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This evening L made Nacho Bread Pizza [recipe] while I rocked Baby N and sort of read directions. When I went upstairs to change and feed the baby, L finished and photographed the meal. He didn’t process the chopped and seeded and diced part of the instructions so our toppings were a little on the chunky side, but that was not a big problem. This meal is essentially the salad from the base of a plate of nachos with the refried beans, cheese, salsa and toppings from the top of a pile of nachos, minus the nachos. Obviously the nachos were replaced by bread. Overall, it was enjoyed by the people. It was an interesting sandwich but not one which I personally was madly in love with. We had a pleasant evening debate over which of the stuffed sandwiches to date was the most successful. Let’s see how Hamburger and Onion Stuffed Bread is received tomorrow.

So tomorrow, the last day of 2007. What a year, what a lot of changes we’ve made. What a lot of food we’ve eaten. People keep saying to us “I bet you can’t wait to finish the Rachael Ray project”, but oddly enough that isn’t the case. Although an odd thing to do, now it just “is”. A year is a long time, and now this is our normal. Which is why we are going to continue in some shape or form. We still haven’t hammered out the details, that’s what tomorrow is for presumably.

Today Little A was feeling so sorry for herself that practically the only words she uttered were “Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, my Daddy”. For a whole day. We went to visit friends for Boxing Day mince pies and trifle, and A was a clingy mess. The Daddy Chorus was not the best addition to the festivities by any means. I have to confess that I didn’t feel even a teeny little bit rejected by her utter father favouritism, it was actually a relief not to be on the receiving end of such clinginess. When I was pregnant, the Daddy obsession hurt a little, but since Baby N’s birth, Little A always wants me to push her or carry her or whatever. Probably so that I can’t hold the baby at the same time, but she is getting very much more accepting of, and interested in, her little sister. Not compared to our toddler guest, however; she is utterly infatuated with babies and is always trying to touch or hold Baby N. Little A probably goes days at a time without touching her sister voluntarily. Which I’m actually discovering is a good thing- I don’t need to worry too much about accidental aggression with an overenthusiastic hug. There are other things to be concerned about however, like this neverending cough and cold that keeps her miserable and awake. Not so fine.

This evening we made Incredible French Endive Salad with Aged Herb Goat Cheese Toasts, and by popular demand we served it as an appetiser rather than a main meal, followed by pizza which is always good. The endives were rolled in a dressing of garlic, salt, lemon juice, parsley and olive oil, which had been prepared in the food processor. The endives were then put in a dish and browned a little under the grill, until tender. Meanwhile slices of goat cheese cut from a log were rolled in Herbes de Provence and warmed under the grill on slices of white toast.

The individual leaves of endive placed on top of the cheese on toast were a novel addition to the toast. They added a little interest and crunch, but incredible they were not. A plate full of them was simply too much, even when we had 5 endive heads between 4 people, rather than the 12 heads called for in the recipe. The vegetable is a very strange thing; it’s anaemic whiteness and shape make it look like something grown in a test tube underground. The internet tells me that it pretty much is grown that way. I wasn’t a big fan, by any means, but the others were reasonably happy with this meal. I must qualify that the satisfaction was dependent on the size of the portion- no one felt they would want to be served twice as much and call it dinner.

Tomorrow we enter the closing straight of the year with the first of five bread-based meals followed by the Christmas pasta. Tuna with Everything-but-the-Kitchen-Sink, Hold-the-Mayo, Stuffed Bread certainly sounds like a good candidate for lunch.

Today was a day of complaining. Perhaps you’re wondering why today was any different to any other day, when we’re always whining about something. But today we made a couple of complaints out loud, in words, and one of them was also in writing. We filed a grievance at Little A’s daycare suggesting that the “under construction” sign and the barricade blocking access to the stage should perhaps have been in place before our little girl smashed her noggin off the raw edge. It would seem to make sense, to us at least. It’s very strange when we have dropped off and picked up Little A since Tuesday, all the staff seem to be behaving oddly, being very reserved where once they were friendly. Studiously ignoring any mention of A’s injury, where once they would give daily updates on the tiniest of scratches. It would almost seem as if they were uncomfortable with something. When we went up to the office to make our complaint, I began to explain about the accident. The woman at the desk said “oh yes, I heard about that. How’s your new baby?”. Erm, well she’s fine, being that she is right here and all, maybe you might want to ask how Little A is doing, perhaps? Grrr. Some compassion it seems, would be nice.

