Happy Mother's day!

This year was my first real Mother's Day. The kids learned about it in school a little and made gifts for me.

RE made a little bowl that said "Ima" (mother) in Hebrew stickers. Inside was a little cupcake and a cookie. Which he at Shabbos morning when he woke up early! Little scamp! "Happy Mother's Day Ima! I got you a bowl of crumbs and an empty cupcake wrapper!" Urp!

Awa's gift survived until today. It is a painted box filled with: A heart with her name in it, 2 muffins, a button key chain, and "Ima there's coffee!" A little sleeve of french vanilla instant coffee. I like to think her maturity and love kept her from scarfing it, but I think she just forgot all about it.

Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms out there! May the crumbs always frame smiles of love!

This year was my first real Mother's Day. The kids learned about it in school a little and made gifts for me.

RE made a little bowl that said "Ima" (mother) in Hebrew stickers. Inside was a little cupcake and a cookie. Which he at Shabbos morning when he woke up early! Little scamp! "Happy Mother's Day Ima! I got you a bowl of crumbs and an empty cupcake wrapper!" Urp!

Awa's gift survived until today. It is a painted box filled with: A heart with her name in it, 2 muffins, a button key chain, and "Ima there's coffee!" A little sleeve of french vanilla instant coffee. I like to think her maturity and love kept her from scarfing it, but I think she just forgot all about it.

Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms out there! May the crumbs always frame smiles of love!

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Weirdo wakeup call!

I have two brothers, a dog, several years of college, and motherhood under my belt. I thought I'd been woken up by it all. But last night took the cake . . . or more accurately, the chocolate.

Hubsters had gone to a movie with the guys and I tried to stay up to greet him when he returned. I gave up just after 1am and collapsed exhausted. Somewhere around 2am I had a dream that my hand was covered in some brown goo. Then I realized that my eyes were open, my hand was outstretched in front of me, and it was indeed covered in brown goo. I sleep on my stomach with my hand under my pillow, so I immediately jumped up, sure enough, there were brown smudges next to my pillow, and underneath my pillow? A body-heat melted bar of Cadbury's chocolate that hubsters and I had shared as a Shabbos snack.

Then I noticed that hubsters wasn't in the room. Ok. Double panic. Covered in chocolate. Missing husband. Wanting to keep the chocolate devastation confined to my bed linens I went the bathroom to wash up and discovered hubsters brushing his teeth.

Although disoriented, I still appreciated hubsters reaction to seeing me stumble in bed creased, dazed, and covered in chocolate, yet relieved to see him.

"On rough days don't you say you wish you could swim in chocolate?" He asks. A sleepy squint and a grunt are my only answer as I lick chocolate from my fingers.

After helping me change my sheets and bagging the imported bedwrecker, hubsters adds "You've gotta tweet about this." Thank G-d he's well trained :)

I have two brothers, a dog, several years of college, and motherhood under my belt. I thought I'd been woken up by it all. But last night took the cake . . . or more accurately, the chocolate.

Hubsters had gone to a movie with the guys and I tried to stay up to greet him when he returned. I gave up just after 1am and collapsed exhausted. Somewhere around 2am I had a dream that my hand was covered in some brown goo. Then I realized that my eyes were open, my hand was outstretched in front of me, and it was indeed covered in brown goo. I sleep on my stomach with my hand under my pillow, so I immediately jumped up, sure enough, there were brown smudges next to my pillow, and underneath my pillow? A body-heat melted bar of Cadbury's chocolate that hubsters and I had shared as a Shabbos snack.

Then I noticed that hubsters wasn't in the room. Ok. Double panic. Covered in chocolate. Missing husband. Wanting to keep the chocolate devastation confined to my bed linens I went the bathroom to wash up and discovered hubsters brushing his teeth.

Although disoriented, I still appreciated hubsters reaction to seeing me stumble in bed creased, dazed, and covered in chocolate, yet relieved to see him.

"On rough days don't you say you wish you could swim in chocolate?" He asks. A sleepy squint and a grunt are my only answer as I lick chocolate from my fingers.

After helping me change my sheets and bagging the imported bedwrecker, hubsters adds "You've gotta tweet about this." Thank G-d he's well trained :)

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Shabbos toilet paper made easy

I don't know why it took me so many years to finally think of it. I either bought pre-torn paper or spent a good chunk of time tearing pieces one by one. But no more! Now I grab my big kitchen scissors and cut through the roll and Voilà! Long strips in a fraction of the time. Generally works best when down the the last 1/3 of the roll. Now if I had gardening shears . . .

I don't know why it took me so many years to finally think of it. I either bought pre-torn paper or spent a good chunk of time tearing pieces one by one. But no more! Now I grab my big kitchen scissors and cut through the roll and Voilà! Long strips in a fraction of the time. Generally works best when down the the last 1/3 of the roll. Now if I had gardening shears . . .

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Toddler Bedelia

Conversations with toddlers often leave both sides rather confused. A confused look from a toddler however shouldn't be mistaken for a lack of understanding or slowness. I'm still boggled at the cleverness my two and a half year old showed this morning once I caught up with him.

I was helping him get dressed.

Me, holding socks: Do you want to wear socks today or have bare feet?

RE: Bare feet.

Me: Ok. (puts away socks)

RE, grabs favorite teddy, throws to the ground, stands upon its back & yells: Bear feet!

Me: wha?

RE, points to bear: Bear feet!

Me: oh, ok . . . wait . . . lol!

