be made in the dutch oven (D.O.). I pulled out a couple of books and landed on Garlic Spareribs from Chinatown: Sweet Sour Spicy Salty which I picked up at William-Sonoma (on sale, of course!).
I started by browning the pork in the D.O., but first rubbing the pork with arrowroot and browning in olive oil. The recipe goes as such...
Garlic Spareribs
1 lb 2 oz pork spareribs, cut into 1.5-2 in lengths
3/4 cup chicken stock
1/2 tsp superfine sugar
5 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce (I used fish sauce as I didn't have oyster)
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tbsp peanut oil (I used canola as I didn't have peanut)
Combine stock, sugar, garlic, soy sauce, oyster sauce and sesame oil in a bowl. (I put the canola in with this as I was doing it in the D.O.. I also tripled the recipe because I had about 3 lbs of pork, but I only used 1/2). Once the pork was browned I added the sauce and put it on a low flame for about 2 hours with the lid cocked, this way the sauce could reduce a bit.
We had udon noodles glazed with the sauce from the cooked pork and green beans. CiBaby started with the pork and beans but settled on slurping up the noodles...Yummy!
A huge hit in the CzaMama/CiBaby house.
Last night I found some pork country-style ribs in the freezer that were just begging to be made in the dutch oven (D.O.). I pulled out a couple of books and landed on Garlic Spareribs from Chinatown: Sweet Sour Spicy Salty which I picked up at William-Sonoma (on sale, of course!).
I started by browning the pork in the D.O., but first rubbing the pork with arrowroot and browning in olive oil. The recipe goes as such...
Garlic Spareribs
1 lb 2 oz pork spareribs, cut into 1.5-2 in lengths
3/4 cup chicken stock
1/2 tsp superfine sugar
5 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce (I used fish sauce as I didn't have oyster)
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tbsp peanut oil (I used canola as I didn't have peanut)
Combine stock, sugar, garlic, soy sauce, oyster sauce and sesame oil in a bowl. (I put the canola in with this as I was doing it in the D.O.. I also tripled the recipe because I had about 3 lbs of pork, but I only used 1/2). Once the pork was browned I added the sauce and put it on a low flame for about 2 hours with the lid cocked, this way the sauce could reduce a bit.
We had udon noodles glazed with the sauce from the cooked pork and green beans. CiBaby started with the pork and beans but settled on slurping up the noodles...Yummy!
A huge hit in the CzaMama/CiBaby house.
Thursday, January 3, 2008
A year in retrospect
Boy this year flew by, it only felt like a few days. Oh wait, it's January 3, 2008! Never mind.
2007 was the fastest year in the history of my life. For almost the first half T-Daddy was on active duty, thus not home. The middle was spent in Hawaii and the end was in China picking up CiBaby and getting adjusted to toddlerhood.
January started out quiet until I called our agency inquiring about the Waiting International Children (WIC). My heart was telling me that this was our path. After a brief discussion we were sent information on one little girl, whom I lovingly refer to as the paper-ripper. A few days later I was on a plane to visit T-Daddy where we sat and mulled over the paper-ripper, but we had some reservations about the timing of picking her up. It was to be 4-5 months, however T-Daddy would still be on active-duty and wouldn't be able to travel. As this was something that we really wanted to do together we had to release her information. If she was meant to be ours, she would be there in a few months.
Paper-ripper sat on the WIC page for months. The longer she sat there the more we thought she was the one. When the day came that we could say "Yes, we want her!" she was gone. My heart broke but that little voice inside me said that if she was truly the one then she would have still been there. She was someone else's "one." A month and a half went by and just before I was about to fly out to road-trip back with T-Daddy I got a call. It was late Friday evening (May 11, 2007) and the call came to work. As I was a "single" work geek at that point I was still there. Our "one" found us! CiBaby found us. We accepted our referral, did more paperwork and hurried up and waited.
Summer came and so was our Hawaii vacation. The week before we were to leave I found out that my job was possibly going away as our office was merging with another. Not something you tend to like to hear right before you leave on vacation. Our vacation was absolutely wonderful, a great time to reconnect as a couple in a beautiful setting.
Life returned to normal. We kept waiting to hear when we would travel to pick-up CiBaby. During this time I found out that I wasn't going to have a job as of the beginning of December, but they weren't leaving me out in the cold. This also made a very hard decision, to go back to work or not, much easier.
September came and we were contacted by our coordinator asking us if we could travel the following weekend...Ummm huh??? As it turns out, that didn't work for the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou anyway. It was like early/false labor! We were able to get our appointment for October 23rd. Of course it couldn't be too easy though, our fingerprints were going to expire a couple of days shy of our appointment! After much hustling on our part and our agency's part we got our fingerprinting appointment, then we could relax and get ready for the trip.
October was a blur. I finished up working and got us ready to leave for China. We spent one fun evening with friends in San Francisco before jetting off to China. The first real day in Beijing we went to see the Great Wall, which was an awesome experience. The next day we flew to Wuhan in the Hubei Province where we met and picked-up CiBaby. Our semi-rocky start softened and we had a wonderful time getting to know our new daughter while experiencing an amazing culture.
November and December were months of routine making and celebrating.
2007 was a fast, crazy and amazing year. Here's to another great year!
2007 was the fastest year in the history of my life. For almost the first half T-Daddy was on active duty, thus not home. The middle was spent in Hawaii and the end was in China picking up CiBaby and getting adjusted to toddlerhood.