Secondly, we are apparently in the realm of big-time construction again, in as much as we are having holes cut all over the house for vent work. Our contractor told us that we needn’t move anything and the people doing the work would be so clean that we wouldn’t know that they were there. That is very true. Unless, that is, you are somehow blind to thick coats of dust and unable to see large chunks of plasterboard all over the floor, then you might not realise that they’d been there. Or perhaps you do notice them and politely ask if they could use a dust cloth on the newly sanded and varnished floors. And then maybe you are told that they did use a dust cloth when they were working, and that the piles of debris on the baby room floor somehow happened after the fact, and that they don’t matter because no one is standing on them. And then seconds later another worker comes in and stands on the piles of gritty rubbish. And maybe you ask him politely if he’d mind using a drop cloth because once upon a time at least 3 months ago the floors were newly sanded, and he just snorts and walk away. And then you might find yourself sweeping up the rubbish and accidentally calling the contractor to complain. And then you might leave the house, so as not to start hyperventilating. Hypothetically speaking of course. Can’t wait to see them again in the morning; L and I did spend most of the evening cleaning up the mess and there is stil a long way to go. Plus the vents are big and ugly, where we were told that they would be small and pretty and discrete. Not smack bang in the middle of every room, and squint to boot. Harrumph.

But, on the plus side, we got our concrete countertops installed today (for free, wheeee!) and they are beautiful, really beautiful. Once L has grouted and sealed where the backsplash tiles meet the countertop I’ll post pictures. I thought that I would vastly prefer the butcher block countertop that was removed, yet appreciate the durability and practicality of the concrete. Actually, I think that the concrete is really pretty and shiny and nice. And cold, but hey, that’s what sleeves are for.

Additionally, today L took a Christmas tree from the roof of a car in the parking lot at the mall, walked away with it, and put it on the roof of “Moomya’s Minivan” as Little A likes to call it. We were testing out mall security. He got away with it. No really, we know the manager of a coffee shop in the mall through frequent visits (you’d be surprised) and apparently her husband sells trees. She insisted that he would pick one out for us and drive it home to her. She then put it on her car this morning and drove 40 miles with it into work.  We went for coffee and paid her inside, then took it from her car, and drove it maybe 7 miles home again. It looks nice. Hopefully nicer than the ones for sale half a mile down the road from our house. It would have been funny if she’d called the police just as we went to pick it up, then denied all involvement. Well, maybe not funny exactly.

So, Super Mushroom Polenta “Lasagne”. It has more mushrooms, no sausage, and roasted peppers in with the ricotta. It is not super. It’s better than the meat versions but only marginally. I’ll leave it there. Tomorrow, Turkey, Tomatillo, and Bean Burritos. It’s got to be better than polenta, surely.

Today we hit a small crisis in our parenting development. We have never really had to discuss discipline as we have both been on the same page with regards to trying to attempt to be consistently consistent. We aim for positive not punitive discipline with appropriate actions, without yelling or resorting to tantrums ourselves. In theory. However, a two year old who is very, very much testing the boundaries of her actions and our responses plus a baby who has an innate ability to wake up screaming just as stress levels are rising, plus a whole host of missing sleep means that things can tend to go a bit haywire. We ended up having a naptime crisis discussion and agreed that we both have to find the same page and stay there, no matter how hard it may seem. Also, we need to chill the f* out.

So this afternoon in Target, L ended up finishing the grocery shopping with Baby N, while I took Little A out to the car to cool down. This may have backfired spectacularly, as she seemed to find the whole experience highly amusing. Nor did she seem upset to not be in the shop standing in an enormous line at the check-out. Instead, she entertained herself singing and counting and generally being quite endearing. She kept telling me “I saw the croco’ile at the mall, mummy. I saw the lion at the zoo. Noo-noo ate Christmas, mummy. Look mummy, there’s the moon. I see the moon. I saw the croco’ile at the mall, mummy.” Obviously she was suffering great mental anguish at being taken away from the site of her shopping trolley climbing, food dropping crimes against parental sanity. I had to try really hard not to laugh within sight or sound of the little tyke.

Anyway, this evening we made Pasta with Mushroom Cream Sauce after the tyrant toddler went to bed, rather than before as we had planned. At the end of the day, sometimes you simply need a ginormous glass bucket of gin, but pasta will have to suffice. This meal was again very easy, it was the same preparation method as for the soup yesterday, but with less liquid. Mushrooms, onion, garlic, thyme, salt and pepper were sautéed, the liquid came from cognac, stock and cream, texture was provided by the blender, and substance from fettucine. The pasta and sauce were tossed together (messy) served in bowls and garnished with parmesan and parsley. The camera battery died after I took one photo and I wasn’t in the mood to wait for it to recharge, so what you see is what you get.