Apparently he inherited my side of the family's curly hair, olive skin, wide short nose, cleft chin, AND love of bad puns.

Of course that's assuming he meant to be funny and wasn't just pulling an Amelia Bedelia.

Conversations with toddlers often leave both sides rather confused. A confused look from a toddler however shouldn't be mistaken for a lack of understanding or slowness. I'm still boggled at the cleverness my two and a half year old showed this morning once I caught up with him.

I was helping him get dressed.

Me, holding socks: Do you want to wear socks today or have bare feet?

RE: Bare feet.

Me: Ok. (puts away socks)

RE, grabs favorite teddy, throws to the ground, stands upon its back & yells: Bear feet!

Me: wha?

RE, points to bear: Bear feet!

Me: oh, ok . . . wait . . . lol!

Apparently he inherited my side of the family's curly hair, olive skin, wide short nose, cleft chin, AND love of bad puns.

Of course that's assuming he meant to be funny and wasn't just pulling an Amelia Bedelia.

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Visitors' Center

Thanks to Hannah's (of cookingmanager.com) post interviewing yours truly, there are probably more heads & hats checking out my little blog over here.

In the beginning I had planned on a modicum of anonymity, but frankly that takes more effort in planning and execution than I can drum up these days.

So welcome, enjoy the peeks into the boxes that clutter my attic. Don't look in that one over there, that's where I'm keeping my crazier ideas, like using sofrito in my shepherd's pie. My grandmother would be so proud and hubsters would be horrified!

Thanks to Hannah's (of cookingmanager.com) post interviewing yours truly, there are probably more heads & hats checking out my little blog over here.

In the beginning I had planned on a modicum of anonymity, but frankly that takes more effort in planning and execution than I can drum up these days.

So welcome, enjoy the peeks into the boxes that clutter my attic. Don't look in that one over there, that's where I'm keeping my crazier ideas, like using sofrito in my shepherd's pie. My grandmother would be so proud and hubsters would be horrified!

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Shepherd's pie: a Non-recipe

I don't really follow recipes anymore. I either decide what I want to make and look around to see how I can approximate it with what I have, or I look at what I have and decide from there what to make. This recipe has so many variations, pretty much everything is optional (which may make it a misnomer since authentic Shepherd's pie is the standard chopped lamb & potato casserole).

This is a sneaky chef recipe as you can hide several kitchen sinks worth of vegetables without anyone being the wiser!

You can choose one or more from each category:

ground beef, lamb, turkey, chicken, cooked lentils

shredded carrot, onion, zucchinni

mushrooms

corn

peas

tomato sauce/paste/diced

garlic

1 egg for every pound of meat/ meat substitute

paprika

pepper

Mix until everything is well coated and press into the baking dish. I've used a pan, roaster, or crockpot with success. Just be aware that there will be a lot of grease in the crockpot unless you brown the meat first.

Top with mashed or shredded potatoes. Optional: drizzle with olive oil and more spices.

Bake uncovered at 350 for an hour or until bubbly. You can cover partway through if the potatoes get crispier than your liking.

If in the crockpot it'll need 6-10hrs on high or 3-5 hrs on low depending on whether you brown the meat first or not.

Freezes very well.

I don't really follow recipes anymore. I either decide what I want to make and look around to see how I can approximate it with what I have, or I look at what I have and decide from there what to make. This recipe has so many variations, pretty much everything is optional (which may make it a misnomer since authentic Shepherd's pie is the standard chopped lamb & potato casserole).

This is a sneaky chef recipe as you can hide several kitchen sinks worth of vegetables without anyone being the wiser!

You can choose one or more from each category:

ground beef, lamb, turkey, chicken, cooked lentils

shredded carrot, onion, zucchinni

mushrooms

corn

peas

tomato sauce/paste/diced

garlic

1 egg for every pound of meat/ meat substitute

paprika

pepper

Mix until everything is well coated and press into the baking dish. I've used a pan, roaster, or crockpot with success. Just be aware that there will be a lot of grease in the crockpot unless you brown the meat first.

Top with mashed or shredded potatoes. Optional: drizzle with olive oil and more spices.

Bake uncovered at 350 for an hour or until bubbly. You can cover partway through if the potatoes get crispier than your liking.

If in the crockpot it'll need 6-10hrs on high or 3-5 hrs on low depending on whether you brown the meat first or not.

Freezes very well.

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Mommy feats that will wow any Toddler

1. Getting around to sharpening all the colored pencil stubs in the house
2. serving lots of ketchup
3. Flip them upside down & pretend not to notice
4. Warm milk with a splash of chocolate
5. this:
   
   (photo courtesy of thewind 's flickr stream)
6. Knowing the noise any animal makes, even if you have to make up a few
7. Teaching a new song or game (little bunny foo foo again??
8. Piggy back rides
9. Letting them (try to) spit into the sink while brushing their teeth
10. Getting around without the help of the gee-pee-ess (Mommy turn left!)

1. Getting around to sharpening all the colored pencil stubs in the house
2. serving lots of ketchup
3. Flip them upside down & pretend not to notice
4. Warm milk with a splash of chocolate
5. this:
   
   (photo courtesy of thewind 's flickr stream)
6. Knowing the noise any animal makes, even if you have to make up a few
7. Teaching a new song or game (little bunny foo foo again??
8. Piggy back rides
9. Letting them (try to) spit into the sink while brushing their teeth
10. Getting around without the help of the gee-pee-ess (Mommy turn left!)

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