January started out quiet until I called our agency inquiring about the Waiting International Children (WIC). My heart was telling me that this was our path. After a brief discussion we were sent information on one little girl, whom I lovingly refer to as the paper-ripper. A few days later I was on a plane to visit T-Daddy where we sat and mulled over the paper-ripper, but we had some reservations about the timing of picking her up. It was to be 4-5 months, however T-Daddy would still be on active-duty and wouldn't be able to travel. As this was something that we really wanted to do together we had to release her information. If she was meant to be ours, she would be there in a few months.
Paper-ripper sat on the WIC page for months. The longer she sat there the more we thought she was the one. When the day came that we could say "Yes, we want her!" she was gone. My heart broke but that little voice inside me said that if she was truly the one then she would have still been there. She was someone else's "one." A month and a half went by and just before I was about to fly out to road-trip back with T-Daddy I got a call. It was late Friday evening (May 11, 2007) and the call came to work. As I was a "single" work geek at that point I was still there. Our "one" found us! CiBaby found us. We accepted our referral, did more paperwork and hurried up and waited.
Summer came and so was our Hawaii vacation. The week before we were to leave I found out that my job was possibly going away as our office was merging with another. Not something you tend to like to hear right before you leave on vacation. Our vacation was absolutely wonderful, a great time to reconnect as a couple in a beautiful setting.
Life returned to normal. We kept waiting to hear when we would travel to pick-up CiBaby. During this time I found out that I wasn't going to have a job as of the beginning of December, but they weren't leaving me out in the cold. This also made a very hard decision, to go back to work or not, much easier.
September came and we were contacted by our coordinator asking us if we could travel the following weekend...Ummm huh??? As it turns out, that didn't work for the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou anyway. It was like early/false labor! We were able to get our appointment for October 23rd. Of course it couldn't be too easy though, our fingerprints were going to expire a couple of days shy of our appointment! After much hustling on our part and our agency's part we got our fingerprinting appointment, then we could relax and get ready for the trip.
October was a blur. I finished up working and got us ready to leave for China. We spent one fun evening with friends in San Francisco before jetting off to China. The first real day in Beijing we went to see the Great Wall, which was an awesome experience. The next day we flew to Wuhan in the Hubei Province where we met and picked-up CiBaby. Our semi-rocky start softened and we had a wonderful time getting to know our new daughter while experiencing an amazing culture.
November and December were months of routine making and celebrating.
2007 was a fast, crazy and amazing year. Here's to another great year!
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Hotdogs in the snow
What fun! This evening we had our first ever winter cookout with G-mama and G-papa. G-papa cleared a path in the snow to a fire pit where we roasted hotdogs, ate baked beans and chips (talk about your gas producing dinner!). We had a great time. CiBaby toddled around wherever she could in her little snowsuit, boots and bunny hat, coming back to home base for a bite and then off again. After our dogs we went into the house where CiBaby had a bit more sustenance, tinkled on the keys of her little piano and CzaMama, T-Daddy, G-mama and G-papa all had a little mulled wine and chuckled at CiBaby's antics.
Another good day in the life...
Another good day in the life...
Friday, December 28, 2007
Silent night, holy night
Ain't that the truth?! Of course those few and far between nights end up throwing a parent into a panic when they wake up at 4:30 AM not to a cry but to their own racing heart because their child hasn't yet joined them in bed like usual. Is she breathing? Does she have a concussion from the goose egg she got yesterday while playing in the snow with T-Daddy and FurryGuy? Or the nose dive she took off the one step in the back, landing face first in a pile of shoes? Did that last dose of teething tablets work that well? Answers: Yes, No, Maybe (if so I'm buying stock!). All I know for sure is CiBaby slept all night, in her bed. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Thursday, December 27, 2007
2 Months Home - 2 Holidays Down
We've now been home for 2 months and both CzaMama and CiBaby are getting their groove on. Dancing, dishes, diapers, books...music, musing, snacks and socks. I don't think I've done so many dishes, picked up the house and done as much laundry in my entire life as I have in the past 2 months.
Thanksgiving was a whirl wind. Two families in the same day is a lot for adults, but throw CiBaby in the mix and you have a day of a lot of food and no nap. We all had a great time but were happy to go to bed that night.
Christmas was spread out over 4 days. Brunches with friends, an afternoon/evening here and there and breakfast with G&G. Christmas day was such a busy day CiBaby didn't close her eyes until she couldn't hold them open any longer (once in the comachair and then sleep eating at dinner).
These past 2 days have been like a vacation for me as T-Daddy has been home! We might actually have the whole house clean at the same time and get CiBaby's room really close to being done in time for the new year. Of course we ran into a little snag when removing the stripes tape and ended up removing some of the wall. OH SO CLOSE! Now to repair and repaint a section, paint touch-ups, replace the light, add closet shelves, remove the old bed, bring in the crib, the couch and the accessories. It will be so great when it's finally finished.
Just another day in the life...
Thanksgiving was a whirl wind. Two families in the same day is a lot for adults, but throw CiBaby in the mix and you have a day of a lot of food and no nap. We all had a great time but were happy to go to bed that night.
Christmas was spread out over 4 days. Brunches with friends, an afternoon/evening here and there and breakfast with G&G. Christmas day was such a busy day CiBaby didn't close her eyes until she couldn't hold them open any longer (once in the comachair and then sleep eating at dinner).
These past 2 days have been like a vacation for me as T-Daddy has been home! We might actually have the whole house clean at the same time and get CiBaby's room really close to being done in time for the new year. Of course we ran into a little snag when removing the stripes tape and ended up removing some of the wall. OH SO CLOSE! Now to repair and repaint a section, paint touch-ups, replace the light, add closet shelves, remove the old bed, bring in the crib, the couch and the accessories. It will be so great when it's finally finished.
Just another day in the life...
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