The pasta dish was very successful, the sauce was rich and tasty and very decadent. My only comment would be that perhaps some of the mushroom/ onion/ garlic mixture could have been either left out of the blender, or only very slightly blended so that there was a little variety in the texture. And colour. But other than that, the sauce is very good. Although having said that, a little prosciutto or bacon would have been pleasant. But really, we would use this recipe again, certainly as a starting point. It was good. Maybe a little bland, but really very good. Tomorrow we are making Ham and Spinach Hash with Fried Eggs. Provided we have a less eventful day, hopefully we can feed this to Little A who doesn’t share our egg prejudice.

Our plans to go zoo-ward today were thwarted by the lure of a visit from the heating repair man to fix the thermostat. Last night it was freezing in the house, and the heating simply wouldn’t come on. Today it was boiling as the heating wouldn’t switch off. This evening, however we have a new thermostat and the temperature is very pleasant, thanks very much. So we were in the house for most of the day, which involved many fun activities such as making Lego towers and monitoring crayon application. The highlight of the day was when Little A and I made some fantastic cranberry and white chocolate cookies. We’re making up for our lack of feasting yesterday in a big way. They certainly are good cookies.

This evening we made Mushroom Bisque which is not the sort of food that I would normally associate with 30 Minute Meals. This is not to say that it was not fast or easy or tasty, it was all of those good things. It was more that the soup just tasted so ridiculously refined and sophisticated, like real restaurant food. The sort of food you order and are sure is very good, but maybe you don’t entirely love it. The mushrooms were sautéed in olive oil and butter, seasoned with salt, pepper and thyme, then joined by garlic and onions. A splash of cognac and some chicken stock were added before the contents of the pan were puréed until smooth. Back in the pan, the blended mushroom mixture was extended with more chicken stock and some heavy cream. A few drops of hot sauce finished the soup. Croutons were made by toasting sandwich bread until it was quite dark, then spreading butter on the toast and cutting it into small squares. The bisque was served in bowls, topped with the croutons and garnished with chopped parsley.

The soup was smooth, rich and earthy with a decent crunch and salt hit provided by the croutons. We both enjoyed it, and we would definitely consider making it again. I’m not sure that I would make it as a main course, but it would certainly be an excellent starter if you were hoping to impress. I did feel after eating it that I was ready for my real food, because it was so light. However, looking on the bright side this just meant there was room for another cookie with a nice cup of tea. If only Baby N had gone to sleep, this evening could even have been a little relaxing. Tomorrow, the mushrooms return with the excellent sounding Pasta with Mushroom Cream Sauce.

Mushroom-Veggie Sloppy Sandwiches certainly don’t sound particularly appetising, or indeed remotely appetising, but they were surprisingly tasty. This is also quite a time-consuming/ labor-intensive meal, well at least within the realm of 30 Minute Meals. Portobella mushroom caps were oiled, seasoned with salt and pepper, chilli powder and garlic, and roasted in the oven for 12 minutes. Meanwhile, a vegetable chilli was made with onion, garlic, zucchini, jalapeño, red pepper, cumin, chilli powder and hot sauce. Some stock, tinned tomatoes and kidney beans were added to the pot, and the slop thickened with refried beans. The refried beans were actually a fantastic way to thicken the chilli in a very short space of time. Maybe this technique is common knowledge, but it was a new idea to us. The sandwich was constructed within a toasted English muffin, which seemed a strange choice of bread product. From bottom to top the layers were- muffin base, grilled mushroom, sloppy chilli, cheese, sliced avocado with lime juice, and muffin top.

Rachael Ray recommends living life on the edge and eating this meal with your hands. The title is not misleading, this is a very sloppy sandwich; we took the knife and fork plan of attack. We were both very tired and very hungry but we ate all of it very quickly. This is a good solid meal. It’s a lot of effort, but it was certainly tasty. Is it worth the effort? Maybe. Would we make it again? Perhaps, at least some elements. I love the roasted mushrooms, but they are just as good with only salt pepper and a little olive oil.

Tomorrow we are having Pork Loin Chops with Golden Delicious Apples and Onions on Polenta with Honey. Honestly, I am too tired to even think about it.

This evening we made Zucchini Pizza which was fortunately very easy. Pizza dough from a tube was unrolled, seasoned with salt and pepper and baked in the oven for 5 minutes. It was then topped with ricotta mixed with garlic, and covered with shredded mozzarella. Baked for another 10 minutes, the pizza was then topped with the zuccchini and cooked for 3 minutes more. The zucchini was prepared by being sliced thinly, lengthwise. It was cooked on a hot dry skillet for 5 minutes, seasoned, chopped into strips and piled on the pizza. This was the first time this year that I found myself adding oil to a recipe; the vegetable was just sticking to the pan.

