What's for Dinner?

A few weeks ago I bought some uncooked tortillas and have found a dozen uses for them. Today Darrin and I cooked together and diced up & cooked some potatoes, chopped up some tomatoes, made refried beans and some scrambled eggs. Darrin heated up the torts on the pancake grill and we dressed the plates and invited the kids in.

Mudd panicked because he didn't have a fork-- all his short life I have scolded him on not eating with his hands and tonight I changed things! I showed him how to tear off a piece of tortilla and use it to eat some eggs and he cried and buried his head in my side!

I gave him a fork but after a few minutes, he decided to try it again and he was soon ripping and picking food up and laughing. It was cute.

The kids loved it and my three boys who have birthdays in January all want it on their birthdays. They said that they love eating with me because they never know what they will get at dinner. Basil said that one of his friends said that his mom makes one of four different meals each night, and Dmitrios recited what they are as he is friends with the same little boy, then they toasted, "To Mom!"

It was a fun meal to make as well as eat.

I tried something that my grandmother said she did during the Great Depression-- I used my potato water that I had used to boil the diced potatoes in a bread for later. Grandma was a chef and she told me when I was 7 or so that you wash out the nutrients so you can use them if you use the water. It is rising well and I expect it to taste good, too.

Food, Sports & Partial Crises

Tonight Tiger came home and I made "Roll Bowls" (big roles that I make and cut open and fill with soup) and cheddar beer soup with broccoli, bacon wrapped chicken livers and a salad. I'd not made this in years for her and she was very happy. The kids have demanded this three times in the last week and they are learning to make bread now. Today Basil noted this and asked why I have measuring cups. I was confused and said that you measure stuff with them and he said, "You never use them! I do not remember the last time you used a measuring cup. Starshine has had your measuring spoons with her tea sets for over a year." He's right-- I play it like I need to. The only time I get concerned is when I have to make something spicy. I don't have a good nose and can't taste that well so I either pack a punch and do overkill or I don't do enough.

My kids are crazy about the Olympics. Basil thrust his bald 9 year old leg at me yesterday and asked if he should start shaving. I asked if he was going to do ballet. He said no, he wants Michael Phelps to be the second best Olympian! (I'm getting him swimming this semester.) He'd heard that shaving your hair makes you faster. I told him that Michael Phelps is double jointed and that his feet are like fins. He Googled leg exercises and is trying to condition himself. I cannot think of a better role model than Michael Phelps-- Basil is cute wanting to be like him. I told him that Michael Phelps also loves math, science and keeping his room clean. Basil said that two out of three isn't bad and ran outside to play.

My husband is about to take off for a couple of weeks right as school resumes. We are so broke with everything happening. Years ago he bought me a gift certificate at a spa that I didn't use because I felt guilty. Now I cry thinking about it. We have much to do before school starts and I wish more than anything that I could have my feet and lower legs worked on, as well as my neck and hands. If I can just have the house clean and seem relaxed when my mom gets here as well as be on top of school, I will be thrilled with myself.

Lent begins

Lent has begun for Eastern Orthodox believers. As I never really paid much attention to it being either pregnant or just flat-out refusing to do it, I thought it began two weeks ago with meat-fare Sunday. I stopped drinking alcohol and started cooking vegetarian meals. We stopped having sex. Today I was chatting up a priest after church and I said that so far, so good on abstaining. He was confused, "But the full abstaining from everything starts tonight. You can still have wine until tonight-- we cut our meat two weeks ago and today milk products and everything else." Argh!

No one checks to see if you are fooling around with your spouse and your kids don't announce to the church that Mom and Dad made a lasagna with real cheese or had gyros sandwiches. It's all voluntary. We do this in observance of what Christ went through voluntarily, as well. At the end of six weeks, food that you abstained from really does taste wonderful. Romance is even better. You stop having sex but you think of other ways to show affection-- if it's too much, years ago a priest said to just not wait the entire time. When my husband and I had just converted, six weeks without was impossible. Now having been married for ten years and being busy with life-- it's less bad. We will deliberately find other ways to show affection.

I've been covering my hair for the past three weeks. I've felt called to covering my hair for years. I have pretty red hair, but I've just wanted to cover it. You don't mess with what God wants you to do. Years ago I tried and failed-- it was about me. "Look at me! I'm so modest!" I decided that if I ever did it again that it wouldn't attract a lot of attention and I'd be able to just do it. I came to Headcoverings by Devorah one day while surfing and my 12 year old loved the designs as did I and she asked me to buy one for her, which I did. Then I bought a bunch! They feel right on me, then I started reading more about why women would cover their hair. My husband doesn't care one way or the other-- he said he'll tell me if it looks wrong. I used to look like a little church mouse covering my hair! He says that now it's just different. I am staying with it. I already dress conservatively-- this was just waiting for the right time.

I used to be very rude about some of the women in church who covered their hair. Today we were comparing where we buy our head coverings. It wasn't a fellow Christian who got me to wear them-- it was Devorah. She wasn't even speaking to me directly!

School is out for the week. The roads are muddy. It will be a very long week. I did find someone nearby who owns a kiln. I have clay that is "real"-- it behaves well for a kiln. I am having the kids make some bowls and will be drying them then taking them over to the lady who has a kiln. This will be fun for them.

At the end of the day. . .

The holiday is over. I'm worn out. I cannot wait for another month from now-- it will be solstice and we will start getting more daylight again. I am on the count down!

It rained today. This is terrible! Yuck! Our backyard had been full of snow and the kids loved to play in it. They were looking forward to sledding but now it's black with mud. They were indoors. We have ripped up the carpet. We got to hear them yell and play. I know I should feel blessed but too much of anything is wearing on the nerves.

Every time I asked the kids to do anything, they'd take their time at it. This was lead by my eldest, home for the weekend and her first weekend off from working. She's a hard worker and has worked every day for the past month. Just as I was contemplating my Friday and holing up and doing school work, she told me that she has to work at noon and needed to go shopping. . . and to stop by a couple of places. (She's buying a car right now and doesn't have one.)

OK. So I started to work on my Russian and she asked if I could take her some place. Her timing is amazing. I wanted to break down and cry. I so much need this weekend to STUDY. She is so clueless sometimes. She gets on her computer all weekend and eats up bandwidth. She could have stayed in The City but oddly, she says she misses the chaos.

Such is life. I'm glad the day is over. I made a big dinner. I don't make 20 dishes-- I know what everyone likes and they come in and see me making what they don't like and remark and I don't like that so, I make a few things that we ALL love. Very frustrating as my three sons came in, "Why don't we have as much as other families?" Well, I suppose other families aren't as open about what they dislike!

There were a few things that we make every year-- I always make a high bush cranberry sauce for turkey. It's so good, very Alaskan! TeaCup was eating lots of that. I was going to make potatoes and had just bought some but they were mostly gone. So I made potato rolls which I've never made. They were REALLY good. I do not make "green bean bake"-- it looks like baked vomit. I make green beans however and they seem to be liked. The Jell-o mold that seems to be a mainstay on tables was not here. I looked and someone had used it all. Fruit salad with CoolWhip, a tossed green salad-- it was pretty darned good. Not too much and not too little.