L and I ate alot of this pizza, mainly because it wasn’t risotto. It is pleasant, a little bland but not bad by any means. Maybe we would put zucchini on a pizza in future, who knows? In the meantime, I absolutely have to get some sleep, I can barely keep my eyes open. Tomorrow, Bacon-Wrapped Beef Supper Salads. Bacon, mmm. Goodnight.

We haven’t mentioned our remodel for ages. After such activity, eventually things fizzle out a bit. Most things got resolved and some things still need to be done, but essentially we have a pretty nice house to live in. There are a few things that we really need to sort out- the cupboard in the hall just doesn’t hold our coats and shoes- we have a mountain of clothes and shoes and junk and strollers and carseats overwhelming us in the hallway. Every time we go in or out we talk abut how we should put up more hooks and such, but do we do it? Er no. One day. Maybe. The butcher block countertop from Ikea looks beautiful, but it is entirely unpractical. In this great Midwestern climate of ours, it goes from swelteringly hot and humid to extraordinarily dry and cold, almost overnight. The countertop has split in three different areas despite repeated oilings, and an attempt to glue and clamp the worst area failed miserably. So it looks like Ikea are going to have the countertop replaced as apparently no one has ever seen the countertop split like this. Obviously our house is not jinxed or anything. We are waiting to hear from customer service, but we may be getting a concrete countertop installed instead. It won’t look as nice but it will certainly be more practical; we went for looks + cost last time- the concrete would be much more expensive, and arguably not as pretty, but at least we won’t have to sand it down if it gets stained. It was hinted at today that Ikea would cover all costs in the replacement- we are keeping our fingers crossed. Other than that, we have mountains of junk around the house again- how long does it take to really move house I wonder? I mean when do things have a place and you just live where you are, without piles of stuff around that has to be dealt with? I want a robot. A cleaning, cooking, money earning, infant-feeding, toddler-soothing robot. That can’t be too much to ask for, right? When you find one that fits the bill, let me know. We’ll be on a beach somewhere, reading good books. Enjoying the silence but for the crashing of the waves.

In other news, today I did something really stupid while making Spinach and Hazelnut Risotto. We only have whole nuts rather than ready chopped ones, so I set about cracking the hazelnuts in the Christmas stylee. I managed to get my little finger caught in the nutcracker and have been swearing almost constantly ever since. Ouch. It really really hurt. I have a couple of fantastic blood blisters. Ow. I’d like to say that it was worth it, that dinner was fabulous, but alas I cannot. It was yet more risotto, this time mixed with spinach and topped with the toasted nuts, some Gorgonzola crumbles and parsley. L likes hazelnuts but hates the risotto. I am indifferent to the risotto but not keen on the toppings. Little A had dinner and a meltdown earlier in the day, but I’m guessing she wouldn’t have touched it. Overall, had we not had risotto for the previous four days we may have felt less jaded about the meal, but we would never have loved it. It’s fine, at least the spinach provided some colour, and the nuts some crunch. So it’s possibly the best of the risotto recipes, just not a hit over here. Tomorrow we will be having Zucchini Pizza, which on an ordinary day sounds ok-ish, but after so much rice I am really truly looking forward to it. Ok, fussy baby + grumpy parent means I am going now. We’ll be back tomorrow. Hopefully with some smiles.

Every two years, L and I complete a grant application for a major grant. Both this year and in 2005 we, the sleep-deprived parents of a newborn, left the application to the absolute last minute, meaning that we spent the day of the deadline in a bit of a frenzy. The deadline for hand-delivery was 4.30pm. This year we had almost an hour to spare which seems positively luxurious compared to the panics of deadlines past. There is something slightly amusing about hand delivering such a thing with streams of other people filing in to the same building, nonchalantly carrying almost identical envelopes. Everyone eyes the drop off bin, checking out the amount of entries, discretely eyeing the return address labels to check out the names of the competition. When there’s an hour left to kill, everyone seems a little smug and cutthroat. When there’s only two minutes to go before the deadline arrives, fellow applicants are much more friendly; there is an air of camaraderie, a shared sense of achievement and relief. There’s a lesson in there somewhere; good things come to those who wait.

As soon as we dropped off the application, we went to pick up Little A from daycare. We were called, as we sort of guessed that we would be, because A is out of sorts with a cold. She is currently the child you never thought you’d have, the one with ribbons of green snot streaming down her face. And she looks filthy when we pick her up from daycare, she’s the double whammy epitome of scuzzy-looking kid right now, poor little mite. Baby N also has the cold, but she’s not as dirty looking. We did however have a day punctuated by regular diaper blowouts- she must have had four different outfits on in as many hours. L too is suffering from the lurgy, we are truly a charming family at the moment. (Reading back over that sentence, I should clarify that L has a sore throat and stuffy head, not some mysterious illness that makes him have diaper blowouts). I have a bit of a sore throat but I’m mainly concerned about sleep deprivation. I read a study that says the primary caregiver of a child will lose 700 hours of sleep in the first year. That seemed an astronomical amount of lost sleep until I started to think about it, honestly I’m surprised that it’s not more.

Anyway, anyway. Tonight we made Scotch and Wild Mushroom Risotto [recipe] which has certainly left the house smelling like a hospital canteen. In fact it reeks of institution in here. I have to say that the dish is a great improvement on the dog food of yesterday, but it is still not great by any stretch of the imagination. Fortunately both the turkey and the barley were omitted from the master recipe, which helped. The risotto has three types of mushroom and a splash of scotch. However, the overriding taste of this dish was of the parsley, everything else was like a solid slab of risotto. Once again I asked L to add some peas to my risotto, but it still needed something else to bolster the meal. Perhaps a little cured meat would have helped, something with a bit of flavour.

As a side dish this is probably acceptable, but as a main course dish this meal just fell flat. So far L is most definitely winning the risotto debate; these meals are not winners. Tomorrow we add some shrimp to the shebang with Lemon and Artichoke Risotto with Shrimp. It certainly sounds better, but no one is holding their breath over here.

Today was a beautiful day so we decided to go to the zoo. We arranged to meet up with our Sunday playdate pals, and off we went. Gorgeous crisp autumn weather, hot cup of coffee, two toddlers, two babies, four adults, plenty of animals and good conversation. The toddlers were running around, and Little A was falling over here and there as she does alot. We’d just been to see the lions, which she loves, and she was racing around excitedly. She fell over, got up again, and started lurching over towards the concrete once more. L took her hand and she started screaming “hand hurts, hand hurts”. Normally she is comforted with a kiss and a blow on the “owie”, and she can usually be very easily distracted. Today however, this was not the case. She kept crying and even a trip back in to see the lions could not distract her. When we realised that she could not or would not move her arm, we decided to take her to the hospital.

As we drove to get her checked out, we were desperately trying to keep things cheerful and low-key, while trying not to think of all the things that could be wrong. When we got there A was seen pretty much straight away (oh non-city based hospital, how I curse you when we have to drive out to see you, and how I love you once we get there) and prodded and poked a bit. The doctor suspected that she had a dislocated elbow, but as A insisted that it was her hand that hurt, she was going to be taken for x-rays of the hand, wrist, forearm and elbow. Just as she was about to have her bones documented, the doctor came in and said she wanted to try something. She took A’s forearm and gently moved it in towards her belly. The joint popped back into place and A was immediately her normal happy self. It was fantastic to see her instantly cured, and what an enormous relief that it wasn’t anything more serious. We were so unbelievably relieved. And A got two stickers and a teddy bear saying “I did it”, so she was more than happy. Apparently “nursemaid’s elbow” is really common in the age 1-3 set, especially in girls and most predominantly in the left arm. We are so pleased that it was such a textbook case; all’s well that ends well.

This evening we made Triple-Onion Soup with Triple-Cheese Toast, which was a fitting meal to end the day. This meal is easy and quick, comforting and satisfying. The three varieties of onion are yellow onions, shallots and leeks, which are sautéed in olive oil and butter with thyme and salt and pepper. After about 20 minutes, when the onions are softened, white wine is added, followed by beef stock. It simmers while the toast is made. Gruyére, cheddar and gouda are grated and balanced atop toasted crusty bread. It is broiled until the cheese browns, then one slice is placed in the bowl of soup, the other on the side.

This soup is much more hearty than the ingredients list would suggest. It is rich and delicious, the only slight drawback is how messy it is to eat with the huge mouthfuls of sliced onions. The cheese toast is as good as you would imagine, if you like that sort of thing, which I certainly do. I still can’t work out how you are supposed to eat a piece of toast that is floating in soup without looking far less than attractive, but who cares when it tastes this good? And we have a very new baby, who needs to, or wants to, look attractive anyway? Tomorrow we have a soup variation; Sausage, Fennel, and Tomato Soup with Triple-Cheese Toast, which sounds very tasty, except for the fennel.